The Three Messengers
The patrol galloped the rest of the way over, fanning out to form a wide circle around her and the others. Staffs were leveled, pointing at them, and wary glances looked out from under their helms. Strangely, not all those helms were the same; some were colored a pale green, others a faint sky-blue, with their bearer's plate matching.
One of the patrol drove their horse a few steps forward, bringing her (AJ could see it was a her beneath the pale green helm) closer to the three. She looked them over curiously, then raised her hand in gesture of peace. "Well-met, rider," she replied to Rainbow. "But before we reply, might I ask who asks for this news?"
"I'm Platinum," Rainbow nodded, before gesturing at her friends. "these are Fluttershy and Applejack. We're from Crystal City."
"And I do not doubt I know why you ask for news from the west," the patrolwoman chuckled, before sighing. "It isn't good news, though; all the state is under curfew and locked down."
"Why?" Rainbow pressed. "And don't say 'You won't believe me,' you'd be surprised at what I find believable."
"That question Miss Blossomforth cannot answer," another member of the patrol, this one a man clad in sky-blue, said as his mount stepped forward. "but not through any fault of her's; the leaders of the great houses have agreed to keep the answer to that question secret, save from those they trust most."
"An' how do you know that?" AJ asked. "Are you one of'm?"
The man nodded, then reached up and took off his helm, throwing his navy hair up into the wind. "I am Soarin Skies," he answered. "Lord Skies of Skyspear, if you want to be formal, chief of the great house House Skies."
"Why are you out here?" Fluttershy asked, furrowing her brow. "I'm not wondering because I doubt your courage, but because I don't doubt the distance you'd have to travel. It took us four hours to go around Firehall, and it wouldn't be much shorter for you. And why didn't House Swift send to Firehall for aid? Why isn't House Blaze here helping their neighbors?"
Soarin's face darkened. "House Blaze is helping," he firmly replied. "just not in this specific patrol. There are more defenders of the March than just us, after all. As for why I'm here, the governor commanded it; Skyspear needs me less than the March does now. And I don't dwell as far away as you think; I and my riders have camped near House Swift's main keep for several weeks now."
"Defending the March?" Rainbow frowned. "Defending it from what?"
"Foes," came the terse reply.
Rainbow sighed, then dismounted, raising her hands in gesture of peace as the patrol tensed. Muttering to herself, she turned around, then paused as she faced a gap in the ring. Smiling, she pointed through it, directing everyone's gaze at a wildflower a few paces away. "Do you see that flower, Soarin?" she asked.
Hesitantly, he nodded.
In a blink, Rainbow disappeared, spooking the patrol's horses, before reappearing just as quickly, stretching out the plucked flower to Soarin. He stared at it and the girl holding it, awestruck.
"Like I said," she smiled. "you'd be surprised by what I'm willing to believe."
"What you," Soarin hesitantly replied. "and your companions," he flicked a glance at the head-shaking AJ and furrowed-brow Fluttershy. "are willing to believe isn't the only thing I need to consider. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what you're asking about, not yet. However," he raised his hand, forestalling Rainbow's protest. "your, ah, display makes me think that you three might be able to be trusted with the knowledge you're looking for. I'll take you to the governor and see if he agrees with me; if he does, then I'll tell you. If not, I hope we'll be able to part as friends."
"Sounds fair," AJ shrugged. "Whadda you say, Shy?"
"I think it sounds almost perfect," she smiled. "I just wish we didn't have to be so suspicious of each other."
"These are dark times," Soarin sighed. "and in the dark, care needs to be taken with new faces, to make sure they're not enemies trying to sneak past."
Thunder rumbled to the east. Turning, they saw a sudden storm, squalling towards them out of a previously empty sky.
"Where'd that come from?" AJ asked. "I mean, I'd heard that this place had crazy weather, but that's some'n' else."
"Dark times," Soarin carefully replied. "The weather's taken a strange turn, strange even for us; storms and complex systems coming out of nowhere before quickly vanishing back there. Some say that the wind doesn't love us anymore, that it's taking back the gifts it gave us with interest."
"An' whadda you say?" AJ asked, curious.
"I say it's not the wind doing this," he answered. "but something on the wind. I've heard many storms while living at Skyspear, but these newer ones sound different. The rain gallops instead of pouring, and the thunder..." He pursed his lips. "...call me whatever names you want, but to me it's sounded like laughter, great, cruel, booming laughter."
They stared, somewhat unnerved, at the rapidly approaching storm.
"Come," Soarin wheeled his mount around. "We have a long journey ahead of us."
They split up, Soarin taking the Rainbooms and about half of his Men to see the governor, Blossomforth keeping the rest and finishing the patrol. After she did so, she was to return to Flatmarch Keep and tell Fleetfoot and the others what Soarin was doing, and inform Soarin's brother that, until he returned, he was in command.
"Why not just call him yourself?" Rainbow asked as the two groups parted, the storm thankfully melting away before it reached them. "Does it need to be more official than that?"
"Try calling someone other than your friends," Soarin said.
Puzzled, Rainbow pulled out her phone and tried to do so. She found no signal, and no network to try texting them instead. "This is stupid," she grunted as she shoved it back in her pocket. "I'd've thought two great houses would've been able to scrounge up at least some basic cell service or wifi for out here."
"They did," Soarin replied. "Since the storms have started, though, it's been having trouble. It was patchy for the first few days, but now it's simply out of order."
"That's why Cloudsdale's seemed so quiet," Fluttershy murmured in understanding. "You haven't been able to talk to us electronically."
"One reason, yes," Soarin nodded, though his tone was guarded.
"Well, hopefully we'll be able to learn the others soon," AJ said.
Soarin nodded, but stayed silent, clearly deep in thought.
The March flowed swiftly beneath them, their steeds' hooves pounding the grass like a downpour. Firehall and its mirror across the gap leading to the March retreated below the horizon, though they kept their heads poked above it to keep cautious watch on the newcomers as they rode southwest.
They slowed down for a quick lunch as the Sun approached its peak, AJ looking around curiously as she munched. Rolling grassy plains billowed back north, hills rose up to the west, and to the south the grass began to fade away, giving way to bare stone sloping slowly upward. And everywhere she looked, she saw the mountains, however faintly, the famous ringing stone wall of the state. One of them loomed to the south, rising out of the ground like a giant stone fist.
"Boulderhead," Soarin said, following her gaze. "Largest of the Range. You can see him from anywhere in the state, people say."
"Mighty impressive," AJ whistled appreciatively. "Which one's the smallest?"
"Hurricane Peak," Soarin smiled. "You'll be seeing it soon, hopefully; the governor lives there."
"Lookin' forward to it," AJ smiled back.
"It'll be at least a day's ride, though," one of Soarin's soldiers warned. "It's 120 kilometers to Windy Hill, and that's as the wind flies. As the horse rides, it'll be longer by at least half."
A dull rumble echoed up from the south. A darkness began gathering around Boulderhead's peak.
"And even longer if the weather turns," Soarin muttered. "Come. We should press on while the weather holds."
They set out again, holding west, and soon the terrain changed; the hills drew nearer, while the grass retreated, leaving more and more of the ground bare and rocky. By the time they reached the feet of the hills, the bare ground was only a stone's throw away, gently sloping upward as it cragged south.
"What is this?" AJ murmured.
"One of the Range's roots," one of the soldiers answered. "The Western Ridge fences Flatmarch from Rainbow Vale and the Spear Vale, though not as much as the trunk it supports fences out the rest of the world." She turned to look at AJ curiously. "I can't imagine what it's like to live in Crystal City, so open, so...unprotected. We have our mountains, the wind, and our spears to keep our enemies at bay, but you don't seem to have anything. How do you survive, so open like that?"
"We try not to have that many enemies, for one," she joked, inviting a bark of laughter from the soldier. "'Side from that, most of the time we survive just by trustin' each other, trustin' that we'll have each other's backs an' that we won' stab each other there first chance we get."
"Don't put faith in those who promise friendship while the Sun shines," the soldier warned. "Many times, it fades away when the Sun does."
"Because they're afraid you'll do the same," AJ retorted. "Doesn' matter whether Sun's shinin' or hidin' behind a cloud, trust's a two-way street; if you want someone to trust you, you need to give'm a reason to. If you show'm that they can trust you, rain or shine, then they'll stand with you no matter how dark the sky gets."
"True trust like that," the soldier replied. "is only revealed when the Sun disappears. It's a spear that you can only find when you already need it."
"Better'n findin' an' usin' it when you don't need it," she protested.
"Is it worth it to save the lives of the innocent only for someone else to take them?" the soldier asked.
"Who says someone else will?" AJ retorted.
"Who says they won't?" the soldier shrugged. "It's not our place to decide what will or won't happen, only to prepare for whatever may. And I would rather prepare for the worst than cross my fingers and hope for the best."
"Preparin' like that only makes the worst that much more likely," AJ replied. "It's one of'm self-fulfillin' prophecies."
"Better that than an unforeseen one."
AJ blinked in shock. "But," she murmured. "but that means people'll die, innocent people. Would you really throw their lives away like that?"
"Not lightly, no," the soldier frowned. "But if I was forced to choose between sacrificing the few or letting the many die, I would do all I could to let the many live. With either choice, I would be killing the innocent, either through action or inaction, and I would rather kill fewer."
"You might not have to kill any," AJ weakly smiled. "Trust that your friends'll have your back if things start gettin' bad. Put your spears away until you really need'm."
The soldier raised an eyebrow at her. "And what if our friends are in need at the same time we are?" she asked. "Which of us is to allow our innocents to suffer? You are right, trust is important, but the most important thing to have trust in is your strength. If you can trust in your strength, you don't need to trust in friendship."
"But what about when strength ain't enough?" AJ stammered. "What about when there's some'n' too strong for you?"
"Then either trust in friendship," the soldier spurred their mount into the hills. "or trust that those who remain will prove stronger than you."
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They already showing hostility? They better thank god none of the rainbooms are aggressive.
What would have happened if she said rainbow?
Do we know characters that live in those houses?
Why would she do that?
There’s no way someone isn’t controlling that storm.
That’s one creepy storm.
I’ve seen a lot of bullsh*t in mlp canon and fanfics, but that has to be top 10.
He’s hiding something, isn’t he?
Sometimes.
Landlines? Presumably they had phone service at some point in the twentieth century, to say nothing of TV cable. Physical media can do wonders when wireless connections are having issues. And if they laid down fiber optics, so much the better.
Of course, if magic's involved, all bets are off.
And now two of the three have cut you off from the rest of the world in the hour of need you won't admit you're having. How's that working out for you?
(On the other hand, that suspicious, isolationist attitude may be the root of the problem, especially given the equinified storm systems.)
Lovely little debate at the end. Definite false dichotomy at the end; you can absolutely have both personal and interpersonal strength at once. Especially when your entire state isn't transplanted from a fantasy novel and you're actually part of the world. Part of the problem is the Cloudsdalers' perspective and experience... but part is AJ's as well. The girls have been lucky enough to have the option of saving everyone up until now. We'll see how much longer that luck lasts.
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Yep, magic's involved. Nothing's getting in or out except in person.
Yeah, that's one of the main roots of the problem; Cloudsdale's isolation (mountain-caused, socially reinforced) renders them more vulnerable, not less. No one realm can stand alone; the storm comes, and all must either meet it together or fall.
Ha ha, yeah, Cloudsdale does really feel like a splice from a fantasy novel.
Thankfully, magic provides a reasonable (or at least reasonably doubtful) explanation for why it's in that state, and the problems I'm hoping to confront in it are eternal.
Also, you're right, personal vs. interpersonal strength is a false dichotomy, but the way it's being presented here (either focus all your energy on developing yourself or on developing alliances) isn't, and it's all the stupider for that. (Why not divide your energy between both?) The Cloudsdalers' experiences, namely their ability to control what contact they have with the outside world by controlling the few ways through the mountains, have played a big part in this, creating a cultural divide between those inside the Range and those outside it (us vs. them) that makes pursuing friendship harder and leaves them worse off in the long run (perhaps their isolationism is partly to blame for Cloudsdale's decline since Unification). However, you're right that AJ isn't completely right either; friendship doesn't solve everything, and it demands sacrifice, sometimes of the variety the soldier described. Both of them are wrong, and both of them are right, each in different ways, and for friendship to succeed they need to work together to figure out what each of them is right about.
10845953
Not hostility, no; hostility would be riding them down, or demanding they surrender. Defensiveness would be a better word for this, I think.
We shall have to see.
Fleetfloot is the current head of House Swift, while a fireball we all know may show up as House Blaze's representative later.
To show him and the rest of the patrol that she wouldn't automatically doubt them for saying that the problem was being caused by magic.
Oh, yeah. The only question is who.
Indeed.
I thank you for the high ranking, but what, specifically, are you talking about?
There's almost no way he isn't.
“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,' said Gimli.
'Maybe,' said Elrond, 'but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
10846717
Really? I’m pretty sure surrounding someone and pointing a staff at them counts as hostility.
Oh, well, I’ve watched a few episodes of mlp, watched some of the movies, read a few comics, and read a lot of fanfics. So that results in a lot of bullsh*t.
What does that mean?
10846748
Surrounding a potential intruder and readying (but still holding back) your weapons seems more defensive to me, preparing for potential hostility but without unduly antagonizing the unknowns.
Sorry, what I meant was what specific part of this story made it onto your list?
Basically, Gimli is saying that it's a show of bad faith to leave someone when things start going badly, but Elrond is saying that those who have only seen things go fairly badly aren't ready, and shouldn't assume themselves to be ready, for when things go really, really badly.
10846806
I guess that may make sense, but it still might provoke a reaction.
Ohh. The part where the ere was no signal. I can’t speak for all the everyone, but if I’m miles away from civilization and there’s no signal, then use one of those staffs to put me out of my misery.
So basically don’t say you’re ready for the worst when you aren’t?