Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty Five
Manehattan; Square
Rainbow Dash

“In short, my bro and I beat the everliving daylights out of a couple of hired idiots who were apparently trying to kidnap her. Business as usual.” Ultraviolet answered immediately.

Creiddylad, who had walked over to us, Fluttershy still in her arms, now wore a look of mixed alarm and confusion. “What? Who... Why were they trying to kidnap her?! And... and who hired them, if it was just someone moving through them?”

“Don’t know, and... Don’t know. The employer was there, but he was wearing a heavy black cloak, and I couldn’t get a good look at him. He had speckled wings, that’s about the only detail I could find. The guys he hired were apparently just some guys from around town, and didn’t last too long before running for it.”

“And the employer?” She probed. “Where’d he get to?”

“Can’t say.” Vi said, sighing. “He took off as soon as the fight was over, and I decided to escort Fluttershy home rather than chase after him. He could have left the city by now, but... Honestly, I kind of doubt that. I really couldn’t tell much about him, but I’ll bet he’s not going to give up that easily. With your permission, I’d like to keep a lookout for him around town, in case he tries something else.”

“Oh, by all means.” She said, assured by a slightly tearful Fluttershy that what he was saying was true. “And... Well, is there anything I can do to thank you? I mean, I can fight okay myself, but I doubt I could have taken on three armed guys while protecting someone at the same time.”

Vi was already shaking his head, hands in his pockets. “It was nothing, ma’am. Besides, the job isn’t even over yet. I’ve only delayed him, and I’m going to get to the bottom of this. But I don’t need a reward anyway; I couldn’t just let them have their way, they were clearly evil.”

Creiddylad chuckled slightly. “Well, I understand that, but I still should do something for you... Are you new to town?”

“Yeah, but we’re not staying long. Just came to town to find someone else, planned to be gone in a few days.”

“Do you have a place to stay yet?... Well, we’ve got some space. Why don’t you stay with us?”

“Really? You’re sure you don’t mind? Well, if you insist. Like I said, we shouldn’t be long.”

And just like that, the two of us were on our way to Creiddylad’s apartment, where just she and Fluttershy lived. It was the same basic situation my brother and I were in- Both parents had passed away at some point along the line, and the younger sibling had been more or less raised by the elder- so I understood Fluttershy’s situation well enough. I was surprised though- I wasn’t aware anyone else was in that same boat as me.

We reached the building- a tall, but otherwise unremarkable gray affair. It wasn’t too far on the fancy side, but was still far from disrepair. We entered and glided up the winding stairway to the third floor, and immediately turned into the room on the right. I noticed that there was only one room on either side of the building on each floor, so I guessed that they must be fairly large for apartments.

I entered first, and wasn’t disappointed. A short hall led down a ways, then led off to the left. To the right was a kitchen and living area, with a small table situated in between the two. I could guess that the hallway to the left led to the bedrooms. I stepped to the side as the others filed in.

“So, who wants dinner?” Creiddylad asked, and I silently thanked her. My stomach was less subtle about it.
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Fluttershy

Both our guardian-siblings worked on dinner that night, and as such there was a lot more food than what I usually saw at home; even with twice as many people, there was more than necessary judging by how much Creiddylad and I usually ate. The boys were more than willing to pick up the slack, however, and none of the food ended up going to waste.

After supper, Rainbow Dash and I decided to play an old battle tactics-based board game that had been in the family for longer than anyone knew or cared to remember. It was played on actual wooden boards, and had small ivory pieces to it. Over the years, we had lost just enough pieces to render one side at a slight disadvantage, even with the extras. I took the crippled side, partly just to be nice, but also because I knew my way around the game already, and had something of an advantage. A set of ivory dice was also present: most were unusual in shape, with various numbers of sides. These were for the actual combat aspect- one roll from each player would determine whether or not an attack would hit, and another would tell how badly it damaged the enemy. A counter attack roll was also in play.

The first match we played, we decided to set up two identical fortresses on either side of an empty field, just to keep things simple. I started by moving the pieces representing the heavier fighters- the axeman and two heavily armored knights- to the front gate, and set some less powerful melee fighters- spearmen and swordsmen- to guard the smaller side doors. With the entrances all sealed up, I positioned the remaining swordsman behind the main barricade, ready to switch out with someone else if necessary, with a healer just behind to patch them up. On the ramparts atop the fortress, archers and mages were standing near the edge, ready to fire upon the approaching forces, with the single winged unit left on my side standing behind them. I planned to have this one swoop down on the enemy, hit a unit fast and hard, and pull back to his perch.

Rainbow Dash saw that I was planting my feet firmly in my base, so he rallied his units together to attack. He sent every last unit at his disposal at me, but employed similar tactics in protecting them- the heavies headed up the group, with the lighter melee fighters on the sides, and mages, archers, and healer all protected by the wall of weapons. This force marched as one cohesive unit, slowly making their way towards me. Curiously, he had his two fliers branch off away from this group, one each on either edge of the map. It seemed he planned to try and flank me with them, but as it stood I couldn’t do much about them without weakening my defending force.

His main force hit my shield wall fast and hard, and it nearly crumpled under the impact. My healer set fast to work, however, and it stood firm against the attackers. I began to pick out a different strategy among his troops, one that wasn’t as obvious. As soon as the heavy units had crashed into the wall, they had pulled back to the rear, then the sides had taken up position and were peppering the guard wall with quicker, lighter strokes, dodging away from more hits as well. The heavy units replaced them on the sides, and the long-distance fighters began taking potshots at my own atop the fort, with limited success. Fire and arrow rained down from the ramparts in the opposite direction, and one by one his units began to fall.

Finally, though, he managed to break through the wall of heavy troops, and his remaining fighters poured in. To make matters worse, his fliers banked in at the same time, tying up my long range units atop the fort, leaving the remaining melee fighters below to fend for themselves. They managed to defeat both my archers before my mages and fliers were able to finish them, and by that time, his last heavy fighter and swordsman were on their way up.

Working carefully, trying to find a way to win with my limited resources, I sent the lone flier around the other side, to try and corner them. The two mages I positioned on either side, and they began firing upon the axeman as soon as he came into sight. The swordsman was immediately engaged with the flier, and both began taking heavy damage. It was close, but in the end, one mage still stood atop the ramparts, the only surviving soldier on either side.

Dash immediately challenged me to a rematch, and we decided to play for two out of three wins. The next match was played on a map made to resemble a port town being invaded by pirates, which his raiders managed to win, and a sea battle between two ships, which I again was just able to win. By that time, night had fallen, and the two of us had to go to sleep. Dash was given the guest room, while his brother elected to sleep on the couch for the night.

About half an hour after being tucked in, and sleep eluding me, I decided to try and sneak across the hallway and see if Dash was asleep yet. I opened my door quietly, and luckily it seemed both Ultraviolet and Creiddylad were caught up in a hushed conversation, and didn’t notice me. I made it into the guest room without a problem.
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Rainbow Dash

I sat on the carpeted floor, looking up at the sky idly. View sure is crummy out here, isn’t it? I can’t see anything up there. All these lousy witch lights all over the place- I mean, why are they even still on? Everyone’s usually asleep by now back home... Can’t imagine Applejack is liking them much, either. I know she always prefers it darker at night.

I heard a slight noise behind me, and turned to see that Fluttershy had entered the room. The door closed quietly behind her, and I invited her to come sit next to me.

“So, what are you doing awake?” She asked in a whisper, easing herself to the floor to my right. She now wore a plain white night gown, while I had just slipped on an old shirt of my brother’s to sleep in.

“Couldn’t sleep. Just trying to watch the stars, but... it’s kind of hard to see them, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” She asked. I realized she probably hadn’t been far from the city before, and had nothing to compare this sky to.

“Oh, man, you don’t even know- back home, where there’s no bright lights out, there’s just so many stars out. The ones you can see here are just the really bright ones- there’s three times as many out there, just behind the lamplight.”

She listened to everything I had to say- but kept in a whisper- with growing awe. “Do you mind if I watch with you?” She asked after I had finished.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” We moved over to the bed I hadn’t yet touched, pulled off a couple of pillows, and lay down before the wide window, offering us as good a view of the night sky as we were going to get.

It wasn’t too bad though.