Stakes and Pawns
He stared down at the game board for a long space of time, eyes fixed on the game piece across from his, a statuette of a black dragon’s forepaw grasping a hinged locket on a simple chain. Was this feeling awe? He decided that it was, and spoke appropriately. “The Handmaiden.”
She smirked but didn’t reply.
“You invoke the Handmaiden,” he repeated. “But how? She is not bound to you, she can’t be. Everyone knows that she is friend and servant to the Sixth and the Sixth would never bargain her away, not even to you.”
She snorted disdainfully. “You are a fool. Of course she doesn’t answer to me and of course she wasn’t bargained to me. But she is the right hand of my ally and allies are tools in our game, as you agreed.”
He frowned at this, glaring pensively at the board and trying to quash the disturbing feeling that he’d been tricked somehow. “That is fair,” he admitted after long moments wrestling his disgust with himself down to a manageable level. “Still, that’s a powerful opening invocation, far more powerful than you’re known for.”
“I’ve received an education of late,” she admitted in an almost indifferent way. “There is no one so wise that it’s impossible for them to be humbled, save perhaps the Weaver or the Reaper, and as much as I project my arrogance and sneer at you, there are Powers greater than I.”
“Humility?” He sneered.
“Intelligence,” she corrected him with disdainful amusement. “I lose less and less often as I learn from more and more painful lessons. Perhaps, if you can survive, you will eventually learn something. I shan’t hold my breath.”
“I’m not dead.”
“Neither am I.” She nodded, however. “But your point is taken. How a lieutenant and protégé of that imbecile was permitted to walk off the field without his legs ripped off as reminders is beyond my comprehension, but walk off you did. Still, the lesson of simple survival is hardly germane to your self-inflicted situation.”
“If I inflicted this on myself, you did as well.” He grinned.
“But I won’t die of it,” she retorted calmly. “Oh, and so long as we’re on the topic, have you seen the gates of Auralis of late? I find the new ornamentation to be quite… appropriate.”
He kept his face carefully stone although the mention brought to his mind, unbidden, a twisted image that made him shudder imperceptibly. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I liked the ornamentation so much that I got my own.” Her face suddenly came forward, all pretense of amusement vaporizing. “Are you not the least bit curious as to the source of my opening bid?”
“Corruption is regularly vanquished and in more ways than either of us can grasp.” He affected a shrug although her abrupt intensity was making him slightly nervous. “Your vanquished is represented by a snake’s scale. What of it?”
“Well, I lied to you, although not by what I said myself. I believe that I implied that yours is the first bid upon this second of my patron worlds.” She gestured to a side where a wall would be if they were in any place that resembled a structure. “I also warned you that if you cheated or did inordinate harm, you would be forfeit instead of merely your bids being so.”
“How is any of this germane?”
“Because there cannot be too many warnings given,” she replied, her golden eyes afire like they had been before the first invocations were exchanged. “There is no such thing as making it too clear that I will see my own saved or revenge myself upon you for doing them harm.”
“Come now,” he scoffed. “You aren’t seriously threatening to make an example of me just because a few of your precious dwellers get a boo-boo.”
Her eyes narrowed in a way that made him suddenly regret the taunt. “No, minister, I won’t hurt you just because of a few hurt dwellers who, under our rules, are harmed by your tools. However, if you strike deep into the very Light of Sol Selune, if you murder love, murder friendship, torment the good for sadistic glee… well...”
The hand that was gesturing at the imagined wall casually rotated to bring its palm to face it and the misty nothing coalesced into a grisly display. A skeletal body, the lights that once glowed in empty eye sockets extinguished, the withered flesh distorted, every last inch of the dead form radiating unholy agony from unspeakable torture, dressed in the most exquisite silk formal robes, hung from the wall. Great golden spikes had been driven into the wrists, the ankles, into the tiny spaces under the collar bone, and ones of silvered iron hammed into its forehead, mouth, neck, heart, solar plexus, and belly. He shrank from the sight, breathless with fear and sick with horrible recognition.
“But… you’re… you’re…”
“A Light?” She sneered. “That is certainly true, boy, but you’ll recall that the highest laws of our game permit me to rip my pounds of flesh from an offender if they give me lawful cause to revenge myself. She bargained for this, the second of my patron worlds, and spat upon my tolerance by sating your kind’s sadism on the most innocent and in that moment when the knife would cut deepest. Be warned, minister, that you are safe under my courtesy and tolerance but I am now quick to anger where I was once slow. I shall soften this display by rescinding my previous vow to destroy you in your loss and vow that if you obey the highest laws, I will take naught but your wagers in my victory. However, do not forget what I can, what I shall do if your withered hand touches the very Light of my patronage. I allowed her to die quickly for she was not forewarned; I will not permit you to die at all for you are forewarned.”
He stared at her for minutes, neither of them saying anything as the fiery golden eyes of the predator burned coldly into the trembling prey, before something occurred to him and the look of fear turned into mingled curiosity and respect. “You are requiring me to act as Darkness for our contest.”
A tiny smile bent the corners of her muzzle. “And you finally understand it. It’s for your own good, my rival, for I have danced to this music with countless Evils but have only conceded to Darkness.”
He inclined his head to her in honest respect. “And so the mask falls. I had wondered what motive you could possibly have had to let me lay my challenge—and now, it’s so clear that I’m ashamed at being so obtuse. That conceded, however, this game has just begun and you’ve played a trump card in the first moments. I wonder how many more you have.”
“If you survive, Evil, you’ll eventually discover that it’s not the number of trump cards I play, but the quality of the trump cards I play.” She sat back contentedly. “It’s appropriate that we play this game for Sol Selune because the most painful lesson that I intend to inflict on you is one that is highly important here.”
“What might that be, pray tell?”
“The power of friendship, my dear minister.” She offered an upturned palm. “And here shall be my next wager…”
“Counterclockwise!” Rainbow Dash yelled frantically. “Counterclockwise! Up and…”
Of course, by the time Twilight actually heard her flight instructor, she was already most of the way through a clockwise roll and just like a rookie, she instinctively and thoughtlessly reacted by doing exactly that. Suddenly being mostly buried in a cloud and looking up at the sky in utter befuddlement was her first clue that something hadn’t worked quite right.
“Oh good… the condensation quotient in the lower leading edge is sufficient to support the weight of an alicorn,” she woozily announced to the world.
An exasperated cry was her only warning before she found her view of the sunny sky obscured by a cyan coat and a vibrant rainbow of color from which a blazing pair of pink eyes glared. “Argh! C’mon, you’re killing me here, Twi!” Rainbow declared as she hovered above her awkwardly-sprawled friend. “A climbing reverse is totally basic!”
Twilight groaned as she rolled out of the deep divot in the cloud and brushed clinging puffs of white off her shoulders. “But the flight school curriculum said that they wait until the end of the first year to do climbing reverses,” she protested.
Rainbow facehoofed. “Well, yeah but how many rookies are total eggheads?” Her eyes narrowed. “And why’re you reading the flight school curriculum anyway?”
“Egghead, remember?” Twilight grinned at her. “And come on, Dash… if I could just read this in a book and get it right the first time, I’d be more awesome than you.”
Long experience had taught her that the most reliable way to distract Rainbow (and thus, in this instance, get a few moments to catch her breath) was to challenge either her abilities or her awesomeness and Dash didn’t disappoint: eyes widened and then narrowed, lips compressed, her pink irises seemed to catch fire, and her posture immediately went aggressive. “‘Scuse me?” She demanded, immediately zipping up so Twilight was nose-to-nose with her.
“I said, if I can read how to do it in a book and get it right the first time, I’ll be more awesome than you,” Twilight repeated, doing her best smug smile.
The pegasus snorted. “As if!” She declared, somersaulting away from Twilight so she could cross her forelegs and fix Twilight with a deathglare. “Fastest flier in Equestria right here and total shoe-in for the Wonderbolts. No way you can be more awesome than that!”
“Bet I could keep up with you in a race.” Twilight grinned.
That actually made the pegasus freeze, her eyes wide in astonishment at the audacity of the challenge, before she collapsed into fits of laughter on the nearest cloud. “Heh heh… y.. yeah… sure…” she managed to gasp out as she ran out steam after a few minutes. “You? Can barely do the basics? Keep up with me in a race?”
“It’s not that funny,” Twilight protested. She then paused. “OK, maybe it is that funny but still…”
Rainbow snickered. “Are you really serious, Twilight? You really want to take me on?”
“It’s not like I can do worse than faceplanting in clouds every other maneuver,” she pointed out.
“True.” Rainbow looked appraisingly at her. “OK, get up here and let’s see it. I’m dying to see you even try to keep up with the fastest flier ever.”
“What’s our destination?” Twilight asked as she took off and flew up to keep pace with the other mare, pleased with herself for having at last gotten to the point where she could do simple flying.
“See that storm front building above the Everfree?”
Twilight squinted. “Yes.”
“First one there wins.” As Rainbow turned, Twilight lit her horn and prepared her spell. While reading about how to fly didn’t help her fly any better, learning about all of the physics and science involved and things like wind shear, drag, and friction yielded some interesting insights—like the one she was planning to take full advantage of. “OK, one two…”
As expected, the Fastest Flier in Equestria was off like a shot even as she said the word ‘three’ and, extending her wings fully and setting them for a glide, Twilight was off like a shot along with her, tethering herself to her friend with a light chain of magic that she’d worked to make imperceptible to touch and making minute adjustments to stay in the slipstream generated by Rainbow’s incomparable speed. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to tie her momentum to Dash’s without creating drag that the hyperaware pegasus would notice and the key, according to her research, was to tie herself to the magical corona of flight magic that was unique to every pegasus and allowed them to bypass pesky physical laws problems. For instance, gravity: a hovering pegasus quite literally sat on the invisible corona that the mere movement of wings created even when those wings were moving at a languid pace. Because the corona was created by Dash and tied to Dash but couldn’t transfer physical phenomena to Dash (since it acted to negate such phenomena), tethering herself to it would both allow her to follow at her friend’s breakneck speed and avoid Dash noticing that Twilight was borrowing her speed to justify her claim.
When they were close enough to the cloud bank for momentum to carry her the rest of the way, she released the tether and flared her wings (a valuable skill to learn when most of your flying lessons ended up with you heading towards the ground at breakneck speed), coasting to a stop just behind Dash.
“Hah! What cha think of…” Rainbow turned around. “…that…” She blinked. “OK, what the hay?”
Twilight grinned and let her horn glow briefly. “Element of Magic, remember?”
Rainbow just stared at her for a moment. “That was…” Her face lit up. “…totally awesome!”
Twilight blinked at her. “So… not mad at me for…?”
“Cheating?” Rainbow laughed. “Naw, shoulda known you were up to somethin’ when you said you could keep up with me. Besides, it’s not cheating if I didn’t say ‘no horns’ is it?”
She smiled at her. “Nope.”
Rainbow grinned. “Got that out of a book?”
“Well, when I visited Mom yesterday, I borrowed the Canterlot Library copy of ‘Applied Aerodynamics’,” the alicorn admitted. “And looked up a paper on ‘Fluid Air Movements in Open System’ and…”
Rainbow planted her hoof on Twilight’s muzzle, rolling her eyes. “Pfft, boring. You’re supposed to say something awesome like ‘I went totally egghead on your flank, Dash’.”
Twilight paused and gave her friend a grin. “I went totally egghead on your flank, Dash.”
Rainbow affected grabbing her heart. “Aw, c’mon! Make it awesome.”
“I went totally egghead on your flank, Dash.” Twilight repeated, trying to strike the affectation she remembered hearing when… and realized what she would have reminded Rainbow of the precise second the pegasi’s face fell.
She sighed and facehoofed. “Sorry Dash.”
Rainbow took in a deep breath and let it out, shaking her head as if to deny that anything was wrong, although she alighted on a nearby cloud so she could tuck her wings in, the exact gesture Fluttershy always made when she was nervous or sad. “Naw, don’t be. Don’t need ponies being all careful around me just cuz…” She frowned. “…just cuz of… well…”
“Just because you lost a friend and it hurts?” Twilight smiled a little, alighting on the same cloud. “Come on, Rainbow… friends, remember? I know it’s easy to forget, now that I can keep up with you in flying…”
Rainbow snorted. “Heh-heh… whatever Twi.”
“Well, I just did, didn’t I?”
The pegasus brightened marginally and suddenly threw her hooves around Twilight. “You’re one hay of a cool egghead, Twi. I know you’re serious and it’s really great of you. It’s just not something you can fix by being really smart.”
“Did it help any that the griffins treated her like a hero?”
“Well, they should have!” Rainbow declared fiercely. “Because she totally was! Took the hit so she could stuff the bomb in that mare’s stupid mouth.” She sniffed. “Stupid alicorn… stupid ugly reptile thing…”
Twilight just laid a broad wing over her friend and didn’t say anything; after spending weeks helping with the restoration of Canterlot in the aftermath, and meeting more ponies than she could count that had taken an emotional hit during the assault by the Guardian, she’d quickly learned that sometimes just standing there and resting her wing over them seemed to do more than anything she said.
After a minute, she felt Rainbow lean against her side lightly. “Thanks, Twi. I… it’s good to do a little banter again with a friend. Reminds me of some really good times.” She suddenly jumped into the air and began hovering, giving Twilight a fierce grin. “But it doesn’t meant I’m gonna let you off easy. Come on, you’ll be at least twenty percent cooler if you can get the climbing reverse down.”
Twilight groaned audibly for Rainbow’s benefit but as she joined the pegasus, she smiled, glad that Rainbow seemed to be feeling much better… even if she was going to be sore in the morning.
Far below the pair, a vague shadowy shape lowered her spyglass and tucked it away, smiling to herself as she leaned against the trunk of the tree she was perched in. <A dragon’s heart without a dragon’s scales or breath.> She commented to the air. <Magnificent, utterly magnificent.>
A scratching against the trunk below her invited her attention downwards and, confident that Twilight was safe in the company of her rainbow-maned companion, she let it drift. A pair of solemn lupine eyes looked up at her, a look that she easily read as the polite request for an audience that it was, and she slipped down the trunk to take a knee in front of the timber wolf.
<What passes before the eyes of your pack, little hunter?> She asked, letting hands drift with an almost affectionate gentleness over his wood-like exterior. To her amazement and utter delight, she’d discovered that this “Everfree Forest” had at least one pack of wolves. True, they looked somewhat unusual and appeared to be carved from wood, but they were was intelligent as any wolves she’d worked with before and were even easier than normal to commune with. Gaining their trust and affection had been easy: taking her favored shape, she’d shown the pack how it could drive away and even hunt the manticores that had long harassed the pack and would steal their prey from them. Their joy at the first kill had been palpable even without her needing to use her communion spell to ‘speak’ to them.
The communion was a complex spell, some eclectic blend of psychic link and plane projection, and with wolves it manifested as a lush forest filled with the shadows a pack on the hunt loved best. “The pale sick one passes before us.” The wolf told her, his speech as plain as if he was speaking although his muzzle remained still. The illusion of speech was just that, an illusion, and was actually her mind interpreting the details of scent, sight, and instinct that wolves thought in. “She leaves her abode with the blessing of the tree-hunters and goes along unaware.”
“You hunt well, little hunter, and all your pack,” she told him, mentally tinting her words with praise and affection. “Will you hunt her without hunting her, and tell me of her path?”
“The pack will hunt her without hunting her, for its sister-hunter without pack,” he replied with a broad lupine smile. “She has made us greater hunters of greater prey, and is friend.”
“Thank you.” She hugged the image of the wolf, intensifying her projection of affection and gratitude, before letting the communion lapse and watching the timber wolf slip off into the forest, silent as a shadow.
<Ay, but it’s a joy to work with wolves,> She said to the air, returning to her perch in the tree above. <Pure, unfeigned, equality of merit… if only speaking creatures could be so good.>
><><
“Ah tell ya, Twi, Ah’ve never seen anyhin’ like it before,” Applejack told her, keeping her voice down as the two crouched behind a convenient farm wagon, watching the shapes of timber wolves in the morning mist.
“M… maybe they’re just curious about your visitor,” Fluttershy’s natural almost-whisper suggested. “They’re a very nice pack and they stopped hunting chickens when I asked nicely.”
“Maybe, sugarcube, but Ah never seen more’n two or three at a time an’ that looks like the entire lot o’ ‘em.” Applejack replied. “Do ya think ya could… Ah dunno…”
“Speak with them?” The pink-maned pegasus brightened noticeably at the prospect of talking to animals, which more than ever seemed to include animals that used to make her quiver fearfully at the mere thought of.
Twilight, all the girls in fact, had fully expected that Fluttershy’s experience of being thrown into the middle of the terrifying battle at Canterlot would make their naturally shy and quiet friend even more nervous than she already was. Instead, experiencing real terror at real dangers had made her less likely to be frightened of dangers that were mostly in her head, and Twilight had enjoyed seeing the gentle mare emerge from her shell a little and be a little more part of the social fabric. Equestria, Twilight thought, needed a little more Kindness in the aftermath and Fluttershy’s discovery of a little more courage had provided wonderfully.
Applejack smiled at her. “That’d be dandy, if ya dun mind.”
“Oh, oh I don’t,” Fluttershy assured her with the beautifully shy smile she wore with increasing frequency. “If you’ll just stay here and keep your voices down, believing that somepony is watching them from the shadows makes them nervous you see, I’ll ask them if anything’s the matter.”
Which, Twilight reflected with a touch of a grin as Fluttershy trotted towards the shadows, was yet another change: the previous habit of constantly asking permission to have an opinion or tell others what to do had mostly gone away.
“Ah’m sure glad t’ see her buck up a lil,” Applejack commented lowly, watching the yellow pegasus with a touch of friendly pride. “Equestria can use all the Kindness it can get these days an’ Ah think feelin’ a lil more courageous is makin’ her happier.”
“I’m glad some good came of that horribleness,” Twilight nodded. “I think there was more to Gilda’s death than Dash is saying. I don’t feel comfortable prying, but still hurting so much that she flinched a little when I tried taking a tone similar to Gilda seems… well, not Rainbow. I’ve never seen her stay in a bad place this long, even after we hurt her playing Mare Do Well.”
“She’s Loyalty, Twi,” Applejack offered. “She sorta lost ‘er best friend growin’ up then gets ‘er back only t’ lose ‘er right after. It’d make anypony feel bad but even more if ya represent Loyalty an’ feel like ya weren’t loyal.”
“I feel like it’s deeper than missing a friend and feeling as if she’s failed, though,” Twilight shook her head. “I’m just glad Pinkie hasn’t tried throwing her parties until she feels better.”
“From time t’ time, Pinkie seems t’ turn off th’ crazy a mite an’ figger that a party ain’t always the solution.” Applejack grinned. “Sometimes Ah wish she’d do it more often but ‘er heart’s always right, an’ Equestria could always use more ponies with their hearts in th’ right place.”
Twilight nodded with a smile. “So how’ve things gone with Lily Shell?”
“Eh, nothin’ too bad happened.” Her face became troubled. “She was always flawlessly polite an’ all, willing an’ almost eager t’ help, really nice t’ Applebloom and respectful to Granny. In fact, she almost acted… reverent t’wards Granny an’ it wasn’t an act, it was definitely part o’ her upbringin’.”
“But…?” Twilight prompted when her friend went silent a few moments.
“But she was way too protective of them saddlebags o’ hers,” Applejack said. “It wasn’t any sorta resentment or secretiveness or nothin’… Ah think she was really and truly scared that somepony would get hurt if they trifled with th’ things. An’ when Applebloom picked up that stick o’ hers? Never seen a mare nearly half that scared an’ it most definitely wasn’t for ‘erself. By th’ time we woke this mornin’, she was already packed and jus’ about out the door. Ah think she woulda stayed for a spell longer but Ah think th’ incident with that rod spooked ‘er somethin’ awful. Honestly, Ah wouldna minded ‘er lingerin’ some, despite th’ fact that she wasn’t entirely honest. Ah’ve had lots worse guests, though none stranger.”
“I wonder what could have been in the bags,” Twilight mused. “Or better yet, what that rod of hers does if she was so terrified that Applebloom might get hurt just touching it.”
“Couldn’t tell ya, sugarcube,” Applejack shrugged. “All I know is, she’s gone an’ she’s headin’ t’wards the griffin lands; that much was true when she said it.”
Any further conversation was forestalled by Fluttershy appearing out of the late morning mist as the shadows of the timber wolf pack disappeared in the other direction. “They said that somepony asked them to keep an eye on your farm,” she informed Applejack. “And somepony they... they described as ‘the pale sick one’.”
Twilight and Applejack stared at her, causing her to shrink very slightly. “That’s… that’s what they said, anyway…” she added, her voice softening to a shy whisper at the last word.
“Somepony… asked ‘em t’ watch mah farm?” Applejack repeated with an incredulous look. “An’ t’ watch Lily?”
Fluttershy’s squeak somehow conveyed an affirmative.
“What did they say they looked like?” Twilight asked, nosing lightly at the quivering pegasus in hopes of calming her down enough to speak; even having become more courageous after Canterlot, the shy mare still reverted to classic Fluttershy in the face of attention or scrutiny.
Fluttershy shuddered and took a deep breath, looking apologetically at Twilight. “They… I don’t think they’re… sure,” she admitted. “They described her as ‘sister-hunter’, ‘one without pack’, ‘kind shadow’ and ‘teacher-hunter’ but the… they said… she…” she took another breath. “They said that they could touch her and smell her and hear her but that… they couldn’t quite… see her. Like… um… trying to see something dark in deep shadow.”
“An’ she could speak to ‘em like you can.” Applejack didn’t try to conceal her amazement. “Shoot, Shy… Ah always thought ya were unique or somethin’. Never ever heard of another pony that’s as good as ya are with critters, much less able t’ talk to ‘em.”
Fluttershy smiled shyly and blushed. “T..thanks, AJ, but I’m not unique. I think the Princesses can converse with animals and the keeper of the castle gardens certainly can. This mysterious mare can… I mean, if she’s a mare…”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked her curiously.
“Just… most of the ways they refer to her are… how they talk about each other. But she can’t be another wolf or they’d have… said so.” Fluttershy explained. “Feelings like… ‘hunter’ and ‘sister’ and ‘shadow’ and calling her ‘one without pack’. But the idea isn’t… like for another wolf… which…” She lowered her head. “I don’t understand. I’m not sure they really do either.”
“Well, Ah say that if she wants wolves t’ watch Lily, Ah don’t think she has her best interests in mind.” Applejack concluded grimly. “We need t’ warn her. Lily is a strange sort but she ain’t done any wrong t’ us an’ Ah say it says lots about what kinda pony she is that she up an’ left outta fear that she could get near-strangers hurt.”
“What’s wrong with wolves?” Fluttershy asked, looking steadily at Applejack, her voice suddenly without the hushed quality it normally had.
“Nothin’ especially but they ain’t cuddly an’ cute an’ harmless. They’re predators, an’ any good predator has t’ be good at killin’ to stay alive,” Applejack replied, edging away from Fluttershy slightly; ‘Shy speaking at a normal volume was never a good sign of anything. “A bird or such could probably do a much better job o’ watching th’ farm an’ a pony so why ask somethin’ awful good at killin’ and sorta good at makin’ ponies nervous t’ do the job?”
“Oh, OK.” The potential for The Stare dissolved into a shy, apologetic smile.
“You make a good point, AJ,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “If you can ask any animal to do it, why one that draws attention and makes ponies nervous even when they’re being friendly?”
“Hang the ‘why’, Twi. We need t’ find that starved lil thing an’ warn her.” Without any communication, both of them had the same thought and turned their heads at the same time to look at the shy, butter-colored pegasus who wasn’t sore from Rainbow Dash flight school the day before. Fluttershy read the look, her eyes got wide and she squeaked, hiding under her wings before they could even ask.
“Shy, we were just going to ask you to look for Rainbow.” Twilight told her. “I’d go, but I’m sorta sore from ‘the basics’.”
Fluttershy peeked out from under her wings, her face a picture of empathy. “Oh, poor Twilight,” she said as she got up. “Rainbow always forgets that not everypony is her. Don’t worry, I’ll go ask her to fly off and warn Lily.” She paused. “Um, what does Lily look like?”
><><
“You told them that I asked you to watch the farm and the pale sick one?” She couldn’t keep the dismay out of her voice and the young wolf, barely older than a pup, lowered his ears and stooped his shoulders.
“The… small soft-kind wingpony is friend…” He whined plaintively. “We are sorry, sister-hunter.”
She forced herself to smile and tinged her words with affection. “Don’t sorrow, your pack has been kind and faithful to me and I am grateful. You should not sorrow for being truthful to a kind pony. But I must hunt alone now. Will the pack watch the small soft-kind wingpony and her pack?”
Ears came up again with a shy lupine smile. "Yes, the pack will watch them and keep them safe. For the sister-hunter and for the soft-kind wingpony.”
She let the communion lapse and ran the side of her muzzle along the muzzle of the pup, hoping the affection and gratitude carried, before she let him go and looked skyward. <Well, it was about time that I saw whether I could dance to Rainbow Dash’s music if I needed to and it seems that I’ll need to. They’ll ask her and Loyalty won’t even hesitate; the only question is, when does the race start and what will be its path?>
She sighed as she slipped into the tree above her head. <Well, no matter. The dance begins when it begins and until then…> Her monologue was interrupted by a stiff breeze passing by—with a hint of rainbow in the wake it left behind—moving in the direction that her lupine scouts had said that Lily was traveling. She wasn’t even conscious of the numerous intricate actions that took place in the next split second—vaulting from the branch, slithering in between the crown and using each one as just another rung on the ladder into the air, gathering herself for the leap even as her wings flared outwards to catch the slightest air current—but centuries had made it all so automatic that she was airborne and riding the pegasus’ wake before she was entirely conscious of forming the intent.
Let the game begin. She thought as she pumped her wings to try and catch the speeding Dash. First one to the finish gets one sickly white unicorn, slightly used and very abused.
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ooooh. I like this story muchly. The concept is very cool, and I'm enjoying reading this. Let's see what happens next, shall we?
Hm... I like how this is starting to pan out. Everything is so mysterious, I love it!
Dammit, I have homework and it's due in two hours!!
Edit: And the plot thickens! Very nice chapter. A few errors here and there, but overall well-written.
1258540 If you have a moment and the inclination, point these errors out to me? The entire point of comments, beyond feeding my ego (
) is to make the work better, after all. 
Lily = Blueblood. Calling it.
1258726 O.O
...hmm...
...but... Blueblood = male, yes? o.O
...and yet...
...cutting off his block and tackle?
1258638
Alright, lemme see what I can pull up....
"I believe that I implied that yours is the first bid open this second of my patron worlds." - Was this intended to be "first bid TO open"?
"and just like a rookie, the instinctively and thoughtlessly reacted by doing exactly that." - The?
"The biggest challenge was figuring out how to tie her momentum to Dash’s without creating drag that the hyperaware pegasus would notice and the key, according to her research, was to tie herself to the magical corona of flight magic that was unique to every pegasus and allowed them to bypass pesky physical laws problems like gravity: a hovering pegasus quite literally sat on the invisible corona that the mere movement of wings created even when those wings were moving at a languid pace." - A little bit of a run-on.
"she was airborne and riding the pegasi’s wake" - pegasi is plural. Try "pegasus' ".
I have to go to work now, but afterwards, I can come back and see if I missed anything.
1259573 You're a gem, hauntu4ever.
1258726 You're wrong. Lily = Angel bunny.
1259810
I agree with these other folks, very enjoyable so far.
It does remind me a lot of the source material these early chapters will all leave us wondering who what is and why they matter and it's great fun.
I do look forward to the first "Great Reveal" and hope that all of these sub characters are in fact native to the plane but with the centuries old line from the wolf maiden I doubt that is the case.
1263964 Thanks.
And with a few future exceptions, the 'pieces' in the game won't be native, partly because there's just not that many twisted, monstrous, sadistic evils wandering Equestria. Metric tonnes of noble, selfless, generally good types but if it was Equestria-only, the "minister" would have one, maybe two 'pieces' and then the story would end after like 5 chapters.
my theory is that this patron is the living spirit of harmony