Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Inconsolable

They found a welcoming committee when they reached the outskirts of the valley that held the ancient city. It was pretty much what they had expected after so many lizards had obviously ran back to the city to tell their leaders what was going on. Rainbow Dash and the others were hoping this occasion would be special enough to the city lizards that they’d be curious enough to not start immediately fighting. If they could get into the city without any violence, it would be a great start.

That’s why Rainbow Dash turned her head and glared at the large griffon pirate next to her. “Don’t you dare try to ruin this.”

Godfrey grinned back at her. “I don’t plan on saying or doing anything, right now I’m having plenty of fun just watching this. Please try and make peace with these savages, it’s going to be hilarious.”

“H-Hello,” Senax said to the large group of lizards. “I believe you can understand me… and I can understand you. We came here to talk, we don’t want to fight. M-May we please come into your city?”

There were perhaps fifty of them in total, all with spears leveled at the group of six that had walked through the field to get here. Quite a few were ones Rainbow and Godfrey recognized from the hunting party. They still had fresh bruises on them. But others were clearly new to this party, and a lot of them looked very inexperienced and uncertain with what they were doing. The sharpened sticks, barely able to be called spears, they held wavered and shook as their eyes darted about to the other lizards around them. Some of them were noticeably younger and smaller than the hunting party lizards as well—it seems in their panic they had grabbed together any male lizard they could find.

Now Senax and the others were also getting their first real look at these lizards—and saw the ragged clothing they wore, and the state of the buildings in the distance behind them. It wasn’t a good look.

The muttered hissing coming from them also wasn’t a good sign. Rainbow Dash obviously had no idea what they were saying, but by the looks on their faces, neither did Senax or the others.

“What are they saying?” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Daylight leaned over slightly to answer. “Not sure… their language is really broken and hard to understand compared to the mountain lizards. They’re just making a lot of angry mumbles and growls mostly.”

“Please,” Senax attempted to make an impassioned plea. “May we please be welcomed into your city and meet your leaders? I… I am Senax and… I know you may not recognize what I am, but I hope you at least know this name. I am a Child of Ponyseidon. Please, listen to me.”

When she spoke the name “Ponyseidon” there was a ripple effect in the crowd of lizards. They blinked, their chameleon eyes widening ever so slightly as they took a step back and some even pointed away or just barely lifted up their spears so they were no longer pointing directly at Senax. The reaction surprised Rainbow and the others too, even Godfrey looked intrigued. Strangely the reaction seemed to surprise the lizards themselves and some of them were quickly returning to angrily glaring and hissing at Senax.

“They don’t recognize the name, not really,” Daylight said. “But it’s like it’s ingrained in their psyche.”

“Huh?” Rainbow asked her.

“It’s like how animals can instinctively know things without learning them. It’s passed down genetically. They don’t really know what Ponyseidon is, but they recognize the name subconsciously,” she explained.

“I guess that’s better than nothing,” Rainbow shrugged. “There are some smarter lizards here in charge, Godfrey and I met them, so they might have an even better reaction.”

“If we get to them, these ones still don’t seem keen on laying down their spears,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “No, no they don’t.”

“You think we need to try convincing them more? Maybe we should’ve brought some kind of peace offering...” Breakwater said.

“Like what?” Daylight frowned at him.

“I don’t know. Food?” The stallion shrugged.

“It’s alright,” Senax said.

The others looked to the merpony as she took another deep calming breath and stepped forward, staring resolutely at the lizards in front of her.

“Let. Me. Through.”

The effect was even more pronounced this time despite her not invoking Ponyseidon’s name. It’s like something was triggered in the brain of all the lizards. They backed away from her, creating a bulge in their formation, and some of the younger and more inexperienced lizards flat out dropped their spears this time. The lizards didn’t know what was happening or why inside their heads—they just knew that there was something about this strange creature in front of them.

“I wonder if perhaps they’re genetically predisposed to obeying the orders of a merpony? It’s not like the mountain lizards, it must be part of their regression,” Daylight wondered as she rubbed her chin.

“You could have a whole island of them doing whatever you wanted,” Godfrey chuckled.

Immediately Senax’s eyes snapped open wide and she stumbled back. “N-No, that’s not what I—I don’t want something like that! That’s not what I’m trying to do!”

“Senax, relax!” Rainbow said as she stepped forward to steady the merpony. “You’re not doing that, we know that. We know you’re not doing this selfishly or for a bad reason. Take a deep breath again and tell yourself that. You’re not doing anything wrong. Believe me, I’m not just saying this to help you, it’s the truth. Just keep repeating that to yourself.”

Gilbert and Breakwater came over to help their friend and after a few moments of near-hyperventilation Senax managed to relax. A light sweat had broken out on her body but she was stable.

“I-I’m sorry, I just panicked when...” Senax closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m alright now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow Dash smiled at her before turning to Godfrey.

“That’s not what I was trying to do or anything,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, I know you’re telling the truth,” she narrowed her eyes. “But still. From here on out—you shut up until I say otherwise.”

There was a definite twinkle of amusement in his eyes but Godfrey merely nodded in answer.

“Ahem,” Daylight coughed and when everyone looked at her she pointed at the lizards. “Our audience is a little confused—and by confused I mean they look like they’re considering just attacking us again.”

Senax looked again and realized Daylight was right. The crowd of lizards she had almost pacified were now back to leveling their spears at her and the other. Her strange freakout and the need for her to be supported by the others had likely been taken as a sign of weakness by the lizards. The subconscious word of Ponyseidon was strong—but not all-powerful. As much as she was loathe to even lean into that sort of attitude and strategy again, she knew what she had to do. Rainbow Dash was right, it didn’t mean anything. She wasn’t Ponyseidon or her ancestors. She just needed to keep that truth carefully held inside her heart.

“I will speak again-” Senax said to the lizards, hoping that she could again get their attention and still convince them at this point. Regardless, she had to act utterly in control and make it seem like there was no doubt or hesitation in her. “You will drop your weapons and take us into the city. And then you shall bring us to your leader. I will not repeat myself. Do you understand?”

Each spoken word shook the resolve of the lizards. And when Senax started walking forward once more it broke completely.

The lizards dropped or threw their spears to the ground and completely made way for her—even as in the distance the group could now hear more approaching from the city. But it did not matter. Senax looked over her shoulder at the others and nodded to them, they could walk safely through the crowd and into the city now.

A few of the lizards, ones Rainbow Dash recognized from the hunting party, did come out to stand before the group again. But their heads were kept low and they pointed behind them as they walked, leading the way into the city. As they did so, Rainbow could hear muted hissing and mumbling coming from them.

To Senax, Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater, they could understand the broken words coming from the lizards now: “Child of Ponyseidon”.

They walked from the field and into the valley proper now where they soon found themselves walking onto one of the actual roads of the city, dilapidated as it was. Now the ancient stone buildings started to rise up all around them, from the larger stepped pyramids to simple stone houses. All of which had their paint and plaster fading and their walls chipped and crumbling. And of course there were more lizards around—many had come to see what was going on, and the group got to see the tattered looking woman and children of the ancient city. Quite a few simply hissed and ran off in either anger or fear.

“I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this,” Daylight said as they walked.

“Yeah, me either,” Rainbow said.

“I’m going to at least count this as a blessing since they’re still not trying to kill us yet,” Breakwater nodded.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Gilbert nodded. “At least friendship doesn’t seem… impossible for them now.”

“Always the optimistic one,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

From ahead now, in the direction of one of the larger pyramids, more lizards were coming down the road. Reinforcements grabbed by the hunters who left maybe? Or perhaps more important lizards, part of the leadership of the city. These ones looked quite agitated and angry at the fact that Rainbow and the others were just casually walking into the city. They didn’t know what was going on yet. The lizards in front couldn’t really explain either—Rainbow Dash didn’t need to understand their language to see that.

The ones that had just come from the pyramid now finally pushed through the others and for the first time really laid their eyes on Senax.

She stood there, fearlessly, right in the middle of the broken road. There was no time for her to be uncertain or show weakness. Not again.

One of the lizards, who had not heard her speak yet, walked up and nearly hissed in her face. It took a lot for Rainbow Dash to hold back. Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater were just as worried and ready to intervene.

“I am Senax. Child of Ponyseidon. Move out of my way and I will speak to your leader at the pyramid,” Senax said. She projected her voice as loudly and as far as she could, trying to be as imposing and commanding as possible.

It worked. The new lizards were startled by what they heard, that name “Ponyseidon” plucking at something inside their hearts and heads. Something they couldn’t control or defend against. Almost immediately the lizards who had so brazenly stepped towards her were cowed and they looked back to the others in fear and confusion, just as uncertain of what was happening. Their comrades had no answers for them though.

“Take us to the pyramid. Now,” Senax put more force into that last word and the lizards straightened up, nodding their heads and beckoning the merpony and her entourage forward.

“I’m amazed at how well that works,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Let’s hope it keeps working for the leader too,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash frowned and glanced towards Senax, leading them. “I don’t think Senax is going to want to solve the problem that way. I don’t want to either, it’s not right.”

“You’d prefer fighting them then?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“No I wouldn’t want that either. I’m just saying that commanding them by force like this isn’t the right way to do things. It’s not… friendly,” Rainbow said. “Especially if Senax doesn’t want to be like her ancestors. She needs to convince them for real.”

Daylight looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment longer, perhaps thinking of saying something, but in the end nothing came forth. Either way the two continued walking with Senax and the others towards one pyramid in particular—a large crumbling one in the middle of the city. From here they could see a staircase on its east side that led to about three-quarters of the way up before it turned into a shadowed tunnel that led inside the great stone construction. If they were in charge of this city, that’s probably where they’d stay too.

Meanwhile around them even more of the civilian lizards that lived in the city had gathered around the streets. Mass confusion and panic had certainly hit, but at least they weren’t being attacked or stopped anymore. Even if these lizards hadn’t heard Senax speak, they understood the meaning of her being led by others in their city.

Breakwater leaned in towards Rainbow Dash and Daylight to whisper. “Are we going to be safe inside that pyramid? It seems like it would be an easy place for them to trap and capture us.”

“I won’t let anything like that happen,” Rainbow said back to him. “Trust me on that, these lizards have nothing on me now.”

As soon as they reached the pyramid and Senax took her first step up the stone stairs—a piece of them cracked off under her hoof and clattered to the ground. The whole group (sans Godfrey) grimaced at it, a sign of how bad things were here in this city, and to the more superstitious it just seemed like a bad omen. Also it meant they probably needed to really watch their step as they climbed up it.

It was a decent climb too, and Rainbow and Gilbert didn’t want to potentially set anyone off by flying up it instead of walking. The higher they went, the stronger a breeze came in from both sides of the valley, somehow hitting them from both directions. At the midway point, Rainbow looked back down and saw that seemingly the entire city had gathered at the pyramid’s foot—watching them. That was another thing that could be bad.

Gilbert followed her gaze and frowned. “The lizards here in this city outnumber the ones up in the mountains by quite a large number.”

“That’s why it’s been nothing but a stalemate for so long,” Daylight said.

When they got closer to the top of the stairs, the lizards leading them stopped at where it turned into a flat walkway leading into the tunnel. Some of them froze up, seeming surprised, and hissed awkwardly while Senax and the others continued their way up.

Rainbow Dash frowned and jumped a couple steps to be right there with Senax when they reached the summit since she didn’t want her to be in any danger. Once the two of them crested that final step, Raninbow came face to face with two lizards she recognized.

“Oh,” she said as the red-spotted lizard and his book-carrying assistant stood before them.

The red-spotted lizard frowned at them while the one with the book had it open to one of its pages and was quivering. With a shaky hand he pointed out at Senax.

“M-Merpony… C-Child of Ponyseidon.”

When Daylight, Gilbert, Breakwater, and Godfrey made it up here as well, the red-spotted lizard raised his hand. A signal to all the lizards that had led the “invaders” here to fan out to the sides of this level of the pyramid and stand by. Watching. Perhaps waiting for a different signal.

“Well at least we’ve found the lizards who speak a language I know,” Rainbow Dash cracked a smile.

The red-spotted lizard’s eyes immediately snapped over to her as she spoke and he harshly glared at her, then at Godfrey, and then finally over at Senax. “Invaders… scum… false. Tricks and lies… the others… no… Ponyseidon is false. No Ponyseidon… just us. Just lizards! Just island! Leave… false one. Leave island.”

“He’s a bit more cognizant than the others, the name of Ponyseidon doesn’t affect him...” Daylight said.

Senax though was undeterred. She stepped forward despite the anger on the spotted-lizard’s face and in his voice. “Hello, I am Senax. And I come to you as a friend.” She lifted her hoof up and extended it out to him. “What is your name?”

Both sides were quite surprised by this. Rainbow and Daylight blinked stupidly at Senax’s offered hoof, while the red-spotted lizard and his cohorts seemed to be purely in disbelief. Senax had ignored everything he had said—she wasn’t letting him deny her that easily. The chameleon eyes of the lizard kept flicking from her hoof to her face, was this weakness? Was she stupid? Was she insulting him?

A growling hiss came from the leader and he swatted Senax’s hoof away. “No! No friend! Why here? Why Ponyseidon?”

Senax was dismayed and she flinched a little when her hoof was struck, returning it to the ground, but she still only sadly looked towards the lizard leader and continued to talk while the others held tense behind her. “Please. I am your friend, I truly am, and I want nothing but the best for you and your people. Right now… today I come here at the behest of your own family and people, though you may be at odds with them now, you are still one.”

“Others… mountains...” the leader hissed.

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “Princess Fairscale and your own matriarch who holds the Necklace of Ponyseidon. They want peace with you, they want the fighting to stop and for you to be brought back into the fold. Please—for the good of all on this island, I ask you to cease hostilities with them, and to become friends once more.”

“Control… lies… force. They keep us here… keep us for Ponyseidon… we… free! We will be free!” The leader shook his head.

“No—they’re truly not like that! They mean well, they don’t want to hurt you, they just want this fighting to stop!” Senax said. “I know you might disagree with staying here, and their loyalty to Ponyseidon, but isn’t that better than this?” She threw her hoof out towards the decaying city around them. “Wouldn’t you rather your people be able to live happily, not fight, and not suffer like this? You are already free on this island! You were, neither I nor anyone else would ever subjugate you again. As a Child of Ponyseidon I can promise you that!”

“No! No, no, no!” The lizard grasped his head and stomped up and down on the ground. “Lies! Evil lizards! No trust! No more words!”

“Yes more words!” Senax actually stepped forward and grabbed his arms to calm him down.

Rainbow Dash’s group and the other lizards all took a step closer towards the two, tense but not springing into action. Senax suddenly grabbing him like that had almost set off a powder keg.

“You need to believe me that I, an outsider, wants to help you all get along. I want you to throw down your arms and embrace your people again!” Senax said. “What has being like this done for you? Has it helped?”

“Like this cause of them! Should have all they have! No peace!” The lizard pushed her away. “We take all! No friends, no outsiders!” He hissed and growled loudly, gesturing to the lizards. “Not listen, not friends! Ponyseidon false!”

The other lizards now—even though they had been swayed by the word of Ponyseidon earlier—were being caught up in his fervor and clearly obeying their leader’s words. Many of them angrily turned their eyes to Senax and the others by Rainbow Dash, a few still had weapons with them as well. Together, as the leader gestured and raged more and more, they started to form a circle around the interlopers.

“Please, no. Please don’t do this...” Senax pleaded, now just outright begging, as she couldn’t help wetness gather at her eyes. “This isn’t right… we just want peace, we just want you to all be friends...” Her head sunk low to the ground as tears began to fall.

Godfrey took this all in calmly, merely raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

She bit her lip, but nodded back at him and went to stand by Senax’s side.

“Senax...” she said.

“Rainbow Dash, no, don’t...” Senax shook her head.

“Senax, I’m sorry...”

“It doesn’t need to be this way. I know it doesn’t need to go like this,” Senax lifted her head and stared into her friend’s eyes.

“I don’t want this either, but-”

“Please,” Senax begged her.

Neither of them got the chance to say anything else right then, as the red-spotted lizard yelled and the others jumped at the outsiders.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

How are you able to update this story every day?

[redmar]

Maybe after his attack has failed he'll be more willing to listen to reason.

[RoboRed]

Darnit. Hope all may not yet be lost.