> Betrothed and Betrayed
>  by Nightwings81
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was summer in Equestria, and the air was hot and still beneath a brilliant blue sky devoid of any clouds. The sun had reached its high point over Ponyville and all had gone still and drowsy—even the birds had ceased singing as they fell under the soporific haze.
Just outside the town proper was a small stream of crystal blue water where a trio of young ponies lounged on the banks in the shade of a willow. One pony, a pale blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail, lay stretched along the edge of the bank, idly watching minnows dart about the hoof she trailed in the water. A purple-maned unicorn sat on her haunches just behind the pegasus, her horn glowing with a pearly iridescence as she delicately levitated strands of her friend’s mane and wove them into elaborate plaits. Nearby, a bright orange earth pony was peeling strips of bark off a willow branch and dropping them into the current.
The pegasus suddenly took in a deep breath and let it out in an anguished groan.
“So bored!” she complained. “Bored, bored, bored…there is absolutely nothing to do.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Rainbow Dash,” the white unicorn said sweetly. “You have your weather duties later, don’t you?”
Rainbow Dash snorted and jabbed a hoof at the sky. “It’s high summer. The only weather we have is sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. The forecast for the next five days calls for clear blue skies—I don’t even get to deliver any clouds until next week, and those are all going to be small cumulus and high cirrus—those take almost no effort at all.” She groaned again and laid her head on her foreleg. “I hate summer. Give me autumn storms any day.”
“We could always go and tidy up mah apple cellar to get it all ready for the comin’ harvest,” the orange earth pony suggested with a soft country accent. When the other two fixed her with withering stares, she chuckled and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. “Well, it was just a thought. At least it’s nice an’ cool down in the cellar.”
“And reeks of sour apples,” the unicorn pointed out. She tied off a plait of entwined yellow, red, and orange hair, letting it fall down onto Rainbow Dash’s forehead before selecting several strands of blue, green, and purple to start another braid. It was a sign of how utterly bored Rainbow Dash was that she tolerated this grooming without a snide comment and even turned her head to help her friend get the locks of green she needed.
“Well, Rarity, what do you think we oughta do?”
“I’m actually quite content right here. It’s such a lovely day and I have spare time to just relax and unwind since I finished a really large order yesterday. Although I suppose we could all go for a walk or have some lunch together or…” She gasped in delight and looked at her two friends with large, sparkling blue eyes. “I know! Let’s all go and get full treatments at the spa! It will be my treat.”
“The spa?” Rainbow Dash said incredulously. “You mean, like, covering ourselves in mud and cucumber slices and sitting in a box full of hot steam?”
“Ah don’t know…seems kinda hoity toity to me. Ah don’t exactly fall in with the wrappin myself in seaweed if you get mah drift.”
Rarity hmphed and lifted her nose in the air. “Well then, I’m out of ideas. Your turn, Rainbow…and no, I have no interest in trying to break the Running Around a Tree in One Direction record or whatever it is you find so fascinating.”
“For your information, it was the ball bouncing record…and I finally beat it two weeks ago when Pinkie Pie had that cold and wasn’t around to distract me. I just wish something interesting would happen—everyday is just the same boring routine.” She sighed heavily as her stomach growled. “If it wasn’t so hot, I’d say we should try to talk Pinkie into baking us some cupcakes and—”
“Did somepony say cupcakes!” 
A bright pink pony suddenly dropped from the willow tree, landing only inches from Rainbow Dash’s nose. The pegasus screeched, jumping a foot off the ground as her eyes bulged in shock.
“Pinkie Pie!” she shouted, scrambling backwards and pressing a hoof to her over her rapidly beating heart. “Don’t do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
The orange pony laughed loudly. “Aw, c’mon, Rainbow, if anypony should know the effects of dropping out of the sky all sudden like, it should be you.”
“How long were you up there, Pinkie Pie?” Rarity tilted her head back to look into the tree as Rainbow sulked.
“Oh, only a minute or two,” Pinkie replied, making them all wonder how they had missed her. “Twilight was looking for all of us so, when she found me first, I told her I would help her find you and I did!” Pinkie Pie paused for a moment and tapped her chin. “Hmm, now I just have to find her again.”
“It’s okay, Pinkie! I’m right here!”
A lavender colored unicorn trotted down the bank towards them, followed by a pretty pale yellow pegasus with a pink mane. “Excellent! You found them all!”
“Found us? Why, we’d’ve come to you if we’d known you were lookin’,” Applejack said. “We’ve been right here all morning, Sugarcube. Cain’t figure out anything better to do.”
“Oh, really? Well then, have I got news for—Rainbow, what happened to your hair?”
“Huh?” The pegasus put both forehooves to her head, feeling the numerous braids that Rarity had completed. “What? What’s wrong with it?” She started to turn towards the river to check out her reflection, but Rarity caught her by the tail and tugged her back.
“Nothing, darling. Nothing at all. Don’t listen to her. It looks just fine!” Putting a foreleg around Rainbow’s shoulders so she couldn’t pull away, the unicorn smiled brightly at Twilight Sparkle. “You have news, Twilight? What kind of news?”
Twilight opened her saddlebags with the magic of her horn and lifted out a tightly rolled scroll tied with a black-striped ribbon.
“I got this from Princess Celestia about an hour ago. The ribbon color means that the message is urgent and that she desperately needs our help. It seems there have been reports from the borders of Equestria that our neighbors in Saddellia have been encroaching on our land and forcing Equestrian ponies into work as unwilling slaves. One of these slaves managed to escape and made it here, even though trackers from Saddellia chased him far within our own borders.”
“What in tarnation!” Applejack exclaimed. She exchanged looks with her friends, who were equally shocked.
Fluttershy nodded sadly, on the verge of tears. “It’s so terrible. The poor pony. The letter says he was all worn out and tired and sick…and he had to leave his family behind him too.”  
“How terrible!” Rarity mourned.
“Yeah, awful…but what does this have to do with us?”
“I’m glad you asked, Rainbow Dash. Princess Celestia has tried before to communicate with the King in Saddellia, a stallion named Oak Bough, but he refuses to reply to any of her letters or summons to a royal meeting. She would like to visit him herself, but she can’t abandon her duties of the sun and she’s busy helping Princess Luna get back into the routine of raising and lowering the moon. She can’t leave Canterlot…so she wants to send an official Equestrian envoy instead.”
“Let me get this straight, Sugarcube…are you tryin’ to tell us that Princess Celestia wants to send the six of us to this Saddellia place?”
“Exactly. She was a little worried about sending us because we’re so young, but she decided the Elements of Harmony would have the best chance of working out a peace treaty with the king. She says here that we will travel officially under her banner to carry her terms to Saddellia.” Rolling up the scroll, she stuck it back in her bags and faced her friends. “It means a long journey—Saddellia is on the northern border and several weeks from here, but…”
“But nothin’. If this king is takin’ ponies from Equestria and holdin’ them against their will, then we gotta stop him!”
“It’s probably going to be dangerous,” Fluttershy whispered. “Going all that way to treat with a king who has such little care or respect for other ponies, I mean.”
“We’ve faced down danger before and never let it stop us!” Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves. “I’m in! How cool that Princess Celestia trusts us with something like this? When do we leave?”
Twilight hesitated briefly before replying. “Actually, we would need to leave as soon as possible. Today in fact. If we’re all in, I’ll have Spike send a note to the princess and she can send us the documents we’ll need. If we all go and pack what we’ll need for the journey, we can meet back at the library in an hour.”
“You can count on me!” Rainbow Dash stuck out her hoof. “I’ll get Feathermay to take over weather patrol for me.”
“And Big Macintosh can handle the farm easily this time of year. I’m in too!” Applejack clapped her own hoof over Rainbow’s.
“This is going to be so super duper fun! I’ll bet it’s like that time we went into the Everfree Forest…do you remember that? That was fun, especially when we found all those scary trees and you were all “Aaahhh” and I was like “hahahaha”…”
Rainbow Dash sidled up to her chattering friend and, draping a leg companionably around her shoulders, clamped a hoof over Pinkie’s muzzle. “Yes or no, Pinkie?”
Pinkie Pie giggled and placed her pink hoof on top of Applejack’s.
“How ‘bout you, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
The little yellow pegasus had ducked her head, hiding behind her think fall of pink hair. “Well…I don’t really know. It sounds awfully scary and dangerous and it’s such a long way—I would need to find somepony to watch over all my animals—but those ponies on the border obviously need our help, and I’ll bet Saddellia has all kinds of new and interesting critters…” She paused to take in a deep, steadying breath. “Okay.” Her yellow hoof dropped over Pinkie’s, followed quickly by Twilight Sparkle’s lavender one. The friends smiled at one another, then turned as one to Rarity, who was still holding back.
“It’s alright if you want to stay here, Rarity,” Twilight started to say. “You have the boutique and who knows how long we’ll be gone.”
“But we are going there to talk with a king,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Some of the doubt in Rarity’s blue eyes vanished at that and she sat up.
“Well…I guess I could ask my parents and Sweetie Belle to watch Opal while we’re gone…and it’s for a good cause…oh, alright.” She stacked her white hoof on top of Twilight Sparkle’s. “I’m in!”
The others cheered and threw their hooves into the air, shouting, “Harmony!”
“Oh thank you, girls! I’ll go tell Spike to send a message to the princess. I’ll see you all back at the library in an hour!” Twilight turned and galloped away, her pink, purple, and blue mane streaming behind her.
“You got it, Sugarcube!” Applejack called after her, waving. “We’ll all be there!”
“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up and down with each word. “An adventure! We’re going on another adventure! This is going to be so much fun, won’t it, Fluttershy?”
“Oh yes, I guess…I’d better hurry. I’ll need to talk somepony into watching over Angel Bunny and all the other critters while I’m gone. I’ll see you soon!” She waved and raced off to her little home by the Everfree Forest.
“Ah’d better get a move on too,” Applejack told them. “May not much work around the farm this time o’ year with the apples just a’growin’ and all, but Ah’ll have to let Big Macintosh and Granny Smith and Apple Bloom know where Ah’m gonna be. See y’all at the library!” She cantered away to the orchard she ran with her family.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie both lived in Ponyville proper, so they trotted back together—or bounced in the case of Pinkie Pie—with Rainbow Dash winging just above them. 
“Now remember to pack practically, Pinkie,” Rarity told her friend as she and Rainbow Dash left her at the doorway to Sugarcube Corner. “While I’m sure the king of Saddellia would love all of your jokes and balloon animals, we will be carrying our supplies ourselves and should travel lightly.”
“Oki doki loki!” Pinkie said brightly, hopping through the door and calling out to the baker couple who rented to her.
“I’ll bet a bit she still brings a hoof buzzer and at least one pack of balloons,” Rainbow Dash muttered. She performed a lazy backwards loop and landed lightly beside Rarity, walking the rest of the way to the Carousel Boutique. As luck would have it, Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle, was playing in the shade on the front lawn with her two best friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.
“Hello girls!” Rarity called out. The fillies looked up from their board game and their eyes widened in mingled shock and horror.
“Whoa, Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed a little orange pegasus named Scootaloo. “What happened to—?”
Rarity hurriedly shook her head and cleared her throat, interrupting the filly. “Girls, we’ve just received a message from Princess Celestia herself asking us to go on a journey in the name of Equestria. Apple Bloom, darling, your sister has just run home to pack. You may want to hurry there and say goodbye to her…we don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”
“Oh no!” the little yellow earth pony exclaimed. She jumped up, knocking over her pieces on the board. Her red and orange eyes narrowed. “She’d better not be plannin’ on sneakin’ out without sayin’ goodbye! See y’all later! And don’t listen to what anypony says, Rainbow Dash. Ah like your mane that way!”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash turned after the filly. “What do you mean by that?” she called, but Apple Bloom was already racing down the street as fast as her stubby legs could carry her.
“What did she mean by that?” Dash asked again, turning back to look suspiciously at Rarity and the remaining fillies. Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak, but Sweetie Belle nudged her, green eyes wide and innocent, and the little pegasus subsided.
“Oh, nothing, darling,” Rarity assured her friend. “You know little girls and how silly they can be.” She tilted her head at the fillies, who exchanged looks and grinned toothily.
“Where are you all going? Can I watch the shop while you’re gone?” Sweetie asked her sister. “Will I get to run the cash register?”
Rarity laughed. “Oh no, darling. I’ll be closing the shop, of course. But do you think you could watch Opal for me?”
Sweetie Belle hesitated, her eyes shifting nervously towards a window of the boutique, where the cat in question was innocently licking a paw while she soaked up the warmth of the sun. “I…I guess I could. As long as she behaves herself.”
“Oh, of course she will! She’s just a darling, aren’t you, Opal?” Rarity tapped the glass and blew a kiss to her cat, who responded by hissing and slashing her claws down the window with a high-pitched squeal. “Eh he, see?” Rarity grinned sheepishly, then caught sight of the town clock tower. “Goodness! We’re wasting time! I need to pack and close up the shop and get Opal into her carrier.”
“I’ll help!” Sweetie piped eagerly.
“Ooh, me too!” offered Scootaloo. “I’m not afraid of a fluffy little cat.” 
“Uh, you might wanna think twice about this fluffy little cat, kiddo,” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the filly’s head with a hoof before raising her wings. “But if I bring Tank down, do you think you could tortoise-sit him for me?”
Scootaloo gasped at the thought of taking care of her idol’s pet and bobbed her head eagerly. “You can count on me, Rainbow Dash! I’ll take good care of him, I promise!”
“Awesome! Well, I’d better go pack too. Just you remember what you said to Pinkie Pie, Rarity…no need to bring your whole wardrobe with you.”
“Oh dear no, of course not. Why, half of my outfits are meant for indoor wear only. They would look utterly absurd in the wilderness.”
Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “Bye Sweetie, seeya soon Squirt!” Scootaloo’s purple eyes filled with admiration as her idol leapt into the air and soared effortlessly skyward, performing a loop de loop before winging to the cloud house she had recently pushed closer to Ponyville to avoid long flights in the summer heat. She was so close to the Carousel Boutique now that Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo clearly heard her scream of horror when the pegasus glanced into the rainbow pond by her front porch and finally caught sight of the multicolored braids spiraled in her mane like large cinnamon buns.
“Rarity! What did you do to my hair!”
Below, the unicorn chuckled nervously as she ushered the loudly laughing fillies into the boutique. “Let’s hurry, girls! There’s so much to do.” With a quick glance upwards to assure no furious blue streak was heading her way, she darted inside and hurriedly slammed the door.
**
An hour later, Rarity arrived at the town library, which was built into a large, hollow tree. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came along to see the six ponies off and say goodbye. 
They were greeted at the door by Twilight’s assistant, Spike. The little purple dragon grinned foolishly as Rarity smiled at him and trotted into the main room to find Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash already gathered with their saddlebags. Rainbow Dash’s mane was loose again, but still bore slight curls from the braids. She was busy petting a large green tortoise but glanced up as Rarity came in and wrinkled her nose.
“Not cool, Rarity.”
Rarity pranced up to her friend and gave her an affectionate nuzzle. “Quite the contrary, darling. I thought you looked adorable.”
Apple Bloom, who had followed her sister into town, joined Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in laughing at what they considered a fabulous joke. 
“Ah just wish we’d gotten pictures!” Apple Bloom said, grinning cheekily even when Rainbow Dash scowled at her.
“Oh Rarity, good! You’re here!” Twilight trotted out of the archives with a stack of books levitating in the air before her. “Now all we just need is Fluttershy.”
“She’s on her way, Sugarcube…she’s just finishin’ off a few things with her critters and all.”
As if on cue, the yellow pegasus trotted through the door wearing a pair of saddlebags and followed by her white rabbit, Angel. The bunny was scowling fiercely and holding onto Fluttershy’s tail, desperately trying to pull her back outside.
“I’m so sorry, Angel,” the pegasus was saying. “I really wish I could stay with you, but Princess Celestia and my friends need me. Please try to understand. You can stay here with Spike and help out in the library. I’m sure he’ll like that.”
“What!” Spike exclaimed, running up behind the pony with a look of terror on his face. “B-but why does he have to stay here?” 
“Oh, Spike, I was able to get ponies to help out with all my other critters, but for some reason nopony had the space for Angel. I can’t just leave him alone.”
Spike paused to stare at the little white bunny, who stopped pulling on Fluttershy’s tail, crossed his arms belligerently, and stuck his nose haughtily in the air.
“Nopony wanted him, huh? Gee, there’s a big surprise.”
“Spike, I’m sure you and Angel will get along just fine. He’ll probably be a big help while we’re away.” Twilight transported her books to a table and set them down. “Well girls, I’ve been doing some research into Saddellia this last hour, and I must tell you, this is going to be, uh, an interesting trip. The country has always been ruled by a monarchy following a patriarchal line, which means the crown passes down to the first born son. According to my books, the kingdom still works on a serf and lord system and the people are heavily taxed on their labors to support the royal family and its court in Royal Oak Palace.”
Applejack walked up to the table and selected a book with a stylized oak leaf on the cover. She opened it at random and read a few paragraphs, raising an eyebrow as she did. “Says here they’re known for unique lumber and growin’ pumpkins, of all things. Now that’s just plain weird if’n you ask me.” 
“Why’s that weird?” Rainbow Dash wanted to know. She started hovering over the earth pony, reading the book over her shoulder.
“Ah don’t know…they’re just so…so big…and orange…and they grow there all along the ground.”
“Do you have any maps, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. Angel had clamped onto her hind leg now and was rapidly shaking his head as Spike tried to pry him off. “I mean, if it’s such a very long way…we wouldn’t want to get lost.”
“I’ve already thought of that. We’re going to take the train to Manehattan Junction, but we’ll head north on foot from there.” She produced a large map and pointed to a wide patch of green and gray. “We’ll have to go through these forested hills on our own…and then there’s a small mountain ridge called the Saddlebacks that we’ll have to cross. Saddellia is on the other side.”
“That’s a fair bit o’ distance, Twi. We’re not gonna be able to carry enough supplies all that way.”
“We’ll have to collect food along the way. Woods like that should be full of edible things this time of year.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie said happily. “There’ll be watercress and wild carrots, berries, grass, flowers, maybe crabapples…”
“Yuck!” Applejack grimaced.
“That sounds…very rustic.”
“It sounds like fun, Rarity.” Sweetie Belle had stepped up behind Spike to help him with Angel. Fluttershy had lifted her hoof off the ground, but the rabbit still clung tenaciously and refused to let go even though Spike had both arms wrapped around the little white waist. Sweetie wrapped her own arms around Spike and tugged, saying, “I wish I was going with you.”
“Yeah! It sounds so amazing!” Scootaloo got behind Sweetie, joining the chain. Angel was now suspended in the air, stretched between Fluttershy and Spike and the two fillies. “Why can’t we go too? We could help…Rainbow Dash, I could be your assistant!”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem fair that y’all get to go on all kinds of adventures and we always gotta stay here.” Apple Bloom sidled up to Angel and delicately tickled the bunny under his arms. He wriggled and twisted, but finally lost his grip on Fluttershy. Still tugging from behind, Spike, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went flying across the floor and crashed in a tangled heap against a bookshelf. Angel managed to slip free while they all groaned, shook a tiny fist at them, and shot up the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom loft. They all flinched when they heard a cabinet door slam, but Fluttershy smiled.
“That’s better. He’s just finding the best place to sleep.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike managed to untangle themselves and looked incredulously at the yellow pony, who stared up at the balcony with adoring eyes.
“He’s such a little angel. I’m going to miss him.” 
Shaking her head, Sweetie turned back to her sister. “Well?”
“Well what?” Rarity asked.
“Can’t we go with you? We can help…and maybe something like this will be what we need to get our cutie marks.”
“Yeah! That’s right! We could be the Cutie Mark Ambassadors.”
The three fillies lined up, looking at the six friends eagerly.
Twilight closed her book with a soft slam. “I’m sorry, girls. Princess Celestia just asked us to go…and things are pretty tense between Equestria and Saddellia right now. This isn’t going to be a vacation. We’re going to be treading some pretty delicate ground as it is and will have to be on our best behavior.”
“But we can do that,” Sweetie promised.
“Yeah…we’ll be real good, we swear!”
“Now, Apple Bloom…” Applejack crossed the room to put a hoof around her little sister’s shoulder. “You know nothin’ would make me happier than ta bring you…but Ah need you to keep an eye on the farm while Ah’m gone. Big Mac depends on you.”
“Does not,” Apple Bloom said sulkily, ducking out from under the hoof. “And nothin’s happenin’ there right now anyway.”
“Oh, but you girls have a really important job to do here,” Fluttershy spoke up quietly. “You need to help Spike take care of Angel Bunny for me. I know I would feel so much better leaving him behind if I knew he had three friends to watch over him.”
“That’s a great idea!” Spike exclaimed. “You could be the Cutie Mark Crusader Bunny Sitters.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow cynically. “Bunny sitters?”
The little dragon shrugged. “Hey, you never know until you’ve tried.”
“I think that sounds like a fun idea!” Pinkie Pie bubbled. She had her face stuck in her saddlebags, rearranging her supplies. When she pulled her head free, a long, thin balloon dangled from her nose and there was confetti in her hair. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her face and shook her head.
“Bunny sitters, balloons…this trip hasn’t even started yet and it cannot get any weirder.”
“I’m beginning to agree, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity smiled amusedly. “Looks like you got your wish.”
“Too right. Now let’s stop wasting time.” The blue pegasus landed and walked up to the three young fillies. Standing straight and sticking out her chest, she shouted, “Cutie Mark Crusaders, atteennshun!”
The fillies immediately lined up straight, saluting the young mare. Rainbow Dash nodded and began to pace back and forth before them.
“I hereby charge you three with the absolutely, positively, enormously important job of bunny sitting while Fluttershy is away. You will play with the bunny. You will feed the bunny. You will even sing the bunny a lullaby if he wants one. Is that understood!”
“Yes ma’am,” the fillies muttered, all looking downtrodden.
Rainbow Dash snorted at the lackluster response and her magenta eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to the girls. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me,” she said, her voice deceptively soft. “So let’s try that again. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?”
The force of her shout blew the fillies’ manes straight out behind them and nearly knocked Sweetie Belle over. Scrambling back into formation, they yelled, “YES MA’AM!”
“That’s better! When you are not busy with the bunny, you will be helping Spike out as Cutie Mark Crusader Library Assistants and taking care of Tank too. Is that understood?”
“YES MA’AM!”
“Good! Now, aaaabout face!” The fillies spun about, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo each turning in a different direction so their heads knocked together with an audible thunk. Groaning, they managed to line up again. “March up those stairs and find that AWOL rabbit. Ready? March…march…march!”
The three young ponies held their line until they reached the bottom of the stairs, and then a shoving match began over who got to go up first. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom started racing, but fell backwards when Scootaloo tugged on their tails and leapt over their heads. The mares heard them banging around on the balcony as they searched for Angel.
“Wow, Rainbow!” Twilight Sparkle grinned at her friend, impressed. “Where did that come from?”
Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches and shrugged, her eyes wide with surprise. “I don’t really know. But it worked.” Tank trundled across the floor to her side and she swept him into a hug, laughing. “And it was kinda fun too!”
“Ah’ll say. Y’all are gonna have to teach me that kinda talk…could be powerful handy when Ah need Apple Bloom ta do her chores.”
“Well…we have the fillies set…Angel Bunny will be watched over…Spike won’t be overwhelmed…the princess has sent me the peace treaty papers…I’d say we’re all set to go.” Twilight looked at the clock on her wall and grinned. “Perfect. The next train departs in twenty minutes.” She quickly rolled up the map and stuck it in her saddlebags, then levitated the bags onto her back. Cinching them tight, she turned to her friends. “Are we all ready?”
“Almost!” Pinkie Pie had her head buried in her bags again. There was a sudden explosion of confetti and whistles, causing the pink pony to jump back and land on her haunches. She looked briefly startled, then began to laugh and hiccup simultaneously. “Oh well, hic! maybe the confetti bombs, hic! weren’t such a good idea, hic! anyway.” Jumping up, she wriggled into her saddlebags and bounced towards the door. “Saddellia here we, hic! come!”
Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders joined the six friends to the train depot to see them off. Leaning out the windows, Twilight called last minute instructions to Spike, while Fluttershy waved goodbye to Angel Bunny, who dangled limply in Sweetie Belle’s arms. The little unicorn lifted the pouting rabbit’s paw and waved back.
“Be good now, Angel!” Fluttershy called. “And thank you, girls! I know he’ll be safe with you!”
“Bye Apple Bloom! Keep an eye on everyone for me! Ah know Ah can trust you!”
“Have fun with Opal, Sweetie! I’ll see you soon!”
“Seeya Squirt! Bye Tank! Have fun!
The train gave a lurch as the eight stallions hooked to the harness took a preparatory step forward. The conductor blew the whistle sharply twice and the stallions stepped out, pulling the train away from the station at a fast canter. The six Elements of Harmony watched through the windows as Ponyville, and the prospect of a boring summer, quickly vanished behind them.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a full day and night’s ride from the Ponyville station to the train junction where they would set out north. In that time, Twilight Sparkle filled her friends in on more of the facts she had learned about Saddellia and showed them some of the treaty documents the princess and her advisors had written up.
“It’s all very simple really. If you look here, you can see that Celestia is not asking for any special favors, or even to declare that Equestria is superior to Saddellia—she just wants the Saddellians to stay on their own land and to leave her subjects alone. She’s asking for a truce agreement between the two countries and has even offered to open up trade routes through the mountains.”
“Trade? You mean pumpkins, right, Twi?” Lounging on one of the plush, red seats in the private car they shared, Applejack pulled a face and stuck out her tongue. Sitting across from her, Rainbow Dash laughed.
“What’s with you and this sudden hatred of pumpkins, AJ?”
The earth pony lifted her nose in the air. “Ah’m just a firm believer that only one kinda fruit belongs in a pie, thank you very much.”
“Okay, but isn’t a pumpkin a vegetable?” The pegasus lowered her ears as Applejack glared in her direction. “Well, I’m just saying…”
“Whatever…fruit, vegetable, it makes no matter. Ah just wish this wasn’t all so last minute or Ah coulda arranged to bring them some nice, young apple saplin’s as a gesture of good will an’ all. Nothin’ breaks the ice quicker’n a gift if you ask me.” She opened her saddlebags and rooted around until she found a slightly wrinkled gala. “Ah s’pose Ah could give a couple of these for the seeds…too bad they’re from last year’s crop—they’re lookin’ a little sad by now.”
A bright pink, curly haired head suddenly appeared above the farm pony, hanging upside down from the luggage rack. Pinkie Pie snatched the apple off Applejack’s hoof with a single bite and chewed loudly.
“Hmm! Still tastes good!”
“How in tarnation did you get up there?” Applejack asked incredulously. She looked askance of her other friends. “Did anypony see her get up there?”
The others shook their heads, bewildered, and Pinkie Pie giggled, dropping back into her seat and wiping flecks of apple from her chin. “Silly, I climbed up. Anypony want to play tic tac toe?”
The summer sun was late in setting as Princess Celestia let the day linger into a gentle dusk, but the excited ponies could not relax despite Twilight’s caution that they had a lot of hard travel ahead of them. To pass the time while the train rumbled down the tracks, they obliged Pinkie Pie with games of tic tac toe, hangmare, and I Spy, then shared a motley meal from their packed supplies before settling down to discuss what they might see on their journey. 
“I’ll bet we see another dragon when we’re in the mountains,” Pinkie Pie said, swishing her bushy tail back and forth. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“No!” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash exclaimed in unison. They exchanged surprised glances and burst into laughter.
“Well, if the Saddlebacks are anything like the dragon mountain, I’ll be glad I remembered to bring some hiking boots,” Rarity said. “Climbing over that avalanche was simply dreadful—I chipped my hoof and it took two weeks and three pedicures before it looked right again.” She suddenly gave a delicate yawn. “Oh! Excuse me, girls…it must be getting late.”
In the strange way of yawns, the first one turned out to be contagious and soon each pony was yawning and blinking sleepily.
“W-wow!” Twilight said when the wave ended with her. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we just rode through a sleeping spell.
“Ah’d say it was just a reminder that we all should be getting a comfortable night’s sleep while we still can, Sugarcube.” Applejack scooted lower onto her seat and rested her chin on her hooves. She yawned again and blinked rapidly.
“I am feeling just the teensiest bit tired now,” Fluttershy said quietly. “It must have been that last game of hangmare.”
“Or the full belly.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and rolled over onto her back with her legs sticking up in the air. “If I eat one more thing I think I’ll burst.”
Smiling and suppressing a wild giggle, Pinkie Pie crept up behind the blue pegasus with a fully inflated balloon in her hooves. Bending down close to her friend’s ear, she popped it with a loud bang. Rainbow Dash shouted and tumbled off her seat, clutching worriedly at her full belly.
“What was that? What happened? I didn’t mean it literally!”
Her friends began to laugh and Pinkie Pie danced forward to waggle the burst balloon before Rainbow’s startled face.
“Gotcha, Dashie!” she sang, her blue eyes bright and shining.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes crossed as she focused on the balloon and realized it had been a joke. As an ardent prankster herself, she immediately saw the funny side and started to chuckle.
“Good one, Pinkie Pie…yeah, you got me!” She suddenly swung her legs sideways, knocking Pinkie off her hooves, and started tickling her.
“You do know that it is almost scientifically impossible to spontaneously combust, don’t you, Dash?” Twilight asked in her I-Live-In-A-Library tone.
Rainbow Dash paused, holding the giggling Pinkie down with one hoof, and looked up at the lavender unicorn. A mischievous glint sparking in her eyes, she bent down to whisper to Pinkie. The earth pony laughed and rolled to her feet.
“Oki doki loki! One…two…”
“Three!” The pink and blue ponies leapt at Twilight, who only had time for one startled squeak before they knocked her to the floor in a flurry of legs, wings, and furious tickling.
“Pony pile!” Applejack whooped and jumped into the fray.
“Girls! No…hahaha…stop! Hehehe, please…don’t tickle…ahahaha!” The unicorn tried desperately to wriggle away, but was quickly reduced to curling up in a giggling, shaking ball on the floor.
Watching the scene, Rarity rolled her eyes. “Honestly…given the gravity of our situation, don’t you think we should—”
“Aw, c’mon, Sugarcube!” Applejack reared up to catch Rarity by her curly tail and yanked her off the seat. She let out a distinctly unladylike squawk as she landed on Rainbow Dash, flattening the pegasus to the floor with a loud Oomph!
“Oh! You think you can get me with a sneak attack, huh?” Rainbow planted her hooves and arched her back, flinging Rarity straight into Pinkie Pie. The white unicorn gasped, then began to helplessly snicker as she was tickled.
“No! Stop…Pinkie, I…hehe…this is so, haha, undignified! I insist that you let me, hehehe, go at once!”
With the attention now on Rarity, Twilight Sparkle was able to roll over and sit up, chuckling and wiping away tickle tears.
“Twilight! Twilight, haha, be a dear and, hahaha, help me!”
The same mischievous shine came to Twilight’s eyes and she grinned.
“Oh, I’ll help you alright!”
Rarity gaped in horror. “Twilight, don’t you d-ahahahah!”
“Oh dear, oh dear.” Fluttershy backed up against the wall, desperately trying to press herself into the plush backing of her seat.
“C’mon, Fluttershy! Don’t be such a scaredy-pony!”
Fluttershy trembled and bit her lip nervously, then her gentle, turquoise eyes firmed and she threw herself off the seat with a wild yell. Her wings snapped open as she flew straight at a surprised Rainbow Dash. The blue pony gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to be bowled over…but the blow never came.
Hesitantly, Rainbow Dash opened one eye to see Fluttershy hovering right before her. The yellow pegasus smiled sweetly and gently tickled her friend under the chin.
“Tickle, tickle,” she whispered.
The scuffle ended in laughter and the six young mares returned to their seats to settle down for the night.
“I wish we could’ve gotten a sleeper car like that time we went to Appleoosa,” Rainbow Dash observed, folding her legs beneath her and resting her chin on her armrest.
“Me too.” Twilight Sparkle was trying to arrange her saddlebags so they could be used as a pillow. “But this was all that they had.”
“Never mind, Sugarcube. This’ll probably be the last comfortable sleep we have for awhile.” Applejack leaned back against her armrest and tipped her hat forward until it covered her eyes. “After tonight it’s gonna be us and blankets on the ground.”
“Oh, what a horrible thought,” Rarity said gloomily. She had arranged a little pillow behind her head and settled a pink silk mask over her eyes. She was just starting to cuddle down onto her pillow when she gasped slightly and lifted the mask to look over her shoulder. Pinkie Pie had dropped her head onto the unicorn’s flank and was already snoring slightly.
“How did she do that?” Twilight asked, nonplussed. 
“Nopony’s ever been able to figure it out.” Rainbow Dash yawned again and let her eyes drift closed.
Rarity opened her saddlebag with her horn and removed a small, pink blanket to match her pillow. She draped it over Pinkie. 
“Sleep tight, everyone,” she murmured.
“Yes, goodnight, everypony,” Fluttershy whispered. 
“Goodnight,” Twilight responded. 
The three waited a moment, but the only answering sounds from their friends were quiet snores and gentle breathing. Twilight extinguished the lights with her horn and closed her eyes as the train rumbled along through the darkness.
**
“Alright, everypony. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this right. These here forests and mountains are no joke—we need to plan a route and follow it so we don’t get lost.”
The train had left them at the Tailehassee junction, which was little more than a café where the train ponies could catch a hearty meal before starting on their next run. The mares were now crowded around one of the small tables, eating daisy salads and rearranging their packs with the wrapped sandwiches they had purchased for dinner. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were once again studying the map the unicorn had found.
“It looks like we’ll be going through a couple of little villages before we reach the mountains…that should be interesting,” Rarity observed. “Small hamlets are always so quaint.”
“And a good place to restock our supplies before we have to rely strictly on forage,” Applejack added. She pointed to a tiny dot on the map. “If we keep to this north-western course we should come to this one first. Shirevale.”
“Sounds good to me.” Twilight magically rolled the map and tucked it into her luggage. “Are we ready?”
“Not yet!” Pinkie Pie planted her hooves on the table and rapidly sucked the last of her chocolate milkshake through the straw. Turning to Fluttershy, she asked, “Are you gonna finish that?”
The pegasus had barely shaken her head when Pinkie grabbed her glass and downed the contents in a single gulp.
“It’s so good!” she said, licking her lips. “We should come here more often!”
“Oh sure—a fifteen hour train ride just for a milkshake.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but pushed the remains of her ice cream soda across the table before Pinkie could ask her for it.
“Ooh! Thanks, Dashie!” The pink pony began rapidly slurping.
“Okay, now can we go?” Twilight asked.
“We’re all ready, Twi. Let’s skedaddle before Pinkie puts herself into sugar shock.”
Pinkie Pie had her nose stuck in the glass, furiously licking all the ice cream from the bottom. She protested when Rainbow Dash and Applejack lifted her bodily from the table, but could only manage muffled whimpers since the glass had suctioned itself onto her snout.
“You are so random!” Rainbow Dash grabbed the glass with her hooves and pulled. Pinkie planted all four feet and leaned backwards, but still slid across the waxed floor until Rarity and Fluttershy caught her tail and hindquarters to hold her in place. The glass came free with a loud pop, throwing the rainbow-maned pony into the café counter hard enough to set a stack of plates shaking. Her eyes widened as one toppled and fell, but Rainbow Dash stuck out her hind leg, catching it nimbly on her hoof before it could shatter.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The plump café owner put down the plate he had been wiping and leaned over the counter to glare at her disapprovingly.
“Hehe, uh, sorry about that.” Rainbow scrambled to her hooves and handed over the plate and glass. “Here you go. Everything was delicious!” Still giggling, she hurriedly trotted outside into the summer heat to join her friends.
“Oh my, this sun really isn’t good for my complexion.” Rarity pulled a broad brimmed hat from her bags and settled it over her purple mane and horn. She followed this with a pair of sunglasses, then smeared a dollop of sunscreen on her nose. “I do hope I don’t freckle.”
“And just what is so bad about freckles?” Applejack wanted to know. “Ah think they give a pony character.”
“According to my map, we should head this way.” Twilight was already moving down a dusty dirt path away from the café. The land ahead of them was a rough and grassy expanse of plain, but they could see the faint, bluish-green haze of forest in the distance. “If we hurry, we might make the forest just after midday—the shade will definitely be welcome by then.”
“Then let’s get going! C’mon, I’ll race you!” Rainbow Dash reared and pawed the air with her hooves, then galloped down the path.
“Whoo hoo! You’re on, partner! Ah call no wings!” Applejack raced after the blue pony, her blonde mane and tail flying behind her with a cloud of dust.
“We can do it, girls! Let’s show them what we’re made of!” Twilight said, pawing the ground before darting forward.
“Whee!” Pinkie Pie followed, hopping along the trail.
“Oh no, Pinkie…you forgot your bag!” Fluttershy grabbed the balloon printed saddlebags in her teeth and cantered after Pinkie Pie.
“Yes, lovely…now we’ll get all dusty and sweaty and…” Rarity suddenly realized that she had been left alone. With a startled squeak, she hurried to follow her friends.
**
As predicted, they reached the trees just after midday. Though they had not been able to keep up the galloping race for long in the heat, they had fallen into a leisurely, but ground-eating trot and the miles had melted away. 
“You did not, AJ! I won!”
“That crash back at the café must have rattled your brains, Rainbow. Anypony could see that Ah beat you by a mile.”
“A mile? No way! You must have been confused by all that dust I left in my wake!”
“They’re going to go on like this for hours, aren’t they?” Twilight shook her head as Rainbow Dash flipped upside down over Applejack’s head so they could glare eye to eye. The two had been arguing over the winner for the last thirty minutes.
“If not days,” Rarity told her.
Twilight glanced at her fellow unicorn and winked slyly. “Well, I sure hope it doesn’t turn into another running of the leaves.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash immediately flinched and exchanged guilty looks, remembering the past competition that had actually caused them both to lose the race.
“Fine. We’ll call it a tie.” Rainbow Dash spun right side up and landing beside Applejack, who thrust out a hoof to shake.
“Agreed.”
“Phew!” Twilight broke into a smile, relieved, but it was short lived when they all paused at the treeline of the forest and peered into the gloom between the huge, closely spaced trees. 
“Oh, um, okay…we’re here…maybe I should check the map just one more time before we go.” She hurriedly opened the rolled parchment and peered at it again.
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face. “Don’t you have that thing memorized by now?”
Twilight turned to her, lavender eyes showing an inkling of doubt. “No…well, yes…but it’s a really big forest and I just want to make sure that we don’t get lost. A little extra preparation can go a long w—”	
“But you want us to follow this path right here, right?” Rainbow traced the pale line along the map with her hoof, tilted her head thoughtfully, then leapt into the air. She came to a hovering stop about thirty feet up and shaded her eyes with a leg. “Yeah…there it is! It’s pretty overgrown, and the path tends to drift to the right, but we should be able to stay on it with no problem.”
Twilight Sparkle let out another sigh of relief, suddenly embarrassed that she had been so worried. With two pegasi along, they would always be able to get a bird’s eye view, as it were, of their surroundings. Getting lost might actually take some effort on their part.
“That’s a great idea, Rainbow!” she said when the pegasus touched down again.
Rainbow raised a hoof and looked from side to side confusedly. “What?”
“You will be our official aerial navigator and make sure we aren’t straying off the trail. With you keeping us true, there’s no way we can get lost.”
“Oh! Okay, sure…I can do that!” She went airborne again, her wings flapping almost lazily as she hovered over her friends. “Wouldn’t want you falling off a cliff or anything.” She grinned cheekily at Twilight, who pursed her lips.
“I only did that once…well, almost twice,” she amended, when Rainbow and Applejack both raised their eyebrows. “And I was a little distracted at the time if you can remember.”
A sudden, thunderous crash from the forest made them all jump. Fluttershy yelped and raced around Pinkie Pie, ducking down and cowering behind the pink pony.
“What was that?” she asked, shaking from mane to hoof. “Is it a…a monster?”
“I…I think it was just a falling tree branch,” Twilight said, staring into the forest. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped up beside her, tense and alert, their eyes wide.
“Oh no…it’s a monster. I know it. It’s probably an ursa or a wyvern or…something really big and mean and scary that likes to eat ponies.” Fluttershy whimpered and hid her eyes behind her hooves.
Applejack nudged Rainbow Dash with her shoulder and tipped her head towards the forest. Silently, the pegasus nodded and flew up again, winging between the trees. Her friends waited, hardly daring to breathe, but she returned a moment later with a tree branch in her mouth. Landing beside Fluttershy, she gently tickled the timid pony with the leaves.
“Or it could be a falling tree branch, just like Twilight said.”
Fluttershy opened her eyes to look at the branch. She continued to tremble.
“That’s an awfully small branch to make such an awfully loud and scary crash,” she pointed out.
Rainbow Dash let the branch fall. “I only took a small piece. The whole thing was way too heavy to move.” She pointed to the forest. “It’s right in there if you want to check it out.”
Fluttershy’s turquoise eyes went to the forest and she let out a terrified little meep.
“Don’t be scared, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said brightly, patting the pegasus on the head. “It was just a tree branch. And even if it wasn’t, you have your Auntie Pinkie Pie here to protect you.” 	
“Yes, well…I don’t know…it’s just…do we really have to go into that big, dark, cold, scary forest?” 
“I wouldn’t exactly call it cold, Fluttershy, dear.” Rarity removed her hat and wiped her sweat-dampened hair from her forehead. “It must be more than a hundred degrees out here…and probably won’t be any cooler in there.”
“Actually, it’s more like ninety-three degrees right now,” Rainbow Dash said. She licked a hoof and held it up in the air. Tilting her head slightly, she continued, “I’d say ninety-two point five…give or take a quarter degree.”
Twilight Sparkle’s mouth dropped open in shock and Applejack laughed. She chucked the unicorn under the chin, closing her mouth with an audible click.
“Weather pony,” she said. “Ah know…it’s uncanny, ain’t it?”
“Says the pony who perfectly predicted the red delicious projection for the last three years,” Rainbow said smugly. She stepped up to Fluttershy’s other side, motioning to Pinkie. They both bent down, pressing against the yellow pegasus, and stood again with her sandwiched between them. Fluttershy squeaked, but slowly lowered her hooves to the ground and remained standing when the two stepped away. Rainbow gave her a shove from behind with her head as Pinkie started bouncing forward again.
“Really? Three years in a row?” Twilight asked as they all stepped into the shady gloom of the forest. “I never knew that.”
“What can Ah say? Ah have a gift when it comes t’ apples. It’s kinda like Pinkie Sense in a way.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “But Ah still think that weather pony stuff Dash does is just downright freaky sometimes.”
“Heard that!” Rainbow announced. “And let me remind you that my freaky weather pony stuff has come in pretty handy on that farm of yours.”
“Ah never said it didn’t, Sugarcube—freaky can still be handy. Though freaky or not, right now Ah wish you could whip us up a cloud with some rain to cool us down a smidge. Even an itty bitty breeze would be welcome.”
Rainbow looked up through the trees at the small patch of blue sky overhead. “I can try for a cloud, but I’ll have to fly pretty far to collect enough moisture to make it worth it.”
“Better not, Rainbow,” Twilight told her. “I think we should all stick together.”
“Oh yes, please stay here, Rainbow Dash. Who knows what sorts of things you could run into up there,” Fluttershy murmured. “You could get chased by a roc or a sphinx...”
“Or a swarm of nasty, biting midgy mites!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Rainbow looked confused. “Midgy mites? No, never mind. The cloud would be too small anyway.” She hopped nimbly into the air, preferring to fly, but still keeping pace with her earthbound friends. The downdraft of her wings created the requested breeze, but still brought little relief from the heat. 
By the time the sun started to dip towards the western horizon, they had delved deep into the forest and were surrounded on all sides by enormous trees. The heavy, leaf-laden boughs even crisscrossed overhead, hemming them in and blocking any lingering light. After the falling branch from before, the ponies found this unsettling.
“It’s getting so dark and gloomy,” Pinkie said mournfully after tripping over an exposed tree root. She looked ready to cry as she rubbed a scraped fetlock.
Rainbow Dash soared skyward and zigzagged through the branches until she broke into open sky. Landing on one reaching bough, she scanned the forest before her.
“Pony feathers!”
Jumping from the branch, she swooped back down and pulled up to hover before Twilight Sparkle.
“It looks like we’re going off course…but it’s almost as dark up as it is down here and I could hardly see the trail anymore.”
“Sounds like we’d call it quits and set up camp before we get ourselves lost,” Applejack advised. “I can hardly see mah hoof in front of mah face and if we go trippin’ round in the dark one of us is gonna get hurt.”
“One of us already got hurt,” Pinkie said, sounding petulant. She returned to her usual cheeriness an instant later when Fluttershy gently nuzzled her cheek.
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight agreed. “Let’s see if we can find a good place to settle down for the night.” She started walking carefully to the side of the path, squinting at the placement of her hooves.
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she watched the magical pony mince through the growing darkness. “Uh, Twi, what in the hay are you doin’?”
“Watching my step so I won’t trip like Pinkie did. There’re roots all over the ground.”
Catching on, Rainbow Dash snickered. “Sure, you could go tiptoeing around like that…or you could just use your horn!”
“My ho—oh!” The unicorn ducked her head and giggled in embarrassment. “Yes, right.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she concentrated her power into her horn, which flickered, then blazed with a bright white glow.
“Sorry everypony,” she said, raising her head again to cast the light across the ground. “I guess I should have thought of this sooner.”
A second later, Rarity’s horn also lit up and the white unicorn smiled at her friend. “Don’t beat yourself up, Twilight…we’ve just been so focused on moving forward, it never occurred to either of us.”
With the help of the twin lights, they left the path and found a suitable small clearing just large enough to serve as a simple camp. They spread out blankets and built a small fire, then hungrily set upon the dinners they had brought with them.
Rainbow Dash had only finished half of her clover and alfalfa sprout sandwich when Applejack beckoned her from a tree a few yards away.
“What’s up?” she asked, fluttering over.
Applejack kept her voice lowered, leaning close to the pegasus. “Rainbow, Ah know we’re all tired and all, but Ah think it would be a good idea for us to keep watch shifts t’night. Ah don’t know if you noticed, but when Twilight lit up her horn, there were eyes shining in the dark, watchin’ us.”
Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and glanced over her shoulder. No, she hadn’t noticed that. Now she peered into the inky gloom beyond the orange glow of their firelight. She didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t out there, waiting for them all to fall asleep.
“Good idea,” she murmured back. “Do you want me to go first?”
“What are you two whispering about over here?” Twilight had crept up on the pair quietly and her sudden voice made them jump with fright.
“Don’t do that, Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed in a whisper.
“Yeah, you nearly scared the feathers off me—are you taking lessons from Pinkie Pie now?”
Twilight laughed ruefully. “Sorry. I was just wondering what you’re both looking so conspiratorial for.”
Applejack glanced towards the fire, saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were busy helping Pinkie Pie with her scraped leg, and put a hoof around Twilight’s neck to draw her closer.
“Rainbow and Ah were just discussin’ who should take the first watch—you know, to keep an eye out while everypony sleeps.”
Twilight looked concerned.  “You really think that’s necessary?” The serious looks on their faces were answer enough. She nodded. “Okay. But don’t you think we should all take shifts? That way they’ll be shorter and—”
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes wearily and held up a hoof to silence the lavender pony. Whispering, she said, “That’s probably not such a good idea. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not trying to be mean or anything—but if Fluttershy took a watch she’d be screaming and panicking every time she heard a cricket…and Pinkie Pie would probably see a moth and follow it into the woods and then we’d never see her again…”
“Not to mention the fact that Rarity just ain’t herself if she don’t get her eight hours of beauty sleep. I’ve seen it, and let me tell you, it ain’t pretty.”
Twilight started to protest, but realized they were both right—and Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were all exhausted from the long day and didn’t have the stamina to stay awake much longer.
“Alright…but please, let me help out and take a watch so you two can get more rest.”
She braced herself for an argument and maybe even some gentle ribbing, but was surprised by Rainbow and Applejack immediately agreeing. They gave her the first watch, Applejack the second, with Rainbow taking the dawn hours.
Twilight made herself comfortable by the fire while her friends snuggled into their blankets. After the long gallop and following trot, no one had much energy to joke or talk. Knowing they would be waking up in just a few hours, Rainbow Dash and Applejack went immediately to sleep. Pinkie Pie and Rarity lasted slightly longer, but both soon drifted off, Rarity wearing her eye mask and snoring.
Twilight had taken a book from her bags to read when Fluttershy edged up beside her and sat down. The yellow pegasus was trembling again and looking around with wide eyes.
“Hey Fluttershy. Aren’t you going to get some sleep?”
“Yes, I mean, I guess so…it’s just so hard to sleep with all this dark, scary forest all around us. Who knows what kinds of mean, scary, hungry creatures are sitting out there right now, just waiting for us to go to sleep.”
Something rustled in the bushes to their left and Fluttershy let out a squeal and scrambled backwards over Twilight, who grunted in pain. Rainbow Dash and Rarity both sleepily protested the noise.
“It’s coming!” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding her eyes. “There’s something out there and it’s going to eat us!”
A second later, a tiny fieldmouse appeared under the bush, whiskers twitching as it nervously watched them with bright, oildrop eyes.
“Oh yeah…that’s a vicious beast, alright,” Twilight said dryly.
Fluttershy braced herself and peeked, then leapt back over Twilight. “Oh, the poor furry little thing! It must be so scared out here all by itself.” Her trembling gone, she approached the mouse. “I’ll bet it saw our fire and wanted to meet us.”
“Or it was running from an owl.”
Fluttershy ignored her and bent down to smile at the little rodent. “Come on, little critter. It’s alright. I’ll bet you’re hungry, aren’t you…but it’s scary trying to find something to eat in these big, dark woods.”
The little mouse scrubbed its face with its paws for a moment, then nodded at the pony.
“That’s okay. It’s easy to be scared when you’re so very small. Even I’m scared out here. Would you like to stay in our camp tonight and keep me company? I have some dinner left over and I’m more than happy to share it with you.”
The mouse squeaked delightedly and ran out from under the bush, darting up the pony’s leg and nesting contentedly in her long, pink mane. Fluttershy stood again and trotted back to her blanket.
“Goodnight, Twilight. Don’t stay up too late.” Lying down on her blanket, she broke leftover sandwich into tiny pieces and fed them to the ravenous mouse. “There you are, little mousie…now don’t eat too fast or you’ll get a tummy ache.” She yawned delicately and rested her head on her foreleg, lovingly watching the mouse finish its meal. By the time he cleaned the last of the crumbs from his whiskers and curled up in her mane, the pegasus was fast asleep.
Twilight had watched the entire scene in silence, amazed by the change that had overcome the young mare once she’d found something smaller to care for. The unicorn wished she’d thought to bring parchment so she could write a letter for Princess Celestia. Even if she couldn’t have sent it, the familiar act would have been comforting, and she was sure the princess would have read it with interest once they returned to Ponyville.
She yawned widely and shook her head to drive away the weariness. Letting a gentle glow light up her horn, she turned her attention back to her book, determined to stay alert until it was time to wake Applejack.

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash completed her third circuit of the camp and sat back on her haunches, satisfied that everything was still quiet and peaceful. In fact, it was too quiet. Ever since Applejack had awakened her for her shift—rather roughly too, she thought…she’d only asked for ten more minutes—she’d kept an eye out for danger and had been nearly bored out of her mind.
At least something slightly interesting had happened to Applejack. Before she’d gone back to sleep, the earth pony had said that she’d heard enormous wing beats about an hour into her shift and had looked up through the trees to see a giant shadow blot out the stars. She speculated that it may have been the roc Fluttershy had mentioned. 
Whatever it had been, it hadn’t come back. Rainbow Dash had heard nothing larger than a frog calling from a nearby stream and the light popping of the coals in their fire. Sitting in the dark, she had mentally gone over her entire aerial stunt routine several times, even making a few modifications that she would try out as soon as she had enough clear sky. Then she had quietly sung all the songs on the latest album of her favorite band, Stratosphere. As the hours crept by, she had tried sitting, lying down, kneeling, and even perching in one of the surrounding trees…but she was not a pony who could stay still for any extended length of time. 
At last, she had come up with the brilliant idea of making periodic circuits of the camp’s perimeter. This let her expend her pent up energy and stretch her wings while still doing the task set her.
Now, the sky was gradually growing lighter and she didn’t need the light of the fire to see. Her friends slept on and Rainbow Dash saw no reason to wake them until it daylight had truly broken. Instead, she collected the canteens they had with them and trotted through the trees to the stream she had heard.
It was more of a creek than a stream—little more than a narrow ribbon of water bubbling and gurgling merrily over mossy rocks. It had probably shrunk due to the summer heat, for the blue pegasus could see where it had originally flowed. 
Still, there was enough to fill all the canteens to the brims and to splash on her face, mane, and wings, washing away the dust of the day before. Like any good flyer, she knew the importance of keeping her wings neat and tidy.
The birds were just beginning to sing in the morning when she made her way back to the camp. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were still asleep, but Fluttershy was awake and talking to a mouse sitting on her hoof, while Twilight Sparkle was just sitting up and blinking sleepily.
“Rainbow!” an angry voice with a country twang snapped behind her. Rainbow jumped and spun around to find Applejack glaring at her.
“Uh, morning?” she asked.
“Just where in tarnation have you been? You were supposed to be watchin’ the camp.”
“I did! Everything was fine, so I went and got us all fresh water.” She shrugged off the canteens, letting them fall onto the carpet of pine needles at Applejack’s feet. “I even did a complete perimeter flight before I left. There was nothing out there to worry about.”
Applejack’s green eyes dropped to the canteens, now dripping with condensation, and she gave her friend an apologetic grin.
“Sorry, Rainbow. Ah didn’t mean to bite your head off—just been awful nervous over that thing Ah saw last night.”
“Whatever it was, it never came back. I didn’t see anything at all—just chillax.”
“Ah’m a tryin’, Ah swear.” She bent down to pick up three of the canteens. “Where’d you find the water?”
“A little stream about fifty yards over there.” Rainbow gathered the rest of the canteens and pointed. “It’s almost gone dry…but there was enough to fill up.”
“Was there enough for a bath?” Rarity suddenly asked. She had awakened in time to hear Rainbow’s last statement and stood up excitedly. “You look like you washed up a bit and it would be so nice to be rid of all this icky road dust.” She held up a hoof and stared dismally at the beige tint to her usually pristine white coat.
“It’s just back that way. You can’t miss it if you follow your ears.”
With a squeal of delight, the unicorn fetched a bar of soap from her bags and cantered through the trees.
“Ah guess somepony should wake Pinkie Pie so we can get going as soon as Rarity gets back.” 
Twilight stood up with a groan and stretched, her back cracking audibly. “Ow! Oh…good morning. How did everypony sleep?”
“Like a rock, Twi,” Applejack said with a knowing grin. “How ‘bout you?”
“On a rock, I think. At least that’s how my back feels.” She stretched again with another loud pop and Pinkie Pie snapped her blue eyes open.
“Ooh! Is somepony making popcorn?” she asked, bouncing upright and instantly awake. “I love popcorn!”
“Nope,” Rainbow quipped. “Just Twilight going snap, crackle, ow.”
“Why would you do that, Twilight? Are you writing a song? Ooh, will you sing it to us?”
“Sorry, Pinkie, there’s no song…I’m just trying to…” The unicorn arched her back, throwing her head backwards until the tip of her horn touched her withers. They all heard another loud crack. “There! That’s better!” She shook vigorously. “I’m just not used to sleeping on the ground. I guess if we’d had more time I could have read up on the subject.”
“Honestly, Twi—nothin’ makes sleepin’ on the ground easy ‘cept utter exhaustion.”
“Breakfast time!” Her stomach growling, Rainbow Dash made her way to her saddlebags and flipped them open for the rest of her sandwich. “Hey!” 
The sandwich was gone. She pawed through the contents, knowing she had placed it right on the top last night, but all she found was a single, loose sprout. 
“What’s wrong, Sugarcube?”
“My sandwich is gone! I put it right here last night!” She lifted her head, magenta eyes narrowed. “It’s been stolen! Someone must have snuck into camp last night and taken it. I know it wasn’t during my watch—so it must have been one of yours! What did you see? What did you hear? What else did it take?”
Applejack gasped. “Mah apples!” She rushed to her own bags, breathing a sigh of relief when she found all her supplies intact.
“Oh…actually, Rainbow Dash…it was, um…me.”
The blue pony whirled around to face her fellow pegasi. “You?”
Fluttershy held up the little mouse, which waved a miniscule paw at Rainbow Dash. “This is Gumdrop. He looks small, but he gets really, really hungry. He already ate all of my sandwich so…well,” the pony’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“A mouse?” Rainbow goggled the tiny creature. “That teensy little thing ate my whole sandwich?”
“Well…it was just a half…”
Rainbow Dash began to laugh, unable to stay angry at Fluttershy for long when a dragon wasn’t involved. Finding any laughter contagious, Pinkie Pie joined in.
“Hahaha! That’s so funny because he’s so itty bitty! Hehehehe!”
“You all don’t mind if Gumdrop comes with us, do you?” Fluttershy asked softly, passing the mouse to Rainbow. “He’s scared to be by himself and he says he likes us.” To prove this, Gumdrop kissed the provider of his breakfast on the nose and Rainbow Dash melted into uncharacteristic cooing.
“Ah got no problem with the mouse, Sugarcube…long as he don’t like apples too much.”
Gumdrop squeaked and shook his head.
“Well, that certainly was no treatment at the spa, but I guess it was better than nothing.” Rarity came back, her mane wet, but her coat glowing white again. “At least it was refreshing…now, anypony for some breakfast?”
She looked perplexed as her friends all fell into gales of laughter, but took it in stride with a shrug and set about styling her hair back into its elaborate curls.
**
They reached the tiny village of Shirevale three uneventful days later, Rainbow Dash spotting smoking chimneys and the thatched tops of small houses during one of her aerial checks of their position. Swooping down from the cloudless sky and folding her wings, she broke into a trot beside Twilight.
“Place seems pretty quiet…I didn’t see many ponies.”
“They’re probably all hiding away inside to escape this dreadful heat,” Rarity complained. Her mane was frizzing despite all her efforts and it was making her miserable. 
“How much further, Rainbow?” Twilight wanted to know.
“Couple of miles. The trail’s gonna fork soon…we have to go right to reach the village.”
“Ooh! This is exciting! All those new ponies to meet!” Pinkie Pie bounced along the trail, unbothered by the heat, dust, or the long miles of unbroken forest they had traversed. “Maybe they’ll throw us a welcoming party! I could give them some ideas. I wonder if they’ll have balloons and streamers and confetti…I suppose I could lend them some of mine!”
“Let’s just play it by ear, Sugarcube. These are workin’ ponies all the way out here. They wanna eat somethin’ they have to grow it themselves. They’re probably all busy in the fields.”
“Boring! That means they’re probably desperate for a good party.”
“I at least hope they have some supplies we can buy from them,” Twilight said. “We’re almost out of food and I haven’t really seen much that we can eat in these woods.”
Following Rainbow’s directions, the ponies made their way towards the village. After a mile, they noted that the trees were thinning considerably, shrinking down to thin saplings before being replaced by shoulder-high bushes covered in large blueberries.
“Ooh! These look good!” Pinkie Pie edged up to a bush, licking her lips.
“Don’t even think about it, Sugarcube!” Applejack hurried to put herself between the pink pony and the bushes, bumping Pinkie Pie backwards a step.
“Hey!”
“Sorry, Pinkie…but these aren’t wild berries. Somepony’s planted them, and we can’t take their crop without askin’, now can we?”
Pinkie sighed and looked regretfully at the purplish fruit. “I guess not. Even if they do look super duper yummy.”
The bushes grew thicker and more regular. Soon they were trotting through neat rows that buzzed with bees and smelled wonderfully sweet and juicy.
“Looks like this used to be a meadow before ponies settled it,” Twilight observed. “There must have been wild blueberries here at some point and the ponies just cultivated them. It’s brilliant…”
“Oh, ew!” Rarity stopped and lifted her hoof, grimacing at the large purple splotch. “This had better not stain!”
“It’s alright, Rarity…it’s a really pretty color,” Fluttershy murmured. As she spoke, Gumdrop appeared from her hair and raced down her leg, squeaking joyously as he launched himself at a large, fallen berry. “Oh no, Gumdrop…don’t do that! Did you hear what Applejack said?” She scooped up the mouse, but couldn’t convince him to leave his berry behind.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Fluttershy…Ah don’t think one berry will make much of a difference.”
Rainbow Dash had been flying overhead, twenty feet up. Now she pulled up sharply, her eyes widening. “Uh oh!” Spinning head over tail, she dropped down swiftly to her friends. “Heads up, everypony…we’ve got company coming, and they don’t look like they want to throw us a party.”
“Really?” Pinkie asked. “Why not? Do you think it’s because they don’t have the balloons or cupcakes or—”
Rainbow Dash clapped a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth as four earth ponies approached down the main row of bushes, two carrying pitchforks and the third a scythe. The forth was unarmed, but the look on the beige stallion’s face was enough to tell the young mares that this was not exactly a welcoming party.
“Stop where you are!” the stallion ordered, coming to a halt before them. His companions continued around the six, taking up positions on the sides and behind their clumped group. “Who are you? What is your business here?”
Twilight glanced at her friends, then took a slight step forward. One of the pitchfork ponies pointed the sharpened prongs at her and she froze, swallowing hard.
“Uh, h-hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends—Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.” She indicated each pony in turn. “We’re from Ponyville and we’re on a very important mission from Princess Celestia. Um…” She glanced nervously at the pitchfork hovering uncomfortably close to her throat. “Wh-who are you?”
“I’m Bramble, reeve of Shirevale.” His dark green eyes surveyed them all sternly. “Ponyville? That is a long way from here…you’ve been traveling the forest? Just the six of you?”
“Yes sir. On an urgent quest, as I said. We were hoping to purchase some supplies for the rest of our trip.”
Bramble’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “The rest of your trip? There is nothing past Shirevale, Miss Sparkle, but forest and mountains. Just where are you six headed?”
“Nothing past…?” Twilight looked to her friends again confusedly. Their map had shown several other villages between Shirevale and the Saddleback mountain borders. “I’m afraid I don’t…”
“Where are you headed?” Bramble pressed. The light grey mare with the pitchfork on their left raised it higher, her face contorting in a fierce grimace.
“Well, if you must know,” Rarity spoke up, her dark blue eyes flashing with indignation, “we are on our way to Saddellia to speak with the—goodness!”
“What in tarnation?” 
“Watch it!”
The Shirevale ponies had surged forward, their weapons raised. Rainbow Dash instinctively jumped skyward, managing to avoid the prongs of a pitchfork, but hovered helplessly as her friends were taken prisoner.
“Hey!” she shouted, shaking a hoof at Bramble. “Just what in the hay do you think you’re doing? You back off right now and let them go!” The scythe-wielding pony slashed his weapon at her, but she nimbly dodged just out of reach and stuck out her tongue at him.
Cautiously eyeing the pitchfork pointed her way, Rarity took a small step towards the stallion and batted her long, curved eyelashes. “Now, Mr. Bramble…I don’t think you understood us…we are on official business from her Highness, Princess Celestia and our mission is of the utmost impor—”
“Shut up!” Bramble snarled.
“Wh-what?” Rarity sputtered, stunned. “Of all the nerve!”
“Now you listen here…” Applejack began, putting herself between Bramble and Rarity. Her green eyes were flashing with anger. “We’ve come here all peaceable like…y’all got no call to treat us like this.”
“Yes!” Twilight added, her voice firming in the face of danger. “What’s the meaning of this? Why are you…are you threatening us?”
Bramble stared at them unflinching. Abruptly, he turned about and started walking through the blueberry bushes. “Scouter, Streamsinger—take their bags and bring them to the Vale,” he ordered. “All of them. And if that pegasus tries to get away…”
“I’m not going anywhere without my friends!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, insulted by the suggestion that she would abandon the others to save herself. She followed close, still flying out of reach, as their saddlebags were taken from them and they were marched through the rows to the small collection of huts and house that made up Shirevale.
Two dozen earth ponies in muted shades of grey, beige, and pale green, had gathered in what appeared to be the town square to see them arrive. A flurry of gasps and whispers assailed their ears, and they couldn’t mistake the fear lurking in the wide eyes that watched them.
“Just what in the hay is goin’ on here, Twi?” Applejack whispered.
The unicorn shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know. But they sure reacted badly when we said we were headed to Saddellia.”
Bramble led them to a rundown building in the center of the village, one that was hardly bigger than the library tree she called home back in Ponyville. Their weapon-wielding vanguard flanked them as the reeve gestured to the stout doors.
“If what you say is true and you are on a mission from Princess Celestia herself, then you will respect our concerns and remain confined here until we have convened our village council.” He glanced pointedly upwards at Rainbow Dash. “All of you.”
Twilight looked from the reeve to the building and back again. Standing straight, she said, “If we comply with your wishes, will you explain what is going on here and why you are forcibly detaining us?”
Her brave words seemed to strike a note with the stallion. He met her eyes and nodded. “You have my word.” Stepped back, he raised a hoof to the door. “If you will…”
Twilight looked to the friends and sighed. “I guess we have no choice.” Holding her head high, she walked into the building, followed by an oddly subdued Pinkie Pie and a nervous Fluttershy. Rarity took a moment to glare at the Shirevale ponies before flipping her tail and striding into the hut with a disgusted hmmph!
“C’mon, Rainbow. You heard Twilight.”
“Yeah, I did.” The pegasus swooped down to land beside Applejack, her brows furrowed angrily as she shrugged out of her own saddlebags. “And we’ll keep her promise…but they’d better keep theirs too.” She glared at the Shirevalers and trotted into the building.
Applejack hesitated a moment, looking at the dull-colored ponies. “We honestly mean y’all no harm,” she said before following her friends.
The door was slammed shut behind them, the distinctive sound of a bar falling across the front to lock them in.
“Well, that was certainly unexpected.” Rarity shucked her saddlebags and sat on her haunches to take in their surroundings. 
The hut appeared to have been a meeting hall of sorts, but had obviously fallen into disuse. There was a distinct sheen of dust coating the hewn planks of the bare floor and thick cobwebs hanging from the rafters. Two windows were cut into each side wall. They let in ample sunlight, but were fitted with wooden crossbars that kept the ponies from escaping.
“Ooh, these are pretty!” Pinkie Pie said, trotting down the length of the room to look at an array of faded murals painted on the walls. They showed the history of Shirevale, from the settler ponies discovering the meadow in the forest, to their work clearing it for habitation, to their cultivation of the wild blueberry bushes that seemed to be their main crop.
“They were colorful when they came here,” Rarity pointed out, noting that the ponies on the first pictures were as vibrantly hued as she and her friends. “I wonder why they grew so...”
“Bland?”
“Dull?”
“Mean! I thought they were mean…especially when he told Rarity to shut up. He was nothing but a big mean old meany pants!”
“I’m sorry, girls, I hope it wasn’t because of Gumdrop and the blueberry. I tried to stop him, but I should have tried harder…it was all my fault.” Fluttershy held the little mouse in her hooves, rubbing her cheek against his. The mouse rolled his bright eyes and patted her nose.
“Oh, I’m sure it had nothing to do with that, darling. We stepped on more blueberries than that little mouse ate. I just don’t understand it. What would they have against Ponyville ponies?”
“I don’t think it’s because we’re from Ponyville, Rarity. They were standoffish from the start, but they didn’t get vicious until we told them we’re heading to Saddellia. There’s something going on here…these ponies, did you see their faces when we came into town?”
“They were scared,” Applejack said. “Like they thought we’d come to do ‘em harm or somethin’.”
Rainbow Dash was flying in front of one of the windows, peering out at the hamlet. “Two of them are standing right outside…with pitchforks.” She shook her multi-hued head angrily. “Ooh, just who do they think they are?”
“I’m sure they’ll realize they’ve made a big mistake once we’ve had a chance to state our mission.” Twilight laid down on the dirty floor. “So we just have to work out what we’re going to say, to prove to them that we only have the interest of Equestria at heart.”
The mares nodded and, with nothing better to do, relaxed beside they friend. An hour passed, then two. Pinkie Pie asked about a game of tic tac toe and a sing-along, but was gently rebuffed. Rarity tried to remove the berry stains from her coat. A third hour crept by with infinite slowness. Worry was replaced by boredom, then frustration, then anger. Applejack sat with her head lowered, gritting her teeth at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s impatiently tapping hoof and sporadic sighs. Unable to take it anymore, she jumped up and banged on the thick, wooden door with her hoof.
“Hey y’all out there! Enough is enough! We’re burnin’ daylight and we’ve got a lot of travelin’ to do!” She waited for a moment in ringing silence, then smacked the door again before running to the nearest window and looking out at the guarding farm ponies. “Hey, Ah’m talkin’ to you! We want to see the reeve! Where’s Bramble?”
“AJ!” 
“Ah’m tired of waitin’, Twi. This is ridiculous! We’re still in Equestria, for lansakes, and we’re bein’ held against our will and, Ah swear, if Ah have to listen to Rainbow tap her hoof on the floor for one more minute Ah’m gonna throw her across the room!”
“What!” Rainbow looked down at her bouncing hoof and consciously forced it to be still. “Well, you could have just said…”
“Ah’m sorry, Sugarcube. Ah ain’t mad at you…but if’n they don’t open this here door real soon, these Shirevale ponies are gonna get an example of patented Apple fam’ly applebuckin’.”
“Oh yes, Applejack, that would just work wonders to get us in their good graces,” Rarity said dryly as she examined a hoof.
“It’d prob’ly work better than your eyebattin’ charmy ways did.”
“Girls, please…fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to fix anything.”
“You’re right, Twi…but neither is sitting here starin’ at one another until we go cross-eyed.” Applejack returned to the door and raised her hoof to knock again, but it opened before she could, revealing a thin, elderly mare with a grey mane and pale sepia coat. She wore a fringed vest with an elaborate collar embroidered with silvery-colored thread.
“Hello…my name is Checkerberry,” she said in a low, smooth voice. She stepped into the room and turned slightly sideways, revealing a cutie mark of a cluster of small red berries surrounded by a halo of dark green leaves. “I am Elder Dame of the Shirevale council. I’ve been sent to ask you some questions about this…mission you have mentioned. Who is the leader of this party?”
The ponies looked as one to Twilight Sparkle, who swallowed hard and climbed to her feet.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot and Ponyville, and these are my friends.” She introduced them all in turn and was pleased to see that the mare studied each of them for a moment, committing their names to memory. Buoyed by this, she continued, “We carry with us official documents from her Highness, Princess Celestia—they were in the bags that were taken from us. And we wish to know why the ponies of Shirevale have attacked and imprisoned us.”
“And threatened!” Applejack pointed out. “Don’t forget that…them ponies jabbed pitchforks at us and one even tried to knock Rainbow here out of the sky with a scythe!”
Checkerberry looked askance of Twilight Sparkle, who nodded gravely. The sepia mare shook her head and frowned. “I will apologize for Bramble and his patrol, Twilight Sparkle. Please know that he is a good pony and a dedicated reeve with Shirevale’s best interests at heart…but due to recent events, he has overreacted in this case.”
“What events are these, if I may ask?” Rarity queried. “It must have something to do with the Saddellians crossing over Equestrian borders, am I correct?”
“H-how…?” Checkerberry looked startled.
“It’s the reason we’re here, Checkerberry,” Twilight told her. “And the reason we are traveling on to Saddellia as soon as you let us go.”  
The sepia mare took a step back and gestured to the open door. “Please, if you will come with me, we will discuss this with the council over some lunch. I’m sure you must be hungry by now.”
“Oh boy! Lunch! I’m so hungry I could eat an ursa minor! Or maybe an ursa major!” Pinkie Pie bounced eagerly to the door. “Is there something bigger than an ursa major…like an ursa colonel or ursa general?” She shrugged. “Maybe not. I hope there’re blueberry muffins!”
They followed the council mare out of the hall into the street, where they were once again the subjects of intense scrutiny and awe. Several ponies even gasped when Rainbow Dash, glad to have open air and space around her again, sprang off the ground and flew just over the heads of her friends. 
“Look at their coats…and that one’s mane and tail! So bright!”
“Too bright, if you ask me. Almost garish.”
“Two of them are unicorns…”
“Oh, mama, look! She’s like a bird! Why can’t I do that?”
“Why does that one have a mouse on her head? And why doesn’t she fly like the other one? She has wings. If I had wings, I would fly!”
Rainbow Dash was flying low, parallel with her friends, when she felt a sudden sting on her rump. With a yelp, she shot skyward, turning to see a sand-colored filly winding the blue and green strands she had plucked from the pegasi’s tail through her blonde mane. 
“Ow!” Rainbow rubbed her sore bottom. “What gives! I didn’t say you could do that!”
The little filly waved up at her, smiling cheekily, and scampered away with her friends. Looking scandalized, Checkerberry hurriedly shooed the other Shirevalians away and led her guests across the town square to a pretty house with flowers and carefully pruned bushes fencing in the front yard.
“This is my home. I’ll host you here for lunch. We felt it would be better to meet and talk in a more comfortable setting than the old hall—our town is so small that it rarely gets used and is dusty enough to show it.” She beckoned them into the house, glancing up wards at Rainbow Dash, who still flapped ten feet in the air. “It is safe to come down, Miss Dash—and I apologize for little Dusty’s dreadful behavior. She’s a brash and daring thing—gives her family no end of trouble.”
“Hah! Sounds like a certain pegasus we all know and love,” Applejack joked.
“Very funny.” Rainbow performed a small backwards loop and landed beside the earth pony, following closely behind as they went inside.
The interior of the house was simple, but clean, bright, and well kept. Though the walls were roughly hewn planks, the elderly pony had covered them in pretty, abstract patterns woven from twigs and differently colored grasses, and had lined the shelves with delicate knickknacks and colored glass bottles. Ushering them through the small kitchen, Checkerberry bid them make themselves comfortable in a small parlor furnished with cushioned log couches.
Four ponies were already present in the room. Twilight and her friends recognized Bramble immediately. The others were a dark brown stallion, a straw-colored mare, and an older stallion with a charcoal grey coat and flaxen mane. He nodded to them and raised a wrinkled hoof to indicate the empty coach across from his.
As she sat down, Twilight noticed their confiscated saddlebags piled beside the other couch—her own sat at the top of the pile, the flap open to reveal her maps, supplies, and the official, stamped scrolls Celestia had sent her. She opened her mouth to protest, but the grey waved his hoof at her and spoke first.
“Ladies, my name is Brookstone, and these are Turfkicker and Chamomile. Please allow me to apologize for your earlier treatment and…incarceration. We were told that you’re traveling under order from her Highness, Princess Celestia, and this,” he held up one of the scrolls with Celestia’s royal seal, “corroborates your claim. Let it be said that it was never our intent to go against the decree of the princess. Please allow us to explain?”
Applejack plopped onto the cushions between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie as Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash arranged themselves on the braided carpet. “We’re listenin’,” she said.
Checkerberry appeared with cups of cooled barley water which she passed around as Brookstone cleared his throat.
“As you have probably realized, Shirevale is a very small village and what we have we generally build or grow for ourselves. We only see a merchant from the larger towns once a year or so. Yet we do trade with our nearest neighboring villages.
“Recently, one of our trader ponies struck out for Ivy Lanes with a shipment of blueberries to trade for honey and barley oats—but he returned almost immediately with a horrible tale. The town had been attacked and nearly a dozen of their strongest young colts and mares had been violently ponynapped.”
“The ponies left behind recognized their attackers as Saddellians, and they had come from over the Saddlebacks,” Chamomile spoke up softly. “The ones who weren’t taken said they’d had no warning—the Saddellians came down on them in the early dawn. They took ample food supplies from the village along with the captives, but no other goods, trinkets, or treasures.”
“That was two months ago,” Turfkicker said, snorting through his nose. “Since then, we’ve learned that two of the other villages within a few days ride of us have also been attacked, with more young ponies stolen. So you can imagine our concern when six strangers trot up to our village, bold as day, and announce that they’re on their way to Saddellia.”
Twilight exchanged glances with her friends, then lowered her eyes sadly. “The Saddellians are taking captives for slaves,” she murmured. “Five days ago, I received notice from Princess Celestia that one of those captive ponies managed to escape and made his way to Canterlot. That is why we are here—we’ve been asked to travel to Saddellia and bring a peace treaty to the royal family to stop these attacks and ponynappings.
Turfkicker snorted again, the sound unmistakably rude. 
“You’re joking! Look at you! You’re all hardly more than fillies! Why would the princess send a group of pretty little girls to do such an important job?”
Applejack drew in an indignant breath and Rainbow Dash’s wings snapped up angrily, but Rarity beat them both, rising to her hooves and snapping, “Excuse me, sir, but I don’t see what being young or a girl has to do with anything!” She waved a white hoof at her friends. “We may be small, we may be young…and we are most certainly pretty…but that hardly makes us weak and helpless. Together, we have faced down a manticore and a dragon and defeated Nightmare Moon. Twilight has even subdued a raging ursa minor all on her own. Have you ever done that?” 
While the stallion tried to stammer a reply through his shock, Twilight Sparkle levitated one of the princess’s scrolls from her bags and turned it so the royal wax seal was clearly visible.
“The princess obviously trusts us with this task, as you can see from the seal here. And we would have explained our mission had your reeve given us half a chance before he started pointing pitchforks at us.”
Bramble closed his eyes briefly, frowning and shaking his head. “It is my duty as reeve to protect Shirevale. One of the ponies taken from Ivy Lanes was a cousin of mine. I wasn’t able to help her, but I will not allow any of the citizens here to meet the same fate. As far as I’m concerned, all strangers are enemies until they have been proven otherwise.
“Bramble! Please!” Checkerberry tried to interject.
“No! You didn’t see my aunt and uncle crying over Thistledown, Checkerberry. You didn’t see the empty storerooms and trampled fields. It’s hard enough eking out a life here on the outskirts of the kingdom with wolves and crop failures and long winters without having to deal with ponynapping raiders as well. And now our so called princess, who is supposed to have our best interests at heart, can’t even stir herself from her glorious castle and sends out a gaggle of giggling fillies who are more concerned with keeping their hooves polished tha—” 
“Now wait just a minute here!” Rainbow Dash launched herself from the floor and flew straight across the room until she and Bramble were eye to glaring eye. “Just where do you get off talking about us and the princess like that? You don’t know us and what we’re capable of…and you sure as hay don’t know the princess. If you did, you’d know that she would have come out here in the blink of an eye if she could, but gee…she kinda has that pesky job of RAISING AND LOWERING THE SUN to worry about too!” As she spoke, the enraged pegasus flapped closer and closer to the Shirevale pony, her wingbeats so hard they stirred up a breeze that tossed her mane and stung Bramble’s eyes. The log couch on which he sat tipped backwards precariously as he tried to get away from her.  
“Okay, Rainbow…that’s enough!” Applejack caught her friend’s tail in her mouth and dragged the pegasus backwards. Rainbow strained against her for a moment longer, then plunked onto her haunches beside the orange earth pony. Her wings stayed raised as she continued to glare daggers at the reeve.
“M-maybe we all need a bite of dinner to calm us down a bit,” Brookstone said hesitantly. “Checkerberry, what have you prepared for us?”
To Pinkie Pie’s delight, dinner consisted of blueberry muffins with honeyed butter, a tossed salad of mixed greens with a blueberry vinaigrette dressing, and a blueberry crème trifle for dessert. As they ate, the six listened in stunned horror while Turfkicker described a scouting party he had led to the tiny hill village of Rocktown. When he’d gotten there, he’d found that, like Ivy Lanes, the raiders had struck and carried off all of the younger ponies out of foalhood. Only the tiniest of fillies and colts and the elderly had been left behind to care for the needs of the town. Because of this, Shirevale feared that they would soon find the raiders at their own doorsteps and they had taken drastic measures to protect themselves.
“But we’re still only farm ponies,” Checkerberry explained. “And from the stories we’ve been told, these raiders are all warriors and well armed. If they come here, I don’t know how we’ll manage to defend ourselves and our kin with only pitchforks and harvest tools.”
“I’ll fight them with my bare hooves if I have to,” Bramble growled.
“Hopefully you won’t have to—if we’re able to come to an agreement with the Saddellians then these attacks will cease and all the prisoners will be released.”
Brookstone shook his flaxen-maned head sadly. “You seem like a bright, brave pony, Twilight Sparkle. All of you do, in fact—but I don’t think you realize what you’re getting yourselves into.”
“How do you mean, sir?” Rarity asked.
“Saddellia isn’t like Equestria. They are all earth ponies there, but they will be even more surprised than we were to see pegasi and unicorns. And that king of theirs…he’s got a genuine cruel streak in him. He rules with an iron hoof and doesn’t believe in giving his subjects a say in the governance of his kingdom. I don’t see how he will take kindly to six strangers telling him to change his ways.”
“Oh, but we’ll be coming to him from Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy murmured. She was feeding Gumdrop tiny bits of muffin as she listened in. 
Brookstone stared at her for a long time before speaking again. “I don’t think that will matter to him…and that kind of naïve thinking will only serve to get you girls into trouble. What will you do if the king refuses to even see you? Or worse, if he orders you taken prisoner with all the other slaves?”
Oddly, it was Pinkie Pie who answered him. She gobbled down her fifth muffin, wiped the crumbs from her mouth, and announced, “We’ve been through bad stuff before…we can’t get through anything when we stick together.”
Her friends all smiled at her, their eyes shining, but Brookstone did not look convinced. He sighed heavily and turned to the other council members, his eyebrows raised. One by one, they all nodded at him, though from Bramble the nod was quite grudging. Slowly, the grey stallion looked back to the young mares.
“We have determined that we have no cause to keep you here or from this quest, futile though it may be. We will provide you will beds for tonight and supplies on the morrow to see you on your way.”
“Thank you!” Twilight leapt from the couch and shook the stallion’s hoof. “And we promise we will do our best to end these raids and bring back all the captured ponies to their families.”
The grey council stallion smiled uneasily. “I hope that you do, Miss Sparkle. For your sakes and ours. I hope you do.”
**
They spent the night in Shirevale, put up in the homes of three families eager to have the distinction of hosting emissaries of the princess. The next morning, they prepared to set out again with packs now laden with blueberry-themed supplies and a new map of the land between Shirevale and the Saddleback foothills. The Shirevale ponies all turned out to see them off, though they seemed less than convinced that the six Elements of Harmony would be able to put an end to the raids.
Even Bramble made an appearance, though he kept a sneer on his face while Brookstone gave them last minute directions and advice. The sneer vanished, however, when Rainbow Dash and Rarity approached to tell him they would watch out for his missing cousin and do whatever they could to send her home again. His face crumpled as he whispered his thanks.
“I’m sorry for what I said to you. I’m just so worried about her. She’s no older than you two…and she’s my aunt and uncle’s only foal. I never meant to insult you or the princess.”
“Rainbow, Rarity! Get the lead out, we’re burnin’ daylight!” Applejack called.
The two turned away, but Bramble stepped in front of them, his green eyes worried. “Be careful…all of you. Brookstone was telling the truth about their king.”
The unicorn and pegasus exchanged looks, but nodded in unison and hurried to join their friends.
With the smell of ripe blueberries hanging in the air, they galloped away from Shirevale, to be quickly swallowed up by the dark gloom of the forest.
They pushed themselves hard, now knowing the severity of their quest and desperate to make up lost time. Within four days, the landscape and forest around them changed, the ground becoming rockier and too dangerous for steady galloping. The familiar oaks and maples vanished, replaced by conifers and a strange type of tree with shiny, star-shaped leaves that were blue on the top and a dark indigo on the bottom. The bark was smooth and silvery, the trunks straight and growing more than ten feet tall before they branched out into spreading boughs. 
By the fifth day, there was no mistaking that the ground was sloping steadily upwards as the foothills gave way to mountains. Brookstone’s map proved very useful in navigating the easiest of the faint trails and valleys and they were able to supplement their supplies with the local berries and grass, but when the moon rose each night the ponies found themselves exhausted and missing the comforts of their homes.
They entered a wide, tree-lined valley on the sixth day after leaving Shirevale that had a floor level enough to make travel relatively easy. Buoyed by the last of their blueberry muffins, Pinkie Pie had returned to her high spirits, bouncing back and forth between her friends and singing a song of her own making—
“Over and away we go
Gotta go fast, we hate moving slow
Bushes, rocks and great big trees
Mountains tall and deep valleys
We march along to my—”
The pink pony suddenly froze in mid-bounce, her hooves remaining suspended in the air for a moment before slowly coming back to the earth. She tilted her head to the side, ears swiveling forward and blue eyes staring straight ahead.
“Pinkie? Are you alright?” Twilight stopped beside her friend, looking at her curiously.
“Ah always suspected something like this would happen one day, Ah just never guessed Ah’d be around to see it! Look here, girls, Ah think Pinkie Pie has finally run out of energy.”
“I highly doubt that.” Twilight waved a hoof in front of her bubbly friend’s eyes. “Hello in there! Earth to Pinkie Pie!”
Pinkie Pie blinked and gave Twilight a confused look. 
“Didn’t you girls hear that?”
“Hear what?” Rainbow asked from ten feet overhead.
“It sounded like somepony was shouting or laughing or something.”
Applejack laughed brightly. “Sugarcube, Ah think you’re letting this little ol’ forest play games with your mind. Ah heard nothin’.”
“Neither did I,” Rarity confirmed.
“No, sorry, Pinkie. I didn’t hear anything either, but I was talking to Gumdrop and maybe missed it. He liked your song, by the way.”
Pinkie Pie frowned slightly, then shrugged it off with her usual aplomb, especially when Rainbow Dash distracted her by pulling the blue and purple leaves off the trees and dropping them down into her hair, chanting, “She’s random, she’s random not, she’s random…” This made the perky pony giggle and she swatted them from the air with her bright pink tail.
“I…I hope this is the right direction.” Twilight stopped to peer at her map, then squinted at the brilliant landscape around them. “These trails are so vague…I hope we aren’t drifting too much—Rainbow, maybe you should fly up to the canopy and take another look aro—”
The wind shifted suddenly, rustling the leaves on the trees and bringing the group of mares a sound that definitely did not belong in a forest.
“There! I definitely heard something that time!” Pinkie cried. She looked around at her friends, saw that they had heard it too, and bounced in place. “I told you, I told you! Someone’s out there laughing!”
“Uh…I don’t think that was a laugh, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said. She had stopped moving forward and was hovering in place. Now she came down slowly to land beside the pink pony and put a hoof on her back to still her bouncing. Cocking her rainbow-maned head to the side, she listened closely.
Crickets…reeds knocking together in the breeze…a bird singing in a tree…and an unmistakable scream for help.
“There!” she pointed a hoof into the trees to their left.
“Ah heard it too, Sugarcube! Sounds like somepony’s in big trouble.”
“Rainbow Dash—”
“On it!” The pegasus had already leapt into the air and was flapping rapidly towards the source of the cry. Dimly she heard Twilight Sparkle calling after her, “We’ll catch up with you! Be careful!”
Rainbow Dash shot through the forest, zipping nimbly between trees and bushes with a speed that turned her into a cyan blur. When she had flown a mile, she paused briefly to cup an ear with her hoof. The scream came again, much louder and from straight ahead. She darted forward, forelegs outstretched for maximum speed, and finally broke free of the trees into a small clearing before a towering cliff.
Pulling up short in the air, the pony tried to take in the scene before her, but could make no sense of it.
“What in the—whoa!” She shot upwards as an utterly disgusting, flat face loaded with sharp teeth leapt up from the ground and snapped at her dangling tail. Leveling out at a safe height, she stared down at the…thing, her magenta eyes wide with a mixture of horror and amazement.
The creature was like nothing she had ever seen before. As she stared, she could only think that it had somehow been pieced together with leftover parts from other animals. The hind legs were too short for the body and oddly bowed, giving it a squat and slanted appearance. The forelegs were straight and thin and bony—almost too bony for the bloated body they needed to support. The head was a blunt triangle on a thick neck, with pointed ears, sickly yellow eyes spaced too close together, and a wide nose at the end of a wider snout that gaped open to reveal a jagged mouthful of teeth.
This hideous appearance was made even worse by the filthy, spotted fur that grew in irregular patches on its body, interspersed with bald areas of slimy looking, gray skin. A rank odor rose from the beast and Rainbow Dash gagged, covering her nose with her hoof.
“What in Celestia’s name are you?” she asked the thing. It responded by making a high pitched, yelping laugh and leaping at her again.
“Help me!”
Remembering her reason for coming this way in the first place, Rainbow Dash snapped her gaze towards the cliff and gasped. 
“Oh horseapples!”
A colt was standing on a small jut of stone partway up the cliff, just out of reach of three more of the leaping, slathering beasts. They continually jumped and scrabbled at the rocks, but their stiff forelegs and awkward bodies made climbing too difficult. In their frustration and blood lust, they were making an earsplitting cacophony of loud yelps, whistles, and the strange laughter that set Dash’s skin to crawling.
The colt yelled in fright as one of the beasts managed to get a paw hold on a crack in the rocks and snapped its jaws perilously close to his hoof before falling back to the ground. He scrambled backwards, but his ledge was hardly large enough to hold him. His hindquarters bumped against the wall of stone behind him and, desperate, he turned and reared, plastering himself against the cliff.
“Hang on!” Dash shouted, bucking in the air and diving at the beasts. Fearlessly, she circled the jumper, kicking sideways as she did and scoring a solid blow on its heavy jaw. The impact sent a jarring bolt up her leg, but the thing screeched and fell away. 
“Yes!”
Her moment of triumph was short lived, however. Another beast—this one sporting a badly torn ear—moved in quickly to take the place of the fallen.
Frowning determinedly, the pegasus spun a loop de loop in the air, a trail of rainbow colors following behind her, and rushed at Torn Ear. Rather than kick, she started flying in tight, rapid circles around the creature, moving faster and faster until the rainbow contrail connected and formed a funnel around the confused beast. The force of the air lifted it, barking and laughing in alarm, off the ground.
Rainbow altered her course slightly, carrying the beast over another brute—this one huge and covered with black splotches—then zipped free of the tornado and let one creature fall fifteen feet down onto the other.
Slightly dizzy from spinning, she stopped in midair, wings still flapping hard, and looked around to get her bearings. Three were now down, which just left the one that had tried to—
“Look out!”
A wave of stench and a guttural growl reached the hovering pony a split second before a fifth beast, this one a darker grey that had blended with the rocks, launched itself into the air at her unprotected back.
Rainbow Dash yipped and darted away, but still felt a flare of pain across her left flank, just below her cutie mark and trailing down her leg to her hock. Wincing, she glanced at her leg, her eyes first widening, then narrowing angrily at the jagged tear freely pulsing blood.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You did not just do that!” Whirling about, she dove straight to the foot of the cliff, where broken rocks and shards had fallen in irregular piles. She landed lightly, but her injured leg screamed with pain and nearly buckled even under her scant weight. 
Seeing her on the ground, the regrouping beasts perked up and abandoned their efforts to get the colt. As one, they rushed the blue pony, laughing ecstatically.
“There’s nothing funny about this!” Rainbow told them. She stooped and gathered an armful of loose stones, then rocketed back into the air with the forerunner of the beasts snapping at her heels. Blood dripped from her wound as she flew, some of it spattering on the faces of the creatures. They eagerly lapped it up with mottled black and grey tongues.
“Eww!” Dash exclaimed. “Oh, you deserve this!” She winged over the beasts and started pelting them with the stones, punctuating each throw and a shouted word. “You! Are! So! Gross!” Her aim was amazingly accurate and each rock that landed drew an agonized yelp from the monsters. Soon, they were racing spastically through the clearing, ducking their sloped haunches and snapping at one another. They showed absolutely no loyalty to their fellows or even much intelligence. Two ran headlong into one another, knocking themselves down, and a smaller, yellowish one ran straight into the trunk of a tree.
They were, however, smart enough to know where the rocks were coming from and, after a few moments of chaos, learned to run away from the blue pony. They were also unwilling to give up their prey. When Rainbow Dash eventually ran out of rocks, they immediately turned their bloodthirsty attention back to the colt.
He had moved to the edge of his small stone shelf to watch the scene with amazement. Now, as Torn Ear took a running leap towards him, he screamed again and flung himself backwards. In response, the five beasts threw themselves at the cliff, laughing, barking, and clawing their way higher than before.
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted indignantly. “Can’t you take a hint? Leave him alone!” She looked around for more rocks, but the ones she could reach were scattered about the clearing and the beasts were clumped too close to the cliff for her to risk landing there again.
As she cast about for something else she could use as a weapon or distraction, she heard voices calling her name from the treeline.
“Over here!” she shouted as loudly as she could. “Watch out! These things play dirty!”
Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were the first two on the scene and they took in the danger with looks of shock that quickly turned to determination.
“Rainbow, you get him out of there!” Twilight called out. “We’ll fend them off!”
Rainbow Dash saluted in midair and hurried to the rock ledge, landing nimbly on the lip and kicking a basketball-sized rock down on the black-spotted beast. She smiled with satisfaction as it scampered away.
“Hey y’all, over here now!” Applejack flung herself at the beasts, her lasso out and whirling through the air with a shrill whistle. It looped around the back legs of the smallest beast—the scrawny, yellowish thing—and tightened. The beast lost its balance and fell, yelping.  
“Yeehaw!” Applejack shouted, dragging it across the ground. Twilight leapt over the prostrate beast and galloped ahead, horn glowing.
“Go get ‘em!” Rainbow shouted encouragingly, then turned her attention to the trapped colt. He had turned back to the cliff and pressed himself as close to the stone as possible, his eyes squeezed shut and his entire body trembling. “Hi! Let’s get out of here while—hey!” Rainbow had tapped him on the shoulder and had to duck when the colt flailed a hoof and nearly clipped her across the nose.
“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I’ll fall and they’ll get me!”
“Knock it off! Can’t you see I’m trying to help you?”
But the colt had slipped over the brink into hysteria. He refused to look at the pegasus or step away from the wall.
Rainbow Dash groaned and dropped her head in disgust. “Why does everypony have to do things the hard way?” Lifting off, she spat on her hooves and rubbed them together, then latched her forelegs around the colt’s middle. With a powerful heave only accomplished with the help of her wings, she wrenched the colt away from the wall and dropped off the edge. “Off we go!”
The colt screamed loudly as Rainbow lifted them high into the air. He thrashed and fought, almost slipping out of her grasp when his hoof finally did connect with her face and the pain made her arms loosen slightly.
“Ow! Will you quit that!”
The colt responded by screaming even louder until she managed to renew her grasp on him. He opened his eyes and looked down, tensing when he spotted Rainbow’s friends looking very small far below as they battled the creatures. His forelegs clamped tightly onto hers, pressing them against his chest.
“High! We’re so high!”
“Well, duh! We’re sorta flying right now, in case you didn’t notice.”
“We’re going to fall!”
Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh. “No, we’re not! I’ve got you.”
The colt didn’t believe her. He began to thrash again. “Put me down! Put me down now! Don’t drop me!”
“I’m not going to—watch it! Stop kicking! Hey! Hey! HEY! Look at me!”
Trembling, the colt hesitantly turned his head to look at her. His mouth dropped open as he met her magenta and rose-colored eyes and he went limp in her arms.
“That’s better!” Rainbow Dash smiled and tilted her head, unaware that doing so put her in an errant ray of sunlight that backlit her rainbow mane with a golden aura. “I’m not going to drop you.” Her smile took on a trace of smugness. “You’re talking to the reigning Best Young Flyer in Equestria.”
“But…but…”
“But nothing! Trust me and keep still. I’d never drop any pony, I promise.”
“I…uh, alright, Miss…Miss…”
“Rainbow Dash,” she said absently, looking down into the clearing. “We’re just gonna hang up here for a few minutes while my friends finish up down there. Ooh! Nice kick, Rarity!”
The colt tore his eyes from her and followed her gaze downwards. He gulped, caught in a wave of vertigo, and tightened his grip on the blue pony’s forelegs. Far below, they could make out Applejack standing over two of the beasts, which seemed to have been hogtied, while Rarity launched herself over Pinkie Pie’s back to kick the little yellow beast over.
“They…they’re winning!” The colt sounded amazed. 
“Uh huh. You should see us against a full grown dragon!” Rainbow Dash’s pride in her friends was evident in her voice.
“It’s just…just amazing! And what you did with that funnel thing…”
“That? That was nothing…just a souped up version of my Rainblow Dry, but I guess it must have looked pretty awesome to you. Got some good airtime on the thing, didn’t I? Oh…looks like they got them all down…there aren’t more than five of those things, are there? That one hiding in the rocks kinda took me by surprise.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Good. My arms are getting tired.” When the male pony tensed in horror, Rainbow Dash giggled. “Just kidding. Down we go.”
She lowered him to the ground slowly and landed a few feet from where her friends stood in a loose circle around two of the bound beasts. Two more lay on the ground, unconscious, and the fifth seemed to have run away.
“What are these things?” Applejack was asking as they touched down. She nudged one of the prone beasts with a hoof, her nose wrinkled in distaste. “They stink worse than a pile of year old fertilizer.”
“They’re called hyleenas,” the colt told them, his voice much calmer now that he was back on the ground. “They’re nothing but vicious, disgusting, mindless brutes that will kill and eat anything they catch and live in caves filled with filth.” When the group of mares stared at him, he dropped into a low, graceful bow. “And I must thank you for saving me from them. If you hadn’t arrived when you did…” He turned to face Rainbow Dash. “Especially you, my beautiful lady. You have saved my life this day and I am truly in your debt.”
Rainbow Dash blinked her wide eyes, taken aback, and gave a nervous little chuckle. “That’s okay. A pony in need and all…”
“Oh, much more than that, my lady. Please, allow me to introduce myself.” He bowed low again before the startled mares. “My name is Prince Linden of Saddellia, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	The six ponies from Equestria gasped in unison.
“P-prince?” Applejack asked. “As in…son of the king?” She craned her head around to peer at the colt’s cutie mark. It was a small crown resting on the curve of a green leaf. 
“Why yes, King Oak Bough is my father.” He crossed a hoof over his chest and smiled at them, tossing his rakish maroon mane out of his eyes. “And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking? Your accents tell me you are not from Saddellia.”
“You’re right, Your Highness,” Twilight Sparkle said. She lowered her head in a respectful bow. “We’re from Equestria. We’ve been sent by Princess Celestia to speak with your father. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m the princess’s student.” She indicated the pale yellow pegasus trying to remain unseen behind her. “This is Fluttershy.”
“I’m Applejack,” the orange pony stated, catching one of the prince’s hooves and shaking it enthusiastically. “And I’m sure pleased to make your acquaintance, Prince Linden.”
Rarity curtsied with an elaborate twirl of her tail. “It is indeed a pleasure, Prince Linden,” she said, fluttering her long eyelashes. “My name is Rarity and—”
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! And you were stuck up on a big cliff…bet you were scared up there, huh? Were you scared? I heard you screaming, so you must have been scared. But those hyleenas were scary, so I can understand if you were screaming. At first no one believed me when I said I heard you, but then they heard you too and it’s a good thing we came along to help you, cuz if we hadn’t you probably would have been—”
Twilight sidled up to the pink pony and clapped a hoof over her mouth, smiling weakly at the prince.
“Hehe, uh, Pinkie…you can maybe discuss that later. The prince still needs to meet…”
“The fabulous Rainbow Dash,” Prince Linden said, turning to the pony in question. “She has already introduced herself, while she was busy assuring me that she would not drop me out of the sky.” He held out a hoof to the pegasus, who glanced from side to side uncertainly. When Twilight gave a pointed waggle of her eyebrows, she took a step forward and raised her own hoof, only to stumble when her injured leg finally gave out on her.
“Rainbow!” Twilight and Applejack rushed to her side. 
“Oh Celestia…you’re hurt! You’re bleeding!”
“When did that happen, Sugarcube?”
Rainbow Dash tried to stand up again, winced in pain, then settled down on the ground with her forelegs folded. “It’s nothing…one of those things just scratched me when—ow! Twilight! What gives?”
Twilight was prodding the wound with her horn, her purple eyes worried. “This is more than just a scratch, Rainbow. This is pretty deep.”
The five mares and the prince gathered around the pegasus, who flattened her ears at the unwanted attention.
“Twilight’s right, Rainbow. That there is a doozy of a cut. You might even need stitches.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash turned to examine her flank and flinched when Fluttershy gently dabbed away the drying blood.
“Oh, you poor darling,” Rarity cooed. “Is it very painful, dear?
“No, Rarity, it tickles.”
“Really? It tickles! Wow! That is so cool…who knew that hyleena scratches could tickle?”
Eyeing Pinkie Pie confusedly, Prince Linden gently nudged his way between the friends and knelt before Rainbow Dash. “Oh, my lady, this grievous injury is all my fault. If you hadn’t been risking your life to protect mine, you never would have been wounded. You must all come home with me to Royal Oak Palace, where I will have my father’s personal physician tend your injuries. I’m sure my father will want to meet you all anyway, as you have saved the life of his only son and heir.”
“Oh yes, thank you, Prince Linden!” Twilight said. She watched as Rainbow Dash tried to get to her hooves again. Fluttershy and Applejack flanked the blue pony, but even with their help it was obvious that Rainbow would not be able to walk far. The lavender unicorn bit her lip worriedly. “Is it a long way to the palace? I suppose we could make a litter to carry Rainbow and…”
“No one is carrying me anywhere…in case you’ve forgotten, I do still have these!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and rose a couple of feet off the ground. She couldn’t keep the pain from showing on her face, but stubbornly managed to remain aloft. “I don’t need to walk.”
“Oh.” Twilight chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Just a second, you!” Applejack jumped up and caught Rainbow Dash’s tail, being uncommonly gentle as she dragged the winged pony back to earth. “You’re not goin’ anywhere, flyin’ or walkin’, until we do somethin’ about that leg. You can flap your wings and pretend it don’t hurt all you want, Rainbow, but you’re still bleedin’ up a storm and we don’t want you gettin’ all weak and sick.”
The pegasus dropped her chin impatiently on her hoof as her friend nosed through her saddlebags for several hoofkerchiefs. 
“AJ, I’m fine…it’s nothing.”
“I think it’s a good idea, Rainbow. And we don’t want to leave a trail for anymore of those hyleena things.” Twilight Sparkle looked askance of the prince, who nodded gravely.
“They are right, my lady. Hyleenas track by smell, so we’d best do what we can to prevent more of them finding us.”
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash submitted to having the blood cleaned from her leg and the wound bound with hoofkerchiefs. Though she tried to look bored and impatient, she had to bite her lip several times against the pain. When Twilight used her magic to tie the last knot, she immediately sped into the air, eager to get off the leg. As she hovered above her friends, she noticed the prince staring up at her with a slightly dazed expression. Unnerved, she turned away, her bright eyes falling on the prone hyleenas.
“What about them?” she asked. Two of the beasts had been knocked out, but the other two were still awake and active and had not stopped fighting the ropes around their limbs since they’d been downed. “Are we just gonna leave them here?”
Fluttershy gasped—she had been so concerned with Rainbow Dash that she hadn’t even considered that. “Oh no! We couldn’t do that...they’ll starve…their families will miss them…they…” She quickly plopped Gumdrop in Pinkie’s bushy mane and turned to cautiously approach the hyleenas. They both watched her with ugly yellow eyes, snarling and showing their teeth. The yellow pegasus stopped a few feet from the smaller one and bent down to speak to it—but yipped and darted away when the beast snarled and viciously snapped at her.
“Oh! Oh my…they’re so…so…”
“Disgusting?”
“Foul?”
Fluttershy shook her pink-maned head. “Mean,” she murmured.
“They’re loathsome,” Prince Linden spoke up, having finally torn his gaze from Rainbow Dash. His lip curled as he regarded the four beasts. “They really have no redeeming qualities at all—they don’t even care properly for their young.”
“Ah guess we’re gonna have to leave them here,” Applejack said uncertainly, watching the black-splotched hyleena struggle to break her knots. “We can’t let them go now or they’d just attack us again.”
“I never even realized that a pack had moved so far into the kingdom. I don’t know if there are more around, but we should run into the rest of my party eventually and then we will have numbers on our side,” Linden explained. “When we get to the castle I will send some of the soldiers back to deal with these ones properly.”
“Oh, will you have them taken someplace else where they can live peacefully without harming anypony?” Fluttershy asked, unable to be convinced that the hyleenas were all bad.
The prince stared at her, incredulous, but spotted Twilight and Rarity frantically nodding at him from behind the hopeful little pony.
“I will have to discuss that with my father, Miss Fluttershy. It is his kingdom and he does not want the nuisances anywhere near his subjects. They’re highly dangerous.”
“Well…maybe somepony might be able to work with them and reform them.” Fluttershy gave the hyleenas one last, mournful look before turning away to collect her mouse from Pinkie Pie. 
Linden looked from her to the beasts, gaping. “Is…is she always like that?” he asked, hearing a soft whoosh of air by his ear. He looked up to find Rainbow Dash flapping beside him and grinning at her friend. She glanced down, her smile widening at his stunned expression.
“Actually…yeah…but you should see her stare down a dragon.”
“Stare down a dragon? My lady, surely you jest?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No. There was this thing with a manticore too…and I heard something about a cockatrice.”
“Fascinating! I would delight in hearing of these tales from you, Lady Rainbow Dash—of course, after your battle wounds have been properly tended. Come, if we start now we should be able to reach my camp and the rest of my party by nightfall.
Abandoning the hyleenas, the Ponyville mares followed the prince, who knew the forested valley and surrounding mountains very well from foalhood rambles. As he led the way, he explained how he had come to be trapped on a cliff with a pack of hyleenas snapping at his heels. He had come out into the forest for some tracking practice, bringing his steward, squire, and several friends. They had found and successfully tracked squirrels, a fox, deer, and even a grumpy badger. Linden’s squire, Fletcher, had started bragging about his prowess, so they had challenged him to test it…by tracking a member of their party. 
“I volunteered immediately,” Prince Linden told them. “Fletcher and I have been friends since we were foals, so I know all his quirks and habits and had the best chance of running him a merry chase. He can also tend to be a tad full of himself, so I’ll admit that I wanted to bring him down a peg.
“It was all working out just fine…I had a slight head start and I took great care to make sure it would be especially difficult to follow me. I headed this way because I knew the ground was dry and rocky and I wouldn’t leave hoofprints. This valley also has lots of twists and turns and side trails that I figured to use in laying a false path or two.
“As I said, it was all going just splendid, but then I stumbled upon a pack of hyleenas and, well, you know the rest. I didn’t even have my sword with me because I had wanted to travel light and quiet.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, your Highness, but Ah doubt a sword woulda done you much good against them brutes. Five against one…not very good odds.”
“And it sounds to me like you did a little too well hiding your trail,” Twilight put in. “How long were you up on that cliff?”
“At least an hour…maybe more. I was starting to get a little hoarse.”
“A little horse?” Pinkie bubbled. “But you’re already a little pony!”
The prince raised an eyebrow, but shrugged when Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, it was serendipitous that you heard me when you did. I’m sure that large one with the torn ear was close to reaching me.” He glanced sideways at Rainbow Dash as he spoke. “And it was even more fortunate that you had ponies with you capable of flying faster than eagles…I must say that I have never seen a pony with wings before. And the memory of this first meeting will surely stay with me forever.”  
“You’ve never seen a pegasus?” Rainbow Dash was incredulous. “Not even in books or pictures?”
“Oh yes…in histories—I’ve seen several engravings and paintings and there is even a tapestry in the great hall with a winged pony. But until you flew into the clearing today, I had never seen one in real life. And, I must say, my Lady, the historians and artists have not done you justice at all.”
“Yeah, we are pretty awesome,” Rainbow bragged, then realized that the prince was speaking about her specifically and not pegasi as a whole. Normally, she drank up any kind of praise or attention, but the way Linden was staring up at her made her feel oddly uncertain. To cover her confusion, she shifted wing and drifted closer to her friends. Linden’s head swiveled to follow her, but this brought him face to face with a smiling, bright-eyed Twilight Sparkle.
“What about unicorns?” she asked. “We’ve heard that Saddellia is inhabited strictly by earth ponies…but if you had pegasi in the past, then you might have had unicorns.”
“Actually, we have a unicorn at court. Gold Hoof has been my father’s advisor and magician for years now. He can do the most amazing things with magic.”
“Really!” As Princess Celestia’s prized pupil and the Element of Magic, Twilight was always fascinated by the thought of learning new spells. “What kinds of things can he do?”
“Well, I’ve seen him light candles from across a room without a match or torch. And he can move small objects without touching them. During one of our last banquets, he lifted a pumpkin off the table and made it hover in the air for several minutes.”
“That’s it?” Rainbow asked tactlessly. Her friends glared at her, but the prince only looked perplexed.
“It? But it’s extraordinary. No other Saddellian can perform such feats.”
“But any unicorn can do boring stuff like that!” Pinkie said. “That’s all the easy peasy stuff. Rarity uses her magic to make us all really pretty dresses and she puts on super, spectacular lightshows, and she can find all sorts of diamonds and rubies and sapphires and emeralds and—”
“Yes, Pinkie! Uh, I think his Highness gets your point” Rarity trotted closer to the prince, swishing her spiral tail and smiling coyly. “Kindling lights and moving things are all very basic unicorn skills, your Highness. Most of us have especial talents as well, suited to our particular personalities. Allow me to demonstrate.” She pranced a few feet away and concentrated her magic into her horn. It began to shimmer, then glow. After a moment, she smiled and pointed a hoof towards a large rock where a small patch of ground was pulsing with an echo of the shine on her horn.     
“There’s a nice one…Applejack, would you be a dear? The ground is so hard here and I don’t want to chip a hoof.”
Grumbling under her breath, Applejack grudgingly complied and dug at the glowing spot, knocking away dirt, rocks, twigs, and soil with her hooves until she unearthed a fair sized, brilliantly blue topaz.
“Here.” She picked up the gem in her mouth and tossed it to Rarity. “But don’t be thinkin’ you can boss me around like you do Spike.”
Rarity sniffed and presented the stone to the prince, who was suitably impressed. He turned back to Twilight Sparkle.
“And you can do this…trick as well?”
“To a point. Rarity taught me a spell on how to find gems, but that particular talent is hers.”
“So do you have a special talent as well?”
All of the girls but Twilight laughed. She glared at them severely, but they were far too used to her to be bothered by that. Prince Linden smiled weakly, perplexed.
“Did I say something inappropriate?” he asked. “I apologize, but I don’t know anything about Equestrian culture…if I have offended you by asking something rude, I am sincerely sorry, Miss Sparkle.”
“Oh no, Prince Linden. It’s nothing like that.”
“It’s just that our Twilight is not your average, run o’ the mill unicorn, if you catch our drift,” Applejack said, nudging Twilight and winking. “Even in Equestria, she’s considered mighty powerful.”
“Some of her spells are really amazing,” Fluttershy spoke up. “There was this one time she took an apple and turned it into a carriage for us to ride in.”
“Can’t say that the spell with the mice worked out so well,” Rainbow added. She briefly described Twilight’s attempt to turn four white mice into four white horses. “They still had whiskers and squeaked.”
“And then Rarity’s cat chased them away, hehehe! I remember that, Dashie. It was so funny!”
“And then there was the No Food spell she tried on the parasprites.”
“And the Come Alive spell she used durin’ Winter Wrap Up. Whew, that one was a doozy!”
“Ooh! Twilight! You should show him a spell!” Pinkie hopped rapidly in a circle around her friend. “Show him that one where you start in one place and then go Poof! and then end up in another place. That’s my favorite!”
“My teleportation spell? I-I don’t know, Pinkie…I…I…” Twilight’s eyes tried to track her friend, but Pinkie was moving so fast that the unicorn’s eyes started to spin in her head and she looked ill. “Pinkie, please…I…” When Pinkie showed no sign of stopping or even feeling dizzy, Twilight acted out of desperation and squeezed her eyes shut. In the next instant, she was ten feet ahead of them all.
“Yay! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Pinkie broke into a canter to catch up with her. “I wish I could do that.”
Twilight, who had seen Pinkie appear in the most random of places and also cover vast distances with seemingly no effort whatsoever, groaned and hid her face in her hoof. 
“That was brilliant!” Prince Linden and the others soon joined them. The prince’s blue eyes were shining. “Gold Hoof has certainly never done anything like that before. I’m sure he will love to meet you, Miss Sparkle, especially if you are able to teach him some of those tricks.”
“I would be happy to try, your Highness.” Her eyes brightened and her tail began to swish back and forth nervously. “Gosh…I’ve never been a teacher before. I don’t even know where I would begin.”
“You’ll be fine, Twilight,” Rainbow said, batting her eyes innocently. “You’re always telling us what to do.”
“What? I am not! I just try to point out the…” She paused, frowning. “You’re teasing me.”
“Duh.” Rainbow’s smile suddenly faltered as her leg flared with pain. “Ow!”
“Now that don’t sound good, Rainbow. You need a rest?”
“I’m fine, AJ.”
“Ain’t no shame in admitting that you’re hurtin’, Sugarcube. And no reason to hide it cuz Ah can see it written all over your face.”
“I agree with Miss Applejack, my lady. Anypony can see that you’re in pain. Please, come down and rest if that is what you need.”
“I’m fine, really. I just—” Her eyes closed briefly as another wave of pain hit her. When she opened them again, she looked straight at Prince Linden. “How much further till we reach the castle?”
Linden looked troubled. “We’ll not reach it today, Lady Rainbow. Maybe late tomorrow or the next day. My friends and I always come deep into the mountains for our tracking so we won’t be bothered by anypony.”
Rainbow Dash groaned, but flapped her wings harder. “Okay…five more miles. I’ll rest when we’ve gone another five miles. I didn’t get to be the Best Young Flyer in Equestria by stopping every time I hurt myself in practice.”
“It’s true!” Pinkie Pie said to Linden. “I’ve seen her crash into walls and through roofs, and she’s even flown into trees, railroad posts and mountains and she’s never let it stop her.”
“Yes,” Rarity agreed. “Sometimes she’s just too stubborn for her own good.”
“Thanks…” The pegasus surged forward a few yards, then spun gracefully and came back. “See? I can do this, you guys. We’re wasting daylight.”
“Okay, Rainbow. Just promise us you’ll stop to rest when you have to. It’s a deep cut.”
“Sure. I promise.” Rainbow crossed a hoof over her chest, then saluted in midair. “Pony’s honor.”
With the prince and her friends watching her solicitously, Rainbow Dash managed to fly the promised five miles and even a little past before the pain in her leg brought her down for a rest. Fluttershy and Applejack checked and changed her bandages, this time using a silky, patterned scarf given up by Rarity. Staunchly maintaining that she was alright and just conserving her strength, the pegasus settled onto a soft patch of grass. Prince Linden immediately dropped to his knees before her.
“It grieves me to see you like this, Lady Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash managed a laugh. “Not much fun for me either, your Highness.”
“I believe I may have an idea that will make your ordeal easier.”
“Ordeal? It’s just a scratch…give me a few minutes to sit and I’ll be back on my wings in no time.”
“I would feel so much better if you allowed me to help you, especially as you came to this because of me. You see, my lady, I have a friend who is uncommonly large and strong. I propose that I go on ahead to find the rest of my party while you rest here. I will bring my friends back and we will see you safely lifted to the palace.”
“I told you…I’m not riding on any litter like a foal.”
“Oh, this will not be a litter, my lady. I assure you. I think you will have to see for yourself what I mean.”
Rainbow Dash tried to protest, but her friends all agreed with the prince. Outnumbered and outvoted, she grumpily rested her chin on her hoof, tail flipping about impatiently.
In the end, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity went with the prince to find his party, leaving Fluttershy and Applejack with Rainbow Dash. Applejack had wanted to go too, but Linden felt the orange earth pony would be the most capable of protecting the two pegasi if more hyleenas appeared and insisted she stay behind. 
“Sheesh! I can still fly even with a bad leg,” Rainbow groused after the prince and three of her friends had galloped off. “No hyleena could reach me up in one of these trees.”
“Oh, Rainbow…Prince Linden just didn’t want you to be lonely,” Fluttershy said gently. She settled down on her friend’s uninjured side and leaned companionably against her. Gumdrop ran out of her abundant pink mane and patted the unhappy pegasus on the hoof.
“Yeah, Sugarcube…he’s just concerned is all.”  Applejack sat on her haunches and drew a grid in the dirt with her hoof. “C’mon, tic tac toe—best two outta three and Fluttershy plays the winner.”
**
“I’m glad you know these woods so well, Prince Linden,” Twilight said as she trotted along beside the prince. “We’ve been traveling for days and there have been times when I was almost certain we’d gotten lost because our maps were so vague and the trails were overgrown. You must have a great sense of direction.”
Linden turned to her, smiling playfully and Twilight blushed as she suddenly realized that he was an extremely handsome young pony. 
“Actually, Miss Sparkle—you would be able to find the rest of my party on your own. You just have to know what to look for. I marked the trail for Fletcher…I’m a little surprised they haven’t found us yet. I guess I did hide my markers too well, but they’re all around us.”
“Really?” Twilight turned to stare at the surrounding forest, her lavender eyes narrowing as she tried to discern some signs of the prince’s earlier passing. She spotted a leaf on a rock a few yards away and hurried to examine it. Was it possible that it had been placed there deliberately?
“That’s a very pretty leaf, Miss Sparkle…but unfortunately it is not a marker.” Linden turned, seemingly at random, and trotted along his makeshift trail at a brisk trot. Twilight and her friends cantered after him.
“That’s alright, I’m sure I’ll spot one of them eventually. Hmm…” Twilight studied their trail, scrutinizing bush and tree, leaf and rock, twig and log, but each time she hazarded a guess Linden smiled and shook his head, usually taking them in the opposite direction. After thirty minutes of this, Twilight hung her head. “I give up,” she conceded. “I don’t see anything that looks like it’s marking a trail.”
“Ooh! Ooh! I do!” Pinkie Pie suddenly darted ahead of them, bouncing through the forest with a happy giggle. Linden glanced at Twilight and Rarity, surprised, and took the turn Pinkie had just made. They cantered after the hyperactive earth pony until she came to a sudden, screeching halt. “Here you go, Twilight!” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
Linden was laughing. “She’s right. I have one of my markers right here.”
Twilight looked around eagerly, but could find no trace of the marker. As far as she could tell, this patch of forest was exactly the same as every other part of the forest they had already seen. There were trees and rocks, bushes, more rocks, more trees…
“Uh, where is it, Pinkie?”
Pinkie’s eyes widened in amazement and she took in a deep gasp. “Are you really, seriously, honestly, truly saying you don’t see it!” she asked incredulously. “It’s right in front of your little nose!”
“Oh, okay.” Twilight looked around again, sure that there was something obvious she was missing. “Uh…that leaf?” she asked, pointing. Pinkie’s pupils shrank slightly, her face going very still. “No…no, not the leaf, of course. Hehe…I was just teasing. Um, it’s got to be…oh! I know! It’s that tree branch right there! It’s pointing the way!” 
She beamed at her friend, but Pinkie Pie only responded by shaking her head. “Nuh uh! C’mon, Twilight. It’s super duper looper easy!”
Twilight groaned. She had long since given up trying to understand Pinkie Pie’s strange senses and abilities, but this one was new and particularly weird.
“I give up. I’m sure you somehow managed to triangulate the angle of the sun versus the shadow of the mountain with the direction of the wind to calculate—”
“Please tell us, Pinkie,” Rarity asked excitedly. “Where is it?”
Pinkie giggled and pointed to an apple-sized rock leaning against a tumbled pile of similarly sized stones. “It’s right here, sillies! Don’t you see? This one is different from all the others!”
Twilight and Rarity edged closer and stared but neither could see how the one stone was any different from the others. 
“Pinkie Pie…that rock is exactly the same as the others,” Rarity said, her voice taking on a twinge of impatience.
Twilight started to agree, but bent down for a closer look. As far as she could tell, it was absolutely identical to the others—worn edges, medium grey color, little flecks of red and black from deposits of iron and…she froze, tilting her head, then levitated the rock with her horn and trotted to a patch of sunlight with it. The black flecks sparkled faintly. They were bits of black mica, and were missing from the other rocks in the pile.
She pointed out her findings to Rarity, who was astounded by how minute the differences were. Pinkie Pie beamed and bounced in place.
“I honestly don’t know how she saw it from back there,” Linden confessed. “I found that rock with the mica a mile into my trek and carried it with me as a test for Fletcher. But I fully expected even him to miss it, so…”
All three ponies turned to Pinkie Pie, who responded by bounding away.
“I’m gonna go find another one!”
Twilight, Rarity, and Linden hurried after her, following the trail she traced through the forest. She unerringly found all of the prince’s hidden markers, from the bird’s feather glued with a tiny dollop of mud to the underside of a branch, to the patch of floppy grass that had been flipped over to lie on the wrong side, and even the pebble that had been placed on a lily pad in the center of a large patch of identical lilypads.
“Whoo hoo! This is fun!” Pinkie cried, darting away after pointing out an incredibly faint letter L scratched into a piece of bark partially hidden beneath a bush.
“She’s the best tracker I’ve ever seen!” Prince Linden was shaking his head in amazement as they ran to keep Pinkie in view. “It’s like she isn’t even trying at all. How does she do it?”
Rarity gave a delicate, ladylike shrug. “We’ve never been able to figure it out. It’s just one of the things that makes Pinkie Pinkie.” Smiling prettily, she sidled closer to the prince. “Now, Prince Linden…we haven’t had much of a chance to talk. I would love to hear more about your kingdom. Please, tell me…what are your fashions like?”
Linden was just about to reply when Pinkie Pie shouted, “Hey! I think I see someone!”
She had come to the top of a steep slope and was pointing down into a ravine. Linden, Twilight, and Rarity joined her in looking down at a group of four ponies below. They had heard Pinkie’s shout and moved to the bottom of the slope, their faces tilted up. One, a pale green pony with a darker green mane, lifted a hoof and waved.
“Linden?” His voice drifted upwards faintly. “Is that you?”
“Fletcher!” Linden shouted back. “About time you caught up with me!”
“That’s them? Yay! I win!” Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down on the edge of the slope until her hoof came down on a loose rock. It slipped out from under her, sending the pink pony rolling down the slope in a spill of soil and tumbling stones.
“Aaahh!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight and Rarity screamed. They both rushed to the edge of the cliff where their friend had vanished and spotted a pink mane sliding downward in a thick cloud of swirling dust. Twilight pointed her horn at Pinkie, intent on using her magic to float her to safety, but at that instant the earth pony rolled up and over a partially buried rock. It acted like a ramp that launched Pinkie into an airborne loop and out of Twilight’s reach. Pinkie Pie screamed again, her legs pinwheeling frantically as gravity took over and plummeted down, down, down…
…and landed with a thump on the back of the largest pony Twilight and Rarity had ever seen. He was easily four feet taller than Applejack’s brother, Big Macintosh, barrel-chested and heavily muscled beneath his plum colored coat. Sitting up on his back, Pinkie Pie looked as small and helpless as a filly.
The huge pony turned his head, his green eyes locking with her blue. Pinkie trembled from the shock of her fall. Her ears lowered as she ducked her head. Her lips quivered.
“Hi there!” An enormous smile replaced the terror on her face and she sprang to her hooves on the pony’s wide back, dancing from side to side in her delight. “I’m Pinkie Pie and that was an amazing catch! I was all like Aaaiih! and you were all Argh! and you swooped in and then I was like thump! but I’m okay now and I’m so excited to meet you!”
Twilight, Rarity, and Prince Linden slid down the slope on their haunches, reaching the bottom just as the giant of a pony burst in deep, bellowing laughter at Pinkie Pie’s rapid fire and acted out dialog.
The Saddellian ponies greeted their prince with friendly, informality, the pale green Fletcher even pounding Linden on the shoulder with his hoof.
“What is this? It’s not bad enough that you set a trail nopony could follow, but you have to show me up by taking time out with the ladies while we’re all slogging through the woods?”
“Wish I could say it was that enjoyable, Fletch…though meeting these ladies was definitely the high point of my day. Allow me to introduce Miss Twilight Sparkle, Miss Rarity…and the one who just took ten years off Tiny’s life is Miss Pinkie Pie.”
“Tiny!” Pinkie Pie put her front hooves on the colt’s neck and leaned over his head to stare at him upside down. She blinked rapidly. “Hahaha, your name is Tiny? That’s so funny because you’re not tiny at all!”
Tiny laughed as he stared up at her. “And it’s a good thing for you that I’m not.”
“You got that right!”  Pinkie swayed unsteadily for a moment, then caught her balance as Tiny carried her to the rest of the group.
“We’re glad to see you, your Highness.” An older white pony with a dark blue mane and an ink bottle and quill cutie mark stepped solicitously forward. “We’ve been searching for you for hours—either you are entirely too good at setting false trails or Fletcher has been embellishing his skills greatly. We’ve been lost since your first false trail. Are you well? Did you come to any trouble? Wherever did you meet these lovely maidens so far out here?”
“I’m fine, Aster, thanks to these three and their friends. I did have some trouble, but luckily they came along to assist me.”
Aster looked stricken, his grey eyes blinking rapidly. “Trouble?” he asked in a strained voice. “Wh-what sort of trouble, your Highness?”
“We’ll discuss that as we go. Don’t look so nervous, Aster. I’m fine. Not even a scratch—though the same cannot be said for another beautiful lady who assisted me in my hour of need. She sustained an injury while helping me and we had to leave her and two others behind. I’ve promised her that we would make haste to return, so let me make some quick introductions. Ladies,” Prince Linden turned to the girls. “This is my appointed steward and tutor, Aster. The rakish demon beside him is Fletcher, who seems to have forgotten all he ever learned about proper tracking.”
Fletcher scoffed at this, but dipped a low bow to the girls, waggling his eyebrows at Rarity. Like Prince Linden, he was exceedingly handsome, though in a mischievous sort of way, with a hunter green mane, teal eyes, and a cutie mark of a blue-fletched arrow striking a red and white bullseye.
“Don’t listen to him…nopony in his right mind could follow his trail without getting lost.”
“I did!” Pinkie blurted from where she still sat on Tiny’s back. While Fletcher looked at her incredulously, Linden indicated another of his friends, a dark orange pony with a red mane and a flaming crescent moon as his cutie mark. He appeared a few years older than the prince. “This tall, serious fellow is Nightfire.”
Nightfire lowered himself into a deep, graceful bow. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my ladies.”
“Last, but certainly not the least is my bodyguard, Tiny, whom Pinkie Pie has already met. Good catch, by the way, big fellow.”
“It’s so sad, isn’t it,” Fletcher quipped. “The girls are always falling for the ponies with brawn and not the brains.”
“Then what is your excuse?” Tiny drawled. “You have neither. Linden…you said you met three more ladies?”
“Yes,” Twilight spoke up. “Our friend Rainbow Dash is hurt and needs medical treatment. She tried flying all this way, but couldn’t make it. We had to leave her with Applejack and Fluttershy a few hours ago…they’re waiting for us to come back. Linden said you could help her, Tiny.”
“Yeah…a big, strong pony like you could carry itty bitty Dashie with no problem at all,” Pinkie Pie said, patting Tiny’s mane companionably. 
“Yes, we’d better hurry back. It’s going to start getting dark soon and I don’t want to leave them alone any longer than we must.” Linden’s face grew gravely serious. “There was a pack of hyleenas in the woods.”
This got their attention. Even Fletcher stopped grinning at Rarity long enough to look at Linden, his green eyes horrified.
“Hyleenas? Really? How many?”
“Just one pack. Five total. They took me completely by surprise and—no, Aster, I’m fine. They didn’t even touch me…but they pinned me up on a cliff and probably would have gotten to me if Rainbow Dash hadn’t come along. She fought them all by herself, even took out three of them for a time, then got me off the cliff once her friends showed up to help.”
“Wait.” Nightfire was shaking his head in confusion. “You’re saying one pony…one girl pony…fought a pack of hyleenas on her own and survived?”
“Well, I don’t see what her being a girl has to do with it,” Twilight interjected a little coolly. “But she was doing a great job on her own by the time we got there, even though she did get hurt.” Turning to the prince, she added, “Please, Prince Linden, we need to get back to her and the others.”
“Right! C’mon, lads, the lady Rainbow Dash awaits!” Linden reared, spinning around on his back hooves, and cantered down the ravine to where it tapered and merged into a gentler slope. Muttering under his breath, Aster followed, keeping pace with Twilight Sparkle, while Fletcher paced himself to match Rarity. Tiny set off after them all, though with his size he needed no more than a fast trot to keep up and Pinkie Pie held on for the ride, whooping happily
Nightfire blinked confusedly, then sprang into a gallop, exclaiming, “Wait a minute…did you say fly?” 
**
Rainbow Dash stared hard at the checkerboard of twigs before her, contemplating the leaf and rock pieces for a long time before finally shifting one rock forward a space. She held her hoof on the piece for a moment, examining her move from all angles, then sat back with a smile. “There!” she announced to her opponent.
Gumdrop finished the berry he’d been eating and cleaned his whiskers, then jumped onto the board, grabbed a leaf in his mouth, and leapt Rainbow’s piece. Raising his tiny arms triumphantly over his head, he pointed at the stone and stared at Rainbow Dash until she dutifully moved the game piece to the small pile the mouse had accumulated. Only three of her pebbles remained on the makeshift board and the tiny mouse was looking annoyingly smug.
“Yeah, yeah…laugh it up…until you see that’s you’ve fallen right into my trap!” Rainbow picked up one of the last pebbles delicately in her teeth and, grinning wickedly, bounced it rapidly around the board, capturing all but one of Gumdrop’s leaves. The mouse’s whiskers drooped in shock, his bravado crashing down as the pony also landed her piece in one of the eighth squares.
“King me!” She laughed. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”
Gumdrop pouted for a few seconds, then shrugged and kicked the leaf aside before holding out a miniscule paw to shake.
“Yeah, good game…and thanks for staying up with me.” Rainbow glanced sideways at Applejack and Fluttershy, who were sprawled side by side and sound asleep. They had remained awake for the first few hours, but the long day of travel and the fight with the hyleenas had coupled with the heat to create a fierce desire to nap. Fluttershy had given in first, but Applejack had been quick to follow. 
Rainbow Dash was also tired, but the pain in her leg kept her from drifting off—something she refused to admit to her friends. Gumdrop, however, had boundless energy and cheerfully kept her company for the last long, lonely hours.
Now, as the sun began to dip low in the sky, Rainbow Dash sat up and gathered the “game pieces” together into two neat piles.
“I guess we should probably get a fire going,” she told Gumdrop. “It’s too hot for one if you ask me, but I don’t know if I like the idea of sitting in the dark with things like those hyleenas around.” She turned her head to glare at the bandage on her flank. “Stupid leg—if this hadn’t happened we’d probably all be there by now.”
Gumdrop squeaked and raced into the underbrush, coming back a few seconds later with a small twig. Dropping it by Rainbow’s hoof, he ran back to collect a mouthful of dried grasses.
Rainbow Dash laughed as the little pile of kindling accumulated in front of her. “Hehe, thanks for the help, little guy, but at this rate we won’t get a fire started until morning. Let me help you.” Gritting her teeth, she climbed to her hooves and limped into the trees in search of suitable tinder. Finding a likely branch, she grabbed it in her teeth and flapped her wings, flying low and dragging it backwards across the ground. 
The scraping, rustling sound woke Applejack, who sat up and yawned widely. Catching sight of Rainbow Dash struggling with the branch, she rolled her eyes.
“Rainbow Dash, just what in the hay do you think you’re doin’?”
“Getting wood to start a fire, what does it look like I’m doing?” Rainbow replied, her voice muffled by the branch.
Applejack stood up and shook from nose to tail. “Whoo! Guess Ah must have dozed off there for a few minutes.” She trotted up to Rainbow and gently but firmly tugged on her tail until the pegasus landed. “Ah don’t know why you didn’t just wake me up to help,” she stated, pulling the branch towards to their resting spot. “You shouldn’t be doin’ stuff like this with your leg.”
“I was doing fine. I wasn’t even on my leg. And…and it hardly hurts at all anymore.”
Applejack glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” she drawled, turning back to the branch. “Now you just lie back down and let me handle this, Sugarcube.”
Rainbow mockingly mouthed Applejack’s words behind her back, then stilled and swiveled her ears forward.
“Hey, AJ, hold still for a second—do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Applejack asked, her own voice now muffled. “I don’t hear nothin’, Rainbow.”
“Not if you keep talking like that! Shh! Listen!”
The sound she had heard soon resolved itself into the thudding of approaching hooves. Applejack grinned and spat out the branch.
“Sounds like a bunch of ponies headin’ our way! Bout time they got back.”
“They must have found Prince Linden’s friends—that’s too many hoofbeats for four ponies.” Rainbow bent down and caught Gumdrop’s tail in her mouth, picking up the mouse and flipping him over her head into her mane. “Better get off the ground, little guy. Wouldn’t want you to get stepped on.”
“C’mon, Sugarcube…up and at ‘em. We got company.” Applejack nudged Fluttershy, who rolled over and opened her eyes.
“Oh, did I fall asleep?”
“You and AJ both,” Rainbow informed her. “About three hours ago.”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry. Here we were supposed to keep you company and look out for any bad, mean, toothy things and make sure your leg is okay and we—what’s that sound?”
“Twi and the others returnin’ with the prince’s friends.”
Fluttershy got to her hooves, suddenly looking as shy as her name. She ducked her head low and looked at them from beneath her thick hair. “I sure hope they’re nice and friendly like the prince and—oh! Where’s Gumdrop?”
The others chose that moment to arrive, Twilight and Rarity cantering straight to their friends and nuzzling them in greeting. Four strange ponies stepped into the hollow, staring curiously while nudging one another and whispering. A tall, thin orange pony let out a snorting breath and muttered, “Will you look at that…they really do have wings!”
“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy! Look! We found them all! Actually, I found them all.” Pinkie Pie was standing on the back and a simply enormous pony, her bushy tail swishing back and forth. “And wait till you hear how I found them!”
“Please, everyone…if you could just be…” Fluttershy hurried forward, her teal eyes searching the ground frantically.
“Lady Rainbow Dash…” Prince Linden approached the pegasus and dipped a slight bow. “We returned as quickly as we could. I trust your rest was safe and uneventful”
“Uh, yeah, I guess…I won three straight games of checkers against a mouse, but—”
“Mouse? Yes, please, where is the mouse?”
“Whew! We did a straight gallop almost all the way back here,” Twilight said and wiped sweat from her brow. “We wanted to make it back before dark and I was starting to worry.”
“Stop!” Fluttershy’s cry rang through the forest, echoing off the surrounding mountains and sending a nearby roosting bird into loud, frantic flight. All conversation came to a halt as every eye turned to the panicking yellow pegasus. “I’m sorry, everypony…but please stop talking and moving around. I need to find Gumdrop before somepony steps on him and—”
“Oh Fluttershy!” Rainbow sang. “Look over here.”
Fluttershy turned and gasped to see Gumdrop waving at her from between Rainbow’s ears.  With a happy squeal, she flew to her friend and held out a hoof so the mouse could run to her.
“Whoa! She really is flying!” The pale green pony standing beside Linden stared at her, his mouth dropping open. Rarity, who was standing close to the colt, pursed her lips in a pout.
“Well, y’all, looks like you found us alright. What do you say we build ourselves a nice fire before it gets too dark down here and then get down to the introductions?”
“We’ll do that,” the green pony said, thumping his orange friend with a hoof. “Come on, Tiny—you can carry more than both of us put together.”
“Aw, see you soon, Tiny.” Pinkie hopped off the giant pony’s back and the three colts vanished into the darkening woods.
“How’s your leg, Rainbow?” Twilight wanted to know.
“Fine.” Rainbow twisted her neck around and wrinkled her nose at the bandage. “A little sore, but nothing I can’t stand.”
“Would you mind if I took a look, my lady?” The older, white pony stepped forward at a look from Linden. “My name is Aster. I’m a steward in the royal household, but I also have some rudimentary knowledge of the healing arts and herbal remedies. You were bitten by one of the hyleenas?”
“Not bitten. Just scratched.”
“Even a scratch can be serious. Hyleenas are filthy creatures. We wouldn’t want the wound to become infected.”
Applejack and Pinkie Pie broke Rainbow’s branch into smaller pieces and, with Linden’s help, made a fire pit. Using her magic, Twilight sparked a flame on the kindling Gumdrop had collected and soon had the wood crackling and burning brightly. With its light, Aster examined Rainbow’s wound and declared it clean enough, though he suggested they get to the palace as quickly as possible so she could be properly treated by the royal physician.
“His Highness says you faced off five hyleenas all by yourself, my Lady.”
“Yeah, sort of.”
“Five hyleenas against one little pony—my dear, you’re either very brave…or very foolish.”
“Do we have to pick just one, because I would say she’s definitely a little of both,” Rarity quipped, though she winked at Rainbow Dash.
“Yes…she’s definitely brave,” Prince Linden murmured, staring at the pegasus with shining eyes. 
Aster glanced at his prince, a look of mild alarm in his eyes, but didn’t get a chance to respond before the colts boisterously returned with enough wood to keep the fire going strong all night. They then shared out supplies from their own saddlebags, which was a bonus for the girls since their food had all but run out and they had been relying on forage. 
With dinner underway, introductions were passed around and Fletcher, obviously the most forward of all Linden’s friends, loudly called for Linden’s tale of woe. The prince happily complied, describing his frantic gallop from the hyleenas through the forest until he had reached the cliff and then his desperate scrabble up the rocks to the ledge where he had been unable to go any higher. With amazing skill towards the dramatic, he went on to tell how he had feared for his life, until a stunning vision of blue had appeared like a miracle to save him. He described the fearless kick to a hyleena’s jaw, the rainbow tornado that had lifted one clear off the ground, and the rock-throwing.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes! The hyleenas were in complete chaos. They didn’t know which way to turn and they were running about yipping and doing that chilling laugh of theirs, and there’s this little pony flying over them and flinging rocks and insults like she was born doing it!”
Rainbow laughed and covered her eyes with a hoof. “Oh Celestia, I didn’t think you heard that…oops, sorry…that grey one really got me mad. And I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do once I ran out of rocks. Those things were so stubborn—they just wouldn’t take the hint. So it was a good thing everyone else showed up when they did. How’d you like Applejack’s fancy ropework? Or Twilight jumping over that hyleena like a steeplechase racer? Wasn’t as awesome as my twister, but still,” she beamed at her friends, “pretty cool.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry, my lady, but I didn’t see any of that.”
“You didn’t? Oh, wait…that was when you had your eyes squeezed shut, wasn’t it?”
Fletcher laughed and Rarity nudged Rainbow sharply.
“Ow! What?”
“Be nice, Rainbow Dash! I’m sure it wasn’t like that…I’m sure the prince was just distracted.”
“No, it was exactly like that,” Rainbow and the prince said in perfect unison. They glanced at one another in surprise and laughed.
“I’m not ashamed to admit it,” Linden said, glaring at Fletcher. “I was petrified while I was up on that cliff, and this brave lady had to go to rather extreme measures to bring me to my senses.”
“Uh, yeah, if you consider dragging you backwards and dropping into midair rather extreme.”
Fletcher guffawed, rolling over onto his back and kicking his legs in the air. Nightfire was struggling to bite his lip against his snickers, but was quickly losing the battle while watching the green colt. Tiny tried to do the same, but Fletcher’s laughter was infectious to Pinkie Pie and her giggles broke the giant pony’s resolve.
“Yes, Fletch…it’s utterly hilarious now,” Linden said dryly. “But I can assure you that, in the moment, being hauled off a solid rock and held high in the air over a slathering pack of hyleenas was not in the least bit enjoyable.”
“Hahahaha! Oh, I wish I had been there to see your face!”
Fletcher’s laughter was beginning to grate on Rainbow Dash, who understood what the prince was saying and felt sorry for him—even she had been afraid of those things.
“I can do you one better, Fletcher,” she announced loudly. “Tomorrow, after the sun is up, I’ll take you up for a flight so you can get an idea of what the prince saw—we were only, oh, about forty or fifty feet high.”
The green colt’s laughter broke in a startled snort and he immediately rolled over, his eyes filled with alarm. “Uh…well…no, that’s…um, that’s alright.”
“Are you sure, Fletch?” Linden pressed, grinning wickedly.
Rainbow tapped a hoof on the ground and fluttered her eyelashes with exaggerated innocence. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”
“Th-that’s very nice, Lady Rainbow Dash…but I think I’d rather keep my hooves on the ground.” Looking abashed, he added to Linden, “Sorry.”
Despite his mocking, Rainbow and her friends found that they immediately liked Fletcher. He was loud and boisterous—even more so than Rainbow Dash—and very aware of how handsome he was. He had told that his father was a duke who held vast amounts of land in Saddellia, but chose to live in the palace as a member of the royal council. Because of this, Fletcher had grown up at court with Linden and they had been best of friends since foalhood. His cutie mark professed his skill in archery which, he was quick to brag, was the best in the kingdom.
Nightfire was the son of another high ranking lord in Saddellia, but had only come to court two years prior when his parents had sent him to the palace to further his studies. An avid history enthusiast, he had been desperate to prevail himself upon the royal library, but had become firm friends with the prince as well. He was quiet and thoughtful, his large eyes seeming to notice everything, and had no qualms in asking the two unicorns and two pegasi about their differences, and possible evolution, from earth ponies.
Tiny was huge, but possessed a gentle nature and a dry wit. Jokes came easily to him, and he had already formed a fast friendship with Pinkie Pie. Of the colts, he had the lowest ranking, coming from a long line of squire ponies that had risen to the ranks of lords in Saddellia. He, like Fletcher, had been raised at Linden’s side, but with the intention of becoming the prince’s loyal bodyguard and protector. His great size had lent him an insatiable appetite, and as a result he had learned how to cook for himself. He had even made dinner for the entire camp—cooking travel supplies and woodland forage over an open fire and somehow creating a gourmet feast.
Despite their noble births, the colts were delighted to meet ponies from Equestria, and showed fascination rather than condescension when the girls described their everyday lives and jobs back in Ponyville.
Linden’s steward, however, found their presence in the Saddleback’s suspicious and, once dinner was complete and Fletcher soundly put in his place, the white pony cleared his throat and pointedly asked, “So, why exactly would a student, a seamstress, a farmer, a weather pony, a baker, and an animal caregiver travel all this way from Ponyville?” As he spoke, listing their professions in the simplest manner possible, he faced each young mare in turn. His brows were raised in question, but the expression in his face was clearly accusing.
Linden had already asked this of the girls during their first trek together and Twilight had honestly informed him that Princess Celestia had sent them to treat with the king in hopes of opening trade routes. Through gentle questions, they had learned that Linden was ignorant of the raids and slave-taking and so had left out that part of their story. The look in Aster’s eyes, however, told Twilight and her friends that the steward probably knew more about Saddellian affairs than his young prince.
“We’ve been sent here as a…uh…I guess you could say a diplomatic envoy from our princess,” Twilight answered cautiously. “We’re requesting a meeting with King Oak Bough to discuss possible trading between our countries.”
Aster let out a breath in a snort. “Yes, but surely your princess would have other envoys…ones who are properly trained to the task? Why would she send six obviously—how can I put this politely—green girls?”
“Aster!” Linden admonished.
“It is a simple question, my prince. It just seems a little odd to me that—”
“Personally, I find them far more pleasant than some stuffy, old ambassador,” Fletcher muttered, casting a sly, sideways glance at Rarity.
“Their reasons for coming to Saddellia are of no matter to me, Aster. My Lady Rainbow Dash was there to save my life because she was chosen to be part of this envoy. She did this at great risk to herself, therefore, she and her friends are all welcome to the palace as my personal guests, with all the privileges expected of such.”
Aster and Linden stared at one another for a long moment, then the steward lowered his eyes.
“Of course, your Highness. Whatever you wish. And I am sure your father will welcome them all with open arms.”

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Ugh, you know, these mountains didn’t look nearly this big on the map.” Rarity lifted a hoof and scowled at the patina of dust on her coat. “Or this dirty.”
“At least it’s pretty, Rarity.” Fluttershy was walking slightly behind the unicorn, her teal eyes wide as she drank in the beautiful scenery about them. They were walking through a thick glade of the silvery-trunked trees and a soft breeze had set the star shaped leaves to fluttering about, alternating the purple and blue sides in a dizzying swirl of color.
“Yes, gorgeous,” Twilight said breathlessly. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Prince Linden…what are these trees? We don’t have anything like them in Equestria.”
“They’re starwoods. They only grown here in these mountains, but the wood is precious down in Saddellia. It’s very strong, hard wood with a very distinct silver sheen to it. It’s used to make furniture and some jewelry, but the pieces are very hard to come by and expensive because these groves are protected and cutting is strictly limited.”
“Come spring, these branches will be completely covered in brilliant purple flowers and full of singing crimson skipperwings.”
“Crimson skipperwings?” Fluttershy turned to the colt eagerly. “What’re they?”
“A small bird. Bright red with purple wings. They come here in the spring to sing and find mates. The males dance from tree to tree and sing constantly—there’s not a moment’s peace.”
“Oh, how wonderful! I wish we had come earlier so I could have seen it. Are they all gone now?”
“They’re around,” Fletcher answered. “But they stay hidden now that their mates are sitting on eggs and chicks. And they build their nests way up in the highest branches so the chances of seeing one now are incredibly slim.”
“Not for us!” Rainbow Dash spoke up from where she lounged on Tiny’s back. She had predictably put up a fight that morning when the prince had insisted she keep off her injured leg by riding the massive pony, but had relented when her friends outvoted her five to one. Now she sat up, fanning out her wings eagerly. “Fluttershy, I’ll fly up with you if you want to try and find one. It’ll give me a chance to stretch my wings.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay, Rainbow. I wouldn’t want to frighten the mama birds and babies on their nests, even if they do sound lovely.” Fluttershy scraped a hoof across the ground and gave the canopy a last, longing look, then set out again at a trot.
Rainbow groaned as she flopped back down on Tiny’s back. “This is ridiculous. I need to fly!”
“Oh, for pete’s sake, Rainbow…it’s just for a few days until your leg heals up. Just take yourself a nap or somethin’. You’re always nappin’ back in Ponyville—usually when there’s work to be done.”
“Well, that’s not very fair, Aj. Did it ever occur to you that I take so many naps because I’m worn out from flying so much? All this sitting around makes me restle—”
“Wow! Look at that!”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack stopped glaring at each other and looked forward at Pinkie’s excited yell. The earth pony was standing at the top of a small rise, waving to them frantically.
“Come on, you guys! You have to see this! It’s amazing!”
“Seems Pinkie was the first to spot Crescent Moon Canyon,” Linden told them.
“Crescent what? What’s that?”
Linden only smiled at Rainbow Dash and trotted ahead. “You’ll have to see it to understand, my lady!” he called back.
Instantly intrigued, Rainbow tapped Tiny with her hoof. “You heard the prince! Let’s go, Big Guy!”
“At your service!” Tiny broke into a rolling canter, bringing them up the rise and into the midst of a truly spectacular sight.
The trees through which they had been traveling suddenly vanished, as though an enormous knife had come down and simply sliced the forest to an end. The troupe of ponies now stood on the edge of a tall bluff, overlooking an immense and breathtaking canyon. Two steeply sloping walls of deep, rose-hued rock plunged hundreds of feet down into a grassy meadow valley below. They formed a distinct pattern in the earth that easily explained why Linden had called it Crescent Moon Canyon, though this canyon was larger than any the ponies of Equestria had even experienced. It was easily seven miles wide and stretched out before them for thrice that, the leading arm of the crescent disappearing in the distance.
“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash breathed, sitting up on Tiny’s back so she could properly take in the scene.
“I second that!” Rarity proclaimed. “This is marvelous! Those stones are beautiful! They positively glow against the sky!”
“It looks like a giant banana!” Pinkie observed. She had stepped to the edge of the bluff and was looking downward. “Ooh! It’s really far…it makes me kinda …dizzy…!” Her hindquarters began to sway alarmingly and she tilted forward over the drop.
“Whoa there!”
Applejack and Nightfire both rushed for her, grabbing her pink tail in their mouths and dragging her back from the precipice.
“Better keep back, Miss Pinkie,” Nightfire said. “There’s no Tiny at the bottom to catch you this time.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to lose you, Sugarcube.” Applejack waved a hoof before Pinkie’s whirling eyes until they focused again. “That’s better.”
“It’s so wide open…look at all this space!” Rainbow jumped to her hooves and snapped her wings open. “It’s perfect!”
“Perfect for what?” Twilight glanced at her, then spun around. “Rainbow! No!”
But the pegasus had already launched herself into the air, jumping so lightly that Tiny hadn’t even realized she had moved until she soared in front of him.
“Rainbow Dash, you get back here right now!” Applejack demanded.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Rarity called out.
“Flying!” was the shouted response. With a whoop of pure pleasure, Rainbow jackknifed in the air and plunged down the side of the cliff, spinning rapid barrel rolls that turned her into a bright blue blur. Just before she hit the ground, she pulled out of the dive and shot straight ahead, the tops of the grasses just brushing her belly and making her giggle. She changed the angle of her wings, slowing her forward speed and slipping effortlessly into the midair prance of her Super Speed Strut.
Relishing the feel of the summer wind caught in her wings, she spun a backflip and a series of aerial somersaults, then banked a turn to head back to the cliff. She was just waving to her watching friends when she flew into what felt like a wall of warm air. It shot her upwards so quickly her stomach lurched and she yelped in surprise.
Her initial shock quickly turned to utter delight as she realized what had happened. She’d caught a thermal…and a huge one at that! Instinctively, she spread her wings wider to trap the updraft and let herself be lifted in a soaring spiral on a column of hot, rising air. The wind whipped past her face and through her hair, catching on her feathers and driving her higher and higher into the crystal blue sky with absolutely no effort.
“This. Is. Awesome!” she cried, finally flipping backwards to escape from the main rush of the thermal. Flapping her wings leisurely, she looked down and could just barely make out the bright, colorful specks that were her friends. She knew they probably couldn’t see her—not with a blue coat against such an amazingly blue sky—but she waved anyway…until she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.
A dark speck was also moving through this level of the thermal, and bright, fierce eyes regarded the pony with amazement as a sharply curved beak opened in a shrill scream.
“Hey there!” Rainbow Dash cheerfully greeted the falcon. “Wonderful day for a flight, isn’t it?”
The falcon banked sharply and folded its wings in a dive, quickly dropping.
“Oh, I gotcha! You want to race!” Rainbow tipped forward and pulled her wings close to her back. Extending her hooves out in front of her, she shot after the falling falcon. The bird sensed her presence and looked back, screeching. It zigged nimbly left, then zagged right, needing only the tiniest of wing adjustments to alter its headlong course. Impressed, Rainbow followed behind, pacing the falcon to one of the canyon walls, where they wove in and out of a series of tall, wind-shaped spires and arches. The thrill of flying was upon her and she let it take over completely. Her wings beat in perfect rhythm, her heart pounded excitedly, her ears filled with the sound of a wind symphony that no instrument could possible mimic. The strain on her muscles, even the ache of her injured leg, only added to her pure exhilaration and Rainbow Dash shouted her joy into the wind.   
The chase went on, but by now the bird seemed to have decided that the winged pony was a friend and fellow flight enthusiast rather than a dangerous foe. Playfully, he dipped a wing and flew under the pegasus to tickle her chin with two of his primaries, then flipped up and over her back, clacking his beak in laughter.
“Show off! Two can play at that game!” Rainbow tucked her legs in close to her belly and lowered her head, letting her momentum spin her around and around in a tight series of somersaults while gravity started to pull her down to the ground over a hundred feet below.
The falcon squawked in alarm, thinking her in trouble, and rushed to save her, angular wings flapping frantically to catch up with the free falling pony. It reached her a mere twenty feet above the ground, stretching out his claws to catch her mane, but Rainbow Dash suddenly snapped out of her tucked position, caught the falcon in her front hooves, and hugged him to her chest. She swirled free of the dive with a wild laugh and sped upwards again, spinning a graceful pirouette that flung her mane and tail out in a multi-colored fan.
“Whoo hoo!”
She released the falcon, flinging him into the air in front of her, where he expertly opened his wings and twisted in a graceful arch that let the sunlight glisten off his grey and black speckled feathers.
“-bow!”
“Huh?” Rainbow snapped out of her euphoria, hovering high above the ground, and glanced down to see that she and the falcon had flown back close to the bluff. She could see her friends watching her and noted Twilight raising a hoof to cup her mouth.
“Rainbow!”
“Aww, I guess I’d better get back.” She sighed heavily. “But it’s been a blast flying with you! Look me up if you’re ever in Ponyville, okay? Bye!” She darted away from the bird and winged her way to the bluff and her waiting friends. The Saddellians stared at her in awe, but she could see the look of slight annoyance on Twilight’s face and anger on Applejack’s. She was in for a lecture, no doubt, but even realizing this could not dampen the sheer joy of flying through so much wide open space and discovering the thermal.
“Yeah!” she exclaimed, backwinging and hovering before the other ponies. “That’s what I was talking about! That was so cool! Did you see me hit that thermal? I went so high!” Rainbow was smiling brightly, tossing her mane and tail about as she excitedly described the entire flight.
“Yeah, yeah, Rainbow…but you—” Rarity suddenly slapped a hoof over Applejack’s mouth, silencing her intended tirade.
“No!” she hissed in a whisper. “Let her be! Don’t you see it?”
“Huh?”
The unicorn surreptitiously tilted her head to indicate the prince. Linden was staring up at the blue pegasus, his eyes sparkling with wonder, admiration, and what was unmistakably infatuation.
“She doesn’t even realize what she’s doing,” Rarity murmured. “But anypony can see that the prince…”
“…is lovestruck,” Twilight said softly, shaking her head.
As they watched, Rainbow demonstrated one of her backflips and asked the prince if he had seen her waving.
“You waved to me?” Linden asked, his voice dreamy.
“Yeah…I was way up there!” Rainbow pointed to the sky in the general vicinity of the thermal, her rose-colored eyes sparkling. “I thought I could see you all standing down here, so I waved.”  
“Oh…oh, yes! Yes, I believe I saw you, my lady. That was truly spectacular!”
Rarity raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows pointedly at Twilight and Applejack. “I think our Rainbow has just done us all a huge favor. An infatuated boy is so willing to listen…” Rarity let the statement go unsaid, but they both caught her point. Prince Linden could be a huge help in convincing his father to agree to Celestia’s peace treaties…and if he knew it was what Rainbow Dash wanted he would be far more likely to assist them.
“Ooh! Ooh! Look! Dashie brought back a friend!”
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, drawing everyone’s attention and directing it to one of the tall trees behind them. Sitting on a low branch was a black and grey falcon, his bright eyes watching them all with keen interest.
“Hey! That’s my flight pal!” Laughing, Rainbow swooped over to the tree. “Hi again, buddy! You’ve got some great moves!”
The falcon nodded and let out an ear-piercing screech. Turning its head, it began preening the feathers of one wing, plucking a long, striped primary free. Holding the feather in its beak, it stretched its neck towards Rainbow Dash.
“For me? Really? Wow…thanks! Oh, wait…hold on a second!” Fitting the feather behind her ear, she pivoted to pluck out one of her own blue feathers, wincing slightly at the sting. “Here you go…in case you want to build a nest or something.”
The falcon accepted the gift, cocked its head one last time, then took to wing and disappeared into the trees.
“So cool!” Rainbow stared after the bird with shining eyes. “I’ve never flown with a falcon before. Those guys have some serious speed!” Wings flapping slowly, she came down to land delicately on the ground, keeping her injured leg raised so it would not take any of her weight. Only then did she smile sheepishly and face her friends. “I know what you’re going to say…I shouldn’t have rushed off like that and I’m sorry, but—”
“It’s alright, darling. You just needed to stretch your wings. We understand.”
Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity as though she had suddenly grown a second head. “You do?” She glanced quickly at Twilight and Applejack, but they both smiled at her, further adding to her confusion. “You’re…not mad?”
“No,” Twilight replied.
“It’s fine, Sugarcube. Looks like you were havin’ a good time out there.”
“Huh? Did you three fall and hit your heads while I was gone? I’m missing something here.”
“Don’t be silly, darling.” Rarity put a hoof around Rainbow’s shoulders, drawing her into a hug. “We like watching you fly. And the prince and his friends were all very impressed. What was your favorite part of her routine, Prince Linden? I just adored the somersaults.”
“I…I thought it was all wonderful,” Linden stammered as the young mares turned to look at him expectantly. Rainbow raised an eyebrow and the colt quickly amended, “But I loved that high speed prance you did over the ground!”
“Yes! Me too!” Twilight exclaimed. “What is that called again, Rainbow?”
“The Super Speed Strut. It’s actually a lot harder than it looks. And it’s kinda funny how I figured out how to do it.”
“I’m sure it’s a fascinating story.” Rarity nudged the pegasus towards Tiny. “You should tell Prince Linden all about it while we travel. Oh! And how you performed the Sonic Rainboom and won the Best Young Flyer’s competition! It will help pass the time.”
“Oh, well, I guess I could.” Rainbow looked askance of the prince. “If he wants to hear them.”
“I would love to, my lady.” Linden beamed at her. “This Sonic Rainboom sounds interesting.”
“Sounds dangerous.” Tiny bent a leg so Rainbow Dash only needed a short flutterhop to get onto his back. She settled comfortably onto her haunches, then yipped when Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared behind her, planting her hooves on Rainbow’s shoulders. 
“Oh yes! The Sonic Rainboom story is the best! When Rarity was way up in the clouds and then she was falling down, down, down, and she was like, ‘AAAAAHHHH!’ and Dashie was, ‘I’m coming, Rarity!’—”
“Let Rainbow Dash tell it, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight scolded. “It’s her story.”
“And get down from there…you can’t expect poor Tiny to carry you both.”
“It’s alright, Miss Applejack. My little Pinkie can ride if she wants.”
Pinkie Pie smiled at her huge friend and sat on her haunches as the prince led them along the rim of the canyon and Rainbow Dash launched into a dramatic retelling of the second time she had performed the infamous Sonic Rainboom. The Saddellians listened avidly, amazed by her description of the sky city of Cloudsdale where she had grown up, the factory where pegasi manufactured the weather for Equestria, and the fierce competition to determine the Best Young Flyer. When she got to Rarity’s terrifying plummet from the clouds, the unconscious Wonderbolts, and her own headlong dive that resulted in a thunderous rainbow explosion, the colts loudly cheered. Even Aster, who had been reserved all day, looked thoroughly depressed.
“Looks like you’ve made a habit of saving lives in need, my lady,” he observed. “You are certainly a most fortuitous friend to have around in times of trouble.”
“When she’s not making it herself,” Applejack quipped with a quick wink at Twilight and Rarity. “Tell ‘em about the dragon, Rainbow.”
“Ah, yes! The dragon! You said you’d faced a dragon—but I thought it was miss Fluttershy who stared it down?”
“Only after our Rainbow coaxed it out of its cave by kickin’ the goshdarned thing in the snout!”
“No!” Nightfire gasped. 
“You did not!” Fletcher exclaimed, laughing at her audacity.
“Actually, I sort of did.” Rainbow Dash was blushing at the memory. She certainly didn’t consider it one of her proudest moments. “But only because the big bully wouldn’t stop snoring and was covering Equestria in a black haze.”
“B-b-but you’re so…so tiny!” Fletcher protested. The giant pony snorted, so Fletcher amended, “Not you, Tiny. Tiny, tiny! 
“Compared to the dragon? Oh yeah! To that guy I was no bigger than Fluttershy’s mouse. He was huge! And…he wasn’t really happy about getting kicked either.” She told them the story of how she and her friends had journeyed up the mountain to the dragon’s cave to convince him to nap somewhere else. When she got to her ill-planned kick, she ducked her head. “I kinda ended up making things worse.”
“That’s just because you were so anxious to save Ponyville,” Rarity spoke up. “Like Aster said, you’re always so willing to help others, isn’t she, Fluttershy?”
“Huh? Oh, uh, yes. Yes, she is.” She smiled sweetly up at Rainbow Dash, not really sure what her friends were doing, but willing to play along. “She was always protecting me from bullies when we were just little fillies even though she’s younger than me.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, perplexed. Compliments were one thing, but this was bordering on embarrassing, and she was far more used to her friends taking her down a peg than singing her praises. 
Luckily, Pinkie Pie took over the brief silence with a sudden slew of her own random stories that kept them all laughing throughout the long hike around the length of the canyon and through another thick patch of forest filled with singing birds and frolicking squirrels. The antics of the animals and the beauty of their unfamiliar surroundings made the journey pass quickly.
Fletcher was in the middle of regaling them with a daring tale of a trek through land rife with enormous snow bears, wolves, and ice snakes when Linden halted in his tracks so suddenly the green colt smacked into him.  
“Walk much?” Fletcher asked snarkily, backing up and rubbing his nose.
“I walk just fine, you big oaf” Linden retorted. “You, however, have a bad habit of not looking where you’re going.” The prince turned to grin at the girls and gestured to a thick stand of dark red bushes. “My ladies, we’ve been on Saddellian land for some time now, but you’re about to get your first glimpse of my real home, Castle Royal Oak.” He beckoned them with a wave of his hoof and slipped through the bushes. The girls hurried after him eagerly.
“Lansakes! Will you look at that!” Applejack said breathlessly as Rainbow Dash landed lightly beside her.
The had finally reached the end of the Saddlebacks and now faced a long, gentle slope of grassy hills as bright and green as polished peridot. Brilliant washes of yellow and purple flowers spread out in a colorful haze before them, blending into a vast expanse of neat farms and clusters of small houses, and, in the distance, a towering castle of shining white stone sparkled and flashed in the sunlight like a giant diamond. Unlike Celestia’s delicate manse on the mountain side of Canterlot, this castle was a formidable fortress with massive walls and watch towers reaching to the clouds. Brightly colored banners flew from the turrets, waving and flapping in the breeze. From their vantage point, they could see earth ponies working in the fields and walking along the neat, winding roads that crisscrossed the countryside.
“I gotta say, Prince Linden, it’s mighty impressive,” Applejack, whistling in appreciation.
“My, my, my! That castle is fabulous!” Rarity’s blue eyes were wide. 
“Yeah, it’s so sparkly and shiny! Isn’t it shiny, Twilight? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so shiny!”
“It sure is.” Twilight shaded her eyes with a hoof. “It must be something in the stone that reflects the light like that. It’s beautiful.”
Rainbow Dash peered appreciatively at the landscape, then her brows furrowed confusedly. “What’s that over there?” she asked, pointing at a faint, dirty haze hanging in the air like a beige cloud on the far side of the castle.
“That’s the quarry,” Aster told her. “Where we cut stone for bridges and houses and the roads.”
Linden edged closer to the pegasus, his blue eyes slightly troubled as he followed her gaze to the smudgy sky. “It’s about twenty miles from the castle—not the most ideal location, but it’s where the best stone is, I’m told. Sometimes, when the wind is right, you can hear the sounds of the workers chipping away at the stone even in the castle.”
“Well, that’s what minstrels are for,” the steward said loftily. “To drown out such annoying sounds with beautiful music.”
“Yes! We have the best musicians in Saddellia housed in the castle. My mother adores music and often arranges special performances for herself and her ladies in her chambers. If you enjoy singing, I’m sure she will want to do so for you, as a special treat.” When Rainbow Dash continued to stare towards the quarry, he added, “And, of course, there is plenty of wide open space on the castle grounds for you to stretch your wings, my lady. The gardens and the Whiteblossom Grove, even the training grounds.” He lowered his eyes and voice slightly, dragging a hoof shyly across the ground. “I’d be honored to give you a personal tour when we get there.”
The other ponies fell silent, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack exchanging pleased glances as Rainbow Dash finally turned away from the quarry. She caught their smug looks and frowned slightly, then landed beside the prince and folded her wings tightly against her back.
“Sure. That…that would be nice.”
Linden’s handsome face brightened with pleasure. “Then let us not waste another moment.” He turned and trotted partway down the hill before raising a hoof to gesture to the surrounding land. “Ladies…” he said proudly. “Welcome to Saddellia.”

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Their arrival in Saddellia was met with much surprise and excitement from the earth ponies working in the fields and villages. They all recognized the prince, running to the roads and bowing respectfully at the prince as he passed, then gaping at the visiting mares. Rainbow Dash, who insisted on flying low beside them the rest of the way, grinned at the attention.
One young colt dropped the basket he had been carrying and raced ahead to announce the prince’s return. By the time they trotted up the cobblestoned road to the enormous structure, a procession of armored guards had emerged from the castle to fall in around them, and their path was lined with regal ponies in fabulous finery. The whispering and stares continued.
“Whoa, did anypony stay in the castle?” Twilight asked. “You sure are popular around here, Prince Linden.” She caught sight of a cluster of young mares the same ages as she and her friends. They were dressed beautifully, with flowing capes and tall conical hats. Their styled manes and expertly applied makeup made her suddenly and painfully aware of how much road grime dusted her lavender coat and how the heat of the day had made her mane cling damply to her neck and forehead. She glanced quickly at Rarity and saw that the white unicorn was obviously feeling the same, though she steadfastly walked with her head up. 
“That runner probably told everypony that I had guests with me,” Linden replied. “They’re used to me coming and going at all hours so they usually don’t turn out in swarms like this, but I’m sure they’re curious of you six.” Linden was looking up at Rainbow Dash as he spoke and walked past the group of courtly ladies without a glance. One pretty mauve pony was shocked by this and looked confusedly at her friends, who immediately started whispering amongst themselves. Catching Twilight watching them, they cast unanimous glares at the unicorn before turning on their heels and prancing across the grounds to what appeared to be the gardens.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Nightfire leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’m sure you have snobs back in Ponyville too, and at least here you have magic over them.”
“Oh! Oh, no…I’m sure it’s not…I was staring at them and I shouldn’t and…” Nightfire’s eyebrow arched at her sardonically and she giggled. “Okay…they did seem a little, uh, snooty.”
“That was Lady Trillium and her friends. She’s had her eye on Linden for years.” He looked forward to the prince, who was trotting beside Rainbow Dash and laughing at something she had just said. “But she’s going to have a hard time competing against a flashy, flying pony who saved Linden’s life.”
“If Rainbow Dash even realizes she’s in the game at all.”
“I think that’s exactly what Linden likes about her…oh!” The orange pony stared straight ahead, his eyes going wide. “Lord Gold Hoof is here. That’s, uh, odd…he usually doesn’t leave his tower even for Linden’s returns. He must have heard about you and your friends.”
A dark, slate grey pony was standing in the large courtyard just inside the castle gates. His mane and tail were both a darker shade of grey, but sliced through with thick lines of blazing white. All four of his hooves were a bright, goldenrod yellow, explaining his strange name. His eyes were the same brilliant color and regarded them all curiously as Linden led them through the gates and into the courtyard.
Stepping forward, he dropped into a low, respectful bow before Linden, then lifted his head with a toss of his salt and pepper mane, revealing a slate grey horn. He grinned toothily at the small gathering.
“Prince Linden! Welcome back, your Highness! I trust you had a fine trip…and you have brought us guests!” His golden eyes flickered from face to face, taking in Rarity and Twilight’s horns and the wings of the two pegasi. “From Equestria, I see! You ladies are a long way from home.”
“They have come as an official delegation from their princess to meet with Father,” Linden explained. “I met them in the Saddlebacks and promised them a chance to speak before the court. They will need a suite of apartments prepared for them.”
Aster trotted forward. “My prince…I will go right now and see that a suite in the guest quarters is made up—”
“The Emerald Rooms will suffice.”
The steward and Gold Hoof both started, looking surprised. 
“The Emerald Rooms…but, your Highness,” Gold Hoof said, “the Gem Rooms are only meant for visiting nobility and…”
“Yes, I know that.” Linden turned to where Rainbow Dash now hovered beside her friends and asked her to join him. Looking curious, she flew to his side and landed, glancing at Gold Hoof, who nodded to her. 
“This is Rainbow Dash, originally of Cloudsdale and now a resident of Ponyville. Two days ago, she risked herself and took a grievous injury when she faced a pack of hyleenas to save my life, even though I was a complete stranger to her. As a show of my gratitude, I hereby name her Lady Rainbow Dash, grant her a land allowance, and elevate her into the upper ranks of Saddellian nobility.”
“What!” Rainbow Dash yelped, jumping backwards, her wings flaring out and lifting her into the air. Gold Hoof, Aster, and the three colts also gasped, looking shocked. Unperturbed, Linden pointed to each of them in turn, continuing in a loud and formal voice that rang through the courtyard and drew all eyes their way.
“My friends, I call upon all of you to witness this decree. Lady Rainbow Dash is to be afforded all the privileges of her new rank, including the use of the Emerald Rooms.”
“Witnessed!” Fletcher was the first to overcome his shock, and his eyes twinkled as he stamped his fore hooves against the cobblestones. Smiling enormously, he dipped a low, courtly bow before the new lady. “Good for you,” he whispered, winking at her.
“Yes, witnessed,” Tiny rumbled in his deep voice, following his friend’s lead. There was a pause as they all waited, then he turned his massive head to Nightfire and nudged the dumbstruck orange pony, who almost fell over under the force of the tap. Windmilling his hooves frantically, Nightfire managed to stay upright and nervously laughed, pushing his red mane out of his eyes.
“Uh, yes, witnessed. Congratulations, Lady Dash.”
“Yes, congratulations,” Aster murmured, casting a sidelong glance at Gold Hoof. The unicorn’s eyes were impassive, but a tiny smile quirked the corner of his mouth as he regarded the prince. 
Satisfied, Linden bestowed a charming smile and bow to the wide-eyed pegasus. “My dear lady, though I hate to part with you so soon, I must speak with my parents and inform them of my safe return. I will arrange an official meeting with my father for you as soon as I can. In the meantime, I must leave you in the capable hooves of Aster and Gold Hoof. When your wound has been properly treated and you have all had time to rest and refresh yourselves, I will make good on my promise to show you around the castle and grounds.”
“I…uh…” Rainbow Dash had been momentarily struck speechless. All she could manage to do was land and nod awkwardly.
Followed closely by Tiny, Nightfire, and Fletcher, Linden galloped across the courtyard, pausing to look briefly back before disappearing through one of the many doorways. A stunned silence fell over the group until Applejack sidled up to her winged friend and draped a hoof over her shoulders.
“You gonna be okay there, Sugarcube?” She grinned slyly. “Or is that Lady Sugarcube now?”
“What just happened?” Rainbow’s eyes were wide with a mixture of mingled shock and horror. “Did he…am I…why would he…and then they all…huh?” 
Applejack laughed and hugged the pegasus. “Ah guess that pretty much sums it up.”
“Oh my gosh! This is so totally awesome! Don’t you think this is awesome? I think it is awesome!” Pinkie Pie bounced in a circle around Rainbow and Applejack, her legs fluttering and dancing spastically as she sang, “Dashie is a lady, a lady, a lady, Dashie is a lady, so let’s all shout hooray!”
“Yes, hooray,” Gold Hoof said coolly. He bent a knee briefly to Rainbow Dash. “My lady, let me give you my heartfelt thanks and congratulations. Now, I am sure the prince meant no insult in hurrying away before proper introductions could be made. Perhaps you would oblige me?”
“Wha—oh, names, yeah…um, these are my friends, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. And they,” she indicated the two unicorns, “are Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. And hiding behind Twilight are Fluttershy and Gumdrop.”
Gold Hoof’s eyes flickered in confusion to be given six names for five ponies until he spotted the tiny mouse waving at him from Fluttershy’s mane. Taking this oddity in stride, he dipped his head to each pony in turn, though not with the deference he had shown to Rainbow Dash.
“I am extremely pleased to meet you…all of you. In fact, allow me the honor of showing you to your suite. Aster.” The steward immediately straightened and looked towards the dark unicorn attentively. “I am sure the young ladies are famished and exhausted…be good enough to arrange for baths and a meal to be brought to the Emerald Rooms. I will escort them from here.”
“You, Lord Gold Hoof? Oh, uh, I mean, of course, sir!” Aster bowed his head respectfully. “And I shall send the royal physician up as well.”
“Physician? For what?”
Aster pointed his nose awkwardly at Rainbow Dash, who turned to present her bandaged flank. 
“Oh my…how did that happen? No, my lady, forgive me…let us get you to your rooms first so you can rest. Hurry, Aster! Shame on you for keeping the lady waiting so long!”
With a distressed whinny, the steward spun around and fled, galloping loudly across the courtyard.
“My apologies, Lady Rainbow Dash…here you are, injured and surely in pain, and I have delayed you for introductions.”
“It’s okay…really.” Rainbow gave Gold Hoof a nervous smile. “It doesn’t even hurt that much anymore—Aster treated it a couple of days ago and did a great job.”
“How did you come by it, if I may ask? Please, follow me this way, my lady. We can talk on the way to your chambers. It has been some time since I’ve laid eyes on another unicorn and I don’t believe there has ever been a pegasus in Saddellia.”
“We were surprised to hear there would be a unicorn here as well,” Twilight Sparkle piped up. Gold Hoof turned to lead them from the courtyard and she trotted up beside him. “Prince Linden told us you were an advisor and magician to the king. Are you from Equestria? How long have you been here in Saddellia?”
“I have been advisor to his Majesty for ten years now, since Prince Linden was just a little colt.” Gold Hoof turned down a wide main corridor, his hoofbeats deadened by plush, dark green carpet that ran from wall to wall. He led them past huge wooden doors and even larger wall hangings depicting epic scenes from Saddellia history. After the first bit of information, he steered the conversation back to Twilight and her friends, asking how they had met Prince Linden and how Rainbow Dash had been injured. Like all other ponies who had heard the story, he was horrified to discover that hyleenas had made their way into Saddellia and incredulous that Rainbow Dash had fought a pack of them on her own. His golden eyes narrowed slightly at the blue pony flying just overhead and unabashedly examining the tapestries and elaborate stonework.
The Emerald Rooms were on the fourth level of the castle. Gold Hoof led them up a winding, spiraling stone stair. On the third level, they met a small, silvery blue pony coming down with a large basket of linens. The mare gasped and backed up against the wall, immediately lowering her head and dropping her eyes to the floor. 
“Fool!” Gold Hoof snapped when they were forced to edge past her. “This is not the servants’ stair! And next time you retreat to the landing and allow the better ponies to pass first!”
“I’m sorry, m’lord!” the mare squeaked. She trembled and let out a small whimper as Gold Hoof’s left hind caught her basket and sent it tumbling down the stairs in a spill of blankets and sheets.
“Oh, the poor thing!” Fluttershy exclaimed softly. She turned to head back down the stairs. “We should help her.”
“Leave her.” Gold Hoof demanded in a harsh voice that brought the timid pegasus up short. “She’s just a servant and it is her job, not yours.”
“But it weren’t her fault she got in the way,” Applejack protested, looking over her shoulder, her expression troubled. She was at the back of the small procession so she couldn’t be sure, but she thought Gold Hoof had knocked over the mare’s basket on purpose. She glanced up at Rainbow Dash and saw she was frowning as well. The pegasus turned back to assist the servant mare, but Applejack shook her head quickly. She wanted to help too, but Gold Hoof had already moved on, and disobeying the king’s personal advisor so soon after arriving would not help their cause.
“Here we are, my lady,” the unicorn announced a few moments later. He had taken them down another hallway, this one with a polished wooden floor lined with bright green and gold rugs. He stopped before a set of oaken doors carved with a detailed design of an enormous tree standing alone on a hill. Pushing the doors open, he stepped aside and gestured for Rainbow Dash to enter. “I hope you will find these to your liking.”
The pegasus pony swooped low through the door and they all heard her exclamation of, “Awesome!”
Wondering what could have amazed a pony who lived in a mansion made of clouds, the others excitedly pranced through the door and into a decadent world of glowing green.
The Emerald Rooms consisted of three spacious chambers connected by arched, wooden doorways. The walls were stone, but softened by floor to ceiling hangings of shiny brocade the color of the gems Rarity regularly sewed into her creations.
The room they entered first was a receiving chamber, with green carpets, an enormous fireplace against the far wall with an assortment of cushions chairs, couches, and divans arranged in a half circle before it, and numerous shelves and delicate tables containing knickknacks in every shade of green imaginable.
The bedchamber was through an archway to the right, tastefully hidden behind a shimmery silk curtain. It contained the largest bed any of the ponies had ever seen—a huge, curtained four poster with a sweeping green canopy, a mountain of pillows, and an embroidered comforter so plump it could only be filled with feathers. A delicate washstand stood next to the bed, holding a bowl and pitcher carved from blocks of jade. 
Across the chamber, before another massive fireplace, was a low, velvet divan with chartreuse tassels and pillows embroidered with oak leaves. The divan faced two of the four windows that graced the room and filled it with bright, natural light. Each window had its own carved shelf seat set with more cushion so a pony could relax while gazing upon the grounds. According to Gold Hoof, the view from the Emerald Rooms was famed for its beauty and rivaled only by the royal suites themselves. Rainbow Dash lit on one of the window seats and stared out, entranced by the flower-filled gardens and glistening lake below.
“Would you look at this place!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “This is so super amazing!” She cantered towards the bed and leapt into the air, landing in the dead center of the comforter and disappearing from sight as she instantly sank into the dense folds. Only her delighted giggles emerged.
“I trust you will be comfortable here, my lady,” Gold Hoof said genially. “A bath has been ordered and a meal will be sent up shortly. Now, if your friends will follow me, I will show them where they can sleep.”
“Huh?” Rainbow turned away from the window and gave the unicorn a confused look. “They can’t stay here with me?”
“Here? But, my lady, these are your chambers.”
“There’s plenty of room…and we’d rather stay together, right guys?”
Her friends all nodded emphatically, except for Pinkie Pie, who was having difficulty freeing herself from the confines of the bed. At the moment, only her rump was visible, but she waggled her tail up and down to let them know she also agreed. 
Gold Hoof looked uncertain, but he nodded sagely to Rainbow Dash and bowed. “As you wish, my lady. If you will allow, I will take my leave now. I hope we will have time to talk at greater length once you are suitably rested from your long journey. I would dearly love to hear about Equestria.”
“Yeah, sure, of course.”
The grey unicorn bowed his way out of the room, shutting the door after him. As soon as he was gone, Rarity gave a distinctly unladylike squeal and threw herself at Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, darling, how exciting! You are so lucky! I simply can’t believe it! A lady! A noble title! Oh, Rainbow Dash, I am so jealous!”
“I can’t really believe it myself,” Rainbow said, folding her legs beneath her and shaking her head in bewilderment. “I mean, I honestly thought he was just fooling around until Fletcher and Tiny and Nightfire all responded the way they did.”
“I think it’s wonderful, Rainbow! Having a social standing here can only make it easier to convince the king to release the slaves he’s taken.” Twilight Sparkle wriggled out of her saddlebags and set them down carefully by the wall before hopping onto the divan and lying down. “Oh, it feels so nice to lie down on something that doesn’t have a rock under it.” She dangled her front hooves off the edge and smiled. “And having Prince Linden as your friend is even better!”
“Yeah…about that—”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, thank you for asking us all to stay here,” Fluttershy interrupted, flapping gently up to the bed. “I’m sure the rooms he had in mind for us would have been nice, but this is simply wonderful. I’ve never slept in such a beautiful place before.”
Applejack hopped up beside Twilight and sat on her haunches, gazing around appreciatively. Suddenly, her stomach gave a loud growl. “Whoops, guess that’s what you get when you skip lunch. Ah wonder how long it’ll take ‘em to bring somethin’ up?”
“Personally, I’d prefer to take a bath first,” Rarity said. She had trotted to a tall, swiveling mirror in a corner of the bedchamber and was staring mournfully at her disheveled mane and dusty to coat. “Then I could relax and enjoy my meal.”
As if on cue, there was a sudden, gentle knock on the door and a pale orange pony with a lavender and blue mane let herself into the room. She was short and plump, wearing a ruffled apron with many pockets. Her mane had been twisted back in a severe bun, but several strands had fallen free to soften her stern appearance. Her gentle smile furthered this effect and put the six ponies at ease as she dipped into a courtesy.
“Good afternoon…I am Lilac Breeze.” Her dark green eyes flickered from face to face, coming to rest on Rainbow Dash, and she nodded. “You must be Lady Rainbow Dash, yes?” Without waiting for confirmation, she trotted further into the room and straightened as high as her diminutive frame would allow. “I will the matron of your suites and in charge of the other maids. I will also be available for anything you require during your stay, my lady. I was told that you and your ladies have come all the way from Equestria and that you were traveling in the rough the entire way.” She paused long enough to cluck her tongue. “And it shows on your coats, you poor dears. But no matter, I will have you looking fit and proper in no time. A long, soothing bath is what you need, yes…would you prefer chamomile or rose?”
Her rapid fire speech and somewhat brusque manner had taken them all by surprise, so this sudden question left Rainbow Dash at a loss. Normally she just flew through a waterfall a few times with a bar of whatever soap had been cheapest at the market. She had no idea what scent a lady was expected to want. Turning to Rarity, she raised her eyebrows pleadingly and the unicorn happily took over.
“The lady would actually prefer something light and airy—do you have sweetpea or maybe lavender? And bubbles, not bath oil. Oil will just clog her feathers.”
Lilac Breeze looked askance of Rainbow Dash, who nodded. “Yeah, what she said. But, um, why don’t you take Fluttershy and Rarity first?”
“Us?” Rarity queried.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Your manes takes more time to style and dry, so you should go first.” She smiled at Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie. “We can wait a little longer, right guys?”
“Sure.”
“No problem.”
“Oki doki loki!”
Fluttershy thanked them all and passed Gumdrop to Pinkie Pie before following a delighted Rarity into the third room of the suite, which was designated for dressing and grooming.
“Well, that was awfully kind of you, Rainbow,” Applejack said with a grin. “Good to know the nobility ain’t goin’ to your head.”
“Yeah, well, I sorta wanted Fluttershy out of the room and I couldn’t use that drying the mane excuse without sending Rarity too.”
“Why would you want Fluttershy out of the room?” Twilight asked, perplexed.
“Because she’d be upset when I did this!” Rainbow launched herself at Twilight Sparkle, knocking the unicorn off the divan and pinning her down with her hooves. “Now what gives?”
“Ouch! Rainbow—wh-what are you doing?” Twilight tried to push the pegasus off her, but Rainbow Dash had gravity on her side. She simply flapped her wings to rise into the air, and tipped forward to hold Twilight down.
“You, Rarity and AJ…you’re up to something—I know you are!”
“Whoa there…what makes you think that, Sugarcube?” Applejack edged closer to the pair in case she needed to intervene on Twilight’s behalf, but Rainbow Dash released the unicorn at that moment, backing up to cross her forelegs over her chest. She rolled her eyes at the earth pony.
“’We love watching you fly…tell him the story of the dragon…our Rainbow was so anxious to help Ponyville…” she repeated in a sing-song, mocking tone. “What a load of horseapples!”
“Horseapples? We weren’t sayin’ nothin’ you don’t constantly say yourself, Rainbow,” Applejack pointed out.
“Yeah, but that’s me! Since when do you guys talk about me like that? It’s…” She raised a hoof to rub her mane. “It’s weird…especially with the way the prince keeps looking at me and…” She broke off, catching an exchange of glances between Twilight and Applejack. Her friends looked entirely too smug. “What?” 
“Well,” Twilight began, “we were hoping you’d…”
“We just thought a little nudge in the right direction would…”
“Would what?”
“Would get Prince Linden to fall absolutely, totally, head over heels in love with you!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, jumping in front of them. They all stared at her and she shrugged, flinging up her hooves in exasperation. “Don’t look so surprised. It’s not like you guys were exactly subtle.”
“You want the prince to…you’re trying…what!” Rainbow Dash backwinged in shock, bumping into the thick bedpost. When it stopped her from retreating any further, she shot upwards instead, turning a graceful loop and landing on the taut green fabric of the canopy. There she huddled, lying down so all they could see was her indistinct shadow through the cloth. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” her voice drifted down from above. “Are you guys crazy!”
“No…we were just trying to help!” Twilight put her hooves on the bed and spoke up to the shadow. “Come on, Rainbow! He really seems taken with you and, well, don’t tell me you don’t think he’s cute too!”
There was a long pause from the canopy. Twilight glanced at Applejack and Pinkie Pie, raising her eyebrows. “Rainbow?” she queried.
“That’s not the point,” Rainbow eventually answered.
“Ah ha!” Applejack jumped onto the bed, her green eyes shining. “You admit it! You think he’s cute! C’mon, Rainbow! Say it! Say it!”
The shadow moved and Rainbow peered over the side of the canopy, her magenta eyes troubled. “Well duh! He’s gorgeous! Anypony can see that! It’s just…just…” She groaned and crept backwards, hiding again behind the canopy.
“Just what, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, concerned by the doubt and nervousness she was hearing in the voice of her normally self-assured friend. “I think it’s wonderful! Even without us helping, the prince could hardly take his eyes off you the entire trip here—and now he’s decreed that you’re to be considered nobility—”
“Because I saved him from being eaten by ugly monsters.”
“Ah don’t think it’s just that, Sugarcube.”
“Probably is. Now that we’re here and he’s safe and comfortable he’ll start staring at Rarity or that snooty pink thing we passed at the gates.” 
“Huh? Rainbow, what in the hay are you talkin’ about?”
Another long moment passed and the three ponies on the floor started to believe that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t answer. Then they heard a sigh before a small voice replied, “Colts don’t notice me like that.”
Applejack snorted and sat down in her surprise. Twilight’s mouth dropped open and she stared upward, but couldn’t think of anything to say. It was Pinkie Pie who filled the gaping, awkward silence that followed Dash’s announcement. The pink earth pony put her hoof on one of the bedposts and stood up on her hind legs, staring at the unmoving shadow with sad, blue eyes.
“Aww, Dashie, you don’t really think that, do you? You’re one of the best, most awesomest ponies around! Everypony notices you!”
There was the unmistakable sound of a snort from on high, “Sure! They notice me cuz of the flying and the Sonic Rainboom and the kicking the dragon thing…but not like they notice Rarity…or even Fluttershy for that matter.”
“Oh.” Twilight Sparkle frowned thoughtfully. She never would have guessed Rainbow felt this way—she was always so brash and confident and show-offey. “Well…I guess they notice Rarity because she, uh, how can I put this nicely…she flirts so much. She tries to get noticed like that. But I’m sure they notice you too, Rainbow. Is there somepony you like back home? That brown pegasus colt from Cloudsdale, maybe?”
Rainbow Dash let out a loud yip and scrambled to the edge to glare down at them again, her eyes full of outrage. “Hoops? Did you just ask me if I liked Hoops? That brainless muscle-head who did nothing but tease me all the way through Flight Camp? Ugg, Twilight! Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Well, we don’t know, Rainbow! It’s not like we’ve ever seen you makin’ eyes at anypony before. You’re so determined to make the Wonderbolts, we just figger’d you were too busy to bother with the boys.”
“I am!” Rainbow Dash sighed and let her head hang down over them, covering her eyes with her hooves. “Oh, I don’t know! This is so weird! The way he keeps staring at me, and calling me ‘my lady’…and…and beautiful! I’ve heard plenty of ponies call Rarity beautiful before…but nopony’s ever said it about me!”
“But Prince Linden means it, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said vehemently. “He doesn’t look at Rarity and go all drooly, googly-eyed, lovey dovey, melty like he does you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah! And he didn’t tell everypony that he was making Rarity into a super special, rich, important lady. Those colts back in Ponyville and Cloudsdale are dumb anyway. They don’t deserve a pony who can break the ball-bouncing record and win the Iron Pony competition—”
Applejack snorted, but Twilight nudged her to be silent and Pinkie continued without pause, “—or change the weather or do a Sonic Rainboom or fight big, stinky, scary, ugly hyleenas!”
Rainbow lifted her head and smiled. “You know what, you’re right! I am pretty awesome!” 
“Okay, Ah’ll admit it,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. She sat on her haunches and pointed a hoof severely at her friend. “But don’t you go thinkin’ bein’ a lady now means you can boss us all around.”
“Yeah! Even if you get a huge castle like this one and lots of servants and diamonds and all kinds of pretty clothes and have to go to royal balls and parties.” Pinkie Pie beamed up at her friend. “You’ll always be our Dashie!”
Rainbow Dash smiled, blinking rapidly as her vision blurred, and launched herself off the canopy to land between her friends, hugging them tightly. “And that’s the best thing ever!” she proclaimed.
**
Rarity and Fluttershy both finished their baths soon after, and Lilac Breeze insisted on taking Rainbow Dash next, claiming a lady should not have to wait.
The dressing chamber of the Emerald Rooms was as luxurious as the sitting and sleeping rooms. The silk brocade shimmered and swayed on the walls, reflecting the sunlight of the windows in a way that made the cloth seem to continuously change color. A large vanity table with mirror dominated one wall, its surface strewn with bottles and jars of every imaginable shape, size, and color. Another wall was covered by two even larger wardrobes of carved wood that had been polished to a dark shine so perfect the pegasus could see her reflection in the door.
“I hope all of your clothing will fit in them, my lady,” Lilac Breeze said when she saw Rainbow inspecting the wardrobes. “Sometimes the ladies travel with so many things that we’re hard pressed to find a way to store them all during their visit.”
“I don’t have any clothes with me,” Rainbow Dash told her, turning slightly and pulling off the bandage to see her wounded flank in the polished surface. “All my stuff is in my saddlebags in the other room. We travelled light.”
“You—you mean…you brought no clothing with you, my lady?” Lilac Breeze was flabbergasted by the thought.
Rainbow turned around and shrugged at the matron pony. “It’s no big deal—I don’t even have anything at home that a lady would wear anyway. Definitely nothing like those ones in the courtyard had.”
“That’s not true, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie spoke up. She was sitting on the embroidered cushion of the vanity bench, systematically opening each and every bottle and jar to inspect the contents. As she spoke, she carefully lifted a beautiful blown glass perfume bottle with graceful green and blue swirls. “You still have that really pretty, fancy dress Rarity made you for the Grand Galloping Gala.” She squeezed the bulb and sneezed as a blast of extremely strong scent sprayed her.
“Yeah, I guess. But she hasn’t had a chance to fix all the tears and stuff—besides, it’s all the way back in Ponyville.”
“Oh, my lady…that is not going to do. You must have finery.” Lilac Breeze was shaking her head, looking horrified. “There are dinners, and parties, and meetings. You…you might be invited to dine with other noble families and they will, undoubtedly, be dressed their best.” She climbed a short, curved flight of stairs that led to a delicate, raised platform hugged up against the polished copper tub that dominated the center of the room. It was large enough for two or three ponies to lay inside and deep enough for the water to cover them to their chins. The tub was raised off the floor so it could be drained into buckets through a hole in the bottom. Servant ponies had already taken away the water from Rarity and Fluttershy’s baths, hauling it through a smaller, discreetly hidden servant’s entrance at the back of the room.
“Dine? Other nobles?” Rainbow looked at Pinkie Pie, suddenly nervous again. Nopony had mentioned that to her.
“Of course, my lady.” Lilac Breeze was now bustling around the rim of the tub, carefully watching as it was filled and adding soaps and herbs to the steaming water. “The families here at court love hosting one another for feasts and parties, even for private dinners. I’m sure they will be curious of you and you will no doubt receive plenty of invitations.” She smiled warmly at Rainbow Dash, her eyes filled with fondness. “With your wings and coloring and being from Equestria, you will almost certainly be very popular.”
While Rainbow Dash began to wonder once again what Prince Linden had gotten her into, Lilac Breeze finished preparing the tub. “Here you are, my lady. Lavender, like you wanted. Step up here, please, and—”
She broke off as Rainbow simply flapped her wings to lift herself over the edge of the tub and lowered herself into the warm, scented water.
“O-or you could do that, I guess. My, those are useful, aren’t they?” She gasped and ducked when Pinkie Pie suddenly hurtled up the stairs and launched herself into the air, curling her legs up close to her body.
“Cannonball!” she bellowed, landing in the tub with a large splash. Rainbow Dash flung herself against the side as water washed over her in a wave, soaking her to the skin. When Pinkie emerged, sopping wet and grinning goofily, Rainbow raised an eyebrow and scowled, then jumped at her friend, laughing as she dunked her back under.
It felt nice, after so many days on the road, to get a bath—even if the warm water stung the gash in her leg—and Rainbow Dash would have liked a simple, relaxing soak, but Lilac Breeze soon taught her that ladies didn’t really have to do anything on their own, including washing up. The maid attacked her with scrub brush, comb, soap, and washcloth, cleaning all the road grime, sweat, and dirt from her coat, mane, and tail. By the time the bath was over, Rainbow felt slightly raw, but refreshed, and was further buoyed by the fact that a tray of fruits, cheeses, and little pumpkin filled tarts had been delivered in her absence.
The royal physician, a stallion named Willow Bark, knocked on the door a few minutes later. He was an older pony, with a coat of pale wheat yellow and a sienna brown mane that smelled of the herbs he used in his trade. His cutie mark was a slender willow tree with two twining ribbons of red wrapping the trunk. 
With great kindness and care, he examined and treated Rainbow’s leg, curiously asking how she had managed to get such a wound, and was suitably amazed to learn just how they had met the prince.
“Now you will certainly be popular, my lady,” Lilac Breeze bubbled once Willow Bark had bandaged her leg anew and left with his supplies. “Once this story starts to get arou—”
There was a quiet knock on the door, which Rarity opened to reveal a gangly young colt a few years older than her little sister Sweetie Belle. He wore a neat little tunic with the royal oak leaf on the breast and a peaked cap over his dark brown mane.
“Hello there,” Rarity said sweetly. “What can we do for you?”
The colt’s large eyes widened at the pristine unicorn who stood before him and he gaped openly for a moment before remembering his duties. Standing stiff and tall, he passed her a rolled slip of paper and announced, “His Royal Highness, King Oak Bough, has issued a dinner invitation for Lady Rainbow Dash of Equestria. She is to dine with the royal family and they await her presence at the next bell.”
“What!” the six friends all gasped in unison.
“Me? By myself?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her voice squeaking and her wings flaring out in distress.
“Whoa!” the colt breathed, leaning around Rarity to stare at the pegasus. “Can she fly?” he asked the unicorn, forgetting himself again in his amazement.
“Oh yes,” Rarity told him. “I just hope she doesn’t try to fly away now.”
Indeed, Rainbow Dash appeared on the verge of fleeing, her wings fluttering and her hooves clicking on the floor as she pranced nervously in place.
“What’s the matter, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked her. She put a hoof around Rainbow’s shoulders, forcing her to hold still. “It’s just dinner…”
“With a king and a queen!”
“Yeah? It’s not like you’ve never met royalty before—why, you’ve even had donuts with Princess Celestia. And if I remember correctly, earlier you were talkin’ about how ‘awesome’ you are.”
“Yeah…but that’s flying and…and doing tricks and stunts and fighting things like hyleenas. This is gonna be,” she gulped, “just talking and being a lady and…” She began to prance again, looking as nervous as she had before the Best Young Flyer competition.
“Oh darling, I’m sure you’ll be just fine!” Rarity assured her. “The prince will be there too and you have no trouble talking to him. They probably just want to thank you.”
“Why can’t we come?” Pinkie Pie wanted to know. “We like Linden and want to meet his mom and dad. If we all go, then Rainbow Dash won’t have to be all alone and will stop freaking out.”
Rainbow Dash snorted and stopped prancing, looking indignantly at her friend. “I’m not freaking out,” she protested. “I just don’t want to, you know, make a bad impression. This is really important and the princess is counting on us.”
“My lady,” Lilac Breeze spoke up. “If you are worried, it would not be frowned upon for you to take one of your friends with you. Noble ladies always travel with some part of their retinue along.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash looked at the matron gratefully and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yes, my lady.” Her eyes scanned the little pony and her lip twitched. “But you cannot go before the king and queen without proper attire.”
“But I told you I don’t have anything like that. All I have is a blanket, a book about the Wonderbolts, and a falcon feather.”
“I think I can help with that!” Rarity announced. Tossing her mane, she trotted to her saddlebags and began rummaging through its contents until she found a shimmering gossamer cape studded with tiny gems and a simple headband with small clusters of pearly flowers. With a flourish, she swept the cape over Rainbow’s back, fastening it around her throat with a sapphire clasp, then arranged the headband in her mane. She stepped back to survey her work, nodding with approval. “There!”
Rainbow peered over her shoulder and walked in a circle, admiring the way the light played off the sheer, pale green fabric and the gems.
“Wow, Rarity. That’s beautiful!” Twilight exclaimed. “She looks perfect.”
“Well, I could have done more if I had all my fabrics and equipment, but I think this will serve nicely for tonight.” Rarity turned back to her bags. “Now to find something for you, Twilight.”
The unicorn started, surprised. “Me?”
“Oh yes. If you’re going to accompany Rainbow, then you’ll need appropriate attire as well. Now, let’s see…nope, no…oh, not that…maybe this…heavens no, not with your coloring.” As she spoke, Rarity tossed articles of clothing over her shoulder, flinging scarves and skirts and accessories at random. Applejack was hit in the face with a belt and Pinkie Pie jumped in the air to catch a shoe before it could knock over a small vase. Fluttershy, who was standing closest to Rarity, ended up with a dress draped over her mane and a necklace hanging from her nose.
“Wait, Rarity, when did we decide this—”
“Sweet Celestia, girl…how much did you bring with you?” Applejack waded through the growing piles of clothing surrounding the unicorn. “And how the hay did you fit it all in them itty bitty bags?”
“I have my ways,” Rarity told her, emerging from her saddlebags with a light pink dress for Twilight Sparkle. “A girl must always be prepared. Here, Twilight…I think this will do.”
“It’s lovely, Rarity…but, what’s all this about me going to dinner? I mean, I would love to go, but shouldn’t we take a vote or something?”
“But, Twilight, don’t you see that you’re the best choice? You’re Celestia’s personal student, so you have the most experience in dealing with royalty. Like Rainbow said, we really need to make a good impression and this dinner may be a wondeful chance.”
“She’s right, Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke up. “You should go.” The yellow pegasus ducked her head, hiding behind her abundant mane. “I’d be too nervous to say anything useful.”
“I agree, Twi. We’ll all get our chance to meet the king if the prince keeps his promise—you can go this time and keep Rainbow in line.” Applejack winked at the pegasus to show she was joking. “And while you two are off at your fancy schmancy dinner, I plan on takin’ myself a good, long nap on that comfy lookin’ bed.”
“Well, if you’re all sure,” Twilight murmured. She looked around at her friends, who all nodded their agreement, until she reached Pinkie Pie.
The earth pony was frowning, her lower lip quivering dangerously.
“But I wanted to go,” she said mournfully. “It sounds like so much fun and if the prince is there then Tiny’ll probably be there too and I have this joke I wanted to tell him earlier but I couldn’t remember the punchline even though it is way, super funny and I told him I would tell him later and it’s later and I remembered it and I know he’s gonna love it and maybe the king will too!”
She finally paused to take a breath, and in the ensuing brief silence, they all heard the colt whisper, “Whoa!” again.
Lilac Breeze shushed him sternly while Rarity told Pinkie Pie that she needed her to stay behind to help her make up more outfits from the items she had packed, in case they were all called to meet the king. Pinkie, knowing that Rarity was perfectly capable of designing stunning outfits on her own, was not convinced until Rainbow Dash promised to sneak her a bit of whatever dessert they were served.
The young page led them from the Emerald Rooms and past a pair of guards stationed at the bottom of another set of spiraling stone stairs. As they walked, Twilight cleared her throat nervously.
“Uh, Rainbow?” she said after a moment of silence.
“Yeah?”
“I, uh, I hate to bring this up, but, um, I think it goes without saying that, um, we need to be on our best behavior during this dinner.” Rainbow Dash looked at her blankly, so she pressed on. “You know what I mean, no showing off or…well…”
Understanding dawned in Rainbow’s eyes and she chuckled. “Sure, Twilight. I won’t do anything to embarrass you or Equestria.”
“I…that’s not what I meant! I was just…” She trailed off as Dash winked playfully at her and sighed. “You’re impossible sometimes. You know that?”
“And awesome all the time!”   
At that moment, they came out onto the landing and Hawkeye paused briefly to allow them a chance to look around. “Oh my gosh!” Rainbow breathed. They had all been impressed by the grandeur of the Emerald Rooms, but even those chambers were nothing compared to the floor inhabited by the royal family. Gold and jewels encrusted almost everything, from the carved floor to ceiling columns, to the framed portraits of past royals, to the almost carelessly arranged trinkets scattered about.
“The prince and the queen both have their chambers on this floor,” the page, who had given his name as Hawkeye, told them. “The queen’s rooms are on the south side of the castle and Prince Linden has the West Tower and all the rooms around it. The king’s rooms are one floor higher and Lord Gold Hoof also has a chamber there, in the North Tower.”
Rainbow looked ahead, noting a tall set of double doors with two muscular, armored guards standing at attention before them. “That must be the dining room,” she said, assuming that, like the princesses back home, the royals of Saddellia were always well guarded even within their own castle.
“Yes, my lady.” Hawkeye led them up to the double doors and halted before the guards, who rolled their eyes down to glare at the youngster and subtly moved together to block the doors.
Leaning closer to Twilight, her magenta eyes sparkling with mischief, Rainbow Dash whispered, “Look at the faces on those two. I wonder if I could get them to laugh.” She giggled when Twilight turned to her, horrified. “Just kidding, Twi. Lighten up.”
“Lady Rainbow Dash and Miss Twilight Sparkle,” Hawkeye announced to the guards. “The king and queen are expecting them.”
The guards turned their stern glare to the two mares, their faces remaining hard and impassive. Twilight gulped nervously, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t so easily cowed and returned the stare. After a moment, the guards both bowed to her, one stepping aside while the other opened the doors for them, revealing a long, spacious room set with an oval table easily as long and wide as the Ponyville balloon. Tall, straight-backed chairs with deep crimson cushions surrounded the table on each side. At the moment, only two were occupied, one by Prince Linden and the other by a comely, aquamarine mare in a flowing, teal gown with a golden tiara arranged on her long lavender and cream mane. The two were deep in conversation and, as Hawkeye led them down the carpeted floor, Rainbow and Twilight heard snatches of Linden’s words.
“—til you meet her! She’s the most fabulous pony I’ve ever met—flashy and beautiful, but so graceful and—”
Hawkeye cleared his throat loudly, drawing their attention.
“May I present Lady Rainbow Dash,” he announced.
Linden leapt to his hooves so quickly he almost knocked over his chair, and trotted around the table to Rainbow’s side. As he passed Hawkeye, he rubbed a hoof into the colt’s mane, muttering something about giving a colt some warning. The colt grinned at him cheekily, bowed, and pranced back the way they had come.
“My lady,” Linden said, bowing low before her. “Thank you for coming.” He lifted his head, smiling at her brightly. “You look…amazing!”
Rainbow Dash blushed. “Th-thanks. It was all Rarity’s doing. And thanks for inviting me to dinner.”
“The pleasure is all mine…though I apologize for the incredibly short notice. I had wanted to give you some time to rest from your journey but my father insisted on meeting you tonight.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I feel fine. I hope you don’t mind that I brought Twilight along—Lilac Breeze said a lady was expected to keep her, uh, retinue, near her.” She dipped her head so her mane fell in front of her eyes. “And to tell you the truth, I was a little nervous about meeting the king and queen by myself…”
“Of course you were!” a beautifully sweet voice suddenly spoke up. The mare had risen gracefully from her seat and turned to face them, smiling warmly. “You’re young and in a new place with lots of new faces. It’s only natural to want one of your friends with you.”
Linden sidestepped until he stood beside the pegasus and led her closer to the table. “Mother, allow me to introduce the pony who saved my life, Lady Rainbow Dash of Equestria. My lady, this is my mother, Queen Bright Song.”
Rainbow Dash bent one foreleg, extending the other before her in the sort of bow she and her friends reserved for the princesses Celestia and Luna. “It’s an honor to meet you, your highness.”
She didn’t know what she had expected from the queen, but it certainly wasn’t for her to leave her chair and fling her hooves around Rainbow’s neck in a tight hug.
“No, my dear! The honor is all mine. From what my son tells me, my husband and I and our entire kingdom are all deeply in your debt.” She released the startled pegasus and stepped back to look at her closely. “Linden has been telling me all about you and I must say that you are just as beautiful as he described.”
“Mother!” Linden exclaimed, flushing darkly. He clamped a hoof over his face and groaned.
Queen Bright Song winked cheerfully at Rainbow Dash. “What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t know how to mortify my only son? Now, please introduce me to your friend who has been waiting so patiently.” She looked over Rainbow’s shoulder to Twilight, who had held back. “A unicorn, I see.”
“This is Twilight Sparkle, one of my best friends.”
“I’m so pleased to meet you, your highness.” Twilight trotted forward with a smile and bowed. “And thank you for your hospitality. Your castle is amazing. It’s so beautiful.”
“Thank you, my dear. I will have to arrange a tour for you and the rest of your friends—you will love the gardens…I’ve helped design them myself.”
“Twilight would probably like the libraries more, mother,” Linden said. “She’s quite the scholar and even lives in the library in Ponyville.”
“Really? Then you must visit our libraries, my dear. We have everything from astronomy to zoology and all the old tales and histories.”
“That sounds wonderful, your highness!” Twilight gushed, almost wriggling in her delight and excitement.
A tall midnight blue pony in a servant’s uniform appeared and announced, “His royal majesty, King Oak Bough.”
Linden and Bright Song both lowered their heads, but Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle each dropped to their knees as a large, hefty stallion clopped into the room. He wore a silk lined, scarlet cape over his cream coat and his messy green mane was topped with heavy crown of gold studded with enormous gems. He strode across the floor, his hoofbeats echoing even on the thick carpet, and slumped into the largest chair at the head of the table.
“Come, my lady, you can sit beside me and Twilight can have the seat beside Mother.” Linden touched Rainbow’s shoulder to urge her to stand again and led her to the left side of the table. As they walked, Rainbow couldn’t help noticing the glances the prince cast to the head of the table, and the slumped set of his shoulders. It was as though all the cheerfulness had suddenly drained from the colt.
“Dinner!” Oak Bough bellowed once they were all seated. He slammed a hoof against the table, rattling it violently. “Now!”`
A flurry of servants suddenly scurried into action. In an instant, the table was perfectly laid out with four place settings of silver and fine china, with crystal, silver-stemmed goblets and napkins of embroidered silk. Then tray after tray of food was carried to the table. Plates of leafy salads, baskets of fresh breads, trays of sliced cheeses, bowls of seasoned roasted vegetables and platters of pastries stuffed with fruits or vegetables and baked to a golden brown. There were stalks of golden hay and savory oatcakes and fruits that had escaped the summer heat in the coolness of the castle cellars. To drink, there was a chilled, spiced pumpkin wine. 
The king was served first, the others forced to wait while his plate was filled with the most delectable of the dishes. He dove in greedily, filling his mouth with hay and salad and chomping noisily.
Once the king had taken his first bite, the servants moved on to the queen and prince, then the two guests, filling plates with a bit of everything and topping the goblets with cool drink. 
Several minutes passed, but the king didn’t speak, more concerned with emptying his plate. Linden toyed awkwardly with his own meal, then glanced sheepishly at Rainbow Dash. She grinned at him which seemed to give him heart. Clearing his throat, he turned to the king.
“Father, let me introduce you to Rainbow Dash—”
“Who? Oh yes, the girl who saved your life.” Oak Bough swallowed and wiped his muzzle on his cloak, ignoring the napkin by his plate. Then he turned to rake his green eyes over Rainbow Dash. “What did he call you?”
“Rainbow Dash. I’m, uh, honored to, um…meet you?” she stammered, the stare making her uncomfortable.
Oak Bough’s lip turned up in a sneer and he took a loud gulp of pumpkin wine before saying, “Awfully small, isn’t she? And you say she fought off five hyleenas all by herself?”
“Yes, sire, I did. She risked her life—”
“While you cowered up on a cliff, shaking in your hooves.”
Linden fell silent, lowering his head to his plate while Dash and Twilight gaped at each other. Queen Bright Song kept her turquoise eyes cast down and nibbled daintily at a pastry. She said nothing as her husband continued.
“So, that is my big, strong son…off on one of his jaunts where he gets himself into trouble and needs to be rescued by a pretty frip of a mare.” The king snorted, stuffed his mouth with an entire pastry, and chewed messily so crumbs fell from his lips. “They probably weren’t even hyleenas. Hyleenas haven’t been seen in Saddellia in over ten years.”
“They were hyleenas, father. It was a whole pack, right within our borders. They were a day and a half beyond the Canyon of the Crescent Moon.”
“You were probably chased by a squirrel—”
“They were not squirrels!” Rainbow Dash spoke up indignantly. 
Twilight squeaked and waved a hoof at her frantically, but the pegasus ignored her, magenta eyes locked on the monarch. When Oak Bough looked at her again, she pushed back her chair, and flipped Rarity’s cloak over her shoulder, showing the king the bandage on her leg. “I’ve never seen a squirrel that could do this! They were big, smelly, disgusting monsters and they nearly got me too.”
Oak Bough regarded her with new interest, but his eyes only flickered briefly to the bandage before fastening on the wing folded neatly against her back.
“So it is true. You’re a pegasus. You really do have wings.”
“I told you she did, father,” Linden muttered. “She and her friend, Fluttershy, are both pegasi.”
“So, you can fly then?” Oak Bough asked, staring directly at Rainbow Dash and ignoring his son.
“Of course. Since I was a tiny filly.”
“Show me.”
Rainbow took a step back in surprise. “Wh-what? Now? Here?”
“Yes.” Oak Bough quaffed more of his wine. “Show me. I want to see a pony fly.”
“B-but, dear,” Bright Song spoke up quietly. “We’re eating dinner and…she’s our guest. Shouldn’t we…?”
“Be quiet!” Oak Bough snapped at her. Pointing a hoof at the winged mare, he bellowed, “You! Fly! Show me how you fought off five hyleenas.”
Rainbow glanced quickly at Twilight Sparkle, who shrugged helplessly, perplexed by the king’s behavior. 
“Father,” Linden protested, but Rainbow was already undoing the clasp of her cloak, draping it over her chair and flaring out her wings.
“Alright,” she said, her voice short and clipped. “I’ll show you.” Leaping into the air, she swiftly soared the length of the table, then spun a circle and shot up to touch the ceiling before jackknifing down to weave between the backs of the empty chairs, her rainbow colored contrail following behind. When she reached her own seat again, she turned three rapid somersaults and landed gracefully on the cushion, bowing again and flourishing her wings one last time before folding them.
“That was…that was wonderful!” Bright Song proclaimed, eyes shining. 
Rainbow Dash smiled at her and fastened the cloak about her throat again. “Thank you, your highness.” She looked to the king, whose mouth had dropped open. “I could have done better with more space, sire, but…”
“Then we will have to get you more space,” Oak Bough interrupted. “Enough space to show off everything you can do.”
“Father!” 
Oak Bough held up a hoof, silencing his son. “Not now. This needs to be something grander. Something for the whole kingdom to witness.”
“Uh, what?” Rainbow sat down, confused.
“A faire!” Oak Bough announced. “With a joust. My son has already raised you to the ranks of nobility, so the crown will show its thanks to you with a faire in your honor. And you will show the ponies of Saddellia what a pony with wings can do.”
“I…think that’s a wonderful idea,” Bright Song said after a brief hesitation. “It’s a wonderful way to thank Lady Rainbow Dash for what she has done, and to welcome the envoy from Equestria to our land.”
“In three days!” the king demanded. He smacked a hoof on the table to summon one of the servant ponies, shaking the dishes and sloshing pumpkin wine about. “See to it!”
“Yes sire!” The pony galloped away to carry out the order.
“And you.” The king turned his attention to Twilight Sparkle for the first time since arriving. “Unicorn. I have a unicorn in my emply who can work magic tricks—do you know any that could entertain my subjects?”
“I…uh…yes, your highness,” Twilight squeaked. “I know lots of spells.” 
Oak Bough nodded and let out a ringing belch, before fixating on his meal again. The rest of the dinner passed awkwardly, with Bright Song carrying all the conversation with the two guests while Linden quietly pushed the food about on his plate without taking a single bite. As the hours stretched on and on, the two young mares exchanged many glances, both eager for the strange event to be over so they could go back to their quarters and tell their friends what had transpired. Now that they had met the king, there was one thing they both knew—this visit, and the task before them, was going to be more interesting than any of them had imagined.

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“So you’re sayin’ the king wasn’t all that kingly?” Applejack asked, lying back in the pillows with her legs folded over her chest. It was midmorning and the six young mares were gathered in the bedchamber, unsure if they were expected to stay put or go in search of their own breakfast. To pass the time, she, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were questioning Twilight and Rainbow on their dinner with the royal family
“Well, he certainly wasn’t what I was expecting,” Twilight Sparkle murmured, absently swinging a hoof off the edge of the bed. “He was so abrupt and demanding and…”
“A complete and total pig!” Rainbow Dash declared. All heads tilted back to look up at her on the canopy, which had become her seat of choice. “I mean, back in Shirevale, Bramble warned me and Rarity to watch out for him but I never pictured that.” She began flicking her tail angrily, scowling. “And the way he spoke to Linden and Queen Bright Song! I couldn’t believe it!”
“He was kind of mean to them,” Twilight admitted. She lowered her head sadly. “Especially to Linden. He was basically calling his own son a liar until Rainbow backed him on the hyleena story.”
“And I had to show him the bandage on my leg to get him to believe it.” Rainbow shuddered at the memory of Oak Bough’s eyes on her. “I felt like I needed to take another bath afterwards. He just kept staring at me, or actually, at my wings.”
“Well, at least you both seemed to have made a good impression,” Rarity pointed out. “He’s even throwing a faire in your honor, Rainbow. That sounds so exciting! We’ll get to see all the sights and listen to music and go to a joust! Oh, I can’t wait to see more of the Saddellian fashions! I’ll bet the queen’s clothing was amazing!”
“She was amazing,” Rainbow stated. “You guys would have loved her. She’s not tall or magical like Princess Celestia, but she was so nice. I felt…comfortable with her, even though she’s a queen. Didn’t you, Twilight?”
“Mm hmm, she was lovely.” She smiled slyly up at her rainbow-maned friend. “Must be where Linden gets it, right, Rainbow?”
The pegasus sat up with a snort, blushing slightly, until she realized Twilight was teasing her. “Definitely,” she shot back. “And his good looks too, cuz his dad? Nothing special.”
“Oh forget about that! What about the food? Was it awesome? Delicious? Deliciously awesome? What did they have?” Pinkie Pie leapt onto the bed, knocking Twilight over and flipping Applejack onto the floor. “Didya bring me some dessert? Huh? Didya?”
“Oh yeah! I almost forgot.” Dropping backwards off the canopy, Rainbow Dash flew to the sitting room and returned with Rarity’s shimmery cloak draped over her front hooves. Flipping through its folds, she found a small packet wrapped neatly in a napkin. She tucked this under her wing, and gave the cloak back to Rarity.
“Thanks. Don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t had this.”
“Ooh! Is that for me! Is that for me!” Pinkie Pie bounced around Rainbow Dash on all four hooves, grinning from ear to ear as she tried to reach the packet. Rainbow Dash playfully turned in a circle, keeping it just out of her reach.
“It might be,” she hedged.
“Rainbow!” Twilight hopped from the bed and snatched the packet from the pegasus with her magic. Her purple eyes were wide with horror. “That’s one of the napkins from dinner last night!” she gasped.
“Well duh!” Rainbow scoffed.
“You took it? How could you! Oh no! Oh no! Do you have any idea how bad this is going to look for us? We have to be on our best behavior here and even something as little as a napkin can really hurt our chances if—”
Rainbow Dash clamped a hoof over the unicorn’s mouth, rolling her eyes. “I said duh. I know that.”
“B-b-but what if the king or queen or even Prince Linden had seen you take it?” Twilight asked, twisting free and glaring sternly at her friend. She began to pace back and forth across the bedchamber, shaking her head and squeezing her eyes shut. “Oh, this is not good! This is so not good!”
“Twi, I’m sure it’s not all that bad,” Applejack drawled. She was crouched on the floor, struggling to reach her Stetson where it had rolled under the immense bed. “It’s just a napkin.”
“It is not just a napkin! It’s the very principle of propriety!” Twilight began pacing faster and faster, her eyes taking on a glazed look. The wrapped packet floated a foot over her head in a wavering ball of reddish light. Pinkie Pie jumped at it twice, but Twilight absently moved it out of her reach and the earth pony finally subsided in a pout. “You didn’t meet the king, Applejack…but he’s just the sort of pony who would throw you in a dungeon for something like this! I can’t be thrown in a dungeon! I’m a student! They don’t have books in dungeons and I can’t live without my books! We have to give it back…right now!”
“Will you chillax already?” Rainbow pounced at the packet, her wings giving her the edge she needed to grab it from Twilight’s magic. “Linden knows.”
Twilight tapped a hoof against her chin nervously. “...maybe if we can sneak it into the laundry and then they’ll never know it was us. Or perhaps we can…wait, what?”
“Linden knows about the napkin.” Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at her friend, looking briefly hurt. “Sheesh, Twilight…you didn’t really think I’d taken it without permission, did you?” 
“Twi, you know Rainbow better’n that. She may be a lot of things, but one of them ain’t a thief,” Applejack said. At the moment, they could only see her tail and hind legs, the rest of her buried under the bed. “Where in tarnation did that thing go?”
Realizing she had just accused one of her best friends of stealing, Twilight gasped and stammered, “I…no, of course you wouldn’t, Rainbow! But when…really?” She looked so confused that Rarity sidled up to her and pressed a hoof against her rump.
“You’d better sit down before you fall over, darling,” she said, and the purple unicorn dropped to her haunches with a thump and a sigh of relief.
“The prince knows? He’s okay with it?”
“Who do you think suggested I use the napkin? He saw me trying to figure out how to bring these back without getting Rarity’s cloak all dirty and he told me to wrap them up in this.” Rainbow Dash unwrapped the packet to reveal a small pile of delicate pastries with sugared tops. Pinkie Pie squealed happily when she tossed her three, then shared out the rest to Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
“Since you guys didn’t get to come,” she told them. “Oh! And one for my buddy Gumdrop.  Where’s he hiding, Fluttershy?
The yellow pegasus had been curled up on the divan, worriedly watching the exchange between her friends, but she jumped to her hooves when she realized the mouse was no longer sitting in her mane.
“I don’t know!” she exclaimed. “Please, everypony…be careful not to step on him! Gumdrop…come here, sweetie!” She rushed to Twilight, bowling the unicorn over so she could carefully inspect the bottoms of her hooves. “You didn’t get him while you were pacing, did you? Oh, thank Celestia…where could he be?”
“He’s right there!” Pinkie said around the three pastries in her mouth. Licking crumbs off her chin, she pointed to the bottom of the bed, where Gumdrop was struggling to crawl beneath the hanging comforter while dragging Applejack’s hat behind him. “Look! He knows how to play fetch!”
“Gumdrop! Oh, what a good boy you are!” Fluttershy swooped down on the mouse, scooping him and the hat up in her hooves. “But don’t you run off like that…you’re so small, you could get hurt!”
“He’s alright, Fluttershy.” Applejack took her rescued hat and put it on. “Thanks, partner!”
“Here ya go, little dude. All for you.” Rainbow tossed the mouse a pastry, then hovered over Twilight and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t worry about the napkin. You were busy talking to the queen, so you didn’t hear Linden tell me to use it. It’s all good and we’ll get Lilac Breeze to bring it back later.”
Twilight’s ears drooped and she gave the pegasus a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow. I’m just so nervous, and meeting the king last night made me so tense and…I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, I know. We’re cool.” Rainbow patted her on the back with a wing, then pulled away with a guilty grin. “But I kinda forgot to bring any pastry for you.”
“What? Not even one of the little pumpkin ones?” 
Rainbow shrugged, then looked to the doorway as someone knocked from out in the hall. “Wonder who that is?”
“I hope it’s breakfast! I’m starving!” Pinkie Pie hopped to the door and flung it open. “Hi there!”
“Oh! Um, hello?”
Rainbow and Twilight exchanged startled looks and rushed for the sitting room just as Pinkie was bouncing back to allow the aqua mare through the door.
“Your highness!”
“Queen Bright Song!”
Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy had followed them from the bedchamber. Realizing they were now in the presence of royalty, they dropped into deep bows, lowering their eyes to the floor.
The queen laughed gently. “Do stand, please. I am here on royal business, but also as a friend. Let’s forget the formalities.” She stepped into the sitting room, followed by two demure rose colored handmaidens, and settled onto one of the chairs by the fireplace. Smiling warmly, she continued, “Lady Dash, please, introduce me to your friends.”
Rainbow went through the introductions and the queen greeted each pony as sweetly as she had Rainbow and Twilight the night before. She seemed to especially enjoy Pinkie Pie’s bubbly enthusiasm.
“I’m sure you all must be hungry by now, and I want to apologize for the delay in your breakfast. It is my fault, because I thought you might like to join me for a light brunch in the Queen’s Garden. It’s such a lovely day and there is so much we have to talk about.”
“Garden?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in delight. “Oh, that sounds so very—” Remembering that she was addressing a queen, her usual timidity returned and she immediately dropped her gaze to the floor and traced the tip of her hoof along the design in the rug, “—wonderful,” she finished in a barely audible whisper.
Queen Bright Song looked momentarily startled by the yellow pony’s shyness, but recovered quickly, tipping Fluttershy’s chin up with a hoof to give her a warm smile. “It is. We have several ornamental gardens here, but the Queen’s Garden has been my own special project since I married the king. All of my favorite plants and flowers and birds are there and it’s cool and shady this time of day.”
Fluttershy slowly glanced up through the long strands of her hair and regarded the queen. “I…I would love to see it, your highness.”
“Excellent! Then, my dears, come with me.” Bright Song rose to her feet, but stopped when Rarity let out a little squeal.
“Oh! We can’t go out looking like this!” The unicorn still had her long hair bundled up in a kerchief and had not yet put on any makeup. “Please, your highness, allow me just a moment!” 
The queen blinked as Rarity cantered back to the bedroom, only to return a moment later perfectly groomed and carrying an assortment of accessories from her luggage.
“Here we are!” she sang. “If we’re all going to dine with the queen, we have to look the part.” She pranced among her friends, giving Pinkie Pie a pair of poofy bows for her mane and tail, Fluttershy a delicate strand of pink pearls, Applejack a silk scarf that she knotted artfully into a lanyard around the earth pony’s neck, and a bright pink beret for Twilight. She saved Rainbow Dash for last and had a spray of tiny, cream-colored fabric flowers for the pegasus. These were affixed to a “vine” of cloth-wrapped wire and each flower had a tiny jewel in the center of its delicate petals. Smiling at her friend, Rarity carefully wound the vine through Dash’s mane and around her ears so the rainbow locks were speckled with the tiny, sparkling blooms.
“One never knows when a certain prince may show up,” she whispered and winked at Rainbow Dash, who blushed and glowered at her.
Suitably attired for a garden brunch, at least according to Rarity, the six followed Queen Bright Song and her small entourage through the castle corridors and down to the grounds. Worker ponies were all about—they passed gardeners and laundresses and kitchen workers—and all paused their duties to bow low before the queen as she passed. Bright Song smiled and greeted each pony, asking one about her daughter’s new filly and another if the leg he had injured a few weeks ago was healing well. 
Twilight couldn’t help exchanging glances with her friends and smiling—from the responses of the worker ponies, it was clear that Bright Song was as beloved as their own princess back in Equestria. She already had Fluttershy completely enchanted, for the yellow pegasus was trotting at her side and questioning her about her garden and the flowers and animals she would see there.
The grounds around the castle were quite extensive, spiraling outwards from the main building in order of importance to the royal family. As such, the farmlands and orchards were farthest from the castle, while the collection of gardens and the training and exercise fields were closest. Bright Song led them past several large and impressive gardens, including one that was composed completely of stone fountains and sculptures, before finally coming to a carved stone archway that was entwined with a thick blanket of blue and purple morning glories.
The Queen’s Garden was not the largest of the ones they had already passed, but it was still breathtaking all the same and the six young mares could instantly tell the loving care that Bright Song had put into making the enclosure special.
A tall stone wall surrounded the garden, but trailing ivy, wisteria, and morning glories covered almost every inch of the gray rock in a lush, green curtain. The plots were separated by a gracefully curving cobblestone path, and each grassy knoll was surrounded by a tiny fence of perfectly uniform quartz spheres. The flowerbeds were all carefully arranged in delicate spiral, stars, and interconnecting knots. Bright Song favored flowers with aqua, pink, purple, and blue petals, weaving these soothing hues into her designs. Her visual artistry was gorgeous, but she had found blooms with complimentary fragrances as well, so the perfume that assailed them on all sides was heady and sweet rather than overwhelming. 
The ponies wound their way deeper in to the garden, the bright summer foliage enveloping them as they followed the path towards a delicate twittering of numerous birds. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide with excitement and she joined Rainbow in flying a few feet off the ground, desperate for a peek of the garden’s fauna.
They finally came through a small trellis tunnel covered in purple wisteria and found a circle of shoulder high hedges surrounded by a wider circle of flowering trees. The stone path cut through the hedges at the north and south compass points and bisected a second path running east and west. At the junction of these walkways was a marble table surrounded by low, wide benches perfect for pony rumps.
“Oh! It’s so lovely!” Rarity exclaimed, trotting up to the table and surveying the meal that had already been laid out for them. “So elegant and—” she suddenly stuck out a hoof, stopping Pinkie Pie from hungrily attacking a tower of carefully arranged scones on a crystal platter. “Don’t you dare, Pinkie!” she admonished in a loud whisper. “You are going to sit and wait to be served like a lady!”	
Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “But I’m not a lady, Rarity. Rainbow Dash is a lady.”
“Yes, and I’m sure Rainbow Dash is going to sit nicely and wait to be served as well.” Rarity said through gritted teeth. She looked pointedly at the blue pegasus, who took the hint and lowered herself onto one of the benches with a smirk.
Pinkie Pie pouted for an instant, then hopped onto the bench opposite Rainbow and assumed an air of overly dramatic dignity, puffing out her chest and lifting her chin into the air.
Rarity groaned, but Bright Song laughed musically and patted the pink pony on the back before taking her own seat. When the rest of the ponies had taken their places around the table, she clapped her hooves together, summoning a cream-colored pony with a seafoam green mane who had been waiting just out of sight.
“You’d better serve quickly, Baybreeze,” she said and subtly indicated Pinkie Pie with a tilt of her head. “My guests are understandably hungry.”
The serving pony quickly obliged, serving chilled tea and juices, plates of sliced fruit, and the fresh, aromatic scones. Pinkie managed to hold back until every pony had been served, then wasted no time in stuffing two whole scones into her mouth. Her bushy tail flicked back and forth as she chewed happily.
Bright Song took a sip of chilled mint tea and focused her attention on the blue pegasus sitting to her right. “So, my dear Rainbow Dash, I was hoping we could use this time to discuss the matter of your official title and land holdings.”
Rainbow Dash was in the process of spreading pumpkin butter on her scone and the gilt spoon clattered to the table as her mouth dropped open in surprise. 
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry…” She watched in confusion as Twilight quickly used her magic to levitate a napkin, wiping up the smear of spilled pumpkin butter. “…but what?”
“Your official titles, deeds, and land holdings within Saddellia,” the queen repeated, looking from the delicate glow of Twilight’s magic to the startled faces of the young mare and her friends. Even Pinkie Pie had frozen with her fourth scone halfway to her mouth. 
“Titles?” Rarity gasped.
“Deeds?” Twilight squeaked.
“Land holdings?” Applejack exclaimed.
“Well, of course! Linden told you that your new rank included a land allowance and all privileges, didn’t he?”
Rainbow Dash scratched her mane with a hoof. “I kinda remember him saying something like that. But I thought it was just a figure of speech.”
“Oh no, my dear. We take service to the kingdom very seriously—you deserve only the best for what you have done. Now, for your land, I have a lovely patch of farms and orchards in the western half of the kingdom known as the Blue Hills in mind. They’re open, airy, and very well established with ponies who have been working the land for generations.”
“Ponies?”
“Your vassals, love. The ponies who live on your land and work it, paying you for the privilege with taxes from what they produce. These lands provided a very rich living for the lord who used to hold the land.”
“Used to?” Rarity asked. She levitated her glass of tea and took a small sip. “I am probably right in guessing that “used to” doesn’t mean he decided to give all his land away one day and travel the world with just what he could carry in a saddlebag.”
Bright Song smiled sadly and nodded. “Yes, you are right… but he was quite old upon his passing and didn’t leave any heirs, so his lands reverted to the kingdom. They have been in the capable hands of a steward for the last few years and he has managed admirably. You wouldn’t even need to visit your holdings unless you wanted to, Lady Dash, since they are several weeks’ travel from here. Your finances can be handled right here in the castle and you can remain here or even take a house in the city. There are many fabulous places that are now well within your means and would be quite suitable for you
Rainbow Dash blinked. “A house? My means? I-I’m sorry, your highness. I’m just trying to understand.”
“I think we all are,” Applejack spoke up. “Beggin’ your pardon, but it sounds like you expect Rainbow to stay here in Saddellia permanently.”
“These are just suggestions. I know you all came here to speak with my husband on behalf of your princess and you are carrying possible treaty papers…such official matters take time, so you all may be here longer than you expected.” As she spoke, the queen looked away from the younger ponies, her eyes drifting almost aimlessly to the blossom covered trees. When she spoke again a few moments later, her voice was bright and cheerful. “Well, anyway, I will have my scribe draw up the documents transferring the lands I mentioned into your name. Later, you can work with one of the castle heralds to design a crest and, if you want to see maps of your holdings, they are available in one of the libraries.”
“Um, okay.” Rainbow Dash managed a bright smile, despite looking a little overwhelmed. “Thanks, your highness.”
“The thanks are all ours, my dear.” Bright Song spread a dollop of butter and jam on a scone and took a delicate bite. “There, now that those details are out of the way, what shall we talk about?”
Twilight Sparkle perked up immediately. “Well, your highness, we’d really like to discuss the reason we’re here now—I have Princess Celestia’s treaties and—”
Bright Song took another nibble of her scone and shook her head quickly, giving an almost nervous little laugh. “Oh, no, no, no, my dear, I couldn’t do that. I can assist with smaller matters, such as determining the lands for Lady Rainbow Dash, but I have no say in matters of international relations and affairs. You will have to wait for your audience with my husband.”
“Oh.” Twilight’s ears drooped.
“Don’t worry, dear,” Bright Song reached out a hoof and stroked the unicorn’s navy mane. “You’ll have your audience, I promise. These things just take time. So, in the meantime, I’d love for you to tell me some of your stories. Linden said that you’ve all had many crazy and exciting adventures together.” 	
Patting the disappointed Twilight on the back, Applejack gave the queen a toothy grin. “Well, your highness, it would be our pleasure! What would you like to hear about first—the time we hiked up a mountain to get rid of a nappin’ dragon, or when we all had to rescue Rarity from the Diamond Dogs?”
**
“It’s so beautiful! And there are so many plants I haven’t seen before.” Fluttershy was trotting along the cobbled paths of the garden, her large eyes drinking in the foliage. She paused before a bushy shrub with dark teal leaves and flowers that resembled fluffy snowballs. “I wonder what this one is called.”
“A snowball bush? At least, that’s what I would call it if somepony asked me to name it.” Pinkie laughed as she leaned forward to inspect the bush. “Wouldn’t it be fun to go on a trip with explorer ponies and discover something new? Like a new butterfly, or a dragonfly, or a butterdragonfly? Hey, if I discovered Equestria’s first butterdragonfly, would I get to name it? What do you think you would name something like that?”
“Bob?” Rainbow Dash said, nudging Applejack and winking. “Or maybe Phil?”
“Ah like Rupert, myself,” Applejack chimed in.
Pinkie Pie turned at the gentle teasing and gave them both a small frown. “Nooooo,” she said slowly. “That would only work if I found a boy butterdragonfly. What if I found a girl? I guess maybe she’d want to be called Jenny, or Daphne, or Aquamarine, or…”
As Pinkie Pie continued to list the possible names, Rarity approached the snowball bush and tilted her head to survey it closely. 
“Queen Bright Song would know what this is called,” she murmured. “It’s such a shame she had to leave when she did.”
“She had to help with the preparations for the faire and joust,” Twilight said. “I’m sure such an event must take lots of careful planning and she only has three days.”
Rainbow Dash turned a backflip and landed between the two unicorns. “This is gonna be so cool! I’ve never had a joust thrown in my name before.” Her forehead wrinkled slightly. “Actually, what is a joust anyway?”
“It’s a series of small contests and staged battles to show prowess and fighting ability,” Twilight said, happy as always to impart knowledge. “Ponies wear armor and carry lances and charge at one another, trying to gain points by striking their opponent. They also do spear throwing, archery, and other tests.”
“Sounds a little like a rodeo,” Applejack said, abandoning Pinkie Pie to her naming rambles and joining the others. “They do barrel racin’ too?”
“Not that I know of, but they might do things differently here in Saddellia. We haven’t had jousts in Equestria for hundreds of years.”
“That’s too bad,” Rainbow observed. “They sound awesome!”
“The contests take a lot of skill and the winners become greatly acclaimed and are given prizes. I wonder who will fight in this one.”
Rarity tossed her purple mane over her shoulder and smiled dreamily. “Well, if there is an archery contest like you said, Fletcher will surely enter. He’s the best archer in the country—nopony has ever beaten him.”
“So he says,” Applejack pointed out. “If you ask me, Ah’d have to see it to believe it.”
“You probably will then,” Twilight told them. “The joust has usually been a contest for noble ponies, so there is a good chance young noble colts will participate.”
“Ooh! Then maybe Tiny will compete!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, popping up behind Rainbow Dash and draping her forelegs over her friend’s back. “I’ll bet he could win all kinds of games!”
Rainbow turned her head to look at the bubbly pony and raised an eyebrow. “So you figured out the name of the butterdragonfly?”
“Nah.” Pinkie shrugged, disinterested. “I figured it will probably already have a name when I discover it, so I’ll just ask what it is.” She took a deep breath to launch into her explanation of why Tiny would make a great joust competitor, but was interrupted by Fluttershy, whose sensitive ears had caught a delicate, trilling song that immediately drew her attention away from the plants.
“Oh my! Do you all hear that? It’s so pretty!” Smiling from ear to ear, the little pegasus trotted through the garden in search of the song. “Come out, come out, little friend—I won’t hurt you!” Under her breath, she added, “I hope you aren’t just a gardener.”
The trilling call continued, drawing all six ponies along the paths in search of the singer. Soon, the sweet, high-pitched notes were joined by another tune, then a low cooing and a piping warble.
“Over there, y’all.” Applejack pointed with a hoof to a circular clearing walled in by shoulder high bushes and trees, similar to the one in which they’d eaten brunch. The songs were coming from within.
“Oh, this is so exciting!” Fluttershy trotted quickly forward, her friends at her heels, and ducked beneath the slender branches of a green willow that trailed over the entrance. “I wonder if she has blue jays and green jays and meadowlarks like Princess Celes—”
Her voice stuttered to a confused and horrified stop as she froze in the center of the clearing and looked around her disbelievingly. Unperturbed by her arrival, all of the birds continued to sing. 
There were at least two dozen different species arranged around the clearing, each one more bright and vibrantly colorful than the last—and each one hopping about inside a small cage that had been artfully hung from the trees so the birds were almost, but not quite, hidden from view.
“Wh-what is this?” Fluttershy whispered. She tiptoed up to one of the cages and peered at the passerine inside. The tiny canary fled to the back of its prison, flapping desperately against the bars until the pegasus dropped out of sight with a stammered apology. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re all locked up,” Pinkie Pie told her.
“We can see that,” Rainbow replied. “The question is, why are they all locked up?” As a winged creature herself, she found the thought of being trapped in a cage particularly terrible. Frowning, she stepped up beside Fluttershy and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“Oh, Rainbow, look at them. They must be so sad,” Fluttershy lamented. “Why would anypony keep them in cages like this?”
“So they won’t fly off, of course!” a gruff voice grumbled. A rangy, dark blue pony with bristly chin hairs and a brown mane poked his head over the bushes. His brown eyes swept over the wings and horns of the pegasi and unicorns, widening only briefly before he turned his attention back to pruning the hedges.
“But aren’t you worried about them being unhappy, all cooped up like this?” Fluttershy protested. “They should be flying free, nesting in the trees, filling the whole garden with their songs.”
The gardener shrugged, put down his clippers, and waved a hoof at them. “Follow me, please, my ladies,” he said, leading them to a particular cage and pointing at the robin-sized red bird with the silver wings that resided within.
“Her highness likes to hear the birds sing whenever she visits the garden. If I was to let this skipperwing out of the cage, it’d fly right back to the starwoods before I could bid it a fond farewell. The garden would be silent.”
Fluttershy flapped her wings and rose a few feet in the air so she could better see the bird.
“This is a crimson skipperwing?” she asked. “It’s even prettier than I imagined.”
“And right hard to find too,” the gardener said with a proud nod. “This one was caught just two weeks ago by a woodcutter working the starwood groves in the mountains.”
“But…didn’t Linden say the skipperwings were all nesting now?” Pinkie Pie asked with a perplexed frown. “What if he has a birdie wife and eggs at home and can’t get back to them?”
“Guess we’ll never know,” the gardener said with a shrug. “It belongs to the queen now.” Tapping the brim of his hat, he wished them all a good day and sauntered back to his clippers, humming tunelessly to himself.
“Oh my, oh my.” Fluttershy seemed on the verge of crying. This made Pinkie Pie sniffle as well and she hugged her friend tightly.
“Maybe we could let it out while nopony is looking,” Rainbow Dash suggested, glancing around furtively.
Twilight Sparkle eyed the bird, seriously considering this, but shook her head. “No, we’d better not. I’m really sorry, Fluttershy, but we can’t afford to do anything that might give the king reason to refuse our treaties and send us home. W-we have to think of all the ponies being held against their will too.”
Fluttershy lowered her head and sighed. “I understand.” To the skipperwing, she added, “I’m sorry, little one.” 
“Come on, y’all. Let’s all head back to the castle. No reason to stick around here if it’s just gonna make us all depressed.” Applejack gave Fluttershy a small nudge and a smile until the pegasus nodded. Leaving the glade of imprisoned birds behind, they made their way back out of the Queen’s Garden.
They were just passing through the morning glory-swathed trellis when they came face to face with a trio of young, well-dressed mares. Two appeared to be twins, for they both shared an identically dainty build and a pale, periwinkle coat. Even their pink and white striped manes and tails were patterned the same, though the pony on the left had styled hers into soft waves, while the one on the right kept hers straight.
The pony in the middle was slightly taller than her two companions and had a mauve coat with a dove grey mane and very deep blue eyes. Twilight recognized her as Star Trillium from the day before—the mare who had snubbed them at the castle gates. Now she sneered at them all, doing little to improve Twilight’s first impression.
Still, she and her friends were guests in Saddellia, so she put on a friendly smile and said hello.
The mauve mare tilted her head and looked at them all through her long, dark lashes. “Good afternoon,” she said. She had a high, thin voice that sounded like she was speaking through her nose. “I am Lady Star Trillium, daughter of Lord Noble Pine, who holds the lands of Sedge Valley and the Arbor.” She tipped her head to the left and right. “These are Wild Rose and Petal Soft, daughters of Lord Vetch, who holds the southern Downs and Brandyshire. Who, may I ask, are you?”
“Oh, well, I’m Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.”
The pony named Petal Soft wrinkled her nose briefly. “You’re all from Equestria, aren’t you?” she asked, her tone making it perfectly clear that this lowered their standing in her regard. She glanced sideways to the gate of the garden. “What were you doing in there? That is the Queen’s Garden. Commoners are not allowed.”
“It just so happens we were invited by Queen Bright Song herself,” Rarity spoke up, matching her haughty tone perfectly. “We had a lovely brunch with her while we discussed Lady Rainbow Dash’s land holdings.”
The three Saddellians looked properly shocked by this, their eyes immediately going to Rainbow Dash.
“Lady?” Star Trillium repeated.
“That’s right!” Applejack draped a hoof over her friend’s shoulders. “Prince Linden himself named her a lady of the realm with land holdins and all on account of her helpin’ him out of a tight spot a few days ago.”
“Oh really?” Star Trillium smirked. “A noble title? Land holdings? Probably some little patch of swampland to justify the name.”
“We’re not sure, actually,” Fluttershy murmured in her gentle voice. When the three mares looked at her she ducked her head, hiding behind her abundant hair. Peeking out through the strands, she added, “It’s someplace called Blue Hills.”
The mares gasped in unison and exchanged glances. 
“Blue Hills?” Wild Rose whispered. “She ranks us then.”
“She even ranks Trillium,” her sister added, then shrank back at the glare Star Trillium sent her way.
“Is that good?” Pinkie Pie asked, perplexed. “Queen Bright Song seemed to think it was good.”
“I just don’t understand.” Star Trillium let her blue eyes trail from Rainbow Dash’s head to her hooves and the pegasus bristled, her own magenta eyes narrowing.
“Don’t understand what?” she snapped, wings flaring in annoyance.
“Why would the royals give one of the largest, most profitable tracts of land in the kingdom to a foreigner who can’t even decide if she’s a pony or a bird?” Her two friends laughed as Rainbow snorted indignantly and took a step towards the mauve pony, stopped only by Applejack and Rarity simultaneously standing on her tail. Star Trillium continued with a sly smirk. “I mean, honestly, anyone of proper blood and breeding can see that you haven’t got a noble bone in your body. It has to be some sort of a joke Linden is playing.”
“A joke, huh? Well, I’ll show you a—”
“She is so a lady!” Pinkie Pie jumped between Rainbow Dash and the trio just as the pegasus managed to yank her tail free. The pink pony was rolling her eyes as she put a hoof around Rainbow’s neck and dragged her close. “She’s so important, she’s got her own, uh…”
“…entourage?” Twilight supplied.
“Yeah! That’s it! She’s got her own entourage!”
“I do?” Rainbow asked. She was staring at Pinkie Pie in total bewilderment, but managed to cover her confusion by nodding along. “Oh yeah, I do!”
“That’s right!” Pinkie released her and bounced over to Rarity, leaning against the unicorn and beaming at Star Trillium and her friends. “She always looks great because she has Rarity as her super chic and magnifique fashion designer.
“Fashion designer?” Wild Rose mocked.
“That’s right! And Fluttershy is her hoofmaiden. Only the best for Lady Dash!”
The yellow pegasus smiled nervously, but dutifully edged up to Rainbow’s side. 
“What is she doing?” she whispered.
“Ah have no idea,” Applejack whispered back as Pinkie pranced over to Twilight and tapped her on the head.
“Then there’s Twilight Sparkle. She’s really, really smart and is Lady Dashie’s personal advisor.”
Star Trillium tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Oh really?”
“Y-yes, of course,” Twilight stammered, playing along. 
Petal Soft scoffed. “But she was just made a lady yesterday. How could she possibly have an entourage?”
Pinkie Pie gave an elaborate shrug. “Hey, I don’t make the rules. They are what they are.”
“Oh really? Then what are you?”
“Me?” The pink pony pointed a hoof at her chest. “Well, I’m her—”
“Jester,” Applejack muttered under her breath. Pinkie heard her and grinned from ear to ear.
“Her jester! I’m her jester! I dance and tell jokes and make her laugh so she won’t be bored.”
“Well, that, at least, is believable.” Star Trillium turned her attention to Applejack, raising an eyebrow meaningfully.
“Yeah?” Applejack queried, her own face open and innocent.
“I assume you are part of this entourage as well?”
“Of course she is,” Rainbow piped up, a mischievous glint coming to her eyes. “She’s my other je—” She broke off with a tiny yip as Applejack surreptitiously kicked her fetlock.
“Ah’m her bodyguard.”
Rainbow was sputtering indignantly and the three nobles all looked ready to laugh when a familiar male voice hailed them from further up the path. The nine mares turned, and bowed as Linden trotted towards them, Tiny and Fletcher at his sides.
“My lady! Here you are! I was hoping I’d find you here. 
“Good afternoon, Prince Linden!” Star Trillium said brightly, suddenly all smiles and demurely fluttering eyelashes. 
“Hello, Trillium.” Linden didn’t even spare the mauve pony a glance, his attention focused solely on Rainbow Dash. “Good afternoon, my lady. I trust you slept well? The Emerald Rooms are to your liking?”
As Rainbow nodded, the three Saddellian mares traded shocked looks—first the pegasus and her friends had been invited into the Queen’s Garden by Bright Song, then she had been gifted the Blue Hills, and now they had learned that she was staying in the most opulent guest rooms in the castle. Rarity and Applejack couldn’t help smiling a little at their consternation.
“Mother said you and your friends were taking in the gardens,” Linden continued. “I wanted to make good on my offer to show you around the castle. I know you’d enjoy seeing the training grounds and the mews and the armor gallery, and we could stop by the library and the solarium.”
“Not to mention the kitchens,” Tiny said, winking at Pinkie Pie.
“Ooh, that sounds nice!” Star Trillium exclaimed, cutting off Rainbow Dash before she could reply and sidling closer to the prince. “Would you mind if we joined you?”  
Fletcher raised an eyebrow at the mare and snorted. “Why would you want to tour the castle grounds, Trill?” he asked with a knowing smirk. “You grew up here. It’s nothing you haven’t seen a thousand times before.”
“W-well, Lady Rainbow Dash and her friends might, uh, enjoy a mare’s view of the castle more than colt’s,” Star Trillium stammered awkwardly. She shot the green colt a poisonous glare. “I mean, what mare in her right mind could possibly be interested in the training grounds and armory?”
“This mare, actually,” Rainbow Dash replied, leaping into the air with a flick of her tail. “I think it sounds fascinating.” 
Grinning happily, Linden turned to start the tour, Rainbow flying low at his side. 
“Not going to come, huh?” Fletcher asked Star Trillium as the mauve mare gaped after the prince and the pegasus. “Probably for the best. You’d just be boring…oops, I mean bored anyway.”  Chuckling, he set off after pair with Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack hurrying to keep up.
“It was nice meeting you!” Pinkie Pie said brightly, popping up between Wild Rose and Star Trillium, making both mares jump. “Hope we can chat again soon! C’mon Tiny, let’s go!”
Star Trillium shook her head confusedly as the giant colt trotted away with the pink pony bouncing beside him. Somehow, the tables had been turned, but for the life of her she could not figure out how.
**
Sleeping on a silken canopy, though no competition for a puffy cumulous cloud, was infinitely better than a blanket spread out on the ground. A slight breeze filtered through the windows, so Rainbow Dash was blissfully comfortable when her dream of flying through the Crescent Moon Canyon was interrupted by the strangest feeling that she was being watched.
Muttering in her sleep, she rolled over and draped a hoof over her eyes. There was a soft pattering sound, a squeak, and suddenly she felt that unnerving feeling again. Eyes were on her, watching her every move.
Unable to shake the feeling, she grudgingly forced her eyelids open so she could convince herself that it was just a part of her dream. Her field of vision was, at first, filled with the vibrant, jewel bright green of the canopy. Then she glanced up, and screamed at the two huge, blue eyes that hovered less than an inch from her face.
“Yay! Wakey wakey, chocolate milk shakey! It’s about time you woke up!”
“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow Dash sat up and shook her head to clear it of sleep. Pinkie Pie was dangling off the edge of the canopy, her front hooves hooked over the emerald cloth. 
“Duh! Who else would it be?”
“You’re right,” the pegasus said. “Stupid question. But what are you doing?”
“Trying to wake you up, silly! Don’t you know what today is? Aren’t you so super amazingly excited? How can you possibly sleep through all the excitement!”
Rainbow Dash crawled to the edge of the canopy and peered over, then groaned and let her head flop.
“What excitement, Pinkie? The sun’s not up yet and everypony is still asleep, you know, like I want to be right now?” Muttering under her breath, she tried to wriggle back to the center of the canopy, but Pinkie Pie lunged forward, catching her face between her hooves.
“Dashie, wait—uh oh…”
Gravity took over as soon as her hooves released the canopy and her weight dragged Rainbow Dash with her. With a strangled squawk, the pegasus tried to flap her wings, but only managed to keep them aloft for a few seconds before they both tumbled to the floor in a heap.
Applejack sat up with a start, her blonde mane disheveled and her green eyes half-closed from sleep.
“Huh? Wha—? What’s goin’ on? Is there an earthquake?” She peeked over the edge of the bed, her lips twitching as Rainbow Dash untangled herself from Pinkie and climbed to her hooves. “Uh, what’re you two doin’ up? Do you have any idea how early it is? Really, Rainbow, Ah know you’re excited an’ all, but someponies are tryin’ to get their shut eye.”
“What? Me? Wait, how is this my fault? I was sound asleep—it was Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash scowled and nudged the giggling pink pony with her hoof until Pinkie Pie rolled over.
“Well, yeah!” she exclaimed. “The faire is today!” She jumped up and hugged Rainbow Dash so tightly her eyes bulged as her breath was cut off. “How often do we get to go to a great big super fun faire meant just for Dashie? I’ll bet this will be like a giant birthday party where everyone in Equestria shows up to celebrate!”
“Pinkie Pie, would you please keep your voice down?” Rarity raised her head from the pillow and lifted the silk sleep mask from her eyes so she could glare at her friend. “Some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep.”
Pinkie Pie scoffed and leapt onto the bed, jumping up and down on the mattress. “Who needs sleep when there’s gonna be a party!”
Rarity pushed the mask up on her forehead and glanced through the curtains to the windows. Mellow, creamy sunlight was just starting to inch over the sill and across the floor. With a long suffering sigh, she climbed out of bed before Pinkie’s antics could fling her to the floor as well.
“Well, as long as I’m awake, we might as well get ready. I have some wonderful ideas, so we’d better get started before that horrid mare shows up.”
“Aw, she ain’t that bad,” Applejack quipped. “She’s just tryin’ to do her job, Rarity.”
“No, she’s trying to do my job, and not very well, I must say.”
Rainbow Dash wriggled free of Pinkie’s hug and trotted past the unicorn to the windows. Placing her forehooves on the sill, she leaned out into the refreshing morning air and looked down at the grassy fields around the lake, where brightly curtained pavilions had been constructed and were already bustling with the artisans, craftsponies, musicians, and performers who would be working the faire. Over the last few days, she and her friends had watched the preparations with growing excitement. Now, the day had finally come. As she stared down at the faire—the faire in her honor—Rainbow Dash found herself agreeing with Pinkie Pie and had to struggle not to squeal happily.
As she dropped back into the room, a flash of lavender caught her eye and she spotted Twilight sitting on the sill of one of the other windows.
“Hey Twilight. Didn’t think you were up so early.” Rainbow trotted up to her friend and looked outside. From this window, they could see the massive obstacle course that had been built for Rainbow to show off her flying skills. She had spent the better part of the last two days instructing the builders on what to do. “It’s pretty cool, huh? I can’t wait to try out those hoops and the aerial hurdles.”
“It’s amazing. I can’t believe they built it so fast—I hope it’s safe.”
“Safe enough. Linden made sure of that. I though he was gonna tell the builders to cover everything with pillows so I won’t get bruised or bend a feather.”
“Well, it’s sure to impress the king.” Twilight turned to face her and smiled cheekily. “You and Linden sure have been spending a lot of time together these last few days—lunches, walks by the lake—and he’s going to show us around the faire today too, isn’t he?”
Rainbow leaned back sharply and stammered, “W-well, it’s not like…I mean, we’re just…Fletcher and Nightfire and Tiny will be coming too!”
“It’s okay, Rainbow.” Twilight patted her friend on the shoulder, laughing. “I’m just teasing. I think it’s great that you and Linden have become such good friends. He’s a really nice colt. In fact, Nightfire and I were talking about him just yesterday.”
“You were? When?”
“In the library. I went in to look around and he was there, studying. He studies almost as much as me.”
“Well, that can’t be possible—when would he have enough time to eat or sleep?”
“Very funny. Anyway, he was in there studying, but when I came in, he jumped up and offered to show me around. They use a system similar to mine for cataloging and shelving their books, but they have so many of them and there are so many different genres and categories that I probably would have been wandering for hours before I found what I wanted. 
“So Nightfire gave me the grand tour and we started talking. He’s only been here at the castle for a short while, at least compared to Fletcher and Tiny, but Linden became his friend really fast. He’s just easy-going like that and doesn’t put on airs about being the prince.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that. He talks to all the servants and worker ponies the same way he talks to the nobles. He knows everypony too, just like his mom. And he knows all about the castle and the grounds and has all these really cool stories about secret passages between some of the rooms and the ghost that’s supposed to haunt the armory. He’s a really great athlete too—he loves racing and hiking and he’s a great jumper and—”
“Aww!”
Rainbow paused, suddenly noticing that the rest of her friends had joined them silently and were now sitting in a half circle around her. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all grinning widely, but Pinkie Pie had the sappiest smile plastered on her face as she swooned against Fluttershy.
“Of for the love of…” Rainbow ducked her head and stroked her tail embarrassedly. “Look, he’s just really cool, is all.”
“Most definitely,” Rarity said with a wink. “And he’ll be here anytime to take us down to the faire, so we’d better all get ready. Rainbow, I have a fabulous idea for—”
She was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door and Foxtail, the queen’s thoughtfully appointed seamstress, arrived with all her supplies. Rarity scowled and grumbled about the usurper taking over her position, but eventually followed her friends out to the main room to get ready for the faire.

> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well, I still don’t think she should have styled your hair up. With your features, it looks much better loose with a subtle decoration in it. And you would have looked far nicer in that pale mint green that I wanted than in that ruby. Sure, it’s a fine enough color for evening wear, but it’s just too bright and rich for this early in the day.”
Sitting on one of the chairs by the fireplace, Rainbow Dash flattened her ears against her head and squeezed her eyes shut, tapping one hoof against the cushion as Rarity continued her rapid fire tirade.
“And a little bit of makeup wouldn’t have hurt you at all—you have such bright and interesting eyes, so why not make them pop?”
“Rarity! Please!” The pegasus collapsed, flinging her hooves over her head. “I can’t take it anymore!”
As Rarity stuttered to a stop, Applejack turned to Pinkie Pie and passed over several bits. 
“You win. Ah swear, I thought she would have blown back when Rarity was talking ‘bout dress lengths and hooficures.”
“Foxtail isn’t trying to be mean, Rarity,” Twilight pointed out gently. “She’s just doing the job the queen asked her to do. Bright Song didn’t know you were going to be Rainbow’s fashion advisor.” She glanced to the pegasus in question, who was now absently poking the hem of the lightweight cloak she wore with the tip of a hoof. “I think Rainbow looks beautiful—and she’s already nervous enough without worrying about—”
“What?” Rainbow jumped and put her hooves behind her back. “What’re you talking about? I’m not nervous!”
Rarity took one look at her wide-eyed friend and all her indignation drained away to be replaced with an expression of shame. 
“You’re absolutely right, Twilight. I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash—here you are fretting over your date with the prince and all I can do is go on and on about that annoying mare and her Saddellian fashions.”
“I’m not fretting and it’s not a date! Linden is just walking the faire with us. How is that a date?”
“Well, um, he’s not exactly walking the faire with us, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said with an ingratiating smile. “He’s walking it with you and we’re just tagging along.”
“And he’s asked you to sit with him in the royal box during the joust,” Twilight pointed out. “Even if it is in your honor, it would have been perfectly proper to seat you with the rest of the nobility.”
“So he wanted to hang out!” Rainbow Dash threw her hooves in the air. “That doesn’t make it a—” There was a sudden knock on the door and she gasped, squeaking, “He’s here!”
“Oh no, it’s not a date.” Applejack grinned sardonically and nudged the pegasus, then trotted across the room to answer the door. “Well howdy there! Don’t you look all spiffed up and fancy!”
Rarity gasped and whirled around to poke Rainbow Dash sharply with her hoof. “Did you hear that?” she hissed, her eyes glowing ecstatically. “He got all dressed up for you!”
“Or he got dressed up because he’s a prince and he’s going out in public,” Rainbow pointed out, rubbing the sore spot on her chest.
“Don’t be so silly, Dashie,” Pinkie said matter-of-factly. “It’s for you. Now let’s get going! I can’t take it anymore!” She shoved Rainbow Dash from her chair and forcibly pushed her across the floor to the greeting room. 
The pony waiting just inside the door with Applejack was not Linden, however. Perplexed, Rainbow trotted forward under her own power, taking Pinkie by surprise. The earth pony overbalanced, her legs windmilling wildly before she collapsed onto her face.
“Ouch! Is she alright?” Aster asked.
“I’m fine!” Pinkie waved a hoof towards the steward, then proceeded to peel herself off the floor.
Aster turned to Rainbow and Applejack, his expression one of mingled concern, confusion, and disbelief. Rainbow shrugged nonchalantly.
“That’s why she’s the jester,” she quipped.
The white pony opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but he had spent several days on the road with the girls and had finally come to the decision that trying to figure out Pinkie Pie’s oddities, or her friends’ acceptance of them, was impossible, frustrating, and a sure way to cause a sharp pain between his ears. Clearing his throat, he gave his attention to Rainbow Dash and dipped a bow.
“My lady, I’m here to offer the deep regrets of his highness, Prince Linden.”
“Regrets? What for?”
“Well, while the prince greatly wanted to show you and your friends around the faire this morning, he has been called to his father’s side for the time being.” 
“Oh.” Rainbow’s face fell and her ears drooped. “Really?” 
“He does extend his sincerest apologies,” Aster continued, “and hopes you will still enjoy yourself at the faire. He begs that you will still sit with him during the joust.”
“Yeah, sure. Of course I will.”
Aster smiled and bobbed his head to her. “Thank you, my lady. I will be sure to tell his highness. Please, enjoy your day.” 
As soon as the steward let himself out of the room, Rainbow was surrounded by her friends, all wearing identical expressions of concern and disappointment for her.
“Ah’m sorry, sugarcube. But we’ll still have fun, just the six of us,” Applejack said with a comforting nuzzle.
“Of course we will.” Rarity gave the pegasus a brusque hug, using the embrace to surreptitiously remove the clip holding Rainbow’s mane in place so the multi-colored strands once again tumbled loose against her neck. “And you’ll still see him later at the joust, so don’t be upset.”
“Oh, I’m not. It’s fine,” Rainbow said, shrugging and unconsciously tossing her newly freed mane. “The king wanted to see him—it’s not like he could say no to that. And he promised to talk to his dad about us, so maybe he’ll have a chance now. I mean, that’s why we came here, right? To get the attention of the king?”
“Right!” Twilight said brightly, pleased with her friend’s mature reasoning. “Maybe he’ll work out an audience for us.”
“Yeah, maybe. But that’s later.” Pinkie Pie gave them each a small shove from behind. “Do you know what’s happening right now? As is, right now right now? A faire! A huge, wonderful faire with games and music and food and all kinds of neat things to see!” She sat down with a thump and began to sob plaintively. “And we’re missing it!”
“All right, y’all, let’s get goin’ before Pinkie floods the place.”
Pinkie’s waterworks switched off as quickly as they had switched on, replaced instantly with a beaming smile and twinkling eyes. She led the way down to the grounds, hopping and singing, and when Applejack tried to convince her to bubble down, she scoffed and replied, “A jester is supposed to be funny and perky, AJ. What would you want a boring jester for?”
Applejack looked to her friends for help, but Twilight only shrugged. “You’re the one who made her a jester, Applejack.”
“No, she didn’t,” Rarity disagreed. “Pinkie’s always been a jester. Applejack just finally gave her the name.”
A temporary wooden gate had been built at the entrance to the faire grounds. Two ponies in plumed hats and long tabards bearing the royal crest were positioned on either side of the gate. As the Equestrian ponies approached, these heralds stepped up to a pair of long trumpets and blew a loud series of musical notes before shouting—
“Lady Rainbow Dash of the Blue Hills!”  
Eyes turned towards them curiously, followed by a flutter of whispers. Rainbow smiled awkwardly and gave a little wave, then hurriedly trotted through the gate, her friends close behind.
The sweeping, grassy grounds around the castle had been transformed into a busy, colorful city of carts, tables, tents, and booths of every shape and size stretched out in orderly rows. Vendors from all throughout the kingdom had heeded the call of the king, arriving in vast numbers to peddle an astonishing assortment of goods. As the mares trotted between the stands, they were dazzled by pottery, clothing, toys, tools, glassware, jewelry, and woodcrafts.
Rarity quickly took the lead from Pinkie. Her dark blue eyes shone as she pranced before the booths, inspecting wares with the shrewd skill of an experienced shopper. She had just found a stall with bolts of fine cloth in every imaginable color and had stopped to haggle over prices when Twilight spotted a familiar orange colt wandering about by himself.
“Nightfire!” she called, waving a hoof. “Nightfire, over here!”
The quiet colt turned at his name and smiled when he saw Twilight. Quickly, he trotted through the crowd to join them.
“Good morning, Twilight Sparkle. Lady Rainbow Dash. Girls. I trust you’re enjoying the faire?”
“Very much, though we just got here and still have a lot to see. Do you want to join us?”
“It would be my pleasure.” 
“So you’re not gonna be in the joust at all?” Rainbow asked him curiously. Linden had told her that he couldn’t enter the tourney because nopony would dare beat a prince and the contest wouldn’t be fair. Fletcher and Tiny, however, would both be participating.
Nightfire smirked and shook his head. “Not me, my lady, unless they open the joust to games of the mind and trivia contests. I spend more of my time in the libraries than out on the training grounds. I’d still be there now if Linden hadn’t ordered me out to enjoy the faire by saying, and here I quote, ‘Your nose if going to grow into a point if you keep it buried in the middle of a book much longer’.”
“That could never happen!” Twilight protested indignantly. “It would take more than a book to permanently change the shape of a muzzle—besides, reading that closely is more likely to hurt your eyesight than your nose and—”
Applejack draped a leg over Twilight’s shoulders and gave her a little wink. “Ah think the prince was jokin’ with him, Sugarcube.”
“Oh.” Twilight giggled sheepishly. “Yes, I guess that makes more sense.”
“Rainbow!” Rarity suddenly appeared and tugged on a fold of Rainbow’s cloak with her magic to get her attention. “Darling, I need to borrow you for a moment to see if this shade of violet is right for you. I think Pinkie may have chattered him down in price, but I have to act fast or—oh, hello Nightfire! How wonderful running into you. Are you enjoying the faire?”
“Very much, Miss Rarity. And you?”
“It’s lovely! The fashions and accessories here in Saddellia are so different from Equestria and I can’t wait to incorporate some of the styles into my lines.” She gave Rainbow a brisk little shake. “And I’ve already got some fabulous ideas for our little lady here that are sure to show that tacky imposter who the real fashion designer is.”
“I’m sorry?” Nightfire looked completely baffled so Twilight explained.
“Remember how we told you Pinkie Pie had come up with positions for all of us as Rainbow’s entourage? Well, Rarity was to be her fashion advisor, but when we got back to the Emerald Rooms that night we found that Queen Bright Song had sent a seamstress named Foxtail to help Rainbow with her wardrobe.” She glanced sideways at the other unicorn. “You might say Rarity got a little miffed when Foxtail refused to step aside.”
“Miffed?” Rarity gave a delicate sniff. “I was not miffed. I was merely perturbed.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow scoffed, looking over her shoulder and trying to suppress a laugh. “Perturbed. I guess that’s why you set Pinkie Pie on that poor merchant so you could buy up all the fabric in Saddellia.”
Rarity gasped and looked back at the cloth vendor, who had a plastered smile on his face, but whose eyes had long since glazed over as Pinkie Pie babbled steadily on about fabric, and dresses, and butterdragonflies. Fluttershy was whispering apologies to the harried stallion and trying unsuccessfully to pull their friend away.
“Oh Celestia, what have I done!” the white unicorn exclaimed, racing back to rescue the hapless merchant. Out of sheer guilt, she bought the fabric and several spools of ribbon at full price, though the vendor muttered something about giving her his entire booth as long as she took Pinkie away. Once her purchase was complete, Nightfire suggested that they take in one of the shows and led them all to a nearby performance stage, where an acting troupe was just starting their comedic rendition of The Savvy Stallion and the Ogre Under the Bridge. While the girls had never heard of him, Nightfire explained that the Savvy Stallion was a beloved character in Saddellian folklore who used his cleverness to outwit many enemies and escape from dangerous escapades. In this particular tale, the stallion encountered an ogre while running from one of his many enemies and convinced the monstrous beast to pass on eating him in favor of the much plumper, tastier ponies coming up behind him. Of course, the ogre took the bait and fell on the stallion’s pursuers while the hero happily trotted away.
The play was hilarious, especially to Pinkie Pie. She laughed so loudly that the actors gave her a special bow at the end. She was even called up on the stage by the next act, which involved tightrope walking jugglers and a mime. To the surprise of everypony but her friends, she did wonderfully at both, though Rainbow and Applejack hurriedly dragged her away before she could try her hoof at sword swallowing.
A walk through the food sellers’ stands distracted her and gave them a chance to sample some of the treats of the kingdom, including pastry pockets filled with seasoned vegetables, chocolate-covered pumpkin jellies, and, at Nightfire’s urging, candied pumpkin blossoms.
“Who would have thought?” Rainbow mused, happily munching her way through a packet of the sweet yellow delicacy. “We have to figure out how to make this back home. Hey, Pinkie, do you think the Cakes could…” A glittery flash on the table she was passing caught her eye and she stopped short, causing Rarity to bump into her from behind.
“Oomph! Oh, my apologies, darling, but you really need to warn a pony. What are you looking at—ooh, jewelry!”
The table was covered in black velvet to display a vast array of sparkling jewels set in silver and gold. There were necklaces and bracelets, earrings and brooches, halters and saddles—all shining with cut and polished gems in every shape, size, and color. The work was exquisite, but not what had grabbed Rainbow’s attention. Instead, she was intrigued by a jumble of stone pendants that spilled out of a box tucked in a corner of the display. One particular piece was a chunk of smoky quartz that had been carved into the shape of a flying falcon.
“Check this out, it’s really cool,” she said, lifting the pendant by its brown cord. “Like the falcon that flew with me back in the canyon.”
“Well, yes, I suppose so,” Rarity said, glancing at it absently. “But wouldn’t you rather something like those sapphires? Or maybe this peridot?” The unicorn lifted a necklace with her magic, admiring the light playing off the lime green stone. “Teardrop-cut. Flawless stone. Clear, even color.” 
A ruby-red stallion with a golden ring for a cutie mark trotted over to them with a welcoming smile and introduced himself as Fourteen Carat. “You have a discerning eye, miss.”
Rarity nodded and turned slightly so her own triple gem cutie mark was visible. “I know a thing or two about precious stones. I use them in my fashions back home. Your work is extremely good.”
“How much for this one?” Rainbow asked, holding up the falcon.
“That?” Fourteen Carat shook his head. “My lady, that is the work of one of my apprentices—he does it in his free time to make extra spending bits. But might I suggest something like this for a lady such as yourself?” He delicately picked up a necklace in his teeth and held it up so the sun sparked off the facets of the large hexagonally cut emerald. 
Rainbow eyed the necklace for a moment and gave a dismissive shrug. “It’s nice, but I really like this one. Will you take Equestrian bits?” She turned her head and nosed aside her ruby-colored cloak to reach the moneybag with the bits she had brought from home. When she looked back at the merchant, he was gaping at her exposed wing.
“What?” she said with a grin, waggling her feathers at him playfully. “Never seen a wing before?” 
“Not on a pony, my lady.” His amber eyes widened with realization. “You’re the pegasus who saved the prince’s life!”
“Now how’d you know that?” Applejack wanted to know. “We’ve only been here a few days.”
“Word travels quickly among the merchant guild, especially when that word involves a lavish faire being thrown in honor of a new national hero.”
“National hero?” Rainbow blushed, for once not willing to brag. “I just helped a pony out, that’s all. Any pony would have done the same.”
“If you say so, my lady. Either way, we merchants are extremely grateful for the faire.” Fourteen Carat winked and picked up the falcon pendant, looping it over Rainbow’s neck. “If this is the one you like, this is the one you should have. No charge for national heroes.”
“Aww, how nice!” Pinkie beamed but Rainbow stammered, “N-no, I couldn’t just—your apprentice…I can pay…”
“I won’t take it, my dear lady. Now I can tell everypony that the beautiful pegasus who saved the prince wears jewelry from my shop. Business will boom, I am sure.”
“Very savvy,” Twilight spoke up. At her side, Rarity nodded sagely.
“I—I guess, uh, if you insist. Thanks!” Rainbow craned her head to peer down at the falcon, admiring the way the swirls of light and dark grey in the smoky quartz resembled the true life coloring of the bird.
“It’s really pretty, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said as they moved through the faire again, this time gravitating towards what sounded like a musical performance. “And it’s nice to have something to remember this by.”
“Would have been just as nice to remember it with that perfectly beautiful emerald,” Rarity muttered. “I can find plenty of wonderful gems back home, but the setting and cut on that one was just magnificent.”
Long rows of low hale bales had been arranged in a semi circle around the stage and had already filled with ponies. The seven found space to squeeze in near the end of one row and sat to watch the performance. A brown stallion with one cream-colored fetlock was skillfully playing a mandolin that matched the one on his cutie mark. Beside him, a pretty young mare with a silvery-green coat and pale lilac mane and tail was singing in a sweet, lilting voice. She was just finishing a song, holding out the last note in mournful vibrato that had several ponies in the audience wiping their eyes. 
Resting for barely a beat, the stallion then livened up the mood with an upbeat jig, his hooves flying nimbly over the strings of his instrument. The green mare flicked her tail in time with the beat, then raised her voice again in a rousing song that soon had the ponies stamping along.
“This is Lightfoot, one of the Queen’s favorite minstrels,” Nightfire told them. “He’s famous for his skill with the mandolin and song writing.”
“Who’s the mare?” Rarity asked. Something about her voice seemed vaguely familiar. The white unicorn tilted her head thoughtfully, then decided the mare’s singing reminded her a little of her own sister.
“I’m not sure. She’s been with Lightfoot for only a couple of months.”
“She’s sure gotta pretty voice,” Applejack observed.
“Yes, very,” Rarity agreed. “So pensive and full of longing.
“Unlike yours,” a snide voice mocked behind them. As one, they all turned to find Star Trillium sitting a few feet away with her tagalong twins.
“I beg your pardon?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And just what do you mean by that?”
Star Trillium gave a decidedly unladylike snort. “Oh nothing,” she said flightily, glancing from Rarity to Applejack. “Though some ponies do have the most absurd accents and insist on talking through a performance while others are trying to listen.”
Rarity blushed and started to apologize, but Rainbow whirled fully around, flaring her wings out as she glared eye to eye with the mauve pony.
“Just what is your problem?” she demanded, fed up with constant digs and slights. “If you’ve got a problem with us, why don’t you just come out and say it!” 
Star Trillium’s eyes narrowed angrily. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked, her voice dropping to a hiss. “You don’t belong here! The prince may give you a bit of land and call you a lady, but that doesn’t make it true. A real lady is born to her title. She is graceful, demure, and classy. She can dance, knows how to properly dress, knows all the proper ponies, and can sing like a bird. Whereas you obviously—”
“Now you wait just a minute here!” Everypony had been so focused on Star Trillium that they hadn’t noticed Fluttershy silently fuming to one side until the little yellow pegasus shoved past Rainbow and glowered at Star Trillium. “You’ve been rude to us since we got here and it’s just not right! We haven’t been anything but nice to you.” She stomped a hoof in emphasis, unaware that she had drawn the interest of all the ponies sitting nearby. “And you shouldn’t say things unless you know they’re true—because Rainbow Dash is every bit the lady you say you are!” 
By now, the musicians had paused in their playing, and her friends were all gaping at Fluttershy, stunned by her outburst. Star Trillium, however, was unfazed by the sudden attention and merely smirked at the little pegasus.
“Is that so?” she retorted.
“Yes it is!”
The mauve pony stood on one of the hay bales. “Well then, maybe she should prove it. I said a lady knows how to sing like a bird, yes? Maybe Lady Rainbow Dash should entertain us all with her sweet voice.” Before anypony could object, she turned to the stage, where the minstrels were watching the scene with mingled interest and annoyance, and shouted, “Troubador, a request! Lady Rainbow Dash here would sing a song for us all!”
“What!” Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight exclaimed together. Fluttershy squeaked in horror and Nightfire groaned wildly, while Applejack hurried to interpose herself between Rainbow and the smug trio until her friend’s magenta eyes looked slightly less insane.
“What are you waiting for, Lady Dash?” Wild Rose taunted. She swept a hoof out to indicate the audience. “Everypony is waiting to hear your lovely voice.”
“You don’t hafta do nothin’ you don’t wanna do, Rainbow,” Applejack said, pushing the fuming pegasus back with her shoulder.
“That’s right,” Nightfire added. “You don’t have to prove anything to them. Linden and his parents have named you a lady—that’s all that matters.”
Rainbow blew a puff of air through her nose, then visibly relaxed. “No, I’ll do it,” she said softly. “I’m not scared and I don’t back down from a challenge.” She wriggled free of Applejack’s grasp and turned towards the stage. Whimpering guiltily, Fluttershy hurried after her.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry! I never meant for…I didn’t think she would…I was only trying to…”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy.” Rainbow gave her a comforting pat. “But you really do pick the strangest times to be assertive.”
The crowd parted for the two pegasi, gasping when Rainbow ignored the stairs leading up to the stage in favor of a short, flying hop. The brown musician with the white hoof bowed to her, his pale partner hesitating slightly before doing the same.
“Sorry about this,” Rainbow told them. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your show.”
“My pleasure, my lady,” Lightfoot said, indicating the front of the stage to her.
“Oh…! Oh dear…” Fluttershy had been so concerned with apologizing that she had followed Rainbow Dash right onto the stage without noticing. Squeaking timidly, she tried to back away towards the stairs, but Lightfoot nimbly stepped in front of her, barring her path.
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” he announced, leaning from side to side to block Fluttershy’s repeated attempts to escape. His rich, melodious voice carried easily over the crowd and drew even more ponies closer towards the stage. “This is a real treat—these two lovely ponies have volunteered to serenade us all with a song from their homeland of Equestria!”
There was a round of applause and Fluttershy went pale beneath her coat. 
“Oh no, not me! I—I couldn’t…” She tried again to flee the stage, but caught sight of Star Trillium and the twins sneering while the rest of her friends nodded at her encouragingly. Resolved, she trotted back to Rainbow’s side and took a deep, steadying breath. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”
Rainbow chuckled and nudged her affectionately. “Ditto.”
Together, they sang a song that every pegasus filly and colt was taught in flight school—a funny, rhyming tune that named the different types of clouds. Though they began acapella, Lightfoot quickly picked up on the melody and joined in on his mandolin.
In the crowd, Twilight was tapping her hoof along with the beat when a dry voice suddenly spoke in her ear.
“My, my, your friend sure manages to make herself noticed.”
Twilight turned to find Goldhoof standing at her side, his yellow eyes riveted on the stage and the singing pegasi.
“Yes sir,” she replied, smiling as Rainbow unabashedly belted out the song. “She’s not exactly one to fade into the background.”
“That could be said of all of you, I suppose.” He extended his chin towards Pinkie Pie, who had stood up on one of the hay bales to see better. “Your pink friend found the jugglers to her amusement, yes?”
“Well—uh, yes, she loved them. But how did you know that?”
Goldhoof smiled thinly. “Oh, I’ve been keeping tabs on you and your friends, my dear. We don’t get many visitors like you in Saddellia and, let me just say, you intrigue me.” He let his gaze drift back towards the stage and his lips twitched slightly. “And it seems I’m not the only one.” He pointed out Linden standing in the crowd, watching the performance intently.
“Guess his meeting with the king is over,” Nightfire observed. “He’s probably been looking for us.”
“Do you think he was able to talk to his father about us?” Twilight wanted to know. “He said he would try to get us a meeting.”
“Well, the prince is a pony of his word, Miss Sparkle,” Goldhoof said gently. “In fact, I believe today’s meeting with his father greatly concerned you and your friends.”
Twilight brightened. “Really?”
“Of course, I am not at liberty to indulge any information until the king deems fit,” he continued, and her face fell slightly.
“Right, of course.”
Up on the stage, Rainbow and Fluttershy finished their song to loud applause and calls for an encore. Lightfoot refused to let them leave until they complied, much to Star Trillium’s dismay and disgust. The mauve pony flounced away in a huff, followed by the flabbergasted twins.
“Not fans of Equestrian music, I see.”
“Actually, not fans of Equestrian ponies,” Twilight murmured, watching the trio shove their way rudely through the crowd. “Though we’ve tried to be—” She turned back to Goldhoof, but her fellow unicorn was gone. “Wh-where did he go?” she asked. She stood on tiphoof but there was no sign of the grey pony anywhere.
“He comes and goes rather abruptly,” Nightfire said with a trace of awe in his voice. 
“Who’s that?” Applejack asked, suddenly taking an interest in the conversation.
“Lord Goldhoof,” Twilight told her, still trying to catch sight of the unicorn.
“Oh, when did you see him?”
Twilight eyed her confusedly. “Huh? Just now. We were just talking.”
The orange earth pony looked past Twilight to search the crowd for the other unicorn and ended up tilting her head in confusion. “You sure you ain’t seein’ things, Twi?”
“No! He was just—”
“Wow! I didn’t know Fluttershy liked Stratosphere,” Pinkie Pie interrupted. Her blue eyes were fastened on the stage, where the two pegasi were singing the latest hit from the popular Cloudsdale group Rainbow fancied. The song had a strong, fast tempo, very unlike the lullabies Fluttershy tended to sing to her animals, but the pale yellow pony had her head tilted back and was matching Rainbow note for note. The crowd had taken up the tune, stamping their hooves in time, and cheered loudly when the pair finished and took to wing again, soaring over the heads of the ponies to rejoin their friends. 
“Did you see me?” Fluttershy asked, so giddy with happiness that Twilight forgot about Goldhoof and joined her in smiling from ear to ear. “I sang in front of everypony! I wasn’t even nervous—well, only a little—but they still clapped for us!”
Rainbow Dash flung her hooves around her friend’s neck, hugging her tightly and laughing. “Whoo! That was great! Lightfoot sure knows his stuff with that mandolin, doesn’t he? Never heard Stratosphere sound like that before.”
Linden suddenly appeared at her side and her grin widened as she released Fluttershy and dropped back to her hooves. 
“Hey! There you are! You missed all the fun.”
“I saw some of it,” Linden said, beaming. “That was simply wonderful! You never told me you could sing, my lady!”
Rainbow shrugged, blushing. “We all like to sing every once in a while, don’t we, girls?” She looked askance of her friends, who all nodded in agreement. “In fact, I’m kinda surprised Pinkie hasn’t broken into one…or three…yet…” Her voice trailed off under a blaring fanfare of trumpets blasting from the gates of the castle. Everypony turned to the huge doors, which had opened to reveal a bright red and gold carriage pulled by four massive ponies in royal barding. As the carriage rumbled along the widest of the faire’s pathways, ponies on all sides immediately fell into respectful bows for the king and queen. 
“Mother and Father are making their way to the arena,” Linden said, nodding as the carriage passed near the stage and Bright Song spotted them, waving genially. “The games will be starting soon. My lady, girls, might Nightfire and I escort you to the joust?”
To the sound of trumpets, they joined the eager crowd of ponies abandoning the faire to make their way to the tournament field.
**
The bow string twanged loudly and the green fletched arrow soared straight and true down the field, punching neatly through the red circle in the center of the target. Sixty feet away, Fletcher raised his bow in the air and turned a triumphant circle as the crowd cheered.
“Did he win? He won didn’t he? I think he won, but I couldn’t really tell. I know he got his arrow really, really close to the center of the target thingee, so I think that means he won.”
“Yes, Pinkie! He’s won!” Rarity had her forehooves on the railing surrounding the raised royal box where they were watching the games. When Fletcher happened to glance their way, she waved regally and the young archer dipped into a graceful, flamboyant bow.
“Oh for pete’s sake.” Linden rolled his eyes, then cupped his hooves around his mouth and shouted, “Showoff!”
Fletcher responded by swinging his bow onto his shoulder, then turning to trot back to the sidelines, flipping his tail insolently.
The archery tournament was one of the most popular of the games and, so far, Fletcher was dominating the competition. He had won the twenty yard, thirty-five yard, and now the sixty yard distance and had made it all look easy. 
Now he restocked his quiver and lined up with the other competitors once again.
“Are they going to do a hundred yards this time?” Twilight asked, turning questioningly to Linden. To her surprise and delight, the six of them had all been included in Rainbow’s invitation to sit in the royal box, or what Linden had called the berfrois. It was a large, three-tiered wooden platform raised a dozen feet off the ground and shaded with a brightly colored canopy. A railing festooned with the heraldic crests of the competing families surrounded the lowest tier, where she sat on a cushioned bench with Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. The prince sat on a more elaborate bench on the second tier just behind them and Rainbow Dash had been given the honor of sitting beside him. The king and queen were on the highest level, in a pair of twin thrones brought to the arena just for them.
Linden shook his head at her question and pointed a hoof towards a half grown colt who stood on the sidelines. A mare was busily strapping thick barding onto his chest and sides. Colored ribbons trailed from rings sewn into the barding—green, blue, purple, and a couple of red.
“Now we’re getting to the real show of talent,” Linden said excitedly. “You ladies are sure to enjoy this.”
“Really?” Rainbow sat up straighter on her cushioned seat, peering at the colt. “What’s going to happen?”
“That lad with the ribbons there, well, his job is to race back and forth across the arena so the ribbons trail behind him. The archers will each have three shots. Different ribbons are worth different scores and the scores are higher if they cut through the ribbon fully. Green ribbons are one point each, blue are two, purple are five, and a red ribbon gets the archer ten points. As you can see, there are only a couple of red ribbons and they’re much shorter than the others.”
“They’re…they’re going to shoot at the colt?” Twilight was incredulous.
“Not at the colt. At the ribbons he’s wearing. It’s a test of real skill to be able to hit such a small and swiftly moving target.”
“Seems awful risky,” Applejack murmured. The colt was thin and lanky and didn’t seem much older than her own little sister. As they watched, he was prodded into the arena to a blast of trumpets. He hesitated as the competitors took their places, then leapt into a jerky gallop, zigzagging back and forth in a jagged line and dashing for the other side of the field.
Though he had drawn the fifth shot at the beginning of the competition, Fletcher’s wins had moved him up to the first for this round. He drew the string of his bow back to his ear with one fluid, almost effortless motion and sighted along the arrow before releasing.
The shaft flew straight and fast, heading right for the running colt. Twilight gasped and clapped her hooves over her eyes, unable to watch. An instant later, loud applause and stamping encouraged her to peek and she breathed a huge sigh of relief to see the colt reach the other side of the field. He was unscathed, but missing one of the red ribbons from his barding—it was pinned by a green-fletched arrow to the ground ten feet away, fluttering in the slight breeze.
“Oh Celestia,” she whispered, feeling slightly faint. She turned to her friends as Nightfire, Linden, and the crowd all cheered for Fletcher. Fluttershy had also been unable to look, and she still hadn’t emerged from behind her trembling hooves. Applejack and Rarity both seemed on the verge of being ill and Rarity’s dark blue eyes were welling with tears. Her lips moved silently, but Twilight was able to read the words “young” and “Sweetie”.  
Rainbow Dash looked uncertain and had leaned closer to speak earnestly with the prince, but whatever she was saying was drowned out by the cacophony of applause. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, had swiveled around on the bench to glare openly at King Oak Bough, who was shouting that things were finally getting interesting.
Another blast of trumpets drew all their eyes back to the field and the colt readied himself to run again. Another archer, this one a jet black pony with an aqua mane and tail, had his bow drawn and ready.
“Why are they doing this?” Rainbow said, her voice audible now in the sudden hushed lull. Linden just shook his head, smiling and pointing at the colt, who had bolted into the field a second time, weaving and jigging to make himself a harder target.
The archer aimed and let fly, the arrow zipping by in a blur of blue fletching. The crowd gave a collective gasp as the colt stumbled awkwardly and the arrow passed directly over his rump, fanning the ribbons and sending the youngster into a frantic scramble for the safety of the sidelines. Once there, he collapsed in a panting heap and turned to look at a shallow graze on his flank.
“Aw, a miss,” Nightfire muttered. “No points for that.”
“But he hit the colt!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Just barely. The lad’s fine. No lasting damage.”
“But why should there have been any damage at all?” Pinkie persisted. “We all know Fletcher’s won—what’s the use of this?”
“It’s a good show,” Linden said, frowning slightly at her concern. He turned to Rainbow Dash. “Isn’t it? Don’t you think it’s exciting? Anything can happen. We used to use dogs to carry the ribbons, but they just went from one side to the other in a straight run. The colt is at least smart enough to dodge and that makes it harder for the archers.”
“But what if he gets…” Twilight never got the chance to finish her statement, for the colt had been sent out into the field again. This time, his running was wobbly and unbalanced—he was obviously tired from his last two tries. He barely made it to the center of the field before the archer released his arrow. A collective groan filled the air as the steel headed bolt pierced through the boy’s barding and punctured deep into his leg. He fell, rolling under his own momentum, then lay on the ground wailing in pain.
“No!” Fluttershy cried. She had finally gathered up enough nerve to peek and her eyes went wide with horror. “Oh no, oh no! He needs help!” She stood up to leap over the railing, but Nightfire hurriedly put up a hoof to stop her.
“Wait! He’ll be alright—look, they’re getting him off the field right now.”
A pair of ponies had hurried over to the prone colt, lifting him up and carrying him away to a brief smattering of applause.
“What’s goin’ to happen now?” Applejack asked, tracking the colt’s progress off the field.
“His wound will be treated and another will take his place for the rest of the competition. See? He’s all ready to go now.”
A taller, older colt was now being fitted with the ribboned barding and pawed at the ground impatiently.
“Wait…what? No, that’s ridiculous!” Rainbow Dash blinked incredulously as this new target launched himself in front of the next archer. “Linden, can’t you stop this?”
The prince faced her, genuinely perplexed. “Stop it? But I don’t understand, my lady. This is the exciting part.”
The blue pegasus shook her head helplessly and joined her friends in wincing as the new colt was forced to leap over an arrow that came perilously close to striking his chest. The rest of the audience hissed in disapproval—this was obviously some type of foul—and the archer stamped angrily and threw his bow to the ground.
“What’s exciting about shooting arrows at kids?” she wondered aloud.
The archery competition ended not long after with no further incidents and with Fletcher as the victor. He gave a showy bow and a toothy grin before trotting jauntily to the sidelines.
“There’ll be no living with him at the feast,” Linden muttered. “I can hear his head swelling from here.” 
“He should be ashamed of himself,” Rarity whispered to Twilight. “That was utterly barbaric.”
“Shh!” Twilight rolled her eyes back to peek at the king, but he was too busy calling for a goblet of pumpkin wine to notice. Of all the spectators, his cheering had been particularly loud when the colt had been wounded. 
Rarity fell silent, turning her angry eyes back to the field, where a group of worker ponies were hurriedly clearing away the targets, quivers, and stray arrows while a tall light grey stallion wearing a tabard with the royal crest took center stage and raised his hoof to command silence
Linden immediately perked up and gave Rainbow Dash a nudge.
“Your turn now, my lady.”
“What?” Rainbow stared at him blankly for a moment before she remembered that she was supposed to be a part of the show. “Oh! Now?”
“The crowd is all warmed up. Time to give them a thrill before the final two contests. Are you ready?”
Despite her misgivings over the end of the archery tournament, Rainbow nodded and grinned cheekily. “Are you kidding? I was born ready.” She shrugged out of the ruby cloak and passed it to Rarity for safe keeping. Standing up, she stretched her legs and wings as the herald raised his voice to a shout to be heard over the din.
“My lords, my ladies, my fellow ponies gathered to witness the spectacle of these exciting games—we now offer a rare delight to you, one and all!
“Today, we come together to honor a pony—a very special pony! A stunning and petite pony who hides nerves of pure steel behind a face as lovely as a summer morning, traveled here from the far flung land of Equestria to protect lives at any cost!” 
“Oh brother!” Applejack muttered, hiding her face in her hooves while Rarity and Twilight snickered. Rainbow glowered at them, which only served to make them laugh harder.
“This valiant lady, with no thought or care for her own safety, faced off single hoofedly against a pack of vicious, disgusting hyleenas to come to the aid of our beloved Prince Linden, who seemed doomed to be torn limb from limb by the dread beasts!”
The crowd hissed and booed angrily, the stamping of hundreds of hooves against the stands loud enough to scare some nearby birds into flight.
“Yes, my friends, our valiant prince was fighting for his very life, clinging to a cliff above the bloodthirsty horde when a vision of rainbows appeared just when all seemed lost!” The herald paused to wipe an imaginary tear from his eye and Rainbow Dash snorted impatiently.
“Though she took an injury in her act of extreme bravery, this daring lady has battled through her pain and suffering—”
“It was just a scratch!” the pegasus said in a huff. “Will he get on with it already?”
“—and has come before you today to give a demonstration of the flying skills that have made her famous throughout her homeland.”
“Oh, well, I guess that’s true.”
“Good ponies of Saddellia, feast your eyes on the skies for the fabulous flying Laaady Raaaaaaaaaaibow Daaaaaaash!”
Rainbow sprang off the berfrois and soared into the air, her brilliant rainbow-colored contrail blazing behind her.
With the crowd gaping in wonder, she blasted over the field to the obstacle course that had been built for her demonstration. Whooping joyfully at the sheer thrill of flying and the breeze cooling through her mane, she darted for the first obstacle—a series of raised hurdles. It was very similar to phase one of her routine, though the hurdles were horizontal instead of vertical. She swooped up and down over them easily, leaving a rippling line of rainbow waves in her wake. From there, it was on to the wooden hoops on the poles, each staggered to a different height. 
This stunt was a little more advanced. She didn’t just fly through each of the hoops—that would be too easy. Instead, she circled around and around through one hoop, then darted to the next and repeated the move in the opposite direction. She arched backwards over the top of the third hoop, spinning backflips over and over and over until she started to get dizzy.
At last, she zipped free with a strong flap of her wings and surged upwards into the sky where a patch of cumulous clouds floated over the kingdom. Plucking one cloud from the others, she veered back towards the spectators, using magic inborn only in pegasi ponies to strike the cloud and call forth small lightning bolts with booming claps of thunder. The audience cringed at first from the miniscule flashes, then laughed when she tore off pieces of the cloud and sent them wafting over the stands like bubbles. Several attempted to reach up and bat them out of the air, only to frown confusedly as their hoofs passed straight through the puffs. Rainbow smirked at them, bouncing a last bit of cloud on her head like a ball before sending it skittering away to dissolve in the warm air.
For her final trick, she climbed high into the sky again until her silhouette was just a paler speck against the vivid blue. Taking a deep breath to ready herself, she neatly jackknifed and rocketed towards the ground. Forehooves extended, she battled through the air resistance that pushed against her downward dive and threatened to send her bouncing back into the sky. The wind burned her eyes, drawing tears that blew away as quickly as they formed.
Far below, but quickly rushing up to meet her, were the upturned, stunned faces of the Saddellian audience. Among them, she could see the looks of eager expectation on the faces of her friends and, if the wind hadn’t been pushing her lips back in a grimace, she would have grinned. They thought she was going to do a sonic rainboom, but Rainbow had another stunt in mind, one that she had been practicing on the sly since the Best Young Flier competition.
Her wings flapped rapidly, carrying her downward faster and faster. Eyes bulged in the stands—she was going to crash!
Rainbow had crashed before—many times, in fact—but not this time. At the very last second, she snapped her wings out and pulled up sharply, turning a perfect right angle barely a foot over their heads. In a blur of blue and rainbow, she circled the entire arena before ending in a graceful backflip that landed her neatly on the bench beside the prince.
“How’d you like that?” she asked, laughing and nudging him with a hoof as the audience burst into thunderous applause. Even Queen Bright Song had risen to her hooves to join in. Her husband remained on his chair beside her, but his eyes were glittering and a small smirk had twisted his lips. Rainbow suppressed a shudder and turned away, preferring to give Linden a toothy smile. “That last part is something I’ve been working on—I’m thinking of calling it the Dive of Doom.”
“That was spectacular!” Linden said breathlessly. 
“Breathtaking!” Rarity agreed.
“Right impressive, Rainbow. And you ain’t even winded,” Applejack added as Twilight and Nightfire nodded in unison. Beside them, Pinkie Pie was treating Fluttershy and Gumdrop to a play by play of the entire demonstration, waving her hooves through the air as she made whooshing sounds.
“All in a day’s work for Equestria’s Best Young Flier.” Rainbow stood and waved to the crowd, striking a pose with her wings raised and tossing her multi-colored mane. Twilight and Applejack rolled their eyes, but the audience loved it and the herald had a difficult time gaining their attention once again.
“That was simply wonderful, my dear!” Queen Bright Song leaned forward to tousle Rakinbow’s mane and ears affectionately. “It looked so fun and exhilarating—thank you for sharing that with us.”
“My pleasure, your majesty. I’m just glad the Dive of Doom worked out the way it was supposed to.” The pegasus sat down again and rubbed a hoof through her mane embarrassedly. “The trial and error parts during practicing it were not some of my best moments.”
“But practice makes perfect—and that, darling, was simply perfect. Oh, Rainbow, I almost forgot. Here’s your cloak back.” Rarity passed over a tightly rolled bundle of cloth.
“Thanks, I—hey, wait a minute. Wasn’t this red before?” Rainbow held up a swath of the mint green cloth and cocked her head pointedly at Rarity.
The unicorn responded by raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Darling, it almost sounds as though you are accusing me of carrying around that green cloak I liked with me all day on the off chance that I might find an opportunity to switch it out with the one you were wearing. Surely I would never do such a thing.”
“Oh no.” Rainbow donned the cloak and fastened the clasp at her throat, rolling her eyes skyward as she did. “Because that would be crazy.”  
“Quite.” Rarity batted her eyelashes innocently and turned around to face the field again. “Ooh, what are they doing now?”
A long fence was being swiftly erected in the center of the field as the competitors for the joust marched out to chants from the crowd. They were all noble colts of different houses, wearing the crests of their families on their tabards and light armor. Handsome and proud, they trotted around the arena in a parade, waving and nodding as flowers and other small favors were rained down on them. One by one, they made their way along the stands, pausing to bow respectfully to the king, queen, and prince.
“My lady of the air.” A tan colt with a white and green mane, wearing armor with a blue eagle on the shield, smiled up at Rainbow Dash and bowed a second time. “For your service to our prince, I will win this joust for you!”
“Neigh, my lady! I will win for you!” A cranberry-colored colt with his navy blue mane artfully curled shoved his opponent aside and bowed with a flourish to the pegasus.
“Pay them no heed, my beautiful, brave mistress of the skies!” A third colt, this one blue and teal, trotted to the fore. “It is I who will win in your name.”
Linden snorted and shook his mane. “Prancing popinjays. They don’t stand a chance.”
“Why no—” Rainbow glanced along the line of noble ponies and recognized one massive competitor trotting ponderously along. She laughed. “Oh, I see!”
“Is that Tiny?” Pinkie perked up slightly and leaned over the rail. Her giant friend spotted her and waved, puffing out his chest and putting a bit more prance to his step. Pinkie Pie giggled and produced a hoofkerchief out of nowhere, fluttering it at Tiny as he passed before the royal box.
“I’ve read about jousts before,” Twilight said as they watched young squire colts race about to fit their competitors with special saddles that had wide metal hooks affixed to the sides. “But I’m not sure of all the rules. Does Saddellian joust differ from the ones Equestria used to have?”
“I wouldn’t know about Equestria, Miss Twilight,” Linden answered, “but the rules here are rather straightforward. You see, each of the jousters is fitted with a lance that sits in the cradle on their jousting saddles. Each competitor is set against another through a lottery. They run along the tilt as fast as they can and attempt to strike their opponent with the lance. A hit which results in a broken lance and is worth one point. A hit to the face or head is worth three points. Each pair tilts three times and the winner has the highest score after the third run. They move up in the ranks and will tilt again against another winner. This continues until there are only two competitors left and they will face off against one another in the final showdown. The winner of that tilt is the winner of the joust and gets everything the position warrants.”
“An’ what would that be?” Applejack queried.
“Great prestige, mostly, as well as a purse of gold from the royal coffers. Aah! Here we go! The lots have been draw and the first two are going to be Star Runner of Shady Grove and Brass Buckle of Bristlecone Heights. This should be interesting—last year Brass Buckle won the competition at the Bent Pine Games, but he hurt his leg when he slipped on some ice over the winter. We’ll have to see how it affects his performance today.”
The girls looked forward curiously as the two colts took their positions on opposite sides and ends of the tilt. Their squires finished last minute adjustments to their jousting saddles and the armor that protected their chests, throats, and legs, then settled long wooden lances into the saddle cradles and strapped them into place. The colts snorted and pawed the ground, their eyes locked on the royal herald, who had stepped forward to officiate the games. The herald had raised a flag in the air and the crowd went silent in anticipation. With a flourish, the pony dropped the flag and skittered out of the way as the colts pulled their helmets over their faces and thundered down the track. Dust flew into the air as their churning hooves kicked up great divots of the field. Heads lowered, they galloped straight toward one another, the tips of their lances glinting in the sunlight.
With a resounding crash the two collided, lances simultaneously striking the breast plates of their opponent and shattering into thousands of splinters. The two raced on after the impact, stopping only at the end of the tilt to turn and examine the damage to their armor. The metal was dented, the decorative enamel badly chipped and scored, but the crowd cheered as the herald announced a point to each side.
“Wow!” Rainbow breathed. She had hit mountains and houses with such tremendous force before, but not usually on purpose. The two colts seemed completely unfazed and were raring for another go at one another.
The broken lances were cleared away and quickly replaced, the herald gingerly stepping forward to drop the flag a second time. This time, he had to scramble for his life as Brass Buckle and Star Runner surged forward. Once again, the ground nearly trembled with the force of their charge, and the Equestrians all flinched when the lances struck a second time, the resounding crack of the wood as loud as an explosion.
Brass Buckle stumbled under the impact, his forward momentum carrying him half a dozen clumsy steps before he went to his knees. A gasp went up from the crowd and his squire rushed to his side, but the colt shook him away angrily and struggled to his feet. He staggered to the end of the tilt and took his place, gesturing imperiously for the squire to ready his next lance, but couldn’t keep the grimace of pain from showing on his face.
“He’s not going again, is he?” Rarity asked worriedly. “Anypony can see that he’s hurting.”
“He’s being a fool,” Nightfire replied, his voice laden with scorn. “Doesn’t know when to call it quits and is willing to do permanent damage to himself for a stubborn show of pride.”
The flag dropped for a third time and the jousters galloped across the field. Rainbow leaned forward on her seat, eyes riveted on the spectacle below. As the two drew nearer, she bit her lip and tensed, readying herself for the crack of the lances. Then, with barely ten feet between them, Brass Buckle’s leg gave out and he fell, the tip of his lance dipping low to scrape the ground, catching in the soil and dragging sharply on the saddle. Brass Buckle was flipped head over hooves just as Star Runner’s lance struck him full on the side, shattering in an burst of wooden splinters. Star Runner continued his gallop to the end of the field while the other pony collapsed in a heap.
“I can’t watch this!” Fluttershy cried. “No, no, no!”
The fallen jouster lay still and the crowd fell ominously quiet. The colt’s squire rushed to his side and bent down. A terrible moment passed when Rainbow had almost decided the colt was not going to get up again, then she breathed a huge sigh of relief as Brass Buckle took a shuddering gasp and gathered three legs beneath him. His left foreleg dangled uselessly, broken, and his squire had to help him limp from the arena. A smattering of applause and a few jeering whistles followed his slow trek.
“He’ll never joust again,” Linden muttered. “He’ll be lucky if he can walk properly after that.” He glanced to the left and nodded. “Looks like Star Runner’s last hit is going to be held as valid too. He’s the winner of the tilt.”
The midnight blue colt punched a hoof in the air victoriously while the shield bearing his family’s crest was moved over Brass Buckle’s, signifying his triumph.
Rainbow fidgeted, torn by conflicting feelings. On the one hoof, she wanted to be happy for Star Runner, who had performed well and deserved his win, but on the other, she lamented Brass Buckle’s loss. He had known what he was getting into, but as an athlete herself, she also hated being limited by anything and constantly pushed herself to do better.
The tilts continued, with more noble ponies from all over the country showing off their prowess. Rainbow’s three admirers each took their turns, though only two managed to move forward in the ranks. Tiny tilted second to last and beat his opponent so neatly he made the competition look like foals’ play.
An hour passed, then two, and the day grew steadily hotter. Servants brought trays of small snacks and cooled fruit juices to the berfrois. The competitors dropped out, one by one, and the girls cheered as Tiny moved further up in the ranks until only he and one other jouster remained.
“Yeah! Alright! Go Tiny!” Pinkie shouted. She had somehow produced a pair of ponpoms and was standing on her back legs, waving them in the air. “Tiny, Tiny, he’s our pony! Any other is a…a phony!”
“Pinkie!” Mortified, Rarity tried to pull her back into her seat while Queen Bright Song covered her mouth with her hooves and giggled like a filly.
Tiny took the encouragement to heart, waving to his number one fan as his squire checked over his armor for the final run. His opponent was a grey highborn colt with dark red streaks through his mane and tail. Known as High Wind, he was short and stout, but had run with intense precision and had scored mainly head strikes for the extra points. He was undaunted by Tiny’s enormous size, pawing the ground impatiently, and even spared a glance to the stands and cotton candy-colored cheerleader.
“Why not place your favor with the real champion, cutie?” he called out to her. “And the promise of a kiss when this joust is won!”
Pinkie Pie dropped to her haunches, looking slightly puzzled. Sarcasm didn’t work well on her. After a moment, she shrugged and smiled brightly. “Sure! I’ll give Tiny a kiss if he wants one.”
Linden, Nightfire, Bright Song, and a good number of ponies within hearing distance all burst out laughing. Tiny blushed, but High Wind took the laughter in stride, the only sign of his annoyance a slight tightening of his lips.
“Well, let’s make things even more interesting, then! A kiss to the winner, for sure, but a kiss from the lady of the winner’s choosing!” The audience murmured appreciatively as the noble pony gave an ingratiating smile and raised his bushy eyebrows at Rainbow Dash and Linden. The prince stiffened, but High Wind smoothly continued before he could speak. “Surely the lovely lady of the air would not refuse to bestow a kiss on the pony who wins the joust thrown in her honor?”
Rainbow Dash scoffed, then felt the eyes of the entire crowd riveted on her. This was the last thing she’d been expecting, but if she refused, she would make Equestria look bad in the eyes of the Saddellian ponies. Trapped by the eager crowd, she gave him a reluctant nod. Behind her, Oak Bough laughed heartily, causing her mane to bristle.
“It is done!” the king bellowed. “A kiss to the winner!”
High Wind smirked, bowed to the king, and slammed his visor down on his helmet. “Let’s get on with this!”
“Yuck.” Rainbow shook her tingling mane and wrinkled her nose to her friends. “This diplomatic stuff stinks!” 
The herald trotted to the center of the field and raised his hoof. “My lords and ladies, good ponies of Saddellia and beyond,” he bellowed. “We have come at last to the final showdown, the clashing of the titans, the ultimate tilt between two champions who have bested all other foes faced this day! We have witnessed their battles, their triumphs, and, now, they come together one last time for your amazement! There can be only one victor, only one champion of the day, only one winner of a promised kiss! Who will have the honor of this wonderful title, this glorious gift? Will it be the illustrious High Wind, heir to Wither Heights and champion of the Whispering Valley games? Or will it be Strong Watch, son of Golden Shield and chosen protector of his royal highness, Prince Linden?”
“Strong Watch?” Rarity asked. 
“That’s Tiny’s real name,” Linden said with a chuckle. “You didn’t think his father named him Tiny, did you? I gave him that nickname when he came to court, because even as a foal he was larger than a timber wolf.” He looked fondly at his massive friend, who was stretching his legs and limbering up for the next contest. “He’d better win—High Wind is already insufferable.”
The herald raised the flag in the air. “Now, my good ponies, for the title of Tourney Champion and a promised kiss, let the joust…begin!”
The flag fluttered to the ground and both ponies reared, neighing defiantly before thundering down the length of the tilt. Tiny kicked up clumps of earth with his giant hooves, his normally gentle eyes narrowed with fierce concentration behind the visor of his helmet as he angled the lance for a clear shot at the center of High Wind’s chest. Within seconds, they converged at the center of the field and the air was once again filled with a rain of shattered splinters.
Tiny slowed to a trot and glanced up at the lance attached to his saddle. It was broken clear down to the graper and the huge pony nickered as High Wind cursed on the far side of the tilt. His own lance was still whole and unblemished—he had missed his hit!
“Oh, it’s going to be hard to come back from that!” Nightfire said, not even bothering to hide his glee. “Especially in a championship tilt—if he weren’t so proficient with the head hits, I’d say the tourney is already won.”
“And Tiny has such a big head,” Pinkie added. Her friends all looked at her and she shrugged. “What? It’s true! His head is really big and that makes it a good target. He needs to keep his head up and back so High Wind has to reach for him, which will throw off High Wind’s stride, but it’ll slow Tiny down a lot and he won’t be able to see as well.” She sighed heavily. “It’s fifty-fifty really, so Tiny’ll have to be really careful if he wants to keep his lead.”
Applejack’s mouth had dropped open in amazement and she laughed. “Whoa nelly! Looks like somepony’s a sports fan! You’ve really got a handle on all this, doncha, Pinkie?”
“It’s all about the strategy,” she said matter-of-factly. “Ooh, here they go again!”
Bemused, the orange pony focused on the next charge, watching a newly equipped Tiny race along the banner covered tilt with a strength and speed that belied his previous exertions of the day. 
One tier above her, Rainbow wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead and let out a held breath. “They must be boiling in all that armor,” she stated, squinting at the sunlight flashing off the plates of metal strapped to the competitors. She was sitting under a shaded canopy with just the lightweight cloak flung carelessly over her shoulder, but the heat was still intense.
“True,” Linden replied. “But I wouldn’t want to be in their horseshoes without it.”
“Yeah, you got me there. That probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Though I wonder who thought hitting each other with big sticks was a good idea in the first place. Seems to me a race or a nice game of Battle Clouds would settle things just as well.”
Linden tilted his head and studied her, his lips curling in a warm smile. Gently, the prince inched his hoof across the cushioned bench they shared until it pressed against hers. The blue pegasus glanced down, her eyes briefly shocked, but she didn’t pull her hoof away and was also smiling when she turned back to the field.    
“Last one,” Twilight murmured, hopping from hoof to hoof anxiously. Though the joust had been strange and brutal, especially considering her pastoral life in Ponyville, but she was still swept up in the thrill and danger of the competition. She could hardly wait to write down everything she had seen that day so Princess Celestia could read it when they returned home. “Oh, I really hope Tiny wins!”
“Me too,” Rainbow Dash and Linden said in unison. They beamed at one another, oblivious to the sly looks Rainbow’s friends sent their way.
Out on the field, High Wind took his starting point in a fit of foul temper, snapping at his squire when the colt tried to shift one of the plates of armor on his flank. He was obviously upset about the last run—he had made a tactical error in abandoning the risky head strike in favor of a shot that had landed solidly on Tiny’s breastplate. It had been a point scored, but he was still behind by one. Anything less than a head strike in this next tilt would leave him the loser.
The noble colt snorted a puff of air through his nose and lowered his visor, glaring through the eyeslits at the plum-colored pony across the field. As soon as the flag dropped, he leapt down the tilt, his face twisted in an ugly grimace of rage and concentration, lance angled up to strike his opponent in the face for the winning blow.
The crowd gasped when the two converged in the center of the field for the third and final time. High Wind was jarred by the painful force of Tiny’s lance slamming into his chest and causing him to stumble, but his grimace turned to a grin as own lance struck soundly against the front of Tiny’s helmet in a deafening screech of metal…
…only to harmlessly slide away, unbroken, when the large colt snapped his head to the side.
“No!” High Wind bellowed, his distraught wail drowned out by the gathered ponies bursting into wild, exuberant applause. He whirled around with a cry, his hooves cutting a deep circle in the turf, and rushed at Tiny, who was just trotting to the front of the stands to take his celebratory bows. The prince’s friend actually staggered under the force of the blow, going down on one knee in a clatter of armor.
“Melee challenge!” High Wind shouted above the rising cacophony of outraged protesting from the other ponies. “Sire, I call for a melee challenge to determine the winner!”
Oak Bough had been lounging limply in his seat for most of the joust, his goblet never far from his reach. Now he sat up, his eyes flickering with interest once more. Queen Bright Song gasped beside him, her face going pale.
“Melee? What’s that?” Rainbow glanced back and forth between the king and queen and the two competitors. Tiny looked stunned, but High Wind had his hoof raised in the air, his chest heaving with recent exertion.
Applejack frowned in confusion. “Yeah, what’s he goin’ on about, your highness?” 
Linden looked grim. “He’s calling for a melee to finish the tourney. It’s an ancient rule that forces the jousters to battle it out in hoof to hoof combat rather than with the lance. It’s invoked as a way to settle ties between equals—key word being ties.” He shook his mane angrily and turned to face his parents. “Father, this is ridiculous—everyone saw that Tiny won the joust. High Wind’s final lance glanced off, unbroken. The battle ended three to one. You should declare Tiny the champion.”
Oak Bough studied his son beadily for a moment, smiling slyly. “You’re the one who always tells me how strong and tough your friend is.”
“Father, no, I…”
“So let’s see him prove it.”
“No, but…it’s not necessary…” He turned a look of entreaty to the queen, who lowered her head and glanced away. “Mother, you saw, we all saw…!”
Oak Bough ignored him and stood up, bringing the arena to immediate silence. Almost negligently, the king tossed a hoof at High Wind. “A melee challenge has been raised…and approved by the crown. The winner will be the true tourney champion and deserving of all promised rewards.” He sat down again heavily and called for more pumpkin wine.
“What’s happening now?” Pinkie Pie asked. Half a dozen colts in royal tabard were running about the field, depositing swords, spears, a mace, and other weaponry at random on the grass. 
“Oh dear...please tell me those aren’t for what I think they’re for,” Fluttershy moaned.
“Yeah,” Rainbow added, leaning forward to squint at the varied weapons. “This doesn’t look good. What is a melee?” she repeated.
“It’s an all out brawl with weapons laid out at random for the fighters,” Nightfire said, his voice low but the displeasure still evident in his tone. “At the flag drop, they will both have to run to the nearest weapons they can get and then they will fight until one surrenders…or is too hurt to continue.”
“You mean they actually have to hurt each other?” Rainbow Dash was aghast. “Not just points?”
Linden’s bleak expression answered her before he turned his eyes down to where Tiny stood rooted to the spot, stunned by the unfairness of the king’s decision. Linden gave his friend a helpless shrug and Tiny nodded resignedly, trotting to his squire to prepare.
“But he won,” Rainbow murmured. She dragged the tip of her hoof along the edge of her seat, her tail flicking in agitation. “You can’t just change the rules on him.”
The last of the weapons were distributed around the field and the fighters had been refitted with their armor. The herald began to spout about the bravery of the competitors and the heroic danger of the melee, but the crowd impatiently drowned him out with a chant of, “Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!”
The flag was dropped and Tiny galloped onto the field. The huge pony had a small sword and a bow and quiver within yards of him, but he ignored both, making a bee line straight for the single mace in the arena.
He skidded to a halt beside the weapon, his hooves gouging deep furrows into the ground, and grabbed the two foot long handle in his mouth. The head of the mace was blackened steel studded with jagged spikes that glinted dully in the sunlight. Tiny hefted it easily, spinning around to face his competitor.
High Wind was smaller and had the slight advantage of being quicker than Tiny, even in his bulky armor. By the time Tiny had his mace, the other pony had selected a long sword from the scattered weapons. He swung it at Tiny in an arc of flashing sunlight that the plum pony barely managed to block with the handle of the mace. The ringing chime of metal on metal was accompanied with a shower of sparks. 
Tiny’s knees buckled under the force of the blow. With a grunt, he dug his hooves in for leverage and shoved back, turning his head so the sword slid aside with a screech. He then drove his shoulder forward, slamming it into High Wind’s chest and knocking him backwards. The grey pony quickly leapt away from the following swing of the mace—a blow that could have broken his leg. The steel spikes stuck in the packed dirt and High Wind took the opportunity to attack again while Tiny tried to wrench it free. 
The sword slashed towards Tiny’s chest, but Linden’s friend swiveled his hindquarters around, taking the blow on his flank instead. Gritting his teeth with pain, he bunched his massive muscles and kicked out with both hindlegs. Hooves the size of dinner plates slammed into High Wind’s breastplate and sent him crashing to the ground in a clattering heap. 
High Wind was still for a moment, then struggled shakily to his hooves, his armor badly dented and marred. That was all the time Tiny needed to wrench his trapped mace from the ground and advance menacingly on his opponent.
Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and turned her head as the mace swung through the air, but she couldn’t help hearing the awful thud and crash as the weapon struck home and High Wind crashed to the ground once again.
She couldn’t get over the feeling that this was all terribly wrong. This whole faire and tournament was supposedly in her honor, because she had rescued Linden from the hyleenas—but where was the honor in forcing one pony to injure another for amusement? This would never happen in Equestria.
Tiny walked ponderously to where High Wind had fallen, hefting the mace again while the grey pony groaned and tried to get his legs beneath him. Trembling, he raised a hoof to ward off the coming blow.
“Don’t!” Pinkie Pie screamed, standing up on her bench and waving her hooves frantically. Her poufy mane had gone as flat and straight as Twilight’s. “Can’t you see he’s won?” she shouted angrily at High Wind. “Just stop already! It’s no fun anymore!”
Tiny’s ears dropped slightly and he looked from Pinkie to High Wind and back again. With a sigh, he took a step back, resting the mace against his foreleg. “My little petal sees what you don’t,” he said, his deep voice carrying easily over the stands. “Forfeit before this goes too far.”
High Wind glared at him hatefully for a long moment, then dropped his head, his own ears drooping. Taking this as surrender, Tiny nodded and turned away, removing his helmet to look expectantly towards the berfrois and the pink pony who sat back down with a dazzling smile, her mane and tail springing back into their usual curls.
“Hah!” Linden turned on his bench to give his father a look of satisfaction. “He’s definitely the winner this ti—” he started to say, only to be interrupted by Rainbow Dash jumping to her hooves with a gasp.
“No!” she cried, her wings flaring in outrage.
“Tiny, watch out!” Applejack yelled. Beside her, Rarity pointed frantically, shouting, “Behind you!”
Tiny turned, but High Wind had already grabbed his fallen sword and made a last, raging leap at his unprotected back. The large pony had no time to duck or bring his mace up to parry as the bright blade slashed through the air...only to freeze in place a hairsbreadth from Tiny’s throat. High Wind snarled and tried to force the sword down, but the shimmering, reddish purple light that surrounded it quickly spread out to envelope him as well.
In the royal box between Pinkie and Rarity, Twilight Sparkle stood with her forehooves braced on the railing, her face twisted in an angry scowl of concentration. Her horn glowing brightly, she lifted High Wind into the air and floated the cursing, flabbergasted pony clear across the field before dropping him in a graceless heap. Immediately, half a dozen of the previous jousters surrounded him, dragging and shoving the defeated noble away before he could shame himself further.
With a squeal, Pinkie leapt from the box and bounced over to Tiny, giving him an exuberant hug and a kiss between the eyes while the crowd burst into tumultuous, stamping applause.
“Yes!” Oak Bough declared, slamming a hoof against his throne and spilling the contents of his goblet across the floor. “Now that’s the proper way to end a show! Just when things were getting boring, we get some magic to liven them up.” He hauled himself to his hooves and gave Rainbow a sneering wink. “Come on, Feathers,” he said, oblivious to the looks of horror on the faces of his young guests or the dismay in his own son’s eyes. “Now we feast!”

> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After the boisterous fun of the faire and the excitement of the tourney, Twilight Sparkle had expected the feast to be as quiet and somber as the great gatherings she had witnessed while living in Canterlot. She couldn’t have been more mistaken. The cavernous dining hall was filled to near bursting with what seemed like all the noble ponies in the kingdom, and they were all talking, laughing, shouting, and even singing, at once. And the high stone ceiling of the room amplified the voices until the din was deafening. 
She and her friends had been honored with seats at the high table with the royals. Fletcher and Tiny, as winners of the tourney, had also earned places of renown beside them. A second table bisected the first like a giant “T” and stretched the full length of the huge room. The remaining guests lined both sides of that table, sitting shoulder to shoulder on smooth, wooden benches. 
Like a frantic army of ants, servants came and went constantly, laboring under trays of spectacular food. Already, the table was nearly groaning under the weight of plates, bowls, tureens, baskets, and platters. There were salads of crisp greens sprinkled with chopped nuts and others of sliced fruits mixed with yogurt. There were baskets of steaming hot, freshly baked bread that filled the air with mouth-watering aromas and platters of both hard cheeses and soft cheeses flavored with herbs. One ornate, silver tray was loaded with a pile of sizzling vegetable skewers while perfect pyramids of pies, both savory and sweet, towered over tureens of creamy pumpkin puree, spicy bean, and refreshingly cool cucumber soups.
Almost overwhelmed by the sheer variety before her, Twilight sipped from a goblet of cold berry cordial and nibbled self-consciously on a pumpkin and leek pastry. She was painfully aware of the curious and open stares many of the guests had been sending her way since she had sat down.
“I wish they’d stop looking at me like that,” she whispered, averting her eyes by lowering her muzzle into her cup. “It wasn’t even that big a spell.”
“Was to them, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied. She was surveying the different dishes before her and let out a frustrated sigh. “Ah really hate these fancy formal dinner things—Ah never known what to eat first.” She finally pulled a crystal bowl filled with lush red roses and dark green leaves closer. “Maybe some of this,” she murmured, biting off a few velvety petals.
“Uh, AJ, I think that’s one of the centerpieces.” Twilight giggled and pushed a plate of daisy and peach salad in front of her friend with her magic. “Here.” She heard a small gasp and blushed when she noticed a periwinkle blue mare whispering to her seat mate behind her hoof.
“Don’t worry about it, Twi,” Applejack said, accepting the salad and munching gratefully on a daisy. “They’re right to be impressed. Your spell really saved the day.” 
Twilight shook her head, still stunned by the turn of events in the arena. High Wind was not among the nobles gathered for the feast, though his treacherous act was a buzzing topic of conversation. She had heard more than one pony suggest that the entire show had been rigged as a way for Twilight to show off her magical prowess, but the purple unicorn had seen the wild look in High Wind’s eyes as he’d struck at Tiny. She shuddered now to think of it.
“And a good thing, too,” Applejack continued, swallowing a mouthful of juicy peach. “Ah think Pinkie woulda leapt right outta the box if you hadn’t stopped that colt when you did.” She glanced around Fluttershy, Rarity, and Fletcher to where Pinkie sat beside Tiny, the two apparently engaged in a pie eating contest. “And Ah believe if Rainbow had flown down there she would have pummeled that pony to a pulp.”
On Twilight’s other side, Rainbow heard her name and briefly lost track of what Linden was saying to her. She was having a difficult time paying attention, and not just because the noise level in the room was painfully distracting. Her mind kept wandering to what had happened during the joust. She couldn’t stop thinking about the colt who had been injured or the way all the rules had been changed at the last minute to amuse the king. What type of peace could they hope to work out with a pony who found pain and blood and backstabbing amusing?
In a corner of the room, the minstrel pony Lightfoot and his pale green partner had been quietly filling in any lulls in conversation with music. The colt was strumming away on his mandolin and singing while the young mare showed her talent with a wooden flute. They had just started a new tune and, lost in thought, Rainbow unconsciously began swaying along. 
Aware of her distraction, Linden suddenly perked up, his blue eyes shining as an idea came to him. 
“My lady, would you do me the honor of a dance?”
“Huh?” Rainbow went still, her whirling thoughts crashing back to the present moment. “A-a dance?” she stammered. Linden bobbed his head eagerly and she rubbed a hoof over her mane. “Aw, gee, I’d love to, Linden, but I don’t really know any Saddellian dances.”
The prince stood up and circled around her, extending a hoof invitingly. “I’m sure our dances aren’t much different from your own. I’ll teach you.” He grinned playfully and winked at her. “And even if they are, a pony as graceful and agile as yourself will learn them quickly enough.”
The pegasus smirked and got up from the table. “Guess I can’t argue with that. Show me what you’ve got.” 
They trotted to an open space on the floor before the players and Linden coaxed her to stand facing him. In time to the music, he lifted his right forehoof, tapped the tip against the floor in front of him, then dragged it in a sweeping arc back to his side. He then bowed low to the side, almost brushing his nose against his left fetlock, turned in a circle with a flip of his tail, and finished with a small hop and holding out his left hoof.
Rainbow watched him, her eyebrows raised. When he started again, leading with his right leg, and indicating her left, she mirrored him. Haltingly, she went through the steps, dragging her hoof tip, bowing, turning the circle, and lifting her hoof in the air. When done in unison with Linden, it resulted in their hooves clapping together with a click.
“See?” Linden beamed at her. “Perfect! I knew you could do it. Now the next part.” He stepped to the side, moving his right legs and then his left in unison. Three steps right, another hop, followed by a sweeping step backwards. Another bow, and he moved forward, right hoof held up in the air as he turned a wide circle. When Rainbow attempted the moves a moment later, she found that the last step put their hooves together once again and had them circling in a pony pinwheel. They turned the circuit three times before stopping, their eyes locked. A moment stretched by, the music fading into the background as they stared at one another.
“Um, what comes next?” Rainbow finally asked, blushing a little.
Linden backed away with a chuckle. “Right, uh, well, those are the basic steps. N-now we just put them all together.”
Amidst a few gentle chuckles, they moved back to their starting point and Linden nodded to the musicians. The pair struck up the song again and the prince and the pegasus started dancing. Rainbow concentrated hard at first, aware that the entire hall was watching them, but eventually let herself get swept up in the comfortable rhythm of the song and the fluid steps. Her hooves seemed to move of their own accord, just like her wings did when she was lost in the joy of flying. She bowed, turned, hopped, and spun in circles as the dinner guests began to gently clap their hooves.
“You’re smiling,” Linden murmured, leaning close as they began again. “You haven’t smiled like this since the start of the joust.”
Rainbow blinked, then lowered her head. “Sorry—I didn’t realize I was being so obvious. It…it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. I guess, with the way everypony kept calling them “games” I imagined something more like races or the rodeos AJ does back in Equestria. I didn’t expect ponies to get hurt—I definitely didn’t think they’d be trying to hurt each other.” 
“I’m sorry if it upset you. It wasn’t meant to.”
Rainbow frowned for a moment, then shrugged and flicked her tail nonchalantly. “Hey, you couldn’t have known, right? The rest of the faire was awesome. Pinkie Pie almost joined a juggling troupe and Rarity bought up all the fabric in Saddellia.” She hesitated a few seconds, then added, “I just wish you could have been there.”
Linden’s eyes sparkled. “Me too. It was definitely my intent to be there with you. But the meeting with my father was unavoidable. Still, it did give me a chance to snoop around on my own for a bit before I caught up to you.” 
“Oh yeah? You didn’t see the performance of The Savvy Stallion, did you?”
The music came to a graceful close just as they tapped hooves and turned the final circle. While the guests broke into exuberant applause, Linden gave a sly grin and bowed to Rainbow.
“Not this time. I was more interested in the merchant stalls,” he teased. He reached into the embroidered doublet he wore, pulling a small, velvet pouch from an inner pocket. “I was going to save this for a little later, but now seems as good a time as any.”
A hush fell over the room as the prince opened the pouch and withdrew a sparkling length of diamond encrusted chain ending in an emerald pendant the size of a plum. Linden held it up so the light glistened off the polished facets, sending flashes of brilliant green across Rainbow’s startled face.
“What the…” she gasped, as Rarity gave a loud, excited squeal from the table.
“I had the hardest time picking it out,” Linden told her, fumbling to slip the delicate chain over her head. “I didn’t know what would be your best color because, well, all colors seem to be your best color.” He stepped back and the stone fell to her throat, clinking against the smoky quartz falcon. “I was thinking maybe a ruby at first, but then the merchant said he had seen you earlier and you had liked this one so…” He laughed nervously. “Do you? Like it, I mean?”
“I-it’s beautiful. But, Linden, it’s too much. You didn’t need—”
“I wanted to! And that’s not all. Look, it’s part of a set.” He pulled another piece of jewelry from the little bag, this time a bracelet with a slightly smaller emerald on the face. Instead of a chain, it had a solid band that slipped over a hoof and was held in place with a clasp. Dumbfounded, Rainbow held up her hoof so the prince could put it on.
“I…I don’t know what to say,” she murmured as Rarity squealed again.
Linden smirked. “Oh really? I think that would be a first for you.”
The blue pegasus snorted laughter and gave him a shove. “Very funny.”
Other ponies were drifting to the floor in pairs to begin dancing, but Rainbow and Linden headed back to the high table instead, where her friends all smiled at her happily. The king and queen watched them as well, Oak Bough nodding, though Bright Song glanced away when Rainbow met her eyes. Once they were back in their seats, Oak Bough leaned around his son to look at the necklace and bracelet.
“Very nice,” he said. “You made a good choice, Linden.”
The prince’s eyes widened at the praise. “Th-thank you, Father,” he stammered, glancing sideways to Rainbow Dash, who was dutifully showing off her new jewelry to the ecstatic and envious Rarity.
Oak Bough sat back and waved a hoof behind him. Goldhoof suddenly appeared from the shadows, dressed in a rich, red doublet that contrasted brightly against his slate gray coat. He stepped to the center of the table, standing between the king and his son, and raised his yellow hoof for silence.
“Ponies of Saddellia!” he announced, his normally quiet voice echoing with surprising volume through the vast chamber. Immediately all conversation halted as attention turned to the unicorn. “Today has been a day to remember—a faire to wander, a fight full of surprises, and a glorious feast. Yet there is one more announcement to add to this already momentous occasion, one of particular importance to our regal king and beloved queen.” The dark gray pony paused for a moment to let a ripple of excited and curious whispering spread through the room. A tiny smile playing on his lips, he glanced to the six mares from Equestria, who all listened attentively.
“A union is to be formed today,” Goldhoof finally continued, his smooth voice stilling the whispers. “A union of two countries brought together by a bond of friendship and family. Today, my good ponies, my good friends, you have the honor to witness the betrothal of marriage between his royal highness, Prince Linden, and Lady Rainbow Dash of Equestria, soon to be Princess of Saddellia!”
“What!” 
Dash and her friends all spoke simultaneously, looking at the king’s advisor with identical expressions of shock and horror, but their shout went unheard, buried beneath a wave of deafening noise as the entire hall burst into applause.
**
“Marriage? Princess? Where in the sweet name of Celestia did you come up with that? I got you off a cliff, we’ve hung out, talked, had a few laughs—how in the hay does that turn into wedding bells and bouquets?”
The banquet was over and the guests had dispersed, but in a comfortable sitting room on the royal floor, Twilight and her friends sat with the royals and looked up at the ceiling, where Rainbow Dash was hovering in such a state of agitation that her wings buzzed loudly. She had been flying back and forth for more than five minutes, forcing them all to follow her like spectators at a tennis match.
Knowing that her friend’s raving wasn’t going to get them anywhere, Twilight nudged Applejack with her hoof and gave a surreptitious tilt of her head in Rainbow’s direction. Applejack stood and jumped straight up, hauling their friend down by her tail. Twilight sighed as the pegasus continued to fume and struggle. This was definitely not what she had been imagining for their meeting with the king. Taking care to keep her voice calm and respectful, she asked, “How was all of this even decided? Nopony mentioned anything to us about marriage.”
Goldhoof’s face was a mask of concerned bewilderment. “You’re upset? I’m not sure I understand—we thought you would be happy.”
“Happy!” Rainbow tried to launch into the air again, but Applejack still had a firm grasp on her tail and Rarity wrapped her hooves around her middle, pressing her wings to her sides. Glaring daggers at her friends, she reluctantly sat down, then scowled at the king’s advisor. “In what way could this make me happy?”
“How could it not?” Oak Bough interjected. “You’re going to be a princess, and later you’ll be a queen. In your own land, you’re just a common weather pony. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t even be nobility—now you’re going to be royalty.”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed dangerously, but Linden stopped whatever she’d been about to say by crossing the floor to put a hoof on her shoulder. His ears drooped and a wave of hurt crossed his face when she shied away from him and actually retreated behind Applejack.
“Why are you so upset?” he asked plaintively. “This is a wonderful opportunity! You’ll have everything you could possibly want—everything you deserve! Both our kingdoms will benefit…and you and I will be able to stay together.”
Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all whimpered, nearly drawn to tears. Rainbow, however, looked more flustered and uncertain than ever. She took a small step closer to the prince, then hesitated, scraping her hoof across the floor.
“But I have a whole life back home,” she murmured. “I have a house and a job where ponies count on me and friends. I…I have a tortoise! I can’t just leave all of that to play princess.”
“My dear lady, you won’t be playing,” Goldhoof interjected. “You will be a princess. You should be thrilled. This is the sort of chance every filly dreams of.”
“Maybe Rarity did. But me…” Rainbow let her eyes drift to the nearest window and the patch of sky beyond, “I’ve only ever wanted to be one of the Wonderbolts.” She turned back to Linden, wilting at the look of misery on his face. “I’m really sorry.”
Linden shook his head sadly. “There must be something I can do to change your mind. Now that I know you, I can’t imagine life without you.”
Oak Bough snorted loudly and rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t have to change her mind about anything,” he snapped impatiently. “She doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“Huh? I don’t what now?” Rainbow tore her eyes away from Linden and gaped at the king. “What did you say?”
“You do not have the option to refuse the prince’s proposal, my dear,” Goldhoof answered. “Now that the announcement has been publicly made, you will marry Linden and become princess of the realm. It is written in the laws of Saddellia.”
Though her friends were struck speechless, Rarity gave a thin, tittering giggle. “Forgive me, but I must have misunderstood,” she said breathily. “It almost sounded like you just said the prince can choose whatever mare he wants to marry and she cannot refuse him.”
Goldhoof and Oak Bough both began to laugh, causing the elegant unicorn to blush and Rainbow to scowl darkly. 
“Well, that’s what it sounded like to me too,” she said, her voice squeaking in anger. “And I don’t think that’s funny at all. What gives?”
The king continued to guffaw loudly, but Queen Bright Song slid from her seat and hurried to Rainbow’s side to give the younger mare a gentle nuzzle.
“Please, Husband, Goldhoof, the girls are confused and getting upset. Let’s finish this.”
Goldhoof sobered immediately and cleared his throat. “You’re absolutely right, your majesty.” He turned to the girls. “My sincerest apologies. Your comment just struck me as humorous, Miss Rarity. Of course, the law does not state that the prince can choose any mare as his bride.”
Rainbow Dash and her friends relaxed and shared a shaky laugh. 
“Whew!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ain’t that a relief? Cuz for a second there, Ah was sure—”
“No,” Goldhoof continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “The prince is only able to choose from the eligible Saddellian nobility.”
“Oh! Well, that settles it!” Pinkie Pie said brightly. She vanished off her cushioned seat and reappeared instantly beside Rainbow Dash, bonking the blue pony enthusiastically on the head with a hoof. “Dashie’s an Equestrian.”
“On the contrary. Lady Rainbow Dash was awarded into the ranks of Saddellian nobility by the king and queen. By our laws, she is now considered a Saddellian citizen. And she is the holder of the Blue Hills—one of the largest and most prosperous land holdings in the country.” At their looks of bewildered horror, he added, “The titles and holdings were all arranged with the queen and have been documented in the royal annals. My lady, you are an eligible choice for the prince by the laws of Saddellia—and you are bound by those laws as well.”
A wave of dread washed over Rainbow Dash, leaving her feeling like she had just been doused with cold water. She stepped away from the queen in disbelief, suddenly remembering how stunned Star Trillium had been to learn about her gifted land holdings. She hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but now she was stunned to realize just how thoroughly she had been tricked.
“Ah knew it seemed too good to be true,” Applejack said, stamping her hoof bitterly.
“The only reason you gave Rainbow Dash the Blue Hills was so she would qualify for this law,” Fluttershy accused, her normally gentle gaze fiercely locked on Bright Song. The aquamarine pony suddenly had difficulty meeting their eyes. “You planned this from the start.”
“Of course!” Oak Bough snorted. “Why else would we bother giving such a prime piece of land to a foreigner? My subjects now see me as generous to those who do a great service to the crown even though the land will revert back to us through this marriage.”
“No!” Rainbow reared and punched the air with her hooves, snorting out a furious breath through her nose. She looked dangerously close to kicking something and Linden flinched as she turned furious eyes on him. “Were you in on this too? You set me up? How could you?”
The prince shook his head desperately, looking just as stunned. “No…Rainbow, I didn’t…I had no idea! I promise!” Anguished, he whirled on his parents. “You never said anything about any laws or land holdings. This…it’s not supposed to happen like this!”
Bright Song had the decency to look ashamed for her part, but Oak Bough merely shrugged. 
“This is the way it’s done. The best way to ensure a good line for the throne.” He jabbed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “You should be grateful—we’re giving you a strong, beautiful mare who is young enough to have plenty of foals—”
“Foals!” Rainbow squeaked, her wings flaring in horror. “No, no no! Who said anything about foals?”
“That’s the purpose of a queen,” Oak Bough growled. His own wife gave a little sigh and bit her lip. “It’s her duty to the kingdom to provide an heir to the throne. I, for one, look forward to seeing a string of winged grandcolts added to the royal bloodline.”
Twilight Sparkle had been friends with Rainbow Dash for over a year, and in that time she had seen the pony kick a dragon in the face and fly straight at a rampaging manticore. When faced with a challenge, Rainbow refused to back down and attacked it head on. Now, she was glaring at the king, her head lowered, her wings raised, one hoof pawing at the ground. 
“Uh, Rainbow…” The unicorn took a tentative step towards her friend, hoping to avoid an international incident, but Rainbow swerved away from her reaching hoof and leapt into the air. Her magenta eyes flickered wildly between her friends, Goldhoof, and the king, and before fastening on Linden. With a strangled cry, she looped around and blasted through the nearby window so fast she tore the curtains off behind her. A streamer of rainbow brightness faded behind her as she escaped into the clouds and vanished from sight.
“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted as Pinkie and Linden both cantered to the window. “What in the hay…? Now where does that pony think she’s goin’?”
“Interesting,” Twilight murmured. “For once Rainbow chose flight over fight.”
“I can’t see her anywhere,” Pinkie told them sadly. She and Linden had their hooves up on the windowsill, both staring into the blue sky. “She’s gone.”
“What!” Oak Bough roared. His face turned scarlet with rage and Bright Song paled. Goldhoof, however, was unperturbed.
“I would not worry, your highness,” he said calmly. “I am quite sure Lady Rainbow Dash will not go very far. All of her friends are still here and she strikes me as far too loyal a pony to leave them behind.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at his choice of words—did the grey unicorn know about the Elements of Harmony, or had that just been a coincidence?
Either way, his words soothed the king, who looked at the remaining five mares with new interest.
“You’re right, Goldhoof. She’ll be back. She wouldn’t abandon her friends.”
“No, sire. Until then, may I suggest that the girls await her return in the Emerald Rooms? They would be much more comfortable and secure there.”
“Good idea.” Oak Bough clapped a hoof on the floor with a ringing clang. Immediately, the doors opened to admit three of the palace guards. At a word from the king, they positioned themselves around the girls, one stepping to the window to herd Pinkie back to her friends. “Take the Equestrians back to their chambers and keep an eye out for Lady Rainbow Dash,” the king ordered them. “Goldhoof, you will let me know when she returns.”
The grey unicorn bowed obediently and the king trotted from the room. Bright Song hesitated long enough to give them all a sorrowful nod, then hurried after him.
“This way, ladies.” One of the guards jerked his head towards the door, his eyes firm. 
“Don’t worry, my dear.” Goldhoof slipped up to Twilight Sparkle before she could follow her friends out into the hall. “You will still get your official meeting with the king. The planning of a royal wedding takes time.”
Twilight frowned, not liking the tone in the unicorn’s voice. She opened her mouth to speak, but then her gaze drifted to the window, where Prince Linden sat with his hooves still on the sill, a look of pure misery on his handsome face as he continued to search the empty skies. A surge of pity washed over her for the dejected prince, but the guard suddenly moved to block her view.
“This way, miss,” he said sternly, pressing forward so she had no choice but to move back towards her friends. She fell in beside Applejack as the new “escort” led them through the corridors back to their rooms. The three guards were silent and watchful as the girls filed into the Emerald Rooms.
“Oh!” Rarity gasped when the door was shut rather hard behind them. “Of all the nerve! Looks like some ponies need to remember their manners!”
“I can’t believe that just happened!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, flinging herself across one of the chairs and throwing her hooves in the air. “Can you believe that just happened? Prince Linden wants to marry Dashie, our Dashie! He really did fall absolutely, positively head over hooves in love with her!”   		
“Poor Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy sat on her haunches by the chair and lowered her head so her hair fell over her eyes. Gumdrop ran across the floor and hopped up and down between her hooves, chittering and frantically waving his paws. The yellow pony patted him absently. “She looked so confused and upset—and Prince Linden looked crushed.”
“He did, didn’t he? The poor dear.” Rarity joined her with a sigh. “And, you know, I really do believe he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know about those laws. He looked almost as shocked as Rainbow Dash.”
“They can’t really make Dash stay here and marry him, can they, Twilight?” Pinkie wanted to know. The thought of losing one of her best friends was causing her mane to lose its curl.
“I’m not sure, Pinkie. Nothing like that would ever happen in Equestria, that’s for sure, but things are different here…and they did make Rainbow Dash a lady and gave her land holdings.”
Applejack snorted in contempt. “Tricked her into them is more like it!”
“I agree, it’s not fair, but we’re going to have to play it carefully. We’re still guests here on a mission from Princess Celestia and we still have to work out a treaty with these Saddellians.”
“That’s gonna be a mite difficult when Rainbow comes back and flat out tells the king where he can put his laws,” Applejack drawled. 
“Well, let’s hope she takes some time to cool down and clear her head,” Rarity murmured, rising to her feet and trotting into the bedchamber. “I know that when I’m feeling upset a long, hot bath with lots of bubbles works wonders for—oh my Celestia!”
At Rarity’s horrified cry, the others rushed to the next room, where a startling sight greeted them. Their saddlebags had all been opened, the contents strewn haphazardly across the floor. Torn clothing and ripped maps were scattered amongst Pinkie’s colorful streamers and the leaves and pebbles Fluttershy had collected during their trip.
“What in tarnation happened in here?” Applejack gasped.
“Oh no!” Pinkie Pie shoved past them into the room, racing from pile to pile of their belongings. “No! This can’t be happening…please tell me they’re not…who would…oh, here they are!” She turned, beaming, and held up a large bag full of rubber balloons. “Whew! We’re okay, everypony. I found them!”
“No! It’s not okay…it’s not okay!” Twilight had found her own saddlebags and was searching frantically through the items around them. Her large eyes had flooded tears when she finally found a polished wooden box lying under a filmy scarf. With a trembling hoof, she turned it over, revealing the broken lock and empty, velvet-lined interior. “Th-they’re g-gone.”
“What’re gone, Sugarcube?” Applejack and Fluttershy came to stand beside her. “Is that what Ah think it is?”
“Did…you bring them with us, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, her gentle gaze locked on the box. Nestled in her mane, Gumdrop hid his face in his paws, his tiny shoulders heaving as he sobbed.
The unicorn dropped to her haunches and nodded miserably. “Princess Celestia gave them to me, in case we needed them as a last resort. I had them hidden in the bottom of my bags. But now…now…”
“What?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight closed the box, showing them the six gems displayed on the top. “The Elements of Harmony—they’ve been stolen!”
**
Rainbow Dash was seeing red as she blasted up and away from the castle as fast her wings could carry her. Already, her muscles burned with the exertion, especially after her stunt show from earlier in the day, but she angrily pushed herself onward, determined to get as many miles between herself and that beast of a king as possible.
“Marriage!” she snarled, the word whipping away on the wind. “Foals! All the ponies in this country are crazy!”
Marriage and foals. How could they possibly think she would be alright with that? Her! Foals? Not a chance! She was way too young to be tied down with a kid and way too focused on her goals—none of which included diaper changes and midnight feedings.
As the sun began to sink towards the horizon and she powered on through the skies, the fresh breeze and familiar joy of flying cleared her head and cooled her anger slightly. Not at the king, of course—she still couldn’t stand him—but Linden’s stunned and hurt face kept coming to mind.
At first, she had been sure that Linden had been a part of the whole plan to trap her. He had to have known all along about the laws of the country and what his parents had intended by giving her the Blue Hills. Hadn’t the title and land been his idea in the first place?
Yet he had seemed just as shocked at Goldhoof’s announcement, just as horrified, and completely bewildered when she had accused him of betrayal. 
Suddenly tired, she looked about until she spotted a small cloud tinged orange and pink from the setting sun, and shifted her flight path. The surface was soft and springy beneath her hooves as she landed and flopped onto her belly, crossing her hooves beneath her chin. “Linden,” she murmured, feeling utterly confused. 
There was no denying that the colt was good looking—but he was clever and really fun to be around as well. He appreciated her flying skills and stunts, and he was also something of a daredevil himself, always going out into the woods and climbing the mountains around the kingdom in search of adventure. Once, he had even scaled a six hundred foot waterfall by climbing the dangerously water-logged walls on the surrounding canyon with nothing but rope and his own four hooves. Now that was impressive, especially for an earth pony.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to marry him. They had known each other for less than two weeks!
She rolled onto her back, spreading her wings over the cloud and kicking her hooves in the air. 
“A princess!” she groaned. “Me!”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to picture herself as a princess, but images of Luna and Celestia kept coming to mind. She envisioned herself taller, her rainbow mane and tail long and flowing like they were always caught in the wind. Princess Rainbow Dash—the thought would have been laughable if the king and Goldhoof hadn’t been so deadly serious about it. Didn’t they realize that she had no idea how to be a princess or run a country? But, then again, Oak Bough didn’t seem to know how to run a country either and that wasn’t stopping him. 
The sun continued to sink lower towards the horizon and the brilliant oranges, golds, and fuchsias painted across the sky started to melt into deeper hues of lavender and purple. The sky directly overhead turned indigo as the stars began to show themselves—the same stars that hung over Ponyville.
“I wanna go home,” she said, startling herself with a sudden burst of homesickness. She missed her beautiful cloud home, and Tank’s long, slow smiles, and the library with its collection of Daring Do novels.  She even missed Scootaloo and her crazy little friends. 
Her thoughts were so jumbled that, at first, she dismissed a series of faint tapping sounds as an evening chorus of crickets. Then the wind shifted and her sensitive ears swiveled back, catching a muffled shout among the other sounds. Frowning, she turned over, letting her forehooves dangle off the edge of the cloud, and gasped at what she saw.
The sun had gone down completely, but a pale yellow aura was lighting up the sky about a mile away. The noises were coming from that direction.
“The quarry?” she asked out loud, remembering the cloud of dust they had seen from the hill. Had she really flown so far from the castle? She guessed it was possible—she was a fast flier and she hadn’t been thinking about where she was going.
Well, there was only one way to find out for sure.
She rolled off the cloud and dropped, spreading her wings to catch the air and turning her downward momentum into a smooth glide. Without hesitation, she flapped towards the dim glow and the faint sound of tapping. The night gathered around her, the sky now dark and velvety black. It was Luna’s night off, so there was no moon to brighten the land in silvery illumination. Instead, there were only the sharp pinpricks of the stars and the yellow light of numerous firefly lanterns.
Rainbow had only been flying for a few minutes when she felt a tickle in her throat that made her cough. Her mouth went dry and her eyes felt gritty. When she licked her lips, she tasted dust. A thick sheen of it was filling the air, getting steadily worse as she neared the light and caught sight of a seven story cliff rising above the forest.
Back winging, the pegasus dropped from the sky and landed in a tree nearby. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she felt the urge to remain out of sight, at least until she had investigated a little further.
Hiding in the foliage, she peered through the dust, studying the cliff with an intensity that would have made Twilight proud. Right away, she surmised that the cliff was not natural. It was striped with deep lines and gouges, the gaping front carved like an open, jagged wound that marred the otherwise pristine forest. A dozen stories of rickety wooden scaffolding was bolted to the stone face. Firefly lanterns were hung sporadically from the beams and, between the glowing orbs, scores of ponies sat and chipped away with hammers and chisels.
The longer Rainbow watched, the more confused she became. The ponies worked steadily, with none of the talking, laughing, or banter that accompanied tedious chores back home. Every few minutes, a pony would pause to pry something from the wall and toss it over their shoulder into baskets that were spaced between each pair. When the basket filled, another pony would replace it with an empty one. The work went on and on, becoming so tedious that Rainbow grew bored and started to yawn. Deciding she wasn’t going to learn any more about the situation from where she was sitting, she leapt down from the tree. 
Ducking low, she crept stealthily closer to the quarry, glad that Pinkie Pie wasn’t along to blow her cover. Biting her lip, she slipped from the tree to a boulder, then tiphooved to a broken cart lying discarded on its side. She stopped there and lifted her head to look around. Nopony was calling an alarm—she hadn’t been spotted yet. So far so good.
Her last hiding place was a huge pile of jagged, broken rock to the right of the cliff. From here, she could see ponies pulling carts along a wooden path beneath the scaffolding. The workers above would empty baskets of rock into the cart and, when it was full, the cart pony would trundle it to the pile and dump it before heading back for more. 
She also noticed a large number of the ponies who didn’t work at chipping the stone or sorting and hauling the rocks. Bigger and more muscular, they were more like the guards of Canterlot who protected the princesses, but that was where the comparison ended. These ponies stood at the ends of the scaffolding, leaning insolently on long poles or toying with coiled whips clipped to their barding as they watched the workers. The young pegasus snarled angrily from her hiding place when a cart pony paused to catch his breath, only to yelp when one of the guards cracked his fetlocks with his pole.
“Get back to work! You think those rocks are gonna haul themselves?”
Meekly, the dingy yellow colt nodded and limped away, straining under the weight of his full wagon. When he reached the rock pile, he stopped and stepped away from his harness, then started unloading.  The guard glared at him for a moment longer before turning away, bored.
Now was her chance! Rainbow inched closer to the working colt, taking care to keep low, out of the lantern light.
“Hey!” she whispered harshly. “Psst! Hey you, over here.”
The colt lifted his head at her voice, a large piece of rock in his mouth. Bewildered, he looked around and his amber eyes bulged when he caught sight of her peeking around the bottom of the rock pile.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he said, spitting out the rock. Nervously, he looked over his shoulder, half expecting the guards to come running. “If they catch you shirking work we’re both going to be in tro—” He broke off in confusion, moving closer to get a better look at her. “Wait...I’ve never seen you before. What tier are you on?”
“I’m not on any tier. I’m from Equestria.”
To her surprise, the colt merely bobbed his head. “Me too. So are most of the ponies here.”
“Yeah, but I’m Rainbow Dash! My friends and I are here to help you.”
The colt stared at her, one eyebrow arched, and the pegasus rolled her eyes.
“Did you hear me? Rainbow Dash? Winner of the Best Young Flyer Competition and weather pony extraordinaire?” She raised her wings and grinned broadly, waiting for the recognition.
“I’m…Ramson?”
Rainbow groaned, her ears drooping. “Okay, I guess you haven’t heard of me, strange as that seems. Anyway, Princess Celestia sent me and my friends here to find out what’s going on and to help you get back to your homes. So…” she raised her own eyebrows questioningly. “…what is going on? How did you get here? What are you digging for?”
“I—I was taken from my village,” Ramson told her. “Soldiers came during the night and chained all the younger ponies together. If anypony fought back, they were beaten and their house was burned down. They made us climb over the mountains and brought us h-here.” He broke off and rubbed his eyes with a dirty hoof. “I have no idea what they want us to find—nopony will tell us anything. We dig up a lot of gems and they save those, but I don’t think—did you say Princess Celestia sent you?”
“Yeah…there was a pony who got away and—”
“Hey! No breaks at the pile! You want to feel the whip again? Get back to work!” A guard snapped his whip through the air with a resounding crack and Ramson jumped. Cringing, he hurriedly buried his head in the cart again, tossing chunks of stone onto the pile so emphatically Rainbow had to jump back to avoid getting hit.
“Look, I don’t know…who you are…or how you got here…” he said between throws, “…but you’d better run away…while you can or…you’re gonna end up like us.” He gasped for breath, and fixed her with a curious look. “Did Flax really get away? He, Lilypad, and Sweetwater made a run for it over a month ago. They caught Sweetwater and brought her back only two days later, then put her in the pits. No one knows what happened to the others.”
“I…I’m sorry. I don’t know his name,” Rainbow replied, surprised that she had never thought to ask. “I only know that a colt made it to Canterlot and told the princess that he had been kept as a slave here. She sent me and my friends here to work out a peace treaty with Saddellia but…” She glanced at the whip scars marring the colt’s cutie mark, then let her eyes drift up to the quarry and let out a shudder. “But we never guessed it was like this.” Over Ramson’s shoulder, she caught sight of a guard heading their way and gasped, quickly retreating into the shadows. “Someone’s coming!”
Ramson whirled nervously just as a bulky mare reached the pile. “S-sorry!” he stammered, diving back into the cart to finish his work.
“What’s taking so long here?” the mare asked, her tone slightly bored, but nowhere near as gruff as the other. She leaned forward to check the contents of the cart. “Shouldn’t be so hard to empty a cart.”
“I-I had a m-muscle cramp,” Ramson told her, grabbing the last piece of rock and heaving it over the pile. It crashed hard against the summit, causing a landslide of loose rocks and pebbles to cascade down the other side, raining down on the hiding pegasus and covering her in a coating of reddish dust. One apple-sized chunk struck her squarely between the ears and she yelped in pain. 
“What was that?” the guard asked sharply. Rainbow clapped her forehooves to her mouth and froze, a tear tracing a line down her dirty face.
“Huh? Wh-what? I didn’t hear anything.”
“You sure? I thought I heard…”
Gritting her teeth in a grimace, Rainbow carefully wriggled free of the debris and slinked across the ground on her belly. Her heart began to pound as the sound of hoofbeats approached, walking slowly around the rock pile. Sure that her brightly colored tail would soon be spotted, even in the poor light, she raised her wings, getting ready to fly away at the first shout of alarm. 
“Oh that! It must have been the rocks,” Ramson lied. “Yeah, the rocks fell on the other side and you heard them clattering. It happens all the time. That’s all.”
“Hmm, maybe.” The hoofbeats stopped. “It sure sounded like something else though. Oh well, get back to work now. It’s hot and Schist is sick of getting stuck on the night shift. He’s looking for a reason to cause trouble, so I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t make it easier for him. Go fetch another load and I’ll see if I can find you some liniment to help with the muscle cramps.”
“Y-yes ma’am. I’m sorry. Thank you.” 
Rainbow heard the colt harnessing himself to the wagon again, and then the clattering of the wheels over the wooden walkway as he trotted back to the cliff. Breathing a sigh of relief, she took advantage of the noise to leap into the air. Spreading her wings, she dashed away from the quarry, speeding back to the castle to tell her friends what she had learned. She did not spare a glance behind her, or she would have seen a large lime green mare trotting to the back of the rock pile and looking around suspiciously.
Not finding anything but tumbled rock, the mare shrugged after a moment and turned to leave, but stopped short when her eyes lit on something on the ground. Stepping forward, she scratched at the dirt with a hoof, turning over several chunks of rock to reveal a single, sky blue feather.
					

> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was just before dawn when Rainbow finally found her way back to the castle. She had had a harder time on the return, having to navigate in the darkness and flying without the help of blind fury to fuel her wings. Twice, she had lost her way and each time had taken hours to find her way to the correct path. Now she was utterly exhausted and just wanted to curl up on the canopy of her bed to sleep for at least a week.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally swooped over the gardens and caught sight of the shadowy palace looming against the dove grey of predawn. The grounds were quiet and deserted, silent but for the soft cooing of some nocturnal birds and the gurgling of water from the fountains.
Water! The sound and smell of water made Rainbow painfully aware of how thirsty she was. Banking around, she dropped into the nearest garden and trotted along the path, her hoof falls muffled by the thick, well kept grass as firefly lanterns cast her shadow long before her. She followed her nose and ears past tall stands of sleeping blossoms that still cast a faint cloud of sweet perfume into the warm air. In the center of a diamond-shaped yard, she found a diamond-shaped fountain that spouted water from marble ponies holding water urns in their hooves. This flowed down into scallop-edged bowls, which overflowed into a deep pool. Frogs, carved of the same green marble as the rest of the fountain, stared at her from fake lilypads as Rainbow bellied up to the fountain and plunged her face into its depths.
She drank deeply, ignoring the burning of her lungs as long as she could, then lifted her head with a gasp. A thin, reddish scum now drifted across the surface and she grimaced, leaning forward to peer at her reflection in the water. In the milky glow of the lanterns, she could see that her light blue coat was completely coated in red dust, except where the water dripped from her muzzle and the dust had turned to red mud. Her mane hung limp and sweaty over her eyes, and a thin line of dried blood had tracked its way down her forehead.
“Rough night,” she muttered, and chuckled humorlessly. Glancing around to assure herself that she was alone, she reared up and dunked her entire head and shoulders into the pool. The water was cool and refreshing and it wasn’t long before she flapped her wings and tipped forward, diving headlong into the fountain. She splashed around, scrubbing her mane, tail, and wings to free them of dirt, then rolled onto her back and floated, spitting a thin plume of water into the air.
When she hopped back onto the fountain’s edge, her coat was damp, but considerably cleaner. She shook vigorously and flapped her wings, spraying the garden with droplets. She felt a little better, though she doubted the gardeners would be happy when they saw the state of the fountain.
Well, that couldn’t be helped now, and she was still exhausted. She needed a long nap before she and her friends figured out the problem with the quarry.
Jumping into the air, she sped up and out of the garden, winging towards a large window in the upper levels of the castle. She swooped inside and trotted down the corridor to her chambers, her hooves echoing on the stone floor. She turned the corner to the Emerald Rooms, but stopped short at the sight of the two guards standing on either side of the door. Guards? Since when had they been under guard?
Deciding she was too tired to deal with a confrontation now, Rainbow backed away quietly and swiveled around. She would just fly around the castle and go through one of the windows in the bed—”
“Oof!”
She slammed into a solid mass and reeled backwards, losing her balance and sitting down hard on her rump. The knot on her brow twinged painfully and she winced. Rubbing her aching head, Rainbow squinted upwards and gasped at two eyes looming over her, glowing like golden chips of topaz. 
“Oh dear…I am so sorry, my lady. I didn’t expect you to turn…so abruptly.”
Goldhoof suddenly materialized from the shadows, clacking his tongue as he held out a hoof to assist her.
“I’m very relieved to see you have returned. You had us all terribly worried, my lady, flying away as you did.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” Rainbow got back to her hooves and dusted herself off with a wing. “I just, uh, really needed to blow off some steam. You know how it goes.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” the unicorn said dryly.
Something in Goldhoof’s tone made Rainbow pause and she smiled awkwardly. “Right, well, uh, what are you doing up so late?”
“Late?” Goldhoof rolled his eyes towards a window, where the first morning light was just painting the sky a delicate pink. “I think early would be more appropriate. And I come and go at random. Different tasks for different days. This time, I was up awaiting the return of a certain pegasus. The king did not take too well to his son’s fiancé vanishing out a window.”
Rainbow bristled and leaned back. Scowling, she said, “I never said I would marry Linden.”
“A small technicality,” Goldhoof replied, waving a hoof dismissively.
“No—it’s kind of a big one, actually.” Since the guards would definitely be aware of her now, Rainbow turned her back on the king’s advisor and trotted quickly to the doors of her rooms. The two heavyset stallions bowed to her, and one opened the door with a flourish.
“Uh, thanks.” Rainbow edged past him and tip-hooved into the room. She had only made it halfway across the floor when a cotton candy-colored blur smashed into her at high speed and, for the second time in as many minutes, she was thrown backwards onto her rump.
“Oof!”
“Rainbow Dash! You’re back!” Pinkie Pie wrapped her hooves around Dash’s neck, squeezing her tightly. “You’re back!”
“Yeah, of course!” Rainbow laughed breathlessly and tried to escape Pinkie’s death grip on her throat. “You didn’t think I’d fly off and leave you all behind, did you?” The others came to her rescue, lifting Pinkie off her so she could sit up and look at the anxious faces of her friends. Twilight looked especially haggard, with swollen and red eyes. “You don’t have to cry about it, Twilight—I swear I didn’t kick anypony, even if they did deserve it—but you won’t believe what I found—”
“It’s not that,” Twilight interrupted, and told her about the theft. Rainbow’s mouth dropped open and she galloped into the bed chamber to see for herself. The mess had been sifted through, but not yet tidied up and she gaped, dumbfounded, at the destruction.
“What…? I don’t…” She dropped to her haunches and rubbed her ear in confusion. “Who did this?”
“Gumdrop was sleeping when they came in,” Fluttershy said, coming up beside her. “He thought they were just servant ponies until they started going through all our bags and he tried to stop them, but one of them tried to step on him and…” She broke off and rolled her eyes upwards to her mane, where the little mouse was frantically and angrily pantomiming his valiant efforts to stop the thieves. When he got to the part where he had been forced to hide under the bed as a stallion tried to stomp him flat, Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed and she let out an explosive snort through her nose. She leapt to her feet and galloped back to the door.
“Rainbow!” Applejack called. “Where in the hay’re you goin’?”
“I ran into Goldhoof out in the hall. I’m going to tell him about this!” she replied. Her friends exchanged looks and hurried after her as she flung the door open hard enough to make the hinges creak. She started to storm through, but was stopped by the two guards stepping into her path. “Hey! Out of my way!”
“I’m sorry, m’lady. You are to remain in your quarters at this time.”
“What?” Rainbow was taken aback. They had never been confined to their rooms before—Linden had told them to feel at home in the castle and they had been allowed to explore almost everywhere. She glowered at the ponies blocking her and demanded, “Who said?”
“These orders come from Lord Goldhoof,” one told her, his voice apologetic but firm. He locked eyes with the pegasus, unwavering. When she tried to step around him, he immediately moved to intercept. She dodged to the other side, but his partner was equally unmoving. “Please, m’lady, go back inside. You are not allowed to leave these rooms until you are summoned.”
“They wouldn’t let us leave either,” Twilight said at her back. “We were even brought back here under guard. Our treatment has really changed.”
“But why? We didn’t do anything wrong! This is ridiculous!” Rainbow flapped her wings and tried to dart past the guards, flying quickly at one, then darting at the other. This forced the poor stallions to bob and weave, but they somehow managed to keep her from slipping past them. Pinkie Pie whooped and joined in on the game, bouncing back and forth with Rainbow until the eyes of the two guards began to spin dizzily.
“Rainbow, stop that.” Rarity caught Rainbow’s tail in her mouth and delicately tugged her back to the ground. “Darling, while I find this entire situation incredibly boorish and unnecessary, maybe we should all listen to them and speak to the prince and the queen when we can,” she suggested. She gave her friend a small smile and patted her back. “There is a proper way to do this. We’re all exhausted and overwhelmed and the last thing we need is—”
“We need to talk to Lord Goldhoof now,” Rainbow said evenly, her eyes still locked on the guard’s. She knew Rarity was right—the day had been long and weird and she was exhausted, but she wasn’t willing to give up yet.
“You m-may request to speak with him l-l-later, m’lady,” one guard stammered. He sounded a little sick and had both hooves clasped to the sides of his head to stop his pinwheeling eyes. “He has retired to his chambers for now. Until then, you may not leave these rooms.”
“We’ll see about that.” Rainbow slowly backed up, smirking as she gently shut the door.
“Oh thank goodness!” Fluttershy had been prancing nervously back and forth behind them. Now she sat and smiled. “I really was hoping you wouldn’t get into a fight. They were just doing their jobs and—”
“Yeah yeah, maybe…but they’re still not locking me in.”
“Don’t see how there’s much of a choice otherwise, Sugarcube,” Applejack pointed out. “It’s the only door and I don’t see you takin’ them out in a hoof-wrestling contest.”
“Right,” Twilight agreed reluctantly. “I guess we should wait until somepony comes for us—I’m sure the king and queen and Linden will want to talk again. We should formulate a proper complaint over our treatment. I have some paper, so we should probably make a list.”
“Are you guys kidding me?” Rainbow flung her hooves up in exasperation. “We don’t need a list…and who said anything about using the door?” Shaking her head, she shot back outside through one of the windows.
“Oh yeah, why didn’t we think of that!” Pinkie giggled as the rainbow contrail faded from the room. Rainbow deliberately circled over the castle and flew through one of the multiple windows lining the corridor, landing daintily before the stunned guards.
“Hey again. Guess you forgot about the wings and the windows, huh?” she quipped, unable to resist grinning as their mouths dropped open. “Now, which way did Goldhoof go?”
Dumbfounded, the second guard pointed down the hall. 
“Rainbow? Are you out there? Hold on—I’m coming too!”
There was a flash and a loud snap. The guards reared and backed up against the door, their eyes bulging as Twilight Sparkle appeared out of nowhere. The unicorn smiled sheepishly at the terrified ponies.
“I’m so sorry—I know this is breaking all kinds of rules—but we really need to talk to Lord Goldhoof. We’ll be back soon, I promise!” She waved and hurriedly trotted after Rainbow Dash, who was already gliding down the corridor.
The guards exchanged worried glances, neither knowing what to do—they certainly didn’t want to attack and restrain the prince’s betrothed by force, and they were still reeling from seeing a pony appear out of midair. Who knew what the lavender mare would do if provoked?
“M-maybe we should just pretend we didn’t see them,” one suggested. His partner immediately nodded and they both returned to their posts.
**
“I can’t believe I did that!” Twilight blurted as she and Rainbow rushed down the hall.
“Breaking the rules?”
“No! Forgetting I could teleport! I would have done this hours ago!” She shook her head in bewilderment. “I just don’t understand why they would take the Elements or how they even knew they were in my bags.”
“Well, we’ll get to the bottom of this! Nopony steals from us and gets away with—oof!” For the third time that morning, Rainbow Dash smashed headlong into a pony and went flying backwards, landing hard on her rump. “For the love of Pete!” she yelled. “Will everypony quit knocking me down!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see you th—you’ve come back! I’m so glad…here, let me help you!” Linden bent over the blue mare and helped her stand. “I was just coming to—wait, where are you going?”
Rainbow had jerked away from him as soon as she was back on her hooves and started trotting down the hall again without a word.
“Rainbow, wait!” Linden called, his voice breaking. “Please! I just need to talk to you!” He hurried after the mare, but she raised her head and refused to look at him. When he tried to step in front of her, she jumped and flew over his head, her back hooves lifted barely high enough to avoid kicking him. “Stop…hold on…will you just...!” Unused to being ignored by anyone, friend or subject alike, Linden felt his temper starting to rise. “Rainbow Dash! I said stop. Look at me!” he shouted—and immediately recoiled when she did just that, her magenta eyes blazing.
“Sweet stars above,” Fletcher breathed, instinctively ducking behind Tiny and Twilight. “That is terrifying!”
“I-I didn’t mean like that,” Linden stammered, swallowing hard. He took a hesitant step closer to her and took a deep breath, then started again. “I’m so happy to see you—I was afraid you would never come back!”
Rainbow’s glare softened as she eyed the prince warily—he looked dreadful: pale and haggard, his mane mussed and his eyes red-rimmed. Fletcher and Tiny, standing beside him, looked little better. Frowning and scraping a hoof along the floor, she murmured, “I would never leave my friends behind.”
Linden cocked his head, unsure what she meant by that, but Tiny broke in before he could ask her to elaborate.
“Forgive me, Miss Sparkle, Lady Dash, but did I hear you say somepony stole something from you?” He ignored the prince’s scowl as Twilight nodded.
“Yes!” she said frantically. She had been nervously fidgeting to one side, torn between Rainbow’s predicament and her own. “We’ve been robbed!”
“What?” Linden reluctantly tore his eyes from Rainbow Dash, her words finally registering with him. “Robbed?”
“Yeah,” Dash said acidly. “Apparently, sometime between our dance and Lord Goldhoof was filling us all in on the laws of Saddellia, somepony snuck into our rooms, tried to step on Gumdrop, and looted our saddlebags.”  
Fletcher glanced towards a nearby window at the rising sun and wrinkled his nose. “Wait—you’re saying this happened last night? During the banquet? Are we the first ones you’ve told? Why didn’t you alert any of the guards?”
“We tried!” Twilight exclaimed. “We told the guard posted in front of our doors, but they wouldn’t do anything about it. We asked if we could speak with the queen, or Lord Goldhoof, or even you, Prince Linden—they said you were all asleep and couldn’t be bothered.”
“Not so!  We’ve been up all night,” Fletcher said, aiming his words at Rainbow Dash. He rolled an eye at the prince and added, “He’s been beside himself with worry for you and none of us has slept a wi—ow!” He jumped and rubbed ruefully at the leg Linden had just kicked, then shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
Rainbow looked questioningly at Linden, who shuffled his hooves awkwardly, clearing his throat before murmuring, “Yeah, it’s true. I couldn’t sleep at all—I kept picturing you flying all the way back to Equestria before I got a chance to talk to you again. I-I just—if we could only—”
“Maybe we should focus on the robbery now, Linden,” Tiny suggested respectfully, patting his friend on the shoulder. “This seems definitely odd to me. Miss Sparkle, you said that there were guards in front of your doors?”  
“That’s right. After Rainbow—” The pegasus scowled darkly and she quickly amended, “Well, after everything that happened last night, the rest of us were brought back to the Emerald Rooms and locked in. The guards were posted and have refused to let us set a hoof outside the doors ever since.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Linden snapped. “You’re royal guests.” The two girls nodded emphatically, Rainbow picking up where Twilight had left off.
“They tried to do the same to me when I got back,” she told the colts. “Blocked the doors and wouldn’t let me leave the room. Said it was on Lord Goldhoof’s orders and—”
“Goldhoof knows you’re back?” Linden asked sharply. Rainbow nodded and described how she had bumped—literally—into the unicorn when she had gotten back to the castle. The colt’s face darkened. “But we just passed him a few moments ago. He didn’t say anything about you being back, Rainbow.”
“Actually, when Linden asked about you, he suggested we all go get some sleep,” Fletcher added.
“Why would he do that?” Rainbow wanted to know.
“That’s what I would like to find out.” Linden was scowling, his tail lashing from side to side. “He knew I was waiting up—that I wanted to see you as soon as you returned.” Under his breath, he added, “Before my father manages to make things even worse.”
Standing between Tiny and Fletcher, Twilight looked closely at Rainbow Dash—was it her imagination, or had there been a ghost of a smile on her friend’s lips at that?   
“We were on our way to find Goldhoof now,” she explained. “We sort of, um, slipped past the guards.”
“Oh really?” Fletcher grinned broadly, plopping down on his haunches and wiggling his ears in amusement. “Slipped past the palace guards, huh? How in the hay did you manage that?”
Rainbow raised her wings and fluttered them. “With these,” she said proudly, then twanged Twilight’s horn with her hoof, making the unicorn wince. “And this. You should have seen the looks on their faces when we both just showed up and walked away.”
“But Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy are all still back there,” Twilight reminded them. “Locked in…on Goldhoof’s orders.”
Linden nodded and looked up the hall. “Not for long, Twilight. And I’ll see that it doesn’t happen again to any of you. All six of you are free to come and go about the palace grounds. And those will be the prince’s orders.” With a hopeful glance in Rainbow Dash’s direction, he cantered towards the Emerald Rooms to release their friends. Tiny automatically followed and Fletcher, grinning eagerly, leapt after them.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight said, laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “I didn’t know we’d run into Linden. That must have been hard for—” 
“No! They’re going to help!” Dash interrupted with a forcibly cheerful tone. “It was lucky running into them.” She lifted off the ground and soared after the colts, her voice turning to a mutter, “So lucky.”
**
A strange scene greeted them when they arrived back at the doors to Rainbow’s chambers. Lilac Breeze and Foxtail were both standing before the two guards, who were looking distinctly harried but refusing to move from their post. Foxtail, a tiny orange mare with a white-tipped reddish mane and tail, had several bolts of cloth and a sewing kit balanced precariously across her back, but that was not stopping her from jabbing one of the guards with her hoof while she demanded to be let through the doors.
“I don’t care—my directions come from the queen herself and I am sure she will be incredibly displeased when the young lady is forced to attend her tea dressed in those tawdry Equestrian rags!”
“What is going on here?” Linden asked, cutting through the small mare’s tirade and drawing all eyes. Immediately, the ponies dropped into respectful bows.
“Prince Linden,” Foxtail was the first to speak, “I was told by your mother, the queen, to see to the wardrobe of Lady Rainbow Dash, soon to be princess, this morning. My time is very short, for there are meetings, and councils, and teas, and feasts to attend, but these two refuse to allow me to enter her rooms and I cannot start my work without proper measurements and—” She suddenly caught sight of Rainbow Dash and stopped, confused. Her bright amber eyes shifted from the pegasus to the doors and back again. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t have been much use if the lady wasn’t even in her room to begin with,” she muttered darkly.
“My prince.” One of the guards edged past Foxtail, eyeing Rainbow and Twilight warily. He crossed a hoof over his heart and bowed to the prince again. “We have our orders from Lord Goldhoof to stand guard at these doors and to not allow anypony to pass in either direction, save for himself or your royal parents.”
“Or Linden, I am sure,” Fletcher pointed out with a frown. “Since he is, as you just said, your prince.” 
The two guards exchanged puzzled looks and the second nodded. “Of course, your Highness. I am sure he meant you as well.”
“Of course.” Linden’s brow furrowed briefly before taking on the cool, detached expression of a royal addressing his subjects. “And, from now on, you will include Lady Rainbow Dash and her friends in that exclusion as well. They are to come and go as they please and you will be at their disposal for anything they may need.”
“I…but…” The guard broke off as Tiny took a small step forward, a not-so-friendly smile on his lips. He cleared his throat meaningfully and the guard bobbed his head. “Yes, my prince.” 
“Good.” Linden’s stern expression turned into a warm smile. “Now, open the doors and follow us—there’s been a theft.”
The guards immediately bowed again and rushed to obey. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were standing just inside the doors and the pink pony wasted no time in hopping out into the hall. 
“You’re back! Again!” she exclaimed. “Good morning Tiny! Oh, and Prince Linden, and Fletcher, and Lilac and Foxtail and guard ponies I don’t know. We can come out now, right?”
“Well, that was sure fast, Twi,” Applejack said. She blinked in surprise when she saw Linden standing next to the hovering Rainbow Dash. “Mornin’ your Highness. Wow, you two went right to the top, didn’t you?”
“It was through here, Prince Linden.” Twilight trotted briskly through the common room and into the bed chamber, pointing out the rifled saddlebags and their discarded belongings. Rarity was sitting in the midst of the mess, sifting through the contents of her own luggage.
“The ruffians!” she mourned, lifting a torn scarf with her magic. “This was from a boutique in Canterlot! The embroidery was all hoof-stitched.” She glanced up and let out a squeal of relief when she saw Linden and his friends. “Prince Linden, the most dreadful thing has happened!”
“So I heard, Miss Rarity. I promise I will do everything I can to have your belongings returned to you.”
Rarity blinked, one long-lashed eye twitching. “Oh, yes, of course, that. But I was talking about this!” She thrust the scarf towards the colt, her lip quivering. “It’s positively ruined! Whoever did this has to be the lowliest, most uncivilized wretch ever to—” Beyond the dumbfounded prince, she suddenly caught sight of Foxtail and her distraught expression darkened. “Ugg, this day just keeps getting better and better!”
Foxtail ignored the white unicorn and stepped up to Rainbow’s side. “My lady, time is short and we have so much to do. I need to take a full set of your measurements and get to work immediately.”
Rainbow raised a hoof uncertainly and leaned away from the older mare. “Doing what?” she asked, her eyes flickering about as though searching for a place to hide.
“Your schedule, princess,” Lilac Breeze informed her. She joined Foxtail in flanking the young pegasus, her eyes widening at the condition of Rainbow’s mane and the thin sheen of dirt still clinging to her coat. “Y-you have a busy day ahead of you. There’s tea with the queen, and a garden gathering with the courtly ladies, followed by an appearance at the afternoon council, and then you are to meet with several of the noble families—Lord Silver Heels and Baroness Lilywhisper have both sent invitations for luncheons with you…” The fussy pony shook her head in exasperation. “I doubt you’ll have a moment to relax all day.”
“Wait? What? No—I’m not doing any of that,” Rainbow protested. “We’ve been robbed and I need to help and I really need to talk to my friends—”
“That will all have to wait, princess.” Lilac pressed her head against Rainbow’s shoulder and began forcibly pushing her towards the bathing chamber. “First, let’s see what we can do about the condition of your coat and mane—you look like you bathed in a swamp!” 
Rainbow stumbled a few steps before planting her hooves indignantly. “It was a fountain,” she proclaimed. “And I’m not a princess.”
“Soon to be!” Foxtail burbled, beaming happily and holding up a bolt of fabric to Rainbow’s side to test the color. “Congratulations! How exciting—I get to design dresses for a royal wedding!”
“Excuse me! But if anypony is going to design a wedding dress for Rainbow, it will be me!” Rarity announced. She magicked the bolt of cloth out of Foxtail’s grasp and examined it with a grimace. “There is a knack to designing clothes for pegasi—they need fabrics that are light and airy so they don’t feel bogged down when they fly, and you have to make sure their wings remain free.”
“Hey! Nopony is designing anything for me.” Rainbow jumped over the two Saddellians and took refuge behind Applejack, who couldn’t help smirking at her. “I’m not going to any teas or luncheons or councils or whatever! I’m going to stay right here until we find out who stole the—”
“Necklaces!” Twilight interrupted, raising her eyebrows at her friends. “The beautiful matching necklaces I wanted us to wear during our meeting with the king.”
“Don’t forget the big crown thingee,” Pinkie Pie added from beside Tiny.
“Necklaces?” Fletcher grinned. “Well, that’s an easy fix. If you want necklaces, Linden can get all the best jewelers in the country to bring you whatever you want. Silver, gold, rubies, sapphires, and,” he nodded pointedly at the pendant still hanging from Rainbow’s throat, “emeralds.”
“That’s true!” Linden said, eagerly grasping this seemingly simple solution. “Miss Twilight, while I am grievously sorry for this and promise that we will seek and find the thief and your belongings, please allow me to replace them as Fletcher has suggested.”
“Oh, well, your highness, th-thank you, that’s, um, very generous. But the thing is, those necklaces—”
“—and the crown thingee!”
“Yes, and the crown thingee, um, they’re, uh, family heirlooms and very old and valuable.”
Linden nodded. “I understand. I will send out an alert throughout the castle and set a reward for the pony who finds your belongings.”
“Perhaps you could provide a picture,” Tiny suggested. “Then we will know what we are looking for.”
“Yes, yes, that is a wonderful idea,” Foxtail piped up. She dug several sheets of paper and a charcoal pencil from her supplies and passed them to Pinkie Pie. “Here you go! And while you’re busy with that, Lilac and I can get the princess-to-be ready.” Whirling around, she fixed Rainbow Dash with a sharp, amber eye. “Come along, my lady. We’ve already wasted too much time and I have no idea how I will possibly make you presentable in time to see the queen.”   
“B-but I…we need to…and I found out…” She caught Linden looking at her hopefully and knew he wanted to talk. She guessed it was inevitable, but as she looked into his blue eyes she realized she was just too tired and confused to deal with her muddled emotions. She still needed time to think and talk to her friends—they would be able to help her sort everything out. Grimacing, she lowered her ears to her head. “Fine,” she muttered. “Whatever. I’m too tired to argue right now.”
“Pinkie, why don’t you and Rarity go with Rainbow?” Twilight suggested, seeing that the pegasus could use some of her friends right now. “The rest of us will do what we can out here.”
“Aw!” Pinkie sat down and pouted. Somehow, she had produced a Sherlock Hooves hat and a bubble pipe. “But I’m good at looking for clues! And Fluttershy is her hoofmaiden—I’m the jester.”
“I know, but Fluttershy is the only one who can really speak to Gumdrop and he’s our only eyewitness.” She pointed a hoof at Rainbow, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable as the two earth ponies fussed over her. “And Rainbow could use some distraction.”
The pink pony looked back and forth between her friends and her signature grin popped back into place. “You’re right, Twilight!” The Sherlock hat vanished, instantly replaced by a pair of glasses with spirals on the eyes. “That’s exactly what she needs.” Bouncing to her hooves, she hopped after the depressed pegasus, who was being ushered towards the bathing chamber. “Hey, Dashie, what did the duck say to the squirrel?”
“Wait! Rainbow!” Linden trotted after her. “Please. We need to talk—the two of us.”
Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder. “I know,” she said, weariness evident in each word. “Just…not right now, okay?”
Linden opened his mouth to protest, but the pleading look in her eyes stopped him. Sighing, he sat down and nodded. “Okay.”
The pegasus gave him a small, grateful smile, then said, “I don’t know, Pinkie, what did the duck say to the squirrel?”
“How the hay should I know? I don’t speak duck. You should ask Fluttershy!” She dissolved into merry laughter. “Get it?” she burbled as the door closed behind them. “Ask Fluttershy!”
As Linden watched Rainbow walk away, Fletcher scratched his chin, puzzled.
“I don’t get it,” he said, but Tiny was pressing a hoof to his mouth, shaking with suppressed laughter. After a moment, he managed to compose himself and faced the pale, yellow pony with the tiny mouse in her mane. “Alright, Miss Fluttershy, what exactly did Gumdrop see?”
**
“My lady, I am so excited for you!” Lilac Breeze started warm water into the tub and sifted through the various bottles of soaps and perfumes. “I wasn’t able to go to the banquet, of course, but I heard it was wonderful! You are such a lucky girl!”
“I wish I could have seen the dance,” Foxtail said. She was busily trotting around Rainbow Dash, a measuring tape looped about her forehooves. With practiced ease, she took the measurements she needed and scratched them down before turning her attention to the bolts of fabric she’d brought with her. “It was all the kitchen and serving maids could talk about. They said it was so romantic—that you two were perfectly in sync and couldn’t stop looking into each other’s eyes.” She sighed happily, then pursed her lips and dragged a swath of dark green brocade away from Rarity. “It must have been lovely.”
“It will be the biggest wedding in the country. Ponies will come from all corners of the land.” Lilac smiled, then nudged Rainbow towards the tub. The pegasus flew up and lowered herself into the warm water, draping her forelegs over the edge and resting her chin on them. She really didn’t want to listen to the two busybodies prattle on, but it was either this or deal with Linden…and she really did need the bath.
“There will be feasts and probably another faire. Maybe another tourney to celebrate!” Foxtail exalted. She tapped her chin with a hoof thoughtfully. “Given all the planning involved, it will probably take place in late autumn, maybe even early winter. I can work with that—a silvery white maybe…”
Rainbow raised her head sharply, her ears perking. “Winter! No way!”
Foxtail and Lilac Breeze exchanged smiles. “See that? She’s so excited, she can hardly wait.”
“No! I mean, we’re not even going to be here come winter.”
“Not be here? But, my lady, wherever would you go? Not to the Blue Hills?”
“Back to Equestria, of course,” Rarity stated. She had relinquished the brocade and turned her attention on a roll of creamy lace, unwinding a length to wrap around her hoof. 
“Equestria?” Lilac Breeze repeated. She lifted a bucket of water and dumped it unceremoniously over Rainbow’s head, then poured a stream of pink-tinted soap onto her mane. “What reason would you have to return to Equestria, my lady? After you marry the prince, your home will be here.” She started to massage the soap into the multicolored strands and her hoof bumped the tender welt between Rainbow’s ears.
“Ow!”
Lilac yipped and jumped back, then tentatively parted Rainbow’s mane until she found the injury. “Oh, my lady! You have a large bump on your head.”
“I know!” Rainbow groused, her eyes squeezed shut in pain. “That’s why I said ow!”  She ducked out from beneath Lilac’s hooves and gently prodded her aching head.
“Darling, how in the world did that happen?” Rarity abandoned the fabric and hurried up the stairs to the small deck that surrounded the tub. Sitting down, she peered at Rainbow with concern and a bit of exasperation.
The throbbing had slowed to a dull ache and the pegasus opened her eyes again. She almost blurted out what she had learned at the quarry, but remembered Lilac Breeze and Foxtail just in time. “I-I don’t know,” she stammered lamely. “I was upset and flying and not looking where I was going, I guess. I think I hit a tree branch, or something. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’ll say!” Pinkie Pie had been searching through the bottles until she found the soap that would make the most bubbles. Now she was busily making beards and wigs from the suds and pulling funny faces to make Rainbow laugh. “Remember that time I was running behind you while you were flying, Dashie, and I was calling your name, but you kept saying you were busy, and I called your name again, and you said ‘Not now!’ and I tried again and then you flew right into that mountain and I was only trying to warn you not to hit the mountain?”
“Yeah, Pinkie, I remember.” Rainbow sank deeper into the warm water, feeling it soothing her wing muscles. “Mmm, I guess this isn’t so bad. I could sleep for a week after this.”
“I’m afraid there won’t be any time for sleeping until tonight, my lady. You have a very busy schedule today, and we’re already falling behind.”
Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “Schedule schmedule! I’ve been up all night!”
“That still won’t stop the queen and the council and the other nobles from expecting their soon-to-be princess from making her appearance. And then, of course, you have your afternoon date with Prince Linden. ” Before Rainbow could ask her what she meant by that, Lilac Breeze dumped another cup of water over her head and started the arduous process of making her presentable.  
**
“Well, we don’t have a lot to go on,” Tiny mused, picking up a box of spilled quills and passing them to Applejack. “Two ponies, neither of whom said anything during the act.” He shook his head and surveyed the tidied room. “It would have been helpful to be able to match voices.”
“Well, um, maybe Gumdrop would be able to recognize the guards if he saw them again.” Fluttershy kept her head down, pawing delicately at the rug. “I mean, that is, um, it’s just a suggestion.”
Fletcher frowned skeptically at the tiny mouse determinedly dragging three balloons across the floor to Pinkie Pie’s bag. “I don’t know, Fluttershy. If these two ponies were chasing him, trying to step on him as you said, he probably didn’t get the best look at their faces. He’s so short, his view had to be distorted.”
Gumdrop stopped and turned to face the colt, dropping the balloons and setting his miniscule paws on his hips. He squeaked thinly and Fluttershy gasped.
“Gumdrop! That’s not very nice! He’s only trying to help.”
“Only trying to…” Fletcher bent down closer to Gumdrop, who squeaked three more times while jabbing a paw at the colt’s snout. Fletcher turned to Fluttershy quizzically. “What did he just say?”
The yellow pony blushed and hid behind her hair. “Oh, I’d really rather, um, not say. Some of it was, uh, rather, um…”
Fletcher snorted and straightened, a look of complete bewilderment on his face. “Did I just get insulted by a mouse?”
“I’m sure it wasn’t the first time, Fletch,” Tiny said, deadpan.
“Probably not, but I only pointed out the obvious.” He turned away to help Applejack place their things in the room’s large wardrobe. “Not my fault he’s self-conscious about his height—or lack thereof.”
Gumdrop squeaked and started stomping across the room towards the colt, stopped only by Fluttershy, who pretended to cough on the pretense of putting her hoof on his tail.
Tiny’s ears twitched in amusement before he looked sadly at Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn sat on the chaise, the empty, velvet-lined box between her hooves. Her head was bowed as she stared mournfully into the empty space. “Miss Sparkle, I’m sorry we couldn’t help you more. I will report this to my father, and Linden will tell his parents and Lord Goldhoof. I’m sure the cleaning staff and other servants will all be questioned thoroughly. They will do what they can to get to the bottom of this and see that your items are duly returned to you.”
Twilight bobbed her head and sighed. “I understand. Thank you, Tiny. And you, Fletcher, and your Highness.”
Linden had also been quiet for the last few minutes, letting Tiny and Fletcher gather all the information while he sat on one of the chairs in the common room and stared at the door through which Lilac Breeze and Foxtail had dragged Rainbow Dash. He paid no attention to Twilight, who now shared a worried glance with Tiny.
“I guess we’ll be going,” the huge colt said, his voice pitched to reach the prince’s drooping ears. “Not much more we can do here and a busy day ahead of us, especially this afternoon.”
Linden perked up a little and turned their way, a smile brightening his handsome face. “You’re right. Busy day. Busy afternoon! Have to start getting ready.”
“What’s goin’ on this afternoon?” Applejack wanted to know. She and Fletcher were leaning on the wardrobe doors, trying to get them to close with all of Rarity’s clothing now stuffed inside. They shoved and strained until Tiny stepped up beside them, pushing the doors with one hoof until the latch clicked. Fletcher backed away with a gasp, giving his huge friend a withering look before smoothing his frazzled mane.
“The prince’s date with Rainbow Dash,” he replied.
Applejack blinked, then laughed. “Beg pardon?” She looked from Fletcher to the prince. “Date?”
“Apparently, the prince and his betrothed are supposed to have a “date” each day leading up to the wedding,” Fletcher explained. “To help them get to know each other better. It’s written in the laws.”
“I suppose it makes sense,” Twilight spoke up. “Since most of your royal marriages are arranged.”
“Makin’ sense or not, Ah don’t see how you’re gonna get Rainbow to go for it. That poor girl’s mighty upset and confused right now.”
Linden hopped down from the chair and, casting a last glance towards the bathing room door, said, “I know she is. She’s upset and angry and confused and thinks I betrayed her. But I didn’t—I never meant for her to be hurt.” He waved a hoof to his two friends and started to leave, but paused at the doors. “I really do love her,” he said, facing the girls again. “And I’m going to prove that to her, no matter how long it takes. Good morning, ladies.” Giving a short bow, he backed out of the room and the guards let the doors close behind him.
“Boy howdy,” Applejack breathed, removing her hat and looking worriedly at her friends. “Looks like we’re gonna be here longer than we thought.”

> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“…I don’t know if he was trying to make so much noise or not, but that’s when I flew off and came back here.” Rainbow paused and tilted her head -to her friends to see what they thought of her story. They were all on their way to the queen’s quarters for tea and the pegasus had taken advantage of being free of her two maids to tell the others what had happened to her during the night.
“So that’s what they’re doin’ with all the stolen ponies,” Applejack said in a low voice. “Ah wonder what they’re s’posed to be diggin’ for?”
“Gems maybe?” Twilight suggested. “For the royal treasury? They have to pay for things like tournaments and faires somehow.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Rainbow mused. “They were finding some gems, but I got the idea that they weren’t what the ponies were searching for.”
“I guess they’ll know when they find it,” Pinkie Pie said, unusually serious. “You know, I had a funny feeling about that place back when Linden showed it to us from the mountain.”
“Me too.” As they passed another pair of guards and started up the stairs to the royal quarters, Rainbow suddenly groaned and hung her head. “I really don’t want to do this. I feel ridiculous.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, Darling.” Rarity trotted up beside her polychromatic friend and eyed her tea dress approvingly. “While I certainly wouldn’t have gone with the braided trim, at least she took my advice and used the gossamer silk. And that shade is very becoming on you.”
Though Foxtail had refused to back down as Rainbow’s official seamstress, she and Rarity had reached an uneasy truce regarding her outfit for the morning’s activities. Rainbow was now dressed in a breezy, short-sleeved gown in a rose silk that nearly matched her eyes. A seafoam green braid lined the skirt and scooped neckline, and decorated the holes left for her wings. Strands of her mane had been braided and looped around her ears, held in place by sequined clips shaped like aster flowers. 
“It’s true, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said softly. She and the others had donned outfits borrowed from Rarity since Foxtail had been unable to supply them all with appropriate clothing in time and Rainbow had outright refused to go without any of her entourage. “You look lovely. I’m glad Rarity and Foxtail were able to agree on something for you.”
“Thanks, but I didn’t mean the clothes. I meant heading off for tea with a pony who had a hoof in tricking me, when we really should be finding out what’s going on at that quarry. That’s the reason we came here in the first place.”
“Ah’m with you a hundred percent, Rainbow, but Ah really don’t see any way ‘round it. You’re kinda a public figure here now, whether you like it or not. Flyin’ off in a snit last night was one thing, but you cain’t really blow off an invitation from the queen, now can you? Not without drawin’ some suspicion.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Rainbow sighed in annoyance. “Still seems like a huge waste of time.”
Twilight paused abruptly. “You’re right!”
“Huh?” Her five friends stared at her, dumbfounded.
“You get a bump on your head like Rainbow, Sugarcube?” Applejack queried.
“No, I’m fine. But I just realized that there might be a way to fix Rainbow’s dilemma. They said that the rules of the betrothal are written in the Saddellian laws…well, maybe there’s a loophole in those laws that we can use to our advantage.” 
“Something that says Rainbow Dash doesn’t have to marry Linden if she doesn’t want to?” Fluttershy asked.
“Exactly!” Twilight grinned broadly. “We just have to find it!”
“And how are we going to do that during tea, and council meetings, and garden parties?” Rainbow said sarcastically.
“Easy. You don’t need your entire entourage for tea and garden parties. You go to them and keep the Saddellians happy, and I’ll do what I do best!”
Her friends all exchanged confused looks. “Lecture them?” they said in unison.
Twilight huffed. “No! Study! Linden said we’re still allowed to come and go as we please, so I’ll see what I can find in the palace library. Maybe I can even uncover some clues about the quarry.” 
“That’s a great idea, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Nopony knows how to study better than you!”
“Yeah!” Rainbow brightened considerably. “If anyone can figure out a way to get me out of this, it’s you.”
“Right! So you girls go have tea. I’ll meet you back in the rooms later.” Almost giddy at the prospect of having a study assignment, Twilight whirled around and cantered back down the stairs.
The remaining five continued down the plush, lavishly decorated hall, passing tapestries and statues and huge vases stuffed with fresh flowers. Beveled glass covers on the lanterns cast tiny rainbows on the thick carpet that muffled their hoofsteps, and each servant they encountered bowed or curtseyed to the prince’s betrothed. By the time they reached the doors to the queen’s solarium, Rarity was in raptures at the sheer elegance.
A russet-colored colt in a royal tabard opened the doors to admit them to a large, corner chamber lit by enormous windows. Bright Song was already inside, seated at a round table with several of her own hoofmaids. She was talking to a plump, canary yellow mare when they arrived, but broke off in mid-sentence to prance across the room and give Rainbow Dash an affectionate nuzzle.
“Good morning, my dear! I’m so glad to see you back, safe and sound. You had us all so worried last night! But here you are—and looking so lovely. I see Foxtail has been working her magic and…” She faltered to a stop, a wave of hurt crossing her face when Rainbow pulled away from her. “Oh, you’re still angry with me, aren’t you?”
Rainbow stared at her with wounded eyes, clearly remembering how Bright Song had manipulated her, singing the praises of the Blue Hills when she had really been trying to trap her. 
“How could you?” she accused. “You never said anything to me.”
“And would you have acted any different if I had?” Bright Song countered. “My dear, we never meant to hurt you. I thought you would be surprised, maybe shocked, but in the end you would realize the benefits of such an arrangement.” She gestured to the table and her own waiting ladies, but Rainbow held her ground, scowling. The queen sighed. “Rainbow, please, I know it is upsetting, but we only have the best intentions towards you and my son. Now, I have had a wonderful repast prepared for us and somepony I would love you to meet—let us sit and talk, alright?”
Rainbow hesitated, but Rarity gave her a tiny nudge and cleared her throat demurely. Relenting, the pegasus trotted across the room and took a seat at the table. The canary yellow mare nodded at her, smiling sweetly.
“This is Duchess Buttercream,” Bright Song told her as a pretty, but gawky young filly with a navy coat scrambled to pour tea into their cups. “She and her husband, Duke Eagleclaw, are good friends of the crown. She greatly wanted to meet you today.”
Buttercream giggled like a filly and pressed a hoof to her cheek. “It’s my pleasure!” she chortled in a shrill, yet breathy voice. “I saw your performance at the tourney yesterday and couldn’t believe my eyes! It was like you walked on the air!” She paused long enough to take a quick breath and instructed the filly to add plenty of cream and four sugars to her tea, then continued to gush, “And those tricks! When you dived the audience, and then made the lightning! I jumped so high! So exciting!”
Rainbow smiled in spite of herself. She loved hearing ponies praise her flying prowess and the stunts she worked so hard to perfect.
“Thanks! It took me a month to get that one down.” She sat back to let the filly add a small amount of cream to her tea, but shook her head after the first lump of sugar. “I kept braking a little too late—good thing I was practicing over a lake.”
Buttercream burst into a braying peal of laughter that made them all jump. “A lake. Oh dear, that is so precious!” Shaking with mirth, she helped herself to several little pumpkin tarts and plopped another on Rainbow’s plate. “Here, my dear. Try one of these. You’re so slim—though I suppose that’s from all the flying about that you do.” She tsked and ate an entire tart in a single bite, her deep blue eyes raking over the young pegasus. “And such a pretty little thing with all those bright colors. Linden is one lucky colt, and you are one lucky filly to have caught his eye.”   
Rainbow had just dipped her muzzle into her cup of tea, but the mare’s words made her snort and the hot beverage went up her nose. While she was sputtering and coughing, Applejack took advantage of the moment to change the subject and addressed the smiling queen.
“Your Majesty, Ah hate to have to tell you this, but mah friends and I had some trouble when we got back to our rooms last night. Seems somepony broke in while we were all busy at the banquet and stole some pretty valuable things from Twilight’s saddlebags.”
The queen went very still for a moment, her smile falling away. “Stole?” she repeated slowly. “I…I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Applejack glanced at her friends confusedly. “Well, ma’am, Twilight has this really valuable set of necklaces. She brought ‘em with her for us to wear when we all met with the king, but they were taken last night.”
“You’re saying someone in the castle stole your things?” Buttercream queried. “My my!”
“Yes, and since we were all locked in our rooms,” Rarity added, “we couldn’t alert anypony to what had happened.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow wiped the tea off her nose with a napkin. “What’s with that? Why were they locked in? Why did they try to lock me in when I got back? If I hadn’t flown out a window and found Linden, we’d probably still be locked in.”
“Ahh, found Linden, did you?” Buttercream winked conspiratorially and draped a dramatic hoof across her chest. “Went straight to the waiting hooves of her prince for solace and aid. How romantic!”
Rainbow blushed deeply. “No! That’s not what happened at all. He was just the first pony I bumped into—literally! I mean, he wanted to help, but I didn’t go looking for him in particular. I was actually looking for Goldhoof, because he’s the one who ordered us locked in.”
Now Bright Song seemed to flinch. She turned her head, suddenly very busy with her cup of tea. After a long silence, she murmured, “Well, that is certainly very odd. I will speak to my husband. I’m sure he will want the staff questioned regarding the whereabouts of your belongings.”
“Linden and Tiny are already on it. Tiny said he was going to talk to his father.”
The queen brightened. “Oh, wonderful! They will have this little mystery solved in no time, I’m sure.”
“Oh yes. No time at all!” Buttercream agreed readily. “Now, let’s move on to more pleasurable topics.” She leaned closer to Rainbow Dash, smiling meaningfully. “Like your wedding! You must be so excited! There is so much to plan! Have you considered your colors yet? What about your flowers? You’ve got your friends here, but you must have some of the Saddellian girls in your party. And have you met my youngest son yet, Hawkeye? He’s a page here in the castle and I know Linden adores him. He would be the cutest little ring colt for you!”
Rainbow managed to stifle a groan and busied herself with eating several pumpkin tarts in a row, so all she had to do was nod in what seemed the appropriate places. As the duchess prattled on and on about the details of what would surely be the “grandest celebration in memory”, Rainbow wondered how Twilight was doing down in the library and surprised herself by wishing she could be with her. Who would have guessed that she would want to become an egghead, just so she could avoid becoming a princess?
**
Twilight Sparkle paused at the doorway to the palace library and briefly closed her eyes, letting the familiar scent of dusty, old books wash over her. She smiled and sighed contentedly, then trotted into the vast room, gazing up at the tapestries that hung on the walls between the floor to ceiling windows. Each one was an elaborate scene from the legends of the Savvy Stallion, showing the titular character in his many clever exploits. She had already spent several hours studying them, but still found the intricate work fascinating and beautiful. And there was something inspiring about them as well—if anypony could trick his way out of this mess, it was the Savvy Stallion.
And if anypony could find a loophole hidden within the thousands of books available, it was her.
She trotted first to what she knew was the history section. It was an E shaped series of shelves in the back right corner of the room, close to a tapestry depicting a scene of the Savvy Stallion being menaced by a massive, green dragon. It reminded her a little of the time she and her friends had faced down a dragon, though Fluttershy hadn’t looked anywhere near as smug and self-satisfied as the stallion. 
“Well, it you can beat a dragon with just a…” She paused, glancing closer at the tapestry, “…butter churn and an accordion, I’m sure we can keep Rainbow Dash from walking down the aisle. Let’s get started.”
She pulled a wide set of rolling stairs close and started perusing the volumes. She immediately discarded such titles as Salt, a History, and The Practical Pony’s Guide to Pumpkins, which had obviously been misplaced. She set that aside to move to the gardening section, then began pulling out books that showed promise. Soon, she was groaning under the weight of a teetering pile that seemed determined to tumble free of the tenuous grip of her magic and she hurried to the tables on the center of the room before she dropped them. Stacking them neatly in order of author, age, and potential, she pulled up a cushioned bench and started to read.
Two hours later she slammed the fifth book closed with a frustrated grunt and sat up to stretch, only to yip in shock to find a flame-colored colt sitting beside her.
“Aah!”
“And I thought I was serious when it came to studying,” Nightfire said.
“H-how long have you been there, uh, here?” Twilight stammered.
“About ten minutes. Maybe fifteen.” He shrugged. “Long enough to see that you wrinkle your nose and stick out your tongue when you find something interesting.”
Twilight blushed. “Oh, w-well, I was just concentrating.”
“So I noticed. You’re not spending the day at court with Lady Dash? I would have thought you’d be fascinated by something like that.”
“Well, yes, seeing the king preside over a session at court did sound interesting, but the others are helping her with that today. I’ve been tasked with, uh, a little project.”
Nightfire’s eyes scanned the titles of the pile nearest to him. “History?” he queried, suddenly sounding a little anxious. “You’re reading about Saddellian history?” With an awkward little laugh, he reached for the top book. “Mind if I see what could possibly have you so enthralled, because I might have to check it out if it’s really good?” The book was a massive tome with a worn blue cover. Nightfire squinted at the faded title. “Genealogy of the Family Buckthorn.” Frowning, he opened the book to a random page and started to read aloud, “Moonshadow, female, daughter of Saffron and Stormswatch; born fifth day of Spring, Year of Drought; blue coat, green and white mane, chartreuse eyes. Sweet Brook, female, daughter of Moonshadow and Feldspar; born twenty-third day of Autumn, Year of High Wheat; pale blue coat, lavender mane, gray eyes.” He closed the book with a snort. “Actually, I think I’m going to pass on this. Maybe when I finish that great documentary on watching grass grow.”
Twilight laughed and tugged the book out of his grasp with her magic. “Nopony asked you to read it!”
“True. But why are you reading it? Lady Rainbow Dash is interested in obscure Saddellian genealogy?”
“Not really, but I’m not really sure where to start, so I got a bit of everything for research.”
Nightfire perked up. “Research, huh? Well, now we’re talking my language. Maybe I could help get you started. I know this library like the back of my hooves. What are you trying to find out?”
“Oh, um, well, I’m sort of looking for some information on the…the marriage laws of Saddellia.” She ducked her head guiltily as realization dawned on the colt’s face. 
“Oh! I mean, uh…I get it. You’re trying to see if you can find a way to get Rainbow Dash out of marrying Linden.”
“Yes,” Twilight said softly, then continued in a rush, “I’m sorry, Nightfire, I know he’s your friend and he’s a great pony, but she’s my friend and what’s happening here isn’t fair and…” She broke off for a second, closing her eyes as she imagined not only failing in the task set for them by Princess Celestia, but also going back to Equestria without Rainbow Dash. The thought made her stomach hurt.
“Linden told me what happened when you all left the banquet after the announcement. I guess saying Rainbow was upset is a bit of an understatement.”
“In the same way that calling a dragon a lizard is an understatement.”
“Right. And Linden seems to have caught the dragon by the tail.”
Twilight’s purple eyes suddenly narrowed. “Wait, Linden is your friend. Did you know what was going on? Did you know that the king and queen were planning to trap Rainbow by giving her the Blue Hills?”
Nightfire jerked back, his own eyes widening in surprise. Hurriedly, he shook his head. “Twilight, on my honor, I didn’t know until you and your friends did. I don’t even think Fletcher and Tiny knew.” His brow furrowed and he nickered thoughtfully. “In fact, I’m not even sure Linden himself knew until that meeting with his father.”
“But surely he knew about the laws! He must have suspected that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be happy to marry against her will.”
“Actually, I honestly don’t think he did. He seemed completely baffled by it all when I spoke to him.”
Twilight frowned and tapped her hoof on the table. “I find that very hard to believe. He’s the prince! He has to know about the laws and rules of his own country, doesn’t he? I would have thought such things would be part of his schooling.”
“Well, that’s the thing about Linden. He’d rather be out in the mountains and forests, exploring the land, than cooped up at a table with his nose in a book. His teachers had a hard enough time getting him to sit still for the basics, let alone the obscure history and laws.”
“He and Rainbow really are perfect for each other,” Twilight said with a sigh, then blushed guiltily. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
Nightfire smiled, then suddenly hopped off his bench. “Well, let’s get to work.”
“Work? You’re going to help me?”
“Of course. Like I said, I know this library. Between the two of us, we should find something to help Rainbow, if it indeed exists.”
“I…what about Linden? He’s one of your best friends. Won’t he be upset if he finds out you helped me?”
“Frankly, Twilight, I’m doing him a favor, and Linden’s smart enough to realize that eventually. Rainbow is a great mare and I really like her, but I have a feeling that she could make my friend truly miserable if she’s kept here against her will. If he wants her, he’s going to have to convince her to stay of her own accord.”
The purple unicorn hung her head. “I feel sorry for him…Rainbow’s had her heart set on joining the Wonderbolts since she was a filly. She’ll never give up on that dream, even for the chance to be a princess.”
“You never know.” Nightfire shrugged. “She loves flying, that’s true, but I’ve seen the way she looks at Linden. The heart works in mysterious ways.” Leaving Twilight to ponder that revelation, he turned and trotted off into the rows of shelves.
**
“Well, that was certainly, uh, interesting.” Rarity glanced sideways as the blue pegasus walking beside her snorted. “I mean, it dragged on a little.” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. “And there were a few times when they seemed to be contradicting each other just for the sake of obstinacy.”  Her friend started to grind her teeth together and Rarity swallowed nervously. “Still, it gave a lot of insight into the workings of the Saddellian government and—”
“It was a complete waste of time!” Rainbow suddenly blurted, her wings flaring so forcefully that she rose several inches off the ground. “What a load of horseapples! I could have been helping Twilight in the library—or even better, napping!”
Rainbow was in a sour mood. She was still exhausted from her long flight and lack of sleep, her stomach was growling, and her ankles hurt. They had just left the royal council session, which had been as dull and useless as she’d expected it to be. Like the session at court that had preceded it, she hadn’t even been allowed to speak, but had been expected to sit quietly like a statue while the council members went about their business.  She’d found it so hard to keep her eyes open as the stuffy, nobles droned on and on about taxes and levies and the expenses of feeding and housing the royal guard, that Applejack and Rarity had taken turns kicking her awake.
“At least it’s over now and we get to spend some time outside,” Fluttershy whispered, giving Rainbow a gentle nuzzle to soothe her frazzled nerves. “It’s such a beautiful day and the gardens should be nice and shady.” She raised her head and breathed in deep. “Mmm! You can smell the flowers already.”
Rainbow found herself smiling and lifting her own muzzle to sniff the aroma of blossoms. “Fluttershy, you could find the good side of a tornado.”
The yellow pony tilted her head thoughtfully. “Well, sometimes you need to move big things, like trees and houses, only really quickly.”
Her four friends burst into laughter as they stepped into the garden, past a pair of attendant ponies who bowed low to Rainbow Dash and welcomed her to high tea. Immediately, a white mare in a blue dress trotted over and dipped a curtsey. 
“Good afternoon, Princess Rainbow!” she said with a welcoming smile. “The ladies have gathered under the golden willow for now. Please, follow me.”
“Sure, but, uh, I’m not a princess,” Rainbow said as she fell in beside the mare.
“Oh, but it has been announced, my lady—you’re as good as now.” She glanced sideways at Rainbow Dash. “I am Moon Shimmer, of Willow Brook. Lady Tiger Lily is my retainer.”
Rainbow nodded, though she had no idea what a retainer was. “Nice to meet you.”
“Oh look! It’s so pretty!” Fluttershy exclaimed in her delicate voice. 
A huge, golden willow tree stood in the center of the garden, trailing slender branches clear to the ground and forming a dense, leafy cave large enough to shelter two laden tables and a dozen well dressed ponies. They all turned as the girls approached and another attendant pushed aside the branches to let them enter.
“Princess! How lovely to see you again so soon!” Buttercream broke away from the refreshment table and pranced to Rainbow’s side. “I know how busy you have been today, so here is your chance to relax a little. Come—I will introduce you to the ladies of the court.”
Rainbow gave the mare a sickly smile while rolling her eyes in panic towards her friends. As Buttercream gently but persistently nudged her towards the first group of ladies, she desperately reached out and hooked her hoof around Rarity’s leg, forcing the unicorn to follow her.
Left to their own devices for the time being, Applejack drifted towards the refreshment table while Pinkie unabashedly bounced away to introduce herself and suggest some party games. Alone, Fluttershy nervously pawed the ground, wondering if she should follow Applejack or take her place at Rainbow’s side as her lady-in-waiting. She ducked behind her hair, peeking from side to side, until she spotted a familiar periwinkle blue mare with a round ball of silvery grey fur curled in the crook of her hoof. A squee escaped her and she hurriedly trotted to the mare’s side.
“Is it a kitten?” she asked, eagerly. “May I see it, please?”
Wild Rose looked at Fluttershy in surprise for a moment and glanced quickly towards the refreshment table, then reluctantly turned her hoof so the pegasus could look more closely at the animal. It was definitely not a kitten, and unlike anything Fluttershy had ever seen. At first, she thought it was a squirrel, but it was more plump and had a thinner tail. The face was very similar to a mouse, complete with oildrop bright eyes and rounded ears, but it was the size of a small rabbit. The fur was thick and glossy, with a distinct silvery sheen.
“It’s so cute!” she exclaimed. “Is it a…what is it? A squirrel-mouse?”
“It’s called a chinchilla,” Wild Rose told her. Emboldened by Fluttershy’s genuine interest, she held the little animal out further, inviting the pegasus to pet it. The little animal leaned forward, nose and whiskers twitching curiously as Fluttershy stroked its head. She gasped, delighted.
“It’s so wonderful! What’s his name?” 
Wild Rose smiled shyly, her face glowing with happy pride as she hugged the little creature close. “Thank you. Her name is Shadow.”
“I’ve never seen anything like her before. I’ve never even heard of a chinchilla.” Fluttershy couldn’t resist stroking Shadow again. “So soft! My bunnies aren’t even that soft.”
“You have bunnies?”
“I have all kinds of animals. Bunnies and pussy cats and goats and ducks and squirrels.” She turned slightly so the other pony could see the three butterflies emblazoned on her flank. “It’s how I got my cutie mark. I love all the little critters and help take care of them back home.” She gestured to the chinchilla. “I would love to get something like her. My other animals would love her so much—where did you find her?”
Wild Rose’s smile faded away so quickly Fluttershy feared that she had insulted the pony.
“Oh, I’m sorry! It’s a secret, isn’t it? Th-that’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“It’s alright” Wild Rose admitted, drawn in by Fluttershy’s genuine admiration of her pet. She nuzzled the chinchilla affectionately. “They only live in the really high places in the mountains—up in the rocky meadows where it’s cold, which is why they have such thick fur.”
“Wow! You went up in the mountains and found her? You must be like Prince Linden and really like exploring.”
The periwinkle pony giggled and shook her head vehemently. “Not me! I’ve never even been away from the capital city. My parents would never allow it. I found her during a faire last year. It was raining and the merchant had her locked in a little cage out in the open. She was all wet and the cage was dirty—I couldn’t leave her there.”
“Of course you couldn’t!” Fluttershy stared at the chinchilla sitting contentedly on Wild Rose’s leg, horrified to picture her cold and hungry, with bedraggled fur and dull eyes. “She was lucky you found her—now she’s safe and happy.”
“Mm hmm.” Wild Rose’s eyes flickered over Fluttershy’s head, her smile stilling momentarily. Curious, Fluttershy glanced around and saw the pony’s twin staring at them. Her gaze was so cold that Fluttershy’s ears drooped and she ducked her head with a tiny squeak.
“I guess you’re not supposed to be talking to me,” she whispered. “Your sister and friend don’t seem to like us much.” She then noticed that the mauve-coated mare standing beside Petal Soft was not Star Trillium, but an older pony with a stern set to her shoulders and a frown wrinkle on an otherwise elegant face. At the moment, that frown was directed towards the large trunk of the willow tree, where Rainbow Dash sat surrounded by the other courtly ladies. Star Trillium, she realized, was nowhere to be seen.
Wild Rose watched her sister subtly beckon her for a moment, then gave a small sigh. “Trillium has been in line to marry Prince Linden since she was a foal. Her parents are two of the most influential ponies in the country with some of the most prosperous land holdings. Her mother is a duchess whose noble line can be traced back for more than a hundred years. So can you blame Trillium for being upset when your flashy, flying friend shows up and steals the prince from right under her nose?”
Fluttershy gaped at her. “Is that what you think happened? Because Rainbow Dash never wanted any of this.”
Wild Rose scoffed. “Oh, I’m sure!” she said sarcastically. “Because no mare would actually want to marry the most eligible bachelor in the country, who just happens to be one of the most handsome colts also. And never mind that such a marriage would make such a mare instant royalty, with all that entails. But your friend just wants to fly away from all that, huh?”
“Actually, yes,” Fluttershy replied, her soft, gentle tone adding validity to her statement. Wild Rose blinked twice and glanced uncertainly towards Rainbow Dash.
“Really?”
“I won’t deny that Rainbow likes Linden a lot,” Fluttershy admitted, “but there is this elite flying group back in Equestria called the Wonderbolts, and she has dreamed of joining them since she was a little filly. If she stayed here, she would never get her chance to prove herself to them.”
“Oh, I didn’t know.” The Saddellian mare bit her lip, then lowered her head and whispered conspiratorially, “Truth to tell, Trillium was supposed to be here with her mother, but she hasn’t left her room since the banquet last night. Her mother…” she glanced quickly at the mare near her sister and her voice lowered even further. Fluttershy had to lean forward to hear her properly. “Calla Lily has always felt that Trillium should be the princess, and then the queen when Linden takes the throne. Trillium has all the proper bloodlines and breeding and the family has given their support to the crown for years so they would be held in especial favor. She wasn’t pleased with Lady Rainbow Dash’s performance at the tourney and she was positively livid after the banquet. She thinks Trillium didn’t try hard enough to curry Linden’s favor, so he passed her by.”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy murmured. “I didn’t know. Poor Trillium.” She suddenly saw the mauve mare in a new light. Seeing Linden with Rainbow Dash must have been a terrible blow to her, especially with her mother pushing her so hard.
Wild Rose cocked her head, eyeing Fluttershy skeptically, then shrugged as she decided that this fellow animal lover could be trusted. “If you want my personal opinion, I think she only chased Linden because of her mother. I’ve seen the way she looks at High Stepper and it’s with a lot more interest than Linden.”
“Really? Uh, who is High Stepper, if it’s not too much trouble? I don’t think I’ve met him.”
“Probably not. He’s a soldier in the Castle Guard—has some prospects to become one of the King’s Guard. He’s not from any real family and has no land holdings or money that he stands to inherit. Her parents would never allow such a paring.”
“But, if she loves him and he loves her…” Fluttershy protested.
Wild Rose raised her eyes and smiled dreamily. “Marry for love? That would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? Like something out of a minstrel’s ballad.”
As if called by her words, the minstrel Lightfoot and his partner appeared to play for the ladies. Wild Rose’s eyes brightened joyfully and she gave Fluttershy a friendly nudge. “Time for the music! I hope he plays The Legend of Diamond Eyes and the Tailor. It’s my favorite. Come on, let’s get something to eat and you can hold Shadow while we listen.”
“That would be nice,” Fluttershy agreed, and followed the mare to the refreshment table.
**
When the music started and all attention turned to the players, Rarity breathed a small sigh of relief and helped herself to a cup of pumpkin punch. For the last half hour she had stayed by Rainbow’s side, helping the pegasus deal with the unfamiliar attention of courtly, sophisticated ponies. Rainbow had no trouble regaling the ladies with tales of her sonic rainboom and other flying achievements, but questions about her bloodlines and economic plans for her new land holdings made her eyes glaze over. That was when Rarity had delicately assumed control of the conversation, using all the lessons she had learned when dealing with the ponies of Canterlot. The Saddellian ladies were not very different than those of Equestria’s capital city and delighted in tales of fashion, style, and wealth, and they had been very eager to speak to the white unicorn, once Rainbow Dash chimed in and informed them that she trusted Rarity with all her fashion designs back home.
Still, it was a relief to finally sit on a tufted cushion in the shade of the willow and relax to the music. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, she preferred the casual, laid-back attitude of Ponyville. It was wearying to keep up such dignified appearances all the time.
She recognized the musician from the faire and smiled when he started to play. His voice was wonderful, deep and mellow and full of emotion as he wove tales of love and longing and loss with his music. His pale green partner sat slightly behind him, eyes downcast as she accompanied sweetly on a wooden flute.
A gentle lull fell over the garden, all conversation hushed to enjoy the music. The day was hot, but the shade made it bearable, and the drinks mingling with the food on the laden table were refreshingly cool. She sipped her punch and lost herself in an epic sonnet of a displaced prince struggling through all manner of travails to return to his beloved, only to find a cruel sorcerer had assumed his likeness in his absence and was on the brink of marrying the mare.
It was terribly romantic, especially when the wronged prince called for a duel between himself and the imposter for the right of the mare’s hoof. The gaggle of females in the garden all sighed and swooned, though Rarity noticed both Applejack and Rainbow Dash rolling their eyes. 
As the song came to a bittersweet close, Pinkie Pie sidled up to Lightfoot and whispered in his ear. The stallion grinned at her and tapped the belly of his mandolin, picking up the tempo. Seconds later, a perky, playful melody filled the air and Pinkie Pie called for the ladies to join her in a dance. Most looked startled and confused, a few scandalized—one dark pink mare standing near the twin named Petal Soft was scowling darkly, though her eyes were fixed on Rainbow rather than Pinkie. 
As the pink pony made the usual spectacle of herself and tried to get more to join her, Rarity trotted over to the pale green musician and gave her a gentle smile.
“Your music is just lovely,” she said. “I’ve never heard that song before—so sweet and sad at the same time. You sang the mare’s part beautifully.”
“Thank you, Miss,” the musician murmured.
“I found it a little odd, though, about the villain. The song didn’t say he was a unicorn, but he was obviously using powerful magic to trick an entire kingdom. Were there unicorns in Saddellia before?”
“Unicorns?” The earth pony glanced at Rarity’s horn, then looked away with a small shrug. “I wouldn’t know, Miss.”
“Well, I thought Saddellia was founded wholly by earth ponies. Lord Goldhoof is something of an anomaly here, isn’t he? But I suppose it could be possible that Saddellia had unicorns in the past.”
“I guess…but as I said, Miss, I wouldn’t know. I don’t really know that much history.” 	
There was something odd, yet strangely familiar about her speaking voice, an accent Rarity couldn’t quite place. She glanced surreptitiously at the mare’s flank, hoping her cutie mark might give her some clue, but the two entwined thistles didn’t spark any memories she could recall.
“Oh, that’s alright. I just found it curious and I thought you might know,” Rarity said smoothly, though she found it odd that a minstrel didn’t know even a little of the history behind the songs she sang.
She was just about to ask the mare her name and what part of Saddellia she came from, when a flustered Lilac Breeze appeared in the garden. After apologizing to the ladies for interrupting their music and enjoyment, she pointedly told Rainbow Dash that she had to return to the castle if she was to get ready for her date with Linden.
The ladies like Buttercream all smiled and tittered, winking knowingly at Rainbow Dash, but Rarity noted that the mauve mare wrinkled her nose and turned abruptly, sauntering out of the garden without a word.
They had barely stepped through the doors to the Emerald Rooms when Rainbow caught Rarity and, ignoring the duel entreaties of Foxtail and Lilac Breeze, frantically pushed her into the bedchamber. 
“What in the world! Rainbow Dash! What—you’re mussing my mane—let me go!”
Rainbow released her and backed away, trotting a nervous circle around the spacious room and shaking her head. After a moment, she sat on her haunches and took a deep breath, but instead of speaking, she began to chew on her lip.
“Darling, what is it?” Rarity hurried to her side and gave her a gentle nuzzle. “What’s the matter? Is it this marriage to Linden? Because, Darling, you don’t have to worry—we are going to find a way to get you out of—” 
“I…uh…I need some advice,” Rainbow interrupted. She raised a hoof and ran it over her mane, scowling when it tangled on the elaborate ornaments Foxtail had woven into the multicolored strands. Freeing herself, she lowered her voice and added, “And I swear, Rarity, you can’t tell anypony this…not Twilight or Pinkie, and especially not Applejack.”
Rarity blinked and almost chuckled, but Rainbow looked so agitated that she swallowed the impulse and nodded gravely.
“Of course, Rainbow Dash. You have my promise that I will keep the strictest of confidences. Now, whatever is the matter?”
“Well, um…” Rainbow tapped her hoof on the floor and smiled nervously. “I need you to tell me how to go on a date.”   




> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun was just starting to edge towards evening when Linden arrived at the doors of the Emerald Rooms. He was immaculately groomed and dressed in a tunic bearing the royal colors and crest. Even his mane and tail, usually a little haphazard, had been carefully brushed. When Applejack opened the door, she had to admit that he looked very handsome…and incredibly nervous.
He had thought to bring flowers to Rainbow Dash, but his nervous fidgeting had mutilated the bouquet until only a few broken daisies and a sprig of fern tied in a ribbon remained.
“Evenin’ your Highness,” she said wryly, stepping aside to let the prince into the sitting room. Tiny and Fletcher, also immaculately groomed, followed close behind, and Fletcher gave Applejack a knowing wink as he passed her before sidling up to where Rarity sat. 
“Well, don’t you look nice tonight,” the white unicorn told him archly. “One would think you had the date planned.”
“Hmm, I think you’re right,” Fletcher replied. “And it would be a shame to let such a perfect mane day go to waste. Join me for a walk through the gardens then?”
Rarity blinked, surprised by the unexpected invitation. “Oh, well, I would love to, but…” 
“Aw, come on. Please? It’s going to be a beautiful, clear night, the moon will be full, and I know of this little spot by a pond where it will shine on the water like a thousand perfect diamonds.” When Rarity’s eyes began to glow at the thought, Fletcher leaned a little closer. “Though it will pale to the sparkle of your eyes.”
Rarity gasped and blushed, looking away from the handsome colt as Pinkie, Tiny, and Applejack snorted laughter.
“Sweet talker, that one,” Applejack said. “Bet he could charm a bird right out of its nest.”
Before Fletcher could say anything in reply, Rainbow Dash stepped out of the bathing chamber with Foxtail and Fluttershy at her heels. Linden took one look at her and the remaining daisies and fern tumbled to the floor as his mouth dropped open.
Foxtail beamed at this reaction and hurriedly nudged Fluttershy aside so Rainbow stood by herself under the prince’s admiring eyes. Her mane and tail had been brushed so much that the rainbow locks fell in soft, loose waves, and her coat was a bright, glossy blue. Foxtail had outdone herself with a dress made of a sheer, airy fabric that seemed to float around the pegasus like a mist. The loose butterfly sleeves falling gracefully to the backs of her knees were held by a thin braid of silver cord to a bodice the color of moonlight on winter snow. The skirt started out in this same shimmery white, but gradually transitioned through deeper shades of blue until the hem that flowed around her hooves was the color of midnight. This effect on its own would have been striking, but a last minute suggestion from Rarity had seen the skirt highlighted with swooping whirls and spirals of tiny, light-catching gemstones so reminiscent of stars that it seemed as though Rainbow was draped in a piece of fallen sky. Foxfire had added to this allusion with a moonstone headband sweeping Rainbow’s bangs away from her ruby eyes.
“Whoa!” Fletcher breathed, drawing a pouty glower from Rarity.
“’Bout time you got here.” Rainbow trotted up to Linden and cocked her head questioningly. “Any news? Did you find them?”
“Did I fi—wh—I, uh…huh?” Linden shook his head helplessly, too busy staring at her to understand what she said. After a moment, Tiny gently kicked his hock and he managed to find his voice, stammering, “Y-you look wonderful.”
The blue pegasus made a show of rolling her eyes in exasperation, but couldn’t stop a blush from showing on her cheeks. To hide it, she flapped her wings and hovered in the air, where she always felt more comfortable and at ease.
“Thanks,” she replied curtly. “But that’s not what I asked. Did you find our, uh, necklaces yet? Do you know who stole them?”
Linden had tipped his head up to continue gazing at her dreamily. Now he blinked, coming back to reality. Quickly, he straightened his shoulders and gave her an abashed look.
“Not yet, I’m afraid.” Seeing Twilight Sparkle droop in disappointment, he hurriedly added, “But it’s only been a few hours. I haven’t given up. I have informed Aster of the issue and he is currently questioning and searching the quarters of all the ponies who have had access to this floor in the last day. I also spoke to the commander of the castle guard and the guard barracks will be searched thoroughly. We will find them, Twilight, I promise, but it may take some time.”
Twilight nodded unhappily. “Thank you, Prince Linden. I’m sure you’re doing everything you can.”
“So, what do you have planned for your date?” Pinkie Pie asked suddenly. She smiled eagerly at Linden, her blue eyes shining. “Is it a romantic, candlelight dinner, or maybe more dancing because you both looked so wonderful dancing? Ooh, I know! You’re both going to climb to the top of a mountain and find some stars and rename the stars to something funny so that only the two of you will know and then you’ll always have that group of stars to remember your wonderful date by?” Throughout this litany, Pinkie managed to pantomime a gourmet dinner, a complete ballroom dance, and somehow ended up draped across Tiny’s wide back with her forehooves pressed to her heart.
Linden smiled nervously under her scrutiny and took a deliberate step to the side to get out from under her gaze. This put him beside Rainbow Dash and his smile immediately softened as she looked at him expectantly.
“She’ll have to wait and see,” he replied cryptically.
“A mystery?” Rainbow asked, intrigued despite herself.
Linden only winked and started for the door. “My lady,” he said, bowing low and gesturing to the corridor.
Rainbow cast a quick glance at her friends, who all smiled at her encouragingly.
“Go on,” Twilight urged in a whisper. “I’ll keep looking, but you might as well have fun now.”
Rainbow nodded and trotted out into the hall with Linden at her side. Tiny paused briefly to pass Pinkie Pie a small nosegay of delicate pink blossoms wrapped in ribbon, then followed them at a short distance to give them some privacy.
“Well?” Fletcher raised an eyebrow at Rarity, who pursed her lips.
“I really don’t have anything to wear,” she murmured.
“I think you look gorgeous as you are.” He squinted one eye closed, scrutinizing her. “There is something missing though.” With a flourish, he produced a lavender rose just beginning to bloom and deftly wove it into Rarity’s mane behind her ear. “There! Just the thing.”
“Oh!” Rarity squeaked, blushing again. This colt put Prince Blueblood to shame!
“You ladies won’t mind if I divest you of Miss Rarity’s company for the evening, would you?” Fletcher asked the other four mares. Pinkie was busy smelling her little bouquet, but Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight were all smiling at their companion. Strange as things had become in the last few days, they couldn’t help appreciating the friendship of the colts.
“Ah think we can manage,” Applejack said, winking at Rarity. “How ‘bout you, Fluttershy?”
“Me? Oh! Um, yes…wait, I mean, no. No, we won’t mind. I think a walk in the gardens would be, um, nice.”
“Well, as long as my absence will not be an inconvenience, I suppose I could go for an hour or two,” Rarity demurred. “Allow me a moment, please, to fetch a wrap.” Struggling not to squeal or break into a gallop, she vanished into the bedchamber, returning a few minutes later with an embroidered, floral wrap draped artfully over her withers. “All ready!” she sang.
“You kids have fun,” Applejack cheekily called as they headed out the door. “Just make sure you have her home by midnight or she might turn into a pumpkin!”
**
The distance from the Emerald Rooms to the castle courtyard seemed to have stretched into infinity. Rainbow Dash was painfully aware of each hoofbeat, each servant eyeing them from the shadows, each breath of the colt walking so close beside her. Neither had spoken since leaving her friends and the silence was stretching between them like a thick fog. There was so much that she had to say, so much that she wanted to say, yet every time she glanced his way her tongue seemed to freeze inside her mouth—he was just so handsome!
It shouldn’t be this hard! He was just a colt! A handsome, sweet, brave, funny colt, but a colt just the same. She’d never had any trouble talking to other ponies before. She was Rainbow Dash, for crying out loud! She had kicked a dragon and fought Nightmare Moon, so why was she so afraid she would trip over this silly dress and fall on her face?
Unable to stand the silence any longer, she pulled in a deep breath.
“Linden,” she said, just as he blurted, “Rainbow, I…”
They both paused, staring into each other’s eyes, then simultaneously burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry,” Linden said, recovering first. “I just…” He snorted. “It wasn’t nearly this hard to talk to you two days ago.”
“I know,” Rainbow said sulkily. “I don’t get it. I haven’t changed, you haven’t changed, it’s everything else that changed.”
Linden’s eyes filled with sorrow and he dragged his hooves on the floor as they walked. “I didn’t know,” he murmured. “I know I can’t make you believe me, but it’s true. I didn’t know…and, Rainbow, if I had known, and if I’d had any idea how much it would hurt you, I would never have let them do it.”
Rainbow looked away. “So, uh, what did you have planned?” she asked, awkwardly changing the subject. She heard Linden give a small sigh, but when the prince spoke next, there was unmistakable eagerness in his voice.
“Oh, just a little something to play on your competitive spirit,” he replied.
Rainbow turned to him again, her ears perking with interest. “Ooh, what is it? A race? You know I can totally beat you in a race.”
“Not a race. Even better.” Refusing to answer any further questions, Linden led her outside, turning, not towards the gardens, but further out to the fields where the joust had so recently taken place. Completely intrigued now, Rainbow tried to quicken their pace, but Linden smugly held them back to a leisurely trot. By the time they stepped into the berfrois, Rainbow’s wings were buzzing in impatient anticipation. 
“Here it is!” Linden dramatically waved a hoof at the field. “What do you think?”
Rainbow peered out at the former tourney arena and frowned, confused. The tilt had been removed and three-foot wide squares of purple and white fabric had been tacked to the grass in an eight by eight alternating pattern.
“I…it kinda looks like a giant checkerboard,” she said after a moment. Remembering Linden’s earlier hints, she guessed, “We’re playing giant checkers?”
Linden laughed and shook his head. “Close, but not quite. This is going to be way more exciting.” Stomping on the wooden platform three times, he winked at Rainbow Dash, who gaped in surprise as dozens of ponies, each one bearing an armband of white or purple cloth, appeared from hiding places beneath the stands. “My lady, I challenge you to Saddellia’s first game of live pony chess. May I present…our players!”
Rainbow Dash goggled the ponies for a moment, then turned to Linden with her eyes shining. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope. You and I are going to play chess, with these ponies as our pieces. They will follow all your directions on the,” he gestured to the fabric marked field, “board. Sorry for the colors…it was all they had in the store rooms in such quantity.”
“That’s okay!” Rainbow said, looking over the players again. She noticed a small colt wearing a purple armband who looked rather familiar. Leaning forward for closer inspection, she saw a bandage wrapped around his hind leg. “Hey, isn’t that the same kid from the archery competition?”
Linden beamed at her. “I knew you would spot that. His name is Fidget and his mother is a pastry maker in the castle kitchens.” At Rainbow’s startled look, he winked and added, “After what you said, I took it upon myself to check on him. Seems he volunteered for the part in the hopes that one of the knights would take notice and choose him as for squire. When I mentioned what I had planned for tonight, he begged to be included.”
The pegasus frowned. “Is that a good idea? He was hurt and—”
“According to him, it’s just a scratch and doesn’t bother him at all. I seem to remember another pony saying something very similar to that after being slashed by a hyleena.”
Rainbow looked over her shoulder at her own dress-covered flank. She had stopped wearing a bandage days ago, but the healing wound still twinged occasionally and she sometimes caught herself unconsciously shifting her weight off that leg when standing.
Down below, the colt felt their eyes on him and glanced up, waving energetically and giving her a gap-toothed grin. Despite the bandage, he showed no ill effects from the wound he had received. 
“Okay, okay, I get it,” she responded, bopping Linden with her shoulder. “Now, tell me about this game. Is it like checkers?”
Linden blinked. “You’ve never played before?”
“What? Chess?”
“Yes.”
“No.” The pegasus hopped lightly onto the railing, balancing on the thin, wooden beam with almost no effort. “But how hard can it be?” 
“I think you’re going to be surprised,” Linden chuckled. He reared up to place his forehooves on the railing and shouted, “Players, take your places!”
As the banded ponies all rushed to opposite sides of the “board” and took stances in the colored squares, Linden explained the rules, pointing out the letters roughly drawn on each armband to designate a player’s “piece” within the game. He told her how some pieces could only move one space at a time, while others could only move in diagonals or straight lines. When she had a basic idea of the rules, he suggested they play a trial game, before getting into the more serious competition.
“I’ll go easy on you the first time,” he said slyly. Rainbow scoffed.
“You’re going down,” she retorted, tapping a hoof on the railing. “Who goes first?”
“Ladies, always.”
“Ooh, that’s convenient!” Rainbow pondered her side of the field for a moment, then pointed at a young mare standing in the pawn position before the queen. “You, with the blue mane…what’s your name? Okay, Blueberry, go two spaces forward.”
The dark purple mare proudly pranced forward and Rainbow giggled with delight. “This is so cool! It’s like having my very own army—this is even better than playing Commander Hurricane.”
Twenty minutes later, Linden’s knight put her king into checkmate and the game was over. Rainbow had lost, yet for once she wasn’t upset—well, not too upset. She had been outmatched and couldn’t deny it. But as she called apologies to her players, none seemed bothered with how quickly they had been captured by Linden’s team. She had gained their respect near the end of the game when she had managed to rally her few remaining players into a stand, taking out several of Linden’s key pieces. She had lost, yes, but only by a small margin. Her team was eager to try again and playfully shouted taunts and bets across the field.
While Linden’s team retaliated, he produced another surprise—goblets of chilled pumpkin wine, a decorative box of the candied pumpkin blossoms she liked, and a bowl full of peaches.
“If I know anything about the court ladies, they barely gave you a second to breathe during that tea, let alone get a bite to eat. You’re probably hungry.”
“Oh yeah!” She had eaten a total of two tiny cookies during the afternoon tea, and she had only managed to gulp them down because Rarity had distracted the other mares with her descriptions of the gala dresses she had designed. Plucking a golden peach from the bowl, she took a bite and looked out over the chessboard. The sun had dipped below the surrounding trees and, though there were lanterns hung to illuminate the field, scores of fireflies started dancing through the still warm air. “This has been really cool,” she murmured.
“Yeah.” Linden puffed out his chest smugly. “I really know how to plan a date, don’t I? But it’s not over yet.”
“That’s right!” Rainbow glanced sideways at him, unaware of the firefly lights sparkling in her eyes. “You’d better take a good look at your tail, Prince Linden, because I’m about to kick it!” 
**
“So, what was all that about kicking my tail?” The games were over and Linden had suggested they take a walk along the Flower Path, a long, meandering, stone-lined trail that ambled through each of the castle gardens. In high spirits from the beautiful night and his multiple wins, the prince couldn’t resist a little ribbing.
“I was close! Well, during the third game, anyway.” Rainbow scowled and scuffed her hoof in the dirt, then broke into a trot. “I hate losing.”
Linden’s ears drooped at her disgruntled tone—it probably wasn’t a good idea to beat your date in four consecutive games of chess. Quickening his step to catch up, he admitted, “I guess I could have gone a little easier on you.”
“Huh? Nuh uh! Where’s the fun in that? If…no, when I beat you, it’ll be because I’m better.”
“When? So I guess that means you want to play again?”
“Sure! It was fun.”
“Yeah, yeah it was. Uh, you know, to really master chess takes time. Months. Sometimes years.”
“Years? But I’m…” Looking into his hopeful eyes, Rainbow realized just what he was saying and forced herself to shut up before she blurted something hurtful. Luckily, a sound saved her and her ears swiveled towards a nearby hedge wall. “Uh, what’s that?”
They both froze, listening, until they heard it again—somewhere, close by, somepony was singing. Raising his eyebrows, Linden tip-hooved over the stones lining the path and inched up to the tall hedge separating the garden they were in from the next one. Carefully nudging the branches aside, he peeked through and gave a startled little whinny, his mane and tail shooting up in shock.
“What?” Rainbow called in a whisper. “What is it?”
Linden turned long enough to wave a hoof at her, grinning from ear to ear. Intrigued, the pegasus squeezed between him and a large stone vase. While Linden shook with repressed laughter, she took a curious peek…and clapped a hoof over her mouth to hide her cry of surprise.
“Rarity?” she squeaked.
It was Rarity, lying beneath one of the wispy willow trees on a grassy knoll before a carefully tended ornamental pond. The light of the rising moon made the white unicorn glow silver.
Rainbow was stunned, though not just because Rarity was lying on the ground without the chaise lounge she always seemed to have on hoof. The singer they had heard was Fletcher!
Lounging beside Rarity on the knoll, the green colt was serenading her with a surprisingly pleasant tenor and the unicorn’s eyes had drifted closed, a smile playing on her lips as she delicately leaned her shoulder against his. The scene was so calm, serene…romantic!
“Whoa,” Rainbow whispered, backing up slowly so as not to disturb the peaceful couple.
“Yeah.” Linden was still smiling, his eyes sparkling with good humor. “You have to admit, he’s good—though I plan to mock him mercilessly for this later.”
Rainbow laughed, then ducked her head guiltily, worried that the other two ponies may have heard them. “I guess we should go and leave them alone,” she said in a whisper.
They hurried away along the path, passing beneath a pair of trees that had been woven together as saplings and then allowed to grow in a twining arch. The garden they entered was familiar to Rainbow, with a large focal fountain and stone frogs. 
“This is one of my favorite places,” Linden told her, trotting up to the rim of the fountain. “My mother has her Queen’s Garden, so I like to think of this one as mine. I spent a lot of time here as a colt.” Pointing to each of the frogs in turn, he said, “That’s Big Eyes, Speckles, Flat Foot, Lumpy, and Flob.”
Rainbow stepped up beside him, relieved to see that the water was once again clear and clean. Snorting incredulously, she repeated, “Flob?”
The prince shrugged. “What can I say? I was just a little colt. I liked the frogs and thought they needed names.” He glanced from side to side, then added, “I also used to swim here whenever it got really hot. It’s deeper than it looks and makes a perfect pool.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow readily agreed, then, at Linden’s curious look, quickly amended, “I mean, yeah, it looks like it.” She felt weird, confused, thinking of Rarity and Fletcher, so obviously on a date of their own and just as obviously at ease with the whole process. She was very aware of the prince standing beside her, his shoulder just inches away from her own. Rarity had been leaning companionably against Fletcher while listening to him sing, so could she…would it be totally weird to…? 
Feeling strangely clumsy and awkward, she tentatively leaned sideways until their shoulders touched. Biting her lip, she wondered if he would just pull away, but instead, a tremor ran over the prince and he froze for a heartbeat, then relaxed and leaned back with a contented sigh.
“Linden?” she said, after a long moment of comfortable silence.
“Hmm?” His eyes were closed blissfully.
“I believe you.” 	
“Huh?” Linden swiveled his head to look at her, taking care not to move from her side. “Believe me?”
“What you said…about not knowing what your parents had planned. I believe you.”
Vast relief flooded Linden’s face and his eyes sparkled with joy. “You’re not mad?” he asked, making her realize that the issue had been like a huge weight dragging on his shoulders all evening.
Rainbow stared over the fountain and kicked the edge of the fountain with the tip of her hoof. “I’m mad,” she admitted, “but not at you. I think you’re—”
What she had been about to say was permanently wiped from her mind as Linden swooped in and planted a kiss on her snout. Now it was her moment to freeze, her magenta eyes wide and startled. In the natural pegasi reaction to a surge of emotion, her wings flared up, in preparation to carry her away from danger.
But this…this wasn’t danger. This was…was…nice!
But she still felt a desperate need to fly and, when Linden pulled back and eyed her anxiously, she gave a giddy laugh and tapped her hoof on his chest. 
“I’ll…be…right…back.”
Without another word, she shot straight up into the sky, her rainbow colors a brilliant flash against the dark night. When Linden and the fountain were just tiny specks far below, she flung her hooves wide and spun in a circle, shouting the only thing that came to mind—
“WHOO HOO!”   
**
In the next garden, beneath a wispy veil of golden willow leaves, Rarity was having the most romantic night of her life. Fletcher, though not a prince, was everything she had ever dreamed of—charming and debonair; clever and witty, with a rakish sense of humor; heart-breakingly handsome, and completely attentive of her. It was like all that she had imagined for the Grand Galloping Gala had been put on hold for this very evening.
There hadn’t been a grand, surprising gesture like the giant chess game Fletcher had helped Linden devise and at which they had paused to take a sneak peek, but Fletcher had known which of the castle gardens had the best night-blooming flowers and they had taken a beautiful, aromatic tour. They had finally ended up on the soft grass beneath the willow, staring out at the pond as the moon rose and the fireflies came out, interspersing the surface of the water with silvery shimmers and golden twinkles.
It was a peaceful, utterly gorgeous scene and Rarity sighed with delight as she leaned companionably against Fletcher’s shoulder, content to just sit and watch the stars appear. The first were just starting to sparkle above when the sky suddenly lit up in a flash of prismatic brilliance.
“Whoa! Linden didn’t tell me he planned fireworks!” Fletcher said, dazzled by the colors.
Rarity caught sight of the tiny blue speck that fronted the rainbow and smiled. “Not fireworks,” she said softly. “But it looks like Rainbow’s date is going well.” 
**
In the Emerald Rooms, Pinkie Pie suddenly sat up from the chaise lounge where she had been absently flipping through one of the books Twilight had borrowed from the library. Though she had promised to help in the research, she had been much distracted by the sweet-smelling nosegay that Tiny had given her. It just demanded to be admired and smelled, and she had been giving in to those demands every few minutes.
Now she bolted upright, all thoughts of ribbon-wrapped flowers whipped from her mind while her left hind leg began to bounce up and down of its own accord, her ears flopped, her eyes spun, and her nose twitched so rapidly she began to sneeze. This went on for several moments, shaking her clear off her seat and onto the floor.
When the twitches and shakes of her Pinkie Sense finally subsided, she looked up to find her friends staring at her in amazement.
“Whoo!” Applejack exclaimed. “That sure was a doozy!”
Pinkie glanced towards the window, a huge, delighted smile blossoming on her face. “I’ll say it was!” 
**
“Is this happening?
Is this fantasy?
All my dreams coming true,
All because of you!”
High above the palace grounds, Rainbow Dash startled herself by breaking into song. Looking down, she could see Linden far below her, his head tilted back to watch her, and a surge of giddiness ran through her. It was so strange—this wasn’t like her at all! She was a flyer! A stunt pony! Tough and strong and determined to be a Wonderbolt and…and…
…and she could still feel a tingling on her snout where Linden had kissed her. Hugging herself with her forehooves, she burst out—
“Never did I believe
there could be such happiness,
Feels like nothing on earth,
started with one little kiss,
I could stay in this moment forever!
I could reach every star in the skies!
I could lose myself when I look
Into your eyes!”
Barely containing a squeal, she jackknifed and dove straight down, coming to a sudden stop just above Linden’s head.
“Heh, sorry about that,” she said with a guilty smile. “I had to do the thing at the place and…you know.”
Linden grinned up at her. “Am I right in thinking that the thing at the place included a little singing?”
“Theeere might have been,” Rainbow hedged. “A little. A tiny bit.”
“A tiny bit works for me.”
Turning a somersault, Rainbow landed beside him and the two started back to the palace. As they walked companionably side by side, Rainbow thought about what had just happened and how she had come to know Linden in the past weeks. He was a good friend to them all and quickly edging past that with her. It seemed wrong to keep the true reason for their visit a secret from him.
“Linden?” she began.
He turned to her, eyes bright.
“Yes, my lady?”
“You-you’re a really great pony, and I like you a lot, so I wanted to tell you—I thought you should know—that my friends and I are—”
“Ah! My! Don’t you two look wonderful together! So cozy and nice.”
Goldhoof suddenly appeared from around a large statue of an oak leaf and trotted up to the pair, smiling warmly. “I take it the first date went well?”
Rainbow snapped her mouth shut and struggled not to glower at the dark unicorn. Of all the annoying, inconvenient times to show up…!
“It’s been magical for me,” Linden said truthfully, hooking one leg around Rainbow’s so they inched closer together.
“I am glad, your Highness,” Goldhoof said silkily, his eyes sliding over to rest on Rainbow Dash. A moment passed and she realized he was expecting her to say something.
“It was…great,” she replied, avoiding the advisor’s eyes. She was still mad about getting locked in her rooms that morning, and the unicorn’s presence was souring what had been a really cool night. 
“Great, yes, I see. Well, I am so happy to see that the, um, unpleasantness, from last night has been resolved. I will inform the king and queen directly and I am sure they will be pleased that everything can move forward smoothly.”
“Everything?” Rainbow Dash queried suspiciously.
“The wedding, of course. It is going to be such a large, important event that planning needs to start as soon as possible. Cooperation is, well, appreciated.”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and her wings, folded neatly against her back until now, rose in a sudden flare of anger. Not wanting a repeat of the previous night, Linden quickly stepped between the agitated pegasus and unicorn.
“That’s…we’re still talking things through, Lord Goldhoof. Nothing is…well, nothing is definite yet. So if you need something to report to Mother and Father, you can tell them that.” He walked past Goldhoof, steering Rainbow away from the unicorn. She gave him a grateful look and broke into a trot, but before they could disappear into the castle, Goldhoof called out once more.
“I also wanted to offer my sincerest apologies for my error this morning, Princess! It was not my intention for you to feel imprisoned in your chambers.”
The blue pony snorted and almost spun around at the word ‘princess’, but the glimmer of hurt in Linden’s eyes stopped her. Shaking off the unicorn’s words with a contemptuous flick of her tail, she let Linden walk her to the Emerald Rooms, where they stood for a moment of silence before the massive doors.
“Well, uh, I guess this is goodnight,” Linden said, scuffing a hoof on the floor.
“Yeah.” Rainbow tilted her head. “It really was great, Linden. The chess game was awesome.”
“It is going to be a tough one to beat. I have no idea what to do next time.”
“Next time…oh, right, there’s going to be a next time.” Somehow, that didn’t sound nearly as awful as it had earlier. She shrugged lightly and hopped into the air. “Well, you’d better get thinking then,” she quipped, tapping him on the head with her hoof. “I’m not easily impressed.”
“So I’ve noticed. Well then, my lady, thank you for such a wonderful evening. I will bid you a sweet goodnight and retire to my brainstorming.” Linden bowed comically low, waving a hoof in an exaggerated motion as he slowly backed up.
Rainbow Dash laughed. “You do that. Goodnight, Linden.” Calling over the prince’s shoulder, she added, “Night, Tiny!” to the giant colt who had followed at a silent, courteous distance throughout the entire night.
“Goodnight, Lady Dash,” Tiny replied. “Please tell Miss Pinkie Pie I wish her a goodnight as well.”
“Will do.” Rainbow pushed the door open and trotted into her rooms, pausing briefly to turn around and wave mockingly to Linden who, as she had guessed, was looking mooningly over his shoulder while he followed Tiny down the hall.
Smiling, Rainbow Dash sighed happily and turned around—only to smash right into a beaming pink face with eager blue eyes.
“Hey Dashie!”
“Aaiiihh!” Dash screeched and leapt skyward. Spinning about and hanging upside down from one of the chandeliers, she scowled down at her friend. “Pinkie Pie, don’t do that! Oh, and Tiny says ‘goodnight’.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet! I wish I could have said goodnight to him. Well, I guess I’ll just have to say ‘good morning’. Or maybe ‘good afternoon’. Or, if I don’t see him until really late, I guess it could be ‘good early evening’, or even—”
“Welcome back, Sugarcube,” Applejack called, thankfully interrupting Pinkie’s litany. She trotted over and looked up at the dangling pegasus. “How’d it all go?”
Rainbow let go of the chandelier and dropped to the floor. “It was fine,” she said airily, walking past them to the bathing chamber to take off the blue dress. She started to drop it on the floor, then thought of the earful she would get from Rarity if she did so and draped it over the back of a chair instead. Tossing the headband on the vanity table, she shook out her mane with a relieved sigh.
“That’s all you have to say, ‘it was fine’?” Applejack retorted when she stepped back into the main room.
“How was the kiss?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in place with a knowing grin. “Was that fine too?”
Rainbow gasped, her cheeks reddening. “How did you…I didn’t say…how could…Pinkie Sense?”
The pink pony beamed and nodded.
“C’mon, Rainbow!” Applejack stamped a hoof, scowling. “You aren’t gonna make us wait all night, are ya?”
Rainbow’s resolve broke and she laughed happily. “It was great!” she squealed, jumping into an exuberant backflip and landing in one of the chairs by the fireplace. 
Her friends all whooped and crowded close, hugging her and demanding to know all the details. She relayed them all, from the giant chess game with living pieces, to Linden tracking down the colt so they would all know he was alright, to the walk through the gardens and spotting Rarity with Fletcher.
“They seemed to be having a good time,” she said with a smirk.
“We’ll find that out when she gets back!” Pinkie said, bouncing with impatience. “Don’t stop! What happened next?”
“Well, after that we, uh, talked about things and then, well…he kissed me.”
“Aww!” Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie all wilted against one another dreamily.
“I also told him that I know he didn’t have anything to do with the betrothal. I know it wasn’t his fault. And I realized that we’re not being fair to him, you know? Not telling him the real reason we’re here.”
“So you told him?” Twilight asked uncertainly.
Rainbow shook her head, stifling a yawn. “I started to, but then Goldhoof showed up.” She went on to tell them about the other unicorn’s appearance and their brief conversation. “That guy really bugs me,” she concluded.
“He does seem to have his hoof in a lot of the goin’-ons around here,” Applejack agreed with a thoughtful frown. “And he keeps showin’ up at the oddest times. You don’t think he’s followin’ you about, do you, Rainbow?”
“Ooh, I hope not,” Twilight interjected. “I was hoping you and I could go to the quarry tomorrow.”
There was a moment of silence as her friends stared at her, bewildered.
Dash blinked. “Really?”
“Yes. I know we need to get you out of this betrothal, but we’ve been here more than a week and we haven’t done anything to help the slave ponies. I don’t think we can expect much from the king—we haven’t even gotten the audience we were promised—but if we can gather enough information, maybe we can figure something out despite him.”
“What’re you gonna do, Sugarcube?”
“For now, I just want to look at the place, maybe talk to one or two of the captive ponies like Rainbow did. It might give us an idea of just why they’re being enslaved and what the Saddellians are having them dig for. If we leave early, Rainbow can lead me there and we can teleport back before we’re missed.”
At that moment, the door opened and Rarity pranced in, looking blissfully happy.
“Hello, everypony!” she sang. “Sorry I’m so late getting back, but it was such a lovely night and Fletcher and I just got to talking about the most interesting things.” Seeing Rainbow Dash, she laughed giddily. “Oh you’re here, Rainbow Dash! Good! I want to hear all about your date, and don’t you dare leave anything out.” She trotted across the room, but stopped just shy of the chair. “Rainbow? Uh, Rainbow Dash?”
“Ugh!” Twilight groaned in exasperation. “I was just taking to her! This is important!”
Eyes closed, Rainbow had slumped down in her chair, her chin propped on the armrest. As they watched, her side rose and fell with a gentle snore and an unconscious little rustle of her feathers.
“The poor darling,” Fluttershy cooed. “She’s been up all night and all day. She’s exhausted.”
“Don’t worry, Twi. She’s just had a real busy day, but Ah’m sure Rainbow will be rarin’ to go when you wake her tomorrow. Let’s let her get some shuteye.”
“Yeah, and in the meantime, Rarity can tell us all about her date with Fletcher!” Pinkie said jubilantly.
Fluttershy draped a small blanket over Rainbow’s sleeping form and blew out the lanterns, then followed the others out of the room as Rarity began to bubble over about her perfect, romantic evening.

> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It took Twilight ten minutes of nudging and shaking Rainbow Dash before the pegasus reluctantly opened her eyes the next morning. She groaned and tried to roll over on the chair where she had spent the night, waving a hoof at her friend.
“Go ‘way!” she mumbled. “Dark. Sleep when dark.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight hissed in a whisper. “Come on, it’s time to go. You have to show me how to get to the quarry.”
“Later.”
“No, it has to be now.” Twilight poked her between the shoulders with the tip of her hoof. “Foxtail and Lilac Breeze will be coming by in just a few hours and no doubt they’ll have a full schedule for you again.”
That caused the pegasus to groan again and she tried to burrow under the seat cushions. Twilight, however, had run out of patience and trotted behind the chair, rearing up and tipping it over. Rainbow tumbled to the floor with an undignified thump.
“Ow!” she yelped, rubbing her head and glaring. “Not cool, Twilight.”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have a lot of time. Come on.”
Grumbling under her breath about sleeping for a week once they returned to Ponyville, Rainbow climbed to her hooves and obediently followed Twilight through the bedchamber to one of the windows. She glanced sourly towards the bed where Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity soundly slept, with Fluttershy curled up contentedly in the canopy.
“Not fair,” she mumbled.
Twilight smiled sympathetically, then teleported out of the room. Rainbow hopped onto the windowsill and looked down to the ground below, where the unicorn was waving frantically for her to follow. Sighing, she flapped her wings and jumped from the window, drifting gracefully down to the grassy lawn.
“Alright, which way to the quarry?” Twilight turned in a slow circle to get her bearings in the predawn darkness. “You can’t see it or the dust from here.”
Rainbow stretched and shook herself from nose to tail before looking round. “Uh, I’m not sure. I wasn’t really aiming for it in the first place, you know.”
“Right.” Twilight pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Well, you left the sitting chamber adjacent to the banquet hall and, from the contrail you left behind, you seem to have flown in a relatively straight line, at least until you were out of sight. So, it stands to reason that we could follow your path if we leave from the same location.” Pleased with her deduction, she grinned brightly at Rainbow Dash, only to find the pegasus staring at her with raised eyebrows.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re scary sometimes, you know that, right?”
Twilight frowned. “It’s just logical deduction.”
“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow yawned widely, then blinked at their dark surroundings. “The banquet hall is that way—I could see part of the lake when I was dancing with Linden.”
“Perfect! We just need to find the right windows and we’ll know whe—aaahh!”
Impatient to get on their way, Rainbow had taken to the air and grabbed Twilight as she passed over her head. The unicorn managed only a short yelp before they were both soaring quickly around the castle walls, dodging perilously close to several tall and sturdy trees that loomed suddenly from the shadows.
“Warn me before you do that!” Twilight scolded once she had gotten her bearings.
“Where’s the fun in that!” Rainbow retorted with a bright laugh. The thrill of flying had wiped away all signs of sleepiness and she felt great. “Want to do a loop-de-loop?”
“A loop-de—no! Rainbow Dash, don’t you dar—ooh, look, there’s the library!” She had just spotted the distinct rows of arched windows that lined the walls of the palace library, easily recognizable even from outside. Though most were dark, two glowed with the warm orange light of a lantern from within. “Wow, someone’s up early,” she mused, spotting the silhouette of a pony head at the window.
Rainbow glanced back over her shoulder. “Probably your friend, Nightfire. He spends almost as much time in the library as you, doesn’t he? Wanna go back and wave?”
“Wave? Rainbow Dash, we’re supposed to be on a stealth mission here!”
The pegasus snorted. “Twilight, if he just saw a pegasus fly past the library, he pretty much has a fifty-fifty chance of guessing who it was.”
As Twilight was considering this, Rainbow landed softly and set the unicorn back on her hooves. Tilting her head back, she said, “I think that’s the banquet hall up there.”
Twilight assessed their darkened surroundings with a careful eye. “I think you’re right. So, you flew out the window up there and kept a relatively straight course…yep, see that tree over there? Looks like you clipped the top right off it.”
Rainbow started. “Really?” She glanced at her belly and noticed a long, thin scratch. “Huh, never even felt it.”
“Then we just need to keep a straight heading from here,” Twilight started trotting briskly away from the palace, “and we should find the quarry. We’d better hurry if we want to get there and back before sunrise.”
“Right, we’d better hurry.” With an impish grin, Rainbow launched herself into the air and sped after the unicorn, catching Twilight around the middle again and dragging her off the ground.
“Raaaiiinboooooow!”
**
They smelled and heard the quarry long before they came within sight of it. The heavy, choking scent of powdered rock and dust filled the air, mingling with the steady tink tink of hammers clanging on stone.
Rainbow set Twilight down in the woods near the quarry and they went the rest of the way on hoof, creeping quietly through the brush until they found a place where they both could spy on the jagged cliff lined with slave ponies. They were kept working straight through the night, aided in the darkness only by sporadic firefly lanterns and candles. Twilight gasped when one of the overseers plied his whip on a small mare struggling under the weight of the cart she pulled.
“Oh Rainbow,” she whispered. “This is awful!” As the snap of the whip cut the air again, followed by a cry of pain, her purple eyes narrowed in fury. “We have to stop this!”
“Sounds good to me.” Rainbow reared up and punched the air with her front hooves. “Who do we take out first?”
“Not like that. We have to be subtle about this. There’s only two of us. First we need to find out what they’re all searching for.”
“Okay, but I asked one of the ponies that last night and he didn’t have a clue.”
“The enslaved ponies may not, but it seems to me those overseers should have some idea of what they’re supposed to find. We’ll have to ask them.”
“Oh yeah, sure. Ask the overseers. Why didn’t I think of that? We should just trot over and introduce ourselves, then ask them what they’re looking for with these hundreds of captive Equestrian ponies.”
“Exactly!” Twilight slipped into the shadows to their right, leaving Rainbow staring after her confusedly.
“Uh, Twilight, I was kinda being sarcastic, you know?” Frowning, the pegasus followed her friend. “You really think we can just walk up and—ohmygosh!” She jumped a foot in the air as she edged around a bush and came face to scowling face with a burly, dark blue overseer. “Whoa! Where’d you come from?” Instantly, her wings flared out, catching her at the apex of her jump, and she raised her hooves threateningly. “Back off, pal! I’m not afraid of you!”
The large colt took two ominous steps towards her before the glare melted off his face and he collapsed in a fit of wild giggles.
“Wha-huh?” Rainbow let herself sink back to the ground, but kept her hooves raised. “Who the hay are you, buster? If you hurt Twilight—”
“Rainbow, it’s me!” The colt suddenly melted before Rainbow’s astonished eyes, shrinking and morphing into a slender, feminine frame while the blue coat faded to purple. A moment later, Twilight Sparkle stood before her, grinning happily. “Pretty good, right? Got you!”
Rainbow sat down with a thump, her mouth hanging open as she sputtered in shock. “Wha—how—I saw…but you were…huh?”
The purple unicorn pranced to her side. “It’s called a glamour. I was working on them back in Ponyville. Basically, it gives you a temporary change of appearance, like a costume made of magic.”
“Whoa.” Rainbow gave her head a shake. “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. That was totally freaky, Twilight.”
“But a perfect way for us to get into the quarry and find out what’s going on, right? I can costume us both and we’ll sneak inside and down into one of the tunnels. I’ll talk to some of the guards and you can question the workers.”
“You don’t think they’ll be too nervous talking to an overseer?”
“Yeah…about that.” Twilight’s horn glowed softly magenta and Rainbow felt a strange tingling wash over her. Glancing down, she snorted in surprise to find her pale blue coat was now the dingy, bland color of dust. Standing up quickly, she craned her head around to see that her brilliantly colored tail had turned a nondescript, mustard yellow. Even worse, her wings were gone!
“What the—Twilight!” She jumped backwards and felt a surge of relief as her wings automatically opened at her sides. They weren’t gone—they were invisible!
“Shh!” Twilight clapped her hoof over Rainbow’s snout, silencing her. “Not so loud.”
“But why do I have to be a slave pony?” Rainbow asked, kicking sulkily at a twig. 
“The overseers might be suspicious if two new guards show up, but they probably won’t notice an extra slave. Besides, it’s my spell.”
The pegasus opened her mouth to argue that she would make a much better guard than Twilight, then thought of Acorn, the slave pony she had met the night before. Now was not a time to pout over a stupid spell—not when there were ponies desperately in need of their help. “Fine,” she relented, surprising Twilight with her quick compliance. “How long will this spell last?”
“I think a few hours, at least, but you’re going to have to stay as close to me as you can without getting noticed. It might fade if you get out of range—besides, we may have to teleport out of there in a hurry.” 
Rainbow didn’t have the chance to reply to that. Both ponies jumped at the sudden, sharp crackling of twigs nearby. Twilight suppressed a yelp and hurriedly cast the glamour over herself, morphing into the burly overseer just as a wiry mare with a whip wound about her neck appeared around a tree. She stopped short, eyes widening and flickering back and forth between the two ponies. Finally, she cleared her throat.
“Sorry, I thought I heard something and, what with the diggers who ran away recently, just wanted to investigate.” She jabbed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “Was this one runnin’ away too? You caught her, did you?” She dropped her head so the whip slid from her neck and caught the end in her mouth, giving it an expert flick that made the supple leather snap loudly. “Want me to bring her back and make an example of her like we did the others?”
Rainbow Dash didn’t have to fake a wince at her words—she had felt the wind of the whip on her cheek and instinctively flinched. Twilight stood and stared at the mare, unable to think of a single thing to say. The silence stretched between them until Rainbow pointedly cleared her throat, hiding it in a cough.
Quickly, Twilight gathered her wits and gave her head a brisk shake. “No need,” she said curtly, not wanting to imagine what Rainbow Dash would do if the mare tried to make an example out of her. “I’ve got this. Come on, you!” 
Leaving the mare staring after them curiously, she gave Rainbow a rude shove to make her walk towards the quarry. Rainbow bit her lip hard and, letting her head hang, went without a word, not even when Twilight punctuated her authority by jabbing at her several times with a hoof and berating her for being slow.
Somehow they made it all the way to the tunnel-pocked cliff face without being stopped or questioned by any other pony. No other guards took any interest in them and Twilight took the chance to steer them towards a line of ponies filing into a tunnel with metal pails. Rainbow found an abandoned pail and picked it up, falling into place behind a dull orange colt who had half healed whip scars crisscrossing his haunches.
The interior of the tunnel was slightly brighter than the outside, since the light of the sparse torches was concentrated and reflected off the brown walls. The stone also echoed and amplified the sounds, so they were immediately surrounded by a cacophony of hammer taps, hoofbeats, the rattle of wheels, and a blur of voices. 
After a hundred feet the tunnel opened up into a small chamber, wide enough for a half dozen ponies to line the walls on either side of the path. These ponies sat on their haunches, chipping away at the stone with small hammers held in their mouths. A single guard watched this area and waved them impatiently on before cracking the staff he used instead of a whip against the wall. The tempo of hammering increased.
They moved deeper into the quarry, following a series of tunnels that sloped continuously downward. Rainbow tried to keep an eye out for anything that could be considered a clue, but as an hour passed, she saw nothing but the occasional side vein of digging ponies and the tail of the colt in front of her.
“Ponyfeathers!” she muttered under her breath. “How much longer can it be!”
To her surprise, the colt answered her, pitching his voice low. “I wouldn’t be too eager if I were you. We’re going to the Big Cave.” 
“Big Cave?” Rainbow echoed.
“You must be new here. That’s a pity. You’re young.” There was a moment of silence broken only by the steady clopping of hooves, then he spoke again. “The Big Cave is big, open. Lots of digging spaces. Once you’re down there, it’s for good. You eat, sleep, and dig—not always in that order—all underground. Say goodbye to sunlight, stars, or fresh air. You’ll probably never see them again.”
At those words, the tunnels suddenly felt smaller and tighter around Rainbow Dash. She loved the freedom of the open skies, with all the wide, empty space to stretch her wings and fly as far as her wings could take her. What would happen if she was trapped underground, not just for hours, but for days or months or even years, with no cool breezes or soft clouds, or even smells other than dirt and rocks and sweat? Feeling her wings start to rise in panic, she hurriedly pushed the thought from her mind before it made her crazy.
She glanced quickly over her shoulder to see if Twilight had heard the colt, only to find that Twilight was no longer behind her. A dark green mare was plodding along in her wake and she couldn’t see her friend anywhere. Swallowing hard, the pegasus tried to stay calm, reasoning that Twilight might just have fallen behind a little and would soon come walking around that last bend.
To keep herself from worrying, she looked forward and spoke to the burnt sienna tail before her, “What’s going on here? Why all the tunnels and digging?” The loud crack of a whip split the air, followed by the pained cry of a stricken pony. “The whips?” she added.
“I don’t know,” was the reply. “First we thought it was gems, but they got lots of those by now. That unicorn even got angry last time he came and they only had buckets of gems to show.”
“Unicorn? You mean Goldhoof?”
“Didn’t have no gold hoof that I ever saw. Not that I looked much, not after he blasted poor Sweetwater.”
“What? Blasted!”
“Shh! You’d better keep it down,” the green mare admonished. “Talk too much and they notice you. Get noticed and you get whipped. Got it?”
Rainbow fell silent, but her mind was racing. Goldhoof was the only unicorn in Saddellia—at least, he had been before Twilight and Rarity—so what unicorn was this pony talking about that didn’t have the advisor’s very noticeable yellow hoof? And what exactly had that unicorn done to Sweetwater?
Before she could begin to puzzle out any of these mysteries, the tunnel turned right and opened into the Big Cave. Yet it wasn’t the size of the cave that made Rainbow stop in awe, but the sweeping silver walls of a castle being slowly, but methodically freed from a prison of stone.
“Whoa!” she breathed. What in the hay was going on here?
**
Twilight couldn’t believe it. After all the warnings she had given Rainbow about sticking close and the possibilities of the glamour unraveling, the pegasus had gone and disappeared! Well, Twilight had stopped for just a minute when she’d spotted what looked to be ancient pony petroglyphs drawn on the wall of one of the alternate tunnels—it had turned out to be only a poorly rhymed limerick accompanied by a stick figure drawing of a pony. When she’d turned back around, the coffle line of slave ponies had been gone.
Stifling a yip, she broke into a trot to catch up, hurrying around a corner and down a sloped path. She was so intent on finding the coffle line that she didn’t see the crème-colored mare stepping out of a side tunnel until she had crashed into her. The two went down in a tangled flurry of hooves, rolling and skidding a dozen feet down the tunnel before catching up on a jut of rock with bruising force.
“O-ow?” The crème mare raised a hoof dazedly and waggled it back and forth, then rolled over and wriggled out from under Twilight, somehow managing to kick her on the snout as she did.
“Ow!” Twilight yipped, clasping her hooves to her nose.
“That’s what I said!” She got to her hooves and patted a good deal of dust off her maroon tunic. The cap she’d been wearing fell off, revealing a wild spill of aquamarine and chartreuse curls that matched the musical notes surrounding her flute cutie mark. “What are you doing running down the tunnels? You know that’s not allowed. One of us could have been seriously hurt.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Twilight stammered, struggling to her hooves. “I wasn’t thinking and I lost sight of my group and…”
The mare frowned, squinting at her skeptically. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you around before.”
Heart starting to pound, Twilight said, “Uh, I’m…you see, I’m, uh, new here?”
The mare continued to frown at her, giving her time to begin to sweat nervously, then suddenly broke into a cheery smile.
“I thought so! Why else would you be dumb enough to run in the tunnels?” She pranced up to Twilight’s side and patted her on the shoulder. “Nice to meet you. I’m Piccolo.” Suddenly, her face scrunched up in a wince and she rubbed her leg, giving a rueful little laugh. “I guess this could have been considered a cute meeting if we both weren’t all bruised now. What’s your name, handsome?”
Reminded that she was in the guise of a colt and glad that the glamour changed her voice as well as her appearance, Twilight managed a weak chuckle and smile to buy herself time to think of a suitable name. Piccolo continued to look at her expectantly, so she blurted, “Midnight, uh, Mist. My name is Midnight Mist. I didn’t mean to knock you down. I just, well, I managed to get myself a little lost.”
“Really?” Piccolo raised an eyebrow. “Where are you supposed to be?”
“Um…I was with a long line of ponies heading in from outside. I think they were headed for…” She trailed off slightly, hoping Piccolo would take the lead and supply a suitable answer. Luck was on her side.
“The Big Cave?” she prompted.
“Yes! That’s it. The Big Cave. I need to get to the Big Cave.”
“Hmm, yeah, I guess they would be bringing in new ponies for the Big Cave, since they found that new chamber and all. Strange that they sent a newbie down, though. Woulda thought they’d let you get your bearings outside first. Harder to deal with ponies who’ve been stuck underground for weeks.”
“Weeks?” Twilight echoed.
Now Piccolo’s face took on a slightly sympathetic look. “Yeah. Takes too much time to move them about in regular shifts and too easy for some to try getting away in the confusion, so once they come down from outside, they’re usually here to stay.” She suddenly bumped Twilight with her shoulder, amazingly strong for such a slight pony. “Come on, you big doof. I’ll show you the way. Keep wandering around aimlessly and you’ll get yourself in trouble. I’d hate to see you end up as a digger.”
Now that was a shock. Even Saddellians weren’t immune to being slaves in the mine apparently. Following behind Picollo, she wondered how many of the miserable ponies she had passed were actually from Saddellia and not Equestria. Had they been using Saddellian slaves all along and only started raiding Equestria when the need for more ponies became evident?
She pondered these questions as Piccolo led her back up to the main tunnel and turned towards the downward slope. The crème mare seemed happy enough to keep up the conversation, kindly filling Twilight in on the day to day duties within the mine and imparting helpful tips to stave off the claustrophobia that almost always hit the newer arrivals after awhile. When she asked Twilight where she was from, the unicorn mentioned the only part of Saddellia she could remember—the Blue Hills that Rainbow had been given. Piccolo laughed, calling her a “country colt”.
“Yeah,” Twilight said, deciding to play that tactic. “They didn’t even tell us what was going on, just that they wanted recruits to help with a…a royal project. What are we looking for here? Gems?”
Piccolo shrugged with a toss of her bright mane. “We’re finding plenty of those, that’s for sure. Not that we get to keep any of them—a wagon comes once a fortnight to take the best ones away.”
“So it is gems?”
“I don’t know, honestly. They take them, but personally I think we’re after something else. Something a lot better. Things got really exciting around here once the diggers found the castle.”
“The royal castle?” Twilight asked, surprised.
Piccolo paused and looked over her shoulder. “No, the buried one. Sheesh, didn’t the recruiters tell you anything? You sure you were conscripted to be an overseer and not a digger?” 
“I, uh…”
The crème pony shrugged. “I won’t say anything. Personally, I think you’d be wasted on digging.” She grinned impishly and flicked her tail.
Twilight blushed, hoping it wasn’t visible against her coat. Clearing her throat, she muttered, “Uh, Piccolo, who’s they? Do you mean the king?”
“The king?” Piccolo rolled her green eyes. “How would I know? I’ve never seen His Majesty in my life. Besides, it’s unicorns who come for the gems, and the king’s an earth pony like us, isn’t he?” 
Playing on the fact that Saddellia was inhabited by earth ponies, Twilight faked astonishment. “You’ve seen a unicorn?”
“Seen two of ‘em, back when I was working the wall outside. Never got to talk to either of them, but saw one cast a spell once.” Here, some of the light left her eyes and she shuddered a little. “I never want to see anything like that again, I tell you.” She shook her mane with a sound of disgust. “I was up on the scaffold when one of them started yelling at this mare, Garnet Glimmer. Heard him say that things were going too slow. He got so mad that his horn glowed and he lifted up this huge rock—I mean, it was enormous! Three ponies couldn’t have pulled it in a wagon. But he covered it in this orangey light and the thing rose right up in the air and floated over Garnet Glimmer’s head. The whole quarry just froze, but none more than Glimmer! I swear, she nearly fainted right there. But the unicorn just tossed the boulder away and left.”
“That’s awful!” Twilight gasped.
Piccolo nodded. “I asked to work in the mine after that—figured there would be less chance of running into that unicorn myself. That was before the diggers found the castle though.”
“Right, the castle. Can you tell me more about that?”
“What for? You’re going to see it for yourself in just a minute.”
True to her word, Piccolo led her around a jutting corner of rock and Twilight’s mouth fell open. There, in front of her, was a cylindrical tower and part of a wall sticking out of the brown rock of the quarry. It was enormous, easily ten stories tall, and surrounded by the same rickety wooden scaffolding used in the quarry outside. Clearly, it was made from stone that had been brought in from elsewhere, for the walls she could see had a bright, silvery sheen even through a haze of dust. Scores of ponies clambered around it, digging more and more of the silvery building from the surrounding rock while overseers shouted and cracked their whips.
“Amazing, right?” Piccolo snapped Twilight’s mouth closed with a flick of her tail. “This is only a tiny bit, too. There’s much more still back there, buried in the rock. And I’m guessing what we’re looking for is in there, too, ‘cuz it sure made those unicorns excited when we found it.” She suddenly took a step backwards, her eyes raking over Twilight from head to haunch. “Huh! That’s really weird. I could have sworn your coat was dark blue when you first bumped into me.” Brow furrowing, she trotted around Twilight in a slow circle. “In fact, I’m sure it was!”
Startled, Twilight raised a hoof to her eyes and was horrified to see her coat had grown considerably lighter and was taking on a distinct lavender tint. 
“O-oh, uh, no…no, um, my coat is, uh, it’s weird like that. It seems like it changes color but it’s actually just my guide hairs refracting light at different wave lengths depending on the brightness of the room.”
“Say what?” Piccolo cocked her head to one side, giving Twilight a look that suggested she had gone crazy.
“My coat looked darker because the light in the tunnel was darker?”
“Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” Piccolo chuckled and nudged Twilight with an elbow. “Trying to sound all smart for me, huh?”
“Y-yeah.” Twilight grinned nervously. “That’s me, a regular smarty-pants.” Using her temporary advantage of height, she anxiously looked over Piccolo’s head, scanning the scores of ponies at work and hoping to spot Rainbow Dash amongst them. Was she that orangey pony to the right? Or was her coat more like that yellowish green on the mare to the left? With a stab of horror, Twilight realized she had forgotten what Rainbow looked like in her glamour. And if Rainbow’s spell was fading like hers, judging by the changing in her coat, Twilight needed to find her quickly and get them out of the mine.
“What’s the matter? You look all twitchy,” Piccolo observed.
“N-nothing…I’m just really late and need to find my group. Thanks for your help.” She started to move away, but Piccolo broke into a trot to stay at her side.
“No problem. I’ll help you find them. Do you remember what any of them looked li—”
“Aaiiih!”
“Hang on! I’m coming!”
Across the cave, a gray pony suddenly plummeted from one of the upper levels of the scaffolding, screaming as he felt towards what would surely be a fatal collision with the cave floor. Barely a heartbeat later, another pony leapt fearlessly after him, hooves extended in a dive that soon had her able to fling her forelegs around the colt, slowing, then halting his downward drop only a few pony lengths above the ground.
“Whoa!” Piccolo exclaimed, whirling around to gape at the pair of earth ponies now floating in midair in the center of the cave. “Do you see that? They’re flying!”
Twilight draped a hoof over her face. “Nevermind. I found them.”
**
.  	“Alright, let’s go! No slacking! There’s digging to be done! Move it, you mules! Get going!”
Rainbow Dash had barely a minute to marvel at the castle in the cave before a huge mare stalked down the coffle line and started shoving them towards the scaffolding. 
“You, first level, now!” She swung a cudgel at a pink mare who whimpered in pain and scampered to the lowest level of the castle. “Next, third level. Get a move on!” Each pony she passed received a level assignment and a bruising blow from the cudgel if they didn’t move fast enough. Though she shook all over with barely contained fury, Dash was ready when the mare reached her. At the shout of, “You, second level!” she sprang from her place in the line and cantered towards the scaffold, ducking beneath the cudgel so it whooshed harmlessly a foot over her head.
Taken off guard, the overseer had to scramble for balance and immediately turned her ire towards the next pony in the line, a slight, trembling gray colt with a green and black mane. She didn’t even give him his assignment before lashing out with the cudgel, striking him hard across the withers. As he cried out and cowered, she screamed at him to get to the top level.
The colt gulped and looked up at the towering structure. He had to crane his head all the way back to see the top level and immediately began shuddering. “No!” he wailed, flinging himself down to the ground. “Please, no, I can’t! It’s too high! Please, give me something closer down—I can’t do it!”
The mare snarled at him around the handle of her cudgel. “You’ll do what I tell you to do!” The colt yelled when she struck him again, curling up tighter on the ground. This only prompted the mare to hit him harder, while the remaining ponies quickly and nervously backed away. 
“Hey! Leave him alone!” To the astonishment of the overseer, Rainbow came galloping back and interposed herself between the colt and the cudgel. The last blow went wide, glancing off her ear, and her vision blurred with tears. Blinking them away, she narrowed her eyes and glared at the other mare. “Can’t you see he’s scared of heights?”
The overseer’s face registered her shock for only a moment before turning ugly with rage. “Not my problem!” she snapped. She raised the cudgel again, but hesitated when the dust-colored mare refused to flinch or back down. She wasn’t used to the slaves taking a stand, and there was something in this mare’s eyes that was strange—a strength and spirit that hadn’t yet been broken.
“Let us switch, then,” the smaller mare declared. “Heights don’t bother me at all, so I’ll go up top and he can go to the second level in my place.”
The colt dared to raise his head hopefully, though he flinched when the overseer’s gaze swung to him. A dangerous smile crossed the large mare’s face. 
“Would you like that?” she asked in a simpering voice, stepping forward and lowering her head until they were face to face. “Do you want to keep your four little hoovsies down here near the ground while this one takes your place at the top?”
Hardly able to breathe, the colt tentatively nodded. “Y-y-yes, p-please?”
“Forget it!” Flecks of spittle flew from her mouth as she screamed at him. “You’ll go where I tell you to go! And you!” She rounded on Rainbow Dash, who held her ground, though she flattened her ears against her head. “You want to help your little boyfriend so much, you can join him on the top level! Hey, Shale!”
A blue-gray colt trotted over, toying with the whip looped around his neck. “Yeah, Skipper, what?” he asked, looking annoyed.
“I need you to follow these two trouble-makers up to the top level and make sure they get to work,” Skipper told him. Leaning close, she whispered into the colt’s ear, making him jerk his head back in surprise. 
“What?”
“Just do it!”
Shale shrugged. “Sure, whatever, as long as you do all the explaining after. Alright, you two, let’s go, on the double!” 
The gray colt whimpered, but got slowly to his feet when Shale pointedly uncoiled his whip. Haltingly, he started walking, but balked again at the foot of the splintery ladder nailed to the scaffolding.
“I…I c-can’t! I’ll fall!”
“You’ll be okay,” Rainbow encouraged from behind him. “Just put one hoof over the other and don’t look down. I’ll be right behind you the whole way.”
“But…but…” The colt looked over his shoulder at her, his cheeks damp with tears.
“Go on. I won’t let you fall.”
Taking a shuddering breath, the colt nodded and started climbing. The ladder was narrow and made from branches nailed together in a haphazard way. Some of the rungs were loose while others were spaced far apart, so they had to stretch to reach them. The colt moved jerkily, testing each rung before trusting his weight to it. It made for slow going and Rainbow began to grow impatient. Using her wings, she could have made it to the top a dozen times over before they had even climbed a third of the way. 
Halfway up, the colt made the mistake of glancing down and was overcome with vertigo. With a frightened squeak, he frantically wrapped his legs around the ladder, causing it to sway precariously, and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Hey, buddy, c’mon, you don’t want to stop now.” Rainbow reached up and tapped his rump with her hoof, but he only hugged the ladder tighter, refusing to move.
“I can’t!” he gasped. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry, but I can’t!”
“Get moving!” Shale yelled from a few feet below, deliberately shaking the ladder from side to side and making the situation worse.
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow edged further up the ladder until she was just behind the colt.
“What’s your name?”
“H-H-Hickory,” he stammered.
“Well, I’m R—uh, Dusty. I’m right here behind you and I know you can do this. We’re already halfway there. Just a bit more to go.”
When the colt didn’t budge or reply, she groaned loudly. “Look, I know you’re scared, but it’s not going to get any better if you just sit here like a bump on a log.” 
“Move it!” Shale bellowed.
Hickory jumped, nearly losing his grip on the ladder, and screamed in terror. Starting to tip backwards and flailing, he barely managed to hook one hoof around a rung and pulled himself back. Shaking all over and gulping back sobs, he tentatively put out another hoof, and then another.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Rainbow started climbing again behind him, wishing once again that she could spread her wings and fly up to the top. Hoofing it everywhere was just too slow!
At long last, Hickory made it to the top of the ladder and hauled himself onto the wobbly platform. He managed to walk away from the edge, then collapsed with a shaky sound halfway between a sob and a laugh. A couple of diggers paused briefly to glance his way, then apathetically returned to their work.
“See?” Dash hopped nimbly onto the landing, blissfully unbothered by the precarious swaying or the sheer drop just a foot to her left. “I toldya you’d be fine!”
“That’s what you think.” Shale jumped onto the platform, making it rock even more. The diggers looked up again, and those nearest the ladder quickly edged away from the grinning overseer. “Troublemakers like you may take the long way up, but I’m gonna show you the short way down.” Rounding on the prone Hickory, he dragged him to the edge of the platform. “Time to make an example!” he bellowed.
Hickory uttered a single scream as the overseer tossed him off the scaffold.
“And now for y—oof!” Shale started towards Rainbow Dash, but was knocked off his hooves as the small, dust-colored mare barreled past him and leapt into the air of her own accord.
“Hang on, I’m coming!” Rainbow shouted. As all eyes were drawn to them, she flapped her invisible wings and dove after the tumbling pony. With the ground moving ever closer, she stretched out her hooves, wrapping her forelegs around Hickory’s middle. The colt’s mouth was wide open in a silent scream and his eyes bulged when she flared her wings sharply, breaking above the hard stone of the cave floor.
“Got you!” she gasped, grinning widely despite the new ache of her wrenched arms and over-tasked wings. She flapped them slowly, hovering a few lengths above the cave floor.
“Do you see that? They’re flying!” somepony yelled out in the sudden silence that had pervaded the cavern.
Glancing about, Rainbow saw that the entire cave was now watching them. She groaned. “Aw, horseapples!” So much for not getting noticed. Twilight was never going to let her live this down.
“Put me down! Put me down!” Hickory thrashed in her arms, kicking and yelling until she let him go. He dropped in a heap, then scrambled to his hooves and galloped away from her.
“You could say thank you!” Rainbow shouted after him. She shook her head disgustedly and looked up at the scaffolding. “Stop a pony from a ten story drop and he just—uh oh!”   
Shale had stumbled over the edge when she’d rushed past him. Now he held desperately onto one of the support posts, his hind legs dangling and kicking helplessly. None of the slave ponies were moving to his aid and his grip was failing.
Quickly, she spun a somersault and rushed upwards just as Shale’s hooves slipped from the post. He made a last, frantic grab for it before plunging head over hooves. Rainbow powered upwards, meeting the bullying, murderous colt halfway. His weight staggered her, dragging them both a dozen feet down before her wings managed to catch them.
“Ow! What have you been eating? Rocks?”
Straining with the effort, Rainbow lifted him to the nearest level of the structure and dropped him unceremoniously onto the splintering wood. Briefly, she landed beside him and raised an eyebrow.
“How do you feel now, huh? I just saved your life. even after what you just did to Hickory.” She paused for a second, tapping a hoof against her chin. “And what you were probably planning to do to me.”
“I-I-I’m sorry,” Shale sat up shakily and his eyes bulged when he looked at her. “W-what happened to you!”
“Huh?” Rainbow glanced down at herself and yelped. Thesky blue of her coat was clearly visible through the glamour and her mustard yellow mane and tail were streaked with bright rainbow hues. Even her wings, when she looked over her shoulder, were starting to become visible again, the feathers glinting like those of a dragonfly.
“Uh oh,” she said again. The spell was failing.
“Y-you need to stay right there.” Shale stood, some of the authority returning to his eyes. He took a meaningful step towards the pegasus. “I don’t know who you are, but the bosses are gonna want to talk to you.”
“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow agreed, taking a step back. “But you see, the thing is, I don’t really want to talk to them.” Shale rushed her, but she simply stepped off the scaffold and flapped her wings, hovering just out of his reach. Almost immediately, a fuchsia glow surrounded her and she let out a sigh of relief. Grinning cheekily at Shale, she waved goodbye just before a flash of light dazzled all of the onlooking ponies and she vanished from sight.
**
Twilight watched as Rainbow Dash flew to the rescue of the second pony and knew she had to get herself and her friend out of there as soon as possible. Even from a distance, she could see that the glamour was fading on Rainbow, the blue of her coat coming through and her wings starting to become visible blurs at her back.
“That pony is flying!” Piccolo repeated, her voice squeaking. “How is that—can you believe—did you know ponies could—hey, where are you going?” She hurriedly broke into a trot to follow Twilight out of the tunnel and into the Big Cave. Dozens of ponies milled around on the ground level, heads tilted back in bewilderment to watch the flying pony. Piccolo followed suit, until she seemed to remember that she had a job to do.
“Okay, let’s go, everyone back to work!” she shouted, trotting amongst the ponies and shoving them back to their stations. “Who cares if a pony is flying—get digging, unless you want the bosses to find out!”
This threat was enough to get most of the ponies hurrying back to their hammers and chisels, but a few were still too astounded by what they were seeing to heed the diminutive mare. She drew her cudgel and brandished it at a pair of ponies, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to hit them. Frustrated, she turned to Twilight.
“Midnight, give me some help here. If one of the bosses shows up unexpected, we’re all going to be in trouble.”
“Oh, well, I, uh…I don’t know what…”
“Just get them back to digging! C’mon, hurry up!”
At a loss, Twilight took a couple of steps towards her, but Piccolo suddenly yelped, her pupils shrinking in horror.
“Wh-wh-what the hay!” she cried, skittering backwards and tripping over her hooves. She landed on her rump but continued to push herself away in utter panic. “You’re a-a-a mare!”
The glamour was gone and Twilight Sparkle was once again a petite purple unicorn.
“Oh no,” she muttered, then gave Piccolo an abashed grin. “I’m so sorry, Piccolo. You seem like a really nice pony—y-you really don’t belong here. Thanks for all your help.”
While the crème mare stared at her in stunned disbelief, Twilight pointed her horn at Rainbow Dash and cast her teleportation spell. She was usually closer to a pony when she was doing a joint teleport, but the spell worked perfectly all the same. Piccolo shrieked at the sudden, brilliant flash of light and threw her hooves up over her eyes. A moment later, when she dared to look, Twilight was gone.
**
“Waaih!” Rainbow Dash landed hard on the floor of her sitting room, her legs sticking up in the air and her wings bent awkwardly beneath her. In the same instant, Twilight landed neatly beside her, not a hair out of place.
“Whoa nelly!” Applejack nearly tipped over backwards on her chair, taken completely off guard by their sudden appearance. “Rainbow!” she scolded, sitting up with her hat askew over her eyes. “Warn a pony before you do that!”
“Me?” Rainbow rolled over, scowling as she tried to smooth her crooked feathers. “Talk to Twilight! She didn’t give me any warning either.”
“We wouldn’t have had to leave in such a hurry if you’d stayed close by me like I told you to,” Twilight said. When Rainbow glowered at her, she shrank back with a guilty smile. “Well, maybe I got distracted for a tiny bit.”
Before Rainbow could reply, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity appeared from the bedroom.
“They’re back! They’re back!” Pinkie sang. “It’s about time!”
“Yes, thank goodness!” exclaimed Rarity. “We were starting to get worried. The sun is almost fully up.”
“We had a bit of trouble at the end,” Twilight told them, “but we’re okay.”
“Yeah, things didn’t exactly go as planned,” Rainbow added. Quickly, she told them all of her experience in the mine, starting with Twilight’s glamour spell and going through her rescues of the two ponies. By the time she was finished, Fluttershy’s eyes were welling with tears and Pinkie Pie was close to joining her.
“Those poor ponies,” Fluttershy whispered. “How awful.” 
Twilight went to Rainbow and hugged her tightly. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash. If I had known how bad it was in there, I never would have made you impersonate a slave pony. You could have gotten hurt.”
“Nah, it’s all good. What would have happened to that pony if I hadn’t been there to catch him? And I learned a lot. Seems Goldhoof isn’t the only unicorn involved in this.”
“That’s right!” Twilight then described her own meeting and conversation with Piccolo and what she had learned of the workings of the quarry. “It’s not gems they’re looking for,” she concluded. “It’s something about that underground castle—and it’s important enough for them to enslave ponies from Saddellia as well as Equestria to find it.”
“An underground castle,” Applejack mused. “Who woulda guessed?”
Twilight nodded. “It must have been there for thousands of years to have been completely buried in earth and for the earth to harden into stone. And whoever built it didn’t use stone from any of the local lands.”
“Right! They were shiny and silver,” Rainbow agreed. “Do you think they were magic?”
“I didn’t get any sense of magic from the walls themselves, but I got a feeling that there was something there with great power.”
“So maybe they weren’t looking for the building, but for something inside the building,” Fluttershy guessed. 
“I wonder what it could be.” Twilight paced in a circle, her brow furrowed. “I need to go to the library and research this.”
“And I need to find Linden and tell him what we found.” Rainbow stood up and headed towards the door. “He’ll put a stop to this and let all those ponies go free.”
“Wait, Rainbow, not yet.”
The pegasus paused, but looked at her incredulously. “What? But they were whipping ponies and beating them…and…and throwing them off things. It’s going to keep happening unless we do something about it.”
“I know.” Twilight looked pained. “I know, and I want to help them, I do, but we don’t have enough information. We don’t even know if the royals are the ones behind all this. Goldhoof and this other unicorn may just be acting on orders.”
“You think Linden is a part of this?” Rainbow was aghast.
“No! No, I…I don’t know. I sincerely doubt it. But that doesn’t mean his parents aren’t, and what if Linden confronts them? They might be forced to hurt him or lock him up.”
“Not to mention us,” Applejack pointed out. “Ah think, at the least, they’d want us to go back to Equestria. Then Linden would have to pick between siding with his parents or believin’ you. You know how hard it is to have to choose sides when you feel loyal to both.”
“But what about all those ponies?” Rainbow persisted, torn and upset. “They tried to kill that colt, Hickory. What if they try again?”
Her friends had no answer for her, though Fluttershy murmured, “What if telling Linden gets him hurt?”
The blue pegasus wilted visibly, hanging her head. “I hate this,” she muttered, stomping her hoof on the floor. “Why does it all have to be so secret and difficult and…twisty!”
Their conversation had to come to a quick close when there was a soft knock on the door. Quickly wiping her eyes on her leg, Rainbow straightened and called out, “Come in.”
Lilac Breeze let herself into the room with a cheerful smile for them all and cast a concerned look at Rainbow Dash.
“Are you feeling alright this morning, my lady? You sound a little hoarse.”
Clearing her throat, Rainbow forced a grin. “I’m fine. I didn’t really sleep well last night.”
“Wedding nerves,” Rarity added with a wink in Rainbow’s direction. Lilac immediately clucked her tongue in sympathy.
“Of course, of course! You must be so excited and nervous. There’s so much to do in such a short amount of time and it all has to be perfect.” She sighed thoughtfully, her eyes taking on a dreamy look for a moment. “I know it’s going to be so beautiful. The event of the century.” A few seconds later, she snapped out of her reverie with an embarrassed grin. “My apologies. I have your schedule of invitations for the day.”
As Rainbow Dash listened to the litany of places and ponies she was expected to attend, her spirits sank even further. The last thing she wanted to do was sit through a boring breakfast with ladies of the court to discuss possible themes for her wedding or talk with the royal steward about the management of her lands. 
The only highlight of the day was lunch, which was to be an informal date with Linden, and Rainbow immediately began counting the hours until she would see the prince again.
**
“A rabbit. It’s definitely a rabbit, albeit a fanged one.”
“Yeah, I see it. Ha! It kinda reminds me of Fluttershy’s Angel Bunny. Okay, how about that one?” Lying on her back on a grassy knoll beneath the palace orchards, Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof at a cumulus cloud floating to her right. Sitting beside her, Prince Linden scrunched up his face thoughtfully. 
“Hmm, that one is a mushroom.”
“A fanged one?”
The prince laughed. “Almost. And it seems to be smiling.”
“Smiling mushrooms. Sounds like something from the Everfree Forest.” Rolling over, she helped herself to a biscuit and some grapes from the picnic lunch the kitchen had packed for them. “Well, what about that little one?” She indicated a cloud directly overhead.
“A heart,” Linden said immediately. “My heart. Because it’s floating over you.”
It was utterly corny, but Rainbow didn’t laugh. “That’s not a heart,” she said, then hopped into the air and flew to the cloud. She kicked and tugged at it, moving backwards a few times to assess her work with a critical eye before adding a few more pokes and prods. When she was finished, a perfectly shaped heart floated in the sky like a Hearts and Hooves Day card. Satisfied, she dropped down to land beside the colt. “That is a heart.”
Linden was smiling. “No, that was amazing!” Glancing upwards, he gestured to a much larger cloud. “What can you do with that one?”
“Oh, a challenge, is it?”
The prince crossed his hooves over his chest and winked at her. “Think you’re up to it?”
In response, Rainbow Dash darted to the sky again and attacked the cloud with gusto, flying through it, bouncing on the top, and spinning around and around to mold spiral spires. Down below, Linden cocked his head curiously as a shape began to emerge.
“A little more here…a bit more scale…and now for the finishing touch!”
Backing away from her creation, Rainbow revved her wings and blasted clear through the cloud, leaving a small, perfect hole that was immediately suffused with golden sunlight. Banking about, she hovered over Linden’s head and poked him cheekily.
“How about that!”
Linden couldn’t do anything but gape upwards in amazement, for now the sky overhead was dominated by a winged dragon with a snarling, tooth-filled mouth, a serpentine tail, and a single eye that glowed golden with the light of the sun.
“Cloud shaping was one of the activities in my Junior Speedsters flight camp. We had to race to see who could get it done the fastest.”
“You never cease to amaze me,” he said, then looked to the left, where the heart cloud was slowly drifting over the countryside. “The dragon is great…but I think I like my heart better.”
Still hovering beside him, Rainbow followed his gaze and nodded. “You know what? Me too.”
**
Despite her frightening and busy morning, Rainbow felt good as she left Linden by the doors to the kitchens and headed back to the Emerald Rooms. She had wanted to tell Linden everything, to spill all their secrets and let him know what she and Twilight had found in the quarry. She thought he had the right to know, and there was no doubt in her mind that he was a good pony who had nothing to do with the kidnappings and slavery. And she was sure he would be absolutely enraged when he found out.
But her friends’ words had struck a chord with her. Linden would feel honor bound to act once he knew, and if his parents really were behind the quarry, he would find himself torn between his honor and his family.
At first she had worried that she would slip up and blurt out the truth during lunch, but Linden was so charming and interesting that she had easily fallen into the rhythm of the date, which was simple, laid back, and just fun.
At the landing to her floor, she came upon a servant heading down the stairs with a load of laundry to be washed. The maid immediately stammered an apology and tried to back up, but Rainbow simply glided over her head without missing a step.
“They’re not going to learn to respect you that way.”
Looking around, she found Lord Goldhoof standing nearby, smiling thinly. 
“Huh?”
The gray unicorn pointed his horn to the top of the stairs. “The servants. It’s their job to do their tasks as unobtrusively as possible. The nobility should not even see them, let alone get out of their way. This is especially true of the royals. As the future princess, you should have made her back up until you had passed.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Why? It was just as easy to fly over, and my friend Fluttershy likes to say that a little kindness goes a long way.”
“Yes, kindness. Interesting.” Goldhoof approached, eyeing her carefully. “And how are you doing this afternoon, Princess? The leg is healed now, I believe? No pain at all?”
“Good as new.” Rainbow flexed her leg and pranced in place. “It was just a scratch.”
“Glad to hear it. It certainly doesn’t seem to have slowed you down or kept you from going on little adventures.”
“Adventures?”
“Yes. It’s come to my attention that you have done some exploring beyond the castle grounds. In fact, I believe I have something that belongs to you.” He floated a sky blue feather from a pocket in his tunic and laid it on the floor before her. “Looks familiar, yes? Yet it was discovered miles from here. And where is your magical little friend?” The unicorn made a show of looking around, as if expecting to find her hiding behind a tapestry. “The one who has been spending so much time in the castle library?”
“Who? Twilight?” Rainbow lifted her eyes from the feather and shrugged again. “Probably off reading somewhere. She reads a lot.”
“Yes, quite the bookworm.” The unicorn arched an eyebrow, his lip lifting in a sneer. “Yet I could swear that she went along with you on your latest little jaunt.”
“Swearing is a bad habit,” Rainbow retorted, startled by what he knew but refusing to show it. “Know what else is a bad habit? Being a spy!”
“That’s not a very kind accusation, my lady. I am merely doing my duties for this kingdom.”
“And one of those duties, as the king’s advisor, is to spy on me and my friends?”
“My duties including protecting the kingdom, and the kingdom’s secrets.” He took another step closer, tilting his head to one side as he regarded her. “I can certainly understand why our beloved prince is so enamored with you—you’re flashy and bright, beautiful and exciting and brave…and, if I may say, reckless.” He started walking in a circle around her, forcing Rainbow to turn in place to keep him in sight. “Now, prior to your arrival, I had been observing a couple of likely prospects for our prince’s potential wife. Good breeding, also beautiful…sedate and obedient. Yet Linden has his heart set on a rainbow bride and the king loves the idea of winged grandchildren, so who am I to say otherwise?”
Rainbow bristled. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business one way or the other!”
“Perhaps not. It’s just that things always move so much more smoothly when everypony knows their specific place and duties, am I correct? A proper maid should go about her early morning tasks unseen, but should keep her eyes open just in case one of her betters should suddenly appear. A proper gardener should keep the castle grounds immaculate, and report any strange occurrences that may happen at all hours. And a proper lady shouldn’t go snooping about in things that don’t concern her.”
“It’s a good thing I never claimed to be a ‘proper lady’ then.”
“I suppose not.” His eyes drifted to a nearby window for a long moment before snapping back to her face. “I must say, I was surprised to find you here without your gaggle of little friends. You never seem to be far from them.” Lowering his voice, he added, “That’s probably a good thing.”
A strange tingle of nervousness washed over Rainbow Dash at his words and she narrowed her eyes.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?”
Goldhoof glanced around the hallway before answering. Sure that there were no servants milling about, he whispered, “Just that a certain rainbow-maned pony should learn how to behave accordingly if she doesn’t wish her good friends to come to some rather sudden, unfortunate ends.”
The young mare’s ears flattened against her head and her wings flared out. 
“You wouldn’t dare!”
The unicorn smiled, unfazed by her show of temper. “Are you willing to risk your friends on that?” His smile turned sly as Rainbow considered this and deflated a little. “That’s what I thought. Now listen, my lady, and listen carefully. You and your friends are going to confine yourselves to the castle grounds from now on. You will fill your time with whatever ridiculous wedding preparations the queen and her ladies plan. And you will marry Prince Linden if he wishes to continue with this folly, yet you will not tell the prince about anything you may have seen or heard, including this conversation. If you don’t follow these instructions exactly, I assure you that your friends will suffer a series of mysterious mishaps, starting with the annoying pink one—oof!”
Goldhoof staggered as the furious pegasus whirled and kicked him. She didn’t hold back, and the impression of her hind hooves was clearly visible against the dark slate of his coat. The unicorn dropped to the floor, struggling to breathe, and she took to her wings.
Hovering close to his face, she snarled, “You stay away from my friends, or by Celestia and Luna you will know how Nightmare Moon and Discord felt when we were through with them!”
Goldhoof coughed and winced, prodding at a tender spot on his chest. When he looked at Rainbow Dash again, his yellow eyes were flashing dangerously.
“That was distinctly unladylike,” he griped.
The pegasus snorted. “Then all the ladies you’ve known are wimps!” She spun to leave, but Goldhoof held out a hoof, stopping her. Painfully, he climbed to his hooves.
“Kick me like a mule all you want, Princess, but my warning still stands. You can’t watch your friends every second of the day…can you?”
They glared at one another for a long moment, neither speaking. Then Rainbow gave a cry of disgust and soared over his head. In a blur of blue and rainbow, she vanished down the corridor.
The draft from her wings ruffled Goldhoof’s mane. As the prismatic colors faded, he let a smirk come to his lips. He had gotten to the little pony—that was for certain. No matter how much bravado she tried to show, her friends were far too important to her and she wouldn’t risk them coming to any harm.
“I’ll be watching you,” he muttered. Hearing a small noise behind him, he whirled around, then winced and clutched at his side. “What do you think you’re doing?” he snapped at the wide-eyed maid who had paused at the end of the hallway. “Get back to work!” When the servant had scrambled to obey, Goldhoof started limping painfully back to his chambers. 
No, that kick had been most definitely unladylike.
**
Rainbow raced down the hall to her chambers and burst through the doors so hard they bounced off the walls, chipping the stone. Her friends, sitting about in the common room, glanced up in surprise.
“Rainbow? What’s wrong?” Rarity jumped up at the sight of her friend’s frantic face. “Are you alright, darling?”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow shouted. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” She scanned the room, but the pink earth pony was not there. Panicking, she rushed to the bathing chamber and flung that door open, looking inside. “Pinkie!”
“Rainbow, what’s going on?” Twilight came up behind her, looking alarmed. “What happened?”
“No time to explain!” Rainbow nudged her aside and cantered to the other side of the chambers. “I have to find Pinkie Pie. I have to know that—” Her bright pink friend suddenly came running from the bedroom and she gasped with relief, flinging her arms around the earth pony and hugging her tightly. “There you are! Thank Celestia, you’re alright!”
Taking the sudden embrace in stride, Pinkie hugged her back and laughed happily. “Of course I’m alright, Dashie. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Rainbow let out a shuddering breath and started to describe what had just happened to her. As Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack surrounded them, she noticed that one pony was missing from their group.
“Wait a second!” She released Pinkie and looked around again, her heart starting to pound. “Where’s Fluttershy?”
	

> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  	“No, no, no, no, NO!” Rainbow broke away from her friends and hovered in the middle of the room, her wings buzzing like a hornet in agitation. “Where is she? Fluttershy! Why isn’t she here?”
“Dashie!”
“That lying snake!” Rainbow began to pace on the wing, flitting back and forth rapidly overhead. “He’s not even going to give me a chance to follow his stupid instructions. He took Fluttershy. Fluttershy!”
“But Dashie—”
“If he’s done anything to hurt her, I’m going to ring his neck. No! I’m going to take him up as high as I can fly and drop him!” She snorted a plume through her nose. “Actually, why wait? I’m gonna drop him right n—whoa!”
A hard tug on her tail dragged her to the floor. Before she could move, Pinkie pounced, grabbing her face between her hooves and bringing them eye to eye.
“Dashie! Listen! Fluttershy’s fine. Wild Rose came by a little while ago and asked for her help with some animals.”
“But…but…but…she’s in danger out there! Nopony’s watching out for her.” She tried to pull back, but Pinkie refused to let go and she only succeeded in squishing her cheeks. “What if he does decide to do something to her?” she slurred through pursed lips.
“What in the hay are you talkin’ about, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked. She spat out Rainbow’s tail, but stood on the tip of it in case the pegasus tried to get airborne again.
“Yes, Rainbow, what is going on?” Twilight and Rarity moved into her line of sight, both looking concerned and a little frightened. “What happened?”
“Goldhoof,” Rainbow growled. “That lying, weasely, sneaking—uh, Pinkie, could you let me go? My face is starting to hurt.”
Pinkie stepped back, letting Rainbow rub her sore cheeks. In the slight pause, Twilight sat down before the pegasus and looked at her seriously.
“Rainbow, calm down and start from the beginning. You ran into Goldhoof on your date?”
“No, after.” She ground her teeth angrily. “He probably waited until he knew Linden wasn’t around. I was coming up the stairs and there was this maid with a whole lot of laundry. I flew over her so she didn’t have to back up. That’s when he started in on how a proper princess shouldn’t do that and I should make the servants get out of my way. Then he started talking about all the other girls he thought were better for Linden than me, and what it takes to make a proper lady, and he gave me one of my feathers and wanted to know where Twilight was, then he told me to follow all his rules and marry Linden or my friends would be hurt, and that’s when I kicked him and came back here!” She paused to take in a huge gasp of air while her friends exchanged confused looks.
“Any of you get that?” Applejack asked.
Rarity shook her head and tapped Pinkie on the rump. “Darling, I think you’re starting to rub off on her.”
“Maybe,” Pinkie agreed, nodding.
Rainbow groaned, dragging a hoof over her eyes. “No! Listen. Somehow Goldhoof found out that I flew to the quarry the other night and that Twilight and I went there last night. He doesn’t want us to know what they’re looking for, and he said if I didn’t follow his instructions and rules, he would make sure my friends all got hurt…starting with Pinkie Pie.”
“What!” the unanimous cry echoed through the chamber and the girls all turned to Pinkie Pie. The earth pony sat down, looking more confused than upset.
“Why would he want to hurt me?” she asked after a moment. “Did I do something to offend him?” Her huge eyes filled with tears. “Oh no! I never offered to throw him an extra special King’s Advisor party! We’ve been here for weeks and he’s probably heard all about my parties and has been waiting all this time and now I’ve hurt his feelings!” She raced from the room, leaving them all goggling speechlessly after her, and returned with her saddlebags. “I’ve got to fix this right away!” Streamers and confetti and deflated balloons began to fly through the air as she dug through the bags. “Twilight, Rarity, you’ll be on streamer patrol. Dashie, I’ll need your help hanging the banner. Applejack, you can start with the balloons, then go down to the kitchens and get some snacks for—”
“Pinkie! Hold on.”
“Yeah, Dashie? What’s wrong? Oh, did you want to get the snacks? I guess that could work—it doesn’t take very long to hang a banner.”
“No, Pinkie, Goldhoof doesn’t want a party. He…he called you ‘the annoying pink one’.”
“Annoying pink one?” Pinkie sat down again, a blue streamer dangling from her ear. 
“Clearly, he’s an uncouth, villainous beast who doesn’t know how wonderful it is to have a friend like you,” Rarity said, giving her an affectionate hug.
“So he knows somehow that you and I went to the quarry,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Does he know what we found there?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Not sure. He didn’t say anything about that. Just that the kingdom has its secrets and it’s one of his jobs to protect them.”
“But how’d he know?” Applejack queried. “Ah mean, Ah know he’s a unicorn and all, but he can’t be everywhere at once. And he has to sleep sometime, don’t he?”
“You don’t…” Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. “You don’t think that pony from the library recognized us and told him, do you?”
“I think he has spies all over the castle,” Rainbow stated. She stood up and jerked on her tail, pulling it out from under Applejack’s hooves and sending the orange pony staggering sideways. “Maids and gardeners and cooks and pages. He even said that a good maid keeps an eye on things and a good gardener reports when he sees something out of the ordinary. I’ll bet we flew right over some of the gardeners this morning and we’ve gotten so used to them that we didn’t even notice. Who knows how many of them report to him?”
“Spies?” Pinkie said in a small voice.
“Spies,” Rainbow agreed emphatically. “They could be anywhere! He could have the entire castle staff answering to him.”
“Rainbow, darling, you’re sounding a little paranoid.” Rarity gave a nervous little laugh. “I suppose a few might be under his special employ, but all of them? That would mean Lilac Breeze and Foxtail have been spying on us all from the start. Do you believe that?”
The pegasus sat down again, glowering beneath the fall of her fire-colored bangs. “I don’t know. The only thing I do know is I’m not going to sit by and let that unicorn hurt my friends.”
“You might want to stand up then, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie suggested.
Rainbow’s eyes flickered to her friend, who gave her a beaming smile, and the blue pony let out a strangled chuckle. “Pinkie,” she began, then settled for giving her a hug.
“This definitely changes things,” Twilight murmured, frowning thoughtfully. “I was hoping we could go to the quarry again and investigate that castle, but clearly that is out of the question. I suppose I could try to find out something about it in the library…”
“Oh yes, darling, because looking up books on buried castles and ancient Saddellian civilizations wouldn’t look suspicious at all,” Rarity said dryly.
“True. Well, I suppose I could be very discreet about it and look them up while I’m researching a way out of this marriage for Rainbow.”
“Ah don’t know about that,” Applejack spoke up. “Sounds like Goldhoof is even on to your research, Twi. He wants Rainbow and Linden to get hitched, so he’s not gonna take kindly to you lookin’ up loopholes to his laws. We don’t want to do anything to make him follow through on his threats.”
“Then what can we do? It’s not like we can complain to the king—he hasn’t even bothered to talk to us and we’re supposed to be royal guests!” Agitated, Twilight ran a hoof over her mane, mussing up the normally straight and orderly strands. “I wonder if it would be an international incident to use a persuasion spell on Oak Bough to get us an official audience or—”
“What about the Elements of Harmony?” Pinkie chirped. “If we could find them, then Twilight could do the friendship spell and make her eyes go all white and glowy and then Goldhoof wouldn’t be so mean and evil anymore.”
“But we have no idea where they are, Pinkie,” Twilight protested. “And even if we—”
“Sure we do,” Rainbow interrupted. When her friends all looked at her in surprise, she rolled her eyes and threw up her hooves. “Isn’t it obvious? Goldhoof has them.”
“Now, Sugarcube, there’s no way we can know that for sure,” said Applejack skeptically. She frowned as the pegasus gave a bitter laugh.
“Who else could it be? He’s obviously got the palace guard at his disposal and he’s the only pony in Saddellia who knows magic besides Twilight and Rarity. Of all the things we brought with us, only the Elements were stolen. The king and queen have all the jewels and jewelry they could want. So, unless this other unicorn we heard about is wandering around the castle unseen, who else would bother to steal a bunch of necklaces?”
“And the big crown thingee!” Pinkie reminded her.
“And a big crown thingee. I’ll bet he knew they were magical and he stole them to try and make his own magic more powerful, since the court now knows that floating fruit and lighting candles is filly’s play compared to what a unicorn like Twilight can do.”
“I guess it’s possible,” Twilight said hesitantly. 
“Well, if’n it is true, we need to go to the king and demand that he make Goldhoof give them back to—you know, Rainbow, that’s gettin’ real annoyin’,” she snapped when Rainbow Dash laughed again.
“Like the king would bother taking his snout out of his wine long enough to listen to us,” Rainbow retorted. Her eyes were angry and slightly wild, but relief flooded her features when there was a sudden, gentle knock on the door. “Fluttershy!” she said, spinning around.
Twilight bit her lip to keep from pointing out that Fluttershy was unlikely to knock on the doors of her own rooms—it was obvious that Rainbow wasn’t going to relax until she was sure all of her friends were safe and sound. Sometimes loyalty was more of a burden than a blessing. 
Sure enough, it was not Fluttershy, but Linden and his friends who greeted them when Rainbow flung the door open. The prince smiled grandly and swept into a low bow, causing Fletcher to snicker behind him. Without breaking form, Linden kicked out a back hoof, wiping the smirk from his friend’s face.
“My lady, it’s been far too long since I last saw you.”
“That’s right,” Tiny spoke up from behind him. “Nearly a whole hour!”
“Might as well’ve been a year.” Linden shook his mane and shuddered dramatically. “May we come in—I have an exciting invitation for all of you.”
Rainbow stepped back without a word and sat on her haunches, her eyes flickering out to the hallway as though willing Fluttershy to suddenly appear. Stepping into the room, Linden’s smile turned to a look of concern and he glanced over his shoulder at Fletcher.
“Hey, go smile at Rarity for a bit, would you?”
The green pony looked from the prince to Rainbow Dash and bobbed his head quickly. “I hear and obey.” He slipped off to Rarity’s side, already favoring her with a brilliant smile. Nightfire and Tiny took their cues from him and discretely edged away. 
“Alright,” Linden said once he and Rainbow were alone. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” Rainbow dragged her gaze from the doorway and tried to look nonchalant. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“Because when I left you earlier, you looked like you had been walking on clouds—now you look like one is hanging over your head. What is it? Are Rarity and Foxtail fighting over dresses again?” He cocked his head to one side, eyes twinkling. “Do I need to have somepony thrown in the dungeon?”
“Ooh! Could you do that?” Rainbow’s head snapped up eagerly, until she realized he was just joking. “Oh, haha, funny.”
“Come on, talk to me. Something’s bothering you.” Linden stepped closer and pressed his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. “Let me help if I can.”
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily, torn between trusting Linden to help her and putting the prince and her friends at risk of Goldhoof’s treachery. 
“Okay, Linden, there is something going—”
“Whahaha!” Rarity’s delighted squeal rang through the room and the white unicorn began to prance in place. “We’re invited to dinner with the king and queen!”
“Fletcher!” Linden snapped.
Fletcher shrugged. “My smile wasn’t working for some reason. You never said we couldn’t tell.”
“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked. “Dinner?”
Linden scowled at Fletcher, who only grinned back. “It was going to be a surprise. Tonight there is to be a dinner, only select members of the court to attend. My parents will both be there, so this will be a great time for you to broach your queries to the king, since he still hasn’t seen fit to grant you an official audience.”
“Oh! That…” Twilight met Rainbow’s eyes. “That would be wonderful, Prince Linden. An honor.”
“Yes, wonderful!” Rarity bubbled. “But what will we wear? I suppose we could do some type of theme…Foxtail had that pink satin…ooh, it’s a lot of work for so little time, but I’m sure we could manage if we get Fluttershy to help.”
“We saw Fluttershy out in the garden with Lady Wild Rose,” Tiny informed them. “It looked like they had coaxed all of the rabbits on the castle grounds to them and were busy feeding them carrots.”
Rainbow brightened at the mention of Fluttershy, then gasped, her eyes taking on a calculated glint.  
“Linden, will Lord Goldhoof be at this dinner?”
“Most likely. He attends all the castle functions.”
The pegasus tapped her chin thoughtfully, then broke into a wide grin. “Well then, like Rarity said, we have a busy afternoon ahead of us. We’re just going to have to go fetch Fluttershy since her freaky knowledge of sewing will probably be the only thing keeping Rarity from combusting.” She pressed up against Linden, surreptitiously nudging him towards the door. “Lot of work to do to get ready in time.”
Linden stared at her, unnerved by the sudden change. “A-are you alright, then?”
“Yeah, great! Totally awesome! Just looking forward to dinner and all. I bet it’ll be delicious.” She gave him a slight push, causing him to stumble. “Save me a seat next to you, okay?”
The prince was utterly baffled, but decided not to question the complete flip of her emotions. Chocking it up to one of the many mysteries of mares he would probably never understand, he gave her a dubious smile. “Okay, if you say so. I’ll see you a few hours.” Still throwing her worried looks, he stepped back into the hall, followed quickly by Tiny, Nightfire, and Fletcher as Rainbow Dash ushered them out.
“See you soon, boys!” she called, closing the door on their bewildered faces, then turning around to find her friends all staring at her.
“Rainbow Dash, that was incredibly rude,” Rarity declared. “Fletcher was telling me about his father, Straight Arrow. We’ll be able to meet him tonight at the dinner.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie agreed with a pout. “And Tiny was just asking me if there was anything special I’d like at dinner because he’s good friends with the head chef.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry! But I had to get them out of here so I could tell you how we’re going to get the Elements of Harmony back.” She rubbed her hooves together, and beckoned for her friends to come closer. “You must be the one rubbing off on me, Twilight, because this is totally an egghead idea, but I really think it can work. First, Applejack, you need to go to the gardens and bring Fluttershy back here. Then here is what we’re gonna do…”
**
Rarity’s mane was still slightly disheveled from the stress of designing and making their outfits when the colts arrived to escort them to dinner. She had somehow managed to create six flowing skirts from the pink satin and had only collapsed into hysterical tears twice during the process. Each skirt followed the same pattern and only the different colored edging on each one kept them from being identical. Pinkie’s sash belt was a pale blue that brought out her eyes.. Fluttershy had a belt of pale green ribbon with a matching strand wound through her long hair. Applejacks’s yellow sash was tied in a large bow on either side of her haunches and Twilight had a white headband in her mane to go with the wide, white belt of lace on her skirt. For herself and Rainbow, Rarity had reserved swatches of glittering black and purple sheath and even Foxtail had to nod her approval at the final result.
“I didn’t think it was possible,” the Saddellian seamstress had reluctantly admitted, “but you all look beautiful.” 
The colts all agreed, and Rarity nearly melted when Fletcher presented her with another flower to weave into her mane, saying that he loved the new style.
“You look excited,” Linden said to Rainbow Dash, who practically pranced beside him down the hall. “You are aware that this is a dinner with my father, right? You remember my father?”
“Sure I do. Big guy, crown, terrible table manners.”
“That’s the pony. And he hasn’t changed since our last meal together.” The prince gave her a look very much like a begging puppy. “I just don’t want to have a repeat of the other night if he gets, uh, upsetting again.”
“I won’t go flying through any windows, if that’s what you mean,” Rainbow told him with a flick of her tail. 
“Or, if you do, you could take me with you,” Linden suggested. “We could fly all the way to Equestria.”
Rainbow pulled in a sharp breath. “Would you really come with me?” she asked, surprised to find her voice squeaking as she realized just how much she would love that. She heard a tiny nicker behind her, one that sounded suspiciously like Applejack, and folded her ears back with a frown. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she continued, “But you’re a prince. You couldn’t really leave all this behind, could you?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Really!” Rainbow’s wings shot up excitedly, the feather tips fluttering as she grinned.
“If you wanted me to. I would go anywhere with you.”
“What do we have here? Discussing your honeymoon already?” Queen Bright Song trotted down the hallway to them and greeted her son with an affectionate nuzzle before giving Rainbow Dash a hug. “I’m so happy to hear that. You look lovely, my dear. What a darling idea, to dress your ladies like you. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the other mares following suit after tonight.”
As Rarity beamed, the queen walked them to the dining room, waving a hoof impatiently at the herald who tried to announce them at the door. A dozen ponies were already gathered inside, mingling around the table and sipping from silver goblets. Rainbow recognized Star Trillium among them, but the mauve mare looked away when their eyes met.
“This is going to be a simple affair,” Bright Song told them. “No fanfare and announcements and only a few select guests. It’s time we get to know each other better, as family.”
“Uh, hehe, family, yeah, um, is that berry juice?” Breaking away from the queen, Rainbow picked up a goblet with her teeth and tossed her head back, downing the contents in a single gulp. To her surprise, it turned out to be pumpkin ale and she immediately began to choke and sputter.
“Mares,” a voice said contemptuously as she continued to cough. “Can’t hold their drink.”
King Oak Bough stomped into the room with a nervous looking page shadowing his steps. He walked past his wife and son without a word and dropped heavily into the ornate chair at the head of the table. The page immediately scampered to fill his goblet and the king quaffed the ale. This seemed to be the signal to be seated, for all the other guests quickly scrambled to their places.
Rainbow was once again seated at the head of the table beside Linden, with Lady Buttercream directly across from her. The pale yellow mare greeted her warmly, smiling and gushing over the cuteness of her outfit, then asked her if she had come to any decisions on her wedding plans yet.
“Uh, no…not, um, yet.”
“Well, you’d better hurry, my dear. You don’t want to leave all the important decisions until the last minute. Everything must be planned and perfect for a princess.”
“It would seem that she and Linden have started with the honeymoon plans first,” Bright Song said with a wink in Dash’s direction.
“Oh yes! How exciting!” Buttercream bubbled. “The first trip as a couple is so romantic. Have you decided where you want to go? The western holdings are very nice and there are many families who would be only too honored to host the prince and princess, isn’t that right, Calla?” She nudged the mauve mare beside her, who prickled at the casual touch and looked at Rainbow Dash rather coolly. 
“No doubt,” she said in a smoothly cultured, though high, voice. “His Highness has always been welcome at our manor.” She paused to sip delicately from her goblet, but not before Rainbow caught the sneer that had twisted her otherwise attractive face. “But I would expect the princess would be eager to travel to her own holdings—the Blue Hills are supposed to be lovely in the winter and she hasn’t even seen the land she was so generously gifted.”
The mare looked far too much like Star Trillium, who was keeping her gaze studiously on the empty plate before her, to not be her mother. Fluttershy had told them all about her conversation with Wild Rose and now the pegasus stiffened slightly.
“I’m not a princess,” she pointed out.
“Yet,” Bright Song and Buttercream said in unison.
“Nothing’s been decided yet.”
“Course it has,” Oak Bough suddenly spoke up from the head of the table. “All that’s left are the ridiculous details mares concern themselves with like dresses and colors and cake.”
Rainbow bristled, opening her mouth to argue, but subsided when Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. A moment later, servants appeared with plates of bright, summer salad. Oak Bough buried his snout in the fresh greens and started to eat, causing his wife to shake her head in exasperation. When the servants placed her own salad before her, she nibbled with far more grace and delicacy. 
“This is delicious, Your Majesty,” Rarity said as she levitated a juicy bite to her mouth.
“Mm, yes, it’s the daisy leaves. They’re so nice this time of year. It’s just too bad they can’t be stored through the winter for this would be a perfect appetizer for the wedding dinner.” She winked at her son and Rainbow Dash. “But there are plenty of dishes that will be just as wonderful. A nice pumpkin soup, perhaps, with herbs and sweet cream.”
“That would be delightful!” Buttercream said with her usual optimism. “I just adore pumpkin soup, don’t you, Calla?”
Calla Lily’s lips twitched. “I tend to avoid such rich fare myself, but I suppose if you don’t care too much about your appearance…” She turned to her daughter, who had finished most of her salad, and contemptuously shoved her plate away from her, making the young mare flinch.
An uncomfortable silence followed that soon had Pinkie Pie’s eye twitching. Unable to stand the oppressive atmosphere, she stood up in her seat and loudly cleared her throat. When everypony had given her their attention, she took a deep, steadying breath.
“Why wouldn’t the clam share his treasure?” she asked in a perfectly serious voice.
Calla Lily stared at her, completely nonplussed and rather annoyed. “I’m sorry, but what in the world are you talking about?”
“Because he was a little shellfish!”
Tiny snorted into his salad, sending a flurry of daisy petals showering through the air. One drifted down to land perfectly balanced on the tip of Fletcher’s snout. As the green colt went cross-eyed to stare at it, another silence fell over the room, broken when Linden began to laugh.
“Looks good on you, Fletch,” he called down the table. “You should consider a mustache.”
Fletcher shrugged and swiped at the petal with his tongue. “Could use some lemon juice.”
Calla Lily turned away, disgusted, but Tiny raised his muzzle from his salad and wiped his lips with a napkin, then asked with a completely straight face, “What is it that even the most careful pony overlooks?” 
Pinkie sat back down and frowned thoughtfully. “A valley? No, no, um, a mountain? No, wait, a…huh, I don’t know. What?”
“His nose,” the plum-colored colt supplied, pointing at Fletcher’s snout.
The pair were still swapping jokes when the servants appeared with the second course of thinly sliced squash and grilled mushrooms in a buttery, wild onion sauce. As usual, the king was served first and then the food was presented down the table. 
“Lady Dash,” Calla Lily cut through Pinkie’s latest joke and turned a simpering smile towards the prince and the pegasus. “I was much impressed by your performance during the tourney. Is it true that, in Equestria, there are some ponies who do nothing but such aerial shows as their job?”
“Well, there are the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow replied, surprised that the noble pony would know of them. “They’re the best stunt flyers in all of Equestria.”
“And you want to join these Dunderbolts, don’t you?”
“That’s Wonderbolts. And yeah, I’ve been training for the Wonderbolts since I was a little filly. Someday I’m going to get accepted to the Wonderbolts Academy and then I’ll get to show them my stuff and…I…uh…” She stammered to a stop, aware of Linden beside her and a strange, confused mix of feelings that left her tongue-tied.
“Fascinating.” Calla Lily nibbled a piece of squash, grimaced, and pushed the plate away. “And what a dedicated young mare you are, to give up such an exciting future in order to marry and run a country. It’s too bad Saddellia doesn’t have anything like the Dunderdolts—”
“Wonderbolts.”
“—but our country has such an obvious lack of pegasi. I do hope you won’t feel lonely without any of your own kind here.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, deciding she didn’t like this mare one bit. “I can tell your concern for me is overwhelming.”
Linden snickered at her side and affectionately patted one of her wings. The motion was small, but full of meaning, and Calla Lily’s face flushed angrily. 
“I guess falling in love has nothing to do with convenience or logic,” Fluttershy said softly, looking out from beneath her thick hair at Star Trillium. “It all depends on the ponies and how they feel about each other.”
“Beautifully said, my dear,” spoke up a handsome, dark green stallion with Fletcher’s eyes and friendly smile.
At the head of the table, Oak Bough grunted and announced that the conversation was boring him. Waving a hoof, he ordered entertainment and a refill of his tankard. Two servants bustled to comply, one bearing the pitcher of ale, the other cantering out of the room to fetch the palace musicians. Lightfoot and his pale companion appeared quickly, as though they had been waiting in the wings for the king’s call. With no preamble, they took their places in a corner of the room and immediately set to playing. Bright music filled the air, and by the time the main course was over and dessert had been served, Pinkie Pie had abandoned the table to join in.
“I thought Goldhoof was supposed to be here tonight,” Twilight Sparkle whispered to Rarity after awhile. “It’s getting late and I haven’t seen him anywhere.”
The white unicorn sniffed. “It would be just like him to throw a wrench in Rainbow Dash’s plan.”
“We’re going to have to come up with a plan B, then.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe we could—”
“Huh!” Pinkie Pie suddenly plopped back into her seat between them and pooched her lips out in a pout. “That was rude!”
“What?”
Pinkie indicated the two musicians, both of whom were packing up their instruments. “Thistledown. I was singing with her and when the song ended I just asked her what part of Equestria she was from and her eyes got really big and she turned away and wouldn’t talk to me anymore.”
“Thistledown?” Rarity frowned thoughtfully. “Why is that name familiar to me?”
“You’ve heard it before?” Twilight asked.
“I’m sure of it, but I have no idea where.” The white pony tossed her head. “Well, I’m sure it will come to me eventually. But Pinkie, what makes you think she’s from Equestria? Did she tell you?”
“No, it’s in her voice? Can’t you tell?” At Twilight’s blank look, Pinkie sighed and said, “Don’t you hear it when she sings and talks? She’s not from Saddellia. She’s from somewhere in Equestria, but she wouldn’t tell me where.” She sulked as the two entertainers bowed to the king and left the hall. “And now there’s no more singing.”
“Thistledown…Thistledown.” Rarity tapped her hoof against her chin. “Could it…no, maybe it was from that article…no, no, it was something else…somethi—that’s it!” 
“What?” Twilight and Pinkie looked at her expectantly.
“Do you remember Bramble, the reeve from Shiredale?”
“Of course,” Twilight said flatly. “He threatened us with pitchforks and locked us up.”
“That’s right. He was upset because his cousin had disappeared in the raids. His cousin, Thistledown.”
Twilight’s mouth dropped open. “Are you saying that Lightfoot’s partner is…?”
“One of the stolen ponies, yes!”
“I’m sorry, did you just say stolen ponies?” Calla Lily’s piercing voice rang out loudly enough to stop all other conversation at the table and made Rarity realize that, in her excitement at remembering where she had heard the name, she had forgotten to whisper. Now she and Twilight had the entire table’s attention. Even King Oak Bough had stopped in midchew to stare at them.
Twilight gave Rarity a panicked look—this was not how she had wanted to broach the subject to the king. She hesitated, hoping he would lose interest and go back to his food, but Calla Lily put an end to that possibility by trilling, “I’m sure I’m not mistaken. I distinctly heard you say stolen ponies.”
“What’s this?” Oak Bough grumbled. He jabbed a hoof at Twilight. “Unicorn, explain this.”
With no option but to comply, Twilight took a deep breath. “Your Majesty? I guess, well, perhaps now would be a good time to speak about relations between our countries? You see, my friends and I did not come here for a neighborly visit. There have been some disturbing events in Equestria and we need—”
Oak Bough belched loudly, cutting her off, and returned to his fruit trifle. 
“Father!” Linden went from looking mildly concerned to mortified. “They’re our guests, not to mention the friends of my betrothed. This sounds important.” 
“It is very important, sire,” Twilight pressed on, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “For both of our kingdoms. You see, there have been some issues at the borders between Saddellia and Equestria. A lot of ponies have gone missing and—”
“Missing, you say?”
All eyes turned towards the door, where Goldhoof had suddenly appeared. The slate unicorn bowed low before the table. 
“Please forgive my despicable tardiness, my lords and ladies. Duty calls, as you know.” He smiled at Rainbow Dash, who couldn’t help glowering back. “I was hoping I wouldn’t miss anything important and it seems I have walked into the most interesting conversation of the night. You say ponies have gone missing, Miss Sparkle? Please explain this.”
Twilight glanced quickly at her friends, who all nodded encouragingly to her. “Well, you see, it’s been happening in the border towns and small villages. There were reports of ponies being taken from their homes and—”
“Taken? By force?” Bright Song raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. “You mean ponynapped?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I’m afraid so. Dozens of ponies have been stolen from their homes on the Equestrian side of the border. Princess Celestia asked us to come to—”
“Wait a minute!” Oak Bough’s face turned thunderous as he figured out the implications of her words. “Are you daring to suggest the ponies of Saddellia is responsible for this?” 
A gasp went up from the dinner guests, which was quickly drowned out as Goldhoof began to laugh loudly.
“Ah don’t see what’s so funny about this!” Applejack snapped indignantly.
“Oh, f-forgive me,” the unicorn chortled. “Of course, you don’t see… a moment, please!” Still laughing, Goldhoof trotted down the hall to the servants’ doors and slipped out of the room. In his absence, the guests stared at the Equestrian ponies in shocked amazement and Linden turned to Rainbow Dash, his handsome face a picture of confusion. “Rainbow, what is all this about? Missing ponies? You’ve never said anything about ponynapping. Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”
“I-I wanted to tell you,” Dash said quickly. She touched his hoof and winced as he recoiled from her. “And I swear I was going to, but…”
Goldhoof returned to the dining room, throwing the door open loudly and walking in with two ponies in tow. Rainbow threw up her hooves in frustration.
“…we kept getting interrupted,” she muttered.
“Ladies, I have somepony for you to meet. I know you’ve had the pleasure of listening to our resident musician, Lightfoot, but have you been introduced to his young protégé, Thistledown?” He stepped aside and beckoned the pale mare forward. “Would you tell everypony where you’re from, my dear?” he asked her.
Thistledown’s head was hanging low and she stepped forward as slowly as possible. “Equestria,” she whispered, unable to meet their eyes. Her slender frame trembled from nose to tail.
“I knew it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“And if you’re from Equestria, home of our soon-to-be princess and her entourage, however did you come to be here in Saddellia?” The advisor’s eyes widened in mock horror. “You weren’t ponynapped, my dear, were you? Did Lightfoot steal into your home in the middle of the night and spirit you away from your family?”
“N-no, sir!” Thistledown finally raised her head, looking horrified. Quickly, she stepped to Lightfoot’s side and nuzzled him. “That’s not what happened at all! I…I ran away from home so I could be a musician.”
“What!” Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie cried, just as Rarity gasped and clapped her hooves to her mouth.
“I was right! You are Bramble’s cousin.”
Thistledown paled beneath her coat and her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t mean to worry anypony!” she wailed. “I just didn’t want to live as a farmer in that tiny village for the rest of my life. I w-wanted to sing and play and have ponies listen to my music.”
Lightfoot stepped protectively in front of the young mare. “I often go traveling to learn new elements for my music. Sometimes my travels take me out of the kingdom and into different lands. I met Thistledown on my last journey and was amazed by her musical talent, and I asked her to join me as my partner and protégé.”
“But her family thinks she was stolen by raiders!” Rarity snapped. “Her cousin is terrified that she is hurt and afraid and being held against her will!” The white unicorn glared at the pale green musician. “How could you do that? How could you run away and leave them all wondering what happened to you? You could have told them!”
“No, I couldn’t!” Thistledown cried. “I couldn’t tell anypony! They would never have understood and they would never have let me go. Th-this was my only chance.”
Rarity opened her mouth to berate Thistledown again, but stopped as she abruptly swooned. Raising a hoof to her forehead, she sat back in her chair, looking pale and fragile. In an instant, Fletcher was around the table and at her side, holding her steady and calling for water.
“No, no, I’ll be alright,” Rarity told him, though her voice wavered and her eyelashes fluttered weakly. “I’m just…it was all so upsetting and I…I think I just need to lie down for a little while.”
“I’ll help you to your rooms,” Fletcher said without hesitation.
“Oh, thank you, Fletcher. You’re such a gentlecolt.” Rarity slid off her chair with his help, but immediately crumpled to the floor. “I’m sorry, I just feel so dizzy.” She looked up and locked eyes with Twilight Sparkle. “My head is simply spinning.”
Catching on to Rarity’s ploy just an instant before Twilight, Fluttershy hurried to her friend and stroked her mane gently.
“I don’t think she should walk, Twilight,” she said in her soft voice. “Maybe you could help her back to the Emerald Rooms.”
“Nopony is going anywhere,” Oak Bough snapped, slamming a hoof hard enough on the table to knock over several goblets.
“I agree,” Bright Song said in a much more controlled voice. She lifted a napkin and dropped it on a spreading pool of pale orange ale before it could leech under her plate. “Twilight, you have raised some very grave concerns and I feel we must discuss them now before anything gets out of hoof.”
“Yes, your majesty, of course,” Twilight replied. “I don’t have to go anywhere—I can send Rarity back to the Emerald Rooms with my magic.”
“She worked all afternoon on our dresses,” Rainbow Dash spoke up “It probably wore her out.”
Bright Song hesitated, her eyes flickering briefly towards Goldhoof, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Then Rarity gave a small whimper and leaned back against Fletcher, and the queen grudgingly dipped her head.
“Very well, but the rest of you will stay here and explain this accusation.”
“Um, your majesty?” Fluttershy’s voice was very faint, but Bright Song turned to her immediately, eyes flashing with annoyance. The yellow pegasus shrank back in her seat with a nervous squeak, but forced herself to continue. “Um, I’m so sorry to ask this, but, um, if it’s alright with you, I would like to go with Rarity back to the rooms to keep her company, that is…if you don’t mind.”
“Isn’t it the duty of a lady’s maid to stay by her lady at all times?” Bright Song pointed out.
“I’ll still have Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie,” Rainbow said quickly. “Besides, Fluttershy really doesn’t like arguing…” She glanced at the colt sitting stiffly beside her and lowered her voice to a murmur. “…and something tells me there’s going to be lots of arguing.”
Bright Song let out a little whinny of frustration. “Very well! Go!”
Quickly, before the royals could change their minds, Twilight left her chair and went to stand in front of her two friends. Fletcher gently set Rarity in her seat and stepped away, not eager to be caught up in whatever magic Twilight planned to do.
“I will come check on you,” he promised the white unicorn. “Feel better.”
With the gathered Saddellians watching raptly, Twilight’s horn began to glow with her faint, magenta aura. The same aura began to spread over both Fluttershy and Rarity, causing Buttercream to first coo with appreciation, then yelp when a loud crack and flash of light split the air. When the light faded, both ponies were gone.
“Goodness!” Buttercream exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hooves. “I knew unicorns had magic…but never knew you could make ponies disappear.”
“I didn’t,” Twilight explained. “I teleported them both back to the Emerald Rooms.”
“Amazing!”
“Yes, yes, so much excitement,” Goldhoof said drolly. “And it’s caused our musicians quite a bit of upset.” He turned to Lightfoot, who was trying to comfort the sobbing Thistledown. “You’re both excused now. Thank you.”
Sending the remaining girls a scathing look, Lightfoot nudged his distraught partner into a trot and vanished from the hall. Once they were gone, Goldhoof moved to the head of the table, standing between the king and queen.
“Now, ladies,” he said in a smooth, slightly amused voice, “you have some explaining to do.”
**
On the other side of the castle, the same bright flash of light suddenly illuminated a darkened chamber and Rarity and Fluttershy landed in a rough heap at the end of an ornate bed. Rubbing her head, Rarity sat up with a groan and looked around.
“Well, I do believe Twilight’s aim was spot on, though she could certainly use some practice on the landing.”
Fluttershy got slowly to her hooves and looked around nervously. “For a minute, there, I didn’t think we’d make it.”
“I know, darling, and I am so sorry about that. It would have been all my fault if we’d missed our chance, but when I realized that mare had simply up and left her family without a word…” The white unicorn paused and ground her teeth. “Why, if I wasn’t a lady, I would have kicked the thistles right off of her. Her family is worried sick and she’s been here the entire time, fiddling away with that minstrel.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt them,” Fluttershy murmured. “She seemed terribly upset.”
“Well, she should be.” Rarity gave her mane an annoyed toss and vented a rather unladylike snort. “Well, anyway, we’d better get started. Who knows when Goldhoof will come back from the banquet hall? It certainly won’t help our cause if we’re caught in here.”
Fluttershy gazed around at their surroundings skeptically. “Do you really think the Elements of Harmony are here?”
“Rainbow Dash certainly does.” Rarity spotted a candle on the nightstand and touched it with her horn, which emitted a faint, blue glow. Instantly, a cheerful little flame sprang to life on the wick. “There! That’s much better. Now we can see what we’re doing.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if somepony sees the light?”
“But we’ll never find anything stumbling around in the dark. Go and pull the curtains closed and I’ll put something under the door.”
Fluttershy complied, covering the windows so their meager light wouldn’t be seen from anypony outside. Once they felt sure the room was secure, they started their search. Rarity went to the tall, wooden wardrobe and began sorting through the advisor’s clothing, wrinkling her nose at the unicorn’s poor fashion sense, but not finding any sign of their necklaces in any of the folds or pockets. Fluttershy opened the chest at the foot of the bed and dug through a myriad of papers and trinkets, but had no better luck.
“There’s nothing in here,” she told Rarity, who had turned her attention to a series of boxes from the top shelf of the wardrobe. She was lowering each one in turn using her magic, opening them to inspect the contents, then levitating them back to the exact place where she had found them. Finding nothing of note, she turned to survey the room once more.
“How about under the bed? I’ll check the desk.”
Goldhoof’s bed was just as large and ornate as the one in the Emerald Rooms, though the sheets and curtains were a dark, gloomy burgundy. The bedskirts fell to the floor and, when Fluttershy hesitantly lifted the corner with a hoof, the dark void beneath made her meep breathlessly.
“We have to hurry, Fluttershy,” Rarity hissed from the large desk.
“Okay, okay.” Fluttershy picked up the candle with her teeth and set it carefully on the floor beside the bed. She was just about to creep into the enclosed space when Gumdrop hopped out of her mane and dropped to the floor. Giving the timid pony a cheeky salute, the little mouse darted under the bed.
“Oh, thank you, Gumdrop. Good boy. I’ll check under his pillows.” She hopped up onto the mattress and searched through the curtains, then pranced to the head of the bed. On the way, her hoof tangled in a fold of blanket and she stumbled, yelping as she tumbled head first into the wall. Desperately, she threw out her hooves to break her fall, then gasped as one of the stones shifted under her weight, sliding backwards nearly six inches before stopping with a loud click.
“Oh goodness! Rarity! Rarity, come here! I found them!” she called as another stone swung out like a cabinet door, revealing a hidden compartment roughly a foot wide and deep. There, on the velvet-lined interior, the six Elements of Harmony glittered beautifully in the candlelight.
Rarity closed the desk drawer she had been searching with a loud bang and performed a leap onto the bed that would have made Rainbow Dash proud. Laughing delightedly to see the Elements, she levitated her own diamond-shaped necklace onto her neck. “Rainbow was right! A hidden cubby. How did you know?”
“I didn’t. I just, sort of, stumbled onto it.” Fluttershy put on her own Element and lifted Pinkie’s from the compartment. “Now Twilight can do the Harmony spell.”
“Yes. So we’d better get back to the Emerald Rooms as quickly as we can.” Rarity removed the remaining Elements with her magic and tucked them securely into her mane and tail. She swung the cubby door closed and hopped off the bed, turning briefly to straighten the blankets and pillows, then blew out the candle and returned it to the nightstand. “There! Almost everything as it was before.”
“I sure hope the other girls are doing as well at the banquet,” Fluttershy said, smiling. She picked up Gumdrop and gave him a kiss before placing him back in her mane, then lifted off the ground with a few flaps of her wings and wrapped her forehooves around Rarity’s middle. “Here goes nothing,” she whispered, struggling to pick up the unicorn and fly them both to the window.
“A-are you sure you’re up for this, darling?” As Fluttershy fluttered over the sill, Rarity made the mistake of looking down and was overcome by a wave of vertigo. “I know I am in fabulous shape, but dinner was a little heavy and…”
“I…can…do…it!” Fluttershy gasped. Squeezing her eyes closed, she flapped her wings as hard as she could and jerkily carried them around the castle. Rainbow’s plan was for her to fly Rarity straight through the windows into the bedchamber of the Emerald Rooms, but, try as she might, it wasn’t long before she ran out of steam and started to flag, threatening to drop them both into the gardens far below. At Rarity’s panicked insistence, she steered for the nearest window and staggered through, dropping them onto the floor of a corridor two floors down from their chambers.
“I’m sorry!” she squeaked, panting with the exertion, her wings hanging limping at her sides.
“No, no, darling.” Rarity got to her hooves and hugged her friend tightly. “You did wonderfully! And we’re not far from the rooms—we’ll just have to walk from here.”
Quickly, they trotted down the corridor to the stairs and started upwards. They were just making the last turn to their own floor when a tall shadow appeared, blocking their way. Rarity gasped, falling back a step and bumping into Fluttershy, who gave a little scream. Quickly, the unicorn made her horn glow, lighting up the stairwell and illuminating the serene, smiling face of Nightfire.
Ah, ladies.” The colt bowed respectfully. “What a surprise to find you here. I thought you’d retired from the banquet due to illness.”
“Y-yes, yes, I did,” Rarity stammered. She quickly draped a hoof over her brow. “And I’m still feeling very dizzy. Unfortunately, Twilight’s aim was a bit off and she teleported us downstairs. We’ve had to come up from the gardens.”
“Really? Twilight missed her mark? Huh, I’ll bet that doesn’t happen very often.” He stepped backwards to let them join him on the landing. 
“Yes, odd, isn’t it? Well, I don’t blame her. The palace is so large and I’m afraid I might have upset her during the dinner.”
“I’ll say. And quite an upset it was. They’re still down there talking—and Lady Dash is having a hard time keeping up with all of Goldhoof and the queen’s questions.”
Rarity winced and exchanged a glance with Fluttershy.
“Was it very bad, Nightfire?” Fluttershy spoke up. “Is that why you left the banquet?”
“Me?” The colt shook his head. “No, after your sudden bout of illness, I thought it would be a good idea to check on you and make sure everything was alright. I figured nopony would miss me at the banquet.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Fluttershy told him.
“I suppose. I had a feeling something was wrong when you both wanted to leave so suddenly.” He cocked his head suddenly, eyes locked on Rarity’s throat. “That’s a beautiful necklace, Miss Rarity. Funny, but I don’t remember you wearing that earlier.”
Rarity’s eyes widened and her hoof flew to the purple stone of her necklace. She had completely forgotten to take it off. 
“Oh! O-oh, this old thing?” she said with a weak laugh. “I had it on for a little while, but it’s rather heavy and awkward, so I took it off during dinner. You probably didn’t notice.”
“I see. And you say Twilight managed to teleport you down to the gardens?”
“Y-yes, thereabouts,” Rarity temporized.
“The gardens? Not Goldhoof’s tower?”
The two mares froze, staring at the orange colt. 
“Goldhoof’s tower?” Fluttershy said after a moment. “No, um, it was definitely the gardens.”
Nightfire turned to her, looking slightly hurt. “Now, Fluttershy, I thought we were friends. Why would you lie to me?”
“Lie?” Rarity laughed again, even more weakly. “Why, Nightfire, whatever do you mean?”
“I mean, I don’t believe Twilight Sparkle missed her mark with her teleportation at all. It’s not an easy skill to learn, but once you’ve got the knack of it, you’re very unlikely to go wrong. Here, let me show you.”
Before either girl could react, a blood-red glow surrounded Nightfire’s head, sweeping outwards to envelope them all. Fluttershy managed one terrified scream before the light flared to blinding brilliance. When it finally faded, the upper corridor was gone, replaced by three dark, stone walls that shimmered faintly with moisture and slime. Where the fourth wall should have been, there was a solid grate of thick, black bars firmly set into the stone at the floor and ceiling. Beyond the bars was a narrow hallway studded with guttering torches mounted on iron scones. Nightfire stood beneath one of these flickering lights, looking into the cell at the two mares and smiling thinly.
“You see? Precision is not difficult at all.”
“Nightfire?” Rarity looked around in bewilderment. “What is this? How did you…?”
The orange colt blinked. “Oh, you still haven’t guessed? Give me a moment then.” He shook his head briskly, tossing his mane from side to side. As he did, an orange horn appeared under his bangs on his brow.
“You’re a unicorn!” Fluttershy gasped.
“Not much gets past you…well, unless hidden by a glamour, I suppose.”
“You’re working with Goldhoof,” Rarity accused. She reared up against the bars, pushing on them and testing their strength. They held firm and she had to settle for glaring at the smug colt.
“Oh, you mean ‘Dad’? Actually, he’s been working with me.”
“But what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked tremulously. “Why are you taking all of those poor ponies from their homes and forcing them to work in your mines?” 
“Is that really all you care about? Some no-account village ponies from some unknown smattering of huts in the middle of nowhere? Is that really why you and your friends came here?”
“Of course it is!” Rarity snapped, affronted. “It doesn’t matter if they lived in the most opulent Canterlot apartment or the tiniest backwoods shack, they are still Equestrian citizens and Princess Celestia was horrified when she found out they’d been enslaved. We came here to find out why they were taken and to make sure they were duly released.”
Nightfire laughed loudly, the sound far from the genial tone they had come to know from him. Fluttershy whimpered and ducked behind Rarity.
“Ooh, please don’t laugh like that,” she murmured.
“And let us out of here this instant! We are guests of this country and this…this treatment is utterly unacceptable!”
“No, I don’t think I will.” Nightfire snorted and shook his head, suddenly mirthless. “You girls are getting entirely too nosy—snooping around the quarry and sneaking about the castle where you don’t belong. How else could you have found these?” His horn glowed again as he tore the Elements of Harmony from them, floating them through the bars to his side. Rarity tried to fight back, her blue magic briefly playing tug-of-war for her Element, until Nightfire snarled and sent a blast into the cell that sent both mares crashing back into the dank, far wall.
“You beast!” Rarity got shakily to her hooves. “You—you scoundrel!”
“Ouch.” The colt mockingly crossed his chest with a hoof and started to back away. “Your words wound me, Rarity…but this is your own fault. Goldhoof told Rainbow Dash to watch her step, but it doesn’t seem like she took the admonition to heart. So, if vague threats against her friends won’t keep her out of our business, we’ll see what two missing mares will do.”
“You’re not going to leave us in here!”
“That was the plan. I know for a fact that you can’t teleport, and Twilight won’t be able to help you if she doesn’t know where you are. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m really curious to know how the royals are dealing with the rest of your friends now that the real reason for your visit is out. The way Linden was looking at Rainbow Dash was quite…different from before.” Turning to the nearest torch, he extinguished the flame with his magic, plunging the cell and hallway into darkness. “Have a good night, ladies,” he called. The last they heard was the sound of his hoofsteps, fading into the distance.
**
The rest of the banquet was a complete disaster and Rainbow Dash wanted nothing more than to escape to the quiet and comfort of the skies, where she could find a nice cloud in which to bury her head.
After Rarity’s outburst and quick escape from the room, Dash, Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack had found themselves having to answer many questions about their true mission from Equestria and reasons for being in Saddellia. Goldhoof asked the most, standing imperiously beside the king, who mostly glowered and grunted at their truthful replies, but Bright Song had added a few well placed comments of her own. Hers were directed at Rainbow Dash and seemed determined to force her into confessing her true feelings for Linden or admit that she had been playing him for a fool in order to get close to the royal family. Calla Lily and Star Trillium, staying carefully quiet to avoid being sent from the room, had listened avidly, smiling at one another in the face of Rainbow’s distress.
For his part, Linden remained completely silent, sitting as though cast in stone beside her, his jaw set in a firm line. When Fletcher scoffed at Goldhoof’s accusation that they had brought the hyleenas to the forest using Fluttershy’s animal skills, the prince quelled his friend with a single, hard look, forcing the green colt to sit back with an outraged grumble. 
“That is so ridiculous!” Rainbow snapped, her wings rising of their own accord. “How could we have known Linden was out with his friends?”
“Or that he had separated from them for his tracking game?” Twilight added.
“You’ve already proven yourself to be quite proficient with your magic, Miss Sparkle,” Goldhoof pointed out. “In fact, you have delighted in showing the members of this court that you possess skills we all never knew were possible. One of those skills could easily be divining the future or the ability of farsight.”
“I don’t know anything like that,” Twilight protested, her cheeks blushing red. “And I haven’t delighted in anything of the sort—I’ve only shown you what you asked me to demonstrate.”
“How can we possibly believe you when you’ve fed us nothing but falsehoods until now?” Bright Song asked. Her normally gentle demeanor had vanished, leaving her cold and formal, with flashing eyes and a biting tongue. “All this time we have graciously hosted you here in our home, providing you with the best we have to offer, while you have secretly been on some spy mission from your princess.”
“Now hold on, y’all,” Applejack interjected. “We haven’t lied to you in the slightest. We told y’all that we were here to discuss border issues and to work out a peaceable agreement between our countries. We fully intended to bring up the missin’ ponies and what the escaped one said when he got to Canterlot. We requested an audience as soon as we got here—it’s y’all who haven’t bothered to see us.”
“And what about giving Rainbow Dash the Blue Hills when you knew it would trap her into your betrothal?” Pinkie Pie asked, unsmiling. “That was the biggest, meanest meanie of a lie if ever I heard one!”
“And the worst thing that could ever have happened to you,” Linden said, bitterly breaking his long silence.
“I never said that and it’s not true!” Rainbow argued, glaring at him. “Meeting you has been one of the best things that ever happened to me!”
“Well, you sure have a strange way of showing it.” Linden pushed his chair back and stood up. “I’ve had enough for tonight. I’m turning in. Tiny, let’s go.”
The huge, plum colt gave Pinkie Pie a mournful look, but obediently went to Linden’s side. 
“Goodnight, my lady,” the prince said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. With a jerky bow, he left the banquet hall, oblivious of Rainbow’s magenta eyes following him out the door. Her ears drooped and her wings fell to her sides. 
“I guess I’m done too,” Fletcher announced, ignoring the look his father gave him and trotting around the table. As he walked past the girls, he brushed against Twilight Sparkle’s hoof and gave her a tiny wink. She breathed a sigh of relief—at least one pony still liked them.
“Your highnesses, please,” Twilight said into the small lull that followed Linden’s departure. “I know you’re both feeling worried and confused, but I assure you that we have only ever had the best interests of our two countries in mind. We truly did want to tell you from the moment we arrived in Saddellia, but our opportunity never came and things just got out of hoof. Now, you trusted us before, enough to want Rainbow to marry your only son, can’t you please trust us again?”
Bright Song pursed her lips and swished her tail back and forth slowly. “But what you have said makes no sense, Twilight. A castle in the quarry? Hundreds of kidnapped ponies working to dig it out? Our own trusted advisor privy to the entire enterprise, along with some mysterious unicorn none of us ever knew existed?”
“It all sounds like a fairy story,” Goldhoof scoffed. “Something made up to foment trouble. I have already proven that you were mistaken about Thistledown. Isn’t it just as obvious that these other ponies have also fled their humdrum lives for something more exciting?”
“All of them?” Pinkie laughed. “You’re kidding!
“I know it sounds too strange to be true!” Twilight said desperately, “but it’s all real. Rainbow Dash and I have seen it with our own eyes!”
“And we’re just supposed to believe the two of you, instead of the advisor who has served my family for years?” Oak Bough growled. 
“If you don’t believe ‘em, go to the quarry and see for yourself,” Applejack suggested. 
Oak Bough let out a very unpony-like roar and swept a half a dozen plates from the table with a sweep of his leg. “Who are you to give me orders?  I’m the king! I don’t take orders from anypony!”
“Then how can we prove it?” the farm pony snapped, unfazed by his anger.
“There’s nothing to prove,” Bright Song announced with finality. “At least not tonight.” She wiped her forehead with a hoof and sighed. “It’s late and a perfectly good evening has been ruined. I, for one, agree with Linden and feel there is nothing more we can accomplish tonight by sitting here and arguing. I suggest we all retire to rest and continue this discussion in a formal audience tomorrow before the court and council after our tempers have cooled.” 
“A wonderful idea, your majesty,” Goldhoof agreed. “Though may I suggest a guard see the young ladies back to their chambers and keep watch at their doors for the night?”
“Why?” Rainbow had been quiet since Linden had left. Now she glared wearily at the gray unicorn. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“Past performance on your part makes it hard for me to believe you, my dear. We certainly wouldn’t want to see you or your friends hurt in an attempt to do something unwise.”
It was an obvious threat, though thinly concealed in concern for their welfare. Rainbow bristled and Applejack lowered her head, looking ready to spring on the unicorn, but Bright Song agreed, putting an end to any protests they may have had. A trio of guards were called in to escort the four of them back to the Emerald Rooms, ending the banquet and any further discussion of the quarry. They went quietly, though not happily, especially when Calla Lily leaned close to Buttercream and said, just before they left the hall, “Looks to me like Linden has become the most eligible bachelor in the country once again.”
**
“That could not have possibly gone worse!” Storming into the Emerald Rooms, Rainbow angrily tore off her banquet dress and tossed it on a chair. “What was Rarity thinking, blurting out about the missing ponies like that?”
“Ah don’t rightly know, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied cautiously, knowing Rainbow was upset and needed to vent somehow. “But it seems to me it was purely accidental and all. She found out that minstrel pony has been safe and happy all along while her family’s been worried sick and she just got all upset. Can’t say as I blame her.”
“At least she realized what she’d done and still managed to stick to your plan,” Twilight temporized. She removed her own dress and draped it carefully beside Rainbow’s, then looked around the sitting chamber. “Huh, I thought she and Fluttershy would be back by now—I wonder where they are.”
“Probably fell asleep waitin’ for us.” Applejack yawned widely, her head tipping so far back that her hat fell off. “Ah was startin’ to think that dinner was gonna go on forever.” 
“I’ll go check,” Pinkie volunteered, but Rainbow shook her head and started for the bedroom. 
“Nah, I’ll go.”
“Now Rainbow Dash, you be nice,” Applejack warned, pushing her hat firmly onto her head once again. “It twarn’t nopony’s fault.”
“Oh, I’ll be nice,” Rainbow called back, then added under her breath, “if dumping a pitcher of water on her head can be called—waaiih!”
Linden was sitting on the chaise by the windows. He watched expressionlessly as the startled pegasus shot into the air, her mane and tail sticking up in shock.
“Hi,” he muttered when, wide-eyed and gasping, she fluttered back to the floor.
“Linden! What in the name of Celestia are you doing here?”
“Fletcher was most adamant that I not let the evening end as it did and suggested I come talk to you,” he said, slipping off the chaise and ruefully showing her the bruised spot on his skull that still smarted from Fletcher’s particular method of persuasion. “Tiny agreed with him, though not in the same manner, luckily for me.”
It was meant as a joke, but neither pony felt like laughing. As they stared at one another, Applejack and Pinkie Pie rushed in to investigate Rainbow’s scream, but quickly backed out again without a word when they saw the prince.	
“So.” Rainbow sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs petulantly. “You’re only here because of Fletcher and Tiny, then?”
“No. Not entirely. I felt bad for walking out before we’d had a chance to talk things through. But I…I still can’t believe you lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie! I just…didn’t tell you everything.”
“Oh, don’t give me that, Rainbow!” Linden snapped. “It’s the same thing!”
The pegasus hesitated, frowning. “Not really. And, don’t you think I wanted to tell you? But how well would that have worked out?” She crossed her eyes and spoke in a high, squeaky voice. “Hey, Linden, we came here because hundreds of Equestria ponies have been viciously ponynapped by your country and we think your family has something to do with it. Wanna help us prove it?” Adopting her own voice again, she added, “I’m sure you would have jumped at the chance.”
“You never even trusted me enough to find out.” Linden dragged his hoof across the floor, scuffing the carpet. “And, you know what? That’s what upsets me the most. If you really cared about me at all, you would have told me the truth.”
“Oh really?” Eyes flashing at his words, Rainbow jumped up, wings flapping. “I don’t care, huh? You want the truth, do you? Fine! Get comfortable and I’ll tell you the truth. I’ll tell you everything!” She immediately launched into the story of Twilight’s arrival in Ponyville and the appearance of Nightmare Moon, which had started their journey into the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements of Harmony and their subsequent discoveries of what virtue they each embodied. As she spoke, she darted back and forth and around in circles about the prince’s head, until Linden’s eyes wobbled and he grew dizzy staring up at her.
“Rainbow, stop! Wait! Will you just come down here for a minute? I can’t understand you when you’re flitting and hovering about like that.”
“Oh, so now you don’t like flitting and hovering? Well, you probably should have thought of that before you decided to marry a pegasus!”
“I didn’t say that—” He flinched as the blue pony swooped low, the tips of her feathers slapping his face. “Ow! Look, I just…” Linden whinnied helplessly and dropped to the floor, closing his eyes. “It’s not right. Everything was so perfect and now it’s all coming apart.”
He heard the pegasus land beside him and felt her feathers again, all softness now as they draped over him. “Don’t you get it now, Linden? I’m the Element of Loyalty. I have a duty to my princess and my country and the ponies of Equestria. But then I met you and…” She pulled away and went to stand near the window, looking gloomily out. “That’s when things got really confusing, because I felt like I should be loyal to you too, but telling you everything could have been dangerous for our mission, and even to you, but not telling you was just….” Groaning in exasperation, she dropped her face onto the windowsill and covered her head with her hooves. “My brain hurts.”
Linden chuckled, despite himself, and climbed to his feet, joining her at the window.
“Mine too,” he said, sitting beside her.
“I really did want to tell you,” Rainbow said, her voice muffled by the stone. “And I did try, but every time I started to say something we got interrupted.”
The prince hesitated for a moment, then tentatively placed his hoof around her shoulders. He breathed a sigh of relief when she immediately leaned into the embrace. “You know, I sort of remember that. On our first date, you said you had something to tell me and then—”
The door in the front room suddenly opened and closed loudly. A moment later, Pinkie Pie rushed in, looking nervous. Seeing them sitting together, she skidded to a halt, looking torn between dancing for joy and delivering her news. Amazingly, she decided on the latter.
“It’s the queen!” she exclaimed, pointing over her shoulder. “And she wants to talk to you, Dashie.”
“My mother?” Linden looked startled. “What could she want?”
“The way this night is going?” Rainbow shrugged. “She probably wants to yell at me too. I doubt she wants to talk china patterns for the wedding.” Sighing heavily, she started to follow Pinkie out of the room, but Linden hurriedly stepped in front of them.
“Pinkie, you didn’t tell her I was here, did you?”
The pink pony shook her head. “She didn’t give me a chance. She just came in and told me to get Rainbow Dash.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”
“Why?” Pinkie wanted to know.
“She probably wouldn’t want me to be here and the last thing I need right now is a motherly lecture.”
“Ditto.” As she stepped past Linden, Rainbow flicked his face with her tail, earning a grin. Feeling a little better, she trotted into the front room, where Twilight and Applejack sat by the fireplace with Queen Bright Song. Her friends looked worried, but the queen smiled warmly enough and beckoned Rainbow to join them.
“Lady Rainbow Dash,” she said with a nod.
“Lady?” Rainbow raised her eyebrows as she hopped onto a chair. “So that still stands? Even after everything we told you?”
Bright Song laughed cheerfully. “Of course, my dear. You still saved my son’s life—I haven’t forgotten that. Now, let’s talk about this unsavory situation with the quarry slaves…” She paused briefly, running the tip of her hoof along the arm of her chair. When she spoke again, all the warmth had gone out of her voice. “Tomorrow, at the council audience, you’re going to tell everypony that you were lying and made up everything you claim you saw at the quarry.”
“What!” The girls gaped at her, dumbfounded.
“If you do,” Bright Song continued as though she hadn’t heard, “we will eventually let you return home unharmed and peace can continue between our kingdoms. I will even promise that no further slaves will be taken from Equestria.”
“So it’s true then!” Twilight Sparkle burst out. “The royal family is involved with the ponynappings and the castle in the quarry.”
Bright Song smirked. “Oh please. Do you really think Oak Bough has anything to do with this? The king is a complete idiot who wouldn’t notice if this castle had suddenly flown up into the clouds so long as he had his muzzle buried in a goblet of pumpkin wine.”
“So it’s you then!” Rainbow accused. “You and that snake, Goldhoof! I should have known, since you’re the one who tricked me with the Blue Hills. You’ve been enslaving ponies from all over Saddellia and, when those ran out, you started taking them from Equestria too!”
“We needed workers,” Bright Song replied nonchalantly. “And it’s not like they were truly missed—indeed, we had been collecting from the Equestrian borders for months before news reached your precious princess.”
“But why? What’s so important about that buried castle?”
“It’s not so much the castle, as what is in it. Something that will finally put things to rights here in Saddellia.” She closed her eyes briefly, a peaceful smile crossing her features. An instant later, it vanished as she fixed them all with a stern scowl. “That’s really all you girls need to know.”
“Ah beg to differ!” Applejack’s tail was lashing about in rage. “Do you really expect us to just trot ourselves on home and leave those ponies here to your tender mercies?”
“You will if you know what’s good for you.” The queen’s pretty eyes flicked about the room curiously. “I notice there are only four of you present. Haven’t you wondered where the other two are?”
“Rarity and Fluttershy!” Pinkie gasped.
Rainbow’s wings flared and she rose off her seat with an agitated buzz. “What did you do to them!”
“It would seem your teleportation spell sent them to the wrong end of the castle, Twilight, though I am quite certain that was not a mistake on your part. After that utterly pitiful performance Rarity put on at the banquet, it was clear you all had something planned. Searching Goldhoof’s chambers for your missing necklaces and crown, I presume.”
“Where are they?”
“Your friends, or the jewelry? Oh, well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. They’re safe, for now. Your friends were caught trying to return to these rooms and have been secured in a place where they won’t have any more opportunities for such distasteful snooping. I mean, really, girls, in the house of your hosts? Isn’t that a little rude?”
“No ruder than havin’ our things stolen from us in the first place.”
“What are you going to do to our friends?” Pinkie asked, tears flooding her eyes. “You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”
“Well, that depends on you four.” The queen stepped down from the chair and walked gracefully to the door. “Linden is feeling very hurt and betrayed right now, Rainbow Dash, but I believe he cares enough about you to get over it. Should he deign to speak to you again, I advise you not to mention anything of this conversation to him. If you do feel such an urge, remember your two friends.” She pushed open the door, but paused long enough to look over her shoulder at the still hovering pegasus. “I had such high hopes for you as a daughter-in-law. What a shame.” Shaking her head, she walked out of the room.
The door had barely slammed behind her when Linden appeared from the bedchamber, his face pale and troubled.
“Linden.” Rainbow spun a loop and landed, trotting quickly to his side. “I—”
“It’s alright.” The prince glared at the door. “I heard everything.”
“Rarity and Fluttershy,” Pinkie whimpered. Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and the pink pony turned, burying her face in her friend’s yellow mane and sobbing.
“They’re probably being held in the castle dungeons. Don’t worry, we’ll get them out,” Linden said stoutly. “But first, Rainbow, how far can you carry me while flying?”
“Flying? I don’t know. Pretty far if I have to. Why?”
Linden led them all to one of the windows in the bedchamber and pointed out into the night. “Because I need you to take me to the quarry. It’s time I saw this underground castle for myself.”

> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15:

            “The quarry? Now?” Nonplussed, Applejack looked out the window where night had already fallen and blanketed the palace grounds in darkness. “But what about Rarity and Fluttershy? We gotta break them out of the dungeon, don’t we?”

            “For now, I think they’re safer where they are,” Linden said, drawing looks of outrage from all the mares. “No doubt they are under guard—if they were brought down by Goldhoof, then I could order their release…but if it my mother had her hoof in their imprisonment, I’m afraid I won’t be able to override her authority.”

            “Ain’t it worth a try, though?” Applejack stamped a hoof impatiently on the floor.

            “That will let me mother know that I was here and listening in,” Linden pointed out. “Right now, we have an advantage. My mother thinks I’m still sulking in my rooms like some broken-hearted foal and the longer she thinks that, the better off we are. Now, I want to know what’s going on in that quarry but it’s going to take me too long to hoof it there myself.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash, who was nodding at the logic of his statement. “If Rainbow takes me, we can be there and back again before morning.”

            “I suppose you’re right,” Twilight conceded, “but you would save even more time if you let me send you both there. Then Rainbow would only have to fly you back.”

            Linden blinked at her. “S-send?” he repeated. “Y-you mean by magic?”

            The unicorn smiled eagerly. “Of course. I know where the quarry is, so I should have no problem sending you both there telekinetically. It will save time and reduce the risk of you both being seen by Goldhoof’s spies.”

            Linden’s ears twitched back against his head as his eyes flickered from Twilight to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was completely unfazed by her friend’s suggestion—was even nodding in agreement—but she was experienced with Twilight’s spells.

            “It’ll be fine, Linden,” Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Twilight’s done it loads of times and the worst that’s happened is the pony ends up a little fried.”

            “Fried!”

            “I wouldn’t say fried, Pinkie,” Twilight protested. “Maybe singed…but that was before I really got the hang of it.” She gave Linden an even brighter smile. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

            “Yeah, it’s nothing,” Rainbow said, stretching her wings breezily. “As long as you know it’s about to happen. C’mon, we’re wasting time here.”

            Before Linden could object, Twilight pointed her horn at the two and a magenta light surrounded them. The colt’s eyes bulged, his mouth open in a silent scream, and then the two were gone.

            “Ah sure hope you aimed alright, Twi.” Applejack rubbed one hoof behind her leg worriedly. “Ah don’t think the prince will appreciate it if you land them in the top of a tree or somethin’.”

            “He’ll be okay,” Pinkie Pie said assuredly. “He’s got Rainbow Dash with him and she’d never let anypony fall.”

                                                                       



            “I’m going to fall!” Linden desperately clung to the tree branch, his hind legs thrashing and dangling fifty feet above the ground.

            “Hang on! I’m coming!” Rainbow Dash dove off a bough several feet up and caught the prince, lowering him to the ground. Shaking twigs from her mane, she looked around and nodded. “Okay, not quite the landing we expected, but we made it. There’s the rock pile over there. The quarry’s on the other side.”

            “She wasn’t kidding about the singed thing.” Linden looked at the tip of his tail, which was smoking slightly, and gulped. Flicking away the ash, he hurriedly trotted after Rainbow Dash, who was already making her way to the rock pile.

            “This is where I did my lookout the first time,” she told him as he reached her side. She crouched down, ears lowered, and crept stealthily forward until she was hidden behind a low stretch of broken slag. The sound of the quarry ringing in his ears, Linden followed suit and peered cautiously around the pile.

            “So, what do you think our mode of action shou—hey, where are you going!” Rainbow’s eyes bulged as the prince suddenly stood and stormed around the rock pile, walking straight across the wide yard towards the cliff.

            “Come back!” she shouted in a hoarse whisper. “Linden! That’s not how you do reconnaissance!” When the prince ignored her, she sighed and hopped into the air, winging swiftly after him.

            “You see,” she griped, hovering over his ears and keeping pace with his determined trot, “I thought we were gonna be stealthy and this is not stealthy.” A cry went up from the ponies on the quarry as they were spotted and the pegasus groaned as several of the guards leapt from the scaffolding to head towards them. “This is kinda the opposite of stealthy. Linden, this is the Pinkie Pie of stealthy!”

            Linden flicked his tail, indicating that he had heard her, but continued with his forward trot, heading directly for the forefront of the scowling guards. He stopped with just a couple of yards to spare and stood firm as four colts, each armed with a cudgel or whip, ranged around them.

            “It’s that mare from the Big Cave—the one all the guards were talking about!” A pink mare with a short green mane jabbed a hoof at Rainbow Dash.

            The pegasus landed by Linden’s side and grinned. “Really? They must have been talking about my awesome rescue maneuvers.”

            A grey colt raised his cudgel threateningly, his orange eyes narrowed. “Freeze! The both of you! This is restricted property—prepare to surrender yourselves for—” He jumped as Linden swatted the baton from his grip, sending it clattering across the ground. The other guards snarled warningly.

            “Stand down!” Linden barked, startling Rainbow with the severity of his voice. “Don’t you recognize your prince before you?”

            There was a moment of confusion, and then a ripple raced through the gathered ponies, jewel-toned eyes widening as Linden’s words dawned on them and they did recognize him as the heir to the kingdom.

            “Y-your Highness!” the grey colt stammered. “Forgive me, I…I…” Lost for words, the pony dropped to his knees, quivering from his head to his mushroom cutie mark as he bowed. The other guard ponies quickly followed suit, though the pink mare continued to glare at Rainbow Dash.

            “Sire,” she spoke up, “Forgive me, please, but we have orders to detain that mare at your side. She has caused great disturbances in the tunnels that delayed work and seriously cut productivity.”

            Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows. Detain her? She’d like to see them try!
 Snorting in amusement, she raised her wings, readying them for flight, but Linden held up a hoof and glared severely at the mare. “I don’t suggest you try that. This mare is Lady Rainbow Dash of Equestria, holder of the Blue Hills, my betrothed, and future princess of Saddellia. You are to give her the same respect and obedience you would give me.”

            As the ponies gaped at her, Rainbow smiled archly. “You never would have caught me anyway.”

            Considering the matter settled, Linden started trotting towards the cliff, giving a toss of his head to tell the guards to follow him.

            “What is your name?” he asked as the grey colt caught up with him.

            “I…uh, Slippery Jack, your Highness.”
            “Slippery Jack. Would you be so good as to tell me what is the meaning of all this?” The prince waved a hoof at the expanse of cliff front. “What is going on here?”

            “It’s the excavation, your Highness,” Slippery Jack said, his eyes rolling in confusion. “We…we’re unearthing the castle.”

            Linden had reached the cliff and was walking slowly along the bottom tier, peering at the thin, ragged ponies chipping away at the stone with their hammers and chisels. One young mare couldn’t help pausing to glance at the prince and a nearby guard quickly rushed her, whip raised.

            In an instant, Rainbow and Linden were on the scaffold, the pegasus shoving the worker out of the way, while the prince leapt in front of the guard, taking the lash of the whip himself. An angry line of red appeared on his shoulder and, snarling in fury, Linden snatched the weapon from the guard, which would have chipped the guard’s teeth if the colt hadn’t been so started by royal intervention that his mouth had dropped open.

            “What in the hay are you doing!” Linden shouted.

            The guard backed up a step, looking positively terrified by the fact that he had just struck a member of the royal family. “It’s my d-duty, your Highness!” he stammered. “My job! If you don’t keep on them all the time, they slack off.”

            Linden turned to look at the little mare, who was cowering behind Rainbow’s spread wings. Her orchid-colored mane and tail were tangled and bedraggled and her tangerine coat was dulled with dust and crisscrossed with half-healed welts from the whip.

            “What’s your name?” he asked her, peeking around the pegasus.

            “S-S-Sunglow,” she answered in a whisper, managing a shaky and awkward dip of the knees that Rainbow took for a bow. “Y-your H-H-Highness.”

            “Where are you from, Sunglow? How did you come to be here?”

            A small whimper escaped the mare. “Witherdown, in the Blue Hills,” she whispered. “S-soldiers came. They took me and my brother and other ponies. S-said we were needed to serve the C-Crown.”

            “Nopony will hurt you again,” Linden told her. “You’re under my protection now.” He lifted his eyes to look askance of the surrounding guards, who exchanged perplexed looks before bowing their acknowledgement.

            “I…I truly wish to apologize if we have done anything wrong, Your Highness,” Slippery Jack said, rubbing one foreleg nervously against the other. “We were just following the orders we were given.” He looked around at his fellows again, encouraging them to agree, but his relieved smile at their nods quickly turned to a sullen glower at Rainbow Dash’s sarcastic laugh.

            “Seems like questionable orders to me!” she exclaimed. “What sort of good ruler orders the beating of his own country ponies? It definitely wasn’t Linden!”

            “And I sincerely doubt my father would be bothered to raise a hoof for anything like this,” Linden mused, waving a hoof at the expanse of scaffolding. As he did, he caught sight of the entrance to the Big Cave and his brows furrowed with curiosity. “What’s that over there?”

            “That’s just one of the tunnel entrances, your Highness,” Slippery Jack said miserably. “It leads down to the tunnel network and the Big Cave.”

            “And the castle,” Linden filled in on his own. “That’s where they took you, Rainbow?” At her nod, he broke into a swift trot. “Then let’s see this castle. Come on, Slippery Jack…you can have the honor of being the royal escort.”

            The gray pony gulped and lurched after the prince, his ears flattening onto his head. “Th-thank you, sire. I-it’s an honor.”

            They were nearly to the tunnel entrance when Rainbow realized she was being closely flanked by Sunglow, the slave pony. The tangerine mare’s eyes were wide and bulging and she was staying as close to the pegasus as possible without actually hugging her.

            “You don’t have to come,” Rainbow told her. “I’ve been in there and trust me, it’s not fun.”

            “I know,” Sunglow whispered, her voice barely audible. “They made my brother go in there two moons ago. I-I have to find him.” She paused long enough to look over her whip-scarred shoulder at the other slaves and guards still watching them from the scaffolding. “Besides, I’d much rather stay with the prince than them if it is all the same to you.”

            Rainbow nodded, though she didn’t hold out much hope for finding Sunglow’s brother down below. Finding one pony in the network of tunnels and side caves and massive scaffolding within would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

            She hesitated briefly at the mouth of the tunnel, remembering too well the stale, dusty taste of the air inside and the claustrophobic pressure of being underground with thousands of tons of dirt and rock between her and the sky. Spreading her wings wide, she quickly pulled in a deep breath of fresh air and followed Linden down into the darkness.

                                                        



            The damp stone walls flared with a brilliant flash of yellow light as a distinctly unladylike stream of curses echoed up and down the empty corridor.

            “Oh my! A-are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you? Oh dear, I…oh, I’m not even sure what that means…uh, maybe you should cover your ears, Gumdrop. Oh! Maybe I should cover my ears.”

            Rarity backed away from the bars at the front of their cell and gingerly rubbed the tip of her horn, which was now scorched black. Her lip quivered.

            “I’m sorry, Darling…that just took me completely by surprise. Ooh, I do hope this washes out.” Seeing that her efforts were only smudging her horn further, she dropped her hoof and sighed heavily. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help in getting us out of her. I have no idea how, but that beastly Nightfire has put some sort of spell on these bars that blocks all of my magic. I can’t fetch the keys or pick the lock.”

            “That’s okay; you tried your best.” Fluttershy gave her friend a gentle nuzzle.

            Rarity nodded and sighed heavily. “But we still have to get out of here and warn the others about Nightfire. Who knows what other tricks that colt has hidden in his mane?” She gave Fluttershy a frank look. “It’s time we use the trick hidden in our mane…or, rather, yours.”

            Gumdrop poked his head out of Fluttershy’s mane and squeaked eagerly, scampering down to the floor and through the bars of the cell.

            “Oh, be careful!” Fluttershy called after him, worried. She and Rarity crowded against the bars, watching as the tiny mouse pressed himself against the wall, looking up and down the stone corridor, before scampering to the other side. He ducked into a crevice between the stones of the wall, only his twitching whiskers sticking out to reveal his presence. A moment passed before he slid back into view, standing on his hind legs with his back pressed against the stones. Rarity rolled her eyes as he inched away from the cell in this dramatic manner.

            “Hurry!” she hissed. “We don’t have time to fool around.”

            Gumdrop’s ears drooped, but he obediently dropped back to all fours and raced down the hall, stopping beneath the hook and keyring, which dangled far over his miniscule head. The mouse scratched his chin thoughtfully and looked around, then brightened and scrabbled out of sight.

            “Where did he go?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. She went into a series of awkward contortions, trying to get a better vantage point against the unyielding bars, and bumped Rarity back into the cell when she overbalanced and ended up on her face with her rump in the air. She blushed as Rarity tugged on her tail, righting her, then promptly knocked her friend over again when Gumdrop reappeared.

            The mouse was moving slowly, straining as he pushed a slatted wooden crate across the floor. The crate was empty, but still far outweighed the miniscule rodent, who barely managed to move it forward six inches before he was forced to stop and gasp for breath.

            “Good boy, Gumdrop!” Fluttershy called encouragingly. “You can do it!”

            The mouse nodded and pressed his forehead to the crate again. There was a piercing screech as the wood scraped over the stone floor until the crate was positioned beneath the dangling keys. Turning to the waiting ponies, Gumdrop pointed to the crate, then at the keys, his ears perked. Fluttershy and Rarity nodded enthusiastically.

            “You smart mousie! I knew you would figure it out!” Flutter told him proudly.

            “Hurry, Darling!” Rarity prompted. “We have to get out of here and warn the others.”

            Gumdrop rolled his eyes at this obvious statement, but nodded purposefully. He had just bent down, muscles bunched to leap onto the crate, when a shadow fell across the path, plunging him into greater gloom. His whiskers drooping, Gumdrop turned slowly, expecting to see one of the palace guards…but the glittering eyes that glared into his own were far too low to belong to a pony.

            The giant, black rat squealed and launched itself at the mouse, who dodged its attack only by sheer instinct. Gumdrop dropped to the ground as the rat sailed over his head and hit the crate with a resounding crash. The thin slats shattered beneath its momentum, but the splinters slowed it for barely a second. Screeching, the huge rodent whirled around, eyes red with rage.

            Gumdrop managed a single, terrified squeak before turning to run. The rat fought free of the crate and leapt into pursuit. The little mouse streaked across the floor in a tiny, grey blur, but the rat’s much larger size and stride narrowed the gap between them with dangerous speed.

            “Oh no! What are you doing? Stop! Mr. Rat, stop please!” Fluttershy’s frantic, pleading voice rang out from the cell as Gumdrop sped down the hall. The rat paused for the barest of instances and looked towards the yellow pony, then hissed and resumed its chase. Gumdrop took advantage of the lead and ran for the guard’s station, darting nimbly around the wooden legs of an old chair. The rat blundered after him, knocking into the furniture with reckless abandon.

            “Stop it!” Fluttershy cried, her voice taking on a harder note. “You stop it right now, Mr. Rat! Leave him alone!” Trapped behind the bars, the pegasus was helpless to do anything but watch as Gumdrop desperately zigged and zagged across the dungeon floor, keeping only a whisker’s length ahead of his pursuer. He darted under boxes, around the table again, skittered under a frayed and threadbare rug, jump-turned against the stone wall, and finally made a headlong flight down the corridor to the cells.

            “Here! Here!” Rarity shouted as Fluttershy threw herself to the ground and thrust her hooves through the bars, beckoning her tiny friend. “You can make it!”

            Gumdrop scampered towards her outstretched hoof, but squeaked in sudden agony, his left flank searing with pain from the deep scratches left by the rat’s raking talons. He stumbled, the leg unable to carry even his scant weight, crashing helplessly to the floor. The rat, taking advantage of the pause, swiped at Gumdrop again, hitting the mouse with enough force to send him cartwheeling across the corridor to smash into the bottom of the stone wall. The mouse tried to get back onto his paws, but his legs wobbled dangerously beneath him. Eyes spinning, he collapsed in a tiny heap, squeaking as his sides heaved with exertion.

            The rat chittered with triumph, serpentine tail flailing from side to side in eager bloodlust. Crouching, it bunched its haunches, readying itself for the final, fatal pounce—then leapt into the air with a bloodcurdling screech of pain as a not-quite-pristine-white hoof flashed through the bars of the cell and clopped down onto the tip of the tail.

            “Take that, you ruffian!” Rarity declared, dragging her hoof and the agonized rat back to the bars. As soon as the rat’s tail tip passed into the cell, she used her magic to envelop the rodent, lifting it into the air in a small sphere of glowing blue light. The rat squeaked and chittered furiously at the unicorn, who merely sniffed and raised it higher off the ground. “Struggle all you want, you fiend. I once had to carry Rainbow Dash all the way across my house when she was sick and needed a bath, and she certainly put up more of a fight than you.”

            “Serves you right,” Fluttershy added, unmoved by the rat’s angry entreaties. Leaving the large rodent to Rarity, the little pegasus ducked down by the bars and held her hooves out to the mouse. “It’s alright now, Gumdrop. Come here, hurry!”

            Gumdrop tried once again, pulling his paws beneath him and standing unsteadily, his left hind leg held gingerly off the ground. His long whiskers twitched toward the pony as he gave her a quick glance, then he turned and ran away.

            “Gumdrop! No! Come back!” Fluttershy cried.

            The mouse ignored her, streaking along the dungeon wall until he came to a deep crack in the stones. The last the ponies saw of him was his long tail, vanishing into the dark.

                                                                        



            “Ah tell you, Twi, Ah sure do hate playin’ this waitin’ game.” Applejack joined Twilight and Pinkie Pie by one of the suite windows and slumped to her haunches, resting her chin on the wide sill. “Ah feel useless just sittin’ here not knowin’ what’s goin’ on with the others.”

            “So do I,” Twilight said mournfully, “but what else can we do?”

            “We can go try to find Rarity and Fluttershy, that’s what!” Applejack huffed out an angry breath and flicked her tail from side to side with obvious impatience.

            The purple unicorn sighed. “You heard what Prince Linden said. We don’t want to cause anymore trouble that could possibly let the queen or Goldhoof know Rainbow and the prince have gone to the quarry. What would happen if somepony came to check on us and we were all missing?”

            As if to test her scenario, there was the sound of raised voices at the door, which opened to reveal two rather flustered guards trying desperately to hold back a trio of colts.

            “I’m sure I don’t know,” Nightfire was saying to the two stallions as Tiny glared menacingly over the orange colt’s shoulder, daring the guards to come closer, “We are only here on the request of our friend. Perhaps you’d like to take this up with him? Hmm? No? Well, then, may we get on with our business?”

            Without waiting for an answer, the noble pony trotted past them, Fletcher at his side. Tiny glowered at the guards for a few seconds longer until they pointedly returned to their posts and pointedly stared at the wall across the corridor, to let him know that they were pointedly forgetting that he and his friends were there. Satisfied, he followed the others into the room and favored the Equestrians with a friendly smile. “Ladies,” he greeted, dipping his head, only to be attacked by an excited pink blur, who rushed from the window to throw her hooves around him. “Tiny! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Well, um, that sure was an interesting meal, wasn’t it?” Edging away from Pinkie and Tiny, Fletcher favored Twilight and Applejack with a rueful smile. “Never a dull affair with you girls around.”

            “To put it mildly,” Twilight murmured with a sigh. “Confusing, difficult, and aggravating would be more appropriate words, if you ask me. You saw it—that was a complete disaster.”

            Nightfire sat on his haunches, looking at her sadly. “Actually, I didn’t—I had duties elsewhere that I really needed to attend to. But Fletcher and Tiny have told me everything, including how they, well, convinced Linden to come talk to Rainbow Dash.”

            “Literally knocked some sense into that thick head of his,” Fletcher admitted, lifting a hoof and admiring it.

“Then we figured we’d better come along to make sure he doesn’t shove his hoof in his mouth and make things worse,” Tiny added, stepping up to join the conversation, Pinkie Pie perched on his back. He looked around the room, frowning slightly. “He did come here, didn’t he?”

Applejack nodded, glad that she could give their friends that good news at least. “He did. Linden was here when we got back from the dinner—gave poor Rainbow Dash a bit of a scare, actually—then he and Rainbow had themselves a nice, needed talk.”

“Oh. that’s good.” Nightfire rubbed a hoof through his mane, mussing it, his eyes wandering back and forth between Twilight and Applejack. “So, uh…this is sort of weird, but, what is all this talk about slaves from Equestria being held in the quarry? Is this really true?”

            “It sure is!” Applejack declared. “Twi and Rainbow have both been there and seen it with their own eyes—Rainbow’s been twice now.”

            “Three times,” Pinkie amended.

            “King Oak Bough may be wearing blinkers, but there is a castle buried out in that quarry, and Goldhoof is using pony slaves to unearth it. He’s after something in that castle and it must be something very important to go through so much trouble.” Twilight frowned, tapping a hoof on the carpet, and fixed Nightfire with a searching look that had the colt laying his ears back against his head nervously. “Nightfire, you’ve gone through more of those old books in the library than I have—have you ever read of anything in Saddellia’s history that could be so important it would lead to ponynapping and slavery?”

            “Me? Well, I don’t know…I don’t think…” The orange colt bit his lip, his eyes drifting upwards as he searched his memory. After a moment, he shook his head. “No. No, I’m sorry, Twilight. I’ve never read anything about it—that’s why it seems so unbelievable. A castle? How did it get there? How long has it been there? What caused it to become buried and hidden?”

            “Those are the same questions I’ve been asking. It’s obvious that the castle is made from a different stone that the type covering it, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to study it closely, take measurements or samples of the rock. Knowing the origin of the castle stone could give us a big clue into where it came from and maybe even tell us which ponies built it.”

            “You should have asked Dashie or Linden to bring some back,” Pinkie Pie quipped, prompting Tiny to snort in confusion and ask her what she meant.

            “Oh, just that Rainbow Dash and Linden are there now,” the pink pony replied. “They went to the quarry because Linden wanted to see for himself how the ponies are being treated.”

            This announcement was met with stunned silence, until the shock melted off Fletcher’s face. His eye twitched and his lip curled upward. His snicker quickly turned into a guffaw that had him falling backwards on the floor, hooves in the air.

            “I don’t see what’s so funny about this.” Tiny poked the green colt on the belly with his hoof. When Fletcher continued to chortle, he pressed harder, turning the chortle into an oomph as he pressed the air out of the smaller pony. “That’s our prince who has left the palace and gone into a potentially dangerous situation on his own.”

            “Not…on…his…own,” Fletcher gasped, shoving at Tiny’s hoof and failing miserably in his attempts to free himself. “He’s got Rainbow Dash with him. Woe be to any pony who messes with that mare.”

            Tiny snorted and shook his shaggy forelock. “He still should have told us—I don’t like that he went without us, even with Lady Dash.”

            “I agree. What was he hoping to accomplish?” Nightfire wanted to know.

            “He wanted to see for himself what was goin’ on over there. Especially after the queen stopped by and pretty much confirmed everything ‘bout Saddellia takin’ Equestrian ponies as quarry slaves.” Applejack’s brows furrowed angrily as she remembered the betrayal and confusion in Linden’s eyes after Queen Bright Song had left the chamber. “Poor Linden was sure upset when he heard her tellin’ Dash to lie to him about everythin’…and threatenin’ Rarity and Fluttershy to do so.”

            Tiny abruptly staggered backwards, falling onto his haunches and sending Pinkie into a slide onto the floor, as Fletcher grabbed the huge colt’s hoof and shoved it from his stomach with a startling show of strength. “What’s that about Rarity?” he demanded, rolling to his hooves, all humor gone from his green eyes.

            Pinkie Pie answered him, her voice close to breaking. “That big mean meanie Goldhoof and the queen have her and Fluttershy locked up somewhere.”

            “We’re not sure exactly what happened,” Twilight filled in. “They were both gone when we got back from the banquet, but Queen Bright Song herself told us that they were being kept somewhere in the castle to assure our good behavior.”

            Fletcher blew a breath from his nose in an angry snort and whipped his tail back and forth, his eyes darkening with fury. He pawed at the floor with a hoof, looking ready to race out the doors and tear the castle apart to find the two missing mares. Nightfire gave a small whinny of distress and tentatively touched his shoulder with a hoof.

            “Calm down, Fletch,” he said in a serious and level voice. “Flying off the hoof right now isn’t going to help anypony, least of all Miss Rarity and Fluttershy.”

            “We can’t just leave them!” Fletcher protested.

            “And we can’t rescue them at the moment,” Nightfire countered, his tone unusually sharp. “If Her Majesty is aware of their imprisonment and had a hoof in it, then there is nothing we can do about it. We can’t go against the word of the queen. If you go rushing out of here and try to tear down the castle to reach them, you’re only going to get yourself arrested—and then you won’t be any help to anypony, including Linden if he returns and needs us.”

            Fletcher looked around at the group, noting Tiny nodding in agreement, and wilted slightly. “You’re right,” he huffed, “but it feels wrong not to do anything.”

            “We can wait here for Linden and Rainbow Dash to come back,” Tiny told him. “And be ready to help him in whatever he needs. Like we’ve always done.”

            “Right.” Fletcher nodded, shaking out his green mane and flicking his tail again, still clearly agitated. “Fine. I’m good. I’m calm.” His ears drooped and he sat down in a sulk. “I hate waiting.”

            “Ah agree with you there,” Applejack murmured, sidling up beside him and giving him an affectionate bump with her shoulder. As he leaned back against her, Nightfire stood and trotted towards the door.

            “Where you goin’, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked him.

            “Library,” the orange-coated colt told them. “If there’s any information to be had about this castle and what’s inside it, it’ll most likely be there. Twilight can’t go, but I can. I’ll find some books and bring them back.”

            Twilight immediately brightened and she bobbed her head in a nod. “Yes! Nightfire, that’s a wonderful idea! If we can find out about the castle’s history, we may be able to figure out what we’re up against.”

            The colt met her eyes and he smiled warmly. “I’ll be back soon,” he told them, and slipped through the doors.

                                                                        



            The stale, unmoving air within the cave surrounded Rainbow Dash like a blanket, the dust stinging her eyes and making her throat itch for a cough. She raised a wing and fanned it lightly, her feathers stirring the dead air around herself, Linden, and Sunglow.

Feeling the slight breeze, Linden turned to her and gave a small, uneasy smile. He had been silent for several long minutes, his handsome face drawn and angry, his eyes taking in each injustice and act of cruelty. Though he held himself carefully in check, Rainbow could practically feel the rage emanating from him, and Sunglow looked like she was regretting her decision to follow the prince into the tunnels.

“We’re getting close,” Dash said after another few minutes, her ears picking up the sounds from the Big Cave. Linden’s own ears were swiveled forward and he nodded grimly, breaking into a trot despite the treacherous footing. Moments later, they breached the tunnel and stepped out into the immense cavern amidst the constant sounds of ponies chipping away at the stubborn rock.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Linden breathed, stopping in his tracks to stare up at scaffolding-covered castle slowly emerging from the surrounding cliff. He shook his head in amazement and looked at Dash, aghast. “I believed you…but somehow I didn’t really believe you. It’s…it really is here! How can it be here?”

The pegasus shrugged and quickly stepped aside as Sunglow pushed past her, rushing into the cave at a canter and looking around her with wide, frantic eyes.

“Rain Shadow!” she called, her voice raised above the cacophony of picks and hammers. “Where is he?”

Her sudden appearance and frantic voice alerted several of the guards, who immediately rushed over, shouting and raising cudgels threateningly. Sunglow dropped to the ground, cowering and covering her face with her hooves, as Rainbow Dash and Linden leapt to shield her and Slippery Jack hurriedly interposed himself between the guards and the prince, holding up a hoof and bringing them to a screeching, confused halt. Opening eyes she had squeezed shut in anticipation, Rainbow recognized Shale among them, the overseer pony who had attempted to murder her and Hickory by throwing them off the scaffolding. He caught her gaze, his own going wide and round as he recognized her as well, and he dropped his cudgel and took a step back, looking uncertain.

“I am Linden, crown prince and heir to the thrown of Saddelia,” Linden announced, helping Sunglow back to her hooves before turning slightly so his royal cutie mark was clearly in view. “I demand to know what is going on here.”

The mare named Skipper stepped forward, though her demeanor had changed from the last time Rainbow had seen her. Now she bowed to the prince, her eyes lowered, her ears pressed against her skull as she told him that they were excavating the castle, as they had been ordered.

“And just who gave these orders?” Linden wanted to know. He looked around at the lower levels of scaffold and cliff, where a number of ponies, slaves and guards alike, had paused in their work to watch the commotion. “Who is in charge here?”

“We…we thought it was you, your Highness,” Skipper said, looking confused. “The unicorns told us—”

“Unicorns?” Linden glanced at Rainbow Dash, who shrugged.

“Twilight and I thought the same thing,” she said, reading the question on his face. “We thought Goldhoof was the only unicorn in Saddelia until we got here. Seems like somepony is hiding more than a massive castle.”

“What do these unicorns look like?” Linden asked, turning back to Skipper. “One is black, with a single gold-colored hoof, yes? What about the other?”

Skipper swallowed hard and shook her mane. “The other one…well, he was…I mean…um…I’m sorry, but I guess I can’t remember.” She looked at her fellow guards for support, but none of them could add anything except that the unicorn was a colt—nopony could say what he had looked like definitively, no matter how they tried to recall his face.

“He must be doing something to hide what he looks like, or erase their memories of him,” Linden mused, then asked Rainbow Dash, “Can unicorns do that?”

Dash frowned, uncertain. “No clue. Twilight’s never done it that I know of, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t.”

“Hmm.” Looking troubled, Linden trotted across the floor to the exposed base of the castle, followed by the confused and worried guards. While he inspected the silvery sheen of the wall, Rainbow felt a nudge against her flank and turned to the mare who had followed them inside. Sunglow’s lip was quivering and her eyes were wet with tears.

“I don’t see him, my lady” she whimpered. “He has to be here…but I don’t see him. Where is he? Please…please help me find him.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and pawed the floor with a hoof, thinking about what happened to ponies in this cave who caused any inconvenience to their guards. If Rain Shadow had fallen foul of Skipper or Shale in a bad mood…?

“What’s he look like?” she asked the tangerine mare.

“He’s pale gray,” Sunglow said, blinking away her tears. “With a dark gray and white mane and tail. His eyes are blue and his cutie mark is a storm cloud.”

“Got it.” Before Sunglow could say anything more, the pegasus was in the air, spiraling upward and skimming close to the scaffolding. Ponies turned to gape at her, slaves dropping their tools, while their overseers briefly forgot that they were supposed to be keeping them in line. As she passed by each of the levels, Dash called out for Rain Shadow by name, searching for a glimpse of gray among ponies covered in dust and dirt, and moving higher through the levels, her heart sinking as each pass of the structure brought no results.

She made a last, slow loop back to the floor, before landing by Sunglow, who had been  joined again by Linden. The colt looked at her questioningly and she lowered her eyes, shaking her head. Sunglow whimpered and the prince gave her a comforting nudge.

“It means nothing—we passed many tunnels on the way here and he could have been placed in any one of them.” He turned to one of the guard ponies standing nearby and pointed at him. “You!”

The colt gulped and quickly stood at attention. “Yes, your Highness?”

“A slave pony named Rain Shadow. Seek him out and bring him here. Nicely!” he added as the colt raced off to obey. Rounding back to Rainbow Dash, he gave her a small shrug. “This is…this is very strange, I must say. How could I not know about this? It’s a castle!” He waved a hoof up at the massive building. “A castle! I have explored all over this country and I never had a clue—all this time, I just thought it was a quarry.” His eyes narrowed angrily. “How could I not know?” he repeated.

Rainbow didn’t have an answer. It seemed that mystery was piling onto mystery onto mystery in a way that would have stumped even Daring Do. The castle, where it had come from and why it was buried, the mysterious unicorn that nopony could seem to remember, the queen’s involvement in the whole mess. It all made her head spin.

“Maybe we should—” she began, but was cut off by a brilliant flash of red light and a loud snap that drew a shriek from Sunglow and sent the guard ponies and other slaves to their knees. Rainbow blinked rapidly, her vision clearing to find that Linden had instinctively stepped in front of her, blocking her and Sunglow from a shadowy figure that had appeared in the center of the flash. Slowly, the cloud of dust raised by the figure’s arrival disappeared, leaving a tall, orange-red pony in its wake.

“Nightfire!” Linden exclaimed.

The lanky colt turned towards them, his eyes widening. “Whoa! Now that’s what I call aim!” He trotted towards them, smiling broadly. “It’s like she knew exactly where you would be.”

“She?” Linden queried, looking utterly bewildered to see one of his friends suddenly standing before him in the cave. “What are you talking about?”

“Twilight Sparkle, of course,” Nightfire explained. “She thought you might need some help to examine the castle, and since she couldn’t risk coming herself, she used her teleportation spell to bring me here.” His eyes drifted past them to the castle, his mouth dropping open. “By the Savvy Stallion, look at that!” he breathed. “It’s enormous!” Oblivious to the look of stunned confusion on his friend’s face, he pushed past Linden to the base of the castle, peering at it closely as the prince had only a few moments before. “Amazing! It’s completely different from the surrounding strata…”

Recovering from her initial shock, Rainbow Dash trotted after him, Linden following closely at her heels, and stood beside him at the wall.

“Twilight sent you?” she asked, trying to piece together the strange development.

Nightfire nodded, continuing to study the castle wall. “We went to the Emerald rooms looking for you and found that you two had come here. Twilight thinks we can figure out what’s going on here if we know more about the history of the castle, like where the stone came from and how it got buried in the first place. But she didn’t think it would be safe coming here herself, in case the guards checked the room.”

Linden blew out a snort, eyes narrowed with annoyance as he nodded. “The girls told you, then?”

“They filled us in, yes.” Concern and sympathy came to the colt’s bright eyes. “I’m sorry, Linden. I never would have guessed the queen…”

“I don’t know what Mother has to do with all of this,” Linden lifted his eyes to the scaffolding and castle, his ears ringing with the sound of hammers and chisels as the overseers, not sure of what to make of the new developments, prodded the slaves back into work, “but I’ve got quite a few questions for her when we get back…and I’m going to expect answers.”

Nightfire opened his mouth to reply, but his words were drowned out by an abrupt clatter and shocked shout from one of the levels above. Hooves thundered over the wooden planks of the scaffolding, more voices were raised in alarm and amazement, and the homely face of an overseer colt appeared over the ledge, shouting something down to them that was lost in the distance and noise.

“What in the…” Linden peered up at the structure, frowning, and flicked his tail against Rainbow’s flank. “My lady,” he said, pointing a hoof skyward.

“Gotcha.” Needing no further prompting, Rainbow jumped and spread her wings, flapping up to the high, rickety level far above. The overseer backed away from the edge as she approached, giving her space to land on the planking. She started to ask him what he had been shouting about, but stopped when she saw the answer for herself. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, cantering to the wall and nudging aside several slave ponies before wheeling in a loop that took her up and over the startled overseer’s head. Arcing over the edge of the scaffolding, she plummeted straight down to the cavern floor, braking only at the last instant in a flurry of feathers to land before the startled Linden and Nightfire.

“What is it?” the prince asked, eyes wide.

“The castle!” Rainbow gasped, her heart pounding excitedly. “They found a way into the castle!”