A/N: I'm so glad that everyone seems to like this story so much! I'm so proud of how it's turning out, and have brilliant ideas for the future chapters!
As always, I love to hear input!
Equestria is large and pale and wonderful, in thought if not in practice. It is a world where steel does not exist and the buildings are made of glass, marble, and crystal. Everything is clean, but it is also harsh, the glow near blinding when the sun is full, and there is nothing to add softness to the land. No green grass or rich dirt, not even a single tree graces the walkway.
Only crystal grows here, in strange blossoms that look like roses but also something like the moon and are quite obviously a thing all on its own.
It are these blossoms, these moon flowers as they are called, that form the first ring of the city. Everything within them belongs to those of rich ancestry and everything beyond them is just a little bit less.
Surrounding this area that is just a touch less, with smaller houses and smaller families, is another ring. This one made of the purest waters, running through a marble pathway and glistening
gleaming
marking the last few feet of Equestria before you reach the Grande Wall - which is made of marble and silver and chips of crystal, catching the sunlight and holding its glow even in the darkest of nights. No one can remember when it was built, or by who, or for what reasons, but it no serves as an entry point where all who enter are checked for the White Plague.
It is this wall that the unlikely duo walk too. Rainbow Dash moves as though the path is familiar to her, and it is, very much so, and Fluttershy looks everything over with the wide and glistening eyes of a child. Everything is new to her and wonderous and Rainbow Dash wants to ask if she can't see the storm brewing here? If she can't see the leery looks that the gaurds are giving them as they approach the checkpoint? If she doesn't realize that this is an unlikely quest, and one they will most likely fail?"
Wants to ask but doesn't, because her job is to follow orders, not ask questions. So the young gaurd leads her charge to the entry point and her gaze is steel and smoke.
One gaurd, nameless and faceless, salutes her. The other, who Rainbow Dash also doesn't know, frowns at Fluttershy.
"Is she with you, captain?" he asks, maybe just a touch reproachful. Most are not allowed to bring guests to and fro without them being checked over.
Rainbow Dash has never stopped and given them the chance before, and she doesn't plan too now. She snorts. "No, I just thought that I would let her follow me all the way out here. Of course she's with me! Now open that gate, soldier!"
The man takes a step towards the gate, then hesitates. "I recieved orders from the Queen this morning to let no one back in after they leave the city, gaurds included. I know that you live in the Outlands, Captain...perhaps you should make this your last trip there, though."
Rainbow Dash's stomach drops. A cold muzzle, pale as moonbeams, rests on her shoulder in what is obviously supposed to be a silent motion of comfort.
And though it wasn't Fluttershy who made the decree, and though she is trying hard to find a way to right her mother's wrongs, Rainbow Dash cannot help but be angry at the young princess.
She could have done something sooner, after all. Could not have waited until this last moment.
Rainbow Dash shakes the muzzle off of her. "Dully noted, soldier. I had already planned on making this my last trip between.
-x-x-x-
The Outlands is a sharp contrast to the inner walls of Equestria. It is still glass and crystal, yes, but the buildings have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Dust and dirt coats everything, swept up in one of the many wind storms that blow through and deminishing the glow that is seen within the main walls. There are a few gardens of moon roses beneath windows, but most everything is wilted and frozen and white
even the sand
even the air
even the sky seems to have turned as white as snow, or maybe pale as the moon, and it casts a cool glow over the world.
"Are these the Fabled Lands?" questions Fluttershy, padding behind Rainbow Dash. Her hooves are still bare, and yet the cold does not bother them. Isn't even felt.
Rainbow Dash snorts, flattens her ears until they are buried in her multi-colored mane. Like most, she very much feels the frost laden wind. More so than usual, with this sleeveless gown on. Within moments, her forelegs have grown numb.
"Don't be stupid. This is the Outlands," answers Dravon, leading her princess down a turn, into a street that is far more narrow. The wind picks up, trying to rip at Rainbow Dash's updone mane. "I'm not leaving on some quest with you and not stopping at my house first."
Fluttershy doesn't say anything for a long moment then, rolling everything over in her mind. Thinking and debating and trying to remember, but her mother and her teachers have always painted a different picture of the Outlands. One with a bright sky and rich grass and nature abound, where ponies worked in the fields not for a living, but simply because it is what they want to do.
That, thinks Fluttershy, is most certainly not the case here. Which is either very odd or not odd at all, depending on the light that Queen Terra is painted in that day. Pursing her lips together, Fluttershy trots forward, coming to a stop in front of her gaurd
almost says all of those things
that she didn't know this was the state her people, her friend was forced to live in
that she would have done something sooner if she had
that she is sorry
all of those things or more, but Rainbow Dash frowns at her, and all of those things die in Fluttershy's throat.
Later, she decides, those things will be said. For now, she just dips her head and lets Rainbow Dash take the lead once more.