Empire of Mercy
Copyright© 2025 by Daelyx Len Auphydas
Chapter 30: Forest
“I’m heading out. I’ll be back before nightfall.” The words had barely left Rainbow Dash’s mouth before Glyndwr was right at her side, a severe bearing decorating her features.
“What in tartarus’s name do you mean you’re heading out? You know that we’re here for protection, right? What if somepony saw you and the conspirators caught wind of it?” Glyndwr demands, crossing in front of the door and holding one talon over it.
Rainbow Dash winces; she had expected this but had rather hoped she could get out before any creature could have responded. “I mean, sure, but there’s no way I’m going to just stay cooped up in here for Celestia-knows-how-long.” Rainbow Dash grunts back. That was selfish, she knew, but she’d had to be patient enough on the train ride over.
Glyndwr shakes her head firmly. “Nu-uh, no way, you’re not headed anywhere without me. I was given a job and I very well intend to do it.” The gryphon states stubbornly.
Rainbow Dash groans and rolls her eyes. “Fine then, we’re heading out. Come on already.” Slipping beneath the gryphons talons, Rainbow Dash shoulders the door and glances back. “Well? Don’t you want to get out too?”
“This is inadvisable at best...” The gryphon mutters. But at the same time, it is true that they have no idea how long they will be stuck in Ponyville, and given Rainbow Dash’s temperament it’s unlikely she’ll be able to stay still and studying for long under those conditions, unlike Twilight. So reluctantly, Glyndwr stalks after her. “Just remember, codenames only.”
Rainbow Dash nods her head in affirmation as she takes off for her first destination. Soon enough, she was knocking on the door of a house she’d never seen before, to soon be answered by a sleepy eyed mare she’d also never met before. “Hey! Uh, sorry for the interruption. I’m Prisma Blitz, my friend Cloud Kicker said this is where she’s be staying...?”
The mare blinks at her and a long moment of silence settles in, as she takes in both Rainbow Dash and the imposing form of the gryphon behind her. “O-Oh, of course. Just a minute.” The mare turns back and calls out. “Cloud! Your friends are here!”, before turning back to Rainbow Dash. “Did you want to come in?”
Rainbow Dash nods her head jerkily. “Uh, sure! I’m not interrupting, am I?”
The mare shakes her head, stepping aside to let Rainbow Dash in and uneasily watching Glyndwr as the gryphon follows, doing her best to keep a stoic face. “No, it’s, um, quite alright. I heard about what happened to your family’s farm, Cloud must really care about you to have come all the way out here to stay with little old me of all ponies.” The mare gives a short, nervous sounding laugh. “She was lucky I was here at all, I could have been up in Cloudsdale this time of year, it’s a bit too hot in the summer here for me, and it’s usually a good time to meet with some other Kicker’s.”
Rainbow Dash tilts her head. “She didn’t even check before she came down?”
The mare shakes her head. “Nope, just showed up without warning. Don’t worry, it’s nothing that strange.” She shrugs. “It’s what being a Kicker is all about, no matter how far apart we are.”
“Dash! Erm, uh, I mean ... Blitz.” Cloud Kicker announces as she hurriedly descends the stairs. “I’m surprised to see you here already, I thought you’d be busy.”
Rainbow Dash snorts derisively. “Busy with what?” She asks rhetorically, and motions outside with her head. “It’s a new town, I thought we should familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land a bit. Wanna come with?”
Cloud Kicker glances back towards the mare of the house. “I’m just your aunt, not your guardian. Do what you want, I’m sure if your parents were feeling more fussy about what you got up to they would have kept you in Canterlot.” The mare shrugs noncomitally.
Cloud Kicker nods in response, turning back to Rainbow Dash and Glyndwr. “Uh, sure, sounds good to me.” Flicking her gaze either way before leaning in closer and lowering her voice, she continues just for the two of them “I’m just surprised that the Companions let you out of their sight so quickly is all.”
Now it’s Glyndwr’s turn to snort derisively. “Silent Serpent hasn’t arrived yet, and the brothers are out doing some reconnaissance of their own. So it’s just the bodyguards. I did tell Rainbow it wasn’t a good idea, but, well, I guess I’m not really in charge of her now am I?” Glyndwr shrugs. “I’m just the security.”
Cloud Kicker snickers and playfully slugs Rainbow Dash in the shoulder. “Uh-huh, that sounds like her alright. How a pony like that is going to cadet school I’ll never know, the first thing drilled into any soldier is to put the mission before personal needs.”
Rainbow Dash grunts as she steps out onto the road. “Oh, lay off it, I’m not a soldier, just the Princess’s student. Cadet school is just to help me get even more awesome than I already am.” Rainbow Dash jerks with her head onwards. “C’mon, let’s get going, I want to check out this pegasus market.” She was, after all, the richest she had been in her entire life with Celestia’s weekly stipend, even if that stipend was a fraction of what Twilight had from her family.
[hr]
Rainbow Dash’s traipse around town is one destined to end in disappointment.
Perhaps it’s just because the filly is used to the big city; not only Canterlot, but Cloudsdale was quite large as well. To her admittedly spoiled eyes, Ponyville was an incredibly, almost unbearably boring settlement. Rows and rows of boxes with thatched rooves, with only a hoofful of buildings towards the downtown area actually being in any way distinctive.
At least the treats were as tasty as Mooncrescent had said. Still, as Rainbow Dash walks down the cobblestone paths, she finds herself hanging her head in dismay. “How long are we going to be here again?”
“Nopony knows. Until this whole mess gets sorted out, at least. It’s probably best to prepare for the worst, it could be years if we’re unlucky.” Glyndwr reports.
Rainbow Dash groans, loudly, loudly enough to draw some stares from nearby passers-by. “Ugh. I hope the princess can get this under control sooner than that.” It was an odd contradiction, her happiness to be there oscillating back and forth. Oh, the library was pretty cool if she was being honest with herself, and she didn’t mind staying with the ponies she was. But Ponyville itself was just ... So... Boring.
“There’s more than just the town, you know.” Cloud Kicker replies from the side. “If you hate the village that much, you could always try checking out the forest.”
Rainbow Dash blinks. The forest ... Right, Ponyville was right on the edge of the Everfree, wasn’t it? She glances over towards Glyndwr; would the gryphon really tolerate that? Just coming out into town was enough of a hassle. Surprisingly, though, the gryphon just shrugs.
“Well, we’d be less exposed to prying eyes if nothing else. I don’t see any problem with it.” Glyndwr shrugs. “It’s just the woods. Sure, it’s dangerous for a civilian but we’re all cadets, right? Besides, I mostly grew up in the forest, I have to imagine we could take care of ourselves.”
Rainbow Dash allows a confident smirk onto her muzzle, a gleam of savage interest in her eye. “Well, that sounds way better than this dump. Let’s go check it out!”
[hr]
Rainbow Dash was now, technically, the second closest she’d ever come to the Everfree Forest.
Standing there, a bare few meters away from the path leading into the shadowy undergrowth, she finds herself hesitating, remembering the unearthly noises she’d heard when passing over that forest back when she’d flown to Canterlot.
But something as simple as that can’t forestall the pegasus for long, and soon enough ‘second closest’ gives way to ‘closest’, followed swiftly thereafter as ‘First time she’d actually entered’. Somehow, the sinister aura of the forest feels lessened once actually under it’s ancient canopy, towering trees on all sides untouched by pony hooves in centuries.
Well, mostly untouched. “Who do you think made this path?” Rainbow Dash asks idly, looking around. “I mean, don’t the ponies in Ponyville avoid the forest like the plague?”