Floydien sat on the balcony of the Sehlp Manor, overlooking the village of Bountiful and the forest beyond. He gazed east towards the mountains, beyond which the fabled heart of Val Roa lay in hiding. He took a deep breath, running a cloven hoof over his skull, shuddering at the lack of antlers.
"They're lying bedside in your room."
Blinking, Floydien turned to look over his shoulder.
Duchess Arcanista stood in the doorfame to the balcony. "It isn't right for me to rob from you, just because I wish to make some sort of a connection." She swallowed a lump down her throat. "If I had treated you more fairly this morning, then perhaps you wouldn't have lost your temper in the way you did."
Floydien marely stared at her.
She clenched her jaw, fidgeting slightly. "This... must be so terribly much for you to take in. I suppose I was... f-foolish to think that you could somehow turn back into my brother overnight. It's just that... after all these years, I've... I-I've felt so alone." She grimaced. "Mother and Father passed away... and then you left for the west. And while I-I never truly blamed you for your actions... a part of me felt somewhat bitter and rejected. As peaceful as this kingdom is, there are truly enemies on all sides... enemies far more cold and and menacing than the Cartel. Having to deal with them all on my own while looking out for Bountiful has... n-not been easy."
Floydien was silent.
"For all of my talk, I think the truth is fairly simple." Arcanista shuddered. "I need you, Floyd. And if it's true that I need you more than you need me, well, who am I to try and change what must be?" She hung her head. With a shuffle of her skirts, she turned and trotted towards the heart of the manor.
"... ... ...Floydien is sorry."
She froze in mid-step. Slowly, she turned around and gazed out onto the balcony. "Hmmm?"
"Floydien made a huge mess mess of regal boomer's house," he muttered. "Floydien simply wanted his shimmer glimmer back. There was no need to get boomer's guards mixed up with stabby stabs." He bit his lip, avoiding her gaze. "Floydien m-may not remember what boomer wants him to, but Floydien does remember good manners." He cleared his throat. "It's what the boomers on board Nancy Jane have taught him, and Floydien cares for those boomers a lot."
Arcanista stepped out onto the balcony again.
Floydien sighed. "Floydien doesn't know what to think beyond that." He gulped. "Just know that he... h-he's sorry for the wreck wreck."
Slowly, Arcanista smiled. "These friends of yours. They didn't own your ship." She shook her head. "They didn't pay you in silver or in gold. And yet you took them on board your 'Nancy Jane' and helped them on their trip east, not knowing what sort of trouble you would get yourself in." She leaned her head to the side. "Why?"
"Hrmmmf... Floydien doesn't know any of that spit."
"Or perhaps, deep down, you truly did," Arcanista said. "You knew that you would be returning home. Or else... you didn't care, because you knew that you would be helping your fellow equines."
Floydien was silent.
"I know you don't sense it, but with each passing minute that I so much as gaze upon you, I see more and more of my dear brother Floyd." She sniffled, eyes moist. "A wrecked manor is a small price for having family again."
He stared down at the floor, his brow furrowed.
Suddenly, the Duchess brightened. "Here... come..." She tugged on his shoulder. "I want to show you something."
"Hmmmff?" Floydien blinked awkwardly. "What?! Why the tug-tug?!"
"You'll see..."
"Nnnngh..." Floydien gritted his teeth, nervously glancing left and right. "Fl-Floydien isn't sure about this." He gulped with rattling antlers. "Floydien's still feeling the sting of the stabby stabs..."
"You will not harm anyone," Arcanista said confidently. She was dressed in a simple gown as she strolled down the road, passing under the arch of the old wall. Accompanied by four reindeer guards, the siblings trotted into the outer circle of Bountiful. "I do not believe for one second that you would even want to. Besides... you're home."
"Mrmmmff... Floydien does not feel as though he is home."
"You keep telling yourself that." Arcanista winked. "In the meantime, allow the sights and smells to make you feel once again."
Almost as if on cue, Floydien's nostrils flared. He sniffed the air, red eyes twitching. "Is that... that...?"
Arcanista nodded with a smile. "The finest baked bread in the whole kingdom." She pointed at a building with a smoldering chimney across the way. "The Dough Family. They've been improving their recipe for the past five generations. Our parents would give us samples with sweet jam for Blizzard's End."
"Blizzard's... End?"
"The most celebrated holiday in the year." Arcanista giggled. "Well, at least around these parts." She pointed. "And over there is Prim Flower's school. She's been teaching for over forty years. Every semester, we pay a visit to bless the children and encourage them in their studies."
"We d-do?"
"Well, we used to..."
Just then, several gasps lit the air. Ponies and deer stopped what they were doing, gazing at the pair with wide eyes.
"The Duchess!"
"And who is that with him?!"
"Could... could it be?"
"I-I don't believe my eyes!"
"Praise God! It really is him!"
The reindeer guards closed in protectively as the villagers of Bountiful flocked over. Equines and quadrupeds from all walks of life dropped whatever they were carrying and crowded together, their faces awash with joy and shock. Dozens of voices mixed in the air while many bowed low in reverance.
"Uhhh... uhhh..." Floydien grimaced, trotting backwards. "Floydien d-doesn't know if he is ready for all this fluff stuff..."
Arcanista steadied him with a calm hoof.
He glanced over.
She smiled. "It'll be okay." She turned and spoke to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlecolts, I know that you are beside yourselves with joy. Please understand: so am I. But you must give your long-lost Duke some space. He's been through a great deal, and now that he's back he deserves the same kindess he's given to us throughout the years, wouldn't you agree?"
"Absolutely, Madme!"
"It is so wonderful to have you back, Duke!"
"We've prayed, my lord. My whole family and I... all these years..."
"Bless you and your antlers, my lord."
"Yes... Floydien... erm... th-thanks you for the holy spit." Floydien awkwardly blinked at Arcanista.
His sister giggled merrily. She looked down to see a filly nuzzling her hoof. She leaned down to rub her cheek against the child's, then lifted her up and hoofed her over to her smiling mother. The pony gave both nobles a teary smile, then trotted over to stand with her gawking family.
"Floydien doesn't understand," the elk murmured aside to his sibling. "Are we... b-better than the peasant boomers?"
"I've never thought about it like that," Arcanista said. "We're not so much better as we are blessed with a power that the earth ponies and other creatures here do not possess." She turned towards him, speaking quietly. "While they can afford humble, quiet lives out here in the country, we cannot. It is our duty to fight for them in the Council, and to spend our years protecting them with every fiber of our being."
"They praise us as gods," Floydien stammered. "The silly boomers..."
"It's not about praise," Arcanista said. "Don't you see? We're family to them." She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Both of us. And that's what makes everything precious... especially the fact that you've returned."
Floydien said nothing. He merely gazed into the crowd as they beamed back at him.
Rainbow Dash and Roarke sat side-by-side on a gold-thatched roof, almost directly above the crowd of ponies who had congregated around Floydien and Arcanista.
"He's not blowing anyone up," Roarke muttered. "Just how long are we going to play 'sentry' over this town?"
"Call me paranoid," Rainbow said. "I just figured he was going to flip his rocker again. I-I mean, we Jurists knew all along that Floydien was never quite there. I just never imagined he'd get tangled up with something like this."
"You never imagined he had a home?"
"Pffft... Well, when you put it like that."
"Your concern is well respected," Roarke droned. "But we should give the Duchess some credit. She knows how to deal with her brother."
"She didn't know how to deal with him this morning," Rainbow muttered.
"She's obviously breached the wall between them to some extent," Roarke said. "You can pat yourself on the back for that."
"I'd rather you pat my back."
"Mmmm... indeed."
Rainbow giggled.
Roarke raised an eyebrow at her. "What is it?"
"I-I just had a silly thought." Rainbow smirked. "Here's Floydien... arriving in some quaint little place and suddenly rocking their world." She glanced aside at Roarke. "And here we are sitting on our flanks, pissing the time away."
"Yes. And?"
"I dunno—it just makes me wonder if this is what it felt like for the rests of the Jurists while I was visiting around Durandana."
"Believe me." Roarke grunted. "This is not what Durandana felt like at all."
"Well, of course not." Rainbow stuck her tongue out. "You jealous melon fudge, you."
"So you've just noticed that the wind is windy and that water is wet."
Rainbow giggled again. "I dunno which you I like better. The 'denial' Roarke or the 'open-heart' Roarke."
"Wouldn't you rather have both?"
"Heeee... yeah, sure."
Roarke gazed at her. She slowly leaned in, stroking her cheek against Rainbow's neck.
Rainbow's wingfeathers twitched. She smiled while absorbing the full brunt of Roarke's nuzzling. "Wow, you're certainly touchy-feely lately."
"Hmmmm..." Roarke wrested her neck around Rainbow's. "Do you dislike it?"
"Pfft! Of course not."
"Then good." Roarke held Rainbow closer. "I would hate to have to beat you up about it."
Rainbow blinked. "Roarke, is... e-everything okay?"
"Mmmhmmm..."
"Did... like... something happen back in Amulek?"
Roarke's thin blue eyes blinked.
"Something you w-wanted to tell me?"
Roarke gulped. "Yes..." She clenched her moist eyes shut and nuzzled Rainbow softly. "I fell in love with somepony."
Rainbow rolled her eyes and nuzzled her back with a soft smile. Her voice shook slightly, "At this rate, you're going to have to use your metals to fill your teeth 'cuz of all that that sweet sugar, girl."
"Whatever." Roarke gulped. "Just be here."
"B-but I am here, Roarke."
Roarke said nothing.
Rainbow blinked worriedly into the distance. Fighting the sudden urge to shiver, she glanced down at the warm crowd instead, watching as ponies surrounded Floydien, blessing the elk's name.
Dammit, Roarke, talk to her. Tell her your fears about Applejack. Don't let it fester...
Forty side-straddle hops, ):(. Knock 'em out!
I demand that Roarke start wearing a Stetson.
"This isn't even......my full power!!!!"
Oh goody we are going to do this whole, lets not actually talk about stuff, thing again.
I just hope that Arcanista isn't going to try to make Floydien into someone hes not anymore. Just because you can help someone move past something like what happened to him doesn't mean that they will be the person they were before. I just have this feeling that Arcanista is setting herself up for disappointment
Oh you fucker. You totally just pushed me out of the feature box.
i.imgur.com/agfuJvn.jpg
5120047 Appropriate.
5120092 Or inappropriate, depending on how you look at it.
5120093 Don't worry I'm sure your foul mouthed sweetie will make its way back into feature zone!
5120096 It won't live up to this. I mean, just look at this chapter. I feel like we haven't had shipping this hard since Uroh ended. It's magical.
We don't need to know what you and your hooves get up to while you're lonely, Roarke.
Well, okay. Maybe we do.
Not the only thing that's wet.
OHMYGOD RAINBOW SHUT UP, YOU SUCK AT THIS.
This has been...
S W A N S O N G ' S S E L F I S H L Y S O L I C I T O U S
S H I P P I N G S U M M A R Y
Unf. That Wide-Spaced Caps™ looks delicious in this new font.
Let's do a little bit of character analysis of the dear Duchess.
It was, in fact, her place to do this. She went about it improperly, and thus deserves, the blame, but she's being far too hard on herself for it. Let's continue down that path of character analysis.
Arcanista never felt she deserved the title of Duchess. She does well with authority, protects her ponies/deer, and is honorable in his dealings with them(Eddard Stark is brought to mind) but always had the nagging suspicion that she's doing it wrong, she's fucking up, she doesn't deserve what she had because, originally, it was meant for another. She has lived out her entire life feeling as though she's doing worse than her brother could have done, had he been present, and it ate away at her every decision she made.
Poor girl.
5120047
#checkurselfbeforeyoushrekurself
Wasn't aware that mare was an adjective, now.
5120046
Maybe she is setting herself up for dissapointment, and I wouldn't disagree with you that he isn't the Duke Floyd of Bountiful that she remembers. But what if he wants to change, or is at least open to it? The whole idea of 'people shouldn't try to make people be people they aren't' can be a bit unsettling. Yes, let someone be who they are and express themselves, but try to open their mind to other ways of seeing the world, or living, or acting. Might be they like it.
Is she really so wrong for this?
5120030
Saw your new avatar and the only thing I could think was
if your grave doesnt say "rest in peace" on it you are automatically drafted into the skeleton war.
5120047 Not fair either. Your new chapter already has far more views than this new chapter. Your story has more up votes too.
5120137 Sharpie, hush, it was a joke, let's stop talking about my dumb horsewords and embrace the magic that is Rainboarke, for it is glorious and we should all bask in its gloriousness. Though I still miss Rayvinne
5120137
new2.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/5129182+_88949faba19e49a121977d9b9ff77234.jpg
5120036
Dont forget the Poncho, and the Cheroot.
So, we have, Dough, a Deer, a female Deer, Ray, Hes looking at me Ray.
Well, Floydien is here to chew gum and kick mules, and still has Chumbawumba, so things have quietened down.
DAMN YOU SHELL.
Sorry, that Wriath is mixing like a Nightmare with the Cartel.
Just as long as Floydian remains mildly bemused, wont be too bad. When he starts sliding back into bewilderbeast though, ouch.
Still think it would be a good idea to pop Wizball up say 30 thousand foot or so, with a really good set of binoculars, and have a look South. See whats happening the next hundred miles or so. Its Not paranoia if you Know theyre out to get you.
I love getting to read this everyday. ^_^
5120553 ikr?
5120604
It is one of the highlights of my day, one of my universal constants. No matter how shitty or great my day was, I can count on kick-ass horsewords to put my mind at ease.
Roarke! Stop being a dumb!
Also, I kind of hope that I'm part of the Dough family. Because Jon Dough just sounds like a fun guy.
It's good to see Floydien adjusting, but I sure as hell wish Roarke would learn from her own character development and not batten down the damned hatches.
I think its randomly going to come back to him while their fighting.
5120840 would you say it's one of
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
The Things That Bring You Back?
YYYEEEAAAHHH
5120114
You should clearly try and show people different ways of thinking and what not; that is almost always a good thing, if that is what the person wants, and maybe Floydien does want that. However I meant that I hope she doesn't try to force it, out of desperation. Perhaps I'm being to pessimistic but to me she seems like the type that might, if say Floydien wants to leave or whatever, try to stop him and make him stay and be the brother she remembers. She seems lonely and desperate, she clearly needs some help dealing with ruling and Val Roa and Floydien was good at that.
I'll admit, I thought he was just another one of Ledomare's maltreated minorities used by the war effort.
For some reason, imagining Floydien "blinking awkwardly" made me chuckle.
It's probably unfounded and just an ingrained reaction to not fully trust everything, but I can't help feel that something is amiss...bah. Regardless, it's heartwarming to see the villagers warmly greeting Floydien after his long absence.
I do like Arcanista, though.
Also, damnit, Roarke...hiding it in is just going to make things worse. That's always how it goes.
5120109
Never did I think I'd use "delicious" to describe a string of text, but I can honestly agree.
Floydien has been accepted and its a place he can settle down if he wished. Ignoring Durandara, last time some jurors tried that, it did not end well...
5120109 I'm sure "Salacious" could slide right into that aliteration-tastic name for your summary
It had taken me the better part of the last two years to catch up to this point! But, I'm almost caught up.
I have got to say, when I first started tracking this East series I was intimidated by the 75 chapters in the first book. And didn't even actually devote time to it until 2013! I just poked a few chapters a week, but what was a few chapters grew exponentially. This comment comes at the end of a 32 chapter reading spree.
Now for some of you it might not seen much, but, I don't typically commit this much time to reading fan fiction. And, unless I stayed up to date with the fiction, I would procrastinate even more about reading it. I must admit this has been a very engaging story, at least to me.
I hope, very much so, to see many of the commenters used in the story in the future if, or when, I manage to catch up. Maybe even throw in a radical theory around with a few of you?
Until that time
This is N_C saying
Peaces!
5120030 im thinking she doesn't need to talk about what happened anymore. She kinda figured it out herself, she loves rainbow. With that all done though I think rainbow will bring up again and roarke will tell her about aj, I think it would be good for their relationship if dash talks about her.
5121868 Hurry up. I'd like to see a character named Nostromo in the story.
5121145
I don't think she really needs help with the Val Roan council, but I definitely think she thinks she does. You raise an interesting point, though I happen to disagree with it.
5121077
Oh my god no die.
This entire arc is so absolutely great, it just can't go wrong anymore!
Then again, they told me Swan Song and Zaid were making out in the comment section again. I was disappointed.
Hue.
So when the Bountiful ponies praise God, are they really talking about Arcanista?
5122421
eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/morgan_freeman2012-god-wide.jpg
Darn, You got me.
Meanwhile at Fan headquarters ....SIR, WE HAVE INCOMING AND ITS HUGE!
Calm down son, take a deep breath and tell me what it is, what are we dealing with?
It's shit sir and it's heading this way....there's n-nothing we can do, sir.
Mother of God.
Stupid Roarke. Stop bottling stuff up again.
5122782
Reports say it's converging on the H.M.S RainBoarke. . . The damage might catastrophic.
This is only gonna get worse before it gets better...
Strap in kids. This river is gonna get mighty rough.
guess we need more feels chapter s after the actiony chapters
It'll take some time for Floydien to get acclimated to this. It's a lot to take in.
-Spirit
Even though Floydien forgot, the people didn't. I wonder if he will ever recover from what happened to him.
Rough waters ahead for this ship...maybe...I hope not.
Uh oh.
So much for keeping a low profile. This is totally going to get back to the royal council.
I have a feeling this is where we’re finally going to lose Floydien. I wonder if the rest of the Jury will stay around Val Roa, cause they kinda need Floydien to fly the Jury.
The scale of this story will never cease to amaze me. We've known Floydien for three entire books, and we're only just now finding out who he actually is.
Uh, benevolent or no, racism is still racism.
UHH
T H I S H A S B E E N M E R A L L A K O S' S U R R UP T I C I O U S L A C K O F I N O V A T I O N A B D S U B V E R S I O N
It's different, the Bountiful citizens actually mention God. Weird.
Also it's nice to see people liking Floydien, even if he isn't the same as when he left.
Also also ROARKE JUST TALK TO RAINBOW FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE OR WE'RE HEADED FOR MORE SAD TALK.