The Long Flight

Chapters

Chapter 01 - Barley Growing
Chapter 02 - Infinitely Loopy
Chapter 03 - Carrot Mash
Chapter 04 - The Seeds

Chapter 01 - Barley Growing

"It will only be a few weeks, dear. Daddy will be back before you know it," he said in a warm voice, leaning in to peck a kiss on top of his filly's head, in-between the two tufted ears.

His mare squinted her slitted yellow eyes at him and snorted defiantly. She had not been in favor of the trip he was about to undertake, and took every opportunity to remind him that he was making it against her wishes.

"You know why I have to make this trip, Ice Shard," he sighed, turning towards her and giving her a soft nuzzle on her left cheek.

"To prove you're worthy of becoming the next captain of the Nightguard?" she bit at him. "Let me tell you something; you've already done plenty to prove your worth! Even IF Howling Wind were to run against you..."

Flying shook his head. "He isn't run..."

"Even if he was, I doubt he'd get the position. You know the council wants you!" his mare interrupted him. Then added "There's no need for this." in a softer tone.

Flying Thunder sighed and shook his head. "I need to prove to myself that I can handle the responsibility, Ice."

"Why?" she asked him for the millionth time since he first proposed it.

"Because it's something I think I can do," he responded. "And I won't ever know for sure unless I do it. If I make captain, what do you think will happen, dear?"

He reached a forehoof up to tousle his filly's mane as she was trying to understand the conversation her parents were having. "I won't have the time of night to take a trip like this. I'd need to make sure the Nightguards are prepared for Luna's return."

Ice Shard looked away, but he saw her give in a little. "Just make it home in one piece. I don't care about the egg."

Flying smiled and gave his mare a warm kiss on her lips, lingering a little while ignoring their filly's outcry of revulsion at her parents' open sign of affection.

"Eewwww... I will never get adults!"

Flying chuckled and moved a wing around Nightbreeze, pulling her against his side while breaking the kiss with his mare. He turned his head to look at her blushing face and nipped a kiss on her nose. "Now, will you pay attention in school while I'm gone, Nightbreeze?"

She nodded her head up and down, but he saw her starting to break before she closed her eyes and pushed up against his side, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Now, now.. I'll be back before you know it. Just be a good filly for your dam, ok?" Flying offered gently, giving a little squeeze with his wing and smiling as he saw Nightbreeze do her best to calm herself down. "That's my girl," he spoke proudly, slowly pulling his wing back and moving sideways away from her. Nightbreeze immediately trotted up to Ice Shard's side, seeking comfort with her dam.

Flying gave one last glance to them, whispered "I love you" to them both, and then turned for the door.

The egg, and his backpack, were resting on the table beside it, and he carefully fastened the latter to his back, the leather loops around his forelegs, before gently picking up the egg between his forehooves. He would not be able to carry it in his mouth, and he opted against wearing it in a saddlebag, leaving this as the only solution.

With a few flaps of his wings he was airborne and, once he was free from the confines of the house, he shot up into the night's sky with a slow turn for the South-West.

Equestria was waiting for him behind the mountain range that seperated Luna's Chosen from those living in Celestia's light, their dark peaks clearly visible in the light of the moon above. He would have to climb up into the air for several minutes, even if the plateau the city was on was halfway up the mountains already.

Carefully clutching the egg to his chest, his strong wing flaps made distance between him and his home. Between him and his mare and filly.

He never looked back. The fear that seeing his mare and filly standing outside their house would cause him to forego the plans he had been making, if he saw their pleading eyes calling him back home, prevented him.

This trip had been over two years in the making. Two years of plotting routes and sending letters far-away to make sleeping arrangements. Two years of begging and pleading with the council, Celestia's court, and his wife, to let him go through with this.

As he finally passed over the first peaks, he let out a breath he did not know he had been keeping in. A feeling of loss came over him and he struggled to keep going forward. Just looking at the dark lands below made him wonder if he really had made the right decision.

Mountain after mountain stretched for miles below him, their jagged peaks and awkward airflows enough of a hazard as it was, even without him holding an egg in his forehooves as well. But beyond the mountains would be the lowlands. The first signs of civilized ponies beside the society he came from the few farmers with their fields set against the hilly lands which would slowly turn to forests and the occasional city.

He sighed and used an updraft to fly a little higher still, the icy air at this altitude developing frosting on his muzzle.

"Just a few weeks. It's only for a few weeks. Two months and some change. Not that long. You'll see them again, Flying. Stop worrying," he chided himself, trying to reason away the growing pit in his stomach.

No matter how he tried, he could not shake off this feeling of doom as he flew through the night.

===

Flying landed in a field shortly before daybreak and carefully put the egg down in the long grass. He had to stretch his muscles a bit before he could approach the house farmer Barley Growing lived in. It would be his first of many homes he would be staying in during his trip.

Chancing to balance the egg between his chin and left forehoof, he gently knocked his other forehoof on the wooden door. There was no response. He tried again, a little louder this time, and was rewarded with the sound of somepony stumbling around inside.

"Yeah, yeah, hold yer stompin'. I heard ye fine th' first time!" a croaky old stallion's voice emitted from inside, and the stumbling sounds slowly made it closer to the entrance.

The sounds of some bolts sliding aside was heard, then the door opened a little to show a wrinkly face looking out in an annoyed manner. "Yeah? What do ye want, young'un?"

"I'm Flying Thunder, sir," Flying offered, nodding his head in respect to the older pony. "I come from the other side of the mountains to the East? We agreed upon me resting here this coming day?"

The stallion pushed his head out of the cottage and squinted his eyes at Flying, his breath smelling of yeast. "I don't know anyone buying sunders. I have enough sundries as it is! Don't need any more of 'em."

"Flying Thunder, sir. I'm a Lunar Pony?" Flying tried again, patiently waiting for the old stallion to remember while sitting down on his haunches, putting the egg down before him.

"A Lunar Pony?" the Earthpony farmer wondered, raising an eyebrow. "What'd ya say yer name was, young'un?"

"Flying Thunder, sir." Flying repeated again, daring a light smile. "We conversed through letters?"

The older stallion snorted at that, turning back into the room but pushing the door open further as he did. "That's allright then. Come on in. An older pony like meself can't be careful enough these days, can I?"

Flying carefully picked the egg up again and followed the stallion inside, noticing the grey sheen that had fallen over the pony's former yellow coat. His green mane and tail were even worse off than his coat, especially at the base of them where there was more grey than green.

The stallion dropped on a couch that looked as crooked and ancient as he himself, and reached for one of the open bottles laying around the house's floor. "Make yerself at home. Name's Barley Growin', but there's barely anythin' growin' in these fields anymore."

Flying nodded absentmindedly at Barley's words while looking around for a good spot to put the egg at. Noticing some pillows in a corner of the room, he quickly moved over there and put both his egg and his backpack down on it, using the latter as an extra support for the egg.

Farmer Growing burped loudly after having taken a good swig from his drink, then nodded towards a broken bed. The mattress was half supported by the beams that had not rotted away yet, and was half lying on the ground. "That'll be the bed we discussed, Scrying Flounder. Ten bits a day. Extra if ye want dinner wit' it."

Flying swallowed strongly as he looked at the decrepit bed, but dug up his coinpurse from the backpack regardless. "Deal's a deal," he muttered under his breath, picking up ten bits and dropping them on the table.

Barley's eyes grew to twice their size as he saw the coins, and he immediately roused from his seat to check to see if they were real by picking them up and biting on them in turn with his half-rotten teeth. "Well, I'll be. Yer a man of yer word! That's rare in these parts, ye know? Mostly we get bandits tryin' ta rip us off since Celestia's guards don't come here that often no more."

Flying nodded and made his way to the bed, looking it over from a closer angle. A flea jumped past him and he backed away quickly. "I'm not sure this is worth ten bits.. but we did have an agreement."

An embarrassed cough came from the farmer, and Flying turned back to him to see he split the pile of coins in piles of three and seven bits respectively.

"Take yer seven bits home with ye, young'un. I'd only said ten cause I expected ye to be an unscrupulous bastard like Flamin' Mane an' his gang. Yer welcome to stay the day. Three bits is plenty fer my drinkin' anyway."

Flying nodded to that, but still backed away from the bed. "I'll just grab a pillow and rest on the floor if it's all the same to you. The bed is.." he didn't finish his sentence as the bed behind him finally collapsed properly, the dust cloud it sent through the place wafting past his legs.

"Whoopie! Now I can finally use me mattress again!" the farmer exclaimed in excitement, and Flying just nodded to that.

"Right. I'll just be lying down here then," he muttered, trotting over and lying himself down on the floor beside the egg.

===

Apart from the sounds of farmer Barley stumbling about and clanking bottles together, Flying had a decent day's rest. When night fell however, he was quick to fly out the door with his egg and backpack in tow. The place had left him feeling dirty, and he was sure the smell of yeast that hung about the place had pulled in his own coat.

As he flew over the fields, he kept a look out for a body of water to wash himself in. It took him a little while to spot a shallow river coming down from the mountains, weaving its way between the hills and pausing at a small pool made in the hollow between a couple of them. While the river was flowing steadily past it, the pool itself seemed largely undisturbed, and Flying quickly flew down to land on its shore.

Considering the fleas he spotted in the cottage, he could not scrub himself hard enough with the brush he took from his backpack.

Standing immersed to his neck in the pool, with his head turning this way and that as he held the brush between his teeth, he cleaned his back, sides, under his wing joints, and eventually ducked his head under fully to scrub under himself, flakes of dirt from the farmer's house drifting past him back into the flow of the river.

He did not feel better until he was assured he had thoroughly cleaned every single part of his dark grey coat, including his dark blue mane and tail. Tossing the brush back toward the shore, he blinked his eyes open to see three Earthponies up on the nearby hill looking down at him.

The one in the center had a wild red mane with lighter streaks through it, and only his right eye was open. The left had a scar running across it. Patches of his coat were missing, with similar scars running across his features. Clearly this was the "Flaming Mane" that the farmer had spoken of.

On his left side was a smaller mare, her eyes holding a fury to them that Flying had only seen in Ice Shard's eyes when he had done something terribly wrong. He did not even know this pony and already she was ready to tear him to shreds, it looked like. She didn't look too bad, though. White coat, blue mane... If in any other situation, his eyes might have lingered on her for far too long.

The stallion on their leader's other side had a green coat with some blood running down his leg from a fresh cut on his left shoulder. More than that; he looked to have been in a fight real recently. His eyes looked bloodshot, his muzzle was thick as if he had incurred several heavy blows on it, and his right ear was missing its tip.

Flying carefully made his way to his belongings, closing up his backpack and swinging it over his still wet back. "I'll be gone in a moment, guys," he offered in as non-threatening a manner as he could.

"The only place ye'll be goin' is to yer grave!" the mare spat out, dashing forward but jerking to a stop and collapsing in a heap on the ground as the fire-maned stallion took her tail in his mouth and pulled her back.

"Calm yerself, Blizzard," the leader's deep voice grumbled. "Ain't no way ta greet a night stallion. 'specially not under his lady's gaze."

Flying looked up at the other stallion's only open eye and raised an eyebrow. "As I said; I was already leaving. I don't want to interfere in anything. As far as I'm concerned, we never met."

The leader shrugged at that and turned away. "If that's ta case, I take me hooves off of this. Do wit' him what ya will, Bliz."

Flying winced at the other's dismissive attitude and quickly scooped his egg up in his forehooves as he took flight, narrowly evading a headbutt from the mare jumping up at him and rising up in the air with the scoffed laughter of Flaming Mane in his ears.

With his heart thumping from the encounter, he searched for an updraft and used it to keep his wings at rest while still soaring upwards. If the rest of Equestria was this welcoming of strangers, this trip may prove to be more difficult than he had initially thought.

How come he had not heard of bandits in the North-Eastern farmlands? What else did his penpals 'forget' to mention? Was Celestia even aware that these things were going on in her realm?

Sure, his fellow Lunar Ponies were a rowdy bunch, especially after a few drinks, but the council made sure to send the Nightguard out to stop any actual crime once they heard of it.

Right?

But if an Alicorn like Celestia did not even have a hoof on this bunch, perhaps not all crime was gone from the Lunar Republic?

Food for thought, to be sure. Especially on the long nights ahead. The next stop was in a valley a few miles north of Hollow Shades. His contact had told him it would be easily spotted as the mountains made a bit of a U-shape and had train tracks running through them.

Flying looked down at the landscape below and spotted what could be a few mountains over in the South. He quickly turned for them and started to make some speed, wanting to get as much distance between him and the bandits from the farmfields as possible.

Sure, he could hold his own if needed. But not while keeping the egg safe at the same time. And getting the egg safely to the other edge of Equestria and back was his prime concern now.

Chapter 02 - Infinitely Loopy

It was a few hours flight, but Flying made it to the valley in one piece. His forelegs were aching from having had to carry the egg all the while, and he had to pee. Badly.

The valley did indeed have some train tracks looping through it, going in- and out of tunnels and over bridges which connected the holes in the mountains with one another.

He did not know where his contact's house was, but they had offered to light a blue light an hour before dawn as a beacon. Dawn would still be a little away, so he had plenty of time to do his business.

Flying decided to land under one of the stone bridges with their large arches, and gently placed the egg on a heap of stones beside one.

"Oof," he sighed out, biting on the skin along his forelegs to get the bloodflow going again and clopping his hooves together.

If he had not wanted to get away so badly, he could have landed in one or two spots along the way. Maybe three. It would have given him the time to get his legs and wings some rest.

He was feeling the muscles in them pull and flare up in agony as he made his way into a set of bushes to do his thing. Soon enough a trickle of gold made its way down the slope from the bush, steam wafting up from the warm liquid into the cool night air.

"Excuse me," a small voice from somewhere above him offered, and Flying had to stick his head out of the bushes to spot a light blue Unicorn with a pale white mane standing atop the bridge overhead.

Her red eyes were staring right down at him, and Flying felt his cheeks flush as he realized she was watching him do his business.

"Er.. One second. I'll be right with you!" he called out, disappearing a bit deeper into the bushes and trying desperately to hide what he was doing from the mare above.

"Don't bother. I was on my way down anyway," the youthful voice called out in an annoyed fashion.

Flying dared to look up, but the Unicorn had disappeared from where she had been standing and there was no sign of her anywhere!

Realizing that, for the moment, nopony was watching, Flying quickly finished his business and emerged from the bushes, hurrying up to where he left the egg.

If he could fly off with it before the mare managed to come down, he could at least save some face by her not knowing his name. This was just too embarrassing.

No sooner had he arrived at the egg or a blue glow enveloped it. Flying watched in horror as the egg moved through the air from its relative safe location, to end up floating in front of the blue Unicorn's face...

Flying had to do a double take. With the egg floating close to her, it was clear that the pony before him was not a mare, or she would have to be a really small mare. No, this looked more like a filly.

A filly who was scrutinizing his egg right now.

"Excuse me, I believe that's mine," he tried, reaching a hoof out for the egg.

The filly lowered the egg a little so she could look out over it, and snorted. "No it's not. This belongs to a family of phoenixes somewhere. Where did you steal it from?"

Flying blinked heavily at the accusation. "I.. you.. what? Now wait just a minute, young lady! I came flying all the way over here from the Lunar Republic, carrying that egg with me. An egg that I purchased from a reputable merchant, I may add. I did not 'steal' this from anywhere!"

The blue filly twitched an ear at that, her right eyebrow rising up. "If you didn't steal it, then what happened to your carrying bag?"

"Carrying bag?" Flying repeated, reaching up with his left forehoof to rub at his forehead. "Look, kid. I'm on a personal quest to take this egg to the San Palomino Desert and back, ok? I only stopped here because I had to..."

"I can see why you stopped," the filly cut in. "Do you always do your business in somepony else's backyard?"

Flying looked around himself in confusion. "Backyard? There isn't a house for miles!"

Another snort from the filly, and she turned her tail towards him, starting to walk over to a set of bushes not too far from where he had been hiding before.

Flying looked on in amazement as the filly, glowing blue horn and egg and all, disappeared behind them and then called out from behind it. "Well? Are you gonna come in or not?"

With growing confusion, Flying pushed his way through the bushes he had seen the filly disappear through, only to find a spacious cave seemingly hewn out of the rock face behind them.

It was large enough to allow him to fly through it with ease, even if he might need to dodge a stalagtite or two in the process, and the air felt colder in the sheltered space than it did even in the dead of night outside.

A small lake lay a bit deeper in the mountain, water dripping into it from the ceiling above, and somepone had built a sizable clay house near to it. It was to this house that the filly was walking - with his egg!

"Mom! Dad! Your visitor's here!" she called out ahead, and a white-coated Unicorn mare's head poked out of one of the windows of the building, her yellow mane a total mess.

"Visitor?" she wondered, then spotted Flying and quickly disappeared inside again. He heard her shout something unintelligble before she all-but galloped out to meet him halfway.

"There you are! Flying, isn't it? Can I call you Flying? Or should I say sir Thunder?" the mare rambled on, her horn bobbing up and down mere inches from his face while she stared at him with freakishly tiny eyes.

"Flying is fine, miss," he offered in return, backing up a little from the mare, who honestly looked like she was on some kind of drugs. "Er, I don't want to interrupt you, but your foal has stolen my egg?"

Her head snapped around to face her filly and her voice echoed through the cavern as she screamed out; "Silver Shade! Did you steal this stallion's egg?!?"

'Silver Shade' ignored her mother and just disappeared into the building, the egg still tracking along with her.

"I'm really, really sorry. You know how foals are," the mare apologized, quickly turning tail to run after her filly, shouting her name again in the process.

Flying dared to perk his ears up again as she disappeared into the building as well, having flattened them against his head as the shouting began. "So that's why the kid was outside on the tracks..." he mused to himself.

An orange hoof placed itself on the ground to his right forehoof, and a low voice agreed with him. "Yep."

Flying turned his head to face the owner of the rogue hoof, and spotted a Unicorn with an orange coat, a pale white mane, and a broad white moustache. He magically lifted a pipe to his lips and took a few draws from it. "And this is why we live out here. Welcome to my humble abode."

===

The kid turned out to be some kind of nature freak. Always going out to make sure the local wildlife was not too damaged by the trains going by every so often.

Considering her mother's loud voice and psychotic nature, it was easy to see how the filly developed this behaviour. Just an hour inside the house was enough for Flying to want to get out of there again.

The clay house had a master bedroom, a bedroom for the filly, a storage room in which a makeshift bed was set up for Flying to use, a restroom, and a combination living room and kitchen. It was sparsely decorated with only the bare necessities needed to live comfortable in the grotto.

He first visited Silver Shade in her room to make sure the egg would be fine, and once again had to convince her that he had not stolen it. He eventually was allowed to take it back with him when he would leave, but not before he had promised to carry it in an old leather bag he could hang from his neck. Considering the pain he was still feeling in his stiff forelegs, he reluctantly agreed.

He found the mare in the kitchen, tossing food in a bowl, mixing it up, and then plucking it back apart again with her magic to put each different ingredient on its own plate. Flying did not want to know why she did that, and instead walked back out to find the stallion seated at the edge of the underground lake, smoking his pipe in thoughtful silence.

Flying walked up to him and sat down beside the stallion, looking out over the pristine surface of the lake. "So, your wife..." he started, but then found he didn't know how to continue.

"Yes," the stallion offered, but did not otherwise move.

Flying took a deep breath, then exhumed it again. What was he to say?

"You never asked why we're awake at night, Nightguard," the stallion beside him offered, blowing out a ring of smoke from his muzzle.

Flying turned his head to look at the man and frowned at himself. "That's true. I haven't. I guess I've been a little preoccupied with my egg."

The stallion nodded his head up and down in a slow manner. "Infinitely and I never have been much for proper sleep," he started. "What with her condition and my pondering, it's easy to forget how fast time passes."

"Infinitely?" Flying inquired.

"Infinitely Loopy. My mare," the stallion offered, turning his head sideways and offering a hoof. "I'm Silent Thought."

Flying pushed his own hoof up against the offered one, and they both shook their limbs up and down a moment before pulling them back. "Pleased to meet you, Silent."

"And then there's this cave. Not a lot of natural light makes it in here," Silent Thought continued as if there had been no interruption to his previous explanation. "We mostly go by the sound of the trains above to judge whether it's day or night. They come four times a day, but only twice each night."

Flying looked up at the ceiling of the cave, realizing it was still lower than the bridge just outside of it. "I see."

"They go all the way to Manehattan, turn around, and then go back to Canterlot again," Silent sighed, then drew from his pipe again. "Always going back and forth."

Flying stretched a few of his muscles a bit, not really sure what to say to that.

"It's better to settle where you feel at home, I think," Silent decided. "We don't have a bad life here. Plenty of rest. Get a trader around once a month for mail and other supplies, but are otherwise left to our own."

Flying smirked at that. "I had wondered why there was so much time between replies."

Silent shrugged. "If I'd been a bit younger, I'd delivered the mail to the Hollow Shades post office myself. But it's looking to be farther and farther away every day that passes."

Flying nodded. "I am headed that way tonight, you know? If you have anything I need to take with, I do have some spare room in my backpack."

Silent Thought frowned as he watched the surface of the water in front of him. "Maybe you can deliver a letter for me, Flying?"

"Sure! Whom to?" Flying immediately agreed, smiling warmly to the stallion beside him.

"Carrot Mash. Old friend of mine," came the reply. "Haven't seen him in a while."

"If you have his address, I'll do my best," Flying offered.

Silent looked sideways at the Nightguard beside him and nodded solemnly. "I'll write something up while you sleep. Thanks."

Flying shrugged at that. "Don't mention it. It's the least I can do."

"Dad! Breakfast's done!" Silver Shade called out from the house.

"Word to the wise; don't eat the brown things. They're probably clay pellets," Silent offered, tapping out his pipe on the ground before him.

Flying blinked at the warning but moved to follow behind the stallion as Silent got up to return to the house. "Good to know."

Chapter 03 - Carrot Mash

With the egg safely tucked into what most resembled an old messenger bag made of brown leather, Flying took to the air again in the cloud-filled night.

The bag was hanging from a strap around his neck, the speed at which he was flying causing the bag itself to push up against his chest. He really only had to move it to the front a little upon landing, and make sure it did not slam into him upon taking off, but it certainly beat having to hold the egg with his forehooves!

His visit to Silent and Infinitely's home in the cave had been mostly peaceful, even with the thundering sound of trains coming by overhead, and he felt surprisingly well-rested. The fresh cavern air had been just what he needed to get the smell of farmer Barley's yeasty cottage out of his nose, and the quick bath he took in the underground lake had failed to produce a trio of earthponies wanting to kill him. Both were very good points in Flying's book.

It was really a shame of the cloud cover this night. It was tricky enough to fly over unfamiliar territory, not knowing the way the air moved above the landscape below, but not seeing the moon or the stars really threw off his sense of direction.

If it had not been for Silver Shade pointing out which way was South, Flying would have been flying blind until he would have flown above the clouds to check his direction, and then would have had to fly back below them again to check if he had not flown past his target already.

He knew he was looking for a forest area, and a clearing somewhere in the thick of it, but there were forests on either side of the valley! Following Silver Shade's directions, he flew over to the edge of what he hoped would be the correct forest and followed it further South.

He turned upon seeing a clearing ahead and hovered over it a moment as he realized it was just a small forest lake. Not the clearing he was looking for then.

This repeated a few times, with every new clearing being uninhabited and filled with rocks or bodies of water. In one case he noticed a few treestumps and it looked like somepony was building a log cabin for themselves. They were fast asleep in a tent set up beside the construction site, their campfire reduced to some faintly glowing embers.

Flying chuckled lightly at the pioneering ponies below and continued on his way. "Ponies will go wherever ponies want to go, I guess," he muttered to himself. "Bandit-plagued farmhouses, clay homes in caves, log cabins in forests.. what next?"

He amused himself for the next hour or so coming up with the most wild ideas for ponies to make their homes in, such as floating islands on the water, dangling bridges over volcanos, and even, with a longing sigh, homes on Luna's moon.

He was still smiling from the silly things he had come up with as he spotted a much larger clearing up ahead, some faint lights shining in the darkness. "Could it be?" he wondered, turning towards it and squinting his eyes at it.

As he approached, the lights turned out to be street lanterns set up on either side of the pathways leading between treehouses, log cabins, and one or two bigger buildings with flags on their exterior. There was even a single-platform train station with a few shops and a post office set up close to it.

As Flying started to make his descend, towards what looked to be the town's square, he noticed a few ponies rush into the area, and a Pegasus flew up to meet him. The supposed Unicorns and Earthponies below grouping together to watch him close in on their location.

Flying stopped his descend as the Pegasus neared, and simply hovered in the air to let the mare catch up to him. She was dressed in a simple leather uniform, with a leather cap on her head, and looked at him sternly.

"State your name and business, stranger," she demanded, and Flying felt the need to salute her.

"The name's Flying Thunder, ma'am. I'm a Nightguard visiting from the Lunar Republic to the North. I come to deliver a letter to one..." what was that pony's name again? Oh, right! "Carrot Mash."

The mare smirked at his reply, shaking her head at him. "Won't find him here. The old fool decided he wanted more peace and quiet. He went North into the forest and we haven't seen or heard from him since."

"North?" Flying repeated, pointing behind him.

"That's what I said," the mare sighed. "Look, we have enough trouble dealing with strangers coming from parts of the country we never heard of, ever since they built that damned railroad station in our town. If you have no further business here, would you mind continuing on your way?"

Flying blinked at the request, then looked back the way he came. "I did see somepony in the act of building a log cabin a bit up North.. I guess I'll see if that's the pony I'm looking for. I don't want to be any trouble, ma'am."

"Good," she replied, wafting a hoof in the direction he was looking. "I'm sorry for this, but I have to look out for my people."

Flying nodded. "I understand, ma'am. I will take my leave then."

"Please do," the mare offered.

"I will," Flying shrugged, turning for the North.

"Perhaps next time you can come here during the day, like a normal pony," the Pegasus scoffed.

"Point taken, madam. No need to continue hostilities," Flying called back, flapping his wings to make some speed and only half hearing her shouting something of a reply after him again. "Got to get the last word in, eh?" he sighed to himself, shaking his head.

===

The clearing with the log cabin was easily found again, and Flying dropped down near the dying campfire, the wind from his wings making the embers glow a bit brighter for just a brief moment.

As when he had first spotted it, the only sign of anypony still being around was the closed up tent next to the building site, and Flying sighed at the snoring coming from it. Whomever it was, Carrot Mash or no, they were fast asleep. Flying didn't feel like trying to wake them up and risk facing another angry pony.

To keep himself busy while waiting for morning to come, he started to gather some wood and relit the campfire. It only took a few timed flaps of his leathery wings to make the embers glow hot enough for the fire to jump onto the new branches, and soon there was a pleasurable warmth coming from them.

Flying sat down with his tail draped over one of the cut logs, his egg and backpack set beside him, and sipped thoughtfully from his flask. If he waited here for the sun to break, he might have to fly through the daytime. He did not have any way of shielding his eyes from the painful brightness of the sun, but if he flew to the South-West in the morning, and South-East in the evening, he would evade most of the direct sunlight.

He reached into his backpack and pulled his map out with his teeth. It was a map one of his contacts had sent him, showing the main cities laid out across the continent. Fillydelphia was South-East of his current location, but if he had to fly South-West in the morning, he could just as well head for the Capital.

He squinted at the paper and put a hoof down between the forest he was in and Fillydelphia. "Half a hoof.. so about half a day," he mumbled, then moved his hoof between Canterlot and Hollow Shades, over the Foal Mountain range. "One hoof. Full day's flight."

He sighed and looked up at the cloud-filled sky, trying to see the moon hiding behind it. "What should I do, mother Luna?"

The clouds above were unforgiving, and Flying drooped his head and ears down a bit. "I guess I'll see what morning brings."

"If you're going to be talking to yourself, would you mind doing so near somepony else's campsite, lad?" a mumbling voice came from across the fire, and Flying lifted his head up again.

"Woke me from a dream in which I had six mares fighting over me," the voice continued as the owner of it crawled out of his tent. "Can you imagine that? Six mares.. Such cute rumps."

Flying tilted his head sideways to look past the flames at the orange-coated Unicorn appearing, his mane and eyes a bright green.

"I'm sorry for waking you, sir," Flying offered, "but may I ask if you're Carrot Mash?"

The stallion looked up in surprise, then cantered around the fire and promptly turned his flank in Flying's face. "What's this cutiemark say, lad?"

Flying blinked at the cutiemark which showed a few carrots bundled together, and what looked like a potato masher lying beside them.

"I would say you were, sir," Flying coughed uncomfortably.

"Please, call me Mash," the other pony offered, turning towards him again and holding out a hoof. "What's your name and where're you from, lad? You don't look like anypony I've met before."

Flying got up on his own hooves and met the offered hoof in a quick shake. "Flying Thunder. I'm a Nightguard from the Lunar Republic, taking a trip across Equestria."

"Lunar Republic? Never heard of it. Where's about that's located then?" Mash wondered, sitting down on his haunches and rubbing his eyes with a forehoof. "Damn sleep. Always gets stuck in my eyelids."

"It's off to the North, sir," Flying chuckled. "We don't get many Celestial ponies to visit us, so I doubt a lot of ponies here know of us."

He reached beside him in his backpack and took out the letter, dropping it in front of the orange stallion beside him. "I have a letter for you from Silent Thought, though."

Carrot Mash flicked his tail at the name. "Who'd you say? Silent Thought? Man, I haven't heard that name in ages! How's the old bugger doing?"

Flying shrugged softly. "He looked alright when I saw him yesternight, sir."

"Mash," Carrot Mash corrected him.

"I'm sorry, Mash," Flying chuckled. "I'm a Nightguard, we're trained to say sir a lot."

"You said you were a Nightguard, yes," Carrot mumbled, using his magic to open the letter. "Got some interesting ears there. And those wings.. Not like any Pegasus I've ever seen before."

Flying chuckled a bit uneasily, looking away. "I'm a Lunar Pony, sir. We're descendants of Luna's Chosen and we have the Nightguard to stand guard.. over the night... I guess.. er. It makes sense where I come from."

Carrot Mash wasn't listening, his eyes scanning the paper in front of him. "Well, I'll be. He's actually gone and married the kid?"

"Pardon?" Flying wondered, missing the context entirely.

"Do you know what this idiot wrote to me, lad? He's gone and married that fool of an Infinitely Loopy!" Carrot decried, poking a forehoof at the letter in front of him. "I always thought something was wrong with him, but to go after somepony like that? I never could have guessed he was into those kinds of mares, you know?"

"I.. don't think I can answer that, sir Mash," Flying muttered, confused at the way the other stallion talked of his "friend".

Carrot shook his head while continuing to read. "Even got a foal out of it too. I hope she takes after her stallion, cause the world's not ready for two of Loopy's kind."

Flying shrugged idly and moved to fold up his map again. "Silver Shade seems like an okay kid. A bit preoccupied with nature, perhaps, but not overly so?"

"Yeah, hey. Don't tell him I said so, but his mare should be admitted to a mental hospital, you know?" Mash sighed, tossing the letter in the fire after finishing reading it. "You know what she did one day in school?"

"I don't think I shou.." Flying started, but it was no use. Carrot Mash had already started detailing about it with no sign of wanting to stop until the whole story was told.

===

The sun was already up by the time Carrot Mash stopped talking, and Flying now knew more about the stallion than he had ever wanted to know.

Detailed descriptions of the stallion's sex life, his friends' oddities throughout the years, and the way he was treated like a pariah just because he had offered to take a lost filly home with him so they could have some fun playing with his dolls until the guards could find her parents, it was a bit much.

Flying yawned and squinted his eyes at the bright light falling over the clearing, the clouds having slowly dissipated before sunrise. He raised an eyebrow at realizing the campfire had died out again in the time it took for Carrot to finish his life's story.

"Hey Mash?" Flying started, eliciting a nod from the stallion beside him. "I don't know about you, but where I come from we're usually up during the night, and sleep during the day. Our eyes are not used to Celestia's sun. Would it be ok if I used your tent for the day or something?"

Carrot Mash looked between his tent and the Lunar Pony beside him, then shook his head quickly. "No can do, lad. I don't share my bed with other stallions. Now if you were a mare it'd be a totally different thing, know what I'm saying?"

Flying nodded slowly. "Right. Well, I guess I'll try to get to Fillydelphia then. Will just have to keep my eyes closed for most of the trip."

"Or you could wear sunglasses, lad. That's what I'd do in your place," Mash shrugged.

"Sunglasses?" Flying wondered, "I don't think I heard of those before."

"Right, if you sleep during the day you don't have use of them, do you?" Carrot realized, pushing up on his hooves and wandering over to his tent. "I should have an extra pair here.."

Flying watched curiously as assorted items were removed from the tent to be placed beside it, more so than he would have imagined fitting in the thing. Containers of varying size, toys of sorts, and a doll or two were quickly placed on a wobbly stack, and a bunch of books soon followed.

"How did you get all that stuff in there?" Flying had to ask, pushing up on his own hooves and walking around the campfire to do a closer inspection of the stack.

"Unicorn hammerspace?" Mash muttered with a shrug, finally pulling out something that looked like two ovals made from tinted glass, strung together with leather straps. "Found it!"

"That's it?" Flying wondered, and raised an eyebrow at Mash's excited nodding.

"Yes, lad! It's just like a pair of goggles, but with darkened glass, see? You put it up on your head like this," he explained, pulling the strap over his head and sticking the pair of glasses over his eyes. His green eyes were barely visible now through the darkened glass.

"I see," Flying replied with a flick of his ear. "And you're ok with me taking a set with? I don't know if I'll come back this way on the return trip."

"Sure. I bought a bunch of these a few years back. They were all the rage back then," Carrot Mash offered with a chuckle. "But then some new models came out and these didn't sell half as well as I thought. Been giving them out left and right ever since."

"Sounds like a bad investment," Flying sighed.

"You have no idea. Almost went bankrupt over this fiasco," Mash sighed, pulling the goggles from his head and floating it over to Flying. "If it wasn't for my good looks I might not have bounced back as I did."

Flying nodded silently at that, agreeing for the sake of keeping Mash happy more than actually agreeing with him. He had heard the stallion's life story for Luna's sake! He knew the way Carrot seemed to spin the world around him to make himself look better. There were plenty of things in his story which did not quite match up to what the Nightguard knew of how the world worked.

"Now stand still, lad. Let me put this over your eyes," Carrot Mash muttered, pulling the strap over Flying's head and half pulling his right ear off from the way he tugged it down.

"Ow. Careful with the ears there!" Flying snapped, but then the world suddenly grew darker around him and he blinked his eyes at the darkened glass covering them. "Huh. This actually works quite well."

"Told you," Mash chuckled. "Can't get any better than this. Might look like crap, but they do work."

Flying looked around the clearing a bit to get used to the sunglasses. Where he had had to squint before just to keep his eyes from hurting from the brightness of the sun above, he could open them almost fully now that his eyes were shielded.

"What do you think, lad?" Carrot wondered, moving into his vision.

"I think this should help me get to Fillydelphia just fine, Mash. Thanks," Flying Thunder offered with a smile. "Now I just need to figure out which way is North without being able to see the stars, but that should not be too big a problem. The sun and moon both rise in the East, after all."

Carrot Mash nodded at that. "Hey, when you're in Fillydelphia, could you give somepone a message for me?"

Flying's ears fell flat. "Depends on the message. I'm trying to get over to the San Palomino Desert, you know? I can't be a messenger for everypony I meet."

"Just need you to remind a certain Earthpony they were supposed to meet me here a couple of days ago, is all," Carrot Mash muttered.

The Lunar Pony sighed deeply at that. "Are you sure they're not in the forest between Hollow Shades and here trying to get to you? Somepony without wings might find it a bit of a trek."

"They would have been here by now," Carrot Mash maintained, but then both stallions turned their heads as they heard some wood breaking under somepony else's hooves.

Flying blinked as a white Earthpony with a yellow mane and deep blue eyes made her way through the undergrowth, pulling a cart behind her. She wiped her forehead with a hoof and her honey-sweet voice came out in a happy sigh. "Ah, looks like I finally made it."

"Golden Ray! You made it!" Carrot Mash exclaimed, pushing Flying aside as he made his way to greet his friend.

"Right. That's my cue to get going," Flying muttered, moving to gather his bags and shaking his head at the excited babbling from the two ponies.

"Thanks for the goggles, Mash. I'll..." he started, but Carrot Mash was too busy with his mare friend to notice him.

"Right," Flying sighed, unfolding his wings to take to the sky.

With his new sunglasses properly fixed over his eyes, he could see Equestria's landscape in the full light of Celestia's sun and he looked around a moment to get his bearings. The sun rises in the East, so if he kept it just in front of him at his left side he would be headed South-East and should make it to Fillydelphia in a couple of hours' time, right?

"Here we go again, Flying," he muttered to himself, trying not to think of how tired he felt as he set himself in motion with a few strong wingflaps.

Chapter 04 - The Seeds

His lack of sleep coupled with the unfamiliar territory below him forced Flying Thunder to fly slower and lower than he was used to, but at least the sunglasses helped him see in the unforgiving bright light of Celestia's sun.

As it reached ever higher in the sky, Flying started to first feel as warm as if a blanket was wrapped around him, but soon enough that pleasant warmth turned into an unforgiving heat which drained him of his remaining stamina.

The sun reached its apex before he had reached the edge of the forest and, with his sense of direction impaired now he could not keep the sun at his left side, he slowly descended to the farm fields baking in the sunlight just beyond. With a soft groan he disappeared into a lush field of tall wheats, his hooves almost immediately giving out from under him as they touched the ground.

Flying almost instinctively rolled himself sideways to keep the egg from getting squashed under his weight, and ended up lying on his back in the midday sun, his wings sprawled out on either side of him. His head was pounding from the heat- and general exhaustion, and he turned it away from the sun's light, burying it under the leather bag the egg was held in.

"By Luna's stars, this sun's too much," he lamented to himself, feeling the beads of sweat which had gathered on his form slowly trickle down under his fur.

The pounding of his head only got worse as he lay there trying to gather his strength, and Flying wondered for a moment if he was imagining the sound of hoof falls nearing quickly. As it was accompanied by the sound of the wheat stems breaking from a body pushing them aside, Flying smirked lightly to himself. Just what he needed; somepony to catch him in his weakest moment.

Flying folded his wings, and struggled to get back on his hooves before the other pony would get near enough to lay eyes on him, but he was still seated on his haunches trying to get the egg in a good position for him to push up in a standing position as the other broke through the wall of wheat in front of him.

"Hey, are you ok, mister?" the large yellow Earthpony wondered, the dark glasses covering Flying's eyes making the other's coat blend in with the wheats around them.

Flying shook his head slowly at the question, pushing up on legs which didn't quite want to support him. "I didn't have much sleep yesterday," he responded groggily, "and this sun's too hot for comfort."

"I'll say. Youse Lunar folks don't get out during daytimes much, as far as I've heard," the other pony commented, moving up next to Flying for support and effectively blocking some of the sunlight with his larger form.

"You know of us?" Flying wondered incredulously, trying to look up to the other stallion who reached a full hoof taller than him.

"Why, yes! We've been trading with the Lunar Republic for years now!" the other pony revealed. "Youse are some good customers, and some mighty drinkers. Why, old Indigo Salts himself tells tales of his travels to your lands darn near every evening!"

Flying noddled at that, but had to lean into the other stallion for support as he felt a dizzy spell come on again.

"Jeez. When's the last time you had a drink?" the yellow earthpony wondered, and Flying frowned as he tried to recollect his thoughts.

"That long ago, eh?" the other realised, "Now come along and don't you faint before we reach the farmhouse! I'll make sure to get you some shade, some water, and a bath. You've got enough dirt on you for a plant to take root in."

Flying noddled again, wobbling along beside the other stallion as he was led through the field over to the stallion's family farmhouse.

He barely registered the walk, and as he was led into the shade of the nearest building collapsed without a thought for his egg.

Hooves gently moved him and took his bags from him, and he realized somepony was holding his head up and was pouring water down his throat. Flying eagerly drank what he was given, but squinted his eyes closed as the goggles were taken from him.

His ears turned as a couple of different voices talked between each other, but the words did not reach his tired brain. A moment later he was picked up by somepony, then lowered into a wooden trough filled with cool water.

===

Flying woke with a start as he heard a door creak, and fought with the blankets covering him until somepony put a wet cloth up against his forehead.

"Easy now. You're running a fever," the gentle female voice offered, and Flying opened up his eyes to find a yellow mare sitting beside the bed he was resting in, her smart green eyes looking at him with some worry.

"How long were you in the sun for, dear?" the mare wondered, then leaned in to tug the covers back over Flying's form.

Flying had to blink a few times before he realized what he was asked, then scraped his throat to answer, "All day?"

His voice came out raw and forced, and the Earthpony grabbed hold of a mug with her teeth and pushed it up to his lips. He eagerly drank the water offered to him in such a fashion, before she pulled the mug back again and put it on the bedside cabinet.

"Don't drink too much at once. You've been dehydrated," she told him in a calm tone, and Flying licked his muzzle. "Ponies of your kind should not be in the sunlight without protection," she sighed out, then walked over to the door and opened it to stick her head out.

The door creaked in much the same way as the sound Flying had woken from, and he tilted his left ear towards it.

"Lemon Seed, go tell pa and your big brother our guest has woken," the mare demanded of somepony else, then returned to the side of the bed and took the damp cloth from Flying's head.

Flying watched her as she dipped it in a bowl on the bedside cabinet before moving it back on his forehead, and he smiled weakly at her. "Thank you, ma'am...?"

"Pumpkin Seed. And what should we call you, dear?" was the warm reply.

"Flying Thunder, ma'am," Flying muttered, flushing a bit from the address.

Pumpkin Seed nodded to his reply and put a hoof on the cover over his own forehoof. "You take it easy and rest here for a while, Flying Thunder. It's a good thing Grain Seed found you when he did. A few minutes later and you might've had a full blown heat stroke."

Flying looked away in embarrassment at the kindness shown to him, but then turned his head back as the door creaked anew.

Two stallions, one quite a bit older than the other, had entered the room. Flying recognized the younger of the two as the large and muscular Earthpony who had come to his aid the day before, and finally realized the stallion's coat had not been yellow, but a very light shade of orange instead.

"You called for us, ma?" the stallion asked, and the mare nodded in his direction.

"Yes, Grain Seed. The fever hasn't broken yet, but your quick response may have saved Flying Thunder's life afterall," the mare spoke, and a sigh of relief was uttered by the two others.

Grain Seed walked up closer to the bed and gave a friendly nod in Flying's direction. "I'm mighty glad you're doing a bit better, Flying Thunder. I was mighty worried when you crashed into our crops."

"More worried about the crops than you, you understand?" the other stallion suggested snidely, walking around the bed to the other side and looking Flying over. The older stallion was a darker shade of orange, with a greying mane which must have once been green, and Flying winced at the likeness of this stallion to Carrot Mash.

"Carrot Seed, dear, not in front of our guest," Pumpkin Seed chided what Flying immediately realized was her husband, and the stallion snorted.

"I guess it's a good thing my boy found you, Nightguard," Carrot Seed decided. "Wouldn't want to get on the Republic's bad side; those drunken fools wouldn't buy from us no more if we did."

"Seriously, pa?" Grain Seed sighed, shaking his head.

"I still have a bloody headache here," Flying muttered.

His statement was enough for Pumpkin Seed to look sternly at her boys and point a hoof at the door. "You heard our guest; out!"

"But ma," Grain Seed started, but the large stallion quickly retreated as his far smaller dam advanced upon him. "I'm going, I'm going!"

Carrot Seed narrowed his eyes at Flying a moment, but then followed after his boy before his wife could chase him out as well.

"I think I need another nap," Flying decided with a yawn, his eyes falling closed as he passed out again.

===

Pumpkin Seed remained at his bedside while Flying rested, moving only to replace the damp cloth on his forehead or give him water to drink.

Flying drifted between consciousness and fever dreams for most of the night, and into the day following. Farm life continued as he rested, with Pumpkin Seed the only in the house not performing her daily tasks.

She finally slipped out of the room as well after his fever broke, coming back every once in a while to make sure he was still asleep. Flying slept peacefully for the remainder of the day, and only woke at the twilight of the day passing on into the night - a welcome sight for his weary eyes after the painful light of the sun the other day.

Flying carefully stretched his limbs while moving his jaw around, his tongue licking around his muzzle to get the dryness of his mouth to go away. He yawned at the same time his belly started to rumble, and rolled out of bed onto his hooves.

His coat was a total mess; his fever sweats having made parts of it clump together, and his mane and tail were no better. Flying was glad once more that he was not one of Celestia's feathered pegasi, or his wings might have also needed tending to.

He stretched his leathery wings out carefully in the space of the bedroom, then folded them to his side again as he took stock of the room he was in.

It was a simple bedroom, sparsely decorated with just a bed, a dresser, and a single chair. Curtains were drawn on the only window in the room, the fading light beyond showing him how late in the day it was. The door was slightly ajar and Flying could hear the sound of talking from elsewhere in the house.

His belongings were nowhere to be found. Flying opened the dresser to find an assortment of old clothes in it, not the items he had on him as he arrived on this farmstead. It was concerning that the owners of this home had parted him from his possessions, especially from the egg he valued so much.

Flying ran to the door, opened it with his teeth, and looked at the hallway beyond. It was just a landing with a number of doors connected to it, and a staircase leading down. Light shone from somewhere below, and there were voices from the lit area.

He hurried down the stairs, the steps creaking under his weight, and the conversation stopped. The door to the kitchen opened up as he reached the bottom of the stairs, and the mare who had taken care of him stepped out from it into the main room of the house.

"Oh, you're up! Are you feeling well enough to be rushing down the stairs like there's a fire, dear?" Pumpkin Seed wondered, but Flying felt pressed to ask her a question in return rather than answer hers.

"Where's the egg?" he demanded, well aware that he must look like a mess.

"What egg?" Pumpkin Seed queried, seemingly unaware of it. She turned her head back and called into the kitchen. "Grain Seed, where are our guest's belongings? Was there an egg among them?"

"I ain't seen no egg, ma?" the voice of the stallion who chanced upon Flying crashing down in their fields called out from the kitchen.

"I had an egg on me, in a pouch. It's very important to me and I need to make sure it's safe," Flying quickly explained to the matron of the household. He noticed from her stance that she understood how important it was to him, and she darted into the kitchen a moment after.

"Grain Seed, gather our guest's belongings. Check whether there's an egg with it," she demanded of her son.

Grain Seed stood up from the table he was seated at, casting an eye past his dam to Flying joining them in their kitchen. "But ma, there was no egg. I swear to youse. I'll go grab 'is stuff."

Flying watched as Grain Seed walked off to get his belongings, then locked eyes with Carrot Seed who was still seated at the table, eating his dinner in silence.

"Can I offer you something to eat while you wait?" Pumpkin Seed asked of Flying.

"That would be very kind of you, ma'am, but I don't want to impose," Flying returned as he watched her walk over to a cabinet and pull a plate out from it.

"Nonsense. You'll sit and you'll have dinner so you're strong enough to get the hell out of my home again sooner rather than later," Carrot Seed grumbled from where he sat. "The sooner we're rid of you, the better."

Flying stared at the grumpy old stallion. "What did I do to upset you so, sir?"

"You're one of those no-good Nightmare Moon cultists, ain't you? We here owe everything to princess Celestia; our crops won't grow in the dark. Eternal night's a curse, not a blessing," Carrot Seed decided.

"My forebears might have once been part of Nightmare Moon's army, sir, but I assure you that nopony in the Lunar Republic wants to see her return," Flying Thunder spoke to the angry stallion. "We follow Luna and walk in Her night because we are ill-suited to Celestia's daytime, but we bear no ill will toward her or her Celestial ponies like yourself."

"You really need to get over yourself, dear," Pumpkin Seed mumbled after putting down a spoon she had used to put food on a plate with. "I told you before that nothing good comes from holding a grudge, and here you are being a bad host to someone who came falling out of the sky."

"If it had been up to me I'd have left him out in the field to figure things out his darn self," Carrot Seed decided, but then nodded to an empty space at the table. "But now you're here, you best take a seat and eat my mare's food. I want you gone as soon as you're strong enough to get out of our lives again."

"So you said," Flying returned, but moved to the empty chair as instructed. "I did not choose to land in your fields, just for the record; I had attempted to sleep through the day at a campground further North, but was denied the use of a tent."

Pumpkin Seed walked up to the table and placed a plate full of food in front of Flying, then looked him over. "Sounds like there are other grumps like my stallion out there. Don't mind him; he has been reading an old diary from his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather who was alive during Nightmare Moon's uprising and made it all about himself."

"Somepony has to defend the North from incursion from such as this one," Carrot Seed protested.

"Yes dear," Pumpkin Seed spoke as if she had done so many times over when her stallion had ranted, then moved to sit on a chair to finish her own meal.

"I can only say that I have no intention to do anything nefarious," Flying tried, but something in Carrot Seed's eyes showed him there was no reasoning with the old stallion. He instead turned his attention on Pumpkin Seed and forced a weary smile on his lips. "Thank you for the meal, ma'am."

"Oh, it's no bother at all," she answered with a warm smile in return. "When my son comes back with your belongings, you must see if it has that egg you were talking about. If not, we might need to search the area you landed in. Perhaps it fell out of a pocket or such?"

"I can only hope it's still in one piece. I need to bring it to the San Palomino Desert, you see?" Flying offered up.

"San Palomino Desert?" Carrot Seed queried, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you flying over our farm instead of taking the train from Hollow Shades? You could be there in half a day or less with how fast those things go."

"It's about the trip, sir. I need to learn about the ponies living in the lands between and do up new experiences," Flying answered truthfully.

Pumpkin Seed smiled at that. "Oh, that sounds lovely. You'll find most ponies are absolutely welcoming of others like yourself, I am sure of it. Just don't go to Manehattan; ponies from there have an air about them as if they are better than everypony else. They're not even from the capital, but they certainly act like it. Oh, I remember in my younger years when I..."

The door opened and Grain Seed walked back into the room, carrying a number of items in his mouth. Flying immediately noticed something which made his heart sink; the pouch he had carried the egg in was hopelessly empty.

"No egg," he breathed out in anguish, his food forgotten as he jumped off his chair and met Grain Seed halfway.

Grain Seed carefully laid out Flying Thunder's goggles, egg pouch, and backpack on the ground in front of him and shook his head at the nightguard immediately reaching for the egg pouch.

"I told you there was no egg," Grain Seed pointed out.

"Maybe it rolled out of the pouch as I fell into the field? Can you take me there?" Flying demanded of the other pony.

"Whoa now; it's nighttime. I'm not going out in the fields during the night; I can barely see a hoof in front of my face," Grain Seed protested.

Flying Thunder stared at him. "I can. We Lunar Ponies know the night as no other. Tell me where I have to go."

"You sure about that, dear?" Pumpkin Seed asked from behind him. "You haven't even touched your food."

"The egg is more important," Flying stated, grabbing his backpack from the ground and donning it. "My entire mission is about that egg."

"And about meeting other ponies and showing them how crazy you are," Carrot Seed grumbled. "Go on then, it's out the front door and the field farthest to the left. We'll be happy to be rid of you."

"If you don't want to sleep on the couch tonight you'll stop being such a grouch," Pumpkin Seed threw at her stallion. "Grain Seed, grab a lamp and please lead our guest to where you found him. It obviously means a lot to him to find that egg if he can."

"Yes ma," Grain Seed agreed without protest, turning around again to walk out of the kitchen. "I'll meet you at the front door, sir."

"Flying," Flying offered. "Name's Flying Thunder. Please just call me Flying."

"I hope to see you 'flying' off very soon," Carrot Seed mumbled from under his breath.

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight," Pumpkin Seed stated with a coldness to her voice which could freeze the food on her plate.

Flying quickly picked up his goggles and put them on his head, over his eyes as the light outside was dimming enough that he wouldn't need them, then made himself sparse.

He was obviously not wanted by the stallion and the quicker he could get in the fields the quicker he might be able to find the egg again.