Tell Tale was sprawled out on the living room's couch, the snow white color of the fabric contrasted nicely with his long chestnut brown mane hanging off the side. He stretched, and turned to his colt, Feather Pen, who was absentmindedly twiddling his silky red mane. "Do you want to do anything today? My schedule's free." The young brown colt sat beside his father and thought for a moment.
"Well, I've been wondering how you and Dad got together. Would you tell me that story?"
"Hmm, don't see why not," the grey stallion replied, swinging his legs off the couch and onto the hard wood floors. "Just give me a minute to get your father."
The windows adorning the long hall leading to the study were brimming with late afternoon sun, illuminating the hallway, creating a somewhat cozy atmosphere. Approaching the doors dark as obsidian, he knocked sharply three times.
"I'll be with you in a moment!" he heard Cold Print's warm voice call out from the study. After a few minutes of waiting, the door creaked open and a dark blue stallion's head popped out, a smile coming to his face when he saw who it was.
"Oh! Hello Tell Tale, do you need something?"
"Well, Feather Pen asked me to tell him how you and I met," Tell Tale said, brushing a lock of his mane out of his face, "and I thought you'd like to be present for that."
"And Cold Print..." Tell Tale said while rubbing his neck with his hoof, "I require your assistance getting the chest from the cellar." Cold Print laughed softly as he left the study, closing the door behind him as he did so.
"What's so funny?" Tell Tale asked with a raised eyebrow. His husband gave a small smile, shaking his head.
"Nothing really, it's just rather cute how you seem a tad embarrassed to ask me for help. Why were you so reluctant?" Tell Tale let out a sigh.
"I guess it's just because how when I was a foal, the main mentality of myself and my peers was, "Help is for the weak!" Unfortunately, that hasn't left me quite yet, it seems." His husband gave an understanding nod.
"Well, better get that strongbox then. It's going to get dark within an hour or less." He said as he made his way outside, the dimming rays of Celestia's sunlight pouring into the house.
"Feather Pen, we'll be right back, we need to get something from the cellar," Tell Tale said as he passed through the living room and out the front door.
"Don't be long, I can't wait to hear this story," The colt replied, a wide grin split across his face like a fissure across the earth.
"Don't you worry, we'll only be a few minutes," Cold Print said before closing the door behind Tell Tale.
The cellar was nearly pitch-black, save for the bright green light illuminating from Cold Print's horn. "Now, wherever did we put that chest," the unicorn muttered as he scoured the oaken room.
"Cold Print, over here. I think I found it," Tell Tale called over from the far corner of the cellar. As Cold Print trotted closer, his horn revealed a box made of solid iron and locked with a sliding mechanism lock, a handle made of brass on each side of the chest. Tell Tale grabbed one of the handles in his mouth and began to pull it towards the stairs, before stopping to catch his breath.
"It's a bit heavier than I recall it being," Tell Tale said between breaths.
"Let me give you some help with that," Cold Print replied, grabbing the other handle in his mouth and carrying it up the cellar's stairs.
"I just had a thought," Tell Tale said after they set the chest down once they reached the top of the stairs. "What are we going to tell him about, you know, the incident? I can't just tell him about Død's suicide. He isn't old enough to hear about something that horrible."
Cold Print was silent for a moment. "I most certainly agree, you'd have to be quite the sadist to tell a foal that. Just avoid that particular detail, lie if you have to." He finally said before they picked up the chest again and carried it inside.
As they set the chest down in front of the couch, Feather Pen's eyes grew wide with excitement and curiosity.
"What's inside, Dad?" Feather Pen asked, examining the chest. Cold Print's horn shone with magic as he opened the chest, undoing the lock with ease.
"Lots of memories, both good and bad," Tell Tale said as he reached into the chest, pulling out several photographs, each framed in yew branches.
"Who are they, Dad?" Feather Pen asked, looking at the photos over his father's shoulder.
"They were the other performers in our troupe, Stemmen Fra Scandineighvia. That right there," he said as he held up the photo of a Pegasus mare who was clad in black leather adorned with spikes made of steel, "is Symfoniske Strenge. Though she, along with the others and myself, went by a stage name. Hers was Død, and she could play the violin like no other. Her music was incredibly serene, and it honestly helped us through some of the rougher performances." He let out a sigh, put the photo down carefully, and grabbed the second photograph.
It was a photo of a unicorn with fur white as fresh snow, and a stringy charcoal-black mane. "This is Frysende Måne, or as he was called on-stage, Dunkelheit. He was a bit off but a really good actor, and was rather polite for the most part." He set the photo down beside Død's, and picked up the third and final photo in the stack, "Actually, Cold Print, could you...?" His voice trailing off, before snapping back to reality. "I don't think I'll be able to get through talking about him without punctuating my every sentence with something unpleasant." He said, his voice coated in malice's venom like a snake's fangs. His husband nodded, and Tell Tale handed the photo over, letting out a deep breath after doing so.
The photo was of another unicorn with a sandy blonde mane, a scraggly beard, and light brown fur. He wore matching brown robes, and had an amulet around his neck engraved with the image of an eight-legged horse.
"This is Brændende Træ," Cold Print said. "Going by the stage name Aske, handled a lot of the stage designs, especially if they involved fire. Which was all of them. To be put lightly, he was not the best pony you could meet."
"What's that around his neck?" Feather Pen asked, pointing to the amulet.
"It was a good luck charm of his. I never saw him take it off, he wore it everywhere. He believed it to be blessed by Sleipnir, one of Scandineighvia's rulers."
"Why don't you ever act with them anymore?" Feather Pen asked, laying his head on Tell Tale's lap. "You're friends, aren't you?" Tell Tale froze, his blood going cold.
"We...we had a falling out," he stammered out, trying to avoid the question.
"Now, let's get on with the story itself," Cold Print said, wrapping a hoof around his son snugly.
Chapter 1: The Land of Hope and Glory
As the carriage's wooden wheels slowed to a stop on the well-worn dirt road leading into the port, the passengers' nostrils were filled with the serene scent of saltwater, and Symfoniske Strenge took a deep breath of the aroma as the four ponies disembarked the vehicle.
"Isn't the smell of the ocean just lovely?" She remarked with a sigh as she was handed her mahogany-crafted violin case by Brændende, taking the brass handle in her mouth and trotting down the road towards the harbor where the karvi to Equestria could be seen beside the pier, its mighty mast sticking out like a beacon.
Frysende Måne rolled his eyes, and grabbed the burlap sack carrying both his and Tell Tale's copies of The Horseshoe of the Nibelung script. After a few moments of straining from the weight of the thick tomes within the brown bag, he had a sudden epiphany and just encased it in a white aurora of magic to carry the script of their opera instead.
"I swear, if those books were any thicker they could be used as shields," he mumbled to Tell Tale as they followed Symfoniske down the path.
"Brændende Træ, hurry up! I'd like to get to Equestria before winter, if that's not too much to ask!" Tell Tale called behind him, growing somewhat annoyed at the brown unicorn's lollygagging. Brændende shot him a glare, then handing the carriage driver a pouch of thirty bits and grabbing his rolled-up map of Equestria in his mouth and following the others.
The four ponies were struck with a feeling of pride and excitement as they neared their transport across the sea to the land of hope and glory known as Equestria, the more elegant details of the longship becoming clearer.
The watercraft was built out of a sturdy wood, most likely oak or pine that had been smoothed and tempered and the ship had eloquent designs sand-casted along the rim, with the name, The Warhoof, being the most prominent. Along the sides of the boat were oars that were fitted into harnesses along the rim and reached across the benches. As he and his mates sat in pairs of two upon the seats, Frysende Mâne took a look up at the mast.
"You think if that was any taller, it'd brush against the sun and catch fire," He said to Symfoniske as she carefully slid her violin under the bench alongside the sack carrying the two copies of the Horseshoe of the Nibelung. She just shook her head, only half-listening. Near the top of the mast was a thick bar of wood with a large wool sail bound to it. Upon the sail was a silhouette of a pony striking a hammer to an anvil, crafting a weapon to bring those who threatened Scandineighvia to a fatal standstill.
Over the course of another half hour the rest of the ship's passengers took their seats, coming to a total of about twelve by Tell Tale's count, and that was including himself and the other members of Stemmen Fra Scandineighvia. As the grey Earth Pony looked over the starboard side of the ship, he saw that a crowd had gathered to see the ponies bound for Equestria one last time before they set off on their journey to the mainland.
After all of the passengers had boarded, a tall, rather lanky mare with a mane as blue as the ocean and coat of similar color trotted on board, followed by a much bulkier stallion who made his way to the stern of the ship, grasping the steeroar in his mouth.
"Mares and gentlecolts, I am Vassen Tåke, and welcome to my vessel. I shall be your guide on this trip to Equestria. We will begin our long crossing across the sea within the hour," the mare said. "May the winds and waves not lead us to a watery grave during our travels. "
"Real encouraging opening to your speech," Symfoniske mumbled under her breath. "Why not just cut to the chase and set the boat on fire while you're at it?"
Over the next half hour Vassen rattled off safety procedures with the same enthusiasm as she would while counting the tiles on a wall, and the passengers shouted their goodbyes to their friends and family. At last, the time came for the ship to begin its journey, and the sail was lowered, just in time for a gust of wind to push it from the harbour and out to the sea. As time went by, the shores of their homeland began to disappear, but it wasn't for several hours more that the Rainbow Bridge leading to Scandineighvia's capital disappeared from their sight.
The longship charged through the waves like a mighty herd of warriors breaking through the ranks of all that opposed, its outstanding speed created by the gusts of wind enraptured in the ship's sail and the efforts of the passengers' oars pushing through the ice-cold waves of the Foaltic Sea whenever the wind did not blow through their sail.
"You know, I actually don't mind rowing that much," Brændende Træ said to Tell Tale with a grunt as they all maneuvered their oars through the water, the wood paddles sending saltwater into the air with each splash. "My main problem was getting enough bitsfor all four of us to cross."
"Yeah, how much was the fee, anyways? You never told us," Tell Tale replied to the blonde unicorn as they pulled the oar once more.
"It was three hundred bits per passenger," Brændende said with a deep breath of exhaustion. It had been a good hour or two since the last good blast of wind and the effort of rowing was beginning to take its tole on the passengers.
But after a few hours, the wind did begin to pick up once more, giving those aboard a chance to rest. The journey continued for a few days longer, the passengers heard those glorious words from Vassen Tåke.
"Equestria is in sight! We should arrive at the harbor by nightfall," she called behind her from the bow of the ship. Those aboard let out a cheer of excitement. Their trip was finally at an end. They had made it to Equestria, the land of hope and glory.
