Sea

Somerset's family house was a quaint little two-story wooden house in the rear of the city, opposite the port. It was well-kept, with clean windows and polished furniture and floors, and with a small garden in the front full of various flowers. The lower floor was actually a shop; inside its windows were various potions and bottles. A small sign hung over the street in front of it; "Alchemist," with a picture of a mortar and pestle with swirls of smoke coming out of it. It wasn't a very busy store - few ponies came this far away from the port, and alchemical shops didn't tend to get many customers - but it was certainly busy enough to afford making the rooms above it into a great home.

At the moment, Somerset, Cross, and Twilight sat around a wooden table in the upper floor's main room. It was a simple, sturdy, rectangular table, with a leg at each corner and plenty of flat space to serve and eat meals. Somerset and Cross sat in chairs next to each other on one side of the table, while Twilight sat in a long bench on the opposite side. After a few seconds, Cross started the conversation.

"So, Twilight. Where ya from?" she asked with a curious smile.

Twilight didn't hesitate from responding. "Ponyville."

"Ponyville?" Cross asked, looking at her brother. "I've never heard of such a place."

Twilight sighed a happy sigh. "It was a great place to live. The weather was always nice, the ponies there were nice, the countryside looked beautiful." She looked down a bit. "My friends were all amazing ponies."

"Sounds like a great place to live," Cross said. "Why'd you leave?"

Twilight sighed. "It's... complicated."

Cross nodded understandingly. "Don't worry. We all have our complicated things. So, how'd you meet my brother here? You know, we've been trying to find him a marefrie-"

"That's enough, Cross," Somerset said, quieting down his sister. "I'm not in need of a marefriend. I'm already married to the sea." He flashed a slight grin. "But hey, how have things been going? I've been gone for all summer and most of fall; has anything changed around here?"

Cross' eyes lit up with excitement. "Some businessponies from out West came into town a few weeks ago. They said they were hiring workers to build a new factory in town. From what I heard, it'll be a gemstone refinery. They're going to make all sorts of things!"

"Really? Well, looks like Sunsport might become important again after all."

"Oooh! Ooh! Twilight! Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"There's rumors going around that somepony stole a glance of a Marked pony coming in on one of the ships! Can you believe it?!"

Twilight and Somerset looked at each other uncomfortably. "I haven't heard any rumors like that," Twilight said hesitantly.

"Aww. Well, it's still awesome, isn't it?" she asked.

Somerset chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah... I'm going to check up on Ma, see if the food's warmed up yet."

"Have fun!" Cross yelled as Somerset walked out of the room. She looked at Twilight expectantly for a few seconds after Somerset left, as if waiting for her to say something.

"I noticed you have an alchemy shop downstairs," Twilight said after a bit of hesitation. "What kinds of things are you making down there?"

"Mostly just poultices and minor potions. Things like productivity enhancers or aphrodisiacs." Cross shrugged. "It's something I learned from my ma. It keeps the house up and the food on the table, so it's good enough for me. Say, what did you do for a living?"

"I studied the magical arts," Twilight said. "I was, kinda, the most powerful unicorn around Ponyville."

"Oooh! What kinds of things did you learn? Can you shoot fireballs?"

"I learned a variety of things, but generally I learned illusion and transmutation, and a bit of defensive magic," she said. "I can do basic attack spells, though, like small lasers."

"That's sooo cool!" Cross said excitedly. "Can you show me one?"

"Sure." Twilight said. "Now, this one won't be that impressive since I don't have any regents, but watch."

The lights in the room seemed to artificially darken as Twilight's horn lit up. Small tendrils of magic began to reach from it, becoming like floating ribbons, all of different colors. Red, white, and green were mixed in with blue, purple, and orange. The magical streamers flew in circles around the center of the room, lighting up the walls where they passed. After about ten seconds, though, Twilight fell to the ground, clutching her horn.

"You okay?!" Cross said loudly, rushing over to the mare.

"What happened?" Somerset asked, looking out through the side of a doorframe. "Oh dear."

"Who's throwing things?" Ma said, walking out next to Somerset. "Aw, hell."

"What happened?"

"She was doing a magic trick for me, and she just kinda fell down!" Cross said.

"Good goin'. You killed her." Ma said in a flat voice.

Somerset sighed. "Let's drop her off in Samuel's room. He shouldn't be back for a few more days, right?"

Ma nodded.

Twilight felt herself being lifted up and carried off as her world faded to black.