Sea

"Wake up. Breakfast's ready." Somerset poked his head into the room. "If you take too long, there won't be any left."

Twilight jumped awake suddenly. She looked around in a panic, expecting the worst, but her breathing calmed when she saw that she was still in the bed in the house. She rubbed her eyes as she slowly rolled out of the bed and onto her hooves. The old floorboards creaked underneath her as she walked over to the small mirror on the wall. She slowly picked up a brush in her hoof and combed her mane down, spending a few minutes working on it until it was back to its normal style. Her mane and coat were both still slightly discolored in some spots, but it was far better than when the damages were fresh.

She took a deep breath and plastered the best smile she could muster on her face. It wasn't much - barely even above a straight face - but it was much better than when she'd first tried it. She made her way out of the room after putting on a fresh set of clothes, and walked towards the table. Cross, Ma, and Somerset were already there. Ma smiled at Twilight, Somerset motioned for her to take a seat, and Cross avoided her gaze. Twilight sat down at the chair and said a quiet, "Good morning."

"Mornin'."

"Good morning."

Cross looked up slowly. "Hi, Twilight."

Twilight ignored her, instead looking at the food on the table. There was a pile of freshly-baked strudels, still emanating warmth and still smelling wonderful. At each of the four positions on the table, there was a small, clean white plate and a small cup of steaming black coffee. Twilight sniffed the aroma, and the faintest hint of a smile crept onto her face. She turned to Ma.

"Thanks for this amazing-looking breakfast," she said.

Ma just nodded at Cross. "She's the one you should be thanking. She was up before dawn this morning getting ready to make this."

Twilight just looked at Cross. "Thanks." she said with a hint of ice in her voice.

Cross nodded. "You're welcome."

The table was quiet for a few seconds. Somerset coughed. "Well, the food's only getting colder. Let's eat."

The breakfast went by fairly quickly. The strudels were gone within minutes, and everypony had emptied their coffees not long after that. Ma got up as soon as she was done eating and, without a word, went outside to go open the store. Cross nodded and was about to follow her when Somerset put a hoof out to keep her down. She looked at him curiously.

Somerset addressed both Twilight and Cross. "You two need to talk," he said. "It's been a week, and you two have barely said anything to each other."

"What is there to say?" Twilight said. "She led me into a trap, and I've got nothing to say to her."

Somerset sighed. "At least let her apologize to you." He nudged Cross under the table.

"I'm sorry," Cross said, looking down. "I didn't think -"

"Of course you didn't think." Twilight said quietly.

"I didn't think there would be anything shady going on there," Cross said. "I mean, I'd only really ever seen Janiss before. He'd always take me out onto the street to do our business."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "So why'd you decide it was a good idea to tell me I could trust them?"

"Because I thought they were trustworthy," Cross said. "They'd never done anything to harm me or anypony else as far as I'd known, so I thought that they were good ponies. I didn't know, but I betrayed your trust. I'm sorry."

Twilight sighed. "I almost thought of you as a friend. One of my first actual friends in a long time. But then you almost got me killed. I'd accept your apology, but I can't trust whether you'd do it again."

Cross' ears drooped. "I... I understand."

Somerset sighed. "I was hoping you two would make up," he said. "Yesterday evening, I got new orders. We're setting sail tomorrow for Archangel. Apparently, the Queen's caught wind of Twilight." He sighed. "The governor's going to be seeing us off, and I told him that you'd be coming with us," he said to Cross. "I mean, you did say yes when I asked if you wanted to come on my next trip to Archangel."

Twilight sighed. "She can come. Just don't let her shatter your trust like she did to me."

Cross put her head in her hooves and sighed.