Split Struck Spareby Josh CrapoChaptersPrologue: Split UpVisitsMentorsHang TimeMore MemoriesThe Dangerous SpellHospitalEpilogue: Family of TwoPrologue: Split Up"To anypony still in Equestria, hello again. Y’know, it gets lonely here in Canterlot. Yeah, I have no opinion on it in the slightest, but at least I get to explore an entire town until Queen Shell gets back into Equestria. When I first went into the houses, the visibility was so low, it was like back a few months ago. Thanks to me frequently coming back to these houses, and opening each of their windows, the visibility has vastly improved. That came at two huge prices though. First, the houses stand in horrible shape, probably because of that earthshake we had during that Dust Ride. Finally, seeing every single pony that used to live in the houses they’ve rotted in now is by absolutely no means an easy task. At the very least, it wasn’t any of my family. Aura Draft might not want to come here though." "Again, hi. Right next to the radohome from Appleoosa and from what left I can see of it, it’s so cool. They had masks and goggles here too. But there are also what probably used to look like earth ponies down there. The visibility was also pretty low when I got there. But with an antidust shield, I was able to get in just fine. It’s amazing how fast the visibility improves too. But that stench, woo boy. It smelled like no one flushed a toilet that was in there. I didn’t stay too long but getting my hooves into the radohome, the actual floor was incredibly sticky. I also explored Appleoosa’s houses, which are in better shape than the radohome and radohomes don’t even need foundations. Plus, there were less of those figures in the houses than the radohome, so I found myself not plugging my nose nearly as much as well as exploring the houses just fine quite more often. I soon analysed my surroundings and asked myself, were any of my three earthbound friends born here? I truly wondered." "Wow. Replacing contaminated clouds is such a dirty job. Much dirtier than I thought it would be. Okay, tearing down cloud houses doesn’t sound so bad at first, but then I realize they’ve been vacant for months now and whoever is left is practically only bones on the ground by now leaving stains on the floors and possibly the walls too, so after the glance of a distant house with a yellow floor, it’s very clear I’ll have to be careful trying not to get parts of the wall stuck to the floor. All the clouds that were stained are absolutely useless morally. Making said type of cloud rain is a big no no for plant life let alone anyone under it that is left, still alive, you can’t disintegrate it because the stain actually holds the cloud pretty well together and the stain even blocks off lightning, not that I wanted to ever play any pranks or anything. Contrary to what you might be thinking right now, I actually still like it up here better than the radohome I used to live in that one week, maybe not when I stayed in Yakyakistan though. The air quality is consistently good. No dust areas anywhere. Thank goodness that the weather factory is back in operation thanks to me and all my friends... my friends... Snow Flake, Cool Aid! Where are they? More importantly, where’s Aura Draft and Dry Stone?" A natural disaster, that’s what this all is. A natural disaster. This time it was the result of the previous. Following the transformation Air Wiff, Aura Draft and Dry Stone went through overnight, they finally explore the abandoned cities that they live in now. Each and every discovery is just as devastating as the last. Decayed ponies occupy the ground and leave with them their effects of their endless coughing from the rising dust no matter what place, be it on the ground or in the clouds. Evidence of their previous existence was untouched for the few months in between, contaminating every house of every town regardless of the shape they are in. It seems there’s not but a solution to this problem. This is the story of the afterlife of the New Dust Ride. Visits"Alrighty, is there anything here that could help me out? Hmm... what’s this?" Looking through an old store window, Dry Stone sees what is known as a whitewatch. The whitewatch is a fairly new brand of watch that tells air quality, environment quality, time, and acts as an interface that will stream to another watch. By default, it is worn on the non-dominant forehoof, right above the knee. "Okay, dstone@composers... okgottago. Okay. There we go. Streaming... does Queen Shell have one of these?" Pressing the stream icon in the whitewatch, Dry Stone is greeted by, "Who do you want to contact?" followed by a sound effect that indicates voice activation is on. "Shell." "Okay, we have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell," the whitewatch announces. "Number two." "Shell is a changeling that has recently become queen of Changico. She has no right hoof mare as of now and strives to 'act before unreasonably speaking'." "Whitewatch Address," Dry Stone requests. "shell@politicians" "Call." "Calling," the whitewatch says. Time passes on while Dry Stone waits for any answer from Queen Shell. Twenty seconds of this and a response does ensue. "Yes, Dry Stone?" Queen Shell asks. "So, what’s your first stop going to be in your next visit?" "My first stop will be in Canterlot. And this worries you how?" "Well, it’s just that 'it’s been awhile since you were here' where I am. So, I’m the first to see you?" Queen Shell nods. "Indeed. I shall see you at the abandoned 'current' sisters’ castle." "Okay. I’ll be there." "It will take about a little less than half of an hour to get there." "Consider it settled. See you in almost half an hour." Queen Shell interrupts Dry Stone in time for her to stop. "Wait, before you turn that whitewatch of yours off, I wanted to tell you that I saw you and your friends’ videos. Each had little requests and thank yous that were well deserved. But, because of your previous status as an earth pony, I would not worry about it if I were you." "Okay. I’ll see you soon. Bye." Dry Stone turns off the video stream to think. "Wait, what did I say in that video, that I wanted Aura Draft to teach me magic and Air Wiff to teach me flight?" In Appleoosa, Aura Draft has looked around town to see something useful. "Hmm... a whitewatch. Better pick it up. I’m the last pony in Appleoosa so, bottoms up." She turns her head left to see a lone box. "Or shall I say, 'Colas up?' Okay, adraft@magicians... unchanging..." Aura Draft takes off the cap of the soda bottle and sips the drink. However, something causes her to spit out the drink. "Dah! Of all things royal! Nopony told me I was in for drinking U.R.N!" she yells, groaning afterwards. "I’m such an idiot. I should’ve known that Peace-a Cola was gonna be flat as hell." Suddenly, a ringtone from the whitewatch commences. "What the...? Queen Shell?!?" Aura Draft picks turns on the video stream. "Hello?" "Aura Draft?" "Yeah?" "You should come to Canterlot as soon as you can. I’ll be staying there awhile." "But why?" "I watched your and your friends’ videos that are meant to be for each other." "You what?!? You intercepted our messages?!?" "Yes. Now, while I’m at it, I’ll send Air Wiff to Canterlot as well. She and Dry Stone had requested you teach them magic." "If that’s what they want, I’m more than happy to do so." "That is good. See you in Canterlot." "Bye." Aura Draft turns off the video stream. "Okay. Let’s see here. Aha! Just what I- oh, it’s flat. Well that was useless. Oh, a whitewatch! Now that will be useful! Okay, awiff@theorists..." Air Wiff hums her password inaudibly. As soon as she's logged onto the whitewatch, a ringtone blares around her before picking it up. "Talk to me." "Air Wiff, I need you to come to Canterlot." "What is it? You do know that if I come to Canterlot, my progress of cleaning Cloudsdale is halted? It’s full of stained clouds." "No buts. Come anyway. It’s about the messages you and your friends sent." "I'll be there." "I got here as fast as I could! Nice to see you once more." "Come in, Aura Draft. Dry Stone’s inside already." Air Wiff rushes behind Aura Draft. "I’m here! I’m here." "Please enter you two." "Alright." In the room Dry Stone waits in, Shell, Air Wiff and Aura Draft all meet with her. "I have noticed in your messages that, especially Dry Stone and Aura Draft, you’ve sent requests to mentor each other." Air Wiff nods. "Mhm..." "I have noticed in your messages that, especially Dry Stone and Aura Draft, you’ve sent requests to mentor each other." "Will do." "Uh, why am I losing control of my blinking?!?" Aura Draft frantically asks. "I think I might know what that is." "I’ll give you all a sum of four months before I see for myself your final progress." "And four months why?" Air Wiff is somewhat confused. "Pegasus and unicorn magic are rather easy to master, as opposed to earth pony magic, unless you’re ready for a wasteland disaster. So, one month each for unicorn and pegasus magic while I will give two months for earth pony magic." Air Wiff nods. "Okay. We accept." "Now I must part; Wrench is waiting for me." Queen Shell teleports out, leaving Dry Stone, Aura Draft and Air Wiff with each other to exit the abandoned sisters' Canterlot Castle. "So, who's first?" Mentors"Okay, so what was that uncontrollable blinking I had back in the new abandoned castle?" "That was a part of earth pony magic. It’s like a sixth sense that predicts the immediate future. The name of the sense depends on the pony it’s in." "So, would my sense be called Aura Sense?" "That actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe my sense would be called the Wiff Sense. So would yours be... the Stone Sense?" "Yeah. That’s just a third of it though. Give a few days and you’ll see what I mean." Aura Draft teleports back to Appleoosa, leaving Dry Stone and Air Wiff to their matters. "Actually during the few days I have to rest, why don’t I start putting my pegasus magic to good use for once." "Sure. I can help with that." The day after, things seem to start going wrong. "Ugh! My head! Must’ve been some dream I had, whatever it was. I haven’t had a headache this bad in forever. " Dry Stone turns on her whitewatch. "Who do you want to contact?" "Wrench." "I’m sorry, there are no results." "Ugh... damn it." "Who do you want to contact?" "Shell." "Okay. We have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell." "Number 2." "You have previously talked to... Shell... once. Do you want to save the address you want to contact?" "Yes." "Okay. shell@politicians has been saved for... 60 days." "Call." "Calling..." "Yes, Dry Stone? I am still on my way to the capitol of Changico." "I need to talk to Wrench." "Okay, but it will be hours before she’s gotten the chance to call you even if she went as quick as she could with the process of getting a whitewatch account." "Oh." "I will call you back when I-" The video feed is interrupted by short static followed by a ringtone. "Oh, who could it be?!? I was in the middle of a call with the queen!!!" Dry Stone picks up the video feed that interrupted the previous, which turns out to be Air Wiff. "Hello?" "Dry Stone, did you get a headache waking up?" "Yeah. Did you? ‘cause it looks like you burnt the tip of your horn." "I had a headache when I woke up today. So, I guess it has something to do with our horns since yours looks burnt on the tip too." "Do you know what spell we conjured up?" "I have no clue here in the blue skies." "Well, I’ll explore Canterlot some more. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of calling Queen Shell." "Whoops, my bad, Doraston." "If you were trying to say my name in Coltanese, you forgot the “i” in Doraiston." "I don’t know whether I should be shocked or laughing." "Why were you attempting to say my name in Coltanese?" "I wasn’t. I just heard explore and I-" "OKAY!!! That’s it!!!" Dry Stone stops the video feed and sighs in frustration. "Damn it Air Wiff!! Stop being so random!" Suddenly, the same ringtone makes her jump. "What the-" Picking up the next video feed, this one is someone very familiar to Dry Stone. "Mud Stick?" "Yep. That’s me. It’s very lonely here in Manehattan. I have all this space, and I don’t know what to do with it." "Oh, here’s a hint. Come over to Canterlot, unless you want me to pick you up." "Are you sure about that? I get air sick and-" "Not literally!!!" Dry Stone sighs again. "Sorry. I just got through talking with Air Wiff on the whitewatch." "I understand. Hey, have a question." "Shoot." "Do you miss Wrench?" "Of course I do. I just asked Queen Shell if Wrench was available. Why? Who do you miss?" "Node." "Oh. I miss all the changelings. But hey, you know. I think Queen Shell is quite the influence on them. Before she took the throne over at Changico, changelings had a very low reputation. I just wish the royal sisters could’ve held the same all the way through." "Prince Rok in a nutshell." Mud Stick snickers afterwards. "Who again?" "Node told me about Prince Rok while we investigated before that earthshake." "Oh. Now I remember him. It was the guy finishing up what he was saying when I tuned into 950 back after it." "It’s still a good thing that the yaks and the changelings are still around. Hey, since Equestria’s so empty and abandoned, why don’t they just close that population gap. It’ll make things a lot easier to clean." Somehow, it doesn't come across to Dry Stone that Mud Stick had a predictive suggestion. "Yeah, but that kind of project will take two years at least, especially with all that cleaning up they’d have to do across 'former' Equestria. Most likely, every building either has golden stains, skeletons or golden stains and skeletons." "If I had wings, I’d spread them out right now. I knew Manehattan became a skeletal- oh, just forget it." Dry Stone gets curious about what Mud Stick was starting to say. "No, what were you about to say? I want to know." "Okay, WASTELAND... Not that other word I was about to say. I knew I was in a skeletal wasteland called Manehattan but all of Equestria?!?" "Well, I have to go. I’m expecting a call back." "Okay. I’ll go to Canterlot for you." "Bye." After a short time of static Dry Stone picks up yet another round of the same ringtone, "Wow already?" and picks it up. "Hello?" "I’m at my home at Changico and Wrench is right with me." "Oh! Let me talk to him." "Okay." Queen Shell turns to Wrench. "It's for you." "Hello?" "Hey Wrench. Finally get to talk to you after awhile. Oh, I forgot what I was going to ask you." "What was it about?" "Oh, now I remember. Could escort Node over to Canterlot? One of my friends is on her way and really misses her." "Mud Stick?" Dry Stone nods. "Yes." "Okay. It’ll take a while though. Where’s Mud Stick coming from?" "Manehattan." "Then I don’t think she should be there too long before Node and I get there. I’ll contact her as quickly as I can." "Thanks." "Anything else for the pony I changed into?" "That’ll be all." Suddenly, the feed turns to static in front of Dry Stone. "Oh NO!! No!!! NO!!! Who’s calling Queen Shell?!?" "Hello?" "Yes Air Wiff?" "Could I talk to Wrench please?" "As you wish." "Wrench?" "Air Wiff? What’s wrong? Did something happen?" "I’m starting to miss Hut. Do you think you could get her to Cloudsdale?" "Sorry, I’m about to fulfill a request for Dry Stone." "I will bring her." "You will?" "Sure." "Thanks Queen Shell." "Not a worry, Air Wiff. Although, you still look depressed. What’s wrong?" "Nothing." "Wait a minute, Shell. I noticed that Air Wiff looked more depressed when I mentioned Dry Stone." In response to the second mention of Dry Stone, Air Wiff starts to sniffle. On Wrench and Shell's end of the feed, the whitewatch turns to static, leaving Wrench especially worried. "Something clearly happened to Air Wiff when she and Dry Stone contacted each other." "Node?" "Hut?" "Yes," both say. "Leaning forward, falling inward, none takes gravity... Seeking exits, I don’t comment, if I still relieve..." After hearing knocking on the door, Dry Stone turns off her radio, previously listening to one of her older songs. "I got it." "Hey Dry Stone." "Do you realize how long it took- no I’m kidding. Come inside. Node should be here at some point. Maybe soon." "Awesome. So, what to do in the meantime..." "I guess you could listen to my new song." "O-" "Look who’s in the flesh at last!" Wrench comes through the open door with Node behind her. "NODE!!!" "WRENCH!!!" Both pairs come to their embraces. They hold a moment or two before letting go. Dry Stone is particularly astonished. "How’d you get here so fast?!? I knew you’d probably be soon, but not THIS soon!" "You’d be amazed at how fast a group of changelings could fly, Mud Stick. It applied when me, Node and the other seven were about to meet you all, but it also applied when I escorted Air Wiff." "Speaking of that, I think I might need a more focused mentor on flight." "Really now." Wrench has an expression of shock glued to her now. "Yes." "I’ll be willing to help you if you can teleport to Changico City with me." "Actually, I’ve never been there before. Plus, I haven’t learned any unicorn magic yet." "Then I could help you with that." Wrench disappears, taking Dry Stone along with her. Hang Time"Air Wiff. I have brought who you dearly miss. And I know you’re going through a lot, but everyone is too, even the yaks. For all I know, Endless Riches misses you near and dear." "That... sounds a lot like what I would say to her if she did. Cleaning up Cloudsdale is definitely not easy, and what happened between me and, you might know who, doesn’t help matters in the slightest, nor did it with over-reminiscing of you and Wrench." Hut nudges Air Wiff. "Then it’s about time a couple of pegasi helped you." "Shall I call a couple of your other friends?" "Snow Flake and Cool Aid! That’s it! No need Queen Shell, I got things from here." "Very well. If need be, call me once more. I am sure I can give you advice any further." "Thanks." Queen Shell teleports out, leaving Hut with Air Wiff. "Who do you want to contact?" "Snow Flake." "Okay. We have one result. No 1. Snow Flake." "Number 1." "Snow Flake is a former teen star pegasus known for operating the winter wing of the weather factory seamlessly solo..." "Call." "Calling..." When Snow Flake picks up the call, she's stunned by who she sees. "Air Wiff?!?" "And Hut." "Hey, Snow Flake. Could you contact Cool Aid and tell him to meet you at Zebramala? I think the Zebras might have a chemical needed to clean the stained clouds over at Cloudsdale. I’ve made a map of the city so I’ll know where to go." "On it." "Oh, are you with a changeling?" "No, I’m solo, although I do miss Map quite a bit." "Oh." "Well, good luck," Hut says. "Okay. Hey, want me to grab you two a Peace-a Cola each? I’m sure there’s some when I get to Changico." "I’m sure you could get some. Ever since Queen Shell took the throne, immigration’s been enormous, with the glaring exception of the past few months." "Just like how-" Air Wiff gasps, realizing she has gotten Dry Stone into her thoughts. Afterwards, she starts to sniffle. "Um. Are you alright, Air Wiff?" "Oh, I-I’ll be fine." "Are you sure?" Snow Flake asks. "Air Wiff, that needs to stop. You’re doing yourself harm by lying to yourself." "I really don't want to talk about-" Air Wiff gulps. "that musician." "Dry Stone?" In response to Hut’s mention of Dry Stone, Air Wiff hugs Hut, sniffling harder. "Hey, no one’s stopping you from talking about Dry Stone, or really anything." "But I can’t! I don’t want to!" Air Wiff yells. "You can. The only one stopping you is yourself." "Huh?" "Can I have your whitewatch?" Air Wiff lifts her left hoof, where the whitewatch is, before Hut takes it off and puts it on her left hoof via levitation. "So, I guess I’ll see you later then?" "Yeah. Bye." Hut turns off the video feed. "Air Wiff." "Yes?" "Do you think I could log on to your whitewatch?" "Okay." "Thanks." "A-are you going to con-" Air Wiff reluctantly starts. "Yes, I am. Okay, log off. hut@craftsmares..." Hut hums his password. "Who do you want to contact?" "Dry Stone." "Okay, we have 1 Result. No. 1: Dry Stone." "Number 1. Call." "Calling..." "Hello?" "Hey Dry Stone." "Hey Wrench, what d-" "Hut." "Oh, Hut. Are you with Air Wiff?" "Yes, she's here." "Okay. I wanted to talk to her anyway." The whole time, Air Wiff continues sobbing. "Okay." "Air Wiff?" Air Wiff looks up to the whitewatch, coughing in the process. "I’m sorry, about everything I’ve done. I was at fault for snapping at you, and now, I-I wanna move on. All I ask is that you forgive me." "Y... you mean it?" "Yes. Cross my heart in hope of flight, I will never sleep at night." "Okay... I forgive you." "Thanks." "I’m sorry about setting you off. I had no intention to do that." "I understand." "Thanks." "Well, I gotta get back to Mud Stick and Node." "Okay. Bye." "Bye," Dry Stone says before the video feed turns to static. "Thanks, Hut." "Perhaps we should get some sleep." "Hey, I have an idea, I haven’t shown you Endy yet!" "Endy?" "I call her Endy, but her name is really Endless Riches. I payed her a visit in Yakyakistan when I was just a filly." "Oh. Well, you go ahead, but I’m going to head back to Changico." "Okay." "Meet you tomorrow?" "Yep." Air Wiff nods. More Memories"EEE!!! I can’t believe it! Halma! I’m at Yakyakistan’s capital! I just wish Air Wiff was here to see this. She’d love it here. I’ve been finding a way to get some money over here, and I finally did! I’m getting paid to explore houses across Yakyakistan! How cool is that?!? Whew! Holy woll. I need to calm down." Endy, waiting for Air Wiff to come back, has gotten a job in abandoned exploration, a job that is very well paid for what possibly rough shape houses could be in. However, where she is, Halma has an area reserved for this kind of job so Yakyakistan can build better establishments and residential areas based on the shape the reserved houses are in. In this reserved area, lack of maintenance is required to get the raw information needed to build better structures through trial and error. "Endy! Where are you! Wow. Talk about abandoned. I guess Prince Rok was a bad influence after all." "Air Wiff? Was that you?!?" "Yeah. I’m glad you came here." "I also see you’re an Alicorn." Endy gasps. "Wow! Is that a new watch you have?!?" "Actually, it’s called a whitewatch. I brought it with me in case i have to contact any of my friends. Say, why are you here, out of curiosity?" "I got a new job." "What did you get a job in?" "Abandoned exploration." "Heh. In Equestria, that’s all there is to do." "Is it really that bad?" "Yeah, it got very lonely in Cloudsdale. I also assumed the same for Aura Draft in Appleoosa and Dry Stone in Canterlot. If any of us are absent in the cities we stay in, they’re completely abandoned." "Wow." "And that’s how I got this thing so easily." "Say, would you mind assisting me?" "No problem." "Thanks." "Ugh! Why does my head hurt so much?!?" Endy stirs. "-take- psi’s-" "What the-" "-pan- -hey’s- -high- Huh? Wh- Oh, it’s only you Air Wiff. Whoa! What happened to your horn?!? It’s like a sickly brown color!!" "It is?!?" "Uh-huh." "Second day in a row that happened." "Oh. Do you think Wrench could help you?" "Probably. But I think Aura Draft is a better bet." "Hey, I got work in a few hours, so maybe you could go while I’m working." "Hey, that’ll work." "Appleoosa. Huh. I think I may prefer walking on clouds than down on the ground now. Aura Draft!" "Air Wiff?!?" "I was looking-" "Whoa! What happened to your horn?!?" "I probably conjured up another spell in my sleep." "Say, do you think perform some levitation for me? Here." Aura Draft takes off her whitewatch and levitates it onto her back. Air Wiff tries to levitate. The longer she tries, though, the hard she struggles. That is until she stops. "Yeah, I need to wait before my horn can do even the simplest of magic." "How long do you think?" "I don't know." A ringtone plays on Air Wiff's whitewatch. "Snow Flake! Oh, crap!" That's when Air Wiff picks up the video feed. "Hello?" "Air Wiff! What’re you doing in Appleoosa? Get over to Cloudsdale, right, now! And is that Aura Draft behind you?" "Yes. I’ll be there as soon as possible." "Do you think she could get up here as well?" Snow Flake asks. "I'll do it." "Good. We need you over, right now!" Cool Aid repeats. Aura Draft nods before Air Wiff turns off the video feed. "Okay. Ready?" "Ready... um, what are you doing." "Remember when the whitewatch was first introduced?" "A little. I didn’t get to read any of the features though." "You don’t have to now. It was a good thing it was the contrary for me." Having cast a command spell on her whitewatch, Aura Draft watches as it assembles random parts into a hover car via levitation. "This’ll be my ride up to Cloudsdale." "Okay, but I’m doing it the traditional way a pegasus, or in my case, an alicorn, does it." "Your choice." Aura Draft put her whitewatch back on and climbs into the hover car. On the way to Cloudsdale, Air Wiff’s horn is back to the coat color that is needed. "So, what else can a whitewatch do?" Air Wiff asks. "I don’t remember terribly much, but I did remember about the craft assembly spell." "Oh, and I would’ve thought mine would die by now, but it’s still going strong as if it was brand new." "Of... course, why would you think a whitewatch would die? It doesn’t run on batteries. Hey, why did Snow Flake call us?" "Because I asked her to get a chemical that will wash the clouds clean. And that chemical is from Zebramala. I also wanted to have some Peace-a Cola. I did find a bottle a while ago, but it was extremely flat." "I did too." "If only there was a way to recarbonate it." "Recarbonate..." Aura Draft gasps. "That’s it! Recarbonation! I remember that feature." "Kind of late now to use that feature then, since the one Snow Flake brought over was from Changico." "Wait, Changico’s still making that?" "Mhm." Aura Draft waves her hooves in the air. "Ah. I’m not willing to bet that Changico’s economy is overstocked with Peace-a Cola, unless they also export it to Zebramala." "That’s the only way for the price to stay up in the national market. Without exporting, the prices would plummet, meaning Peace-a Cola would be worth less. After that, production would halt and the supply would deteriorate." "What would happen after that? Wouldn’t the prices rise again if that happened? There’s such thing as market equilibrium. I mean sure, if production stopped altogether, yeah, prices would continuously rise. Hey Air Wiff, can I put on 92.5?" "Oh, is one of Dry Stone’s songs playing on there right now?" Air Wiff surfs through 92.5, which is nothing but static. "None." "91.2." Air Wiff tunes into 91.2, which is also nothing but static. "None." "Anything FM?" "None." "Oh, for the love of- Any AM?" "The whitewatch only does FM." "Crap." "Does yours have any songs on it offline? Ones already recorded off the radio?" "Actually, yeah. There’s Flowing, Open Hooves, Found, and Maybe Another World. That’s it. Yours?" Aura Draft asks. "Actually, I found Homely Abode, Found, Flowing and Minors." "Play Found. I think I remember hearing that song once or twice." "Okay." The Dangerous Spell"Whoa, are we here already? We only listened to four songs!" Air Wiff lands on the edge of Cloudsdale, leading Aiura Draft to land right next to her. "I know, but the whitewatch has to stop the audio." "So, what do you want to do with that hovercraft of yours?" "I’ll just leave it here. There are only nine ponies in Equestria, two of which we’re about to see and are the only other ponies here in Cloudsdale. I’m not worried about it disappearing." "I see where you’re coming from." "I mean, sure it’ll be convenient to take it with me without actually having to carry it. But not much of a point now besides that." "What’re you talking about when you say 'without actually having to carry it'?" Aura Draft raises her non-dominant hoof. "So, you’re telling me that that whitewatch could actually store that hovercraft into such a tiny space?" "Yes." "But how’s that even possible?!? There would have to be some spell that changes the size of each part to fit in there, not to mention it would be extremely heavy afterwards! It’d be practically unwearable!" "See for yourself." At that moment, Aura Draft lights her horn to command the whitewatch to not only disassemble the hover car, but store its parts into the whitewatch. However, the power of such a command spell is too much for Aura Draft’s horn to handle, leaving her panting. "I’m gonna need some help with this." "Okay. I think I should be able to help." Air Wiff attempts to start the command spell that Aura Draft started but failed to cast. After a little bit, her horn starts to get painful. "My horn. Ah. Ah!!" The cries in pain turn into screams. "Air Wiff, stop!" "I CAN’T!!!" Air Wiff loses control of her horn, which is still performing the spell. A few seconds after and Air Wiff’s horn fires at her whitewatch. Suddenly, the hover car starts breaking apart before Aura Draft’s very eyes; the parts shrink at near perfect sync with each other. A compartment in the whitewatch opens, vacuuming the shrunken parts of the former hover car. Before any piece can get into the compartment, Aura Draft quickly takes it off Air Wiff. Where it floats is where the compartment built in the whitewatch fills with the parts of the hover car. Afterwards, Air Wiff faints from the intense pain her horn went through. "Air Wiff!!!" Snow Flake, Cool Aid and Hut all have shocked expression on their faces when seeing a near explosion. "What the?!?" "What the bloody hell is that?!?" "For all I know it could be an alicorn. Should I contact Aura Draft to see what it was?" Cool Aid nods. "Definitely." "Who do you want to contact?" Snow Flake's whitewatch asks. "Aura Draft." "Okay, we have one result. No. 1: Aura Draft." "Number one." Before any audio comes out of the whitewatch, Snow Flake intercepts the queue and changes it to the sound effect that plays when the whitewatch asks who Snow Flake wants to talk to. "Call." "Calling..." "Yes?" "Aura Draft, did you see that light out in the distance?" "Yes. I was right in front of it. Meet me over at the edge of Cloudsdale. I would’ve said look for a hovercraft, but it’s gone now." "What? Did somepony steal your vehicle?" "Um, no. It’s gone because of that light." "Okay, we’ll be over right away." Snow Flake turns off the video feed and turns to Cool Aid. "We have to get there right now. Aura Draft was with Air Wiff, so only she knows what happened?" "Good! I’m glad you’re here!" "So, where’s Air Wiff?" Snow Flake asks. "She’s right behind me." "Wait, is she unconscious?!?" Cool Aid nods at Snow Flake. "Yeah she is!" "I can explain. I failed to start a spell to store the hovercraft into my whitewatch, so Air Wiff decided to do it with hers, but while it was successful, it knocked her unconscious." "Then we have to get her to the Changico City Hospital; it’s the best and closest one she could get." Snow Flake flies over to pick Air Wiff up in one area. Aura Draft nods. "Okay, let me call Queen Shell, then." "Who do you want to contact?" "Shell." "Okay, we have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell." "Number 2... Yes." "shell@politics is saved for 60 days." "Call." "Calling..." "Aura Draft? What are you doing in Cloudsdale?" "I need you to get Air Wiff to the Changico City Hospital." "Okay. I will be right over." HospitalAir Wiff lays in the hospital bed, stirring and beginning a low groan. "Look! She’s waking up!" Tingle Doo shushes Reprise. "Air Wiff?" "Dry Stone?" Reprise gets into the conversation without consent. "There’s also me, Tingle Doo, Snow Flake, Mud Stick and the rest of your friends." "What happened to you that got you in such condition?" "Magic," Aura Draft states almost gothically. Everyone else, with the exception of Air Wiff, Snow Flake and Cool Aid, gasps. "Whoa. What spell did you c-" Dry Stone begins. "Storage. But, how did I get here?" "I got you over here about a month ago. It only took a few seconds just to get back to Changico." "Without Shell here, you may’ve been a goner." "And without that spell I attempted to cast, you still might’ve had your hovercraft and I might’ve been able to..." Aura Draft and Air Wiff from that point perfectly sync each other's speech. "...stay in Cloudsdale." "Well, we’ve had your soda stored for you, but it’s gotten flat," Cool Aid announces. "No problem with us. Snow Flake, can I see the bottle of Peace-a Cola? Okay. Now, let’s get this in here... and... Aha!! Got it. Hey! You got cups in the house?!?" A nurse comes in with an annoyed expression and shushes Aura Draft. And then she leaves. "I'm on it." Queen Shell summons two cups for Aura Draft and Air Wiff. "There you are you two. Bottoms up?" Aura Draft levitates the two cups and gives one to Air Wiff. Both look at each other, one of which, anyone could guess who, looks back at Queen Shell afterwards. "Bottoms up." Cool Aid walks up to Air Wiff. "So, I suppose not much was done with the Cloudsdale Project." "I’m afraid not." "Well, don’t worry about cleaning up Equestria. We and the yaks will clean up the land," Hut says. Queen Shell comes up to Air Wiff now. "And I’ve come up with a project of my own." "Your own? And what’s that?" "That I can’t tell you. But it’ll be necessary to rejuvenate the land." "I won’t tell anypony." "Okay. But just this once..." Air Wiff listens in on Queen Shell's plan with reactions in between the gaps. "...Hmm... oh... that would be much better... oh... mhm..." Suddenly something barely audible comes out of Queen Shell's whisper that sounds like "congratulations for the next nine months". Air Wiff gasps. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Shell!!" "Pleasure’s all mine." "Thanks, I wouldn’t have made it this far without you guys." "Air Wiff, you owe a lot more to Shell than all the other changelings you’ve met combined for how far you’ve come." "Wrench has a point. If I had not taken the throne, I wouldn’t have sent the nine changelings to you ponies, one of which took charge of the others while they were in former Equestria." "Hey Aura Draft, you can drink it straight from the bottle. I’m not going to have any." "There’s some bad news however. The Changico National Debt has quintupled because some potions were never returned to Zebramala. And it wasn’t even paid for. I won’t be available for the next five days because I have to prepare to meet with Princess Ajabu." "Oh, yeah. The shodasa. I had to get some of that to help Air Wiff clean the clouds of Cloudsdale," Snow Flake says to herself. "What was that, my little pony?" "Air Wiff requested Snow Flake and Cool Aid to get a chemical from Zebramala, apparently it’s named shodasa, to clean Cloudsdale of the remains contained in it," Hut clarifies. "Snow Flake, you could have just gone to me. I would have been more than happy to get it for you if you just asked. That way, the debt would not have quintupled. I may be very busy but I will have time for each and every changeling and pony." "I’m sorry Queen Shell. I understand your anger." "Just try and make sure that does not happen again. May I be with you." "Thank you." Air Wiff spends the next two weeks in the hospital. And in that time, Queen Shell has contacted Prince Rok about her plans of collaborating with the yaks to expand their countries to form a new border in replacement of the previous two. While the yaks have agreed, they are still too cautious to map out their half of the border. Still, it is a step in the correct direction. Epilogue: Family of Two"Air Wiff, if you see this, Congratulations" ...from Aura Draft. "Congratulations, Air Wiff" ...from Dry Stone. "Hadn’t seen you in awhile, Air Wiff. I heard what happened. So, congrats" ...from Oak Quilt. "Congrats" ...from Mud Stick. "Congratulations" ...from Tingle Doo. "Congrats, Air Wiff, and Happy Nightmare Night" ...from Reprise. "Air Wiff, Happy Nightmare Night. I wish you the best with your family. Congratulations" ...from Snow Flake. "You have a cool family now, Air Wiff. Congratulations" ...from Cool Aid. "Air Wiff, I just wanted to say, congrats" ...from Hut. "Congratulations, Air Wiff" ...from Wrench. "Air Wiff, I hope you’re watching this. Congratulations on your family" ...from Jig. "Hey Air Wiff. Congratulations on what happened last night" ...from Lean. "Hadn’t seen you in a long time, but I’ve heard what happened last night. So, Congrats Air Wiff" ...from Node. "Air Wiff, Congrats on the new family" ...from Rep. "Hey Air Wiff. It’s amazing you’ve come this far. Congrats" ...from Map. "Congratulations" ...from Loan and Will. "Air Wiff. I do owe quite a lot to you. And now, it’s time you owe a lot to your new foal. Congratulations" ...from Queen Shell of Changico. "Hey everyone. Nopony would’ve ever guessed this would happen so fast. Eleven months ago, Equestria used to exist, albeit completely abandoned, I used to be a pegasus, (don’t let Air Vent hear that after she starts talking) and I was the only one of my family. I think pony kind’s got a what, extra sixty years because of what happened? It’s amazing that it’s already been a year after the New Dust Ride." For the past ten months, former Equestria has vanished with the expansion of Yakyakistan and Changico. Yakyakistan has warmed up to the idea of expansion when Changico started exporting some of their products to them and vice versa. All the while, Zebramala has started exporting shodasa in helping clean up the cities and rebuilding each one of them. Shodasa, having been used as a fertilizer locally is now used all across modern day North Changico and South Yakyakistan. This is a new era of which changelings and yaks are now common with pen pals alongside Zebramala. One that Air Vent, the brand new foal of Air Wiff’s, will be the first pony to live through from the start. And now, all seems is at last.
Prologue: Split Up"To anypony still in Equestria, hello again. Y’know, it gets lonely here in Canterlot. Yeah, I have no opinion on it in the slightest, but at least I get to explore an entire town until Queen Shell gets back into Equestria. When I first went into the houses, the visibility was so low, it was like back a few months ago. Thanks to me frequently coming back to these houses, and opening each of their windows, the visibility has vastly improved. That came at two huge prices though. First, the houses stand in horrible shape, probably because of that earthshake we had during that Dust Ride. Finally, seeing every single pony that used to live in the houses they’ve rotted in now is by absolutely no means an easy task. At the very least, it wasn’t any of my family. Aura Draft might not want to come here though." "Again, hi. Right next to the radohome from Appleoosa and from what left I can see of it, it’s so cool. They had masks and goggles here too. But there are also what probably used to look like earth ponies down there. The visibility was also pretty low when I got there. But with an antidust shield, I was able to get in just fine. It’s amazing how fast the visibility improves too. But that stench, woo boy. It smelled like no one flushed a toilet that was in there. I didn’t stay too long but getting my hooves into the radohome, the actual floor was incredibly sticky. I also explored Appleoosa’s houses, which are in better shape than the radohome and radohomes don’t even need foundations. Plus, there were less of those figures in the houses than the radohome, so I found myself not plugging my nose nearly as much as well as exploring the houses just fine quite more often. I soon analysed my surroundings and asked myself, were any of my three earthbound friends born here? I truly wondered." "Wow. Replacing contaminated clouds is such a dirty job. Much dirtier than I thought it would be. Okay, tearing down cloud houses doesn’t sound so bad at first, but then I realize they’ve been vacant for months now and whoever is left is practically only bones on the ground by now leaving stains on the floors and possibly the walls too, so after the glance of a distant house with a yellow floor, it’s very clear I’ll have to be careful trying not to get parts of the wall stuck to the floor. All the clouds that were stained are absolutely useless morally. Making said type of cloud rain is a big no no for plant life let alone anyone under it that is left, still alive, you can’t disintegrate it because the stain actually holds the cloud pretty well together and the stain even blocks off lightning, not that I wanted to ever play any pranks or anything. Contrary to what you might be thinking right now, I actually still like it up here better than the radohome I used to live in that one week, maybe not when I stayed in Yakyakistan though. The air quality is consistently good. No dust areas anywhere. Thank goodness that the weather factory is back in operation thanks to me and all my friends... my friends... Snow Flake, Cool Aid! Where are they? More importantly, where’s Aura Draft and Dry Stone?" A natural disaster, that’s what this all is. A natural disaster. This time it was the result of the previous. Following the transformation Air Wiff, Aura Draft and Dry Stone went through overnight, they finally explore the abandoned cities that they live in now. Each and every discovery is just as devastating as the last. Decayed ponies occupy the ground and leave with them their effects of their endless coughing from the rising dust no matter what place, be it on the ground or in the clouds. Evidence of their previous existence was untouched for the few months in between, contaminating every house of every town regardless of the shape they are in. It seems there’s not but a solution to this problem. This is the story of the afterlife of the New Dust Ride.
Visits"Alrighty, is there anything here that could help me out? Hmm... what’s this?" Looking through an old store window, Dry Stone sees what is known as a whitewatch. The whitewatch is a fairly new brand of watch that tells air quality, environment quality, time, and acts as an interface that will stream to another watch. By default, it is worn on the non-dominant forehoof, right above the knee. "Okay, dstone@composers... okgottago. Okay. There we go. Streaming... does Queen Shell have one of these?" Pressing the stream icon in the whitewatch, Dry Stone is greeted by, "Who do you want to contact?" followed by a sound effect that indicates voice activation is on. "Shell." "Okay, we have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell," the whitewatch announces. "Number two." "Shell is a changeling that has recently become queen of Changico. She has no right hoof mare as of now and strives to 'act before unreasonably speaking'." "Whitewatch Address," Dry Stone requests. "shell@politicians" "Call." "Calling," the whitewatch says. Time passes on while Dry Stone waits for any answer from Queen Shell. Twenty seconds of this and a response does ensue. "Yes, Dry Stone?" Queen Shell asks. "So, what’s your first stop going to be in your next visit?" "My first stop will be in Canterlot. And this worries you how?" "Well, it’s just that 'it’s been awhile since you were here' where I am. So, I’m the first to see you?" Queen Shell nods. "Indeed. I shall see you at the abandoned 'current' sisters’ castle." "Okay. I’ll be there." "It will take about a little less than half of an hour to get there." "Consider it settled. See you in almost half an hour." Queen Shell interrupts Dry Stone in time for her to stop. "Wait, before you turn that whitewatch of yours off, I wanted to tell you that I saw you and your friends’ videos. Each had little requests and thank yous that were well deserved. But, because of your previous status as an earth pony, I would not worry about it if I were you." "Okay. I’ll see you soon. Bye." Dry Stone turns off the video stream to think. "Wait, what did I say in that video, that I wanted Aura Draft to teach me magic and Air Wiff to teach me flight?" In Appleoosa, Aura Draft has looked around town to see something useful. "Hmm... a whitewatch. Better pick it up. I’m the last pony in Appleoosa so, bottoms up." She turns her head left to see a lone box. "Or shall I say, 'Colas up?' Okay, adraft@magicians... unchanging..." Aura Draft takes off the cap of the soda bottle and sips the drink. However, something causes her to spit out the drink. "Dah! Of all things royal! Nopony told me I was in for drinking U.R.N!" she yells, groaning afterwards. "I’m such an idiot. I should’ve known that Peace-a Cola was gonna be flat as hell." Suddenly, a ringtone from the whitewatch commences. "What the...? Queen Shell?!?" Aura Draft picks turns on the video stream. "Hello?" "Aura Draft?" "Yeah?" "You should come to Canterlot as soon as you can. I’ll be staying there awhile." "But why?" "I watched your and your friends’ videos that are meant to be for each other." "You what?!? You intercepted our messages?!?" "Yes. Now, while I’m at it, I’ll send Air Wiff to Canterlot as well. She and Dry Stone had requested you teach them magic." "If that’s what they want, I’m more than happy to do so." "That is good. See you in Canterlot." "Bye." Aura Draft turns off the video stream. "Okay. Let’s see here. Aha! Just what I- oh, it’s flat. Well that was useless. Oh, a whitewatch! Now that will be useful! Okay, awiff@theorists..." Air Wiff hums her password inaudibly. As soon as she's logged onto the whitewatch, a ringtone blares around her before picking it up. "Talk to me." "Air Wiff, I need you to come to Canterlot." "What is it? You do know that if I come to Canterlot, my progress of cleaning Cloudsdale is halted? It’s full of stained clouds." "No buts. Come anyway. It’s about the messages you and your friends sent." "I'll be there." "I got here as fast as I could! Nice to see you once more." "Come in, Aura Draft. Dry Stone’s inside already." Air Wiff rushes behind Aura Draft. "I’m here! I’m here." "Please enter you two." "Alright." In the room Dry Stone waits in, Shell, Air Wiff and Aura Draft all meet with her. "I have noticed in your messages that, especially Dry Stone and Aura Draft, you’ve sent requests to mentor each other." Air Wiff nods. "Mhm..." "I have noticed in your messages that, especially Dry Stone and Aura Draft, you’ve sent requests to mentor each other." "Will do." "Uh, why am I losing control of my blinking?!?" Aura Draft frantically asks. "I think I might know what that is." "I’ll give you all a sum of four months before I see for myself your final progress." "And four months why?" Air Wiff is somewhat confused. "Pegasus and unicorn magic are rather easy to master, as opposed to earth pony magic, unless you’re ready for a wasteland disaster. So, one month each for unicorn and pegasus magic while I will give two months for earth pony magic." Air Wiff nods. "Okay. We accept." "Now I must part; Wrench is waiting for me." Queen Shell teleports out, leaving Dry Stone, Aura Draft and Air Wiff with each other to exit the abandoned sisters' Canterlot Castle. "So, who's first?"
Mentors"Okay, so what was that uncontrollable blinking I had back in the new abandoned castle?" "That was a part of earth pony magic. It’s like a sixth sense that predicts the immediate future. The name of the sense depends on the pony it’s in." "So, would my sense be called Aura Sense?" "That actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe my sense would be called the Wiff Sense. So would yours be... the Stone Sense?" "Yeah. That’s just a third of it though. Give a few days and you’ll see what I mean." Aura Draft teleports back to Appleoosa, leaving Dry Stone and Air Wiff to their matters. "Actually during the few days I have to rest, why don’t I start putting my pegasus magic to good use for once." "Sure. I can help with that." The day after, things seem to start going wrong. "Ugh! My head! Must’ve been some dream I had, whatever it was. I haven’t had a headache this bad in forever. " Dry Stone turns on her whitewatch. "Who do you want to contact?" "Wrench." "I’m sorry, there are no results." "Ugh... damn it." "Who do you want to contact?" "Shell." "Okay. We have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell." "Number 2." "You have previously talked to... Shell... once. Do you want to save the address you want to contact?" "Yes." "Okay. shell@politicians has been saved for... 60 days." "Call." "Calling..." "Yes, Dry Stone? I am still on my way to the capitol of Changico." "I need to talk to Wrench." "Okay, but it will be hours before she’s gotten the chance to call you even if she went as quick as she could with the process of getting a whitewatch account." "Oh." "I will call you back when I-" The video feed is interrupted by short static followed by a ringtone. "Oh, who could it be?!? I was in the middle of a call with the queen!!!" Dry Stone picks up the video feed that interrupted the previous, which turns out to be Air Wiff. "Hello?" "Dry Stone, did you get a headache waking up?" "Yeah. Did you? ‘cause it looks like you burnt the tip of your horn." "I had a headache when I woke up today. So, I guess it has something to do with our horns since yours looks burnt on the tip too." "Do you know what spell we conjured up?" "I have no clue here in the blue skies." "Well, I’ll explore Canterlot some more. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of calling Queen Shell." "Whoops, my bad, Doraston." "If you were trying to say my name in Coltanese, you forgot the “i” in Doraiston." "I don’t know whether I should be shocked or laughing." "Why were you attempting to say my name in Coltanese?" "I wasn’t. I just heard explore and I-" "OKAY!!! That’s it!!!" Dry Stone stops the video feed and sighs in frustration. "Damn it Air Wiff!! Stop being so random!" Suddenly, the same ringtone makes her jump. "What the-" Picking up the next video feed, this one is someone very familiar to Dry Stone. "Mud Stick?" "Yep. That’s me. It’s very lonely here in Manehattan. I have all this space, and I don’t know what to do with it." "Oh, here’s a hint. Come over to Canterlot, unless you want me to pick you up." "Are you sure about that? I get air sick and-" "Not literally!!!" Dry Stone sighs again. "Sorry. I just got through talking with Air Wiff on the whitewatch." "I understand. Hey, have a question." "Shoot." "Do you miss Wrench?" "Of course I do. I just asked Queen Shell if Wrench was available. Why? Who do you miss?" "Node." "Oh. I miss all the changelings. But hey, you know. I think Queen Shell is quite the influence on them. Before she took the throne over at Changico, changelings had a very low reputation. I just wish the royal sisters could’ve held the same all the way through." "Prince Rok in a nutshell." Mud Stick snickers afterwards. "Who again?" "Node told me about Prince Rok while we investigated before that earthshake." "Oh. Now I remember him. It was the guy finishing up what he was saying when I tuned into 950 back after it." "It’s still a good thing that the yaks and the changelings are still around. Hey, since Equestria’s so empty and abandoned, why don’t they just close that population gap. It’ll make things a lot easier to clean." Somehow, it doesn't come across to Dry Stone that Mud Stick had a predictive suggestion. "Yeah, but that kind of project will take two years at least, especially with all that cleaning up they’d have to do across 'former' Equestria. Most likely, every building either has golden stains, skeletons or golden stains and skeletons." "If I had wings, I’d spread them out right now. I knew Manehattan became a skeletal- oh, just forget it." Dry Stone gets curious about what Mud Stick was starting to say. "No, what were you about to say? I want to know." "Okay, WASTELAND... Not that other word I was about to say. I knew I was in a skeletal wasteland called Manehattan but all of Equestria?!?" "Well, I have to go. I’m expecting a call back." "Okay. I’ll go to Canterlot for you." "Bye." After a short time of static Dry Stone picks up yet another round of the same ringtone, "Wow already?" and picks it up. "Hello?" "I’m at my home at Changico and Wrench is right with me." "Oh! Let me talk to him." "Okay." Queen Shell turns to Wrench. "It's for you." "Hello?" "Hey Wrench. Finally get to talk to you after awhile. Oh, I forgot what I was going to ask you." "What was it about?" "Oh, now I remember. Could escort Node over to Canterlot? One of my friends is on her way and really misses her." "Mud Stick?" Dry Stone nods. "Yes." "Okay. It’ll take a while though. Where’s Mud Stick coming from?" "Manehattan." "Then I don’t think she should be there too long before Node and I get there. I’ll contact her as quickly as I can." "Thanks." "Anything else for the pony I changed into?" "That’ll be all." Suddenly, the feed turns to static in front of Dry Stone. "Oh NO!! No!!! NO!!! Who’s calling Queen Shell?!?" "Hello?" "Yes Air Wiff?" "Could I talk to Wrench please?" "As you wish." "Wrench?" "Air Wiff? What’s wrong? Did something happen?" "I’m starting to miss Hut. Do you think you could get her to Cloudsdale?" "Sorry, I’m about to fulfill a request for Dry Stone." "I will bring her." "You will?" "Sure." "Thanks Queen Shell." "Not a worry, Air Wiff. Although, you still look depressed. What’s wrong?" "Nothing." "Wait a minute, Shell. I noticed that Air Wiff looked more depressed when I mentioned Dry Stone." In response to the second mention of Dry Stone, Air Wiff starts to sniffle. On Wrench and Shell's end of the feed, the whitewatch turns to static, leaving Wrench especially worried. "Something clearly happened to Air Wiff when she and Dry Stone contacted each other." "Node?" "Hut?" "Yes," both say. "Leaning forward, falling inward, none takes gravity... Seeking exits, I don’t comment, if I still relieve..." After hearing knocking on the door, Dry Stone turns off her radio, previously listening to one of her older songs. "I got it." "Hey Dry Stone." "Do you realize how long it took- no I’m kidding. Come inside. Node should be here at some point. Maybe soon." "Awesome. So, what to do in the meantime..." "I guess you could listen to my new song." "O-" "Look who’s in the flesh at last!" Wrench comes through the open door with Node behind her. "NODE!!!" "WRENCH!!!" Both pairs come to their embraces. They hold a moment or two before letting go. Dry Stone is particularly astonished. "How’d you get here so fast?!? I knew you’d probably be soon, but not THIS soon!" "You’d be amazed at how fast a group of changelings could fly, Mud Stick. It applied when me, Node and the other seven were about to meet you all, but it also applied when I escorted Air Wiff." "Speaking of that, I think I might need a more focused mentor on flight." "Really now." Wrench has an expression of shock glued to her now. "Yes." "I’ll be willing to help you if you can teleport to Changico City with me." "Actually, I’ve never been there before. Plus, I haven’t learned any unicorn magic yet." "Then I could help you with that." Wrench disappears, taking Dry Stone along with her.
Hang Time"Air Wiff. I have brought who you dearly miss. And I know you’re going through a lot, but everyone is too, even the yaks. For all I know, Endless Riches misses you near and dear." "That... sounds a lot like what I would say to her if she did. Cleaning up Cloudsdale is definitely not easy, and what happened between me and, you might know who, doesn’t help matters in the slightest, nor did it with over-reminiscing of you and Wrench." Hut nudges Air Wiff. "Then it’s about time a couple of pegasi helped you." "Shall I call a couple of your other friends?" "Snow Flake and Cool Aid! That’s it! No need Queen Shell, I got things from here." "Very well. If need be, call me once more. I am sure I can give you advice any further." "Thanks." Queen Shell teleports out, leaving Hut with Air Wiff. "Who do you want to contact?" "Snow Flake." "Okay. We have one result. No 1. Snow Flake." "Number 1." "Snow Flake is a former teen star pegasus known for operating the winter wing of the weather factory seamlessly solo..." "Call." "Calling..." When Snow Flake picks up the call, she's stunned by who she sees. "Air Wiff?!?" "And Hut." "Hey, Snow Flake. Could you contact Cool Aid and tell him to meet you at Zebramala? I think the Zebras might have a chemical needed to clean the stained clouds over at Cloudsdale. I’ve made a map of the city so I’ll know where to go." "On it." "Oh, are you with a changeling?" "No, I’m solo, although I do miss Map quite a bit." "Oh." "Well, good luck," Hut says. "Okay. Hey, want me to grab you two a Peace-a Cola each? I’m sure there’s some when I get to Changico." "I’m sure you could get some. Ever since Queen Shell took the throne, immigration’s been enormous, with the glaring exception of the past few months." "Just like how-" Air Wiff gasps, realizing she has gotten Dry Stone into her thoughts. Afterwards, she starts to sniffle. "Um. Are you alright, Air Wiff?" "Oh, I-I’ll be fine." "Are you sure?" Snow Flake asks. "Air Wiff, that needs to stop. You’re doing yourself harm by lying to yourself." "I really don't want to talk about-" Air Wiff gulps. "that musician." "Dry Stone?" In response to Hut’s mention of Dry Stone, Air Wiff hugs Hut, sniffling harder. "Hey, no one’s stopping you from talking about Dry Stone, or really anything." "But I can’t! I don’t want to!" Air Wiff yells. "You can. The only one stopping you is yourself." "Huh?" "Can I have your whitewatch?" Air Wiff lifts her left hoof, where the whitewatch is, before Hut takes it off and puts it on her left hoof via levitation. "So, I guess I’ll see you later then?" "Yeah. Bye." Hut turns off the video feed. "Air Wiff." "Yes?" "Do you think I could log on to your whitewatch?" "Okay." "Thanks." "A-are you going to con-" Air Wiff reluctantly starts. "Yes, I am. Okay, log off. hut@craftsmares..." Hut hums his password. "Who do you want to contact?" "Dry Stone." "Okay, we have 1 Result. No. 1: Dry Stone." "Number 1. Call." "Calling..." "Hello?" "Hey Dry Stone." "Hey Wrench, what d-" "Hut." "Oh, Hut. Are you with Air Wiff?" "Yes, she's here." "Okay. I wanted to talk to her anyway." The whole time, Air Wiff continues sobbing. "Okay." "Air Wiff?" Air Wiff looks up to the whitewatch, coughing in the process. "I’m sorry, about everything I’ve done. I was at fault for snapping at you, and now, I-I wanna move on. All I ask is that you forgive me." "Y... you mean it?" "Yes. Cross my heart in hope of flight, I will never sleep at night." "Okay... I forgive you." "Thanks." "I’m sorry about setting you off. I had no intention to do that." "I understand." "Thanks." "Well, I gotta get back to Mud Stick and Node." "Okay. Bye." "Bye," Dry Stone says before the video feed turns to static. "Thanks, Hut." "Perhaps we should get some sleep." "Hey, I have an idea, I haven’t shown you Endy yet!" "Endy?" "I call her Endy, but her name is really Endless Riches. I payed her a visit in Yakyakistan when I was just a filly." "Oh. Well, you go ahead, but I’m going to head back to Changico." "Okay." "Meet you tomorrow?" "Yep." Air Wiff nods.
More Memories"EEE!!! I can’t believe it! Halma! I’m at Yakyakistan’s capital! I just wish Air Wiff was here to see this. She’d love it here. I’ve been finding a way to get some money over here, and I finally did! I’m getting paid to explore houses across Yakyakistan! How cool is that?!? Whew! Holy woll. I need to calm down." Endy, waiting for Air Wiff to come back, has gotten a job in abandoned exploration, a job that is very well paid for what possibly rough shape houses could be in. However, where she is, Halma has an area reserved for this kind of job so Yakyakistan can build better establishments and residential areas based on the shape the reserved houses are in. In this reserved area, lack of maintenance is required to get the raw information needed to build better structures through trial and error. "Endy! Where are you! Wow. Talk about abandoned. I guess Prince Rok was a bad influence after all." "Air Wiff? Was that you?!?" "Yeah. I’m glad you came here." "I also see you’re an Alicorn." Endy gasps. "Wow! Is that a new watch you have?!?" "Actually, it’s called a whitewatch. I brought it with me in case i have to contact any of my friends. Say, why are you here, out of curiosity?" "I got a new job." "What did you get a job in?" "Abandoned exploration." "Heh. In Equestria, that’s all there is to do." "Is it really that bad?" "Yeah, it got very lonely in Cloudsdale. I also assumed the same for Aura Draft in Appleoosa and Dry Stone in Canterlot. If any of us are absent in the cities we stay in, they’re completely abandoned." "Wow." "And that’s how I got this thing so easily." "Say, would you mind assisting me?" "No problem." "Thanks." "Ugh! Why does my head hurt so much?!?" Endy stirs. "-take- psi’s-" "What the-" "-pan- -hey’s- -high- Huh? Wh- Oh, it’s only you Air Wiff. Whoa! What happened to your horn?!? It’s like a sickly brown color!!" "It is?!?" "Uh-huh." "Second day in a row that happened." "Oh. Do you think Wrench could help you?" "Probably. But I think Aura Draft is a better bet." "Hey, I got work in a few hours, so maybe you could go while I’m working." "Hey, that’ll work." "Appleoosa. Huh. I think I may prefer walking on clouds than down on the ground now. Aura Draft!" "Air Wiff?!?" "I was looking-" "Whoa! What happened to your horn?!?" "I probably conjured up another spell in my sleep." "Say, do you think perform some levitation for me? Here." Aura Draft takes off her whitewatch and levitates it onto her back. Air Wiff tries to levitate. The longer she tries, though, the hard she struggles. That is until she stops. "Yeah, I need to wait before my horn can do even the simplest of magic." "How long do you think?" "I don't know." A ringtone plays on Air Wiff's whitewatch. "Snow Flake! Oh, crap!" That's when Air Wiff picks up the video feed. "Hello?" "Air Wiff! What’re you doing in Appleoosa? Get over to Cloudsdale, right, now! And is that Aura Draft behind you?" "Yes. I’ll be there as soon as possible." "Do you think she could get up here as well?" Snow Flake asks. "I'll do it." "Good. We need you over, right now!" Cool Aid repeats. Aura Draft nods before Air Wiff turns off the video feed. "Okay. Ready?" "Ready... um, what are you doing." "Remember when the whitewatch was first introduced?" "A little. I didn’t get to read any of the features though." "You don’t have to now. It was a good thing it was the contrary for me." Having cast a command spell on her whitewatch, Aura Draft watches as it assembles random parts into a hover car via levitation. "This’ll be my ride up to Cloudsdale." "Okay, but I’m doing it the traditional way a pegasus, or in my case, an alicorn, does it." "Your choice." Aura Draft put her whitewatch back on and climbs into the hover car. On the way to Cloudsdale, Air Wiff’s horn is back to the coat color that is needed. "So, what else can a whitewatch do?" Air Wiff asks. "I don’t remember terribly much, but I did remember about the craft assembly spell." "Oh, and I would’ve thought mine would die by now, but it’s still going strong as if it was brand new." "Of... course, why would you think a whitewatch would die? It doesn’t run on batteries. Hey, why did Snow Flake call us?" "Because I asked her to get a chemical that will wash the clouds clean. And that chemical is from Zebramala. I also wanted to have some Peace-a Cola. I did find a bottle a while ago, but it was extremely flat." "I did too." "If only there was a way to recarbonate it." "Recarbonate..." Aura Draft gasps. "That’s it! Recarbonation! I remember that feature." "Kind of late now to use that feature then, since the one Snow Flake brought over was from Changico." "Wait, Changico’s still making that?" "Mhm." Aura Draft waves her hooves in the air. "Ah. I’m not willing to bet that Changico’s economy is overstocked with Peace-a Cola, unless they also export it to Zebramala." "That’s the only way for the price to stay up in the national market. Without exporting, the prices would plummet, meaning Peace-a Cola would be worth less. After that, production would halt and the supply would deteriorate." "What would happen after that? Wouldn’t the prices rise again if that happened? There’s such thing as market equilibrium. I mean sure, if production stopped altogether, yeah, prices would continuously rise. Hey Air Wiff, can I put on 92.5?" "Oh, is one of Dry Stone’s songs playing on there right now?" Air Wiff surfs through 92.5, which is nothing but static. "None." "91.2." Air Wiff tunes into 91.2, which is also nothing but static. "None." "Anything FM?" "None." "Oh, for the love of- Any AM?" "The whitewatch only does FM." "Crap." "Does yours have any songs on it offline? Ones already recorded off the radio?" "Actually, yeah. There’s Flowing, Open Hooves, Found, and Maybe Another World. That’s it. Yours?" Aura Draft asks. "Actually, I found Homely Abode, Found, Flowing and Minors." "Play Found. I think I remember hearing that song once or twice." "Okay."
The Dangerous Spell"Whoa, are we here already? We only listened to four songs!" Air Wiff lands on the edge of Cloudsdale, leading Aiura Draft to land right next to her. "I know, but the whitewatch has to stop the audio." "So, what do you want to do with that hovercraft of yours?" "I’ll just leave it here. There are only nine ponies in Equestria, two of which we’re about to see and are the only other ponies here in Cloudsdale. I’m not worried about it disappearing." "I see where you’re coming from." "I mean, sure it’ll be convenient to take it with me without actually having to carry it. But not much of a point now besides that." "What’re you talking about when you say 'without actually having to carry it'?" Aura Draft raises her non-dominant hoof. "So, you’re telling me that that whitewatch could actually store that hovercraft into such a tiny space?" "Yes." "But how’s that even possible?!? There would have to be some spell that changes the size of each part to fit in there, not to mention it would be extremely heavy afterwards! It’d be practically unwearable!" "See for yourself." At that moment, Aura Draft lights her horn to command the whitewatch to not only disassemble the hover car, but store its parts into the whitewatch. However, the power of such a command spell is too much for Aura Draft’s horn to handle, leaving her panting. "I’m gonna need some help with this." "Okay. I think I should be able to help." Air Wiff attempts to start the command spell that Aura Draft started but failed to cast. After a little bit, her horn starts to get painful. "My horn. Ah. Ah!!" The cries in pain turn into screams. "Air Wiff, stop!" "I CAN’T!!!" Air Wiff loses control of her horn, which is still performing the spell. A few seconds after and Air Wiff’s horn fires at her whitewatch. Suddenly, the hover car starts breaking apart before Aura Draft’s very eyes; the parts shrink at near perfect sync with each other. A compartment in the whitewatch opens, vacuuming the shrunken parts of the former hover car. Before any piece can get into the compartment, Aura Draft quickly takes it off Air Wiff. Where it floats is where the compartment built in the whitewatch fills with the parts of the hover car. Afterwards, Air Wiff faints from the intense pain her horn went through. "Air Wiff!!!" Snow Flake, Cool Aid and Hut all have shocked expression on their faces when seeing a near explosion. "What the?!?" "What the bloody hell is that?!?" "For all I know it could be an alicorn. Should I contact Aura Draft to see what it was?" Cool Aid nods. "Definitely." "Who do you want to contact?" Snow Flake's whitewatch asks. "Aura Draft." "Okay, we have one result. No. 1: Aura Draft." "Number one." Before any audio comes out of the whitewatch, Snow Flake intercepts the queue and changes it to the sound effect that plays when the whitewatch asks who Snow Flake wants to talk to. "Call." "Calling..." "Yes?" "Aura Draft, did you see that light out in the distance?" "Yes. I was right in front of it. Meet me over at the edge of Cloudsdale. I would’ve said look for a hovercraft, but it’s gone now." "What? Did somepony steal your vehicle?" "Um, no. It’s gone because of that light." "Okay, we’ll be over right away." Snow Flake turns off the video feed and turns to Cool Aid. "We have to get there right now. Aura Draft was with Air Wiff, so only she knows what happened?" "Good! I’m glad you’re here!" "So, where’s Air Wiff?" Snow Flake asks. "She’s right behind me." "Wait, is she unconscious?!?" Cool Aid nods at Snow Flake. "Yeah she is!" "I can explain. I failed to start a spell to store the hovercraft into my whitewatch, so Air Wiff decided to do it with hers, but while it was successful, it knocked her unconscious." "Then we have to get her to the Changico City Hospital; it’s the best and closest one she could get." Snow Flake flies over to pick Air Wiff up in one area. Aura Draft nods. "Okay, let me call Queen Shell, then." "Who do you want to contact?" "Shell." "Okay, we have two results. No. 1: Shelter... and... No. 2: Shell." "Number 2... Yes." "shell@politics is saved for 60 days." "Call." "Calling..." "Aura Draft? What are you doing in Cloudsdale?" "I need you to get Air Wiff to the Changico City Hospital." "Okay. I will be right over."
HospitalAir Wiff lays in the hospital bed, stirring and beginning a low groan. "Look! She’s waking up!" Tingle Doo shushes Reprise. "Air Wiff?" "Dry Stone?" Reprise gets into the conversation without consent. "There’s also me, Tingle Doo, Snow Flake, Mud Stick and the rest of your friends." "What happened to you that got you in such condition?" "Magic," Aura Draft states almost gothically. Everyone else, with the exception of Air Wiff, Snow Flake and Cool Aid, gasps. "Whoa. What spell did you c-" Dry Stone begins. "Storage. But, how did I get here?" "I got you over here about a month ago. It only took a few seconds just to get back to Changico." "Without Shell here, you may’ve been a goner." "And without that spell I attempted to cast, you still might’ve had your hovercraft and I might’ve been able to..." Aura Draft and Air Wiff from that point perfectly sync each other's speech. "...stay in Cloudsdale." "Well, we’ve had your soda stored for you, but it’s gotten flat," Cool Aid announces. "No problem with us. Snow Flake, can I see the bottle of Peace-a Cola? Okay. Now, let’s get this in here... and... Aha!! Got it. Hey! You got cups in the house?!?" A nurse comes in with an annoyed expression and shushes Aura Draft. And then she leaves. "I'm on it." Queen Shell summons two cups for Aura Draft and Air Wiff. "There you are you two. Bottoms up?" Aura Draft levitates the two cups and gives one to Air Wiff. Both look at each other, one of which, anyone could guess who, looks back at Queen Shell afterwards. "Bottoms up." Cool Aid walks up to Air Wiff. "So, I suppose not much was done with the Cloudsdale Project." "I’m afraid not." "Well, don’t worry about cleaning up Equestria. We and the yaks will clean up the land," Hut says. Queen Shell comes up to Air Wiff now. "And I’ve come up with a project of my own." "Your own? And what’s that?" "That I can’t tell you. But it’ll be necessary to rejuvenate the land." "I won’t tell anypony." "Okay. But just this once..." Air Wiff listens in on Queen Shell's plan with reactions in between the gaps. "...Hmm... oh... that would be much better... oh... mhm..." Suddenly something barely audible comes out of Queen Shell's whisper that sounds like "congratulations for the next nine months". Air Wiff gasps. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Shell!!" "Pleasure’s all mine." "Thanks, I wouldn’t have made it this far without you guys." "Air Wiff, you owe a lot more to Shell than all the other changelings you’ve met combined for how far you’ve come." "Wrench has a point. If I had not taken the throne, I wouldn’t have sent the nine changelings to you ponies, one of which took charge of the others while they were in former Equestria." "Hey Aura Draft, you can drink it straight from the bottle. I’m not going to have any." "There’s some bad news however. The Changico National Debt has quintupled because some potions were never returned to Zebramala. And it wasn’t even paid for. I won’t be available for the next five days because I have to prepare to meet with Princess Ajabu." "Oh, yeah. The shodasa. I had to get some of that to help Air Wiff clean the clouds of Cloudsdale," Snow Flake says to herself. "What was that, my little pony?" "Air Wiff requested Snow Flake and Cool Aid to get a chemical from Zebramala, apparently it’s named shodasa, to clean Cloudsdale of the remains contained in it," Hut clarifies. "Snow Flake, you could have just gone to me. I would have been more than happy to get it for you if you just asked. That way, the debt would not have quintupled. I may be very busy but I will have time for each and every changeling and pony." "I’m sorry Queen Shell. I understand your anger." "Just try and make sure that does not happen again. May I be with you." "Thank you." Air Wiff spends the next two weeks in the hospital. And in that time, Queen Shell has contacted Prince Rok about her plans of collaborating with the yaks to expand their countries to form a new border in replacement of the previous two. While the yaks have agreed, they are still too cautious to map out their half of the border. Still, it is a step in the correct direction.
Epilogue: Family of Two"Air Wiff, if you see this, Congratulations" ...from Aura Draft. "Congratulations, Air Wiff" ...from Dry Stone. "Hadn’t seen you in awhile, Air Wiff. I heard what happened. So, congrats" ...from Oak Quilt. "Congrats" ...from Mud Stick. "Congratulations" ...from Tingle Doo. "Congrats, Air Wiff, and Happy Nightmare Night" ...from Reprise. "Air Wiff, Happy Nightmare Night. I wish you the best with your family. Congratulations" ...from Snow Flake. "You have a cool family now, Air Wiff. Congratulations" ...from Cool Aid. "Air Wiff, I just wanted to say, congrats" ...from Hut. "Congratulations, Air Wiff" ...from Wrench. "Air Wiff, I hope you’re watching this. Congratulations on your family" ...from Jig. "Hey Air Wiff. Congratulations on what happened last night" ...from Lean. "Hadn’t seen you in a long time, but I’ve heard what happened last night. So, Congrats Air Wiff" ...from Node. "Air Wiff, Congrats on the new family" ...from Rep. "Hey Air Wiff. It’s amazing you’ve come this far. Congrats" ...from Map. "Congratulations" ...from Loan and Will. "Air Wiff. I do owe quite a lot to you. And now, it’s time you owe a lot to your new foal. Congratulations" ...from Queen Shell of Changico. "Hey everyone. Nopony would’ve ever guessed this would happen so fast. Eleven months ago, Equestria used to exist, albeit completely abandoned, I used to be a pegasus, (don’t let Air Vent hear that after she starts talking) and I was the only one of my family. I think pony kind’s got a what, extra sixty years because of what happened? It’s amazing that it’s already been a year after the New Dust Ride." For the past ten months, former Equestria has vanished with the expansion of Yakyakistan and Changico. Yakyakistan has warmed up to the idea of expansion when Changico started exporting some of their products to them and vice versa. All the while, Zebramala has started exporting shodasa in helping clean up the cities and rebuilding each one of them. Shodasa, having been used as a fertilizer locally is now used all across modern day North Changico and South Yakyakistan. This is a new era of which changelings and yaks are now common with pen pals alongside Zebramala. One that Air Vent, the brand new foal of Air Wiff’s, will be the first pony to live through from the start. And now, all seems is at last.
