Bags were packed, The Explorer was ready and the 6 human friends were waiting for their host to arrive. The wooden platform could barely hold the weight, as a few boards made cracking sounds. The 6 looked up, stopping their small talk as the sound of hooves on stone echoed trough the hallway. A purple pony stopped at the sight of the 6 looking at her.

"What are you all doing here?" Twilight asked as she walked to the group.

"We have to go. Our captain is gone so we don't have a job anymore." one of the 4 survivors of the destroyed S.S. Lavenda said.

"And we can start a new life now without him." Lian said as he grabbed Alia by the shoulder. She smiled at him, a rare thing to see.

"So, we are here to say goodbye." Zonita said as she picked up her bag with stuff. After the crash, the Explorer went back and forwards between the castle and the wreckage of the S.S. Lavenda to grab the stuff of the friends.

"Are you really going?" Twilight said, a sad face appearing.

"We still have family out there. And, we don't want to make survival harder for you then it already is." Rendall said as he grabbed his own stuff to.

"Besides, with the Explorer and the coördinates, we can come over anytime! I'm sure to bring some proper food and a few souvenires with us." Alia said as she hugged Twilight before taking her own bag.

"We have agreed to keep you a secret, so no one can take adventage of you." Torkin said, grabbing a special holo-pad from his bag. He handed it over to Twilight before taking another one out and giving it to Lian. " With these we can stay in contact. For you Twilight I've added a tutorial on how to use these." Torkin tapped the holo-pad Twilight was holding and a hologram of a paper appeared, a small tutorial written down.

"Thanks! I'm deffinatly going to use it." Twilight said as she tapped on the pad to scroll down the tutorial.

"Well then, this is goodbye." Lian said as Alia and the rest got on board.

"Yeah, see you soon, hé." Twilight said, a smile on her face and a few tears rolling down. It felt like she lost even more friends.

"Hey, cheer up! We ARE going to come back soon! I was already thinking about dropping by during a week of work!" Lian said before hugging Twilight and walking up and in the Explorer. The vessel's engines fired up and the small ship sank down, dissapearing underneath the water. It rushed away from the castle, Alia looking back one last time before looking in her bag. She took out a small video-camera, revealing pictures of the group inside the castle's rooms, one of the group during Rendall and his friends their recovery, another one of the ponies they met during their 4 days long stay. One was of all the ponies and the 6 humans together for a group-picture, a last memory of their time with the Equestrians.

As the Explorer reached the surface, the hatch opened and Lian looked up, surprise hitting him and the rest hard. Above them, a large vessel of the Human Colonization Departement was flying through the air. they saw the supports of a floating city sticking out.

"I guess that they decided to build a floating city instead?" Rendall said as he grabbed a picture of the sight.

"That means that the castle is safe! No one dives that deep down if they build a floating city!" Alia said as she took a picture herself to.

"And, it's still flying. They aren't going to build it directly above the castle either." Lian said as he pointed at the engines firing up. The vessel moved away, dissapearing behind the horizon. The castle was safe. The ponies were safe, their secret was safe.

But one day, the 'was' will fall in account. Because not all secrets last forever.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading this short story, and yes, I am planning on making a sequel. So, stay tuned!

Untill then,,this is Lars Eversea 143 signing of from Base alfa! Have a nice day and remember, stay safe!

P.S.: The sci-fi is only small in this one, but it will reach higher levels in the next story, stay tuned!