Dreamscape of a Spoon

Chapters

Storm
Smile
Concrete
Her Sire
Family
Futile Waterfall
Evanescence
Nails and Glass

Storm

Urrgh… why won’t it work?

It was hot down in the boiler room of the mammoth ship. A large red stallion grimaced as he attempted to tighten a screw responsible for holding the steam tank together, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. This was the third time in as many days it had stopped working. He had replaced Engine Three once already. He didn’t want to have to do it again.

Consarn it! Cooperate already! You were only built five years ago!

He swished his blonde mane out of his face, groaned and returned to tightening the screw as his thoughts returned to the home he used to know. It had been eight years since he had left Sweet Apple Acres in the care of his younger twin sisters Applejack and Apple Bloom. Despite his enjoyment of the work on the farm, he had felt pulled away from the ranch in recent years. When he learned of an opportunity to be a mechanic on the ship Silver Spoon, he jumped at the chance. Though he proved to be useless at anything but the basics, about a year after arriving he quickly claimed the helm after the previous pegasus captain Cowardly Flight leapt off the airship and flew away when it entered into a major storm. He took command then, and soon had the entire ship running like clockwork to get everypony safely through it.

To be truthful, it surprised him. He had never been an organizer on the farm. He and his sister had always let Twilight Sparkle, the All-Pony Organizer of Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up celebrations, take over that role when they needed it. Yet when it came to the crew of fifty on this small steam-powered airship he was able to command them without much effort. Over the past seven years he had been captain not a single crew pony had abandoned him to work on a different ship. Sure, there were some he had to fire and a mutiny he had to quell, but through his kindness, honesty and hard work, the mutiny deflated before it got serious.

He chuckled to himself. Who would put a pegasus named Cowardly Flight as the captain of a ship, anyway?

Finishing that bolt, he moved to the next, the last on the line before the crimson stallion gave his number one assistant Colgate the signal to start Engine Three back up.

He had also gotten into his employer’s good books a number of times with the gentlemanly treatment of his daughter. He saw no need for reward - it was simply what should be done around a mare of such class as Silver Spoon, the silver-toned matriarch namesake of the ship. After all, she had been born in the same village as he, and just three years later, no less. He had garnered some status with the family. It seemed only natural for Baggin Bitts, the father of the stately mare, that he had hired someone he trusted to guard his daughter. By extension, Big Macintosh had given his foal-hood best friend Minuette “Colgate” Whiteshine the job of second-in-command. The feisty light blue mare with a contrasting two-tone sea blue and blue-white shaded mane and tail was always his go-to for any assistance he needed. Despite the crew’s initial reservations, “Coalie”, as the crew had nicknamed her, had grown to become a respectable leader in her own right and held almost as much respect as Big Mac, who the crew often called “Captain Mac” and who had been assigned the code-name “Sparrow” when he was first on the ship.

Big Macintosh finished his work on the engine.

“How’s it look over there, Coalie?” he called over to the mare with the toothpaste mane.

She ran over to the other side. She inspected the bolts for any defects, then ran around again and gave him a hoof-up. “All clear, Captain Mac!”

Colgate walked around to the other side of the steam engine, one of six. She trotted to the control booth with Big Macintosh and stood alongside him as he stepped up to the panel. Flashing buttons, a couple small wheels and six identical gauges representing the status of each engine covered the surface of the panel.

Big Mac winced. “I don’t like the look of Number Six.”

“It’s not bad,” Colgate commented, “but it’s not good, either. Could be a lot better.”

“I’d much prefer the pressure closer to fifty kilotons, instead of twenty-three,” Big Mac said in his slow drawl, tapping the meter at two points. “We’re gonna hafta check that one out tomorrow. For now, let’s start Number Three and take Number Six offline.”

So they did just that. A clank, clack, and clutter started the third engine, which reduced to a hissing and whirring in short order. Slowly, pressure began to build in the tank. When Number Three got up to fifty kilotons, which took a little over four minutes, they shut down Number Six. Just as they did, a message splashed over the P.A. system…

“Sparrow to chief’s quarters… Sparrow to chief’s quarters…”

“Looks like the li’l lady wants to see ya again,” Colgate said with a wink a nudge. “Go get ‘er, tiger!”

Big Mac glared in good fun at her, then chuckled. “Ya know there ain’t anythin’ serious goin’ on between us.”

Colgate closed an eye and playfully stuck her tongue out. “I’ve seen the way you look at her, Cap’n Mac… come on! Just give it a shot.”

One could never truly tell when Big Mac blushed. The crimson already on his cheeks did a good job of hiding his state. Colgate on the other hand knew the signs. His cheeks did change, but it was to an almost unnoticeable ever-so-slightly deeper shade of red, and he seemed to slink back slightly. He shook his head and glared at his friend.

She chuckled. “Mackie, you’re too easy…”

Big Mac snorted disapprovingly, then chuckled with his toothpaste-coloured friend as he walked off to meet up with the namesake of the ship.

On the other side of the large cruiser, a silver mare lounged in her bed, reading a book. The Earth pony’s family was one of the wealthiest in all Equestria. They owned the Spoonship Corporation, Equestria’s single largest fleet of shipping vessels and the only company in the land to hold a contract with the Royal Sisters. They had held this position for four generations, dating back almost five hundred years to her ancestor Plastic Spoon, who first established the company and fought through the early years of steam technology and a hotly-competitive marketplace. A few lucrative business deals and certain specific competitors’ unfortunate accidents over successive generations, some truly accidental, others resulting from Plastic’s successors’ less-than-graceful business tactics, led to Spoonship developing a reputation as the most reliable steamship service in the world. Eventually her father landed the shipping contract with Equestria’s princesses, which more than tripled their fortunes, both family and corporate, over just four years.

The heiress to the empire put the book down and tapped its cover. Oh, where is that lovable brute?

Suddenly, something caught her eye. Her head flashed left to look out a large window leading out to her private deck. She thought she saw a tail disappear from her patio, but she couldn’t be sure. She giggled.

Probably just one of the deck hands, she thought. Sometimes those of pegasus persuasion wash the windows that way. Strange folk, they are.

She returned to reading just as a knock came on her door.

“Captain Mac?” she called. “Come in.”

The door opened, but it wasn’t Captain Mac. A tan mare with black hair buried under a black cloak stepped in, flanked and buttressed by three ponies in similar attire and obscured faces. The one at the back had dropped his/her head in shame. Silver Spoon shrieked.

“Who are you?” she asked, terrified.

The other Earth pony mare clicked her hoof against the floor. Instantly, the two guards to her sides leapt for the silver mare and restrained their target. Quickly, they strapped Silver’s mouth shut with a bandanna, choking and muffling her screams. The commander glared at the silver mare with violent violet eyes, a dark smirk creasing her cheeks.

With a slight British accent she whispered, “Your father will pay a handsome ransom for your return. This is going to be… fun…”

She scribbled a note and had the assistant standing at the entrance to the home magically tack it to the bed frame. She exited the abode. Her guards dragged a muffled, struggling, groaning, screaming Silver Spoon out of the room and leapt over the edge of the ship, spreading their golden wings and catching air. Her assistant hesitated at the height.

“Come on, Rarity... you know why you’re here, and you know why you have to do as I say.” The cloaked, tan mare shot a sharp glare at her partner. “Now, jump and catch me - Now!”

The cloaked unicorn whimpered incomprehensibly. She leapt over the edge, unfurling large, white mechanical wings with an unnatural cry of pain. Her master followed, landing hard on her slave’s back and making Rarity wince with the soreness and strain.

Her task completed, the tan Earth pony and her three cohorts disappeared into the shadows below the airship with her prize in tow.

Five minutes later, Big Macintosh approached the cabin where their employer’s daughter rested. He noticed the door was open.

That’s odd for Miss Silver… he thought.

He went through a list of possible reasons. The night watch wasn’t scheduled for another ten minutes, so she wouldn’t be having her pre-bed tea. She always read during this time, so the door should’ve been closed. She wasn’t anywhere else on the ship – the crew would’ve known the second she stepped out of her door. She definitely didn’t have a special somepony, so she wasn’t hosting anyone. She never ate this close to her bed time, so she couldn’t have gone for a snack…

So what was it?

He developed a heavy cannonball in his gut. He bolted for her room and bashed the door away, knocking it off his hinges just as thunder sounded.

It was exactly as he feared.

At first, he turned to walk out. However, just as he did, something attached to the bed frame caught his eye. He approached the plush bed, one he had never dared approach this closely before now. Baggin was always leery of strange stallions nearing his daughter’s bed. He had fired two previous captains to Cowardly Flight due to unwanted come-ons, and Captain Mac’s predecessor had no remote concept of courage with which to approach the mare. Big Macintosh knew this wasn’t like those instances, and Mister Bitts knew he wasn’t that kind of stallion.
When he pulled the note from the head board, he read it and gasped.

If you ever want to see your beloved daughter again, Baggin Bitts, contact me. You know who this is.
- Viola

Captain Macintosh frowned. In a fit of rage and panic, he punched a hole in the wall where the speaker system resided with a forehoof. The box still worked, even though it sparked thousands of times in electrical protest as he shouted his message into the microphone.

“Graystone has been herded! Repeat: Graystone has been herded! All hands to stations! The foalnappers can’t be far away!”

Instantly, the entire ship sprang into action. Ponies of all persuasions rushed to their battle stations amidst a torrent of rain and thunder. Six massive searchlights were switched on, two atop the ship two below, and one each to the bow and aft. They flashed around in a carefully-choreographed and methodical search as the ship slowed to a hover, its trio of massive upper blades on the fore- main- and mizzenmasts still spinning like a helicopter while the other blades provided balanced thrust. A fleeting break in the lower cloud bank revealed an expansive orchard of apple trees. Briefly peering over the edge of the deck to scan for further life within one of the glowing white circles of light, Big Macintosh determined they hovered above his old home of Sweet Apple Acres.

That was likely where the thieves had taken residence.

Barking some quick orders into the microphone and hooking his wireless headset from his tool belt to his face, he grabbed a rope and ran, leaping clear of the ship’s rail and swinging down to the earth below. The ship descended as he did, allowing for some impressive speed to build up for his planned upswing. The wind tore through his blonde mane, whipping his tail around like a filly to water down a water slide. As he came down on the underside of the boat, he saw the barn in plain view, within leaping distance and based on his trajectory, directly in his line of fire.

That’s a stroke o’ good luck if I ever did see, he thought.

He smiled as the momentum of his swing carried him down and then under the slowly-descending ship. He felt the G-forces carry him in a smooth arc towards the barn. At the height of his upswing, he let go and flung himself through thin air onto the roof of the barn. He prayed his sister would forgive him as his weight carried him down through the large, metal-roofed red shed and into a tall pile of hay. He was soon joined by his number one assistant Colgate, screaming her ever-living lungs out as she fell through the roof herself. She landed next to him.

“Tartarus’ colthood,” she swore, “You’re nuts, you know that?!”

Big Mac just chuckled as he recovered from the soft landing. A minute or two later, he joined his crew of about ten ponies outside in the pouring rain as they scoured Sweet Apple Acres for Silver Spoon and her captors. Teams of two frantically turned the farm upside down looking for their proprietor’s daughter, but to no avail. They met up at the base of their ship and reported to Big Macintosh, who growled.

“Horse apples…” he muttered. “Nothing.”

Colgate looked at her friend apprehensively. “You know we have to report this breach to Baggin in the morning, right?”

“Forget the mornin’. We’re doin’ it now,” Big Mac ordered. “Everypony back to the ship. We’ve got a hunt to organize.”

“Aye aye!” the crew hollered as one.

As they ascended ropes to the ship above, a frantic palomino Earth pony bolted up to the gathered party.

“What in tarnation’s goin’ on here?” she shouted.

She stopped when she saw the giant red stallion. Their eyes met and a big smile crossed her face.

“Big Mac!” she exclaimed. “How’ve ya been?”

He simply nodded and said, “Been better. Sorry, but I don’t have time to chat. We’re lookin’ for Silver Spoon. Care to tell us if you’ve seen ‘er or some other ponies around here ‘sides the usual townfolk?”

Suddenly, Applejack drew quiet. Big Macintosh knew something was up.

“What’s on your mind, sis?” he asked.

She gave him a weak smile. “Um, nothing…”

“You know where Silver is don’t you?” he asked.

“No!” she lied. “No, I have no idea… she’s not around these parts.” She bit her lip, hoping he would buy it.

Big Mac glared at her. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. Unfortunately, Applejack had always been and would forever be a terrible liar, and Big Mac knew it.

“You’re housin’ her captors, aren’t ya?” he demanded.

Applejack looked like she had been shot through the heart. “Big Mac, please… somethin’ happened while you were gone. Somethin’ big. Now we’re… we’re…” she sobbed.

His harsh countenance softened. Colgate looked at his sister.

“Is Ponyville okay?” she asked.

Applejack shook her head furiously. “I can’t tell ya. I just… just c-can’t… Go… Go, while you still can… Please…” Her agonized panic turned into full-blown hysteria as she shouted, “Just leave!!!”

She shot off into the field, back in the direction she had just came from. Big Mac looked at her strangely. His sister had never been one to act in fear of anything, especially that strongly before. There also were strange glints on her back, and as she ran, they unfurled.

Wings.

She had wings.

“What in Celestia’s name happened here??” he demanded of the air.

Colgate frowned in confusion. A spit second later, a common thought passed between them and they both growled in synchronization.

“Land the ship,” Big Mac commanded. “Get the crew gathered. Send our fastest pegasus with the note to tell Baggin of his daughter’s disappearance and where we are. Organize a watch schedule and tell the others to get some rest. Tomorrow, we find out what happened here.”

His assistant took off while Captain Mac stood staunchly in the windswept rain of the apple farm, watching the path his sister had ran into the darkness. Something had shaken the palomino apple pony to the core. Nothing ever did that. He had to be here now. He had to figure out what had happened. He had to help his employer, his friends, and his family.

But most of all, he had to stop it from continuing… especially if it was going to affect Silver Spoon.

A couple lightning strikes flashed, followed by the roll of thunder. Big Mac turned tail for his ship with a sigh.

Applejack… I’m sorry. I’ll fix this. He glared into the sky.

For all of us.

Smile

The rain continued into the next morning as teams of two were sent out from the ship on steady, two-hour rotations to search for the missing mare. However, each team that passed through the town returned empty-hooved and reporting of high levels of fear amongst the citizens.

Big Macintosh hadn’t slept for most of the night. He tossed and turned, royally ticked that he had let her slip through his hooves. He wanted to find her and bring her back, but he had to deliver the report to his boss first before he could do anything. The pegasus team that had flown together overnight to deliver the update had arrived just before dawn this morning with a report that Baggin Bitts would be arriving towards evening to address the captain he had called “an irresponsible flank hole”, despite his years of loyal service. An Apple had never been addressed in such a manner before, but then again, this was the most important businessman in Equestria.

It still bothered Macintosh to be referred to in such a manner.

He hoped he would be able to find her and give him a report that said he had found her. At least he would only have to endure some bereavement for wasting Baggin’s time, instead of the businesspony’s wrath for losing his filly. He hoped that Colgate was having a better time on the ground than his teams had.

It was nearing noon, and she was nearing the end of her patience. The three-shaded blue unicorn snorted. If it wasn’t ponies scared of talking to her, it was ponies scared of the wrath of two of the six former heroes of Equestria. Colgate had gotten glimpses of each of the famed Elements of Harmony, except for Rarity and Pinkie Pie, as she had passed through the village. Applejack was running away from darn well everything. Fluttershy was guarding the former library tree alongside Rainbow Dash. Both sported a pair of sweet shades and a small-caliber steam-powered handgun, and both eyed her unnervingly as she walked past.

Twilight Sparkle, however…

Colgate nearly tripped over her as she rounded a bend with her partner towards Fluttershy’s old place. She lay on the ground, battered, bruised and completely disoriented. A long cut wrote its way down her side from cheek to flank. Three shallow stripes laid waste to the other side of her neck. No less than eight bruises coloured her body – two on her other flank, one on her side, three on her face, the black eye notwithstanding, and the others running the gauntlet of the rest of her body.

“Sweet Celestia! This one’s hurt! Don’t worry, we’ll get you well. Skyfire!”

Her pegasus partner stood at attention, his deep blue hair waving in the wind. “Yes, Coalie!”

“Gather this one up and take her back to our ship. See to it that she’s well-rested and cleaned up,” she ordered as she levitated Twilight’s battered form onto the back of the large pale pink stallion. “We need her alive. Do everything you can for her… and for Celestia’s sake, don’t buck this up!”

As her partner took off, she tapped her headset. “This is Pasty. Repeat, this is Pasty. No information on Graystone. However, I found a Harmony Unicorn who could be of help. She’s got a trio of jimmy lines on her neck and one sweet red cord on her side. She needs all the help we can give ‘er. Comet’s heading back with the goods.”

Through her earpiece, she heard a high-pitched, melodic voice answer her call. “Inbound Comet with Harmony Unicorn in tow. The H.U. has three jimmy lines and one sweet red cord. Ten-four, Pasty – Sweet Sticks reads ya loud and clear.”

With that confirmed, Colgate stirred up the all-access frequency that the Silver Spoon’s crew worked on.

“Saucer’s crew, check in!”

Slowly, replies came back over the speaker.

“Saucer One all clear.”

“Saucer Two all clear.”

Similarly, each of the nine teams of two on the ground checked in… except Team Four and Team Ten. Colgate and Skyfire were Team Ten, so they didn’t need to, but a worried look crossed over her face as Team Four failed to reply.

“Alright, that’s One through Three and Five through Ten… Saucer Four, do you read me?”

No response.

“Saucer Four! Are you there?”

Again, no response.

“Anypony seen Saucer Four?”

“This is Confounded… they last disappeared into the Everfree Forest,” another of her colleagues replied. “My partner Echo Tree and I saw them enter the forest at a gallop and vanish.”

Colgate facehoofed. “I shoulda known better than to send a stallion with a mare in heat… Okay, Saucers Two, Three and Five, meet me by Sugarcube Corner. We’ll go look for Four. The rest of you, head back to the Saucer to debrief with Sparrow.”

A trio of “Ten-four” calls were made over the secured open frequency.

Colgate bolted back over to Sugarcube Corner to meet up with her friends. She could feel the air thicken – something was going to go down, and she didn’t like it. She had never had much of a taste for violence. She would rather help someone with dental problems than create more work for herself. She knew how to hold her own, however, from a small stint on a pirate ship a few years back when she and Sparrow had a brief falling-out.

Well, the so-called “falling-out” was actually a ruse to get the Silver Spoon out of a tight spot.

She played double agent for a few days, earning Big Macintosh trust on both sides of the tense conflict while slowly degrading the reputation of the pirate captain. However, she was caught one day telling ship secrets to her stallion buddy, which erupted into a battle of epic proportions.

That battle solidified Captain Mac’s hold on the ship. It quashed a mutiny that had begun to build, and in fact had added to their ranks because of how Colgate had played double agent. She had delicately weeded out who was loyal and who was not, telling those who weren’t loyal to their current captains nothing but honest truths, and spilling lies to those who were for their opponent. In this, she built loyalty where there was none, and stripped them bare where there once was nothing else. Doing so, she had not only weeded out the anti-Macs, she had also created a fully-workable, functional, and amiable crew.

Sparrow and Pasty… Yes, they had grown into formidable legends among airship captains. Few pirates dared to attack the Silver Spoon anymore, purely due to their reputations. That was likely why they were being paid nearly twice as many bits as any other captaincy pair on the air – Baggin Bitts wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

She stopped in front of the confectionery. As she finished the thought, the other teams joined with her. She had three pegasi, two unicorns (including herself), and two Earth ponies to work with. Surveying her team and already dividing them up based on skill, she smiled.

“Okay. You, Earth Pony Quakewalk.” A freckle-faced pale yellow-brown pony stood at attention. “You take a unicorn and a pegasus. I’ll take the rest.”

“Gotcha,” the pony said.

The teams quickly sequestered themselves and moved towards the Everfree. In a few minutes, they entered into the thick brush. They walked slowly, keeping an eye out for their companions. Soon they came to a fork in the road that led five different ways.

“Oh geez…” a pastel pink unicorn groaned. “As if we haven’t lost enough ponies already…”

Colgate threw an annoyed look at her.

“All ya gotta do is take a cup of friendship…”

The seven ponies jumped at the sudden, mysterious sing-songy voice. Colgate swore she remembered that voice from somewhere. They listened further, but no sonic traces could be heard beyond a slight sad whimpering chuckle. They slowly proceeded down the middle path, heading straight forward. A few minutes later, they heard the snapping of twigs and another little sob.

“Stop.”

The order from the small black-and-red pegasus colt froze everyone cold. They stopped and listened for something – anything – that would direct them. All they heard was the rustling of leaves.

“Celestia dammit…” Colgate muttered before she turned her voice to eleven. “We know you’re out there! Whoever you are, speak up now!”

“All ya gotta do is take a cup of friendsh-”

The same voice, interrupted by another sob.

“This way!”

The same colt bolted ahead of the party in the direction of the song. Each of the exploration party followed. Colgate remembered going to school with the mare behind the voice, but she couldn’t remember her name. It wasn’t Pinkie Pie. No… this voice, although just as cheery, was deeper and held an air of ignorance one couldn’t easily forget.

“P… no, Tarp… Dink…” Colgate stammered, trying to remember her name. “Deer… Drink…”

As they ran, Colgate growled and howled into her headset, “Sparrow! That pony with the weird eye! Mailmare! Gray flank! What in Tartarus is her name!?”

“Derpy!” Big Mac’s voice rang clear over his headset. “Hurry up! Ya gotta find ‘em before-”

“No time for a reminder!” Colgate shouted exasperatedly, “I’m doing the best I can! Harmony Unicorn should know more, but we can get some information from Derpy for now!”

“Why would Derpy be in the Everfree, anyway?” the Captain asked. “She’s usually too scared to even think of venturing close to it.”

“A lot of things don’t add up, Mackie,” Colgate admitted as they rounded another bend. The same phrase from before repeated itself, as if the poor pony caught in its threshold had no will to say anything else. “For now, our two best leads are heading your way and somewhere deep in he-”

Her hoof caught on a stray root, sending her and the Earth pony Quakewalk following her crashing into the earth below. Both cursed loudly.

“Coalie! Are you okay?” Big Mac asked. “I’ll send the cavalry over if-”

“No need, Mac, just some stupid roots,” she interrupted. “And stop butting in. Coalie out until we learn more.”

She made a mental note to apologize for that one later as she got up and attempted to plunge deeper into the Forest with her crew, but her pace was slow. She had sprained a leg, which would hamper her progress significantly. The rest of her team looked at her concerned as she limped on, bearing her injured limb with a poker face that would fool her own mother.

They didn’t have far to go. In a couple minutes, they found themselves in a clearing. This clearing was devoid of any occupancy except a small fire, a gray pegasus with her back to the new arrivals, and a small, half-finished muffin lying idly on the ground. The poor mare was rocking back and forth, mumbling the same singular phrase over and over again. Beneath her hooves rested a body.

A pink body.

Colgate shuddered. “D-Derpy…”

The mare’s ears didn’t perk. She barely acknowledged their presence, except with a flap of her wings.

“Col…” she mumbled, emotionless and flat. “Colgate.”

A sniffle escaped the pegasus. The tri-blue mare tried to approach her, but was stopped by a yellow flash. Derpy’s head drooped and the mare lay down.

“What happened here?” Colgate asked.

Another sniffle. “You shouldn’t have come back for your friends…”

“Why?” she asked.

Derpy turned her head towards her former friend. Colgate tried to peer through the mare’s messy, unkempt and extremely long mane at her face, but she couldn’t. Derpy turned away, turning her head to the sky. The midafternoon sun felt wonderful on her body.

If only I could see it again… she thought before she sobbed. Tears ran down her face.

“Derpy?” Colgate asked. “Let me help.”

The pegasus stood and flared her wings before turning slowly toward Minuette. In her forelegs, she hugged a head… a head with a flattened pink mane and a shocked expression…

Pinkie Pie’s head, still connected to a body that no longer contained life.

“No!!” Colgate shrieked. “How in Celestia’s holy name did this happen!?”

Derpy’s eyes filled with tears. “Ask the one who calls herself Viola… the one who kidnapped Rarity… the one who kidnapped Silver Spoon… the one who…”

The gray pegasus furiously tossed her mane out of her face. As the wave of gold descended to one side, Colgate gasped.

“The one who took my sight!!”

Derpy’s eyes… her beautiful eyes were… gone…

The pegasus quickly covered her face again. “That’s why I can’t ever leave. I have to protect Pinkie. I have to protect Pinkie… I h-have… t-t-to…”

The pegasus curled into a ball around the dead body. “Momma’s here… Momma’s here… All ya gotta do is t-take a c-c-cup…”

Colgate pressed a hoof against whatever barrier this was and shed a tear for her innocent friend. Something was very wrong. She felt it deep in her core. Her soul shook with the pain of a lost hometown.

“Twilight knows everything,” she said. “I’m certain she can tell us all we need to know.”

As she walked away, Derpy looked back. She heard the hoof-prints shuffle into the night. It was then she remembered something.

“Colgate!” she shouted, petting the head of her dead friend.

Hearing her name, the pony turned and bolted back. She stood in front of the imprisoned pegasus once more.

“I have a message from the former Princesses Celestia and Luna,” she said. “Save yourself.”

“From what?” Colgate asked.

Derpy sobbed. “From Ponyville. From Equestria. From… her.”

“Who?”

Derpy swallowed and, for the first time in their meeting, dropped the head. She walked over to Colgate and eerily glared square into her eyes, the voids where Derpy’s should have been piercing even deeper into her soul than had ever happened before.

“From Octavia.”

Concrete

A tan Earth pony decorated with black mane and tail trotted down the long stone hallway where she kept her special toys along with her ever-loyal alabaster slave. She always enjoyed a spot of torture mixed with regret along with her wine. She could never accurately remember how it started, though it may have been her grandsire Full Harmonica’s influence. He would often tell of stories his grandsire Unsung Harmonics had told him about the early days of the steamship wars, of how the Spoonship Corporation and the Harmonic Shipping Company would battle it out in boardrooms, laboratories, and within each other to gain favour across Equestria. They had been chief rivals for almost four generations.

Even though Harmonic had first established the technology two generations prior, Princess Celestia back then had insisted the methods used would remain open for all to try, as a gesture of harmony. Over time, many challengers to Harmonic’s superiority would emerge. However, upstart Spoonship, though not the first to achieve considerable success, was the first that posed any real threat to her family’s corporation. They improved upon the original design so radically that their design quickly became the go-to for any further study. Harmonic had even adopted their design and begun incorporating it into their ships in an attempt to catch up.

They never really could. As soon as Harmonic would improve upon the research, Spoonship would be miles ahead with the next one. Within the last two generations, and over the last two decades in particular with her sire in charge, Harmonic had been relegated to a niche company, carving out small profits in things like specialized shipping services, and the occasional drug cartel carry. Of course, their fleet suffered as a result, and three times they were unable to keep up with orders due to disrepair. This mare had personally taken care of at least two of those to keep her father safe. When they finally lost the contract to the Royal House to Spoonship twelve years ago, however, even the cartels would pass them up for other, more efficient small-time vendors like the Las Pegasus Transport Company or the Seven Colours Expedition Corporation, led by Rainbow Dash’s twin cousins.

From then, insolvency was always just two months away.

The tan mare was furious for Spoonship for taking away her family’s right to live like they had. It was her inheritance that she had slowly watched dissolve away under their success. She had done well as an instrumentalist – First Chair cellist at the Royal Canterlot Symphony Orchestra had paid handsomely, if her home and this cellar stocked with wine enough to swim in had been any indication, the sales of her solo recordings notwithstanding – but she still wanted to bring the company down.

And it would start with her newest acquisition.

She quickly glanced at another door, one plastered with several parchments which displayed a silhouette of a butter-coloured pony with a red mane and pink bow, before continuing with a slight chuckle.

Tap.

The unicorn stallion walking around her in a circle was tapping a baseball bat on the ground, giving the silver mare a menacing look as he did. She was helpless, however, chained to a steel peg in the middle of the room two inches above and thirteen inches penetrating the ground. She was undamaged, though her mane and tail hadn’t seen the better side of any kind of grooming in two days.

“What do you want?” she asked the stallion.

He didn’t reply. He just tapped the bat as he circled the silver mare.

The room was cold. Comprised entirely of a large, hollow cube of concrete, the peg, a single bare bulb and an absolutely giant iron door, there was little comfort to be had. She noted she sat at the centre of a series of disorganized crates and barrels, most labelled with miscellaneous wine logos, but all bearing the word “malbec” somewhere. Whoever owned this room had an affinity for malbec wine that surpassed Fluttershy’s passion for animals almost to the point of obsession.

The silver mare shifted uncomfortably and looked back towards her rear. She was shackled to the pin by her gaskins, the upper part of her hind leg. Part of the discomfort came from the clamps she had on. They chafed badly against her hocks. The other part was that she had actually had somepony so close to her hindquarters to put the clasp on. Magic or not, she was a lady, and as such she did not want anyone back there without her permission.

Three quick clacks were heard. The one with the baseball bat turned to the door. He approached one of the large loops in the middle and, taking the handle in his magic, he opened the smaller door on the wall with a grunt. In stepped a tan Earth pony with black hair and a white collar with a small pink bow-tie, followed by a forlorn white unicorn with a spiked dog collar around her throat and a mud-caked long purple mane that looked like it had fallen flat years ago, and had last been styled at the turn of the previous century.

“Miss Spoon,” the tan mare said flatly, glaring at her with one of the most frighteningly intimidating stares one could muster.

Silver Spoon was no stranger to delivering her version, however, and retaliated in kind. “Miss Captor.”

“Wine,” the treble clef-flanked Earth pony ordered of her traveling companion. The glass was levitated to her so she could take a sip. Her attention returned to her captor as she smiled. The wine floated away. “You may call me Octavia Philharmonica. Would you like a glass?”

“I… don’t drink on this day of the week,” Silver Spoon sneered back. “What do you want of me?”

Octavia frowned, disappointed. “I was so certain you would be thirsty after your long time without any water…”

Come to think of it Silver was quite thirsty. She knew, however, that alcohol wasn’t what she needed. She needed water, and badly. Her throat was parched, on the verge of impeding her speech.

Her captor shuddered. “My employer wouldn’t like to see you die, though… at least, not yet. Battrap!”

The guard with the baseball bat trotted over. He had a matching cutie mark on his flanks.

“Go get our little silver filly here some water,” she cooed, touching Silver on the chin. The gray mare immediately flinched away. “She’s looking a little parched.” Octavia gave Silver a peck on the cheek.
Silver blushed, glaring daggers at her captor. Ladies should not be acting like that, unless she was…

“Don’t fool yourself, dear,” Octavia continued darkly, immediately sensing her victim’s conflicted mood. “I have no interest in… those kinds of affairs. Only those of your father are of interest to me. In fact…” she walked over to somewhere behind Silver Spoon. A slow, sad D-sharp note drew its way across a cello as Octavia began lovingly playing her favourite instrument. “In fact, I’d like some information from you.”

Silver Spoon tried looking back at her and struggled to leave the chains. However, Rarity choked back a tear and restrained the gray mare even further with magic. Silver glared at her, but Rarity, tears in her eyes, mouthed an “I’m sorry…” The gray mare, finally seeing her enslaved misery in full, recognized that she could have an ally in any escape plans she hatched almost instantly. This pony in front of her was exhausted, and wanted out. She mouthed back, “Let’s talk later” and winked, then replied to Octavia, “What would you like?” Hopefully she could stay in her captors’ good books until she got herself and this filthy alabaster mare out of wherever this was. The note stopped.

“Oh, just where his fortune’s stored, the secret to his machines, the contract with the Royal Sisters…” the cellist mumbled. “You know, the usual.”

Suddenly, a hard hoof-punch was felt on the back of her head. Her neck snapped forward. A mild case of whiplash reared itself as the strapped mare returned her head to its upright position. She winced at the strain.

“I aim to get it in any way I can,” Miss Philharmonica said, “and I will not be denied by some two-bit plans of escape. Rarity!”

The unicorn turned her attention to her master and growled intensely. “I am not a dog to…”

THWACK! With a single strike of a baseball bat, Rarity collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“Next time, come, and don’t speak,” Octavia demanded, irritated. “You know Battrap hates dissenters!”

The stallion saluted the tan mare. Silver swallowed nervously as her bat-tapping room compatriot eyed her once again, this time with a cocky, creepy smile. Octavia noted her discomfort and chuckled again.

“Be glad he is only walking around you, tapping his bat,” she said, taking a sip of her wine. “I could let him do… more… to you.” She winked. “But… I do not think your father would be terribly happy with me. Neither would mine for that matter. Force my hand, however…”

At her signal, the unicorn stallion slowly lifted the bat and wrapped its tip sensually with his tongue. He spent a couple minutes in uncomfortable lip-lock with his beloved bat before suddenly swinging it down upon Silver Spoon with a loud grunt. The mare yelped and with astonishing speed leapt out of the way, stretching her shackles to their outermost limit and testing the depths of the pin she was strapped to with the pounce. The hickory stick barely missed her, succumbed to the cement, created a loud, echoing crack, and splintered into a thousand pieces. A few shards caressed Silver Spoon’s flesh, creating minor nicks and a couple shallow slivers. One grazed her face. A large shard bruised her flank. As the pieces of the once-whole weapon settled on the cold stone floor, Octavia cruelly smiled at the cowering form of the quivering silver mare before her. She leaned into the quavering being and chuckled.

“You get the idea, Miss Silver,” she cooed viciously. “I hope you keep that swing in your mind for a very, very long time.”

Octavia left the room with a chuckle after that. Battrap loaded Rarity onto his back and joined his mistress as they exited. Just as the doors creaked to close, Octavia stuck her head in again.

“Oh, Silver, dearie…” she said.

A murky bowl of water slid towards the shackled pony, along with a half-eaten, rotten apple floating inside.

“A gift from the Apple family’s youngest,” she crowed. “Battrap’s off to see her now.”

With a flourish and a laugh, Octavia exited stage door. The loud clattering of the internal structure told Silver they had left. She took a deep breath, flinching again as the events of the previous hour or so hit her. The lick… the cocky smile… the swing… the shattering… She had almost been struck.

Her! Silver Spoon! Almost struck! By a baseball bat, of all things!

She shivered for the better part of the next fifteen minutes, releasing in no small measure tears of fear. She finally understood those who had said they saw their entire life flash before her eyes, but for her, it had been just one pony. A single stallion. Just one stallion had passed over her vision.
Her loyal Captain, Big Macintosh.

Why had her thoughts drifted only to him in her time of need? She had never viewed him as anything more than a simple ship’s captain and a friend to whom she had grown to be able to bring her troubles to whenever she wanted. Yet, she couldn’t stop her mind’s eye from bringing him up.

Intermediately, she reached for the bowl. Her tears slowly dried as she brought the water to herself and began drinking the foul substance. She made a sour face, expressing her displeasure at the status of her offered beverage, but offered no further objection as the embittered liquid satiated the desert that was her mouth and throat. Her thoughts continued.

She recalled their first meeting, a rather haphazard one at that. It had been after she had first attempted to help on the farm alongside Applejack, her only friend at the time. Her sheltered upbringing rarely afforded her the opportunity to make acquaintances. At times, she had almost felt it would have been better to be born around the same time as the palomino’s kid sister Apple Bloom, as if she should have been born with them, rather than in the same year as Applejack or somethi-

She quickly shook her head to return her scattered mind to her original path of thought as she took a half-hearted, pretentious bite of the foodstuff. Her face briefly registered complete disgust. Under normal circumstances, this apple on look alone would have wound up in the trash. Even though it was clearly the worst she had ever tasted, her hunger overtook her other senses and she forcefully choked down the rest as she distracted herself with further memories.

Silver Spoon found herself apple-bucking with young Applejack one day, shortly after her return from Manehattan, and quite literally wound up bucking her brother in the face, mistaking him for an apple tree. Startled, both of them flinched back. When their eyes connected, when his pale grays connected with her violets, something was born between them, a loyalty that ran deeper than the roots of the trees they bucked. It wasn’t love. No, they were still too naïve at the time to grasp the full concept, but it was certainly something different, something they had not experienced before.

From that day, Big Macintosh and Silver Spoon would spend a lot of time together, which eventually led to the stallion leaving the farm and joining up with the crew and all the subsequent events. At first, Applejack was a little jealous, but eventually she accepted this change and in fact not only encouraged it but assisted in its growth when she could. Even when Big Mac left and it meant getting more help on the farm, after a week of blowing all her energy to try to care for it herself, of course, she was surprisingly supportive whenever they were in town. Of course, both would return to help when they could, and Applejack would always have an open ear for their adventures, and theirs open for hers, since she had become the Element of Honesty three years ago.

Had it become more than that, though? Could she really bring… that… to his mind? Could she ask him if he…? Maybe… just maybe…

A newfound foal of hope emerged. She looked up at the lone light bulb on the roof and prayed wih all her heart… Captain Macintosh, please… Please find me…

Her Sire

Her Sire

“What?!”

A loud crash thundered in the room as a tankard crashed into a table, spilling its’ airborne fermented apple contents all over the table. Every pony in the room twitched violently in shock at the suddenness of the sound.

“Octavia Philharmonica’s controlling this area,” Colgate reported. “I got the information from a blind mare named Derpy Hooves. She was trapped in a force field in the middle of the Everfree. We still don’t know where your daughter is, though from what Derpy said it would be likely she took Silver.”

A rather short, overweight silver stallion with a stark-white mane grimaced with a snort as he glared at the shamed captain and his assistant. He couldn’t decide how to punish them. They had never lost her before, and he had counted on them to ensure that this would never occur. He knew how much this crew respected their leadership too, so if he fired them he would likely have to acquire a whole new team, which at today’s hiring rates would cost more in effort than to keep this one. He swiveled where he stood, facing outside towards the fields, thinking about his daughter and her situation.

The silence in the room was unnerving to the two ponies that were the focal point of the previous conversation. Nestled in the captain’s chambers, a luxurious mixture of cedar panels, sweeping red and white tapestries, and golden filigrees winding their way into every nook and cranny, the seven ponies that now occupied the space had made themselves comfortable, save for Big Macintosh and Colgate. Standing in the middle of the room, they were shuffling about nervously.

Colgate, most of all, couldn’t stand still. She needed to be on the move. This was taking far too long, but she couldn’t do anything about it without appearing anxious or suspicious… at least, more than she felt she was being at the moment. She had failed on her mission, and she knew it. Why didn’t he just spit it out and get their firings over with? This mare of action wanted to do something, anything but stand and be intensely grilled with piles of questions for the next seventy-two hours…

Thankfully, Big Macintosh’s poker-faced, almost-dull seriousness was tempering his friend a little. He noted her shuffling. Despite his outward appearance, he was just as nervous as she. He knew Baggin could be quite ruthless. He had been on the receiving end of more than one of his tirades, once when Silver Spoon complained about the dishes not being clean enough, another when he had to replace Engine Three the first time, and a third when he himself brought up the issue of his shipmates’ pay. He almost lost their promised raise before Silver herself had come in to help him out. Now, however, his girl was missing. Captain Mac knew there would be a reckoning, but to what kind of end he didn’t know.

Both ponies, the larger ruby stallion and the smaller soft blue unicorn, expected a screaming, ranting, raving overstuffed boss spitting out random flecks of food in anger. Both were prepared to go and look at different lines of work when the day was over. Horse apples, both had pooled enough money to purchase their own ship and start their own firm, about forty thousand-odd bits all told, should things go south with their current job. They knew trying to claim a share of the shipping pie from Spoonship, its chief rival Skytrade Corporation, and the third-largest shipping firm Griffin Air, a subsidiary of the utterly monolith international corporate conglomerate and popular soft drink manufacturer Colta-Cola, would be difficult, but both had observed product holes in all shipping companies that could be easily exploited with enough time and money. Baggin himself, in moments of uncharacteristic generosity, had offered a time or two to help them start up their firm as specialty divisions of Spoonship, but they had declined.

But none of these plans were needed yet. Baggin surprised them both.

“Normally, I would skin my captains alive for what happened,” he said. “But, Mac, I know you. I’ve known you ever since you were a little colt. I know you won’t rest until you get her back. You did it once before, when you were playing hide-and-seek and rescued her from an Everfree waterfall a mile high, nearly at the cost of your own life. You paid for it with three weeks in the hospital.”

“As Faust as my witness,” the captain declared adamantly.

“She doesn’t remember that day, but I do, so thank you again.”

“‘Tweren’t nothin’, sir. I’d give my soul to Tartarus for a fine mare like that.”

“That’s good to hear.” Baggin turned to face them. “We’ll need to work together on this one. I know the Philharmonica family history and all the problems Spoonship’s had with them in the past, so I know we’re dealing with a cunning enemy here. They’re fighting tooth and nail to stay in the game, so they’re taking any contract they can with any crew they can to earn some income. That means you’ll likely have to go up against some of the most ruthless pirates to cross our skies.”

Big Macintosh looked at him skeptically. He had never known Baggin Bitts to work so closely with a captain before. Then again, now that he had thought about it, there had never really been a need.

“The reason why I’m asking for your help and not just firing you is quite simple,” Baggin continued. “You are my two most loyal captains, and you have the only crew in my whole fleet that I can trust not to turn over our top technology to our competitors for a bribe. Use that loyalty to your advantage, should you run into any of her crews. Oh, and take these.”

A few clops were heard. As he turned, one of the guards by the door, a very bland, generic pony with no exceptionally identifiable traits except the pitch-black, high-society tuxedo he wore, held out a small bracelet to Big Mac. It was large enough to fit around the cannon of his foreleg with a stretchy band.

“Our latest invention – the Hoofdrive,” Baggin Bitts declared proudly. “Stores everything you ever need in convenient, light leaves among other things. The Equestrian military already uses them. The first civilian models will ship to stores next year. You get first crack at next year’s military issue model – the L3-37b. I want you guys to put it through its paces. Don’t worry – anything technical that goes will be logged and repaired in real-time.”

As Baggin continued, Colgate popped it open and began fiddling with the new piece of equipment she held, keeping track of Baggin’s descriptions to the letter. “It contains your I.D., a twenty-item storage space, a money tracker, the ability to ‘stack’ up to ninety-nine ‘leaves’ of a similar type, a notepad, a clock, and several other features I’ll let you figure out. It should also be tuned into the frequency of your current headsets. You’re still using those Pony j9 models, right?”

“Yup.” Colgate smiled and nodded. “I’m gonna like this thing,” she said of the article now adorning her fetlock.

The stallion just groaned as he tried navigating his. “Glad you’re havin’ such a swell time…” he deadpanned. He growled before finally sputtering, “There, ya blinkin’ hayseed clock…”

Baggin looked at Big Mac, who finally managed to set the clock function up. “I’ve sent some of my other teams into Ponyville to see if anything’s turned up. I’m sorry, but your… what’d you call them… Saucer Four?”

Big Mac perked up at the mention of his crewmates.

“Found them dead at the old Everfree Castle,” Baggin informed dryly. “Beheaded, and in a… very unprofessional position. What did I tell you about sending a stallion with a mare in heat??”

No reply. Captain Mac’s expression, a frustrated, downcast, drooped head, said it all.

Horse apples, Coldstreak… why did you have to seduce Irontail McStorm?

“What I found interesting, though, was what my teams found when we investigated further into that old castle beyond where that crazy blind mare was,” Baggin said. “We came across a cave connected to one of the towers that dug deep into the cliff. I have three teams investigating the tunnels. I would like you to send another two teams to back them up if needed.”

Baggin then walked around Big Macintosh’s desk, intending to leave his daughter’s ship behind to attend to other business. “You have one week to report back.”

Maybe it was just her overreacting, but Colgate immediately picked up on several inconsistencies. As Baggin left, Big Mac proceeded to follow orders. After he and his entourage left and Big Macintosh had told his teams to report to the main deck, she stopped him from leaving.

“What’s up?” the large stallion asked.

“Something didn’t add up.” Colgate paced about nervously. “He said he had discovered the paths underneath the old castle, yet he has only been here for an hour, maybe two at the most. He wasn’t wearing any devices to receive any information, either. How did he know?”

Big Macintosh thought for a bit and realized she was right. “Ain’t no way he coulda just up and found ‘em. He arrived here with only those ponies he brought into the meetin’ with us. No one leapt off any ships, ours or his, to search anywhere, and pegasi in flight ain’t easy to miss. Unless they were sent to scout out the area before Baggin got here, he couldn’t have known.”

“Or they did some pre-emptive searching, or maybe he knows the area… or…” Colgate stopped her train of thought, unsure of where her mind was going next. “Something’s very fishy here. I don’t like this.”

“Until we discover what’s what, we do as he says,” the stallion said. “We’re not gonna get any answers from him, and standin’ around all day mutterin’ rumours like some ol’ whinny-ninny fillies ain’t gonna get us anywhere we haven’t been before.”

“So you’re thinkin’… trust him for now,” she mumbled. “React when the time comes… if it does.”

Big Mac nodded. “It’s our only solid lead, no matter how or when he may have got it.”

Colgate really didn’t like to admit it, but he had them. If they were going to find Silver, they were going to have to go through that cave against their better judgment. Even if everything in their minds told them no, they still had to go. Baggin’s orders, after all.

“You don’t want to go either, do you?” she asked her friend.

“No, I don’t.” He shook his head. “I’m thinkin’ you may be right.”

“Should we? Like, actually… should we go?”

Big Mac realized the depths of his answer to that question. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t set his four hooves on that old, dilapidated bridge between that castle and the cliff. He could command all of them to skedaddle, but then he would surely be fired. If he sent them in, he could be leading them all into a trap. He was almost certain he was. He didn’t know how many ponies were in wait there. He wasn’t sure how many to bring. He had no strategy. Yet, his command was to go, and so go he would, and with two teams.

Two large teams. Just in case.

“Yes… and I’m takin’ thirteen ponies, one-quarter of this ship’s crew, with me and leavin’ you in charge here.”

Colgate bit her lip and followed him into the evening sunset.

Sweet Celestia… what is he wading into now?

Family

The air smelt of sulfur and spent dynamite. The closer he and his team wove to the mining complex, the more Big Macintosh began regretting only bringing thirteen ponies with him. He had divided them into five teams of two and one team of four, sending them in with specially coded white sound stones rather than their normal radios. Mac had judged that there would likely be radio frequency monitoring equipment as well as some decent artillery in the mines, and from the looks of the three large satellite dishes dominating the sky, he was correct. There were several unicorns patrolling the perimeter, occasionally casting detection spells over random plots of earth, and continuous illumination spells frequently scanned along the walls, spreading out over the rest of the forest at sporadic intervals.

“They’ve got Buck-22s!” one of the ponies he took with him squeaked.

Mac knew the young voice – a colt that he had saved on his maiden voyage with the Silver Spoon who had taken to him as a father figure. He had since become a pimply-faced teenage grease monkey with the ability to literally feel a machine breathe. His rusty mane was always long, matted down, and greasy. His coat’s hue was perfectly halfway between grass and crap.

He was also the best marksman Big Mac had ever seen.

The colt slithered up alongside Mac and whispered, “Can I take ‘em down? Huh? Can I can I can I?” He began frantically loading a silenced pistol with rounds.

“Whoa, Slick Cannon. Now’s not the time to blow ponies’ brains out,” Mac said. “I plan to get in, explore, and get out. That’s all. When we find Silver Spoon or when we’re caught…” Mac cocked a sawed-off shotgun attached to a forehoof by a couple fetlock bands “…that’s when we start shootin’.”

Mac heard the colt groan and slowly load the ammunition the rest of the way.

He waited for a couple more minutes as his partner shuffled nervously beside him. He continued analyzing the situation, bouncing ideas off the colt next to him to keep Slick occupied. Along with the unicorns on patrol, there were several pegasi perched atop the rotating satellite dishes. At set intervals, they would launch up, fly around a bit, then land.

“Celestia’s holy plot,” Slick said, his voice occasionally popping. “That’s Spitfire!”

Mac bit his lip and hoped beyond hope Slick was wrong. As his sight passed over the nearest radio transmitter, the pegasus on top was unveiled. Sure enough, there was the former Wonderbolt-turned-mercenary, still in full command of a unit of ex-military pegasi.

This made the operation so much more difficult, and Slick made haste in letting Mac know how.

“Crud crud crud crud crud… Spitfire’s sight is amazing. She can’t aim worth shit with a gun, but when she fights, man, can she fight with the best. She’s still training as she did as a Wonderbolt, but now she’s making a lot of money being a merc. She knows all the points of paralysis on a body, and she’s a looker, to boot. She’s fast, she’s inspiring, dazzling, a hottie, and…”

“Shut up!” Big Mac insisted. “I’m trying to plan our attack!”

Slick shut up quickly, shivering in the cold shadow of the forest.

“It’s hopeless right now,” Mac said. “We’ll have to come back after nightfall.”

He ordered his troops to fall back and to meet at Fluttershy’s old home to regroup and analyze their plans. This wasn’t going to be an easy picnic any way they sliced it.

Five minutes and a few close calls later, Big Macintosh and fourteen other ponies were gathered in Fluttershy’s home, a large hollow tree at the edge of both the Everfree and Ponyville. The captain wasted no time in starting off the debrief session.

“Alright, you thirteen all know why we’re here, and what we’re up against, at least on the surface. Each of your parties was in charge of a part of this recon. Me an’ Slick were in charge o’ the defense analysis for the north end. We found a whole lotta trou-”

Slick interrupted in a bit of a panic. “Guards around the perimeter, armed with machine guns! Walls ten feet high! Spitfire on patrol! Antennas for radio interceptions! They’ve thought of everything!”

Mac sighed. “Slick…”

The youth kept rambling – “Three pegasi on watch all the time, crates of who-knows-what along the ridge, and even a couple old-style holes for snipers…”

“Slick.”

“We are so boned! We’re gonna die!”

“SLICK!!”

Every single pony in the room flinched at the shout.

“It’s a little soon to think the worst,” Mac warned. “We ain’t heard what the others have to say yet. Armada! Let’s hear your group.”

As Big Mac stepped down, a bald Earth pony stallion of camouflage patterning stomped forward. He was such a massive hulk of a pony that Big Mac was a little under half his size. The earth shook whenever his hoof hit the earth. On his back were strapped two cannons, each the size of Big Macintosh’s barrel. Alongside him skipped an equally bald ash-gray unicorn mare with several black patches on her body that naturally exhumed the smoke of fire. A belt of asbestos was strapped around her barrel and glistened with various mining and digging implements. The stallion spoke first.

“First off, me an’ dis lovely chick had da task o’ infiltratin’ ‘n gettin’ da general layout o’ da mine. We found da entrance was inna outhouse smack inna middle o’ this walled area. Afta dat, we jus’ looked ‘roun’ an’ tried t’plan a way in’n’out.”

With a cough and a puff of smoke, the mare’s peppy, scratchy voice, punctuated by further coughing, continued.

“What he m-means is --- he had t’take a dump first. The mine is shaped like a --- drill. It’s an open p-pit, with a lot of very intric---cate machinery. He was too busy g-k---gawking at Spitfire to --- really register our surr-surroundings.”

The hulk glared at the little smokestack and retorted, “I knew what’s what, that’s what! I counted sumtin’ like two hundred ponies millin’bout. Spitfire’s the leader, sure ‘nuff, but dere’s ‘nother pony who’s ack-chally runnin’ t’ings. Calls ‘erself ‘Chocolate Fondue’, she does. Real looker. ‘Bout’cher sister’s size, Big Mac, ‘n’bout as feisty. Real minin’-type, too. Heavy smoker, built thicker’n’a tree trunk. Muscular, too. Brown as da rich earth, with a mane of grass. Eyes’re stone gray. Don’t wanna meet ‘er in a dark alley at night, what wit’ dat explodin’ head t’ing she calls a cutie mark.”

“You would notice h--her, Maidy,” the smoky one retorted.

“’Ey! Smoke Screen! Name’s Armada! Or Armada Scout! No callin’ me Maidy in public!” Armada shouted, glaring hard at the mare.

Smoke Screen chuckled for a bit as Armada blushed, realizing what he had just said in public company. Most of the stallions in the room whooped. All of the other mares groaned. Big Macintosh, of course, just stood with a stoic smirk. Each pony on the ship knew full well the on-and-off relationship between Smoke and Armada, a couple whose personalities could not coexist together, yet could not be without each other.

After half a minute, Big Mac chuckled and nodded. “Alright, guys. That’s enough.”

The room slipped into silent slumber.

“Tornado Wish and Cloud Kicker, you’re up.”

An ash gray unicorn stallion with blue hair and a periwinkle blue mare with a blonde coiffure walked up. Immediately, the mare gave a smirk and the stallion blushed as crimson as Big Macintosh as they passed in front of the herd of ponies. As Cloud turned, a little something glistened from her lips.

“Cloud, did you…” Big Mac began.

Cloud nodded and licked her lips as if she had just consumed the most divine thing on Equis. Another chorus of whoops and hollers, louder than before, and mostly from the mares of the group this time, erupted within the old abandoned home. Cloud spread her wings, drunk with attention. She closed her eyes and…

Gunshots.

The room went dead silent. Cloud Kicker glared outside. Big Macintosh aimed his rifle. The rest of the crew came together, preparing a multitude of weapons, guns, knives and blades.

“Smoke,” Big Mac said.

The mare disappeared into the floor, digging through solid tree into the earth.

“Armada,” he stated.

The lumbering stallion followed his fillyfriend.

A tense silence, punctuated with a panicked, coltish whimpering, soon followed. Ponies crowded at the windows, hiding as stealthily as they could. Big Macintosh approached the window and watched the scene outside.

The window did not allow anything but loud sound through. However, the scene outside was anything but pleasant. A pink filly with purple hair lay on the ground, cold and dead. Her crown was crushed under the hoof of her killer, a black pegasus with ice-blue hair behind black shades, brandishing a small pistol. Another stallion, this one a tan Earth pony with brown hair, had a smaller pale yellow pegasus filly pinned, a similar pistol pressed hard up to her neck.

Though Big Mac and his troupe couldn’t see what was going on, Smoke certainly could hear it. She was the only pony in Equestria that could dig a mile a minute, so it had taken her no time to plough through to the location.

“Zippoorwhill,” the tan pony said, “I’m only going to ask you once more: what were you and Diamond Tiara doing playing in the mine?”

“We weren’t! I swear!” she exclaimed, tears pouring down her face. She turned to the brown one’s partner. “Thunderlane, you’ve got to believe me!”

Thunderlane?! Smoke thought, stifling a cough. Wasn’t he one of the weather ponies for this little hick town?

The only response the filly got was being punched in the face.

Guess not.

“Thunderlane isn’t authorized to speak with you, except to say he’s one of Madam Octavia’s employees, and that he can’t speak with you,” the tan one said, pressing the gun deeper into her neck. “Now tell me the truth!”

“I am! What more do you want from me?” the pony identified as Zippoorwhill bawled.

“Spitfire said she saw movement in the bushes heading in and out of the mine. Several movements, actually,” the unnamed pony said. “If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

Crud dammit, Smoke thought, biting her lip. These fillies are dying because of us!

“I-I don’t know! I really don’t know! Please let me–”

Gunshot.

You didn’t… Y-you just didn’t! You…

“Fucking cunt,” the tan one muttered. He pulled out a cloth and wiped off the barrel of his Glock pistol. “Should’ve spared us the ammunition.”

“Did we really need to kill her, Time Turner?” Thunderlane said. “We could have just let her go.”

“And have her spreading Canterlot’s type of propaganda? Please,” Time Turner scoffed. “What kind of stallion are you? Octavia gave us specific orders – keep Ponyville on lockdown until that gem horde is excavated. No one in or out.”

“What’ll we do with this one, then?” Thunderlane said. Whoever he indicated was clearly out of sight.

“Applejack? Let’s take her into the mine,” the tan one said, walking away. “If her brother’s back, we’re not going to make it easy to rescue her. Octavia’s already got the youngest locked up in one of her mansions, so it won’t be difficult to get at the gems under Sweet Apple Acres now, once we’re through with the Everfree, of course.”

You son of a… Smoke thought, grinding her teeth in anger as the two stallions sauntered off, still chatting about unimportant topics. Applejack followed, bound and helpless, on a little trolley being pulled by the tan Earth pony. Wait’ll we get through with your fucking mine… Whoever you are, I want your head, Time Turner.

With that, she barreled back into her hole. Halfway through, she met her husband.

“What’cha see, little missy?”

“Back---up. Jus’ ba---back up!”

“Whoa, whoa whoa… what’s up?”

“They have Applejack.”

Minutes later, they returned to the tree and spilled the beans to their comrades. There were whispers. There was the cocking of guns. There were a thousand questions. Cloud Kicker even growled loudly. However, when all eyes fell upon Big Macintosh, he only smiled.

The smile grew.

Then grew.

And grew some more.

He began to chuckle quietly. Through these sounds, he began to growl.

“Smoke,” he said.

The one who delivered the news stood at attention.

“Tell Colgate that she should ready the cannons,” he said. “Tell her to get Baggin on the line. Tell him to bring a small armada.” His face immediately fell to a sadistic, evil grimace. “We’re shuttin’ these bastards down.”

Futile Waterfall

Futile Waterfall

The forest was always a serene, quiet place. Not much went on in the Everfree, despite the rumours of evil magic that ponies spread to keep little ones away. There were some interesting ingredients that a local medicine pony traveled around and collected every now and again, but otherwise, if one were to leave the forest alone, the forest would let him or her be.

That was before the mine, before Philharmonic Corporation had cast a striped pony from her home and into the streets of Ponyville. It had been one long year since the zebra had made a proper home amongst the dark streets of the once-happy town. First, surveyors had torn up the forest with a peculiar white unicorn, forced to identify the boundaries of some kind of object by way of a knife to a smaller unicorn’s throat. Once they had left, the eviction notice had come. She petitioned to Celestia by way of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess’ pupil, but received no response from anyone. Eventually, she was dragged out of her home, and it was razed to the ground, along with fully half of the forest.

It wasn’t long before the heavy – heavy – machinery began rolling in. Giant steam earth-movers, sorters equined by thirteen ponies apiece, monster trains rolling in and out on the new tracks striped across the Everfree and defended from the foliage by all manner of ponies, and more equines than had ever been seen in the area had transformed the land into an open pit a hundred miles in diameter and fifty miles deep. The old castle was gone. Ponyville had been assigned by Octavia herself as a mining town, and was expected to retrofit and re-plan all their systems accordingly. Most of the town had complied, but the buildings away from the Everfree, and, strangely enough, Fluttershy’s cottage, remained untouched.

The zebra, Zecora, had made a point to harass the mine ever since.

No longer the friendly mare she once was, she now spent her days deep in the forest, infiltrating and eliminating a pony here or there and dragging them off into the woods to post on poles. It had been a very successful venture, killing pegasi, unicorns, and Earth ponies with great success and causing general terror throughout the camp. It seemed to be working – fewer and fewer new ponies came every week, because most were hearing that the mine was haunted.

She sat atop a tree in the shadow of the leaves, overlooking the mine. It was the tree just below Spitfire’s perch, a peculiar large-leaf weed that had wrapped itself around the tower and sprouted exactly twenty-one leaves. Twelve acted as steps by which Zecora had ascended the tree. Three became a shell for her to observe her victims. The rest grew at points to give it the appearance of a natural tree. There were eleven such plants around the perimeter.

She bent a stick to its breaking point, then wrapped a thin string around both ends. Tying it off in a double knot, she quickly snapped it a couple times to ensure the tension was right. When she was convinced of this, she readied an arrow she had made from local trees.

The forest seemed to be at her beck and call lately, as she had been the only one of its friends to actively prevent ponies from raiding its gems. Even butter-yellow and kind Fluttershy, which it had trusted in the past, turned against the village she lived in and the forest she had once cared for and sided with Octavia.

Which was why the little white bunny that the pegasus had once called friend now rode on Zecora’s head.

Angel, as he was known, buried himself deep in Zecora’s mane as she lined up an arrow for the first shot of the day. A pair of glistening manticore-ivory knives, harvested from the dead, hung around her barrel. Angel himself had a singular smaller knife in the same place. Both zebra and bunny bared their teeth at the same time just as the forest in front of them erupted in activity. Zecora and Angel relaxed as the base went into overdrive. Spitfire took off from her perch and dove into the woods. Her other pegasus comrades and most of the unicorns on two sides of the mine focussed their efforts on the foliage their commander had dove into.

As the gate opened, Zecora’s heart burned. Thunderlane and Time Turner, carrying the bound Applejack on a cart, cantered into the mine. They were quickly swarmed by several armed ponies with small-caliber machine guns. Time Turner was unloaded of his effects by the ponies of varying kinds, and he, Thunderlane, and Applejack disappeared down the main mine shaft. With a crunch, the small wooden blue door leading into the mine, marked “Outhouse – Out of Order” and plastered with several kinds of posters… “Free phone call”, a smaller wooden box, even a picture of some random missing pony every now and again… closed behind the last of seven ponies filing into the entry of the giant hole on the other side of the hill behind the outhouse.

She smirked. How she would have loved to take out that bastard Time Turner. However, to do so would incur the wrath of the entire encampment. Even with her near-limitless supply of hiding places courtesy of the forest, she knew it wouldn’t be long before they started simply burning the place down. As it was, the forest had already been reduced to two-thirds its’ natural size. Had it not been for the forest’s natural or unnatural hardiness, depending on who you asked, it would have long burned to dust.

As she readied another arrow, she caught sight of some movement at the wall to her right. The unicorns had not yet returned. The forest had gone black with the darkness of night, but her eyes, slightly augmented by a potion she had brewed to allow her to see better in the dark, made no mistake. Someone else was in these woods, and they did not want to be seen.

A leaf was shed as she disappeared from her perch.

Zecora and bunny wove their way through the foliage towards the ripples. She hoped to catch them before they tripped the alarm. A perimeter spell, undetectable by most eyes, yet one that she had tripped on numerous occasions, had been cast sixty feet away from the wall. She wasn’t sure what these ponies were planning, but she wanted to stop wand warn them, if not deter them completely. With the distance between her and them, however, she wasn’t sure she could close the distance fast enough.

Soon, she realized she didn’t need to worry. The disturbance in the foliage had ceased exactly five feet from the barrier. A few more strides put her within cantering distance, but she slowed to a moderate trot to try to catch the conversation.

“…my sister’s in there!” a stallion shouted.

A mare with a voice of helioid gravel coughed and continued, “Mac, now’s not th---the time to rush in, guns bl---blazing. We h---have to c---hkk---come up with some k---cxk---kind of plan before --- we destroy our one ch---chance to see if Silver Sp-Spoon’s in there, too.”

Zecora stationed herself behind a bush.

“We can go all Rambuck down dere if’n y’like, Mac,” a second stallion, much larger than the red one they identified as ‘Mac’, said, “but y’still gots t’have a ways o’ doin’ stuff t’lessen-like all da losses y’all’re gunna face.”

Mac sighed. A brief pause told of his realization before he continued. “Thank y’all. I should probably stick t’the plan we all came here with.”

Zecora realized they were headed into the mine. She had many a night’s expertise in infiltrating and either stealing something or killing someone from the place, so she decided she would volunteer her services. At that moment, she remembered where she had seen him in the past. He was Big Macintosh of Sweet Apple Acres. She emerged from the bush.

“Pardon me. A wish I seek. It is with Mac I want to speak.”

“Zecora.” Mac greeted her with a simple nod.

The other two ponies moved to protect him. A colt nearby that she hadn’t seen also drew a gun from its holster.

“Easy, ponies,” Mac said. “She’s an old friend.”

The three relaxed.

“Zecora, let me introduce you to Smoke Screen, Armada Scout, and Slick Cannon,” he said, indicating the mare, the massive stallion, and the colt in respective turn. “And yes, you heard right. We aim to break into that mine to save my sister and see if my employer’s daughter is held inside.”

“Pardon my inquiry, please, but who might your employer be?”

“Baggin’ Bitts, of Spoonship Industries.”

“Then I suspect you speak of Silver, though in this mine there is none to pilfer. Your sister, however, is within. I know the layout, so let me in. Safe you will stay if I show you the way, though where she lay I cannot say.”

Mac smiled. “Glad t’have you aboard.” He pulled out a white soundstone. “Sparrow to Forest Team. We have a new member, codename ‘Zee’. Subject is a zebra. She will be joining Operation: Futile Waterfall at ground zero, with Painted Brick, Hightower, and Earthquake. State your unit and readiness level.”

A buzz. “Sexytimes here, Futile Waterfall Aerio unit ready for takeoff.”

Another buzz. “Echo Tree here. Futile Waterfall Fisherpony unit ready to commence puppetry.”

A third and final buzz. “Purple Ghost here. Futile Waterfall Dirty Bomb unit is a go.”

Big Mac smirked. “Aerio and Fisherpony, you are on. Dirty Bomb, remember: wait two minutes after this transmission ends. Pincushion, get ready – we are hot in thirty seconds.”

Zecora bit her lip. She had no idea what they had planned or what kind of insider information they had. “I must insist, what is it you’ve planned for this attacking bit?”

As Aerio came swooping in from above, a series of other pegasi also joined the fray. A soft glow illuminated the area.

Big Mac replied, “Aerio is our pegasus-heavy unit, led by a pony named Cloud Kicker. They’re to provide the first level of distraction. Fisherpony is led by a brown unicorn stallion with a green mane named Leafroot. They’re in charge of illusions and other kinds of distractions that pegasi aren’t capable of making. Dirty Bomb is also lead by a pegasus, but she’s black and purple and called Boomdrop. She’s our resident expert on murder and tactical intimidation. If Silver actually isn’t in there, then someone from Dirty Bomb will find out where she is and tell me. I’m leading us, the five-pony infiltration unit I called Pincushion, in to get my sister. According to the intel Smoke and Armada gathered, and maybe with your help, we’ll be in and out in five minutes with my sister.”

Zecora couldn’t believe it. They thought it would only take them five minutes to get in and out of the mine! They were absolutely delusional.

“This plan is foolishness at best. I know the mine, and must protest! Be in and out in five you’ll not. I fear you’ve doomed this whole lot.”

Big Mac cocked his shotgun. “Slick, you’re on.”

The colt raised his gun into the air and fired three loud blasts, punctuated in the middle by a “Damn!” Zecora’s eyes shot up into the stratosphere in time to see Spitfire and one other pegasus fall limply into the forest. As the mine started to come alive with warning bells, she quickly reeled her head back to the four ponies she had just been talking to. They had once again disappeared into the brush, but from the general direction of their voices, she was able to catch up with them just as they approached a particularly large gap in the wall security. Zecora stopped behind the four ponies as Slick Cannon lit up his horn and dispelled the force field in a small area.

They approached the wall slowly. Smoke Screen vanished into the earth with some shuffling. A moment later, Armada walked up to the wall, turned, and bucked with a single hoof. Smoke popped out in front of the behemoth of a stallion just as the ten-foot wall came crashing down in a cascade of stone and cement. They entered as cries of “Breach! Breach!” echoed throughout the mine. With the ponies above and around them providing enough of a distraction, they were able to quickly dart into the outhouse in the middle of the complex. They descended down into a hallway filled with background noise.

The party stopped. Big Mac turned to Zecora. “You’re on.”

Like I’d know where they put her, she thought, gritting her teeth. I barely watched them bring her hither!

A few terse seconds of walking suddenly had Zecora frantically waving at them to throw themselves into a nearby office as nine ponies trotted past, clad in purple and gold and carrying full-auto machine guns. The zebra gulped.

Oh horseapples, what did I do? What did I get myself into?

A few minutes later, she let loose a breath she didn’t know she was holding and looked outside. Her eyes looked straight into the blue eyes of a tan and brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark.

A hissing from behind her. “Pasty, this is Sparrow. We’ve just been caught.”

Evanescence

A Touch of Generosity

“La di da di da di dum…”

A bored Silver Spoon whiled away the hours in her cell, strapped to the centre of the room. She didn’t know how long she had been there, nor did she know how long she had to wait. Octavia had come by a couple times in the past day or so to gloat or to play music, but otherwise, she was left alone. Even Battrap had moved on to other duties.

She enjoyed the music, a fine piece of entertainment she could latch on to so she could avoid becoming a victim of Stockhoof Syndrome. Octavia wasn’t a bad captor. In fact, she had even cracked a glass of wine and talked with Silver casually once. She brought Silver a book or two to read and a battered couch to sleep on. Octavia had improved the quality of the meals she was served. Heck, she had even allowed Silver supervised walks through her prison to get some exercise.

This didn’t feel like a kidnapping anymore. Instead, it was an extended vacation from dealing with life. Silver hated to admit it, but she was actually beginning to enjoy it here… at least, until she had tried to make a run for it last night. Had she been aware just how much of a labyrinth Octavia’s basement was, she would have certainly taken more walks than just the one to try to escape. Battrap had returned for just that one time and made Silver see the error of her ways.

Silver sighed. “I have to get out of here.”

Just then, the door creaked open. A brown cloak stepped in. It was too small to be Big Macintosh. When the voice spoke, however, she knew who it was. The mare levitated a second brown cloak and a key from someplace obscured by the wall.

“Come with me. Don’t say anything.”

The mare unlocked Silver’s chains with the key. As the shackles fell off, Silver rubbed her fetlocks to get the feeling back into her hooves. Rarity draped the second brown cloak over her shoulders.

“A nice mare like you shouldn’t be in these dungeons,” Rarity snapped as they exited the cell. A quick lock later, they trotted down to another door. “Neither should she. Do not be deceived by Octavia’s lies. She’s the sweetest snake I’ve ever worked for, and I used to design fabulous dresses. Do you know how many-” she unlocked the rusted lock of the door with a grunt “-wolves there are in fashion? Too many to count. That’s how I learned to play her game. But this? No. This is beneath her. Rather, this should be beneath her. Whatever her reason, it is no longer. However, she did not need to drag such a nice mare as yourself into this mess. She did not need to harm my friends. Octavia’s pushed me too far for the last time. I’m freeing you two tonight.”

Silver remained silent as commanded.

“Now, let’s tuck her underneath your cloak…” Silver felt a draft, then a warm, heavy, bony weight on her back before the cloak once again settled over her “…and head out.”

“What about you?” Silver asked, straining to keep up under the weight of the body on her back.

Rarity sniffled. “They already killed Sweetie Belle for our little interaction earlier. What else can she take from me but my life? At least I can save Apple Bloom and you.”

Silver gasped. “Apple Bloom?! That’s who was in her prison with me?”

Rarity nodded, cold as stone, as she glided up to a door. She cracked it open. The moonlight caressed their faces and shone down over the city of Canterlot.

“Keep to the shadows,” Rarity warned as she hoofed over a small satchel. “Here’re some bits for the journey. Make your way out of town and head on hoof to a small town called Appleloosa. Connect with a pony named Sunrise there. She can hide you for a while and maybe even get you in contact with your ship.”

“Thank you, Miss Rarity,” Silver said. “What about you?”

Rarity flinched and bit her lower lip. She shuddered and quickly hid her face.

“R-Rarity?” Silver asked, suddenly concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“I hope you kill the bitch,” Rarity seethed through tears. “It’s too late for me.”

“What… what do you mean?” Silver asked, panic rising. “What’s going to happen to you?”

Rarity went silent. As her tears fell, she raised a hoof. Silver Spoon gasped in shock.

“Y-you’re…!!”

“I died… fighting for her life,” Rarity said. Tears started dripping off her face. “I s-swore th… th-that her death would mean something, that I would rescue her best friend and her childhood enemy. Before she was killed, she told me to promise…” The words caught in her throat. “t-to Pinkie Promise that I would save Apple Bloom and you. I don’t know how she knew you would be captured, Silver, but she did. She mentioned you by name. Even had a message for you.”

Rarity’s final tears hit the floor, and her final words echoed in spirit.

“She said, ‘Silver, watch your father’.”

Thunder sounded. Silver didn’t know what shocked her more: that she had just seen a ghost, or that she had just heard something about her father that shook her to the core. What did she mean? Why would she say that?

An airy voice seeped into her mind. “Watch your father.”

Sweetie Belle?

Silver swivelled her head rapidly in all directions. She never saw anything to indicate another presence, but she felt something in the wind. As the rain came down in the dark of night, she looked back, towards the limp body under her cloak.

Thank you, Rarity, and you too, Sweetie Belle. The rest is on me.

She adjusted the weight on her back and disappeared into the shadows of Canterlot. For the first few minutes, she felt like a ninja, darting from shadow to shadow and carefully pacing out her next opportunity. By the fifth minute, however, the eerily quiet city, normally hustling and bustling with life, had her on edge. Even this late at night, Canterlot’s streets would be patrolled by at least one or two of Luna’s guards, a street sweeper team, a group of late-night revellers, and even the occasional romantic couples’ outing. Tonight, the only sign of life Silver had spotted was tumbleweed blowing on the wind. A tumbleweed in Canterlot.

A chill went down Silver’s spine as she found herself at Five Corners – a roundabout with five roads branching off in all directions. Having been born in Ponyville, and with embarrassingly few trips to the nation’s capital under her belt despite her father’s status, she was a pegasus underground: lost, bewildered, terrified. She checked all the intersections and realized she would have to make a run for it in the hopes of not being seen, if any guards were even out. She hadn’t seen a single one.

That frightened her even more.

Where were the guards? Where were the ponies? Even the street walkers and other ponies of the night had vacated. No drunks. No beggars.

Nothing.

Silver looked across at the four pathways she could take, licking her lips and gritting her teeth. Something was horribly wrong here. She hesitated slightly, wanted to stay, wanted to find out what happened. She looked back down the path she had taken, nibbling on a lip. She hopped from one hoof to another. She glanced quickly between all four paths.

She saw the way out!

A tiny gate on the horizon appeared on the second path to her left. She recognized it as the gateway that led to the train station. She could follow the tracks and get out of this dump! Hay, if she wanted, she could find the hoof path from there and walk a safer road. She knew at least that much.

Just before she dashed for the hills, she hesitated and looked around at the empty streets, pausing for a second as if to reconsider investigating the abandoned capital. Curiosity nearly got the better of her until the weight on her back shuffled ever so slightly. Silver remembered she had another reason to move on – Sweetie Belle’s friend had to be preserved, and she couldn’t be assured of Apple Bloom’s safety in Canterlot, not while Octavia was around.

She took a look at the city one more time, still of two minds about the whole ordeal, and blasted out of town as fast as the weight on her back and the legs under her body would let her.

When Mac and I find each other, we’ll head back to Canterlot and set things right, she asserted. This city is sick. This country is sick. We have to help it.

For one hour, Silver Spoon and her companion descended wordlessly along the tracks heading down from Canterlot to Ponyville. She puzzled over the silence of the capital. She wondered why Sweetie Belle would give her that kind of warning about her dad. Surely she couldn’t have implied that Baggin’ was in with Octavia. No, that was preposterous. It must be related to his health. Daddy hadn’t been feeling right for a year now. There had been a few overnight stays at Ponyville hospital, a couple of work trips where he had been away for a day or two longer than he had said, but nothing odd beyond that. He had his normal ten-hour job, eight to six every day, and other than business trips was always prompt about returning home to his wife, the legendary business tycoon Silver Belle, and their child.

No, Silver concluded, there was no reason her father could even be associated with Octavia, not if he wanted her mother’s name to remain in good standing.

Satisfied in her conclusion, she moved on to the topic of Canterlot’s abandonment. Everything she had thought of, like a massive town-wide vacation, a zombie outbreak, even a simple structural collapse emergency, was ruled out by the mere fact they only lasted for four hours at the longest. The one pony she had seen flying away from Canterlot, a little white pegasus colt with a silver mane by the name of December Glow about half a mile back, had merely climbed up into the mountains on a dare. She had gleaned from him that Octavia was calling herself a princess and wearing the crown worn by Princess Luna.

Blasphemy, Silver had seethed.

The colt had not asked what she was carrying. Instead, he had simply requested that they walk together down the mountain. Since then, they had walked in silence, the colt glancing occasionally at the unnatural lumps on her back. December was not normally an intrusive pony, but this was almost too much. With his rose quartz eyes, he continually scanned the older mare’s back, trying to burn a hole through her head.

“December, what do you want?” Silver asked.

The colt looked away and blushed. “I-I just want to know what’s on your back…”

Up until now, the colt had sounded more like Pipsqueak did when he was little. Barely more than a whisper, the soft, high pitch made Silver Spoon HNNNNG! inside. This was his actual, natural voice. She quickly hid her face, pinched it into a wide smile and held back an audible squeak. She turned back and quickly regained her somber, thoughtful posture as she cleared her throat.

“I’m trying to get her to a hospital.”

December gasped. “Oh no! What happened? Who is she?”

Silver grimaced. “An old friend. We grew up together in Ponyville.”

“Nopony nice ever came from Ponyville,” the colt sneered. “You’re lying.”

Silver looked to the horizon where the town sat, now in plain view. If only she could get word to Big Mac… “It was better when I was a filly.”

`When was that? A hundred years ago?”

Silver had to hold back an instinct to slap the kid upside the head for two reasons: she was beyond violence, and she had to prove his assumption wrong. She had to show December she was a decent pony. After a calming, deep breath, she gave a plastic smile.

“Only about ten or so, actually. I was your age at the time. Actually, the pony I’m carrying helped me a lot.” Silver sighed, pushing through the strain. “I wasn’t a nice pony back then. I always hung around with a filly that picked on others for fun. She and I were particularly nasty to these three specific ponies. After a while, I began to grow sick of it. I wrote a journal to help me get over my bullying issues. I tried talking to counsellors. I even tried psychics. None of them helped. It wasn’t until this pony and her friend, a unicorn named Sweetie Belle, broke through my hard shell. They bridged the gap between bully and friendship, and for that I owe her a lot.”

She slowed. “T-that’s why… why… augh!”

Silver collapsed under the weight of her friend, her legs finally giving out. December gasped.

“I’ll run back to the village and get somepony!”

“I’ll get us into that cave over there.”

The colt charged off. Silver Spoon lay there, underneath the barely conscious form of her friend. With the last of her strength, she shuffled herself into a little sheltered alcove and pulled Apple Bloom in with her. She settled the blanket overtop their bodies and huddled in tight. Her stomach growled, but, as she bade farewell to the day, she ignored the call. She had nothing to eat anyway. Instead, Silver looked at Apple Bloom and prayed.

Celestia, please keep her alive.

Nails and Glass

The Day it All Fell to Pieces

The moon had just risen a few minutes ago, and twilight had yet to dissipate entirely from the night sky. The ship creaked and groaned, its combination of metal and wood drifting from side to side as the well-trained skeleton crew still aboard adjusted various engines, valves and other miscellaneous instruments to keep the ship afloat above Sweet Apple Acres. Down on the third level of the ship, in Colgate’s personal quarters, slept a lavender mare with a mane the color of grape juice. A single pink stripe wound its way through the once-orderly adornments.

“Octavia, you monster…” she mumbled as she tossed and turned in the bed, dreaming of the last night she had seen her faithful assistant, the inside of her library, and her friends all together just one year ago.

Well, all except one.

It had all come down so fast no pony could have prepared for it.

Twilight Sparkle was reading peacefully in the afternoon sunlight of Ponyville’s park, humming to herself. She was enjoying the rare break after a hectic week. Somehow, Rainbow Dash had seen it fit to have all her stunts for that week end up with her crashing into various parts of the library at least twice daily. Not only were those odds astronomical, considering how wide her flight training ground was, but it was utterly unbelievable that she managed to crash through the exact same precise location in the library with a deviance of less than a tenth of a hoof in either direction.

Anyway, she was reading in the park, enjoying the peaceful, quiet day. There were only two interruptions. Pinkie Pie walked along and threw a greeting her way, but moved on, speaking of a delivery, and Applejack had passed by, lugging a small cart of apples with her sister Apple Bloom. Both always seemed tired, having had to take care of the farm together once Big Macintosh had left. Neither Apple Bloom nor Twilight had never known the stallion, since both arrived after he had taken to the skies, nor had Apple Bloom ever seen the inside of a school house. Despite this, she was at least as educated, thanks to tutelage by Twilight Sparkle, and she indeed had a friend her own age, a little orphan pegasus named Rumble.

As they passed by, they ran headlong into a group of ponies going the other way. A few cuss words were heard, and then Applejack screamed as Apple Bloom was taken. Twilight shot up out of her seat to defend the filly, but both she and Applejack were promptly stopped by a field of blue magic. A cloaked pony in an alley had stopped them with a shield spell. Applejack was beating on the glow, frantically trying to chase after Apple Bloom. Twilight analyzed the spell and realized she couldn’t shout out to save her life. The spell was delicate and precise, confusing in makeup but not powerful. Twilight tried to dispel the shield, but the caster was too quick to reformat the spell for her impressive skill to be of any effect. It held strongly until Apple Bloom was led away and disappeared into the bowels of a steel-gray airship. The restrainer was teleported back remotely, and the shields died.

Twilight immediately ran for Applejack and embraced her, holding the strong farm pony as she let out her stresses. This caused a few others, their friends, to come closer. They made it to the treehouse and locked the door.

As soon as the door was shut, Applejack’s temper exploded. She sputtered off how Philharmonic had been razing one row of trees after another. They had stolen apples, freed animals, and basically caused a general ruckus around the farm. Eventually, they had threatened to take her little sister if she didn’t allow Philharmonic to buy the property… at a price, she had added, that was well below a third of the farm’s total value. After what had just happened, Applejack was seriously reconsidering her farmland. It had already been reduced to a third its’ size from before Mac left, and she had no hooves to help her farm.

Fluttershy told of animal agitation. The Everfree Forest was being excavated and the animals were being shot to shreds. They all feared for their safety. Many had even considered moving towards Ponyville to get away from the moving onslaught. Fluttershy had managed to convince most of them to find other homes, like making the journey to Whitetail Wood to hole up until this mess passed. The others barricaded themselves in, including Angel, but Fluttershy had never heard from them again.

Pinkie Pie eventually gushed over her most recent delivery, but in the way that she was disappointed that the pony had refused her treats by not being there. She pulled out the uneaten pastries as group snacks. She had also puzzled over the absence of Apple Bloom’s worst enemy, Scootaloo, who would normally be stalking Rainbow Dash, and both Rarity and Sweetie Belle had disappeared. Neither had been seen for a couple months.

At the mention of Scootaloo’s name, Rainbow Dash merely disappeared, vanishing out a window in tears and dropping a small golden apple in her wake.

And then all hell broke loose.

The best Twilight could make of the chaos that followed, because even her memory of it was hazy, was that Rainbow’s explosive had contained some kind of combined knockout gas, hallucinogenic and delayed-effect paralysis powder. Twilight kind of remembered dragging her rear hooves around for hours, a voice that was both hers and not hers asking for some jumbled up word she could never make out. She eventually passed out in an alley.

With that, Twilight jolted awake. She glanced around and saw she was lying in a cabin. To her, though, she had been captured by Philharmonic’s crew and she was going to get out. She tried standing up, but couldn’t. She tried using her magic and barely managed to levitate a straw in a glass of water before collapsing back on the cot. She groaned.

“Octavia, I will make you pay for what you did to us…” she mumbled, ineffectual rage erupting from her.

Colgate chose that moment to open the door and diffuse almost all her fury with a simple “I’m glad you’re awake!”

Twilight relaxed, noting the distinct lack of the purple and gold uniform employees of Philharmonic oh-so-pompously wore. “You’re… not with Philharmonic, are you?” she asked.

“Nope,” Colgate said. “Spoonship.”

Twilight nodded, absorbing the information wordlessly.

Colgate continued, “So, what’s got Ponyville so worked up lately?”

“Octavia Philharmonica, that’s what,” Twilight spat hatefully. “She’s turned this whole town into her personal experiment facility. I’ve tried complaining to the Princesses about it, but I can’t get a letter to Celestia except by snail mail since my little dragon assistant, Spike, disappeared. On top of that, my friends have all turned on me – you probably saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy guarding what used to be my home and Applejack running around like a crazy horse on drugs. Where Pinkie Pie and Rarity have buggered off to, I have no idea…”

Colgate flinched at that.

“…but I do know something about her operation here, and it’s something she discovered in the Everfree.”
Colgate perked at that. “Octavia discovered something there, too? So did our boss, Baggin’ Bitts. What could they want out there?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know. The only thing in the Everfree of any note, besides the old Castle of the Royal Sisters, is a massive gem patch Rarity discovered. She had been braving the swamps and marshlands of the Forest for some of the rarest gems, then she up and vanished.”

“Curious… Baggin’ suspected Octavia was holding his daughter there-”

“Wait – Silver’s been kidnapped?”

“Yeah. That’s why we’re back. Octavia captured Silver Spoon and is holding her prisoner somewhere. We’re trying to find out where.”

Twilight and Colgate both shared looks of concern. With some hesitation, Colgate spoke first.

“I know Baggin wouldn’t take someone of their free will. His impeccable free trade track record with Spoon Industries can attest to this. However, since Silver Spoon is captured by Octavia, it doesn’t put kidnapping out of her range of actions. Would she have captured Rarity and then gleaned the location of this gem field from her?”

Twilight nodded. “It’s possible.”

“Then why would Baggin send Mac into the forest when he knew already what was there?”

Twilight and Colgate pondered for a second the conclusion. Both came to a realization at the same time.

Twilight spoke first. “Let me tell you a story.”

She recounted her story of how everything came down on Ponyville, how Rarity and Sweetie Belle had vanished, how Apple Bloom was taken, and finally how Rainbow Dash had betrayed them all by trying to kill them. Then, she continued, “At the time, I didn’t make the connection to the arrival of Philharmonic agents and the Everfree, or Rarity’s disappearance. Rarity and Octavia had always been such good friends that I simply thought they had gone off to Manehattan and lost track of time, like they do on occasion. When I passed them by, they always seemed so exhausted, one the head of a floundering former multimillion-dollar corporation, the other a successful single shop owner. They often related over business matters.

“While I was having lunch one day, before this mess happened, they happened to sit down at a table near me. Rarity babbled on about her latest discovery in the Everfree, a mound of gems so massive it would take her months to get through it all. I sensed a change in Octavia’s demeanour, as if she had suddenly grown very greedy in that one conversation, but Rarity didn’t pick up on it. Rarity blabbed on and on about the hoard of gems that was ‘several times larger than the average pony’ and ‘could easily supply her shop for weeks’ if she could brave the mud and muck. Octavia had zoned out by this point, and I swear I could see dollar signs floating out from her ears. In the middle of a conversation, Octavia cleared her throat, checked the time, excused herself and dashed off without any warning. Rarity called her ‘rude’ and walked off, leaving enough money to pay the bill three times over.

“That was the last time I saw Rarity before the day everything fell to pieces. I had heard that there was a scuffle over at her place, but… it was in the middle of the madness and I couldn’t get a clear idea of what happened from anyone.

“Anyway, Mr. Bitts was here one week ago with a scouting party. I saw them as I was trying to walk through town undetected by Octavia’s thugs. They were harassed by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash for a good while until Bitts and his party of about ten disappeared into the woods. A couple hours later, only Mr. Bitts and one other pony came out, galloping back to their ship. A hoard of Philharmonic employees exploded from the forest, all manner of weaponry ready for battle. A dead pony carcass flopped off the back of a Philharmonic and landed on the side of the road – a pegasus pony named Blossomforth. Mr. Bitts was able to escape when the last of his assistants dropped a smoke screen bomb to stop the pursuers.”

Colgate clicked her tongue. “So, that gem hoard is big enough that Philharmonic saw fit to kill whoever’s there. How many employees are on-site?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. I counted at least fifteen ponies chasing Mr. Bitts, maybe more. The average Equestrian mining operation employs about forty-five ponies, though, so that would be a safe estimate.”

“Then Big Mac’s walking to his death.”

Twilight gasped. “Why?”

“If I’m right and the scale of the operation is as big as you say it is, then my estimate would peg the employee count at roughly a hundred individuals. Big Macintosh is going into the Everfree with fifteen ponies to find Silver. That’s just over a tenth of the needed armada, so unless he’s very careful, he’ll be slaughtered. On top of that, this is likely a red herring and Silver isn’t even in the forest.” Colgate frowned. “So why would Baggin send us into a forest where he likely knows his daughter isn’t there?”

Twilight closed her eyes for a split second before speaking. “Well, with ten ponies, you won’t get far into an operation like that. Baggin may suspect Octavia’s hiding his daughter in that mine, and to confirm his suspicions, he’s sending Big Macintosh in to shake up the place and see if she’s there. If not, he probably will have a few other leads for you to follow.”

Colgate was nervous now. She had to get word to Big Mac. “Thanks, Twilight. I’ll see what Mac says.” She tapped her earpiece. “Sparrow, come in, please. Sparrow, come in.”
Static.

Colgate frowned. “Sparrow! Please confirm you hear me! Over!”

“Don’t bother,” Twilight said. “At a certain point of the forest, there’s a magic and communications dead zone. The only spells that get through are those necessary for mining operations.”

“So I have to go back into the forest with a team.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s the only way to do it.”

“The Silver Spoon… this ship, not the filly… can’t be left without a captain, though. Sending another party to them is pointless because it’s the Everfree, and we don’t even know if he or she will make it…” Colgate groaned. Every solution had its drawbacks in this newly hostile Ponyville. “Dammit! I’ve got to tell Mac!”

Twilight ground her teeth in pain and lay her head down, her strength leaving her. “I guess you’ll just have to trust in Applejack’s brother.”

Colgate’s countenance faltered. She walked over to one of Twilight’s two windows and sighed.

“Mac, come home…”