Strong Heart walked up to the low granite wall that separated Crimson and Rose’s home from the rest of the world. A gate made of cast-iron rods was left wide open, as Crimson had said it normally was that morning. Right now, the sun was setting to her left as the moon came up on her right. She walked through the gate.

A small forest and farm occupied the area farthest from the gate. In front of it, water arced and flowed down the beautiful fountain in a large courtyard that was paved around the fountain. A grassy lawn stretched out, taking up most of the space to her right. A few other houses were on the left, but their occupants were nowhere to be seen. The largest dwelling by far had an unfinished roof, where Crimson was hammering in nails while a pink alicorn watched from the ground.

Strong Heart approached the alicorn. “Hello. Are you Rose?”

The pink mare turned her head. Her leaf-green mane fell neatly to her side. “Yes. You must be Strong Heart. Crimson told me you’d be here for dinner.” Looking up at the hammering Pegasus, she called, “Crimson! She’s here!”

Crimson stopped and looked down. “Hey, Strong Heart! Glad you could make it. Sorry the house isn’t pristine, but it ain’t quite right yet.”

The lavender Earth pony giggled. “I’m sure it will look absolutely fabulous when you’re done with it.”

The dinner was just casual, nothing special. Rose whipped up some food and the three sat in front of the TV, watching the news as they ate. It was the standard news broadcast, a pretty mare speaking into the camera about tomorrow’s weather forecast. Crimson and Rose were together on the comfortable couch while Strong Heart sat in a tan La-Z-Colt chair.

The news mare chatted on. “As for tonight, we have a seventy-five percent chance of rain on Tuesday, forty percent on Wednesday on the north end, and zero down south. Right now, a little shower is covering Westside, but most of the night should have clear skies. The high tomorrow is - what?” The weather forecaster doubled as a general newsmare so news could reach ponies’ ears faster. She was surprised by the teleprompter in front of her, behind the camera. “The Catalog is in safe hooves, Mayor Skyline, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The green screen behind her switched from a weather map of EQA to live feed from a camera in the Square.

“Oh… Oh my Celestia…” The newsmare just stared at the green screen, just as stunned as everypony watching. “The Catalog…”

The entire Catalog building was on fire. Orange flames licked the roof and smoke darker than Outline’s mane billowed up from the mess. Light overwhelmed the normal street lights and shone down every street converging on the Catalog. Windows were shattered, the front doors were smashed, and the fire department struggled to get ponies out of danger. Quite a few had singed coats and worried eyes that darted from left to right and back again. A white-coated mare with a red mane and tail stumbled out of the jaunty double doors, coughing as she leaned on a firepony for support.

The newsmare on the screen finally opened her mouth to speak again. “This can’t be happening… I hope they’re okay… That looks serious,” she said, referring to a limp stallion being carried into an ambulance.

The fireponies kept trying to stem the flames, but the wind threatened to spread them to the nearby buildings. Eventually, an unexpected but Celestia-blessed rain began pouring down from the night sky, the approaching clouds having been obscured from view by the rising smoke. Steam blew skyward where the cooling rain hit open flame, but slowly, surely, brought the fire down to a reasonable level. The fireponies were able to finish it off before midnight, the light of the dying fire glowing dimmer and dimmer with each passing minute.

Crimson realized he’d been on the edge of his seat and relaxed, slumping back. Rose leaned into him for comfort, tears running down her cheeks. “Somepony’s gonna have to find out what we lost and recopy it from the originals down in the vault,” he said. “Rose? I’ll pause working on the house for now. This has a higher priority.”

As if on cue, the newsmare said, “I’m just receiving word from Mayor Skyline, who is on scene now, that he’s inspecting the vault for damage.” A few tense minutes later, she gasped. “The… The vault is open. All of the original copies of our Catalog are gone. And according to Mayor Skyline, there’s no fire damage down there. The originals were stolen.”

Strong Heart deflated. She’d been hopeful that she could volunteer in remaking the copies and make ponies happy. Now, she couldn’t even do that. It didn’t help that she’d made about an eighth of those copies that had most likely burned up. Almost a year of her hard work was destroyed.

Crimson’s face hardened. “Somepony’s got to get those back. They mean so much to us. I’ll call up Skyline.” He reached for the house phone and picked it up, dialing Skyline’s cell.

“Yes, who is this?”

“Crimson Dawn, one of Random’s OCs. Who’s going to go find the originals?”

“We don’t have a team ready, and we won’t for another week. Our highest priority as of now is to repair the damage.”

“Then I volunteer. And I get to pick a couple ponies to go with me.”

“I don’t have an objection. Who are you taking?”

“Rose Thorn… and Strong Heart.”

“Good Luck, Mr. Dawn.”

Crimson nodded. “Thank you for this opportunity.” He turned to the two mares. “Let’s pack up for a trip. Bring food, water, and supplies. I’ll handle defense.”

Rose and Strong looked curiously at him for a second. Then they jumped into action.

“So, what’s our first destination?” Rose asked as she put sandwiches together.

“KSP Amino City. I have a friend there who can get us a ride.”

Author's Note

Feedback appreciated.

And yes, the plan is to go many, many places. I'd put a pic, but it's kinda killing me right now.