The first several hours of the flight were spent in relative silence, save for the steady drone of the airship's engines. Twilight had holed herself up in the chart room with a map and her spellbooks. Rarity had commandeered a table in the ship's main cabin, and was furiously sketching out concepts for outfits that would fit both Rainbow Dash and Gilda's tastes (granted, designing something for Gilda was going to take a lot of guesswork).

Applejack had taken a seat by one of the windows, and quietly watched as the shore of Equestria slowly receded into the horizon behind the airship. Fluttershy nervously toyed with her mane in her seat next to Princess Luna, who stared ahead deep in thought. The alicorn's massive warhammer rested flush with the deck, handle in her hand as she thoughtfully rocked it forward and back. She had brought all of her combat gear with her over Twilight's protests.

Even Pinkie Pie seemed a little more subdued than usual. Not that anypony could blame her; the gravity of the situation weighed on them all like a lead blanket. For a while she'd tried to get the assembled group to respond to some knock knock jokes. Then she spent the next hour talking at them about this, that, and the other thing. Nopony else was feeling it, though, and she eventually got the hint. Ponyville's Party Pony now contented herself with sprawling out on the floor filling in coloring books.

The sober but companionable silence was suddenly disrupted when the door to the chart room swung open with a *bang*. The rest of the ponies in the cabin almost leapt from their seats in alarm. Twilight scanned the room and the wide-eyed ponies now regarding her wearily, then entered the cabin with the rolled up map in her hand.

"Hey girls," she murmured, "We're all set now. I finished casting wards on the ship, so the Spirit won't be able to affect its navigation. Once Rainbow Dash is on board, It won't be able to stop us from leaving." She looked over at Luna. "Thanks for those, by the way."

The Night Princess inclined her head sagely. "You are quite welcome, Twilight Sparkle," she said, "T'is the least I can contribute to your friend's rescue."

"Um," Fluttershy mumbled as she raised a hand, "What about Gilda?"

Twilight rubbed her eyes before turning to the Element of Kindness. "We'll do our best to get Gilda on board too. But that might not be possible. If she fights back too much, we might have to leave her on the island. Rainbow Dash is our top priority here."

Fluttershy looked like she wanted to object. So did Applejack, who had risen from her seat. Twilight grimly looked between the two. "I promise we will do what we can," she assured them, "But I can't promise we'll be able to get both of them off the island. Gilda's going to fight way harder than Rainbow Dash."

"As cruel as it sounds," Luna added, "Twilight is correct. We must spend as little time on the island as possible. Our wards and counter-spells can only go so far against the Spirit's passive abilities. If we allow It to influence us and we succumb, not only have we doomed ourselves, but we will have empowered the Spirit to extend Its reach far beyond the South Celestial Sea. If its magic reaches the nearest settlement..." she didn't need to finish the thought for the others to shudder.

Applejack adjusted the brim of her hat. "Ya seem t'know an awful lot about the island already, Princess," she observed.

Luna nodded. "Verily. This is not the first time I have had the misfortune of dealing with it." That got the rest of the group's attention, except for Twilight, who looked between each surprised face.

"C'mon, girls," she said with a hint of exasperation, "I told you back at the castle that I brought Luna on due to her prior experience with it!"

"Well ya must've only mentioned it in passing," said Applejack as she walked over to join the rest of the assembled group. Pinkie Pie got off the floor to come over as well. Even Rarity abandoned her sketchbook to listen in. It wasn't like she could concentrate while everypony was talking, anyways.

Now suddenly the center of attention, Luna regarded the five mares around her with a raised eyebrow. "I suppose you would like to know more then?" she guessed. Everypony nodded, and she sighed. "Very well. It is pertinent to the matter at hand. Make thyselves comfortable, for the story is long."

"Yay, storytime!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. She produced a beanbag chair seemingly out of nowhere and threw it onto the deck. Pinkie flopped onto the soft seat with just as little grace and nestled in to listen. Twilight and her remaining friends opted to stick with the chairs already on board the airship.

Princess Luna took a moment to gather her thoughts, then began. "Twas roughly half a century after Discord's defeat that my sister and I first heard tell of the accursed island. It started as mere rumor, of course. Whispers of a magical tropical island in the South Celestial Sea filtered into our court through the nobility. We didn't think of them as more than gossip, and we especially were not impressed by the more sordid details the more loose-lipped of storytellers shared."

Fluttershy timidly raised her hand once again. "Do, um, do you think D-Discord might have..." she trailed off, one lock of her mane gripped in her other, dainty fist.

The Night Princess slowly shook her head. "Nay. For all his faults, neither Tia nor I believe this to be his doing. We do not know from whence the Spirit came, only that it appeared at some point during our early reign. It is easy in hindsight to fault ourselves for being so aloof toward the rumors. But after all the work it took to clean up after sealing Discord in stone, perhaps we didn't wish to consider the possibility that another great threat loomed just over the horizon."

"And how did you learn that the rumors were in fact true?" asked Rarity.

Luna let out a mirthless chuckle. "Equestria had just begun an era of exploration. Ponies of all three tribes were outfitting expeditions by land and sea to explore the continents beyond. What everypony noticed, however, was that trade and exploration routes through the South Celestial Sea were the most likely to lose some or all of their ships. Ever the perceptive one, it was my sister who traced the rumors of the island back to ponies from those ships that did return."

She paused for dramatic effect, and was briefly interrupted by a crunching sound. Pinkie Pie had somehow gotten her hands on a bucket of popcorn. For the sake of her and everypony else's sanity, Luna shrugged it off and continued. "Sensing our little ponies might be in danger, Celestia appointed a regency council and proposed the both of us fly out to sea in order to find the mysterious island. Returning sailors who sighted the alleged island claimed to experience an overwhelming desire to ground their ships along it. If this was the case, we at least wanted to confirm its location so that ships could better avoid it."

The dark blue alicorn bowed her head. "Sometimes I wish that Celestia and I had never found it. But we did, or should I say it found us."

Applejack clicked her tongue. "Well? What did you find there? Was there anycreature else on the island when you found it?"

Luna glanced at the farm pony with a grave expression. "Yes," she simply said. The five mares leaned forward in anticipation, and the Night Princess continued her story.

Author's Note

Finally, after much stalling, dillydallying, and writing Helluva Boss stuff, I have returned from the wilderness to continue this story. I hope this installment was well worth the wait, and you aren't too irked about the cliffhanger ending to it.

No idea when I'll write the next chapter, but I am pleased to say that development of Paradise Found is back on!