Broken Sky

by hahatimeforponies

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Adventure, Violence, Alternate Universe, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 56441

A restless ruffian pursues purpose in the shards of a shattered land.

One day, Equestria stopped being in one piece, and started being in a million pieces. The world literally ended. Life didn't. Any way they could, and any way they had to, ponies survived in the debris of Equestria.

On one piece of Ponyville, they survived quite well. Key Stone grew up with a simple but comfortable life. He spends all his time staring at the sky and buried in books, waiting for the faintest hint that life is out there.

And then it arrives.

Story returning to updates soon!

Published 2013-03-18 04:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-09-23 18:16:05 UTC

The Argo

There once was a boy who looked at the sky. Well, there probably has been before and will be many times again, but they're not fantastically interesting. This one was a stallion of seventeen years, and he was of such sandy shades and stocky build that he could be mistaken for part of the earth itself. The earthy boy looked at the sky at every possible opportunity, going out to the wharf on the edge of the village where he wouldn't be disturbed and climbing the tall pole to get the best view he could.

If he was lucky, he'd have a clear view of the stars. Everything in the sky moved, except them. The current sky was muddy. A bank of dark clouds hung in the northern sky, which happened to be the current "up" for the village, which was a pain. He leaned over the edge of the pier. The southern sky right now had a collection of shards obscured by the rockface below, which lit up the aether a lovely lilac, punctuated by sprays of gold, but made picking out stars difficult. Only the brightest ones made themselves known. Sirius was hard to miss. South of that, he found Canopus.

He smiled. The library's healthy stock of star charts all seemed to disagree about which constellation Canopus was supposed to belong to. The older ones, with ornate illustrations and plenty of gratuitous old Equestrian, had a tremendous ship across the southern sky, called Argo Navis. The newer ones, with their sterile dot-and-line diagrams and gratuitous graphs and data, split the old Argo into its sails, deck and keel. Nobody had been there to explain why this change was made. It didn't make much sense to him at all.

Canopus winked at him, and he squinted. Stars only wink when something passes in front of them. Other islands were usually easy to spot as occasional dark stars. The proximity to the star made this one difficult to see, no matter how much he craned his neck and pouted.

"Key!" The fright nearly forced him to fall. "Key Stone get down from there!" When Key regained his balance, he chuckled under his breath and dismounted the pole. The wharf groaned from the impact of his landing, and the middle-aged mare standing safely on the grass a full two lengths away winced. Then she smiled. "Earth ponies belong on the ground, silly."

Key cast an aside glance over the edge of the wharf. "Let me know when you find it."

Marble Arch rolled her eyes and beckoned him over. "Don't be such a smarty-pants. C'mon, dinner's ready."

The village was a shambles of old buildings, half of them unusable, and everyone knew each other. Key hated the latter and loved the former. He liked to be alone with his thoughts, and it's hard to think when you can't walk down the street without every shopkeeper and passer-by offering how-do-you-do's and lovely-weather-isn't-it's. His mother was with him, so he smiled and nodded. Peppermint Twist at the sweet shop gave him a smile and a look over the rims of her glasses, but Key was more interested in the crumbling stonework of the shop itself. (She was at least ten years older than him anyway.)

Aside from the main two streets of shops and utility buildings, almost every spare inch of the village was covered in vegetable plots and fruit trees. This made private spaces for Key to lurk in a rare commodity indeed. Buildings that were in reasonably good condition still had ponies using them, usually a shop or workshop or something on the ground floor, a living space above, and often an attempt at a cabbage patch on the roof. When one collapsed, it was a safe bet that within hours someone would be clearing the rubble and getting ready to plough it. But a few structures in the village fell into a golden mean, in which nobody deemed it safe or comfortable enough to live in, but it had yet to fall down. He liked to hide in these places and watch the sky through holes in the roof, or read if it was cloudy.

Key had to linger on the bridge. His mother carried on and knew he would catch up, because he did this every time they crossed the bridge. The cobblestones of the upper main street carried on either side, and the bridge was a hasty wooden construction that needed regular service and replacement. The ground had split some time ago, but the island was too thick to completely divide from it, leaving a huge earthy scar. The villagers took full advantage of this. The upper main street snaked around the top of a sheer cliff, with all the houses and shops on one side, and about eight lengths down was the lower village. The lower main street was a dirt track. The lower village consisted of small farming plots and a café that had run out of coffee years ago. By the bridge in the upper village, on either side of the divide, were the halves of a house wrenched in two.

On the far side of the village from the wharf, Key's home was set in a hillside. It was a newer dwelling, which meant it was dug into the ground to save precious growing space. The front door looked directly out to the sky, but there were other homes set into that hillside, and potato plots further down the hill, so if Key stood at his front gate and stargazed, ponies would come up and try to talk to him. He hadn't gotten away with it since he was ten.

He opened the door, and he hit a wall of hot air, thick with steam and the aroma of hearty vegetable stew. He was one of the last to dinner. Jade and Jet made some incomprehensible jeering when they saw him come in, and he dummied a dive at them. Jade fell backwards over Jet, and the two foals giggled and took their places at the table. Kite Facet thumped the table to make his bowl dance, and kept doing so until Oval Cut caught the bowl in the air. He stuck his tongue out at her and sat back in his chair in a huff. She looked up at Key. They shared a snort and a smirk. (If they laughed at Kite's pre-teen angst in front of him, war would break out.) The din died off when Onyx Ring entered, ducking through the doorway like he was too big to be allowed, with a yawning Keshi Pearl on his back. He set her down in her high chair and took his place at the head of the table. An empty cup found itself sailing from the high chair, and bopped Onyx on the nose. He rubbed it with a smile.

The quiet was the cue for the cauldron to emerge from the kitchen, Marble Arch nosing it along ahead of her. The order of service was oldest to youngest, or, least to most likely to start before everyone was served. Minutes of vigorous slurping and mumbling followed. Kite declared that he hated the stew, then ate three helpings. Most of Keshi's stew ended up on her father's face, which she found infinitely amusing. The novelty wore off for him quickly.

When the meal was over, Marble took Keshi from her chair to burp her and let her fall asleep in a pouch worn on her front. Jade and Jet took off to re-muddy themselves. Kite remained at the table in an effort to look grown-up.

"What to do, what to do," Onyx sighed. The table shook a little when he set his empty glass down.

"Pretend to read something with a pipe and a glass of sherry?" Oval said, quicker than anyone else could even open their mouths.

He chuckled and shook his head. His proportions made even his most subtle gestures seem like geological events. "I'm talking about birthdays. You've got a month to think of something."

"Well..."

"What are we gonna do, go on vacation?" Key shrugged and snorted at him.

"If you could, would you?"

Key and Oval looked at each other, then nodded at him. "Yeah. Probably," one said.

"It's also probably never going to happen," said the other.

"Oh, come on," Marble added. "You're only eighteen once. There must be something you want."

Oval frowned. "I feel like this whole birthday presents thing is generational. When you were growing up you could get new things, but everything we have is recycled and handed down. Between us we've probably read every book on the island."

"Kite, if you break that train set, I will throw you off this rock, because Jet's still got to use it." Key looked across the table with a raised eyebrow and a barely contained smirk. Kite scowled at him, then sat back in his chair with forelegs crossed, and stuck his tongue out for good measure. Key broke down chuckling. Marble shot the same raised-eyebrow look back. Key rolled his eyes and left Kite alone.

"When you're quite done poking the dragon, Key..." Oval's ruby face turned a little blue from trying not to laugh. "My point is that birthdays are always going to mean different things to us than they did for you."

Marble looked up in thought. "Sorry, I'm still having birthdays, I think?" Everyone seventeen and up at the table chuckled. At this point Kite realised that he had nothing to add to the conversation and left. "It's his turn to clear the table, I don't know where he's going."

Onyx shook his head and waved, and returned his attention to his two eldest. "There's one thing I'm definitely doing with you both. I am taking you down to the Fallen Arch and I am buying each of you a pint of Old Misty Mountain. This is not up for debate."

"I don't think either of us were going to argue."

After dinner, Key retreated to his bedroom. Oval was already there, setting up a chessboard. By long-standing agreement, due to the premium of space, all of their books, games and everything they did together was kept in Key's room, and Oval's room had boxes of things they stopped playing with. Key flipped a coin on his way past, and carried on to the bookshelves.

"You've got black," Oval said, looking up from her book to check the coin. She moved a pawn while she was at it. He kept rooting around on the bookshelves, until he pulled some large, folded up pieces of paper out and set them down next to him. The chess set wobbled. Oval tilted her head. "See something earlier?"

"Something south, in Argo." Knight to f6.

"You haven't touched those charts in months, it could be anything." Bishop to b2.

"Probably. I've got velocity data, so barring catastrophic events, I should be able to extrapolate some positions."

Oval chuckled with a quill in her mouth. "You're such a nerd."

"Says she making notes in a poetry book."

She snorted again. That's the joke, she didn't say.

They played best of three while Oval read and Key did sheets of algebra. Then they played best of five, and then best of seven, and by best of nineteen they weren't sure who had won how many, because the win count got lost in the middle of all the other numbers Key was juggling. They only found it when he noticed that an island known only as "lighthouse guy rock" appeared to suddenly reverse direction and move a hundred and twenty degrees across the sky.

Key's calculations turned up nothing interesting. The most likely candidate was an unidentified island. After they lost count of how many rounds of chess they'd played, Oval went to bed, and Key went back outside. He didn't like sleeping, even if everything he wanted to do would wait for him. Lights-off (or night, as the older ponies called it) meant that the streets of the village were empty, save for the occasional sleepy watchpony, and Key could wander the crumbling buildings alone, and pretend the village was deserted.

He spent half an hour on the bridge, and continued to the wharf at a leisurely pace. The air had chilled, and some mist was collecting in the divide. Key guessed they were passing through a cloud, which would probably hide the stars, but he went to the wharf anyway. When he got there, the mist had reduced the light of the few stars that were out to a white fuzz, but the dark spot was still clear. It had moved a few arc minutes clockwise, and had a definite shape. Key watched it for a few minutes. His telescope was in the library, and it was probably closed.

"Key!"

"Mom, I'm not even on the pole..."

Marble Arch laughed and came as far as the edge of the grass. Key smiled and joined her. When he stood at her side, she put a foreleg around him, and he leaned his weight into her. She jerked to the side, but then stabilised.

"What are you thinking about?"

He paused. "Where do I start?"

"Anywhere."

It took him a moment to filter something worth talking about from the multiple trains of thought he had running at any given moment. "What was it like when it happened?" Marble opened her mouth, but Key expanded the question before she could say anything. "I mean, I've asked about what life was like before. That's not what I'm interested in. What Oval said at dinner got me thinking, about what it was like when Equestria stopped being one piece and started being... this." He waved a hoof at the sky.

"Well." She licked her lips and swallowed. "A lot of ponies try not to think about it. We were in the old house, when it was still part of Ponyville. The Summer Sun Celebration was in Ponyville that year, and I was pregnant with Oval..." She hesitated another moment. "It was mid-morning when it happened, but it was still dark. Onyx had just come back from the raising of the sun, saying something about nightmares and moons, but we never got a chance to figure that out. I just remember that a lot of things were odd that morning. Then, we heard this great rumbling. We felt it as much as heard it, really. We rushed outside and saw the moon breaking apart. Everything else was hard to see in the moonlight, but we started seeing bits of the Everfree Forest flying in the air over us, then the ground cracked... right where this wharf is, there used to be a house, and the ground broke right under it. I don’t know if the ponies in it were on the other side or just out at the time, but when we searched it afterwards, we couldn't find anyone."

Key knew from Marble's look what had happened to them. "Do you need a minute?"

"No... no, I'm okay. But yes, after the ground cracked, we noticed that where we were standing was starting to float up. We ran inside and braced ourselves in the doorways. I don't remember ever being so terrified. Your father never left me alone through the whole thing. I might have just had a heart attack there and then if he wasn't keeping me calm." She smiled and sniffed again. "I can't remember how long we were there. The rumbling stopped, and we heard some screaming in the distance once. When we got out to see what was going on, we... I almost got sick from the dizziness. A few ponies around already had. The part of town we were standing in was upside down, maybe two miles from the ground. And on the ground... I feel like you'd need a poet to describe it all. Bits of the land were coming away in all directions. The cracks were as far as Canterlot and still going. I could see the sea, which you really shouldn't be able to see from Ponvyille, and it was fizzing away into the sky.

"After that day was hard. Some ponies thought Princess Celestia would come and fix it, but..." She chuckled darkly. "That never happened, as you can see. We learned how much of Ponyville we were left with. Since I was the closest they had to a quantity surveyor, they had me checking the integrity of the island. We had some of the Everfree Forest, which I reckoned was going to break off any day, so the first thing we did was search it for supplies. Thank heavens for Vermouth, being so practical-minded. If we didn't have him we might have all starved by now. When half of everyone was losing their heads, he was already thinking long term. We got seeds and fruits and saplings from the forest and the little bit of field in between. There was a cottage with some chickens and bees, but we couldn't find the owner, so we just moved everything to safety. There was a zebra living in a hut in the forest, but she refused to move. She was probably better able to look after herself than any of us were. Then there were the ruins in the forest. Onyx was sent there to look for valuables for trading, and, well..."

Key smiled. "This is the part I know."

Marble smiled back and squeezed him tight. "He found something worth more than just gems." Key blushed and broke into a full grin. "My little miracle."

"Mom, stop!" he laughed.

Marble sniffed a third time and planted a kiss on his forehead while she had him headlocked in a hug. "Y'know Vermouth named the Fallen Arch after you?"

"Really?"

"Mhm. The new bar was all ready to go save for the name, and when your father told him the story, the image of the newborn foal lying in place of the keystone of a fallen archway stuck with him."

"Hm." Key looked up and paused. "Applying finishing touches while I was still in diapers. Prescient."

She chuckled and hugged him again. "This land might be broken, but it still has magical ways."

Key didn't sleep much. He went back to the wharf for an hour with a cup of soup when everyone was asleep and watched the unidentified island get closer by miniscule amounts. The clouds only got thicker and he was grateful for the soup. When the soup was finished, the chill and the fatigue and the monotony became too much, and he went home for just enough sleep to keep him alive.

He started his breakfast after and finished before everyone else, and went to the library. The clouds had cleared a little, but it was still chilly. It was an old, dead, hollow tree near the wharf edge of the island. Its leaves had long deserted it, but it was still green with sheets of ivy that were probably holding it down as much as the roots were. It used to be in the middle of a street, but all that was left were some cobblestones studded in the dirt. The villagers had planted apple and pear trees around the library to make it look less lonely.

When Key arrived, a few foals were already playing on the trees outside. They waved at him, and he smiled and waved back to be polite, but he hurried inside anyway. In his rush, he nearly fell over one of the desks near the door.

"Key Stone, you'll break your neck like that!"

He chuckled, returning the desk to its original angle. "I don't know, Penny, I think the desk will break before I do."

Penny Sweet broke into wrinkled grin and waved him on. As he made for the stairs, she resumed picking out books and writing things on the chalkboard.

A few minutes later, he rang the bell on the balcony, and the foals outside filed inside. He watched them from the mezzanine with the curtains closed, so that he was in the dark. There were sixteen in total, and he could see Jade, Jet and Kite Facet among them. Kite looked particularly moody this morning, as did that fourteen year old filly with her forelock flopping in front of her face. They sat at the back, visibly unimpressed with having to share a classroom with foals up to eight years their junior. He thought they'd be happier about getting their summer break soon, but apparently not.

Penny began lessons, and Key watched some more. He knew the teenagers at the back were inevitably going to get more angsty because Penny was teaching. She lavished her attention on the younger kids, and left the older ones some books to read. He retreated to his desk after the class had settled down. Kite and the fringe knew that he usually hid in the mezzanine during lights-on, where nobody could bother him without disturbing the class. They threw paper balls up at him whenever they were bored and their teacher wasn't looking at them.

The office-bedroom mezzanine of the library was his home away from home. Ever since he finished school he figured he'd probably become the village's teacher. The village needed one, after all. The current system of rotating "teachers" - the adults of the village teaching things vaguely related to their jobs - was adequate, but far from ideal. Penny Sweet was a confectioner, who taught cookery to the older kids, but was also a natural kindergarten warden. Vermouth taught mathematics and economics, Onyx Ring taught science, Marble Arch taught construction studies... Key had even taught astronomy a couple of times. Useful for navigation, he said. The troubled troublesome teens weren't convinced.

A ball of paper landing on his forehead brought him back to reality. A second landed on his lap. He was swinging on his chair, and he nearly lost his balance. Through the bars of the mezzanine railing he could see the terrible twosome preparing a second round. He took a piece of paper, wrote on it 'why don't you two just kiss already?', and folded it into a paper aeroplane. He threw it from safety and waited. A minute later there was a loud "ew!" from the back of the class, followed by Penny raising her voice when she noticed they weren't reading. Key grinned and turned back to his desk.

He took the charts he'd updated yesterday out of his bags and busied himself with updating the library's copies. He realised that he should have swung by the wharf before coming here. He packed up the telescope and made a point to check the wharf when class broke for lunch. When the charts were done, he lost himself in a book of old legends. He often entertained himself by cross-referencing fairy tales to find out what was just mundane to the old world and what was pure fantasy. It was harder than it sounded.

At lunch, Key left behind everyone else. Penny refused to let him leave without one of the cakes she'd brought to class. Outside, Kite glared at him from the furthest apple tree. The fringe was nowhere to be seen.

It had only gotten colder out since breakfast, and it was now even colder than during lights-off. This wasn't unusual, but some of the older ponies complained about it. Key's breath was misting as he walked. The ground had even frosted in some sheltered areas. Shop doors said 'come on in, we're open', and ponies wrapped up in scarves and hats and boots and made sure to shut them after coming and going. Small fires had been lit next to some of the crop patches, and someone struggled to get some life out of an old heat lamp.

He and his breath stopped when he reached the wharf. He could see the outline of someone already there, sitting at the edge and looking over. Short mane waved in soft wind. The mist obscured its details. He approached with a light step, now excessively mindful of his own movements and the telescope on his back. A creaky plank gave him away. He tensed. The silhouette turned its head. He kept his gaze at the floor.

"There you are," Oval's voice said. Key furrowed his brow and looked up. The figure came closer, until there was little enough cloud between them that he could see her properly. He hadn't told her to meet him here, nor had he planned it. "Come on, before this cloud gets any thicker." He figured she'd just had the same idea.

They wedged one leg of the stand in between two boards on the wharf, and the other two legs rested awkwardly over the side, so they could point the telescope down over the edge. Oval held it steady while Key looked. They took a minute to find their unidentified floating rock again, and another to bring it into focus.

Key made some humming noises. "I think it's a ship."

"You sure?"

"Regularly shaped with two projections that look like sails. It looks like it's heading this way." He stood back and took the base so Oval could get a look. There was another minute while she found it again.

"You're absolutely right, it sure looks like a- hello."

Key blinked. "I didn't say it w-"

"Shut up. Someone just looked over the prow. Unicorn... she's floating a telescope. I think she's trying to look at us!"

Key leaned over the side and waved. "That get anything?"

Oval said nothing for a moment. Then she sighed. "Nope. Looks like she gave up on it, I'm not sure she knows how to use it."

"Aw. She still there?"

"Yeah, take a look." They switched again.

When he found the ship again, he double-checked the magnification. He looked back again, and the unicorn was resting on the prow, doing nothing. "Wow, that ship is actually a lot smaller than I thought it was! At a rough guess I'd say... six, maybe eight hours, wind depending?"

"Just in time to clash with dinner, then?"

He chuckled, and packed up the telescope. "Of course."

Key returned to the library and read one page each from twenty different books. He couldn't concentrate. It was perhaps the fifth vessel to come to the island in his lifetime. And a unicorn was on board, no less. The last time he saw one of those, he was five. A ship called to trade, and a baby dragon left the village with them. He lived in the library, and always seemed kind of sad. Key was never sure whether he'd imagined the dragon or not.

School finished. Kite had forgotten about the teasing from earlier in his rush to leave. Jade and Jet demanded to ride home on Key's back. He commented on how big they were getting, and exaggerated his wheezing and struggling while they mounted, even though he could easily carry the pair of them. He left his bags at the library because he was coming back anyway. Jade sang something, and Jet made gagging noises. Key recognised the tune and sang along, even though he was too breathy and slightly flat. Jet huffed and rested his chin on the top of Key's head, but he could feel him tapping along in time anyway.

The twins dismounted at the front gate and ran inside. Vermouth had called, and was talking to Onyx Ring about repairs on some of the ornate taps at the bar. Key waved and hurried through to the kitchen for a quick drink of water. He wasn't stopped on his way back out, to his relief.

He killed the rest of the afternoon walking between the library and the wharf, being too restless to read and too agonised by the wait to remain at the dock. The clouds cleared up and it warmed while he met Oval for a break at the sweet shop. She'd been similarly distracted all day. They met Marble Arch out walking with Keshi Pearl, and whiled away half an hour playing with her until Marble said that she'd catch her death of cold.

On the seventh lap of his circuit of distractions, Key decided that the ship was close enough, and that he'd watch the rest of its approach from the wharf. A few minutes later Oval joined him. He hopped and fidgeted as he stared over the edge. Whenever he got a pain in his neck, he took a step back from the edge and paced. When the ship was close enough to see with the naked eye, he went to put the telescope back. He ran, stumbling over the same desk as earlier on his way into the library. He felt like he could really do with some soup or tea, and Oval would appreciate the same, but in getting it he might miss something important, and they were in that late evening limbo when they might be called for dinner in a minute, or in an hour, with no way to tell.

In his enthusiasm to return in time, he nearly charged off the dock. He stopped in a position of precarious balance on his two front legs, and Oval had to gently pull him back. He crumpled to the floor with his chin hooked around the edge while he caught his breath. Blood pounded in his ears and his stomach knotted and turned. He felt ready to vomit.

The ship had changed its angle. It coasted sideways with its sails retracted. Now that they could see the vessel in profile, they could pick out details of its construction. It was grubby and unpainted, and the hull was a collage of nailed-on boards and smears of dirt and ash. It was maybe twenty lengths from keel to prow, and the same from the bottom of the hull to the top of the crow's nest. The word etched into the wood below the prow, that looked like it had been gone over several times in different colours of paint, said 'Crusader'.

Key spotted a pony in the crow's nest. They looked at him, or at least in his direction. He froze. The eye contact held for two seconds that felt like twenty, and broke when he backed away from the edge in a hurry.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, no, I..."

Oval chuckled. "One of the crew saw you and now you're going to be all shy?" Key grimaced and blushed. "That would be so you. Relax, I'll do the talking."

He lay on his stomach further from the edge while Oval kept watching. Without sight of the ship, time crawled, and he only made himself more nauseous. Oval seemed to handle it much better, only swishing her tail and shivering occasionally from the cold. Although it may not have been the cold.

Oval stepped away from the edge, and Key knew it was time. His forelegs tensed. The crow's nest popped up over the boards. He let loose a clipped cry of fright, and ran behind the bushes. It was going to crash, he was sure. He closed his eyes and pressed himself to the ground. He heard a crunch, which was likely the initial impact, and then the long creak of straining wood. There was one sharp crack. After that, silence.

He heard footsteps on the grass, and a tug on his tail made him squeal again. Face buried in the dirt, he was dragged backwards until he was on the wharf again. "Key, stop being such a wimp!" Oval hissed, and she spat out the few of his tail hairs left in her mouth. He pressed his forehooves to his temples and forcibly shook his head. Then he stood up, wiped the dirt from his face and turned around.

"Make yourself useful!" a voice called from the ship. It was at an angle to the island, so that the crow's nest was directly above them, but the two ponies he could see on board were walking on it just fine, like the angle of the deck was the correct one, and the island was wrong. While Key was boggling at this, a coil of rope landed next to him. Key and Oval looked at it, then at each other and said some variation of 'uhh' in unison.

The orange pony on the deck rolled her eyes and jumped on to the wharf. "Don't tell me you don't know how to tie knots? Kids these days..." She took the rope in her mouth and flew a few times around the tall pole with it. Wait, flew?

Key's jaw dropped when he saw the wings open out. In the half-light, he hadn't noticed them. A unicorn was one thing, but he'd never seen a pegasus face to face before. With the mane and tail and scarf all in the same magenta billowing behind her, she looked like a rag blowing in the wind. He tried not to stare and failed miserably. Oval did a much better job of it.

The pegasus dropped the rope and landed on the rail on the side of the deck. She turned and looked at Key and his vacant wonder. She smirked. "You checking me out?" Key turned scarlet and stammered. His legs pedalled backwards without him noticing.

"Scootaloo!" another voice called from the ship. "The poor thing's probably never seen a pegasus before." The unicorn that couldn't work a telescope came to the rail. Her mane looked a lot more curly up close. "Look at him, he's in shock!"

"I'm just playing, sheesh..." Scootaloo went over to the other side of the deck and started doing something else with ropes. The unicorn tied off the rope around the tall pole so that it kept the vessel snug to the wharf.

Oval was working all of her face muscles to not break down laughing. "Are you okay?" Key took a breath and sat down. She patted him on the back.

The ship turned, creaking and groaning, until its deck was almost at the same angle as the boards of the wharf. The unicorn tied another rope to a smaller pole further down the dock. An earth pony emerged from the cabin and came over to the rail. She stood on it to look past the pair on the pier, to the village behind them. A skull and crossbones bandana kept the hair out of her eyes.

"Looks like the place," said the unicorn.

"What's left of it, anyway," said the earth pony with a grimace. Her voice had a twang to it that broadened some vowels, and skipped over others. Vermouth and some of the farmers had accents like that, which they described as country. The earth pony looked at them. "There a harbour master or something?" They shook their heads. "Customs? Mayor?"

"You're the first ship to dock here in about four years. I don't think the town knows what to do with them," Oval said.

Scootaloo reappeared on the far side of the deck. "Directions to a bar would be nice." The two other crew rolled their eyes.

"Well, who do we talk to about trading?"

Key and Oval looked at each other again. "I guess we could take you to the Fallen Arch? It is kind of a hub."

The earth pony hopped off the ship. "Alright. Scootaloo, keep a lookout. Sweetie Belle, you're with me." The pegasus flapped up to the crow's nest and sprawled over the side, immediately looking bored. The unicorn jumped on to the dock. "I'm Applebloom." She gave them a look.

They stared for a couple of seconds. Key shuffled back. "Uh, it's this way, uhm..."

Applebloom chuckled. "No, what are your names?"

"Oh!" Oval answered, while Key fell back on his haunches. "I'm Oval Cut, and this is my brother Key Stone." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and made some faces. They shook their heads after a moment and started towards the village.

"What was that about?" Key asked, before he could remember subtlety.

They didn't seem bothered. "We used to live in Ponyville, before the Sundering."

Oval and Key exchanged confused looks. "The what?"

"Y'know, the Sundering. That thing where Equestria exploded into the sky." Sweetie Belle talked about it so casually. "Why, do you call it something else here?"

"We don't actually have a name for it. In fact, not many ponies like to talk about it."

Applebloom huffed. "Figures. Who are your folks?"

Oval hesitated. Key didn't. "Onyx Ring and Marble Arch. Jeweller and architect."

Sweetie Belle chuckled. "That explains it. We were like, twelve when it happened. We wouldn't have known anyone like that."

Most of the shops had closed or were closing, and few ponies were out. The few that were out gawped at the two strangers. They didn't pay them any heed, because they were more interested in the toll time had taken on the town. They stared for a full five minutes at the divide, and were struck silent by the house carved in two near the bridge. They said that they weren't normally this sentimental, but here it was hard not to be.

The Fallen Arch was the last new building built above ground, but it certainly didn't look new. It was an attempted brick-for-brick reconstruction of the old tavern, the Three Cavaliers, which had been irreparably damaged when the divide formed. It was on the island's only side street, coming off the upper main street on the wharf side of the bridge. The street sloped sharply down, so the walls of the cellar poked out of the ground. The cobblestones on the street stopped shortly after.

As they entered, a quiet descended as everyone turned to see who'd arrived. When they saw it was just the jeweller's kids, they returned to their groups and resumed their slurred conversations. The strangers evaded notice by most. Lanterns behind the bar and over the door provided warm light in small amounts. Most of the patrons drank in shadow. Feathered caps and rapiers sat on the walls next to out-of-date maps and timetables for trains that would never come. The crest of the original three cavaliers, broken neatly in three, hung over the bar.

"Is that..." someone said, too quiet for them to hear. Twist accosted them on their way to the bar. "Applebloom! Gosh, is that really you?"

Applebloom looked around and at the others with extreme concern. "Might be, uh... do I know you?"

Twist looked down with the smile falling from her face. Then she perked up again. "Would it help thome if I talked like thith?"

The lights flicked on. "Twist?"

"You do remember!"

"Of course! You just went and grew up completely." Twist chuckled and blushed. "Man, we gotta catch up!"

Sweetie Belle tapped her on the shoulder. "Business?"

Applebloom waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, go talk to them, I'll get back to you." She retreated to a corner with Twist. Sweetie Belle shrugged, and they continued to the bar.

Oval and Key leaned over the bar, but didn't take seats. Sweetie Belle looked over their shoulders. Vermouth kept talking to the two older ponies further down the bar for a minute, before politely excusing himself. His mane and moustache were greying and his bowtie and waistcoat were fraying, but he still moved smoothly, sliding along the bar to them like he was on wheels.

"Now, what can I do you kids for?"

"Actually..." Oval stepped to one side. "Some traders just arrived." Sweetie Belle opened her mouth, but didn't follow through.

"Well, whip me raw, if that's something you don't see every day! Welcome to our humble little rock, stranger! What can I get you?"

"Sweetie Belle." She smiled, only for a second. "We're not really looking for a drink, I thought I'd been brought here to..."

"Just tell me what you're looking for and I'll tell you if we can help you out. Everything passes through this watering hole."

Sweetie Belle paused, then shrugged. "The old Ponyville library." Vermouth's face folded. "We're not looking to take anything, just investigate."

He broke into a grin, largely hidden by his facial hair. "Come all this way just for our little library? There's dedication, I tell you. Well, it so happens that Key here is our resident bookworm! He can tell you on the spot what if we have what you need."

Key chuckled and stared at the counter. "Oh, stop..."

"Is he right?"

"Yes. I suppose."

"Cool! Let's go, we can get drinks late-"

"There you two are." Marble Arch inserted herself between Sweetie Belle and Oval. Sweetie Belle backed up. Marble looked at Vermouth. "Corrupting my children again, are you?" Her lips curled into a smile.

"Of course, ma'am. Better get 'em out of here before I sell them some soda." The dimples in his cheeks peeked out from around his moustache.

She turned from the bar. "Come on. Your dinner will be cold." Key and Oval looked at Sweetie Belle. Key gulped.

She chuckled and nodded at the door. "Go. We're not going anywhere."

The stir fry disappeared quickly. Key and Oval spent the meal having a silent conversation about whether they were going to bolt as soon as they were done, communicated by eyebrows and ear twitches. Kite ate half the speed of the others as he went to painstaking lengths to pick pieces of onion out of the noodles. Keshi Pearl decided to use her eldest siblings as target practice when she'd had enough of her mulch.

"Now, about this ship." The pair of them lurched. Key had some leek go down the wrong way. They'd been eating like they were late, and Marble still finished ahead of them.

Oval cleared her mouth first. "You saw it?"

"You know that if I can't find Key at home I check the library first and the wharf second, right? The lady on the ship told me you'd gone to show her friends to Vermouth." Key spluttered some more, then downed most of his water. A lump of baby food sailed past him. "Did you know it was coming?"

They looked at each other. Oval nodded. Key made a false start, cleared his throat, and tried again. "We only got a look with the telescope at lunchtime. I..."

"What your mother might be trying to say is that maybe you shouldn't get any ideas." Onyx's voice resonated in the wok in the middle of the table.

Marble pouted. "Well maybe not as strong as that. Perhaps..." She took a sip of her drink. "... that you should think carefully about any ideas that you might have." She looked harder at Onyx than either Key or Oval.

Onyx frowned and shrugged. "I just think you should be careful around these crusty traders myself, you never know what they're up to."

"They want to look at the library, actually." Both parents furrowed their brows and looked at each other. "That's what they said when we took them to Vermouth. So I guess that's where I'm going now?"

Onyx sighed. Then he looked at the table and waved. Key hesitated, then left. Oval got up and hugged her father. His lips curled up at the sides. "He knows you're just looking out for him." His nose shielded her from another mash missile. They laughed, and Keshi took this as a signal to prepare another volley. Oval left before the bombardment could intensify further.

Oval caught up with Key at the bridge. He was dawdling and looking at the ground. As she passed, she gave him a nuzzle. He paused and smiled, and followed her at her brisk pace.

The Fallen Arch had become louder while they were eating dinner. More ponies had arrived, and the air was hot and thick and made them shield their faces as they came in. The waitress walked past them with a platter of fried food, bag-eyed and her mane frizzing. When they looked again she was already heading back to the kitchen. They stood in the aisle, looking at everyone for the strangers. Sweet Bells was one of them, maybe?

Key jumped when he was touched on the shoulder. This in turn startled Oval, who almost knocked over someone's drink when she jumped. The owner of the hoof laughed.

"We're over here!" Key followed the leg up to Scootaloo. She had a foam moustache from her drink.

Oval frowned. "I thought you were keeping watch?"

"This place is harmless. The S.S. Rustbucket will be fine." Applebloom reached over from their alcove and thumped her. Scootaloo chuckled anyway and stuck her tongue out at Applebloom. They budged up, and Key and Oval joined them. The three of them and Twist sat around a shared plate of fries, onion rings and other assorted greasy things, with a beer each. Key and Oval said they'd just eaten and would be fine, but stole the occasional fry anyway.

Applebloom set her drink aside and leaned forward. "Okay. Let's get down to business. We're not your regular traders. We trade to survive, but not for profit. My brother runs a big farm, so we get food on the cheap every few months." She looked around, then lowered herself to the table, prompting the pair of them to do the same. "We're trying to find out what happened on the night of the Sundering. Everyone kinda wants to know, but doesn't know where to start. We have a lead. Anyone ever tell you about Nightmare Moon?"

"It was mentioned in passing. Not much detail, because what came next was a bit more dramatic."

Applebloom took a sip of her drink. "The three of us - me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo - we were just fillies when it happened. Younger than y'all. It was the morning of the summer sun celebration. Princess Celestia..."

"I know who that is!" Key blurted. He lowered his head immediately after. Oval chuckled.

"Well good, because if you didn't, it'd be downright shameful. Princess Celestia was supposed to raise the sun, and that day was gonna be a big festival of sunlight and warmth and all that."

Sweetie Belle hugged herself. "I could go for some sunlight and warmth, I tell you."

"Can I get through this without being interrupted every ten seconds? What was I saying... Celestia. That's right. She was supposed to raise the sun as the centrepiece of the festival, but when the time came, she wasn't there. Instead this other alicorn with all night armour and this swirly dark mane came out and called herself Nightmare Moon. Said the night would last forever, and then stormed out. But there was this one lady that recognised her. I'd met her earlier that day - Twilight Sparkle." Key pouted. He was sure he'd heard that name somewhere before. "She was in town to help organise the festival. After Nightmare Moon left, my sister Applejack, and Sweetie Belle's sister Rarity, and Scootaloo's not-sister Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "... and a couple of other ponies from around town went with her to the library. We'd bumped into each other at this thing, so we went back to my house together for breakfast." Applebloom's narration ran out of steam, and she sighed. "And then we never saw them again. An hour later, the Sundering happened, and we grew up with my big brother and granny and some of the other Apples on the farm."

The table went quiet. Scootaloo swigged her drink. "I'm sorry," Oval said.

Applebloom shook herself and waved her off. "It was a long time ago. Don't worry about it."

"We found my parents a few years ago actually, they got through everything okay," Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo swallowed a couple of onion rings. "Frankly it was an improvement for me. Your whole house cooks better than 'mom' did." She gestured the quotation marks around 'mom'.

Applebloom mirrored Scootaloo's eyeroll. "But that's our lead. The last place we saw any of them was at the library. We don't know if our sisters or Nightmare Moon had anything to do with the Sundering, but it's all too much at the same time to ignore."

Key stared down his nose while he thought. "Twilight Sparkle... I know I've heard that name somewhere."

"Did she leave a diary? We know that she was staying in the library while she was here."

"No, nothing she wrote herself... in fact I don't think there's any written record of her. Maybe... I might have to ask someone older, but there was this baby dragon that used to live in the library that might have mentioned her."

All four of the older ponies perked up. Twist smiled, but then the smile fell. "I remember him! Poor little guy."

"That's right! She had a dragon with her. Little purple and green one. Spo... Spah..." Applebloom scratched her chin.

"Spike?"

"Spike! We're already getting somewhere. What happened to him?"

"I was like, five at the time, so my memory is hazy, but I think he left with some traders."

Sweetie Belle pouted. "That makes sense. He'd want to know what happened to Twilight after all."

"Pretty young to be wandering the Debris on his own."

Key tilted his head. "Debris?" Oval beat him to his own thought.

Applebloom chuckled. "I like this place. It's like nothing ever happened here."

"I'll drink to that," Twist said, holding up her drink.

Applebloom bopped her stein on Twist's, and they drank. She turned back to Key and Oval. "After a while, it didn't feel right calling what's out there Equestria anymore. Equestria was peaceful. And warm. And in one piece. What's out there ain't none of those things. Ponies started calling it the ashes of Equestria, and the pieces of Equestria, and all kinds of stuff. Eventually the name 'Debris' stuck."

Oval raised her brows. "Charming."

Scootaloo smirked. "Gotta give ponies credit for being morbidly poetic."

"We're getting distracted. Spike. We're trying to talk about Spike."

"Right. We should check the logs to see what ship he left on."

Oval frowned. "If by 'logs' you mean 'ask some of the older ponies in town if they remember what it was called'..."

"Right. Yeah."

"Vermouth will probably know, and if he doesn't, he can at least point you the right way."

Sweetie Belle smiled. "We got that impression. Nice guy. Sure wish there were more of him around."

"I didn't think moustaches were your type, Sweetie Belle. Hey, that's... why do you keep taking away my drink? Are you implying something?"

Applebloom ignored them. "Now, seeing as you've been so helpful, it's only fair if we help you out with something. S'what keeps everything moving out there."

"It's nothing, really, I mean..."

"A favour might come around when you stay in the one place, but we're shipping out in the morning, so now's your chance."

"I..." Key stalled. He tried to think of something plausible, but he might as well have been juicing a rock. "I think Hedgerow could use some help fixing his heat lamps?"

Oval rolled her eyes and leaned in. "Okay, what would you say to the idea of taking us with you?" Key's eyes widened. Then he nodded.

Applebloom tilted her head back and looked down her nose. "Now that's a tall order. There's things we've gotta think about, taking passengers, like making our supplies last with two more mouths to feed."

"Not to sound heartless, but I'd rather you had something useful you could do instead of just being dead weight. Y'know, in-keeping with this fair trading thing." The playful smirk was gone from Scootaloo's face.

"You're traders, right?" They nodded. "What do you trade?"

"Anything we can get a hold of. Food. I do repairs and handiwork. Sweetie Belle sings, and Scootaloo's fast enough to carry messages without a ship. Other than that, salvage."

"Salv-"

Oval shut Key's mouth for him. "I'm a lot like my dad. I'm good with jewellery. Appraising it, working with it, and more importantly negotiating the prices for it. I can get you better deals on things. Ever let something go for a lot less than it's worth?"

"Do you know what's valuable in the Debris?"

"Well, I kinda live in it. Growing space is at a premium, so food. Water has to come from condensers, so machines and repairs. I'd imagine magic and flying have their utility, and navigation information would be useful for anyone travelling. Ponies are always attracted to shiny things, and alcohol is a no-brainer."

The three nodded at each other. "You forgot weapons, but I'll let that slide since I doubt this place sees much violence." Key didn't ask about it. Applebloom turned to him. "And what about you?"

He looked at the table. They had magic, flying, a mechanic, and now a trader... "Who does your navigation?"

"Uhm..."

"We kinda share it, I guess? Pegasi used to have this innate sense of direction - like, I could point to north without a compass - but ever since the world exploded, that's just gone haywire. Bugs me all the time. There's some islands that actually give me headaches because the magnetics don't line up."

Sweetie Belle frowned like she was picturing the same telescope incident Key was. "We get some information every now and then, but it's hard to use. None of us are really built for numbers. That might be why it took us so long to find this place."

Key smiled. "I told you astronomy was good for navigation," he said aside, to Oval. "I mess around with star charts for fun. I should have your navigation down pat."

Applebloom pouted. "Do you know the system?"

"I can't know without seeing what you have, but I would think that a grid using pre-Sundering right ascension and declination co-ordinates would be used for directions, Polaris would be a rough celestial north, and navigation would involve keeping track of the positions and proper motion velocities of important islands relative to each other. It'd be a constant math job, but I'm kind of a huge geek, so that works out."

She held up a hoof and nodded. "He's good."

"What about you, Twist? Are you coming?"

"Hm? What?" She looked around like she hadn't been paying attention. "Oh! No, I'm not coming with you. Sounds exciting and all, but I couldn't. All that adventuring is for the young and the pretty." She smiled and nudged Key on the side. He flattened his ears and budged away from her slightly.

Scootaloo sighed. "Suit yourself. Some candy on board would have been great, but oh well."

"How long are you here for?"

"Well, as soon as we get what we're looking for, do those repairs and get some rest, we have no more business here. I don't see us staying past a couple of hours tomorrow morning."

Key's stomach tightened again, only now it was full, so it felt worse. "That's it?"

Sweetie Belle grimaced. "I mean, we could stay longer, because it is Ponyville after all..."

"We'll think about it. You should do some thinking too. We ain't coming back here soon."

Key and Oval didn't say anything else, and left shortly after.

They said nothing until they'd returned home and had settled in Key's room. The chess set remained in its box, and the books remained on the shelves. According to the clocks, it was late anyway. They looked at each other for a minute.

"Are..." Key said. Silence returned. "Are we actually going to do it?"

"I don't know. It's right there."

"You didn't think it would actually work, did you? That they would take you seriously?"

Oval smiled. "No. But hey, here we are." Key couldn't help but chuckle. He threw himself on the end of his bed, and Oval collapsed over a bean bag. "It's not every day an opportunity like this comes up, is it?" Key made a grunt of acknowledgement. "It could be anywhere from two to ten years before the next ship comes along. By then we'll have commitments. Ponies will be counting on us to be here. Right now we're old enough to be useful, but we're not tied down." He looked at her like a dog that had just heard its name. "We're that age, Key. I think it's now or never."

He stared back at the ground. He said nothing for a moment. "Already?"

"I know." They sighed almost together, Key a second earlier. "I'm not going to go without you."

"Well good, because I wasn't going to go without you, are you crazy?"

"Someone would need to take care of you, Key. You'd piss someone off without knowing it."

"You'd piss someone off for the sake of it."

"You'd lose all your stuff."

"You'd get lost."

They stared at each other, then broke down chuckling. "We're hopeless. Together we make maybe half a functioning pony."

"Kinda like those traders then?"

"Yeah, kinda."

They said nothing for a little while. Key frowned. "I suppose we should tell mom and dad."

"I think they're asleep. Lights were off, door was closed. But I think they already know."

They were quiet for a while. Then they got up and started packing. They agreed on no more than five books each, and then each picked ten. They packed the chess set and the coin. Key considered packing some lego, but decided it was silly, and he'd lose it overboard, and after what he said to Kite yesterday (however facetiously) it would be bad form to start stealing toys. Just one brick then. Oval found Dame Cuddlesworth, a teddy bear with a knight's helmet, bought just before she was born. Key dug out the Dame's old foe, Rex the Manticore, so she wouldn't be the only one bringing a stuffed toy.

Oval left to go to sleep, but returned five minutes later, saying she couldn't, and she knew Key wouldn't be sleeping anyway. They dug the chess set out and played chess variants until they fell asleep at the board.

Despite Key's best efforts to wake himself up, he didn't. Every noise or discomfort that disturbed him got him to a state of half-wakefulness, at which point he told himself, five more minutes, pulled the blankets down from his bed and fell asleep again. At some point Oval migrated back to the bean bag.

A knocking on the door stirred them enough to warrant a grunt from Key. The knocking continued, and he looked up with eyes that didn't want to open. His neck ached from sleeping on the floor. He saw Oval bat the floor and frown at the next knock.

"Key? Are you up? Is Oval in there?" Marble was at the door. He made a louder grunt, then yawned and stretched. He caught a look at the clock out of the corner of his eye. He had to backpedal and look at it again. He paled.

He shook Oval by the sides. "Oval! Oval wake up, we're late!"

Her eyes were set to glare when she opened them. "What?"

"It's nearly lunchtime, we overslept!"

"What?" She jumped to her feet. She stumbled, but she got there. Key jumped around the bag to get to the door.

He threw the door open, and Marble stood in the way. He didn't see himself getting past her before she let him. She smiled. "Relax. We convinced them to stay for lunch, take a tour. Nice girls."

Key stared. His brain wasn't fully operational yet. Oval got there first. "I told you they already knew."

"Oh." Key took a breath to calm his pulse. Marble stood out of the way so they could proceed. She was still smiling, but they were both too bleary to consider it odd. She let them go ahead.

When he pushed open the door, it was like a shaken fizzy drink exploding in his face, except with noise. "Surprise!" said a dozen voices in the front room. He stopped in the doorway with Oval looking over his shoulder, but Marble pushed them on. Jade and Jet ran up and hugged the pair of them, then pulled them over to the table.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Without answering, they were thrown at seats. Onyx made sure a small pile of wrapped things at the end of the table didn't fall over. Twist alternated between smiling at them from the far side of the table and frowning into the kitchen. Kite had even managed to put away the mood for now. Keshi Pearl bounced in her high chair.

"Supize!" she blurted, followed by a giggle. Breathless silence followed.

Onyx blinked. "Did she just..."

Key went over to her chair and picked her up. Oval leaned in and nuzzled her. "You. Stop being so adorable," he said. She bopped him on the nose. Oval giggled, and took her back to her chair. "That's a no, then."

"What's all this about? What's going on?"

Marble came up behind the pair of them and hugged them close. "We might have our concerns about you running off to strange places with strange ponies. But we knew that nothing we could say was going to change your minds. At most it would just make you feel bad. So we thought we might as well give you the best send-off we could, by celebrating your birthdays a bit early." They looked at each other with jaws slack. Oval sniffed.

"Eighteen, yes?" came the call from the kitchen.

"That's the one," Onyx replied. He smiled at them. "No way we were going to miss it."

"They grow up so fast..." A moment later, the trolley emerged from the kitchen with a cake, a short, fat, square one, drowning in whipped cream and ready to explode with jam, and Penny Sweet behind it. Eighteen candles sat around the rim, a couple of them awkwardly angled. "Quickest cake I ever baked."

While she lifted its tray on to the table, Jade and Jet jumped on Key and Oval's backs and applied party hats to them. "Make a wish!" they shouted in unison. The elder pair looked at each other, and smiled. Without a word, they blew out the candles together.

Some applause happened, and they cut the cake. With the two of them trying to hold the same knife to pose for a picture, they put it in wildly off-centre, so dividing the cake became guesswork. A pot of tea appeared at some point, and Key and Oval had their cake with toast and juice. When they were mostly finished, Kite grabbed a small package off the pile and shoved it at Key. He blinked and looked at him. He hadn't seen Kite looking that cute since he was Keshi's age. He was a bit old for 'cute', but somehow he managed it. He inspected the parcel, and found an improvised label that said 'from Kite to Key'.

The wrapping paper almost fell off as it unfolded. Inside was a small train car. Key tilted his head. "Don't break it," Kite said. "Jet's still got to use it."

Key felt a little tightness in the back of his throat as he laughed. "C'mere you." He put the train car on the table and grabbed Kite before he could shy away. He tried to squirm free, but after a second just let him hug him.

Marble took a large, bendy package from the top of the pile. "This one's for both of you."

Oval chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Are we really doing the big show of handing out presents?"

"When are we going to get to do this again?" Key tried to unfold it carefully for a minute, but then just gave up and shredded the side. A length of green scarf spilled out. Further unwrapping revealed the other one, in mauve. They teased them out until they found they were tied together in the middle. "It's cold out there."

Oval laughed while they untied them. "I feel like you're going a bit overboard with the symbolism."

"Psh. Nonsense." Onyx slid a tall one from the back of the pile over to them. "This one's from Vermouth."

"Don't tell me you got everyone in the village in on this..." Key went to pick it up, but it was heavy, so they started unwrapping it on the table.

"Not everyone." The paper came off neatly to reveal a vintage bottle of Sweet Apple Acres apple brandy, bottled eighteen years ago. "That one's not to be opened until you turn eighteen proper."

"Of course!"

Oval got her own hand lens, that Onyx had been working on for a month or so, and some other carving tools. They got a half-finished chess set that he had been carving from two different kinds of quartz, on the understanding that Oval would be able to finish it in their downtime. Twist gave them some rock candy that she assured them would last forever. They each got a small bag of old Equestrian money - thirty-five bits in coin. It hadn't been used in the village for years, but they had a hunch that someone out there was still using it. At the bottom of the pile was a small parcel, about a hoof-width and a half long. The tightly-wrapped paper showed off sharp angles, pointed ends, a tubular, hexagonal shape.

It was a crystal, slightly rough and irregular, but with facets polished to a shine. When Key picked it up to give it a closer look, it gave a soft glow where he touched it. He sandwiched it between two hooves, and the whole thing lit up softly. "Neat, uh..."

"Onyx made two of them when we were... we weren't much older than you, and we'd just started going out." Marble leaned over her husband's side. "No matter how far apart they are, when one is being held, the other lights up." Onyx pulled the crystal's twin out from hiding to demonstrate. Key and Oval cooed. "And when both are being held at the same time, it lights up even brighter." He held it between his hooves like Key was, and both of them shone bright enough to compete with the fireplace. Marble sniffed. "So no matter where you are, you'll always know when we're thinking about you, and you can let us know that you're okay."

The tightness came back to the back of Key's throat. He hid his blush and grin with a hoof. Oval's eyes misted. "Wow, I..."

Onyx put the crystal to one side, and the light dimmed. He opened his forelegs out, and without any other prompt, both Key and Oval piled into him hard enough to wind him. Marble chuckled, and slumped over him to complete the group hug. "Look out for each other, okay?"

"We will." They heard a few 'awws' from around the room, and Kite pretending to vomit.

Onyx set his hoof on the table, and the bang was like a drum. Everyone got off him, and he stood up. He looked at the clock and smiled. "Right. It's just about twelve, so I believe the Fallen Arch should be opening around now. I'm going for a refresher, what do you two say?"

"Just one or two, maybe?" Key had wanted to say that for ages.

On the advice that cake and stout don't mix, they stayed for another round of cake and some more pictures before the three of them left. Some far-off clouds had cleared overhead, letting a few shards light up the village bright enough that there wasn't a need for lanterns. They remained lit, as per lights-on convention. The shutters were open on the Fallen Arch, letting the outside light spill in and mix with the torch and lantern light. There was only Vermouth there, double-checking that the tables and bar and taps were clean. His moustache bristled with a smile when they arrived.

Onyx pursed his lips as he leaned over the bar, taking entirely too long to think about what he was getting. Key and Oval came up to the bar to his left. They smiled sheepishly. It made no sense to be nervous. Vermouth was like an uncle to them, and they came in here all the time. Though, getting a dandelion and burdock and some chips wasn't exactly a rite of passage. "One, uh... three pints of Old Misty Mountain, if you please."

"Coming right up!" Three large glass steins appeared on the counter, spinning as they went. No magic was involved, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. One by one, they passed under the pulled tap as if on a conveyor belt, filling to a bulge in the glass two-thirds the way up with black liquid that fizzed gold. Both of them went to take the glass, but Onyx stopped them before they could reach them.

"Ah! It's only half poured." Key blushed.

Vermouth laughed. "Used to be that I'd save handsome money on ponies taking those things away before I was done with 'em. Tourists and kids. There's only one way to really pour a stout. Give it time, and it'll settle..." He lowered his head to the level of the bar, and they watched. The bubbles ran both up and down, though more up as the head thinned. The head started to pop as bubbles lost tension and let their contents go. "Hear that? It tells you when it's ready. Only then do you fill it." Again with mechanical smoothness, he cycled the glasses under the tap one after the other, filling them until the froth bulged on top, and slid them down the bar without spilling a drop. The glasses still left wet trails from condensation. "Now, take the glass. Elbow up. Eyes on the horizon, and slow sips."

The bar was silent for a full fifteen seconds while they took the first drink. Key came away frowning. "Tastes faintly of soil."

Oval snorted and almost splashed her drink while she wiped her mouth. "Key!"

Vermouth just laughed heartily. "Ain't called Old Misty Mountain for nothing. But it'll grow on you. It's a good, solid, earth pony drink."

"Why, what do... not... earth ponies drink?"

"Well then!" He clapped his two front hooves together. Everyone at the bar got comfortable. "Earth ponies usually - or at least, historically - like their ales, and their stouts, sometimes a weissbier... heavy, earthy drinks. Liquid bread. Drinks that are a meal by themselves. They're less about the taste and more about coming in from the fields and sitting around a fire with your friends and unwinding, and getting your dinner all in one go. We ain't got much left in the way of fields, but it's a tradition alive and well as you can plainly see every night here."

"I'll drink to that." Onyx raised his glass, and they brought them together in the air, then drank. Oval winced as it went down.

"Unicorns like expensive things that burn as they go down. What unicorns drink is about class - in the old days they wouldn't be seen dead drinking beer. The hills around Canterlot used to be all vineyards, and Ponyville made a pretty penny from selling whiskey and spirits."

"Like the brandy!"

"Exactly. That doesn't mean you won't like it - I wouldn't have kept it for you if I didn't think you would - it just would have fetched twice the price in Canterlot. Of course, that still had to compete with their local stuff, like schnapps with gold leaf in it." Onyx shuddered. "Your father don't like it when I mention the stuff."

"Tragic waste of gold. Tragic, I tell you."

"And pegasi drink for the sensations. They like anything light, or sweet, or strong, or all three. Lagers, cider, vodka... they even like those really sweet, cheap white wines that nobody else would use for anything but cooking. And rum. Cloudsdale used to love their rum. Far as I know, it still works! If you ever need a favour from a pegasus, find them some rum."

Oval nodded. "I'll remember that one."

Vermouth glanced at a clock at the back of the bar. "I'm just gonna check on the kitchen real quick and I'll be back out, hear?" They nodded, Key from behind another sip. He was right, it was growing on him, and it was filling, too.

There was a thud as Onyx buried his face in a foreleg on the bar. Oval stopped mid-swig to look, and Key leaned over the bar to look around her. Onyx sat up again, straight-faced for a second, then his face pulled back and he shuddered. Key thought he was laughing, and went to do the same, but stopped, because he wasn't. He tried to hold it back twice more, but by then a tear was rolling down his cheek, and he gave up. He sniffed deeply and then wept into his leg on the bar. Oval put a foreleg around him, and Key, too far away to do anything, just looked at the floor, hoping his attempt to laugh while Onyx cried went unseen.

Once the worst of it was out, he was able to choke out words. "I'm gonna miss this." He sniffed again. "It's all just caught up with me. I didn't think it would be so soon." They said nothing for a moment. Oval opened her mouth to say something a few times, but words didn't come. Key didn't know where to start. "Don't... don't pay me any mind. I'm sorry. It's your day."

Oval pulled him closer. "We won't be gone forever. Key navigates. We'll find our way back in a couple of months, at most. It's not like we won't miss home, eh?"

"I know, it's just..." He sniffed again, and took a big sip of his drink. Some spilled around the side of his mouth. "Empty rooms... empty table places... excuse me." Onyx pushed himself away from the bar and ran for the toilets. He passed Vermouth on the way. Vermouth stood looking at the swinging door for a moment.

"What happened?"

Oval took a deep breath. "Emotions got the best of him."

He nodded. "I don't blame him. I don't think there's been a day we've been on this rock that he hasn't had you two to light up his day." The bar was silent again as Vermouth cleared up some of the spilled stout, and set a coaster on top of the glass. "Now listen. Your dad ain't in the shape to give you any good advice right now, but I can't let you go without some." They nodded and leaned closer. "The ponies you're going with are old Ponyvillians. I knew their families. Heck, the Apples made that brandy I left you. Finest ponies you'll ever meet - if Applebloom says you can trust someone, I wouldn't doubt her. I can't think of a better flag for y'all to sail under. But not everyone out there is so kind. They've seen some pretty awful things out there. It's a mean old sky full of ponies doing anything they have to to survive. The crusaders are the best of friends, so stay on their good side and don't lose track of 'em, and you might make it back here in one piece."

Key and Oval nodded gravely, and let it sink in for a moment. Oval took a sip of her drink, while Key looked up with an arched brow. "Crusaders?"

Vermouth broke into a smile. "If you ask nicely they'll tell you why they're called that themselves."

Another sniffle alerted them to Onyx making his way back to the bar. Oval hugged him as he sat down, and Key came around the other side and did the same. They chatted between themselves and with Vermouth over the rest of their drinks, and another round besides. They talked about alcohol, and then farms, and then the Everfree Forest. Spotting his father nearly breaking down again, Key strategically diverted the conversation to zebras, which none of them had ever seen personally, bar Onyx's one encounter with the one that lived in the forest before it broke away. Near the end of the second around, other villagers were starting to arrive for lunch. They said their goodbyes (though Vermouth said he'd be there to see them off) and left.

They returned home to pack their birthday presents, and repack the chess set that was still out from before they slept. They had to find a third bag to fit the unexpected windfall. Key tried to give the train car to Jet, but Jet insisted Key keep it with him. He suspected that Kite and Jet colluding on a symbolic gesture was a bit ahead of their years, but he didn't investigate, because it would ruin it. Oval spent some time teaching Jade how to braid on Keshi. All involved were surprised at how patient she was, though Key keeping her distracted as an excuse to spend time with them may have had something to do with it. Twist called around with a morse code book she'd found in the library while thinking about the paired crystals, and Key somehow found the time to transcribe a reference sheet to take with him. Nobody thought it would work very well because none of them were trained telegraphers, but it couldn't hurt. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle called around to say that they were ready to leave at any time, though fixing the heat lamps had taken longer than expected. They were press ganged into tea, birthday cake and interrogation by Marble while Key and Oval finished packing.

Key felt sick when Applebloom announced that as lovely as this place was, they couldn't hold on any longer. They'd come back to visit soon, but there was no point dragging this out any longer. Everyone weakly agreed, and they left. The whole family came to the wharf, and a few other villagers besides. Jade and Jet rode piggyback on them on the way there, using their scarves as reins. Scootaloo carried their bags on, and took extra care when they told her one of the bags had brandy in it. They'd have done it themselves, but the twins wouldn't let them go yet - not until they'd hugged both of them eighteen times. Key and Oval looked at Marble, and she looked at the sky and whistled. As expected, Vermouth showed up, and went to shake hooves, but they hugged him anyway. He didn't complain.

They told Keshi to grow up big and strong, and she bounced and giggled. They told Jade and Jet to look after each other, and told Kite to be a big stallion for everyone. Last, they looked at Onyx and Marble and said nothing for a few moments. Applebloom checked the ship's clock. "Stick the kettle on, we won't be long," Key said. A murmur of laughter came from the small crowd around them. After one last hug, into which Marble inserted a kiss on each of their heads, they turned and climbed on board. The boards creaked as Key landed on them. Scootaloo gave him a look that said 'careful', and then flew up to the big pole to start untying the ship.

As the ship started to drift away from the wharf, they leaned over the side and waved. Everyone on the wharf waved with them, and so did everyone behind them, and as the ship rose to be visible from the whole village, so did everyone behind them. The drift of the ship's angle relative to that of the island made them lurch and cling to the railing. Applebloom came down from the steering wheel to join them. They saw Onyx bury his face in Marble's neck, still trying to wave. Vermouth patted him on the shoulder, and Marble leaned back into him.

"You've got a heck of a family, you two," Applebloom said.

"Yeah?" Key's nose felt wet, and Oval had wrapped her scarf around her face, so only her damp eyes showed.

"Sure. And I know a thing or two about family."

The Odyssey [Part II]

They reached Trottingham at a less sensible time of morning than Key would have liked. The now familiar thunder on the door made him turn in his hammock, and Oval burst in to shake him awake. He rolled out of the hammock and on to the floor with a whack, forgetting that he moved the blanket next to Oval's hammock, earning a giggle from her.

On deck, the bridge towers dwarfed the Crusader. They'd already lost most of their speed from a circuit of the islands, leaving them nearly ready to dock. The towers of the bridge served as piers, and each of them had half a dozen ships already anchored to them. The lights Key had seen from afar were lanterns twice the height of the ponies standing next to them. One of the ships was untethering and setting off, and Applebloom had her eye on its berth. Sweetie Belle stood on the prow with a pair of red and yellow flags, that she moved to fixed angles around her every couple of seconds, and when she stopped, someone on one of the towers waved a similar pair of flags back at her.

"Remind me to teach you kids semaphore some time," Applebloom called from the quarterdeck. "You've got better eyes than us."

The Crusader circled again, and they watched from the bows to get a look at the city. Each half was easily bigger than home. The bridge itself looked like it was in tatters, held together more with rope than the structural integrity of the stone, but the ponies were confident enough to be holding a market on it. Though the bridge towers dominated the skyline, smaller towers clustered around them. Some were pre-Sundering spires with gothic arches, and some were newer improvised constructions, like one house had been uprooted and placed on top of another, and then another on to that, until they rivalled the earlier buildings in height. Some of the streets were invisible from the crowding of the buildings. Beams and bridges ran between them for stability and more living space. Further away from the bridge towers, there were courtyards and gardens and heat lamps, delineated by the meagrest stone paths.

After twenty minutes of impatient flag signalling and circling Trottingham, the berth was free for the Crusader to occupy. It chugged up to the tower, and Scootaloo jumped from the crow's nest to take a rope. Some of the ponies on the top of the tower started shouting things to each other and pointing at Scootaloo. One of them ran inside. Scootaloo dropped the rope.

"Applebloom, I don't think they're too happy to see me!"

"Ugh, landsakes... take the wheel!"

Oval frowned. "What's going on? Why are they-"

"Get down!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Key spotted the row of archers on the pier. He jumped on Oval's back to push her to the floor before she could ask another question. Several reverberating wooden thuds came from the quarterdeck. When they looked up, arrows stuck out of the guard rail and banister. Applebloom and Scootaloo had ducked behind the guard rail. Sweetie Belle sprinted from her cover behind the forecastle and grabbed Key and Oval as she passed, diving into the cabin before the next barrage.

"What's happening?"

Sweetie Belle panted. "I don't know, jumpy guards? Let me check." She hung out of the open door. "They're just firing on the helm, I... Applebloom!"

Key dived low to get a look out the door and Oval stood over him. Applebloom had jumped from the deck to the pier, barely making it - one hoof was still dangling off - but still earning the attention of the archers. "Don't shoot!" she shouted. The rest of the conversation was too quiet to hear, but the guards lowered their bows, and soon, Applebloom sighed with relief, and waved a beckoning hoof to the ship.

She took the thrown ropes to tie the ship down, and hopped on board when satisfied. She went straight up to the quarterdeck, where Scootaloo was picking arrows out of the boards.

"What's up? Why did they fire?"

"They've had some pirate raids in the last few weeks, they're just jumpy around pegasi. But uh, they're not gonna let you come ashore."

Scootaloo's posture deflated. "Really? Serious?"

"I'm sorry, Scoot. They've got all the local pegasi under house arrest. They're wound up tighter than a sail winch in a storm."

Scootaloo threw her head back and groaned. "Yep, that's good ol' Trottingham red tape." She jumped over the banister to return to the cabin. "Go ahead without me, I won't keep you." The door slammed, and the four remaining on deck looked at each other silently.

After packing some day supplies, they disembarked. With the guards having returned to their normal posts, the top of the tower was all sailors and crates and barrels. Ropes kept vessels ranging from antique Canterlot airships to motorised piles of junk tethered to the poles on the dock. Another ship, like the Crusader but much larger, was unloading pallets of food by crane, and smaller crates were being hammered shut and carried on board on horseback. A stallion and a pregnant mare stood nearby, sharing a sober goodbye. Sweetie Belle ushered Key along so as not to get too far behind the others.

In the middle of the tower was the door to the stairs down, through ancient stonework. The steep spiral led them to a recently renovated room with bollards and tape creating a path around it, leading to a grated window at the other end. A queue of bored sailors and travellers reached back through half of the room, and it was impossible to tell if it was moving at all. There was no way to leave the room without waiting in line for the grated windows, or hopping the fence, which the geologically-proportioned guard made Key intensely disinclined to do.

"Remember when I asked about customs?" Applebloom whispered.

"Yeah?"

"This is a customs office."

"The customs office," Sweetie Belle added. "Trottingham's makes other places look like free-for-alls."

Applebloom chuckled. "Get comfy, kids. Bring any of those books of yours?"

"Oh."

Key was quite sure the world had ended again by the time they reached the window. The terms of their stay were set out through Applebloom's conversation with the official. Duration, one day; purpose, resupply and pleasure; no unlicensed firemaking. She produced a few bottles from her saddlebags and left them in the bin under the desk, and passed a slip under the grate identifying her as a trader on behalf of Sweet Apple Acres. The official double-checked it in a ledger, then passed back the slip. After examining the bottles, he turned to a desk behind him and pulled off some slips of paper and passed them through. "Welcome to Trottingham, enjoy your stay, next," he said, with a tone rivalling Scootaloo's. They didn't linger.

The stairs continued past hallways leading to offices and barracks. Most doors had guards by them and angry signs warning unauthorised persons not to enter. A few were open and contained ponies queuing. The way out was an unassuming narrow door spilling light into the dark tower. The street outside bustled. There had to be more ponies in sight than there were in the whole village back home. Key shrank a little. Oval began to fidget, and lean her head around curiously. She tried to look closer at the market on the bridge, where the crowds were concentrated, while Key, when he wasn't staring at his hooves, kept his eyes on rooftops. Sweetie Belle dragged them to the side so they stopped standing in the doorway.

"Don't stare at things, you look like tourists!" Applebloom hissed.

Oval tilted her head. "Isn't that what we are?"

"It makes you easy targets for pickpockets." Oval went wide-eyed, then settled. "Now. I ain't your momma. We ain't gonna take you around with us on business, you're gonna have to look after yourselves." Sweetie Belle floated over a slip of paper each. Parts of it were reflective, like foil, and it was printed with an image of the bridge. Based on the mountains in the background and the lack of ships strung to the top of the towers, it must have been what it looked like before the Sundering.

"What's this?"

"Local money. Twenty pounds. Should get you lunch and something fun from the market. Remember to haggle. Meet back here in..." Applebloom looked up. They followed her gaze to the clock tower at the end of the street. "An hour. Okay?"

They nodded and stashed the money, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle set off into the market. Once they were out of sight, Oval bounced in place, looking around again. She beamed and her tail swished. "Key, I'm not gonna lie, I might be just the littlest, tiniest bit more excited than I've ever been in my entire life."

"Great!" he chuckled, after a pause. Whenever he caught the eye of passerby, he looked at the ground or the sky.

Oval frowned. "Oh, you pick now to be shy? Come on!" She jumped behind him and pushed him towards the market. His hooves dragged and he whimpered all the way there, but he started moving.

Oval marvelled at the variety of stalls and the density of clientele, and Key watched the floor carefully, trying to distract himself from the crowd by working out how the bridge held itself together. The limited space on the bridge provided room for four rows of stalls, one along each edge, and two back-to-back down the middle, while still providing ample walking room. The bridge looked much smaller from the sky, though Key was starting to suspect that his sense of scale may need some tuning. The smells of exotic things wafted through the chill air, drawing Oval along. Spices, confections, alcohol, perfumes. Some merchants shouted about the freshness or rarity of their wares. Some had large security personnel by their stall, inevitably selling something expensive. Key reluctantly looked up every few seconds to make sure he wasn't losing her in the crowd. Every now and then she stopped suddenly to check something out in more detail. Key would bump into her, and she wouldn't notice. He'd chance a look around, briefly becoming fascinated by something he'd never seen before, but looking away as soon as he saw the merchant look his way.

One stall Oval stopped at was smaller than most of the others. It was next to one of the gaps in the bridge. The edge was fenced off, and two humourless guard ponies stood either side of a hapless pegasus wearing a jacket that said "lifeguard". Everything in the stall that caught her eye seemed old and useless - figurines, fridge magnets, snowglobes, racks and trays of knick-knacks slightly yellowed and scuffed from age. There were statues of the bridge in its heyday, distinctive black carts that Key was sure a couple of the stalls had been made from, hats emblazoned in Trottingham red, white and blue.

Oval looked past the wares to the merchant, who didn't even seem to have noticed them. He was gazing at the ground behind the table, and looked just as time-weathered as the trinkets he was selling. She cleared her throat quietly, then went over to the stall and leaned over. "Excuse me?"

"Oh! Hello. Can I help you? Something caught your eye?" His face wrinkled up in a smile. His accent was thicker than the ponies in customs, H's and R's all but vanishing.

She returned the smile and gestured around the stand. "What is all this?"

"Aha!" He stood up. "Years and years ago - probably before you were even born - ponies used to come from all over to visit Trottingham. See the great tower bridge, the Duke's treasures, the changing of the guard... all of that stuff. I used to be the proprietor of the Crest of Trottingham. Finest gift shop on the high street!" With bright eyes, he started to scoop up things and clean dust off them. "Kids would come in and you could almost tell what they'd grow up to be by what they'd demand their parents buy for them. One time I had a little colt in who'd just gotten a cutie mark with a shield on it, and he simply adored the guard figures. Or! Or, there was the time a young mare came in and just bought my entire stock of rock candy. She started chowing down on the way out. Teeth made of diamonds, that one."

He looked up and sighed. "These days, nobody comes to Trottingham on holiday anymore. Yeah, there's lots of traders coming through, but they're only here for the clocks and instruments they make at the old college, and they only want booze for themselves while they're here." He let a couple of keyrings drop into the tray with a clatter. "I can't get rid of this old junk. The city gives me this stall for free because the Duke, bless him, he's a sucker for the old days. Sometimes I think I should just pack it in and find a new line of work."

Oval furrowed her brow, then looked at Key, then back at the merchant. "Well." There were several more shades of Ponyville hinterland in her inflection than there were a moment ago. "My brother and I were passing through on a visit to this lovely ol' place, and might like some kind of keepsake. Y'think you can help us out?"

The merchant's face exploded into a grin, more sincere than the salesman's smile from before. "You're a star, lass."

They talked briefly about what they'd like, but true to his word, it didn't take long for both Key and Oval to find something they liked. Oval was drawn to a snowglobe containing a replica of the Jewels of the Duchy, and Key picked out a statuette of the bridge. The merchant gave them both keyrings and some rock candy to go with it "for making a beaten old man smile", made a show of wrapping it all in colourful paper with a ribbon, and let it all go for five pounds. Oval forewent the haggling this time.

After thanking him, wishing him well and turning to leave, Key ushered Oval into a quieter corner, near the crack and away from some of the stalls. "What's up, Key?"

His voice was low. "Can we... go inside? Or back to the ship?"

"Back to the ship? We just got here! Why would you want to go back to the ship?" Key whined and lowered his head. Oval frowned, and patted him on the back. "Wait here. I'm gonna check something." She skipped back to the gift stall, and returned a short conversation later, smile renewed. "This way. I think you'll quite like this place."

They walked around the crack to the further half of the market, and down the quieter side of it. Oval was more focussed this time, leading Key past the densest part of the market and away to the other side of Trottingham. The crowds thinned as they reached the other tower and the island proper beyond. The streets formed a maze under the packed buildings. Lanterns lit their way where shardlight wouldn't reach. Key's increasing ease was written in his posture as bustle gave way to trickle, and ponies no longer had to shout to be heard. By the time they rounded the corner, their steps echoed, mingling with isolated conversations, a puppy barking, and the distant roar of the market. The cobbles became rougher, and frost clung to a few of them, making for a treacherous walk.

Oval muttered directions to herself as she went. Left, right, and up a flight of stairs around the right side of a building, taking them on to a smaller street above street level, perpendicular to the bridge and hidden from it. This was quieter and narrower still, with wooden bridges at either end of the block leading to similar hidden streets on rooftops and public-access balconies. Halfway along this back street Oval took a step back to look at a facade across the street. An old swinging sign over the door had the shape of an open book, and books piled high behind the mucky glass of the canted bay window. "Yeah. This looks like the one."

A bell rang as they pushed the door open. The wave of air hitting them was warm, and laden with the mixed smells of old wood and paper, sugar, and something not quite familiar. One wall was entirely bookshelves, with a wheeled ladder to reach the upper shelves. The back wall's shelves were broken up by stairs up to a mezzanine with more, denser shelves, and an elevated bay below the mezzanine. There was a counter, collections of cups and pots and trays of baked sweets, and a dishevelled pony in plaid, looking like he might have been disturbed from a nap (though the paper glasses obscured his eyes). Armchairs and coffee tables were pushed to the non-shelved walls.

Key bit down on a grin as he took in the height of the shelves. "Hold me."

Oval giggled. "Now you're back to yourself."

Key play-staggered, then followed Oval to the counter. It was warmer than the rest of the room. The lenses in the plaid pony's glasses were red and blue. "Can I help you?" he said, stifling a yawn. His accent wasn't Trottingham, it was somewhere else.

"Is this, uh, Groomsbury?"

"Yep! Groomsbury's booksellers, publishers and coffee house." He whispered. "I'm not Groomsbury, I just work here."

Key leaned over. "Publishers? Like, as in publishing books? New ones?"

"Yeah! Only publishing house to survive the Sundering. It's mostly reprints and survival manuals these days, but every now and then someone fancies themselves a novelist." Key eyed the shelves again reverently.

Oval nodded. "You mentioned coffee as well?"

He frowned. "No offence, but I don't think it's in your price range. It's the real stuff. I mean, maybe you could get a taster for twenty pounds?" He held up an espresso cup, small enough to balance on the nose. Key winced.

Oval stared at the cup for a moment. "Throw in two teas and some pastries and you've got a deal." Key went wide-eyed.

The attendant inhaled deeply. "It's not like they're in any short supply, but this isn't exactly a market stand..."

"We've got thirty-five pounds and that's got to get us lunch. Now, we're probably going to buy some books anyway, but it'd nice if we could make it a one stop shop, wouldn't you think so?"

He pouted and gazed seriously at her, rubbing his chin. "Okay. Spend eight pounds or more on books and I'll give you lunch free with the coffee."

"Five."

He whimpered. "Six?"

"Deal."

They browsed books while tea and coffee were made. They skipped over most of the classics, since they'd already read them, and if they hadn't, there was no sense in getting books that they could read at home. They settled two pre-Sundering books and two new ones. One of the old ones was the fourth in a series of five, and the only one of that series that the library at home was missing. The new ones included a fantasy about some faraway intact land, and the purported autobiography of a lawbringer in newly-sundered Appleloosa.

The back of the mezzanine had a window with a view of the bridge, and a table against the window. At the right angle, they could see the clock tower at the opposite end of the bridge. They settled there to eat and kept an eye on it. The coffee was intensely bitter at the first sip, but immediately both of them felt energised. The attendant had brought sugar and steamed milk, and recommended it after trying the coffee unaltered. He had a second espresso cup, and split the taster evenly between them. Then he added liberal quantities of sugar, and milk until the ratio was even with the coffee. This made it palatable, even moreish. Unfortunately, two lattés would easily set them back over sixty pounds, which based on the number of slips of paper Applebloom got from the customs office, was more than half of what three large bottles of brandy were worth.

After eating, Oval left to check out the market some more, with their remaining nine pounds and the promise not to spend it all. Feeling bouncy, Key found it hard to concentrate on reading one book, so he browsed several. Later, Oval came to get him, her bags clanking with bottles of juice from fruits she'd never heard of, and two pounds and a couple of smaller coins. They hurried back through the market to meet Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They only needed Oval to test her bargaining and appraisal skills in a real trading situation, and Key got her to explain to them that he'd be more comfortable - and less of a liability - if he found somewhere to stay out of the way. Agreeing, they let him go back to Groomsbury's.

He got distracted and took a walk around the quieter back streets of Trottingham on his way there. The market seemed to have the attention of almost everyone, since most of who he saw was on their way to or back from the market. The busiest place was a hotel around the corner from Groomsbury's, from which he overheard a range of peculiar accents. Further from the bridge still were the parts where buildings had been uprooted to make way for growing and herding space. A few bored-looking cows kept to themselves near the far side of the island. He sat on a fence around a carrot patch and looked at the sky. His view to either side was impeded by the hodgepodge towers, and a shard hung near the local horizon, drowning some of the stars, but he could just about make out the shape of Orion, head pointing down. He sat for a while, thinking nothing.

When he got back to Groomsbury's, someone else had taken over the shift of the pony with the two-coloured paper glasses, and Key spent the last two pounds getting some tea so he'd be let stay and read. He bounced around his selection of books so he could sample lots of things without being asked to buy them. A considerable time later, Oval returned, bouncing as she walked. She dropped ten pounds on the table for Key, saying that her help with negotiations had left the whole stop profitable enough to give them a bonus, and that they were being taken to dinner.

Oval went back to the market to spend her bonus, and Key bought one of the books he'd been leafing through that he'd become attached to. They were rounded up again as the market started to close up for the day, and they went to eat at a pub. The Executioner's Calling was at the base of one of the improvised towers, forming the original construction on which other buildings had been layered. Inside, suits of armour on pedestals by the door greeted them, with axes so big they couldn't stand vertically in the room. The ground floor had heavy stone walls and pillars holding up the wooden ceiling and the floors above, and chains served as decoration. Despite the decor, it was busy. They ate well, and the plan was to return to the ship to sleep and set off in the morning. Before they left, Key spent his last five pounds on a small bottle of rum and pocketed it.

After dinner, Sweetie Belle and Oval went straight to bed. Scootaloo was already there, from what Key guessed was boredom. Key stashed his new books and retrieved the one he was already in the middle of reading to read in the forecastle for a while with some tea, while Applebloom did some checks and tidied up.

The next morning, Key was woken up early to work out a bearing when they were casting off, and then went back to bed. The projected travel time to Manehattan was a day and a half. They had some of the mystery juice with breakfast. There was a deep orange one that was very sweet, and the grey-gold one had a peculiar flavour. Key wasn't too keen on the green one, but Oval quite liked it. After taking inventory to make sure they hadn't been burgled at the dock, Oval spent most of the day in her cabin, working on the chess pieces. By mid-afternoon, she was asking Key every time he came back from calibrations how far they were from Manehattan. After dinner, they played chess while conducting a conversation through the crystal. Their local time had slipped enough that they were just making lunch at home. Oval went to sleep, Key read until he heard Applebloom turning in, and he went on deck. He brought a saddlebag.

Scootaloo slumped over the side of the crow's nest when he arrived. He couldn't find her at first, only when he stood on the prow and looked up.

"What are you doing up there?" he called after a minute.

She didn't respond right away. She sighed, then called back. "Perching. Featherbrain habit."

"I have something for you and I can't give it to you if you're up there."

"Is it racial prejudice?"

Key frowned. "I wouldn't need you to come down to give you that."

"Racial violence then!"

"Just get down from there and let me give you a thing."

Scootaloo groaned, and jumped off. Key backed up, and she landed with more of a four-hoofed thud than a graceful touchdown. Key fished the rum out of his saddlebag, and nearly dropped it. Scootaloo caught it in her hooves, then sat looking at the bottle.

"I uh... I felt kinda bad about having to leave you behind in Trottingham. So I got you something while we were there." He scratched behind his head, staring at the floor.

"Aw...." Scootaloo looked up, now grinning. "You didn't have to do that. C'mere, kid." He yelped when she grabbed him around the neck to hug him. "I shouldn't really be drinking on watch... but one can't hurt. It'll help pass the time. Let me just get glasses."

"Glasses? It's yours."

"Sad is she who drinks alone!" she shouted from the cabin door. She returned shortly with a couple of small glasses on wing, that together might have held the volume of one of the espresso cups from earlier. She brought them to the forecastle to use it as a table. With reverent care, she poured each shot glass and resealed the bottle. "Cheers!" She grabbed the glass at the rim with her mouth, threw her head back, swallowed, and deposited the glass in place again. Key attempted the same. The burning taste made him drop the glass on its way back down, and it bounced and rolled on its side. Scootaloo stopped it with a hoof before it rolled away on to the deck.

He came away squinting and coughing. The spices made his eyes water, but there was still a fruity sweetness despite the sharpness. Scootaloo giggled. "Y'okay there?" She patted him on the back, and he nodded.

"Just... stronger than I expected."

"Goes well mixed with things, but sometimes it's good enough to drink straight. Applebloom thinks I'm crazy."

Key thumped his front a couple of times. "Ah-hah." While he recovered, she put the glasses away, and stored the bottle in her cabin.

When she returned, she jumped on the quarterdeck guard rail and sat along it, cat-like. "I'm feeling a lot better now. Thanks."

Key blushed and kicked the floor. "Does this kind of thing happen often?" he asked after a moment. "Like, being treated differently for being a pegasus?"

"Enough that it's not surprising. When places get hit by pirates a couple of times they start looking at everyone with wings as a threat. Usually it's small villages like yours where they might never have seen a pegasus before, but a city like Trottingham... they must have had some pretty bad raids recently."

Key sat, looking at the floor again. "I'm sorry..."

"Hey, don't be. This kinda thing works all ways. You think Canterlot can go around doing what they do and not give unicorns a bad name? They're usually pretty surgical, but every now and then one gets away, and you can bet that pony's gonna be terrified of magic for the rest of their life. And as for earth ponies, well, we've stayed in places where they wouldn't believe Applebloom was anything other than heavy lifting. Her, you and your sister are probably the smartest ponies in this tub, but sooner or later you're gonna meet a pony who slows down when they talk to you."

"Oh." Key furrowed his brow. He sat, staring at his nose.

"It doesn't feel good, does it? When someone's made up their mind about you before you open your mouth."

He rubbed his forehead. "I... I should have got you something else."

"What?"

He paused to think about his words. "The idea for the rum was... an old friend told me that pegasi like rum. Now that I think about it, that's no better than assuming you're a pirate. Guess I'm not helping my own stereotype there..."

"Oh, that?" Scootaloo giggled. "I didn't even know, I was raised by earth ponies. I mean, I can see where you're coming from with the panic, but don't sweat it." Key chuckled, but still averted his eyes. "I thought you'd just been paying attention to what I'd been ordering. Don't beat yourself up." He moved to the bow, sat, and looked up, releasing a sigh. "Key," Scootaloo said after a moment.

"Hm?"

"Think about it this way. If you get to know who I am more than what I am, then that's all I'm really asking. Does that make sense?"

"Yes! Yeah." His smile was still half-hearted. "I'll do that next time."

By the end of the night watch, Manehattan was visible. From this distance it appeared to be solid masses of towers clustered on rocks that couldn’t fit them, held together with bridges and chains. It was like Baltimare and Trottingham mixed together and multiplied, only teeming with ship traffic and smoke and lights. Ships moved in nearly every direction, radiating from the growing rock in the distance. In his focus Key nearly missed the one heading directly towards them until it was upon them. Scootaloo yelled at him for a bit, and he made sure to pay more attention to traffic after that.

Oval came to wake him in the morning. It wasn't too early, but her energy still gave him a brief sense of panic. He sat up in his hammock, unbalancing himself and throwing himself to the floor.

"You're gonna have to start sleeping down there. You just can't crack this hammock thing." Key muffled some curses into the floorboards. "Now come on! You have to see this!"

Rubbing his nose, he stumbled after Oval to the deck. The distant clusters of spires had grown to dominate their view. The sheer size of them made Key shrink back through the door at first. He had thought they were nearly docked from how large the city loomed in front of them, only to physically crumple slightly when he spotted a pony on the dock to get a sense of the scale. The towers were broken like the ones in Baltimare, but these ones had been repaired, either by stitching the original top on with very obvious cement seams, or building the upper floors anew, where Art Deco grooves and pedestals gave way to simple bare brick. There were at least three islands, possibly more on the far side, held together with bridges and struts all the way up. Wide cart bridges joined the gaps at the bottom, demarcating canals below for ship traffic, while footbridges joined skyscrapers higher up.

Larger ships anchored on piers sticking out of the sides, while smaller dinghies weaved between the buildings. Some tiny ones were fixed at windows. One window opened all the way, and a pony wearing a cap jumped out and into the seat of one of these aerial jet skis. Someone put a flat square box on to the back, and it sped away to somewhere else in the city, leaving a trail of smoke. Around the outside of the city, micro-islands with lighthouses sat at a distance, held to the city with great chains. He could see five, and suspected a sixth: one they had just passed, two either side, one above, one below, and a probable one on the far side.

Sweetie Belle came past them with a green flag. She stood on the prow and started waving.

"No semaphore?"

"Manehattan has their own system. They've got dockers who'll tow you in. It's a traffic light system: green if you can pay, yellow if you can't but still need help, red if you're going to dock yourself."

Key frowned and looked again at the docks. One pier had as many vessels on it as Trottingham had in its entirety. “I can see why the help’s there."

After a couple of minutes, Key spotted something flying towards them. Sweetie Belle lowered the flag and jumped back to the deck. A pegasus dropped from flight on to the prow, and slipped clumsily down a few paces, before coming to a stop on the deck. She regained her composure by shaking her head, and lifting blue fringe out of her eyes. She had a pair of steel cables coiled around saddle-mounted winches under her pale gold wings. She was still panting. "You need a tow, yeah?" He could have sworn that accent was Trottingham.

"Yep. You take brandy?" Sweetie Belle floated the hatch off.

The dock pony put a hoof to her mouth and frowned. "Do you have any tea?"

"Just back from Trottingham."

"Brill! Couple of pounds should do." She took the winches off the saddle. With Sweetie Belle's help, she started tying them around the guard rail either side of the forecastle, while Scootaloo jumped into the hold. She waited on the prow for three small bags to float out of the hatch, and she stashed them in bags hitched under where the winches on her saddles were. "Sit tight, we're bringing you in!"

She jumped off the prow and flew away, using the cables as a guide back to the dock. Applebloom folded the sails and the cables pulled tight, followed by a brief sway of momentum as the apparatus took the Crusader's weight.

Key retreated under the overhang of the quarter deck as they got closer, and the shadows of the buildings swallowed them. A small dinghy flew overhead, hitched itself to the back of the ship, and began pulling in the opposite direction to slow it down. More dock pegasi tied cables on the back as they passed the end of the pier, and when they pulled taut, the ship had stopped. The cables were unhitched, and Scootaloo helped the dockers manually push the ship to a berth and tie it down.

Sweetie Belle dug out a pallet and started packaging supplies on it. Scootaloo jumped ashore, and Applebloom called Key and Oval over. "Alright. Manehattan ain't no quaint little hideaway like Trottingham."

Key winced. "That was a quaint little hideaway?"

"Manehattan is the biggest city in the Debris, and you're a couple of small town kids. You gotta keep your wits about you. Ain't nobody in charge here, and everything's for sale. Stay close to us and you'll be okay. If you get lost, don't look for us, come right back here and wait. Stick to open spaces and crowds." Key whimpered. "This ain't a pleasure stop. We're gonna trade off these clocks, look for Spike, and get out. You hear?"

Oval nodded seriously. "Loud and clear." She nudged Key, and then he nodded. Scootaloo returned, followed by a unicorn in a roughed-up red coat. Oval tilted her head. "Who's he?"

Scootaloo chuckled. "Security. Did you think I was gonna pass up a chance to stretch my legs?"

Sweetie Belle started wrapping up the supplied with sheeting, and tying a rope from the pallet to one of the guard rails. "Simple, really. The docks rent out guards to watch your ship while you do your business. You leave out their pay, and when you come back, it's theirs. If they double-cross you, take it up with the dockers, and boom goes their business."

“That’s a serious honour system.”

“It didn’t always work this way.”

The stranger pulled an apple out of a bag on the pallet before it was wrapped up. He threw it up in the air, and his horn lit up. A streak of formless black that cast a shadow on everything nearby swept up and met it as it fell. The black vanished, and he caught the split apple halves, singed where they'd been split. He brushed the ash off the cut face, and took a bite. When he noticed Key and Oval watching him like a circus performer, he offered a quirked brow and a smile and went back to eating. Sweetie Belle grumbled and covered over the bag of apples.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle signed some paperwork while Key and Oval got their bags. Oval returned to the deck to find Key hadn’t followed her. When she returned to their cabin, Key lay limp by his hammock, face buried in a pillow. She frowned and poked him. "Come on. What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure I can do it."

"What?"

He lifted his head up, revealing his blush. "Crowds. Busy places. More strangers than there are ponies back home."

Oval sat. "Are you afraid of crowds?"

"I don't know... it doesn't feel like fear. Back in the market in Trottingham it felt like I didn't have room to breathe, like... it was overwhelming. That's the word. Like I needed to get out of there to cool off, or just sit down and cover my head, only here it might mean putting myself in danger, and... ugh."

She stepped over and hugged him. "I can't say I'm surprised, with your tendency to hang out on the wharf and in derelict houses." He went to stand up, but Oval was standing on his scarf, and his head jerked back. She backed up. "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't know I... wait a second..." She picked up the tail of the scarf. "If I..." She pushed him into a proper upright sitting position. She adjusted his scarf until one tail was much longer than the other, about as long as his body. She then did the same with her own scarf, and as efficiently as possible, tied the two scarves together at the end.

"What are you doing?"

"Here.” She tugged on the scarves, and the knot held. “If you start to panic, I'll know right away, and we can do something about it. How does that sound?"

Key smiled, took a breath and nodded. "Okay. I'll give it a go."

The first stop was the ship-chandler's at the edge of the docks. They loaded up a trolley with a small box plastered with "fragile" tape and the empty rockets, and wheeled it there. A banner inside proclaimed that the establishment was celebrating a hundred years in business, but Applebloom quietly mentioned that it had been up there for at least eight years, since the first time she came here, and she suspected that it may in fact be pre-Sundering. Key and Oval untied their scarves so Key could wander around the shop while Oval negotiated with the chandler. Racks of sails, reels of rope, and buckets of gears and winches and pulleys and things lined the walls. Display cases contained unboxed navigation instruments, ranging from simple devices like the Crusader’s set, to prestige possessions made of gold and silver and polished to perfection.

Key lost himself in the maps part of the shop. The display had been rearranged to highlight star charts, almanacs, and booklets of navigation data for frequently trafficked places. A bin contained out-of-date copies of the same data. Behind those, a few maps of the seas around old Equestria had been left up and were yellowing badly. Some smaller tubes had a sign saying "just take 'em". He shrugged, and slipped a copy of the most interesting map into his bag.

While this was happening, the instruments had been traded for a pair of spare sails, some sail gears, and a refill of the two rockets. Oval looked particularly pleased as they left, and re-tied their scarves. Scootaloo asked why they were doing that, and Oval said it was so they didn't lose Key to a distraction. Key glared and nudged her, and then she explained the real reason.

Key stayed close to Oval as they entered the city proper. Everywhere was noise. The sky bustled as much as the streets, with personal vehicles and pegasus-pulled taxi carts passing overhead, and sky bridges and multiple levels of streets carrying busy ponies to where they had to be. Street vendors sold everything from hats to hot dogs. A couple of lifeguards helped a pony with a crutch back to the street. Oval imagined that this was what Baltimare looked like when it was alive. Key imagined Baltimare to keep himself calm.

They soon moved from the old seafront to the new shipyards. The air had an acrid scent to it, and many of the buildings had black stains on the walls. None of these buildings were originally industrial - cafés had been converted into workshops, galleries into forges. (Bars had been largely left as they were.) Most ponies here had hard hats, and flat-bedded carts on the street carried large chunks of earth, logs, and bins of scrap metal. A crane held the assembled skeleton of a ship aloft, and some pegasi were transferring it to a track that ran over the street. They quickened their pace when the shadow crossed their path.

Applebloom led them to a small warehouse with a large open shutter. They could see that it was pouring out hot air before they could feel it. The steam rose above the street until it lost the attraction of gravity and formed a growing cloud somewhere at the upper levels of the skyscrapers around them. A trolley with four long tanks with nozzles at the end rolled out, and the shutter rolled down again once it was clear, cutting off the flow of hot air.

Inside the rocket factory, it was easy to see why this district was so smoke-choked and ash-stained. While Applebloom talked to the foreman, Key looked around, feeling bold enough to stare from the shadows they stood in. It was part foundry, part refinery. Most of the light came from the hot metal being hammered into the shape of rocket hulls, and the fires of the furnaces that produced that heat. The silhouettes of ponies and some other hulking figures walked around, working. Some light came from the far end of the hall, where every now and then flames of some colour or another would shoot out, lighting up tanks, catwalks and pipes, and occasionally some elongate, pointy face, with smoke pouring from its nose. The first flare made Key jump and shy back, but after that he kept watching, trying to get a glimpse of what he was sure was a dragon, and not just what he thought was one.

When Applebloom finished talking, they left. Spike did work there, she said, but his shift had just ended, and he wasn't on-site. Reasoning that it couldn't be hard to spot a dragon wandering around, they split up. Scootaloo took to the air to do a sweep of the streets, Applebloom went back to the ship to fetch the carcass to take to the city university, while Sweetie Belle took Key and Oval to the park to stay out of trouble. The park showed the same collapse of organisation as Baltimare's botanical gardens, with lawns overrun by weeds and broadleaf trees very clearly suffering while conifers held up fine. None of it was converted to growing land, and nobody had much business here save for passing through. Key appreciated the quiet.

After some tales of how Sweetie Belle's sister used to do business in Manehattan from time to time, and what the diamond district used to be like before the crash in luxuries trade with the Sundering, and some exploration of the dried up lakes and crumbling monuments, they met up with Applebloom and Scootaloo back at the docks. The university had no idea what the carcass was, but gave Applebloom some engine parts for it, while Scootaloo had had no luck. Questions in the industrial district had pointed her back to the watering holes around the docks.

They stopped for lunch on the Crusader, then demanded Key and Oval stay on board while they started looking in bars, insisting that Manehattan dockland bars weren't any place for them. Oval protested, but ultimately complied. She brought the unfinished chess pieces and her tools on deck to work on them while still taking in the sights of the city. Key brought his book. Their security guard remained at attention by his pay.

Several hours and most of the pawns later, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo returned over the course of twenty minutes or so. Oval put the pieces away, and they all left together to find somewhere to eat. As they were leaving, a flying bike pulled up next to the ship, and their security guard ordered a pizza.

The three of them were quiet, and exhaustion showed in their heavy gaits. They settled on a place called The Liberty Belle, just beyond the harbour walls. It looked less rough-and-tumble than the places around it. It had something old and western playing quietly from a record somewhere, and everyone seemed as tired as they were. Applebloom went to the bar and put down a few bags of tea while the others found some seats.

Scootaloo put her head on the table, face-down. Sweetie Belle looked at the menu chalkboard for a moment, but then considered herself too tired to read and slumped back in the seat. Key looked around at the bar. Applebloom perched on a stool and stared into space while she waited. He found only one other figure there, in the shadows at the end, as if hiding. It cut a lumbering shape, with heavy limbs hanging from heavier frame. It was easily the largest pony Key had ever seen, making even Onyx Ring look petite by comparison, unless...

"What does Spike look like again?" he whispered.

Scootaloo muffled something. Sweetie Belle smirked, and then translated. "Purple scales, about twice the size of a pony, green spikes on the head and back, green flames..."

"Maybe I'm just seeing things, but is that him over there?"

Scootaloo picked her head up and looked at Sweetie Belle. Everyone looked around the edge of their booth at the bar. They looked at each other again. Scootaloo shimmied out from behind the table, followed by Sweetie Belle, and Key and Oval followed them to not get left behind, though they kept a polite distance. Scootaloo stepped in front of Applebloom's aimless gaze to get her attention. She said something, and Applebloom went wide-eyed. She looked at the shadow, and back at Scootaloo right away. She stifled a grin.

She hopped over a seat, took a deep breath in, and leaned over to the shadow. "Excuse me, are you..." The shadow moved, putting its head in profile from where Key was standing. Its nose, while no longer than a stallion’s, had a pointed tip, and puffs of smoke blew from its nostrils when it huffed impatiently. Applebloom leaned back a little and hesitated before proceeding. "Are you Spike?"

The voice was rough and resonant, like it had broken recently to a pitch two octaves below where it used to be. "What seems to be the problem, officer?"

"What?"

He huffed again. "Nobody comes looking for me unless a debt needs calling in. What have I forgotten?"

Applebloom put a hoof on her forehead. "No, I'm not... okay. Do you remember, eighteen years ago, just before the big boom, the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville?"

Spike looked down again, leaving a smoke trail. "I try not to most days."

"The day before, you were going around inspecting the preparations."

Spike looked up, leaned over to Applebloom and squinted. "How do you know this?"

"Because I was there! Sweet Apple Acres, huge family, piles of food?" He looked down his nose pensively and said nothing. Applebloom cleared her throat, raised the pitch of her voice, and lowered her nose so she could look up at him with big eyes. "Won't you stay for brunch?"

Spike's mouth curled into a narrow smile, with a tiny sliver of the irregular fangs within showing. "Were you that little filly that convinced us to stay and eat? What was it... Apple... bumpkin? Applebob?"

She chuckled. "Applebloom."

"That's the one!" He chuckled quietly, and took a sip of his drink. "Fancy meeting you here. What brings a country girl like you to a dump like this?"

"Quiet, I'm still getting food here," she hissed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's more than chance. We've been looking for you."

"I'm not sure if I should start with why, or who’s 'we'."

"They're related. I gotta ask you though. You must have tried to look for Twilight, right?"

Spike's smile faded, and he sank back into his drink. "I gave up that chase a long time ago."

She shoved him on the side. "How do you think I feel? My sister Applejack went with her. And Sweetie Belle's sister Rarity." She stood back and motioned to Sweetie Belle, and she waved with a small smile.

His head lifted. "Rarity..." It lowered again for a moment, with a cringe and a chuckle. "So you're on some kind of closure quest?"

Applebloom put her hooves up. "Hey, you get bored after ten years stuck on a farm." Spike's laugh was enough to have some timbre. "Really though. I don't know how close you were to Twilight, but Applejack was family, and if that means I have to turn over every last pebble in this sky to find her, I'm damn well gonna do it."

"Family..." He inhaled deeply. After a moment, he banged his glass on the bar and turned to face her. "Okay. Let's talk. What do you know?"

"We're at the part where everyone went to the library and then left without you, and we're hoping you know where they went."

He rubbed his chin. "I've got a pretty good idea, but that means nothing without a ship."

Applebloom grinned. "She's parked outside. Built her myself."

"If you’ve got ballast rockets I can pay my way with refills, but you're gonna need to stock some eating gems."

Oval frowned and whispered to Key. "Eating gems?" He shrugged.

Applebloom didn't miss a beat. "We've probably got something we can throw at the factory for some rations."

Spike looked down and took another breath. "There's uh... there's one more thing that might be a hard sell."

"Shoot."

He looked around him and leaned closer. "I want to go to Canterlot." Oval seized up at the mention, and Key had also gone wide-eyed. "It's probably not gonna be a happy trip, but closure means all your family."

Applebloom nodded solemnly. "I feel you. Consider it done."

"What?" Oval nearly shrieked, and stepped up next to them. Applebloom winced and gestured for her to lower her voice. She didn't. "That's insane! It's... it's suicidal! How is something like that even on the table?" Spike stared, along with the rest of the bar. The barkeep with their food just set it on the bar, took the bags of tea, and returned to the kitchen. Oval took a deep breath and brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. Then she continued at a more civil volume. "Sorry. Still! That's crazy!"

Applebloom looked at the floor, then back at her. "If Key disappeared one day, would you go through hell to find him?"

Key opened his mouth, but then closed it. Oval bit her lip and looked at the end of her nose. "Okay. Fair point. Do you have a plan though? Are we just going to fly right in and hope for the best?"

"Yeah," Spike said. Oval stared. "Twilight had a brother, Shining Armor. He was captain of the guard there."

"That Shining Armor?" Scootaloo said before she could stop herself.

Spike grimaced. "Yep. I told you it probably wasn't going to be a happy trip. I used to call him brother too. I want to see if there's any of 'brother' left. He should recognise me at least, and that should get us through the guards."

Oval continued to stare. "That's it? That's your plan?"

"I grew up there. If we keep it civil, then there should be no problems."

Oval breathed in deep and mouthed "okay", before turning to the food and stuffing her mouth with fries before she caused another scene.

"So. Transit for information. Are we agreed?" Applebloom spat in her hoof and extended it.

Spike blew shortly into his claw, shooting a small green flame, and leaving a patch of ash, and they shook. "I think that's a deal."

"So where are we heading after Canterlot?"

"All I know is what Twilight left for me in a note. She and the others went to an old castle in the Everfree Forest to look for something called the Elements of Harmony. We knew that they were something used to banish Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, but that was it. She told me to try writing to Princess Celestia if she didn't make it back, but that didn't work out."

Applebloom blinked. "Is that it?"

"No." He leaned in again. "I've heard stories in these bars. Mostly sailors coming in with their tall tales, but some stories keep coming up. Those are the ones with grains of truth in them. One of them is the tale of the Labyrinth. There's an island, usually in Argo from everywhere, of a piece of the old Everfree Forest containing a magical maze. There's this old zebra who lives outside it and says that it appeared after the Sundering. Nobody knows what's inside, because nobody who's ever gone inside has found the middle. Every time they go in it’s different, and every time it only leads back out the way they came. Lots of people think it's treasure, or some kind of imprisoned evil, but I think the Labyrinth is the old castle, and something weird has happened there."

Scootaloo huffed. "That's a little far-fetched."

Key whispered to Oval. "Does an island with part of the Everfree Forest, some ruins, and a zebra on it sound familiar to you?"

Spike continued. "For a few weeks after the Sundering, the piece of Ponyville I was on was attached to part of the Everfree Forest. There was a zebra living there, who refused to move before it broke away, and some ruins, which I’m sure were the old castle, but I was too cowardly at the time to check out. I think it’s too close to ignore."

Oval whispered back. "Just a little."

Applebloom looked at Key with a little smirk and a quirk of the brow, before turning back to Spike. "So we find the Labyrinth, we find our answers." He nodded. "That leaves me with a question though. If you're so sure, why are you still here?"

He smiled and finished his drink. "You're the first lunatics crazy enough to take me to Canterlot."

Author's Note

Second part of chapter two! Chapter three may be done by the end of the month. Typo corrections are appreciated.

This story is being supported on Patreon! Thanks to Bryan Kincaid, Magus Zeal, Spypone, Mortikie, Srol, Silvarrn, Korenav, Evine, E. Hunt, DoctorHam, Fethur, Archer Collins, Kuki-Shift, Agent Bookfort, Kaidon, David Gianforte, and everyone else who's helped me out there.

The Siege [Part I]

Oval paced outside the window of The Liberty Belle, gasping at the sooty dockyard air. Pedestrian traffic picked up as shifts ended. As she huffed and stomped and muttered curses on the very idea of their journey, her scarf trailed to Key, still tied to his. He sat bolt upright near the door, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the window and keeping the most respectable distance he could from anyone's way and anyone's gaze.

"Maybe it won't be so bad!" Oval said with a chuckle. Key's eyes remained wide as they followed her. The smile slid from Oval's face. "Okay. You're right. Maybe we could just... tell them to turn around? Convince Spike to take something else in exchange!" Key grimaced and scooted away from the door as a pair of dockers staggered past, yelling and slurring. Oval slumped to her haunches in front of Key, and then on to her belly. She shivered from the cold condensation on the concrete. "Oh, it's hopeless... we're going to die, Key. I know it."

"Maybe we don't... uhm..." Key gibbered.

The doors swung open again, and Key hopped four inches to his right. Sweetie Belle emerged from the diner. She looked at both of them with a gentle smile and a tilt of the head. "How are you kids doing?" Key and Oval snapped their gazes to her, wordless and with wrinkled brows. The smile slipped from Sweetie Belle's face. She stepped over the scarf to sit next to both of them. "Aw, who am I kidding..."

"Is it the only way?"

Sweetie Belle looked at Oval and nodded. "I don't blame Spike either. We're looking for answers and so is he. You two... you didn't sign up for this though." She sighed. "I don't think we'll be able to take you home and then go to Canterlot. That adds at least a week to the trip, which we might not have supplies for, and increases the chance of your home being discovered." Both Key and Oval winced. Sweetie Belle looked at the pavement. "There is another way. It was actually Spike's idea. You don't... have to come with us. It'd mean leaving you in Manehattan, but we wouldn't leave you out to dry. You could take over Spike's lease, and we'll put you through to where you can find good work for a pair of bright kids like you. It's not ideal... but it'd be a life."

Oval looked up at the sky. It teemed with black dots as ships passed each other in slow procession, forming lazy queues towards their docks and destinations. "How likely is it that we'd make it home?"

Sweetie Belle grimaced and looked up too, as if trying to find what Oval was looking for. "We can give you copies of our charts. As long as you keep 'em up to date, you'll always have your destination, and then it's just a case of working up the funds to charter passage..." She sighed. "That part might take a while."

Oval looked over her shoulder. Key cowered from the top-hatted pony leaving the Liberty Belle. She chewed the side of her mouth. "What do you think, Key?" He looked up with a startled hoot. "Stay here and work by ourselves, or take our chances in Canterlot?"

"I don't... I don't know..." He backed up to the window and sat on the sill. A moment later the proprietor knocked on the window and yelled something about not mucking it up, and Key yelped and fell over. Oval helped him up, and put herself between him and the door.

"Can we think about it for a bit?"

"Of course."

Oval brushed Key's shoulders off, because he was too busy staring at the floor and pretending that he couldn't be seen through the window. "Can you meet us back at the ship?"

Sweetie Belle looked down the docks. The security guard was still perched on his pay on the Crusader's deck. "You sure you don't want to come back inside and eat?" She frowned as she looked back at Oval, knowing the answer already.

"We're not hungry. Maybe later." Oval nudged Key to get up and start walking.

"Sure. We'll be here if you change your mind. If not, we'll know where you are."

Oval smiled as much as she could, which was not very much. "Thank you."

Key didn't release his breath until they reached their cabin, where he let his legs go from under him and rolled on his back. Oval hurriedly untied their scarves before he pulled her to the floor too.

Key stared at the ceiling. "That's it. Just give me death. Both of these options are terrible."

"You don't think I didn't notice you trying desperately to not have a panic attack on the pier?"

"Why couldn't they leave us in Trottingham? Trottingham was nice. It had a bookshop."

Oval sat by the table and idly knocked her chess pieces around. "Yeah, Trottingham would have been lovely. Maybe it's cheaper to travel there." She sighed, and gave a rook a frustrated swipe with a hoof. It knocked into the row of pieces next to it, and Oval couldn't catch all of them. The opposite rook and knight and a couple of pawns escaped her grasp and tumbled to the floor. Key lunged for them - not that he could lunge very far from the floor.

"Got 'em."

"You got one of them."

"Oh."

Oval picked up the fallen pieces one by one, inspecting them with a scowl for damage. In hindsight, a set with pegs would have been a better idea for this trip. The last piece was a pawn that had wedged itself in the corner of a box beside the desk. She opened it, and slumped to her haunches. Key got up and lumbered over to get a look, and then he sat as well. She lifted a few things from the box and inspected them - a bloodied bar tap, a few necklaces, a gold seal with the coat of arms of the town of Hoofington.

"Do you still have the wallet, Key?"

"It's in my bag, next to the books."

Oval paused.

"You'd better not make a habit of this."

"What?"

"Flights of fancy that end up coming true."

He squinted. "What are you talking about?"

Oval nudged him, and flashed a smile. "You suggested a vacation as a joke and the next day the Crusader shows up. You keep that damn wallet and say you're gonna get all the stolen ponies from Hoofington home, and now we've actually got a chance to go to Canterlot."

"Wh-" He failed to form words in the middle of a breathy chuckle. "You didn't have to follow me!"

"Follow? How very dare you." She bopped him on the nose with the pawn, and set it back on the board. "I made the decision before you."

"Did not." Key chewed on a smirk.

"'Did not', what are you, five?"

They both broke down giggling. When they caught their breath, Oval tidied the box away again.

"So, Canterlot?"

"Canterlot."

Upon returning to the Liberty Belle, Key and Oval picked at scraps, and then returned to the Crusader for the night. Spike had already left, and they didn't see much of him for the following day either. Applebloom said he had to wrap up some things before taking off. Pallets of gems arrived on board throughout the day. Upon appraising them, Oval was informed that they were Spike's rations, which horrified her almost as much as the prospect of going to Canterlot. Key remained below decks reading for most of the day, but worked up the courage during the lazy after-lunch slump to go back to the chandler's and pick through more star charts and maps.

Oval convinced Sweetie Belle to take both of them up to the university to see where the star charts were made, with Key being pulled along by the tied-scarves method. The university didn't have much time for guests, but they made the most of the trip, admiring the cherubs, gargoyles and capitals adorning the facades of the campus buildings, blackened as they were. A few trees around the grounds were maintained and kept alive with lamps not unlike the lamps they had at home, but much larger and hidden in new bronzework. The observatory, a new construction perched on top of an old hall of residence, was visible from all over the city, and cantilevered over the street around the corner from the main entrance. When Key started inquiring about how to become a student, Sweetie Belle screamed privately, then quietly mentioned to Oval how much that would cost, and both of them ushered him away.

As a treat, which they were going to get for their troubles no matter which decision they made, Key and Oval were taken for pizza for their last evening in Manehattan. Scootaloo was more excited than they were by the prospect, though upon being served, they quickly caught on to why. Their light dinner the previous day caught up with them, and where Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shared a pie, Key and Oval attempted a pie each, and regretted it later. When they returned to the Crusader, Spike was already on board. Applebloom quizzed him about his possessions, and he said he didn't have many to speak of. Key and Oval went straight to their cabin to sleep off their big dinner, while the others got ready to cast off.

They woke from the shudder of the ship moving. Hooves stomped about on the deck, and things rattled around. There was no way they were going to continue their nap, so they tidied away the chess set before things got rough, and went to the deck to see Manehattan off. Outside their cabin, the corridor was filled with junk by the next door down. The junk pile grew as they passed, with a pair of pots sent clattering into the hallway. A raft of smoke followed them, and a low, rumbling voice muttered something about a stupid shelf. They hurried along to the deck.

When they opened the door, the rush of wind greeted them. Key lost his balance and fell backwards when he spotted the city tilting away from them at a steep angle, as if the Crusader were launching straight upwards, and in doing so knocked Oval over. Scootaloo laughed, then fluttered down from her perch to help them up. Sweetie Belle glared at her from where she sat, clutching a rope in the forecastle. Applebloom, they guessed, was at the helm. Following Sweetie Belle's example, they watched their departure while holding on to the guard rails. At first they could spot individual faces in the crowds moving around on the streets during the tail end of the dinner rush. Key became dizzy following the shrinking weave of carts and flying bikes and skybridges between the crumbling towers, and clung tighter to the rail. Oval marvelled at the glittering spires of the old skyscrapers, passing by close enough that she felt like she could reach out and touch them.

A couple of pegasi passed the ship heading towards the city, wearing Manehattan dock armbands and trailing a pair of heavy chains. As the buildings contracted together towards one point in the grand arc of the sky, the Crusader tipped and changed its orientation relative to the city, so to see it they had to look overboard, at which point they really regretted such a large dinner. Above them, startling them by appearing suddenly and so close, was one of the lighthouses. They were close enough to see one of the docking workers scaling the great chain keeping the lighthouse in Manehattan's orbit, beginning a long climb back to the city, and the metal lunchbox swinging on his belt. It was easier to look at than the lighthouse itself, which briefly blinded them as they passed in front of it. Once they'd readjusted, the entirety of Manehattan was behind them. Around them, ships appeared to be heading in every direction, except the way that they were going. They looked at each other with the glum grimace that let both of them know they'd experienced the same upwelling of nausea at the same time. Without a word, they returned to the cabin.

The junk pile had expanded to block the door to their cabin, with a pair of crates and a pile of canvas nudged through the door. The sound of banging, rustling and clanging spilled from the room. There was that smell of smoke again. Key took a step back. Oval quirked an eyebrow. "Uh..." The noises stopped. "Hello?"

After a couple of thuds, the smoking nostrils and yellowed teeth, the shining spikes and scuffed scales, the slitted eyes of a dragon burst around the corner. "Hm?" Both Oval and Key screamed, and Oval fell backwards into Key while trying to backpedal. Spike went wide-eyed and covered his mouth. "Oh! No, it's okay! It's okay. Sorry! I didn't meant to... ah, shucks..." Key peered out from behind Oval, despite her not being nearly big enough for him to hide behind. Spike scratched the back of his head. "You kids never met a dragon before, huh?" Both of them shook their heads. He looked at the floor and concentrated on keeping his breathing under control. "I get that a lot. Listen, I'm gonna be here a while clearing all this crap out, is this..." He pointed at their door. They nodded before he finished the question. He sighed. "This is your cabin? Okay. Well... I don't know what to tell you. You got something else you can do?"

Oval cleared her throat and held her front to steady her quivering as she stood up. Spike paused. His eyes darted between the two of them for a moment. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced." Key heard the tremble in Oval's voice. She stumbled over some of the junk to reach a hoof out to him. "My name is Oval Cut, and this is my brother Key Stone. We've been travelling on the Crusader for about... a week? It feels like so much longer..." She forced a chuckle.

"You passengers?"

"Well... temporary crew? I'm helping with trading and Key is navigating."

Spike pulled a tight, toothless smile. Oval's hoof hung in the air. "Cute." She frowned. "You can go now."

"You used to live in the library, right?" Key spoke up.

Spike squinted. "Years ago, briefly, I lived in a library."

"The one in a tree, with a bedroom on the mezzanine and a telescope on the balcony?"

Spike's mouth opened a little. He folded his arms. "And all the shelves carved out of the wood, why?"

Oval snickered. "Psh, Key's only been using that as a study since he was nine."

"Wait, you're from... Ponyville?" They both nodded. Spike allowed himself a brief smile. "And Applebloom and the rest picked you up on the way here?" They nodded again. He paused for a moment, scratching his chin. "How's ol' Penny Sweet doing?"

Oval jumped right in. "Spending more and more time with the little kids these days, Twist is running more of the store now."

"And Vermouth?"

"Still a drinks-pouring machine who can talk for Equestria," Key chuckled.

"I see. And what about Onyx Ring?"

Oval waved a hoof. "Psh. That's our Dad. He's-"

"What? No way!" Spike immediately stooped to meet them at their eye level. "He used to... well." He chuckled, and covered his mouth while he did so. "We had a complicated relationship."

"Complicated?"

"I eat gems, y'see. Did you miss the pallets being loaded up?"

Oval puffed her cheeks and winced. "I saw them."

He threw his head back and did his best not to torch the ceiling from laughing. He was clearly struggling. "Okay, you're definitely Onyx's daughter. I had to cut a deal with him, because there were only so many gems to go around on the island, but I was a growing dragon, so I needed them. Essential minerals. So we split what came out of the breadcrumbs, fifty-fifty."

"Breadcrumbs?" Key and Oval said at the same time.

Spike stood up and put his claws on his hips. "Huh. Onyx would have been... and he already had two... which... are you two, presumably... sweet Celestia, I do remember seeing you kids before, but you would have been toddlers. Ugh, now I feel old..." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yep, that makes sense. Okay!" He clapped his knees and sat on a barrel. "Enough talking to myself. You're probably too young to remember it, but for a while after the Sundering there was a lot of crap floating around. It was like... It's like when you tear a stick of bread, and crumbs come off around the break. The same happened with the earth. Nothing broke off cleanly. A lot of it was just rock and soil coming down in little chunks, which is where the gems come. But sometimes you'd have a piece of a building, or a tree, or even bones and stuff. The first couple of weeks were real bad, let me tell you."

"Bones? From like..." Oval swallowed. "Ponies?"

"Less than you might think. In a lot of places, the weather service turned into the sky rescue service immediately."

"I don't know what either of those things are," Key said.

Spike grimaced. "Right. The weather ponies are a story for another time. All you need to know now is that sky rescue are who you call when someone falls off a rock and that you appreciate the shit out of them. They do Celestia's work." Key and Oval exchanged glances. "You got it?" They nodded urgently. "Good. Now what were we talking about..."

"Do you need any help?" Key blurted. "We're uh... well, our cabin is..."

"It's nice of you to offer, but with me on site I'd be throwing around more than you can catch, and especially with how cramped it is, you might be as well to stay out of the way. I can get these boxes out of the way if you wanna catch some Z's or something." He smirked, and a puff of smoke curled from his nose. "If you don't mind me making a bit of noise, of course."

"S-sure!" Key said.

"That'd be lovely, thank you," Oval said.

Spike's gaze lingered on Oval a little bit with a distant smile, before he stood up, pulling himself to his feet by the knees, and with almost minimal effort, slammed two crates from one side of the corridor to the other. The wood creaked, and it left a gouge in the floor. He winced. "I probably should have lifted those..."

"We won't tell Applebloom," Oval whispered, flashing him a wink. Key opened the door, and they went inside.

The sounds of Spike's moving things lasted shorter than they expected. They didn't pay much attention to the time it took though, since all they did was conduct a brief crystal conversation and then delve into busywork. Through the thumping and crashing, Key happily read the life story of Deputy High Noon, the last lawman in the sky, while Oval couldn't find the concentration to read anything, and worked on the chess set instead. By now she was becoming quite confident in her carving, and had taken to engraving unique features on to each of the pawns - enough that each one was a clear individual, but not so much as to confuse them for another piece. The size of the ball at the top varied slightly between each one, but despite her progress on the trip, she was still constrained by her previous errors.

Oval went to sleep shortly after Spike was finished, and from the sounds of things, Spike had retired for the evening too. Key pre-empted Applebloom calling him for calibrations by bumping into her at the bottom of the stairs. After his survey of the sky, Applebloom locked the helm stocks and turned in for the night. Key remained on deck, with Scootaloo on the crow's nest. He climbed up on the forecastle, and sat for a while, watching the sky. As the hour wore on, they passed fewer ships. The Manehattan traffic dropped off within about fifteen minutes, leaving him only spotting the occasional stray junk or a lone pegasus.

"How you holdin' up, squirt?" Scootaloo said. Key screamed and rolled on his back when he heard Scootaloo land behind him. She chuckled. "Well that says a lot, don't it?" Key sat up, glaring and rubbing his chest. Scootaloo climbed on the guard rail and slumped. "Thought you could use some company." He shrugged, and resumed looking out over the prow with his chin on the frigid banister. She stretched, producing a crack from her back.

"Are you scared?" Key said.

"I'm shitting bricks," she said after a moment.

"Really?"

"I mean, you saw me sprinting around Hoofington looking for stragglers. This is probably the one place I never imagined myself ever going, except in chains."

"Then why?"

"Well why did you? You're a kid. You've got something to live for."

Key pulled his head back from the prow to look at her with a frown. "You're not that old."

"Oh, you're too charming. Nah, we... Applebloom and Sweetie Belle and me... this is what we've spent most of our lives chasing. To back down now would be giving up on family. You..." Scootaloo chuckled. "You're just coming with us for the hell of it, aren't you?"

He failed to conceal a pained smirk. "Well, not like... I mean..."

"Hey, I can't argue with that. If I was your age I'd probably do the same thing if Applebloom wasn't yankin' the choke chain." Key chuckled, and resumed his gazing. Oval would probably be able to put it better than him. Scootaloo yawned. "How far we got to go?"

"Probably three days sail, Applebloom says."

"Joy. Where'd I put that..." She patted her scarf. "Aha!"

"Where'd you put what?"

Scootaloo pulled the bottle of rum out of a pocket on the inside of the scarf. It still had about two thirds of its contents. "This boy." She unscrewed the cap. "Want some?"

He chuckled. "I think I'm good."

"Suit yourself."

The rest of the late watch passed quietly. Key went to retrieve a book and read on the quarterdeck, which Scootaloo found amusing after their conversation. He was quite happy to go below at the first sign of Sweetie Belle emerging for the early watch. Oval was still asleep. Their cabin was warmer than it had been, which he quite appreciated given what was on his mind. He didn't think too hard about what other consequences there might be to having a dragon next door, and instead went straight to sleep.

Nobody came to fetch him early, and the warmth in the cabin made it easy to doze late into the morning. It was the smell of baking that finally lured him from his rest, and he sloped into the mess hall to follow it. He nearly knocked over the cup of tea already at the table when he sat down. It was cold, with the beginnings of scum forming. Sweetie Belle removed it and replaced it with a fresh one.

"Sorry! Made that for you earlier and forgot about it."

He mumbled something that might have been "it's fine". She returned to the kitchen, humming a lively tune as she juggled pots around the kitchen. The normally spotless counters were piled high with covered dishes. "What are you making?"

"I thought we could use some fresh bread on board!"

He paused on his way to sip his tea. "I thought we just stocked up on food."

"Yeah, but it's not fresh bread." The stove belched flame, and she extinguished it.

Key blinked a couple of times, then shrugged and returned his attention to his tea. Then the thought occurred. Normally he made his own breakfast. "How did you know I was coming?"

"I didn't," she said, stirring a pot.

"So... how did you have a cup of tea ready for me?"

"A feeling. Would you like some stewed apple?" Sweetie Belle floated the pot over. "Bear with me, I'm out of bowls..."

"What's in the bowls?"

"Stewed apple."

Key squinted, and finally took a sip of his tea. It was lukewarm. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Here, you can use the spoon I was making it with." The oven dinged. "Bread's ready! Perfect timing." She left his question hanging, and busied herself with finding somewhere to put the bread out to cool.

The door to the mess swung open, and Applebloom leaned in. "Sweetie Belle!" Sweetie Belle froze. Applebloom squinted. "Go help Scoot check the rigging."

"Right, right..." She quickly took a chopping board out of the sink, wiped it down, and put it on the unlit stove with the bread on top. Once it was stable, she cantered out of the room. "On it!"

Applebloom lingered in the doorway, looking at the kitchen. "Did she make all that?" Key had his mouth full of stewed apple, so he nodded. Applebloom sighed. "I'm gonna have to lock up the eggs and sugar."

"Why?" he mumbled. This had to be Key's best breakfast on board yet.

Applebloom waved it off, and started searching the pantry. "It's a long story. Finish your breakfast and see me on deck when you're ready." Too sleepy to do much else, Key shrugged it off and resumed eating.

After morning calibrations, Sweetie Belle brought the bread out on deck on a plate. The heavenly smell drew Key in for a slice with some of the apple from earlier on it, and Oval was right behind him. Applebloom was less impressed with it, but had some anyway. Oval brought the chess pieces up to the main cabin for a change of scenery, and Key brought some of the blankets up and sat nearby reading. Two cups of tea turned up at some point. They didn't ask for them, but it was made just the way they liked it.

About half an hour later, Oval stopped chiselling. Key didn't notice this. She smiled and looked in his direction, and he paid her no mind. The book was more important. It was kind of warm in here, though.

She snickered. He squinted. "What?" He lowered the book, and immediately learned what. Spike, lying on his belly in front of Key, gave his most innocent smile. Key threw the book in the air and screamed. Oval burst out laughing, then Spike did. "How long have you been there?"

"Twenty, thirty seconds."

"You're not that oblivious then, Key."

Key snorted and got up to recover the book. Spike sat up. "Heh. Sorry. Couldn't help noticing, though. You're reading Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams?"

"I was." Key slammed the book on the table and started pressing it to work out the crease i the page where the open book had landed.

Oval chuckled and nudged him. "Oh, don't be such a sourpuss." Key rolled his eyes and nodded.

Spike left his mouth open and pointed for a moment. "Can I read it when you're done with it? It's just, I read the other four, and..."

Key's grimace vanished. "That's right, the library was missing number four! Of course!"

"I thought that's what was up."

"Sure, you can read it, I just need to..." Key made a big show of kneading the bent page flat and leafing through it again. "... remember where I was before a dragon attacked me." Oval snickered.

"You never found it in Manehattan?"

Spike crossed his legs. "You'd think it'd be easy, but there's a lot of stores there that aren't too happy with dragons coming in. They'll talk about fire hazards, or causing trouble... It was easier when I was smaller. These days nobody wants me near a fancy establishment like a library."

"That's awful," Oval said. She hopped off her chair and sat beside him. "And you lived in the library too!"

Spike smiled and gazed out the window. "Those were the days, eh? Twilight used to give me books all the time. I thought it was lame back then, because we worked with books all day, and then she'd go and read even more, but... you never know what you have until it's gone, do you?"

Oval frowned, and Key sat, sullen. "I'm sorry..."

Spike chuckled and stood up. "Look at me, moping. I didn't mean to bring you down, kids. Just wanted to say it'd be nice to read agai-"

"Oh! Excuse me." Sweetie Belle floated a pair of piping hot mugs around Oval to the table, nudging past her and Spike to see where she was putting them. "Would you like some tea? I made some tea." Key looked into the two half-full mugs that were already there before Sweetie Belle took them away. "Spike! How about you? Do you like tea? Is there something else I can get you?"

"I'm... I'm good, thanks."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"If you're sure. Just saying." As quickly as she arrived, she disappeared back to the lower deck with the old mugs. Spike, Key and Oval exchanged baffled glances.

"Is it just me or is she doing that a lot today?" Key asked after a moment.

Oval winced. "I think that's just how she copes with stress."

"Should we let Applebloom know?"

"I think she knows. Just... leave it."

Two days passed uneasily. Key spent a lot of time reading, and Oval brought the chess set to the point of finishing touches, then also read. Occasionally they'd watch from the deck, but they passed very little, and looking ahead or behind only reminded them of what was coming. With the buzz of Manehattan fading, Oval became more restless. During the second late watch of the trip, she came on deck to join Key because she couldn't sleep. Both of them spent the following day too tired to function, but too in rhythm to catch up on sleep. Summons for meals and calibrations ensured that they couldn't get more than a nap.

Early on the morning of their third day of travel, they were woken by the sound of horns. Key had just turned in, and Oval was probably going to be waking soon anyway. They were muffled by the boards of the Crusader, but the low siren echoed from every direction. Their blood turned to ice. Key felt a burning in his stomach. They turned out of their hammocks and hobbled to the door. They collided with Spike as they left the room. Oval yelped.

"Sorry! Sorry, sorry..."

Spike gave them as calm a look as his scales could muster. "Stay down here, stay out of sight, and stay quiet. Bar the door if you can. We'll come get you when it's safe, okay?"

They looked at each other and nodded. Spike looked carefully at them, then offered the glimmer of a smile before continuing on his way. They backed up into the room and closed the door. Oval brushed the chess set off the table into a bag, and helped Key push it to the door. Key's hammock came loose in the process. They left it where it was. Oval grabbed their crystal, and they sat behind the table with their backs against it. They felt the shudder of the floorboards from Spike's plodding steps, the strain of the wind against the locked gears, and the muffled bass tones of conversation being held on deck, all carried into their skulls through the wood. Without a word, they leaned together, lit crystal wedged between their legs and waited.

"You're entering Canterlot airspace. State your business," someone barked. At least, that's what they thought they heard. It was quiet and coming from off the ship.

"My name is Spike, servant to the House Luminous, and I seek an audience with Shining Armor."

The faraway voices erupted into laughter. Oval gasped. She wrapped her hoof around Key as they trembled, staring at the ceiling. The edges of the crystal dug into their sides.

"All I ask is that you bring me to him. I was his sister's assistant. Please."

The boarding party went quiet. "Very well. Submit to an inspection and we'll see if you're telling the truth."

"Long as you don't take all my cargo," Applebloom grumbled, probably louder than she meant to. They flinched and gripped the table as one, two, three, four, five sets of hooves banged on the boards above, shaking a brief rain of dust on them. The creaking strain of their weight moved along the length of the deck until they heard the stairs rumble with descending hooves. Oval grabbed Key's fallen hammock and pulled it over their heads, and wrapped both forehooves around Key. Unsure what else to do, he followed suit.

There was a bang as the first cabin door was thrown open. There was a clatter of some stuff falling over. "I think these are a firearm, sir."

"We got two sets on board for when we're out scavenging," Applebloom said. "I'd be mighty grateful if you'd leave 'em with us."

"Start an impound box, Sergeant Riposte."

"Aye, sir."

Applebloom growled. "Is there a problem, ma'am?" the boarding captain sneered.

"No, sir. Though, uh... when d'you think we'll be seeing those again?"

"Oh, we can let them go for a small fee on your way out. Business for later."

"I see," Applebloom hissed.

The second door swung open and banged on the wall. Apparently, they didn't find anything they wanted to take in Sweetie Belle's room. Scootaloo's door caught on some discarded sheets before it could make a bang. and they found the second blunderbuss inside.

Oval wrenched her eyes shut. The door behind them sounded like it exploded. They felt the force of its attempted opening press against their backs. "This door won't open." They were a lot closer than they'd like them to be.

"We put garbage into the unoccupied cabins," Sweetie Belle said. "Something must have fallen over in transit. You'd be wasting your time."

Silence fell. Oval bit down on a mouthful of hammock. Key didn't notice that he was bracing between the table and floor hard enough to make his back pop.

"Time is indeed something I don't have. Carry on."

Oval at least let the hammock go, but they still held their breath and each other. The inspectors didn't seem too interested in Spike's cabin. The mess hall, Applebloom was happy to explain, was a mess hall. The hold, however, they took their time in. Minutes passed, with a dock officer consulting a book to appraise their cargo. Key and Oval almost relaxed.

Then Applebloom started yelling again. "Hey, hey! What are you doing?"

"These are dangerous explosive devices. They're being confiscated."

"Those are ballast rockets. I need those to control the ship. You want me crashing into your dock or your fancy castle or something?"

"Then I'm sure you're prepared for the impound fee. Sergeant, if you'd be so kind..."

"Ugh."

"Well, captain Applebooms," They could hear the grinding of Applebloom's teeth clearest of all. "Your vessel is cleared for docking. You are now entering the jurisdiction of the Sovereign City of Canterlot and are subject to its laws and ordinances as long as you remain here, and are expected to comply with its law enforcement officials. As per the state of emergency, city officials are empowered to take extreme measures to ensure public safety and order is upheld. In the event of an incident in which public safety and order is threatened, this may be your last warning. Do you understand?"

There was a long pause before Applebloom responded. "Yep. Crystal."

"Very well. We shall disembark, please slack your sails and await your tow."

Applebloom grunted, and one by one, the stomping guards ascended from the hold, returned to the deck, and their jeering voices departed back to their vessel. Applebloom muttered something to Spike, and he made the best impression of a whimper that a dragon could. The thudding resumed, keeping them tense and huddled.

The door banged twice. Oval buried her nose into Key's side to keep her scream muffled, and Key forgot to breathe. "You can come out now! They're gone," Scootaloo said. They exhaled utterly, and sprawled on the floor. They were both out of breath. When the crystal dropped to the floor, it was still lit. Key noticed this and picked it up so they could hold it. "Uh... you okay in there? Need some help?"

"We-we-we're okay!" Oval gibbered. She threw the hammock off, and they got up. Key awkwardly wedged himself around the corner of the table so he could find the purchase to pull it away from the door. The door drifted open, and Scootaloo awaited them. She winced at the splintering on the floor then gestured to the stairs.

"C'mon. Might as well see what all the fuss is about."

They exchanged another glance, and squeezed the crystal. Key set it down and started out. Scootaloo was already ascending. Oval turned back, grabbed a small bag, and threw the crystal inside with their scarves, the wallet, and one or two other things. Key looked back and opened his mouth. She closed it for him when she caught up.

"If we don't come back, this is the one thing we're gonna want to keep."

Key's stomach turned again. He didn't think there were any more depths of anxiety to feel, but the Debris was full of surprises. Slowly, he nodded, and they went on deck.

A foul smell greeted them, like mouldy lemons on fire. The smell got stronger as the tugboat passed overhead, and the crescendo of the odour confirmed that it was, in fact, the tug's murky yellow exhaust. It prompted them to get their scarves out to cover their mouths.

The sky around them was busy with the patrolling Canterlot fleet; long, sleek vessels that appeared black in silhouette against the shardlight, save for the white lights of their engines. Sharp navigation sails trailed along their backs, making them look like sharks. The nearest one had an ornate prow, with a detailed equine figurehead. A flowing mane and pair of wings flanked the bow, with the scowling pony's horn merging with the ship's cathead. The more they looked, the more they found this snarling alicorn, leading the charge of each vessel, galloping along their flanks, .

All lines pointed towards the city. They approached from a little above its horizon. From their oblique viewpoint, the city looked almost entirely white. Pale towers topped with spiralling spires in purple and gold covered the island, mostly concentrated on its upper plateau, but the style extended all the way to the watchtowers on the peak of the mountain, and down to the flat-topped houses of the lower rim. The city had shocking amounts of open space, including a huge paved plaza on the upper plateau with a tower in the middle. Near a densely-built downtown block, there was another open courtyard, surrounded by the largest building they'd ever seen. Its golden dome and wide lawn drew the eye to it. It wasn't the tallest - the skyscrapers of Baltimare and Manehattan dwarfed it in height - but from above, the extravagant footprint of the palace was impossible to ignore.

"It's prettier than I thought it'd be," Scootaloo said.

Spike snorted. "What were you expecting?"

"Smoke, jagged spikes, black everything. Maybe some fire. Definitely more chains."

Applebloom hit her shoulder. "Is it anything like you remember, Spike?"

He paused. "A little too much."

The tugboat throttled up, sending a shudder reverberating through the Crusader, and its greasy, sour exhaust washed over them. Spike remained on the prow as the mountain loomed, like he was the banner that kept the fleet from firing on them. Oval leaned over the banister as individual lanterns came into view, and the sound of marching guards and swearing sailors on the docks carried to them. Key retreated towards the cabin when the spires and summit towered higher and higher in their view, as they descended to the dock near the base of the island. The Crusader hit the pontoon a little harder than Applebloom would have liked. Ropes from the dock flung over to tie the ship off. Magic tightened the knots, and a scowling Scootaloo double-checked them anyway.

A pony in a funny hat waited for them on the dock, flanked by half a dozen guards. She floated a scroll in front of herself, and cleared her throat.

"Spike, servant to the House Luminous," she said. "The Count of Canterlot extends to you his formal welcome on your return to the city of Canterlot, and wishes your presence at your earliest convenience."

Spike smirked. "So the ol' goof does remember me. That's nice."

The herald shot him a brief glare, then resumed. "Your travelling companions shall also be permitted to accompany you to the castle for the duration of your visit."

Spike took a deep breath and looked back at the ship. Scootaloo shrugged. "Kind of a non-choice, isn't it?"

He stepped down from the prow. "Shall we?"

One by one, they disembarked. Key shivered as his hooves touched stone, and Oval did the same behind him. He looked up. White and glittering as the stonework of Canterlot was, the spires looked black against the light of the sky. He shrank into his scarf, until he was being led by it. Oval had tied them together again, and she led on. Spike led the group as they walked single file, and Applebloom brought up the rear. Ahead of them was the messenger, and behind them were a trio of guards. The gawking passersby reluctantly returned to their business as they left.

The streets of Canterlot were distractingly quiet as they ascended. Both Key and Oval noticed it. Trottingham teemed and Manehattan bustled, but Canterlot's pristine streets were only graced by a few well-dressed couples on their way to somewhere, the steaming open door of a sleepy bistro, or another patrol of guards. It seemed less like a city and more like a museum, if Key was thinking of a museum correctly. It was beautiful, cold, and they weren't allowed to touch anything.

"Why is the dock at the bottom of the island?" Oval was compelled to ask as the palace came into view at the end of the street. It had been twenty minutes of uphill marching, with a cadre of impatient guards behind them who insisted against them taking a breather at any point.

"Shut up," one of them barked. Grumbling, they arrived at the golden gates of the grounds. Key and Oval immediately sank to their haunches to catch their breath. The bars soared into the sky above them. Everything in this city was tall. Not in the same way that the skyscrapers were tall, like a great stone giant had set its club down for ponies to make a home in, but tall on a personal scale, like everything was built for someone twice their size. These doorways looked like even Spike wouldn't have to crouch as he stepped through them. Spike reached out to touch the gate. A guard shot him a glare. Spike stared back, and grasped the bar anyway. The guard did nothing. Through the gates and across the courtyard, the double doors of the palace stirred, and swung open at a stately crawl. The interior was dark, with a few hanging lights, obscured by the distance. Somewhere, a trumpet sounded.

From the darkness emerged a white figure, brisk in pace and trailing a billowing violet cape. As he approached, detail after detail came into view. Following close behind him were a handful of retainers, and a mare in a long dark coat who looked like a bodyguard. Under his cloak was a sharp white jacket, with epaluettes and ribbons dangling from it in Canterlot lavender and gold. He cut an imposing form, large in front with heavy hooves, though as he approached, the wisps of grey in his blue mane became easier to see, betraying his age long before the wear on his face became apparent. The most disarming thing about him, however, was his easy smile. The gates opened, and he came to a stop on the threshold.

"Spike! Is that you?" he said, close enough that Spike could maul him if he so desired.

Spike allowed himself a smirk. "Just about." Despite himself, when Shining Armor leaned in for the hug, he embraced him with a couple of thumps on the back of the neck. Nine bladed weapons, four spells (which looked dangerous, based on the crackles of lightning and pops of arcing energy) and a crossbow found themselves pointed at Spike, then slowly lowered when Shining did the same to him. Shining stood back and looked up. Despite being comparable in height and build to Onyx Ring, and even a similar age, Spike still towered over him.

"I think you're big enough to pick me up by now."

"Something tells me that wouldn't be a great idea." The two of them laughed. Neither the crew of the Crusader nor Shining's retinue looked all that amused.

"No. No it wouldn't." Shining brushed his front a couple of times. "Anyway! Come in, come in, don't just stand out here in the cold. And your friends! Who are your friends?" He cast a glance across the group. A chill came over Key when they briefly made eye contact. Oval felt queasy again.

"These are the crew of the Crusader, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Oval Cut and Key Stone." Spike gestured to each one in turn. Nobody waved.

Applebloom looked briefly at Oval. Oval had nothing but a plaintive stare for her. Then she looked back at Shining. "You don't get many visitors here, do you?" she said.

Shining Armor kept up his smile. His bodyguard wrinkled her brow. "Come in, come in," he said after a few seconds. "Have dinner with me. Moondancer, have the chefs prepare to seat seven. And do we... do we have any gems we can spare?"

One of the retainers - a middle-aged mare with a pair of thick glasses and a ponytail - made a note on a scroll. "No," she grunted, and slapped the quill and pencil back together.

"That's a shame."

"We've just woken up actually. I'll live," Spike said.

"Sure?" Shining asked. Spike nodded. "Sure. Breakfast, dinner, whatever. I need to wrap some things up first, but I'll join you when we eat. Shall we?" He stepped back and gestured to the doors. Spike looked back over his shoulder, and the others - reluctantly - started to move.

Shining Armor disappeared immediately, leaving guards to steer them to a reception hall that was far too big for them. Spike assured them that they were definitely not alone. The pristine marble floors were cold underhoof, and even in this atrium, their breath misted in the air. Magic lit the palace from sconces high up in the walls, and the light bounced from gleaming gilded columns to shimmering stone walls to the frescoes that adorned the ceilings and alcoves. The white pony with the horn and the wings kept turning up in many of the decorations. Spike muttered that she probably wouldn’t approve.

Scootaloo and Applebloom immediately started hissing an argument to each other, while Sweetie Belle inspected some of the decorations. Key and Oval huddled in their scarves at the bottom of a staircase. When a servant came to fetch them for dinner, they were sat either side of Spike, discussing the books they'd read back home. All of them were eager to eat by now. At some point, hunger was going to win out over the fight or flight response.

The dining room greeted them with a wave of smells. It was definitely some kind of cooking, but they were alien smells. There was no fried feast or warming stew on its way from the kitchen to greet them. The room had as high a ceiling as the entrance hall, and it was almost as cold as it. A fireplace roared on one wall, but didn't seem to be doing much to help. Everything about the dining room was tall, looked like ice, and felt like it too. Shining Armor was already seated at the head of the long table by himself. In the shadows, the silhouette of his bodyguard stood out against the pale walls. Spike claimed the opposite end so he could look at him, and one by one, the others took the side seats. The table was set for ten, leaving three empty seats either side of Shining Armor. Servants arrived with plates and more silver forks than Key could count, and took the spare seats away with them. A dusty bottle of wine appeared on the table.

"Y'know, Spike," Shining said. "I've been saving this bottle for the day when Twily comes home."

Spike squinted. "Didn't think wine was your speed, or hers."

"It was Mom that had been saving it."

For a moment, the only sound was the echoing of the door to the kitchen, slamming shut.

"When?"

"Dad took ill... twelve, thirteen years ago. Something with his heart. Would have been routine in the old days, but we just didn't have the resources. Mom passed last April. She wasn't herself, though. Hadn't been for a few years."

Spike sighed. "So it's just us then."

"And maybe Twilight, somewhere."

"Really, your guess is as good as mine."

Shining picked up the bottle, and held it out to the side until a servant took it. "That's a shame."

"Dunno what she'd think of the place anyway," Spike said to his claws as he inspected them.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I-"

The kitchen door banged again, and this time, three servants emerged, domed dishes floating with them. One found a home at each place setting, along with a small basket of bread at each end of the table. The dishes revealed shallow bowls of soup. Sweetie Belle made a disappointed noise.

"Relax, it's the starter," Shining said.

"Starter?" Applebloom said, too loudly. "Y'all eat like this every night?"

Shining burst out laughing. "Of course not. This is just a special occasion. Please, enjoy some of Equestria's finest cuisine." She didn't press it.

The soup wasn't very good, or at least Key and Oval didn't seem to think so, and it didn't even fill them up that much with how shallow the bowls were. Scootaloo barely touched hers. Spike stared at the bowl the entire time. The tiny bread loaves were demolished almost immediately. The clink of cutlery on porcelain echoed into a tiny, high-pitched din. Soon, the bowls vanished, and it was quiet again.

"So, tell me," Spike said, gently twirling the neck of his glass in a claw. "How did this 'count' thing happen? That one's new."

"Of course. It's been so long." Shining paused, staring at his own glass. "In a way I'm glad you weren't here for the Fracturing. It was a mess... but then, I doubt it was all that fun anywhere."

"Fracturing?"

"Yes, the Fracturing. Y'know - ground shattering, everything falling into the sky."

"Oh, the Sundering?"

"Is that what they call it in Manehattan?"

Spike smirked. "Continue."

"The immediate aftermath is probably familiar. Controlling damage, herding people to safety, that kind of thing. Without Princess Celestia around, and with the guards doing a lot of the work, the city came under martial law..."

"WIth you in charge."

Shining turned his hooves over. "Originally it was supposed to be until help arrived, and help never came."

"What about Cadance? Where's she?"

Shining smiled weakly at his glass. "Where she is now... I'll get to that later. But she was part of how we resolved the mutiny."

"There was a mutiny?"

Shining hissed through his nose. "Let me tell you something about nobles, Spike. It takes a hell of a lot to humble them. They weren't happy with me running the show. Even on a flying mountain in the sky, they couldn't stomach rationing, debris drills, inspections. They schemed. They started tempting lower ranked guards. They were going to toss me off this rock and feast the city to ruin. They're like children, Spike."

"Sounds in character to me."

"So I had to make a deal. In order to stay in charge - to keep my home alive - I had to give them what they wanted. First I had to become someone they'd listen to. So Cadance and I tied the knot. Not the wedding we'd always wanted, but we made the best of it. I stopped being a captain and started being a count and prince consort. Then, I had to find a way to end rationing."

"So how did you end rationing, Shiny?" Spike lifted his nose.

"We converted the caves under the city. We treated the crystals to produce sunlight, and now we have several acres of arable land. Entirely self-sufficient."

Spike quirked a brow. "Entirely?"

"Oh yeah. We've got a surplus, even. We have so much land down there that we can't even work it all. Pretty convenient actually. That's when we started bringing in labour from some of the smaller villages."

"I see."

"It's dangerous out there. I'm sure you've heard of the reputation of the Cloudsdale pirates?"

Spike snorted. "Among other things."

"It turns out we have a mutual interest. They work the land, we protect them."

"That don't sound like a great life down there," Applebloom spat as much as said.

Shining looked at her like she had two heads. "Things aren't exactly peachy anywhere right now. You should know that pretty well."

"One village, I can understand. Maybe even two. Like you said, it's rough. But there are a lot more than two villages down there, ain't there?" Applebloom said with a glower. The colour drained from Spike's scales. "How come you need to keep… recruiting villages?"

Shining scrunched his brow and darted his eyes. "You're concerned… that we're bringing too many ponies under our protection?" He chuckled. Applebloom hissed through her nose. "We expand when we can. Ponies grow old, ponies move on from labouring and become citizens. We look for more. Canterlot is a growing city. We're not barbarians. Not like those marauders from Cloudsdale."

They said nothing. The door swung again, and the servants returned, delivering more silver domes to the table. A small array of vegetables Key didn't recognise had been roasted and dripped with an odd, sour sauce. It was hardly a slap-up feast. The meal proceeded in silence, without eye contact. For Key, at least, anxiety and hunger competed, but the latter won out. Before long, the foot of the table had five empty plates, and six untouched glasses of wine.

"So where is Cadance?" Spike said. His voice, even calm, rattled the glasses.

Shining sighed. "She's been kidnapped, with our daughter, Flurry Heart."

"Kidnapped?"

"The pirates in Cloudsdale have them. They want a ransom, but we have nothing to give. I've been planning a raid, but... it's not a good solution." He sipped his wine. "Say. Maybe you can help me here."

"That's an interesting twist," Spike said.

"If one of my ships approaches Cloudsdale, it'll be attacked immediately. But a neutral civilian vessel might have a chance."

Applebloom scowled. "I ain't gonna let the Crusader be your Trojan horse."

"Of course not. My troops would be completely outmatched as soon as they disembark." Shining winced. "I've already tried that. No, I want you to talk to them. Look at it this way. If I let you go, and you convince Spitfire to let them go, then I'm happy, Cadance is happy, and everyone avoids a costly sky battle. If I let you go and you disappear into the sky, then I lose nothing for trying to reach out. Except for the, y'know. Casualties of raiding a den of pirates." He sipped his wine again. Spike and Applebloom exchanged a furtive glance. "So I'll leave that up to you. You can't have any less success than I've had."

Applebloom snorted. "We'll think about it."

"Naturally."

Dessert consisted of a board of cheeses. Shining Armor was the only one to partake, and after a minute of this, the untouched wine glasses disappeared. Eating alone, he called his bodyguard over.

"Skyfall, show our guests to their rooms."

Scootaloo forgot herself. "Your name is Skyfall? Seriously?"

She rolled her eyes. "I know."

"I think we'd rather stay on our ship, if ya'll wouldn't mind," Applebloom said.

Shining tapped his knife a couple of times to shake some crumbs of stilton from it. He didn't even look at her. "I would highly recommend remaining in the palace grounds overnight, as there is a curfew in effect, and if you're thinking about making a quick exit, I would bear in mind that the docking authority is closed for the night, meaning that I cannot prepare an escort for you out of Canterlot airspace, and you will not be able to recover your goods from impound."

Applebloom glared. She looked across the table. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Fine."

As they stood, Shining raised his knife like a pointer. "Spike, would you mind waiting? I'd like to show you something." Applebloom looked like she was about to sprint. Spike scratched his chin, then nodded.

"Sure. Go ahead, I'll catch up." Skyfall ushered the group back out the way they came. Spike stopped Applebloom as she passed and whispered to her, just loud enough that Key heard it. "I've got what I came for. Say the word and we're out of here."

Everywhere Spike walked in the palace, windows, tiles and gilding fogged up. When he stood next to lights, the steam rising from his scales was obvious. He left a trail of condensation as Shining led them out of the palace, and down the street into the university district. Skyfall caught up and shadowed them. Many of the buildings had been converted, and the limits of the university proper had been reduced. Taverns had been converted into pure eateries, and one of the greens was now a public park, dense with the alpine flora that flourished on the mountain in the old times, but was now everywhere. They had nothing to say until they reached their destination - the end unit on an unassuming (by Canterlot standards) block of dormitories at the edge of the park. Spike gawped at the great window on the facade.

"This… this is Twilight's old place, isn't it? I remember it. On top of the stationery shop, right across the green from Pony Joe's."

Shining smiled. "It certainly is. Would you mind waiting outside, Skyfall?" She stepped back and glowered, and that was about all the answer she gave. Shining pulled out a rusty old key, and opened the door.

The smell of dust was immediate. Spike covered his nose. "Has anyone been in here? I don't wanna torch the place by accident." He was hesitant to climb the stairs, but even though they groaned, they held.

"I send a cleaner in once a month to keep the place in check, but otherwise, no."

"Preserving it, eh?"

They reached the mezzanine, where the bookshelves surrounded them, and where Twilight's desk sat, tidy as it was when she left. There was a gutted teddy bear in the well under the desk. Shining approached the window. "It's a way of holding out hope."

Spike's eyes lingered on the bookshelves. "It's nice."

"I thought you'd appreciate it."

He nudged the ladder next to one of the shelves. He chuckled. "I used to fall off this thing so many times."

"Hard to believe you used to be so small, eh?"

"Oh, I forget all the time. It's terrible. My landlady in Manehattan gave up replacing my door because I kept breaking it."

They both laughed, and then quiet returned. "Spike… why don't you stay? It'd be nice to have family around again. I can make you a citizen right away. You can live here, help out in the university. It's not quite where you left off, but it's as close as you can get without-"

"Without Twilight," Spike said. Shining sighed and nodded. "I have to say, it's damn tempting."

Shining's ears drooped. "But?"

Spike paced around the hourglass in the middle of the room. "It's comfortable, it's familiar, and… Celestia, it'd be a change to be allowed to look at a book without someone thinking I'm about to torch it."

"But?"

"Someone's got to look for Twilight, and you…" He drew a deep breath, then sighed. His gaze lingered as he searched for words. "You've got a city to run."

Shining looked at the floor. "You've got a point."

"I don't regret coming here. This…" He gestured at the room. "This is a treat. But I can't stay. There's too much left to do."

"I understand. If you ever change your mind, it's right here." Shining started towards the stairs.

"Hey, Shiny?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I sleep in here tonight? Just one more time."

Shining smiled, and after a moment, he took the key out of his pocket and tossed it to him. "Of course. It's your place."

The Siege [Part II]

The upper floors of the palace, mercifully, retained some degree of heat. The guest rooms were all on a corridor with a stained glass window at the end of it. They had five to choose from, so they left one for Spike, and Key and Oval elected to share - like their cabins. The rooms themselves were the most lavish things they'd ever seen. Magical lamps lit up as soon as they entered, casting a sparkle on the baroque gilded arches on the ceiling. A tall window cast the sky's dim purple glow through the room, leaving the four poster bed against the back wall lit from two sides. Its shroud glistened in the light, like the curtains had stars in them. They sat in awe of the place for minutes before talking.

"How do you think places like this survived?" Key said.

"Combination of luck and slave labour, I imagine," Oval said.

They admired in silence for a bit. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

"Of course not. What kind of island ups sticks wholesale in the middle of their dinner?"

"Does he believe himself though?"

"Who knows." Oval went to the window and looked out. Key joined her a few moments later. The window looked out over the city. The horizon was short, but the spires and ornamented rooftops cut a dramatic skyline anyway. "Imagine what the view must have been like from here..." Oval was not looking at the skyline. After a few moments of tracing her hoof around the lower half of the window, trying not to fog it up with her breath, she tapped the windowsill and turned away.

"I think I've got it. That gap in the wall."

"Oval, what are you doing?"

She walked towards the door, double checked her saddlebags, and wrapped her scarf around herself again. "What we came here to do."

"Wait, what? The... there's the curfew!"

"What, were you gonna sleep? You never sleep anyway. Come on."

Key winced. He paced silently in a circle, then sighed, and scurried to join her. "Do you know where the caves are?"

"I don't know. Down? Seems like a good place to start."

"We're gonna have to climb all the way back up before they come looking for us."

She nudged him. "Bit of exercise."

The halls of the palace - as they had noted on their way here - were all but empty, and the cavernous hard floors and walls let them know about approaching guards and servants in more than enough time to find a shadow or some cover. They found a window with a loose latch on the ground floor, and squeezed out of it with some difficulty. They followed the shade of the mountain to the gap in the wall Oval spotted, and with an amount of climbing that neither were used to, they were out into the city.

In the hour or two that they were in the palace, the streets had gotten even quieter. They stuck to the shade and dodged patrols anyway, but they hardly had to worry about being seen otherwise. Lanterns on street corners went unlit, but the shardlight from the sky was more than enough. Without a contingent of guards hurrying them along, they could stop and admire the monuments and architecture of the old city. Oval kept mentioning how wonderful it would have been to live here in the old world, and Key eventually agreed.

The lower city retained a lot of the upper city's charm and style, but was not as well preserved. The Crusader, moored in the docks, stuck out next to all the sleek, ornate sloops near it, but not that much, next to the wear and tear of the nearby buildings. They began to follow the rockface of the cliff to look for an entrance. The worry that the way in to the caves was hidden inside a building began to sink in.

"Don't you think the entrance would be a bit more... y'know. Hidden?" Oval stared at the cliff.

"I mean, probably? I didn't see any open cave mouths when we landed."

Oval sighed. "Key, are we wasting our time?"

"Maybe. There's probably guards there too."

"We could try abseiling off the docks."

"That's a stupid idea."

"Is it any more stupid than what we're doing right now?"

Someone yelled in surprise. Then, Key and Oval jumped and yelled, and hid behind some dustbins. Then it was quiet.

"Oh! Excuse me," the stranger's shaky voice said. "I thought you were guards, I'm sorry."

They squinted. Oval risked peeking out. There was tan man in a long black coat, with tidy white hair and a pair of crooked glasses with huge lenses. Behind him was a shabby wooden cart with a tarp over it. He couldn't have been that much older than they were.

"We thought you were a guard."

The stranger chuckled with all the volume of a mouse. "Definitely not. Goodness, you're out late, shouldn't you be inside?"

"Shouldn't you be inside?" Oval said. Key hid behind her.

"I'm really on my way inside."

"With a great big cart."

"Y-yes. It's the groceries. It's my groceries."

She perched her elbow on the bin lid and smirked. "At this hour?" The stranger winced. "It's okay," she whispered. "You don't tell and we won't tell."

He sighed. "I've not seen you here before."

"We came on that ship at the docks."

"Oh, I'm..."

"That wooden one with the tatty sails."

The stranger paused, and looked around the street corner to the docks. "When did that get there?"

Oval smiled. "A few hours ago."

"Are you... visitors?"

"It's complicated. Listen, we're trying to find a way into the caves, you wouldn't happen to..."

He froze up and went wide-eyed. "What in the heavens do you want to do in there?"

She pulled out the wallet and opened it. He squinted and craned forward. "We're looking for this kid."

He brushed his chin. "I'm so sorry... Is he a... a brother of yours?"

Oval darted her eyes up a second. "Sure. Let's call it that for simplicity."

"How long ago?"

"About a week."

"Goodness. I am Father Corona. I was-"

"Father? You're like, twenty."

He smiled. "I'm a chaplain with the guard. I bring alms to the workers when I can. I was on my way to the caves right now, actually. I can take that to them, or..."

Oval looked around him. "Got room on that wagon?"

He winced. "I hope you're very quiet and very light."

Oval bounced out from behind the bins, and jumped on Corona to hug him. "You're a sweetheart!" As she was climbing on board, Key skulked from his cover and offered a sheepish smile as he followed her. The cart groaned under his weight. Corona cringed, muttered a prayer, and carried on.

From under the tarp, they could hear Corona's moves. He carried them a short distance before coming to a stop. He knocked on a door. Moments later, it creaked open.

"You're late, Corona," someone hissed.

He chuckled. "Trouble with the wagon."

"You've got fifteen minutes. Go."

"Bless you, Flash."

The cart bumped over a threshold. The bump made both Key and Oval grunt. "Did that thing just gasp?"

Key's stomach turned. Corona chuckled. "It makes all kinds of noises in its old age. Listen." The cart moved forward until it reached a part where the axle rubbed against something that made a heavy groan, not unlike a donkey's bray.

He could have sworn his thundering heart could be heard outside. 'Flash' snorted. "Go on. Get on with it." Without delay, the wagon rolled into motion again.

The light from the outside disappeared. The angle of the wagon dipped severely, and they trundled a little too quickly for comfort to the first bend, where they stopped. "Hey," Corona whispered. "You can get out now." They did not delay.

The only light was from a glowing charm Corona wore around his neck. The tunnel was barely tall enough for them, and barely wide enough for the wagon. Wooden struts cast long shadows along the cave.

"What is this place?"

"These caves used to be mines. There are access tunnels all over the city that have been built over. Keep moving." Corona set off again, and Oval and Key kept close behind.

Four descending bends of tunnel later, they arrived at a wooden door. Corona pulled out a ring of keys and put a particularly gnarled one into the door. "Last chance to turn back." They looked at each other, and said nothing. Taking that for an answer, Corona turned the key, and pushed the old door open.

The door opened on to an old mineshaft hanging out of the bottom of the island, across which boards had been laid to create a dock. Old tracks crossed their path, terminating a short way into the yawning beyond with the twist of torn metal. To their right, there was a great overhang, separating the city's docks above from the cave's docks below, and a couple of lazy guards sat by a single vessel, drinking and talking to each other. To their left, a row of bars as tall as the whole cave separated the labourers from the dock. They all looked dirty, miserable, or both. A few of them had noticed Corona, and shambled to the bars nearest them. His wagon bumped and clinked across the tracks, and he threw the tarp off to unload.

"What's going on?" Oval said.

"This is the holding area. They keep the new arrivals here, and the guards bring the sick and injured up for me to take care of. Your 'brother' is probably here too."

"Father, my daughter's fever..." a croaking mare called, reaching through the bars.

"Yes, I've got..." Corona pulled a bottle from a sack, and passed it over. "One sip twice a day should do it. Keep her rested."

"Thank you, thank you!"

Another pony pulled a canvas over with a stallion laid out on it. "Father, Roadworthy fell down a gully, we think his leg might be broken..."

Oval gulped, and touched Corona on the shoulder. "Should we, uh... what should we do?"

He pushed up his glasses. "Oh! Ask around. They're probably not far."

"Won't the guards... y'know. Do something about us?"

Corona shook his head. "You're with me, and they leave me alone. Who do you think brought them their wine?"

Oval winced, and with Key, they started circling the bars. She took the wallet out and squinted at it. The shardlight was weaker in the cavern, and the lanterns weren't doing much to help. Key nudged her and pointed. "There."

She nearly burst into tears on the spot. A little colt sprawled over a blue mare on her side, presumably his mother, splattered with mud and looking bored. They circled the bars and sat. Oval swallowed four times and looked at Key, as if he was going to provide her with something to say. Instead, he tapped on the bars and reached through them. "Hey!" he whispered. The colt looked at them. He said nothing. "Over here!" Key said. The mare stirred and looked at them. Her white mane was not coping well with the dirt.

"What now?" she whined. Then, she squinted at them. "You're not guards. What do you want?"

Oval chuckled nervously. "This might be kinda weird, but... is this yours?" She pushed the wallet through the bars.

The mare floated it over, and her jaw fell on the floor. She leafed through it, looking at all of the pictures. "This is my wife's wallet... how did you find this?"

"Well, it was..."

Oval cut Key off. "We're travellers. We passed through Hoofington about a week ago. Applebloom said the town was taken maybe only a few hours after we arrived, so..."

The mare rushed up to the bars. Her son found himself on the floor and a little grumpy. "You're travelling with Applebloom?"

Oval paused. "You know Applebloom?"

"Duh! All the small towns know the Apples! Well, maybe not all of them. But we know the Apples! Or... knew them. Before, y'know..." She looked at the floor and gestured loosely to their surrounds.

"Small sky."

"Does this mean the Crusader is..."

"We're visiting. It's..." Oval looked at Key. "It's complicated. We weren't sure we'd be here. But she's fine."

She sat back and looked at the wallet again, her smile returning. "I can't believe you did this. What made you... why this?"

"Well..." Oval sniffed.

"It's your son... that is your son, right?" Key asked. The mare nodded. "He looks almost exactly like our little brother."

The colt looked around in confusion as his mother dragged him over and sat him between her legs. "It's the little things, isn't it?" She hugged him. "Thank you for this. Thank you so much. It's not exactly gonna get us out of here, but it's nice to have a bit of dignity for a change." She threw a glare over at the drinking guards. They didn't notice. "What were your names? You didn't say."

"Oh! I'm Oval Cut, and this is my brother Key Stone."

"I'm Trixie, and this little magic trick is Double Lift. Say hi, Lifty!" He waved weakly and buried his face in Trixie's front. "He's had a rough week."

"Completely understandable."

Over by the door, Father Corona had started packing up his wagon again. "I think we're out of time."

Trixie sighed. "Yeah. Of course. Just visiting."

Oval looked at Key. Key frowned. Oval furrowed her brow and leaned in to whisper. "We'll come back for you. We'll find a way."

"Kids, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but..."

"We got your wallet back, and we never thought we'd get the chance to do that. Who knows! But we won't forget about you. We promise."

Trixie sighed, looking at the floor. "That's real sweet of you. Don't take it personally that I don't have high hopes."

Oval looked again at the bars. "Yeah. Okay."

Before Corona left, he passed around little paper bags of candy for the foals, and Oval made sure one found its way to Double Lift. He left the door unlocked behind him, and Key helped push the wagon back up the access tunnels. Corona had to pull it the last leg himself, and Key and Oval made sure to hold their breath for the threshold. He pulled them two more blocks before he pulled the tarp back for them. After a quick exchange of thanks, they scurried back the way they came, leaving Father Corona with his wagon.

They didn't tarry on their climb back through the Canterlot streets. But for the pauses to catch their breath and hide from patrols, they walked briskly, back through the gap in the palace walls, in through the loose window, and back through the silent corridors. They returned to their room, panting, and Key closed the door with a mouse-like click.

"I can't believe we did that." Key clutched his front. Oval said nothing as she loosed her bags and threw her scarf on the floor. "Do you really think we'll be back?"

Without answering, Oval picked up the chair and threw it at the ornate dresser, breaking two of the legs. The lamp and mirror fell, and both of them shattered. She screamed, and picked up the remains of the chair and did it again. The dresser wobbled, and she kicked one of the legs. The leg broke off, and it tipped over, cracking the marble tabletop and floor tiles, and scattering the table's contents across the floor.

Key, by now, had hidden behind the bed. "Oval?" he said, when she paused to catch her breath again. She looked at him with a beet-red, tear-streaked snarl. He cowered, and her snarl loosened into a grimace.

"I'm sorry, Key, I'm just..." She staggered over to the bed, threw herself into it, and screamed into the blankets. When she was done, she sniffed hard and wiped her face. "I hate this place. I hate its stupid luxury and its stupid aristocracy and I want out of here as soon as I can."

Key sighed and climbed on to the bed to hug her. He nearly fell over when she put her whole weight into him. He had nothing to say, so he just held her tight.

"Key, do you think they heard me?" Oval said after a while.

"If they did, they'd have come by now."

"They're gonna find out."

"You can say it was an accident."

Oval, despite herself, giggled. "Key! Look at what I did to that thing."

He smiled. "They don't deserve nice things."

"Oh my gosh, Key. I broke a priceless antique dresser. That dresser is driftwood now."

"I mean, we'll be gone tomorrow, so who cares?"

"Don't tempt me to break more of their stuff."

After clearing away the worst of the mess, they tried to nap, but couldn't sleep. Their chess set was still on the Crusader, so they spent some time with the crystal having a conversation with home. Everything at home was "OQ". They were starting to wonder if it was worth taking the time to negotiate the use of prosigns. As they did every night, they eventually gave up on the code and just hugged it.

When they were called for breakfast, they were already packed and eager to go. It was dinner for them, they'd had no lunch, and had become so bored they tried putting the chair back together. They were not taken to the main dining room for breakfast, and Shining Armor was not present. Applebloom had her eyes on the door, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ate everything that came close to them. Key and Oval had pause when presented with the widest selection of breads, jams and fruit juices they'd ever seen, but again, hunger won out. Spike showed up late, didn't eat anything, and didn't say anything.

They were stuck in the palace grounds until Shining Armor came, with his bodyguards and retainers, to accompany them. He asked if they were sure they wanted to go so soon, and everyone agreed that they were. They didn't have much to say besides.

Against the advice of his guards, Shining came with them to the docks. Morning in Canerlot was no busier than the evening. The main difference was the kinds of smells coming from the restaurants. Oval and Key kept an eye out for Father Corona, but didn't see him. Applebloom disappeared into an office near the docks with Shining Armor, and returned a few minutes later with a dock worker carrying the confiscated rockets and blunderbusses. In the meantime, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Key and Oval had all boarded the Crusader, and begun preparations to cast off. Spike waited on the pontoon.

Applebloom passed by him, leaving him on the dock with Shining and his entourage. They looked at each other in silence.

"Library could always use more help," Shining said after an age.

Spike frowned, and produced the key. "Another day."

Shining sighed and put the key in his pocket. "When do you think you'll be back?"

"I'll be honest. It took me thirteen years to find a ship willing to take me to Canterlot. It might be a little while."

Silence fell again.

"At least I get to say goodbye this time," Shining said.

"It's a luxury these days."

Shining hugged Spike when he wasn't expecting it, and he swayed from it. He was still strong at his age. "Safe travels, brother."

Spike winced. "Okay."

After a little too long, Shining stepped back, and gestured at the ship. He sniffed. Spike didn't waste time.

A tugboat towed them out until they could get their sails up. The dock cleared quickly when the foul odour of the wake washed over them. When the tug released them, it left them between three corvettes - two above and one below - that waited until the Crusader caught wind, and then matched its speed. They were close enough that turning in any direction would be difficult.

A consultation with the charts confirmed that the escort was steering them towards Cloudsdale, which was another three days distant. Communications with the escort ships went unanswered. As soon as their course was steady, Sweetie Belle, Oval and Key went below decks. Spike, after giving a forlorn look back at the dwindling Canterlot from the aft banister, followed them.

Sweetie Belle and Spike busied themselves with inspecting their impounded goods and checking the ship for evidence of tampering. They found it had been searched, but nothing was missing, except for one of the eight remaining bowls of stewed apple. Key and Oval retired to their cabin, where the rest of the Hoofington belongings were. Oval went straight to bed, and Key, after the day they'd had, did the same not long after.

The following morning, the escort ships were still there. Sweetie Belle passed a comment about how quiet it was on the early watch without Oval there, before heading below deck for a break. Scootaloo and Spike were nowhere to be seen. They joined Applebloom at the helm, where she'd locked the stocks and was watching the escort ships more than her own. Oval brought the last few of her chess pieces with her to finish on deck.

"Slow morning?" Oval said.

"Well, there ain't much course correcting to do. Just waiting for these creeps to buzz off."

"When do you think they will?"

Applebloom gave them another look. "When we're as close as we can get to Cloudsdale without getting spotted." Oval sighed. They sat and watched the ships for a few minutes. They couldn't see much of their crew, but they were having a lazy time too.

"Hey, Applebloom..." Key said. "You never said you'd been to Hoofington before."

She squinted. "Course. Stopped in every time we passed by. What about it?"

Oval chuckled and rolled her eyes as she put the white king on the banister. "Just had to spill all of the beans right away, didn't you?" She gave Key a nudge. "We uhm. We might have done something crazy last night."

Applebloom glared. "What did you do."

"We might have snuck out to visit the slaves."

Applebloom choked on nothing, thumped the floor a couple of times, then grabbed Oval by the shoulders. Oval winced, and tried to keep up a smile. "You did what?"

"We snuck out of the palace with a wallet from the salvage from Hoofington, we found a chaplain who took us to the slaves, and we gave it back."

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be on this ship? You could have been thrown in with them! You could have gotten us all caught! We still ain't out of the woods!" Oval looked at Key, and he smiled awkwardly at Applebloom. "I got half a mind to turn this tub around right now and take you home for being a liability." The smiles slid off their faces. "Of all the dumb things to do in Canterlot, that was possibly the dumbest thing you could think of. Don't you ever do something that reckless again, y'hear?"

They both looked at the floor, and mumbled an 'okay'.

Applebloom sighed. "Whose wallet was it?" she said after a long pause.

"We found a mare called Trixie who said it was her wife's. We matched a picture in the wallet to her son."

"Trixie, eh? Darn shame..."

"You know her?"

"I knew most of the Hoofington ponies. Trixie ain't had the easiest life, even by Debris standards. Canterlot is the last thing she deserves."

"Is there anything we can do for her? For any of them?"

"No." Applebloom slumped on the wheel. "Canterlot is too well-defended and everyone else is too disorganised. Sometimes this sky is just bigger than you and me, and all you can do is do your best to save yourself."

"No villains, only desperados?"

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Yep."

Oval, with a pout, turned to her pieces again. The king finished, she pulled out the black queen to polish. "So what's the story when we get to Cloudsdale?"

"Wait until the goons peel off and stay as far away from it as possible. I don't know if Shining Armor thinks we're magic, but I don't think we'll be able to just rock up to the front door and parley like we did yesterday. Canterlot at least pretends to be its old self. Cloudsdale these days is just a den of pirates. If we're boarded, then we hand over our goods, or they take 'em."

Key grimaced. "So there's nothing we can do?"

"Well, there is one plan. But it relies on Scootaloo doing something I'd never ask her to do, so I wouldn't count on it. We'll see when we get there."

Oval put the two pieces together and inspected them. "What is it about Canterlot and Cloudsdale that made them like this? Everywhere else seems to have adapted without murder and pillaging."

"Mostly." Applebloom chuckled. "I dunno. Pride. Fear of the unknown. A lot of the time it smacks of old tribal politics. Unicorns and pegasi duking it out while the earth ponies get left in the mud. 'Course it's more complicated than that. Granny Smith used to tell me about all the wrongs of old in terms of tribe warfare, but the way my big brother saw it, it was more about the folks in charge taking what they can from the working folk." She looked at the banister and smirked. "S'funny that you've got that chess set with you. Canterlot and Cloudsdale have the two biggest armies in the Debris, and the rest of us ain't even pieces. We're the board."

With little to be done on deck, Sweetie Belle banned from baking, and their pile of unread books shrinking all the time, Key and Oval decided to inaugurate the newly completed chess set by spending the rest of the afternoon with it. Oval's moves were particularly drawn out, as she examined her craftsmanship on each piece at length. Key thought they came out lovely, actually.

Spike didn't come out of his cabin much, and didn't seem much in the mood to talk when he did. Nobody much liked being on deck with three warships sailing almost close enough to yell at, but someone had to. On the second late watch, they started hitting clouds at increasing frequency, and Scootaloo had to unlock the sails to make adjustments as they hit turbulence.

When Key woke on the third morning, the escort ships had disappeared. They surfed on one bank of a cloud, and based on the wide wake they left in the cloud, he surmised they'd come as close as they could to a complete stop. Everyone was looking off the starboard bow, where the clouds formed a halo around half the sky, and in a few places, the sky was tinged with a colour besides the usual lilac - a spray of green, or a burst of blue.

Scootaloo turned around when she heard him. "There he is," she said.

Key froze. "What?"

"You're just in time. We've got a navigation puzzle."

Applebloom winced. Oval didn't look too happy either. "Scoot, you don't have to do this."

"You're not my mom!" Scootaloo chuckled, then sat down next to Key. She pointed in the distance. "See that over there?"

"What am I looking at?"

"The tangle of clouds and shit, right there. In between those three bright-ish stars."

"Oh, that's the Summer Triangle." Key squinted. It was difficult to determine exactly what tangle of clouds she was referring to, since it was small and there were many clouds around them, and especially with a shard about thirty degrees to the left of where she was pointing. There was a shimmer of movement. "I think I see it."

"That's Cloudsdale."

"Any closer and they'll be able to see us," Applebloom said.

"So here's my cunning plan."

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Cunning isn't how I'd describe it, but go on."

"The Crusader can't just waltz into Cloudsdale, but with a bit of ingenuity," Scootaloo whipped Applebloom's bandana off her head and put it around her own neck. "A lone pegasus can."

Applebloom snatched it back. "If you go in there dressed like that they'll whack you right away! You look like you went to a pirate gift store."

Scootaloo smirked. "It's your bandana, what does that say about you?" Applebloom snorted, and ignored her. "Anyway. I wander in, take a look around, see if I can't find me a Princess, and be back in time for lunch."

Key winced. "You're just gonna... blend in?"

"Yeah! It'll be fine. They take in new recruits all the time."

"Ponies join them?"

Oval looked a little queasy. "This is the part I had trouble with."

"Yeah. If you can keep up and know your stars, then they'll totally take you. Obviously nobody joins them unless they're desperate or already a criminal."

Key rubbed the bridge of his nose for a second. "So what do you need me for?"

"Yeah, uhm." Scootaloo laughed. "I'd make a terrible pirate because I don't know my stars. I can make my way to Cloudsdale from here, we can see it. Making my way back is harder, since by definition, we're staying too far away to see. So I need a bearing."

"Oh, the opposite stars from..." Key squinted towards Cloudsdale, and then looked the other way. He muttered some numbers, then paused. "Heh. Argo."

"What?"

He waited for the clouds to thin behind them, and pointed, tracing out the shapes in the stars. "Just below those two really bright stars. One of them is Sirius, the other is Canopus. There's the poop deck, there's the sails, and there's the keel."

Scootaloo squinted for a few seconds. "Oh, I see it..."

"If we keep Cloudsdale in the Summer Triangle from here, then on your return journey, head for Argo Navis."

Scootaloo looked both directions, then chuckled. "Y'know, if I'd gotten the star charts out, I could have thought of that."

Applebloom snorted. "But you didn't."

Scootaloo hopped on the banister. "So! Plate me up a lunch, I'll be back before you know it."

"And if you're not back for lunch?"

"You can reheat it, it's fine."

"No, you dingus." Applebloom grabbed her by the bottle in her scarf. "I'm asking how long we wait for you."

"Oh, uh..." The smirk slid off Scootaloo's face. "If I'm not back this time tomorrow, get out of here. I'll try and find my way back to Sweet Apple Acres."

They waited in the quiet, but there were no more questions. Scootaloo shrugged and turned. Her takeoff immediately halted when her tail caught on Sweetie Belle's grip. Scootaloo turned, and Sweetie Belle and Applebloom waited on the bow. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. You can have one."

She dropped back on to the deck, and the three shared a hug.

"Come back safe, Scoot," Sweetie Belle said. It was muffled, with her nose somewhere in Scootaloo's neck.

"If you get yourself killed, I am gonna kick your ghost-ass the first opportunity I get," Applebloom said.

"Aw, you guys." After a parting squeeze, Scootaloo delayed no longer, and kicked off the side of the Crusader.

About a hundred lengths away - ten seconds of lazy flight - the chill set in. Every time Scootaloo flew solo, there was a chill, when she got away from the warmth of the engines and the company on board and could be alone for a day or more. She liked to imagine that it was a normal feeling to have on long flights, but she feared that it was an anxiety unique to the Debris. It was like when she took flight, her instincts were reaching for something that wasn't there anymore, and when they couldn't find it, it felt like she'd lost half her blood. It was a feeling that never went away. She could bear it for the sake of a task, but only just. She'd never found the opportunity to ask another pegasus if they experienced this - dock workers and lifeguards never strayed that far out, and message runners never stayed that long. And pirates... maybe she'd find out today. She just had to stop sweating and talking to herself.

She looked over her shoulder. Boy, the Crusader was getting small. She paid close attention to the shape of the stars Key had just pointed out to her. Every few hundred yards she checked again to make sure she was remembering it right. She did it again about a mile out, then committed to her approach. She tried not to think about how if she had to flee, the pirates probably had her beat. She also failed in that task.

Detail after detail came into focus as she narrowed the distance. She could pick out a few features of the Cloudsdale of her childhood - the arena, the facade of the weather factory, the Commander Hurricane monument - barely. She'd never seen them up close before, but even then she could tell the toll that time had taken on them. The city looked smaller than she remembered it. Maybe it grew and shrank as needed. Around the city she spotted dark patches buried in the clouds, and in a few places she saw the walls of improvised hard buildings sticking out. The weather factory had long since ceased to make rainbows, but the stains of the colours still lingered, and some of the nearby clouds had a few unexpected hues too. But most of all, the city's reduced size made the life that was there look abundant. Pegasi flew between the clouds, some of them performing ongoing construction, others just going about their business. Some lounged, others patrolled. Mercifully, not all of them were decked out in raiding gear. She looked for a quiet spot to set down and start snooping.

She touched down near the top of a tall cloud bank with a few of the dark patches in it, under the cover of a cloud awning. The gravity of the clouds was weaker than she was expecting. She bounced on her first touchdown, requiring a second. Walking required long, slow steps. Maybe it was just easier to fly around town. She weighed up the merits of blending in with the locals against staying out of sight. She cast a look back in the direction of the Crusader. It was too small to see at this point - just another black dot in the endless sea of black and white dots.

She decided this structure would be as good a place to start as any, and began to probe the clouds. It was so rare that she got to feel clouds up close like this. Sailing through them was a different story - there, they just pushed at her like she was swimming in water. Here, standing on a static cloud, she could reach in and part them like weightless clay.

"Hey," someone said. Scootaloo froze. This was it. She was done for. "I've not seen you here before." What? She snapped upright, pulling her hooves out of the clouds. There was a mare looking at her with a tired squint. She definitely had the ragged leathers of a pirate, with a prominent pair of reflective wing-shaped patches on each shoulder. She had a long braid in her crest, that made the silver strands in her mane weave with the orange like they were intentional. She had a pair of scars running from her cheek to her collarbone, and a pair of misty goggles hanging from her neck glowed from the shardlight they caught.

"Oh, I'm..." Scootaloo tripped over her tongue. "I just got here. I don't know where I'm going." Well, it wasn't strictly a lie.

The mare tilted her head back. "Huh. First rookie in a while. Where you from, kid?"

Scootaloo snarled. "Who you calling 'kid'?"

She grinned. "Everyone's 'kid' when you're my age."

"Trottingham," Scootaloo said.

"You don't sound it."

"It's complicated."

She looked at her for a moment. Scootaloo's heart leapt into her mouth. "Yeah, okay. I'd call myself a Filly girl, but last I heard I'm shoot-on-sight in all four pieces of it, so I getcha."

"That's rough."

She sighed. "Yeah, well it's all rough these days, isn't it? Fly with me. I'll show you around." When the mare gestured out, Scootaloo followed, and they took off.

"Did you see me coming?" Scootaloo said. Keep talking.

"Not that far out. I saw someone land at the back of the brig and thought it was a little weird. All good."

"This is a lot more civil than I was expecting."

The mare laughed. "You haven't recognised me yet, have you?" Scootaloo looked again at the mare. "C'mon. Don't make me feel that old."

Seconds later, she made the connection, and nearly seized up. "You're Spitfire?"

The mare smiled and nodded. "Relax, kid. Don't try to kill me, and we won't have a problem."

"I..." Scootaloo forgot to breathe. "Does that happen often?"

"Not anymore."

They landed in front of the Hurricane monument, which had been moved to the top of the city. There was a plaza around the monument, with the arena on one side, some kind of military buildings on two of the other sides, and the last side providing a view over the city. Pegasi loitered and walked, arriving and departing in groups. Everyone who passed Spitfire saluted, until two approached who didn't.

"So, this is the main barracks. When we're done, talk to Fleetfoot and she'll get yo-"

"Hey," one of the approaching ponies said. She wasn't looking at Spitfire. "I've seen you before." The left side of her face was mostly scar tissue, and she had a mane that looked like she'd stuck her head in a ballast rocket. The curly-haired mare behind her chewed on some kind of stick. Both of them had those glossy wing patches, and both of them looked like they could snap her in two. The worst part was that she was right.

Scootaloo scoffed. "What? That's impossible, I just got here."

Spitfire sighed. "Lightning Dust, leave the rookie alone."

Lightning Dust took another step closer. Scootaloo snarled. "What's your name, pipsqueak?"

"Who you calling pipsqueak?"

She smirked and leaned closer. Her breath wasn't pleasant. "You sure look like a runt to me. What's the matter? Can't even remember your name?"

Shit fuck. Names names names. "Skyfall."

Lightning choked on a chuckle and thumped her companion on the shoulder. "Seriously? Oh, this one's bad luck, boss."

"I said knock it off!" Spitfire barked. It at least startled them.

Lightning Dust circled them, eyes on Scootaloo. "Yeah. Okay. We'd better scoot." Scootaloo kept up her snarl and tried not to let the chill that ran down her spine show. "C'mon, Supernova. Let's get out of here."

The pair took off to somewhere else in the city. Spitfire rolled her eyes. "Everyone gets one, rookie. Next time that happens you gotta look after yourself. This is a tough town with tough ponies."

"Yes ma'am."

"You'll be staying in the barracks until you get your wings." She pointed to one of the shiny patches with a wingtip. "Until then, you're not a citizen, and not everyone's gonna trust you."

"Oh."

"Now let's move, I don't have all day." Spitfire kicked into the air, and Scootaloo followed.

They sailed over the arena and surveyed the training exercises going on within. A lot of the rest of the city was residences. Scootaloo had never seen such spacious living before - it made sense, now that she thought about it. She imagined the barracks were not quite so luxurious.

They passed over the top of a newer construction that she didn't recognise, when a high-pitched noise caught her ear. She couldn't tell which way it was coming from.

Spitfire chuckled. "Watch out, here comes trouble."

Scootaloo screamed when something grabbed her leg and spun her around. She immediately lost control and started free drifting. She flailed her legs and batted her wings to shake the attacker off, and succeeded only in finding a cloud roof to crash on. Spitfire touched down a moment later and pulled her out of it by the tail.

When she reoriented, she found Spitfire watching with a giggle, and a foal climbing on her chest. The foal grabbed her face and squeezed it. "Who are you?"

"Why is there a child in my face, Spitfire."

"Who you calling a 'child'? I'm way grown up! I'll slice and dice you!"

"Concorde!" Spitfire called. The foal looked up. "Leave the poor rookie alone."

"But moooom! I can take her!"

"Which is why you shouldn't. Come here."

Concorde pouted, then grabbed Scootaloo by the cheeks and pulled her close, so she could whisper in hissing tones. "This. Isn't. Over." Then, she threw her down, and scampered across the clouds to headbutt Spitfire in the side.

A stallion with a scruffy blue beard and a shaggy mane touched down close by. He clutched his chest while he caught his breath. "She's getting too fast for me, babe."

Spitfire chuckled, and lifted his chin with a hoof so she could nuzzle him. "It's just the gravity."

He smiled. "You don't need to protect my ego, but thanks."

Scootaloo rubbed her face as she got up. "Did I just get threatened by your daughter?"

The stallion snorted. Concorde climbed on Spitfire's back and giggled. "Getting a bit big for that, aren't you?" she said.

"Nuh-uh." Concorde slumped on the back of her neck.

"Rookie, this is Soarin," Spitfire said.

"Believe it or not," he said with a wave.

She bucked her back to jostle the foal on it. "And this little buccaneer is Concorde. Soarin, this is the new rookie, Skyfall. Just washed up twenty minutes ago, and your daughter was busy trying to wrestle her."

"I can take her!" she yelled.

Soarin squinted. "A name like that? Are you..."

Scootaloo nodded. "I know. I have thought about changing it."

"Maybe a good idea for peace of mind." He chuckled. He walked alongside Spitfire, and scooped Concorde off her back with a wing, and on to his. "Come on Concorde, leave Mom to her business."

She squealed. "This is obstruction! Abduction! This is a robbery!"

Spitfire smiled and gave her a quick tickle. Then she smacked Soarin's flank. "Take her away!"

"Ow. Was that really necessary?"

"Yes," Spitfire looked like she was trying really hard not to burst out laughing. Soarin rolled his eyes, and took off with a squealing, wriggling filly on his back.

"Cute kid," Scootaloo said.

Spitfire allowed herself a giggle. "Yeah..." She looked at the floor for a moment. "Anyway. Let's go. Still got a stop or two." Scootaloo nodded, and they returned to the air.

After flying around a building Spitfire described as the Castle - her personal residence and office - they circled around the back of the weather factory.

"That get used for much these days?" Keep talking.

"Construction and drinking water, mostly. Retrofitted with some condensers. That's probably gonna be your first job - we gotta round up clouds on a regular basis or we have to start drinking our houses."

"Makes sense."

They touched down at the rear of the factory. Spitfire sighed. They stood beneath the great rainbow spout, which still bore the stains of colours long gone. It was easily four times her length across. "I should really get some of this place torn down. The old rainbow plant is a hazard, and this thing makes me sad every time I look at it."

"How did it go down here?" Scootaloo said.

"What, the..." Spitfire knocked her temple. "What do they call it in the mudhuts. Sundering?"

Scootaloo swallowed. "Yeah."

Spitfire sat, looking up at the empty pipe. "You really wanna know?"

Scootaloo's heart leapt into her mouth, and she kicked the clouds bashfully. "I mean, I'm just curious, is all."

"No, it's fine. Someone's gonna tell you either way." Scootaloo sat. "I remember... man. I remember running rescue duty with the rest of the 'bolts the day it happened. Nobody had a fucking clue what was happening. Half the city up and left for stable ground when things started floating away. The rest of us stayed, trying to keep everything together. You might have noticed that the place is a little smaller than when you were a kid."

"Yeah."

"We weren't able to save all of it."

"Oh."

"We also weren't able to keep Rainbow Falls close by, so we immediately had a world of problems, with food top of the list. Things spiralled from there. We were on daily forage trips just to bring back enough food for everyone, and... how old would you have been, eight? Ten?"

"Twelve or thirteen. About Concorde's age, I'd say."

Spitfire chuckled. "Don't make me feel old, Skyfall. But you remember what it was like back then. Whole sky was just full of gravel. We'd have days when we were flying in the dark - no stars to navigate, no sunlight." She rubbed her nose. "Did you have a favourite Wonderbolt back in the day?"

"Uh..." Scootaloo chuckled. "Fleetfoot, probably."

"Okay. I don't have to completely crush you." She paused anyway. "We lost three of them in those runs. Two got lost and we never saw them again, one got hit by debris. There's just me, Soarin, Fleet and Rapidfire left." Scootaloo winced. "Brave new world, rookie."

"So what happened then?"

"Well, riots. Finding food was hell. There wasn't enough to go around, and there never has been. There weren't enough guards for martial law, so we ended up doing it. Most capable fliers and the most organised. Weeks rolled by and it got easier to fly, but everything got further, and abandoned places started running dry. You'd know as well as me that nobody had much to spare. So that's..." Spitfire's eyes drifted to the sky. "That's when we made the call. If we didn't start taking supplies, Cloudsdale was going to starve."

"That was going to be my next question."

"We don't take everything. We always leave half of what we find. We're not barbarians. Not like those slavers in Canterlot."

Scootaloo didn't say anything. Spitfire nudged her.

"Enough about me. What's a well-fed workhorse like you doing in a pit like this?"

"Heh." She rubbed her shoulder. "Funny you mention Canterlot. They hit my home about a week ago. Everyone just... gone while I was running mail."

"Ouch. Trottingham? That's a pretty big city."

"Hoofington. I haven't lived in Trottingham for years."

"Couldn't go back?"

"You ever been?"

"They literally try to kill me."

Scootaloo bopped her forehead. "Oh. Yeah. Duh. They're kinda dicks to pegasi in general? It's way easier to leave than to move there. Like I said, it's complicated. Kinda hit the end of my rope."

Spitfire nodded. They sat quietly for a moment, looking at the sky. "You got a family?"

"I'm adopted. Twice, actually. Second time was Sundering-related."

"Yikes."

"All too common."

"Ain't that the bitter truth." They fell quiet again. "I like you, Skyfall. A lot of the washouts who turn up here are thugs. This place feels like a penal colony sometimes. But you're... you're just lost. I can respect that." She put a hoof on her back. "Put in the work and you can make a home for yourself here. Maybe even a family, if that's what you're looking for."

Scootaloo flinched. "Thanks."

Spitfire sighed, and stood up. "You know where the barracks is, I gotta jet. See you around, rookie."

Scootaloo saluted weakly. Spitfire jumped into the air, disappeared around the corner of the factory, and she was alone.

Now that she knew where the brig was, all Scootaloo had to do was get access. She could see it from where she sat. It was lightly guarded - any non-pegasus captives would be adequately detained in Cloudsdale with just a raft. One of the guards was asleep, and the other - from this distance at least - looked incredibly bored. A distraction would be sufficient.

She looked in the chute. Flammable rainbow residue? No, that would be a bit much. It would be quite the distraction, but given that her mission here was ostensibly saving lives, it was the one distraction that ran the risk of costing them. She thought she could start a fight in the barracks and slip away, but after her run-in with Lightning Dust, that didn't strike her as all that smart. She slumped back down, and that's when it hit her. It being the bottle of rum in her scarf thumping her in the stomach.

If there wasn't enough food to go around, there almost certainly wasn't enough booze to go around. She looked in the bottle. Half-full. Worth a shot.

She touched down behind the bored guard. He slumped against something long and bladed, that he tipped in her general direction without getting up. "Get outta here, rookie, you're not supposed to be here," he mumbled.

Scootaloo chuckled and nudged the blade to the side. "Hey, about that. Wouldn't you say..." She licked her lips and lowered her voice. As she stepped around him, she produced the bottle and lifted it into his eyeline. "Now's a good time for a bathroom break?"

He furrowed his brow. He sucked in his lips, tilted his head, squinted and more, for several seconds. Scootaloo kept smiling. "And what if I just stab you?"

She twisted the cap. "Then you can enjoy a bottle of clouds." He lowered the spear and made a sequence of increasingly pained grimaces. "I just want a word."

He snorted and huffed and stared at the bottle. "You've got five minutes." She screwed the cap back on, and let it topple in his direction. He caught it, and with his spear, disappeared around the corner. Five minutes - if he kept his word.

The cells were simple wooden doors on wooden boxes. They looked not unlike farm sheds, ripped from the ground whole and taken back to Cloudsdale. Crude windows had been cut in them for air and, presumably, passing things in and out. The smell wasn't great either. The first cell was empty. The second cell contained a pegasus with a number of bruises on their side. She moved on when the prisoner looked at her and snarled. The third cell had a pale lump in the far corner. There was a flowing pink mane around it, but in the darkness of the cell, it could easily have been a blanket. Then, a pair of small hooves peeked over the top, followed by a small yawning head. A pair of glittery eyes blinked under a scruffy, curly blue and pink mane. Scootaloo leaned in and whispered.

"Flurry Heart? Is that you?" The filly blinked. After a few seconds she nodded. "Is that your Mom?" Another nod. Scootaloo cast a look at the sleeping guard. He was at the end of the row, with another cell between them. "Can I talk to her?"

"Mama!" she said. She sounded a little croaky. She looked about the same age as Concorde. Scootaloo grimaced. "Mama, the lady wants to talk to you."

The lump on the floor stirred. From the shadows, she saw shapes emerge; a wing, a horn. Her mane shimmered, and took on a faint pink glow. When she turned to rise, she looked weary and gaunt, despite her youthful features. She sneered. "What do you want?"

"Hey, relax. I'm getting you out of here."

Cadance squinted. "What?"

"Just a sec."

Clouds, mercifully, are extremely quiet surfaces to walk on. This allowed Scootaloo to approach the sleeping guard silently, lean in to his belt, and begin threading the ring of keys off. She looked over her shoulder every few seconds and held her breath the entire time. She had no idea how long five minutes was. The keys knocked together and jangled as she worked. The sleeping guard sniffed. Scootaloo froze. Her eyes darted, looking for cover. He didn't wake. Slowly, she resumed her work. She looked over her shoulder again. No sign of the other guard. The keyring made a little snap when it came off, and the guard stirred again. Scootaloo dared not even blink.

Slowly, she stood. The sleeping guard wiped his nose with a hoof, then resumed his nap. Scootaloo didn't let herself exhale until she was back in front of Cadance's cell. Panting, she dangled the keys at the window. "Look what I got."

"Who are you?"

Scootaloo started trying keys. The first one wasn't even the right type of key. "Me? Some crusty trader who's in way over her head."

"But who sent you?"

Key number two went in but didn't turn. "Your husband."

Cadance scoffed and slumped back to the floor. "Great. One of his goons has come to get me."

Scootaloo pouted. Not the reaction she was expecting. "Excuse me, I am not a Canterlot goon." Key number three almost fit. She cast a glance both ways, and behind her.

"You can just... go ahead and leave me here."

"What? I thought you were kidnapped." Key four went in and showed promise. It just needed some jiggling.

"I ran away, okay?" Cadance spat.

"Oh." The lock finally turned, and the door swung open with a louder creak than she'd have liked.

"I've had enough of being a slaver's queen. I'm not going back!"

Scootaloo inhaled deep. "Well, that's good, because if I never see Canterlot again, I'll consider that a win. Listen, do you want to just like... go?"

Cadance's sour glare slipped. "What?"

"We're running out of time, but the only reason I'm here is because we're doing Shining Armor a favour, because we're doing a thing, and we needed help from this dragon, who wanted to see him to s-"

"You have Spike with you?" Cadance jumped into the doorframe and grabbed Scootaloo.

"Yes, also shhh!" The sleeping guard yawned. They waited until he settled again. "We have a ship. Can you fly?" She nodded. "Follow me."

Cadance scooped Flurry Heart onto her back and stepped out of the cell. She looked even skinnier than the pirates. Scootaloo locked the door again. She looked at the keys for a moment. If she left them in the door, they'd be on their trail right away, but if there were a distraction...

"Here. Have fun." She tossed the keys into the cell with the snarling pegasus. She didn't stick around for their reaction - without another look, they were away.

Scootaloo figured that if they were going to be followed, they'd be caught in the first sixty seconds or so. Five minutes passed, and there was no sign of pursuit. The clouds shrank on the horizon a little more every time she looked over her shoulder, as they sailed into Argo and watched for the black speck that moved the fastest. The chill on the return trip was even worse. Minutes ticked by with their destination unclear. She had trouble remembering whether she'd rolled in transit. She should have checked her poles at both ends, she thought. She double-checked that Cloudsdale was in the Summer Triangle. She really would make an awful pirate with navigation confidence like this.

"Is that it there?" Cadance called her attention to the ship. Above them, apparently upside down, sails on the sides and slack.

"That's the one.."

Warmth restored to her blood, they inverted and touched down on the deck of the Crusader. Cadance managed a delicate flutter, even if she stumbled on contact. Scootaloo landed with a four-legged thud. She was immediately tackled.

"Scootaloo! You made it!"

"Applebloom, if you don't let me breathe, I'm not going to make it."

Key, descending the stairs instead of leaping from the quarterdeck, chuckled from nearby. Applebloom (eventually) stood up and let Scootaloo catch her breath. Flurry Heart had jumped down, and was exploring the deck. Cadance just looked relieved to be on board a vessel that wasn't part of the Canterlot navy. Applebloom looked at her sidelong. "Ma'am."

"Are... are you the captain of this ship?"

"I might be."

"Hey, uh. Applebloom?" Scootaloo smirked and rubbed her chin. "There's been a bit of a twist."

Sweetie Belle, Oval and Spike arrived shortly after to investigate the commotion. When Cadance spotted Spike, she limped over to him as quick as she could. "Spike! Is that... is that you?"

Oval and Sweetie Belle gave her a wide berth, but Spike couldn't help but smile. "You look just like you did before, Princess. Well, a little roughed up, but that's not... hang on, I've put my foot in my mouth."

Cadance broke into a giggle and grabbed him in a hug. "It is you!"

"I don't know how to feel about being identified by social awkwardness."

Applebloom cleared her throat. She frowned. "So. Canterlot?"

"You wanna tell 'em?" Scootaloo said.

Cadance gave her a curious look, then nodded. She rubbed her face a little. "Right. The truth is... I wasn't kidnapped. Not straight away, anyway. I ran away from Canterlot, and got captured by pirates in open sky."

"What?"

She winced and sat. "Spike, you… you were just in Canterlot, weren't you?" He nodded. "Then you… you talked to him?"

He sighed. "Yep."

"I had to leave. He wouldn't listen. Every year, I begged him to stop, and… I didn't want to give up on him. That's why I waited so long. But I don't know if there's anything left of the Shining Armor I fell in love with…"

"I hear you," he said. He left and outstretched arm to her, and she leaned into his chest and stayed there.

They went quiet for a moment.

"Do you know if..."

"We're still looking for Twilight."

"I see."

"Not to hurry you guys, but we'd better pitch sails before we start attracting attention. Where were you headed to, Princess?" Applebloom said.

"I... I don't know. I was just heading... away. Anywhere."

"Come with us," Spike said. Applebloom winced. "You need to recover."

"That's very kind, Spike, but they're going to be looking for me. Both of them will be." She cast a glance back at Cloudsdale. "I wouldn't want to get you caught up in that."

"Then stay for dinner," Applebloom said. "We can point you to Manehattan and drop you closer."

"We've got plenty of stewed apple that needs eating!" Sweetie Belle said, while levitating a flailing Flurry Heart away from the hatch that she'd managed to open.

Cadance sighed. "We might as well. We haven't had a good meal in... days."

"A good Apple family feed'll do you good, Princess."

"Thank you, Captain Applebloom."

"So, uh..." Key cleared his throat, then coughed harder than he meant to. "Where to? I need a destination if I'm gonna give you a bearing." Applebloom looked around. Every face was tired, and every gait sagged. It was time.

"Let's go home."

The Odyssey [Part I]

Key and Oval stayed on the deck for about twenty minutes, watching the island shrink into the distance. They kept waving until they were sore and the ponies on the wharf looked like ants, and the chill started to numb their noses. Applebloom had long since returned to the helm. When the island was too small to make out any details on, they picked up their bags and shuffled to the cabin. They stood behind the door looking around for a full minute, before it opened behind them again.

"Someone should probably show you around," Sweetie Belle said, with a chuckle. When Key looked over his shoulder, she was tilting her head and smiling. "Come on. We'll make you right at home."

The cabin under the quarterdeck, where they'd just entered, was an office-like arrangement. There was a lantern and a desk and sheets of paper and ink. Sweetie Belle said that all the navigation charts were there, and Key would have to take a look at them soon.

The deck below was all lantern-lit; there were no portholes, and the outside light from the windows in the doors couldn't reach here. They were told that the deck below again was all storage, and there was no need to look around there for now. This middle deck had a corridor running the length of the ship. Closed hatches in the ceiling and floor allowed direct access from the weather deck to the hold. Sweetie Belle kept a brisk pace.

The first three doors along the left had been decorated. One door had apples, gears and leaves painted on it, largely in red; one had butterflies, bells and stars, sprinkled with white and lilac sparkles, and the third had lightning bolts, skulls and spikes, on orange, black and purple stripes. The other doors had more descriptive labels on them; mess, kitchen, pantry, bathroom.

"We've got a couple of passenger cabins you can use, but uh..." Sweetie Belle averted her eyes and chuckled as she opened the fourth door on the left. "We haven't had any passengers for a while, so the cabins are kinda full of junk."

Oval poked her head around the corner. The hammocks lay folded at the back of the room, with boxes and chests and sacks in the way. It smelled distinctly of old sawdust. She scoffed. "I've been sleeping in a storage room for years. This is nothing."

"Are you going to climb over the boxes?"

"It might need a..." Oval winced. "A little reorganisation."

Key went around them to the next door. Sweetie Belle stopped his hoof before he could reach the door handle. "I wouldn't try that if I were you. It's not any better."

"Oh."

"Look, why don't you dump your bags in the mess hall? Applebloom's going to want the directions updated ASAP, so Key, you should talk to her about that. Oval, you can help me make space in this room by moving some of this junk to the hold."

Oval sighed. "Yeah. That sounds fair." Sweetie Belle let her smile fall a little, but then got straight to examining the stacks of junk.

The mess hall was cleaner than they'd expected. They figured that someone had a lot of time to tend to it and the kitchen, joined to the mess by a door. They left their bags at the side of the table. Oval slumped over the table, and Key crumpled to the floor, rolling on his back.

"What the hell did we get ourselves into, Key?"

"We've been gone half an hour and we're homesick already."

"Yup. This is literally the furthest we've ever been from home."

Key paused. "So... if I'm closer to the prow, that means I've been further away from home, yeah?"

Oval's brow cranked up. After a moment, she broke down snickering. "Key, you doofus."

"I'm still winning!" he chimed, shimmying along the floor.

"You're gonna fill your butt with splinters." He stopped. They laughed, and went quiet again.

Both of them jumped when the door opened. Sweetie Belle dipped her head inside. She frowned, then opened the door enough to step inside fully. "You guys feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little bummed out, I guess," Oval said.

"I know the feeling. Leaving home is like that." She stepped over Key. "You're gonna get splinters lying down like that."

"That's what I told him!"

Key sighed and chuckled as he got up. "Okay, okay!"

"Tell you what. I'll make you some tea, then we can get started doing stuff. Sound good?" Both of them nodded, and Sweetie Belle went into the kitchen. They remained silent until she returned a few minutes later with three steaming mugs.

"Thanks," Oval said. Key dove straight into his mug, then pulled back sharply after the first taste.

"Woah."

"Too hot?"

Oval snorted, blowing on her tea. "Are you kidding? Key has an iron mouth."

"Nah, it's just a lot stronger than I'm used to."

Sweetie Belle giggled. "I didn't want to say anything when I was there, but your island seems to ration your tea to the point that it's hot and mildly leafy water. I mean it makes sense, considering you have to grow it yourselves. Scootaloo would probably die if she lived there."

Key chuckled, and paced himself through the rest of the tea. He was still nearly halfway down before Oval had started hers. "You mentioned leaving home. Do you... do you mind talking about it?"

"Oh! Not at all." Sweetie Belle's voice seemed to hang on to an almost pubescent squeak at times. "It happened twice, sorta. The first time was the Sundering. I mean, it could have been a lot worse, but I was still stranded in someone else's house, with ponies I'd just met, no way home, and I was twelve. I just... bawled for days." She laughed. "It helped that the Apples were all so darn nice, but nothing quite fills the hole of not knowing what happened. I guess that's why we're here, on this boat. Airboat. Thing." She chuckled again, and took a sip. This time she got a smile from the other two.

"But that's not quite what you're going through. It's more like when the three of us - Applebloom, Scootaloo and me - built this ship and went off to trade. It was maybe eight years ago when we first left. We knew we'd come back every couple of months and stay a while, but the first time we left, it was still like... the whole reality of what you're doing doesn't hit you until you're checking that you haven't forgotten anything and you're untying the ropes from the dock. All of us just felt... sick, for at least two days after we left. I cried. Not like, openly weeping over the side of the ship, just... I'd catch myself sniffing now and then. It gets better, but you're gonna feel terrible for a while."

Key tilted his head back and laughed darkly. "Great."

Sweetie Belle took another long sip of her tea, now nearly gone. "What I'm saying is, even if the other two won't say it, we all know what you're going through."

They paused. Oval nodded. "Good to know."

They finished their tea and got to work. Sweetie Belle levitated things out of the room and through the hatch to the hold, where Oval could find places for them. At first she was reluctant; the hold was dark, and she didn't know if there was any particular order for anything, but Sweetie Belle told her not to worry. She was also worried about touching things that were being held with magic, but to illustrate the point, she grabbed her hoof and moved it around a bit. The magic didn't feel like anything. She was still transfixed at the sight of heavy boxes floating through the air, surrounded by a sparkly glow.

Key met Applebloom at the helm. She took him to the office, and Scootaloo took the wheel. She promised not to do loop-the-loops, and Applebloom thought that bringing the subject up in the first place was at least a little suspect. She kept watching her as she descended. Scootaloo slumped over the wheel laughing.

"Alright, let me fill you in on what we learned from the library."

"Oh! Right. I forgot about that."

Applebloom chuckled. "Don't worry about it. You had other things on your mind." Key nodded. "Penny got us the ship name. Spike left on the Starswirl II, about twelve years ago. She said he was gonna try and go to Canterlot, look for Princess Celestia. Now, it probably wasn't as bad back then, but these days nobody goes near Canterlot if they can help it."

"Why?"

Applebloom breathed in deeply. "Let's just hope you get home before you have to find out." Key gulped. "Now, this gives us two options. Either Spike went to Canterlot and got mixed up in all that, or he went to Manehattan."

"Why would he go to Manehattan?"

"It's the best place to make a living as a dragon out here. The shipyards and foundries pay over the odds for dragonfire. Heck of a rosier place to start looking than Canterlot."

Key nodded. He knew it'd be a while before he remembered any of this. "Okay. Manehattan it is. You're gonna have to point it out to me on these charts, because mine are labelled like, 'duck-shape' and 'spiky thing'." Applebloom frowned.

By the time Key finished familiarising himself with the charts and working out the bearing for Manehattan, the passenger cabin had been relieved of enough clutter to reach the back wall, set up the hammocks, and clear a desk. Sweetie Belle had gone to bed to prepare for an early morning watch. Oval had unpacked some of the books and the chessboards to start making the place feel more like home, but was now resting in one of the hammocks with the crystal. When Key walked in, she looked up, and the light from the crystal illuminated a tear on her face. He frowned, and walked over to hug her.

They spent the next few hours arranging their space and dabbling with morse code. They took about five minutes to transmit "HELLO", and another five to receive back a "HELFO" back. Constantly checking the reference sheet made progress slow. Eventually the other end gave up, and the light went solid. They held it together to double-light it. A few minutes later, the code began again, with "MUSTGOBYE". They responded with "LOVE", though the time it took to send meant that there may have been nobody there to receive it.

Dinner was quiet, with just four of them. Applebloom and Scootaloo left them to do what they wanted while they got settled. Key went on deck afterwards to recheck their bearings, then retired to the cabin to read. Oval started assessing the unfinished chess pieces, but quickly felt unwell. She went on deck to get some air, but then came back, saying she felt useless and alone up there. Key said she'd been reading too much poetry, and she hit him. Dame Cuddlesworth and Rex the Manticore found their way out of their bags, and they threw them at each other from their respective hammocks for a few minutes before remarking on what children they were. Then they sighed, and Oval went to sleep. Key kept reading once he'd found his place again, since Oval was used to sleeping with the light on.

An hour later, the crystal flashed again. Oval was a log by now, so Key got up and touched it. "NIGHTLOVEYOUBOTH" came the message over the next five minutes. For his reply, he just pressed it to his front until the other end responded in kind. Then he left it on the desk, and the light went out. He guessed this would become a routine. He tried to go to sleep, but it went as well as it usually did. Hours later, he heard the creaking of planks, and someone opening another door in the corridor. Sleep failing him, he sat up and read some more. At the end of his chapter he realised that he might be reading too fast for the trip. He set the book down, and got up to look around.

He immediately wished he'd brought his scarf when he went out on deck. They were passing under a cloud, close enough to put a damp chill in the air. He couldn't be sure if they were anywhere close to their intended heading like this. Apart from anything else, it made for poor stargazing. Maybe if he could look from the stern, he could see home in the distance. He paced under the awning of the quarterdeck, unsure whether he'd be yelled at by whoever was at the helm for getting in the way.

To calm himself he stepped out to look at the sails. He kept hearing reference to sails, but there were none slung on the deck, like ships in the old books. The Crusader's sails were instead mounted on the sides of the vessel, held by nets of ropes to great crossbars, articulated by gears. Curiosity sated, he went back to figuring out how to look from the stern without being seen. Eventually he decided that they wouldn't throw their navigator overboard, and climbed up.

Scootaloo gave him a lazy look, sprawled over the rear guard rail. The five wheels at the helm were locked with wooden stocks. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I usually don't."

She snorted and smiled. "That makes two of us. Puts me on the night watch because of it." He nodded, and rested against the guard rail at the side, looking past Scootaloo. The crow's nest of the Crusader cut a wake through the vapour. Scootaloo turned to try and find what Key was looking at. "I don't see it."

"Right there. A couple of degrees above local equator. Little black dot." Silence. "Home."

She humphed, and returned to her resting position. "Eighteen years on and I'm still blinded by daylight." He bit his lip and stared at the floor for a moment. Well, he got what he came for. He inhaled, and got up to turn. "So, are you and red gem twins? You seem pretty close."

Key chuckled. "Her name's Oval Cut, and we're not. Not really. I'm adopted, we're about a month apart, but we celebrate on the same day."

Scootaloo's brows raised. "Oh? So I'm not the only stray in this tub."

Key broke into a laugh. "That's one way of putting it."

"You looked like you had it pretty good." She frowned.

"Yeah, they're the greatest family I could ever ask for..." The pace vanished from his sentence as it went on.

Scootaloo kept up her stare until he pulled a guilty grimace, then she broke into a chuckle. "Bit like the Apples then."

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Psh. I'm a big girl. The issues are behind me. I'm just glad you didn't have to go through what I did."

He sat. "I guess I didn't..."

"At least until I was twelve. I'm probably like, the only pony in the whole Debris whose life got better from the Sundering."

"Really?"

"My adopted parents didn't know what to do with me, and hell if I know where my birth parents are... but living with the Apples, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle... it actually felt like a family. Like, we all knew exactly how we got there, and we were there to help each other through. Y'know that saying, blood is thicker than water?"

"Vaguely."

"That's not the whole thing. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

"I'm... not sure that's actually how it goes."

Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively. "I don't care. I prefer this meaning. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are better than sisters to me, like what you have with Oval. Don't ever let that go, because it's gold."

Key smiled. "You don't have to tell me twice."

They fell silent for a while. Key put a hoof on the guard rail. It was damp with condensation. "Don't be afraid to climb up on it. It's safer than it looks."

He took his hoof down and wiped it on his front. "I think I won't."

"Never fall off the ol' rock?"

"Not myself. I've thrown rocks off to see what happens. I imagine wings do a lot for confidence."

She chuckled, and flared her wings out. "Yeah, probably. Sweetie Belle never climbs anything on deck without a rope tied around her leg." Key looked around again. The cloud had only become thicker while he'd been up here. "Say, if you're not going back to bed, this fog is getting kinda bad. You could make yourself useful and get up on the prow for another ship-length of visibility."

"Uh, sure! Yeah. Let me just get my scarf."

Sweetie Belle came to relieve them at what she said was four o'clock in the morning. Scootaloo went to bed, and Key stayed on for a little while. Not long after, they cleared the cloud, and spotted an island not far off their course. Key had his first experience with a purpose-built stadiametric rangefinder, instead of a window fragment he'd drawn on and placed over the end of the telescope. Sweetie Belle caught him giggling as he sprinted between the cabin and forecastle with optical devices, clocks and charts. He estimated that the island was eight hundred lengths across, and they'd encounter in four hours. Once he'd returned the navigation equipment, he retired to his cabin to get some rest.

Bells and thumping on wood and shaking woke him. His head throbbed. Someone outside shouted, "All hands on deck!"

"Key, come on!" Oval shook his hammock. "We're coming in to dock, let's go!"

The door pounded, and Key rubbed a hoof on his face. When he looked like he was about to dismount the hammock, Oval stepped back. He rolled off it and straight on to the floor. "I gotta get better at this waking up thing..." Oval rolled her eyes, and dragged him along the floor until he started walking himself.

Both of them flinched as they reached the upper deck. Key's stomach did somersaults. Above them, the island loomed large. They flew at ninety degrees to the plane of it, crow's nest pointing directly at the rockface speeding past.

"Ready about!" Applebloom called from the helm.

Scootaloo pushed past them, and shot them a wicked smirk. "Buckle up, kids." Above, the island seemed to drift away a little. Scootaloo widened her stance, a groan reverberated through the planks, and everything felt heavy. Key's stomach plummeted. Oval lost her footing and crumpled to the floor. The island rotated above them, and the Crusader accelerated back towards it, continuing its circuit.

"We're coming in too fast, ready ballast rockets!"

Oval staggered to her feet again, and risked stepping out of the safety of the quarterdeck awning. "R-rockets?" Key wasn't awake enough to do anything besides lean on the wall.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo laughed. "How else are you going to stop a speeding ship?" Sweetie Belle came to pull the hold hatch away. "Ten thousand foot-pounds of dragonfire in a bottle, baby!" She dropped below. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. A minute later, a metal tank the size of a pony's torso, covered with scuffed hazard stripes and exclamation points, floated out of the hatch, followed by a second. Sweetie Belle carried them to the forecastle while Scootaloo replaced the hatch.

"Hold rockets! Ready about!" came the cry from the helm. Oval pre-emptively crouched. When the ship tacked again, Key just fell over with a yelp.

"I'm just... wake me up when the ride stops, okay?"

Sweetie Belle climbed up on the prow and fixed the rockets somewhere outside the hull. Scootaloo jogged over to them. "Get upstairs. If those things come loose, you want to be as far away from them as you can get." She ascended to the quarterdeck with a single beat of her wings. Oval panted for a few seconds, before bopping Key on the nose and dragging him again. He groaned, and climbed the stairs after her.

Scootaloo had braced herself by the front guard rail. Applebloom was similarly stanced, pulling levers to slack the sails and locking the wheels. Key was happy to collapse behind the guard rail, while Oval stood beside him, watching Sweetie Belle climb as far up the prow as she could.

"Rockets ready!" they just about heard.

"Fire at will!"

The boards of the ship groaned again. There was a hollow thunk, and then a dull, crackling roar. Sweetie Belle was lit up blue on the left and pink on the right. Smoke rushed past the sides of the ship. Oval lurched forward, winding herself on the guard rail. The burn lasted for fifteen seconds, before the light gave way to spewing black smoke. The Crusader had gone from hurtling to coasting.

"Fire up the engines, I'm taking her in!" Applebloom called. Sweetie Belle saluted, and jogged into the cabin. "Scootaloo, ready the anchor, it's a dead rock."

Oval coughed. Her breaths were still tight and shallow. "A d... dead rock?"

Applebloom chuckled grimly at the floor. "It's a rock, that's dead. Nobody lives here. S'just ruins. It ain't a happy sight, but we can usually find something worth selling in the rubble. C'mon, it'll be fun."

While they anchored and reeled in, Key and Oval returned to their cabin to prepare. The rockets had knocked the chessboards and books all over the floor. They spent some time clearing that up, then picked out saddlebags for the scouting. When they returned to the deck, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle busied themselves with securing the Crusader to the remains of a harbour wall. Water had left the marina a long time ago, leaving the rusty remains of pleasure yachts and pontoons littered on the former sea bed. A dirty lighthouse flanked them. A crumbling harbour master's office sat on the opposite side of the harbour, a bleached black and yellow flag still flying from a pole on top. The husks of tower blocks and monuments crowded the horizon, beyond the gate with a scuffed blue sign that read "Welcome to Baltimare - The Greatest City in Equestria".

Applebloom pushed up on Key's chin to close his jaw. "Y'gonna stare all day, or are you coming?" She chuckled. Sweetie Belle floated a pack on to Applebloom's back, like a saddlebag with two blackened trumpets sticking out of it.

Key shook himself out of his stupor and climbed over the side of the vessel, on to the pier. He stumbled on landing, still staring at everywhere except where he was going. Oval paused at the rail. "What are those?"

"Blunderbusses, sugar. Let's hope I don't have to use 'em." Applebloom smiled, and vaulted the rail. Oval gulped and followed. "Scootaloo, keep watch. Sweetie Belle, let's go."

Scootaloo sighed as she perched in the crow's nest. "One of these days I'll get to go exploring."

Applebloom let Key and Oval stare at the ruined harbour in reverent silence as they rounded it, punctuated by the occasional click of a loose block. Halfway down, they had to climb over a wall of rubble that Key guessed had been a second lighthouse at some point. Part of what boggled his mind was the scale of everything: the distance from one side of the marina to the other was probably half the size of home, if not more, and this island went on for several times that again. His original image of the concrete shells in the distance was one of buildings maybe a little taller than the old library, but as they got closer, they just kept getting taller.

"Baltimare... why does that name sound familiar?" Oval muttered. "Must have read about it somewhere."

Applebloom snorted. "Might as well be called 'spiky thing' now. Hope skeletons don't spook you too bad, because we're gonna see a few."

The harbour entrance put them right in the middle of the city. The streets were as good as gravel, with the biggest slab of intact paving being no bigger than a door. Some amber grass and a few thorny weeds found purchase in the deeper cracks. Metal carriages lay in piles of brown, flaky sheets at best, and wooden ones were only evidenced by rusty wheels and axles with a few sorry black chunks clinging to them.

Despite the state of the streets, the height of the buildings now upon them kept drawing Key's gaze upward. He could barely comprehend the scale of these stone titans, their corpses standing in perfect rows, as far as he could see. Some of them looked like they were broken in the middle, though their upper halves were nowhere to be seen. The prospect of trying to imagine what they were like when they were built robbed him of words.

His front bumped into something, and he jumped back, yelling in surprise. Oval, immediately in front, did the same, only jumping forward. Applebloom, at the front of the convoy, jumped a full one hundred and eighty degrees, pointing the trumpets at them with some kind of bit in her mouth. Her eyes scanned the scene. She spat out the bit with a glare.

"Watch where you're going! I nearly blew your head off." She spoke in a breathy hiss.

"What?"

Applebloom shushed him. "If you keep that up, you can go wait with Scootaloo."

Key hung his head. Oval frowned. "I thought you said this was a dead rock."

"That don't mean that someone else ain't had the same idea as us. Now come on, before every crusty-ass scavenger in the Debris hears you." Applebloom huffed, and proceeded. Oval looked to Sweetie Belle, who shrugged and ushered them on.

A lot of the shops around the harbour were restaurants, with nothing really of value to offer. One restaurant had been boarded up. Applebloom kicked the boards through, to find a patch of floor smeared with ashes, and four skeletons, two of them small. Tins of beans and tomatoes sat around, some of them opened, along with a lot of empty bottles. Sweetie Belle scooped the unopened cans into her saddlebags, and dug a pit in one of the cracks in the floor. Applebloom swept the bones into a pile, and when the pit was deep enough, deposited them inside. Sweetie Belle filled it in again, and Applebloom wedged a stone upright in the loose dirt. Using a sharper stone, Sweetie Belle traced a circle with eight points radiating from its circumference in the stone. Silently, they left the way they came. Key and Oval stared at the grave for a moment, then looked at each other. Key inhaled, and they followed them.

Seafront restaurants gave way to some kind of ethnic district. Broken glass and punctured brickwork smoothed over by age may have been looting, or just tectonic forces. Oval spotted a café, and gave it a look. The till had more bits in coin and bill than she could quickly count. Sweetie Belle said that some collectors in Manehattan pay well for old money, and a few communities still use it for exchange, and even without that the coins could still be melted down for copper and nickel, so she might as well take it. The shelves in the pantry had collapsed, and much of what hadn't spilled or rotted to nothing had been eaten by rats. Much to her disappointment, the tea smelled like damp, and where it wasn't grey mulch, it was covered in green fuzz. She found two unopened bags of sugar and a sealed jar labelled instant coffee. Sweetie Belle said Scootaloo loved the stuff, so she pocketed that too.

Further down the street, one side opened up into a park. Plants had exploded across the street, taking root in the patches where concrete and cobblestone had been ground into dust. Grass snaked along the cracks away from the park. Some sad-looking heather grew through the skeleton of a cart, and a couple of cacti and alpine flowers dotted the fence and pavement, and a young cedar had grown in a corkscrew, like it hadn't been sure which way to grow. A sign, decorated with elaborate swirls and leaf patterns and hanging on its side at the foot of its original post, said "Baltimare Botanical Gardens". A lock and chain was wound around the gates, which had been pulled to the floor at some point. The ticket office had already been raided, its windows smashed and the empty till tossed out.

Applebloom nudged the cash register. "Looks like someone's been here already... no telling when. If it's been a while we might find some fruit or seeds or something." She hopped the turnstile, and the others followed.

The glasshouses didn't have a trace of glass anymore. Though the pathways were cracked and the more solid structures had caved in rooves, the plants looked like they were struggling to reclaim the garden fully. Lawns had been overrun with moss, and planters set out for flowerbeds held only thistles and wilting nettles. Ivy wrapped any stone wall it could find. Some of the conifers seemed to be doing okay - spreading, even. Sedges jostled with cacti for space next to dead tropical trees spotted with fungi.

Key spotted something in one of the houses. Something orange and bright and flickering stuck out from the shadows and half-light. He tapped Applebloom on the shoulder. She turned and hissed a 'what'. He pointed, and she cooed curiously. She motioned for them to follow, and proceeded with a light step.

The concrete house was by now a few pillars and walls, with chunks of the ceiling scattered on the floor. Where they could, they kept to where the grass had overgrown the tiles to dull the clack of hooves on marble. As they approached, they heard voices, and the crackle of a campfire. They kept to the shadows of half-walls and fallen pillars.

"Nyeow!" a child shouted. "And then I can scare them away with my big scary roar!" The child inhaled deeply, and a shrill tweet came out. It echoed around the bare walls, but not much further than a voice would.

Another, older female voice chuckled. "That roar's coming along nicely, tiger." A muted noise followed that Key recognised as being almost identical to Kite sticking his tongue out.

"Kalza. Leave him alone," a third voice ordered. Female and older again, with a hint of gravel in it. "Tellur. Get over here and settle down. You're going to attract attention."

"But mama!" Silence.

"Kalza, Tellur... those are gryphon names," Applebloom whispered.

"Wh-" She put up a hoof to silence Key.

"I can take 'em, mama!" Tellur chirped. "Hee-yah!" There was a thud as he fell over.

His mother chuckled. "Then you'd better get some sleep, so you can be ready for them."

"Good idea!" She grunted as he climbed on her back, and again when he lay down. "G'night Aunt Kalza. Love you, momma."

"Sleep tight, sweetie." Tellur yawned, and went quiet. There was just the crackle of the fire for a while.

Key leaned in closer to Applebloom. "What do we do?"

"Stay quiet. Wait for a chance to leave."

"Gilda..." Kalza paused. Something clicked on the floor. "I don't think we're going to find any meat here. We need to move on, before we're too weak to leave."

Gilda sighed. "And you did a sweep for scavengers?"

Kalza snorted. "No, I did not find a lonely traveller to abduct and eat." Oval quickly shoved a hoof in her mouth to mask her gasp. "Every time we do it, it just feels... dirty. Like, how did it come to this?"

"Yeah, I know," Gilda hissed. "I hate it too, but it's that or starve. And some things... they make it complicated."

Kalza chuckled. "You and that fucking kid, Gilda."

Transfixed by trying to keep his step light, a shiver ran through Key. His outward breath had a hint of voice to it. Applebloom clamped his mouth shut.

"What was that?"

Nobody dared breathe. Tellur yawned.

"Probably just wind. Put some more tarps up on your round. Maybe you'll catch 'em if you're quick." Kalza snorted. "We'll probably get flying when we're all up."

"Alright. I won't be far."

Everyone kept their eyes wide, and on all the exits. Kalza's steps faded away as she went the other way. Sweetie Belle waved them forward, and they left the way they came, as quickly as they could step on where the grass had overgrown the tiles.

They kept off the paths on their way out of the gardens. Key seemed to remember the way back better than anyone, and found himself leading as far as the street. They didn't stop until they could see the harbour, and even then kept their tones hushed.

"What... what?" Oval started panting like she'd sprinted there, when they hadn't.

Applebloom sighed. "Nobody ever said the Debris was a happy place. That's what these are for." She shrugged, lifting her pack a bit.

"Do you... kill gryphons?"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other. "We don't go out of our way to. It's... happened. You do what you have to to stay alive. Just like them."

Oval frowned. "But they were talking about eating ponies! That's... why would you let something like that go? You could stop it right there!"

Applebloom sniffed. "Do I look like some kinda sheriff to you? Did I start wearing a star-shaped badge since the last time I checked? Are you asking me to march down there and put down a starving family, on the outside chance that they make it to the next island alive enough to kill someone?" Her volume had risen, to the point that Oval was wincing and looking at the floor. "Give me some answers, you sound like you've got some. Come on! Tell me what you want me to do!" By now Oval was crouching, ears flattened back. Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder. She inhaled deeply, then sighed. She returned to the hush of before. "Look. There ain't no villains in the Debris. Just desperados. And I ain't gonna be the one that cleans up this sky, because I'm one of 'em."

Applebloom started back to the Crusader by herself. Key put a hoof around Oval to hug her. For a second she stayed still, like she didn't know she was being hugged, then let herself crumple into it.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Come on. Let's get back. We'll probably cast off soon."

Oval threw herself at her hammock. Key frowned, and closed the door behind them. He felt the need to say something, but appropriate words eluded him. All that emerged was an "uh".

They heard the creaks of the Crusader's mechanical parts springing to life, and felt the momentum swings of the vessel untethering itself from the pier. A minute or two passed before Oval dug her face out of the canvas.

"Boy, if I thought I was feeling sick yesterday..."

Key sniffed. "I don't have any words. I got nothing."

"It's okay. I'll get a grip. I just..." Silence. The whole ship seemed to tilt for a few seconds. "You don't really see how complicated the truth is until you stick your head out your door and it slaps you in the face."

Key looked at the door, and then his bags, and then at Oval. "Do you want me to give you some space?"

"No. No, Key, I want you to come over here and give me a hug." He smiled, and complied. Oval rotated upright in her hammock, and he leaned over her to hug her. "Do you think I'm just being a baby, Key?"

"No, I... I feel you." He paused. "If I'm being stone-faced, it's because you need a rock right now."

"Key, you are a massive ball of cheese." He spluttered a laugh, and got a giggle from Oval in return.

"Come on, let's see if we can find all the chess pieces."

Most of the pieces had been returned to their box in their hasty cleanup earlier, but they still found three pawns under the table, a white knight wedged between two floorboards by its head, and the black queen had found its way into one of their bags. They were halfway through their first game when the door knocked. Key got up to answer it.

"Oh! Applebloom."

She frowned, looking over Key's shoulder. Oval tried to hide behind the chess board on the floor. "Hey, uh..." She pressed her cheek. "I wanted to apologise, about earlier." Oval looked up again. She stood up and stepped over the board, and Key stood back from the door. "I'm sorry for losing my head at you, and I'm sorry you had to see what you did. You weren't ready for it."

Oval chuckled without smiling. "That much I know, yeah. There was no way to know they'd be there."

"Anything I can do to make it up to you, just name it."

Oval looked at the floor, then up at Key. He blinked. She looked back to Applebloom. "The damage is done. I can't be more shocked than I was there." Applebloom's face fell. "You can't protect our innocence by hiding things from us until we find them, and then turn around and be frustrated that we don't know how to handle what we saw."

Applebloom nodded. "I getcha. It's just... it's like watching myself leaving home for the first time, and making all the same mistakes. I'll get better at it."

Oval allowed herself a smile. "We're all learning."

"Anyway. Key, I need you on deck to recalibrate our course."

"Right. We can come back to our game."

"Can I come?" Oval asked. "I just... I don't want to be alone right now."

Applebloom nodded. "Sure. Bit of fresh air will do you good."

In the time they'd been under, Baltimare had become a pebble behind them, and was still shrinking. They were sailing forty-five degrees off the wind, so that the deck was shielded. Most of the shards were collected below them, and clouds obscured the ones above. Key smiled as he stepped out, and gazed at the stars.

"Ain't half of what you used to see. If you could see it, I'd give my wings to see the look on your face," Scootaloo quipped from the quarterdeck.

Key wrinkled his nose. Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Quit teasing the kid and let him look at the damn things." She shoved the telescope and the rolled up chart at him and went to the helm. Key, after fumbling them for a second, trudged to the forecastle, and Oval followed close behind.

"Tell me a story, Key," Oval sat on the deck and slumped against the forecastle.

"Me? Tell a story? Once upon a time there was a hypotenuse..."

"Key!" She giggled and reached up to bat his hind leg.

"Made you laugh!" He jumped down to sit next to her.

"You goofball." Oval sighed. "We're already a bit old to have Mom just tell us a story when we're sad, aren't we?"

"We can tell each other a story, though."

"I guess."

They watched the sky in silence for a bit, leaning together. The Crusader's boards creaked as wind buffeted the vessel, and at the other end of the ship, Scootaloo erupted in laughter at some joke they didn't hear.

"Did you ever read the one about how the world was made?" Key said.

Oval "Which one was that? I don't think I remember."

"In the myths and fairytales book."

"I never read that one."

"Really? Missing out. All kinds of wild stuff in there."

Oval nudged him. "Go on. Tell me how the world was made."

"Well. According to the stories, a long time ago, before Equestria was Equestria, each of the three pony tribes had their own story. The unicorns believed in the Eye of Light, a star that fell down from the heavens on to the dark world, and brought magic to it. It made all the mountains and the seas when it fell, and the magic created life. The pegasi believed that everything began with a great lightning strike, creating fire out of nothing, and it's out of the ashes of that fire the world grew. And where that first bolt of lightning struck, it left a crystallised pillar of glass called the Thunder Branch."

"This is all very fanciful."

Key chuckled. "It's mythology, of course it's weird and arbitrary."

"So what did we believe?"

"Earth ponies believed that before ponies came along, someone - old gods, spirits of the land, depends which tale you're reading - built the earth and heavens block by block, all held up by a great Celestial Arch."

"I was expecting something a bit more bucolic and agrarian, but I guess we're architects as well as farmers."

"Who else was gonna build stuff out of stone?"

"True."

"So none of the tribes could agree on their origin tales, and this was apparently a big deal back in the day. Then in the early days of Equestria with the tribes united, they discovered that all three of them were true, when they found all three of these things, and they were actually the same thing."

"An arch, a star and a glass tree?"

"This is another one where it depends which book you're looking at. Sometimes there's like, a psychedelic drawing of some mad combination of them. So, yeah. They found the things and started unifying Equestrian mythology."

"That was less of a story about how the world was made and more of an encyclopaedia article about origin myths. Key, you are so bad at this." She snickered, by now hiding under her own forelegs for warmth.

"You didn't want to hear about the hypotenuse, so you've only got yourself to blame!" She thumped him again.

"Key!" Applebloom called from the quarterdeck. "Where are those darn directions?"

Calibrations complete, Key and Oval returned to their cabin. Wind had knocked a bishop over, which had rolled and knocked most of the other pieces over, so they decided to put away their game and do other things. Key lay in his hammock with a book, and quickly fell asleep. Oval broke out the unfinished chess set to assess its progress, and if the fall earlier had damaged it. There were no signs of wear, so she started on the carving. Before handing it over, Onyx had managed to turn out two rooks, two bishops and one knight on the white side, and rough blocks for all the other pieces, hewn to the dimensions. She started on the remaining white knight for practice, and made a note to design the pawns at some point, and to leave the kings and queens for last.

She went undisturbed until lunch, which she woke Key for. Applebloom stayed at the helm, so Sweetie Belle cooked something simple from some vegetables and tinned beans served with bread, and Scootaloo bounced while she told them all about coffee. The instant stuff was fine, and you could still find it in ruins, but the best coffee was grown fresh. Botanists in Manehattan had tried and failed to grow it, so the only supplier in the whole Debris was a single family farm, on a chunk of what used to be the mountains on the far side of the Everfree forest. It fetched such a high price, she said, that the family could afford to hire a small army to protect the plantation, have all their food delivered, and have their humble hovel developed into modern palace. Sweetie Belle stuffed a slice of bread in her mouth and told her to eat her lunch.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. Oval kept working on the knight. Key brought the navigation charts to their cabin so he could update them without leaving Oval alone. When Key went on deck before dinner to recalibrate, they were crossing a space with no islands. The deck, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were soaked from a raincloud they'd passed through twenty minutes ago. He failed to not laugh.

Key stayed with Oval after dinner until she fell asleep, and then went on deck to join Scootaloo during her night watch. They didn't talk much, and she ordered him to bed when he started snoozing on the guard rail. He was disappointed, but concluded that the morning was still weighing on him. When he returned to his hammock, sleep came quickly.

Oval woke him when she rose, accidentally. She said something about Sweetie Belle and the early watch. He murmured and went back to sleep. There were no islands turning up at ghastly early hours to disturb him today. He got as far as mid-morning when the thunder on the door stirred him. Applebloom said a bunch of things in her broad country accent that he didn't understand, and he rolled out of his hammock on to the floor. He made a mental note to put something soft there in future, and got up to see what all the fuss was about.

The deck was bright from shardlight. Sweetie Belle sprawled on the prow, like she was trying to capture as much of the light as she could. From the quarterdeck, Key took a bleary observation of their heading. He only noticed the island lying just off their course through the telescope. It was close enough to pick out houses, pavements, flagpoles, lanterns extinguished for lights-out, tilled patches of soil on ruined rooftops, and holes dug into the sides of hills. Immediately, he thought they'd returned home. He was blinded by the shaking of his hooves, and had to put the telescope down for a second. He breathed, and picked it back up. It faded from probability over the following minute, as he picked out landmark after landmark that he didn't recognise. No bridge, no big dead tree, no divide. A village like home, but unquestionably somewhere new. When he'd steadied his breath, he estimated arrival in under an hour, and returned below deck for breakfast.

The wind eased off, letting them coast the rest of the way. Key and Oval tidied their loose belongings into bags or onto their hammocks, but the sudden swaying of rockets and tacking never came. Saddlebags and scarves equipped, they waited on deck, watching the island appear to spiral around them as they found the dock. Applebloom told Key not to get used to being on the away team, since his job was on board, and if he made himself a liability, he'd be better off staying behind.

The dock overlooked the village. The houses clustered around a central square, where a well and patches of cobblestones stuck out of the dirt. The shingles were in fantastic condition, but many of the outer walls of buildings were cracked and crumbling. A few houses had lights on inside, and some ropes were strung between buildings, with triangular flags in every colour hanging from them. A sign on the dock, carved and painted recently, welcomed them to Hoofington.

The first thing Key noticed as the four of them descended the dock - Sweetie Belle remaining behind - was how quiet it was. Sure, home was always quiet during lights-out, but there were still the sounds of the occasional pony who had business while others were asleep, like late night bathroom visits and foals waking up crying for the third time, and the distant roar of the Fallen Arch that went on until the earliest risers stepped out. Hoofington was silent enough to hear the twinkle of Sweetie Belle's magic as she double-checked the knots on the dock. He looked at Oval. Her raised eyebrows told him she'd made the same observation.

The breeze disturbed a set of wind-chimes somewhere in the village. The sound made both Key and Oval jump. Applebloom hadn't brought the blunderbuss, and Scootaloo was wearing a cloak and walking. Two of the houses they passed had open front doors. One had a smashed window. The quiet made Key and Oval tread lightly, but Applebloom and Scootaloo just trudged on like normal.

One house had another intricately carved sign hanging from a post over the door depicting a spread of five cards, and the words "The Full House". The lights were on, but not a sound came from inside. They could hear Sweetie Belle singing from the dock. Applebloom looked at Scootaloo, and they shrugged at each other. Applebloom heaved into the door to push her way inside. One hinge had snapped, and the other didn't look great either. Scootaloo followed, with Oval nervously behind, and Key hiding behind her in turn.

Their footsteps echoed in the empty bar. The tables that weren't nailed to the floor (and a few that were) had been thrown around. Wall decorations had been smashed, and on the few surfaces that hadn't been upset, there were plates of food and steins half-full. There were no traces of spoiling on any of it. The bar taps were splattered with blood.

Applebloom jumped over a fallen stool and bounded up to the bar to look behind it. "Scoot! Check around the village. I'll look upstairs." Scootaloo nodded, and was gone. Before Oval could draw a breath to query, Applebloom had thundered up the old wooden staircase.

Key and Oval dared not stray too far from the entrance of the bar. Oval looked closer at the decorations, turning over plate fragments and shredded paintings for anything intact. She passed things over, not so much interested in the wreckage as doing something with her hooves. Key took a closer look at one of the tables. The food was cold and the beer was warm, but the table was still wet, and the bread hadn't gone stale yet. There was an old wallet on the seat. Inside there was a frayed slip of paper that Key recognised as a twenty bit note, and some photos. A foal featured prominently - dark blue, mane that refused to pick a direction to sit in - he could be Kite's twin. He was even the right age in some of the more recent ones.

The stairs erupted in drumbeat again, and Applebloom skidded to a stop in the middle of the bar, bandana beginning to look a little wet.

"Applebloom? What's going on?" Oval tilted her head and frowned.

Applebloom gasped and reared back, but settled when she saw who it was. "Get outside and stay by the well where we can see you. Hurry!"

"I thought we agreed not to hide these things."

Applebloom winced. "Can we hold off on that until we're sure we're not in danger?" she hissed, advancing and pushing them towards the door until they started moving by themselves.

On Applebloom's advice, they sat by the well and watched each others' backs. Fearing the worst, they exchanged no words. They also watched Applebloom and Scootaloo run from house to house, calling out, and hearing only wind in response. The anxiety eased off as the search wore on, and frantic gallops became listless shuffles. Panting, they returned to the well, alone. Scootaloo threw herself on the floor and rolled on her back.

"Now can we know what's going on?"

Applebloom went wide-eyed, and looked at Scootaloo. Scootaloo shook her head. "Nuh-uh. You're on your own with this one."

"Oh boy." She wiped her face with her bandana and took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna do you any favours by beating around the bush. There were slavers here."

"What?" Key's stomach joined the bucket at the bottom of the well.

"I reckon about four, maybe six hours ago. Just came down and took everyone, right out of their beds. If we'd left your home when we originally meant to we mighta been here when it happened."

"And would you have stopped them?" Oval's rise in tone made Key jump.

Applebloom closed her eyes and breathed in deeply again. "'Would we' ain't the question. The three of us can protect ourselves. We mighta been able to get away, maybe help a few others escape while we were at it, but it's just as likely we'd be in chains and on our way to Canterlot ourselves." Oval's gaze dropped, and her breathing shallowed. Key pulled her back just enough that her forward lean wouldn't make her fall on her face. "I'm sorry," Applebloom said. "If it makes you feel any better, Vermouth has known what's out there for years. There ain't much you can do against an attack, but he'll know one wh-" She swallowed. "... if it comes, and he's got back-up plans."

"Key..." Oval sniffed. "Key was our best stargazer. I had no idea..."

Key started to feel short on breath too. "I didn't know either, he didn't even talk to me about what I was looking at!"

Applebloom smiled grimly at the floor. "He's an old fox though. Applejack used to know him. He wouldn't have let you go if he didn't have another way to keep an eye on the sky."

"Right." It didn't do much for his racing heart and building nausea.

Scootaloo rolled on her front and stood up. "C'mon. There's nothing we can do here. Everyone is long gone."

"We'll do a sweep for anything the slavers missed and get going." Applebloom saw Oval look up breathlessly, and Key's jaw hanging slack. "Look, if we don't take it, someone else will. Maybe some day we'll bump into the ponies that used to live here and give them back their valuables, but I wouldn't count on it. You give the Debris a minute and it'll take an hour." She stared for a second, then sighed and went about her work.

Oval slumped to the floor entirely. "I don't want to get up, Key. Just leave me here."

"I... hold on a second." Still queasy, Key staggered away while Oval rubbed her face in the dirt.

The door of the empty Full House slammed against the wall as Key shouldered through it. He dove back to the seat he'd checked earlier. He rested his head in the cushion and breathed a couple of times. His stomach wanted to escape his mouth and fly away, and his back legs lost strength. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. He felt light-headed, but figured that was from his breathing. He bopped his forehead on the seat and picked himself up. He grabbed the wallet in his teeth and stumbled back to the door.

He spat the wallet out on the ground next to her, and with the momentum of his running, it bounced twice, spilling a tissue. "Oval. This was in the bar."

Oval's face remained buried in the grass. "Great. I bet you'll get twelve million rubies for it."

Key frowned and huffed. He picked her head up and pointed her face at the wallet, then dropped to the ground to show her the photographs.

"When was that picture taken? I don't remember it."

"He does look like Kite, doesn't he?"

"Oh, that's..."

"What I'm saying is that we're gonna get this kid back."

"Were you distracted by something when Applebloom was talking there?"

"I didn't say this plan was easy." Oval raised an eyebrow. "Or sane." The eyebrow went down again. "But if we're going to take anything from here, we might as well take something that might help some of these ponies get home."

Oval chuckled despite herself, nosing the dirt again. "Why do I get the feeling you're going to fill our cabin with sentimental junk, Key?"

Key dithered a moment, then sighed and dropped his face on the ground. "I tried."

Sweetie Belle could be heard singing in the distance, until Scootaloo reached the ship and told her something. The singing did not resume.

"It is a stupid idea," Oval said.

"I know."

"Hopelessly disconnected from reality and desperately devoid of practicality."

"Yep."

"Let's do it."

Key looked up, nose smeared with dust. "Wait, what?"

"We got this far without having any idea what we were getting into, why should we start now?"

Key sniffed. "What a me thing to say." He picked himself up, hoof held out for Oval to take. "To adventure, or something." Oval hesitated, then allowed herself to be hauled upright.

"Something like that."

They stood, watching the sky. Key opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything. He picked up the wallet, and put it in his bag. Oval rubbed her eyes, and started back to the ship.

They cast off within the hour. Key stayed on deck to recalibrate their course, while Oval was taken to the cabin to value what they'd taken from Hoofington. When their course had been corrected, Key returned to the cabin. He found Oval sobbing uncontrollably at the table. Sweetie Belle frowned, and took off downstairs. Key didn't know what, if anything, to do. He settled for putting a hoof on her back. Pretty soon, Oval's face was buried in his side instead of the table. Sweetie Belle returned a couple of minutes later with three hot mugs of tea.

They found a box for the things from Hoofington and kept them in there. Sweetie Belle said she'd find somewhere in the hold to stick it where they wouldn't be sold. They stayed in the cabin with their tea for much of the afternoon. They didn't talk much, because everything led back to Hoofington, but they were happy for the mutual presence. Applebloom passed them once and exchanged faces with Sweetie Belle, but other than that they weren't disturbed. Later, Sweetie Belle brought up another round of tea and something to eat, and when she'd finished that she went to bed. Oval took longer to finish, but when she did she gave Key a hug and retired as well.

After dinner and some reading, Key heard Applebloom turning in for the night, and quietly extracted himself from the room. On his way he took a thick blanket from the room's junk and laid it beside his hammock. When he emerged, Scootaloo had perched on the banister of the quarterdeck, overlooking the weather deck.

She nodded to acknowledge his presence. "Not seen much of you all day."

"It's uh... it's been a rough day. Kinda had our minds blown."

She chuckled grimly. "That'll happen. At least now you should be ready for everything else the Debris can throw at you."

"I'd hope so." Key took his time claiming his perch at the prow. The wind was nearly non-existent, such that from the forecastle he could hear the creak of the locking planks straining against the force of the wheels trying to turn despite them. "Do you ever worry that like... while you're out here, something will happen to your home?"

"Something like slavers?"

The word still made Key shudder. "Yeah."

"I used to worry every day. That shit's terrifying. But I've been sailing the sky for like, ten years now. At least. It sounds cold, but if you spend all your time thinking about those things, you can't function."

"Makes sense, I guess..."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but let it go. There were hours yet left on her watch to fill.

Key lifted his head up. Something pierced the quiet in the distance. He looked around for a moment trying to locate the source. Scootaloo was doing the same.

"Is that... an accordion?" Scootaloo leapt to the starboard bow, and Key rushed over to look too.

"There!" Key pointed. A small vessel, laden with moving parts and chugging smoke behind it. Cymbals, a kick drum, a tuba, a xylophone and some kind of miniature pipe organ were now in audible range. The silhouette of a pony stood up, and perched on the front. It wasn't fair to call it a prow - it was more like a pair of handlebars.

"What's this, brother? A handsome little junk woefully underpopulated with good cheer?" The vessel blew its fans retrograde, cut its engines and shuddered, coasting to the side of the Crusader and hitching to the guard rail. The two crew wore matching pinstripe shirts and bow-ties, and hopped around eagerly despite the grey creeping into their manes. They must have been twins - the only difference Key could spot was the moustache on one of them.

"Or a cheery little population of junk?" The pair laughed. Scootaloo grumbled.

"Looks like we arrived just in time!"

"Even with all the time in the world! There's not a moment to lose!" There was no time for questions. The cymbal crashed, and they burst into song, alternating lines.

"Your journey is so gloomy,

Your travels are so bleak,"

"All you've had to drink is urine for at least a week!"

"These rocks are so unfriendly!

These islands so unfair!"

"The slavers and the pirates they just missed you by a hair!"

They stood at opposite ends of their craft, facing themselves and the Crusader, as if on a stage. "If only there was some way to get away from it all, Flim!"

"You make a damn good point, Flam, it is all pretty unbearable!"

"I think I might have the answer!"

"What is it brother?"

"A dash of this, a pinch of that,

A sprig of something red and flat,"

"Juice it, press it, boil it down,

And mix it 'til it's good and brown!"

Freeze it to break down the cells

Wash in water from old wells

Skim the paste from off the top

Bottle, shake, you're good to drop!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed, turning away to go inside. Key raised a hoof to stop her, but before he could say anything, Flim and Flam had started their chorus. If only this beat wasn't so catchy.

"Make the awful world take five, you owe yourself a break!

Cures homesickness, shellshock, grief, depression, and heartache!

It's all you need to get you through another Debris day!

Get the Flim-Flam Technicolour Mind Relief without delay!"

"For only three days of rations, we can give you enough Flim-Flam Technicolour Mind Relief to ease your worries for weeks to come!"

"Burdens practical and existential disappear with just a sip! You'll swear you can see the sun again!"

"That's not all it does, brother!"

"By gum, you're right! What else can it do?"

"If you need a s-" BANG.

The noise made Key duck and cover, and one of the Flim Flam brothers fell over the controls for the automated instruments, causing them to cut abruptly. Scootaloo had returned, front legs on the banister, with the blunderbusses pouring smoke. "I don't miss twice."

"I think we'd better make tracks, brother!"

"Y'know, that's a pretty good idea!" They wasted no time unhitching their vehicle, starting up the engine and speeding away. The engine restarted the instruments, playing double-time on their way out.

Key stared at them as the dot shrank in the distance, opening his mouth to speak a number of times before finally getting the words out. "What... what just happened?"

Scootaloo chuckled. "They're drug peddlers. Lot of ponies can't make it through the day without a little help, even if it messes you up."

"Like drinking?"

Scootaloo scoffed. "No! Well... there are alcoholics, but lots of ponies can drink and function. Those guys were trying to sell some kinda Devil's Deal extract."

"Devil's Deal?"

"It's a mushroom, from Everfree. They call it that because you get one high off it and it's like you've sold your soul. Hooks you right away, and the withdrawal is hell. Applebloom... no. She'll tell that story when she's ready." Key frowned, and looked at the floor. "The song and dance is a new one though. You don't see that every day."

"Heh. First music I've heard in days."

"Boy, when we get to Sweet Apple Acres, we're gonna have a treat for you."

The rest of the night watch passed without incident. It clouded up later, but before it did, Key spotted an island several hours' distant and plotted a course for it. Scootaloo said she wasn't the best at course corrections, and Applebloom would want another revision in the morning. She let the sails slack somewhat as the Crusader approached thicker cloud.

When Key went below to turn in for the night, Oval was awake. She jumped on him when he came in, her face wet. The crystal was in her hammock, flashing slowly next to Dame Cuddlesworth. She peeled herself off him to touch it again, and the light went solid. Her voice was strained, and just being next to the hammock she slumped back into it and sniffed again.

"Key, I... I had a nightmare."

Key breathed in deep, and came over. He pulled the blanket next to his hammock along the floor so he could sit by her, the back of his head resting on her hammock. "Now, we know they're okay at home, so why don't you tell me all about it?" He pulled Rex over and sat him on his head, facing Oval.

"What are you..."

"He's gonna eat those bad dreams as you tell me about them."

There was a pause, and then one of Oval's sobs collapsed into a giggle. "Key!" He smiled, and reached a hoof up to squeeze Rex on the top of his head, while he mocked a querying growl out of the side of his mouth. Oval chuckled again, squeezed the Dame tighter, and began. She was uneasy at first, but then started to laugh a little at the parts that made no sense, like the old library being joined underground to their tunnelled-out house as her, Key, Keshi Pearl and Sweetie Belle hid under the bed from raiders that she hadn't seen, and Onyx Ring blocked the door, but Scootaloo slept on the ceiling, and Kite jumped on the bed and walked around the house like nothing was out of the ordinary. Then Penny Sweet was making trips to and from the library with cakes and sweets amid the madness, and at some point there was a cave-in, but it got better. The words became quieter and slower as she went on, and finally she fell asleep again. Key decided to leave Rex in her hammock, and sleep on the blanket next to her.

They were allowed to sleep in in the morning. Shuddering and swaying of momentum eventually woke Oval up, and she woke Key up by standing on him. Oval felt awful about herself for getting up so late, even when Key told her several times that it was okay.

They met Sweetie Belle in the corridor on their way up. "Oh! I was just going to wake you. How did you sleep?" The pair looked at each other. Their eyes were bagged, and Oval's face still streaked with grey from the eyes. Sweetie Belle winced. "That answers that, uhm... get some breakfast, we've docked. It's another dead rock, we're gonna check it out once we're all ready."

Oval sounded just as exhausted as last night. "I'm not sure I want to."

"I think you'll change your mind when you see it."

After some tea and toast, they went on deck. The Crusader had docked under a rockface, and outside was thick fog, largely hiding the deck from shardlight. There were lamps out on the deck, providing most of their light. Applebloom marched up and down the deck, looking busy. Scootaloo sprawled on the guard rail of the quarterdeck, looking queasy.

"Darn luck we nailed this landing, we can't see a thing out there." Applebloom tied another rope around a stalagmite. "We're gonna have to hole up here until the cloud passes. It's just too thick."

Key frowned at Scootaloo. "What's wrong?"

Applebloom answered for her. "Something funny with the island's magnetics, like it's four or five different ones glued together. She's gonna have a headache until we leave."

"I'll be fine, just get me a drink!" Scootaloo yelled.

"Get it yourself!" Applebloom shouted back, then chuckled to herself as she went about securing the ship more.

Oval climbed on to the quarter deck to get a look behind them. It was backed up to almost be level with the floor behind them. The lantern on the rear guard rail wasn't enough to penetrate the darkness of the cave beyond. Besides the wind whistling over the cavemouth, it was quiet. "What is this place?"

"We don't know. Scootaloo flew around the outside and didn't see any settlements, just lots of caves and holes."

She gulped. "Do you uh... often find things that you don't know what they are?"

"'All the time' isn't the answer you want to hear, right?"

Oval decided to stay on board for now. Key hugged her before he left with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to investigate the cave. She stayed on deck with Scootaloo and a book. The search party took a lantern each, and Applebloom brought the blunderbusses.

The cave's floor crunched underfoot in some places. Parts of the slope up still had gravel heaped on them, but only scratched, bare stone remained where it had been excavated. As they rounded the corner they approached a fault line, where the cave suddenly hopped a foot to the left. As Applebloom stepped over the fault she hesitated.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle looked around her. Applebloom withdrew her hoof, then put it forward again. She stepped over the fault, and swayed horizontally when she passed it.

"Sweetie Belle. Throw a rock down this corridor." She jumped ahead a few more paces. "Just watch how it falls."

Key stepped out from behind her to watch. Sweetie Belle floated up a larger gravel chunk and tossed it forward. Halfway through its flight, it bent slightly to the right, and Applebloom had to jump back to avoid being hit in the hoof. "It's one of those."

"Ohhh." Sweetie Belle hopped over the fault like it was a gap.

Key stumbled when he passed over it, then stood with his front on one side and back on the other. His weight appeared to be pulling in two slightly different directions on each side. "Oh man, that's weird," he chuckled.

"You think that's cool? There might be some even weirder ones around here."

The cave continued for another twenty lengths, then dropped sharply as it joined another corridor in a T-junction. A ring of cracks and splintered rocks cut the corridor at an angle, but there was no change in gravity. The gravel was absent here, and the rockfaces cleaner-hewn. No stalagmites or stalactites stuck out of his corridor. It tapered to nothing at one end, leaving the other as the obvious direction of travel.

Further down, one wall had a distinct honeycomb texture to it. Hexagonal recesses lined the wall, wide as Key's head, but only a hoof deep. He ran his hoof over the dividers, and it knocked as if porous. He hurried along when the lights from the other lanterns ahead moved on.

A steep dip in the corridor forced them to very carefully climb down. The smooth floor offered little purchase, and the fog made it slightly slippery. Applebloom wasn't able to make the trip without stumbling, but she showed that it was safe enough below. Sweetie Belle floated herself and Key down one at a time.

This corridor was more like a ledge around the circumference of a large cave, hidden from the outside. Fissures in the cavern walls let shardlight pour in, but also mist, shrouding the details of anything on the other side, or on the floor or ceiling. Even if seeing things at a distance was a pain, the fog scattered the light from the outside to give them some better vision of their path.

A figure lay on the floor, several lengths away. Applebloom trained her blunderbusses on it. Sweetie Belle found another rock (with some difficulty) and skipped it over to it. The rock bounced off. They looked at each other and shrugged, then went over to investigate.

Despite being cold and dead, it showed no signs of normal decay - or at least, it wasn't decaying to a normal skeleton. It was black and rough, and it had two needle-like fangs in its upper jaw. Its horn and legs were riddled with large holes, and its back was reflective and blue, with two symmetrical pits. Feather-light, veined leaves of chitin stuck out at uncomfortable looking angles. "I've never seen anything like it..."

Key frowned, trying to look everywhere. "It's like some kind of... bug pony. That's the best I can manage. There's nothing like this in the books either."

Sweetie Belle picked up its head. The body was light - all of the innards had rotted away, and when held up horizontally, she could see from one end to the other through where the eyes had been. There were no bones. "Wow... think some quack in Manehattan would wanna take a look at this?"

"We'll pick it up on our way out. Maybe there's some eggs or some other weird thing down here we can sell."

Key lingered, looking at the carapace. "We're not burying it?"

"We don't even know if that's even a pony. We can donate it to medical science so they can find out, and try to get a rocket refill out of it while we're at it." He watched it still, then scurried after Applebloom and Sweetie Belle before they got too far ahead.

Further excavated branches down the line were dead ends. They all had similarly textured honeycomb walls, and they started finding the occasional tile that recessed into darkness. One branch had a severe crack along the floor, and the end of the tunnel had a sprawling mass of similar chitinous carcasses to the one out in the open. Key jumped ahead to get a look at them, but when he jumped over the fault, he fell forward instead of down. Sweetie Belle caught him by the hind legs before he joined the bodies in the pit. After a moment of nervous dangling, she pulled him back and they left those remains.

A fault line cutting the path part of the way down had a slight breeze coming from it. The up on each side wasn't very different, but Key spotted a couple of traces of light through the cracks, and weathering around the edges. Some kind of cement had been applied around the cracks, between them, and around some of the stalactites on either side, as if trying to tie them together. Key reared back when he spotted a black hoof sticking out of the crack. Splat, he muttered to himself.

The path around the edge of the cavern dipped sharply again, corkscrewing around a pillar of stone once and leading into a cave dug into the wall. This appeared to be the end of the line. All of the walls here were clustered with egg shapes, cemented to the ceiling mostly. They glowed faintly green from a distance, but the lanterns were enough to overpower them. The fault in the middle of the room, cracks obscured by the objects, was given away by the sudden change in their direction. Nearer the entrance they sagged straight down, with a couple of squashed looking ones fallen to the floor, and at the far end they sagged almost perfectly to the right.

"Think we can carry one of these back?" Applebloom kicked one of them. It made a low thump rather than a click. "I don't think these are rocks."

"They look pretty heavy... let me find a small one." Sweetie Belle tugged at one on the ceiling. "These... wow, they're stuck pretty tight."

"Just get a loose one, this place is held together with chewing gum and good wishes."

Key stood next to the fault. He could see a small enough egg thing beyond it, hidden behind a bend in the rock. He ventured a hoof out, and indeed, he felt it pull to the right. He looked over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't looking, then took a few steps back. He breathed in, and ran at the fault. With his last bound he jumped, and against intuition threw his forelegs to the right. In an instant, his front felt correctly aligned and his rear incorrect, and though one hoof scuffed on the ground sideways, he stuck the landing. The sound alerted Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Key! What are you doing up there?"

He ignored them for a moment so he could nudge the little bulb out into view. It was the size of his head, and felt as heavy as a full bucket of water. "I found one!"

Applebloom frowned. "That's great, but... agh. When you see twists that extreme, it don't say much for the stability of the place. Get down before you break something." Even as Sweetie Belle leaned in to take their prize, she furrowed her brow seriously at Key.

He sighed as he jumped back, this time landing perfectly. "I'm not that heavy..."

With nowhere else left to reach on foot, they went back the way they came, picking up the carapace on their way back. At the ship, Oval jumped out to greet Key with a hug, and profuse and profound thanks that he was in one piece. She squealed at first sight of the carcass, but calmed down quickly. Scootaloo was just as ill-humoured as when they left. The cloud had yet to clear, so they took the time to have lunch and run some maintenance. Oval took an inventory of the hold, making a point to leave off the box of belongings from Hoofington. When nobody was looking, she put them in her cabin to the side of the desk, where she wouldn't be reminded of them, and nobody else would find them. Key spent some time with the charts, trying to cross-reference his own mental shorthand with names by their coordinates.

They cast off near the end of Sweetie Belle's watch. She stayed out until they were at a safe distance from the island, then retired. Oval stayed with Key while he took observations to recalibrate their course, and they returned to their room together. Before sleeping, they attempted another conversation through the crystal. They'd become more practiced with their morse code, managing HELLO in about thirty seconds. They received only a hug in response, and realised that agreeing on some kind of protocol before they left may have been a good idea.

The following day was quiet. No islands loomed in the distance, no theatrical drug pushers accosted them. Oval examined the carcass and the egg stone thing after breakfast, but couldn't get an idea of its value at all. She spent the rest of the morning working on the chess set. To get into practice, she began turning out pawns. Key woke up roughly in time for lunch. Afterwards, they took their tea out on to the deck, watching the sky go by.

All of the white pawns were finished by the end of the day. Sweetie Belle found Key reading in the forecastle, and after some reluctance, she got him to explain the plot. He told her it was a classic, though she said she wouldn't know any better. He told her that Scootaloo had mentioned something about Sweet Apple Acres and music, and she just smiled and went about her business, singing. Later, he found Oval humming the same tune.

Late in the night watch, Key spotted an island a few degrees off their course. His calculations said they couldn't be more than a couple of days from Manehattan, but this was closer than that. Closer observation revealed it to be twin islands joined by a bridge as large as the rocks it held together, with two square towers on either side, topped with lights. Scootaloo identified it as Trottingham, and the charts agreed. She said they did a lot of trading there a number of years ago, when it was a lot closer to home. When Sweetie Belle and Oval Cut showed up for the early watch, they corrected their course to approach Trottingham, and went to sleep.

Author's Note

This chapter broken into two because it's really long, and the second part of it isn't done yet. Should be done soon though! Typo corrections are appreciated.

This story is being supported on Patreon! Thanks to Bryan Kincaid, Magus Zeal, Spypone, Mortikie, Srol, Silvarrn, Evine, E. Hunt, DoctorHam, Fethur, Archer Collins, Kuki-Shift, Agent Bookfort, Kaidon, David Gianforte, and everyone else who's helped me out there.