Chapter 7

A cold wind blew across the land surrounding the farm. Even if it wasn’t winter, without the sun to warm the land every day was freezing. The seasons were now an almost completely arbitrary way to mark the passage of time. Away from the cities there was very little difference between summer and winter just as there was no difference between day and night. For many farmers and other ponies who worked the land this created the massive problem of having to grow food at night, without the aid of the seasons. So, many ponies fled the countryside to find work in cities and factories. Those without useable talents would often be forced to join the Midnight Guard, Nightmare Moon’s personal army. More and more recruits were needed to fight the war versus Discord’s monsters and creations.

Fortunately a rock farm isn’t dependent on the weather. Rocks can be harvested during any season, day or night. The cold and piled snow made things more difficult, but not impossible. Plus rocks were things ponies constantly needed, to build houses, bridges, and just about anything else. This rock farm in particular was doing rather well as far as rock farms go. The white unicorn who helped run the rock farm had come up with the brilliant idea to use common rocks for the mage lights of the cities rather than gems or crystals. Gems and crystals were expensive to buy and difficult to find, but minerals such as onyx, quarts and obsidian worked almost as well when enchanted and could be found anywhere. Now the family received a payment every month for this discovery as well as a shipment of these new cheaper lights.

These lights weren’t as bright as the ones made from gems and weren’t as warm either, but with enough of them they could serve the same purpose. Another problem with these lights is that they would eventually lose their power and then the light and heat would fade. The white unicorn couldn’t figure out why this was, the gems and stones had very similar structures, but she didn’t have a great understanding of the more complicated magics necessary to create the lights.

That unicorn in question stood in front of the door to the small farm house. She looked out at the fields of rocks that surrounded the house. Her purple mane was a little messy, but she always tried to keep it neat. The girls were already asleep, and she would be going to bed shortly herself, but first she wanted to spend a moment in contemplation. Ever since she had wandered onto this farm all those years ago it had become a central part of who she was.

“Rarity? Are you coming in?” The motherly voice called from inside.

Rarity quickly opened the door and went inside. A moment of quiet thought always does the body good, but staying outside when the mage lights would be shutting off shortly was just foolish. Inside was the owner of the motherly voice, whose appearance matched her voice almost perfectly. She was a light grey earth pony with three rocks as her cutie mark, not all that different from Rarity’s own cutie mark, of just one larger rock. Her mane is a darker grey which she always wore in a tight bun. Her pale blue eyes shone from behind a small pair glasses which she wore on the very tip of her nose. She also had on her black and white collar. The only thing that clashed with this image of motherliness was the long and jagged scar across her cheek.

“I’m going to go check on Inkie and Blinkie,” Rarity said. The older mare nodded and without another word stood up and followed Rarity out of the room. Years of living on the frontier had left the two with some strange habits. The two sisters slept in the same room, just as they had done as fillies. Inkie’s coat was a shade darker than her mother’s but they shared a mane color. Blinkie was bluish grey and her mane was a dark grey. They were sleeping in the same bed, there wasn’t much room for extra beds in the small house. Both of the mare’s had the same sad look on their faces as they looked at the sisters. Each were thinking of another young filly who had once shared this room. Though neither of them were thinking of the same pony.

Rarity was thinking of her younger sister, Sweetie Belle. After their parents died Rarity took care of her sister. So when she went off into the world to find a place where she could put her talent with rocks to work she had dragged Sweetie Belle along with her. So Sweetie had grown up on the rock farm. Until one day she was gone. Rarity had been beside herself with grief. She had searched all over without finding anything. It had also been devastating to Inkie and Blinkie. Their mother had been more scared than anything else. She had refused to leave the house for days, instead watching the others work through a crack in the drawn blinds. Eventually she got better and life tried to continue on like it had before. However Rarity could never forgive herself for taking Sweetie Belle out here when she was so young.

The two mares walked back down stairs, both deep in thought. Rarity kept thinking about her life on the farm. Farm was life was always hard. Long hours of work and sometimes not enough food. When the sun fell things became even grimmer here. Until Rarity discovered how to use simple stones to create mage lights everyone on the farm was hungry. Even once she made her discovery things were still hard. Rarity didn’t have any contacts and couldn’t leave the farm to find any. Everyone on the farm was surprised when a pony from Manehattan, a representative of some rich company there, showed up asking about the stone lights. He offered to pay a sum of money every month, as well as a delivery of the lights for the idea. Rarity accepted the offer immediately. For the first time in a long time things were going well on the small rock farm.

In fact things were going much better on this rock farm then on any neighboring farms. Other farmers had the usual problems, plus problems caused by the war between Nightmare Moon and Discord. Some times their farms would be attacked by terrifying creatures or even Midnight Guards. However none of those problems ever seemed to trouble the farm, for which Rarity was endlessly grateful.

As she got down stairs she saw that there were some dirty dishes in the sink. Without a second thought she moved and started washing them with her magic. It was always important for her for things to be in their proper place. When that was done she returned to the living room to say her goodnights.

“I am heading to bed, we have a lot of work tomorrow,” She said as she entered the room. “Goodnight Mrs. Pie!”

“Goodnight Rarity,” Mrs. Pie replied without turning from the window. Every night for years she would maintain a silent vigil by window, watching the night pass by. Now with the Eternal Night, she hardly ever left that spot, always watching. Watching for something, or somepony who would probably never return.

* * *

Applejack’s penthouse apartment was very plush, I observed as I walked quietly around her living room. Applejack was in her bedroom asleep. It had taken several minutes of crying for AJ to be able to gather herself enough to tell her receptionist to cancel her appointments and say that she was going home to rest. She had been mostly silent on the carriage ride to her apartment. I think she was on the edge of breaking down the entire time. Only the knowledge that she had an image to maintain stopped her from collapsing in the carriage or on the elevator up.

Once we were to her suite however she broke down immediately. She barely made it two steps into the room before she collapsed to the floor. Silver Hammer and I helped her to one of her couches. Then Silver went into the kitchen to get her a glass of water while I held her while she cried into my shoulder. When my memories of how the world was supposed to be had returned to me I had been forced to mourn my losses by myself. When I had realized what my mission was going to entail I swore that none of my friends would be forced to face their memories by themselves. I would be there to hold them and to help them.

Of all of my friends I think that I knew Applejack the best. She had practically adopted me into her family when I had first come to Ponyville. And ever since then I have always known that I could depend on her, just as she knew that she could depend on me. It had taken a long time but in Equestria Proper she had told me about the loss of her parents when she was a filly and how hard that had been on her. So of all my friends I knew how she would need to mourn.

Once she had cried herself out in my arms she got up and went to her room. She was asleep within seconds. I had gone into check on her several times since but each time she was either asleep, or hiding her sobs long enough to pretend to be asleep. I could tell when she was faking it, but I didn’t disturb her. She needed to get the tears out.

While she slept Silver Hammer and I discussed what our next move would be. Neither of us had any way of knowing where the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony would be, much less where the actual Elements were. I wanted to return to Ponyville to regroup since that was where most of the ponies had grown up. Surely somepony there would know where they had traveled to. Silver Hammer however wanted to make tracks for Canterlot. I could tell that he was thinking of the possibilities of raising another rebellion with my magical power and the reformed Applejack’s monetary backing. Our arguments over the issue went around in circles for several hours. I kept saying that we couldn’t fight Nightmare Moon without the Elements and he kept saying that we couldn’t find the Elements as long as Nightmare Moon was in power. I was willing to admit that without having to fight the Queen of the Night it would be easier to find the Elements, but there would be no way to defeat her without them.

Our argument was cut short when the door to Applejack’s room opened. I immediately teleported to her side. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying and her previously perfectly curled mane was a little tangled but she didn’t seem to care. She still looked exhausted but the smile had returned to her eyes. Though she wasn’t happy this minute, it would be possible for her to be happy later. With the smile’s return to her eyes so to had returned her fire that I knew so well. It was this fire that drove her to try to buck the entire Sweet Apple Acres by herself, or to vow not to return home till she had raised the money to fix something she hadn’t even broken.

“I think I have a solution to our problem.” The mix of her southern twang with her Manehattan accent was a little jarring but it just showed that the Applejack I knew was coming back.

“Uh, Our problem?” Silver Hammer asked with a raised eyebrow. We hadn’t really shared the details of our mission with her yet. She had needed time to mourn for the things she lost.

“Yes, I could hear the two of you arguing.” Silver Hammer and I exchanged guilty looks, but we let her continue. “We can’t go to Canterlot yet. Twilight is right. Without the Elements we won’t be able to defeat Nightmare.” Before I could smile smugly at Silver, AJ continued, “There is also no reason to go to Ponyville.”

This surprised me. I thought the first thing she would want to do is to go home and try to set things to right with her brother. My thoughts must have shone clearly on my face because she continued talking.

“Things with Big Macintosh are too far gone right now. And I am still to closely related to the pony who owned a large company in Manehattan and too far away from the pony who lived her entire life on her family farm. I can still feel myself thinking like that mare. If I go back now I will only make things worse. Maybe unfixably worse.” I knew that feeling of confusion that she was suffering from. I had still been thinking like the Twilight who had never had friends for a while after I got my memories back. Turning to Silver she continued, “Besides if you set your contacts in search of the rest of us then that will take time. We can’t risk just waiting for the information to fall into place. At least not in Ponyville, where our position will always be untenable.” Her Manehattan side showed clearly now. Applejack in Equestria Proper was more of an act first then plan pony, though not quite to the same degree as Rainbow Dash. “Instead I think I should use the resources at my disposal here to track down any pony else I can.”

Silver Hammer was nodding, more to himself then to us, but at least he agreed. I certainly thought AJ’s plan was better than anything we were able to come up with. Plus I think a bit of down time would be good for all of us. Silver Hammer seemed to be able to sleep no matter what the situation, but I hadn’t been able to sleep since I found the Element of Magic, and I hadn’t slept all that well before I had found it. It also looked a lot like Applejack hadn’t been getting enough sleep either.

“Ok, AJ. I agree with you. Now what do you want us to do?” I noticed that she still flinched a little when I called her AJ, but she didn’t get mad at me again.

“Stay hidden. When you went missing from the factory the Midnight Guard put out warrants for your arrest.”

“Wait, both of us?” Silver asked.

“No just you. You are a known rebel who disappeared shortly after a factory that constructs an important war time material, namely the Mage Lights, was attacked from within by a powerful unicorn mage.”

I looked sheepishly at Silver. It was my fault that Nightmare Moon once again thought he was a threat. In Equestria Proper I hadn’t lost control in years. But in the early years of my tutelage with Celestia it had happened several times. Each time somepony had gotten hurt. Celestia had always pushed me to have greater control over my magic. So I was always embarrassed whenever I lost control. It felt to me like I had ignored all those years of lessons I had received from the Sun Princess. Of course he was once again a threat, but I was sure that he would have much preferred to remain forgotten.

“Unfortunately Twilight isn’t safe either. The reports from the attack at the factory were garbled. Some reports said that it was only damaged by Discord, some said it was attacked by a white unicorn and his purple accomplice, others say it was just the purple unicorn. This means that if you two are seen together by any Midnight Guard you will be arrested.”

“They can feel free to try!” Silver channeled his magic and his hammer burst into existence. Applejack glanced at it as it spun idly in the air over his head.

“Yes and that wouldn’t completely confirm their suspicions and fears at all. As long as you don’t want to have the entire force of guards in Manehattan against you, you will keep your heads down. I’ll head back to my office and see what I can stir up. There is food in the kitchen.”

Without another word she walked out the front door and was gone. Silver Hammer looked at the door for a couple seconds before he turned back to me.

“Are you sure it is a good idea for her to be back in the world in her state?” he asked me.

“Yes. She needs to work her emotions away. Whenever she has been upset in the past she has to be free to work until she feels better. One time when she accidently messed up her family reunion she spent several hours getting the family to build a new barn. She needs something to do with her hooves.”

He nodded then wandered into the kitchen. “Makes sense to me. I feel the same sometimes. I’m starving, I wonder what she has to eat.”

I shook my head at how fast Silver Hammer could change tracks. When I thought about it for a moment I realized that I was hungry as well. I had only had a little bit of food in my house back in Canterlot and we had finished most of it earlier. So I walked into the kitchen to join Silver.

* * *

I thought it would take several weeks for Applejack to be able find anything of use. Then I thought it would be only rumors that we would have to spend another couple of weeks deciphering and tracking down. Then as days went by both me and Silver Hammer would be slowly driving each other insane. Silver Hammer seems to the type who would rapidly go stir crazy when cooped up for an extended period. Then I would go crazy trying to get him to follow the plan and stay indoors. Then it would push him further off as he became annoyed with me for restraining him. Instead it took AJ barely two days to find useable information.

The pony we found was Rarity. According to Applejack Rarity was actually under the indirect employ of Apple industries. She had come up with a way to make the mage lights much cheaper, where any unicorn with the power could create the lights. Apparently she had been brought to Applejack’s attention by this discovery. So AJ sent a representative to the farm where she was living. The next part of the story she told with an unreadable poker face, and the entire time she refused to make eye contact with either of us. Her representative paid Rarity off so that she thought that other people were making use of the cheaper and easier method of keeping houses warm and lit. Instead of sharing this secret with Equestria AJ used the cheaper lights to send to the griffin kingdoms where they didn’t have the magic to replicate it, and instead continued to sell the more expensive lights that she had a monopoly on. Neither of us commented on this, we could tell that she was already tearing herself up about it.

It had taken a couple of days to track down where she was and plan the fastest route to get there as well as take care of some other extemporaneous details. Applejack told us that some of the details she was taking care of was who would watch over her company while she was off searching. She had chosen from her lieutenants one whom she had previously had several arguments with so he was very surprised that he had been chosen. But the arguments had been about how to treat ponies. It was clear that she was trying to make amends for some of the things she had done in the past by leaving her company under the command of somepony who would make sure that the ponies under her employ would be taken care of.

For our route she had chosen to take us to sea. By sailing down the coast from Manehattan to Baltimare we would be able to avoid much of the conflict in the center of Equestria. From Baltimare we would get a ride on one of AJ’s airships. Airships were largely for those with too much money and too little sense. With the advent of the cross country rails deliveries and travel were safer and faster to go by ground. However the war between Nightmare Moon and Discord changed all that. Discord rarely bothered attacking a solo blimp and the airships didn’t have set routes that could be destroyed like the rails. The airships also had other benefits unique to Applejack’s smuggling business. While trains were often searched for contraband and could be ambushed and have shipments stolen nopony bothered to search airships and ambushes were impractical bordering impossible. The airships were practically invisible at night and were hard to target even during the middle of the day.

All of these benefits had been considered when AJ made the decision to take us from Baltimare by air. Plus the fact that the farm Rarity was living at was far out off the beaten path. It would take much longer to reach her by rail or coach.

While we were discussing this plan I wanted to divert to Ponyville so we could drop of the Element of Honesty and do a little more searching for the Element of Generosity, Rarity’s Element. It was Silver Hammer who shot this idea down though.

“We still have no idea where the Element is and no real way of narrowing it down any. We could be searching for years and it might not be anywhere near Ponyville anymore. It would be far better to gather the Element Bearers together then search all together. And maybe by then either my contacts or Applejack’s will have turned up some new information.” He said with a nod to AJ. Then he continued, “And if you are worried about something happening to the Element of Honesty then think about this: to get it any would be thief would have to go through all three of us. So then if they were able to get it, nothing would matter anymore, as the only three ponies who know anything about it or our mission are dead.”

I blanched at that but he didn’t seem too worried about it. Seeing my fear on my face he quickly elaborated, “It is very unlikely that they would get through all three of us. They would have to fight Applejack who spent several years on the streets by all accounts and even longer in the griffin kingdoms, places where you either fight for what you want or go without. Plus her personal guards who have a vested interest in keeping her alive. Then there is you. Bearer of the Element of Magic, with extremely strong magical power and able to summon almost unbreakable magical shields. And of course me.” He half turned to show his flank and the magical hammer on his side.

What he said was true. I was still a little worried and panicked, my mind creating the worst possible scenario that could come against us. But I had to trust my friends. If I didn’t there would be no point in doing any of this.

Applejack had planned for everything on this trip. On the day we were to leave Manehattan she had a large crate delivered to her door step. Silver had at first refused to hide in the box till we got to the port, but he understood that it was too risky to just walk down. We also couldn’t take one AJ’s carriages because she was pretending to be on sick leave. Until we were on one of her ships none of us could risk being seen. So shortly after the crate arrived we found ourselves huddled inside it. I closed the lid of the crate and used my magic to hammer the nails home.

Silver Hammer was tense and refused to even look at either of us. Applejack however seemed to be completely relaxed. When she saw me looking at her she said, “This isn’t the first time I have had to travel this way.” Then she put a hoof to her mouth. Her ears were perked up. After listening for a second I could hear the sound of the lift coming up the building. Dimly we heard the lift door open and several ponies exit. Suddenly the crate was lifted into the air. Silver looked like he wanted to break his way free at that moment, but he stayed still and silent.

I could somewhat tell where we were by the sounds that came through the walls of the crate and by the sway and movement of it. The elevator going down wasn’t too bad, though it did seem to take a lot longer than I remember but that was probably just because I couldn’t watch the numbers fall. In the foyer Applejack sat up and pressed her ear to the wall of the crate. I couldn’t tell what she was listening for but whatever it was she seemed to find it because she shortly sat back with a satisfied look on her face.

The rest of the trip down to the docks past in excruciating silence. Silver looked like he was going to be sick with every sway of the box. Applejack still looked relaxed, and if anything in her element. I didn’t know Manehattan well enough to be able to determine where we were while we moved. It would have been less uncomfortable for me if I could tell how much longer I would have to endure the tight, airless, swaying box. However I couldn’t ask AJ because there was always the sound of other ponies talking and working around us. After what seemed like forever the box was finally set down and the noises of the other ponies moved away. Silver almost collapsed he relaxed so completely.

“Applejack, I-,” I stopped talking when she held up a hoof. She seemed to be listening for something again. Suddenly the crate was lifted into the air where it started swinging wildly around. I glanced at Silver Hammer then thinking quickly summoned a modified version of my classic bubble shield around his face. Which he immediately vomited into. Rather than just holding the vomit in the shield I had modified it so that it would teleport everything, including the sounds, away. No doubt somepony outside the crate was wondering why a poorly digested upper class breakfast was suddenly falling from the sky. But that was better than having to sit in this closed, tight box with the puke, or the sound giving us away. I kept the bubble on him as the box continued to swing and sway. It made him look a little like he had gotten his head caught in an upside-down, purple fish bowl. The picture would have been almost funny if the shield didn’t have to teleport away another round of vomit almost immediately.

With a crash the crate landed on another solid surface. I turned to Applejack but she was glaring at a corner of the crate with a disgusted look on her face. Saddened I turned away from her. I thought I had done a pretty good job preventing a mess, I don’t know why she was suddenly so mad.

Outside the crate the noise of the working ponies again receded. I thought we had been left alone again when somepony outside tapped a distinct pattern on the side of the crate. For the first time since we found her I saw Applejack really smile. Her face lit up as she tapped out a different distinctive pattern. Immediately the top of the crate was ripped off, and I barely got a chance to glimpse a full beard before somepony hauled AJ out of the crate with a roar.

I jumped out channeling my magic, I was prepared to fight with everything I had. There was no way somepony was going to take Applejack away from me again. However it wasn’t some member of the Midnight Guard doing a surprise inspection or even a wild animal like I first thought. Instead I was greeted by the largest stallion I had ever seen, who was in the midst of hugging AJ. Silver Hammer briefly raised his head to make sure that I didn’t need help before returning to the crate.

“What are you doing traveling by crate again little Appleseed?” The big pony roared at her. “I thought those days were long past for you! And is this your friend that we are going out of our way to help? Well any friend of Appleseed is a friend of mine.” He grabbed me in a back breaking hug. I don’t know how Applejack survived her hug. “I thought you said that you were bringing two friends. Where is the second? Does he like the crate so much that he never wants to leave it? No! He is sea sick! And look he has a bowl on his head. That is no way to get your sea legs. If you think that was rough I can’t wait to see you on the open seas. Waves as tall as the top mast and each one makes you think that it is time to be taken down below to the seaponies. You land folk might not believe in the seaponies but I have seen them with my own two eyes! You can trust old Sebastian! I have lived my whole life on the seas! In fact I was born in a terrible storm where the wind was blowing fit to lift the entire ship up and have us sailing in the sky.”

The gigantic earth pony continued to talk, never letting either Applejack or me get a word in edgewise. Silver slowly crawled his way out of the crate muttering something about never even wanting to see a box again. AJ let Sebastian jabber on for several minutes talking about everything from fighting the kraken as a colt to the political situation in the griffin kingdoms. After she had let him talk for several minutes she reached out and grabbed his ears with her hooves then slammed her head into his. I was worried for a second that she had given herself permanent brain damage against his hard head. However she barely noticed and he immediately shook it off.

“Sebastian!” she yelled at him while he was still recovering. “Let me introduce my two friends. This is Twilight Sparkle who has been my longtime friend even though neither of us knew that until recently. And Mr. Motion Sick is Silver Hammer, former member of Celestia’s royal guard and current traveling companion to Miss Sparkle. Together we are hoping to be able to set some of the worst things about this world to rights. Now if you please, we would like to leave as soon as possible.”

Sebastian greeted each of us enthusiastically, giving us another spine crushing hug and a thump on the back that knocked the wind out of me. Everything to the giant seafarer seemed to be a joke. When I dissipated the shield around Silver’s head so he could go and puke over the rail he laughed uproariously. He seemed to be a very good natured pony but I was afraid that the constant noise he was making would attract attention.

Applejack seemed to notice my discomfort because she was quick to assuage me, as her large companion walked away. “You don’t have to worry about Sebastian. He is always loud. It would draw more attention if he was quiet. Especially from his crew. But he is utterly trustworthy, and has for years acted as my moral compass.” She looked sadly out at the surrounding port before continuing. “He never had any problem with the smuggling. Smuggling didn’t really hurt ponies. But he did have some problems with the some of the other things. He won’t mention it, but he knows I am different now. Hopefully I will get a chance to prove how different.”

I put a hoof on her shoulders as she stared down at her own hooves. “You will. And you have already started. Things will get better. You only have to give them time.”

She nodded, then whispered as Sebastian approached, “I would have left him in charge of Apple Industries while we were gone if I didn’t know he would hate every second of it.”

“Every things all ready to set sail. Once we knew you would be voyaging with us we made sure to have everything else ready.” He called jovially as he walked up to us. “If we want to catch the tide we need to leave now.”

“Then make it so, Sebastian.”

He smiled then began calling to the ponies around the ship. Slowly the ship began to make its way out of the port. Silver Hammer who had recovered somewhat from his ordeal in the crate joined me and Applejack on the forward rail.

“If you are going to stay sea sick you should probably stay in aft of the ship. The worst of the rocking is up here,” AJ said to him.

“I wasn’t sea sick. I don’t like being put in a box. I refuse do that again!” He seemed to be really upset about it, so we didn’t push the issue. Instead I turned to Applejack.

“I am sorry I couldn’t come with a better solution to Silver getting sick. It was the best I could come up with in that short of time.”

She looked down at the water below us. Already the ship was moving pretty fast, and we were barely out of the Manehattan harbor. Above us the sails were filling with air under the masterful captainship of Sebastian. Or at least I assumed it was masterful. I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with boats in general or seafaring ships in particular, for all I knew we could be sinking slowly. After a moment Applejack turned back to me.

“I wasn’t upset about what you did. I was upset about what I thought about what you did. As soon as you summoned that shield I thought of the different ways I could make money off of you if I wanted to. And I did want to. It’s like every time I get close to being myself again, there is some new part of that old Applejack that over powers me and I have to deal with. Even just normal conversations are a challenge for me. Sometimes I almost think things would be better if I could just go back to the way things were.”

I was silent for a moment. I knew enough about Applejack, both the one from here and the one from Equestria Proper to know that she wasn’t a defeatist, so if she didn’t want to deal with the change, it must be really hard for her. At first I couldn’t understand why she was having such a hard time of it. After a moment of thought I realized why our reactions to our new memories were so different. For one thing they actually weren’t. I still lapsed into the depression of Nightmare Equestria Twilight on occasions, and every morning when I woke up I went through a moment of confusion over who I was. That Twilight wasn’t actually all that different from the real me. Apart from the depression we would have shared many similarities before I discovered the Magic of Friendship. That was the crux of the matter. I was very close to other Twilight. That however wasn’t the case with Applejack, the way her southern accent came and went was proof enough of that.

I asked AJ if we could go somewhere below to talk privately. She hesitated for a moment then nodded and went to ask Sebastian about a private location. He generously donated his own cabin for the purpose. Once we were inside Applejack wouldn’t look at me. Instead she stared at a corner of the cabin, like it was personally responsible for all her problems.

“Small cabin huh? I wonder how somepony as big as Sebastian fits in here.”

“Oh just get on with it Twilight.”

“WH-what? Get on with what?”

“You brought me down here so you can lecture me on what I should have done through all these years.”

“I am not going to lecture you! I don’t want to judge you.”

“But I want you too!” She cried at me, tears flowing down from her emerald eyes. “You don’t know what I did! We can pretend that it wasn’t me that I wouldn’t do those things, but I know what the truth is. You can always lie to others Twilight. But you can’t lie to yourself. I dealt with same emotions, the same desires before. In Equestria Proper I chose differently, and that’s the only reason why the pony you know exists. I hurt ponies Twilight. I hurt ponies bad. You have no idea the things I did.”

She sat sobbing for a couple seconds. The first time I tried to put a comforting hoof around her shoulders she shrugged me off. When I tried a second time she let me stay.

“You’re right Applejack. I don’t know what you’ve done. I don’t know who you were. But I know who you are. You are caring and honest, and you don’t deserve to have to deal with all these problems by yourself. So let me in. Tell me what happened. Tell me everything. Then let me tell you how in Equestria Proper you made different choices. AJ, we’re not alone anymore.”

I held her for several seconds while she continued to cry, then she dried her eyes and started to talk. The voyage wasn’t a long one by any means, but the weather stayed fair with a favorable wind, so we were able to stay in that cabin for the entire trip. Together Applejack and I were able to talk for several hours. Many tears were shed and hugs were shared during that time.
Applejack slowly opened up to me about how life had been for her in Nightmare Equestria. First she told me about running away from home as a filly and moving in with her aunt and uncle. More tears flowed when she told me about getting kicked out by them and forced to live on the streets. She had tried to pretend to herself that she stayed in Manehattan because she wanted to, the truth was that she stayed because she was ashamed to go home. When she left the farm she had said that she would become a fancy pony, but had failed at that. We both decided that her uncle kicking her out happened only short while after the Sonic Rainboom should have happened. Next she told me about fighting her way to the top of a small criminal empire, then growing it to the massive continent spanning entity it was now.

AJ had started out helping the other street urchins with conning the richer ponies out of their money. Then after she had enough money, buying her first passage on a ship, captained by none other than Sebastian. When she had traveled some she realized exactly how much money she would be able to make by smuggling products between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdoms. One she realized that she quickly proposed a deal with Sebastian. They would split the profits of smuggling various illicit products.
Eventually after making a lot of money with just one captain and one ship, she started adding more and more captains and ships. Including her master of shipping. Her empire grew far quicker than any could have predicted. The laws against alcoholic beverages were extremely tight in Equestria, but that didn’t reduce the demand for them any. She also created separate branches to magically manufacture products to ship to the griffins. Even the mundane things, like couches and tables, that didn’t have to be snuck past customs could be created for much cheaper than the griffins could make it themselves. And the magical items sold like the griffin’s lives depended on them. Which in some cases was true. The transfer and smuggling of products was helped by the fact that every griffin wanted the products and none of them could get them legally. Every customs official or border guard could be bribed by some shiny magical bauble. Even if all it did was light up or play music and would run out of power after only a couple of days it was still worth it.

This is one of the things that I could tell Applejack felt the worst about. In EP she was such an honest pony, hence her being the Element of Honesty, for her to lie and deceive ponies, not just when she has to but on an almost daily basis just so she can make a few more bits. There was nothing I could say to assuage her guilt. There was nothing that anypony could say. So when she needed me to I just held her and let her cry onto my shoulder.

After several hours of talking and crying by turn Applejack was just about cried and talked out. The only thing she hadn’t talked about at all was her family. I didn’t want to push her, since if what Big Mac said was even half true then there would be a lot to talk about when she was ready. AJ however was never a pony to wallow in her sadness for long. Once she was done talking with me she was out on deck working alongside the crew. When she again had something to do with her hooves her mood improved immensely.

I too went out on deck to enjoy the sea air. In Equestria Proper my family had occasionally taken trips to the sea and the smell of the sea always made me feel better. Contrary to what I thought Silver Hammer was actually out enjoying the fresh air as well. I was under the impression that he would spend the entire trip curled up in one of the cabins or hanging off of one of the rails after what happened in the crate. Maybe it actually was being in a box that bothered him. I didn’t get a chance to ask him though.

Before too long we saw the distant port of Baltimare. Sebastian told us that if we wanted to get off here we would have to go back in the box. Silver flat refused to do it. He said that he would rather stay on the ship, or swim to shore from here then experience another trip by box. After arguing pointlessly with him for several minutes I eventually decided to cast an “unnoticed” spell.

The more technical points of spell work even most unicorns couldn’t grasp fully. I could without too much difficulty make him invisible, or even he could do it himself, though either way it would not last too long. But if there were any magical detectors then he would be found very quickly. Instead with the unnoticed spell, even if he did set off alarms, nobody would be aware of it till after. It worked on the basic grounds as the “want it need it” spell, except in the opposite way. With the want it need it spell when you see it you have to have it. With this spell you don’t want to be aware of it, so you have to be unaware of it. It works by tricking the mind, only under extreme duress would a pony admit that something had been there.

With the amount of power it would take to cast the spell and with the necessarily short spell length there would be no way to cast it on Applejack and myself. Silver Hammer would have to sprint through the dock if he wanted to get out before the spell wore off. So it was another crate trip for us. After I casted the spell we got inside the crate and waited to be off loaded.

Fortunately it didn’t take too long. I imagine our short wait was mostly due Sebastian making sure that our crate was the first thing off the ship and away from the shipping yard. Silver met us in an abandoned corner of the lot to help us out of the crate. Once we were out we quickly resecured the box lid so that no snooping guards would raise any alarms. Then we set off as quickly as we could.

Once we away from the shipping yard we made our way more casually to the city center. Baltimare was not as big as Manehattan was, but it sprawled out considerably more. Probably due to not being on an island. When we turned up the main street we could see the distant sky port. In Manehattan it was illegal to bring the airships into the city. The buildings were too tall and the streets were too narrow to allow for flyers to enter the city. With all the Pegasi in the city, there would have been crashes and accidents every day.

Baltimare however only had a few really tall buildings. The tallest of which was the sky port. From this legendary building airships of all sizes flew all across Equestria and even beyond. The airships didn’t handle overseas travel very well, but some explorers had taken them as far as the dragon lands far to the south. That did not usually go overly well for said explorers. Airships were the only real way to ship large quantities of products to any of the Pegasus cities, such as Cloudsdale or Los Pegasus. Applejack said that was the primary reason she had a fleet of airships, even Pegasi liked to drink.

Suddenly I gasped. One of the airships was the grandest I had ever seen. Even the yachts in Canterlot could barely compare to this ship. On the side I could clearly see the bits icon of the Apple Company.

“She’s a beauty isn’t she?” Applejack asked me. “I had her built specially for me. The Helios is the flagship of my aviation fleet. Capable of maintaining life in the air for months without resupply and has a maximum occupation of over a hundred earth ponies. And can make the cross country trip from here to Los Pegasus in only a couple of days. She holds the record for fastest transcontinental flight.”

“We are going to fly in that?”

“Ha Ha, no. That would be far too obvious. I am supposed to home sick. There is no way I would loan the Helios to just anypony. The only way my baby leaves Baltimare is if I am on it. So we will be taking that.”

My disappointment at not being able to fly in the beautiful airship was almost immediately replaced with horror when I saw what we would be flying in. Applejack was pointing at a small blimp under the Helios that I had at first mistaken for its shadow. This one was miniscule compared to the flagship, and it looked in bad need of some repairs, or probably retirement. The gasbag had almost more patches on it than original material and the carriage looked like the pilot had flown through the entirety Everfree forest, on ground level. Seeing my disappointment only made Applejack laugh all the harder.

“Not quite as impressive is she? Especially when compared to the Helios. Which is exactly the point of the Sparrow.”

By now we had reached the base of the sky port. We went around a back entrance where Applejack was shown in by an orange Pegasus who barely even glanced at us. Once inside we made our way to the elevator that would take us to the launch platform. When we were inside and sure that we were alone Silver Hammer leaned over to AJ and whispered to her.

“I guess going unnoticed is a good thing for a smuggling ship.”

She smiled a cold smile. “Yes it is. It is actually the fastest of my fleet. The only reason it doesn’t hold the record is because it has never had a chance to go to Los Pegasus on official business. It can make the flight in a single day. It also helps to have a flagship that is so showy, if I ever have to bring in, or send out, a shipment that absolutely can’t be checked then I send the Helios out half way to escort the Sparrow in. Nopony even notices the Sparrow when you have a ship like the Helios around.”

The lift opened up giving us a better view of the Sparrow. My assessment from the ground had been even more accurate then I realized. The Sparrow looked like a hunk of junk. But with the knowledge Applejack just gave me I could see it with new eyes. It still looked like it could hardly get off the ground but now I could see how designed that was. Many of the parts on similar airships had been broken off, yet overall it would reduce the drag of the airship. There were also several other things that looked they could possibly have been designed for other uses.

Literally as soon as we set foot on the airship it took off and began moving away from the sky port. In fact it was in the air before the gang plank was even drawn all the way up. When I looked at Applejack she explained.

“They were waiting for us. I found it works better when I am smuggling to get permission to fly, then if possible load everything on after. A small ship like this can take hours to get off the dock, with all the larger ships around. And if I want to delay its launch all I have to do is have the Helios move an inch before it is supposed to. Something that size moves an inch, ponies are going to panic.”

I nodded then made my way into the interior of the ship. There wasn’t really much to see. Just like the outside, the inside was completely purpose driven. There wasn’t a single piece in this ship that didn’t need to be there. AJ waved us up to the cabin where we could actually see the city as went slowly by underneath us.

“Once we are free of the city and the Pegasus patrols we will turn up the speed. It should only take us a matter of hours to find Rarity.”

Again I nodded. I was so excited to see Rarity, though I was worried about how her life would be treating her. It has been difficult to see Applejack hurting the way she has been. But at least, however much it might hurt them, when all of us were together we could undo all this madness and take away all the pain. Once we found Rarity, we could find the rest of the ponies, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, then their Elements. Eventually we would be able to be friends again.

Author's Note

Here's the latest chapter! If you are artistically inclined I would love to see any fan art or anything similar.