The evening after their exploration of The Castle of the Two Sisters, Dr. Caballeron invited Emerald and Derpy to join him and Biff in his tent to discuss what they knew of Princess Luna. As they walked in, Dr. Caballeron looked up from the book he was writing and set it aside.
“Excuse me,” began Emerald, “but before we begin, I have a question for you.”
“And what is that?”
“Are you Dr. Caballeron?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. She stared intently at him, waiting to see if he would be honest. Biff shook his head from beyond Caballeron’s vision. Derpy sat down and pulled an apple out of her cloak.
“Indeed. Martingale is merely a nom de guerre to help keep anypony from seeking me out over some grievance from my past. As I’m sure you can understand, a stallion in my… previous line of work, tends to make a few enemies over the years, and now that I am settling down… Well, I would hate for them to pop up again. Would you kindly refrain from telling anypony about your discovery?”
Emerald nodded. “Of course. It was just idle curiosity, nothing more.”
Derpy nodded too. “I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t end up wearing my costume of you, then.”
“While we are on a topic of more practical matters, I do have a question of immediate concern for the two of you,” Dr. Caballeron said, guiding the conversation back on topic. “Are you interested in another adventure? If so, I have some information that you might appreciate.”
Emerald looked at Derpy. “I’m good to keep going. How about you?” When she nodded, Emerald turned back to Dr. Caballeron. “Alright, let’s hear it then.”
“Excellent. Now, are either of you familiar with the lands to the South of Equestria?” They both shook their heads. “Well, over the last few years a tyrant from the Southern tip of the world, known as The Storm King, started taking over large swaths of land out there. Then, when the Day of Winter struck, things went from bad to worse. See, there’s a little known fact that when Celestia lowers the Sun, it doesn’t just vanish, it actually goes somewhere. And then the changelings held the sun Further north than usual over Equestria to fend off the Windigoes…”
“It left the South in complete darkness,” Emerald finished.
“After that, their crops started dying. When starvation seemed inevitable, that’s when The Storm King did something truly devious.”
“What?” asked Derpy.
“He had his army of yetis begin commercial fishing of the cold-water fish and whales. Since he already controlled the sea, and his people were apparently fishers before they were an army, they took to it with ease. Now he rules the entire Southern Hemisphere, with only Mt. Aris outside of his direct control… though from what I hear, I don’t know how long they can last.”
“So he keeps everyone in line by threatening to cut off their food supplies?” Emerald asked, to which Dr. Caballeron simply nodded. “That’s terrible. Shouldn’t we tell somepony?”
“Who would we tell? Equestria is still rebuilding itself after the changelings messed it up, and even if it were fully able to send its forces abroad, foreign policy is to leave it alone unless it threatens Equestria directly.”
“Wait, really? Princess Celestia doesn’t do anything abroad?”
Derpy spoke up. “Well, we do have a few allies abroad, and if they were to formally ask for help we might, but if a country isn’t already an ally of Equestria then Equestria lets them handle their own affairs, even if they ask for help.”
“And that’s where you come in. The Princess won’t send any official force, but she also does not prevent private citizens from going abroad. Obviously the two of you wouldn’t be able to fight his army by yourselves, but there’s no telling what you could do.”
“Us?” Emerald asked.
“Believe it or not, you’re heroes now, Miss Emerald. I know that may sound strange to you, but whatever you are back home, here you helped save Equestria.”
“But… All I did was clean a mirror and panic my way through the fighting!”
“And? How many legends do you think thought of themselves as such when they started out? But you didn’t go home after your adventure; you sought out another one. You may not see yourself as a hero yet, but if you keep to this path you will become more and more of one with time.”
“Well, I guess. But what about you? You’re one of the heroes of the Changeling War too, and you have previous experience.”
“True, but unfortunately my face is well known abroad. And I have powerful enemies in The Storm King’s ranks.”
Emerald took a deep breath, and let it out. Then she turned to Derpy. “I suppose… I suppose that we had better at least look around and see if there’s anything we can do. If not, we could ask our friends for assistance.”
The next morning Emerald and Derpy said goodbye to the surveying team and made their way back to Ponyville. By the time they made it all the way back, the sun was almost at its peak.
“Okay, we know that we have to head South, but Applejack said that the train wasn’t running yet. So… I guess we’ll have to walk to another city to find transportation.”
“But which one?” Derpy asked.
“I don’t know. We should find one of our friends and ask for some help planning our route.” Emerald thought for a moment about which of the local bearers to ask. They had all seemed pretty busy, except… “Let’s try Rarity, she should have time for us. Do you know the way to her old house?” Derpy nodded and took the lead.
They made their way through the town, observing it as they did. From Emerald’s attendance at Ponyville Time Pony meetings she had gotten to know the town pretty well, though admittedly not as well as a resident. It was always busy, but never rushed unless some special event was going on, and everypony would stop and offer greetings on the streets. This Ponyville was full of ponies working their hardest and fastest, with only the occasional greeting in the street. They didn’t feel uncaring like the ponies back home in Manehattan, they just felt busy. Like a father who didn’t have time to play with his filly, but loved her all the same.
When they reached Carousel Boutique, it appeared to have been repaired partway, and then forgotten. The roof as much tarp as shingles, the windows were boarded up, and the sign was missing. It didn’t look like it had gotten a fresh coat of paint, but rather that somepony had some paint lying around in a color they deemed ‘close enough’ to the original and had touched up the larger gaps in the old paint job.
Emerald stepped up to the door and knocked. After a moment she looked to Derpy. “Do you think she’s out, or that she doesn’t even live here at the moment?” Derpy just shrugged. Emerald started to turn around, but then she heard a voice from inside.
“Coming!” About five seconds later Rarity opened the door. “Sorry about the wait, I was upstairs when you knocked. How may I help you?”
“We wanted your help planning our trip,” Emerald answered. “Do you have a map by any chance? And maybe a bite to eat? We can pay, of course.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. What’s a simple meal between friends? Come in, come in.” She beckoned them into her shop, and they both did as they were bid. “Now, where do you want to go? Manehattan is a lovely place these days, though if you’re still looking for adventure maybe Appleoosa or Dodge Junction?”
“Actually, we were hoping to make our way South, all the way out of Equestria. Now, I know you probably can’t help us with the part of our trip beyond Equestria, but I was hoping you could help us find a place that has that kind of transportation.”
“Actually…” Rarity began, pulling a scroll from out of a cabinet, “I can help with your travels abroad. Anywhere in particular?”
Derpy shook her head. “Not really. All we know for sure is somewhere to the South, including around Mount Aris.”
“Indeed,” Emerald continued. “We figured that when we approached The Storm King’s holdings we would be able to get a clearer idea.”
“The Storm King?”
“He’s a big bully who’s making a bunch of countries buy their food from him,” Derpy answered.
“We’re going to poke around and see what can be done about it,” Emerald added.
“Would you mind if I joined you?” Rarity asked. “I can be ready to head out with you tomorrow at dawn.”
“Are you sure you want to come?” Emerald asked. “It might be a tad dangerous.”
“Darling, I assure you. I can handle a little danger.”
“Alright, great to have you.”
After Emerald and Derpy had gone to gather food for the trip, Rarity went back upstairs and finished her packing. It was really quite fortunate that they had come to see her, as she hadn’t been entirely sure what she was going to do, and had simply known that she had to do something. Ponyville didn’t need a seamstress, it certainly didn’t have room for high society, and it didn’t even need her… other skills. It was high time to tell Bon Bon goodbye and try her fortune elsewhere, again. Really, the more she thought about it, the harder it was to justify staying. The whole reason she had left Ponyville the first time was because it didn’t have the needs and opportunities she needed to make her way forward in the world. And really, the only possible draw it held was a fraying sense of familiarity and duty.
Rarity levitated her saddlebags into place and trotted out of her old shop, using her magic to pull her two large suitcases behind her. She set off at a brisk but unhurried pace, heading for Mr. Rich’s house. Once she got there she knocked on the door.
It opened and Mr. Rich looked out. “Ah, Miss Rarity. Would you like to come in?”
“Unfortunately not. I’ve been invited on a trip that starts a little sooner than I expected. Here’s the deed.” She levitated the deed to Carousel Boutique over to him. He grabbed it and stepped back into the house, before coming back out with a piece of paper. He hoofed it to her, and she examined it. As promised, it was a banknote issued for a rather sizable sum of bits. “Thank you,” she said, putting it into her saddlebags.
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. Shame that you won’t be sticking around, but I understand why.” He snorted. “I nearly headed off too, but the Rich family helped put Ponyville on the map, and we’re not about to abandon it now.” He shook his head. “Now I just need to find a good butler who’s willing to live out here. It’s a shame we lost Rudolf. At any rate, good luck on your trip, and I do hope that you come back and visit one day.”
“I’m sure that I will. Goodbye.” And with that she headed off for Sugarcube Corner.
When she got there she found Lyra and a tan earth pony with a dark brown mane talking to each other in conspiratorial tones as they walked away, a light gray unicorn with a purple mane spying on them from a nearby rooftop. Just an ordinary day in a town that was anything but.
She knocked on the door; three short, rapid, staccato beats, and then two dull thumps on the floor.
“Come right in Rarity!” Bon Bon answered. She did as she was bid, finding Bon Bon already making her way over from behind the counter. “So, today’s the day, huh? Figured out where you’re headed yet?”
“Quite. I’ve been invited to join a pair of Time Ponies to investigate the Storm King. What do you know about him?”
Bon Bon shook her head. “Not much. You know we’ve been busy with internal affairs lately. Last I heard, he was the ruler of a lot of land down South. Not popular, but not too aggressive about expansion, so he’s not our problem. Wouldn’t have thought that he’d even be on the Time Ponies’ radar. Haven’t they got bigger problems to deal with?”
“These two aren’t operating under orders from higher up, they're just winging it. They came to me for help planning their route, and I convinced them to let me come along.”
“You sure that you want to do this? You don’t have to go back into the field.”
“I’m not signing up again, but I figured that now that I’m ‘The Element of Generosity’, maybe I should see about keeping the world safe, even when I’m not getting paid to, hmm?” Rarity smirked at Bon Bon.
“Alright. Send me a letter if you come up with anything important, otherwise swing by when you have time. I’ll tell you if there’s anything you might like.”
And with that done, Rarity headed off to make further preparations.
That night, while lying in her sleeping bag in Town hall, Emerald facehooved.
“What is it?” Derpy asked.
“We could have asked The Doctor to set us down in Baltimare, we didn’t need to ask for directions at all.”
“But if we hadn’t, then maybe Rarity wouldn’t have joined us. That’s nice.”
Emerald shook her head. “I agree, this was for the best, but I still feel like a fool.”