Twilight had been riding the train for about two hours when it finally pulled into a small station just outside Baltimare, the one closest to the port. The sudden stop jerked Twilight away from her doze. She stretched her stiff joints and got off the train. Nopony else got off onto the small platform with her, and she watched the train pull away until it disappeared.
Twilight couldn't help but feel unsafe when looking around the tiny, neglected station. It was completely abandoned and older than the Canterlot or Ponyville stations. The floorboards were warped and any paint that had once decorated the place remained now only as tiny resilient chips hiding in the crevices. She wished that the main Baltimare station was closer to Horseshoe Bay, where more ponies would be.
"Come on, Twilight," she said to herself. "This isn't the time to be afraid."
There was a trail that led from the station down to the port. It ran through a small but dense forest that blocked out the sun ominously. Twilight kept expecting something to jump out from behind a tree at any moment. She shook her head at herself. If she could take trips into the Everfree forest to visit Zecora she could walk through this little forest no problem.
It was a short walk full of jumping at little noises, nervous twitches, and tripping over roots that had overgrown the trail. Twilight soon emerged from the overgrown underbrush to a brightly lit shore that had long ago been transformed into a bustling port. A few miles down she could see enormous ships being loaded and unloaded, cleaned, re-sailed, and so forth. The ships grew gradually smaller as the port curved closer to where Twilight stood, coming to an end not far from the forest path's end. Her little section of the port was partially obscured by an outcropping of rocks that she was only able to see over because the forest terminated at the edge of an elevated ridge.
Twilight looked over the ships that filled the hidden shore. There were many different crafts of varying sizes. Some looked like they were built in foreign countries. All the crewmen were pulling at ropes, transporting boxes, gambling with each other, arguing, and so on and so forth. There were mostly ponies, but Twilight spotted some Griffons, and she glimpsed what she thought was a Minotaur before he disappeared into one of the ships. No matter how hard she looked, however, Twilight couldn't find any sign, seal, or symbol of a trading company. Her stomach lurched with unease. Smugglers.
She didn't want to take any chances asking for passage from them, so she slipped away to the other side of the port before any of them noticed her. When she took a closer look at the other ships, she first thought that she was still in smuggler territory, for the ships and crews near to her were just as shady-looking as the smugglers, but they all bore the emblems of various shipping companies.
"Well," she mumbled to herself. "A sailor is a sailor, whether he works legitimately or not."
Taking a deep breath, she approached the nearest ship. It was a small, run-down looking ship that had "Horace and Sons" painted on the side, along with the ship name, "Ship." Twilight tried not to judge on the lack of creativity and approached a nearby worker to had stopped to rest against a large crate. He was a tall but wisp stallion with a filthy bandana tied around his head.
"Pardon me, sir," Twilight began. The stallion looked up suddenly at her. His face was surprised at first, but then slipped into an unsettling grin.
"Yess'm," he said with a drawl ten times heavier than Applejack's. "An' a fine lookn' thang ya' are."
"Um. Thanks. Is this ship by any chance going to Skyrim?"
"Skyr'm? What a Skyr'm?"
"Um It's a country..."
"Shippy here go ta'll sorts a exotic places'." He suddenly put his foreleg around Twilight. "Come 'board an' meet the crew! We havn' met a fine youngin' like urself in a coon's age!"
Twilight quickly ducked out from under the stallions foreleg.. "No thank you I'm busy sorry I wastedyourtimebye." She trotted off, trying her best not to make it look like she was running away. She blew a stray piece of mane from her eyes. "A sailor is a sailor," he grumbled to herself. This was going to be harder than she initially anticipated.
The shore was littered with docks and ships, and there were several more anchored farther out in the port. Twilight spent what felt like hours questioning crewmen about Skyrim. Some merely shook their heads and continued with their work, some laughed in her face, some ignored her, some even took the time to scowl at her rudely without answering. She tried her best to ignore the catcalls and rude gestures of some of the crewmen, and she soon decided that maybe it was best she start questioning the captains instead.
The Demeter was a large ship. It was old, but well taken care of from what Twilight could see. It's browning masts towered into the air and were topped with simple crows' nests and surrounded by a jungle of ropes and pulleys. The wood was darkened from years at sea, and any metal Twilight could see was caked with red rust. It was a beautiful ship, but it was intimidating to look at. The crew didn't seem any cleaner or well mannered than any other she encountered thus far.
"Excuse me," she said to the cleanest stallion she could find. He looked up at her with worn, tired eyes.
"Yeah, what is it?" He said gruffly.
"If you could point me in the direction of the captain, I would like to have a word with him."
"The captain? Ha! I don't think so." He turned back to his work lifting boxes.
"What? Why not?"
The stallion got a large crate on his back before turning back to Twilight. "The captain has important things to worry about." He started to carry his crate towards the boat.
"But this is important!" Twilight trotted after him. "I'm on an important research mission! I need to gain passage to-"
"Then go book a ticket on a passenger boat! This is a cargo ship! Now get out of my way you're crowding me!"
Twilight trotted ahead of the stallion and blocked his way. They were on the dock, which was littered with crates, so he couldn't very easily get around her. "But where I need to go isn't accessible by cruise liner! No passenger boat in Equestria goes there. It's not a tourist destination."
"You're NOT meeting the captain! Get out of my way!" The stallion tried to get around her, but she just kept blocking his way. The crate on his back wobbled precariously. "Get-"
"No! Not until you bring me to the captain." He ignored her and kept trying to get around. "This is important!"
"That captain 'aint gonna help you! Now. Get. Out. Of. My. Way!" He jumped to the side suddenly to try and catch Twilight off guard, but she blocked him again. The crate on his back finally wobbled and fell. When it hit the ground it snapped, and a huge crack appeared down one side.
"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" The stallion roared in rage.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
"No, I can fix it-" Twilight's horn illuminated and the box was wrapped in a pinkish glow. The damaged wood closed back together like a healing wound, and when the light faded the crate was as good as new.
"What's going on here?" Twilight jumped at the sudden, sharp voice that sounded loudly behind her. She turned to see a tall, black stallion with hard ruby eyes. He had a subtle feathering around his hooves but was far too slim to be a Clydesdale. He was young and handsome, but entirely scary, especially with those red eyes.
"Sir!" The worker stallion said. "It wasn't my fault! This mare was givin' me a hard time! Made me drop my load-"
"As you were, Buck," the dark horse said. His voice was deep and hard, and it carried an unsettling coolness.
"Y-yes sir," Buck nervously picked the crate up and edged around the stallion toward the ship. Twilight's throat clenched up when he fixed her with his red gaze.
She tried to hide a hard swallow, then said "Are you the captain of this vessel?"
"No." He looked at her up and down. "I'm his first mate, second in command. What business to you have with the captain?" He began to walk slowly around Twilight, looking her over.
"I'd like to discuss that with the captain, if you don't mind," Twilight said, firming up her voice. She refused to be intimidated by him.
"I'll decide if the you're worth the captain's time. You're not even worth mine. What do you want?" He stopped circling around her, but continued to eye her.
"I need to gain passage," she said, glaring into his eyes.
"To where?"
"'Where' is none of your concern."
"It is," he suddenly stepped uncomfortably close to Twilight, and she fought the urge to jump back. She could smell the heavy odor of is coat and breath, but she stood firm. "You're not seeing the captain if you don't tell me."
"You don't need to know."
"Maybe you don't want to go anywhere. Maybe you just need to get close to him. Feed him some sob story about finding your long-lost family, or living the dream of travel and adventure. Maybe you just need to get close enough to slit his throat in the middle of the night and make off with everything valuable on the ship. Who hired you? McAllen? Rustwing?"
"No one-I wouldn't-"
"Don't lie to me!" He suddenly shoved Twilight back with one hoof, and the strength of it was shocking. Twilight slid backward a few feet, managing to stay upright.
Suddenly a shout rang out behind him. The dark stallion jumped in surprise and turned. "Captain," he said. "This mare was-"
"First Officer Dinge," the captain said. "See that the rest of the cargo is loaded and secured. We need to cast off soon."
"Aye Aye," Dinge grumbled quietly. He stepped around the captain and headed for the ship. The captain approached Twilight.
"Are you okay, miss?" The captain was shorter and stockier than Dirge, and much more friendly-looking. He had a white coat with tan areas around his eyes, flanks and shoulders. His mane was brown and scruffy with a bandana tied around his head and he chewed on a bit of straw in his mouth. His cutie mark was a silver compass. He reminded Twilight of little Pipsqueak back in Ponyville, especially when he was dressed as a pirate for Nightmare Night.
"Yes, I'm fine," Twilight said. "I apologize for causing so much trouble."
"Not at all," The captain started walking toward the shore and he motioned for her to follow. "I'm Captain Cardinal. I'm sorry about Dinge. He's only doing his job. He may be harsh, but he's loyal to a fault. I wouldn't have any other first officer."
"I understand, Captain," They stepped off the wooden dock onto the sand. "I came here looking to speak to you."
"Me? What's your business with me?"
"Well, I didn't come here looking for you specifically. I've been up and down the beach all day looking to gain passage. It wasn't until about half an hour ago I realized that I should really be addressing the captains, not the workers."
"Aye, that's true. Such a long time at sea doing such taxing work takes its toll. They are not the most agreeable bunch. What can I do for you?"
Twilight glanced at the ship. "I'm looking to gain passage to Skyrim."
He looked at her quizzically. "Skyrim? Why would ever want to go there?"
"I'm on a mission. I want to explore it and learn as much as I can from it. There's so little information available, and nopony as ever done an extensive study there before. Also I feel kind of...drawn to it somehow. It's odd. Here, look-" She took out her journal using magic and flipped through the pages of notes. "It's fascinating how little there really is here. There are so many areas I could expand upon. Like the ruins, the towns, the ponies that live there. Plus there's just something about this country that just...I don't know, calls to me-"
Cardinal laughed and said, "Ok Ok slow down. Now you want to go to Skyrim - a pretty little thing like yourself - to study and research and whatnot. That's all fine and dandy, but do you know how dangerous it is there?"
"Yes."
"You do," he said doubtfully. "Are you sure?"
"I am," she nodded.
"Ma'am- sorry, what was your name?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Miss Sparkle. I don't want to seem rude or anything, but a mare all on her own, in that place...I don't like the thought of it."
"With all due respect, Captain, I've faced danger before. Real danger. I've almost died, or worse, more times than I care to remember. I appreciate your concern, but my safety is my own to worry about, and I can take care of myself."
Cardinal bit down on his piece of hay and considered her for a moment. "Well," he said. "You're a unicorn, that certainly won't hurt your chances..."
"Please," Twilight said. "can you take me to Skyrim?"
"Well..." he thought, then said hesitantly, "Our route swings by that way, yeah. I suppose it wouldn't be much trouble."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much-"
"Hold on, there. I can't just give you a free ride."
"Of course, I understand. I have a little bit of money with me," she took out a small sack of bits and levitated it to him. He took it in his hoof and tossed it a bit, weighing it.
"Hm..." He looked at her. "Sailors are pigs, miss. Can you deal with that?"
"I'll be fine."
"And...you're sure about Skyrim? I can't change your mind? The Demeter is headed for Elseweyr, I'm sure there are plenty of things to study there."
"My mind is made up, Captain."
He sighed, felt the weight of the coins again, and said, "This will do. Follow me, we'll be casting off soon." Twilight couldn't suppress her excited smile. She followed him all the way back to the ship and up a precarious plank set between the dock and the deck of the ship. Cardinal told Twilight to wait up by the helm.
When she got up there she was caught for a moment by the view of the ocean. All the ships had obscured it before, but now she was able to see how it stretched out as endless as the sky, taking what light it could find and shattering it into a million glittering pieces. She eventually turned around and was caught again by a different spectacle. Twilight was intrigued by the way all the sailors ran about the ship, working the masts and ropes, preparing to set sail. She glimpsed a few ponies in the ropes and masts above, none of them pegasi, flitting from rope to rope with a familiarity comparable to that of a spider in its web.
"Enjoying the view?" Captain Cardinal appeared above the stairs and made his way towards Twilight.
"I am! It's fascinating watching them. They all look so at home on deck."
"Many of us have legs far more suited for the sea than the land. You'll spot more than a few sailing-related cutie marks down there. Oh, excuse me, it's time to cast off." He called out to Dirge, who barked out a series of orders. After a few minutes, the sails tugged slightly and the wind turned them into billowing clouds above the deck. The deck shifted suddenly as the bottom of the ship was pulled from the shallow water. The prow was swung around away from the shore toward open eastern sea. The wind rushed in Twilight's ears and the waves crashed against the sides of the ship, but when the course was finally set and all the sails were tied down firm, everything was suddenly peaceful. The sea ahead was turning red in the afternoon light along with the sky. The stars would be out soon.
Twilight turned around and looked back at the shore. It was already so far away, and the sun was getting ready to dip behind the forested horizon. The sea ahead was turning dark, and the land was painted gold in the late afternoon sunlight. Baltimare shone brilliantly in the light as it bounced off the windows of the buildings.
Twilight suddenly felt very alone. She had never set a hoof outside Equestria in her whole life. Everything she knew was there. Fear suddenly came over her. Fear of the unknown, what she might find beyond the eastern sea, what could happen to her. She might never come back, and who would ever know what had happened to her?
These thoughts whirled around in her head over and over again, building up tension in her neck and causing unease in her chest. She thought about her friends, her family, everypony she knew. Then she thought about Princess Celestia. She had been so cross with Twilight when she left, and Twilight thought that maybe the Princess didn't like her anymore. Maybe she doesn't want to tutor Twilight anymore. Maybe when she gets back, if she gets back, Twilight will be kicked out of school forever.
Twilight stared into the setting sun and her mind slowly quieted. All the years spent with her beloved mentor played through her head like a film reel. She smiled. Princess Celestia loved Twilight, and Twilight knew that no matter where she went, no matter how far away she roamed, the sun would always be there, watching over her.