//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Simply Signal SOS // by englishwitch //------------------------------// Simply Signal SOS Fanfic by Englishwitch Chapter 3 It was late. Applejack knew she should be asleep, she would have to awake at dawn to begin working on the farm, but her thoughts wouldn’t settle so neither could she. Twilight had probably been right, the whole story of sea-ponies was just that; a story. Yet she couldn’t stop obsessing about it. Now the memories had returned to her she was certain that it was more than just the story she’d written down. She sat by her desk and looked over that story again, scanning it carefully and looking over the details. On the desk was a map of Ponyville and the surrounding lands. “This is dumb,” she muttered to nopony, but she was still looking between her old filly story and the map. The sea-pony who had saved her life, Wave Dancer, had been swimming upstream along the river than ran through by the farm. What a doozy of a river it was, she had no idea how far it stretched until she’d tried to follow it on the map. It skirted around the edge of the Everfree forest, where it was fed by the same river Stephen Magnet the river serpent lived. On the other side of Everfree it split in two again, one path was fed by the lakes around rambling rock ridge, the second branch led all the way up into north Equestria where it was fed from three different lakes along the way; the Foal mountains, Neighagra Falls and finally the great lake that sat at the foot of the crystal mountains, close to the Crystal Empire. So many different places where Wave Dance could have gone. If Wave Dancer had really existed in the first place. AJ shook her head at that thought, Wave Dancer and the sea-ponies had to exist, she felt it too strongly in her heart. “Okay,” she said to herself, “think about it now. Twilight s’all about details an’ plannin’.Ah jus’ gotta think ‘bout this.” Sea-ponies were a myth, but she had seen one. That must mean, logically, that sea-ponies lived in a spot where not many ponies went. Logically it was more likely to mean they didn’t exist but Applejack wasn’t ready to entertain that thought. She looked over the map again, much more carefully this time. The lakes around Rambling Rock Ridge were quiet but there was a road that ran by it out of Dodge Junction. That was a thriving settlement. AJ had spent some time there herself so she could testify to how it was busy and thriving. It was likely that any sea-ponies living in the lakes north of the town would have been spotted. She put the lake on a mental Maybe list and would decide later whether she’d check it or not. That made Applejack smirk; check the lake, like she was seriously thinking of leaving the farm for a wild goose chase, or perhaps wild pony chase was more apt a term. She couldn’t afford to leave the farm for more than a few days, she wouldn’t have the free time to go running off across Equestria to go swimming in lakes looking for sea-ponies. This whole checking the map thing was just a bit of fun. With a light-hearted sigh she looked at the second area, the Foal Mountains. Pinkie came from that area originally, her families rock farm had been between the mountains and the town of Hollow Shades. The mountains had many lakes, springs and rivers and a lot of them were remote. Not to mention many mines and cave systems, some with underground lakes and rivers of their own. Many probably had never been visited by ponies and would be really difficult to find let alone get access to. It would be a long an exhausting search and there was a great risk of it being fruitless, but in terms of what she was looking for; deep lakes and remote places, then it was the best chance. Neighagra falls was next on the list but Applejack rules that out. It was remote, but it was a popular tourist spot, especially with couples looking to get married. There was a chapel in full view of the falls. Getting married in sight of the Neighagra falls was supposed to be a memorable and romantic gesture. AJ didn’t hold with such things herself, a quick journey to the local town hall would be enough for her if she ever chose to get married. Wed in the morning, a party in the afternoon and then back into your own bed in your own home by the end of the day. No muss, no fuss as Granny Smith liked to say. Still, she could see somepony like Rarity wanting that location on her wedding day. For that reason she ruled out the falls, it was far too populated for any sea-ponies to live there and not be noticed. Which just left the lake at the foot of the crystal mountains. That area had been remote and unvisited for the longest time. When the crystal empire had vanished there had been no reason to visit the frozen north. Even though the empire had returned the areas around it was still relatively unexplored. It was the largest lake in Equestria and, from the look of the map, a true source of the very river than ran by Ponyville. The snow melting off the Crystal Mountains ran into the lake, the lake ran into the river which ran down Equestria, past the Neighagra falls, past the foal mountains, past Ponyville, past Whitetail Woods and finally joined the ocean just beyond Las Pegasus. A route that ran pretty much straight from the ocean to the crystal mountains, to AJ it sounded like the most likely place a sea-pony would go. Apple Jack rubbed her eyes, in the dying light of the lamp they were beginning to hurt. It was late, or early depending how you looked at it. This foolishness had to stoop and she had to get some sleep. She made to turn the lamp off, but hesitated as one last question rose in her mind, one last thing that needed to be answered before she’d be able to find rest. How long would such a journey take, if she decided to go on it? “This is gettin’ beyond a joke,” she muttered to herself. Looking over the map and speculating where sea-ponies could be was just a little fun. Was she really thinking of going on such a journey? Maybe she was. She shook her head, “Jus’ work this out and go to bed AJ. Yer got a lotta trees to buck in the mornin,” she glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, “in about five hours,” she corrected herself. To make her brain shut up she looked at the map on last time. Focussing on the main areas; the Foal Mountains and the Crystal Mountains. She could travel to both areas in about a day, taking the train to the nearest town or city then walking the rest of the way, but the real problem was exploring those places. The Foal Mountains had spots that were hard to climb and hadn’t been mapped all that well, it would take a lot of searching before she could confidently say she’d explored all the most likely spots in those hills. Then the lake at the foot of the crystal mountains was vast. From the scale printed on the map it looked like the lake was easily the same size as the capital city of the crystal empire. Searching an area the size of a city for one small group of ponies was a daunting task. She could look for days in many different spots and see nothing. Travel time, plus the time needed to make thorough searches of the areas, equalled, at the very least, a month’s journey. Too long, far too long, to leave the farm. The fun was over, the pipe dream would remain just that. Even if she had seriously begun to think about leaving she knew she was needed on the farm. Big Mac could pick up the slack for a couple of days but not a whole month. It would be unfair on all of them to just up and leave for something that might not be true. Twilight had told her sea-ponies didn’t exist and she was probably right, she was right about most things. Yet still, in her heart. Applejack sighed and shook her head. She was thinking in circles and none too clearly. She was tired and it was time for bed. Turning off her lamp she made her way through the dark into her comfy bed. She didn’t fall to sleep for some time. Thoughts of sea-ponies swam through her head. ...***... Applejack yawned deeply and tried to shake away the fuzziness that had settled into her brain. Thoughts of sea-ponies had kept her up for a long time and by the time she’d drifted off to sleep it seemed like the rooster was crowing just a minute later. She leaned against the apple cart and yawned again. A nap around lunch time, that would be just the thing. “Hi Applejack.” a chirpy voice called out to her. Far too chirpy for how she was feeling. Applejack tried to put on a brave smile, “Hey Twilight.” if anything it just made her look more tired. Twilight looked at her, clearly concerned, “are you okay?” AJ nodded, “Sure am sugar cube, jus’ didn’t sleep right is all.” she stifled another yawn, “you want sumthin’ or just come ta chat?” Twilight brightened up as the subject on her mind returned, “to talk actually. Yesterday, after we finished talking about the ponies of Alatus, remember,” AJ nodded, “I went back to the library and, well, my curiosity got the better of me and I started doing a little research. Partly to learn more about the myths of the Alatus ponies, but mostly to see if I could find out where the necklace Apple Bloom found came from. It’s a fascinating subject really. “According to archaeological records written by Mineral Deposit around three hundred years ago, there was a small colony of ponies who lived in a region where Las Pegasus is now. Similar finds have been made in the region from time to time; jewellery, pottery, even clothing, all either made with seashell decorations or made with an ocean theme. The culture was dependant on the ocean, they were fisher ponies who might have been descended from the ponies of Alatus, if they existed at all. There were certainly may similarities; they both farmed the ocean floor for greens and-” she stopped, “AJ? Applejack?” Applejack’s eyes were closed, her breathing was slow, she had fallen asleep on her hooves. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little insulted. She tapped the farm pony on the haunch, perhaps a little harder than she should have. Applejack jerked awake with a gasp. “Wha?” she looked left and right, disorientated for a second. Twilight huffed lightly, “Applejack, I’m trying to tell you that I think Apple Bloom necklace is a valuable artefact. It was probably washed downstream from the site of this ancient colon. I’m trying to tell you that the necklace Apple Bloom found couldn’t have come from sea-ponies.” AJ couldn’t help but giggle, ‘she’s almost as obsessed with sea-ponies as I am,’ “Just one problem with yur thinkin’ sugar cube, where Apple Bloom found the seashell is a heck of a long way UP-stream of Las Pegasus, not down. That necklace couldn’ta come from there.” Twilight’s jaw dropped and she fell into stunned silence, one eye started to twitch. “But...bu...that makes no sense.” Applejack nodded, “I know.” a sudden flash of inspiration came into her tired brain. “Ah think the necklace did come from upstream, maybe from some kinda place like you was talkin’ ‘bout. Some village of fisher ponies.” she chose not to mention that she thought the necklace came from sea-ponies, Twilight was so against the idea of them even existing she would probably laugh at her. Twilight shook her head gently, “I don’t know, there’s no evidence to ever suggest-” Applejack interrupted her, “maybe they jus’ ain’t been discovered yet. There’s lotsa places in Equestria, hay, in the whole world, that ain’t been discovered yet by ponies. Maybe Apple Bloom findin’ the necklace it like a sign or somethin’, that we should go up stream and try an’ find out where it came from. You an’ me together could go lookin’ for an ancient lost colony of ponies.” Twilight looked doubtful. The prospect of an adventure and finding an ancient lost colony certainly appealed to her, but she felt it would be a wasted trip, after all, there was no evidence that there was ever a colony of fisher ponies living inland, let alone so far inland they lived at the source of a river. AJ could see the doubt on her friends face and decided to risk more information, “I was thinkin’ along the same lines, ‘cept I got the river’s direction right, I was lookin’ at a map last night and I tried to figure out where the shell mighta come from. I guess ah managed to narrow it down to two places,” she gave a quick description of her thinking and how she’d guessed certain lakes couldn’t have been the right spot because they were close to civilisation and nopony had ever seen any evidence of any culture in those places,“So ah was jus’ left spots in the Foal Mountains and a great big lake at the foot o’ the Crystal mountains.” Twilight nodded, “that makes a lot of sense. I’ve got to say Applejack you’ve given this a lot of thought, I’m impressed. I wouldn’t have thought you’d put this much effort into thinking about an archaeological expedition.” Applejack shrugged, “ah don’t care much ‘bout diggin’ up old fossils, that’s your kinda thing. But I like a mystery an’ I guess I kinda wanna know where the necklace came from.” Twilight grinned, “I can respect that. Do you really want to do this, or is it just talk?” AJ grinned, she’d hooked in Twilight’s help and there hadn’t been one mention of sea-ponies. With Twilight’s help she could get her search done a lot quicker. She probably wouldn’t even have to be away from the farm for more than a week. Big Mac could handle a week. “I’m game if you are sugar cube.” Twilight practically beamed, “great,” she almost bounced on the spot, “my first scientific expedition. Oh, I’ll need a whole new notebook and quills, I’ll have to document everything. If this works out my findings might even be published,” her eyes lit up with excitement, “I could get a name for myself in the scientific community, I might even get my book in the Canterlot library-” Applejack stopped her by placing a hoof over Twilight’s mouth, “hold up sugar cube, first thing’s first we gotta decide what we need to take for the trip, then get it together, then maybe we can go.” Twilight nodded excitedly, “oh, of course. I’d better write a list,” her horn glowed and a quill and parchment appeared from thin air, “we’ll need food, camping equipment,several reference books, I’ll have a word with Cherry Berry and see if we can borrow her balloon for a while, it’ll be so much easier to get into the remote areas than going by train or by hoof, OH and we’ll need-” “Twi,” Applejack interrupted, “I can handle the campin’ equipment and the food. Can you handle the balloon and all the other sciency gizmo’s you think you’ll need. And anything else I ain’t thought of.” “Of course,” Twilight beamed happily, she trotted off, still writing out her list. Applejack felt more awake than ever. She was really going to search for the sea-ponies, and with Twilight’s help. Twilight would know what to look for and already had the great idea of using Cherry Berry’s balloon to speed up the journey. AJ had to repeat the reality in her mind, she was going to look for sea-ponies. Her mind was made up right then, all doubt was finally cast aside. It hadn’t been a dream and it didn’t matter how many myths or fairy tales Twilight talked about, sea-ponies were real, one had saved Applejack when she was a filly and she was going to find them.