The rolling waves glistened under the swiftly setting sun, and soon Princess Luna’s moon and stars would sweep over the land like a dark cloak, shielding her little ponies. The wind from the sea blew a salty breeze inland, welcoming the sailors back home, and rocking the many moored ships where they were docked, their mighty masts swaying in the breeze like young trees. Seagulls and gannets flapped back and forth to snatch at fish and shellfish, filling the evening with their shrill squawks. Ponies played along the golden sands of the beach, while mothers and fathers ushered young colts and fillies home for supper. This briny, windswept town was Hayseed Harbour, filled with whitewashed houses with slate roofs lining the quays, and a lighthouse illuminating the night sky. Merchant stalls were closing up for the night, and the streets seemed alive with the trotting of hooves on cobbled roads. The lights of the town illuminated the dimming sky, and could be seen as far as the outlying farmlands upon the tall hills encompassing the town. In one of them, an apple orchard, members of the prolific Apple Family were finishing their chores for the day. Their timbered homestead, painted bright red and capped with a slate roof, stood on a promontory overlooking the Horseshoe Bay and the town, and all around the farmhouse the orchards stretched for acres. Among those hardy mares and stallions was a mare with a bright yellow coat, braided red mane, and a cowpony hat in place of a red bow.
Apple Bloom of Ponyville had earned her cutie mark eleven years earlier, an artist’s palette coloured like a zap-apple, after winning the Ponyville Art’s Challenge when she combined her love of carpentry with painting, utilizing the zap-apple jam for her paint. The party to celebrate her cutie mark, the last of the original Cutie Mark Crusaders to earn hers, was the happiest she had been in a long time; she’d found her place in the world. But then, duty called, her cousin Babs Seed asked her to join her in expanding the Apple Family business in other Equestrian cities. She initially refused, but then the founding trio found themselves pulled apart. After discovering their special talents and earning their cutie marks, the other former Cutie Mark Crusaders became impassioned to pursue their newly discovered endeavours. Rarity had booked Sweetie Belle singing lessons in Canterlot, and Scootaloo had left earlier for Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash on what she described as a top secret mission. They had discovered their special talents mere days before she did, and had made plans to pursue their talents. Understandably, Apple Bloom was deeply saddened by this turn of events to the point of bitterness. It took a few days for Apple Bloom to really accept the change, and eventually realized that she could not let them pursue their dreams and keep them in Ponyville with her at the same time. All these events compounded her decision to leave home. Ever since she settled in Hayseed Harbour, she still received letters from home, signed mostly by Applejack. She even received rather laconic letters from Big Macintosh and flourishing paragraphs from Fluttershy, seeing as the elegant earth-bound Pegasus had now moved in at Sweet Apple Acres living with Big Mac. In spite of all the change, she was finally content, relishing the gentle waves and looking on, hypnotised by the swaying masts and waves throing up plumes of spray.
Apple Bloom spotted Babs Seed ambling down to road from the town, her ears downcast and her face bleak. He becalmed mood. Her tail covered her flank; a sure if involuntary sign of humiliation and discomfort, even though her cutie mark, a half apple half orange, had long since bloomed.
“Hey Babs!” Apple Bloom called out cheerfully to her cousin, who just trotted past her, weighed down by humiliation, “Why so glum? Didn’t the business pitch go well?”
“No, those lousy Fillydelphia traders ditched us for Bayside Pears Incorporated.” moaned Babs in her thick Manehattan accent, “They made an offer Fillydelphia couldn’t refuse, a 25% discount, beating our 15%.”
Apple Bloom cast her eyes down, “Horseapples!! Oh well, they may have lost the deal with Fillydelphia, but they can’t budge us! No Apple ever got anywhere by being told to shove off!!” she said determinedly, looking up at the farmhouse, that she herself aided in constructing and painting. Babs smiled a little at her cousin’s bizarrely contrary expression, but still didn’t fully perk up.
“I’ll admit there’s no abandoning this place any time soon. But it’ll be a rough winter, and...” Babs trailed off, as though trying to hold off from telling Apple Bloom something unpleasant. A cold chill ran down both their spines as Babs plodded away from Apple Bloom, hoping to dispel the tension.
“Babs, what’s wrong?” asked Apple Bloom, concern growing across her face, “Babs!” she said more forcefully. Babs Seed turned about and looked up at her cousin with a look of confession.
“AB, remember a few nights ago when I didn’t come home till after you’d turned in?” she started uneasily, Apple Bloom nodded, “Well, I got caught up in a game of Liar’s Hoof at the Rusty Plough tavern, down by the south side. I was caught off-guard when they began taunting me and started talkin’ crazy with these rough lookin’ sailors, and then things went south when I wagered two thirds of my life’s savings on the next hoof, and…” she paused again as Apple Bloom’s look of realization hardened into anger, “I lost the bet.”
Apple Bloom stared at her first, and then cast her head down in despair, sighing heavily and furrowing her brows in growing anger. Now it was her turn to trot away from her cousin.
“Please, coz,” said Babs meekly, catching up to her, “I was gonna tell you tonight, if the sale went well I thought it wouldn’t matter, I never meant to let things get outta hand.”
“Babs Seed, what am Ah goin’ to do with you?!” cried Apple Bloom hoarsely, tears glistening in her eyes. “Ah understand it ain’t easy, shiftin’ from town to town, meetin’ and workin’ with other ponies we never met before, but why d’you have to blow our hard-earned bits? And why d’you have to go to the shady part of town?”
“I thought I could win some bits to support the farm, AB, I thought we’d be able to afford some new equipment and make things easier out here.” said Babs earnestly, her voice cracking with each breath, “Our Apple Family business trip was my plan to begin with, but everywhere we go I just keep fouling up, and you’re the one getting us out of trouble. I feel so guilty. And now I’m nearly broke.”
While Apple Bloom was more disappointed than tearful, Babs’ sobbing flowed freely. The sight of her miserable cousin melted the coldness in Apple Blooms heart, and she took her the crying Babs in a tight embrace, wiping away her tears.
“There there, Babs. Don’t cry.” reassured Apple Bloom, nuzzling Babs, “Every community we visited has flourished thanks to us and our travellin’ cousins. What does money matter while we still have family and our dignity?”
“Dignity ain’t gonna put food on the table or pay for the farm, coz.” said Babs, still morose.
“No matter what comes, we will face the weather, for we’re –” began Apple Bloom,
“Apples to the core.” Babs and Apple Bloom chorused together, causing them to crack into smiles, Apple Bloom even laughed a little. “That’s more like it, coz; smile! Why don’t we put this mess behind us and head down to the Sea Turtle for a couple of pints?”
“AB, I was thinking the same thing myself,” said Babs buoyantly, remembering an encounter she had earlier today with a couple of familiar faces; “Let me grab some bits.”
“No need, coz, the drinks are on me tonight!” quipped Apple Bloom,
Babs winced a little, the last thing she wanted now was to be more in debt to her saint of a cousin, and it stung her. But she put on a mask of a smile, and it seemed to put Apple Bloom at ease. By the time they’d left the orchards, the stars lit up their way into the outskirts of Hayseed Harbour. The seaborne winds continued to rise.
*******************
Ponies trotted through the streets of Hayseed Harbour in company and gaiety, or neither as sometimes the case with some shady characters, lamps dangled from their high posts, raising Apple Bloom’s spirits. Babs could only think on how she could get out of this jam; she’d paid them the money, but what worried her now was telling her Apple kin about the incident. The hanging sign for the Sea Turtle inn swayed in the nightly breeze, warmth emanated from the orangey glow of the lights inside, accompanied by the boisterous commotion of ponies laughing, talking aloud and shouting across the bar. The stone building was three stories tall and presided over a view of the harbour, as safe as any inn. As the two mares approached the entrance, the clamour rose, smoke wafted from the windows and a dozen or so angry shouts could be heard. Suddenly, a giant ball of purple and green somersaulted out the door, and the creature landed flat on his face.
“Next time you intent to binge drink, dragon, try not to burn the place down!” hollered Whisker, the bearded brown earth pony and proprietor of the Sea Turtle.
“Dragon?” asked Apple Bloom, surprised, turning to the unexpected creature. And true enough, there he was, Spike the Dragon, lying on his front and completely plastered. He was an early teen dragon now, a tall and lanky specimen with sharper spines, long tail, pointy ears, and a longer, pointy snout, she guessed he was about as tall as Big Macintosh at full height. When he noticed her, instead of rising, he reclined sideways and looked at Apple Bloom, rather like how Rarity reclined on her couch seductively.
“My, aren’t you looking fine, Apple Bloom?” He said softly, with an easy smile and a wink. Apple Bloom blushed and smiled awkwardly at her old Ponyville friend, while Babs was full on laughing at the dragon’s lewd expressions.
“Oh, h-hiya Spike,” she said nervously, baffled by his presence, “What brings you out in these parts?”
But Spike only swayed on his feet and hands, unable to keep balance, two familiar voices emerged from the noise of the inn.
“Well, great, Spike! You’ve completely ruined the surprise!” exclaimed a brash voice, as a young orange Pegasus mare with a purple mane emerged from the doorway, on her flank was a familiar cutie mark of a wheel under a lightning bolt, “I thought we told you to keep a low profile and wait for the right moment then spring from hiding! Last time we’re mixing dragon fire and cider.”
“It could be worse, Scoots,” said another voice, a light and lyrical one, belonging to a pure white Unicorn not to dissimilar to Rarity’s distinct voice, on her flank was the familiar mark of a treble clef enveloped in a red heart, “At least the fire was put out quickly.”
“Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, brimming with joy as she bowled into her old friends, followed by eruptions of laughter from the three friends. Meanwhile, Babs stood at a distance, smiling shyly at this joyful reunion, before Sweetie Belle whisked her into the tight embrace with her magic. This was the first time the Cutie Mark Crusaders had reunited in many years.
“So good to see y’all! How’d you find us?” asked Apple Bloom, still grinning from ear to ear, forelegs around both her old friends.
“Applejack told us you were in Hayseed Harbour and Twilight gave us a map to get there. Hard to believe it was all in a day’s voyage!” said Sweetie Belle excitedly. Apple Bloom was puzzled; the eastward journey by train from Ponyville to Hayseed Harbour was about two days, five on hoof.
“It’s a long way from Ponyville, how did you make it in a full day?” asked Apple Bloom, intrigued by the possibility of such a quick journey.
“More like a day and a half, but -” began Scootaloo, only to be cut off by Spike using her to regain his balance, to which the young Pegasus glared at the unsteady dragon.
Apple Bloom then cocked an eye at the waddling dragon, “When did you become Spike’s legal guardians?” she quipped, but no one was laughing.
“The numbskull’s been like this for weeks now, it’s kind of a long and fairly sad story.” said Scootaloo, letting her smile falter as she regarded Spike.
“Nah, I’m-mmm f-fine!” stammered Spike, before letting out a massive belch of green flames nearly singeing the ponies, “jusht give me another pint and I’ll be shwimming!”
“Ah’ve never seen him act so cock-eyed and goofy!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, embarrassed.
“You mean drunk.” said Scootaloo flatly.
“Did something bad happen back home?” asked Apple Bloom uneasily, letting it sink in.
“We can explain inside, but first things first.” said Sweetie Belle as she approached Spike, who just seemed all the more miserable as the cider worked its way through his system. “Spike, would you be a dear and allow us a moment of privacy?” she asked sweetly, but Spike fell flat on his face.
“But I’m not that - hic - bad,” said Spike, his arms slipping under his weight. Sweetie Belle knelt down to his level, her eyes wide with sympathy, gentling lifting his head with her magic. She regarded him with motherly eyes, with the same grace and warmth Twilight and Celestia would regard Spike, what seemed years ago.
“We have some garnets and amethysts back at the airship for you, Spikey. Why don’t you have a bite to eat and rest up a bit? Come on, dear.” she said gently, nuzzling the dragon as he regained his balance, seemingly perked up by Sweetie Belle’s kinder tone. Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at this ‘airship’ Sweetie mentioned and continued to regard this new Spike. This older Spike obeyed her with a sense of loyal obedience seen in dogs; his more dragonish faculties had gotten stronger and overridden his civilised pony mannerisms.
“The airship’s parked on the other side of town,” said Scootaloo, gesturing to the north end of the bay, “I don’t think he can make it back without tearing the place down. Let me take him back.”
“Allow me.” said Babs Seed, shifting Spike from Sweetie Belle to herself, “Our farm’s about half a mile outside of town, I’ll get this fella sorted out and join you later. I trust you’ll be staying for dinner? Only the finest brews from the Turtle!”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded excitedly.
“All right, we’ll see you back at the farmhouse.” said Apple Bloom, giving Babs a quick hug before sending her cousin on her way. Spike seemed to start some semblance to intelligible speech.
“So what exactly do you do with a drunken sailor?” he asked Babs, much to his companion’s great annoyance, while Apple Bloom and her closest friends convened inside, sharing smiles between them.