The ride to Canterlot was a long and bumpy one, but nopony aboard the sky-carriage complained.
“Do you think she’ll be alright?” asked Fluttershy, breaking the silence that had hung over the carriage since they left Ponyville.
“I’m sure she will be,” said Rarity.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Twilight’s tough, just like me. She’ll be fine if she can remember what I taught her.”
“What didja teach her, exactly?” asked Applejack, her hat over her eyes and her hind legs on back of the seat in front of her.
“How to be awesome, obviously,” Rainbow Dash said, chuckling.
Despite the somber mood, or perhaps because of it, they all laughed with Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie’s giggling was the loudest and lasted long after the others had stopped.
“Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Rarity. “Could you please stop that, dear?”
“But I’m laughing double for Twilight!” said Pinkie through bouts of raucous laughter.
Rarity’s bottom lip trembled for a moment, and she pulled her friend into a hug. Pinkie Pie’s chuckles were muffled as Rarity held her head in her shoulder. The entire carriage-full of ponies converged on their friend, piling onto the hug. Even Spike joined in.
“It’ll be okay,” said Fluttershy softly. “The princesses will know just what to do.”
“I sure hope so, Fluttershy,” said Spike, looking off at Canterlot where all their hopes laid. “I sure hope so.”
Twilight Sparkle wanted nothing more than to vaporize the stallion where he stood, but there were a few hindrances to that plan. One was that, in her current state, she’d probably just end up tickling him with whatever deadly spell she sent his way. The second was that this sudden murderous rage was likely brought on by stress and dehydration. The third was that she could barely make full sentences, let alone concentrate on her magical power long enough to perform even the most basic of spells, so she decided to play it safe.
“Wha—what do you mean Twilight Sparkle’s dead?” she asked.
The stallion’s green eyes looked puzzled for a second or two before settling back into haughtiness and then he answered, “I mean that she’s dead. Kaput. Gone-zo. Pushing up dais—“
“I know what ‘dead’ means!” shouted Twilight, stomping her hoof.
“Then why’d you ask such a stupid question?”
Twilight’s voice caught in her throat for a moment, giving the stallion enough time to laugh at her again.
“Look,” he said, “go back below decks. It’s pretty darn obvious that yer a ‘lil bit loopy from yer swim earlier, so why don’tcha just be a good filly and—“
“Don’t you patronize me, you… you… ruffian!”
There was a pregnant pause between the two ponies, only to be broken a few seconds later by the stallion dropping to the deck and laughing.
“’Ruffian’? What are ya, some kind of Canterlot housewife?” said the stallion, using his forelegs to scratch behind his ratty, yellow ears. “’Oh, mister! A ruffian has just defiled the main hall with his foul stench!’”
Twilight’s ears perked.
“Canterlot?” she asked. “There’s still a Canterlot?”
The stallion finished scratching himself and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Yup,” he said. “Of course there’s ‘still’ a Canterlot. Hasn’t gone anywhere. Can’t, I don’t reckon, considerin’ it’s a city and all…”
“That means the Elements of Harmony might still be there!” exclaimed Twilight with more energy than she had felt since she woke up on the raft. “You’ve got to take me to them!”
For the umpteenth time, the stallion threw back his head and laughed.
“I don’t gotta do anything. In case you’ve forgotten, yer on my ship and—“
“Yer ship?”
Both Twilight and the stallion turned around, facing Granny Applejack—standing there with a twisted frown on her wrinkled face. Now that she could see her in the light of day, Twilight realized that she looked nothing like her Applejack at all. Her coat was browner and more mottled, her mane shorter and unkempt. The only thing that resembled her friend was the old mare’s bright green eyes, matching the stallion that she had interrupted.
“Get back in yer hole, Granny!” shouted the stallion in a huff. “Goodness knows them dishes need a good washin’!”
Granny Applejack rounded on the stallion faster than she thought possible for an old mare and for a moment, Twilight saw fear on his face.
“Now you listen to me, Hawkeye Eugene Delicious,” the old mare said after spitting out what looked to be an apple seed. “Yer gonna treat the both of us with respect or, so help me, I’m gonna dangle ya off the side by yer family jewels and let the seaponies come and getcha. Do I make myself clear?”
The stallion gulped and mumbled something that Twilight couldn’t hear.
“Do I make myself clear?”
“My name’s Hawkeye, Granny,” said the stallion, looking at the deck.
Granny Applejack let out a snort and said, “Don’t be tryin’ to save face just ‘cause yer in front of a pretty mare. It’s a grandmother’s right to call her grandchild by their full given name. Now, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then scat. Shoo. Me and her have got some business to take care of, and we don’t need a ‘lil colt in the way.”
Twilight giggled despite herself, and he shot her a dirty look as he stalked away—jumping down the hole to the hold.
“Now that he’s gone,” said Granny Applejack, now looking at Twilight, “we can talk about what to do with ya.’
“What to do with me?” asked Twilight, puzzled.
Granny Applejack nodded sagely, and Twilight was reminded of a withered bobble head.
“There’s the matter of where yer gonna go when we get to Port Jonagold, and the matter of what we’re gonna call you, and all sorts ‘o matters we’ve gotta deal with. But for starters, there’s this.”
Granny Applejack pulled a piece of cloth out of her saddlebags and dropped it to the deck. She pointed at it with a hoof.
“Take a look at this, dear.” she said.
Twilight bent her head and looked at the cloth. What she saw made her whinny in surprise.
“But that’s—”
The old mare nodded again and said, “Yes siree. That’s you, part of a thousand-year-old tapestry. Don’t know how you lost yer wings though.”
Twilight brought the cloth to her face with her hooves. In her mind, she checked off items on a list.
Purple, check. Star cutie mark, check. Stripe in the mane, check. Horn, check. Wings…?
“Where did you get this?” asked Twilight softly.
“It’s been in our family for generations, so I can’t rightly tell ya,” said Granny Applejack.
“Is there more?”
Granny Applejack shook her head and said, “Nope. I suppose we did have the whole thing at one time, but life on the sea has eaten away all but this ‘lil piece.”
Twilight began to shake and shiver, dropping the piece of tapestry. Granny Applejack moved closer to her, supporting her with her body.
“This must be so terrible for you, dear.”
Twilight shook her head numbly and muttered, “It’s fine. It’s fine.”
Tears ran down her face as she mumbled the same words over and over again.
“It’s fine. It’s fine.”
“Don’t go lying to yerself now,” said Granny Applejack, placing a hoof on the other mare’s shoulder. “As my Granny Applejack used to believe, lying doesn’t help nopony.”
Twilight let her tears fall to the deck and then wiped her face with her hoof. Through blurry eyes, she looked at the cloth a final time.
“Well,” began Granny Applejack, pulling herself away from Twilight, “there’s a couple more things we need to talk about, if ya don’t mind.”
Twilight shook her head slowly, her eyes flickering up to look at the old mare’s face, and said, “I don’t mind.”
Granny Applejack nodded curtly and said, “Well, there’s the matter of what to call ya. ‘Twilight Sparkle’ is a bit of a touchy name in these here parts.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have time to give ya a history lesson at the moment,” said Granny Applejack. “But I can tell ya this—if ya mention that name to the wrong kinda pony, you might just end up with yer guts for garters. It’s as simple as that.”
Twilight frowned, displeased by the old mare’s answer, and asked, “Well, what should I call myself then?”
“Ya certainly can’t pass as an Apple, that’s fer sure,” said the old mare, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “There’s a couple ‘o unicorns in our family, but none of them look anything like ya. So you’ll just have to come with a new name all yer own. Shouldn’t be too hard. Yer a smart mare. But right now, this isn’t yer biggest problem, is it? Yer wantin’ to go to Canterlot, are ya? Heard that much.”
Twilight nodded, perking up a bit, and said, “Yes. I need to get there as soon as possible so I can gather the Elements of Harmony.”
The old mare gave a chuckle and said, “The Elements of Harmony? Aren’t those just part of old mares’ tales? You’d be better off chasing the seapony king than looking for them. Besides, even if they were real, what would ya do with them?”
“Well, the Element of Magic might be able to amplify my own magic enough so that I can break through whatever teleportation block that’s been cast on this place and get home.”
Granny Applejack looked confused for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “Even if the Elements of Harmony exist and even if they’re in Canterlot, yer going to have a hard time finding a ship and a crew willing to take ya to there.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know how to rightly put this,” said Granny Applejack, staring off into the sea, “but them ponies in Canterlot… Well, they’re a right bunch of jackasses and bigots. No offense to actual jackasses, mind ya. See, somepony like you might be able to get in, but I doubt they’ll let somepony like me in, if ya catch my drift.”
It took her a moment to understand what the old mare was saying and when it finally hit her, it left a nasty taste in her mouth.
“So you’re saying that they only allow unicorns in?”
Granny Applejack nodded.
“Eeyup. Plus, I don’t think ya can use yer fancy magic and teleport yerself in. The unicorns I’ve talked to, and these have been few and far between, say that there’s some kind of force field that keeps ponies from just moseying on over like that.”
“Granny!” shouted a familiar voice from the front of the ship.
“Yes, Lady?” barked Granny Applejack in return.
Lady shuffled into view, looking even larger in the light than Twilight had thought. She pointed an orange foreleg towards the sea.
“Port Jonagold is straight ahead!”
Granny Applejack let out a satisfied sound and turned back to face Twilight, a wide smile on her face and her tail flicking back and forth.
“Ah, it’s nice to be home,” she said. “We’ll be making port soon. Might want to think of that name right quick now.”