//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 - Somewhere Beyond the Sea 
// Story: Magic on Sweet Apple Acres 
// by Blade Star 
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When Lizzie and I were kids, we used to go on holiday pretty much every year. It wasn’t anything too fancy of course. Mum always described us as lower middle class, so there were no holidays to Disney World Florida or anything. Usually, during the big six week holiday from school in the summer, we’d all pack up our bags, drive down to Portsmouth, and catch the cross channel ferry to Caen. From there we’d drive to a chambre d'hote in a little town called Villers Bocage and spend a few days enjoying Normandy. 

I remember it all very fondly, it was a lot of fun. We’d get immersed in the culture completely on this little farm. For a week or so, we’d be communicating pretty much entirely in French, picking up a little bit more of the language each year. By my early teens, I was pretty much fluent. I can still get by in Prance even now. 

As Lizzie and I got older though, and headed off to university, we went away as a family less and less. It slowly got a lot more expensive to go somewhere, and those small little family run places were fast being replaced by corporate hotels. It just wasn’t as appealing anymore. 

That’s not to say we didn’t go anywhere, we just didn’t go together. Lizzie and Mum would sometimes go to Malaga for a weekend, Dad and me would go down to Wiltshire to go walking on the downs. But we didn’t have those old fashioned family holidays.

In Equestria, it was even more difficult. We were all grown up now. I had the farm to look after, Dad had his job at court, Lizzie had her job on the weather patrol, and Mum was back teaching. We were hard pressed to get all our schedules lined up. 

Regardless though, as I was bucking away at the apple trees one morning, it dawned on me that we all needed a holiday. Not just a break from work, we’d all had our fair share of those, we needed a change of routine. We needed to get out of Ponyville for a bit, go somewhere nice and just spend time together as a family.

So I started planning in the evenings, trying to work out something we’d all like. Equestria had its fair share of destinations to choose from, everything from city breaks to places like Ponyville. There were even holidays set in a Cajun region on the other side of the Everfree. 

But none of these really appealed to me, and I doubted we’d all want to do it. For instance, I was rather interested in a holiday to Griffonstone, which had a sort of military history tour vibe. But I knew Lizzie and Mum wouldn’t like that. Conversely, Lizzie has wanted to go to Manehattan for ages, but I can’t stand cities. What we really needed was a sort of mixture of everything. It was a shame Equestria didn’t have RVs, otherwise I might have suggested taking a leap out of the Americans’ book and go on a driving holiday around the country. 

Just as I was about to give up in despair though, I turned the page of the travel catalogue that I’d been browsing through (unsurprisingly, there’s no Trivago in Equestria, since there’s no internet) and came across an interesting advertisement.

You see, Equestria doesn’t really have aeroplanes. Just as the nation never moved on from steam engines to diesel motors, they never abandoned the idea of lighter than air flight. In Equestria, there was never a Hindenburg, R-101 or USS Macon. The airship has been the dominant means of long distance travel for non pegasi. And just like their ocean going counterparts, these ships offered cruises as holiday options. It was perfect! We’d never gone on a cruise back on Earth, but this looked to be great. The route went from Canterlot across to Manehattan and Baltimare, then west to Vanhoover and Luna Bay, before turning south for San Fransiscolt and Applewood. It was pretty much a trip around Equestria. All told, it would take a fortnight or so, depending on weather. The price wasn’t too bad either; if we all chipped in, it would suit everyone’s budget. 

Satisfied that I’d made some progress, I put a bookmark in the brochure and headed up to bed. My browsing had taken me quite a way into the night, and Luna’s moon was shining through the kitchen window. Carefully walking upstairs, I clambered into bed and went to sleep.





The next morning, which was a Tuesday saw me heading off the farm to pay call on my family members. I made for my parents’ house first. I could go chat with them, see if they liked the idea, and then head on out to visit Lizzie at Fluttershy’s after lunch. I was optimistic about them all agreeing. After all, there seemed to be something for everyone. Destinations aside, there was plenty to do on these airships. They really had maintained the elegance of travel that had burned up along with the Hindenburg’s hull back on Earth. 

Heading into town, I passed the schoolhouse, which was of course locked up since today was a public holiday. My parents’ house isn’t far beyond, a stroke of luck as far as Mum is concerned. Dad meanwhile has to cross town to get to the railway station. Walking up to the large, Swiss style house, I opened the front gate with my magic and trotted up to the front door. 

Rapping on it with a hoof, I felt a pang of sadness at not hearing Charlie barking to alert Mum and Dad that there was someone at the door. But it was good that the drone had been able to return to his own people. From what I hear, Thorax is doing quite well for himself. How times change.

A few moments later, and I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and heard the catch release. The door then opened to reveal my mother, who looked to be in the middle of a spot of housework. 

“Hello there, son,” she said with a smile. “What brings you down this way?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“What, do Ah need an excuse to visit my mum and dad now?” I replied. Getting on my hind legs, I gave her a hug. “You’re not too busy are you?”

“No, no, not at all. Come in,” she said, stepping back to let me inside. “I was just doing a spot of hoovering.”

Heading inside, I followed her through the hallway. Most of the windows were open at the moment, presumably to air out the house a bit. There was a vacuum cleaner resting against the stairs, and a box of dusters and other cleaning supplies sat on the stairs. Through the kitchen window, I could see the laundry drying on the washing line out back. 

“Is Dad about?” I asked. I’d taken a look in the living room as I walked past, but there was no sign of him.

“Oh, he’s in his study at the moment,” Mum replied. “You can pop in and see him if you want though.”

We now came into the kitchen and the both of us took a chair at the breakfast table. It was a little strange getting in a normal chair. For one thing, it meant I had to sort of scramble up, like when I was just a little kid. I quickly started my little sales pitch while Mum put a pot of tea on. 

“Ah was thinkin’,” I said as I pulled out the travel brochure. “We haven’t been on a family holiday since we got here. And Celestia knows we could all use a break.”

“You know it’s funny you say that,” Mum replied, fixing the tea. “I was just saying the same thing to your father.” I laid the brochure out on the table.

“Ah found this at the travel agent,” I went on. “I figured that we’d all want to do something different. This airship cruise might just…” That was as far as I got.

“Airship?!” Mum exclaimed in surprise. “You don’t mean you want to take a holiday in one of those exploding gasbags, do you?” I grimaced at that.

“Those were all because of the hydrogen in the fuel cells,” I replied, attempt to assuage her fears. “Equestrian airships are helium based. They can’t blow up.  If it wasn’t safe, Celestia would have them all grounded in minutes.” Mum pondered this for a moment.

“What about if we run into a storm though?” she asked. “I know for a fact that plenty of airships crashed because they flew into heavy wind and rain.” I resisted the urge not to smile and roll my eyes.

“Mum,” I said with an air of patience. “Who controls the weather in Equestria? Don’t you think the pegasus ponies would move any bad weather if it was likely to affect an airship?” Mum blushed a little as she realised her little mistake. 

“Trust me, it’ll be fun,” I went on, trying to capitalise on her indecision. “We’ll all have a lovely time and get to see loads of places around Equestria.” I passed her the brochure in my magic for her to read. She looked it over for a minute or so before falling back on an old response.

“Go ask your father,” she said. I grinned and trotted off to Dad’s study. 

“That means yes!” I called back to her, making her smile. 





Heading back down the hallway, I headed into the living room, and from there to the door that led to my Dad’s study. From right when I was just a toddler, I knew it was never a good idea to disturb Dad when he was working. He usually kept his door shut because he had case files out; the sort of stuff I technically wasn’t meant to see. But between us girls in the powder room, I saw plenty of documents with battenburg in the header. 

Anyway, like I said, he never really liked being interrupted. He never shouted at me or anything, but you could always tell he was a little annoyed at being disturbed. As such, most of the time, me and Lizzie and even Mum, would leave him to himself when he was in there. 

On the other hoof though, annoying him is deeply fun. So I knocked on the door. 

“What?!” an angry voice snapped from within. I restrained myself from chuckling. 

“It’s me, Dad,” I called out. A moment later, the latch went and my Dad was standing in the doorway, glaring down at me. 

“And what do you want?” he said with a weary sigh, although I could tell he was half putting it on. 

“Just wanted to know if you wanted to come on a cruise holiday with the rest of the family.” I held up the brochure in my magic. 

Putting his reading glasses on, he took a look over the advert, his eyes slowly going to the right before darting back left on each line. After he was finished, he took them off again and blinked a few times. 

“It’s all very nice, Bones,” he said. Now a lot more cool headed. “But I can’t just up sticks and go on a jolly boys outing. I’ve got work.”

“Actually, you have two weeks of leave coming up, starting next Monday.”

I held up the scroll I’d brought with me. It had come via Spike and was adorned with Celestia’s seal and tied with the signature red ribbon. What, you think I didn’t plan ahead just a little bit? I’d dropped by Twilight’s earlier on and had Spike send my request direct to the princess. The response had been pretty quick; Celestia agreed that Dad needed some time off. Apparently, she’d been hinting that he needed a break for a couple weeks. 

Dad took the letter and quickly glanced over it before smiling down at me. 

“Not just a pretty face, are you?” he commented dryly. “Well, I wouldn’t mind hitting the casino on this cruise thing. It’s been ages; you and me could go have a good game of Poker.”

I smiled at that. Dad hasn’t been near a casino since the incident in Las Pegasus involving him and Discord. That resulted in Dad and the draconequus getting banned from the city and one minor incident involving a wedding. 

“Sure,” I replied. “Plus it’ll give you a chance to see San Fransiscolt. You’ve said you always wanted to see the pony version of the Golden Gate bridge.”

“Still bet it’s smaller than the Humber bridge,” he replied, making me roll my eyes.

“So are you in?” I asked. He nodded.

“Yeah. If your mother’s okay with it, I’m happy to come along.” He passed me back the brochure.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said as I trotted out.

I briefly went back to chat with Mum to work out the details. We’d all have to take the train up to Canterlot, which was our departure point. The cruise would start and finish there. After working out all the details, I left my parents and began to make my way towards the Everfree and Fluttershy’s cottage.





With two out of three of my family members signed up to our holiday, I was getting quite excited. I suppose that explains why what particular day of the week it was completely slipped my mind. If I’d stopped to think I’d no doubt have turned around and gone straight home, visiting Lizzie tomorrow. For today was Tuesday, and that meant that Fluttershy had company of the chaotic kind. 

Following the familiar trail, I soon found myself at Fluttershy’s beautiful little cottage. Even after all these years, I’m still reminded of the story of Snow White when I come across this place. Even as I walked up, there were a good dozen or so birds fluttering to and fro around the bird feeders and perches. 

Walking up to the door, I rapped on it a couple times with my hoof. I expected it to open a crack and reveal one teal blue eye, as was Fluttershy’s custom when she had unexpected visitors. Instead though, I heard her and Lizzie’s voice from within, slightly raised, followed by the easily recognisable sound of a teleportation spell. Only then, when it was far too late, did I see my fatal error. 

“Bones!” Discord exclaimed, as he stood directly behind me. I damn near leapt out of my skin.

Without warning, the draconequus scooped me up in a hug. 

“Oh how wonderful to see you, my dear boy!” he went on gleefully. 

Honestly, sometimes I think he’s more terrifying now than before he was reformed. I found myself wrapped up in his serpentine form for a moment before he set me down, allowing me to let out a snort of annoyance. 

“Hey, Discord,” I said, righting my stetson as I did so. I’ve sort of gotten used to the insane chaos god’s ways over the past few years. “Ah’d forgotten that y’all would be here today.” Discord waved a lion paw. 

“Oh please, as if I’d ever miss my weekly tea party with Fluttershy,” he replied. “She is my best friend after all.”

I smiled at that. ‘Best friend’ should always be in quotation marks if you ask me. He’d never admit it, but he’s properly sweet on her. After all, he did go all the way to the Changeling Kingdom to save her when she was captured, although I can assure you his views towards Celestia are more platonic, despite the constant teasing on his part. In any case, I let his comment go. As much as I may occasionally get a clever remark over him, I know not to poke the bear. Particularly when that bear is all but a god in terms of magic. 

Before we could go on, I heard the chain on the door release, and a moment later, Fluttershy joined us. 

“Oh, hello there, Blade Star,” she said sweetly. Even after all this time, she still finds it a test to call me by my nickname, even though I’ve told her time and again that I don’t mind.  

“Hey there, Fluttershy,” I replied, touching the brim of my stetson. “Ah just came by to see Lizzie. But Ah forgot that y’all were entertainin’ today. How ‘bout Ah come back later?” Fluttershy smiled and shook her head.

“Oh it’s no trouble at all,” she replied kindly. “I know you and Lizzie don’t get to see each other often as it is. Come inside, please.” She stepped back to let me in. 

Behind me, I heard Discord’s teeth grinding. He’s very protective of Fluttershy, and dare I say, a touch jealous if anypony intrudes on their time together. And I do mean that, rescue attempt aside, I wouldn’t want to be the idiot who hurt Fluttershy with Discord around. Celestia only knows what he’d do with his magic to such a pony. 

The three of us headed back inside to the living room, where Lizzie was still sitting on the sofa, contentedly sipping on a cup of rosy lea. She looked up as I walked in.

“Hey, Bones,” she said, with a half hearted wave of a hoof. 

“Hey, Lizzie,” I replied. “You okay?” She nodded. 

“Yeah, just a bit tired is all.” That was good opening for me. I sat down with Discord, while Fluttershy took a seat next to my sister. The draconequus snapped his fingers and summoned himself a good book, and promptly tuned us out. 

“Well it’s mighty funny ya say that, sis,” I said with a smile. “Cause Ah reckon we could all use a vacation. Ah’ve been talking with Mom and Dad and we’re fixin to go on this here cruise. Ah was wonderin’ if y’all would like to come along.” Lizzie started at that. 

“A cruise?” she said excitedly. “Where?” I briefly outlined the circular route the airship would take. She seemed just about to say yes when a thought struck her. 

“It does sound nice, Bones,” she said. “But I can’t just leave Fluttershy on her own to look after all the animals.” Fluttershy smiled at her friend’s selflessness. 

“You should go, Lizzie,” she said encouragingly. “You spend so much time here helping me. You deserve to spend some time with your family. Besides, with my new nature reserve up and running at last, there's far less work to do around here." 

Ah yes, I’d heard about this from AJ. Fluttershy had always wanted to build an animal sanctuary somewhere outside Ponyville. And with how busy she was, she finally had the excuse. AJ had called in her old friend Wrangler to help get the place up and running, and with a bit of a friendship lesson tacked on, they'd succeeded. From the designs and concept art I’d seen, she'd made a proper White Deer Park of a place, taking a load off both her and Dr. Fauna. 

This seemed to sway Lizzie around to the idea. I didn’t want to say anything, but the poor girl did look quite tired. Between her weather work and helping Fluttershy, she really runs herself ragged at times. Like Fluttershy, she needs to learn to say no. 

“Alright then, I’ll check with Dash, see if I can get some leave.”

“Of course she will, sis,” I replied. “Me and Applejack were talkin’ ‘bout the schedule this mornin’; it’s clear skies for the next two weeks at least.”

And so, Lizzie agreed. That was everyone on board. Discord was quite pleased too. Now he could have Fluttershy all to himself for a week or two. It always amazes me how well behaved he is around Fluttershy; it’s almost like she’s broken the poor guy in. 





So, with everyone in agreement, I went ahead and booked four berths for the cruise, starting on the Friday. We all met up in the morning at the train station with our bags packed and ready to go. Pinkie Pie of course, got wind of our departure and decorated the whole station to say goodbye for a fortnight. AJ, Mac and Apple Bloom came to see me off, while Fluttershy and RD came to say bye to Lizzie. We quickly boarded the early morning train and set off for Canterlot, taking a chance to nap on the way up the Canterhorn.   

We soon found ourselves in that sparkling city and were lugging our suitcases up the steep hill toward the port. Canterlot, being Equestria’s capital, naturally is a centre for transport. The Friendship Express terminates here at its grand station, and it also boasts a major airship port, for both freight and passengers, with routes extending all the way to the Griffon Kingdom.

Arriving at the port, with me carrying most of Mum’s cases with my magic, we saw the vessel that would be our home away from home for the next two weeks or so. It was called the Pride of Mareitania. She was a large airship, at least two hundred feet in length, with a large gondola beneath the prow. At the stern was a large propeller that gave the airship drive. 

It was presently moored in place, held fast by ropes, with a gangplank leading passengers aboard. The four of us, after handing off our luggage to the stewards, followed suit and we were soon settling into our cabins. As we’d all pitched in for this, we could afford a stateroom, something Twilight had suggested when I mentioned the idea. That gave us our own cabins, but with a shared common area where we could all meet up. After all, the whole point of this holiday was to spend some time together. 

We were probably one of the last passengers to climb aboard, for not long after, the tannoy came on to announce that we were about to depart. The main engines were started and we soon cleared the moorings. Like a ship, it wasn’t the fastest departure, but it was quite smooth. For the first half hour or so though, Lizzie was a little airsick and we all had your traditional argument at the start of the holiday. 





Fortunately though, after that, things settled down again. We all laughed about it later as the stress of starting the holiday faded away. The cruise was a lovely one. The brochure certainly didn’t lie about the luxury of the airship. It really did make you feel like you’d gone back to the 1920’s and that you were aboard the Graf Zeppelin, sailing around the world. 

We all had such a lovely time for the next week or so. To list everything that happened would probably fill up an entire book. We visited dozens of places all around Equestria, stopping off at famous landmarks and sailing through majestic vistas. The camera that Mum brought with her was soon filled up, and we had to buy a couple more when we docked in Manehattan, at the Equestria version of the Empire State building, which had been specially modified for the purpose of mooring airships. 

We travelled from Canterlot, up the eastern coast to Baltimare and Manehattan, then north, passing close to the Crystal Empire, and even the border with neighbouring Yakyakistan. After that, we headed west stopping off in Vanhoover before cruising over Luna Bay. I tell you, the lake flies there would put even Lake Victoria to shame. It was beautiful to see in the moonlight though. After that, we cruised down the western coast, stopping in San Fransiscolt and Applewood. Finally, we turned back inland and returned to Canterlot, actually via Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, albeit high enough to be well clear of the rampant storms. 

We all had a great time together. Like I said before, it had been ages since we’d all been together without anypony else. It was nice to just be surrounded by family. That’s not to say we didn’t make friends of course. Leave Dad alone in the ship’s casino for an hour, and you’d be amazed how many ponies he’d connected with. 

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday. There was only one odd incident of note. A harbinger of things to come.





We were cruising through some scattered clouds in the south of Equestria, actually over the badlands. From the air, they make a remarkable sight, not unlike the Grand Canyon. Beyond that though, was out of bounds. Call it a no fly zone. Celestia herself had decreed that nopony was to go further south than this. Why I didn’t know, nor did Dad, even in his position as her legal advisor. 

I was out on deck with him, looking out over the railing at the breathtaking landscape below. This far from any settlement, weather control wasn’t quite as precise, so we ran into some clouds where we had expected clear skies. It had forced the captain to slow our speed considerably, to the speed of a pegasus on a leisurely flight. 

As I said, we were both looking down at the scenery below, when something off to starboard caught my eye. I saw something glint, reflected by the sun. Looking up, I was just about able to make out a vessel, another airship. Now, that itself wasn’t uncommon, we’d passed freighters and a few passenger airships on our cruise. But this one...it looked different somehow. It was sleeker than other ships, and seemed to have a different style, with dark colours and jagged edges.

“Who do ya reckon that is, Dad?” I asked, pointing out the distant ship. It seemed to be matching our course. Dad looked and frowned. 

“I’m not sure, lad,” he replied. He was silent for a few more moments before asking a passing steward to bring him an eyeglass. A minute later, with his vision somewhat improved, he got a better look. 

“Well?” I asked expectantly. 

“I don’t know,” he said, half to himself. “It almost looks like a warship. I can see what looks like gun ports on her side. But Equestria doesn’t have any combat stuff like that.” Retracting the glass, he thought for a moment, before suddenly walking off, in the direction of the bridge. I quickly followed. 

Given his position, my Dad has some leeway when it comes to keep out signs, and he soon found himself on the ships quarterdeck with the captain and first officer. They too seemed to have spotted our new companion and were examining it closely. Dad quickly introduced himself. 

“Have you hoisted ‘M.V’ yet?” he asked. The captain shook his head.

“M.V?” I repeated curiously. Dad explained. 

“It’s a recognition signal; friend or foe,” he said, now more sternly. 

The crew of the ship, quietly of course, now set to work, and a minute or so later, two flags were run up the airship’s rigging. Each flag represented a letter, in this case, M and V. With that done, we all turned our attention back to the unknown craft.

“Right,” Dad said, turning to me as we all looked on. “If he’s from round these parts, he should run up a blue flag at his stern or fire two shots as the countersign.”

But no such reply was forthcoming. Instead, the strange craft altered its course away from us, and a little while later, was lost in the clouds. It looked to be heading into some pretty bad weather too. We were just a passenger ship and were not inclined to go chasing it. 

That was all that I really heard about it. Dad said something about the captain filing a report when we got back, but he said it was probably just a Griffon airship that had gotten lost. After all, who else could it be? If it had been somebody nasty, surely they’d have closed with an unarmed passenger airship. 

The two of us put the matter out of our minds and headed back down to the deck, and from there back to our stateroom. We all spent the evening playing Equestria’s version of Cluedo. I took Dad’s explanation as gospel. After all, there were no other major powers that we needed to worry about, were there? The Changelings were now friends, the Griffons had been allies for over two hundred years, and even the Yaks got on with ponies nowadays, as did the dragons. Whatever the next finale was to be, I was certain that the threat was from within, rather than without. 





A few days later, we returned to Canterlot, thoroughly relaxed and rejuvenated. We’d reconnected as a family again. I almost felt like we were returning from France, and that now I’d have to go back to school. Amazing as it may seem to you, returning to Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres seemed mundane now. Of course, as I’ve said many times, I could never bring myself to leave that farm, but it was nice to have a break. And as fun as it had been, I was missing Applejack, and Lizzie was missing Dewdrop, her coltfriend. 

Just as when we left, there was a little gathering at the station when we got back, led by Pinkie Pie. We all soon found ourselves splitting up to go back to our homes. In the excitement and merriment and joy at being back among friends, and home and hearth, that one strange incident simply slipped from my mind. 

Had I remembered, I can assure you, I wouldn’t have bothered Celestia with it. I’d have gone to the Wonderbolts, told them about Operation Desert Storm, and instructed them to keep heading south to this world’s version of Antarctica, and flatten anything that looked remotely jagged or obsidian. 

It would have saved everypony a whole lot of grief. But you know what they say; hindsight is twenty twenty. I might know a bit about this world, but even I couldn’t guess at what lay south beyond the Badlands. 

Anyway, with Applejack at my side, I headed back to that old familiar farm that I called home. I’d had a good rest, but now it was time to get back to work. 

Or at least, it would have been, if fate didn’t decide the very next day to kick me in the balls with both back hooves.