Escutcheon walked down the street tomorrow was going to be the last day in the mines. The three of them were going to be leaving early the next morning. He had gotten out of the mine early to get them the food that they would need for the trip back to the Colony. He walked from stall to stall buying bread, dry meat, lettuce, carrots, and anything else that would last. He was happy to head back to the Colony, working in the forest was much more preferred than working in the mines, and Dusk wouldn't have to deal with drunk ponies at the bar anymore. He was lost in his thoughts, and not paying attention to where he was going, he didn't notice the raised cobble in his way. His hoof caught it throwing him off balance He stepped on his cloak, and fell hard on to the cobble paved road. His bags spilled out.
"Are you okay?" His content were quickly picked up in the white glow of a unicorns aura. Escutcheon rubbed his face. The unicorn stallion that helped him up was an older stallion about a decade older than his parents. He had a light grey coat with a black mane, his cutie mark was a quill and map.
"Yeah I just hurt my pride I guess." He opened his bag and started putting everything in.
"That's good to hear. It was quite the fall." He started helping Escutcheon put everything back neatly into his bag. The second Escutcheon grabbed his sapphire it started glowing again. "What's that?" he asked.
"A sapphire I found on my travels." Escutcheon answered.
"Huh, oh no not that this." He floated a piece of parchment around to Escutcheon. "I've never seen anything that looks like this."
"That's my home Equestria, it's on the other side of the world, west of the ocean." Escutcheon answered. The stallion's face seemed to light up.
"Really." He looked at the paper again. "This is an interesting picture. Would you mind walking with me?" He asked holding out a hoof to Escutcheon which he took with a nod. "Great my, name is Atlas. I'm the professor of Cartography at the University of Marine."
"Escutcheon." The two of them walked down the street.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Escutcheon, so tell me if your home is across the world how did you get here?" Atlas asked.
"I teleported, it was during a harmonic surge."
"And you teleported here?" Atlas raised an eyebrow.
"No I teleported east of Griffon Rock in the middle of nowhere." Atlas came to an abrupt stop.
"You mean to tell me that Griffon Rock is real? Teleport for me right now. I need to see if what your telling me is true." Escutcheon sighed, but did as Atlas asked teleporting from his left side to his right. Atlas stood dumbfounded for a moment, before rubbing his eyes. "Incredible, absolutely incredible. Escutcheon where are you staying?"
"At an inn in the low district. I'm staying with a thestral named Dusk she's from the colony that settled down in the forest between Slo and Tivi." Atlas grabbed Escutcheon's hoof.
"Show me show me now quickly!" Escutcheon nodded and lead him to the inn where the two were staying at. "You've been staying here. How have the two of you not been mugged yet. Oh never mind. Get her both of you need to come with me back to my estate. Hurry." Escutcheon left professor Atlas outside the inn and went and woke Dusk up.
"Dusk come on somepony wants to talk to us I think he might give us some coins."
"Uhg, what who?" Dusk rubbed her eyes.
"A professor of Cartography at the university."
"Escutcheon what's cartography?"
"It's map making come on. We should go and talk to him." She nodded and followed him out. Turkeylegs looked up, and followed the colt and filly out of the room. Atlas gasped twice once and seeing Dusk and quickly again at Turkeylegs walking up behind the two of them.
"Amazing. You two cancel your stay here you can stay with me at my estate. I've got so much to ask you."
"I can't I work here and Escutcheon works in the mine besides we're leaving the day after tomorrow." Dusk rubbed her black opal shielding her eyes against the afternoon sun.
"Not anymore. He pulled out three silver coins and gave them to Dusk, as for your travel plans if you can put them off please do at least for a week or two." Both Dusk and Escutcheon stared at the three silver coins, then looked between each other.
"I guess we could stay in town for a week or two longer." The two of them followed Atlas back to his estate, near the middle of the city. around his home was an ornate brick wall. His home was large at least four stories. The home was made of brick, and the roofs were cross-gabbled and shingled with adobe. Around the house were a large windows that would allow light into the house at anytime of day.
"Come, come all three of you. I'll set out some tea for the three of us. Uhm, what exactly does your Duos-pedes-stat Magna-avem eat?" Dusk looked at him with a blank face.
"Turkeylegs is strictly coniferous. I think it likes small rodents best." Escutcheon answered with out skipping a beat.
"It's a she. You can tell by the color of the feather. Come on then I'll get Turkeylegs something to eat." He lead the two of them into the home. The inside of the house was ornately decorated. The darkly stained wooden floors were covered in several areas by several large and ornate rugs each one depicted a scene of some kind or another some were ships on the sea others ponies playing in grassy fields. Atlas' home had a large open floor plan with columns holding up the upper floors. The first floor had been turned into a living and entertaining area. He sat them down on a soft and comfortable love seat. He left them to get tea.
"Do you know what he want's to talk about?" Dusk leaned over and whispered into Escutcheon's ear.
"Not really know. He seemed really interested when I told him I was from across the sea and that you were from the colony that has set itself up in the forest between Slo and Tivi. Maybe he just wants to ask us questions." Escutcheon whispered back. The two of them sat back up as Atlas came back in with three cups of tea, and a plat of meat he sat the plate down and Turkeylegs helped herself to the food. Escutcheon took a sip form the tea.
"Now would the two of you draw maps for me of all the places that you've been to." He floated over two pieces of parchment and set them down on the table along with two quills and ink wells. Dusk and Escutcheon nodded and started constructing their maps. Dusk finished first. In one corner was a picture of a bunch of trees there was a line to a large lake with a stone spire coming out of it. past that was a small plain then a desert, with a large city in the middle of it, and past that the forest that had become her new home. Escutcheon's map was more professionally done. Cartography was one of the dozen classes that Mother had insisted that he take. He judged the scale of how far he could travel in a day and put the scale on the bottom right of the map. Everything was marked out. He passed his finished map to Atlas. "Playful Ponds?" He asked raising an eye brow.
"They could be called something else, I didn't think to ask Tilda what they called the ponds about a day from, Griffon Rock." Atlas leaned back in a professional looking chair.
"Please Escutcheon, Dusk tell me your stories." He sat back as the two of them told their stories Dusk going first. She ended her story at her being stuck at the cave under Storm Peak. Escutcheon then told his. Finishing with the cave in at the mine about a week ago. "Fascinating. So Buckler that terrible pirate is dead is he. Good he was a horrid character if any of the stories I've heard about him are true." Atlas smiled the sun had already set before Escutcheon had finished his story. "Well I'm sure that the two of you are tired. You can stay here. Don't worry about waking up early I'll send a messenger to the mine Iron Vein shouldn't mind you staying here with me. Now come both of you I'll show you to your rooms."
"I'd prefer to sleep in the same room as Escutcheon thank you." Dusk said making Escutcheon blush.
"Of course." Atlas lead them up two flights of stairs. The second floor had been turned into a library. He lead them to a well kept guest room with two beds. "You two get some sleep tomorrow I'll ask a few more questions. With a yawn he left them. The two of them crawled into one of the beds. Turkeylegs lay down next to their bed between their bags.
***
The sun was already up when the two of them woke up. The two of them walked down stairs. Atlas was talking to a dozen guards and a few ponies in cloaks. "Excellent your both up. Come have something to eat and drink."
"Why are there guards here?" Dusk asked.
"Well I'm sending out two expeditions. "If your maps are accurate then I'll pay the two of you ten gold coins each, and make you both my aids. We'll work on making a voyage across the ocean to the west then. I think that's fair yes." The two nodded great then. Now go and get something to eat I'll bring down some books that you'll need to read. Dusk and Escutcheon headed over to a table and grabbed a sandwich, they were finishing their breakfast when Atlas returned with a stack of books. "Hopefully you'll be home by this time next year Escutcheon." He said putting the books on the table.
"Thank you sir."
"Of course and thank you. If those maps are good you've given me a lot to think about, and have greatly expanded my career."