Every group of friends has its rituals. Moondancer’s friends had the doughnut shop.
They were a busy bunch, Moondancer’s friends. Minuette had her dentistry practice; Lemon Hearts had her palace job. Moondancer herself, of course, had her studies. And Twinkleshine... well, Moondancer could never quite remember what it was Twinkleshine did, but she supposed it had to be important, too.
Which is why, every Tuesday at noon, come rain, snow, sleet, or invasion by a foreign power, the four unicorns would meet at Pony Joe’s for lunch. It was the only time that fit into all of their schedules, and by Celestia, they were going to make the most of it. That was their ritual, and it was one Moondancer had sworn to uphold... even if she was perennially the late one.
The fact that she had arrived early for once, then, was a clear sign that something was wrong.
The bell above the door ting-a-linged as she shuffled through it. The smell of fresh-fried dough drifted past her and out onto the street. A few of the ponies sitting at the tables in the front of the shop glanced up at her arrival, but their attention quickly wandered elsewhere—save, of course, for that of the blue-coated unicorn sitting at the table in the back corner.
Minuette grinned and waved her over. Minuette grinned a lot. It was one of her defining features. It was also highly infectious, and so in spite of everything that had happened that morning, Moondancer cracked a small smile of her own as she went to join her.
“Hey, Moondancer!” Minuette called out. “How’s it hanging?”
Minuette, by contrast to Moondancer, was always the first to arrive—and the one to order, as evidenced by the variety box sitting on the table in front of her. As it turned out, the hourglasses on her flanks weren’t just for show.
“Fine,” Moondancer said, taking her seat. “Everything’s great.”
Minuette eyed her suspiciously.
Moondancer stared back for a few seconds.
“So, uh... what’s up with you?”
“Oh, everything’s peachy-keen as always,” Minuette said. “I’m looking forward to taking the day off tomorrow.”
“That sounds nice.”
“Okay, seriously, filly,” Minuette said, sitting up in her chair. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing’s going on,” Moondancer said. “Why do you think something’s going on?”
“Moon, you’re never here this early.”
“So?”
“So that means you weren’t caught up studying like you normally are, which means you couldn’t focus, which means you were worrying about something.” Minuette leaned back in her chair and took a bite out of her doughnut. “So spill it.”
Moondancer sighed.
“Alright, fine,” she said. “So...”
“I need your help,” Daring Do said.
Moondancer and Daring Do typically had a very simple relationship. Moondancer had first met the adventurer as A.K. Yearling, when by coincidence they had both been researching the lost city of the ancient Bushwoolie tribes at the Royal Canterlot Library.
This had lead to a very unfortunate misunderstanding in which Daring had assumed that Moondancer had been sent by one of her various lifelong nemeses to spy on her. This in turn had led to a quick scuffle, a brief chase with the pony who had actually been spying on Daring, and a very entertaining apology lunch. The two had been colleagues ever since.
Daring, herself being a career archaeologist (albeit in somewhat untraditional fashion), could appreciate a pure academic, and there were fewer academics more pure than Moondancer. And so, whenever Daring needed quick research outside of her normal jurisdiction, she knew exactly the pony to turn to.
This particular request, however...
“I can’t go to Mt. Aris with you!” Moondancer cried, throwing up her hooves. “Are you crazy!?”
“Just as a consultant!” Daring said. “You don’t have to do any adventuring! I just need someone who can read the language of the ancient Hippocampians so I don’t get lost in the Labyrinth of Li’xsh.”
“Daring, you speak, like, twelve languages already!” Moondancer said. “I can give you pointers.”
“I don’t have the time to learn it,” Daring said. “Cabelleron’s already hot on the trail of the Crown of the Cthonia. And you’re the only pony I know who’s fluent in Xiu’biehian!”
She tapped her chin with a hoof. “Actually, come to think of it, I think you’re the only pony who’s fluent in Xiu’biehian. I guess that’s why they call it a dead language.”
“I can give you reference books!” Moondancer’s horn lit; a pile of reference guides about the size of her head arranged itself on the table in front of her. She pushed it over to Daring. “There. Everything you need to know about Xiu’bie.”
“C’mon, Moondancer!” Daring said, pushing the stack back across the table. “You can’t spend all your time with your muzzle in a book. Besides which, there’s no time!”
“I—ugh, I can’t believe this!”
Moondancer slipped off her couch and began pacing, angrily.
“You can’t just come in here and ask me to go running off on an adventure with you on such short notice, you know!” she said. “I mean, I’d need to pack, and—”
“That’s fine!” Daring said. “I still need to make preparations, myself. Look, how about this...”
She reached over to her (technically, A.K. Yearling’s) coat and reached inside one of the pockets, her hoof re-emerging a moment later with a pair of train tickets.
“These’ll get you from Canterlot to Mt. Aris,” she said, laying them down on Moondancer’s coffee table. “I’ll wait for you tomorrow at the train station. If you show up, then hey, great! If you don’t, I won’t hold it against you.”
“The... Canterlot train station, right?”
“No, the one at Mt. Aris. I’ll be going on ahead.”
Moondancer nearly choked on her coffee. “You want me to ride the train from here to a remote island in the southern seas alone!?”
“Well... yeah,” Daring said. “Ponies do it all the time, now that the hippogriffs are back above water.”
“But... but... but what if Caballeron sends some of his goons after me? I’d be defenceless!”
“Why would they?” Daring said. “It’s me they want. Caballeron doesn’t even know you exist.”
“He might now!”
“Then maybe you’ll finally get the chance to put some of those spells you’ve researched to good use.”
Daring sighed. “Look, I’m not going to pretend it won’t be dangerous. Everything involving this is dangerous. But you’re really my last hope here, Moon, and you know how bad it would be if the Crown of Cthonia fell into the wrong hooves.”
Oh, that she did know... assuming the thing actually existed. Which, given who she was talking to...
“I’ll think about it,” Moondancer said.
“That’s all I’m asking.”
Daring stood up and stretched.
“Ahhh. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go see a pony about a boat.”
“...a friend asked me to help them with something,” Moondancer finished. Obviously, she wasn’t going to reveal who exactly her friend was—Minuette never would have believed her anyway.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah,” Moondancer said. “Problem is, the thing they want help with isn’t exactly... simple.” She snatched up one of the doughnuts from the box—jelly, her favourite. “Or, uh... in Canterlot,” she muttered.
“So?”
“So, I don’t know if I can actually help them or not,” Moondancer said.
Minuette draped her elbow over the back of her seat. “Well, can you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they must have gone to you for a reason, right?” she replied, gesturing with a doughnut of her own. “So obviously they think you can help them.”
“Well, yeah,” Moondancer said.
“So can you help them or not?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“That’s not a no~o!” Minuette sing-songed, grinning again. She popped the rest of the doughnut in her mouth.
Moondancer groaned. “Alright, yes, technically speaking I can help them. I just don’t know if I’m up for it. I mean, I’ve never even been outside of Canterlot before,” Moondancer said. “Heck, I’ve never even been on a train! And they want me to go all the way to—”
Minuette’s look of curiosity made her stumble. Probably best not to give the actual destination, she reflected.
“—to Fillydelphia. Alone!” Moondancer took a bite from her doughnut. The jelly filling only did a little for her mood. “I mean really, coming out fo the blue like that—”
“Wait, seriously?” Minuette’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve never left Canterlot.”
Moondancer blinked. “Uh... No?”
“...Never?”
“Nope.” Moondancer took another bite out of her doughnut. “I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, why would I want to leave Canterlot? This place is great!”
Minuette stared at her for a few more seconds, her jaw loose.
“Alright, well that settles it,” she eventually said, recomposing herself. “Now you have to go.”
“What? Why?” Honestly, Moondancer was shocked; she’d never seen Minuette look so serious before.
“Because there’s way more to life than this boring old city, and you’re about a decade past the age you were supposed to figure that out,” Minuette said. “And now’s your chance!”
“But I’ve got so much studying I need to get done—”
“Moondancer, you know I love you, but you can’t spend your entire life with your muzzle in a book.”
Moondancer rubbed her temples. “Why does everypony always say that?”
“Because it’s true, filly!”
Minuette took another doughnut out of the box.
“Look,” she said. “Your friend’s counting on you. And obviously you want to help them, otherwise you wouldn’t be so messed up about it.”
“I’m not messed up about it!” Moondancer said. “I’m just... nervous.”
“And that’s fine!” Minuette said. “But you can’t let a little nervousness get in the way of friendship!”
“You’re starting to sound like Twilight.”
Minuette took another bite out of her pastry and wiggled her eyebrows. “And Twilight’s a princess, so if I sound like her, you know I’m right.”
“I don’t think it works like that.”
“Sure it does. C’mon, broaden your horizons a little!” She took one last bite out of her doughnut, finishing off the last few crumbs. “It won’t be as bad as you think it’s going to be, I promise.”
Moondancer sighed.
“I guess you’re right,” she said. She smiled. “Thanks, Minnie.”
“Anytime, Moon.”
As Moondancer exited the store, she brushed past a pair of very familliar ponies entering—who, after staring at her for a few moments, made their way over to the very same table she’d been sitting at.
“Hey, Lemons, Twinkleshine!” Minuette said, holding up a doughnut. “How’s it hanging?”
“Was that Moondancer?” Lemon Hearts asked.
Twinkleshine was still staring at the door. “She got here before us?”
“Yep, and yep!” Minuette said. “A friend of hers is in trouble, and she needed some advice.”
“...Moondancer has friends besides us?”
“I know! Isn’t it great?” Minuette beamed. “Now sit down and grab a doughnut before I eat them all myself.”
The train’s whistle shrieked, and jets of steam obscured the platform from the view of Moondancer’s window. The low rumble from the train’s underbelly as it began to pull away only added to the queasy feeling in her gut.
“Why did I let Minuette talk me into this?” she grumbled.
Moondancer reached over and pulled her suitcase over to herself so it wouldn’t fall off the seat. She’d been told to put it in the luggage car, but with what she’d packed, she wouldn’t feel safe unless it was safely in sight.
The train’s whistle blew again, startling her and making her knock her glasses askew. Moondancer decided that she really, really didn’t like trains.
She pulled them down and retrieved a polishing cloth from inside her suitcase. As she set about cleaning them—the rhythmic motion really did help sooth her nerves—someone slipped into the seat across from her.
Moondancer’s heart skipped a beat. Was this normal? It could be, she supposed—but what if it was one of Caballeron’s men? In her panic, she fumbled trying to get her glasses back onto her muzzle. This, of course, only made her panic harder.
“First time?” the pony-shaped blur asked.
“Y-yeah,” Moondancer said, chuckling nervously—but then froze. She knew that voice.
Finally replacing her glasses, she found it was exactly who she’d thought it was—and who she’d been hoping it hadn’t been.
“Minuette?”
Minuette grinned. “Heya, Moonie!”
“What are you doing here!?”
“Well, since you were so worried about travelling alone, I thought you might like a travelling partner! And, y’know, it is my day off...”
She glanced towards the window. “Thiiiis isn’t the train to Filly, though.”
Moondancer couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Minnuette, you can’t just—I—you—Argh!”
She threw her hooves up in the air.
“You can’t just show up like this!” she said. “Celestia, you’re even worse than Da—”
Minuette cocked her head to the side. “Da...?”
“Look, it isn’t important,” Moondancer said. “What is important is that you aren’t supposed to be here!”
“Hey, hey, calm down!” Minuette said, holding up her hooves. “It’s not that big of a deal, is it?”
“It kind of is, yeah!” Moondancer said. “You really can’t be here, Minuette! I can’t believe you would just, just invite yourself...”
Moondancer trailed off. Minuette’s ears had fallen back against her head, and her grin had faded.
She sighed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m overreacting.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Minuette said. “I knew you were being vague, but I didn’t think it was that important.” She began to stand up. I’ll get out of your mane.”
This was just going to make an already complicated situation even more complicated, Moondancer knew that—but Minuette wasn’t exactly the kind of pony you said no to.
“No, no really, it’s fine,” Moondancer said. “I’m happy you’re here, actually, just... maybe ask, next time?”
“Deal,” Minuette said, falling back into her seat. She glanced towards the window again. The blue line of the ocean was becoming visible, in the distance, and growing closer by the second as they moved towards the coast. “Sooooo... where are we headed, exactly?”
Well, there was no way she could hide her destination from the mare now; she’d just have to hope Minuette didn’t get too nosey.
“..Mt Aris.”
“Ooh, where the Hippogriffs live?” Minuette exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to visit! I hear Harmonizing Heights is amazing this time of year.”
“Yeah, it probably is.”
“Wait, so you have a friend who lives at Mt. Aris?” Minuette gasped. “Are they a hippogriff? Can I meet them?”
“No, no, and no,” Moondancer said. “You’re not supposed to be here, remember? My friend’s a very private person.”
Technically not untrue. Technically.
“Aw, c’mon,” Minuette said. “I’ll be gentle, I promise!”
“Minnie, I’m serious,” Moondancer said, putting a little more firmness into her words. “I told her I’d be coming alone, and—I can’t tell you why, it’s personal, but it’s important, okay? If you want to come along, that’s fine, but I need you to promise me you won’t interfere.”
“Alright,” Minuette said, holding up her hooves in surrender. “I guess I’ll just wait around while you’re helping your secret friend with her secret mission.”
“Minuette...”
“I’m kidding.” Minnuette grinned. “I’ll go sight-seeing while you’re off doing your thing. But, hey—when you’re done, come find me, yeah? We can have a little vacation!”
Moondancer couldn’t help but smile back. Lounging on the beachside with a novel and one of those fancy drinks with the umbrellas in them did have a certain appeal to it. Maybe, just maybe, she could make this work.
“Deal. Thanks, Minnie.”
“Anytime, Moon.”
Many miles later...
Moondancer was jolted from her thoughts by the sudden shaking of the train as it began to decelerate. The shrieking of the brakes filled the air. Immediately, the panic she’d felt at the outset of her journey returned in full force.
“Are you alright?” Minuette asked, looking none the worse for wear herself.
“Just peachy,” Moondancer lied, through gritted teeth. She’d come to the conclusion that no, she really didn’t like trains. “What’s happening?”
“We’re arriving, silly! Look out the window.”
At Minuette’s beckoning, Moondancer cast her gaze out the glass, just in time to watch as their car left the thin land-bridge that connected the island to the mainland. From where she sat, it looked as though the ocean stretched out forever into the horizon, something Moondancer found equally beautiful and unnerving.
The train slowed as it pulled into the station, coming to a rest with a lurch. Moondancer collected her suitcase (it seemed Minuette hadn’t packed anything for herself), and, along with the other tourists, they filed out onto the platform.
“You sure you don’t want me to stick around?” Minuette asked, once they were safely off the train. “I can be pretty helpful, you know!”
“I’m sure,” Moondancer said. She smiled. “Go have some fun. I’ll meet up with you when I can.”
Minuette grinned. “Well, if you insist!”
She began to trot away. Meanwhile, Moondancer turned her attention to the station itself.
The building wasn’t very large, although the ceiling was quite high, and supported by stone pillars. However, even looking up there, there was something conspicuously absent from the picture.
“Where’s Daring?” she murmured to herself, scanning the platform a second time, but to no avail. Neither the adventurous pegasus, nor her literary alter-ego seemed to be present, no matter how hard she looked.
Her confusion must have been quite apparent, because suddenly Minuette was back by her side.
“Everything okay?” she asked. “Sorry, I know I said I was going, but you look lost.”
“My, uh, friend was supposed to meet me here,” Moondancer said, biting her lip. The implications of Daring’s absence were... worrying, to say the least.
“You don’t see her anywhere?” Minuette asked. “This place isn’t that big...”
Moondancer shook her head.
“Well, then maybe one of the staff have,” she said. And before Moondancer could stop her, she was off. There was a janitor, a hippogriff, mopping up a section of the station’s floor; Minuette called out to him.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Do you have a minute?”
“Plenty,” he said, turning around and leaning against his mop. “What can I help you ladies with?”
“Well, my friend here—” she gestured to Moondancer “—was supposed to be meeting someone, but she can’t find them.”
“Well, I might have seen ‘em,” the janitor said. “What do they look like?”
They both looked at Moondancer expectantly.
“Uh... s-sandy pegasus with a grey mane,” she said. “Might have been wearing big, red glasses.”
The janitor hummed.
“No, I can’t say I’ve seen anyone of that description,” he said. “I probably would have noticed, too; ponies tend to stick out like a sore thumb around here. I might have run into some other friends of yours, though.”
This was a surprise. “What do you mean?”
He jerked his... Moondancer supposed it was a thumb, back towards the platform. “Those guys, over there. They asked me if I’d seen the same pony.”
Moondancer looked in the direction he was pointing. Her heart dropped into her stomach.
Standing by the train, leaning up against one of the station’s pillars, were three burley creatures. They stood on two legs, for a total of six legs each, with spiked bands around their ankles, wrists, and necks. Their noses twitched in the air, and their teeth glistened in the light.
Minuette put it quite succinctly:
“Are those... diamond dogs?”
“Sure are!” the stationworker said. “Nifty fellers, ain’t they? Here, why don’t I call them over for you?”
“I-I don’t think that’s—” Moondancer stammered, but she was too late.
“Hey, you three gentlemen!”
The diamond dogs turned towards them. As they approached, their leader caught Moondancer’s eye. She really didn’t like what she saw in there.
“What ponies want?” The biggest of the three asked, towering over them—they were even bigger up close. From this distance, Moondancer could make out the name carved into the tag around his neck: Scrapper. “We here on important business.”
“These mares were looking for the same pony you were, I think,” the janitor said.
“Really,” the big one said, squinting down at them. “Hippogriff sure?”
“Sandy pegasus with a grey mane?”
“That does sound like explorer pony,” the dog on the right said.
“Thank you for bringing this to dogs’ attention,” Scrapper said. “Dogs will take care of this now.”
“Alrighty!” he said, picking up his mop. “You folks have a good day!”
He walked off, humming a jaunty tune, leaving Moondancer and Minuette alone with the three enormous bundles of claws and teeth.
“So,” Scrapper said. “Ponies are looking for explorer pony too?”
Moondancer glanced around, but it seemed as though the platform had suddenly emptied itself at their inconvenience.
He leaned in towards them. His breath smelt of day-old fruit and something she didn’t want to identify.
“Why would ponies be looking for explorer pony, hmm?”
“Uh... Moondancer?” Minuette hissed, leaning over to her. “What’s going on?”
“Not now,” Moondancer hissed back.
“Dogs are waiting, ponies,” Scrapper said. He drummed his claws on the station foor, click—click—click—click.
“W-we were, uh...”
“Dogs don’t like waiting,” The diamond dog on the right said.
“Dogs have been waiting all day for explorer pony,” the one on the left added.
“So if ponies don’t answer soon,” Scrapper said, finishing off the trio, “then dogs might get very angry—”
“C-C-Caballeron sent us!” Moondancer blurted out.
Scrapper paused.
“...Boss Pony send you?”
Moondancer swallowed. “Y-yeah! We’re, uh... buyers! For the crown. We’re here to buy the crown.”
Scrapper’s eyes narrowed. “Boss Pony no here yet.”
“W-well—”
“Oh, that’s just like him, isn’t it?” Minuette said, suddenly taking on a strong high-Canterlot accent. “Always keeping people waiting! Well, I never—I have half a mind to go right back to Canterlot!”
The diamond dogs cast glances at one another. The one on the left shrugged.
“We know what you mean,” Scrapper said. “He tell us he be here by now, too.”
“We sure he be here soon,” the one on the right offered.
“Hmph!” Minuette hmphed. “He’d better be!”
Moondancer could do nothing but watch. She’d never known Minuette to be such a good actor—she’d slipped into this persona like she’d slipped on a jacket.
“Isn’t that right, Moondancer?”
“Uh, yeah,” Moondancer said. “Totally.”
“Well, if Caballeron arrives,” Minuette said, “tell him we’ve gone ahead to our hotel. He knows the one. And tell him he’d better be prepared to give us a good price for making us wait!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Scrapper said. “Sorry, Ma’am.”
Minuette hmphed again and spun about, drawing a still-stunned Moondancer behind her as she walked away. The Diamond dogs looked at one another, shrugged, and turned their attention back to the platform.
Several minutes passed.
“Wait,” the dog on the left said, furrowing its brow. “If ponies here to buy crown, then... “
“Then what, Fido?” Scrapper snapped.
“Then why ponies looking for Daring Do?”