//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: So We Changed Our Plans // Story: Through the Aurora // by Starscribe //------------------------------// By the time their train arrived in Ponyville, full dark had settled over the town like a heavy blanket. This was no Crystal Empire or Canterlot, with bustling activity even late into the night. As Theo emerged from the train, she could see only a few flickering gas lamps, leading into town towards a round, municipal-looking building. The rest of the town could’ve come out of any number of semi ancient villages in her home country, though it had been quite some time since she’d seen a thatch roof on anything that wasn’t a historical preservation site. It was quaint and comfortable, a little like Utqiagvik, without the constant chill and the pressure of invisible depression on every house. It would be a great place to stay and recover, if only they had the money to do it. Theo glanced idly at her saddlebags, and her wallet inside. There was quite a bit of money on her plastic cards—the wealth earned over one and a half winters at the Observatory. But she didn’t think they’d be converting it anytime soon. “We can’t set up the tent in town,” Sharp muttered, pointing towards a wide dirt road leading to a bridge, then up a gentle slope. “But we can once we get away from here. Come on.” They walked. Theo wished it had been daytime—at least then she could take in these charming buildings and—she assumed—their friendly residents, in full light. She could only look in at the warm glow emerging from windows from afar, and long for the cozy cabin of the Horizon.  She’s broken because I was worth attacking. Everything in Sharp’s life is ruined because of me. The blacksmith had sacrificed so much to learn about the Doorway and the creatures that lived on the other side. At the rate things were going, he would end up sacrificing everything on that altar. “It’s a little like home,” Emerald muttered, pausing to frame a picture of the tall building at the center of town with one hoof. “Bigger, though. I bet it doesn’t snow as much here.” “They have all four seasons instead of one,” Sharp said cheerfully. “Instead of just doing snow clearing, they do the whole thing. I don’t know much more about it, beyond the Elements living here.” “Who are…?” Emerald prompted. Once across the bridge, there was an instant halt to homes, replaced with towering trees that made Ponyville itself turn to indistinct flickers. “Right, I forget sometimes how far north Sleighsburg really is. You don’t get much news, good or bad. The Elements are the Elements of Harmony. They’re… national heroes, I suppose you’d call them. They come from here, though I couldn’t tell you much more than that. I’ve been up north for three years now, and I missed a lot of news.” He stopped suddenly, pointing at a patch of flat grass not far from the road. There was a fence on one side, and a field of fruit trees just beyond. They looked heavily laden with a harvest, enough to feed them indefinitely if they were brave enough. Is this really where we’re at, stealing fruit from some farmer’s field? Theo didn’t feel hungry enough to try tonight.  She put on her headlamp, then helped Sharp set up the tent as best she could. It was nothing as nice as she could’ve checked out from the base, if she needed one. Wooden poles, simple canvas sheets, hooks and lines to hold everything together. Maybe the Scouts of a century ago would’ve been happy with it. There was barely enough room for all three of them inside, but this wasn’t her first night using it. For as different as ponies were, she easily could’ve imagined a trip like this when she was younger, right down to the sleeping bags and barely enough floorspace. Theo did her best to avoid touching anypony else in the tight quarters, but that equated to “completely impossible.” Whoever had designed the tent hadn’t been the least bit concerned about that. She gave up squirming after a few minutes, just like she did every night. At least she could trust the ones she was trapped with. Morning came not with the distant calling of a rooster, or some other appropriate country sign, but with someone tapping on their tent door. “Excuse me,” said a voice—polite enough, though the accent gave Theo a little trouble. “I can hear somepony in there, if you wouldn’t mind a word.” Theo rose, but Sharp was quicker, shaking himself out and unbuttoning the front of the tent. Light streamed in, along with a brief glimpse of the mare standing out there. For as long as Theo had been surviving in Equestria, this pony seemed almost normal in her orange and blonde coloration—she could imagine something like this being bred in some petting zoo somewhere, maybe. The oversized hat broke the illusion, though. Sharp shut the tent door behind him, though he only buttoned the flap enough to keep it from falling. “What can we do for you, Miss…” “Applejack,” the pony said politely. “And that depends. It ain’t every mornin’ I see folks have gone and set up on the edge ah my property. Ponyville has quite a nice hotel, at least that’s what I hear.” There was an uncomfortable silence from Sharp, before he finally said, “We’ve had… quite the string of misfortunes, Miss Applejack. I’m afraid most hotels expect bits we can’t pay.” “Yeah?” Applejack poked briefly at the flap, glancing inside. Theo caught a brief look at her face, then her ears flattened. But the pony barely even noticed her. “That filly in there, she yours? I’ve got a sister about her age.” Another awkward silence. “Not by birth. I’m supposed to be training her to be a blacksmith. But my workshop crashed into a pond, so I haven’t been able to train her lately.” “Blacksmith, huh? Are you willing to work, Mr…?” “Sharp Edge,” he said. “And yes. I’m happy to work, and my friend Summer is too.”  “Well, Sharp Edge, if you look over your shoulder there, you’ll see my family’s farm. We’ve got just over sixty acres, most of it ready to harvest. But in my experience, it’s mighty difficult to bring in a harvest when your equipment is broken. I’d rather pay a pony like you who’s down on his luck than… buying replacements to everything we own from city folk. Nothing we buy new lasts half as long as what a pony made with love. And your friend—she ain’t a pony, but if she can pull a cart, that’s enough to help with the harvest.” Theo was perfectly willing to let Sharp do most of the talking—but she’d been listening passively from inside the tent for long enough. Listening, and occasionally glancing to one side to check on Emerald. But the filly was still asleep, just as she’d rather be. Theo fumbled with the button, and emerged a second later beside Sharp. “I can pull a cart,” she said, shaking out her wings now that she wasn’t trapped in such a confined space. “We just need enough bits for a few train tickets—could we earn that helping with your harvest?” Applejack nodded. “That, and room and board while you’re helpin’. Somewhere a mite better than sleeping on canvas and eating grass. My family knows how to respect hard work.” She shared a look with Sharp. There was no need for either of them to say anything to reach an understanding—what better chance would they get? “Yes,” they said together. “We’d be happy to help.” The pony extended a hoof—towards Sharp, but Theo wouldn’t feel that sour about it. “Welcome aboard.” It took a few hours to get situated—Applejack’s family farm was clearly not the kind that overflowed with wealth as many farmers did, but of the “just barely scraping by” variety. No wonder they wanted a blacksmith to fix all their old equipment, rather than buying new stuff. Their farmhouse seemed comfortable enough, but Theo and the others wouldn’t even be living in it. There was an oversized barn beside it, relatively new compared to everything else around. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve kept ponies up in here during a harvest season…” Applejack muttered, as they carried bundles of bedding and supplies from the farmhouse to the open barn door.  There were stalls inside, though they were more like open-faced rooms and less like somewhere to keep animals contained without room to turn around. Without prompting or permission, Applejack helped them set up one big and one little bed in one stall, and another in the one beside it. She showed them around the property, told them about mealtimes and the facilities, then brought them out bowls of steaming oatmeal with fresh apples. Theo hadn’t much cared for the stuff before, but just now anything hot was a welcome relief. Applejack seemed far more interested in Sharp’s help than her own—as it turned out, the family had a forge under a tin roof behind the barn, something old but apparently functional. She spent over an hour with Sharp and Emerald there, and didn’t come for Theo herself until early afternoon.  “Hey, uh…” Applejack trailed off, her voice nervous. “Can’t say I got yer name, or if I did I’m having trouble remembering it.” “Summer Ray,” she said, rising from her cot and settling her wrinkled and smeared technical log to one side. She’d been stripping used pages with her claws, carefully cutting it down to something she could use. “I’m going to help with the harvest, right?” “Sure are,” Applejack said. “Though on account of… not bein’ an earth pony and all, you ain’t got quite the same contributions to make as one of us might. I don’t mean to be impolite ‘er nothing, but—” “I get it,” she answered, voice level. “Ponies have magic. Sharp is incredibly strong when he wants to be. I assume I just don’t have the strength to do as much as you could.” Applejack nodded. “Now if only other creatures could be half as reasonable. But then, we ain’t never got a hippogriff ‘round here who wasn’t going to the school. Suppose you’re… not going to the school.” “Nope,” she said, following Applejack from the barn. As much as the idea of farm work put her to sleep, at least she’d be doing something. Better than sitting around all day and letting her brain turn to slime. “We’re trying to get to Manehattan, actually.” Applejack nodded again. Just outside the barn, there were a few old wooden carts. Some were empty, while others were packed with barrels of apples. Another pony was already strapped to one, waving politely as they approached. “This here is my brother, Big Mac. He’ll be taking these to market. All you have to do is follow me or my sister around. We fill the barrels, you pull the cart, so we don’t have to hitch up and down. Think you can do that?” “Sure,” Theo answered. “I’ve never pulled a cart before, but I assume it… can’t be that hard, right? Just wear the weird thing and… walk?” “Yeah, the ‘weird thing’.” Applejack eyed her wings as Theo approached the harness. “You’ll have to hold those out of the way while I get this on you. But they’re made to fit a pegasus pony if they have to, and you’re about that size.” She was bigger than Applejack, though not so large as her gigantic brother. And without the unquantifiable magic of the earth ponies, she wouldn’t be as strong either. But at least if I’m out here in the middle of nowhere working on a farm, Stratus isn’t going to be able to track me down and arrest me for waving a flare gun in his face. The harness did fit, though it took a little finagling. They settled it onto her back and shoulders, then finally tightened a few straps until she was secure. The skin under her wings wasn’t thrilled to have pads pushed up against it, but at least it wasn’t tearing or anything. She would be able to work with this. That was what she did—following Applejack around as she passed through her sprawling fields of apples. Not a monoculture, as she was quick to explain at almost every turn. “These here are Golden Delicious, try one” or “Gala apples, favorite for foals” or “These Granny Smith apples make great jam.” But Theo didn’t have much to say about them, other than, “My mother used to make some fantastic strudel filled with fresh apples. I wish she’d made it more, but when it took so many hours to make it work—I can see why she wouldn’t want to work in the kitchen hammering butter into the dough all day.” Applejack paused, grinning. “You know, it’s been right ages since I had my uncle’s strudel.” She paused, wrinkling her nose. “Did I say that right?” She turned and bucked another tree, causing all the fruit to rain down into a waiting barrel. Everything about her harvesting method made no sense to Theo—her kicks could somehow dislodge all the ripe fruit from the trees, without scattering them or damaging the trunks. She’d seen at least one set of “clippers on long poles” rusting away in the barn, but Applejack hadn’t even brought them. “No, but it doesn’t matter. Most America—” Just because her accent seemed to translate in a similar way didn’t mean she should let her biases shape her thinking. Indeed, the word only made the pony’s face twist into more confusion. “Most ponies can’t say it.” “Well, I know we love finding new things to do with the apples. Do you know the recipe?” She nodded weakly. “It’s not easy, but… I think I could. I’m not sure if you’d like it, though.” I’m not even sure if any of your ingredients would act the same way. It’s amazing you horses even have butter. “Hey, just cuz I look humble and all don’t mean I ain’t got a little cosomo… cosmopolitan in there somewhere.” She heaved a barrel up into the cart, took an empty one, and made her way to the next tree. Theo followed, straining against the harness until the cart started to roll. It was easy enough when the thing was empty, but pulling it while full gave her new sympathy for carriage horses. “I’ve been to Seaquestria twice. Swam through the, uh… not streets, but whatever you hippogriffs call ‘em. But so long as you don’t need no… fish, or anemones, or… seaweed… you should find everything you need in our kitchen.” What the hell are you talking about? Theo had heard something about this, near when she first arrived. The ponies had wanted to return her to the sea, and it hadn’t felt like they wanted her dead exactly. Sharp had said something about it too, if she could only remember… But she didn’t want to seem like an idiot in front of the one who was paying them, so she only said, “It doesn’t need anything like that. Butter, flour, eggs, sugar, salt… basic stuff. But it’s hard work, not like that slop pretending to be food you can buy at a gas station. Real strudel has hundreds of layers, and each one has to be individually beaten and folded into the dough.” “Tomorrow,” Applejack promised. “My granny’s quite the cook, you’ll find. And I’d happily pull the cart myself for a bit if it means I get to try something new.” I’ll happily spend the day in the kitchen making old family recipes if it means I don’t have to pull a damn cart full of fruit. But she kept pulling the damned cart, until it felt like her hooves would fall off, her claws would fall off, and her back would tear open. Any confusion she had about how Applejack could look so lean and healthy vanished completely by the time she finally unhooked for the last time, and practically melted onto the floor. “I can see you, uh… ain’t much about physical work,” Applejack said. She hadn’t been impolite about it, but Theo could tell she’d had to stop more than once to let her catch up. Maybe that was why she’d been so open to having Theo cook instead. “What did you do back in Seaquestria, anyway?” She might’ve sounded smarter if she wasn’t so exhausted. “Computer programmer,” she answered, completely by reflex. “Though at Barrow that mostly meant technical support. I didn’t program anything so much as get improperly submitted packages to run on our mainframe.” “Oh,” Applejack said, her tone flat and completely uncomprehending. “Well, uh… that’s it for the day, Summer. Feel free to head back inside, or… gosh, maybe a shower. It ain’t hot, but it’s cleaner than what we’ve been doing.” She nodded gratefully, then went off to do just that. Only when she was done did she finally head behind the barn, to where the sound of hammers on metal still rang through the growing gloom.  Sharp Edge stood over an anvil like Hephaestus himself, hammering away with a strange mechanism that wrapped hammer to hoof and let him swing with all his force. Then he lifted, returning the length of metal to the forge. Emerald started pumping away at the bellows, looking up as Theo approached. “Hey Summer! Hope… you… had fun…” “About as much fun as you two, by the look of it.” She kept her voice low, which was easier to do over the gentle breath of the bellows than it might’ve been over the thunder of each hammer blow. “You’ve been working even longer than I have, Sharp. Maybe you should call it for the day?” He nodded, wiping sweat from his brow with the hoof that wasn’t strapped into a multi-jointed length of metal. “Just… got to finish with this last harness. I fixed it earlier today, but the big red one already broke it.” Theo retreated as it emerged from the flames again, watching as Sharp returned to the anvil. He hammered it into shape with a few more strokes, then quenched it in a nearby barrel of water. Only then did he finally hang it from a hook to dry, rather than returning it to the forge. “I think… that’s probably enough, Emerald.” “Great,” she said, voice numb. “Can’t say I… thought being a blacksmith would be so…” “It isn’t,” Sharp muttered. “Most forges I’ve worked in have mechanical bellows these days. This equipment is old… but still in working order, so respect to the Apples for proper maintenance.” He slumped onto his haunches, finally seeming to really see Theo for the first time. “How was the farm work?” Theo resisted the temptation to just start swearing, shivering at the ghost-pressure of the harness on her neck and back. “Let’s just say… now I know why I spent so much time at university. And I’m deeply sympathetic to anyone who didn’t.” Emerald looked completely lost, and Sharp not much better. But she didn’t give him enough time to question. “How long do you think all this will take?” He shrugged, glancing to one side at the pile of broken and rusted farm equipment. “Some of this stuff is so bad it’s more like iron ore than steel. Maybe… a week? How long does a harvest take?” Theo shrugged. “Better than sleeping outside and bathing in rivers.” “Do you still want to…” Sharp hesitated for another second longer. “You still insist on meeting the, uh… meeting Kat-ate?” “I’d like to.” Sharp shook his head, but after a day of work he looked weary more than angry. “That thing we found in the engines was in a Feather pipe. Then the ambassador to the hippogriffs acts way shady and tries to stop other Travelers from getting back to Mt. Aris. Feels like… feels like this is all connected.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, staring down at his hooves. “This feels like something she’d do. Bring down an airship, even though it might kill the ones inside. Just like her.” “You know the one who sent that letter?” Theo advanced on him, though she wasn’t wearing her saddlebags and couldn’t pull it out. It was still tucked away in the barn. “I thought you said you didn’t know other Travelers.” “None like you,” Sharp said, then he turned away. “I’m going for a shower. Emerald, keep an eye on the forge until the coal runs out, then you’re done for the day.” “Sure,” she called weakly, opening a heavy metal door with a hook and glancing inside. The bed of coals was already a deep red, and looked like it would be fully burned out soon. “Why would she give us that coupon if she was going to turn around and hurt us?” Theo called, raising her voice just a little. “Those big ponies could’ve hurt us, but they just delivered and left. You’re being paranoid!” Sharp Edge didn’t respond, didn’t even turn around. He just stalked around the barn to the farmhouse, and out of sight. “What do you think, Emerald?” Theo asked, as Sharp left them behind. “If you were the only one of your kind in a strange new world, but then you found somepony from home had been there all along—would you want to meet them?” “Of course I would!” Emerald began. “But… Sharp is really smart, Summer. He always knows when I’m making a mistake. I think it’s called… street smarts. I don’t know why, it’s nothing to do with maps. But he knows things. If he thinks meeting with the one who sent the letter is a bad idea…” “He thought the embassy was a good idea,” Theo interrupted. “And I almost got dragged off to an insane asylum.” Emerald shrugged. “All I know is, he’s taken good care of me. He always knew better than… the others around. I don’t know why he doesn’t want to tell us things, but I know he must have a good reason. I trust him.” “I trust him too,” Theo sad, slumping onto her haunches. “But coming here… aside from you two, Equestria has been a string of bad luck. Everything I touch seems like it goes wrong. The one who sent the letter—she seems like she knows what it’s like. She sent us money…” Not money, she sent a way to get money that makes me go through her. “Why would she go to all that trouble if she isn’t nice?” Emerald didn’t have an answer. Nor would Sharp Edge share anything more about his contact with Feather, whoever she was. Theo didn’t push too hard—the pony was working himself ragged for her, and the guilt of that truth weighed heavily on her. Her next day cooking proved far more successful than her first helping with the cart. By the next, Applejack had found something new for her to do, letting her tiny sister pull the cart while Theo used her claws and dexterity to pack crates for shipping. It was painfully boring work, but at least it was something she could do that didn’t make her body feel like it was coming apart at the seams. She wanted to visit the town, but Sharp seemed to think it would be a bad idea to leave a trail for the authorities to follow, assuming they were looking. Applejack hadn’t confronted them, but that might just be ignorance. Their best chance of staying hidden was not making noise. Sharp’s estimate of a week proved to be overly optimistic, however. The harvest went on long enough that other hooves were brought in, and the stalls in the barn started to fill up. But Theo didn’t mind that—none of them seemed to mind that she was there, and packing crates with an occasional baking break wasn’t so bad. Eventually they finished with the last tree, and the Apples held a celebratory meal for all involved. It was the kind of thing that Theo herself would’ve happily avoided back home, but now that she was around ponies and their laser-focus on social interaction, she didn’t really have a choice. Besides, the barn itself had been transformed into a party hall, so it wasn’t like she could hide anywhere. She did her best to stay in the background, watching as the earth ponies chatted among themselves about the “great seedling” and other such folktales. Eventually she wandered over to where Sharp was chatting with Applejack and her friends—just because she didn’t much want to socialize, didn’t mean her companions shared her weaknesses. As she approached, she could see Sharp was engrossed in conversation with the party planner and a blue pegasus, who’d downed several bottles of cider already and yet still hadn’t collapsed. “That seems stupid,” the pegasus said. “Not that I’m calling you… obviously you’re not stupid if you built a whole airship. But why spend all your bits on train tickets, when you could use it for metal to fix what you built? Don’t you want to fly again?” “Yeah.” He sounded wistful. “But it’s not about the metal. It’s about the recovery team. Do you have any idea how much a pegasus search and rescue team costs?” The pegasus waved him off with a wing. “I mean, maybe if you didn’t have help. But my friend here was basically in hysterics over her whole farm rusting away, and she hasn’t complained to me in a week. That is worth more than bits.” “I wasn’t that bad,” Applejack muttered, nursing her cup. “You’re not that bad anymore,” Rainbow corrected. “But I’m serious. You’ve got a forge right here… Applejack doesn’t mind if you stay a little longer, does she?” The farm pony shook her head. “Of course not. You did good work. And your, uh… your friend helped too.” She looked up, meeting Theo’s eyes awkwardly. Theo looked away, settling down beside Sharp. She wasn’t going to try and press a pony like this into lying that she’d actually been useful. “So there we go,” Rainbow declared. “I’ll get your ship here, and instead of wasting bits on a train ticket you can get your wings back. Simple as that.” Sharp looked like he might cry. After a few seconds he nodded, looking away. “We’d be… very grateful.”