"...And those are basically the basics!" Bowlina finished her 3-hour-long tutorial on her limitations/abilities.
Ruby groaned, bored out of her mind. "Are we there yet?"
The ship jostled, and the engine stopped.
"I think that's a 'yes'."
They both stepped out of the ship, then immediately shielded their eyes from the blinding light.
This place was the very definition of "eyesore". The rocky ground was littered with giant, brightly colored, crystalline fruits. There was also a sea of some magenta goop, which nestled itself between the mountains that surrounded them.
"Woah, look at this place! It's so..."
"Bright?"
"I was going to say 'oversaturated, even for ponies', but that works too."
As they walked into the nearby town, they could smell all sorts of delicious scents, like rosemary and thyme perfectly stirred into a chicken broth.
“Doesn't that chicken smell delicious?” Bowlina asked.
“I'm actually a vegetarian.”
“Right, right; ponies are herbivores."
Ruby then corrected, "Actually, we can eat fish; most ponies just choose not to."
"Really?"
"We've got fishing poles and the saying 'bigger fish to fry' for a reason."
"I suppose that makes some sense."
As they finished their expository conversation, they arrived in the town, where they saw many fork people going about their business.
"Hey, who's that?" Ruby pointed towards a house across the way, where a Panama-hatted Bonneter holding a clipboard was thanking someone.
"Again, many thanks for your time." He said, miming tipping a hat.
Bowlina recognized her brother instantly. “Pan!?”
Pan was surprised. “Bowlina! What are you doing here?!”
“I should ask you the same thing!”
“I was just going around the world to take a census.”
“Wait, a census?” she gasped. “Did you finally get that job in the International Communications Division?!”
“I already told you that two months ago! Why, you even came with me on my first job!”
“Wait, what?!”
“You don’t remember?”
“I don’t! What happened?”
“Well, while we were in the Equine Kingdom taking a survey, you said you wanted to stay for a few months. I gave you my calling card so you could call me when you wanted to come back!”
Bowlina checked inside the folds of her bow; sure enough, there was the calling card. “How did this not fall out by now?”
She then started to remember. “Oh yeah! I’m starting to remember! I got drunk on some wine, told you I wanted to stay in the Equine Kingdom, and then I passed out!”
She turned to Ruby. “I think that’s how I ended up with you!”
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t you wake up sooner?”
“I mean, I knew that Bonneters were stereotyped as having a harder time processing alcohol than most other species, but I thought it was just that: a stereotype!"
"Ugh!”
Bowlina turned to Pan. "Well, anyway, since you're here, maybe you could help us get home?"
"I'd love to, but I lost my ship back in the Equine Kingdom, and had to use a taxi to get here."
"Wait,” Ruby interjected, “Was your ship named 'Homeward Bow'?"
"Why, yes it was!”
They gestured to the ship.
“You guys found it?!"
“It was in the sewers!”
“How the heck did it get down there?”
“Probably poor writing…” Ruby said cynically.
“Pardon?”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Ruby then looked around, and realized that the forks were looking at her as though they were frightened of them.
"Why is everyone here so scared-looking?" She walked up to one of them, who was backing away. "Excuse me, sir? Why-"
"Don't hurt us, s’il vous plait! We already gave you our Crystalline Lighter; what more could you want?!"
"Wait, what? Crystalline Lighter?"
The fork looked confused. "You're not one of them?"
"One of who?"
"One of the rebels that just stole our Crystalline Lighter!"
"Oh, definitely not. We just came here to refuel our ship on Power Moons.”
"Well, this really isn't a good time. Our Moons are shipped in from the nearest town by via a large bird, and the only way to direct him to us is using our special Flambéed Sirloin Steak. But without our Crystalline Lighter, we can't Flambé the meat."
Bowlina said, "Hey, let's see if we can’t help them!"
"Well, alright..."
"If you're looking for the renegades, then ils sont là, in that cave across the sea."
"Let's go, then!" She turned to her brother. "Hey Pan, wanna come along, too?"
"Actually, I'm still not done surveying these people."
"Well, cap yourself!"
“ ‘Cap yourself’? Is that how you say ‘suit yourself’?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Nothing…”
They then headed off towards the cave, but stopped when they saw that the sea was actually a sea of burning hot... pink lava?
Bowlina looked over and saw a lava bubble jumping in and out of the sea. "We should capture this Podoboo!"
"Is it alive?"
"I'm not actually sure... Look, it's the only way across... Whatever that sea is made of."
"Yeah, what is that stuff?"
"I think it's supposed to be pink lava?"
"It looks more like yogurt or Pepto to me."
"I know, right?"
They both chuckled, and Ruby captured the Podoboo. She shimmied around in the lava. “Woah, this actually feels really nice!”
“Liking the fireproof nature of the Podoboo?”
“Podoboo... What kind of name is that?”
“Not an official one, that’s for sure. It’s just what I like calling them.”
“Why?” Ruby asked as she set off for the other side of the sea.
“It’s what my Dad always called them. He used to travel the world for his job, and he’d show me pictures he took of all the sights he saw and the wacky creatures he met.”
“He sounds like a great guy!"
Ruby then started swimming towards the cave.
"If you don’t mind me asking, how did they… you know, pass away?”
“Oh... Well, It happened last year..."
Homburg had just gotten back from a trip to the Sand Kingdom, when a bad thunderstorm began to roll in, bringing with it a flood warning. They were helping their neighbors prepare, when they heard lightning strike about mile away. They told the Bowlina and Pan to get inside, so they watched from the window as they tried to quickly finish helping.
Lightning struck a nearby tree, startling Homburg and causing him to drop several boards onto his head, pinning him down. Sunny tried to help him up, while rainwater started to flood the street. The rainwater spilled onto the yard, surrounding them both.
And Bowlina looked away as lightning struck the water, electrocuting them both.
"The neighbor they were helping pulled them both into her house, but it was too late. They had been electrocuted, killed almost instantly." Bowlina was tearing up.
"Wow, that's... I don't know what to say..."
"And now, I'm terrified any time electricity is anywhere NEAR water!"
"Oh... Well, if that ever affects our journey, I'll try to remember that."
They continued to sail on in an awkward silence, until they reached the shore.
"We're here!"
"Shhh! Not so loud!"
A voice from within the cave said, "Avez-vous entendu que? (Did you hear that?)"
"Hide!" They ducked behind a rock as two brown stallions came out and looked around.
"Je pensais avoir entendu quelqu'un. (I thought I heard something.)"
"Eh bien, restez alerte. (Well, stay alert.)"
With one last glance around, they walked back into the cave.
"That was close!" Ruby whispered.
"I know. We need to be extra quiet if we wanna get back the Lighter."
"Okay."
The two started to sneak into the cave, hanging back in the shadows. Ruby spotted the Lighter.
...in the hooves of the biggest stallion of the three.
They both looked at each other, knowing what they had to do.
"Hey!” Ruby called out.
The three looked at the entrance to the cave, where they saw Ruby standing.
"La chercher! (Get her!)" Shouted the biggest one, who Ruby presumed to be the leader.
The two goons dashed towards Ruby, who led them out, while the leader hung back to protect the Lighter.
Ruby ran down the shoreline, where Bowlina was waiting for her. Ruby picked her up and captured a Podoboo. The two goons stopped, unsure of what was going on. Ruby puckered her lips, then spit flaming rocks at the goons. The rocks landed on their clothes, burning them. They retreated to their boat, but Ruby rammed into it, sinking it. She then spat at the cliffside, knocking rocks onto the goons and knocking them out.
Ruby uncaptured the Podoboo. "Are they alright?"
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll be fine."
They then went inside and faced the leader, who was bewildered that his goons were out. Ruby then told him that his boat was done for, so his only option was to surrender.
Not surprisingly, he didn't.
But surprisingly, Ruby knocked him unconscious with a few swift kicks and a punch.
“Woah! Where'd you learn those moves?”
“I'm actually a green belt in karate.”
Bowlina nodded, then they both turned to the unconscious leader. A Multi-Moon appeared above him.
"And suddenly, a Multi-Moon." Ruby said. "So, how're we gonna get everything back?"
"Just grab the Multi-Moon, and it'll all sort itself out."
"How does that work?"
"I don't know, it just does."
Ruby touched it, it played the animation, and everything went white as it lifted them up…
And back into town. Ruby looked around. "Wow, you were right! The lighter's back in its place, the criminals are in jail, and I know exactly what happened somehow!"
A fork said, "And here comes the shipment of Moons, juste à temps!"
The giant bird came flying over a mountain, and with a mighty 'CA-CAW!”, it dropped its payload of moons.
"Please take these Moons as a token of our appreciation!" The fork said.
"Thank you! You're all too kind!"
"Hey, Pan!” Bowlina called out to her brother, who had just finished surveying the citizens, "You wanna come along?"
"Sure! I've got no other way to get home, and I still need to finish the survey-taking!"
"Then let's set off!"
They then took off, Pan along for the ride.
After an hour or so, they were flying over a very Japan-reminiscent kingdom in a sea of colorful clouds.
Pan exclaimed, “Look at that! It’s the Bowser Kingdom!”
Ruby and Bowlina looked at each other, recognizing the name. “Pass,” they said in unison.
“That means we’ll have to try and find some moons in the Kingdom just east of here, the newly formed ‘Shadow Kingdom’.”
“What’s there?”
“Since it’s so new, there isn’t much information on it, but from what I can gather, it’s mostly surrounded a dark and gloomy forest.”
“Sounds fun…” Ruby retorted.
Meanwhile, Officer Sergeant had just arrived in Flamburg.
"Sir!" She stopped a fork man, flashing her badge. "Officer Sargent, IPF. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Not at all, mon ami. What do you need to know?"
"Did a green Pony and a Bonneter pass through here recently?"
"Oh, yeah! You just missed them! They were headed in that direction! Just follow the exhaust fumes, and you'll find them, aucun problème!"
"Thank you, sir."