“Is it time?”
Pushing these hushed words out her beak, Cobalt Coral widely yawned as a small span of sleep could hardly sustain her energy. The iron door stood ajar by the blackened mare, Silver Night, with the thief examining the depths for Coral & Co, as the hippogriff sought her partner, still sound asleep. Pulling his covers down, she detected the revitalized skin on his back, thinly covered by the buzz-cut looking hair. She proceeded to nudge his side insistently, which spurred him to grip his pillow tightly.
Grunting and snorting, Cornfield was still spent after the onslaught he barely endured. This, combined with the absence of sunlight restricted him from opening his eyes, meagerly tilting his heavy head up. “Uh,” he groggily uttered. “Is it time alre-” A bellowing yawn bounced around the room as he set his skull back on his pillow.
“Oh, oh no, please don’t do that in my directio-” Before Coral could finish her plea, her body instinctively assimilated his loud inhalation, wanting to curl up back into bed before slapping herself awake. She grabbed Cornfield by the shoulders with unreserved intensity, and shook him off the ground.
“Whooa-wo-whoa! Ok! I’m Up! I’m up!” The poor colt was tossed about mercilessly like a ragdoll by his travel companion until she dropped his ass onto the hard floor. The impact splashed dust upwards as he shifted his legs around, dizzily lifting himself up. Then, he and Coral packed everything they could, including the lantern since the gem hunter sacrificed her own in the forest temple.
Curiously, Silver peeked deeper beyond the edge of the door to see if they were done or slacking off. Cornfield spotted the emboldened mare spying on them in the corner of his eye and scoffed as he turned his smooth back. “Y’all know it’ll be harder to avoid attention as a trio,” he pessimistically reminded.
“Well, yeah!” the sleek black pony shot back sarcastically. “That’s why we’re sticking to the alleyways. I’ve learned a lot about this city you know!”
“Again, it’s good to know that you are on top of things,” Coral chimed her appreciation, then muttered to her shoulder. “Almost suspiciously so...” The now hefty saddlebags gained her peace of mind as she latched them on her back. “Got your belongings as well, Cornfield?”
“Ah... I’m coming, ladies,” he announced before stopping at the phrasing of such a statement. “N-Not in the way you might think!”
“Mind in the gutter as usual.” Now reaffirmed as one party, she nodded at the mare awaiting them. “All right, Silver, lead the way to the boat. I hope it’s big enough to fit all of us in.”
With a hastened voice and hushed tone, Silver scanned the alley as she waved her hoof. “Stay close behind! If something happens, I’ll throw this tarp over you!” She showcased the compacted material, supposedly big enough to blanket them both, from her own strapped luggage. “You gotta duck and make no sudden moves. Just in case.”
“That means whoever sneezes gets all the blame. Got it. Cornfield, I’m looking at you.”
The thief of the night gingerly stepped over to the alleyway’s end and scouted the route ahead. Early in the morning, nopony seemed to exist on the lookout for criminal movements. Perhaps the high-profile events amounting to the resounding death of a mob boss drove tourists into hiding. Another wave of Silver’s hoof and they migrated under unison to the next alley, winding through residential blocks.
“Why do we have to go this early again?” the cranky young stallion whined. “I think even Luna is still up in pony dreams.” Despite his complaints, he made his best effort sticking behind Coral’s hindquarters.
“Quiet!” Silver hushed with a hoof tapping her lips. “We’ll never get there if they hear you. And if you get caught I’m going away for a long time too!”
“She’s right,” Coral whispered, swinging her tail aside to address her green partner in clarity. “We’re all in this together. You might even be guilty by association, so I can’t take that chance.” She zipped her beak, sunk her head, and followed Silver as silently as she could.
The unicorn tried shifting her flanks in each step and making signals with her braided tail, assisting in navigating the tag-alongs however possible. Double checking every corner for bystanders, the pony of the shadows escorted them in a maze of brick and concrete with solid determination. Near the bend, she caught a break; the back of an apartment with a door left cracked open by a careless tenant. “There’s a shortcut we can take right around the corner,” Silver informed. “When I move, just follow me inside.”
Then, the opportunity came when nopony’s vision flooded over their direction. Silver lunged straight through the door in one ninja-like motion and swung the door wide open for them.
“Move it, Cornfield. I don’t want to leave you behind,” she advised her friend.
“Your ass makes it easy!” Cornfield taunted back.
When everypony was inside and accounted for, the three fugitives gazed longingly down the ragged hallway. Multiple doors lined the walls with room numbers embedded on the front of each. Cranked up air heaters perpetuated a warming atmosphere, as the cheap gas-lit wall sconces flickered between each set of entrances. The green and white striped wallpaper had plenty of tears to reveal its age, with the floor stained from multiple hooves treading on it. “Ok,” Silver began explaining. “In here, we don’t have to be as close together. Just let me check the hallways up ahead before you start to follow.” Trotting further in the hall, she found it to be desolate and inactive, tenants were probably still sound asleep in their appointed dwellings. Signalling her teammates, the mare hoped they could keep up the silence at this rate.
Coral, however, didn’t feel as comfortable or confident with her stature dwarfing everypony else. “I wish I was a little younger for this gig,” she quietly stated to the jet black guide. “I’d be around the same size as both of you. Now, I’m easy to pick out of a crowd, let alone an empty hallway.”
“As long as we don’t get lost, we should be fine.” Trekking an endless abyss kept barely lit by the dull aged wall-mounted lights, the smaller of the two thieves quipped about these buildings connected at the foundational floor. She even mentioned that any distance accumulated indoors was always better than aimless exploration in plain view. It certainly was convenient having apartment maps laid about and indicating the exit in this elaborate maze.
A sixth sense sparked in the hippogriff. Nopony was behind her but she soon found out why. The stallion curiously poked his nostrils inside a room which lacked any concern for security. Coral could see wavering illumination going down his face through the door. There was only one possible explanation. A pretty light blue mare was trying out different types of lingerie heedless of peeping toms and ripe for pleasuring. “Cornfield,” Coral snapped in a hushed tone. “Get over here!”
Stranded in his hypnotic fantasy come to life, he naturally disobeyed, as a hoof intricately set on drawing his “gun” out. Powerful twirling silky ropes clasped his compact frame and whisked him away, and just when those panties were gracefully slid off his target’s sleek butt cheeks.
Obviously Coral wasn’t about to let him have his fun as he shouted “CORAL”! It was smothered, but his frustration raised the volume nonetheless.
Suspicious in her vulnerable state, the tenant responded via investigating the queerly exposed doorway. The attractive pony leaned out the door, glancing one way and then the other. With only the company of abysmal nothingness, she rolled her eyes and shut away her room. Banking a corner right, however, the backs of the sleuthy bandits lay flat against a wall. The hippogriff’s flora wrapped around Cornfield’s mouth until they were clear.
Coral felt Silver’s judging presence with an awkward vibe abound and blushed sheepishly “Yeaaah, we need all the help in the world,” she embarrassingly admitted.
Silver could only click her tongue and shake her head in disapproval. She was hard pressed to believe Coral was a professional thief with the company she kept. Nevertheless, she pressed on and urged the two to follow her. They arrived shortly before a glass-paned side exit that barred their progress. As the infamous thief laid her magical aura of telekinesis upon the smudged rusty knob, it creaked slightly but not without resisting her struggle. “Damn! Gotta pick this one open,” Silver took advantage of the hippogriff beside her. “Think you can do it, Coral?”
“With pleasure.” It was a mere simple lock for keeping undesirables at bay. With just one talon and a click and a push, the locks surrendered, creating a new path onwards.
Despite their success, something didn’t sit right with either of the original team members. Silver pointed outside, well across what was yet another alleyway. “Alright, now we’re almost there,” she reassured her weary team. “Once we go through this door we’ll be traversing that alley. We need to go right, where there’s some construction going on, then if we can slip our way past, you’ll see the Maneview park. Nopony goes there this early except maybe a ne’er-do-well or something. After that, we need to cut through Gaskin Terrence. Then if we can get past the train station, all we have to do finally…” She paused to take her breath for what sounded like an ultimate conclusion. “...is climb down the underlying sewers. Then…”
“WAIT, WHAT?!” Cornfield startled his companions and pounced his forelegs. “We’re still that far out?!”
His backlash rocked Silver. Like it or not, she invested a hoof full of hours studying the route all night and doubting such methods occupied her mind in disbelief. Why did this kid have the gall to question her in the first place? However, some oddly shaped grey shadows cast by street lamps ventured too close and caught the thief nearly off guard. She instinctively blurted out “TARP”, tossed a layer of stolen plastic material all over them with levitation magic, and expanded a reassuring smile in guarding the oversized cargo.
“Wait, I’m with Cornfield on this-” Before Coral could say another word, her vision became lost under the thick canopy. Being part bird, her natural instinct in total darkness was to stay silent and still, as if she was asleep.
An unwary pony waltz right in front of the gang, and much to Silver’s dismay, the figure revealed its identity with the shiny badge of the authorities. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing with that?!” the seasoned officer went past reading her rights and straight for the interrogation. “A citywide curfew had been announced. All buildings are on lockdown! Explain yourself!”
“Ah,” verbally stumbled Silver as her eyes darted between him and the figures shrouded in a blue, crumpled sheet. “Uh... I have this excess... trash I need to throw out and decided to take a shortcut to the nearest bin!”
Regardless, he carefully examined the tarp from the open door. “This door was vandalized. Something ain’t right with you lady, I’m gonna have to ask you to come with me.”
Once he drew his cuffs, the thief noticed his position relative to the doorway and recalled a similar situation which now placed her in redeeming herself as a clumsy victim. “Alright, you caught me. There’s something under this and, if I show you, just don’t arrest me, ok?”
The cop cautiously obliged, suspicious about the part she might be playing. He’ll still take her in for further “questioning” anyway. Might even have some fun on this crappy shift. When Silver turned to the tarp, she started closing the door. Seeing it as resisting arrest, the officer braced for a charge and shouted “HOLD IT!”. Silver timely bucked the door very hard with the cop’s head perfectly smacked by a solid plate of heavy metal. The resounding thud cleaned his clock and took him out momentarily. The unconscious body of a cop would create quite a scene, so she speedily flung it inside and unveiled her accomplices with a sense of pride.
Coral snapped out of the stupor she was placed under before shaking her head and regaining mental comprehension. Cheap lighting blinded awakening pupils, inciting a rapid blinking reaction as her eyes adjusted on Silver. “Whoa, ok,” the bird spoke intuitively. “I spaced out. What happen-” Cornfield sensed the tingling brush from Coral’s feathers when they stood on end, but he wasn’t without his share of surprise. Silver plainly hid a police pony under their discarded tarp like sweeping a massive pile under the rug. “I-Is he dead?”
“Wha-of course he’ll live,” assured the black mare, drooping the edge on one side; allowing the stallion’s nostrils to breathe. “I learned by personal experience thanks to you.”
“Thank Cornfield. He was the one that thought up the idea in the first place. He loved the results, too.”
“It wasn’t me who knocked her out, though,” chimed the aforementioned colt.
“It was a combined effort.”
Concern welled up in Silver’s mind from the abrupt lone cop intervention. Usually, they patrolled in pairs or more. She bent around the arched doorway once more westwards and cursed under her breath. Marching through the streets, squad carriers hunted the city for offenders of a missing prize trophy. Tagging along side were a few dozen or so officers armed with tasers. Silver huffed a defeated sigh and returned, bearing grim news. “It’s no good anymore,” she updated.
“What? Coral squawked impatiently, “Yes, it is! You said it yourself, it’s straight across.” Her volume accelerated higher than a whisper, prompting Cornfield to calm her down.
“No. I mean, we can’t go this way. The police are everywhere!” Discouraged, the mystical pony zoned out on a window, thinking back on events prior. “Because it was a city official that was robbed, they must be escorting Mayor Mare and the rest of the other important figures safely out of Baltimare as a safety precaution. Worse yet, the supposed ‘murder’ tied to you must have led the police force into seeing you as a highly dangerous creature.”
“What!?” yelped Cornfield, disregarding his assumed role in calm. “Oh, this keeps getting better and better! There’s no way we can cross without having the entire BPD on us when they see even a hint of Coral’s feathers.” His friend did not remind him about settling his volume. Instead of concern for escape, her thoughts raced circles around her, having earned a reputation as public enemy number one. She contemplated about rushing out like a bat outta Tartarus and let fate decide on whether she succeeded or not. “If this is it for me, I want my descent into death be known by every creature out there,” thus saith the hippogriff resigned to fate.
Mentions of the underworld spiked an idea for Cornfield, as the gears in his head directed ideas upwards to salvation. “Wait... Why not ascend the situation, rather than descend?”
The hippogriff was about to dismiss the idea until she saw the same sign he looked at about the staircase. “Hey, yeah!” Coral agreed with her voice raising spiritually. “I can fly you ponies over the rooftops one-by-one. It’d be a lot easier than pussy-hoofing around outside!”
“Exactly!” The excited colt clapped his hooves, happy to be on the same wavelength.
“It’d mean I’d have to get rid of the blanket on my back to handle the extra weight.” She reached behind and pulled the sheets binding her wings and liberated them for flight. “Acceptable losses.”
Silver joined in their elation of a much easier journey with a bounce in her step. “If you can find a way to the rooftops, you can map out your approach carefully between buildings without getting spotted! It’s perfect!”
“Will you be coming along or-”
“I can make my own way on hoof. Just be sure to get there!”
“Then, what are we waiting for! Let’s get out of here before a passing cop notices the body.”
Led by signs and arrows, the duo made haste up to the roof after several flights of stairs. Coral prayed nothing would obstruct their race against time but, if they don’t escape soon, they will be cornered by the inevitable backup. Hiking up the final fleet of stairs, Coral barreled into the door and burst through to the luminated night sky outside with Cornfield closely behind. The sun’s edge extended far on the wide acres of Equestria, dawn was fast approaching.
In a hurry, the colt leapt to one side, perched on top of a stone lip preventing clumsy non-flying ponies from their certain doom. In his perspective, the ocean stretched as far as the world’s end. A pattern across towering architecture developed the safest route for aerial travel. “Hey, look!” he called out.
As she approached by his side , the spotter enlightened her over these roof’s unique passage ahead of them. “I think if you gain altitude over these buildings, nopony will notice us! The higher, the better.”
Coral stretched each wing in anticipation, itching to give Cornfield the flight of his life.”One question,” she inquired, “How afraid are you of heights?”
“I climb trees for mare butts,” he smirked as he blatantly reminded her what his favorite hobby was. “I can handle heights.”
Deviously, the hippogriff smiled straight back. “That means I’m not going easy on you.” She vertically swung her wings and hovered neatly above him, generating vines that gently caressed around the young stallion’s barrel before tightening its grip. “Just remember the golden rule. Don’t look down. And if you start to feel nauseous, aim for a cop.”
The feeling of his body lifting off the ground, hooves already aching for the surface, made him feel very uneasy as she pulled him closer. “Can’t I just ride you?”
“That’s enough double entendres for you, flyboy.” Once he was practically secure around the forelegs, she zipped mildly down in an inverted arcing motion to gain extra momentum. Skillfully flapping her wings there was plenty enough lift for both of them. Cornfield tensed up from feeling the intense inertia weighing down as she gracefully carried him away and above the rooftops.
“Hey! I think I can see Silver down there!” With his discerning eye over the city, the colt in tow could make out a black and white pony pulling out something hidden by what looked like a dumpster between apartments.
“She’s shrewd enough to make it on her own! This is MUCH faster than working her convoluted slower route.”
As they glided freely out of range of the fortified police checkpoints, two coppers, along with a few night owl ponies breaking curfew, indeed noticed a mysterious hippogriff in flight. Fortunately, the surrounding structures convinced the witnesses that some illusion was at play, and opted to mind their own beeswax. The park Silver Night described before in her detailed plan lied far below, and the docks were still further ahead.
“How much longer is it?” Cornfield asked, while watching monuments and landmarks blur past them.
“We’re almost there, just wait,” answered Coral. Cutting across the nighttime skyline and the beautiful flame lighting provided by way of street lamp posts, she imagined herself relaxing inside the park like a free bird. “I wish we coulda just laid low and enjoyed some down time. Stupid Electric had to ruin everything!”
“Either way, I’m glad we made it this far! I still can’t believe how fast that potion healed me!
“We need to send Zecora postcard or something to tell her how her magic drinks worked like a charm.” Soon, the smell of salt grew stronger as the central hub involving naval trades came into view. “I’m going to find an empty clearing to land,” Coral said as she scanned the port and its facilities. “I don’t know which boat we are getting yet.”
“We should find a good place to hide while we wait for Silver,” suggested Cornfield, taking note of a lacking pony presence near the docks.
“Fair. One of the empty warehouses should do the trick. We’ll pick one that’s open and on the way over from the path she’s taking.” Swooping down, she descended for a landing until in close proximity of the damp concrete and flapped her wings to a halt. Then, she allow Cornfield from her entanglement, disembarking onto the deck, lined by several warehouses that invited shelter.
“Actually, I can probably just go keep a lookout,” he snickered with a smug, holier-than-thou expression upon his face, “You’re the criminal here, not me.”
“Thanks for volunteering,” she expressed her gratitude before playfully delivering his rump a quick lash with a thick vine.
“HEY!” his demeanor soured, resulting from the stinging whip and soothing its bold mark. The hippogriff laughed as she turned tail, trotting inside a storehouse welcoming her to crash.
The harbor started bathing in dawn’s yellow sunlight. The green stallion stood impatiently while Coral remained on standby. He stayed watchful, but there was only so many one-off silhouettes who paid no attention to him, let alone a familiar face. That was until he noticed black on white in the distance. It was indeed Silver, carrying something in a box on route through the entry gates. Approaching with her clear acknowledgement of their rendezvous, he quickly confronted the tardy pickpocket. “There you are! What kept you!?”
She jerked her head to the side, swapping the hair over the other eye for a brief second. “I don’t know if you realize it but everypony is fawning over a stupid festival. Even if the riff-raff are under curfew, there are ponies preparing for the big event. Things got hairy on the way.”
He rolled his eyes at her arrogance, then began questioning about the box fitted precariously on her withers. “...What you got there?”
Like a reflex, Silver glanced around rapidly, whispering with a hoof siding her mouth. “If you must know, it’s that trophy from last night! No way am I losing this baby!”
“Fine,” he brushed off the matter. “Are we ready? I’ve got my things and Coral is laying an egg in a desolate warehouse.”
“I just need to grab the key. Then we set sail.”
“Good! I’ll go tell Coral…” About halfway in rotation, he slowed his step for a clarification. “Uh, where do we find you?
Explaining what boat she seized felt time-consuming, so the thief gestured to join her as they strayed over to the appropriate pier. An array of many boats bobbed along the waters between each pocket the port branched into. Cornfield monitored the selection and wished it would be any of the better vessels in the lot. Then, she stopped him in his path and isolated a boat with a black foreleg stretched, influencing his field of vision another way. “That one,” she said with a sense of confidence.
The humble vessel in question had a mast absent of any sails, possibly hidden away so jackers like them wouldn’t steal it. However, the brilliant colors of the white hull and the turquoise line traced alongside the stanchion were very attractive. The words “S.S. Clamshell” labelled the sea-worthy vehicle broadside and the boat itself in good shape, its true owner obviously cared for it. “A fishing boat?!” Cornfield shouted in unappreciative disappointment.
“Not quite, but yes.”
With a defeated sigh, he prepared to double back where Coral refrained exposing herself in public discretion. “Alright, I’ll go grab her and we can head out. Have everything ready to leave as soon as we embark.” Silver shot him a nasty glare in response, as if saying “Don’t tell me what to do” before acting on said preparations. He put up with her attitude and tracked the path he incurred back where he’d find his partner.
His faith in his ability to detect Coral died when he approached the open storage room, when even the invasive sunlight refused to show what hid amongst the piles of crates and freight. Alone and surrounded by huge distant objects all somehow made the poor colt incredibly uneasy. Cornfield crept inside accepting that his partner needed his intervention. “Uh... Coral?” he called out hesitantly.
“BOO!!!”
“AHHH!!”
Coral emerged from a dark corner straddling the shutters, fighting to choke her laughter down as the young stallion’s tail and mane stood straight on end. “...Don’t scare me like that!” he yelled after calming his beating heart.
“Relax,” the hippogriff cood, approaching him with a saunter. “I knew you were coming. Plus, I want you to be wide awake while we’re preparing for the voyage. You can nap after we set sail.”
Regaining his composure, Cornfield was not amused and furrowed his brow, only for Coral to cock her head and flutter her eyelashes coupled with a more tender smile. Her charm lightened the mood as he paused, then rubbed the back of his head chuckling and swallowed his pride. “...Sorry. It’s just been a crazy trip already, and we’ve already gone past the point of no return.”
Then, his muzzle brought his peering eyes where the harbor rested. The unmistakable scent of the ocean permeated the air. Seagulls honked out in the distance as waves splashed against the nearby foundation of land. After evading an extensive incarceration and surviving the suicidial gauntlet of Electric, Cornfield took in the scenery and remarked, “I guess I know now the true feeling of freedom.”
Coral stepped out to discard his loneliness, and inhaled as deeply as her lungs could muster, relaxing body and mind as she took to heart the stallion’s words. “Just wait until you see Mount Aris, Cornfield,” she excitedly hyped up, letting her rare softer side stand out for the colt. “One, it will be good to broaden your horizons. Two, you’ll get to see all the beautiful sights it has to offer. Three, you’ll get to see that not EVERY hippogriff is as charming and beautiful as I.” She pushed her mane back and shook it, flowing gently about like the waves.
Cornfield couldn’t help but lightly shake his head to her egotistical notion about other hippogriffs. Yet he’s more than happy to finally see it for himself. “Welp! Better not keep Silver waiting. She said it was that boat right there.” When he revealed its spot, he declared a challenge in friendly competition. “C’mon! I’ll race ya!”
“”Race ME? I’m twice your size, shorty. I’ll outpace you easy.”
The pony and hippogriff duo raced down the deck, no longer afraid of what others might say. For a fleeting moment, they enjoyed a carefree innocent life, soaking up the most of their companionship before setting out on the next perilous chapter of their lives. True to her word, however, she passed the galloping creature, cantering with relative ease and showing off how further ahead in speed she was. “Come on, little guy. I know you can run faster than that when you are scared.”
Despite Coral’s taunting, he discovered an exclusive heavenly satisfaction formed in a gift earned by having vanquished a deadly vendetta and even ironically saved Baltimare. Cornfield never experienced this eternal happiness that exists secluded from meager daily activity. Because after living so many years companionless, it was the first conscious time he genuinely felt as Coral saw him vividly; galloping with glee and without a care in the world.
On a mission that they demonstrated unwavering commitment until the end. The gem thief’s transgressions were utterly resolved for good, and his faith held steadfast in an earnestly loyal conviction that no matter the obstacle blockading their goals, they shall overcome the odds every time. “I’m coming!” Cornfield shouted. The duo closed in on the boat. Silver, emotionally numb to their passionate sprint with each other, simply went about finalizing remaining cargo in selective anticipation of their arrival.
Coral decelerated as she neared the bow, then walked casually down to communicate with Silver. “So, this is the boat you want us to take, right?” she asked Silver as she stepped around her, maintaining visual contact with that sole green eye. “And you got the supplies we needed?”
The water fluctuated as it soaked struts arrayed beneath, fixating the nailed-in planks of the pier. Audibly wrestling itself as the life-giving liquid retracted and pushed into the concrete bed. It was very soothing to hear for many a sailor, and provided travelers a taste for adventure.
“Yeah. It’s all inside the boat. It just needs a big sail and it’s ready to go.” Silver responded with the flick of her hair as she pointed towards the tiller. “Careful. My trophy’s in there!”
“All right. Hopefully you got more than just chips.” Flapping her wings, she boosted herself up to survey the boat’s deck. To her delight, various food, supplies, and water populated the base of the steering wheel. A book laid precariously on top. Intrigued, Coral grasped it in her claws and examined the cover. “A Seafaring Guide for Landlubbers: How to Navigate the High Seas,” she read aloud. “Great timing on this guide, considering none of us know how to sail.”
The hybrid relaxed as she cracked open the book and skimmed the pages. “I was hoping to find a sailor to take us there himself. But, time and circumstances prevent us from doing that now...”
Cornfield helped himself up as he climbed the wooden ramp to board. “Ah, so let me just add my bag to pile.” As he settled his luggage among the goods, a wicked idea struck him like a bolt to the brain. “Hey, Coral,” he called out softly.
“Yes, Cornfield?” she responded, leaving the book open on her progression with anatomy charts. “What is it?”
He stealthily closed the distance between his mouth and her ear as he began to whisper. “Let’s drive off now before Silver gets on board. It’ll be perfect!”
A breath of awkward silence passed and Coral was visibly irritated. She jabbed the open book up between them and Silver, disguising their susurrations as they got talon to hoof with each other. “You really want to be a dick and do that? After all the trust we put into her helping us get this far?”
“C’mon. What’s the worst that could happen? We got everything we need right here! Let’s go before she gets on!”
Beak clenched, she growled her answer. “The worst is she could always rat us out! Now that she knows where we are going and how we’re travelling, one squad of Celestia’s finest will stop us cold.”
Opening his yap, no words emitted from within it, just the sound of choking on his metaphorical hoof in his mouth. The possibility of retaliation never raised concern for him until she verbally smacked him with it. “Damn... I didn’t think of that.”
Any chance they’d find a conclusion was disrupted, as Silver hopped on, completely naive of their conversation. “We’re burning daylight,” the black thief impatiently pressured them. “Are we ready to go or what?”
Desperately playing it cool, Coral chucked the book by the pulpit to save face, while both swiftly and synchronously backed away, assuming a modest position. “Sorry,” she began to explain. “I was showing the colt here the book’s illustrations. Very informative.”
“What? Is he going to start coloring the pictures with crayons or something?” Snarling in contempt at the uninvited mare, Cornfield wished they could leave her hanging in the gallows.
“Depends. Did you bring any?”
“HEY!” The stallion fiercely interjected. “Don’t indulge her!”
“Anyway,” the bearer of The Heart of Nature continued. “We need to store the food and supplies in the cabin below, the sails are missing and possibly stored there, and the door to the companionway is locked.” Coral summoned the unicorn’s inventory with her talons expectantly. “Key?”
Silver’s eyelids narrowed her gaze. An absurd work of nature triggered a weary disposition of her as she strafed laterally outside the increasingly guilty looking bird. Her movements were akin to taking an x-ray for any ulterior agendas lodged surgically inside the specimen. “You weren’t thinking about leaving without me now where you?”
“Again, Cornfield just wanted to see the pictures,” Coral testified, wanting to strangle the young colt for inevitably putting her in this really awkward situation. “You know the youth of today. Can’t use their imagination.”
It seemed her tale did not faze Silver’s convictions. Luckily, the onyx colored thief just wanted to get the show on the road and forked over the key. Gripping it in her claws, she unlocked the companionway and crawled into the spacious shelter. Eventually she returned, dragging out a large cargo container and settled it on deck. Unhooking its locks revealed a large well-conditioned sail. She lifted it up, causing it to expand and proceeded to install it on the mast.
“Ok. I’ll set this up,” Coral proclaimed as she divvied up tasks. “Silver, move all the supplies down the companionway. We don’t want our food to rot in the sun. Cornfield, unravel the ropes holding the boat on the pier and hang them securely on deck.” Once their newest partner complied and hunkered down inside with the first load, the hippogriff roughly pulled the colt aside to make her stance clear. “No funny business. She’s coming with us. That’s that.”
Silver placed everypony’s stuff securely below while Cornfield begrudgingly unwrapped the ropes and hung them on the hooks of the railing for safekeeping. After several minutes of final insurance checks, Coral secured the turquoise sails in place, catching the blustering wind and proudly displaying the green fish embroidered on the mainsail. “Everypony ready? All hooves on deck!” The hippogriff cawed to the crew below.
“Ready Coral!” Her first shipmate gleefully answered.
“Let’s go already!” Silver openly whined.
The boat drifted from the piers and into the open sea, as she jumped down with a nice impact on the wooden deck and grappled the steering wheel. With her open luggage situated by the captain’s theoretical seat, she readied hear map and compass. Fully equipped to navigate her crew out from Horseshoe Bay, they sail onwards to the only land she can truly call home.