//------------------------------//
// Journey Through the Dark - Part 20 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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The airship came to a surprisingly gentle stop, docked to a bridge connecting it to the town on the mountainside. It was a steep drop from there to the rocky ground below, but railing was in place to stop anyone from falling off. It wouldn't stop a peagsus from flying over it, of course, but Twilight doubted a pegasus needed to worry about falling down from a bridge. Especially if the supposed falling down involved being mid-flight in the first place.
She stepped out on the bridge, among the bustling crowd, though there were only about half as many ponies there as there had been when she'd first mounted the ship. Most had gotten off at previous locations, a few more had boarded, only a small few were staying on. More would come later though. It was the last stop in the airship's itinerary, and a day would pass before it made its way backwards to the capital. Or a cycle, as they said there. 
The trip itself had lasted three days after the first, the third one being the one she'd dismounted it. Much to Twilight's relief, she had run into no problems of sorts while aboard. The guards had looked around, but never hard enough to find her. Food was lasting still, and she'd kept up somewhat steady communication with both her Equestria and the laboratory in the capital.
Ponies had started to arrive there. Sunlight and Starburst had been forced to go through with the procedures. A few dozens already had undergone the process, and Twilight could tell by the way the unicorns wrote that they were not happy with their situation. But they had, they said, managed to modify the process very slightly. Enough so that if it was eventually found out, they could realistically blame it on some accident while using the machine that had misaligned some bits of it. They were also working on a direct countermeasure for the resulting creatures, but most of their time was spent elsehow.
The air was cold around Twilight, windy too, and she appreciated the unicorns' foresight as she donned the scarf they'd managed to wedge in her saddlebags. No thicker than a piece of paper folded a few times when she'd pulled it out, and much thinner once opened properly, but it did its job magnificently. Enough so that she wondered if it was only a marvel of material engineering or if magic was involved.
She was close to the Empire. Still a couple days away on hoof, but close. Certainly closer than she'd have been by then if she'd walked there. Sadly, no airship routes went directly from that town to the Empire, so walking became the fastest way at that point. She had actually questioned the lack of any direct line of infrastructure or travel between the two capitals, and the unicorns had simply reiterated that that was how it was. By the way they spoke of the place, and by bits of conversations overheard on the ship, she had some ideas as to why that was.
She tightened her scarf, got off the bridge, and pointed her sight northwards. She'd find a place to sleep for the night, the portion of it used to sleep at least, and travel once she woke up. Hopefully, she would get there safely and quickly enough.