A little while later.
Vesper stared across a vast gulf, hovering in the air on a pair of membranous wings. Before her was a terrible vortex of stormy sky, where gale winds lifted chunks of rock as big as houses and flung them like toys. The desert landscape beneath it was scoured clean, with huge gaps and craters that suggested a sustained bombardment. Vesper adjusted the goggles over her eyes, keeping out the moisture as best she could.
The wind howled, but she kept herself still in the air. At least around her, the Dreamlands remained stable—she was an island in a sea of destruction. When rocks came closer to her, they dissolved to dust, because she did not will them here.
"We don't have enough time," Pale Light said, glancing once more through the metal astrolabe in one hoof. It was only one of many instruments he could summon—this one looked across to the world she'd come from. The awake world, but not her only one. She had three, actually. "It's well past sunrise now. You will wake up any second."
When she'd been less skilled, she would've had to shout to be heard through conditions like this. But these days, Vesper just didn't let the roaring thunder get in with its full strength, and she muffled the wind until it was something manageable. Even so, she was no Princess Luna. She couldn't keep the Dreaming from touching her completely. Yet.
"We could try to bend time a little further," she said, touching down reluctantly on the edge of a ridge. It looked out over that vast valley, rough black rock with patches of stubborn lichen and moss clinging where they could. But there was precious little place for them to find purchase. "The princess spends years of time every night, doesn't she?"
"The princess does," Pale agreed. He touched down beside her, hooves splashing in the mud. He followed her to the edge, but didn't step over it. "You will need years of physical practice to do likewise. Perhaps in time, if you are dedicated. Likely not. Most cannot coexist in two times at once."
She grinned. "Saying it like that is just going to make me more focused." She squinted down through the storm, trying to see her goal through all that wind and water. This far out, it was easy to dissolve the protective magic's attempt to kill her. But when she went in closer, it would be harder. Near the center, it would be impossible.
Somewhere in all that was a library, the one Pale had been looking for after all this time. If only she could figure out how to get inside without getting her dream-self killed again. "Tomorrow night. We can track it now, that's a step. We'll get through."
"Maybe." The bat touched her shoulder with one hoof, meeting her eyes. "There's no need to exhaust yourself on my behalf, Vesper. I am timeless, and you have a whole lifetime ahead of you. Take your time."
How long a lifetime that would be was another detail Vesper was still getting her head around. She really needed to push on that a little harder with Blake. Was having free reign of Earth really worth everything Equestria could give them?
"I'm not exhausted, Pale. I need a chase. That's why I came to Equestria in the first place, and it's why I'll be the first one to get inside that library."
He chuckled, releasing her shoulder. His eyes lingered on her belly for a moment, though she couldn't imagine why. "We'll see. Those priorities might shift for the next few years. Try and remember me when you have other dreams on your mind, alright? It would be a shame to let your talent go to waste. Legacy needs ponies like you."
She tilted her head to one side. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Something loud banged through her ears, echoing from one world and into the next. She groaned, and found her body laying in an oversized bed.
She looked up, but of course Blake wasn't there. The light of full day streamed in through a crack in the blinds, but not onto her face. Despite Vesper's reminder that she could be woken up "if anything important happened" Blake almost always just left her here, to wake when she was ready. Stars bless that horse.
She might even love him. That would take a little more time to be sure about. She wasn't ready to rush in or anything.
Their bedroom aboard the Bright Hawk was greatly transformed since their desperate trek across Equestria. There were a proper number of passengers this time, and a whole cargo of weapons and scientific equipment. But Blake was the captain, and it wouldn't be right for him to be crammed in a crew berth barely wider than a cot.
Theirs was double-sized, with a proper Equestrian bed taking up most of the far wall. The room was a mix of worlds now—there were color portraits of the two of them together on the walls, in this world and the one they'd come from. There was a laptop on the desk, and a mini-fridge in a corner well stocked with energy drinks.
Being the only bat around a crew of day ponies took a steady supply of energy drinks to keep her going, lest war erupt. She probably would've cracked open one of them now, if she didn’t hear another distant rumble. This time she was awake enough not to mistake it for another crash of dream-thunder. She recognized the sound; that was a cannonfire. Far away, maybe, but the whistle of metal told her it was on the way.
She hesitated by the mirror and their open wardrobe just long enough to grab a cap to cover up her unruly mane. It was true that over half the creatures on this ship were still human, and dressed religiously every day regardless of local custom. But this was another aspect where practicality was the clear victor over tradition.
The new captain's quarters was on the reconstructed top-deck, so she didn't have to climb up the stairs. Just a few steps down the hall, and she was out into the chaos.
The deck of the Bright Hawk still looked very much the way it had during most of their adventure across Equestria, other than the repairs. And the solar panels covered with textured plexiglass. Or the giant transmission antenna that ran up the mast. There were practical limitations to what could be brought across, but they'd sure pushed them with this ship. And what they couldn't bring, they could buy.
She could always find her friends, because they weren't completely overdressed. Besides, the scientists, international observers, and bureaucrats were fleeing in panic.
But Blake was just outside. He didn't dress like a pirate, as much as he probably wanted to—but he had a long coat in old-fashioned naval blue, matching the local style. There wasn't much underneath, that would just be too formal for a pony.
He wasn't one yet, technically. But if he came along with the Bright Hawk for a third trip, that would probably be the end of it.
Too bad he seemed to be having so much fun. "Vesper, you're just in time! We finally lured them out." He pointed off the deck with one hoof, and she followed his gaze.
Sure enough, the Eagle’s Talon was visible out there in the distance, a menacing bulbus shadow against the horizon. They clearly recognized the Bright Hawk, or else they'd grown a lot bolder in attacking random ships that grew too close to the Equestrian border. "You know how long Equestria's been waiting for this. Time to nip a thorn from their side."
Vesper brushed up against him, then hurried up the steps to the helm. They had already come to a stop, sails down and all engines cut. The bait was working, because the Eagle’s Talon seemed to be accelerating, making for them with eager haste.
"Captain Hodges," snapped a voice. A pegasus wearing a military uniform—but none native to Equestria. He saluted, foreleg and wing moving together. At least they were practical enough to leave openings. "Civilians are all below. You should prepare to give the signal to Equestria now. We can't risk one of those cannonballs landing."
Blake nodded once. "They aren't aiming for us, I don't think. It's just to keep us in place. They don't want their kill getting too far away."
He followed Vesper up to the helm. Ryan stood beside it now, though they weren't actually going anywhere. The deck looked so empty with everyone below.
"You sure you don't want to just summon a rocket or something and send them all to hell?" he asked. "You know they deserve it."
She nodded absently. She didn't actually know the limits of her magic, though she shuddered to think of what calling so much power from the Dreaming would do. It wasn't the explosion that frightened her, it was using magic to kill. "Positive. This is Equestria, so we do it the Equestrian way."
"Technically these are the Badlands," Ryan countered. "But sure. I don't think any of those scientists expected us to actually get attacked. Probably didn't even read that part of the release."
"Equestria explained the risks, I was there," Blake said. "They didn't consider the chance of a successful attack very high. That's why we have ten scientists and four marines, and not the other way around." He nudged Vesper in the rear with one hoof, gently. He wasn't trying to be distracting this time. "Better dial them up, bat. You know they don't actually have to get here... griffons can fly."
"Yeah, yeah." She pushed him back with a wing, then closed her eyes. This would probably be a little easier on her if she had drained an energy drink. Why couldn't the stupid pirates just attack at night like normal people?
Vesper dreamed—she dreamed of a rune in the sky overhead, one drawn by Princess Luna herself. It was only smoke—thank the stars Vesper didn't have to power this herself. Each complex shape was easily as far across as the entire Bright Hawk, with a faint internal glow. Soon there was an entire circle of them, two dozen characters that appeared beside them in the air.
Her legs began to shake, her mind wavering under the incredible focus required. In its way, bringing so much into the physical was as hard as piercing the protective spells around the ancient sanctums of the Dreaming. But that was exactly why she was so prepared. Equestria could've sent their own warmage to remain aboard the Bright Hawk, but they hadn't.
Or rather, they considered Vesper their representative. She could aspire to few honors as great.
Finally, the diagram was complete. She felt the instant it happened, and Princess Luna's Alicorn magic flowed across the divide between waking and dreaming. A single peal of thunder cracked through the air, and the space inside the diagram shifted. The sky beyond wasn't the cloudless blue of the desert—it was gray, with distant cities built of the same fluffy material. It wasn't just a sky, though—there was a fleet formation on that side.
A huge zeppelin passed through the opening, a rigid-bodied craft with sun and moon markings along the sides. It took ten full seconds to transit, at least a hundred meters in length. It flew away from them, directly at the pirate ship.
The Eagle’s Talon didn't seem so big anymore, not compared to that. Its cannons fired madly, this time directly at the airship. They slowed as they passed through the air, and a brief flash of blue echoed around the vessel. They dropped to the ground moments later, tumbling out of sight. It wasn't much of a fight after that.
Vesper waited until the battle was over to bring out the camera, securing the Steadicam rig onto her shoulder the way she might've done for any number of videos.
"What do you think, Blake?" she asked, angling up at him from the side. Even Vesper, about as “native” now as it was possible to go, didn't like the idea of her junk preserved on some EU DFI recording somewhere. But all she had to do was film from the side or the front, and that wasn't much of a problem. "We could get some footage of that Equestrian warship flying off."
"They're never gonna let us post any of it," he said. "There's no telling when they make Equestria public. Might be never."
"Might be," she agreed. "But could you pose for me anyway? Just like that... don't want a reflection off your scales."
Vesper could scarcely imagine where her life had gone. But now that she was here, she couldn't dream of anything better.