"Okay Twilight... you are a grown Mare... you are Equestria newest princess and you have one of your best friends by your side... you are in a mission tasked by Celestia herself... and you even have a cute Stallion as an aide... you can do this..." Twilight sparkle mumbled to herself in an extremely low voice, almost no sound coming from her mouth, and the few audible words being quickly extinguished by the loud sound of hooves as a trio of ponies made their way "Oh, Twilight, darling, don't be like that, you will do a great job in this task"
"As miss Rarity said, you will do great Princess Twilight Sparkle, I can assure you that!" Came a male voice, from Twilight left side in the back, it was somewhat high pitched, but clearly masculine, it had a little song-like tone with an small skeaky sound "So, miss Twilight, what do you need me to aid you?"
Twilight looked back, and felt herself having an small blush on her cheeks as she saw the stallion, he does was cuter the more she looked at him, his cream colored coat shone a bit with the morning sun, making a good contrast with his fairly darker mane, both of them being different shades of blue, giving him a fairly serious appearance, on his back there was an small brown saddle with a pair of bags hanging on its sides, the left bag was mostly empty, save for trio of small notebooks, some feathers and a container of ink, on the other side however, the right bag was almost overflowing with clothes and hats.
Besides the Stallion there was a pale mare, she looked outright gorgeous with a perfect mix of natural beauty and make up, her pale fur and violet mane making a clear elegant contrast, she only had a bag hanging from her right side, and looked happy, smiling softly as she looked forward, her cutie mark were a trio of blue gems, and while she looked at the front she did gave some glances at the stallion, mumbling something for herself.
"Thanks Rarity, and, to be honest I'm still not sure, mister Duly noted, for now we don't even know the effect that Tirek's arrival caused at new horseleans so, I think that you and Spike could take notes of things that seem out of place?"
Twilight spoke as she stopped in her tracks to turn towards the duo behind her, as she did that, an small bipedal reptile who had been sitting on her back quickly stood up proudly, smiling as he waved in a friendly manner at the stallion, this caused him to smile too and give an small bow.
"As you wish Princess, I promise to do my best alongside your faithful assistant" Duly noted answered, his long hair waving a bit with the current of breeze as he stood tall again looking at the lizard "So, I take you are mister Spike, I am right?"
"In person!, A pleasure to meet you Duly noted!" Spike answered up with an smile waving his claw before sitting on Twilight back again "So, I guess you brought your own notebook?"
"And a few spare ones, do you need one perhaps?" He asked in a calm manner and Spike nodded quickly, jumping from Twilight's back to quickly land in front of the Stallion "Yes, please"
The Stallion lifted his right hoof towards his head, taking off a rather big hat to reveal a blue horn, soon this horn shone as a bright light appeared inside his bag, the bag opened up and one of the notebooks alongside one feather and an smaller ink container quickly floated towards Spike, who held them with his claws.
"So, what we say when someone gives us something?" Twilight questioned and Spike sighed causing an small giggle from Duly "Thanks mister, thanks a lot!"
"You are welcome little one, do you want me to carry you the rest of the way?" Duly asked before Rarity quickly interfered " Nuh uh!, You are already carrying quite a lot of things in those bags darling! Allow me to carry little spikey wikey instead!"
Spike didn't even had to answer that, as he quickly ran towards Rarity's side, causing Twilight to roll her eyes and Duly to giggle a bit more "Just be careful little fella, your claws are really well done for them to get ruined by running"
"Well..." Spike stopped on his tracks a second, before Rarity lowered herself a bit, allowing him to instantly climb on her back, blushing red bright "Don't worry darling, I won't allow your male beauty to be ruined by this dirth path."
"She really is going along with it..." Twilight mumbled a bit before a blush spreaded on her cheeks as she walked to the Stallion's side "W...well... do you need any help with those bags?, they do look a bit heavy"
"Oh, what a gentlemare!, Here, thank you" Twilight blushed furiously as she soon had one of the bags, however the other one was still on Duly's back "So, Spike, Duly, I need you to take notes, we are going to interview some of the Horseleans population, we need to register their answers, and any useful data, this city was one of the most affected by Tirek's attack, and as such we need to take extra att...!"
As Twilight spoke, suddenly something passed in front of her at an extremely fast pace, whatever it was it ran over a big puddle of mud covering Twilight from head to hooves, making Duly scream in despair as he quickly ran towards her, While Twilight looked back to see what had suddenly covered her in mud.
"Oh damn" A lonely pegasus mare with a fairly heavy accent spoke as she was a few meters away from the group, she was dragging a big cart full of fruits, her face was pale, so pale that she could easily pass for a ghost as she saw Twilight covered in mud "Umm, ummm... he....hey Princess..."
"Princess, are you allright!" Duly was quick to use his magic to take the bag away from Twilight, as he looked at her, but soon changed his attention to the bag full of clothes, crying a little silent tear as he saw the bag full of mud and his spare changes soaked, however he does was focused on Twilight a lot more "I...I am fine, don't worry you two"
"That's a relief..." The tall pegasus mare spoke as she quickly bowed in front of Twilight, still dragging the cart "No need to bow, just speak to me as if I was your average mare"
"Oh, that's one tartarus of a relief then miss sparkle!" The mare was quick to hold one of Twilight's hooves and shake it with all of her might, an smile on her face as she spoke in a friendly tone, her accent becoming heavier "The name's Hopper, I'm one of new horseleans newest additions! May I ask what are ya doing in our swampy home?"
"We are on an small task, the Princess Twilight wants to make you some questions, could you please lead us to the city so we can ask them?" Duly asked, looking at the mare with a clearly annoyed expression, but in such a sweet tone that the Mare couldn't avoid looking at him "I'm sure as tartarus that I can help ya to get to the town, The folks will be really happy to see one of our princesses come here, follow everypony!"
Besides the sudden mud bath, everything was allright for Twilight, while she did felt bad for Duly and how sad he looked after seeing his clothes soaked in mud, she really couldn't get angry at Hopper, and, after a few minutes, neither the Stallion could be angry at her.
"Honestly, Ma' used to tell me to be careful when i run around with the cart, however, how can ah be careful when we are in such a hurry?, the folks are starving after that monster-stallion stole our magic, the crops were devoured by those tartarus damned parasprites!, and for some reason the ships we sent to Phillydelphia some time ago aren't coming back, we are starting to fear that something happened to them during the attack of that long legged beast"
"I doubt commenting about legs is something good" Duly was quick to answer while Hopper nodded but answered quickly "I know lad, just a little tongue slip"
"So, when did those ships sailed?" Rarity asked, looking a bit worried while Hopper stood silent for a few minutes and sighed "Ya know?, no one actually remembers, the elderly mare who kept the registers died due to magic deprivation, yesterday we buried her with all the respect we could, she was a good mare, she took dozens of orphaned fillies and turned them into respectable hardworking mares, my mom was one of them, she used to be a pickpocket before she took her under her wing, everypony in town loved her like the reliable grandma"
"May she rest in peace" Twilight said in a respectful manner as Hopper nodded with an sad smile, wich soon turned into a more warm one "Say, it's strange for a princess to come to our little town, what are the interviews about?"
"Mostly about the effects of Tirek's taking away the magic, we are trying to make sure that no one has any long effect dangers, while also seeking to know wich problems afflict the town, so we can deliver proper help!" Twilight spoke, an smile on her face as Hopper couldn't avoid lifting her hoof and dragging her into an small hug also using her wing for that "Thank you Princess!, I'm sure the townfolks will absolutely love this help!"
The rest of the way wasn't remarkable, it was just constant chatting, mostly bewteen Hopper and Twilight, While Spike and Duly mostly kept to each other, speaking about many different things and making notes about things they found remarkable.
For instance, the path wasn't supposed to be full of dirt and branches, neither to have many hoof sized holes full of mud, that was clearly a damage done to it, while also, there were some parts of the swamp wich were clearly burned or dried up, during the walk, spike once commented about a tabletop game, wich soon evolved into a full blown talk between him and Hopper about some book called Ogres and oubliettes, surprisingly, Duly was far more serious about it than spike, causing an small discussion about the nature of rules and editions
Twilight was extremely happy to hear them both talk, while Rarity constantly was a bit confused of the things they spoke about, meanwhile Hopper wasn't even aware of those two, being a bit more invested into telling the two mares about the art of shaving with an knife.
"And, here we are!" Hopper exclaimed as she lifted her left hoof to point to the front, towards a cozy looking city, it was a great look for the group, the many wooden buildings and houses gave it sort of 'old but reliable' look, being at a rather good position, on a relatively high ground alongside the beautiful river, however the most remarkable feature, was the constant stream of ships in the port, or at least the part of the port wich was visible. "Thank you Hopper, your help was very useful to us, see you at the interviews!"
"Oh, it was nothing Princess, In fact I should be the one thanking you for not being mad over the mud" The pegasus answered and Rarity giggled a little bit "Well... let's just say that Twilight does have experience with pegasi covering her in mud"
"Jeez, thanks Rarity" Twilight rolled her eyes as she began to make way, soon enought the rest followed her, save for Hopper who made her way towards a different place of the city, the relief on the faces of Rarity and Duly was huge as they were finally not walking on dirt and mud "Mare... I really need to get my hooves done after this..."
"I was here once when I was the secretary of the mayor, I know the perfect place to get a good hoofcure!" Soon the eyes of both Rarity and Duly shone with excitement and hope over that, while Spike rolled his eyes "Oh no, you are coming too young colt!, You cannot go around acting like a janefilly!"
"Wait, what!" Spike meanwhile Twilight giggled a little bit, looking back at the trio "You can get your hooves or claws done when we finish our work, first, we need to get to the town hall and speak to the local mayor before we do anything else, they will help us to get our work done easier, besides, its legal procedure"
Soon enought the group found itself in the middle of the city, gathering the attention of many ponies, most of them waving at Twilight in respect, as she waved back, all of that in friendly manner, while Duly got a lot of attention too with some friendly greetings, so it happened with Rarity and Spike, but in a lesser manner.
"Now, we just need to..." Twilight spoke as she was about to knock on the door of a beautiful town hall, but suddenly the door swung open before she could finish her little speech, gathering their attention "Ah, you must be the envoys from Canterlot"
Twilight looked back and saw an elderly stallion, wearing an elegant but old looking butler suit, he was quick to bow down to Twilight, and greet the rest with an smile and a little hoofshake.
"Please, follow me, the mayor has been awaiting for you ever since she got the letter from the Princess Celestia, it is our upmost honor to have the youngest alicorn in our little town" The butler spoke as Twilight nodded and walked inside, but not before giving an small respectful bow to the old stallion, Duly walked too and instead of bowing he gave a quick hug to the old butler both of them giving each other a little kiss on the cheek, Rarity followed suit taking the stallion hoof and giving it a little kiss on the back "My, my, what a gentlemare"
"It is my pleasure sir" Rarity soon walked inside while Spike looked a bit angry towards the elderly stallion, but soon warmed up as he gave him an fatherly look "Greetings little colt"
The inside of the town hall was pretty nice, the wood made little creaking noises as it felt the weight of the hooves but those were quickly drowned by what sounded like an small song coming from upstairs.
The hall had many doors leading to different places, however, at its end it had a spiral staircase with a sign, the words "Mayor's office" on it.
"Please, gentlemare, gentlecolts, follow me, I will lead you to the guest room, unless we are bothering the princess?" The butler spoke, it was a bit hard to understand him, due to how some words were spoke in such a low and slow manner that they were almost mute. "It's no bother at all butler"
"Magnificent!, Follow me then respectable guests" He said while the group waved at Twilight and followed suit, awaiting for when she would come back.
The princess made her way upstairs, the song playing in the background was a classic that her father used to hear a lot back in Canterlot, a beautiful song about a Colt's first love and the many hardships they had to face when his rich Mother found out that he loved a poor guardsmare.
A perfect mix of military narrative, romantic lyrics and a great dramatic story, even if it was a Song for lonely middle aged stallions, it does was a beautiful song, however, she couldn't really admit it, save for Rarity and perhaps Fluttershy or Pinkie, she would be called a Dyke for liking that, not that it mattered, the song was beautiful and that was an undeniable fact.
Soon enought, however, there was also a desperate voice, speaking, or rather screaming, the more she climbed, it was the voice of a middle aged Mare, and it didn't sound happy at all... just barely audible there was the voice of another, younger mare, the heavy accent of both of them conveying a clearly bad message.
"It is not possible!, how comes only one ship made it back?!" She could hear it, an angry voice asking questions "The lone scared mare on the ship kept saying that there were pirates out there, she warned us that they know about our town!"
"Absolutely idiotic!, Pirates in Equestria, Really!?" The elder voice answered up in rage as the second, younger one gave the answer to the first question "Y...yes, she's covered in wounds mayor!, sabre's wounds!"
"I swear to Celestia this is some sort of stupid joke!, It must be some sort of sabotage from the opposition, they want to make me look bad in front of the princess!" The elder answered up as Twilight was nearing the end of the stairs, towards a wood door "Gather as many guardsmares as you can and fortify the port!, if the opossition wants to make me look bad with a clearly fake pirate attack, let us show the citizens that we care for their safety!"
"But mayor, the lone sailor said that the pirates had cannons!, We don't have anything on that level to fight back!" The younger one answered up as Twilight hoof was about to grasp the doorknob "And?!, We are mares!, even if the enemy is a dragon with heavy armor and cannons on its back we are going to bring it down! besides, some fake pirates cannot have cannons, since they don't exist in first place!
"But Mayor, the sailor drank a truth potion, she isn't lying!"