An hour and a half later, with the Goose standing on its own landing gear on the shores of the lake after a fine lunch, the group went its separate ways. Rarity had taken some quick measurements after the salvage was done and set off to begin work on the suits, Applejack departed to take over the market stall from Big Mac, and upon hearing of the impending royal meeting, Pinkie zipped off to prepare a proper party (much to Twilight’s chagrin), leaving Nate and Sully to follow Twilight back to the library.

The adventurer himself was exhausted, both from working to get the Goose onto shore and from Rainbow and Twilight's endless questions about his past ventures and the Goose in general. The pegasus had thankfully been called away midway through the salvage work to help clear out what remained of the thunderhead from the night before, leaving Nate with a curious Twilight still firing off questions. He'd answered them the best he could while embellishing some of his less-than-perfect moments, but the studious unicorn hadn't stopped questioning since becoming absorbed in the pages of Nate's second journal. She questioned about the architecture, culture, people, and artifacts Nate had mentioned within its pages.

"Ooh, Nate, was this oil lamp something you recovered for the museum here?" She asked, pointing towards Nate's picture of Marco Polo's jade lamp as they crossed the threshold to the library.

"Alright..." Nate said while gingerly lifting the artifact out of its case, studying its carvings as they glimmered in the moonlight. Mongolian script bid tidings of good fortune from the Great Khan. He smiled inwardly at the perceived foreshadowing.

"Now, we're sure it's the right one?" His partner asked while pocketing his set of lockpicks.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out..." Nate shrugged as he took a knee. "Sorry, Marco." He forlornly mused before dashing the centuries-old jade lantern of Kublai Khan to pieces against the marble floor of the Istanbul museum. Nate chuckled proudly at his act of vandalism as he removed a folded paper from the shards, leaving the jade behind. He flipped the paper open, then over, then uttered a single word as his eyes fell upon the contents of the page:

"Crap."

He held the blank paper up for his partner to examine the results of their labor. "Well, that's the understatement of the year... This is it?! It's bloody useless!"

"...Got shafted on the deal though, I'd rather not talk about it." He waved off while beginning to browse the library's collection.

He didn't want to go into detail about what happened afterward for a multitude of reasons (his incarceration mostly), but presently he was plagued by his curiosity. He'd been mulling over Steadfast's phrase, what exactly did the old guard mean by, "The Three Lieutenants watch over Celestia's Folly?" Was there something he left there, something of value? The torn pages seemed to testify as much. A sign of covering up something sure, but again what was it? Nate’s instinct kicked in the moment he’d seen the missing pages. It was yet another mystery, yet another goal lost in the fibers of history, and while he’d openly complained to Sully about no more adventures after the Ubar fiasco, Steadfast’s journal was steadily drawing him out of his early retirement.

The Lieutenants could be anything: statues, pillars, ships, peo- er, ponies; but Celestia's Folly had to be a landmark of some kind, if common naming conventions crossed universes. Locating the folly was another problem entirely. Nate knew he had to be careful in how he searched for his answer now that he'd already crossed an invisible line in the sand by taking Steadfast's journal. Twilight was no pushover as far as intelligence went, a fact Nate learned earlier in the day after she dragged a thorough description of how the the Goose’s engines worked. She would have more than a few choice questions if she suddenly found him digging through her archives looking for major military losses.

Instead, Nate requested information on Equestria's geography. While a good front for finding the folly, Nate also had a keen interest in discovering more about the new land he and Sully were stuck in. Twilight was more than happy to feed Nate’s curiosity, immediately scouring the shelves the moment he’d asked. As she pulled book after book from the shelves, Nate took his time studying each map he could find. Some were new and up-to-date, charting the recently re-discovered Crystal Empire to the north, while the oldest he could find was a chart of the Apple family homestead, dated to the year 925 of the Helical Monarchy. He had to scoff slightly as he read the names of various landmarks.

”Saddleton,” “Manehattan,” “Fillydelphia?” And I thought “Canterlot” was pushing it. He thought. Other than mocking the local word choice and scanning over chapters of history, he was indeed finding some information on the various follies from the historical texts; however none of the texts or maps he’d combed through even held a hint of Celestia’s Folly. He’d found out Sentinel's Folly off to the west was named after a diamond dog ambush took out half a regiment in the War of 385 HM; Crupper’s Folly was named during the Griffon Wars of 466 CD, when Colonel Crupper’s regiment was split in two after an attempt to flank the opposing forces went sour; Nate even noted the township of Folly, mistakenly built along the banks of the Strapp River... three miles inside of the Griffon Territory.

Nate sighed heavily and resigned himself to defeat. He glanced about the library to take things in. Sully had gone outside for another cigar roughly an hour ago (Twilight had some choice words for him when he tried to light up inside the lobby), Spike was busy re-shelving the books Nate had already read, and Twilight was still pouring over his journal, taking notes and cooing ever so often at the detail his sketches. He had to admit, she did look cute fawning over his work. With nothing else to go on, and not knowing where to begin looking for the Lieutenants, Nate opened his Ubar journal and began to sketch Twilight with his other journal with the same care and detail he put in with all of his drawings.

“Alright, alright, I’m goin’ Sparkles.” Sully huffed while Twilight hurried him out of the library, a freshly lit cigar in his hand.

“It’s Spar-kle, Mr. Sullivan, and I’m sorry, but I don’t want the smell of tobacco impregnating the books.”

“Right, understandable.” Somewhat. “So out here’s fine then, eh?” She nodded. “Alright. I’ll be in once I’m done.” With that, Twilight left him to his cigar.

Sully leaned up against the sign of the Golden Oaks library, smoking away as he watched the town continue with its day. Ponies bustled here and there with their errands to run, with only a few casting Sully an extended glance. Some mustered up the courage to speak with the old man, most of those being put off by the foul scent of his cigar, but they each held a bit of a conversation. Most wondered where he hailed from, or what exactly he was, and Sully was only too happy to answer, asking a few questions of his own. Presently, he spoke with a bright red Clydesdale.

“Funny, don’t see much relation other than the mark. Gotta say, she makes a fine apple pie.”

“Eeyup,” The stallion replied, his chest swelling with pride at his little sister’s work being complimented.

“Sounds like a... a high-pitched whine or something? Sure you can’t hear it?”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Out of nowhere, a mint green blur streaked past the stallion and collided with Sully, sending his cigar flying. The old man stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance, Big Mac only looking on with but the slightest hint of shock. Sully looked down to find the blur was in fact another unicorn, squealing in delight while squeezing him tightly.

“Oh my gosh, they’re real! Bon-Bon, they’re REAL! EEEE!” she screamed back towards town before dissolving into another round of squeals, burying her face into Sully’s side. Sully looked towards where she screamed to find a cream-colored mare trotting towards them, a look of utter bewilderment on her face.

“I believe this is yours?” He asked, motioning towards the unicorn now steadily re-arranging his organs from his stomach into his chest with her grip. A silent, slow nod was Bon-Bon’s only response, her mouth agape. Never, never in her time with Lyra had she ever thought she’d see a human herself. True, she had entertained the idea a few times, going so far as to go “watching” for lone humans with Lyra to satiate her odd obsession, but seeing one standing before her, speaking to her, was the shock of her life.

“I’d appreciate it if you... could... just...” Sully groaned while trying to pry Lyra off of himself to no avail. “Call her off, er something. Jesus, she’s got a grip.”

“You talk, too! I mean, I know you had to communicate vocally on some level, what with humans having a complex larynx similar to ponies, but speaking fluent Equestrian? That’s too awesome! Ha, and everypony said I was crazy!” Lyra turned away almost bashfully at that, her grip loosening just slightly.

They’re not too wide of the mark.. the man grumbled. He made another attempt to get out of her grip, this time popping free and falling into Big Mac. The farmer had weathered worse blows and caught Sully before he could fall too far. Lyra wasn’t as lucky however, bowling over the still catatonic Bon-Bon, snapping her out of her stupor. “Look, ladies, it’s been swell, but...” Sully fumbled, trying to make an excuse to get inside and away from the green mare still staring excitedly at him, “Sparkles said I couldn’t speak much with ya. Something about... eugh...” Dammit kid, where are you when I need you?

“Big Mac! Been wonderin’ where you’d got off to.” Applejack called, “Need ya back at the market stall, almost time for the afternoon rush. Oh, hey Bon-Bon, Lyra, Sully. Mac ain’t givin’ you no trouble, is he?”

“Plane?! As in ‘airplane?!’ As in ‘a machine heavier than air and yet still flies?!’” Lyra suddenly leapt up, a new energy overtaking her.

“Ah, that’s right, you were still in Canterlot last evenin’, weren’t ya? Ya shoulda seen it Lyra. Everypony’s by Silver Lake, havin’ a good Nightmare’s Night n' all, an’ here come Nate n’ Sully boltin’ outta a storm cloud in their -ya said ‘Grummin Goose,’ right?- and crash it right there on the lake in fronta everyone. Think it gave everyone a mighty good fright.” She chuckled.

“Bon-Bon. Silver Lake. Now!” Lyra yelled as she zipped off to find the machine. Bon-Bon could only trot after her, giving Sully one last look before rushing away to catch up.

“Ah swear that mare’s just not right in the head... anyway, Mac really isn’t givin’ you trouble, even after all that work today? He’ll talk ya ear off if it suits ‘im.”

“Oh, like I said, not at all. We were just chatting a bit. But uh, what was with her?”

“Who? Lyra? Aw, that mare’s had a fascination with humans fer as long as anypony can remember. Almost everypony thought she was crazy. Well, up ‘til Nate an’ you showed up, that is!” She laughed. “Me and Mac gotta get back to the market now. You have a good evenin’ now, Sully!”

“You too.” He called as he stooped to pick up his cigar butt before re-entering the library, still confused about what just happened.

Nate’s drawing was nearly complete, with him adding some final notes such as; “Twilight Sparkle, librarian of ‘Ponyville,’” “Special mark denotes talent (magic),” and a small, mustached, cigar-wielding skull croaking, “It’s a damn tramp stamp, kid!” when the old man himself re-entered the library silently. None of the three occupants noticed his return, even as he snuck up behind Nate and viewed the new sketch.

“Really Nate, I didn’t know you felt that way. Does Elena have to worry?” he asked while pitching the cigar butt into a nearby wastebin.

“What, this? I was sketching it for you, Sully. I know how you like to go after the smart ones.”

“It’s nothing,” Nate quipped while snapping his journal shut. Unfortunately, nothing was just what he had to go on as far as the Folly was concerned. Not one of the maps he’d poured over held mention of the folly, and the history texts were mum as to Celestia’s military history. Nate needed a new angle, new point of view of the whole thing. “I think I’m going to take a walk about town, get some air. That alright, Twilight?”

“Could you stay in the library, please? I have so many questions, and you haven’t shown me that second journal of yours!”

So close, so close, SO CLOSE! They’re right there, in the library just across town, and I can’t do anything about them! AUGH! 12 mentally berated herself as she paced angrily in her room. In the forty-five minutes she’d been in town, 12 had run across one of the humans she’d been sent for, out in broad daylight, and chatting with anypony who’d listen to him, no less!

Not only did that make him untouchable, but it was ruining any chance of a smooth clean-up. Sure, the plane alone was going to be a pain-in-the-flank to hide, but more witnesses to the human’s presence meant more ponies who’d question his disappearance. It didn’t help in the slightest the Elements of Harmony were in prolonged, direct contact, quite possibly with both of them. A missing persons investigation was the last thing 12’s organization needed.

The organization, if 12 was allowed to call it that, had been operating for decades as far as she knew. Its goal was simple enough: hide all existence of humans, living or dead, from the populace by any means. Truth be told, 12 wasn’t exactly sure why humans were such a threat beyond the explanations she’d received whenever she voiced reservations about her actions, although the letters alone were enough to keep her for the cause.

There’s got to be some way to get them... She puzzled, peering out between the blinds at the tree now housing her targets. I could try using my persona again like I had earlier to get close, but I nearly blew my cover today... 12’s amber eyes narrowed as she continued contemplating ideas. Poison their food? There’s no guarantee of them getting it. Sabotage the plane like I did with that other pilot? No, too much of a spectacle. Force their guns to backfire? I have to get to them first. Sneak-and-stab? I may be an assassin, but there’s no way I could get away with that, not in this town. Damnit. 12 sighed and turned away from the window, allowing the blinds to snap back into place. These humans were getting to her. Years of working so close to their kind left her subconsciously picking up their phrases and mannerisms. She needed a break from the madness of her work.

As a musician both in her persona and her life, 12 sought solace in playing her instrument. As notes drifted from the instrument she’d played since her fillyhood, 12 allowed herself to relax. A smile formed on her lips as her eyes fluttered shut, the mare becoming lost in her music.

Uncharted: Vought's Vestige

by Alicorn_Avionics

Research