Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 4
Needle Point led the way back to town, unerringly as ever. Apollo could remember being dubious about signing the shy, frail-looking earth pony mare onto the team in the first place... as much for apparent weakness as for her cutie mark, which happened to be exactly the same as Apollo Dawn's most hated fictional character, Daring Do. Reluctance aside though, the first time he had seen his new navigator actually navigate all doubts were cast aside. The unassuming light brown mare had a true talent for it, and he had never seen her lost, not even for a moment, not even in completely unfamiliar territory. Needless to say, that was an extremely useful talent on an exploration team, and Needle Point had quickly become one of his most valued crew members.
After her followed the longest-serving member of his team, his personal assistant, Albatross. His talent, as evidenced by his wing cutie mark – and his rather magnificent wings – was flying long distances without tiring. Pretty useful when it came to doing an areal search for a long-lost temple, or when it came to flying all the way back to civilization to get help... but the real reason Apollo liked having that pegasus around was for his can-do attitude. He was down for anything... and though Apollo had never told the brave young pegasus, he was grooming the lad to become his replacement someday... Exploring and adventuring took their toll on a body, and he'd have to retire someday. It warmed his heart to think that somepony would carry on his tradition after he was gone. It also warmed his heart to see his assistant walking right alongside his magical expert, Shimmer Spell.
Apollo had never had a romance that deep, really. He regretted it a little, but the explorer's life didn't leave much room for commitment. Still, he enjoyed by proxy watching the relationship between his assistant and his new magic expert unfold. Shimmer Spell was the crew's newest addition, and the only unicorn on the team. Truth be told, after having her around for a while, Apollo could hardly fathom how the crew had managed without magic before. Though the blue unicorn was a little odd, always referring to herself in third person, she was invaluable, helping out in a million little ways... and now that she was inseparable from his long-time assistant, Apollo doubted that he could remove her from the team even if he wanted to.
Himself, he walked between Pebbles and Hair Trigger, the massive size difference between the two making him feel off balance somehow. Pebbles was the largest earth pony mare he had ever seen, a big bulky draft type with pale green coat, and her short blue mane and tail had streaks of green running through them. Despite her huge, intimidating appearance, she really was good natured... at least when she had access to the food, drink, and stallions the way she liked them: 'the bigger the better,' to use her own phrase for her preferences in all three. Her cutie mark of a huge boulder supposedly represented her immense strength – she claimed to have gotten it upon lifting an enormous rock that looked just like it. Apollo suspected that there was more hidden beneath that gruff exterior, even though he had never seen evidence for it.
Hair Trigger, small as he was, had to be coaxed into being quiet. The rambunctious little pegasus colt was the youngest member on the crew, with a coat of bright yellow, and a mane of neon orange, it was sometimes hard to even look at him in bright sunlight. Apollo would never have involved a colt so young in such a dangerous business... but the little guy always seemed to know when danger was approaching before anypony else did... He saved the crew more often than the crew saved him... barely. His cutie mark was an ear and a telescope, representing his acutely tuned senses of sight an hearing... but really, all of the little pegasus's senses were extremely sensitive, and the slightest stimulation to any of them would send the little guy bounding all over the place. He couldn't fly yet, except for short bursts, but he did those (too) often, and the colt could usually be located only as an orangeish blur ricocheting back and forth all over the area. The long, hungry trek seemed to have tired even the boundless energy of Trigger though, causing Apollo to worry about the less energetic members of the team.
Quartermaster brought up the rear, along with the crew medic and animal expert, Splints. Quarter was the oldest member of the team, and it showed. Slow and crotchety, he would have no place on the team, except for his special talent. The crate on his wrinkly flank represented his ability to pack things... It didn't seem like much, really, but he was very talented at it. The toboggans had been his idea to bring, and as usual, his sense of what they would need on the journey seemed almost supernatural. With that old dark-grey earth pony, scraggly black mane and all, on the team, they always seemed to have just the right amount of stuff in their packs, never too much, and never missing anything they needed. For that, the old guy was worth his weight in gold, despite his rambling stories about grandpappy Nicklemaster, or occasionally even great-great-grandpappy Pennymaster.
Somehow, Splints and Quartermaster were the only two on the team who could stand to talk to each other for very long. Somehow Quartermaster's acerbic wit just clicked with Splints's acidic personality. Splints was the best field doctor Apollo had ever seen, and an expert on wild animals, too... But he was glad that she spent her time with somepony else, not him. Her bright pink coat and purple-streaked yellow mane gave her a falsely cheerful appearance, belied by the annoyed-looking squint her purple eyes were accustomed to. The mare had no patience, and no compassion... for anything healthy, anyway. Give her something injured though, and she would nurse it back to health as tenderly and lovingly as anypony could wish for... and then she would kick it out of the sickbed brutally as soon as it was healthy again. That mare was a puzzle indeed, but despite her personality issues, she was valuable to have around in such a dangerous profession! Apollo himself had been under her care several times, enough to earn her forgiveness for all the insults and wry comments she could muster.
His team had been walking now for four days without provisions, and he hated taxing them so, but unless they cared to go brave the ice dragon's territory again, there wasn't any alternative. Besides, he hoped to reach town within a day or so, and then they could gorge themselves to hearts' content. For hundreds of years, the Canterlot History Museum, where he nominally worked as a curator, had posted a reward of several thousand bits for the return of the fantastic gem in his saddlebags. A payoff like that would more than compensate for the let-down of the last mission, when the crew had found an (unfortunately empty) long lost tomb of an ancient zebra king.
As the ground leveled out, Apollo Dawn's hopes rose. Their first few hours of walking out of town had been level, and though he couldn't see any smoke rising in the distance, he knew they must be getting close. He trotted up to Needle Point, wondering just how far they had yet to travel.
As he came up alongside, Needle seemed to already know what he wanted. “Only a couple of miles, now. We'll be there within an hour.”
Apollo grinned. The team had made better time than he had expected, and soon their trek would be over. He looked again towards the town, looking to see the smoke rising from the chimneys as it had when they left... but he couldn't.
Again, he looked at Needle Point. He never doubted the little mare before, but, “You're sure?” He asked, “We should be able to see it by now.”
Needle just shrugged, looking away shyly, “That's the place, I don't know why we can't see it.”
“Trigger?” Apollo said quietly – he knew that the little colt would hear him, even if he had whispered it.
Instantly, a yellow and orange blur resolved itself into the little colt at his side, “Uh huh? Ya need me! Woohoo! I'm ready! Let's go! We'll –”
With a roll of his eyes, Apollo shushed up the energetic little colt. He was about to ask the little guy if he could discern any sign of the town when the town became visible to all. The team stood at the lip of a valley, and down inside was the town of Fairflanks, northern-most town in Equestria. Apollo looked to his team. They all looked relieved and happy... all save one. Hair Trigger was looking only confused and troubled.
“What's wrong little guy?” Apollo asked. He had learned to trust the little colt's sharper senses completely.
“It's... It's all so quiet... so empty... nopony home...” the colt said softly.
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