Broken Sky

by hahatimeforponies


The Odyssey [Part I]

Key and Oval stayed on the deck for about twenty minutes, watching the island shrink into the distance. They kept waving until they were sore and the ponies on the wharf looked like ants, and the chill started to numb their noses. Applebloom had long since returned to the helm. When the island was too small to make out any details on, they picked up their bags and shuffled to the cabin. They stood behind the door looking around for a full minute, before it opened behind them again.

"Someone should probably show you around," Sweetie Belle said, with a chuckle. When Key looked over his shoulder, she was tilting her head and smiling. "Come on. We'll make you right at home."

The cabin under the quarterdeck, where they'd just entered, was an office-like arrangement. There was a lantern and a desk and sheets of paper and ink. Sweetie Belle said that all the navigation charts were there, and Key would have to take a look at them soon.

The deck below was all lantern-lit; there were no portholes, and the outside light from the windows in the doors couldn't reach here. They were told that the deck below again was all storage, and there was no need to look around there for now. This middle deck had a corridor running the length of the ship. Closed hatches in the ceiling and floor allowed direct access from the weather deck to the hold. Sweetie Belle kept a brisk pace.

The first three doors along the left had been decorated. One door had apples, gears and leaves painted on it, largely in red; one had butterflies, bells and stars, sprinkled with white and lilac sparkles, and the third had lightning bolts, skulls and spikes, on orange, black and purple stripes. The other doors had more descriptive labels on them; mess, kitchen, pantry, bathroom.

"We've got a couple of passenger cabins you can use, but uh..." Sweetie Belle averted her eyes and chuckled as she opened the fourth door on the left. "We haven't had any passengers for a while, so the cabins are kinda full of junk."

Oval poked her head around the corner. The hammocks lay folded at the back of the room, with boxes and chests and sacks in the way. It smelled distinctly of old sawdust. She scoffed. "I've been sleeping in a storage room for years. This is nothing."

"Are you going to climb over the boxes?"

"It might need a..." Oval winced. "A little reorganisation."

Key went around them to the next door. Sweetie Belle stopped his hoof before he could reach the door handle. "I wouldn't try that if I were you. It's not any better."

"Oh."

"Look, why don't you dump your bags in the mess hall? Applebloom's going to want the directions updated ASAP, so Key, you should talk to her about that. Oval, you can help me make space in this room by moving some of this junk to the hold."

Oval sighed. "Yeah. That sounds fair." Sweetie Belle let her smile fall a little, but then got straight to examining the stacks of junk.

The mess hall was cleaner than they'd expected. They figured that someone had a lot of time to tend to it and the kitchen, joined to the mess by a door. They left their bags at the side of the table. Oval slumped over the table, and Key crumpled to the floor, rolling on his back.

"What the hell did we get ourselves into, Key?"

"We've been gone half an hour and we're homesick already."

"Yup. This is literally the furthest we've ever been from home."

Key paused. "So... if I'm closer to the prow, that means I've been further away from home, yeah?"

Oval's brow cranked up. After a moment, she broke down snickering. "Key, you doofus."

"I'm still winning!" he chimed, shimmying along the floor.

"You're gonna fill your butt with splinters." He stopped. They laughed, and went quiet again.

Both of them jumped when the door opened. Sweetie Belle dipped her head inside. She frowned, then opened the door enough to step inside fully. "You guys feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little bummed out, I guess," Oval said.

"I know the feeling. Leaving home is like that." She stepped over Key. "You're gonna get splinters lying down like that."

"That's what I told him!"

Key sighed and chuckled as he got up. "Okay, okay!"

"Tell you what. I'll make you some tea, then we can get started doing stuff. Sound good?" Both of them nodded, and Sweetie Belle went into the kitchen. They remained silent until she returned a few minutes later with three steaming mugs.

"Thanks," Oval said. Key dove straight into his mug, then pulled back sharply after the first taste.

"Woah."

"Too hot?"

Oval snorted, blowing on her tea. "Are you kidding? Key has an iron mouth."

"Nah, it's just a lot stronger than I'm used to."

Sweetie Belle giggled. "I didn't want to say anything when I was there, but your island seems to ration your tea to the point that it's hot and mildly leafy water. I mean it makes sense, considering you have to grow it yourselves. Scootaloo would probably die if she lived there."

Key chuckled, and paced himself through the rest of the tea. He was still nearly halfway down before Oval had started hers. "You mentioned leaving home. Do you... do you mind talking about it?"

"Oh! Not at all." Sweetie Belle's voice seemed to hang on to an almost pubescent squeak at times. "It happened twice, sorta. The first time was the Sundering. I mean, it could have been a lot worse, but I was still stranded in someone else's house, with ponies I'd just met, no way home, and I was twelve. I just... bawled for days." She laughed. "It helped that the Apples were all so darn nice, but nothing quite fills the hole of not knowing what happened. I guess that's why we're here, on this boat. Airboat. Thing." She chuckled again, and took a sip. This time she got a smile from the other two.

"But that's not quite what you're going through. It's more like when the three of us - Applebloom, Scootaloo and me - built this ship and went off to trade. It was maybe eight years ago when we first left. We knew we'd come back every couple of months and stay a while, but the first time we left, it was still like... the whole reality of what you're doing doesn't hit you until you're checking that you haven't forgotten anything and you're untying the ropes from the dock. All of us just felt... sick, for at least two days after we left. I cried. Not like, openly weeping over the side of the ship, just... I'd catch myself sniffing now and then. It gets better, but you're gonna feel terrible for a while."

Key tilted his head back and laughed darkly. "Great."

Sweetie Belle took another long sip of her tea, now nearly gone. "What I'm saying is, even if the other two won't say it, we all know what you're going through."

They paused. Oval nodded. "Good to know."

They finished their tea and got to work. Sweetie Belle levitated things out of the room and through the hatch to the hold, where Oval could find places for them. At first she was reluctant; the hold was dark, and she didn't know if there was any particular order for anything, but Sweetie Belle told her not to worry. She was also worried about touching things that were being held with magic, but to illustrate the point, she grabbed her hoof and moved it around a bit. The magic didn't feel like anything. She was still transfixed at the sight of heavy boxes floating through the air, surrounded by a sparkly glow.

Key met Applebloom at the helm. She took him to the office, and Scootaloo took the wheel. She promised not to do loop-the-loops, and Applebloom thought that bringing the subject up in the first place was at least a little suspect. She kept watching her as she descended. Scootaloo slumped over the wheel laughing.

"Alright, let me fill you in on what we learned from the library."

"Oh! Right. I forgot about that."

Applebloom chuckled. "Don't worry about it. You had other things on your mind." Key nodded. "Penny got us the ship name. Spike left on the Starswirl II, about twelve years ago. She said he was gonna try and go to Canterlot, look for Princess Celestia. Now, it probably wasn't as bad back then, but these days nobody goes near Canterlot if they can help it."

"Why?"

Applebloom breathed in deeply. "Let's just hope you get home before you have to find out." Key gulped. "Now, this gives us two options. Either Spike went to Canterlot and got mixed up in all that, or he went to Manehattan."

"Why would he go to Manehattan?"

"It's the best place to make a living as a dragon out here. The shipyards and foundries pay over the odds for dragonfire. Heck of a rosier place to start looking than Canterlot."

Key nodded. He knew it'd be a while before he remembered any of this. "Okay. Manehattan it is. You're gonna have to point it out to me on these charts, because mine are labelled like, 'duck-shape' and 'spiky thing'." Applebloom frowned.


By the time Key finished familiarising himself with the charts and working out the bearing for Manehattan, the passenger cabin had been relieved of enough clutter to reach the back wall, set up the hammocks, and clear a desk. Sweetie Belle had gone to bed to prepare for an early morning watch. Oval had unpacked some of the books and the chessboards to start making the place feel more like home, but was now resting in one of the hammocks with the crystal. When Key walked in, she looked up, and the light from the crystal illuminated a tear on her face. He frowned, and walked over to hug her.

They spent the next few hours arranging their space and dabbling with morse code. They took about five minutes to transmit "HELLO", and another five to receive back a "HELFO" back. Constantly checking the reference sheet made progress slow. Eventually the other end gave up, and the light went solid. They held it together to double-light it. A few minutes later, the code began again, with "MUSTGOBYE". They responded with "LOVE", though the time it took to send meant that there may have been nobody there to receive it.

Dinner was quiet, with just four of them. Applebloom and Scootaloo left them to do what they wanted while they got settled. Key went on deck afterwards to recheck their bearings, then retired to the cabin to read. Oval started assessing the unfinished chess pieces, but quickly felt unwell. She went on deck to get some air, but then came back, saying she felt useless and alone up there. Key said she'd been reading too much poetry, and she hit him. Dame Cuddlesworth and Rex the Manticore found their way out of their bags, and they threw them at each other from their respective hammocks for a few minutes before remarking on what children they were. Then they sighed, and Oval went to sleep. Key kept reading once he'd found his place again, since Oval was used to sleeping with the light on.

An hour later, the crystal flashed again. Oval was a log by now, so Key got up and touched it. "NIGHTLOVEYOUBOTH" came the message over the next five minutes. For his reply, he just pressed it to his front until the other end responded in kind. Then he left it on the desk, and the light went out. He guessed this would become a routine. He tried to go to sleep, but it went as well as it usually did. Hours later, he heard the creaking of planks, and someone opening another door in the corridor. Sleep failing him, he sat up and read some more. At the end of his chapter he realised that he might be reading too fast for the trip. He set the book down, and got up to look around.

He immediately wished he'd brought his scarf when he went out on deck. They were passing under a cloud, close enough to put a damp chill in the air. He couldn't be sure if they were anywhere close to their intended heading like this. Apart from anything else, it made for poor stargazing. Maybe if he could look from the stern, he could see home in the distance. He paced under the awning of the quarterdeck, unsure whether he'd be yelled at by whoever was at the helm for getting in the way.

To calm himself he stepped out to look at the sails. He kept hearing reference to sails, but there were none slung on the deck, like ships in the old books. The Crusader's sails were instead mounted on the sides of the vessel, held by nets of ropes to great crossbars, articulated by gears. Curiosity sated, he went back to figuring out how to look from the stern without being seen. Eventually he decided that they wouldn't throw their navigator overboard, and climbed up.

Scootaloo gave him a lazy look, sprawled over the rear guard rail. The five wheels at the helm were locked with wooden stocks. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I usually don't."

She snorted and smiled. "That makes two of us. Puts me on the night watch because of it." He nodded, and rested against the guard rail at the side, looking past Scootaloo. The crow's nest of the Crusader cut a wake through the vapour. Scootaloo turned to try and find what Key was looking at. "I don't see it."

"Right there. A couple of degrees above local equator. Little black dot." Silence. "Home."

She humphed, and returned to her resting position. "Eighteen years on and I'm still blinded by daylight." He bit his lip and stared at the floor for a moment. Well, he got what he came for. He inhaled, and got up to turn. "So, are you and red gem twins? You seem pretty close."

Key chuckled. "Her name's Oval Cut, and we're not. Not really. I'm adopted, we're about a month apart, but we celebrate on the same day."

Scootaloo's brows raised. "Oh? So I'm not the only stray in this tub."

Key broke into a laugh. "That's one way of putting it."

"You looked like you had it pretty good." She frowned.

"Yeah, they're the greatest family I could ever ask for..." The pace vanished from his sentence as it went on.

Scootaloo kept up her stare until he pulled a guilty grimace, then she broke into a chuckle. "Bit like the Apples then."

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Psh. I'm a big girl. The issues are behind me. I'm just glad you didn't have to go through what I did."

He sat. "I guess I didn't..."

"At least until I was twelve. I'm probably like, the only pony in the whole Debris whose life got better from the Sundering."

"Really?"

"My adopted parents didn't know what to do with me, and hell if I know where my birth parents are... but living with the Apples, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle... it actually felt like a family. Like, we all knew exactly how we got there, and we were there to help each other through. Y'know that saying, blood is thicker than water?"

"Vaguely."

"That's not the whole thing. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

"I'm... not sure that's actually how it goes."

Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively. "I don't care. I prefer this meaning. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are better than sisters to me, like what you have with Oval. Don't ever let that go, because it's gold."

Key smiled. "You don't have to tell me twice."

They fell silent for a while. Key put a hoof on the guard rail. It was damp with condensation. "Don't be afraid to climb up on it. It's safer than it looks."

He took his hoof down and wiped it on his front. "I think I won't."

"Never fall off the ol' rock?"

"Not myself. I've thrown rocks off to see what happens. I imagine wings do a lot for confidence."

She chuckled, and flared her wings out. "Yeah, probably. Sweetie Belle never climbs anything on deck without a rope tied around her leg." Key looked around again. The cloud had only become thicker while he'd been up here. "Say, if you're not going back to bed, this fog is getting kinda bad. You could make yourself useful and get up on the prow for another ship-length of visibility."

"Uh, sure! Yeah. Let me just get my scarf."


Sweetie Belle came to relieve them at what she said was four o'clock in the morning. Scootaloo went to bed, and Key stayed on for a little while. Not long after, they cleared the cloud, and spotted an island not far off their course. Key had his first experience with a purpose-built stadiametric rangefinder, instead of a window fragment he'd drawn on and placed over the end of the telescope. Sweetie Belle caught him giggling as he sprinted between the cabin and forecastle with optical devices, clocks and charts. He estimated that the island was eight hundred lengths across, and they'd encounter in four hours. Once he'd returned the navigation equipment, he retired to his cabin to get some rest.

Bells and thumping on wood and shaking woke him. His head throbbed. Someone outside shouted, "All hands on deck!"

"Key, come on!" Oval shook his hammock. "We're coming in to dock, let's go!"

The door pounded, and Key rubbed a hoof on his face. When he looked like he was about to dismount the hammock, Oval stepped back. He rolled off it and straight on to the floor. "I gotta get better at this waking up thing..." Oval rolled her eyes, and dragged him along the floor until he started walking himself.

Both of them flinched as they reached the upper deck. Key's stomach did somersaults. Above them, the island loomed large. They flew at ninety degrees to the plane of it, crow's nest pointing directly at the rockface speeding past.

"Ready about!" Applebloom called from the helm.

Scootaloo pushed past them, and shot them a wicked smirk. "Buckle up, kids." Above, the island seemed to drift away a little. Scootaloo widened her stance, a groan reverberated through the planks, and everything felt heavy. Key's stomach plummeted. Oval lost her footing and crumpled to the floor. The island rotated above them, and the Crusader accelerated back towards it, continuing its circuit.

"We're coming in too fast, ready ballast rockets!"

Oval staggered to her feet again, and risked stepping out of the safety of the quarterdeck awning. "R-rockets?" Key wasn't awake enough to do anything besides lean on the wall.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo laughed. "How else are you going to stop a speeding ship?" Sweetie Belle came to pull the hold hatch away. "Ten thousand foot-pounds of dragonfire in a bottle, baby!" She dropped below. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. A minute later, a metal tank the size of a pony's torso, covered with scuffed hazard stripes and exclamation points, floated out of the hatch, followed by a second. Sweetie Belle carried them to the forecastle while Scootaloo replaced the hatch.

"Hold rockets! Ready about!" came the cry from the helm. Oval pre-emptively crouched. When the ship tacked again, Key just fell over with a yelp.

"I'm just... wake me up when the ride stops, okay?"

Sweetie Belle climbed up on the prow and fixed the rockets somewhere outside the hull. Scootaloo jogged over to them. "Get upstairs. If those things come loose, you want to be as far away from them as you can get." She ascended to the quarterdeck with a single beat of her wings. Oval panted for a few seconds, before bopping Key on the nose and dragging him again. He groaned, and climbed the stairs after her.

Scootaloo had braced herself by the front guard rail. Applebloom was similarly stanced, pulling levers to slack the sails and locking the wheels. Key was happy to collapse behind the guard rail, while Oval stood beside him, watching Sweetie Belle climb as far up the prow as she could.

"Rockets ready!" they just about heard.

"Fire at will!"

The boards of the ship groaned again. There was a hollow thunk, and then a dull, crackling roar. Sweetie Belle was lit up blue on the left and pink on the right. Smoke rushed past the sides of the ship. Oval lurched forward, winding herself on the guard rail. The burn lasted for fifteen seconds, before the light gave way to spewing black smoke. The Crusader had gone from hurtling to coasting.

"Fire up the engines, I'm taking her in!" Applebloom called. Sweetie Belle saluted, and jogged into the cabin. "Scootaloo, ready the anchor, it's a dead rock."

Oval coughed. Her breaths were still tight and shallow. "A d... dead rock?"

Applebloom chuckled grimly at the floor. "It's a rock, that's dead. Nobody lives here. S'just ruins. It ain't a happy sight, but we can usually find something worth selling in the rubble. C'mon, it'll be fun."


While they anchored and reeled in, Key and Oval returned to their cabin to prepare. The rockets had knocked the chessboards and books all over the floor. They spent some time clearing that up, then picked out saddlebags for the scouting. When they returned to the deck, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle busied themselves with securing the Crusader to the remains of a harbour wall. Water had left the marina a long time ago, leaving the rusty remains of pleasure yachts and pontoons littered on the former sea bed. A dirty lighthouse flanked them. A crumbling harbour master's office sat on the opposite side of the harbour, a bleached black and yellow flag still flying from a pole on top. The husks of tower blocks and monuments crowded the horizon, beyond the gate with a scuffed blue sign that read "Welcome to Baltimare - The Greatest City in Equestria".

Applebloom pushed up on Key's chin to close his jaw. "Y'gonna stare all day, or are you coming?" She chuckled. Sweetie Belle floated a pack on to Applebloom's back, like a saddlebag with two blackened trumpets sticking out of it.

Key shook himself out of his stupor and climbed over the side of the vessel, on to the pier. He stumbled on landing, still staring at everywhere except where he was going. Oval paused at the rail. "What are those?"

"Blunderbusses, sugar. Let's hope I don't have to use 'em." Applebloom smiled, and vaulted the rail. Oval gulped and followed. "Scootaloo, keep watch. Sweetie Belle, let's go."

Scootaloo sighed as she perched in the crow's nest. "One of these days I'll get to go exploring."

Applebloom let Key and Oval stare at the ruined harbour in reverent silence as they rounded it, punctuated by the occasional click of a loose block. Halfway down, they had to climb over a wall of rubble that Key guessed had been a second lighthouse at some point. Part of what boggled his mind was the scale of everything: the distance from one side of the marina to the other was probably half the size of home, if not more, and this island went on for several times that again. His original image of the concrete shells in the distance was one of buildings maybe a little taller than the old library, but as they got closer, they just kept getting taller.

"Baltimare... why does that name sound familiar?" Oval muttered. "Must have read about it somewhere."

Applebloom snorted. "Might as well be called 'spiky thing' now. Hope skeletons don't spook you too bad, because we're gonna see a few."

The harbour entrance put them right in the middle of the city. The streets were as good as gravel, with the biggest slab of intact paving being no bigger than a door. Some amber grass and a few thorny weeds found purchase in the deeper cracks. Metal carriages lay in piles of brown, flaky sheets at best, and wooden ones were only evidenced by rusty wheels and axles with a few sorry black chunks clinging to them.

Despite the state of the streets, the height of the buildings now upon them kept drawing Key's gaze upward. He could barely comprehend the scale of these stone titans, their corpses standing in perfect rows, as far as he could see. Some of them looked like they were broken in the middle, though their upper halves were nowhere to be seen. The prospect of trying to imagine what they were like when they were built robbed him of words.

His front bumped into something, and he jumped back, yelling in surprise. Oval, immediately in front, did the same, only jumping forward. Applebloom, at the front of the convoy, jumped a full one hundred and eighty degrees, pointing the trumpets at them with some kind of bit in her mouth. Her eyes scanned the scene. She spat out the bit with a glare.

"Watch where you're going! I nearly blew your head off." She spoke in a breathy hiss.

"What?"

Applebloom shushed him. "If you keep that up, you can go wait with Scootaloo."

Key hung his head. Oval frowned. "I thought you said this was a dead rock."

"That don't mean that someone else ain't had the same idea as us. Now come on, before every crusty-ass scavenger in the Debris hears you." Applebloom huffed, and proceeded. Oval looked to Sweetie Belle, who shrugged and ushered them on.

A lot of the shops around the harbour were restaurants, with nothing really of value to offer. One restaurant had been boarded up. Applebloom kicked the boards through, to find a patch of floor smeared with ashes, and four skeletons, two of them small. Tins of beans and tomatoes sat around, some of them opened, along with a lot of empty bottles. Sweetie Belle scooped the unopened cans into her saddlebags, and dug a pit in one of the cracks in the floor. Applebloom swept the bones into a pile, and when the pit was deep enough, deposited them inside. Sweetie Belle filled it in again, and Applebloom wedged a stone upright in the loose dirt. Using a sharper stone, Sweetie Belle traced a circle with eight points radiating from its circumference in the stone. Silently, they left the way they came. Key and Oval stared at the grave for a moment, then looked at each other. Key inhaled, and they followed them.

Seafront restaurants gave way to some kind of ethnic district. Broken glass and punctured brickwork smoothed over by age may have been looting, or just tectonic forces. Oval spotted a café, and gave it a look. The till had more bits in coin and bill than she could quickly count. Sweetie Belle said that some collectors in Manehattan pay well for old money, and a few communities still use it for exchange, and even without that the coins could still be melted down for copper and nickel, so she might as well take it. The shelves in the pantry had collapsed, and much of what hadn't spilled or rotted to nothing had been eaten by rats. Much to her disappointment, the tea smelled like damp, and where it wasn't grey mulch, it was covered in green fuzz. She found two unopened bags of sugar and a sealed jar labelled instant coffee. Sweetie Belle said Scootaloo loved the stuff, so she pocketed that too.

Further down the street, one side opened up into a park. Plants had exploded across the street, taking root in the patches where concrete and cobblestone had been ground into dust. Grass snaked along the cracks away from the park. Some sad-looking heather grew through the skeleton of a cart, and a couple of cacti and alpine flowers dotted the fence and pavement, and a young cedar had grown in a corkscrew, like it hadn't been sure which way to grow. A sign, decorated with elaborate swirls and leaf patterns and hanging on its side at the foot of its original post, said "Baltimare Botanical Gardens". A lock and chain was wound around the gates, which had been pulled to the floor at some point. The ticket office had already been raided, its windows smashed and the empty till tossed out.

Applebloom nudged the cash register. "Looks like someone's been here already... no telling when. If it's been a while we might find some fruit or seeds or something." She hopped the turnstile, and the others followed.

The glasshouses didn't have a trace of glass anymore. Though the pathways were cracked and the more solid structures had caved in rooves, the plants looked like they were struggling to reclaim the garden fully. Lawns had been overrun with moss, and planters set out for flowerbeds held only thistles and wilting nettles. Ivy wrapped any stone wall it could find. Some of the conifers seemed to be doing okay - spreading, even. Sedges jostled with cacti for space next to dead tropical trees spotted with fungi.

Key spotted something in one of the houses. Something orange and bright and flickering stuck out from the shadows and half-light. He tapped Applebloom on the shoulder. She turned and hissed a 'what'. He pointed, and she cooed curiously. She motioned for them to follow, and proceeded with a light step.

The concrete house was by now a few pillars and walls, with chunks of the ceiling scattered on the floor. Where they could, they kept to where the grass had overgrown the tiles to dull the clack of hooves on marble. As they approached, they heard voices, and the crackle of a campfire. They kept to the shadows of half-walls and fallen pillars.

"Nyeow!" a child shouted. "And then I can scare them away with my big scary roar!" The child inhaled deeply, and a shrill tweet came out. It echoed around the bare walls, but not much further than a voice would.

Another, older female voice chuckled. "That roar's coming along nicely, tiger." A muted noise followed that Key recognised as being almost identical to Kite sticking his tongue out.

"Kalza. Leave him alone," a third voice ordered. Female and older again, with a hint of gravel in it. "Tellur. Get over here and settle down. You're going to attract attention."

"But mama!" Silence.

"Kalza, Tellur... those are gryphon names," Applebloom whispered.

"Wh-" She put up a hoof to silence Key.

"I can take 'em, mama!" Tellur chirped. "Hee-yah!" There was a thud as he fell over.

His mother chuckled. "Then you'd better get some sleep, so you can be ready for them."

"Good idea!" She grunted as he climbed on her back, and again when he lay down. "G'night Aunt Kalza. Love you, momma."

"Sleep tight, sweetie." Tellur yawned, and went quiet. There was just the crackle of the fire for a while.

Key leaned in closer to Applebloom. "What do we do?"

"Stay quiet. Wait for a chance to leave."

"Gilda..." Kalza paused. Something clicked on the floor. "I don't think we're going to find any meat here. We need to move on, before we're too weak to leave."

Gilda sighed. "And you did a sweep for scavengers?"

Kalza snorted. "No, I did not find a lonely traveller to abduct and eat." Oval quickly shoved a hoof in her mouth to mask her gasp. "Every time we do it, it just feels... dirty. Like, how did it come to this?"

"Yeah, I know," Gilda hissed. "I hate it too, but it's that or starve. And some things... they make it complicated."

Kalza chuckled. "You and that fucking kid, Gilda."

Transfixed by trying to keep his step light, a shiver ran through Key. His outward breath had a hint of voice to it. Applebloom clamped his mouth shut.

"What was that?"

Nobody dared breathe. Tellur yawned.

"Probably just wind. Put some more tarps up on your round. Maybe you'll catch 'em if you're quick." Kalza snorted. "We'll probably get flying when we're all up."

"Alright. I won't be far."

Everyone kept their eyes wide, and on all the exits. Kalza's steps faded away as she went the other way. Sweetie Belle waved them forward, and they left the way they came, as quickly as they could step on where the grass had overgrown the tiles.

They kept off the paths on their way out of the gardens. Key seemed to remember the way back better than anyone, and found himself leading as far as the street. They didn't stop until they could see the harbour, and even then kept their tones hushed.

"What... what?" Oval started panting like she'd sprinted there, when they hadn't.

Applebloom sighed. "Nobody ever said the Debris was a happy place. That's what these are for." She shrugged, lifting her pack a bit.

"Do you... kill gryphons?"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other. "We don't go out of our way to. It's... happened. You do what you have to to stay alive. Just like them."

Oval frowned. "But they were talking about eating ponies! That's... why would you let something like that go? You could stop it right there!"

Applebloom sniffed. "Do I look like some kinda sheriff to you? Did I start wearing a star-shaped badge since the last time I checked? Are you asking me to march down there and put down a starving family, on the outside chance that they make it to the next island alive enough to kill someone?" Her volume had risen, to the point that Oval was wincing and looking at the floor. "Give me some answers, you sound like you've got some. Come on! Tell me what you want me to do!" By now Oval was crouching, ears flattened back. Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder. She inhaled deeply, then sighed. She returned to the hush of before. "Look. There ain't no villains in the Debris. Just desperados. And I ain't gonna be the one that cleans up this sky, because I'm one of 'em."

Applebloom started back to the Crusader by herself. Key put a hoof around Oval to hug her. For a second she stayed still, like she didn't know she was being hugged, then let herself crumple into it.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Come on. Let's get back. We'll probably cast off soon."


Oval threw herself at her hammock. Key frowned, and closed the door behind them. He felt the need to say something, but appropriate words eluded him. All that emerged was an "uh".

They heard the creaks of the Crusader's mechanical parts springing to life, and felt the momentum swings of the vessel untethering itself from the pier. A minute or two passed before Oval dug her face out of the canvas.

"Boy, if I thought I was feeling sick yesterday..."

Key sniffed. "I don't have any words. I got nothing."

"It's okay. I'll get a grip. I just..." Silence. The whole ship seemed to tilt for a few seconds. "You don't really see how complicated the truth is until you stick your head out your door and it slaps you in the face."

Key looked at the door, and then his bags, and then at Oval. "Do you want me to give you some space?"

"No. No, Key, I want you to come over here and give me a hug." He smiled, and complied. Oval rotated upright in her hammock, and he leaned over her to hug her. "Do you think I'm just being a baby, Key?"

"No, I... I feel you." He paused. "If I'm being stone-faced, it's because you need a rock right now."

"Key, you are a massive ball of cheese." He spluttered a laugh, and got a giggle from Oval in return.

"Come on, let's see if we can find all the chess pieces."

Most of the pieces had been returned to their box in their hasty cleanup earlier, but they still found three pawns under the table, a white knight wedged between two floorboards by its head, and the black queen had found its way into one of their bags. They were halfway through their first game when the door knocked. Key got up to answer it.

"Oh! Applebloom."

She frowned, looking over Key's shoulder. Oval tried to hide behind the chess board on the floor. "Hey, uh..." She pressed her cheek. "I wanted to apologise, about earlier." Oval looked up again. She stood up and stepped over the board, and Key stood back from the door. "I'm sorry for losing my head at you, and I'm sorry you had to see what you did. You weren't ready for it."

Oval chuckled without smiling. "That much I know, yeah. There was no way to know they'd be there."

"Anything I can do to make it up to you, just name it."

Oval looked at the floor, then up at Key. He blinked. She looked back to Applebloom. "The damage is done. I can't be more shocked than I was there." Applebloom's face fell. "You can't protect our innocence by hiding things from us until we find them, and then turn around and be frustrated that we don't know how to handle what we saw."

Applebloom nodded. "I getcha. It's just... it's like watching myself leaving home for the first time, and making all the same mistakes. I'll get better at it."

Oval allowed herself a smile. "We're all learning."

"Anyway. Key, I need you on deck to recalibrate our course."

"Right. We can come back to our game."

"Can I come?" Oval asked. "I just... I don't want to be alone right now."

Applebloom nodded. "Sure. Bit of fresh air will do you good."

In the time they'd been under, Baltimare had become a pebble behind them, and was still shrinking. They were sailing forty-five degrees off the wind, so that the deck was shielded. Most of the shards were collected below them, and clouds obscured the ones above. Key smiled as he stepped out, and gazed at the stars.

"Ain't half of what you used to see. If you could see it, I'd give my wings to see the look on your face," Scootaloo quipped from the quarterdeck.

Key wrinkled his nose. Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Quit teasing the kid and let him look at the damn things." She shoved the telescope and the rolled up chart at him and went to the helm. Key, after fumbling them for a second, trudged to the forecastle, and Oval followed close behind.

"Tell me a story, Key," Oval sat on the deck and slumped against the forecastle.

"Me? Tell a story? Once upon a time there was a hypotenuse..."

"Key!" She giggled and reached up to bat his hind leg.

"Made you laugh!" He jumped down to sit next to her.

"You goofball." Oval sighed. "We're already a bit old to have Mom just tell us a story when we're sad, aren't we?"

"We can tell each other a story, though."

"I guess."

They watched the sky in silence for a bit, leaning together. The Crusader's boards creaked as wind buffeted the vessel, and at the other end of the ship, Scootaloo erupted in laughter at some joke they didn't hear.

"Did you ever read the one about how the world was made?" Key said.

Oval "Which one was that? I don't think I remember."

"In the myths and fairytales book."

"I never read that one."

"Really? Missing out. All kinds of wild stuff in there."

Oval nudged him. "Go on. Tell me how the world was made."

"Well. According to the stories, a long time ago, before Equestria was Equestria, each of the three pony tribes had their own story. The unicorns believed in the Eye of Light, a star that fell down from the heavens on to the dark world, and brought magic to it. It made all the mountains and the seas when it fell, and the magic created life. The pegasi believed that everything began with a great lightning strike, creating fire out of nothing, and it's out of the ashes of that fire the world grew. And where that first bolt of lightning struck, it left a crystallised pillar of glass called the Thunder Branch."

"This is all very fanciful."

Key chuckled. "It's mythology, of course it's weird and arbitrary."

"So what did we believe?"

"Earth ponies believed that before ponies came along, someone - old gods, spirits of the land, depends which tale you're reading - built the earth and heavens block by block, all held up by a great Celestial Arch."

"I was expecting something a bit more bucolic and agrarian, but I guess we're architects as well as farmers."

"Who else was gonna build stuff out of stone?"

"True."

"So none of the tribes could agree on their origin tales, and this was apparently a big deal back in the day. Then in the early days of Equestria with the tribes united, they discovered that all three of them were true, when they found all three of these things, and they were actually the same thing."

"An arch, a star and a glass tree?"

"This is another one where it depends which book you're looking at. Sometimes there's like, a psychedelic drawing of some mad combination of them. So, yeah. They found the things and started unifying Equestrian mythology."

"That was less of a story about how the world was made and more of an encyclopaedia article about origin myths. Key, you are so bad at this." She snickered, by now hiding under her own forelegs for warmth.

"You didn't want to hear about the hypotenuse, so you've only got yourself to blame!" She thumped him again.

"Key!" Applebloom called from the quarterdeck. "Where are those darn directions?"


Calibrations complete, Key and Oval returned to their cabin. Wind had knocked a bishop over, which had rolled and knocked most of the other pieces over, so they decided to put away their game and do other things. Key lay in his hammock with a book, and quickly fell asleep. Oval broke out the unfinished chess set to assess its progress, and if the fall earlier had damaged it. There were no signs of wear, so she started on the carving. Before handing it over, Onyx had managed to turn out two rooks, two bishops and one knight on the white side, and rough blocks for all the other pieces, hewn to the dimensions. She started on the remaining white knight for practice, and made a note to design the pawns at some point, and to leave the kings and queens for last.

She went undisturbed until lunch, which she woke Key for. Applebloom stayed at the helm, so Sweetie Belle cooked something simple from some vegetables and tinned beans served with bread, and Scootaloo bounced while she told them all about coffee. The instant stuff was fine, and you could still find it in ruins, but the best coffee was grown fresh. Botanists in Manehattan had tried and failed to grow it, so the only supplier in the whole Debris was a single family farm, on a chunk of what used to be the mountains on the far side of the Everfree forest. It fetched such a high price, she said, that the family could afford to hire a small army to protect the plantation, have all their food delivered, and have their humble hovel developed into modern palace. Sweetie Belle stuffed a slice of bread in her mouth and told her to eat her lunch.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. Oval kept working on the knight. Key brought the navigation charts to their cabin so he could update them without leaving Oval alone. When Key went on deck before dinner to recalibrate, they were crossing a space with no islands. The deck, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were soaked from a raincloud they'd passed through twenty minutes ago. He failed to not laugh.

Key stayed with Oval after dinner until she fell asleep, and then went on deck to join Scootaloo during her night watch. They didn't talk much, and she ordered him to bed when he started snoozing on the guard rail. He was disappointed, but concluded that the morning was still weighing on him. When he returned to his hammock, sleep came quickly.

Oval woke him when she rose, accidentally. She said something about Sweetie Belle and the early watch. He murmured and went back to sleep. There were no islands turning up at ghastly early hours to disturb him today. He got as far as mid-morning when the thunder on the door stirred him. Applebloom said a bunch of things in her broad country accent that he didn't understand, and he rolled out of his hammock on to the floor. He made a mental note to put something soft there in future, and got up to see what all the fuss was about.

The deck was bright from shardlight. Sweetie Belle sprawled on the prow, like she was trying to capture as much of the light as she could. From the quarterdeck, Key took a bleary observation of their heading. He only noticed the island lying just off their course through the telescope. It was close enough to pick out houses, pavements, flagpoles, lanterns extinguished for lights-out, tilled patches of soil on ruined rooftops, and holes dug into the sides of hills. Immediately, he thought they'd returned home. He was blinded by the shaking of his hooves, and had to put the telescope down for a second. He breathed, and picked it back up. It faded from probability over the following minute, as he picked out landmark after landmark that he didn't recognise. No bridge, no big dead tree, no divide. A village like home, but unquestionably somewhere new. When he'd steadied his breath, he estimated arrival in under an hour, and returned below deck for breakfast.

The wind eased off, letting them coast the rest of the way. Key and Oval tidied their loose belongings into bags or onto their hammocks, but the sudden swaying of rockets and tacking never came. Saddlebags and scarves equipped, they waited on deck, watching the island appear to spiral around them as they found the dock. Applebloom told Key not to get used to being on the away team, since his job was on board, and if he made himself a liability, he'd be better off staying behind.

The dock overlooked the village. The houses clustered around a central square, where a well and patches of cobblestones stuck out of the dirt. The shingles were in fantastic condition, but many of the outer walls of buildings were cracked and crumbling. A few houses had lights on inside, and some ropes were strung between buildings, with triangular flags in every colour hanging from them. A sign on the dock, carved and painted recently, welcomed them to Hoofington.

The first thing Key noticed as the four of them descended the dock - Sweetie Belle remaining behind - was how quiet it was. Sure, home was always quiet during lights-out, but there were still the sounds of the occasional pony who had business while others were asleep, like late night bathroom visits and foals waking up crying for the third time, and the distant roar of the Fallen Arch that went on until the earliest risers stepped out. Hoofington was silent enough to hear the twinkle of Sweetie Belle's magic as she double-checked the knots on the dock. He looked at Oval. Her raised eyebrows told him she'd made the same observation.

The breeze disturbed a set of wind-chimes somewhere in the village. The sound made both Key and Oval jump. Applebloom hadn't brought the blunderbuss, and Scootaloo was wearing a cloak and walking. Two of the houses they passed had open front doors. One had a smashed window. The quiet made Key and Oval tread lightly, but Applebloom and Scootaloo just trudged on like normal.

One house had another intricately carved sign hanging from a post over the door depicting a spread of five cards, and the words "The Full House". The lights were on, but not a sound came from inside. They could hear Sweetie Belle singing from the dock. Applebloom looked at Scootaloo, and they shrugged at each other. Applebloom heaved into the door to push her way inside. One hinge had snapped, and the other didn't look great either. Scootaloo followed, with Oval nervously behind, and Key hiding behind her in turn.

Their footsteps echoed in the empty bar. The tables that weren't nailed to the floor (and a few that were) had been thrown around. Wall decorations had been smashed, and on the few surfaces that hadn't been upset, there were plates of food and steins half-full. There were no traces of spoiling on any of it. The bar taps were splattered with blood.

Applebloom jumped over a fallen stool and bounded up to the bar to look behind it. "Scoot! Check around the village. I'll look upstairs." Scootaloo nodded, and was gone. Before Oval could draw a breath to query, Applebloom had thundered up the old wooden staircase.

Key and Oval dared not stray too far from the entrance of the bar. Oval looked closer at the decorations, turning over plate fragments and shredded paintings for anything intact. She passed things over, not so much interested in the wreckage as doing something with her hooves. Key took a closer look at one of the tables. The food was cold and the beer was warm, but the table was still wet, and the bread hadn't gone stale yet. There was an old wallet on the seat. Inside there was a frayed slip of paper that Key recognised as a twenty bit note, and some photos. A foal featured prominently - dark blue, mane that refused to pick a direction to sit in - he could be Kite's twin. He was even the right age in some of the more recent ones.

The stairs erupted in drumbeat again, and Applebloom skidded to a stop in the middle of the bar, bandana beginning to look a little wet.

"Applebloom? What's going on?" Oval tilted her head and frowned.

Applebloom gasped and reared back, but settled when she saw who it was. "Get outside and stay by the well where we can see you. Hurry!"

"I thought we agreed not to hide these things."

Applebloom winced. "Can we hold off on that until we're sure we're not in danger?" she hissed, advancing and pushing them towards the door until they started moving by themselves.

On Applebloom's advice, they sat by the well and watched each others' backs. Fearing the worst, they exchanged no words. They also watched Applebloom and Scootaloo run from house to house, calling out, and hearing only wind in response. The anxiety eased off as the search wore on, and frantic gallops became listless shuffles. Panting, they returned to the well, alone. Scootaloo threw herself on the floor and rolled on her back.

"Now can we know what's going on?"

Applebloom went wide-eyed, and looked at Scootaloo. Scootaloo shook her head. "Nuh-uh. You're on your own with this one."

"Oh boy." She wiped her face with her bandana and took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna do you any favours by beating around the bush. There were slavers here."

"What?" Key's stomach joined the bucket at the bottom of the well.

"I reckon about four, maybe six hours ago. Just came down and took everyone, right out of their beds. If we'd left your home when we originally meant to we mighta been here when it happened."

"And would you have stopped them?" Oval's rise in tone made Key jump.

Applebloom closed her eyes and breathed in deeply again. "'Would we' ain't the question. The three of us can protect ourselves. We mighta been able to get away, maybe help a few others escape while we were at it, but it's just as likely we'd be in chains and on our way to Canterlot ourselves." Oval's gaze dropped, and her breathing shallowed. Key pulled her back just enough that her forward lean wouldn't make her fall on her face. "I'm sorry," Applebloom said. "If it makes you feel any better, Vermouth has known what's out there for years. There ain't much you can do against an attack, but he'll know one wh-" She swallowed. "... if it comes, and he's got back-up plans."

"Key..." Oval sniffed. "Key was our best stargazer. I had no idea..."

Key started to feel short on breath too. "I didn't know either, he didn't even talk to me about what I was looking at!"

Applebloom smiled grimly at the floor. "He's an old fox though. Applejack used to know him. He wouldn't have let you go if he didn't have another way to keep an eye on the sky."

"Right." It didn't do much for his racing heart and building nausea.

Scootaloo rolled on her front and stood up. "C'mon. There's nothing we can do here. Everyone is long gone."

"We'll do a sweep for anything the slavers missed and get going." Applebloom saw Oval look up breathlessly, and Key's jaw hanging slack. "Look, if we don't take it, someone else will. Maybe some day we'll bump into the ponies that used to live here and give them back their valuables, but I wouldn't count on it. You give the Debris a minute and it'll take an hour." She stared for a second, then sighed and went about her work.

Oval slumped to the floor entirely. "I don't want to get up, Key. Just leave me here."

"I... hold on a second." Still queasy, Key staggered away while Oval rubbed her face in the dirt.

The door of the empty Full House slammed against the wall as Key shouldered through it. He dove back to the seat he'd checked earlier. He rested his head in the cushion and breathed a couple of times. His stomach wanted to escape his mouth and fly away, and his back legs lost strength. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. He felt light-headed, but figured that was from his breathing. He bopped his forehead on the seat and picked himself up. He grabbed the wallet in his teeth and stumbled back to the door.

He spat the wallet out on the ground next to her, and with the momentum of his running, it bounced twice, spilling a tissue. "Oval. This was in the bar."

Oval's face remained buried in the grass. "Great. I bet you'll get twelve million rubies for it."

Key frowned and huffed. He picked her head up and pointed her face at the wallet, then dropped to the ground to show her the photographs.

"When was that picture taken? I don't remember it."

"He does look like Kite, doesn't he?"

"Oh, that's..."

"What I'm saying is that we're gonna get this kid back."

"Were you distracted by something when Applebloom was talking there?"

"I didn't say this plan was easy." Oval raised an eyebrow. "Or sane." The eyebrow went down again. "But if we're going to take anything from here, we might as well take something that might help some of these ponies get home."

Oval chuckled despite herself, nosing the dirt again. "Why do I get the feeling you're going to fill our cabin with sentimental junk, Key?"

Key dithered a moment, then sighed and dropped his face on the ground. "I tried."

Sweetie Belle could be heard singing in the distance, until Scootaloo reached the ship and told her something. The singing did not resume.

"It is a stupid idea," Oval said.

"I know."

"Hopelessly disconnected from reality and desperately devoid of practicality."

"Yep."

"Let's do it."

Key looked up, nose smeared with dust. "Wait, what?"

"We got this far without having any idea what we were getting into, why should we start now?"

Key sniffed. "What a me thing to say." He picked himself up, hoof held out for Oval to take. "To adventure, or something." Oval hesitated, then allowed herself to be hauled upright.

"Something like that."

They stood, watching the sky. Key opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything. He picked up the wallet, and put it in his bag. Oval rubbed her eyes, and started back to the ship.


They cast off within the hour. Key stayed on deck to recalibrate their course, while Oval was taken to the cabin to value what they'd taken from Hoofington. When their course had been corrected, Key returned to the cabin. He found Oval sobbing uncontrollably at the table. Sweetie Belle frowned, and took off downstairs. Key didn't know what, if anything, to do. He settled for putting a hoof on her back. Pretty soon, Oval's face was buried in his side instead of the table. Sweetie Belle returned a couple of minutes later with three hot mugs of tea.

They found a box for the things from Hoofington and kept them in there. Sweetie Belle said she'd find somewhere in the hold to stick it where they wouldn't be sold. They stayed in the cabin with their tea for much of the afternoon. They didn't talk much, because everything led back to Hoofington, but they were happy for the mutual presence. Applebloom passed them once and exchanged faces with Sweetie Belle, but other than that they weren't disturbed. Later, Sweetie Belle brought up another round of tea and something to eat, and when she'd finished that she went to bed. Oval took longer to finish, but when she did she gave Key a hug and retired as well.

After dinner and some reading, Key heard Applebloom turning in for the night, and quietly extracted himself from the room. On his way he took a thick blanket from the room's junk and laid it beside his hammock. When he emerged, Scootaloo had perched on the banister of the quarterdeck, overlooking the weather deck.

She nodded to acknowledge his presence. "Not seen much of you all day."

"It's uh... it's been a rough day. Kinda had our minds blown."

She chuckled grimly. "That'll happen. At least now you should be ready for everything else the Debris can throw at you."

"I'd hope so." Key took his time claiming his perch at the prow. The wind was nearly non-existent, such that from the forecastle he could hear the creak of the locking planks straining against the force of the wheels trying to turn despite them. "Do you ever worry that like... while you're out here, something will happen to your home?"

"Something like slavers?"

The word still made Key shudder. "Yeah."

"I used to worry every day. That shit's terrifying. But I've been sailing the sky for like, ten years now. At least. It sounds cold, but if you spend all your time thinking about those things, you can't function."

"Makes sense, I guess..."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but let it go. There were hours yet left on her watch to fill.

Key lifted his head up. Something pierced the quiet in the distance. He looked around for a moment trying to locate the source. Scootaloo was doing the same.

"Is that... an accordion?" Scootaloo leapt to the starboard bow, and Key rushed over to look too.

"There!" Key pointed. A small vessel, laden with moving parts and chugging smoke behind it. Cymbals, a kick drum, a tuba, a xylophone and some kind of miniature pipe organ were now in audible range. The silhouette of a pony stood up, and perched on the front. It wasn't fair to call it a prow - it was more like a pair of handlebars.

"What's this, brother? A handsome little junk woefully underpopulated with good cheer?" The vessel blew its fans retrograde, cut its engines and shuddered, coasting to the side of the Crusader and hitching to the guard rail. The two crew wore matching pinstripe shirts and bow-ties, and hopped around eagerly despite the grey creeping into their manes. They must have been twins - the only difference Key could spot was the moustache on one of them.

"Or a cheery little population of junk?" The pair laughed. Scootaloo grumbled.

"Looks like we arrived just in time!"

"Even with all the time in the world! There's not a moment to lose!" There was no time for questions. The cymbal crashed, and they burst into song, alternating lines.

"Your journey is so gloomy,
Your travels are so bleak,"

"All you've had to drink is urine for at least a week!"

"These rocks are so unfriendly!
These islands so unfair!"

"The slavers and the pirates they just missed you by a hair!"

They stood at opposite ends of their craft, facing themselves and the Crusader, as if on a stage. "If only there was some way to get away from it all, Flim!"

"You make a damn good point, Flam, it is all pretty unbearable!"

"I think I might have the answer!"

"What is it brother?"

"A dash of this, a pinch of that,
A sprig of something red and flat,"

"Juice it, press it, boil it down,
And mix it 'til it's good and brown!"

Freeze it to break down the cells
Wash in water from old wells

Skim the paste from off the top
Bottle, shake, you're good to drop!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed, turning away to go inside. Key raised a hoof to stop her, but before he could say anything, Flim and Flam had started their chorus. If only this beat wasn't so catchy.

"Make the awful world take five, you owe yourself a break!
Cures homesickness, shellshock, grief, depression, and heartache!
It's all you need to get you through another Debris day!
Get the Flim-Flam Technicolour Mind Relief without delay!"

"For only three days of rations, we can give you enough Flim-Flam Technicolour Mind Relief to ease your worries for weeks to come!"

"Burdens practical and existential disappear with just a sip! You'll swear you can see the sun again!"

"That's not all it does, brother!"

"By gum, you're right! What else can it do?"

"If you need a s-" BANG.

The noise made Key duck and cover, and one of the Flim Flam brothers fell over the controls for the automated instruments, causing them to cut abruptly. Scootaloo had returned, front legs on the banister, with the blunderbusses pouring smoke. "I don't miss twice."

"I think we'd better make tracks, brother!"

"Y'know, that's a pretty good idea!" They wasted no time unhitching their vehicle, starting up the engine and speeding away. The engine restarted the instruments, playing double-time on their way out.

Key stared at them as the dot shrank in the distance, opening his mouth to speak a number of times before finally getting the words out. "What... what just happened?"

Scootaloo chuckled. "They're drug peddlers. Lot of ponies can't make it through the day without a little help, even if it messes you up."

"Like drinking?"

Scootaloo scoffed. "No! Well... there are alcoholics, but lots of ponies can drink and function. Those guys were trying to sell some kinda Devil's Deal extract."

"Devil's Deal?"

"It's a mushroom, from Everfree. They call it that because you get one high off it and it's like you've sold your soul. Hooks you right away, and the withdrawal is hell. Applebloom... no. She'll tell that story when she's ready." Key frowned, and looked at the floor. "The song and dance is a new one though. You don't see that every day."

"Heh. First music I've heard in days."

"Boy, when we get to Sweet Apple Acres, we're gonna have a treat for you."


The rest of the night watch passed without incident. It clouded up later, but before it did, Key spotted an island several hours' distant and plotted a course for it. Scootaloo said she wasn't the best at course corrections, and Applebloom would want another revision in the morning. She let the sails slack somewhat as the Crusader approached thicker cloud.

When Key went below to turn in for the night, Oval was awake. She jumped on him when he came in, her face wet. The crystal was in her hammock, flashing slowly next to Dame Cuddlesworth. She peeled herself off him to touch it again, and the light went solid. Her voice was strained, and just being next to the hammock she slumped back into it and sniffed again.

"Key, I... I had a nightmare."

Key breathed in deep, and came over. He pulled the blanket next to his hammock along the floor so he could sit by her, the back of his head resting on her hammock. "Now, we know they're okay at home, so why don't you tell me all about it?" He pulled Rex over and sat him on his head, facing Oval.

"What are you..."

"He's gonna eat those bad dreams as you tell me about them."

There was a pause, and then one of Oval's sobs collapsed into a giggle. "Key!" He smiled, and reached a hoof up to squeeze Rex on the top of his head, while he mocked a querying growl out of the side of his mouth. Oval chuckled again, squeezed the Dame tighter, and began. She was uneasy at first, but then started to laugh a little at the parts that made no sense, like the old library being joined underground to their tunnelled-out house as her, Key, Keshi Pearl and Sweetie Belle hid under the bed from raiders that she hadn't seen, and Onyx Ring blocked the door, but Scootaloo slept on the ceiling, and Kite jumped on the bed and walked around the house like nothing was out of the ordinary. Then Penny Sweet was making trips to and from the library with cakes and sweets amid the madness, and at some point there was a cave-in, but it got better. The words became quieter and slower as she went on, and finally she fell asleep again. Key decided to leave Rex in her hammock, and sleep on the blanket next to her.

They were allowed to sleep in in the morning. Shuddering and swaying of momentum eventually woke Oval up, and she woke Key up by standing on him. Oval felt awful about herself for getting up so late, even when Key told her several times that it was okay.

They met Sweetie Belle in the corridor on their way up. "Oh! I was just going to wake you. How did you sleep?" The pair looked at each other. Their eyes were bagged, and Oval's face still streaked with grey from the eyes. Sweetie Belle winced. "That answers that, uhm... get some breakfast, we've docked. It's another dead rock, we're gonna check it out once we're all ready."

Oval sounded just as exhausted as last night. "I'm not sure I want to."

"I think you'll change your mind when you see it."

After some tea and toast, they went on deck. The Crusader had docked under a rockface, and outside was thick fog, largely hiding the deck from shardlight. There were lamps out on the deck, providing most of their light. Applebloom marched up and down the deck, looking busy. Scootaloo sprawled on the guard rail of the quarterdeck, looking queasy.

"Darn luck we nailed this landing, we can't see a thing out there." Applebloom tied another rope around a stalagmite. "We're gonna have to hole up here until the cloud passes. It's just too thick."

Key frowned at Scootaloo. "What's wrong?"

Applebloom answered for her. "Something funny with the island's magnetics, like it's four or five different ones glued together. She's gonna have a headache until we leave."

"I'll be fine, just get me a drink!" Scootaloo yelled.

"Get it yourself!" Applebloom shouted back, then chuckled to herself as she went about securing the ship more.

Oval climbed on to the quarter deck to get a look behind them. It was backed up to almost be level with the floor behind them. The lantern on the rear guard rail wasn't enough to penetrate the darkness of the cave beyond. Besides the wind whistling over the cavemouth, it was quiet. "What is this place?"

"We don't know. Scootaloo flew around the outside and didn't see any settlements, just lots of caves and holes."

She gulped. "Do you uh... often find things that you don't know what they are?"

"'All the time' isn't the answer you want to hear, right?"

Oval decided to stay on board for now. Key hugged her before he left with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to investigate the cave. She stayed on deck with Scootaloo and a book. The search party took a lantern each, and Applebloom brought the blunderbusses.

The cave's floor crunched underfoot in some places. Parts of the slope up still had gravel heaped on them, but only scratched, bare stone remained where it had been excavated. As they rounded the corner they approached a fault line, where the cave suddenly hopped a foot to the left. As Applebloom stepped over the fault she hesitated.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle looked around her. Applebloom withdrew her hoof, then put it forward again. She stepped over the fault, and swayed horizontally when she passed it.

"Sweetie Belle. Throw a rock down this corridor." She jumped ahead a few more paces. "Just watch how it falls."

Key stepped out from behind her to watch. Sweetie Belle floated up a larger gravel chunk and tossed it forward. Halfway through its flight, it bent slightly to the right, and Applebloom had to jump back to avoid being hit in the hoof. "It's one of those."

"Ohhh." Sweetie Belle hopped over the fault like it was a gap.

Key stumbled when he passed over it, then stood with his front on one side and back on the other. His weight appeared to be pulling in two slightly different directions on each side. "Oh man, that's weird," he chuckled.

"You think that's cool? There might be some even weirder ones around here."

The cave continued for another twenty lengths, then dropped sharply as it joined another corridor in a T-junction. A ring of cracks and splintered rocks cut the corridor at an angle, but there was no change in gravity. The gravel was absent here, and the rockfaces cleaner-hewn. No stalagmites or stalactites stuck out of his corridor. It tapered to nothing at one end, leaving the other as the obvious direction of travel.

Further down, one wall had a distinct honeycomb texture to it. Hexagonal recesses lined the wall, wide as Key's head, but only a hoof deep. He ran his hoof over the dividers, and it knocked as if porous. He hurried along when the lights from the other lanterns ahead moved on.

A steep dip in the corridor forced them to very carefully climb down. The smooth floor offered little purchase, and the fog made it slightly slippery. Applebloom wasn't able to make the trip without stumbling, but she showed that it was safe enough below. Sweetie Belle floated herself and Key down one at a time.

This corridor was more like a ledge around the circumference of a large cave, hidden from the outside. Fissures in the cavern walls let shardlight pour in, but also mist, shrouding the details of anything on the other side, or on the floor or ceiling. Even if seeing things at a distance was a pain, the fog scattered the light from the outside to give them some better vision of their path.

A figure lay on the floor, several lengths away. Applebloom trained her blunderbusses on it. Sweetie Belle found another rock (with some difficulty) and skipped it over to it. The rock bounced off. They looked at each other and shrugged, then went over to investigate.

Despite being cold and dead, it showed no signs of normal decay - or at least, it wasn't decaying to a normal skeleton. It was black and rough, and it had two needle-like fangs in its upper jaw. Its horn and legs were riddled with large holes, and its back was reflective and blue, with two symmetrical pits. Feather-light, veined leaves of chitin stuck out at uncomfortable looking angles. "I've never seen anything like it..."

Key frowned, trying to look everywhere. "It's like some kind of... bug pony. That's the best I can manage. There's nothing like this in the books either."

Sweetie Belle picked up its head. The body was light - all of the innards had rotted away, and when held up horizontally, she could see from one end to the other through where the eyes had been. There were no bones. "Wow... think some quack in Manehattan would wanna take a look at this?"

"We'll pick it up on our way out. Maybe there's some eggs or some other weird thing down here we can sell."

Key lingered, looking at the carapace. "We're not burying it?"

"We don't even know if that's even a pony. We can donate it to medical science so they can find out, and try to get a rocket refill out of it while we're at it." He watched it still, then scurried after Applebloom and Sweetie Belle before they got too far ahead.

Further excavated branches down the line were dead ends. They all had similarly textured honeycomb walls, and they started finding the occasional tile that recessed into darkness. One branch had a severe crack along the floor, and the end of the tunnel had a sprawling mass of similar chitinous carcasses to the one out in the open. Key jumped ahead to get a look at them, but when he jumped over the fault, he fell forward instead of down. Sweetie Belle caught him by the hind legs before he joined the bodies in the pit. After a moment of nervous dangling, she pulled him back and they left those remains.

A fault line cutting the path part of the way down had a slight breeze coming from it. The up on each side wasn't very different, but Key spotted a couple of traces of light through the cracks, and weathering around the edges. Some kind of cement had been applied around the cracks, between them, and around some of the stalactites on either side, as if trying to tie them together. Key reared back when he spotted a black hoof sticking out of the crack. Splat, he muttered to himself.

The path around the edge of the cavern dipped sharply again, corkscrewing around a pillar of stone once and leading into a cave dug into the wall. This appeared to be the end of the line. All of the walls here were clustered with egg shapes, cemented to the ceiling mostly. They glowed faintly green from a distance, but the lanterns were enough to overpower them. The fault in the middle of the room, cracks obscured by the objects, was given away by the sudden change in their direction. Nearer the entrance they sagged straight down, with a couple of squashed looking ones fallen to the floor, and at the far end they sagged almost perfectly to the right.

"Think we can carry one of these back?" Applebloom kicked one of them. It made a low thump rather than a click. "I don't think these are rocks."

"They look pretty heavy... let me find a small one." Sweetie Belle tugged at one on the ceiling. "These... wow, they're stuck pretty tight."

"Just get a loose one, this place is held together with chewing gum and good wishes."

Key stood next to the fault. He could see a small enough egg thing beyond it, hidden behind a bend in the rock. He ventured a hoof out, and indeed, he felt it pull to the right. He looked over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't looking, then took a few steps back. He breathed in, and ran at the fault. With his last bound he jumped, and against intuition threw his forelegs to the right. In an instant, his front felt correctly aligned and his rear incorrect, and though one hoof scuffed on the ground sideways, he stuck the landing. The sound alerted Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Key! What are you doing up there?"

He ignored them for a moment so he could nudge the little bulb out into view. It was the size of his head, and felt as heavy as a full bucket of water. "I found one!"

Applebloom frowned. "That's great, but... agh. When you see twists that extreme, it don't say much for the stability of the place. Get down before you break something." Even as Sweetie Belle leaned in to take their prize, she furrowed her brow seriously at Key.

He sighed as he jumped back, this time landing perfectly. "I'm not that heavy..."


With nowhere else left to reach on foot, they went back the way they came, picking up the carapace on their way back. At the ship, Oval jumped out to greet Key with a hug, and profuse and profound thanks that he was in one piece. She squealed at first sight of the carcass, but calmed down quickly. Scootaloo was just as ill-humoured as when they left. The cloud had yet to clear, so they took the time to have lunch and run some maintenance. Oval took an inventory of the hold, making a point to leave off the box of belongings from Hoofington. When nobody was looking, she put them in her cabin to the side of the desk, where she wouldn't be reminded of them, and nobody else would find them. Key spent some time with the charts, trying to cross-reference his own mental shorthand with names by their coordinates.

They cast off near the end of Sweetie Belle's watch. She stayed out until they were at a safe distance from the island, then retired. Oval stayed with Key while he took observations to recalibrate their course, and they returned to their room together. Before sleeping, they attempted another conversation through the crystal. They'd become more practiced with their morse code, managing HELLO in about thirty seconds. They received only a hug in response, and realised that agreeing on some kind of protocol before they left may have been a good idea.

The following day was quiet. No islands loomed in the distance, no theatrical drug pushers accosted them. Oval examined the carcass and the egg stone thing after breakfast, but couldn't get an idea of its value at all. She spent the rest of the morning working on the chess set. To get into practice, she began turning out pawns. Key woke up roughly in time for lunch. Afterwards, they took their tea out on to the deck, watching the sky go by.

All of the white pawns were finished by the end of the day. Sweetie Belle found Key reading in the forecastle, and after some reluctance, she got him to explain the plot. He told her it was a classic, though she said she wouldn't know any better. He told her that Scootaloo had mentioned something about Sweet Apple Acres and music, and she just smiled and went about her business, singing. Later, he found Oval humming the same tune.

Late in the night watch, Key spotted an island a few degrees off their course. His calculations said they couldn't be more than a couple of days from Manehattan, but this was closer than that. Closer observation revealed it to be twin islands joined by a bridge as large as the rocks it held together, with two square towers on either side, topped with lights. Scootaloo identified it as Trottingham, and the charts agreed. She said they did a lot of trading there a number of years ago, when it was a lot closer to home. When Sweetie Belle and Oval Cut showed up for the early watch, they corrected their course to approach Trottingham, and went to sleep.