Twilight was both relieved and confused by the words that were spoken by the admiral. What could Applejack have possibly meant with her words? The only logical thing was to just flat out ask her. “Admiral, what did you mean by that?” she questioned aloud. Their eyes once again met with one another and the stare was given.
Applejack herself allowed a deep exhale to leave from her nostrils. She then calmly shook her head from side to side. The eye contact between the two of them was broken before the admiral turned her body around. She placed her hands on both sides of the window that was directly behind her. She didn’t have a true reason of why she spoke her words, so the reason had still to be formulated within her head.
“Ah think,” she began while her tone showed a lot more sympathy than previously. “Ah think Ah said it, ‘cause you’ll be needing it more than ya think. Y’all fancy soothsayers up in the castle don’t know how this world works in reality. Temptation ‘round every corner, anthronies trying to get a use out of ya. Y’all up there, Ah’ve seen numerous falling for it.”
It was perhaps the most reasonable explanation that she could be given to Twilight. It was indeed the truth of the matter. Something where not even the unicorn could be going in against even if she wanted to do it. The only thing she could be doing was to accept it, which she did by a simple nod and one word. “Alright,” said Twilight in response, nodding a bit. Though one more question remained to be answered for her. A question that perhaps wasn’t her place to ask.
Though with the way their conversation had been going already, anything could happen. The green rimmed eyes of Applejack looked over the endless ocean as the little engines inside of her leg never ceased to make noises. Everything from boiling water to small whistles did their turn. One thing was certain, it never would have been silent around the earth anthrony.
“Admiral,” was suddenly echoing through the cabin. The stare broke itself from the waters and focused upon the reflection of Twilight within the window. The calm looks in her eyes showed that she was a rough and tough sailor, as the vessel did continue to bob gently from side to side. Something Twilight had noticed from the beginning yet Applejack never worried about.
“Please, call me Applejack. And yar name being, again?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” the soothsayer quickly answered. She got a simple nod from the admiral, the name would be remembered. “Applejack, when you leave the vessel, who will be left in charge? I don’t suppose you can conjure up arcane monitors to inspect them all.”
The only thing that Applejack could do in response was to chuckle to herself. The mare turned herself back around and crossed her arms over each other as she gave a smirk towards Twilight. “Ya really think, Ah would leave them all on their own, on mah vessel? Nah, there’s somepony else in command beneath me. Ah’ll be getting him.”
Without any further interruption from Twilight did the admiral leave her spot. She wandered back to the door of the cabin. Only to open it in a powerful swing before she did a step or two forward. “Commodore Apple, attention!” she bellowed over the deck in the hope that the right anthrony would be hearing it.
Seconds came by before below decks the stomping of two heavy hooves could be heard. At least for Twilight that was the case. The mare looked down to the floor as she could exactly pinpoint where the stomps came from. She slowly began to fear for the worst that Old Bonesnapper might actually have been this new, commodore Apple.
Only time would be deciding for her who was going to be who and how the game was going to be played out. She could only hope that it was going to be in her favor. Maybe not much, but anything was better than nothing.
Then there was the silence of the heavy hooves and Twilight stood up from her chair. She wanted to see whomever would be coming over the deck and into the cabin. Though the surprises that were still in store for her, were unexpected to say the least.
Seconds later did the stomping return over the deck before she head a stallion’s voice that spoke in a low tone. “Ya needed me, admiral?”
“Get in, we’ll discuss it in private,” replied Applejack just before she moved out of the way. The first one to enter was the mysterious commodore. Twilight was given the full glory of him. Never in her life had she expected to see a stallion like that coming in.
With his fire-red skin, perfectly blonde hair and sap green eyes while being nicely wrapped in a spick and span attire. It was another whack in the face of the mare. A mare who had to help herself not to fall in any kind of love with him. Yet as their eyes met, there was though certain roughness within them for certain but also something else.
Twilight couldn’t really place it what she saw within his eyes as he made a small bow before her. “Milady,” he simply spoke in his low toned voice before coming back up. The door fell back in its lock after which Applejack walked back to her desk. Despite her having the amputated leg, she still had mastered the simple ability to walk without much of a problem. Whether that was something of a trouble, Twilight didn’t knew. She wouldn’t ask that in the moment.
“Commodore Apple, Ah called ya here ‘cause of the fact that things are gonna change,” said Applejack. A thing which immediately got the attention of both other anthronies. “Ah’ll be joining miss Sparkle here in a quest, until mah return shall you be having the command of the vessel. Don’t disappoint me, brother.”
The commodore made a salute to the admiral before he nodded to the request. “Don’t worry sis, she’ll be in good hands.” The admiral nodded to his words before she gestured to Twilight to come with her. The stallion himself then walked up to the seating and did something the admiral had done countless times already, staring over the ocean.
~~~~
Sometime later could both Applejack and Twilight be found wandering around the docks in silence. With their hands both nicely placed behind their backs and their tails were only swaying from side to side with every step they took. The blue robes of Twilight against the gray trenchcoat of the admiral did clash horribly with fashion senses, but there wasn’t any other way around it.
It was navy attire and there just wasn’t much that could be done against it. Besides, fashion was actually the least of Twilight’s worries as there were countless other matters to be found upon her mind. “Applejack, if I may ask you another question?” Twilight started. She looked over to her partner with a set of keen eyes.
“Another one? Ya been asking questions a lot, haven’t ya?” she returned with a chuckle. They left the naval space and walked into the commoners harbor. Once again did the busy life of the everyday anthrony enter into Twilight’s ears while she tried to keep her focus upon Applejack.
“Well, kinda. I really want to know with who I’m going to be traveling with.”
“An understandable reason of thinking, shoot away.” The eyes of the admiral then focused themselves upon Twilight. The two of them came to a standstill almost in the middle of the road.
“The way you spoke against the commodore, it almost makes it seem as if you two are family of each other,” brought Twilight forth. She felt like a horrible person to have even considered asking such a thing. Yet it was perhaps the only question that she could come up with as her mind constantly was nagging her about it.
The admiral herself couldn’t do much else then to release a gentle chuckle as she shook her head. “Yar observation is mighty fine, Ah can see that. He’s mah bigger brother in fact. Apple family generations used to farm apples no matter what, until the zebra threat a couple of years back. Mah brother and Ah were the first of our family to leave the farm life, and do som’thing else,” answered Applejack to her in a calm, collected but also sad tone.
“Do you miss it, life at the farm?” Twilight then carefully asked. She was weary not to get the admiral trapped on her hooves. Which was actually just about the last thing that she wanted to do.
Applejack turned her attention fully back to Twilight and dared to look her in the eyes. “Ah made a disgrace of mahself and mah brother by leaving that farm, ‘course I want to go back to that normal life. But years of navy, can even change the most humble of anthrony into som’thing else.”
It wasn’t an answer that Twilight had actually expected to come from her. But it was something that she also could understand to a certain degree or more. She knew that some families in the land had been doing the same for many generation and that changes within it meant exile. Though the wondering of asking even further then she already had done, wasn’t there. Instead she wanted to change the subject as soon as she possibly could and Applejack would hopefully silently agree on it.
“So, you think your brother can handle the crew? No offence, but they all seemed to have been a little…” said Twilight. She couldn’t even finish the sentence due to not being able to find the right words in her mind.
“Dysfunctional?” Applejack simply finished before she began to walk again. Twilight quickly joined her afterwards with a small nod towards the words spoken. “Yeah, some of ‘em are indeed a little bit dysfunctional, but Big Mac shouldn’t have any problem with ‘em. He’s the silent type, but make him angry and it will be yar arse that’s dumped in the ocean.”
“And you call yourself loyal to the goddesses?”
“Ah never said that!” Applejack snarled in return. The tension between the two mares rose up once more. “Ah don’t care whether or not we are under some kind of protection of celestial beings. Ah run mah ship the way Ah want it! Am Ah clear to ya?”
A growl of disagreement was being let out by Twilight as she had a difficult time actually accepting the words as they were spoken to her. She couldn’t even believe it really. Yet it was the only thing she could be doing. “Fine, you’re clear to me.”
“Good.”
Minutes more came and went while they just continued to walk through the harbor in silence. The stomping of the steam-driven leg almost became as worse as water dripping into the sink at night. It was slowly driving the unicorn to madness. A madness that she better could have contained before something stupid would happen.
With the sun in the cloudless skies and heading towards the hills to be lowered, Applejack looked like she was truly enjoying herself. Almost as if she was actually happy to be off of the vessel. Though the question that Twilight then asked was something she never should have done. But the control over her vocal chords wasn’t there anymore, it just flapped out of her mouth like the snap of a finger. “What happened, to your leg that made it, the way it is?”
All of the sudden did the eyes of the admiral turn open as wide as they possibly could. She slowly turned her head towards the soothsayer as if a curse was cast. “Beg yar pardon partner, but what did ya just ask of me?” The orange skinned mare couldn’t even believe it herself actually. The sheer audacity of a soothsayer to ask her that question that shouldn’t be asked by anyone.
The anger that was filling up within the eyes of the earth anthrony almost became actually visible as Twilight knew that she had made a massive mistake on the matter. Yet no plea in the world would have been good enough to make right what she had done wrong.
Whatever sunny mood the mare used to be having had all changed into nothing but a violent thunderstorm that was raging outside of anypony’s view. Though internally did all the wires of the admiral simply snap as if they were nothing at all. Thoughts about brutally taking the life of the soothsayer filled the mind of Applejack.
Whichever manner she would be choosing, it would always pack out badly for her. For she was going to be the prime suspect which most likely would give her a dishonorable discharge from the navy. She stood at a crossroad she never wanted to stand.
Twilight had already taken a couple of steps backwards from the panting earth anthrony as she also tried to calm her down. “Y-You don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to. I am sorry I asked, alright?” the soothsayer said in the attempt to ease the tension. But nothing would have been enough to take down the mind of the admiral.
The only one strong enough to do that, was Applejack herself. Her green rimmed eyes then focused back upon the soothsayer and she gave her just a hateful glare. “Ah don’t wanna talk about it,” she said in a low and growling tone. She just turned herself around and began to walk away. The soothsayer herself was actually happy about the fact that she got off that easily, but it did make her question the allegiance of the admiral. Would she still be loyal to Twilight? There was only one way she could think of that could have any sort of impact on the matter.
“If you need something, ask around in the castle, most of the guards can pinpoint you to me!” she called out to the departing mare.
She only received a signal with one of Applejack’s hands in what seemed to have been a waving motion before the two were truly separated. The enraged admiral had made a turn and was just out of Twilight’s field of view. It made the soothsayer feel horrible about it, but that was life sadly enough.
With a deep exhale that came from her nose had Twilight lowered herself in one of the dozen benches that stood next to the road. Both of her hands were used to keep her head up as the eyes were closed and the whispers did their turn.
“This is not how I expected things to be going. But what can I do about it? Not my fault she can’t handle such a question, I mean, I don’t see many walking with something that she does.” It was just one of the many theories and excuses that she made up for herself not to place all of the blame upon herself.
Yet there was one little thing that dominated everything. Something which caused the soothsayer to lean back into the bench and look up into the red skies above. “And with that mare I will be needing to travel with. No, that’s just going to be amazing. Simply amazing Twilight. Thanks you two, I mean, oh just forget it already.”
Then there was nothing else but silence that came from the soothsayer. A silence that some could have considered eerie when they walked past her. While others didn’t even seem to be noticing the facts as they were. To Twilight, it didn’t even matter. She couldn’t be caring less about what the others thought of her in the moment.
The situation was already bad in her eyes, but who was to say it wasn’t about to get worse? She still had to collect about four other beings in order to help her with her quest. That was the fact that had Twilight worried even more. She knew there were four more, but she didn’t knew how they would be reacting against the matter. So the only thing that she could do in her own mind was to just go for it. Would they be as bad as Applejack, worse, or better? It worried her to no end.
“Next stop is going to be Cloudsdale,” said Twilight to herself. She stood up from her bench and began to walk over towards the staircase that led her back to the castle. It was perhaps the most logical way to go for her. Up to the city of pride, there she would be going to the air force base stationed there. With her experiences from the naval admiral, she really wanted to do any of the military institutes just right away in order to get them over with.
Wishful thinking it might have been, though the outcome of one encounter never set a hoof for the next one. It was a fact Twilight knew all too well. Many of her students were that way. Many that were weak and fragile at first instance managed to surprise her the most in the very end. Which was always a pleasant surprise to her. The events with the admiral, not so much. Still, Twilight shouldn’t complain too much about it, she still had an almost hellish ascend back upon the stairs.
“One last time, then go to bed and tomorrow morning it’s going to be a hunt in the library,” she spoke to herself. Twilight then set her hoof on the first step. Luckily for her she would be going upwards, meaning that she wouldn’t have to worry about just balancing upon her heels at one point.
Time wasn’t of the essence for her in that moment, but a good night’s worth of sleep was something that would even reshape the dullest of minds. The mind of Twilight had been dull since she had wandered up those three thousand or more steps of the staircase on the side of the mountain.
Exhausted and defeated was the way that Twilight felt when she finally reached the top of the thing. Yet she could have gone and just walked through to the castle. But instead she allowed herself to make the turn and see the ocean by night. With the moon high in the skies were the waters almost perfectly flat. Not even a breeze of wind blew in or out of the harbor, stranding many ships that couldn’t come out in time.
~~~~
When the eyes of the mare finally opened themselves again, she was once more teased by the light of the sun and a deep groan was released. Her morning mood still hadn’t changed and it wouldn’t anytime soon. Yet she was freshly awake again and the deeds of the day were loud and clear to her. She needed to find any interesting piece of information about the pegasi city of pride in order to find the next member of her team.
A thing that she knew was actually a lot easier said than done. She finally got out of bed and did her morning routine. A routine which ended by her soothsayers attire magically placed around her body.
The mare made a couple swirls in front of a mirror before she sighed a bit to herself. “This has to go when I’m leaving, I can’t run on these shoes at all, not to mention the fact this blue turns sour quickly,” mumbled Twilight to herself just seconds before she left her room. The direction she needed to was all too well known to her.
There where she knew next to nothing about the world as it was, she knew the castle like the back of her hand. Almost blindly she could be walking towards the library of the place and not bump into even one other anthrony. Which was actually the way she preferred it.
Along her route was she greeted by a couple of guards. Among them she saw the one anthrony she really didn’t wanted to see. An exhale of annoyance was left through her nostrils as Twilight really didn’t wanted to even speak to her. Though her wish got actually shattered thanks to the little fact that the other being began to talk to her.
Not just talk to her but even joining her in the way towards the library. Something that Twilight never would have sought behind Beatrix Lulamoon. “This student you send to me, is indeed the perfect battlemage. However, his anger makes him delirious. He is still angry about not becoming a soothsayer and almost ignited my class the other day,” said Trixie to Twilight. Though the soothsayer could have sworn she saw a bit of a worried look within Trixie’s eyes.
A look that was clearly noticed by Twilight as she couldn’t understand even one bit about it. “Are you, afraid of him?” she questioned in a genuine tone of simply not knowing the facts as they were. It was just as much of a surprise to see Trixie the way she was as some of the guards that they both passed.
“Afraid I don’t really want to say, more worried. He needs to calm down but there is simply no reasoning with,” the blue unicorn said. Her tone gave away that she was really out of hope. “Hey, you think the library has something about what can be done against it?”
On that question, there wasn’t really an answer that Twilight could be having for it. Perhaps it did, perhaps it didn’t. Even the tone in which Trixie spoke caused her to raise an eyebrow. The battlemage had never spoken about the library in a good light in her presence. Yet she couldn’t let her colleague down on the matter. It just didn’t feel right for the unicorn to do it.
So when she released a thoughtful moan from her throat, the gears inside of her head were send back to work on the matter whether she personally liked it or not. “Well,” she started and in the eyes of Trixie could the twinkles of hope be seen, “perhaps there are a couple of scrolls that might help you out. You’ll be having to ask the librarian for them though. As I’m not really sure they have them, it’s just a guess.”
A guess or not, it had answered that question where Trixie was after and gave the unicorn a thankful smile before changing her pace into a higher gear. The two anthronies parted their ways and Twilight simply shrugged for a moment before she began to mind her own business again.
Whatever Trixie would find in the library, it didn’t concerned her too much.
When Twilight Sparkle finally had arrived in the library was she given the permission to gather all of the books they had about the massive pegasus city of pride. For about two hours had she already been reading while the morning crawled past her. Time went by at a slower rate than expected. But perhaps the slow time did help her for the fact that she could be reading almost everything at her own pace.
So did she learn about the massive weather factories where almost half the population seemed to be working. The very structure of the place as it became clear to her that it was built upon actual clouds. Those were just many of the dozens of secrets that were revealed to her. But one thing always came back to her, the massive amounts of pride the pegasi took within their ability to fly and their control of the weather.
It almost seemed like something that was a dictatorship within the city, even though it didn’t have an actual mayor. Instead the city had a counsel of numerous pegasi who would govern the city. But that wasn’t even the cherry on the cake, for the air force of Equestria never existed. It had always been the c.a.f. who had been protecting their very skies. “C.A.F.? Cloudsdale Air Force?” Twilight mumbled in confusion. She couldn’t believe the fact yet could reason to the way the decision came to be.
All of the pegasi came out of Cloudsdale or its traveling path. Which meant that it was rare to see pegasi living someplace else unless they choose for it. But that never answered the biggest question that Twilight had about the matter. The biggest one had to be the fact that none of the books she was reading told her an exact date of when the city had actually been created.
Which made her then belief that the place was actually older than the anthrony race itself. Her eyes removed themselves from the book and pointed upwards to see the three pony skeletons again. Her attention was fixed upon the pegasus one before a gentle smile just grew itself below her muzzle. Another support for the ever conflicting theory between creation and evolution.
~~~~
Only after the hours had gone by did Twilight thought that she had more than enough information for the city. The mare calmly sorted every book out again before she placed them on the shelves that they were found. Though it was when she placed the last book on the shelf that she noticed how Trixie was struggling with reading her own scrolls.
Clearly had the blue anthrony once again taken too much hay in one go and Twilight rolled with her eyes before she left her. It wasn’t her problem to begin with and she rather kept it that way. Perhaps that is she could have spoken out of luck that Trixie hadn’t seen her placing the books back.
When Twilight left the library and was calmly walking through the hallways of the place, she began to consider the things that she needed in order to make the journey over to the city. Near the evening was the city the closest to them so if she could get there before the city did, it would be a perfect timing.
Yet there came the troubles, timing. She had spent a little bit more time than anticipated within the walls of the library that haste was of the essence. The time to carefully pack her stuff wasn’t there anymore and she only had herself to blame for it.
The unicorn could almost place the palm of her hand against her face when she realized the facts as they were but never made the decision to give up. There was still plenty of daylight left and the moral to travel the distance was actually pretty high. So the only thing she could be doing was to give in against everything and just go for it.
“No, no, no, no, I am not going to wear those bloody shoes during the trip. Nor this entire outfit really,” muttered Twilight to herself. The mare stood practically naked in her room and looked over her outfit that she had worn for years already. The time to change was there and there wasn’t really that many options without destroying one or two pieces.
It wasn’t the thing she wanted to do, but it was a thing she had to do. With a deep exhale that came from her nose she made the decision on what her new attire would become. With a charges of her horn and guidance of her fingers had it all happened in a spectacle show of light. It engulfed the unicorn in a sphere which confused her as the pieces of her outfit floated into the air.
Only to also disappear within the sphere of light as she crafted whatever she needed to have in order to get through the trek. Once the orb of light erupted out in a million or trillion sparks, the new outfit for Twilight was revealed to herself. Something that was breezy, open and rather comfy sitting.
When her eyes looked into the mirror, they saw the deep purple boots made out of leather with fur rings halfway up her lower leg while a pinkish pant covered the rest of her legs. Not to mention the fact that upon her left leg her signature sign could be found. One massive pink to purple star surrounded by six smaller ones.
It was considered to be her sign of birth. Every anthrony had such a sign somewhere hidden in their lives. For some it was obvious while others almost never would encounter it. Yet the fun didn’t stop there. For going up to halfway her upper arms were a pair of fingerless, near crimson red or purplish gloves to be found while her head was covered by a hood made out of the same material as her pants.
Yet the fact that surprised her the most, were just the couple of straps that covered her upper body while two strands of hair reached down and stopped at the middle of her chest. The good thing was that the straps and the hair covered her more precious body parts but she wasn’t really happy about it.
Though for an attire to travel with –especially with the likes of Twilight– it was good and comfortable enough to go with. As time was something she couldn’t lose any more in her eyes.
With the minutes having past and numerous guards giving her a set of strange eyes as they couldn’t believe what they had actually witnessed, Twilight Sparkle stood at the doorway she only came through perhaps once a year. It held an emotional value to her as it was the head entrance of the castle and the very way she once walked as a little filly to apply for the school.
How the times have changed over the course of years. It still brought a smile to her face as she remembered that first time so fondly. It almost seemed as if nothing could destroy that memory. And now, she would be walking past it again in order to leave. To leave the safehaven that she had always trusted in order to make the trek to the city of pride.
A small watery line appeared below the mare her eyes as her legs began to tremble slightly. In one way or the other, she was going to make the leap into the big world outside of the castle walls. With the wind gently blowing in her face and carrying the scents of nature itself, it was almost calling her, inviting her to come out and witness its very beauty.
With a deep in- and even deeper exhale had the tear faded away from her eye. Then the both of the violet rims set themselves upon the world ahead. Without a single word was the first step taking outside of the castle’s boundaries. For the first time in her life –or after a tremendously long time– would Twilight Sparkle have left the ground of the castle in order to find the next member of her company.
Whatever she would be encountering out there, it was guaranteed to both be wonderful and terrible. For the tremors that shook the land still lingered deep within the deepest and darkest parts of her mind. No packed gear could be found around the unicorn but she had packed enough things with her. Everything she carried was stored in an distortion of spacetime. Harmless and having a near infinite amount of storage.
Her journey had begun, slowly but surely was the distance between her and the castle getting greater. Yet she didn’t feel bad about leaving the castle. She did feel about the fact that nopony accompanied her. Even though she promised her bigger brother to go with somepony else, Applejack had never let any sound of her be heard. It was something that worried Twilight a lot, but it wasn’t something she had to focus upon.
She had to focus upon the road ahead, as well as the city of pride that appeared upon the horizon in the lowering sun. Time would tell her tale, all of their tales. Bit by bit, piece by piece. And second by second.