//------------------------------// // 9. New and Old Friends // Story: Agents of F.R.I.E.N.D. // by PeppyJoe //------------------------------// Two days after Fancy mailed a letter to his skydock supervisor, a fleet of carriages descended upon the sleepy town of Rockwell. Admittedly, the town was too hot to truly be called sleepy instead of suffering from heat-exhaustion. The newly-arrived workers quickly made their way to the F.R.I.E.N.D. base and set to work, out of eagerness towards both participating in such a grand project and simply getting indoors. While the construction progressed at a much-accelerated pace, Knight waited for new orders from the Council of Nobles. It was four days after sending her letter that those orders arrived in the form of Golden Stud. She was just stepping out of the tavern when an elongated black carriage pulled up, drawn by four ponies. The lead stallion began unfastening himself from the harness, presumably to open the door for the carriage's passenger, but Golden Stud didn't wait. Knight trotted up as he stepped out of the vehicle. "Sir," she called out. "Welcome to Rockwell." Golden nodded, focused for the moment on retrieving his luggage. Levitating it out to float by his side, he turned back to Knight. "Captain, I'm glad to see you're alive and well. We have much to discuss." He paused, looking around with a hint of distaste. "But not here, I think. I have to make a stop in town before going to the base. Will you join me?" "Of course." "Grand. It's not far." The two ponies began walking down a side-street—to the extent that such could exist with dirt roads—and remained relatively silent. After passing a tailor and a small clinic, Golden turned to enter a small single-story building that looked even more dilapidated than its surroundings. Stepping in behind him, Knight saw that they were in a small bakery. A display of various breads and pastries was inlaid in the counter before them. They both stood there for a moment before a maroon-coated unicorn pushed open a door behind the counter and stepped through. "Oh! Goldie, welcome back!" The mare hastily unfastened her flour-spattered apron, setting it on the counter and rushing forward to embrace Golden Stud in a warm hug. Knight, for her part, just looked on in a mix of shock and empathetic joy. After the hug had ended, the mare turned towards her and, after a moment's hesitation, hugged her as well. "Welcome to the Belle Bakery! Any friend of Goldie's is a friend of mine." Golden looked a bit unsure about the open display of affection in front of his subordinate, but he still wore a warm smile. "It's lovely to see you again, Sour. You and Brass are still doing well for yourselves, I hope?" Knight thought she saw Sour Belle's expression falter for a moment. "Oh, we're doing great! It's still rough, but... Well, we know that if she can be found, you'll find her." She nodded as though to reaffirm her statement, then let out a small giggle. "But look at you forgetting your manners, Mister Propriety! You haven't introduced me to your friend here!" Golden Stud gave an embarrassed cough. "Yes, quite. Sour Belle, this is Captain Knight, a very talented mare working with me. Captain, this is Sour Belle, a dear friend." "Nice to meet you, Miss Belle." "Likewise, captain. I'd love to hear just what you captain, but..." she inclined her head towards Goldenblood, "I suspect he'd rather you didn't tell me." The stallion gave a small nod in confirmation, but Sour just grinned. "That's just as well. I expect somepony will be wanting his special order if he's made the trip all the way to my little bakery. I'll get right on it! You two, please, have a seat." She hurried off, past the counter and into the back room. "Now then-" Golden paused as Sour Belle poked her head back into the room. "I'm so sorry! Captain, can I get you anything?" "Surprise me. Whatever you recommend will be good, I'm sure." Sour Belle nodded, pausing a moment more to retrieve her apron from the counter before returning to the back room. "Now then," Golden Stud resumed, "To business." He frowned as he saw Knight giving him an amused glance. "Please, Miss Knight, speak your mind." The mare needed no further prompting, and launched immediately into asking, "What's the deal there? Are you and her together?" Golden smiled faintly. "No, nothing like that. She's married to a very fine stallion named Brass, and even if I did regard Sour in that way, I wouldn't dare put myself between the two of them. It is as I said; she's a dear friend. When I first visited this town, I learned of a personal struggle her family was enduring. I offered to assist in resolving that struggle, and though I never succeeded, I have continued trying and we have remained in contact." Knight knew better than to press for more information, and suspected Sour Belle's mention of trying to find somepony would be the only clue she received. "Of course. Thank you for confiding in me, then. Now then," she said, echoing Golden's words, "to business?" "Quite." He sighed. "I hope you know that the nobles are displeased." Knight opened her mouth but he continued, "I am aware of the casualties your team has suffered. It is regrettable, but circumstances conspire to compel us ever onwards. You may mourn for them later." "Sir, we don't even have a mage anymore. Or a good flier. Or a ship." "I am aware of that, Miss Knight, but your team's actions have wrought some unfortunate consequences. You are by now, of course, aware of the devastating tidal wave that washed over the western griffin shore following what we presume was the detonation of the Celestial Stone. "What you might not have heard is that Griffindor authorities are reporting heavily increased numbers of magical anomalies and monster attacks along their western coast. As their government was not privy to your team's... escapade... they have not connected these occurrences with Equestria. However, it seems blindingly obvious that the energy discharge from the Celestial Stone is responsible for the increased magical activity in their lands." "What would you have us do, then?" "You, specifically? Very little. You're well aware that I've taken great pains to segment the different branches of F.R.I.E.N.D. and in this instance your expertise is lacking, particularly considering the loss of your mage. We're sending you to Crown Roc still, but a team of dedicated F.R.I.E.N.D. scientists will arrive soon after you do. We'll need your team to supervise their efforts. Don't interfere, just make sure nopony else does either." Golden paused, withdrawing an envelope from his saddlebags and sliding it across the table. "This document will provide the necessary details for your task, and I've enclosed several tickets for passage on a transport leaving Savannah in two days. We cannot afford to wait for the Courser's repairs to be completed." Knight took the envelope and nodded. "Understood, sir." Evidently, both of them had said all that they needed to, so Golden Stud looked at her patiently. And then he continued looking at her patiently for a while longer. After fidgeting for a moment, Knight stood up, excused herself, and left. It was only a minute later that Sour Belle returned, carrying two pastries in her levitation. "Where'd your friend go, Goldie?" "Oh, nevermind her. She had some business to address and said it couldn't wait. But please, don't let that sweet-roll go to waste. Join me." ~ ~ ~ "We ponybirdkin peaceful. We help you. Please, do not bring death on us." Minuette and Soarin exchanged another bewildered glance. The villagers all stood far enough away from them that Minuette felt confident risking a whisper to her companion. "What the buck is going on?!" "I don't know, but they look terrified of you! Just start by getting them to dial that back a bit, maybe." "Right." Raising her voice to be heard by the older yellow stallion who'd addressed them, she said, "We do not want to harm you or anyone else here. My name is Minuette and this is Soarin. We're from Equestria, but our... Our ship ran up on a sandbar and sank. We need to contact our friends." The stallion paused for a moment, frowning, before nodding and speaking to the lead griffin in their strange language again. He turned back and replied, "We are happy to friends with you, Minuette and Soarin. I am called..." He paused, glancing at the others. "I am unsure, but 'New Growth' is close in your tongue. I fear I do not know your 'Equestria'." Minuette skipped a beat, and ultimately decided on the most objective approach. "Where are we right now? What do you call this place?" "Closest word is 'Home Mountain'." Soarin facehoofed. "Do you have any maps, at least?" The yellow pony nodded and began drawing an outline of the area in the dirt with his hoof. "Just... Excuse us for a moment, will you?" Soarin wrapped a wing around Minuette and guided her a few paces away. "Mini, what the hay is going on, because I am really lost and not just in the geographical sense." The unicorn looked visibly shaken. "I'm not sure... Nothing about this makes sense. Their language isn't Griffonic, or Equestrian Common, but it shares common traits of both. And-" She paused, glancing around. "And there aren't any unicorns here. I mean, you saw how worried they were about me, but it's like they'd never even seen one before! Plus-" "Map done." Minuette left her sentence hanging and trotted back to see the stallion's diagram. "This... This can't be right. This mountain here—that's us?" "That is Home Mountain, yes." Her face paled a bit as she glanced back at Soarin. "If this map is right, and if I'm remembering correctly—and I'm absolutely certain of the latter—we're standing at the foot of Crown Roc." Both of them turned to gaze up the towering mountain they stood beside. It was fairly clear that there was no city at its peak. A terrifying thought crossed Minuette's mind, but before she inquired after it, she took one final glance at the map on the ground and noticed something odd. "What's this? The area of you've marked out over here." "That is Dead Zone," New Growth replied. "We don't go there anymore." "Why, what's over there?" New Growth blinked. "The dead." When his guests showed no recognition, he explained further. "Nothing grows there now. In the Old-Pony times, there were cities and ponies and plants and animals. Then the unicorns brought Death." "Unicorns, to the east? That doesn't seem likely. Ponies haven't had any population centers on this continent since..." the blue mare faltered. "I mean, there was speculation that the Pre-Equestrian ponies originated here and crossed over to where we now call home using a land-bridge, but that's never been proven. And..." Soarin, evidently following her line of reasoning, cut in. "Mini, you're not suggesting we've gone back in time." "Backwards, no. None of this has happened before, I'm sure of it. But, the theory itself is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Most time-travel theory is just adapting teleportation spells to account for four dimensions instead of three. With the amount of power I harnessed in casting the spell to move the Courser... maybe... I don't know. It's conceivable we've gone into the future—that would account for these people's blended language—but that raises the question of why they wouldn't remember places like Equestria or Crown Roc, or why there wouldn't at least be ruins of the latter." She paused, thinking. "Yeah, no, time travel doesn't look very likely." "What does that leave us?" Minuette, having no answer to give, just released a heavy sigh and turned back to face the yellow stallion. "Is that region still dangerous?" "We send scouts sometimes. They always return, but nothing changes." "Do you know where the unicorns lived?" New Growth frowned, shaking his head. "My family works to remember the Old, but we did not remember that. Although... There is a room of scrolls, from the Old-Pony times. We cannot read them, but you might. Maybe they show what you need?" "Well, that's the first good news I've heard all day!" Minuette laughed in excitement. "Please, take us."