Fly Up From the Flames
After they had departed from Vanhoover in the Vergilius, Thorax decided that the smartest thing they could do was to ensure anyone who attempted to pursue them lost their trail. To do this, after piloting the Vergilius about a mile or so northward out of Vanhoover, he turned the craft onto a loosely southeastern course heading towards the Unicorn Range of mountains. Mostly nothing but countryside separated them from the mountains, but there were scatterings of small farming communities spread about throughout that Thorax actively steered the air yacht around so to avoid any inhabitants spying them as they flew past who could then relay on news of those sightings to those chasing them. He also stayed far away from the major trade route passing through the area that most airships followed when flying to or from Vanhoover in this direction, as the route was too easily tracked and would only increase their chances of being sighted by other airships traveling it. Thanks to Thorax’s precautions, they saw no sign of any other airships passing through or much of any sign of any communities except from extremely far distances at most during the flight, which proceeded speedily as Thorax kept the Vergilius flying at or close to its maximum speed since departing Vanhoover, trying to put as much distance as he could between them and the city they had finally been discovered in.
This meant the flight felt rather secluded and barren though, isolating themselves from civilization like they were. It didn’t help that most of this flight to the Unicorn Range was spent in silence between the two runaways, the two lost in their own private thoughts about their situations, filled with sadness, conflicting disappointments, and above all, regret. Neither of them had said it out loud, but bidding their final farewells to Fly Leaf as they sailed out of the airship yard had cut much deeper than they were prepared for, driving home the reality of their situation. Once again they had been driven from the lives they had built for themselves, were on their own and on the run with limited supplies, and had nowhere to go. It was crushingly depressing for the both of them to find themselves back in this situation again after having permitted themselves to hope they had long moved on from it and wouldn’t have to return to it.
Clearly not, though.
In an attempt to distract themselves from all of these undesirable thoughts, they both quietly tried to focus on tasks to keep them busy with. Thorax poured all his focus into flying the Vergilius, more so than he usually did, and didn’t care to leave the ship’s helm for anything if he could help it. In the long hours that passed as they sailed away from Vanhoover in fact, he only left the helm once so to use the head…and even that he clearly had tried to put off for as long as he could. It was debatable if this extreme focus on operating the airship was working though, because his face was still etched with a sullen and disheartened expression that unfortunately Thorax could see getting faintly reflected back at him by the crystal glass that made up the control cabin’s forward viewport.
Spike, meanwhile, eventually took it upon himself to gather up their bags of travel supplies and took them below so to find places to store the equipment in the various cabinets and storage spaces the Vergilius offered, seeing that the air yacht would be their new home for the time being. He took his time doing so, almost afraid that when he finished, he would be left with nothing to do but finally face the boiling turmoil of emotions he had been trying to force deep down within him, fearing the pain they would bring if he let them spill forth. But like with Thorax, it was debatable if it really helped as he wandered about almost as if in a light daze, also wearing an expression of concealed aching and regret.
At last, they arrived at the Unicorn Range as the sun started to sink into the western horizon behind them. Instead of doing the safe thing and sailing over the mountains as most airships would do, Thorax instead decided to take a page from Esperia, one of his fellow students back in the airship training cruise he had undertaken, and kept the airship very low in altitude, so much so he was constantly having to dodge and weave the ship around the towering mountains that loomed around them. Such a course was obviously dangerous, and normally Thorax wouldn’t have done it, but he reasoned that keeping so close to the mountains would both make it harder for them to be tracked by any pursuers as well as make it harder to be seen by those searching for them.
They were only halfway through the mountain range though when the sun slipped fully behind the horizon and the darkness of Luna’s night started to descend upon them, reducing visibility for flying considerably. The Vergilius was mounted with a series of illuminating lamps to help light its way at night, but they only went so far, and with the dangerous terrain they were sailing through in mind, Thorax decided it might be better to set down somewhere and camp out for the night within the range. As he thought it unlikely their pursuers would think they’d even try such a thing, he reasoned it probably would only help to throw them off their trail further. So, finding a relatively level section of rocky terrain jutting out about midway down the side of one mountain, Thorax gingerly brought their air yacht in for a landing upon it, the chosen spot being just barely big enough to land upon, and they set about making it their camping site for the evening.
Because they knew there likely were still going to be search parties out and about looking for them and that they shouldn’t ignore that even though Thorax was confident they were unlikely to be found here during the night, they both agreed to minimize everything that could make the Vergilius visible from a passing search party, shutting the airship down in every conceivable way, both in terms of light sources and equipment. This way, the parked airship cast off little light, and did not produce much in the way of a magical signature that could conceivably be detected by a search party coming through the area.
This meant they were both reluctant to start a fire or make use of the Vergilius’s small stove it was equipped with, fearing the heat, light, or magic it produced as part of its function might be detectable by a dedicated enough of a searcher. So they opted to use neither of those, instead partaking of a simple and cold dinner of fruit leather and granola bars from the food supplies they had packed and wrapping themselves in blankets overtop their normal attires so to keep warm, the temperature rapidly turning cold in the mountains as the night began. Because they agreed the below deck interior of the air yacht was too dark for comfort without lighting like this, they had this humble meal outside on a patch of rocky ground next to the Vergilius, silently surveying the darkening mountain range they had parked themselves in. The darkness of the night made it all seem rather ominous though, adding a metaphorical chill on top of the natural chill of the evening.
To try and distract from that, Thorax was finally the first to let himself start to think about their future and what they needed to do next to find themselves shelter and safety again, knowing their supplies aboard the Vergilius wouldn’t last forever and that they would eventually need to find someplace to settle down again like they had in Vanhoover. In starting to ponder how to best go about doing that, Thorax suddenly had a thought, recalling Princess Luna’s visits in his dreams and their discussion about the truth of Spike and Thorax’s situation just the evening previous—though after everything that had happened, it felt so long ago. Regardless, remembering that Luna had expressed wanting to reassess the situation and how it had been getting handled, greatly implying that she was more inclined to side with Spike and Thorax’s side of things, Thorax suggested to Spike that perhaps what they should be doing was contacting her, imploring her for aid and help. And as Spike’s ability to send and receive messages via his firebreath would no longer be hindered by the spell Thorax had cast on him to block it well back when they were heading for Vanhoover four moons previous by now, he thought that would be the best way to contact her.
Spike, however, still had his doubts that Princess Luna could really be trusted and that she was, in fact, an ally. He reminded Thorax that they had no firm confirmation that was actually Luna’s intent and that she was in fact siding with them. “Besides,” he related, “I can use my firebreath to send messages to Princess Celestia, Twilight, and any of her friends, but not Princess Luna.” He shrugged. “As it happens, Princess Luna prefers to be more traditional with sending mail, and there had never been a time where I needed to learn how to use my firebreath to send her a message, or to receive one from her.”
But Thorax still reasoned that Luna had conveyed misgivings about how everything had played out to now, indicating that it hadn’t gone as she thought it should’ve, and was at least very willing to give them the benefit of a doubt. She was also no doubt hearing about what had transpired in Vanhoover by now and would probably be actively seeking for new information. She would be interested to hear their own version of events, seeing that was the reason she had sought out dreamwalking in Thorax’s dreams in the first place. Finally, she had also clearly stated that she would discuss all she had learned about Spike and Thorax with her sister, Princess Celestia, and so Celestia no doubt was already very much in the know about everything Luna knew too, reasoning that this meant they could safely contact Luna through Celestia, seeing they couldn’t directly contact Luna through Spike’s firebreath. At any rate, it was undeniable that they still had a chance to potentially resolve this all peacefully, so that they wouldn’t have to stay in hiding, something even Spike had to agree was desirable, and it’d be foolish of them to not at least try.
So Thorax struck a deal with Spike; they would prepare a simple letter conveying the basics of their version of what had happened in Vanhoover and include a plea for their help and request a chance to explain, in depth, their side of the story, convey fears Twilight was acting recklessly on the matter, and to be heard out without premature judgement. However, they would not say anything about where they presently were or where they were heading, or anything that could potentially enable either princess to track them down and find them should Spike be correct and the princesses were not going to support them as much as Thorax hoped. Once the letter was sent off, they would wait for a response as they continued to travel away from Vanhoover. If the response agreed to their requests to hear them out, then they would go from there, responding accordingly. If not, then Thorax agreed he would reapply the spell that would block Spike’s ability to receive messages via firebreath once more and consider that matter concluded. That then agreed, they jointly worked on such a letter, gently bickering about what to include and what not to include, before finally sending it off, watching as Spike’s emerald firebreath consumed the letter and transported it off to the desired recipient.
In the meantime, as it was getting increasingly late, and no response immediately coming from their letter, they decided it would be best for them to get some sleep. Still fearing a search party could possibly discover them though, it was agreed they would take turns staying up to keep watch. Thorax volunteered to take the first watch, sitting on the Vergilius’s main deck and quietly watching the night as it drew on, alert for any sign of trouble. There was next to none, though at one point midway through his watch, Thorax spied what he thought was the searchlight of an airship far off into the distance, quite likely from that of a search party looking for them. But if so, then the craft was keeping well outside the Unicorn Range, clearly not willing to head into the thick of the treacherous terrain in search for them, and likely assuming that the crew of the Vergilius would’ve thought the same. It made Thorax all the more confident that his choice to fly the Vergilius into the mountains to hide was a wise one and would help to keep them hidden.
Otherwise, Thorax had long and quiet hours of the night free to do nothing but to think, and think he did, mostly lamenting over their present situation. Being chased out of Vanhoover, he found, didn’t feel the same as fleeing the Crystal Empire had, and Thorax found he felt far worse that this had to happen than he had back when everything went awry before. He attributed it to the fact that he knew now that it certainly didn’t have to be this way; he knew there were those out there that would accept him for who he was and didn’t think he was some monster or criminal to catch or chase away. Ultimately though, what happened at Vanhoover only proved that the opinions of such ponies didn’t matter; what the powers that be, such as Princess Twilight, thought of the matter was what had the final say, leaving little chance to show things could be different.
But finding that line of thought to be too depressing, Thorax instead tried to make himself think about other things. Among them was an assessment of the Vergilius’s flight that evening, and though it’s first flight with him at the helm hadn’t transpired at all as he had planned or hoped, the ship had flown admirably, preforming very well and without problem. She was a very fine airship indeed, and Thorax couldn’t help but feel pride at the fact that the ship was still his to own. And that much couldn’t be disputed; though he remembered he had abandoned his personal copy of the Vergilius’s deed back at Fly’s shop, he still had the original placed in a safe location aboard the air yacht itself as per the regulations, and thus he knew he still had legal proof of his ownership of the craft. It made him glad that of all of his possessions he had lost in fleeing Vanhoover, the Vergilius certainly was not one of them.
He also took the time to study the stars in the inky black sky above him, recalling that they were supposed to form pictures in the form of star constellations, and attempted to pick a few of them out. Unfortunately, his knowledge of astronomy was admittedly limited; the most he knew was how to find the North Star, and he knew that for purely navigational reasons. Therefore his attempts to find pre-established constellations didn’t go well. He was eventually starting to work out some of his own invention instead when Spike arrived on deck to take over the watch, permitting Thorax a chance for some sleep. Thorax did so, drifting off while wondering if Princess Luna was going to try and revisit his dreams again like she had the night previous. He was somewhat disappointed to find that this was not the case, making no notice of the princess of the night in any of his dreams, though it didn’t help that he later couldn’t recall much of anything about said dreams, unsure if he had even dreamed at all.
His sleep was interrupted anyway sometime well after midnight when he was jolted awake by the banging sound of rocks falling just outside the airship. Fearing either an avalanche or the perch the Vergilius sat on giving way, he hurried up on deck to investigate, only to stop short in the control cabin doorway, keeping himself mostly concealed within the opening when he saw the source of the noise was in reality Spike. In a fit of fury, the dragon had suddenly stepped off the ship and shoved a sizeable bolder just slightly smaller than himself off the side of the cliff they had camped out atop of before proceeding to grab and hurl smaller rocks off the cliff, while all the while shouting and yelling in incoherent anger.
It only took a quick sampling of the dragon’s emotions to see what it was about; left to himself and alone during the watch, Spike’s emotions about getting chased out of Vanhoover and his lingering feelings about their banishment in general had finally caught up with him. Unable to keep it contained any longer, Spike had then proceeded to vent them the only way he knew how. Thorax remained standing in his secret spot, unnoticed, to make sure Spike would be all right, quietly watching as the little dragon wound himself into quite a furious state before, having run out of rocks he could throw or roll off the cliff, began to furiously pace in circles, then finally collapsing to the ground to weep bitter tears. Thorax found himself shedding a few tears himself for his friend before, feeling assured that the worst of Spike’s fit was over and that he was calming down enough to pull out okay once the last of his tears were shed, he quietly returned to bed, never revealing himself to Spike.
By dawn as they both proceeded to start the new day with a light breakfast similar to the dinner they had last night, neither of them made mention of the incident during the night, preferring to move on like it hadn’t happened. Instead, they went about preparing themselves for another day of travel. Thorax did so completely undisguised, wearing nothing but his natural form and his midnight blue hoodie, his thinking being that, as the Thornton identity had been rendered useless to him, there was little point in continuing to use it, and secluded as they were on their airship, there wasn’t much point disguising himself away. He supposed it was also his quiet way of protesting that he had been forced to go into hiding at all. Spike, however, continued to wear all the usual elements of his Spark disguise, from the sweater vest on to the false eyeglasses. Thorax supposed it was simply out of habit for the dragon, though it did make him realize that it had been a long time since the changeling had seen his friend spend a day as just himself and not in disguise. It made him wonder if it was in fact Spike’s way of hiding from more than just the ponies wishing to capture them.
After breakfast, they took flight again and Thorax proceeded to sail the Vergilius the rest of the way out of the Unicorn Range, seeing no sign still of any search parties looking for them, and continued to sail further east. As they went over the neighboring Galloping Gorge, they both couldn’t help but to stop and admire the impressive geological feature while flying gracefully over it, but during their light conversation about it afterwards in which Spike made a passing mention of Princess Celestia, they both realized they still hadn’t received any sort of response from the sun princess or her sister to the letter they had sent the night previous. This actually surprised Spike somewhat, who would’ve thought Celestia would’ve responded immediately to such a letter from them, but Thorax reasoned she must be working at assessing the situation further still and would respond once in a better position to do so. Though Spike was starting to worry about what this lack of response could mean for them, fearing the worse, Thorax convinced him to give Celestia some more time to respond.
In the meantime though, it was actually Spike who posited the idea of trying to contact other allies that could render them aid, with his preferred choice being Discord (though as he said it, Spike admitted he never thought he’d one day think to do so). His reasons being was that, unlike the princesses, Spike more readily believed Discord was on their side thanks to his one-on-one chat with the draconequus, and Discord was by far more powerful than all of the others combined. Thorax had his misgivings though. He trusted Spike’s claims that Discord was trustworthy and willing, but he was also more than familiar with the draconequus’s past reputation for causing trouble, and even Spike readily admitted that Discord wasn’t above causing more minor trouble even now. It left the changeling afraid that whatever actions Discord could take to render assistance might, while being good intentioned, only further complicate an already undesirable situation. Nonetheless, he agreed that they might as well try and seek his help too. They probably were going to need all the help they could get.
Which raised a small problem; neither of them knew quite how to get in contact with Discord. Spike personally assumed that, as he had indicated when they last crossed paths, he was already watching them, so they just needed to get his attention and draw him there. Spike attempted this in various (and, Thorax thought, rather silly) ways, ranging from simply shouting Discord’s name to trying and create some small-scale chaos on the Vergilius. Finally, Thorax reasoned that maybe they should try something more conventional, like sending Discord a letter like they had with Celestia. But Spike pointed out he couldn’t use his firebreath to achieve this, as Discord wasn’t on the list of those he could send letters via firebreath to…and frankly he preferred it that way, as he fully expected Discord would only exploit it for his own mischief. Traditional letter-sending also wasn’t going to be ideal, as it was apparently extremely difficult for mail carriers to deliver mail to him, often getting delayed by days to weeks—time both agreed they didn’t have. It didn’t help that no one seemed to know where Discord stayed at anyway, as he kept his place of residence highly secret. Not even Fluttershy knew exactly where it was, let alone how to get there. Spike personally suspected it wasn’t even on the same plane of existence as the rest of Equestria.
There was the option of trying to contact him via Fluttershy, which Spike knew he could do easily enough with his firebreath…but there was also the problem that Fluttershy was also close to Twilight, and regardless of whether or not Fluttershy was siding with them, they’d run the risk of Twilight finding out by association, and they already knew Fluttershy already had misgivings about her role keeping what she knew about them secret. Stealth was never her forte. Thorax also was starting to have worries that Fluttershy may not be able to keep the secret for much longer anyway, remembering quite well that Twilight had mentioned aloud Fluttershy specifically asking Twilight not to visit Fly’s shop. He feared she’d eventually put two with two and demand answers from Fluttershy and both of them knew Fluttershy probably wouldn’t be able to deny she knew anything any longer after that. And even if she had, Spike feared that with the way Twilight was going, she may be viewing Fluttershy as highly suspect regardless and would be monitoring her.
Thorax suggested they try contacting her via traditional mail instead of Spike’s firebreath then. But Spike pointed out that would mean they would have to land and drop the letter off for delivery in some town…and with most of Equestria possibly being on the lookout for them or their airship, that didn’t seem wise. It would also mean they would need to stay in one place for a day or more while awaiting a response, also probably not wise at present time. And it was then that Spike realized another problem anyway; he could send a letter to Fluttershy with his firebreath…but she’d have no way of sending a response back, obviously lacking access to the same firebreath and having no idea where to send a letter to them via traditional mail, and with her possibly being under the watchful eye of Twilight, they didn’t feel comfortable providing that information to her presently. So with no clear ideas on how to overcome all of these problems, they decided to rule out seeking Discord’s, or for that matter Fluttershy’s, help for now, but both agreed that they would keep it in mind as a possible last resort assuming all else failed first. Spike reasoned it might be better to reach some satisfactory and stationary spot of safety first anyway.
After passing Galloping Gorge, they continued on further across the countryside, still heading further east as the day wore on. As before, they kept the air yacht flying over uninhabited countryside and away from any towns or other signs of civilization, as well as staying clear of any common airship traveling routes. They passed close enough to Canterlot that the mountain it was built out of could be faintly seen off in the distance, but the city itself appeared as nothing more than a speck from their location. As such, it was doubtful that the far smaller Vergilius could even be seen from Canterlot, and even if it was sighted, it was doubtful it could be seen clearly enough to be identified so Spike and Thorax had few fears of being caught as they passed at this extreme distance.
As the day dragged on, Spike eventually took to sitting at the air yacht’s radio and listening to any radio chatter that happened to be received. He made no transmissions back of any sort, maintaining a sort of radio silence, but by listening in to the transmissions from others, he hoped to catch details on the progress of the search undergoing for him, Thorax, and their airship. It was slow going, because most of the transmissions he was able to hear were completely unrelated to them, but eventually he was able to gather some key details.
Upon finding no sign of them in the Vanhoover area, the Equestrian royal guard had been recruited in assisting to expand the search across Equestria. As their searchers were not sure where to look for their targets, they seemed to be focusing most of their search at any and all ports the Vergilius may stop at, big or small, hoping for any clues for the ship, and then if any were found, then search parties were sent out to search along any potential routes the Vergilius may be following. There was also chatter being passed between other airships to relay any sightings of any airships that could be the Vergilius on to the authorities immediately, but thus far it seemed Thorax’s attempts to evade detection had been paying off; none of the leads the royal guard had found were bringing them anywhere close to finding them, and most of the time actually led their pursuers away from where Spike and Thorax were actually at. It further helped that most of the search was still being carried out along Equestria’s western coast and was being generally slow to spread out eastward in the direction Spike and Thorax were heading.
At one point, a trade airship reported in that they had sighted an airship that seemed to match the Vergilius’s description and the royal guard all immediately converged on the spot to comb the area for the craft. They eventually found the craft that had been sighted, but it wasn’t the Vergilius and was in fact nowhere near where the Vergilius was flying, this craft being caught over the White Tail Woods, many miles away. To Spike’s amusement though, this dead end turned out to not to be a waste of time for the royal guard because it was soon afterward reported the captured aircraft was being piloted by a crew of black market operatives seeking to smuggle an illegal shipment of sugarcane out of the country, with plans to sell it to Saddle Arabian distributors under the table and thus bypassing Saddle Arabia’s tight regulations on the circulation of such goods (as they were in short supply in that part of the world). So it was ironic if not pleasing to see that some actual good was coming about from this unfortunate witch hunt Spike and Thorax were caught in.
As Spike happily relayed news of the arrest of these operatives to Thorax though, it led Thorax to think about something he had been trying not to consider. “Spike,” he began slowly, keeping his eyes ahead as he continued to fly their airship, “what do you think happened to Miss Fly?”
Spike gazed at him uncertainly for a long moment, not eager to discuss the subject either. But finally he swallowed and gave a reply. “It would depend on what charges were made against her.”
“Best guess, then,” Thorax requested.
Spike winced and breathed a heavy sigh. “She was almost certainly arrested for assault and battery, so…she could be facing up to sixty days to a year in jail or a fine of five hundred or one thousand bits depending on how serious they rule the charges, unless they decide to go lenient on her for some reason.” He frowned sadly. “But I highly doubt they’d do what they did with you on that street fight you got involved in and let her go free with a mere light citation for this.”
Thorax sighed, closing his eyes and dropping his head to rest atop the ship’s wheel sadly. “That makes two who have given up their livelihoods for my sake, you and now Miss Fly.” He took in a deep breath then suddenly whacked a holed hoof against the side of the steering wheel, straightening as he abruptly turned angry. “I never wanted any of that! I didn’t ask for any of that! I don’t want anyone have to give up anything just for my sake! But how many more are going to come to harm because of me? I wish this all just could end so it all can stop happening!” He then let out a faint wail, his anger turning back into sadness as he let his head fall against the ship’s wheel once more. “I came here to make friends…I don’t want to keep bringing ruin to everyone I come into contact with.”
Spike was silent for a long moment, watching the changeling with concern and hesitation, unsure how to respond. Finally, he rose and approached the changeling, slowly putting his claws on Thorax’s back, trying to reassure him. “I’m sorry nothing’s been going your way on this Thorax,” he said softly. “I can only imagine how frustrating that must feel.” He then took Thorax’s face turned it to face him. “But please remember…Fly and I did all of this for a reason. Because if we hadn’t…what would’ve become of you? If Fly hadn’t acted as she did, we probably would’ve been caught by Twilight and separated, with you thrown into prison if not worse, facing unjust treatment just for being who you are! Worse still, if I hadn’t acted as I did…” his eyes turned sorrowful, not liking the thought at all, “…I’m quite confident that you’d be dead right now, having been lost, abandoned, having quite likely starved to death, if the cold of the Frozen North hadn’t gotten to you first.” He then grinned a little. “Maybe people like Fly and I have paid high prices standing in support of you…but it’s always been to ensure you stay safe, that you stay alive. Because you might not think it Thorax…but you’re important. Just as important as the rest of us. And I, for one, will not let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Thorax gazed at Spike for a long moment, starting to tear up, before grabbing the dragon in a heartfelt hug, a hug Spike readily returned. Soon Spike was tearing up too, Thorax’s mixture of sadness and gratitude feeling almost overpowering as they both sought to quietly comfort and reassure the other.
They continued flying on for the remainder of the day until the sun started to set once more and Thorax opted to set the Vergilius down in a small forest clearing just slightly wider than the air yacht itself, located somewhere between Neighagra Falls and the start of the mountain range that contained the famed Foal Mountain. They again decided to spend the night with the Vergilius shut down so to avoid detection, but unlike their last campsite in the Unicorn Range, which was barren and cold, this clearing was far more temperate, lush, and peaceful. Thorax especially found the cheery looking forest surrounding the clearing very soothing, especially in this troubling time, and the feeling of peace reminded him greatly of the acorn grove back in the Changeling Kingdom. As such, he spent some time wandering around the edges of this forest while Spike worked out something new for them to eat for dinner that evening, and was somewhat disappointed that there didn’t seem to be any acorn-bearing oak trees to be found anywhere in the area.
After a dinner of a makeshift salad composed of various things in their food supplies and edible leaves Spike had found growing nearby, the two went to turn in for the night, Spike volunteering to take first watch this time. Thorax had again gone to sleep wondering if Princess Luna would again try to contact him in his dreams, but again nothing of the sort occurred. He wondered if the princess was even trying to find him, or if where one went to find his dreams was relative to his physical location, and the fact that he had moved so far from Vanhoover meant that Luna could no longer find his dreams. Unfortunately, knowing so little about the subject or what Luna’s plans were, he could only guess.
But by morning, he was starting to lose hope they could count on Luna for support in this trying time, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that, to the great surprise of both of them, they still had received no reply of any sort from Princess Celestia in regards to their letter. This utter lack of a response came at such as a surprise that Spike had to ask Thorax if he was really certain the spell he had used to block Spike’s ability to receive messages had actually worn off. Thorax was absolutely certain it had though; four moons was a far longer stretch of time than the spell could sustain itself without being renewed, and he never had renewed it during that time, because by the time it had worn off, it didn’t seem there was a need for it anymore. Regardless, he used his magic to double-check, scanning for any sign of the spell. Not to his surprise, he found no trace of it. It couldn’t be the explanation for why there had been no response.
But as they took off again after a light breakfast, Spike grew increasingly nervous over the matter. He began to fear there had been no response because Celestia and Luna wanted to keep them in the dark while they helped Twilight find them, leading him to believe they had again lost the battle in swaying the two princess sisters. Thorax still didn’t believe this, thought Spike’s interpretation of their plans actually ridiculous and unfounded, and overall just didn’t see that as the right explanation. He also didn’t want to cut off the option of using the firebreath messaging for possibly contacting others such as Fluttershy like they had discussed before, even though he had no new ideas on how to safely and successfully do that without running more of a risk than even he was willing. Nonetheless, he couldn’t offer any other explanations for the silence, nor any alternative solutions, and starting to see it probably was a lost cause anyway, he begrudgingly relented and reapplied the spell on Spike. And with that, the idea of seeking help from established allies was considered closed.
But because of that matter being ended, it raised the question of what they should do next, something they had both been avoiding in hopes something would come up. Up to now, Thorax had simply flying the Vergilius on a fairly aimless course across Equestria, the only goal in mind to evade detection by staying away from cities or other things that could give their location away. In doing this, their course eventually took them over Foal Mountain itself as they kept heading east until they neared Fillydelphia, at which point Thorax turned them southward towards a pair of mountains that existed near Baltimare. With the Vergilius still having plenty of magical charge in her engines and plenty of lifting gas to use still, he could keep up sailing the airship around aimlessly like this for some days more still if desired.
But he finally decided it was instead time for them to come up with a more definitive plan of action than this. After ensuring that the Vergilius’s path ahead was clear of any obstacles that would need avoiding for some miles still, he slowed her speed to about half, locked the ship’s wheel so the craft wouldn’t veer far off course while he was away from the helm, then went into the deckhouse’s back room where the ship housed all of the navigational charts and aids, and pulled out a map of Equestria, asking Spike to join him.
“We need to decide where we’re going to go now,” he told the dragon simply, being straightforward while looking over the map he had laid out on the desk before his friend.
Spike sighed from where he leaned on the frame of the doorway dividing the back room from the control cabin in the front of the deckhouse. “I know,” he admitted reluctantly. “It’s just…where do we go now?”
“Well, we can’t keep flying around aimlessly forever,” Thorax reminded. “We’ll need to set down and resupply at some point. It’d be best we do that at whatever location we intend to stay at next, even if just temporarily.”
Spike thought about the problem for a long moment, staring at his feet. “I suppose wherever it is, it probably shouldn’t be in Equestria this time,” he admitted. “Twilight’s onto us too much for it to be safe staying here. And we’ve got the Vergilius now, so we can reliably travel much further than we could last time.”
“All right,” Thorax said, turning to pull out a map of the known world, laying it out beside the map of Equestria. “Let’s look at some of our options, then.” He tapped his holed, black hoof on one location. “Griffonstone?”
Spike shook his head. “If we’ve learned anything staying here in Equestria, it’s that if ponies won’t accept us, the griffons probably won’t either.”
“I don’t know about that,” Thorax mumbled to himself, thinking about his first airship trainer Gervas, liking to think Gervas would be willing to give him the benefit of a doubt if he knew Thorax’s true identity, considering their short but notable past.
“Then do keep in mind,” Spike added with a false grin. “Griffons are more likely to fight back than ponies…and they are equipped with more pointy ends on their bodies than ponies.”
Thorax chuckled a little, seeing Spike’s point. “All right, not Griffonstone or the rest of the Griffon Kingdom. But there are plenty of other locations…Saddle Arabia…”
Spike winced. “Too hot, too dry.”
“…Yakyakistan…”
“We talked about that before when we were looking to leave the Crystal Empire and ruled it out already, remember?”
“…Abyssinia…”
“Are you kidding me? They’re much too litigious there.”
“…Maretonia…”
“Mm…maybe, I guess…”
Thorax looked up at Spike again. “Well, we have to go somewhere.”
Spike shrugged helplessly. “At this point, I almost want to say we should go for the undiscovered lands out west and try our luck there.”
Thorax sighed, gazing back down at the map again. “I suppose it’d be more of a plan than we have now…but let’s not jump to that just yet, let’s look at some of these other locations a little closer before we—”
It was at that moment that a shadow was briefly cast over the rear window of the room for a split second. Thorax had his back to it, but he still saw the shadow be cast on the maps before him. Spike, however, was facing the window and caught a glimpse of something zooming past outside. “Whoa!” he declared.
Thorax spun around to face the window. “What, what was it?”
“I…I don’t know!” Spike admitted as they both gathered around the window in search of the source of the mysterious shadow. “But whatever it was, it was big, and it was close.”
Thorax frowned, brow furrowing as he puzzled as to what it could be. “Well, it couldn’t be an airship, we would have heard its engines if it was, so—”
He jumped when the shadowy shape suddenly shot past the window once more, letting out a startled yelp.
Spike pulled back too, and this time he got a better glimpse at it. “That was a dragon,” he breathed in alarm. “A full-grown, adult, dragon.”
“A dragon?” Thorax repeated, also alarmed as they turned and headed back for the control cabin. “But what’s a dragon doing here?”
“I don’t know, we aren’t anywhere close to the dragon territories, I should be the only dragon around here for miles,” Spike admitted as they gathered at the helm, watching the movement of the unexpected dragon through the forward viewport as it flew around their airship. Only Spike noticed something else that didn’t improve the situation any and pointed. “Look! There’re two of them!”
Thorax bit his lip nervously as he watched the two dragons alternate between flying in the path of the Vergilius. He turned to Spike, hoping that because he was a dragon too, he’d know what to do. “What should we do?”
But Spike was baffled by this unexpected behavior and wasn’t sure. “Well, whatever we do, we better not do anything to aggravate them,” he reasoned and patted the changeling on his chitinous shoulder. “Better bring us to a stop, let them have the command of the air for a moment, see if they’ll back off then. Maybe they just want this space for themselves.”
Thorax obeyed, reversing thrust in a braking maneuver before pulling the Vergilius to a complete halt and shutting off the engines, leaving it just hovering silently in place. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to make a difference because now the two adult dragons simply proceeded to circle the air yacht, cutting off any immediate means of escape it could take.
Spike shook his head, baffled. “Well, they clearly want something from us,” he concluded. “But what?”
Thorax, meanwhile, was getting increasingly nervous. “I don’t like this,” he moaned, and turned to his friend. “No offense Spike, but I’ve heard stories about changelings fighting battles with dragons plenty of times growing up in the hive, and let’s just say they never ended well.”
“Yeah, and we wouldn’t stand a chance if they chose to fight,” Spike agreed with a worried nod. He sighed. “I don’t know what else to do though…I guess we could try talking with them…but take my word for it…dragons are not the always the most reasonable creatures to talk with.”
“Present company excluded I assume,” Thorax remarked.
Spike chuckled a little. “I’d like to think so at least,” he admitted. He shrugged. “I’m not coming up with a better idea though. And if we tried talking, we might at least find out whatever it is they want…”
“What if they want…” Thorax gulped, “…lunch?”
“We don’t have any gems,” Spike pointed out, who he himself had gotten a far slimmer diet of gems since their banishment because of it. “Unless you mean they’d eat us.”
“…would they?”
“Um…better not to think about it, I guess.”
“…Informis Una auxilio mihi tribuit.”
As that technically wasn’t an objection then, Spike took a deep breath and proceeded to step out of the control cabin and onto the main deck. Thorax, lighting his horn, followed him, protectively staying close to his friend. Spike proceeded to turn himself to face the circling adult dragons so to address them. But he never got the chance to as, only moments after they appeared on the main deck, a far smaller third dragon previously hidden on the back of one of the bigger dragons suddenly dismounted and shot towards them. With a practiced flip, the dragon then landed with a thud on the deck before them. Planting the end of the staff it carried down on the deck, the dragon then proceeded to remove the golden-colored helmet it wore, revealing its face to them.
“Either of you care to explain why all of Equestria is turning itself on its ear looking for you two?” she asked aloud in a gruff voice.
Thorax, leery of the taller figure, pulled back a little. However, Spike could only grin at the sight of the familiar dragon.
“And hello to you too, Ember,” he greeted.
"FINALLY!"
-All of you after reading this chapter.
Seriously, I've lost count of how many times I was asked if Ember was going to appear in the story. The answer was always yes, of course, but, you know...it'd spoil the story if I'd just said so. 
But yes. Ember joins the fight. 
I suspect there will be those who aren't satisfied with my reasons why Spike and Thorax didn't pursue help with Discord, but I figured there would be more protesting if I didn't address the subject at all, so at least this way there's a given explanation. Ultimately though, as always, I'm hesitant to get Discord involved simply because he'd just snap his fingers and fix things and then there wouldn't be a story. Besides...exactly how they'd contact Discord is a legitimate problem; even the show's explored that before.
I recall there being talk about the Vergilius only getting so far across Equestria without having to stop to refuel at some point and thus my portrayal of things here might not align with that. So I offer a simple solution: dang good fuel efficiency. 
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"Scyphi, you evil EVIL man, so help me God if _________Ember_____________ turns out to be a brick wall just like Twilight Sparkle..."
- A Hotline Miami fan after reading this chapter.
AUGH! NOT ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!!!!! AUGH!!!
This story is too good. I just wish it would never end...and it was great to see this character finally pop up into this story.
LUNA DAMN IT! Why the cliffhangers! Gaaaaaaah!
Will you at least release chapters faster after you finish the story?
Pretty please?
and just like that celestia won't push it any harder, at leats i'd doubt she'd risk starting a war for twilights grudge, a war that she might not even be able to win.
Interesting note... and well, that might be a great point of note. There is shelter there.. And it would stick in twilights craw something awful.
Using stealth and lies to evade the authorities is just plain wrong. Only evil beings deserving of immediate contempt would contemplate such a despicable act. I do have to wonder, though, why the Equestrian Royal Guard is bothering to try to enforce Saddle Arabian regulations.
On the subject of Discord, he's tolerated because he's agreed to play nice by pony rules. Helping a pair of fugitives break arrest would put him in the doghouse with Celestia. As far as Celestia herself goes, not answering the letter (assuming she got it) is inexcusable. She has an opportunity to either get their side of the story and call off the chase, get them to turn themselves in peacefully, or trick them into a situation where she can capture them. All of those options are better than letting things spiral further out of control, which is what she's doing by refusing communication. And now Ember's involved, who is inevitably going to be one more loose cannon rolling around. She needs to bring this madness to an end.
That description of Canterlot make it seem like an Eye of Sauron. I half expected a beam of yellow light would shoot out of the city and start scanning the area around Vergilius.
*gasp*
I forgot all about Ember.
But how did she find them, if none of Equestria can? Then again, a dragon living in the mountains very possibly spotted them.
Really hope Ember turns out to be on their side, or at least not the stubborn biased idiot Twilight is being.
Scyphi, why? Endings like this mean we are very close to the end
.
8346201
They were also smuggling out of Equestria and were operating in the Black Market in general. As for Celestia, there's supposed to be a take on To Where And Back Again in this fic, so I'm guessing she's been captured by this point.
E M B E R THE SAVIOR
8346179
Actually, I'm thinking Celestia / Luna may have asked Ember to take them in for the time being so that Twilight would no longer have the authority to tear shit up. That would give them time to properly gather the information they need while still running a country while also putting some reigns on Twilight in a way to doesn't make it look like one of Equestria's princesses is out of control to the populous.
Of course, it's possible Twilight is intercepting any and all dragon fire messages coming from Spike. I wouldn't put it past her to do so.
One issue here is that there really doesn't seem to be any reason for them to bother re-blocking the Dragon Mail spell at this point. They're waiting on a response that, sure, might never come, but with it blocked they'll never know; and if the Princesses were going to pull some sort of tracking token gambit, they could do that with their response anyway. If they did plan to re-block the spell after a period if no response was given anyway, why wouldn't they put note of that in their message so that it was clear it was a limited window?
Also, yay Ember!
Because Twilight Sparkle can't look past her hateboner for changelings?
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
1:58_8/5/2017
Nah.
Except…Discord is the only being on the show who's shown to have access to mind-control magic and still finds it distasteful (when discording Fluttershy)1. Also, Twilight was the one he didn't (and possibly couldn't) discord directly…and only she broke free of her own.
8346201
Treaty obligations, goodwill.
Every story ever tends to have viewers poke holes in it with discord. I had an argument erupt in one of my comment sections about it. You are totally right. Having discord fix things makes things too easy and by then the story isn't even worth telling. Its a hard to fill but necessary pothole.
Glad you mentioned the deed they left behind. I was worried about that.
8346228
The scepter can call all dragons maybe it can track them as well
Sugar cane…
Even in headcannon this show is so nice
8346255
I like that idea. Ember would have a legitimate claim to jurisdiction over Spike, particularly as a banished exile. Taking Spike and Thorax into her custody would prevent Twilight from getting her hooves on either of them. Twilight would be forced to go through channels, long twisty channels, to try to get Spike back.
And at any time Ember can simply say, "You banished him, you legally told him you don't want him anymore. Well I do." Twilight either has to accept that Spike is beyond her reach or declare war on the Dragons, which Equestria might or might not win. Regardless of that Twilight would be unable to simply use force to take back Spike. I'm more and more getting the feeling that this whole situation is being viewed as something of a test of Twilight by the two senior princesses. They've been staying out of this situation as much as possible to see how Twilight handles a major issue such as this.
Ember showing up is Celestia exerting some back channel damage mitigation on the situation.
Hazaa! Another phenomenal chapter from an astounding artist! Keep up the great work!
8346273
Sombra isn't really implied anymore, with the helmets in the season 5 finale (and even the 3 premier could be argued to be mind control, sealing their memories). Also, you missed the Dazzlings. Princess Luna hasn't done any direct mind control, but she showed no issue with sharing other ponies nightmares and creating a nightmare creature (even if she used it only on herself). Twilight did show remorse for the Want It Need It spell but was willing to use a reformation spell (whatever that is) on Discord and has no problem making animals not eat. Sunset though has shown a lot of remorse for everything she did, so I'd say she and Luna shouldn't be on the list.
Oh man I completely forgot about Ember and now she joins in, this is going to be awesome.
8346218
Which it is good since we are supposed to watch the scene from the protagonists' perspective.
8346253
img11.deviantart.net/3680/i/2016/107/4/3/ember_by_imalou-d9z9bdv.jpg
Ember!!!! :D please be an ally D:
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/107/280/df1.png
8346374
Or ... they were all already replaced ... ... ... by Changelings. *dun dun dun*
(Hmm, if Celestia would really try to intervene, then woudln't be the most obvious choice a direct approach? She is Twilight's mentor after all, and if Twilight is listening to someone then it's Celestia.)
I can only hope we hear from Trixie again, and as for Ember? I'm not too sure what to think of her. She's too hot headed not to butt heads with Thorax so there is no telling what could happen. I definitely wouldn't say she is a indefinite ally yet though.
Who bets Thorax will make kissy faces at Spike.
Huh. Didn't see that coming.
8346201
It's because you play nice when it comes to politics. Not caring abaut allied nations intrests will make them slowly drift away from you. Besides we're talking abaut smugglers here. They evade taxation on both sides.
Besides people are often forced into crime. I wouldn't be supriced that they were doing this crap because try to drag themselves out of poverty or forced by some saddle arabian mafiozo [ala. mexican cartel] to do this under the threat of killing a family member held hostage.
Either Celestia's got some insanely fast forwarding reflexes or that's a plot hole, as he did send one to Luna in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"
awww yeah
I think I know why it was taking so long for Celestia to write back to Spick and Thorax.
My theory ( although it's irrelevant now that Celestia can't send letters to Spike any more thanks to the spell. ) is that Celestia read the letter and decided to inform Luna, Twilight and Shinning Armor to discuss the possibility of a peaceful and happy ending.
But Shinning came with the,"there's no such thing as a nice changeling!" bull crap. Followed by, Twilights,"changelings are manipulative, evil deceivers! It's obviously a trap!" and Luna,"...no, comment..."
So they decided to come up with a plan to catch them, properly.
They decided to 'play there game' and write back a letter, with a tracking spell like last time- BUT! The plan was to wait until they were no longer on the move in the airship.
They got the info from Vanhoover how much fuel, air, water, etc, and made a calculated guess of how long it will take for them to run out. And now that Spike and Thorax we're without a airship, they would not have the mobility they had to be somewhere else entirely before the royal guards even showed up at the scene.
They would be stranded God knows where, where the guard would form a giant circle around the location the spell said, and would surely catch them eventually. Or Spike and Thorax would be forced to surrender.
And that's my theory on what's going on on there side. (EAT YOUR HEART OUT SHERLOCK HOLMES!)
However now that Ember has joined the fray.... The plot thickens
I think that Ember appearing does make lots of sence. She only heard that he was missing and evryone is looking for him from ponies who bothered dragons who relayed that to Ember who came looking for Spike and had the Scepter to find him. She was able to do so just now because it propably has a short range to skan. Biggest problem is that apparently dragons and changelings have some beef together, the question is how much dragons as apex species who fights evryone are treating it seriously.
I think that Spike menages to convince her and she might be an ally that will be the decisive argument for them to come out in the open and confront Twi at Canterlot before Celestia.
There is also the thing abaut the Dragons are a nation are living all around the continent including Equestria - they are migrating and even Spike who didn't even grew up with them is recognized as a member by their magic - a bit like Jews. And considering they're extremely dangerous, noone really interacts with them even if some live in their own districts in some Equestrian cities, premumably in yakyakistan and Griffonstone they have some civilized presence.
Now enter Spike who I would call has a double citzenship. He grew up with the ponies who accepted him as their own but the magic that binds the members of a dragon nation still recognized him as their own when the contest for beeing a dragon lord began - he wasn't an exeption as Dragons ussually live abroad rather than in relatively small Dragon Realms. Spike beeing kicked out of Equestria - which I belive never happened as Crystal Empire is a diffrent nation and I don't think Twi ratyfied the decision to work in Equestria too.
8346785
I still think that Twi saw it coming and intercepted the letter spell somehow. I mean - come on! She propably knows the spell in case it breaks in a harmful way to Spike and she propably engineered some sort of hijack to redirect the letter to her in the first of secound moon into Spike's banishment. It would make normally little sence to her normally scince she trusts Celestia [or thinks Spike could learn how to send letters to other people] but I think she would engineer the hijack still in hopes to quickly scan and research the letter to determine where it was written. Tinfoil weaponised autism level of research like checking the pollen that could settle on the letter and check where the species of said pollen's trees grow. And she would think that Celestia transporting the letter to her would erase anything that would let her determine the place of orgin.
I actually didn't expect that to happened.
“And hello to you too, Ember,” he greeted.
I would really like to see how Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy will react to what happened in the city. Fluttershy, because she wasn't sure for which side she should be on and the other two princesses, because I don't think they will approve of what happened in Vanhoover and how Twilight handled everything... much to emotionally. In some parts it was borderline on "abuse of power" what she did.
Like seriously, Fly deserves a medal for showing TRUE friendship (for what Equestria is supposed to stand for) and aided two dear friends of hers to escape a revenge obsessed Twilight who didn't deserve her title of "Princess of Friendship" at all in this fic from her behaviour. I hope some authority will bail her flank out of prison or whatever punishment they might want to charge her with.
Lastly... normally I'm all for redemption in many cases if it makes sense in a story. But PLEASE! Don't go down the: "It was an evil imposter all along." route (what's very unlikely, but who knows) or the route where at one point in the story she will finally see reason and how much she bucked up and Spike and Thorax are like: "We understand you Twilight/princess. You were just worried for me/your little brother and acted out of fear and concern. We forgive you." In this case/story she would get off scot-free much to easily,
Especially Thorax. He is always hyper for every little bit of positive feedback he receives from Ponies (what is quite adorable sometimes. I have to admit) and immediately is all: "Come on Spike! That is our chance to live in friendship and peace with others! Maybe we will be accepted one day!" I know he REALLY wants to live in friendship with the Ponies, but he shouldn't simply forgive her when Twilight comes up with a simple "sorry" and everything is forgotten afterwards.
She screwed up big time.
8346955 Twilight will punish herself. The moment she finally admits she screwed up, everything she lost and everything she turned her back on is going to break her in the worst way. It's entirely possible she's never going to recover from this.
8346974
Maybe. Applejack already tried to tell her that she leaves everypony hanging with her attitude since she moment Spike disappeared and turned into a shut-in.
Even the Cutie Map thinks that the "Element of Magic" is loco in the coco and sent Rainbow Dash completely alone to the Wonderbolt Camp, instead of the both of them like in the show, because it knew that this Twilight Sparkle would have caused more harm than good in her current emotional state.
I really do hope I get to see more growth of spikes character and personality and it appears so~ yay
Great chapter. Finally Dragon Lord Ember joins the store.
8346955
well, I doubt her current state is an impostor's doing, based on little things from author feedback in the comments and discourse in the same by readers. HOWEVER, it isolates her and leaves her vulnerable. Ideal for replacing her.
8346539
Celestia's love, her passion, seems teaching and seeing others learn. It would seem to me that is why she has TRIED to make Equestria as open a place as it can be where such independent and guided learning can take place. Also why a busy ruler would take time to teach science/magic both to a privately tutored student as well as entire classrooms. If Celestia directly intervened, Twilight learns nothing except a new mandate. Plus, as is true of Discord so is true of Celestia, if somebody comes in and fixes everything we have no story, and a near literal deus ex machina to boot.
And here's where having dual citizenship leads to some very potentially Twilightplosive issues.
8346424
Mmm, right. remorse is not the word I want since I was aiming for "at the time" while avoiding "after nose is rubbed in it". Without compunction?
I suppose I can include Celestia with Luna now (insofar as dream-meddling counts) thanks to "A Royal Problem". That
all the rulersjust leaves Flurryheart…though everyone accepting her might count.Good catch on Sombra-helmets, though it's remotely possible he viewed them as a distasteful necessity.
(plus Firelords Torch and Ember)
8346955
I will agree with that. Since Twilight is basically the villain of this story and I'm guessing this story will end in some ways as the season finale where Thorax becomes the awesome moose king that he was born to be, and I'm really hoping Twilight gets some serious punishment for the garbage she's done to these two. I mean, I know some commenters have been pining for her wings to be taken, (Which I wouldn't mind, though it is extreme) I just hope there isn't just an apology at the end of this. Punishment needs to happen here.
Though to be totally honest, I would love to see Discord or Shining Armor to be the one that finally makes her see the truth. Or Trixie considering that she did admit she still basically hates Twilight. (And for really good reason. I know the episode where she became friends with Stralight is...debatable at parts in terms of what she did, but still, Twilight was a total jerk in the episode as well) Unfortunately, that's probably not gonna happen. Oh well. Here's hoping a good punishment happens in the end.
8347001 Twilight can't admit she screwed up right now. Not won't, can't. She knows, in the back of her mind, that if she's wrong it means she turned her back on her title, drove away her surrogate son and younger brother, and blamed it all on a person who meant her nothing but goodwill. That's why she's digging her hooves in on this one. When the incentives for denial are that strong it will take an extraordinary feat to overcome them.
Time for two more bits:
There are not many dragons in equestrian territory or crystal empire and no citizens besides Spike. Spike bring a national hero in one and a respected citizen in another does something good for relations between those countries and dragons.
Now the token dragon citizen / hero is exiled? Bad relationship step and shows that peace, harmony and coexistence are just good sounding words from pony lips, not reflected in their actions. The dragons who care like Ember who also wield political power (like the ability to make war) will gladly intervene to expose pony hypocrisy for political points in dealing with the pony crown.
Celestia knows this is the mess of her younger co-rulers and that she will need to clean it up in the end. All ruling ponies involved, not just purple smart, will be called to account over this at the base of Celestia's throne.
Her lack of response reflects her respect for the rule of law and the legal (if foolish) use of the exile punishment. She can't break her own laws or aid exiles in her own territory or the laws are meaningless. Once outside her lands Celestia has her hooves unbound.