Chapter 19 - Containment
The cave was strange. It was as if somepony had carved it out by hoof, instead of being formed centuries ago. It was almost as if it was designed to house the unsettling container within. The whole place was lit with an unearthly glow, giving just enough light to see by, even without my magic. It was fascinating, in a strange sort of way. I was honestly surprised that Twilight or one of the other princesses hadn’t had the whole thing demolished and removed. This sort of magic still had the potential to be dangerous. Conversely, it could also be quite useful. I turned to the pony standing beside me.
“Well, what do ya think, Captain?” I asked. He nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, this will definitely do nicely,” he agreed. “It certainly beats the units we’ve got now. Any idea how to move it?” I smiled and shook my head.
“Not a clue.”
The stallion next to me pulled his dark blue RAF overcoat around himself. While caves have some natural warmth, it was still pretty cold in here. Walking over to the huge vault, Captain Harkness examined it closely.
“It looks like each container is its own separate section,” he said, tapping at the glass with a hoof. “We could probably just take it apart, piece by piece and then get it back to the Hub; fix it up.”
“Ah’ll head on back to the village then; see if Big Mac can help out.” Jack smiled.
“There’s thinking with your head, Bones,” he commended. “Say hi to the big guy for me, will ya?”
I suppose I should explain what’s going on here. It all started when Applejack and Granny Smith told us about their planned trip.
“Las Pegasus?” I exclaimed in surprise. “Granny, what it the name of Sam Houston himself do ya wanna go there for?”
We were all sitting around the table in the kitchen on Sweet Apple Acres. AJ, me, Macm and Apple Bloom were at the table, waiting for dinner to be ready, while Granny Smith, the ancient Apple matriarch, put the finishing touches on the meal.
“Granny Smith loves goin’ to Las Pegasus,” Applejack explained. “She and her friends have been goin’ up there for years now.” Granny Smith nodded as she walked over to join us.
“That’s right, ya little whipper snapper,” she agreed. “Me and the Golden Horseshoe Gals have been visitin’ Las Pegasus every few years, whenever we could save up enough bits.”
“Golden Horseshoe Gals?” I asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.
“It’s a group Granny Smith and a few of her friends set up,” Apple Bloom said.
“Oh, so when are ya goin then?” I asked Granny. The old mare chuckled.
“Ya mean, when are we goin, don’t ya, Bones?” she replied.
“What?” I exclaimed. Applejack shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, Ah sure as hay can’t take her this year, what with the new school and all, and Big Macintosh is headin’ down to visit Sugar Belle. That leaves just you, Bones.”
Oh dear sweet Luna, no! If Las Pegasus was anything like Vegas back home, I was in for a rough old time. A city of bright lights and loud noises isn’t really suited for an introverted old sod. And when you add onto the chaperoning a bunch of OAPs around the place, you had a recipe for a bad old time.
“Applejack, surely ya can’t be serious,” I implored, but AJ just smiled.
“Of course, Ah’m serious, sugarcube,” she replied, before smugly adding. “And don’t call me Shirley.”
I tried to think of some excuse, or other way to get out of it, but nothing came to mind. I was going to be stuck in a city built on the concept of sensory overload, along with a gaggle of old timers that I’d need to wait on hand and foot.
I was just about to agree, albeit reluctantly, when salvation came strolling through the door. In the form of one Captain Harkness.
“Hey there, everypony,” he greeted, catching us all of guard as he walked in through the open door.
“Captain,” I greeted neutrally. I hadn’t seen the rogue ex-time agent turned pegasus since Celestia set him up in the old castle. Last I’d heard, he’d been tinkering with that staff the Storm King had owned, trying to find a way to reattach it to the Tree of Harmony.
“What brings y’all here?” Applejack asked. As the Element of Honesty, she doesn’t exactly hold Jack in high regard, treating him with suspicion due to his propensity for lying through his teeth. Well, that and that one time he tried to hit on Big Mac.
“I was looking for Bones here,” he replied, turning to me. “I need somepony with a good understanding of magic for a project I’m running.”
“Ah’m not for hire,” I replied. “Certainly not for Torchwood.”
At that moment, I felt a sharp kick under the table. The only pony sitting next to me was Mac. The red coated stallion quietly leaned over and whispered.
“Ya idiot, he could get ya out of havin’ to go to Las Pegasus!” he half shouted, half whispered. I came to that realisation with a start. Unfortunately, Jack heard him too.
“Oh, so you’re going to the city of casinos are you?” he asked. Apple Bloom jumped in.
“He’s takin’ Granny Smith and her friends there,” she elaborated. Jack looked up and caught Granny Smith’s eye. He smiled in that oh so annoyingly smug way of his.
“Well, Bones aren’t you the lucky boy,” he said jokingly. I shuddered, which only egged him on more. “Oh you people and your outdated social norms. Age is just a number.” I resisted the urge to just blast him with my magic.
“If Ah help you, will ya stop talkin?” I all but begged. Jack smiled again.
“But I thought you said you had to go to Las Pegasus with Granny Smith here?”
“He does,” Applejack agreed, with some annoyance in her voice. “What do ya even need Bones for anyway?” Jack shrugged.
“Well, Princess Twilight’s busy on one of her little pet projects with Starlight. But she did tell me that you know almost as much about magic as she does. Plus, she said something about this being’ an interesting research project’.” That got my attention.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Torchwood’s already got quite the collection of artifacts. Most of them are pretty dangerous. Unfortunately, we don’t really have the gear we need to safely store them. Twilight said that there was some sort of vault not too far from that village Starlight used to live in.”
“The cutie mark vault?” I asked. Jack nodded.
“That’s the one,” he replied. “So, are you in?”
I found myself caught between the captain and Applejack. Living here and watching all those episodes of the show meant I easily knew what I was supposed to do. And hey, I could deal with Granny Smith and her friends for a day or so. After all, the old mare cooked for us, helped make the zap apple jam, and a dozen other things we all owed her for. The least I could do was give her one day. After mulling it over a moment longer, I looked up.
“Sorry, Captain,” I said, with some degree of sympathy. “But Ah’m afraid Ah’ve got my hooves full here. Maybe go and see if ya can find Starswirl. He knows more about magic than almost anypony; even the princesses.”
That pretty much decided it. Jack was gracious enough about it. Taking his leave, the pegasus took off and headed back towards the Everfree Forest and the castle that now housed his base of operations. Applejack smiled at me and briefly nuzzled me.
“Thanks for that, sugarcube,” she said kindly. “Ah know how much all that magic stuff means to y’all.”
“Hey, family is family, AJ,” I replied. “And after all Granny Smith has done for me, the least Ah can do is give up one day for her.”
Granny Smith and her friends were due to leave the day after tomorrow. We’d travel up to Las Pegasus via balloon, which would dock at the city. The trip would take a couple hours. Honestly, I was expecting that to be the hardest part; stuck in that small basket with three old dears. At least when we arrived in Las Pegasus I could get some personal space.
Applejack gave me a brief rundown on how things were to go, having previously taken them up to the city before. Just as with Apple Bloom, AJ was quite protective of her grandmother. The last thing she wanted was for her to get hurt. AJ you see, has a slightly warped view of how delicate Granny Smith is. She may be old but that mare can be smart as a whip and can more than look after herself when she wants to. Anyway, AJ told me to not let them out of my sight and make sure they didn’t get too excited. I could sort of understand the latter of those two. Las Pegasus is a busy, exciting place, full of bright lights, loud noises, and other things ponies with weak hearts ought to stay away from. There was nothing wrong with them having a bit of fun, but at Granny’s age, it was entirely possible to have too much of a good thing.
Other than that though, it all seemed straightforward enough. It was only for a day or so, and when else would I get to see Las Pegasus? Actually, I don’t think I’d ever been that far out west before. I’ve been south to Appleloosa and north as far as the Crystal Empire, but never out west. And there was one other thing too.
The last time AJ had been up to Las Pegasus, it had been on a friendship mission. She’d run into Flim and Flam; two confidence tricksters I’ve had the displeasure of running into myself when Mac and me caught them trying to sneak onto the farm a few years back. The pair of them now ran a resort in the city and were supposedly more or less reformed, at least as much as you can reform two free market capitalists. I was a little curious to see if those two hucksters had actually turned over a new leaf, or if they still needed their heads banging together.
As it turned out though, that was not to be.
Later that day, I was out in the orchards, as per usual, working hard to clear out a section of trees. It was only the start of the harvest season, but we were already getting quite a sizable yield from the trees. In particular, some of the younger apple trees, which had grown from the ones inhabited by the vampire fruit bats, were giving us more than their fair share. Even the usually conservative and set in her ways Applejack agreed that the short term loss of trees was now paying dividends.
I was currently working on my own. Big Mac was across the way with Apple Bloom working on the grapes. Sweet Apples Acres does more than just apples after all. In addition to its namesake, the farm also has corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and a dozen other crops. The only exception of course, being pears. I’ve been lobbying for a while to convince AJ to use some of the grapes in wine instead of just grape juice. However, she’s been a bit resistant, just as she has to Mac using some of the corn crop to make sour mash whiskey.
Anyway, I was busily working away, bucking away at the apple trees and collecting all the apples in the baskets. Being a unicorn, I’m not as strong as Big Mac or AJ, and nor am I as skilled at applebucking, so it takes me a few more kicks to completely clear out a tree. Still, I do good work, or so I’m told. I actually find it somewhat therapeutic.
As I was picking up a few stray apples that had missed the baskets, I heard the sound of hooves cantering towards me. Looking up, I saw Applejack running over to me, a smile on her face.
“Hey, Bones,” she hollered as she pulled up with a snort. “Guess what?”
“What, AJ?” I replied, curious. The orange mare smiled at me.
“It looks like ya won’t need to take Granny Smith up to Las Pegasus after all.” I was surprised at that.
“Why not?” I asked. “Did Granny cancel the trip or somethin’?” For a brief moment, I wondered if something bad might have happened. Applejack however, shook her head.
“No, Granny and the Golden Horseshoe Gals are still goin’, only Ah’ve found somepony else to take ‘em. Ah saw yesterday that y’all were interested in what that Harkness pony was sayin’ ‘bout Starlight’s old village, and y’all have spent so much time on the farm these last few weeks since the school opened.” I smiled and cut her off.
“Applejack, Ah’m more than happy to head on up to Las Pegasus for a day or two,” I replied. “It’s the least Ah can do after all Granny Smith’s done for me. Besides, it ain’t right to just rope somepony else into this just so Ah can go play with magic. Who did ya get anyway?”
“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said, with a grin. “She wants to go on some fancy roller coaster in Las Pegasus and Ah volunteered to take her classes so she can go. In exchange, she has to take Granny with her. So don’t think Ah’m strong armin’ anypony into this just to get you off the hook.”
Two things came to mind at this point. One, I loved the idea of Rainbow Dash being stuck with Granny Smith and her friends all day long. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve bucked at a tree and had a certain blue pegasus come tumbling out of it. Dash has an annoying habit of treating the trees as prime napping spots. The other though was more important.
You see, I’m aware that this world and the show sort of co-exist. It’s hard to explain, but in short, I’ve promised not to interfere in the events of the show, unless I have no choice. I’ve been keeping track of events that could be taken as episodes to better safeguard against attack; so far it’s actually worked, I knew something was coming when Chrysalis came back for round two, I just didn’t spot it in time. And I half suspected something was coming when Twilight announced her idea for a friendship festival. The fact that AJ said that Rainbow would be going seemed to suggest that this might be an episode. After all, RD could learn a bit of humility from spending some time around Granny. That was what got me to agree with Applejack’s decision.
So, I thanked my marefriend for the kind favour and get out of jail free card. Instead of going west to Las Pegasus, I would be heading down to Starlight’s old village with Big Mac on his usual delivery route. You wouldn’t believe how many pies get sold there. I honestly wonder if Soarin has a second home there or something. Anyway, once there, I could help Mac out, and also link up with Jack out in the mountain region outside town. It would give me an excellent opportunity to study the cutie mark vault, or what was left of it, up close.
The next day, I got up early, actually a little earlier than usual. Starlight’s village was a bit of a slog, certainly a couple days worth of travel for an earth pony and a unicorn on foot, so Mac decided to set out as early as we could to make full use of the day. But it was easy going over mostly level ground, and at least I wouldn’t be pulling the wagon. I might have built up my strength since coming here, but I’m not sure I’d be up to that, not without a lot of puffing and wheezing before I got there.
Applejack and Apple Bloom meanwhile, both went to their respective schools, with AJ covering some of Dash’s lessons on loyalty. Rainbow meanwhile, met up with Granny Smith and her friends, and the group set off for Las Pegasus.
That left just me and Big Mac on the farm. Granny Smith and Applejack had already cooked all the pies that were to be taken down to the village. All that was left was to load them all into the wagon and set off.
So that was what me and Mac set to work on. It was a bit of a delicate operation, but at the same time, we were running against a clock, since Equestria has yet to develop refrigeration technology. We needed to get all the pies to their destination pretty soon. Nopony, not even recovering ex-cult members would pay good money for stale apple pies. I helped out using my magic to speed up the process. As I’ve said before, Big Mac isn’t quite as conservative as his sister when it comes to farming techniques. Between the two of us, we soon had the wagon loaded and ready to go. I meanwhile, carried a pair of saddlebags with supplies for ourselves.
We set off just after half eight that morning, with Mac pulling the wagon, and me walking alongside him with the supplies. The trip wouldn’t be too long, but it would take a day or so, leaving me to talk to perhaps the least talkative pony in Equestria.
Actually, Mac isn’t that bad. It’s not that he doesn’t talk, it’s that he only talks when he needs to. In the words of Mark Twain; ‘Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than speak and remove all doubt’. And trust me, Mac is far from a fool. I’d actually say he’s as smart as me, if not smarter. A lot goes on in that head of his, and I think many ponies would be quite surprised if they knew. His quietness also stems from when he and Applejack were kids, and him running his mouth got him into trouble more times than he cared to remember. So he took to choosing his words carefully.
I actually find him quite pleasant as a travelling companion. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind somepony more talkative, like Pinkie Pie for example. But sometimes it can be nice to just have some quiet; it doesn’t mean that there’s any hostility or that anything’s wrong, nor is there a need to fill the silence. It’s one of the things that attracted to me to Sweet Apple Acres in the first place.
And so the pair of us followed the road out of Ponyville and began to make our way toward Starlight’s old village. The dirt roads were a lot more forgiving on your hooves than cobble streets or tarmac. Before too long, we’d left the peaceful (well, most of the time) little town behind us, and we were out in the countryside. The Canterhorn Valley, which was where Ponyville sat, was lush and green, and surrounded by hills and the great mountain itself. But before too long, we came out onto rolling flatlands, not too different from the mid-western United States. There were acres and acres of farmland and common land for miles around.
As we continued on though, the fertile land began to thin out as we got closer to the Badlands. The landscape began to turn to rocky outcroppings and a more barren outlook. If you kept heading south, you’d reach the border and pass into the vast desert where that town full of weird cat creatures was. We weren’t going that far of course. We certainly wouldn’t be going into the Badlands. Last I heard, there was some suspicion that Chrysalis was hiding out there somewhere.
On a less concerning note, we weren’t too far from the Pie’s rock farm. I’ve never visited myself, although Pinkie has said more than once that she’ll take me there to meet her family. Mac used to stop there overnight when he made his trips. But since he got involved with Sugar Belle, he’s given the place a wide berth for one reason or another. I certainly didn’t mind, I didn’t particularly fancy spending a night in the pony version of Amish country.
Instead, in my saddlebags was packed some basic camping gear. It was actually warm enough, and dry enough that we didn’t need tents. We could just get some blankets and camp out under the stars. As the sun began to get low in the sky, Mac picked out a nice camping spot in a sheltered outcropping. After unhitching himself from the wagon, he popped off to get some firewood. I meanwhile set down my saddlebags, which were becoming quite the strain on my back by this point, I laid out our bedding for the night.
Not everything could be put in the saddlebags though, so some some of our supplies had gone in the wagon with the pies. It was while I was rooting for all this stuff that I noticed Mac had brought something unusual with him. Sitting near the front of the wagon, hidden under the cover, was a guitar.
Both Mac and AJ can play the instrument. Not professionally mind you, more as just a hobby, something to listen to on a quiet evening. I guess Mac must have been planning to play something for Sugar Belle, the old romantic.
I played a little myself. Applejack had taught me a while back. I wasn’t brilliant, but I could play pretty well for a creature with no fingers. I could reasonably play a few songs here and there, mostly campfire songs that I picked up. Factor in my decent singing voice, and I can be quite good round the campfire. I even managed to wow Pinkie when I taught her’ The Campfire Song’ song. Now if only she hadn’t started singing it ad nauseam.
Putting that particular memory from my mind, I picked up the guitar and took a seat on one of the boulders in the little camp ground. Since there was little else to do until Mac got back with the firewood, I decided to play a little. I remembered a song from a favourite game of mine; Firewatch.
I'm headed off to Ol' Shoshone
Where the birds and the bees won't know me
Where men and the war don't exist no more
And there ain't no gals to keep no score
I'm taking off for the woods
To a place where there ain't no shoulds
Don't need no books, I'll ponder the ponderosas
Don't need no lady, I'll marry the mariposas
I can't waste no time in getting there
I'll do eighty down eighty without a prayer
Don't need no gal, I'll spruce up for the spruces
Don't need no pal, I'll change my mood for the mooses
I'm headed off to Ol' Shoshone
Where the birds and the bees won't know me
Where men and the war don't exist no more
And there ain't no gals to keep no score
If you're wondering where's my ass been
It's been cavorting amongst the aspens
Don't need no grass, I'll get altered among the alders
Don't need no mass, I'll grovel before the boulders
I'm headed off to Ol' Shoshone
Where the birds and the bees won't know me
Where men and the war don't exist no more
And there ain't no gals to keep no score
I'm headed off to Ol' Shoshone
Where the elk and the owls won't know me
Where there ain't no judges to whom I gotta plea
Because I can be me in Ol' Shoshone
As I finished playing, I realised I wasn’t alone. Mac had come back at some point and was sitting quietly, listening to me play. I started for a moment, feeling a little guilty about using his guitar. Still, the red stallion didn’t seem to mind.
“That’s a nice song right there, Bones,” he commented as he set down the firewood he’d found and began to lay a campfire. “Ah can’t say Ah ever heard it before now.”
“It’s somethin’ from Earth, Mac,” I replied, sitting the guitar down to lean against the parked wagon. “Just got in my head how quiet it’s been today is all.”
“Makes sense for whoever wrote that song,” Mac said with a nod. “When a feller comes back from war, Ah reckon he wouldn’t be able to get enough of the silence.”
That was true. After the attack on Canterlot, I’d been shook up as all hell. Until I went to see Luna, I wasn’t exactly in a good place; not PTSD, but something close to it. I didn’t sleep as much because of my bad dreams, and took to just sitting up, keeping an eye on AJ and Apple Bloom. I’d find myself sitting outside on a cool clear night, just enjoying the quiet, hearing nothing but the gentle breeze and the sound of some distant brook. Maybe that was part of the reason I liked Sweet Apple Acres. I had friends, heck I had family there. But if I wanted, I could just go and disappear for a while among the apple trees and be by myself, with nothing but nature for miles around.
I let Mac’s comment hang in the air. I suppose he too could sort of identify with the lyrics. While neither of us had been to war, he’d been through one of the worst traumas a pony can endure; the loss of family. Like me, Mac can at times just keep to himself. He’ll often go work on ploughing the fields himself on his own for hours. And then of course, there’s how reticent he can be. I suppose it’s our way of coping with things. Some ponies, like AJ, run to their friends when they’re in trouble, hurt or sad, whereas ponies like Mac or me, tend to just go off for a while and sort it out on our own. Maybe it’s a guy thing? I don’t know.
Anyway, we spent that night camping out under the stars. It was kind of like being a kid again. I never got in the Scouts; too long a waiting list where I lived, but I figured this was the sort of thing they’d do. It gave me a chance to brush up on my bushcraft at any rate. I even decided to forgo my magic and get the fire going with plain old flint and steel. The pair of us shared a basic meal over the fire before turning in. We’d be setting off early again tomorrow, although the trip would be much shorter, Mac reckoned we’d arrive in Starlight’s old village at around ten in the morning.
We made it to the village early the next morning. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the former compound, but it was actually quite pleasant. There was certainly no giant balloon things roaming about stopping anypony escaping. In fact, the village seemed like any other frontier town; small and basic, but perfectly livable. It was only one street effectively, with a row of houses and shops on either side, and Starlight’s old house, now made over into the town hall at the far end.
Mac and I pulled up in front of Sugar Belle’s shop and the pair of us began to unload our shipment. Mac’s marefriend came running out as soon as she saw him. I hadn’t actually met Sugar Belle before now. Living so far away, it was rare for her to come up to Ponyville. She seemed a nice enough mare though, and Mac was plainly head over heels. He introduced me to her briefly, and the pair of us finished unloading.
With that done, the two of us split up for the day. Big Mac would stay in town to spend some time with Sugar Belle. I on the other hoof, had a little bit further to go. I’d asked Sugar Belle about Captain Jack while we were unloading the wagon. He’d gotten here a couple days prior; wings being faster than the fleetest of foot after all. After introducing himself to the town in his usual way, he’d gone out to the mountains outside of town and started looking through the caves. It was there that I’d find him.
So I left Mac and his marefriend and, after grabbing a coffee and a snack for the road, I set off out of town to go and see the vault for myself.
I found myself feeling as though I’d crossed into the Griffon Kingdom. The path I was on was a rather perilous mountain goat path, with a sheer drop on the left side. All around me were jagged mountain peaks, with hardly any vegetation for miles; just dirt and rocks. Apparently, Pinkie’s sister Maud had spent some time up here in the past.
Luckily for me, I was able to pick up Jack’s trail and followed his hoofprints. I quietly thanked Celestia that he hadn’t flown all the way. The vault was certainly tucked away. The whole area was one vast system of caves, and hasn’t really been well charted. After all, that was how Twilight and the others first lost Starlight, when she disappeared into the cave network. Following the tracks though, I soon found myself where I wanted to be.
I’d been finding my way using my horn as a torch. This far into the cave, daylight was long gone. As I rounded a corner though, I spotted an ethereal glow up ahead. It steadily got brighter, to the point that I didn’t need to use my magic any more. Finally, I found myself in the large chamber that held the vault.
It was badly damaged of course. All of the containers had been smashed open in one way or another. It was repairable though. Each container was about the size of a safety deposit box, and all linked together creating a huge wall. I shuddered at the thought that once it held the cutie marks of dozens of ponies. Don’t get me wrong, Starlight has definitely come around to the side of good, but that’s pretty screwed up when you consider just how much a cutie mark makes up a pony’s identity.
I saw Jack standing before the huge vault, looking up in a mixture of fascination and morbid horror. I trotted over to join him, and the two of us talked about what we could do with this carcass. As I was about to head back to the village to enlist Mac’s help, I paused and found my eyes once again drawn to that unearthly glow.
“Ya know it’s lucky this thing is more or less salvageable,” Jack said. There’s no way anypony in Torchwood could build this thing from scratch.” Smiling to myself, I called back down the passageway.
“Starlight Glimmer was able to build this in a cave!” I faux bellowed. “With a box of scraps!” That got Jack to laugh.
Heading back outside, I retraced my steps back to meet up with Mac. We could use his help to remove a few of the more salvageable units, and then load them onto his wagon to transport back to Ponyville. From there, Jack would take them back to the old castle. Failing that, I could just borrow the now empty wagon and haul the stuff myself. This might be interesting, but I didn’t plan on taking him away from his marefriend, considering that they don’t see each other too often. Before too long, I was back in town.
I caught up with Big Mac in town. The romantic old dog that he is, he’d helped Sugar Belle with a spot of DIY in her shop; fixing a few shelves, stopping one of the door hinges from squeaking and helping her move some of her inventory up out of the storerooms. Now, somewhat worn out, he was simply taking some time with Sugar Belle. There was no way I was going to pull him away from that.
Still, I decided it was probably best if I told him before I borrowed his wagon. Trotting inside, I did my best to keep my interruption as brief as possible. Stepping in, I found the two of them sitting down at one of the tables sharing lunch. It was kind of adorable to see Mac so head over heels. I hadn’t seen anypony’s eyes go that dopey since Shining got hypnotised by Chrysalis.
“Say, Mac,” I said, catching his attention and sadly pulling him back to reality. “The captain and me want to haul a few bits of that vault thing back to Ponyville. Mind if Ah borrow the wagon? Ah’ll haul it back for ya.” C’mon, as if I’d ask him to pull it himself.
“Yeah, sure, Bones,” he replied. “Just watch yourself on those narrow paths.”
“And be careful of that vault too,” Sugar Belle added. “I know it’s all broken up now, but I still can’t stand to think of it.” I nodded in agreement, remembering the feeling of unease I’d had from just looking at the damn thing.
Heading back outside, I found the wagon parked out in front of the shop. After taking a moment to adjust the harness, which at that point was adapted for Mac’s size, I hooked myself up and set off back up to the vault.
The trip wasn’t too bad. The wind had begun to pick up, and the wagon swayed badly, and on occasion, I even felt it pull slightly as the wind hit its sides and pushed it one way or another. It certainly didn’t make the trip back to the vault easy, but it was far from dangerous. At least, that’s what I told myself as I kept my eyes fixed on the route ahead and didn’t dare look at the drop off to my right.
Honestly, it was like that episode of Top Gear when they were in Bolivia and driving along Death Road. You certainly didn’t feel safe.
Getting back into the cave, which was large enough for me to take the wagon into made things a little easier, and noticeably safer. I must have been sweating buckets when I got there, and white as a sheet, since the first thing Jack did when I got there was ask if I was alright.
While I’d been gone, he’d managed to pry loose a few of the more salvageable boxes and had them sitting on the ground, waiting. Between the two of us, we made fairly short work of loading them up. They were surprisingly light considering their size. As I said before, each one was large enough to hold a cutie mark, so about the size of a safe deposit box you might find in a bank.
Loaded up, the pair of us headed back down to the town again. What was left of Starlight’s dark creation was fairly secure. Few ponies knew about its existence, and without the necessary spell, nopony would be forcibly removing cutie marks any time soon. As creepy as the vault was, it wasn’t dark magic or evil in its own right. It was just a collection of boxes. It was nice though that some were now being re-purposed for a better use.
Mac and I ended up spending the night in Starlight’s old village. Well, I got a hotel and Mac stayed over at Sugar Belle’s. Hardly a surprise, right? The next morning, we started on our way back to Ponyville, arriving the following morning. Captain Jack was waiting for us just outside of Ponyville with a few of his lackeys to collect his new storage equipment.
Interestingly, he was kind enough to let me take one of them myself, saying that he figured I could probably use one. It was true in a way. I may not have any deadly, powerful magical artifacts, but I do have a few things I’m reluctant about keeping simply in a locked drawer of my desk. Maybe I could practice some DIY with AJ and built a wall safe or something?
After that, we both headed home. Granny Smith had come back from Las Pegasus with Rainbow Dash, and had quite the story to tell. A good chunk of it would make for a good friendship lesson
Other parts of it though, I really wish I hadn’t heard.
Proofread by Sweetolebob18.
Ah, who doesn't remember being slightly creeped out by elderly ponies shamelessly flirting? 
I though it's high time we brought old Jack in again. Sadly, there will be no Mac/Jack shipping for you M/M guys out there.
I figured that we haven't seen what actually happened to the vault, aside from it getting smashed up. Like the Mirror Pool, it's still there, so why not make some use of it?
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RD and the golden horse-shew gang with Captain Harkness mixed in a interesting combo that works really good.
Good thing putting Mirror Pool water inside a Cutie Mark Box, doesnt lead to Cutie Pox.
Given Cherry Berrys Helicopter and Pinkies Pedal Copter, youd have thought there would be other Earth Pony heavier than air craft, with corresponding cutimarks, ?
I find it disheartening to hear that there are parts of the world where this is true.
Overall, this chapter reminds me of a quote from early on in the excellent Changeling of the Guard, by vdrake77:
Really?
Edit 5/24/2020:
Uh then what’s this? 0:44
Or is this an ice box? But it was clearly a refrigerator.
2:46
I think you mean refrigeration carts.
I really thought he was playing this song.
10247719 Well, we have seen evidence of the farm having more than just apples in the show. Grapes have cropped up before, and there's always been that weird carrot shaped building that was never explained, and Winter Wrap Up seemed to imply that the farm had other crops that were planted in Spring. It makes sense to have a diverse range of crops. The Irish learned that the hard way.
who ships Mac and Jack?
honest question. have you been receiving requests?