Chapter 28: To My Family
Somewhere far above an alien planet, Summer watched the rain.
It came down in gentle sheets now, splashing off the waxed balloon. With nothing to buoy them forward but the gentle drift of high-altitude wind, she could stay dry as she watched. Somewhere far below was a dark red desert, parched land probably rejoicing at the moisture.
Not her.
Below her, she could make out a pair of faint voices, and the sound of tools on metal. She couldn’t have said what their chances were of getting moving again. What would they do if Sharp couldn’t fix the engine, get out and push? We probably could do that. Or Emerald could.
She should probably be panicking. The only other human she knew of in the entire planet had tried to kill her, and had sent the Equestrian equivalent of tactical weapons to do it. Even worse, she was well-connected enough to buy off ambassadors, employ mercenaries, and who knew what else. Maybe Equestria itself would be trying to arrest her as a dangerous criminal.
No fear over the future could equal her joy in the moment. In spite of every force arrayed against them, they’d survived.
A door rattled behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder. It was Sharp, his hair slicked back with engine grease and a saddlebag filled with tools over his shoulder. He made his way over, grinning weakly. “We have a cabin. You don’t have to sit out here.”
She watched him come, not moving from the deck. “What if that ship is still after us? I need to be able to warn you.”
Sharp Edge shifted, settling down onto the deck beside her. Without thinking, Summer leaned against him, not caring about the grease or the sweat. His smell alone was comfortable and familiar now. Strength, confidence, the heat of the forge. How long had she been relying on him? Had it already been months?
“I don’t think we need to worry too much about them,” he said. “I was watching there at the end. I don’t want Emerald to know, but… I saw them clip the edge of the cloudbank.” He shook his head, expression distant and pained. “A zeppelin might’ve been able to follow us, but not a ship with a gasbag. All that volume for the wind, without a lower maximum altitude. Their pilot was a little too determined to reach us.”
“Why?” she asked. She couldn’t help but sound angry as she said it, though of course it wasn’t for him. “Why would Kate want to…” But she already knew the answer. She trailed off, looking down. “She thinks she’s going to save your world. From humans.” She stared down at the deck, ears flat. Some part of her was still trying to process the fact that at least some of those ponies hadn’t been pegasi. They’d probably died when their ship was lost. Because of her. Even if she didn’t feel guilty about the ones who had tried to kill her, there was certainly a little pain.
Sharp ran one hoof through her mane. Surprisingly sensitive for something otherwise rigid. “A pony who tried to murder us is protecting ponies from you.” He laughed bitterly. “I wonder how many creatures died because of her instruction. But… ponies can be like that too. We’ve had our Nightmare Moons, necromancers and sorcerers and warlords. I suppose she must be one of yours.”
Summer nodded weakly. There was no doubt in her mind that Kate was a murderer. But those were far more common than an occasional warlord. Did she want to admit that?
“I’m not sure if she’s completely wrong,” she said instead. “There are evil humans. Even the ones who aren’t evil like her, might still want things that help our world at your expense. I’m not sure…”
He settled one hoof around her shoulder. “That’s not a decision for ponies like us to make, Summer. Maybe you’re right, maybe not. It’s something to tell the princesses. Or… maybe the Queen of the Hippogriffs? It’s their portal.”
“I think they might have a history of contact with humans,” Summer said weakly. “Not everything Kate said was a lie. They might be… terrified of me. They might want to kill me, or force me back.”
“Force you?” Sharp raised an eyebrow. “I thought that was the entire point.”
“Right, yeah.” She whimpered, looking away. “It is. Sorry, just… I’m still shaken. I’ve never had anyone try to kill me before. Or… jumped out of a skyscraper, or ran away from someone I—” She caught herself before that went anywhere she would’ve been too embarrassed about, barely.
Sharp grinned mischievously. “Ran away from a pony you…”
She shook her head, sticking her tongue out. “I’m still mad you didn’t tell me about Kate. I don’t want you to do anything romantic until…” She scrunched her nose, thinking. “We get to Mt. Aris. That seems like… enough time.” She straightened, rising to her hooves and stepping away from him before his scent made her break her word. “How’s the engine, anyway?”
“We’ll be limping the rest of the way. It’s a good thing Feather only sent the one ship, or we’d be… in trouble. But I think we can keep ourselves moving with enough attention. You should think about what we’ll do when we arrive—you’re the hippogriff. If they’re anything like the birds in Canterlot, they won’t be happy to see Emerald and I.”
“I’m not convinced they will be,” she said reflexively. “Kate spent ten minutes bragging to me about all the different things she controlled, and most of it revolved around keeping our worlds separate. The Doorway is a hippogriff thing, but ponies seem to be the ones with enough curiosity to go out and investigate.” She must’ve known you were trying to get it to open. I wonder why she let you live.
She thought about asking that—but in the end, just sat down again, folding her wings tight to her sides against the occasional sideways burst of rain. The sound of water on the balloon was no tin roof, but it was still relaxing.
“Feather has enough bits to buy a princess,” Sharp said, voice scathing. “You could be right. And come to think of it, she’s working very hard to stop us from actually reaching Mt. Aris. I’ll assume our last misfortune in the Horizon was her work as well. That suggests that her power doesn’t reach the hippogriffs themselves. Our mission might not be hopeless after all.”
She watched him carefully, expecting him to turn back and return belowdecks. But he was watching her. “Are you…” He blushed, looking away. “Emerald should be about done with dinner by now.”
She looked away, back off the edge of the Horizon to where the rain still billowed. The storm they’d left behind was certainly dangerous and powerful. It might’ve even killed the ponies hunting them.
But the rain and the smell of Sharp was enough to finally settle her heart. “A few more minutes,” she said.
“Okay.” He settled in beside her. “Let me know. I don’t want you to get cold up here.”
Despite her threat, she didn’t send him away. He didn’t seem to mind.
Sharp Edge hadn’t been exaggerating about the difficulty they’d be facing on the rest of the trip. The engine seized up every few hours, and occasionally started shaking so badly it felt like it was going to rattle the Horizon apart. But it never did, and despite the threatening noises it made, it didn’t explode.
They sailed for over a week, sometimes seeming barely to coast compared to the dunes rolling by underneath. A part of Summer wished she actually could get out and push, but she resisted mentioning it. Even a joke would probably be an invitation for more flying lessons with Emerald.
Instead she tinkered with her Earth artifacts. Her poor Ultrabook had not survived its encounter with the lake, and no amount of coaxing or dry rice would make it so much as light up the keyboard. Her tablet had done better though, and after days of charging via her makeshift USB mechanism, she finally dared to turn it on. Apparently the OtterBox had been enough, because there wasn’t even a dead pixel.
“What is that?” Emerald asked, pulling over the other chair and hopping up next to her. She propped her forelegs up on the kitchen table, getting so close to the screen Summer almost couldn’t see it.
“A computer,” she answered, wrapping a bit of cloth from her human gloves around one of her claws. It had the strange silvery end that worked for touchscreens—even with the case, she didn’t like the idea of using animal claws on this thing. “This is the one I used for fun. I put movies and music and books on it, and some games.”
Emerald stared, eyes wide. “What’s a moo-v?”
Summer opened iTunes, scrolling through what she had stored. Most of it was far too adult to show a child, particularly an alien child with no concept for the fictional nature of the violence they might show. She scrolled desperately, until she found one film that might work, one she’d downloaded during her last visit home, to entertain her niece for a few hours.
“I’ll show you,” she said, selecting Frozen and pressing play.
It was a good guess. The tablet’s apparently larger size in Equestria made it large enough to watch comfortably, once she propped it up with a few jars of applesauce. Emerald was entranced from the very first bar of music. She didn’t seem to care that she couldn’t understand it—not when she could cling to Summer’s leg, and demand she explain everything as it happened.
The movie proved to be a good choice in more ways than one. Emerald clearly loved the music, so much that she made Summer “freeze it” long enough for her to bring Sharp up to listen. But the reindeer character quickly became her favorite member of the cast, forcing Summer to fudge her translation a bit and invent lines for him.
Productive work aboard the Horizon ground to a halt, until the movie was finally complete. Summer shut off the tablet, plugging it back in to her makeshift charger.
“That was a fascinating bit of cultural exchange,” Sharp said, settling a notebook down in front of him. “I had no idea our worlds shared so much in common. You too have confronted hostile magic, and… found the usual solutions. Friendship and love, obviously. The more I learn about your world, the more I realize Kat-ate’s worries are lies. She wants all of Equestria for herself, when both of us would benefit so much from deeper ties.”
Do you mean our worlds, Sharp? Or us personally? She wasn’t brave enough to ask, not with Emerald close enough to hear. She knew exactly how the little pegasus would respond. Besides, there was a more important point. “This is…” She hesitated. “Movies aren’t real. I said that already—we watch them because they’re entertaining. And maybe they have lessons in them, but… none of those things actually happened.”
“Well yes, you said that,” Sharp said, straightening. “But myths are usually based on an underlying truth. Often the truth that inspired them is even more compelling than the myth that eventually resulted.”
She winced. “I don’t know how many times I can tell you this, but our world doesn’t have magic. I don’t know the history of this movie, but I’m pretty sure the myth that inspired it was Disney wanting money.”
“You look weird,” Emerald said. “But pretty. I liked the blue dresses.”
Sharp patted her gently on the head. “I know you think that, Summer. But I’m quite convinced that can’t be the case. Perhaps your world isn’t aware of magic. That isn’t uncommon for other creatures here in Equestria. Minotaurs, griffons, yaks… there are many creatures without any obvious magical abilities. Their talents are internal, and so subtle that they would never realize they existed without another creature to compare against. Maybe the magic of your race is… invention!” He gestured at the tablet. “Even Kat-ate shows enough of that, with what she’s done with Feather. You did, with your… what did you call it?”
“The jet engine?” She shook her head. “I didn’t invent that, I just translated known principles into something I thought we could make. Kate did the same with all of Feather’s stuff. Batteries and portable radios are all simple in our world.”
Sharp shrugged. “I still think it’s a good candidate for your innate abilities. And if you don’t believe me, consider this.” He reached down, pulling gently on the necklace she was wearing. “This artifact doesn’t work in a vacuum, Summer. It interacts with your natural magic, tying you to Equestria and showing you our language. It worked for Kat-ate, and it worked for you. There is some magic in there, even if you don’t know how to recognize it.”
She didn’t really have a way to argue with that. There were probably scientific reasons to explain everything she’d seen in Equestria. That old “it’s just technology you don’t understand” chestnut floated to the top of her mind more than once. But ultimately she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She’d seen and felt too much since coming here to know that.
“Do you have any more?” Emerald asked. “Movies. Like that one?”
“I…” She hesitated. “Might. I’ll need to see if I have anything you would like. That one was animation, and I only have a few like that downloaded. You probably wouldn’t like them.”
They ended up watching all of them by the time the trip was over, at least of the ones she had forgotten to delete. Unfortunately all she had were Finding Nemo, the first Pokémon movie, and Over the Hedge.
At least they weren’t enough to completely distract her flight crew and crash horribly.
After a week of travel, they crossed briefly out into the ocean again, before finally seeing signs that they were on the right track.
It was another airship, coming in their general direction from the south. This one was a zeppelin, at least four times the length of the Horizon and many times its volume. More importantly, there were creatures flying around it that weren’t ponies.
A bright blue and gold hippogriff separated from the airship, diving down towards the Horizon and landing on the deck a few feet from the helm. She wore a bright blue uniform, with a prominent wing symbol on the shoulders. “Hello!” she said, waving a wing enthusiastically in their direction. Mostly she seemed to be addressing Summer, though she wasn’t the one with a hoof on the controls.
“We can’t help but notice your airship is in distress. Unless it’s supposed to leave a trail of black smoke like that…”
“Yes!” she said, hurrying forward at Sharp’s nod. “Our engine was heavily damaged trying to… get through a storm! We’re running out of spare parts, and… really hoping we’re going the right way to Mt. Aris.”
“Been a long time from home, sister?” she asked, glancing at her neck. Her eyes widened as she saw it—or maybe when she failed to see it. Certainly she seemed very interested in the necklace. “Oh. This is more serious than I thought. Captain Sky Beak of the Cosmic Venture wanted me to offer our assistance. Our patrol is nearly over anyway—perhaps you’d like a tug?”
Summer hesitated, but this time Sharp didn’t. “Very much, miss! Frankly I’ve been growing concerned that we wouldn’t make it as it was. We’ve been trying to help Summer reach your kingdom, but we’ve encountered… a few setbacks. We have two rigging hooks along the bow, if you’d like to tow us.”
The hippogriff hesitated, then turned her attention on him. “I’ll fly back in a moment. You said this was the… Horizon? And what’s the captain’s name?”
“Sharp Edge,” Summer said, gesturing. “He’s taken me this far. I’m glad we’ll have a little help to make it the rest of the way.
“Well, I’m Cerulean,” she said, saluting with one foreleg. “Welcome to Aris airspace!” She took a running start, then plunged right off the back of the Horizon, soaring up in a dramatic arc another moment later.
“She seemed nice,” Emerald said, poking her head out from the doorway belowdecks. “Not like those guards at all.”
“Yeah,” Sharp said. “I’m convinced this is evidence that we have reached the end of Feather’s influence—or we’re about to willingly submit to boarders. Either way, not a lot we could do. That vessel is well-armed, and we’re… barely mobile.”
But they weren’t boarded, or taken into captivity. Cerulean and a few other birds flew back with a heavy rope, and soon enough they were moving again. The ship creaked and groaned at being towed, but she held together. Whenever Summer looked up she could see birds peeking out to watch them, but at least the sound of an engine trying very hard to explode finally stopped.
Distances that had taken them several days before now took only hours, and soon enough Mt. Aris itself was coming into view.
There was no mistaking it, even from a great distance. A rocky spire a little larger than the mountain that Canterlot was built on, surrounded by farms and with a thin strip of land leading out over the waves.
The sky was packed with traffic, most of which were airships many times larger than theirs. Even as she watched, a massive hulk settled down into place on a dock suspended in the air, and birds began unloading their cargo.
The water frothed around the cliff, with thousands of little multicolored specks visible for moments and then gone again.
“Woah…” Emerald whispered. “It’s so… tall.”
Like Canterlot, the mountain itself looked heavily engineered—massive wings of rock flared out over open ocean, probably millions of tons of stone held up by who knew what. The cliffs were battered and scarred, cracked away in places and burned in others. So they weren’t just there to keep the settlement safe from wind.
Their escorts brought them into the sky dock, with Cerulean flying back as they got close to help detach the cable. They drifted on the breeze the rest of the way, until they got close enough for Sharp to hop over the edge and fling mooring ropes over the waiting hooks.
They hadn’t even finished before an official-looking group of creatures appeared on the dock, wearing silvery armor over their blue uniforms and carrying rugged-looking crossbows.
Those aren’t toys, Summer thought, her eyes going wide as she scanned them. Was Kate right all along?
“Welcome to Mt. Aris,” said one, climbing up the ramp onto the ship. “You’re the Horizon, right? Captained by one… Sharp Edge?”
He stepped forward, nodding politely to them. His eyes too jumped to the weapons. “That would be me, and yes. Have we done something wrong?”
“Not at all. My name is Lieutenant Cloudhunter,” the hippogriff said. He extended a claw to shake Sharp’s hoof, but when Summer offered her claw, he bent down and kissed it respectfully instead. “The Queen was informed that an unusual ship had been assisted to port, captained by a pony and carrying a hippogriff unknown by name or covenant. She wishes to extend her personal welcome to you, and… any other creatures that may be aboard.”
He nodded slightly towards the stairs down, where Emerald poked up a moment later. She emerged, looking guilty, then hurried over to Sharp. None of the hippogriffs raised their weapons.
“Well?” Sharp said, glancing sidelong at her. “This is what we’re here for.”
“Yeah.” She glanced briefly back towards the ship. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to grab a few things the queen might want to see. Would that be alright?”
“By all means,” Cloudhunter said. “We’ll wait for you here. We’d give you more time to prepare, but… the Queen already cleared her schedule. It wouldn’t be wise to keep her waiting.”
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I thought that Kate said she only bought the ponies around Celestia, not that she was somehow bribing Celestia (/Luna/Cadance...) herself. I would reckon that to the extent she had "bought" any of the Princesses, it was only by (apparently) being a great entrepreneur and businesspony who was making a lot of money and employing a lot of ponies (and non-ponies, presumably), so that they would be willing to overlook minor peccadilloes to keep Feather running. But if they found out that she was trying to murder ponies, no, that probably wouldn't go over well. Rulers don't tend to like their subjects getting an inflated view of their self-importance.
Really, the protagonist should have just told Twilight everything while they were in Ponyville. The Princess of Friendship/Nerdery would almost certainly have been willing and able to help them out, and has a personal connection with Queen Novo, after all. Although I can see why they didn't, they don't know all that...
Come on Theo don't be like that. Everything Kate said and believes is wrong.
Well, that’s progress. Towards what is still up in the air.
I suppose there are worse things than Disney for cultural bridging. I wonder if Luna would feel some resonance with “Let it Go” (assuming she had a necklace or some other way to understand the lyrics)?
Yea-hea-hea-no. None of the alicorns are infallible- in the show or in Star’s oeuvre- but in the unlikely event that they’re involved with whatever Kate’s doing, it’s out of misinformation and a desire to keep their little ponies safe, not any desire for coin.
I just realised that the chapter titles shifting to first-person coincides with Theo accepting the name Summer.
9823303
Ya I just noticed that now too as she started to accept her new body. Cause yes she is now quadruped and female, she is still herself just with extra and some less bits.
9823230
I agree, cause no matter how bad people can get there is always someone willing to stand up in the face of the cruel and unjust. We are always pushing forward even with all the setbacks.
I'm not sure... was it painted on somewhere on the ship? Coz no one said that and no one noticed that slip. Or am I seeing conspiracy where is none?
Onward to Queen Novo. Seems like the hippogriffs here are nothing like those in the embassy. Perhaps those birds were under Kate's employ. Let's get some answers. And some help.
9823440
Yeah I love humans and being human so much. We are the coolest most bad ass creatures around. She's also wrong about our world being doomed. Climate change isn't anything to worry about and the future is looking really bright. But I guess I can understand Kate not knowing that sens she is 10 years out of touch.
9823298
it's not hard with that much money to make situations that cause results you want.
I also bet the situation at her HQ has already been spun to make Kate look like the victim.
Now I'm wondering if that Hippogriff embassy had been bribed by Feather to react with hostility to Travelers specifically so Kate could maintain her little anti-human power trip. Perhaps the other hippogriffs aren't actually anti-human, or at least the rulers...
Personally I find that both Kate and Sharp have their merits in what they say.
Humans would likely not be the best thing to happen to Equus.
On the other hand it sure isn't Kate's Buisness to judge, guard and sentence everyone involved in the matter.
9823478
I'd argue at the climate - ecology thingie, we are doing a pretty good job of screwing a lot of ourselves over big time.
Sure, if we leave it to it's own devices, nature will bounce back, within half a mellinia or so, but try and tell that to the billions of people going to be dead or dying because of our own short-sightedness, laziness and egocentricity.
9823454
I think that might be an editing glitch, since Cerulean asked "You said this was the… Horizon?"
9823832
I mean, damage to her office building inflicted by a foreign national. Probably blamed losing her airship on Theo, too.
9823298
I feel like Up would have been an appropriate inclusion on Theo's tablet for the story, considering all the time being spent in airships. Being a very different design for human characters from Frozen would also help underscore that the animation isn't real, I think.
Well, that and a thoroughly mangled take on The Snow Queen.
Also, if Frozen muddied the waters on human magic, the Pokémon movie must have turned the matter into a swamp.
In any case, they've reached Mount Aris, which means we'll see just what the situation really is between hippogriffs and humans. Hopefully Novo's in a receptive mood.
Hey, I’m suddenly feeling much more optimistic. Hippogriffs be chill.
9823303
Eh, still feels weird that Theo would just roll over and accept having everything about himself changed against his will.
9825441
Theo is still looking for a way home, but it'd be silly of anyone to not atleast entertain the thought of being stuck there how they are currently. It's better to come to terms with the situation and work through it than fight it bitterly to the end in this case.
9824262
I'm still hinging my bets on Kate being a bit deeper than "hoomens are bad, I am guardian of pony." It's already clear that she loves being rich, additionally she's utterly ruthless.
The ship is sailing nicely. Nice and smooth above the clouds.
Oooo, so much for the pursuers.
Theo has gone so very native.
Oh no
Abandon ship, we've lost Emerald to Frozen! Dooooomed!
Better than just Frozen on repeat five hundred more times.
This is far more polite than the reception that they got from the hippogriff ambassador. If they are being detained so far it is fairly gentle.
A challenger appears
Cantwaitformore cantwaitformore cantwaitformore!
I left the chapters pile on since I got busy with IRL things. When I came back, I was pleasantly surprised to see this little pile of gold having grown so much.
But in my avarice, I've gone through them like candy and now I'm left with a cliffhanger.
I'm shocked it went by so fast, can't wait to read more!
Now if Theo just had some movies to show Queen Novo to show humans are peaceful and there's absolutely nothing at all for her to worry about any sort of invasion from us....
Like Terminator, Aliens, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Farscape, Serenity...
On second thought, better not show her anything. Best to smash it all with hammers and Bleachbit his tech!
9825441
It might feel weird because there are timeskips in this story. Adjusting to that, her transition towards acceptance seems pretty reasonable. Especially so, because she never focused too much on "that" aspect, rather she kept her focus on getting home and meeting Kate. It's amazing what an often stream of adrenaline can do towards your line of thought.
9834698
what NO theo could show her this. (2452) Thomas the Dank Engine | SFM Animated Music Video - YouTube or this
(2452) PINK GUY - STFU - YouTube
I'm sure she would love it.
This is either really good or really bad