Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons

by TikiBat

Chapter 3: Chilling in Cooler Climates

“Alright, everyone good to go now?” Silver asked as he looked over towards the now content Orion.

Scarlet nodded her head, “Yep, I’d say so.”

Sapphire cleared her throat, “Well, if you’re ready, our ride’s waiting.”

Silver nodded and waved a wing towards the door, “Lead the way.”

“Mhmm.”

The group began to walk towards the door, Silver nudging Orion along when he would stop and look around every few steps. As happy as he was that the colt was so curious about his new surroundings, he was beyond ready to just unwind and relax. Planes were more comfortable as a pony, but it was still an exhausting experience.

He smiled at the colt and continued to usher him along, “Hey buddy; I know this is all really cool for you, but you’re gonna keep Miss Sapphire waiting. You wanna ride on my back?”

The colt stopped and looked up towards him, slowly nodding his head.

He looked over towards his wife, who was idly chatting away with Crescent Shadow. “Hey, Scarlet, can you give me a hand here?”

She smiled and looked over towards Orion, “Is our little adventurer tuckered out already? Well, we can’t have that now, can we?”

Orion ran over as she lifted him onto Silver’s back.

He quickly glanced back, “Is the little traveler happy now?”

Scarlet gave him a quick nod, “Seems like it to me.”

“There’s more to see outside,” Sapphire called back towards them.

Scarlet let out a few laughs, “Sorry for the hold-up just making sure our little adventurer’s all settled and happy. This is a big change for him, and he’s probably wondering why it’s so cold up here.”

Silver nodded in agreement, “Y’know she’s got a point there; this is the first time he’s been out of the desert after all.”

Sapphire gestured towards the open car door, “Tell me all about it in the car. Do you need anything for Orion?”

Silver shook his head, “He should be good for now; to be honest, I think he’s just excited to see everything here. There’s not a lot of foals out in the Oasis yet, so he’s probably not too sure about having an actual playmate for once either.”

“Poor little guy. Once Aurora makes up her mind on him, I’m sure she’ll warm up to him” Sapphire nudged the filly, who was giving Orion suspicious glances.

The trio hopped into the back seat and cuddled up next to one another, with Orion sitting between them. He began to fidget around, but quickly settled down as the car started to pull away.

“So, how’s everything been up here? Still keeping your team on that rigorous program?” Silver asked as he laid a wing over Orion.

“Equestrian certified program, they wish it was still the old regiment. Earth’s weather doesn’t require as much micromanagement as Equestria, so we came up with a few ways to fill the day out. Have your pegasi picked up their training seriously?”

“A little begrudgingly, I think, but the results really show. If they have a problem with it, then they sure haven’t said anything about it.”

“That’s good; let Dazzle know if they’re slacking off; I’m sure she’d love to request some time off to go run them ragged. Anything else interesting happening?”

“Well, it hasn’t really changed much since you last visited; we upgraded our grid a little, but the real big change is that the land around the lake’s a lot more developed now. Turns out there was a whole network of abandoned mineshafts under where we decided to build, and some of them wound up caving in. We had to get some inspectors in to make sure nothing else was at risk of collapsing, but it was all fine. Gave a few night and earth ponies the bright idea to start carving out a cool underground hangout in a safe area. While you may have gone a little overboard with that whole storm, in the end, it actually helped us identify some big issues we weren’t aware of and gave us a nice place to cool off. It’s become one of our favorite hangout spots; we even decided to have our house built near it.”

“And Orion sure loves to splash around in the water too. He acts like it’s a race whenever we head down there, and I wish he was always that adorable,” Scarlet added in.

Silver looked down to the colt curled up next to him, “That’s right, you’re our little sea pony aren’t you?”

The colt responded with a big grin and a series of giggles.

Scarlet rolled her eyes, “Considering Yinyu’s the only sea pony we’ve ever seen, maybe we shouldn’t be making that connection.”

Silver nodded, “Right… I forgot that she’s a bit… much at times. Probably not a great idea to accidentally summon her when we’re talking about our foal.”

“Well, if you like that lake, you may get a little enamored with Superior. The old ore dock is really going to be worth the trip. Not far from the Landmark and all the winged ponies hang out there to unwind,” Sapphire cut in.

Scarlet looked out of the window, eyeing the unfamiliar species of trees that were passing by, “I’m not sure what an ore dock looks like.”

“Don’t worry; you’ll be able to see it from the hotel.”

“I really can’t wait to check it out; I’m kind of a nut for old stuff like that.” Silver added in.

---

Their van powered its way up a short but steep hill and turned into the parking lot alongside a tall brick building with Landmark Inn emblazoned on the side and came to a stop underneath a coach gate. The hotel almost reminded Silver of some of the old buildings he had seen around Flagstaff when he had visited before ETS. Without even seeing it for more than a few moments, he was already in love with the place and excitedly shifted in his seat.

“You want some help getting checked in?” Sapphire asked, interrupting Silver’s daydream. “It’s your vacation; how much hooves on do you want me to be?”

Silver shared a quick glance with Scarlet. “We appreciate the help but I think we’ll be able to handle this.”

“Gotcha, the reservation’s under your name, and you can get some sleep before dinner. Think we’ll head home for a bit so Aurora can have a quick nap before her foalsitter shows up.”

Silver nodded, shivering slightly as he finally started to feel the cold air, “Thanks, Sapphire. Does dinner at eight work for you? We can check out some of the sights after if you’re not too tired.”

She nodded her head, “Already have a reservation setup, I’ll meet you in the lobby, and we can all head over later.”

Silver smiled, “Can’t wait.”

The trio hopped out of the car and took a moment to make sure that Orion was ready to go. Silver led his family through the door into a gorgeous wood lobby and took a moment to gawk at the high ceiling and expensive-looking chandeliers. Realizing he’d have time to inspect it better later, he continued trotting across the tiled floor to the front desk and greeted the unicorn attendant with a warm smile, “Hi, we have a reservation under the name Silver Eclipse.”

The attendant nodded, “Just a minute, please.” He used his magic to navigate through the computer, “Ah yes, Mr. Eclipse. You’ll be in one of our guest suites, room 62.”

Silver nodded, “Thanks Mr…” he looked down towards the desk, hoping to find a nametag or nameplate so he could properly thank the attendant.

“Scribbles,” the unicorn finished for him.

Silver smiled, “Thank you, Scribbles, I really appreciate the help.”

“You are very welcome; if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask,” Scribbles responded with a warm smile that made Silver feel a little more welcome and a lot less out of place.

---

The trio took a short trip over to the elevators and headed up to their floor, trotting down the long human-sized hallway to their room, pausing so Silver could open the door. He lifted his foreleg to the key reader and opened the door, happy that the hotel had pony-compatible door handles. As they flipped on the lights, they were immediately in awe of the large guest suite. Right off the bat, Orion began to explore the unfamiliar setting, sniffing about as he shoved his head in every nook and cranny, much to the duo’s delight.

Scarlet slowly walked around the suite, taking in their cozy accommodations, “This is a little more than what I thought we were getting…”

Silver chuckled, “What? You thought we’d be staying in some small motel room? I mean, it is Sapphire, after all, she seems like the type to make sure her friends are comfortable.”

“Don’t you think this might be a bit much, though? I mean, do we really need a whole separate bedroom? This is more like an apartment than a hotel room.”

Silver shrugged and looked over to the young colt who had exhausted his need to explore and was now making himself a pillow fort with the cushions that were scattered throughout the room, “Probably not, but it looks like Orion’s already staked his claim on the couch, so I think that leaves the bedroom for us.”

“Do you think… I mean, should we stop him?” She asked as the pair looked on at the colt, who was now happily snuggled up in his fort.

Silver shook his head, “Nah, look how happy he is; he’s fine as long as he’s not breaking anything or causing trouble.”

Scarlet nodded and wandered over towards one of the windows, eagerly glancing out over the lake. “I really can’t wait to get out there and start exploring,” she gushed.

He joined her by the window, “Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? That dock she was talking about looks cool too, I definitely can’t wait to check that out. We’ll need to show off the next time she’s down our way; let her stay in the new VIP villa; I’m sure she’ll love the lakeside view.”

Silver wandered into the bedroom and paused, eyeing the bed longingly, “Orion’s got the right idea; I’m definitely good for a nap right now.”

Scarlet replied with a long yawn, “Same; it wouldn’t hurt to get some more shut-eye before we explore a little.”

Silver went about the suite, closing the drapes while Scarlet removed her bag and hopped onto the bed. Stretching out, he let out a relaxed sigh. “Oh, I could get used to this. Do you think we could get a king when we get back home?”

She smiled and shook her head, “Silver, we don’t need a king-sized mattress.”

“Oh, come on, you don’t even know what you’re missing; it’s like sleeping on a giant cloud!”

Scarlet laughed, “You can’t even sleep on clouds; how would you know?” Scarlet hopped up and sunk into the soft mattress. She curled up and made herself comfortable, “But alright, maybe we can look at getting a new mattress when we get home.”

He lazily raised his foreleg to speak into his gauntlet, “Navi, set an alarm for 7:30 pm” After checking that the alarm had been set, he let out a few yawns and rolled over to curl up next to her, “See you in a few hours.”

“Night.”

---

The alarm on Silver’s gauntlet rang out, echoing in the dark room and causing him to reflexively flap his ears for a moment before waking from the much-needed rest. Silver stopped the alarm and sat up in the bed, letting out a yawn before heading towards the window and taking a quick peek through the drapes. As he shifted out of bed, Scarlet started to stir as well, taking a quick peek at the bedside clock.

“Is it time already?” she asked in between yawns.

Silver turned back towards her and gave a slow nod, “Yeah. I was just taking a look outside. The area’s even more beautiful at night; I can’t wait to get out there.”

While they would typically be a little groggy and tired, they were both far too excited to get out and start exploring the local sights. Feeling relaxed and refreshed, the pair slowly trotted towards the living room, noticing that Orion was still comfortably curled up in his little fort.

Silver smiled, “Isn’t that adorable? I almost wonder what he’s dreaming about this time.”

“Maybe a mountain of plushies and candy? What more could he want?” She paused for a moment, “Do you think we should wake him up?”

Silver glanced down to the gauntlet on his foreleg, slowly shaking his head, “Nah, we’ve got some time until we’re supposed to meet up; he looks so peaceful right now, I’d hate to ruin it for him.”

“Alright, but just keep an eye on the time; I’m itching to get out there. Crescent was saying that the sky is really clear at night; it should give us a awesome view of the stars!”

“More awesome than out in the open desert?”

She shrugged, “Maybe, I won’t really know until I get a chance to really get a feel for it, but you’d be amazed at how a few variables can change the whole experience.”

“I’ll take your word for that, you are the astronomy expert after all.”

“Oh come on, you’re at least getting better with it.”

Silver smiled, “Well it helps that I have such a great teacher. We’ll have to do some stargazing later.”

Scarlet smiled, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

---

Silver and Scarlet sat in front of the quaint fireplace with Orion snuggled up in between them while they waited for Sapphire. It was colder than what they were used to, but being covered in fur definitely helped. Despite knowing it was going to be colder, the two had only packed a couple of scarves which were currently wrapped around Orion, which seemed to keep him mostly content for now. However whether that would work long term or not was left to be seen.

Scarlet looked away from the fire for a moment, “Hey do you mind if I take a look around the lobby?”

Silver shook his head, “Go for it, I’ll keep an eye on Orion. Just let me know when Sapphire gets here.”

Scarlet trotted off, leaving Silver alone with Orion for a little while. For a moment Silver was tempted to join her, but Orion looked so comfortable and he didn’t want to pull him away from that. Before long Scarlet trotted back over with Sapphire and Crescent in tow. “Ready to go Silver? I don’t know about you but being cooped up in this lobby’s a little boring.”

“Absolutely, I’m starving.” He looked over to Sapphire, “So where are we going anyways?”

“A nice local place called the UpFront. It’s not too far, just a few minutes away. What’s with the scarves? Are you cold??”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “A little, I think I should be fine with just a scarf, but seeing as how our little adventurer is bundled up in both of ours, we might want to grab something for Orion.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’d be interested in some sweaters,” Sapphire nodded knowingly.

Scarlet nodded and turned back towards Sapphire, “We’d love that. Silver thinks he’s fine but you better grab him one too just in case.”

Silver was about to object but instead nodded his head, “Yeah… that might be a good idea. It’s kind of been a while since I’ve been up north.”

“We won’t be going too far tonight so you should be fine, I’ll scrounge something up for you tomorrow.”

Scarlet smiled as the group began to walk towards the door, “Thanks Sapphire, we really appreciate this.”

As they stepped out into the cold, Orion began to slow down, quickly impeding Silver’s progress. As much as the scarves probably helped, they still couldn’t fully protect him from the icy cold and clearly he was beginning to realize that something was off.

Sapphire looked down at the shivering colt who was trying to hide between Silver’s legs with a look of concern, “I can draw heat in around me, if you want I could carry him over there so he won’t get too cold.”

Scarlet nodded her head, “We’d really appreciate that.”

“Sure, I just want to make sure you’re all comfortable, I know it’s actually cold here and not the hot desert you’re used to.”

Silver nodded and stepped around him, “Okay buddy I know you really want to look around but Miss Sapphire’s going to keep you nice and warm until you have a sweater.” He calmly said as he carried the purple colt over towards Sapphire and set him on her back. He began to fidget around until he felt the comforting warmth, and quickly settled down.

Happy that Orion was content, Silver spoke up again, “So you said it’s only a few minutes away? I don’t want to be rude but I’d love to get going, we’ve kind of only had airplane food today and that’s definitely not the best.”

“I think it might be worth the wait.” Crescent responded.

As they trotted down the street Scarlet jumped into more talk about astronomy with Crescent while Silver excitedly looked around at the different buildings that lined the downward sloping street. The ones immediately surrounding the hotel were brick with simple accents and a beautiful white stone church. Further down the hill at the next intersection with a stoplight was a newer glass office building surrounded by ones made out of a red stone. A clock tower on a five story one made of dark red stone and bricks had a brightly lit clock tower perched on the nearest corner with copper surrounding it weathered into a beautiful green.

Silver struggled not to fly up and inspect the buildings closer as they stopped to wait for the light so a small amount of cars and a bus could use the intersection. “Man… I’d love it if the Oasis had a few buildings with… character like this. No offense to our architect but you just can’t beat the old stuff.”

“There used to be a lot of big money here. I took a class in college and we toured all the old mansions here. I’ll take you on one tomorrow evening,” Sapphire explained as they waited.

“Tempting me with history stuff? If we weren’t tied down to the Oasis I’d absolutely think about moving here.”

“Pity, I’ll need to try harder.”

“A tour or two might be the trick to pull us back up here again, doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to exhaust everything on just one visit after all.” He laughed.

The group continued to walk down the street, turning left onto a street with a steeper slope to arrive at a large two story building with the restaurant. Ponies of all tribes were hanging around it and faint music could be heard coming from within. As they left the sidewalk to head down a short flight of steps inside, a light green unicorn waiting inside at a small desk broke into a cheerful greeting.

“Good evening, welcome to the Upf—” She began to say, pausing once she noticed Sapphire, “Oh! Hi Sapphire, we’ve got your table all ready, Emily is already waiting.. Are these the out-of-state friends?”

She nodded, “Evening Lotus, I found these strange desert ponies from Arizona wandering around town. I guess they needed a break from the heat and decided to come hang out where there’s actual weather.”

Lotus turned towards Silver and Scarlet, “You guys actually live out in the desert?”

Silver smiled and nodded, “Yep, it’s not always the most comfortable place but it works for us. That said I’m glad to be somewhere cool for a change.”

“Well your table’s right over this way, it has excellent acoustics for the band.” Lotus happily trotted through a tall arched doorway, leading them into a sizable dining area arranged around a center dance floor with four big brick pillars framing it. The style was definitely based around all the exposed brickwork of the walls with soft yellow lighting that wasn’t too bright for a night pony. At the far end of the dance floor a band of ponies were playing instruments on a small stage while a few dancers moved to the beat. Orion lagged behind briefly as he stopped to stare at himself in the heavily polished floor.

Lotus led them towards a booth where Emily was already seated with menus already spread out on the table. “Alrighty, you all enjoy yourselves!” she cheerfully chirped. “Your server will be with you in just a minute.”

Scarlet took a seat next to Emily, while Silver took a booth seat with Orion next to him, who seemed to be more interested in trying to peek over the booth to get a better look at the unfamiliar surroundings. She immediately turned towards Emily, cheerfully greeting her while Sapphire and Crescent filled in the empty seats. “Hey Em, it’s great to see you again, how have you been?”

The pastel night pony returned a warm smile, “I’ve been great, I bet you’re happy to finally be out of that hot desert.” She looked over towards Orion, “And I see you two have a new little friend with you, what’s his name?”

Silver smiled and pulled the curious colt in close to him with a wing, “Orion. It was Scarlet’s idea, he’s named after our favorite constellation.”

“Well that’s a cute name, so I take it you’re still into astronomy?” she asked as she turned back towards Scarlet.

Scarlet perked up, “Oh absolutely! Crescent even said he’d let me me borrow a few of his astronomy books from Equestria and I can tell you that I’m already going to get lost in those.”

“Are you able to read Equestrian?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scarlet nodded, “Well… not exactly. I’ve been studying some of the stuff that’s available online but it’s not like you can really get a full course on it yet. Crescent said he’ll give me some tips and pointers on how to pick it up more though.”

“That’s Scarlet for she’s going to fill notebook after notebook with as much information and translation as she possibly can.” Silver added with a snicker.

“Can you blame me though? This is me getting the chance to live vicariously and explore another universe’s star systems through some secondhand books from a family friend who’s into the same stuff I am. You don’t get to do that every day and I just want to make sure I’ve got everything noted down and cross referenced so I don’t forget anything… and so maybe I can do more of it in the future.”

Emily shrugged, “Hey, I’d say that having your own private library on another universe’s stars is something to brag about if you ask me. Nobody would have been able to say that a couple years ago.”

“Well… when you put it that way I guess it is,” she added in agreement. “I don’t know how useful it'll really be unless I can get more material on it, but you never know.”

Emily nodded. “And the Oasis? How are things out in the desert?”

Silver nodded, “Well, we had a few… setbacks after Sapphire’s little storm, but on the bright side the lake’s been holding and the river’s been circulating the water enough that it hasn’t gone stagnant. The Earth ponies are doing a fantastic job at keeping all the plant life going too, the whole area’s turned into an actual oasis.”

“That’s good to hear, Sapphire’s been known to go a little overboard sometimes.” Emily leveled a smirk at the pegasus who frowned playfully in response.

Silver glanced over towards Sapphire, “It was definitely one hell of an introduction. A bit scary to be honest, but it turned out well enough in the end.”

“I’m happy everything is going well, hopefully you’ll be able to move past dealing with that manipulative unicorn.” Sapphire added in with a smile, referring to Sunset Blessing.

“Yeah… well, we still have to keep that whole partnership up for now, at least until we’re done paying her back. She has sent us some interesting projects though, stuff that’s almost worth dealing with her shenanigans for, and besides, there was a change in management after that whole incident and she assured me that that wouldn’t happen again. Don’t know what to really make of it, but if it makes you feel any better we’ve been looking into other partnerships and options going forward.”

“You can tell a lot about a pony by whose company they keep,” Sapphire shook her head but didn’t comment any further, instead choosing to change the subject. “So is that pegasus that kept trying to impress Dazzle still running the team?”

Silver smiled, “Yep. Zipper’s still… well, Zipper, but he’s definitely keeping them in line and trained. I was kind of worried that he wasn’t going to really be up for the task but when he’s determined to get something done he’ll get it done, no matter the cost.”

“Good to hear. If he needs any motivation, tell him if I hear he’s slacking off that I’ll make another surprise visit.”

“I sure will.” He paused for a moment, “This is a bit of an odd request but could you tell Dazzle that he said hi, I kind of promised that I’d pass it along.”

Before the conversation could continue further a white pegasus trotted up to them. “Howdy, I’m Snow Comet and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start y’all with anything to drink?”

Silver glanced around, “Well uh.. We’re kind of from out of state, what do you guys have?”

“Well we’ve got Sparkling Rain, Paradise Punch, Mint Dream, Celestial Cider, Moonlight Mango—”

“Moonlight Mango please, I’ll have one,” Silver answered a little too quickly.

Comet nodded, “Mhmm. And for the rest of you?”

“I’ll have one too.” Scarlet added

Sapphire nodded, “Celestial Cider for me.”

Comet looked over towards Crescent, “And for you?”

“Sparkling Rain please.”

“Water please.” Emily added.

Snow Comet nodded and walked away, giving the group some time to catch up. As Scarlet began to ask Crescent another round of astronomy questions, Silver began to look around the room, taking in the different ponies and humans that were enjoying their evening. Out of the corner of his eye Silver noticed a pair of partials deep in discussion, without thinking his ears pivoted to hear them better, letting the music and conversation fade into the background.

“I just don’t know, I want to get it over with but you heard about the issues ponies have been having getting back right?”

“What’s more important though? Being uncomfortable here or being comfortable but stuck there?”

“I just don’t know, I mean we have our whole lives here… it’s a lot to give up.”

“But we’re not comfortable like this. Whatever happens we’ll work through it together.”

“I know, it’s not fair we’re being punished for not wanting to rehumanize.”

Silver blinked a few times and stopped focusing on the conversation as he looked over towards Sapphire. “Hey Sapphire, what's the whole partial situation?”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Well I don’t want to sound like I’m eavesdropping but I just overheard a couple talk about getting stuck in Equestria if they want to fully transform.”

“Oh, that. Surprised you haven’t heard about it. Princess Twilight negotiated it so that any partial who wishes to be a pony can go to Equestria to receive the spell. Since no ETS spell is allowed on Earth, it’s an easy workaround. Problem is that once they’re there, they get stuck behind so much red tape to return home that they may as well be exiled with no way of knowing when they can ever return.”

“Wait, but what about you? I mean you go there and come back home just fine.”

She shook her head, “It's different… those bigots who tied it up don’t care if you’re one or the other, but they don’t want partials to ever think becoming a pony is acceptable so they’ll punish them for it anyway they can to encourage them to make the right choice. It’s one of the few ways they have left to do it after the original treaty. I only get fast passed for travel because of my daughter.”

“I didn’t know how bad it really was, that sounds awful.” He paused for a moment, “Sorry if this kind of killed the mood, I didn’t mean for this whole conversation to get so… serious.”

“It’s fine, it’s better that you at least know now.”

“So Emily, did you wind up dreamwalking more? That vision you showed me while you were down in the Oasis was such a cool little trick,” Scarlet added in, trying to change the subject.

She looked around and shook her head. “Not really, it’s just not really my thing. I mean mass brainwashing isn’t really a good talent to have.”

“But you turned the vision into something so beautiful, don’t you think there’s something else you can do with it?”

She shrugged, “I mean, sure, I guess it could be useful for something, but it’s not really something I can turn into a career.”

“Well what do you do now?” Silver asked in curiosity. “And where’s Will?”

“I’m Sapphire’s night assistant and he’s off doing a… thing with some family in New York so he won’t be back until next week.”

“That’s too bad, tell him I said hi the next time he’s around.” Silver stopped to think about Emily’s job, thinking back to his own plans for his talent, “Well maybe it doesn’t have to be for a career. Can’t you have a hobby?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember Somewhere?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Well I was kind of thinking of using it to help teach others. I have this big persistent space with no real barriers, that’s kind of the perfect way to bring ponies together and I’m really just using it as my own little personal sandbox right now. It could be so much more though, like the perfect classroom if you think about it. Maybe you could use your vision talent for something like that?”

“A... dream classroom?”

“I don’t think he meant it that way Em. The vision changed the way we thought, right? What if you kind of did something good with that like using it to teach someone a skill? They’d have to agree of course, but once they did you could help them learn through it.” Scarlet added in.

Silver nodded, “Kind of like putting the important information right into their heads, I mean hell I would have loved to have that as a foal.”

Emily shrugged, “I could, but that sounds almost like another full time job doing something I’ve never done and don’t really enjoy doing.”

“Sounds like a job… all joking aside, think about it. I just wanted to do something productive with my talent, and I figured that if I could do something unique I might as well put it to good use.”

She nodded her head. “I’ll think about it. It’s going to take some time to get used to the idea, but maybe there is some good I could make from it.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything right now, just do what you’re comfortable with when you’re comfortable doing it.” Scarlet added reassuringly.

---

Their dinner arrived as the discussion shifted to less heavy matters like Orion’s pillow fort, and the group had quickly dug in. Silver made sure that Orion was eating instead of playing with his food while Scarlet looked on at the band on stage with a cheerful look on her face. There wasn’t much conversation in between, but the couple didn’t mind at all, they were just happy to have an actual meal from a restaurant with a large menu.

Pleased that Orion had finished his meal without any issues, Silver looked back towards the group. “So what’s the plan now? I can’t imagine that you two are going to hang out with us all night.” Silver asked as he gestured towards Sapphire and Crescent.

Emily began to speak up, “I’ll be showing you around, there’s some cool little hangouts around here that you might like.”

“Like the ore dock? Sapphire brought that up earlier and it looks really impressive from what we’ve been able to see.” Scarlet asked.

Emily nodded her head, “That was first on the list, we can head over right after dinner if you want to start with it. Is Orion going to be okay with the cold though?”

Silver nodded while looking towards Scarlet, “Yeah I think so. Sapphire was keeping him warm on the way over but Scarlet had the idea of taking our scarves and bundling him up for tonight. Sapphire said she’d try and get us some sweaters tomorrow but this should hopefully work for tonight.”

“I don’t think he’s going to like it too much, but I think he’ll like it a lot more than being out in the cold all night.” Scarlet added in.

“And if it doesn’t work we’ll just hang out inside somewhere. We’re not too worried about missing one night of our trip.”

Emily nodded her head, “We’ll give it a try, there is a Walgreens nearby we could probably pick something up. Will just need to decide before it gets too late, they are only open till eleven.”

---

Full and content, the group stepped outside. Orion had started to fuss about at being bundled up so tightly again, but quickly settled down once they were out in the cold and the lower temperature began to set in. Clearly the cold nipping at him was enough to make him set aside his discomfort again.

Scarlet chuckled, “See? I told you he’d settle down once we got out here.”

“Well I’ll make sure you have a few sweaters tomorrow. So you guys wanted to check out the ore dock?” Sapphire asked.

Silver nodded, “Yeah, it looks pretty cool.”

“Alright, we’ll stick around long enough to get you there, but then Crescent and I will need to head out for the night. Emily can show you all the night sights though.”

“Perfect, well I’ll let you lead the way Sapphire.”

She nodded, gesturing over to the towering structure, “Well… it’s right this way.”

The group moved along, with Orion keeping close to Silver and Scarlet, though this time he wasn’t pausing to shiver constantly. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but bundling him up in a pair of scarves would at least work for tonight, and the two could at least deal with the cold for now.

“Well here we are, the old ore dock.”

Silver and Scarlet craned their necks up to get a better view of the towering structure, in awe of how massive it really was now that they were up close. Like a giant heavy concrete rib cage, it rose up out of the water almost a hundred feet into the air. They could see clear through the structure to the far end facing out towards the lake. Big metal chutes lined the upper half of the exterior and they could make out ponies flying to and from a flat roof. Silver thought the heavy bare bones industrial design stood out in stark contrast to the quaint brick buildings they had just walked by, but to him it was just as impressive. Almost like some retro Sci-Fi creation by someone imagining what might be, even though it was probably built a hundred years ago. To put it simply, he was in love with it.

Sapphire smirked, “Well go ahead, you can fly around here if you want, it’s not like anyone’s going to stop you.”

Silver looked back over to her, “Do you want to show us around? I mean I don’t even know where to start with this.”

She shook her head, “Emily can, I hate to just leave you guys, but it’s getting a bit late for us. We can hang out more tomorrow though, I’ll get those sweaters together for you so you don’t need to constantly worry about having to bundle Orion up. I’m sure he’ll appreciate being able to move around more.”

Silver nodded, “It’s cool, I can’t expect you to stay up all night with us. You guys have a nice night. Thanks again for dinner, it was nice to catch up a bit more, and nice to meet you too Crescent.”

Crescent gave a quick nod and Sapphire said a final goodbye before flying off, leaving the group alone with Emily.

As Emily led the trio further into the structure, the assorted night ponies and pegasi glanced down at them in curiosity. It was blatantly clear that the family stood out, but they didn’t feel out of place with Emily as their guide.

She began to speak up, “So this used to be the old ore dock for the mine, trains would come up here from tracks that used to run through the city, but now it’s mostly just a hangout for the winged ponies. I think they eventually want to work on making it into a sort of home, but I don’t know how that’s all coming along.”

“And what a hangout, I mean this place is huge.” Scarlet added while looking around, her voice carrying through the structure along with the sound of waves breaking against it.

Silver gazed around with an excited look on his face, “It must have been amazing to see back in the day. The Oasis used to be an old abandoned mining town so there's a lot of old collapsed mine shafts and whatnot, though we don’t have anything like this back home. Mind if we look around a little?”

“We have plenty of old underground mines but they’ve been closed down for a long time. You’ll need to go see the Tilden to see what mining looks like here now.” Emily shook her head, “Look around as much as you want, though, that’s why we’re here after all.”

The pair nodded, wasting no time at all exploring the place. They quickly hovered around, looking through the structure and taking turns carrying Orion so they could each explore the little nooks and crannies to their heart's content. Gradually they worked their way to the top, finally coming to a rest on the top of the massive structure.

Scarlet looked around at the sky above, “I can definitely see why this place is so popular, I mean just look at the view!” she exclaimed, glancing back at the glittering street lights before turning out towards the water where she could see the lakeshore stretching to the horizon off to her side. “It’s like an ocean but all fresh water.”

Emily smiled, “And no sharks, promise.”

“I can see why ponies would want to live here,” Silver added while keeping a close eye on Orion.

“Did you want to do anything specific? I mean you’ve got a whole week to explore so it’s up to you.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well you mentioned Pictured Rocks when you visited us, that’d be kind of cool to see.”

“Oh that’s already been planned out, but you definitely need to see them at sunset, not the middle of the night. Trust me, it’ll be worth getting up early for.”

“I’ll take your word for it, why don’t you show us some of the sights out here, the ones that are nice to see at night. Oh and we definitely need to get some stargazing in later, if you know any good spots where the sky’s clear.” Silver suggested.

She nodded, “Sure, let’s go check out a few places on Washington before they close. Are you good to fly with Orion?”

Scarlet glanced towards the bundled up colt, “Flying up around here is one thing, we could at least take turns, but I’d feel better if we didn’t do a whole lot of flying with him right now, just to be safe.”

“That’s alright, we can walk.”

“I’m okay with that, it gives us some more time to talk. If there’s anything that stands out to us in particular, we can take turns flying around.” Scarlet added.

Emily nodded, “Well if you’re all done here we can get going.”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “Sure, I think I’m good to go.”

“Then let’s get a move on, I think you’ll really enjoy some of the other nightlife around here.”

Comments

[ProgAltRocker]

Sounds like the vacation is off to a great start