Smuggling Run
In the end, I was surprised all of Canter Basin hadn’t descended upon us with Minuette’s shouting and screaming in joy. I eventually had to do the whole ‘shove-a-hoof-in-her-mouth’ cliche. I hated cliches.
Now, we were heading up the slope to meet with our ride out of the forest. I had decided to carry the chest on my back. With Celestial Iron being a magical mineral-crystal hybrid that only grew naturally in the Unknown West, it had a lot of special properties. Thankfully, being unnaturally light was one of them. It was like carrying about a dozen large books. And I had plenty of experience with that.
“I still don’t get why that was all we saw,” Minuette continued. She’d been yammering for the last two hours and seemed to need next to no input from me to keep going. “I mean, an airship cargo pod is… what? Huge, right?”
For the first time in thirty minutes, she looked at me, as if seeking my explanation. I shrugged at her, levitating out my canteen and taking a swig.
“Depends on the type of airship,” I replied, wiping my mouth with a hoof. “Most information about the Cloudshark’s design is legend, so I doubt it can be trusted. The only thing I know for sure was that it was definitely a dirigible-class airship, not crystal-class. Crystal levitation was only developed in the last two hundred years. But the fact that there was a pod narrows it down.”
“Narrows it down to what?” Her eyes wandered to the chest on my back. “Come on, Moony! You’re supposed to know everything!”
“I don’t know everything!” I protested and looked away to hide a faint blush. “I just… studied a lot of things. It doesn’t make me an expert.”
“Well, unless you need a clock fixed, you’re going to be better informed than me on this!”
I rolled my eyes, but she was probably right.
“Most ships of that era were designed like naval ships,” I continued as we tromped through increasingly cold gusts of wind. “Cargo was contained in the main hold. The only airships that used pods—except for huge cargo liners—were small and fast cutters that weren’t designed to carry cargo. The pods were lashed to the port and starboard sides, usually toward the stern.”
“To give the ship more cargo space?” Minuette asked, cocking her head at me.
“Something like that,” I said with a nod. “They were most commonly used by smugglers, so they could drop their cargo and run if an Armada ship came up on them. There were a few griffon ships infamous for that maneuver.”
“How big would the pods have been?” Minuette frowned. She was obviously working on something, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.
“Maybe the size of one of the cabins on the Blossom?” I said, giving her another shrug. “A little smaller? Why?”
Minuette nodded at the chest on my back. “Then why did we only find that? Why only one chest? Something like this could have been stored in another spot on the ship, right?”
I paused to think, though made sure to keep walking. The sun was beginning to get a little low on the horizon. Minuette had a point. If the chest we’d recovered was all there was to it, there would easily be enough room in the main hold for it—or even in a cabin or a closet—unless everything else had been jam-packed.
The more I thought about it, in fact…
“It… is a little weird that was all that was there,” I admitted with a glance back at the small broken forest. I couldn’t see it from here, of course, but I could picture it in my head. “But for all we know, somepony already discovered the rest of it centuries ago. The only reason this chest wasn’t found was because of that boulder. Since we had the Waystone, it brought us to the last piece of that treasure.”
“Maybe,” Minuette mumbled, her ears twitching. “It’s weird though.”
“Yeah, weird,” I echoed.
There didn’t seem to be anything else to say. This thing had been sitting in that broken forest for six hundred years. Who knew what had happened in all that time?
We walked in silence for a time, until we were twenty minutes out from our destination, by my estimation. And none too soon, because the gusting wind had started to rattle the trees all around us. It looked like that wild storm was coming a bit early. Both of us picked up the pace, settling into an easy trot, though since it was still uphill through a forest on a slope clogged with gravel, underbrush, and patches of loose soil, it was far from easy going.
We were ten minutes out when I heard it over the sound of the rustling trees.
Most airships running on normal power tended to be fairly quiet to the outside observer. The Blossom certainly was. Big liners weren’t, of course, but that was because they had to have massive engines to keep those monstrosities afloat. It was rare for airships smaller than that to make a ton of noise.
However, the thing that slowly slid into view above our heads was making a ton of racket, enough to force both of our ears down. It was the sound of crystal cores running at their highest setting while spinning the main turbines at full power.
We froze as various lights seemed to scan the trees until they focused on a small clearing up ahead, maybe a quarter of the size of the space where our Chariot waited.
I peered up at the shape and caught a glint of silver in the late afternoon sun.
“Oh, no,” I muttered. “How did they even know where to look?”
“Who?” Minuette almost had to shout over the humming airship struggling against the winds. “Who are they?”
“You’ll see.”
And just as I said it, two figures appeared in the beam of light. The first was an orange pegasus in a flight jacket. And actually riding him was an all-too-familiar unicorn mare.
“Huh, Easy Wing is stronger than he looked,” I muttered.
Easy hadn’t even touched the ground when Snappy Comeback leapt off his back and charged right for us at top speed, fire in her eyes.
Instinctively, I planted my feet and conjured a shield bubble around Minuette and myself. While probably a silly move, it did force Snappy to skid to a halt an inch away from the shield wall. She didn’t seem to care, because she stood up on her hind legs and slammed her forehooves into the shield.
“That better not be what I think it is!” she screeched.
Easy Wing managed to catch up at this point. “If it helps, we tried to stop her.”
“Who’s flying your ship?” I demanded, ignoring Snappy’s tantrum-like pounding.
“Trinket,” Easy said with a shrug.
“You’re letting a filly handle that beast in a brewing wild storm?” I shouted, incredulous. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“The brat’s more talented than she looks!” Snappy shouted. “Now answer my question!”
“Um… she didn’t ask a question, did she?” Minuette pointed out.
Snappy tried to turn Minuette to ash with just a glare. It didn’t do much.
“You gonna stop acting like a maniac?” I shot back at the annoying mare. “Get off my shield!”
“Drop your shield and I won’t need to be on it!”
“I wouldn’t need it if you hadn’t charged me like an enraged minotaur!”
“Ladies!” Easy called, flapping up into the air only to land back on his hooves quickly. “Can we try to be civil? For now? Those winds are getting worse.”
Snappy and I matched glares. Thankfully, she was at least smart enough to know I had the upper hoof here. She got back down on all fours and took two steps backward.
I lowered my shield and immediately wished I hadn’t. I hadn’t realized how cold the wind had gotten and my shield had kept most of it out.
Snappy didn’t seem to care, because she rushed at us, once more skidding to a halt inches from us. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mane was a mess and her coat was caked in dirt and grime.
She looked like a crazy pony.
“What’s in the box?”
But even looking like a crazy pony, I couldn’t resist.
With a smile, I levitated the chest off my back and dropped it between us—forcing her to step back again. Another twist of magic, and the top popped open to reveal the contents.
“Isn’t it exciting?” Minuette squealed. “I can’t believe we found it!”
Snappy had gone white, her eyes wide, her body almost trembling. With a faint glow from her horn, she lifted a single Celestial Iron crystal from our cache and floated it before her eyes.
“How…” she mumbled, never taking her eyes off of the treasure.
“We have this awesome Way—”
I kicked Minuette in the side and smiled, but Snappy didn’t seem to register it. However, I did notice Easy raising an eyebrow.
“We spotted a broken forest in the air yesterday, decided to check it out,” I said casually, shooting a glare at Minuette. “We found it under a boulder.”
“Right… boulder would mask the… the magic signature matching the samples after the eruption…” Snappy mumbled. I could see the Celestial Iron crystal rotating in her eyes. “But it shouldn’t be there, not after…”
She began to mumble to herself, things I couldn’t understand. Her eyes went unfocused and the crystal dropped from her magic, only to land back in the chest with a thunk.
“Is she… okay?” Minuette asked at Snappy’s distant expression.
I waved a hoof in front of her eyes to a total lack of response.
“Not this again…” Easy mumbled, facehoofing. “Look, she’s just a little obsessive. And… we might have spent a few days in the spot I think you’re talking about earlier in the week.”
I winced. Even I had to feel the slightest pang of sympathy for her for that little blunder.
“How did you find us anyway?” I asked.
“I was doing an aerial recon.” Easy’s eyes slid to Minuette. “And let’s just say some noise caught my attention. I’ve got good hearing.”
“Minuette!” I hissed.
“Sorry!” she squeaked. “But at least it’s them! Maybe we could help each other out. I know the legend said there were more pieces of the Cloudshark that fell off before she went down.”
Easy took one look at Snappy and coughed into his hoof. “Thank you, but… that’s not a very good idea.”
“Are you sure?” Minuette persisted. “We could all be partners and share!”
“Celestia no!”
To my surprise, I hadn’t been the only one to shout those words. Snappy had come back just in time to shout it out loud. She shot Minuette another glare, then turned her attention back to me.
“You were trying to smuggle your little prize out, you damn thief! Trying to get out before the good and honest hunters who’ve spent their entire lives seeking this could recover our rightful family spoils.”
“Hey, who are you calling a thief?” I shot back, feeling my blood begin to boil. “And the way I see it, if they were yours by right, you’d have already found them! Or have some claim to them!”
“Don’t muddy the issue!” She poked me in the chest. “You may have found it, but...”
She trailed off, her eyes dancing between me, Easy, Minuette, and the treasure.
Both my eyebrows went up. I couldn’t read her expression, but I didn’t like it.
“You’re not about to try stealing this, are you?” I asked slowly. “Trust me on this, Snappy. That would not go well for you.”
Snappy shook herself, then brought herself up to her full height, as if she were some offended queen. “Please. I’m no ancient griffon pirate. You may have won this round, but I swear by the moon and the stars that you’re not going to get to see one more piece of my treasure.”
“Is that so?” I scoffed, feeling a smirk slide over my face. It felt… surprisingly good. “I’ll take that wager.”
I held out a hoof.
She glared at me, then my hoof, then me again. Then, with a snarl, she bumped so hard I almost staggered backward.
Both Easy and Minuette took a deep breath as if some sort of peace treaty had been signed. It was silly, because it hadn’t. A ceasefire, maybe, but nothing more.
“Come on,” she barked at Easy. “We should get back up there to make sure the squirt doesn’t crash my ship.”
I glanced up, but the To Dream in Colour still flew squarely over our heads, jostling a little in the winds. Trinket must be one hell of a pilot.
Snappy did a quick about-face and stalked back toward the small clearing, her tail twitching in annoyance.
Easy Wing, on the other hoof, stayed behind. “That… went surprisingly well.”
“That was ‘surprisingly well?’” I scoffed. “I’d hate to see things going bad.”
“Me too,” he replied with a nervous chuckle. “Anyway, congratulations. You two seem like good mares. I think having a little competition for this might be fun.”
“Easy Wing, get your feathers and the rest of your lazy ass over here!”
All of us winced at the banshee’s screech.
“See you ladies down the road,” Easy said with a nod before he bolted back toward the clearing.
We both watched them go. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but I suddenly felt very sorry for Easy Wing and Trinket.
Snappy? Well, she wasn’t going to get a single piece of our treasure. She could suck it.
“Come on,” I said as I put the chest on my back again and hurried forward while the Colour pulled away from its position. “We need to meet up with Jade and Swift quickly. I just hope they’re still there.”
Minuette nodded, still looking a little bewildered, and hurried after me.
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Glad to hear you had fun at the con and found some fresh inspiration! As for the chapter, yeah, I totally thought Snappy was crazy enough to try and mug them, haha.
Good to hear you got some inspiration back, and had a good time at EFNW.
And the rivalry is set. Gotta say, As impossible as it seems, Snappy’s even more hostile than Mariah…. How? What dark magic have you conjured to manage that?
All in all, good stuff.
Day ends in success
Confrontation looms ahead
Blue mare brings headaches
I think Minnie's in hot water right now with Moonie. Just a little.
In any case, looks like things are speeding up. Looking forward to what comes next.
Great seeing you at EFNW, and equally great to see Moonie and Minnie come out of this confrontation with a solid win. Looking forward to the close of Act 1.
Easy is oooon to yoooouuu.
Yeah I would imagine a suspicious clearing of broken trees would have been a good place to look over time. Too bad about the hidden boulder.
You had me worried that Moonie and Minnie were going to get robbed of all their work!
Glad that EFNW was a nice boost for you. I enjoyed the pictures and such that you and the others in the Nook were posting in Discord. It let me experience a little bit of it from this side of world and brought back good memories from 2019.
Oh dang, didn't expect a confrontation here. I wonder what's next for both crews. Where would they even start to find the other bits of cargo?