Dominant Species

by DarkPhoenix

The First of Many

Chapter 14: The First of Many

Sleeping on a train or boat was nothing like being on an airship. There was no loud clack-clacking of the tracks, or sway of the ship.. Instead, occasional shudders from the air currents would ripple through the ship. At first, the unfamiliarity kept her awake, but eventually, the droning of the engine lulled her exhausted body into a deep sleep.

That morning came far too soon for her tastes. As she lay half awake, a downside to the room she had chosen was revealed when sounds of activity reverberated through the wall. Dark was cooking breakfast, the clashing and clattering sounds, as well as her vitriolic swearing, could be heard clearly.

Somehow, Berry was still curled up and asleep on the bed. Taking care to not disturb the filly, she slipped out from under her sheets and stood up. Midnight’s bed was empty, though there was evidence she had laid there. Twilight wasn’t sure Midnight ever slept, as she’d never actually seen the thestral asleep.

On the tips of her hooves, she crept out of the room. The door creaked open and she slipped out, gently closing it behind her. First thing’s first, she needed to talk to a certain cook.

The, now familiar, shock of orange and red hair was leaning over the stove. A storm of swearing was erupting from her mouth. “Excuse me,” Twilight interrupted.

“What?” The cook turned around abruptly, facing the unicorn.

“Think you could keep it down? There’s a filly trying to sleep just on the other side of that wall. Or, at the very least could you please stop swearing?”

Dark glared at her for a moment. “Ugh, fine.” She waved a spoon at Twilight, splattering her with... something. “But just so you know, as any good cook will tell you, swearing at your food makes it taste better. So when I start getting complaints about bland food, I’ll be directing each and every complaint to you.”

“Noted.”

The mare waved her spoon again, covering Twilight with another fine layer of whatever she was cooking. “Now shoo! I have food to cook and tastes to wrestle into submission.”

Twilight briefly considered asking what she had just been coated in, but thought better of it. Best to just walk away now. While she’d been meaning to go take a shower, she now had an excuse to do so immediately.

Wandering down to the lower deck, she headed for the showers. Several ponies were still milling about and getting into hammocks, most likely the skeleton crew that ran the ship overnight. She spotted Stout, giving him a nod, which he returned.

The showers were mostly empty, only one other pony was in there. She didn’t know his name, but did remember him as one of the ponies who had bet on the fight between her and Midnight.

When she saw him, she faltered for a moment. She’d showered with other ponies before, but it had always been mares, and she’d had an individual stall she could hide in. This was open, exposed.

Her mind wandered back to what Stout had said the other day, about the crew respecting them. One particular line made her snort in amusement. ”We’re not gonna stare at you if you don’t stare at us, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Steeling herself, she entered the room, taking position under one of the shower heads and turning on the water. What greeted her was the expected blast of ice-cold spray.

She was washing her mane when she heard a stallion’s voice. “Good morning, ma’am.”

Cracking open one eye, she looked over at the stallion. He wasn’t looking at her, but it was just her luck that he had to say something.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about speaking while showering. It was one thing to be in the same room, that she could at least accept. It was something else entirely to hold a conversation while trying to wash herself. She was so used to being alone during her morning routine that the idea of spending it speaking to another, especially a stallion, was foreign and slightly uncomfortable, to her.

However, it would be rude to not, at least, greet him back. “Good morning, sir.” She had no idea what his name was. Although, it was entirely possible that she had been introduced to him at some point yesterday, most likely during dinner, and she had just forgotten his name.

The stallion chuckled. “Name’s Stormy Skies.” He was a black pegasus with a light blue mane, a cutie mark of a cloud shaped into a column.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the mare grimaced, wondering how many times she would end up re-introducing herself out of politeness. “Though I’m sure you already know that.” She stepped under the spray, which had warmed up enough to be tolerable.

“Yes, ma’am.” He fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. “I have to say, that was some impressive swordwork yesterday. How long have you been learning that?”

“Would you believe a month? And just call me Twilight, no need for the ma’am.”

“A month? Wow, that’s really good for a month. I don’t think I could learn that much in a year.”

She pawed at the deck, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “You’d be surprised how much you can learn when you’re doing it for hours a day and you’ve got both a sergeant and a captain breathing down your neck and shouting at you.” Looking for something to do, she shook her head, getting rid of the last of the shampoo from her mane.

“Given Cap’n Swashbuckle and Sky Fire, we’re all used to being shouted at.” She looked over at him, seeing that he was in the process of scrubbing his sides. “That’s just how life is on an airship.”

Twilight shivered under the water as the spray went cold again. “Speaking of life on an airship, is the water always this cold?”

Stormy Skies laughed. “No, not always. Sometimes the boiler is working and we get hot water. But most of the time, it’s somewhere between icy mountain lake, and barely tolerable. Personally, I think the Cap’n sabotages the darn thing to make sure we keep our showers quick.”

Turning off the water, Twilight used a spell to dry herself off. “I don’t know Swashbuckle well enough to comment on that.”

“He’s a good pony. A great Cap’n, looks out for his crew. Just... You’ll have to put up with some flirting from him.”

“Oh I’m aware.” Twilight glared at the shower wall. “He was already flirting with me yesterday.”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

Twilight moved over to the door. “Well, it was nice speaking with you, Stormy Skies.” While he seemed like a nice enough stallion, and she wouldn’t mind continuing a conversation with him, the location was off-putting to her. She was about to step out, but his voice stopped her.

“Absolutely. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other. It’s not that big of a ship.”

She left him there, heading back up the stairs and to her room. Berry was still asleep on the bed. Twilight frowned, it was high time the filly got up. Based on the smell, breakfast would be served soon.

Going over to the bed, she nudged the filly. “Berry. It’s time to wake up.” Berry let out a low groan, rolling over.

“Five more minutes, mom,” she mumbled.

Twilight felt her heart drop. She froze, she didn’t want to wake the filly and shatter her confidence for the day with reality. In her half asleep state, Berry’s mind hadn’t remembered that she was now an orphan. Perhaps she had been dreaming of Swift Bloom, some fond memory of her mom.

Granted, the filly would wake eventually. But Twilight decided it would probably be best to just get it over with now and keep the filly’s mind occupied. She nudged Berry again, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Come on, Berry. Time to wake up.”

The filly yawned. “Ugh, alright, fine.” Blearily she opened her eyes. “What time is it?”

“Breakfast time.” She then sniffed. “And shower time for you.”

Berry sniffed herself as well, then cringed. “Oh.”

Twilight nodded. “Indeed. Come on, I’ll show you where the showers are and then we can get breakfast after,” she said briskly.

Slowly, Berry got up, stretching. “Twilight?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“Are you still mad at me?”

Twilight stopped moving towards the door into the room, going back to the bedside. “Berry, I was never mad at you in the first place. I was upset, yes, but what’s done is done and there’s no point in fretting over it anymore.” She patted the filly on the head.

“Okay,” the filly replied. “I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

“It’s okay, Berry. And thank you for apologizing.” Berry smiled. “However, you’re still going to have to deal with your punishment.”

Berry’s face fell. “Aww.”

“But we’ll get to that after breakfast. Come on, you still need a shower.” Twilight moved away from the bedside, going over to the door and opening it with her magic.

Jumping down from the bed, Berry followed her back to the showers. As they got there, Stormy Skies was leaving the room. “Back already?” he asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, I couldn’t get enough of the water temperature.”

He laughed. “Well, have fun.”

Opening the door, Twilight peeked inside. “Okay Berry, head on in there and shower. A word though, there really isn’t any warm water, so you’re just going to have to make it quick.” She thought back to something that her mom had done when she was a filly. “And be sure to wash everything, I’ll be checking.”

“Okay.”

“There’s soap and shampoo in there already. I’ll be waiting out here when you’re done.”

The filly went into the room, Twilight closing the door behind her. Hopefully nopony would want to shower right now. It was one thing for her to share a shower with somepony else, another thing entirely for a filly to do so.

She stared at the closed door. Somehow in the last day she had now found herself caring for a foal. While she wasn’t averse to having foals, or caring for them, she had expected it to be later in life and after she got married. Not during a time of worldwide crisis.

Her mind wandered back to what her parents had done when she was a filly. They showed both love and support, encouraging her in her studies, buying her books. They were there for her when she needed it, even after she had moved out to attend Celestia’s school.

She’d grown distant after leaving, but still visited them when she could. Her mom made sure to send her little gift baskets full of baked treats and teas to tide her over through her late night studying sessions. Her dad would pack encouraging letters into the baskets.

She really did get lucky with her parents. Hopefully she’d be able to provide even a fraction of that care to Berry while she was around. The filly seemed to have latched on to her as a new mother figure, rather like she had once done to Celestia. The thought of that terrified her, as she had no experience with that sort of thing. Her only hope was to channel her own parents.

She moved away from the door, heading into the crew room. It was mostly empty, a few ponies still getting ready or sleeping. There wasn’t anypony in there she recognized. Sitting down, she leaned back against one of the support columns, waiting for Berry to finish.

There was a muffled shriek from the shower room. Twilight tried to suppress a smirk, realizing the Berry must have turned on the water. She wondered briefly if the farmhouse out there had a good supply of hot water, and if so, how they managed it. It was a bit too far out for a magical system, as there’s no way a unicorn would be able to recharge it from time to time. Maybe it was a wood burning boiler system, but there were no trees out there, so where would the wood come from? Unless Swift would buy the wood in town.

The door to the shower room opened, Berry, her mane half wet, poked her head out. “Twilight! It’s too cold!”

Twilight went back over to the door. “I know, but you’re going to just have to deal with it. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“But—”

“No buts. Now go on and get washed up or I’ll come in there and do it for you.” She shooed the grumbling filly back into the room with a hoof. When the water turned back on after a minute, she walked away again.

She waited for a good ten minutes before a shivering Berry came out of the room. “A-a-all D-d-d-one,” she said through chattering teeth.

Twilight quickly dried off the filly, casting an additional warming spell to quell her shivering. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

The now much warmer filly looked up at Twilight. “My mom used to do this for me.”

The unicorn stared at Berry, a mixture of emotions working through her. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that comment. The filly looked like a mixture of sadness from thinking about her mom, but comfort in the reinstatement of a morning routine.

Twilight pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn’t have the capacity to deal with them right now. Together, they headed up the stairs and into the mess hall. Several platters of food were sitting out, a stack of plates at one end of the table. Twilight picked up two plates, piling food on both of them before sitting down at the table.

There were several other ponies sitting and eating as well, a few members of the crew, including Stouthoof, as well as some of her friends. Rarity was there, as was Applejack and Fluttershy. Magicking the plates over to the table, Twilight sat next to Applejack, ushering Berry to join her.

“Morning,” Applejack greeted.

“Good morning, girls, Stout.” As she looked around at her friends, something seemed off about Rarity, though she couldn’t quite put a hoof on it.

Twilight dug into the food. Dark may have sworn by the effects of swearing at food, but Twilight resolved to inform the crazed cook that the food tasted just fine without the added vitriol flavor.

Berry looked down at the plate of food. Slowly she stuck a bite into her muzzle, chewing it, before a look of distaste appeared on her face. “This isn’t how mommy used to make pancakes.”

“I’m sorry, Berry,” Applejack said. “They’re nothing like that ones my granny makes either, but they’re still good.” She gestured to the plate. “Go on, give ‘em a try.”

The filly still looked at the food. “It’s not the same,” she said.

“Berry, you have to eat something,” Twilight said. “I know it’s not what you’re used to, but it’s all there is. A good breakfast is an important start to the day.” Her own mom had always used that line on her to get her to eat when she’d rather go straight into studying.

Grumbling again, the filly at least started eating her food.

Twilight still wasn’t sure what she was going to do about the filly. Her decision to keep Berry onboard the ship was too late to turn back on now. They would reach the border with the gryphons today. Yet, even assuming they got across the border with no problems, it would still take them another half a day to reach the capitol.

Once they made it to the capitol, Twilight had no doubt that she’d be too busy negotiating with the Emperor to watch over Berry. Hopefully one of her friends could stay behind and watch, but most likely the filly would have to be left in the hooves of the crew. So far the crew had all seemed trustworthy, but she wasn’t sure about the idea of leaving a little filly in their care.

She also had no idea how long the negotiations would take, if they happened at all. For a pony so used to planning ahead, she was having to play everything by ear and just react as things came up.

“So, I would assume we have to do our exercises this morning?” Rarity asked.

Applejack nodded. “Ya really think Midnight is going to give us a day off?” The farmer elbowed Rarity. “What, you still afraid of getting dirty?”

The fashionista humphed. “Afraid? No. However, just because I have become accustomed to such things does not mean I enjoy them.” She ran a hoof through her mane, which wasn’t done up in its usual curls. “I prefer to be presentable, but there’s no point in styling when it shall simply become undone within the hour.”

Twilight stared at Rarity. To see her mane not done up in her usual fashion, or even done up at all, was a shock. It looked like all she had done to it was run a brush through it. This was certainly something new. Even back during the training, she’d made an effort to style her mane each morning.

Applejack teased Rarity about being prissy throughout the meal, to which the fashionista responded with snipes of her own. Eventually they were joined by the rest of their friends. Conversation flowed smoothly between them, except for Rainbow, who had her head down on the table and would only give one word, mumbled answers.

Twilight finished up her meal, taking the plate over to the sink to be washed. “I’m going to go ahead and get the exercises done. Come on, Berry.”

Dutifully, without a trace of the defiance she had earlier, the filly got up and followed Twilight. She could see Applejack’s eyes following them. The farmer and the others all moved to put away their own plates and join her. Together, they went up the stairs and onto the deck.

Outside, there was a smattering of crew members working around the deck. A few were checking the ropes while a pegasus was flying around the rigging, making sure it was secure. A basket that she hadn’t noticed before was resting just below the envelope, a pony inside it scanning the horizon.

Two ponies were doing something to the deck near the wheelhouse, tools and planks of wood sitting near them. As she watched, another pegasus flew up the side railing, grabbed a plank of wood, and disappeared back down the side of the ship. It seemed that nearly everypony was doing something. The rest of the crew, she imagined, were inside the ship somewhere. While nopony looked like they were working particularly hard, they were all doing something.

Twilight looked around, seeing Midnight off towards the bow of the ship. Swashbuckle was nowhere to be seen, though Sky Fire was at the helm, one hoof on the wheel, her eyes scanning the horizon and the instruments in front of her.

"Might as well get started," she muttered. "Berry, for now, I want you to watch what I do and take note of it. You'll be doing these same things soon."

She turned around, seeing the filly standing at the doorway. She was doing everything possible to curl up into a ball. “What is it?”

Berry pointed a shaking hoof at the sky. “Clouds.”

“Well, yes. Those are clouds.” Twilight wasn’t sure what the filly was getting at. Was she afraid of clouds?

Applejack stepped around the filly, settling herself on the deck until she was eye level with Berry. “You afraid of heights?”

The filly nodded. Her chest was heaving as her breaths came in short, sharp gasps.

The farmer nodded. “I understand. I felt the same way yesterday when we first took off. But it’s not so scary.” She pointed to Rainbow, who was watching. “See her? She’s the fastest pegasus alive. With her around, you’ve got nothing to fear.”

Rainbow nodded. “Pfft, yeah. There’s no way anything will happen so long as I’m around.”

Berry partially uncurled herself. “You promise?”

“Of course.” She crossed a hoof across her chest and stuck it over her eye. “That’s a Pinkie Promise, and nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”

Pinkie hopped by, somehow missing both of the ponies laying down. “That’s right! And being up this high is fun! Think about all the pranks you can play on the ground down below.”

Fluttershy spoke up from behind the filly. “I don’t like heights either. It’s why I live on the ground.”

Rarity joined Applejack in lowering down to Berry’s level. “I am also not a fan of heights. Not since a particular few incidents of which I will not speak. And while I am nervous being up here, I am not scared. I know that my friends will be there to help me should something happen. They were there in the past, and they will be there in the future.”

The encouragement from all sides was getting to Berry. She had uncurled herself and was standing on her hooves. Her gaze was firmly being directed as far away from the surrounding sky as possible, but she nodded. “So it’s okay?”

Applejack nodded. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be just fine.”

The filly looked towards Twilight. “What about you?”

“I grew up in Canterlot, on the side of a mountain, so I’ve never really had an issue with heights. But I also promise to be there if something happens. You ready?”

At the filly’s nod, Twilight and her friends scattered to different areas of the deck. Berry sat on a small box towards the middle, trying hard to not look out passed the railing.

Over the next hour, Twilight ran through her exercises. She took the time to explain each one to Berry, despite the filly quickly losing interest. There wasn't much going on around the deck, so slowly her eyes achieved a glazed look until she was simply nodding when Twilight said anything.

“Berry?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Berry?”

The filly shook her head. “Huh, what?”

Twilight looked down at the filly. “You weren’t paying any attention.”

She scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Umm, well. Not really.”

Twilight sighed. This was not working out how she’d planned. “How about you go back to the room and get a book out of my saddlebag. Bring that up here and start reading it. I’ll expect a summary of what you’ve read by the time I finish.”

“Okay...” Berry got to her hooves, trudging across the deck and down the stairwell.

With that taken care of, Twilight could concentrate on getting done the things she needed to get done. She continued with her morning routine, keeping an eye on the stairwell. After a few minutes, Berry returned carrying the smallest book that Twilight had brought along. Dutifully, the filly sat on the deck, opening the book and reading it.

It took her another ten minutes, but Twilight finished with her physical exercises. Lighting up her horn, she concentrated and was rewarded a moment later when her sword popped into place just in front of her. One benefit to being so organized was that she could memorize an objects position in relation to everything else in the room. This allowed her to visualize where it was and teleport it to her. Of course, this was only with limited objects. Memorizing the location of every book in her library was beyond even her, so she was always stuck looking for reference books the old fashioned way.

Double checking to make sure her enchantment from the previous day was still in place, she unsheathed the sword, setting the sheath to the side. Her eye ran over the blade. It was still flawless, no chips or cracks from yesterday’s practice and duel.

Taking a wide stance, she swung the sword around, running through her routines. They may be basic, but it helped to get her mind in focus. To connect with the sword, so to speak. Spellflare told her that the more she did this, the easier it would be until she didn’t have to do it at all.

Twilight looked around, seeing the rest of her friends practicing as well. “Hey, Rainbow,” she called out.

The pegasus glanced up. “Yeah?”

“Want to spar?”

Her friend grinned. “Dunno. How badly do you want to lose?”

Twilight held her sword in a guard position. “You really think you can win?”

Not saying anything, Rainbow launched herself off the deck, flying at Twilight. She swung with one wingblade at her chest, before spinning around and attacking with the other at her back.

Twilight blocked the first strike, ducking her head and feeling the second pass through her mane. She kicked out at Rainbow, the pegasus dodging backwards and landing on the deck.

They both attacked the other, Rainbow’s dual blades allowing her to strike swiftly in a pattern. Twilight’s magic would flare up, creating little shields to block what her blade couldn’t intercept. Neither of them spoke beyond grunts of exertion. They both knew the rules: first one to bleed lost.

Twilight executed a short range teleport. Rainbow immediately turned around, expecting the unicorn to be behind her, striking at her flank. Instead, Twilight had teleported five feet above her opponent. Gravity took hold and she fell, sword aimed to hit along her friend’s side.

Quick reflexes saved Rainbow from getting hit with the sword, but even she was too slow to move away before her friend landed on her. They both went down in a tangle of limbs.

Foregoing her sword, Twilight wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s midsection. The pegasus was stronger than her, but she weighed more, relying on that to keep her pinned. A hoof found its way over to her friend’s wing. She remembered what Midnight had done during their initial assessment, and she clumsily tried to do the same, striking at where she knew the nerve cluster to be.

This did not have the intended effect, though. Instead of the wing going limp, it stiffened. Rainbow managed to wriggle a hoof free from underneath her, using it to pummel Twilight’s side. The unicorn rolled over slightly, readjusting her grip and trying to grab ahold of Rainbow’s free hoof. If she could get her in a lock, she could get the pegasus to tap out.

Rainbow was too agile for that, though. As soon as Twilight relinquished some of the weight holding her down, she was able to buck the unicorn off. They both got to their hooves, Twilight once more holding her sword in a guard position. Taking a moment, they looked at each other briefly.

The pegasus took to the air, launching upwards until she nearly hit the gas balloon above them. Diving back down, she angled her wings to attack Twilight head on.

Twilight knew that Rainbow could put a lot of pressure behind her strikes, especially with speed. The pegasus was using gravity to speed her up even more in a very short distance.

Holding up her sword, she caught both wingblades. Even with her magic backing her up, she felt her knees buckle and nearly give out. The wood of the deck creaked, protesting all the pressure put on it, though her enchantment held, preventing any damage from occurring.

Seeing that her attack hadn’t worked, Rainbow spun around, forehooves reaching for Twilight’s neck as she tried to settle on the unicorn’s back. Twilight ducked her head, not allowing her friend to get a grip, before casting another short range teleport.

Rainbow flapped her wings, trying to move forward. Twilight, from her new spot right behind the pegasus, swiped with her sword. A few strands of rainbow colored hair fell to the deck, but otherwise Rainbow was unharmed.

The pegasus landed on the deck, spinning around and blocking a series of rapid strikes from Twilight. The unicorn went on the offensive, striking all around Rainbow and forcing her to step backwards. She didn’t even bother trying to block the clumsy counter attacks, simply dodging them, keeping up her assault.

Rainbow managed to push back long enough to take to the air again, though not before losing a few more tail hairs. She banked around, flying at Twilight. Their blades met again, Twilight having to bring up a small shield to block one wingblade.

The pegasus’ hoof managed to slip passed Twilight’s defense, catching her under the chin in an uppercut. She stumbled backwards, allowing Rainbow to swipe with her wingblades. Two shallow furrows opened in Twilight’s chest, turning her lavender coat red.

Twilight held her jaw with a hoof, working it around. “Nice hit,” she said.

Rainbow smirked. “Told you I’d win.”

“Yeah, yeah. I almost had you there for a little bit.”

Rainbow snorted. “Pfft! I had this in the bag the whole time.”

Twilight chose to not comment on that one. Midnight’s training had only dented Rainbow’s ego slightly. Engaging in a verbal battle like that would only end in frustration.

“Not a bad fight,” came the captain’s voice from off to the side. Twilight looked over, seeing the thestral sitting on the deck.

“Rainbow, you should be using your agility more. Dance around the opponent rather than face them head on. Keep them on the tips of their hooves and on the defensive, that way you can knock them off balance.

“Sooner or later you’re going to come across a pony who is much stronger than you. You’ll be playing right into their hooves, literally. Make sure you use your strengths to win fights every time, because you can only lose once in the real world before it’s over.”

The pegasus nodded. Even with her ego, she still had come to respect Midnight, even going so far as to acknowledge the captain as a better fighter. Though that had only come about after a sparring match that almost ended with Rainbow in the hospital. The pegasus had spent a painful night being healed by a unicorn medic.

“Twilight, you seem to have the bad habit of engaging in melee with opponents who are better than you at that. Why?”

Twilight thought back to the match where she’d fallen on Rainbow. “I’m trying to use the element of surprise. They expect me to stay back and fight that way.”

Midnight interrupted her. “And this is exactly what you need to do. There’s a reason they expect certain things. It’s because if you don’t do them, they will easily crush you, as Rainbow so aptly demonstrated. You can’t engage an earth pony with earth pony style unless you’re an earth pony. Unicorns cannot dish out or receive that kind of punishment.”

“By getting in close, I can catch them off guard,” Twilight argued.

Midnight maintained her neutral expression. “Catching them off guard is one thing, and a solid strategy. But even when your surprise attack has failed, you remain close.” She moved over to Rainbow, pretending to hit her twice, then backed off. “Move in, get in a hit or two, and if you haven’t won by then, back off again. Staying around in a situation like that, where you’re in melee with somepony better than you, won’t end well for you.”

She paused for a moment before continuing on. “Surprise tactics are fine, but remember, they’ll only work once. Don’t keep relying on them. Instead, use your strengths, or your enemies weaknesses, against them.”

The thestral got up, heading over to where Rarity was practicing. Twilight looked over at Rainbow, who just shrugged before flying away.

“When can I learn that!?” Berry’s voice came crashing across the deck.

Twilight glanced at the filly, seeing that her book had long ago been abandoned, laying facedown on the deck. “What?” came her eloquent response.

“That was cool! I wanna learn that!” Berry got to her hooves, mimicking what she had just seen. “You were like swishing and swinging and magic!”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m not going to teach you how to use a sword, Berry.”

It took a moment for her words to sink through the veneer of fascination that Berry had, but when they did, she stopped. “What? Why not?”

“Because it’s too dangerous. This is not something for little fillies to learn.”

The pout coming from the filly was amazing. When she turned her wide eyes on Twilight, pleading, she was giving it everything she had. “Please?”

“No.” Unfortunately for Berry, Twilight had lived around the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their weaponized cuteness and pleading for long enough that she had grown used to it.

She approached the filly, sheathing her sword along the way. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you’ve learned from this book?” Glancing at the title she saw that it was a book on Gryphon culture.

Berry had her forehooves crossed over her chest, still pouting. “It’s about gryphons.”

“And?”

“And it’s boring and stupid and I don’t wanna read it.”

“Berry, this isn’t a vacation or a pleasure cruise. You snuck aboard this ship. I’m sorry, but there has to be some punishment.” She gestured to the book. “So, what did you learn?”

“That it’s about gryphons,” she repeated. Twilight sighed, realizing she wasn’t getting through to the filly. There weren’t really a whole lot of ways she could punish her. For a transgression like this, something as simple as a timeout wouldn’t work, and from her own experience foals didn’t learn from that sort of thing.

“How would you like to learn how to fly an airship?” a voice broke in.

Twilight looked over, seeing Stouthoof standing there. He was looking down at Berry. The filly brightened up at his words. “Yes!” she cheered.

“What?” Twilight said.

Stout motioned for her to join him off to the side. “It’ll give her something to do.”

“That’s not really the point of all of this,” Twilight responded. “I’m trying to punish her.”

“I know. Don’t worry, Twilight. Piloting an airship isn’t all fun and games. I’ll put her to work, and she’ll learn something from it.”

“How is that different than what I’m trying to do?”

Stout waved his hoof around, gesturing towards the ship. “We’re on an airship, miss. Despite what it may look like, we all work really hard to keep this old boat flying. It’s not easy, and lots to know about it.”

“So, what? You have her learn some knots and maybe haul some rope around the deck?”

He laughed. “You’ve never shoveled coal into a boiler before, have you?” At her shaken head, he laughed again. “Even for a mare as strong as you, you wouldn’t last an hour in the heat and physical stress. A filly like her? She’d last maybe ten minutes. Trust me, I can put her to work and have her repenting before too long.”

Twilight pawed at the deck. “I don’t know. The idea is to punish her, not reduce her to an overworked, teary mess.”

“You think she’s the first pony her age to join our crew? We’ve taken on young orphans before. Usually runaways trying to get to a better place. We offer them a spot on the crew, provided they pull their weight. You’d be surprised how many stick around.”

“Then what was with Captain Swashbuckle last night? He seemed mad that she was here, threatening to toss her overboard.”

“The Cap’n?” Stouthoof scoffed. “He’s harmless. Just a bit of posturing, something to set himself as the head of the ship. No, he’d never toss anypony overboard.”

Twilight slumped. “So, what do you propose?”

“Let me handle her. I’ll both put her to work, and make sure she learns something. Which, if I’m not mistaken, are your two goals.”

Twilight thought about it. With Berry taken off her hooves, that would be one less thing she would have to worry about. She could concentrate on her mission. On the other hoof, could she really trust Stout to take care of Berry? So far, he’d been trustworthy, but this was a little filly, not a grown mare like her who could take care of herself. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I am. I’ve been with this crew since the beginning, and taken more than one runaway under my wing.” He glanced at his wingless sides. “So to speak.”

“I...” She hesitated for a moment. “Fine. Put her to work.” She held up a hoof. “But, go gentle. She’s been through a lot lately, we want to guide her spirit, not break it.”

He smiled at her. “If you’re worried, go ask Stormy Skies about how he came to join our crew sometime. That’ll get you a feel for how we handle these situations.”

“Stormy Skies?”

“Yeah. Black pegasus, blue mane. Got a cloud column for a cutie mark. He was a runaway we took on.”

Twilight thought back to the brief conversation she had shared with Stormy Skies in the shower. He was around her age; at least, he looked to be. It was possible he’d been on the ship for awhile, but that would mean he had joined when he was a little colt. Perhaps it would be worth it to seek out the pegasus and question him . But only after she got an update from Swashbuckle or Sky Fire on when they’d reach the Gryphon border, she didn’t want to be caught unprepared if she could help it.

“Alright.” She walked back over to Berry, Stout beside her. “Berry, go with Stouthoof here. He’ll teach about this airship, as well as put you to work.”

The filly leapt up. “Okay!” She exclaimed, scampering towards the stallion.

Stout chuckled. “Come on. First thing we’re gonna learn is how to maintain the rigging.” The stallion and filly walked away, Stout already explaining how things worked.

Twilight watched the two of them leave. Why does something like taking care of a filly have to be so difficult? She didn’t want to be in charge of somepony like that, to constantly be second guessing herself. Briefly, she wondered if it had been the same for her own parents. Surely not though. They had always seemed so confident. “Good job, Twi,” a voice sounded next to her.

She jumped up, spinning around to see Applejack by her side. “Why does everypony have to sneak up on me like that?”

The farmer chuckled. “Sorry. Wasn’t aware you didn’t hear me. But you just did something good.”

“What do you mean?”

Applejack watched Berry as Stout started showing her some of the ropes holding the gas envelope to the ship. “That filly would have gone along with what you said, but she’d have never liked it. Reading? Exercising?” Applejack shook her head and chuckled. “Only you would assign those sorts of things as punishment, Twi.”

Twilight looked indignant. “Those are acceptable punishments. And what else am I supposed to do? If I don’t punish her, then she’d think that sneaking aboard this ship was a good thing.”

Applejack laughed. “I’m not saying she shouldn’t be punished, she certainly did something wrong. But by going about it how you did, she’d never respect you. She may even come to resent you for it. Even I can tell the filly has no interest in learning an exercise routine or about gryphon culture.”

“It’s not like there’s a lot of options available to me,” Twilight muttered.

“But now she’s being punished, but it’s disguised as something fun for her.” Applejack smirked. “I was down in the engine room yesterday. Trust me, she’ll be sick and tired of shoveling coal very quickly. I have no doubt Stout will have her down there after lunch.”

Twilight sat down on the deck. “I’m trying here, AJ.”

Applejack sat next to the unicorn, putting a hoof around her. “I know you are, Twi. Berry just showing up like this... Well, part of me wasn’t really surprised. That filly has a hot streak in her. Kinda reminds me of Dash in a way. She acts before she thinks.”

Twilight giggled. “Dash does do that from time to time.” At Applejack’s raised eyebrow, Twilight amended herself. “Okay, a lot.”

“Darn tootin’. Trust me, let Berry sweat it out under Stout for a few days, or however long it takes us to get back to the Crystal Empire. Then she’ll never want to sneak onto an airship again.”

“I hope you’re right, AJ.”

Applejack patted her on the shoulder. “You and me both, Twi. Now come on, surely you’ve got some reading or studying to do.”

“Yeah. But before that, I need to talk to Sky Fire.” Twilight looked up at the wheel, the pegasus mare still standing there.

“Ya sure you don’t wanna talk to Swashbuckle? I’m sure he’d love to see you. Maybe invite you to his cabin.” Applejack waggled her eyebrows, a smirk on her face.

Twilight hoofed her friend in the shoulder, though she couldn’t help but laugh. “Eugh. I’m sure he’s a great stallion, but no. I wouldn’t mind learning more about this ship, but not like that. If all he does is flirt, I can handle that. But... ew.” She shuddered. “I have no interest in him of that variety.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that. He might turn his attention on another one of us. We’d all rather it be you, than any of us.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Way to throw me under the carriage,” she quipped.

Applejack laughed. “Hey, what are friends for?” She trotted away, looking over her shoulder. “Have fun, Twi!”

Twilight watched her friend trot off. “Eww...” she said once more. It wasn’t that she had anything against stallions, but she’d only just met Swashbuckle. She was definitely not the type of mare to just jump into bed with a pony she only just met. She’d read books where mares had done that. She did not want to be compared to those ponies.

She headed across the deck, up towards the wheelhouse. Sky Fire didn’t glance over at her approach. “What do you need?” the mare asked.

“Any update on when we’ll arrive at the border to the Empire?”

Sky Fire consulted her instruments for a moment. “Late afternoon, before dinner, if the weather holds. We’ll be passing over some less well maintained areas of Equestria around lunchtime though, so we may run into a rogue storm. If we do, then we’ll hit the border after dinner. Probably after sunset. As it is, we’ve got a good tailwind, so we might even be there by mid afternoon.”

“Thanks, ma’am.”

“Call me Sky.”

Twilight paused, glancing at the pegasus. “What, no title like Captain Swashbuckle?”

The pegasus chuckled. “No. My ego’s not that big.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Sky. I’ll leave you to your business.”

She snorted. “This thing doesn’t take much, just a hoof here to keep it steady and keep an eye on the instruments. Swashbuckle insists somepony be here just in case of emergencies.”

Twilight turned to leave, but Sky Fire’s voice stopped her. “That filly. Berry? She’s working with Stout now.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. He came over and offered to take her off my hooves.”

Sky grunted. “That sounds like Stout. Just make sure that she knows she’s not part of this crew. When we get back to the Crystal Empire, she will be leaving.”

The edge in the mare’s voice left no room for interpretation. “Of course,” Twilight agreed. “This mission is too dangerous for her.” The pegasus seemed like she didn’t have a fondness for foals aboard the ship.

She left the pegasus to her task, If they’d arrive at the border by mid afternoon to late afternoon, that didn’t leave her too much time. First thing’s first, she needed to find Stormy Skies. While he seemed trustworthy, she just wanted to allay her fears, to be sure.

A quick scan told her that he wasn’t on the deck. Heading below, she saw that Dark had already cleaned up breakfast and was lounging in a hammock that had been strung up in the mess hall. She had a book in front of her, Twilight noticing that it was a cookbook.

Ignoring the mare, she headed deeper into the ship. The pegasus wasn’t in the crew room, though a deckhoof who was down there was able to point her in the correct direction.

For the first time, she headed even deeper. The first level of the cargo hold was full of boxes of various sizes. Most of them were lashed to the walls, though a few were freestanding. She supposed that the lashing prevented the boxes from moving around during strong winds or storms, spilling their contents everywhere.

The boxes were up against the sides, leaving a single aisle free in the center. She walked down that aisle. The stairs on the ship were staggered at each end. The top level was at the bow, the second level at the stern, and so on.

Her quarry was located on the bottom level. The stair deposited her just outside the engine room. The door was open and she could hear ponies shouting, as well as feel the oppressive heat. Even from ten hooves away, she could feel sweat breaking out on her skin. To her, it felt like being near Celestia when she was angry. The heat roiling off that mare was akin to being outside on a very hot day in the middle of summer: there was no relief.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she turned around, heading into the cargo hold’s second level. From here, her only escape was the stairs back up.

Towards the bow of the ship, she found her quarry. She was as deep into the ship as it was possible to go. There, she found a little table setup, constructed as one larger box, with several smaller boxes as seats around it. Stormy Skies was sitting with his back to her, hooves messing with something on the table. The room was lit solely by several lights on the ceiling, casting deep shadows around the walls.

Not wanting to startle the stallion, she cleared her throat as she approached. “Excuse me.”

He turned around. “Oh, hey! What are you doing all the way down here?”

“Looking for you, actually.”

His face broke into a smile as he waggled his eyebrows. “Oh? Couldn’t get enough of me in the shower?” If he was trying to sound smooth, he failed obnoxiously.

She gave him a flat look as she sat on one of the boxes. She didn’t say anything, just stared at him until he dropped the act. “Jeez, if it hadn’t been so cold in that shower I probably would have noticed the ice queen persona sooner.” He poked the white and fluffy mess in front of him. “So, whatcha need me for?”

“I wanted to ask you about something that Stout said.” She took a closer look at what he was poking at, seeing that it was cloudstuff.

“Whatever he’s told you about, I’m innocent, I swear. That incident with the mare and her sister in Fillydelphia is all exaggerated.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That is not what he was talking about, and please don’t tell me. No, this is more about your past.”

His hooves paused a moment, before returning to shaping the cloudstuff. “What about it?”

“Allow me to explain, first.” She told him about Berry, how she had lost her mom and snuck aboard the airship, and how Stout was now working with her. She explained that Stout had suggested she seek him out in order to ask about other foals having worked on the ship before.

While she was talking, his hooves continued their work, a shape taking form in the cloudstuff. He would build up part of it, shape and define it, erase parts of it, and continue working. When she finished, he was silent for a long moment before responding.

“Stout’s not wrong.”

“About what?”

“About foals having been on this ship before. Though he does exaggerate about their place in things. We’ve had stowaways before, sure. Ask any airship crew and they’ll tell you about ponies hiding out on their ship, seeking a free ride somewhere.”

He continued messing with the cloudstuff. It was beginning to take on a defined shape, Twilight could recognize a building of some kind, though what it was, she didn’t know.

“Stowaways... The Cap’n puts ‘em to work. He makes sure they work hard, harder than the crew. When we get to our destination, he kicks them off.”

“When we found Berry, he mentioned landing and dropping stowaways in the wilderness.”

Stormy Skies chuckled. “Nah, he wouldn’t do that. Just a bit of posturing to seem tough in front of new ponies. He’s mostly bark, no bite. Just don’t insult his ship or his crew, and you’ll be fine.

“We’ve had some foals before. Those are always harder. Some are running away because their mommy didn’t get them some present for Hearth’s Warming, or something equally stupid. Those we turn over to the guard when we land. The guard will ensure they get back to their parents.”

He sighed, looking down at his work. “Some have a good reason for running away. Abusive homes, orphans. Those are harder. Nopony wants to send a foal back to an abusive home, but we can’t just keep them with us, either. We usually turn them over to the guard as well, start an official investigation. Hope for the best. With orphans, we’ll give them to a orphanage that we know and trust. It’s often out of our way, but we’ll travel to Vanhoover just to get the orphans to Gentle Soul and her orphanage. We know she’ll take care of things.”

So where do you fit into all of this?” Twilight asked.

“Me? I’m one of the few foals who snuck aboard this ship, but the only one who never left.”

“Do you mind telling me your story?” she prompted. “If it’s too painful, I understand.”

He smiled, shaking his head. “Nah. It’s okay. I got over it years ago.” He continued shaping the building. It had a defined outline now. As his hooves worked, details were being added.

“I didn’t grow up in an abusive home. For the early part of my life, things were great. I had two wonderful parents, even if Mom was weak. She got sick easily, spent more time in bed than out of it. But even so, she always made an effort, would do things like make breakfast, or play games with me. Then... One night, she fell asleep, and never woke up.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Twilight said. She knew somewhat what he had gone through, suddenly losing family like that.

“It hit my dad hard. He shut down for awhile. Then he started drinking, blamed me for mom’s death. Harsh words turned to harsh blows. The guard came and took me away for a time, after my teacher told them about the bruises. But he won me back, promising to turn over a new leaf. Instead, he became more creative about his beatings, making sure to hide the injuries.

“Eventually, one day, I came home from school to find the house empty. The furniture, all the stuff, gone. He’d cleaned out and left. Just left me behind, like trash.”

“I... I don’t know what to say,” Twilight said. A simple sorry seemed like not enough.

Stormy Skies waved a hoof. “It’s fine. Like I said, I got over it year’s ago. Anyway, I wasn’t really sure what to do. I knew that I didn’t want to go to the guards, as all they’d do is find my dad and I’d be right back with him. I couldn’t go to my friends, as their parents would do the same thing. So I ran away.”

The structure was coming together now. Twilight thought she could recognize it, but she wasn’t quite sure. “I spent three months on the streets, begging for and stealing money and food. Eventually, I ran afoul of a gang, said I’d been working on their turf without permission and demanded I work for them to pay off my debt. Instead, I ran to the docks and snuck on the first airship I could find. Lucky me it just happened to be this one.”

He laughed. “I was caught within hours of takeoff. Stout caught me rummaging for food. Swashbuckle took me to his cabin, along with Glimmer, who was the First Mate back then. I told them my story, then they put me to work.

“It was weird. I’d been trying to avoid hard work and an honest life. I was afraid that those adults who didn’t beat me would just turn me in and I’d end up right back with my dad. But when the crew made me work, forced me to shovel coal into the boiler, I came to realize something. While at first I resented them, they weren’t treating me any different. So long as I did my work, they respected me. It lead me to realize that not all ponies were bad, regardless of how hard the work was.

“When we hit port, I was given a bag of bits and sent on my way. Swashbuckle thought I was old enough to find a job and make my own way in life.” Stormy smiled. “I had already decided that the airship was where I wanted to be. That night, I snuck back aboard this ship. Again, I was discovered, and again I worked to earn my passage. Half a dozen times, I snuck aboard this ship and worked. Finally, Swashbuckle just sighed and offered me a place on the crew.”

He gestured around him. “This ship is my home, the crew my family. They took care of me when I first joined, made me feel like I belonged somewhere. It was the first time I’d felt like that since mom died.”

He slowly turned the cloudstuff. Twilight could now recognize it as the Cloudsideum in Cloudsdale, home of the Wonderbolts. His eye ran over everything, inspecting every detail.

Twilight processed what he had told her, his story. “I’m sorry for everything that you went through.”

Stormy Sky turned to look her in the eye. “I’m not. It led me here, to this ship and this crew. I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. Well, except maybe having my mom back. But everypony knows that coming back from the dead is impossible.” He leaned back, looking down at the sculpture. It was a near perfect recreation of the actual building.

“My point is. That filly of yours? She’s in good hooves here. We’ll treat her right until we get back to the Empire.”

“I didn’t think you all would mistreat her. I’m really not even sure why I came down here and spoke to you. Curiosity, I suppose.”

“Satisfied?”

“I’m not even sure what I feel right now,” she admitted.

He smiled. “Yeah, I tend to have that effect on mares.”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you just flirt with every mare?”

“Hey, I grew up with the Cap’n. I learned from the best.”

Twilight sighed. “This is going to be a long trip.”

His smile never faded. “I’m sure you and I can find some way to make it go by quicker.”

“Every line out of your muzzle is worse than the last one.”

“Oh come on, at least I’m trying here. You’re not putting forth any effort.”

“I’m sorry, Stormy Skies, I’m sure you’re a nice stallion, but right now I just don’t have any interest in that sort of thing.”

“So there’s hope in the future, then.”

She sighed, but couldn’t help but smile. “Optimist.”

“Always.” He picked up the model building, holding it out to her. “Would you mind casting a preservation spell over this?”

She nodded, quickly casting the spell. “There. What for?”

He continued to hold out the model. “So you could actually pick it up, of course.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because it’s a gift for you, duh.”

She looked down at the model. “For me? Why?”

“Call it something to remember me by. So when you look at this, you think of me.”

“You just want me to set this somewhere that I stare at it and think of you, in the vain hope that it’ll mean that over time I’ll come to like you.”

The pegasus pouted. “Am I really that transparent?”

“Like glass.” She took the model anyway, holding it in her magic. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He reached into a bag sitting next to him, pulling out some more cloudstuff. “I always knew that having a special talent as an artist would help me pick up mares.”

Twilight stood up. “Thank you for your time, Stormy Skies.”

“Aww, leaving already?”

She nodded. “Yes. Sky Fire says we might reach the Gryphon border by mid-afternoon. There’s still a few things I need to prepare before we get there.”

“Well go on then. Go and save the world.”

She blushed. “It’s not quite like that. But again, thank you.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome.”

Carrying the model alongside her, she left the cargo hold. Passing the engine room, she could see Applejack in there, a shovel in her mouth as she deposited coal into the boiler. The farmer had been in there yesterday as well. Apparently she liked it. Twilight suspected it was more that she missed working hard, needed to be doing something.

She stopped by her room long enough to set the model on her hooflocker. Snatching her saddlebag full of books, she headed back up to the deck. Lunch was already sitting on the table, so she grabbed a sandwich on the way.

Chewing on the daisy and cucumber sandwich, she picked out a spot right at the bow of the ship. With her back leaning against the railing, the entire ship spread out before her, she opened one of the books. Yesterday she had brushed up on gryphon culture, now she wanted to know more about their history.

The hours passed by quickly enough without having to resort to what Stormy Skies was insinuating. The sun was closer to the horizon than it was to its zenith when when a cry rang out on the deck.

“Pluckers! Two o’clock high!”

Twilight looked up from her book, seeing the crew scrambling into activity. Where once everypony had been relaxing, now weapons were being produced and positions were being taken at the railing.

With a quick teleport, Twilight was at Swashbuckle’s side by the wheelhouse. The earth pony had a large hammer resting at his forehooves. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Pluckers have been spotted.”

“Pluckers?”

“Gryphons.”

“So, what’s with the activity and arming?”

Swashbuckle looked over at her. “Until we know whether it’s gryphon military, or bandits, we err on the side of caution. This area is safer than most, but it still has bandit trouble, gryphons looking to knock over a ship and steal the cargo.” He smirked. “Well, they won’t find us easy prey.”

He reached under the instrument panel, pulling out a spyglass. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the horizon before placing the spyglass to one eye. “They’re wearing gryphon military uniforms. Keep your weapons down, but ready, boys!” he called out. “No need to worry the natives.”

A few moments later and Twilight caught sight of the gryphons. There was a formation of six of them, rapidly heading towards the ship. Within half a minute, four of them peeled off, two circling the ship in each direction while the remaining two flew across the deck once before landing on it.

“Who’s the Captain of this vessel?” the larger gryphon, who had a red stripe running down his helmet, asked.

“That would be me,” Swashbuckle responded, descending the stairs from the wheelhouse.

“The borders into the Empire are closed to anyone not on a mission from the Emperor himself. You need to turn around, now. Proceed any further and we will shoot you down.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Please, Lieutenant. It is imperative that we speak to Emperor Kader.”

The gryphon looked momentarily shocked. “How did you...?” Silently, Twilight thanked reading up on the Gryphon military. The gryphon shook his head and refocused on the unicorn. “The borders are closed. If you would like to inform me why you must speak to Emperor Kader, then I shall take your message to him myself.”

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but I can’t give you details. Know that we’re here to seek an alliance with the gryphons. Please believe me when I say that we must speak to him.”

The gryphon clicked his beak, staring down at her. “And who are you, to demand to speak to the Emperor?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I come here on a mission from Princess Celestia herself.”

He laughed. “The pony princess? She hasn’t shown her face since Canterlot was destroyed. Now I ask you again. Who are you, and why do you attempt to enter the Empire?”

Twilight straightened indignantly. “I am Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic, personal student to Princess Celestia. I assure you, I am here on a mission from the Princess herself. She was injured when Canterlot fell, but she is still very much around.” Twilight pointed to the sun. “Why else would the sun still be moving?”

“Perhaps because she never controlled it in the first place.” He slammed the haft of his spear into the deck. “I’ll only say this once more. The borders are closed. There is a refugee camp twenty leagues south of here. You are more than welcome to land there. You’ll find plenty of your kind lingering there.”

He pointed the tip of his spear at Twilight. While she made no move, several of the crew members tightened their grips on their weapons. “However, if you keep going, I’m sure our ballistae teams will be grateful for the target practice.”

Retracting the spear, he stood tall. “Turn around, or head to the camp, it doesn’t matter to me what you do. If you truly seek an alliance, take it up with the gryphon running the camp. Maybe he will care.”

With that said, he and the other gryphon lifted off the deck. With a shrill cry, the four other gryphons joined him and they flew off into the distance.

Swashbuckle turned to Twilight. “Well?”

She sighed. “That could have gone a lot better.”

The captain snorted. “Damn pluckers have never been too friendly with us anyway. Though I’d advise against continuing on. They really will shoot us down.”

“Head south, let’s go to the camp he mentioned. Hopefully we can get some more information there.”

Swashbuckle nodded, heading back towards the wheelhouse. Twilight watched him go, while the rest of the crew relaxed a bit. “Now what?” she asked aloud.

“You’ve already got a good idea,” Midnight’s voice came from behind her. Twilight turned around to see the thestral standing a few paces away. “We need more information.”

“If their borders really are closed, then how do we get in to see the Emperor?”

“That’s what we need the information for. We should talk to the ponies he mentioned at the camp, see what they have to say. As well, there should be some gryphons at the camp as well, overseeing, guarding, or helping the ponies. We can talk to them. Maybe one of them would be willing to help us get into the Empire.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay. So we at least have a plan.” The deck beneath her hooves tilted a little as the ship changed direction. The horizon swung around until they were facing south. “It won’t take us more than half an hour to go twenty leagues. I’d best find the others, let them know what’s going on.”

“I’ll go with you,” the thestral said.

Together, they managed to round up all of her friends. They met out on the deck. “Okay, here’s what happened,” Twilight said.

She related that brief conversation between herself and the gryphon. “So what do you all think?”

Pinkie raised her hoof high in the air, wriggling it around. “Yes, Pinkie?”

“That gryphon was a meanie mcmeanerson pants.”

Twilight sighed. “Any other thoughts?”

The rest of her friends shrugged. “It seems like you have a solid enough plan,” Rainbow said.

“Indeed, darling,” Rarity said. “There’s not much we can do at the moment, until we have more information.”

Twilight hung her head. “Why do I feel like this is setting a dangerous precedent?” she muttered.

“It could be worse, Twi,” Applejack said. “They coulda blown us outta the sky without bothering to tell us.”

“You’re right, AJ.” She looked passed the bow, seeing a collection of lights ahead. “I suppose we’ll find out soon what’s going on. That must be the camp.”

Within a few minutes, they were approaching the camp. Swashbuckle was calling out orders as the ship got lower and lower to the ground. The crew exploded into activity, preparing ropes and sighting potential landing spots.

Swashbuckle shouted down to them. “Hold on, ladies.” Twilight, who had made her way over to the railing, gripped the wooden slats.

The entire ship shuddered as the the rudder scraped the ground briefly, before Swashbuckle pulled it back up. With a creak of protesting wood, it came to a stop just outside the camp, ponies staring at the ship.

“Cut the engines and lower the gangplank,” Swashbuckle ordered. With a whine, the sound of the propellers slowly faded.

Twilight looked over the railing at the camp. Calling it a camp was being generous. It was a contingent of tents and scattered fireplaces. There was no logical order to things, no rows or columns. It was as if each tent was pitched with little to no regard to the ones around it. A few larger tents could be seen.

Ponies either wandered between the tents, or stood and stared at the ship that had just landed in front of them. Scattered amongst the ponies were a few gryphons. Most of them ignored the ship, continuing with their business.

Swashbuckle came down from the wheelhouse. “Alright stallions. We’re not here on leave, but only until these fine mares can figure out what we do next. To that end, don’t wander too far from the ship. We need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. If any of you are late when we need to leave, I’ll see to it that you’re shoveling coal from now until Celestia marries me.” He grinned at them. “Now go on.”

The crew nodded, scattering. Some went below decks, while others headed down the gangplank. Twilight looked to her friends. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can find some answers.”

“What do you have planned, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I have no idea. Just wander around and talk to ponies. Maybe see if we can get some gryphons to talk to us.”

“Maybe it’d be better if we split up,” Applejack suggested. “We each head out and start talking.”

Twilight looked around her at her friends. “Does anyone object to speaking to ponies or gryphons alone?” She received head shakes all around, except for Fluttershy, who timidly raised a hoof. Twilight nodded, unsurprised. “Rainbow, you and Fluttershy work together. Our first priority is trying to figure out if we have a way into the Empire. Beyond that, I want you each to look at the overall situation in this camp. Make sure the ponies here are being treated fairly. The gryphons may have closed their borders, but it’s still their duty to ensure that the ponies seeking asylum are being taken care of. At least, it should be,” she muttered darkly.

She looked over towards the gangplank. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

Leading her friends, she headed down the gangplank. None of the ponies from the camp had approached the ship, which she wasn’t sure was a good sign or bad. As soon as they hit the ground, they split off, each of them going a different direction.

Twilight found herself walking in the same direction as Midnight. All around her were ponies. Most were gathered around campfires, burning despite the waning light of day. Most fires held pots over them, various things being cooked.

“So what now?” Twilight asked.

Midnight gestured around them. “Now we do what we set out to do. Integrate yourself into a group of ponies, or find a gryphon. Walk up to them and start a conversation.”

Putting action to words, Midnight broke off from Twilight. She approached a group of ponies huddled around a campfire. Twilight couldn’t hear her words, but she continued onwards.

Figuring that most of her friends would stop at the closest target they could find, Twilight opted to head as deep into the camp as she could. Her destination were the larger tents she saw from the deck of the ship.

Most of the ponies she passed gave her curious looks, as if recognizing her as an intruder. With something like the arrival of an airship the size of Swashbuckle’s, it was impossible to hide. She walked through the camp with a sense of purpose to her stride, making her stand out amongst the ponies just waiting.

Despite the haphazard nature of the camp, it didn’t take her long to reach the selection of larger tents in the center of it. The sides of the tents, except for one, were all rolled up. She could see gryphons here, some wandering about, others behind tables or desks.

Picking one at random, she walked up to a gryphon who was sitting behind a table, a quill clutched in his talon and writing on a piece of parchment. “Excuse me,” she said.

He looked up. His eyes were a deep amber, the white plumage on his head tinged with red at the tips of the feathers. “New arrival?”

“Sort of, I’m actu—”

He set a blank piece of parchment in front of her, along with a quill. “Please write down your name and town of origin, as well as the names and towns of origin of anyone else traveling with you. Then we’ll see about getting you tents and a meal.”

“Actually, that’s not necessary.”

His eyes narrowed for a moment, his beak pulling tight. “So that’s your airship that just landed nearby?”

She nodded. “Yes. We were trying to get into the Empire to speak with the Emperor, but were turned back at the border.”

“Yes, the borders are closed to all non-sanctioned traffic.”

“I was wondering if you had any information on why the borders are closed, and possibly somehow we could get in. It’s urgent that we speak with the Emperor.”

The gryphon folded his arms in front of him, looking down his beak at her. “Asking for information without even telling me your name first? That’s a little rude.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry,” Twilight said. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She held out her hoof.

He grasped it with a talon, beak curling upwards in a smile. “Claudius.” Gently, he released her hoof. “Now, as for the information you seek. Emperor Kader closed the borders shortly after the incident at Canterlot. As for why he did so, I’m not privy to that information. But he did authorize groups to aid the refugees that gathered at our borders. There are three camps like this one along the Equestria-Empire border.”

He swept a talon around him, indicating the camp. “We make sure the refugees have a place to stay and food, until such time as the borders reopen or they feel they can return to their homes. My job is to log all ponies in the camp, as well as where they’re from. We’re trying to keep an accurate record, something we can turn into Equestria once it gets back into shape, help them locate everyone so hopefully there’s no one simply missing from the records.

“Now as to how to get into the Empire, I’m not sure I can be of much help. As a citizen, I can cross the border freely, but the military is strictly controlling who else can come in.”

Twilight glanced around. “Would you be willing to point me in the right direction? Surely somepony here can help.”

“I might be able to, but first I’d like to know just why it is want to speak with the Emperor. No offense to you, but if I’m going to put my feathers on the table, I’d like to know why.”

Twilight bit her lower lip. While the details of their mission weren’t exactly secret, she still wasn’t sure about revealing precisely why they were here. Word could too easily get back to the Emperor ahead of them, giving him time to prepare. For a ruler whose stance with Equestria had been neutral at best, bordering on antagonistic, the less time they gave him to prepare a rebuttal, the better.

“We’ve been sent by Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire to speak with the Emperor. I... I’m sorry, but I can’t say exactly what we need to meet with him about, only that it concerns the dragon.”

Claudius was silent for a moment. “Well, who better to send than the bearer of the Element of Magic.” He chuckled at her astonished look. “Oh yes, I know who you are. Every gryphon knows of the Elements, after all they are one of the most powerful artifacts on Equus. Very few gryphons would actually know your name or the names of your friends, though. Fewer still would know what you look like. But, based on your usage of we, I can assume your friends are around as well.”

She nodded. “Yes. You’re correct on all accounts.”

“I may be a simple clerk, but I do have an interest in other things. History and artifacts being two of them. So, I’ve read about you and your friends, Ms. Sparkle.”

Twilight felt a blush come to her cheeks. She knew that the exploits of her and her friends had been well documented, but she still felt embarrassed when she was confronted by someone who knew that. “Yes, well. Do you think you can help us?”

He thought for a moment, tapping his beak with a claw. “Maybe. It’s out of my power to do anything, but there is someone who could be able to help you. It would be up to you to convince him to do so, though.” He pointed towards another nearby tent, this one mostly filled with boxes and crates. “Talk to the camp’s quartermaster and leader, Captain Agrippa. Perhaps if you offer up your ship, he might be willing to let you cross the border in exchange for making a supply run.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you for your help, Claudius.”

“Not a problem, Ms. Sparkle. And good luck.” He then went back to whatever it was he had been doing before she arrived.

Standing up, she headed towards the tent he had indicated. The stacked crates proved an impenetrable barrier on this side, so she walked around it. On the way, she caught sight of the front of the one tent with the sides rolled down. A large red cross hung over the entrance. It made sense that the medical tent would be shielded for privacy.

Rounding the corner, she found an entrance into the tent. Two large gryphons, wearing military armor, guarded the aisle between the crates. At her approach, one of them held up a talon. “Hold it. This area is off limits to ponies.”

“I was sent here to find Captain Agrippa. Is he inside?”

“Who sent you?”

Twilight pointed back towards the other tent. “Claudius sent me.”

The two guards shared a look, seeming to communicate without words. After a moment, the one who had stopped her spoke up again. “Wait right here, I’ll go get him.”

The gryphon turned around, heading inside the tent and vanishing around a corner. She couldn’t hear anything being said, but a minute later he came back, leading a smaller gryphon who had feathers tinged orange. He was wearing the outfit of a captain in the gryphonian military.

“I’ve been told that you seek me, little pony,” he said. “Step into my office and we’ll speak.” He turned around, heading into the tent again.

Twilight followed him, rounding two corners to suddenly find herself in a small clearing in the middle of the crates. A lamp sat on a table, providing light. The gryphon gestured her to one side of the table.

“Forgive the cosiness. I find that being separated from the goings on outside helps me get my work done.” He took a seat in a chair. “Now, why would Claudius send you to me? He knows I can’t give out extra supplies.”

“I don’t need extra supplies. Instead, I was told that you might be able to help me get across the border and into the Empire.”

“Across the border? Why?”

Giving a small sigh, Twilight told her reasoning for the third time that day. Agrippa listened intently, but not interrupting her. She decided to go with a longer explanation, hopefully skipping any questions he might have.

When she finished, he leaned back in his chair. “It sounds like you have a valid reason for wanting to cross the border. First one I’ve heard since I got to this camp. And for once there were no tears, no shoving little foals in my face, just calm, rational explanation. I like that.”

“So you’ll help us?” Twilight could scarcely believe her luck. She’d been expecting to have to spend at least a few days here before a solution could be found.

“No.”

Her smile fell. “What?”

“It’s true, I could get you across the border, requisition your airship into the service of the Empire. As a Captain and the leader of this camp, I have the power to do that. But you’re forgetting something very important.”

“And what is that.”

He leaned farther back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head, beak curled into a smirk. “What’s in it for me? It seems like I’m doing all of the work and not getting anything in return. So, Sparkle. Make me an offer for my services.”

Twilight shook her head, trying to comprehend what Agrippa was saying. “Are you asking me to bribe you?”

“You make it sound so dirty, putting it like that. No, I’m simply expecting to be fairly compensated for the job I’m doing.”

She thought about what she could possibly offer the gryphon. There wasn’t much aboard the airship that she could use to trade with. Perhaps she could get Swashbuckle to part with the bag of bits he’d received as payment, on the promise of replacing it as soon as they got back to the Empire.

“Well, I could offer you some bits. Would five thousand be enough?”

Agrippa scoffed. “And where would I spend those bits? It’s not like they’re accepted in the Empire, and the conversion rate is not very favorable to me. Try again, pony.”

“I can promise you an artifact. I’m sure Princess Cadance would be willing to part with something from the Crystal Empire vaults. You can sell it and make a lot of money.”

“Tempting, pony, tempting. Do you happen to have any of those artifacts with you?”

Twilight opened her mouth to say no, but quickly closed it. If she said no, then he would surely turn her down. He’d be unwilling to take her on faith. A hasty, risky plan was forming in her mind. She’d need some help and would have to convince the others without really telling them what was going on.

“We do have one such artifact on board, yes. Originally it was supposed to be used for something else, but in this case, we could part with it.”

Agrippa leaned forward. “Now we’re talking. However, before I agree to anything, I want to see this artifact, and hear its history.”

“I can take you to my ship.”

He gestured with a talon. “Lead on, pony.”

Twilight nodded. Without saying anything else, she turned around, heading out of the tent. Agrippa stopped only long enough to tell the guards that he would be back shortly.

The entire walk back through the camp, neither of them said anything. Twilight was scanning the crowd, searching for any sign of her friends. Unfortunately, she wasn’t successful, arriving at the gangplank to the ship before anypony else could be found.

With hesitance in her mind but a sureness in her steps, she ascended up onto the ship. The deck was mostly clear, only a scattered few deckhooves still milling about. Several had set up a card game, all of them stopping and staring at the gryphon behind her.

Twilight saw Sky Fire over at the wheelhouse. The pegasus gave her an odd look. Twilight inclined her head, motioning her over.

When Sky Fire arrived, Twilight cleared her throat. “Sky Fire, is Captain Midnight back yet?” She tried to make her voice sound authoritative.

“Not yet,” Sky Fire responded.

“I need you to go find her and bring her back here.”

The pegasus looked at Twilight for a moment, as if trying a gauge what was going on. The unicorn put as much pleading into her eyes as she possibly could without showing anything to the gryphon. Silently, she willed Sky Fire to play along and go.

Finally, with a nod, Sky Fire took off, flying above the camp. Twilight held in her sigh of relief. When she turned to face the gryphon again, her face had a small smile on it. “Apologies,” she said. “But Midnight is the one in charge of the artifact.”

“No worries, pony.” He looked around him. “This is quite the ship.” A talon poked at the railing, several chips of wood falling away. “Rather... worn.”

“It’s a good, sturdy ship. It has served us well so far.”

“Hmm,” was all he said in reply. He wandered off, randomly inspecting parts of the ship. Twilight could see some of the deckhooves watching him, subtly shifting so that if he tried to enter belowdecks, they could stop him.

Sky Fire came back a couple of minutes later, a familiar batpony in tow. “I found her,” she said. The look the pegasus was giving Twilight clearly said that an explanation would be forthcoming as soon as possible.

Twilight nodded. “Thank you.” She turned to Midnight while Agrippa was sauntering over. “Play along,” was all she whispered. Switching back to her normal voice, she spoke again. “Captain, this gryphon would like to see Typhoon’s sword. As its guardian, I need your permission to bring it up.”

If Midnight was feeling any confusion, her face didn’t betray it at all. “Then we should go get it.”

Twilight turned to Agrippa. “Please, excuse us for a moment, Captain” She figured that using his rank as much as possible would help.

He waved a talon at them. “I’m sure this pegasus won’t mind giving me a tour of this ship.”

Together, she and Midnight headed down belowdecks. The batpony didn’t say anything until they were in their shared room with the door closed. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“I have a way for us to get across the border. That gryphon can do it, but he wants payment. He won’t accept bits, so I’m offering up an artifact.”

“What artifact?”

“I need one of your swords, Midnight.”

“But none of my swords are—” She stopped herself, before her eyes narrowed. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing, Twilight. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

She shook her head. “I have no idea what I’m doing. But if this will get us into the Empire, then what else can I do?”

Midnight walked over to her side of the room, returning with a sword and sheath. “I’m going to trust you on this one. But if this backfires, we may never get into the Empire at all.”

“We don’t have the time to be sitting around searching for something else that may not exist. I’m taking this chance.” Twilight said firmly.

The thestral nodded. “Okay. Do what you have to do.”

“Thank you, Midnight.” Twilight took the sword in her magic, unsheathing it. The blade was nearly pristine, though it was pitted enough that it had seen some action. Concentrating, she cast a spell on the sword. Little runes started appearing on the blade, the crossguard changed shape slightly, and it took on a more aged look.

Running an eye over the changes, Twilight nodded before sheathing it. “Okay, let’s go.” Together, they walked back up onto the deck.

Outside, Agrippa and Sky Fire were over by the wheelhouse. Swashbuckle had appeared and was standing close to the gryphon. The look on his face was one of distrust.

“I have it, Captain” Twilight said as she approached them. She held out the sword to Agrippa. The gryphon took it, pulling the blade out. His eye ran over the weapon.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You know the story about the founding of Equestria?” At his nod, she continued. “The leader of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane, had three foals. One of them was a great warrior in her own right named Typhoon. This is her sword.”

Agrippa looked at the sword from all different angles. “And what are the runes?”

“It’s an ancient language. Supposedly it was only known to members of the pegasi military, a way to keep the other tribes from learning their secrets. After the unification, it fell out of use until it became a lost language. No known translation exists, but the closest scholars have been able to figure things out, it’s either a record of her life, or a list of her victories and deeds in battle.”

He whistled. “That’s quite the list.” Carefully, he put the sword back in its sheath. “Well, this is certainly quite the artifact. I suppose this’ll do.”

“So you’ll get us across the border?”

“Of course. I’ll go make the necessary preparations. It won’t take long.” He looked around the ship. “You do have room for a squad of gryphons, yes? They’ll need to come along with us. As well, you’ll need to drape some Imperial flags on the sides of this ship, to prevent us from being shot down. I’ll have the necessary supplies when I get back.” He stretched his wings. “It’ll feel good to leave this dingy camp behind. My Lieutenant can run things while I’m away.”

Still holding onto the sword, he left the deck, heading down the gangplank. As soon as he was gone, Swashbuckle turned towards her. “My cabin. Now.” Twilight recoiled a bit under the anger she felt coming from those three simple words.

Now that Agrippa was gone, her carefully constructed façade fell. Her confidence was replaced with uncertainty. Meekly, she followed Swashbuckle into his cabin, Sky Fire and Midnight behind her.

As soon as Sky Fire had shut the door, Swashbuckle turned on her. “What the buck was that?”

“I, umm, just got us passage across the border.” The earth pony looked mad, his voice barely controlled. Twilight wanted nothing more than to back away slowly.

“By what? Forcing me to host a bunch of damned pluckers on my ship? Deface it with plucker flags?” He neither moved nor paced, simply stood there, staring at her with cold fury in his eyes.

“It’ll get us where we need to go,” she argued.

“Maybe it will, but that’s not the issue. The issue is where you come off thinking you can speak for me and my ship.”

“What do you mean?”

He pointed a hoof at her. “I mean that not once did you consult me, the captain of this ship, on matters that concern me, my crew, and this ship.”

“I didn’t have time to. I saw a way to get us what we needed, and I took it.” Twilight tried to defend her actions, even though she still wanted to run away.

“I don’t care,” he said. “You still made decisions affecting all of us. The last thing I want is some damned smug plucker on this ship. I’d rather burn those flags than see them draped over the side. But now, I have to do just that.”

Midnight stepped into the conversation. “What do you have against gryphons?” she asked.

“What do I have against gryphons?” he repeated, his nostrils flaring. “They’re barbarians, every single one of them. If it weren’t for Celestia, they’d have run us over ages ago. They love nothing more than capturing and killing ponies.” His voice, which had gone quiet, picke dup in volume. “They tortured and killed my brother for nothing more than sadistic sport! And now I have to smile and host them on my ship?” He threw a hoof towards the stern of the ship. “If you haven’t noticed, my hatred for pluckers is written on my Celestia-damned ship!”

His shouting caused Twilight’s ears to stick flat to her skull. As the words rang out, she looked at Swashbuckle. He was standing there, panting, eyes wild with rage. She had no idea that he could so vehemently hate an entire race. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. It was only now that she remembered this ship was named The Gryphon’s Folly.

As she opened her mouth to ask what had happened, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Sky Fire standing there. The pegasus slowly shook her head. “Let it go for now,” she whispered.

Taking another look at Swashbuckle, Twilight had to agree with Sky. If she did bring up his brother, he was likely to fly into an even deeper rage. She’d have to figure things out later.

Swashbuckle took in a deep breath, seeming to calm himself. “Let me put this in no uncertain terms. The next time you make a decision like that without consulting myself, or Sky, first, then I and my ship are gone.”

“Hang on, you made an agreement,” Midnight said.

“I agreed to ferry you around because I wanted to help out, and because I thought it would be a good way to see exotic places I’ve never seen before. But rest assured, no contracts were signed, there is nothing binding me to this journey other than some good bits to be made. As soon as I feel those bits aren’t worth it, I’m gone, and you will be stuck wherever we currently are. Are we clear?”

Twilight nodded. “Clear.” She could see Midnight doing the same. Both of them recognized that until Swashbuckle got better control of his emotions, there wasn’t much they could do. They could try and talk to him again later.

“Also,” the stallion steamed. “Why would you ever give up an artifact like that to a- a plucker?”

At that, Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Uh, it’s not really Typhoon’s sword. It’s just a glamour spell I cast on one of Midnight’s swords. The real Typhoon’s sword, if it’s still in one piece, is laying somewhere in the rubble at the base of Canterlot Mountain. It was in a museum there.”

“A... You tricked him with a fake sword?” Swashbuckle blinked a few times, before he burst out laughing. “Oh Celestia above... You have got to have the biggest balls I’ve ever seen on a pony. A fake sword!” He tried to say something else but was unable to.

Twilight blushed at the rather crude description of what she had done. “It... It was all I could think of. He was demanding a bribe to cross the border, and he wouldn’t take bits. So I quickly came up with that plan.”

Swashbuckle continued laughing. “Oh, serves that dirty plucker right.”

Twilight giggled as well, unsure of what was going on. His mood seemed to have taken a complete turn around. Was it possible that he had forgiven her?

As if he could read her mind, he calmed down enough to speak again. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still mad at you, but you’ve redeemed yourself slightly with that move. You buck over a few more pluckers before we’re done, and I might even be inclined to forgive you.”

He turned to Sky Fire. “Give the order. Round up the stragglers and bring them back here. Make sure the pluckers are tucked away when they get here, and don’t let them touch anything. I want them under constant supervision. Let me know when we’re ready to lift off.”

She nodded, turning around and leaving the cabin. When she was gone, Swashbuckle looked back over at Twilight. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.” With that, he turned to his table, pulling out a map and consulting it.

The dismissal was clear. Twilight followed Midnight out of the cabin. On the deck, there was already a sense of activity as ponies prepared the ship for more travel. Twilight kept walking until she reached the very bow of the ship. There she reared up, placing her forehooves on the railing and looking out over the camp.

The sound of hoofsteps behind her told her that Midnight was still with her. “Did I do the right thing?” she asked.

“I can’t answer that,” came the reply. “For now things are working out in our favor, but there’s still plenty of ways for this to backfire. Only time will be able to tell us if this is a good plan or not.”

She hung her head slightly. “I feel bad for angering Swashbuckle. Who knows if he trusts me now or not.”

“None of us could have known that his hatred for gryphons ran that deeply. That’s an unforeseen consequence. Though if he didn’t still trust you, then he would have followed through on his threat to leave us. No, he’s mad, but he’s still with us. Give him some time to calm down, and he’ll be alright.” Midnight appeared in her vision, leaning against the railing. “No, I think you need to be more concerned about your friends.”

Twilight looked over at her. “What do you mean? They’re my friends, so I know they’ll stick by me.”

The thestral shook her head. “It’s not that. Twilight, you are essentially lying and deceiving others to get what you want right now. Do you think your friends are going to like that?”

“I... I didn’t think of it like that. I just saw an opportunity and I took it.” She turned back, looking out over the camp. Ponies weren’t moving about so much anymore. Most were huddled around the various fires, small columns of smoke reaching up into the sky.

Midnight set a hoof on her shoulder. “We’ve all done it before, get so focused on a goal that you lose sight of the big picture. As a leader, you have to understand that it’s not just you who’s affected by the decisions you make. You saw a solution to a problem, and jumped on it before thinking about any potential implications.

“What you did worked, yes, but is it the best solution? There are other ways to go about getting us access and what we need. At the end of the day, it’s not about finding the quickest solution, but one that you’re able to live with. The question you have to ask yourself is if you are morally okay with your choices.”

She retracted her hoof, setting in back on the deck. “Sometimes the quickest solution isn’t always the best.”

Twilight kept looking out over the camp. “What do you think? Have I made a mistake in doing this?”

“The only one who can answer that is you. Are you okay with lying to get what you want? The answer doesn’t matter to me, you’re my leader. Where you go, I’ll follow. But it should matter to you, and it will matter to your friends.”

Twilight didn’t respond to that, too busy thinking things over in her head. She hadn’t really thought about what she was doing while she was doing it. But now that Midnight had pointed it out, she really did see that she’d been completely dishonest.

She was lying to get what she wanted. In essence, she had done the very thing that she and her friends had fought against. Trixie, the Flim Flam brothers, she and her friends had stood up to them for their dishonest ways. And now here she was, doing the same thing.

She cringed, wondering what her friends would think. She already knew that Applejack was going to be upset. The very idea of lying went against everything the farmer stood for.

Speaking of her friends, she could see some of them already heading back towards the ship. Rainbow and Fluttershy were flying alongside each other, while Pinkie was bouncing through the crowd. She couldn’t see Rarity or Applejack, but they would be along soon.

The two pegasi got back first, alighting on the deck near Twilight. “Hey Twi. I hear you found us a way across the border,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, I did.”

Fluttershy picked up immediately on the uncertainty in Twilight’s voice. “Oh my. What’s wrong?”

Twilight’s ears wilted. “I’ll let you know when the others arrive.”

Pinkie hopped up into the group. “We’re going to the Empire! Whoo! This calls for a party! I wonder if Darkie will let me make cupcakes for everypony...”

Rarity wasn’t too far behind, though the baker was still talking about finding party supplies on the ship. The fashionista simply sat on the deck, content to wait and not say anything. She gave a concerned glance towards Twilight, but at the unicorn’s forlorn look she remained where she was.

A few minutes later, as Pinkie and Rainbow were arguing over which was the best flavor of cupcake, Applejack showed up. “So I hear we got in. That’s good.” She turned to Twilight. “How’d you manage to do it?”

Twilight sighed. Holding up a hoof, she waited for her friends to stop arguing before she spoke. “I convinced a gryphon here to let us cross.” She told them what she’d done, holding nothing back. From her conversations with Claudius and Agrippa, to deceiving the gryphon into helping them.

When she was done, her friends were quiet. Applejack was the first to speak up. “Twilight, I’m ashamed of you.”

The unicorn winced. Those words hurt more than an entire day’s training under Midnight. “I’m sorry, AJ. I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing, only about what it was getting us.”

Applejack shook her head. “You know how I feel about lying.”

“I know. And believe me, once Midnight told me what I’d done, I felt bad. I just... lost sight of things.” She looked forlornly over at her friend. “Please, can you forgive me?”

Applejack looked at her for a moment before pulling her into a hug. “Of course I forgive you, this time.” She paused before continuing. “But lying just ain’t right. Don’t do it again. You made a mistake, but there is always a better way to get something than lying for it.”

Twilight nodded into the farm pony. “I agree. I won’t lose sight of the bigger picture again.” She leaned into the hug with her friend, happy that, while the farmer was upset, she wasn’t going to go off like Swashbuckle did.

“I agree with Applejack,” Rarity said, breaking the silence. “And I think speak for the rest of us when I say that we’re all a little disappointed in you. But we can also tell that you feel bad.” The rest of her friends nodded their heads.

“I am sorry, girls. I won’t let it happen again.”

They spent the next half hour running over what they thought would happen when the gryphons came back, as well as what to expect when getting to the capitol. Twilight gave the girls a brief rundown on gryphon etiquette, so they wouldn’t accidentally offend someone.

Soon there was a commotion, as up the gangplank walked Agrippa with half a dozen other gryphons behind him. Two of the gryphons were carrying large swaths of red cloth. Sky Fire intercepted them before they made it two steps across the deck.

“Welcome aboard,” she said.

Agrippa nodded. “I brought some flags. Have some of your crew hang them from the railing. This’ll let ground based crews know we fly with permission.” The two gryphons dropped their cloths on the deck.

The pegasus shouted an order to her crew, and within moments, several ponies were attaching the flags. “Is there anything else before we start off?”

“This squad here will need somewhere to stay, as will I. It’ll take us a day to get to the capitol, and I don’t feel like sleeping on the deck.”

“Your squad can stay in the bunkroom with the crew. As for you, we have one spare bed left. Though you’ll be rooming with a pony.”

He waved a talon. “That’s fine. We can get settled once we’re underway.”

Sky Fire nodded, turning away from the gryphons. “Chief!” she called out.

“Yes, ma’am?” Twilight heard Stout call back. She looked over, seeing him and Berry standing by the wheelhouse. The filly was looking at the gryphons with a mixture of fear and awe. It was likely the first time she’d ever seen one.

“What’s the status on the crew?”

“All crew present and accounted for, ma’am.”

Sky Fire went over to the captain’s cabin, knocking on the door. A moment later, Swashbuckle came out. Twilight couldn’t hear what words passed between him and his first mate. As they were talking, Twilight couldn’t help but feel nervous. Knowing now how much Swashbuckle hated gryphons, she really hoped he didn’t blow things for them.

They stopped talking, Sky Fire heading up to the wheelhouse while Swashbuckle started walking around the ship. His eyes ran over everything, inspecting it. He exchanged words with several crew members, including Stout. After a couple of minutes, he climbed up to the wheelhouse and took the wheel.

“Everypony, prepare for takeoff.” The crew moved about, casting off lines and pulling up the gangplank. Voices shouted out, signalling readiness. It took several minutes before the engines started up again. Once the engines were started, it took another minute before they were even lifting off the ground. They slowly gained altitude, lifting up until they were over the tops of the trees nearby and at a safe enough height to move forward.

The commotion had caused most of the camp to look over at them. Curious heads turned to watch the newly arrived airship leave. Twilight could even spot most of the gryphons watching as well. Several adventurous pegasi took to the air to get a better view.

Slowly they gained altitude, rising up and turning east. The sun was nearly set at their backs as they started towards the capitol. Twilight looked passed the bow, at what lay ahead. Silently, she whispered a prayer that things would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Comments

[Sasha Nein]

CAPITAAAN, we have CONTACT!

[DarkPhoenix]

5491042
Thank you for your feedback and compliments. It's always good to hear that my story can impact someone to the degree that they keep thinking about it outside of actively reading it. I'm sorry that this story isn't quite your cup of tea, though I do extend my thanks for reading even one paragraph, much less three chapters.

Thank you for the thumbs up!

[DarkPhoenix]

5161866
A fanfilm? I would certainly not be opposed to that.

As for the gem, I believe there's a throwaway line in there about Twilight giving it to Cadance to keep safe. I don't detail exactly where it went, but just imagine it has a place of honor in the vault.

And yes. I started this fic prior to Season 3's airing. In terms of canon, Seasons 1 and 2 are canon to this story, and I have nitpicked things from season 3 to keep canon, such as Discord's reformation, without breaking the canon of this story. Season 3's ending with Twilight becoming an Alicorn, as well as Season 4 onwards, is non-canon to this story. It's not AU enough to require the tag, it's just more due to when the story was started and the ideas it uses. If I were to include some canon elements from the show, such as Alicorn Twilight, it would break this story.

Thank you for your interest and feedback on this story! I hope you continue to enjoy it.

[DarkPhoenix]

5507028
Oh man... Thank you for pointing that out to me. That is indeed a large inconsistency. Twilight's views in chapter 7 are the correct ones, and I have gone back and edited chapter 5 to represent that. Can't believe myself and my editors never found that.

Thanks again for the feedback!

[Midboss]

Love your story!! :) It's so good!

[DarkPhoenix]

5542177
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it.

[SpeedyTheCheetah]

Another excellent chapter! I really do like the bits with Berry and Twilight. She is sooo gonna have to adopt Berry after this is all over with.

[Widow Peak]

Twilight nodded into the farm pony. “I agree. I won’t lose sight of the bigger picture again.”

Yeah, because lying is the bigger picture. Defeating the dragon is unimportant.

[ColonelBSacquet]

6819031
Say, has the author decided to permanently let it go?

Is there something that can be done to get the whole stoof back on track?

[ColonelBSacquet]

"You can’t engage an earth pony with earth pony style unless you’re an earth pony. Unicorns cannot dish out or receive that kind of punishment.”

And ... what if said unicorn or pegasus trains for enough time in EArth pony style of fight?

I mean, Bulk Biceps is a pegasus, technically, but he's as strong as Big MacIntosh, aye?

...

Oh, no. Swift Bloom is dead ... :-O

Alright, I'm stopping now. Too much dark and grim for now.
I don't even want to know how she died. :-S

Probably that dratted dragon;

[Widow Peak]

7294827 7294827 Oh dear. I did not even remember this story. Yet another one I began reading without realizing it had not been updated for a long time.

And no, I do not know if the author has decided to let go. They seem to go though long periods of unactivity, judging by their blog posts.

There are no news about the next chapter, but they seem to visit the site fairly often.

Also, Swift Bloom has been dead for quite a few chapters.

...wait, actually. How did you miss her death? It literally happened 'on-screen'!