Taking place almost 3 decades after the first Hearth’s Warming Eve and the subsequent founding of Equestria, Equestrian Nights follows the exploits of a band of wayward ponies roaming across a largely uncharted land of mysteries.
Taking place almost 3 decades after the first Hearth’s Warming Eve and the subsequent founding of Equestria, Equestrian Nights follows the exploits of a band of wayward ponies united by circumstance and trying to find a place for themselves in this strange new world. They’ll take odd jobs, seek out adventures in their largely uncharted land and, if they’re lucky, hope to find purpose and a saddlebag full of bits while they’re at it.
Cover Art: Unknown Artist Thomas Watling (after) View of the town of Sydney in the colony of New South Wales c. 1799 oil on canvas 65 x 133cm original landscape Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
The repeated clang of metal into the gem seam was always going to alert trouble, but the immediacy of the hostile display by the twisted denizens of this cave and mine even took her by surprise. Carrara Marble, with pick in mouth, was already slamming away at the rockface with every savage swing of her neck rather than the usual carefulness and accuracy she would display. They needed to get out of here, sooner rather than later.
Her otherwise dull blue-grey coat, short black mane and tail, and an unromantic cutie mark of a chisel and hammer above a tradespony's wooden set square granted mystical green airs by the Everfree firefly lantern she wore on her iron armour's trace harnass. She felt exposed in the cramped small cavern chamber with the admittedly pretty gemstone seam sparkling in tandem with the light. She was bright like a solitary flame in a pitch black room, just waiting to be snuffed out.
They had been sent to gather fifty Equestrian carats worth of the valuable mineral for the production and magical fortification of the Crystal Guard barding, worn by Princess Amore's gendarmerie. This mine was once staked by the East Gorge Prospector's Co., now defunct and disbanded, and Carrara paid good money to a survivor of the company's disastrous expedition to tell them where they could find a seam of goldshimmer emerald. A ragtag group of thirty ponies who explored the surrounding cliff faces of the eastern reaches of the ravine, examining the layers of bedrock for signs of rare earths to plunder from these new lands discovered only some one and a half decades ago... now only two survivors remained of its last, fateful operation.
They started digging into the rock within a cave mouth and discovered a gem seam that would have made them rich, but they were soon forced to abandon it. Every mine attracts rodents, in this case voles, but something in the air itself had twisted them into large monstrosities. Ponies called it 'Chaos Magic', a fanciful, old Ponish term for anything that wasn't understood and highly unpredictable... and this new land of theirs was rife with it, particularly in recent years.
"I count four! No, five! Sixty yards and closing fast!" Sunny called from down a natural cavern tunnel. A side chamber beside the seam, where those monstrosities made their den.
"For Celestia's sake!" Iris Glow screamed, hot anger in her voice charging the air with vicious intentions emanated maliciously from within the same natural passage. Made all the more noticeable as a flash of ethereal blue light scattered about the cave walls, followed immediately by an ear piercing blast and a rush of stale air and dust flooding out of the depths ... as the sound of crumbling rock signals another part of the cave system had collapsed in the magical explosion. Yet another tunnel passage the vile creatures won't be using to assail them.
With three more strikes Carrara's pick shattered off a massive seam edge of precious stone, roughly seventy-nine Equestrian carats worth when polished whole she guessed at. She immediately pinched the jagged mound of crystal in her forehooves, flicking her head about with the pick still in her maw to catch the magnetic latch on her rucksack and fling it open, tossing the gemstone within with her right hoof. She spat out the bit of her tool upon her left forehoof and twirled its rope fastener about her phalanx joint and the digital cushion of her heel to pinch it in place.
"Got the prize! Change of plans, we ain't staying any longer!" Carrara screamed out to her comrades as the terrible screeches reached an all too frightening volume and proximity.
Spinning about on her three spare hooves, she leapt forward over a ledge, and half-galloped towards the rope bridge in the distance. Briefly illuminated by her trace-worn lantern, a twisted mockery of Chaos Magic drew aim and fired. Swiftly she lowered her head and felt the missile fly through her mane, sparing her hide by the skin of her teeth. These beasts looked as if twisted, rat-like bipeds, with scabby tails, protruding teeth, and matted black fur. Some of them clutching cruel-looking composite bows, with strings of animal sinew bearing fire-hardened arrows set with flint shard heads in leathery quivers. Their glowing red eyes in the firefly light glistening like orbs of hate.
Rather than nocking another arrow, the beast seemed set to sprint towards her, likely to try to tear her apart with its incisors as its mouth drew open and revealed a mottled red and brown maw complete with a long, whipping tongue. She did not want to have to deal with this now, and as fate would have it ... nor would she have to. Sunny emerged and viciously planted a right forehoof blow across its temple as he flew at speed from the tunnel cavern leading into the cave mouth. The monster's limp body hitting the ground with a stunned look painting its confused features, all before it went tumbling with a screech into the black pit crossed only by an old rope and wood plank bridge.
Sunny espied for a moment the nature of his victory just to make sure it fell far from reach before setting eyes on Carrara to make sure she was okay. He was bedecked in the standard kit of one of Commander Hurricane’s soldiers in the Equestrian Expeditionary Force. That black and grey trimmed leather getup commanded a certain level of fear or respect on any other Pegasus, but on him it seemed like a child playing soldier when strapped to that violet coat and against that long blue mane and braided tail. He was laden with two saddlebags bearing his crest, and cutie mark, of three clustered lily flowers.
"We can't hold this place down!" He stated the obvious, but he wasn't saying it for either of their sake.
Those words of his was for the daffodil yellow-coated unicorn mare with the flowing mustard mane and lime green stripes, illuminated in electric blue flashes from the magical discharges of bolts she fired into the depths as she backpeddled up from the side cavern. A matching baleful blue flame cutie mark on her flank, dotted above by three differently-sized, four-pointed crimson stars. Those pale red eyes of hers bristled with inherent malevolence as her aim is true twice over.
"Cowardice!" Iris growled in regards to the suggestion of retreat, she soon smirked as she espied her designs of pain and injury as a pair of monsters crawled away from her in terror. Her stout horn still wearing a fading magic haze as she turned to her companions. "This mine could be ours, we can flush these beasts out of this cave ... and you want to surrender it to them!?" She protested in a weird ambivalence of battle fervor, naked greed and disillusionment, her left forehoof battle horseshoe stamped noisily into the rock floor in frustration.
"Their numbers are too great and this is their home ground! We got what was asked of us, so we take our spoils and live to fight another day!" Carrara barked and swept her pick armed left hoof over the cave mouth ravine and the old rope bridge. "If they manage to cut us off from this exit, by nightfall we're dead!"
Sunny nudged Iris softly, flying by her side and placing his right hoof on her shoulder blade as if to steady her emotions. She let loose a snort of disapproval as she relinquished from her thoughts the imagined gifts this cave may have bestowed upon them, and began to speed towards the rope bridge to traverse the chasm. Sunny sighed in relief before flying across the cavern, and Carrara took a moment to grab her pick with her mouth so that she may no longer be hobbled as she retreated in tow.
The 60' length of bridge was already ricketty, and Carrara initially did not wish to test two ponies on it at ones ... but to complicate matters, three giant vole monsters immediately beelined towards her. She either started cross now, or not at all, and with that even as Iris had yet to cross the far threshold of its expanse, she started barreling down its length. The voles did not follow, however ... in a display of intelligence she didn't think them capable of, they instead plunged their wicked teeth into its attached coils that kept it aloft.
She could hear the tension of the ropes slowly giving way as each coiled thread separated from the triple braid cotton fasteners, snapping like large harp strings. Miraculously she kept balance as she began to dart at reckless speed to safety, caution thrown to the wind with the occasional plank snapping underhoof. Iris dare not fire for sake of hitting what left of the footings and expediting her companion's fall as she finally crossed the the gap and sought new targets in vain.
As Carrara felt the strain on the last aged fibres of the bottom guiders about to give way, she leapt onto the steep incline of the rockface. Slamming into the hard, granite surface and grinding down its stony face as she struggled to find something, anything, to latch onto as her hooves bashed into its surface and tried to dig in. Her mouth wielded pick bounced across its pocked surface as she began to slide faster down its face.
The clatter of wood of the old rope bridge collapsing was deafening, its echo drowned out momentarily the the beastial, frenzied chitterings of their foes. With a resounding, dull clunk Carrara’s miner's pick gained purchase against the rock face at the edge of the precipice, and with a vicious jolt that on its own almost defeated her efforts not to fall, the slate blue-grey coated mare dangled over the cave pit. Her polished iron barding saving her fur from being grated on its rough edge. Teeth clenched for dear life around the bit of her tool that planted a sharp kiss into the pocked granite walls of the mouth into the abyssal depths.
“I know I packed just the thing, hold on for one moment!” Sunny cried, momentarily flitting over the edge and retreating back after espying her predicament.
Carrara's dark grey eyes snapped to Sunny Side, and his retreat, with furrowed irritation in her glare, wordless as her mouth was securely wrapped about her pick.
She spared an eye to the cave pit below her and the time-honed stalagmites and flowstones awaiting her flesh if she fell. Their deadly points irradiated in a dull emerald sheen bouncing off the calcite surface from the Everfree Firefly lantern she wore on her trace harnass, as if mineral teeth wrapped in shadowy gums of a more distant cave floor like some gigantic dragon's mouth. Ire grew to impatient growls through clenched teeth as his retreated form felt an eternity of absence as she dangled there, but in truth had been a mere 18 seconds. Fell thoughts of fear and impatience combined that was finally dispelled as a flicker of his muzzle flashed just above the edge, his teeth wrapped about a coiled rope ladder that he tossed down. It bounced and unravelled 4 inches from her face harmlessly, and with a precision of deployment she gave silent respect for. Secured in ways unseen, and thus left only with faith to test she pushed off the rockface in a daring skip with her hooves and released the steel pick from its temporary lodgings.
Wrapping a hoof and foreleg successfully about a rung, she flicked the improvised climbing tool still in her maw so that its rope fastener would slip over her short black mane upon her neck to fall upon her stout wither and clang against her tormented armour plating on her torso. ‘About time!’ she was going to scream, before she saw pale blue bolts of eldritch energy explode into the dark recesses of the tunnel they just exited before, when attempting the perilous rope bridge crossing.
"Incoming volley!" Iris screamed. Her long, sharp horn glowing an ethereal electric blue once more as she lined another shot. As in the distance, more rodent archers made their appearances. A sudden din of arrows flitting from tight bowstrings and dinging harmlessly against the rock shelf, and more returned fire from her horn as horrid squeals erupted in response.
“Hoof it!” The dangling Earth pony barked as both the Pegasus and unicorn then pulled and levitated the oak-rung rope ladder to assist in their compatriot’s exfiltration from the surly bonds of gravity over the pit. And under intensifying arrow fire, spared no time in galloping in the near pitch towards the ever blooming flower of seeping light that signposted the entrance of the cave… leaving behind the chittering Volekin archers of twisted dark magic designs to their impotent rage.
Just another week on the Equestrian Frontier...
After a thousand hoof falls and wing flaps, their gallop through the surrounding forest turned to a slow canter and then trot, and finally a full stop as they rounded a creek and took shelter against an overgrown willow threatening to turn a small chortling creek channel into a puddle-like pond with its roots. An unspoken repose that would have been awkward if not for the adrenaline transforming into audible soft pants of fatigue. A quiet welcome of their growing safety as they felt that tingle of flowing blood cool in the veins. The tension fading into barely-restrained jubilation that needed no words as they looked at each other to see that they were, miraculously, unharmed.
As the bright glory of Celestia’s morning graces filtered through dangling branches of the occulting tree cover, the Earth pony checked her saddlebag rucksack. Retrieving their prize ‘requisitioned’ from a gemstone seam within the depths of that hellish place they almost called their tomb. The small melon-sized green and gold-flecked gemstone, damn near humming with magic as beams of morning light shot through it and burst into magical rainbows, their light dancing against her grey coat and battered armour as she held it up for them all to see.
About time they had a solid win…
She looked to her partners in plunder. All of them having caught their breath, stifled immediately as they saw the majestic gem in her hoof glimmer with arcane forces in its crystalline matrices when caressed by Celestia’s gifted light. A smile creeping across their faces. Despite being a slip of a pony compared to the stockier Carrara and the much taller, elegant form of Iris, the near-colt Sunny athletically zipped above and past the presented gem to Carrara's left flank with an alacrity that suggested speed and agility despite his saddlebags. His repositioning allowing himself to look at the sun through the gemstone itself and watch as the magical potential of the arcane bounty resonate and shimmer within, and cooed at the awe inspiring treasure.
“Three rounds of cider, my shout.” Carrara beamed as she gently tossed the gem up and down in her steady right hoof.
“You’re going soft, Marble…” Iris grinned. “What were you saying about unicorns only a few months ago?” She stared at the Earth pony at least 20 winters her elder, leaning closer and with her left fore hoof almost pushing her wickedly indented battle horseshoe into her armoured chest as if an accusatory jab. Using her menacing footwear, close proximity, and her five inches of superior height over the Earth pony to sinister effect as the words crawled from her maw with an edge of feigned danger. “As I recall, it wasn’t very flattering...” She said with a mockery of a threatening tone.
“You misjudge. I said now you lot are actually doing something for Equestria given that a pair of ponies has managed to take over your entire tribe’s responsibilities.” Carrara said with a biting, practiced lack of charm. “That’s somewhat of a compliment, Iris…” She emphasised with a smile that could only be described as ‘asking for trouble’, tilting her muzzle to the morning sun as if punctuate her point.
“Oh …? I don’t seem to recall you doing much more than picking out that lovely hunk of bits out of the cave wall... or should I say carrots or carrot juice?" Her tone low and maligning, before levelling her head to stare at Carrara dead in the eyes. "All before running like a scared foal...” She said with a slow drawl that oozed contempt. In the late autumn air, a soft plume of vapour escaping her maw to match that dragonesque bearing and posture.
“I'll have you know, Chancellor Puddinghead turned out to be ten times the leader than that King Bullion and that foal of his. It's just that the Chancellor's laws required ... 'creative solutions'. In comparison, how's that near destitute royal family of yours? Sudden depreciation of once rare stones is a curse, is it not?" Carrara chortled, weathering the insult against her Earth pony culture with a tribalist barb of her own.
Despite the barding’s imposition, with a dancer’s grace Carrara tossed the gem up and shuffles with a skip and elegant trot, and caught the mineral within her rucksack. Eyes never betraying the surety of her motions and where the precious stone would fall. A flick of her flank closing the flap as an audible *clink* of magnetized plates ensured the securing of the gem in the bag that covered her right flank. She relished in the visual metaphor of an Earth pony artfully sealing away a precious stone afore the unicorn's eyes, it was the cherry on the cake!
Even though Iris was behind her, she took pleasure in somehow imagining the sincere daggers of her companion’s eyes squared at the back of her neck. It was almost too easy riling Iris up … The victory for Carrara Marble was short lived, however. The now ever present soft flap of Sunny that had shadowed her for the last 5 of Luna’s cycles made itself known as it flittered down to her right side and all too eye level as to Carrara's capacity to ignore.
“We barely escaped with our lives … and you want to kill each other now? You know, you could have just left it at the gracious offer of the cider and bit your tongue.” A soft, yet somehow still chastising peep emanating from his throat. His words drew a roll of the eyes from Carrara and Iris, both. At least in this they shared an opinion. The Pegasus was nothing if not a picture of congeniality. Sunny was training his gaze on the growingly irritated Carrara attempted to train her focus in front of her, but it was impossible to ignore his gaze. Those light blue eyes boring into her as if demanding she respond. Naturally she relented … the winged slip of a pony had a way of dispelling animosity.
“Iris, I’m so--…” Carrara bit her tongue, maybe there was a better way to frame it that didn’t play into Iris’ critique. “You know what, Sunny? – You’re right. We did good back there. Why spoil the moment?” As she turned to Iris, happy with the warm tone and approach that needn’t include a real apology. “Offer still stands…” She provided an uncharacteristically soft smile. Stopping her stride to allow Iris to catch up at her own pace as they journeyed back towards the path that would lead them north and then east back to the Crystal Empire.
To her surprise Iris didn’t stop, merely passed both the Pegasus and Earth pony by. The way she brushed them off, head held so damn high, a vague yet audible huff of disregard emitting from her throat. This cut deep to the darkest parts of Carrara’s psyche, but before she could summon a scathing retort Iris spoke. Clear as crystal, dispelling the angst and anger both Carrara and Sunny felt in spades.
“Make it four, and I’ll forget it ever happened…” Her words as if a soft shower to cool hot tempers, enough that the journey back to the Great Yakyakistan Trail was almost pleasant.
It would take two and a half days by hoof back to the Crystal Empire as they followed the wintry expanse of the Arctic trail. The winning prize in Carrara's rucksack only heightened the sense of relief they all felt in turn when they set up their second night’s campsite. It always felt good when the lighter load of spent rations and other supplies was replaced by the bounties of the world. And even better when such a small trinket or gem can buy a mountain of bits upon their arrival in a market. The frigid cold put a dampener on their spirits, but it was temporary if only for the culinary blessings provided by Sunny Side.
He had brought coal to burn, a meagre fire to warm their enclosed shelter, and was already preparing the minutiae of their warm meal. Nothing fancy, but a nomadic lifestyle on the Equestrian Frontier 'nothing fancy' could mean heavenly in general relativity.
Blanched carrots and broccoli, finished in a concentrated vegetable stock broth he kept in a large flask diluted with fresh melted ice from a nearby snow drift. The survival training Sunny displayed gave credence to the idea they were supposedly ex-service. Moreover ... apparently Sunny was a lawpony in Hurricane's Aerial Cavalry. Where else would he learn to do this fieldcraft stuff?
Carrara didn’t complain, despite remembering how Hurricane's soldiers treated Earth pony farmers in the Old Lands. That was a generation ago and since then, Carrara excused in her mind, Hurricane's forces have been a dependable resource in protecting settlers and travellers in Central Equestria today—regardless of the tribe.
That and carrot & broccoli stew beat the endless meals of porridge, or rolled oats straight out of the sack, that she and Iris used to resort to before they soft-enlisted the Pegasus. An entirely austere diet regimen that was cheap, easy, and one that would inevitably be fuel for their fiery tempers the longer the journey took them from the comforts of a warm stable and an easy meal with more than one ingredient. Sunny changed all that.
“Why do you insist on cooking all the time…?” Carrara asked Sunny slaving over the portable grill, her inquisitorial tone as if to underpin the nature of the question being to confirm her suspicions.
“Because I want to see you healthy -- and happy…” The stallion spoke. His tone edged with a sense of angst as if some past trauma.
‘Dead on,’ Carrara thought as to her suspicions, looking over to Iris who hadn’t cotton on to the meaning behind the stallion’s words, or was merely content to warm her hooves by the coals. Apparently the stallion was a diplomat and remembered our first week of them travelling together all too well. Sneaky little devil, but then again this felt like acceptable manipulation of their conduct. If only because, as Celestia as her witness, she didn’t enjoy the squabbles … well, maybe a little.
“You know…?” Iris’ soft voice broke what was a quiet passage of introspection for the older Earth pony mare … their eyes trailing to Iris lost as she watched their meal cook and the red hot coals beneath. A slight pause stifled any other voices before she finished her thoughts, usually the troubling signs of when one pony was going to suggest something somewhat underhanded.
"We could ditch this request, go south. I hear Princess Luna is personally heading up that Canterlot construction project. A lot of my tribe are there also, and I’ve heard there’s some lucrative contracts on offer… particularly concerning some of the caves they found. Why exactly are we going to the Crystal Empire again? Canterlot is a better place to be if we want to see more action… and the rewards of that gem may even be treble that in the right market with the right demand.” Iris finally finished her train of thought.
And there it was, the inevitable. Carrara scoffed, which would’ve generated a barbed response from the unicorn mare if it wasn’t followed by a furrowed brow and Carrara lifting a hoof to her muzzle in contemplation as if it wasn’t such a mad idea. A thousand yard stare as if she seemed to ponder that which lay on the horizon beyond the heavy canvas of their shelter. A reverie broken by the stallion’s protest that quickly pulled her back to reality.
“We gave our word to the Royal Gemsmith. Besides, the Crystal Faire preparations is in full swing. They have been most gracious to allow us temporary board in the city and to rebuke her requests would set a bad precedent for our reputation…” He lifted his right hoof and pointed in Iris’ direction, but that tone of his suggested that Carrara was no less a recipient of such critique. “We want ponies coming to us with requests to aid them, not have to seek them out from people who might recognize our untrustworthiness in the end if we pull such stunts as you’re suggesting!” His tone dismissive and scathing. Sunny had a valid point… But Iris was never going to let such a lecture slide.
“Please! -- We could just say we didn’t find what they’re looking for via a messenger. And frankly there’s going to be more work down south, particularly with those affected by the wild weather that has been stirring up... you should know that best as a Pegasus.” She grinned and leaned forward towards the stallion. “I thought that you wanted to help those poor ponies more… didn’t you end up giving half your cut on the last job to that charity drive?” Iris' tone more than a little provocative.
Carrara’s eyes followed as if a protracted rally between the pair. She gulped quietly, because she felt three’s a crowd and inevitably as if an umpire she’d have to declare something out of bounds before it resorted to a fight.
“The problems of the realms is not merely in the south. We can better the ponies in these lands just as much as those maligned by that Chaos Magic…” He retorted, withdrawing his hoof only to thrust it out once again as if to hammer home the point. “Especially if we prove to the Crystal ponies that we are the right ones to be entrusted with such things. Such word travels, and may even find us warm welcome when we do head that way!”
Carrara caught herself nodding, all without even really knowing it at the time. Iris looked like she had more words, but catching a glimpse that two of the party had already made up their minds on the matter she bit her tongue. And in a surprisingly conciliatory huff of exasperation she herself gave a soft nod in general agreement.
“You’re right … sorry. But how many weeks are we going to be here? The Crystal Empire has its libraries, but I feel like the world is passing it by.” Iris said with a soft, disappointed drawl, as if to give expression and weight to the real reasons she wanted to go south. The stallion sighed and looked to Carrara, an awkward silence. Somehow worse when ponies had nothing else to say as opposed to merely squabbling.
“Honestly, I feel the same way…” Carrara added. “The Crystal Empire is starting to feel … homey … and not in a good way.” She explored her feelings, taking time to examine the faces of her companions. Her voice crept back, allowing it some strength once more. “I’m starting to forget what it was like near where we first all met, and I wouldn’t mind a chance of visiting my father at Two Sisters' Lodge beyond if we are going down that way.” She noted in edgeways.
“So after the Faire, southbound…” Iris smiled, her tone sympathetic and that warmth of her face almost sisterly and sincere.
“Southbound…” The stallion said with slightly more conviction.
“Southbound.” As if an answer to a question no one really asked. Carrara chuckled.
Fate didn’t intend for such espirit de corps to last as long as it was welcome, as their meal began to boil over in the kettle pot and drove them to other thoughts. Like those concerning their hunger.
They all began to pour the slightly salty vegetable stew into their wooden bowls, leaving nothing to waste after eating their fill in quiet. Dumping the rest of their meagre coal supplies on the fire and sparing no time to use its warmth to curl up on their bedrolls in the claustrophobic confines of the canvas tent and sleep. By midday tomorrow, they’ll be before the Crystal Palace, and not long afterwards a warm bath.
… and at least the 12 tankards of cider between them.
***
Bitterly cold only 5 hours before, passing through the magical sphere that protected the Crystal Empire from the icy tendrils of arctic wind and snow felt like it had given Carrara’s aging body chilblains, but she wasn’t complaining. She was comforted, if quietly, by watching Iris nicker and gawp excitedly at seeing civilization once more. Their hooves touched down on worked stone roads two hours ago and now the spire and estate of the Crystal Palace as viewed from a distance had grown to remarkable size and dominated their vision. The monolithic structure that deserved a healthy respect as a partly natural wonder of the land.
The further they proceeded, the noisier it got. Shielded wagons pulled by Earth ponies carrying trade goods between chartered trading houses and warehouses got more frequent as orders were likely piling up to continue to feed the demands of paying customers looking for treats and wares. As a farmer during her filly years before and during the Great Blizzard and Migration, she knew she’d see a lot of salt-of-the-Earth ponies. All of them from the neighbouring outskirts farmholds. They were going to be travelling to the city, today.
Mid-late autumn was the end of the big harvests, winter wheat harvests specifically, as well as numerous orchards ripe for the picking. Her memories flickered of her being a young filly and helping cart their precious-little grain to the mill, due to the growing cold of the Great Blizzard leaving them with such poor harvests. The Crystal Empire was going to be hungry for that fresh produce. The sweet smell of jam-making shops perfumed the air with a dose of saccharine tempting the tastebuds. All the farming folk and subsidiary industries should be quite busy for one whole moon, and no doubt she knew she was not going to leave this town without some preserves at the markets after she’s had a chance to rest.
Right now, however, Carrara was feeling too reserved and fatigued due to her travels, and knowing the streets were going to be rife with hawkers and more she was not enthused to the prospect of braving the stalls. She just wanted a cosy stable and bath. She looked to Iris as she somehow picked up the pace of her trot into a slow canter, as if Iris was feeding from the social energy rather than simply happy for a soft hay mattress. Celestia’s sake, was it impossible to be that young again? The pain in her hips answered that well enough. Fortunately she kept in shape that the rest of her body did not rebel too much. Iris taking notice of the older mare and paused. She smiled and lowered her head to look her eye-to-eye.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Marble. You know they’ve been experimenting with mass transit magical flight? Apparently both here and in Canterlot they’ve already got workshops dedicated to the task of experimenting with a few designs.” She noted softly.
“I’ve told you a million times, ‘airships’ are a fantasy. The energy yield of the fuel required is too high and the power to weight ratio of the rigging, bladders, and finally the hull too low when even using large naphtha burners. And even then, only if the winds are blowing in the right direction and you routinely replace the cloth to avoid heat brittling…” She paused to let those words to sink in. “--It’s aerodynamically unsound for transporting that many ponies or cargo. You’d need to haul so much naphtha in the first place that it would be uneconomical--” She began to list all the problems with the airy-fairy dreams of non-winged flight.
“Who said anything about naphtha?” Iris scowled, furrowing her brow, interjecting into the lecture she was very much not in the mood to hear. As she turns to look at her before speeding off a bit to catch more of the sights.
“Neither wood, coking coal, peat nor—“ She caught up momentarily, her tone downright cantankerous, now. Silenced mid-lecture with Iris’ outburst once again as Carrara moved to intercept.
“Oh, come now! Heating spells are far more efficient, magically loomed silk strands varnished with rubber sap to create lighter air cells than any Earth pony weavers could make with their flax. Timed wind patterns by the Pegasi for routine aerial transit pathways…” As she faced the angered Carrara, but her whimsical interests suddenly diverted in the assorted garbage various stalls we’re fishing for her attention with before darting off to one stall in the distance. The young mare was about to suffer her own dose of rudeness as Carrara kept pace if only to give her a piece of her far more learned mind.
“Oh yes, we’ll just convert all our orchards to grow rubber trees for cloth treatment, and mulberry leaves for silkworms to munch on, just so unicorns can create million-bit boondoggle services few ponies could afford. All to have fanciful air yachts to swan about on!” Carrara steamed. “Clearly the progress ponies everywhere need! Substituting both a food stuff and a fabrication material in one with luxury goods production will solve all our problems!” She continued to fume.
“I thought you’d be all for it … surely you would love to see unicorn magic used to improve the efficiency of your daily grind? We only want to spare a thought to your kind and show you a better, more elegant manner of living.” She said with a characteristic huff. Once more pulling away as the impudent youth challenged not only hersuperiorintellect but her Earth pony pride, and that would not stand.
“Luna help me, we’ll be taking a river barge to Neighagra Falls basin! You know, time tested, proven ships!? With sails and oars!? Just like any sane pony from now till eternity will be using? Is this what all of you are going to be like now you’re no longer spending some of your energies shifting the Sun and the Moon around! Playing mad magicians in that tower-strewn future Canterlot all Celestia-loving-day!?” As Carrara felt a flush of anger coming on, she caught speed to chastise the ridiculous youth at close range.
"Speaking of the Princesses ... you do know that this was their idea to more intimately connect the ponies across the Herdlands? Not only that, but also part of their ideas on how to assist the colonization effort beyond the Edge of the Known?" Iris ribbed the angered Earth pony. Trailing ahead as she quickened her gait, Iris' wither and head held so damn high. Her tune and posture kept aloft as if something so specious as her appeal to authority wouldn't brook any further response.
"As glorious as the Duumvirate are, they themselves are younger than Equestria proper. I'm not about to take their word about what is needed in the Herdlands. Neither am I going to place so much stock in their ideas on how to tame the Frontier! Nothing is going to replace an Earth pony wagon or ship for getting things done! It was ponies like me and others who discovered the White Tail expanse at the dawn of Equestria! Whether now, or a thousand years hence, it will be an Earth pony wagon that forms the first grooves in new trails to be made!" Carrara scoffed, her tone carrying a sharpened edge of boastful pride. Immediately pulling aside the insolent unicorn, making sure she could register her glare from her right flank.
Tit for tat barbed commentary ensued, like exchanged volleys of arrow fire, and the occasional verbal ballista bolt to really cause some emotional bruising.
Iris suddenly chortled, breaking off verbal hostilities, a wicked smile crossing her lips as she spoke, “Bet you’re not thinking about that arthritis you pretend you don’t have?” As she lifted her front left hoof to point at the Royal Gemsmith’s Exchange in the administrative district near the south-west footing of the Grand Crystal Palace. Carrara paused. Did she really move that fast? Did Iris cast a spell? She didn’t see any blue glow of her horn.
“Speaking of flax … while you’re here, buy some flaxseed oil. It works wonders with bones.” Iris chided once more.
“I’ll check it out, thanks.” Carrara said, half-hearted. Feeling foalish and exposed. For the first time in a while she felt stripped of her defences. Unsure of herself, no quips, witticisms or glib remarks availed themselves to help her emotional strength. She just felt weakened. Iris for her part, seeing her demeanour change and hearing her tone sag and quieten, just exhaled softly.
“If you’re wondering, I don’t see an aging mare when I look at you… I see a mare who isalivequite unlike anypony I have ever known.” Iris spoke with surprising warmth. As that predatory smile before had softened with the delivery of the compliment. “And I mean it, flaxseed oil. I use it for an old leg sprain that still gives me grief on occasion. I’ll get you a jar when next I’m at the apothecary.” A parting gift of words, before she trotted off.
Anger afforded Carrara Marble a powerful anaesthetic, apparently. Of course the placebo effect was wearing off, and now she also had to deal with the crushing realization Iris had managed to play her like a fiddle. When did the student become the mistress? Carrara’s ego gave (allowed?) it no further thought beyond the token kindness she offered at the end. A creeping smile etched across her muzzle despite it all, as she pushed open the door into the brightly lit counter-front of the Empire’s Royal Gemsmith Exchange. With renewed confidence that Iris provided her… tired, hip aching … yet she felt good. As she reconciled, if only for a moment, that she were still young in the cosmic scheme of things that she couldn't give description to but believed in all the same.
Sunny was there, beaming as if proud of his labours, and no doubt only helped Carrara feel even better. For that stallion bore a smile that spoke only earnest kindness and happiness, and for as long as they knew eachother it seemed both worthy and true as to its evocation every single time. Offering an exuberant wave as he flitted a foot above the ground he beckoned her over as if to signal the end of his negotiations. Carrara had asked for him to fly ahead to get the paperwork in order given he could get there sooner and she wouldn’t be in the mood to deal with that with an aching rump. Like always he did a bang up job it seemed.
“We’ve already agreed upon the total of daily expenses, and the bounty for timely delivery…” As the young stallion indicated to the sparkling green coated unicorn mare. She smiled and regarded Carrara warmly in those sweet yellow eyes in turn.
“You’ve done us a service, have no doubt. The Guard will be pleased with the products of the materials you brought me today. We needed more enchanted armour and goldshimmer emerald is perfect for barding protection charms. You have the gratitude of the court.” She said with practiced grace before stamping an official writ with the seal of the Crystal Empire’s treasury. A tone of worrying appreciation carried on every syllable, as if they were waiting upon that gemstone's delivery with dire anticipations.
“Happy to serve the good Princess Amore and the Crystal Empire.” Carrara smiled and took the attested writ of the exchequer and placed it into her rucksack, not allowing her curiosity of the Gemsmith's qualms get in the way of the transaction. Whatever problems there were, evidently they were looking to their military to handle it and slim chances that foreigners would be informed of state secrets. ‘3000 bits!’ She screamed in her head. Sunny would, undoubtedly, be more stoked for the cause of helping their security efforts in light of the troubling auspices on the horizon. Regardless, it’s not like both their happiness cannot be found in one, tight,lucrativepackage. Now it was time to spend their good fortunes.
She stepped outside with the stallion in tow. And both had to admire as the noonday sun made the palace glow like a beacon of civilization in the otherwise frozen wastes. She shook her head and gave the stallion a soft nudge with her left flank.
“Come on. I’m tired, I owe you a drink and I want a solid few to make sure as soon as I hit that mattress I’m out. The stalls don’t close till Luna’s open eye hangs highest in the sky. Not only that, but tomorrow is when the big festivities start. Given the main attractions tomorrow, a lot of stores do their best business the day and night prior.” She explained in her 'teacher's voice', her worldly experience bleeding through as the young pony flittered besides her and was absorbing her words.
“Really? Is that the crystal berry feast, Cara? Pie?! Treats?!” He started, excitedly. Carrara smiled and nodded. It was nice to have a pony that actually respected her opinions and knowledge so readily.
“There’s also the joust and Crystalling, but you probably already knew that…” She said with a grin, as the stallion damn near swooned. Every pony had their vices and Sunny was no different. He liked a flutter of coin on games of chance and skill, and the jousts were particularly popular for that given a strong combination of the pair. As a colt, Carrara imagined he might have looked up to those shining mares and stallions as so many colts and fillies do … and he wasn’t so distantly removed from being a colt.
“We can watch the preparation runs later this afternoon, check out the form of some of the knights! You’re not excited? The gasps of the crowd!? The suspense!? Victory and defeat measured in inches and degrees with each blow!? Are you going!?” He beamed, a sweeping aerial ring about her as she chuckled.
“Not especially—Watching armoured mares and stallions brain themselves with blunted lances is not my idea of entertainment. The Crystalling is pretty gorgeous though, as is the crystal berry jam. Just waiting for some fresh-baked scones…” She had to stop, she was making herself hungry. “Aside, we just got in town. Apparently you’ve already had a bath … I haven’t. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.” It was true, and she felt the need to make the overly keen Pegasus realize that by lifting both her forehooves to show off the accumulated dust of the road. Her armour plates in no less a shape.
“So … the Polished Stone?” He asked, a nervous smile creeping across his features as he tried to pretend as if she hadn’t such a strong olfactory-based argument as she reminded him. Generating little but a sigh and a nod from the mare.
“There is someone I need you to meet with at day's end, however.” Carrara noted to the Pegasus.
The day after the festival, even before Celestia’s first light truly broke away from the horizon’s edge, the trio were waiting by the Neighagra River wharf. Carrara and Iris dressed in feather-down brown hooded cloaks kept rigid against the cold breeze with their laden saddlebags on top. Sunny making do by tucking his splayed wings closer to his body for insulation over more of his body. Pegasi dimensions, or more so their wings, made finding decent pony cloaks with his undersized proportions difficult in this stretch of Equestria. Both Carrara and Iris reasoned that Pegasi were used to the cold given their work with weather. His seeming lack of shivering or hunching against the occasional biting wind down from the mountains seemed to suggest he was made of more rugged stuff than he appeared.
Carrara spooned out some crystal berry jam to pour the rich red preserve on her scone from a small pile within a cheap linen bag, before taking a hefty bite of the rich, creamy, slightly salty dough bread. Her hooves clopped approvingly against the wooden dock, looking as content as a mare could be.
Iris had already began to help herself to Carrara's provisions without request nor repayment, likely thinking that Carrara should pay for breakfast given she was their ad hoc leader of their band, at least when it came to covering costs in her mind. Levitating yet another to her mouth and relishing in what is likely the first crystal berry jam topped scones she had ever had. She took time to regard Sunny’s displeasure in the soft pre-morning drizzle at the edge of the protective bubble that shielded the Crystal Empire from Arctic chills, as well as allowed the vitally important navigable river and fresh water source flowing gently all year long.
“Come hither, you foal. Eat while you have a chance!” Iris tempted. Wafting a scone in front of Sunny's muzzle. The stallion taking a bite as he eyeballed the pair with irritation in those big blue eyes. Yet more of Carrara's entirely independent purchase of baked goods spent on other's apetites, but she bore such enforced charity with grace and practiced hospitality.
“You know? Never been to the Crystalling before! For the first time I espied Princess Amore in the coat, herself. And you pulled me away just as I was about to personally meet one of the fairest beauties and heroines I will ever have the pleasure to encounter.” – The Pegasus started as if lost in regret.
“Well now I don’t feel guilty at all when you put it like that. I’m standing right here!” Iris haughtily proclaimed, interrupting Sunny rather than letting him dwell on lost opportunities. Using humour as if to avoid an inevitable recreation of their argument.
Carrara was not sure what exactly had transpired, as she was mercifully drinking her fill of cider and stuffing her face with crystal berry tart at the time. Something about a flugelhorn? Carrara was interested in how something like a flugelhorn precipitated into Sunny missing his chance to meet one of his idols, but considered the answer to the mystery unworthy of resparking that strife between them.
Meanwhile... Iris began striking a pose and lifting her left forearm to the knee perpendicular to the ground and letting her cannon elegantly drop, with the pastern held back and the tip of her hoof pointed down. Those cruel looking iron battle shoes helping to marry ‘sinister’ with ‘suggestive’ as she gave him a grin. Standing tall and wither set proud. Appreciably taller than both of them, and cutting a more elegant profile than Carrara could ever manage.
Even if most of Iris’ body was covered by that heavy cloak, she could carry herself with a grace few could ever compare favourably with. Ethereal electric blue horn glow playing against her frazzled locks of her mane as that scone and jam half-eaten treat still hovered, bathed in matching light, right before the Pegasus in attempted conciliation.
“Looks fade. I used to be a fetching vision in my youth, as well.” Carrara said with a snort. She too wished to spike the air with notes of humour, rather than simmering antipathy, and felt this was best achieved by coaxing a potential glimmer of introspection as to the unicorn's vanity.
“Thank you for noticing ... and sure you were.” Iris’ reply curt and immediate. The second half delivered with expert sarcasm somehow hurt Carrara more than any wittier jab Iris was capable of. Of greater pains, however, was that her barb before not only fed her ego, but was the platform from which Carrara was so quickly hung as to leave her without a reply.
Sunny was uncharacteristically less than accepting of the display and the retort Iris gave, but his better nature won through as he simply took a finishing bite of what remained of the aerial meal and turned his head away. As if with a charming, high-blooded disregard that both could appreciate, at least in comparison to a lecture or yet another argument. All with that edge of visible, practiced nobility and restraint.
“Well, I suppose it wasn’t all for nothing, and the other aspects of the Faire were just gorgeous and such fun! I managed to win about 60 bits on the jousts! I also managed to exchange that writ into gemstones that should fetch a decent price with the ponies down south, particularly given Cara's friends at the subsidiary stoneworks company giving us a 'mate's rates' for those they unearthed at their quarries.” He said somewhat diplomatically.
“'You don't chalk up my discovery as a triumph to our exploits at the Faire!?” Iris scoffed. “That ruby amulet dating from the old Unicorn Kingdoms, one that allows me a point-defence shield I can conjure that is twice as resilient as what I can usually summon!” She stated with prideful conviction; “That was a rare and fortuitous find!”
“It also cost you 960 bits …” Sunny turned to her, disapprovingly. “I take it you’ll be borrowing money from myself and Cara before we land more work?” He said with a soft snort of irritation.
“But of course!” She said, as if that was to be utterly expected. “This magic helps all of us, not just me. I’m thinking of the party here and graciously donating a large sum of my gains to the wellbeing of us all. Marble here at least understands that much!”
“Understands …? Or tolerates…?” He queried with an inquisitorial tone. “There is a line, and Cara seems very much the latter.” He painted a picture with his words and tone that suggested misconduct.
At the sound of her nickname, Carrara gave Sunny a right hoof point in his direction. A sly smile on her muzzle, as if confirmation he hit the mark clear and true. As she trailed her eyes from him to Iris to make sure there was no question of that as she remained pointing in his direction.
“I didn’t know my magical power and talents were so underappreciated.” The tone Iris wore on her throat was veiled hurt. She was good at it, but 6 moons of travelling together had taught Carrara well. Her emotional shields were not shared in Sunny however.
“I … I didn’t mean it like that.” He peeped. Voice returning to that characteristic softness of spirit. Hook, line and sinker, he bought in.
“No … it’s nothing. It’s just… don’t you remember that magic compass of the Sunset Strider Company I managed to find in that shop? Helped us spare days in finding and saving that lost caravan in the mountains outside the colony of New Maretherland once I tuned its pointer to the specific Crystal Empire gemstones the caravan was carting?” She mewled, playing to their memories of the event. “You said that was a frivolous expense, too… but you and Marble benefitted no less from the reward of saving them, didn’t you?”
“I … but …” Sunny was looking somewhat ashamed.
“It’s just that by this point I hoped that I would have earnt your trust by now…” Her head sagged low to the ground, masterfully using the coat hood to obfuscate her face to suggest she was hiding potential tears. Devious.
“Look, I’m sorry... I don’t mind, really.” Sunny said as if to cheer her up. Carrara smiled to herself, closing her eyes and sighing. It was, if anything, a touching and sincere display of at least the stallion’s good nature. And Iris did have somewhat of a point. Celestia knows what would have happened to that caravan if they didn’t find them sooner when they were accosted by a tatzlwurm.
“--I suppose Shetland Mill would remark that to mutual gain, lay mutual responsibility to endeavour in kind reward. Due to the necessity of ponies to implement forward planning and foresight as much as possible to be moral beings, to effect the best outcomes conducive to the wellbeing of others. And the highest moral fibre would be irrespective of specific beneficiaries and beholden by the rules that govern the greatest generation of possible happiness…” Sunny said softly with an uplifted beat and warm smile.
Iris prodded and raked at the ground with her battle shoes softly, as if still wearing the maligning colours of distress. She didn’t respond.
“--And naturally me and Cara should pitch in 320 bits each in order to offset the cost of such an item given through you it may protect us all irrespective of who truly benefits.” He beamed. Stating as if all too matter-of-factly for his own personal good – or wellbeing.
“Wait, what!?” Carrara glowered for a moment, flicking her tail angrily at the thought as if swatting an imagined fly.
She swiftly forced a sweeter countenance as she recognized the tables had been turned on her, 2 against 1. And she damn near felt a menacing grin and eyeball from Iris’ supposedly downcast features. 'I’ll kill him,' the thought raced in her skull. Uprooting all sense of the warmness she regarded him but only seconds prior. And with that Iris lifted her head and rubs her eyes of those heinous, imagined crocodile tears. A soft smile born of a thespian’s talent made their lines across her muzzle.
“Thanks. I just know it will come in handy on our trip! You’ll see!” Iris said with practiced guile.
Even if cheated, and knowingly so, Carrara had no real gripes in the end. She was used to it, and to be fair she was just as much a scamp in her youth. Maybe this was what the old ponies used to call karma? Moments later they heard new voices in the fog, through the low mist the figures of three ponies finally emerged. Two Earth ponies and a unicorn, the two younger of the trio looking unethused but the oldest one amidst their ranks looked positively buzzed. Their entrance upon the scene ending the thoughts as to Iris conning them out of bits to secure for herself ever greater powers at her disposal.
“And that’d be the master of our river fleet.” As Carrara caught sight of an appreciably older Earth pony. Pointing with a right hoof singling him out. Iris instead decided to take stock of the other ponies on the wharf and tried to make sense of the seeming prognostication.
“How do you kn--?” Iris started but Carrara waved her off, as she strode out to the old pony.
“Cara!” he trotted forth and close well into her personal space, and Carrara none-too-minded. Lifting her right forearm and hooked it around the old timer. A tight squeeze as the pair of them emitted a series of laughs. He had a dappled brown coat, darker brown mane and tail. His cutie mark appeared as if a laden swing arm but it was hard to tell beneath the straps of the saddle bag.
“I still remember when you were but still a filly…” As he relinquished Carrara from his grip, but still kept his left fore-hoof against her right shoulder blade. Lowering his right hoof down lower than his wither. “Like this high, how you’ve grown! When I heard from Sandy there’d be a familiar face waiting for me, I couldn’t imagine it was going to be you!” He said as he felt comfortable with her maturity to give her a solid hoof slap against her shoulder blade that might’ve faltered her stance when she was much younger.
Even into his twilight years, he still had a vigour about him that seemed ineffable. Just like she remembered so fondly, and a great deal of why she was so glad to see him. She flustered beneath her fur, rubbing the back of her mane, embarrassed that he would remember and hold her memory with such affection. She tried to find a reply, but instead defaulted to the easy conversation piece that was her waiting friends.
“Oh! And not just me! I'd like to introduce you to two friends of mine!” She pointed her left hoof at Iris and Sunny in turn. Introducing them to what was still a stranger. Stepping forward slightly, and nodding in turn as their name sounded off. “This is Iris -- and Sunny.” She beamed. Fulcrum, with Old Land graces, bowed his head respectfully in greetings.
“Charmed to meet you! They call me Fulcrum, Fulcrum Point... but you can just call me ‘Fully’, everyone does. I help organize the trip, and take down additional orders and design schematics from repeat clientele on site.” He declared his job detail to Iris and Sunny. He then turned to Carrara and began to mess up her mane with his left hoof. “Was this one’s supervisor during her apprenticeship at the Sandy Design Stoneworks Company … Learnt on site stone tracing and detailing from yours truly!” Fulcrum said proudly and chuckled, as Carrara suffered his affections graciously.
Sunny Side merely laughed with Fulcrum, but Iris Glow grinned.
“Really ...?” Iris almost purred. “And what was Mar—Cara like as a filly? Why, the way she carries herself now. I imagine she got her sense of humour from you, then?” Iris was working the target, naturally, for some embarrassing dirt while Carrara could only hope to handle the heavy hoof mussing up her mane. Fulcrum stopped the affectionate assault on his ex-student’s scalp, looking at the unicorn mare.
“Cara? A sense of humour!?” He laughed incredulously. “She was always so huffy! Rigid. Even on her days off she was always busy with her studies, and watching the journeyponies at work and taking notes.” He said with affection that quickly evolved to a note of sadness. “But then again, understandable. At least back in those days… didn’t have a lot of friends. Glad to hear she’s made some, now. I take it you all are working together in the Canterlot settlement now? Earning a few carrots on the side?” He queried to the pair.
Iris raised an eyebrow at that, and Sunny merely looked perplexed. Carrara managed to pull herself away and shook her head and mane as if to reset her former teacher’s rough designs on her fur.
“Yeah, I was boring.” She said as if dismissively to Iris, before turning back to Fulcrum. “And no, we're currently … in between jobs. What gave you that idea we were cutters or detailers in a workshop?” She looked at him curiously.
“Hrm….” He uttered as if similarly confused. He opened up his right saddlebag and fetched a length of thick paper. It looks to be an official invoice.
Before the others could see it, Carrara immediately stepped in front them and cut them off. Espying the order herself and occulting its view to the others. She seemed to stiffen a moment before looking over to Iris and Sunny.
“Can you two help out loading the boats for the voyage?” Carrara's tone edged with angst or perhaps urgency. She lifted a hoof and pointed to the other two ponies that Fulcrum arrived with. “I’m sure they could use a hoof and horn, and they can show you what goes where. I just need to talk to Fully for a moment.” She smiled and turned her head back to Fulcrum still holding the invoice in his mouth.
Sunny moved towards the moored barges dutifully enough, but Iris gave a huff. Reluctantly pulling away from the pair before trotting over to where Sunny was already carting and loading up supplies into the tiny barge cabin. Fulcrum and Carrara had been chatting to each other for a few minutes. Iris, catching a slight break between their trips on and off the boat, pushing and pulling foodstuffs for the voyage, and other sundries. Finding her way near Sunny's ears.
“That was strange. What do you reckon they’re talking about over there?” Iris asked, pointing with a upward flick of her muzzle in the pair's direction. Keeping an inquisitive eyeball on the two Earth ponies. Sunny gave a snort of disregard.
“I don’t know … old times? About the nature of the order and what's being built? It’s none of our business, regardless.” He said as if he wasn’t interested, but that would be a deception. Iris scoffed as she recognized that he was lying to himself.
“When something isn’t important or doesn’t involve other ponies in its vicinity, you don’t usually ask them to clear off.” Iris said as if the assumption was it was about them.
At that moment Carrara patted Fulcrum on the shoulder as he attended to his duties and she hurriedly trotted over to the pair. A look of relief taking her features as she began to help them load up the barges. Iris stared at her, raising an eyebrow. Instinctually Carrara headed her off at the pass, trying to avoid eye contact as she does.
“It was family matters.” She said as if with finality that wasn’t to be queried further.
***
After 3 days, the climate became somewhat agreeable. Even on the cold river surface that helped sink the mercury they could feel the change in the air. They were the last of 7 boats, suitably staggered so if there are problems there would be time to slow the heavily laden vessels in time and assist, unless it was them that were in trouble.
40’ long, semi flat-bottomed hulls and single masted. Simple and crude vessels made of tar treated hardwoods. They were dayshift; Fulcrum, Winter Chill the unicorn mare and Surf Skimmer the Earth pony stallion were nightshift. Carrara, Iris and Sunny had a longer shift, but it was warmer, easier, and it afforded better views as frozen tundra gave way to rolling plains and forests.
Carrara and Iris were sitting at the small desk in the cabin playing chess on the 4th night of their river voyage. Sunny snoring softly in his hammock. The occasional shout, or the hull hitting scrapping rock, mercifully didn’t wake the Pegasus who apparently was quite the heavy sleeper. Carrara couldn’t tell whether that was a blessing or something that was going to bite them on the arse one day. He was tuckered out, and fair enough at that … it was his duty to main the riggings all day during a particularly treacherous storm. By the end of tomorrow they’ll already be on their final leg of the trip, but it would be a long, hard day.
“How're you holding up? First time travelling by river, isn’t it?” Carrara noted as she pushed her black queen across the board. Iris smiled excitedly as soon as Carrara retracted her hoof from the piece. Always a bad sign.
“Me? Fine. And no. First time having to work for passage on a boat.” She said somewhat annoyed. “Three moves, checkmate…” Her anger swiftly dispelled by hoofing her bishop to the centre. Carrara ignored her threat, even if the last 7 games over their time on the boat proved quite dire portents.
The boat struck a sharp river rock that sounded like it gouged at the hull roughly, but harmlessly enough. The quick unicorn wrapping her levitation field about the game they were playing. Successfully keeping the pieces upon the board and in their legal places. Sunny snored softly as his hammock swung. Carrara couldn't clear her head for the test of wits playing out infront of them.
“How can you complain? This is probably the easiest job we’ve ever had. Certainly the safest.” She murmured. She tried to concentrate on the game but she felt distant, like her senses were elsewhere. Using her knight to take Iris' recently moved bishop. A slight chuckle from the unicorn as Carrara retracted her hoof from the piece.
“Easy and safe, yes. Surprisingly so. Fun? Well paid? Exciting? It is none of these things. This life is not my tankard of cider and as much as you might pretend, neither is it yours. I know you, well enough...” She waggled her right roof in the air dismissively of Carrara's commentary of their situation. Shifting her rook to threaten her knight she couldn’t retract given her king will be exposed.
“You say that, but I was living this tragic, exploited, boring existence for decades of my life. This is how regular ponies live and it’s not such a bad thing.” Carrara noted before adding. “And to be fair I got to work for a few years with Princess Luna.” Reluctantly she shifted her king one space over… Iris just surveiled the board, looking so very sure, quizzically lifting her eyes from the game to lock onto hers.
“I’ve heard about some of the castle’s practical jokes. I ended up getting turned around in one myself as a filly.” An irritated tone to say the least, as Iris recounted an event from memory. “You’re not that type of pony anymore, Marble. You’re never going to go back to that life. Just as much as I’m never going to go back to Celestia’s library… We went on to bigger and better things.” She stated as if so certain. Carrara felt annoyed at the presumptuous nature of her argument.
"We're so alike, are we?" Carrara asked pointedly. "Getting almost eaten by worms or riddled by arrows from magic-twisted beasts is better, is it?" Carrara leaned forward. "Your mother has a successful store in New Maretherland. You got a chance to study at Princess Celestia's side at the Castle at, what, 4!?" She scoffed.
"Garbage..." She glowered at the Earth pony, voice low and cut with pride. "I find it funny you don't seem to have these reservations concerning Sunny, here. I'm a year older than he is and yet you're fine with him tagging along with you, apparently."
"We both know Sunny is a slave to his good nature. You demonstrated that well enough on the wharf." She looked at him to make sure he was still sleeping in the hammock. A snort of his soft snoring seconds later confirming her hopes, at least. She turned back to face Iris, wearing a mood that might almost be described as motherly. "He is precisely the type of pony that will, time and again, put himself in harm's way for a goal, a cause."
Sounds of dull scrapes of underwater driftwood as the tremors reverberated through the ship. Dull thumps upon the hull acommodated the sounds of the ship's momentary distress. Carrara perked an ear to outside. Left ear rigidly turned towards the portal of the ship's cabin before looking back at Iris.
"And yet you're foal-sitting him and I'm the one you have a problem with!? I'm the one that you're having this discussion with!?" She looked at Carrara, tone thick with incredulity. Speaking as if to force her senses and attention back to their conversation.
"Equestria will chew him up and spit him out. He won't stop travelling about the Frontier. Even if I tell him personally to go work with his sister at the Pegasus Express. I figure if I take half of that punishment he'd otherwise suffer alone, maybe we can survive it together... or until he gets tired, finds something, somewhere or somepony he doesn't want to leave." She explained in a warm tone that spoke to her worry for the stallion. "You should seriously think about going back to Celestia's little magic classes at the Castle and that teacher of yours, Mica Shine. Become an official, an upstanding Equestrian citizen. Find a special somepony. Make some friends to talk about how you should do your mane ... Not waste your youth getting saturated to the bone in a freak storm, or getting attacked by giant worms while trying to escort a convoy to safety, or suffering frostbite on a wintry path going to Celestia-knows-where." A wearied, dry note as she summed up examples of what she would experience from both real and imaginable events.
"And that's what you would do, is it!?" Iris retorted angrily. "As I said, I'm not that type of pony and I didn't know you would be so hypocritical to be giving this particular type of lecture. I don't see you with somepony special. I don't see you setting up a workshop and settling down. Where would you be without me?" She decried the notion.
"Hypocritical advice is the best there is -- And probably at the bottom of that cave pit." She stated as if it were so obvious, and blatantly honest about her odds. "When you get to my age, the mistakes one makes habitual becomes living proof. Besides, as I was saying... I lived this normal, regular life for decades... so I should know well enough, right? And I wouldn't have been potentially deceased at that bottom of that cave pit if I followed the advice I'm giving you now." She sighed and mustered what diplomatic tone she could.
"So how can you sit there and pretend to have a point if you don't even follow it?" Iris said as if waiting for an answer she felt would already be wrong.
"You've been with me for 6 moons now. We've had a good run. You've gone from some wide-eyed scholar to a talented witch, and I'm proud of you. Sunny and I will be leaving you 640 bits ahead, at least. We can be at Two Sisters' Lodge by early winter. You can apologize right before Hearth's Warming ... and you'll be out of the cold, the snow, the frostbite. Back to your studies and living your own life." Carrara said so matter-of-factly. "Go back. Help those sheltered scholars with the wisdom of the world you've gained directly, that they would lack."
"Celestia forbid you might recognize just what that sounds like coming from a pony like yourself." She wrinkled her muzzle in distaste of Carrara's tone. "And if Sunny were awake just what do you think he would have to say? What justifications might you think up that would assuage his thoughts on the matter? Just hypothetically what would you say if you wanted him to settle down someplace?" She pointed a hoof towards his swinging hammock as he slept through their fight.
"I wouldn't, as I said before. Me and Sunny? We're hopeless. You .... all you have to do is apologize. Apologize to Mica Shine, apologize to your former classmates. 10 minutes of shame, and a lifetime of being a very important pony. Shaking hooves with the elite of that fancy, new Canterlot. Work with the Alicorn Duumvirate directly. Be all you can be." She explained as if somewhat disappointed Iris couldn't see that.
"I'll take a lifetime of regrets over 10 minutes of self-imposed shame, and that includes the value I place in another pony's company who is recreating those mistakes." Iris spoke in contempt of the idea. Carrara tilted her head side to side, mulling her words over. Not waiting for a reply Iris struck out with her rook and snatched her friend's knight with impunity and smirked in satisfaction. "Hopeless? I more than qualify ... and maybe it's not such a bad thing." Parroting her words and tone prior, she dismissed her advice soundly.
"So you're content to make the same mistakes as me, for the same reasons as I did, at the same risks as I suffered, and yet what makes your argument so shielded from similar critique?" Carrara huffed as she observed the board, looking defeated, and listened to Iris' words with just as much pessimism.
"Difference is I wouldn't think to tell a younger pony what they're doing was wrong in these regards." She clucked her tongue, annoyed. "That way I avoid the problem of having to consider I'm wrong to begin with."
"How noble..." Carrara sighed. It seems she had more words, but stifled them as another strike against the bow hull reverberated through the ship.
Something didn't feel right, and Carrara suddenly felt a cold sense of fear and dread bubble up from her gut and spine. The realization hitting her made the fur on her neck stand on end as she started putting the pieces together. For all these collisions, not a single voice of the night shift crew... Another sharp strike against the hull dragged Carrara out of the debate completely. She slowly lifted herself from her chair and moved to the door. Iris for her part was disinterested, having grown accustomed to the sounds of the river, but what the younger mare failed to take into account was the lack of anything else... With a hesitant push the Earth pony swung open the door.
Bound, gagged, and in various stages of unconsciousness was Fulcrum, Winter Chill and Surf Skimmer, being tied to the mast. 4 griffins, all but one clutching blades or crossbows in those wicked talons. One griffin was securing the hostages, one more flitting quietly on the winds 7 feet above the hull taking aim at the cabin portal, and one leaning against a pile of pre-cut heavy granite blocks. The last griffin occupied most of her gaze, however. World-beaten and powerfully rugged, bedecked in fitted iron armour that cover her upper body. With a gold and ruby beak-stud just above the right side of her maw.
The night and heavy foliage that flanked them upon the riverbanks must have obfuscated their boarding of the now imperiled vessel. The menacing creature lifted the long sabre gripped in her right foreclaw, and held its tip a foot from Carrara’s muzzle. The griffin stared dead into the eyes of the pony afore her, her jewellery and weapon glinting in the moonlight.
“Do you concede? Plain as day, 1 move till--” Iris started, voice dripping with smug satisfaction. Both in Carrara's defeat on the board and in the battle of words. Lifting her head as her companion interrupted her and finally registering why Carrara seemed so distracted.
“Checkmate.” Carrara said, voice simmering with anger.
Carrara put her left forehoof up and backed up a step. Trying to douse the hostility of their unintended guests with a passive posture that signalled her restraint. Unarmoured, outnumbered, outmaneuvered and unprepared for a fight, this is the sort of potential engagement that got ponies killed. If the bandits had the decency to merely take prisoners rather than leave the corpses of Fulcrum and his subordinates, perhaps there was a more peaceful solution than a fight that would see them injured -- or worse.
Carrara had travelled this river before, with Fulcrum no less. That was many years ago, but this stretch of the river was foreign to her which could only mean they missed the channel they were meant to take. From memory it was still a rough stretch of water, but it at least didn't mean one of many a potential waterfall that would spell their doom. And the river was picking up speed which could only mean dire things if they did not halt the boat now...
Iris was decidedly less diplomatic, her chair and the table scattering behind and beside her respectively, nosily clattering to the ground as she rallied to her hooves. Her horn had already begun to flare in that electric blue sheath of magical energy...
"Wait!" Carrara cried out. Halting the griffin in front of her advancing, or the aerial sniper firing a shot, and the inexperienced and uninformed unicorn mare from firing a horn blast.
Iris could see no other hostiles than the one that had levelled a blade to Carrara's features given she was further within the cabin, and could not possibly interpret the extent of the threat they posed correctly. If she assailed the rugged griffin that towered over Carrara, that would inevitably cascade into the Earth pony being shot at and likely struck. It was a bad place to be, and the Earth pony tried to still that encroaching sense of panic within her that she was about to bite the dust.
Sunny woke with a start with the cry and fell out of the hammock as Carrara barked her order, and he gazed in shock at their unexpected arrivals. Slinking back as he looked to where he stashed his gear under the cabin floor in storage and burned the location of his cudgel into his memory. As he then fixed his eyes upon the griffin that was immediately infront of Carrara. Things turned to an uneasy silence save for the chortling sloshes and scraps of the river and tortured hull.
"Workponies' wages for the fleet, accommodation money, port fees and reserves... Now!" The griffin infront of the Earth pony growled. Coldly practiced by experience.
"Look, I don't know if you already calculated this into your plan or not, but we probably don't have a lot of river left. Just let me weigh anchor--" Carrara tried to get in edgeways.
"You have about 4 miles of river, to be precise. Hand over the bits now, and you might be able to stop your boat in time... Don't, and you'll all go under and I'll see to it none of you make it to a shoreline alive." She barked and clenched that blade even tighter.
Jabbing the air with it in their general direction, to make it obvious that none of them would be leaving the cabin that would quickly become their tomb.
"How do you even know all those bits are onboard this ship to begin with!?" Sunny protested the idea that this vessel must contain what they looked for, as he slowly flittered down to his hooves.
His tone achieving varying degrees of success to placate any desires for bloodshed, as well as attempting to pry intelligence from his captors. As he would have likely been trained to do in this situation, with the added selling point of his often innocent-looking demeanour. And on some degree it seemed to work as the tension lifted slightly in the bandit leader in front of them, her sword claw loosening and the sabre's point dipping slightly lower.
"We have scouts in the Crystal Empire. We know full well that a fleet master by the name of 'Fulcrum' was entrusted with such things and you ponies are the last of the line, as well as this ship playing host to him. The money's onboard... you just need to hoof it over and you can keep breathing." The griffin chuckled after the quite concise, and likely accurate, examination of the situation.
"Look, we're new workers. Taken on only 4 days prior. We don't know where Fulcrum keeps the safebox for the fleet's finances." Carrara said, voice edged in desperation. "You seem to have knocked unconscious the only pony who can assist you! Just let us stop the ship, check his injuries, and then we can accommodate your demands."
"Hey, Marcus! ... What's the condition of the decrepit Earth pony?" With a slackening posture the griffin turned her head to look at the prisoners they captured.
"No good, boss. Not dead, but I think he might be in shock after the skull-denting I gave 'im. The 'corn and other 'Earther' are in a better state, but they'll be witless a spell." The griffin behind her replied as he leaned low to check on the stunned captives whose heads hanged limply.
Carrara's eyes left the pirate to focus on Fulcrum, trying to get a read on his condition as she leaned slightly to get a better look past the feathered brigand. Her old friend's breathing definitely seeming shallower and staggered than what was healthy. Upon hearing their state Sunny immediately got up and Iris gritted her teeth and scowled, bringing her horn low as her posture squared in anger. Carrara for her part got front row tickets to the scene and was lost for words or thoughts.
"Great. Just going to be one of those nights, isn't it?" The griffin's words callous to the feelings of the ponies afore her, and reflected the meagre depths of her compassion all too well to her hostages.
"Please, you must let me see to them!" Sunny beseeched. "You'll get your bits after I secure their safety!"
"First off!" The raid leader bellowed, then allowed a second's pause, lifting her blade up again to point at the pleading Sunny to remind him of his place in these utter lack of real negotiations. "We'll check the cabin. Then you can secure the boat and rouse your friends." She relented by the offer of her bargain.
The demands were almost reasonable, but Carrara tried to stall. Stepping forward and parting her lips to speak. Before she could get a word in edgeways, the pirate's right foreclaw shot forward and slammed into Carrara's shoulder and left side of the neck. Brushing her aside so as to be able to peek into the cabin.
The griffin's eyes trailed the room before settling on something that took her surprise. Sunny's armour of the 1st Aerial Cavalry Battalion in a gear net tucked away beneath the rows of hammocks, and suddenly the pirate captain knew full well why the brazen Earth pony dared to get in her way after her 'gracious' offer.
That precipice of violence that speeds towards you as if a ravine, before you all too suddenly plummet into its abyss. Carrara realized the threat before any of her companions. There were benefits to being older and this was one of them—knowing full well the bandits would leave none of them alive.
"By Guto's tailfeathers ... Air Cav!? Here!?" She screeched in shock and anger, and immediately took two paces back.
Griffin bandits may have gotten away with robbing a few caravans as long as not too many ponies were injured. Attacking lawponies on the Frontier was a different ballgame, however. Particularly those personnel under the incredibly proud Brigadier Hurricane. That was a step too far for even the boldest of them, and the only recourse was to make sure it looked like an accident.
The ship going over a waterfall, for instance, would be perfect. The illusion might hold until they recovered the bodies at a much later date, giving them time to hide themselves away or put their affairs in order. The whole reason why a military escort was a mixed blessing on the Equestrian Frontier—at least when it came to banditry.
"4 total! Markspony bow-high!" Carrara screamed as she darted towards the portal, coming up from underneath the stocky griffin figure.
Taking the initiative in the face of the reeling griffin leader and using her larger mass as cover from potential fire as her melee breached the cabin unto the open hull quickly begun with a twisting buck with her hind legs. Pivoting on her left forehoof athletically to deliver the blows with adroit precision. Her right hoof connecting with her sword arm and striking her claw and the blade's crossguard—Dashing the long sabre from her grip to skid across the deck. Her left hoof planting square against her gut, driving the griffin back and stealing her breath.
Sunny, driven by anger of their piracy and concern for his advancing friend, sped forward to engage the opposition. Iris in unison teleported in a blink ontop the nearby collection of stacked granite slabs just as Sunny's fore hooves collided with the neck of the bandit previously leaning against the unicorn's impromptu stone stage. He himself caught unprepared for the assault while aiming to skewer the Earth pony as she attacked his leader, all before the Pegasus put him down. A flurry of forehoof stomps from the Pegasus against his beak, neck and head. Sending the bandit ever closer to oblivious with each strike as he pinned him to the ground by standing ontop of his ribcage.
Iris locked eyes with the sniper wafting on the winds in front of them. That hexagonal ruby necklace flanked by two stout, golden unicorn horns glowed in unison with her own. Her straightened mustard locks lifting up as if what she were summoning had its own gravity, stronger than the pull of the earth.
The griffin clenched the lever plate trigger, and with a wicked *twang* the deadly missile surged toward her. The ruby amulet relic allowing her to focus, and almost as if catch the projectile midflight for a millisecond, and warp the bolt upon a sanguine-hued magic field. Shattering it to pieces upon its own captured energy, and the magical strength of the mare. The splinters of wood and hardened steel spraying across the lens-like flare of her shielding arcanum. The griffin cursed as his bolt failed to find purchase, winching back the string while flitting further over the bow.
Carrara snapped her head side to side, her eyes quickly locating what she was searching for. The attached anchors Fulcrum had already prepared in advance just in case they should miss the river fork. Temporarily returning her focus to the winded bandit leader she reared up, and brought her right hoof down and planted it square against the left eye socket, once more driving the bandit leader back and leaving her momentarily dazed. Her skull felt as solid as mortar, and she could feel her joints crush together with the powerful blow... darkly contemplating the enemy's fortitude in that moment.
Using the time and space she bought for herself, she galloped towards the mooring and coiled Baldt-type stockless anchors. Four attached in succession of decreasing weight, as if a drag line with a heavy gauge hemp rope attached to the hull, designed to gouge into the river bed.
Her keen mind tried to calculate the length of the rope and the most optimistic projections of one or all of them catching and not tearing free. Her world and thoughts were shaken as she was catapulted forward, and she was tackled to the ground. The air driven from her lungs and the din of battle turned to a humming haze as a claw gripped into her right shoulder blade painfully, spinning her about and slamming the back of her head into the deck.
A mean looking pair of griffins transformed into one as her eyes finally focussed through the concussive impact. The griffin apparently named 'Marcus' viciously striking his right hind claw into the mare's stomach and pinned her to the deck beneath him.
He was saying something likely of unadulterated malevolence to her as if parting words before her mortality, but it was no longer audible.
Carrara struggled under the weight of the griffin and attempting in vain to wriggle from his grasp, all before noticing the series of cast iron weights just near her right hind hoof. She reached out and pinched the heavy rope coiled near her about the back of her left foreleg pastern bone and the digital cushion of the hoof. Tossing a length into the air and wrapping about griffin across its neck, left shoulder and right brachium. Providing tension upon the woven hemp line as she gripped it securely.
Before the griffin could realize just how dangerous the situation had transformed for him, she lashed out with her right hind hoof, painfully striking the second smallest of the iron instruments to slide into the water. Cracking and splitting her hoof in the process as she would brook no failure, and thus sparred no energies, in making sure they should land in the water. Force and weight combined compelling its slightly larger family to dip into the pulsing stream, and then its biggest and smallest siblings in tow.
"For Fully, arsehole." She said hoarsely, removing herself from guilt as she remembered just what designs they had enacted on her first, true friend.
Carrara winced as the nature of friction and gravity extracted the griffon from her. His claws being torn free from gripping her hide. The heavy rope tearing and crushing into his feathers and hide as he was yanked across the hull, his head slamming into the ship's starboard railings next to the gangway access—Body disappearing into the churning, night-blackened water's surface as it was pulled overboard.
The rope badly scoured her as it thread itself painfully through her pinching grip between her 2nd phalanx joint and the frog of her left forehoof. Leaving the skin, fur and muscle gouged away and bleeding profusely. It was a price she was willing the pay to make sure his attempted escape from its binds would be futile.
She painfully lifted herself up to lean against the cabin wall but could do little else. Rope burned, bleeding, winded, hoof-cracked, concussed and feeling far too old for any one of those already. She took comfort that the battle was panning out in their favour, as punctuated by Iris' cackle as apparently her magic struck true.
The griffin marksman had put up a valiant and adept display of agility in dodging her prior blasts of magic, but the end result was clear. Iris strafing the aerial assailant down her head and torso, that sustained lance of light that cut viciously down her body. Feathers smouldering as she fell into the occulting tree cover of the portside forests and out of the fight.
"Who's next!?" Iris shouted, chortling in victory atop her granite stage, relinquishing her baleful blue horn ray that cut through the air with dire portents for her target.
Sunny had finished his designs on the bandit before, a final aggressive stamp bludgeoning his foe, and with lightning speed was already tangling with their leader as she rallied from prior injuries. Iris lined up her horn and prepared for Sunny to provide her an opening as he landed a punishing right hoofmaker slap-kick down the beleagured bandit leader's beak and jaw. Fighting like a stallion possessed.
Carrara could only watch, but she didn't like what she were seeing. Despite knowing full well his abilities, for some reason she didn't want to see Sunny like that. A sense of welling remorse that the evils of the world should reduce them to such a state. Her eyes turned instead to the rapidly shortening rope and her body tensed in anticipation.
"Brace!" She warned her companions as the uncoiling length of hemp spun off the hull.
Iris teleported moments before into the ship's cabin and locked her left hoof against the door frame. Sunny took to the air, safely free of the centripetal force as the ship moved mere feet beneath him. Carrara's head initially dashes against the edge of the structure, compounding her prior injury to her senses. As the ship suddenly pivoted aftwards out towards the port side and the vessel swung in a long arc with the twisting river.
With the sudden starboard dip threatening to capsize their vessel, as well as her already trauma-addled senses, her grip falters and she slides. Tumbling down back first as she fervently fought to hold on but finding nothing upon the water slick decking, before slamming into the freezing waters. She plunged deep into that blackness, and was immediately dragged by the undertow produced by the flowing current beneath the hull, short keel and rudder of the barge.
Her hooves battering against the underside hull before she was tumbling aimlessly once again. Her world was black, and screaming, as the water itself made as if deafening sounds with the torrent of its flow. Fighting to find a surface that didn't seem to break or yield as she was twisted and turned in the grip of the river.
"Cara!" Sunny screamed, losing sight of the bandit leader as he fixed his gaze upon the Earth pony and watched her disappear into the river.
"You ponies will not survive the night." The bandit leader spat angrily, using the distraction and the sudden destabilization of their arena to pullback. "There's more of us at camp. Be seeing you real soon." She screeched hatefully.
Sparing no time the bandit began her solitary retreat, especially when she espied Iris slowly appearing from the ship's cabin with surer hooves. Sunny turned to stare daggers at her as if he threatened to give chase and channel some of his righteous anger with his hooves into her hide. He wanted to, but he held firm understanding that he could not simply take the night to chase her down. There were others that needed his attentions more.
Allowing himself a deep breath, Sunny flittered upwards to stare over the stretch of the river. Gazing in what would be vain hope of seeing Carrara upon the banks ahead... the ominous cacophony of the waterfalls in the distance making the threat and fate of not finding her all too easy to contemplate.
