> Clear Skies
>  by Amber Spark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Wandering Blossom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




-ACT I-






As I stared at the dock ticket, I started to wonder if, despite everything my therapist had said, I was actually crazy. After all, normal ponies didn’t usually do this sort of thing.

Then again, considering my life up to this point, I severely doubted I would ever be considered ‘normal.’ 

After so many years of seclusion in the libraries of Canterlot reading about wonders near and far, it was—apparently—long past time for me to go out and experience some of those wonders. 

At least, that’s what Mended Light had said. And I guess there’s not much point in seeing a therapist if you’re not going to listen to them. Supposedly.

Like it or not, Mended usually could read me like a book. We both knew there was more to her recommendation than simply ‘seeing the world,’ but she was kind enough not to say it out loud. After all, it didn’t need to be said.

Since the so-called ‘Succession', Canterlot had become more and more awkward for me. It hadn’t started that way. In fact, it had been great. But now, everything past the coronation was a blur. It had gotten especially bad afterward when old friends had tried to reconnect. 

That had been something I couldn’t handle. Not even a little. 

So, with the blessing of Mended, I had set my sights on new horizons. Maybe I overshot a little.

That’s how I ended up in Vanhoover’s Skydocks looking for Slip 43, sure this was a bad idea and that I should have known better.  

“I’m crazy. I’m actually certifiably crazy,” I muttered as I held the docking ticket aloft in my pink magic. All sorts of little details and contractual notes were written in print so fine a griffon couldn’t read them from two inches away. “That’s the only reason I’m doing this.”

The hustle and bustle of activity all around me was starting to get on my nerves. I adjusted my glasses for the ten billionth time after some idiot bumped me. Ponies, griffons, yaks, and even a few minotaurs were wandering around, chattering away, carrying on, and ignoring the fact that other creatures—namely me—needed to get places. That, and they were all in my way.

Above the yammering crowd were dozens of moored airships. Most of the ones above us were large passenger liners, casting deep shadows over the Skydocks. There was one ship that looked vaguely similar to a griffon war-frigate from my studies of aerial combat, but most griffon ships looked like they were about to start a war. Probably just a cultural thing. The griffons I’d met weren’t like their ships. They were friendly enough. At least, they were when they weren’t crushed into a throng of milling creatures. I mean, they had wings, didn’t they? Why couldn’t they all take to the sky and leave us some walking space?

“Excuse me,” muttered a griffon as he shouldered past me, proving my point.

At least the yak in full ceremonial garb nodded gruffly at me before following him. It was something, at least.

I sighed, shifted my saddlebags, and peered around me, but still couldn’t spot any sign of Slip 43. This is what I got for trying to leave on a Friday afternoon. I really should have known better.

I was studying my ticket again when, instead of somepony running into me, I ran into them. 

“Oof!” squawked the distinctive voice of a mare. “Can’t you watch where you’re—?”

I blinked a few times and looked down at my hooves. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. More specifically, I couldn’t believe who I was seeing.

“Minuette?” I blurted out the name as a half-question, half-demand. “What in Equestria are you doing here?”

The tall, perky blue unicorn popped back up with her trademark smile aimed squarely at me. 

“Hi there, Moony!” she cried. She looked ready to throw herself at me—maybe for a hug—but stopped herself at the last moment. Good thing, too. I’d had enough physical contact just looking for my ship. “You should watch where you’re going, especially somewhere as busy as this!”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I demanded, my eyes narrowing. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a free country!” Minuette said, flicking her navy and white mane at me with a playful little smirk. “Pretty sure I can go wherever I want!”

My eyes narrowed to slits as my suspicions grew by the second. I’d left a lot behind when I’d suddenly departed Canterlot, and I wouldn’t put a few ponies—including the one in front of me—past sending somepony to check up on me. It was their way of showing they cared, in a nosy, annoying way.

“Yowza!” Minuette laughed, her smile never breaking. “Don’t look at me like that, Moony! Look, if it’s so important to you, I was here on a special assignment for the Clockmaker’s Guild. It’s all done now, so I’m trying to find a ride home.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying it’s a complete coincidence that I happen to run into an old friend—”

“Current friend!” Minuette interrupted in that perky little voice of hers.

I let it go by without argument. “—from Canterlot in the middle of the Vanhoover Skydocks? On a Friday afternoon? In all of this?”

I waved my hooves manically at the throng moving around us. Only now did I realize I was doing the exact same thing I’d been quietly cursing creatures for just a minute ago. 

“Pretty much,” Minuette said with an easy shrug. “You act like somepony’s out to get you, Moony.”

Gee, I wonder why that was. Maybe because this wasn’t the first time random friends had appeared in my life out of the blue?

I sighed and rubbed my temple. Minuette was not the kind of pony I wanted to be spending time with. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still a fantastic friend. But I needed serenity and tranquility. Minuette didn’t possess much in the way of either of those attributes. She was bubbling with excitement. Again, not bad, just not needed at present. Particularly now.

Anyway, I had a date with a ship. A ship I spent a great deal of bits on. Far too many bits.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again,” I replied with a forced smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to find a particular ship before the Dockmaster locks her up for the afternoon.”

Okay, granted, that wasn’t really going to happen, but it sounded plausible enough, right?

Apparently, it did. So much so that Minuette fell into step beside me as I tried to extricate myself from the situation. I mentally groaned but tried to keep the smile on my face. I’m fairly sure it stayed, but it knew it wasn’t really welcome.

“Where are you off to?” Minuette asked, adjusting her saddlebags. They jingled a little. I could hear them even over the racket of the docks. “Anyplace exciting?”

“Hopefully not,” I muttered. “If things go my way, it’ll be quiet, serene, and simple. You’d probably find it boring.”

“You’re making it sound like I have no idea how to enjoy serenity.”

“Minuette, you’re best friends with Pinkie Pie, the only pony in existence to be able to both handle and wield Discord’s chaos magic—albeit only for a short time. That says a lot about a pony.”

“Me or Pinkie?”

“Both.”

Minuette seemed to consider this while she remained at my side as we navigated the mass of creatures. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“See? Serenity and chaos don’t exactly go together!” 

I shook my head and spotted Slip 42. I almost squealed in delight. Almost. I did hurry forward though. Fast enough that Minuette had a hard time keeping up. However, I wasn’t able to shake her. She’d always been the one to put the most effort into me back in the old days.

Maybe I was being unfair. 

But I needed this! Badly! This was exactly what had been recommended to me and the more time I’d spent thinking about this, the more appealing the idea had become. I’d spent a good bit of my savings learning how to do what I was about to do. I’d spent most of the rest on something that would actually let me do it!

I had enough left over for supplies and a little extra in case the worst should happen. Always a good idea to hold some back. Old lessons from my uncle. He probably would have liked this idea.

Of course, that didn’t count for the bits still owed. 

I shook my head. Those were thoughts I didn’t need rattling around my brain right now.

I burst out of the crowd into the loading area for Slip 42, its berth empty. I looked to the right just as Minuette caught up with me. And that’s when my breath caught and I felt the first real smile since the coronation bloom on my face. 

Minuette followed my gaze and let out a low whistle. “Is that…”

“Mine,” I said with a breathy sigh. “All mine.”

My annoyance at Minuette all but forgotten I slid around the milling crowds of the Skydocks as I approached Slip 43. 

There, moored with nothing but three lines of rope, lay my secret dream. Her hull was a rich golden brown with dark purple accents leading up to the prow. Three long portholes along the starboard side gave a glimpse into the interior. I could actually see what would be my bed and couldn’t help but smile when I saw the star-patterned sheets. Was there nothing that stallion couldn’t acquire? Then, my eyes drifted to the sturdy thundersteel railing lining the main deck. The deck itself ran smooth and flat until it reached twin pilot seats on the upper section of the aft deck inside the wheelhouse. On either side of the hull, blue wings flared out from the aft section, almost like dragonfly wings. And above, attached to the bowsprit by a series of ironcords, hung the mainsail with a similar blue sheen. 

I could feel the magic radiating off of her, both literally and figuratively. 

“This… this is yours?” Minuette whispered. 

Somehow I heard her over the bustle. I didn’t know how. I didn’t care.

“Yes,” I answered quietly as I gazed upon her smooth, sleek shape. She reminded me of a hummingbird a split-second before taking flight.

“Does… does she have a name?”

I stepped forward and gestured to the curve of the forward hull. There was a name etched there in the same cream color as my coat. 

“Wandering Blossom,” Minuette breathed. 

I glanced at Minuette briefly. Her bright blue eyes were even wider than normal. She stood stock-still, the wind over the Skydocks lightly ruffling her coat and mane. She seemed to be at a loss for words and at a loss for breath. Perfect.

I turned back to the beautiful creature and I spotted somepony stepping up from the lower deck. An older chocolate-coated unicorn in oil-stained overalls flung a rag over his back and threw a few tools into one of his saddlebags. I couldn’t help but smile. Despite my aggravations with the crowds, finding this place, and Minuette’s interruption, I would never take out my frustrations on Even Keel, the best airship engineer this side of Fillydelphia. And right now, my personal hero.

I quickly scampered up the gangplank and unlatched the gate with the unlocking spell. For a moment, Even Keel just stared at me, dumbfounded by my sudden appearance and even more sudden charge onto the Blossom’s deck. Then the wizened old unicorn, his mane a thick mass of brown, black and white like a s’more, grinned at me.

“About time you got here, missy!” Keel called as I scampered up to him. 

 I couldn’t stop myself. I practically tackled the old unicorn to the deck with a bear hug. He let out a grunt of pain as he collapsed and only then did I snap back to my senses.

“Oh Celestia!” I cried as I picked myself up, then used my magic to levitate him back up. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“Been a long time since a filly as pretty as you threw me to the ground,” Keel said with a wink and a grin. 

I flushed scarlet, ducking my head. “Okay, yes, I deserved that.”

He reached up and booped my nose. I scrunched up my face. I hated it when ponies did that.

“Good, then we’re even,” he said with a laugh. 

After two and a half years of working together, I knew Keel’s sense of humor. I also knew his wife’s sense of humor. Well enough to know that if I breathed half of the quip he just threw at me… well, he’d probably be fleeing to Kludgetown in record time.

“So, what do you think of her, missy?” he asked with a smug little grin. “Tell me how you really feel.”

“You magnificent genius!” I squealed as I spun around, just taking in everything from the detail of my cutie mark on the main hatch to the lower deck to the winding patterns of crystal and iron weaving up the side of the wheelhouse. “She’s the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“And considering the things you’ve seen, filly, I take that as mighty praise indeed.”

“I can’t believe—“

“Moony?” Minuette called from behind me.

“And you brought a friend? Is that second bed I spent eight days installing actually gonna get some use?” Keel gasped, staring at me in utter shock. I could see the sparkle in his eyes and just what he was implying. 

Namely about the second bed not being used. 

I ignored Keel’s antics and waved Minuette aboard. It wasn’t like I was going to just leave her standing there on the gangplank. I still might not have the best social skills, but even I wasn’t that clueless. 

Minuette carefully stepped onto the deck, as if she were expecting the Blossom to suddenly jerk out from under her.

“She’s not an airship type, eh?” Keel said, a note of disapproval in his voice.

“Apparently not,” I said to my own surprise. “Minuette, it’s safe, come on!”

“I… I’ve never been on one this small!” she said as she practically tiptoed across the deck. “Shouldn’t we be swaying in the wind or…”

Even Keel harrumphed and marched up the small stairway to the wheelhouse above. “Why, I never…”

Minuette’s eyes were still wide as she watched him stalk off. “W-What’d I say?”

I sighed but really couldn’t find it in myself to be mad at Minuette. It’s not like she knew. For pony’s sake, she wasn’t even supposed to be here. Still, I didn’t want to just kick her off—yet—and I definitely didn’t want Keel feeling offended. 

“Even Keel is the premier engineer of Albatross-class engines and stabilizers,” I explained. I’d practically memorized all the different classes of engines, from the Monsoon-class used by the largest passenger liners to the Finch-class used by the airship equivalent of a kayak. “His specialty is ships that barely twitch even when going full speed through a thunderstorm. They don’t even jiggle in dock.”

“Oh… oh.” One of Minuette’s hooves flew to her mouth as she realized what she had just implied. “Mister Keel! I’m so sorry! I… I’m kinda clueless when it comes to airships!”

“You already made that abundantly clear, missy!” snapped the old stallion’s voice from above.

I rolled my eyes. “She said she was sorry, Keel!”

“Don’t make it—“

“What did you say to me three weeks ago?” I smirked.

Silence spread over the ship for a brief moment, until the roar of the Skydock crowd beat it back.

“Fine,” he huffed. “All is forgiven. Mistake of a newbie!”

“Thank you, sir!” Minuette called up to the still-hidden engineer. 

A few clanks as he did something to the steering controls was his only answer.

“Don’t worry about him,” I said with a shake of the head. “He just likes giving ponies a hard time.”

“I do not!” Keel’s head popped out above us, squinting down at us with a single eye. His wispy little beard dangled in the light breeze. “I’m the warmest, cuddliest little pony you’ve ever met!”

“And what would Red Ribbon say about that?” I shot back at him, but I was grinning as I did it.

“That you’re too smart for your own good, Dancer.”

“No, that’s what you’d say. And you’re not the first pony to say that.” I smirked at him and adjusted my glasses. 

The stallion grumbled and ducked his head back into the wheelhouse. 

“I’ll be another twenty minutes and then you’ll have nothing but clear skies ahead!” he called, the cheer returning to his voice. “Why don’t you show the polite lady around your new toy, missy!”

I rolled my eyes again, but couldn’t keep the grin off my face. However, since I needed to get Minuette off my ship soon so I could cast off the moment Keel was done, I decided to take his advice. With a smile that was mostly genuine, I guided her away from the aft section of the ship and toward the prow. 

“Moony, how… why… when…” Minuette sputtered before returning back to her original question. “How?”

I smiled and enjoyed the breeze through my bangs. “I wasn’t only studying during all those years, you know.”

Minuette frowned at me. “You mean back when—”

“Yeah, at the second party. Somepony seemed to think I only existed to study. And I wasn’t in the mood to correct you. I actually had two jobs. One as a Research Assistant First Class at Canterlot University and another as a part-time Vault Specialist at the Royal Canterlot Archives.”

Minuette stopped dead in her tracks so suddenly I kept going for a few feet before I turned to look at her. The other mare’s eyes bored into mine and her mouth gaped open.

“You were a… First Class and a Vault Specialist?” she squeaked. “Moondancer, those are like the most well-paid academic fields in the country! Ponies wait for decades to get into those roles. The Clockmaker’s Guild—”

“Usually ends up poaching the Vault Specialists, namely to find out if they know anything about ancient engineering designs,” I finished with a hint of smugness. “You once asked me what I was studying for. It was those jobs.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Minuette cried, waving her hooves in the air like she was trying to catch a hummingbird. “That’s fantastic!”

“First time? Because at that point, I didn’t think I should bother. After that…” I shrugged off the question and tried not to think of the implications. And the questions. And… other things. “Well, it just… didn’t seem important. You all just accepted that I had a job—I did have to make enough bits to afford a home in Canterlot even if I never actually cleaned up the place.”

“Still, you could have bought one of the castle spires with the amount of money you saved up!” Minuette cried.

“Why would I want that?” I said with a faint hint of a smirk as I stepped up to the railing and leaned out over the Blossom, taking in the sprawling city of Vanhoover far below. “I already have one of the best libraries around on this ship. I had every book I own shipped here three weeks ago. And now… I can finally see all the stuff I read about.” 

Minuette joined me beside the rail, looking out at the same incredible view. The city went on for miles and miles with vast parks, greenbelts, lakes, and forests scattered throughout the place. Founded by earth pony traditionalists, Vanhoover was built around nature instead of through it. Mostly. It wasn’t like it was perfect, but I liked it here. A lot more than I’d expected to.

“So where are you off to?” Minuette asked, a hint of hesitation in her voice.

I eyed her, my suspicions returning, as I led her down the other side of the ship. We both ducked a little to get beneath the mainsail. I didn’t answer her question until we reached the main hatch leading to the lower deck of the Blossom. I opened it for Minuette and gestured for her to go first. She ducked her head and took the short set of steps down into the ship’s innards. 

“I’m going to do a leisure cruise over the Equestrian Northwest,” I replied as I followed her, guiding her when needed. “Luna Bay, along the Frozen Peaks and maybe stopping by Whinnyapolis on the way to the Crystal Empire.”

Despite her being one of the best clock engineers in Equestria, Minuette stayed well clear of the various part-magical and part-mechanical pieces of Engineering that took up about a quarter of the lower aft of the Blossom. There had been another corridor we could have used that would have skipped all of it, but I did want to show off my beautiful toy. The wonderful part was I could name almost every component of engineering and while I didn’t necessarily know how to fix anything but the most basic of problems, I had an entire shelf of technical manuals dedicated to that particular issue.

“That seems like one of the loneliest journeys you could make,” she said as we moved into the next compartment. “Not to mention dangerous. The Frozen Peaks aren’t a safe place to be, especially as winter approaches.”

I smiled wanly at her concern and shook my head. Finally, we arrived in the living quarters, all furnished in creams and deep browns, with hints of purple for accents. My stateroom was to the right, with a thin folding door that could separate it from the rest of the living area. I pointed out the various amenities to Minuette, such as private facilities and a sink, not to mention the retractable sunroof I could use when the mood struck me—and nopony was standing right above me.

More distracting was the concerned look Minuette was giving me. 

“I’ve done my research, Minuette,” I assured her. “I’ve studied the wild weather patterns. I’ve also taken trips up north above the Crystal Empire in special snow-slicer flitterships. I’ve taken the time to train for this, really.”

Minuette didn’t look convinced. Then again, I didn’t really have to convince her, did I?

Minuette shifted her interest to how my library had been completely transplanted here, taking up three walls in the stateroom. I hadn’t realized when I’d approved the designs just how tight it would be getting around in here with those bookcases in. Well, it was something I could live with. In fact, it would make the Blossom feel even more like home. 

I pointed out the second cabin, about half the size as mine with a much more generic design. In truth, Even Keel had convinced me to install the second bedroom instead of making it a full study. I had planned on that conversion some time in the future since I hadn’t felt the expenditure had been worth it for now. After all, I had the rest of the lower deck as an informal study.

The shower and another set of facilities were located beside the second bedroom, then the deckplan opened up to envelop the entire width and breadth of the ship. There was a small dining area with four bolted-down cushions in the classical style, a tiny galley beside it complete with a stove, a coffee pot, and a refrigerated cabinet. There was even a pair of fold-out sleeper sofas on either side of a coffee table that could sink into the deck.

“Now, time for the big part…” I said with a smirk as I gestured for her to take one of two large easy-chairs that seemed to be looking out at nothing more than the interior keel of the prow. She did so, looking at me curiously, then I took the other. I’d never gotten used to sitting like this, but if this ended up looking like what I thought it would… it would be worth it.

I tapped a small reactive pad on the ceiling with my magic. Instantly, the Blossom’s internal magic came alive and the bulkheads before us seemed to simply dissolve away, leaving nothing but an unobstructed view of part of the massive Skyport’s lower levels while the rest of the view was dominated by the distant Unicorn Range with little but forests and the occasional road stretching between Vanhoover and the horizon. 

“By Celestia’s mane…” Minuette whispered. “This is a variant of Shellshinger’s Sight, isn’t it?”

I grinned.

She frowned for a moment. “S-Shellsinger’s Sight! See! Stop smirking!”

I couldn’t help but giggle as I nodded. “A nightmare to install, but the results speak for themselves. The best part is, it’s powered by the ship’s own internal engine, an Albatross-9. Many of the portholes on the ship are actually simply Sight panels! So no structural loss and… it’s what makes the Wandering Blossom seaworthy as well. Well, lake- and river-worthy. The open sea would probably be a bit much for her. There are only three actual portholes, one in each bedroom, and then two more per side in the dining compartment.”

“Now you’re just showing off,” Minuette said with a laugh. 

“Maybe a little,” I admitted with a faint blush. “It… well, I might make it sound easy, but making this happen, getting Even Keel himself to work on her, getting her done as quickly as I… wanted… all of it? It was a logistical nightmare. My aunt helped… a lot.”

The last few words were dragged out of me by some force I didn’t understand and didn’t like.

“Anyway!” I said before I could blurt out anything more awkward. “I think that’s the whole tour! Oh, those fins you saw on the sides? Stabilizers for the Albatross-9. And if you’re wondering about the sheen on the mainsail, it doubles as a standard wind sail and as a photo-magical generator, helping take the load off of the Albatross and cap off the batteries.”

I said all this as I was starting to move Minuette back toward the stern of the ship. She tried to get in a few words, but I continued to babble about the perfect harmony of technology—old and new—and magic that my beautiful ship harnessed. I ushered her down the guest’s corridor that didn’t go straight through the engine compartment and almost reached the door when Minuette suddenly flung up a shield right in front of the door, forcing me to grind to an immediate stop.

I’m not sure when I had switched to actual shoving, but one could claim some minor shoving had happened. Especially when she stopped. Especially when I didn’t notice the shield.

“Moony.”

“Why did you conjure a shield, Minuette?”

“Moony, this is getting a little silly, don’t you think?”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I cast a counterspell at the shield. Minuette’s shields never were particularly strong, so it was easy to shatter her field of magic. Minuette stumbled and I ‘helped’ her stumble back onto the main deck beneath the thick grey Vanhoover clouds. 

However, that… may not have been the best decision I had made that day.

Minuette spun on her heels and summoned up enough magic to make her horn glow like a beacon in a stormy sky. Her eyes were narrowed. Her stance was familiar, one of the dozens of unicorn combat techniques I’d studied over the years. And she radiated annoyance. On the normally happy-go-lucky Minuette, it was more than a little unsettling. 

“Don’t push me, Moondancer.” Minuette’s voice was cool and quiet, almost like an icy growl. “Literally. I don’t like being pushed. Even by my friends.”

“Minuette,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead. “Any minute now, Even Keel is going to give me the all-clear on the Blossom. As soon as the dockmaster clears me, I’ll be using every bit of thrust in that crystal core downstairs to get me away from these ponies and this city. It’s time to go for me. And that means that it’s time to go for you, too.”

“I’m not asking you to stay,” Minuette said as she looked up and her magic faded. “I’m asking if I can come with you.”

I gaped at her as Minuette dropped her combat stance and plopped down on the deck. She sat up and looked at me with a tiny, fragile smile. I’d known Minuette a long time. I’d only seen that smile a hoofful of times.

“Minuette?” I asked as concern tinged my voice. “What’s going on here?”

“Look, let’s just say you’re not the only pony who needs some serenity right now,” Minuette replied, her eyes looking everywhere but at me. “Things… aren’t great for me back in Canterlot at the moment.”

“But you’re the best clockmaker in Equestria!” I protested, pointing at the hourglass on her flank. “Everypony knows it! How could things be bad?”

“I didn’t say they were bad. I said they weren’t great.” Minuette stared at the deck, obviously unwilling to say any more in the way of details. “And… I wanna take at least a few days off before going back.”

“But…” I gestured to all the ships in the sky above and around us. I could see no less than thirty airships that were probably still taking on passengers. “Minuette, you’re one of the most personable ponies I know. You can make friends with nearly anypony. If you’re just looking for a vacation—”

“I need to do this, Moondancer,” Minuette replied, pawing at the deck and still not looking at me. “Yes, I could probably charter a ship to run around Equestria for a month or so. But… I’d be with a stranger. I can’t do this with a stranger. I’d rather do it with somepony I trust and somepony I know.”

“I…” I flushed, trying to figure out how to get out of this without looking like a total bitch. “Minuette, I do actually get where you’re coming from but—”

“What ya need in a situation like this is a bit more than a standard cruise, I think. Something that’ll give you a bit of a challenge!” said a voice from on high. 

Both of us suddenly looked up to see Even Keel walking down the steps from the wheelhouse, a smirk on his lips and his horn glowing with golden light, though I couldn’t figure out what spell he was casting.

“Keel?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, don’t act like that was a private conversation. You were having it on deck! You know the rules, missy!” Keel shook a hoof at me as he approached.

“‘The only private conversations on an airship are in cabins and the wheelhouse,’” I quoted with a roll of my eyes. “Still didn’t answer my question.”

“You’re right. I didn’t.”

“Look, just because I don’t have a locked down schedule—”

He smirked and I realized my mistake.

He opened one of his saddlebags and flung out a sphere about the size of a pony’s hoof. Inside of it was some strange-looking golden crystal pointing in all six directions. Odd blue energy crackled around the crystal. He’d only ever described it to me, and only then in passing. 

To my surprise, he floated it over to Minuette, who took it gingerly in her magic.

“Only use magic to hold her,” Keel said in a voice of something approaching reverence. “Use a hoof and too much pressure and you’ll fire her off. Ain’t something you wanna do in the middle of Vanhoover, I’ll tell you.”

“What is it?” I asked, approaching Minuette and the strange orb. I peered down. The crystal fragments were jagged and cracked in places. It looked old. At least five hundred years or so. 

“Best I can figure,” Even Keel said, still smirking. “It’s a Waystone.”

That… that wasn’t possible. The thought went through my head before the words slipped out of my mouth.

“Waystones aren’t real,” I continued. “They’re just used in Daring Do adventure novels and fanfictions!”

Minuette was staring at it so intently it might as well hold the secrets of the universe. 

“Minuette, come on, Keel’s just screwing around with us,” I sighed, rubbing my head. “Look, I can put you—”

“Excuse me?” In an instant, Keel was in my face and red as a beet. “You know me, missy! You know I ain’t prone to exaggeration! Look here, all my own research and such? Everything says that’s a Waystone. Even had some fancy-pants appraiser look at it up on Platinum Row in Canterlot a few years back. Can’t recall his name though…”

“Professor Earnest Eyes?” Minuette piped up, her voice back to the cheerful pep I was used to. “From Earnest Appraisals?”

Keel raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s the one. How’d you know?”

Minuette was now rotating the globe in her magic. She seemed to be doing an inspection spell, but it was the most delicate version of the spell I’d ever seen. “He teaches at Gifted Unicorns, at the graduate level. His courses in artificing are all required for membership in the Clockmaker’s Guild.”

I blinked. Hadn’t been ready for that one. Still, I wasn’t about to take this at face value. Even from Keel. 

“And it’s charged?” I demanded, even though I could see the little arcs of blue lightning inside.

“Completely,” Keel replied, looking more smug than ever.

“Then why haven’t you gone after the waypoints?” I demanded, getting nose-to-nose with Keel. “I mean, if what you’re saying is true, then you have a magical treasure map right here! Depending on what it points to, you could be insanely rich right now!”

Keel laughed so hard a few stray tears leaked from his eyes. I just stared at the crazy old engineer, plopping down and crossing my hooves against my chest with a raised eyebrow while Minuette did… whatever.

“Missy, I already live in a four-story manor on the outskirts of Vanhoover, got a summer cottage at the foot of Canterlot mountain and an entire suite on call in the Fillydelphia Spearhead Tower. I’ve got myself three private airships, two yachts, and about two hundred job offers. Each of my fillies are strong, brilliant mares who each earned their own fortune in their fields, even knowing when I kick the bucket, they’ll be rich enough to never lift a hoof for the rest of their lives! I’ve made a fortune designing and building airships, be it for the dumb and rich or the smart and thrifty.”

It was probably the most I’d ever heard him say in one go. It was weird. I still just stared at him.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“That there was for payments rendered on the Meadowlark just after I bought the Foothill Cottage. Fine ship, even if her captain were crazier than a cave-full of batponies with a single mango to share. Decided, why not? Might be fun. Ain’t never gotten around to actually looking it up.”

“And you’re just… giving it to us?” I shouted, unable to believe any of this. “No demands, no ultimatums, no nothing?”

“What made you so suspicious, anyway?” Keel said, his eyebrows dancing. “Ain’t you ever heard of a thing called a gift?”

“Not when that gift could be worth a fortune!” I shot back.

Keel sighed, looking more disappointed than annoyed. “Look, missy. You want the truth? Since you opened this commission of yours, I’ve seen every sign of a mare trying to run away from something.”

“That’s not true!” I barked. “I had everything I needed back in Canterlot. This is just me fulfilling an old dream!”

“If that’s what you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, then I ain’t gonna take that away from you,” Keel replied, poking me in the chest. “We both know the truth of things. It ain’t a bad thing to want control of your life, missy. It’s a bad thing to demand it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, glowering at the old engineer. 

It took everything I had not to start grinding my teeth. I already had a therapist. I didn’t need another.

“Well then, this young lady,” he said, pointing at the oddly quiet Minuette who was still looking into the depths of the supposed ‘Waystone.’ “She admitted it. Wants to spend some time away from things. Wants to do it with a friend. And take it from someone who’s sailed both sea and sky, having someone there by your side can be mighty helpful when the silence gets too big.”

I caught Minuette looking at me, but her eyes darted away a second later.

“I’m not going to win this one, am I?” I groaned. My ears went flat and I glared at the two ponies. “Seriously? First time in my life I take a real vacation and I—“

I stopped myself before I said any of the words rattling around in my head about Minuette. Yes, she was a friend, but she could also be annoying as all get out. Her constant sunny optimism must have been a direct result of being BFFs with the legendary—and terrifying—Pinkie Pie. Nothing could get her down! She was a goofball who I literally saw wear green slatted shades with a parrot and a palm tree on them when she was supposedly ‘spying on me.’

Seriously, how could anypony miss somepony in those horrible tourist-trap nightmares? 

The last thing I wanted to deal with was the third Pinkie Pie—third because rumor was that Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich had been seen together an awful lot lately—on my time away from… well, my life.

“You’re sure I can’t convince you to take a long cruise home?” I asked, already knowing Minuette’s answer.

Minuette finally stopped her study of the ball and looked me square in the eyes. She tried to hide it, but I could see something there.

“If you ask, I’ll go,” Minuette replied quietly just as the sky overhead rumbled a little signifying one of Vanhoover’s trademark drizzles. “I can get my own ride back to Canterlot.”

She was still holding the ‘Waystone’ in her light blue magic, but she was looking at me. 

The Minuette I knew had always been upbeat, cheerful, and looking ready to explode. This one looked… dim. 

“Fine.”

Minuette’s eyes lit up like twin Hearth’s Warming trees. “Really?”

I sighed. “Sure, why not? It’s not like I have a strict itinerary anyway.” 

Despite the fact that I could think of at least a dozen other reasons why not. 

“Moony, you don’t know what this mean—”   

“I’ll take you as far as Whinnyapolis,” I said with a raised hoof. “After that, you’ll need to chart your own course.”

My ultimatum didn’t even throw her off. She just nodded eagerly.

“What about this?” She lifted the ‘Waystone’ in her magic, looking hopeful. 

I cast a sidelong glance at Keel, who just smirked. He was smirking too much today, but I didn’t have it in me to kill that little hope in Minuette’s eyes. So, I adjusted my glasses and caved.

“We’ll see. We’ll stow it in the lower deck for now.” I eyed Keel up and down again. “Then we’ll decide what to do with it when we’re underway. I’m not opposed to the idea. After all, it’ll take us even further into the wilderness and the less ponies the better, I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“If it helps, I did at least do the first sounding of it,” Keel said, the smugness in his face and voice almost unbearable. Why had I hugged this stallion to the ground earlier? “Magic readouts pointed toward Whinnyapolis.”

“I think you’ve done more than enough to help.”

He looked around the Blossom. “Yup! I suppose I did.”

Minuette giggled.

I just facehoofed. Again.
> Castoff
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Twenty minutes later, the smug engineer had departed into the still-teeming throng of the Vanhoover Skydocks. Despite my annoyance at him, I’d still hugged him again and promised that the next payment for the deposit would be in the mail as soon as I made Whinnyapolis. Despite his little gift, I needed this ship to be mine, or at least as ‘mine’ as I could afford it to be. If I didn’t get the Wandering Blossom under my name, it would hang over me. I just needed to be free, if only for a little while.

However, that wasn’t meant to be, because now I had a stowaway. One I’d willingly let on board, to make matters worse. So yes, it stretched the definition of stowaway, but I felt it was appropriate. 

I found Minuette still studying the ‘Waystone’ on the stern of the ship, a view dominated by the sprawling city of Vanhoover and the great blue expanse of the North Luna Ocean stretching out to the horizon beyond. Of course, with the rain that had started a few minutes ago, it was difficult to see much, but the Skydock’s pegasi-operated rain shield was doing its job nicely, protecting the Skydocks and the smaller vessels in their slips from the drizzle. Still, it was a beautiful sight. 

Minuette didn’t seem to notice me at first. She just kept turning the ‘Waystone’ around and around in her magic like it was a particularly interesting Hearth’s Warming ornament. I watched for a short time. The way the blue lightning arced inside of it was rather hypnotizing, but not to this level of fascination.

“Okay, what’s the deal?” I demanded, my eyebrow raised at her as I rewrapped my mane into a tight bun. Topknots would have to wait until our first stop. “Why are you so locked into that thing?”

Minuette jumped and nearly dropped the ‘Waystone.’ She blushed and glanced back at me, biting her lip. “You startled me.”

“Sorry,” I replied flatly, rolling my eyes. “Now, what’s the deal?”

Minuette’s eyes fell back on the orb. “Well… I mean, it just… it’s… like a puzzle right?”

I thought about the basic properties of an actual Waystone artifact. “Yes, more or less.”

“I like puzzles. And… I like the idea of a little adventure.”

“Minuette, I didn’t get this ship for an adventure. I got this ship to escape the world. Not to go on some silly treasure hunt. And I’d like to point out that despite Keel’s words, I really doubt that thing’s real.”

“I’m not saying you have to go on a treasure hunt!” she protested as she stood up and floated the orb next to her. “But wouldn’t it be awesome if it was real? And if you could?”

I shrugged. Despite my words earlier, I honestly hadn’t given it much thought. These kinds of things cropped up all the time in the Stack Vaults of the RCA. Some ancient artifact that supposedly holds secrets from the past or long lost treasures from forgotten kingdoms. They usually just held recipes for fruitbread. Like, an absurd amount of ancient cultures were obsessed with fruitbread. If this was a real Waystone, it probably just led to more fruitbread.

“Come on, Moony,” she begged. “Just consider the possibility?”

Her eyes got huge in a way I’d almost forgotten. Which wasn’t fair. At all.

I facehoofed again and shook my head. “I’ll consider it. Okay? That’s all I’m promising. I’ve already made some pretty big changes just by taking you on, Minuette!”

The last few words came out harsher than I intended and Minuette recoiled a little.

I took a deep breath. Smooth, Moondancer. Real smooth. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” I said, forcing my voice to be even. “I just… don’t do well with unexpected changes to plans I’ve had in place for years. Even if they weren’t… firm plans. They were at least solo plans. Anyway, I said you can come as far as Whinnyapolis, and I meant it. Just… remember why I’m taking this trip? Okay?”

Minuette nodded, looking somewhat mollified.

“Okay… uh… you’ll need to stash that before we leave the docks. There’s a safe on one of the bookshelves near the sofa. Can you find it? I need to get her ready for departure.”

“I can probably manage that,” Minuette said with a smile. At least it was closer to her normal smile. Seeing her without her trademark grin was eerie. “Back in a jiffy.”

With that, she scampered below and for the first time, I was on the deck of the Wandering Blossom alone. It felt good. A fresh wind from the sea was coming in. It smelled of the unknown and of finally being able to chart my own course. I took the moment to walk the length of the ship. 

The Wandering Blossom was one of the bigger classes of personal airships, based on the Bright Bow 7S Design. A great deal of that original design remained after Even Keel’s personal touch, but there was no doubt it was still mine. My new home was a full seventy feet in length from bow to stern and I made sure to walk every foot of her. She was beautiful in a way I’d never seen before. The moment I stepped hoof on her deck, I’d felt at home. Like we’d been together for years.

I ran a hoof along the railings and smiled to myself. “It’s going to be hard to be anywhere else…”

“What’s that, Moony?”

My trance broke and I spun to see Minuette there, her full-powered smile back on her face. For some odd reason, that made me feel better. Something about seeing Minuette as down or even outright sad just seemed… well, wrong. 

In reality, I didn’t have a clue what it would be like to have her on board Wandering Blossom’s maiden voyage. Who knows? It might actually be fun. Operative word here being ‘might.’

“Moony?”

“Nothing, sorry,” I said. She smiled a little wider in response and I ignored her. “Okay, so, before we get underway, I need to know something, Minuette.”

She cocked her head to the side. “What’s that?”

I suspected I knew the answer, but I had to give her the benefit of a doubt. “Do you know anything about airship sailing?”

Minuette flushed slightly, her ears going back. “Um… does sailing those cute little model boats count?”

I blinked and considered it. “Only… a little.”

“Then… only a little?” Minuette said though she sounded hopeful it might be enough.

“Yeah, I was pretty sure that was going to be the answer.” I sighed. 

I’d spent the last year taking courses, including clocking in over fifty hours of hooves-on airsailing out of Canterlot. I’d even taken a seven-day crash course in nautical sailing out of Baltimare last summer. And the year before, I’d been reading everything I could get my hooves on about engines, knots, wind patterns, and crystal cores. 

I knew I was ready. There was no doubt in my mind.

Minuette though? Not so much. So, I could either have her as a full passenger where she did nothing, or teach her a few things and get some help. Maybe.

“I’m really good at picking up anything to do with engineering, especially fine mechanics,” Minuette offered, her ears perking up. “But when it comes to the rest…”

I lifted a hoof to quiet her down. “Okay, let’s… worry about that later. But right now, you need to agree to one thing, Minuette. If you don’t, you need to leave my ship.”

“What?” Minuette frowned. 

I really wish she would stop frowning.

“If I tell you to do something on this ship, by Celestia, you need to do it.” I walked up to her and got right in her face. I narrowed my eyes. I tried to make my face as stiff as granite. She had to get this one. “Especially if things are getting rough, you understand?”

“Oh, is that all?” Minuette sat down and popped off a perfect little salute. “Aye-aye, Captain Moony!”

I blinked a few times. So much for my stoic command face.

“Second, don’t call me Captain Moony,” I grumbled.

“Aww.”

“Third, stop pouting!” I shouted.

Her smirk was all the answer I got for that one. So much for rule three. And I somehow doubted I could get her to follow rule two, either. Ugh.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” I announced, ignoring her smirk. “Minuette, there are three ropes set into seals on the deck on the bow. Release the seals by putting your hoof down on each seal and pushing down hard, then just say the name of the ship and the word ‘unmoor.’ They should automatically spring back into the Skydocks.”

“Um… which way is the bow?” Minuette asked, rubbing her head and looking embarrassed.

I pointed at the front of the ship with a sigh. 

“Got it!” She immediately scampered off. 

I shook my head and turned around, heading for the wheelhouse standing tall above the deck of the Wandering Blossom. I climbed the starboard stairwell and stepped up into a small word of dials, yokes, levers, and throttles. 

Both of the pilot seats in the wheelhouse could control the ship and there was enough space behind the chairs for three ponies to stand side-by-side comfortably. My second favorite part of the wheelhouse was the automated shutters that could lock down the aft section—currently open—and protect ponies from the elements. It even had a Spellsinger’s Sight charm to let me see through the slats!

Facing forward, however, was even more exciting, because I’d purchased a brand new contraption that I couldn’t wait to try out.

The forward-facing view of the wheelhouse did have a slatted curtain with a Spellsinger’s Sight built-in. But it also had a translucent shield generator built into the bottom of the wheelhouse’s structure. With that, I could bring up the equivalent of a magical window at any time. I could even superimpose the Spellsinger’s Sight over that and remove the sight of the mainsail from my view of the horizon!

After making sure Minuette was looking away, I squealed a little and did a little dance in the wheelhouse, then quickly jumped into the starboard pilot’s chair. I took a deep breath and triggered the crystal core with a flick of a switch.

And just like that, the Wandering Blossom purred to life. The hum of its rear turbines barely sent a rumble through the ship’s structure. The mainsail gleamed as it began to absorb what little sunlight slipped through the stormclouds above, while the jib sail just fluttered in the wind, as if eager to send us off.

I saw Minuette release the last of the lines mooring us to the Skydocks and grinned. I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and turned a dial, adjusting the onboard transmitter. This was another splurge, but a magical radio just seemed too convenient not to go for. I lit up my horn and cast the necessary spell. Somewhere in the Skydocks Air Traffic Control Tower to starboard, another unicorn would be getting my hail.

“Vanhoover Skydocks ATC,” replied a somewhat-overworked sounding pony over a small speaker above my head. “Please stand by.”

The speaker gave a little hiss while Minuette climbed up into the wheelhouse. She looked about ready to say something, but I shook my head and pointed at the other seat. Then I quietly disabled the port-side steering controls, just in case. She looked around curiously while I waited for the ATC to get back to me.

“Vanhoover Skydocks ATC,” said the other unicorn again. “ID, homeport?”

“This is Wandering Blossom, homeport Canterlot. Requesting departure clearance, ATC,” I announced, watching as a team of four pegasi led out an enormous pleasure yacht three times the size of the Blossom. According to the hull, its name was To Dream in Colour.

Talk about your pretentious names. Yeesh. 

Meanwhile, Minuette let out a whistle at the thing.

“Blossom, ATC,” the pony replied with the sound of rustling paper. “Flight plan shows north to Twinkle Town, then northeast to Whinnyapolis, confirm?”

“ATC, Blossom,” I said, trying to sound professional and not so giddy I might start squealing like I really wanted to. “Flight plan confirmed.”

“Blossom, ATC. Be aware: reports of stray frozen north storms along projected flight path. Cloudsdale teams en route, but advise caution. Storms met along your path are wild, repeat wild.”

“ATC, Blossom. Wild storm warning acknowledged,” I replied. I wasn’t concerned. I handled a few storms during my training and read enough about them to probably dance through them. I ignored the worried look Minuette gave me and took another breath. “Thank you, ATC.”

“Blossom, ATC.” The unicorn on the other side must have had this ‘conversation’ with a dozen other ships today alone. “You are clear for departure. Wait for Sky Guide Red to wave you out.”

“ATC, Blossom,” I said. My hooves were positively shaking with anticipation. “Acknowledge Sky Guide Red.”

“Blossom, happy winds and clear skies,” the operator droned.

“ATC, calm winds and clear skies,” I replied, completing the old airship exchange. It had been one of the first things I’d learned when I first came up with this crazy scheme. And now… I was about to live out that scheme.

It was getting harder to contain the squeal.

“ATC out.” 

The line went dead and I turned the radio into passive mode. Not a lot of ponies could use radios, even among unicorns. Even airships usually used semaphore towers or just a pony waving flags. But one never knew when one might get a warning. A seldom-used line of communication was better than no line of communication. At least, that’s what I’d read.

“So we’re ready?” Minuette chirped, clapping her hooves together from her seat. 

I strapped down my seatbelt and Minuette did the same. “Yes, we are.”

Minuette began to bounce in her seat a little. I tried to hide my smile behind a hoof, but I couldn’t keep it hidden for long.

Within a few minutes, a pegasus in a red uniform flew up to the starboard side of the ship. A moment later, a second one flew up to the port side. Both of them looked at me and I nodded. They nodded in reply—I couldn’t tell if they were stallions or mares—and used glowing batons to wave us forward with a measured pace.

I swallowed hard and put my hoof on the throttle.

Minuette made a little squealing noise. I could have told her to stop, but I wanted to squee too, so I didn’t. I just smiled wider. 

I took one final deep breath and pushed the throttle to one quarter. 

The Blossom immediately shuddered as the rear engines spun up and the ship began to slowly inch forward, away from the gangplank and the slip. For a second, I thought I saw Even Keel in the crowd again, chatting with some vaguely-familiar looking amber unicorn, but then they were gone. Then I forced my attention back to my center and peripherals.

The pegasi carefully guided us away from the Skydocks, having me alter course due north until the Skydocks were directly astern. It took a little over five minutes for us to clear the rest of the traffic, but thankfully, the staff and crew of the Vanhoover Skydocks knew their stuff. At no point did anypony get too close or things get dicey. I kept an even speed at one-quarter until we cleared Skydocks’s central airspace. With that, the starboard pegasus gave me a jaunty little salute and they both darted back toward the Vanhoover Skydocks.

“Okay, that was awesome!” Minuette squealed peering around at the view far beneath us. 

“That?” I laughed. “That was nothing. That was just getting clear. This is where it actually gets fun.”

“There was a time you didn’t even know the meaning of the word,” Minuette pointed out with a cheeky little smirk. “They grow up so fast.”

“I can still turn this thing around!” I threatened, but I was smiling as I did it.

“How about you show me the fun part instead?” Minuette batted her eyelashes at me.

I snickered. “Does that ever work?”

“It worked once on Lemon Hearts. I think.”

I rolled my eyes… then I closed them. For just a moment, I just sat there, buckled into my seat like I was a part of the Blossom herself. I could feel her engines, her crystal core, the mainsail’s magical energy, the stabilizing fins to her sides, every bolt, every rivet, every plank of wood, and every shard of glass. This ship wasn’t just my new home for now. This ship was part of me. And I was a part of her. I had spent so long working with Even Keel to make her perfect… and she was. She was everything I wanted and more. 

And maybe, that would finally be enough.

A wide, broad smile stretched over my face as I opened my eyes again to see Minuette looking at me curiously.

“You okay, Moony?”

“Better than ever.”

I adjusted our course to send us due north. We would pass over the tail end of Vanhoover and then head into the dense farmlands outside the city that lead right into the expansive northern forests and verdant green fields beyond. Two days with nothing but forests beneath us and ocean beside us, the next stop would be the small spot on the map known as Twinkle Town. Then we’d head inland for Whinnyapolis. 

But all that could wait.

It was time for something much more exciting. Something that even I couldn’t be dour about even if I wanted to.

“You’re buckled in, right?”

“Uh… yeah?”

“Good.”

I flipped four switches on the control console with my magic. In an instant, the mainsail and the jib sail collapsed as magnetic charms cinched them tight. I flipped another switch and sent a surge of energy into the Blossom’s stabilizers. Just as rain began to patter on the deck in earnest, I triggered the shield spell. It grew like a wave of light blue magic across our field of vision. Minuette gasped as rain streaked down the magic field, powered by the Blossom herself. Now, we could see everything before us. The North Luna Ocean to port, the end of the deep forested mountains of the Unicorn Range to starboard. And before us… nothing but beautiful, gray stormclouds far above our heads. 

“This ship is beautiful, Moony,” she whispered, almost as if she were praying. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Just wait and see what she can do,” I said smugly. “Hold onto something.”

A few more switches, a dial or two, then, with one hoof on the steering yoke and the other on the throttle, I powered up her main turbines. First, I moved her from one-quarter to one-half. The purr turned into a soft rumble as Minuette looked at me with wide eyes. Water was streaking on the shield spell. I reached up and pulled the lever to close the rear slatted curtain and activate the Sight spell. Minuette glanced behind us to watch, but I stayed focused on the task at hand.

It was a well-known fact that the Storm King’s Invasion of Canterlot some years back had advanced Equestrian airship technology considerably. A great deal of that was primarily used by the Royal Guard, but some had been allowed to go into the commercial sector. And this was the result.

With what might have been a manic grin, I shoved the throttle past the three-quarters mark and slammed into all-ahead-full.

The Wandering Blossom stopped wandering. Instead, she rocketed. The turbines went into a dull roar that rattled the entire ship from stem to stern. Wind whipped by us as we ripped over the last remnants of Vanhoover and streaked due north. We shot over farmlands for all of twenty seconds before we were soaring over the thick tangled North Shore forest that would stretch all the way to the icy foothills of the Frozen North.

“Moony!” Minuette cried as she clutched her hoof-rests. “Is this a good idea?”

“Part of a maiden voyage is seeing what she can do!” I laughed as I pushed the yoke down a little to drop some altitude. 

“Moony, what are you doing?” Minuette all but screamed.

“Enjoying myself!” I cried as I eyed the altimeter as we cruised down toward the treetops.

“Moony!” Minuette cried as she practically crawled into a little ball. “This isn’t funny!”

I couldn’t stop laughing. My airspeed indicator showed that we were just shy of seventy knots. Reckless? Maybe? But I had every faith in the Blossom. Even if this was our first time together, I knew her like she knew me.

Minuette squeaked as we skimmed the very top of the vast forest. I adjusted the yoke and started to sashay Blossom across the green and pointy landscape beneath us. Nothing crazy, just enough to have some fun. 

It didn’t stop Minuette from cowering like a terrified filly in her seat.

I let out a long, low sigh and throttled back to one half, then picked up altitude until we were at least a thousand feet above sea level. 

“Minuette?” I called as I leveled the Blossom out.

“Go away.”

“Minuette…” I called, glancing over at her. She was still curled up. 

“Minuette is not available! Go away and try again later!” she muttered. “Preferably when you’re not being mean!”

“If you’ll look out the window, you’ll see I’m not being ‘mean’ anymore.” I rolled my eyes.

Teasing her was going to be fun, but I’d probably have to rein it in a little. It would be a nice change of pace to be the teaser instead of the teasee, for once.

Minuette eventually came out of her self-imposed cocoon and peeked out through the forward screen. Only then did she blink a few times and take a deep breath. 

“Okay, this… this I can handle.”

“I never expected you to be the one who couldn’t handle something as easy as skimming some treetops,” I giggled. 

“I never expected that doing something like that would be your first act behind the wheel of this thing!” Minuette shot back.

“Minuette, I’ve been training for this for two years.” I rolled my eyes again. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

“Then for the next day, can we not do any crazy maneuvers?” Minuette said, her voice still a little bit shaky.

“Twelve hours,” I replied as I checked the clock on the wall. “I can give you that.”

“Why twelve hours?” she asked, still crouched and watching me with narrowed eyes and flattened ears. 

“There’s a mountain pass I’ll need to cut through to make it out of the Greater Vanhoover Basin.”

“Can’t you just climb over it?” Minuette whined.

I shrugged as I adjusted the ship’s yaw a little. “I could, but I’ve been looking forward to getting through that pass for over a year.”

Minuette thought about it, then sat up straight and crossed her forehooves over her chest. “Fine.”

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to come along,” I pointed out. “So no pouting.”

“I’ll pout if I want to!” Minuette snapped back, then stuck her tongue out at me.

“What are you, twelve?” 

She just pouted some more.
> Waystone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




With the Blossom now heading at a safe half-ahead speed of forty knots toward the North Unicorn Pass and nothing in the sky save for rainclouds, I’d decided it was time to investigate the so-called ‘Waystone.’

Putting Blossom on autopilot—and reflecting that I probably did spend too much on this ship—we both hurried down the stairs. It was only then when I realized that I should have sprung for the stairwell covers. It was cold up here. At least it hadn’t been raining when we made our run. But the lower decks, heated by the energy of the crystal core, were nice and toasty. Both of us lost our shivers as we made our way to the forward lounge. 

I cast the spell to give us the Spellsinger’s Sight on the inner bulkheads, which revealed the same beautiful, rainy northwestern Equestrian weather I’d come to love.

Then, finally, I asked Minuette to bring out Even Keel’s little ‘gift.’ 

I couldn’t wait to find out that it was a fake and we could move past the whole thing. Yes, I’m sure Minuette would be disappointed, but this way, it would make things simple for both of us. While I suppose there might be ruins or treasures to be found in the Equestrian Northwest, I wasn’t planning on being the one to find them. I would be quite happy just to sail over them and let other ponies go digging around in the dirt.

Minuette brought back the ‘Waystone’ as if it were some holy artifact of the Pre-Unification Tribes. It was a small miracle she didn’t trip over her own hooves considering how hard she was staring at it.

“Minuette, you’re going to go cross-eyed if you keep doing that,” I snickered. 

Her eyes refocused on me and she gave me a snooty little smile. “Well, we can’t have that, because I think I’d be even cuter than you in glasses.”

I froze as if she’d slapped me with a club of ice. I felt my cheeks get hot and finally stammered, “W-what? What was that?”

“It’s called a comeback, Moony.” She smiled sweetly, her eyes sparkling with… something. “Now that we’ve both scored a point, why don’t we stop and you tell me about this thing?”

I narrowed my eyes and raised an eyebrow, while mentally delighted to be on some other topic. “You were gazing into that like it held the secrets to the universe and you don’t know what it is?”

Minuette sighed and floated the ball over to me. I snatched it from her magic, only to find myself surprised by the ‘Waystone’s’ weight. 

“What I know mostly comes from Daring Do and the Maze of Kronnos. And since Daring Do is fiction…” Minuette trailed off, rubbing the back of her head and biting her lip. 

“I can’t believe you got so worked up over something you learned about in a pulp fiction novel,” I sighed as I inspected the sparkling lines of light flowing across the six-pointed crystal in the center. 

“Are you gonna make fun of me or are you going to educate me?” Minuette brushed by me and plopped onto one of the lounge chairs to stare out at the rain.

“What, I can’t do both?” I asked as I dropped into the other one.

Minuette shot me a dirty look. “Moony!”

I held my hooves up and laughed. “Okay, okay, I give.”

“So?” Minuette demanded. “Considering how much you’re talking about it not being real, you’ve got to know something about them.”

“Waystones, real Waystones,” I began—after adjusting my glasses of course, “are essentially a combination of magical journal and magical map. Some are more of one, some are more of the other.”

“What does this look like?” Minuette interjected. She’d already turned her seat to face me. She was even bouncing up and down. So much for being annoyed at me. “Which kind?”

Looking at her eager face, I couldn’t stop myself. I had to humor the silly filly. It’s not like I had anything to lose, right?

“This one…” I studied the way the outer casing of the orb seemed to shift around a little. “Is even between the two, probably. But there’s something else in the design that I can’t quite make out…”

I narrowed my eyes and adjusted my glasses, but the outer casing—at first appearing nothing more than a sheet of bronze—looked odd. Like there was a texture or pattern there.

Suddenly, a massive magnifying glass appeared before me. I yelped and scrambled back, only to see Minuette giggling softly—her horn alight. 

“Guild spell?” I asked flatly.

“You’d be surprised by the things they teach us in the Guild!” Minuette said, her voice as sweet as sugar. 

I used my own magic to adjust Minuette’s conjured magnifying glass so I could study the outer surface. To my surprise, there were markings on it. In Old Ponish, unless I missed my guess. But the words didn’t make any sense and they were split up by all sorts of strange geometric patterns that flowed over the surface like an aerial map of streets in a big city. 

I found myself describing all of this to Minuette in detail, at least what I could make out of it. I examined every angle I could, floating the ‘Waystone’ to see every side. All the while, the six-pointed crystal remained perfectly stationary inside of its magical housing. 

“So, come on… finish telling the story!” Minuette prodded me in the shoulder when I went quiet for too long. “You only got started!”

“You interrupted me!”

“I got excited.”

“You’re usually excited.”

“I mean… you’re not wrong. But that’s no excuse!”

“You’re right, it’s not.”

She blew a raspberry at me. 

It was enough to get me to crack. I laughed and nodded. “Okay, okay. Let’s see. They usually take months to create, but after that, they can store a ton of locational data across a general region. There’s been some debate on what exactly a ‘region’ means, but that’s beside the point. Once you attune a Waystone to a region, it takes a lot of work to break that attunement. But figuring out the location of where a Waystone is attuned is pretty easy. You just have to focus on it and squeeze the thing lightly with your hooves.”

Before I could react—or regret my words—Minuette snatched the orb out of my magic and gave it a light squeeze. 

“Dammit, Minuette!” I shouted as I reached—

The ‘Waystone’ lit up like a miniature sun. The white light was so bright I was sure ponies could have seen the glow from the portholes in the Blossom for a good twenty miles in every direction. I yelped and stumbled backward, falling right off my seat. Minuette squeaked somewhere behind the nova she’d just unleashed and I heard another thump. Then, there was a resounding crystalline gong that vibrated through the very hull of the ship. I felt my poor ship shudder at the abuse. 

Finally, the light dimmed somewhat—though I could barely see from all the spots in my vision—and shifted into a soft, pleasant blue. A much higher-pitched crystalline chime sounded, then the light went out. 

The ‘Waystone’ dropped to the carpeted deck between the two lounge chairs with a dull thud. 

For a good minute or so, I did a few of my breathing exercises. Partially to control the massive spike of anxiety rushing through my body and partially to prevent myself from going over there and knocking some sense into Minuette with the damn Hearth’s Warming ornament! 

But there was a third reason. A very, very important third reason.

Namely, I had trouble believing that anypony would put that much effort into a fake Waystone. Everything we had just experienced was the textbook definition of a Waystone responding that it was—in fact—in its attuned geographical region.

And now, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was one of the Waystones that could—

I shoved the thought out of my head. That was a myth and I wasn’t about to give Minuette even more things to freak out about. Instead, I refocused on the topic at hoof. Namely, Minuette’s antics.

“Minuette?” I asked, keeping my voice as calm and sweet as possible.

“Uh… yes, Moondancer?” Minuette said from somewhere beyond the large blobs dancing before my eyes.

“Do me a favor?” I staggered to my hooves and managed to find my chair. I flopped into it and closed my eyes.

“Uh… what’s that?” I heard Minuette moving around and yelping occasionally. I didn’t really feel bad for her.

“Don’t touch the Waystone again without warning me first, okay?” My voice cracked somewhere near the end as I rubbed my temples. “I’d really rather not deal with being struck blind again… or worse.”

“Uh… yeah. I can do that.” Minuette thumped something else. “Ow.”

I didn’t offer to help. Served her right.

We stayed in silence like that for a time. Minuette was smart enough not to speak and let me finish collecting my wits. I wasn’t sure how much time passed before Minuette spoke up again in a tiny, timid voice.

“Moony?”

“Hm?”

“This… this is a real Waystone, isn’t it?”

I sighed. “Probably.”

She squealed softly, but I didn’t want to let her get her hopes up.

“It doesn’t mean it has data or that the data is good, though,” I said. The afterimages were finally beginning to fade. I glanced out the window and was glad there was nothing suddenly in front of us other than rain. “It doesn’t mean we have a treasure map, Minuette.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Minuette wailed.

“She says while she’s sitting in the lounge of my own personal airship!” I snapped.

“Okay, fine,” Minuette huffed, waving her hooves in the air. “But that’s kind of the point! Why have something this amazing if you’re not going to do amazing things with it?”

“Minuette, I told you why I’m out—”

“Tell me how the rest of it works,” Minuette interrupted, levitating it up between us. 

I snatched it out of her magic with my own magic. I did not trust her with that thing right now. 

“If it’ll mean that much to you, fine!” I said, barely keeping my voice even. Thankfully, years of work with Mended Heart had actually done some good in that regard. “Once they’re in a geographical area and they’re activated, they’ll start to home in on the closest destination with gongs and chimes. Some variants even have magical arrows that will point in the right direction if you know the proper spell.”

Minuette eyed the orb, but I pulled it farther away from her. She shot me another look.

“You just said it was real and everything that thing just did seems to say that it’s in the right region!” Minuette huffed, crossing her hooves again. “Why does it need to be region-specific, anyway? That seems like… really complicated.”

“It has to do with the way the positional data interacts with leylines.” I shrugged. “Too much distance and the connections become unstable. It’s why these aren’t common.”

Minuette stared at me and blinked slowly. 

“Nevermind,” I said with a sigh. 

“Can you activate it?” Minuette asked, her eyes fixated on the globe. “Really, Moony? Can you turn this thing on?”

I blew a stray hair out of my face and forced myself to consider the idea. I did have my entire personal library with me in my room. While I didn’t know off the top of my head, I had a fair number of books about magical artificing. Considering how important Waystones had been to the Early Equestrians…

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my ears back.

Her face immediately fell into something between a pout and a frown. 

“Really!” I protested, my ears snapping back up. “I really don’t know. I’d have to do some research!”

“You promise?”

“Yes, I promise!” I groaned. “I’m not trying to be difficult here, Minuette, but give me a break. I didn’t think that was a real Waystone until a minute or two ago. And I’m still not convinced anything will be on this thing. Or even if it is, it’s probably already been found. I mean, it’s not like we’re in the Unknown West here. There are small towns and villages scattered from here to Luna Bay.”

Minuette hugged herself tightly, staring down at the deck. “Look, can we… can we just try?”

Looking at her like that, I finally realized I wasn’t the only one trying to get away from something. Though what such a bubbly and cheerful mare like Minuette could be running from… I didn’t have the foggiest clue. And this didn’t seem like the time or place to ask. 

I could offer her one thing, though. It might end up causing more harm than good, but if I did it in good faith, maybe it would help smooth some ruffled feathers. After all, I didn’t actually have a timetable. There wasn’t anyone eagerly awaiting my arrival back in Canterlot or in Vanhoover. I was free, more or less. 

I swallowed and wondered for the first time if that was actually a good thing or not.

“Okay, Minuette. I’m willing to try. And if we get a location, I’ll even take us to it. Just… try not to get your—“

I was interrupted by a blue cannonball bowling me over and sending us both crashing back down to the deck. I nearly dropped the Waystone from my magic in surprise. I blinked a few times and looked down, only to see the other unicorn hugging me so tight I thought my horn might pop off my head.

“Minuette!” I gasped. “Need… need air!”

She squeezed tighter! Tighter! Somehow! I was pretty sure I heard breaking ribs. 

Then she suddenly let go and popped off of me. However, she didn’t go far. She plopped down and focused that brilliant smile on me. Still lying on my side on the deck, I just stared up at those huge blue eyes, which seemed to dance in the low daytime lighting of the lounge. 

I licked my lips and straightened my glasses. But before I could berate her, her ears twitched twice.

“Thank you, Moondancer. This… this is exactly what I need right now.”

Then, she bounced away. I didn’t see where. I didn’t care where. She couldn’t go far after all. It was a small airship, all things considered. Anyway, I had other things on my mind. Well, one specific thing on my mind really. 

As I lay there, all I could think about at that moment was that smile and how it had been directed at me and me alone.

Eventually, I swallowed an odd lump in my throat, pushed myself to my hooves, and tried to straighten myself out. Leaving the Waystone in the safe, I decided to head to the wheelhouse again. 

Maybe a change in perspective would get that smile out of my head.
> The Pass
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




For most airship passengers, the North Unicorn Pass is little more than a break in the tail end of the Unicorn Range that passenger liners fly over at twenty thousand feet. While this part of the Range only reaches about seven thousand feet above sea level, I’d still wanted to try it. Minuette had been right. The actual maximum ceiling of the Wandering Blossom was about twelve-thousand feet. She couldn’t go anywhere near as high as a passenger liner, but she was still top-of-her-class and could easily go over the Unicorn Range.

The North Unicorn Pass is considered to be a proving ground for most small airship pilots in Western Equestrian. The pass itself was more than wide enough to navigate through safely, but hugging the contours of the gorge that made up the pass was quite the challenge. Ships twice the size of the Wandering Blossom had done it, so I should have no problem. 

As I dropped us to around twenty-five hundred feet, I had to keep reminding myself of that. To my surprise, Minuette was at my side in the copilot’s seat. In the hours since the Waystone’s little surprise, she seemed to have a change of heart about the whole ‘risky piloting’ business, though she refused to say why. I guessed it had something to do with my deal with her. I still didn’t know why it was such a big thing and I doubted I would find out. 

Anyway, I had more important things to worry about. 

The first thing I’d done was a basic sounding spell, a weak pulse designed to sense any other ships in the area. Granted, it didn’t even go a quarter of a mile, but it was something. The last thing I wanted to do was find another ship attempting the run at the same time.

Granted, there could be someone trying from the other side, but I couldn’t do anything about that, so I was just going to cross my hooves and hope for the best there.

“You’re sure nopony else is around?” Minuette asked for the third time as she peered through the forward screen and the streaks of rain.

“Positive,” I replied as I felt the Blossom buck slightly beneath us. The weather had picked up and we now had a steady fall of water with the occasional downpour. That didn’t bother me. The winds were what bothered me. A little. 

There were three traditions for those attempting the Northern Unicorn Pass run. First, stabilizing fins needed to be locked into a horizontal configuration. If either of those touched either side of the gorge, the run would be considered a failure. Second, the mainsail and the jib sail had to be used for propulsion until the three-quarter point. And third, no magic beyond what was built into the ship.

As I maintained our approach to the dark valley, the first flash of lightning crackled through the clouds overhead, lightning them up in patchwork patterns of gray and black.

“Moony…” Minuette whispered as she watched the light show. “You sure about this?”

In reality, nearly every run through the pass was done without anyone actually judging them. There were some ponies out there who lied through their teeth. There was no way to be sure anypony had completed the traditional run. The tradition hadn’t come out of that though. The tradition had come out of airship pilots wanting to prove to themselves they were capable, not to others.

Maybe I was doing this for the right reason. Maybe it was the wrong reason. 

At that point, I didn’t care. I was still doing this.

As for Minuette… well, she’d insisted on hitching a ride with me. She couldn’t back out now. 

Nothing but forest lay beneath us and the sun was beginning to fade. Two additional challenges were often added to the run: the light and the weather.

The ship rocked from side to side and Minuette let out a yelp. I ignored it and kept my hooves on the yoke.

“Uh, Moony?” Minuette said, tapping one of the panels in front of her. “According to this, the winds are gusting up to thirty miles an hour!”

“Blossom can handle it,” I growled as we reached the last mile to the entrance of the pass. It looked like a black slash through the granite of the mountains. 

“Can you?” she asked, her voice quavering.

“Yes,” I snapped.

I growled under my breath and shoved the throttle to three-quarters for a good ten seconds to give us a nice good head start. After all, tradition said that engines weren’t to be used in the pass. Didn’t say anything about before the pass.

I reached up with my magic and yanked two levers above my head, locking the stabilizing fins into the horizontal position. This setting was almost never used, unless a ship had to do a sharp ascent or decline, but they gave us a little room for error. It wasn’t like I’d need it. I knew what I was doing.

Lightning streaked through the sky, grounding itself on one of the huge mountains to starboard and filling the entire world with light. The thunder rattled both of us in our seats. Minuette quickly adjusted her seatbelt to the five-point harness configuration I’d showed her earlier. I didn’t bother. We would be fine.

“Moony…” Minuette whimpered. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“That’s nice.” I flipped the forward lights on as the hidden sun began to fall below the horizon.

“Moony, come on! We can do this later!”

“Nope. Doing it now,” I grunted as a tailwind caught us and yanked us forward.

Then, before she could whine any more, we were in the North Unicorn Pass.

I had memorized the route to the North Unicorn Pass, but I quickly found that didn’t mean much when I could barely see beyond the prow of the Blossom. I swore and punched six buttons to my left, instantly overcharging the running lights of my airship. The canyon walls immediately burst with illumination as the forward lights attached to the bowsprit drilled through the rain and the dark. Minuette shrieked when the first turn came up, but I had enough warning to use the wind funneling through the pass to jibe port. I eyed the starboard fin and smiled when we cleared with plenty of room to spare.

“Why is this so important to you?” she cried as she held onto her seat, staring into the darkness.

“It’s a challenge!” I shouted. The roar of the wind was starting to get loud even through the slatted curtains forward and aft. “I like them!”

“Since when?” Minuette shot back as I jibed starboard to miss another cliff wall, swinging us around and making sure to keep the mainsail fully powered. She screamed as the port fin came within a hundred feet of the wall.

“Since a few years ago!” I shouted back.

She said something else, but I mentally tuned her out, focusing all my attention on the ship. In truth, I hadn’t expected to do this during a thunderstorm or at night. We’d hit a headwind that had delayed us by three hours and this storm hadn’t been on the schedule for the area. Then again, since there were no major cities in the region, pegasi tended to let the weather run a little wild. For all I knew, this was one of the wild storms the ATC back at the Vanhoover Skydocks had warned me about.

Maybe I should have turned back and done this another day. But trying to turn around with this much wind behind us would guarantee a quick trip into a cliff wall. Even trying to climb out of this would be risky, as the winds would get more unpredictable the closer we got to the top of the pass. In truth, it didn’t matter. We were already in it and I was going to see us through.

I had to perform two more last-second jibes, the Blossom shaking and rattling around me. It became almost like riding a series of white water rapids, desperately trying to avoid the big rocks all while trying to stay off the banks of the raging river. Only in this case, it was in three-dimensions.

The analogy became even more apt as I was forced to slalom through a narrow switchback. Minuette screamed as wall after wall spun by us. At this point, I had given up trying to control our speed and focused on just not hitting the walls of the pass. As we came out of the last one, it sent us directly toward another gray cliff wall. I swore and yanked back hard on the yoke. I saw the mainsail and the jib sail snap into the proper position, but I could already see it wasn’t going to be enough. The wind behind us was pushing us toward the wall too fast.

So I did something that most pilots would have called insane. 

I dropped the starboard stabilizing fin back to its vertical position and extended it as far as it could go. 

Instantly, the wind slammed into the new plane on the airship and the Blossom began to tilt hard to starboard. I could see from the way the rain moved that the canyon walls provided a sort of narrow airstream. All I needed to do was get my sails in that stream and we would skim the edge and have room to right ourselves.

Minuette was doing something. Again, I was only barely aware of her. 

Within thirty seconds of me releasing the fin, we were completely perpendicular to the ground. I grunted and wished I’d put on my five-point harness. I ignored gravity’s call on my body and collapsed the mainsail, letting the jib take the brunt of the winds as we slid closer and closer to the wall of granite.

“Moony!” Minuette shrieked. “Do something!”

“I’m doing it!” I bellowed back at her.

The airship jerked as we hit the airstream. I yanked down on the mainsail’s lever and it snapped open, sucking up all of that thrusting air and sending us rocketing forward. I yanked the starboard fin back into the horizontal position moments before as I heard a faint scraping noise. I didn’t let myself think about it. One thing at a time, Moondancer. One thing at a time.

I had made one final error though. The way the wind had been pushing at us didn’t suddenly stop the moment we hit the airstream. Instead of leveling out, the entire airship capsized. My seatbelt barely kept me in while various things in the wheelhouse crashed to the ceiling. I grunted and tweaked the sails before swearing and finally kicking in the rudder assembly. I hadn’t wanted to use it. It was a major mark of honor for those who made the pass if they could do it without the rudder, but I didn’t have a choice. I unlocked it from its normal tilt and allowed it to control both pitch and yaw as it slammed ‘up’ into position beneath the turbines under the stern of the Blossom.

It was enough.

With my expert hooves at the yoke and rudder, I managed to spin the entire airship the rest of the way, righting her just in time to jibe the next twist of the pass. I mentally did a comparison of the switchback we’d just gone through and the map in my head.

“Almost there, one last turn…”

Minuette said nothing, but I couldn’t spare the time to even glance in her direction. The final wall loomed up in front of us, a massive thing of gray granite and green lichen.

I jibed for what should be the last time.

Then, a bolt of lightning crashed into the mountains directly above us. Minuette screamed. I swore and my hooves jerked on the yoke. Thunder—a hundred times worse because of the narrow space of the pass—pounded my flattened ears. I had no doubt that if the forward-screen in front of us had been glass, it would have shattered. A few rocks suddenly came tumbling down, nothing bigger than a pony, but even rocks that size could do horrible damage to an airship the size of the Blossom. I saw one clang off the railing on the forward port-quarter. I swore again when I realized my starboard fin was scraping against the cliffside.

“Dammit!” I roared and yanked the ship back from the wall. “So bucking close!”

And then, we were through and into the rolling foothills north of the Unicorn Range. Despite that, I couldn’t see a thing before us, except…

I frowned and squinted into the darkness. Out there in the storm, was a small dot of light, going in the same general direction as we were. Without thinking about it, I cut our running lights to low. I didn’t know why. Maybe I was just paranoid from that narrow brush with… well, probably not death, but at least inconvenience. 

Still, something about that light made me uneasy. I wondered what it was. Within a minute or so, the light ascended into the cloud layer and vanished from sight. I forced it out of my mind, returned the stabilizing fins to their correct position—though I would have to land tomorrow and inspect them—and tried not to focus on how I’d just royally screwed up. 

About how I’d failed. Again.

I rubbed my eyes with my hooves and turned to my copilot. “Sorry for the rough—”

The seat was empty. 

I froze for a second, my head spinning about. For a second, I was worried she had somehow gone overboard during my maneuvers, but as my eyes swept the deck, I saw Minuette down below, looking at me with an unreadable expression. She just stood in the rain, like it wasn’t freezing out there. 

Then she shook her head and headed to the lower deck. 

I blinked a few times, not sure what to make of her reaction. Yeah, that hadn’t gone according to plan, but we were fine. Maybe a little bumped and bruised, but fine. Why was she being so odd?

And what happened to the Minuette I remembered all those years ago? Back when nothing could take away that smile? 

Then I had to remind myself of what I’d seen today. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to talk about their past. It wasn’t like I’d told her everything. I didn’t intend to tell her everything. It wasn’t any of her business what happened between me and—

I stopped.

No, but maybe being a good friend would count. We had both fought in the Battle of Unity. We’d been on the front lines with everypony—no, everycreature else. And then… things had happened. Mistakes had been made. Not between us. Me… and others.

After that, I’d become a little obsessed with this idea. 

Maybe this was her way of bridging that gap. And maybe this is her reaching out to me and trying to get to know me again? No one had been the same after the Battle of Unity. For the most part, that was a good thing. 

And what had I just done?

To her eyes, I had probably nearly killed us both.

I facehoofed and took the time to neaten up the wheelhouse. I didn’t feel up to running the ship on autopilot tonight. So, I gently dropped the ship as I searched for a clearing in the forest below where I might be able to land the Blossom. It took me a good ten minutes or so, but I finally found a series of wet hills with only a few scattered shrubs.

Turning the crystal core into low-power mode, I brought the ship to a hovering stop on the leeward side of a larger hill. I dropped anchor—I didn’t want to actually put the ship on the ground with that sound of the hull being scraped still fresh in my mind. Then, I retracted the fins, turned off the main running lights, and engaged the low-level anchorage lights.

I took my time to secure the rest of the wheelhouse, but mostly because I didn’t really want to face Minuette right now. I had a bad feeling about this. Anything that could get Minuette upset was a pretty big deal. I probably wasted a good twenty minutes in the wheelhouse before I finally left, locking both doors with my magic. The rain had stopped and the sky was just a series of broken clouds.

I didn’t even notice the cold as I stepped down the slick stairwell and made my way to the lower hatch. I paused briefly before going through though, taking a deep breath of the alpine air. I may have been raised in a mountain city for my whole life, but this was a different kind of air. A wilder air, filled with pine trees, sagebrush, and the sound of nothing pony-made aside from the Blossom’s quiet crystal core. All sorts of animals and critters made noises out here, just living their lives and ignoring everything else. 

Sounded nice.

However, despite the serenity of the moment, I didn’t look up at the stars.

Another twist of magic and I was inside my ship. After locking the door, I slipped through the engineering section. There were a couple places where it looked like sparks had flown, but nothing overtly damaged from my run through the pass. I smiled briefly to myself, until I remembered what lay beyond the next hatchway.

I swallowed and wondered what Minuette had really expected out of this trip. 

Well, there was only one way to find out.
> Smiles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




“Minuette?”

Nothing. I wondered if she’d decided to go to bed.

“Minuette?” 

I stepped out of the engineering compartment and looked around. The entire lower deck was a mess. Thankfully, the kitchen had been well secured, but there were pillows and blankets strewn all over the place. The bookcases all had enchantments to keep their books in-place no matter what—like I would ever skimp on something as important as that—but pretty much everything else that hadn’t been bolted down had tumbled. Both bedrooms were complete messes, too. 

I sighed and shook my head. Great job, Moondancer. Great job.

I didn’t know where Minuette had gone off to and if she was avoiding me, I didn’t want to make things worse by trying to hunt her down. There was a lower access hatch in engineering to the sub-deck beneath this one, which contained spare parts, non-perishable foodstuffs, emergency equipment, and similar stuff. There was even an access hatch in the sub-deck designed for service mechanics and cargo loading. But that led out beneath the hull. I doubt she would have gone down there.

So, I decided to make things easier on her and just let things be. I already knew what pushing too hard could do to any kind of relationship, friendship or… otherwise. I wasn’t going to do it again. 

I took a good ten minutes tidying up the lounge, dining area, and the two bedrooms. It was only when I was done with what would be Minuette’s bedroom that I heard the door to the head open and Minuette stepped out.

She came out less than a foot away from me. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, so when she looked up and saw me, she yelped and jumped backward, half her coat standing on end. She flopped onto her hindquarters and clutched her chest, breathing heavily, her eyes wide.

“Um… sorry?” I offered weakly.

A dozen emotions flashed across her face in the space of an eyeblink, which ended—surprisingly—in a simple smile. “It’s okay, Moony.”

With that, she slipped by me and peeked into the second stateroom. “Thanks for cleaning things up. I’m probably going to head to bed. Long day.”

“Minuette,” I protested, and blocked her way with a hoof. “Look, about what happened in the pass—”

Her head turned to face me and her eyes locked onto mine. Her smile faded, but only a little. “Did you have a good time?” 

I hadn’t been ready for that. “Sort of? I mean, I didn’t pass the test, so—“

“Are you going to try again?” she asked. 

She asked so calmly! How was she acting like this? Why was she acting like this? It was weird!

“Um… well, maybe—”

She nodded once, shrugged, and then walked the other direction, heading for a series of cabinets above the small dining room. With her magic, she pulled one open and took out a large backpack, complete with bedroll, ration packs, and even an emergency shelter. It was one of the four hiking packs I had stowed. Even Keel has insisted on them, even if I knew I wouldn’t be using them.

How had she even known those were there? I hadn’t shown them to her. 

“Minuette, what are you doing…?”

She fetched a yellow hooded poncho which she slipped over her head. It covered her from back to front—which I found slightly disappointing for some reason—then turned toward the hallway that led to the upper hatch. As she walked, she began strapping on the backpack with her magic.

“I’m going to get off while you do another attempt. If your ship is in one piece afterward, please feel free to come find me. I’ll be walking back to Vanhoover.”

She said every word with a smile, though it was even dimmer than before.

“You’re kidding.”

She walked right by me, tail swishing out from beneath her poncho. I’d never noticed Minuette had such a long tail before. Then I shook my head and refocused.

“Minuette!” I cried as she reached the hatch that led to the small corridor. “I don’t mean now!”

She paused, one hoof still in the air. “So, what, tomorrow morning?”

“I was more thinking in a few months or a year,” I said honestly, rubbing the back of my head and feeling my face heat up. “That… wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done recently.” 

“What exactly?” she asked, her back still to me, her voice a little chilly.

“Attempting to run the pass. At night. In a storm. And…” I swallowed. “With a passenger who had… already shown she wasn’t the biggest fan of flying.”

She put her hoof down but didn’t turn. 

“Minuette, I’m sorry,” I said, my voice cracking just a little. “I got caught up in the moment.”

“A few years ago, you never would have done something like that,” she said quietly. 

“It’s been a long few years. A few years ago, I never would have stood beside you at the Battle of Unity.” I blinked. “I mean, I wouldn’t have stood beside anyone. Because I would have stayed in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Not that I would have avoided you and…” 

I trailed off. More words weren’t helping. Well, the words I was using. 

I could use other words.

“Minuette, please stay?”

She finally turned around. A brighter smile now decorated her face, but it was nowhere near the smile I’d seen on the Skydocks back in Vanhoover. 

“No more stunts?” she asked.

“No more stunts,” I said. It helped that I hadn’t planned on any more ‘stunts’ during my original trip anyway. “Unless authorized by all passengers aboard the Wandering Blossom.”

Minuette’s smile grew a fraction and she uncinched her backpack. She floated it back to the cabinet and set it on its hook, then did the same with the poncho. Only then did I realize she had been wearing her saddlebags as well. How had I missed that? 

Minuette’s blue eyes were bloodshot and her mane was sticking out at odd angles. What’s more, there looked to be a bruise forming on the right side of her face. I took a step closer and frowned. Minuette stepped back and my frown deepened.

“Would you hold still a minute?” I muttered as I yanked her forward with my magic until we were inches away. “How’d you get a bruise here?”

I touched the spot with a brush of my magic and she flinched, her ears going flat.

“Your spinning maneuver. Something came loose in the wheelhouse and hit me. I never saw what it was.”

I thought about what I had cleaned up in the wheelhouse. The only thing I could think of was a small fire extinguisher. I winced and realized that must have been one of her yells I’d tuned out.

“Well, that’s not okay,” I muttered. “Give me a second to put a cooling salve on it. It’ll reduce the swelling.”

“No, really, that’s not—”

I gave her a look that brooked no argument, and pointed to one of the galley chairs, but not before flicking a switch to disengage the magnetic braces. Minuette dutifully pulled it out and hopped up as I went over to an emergency locker and fetched one of a dozen first-aid kits. 

The reason I had so many was simple: I had no idea what I was going into when I left on this trip. Some were designed for exposure to hostile elements, some were for the wilderness, some were for water survival, and some were for survival period. I also had four generic ones that could be found in most households across Equestria. Out of that, I pulled a small salve and an applicator. The salve would do the same thing as an icepack or cold compress, while actually slowly healing the bruise. If I got to it soon enough, it might prevent the bruise from fully forming.

I stepped back over to Minuette, then lifted her head to get a better view in the light above the dining room. I could already see the beginnings of the bruise. I muttered a few choice words to myself. Minuette tried to say something, but I shushed her. 

It took less than a minute to apply the salve to the affected area. Thankfully, it was designed to soak through the coat and be fully absorbed into the skin, so she wouldn’t have to wear a bandage. 

Finally, I dropped the kit on the table and flopped into another chair, then put my head on the table with a great sigh. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

“It was an—”

I shot her another look. Minuette just smiled through it, but she didn’t actually continue to speak. 

“So, how’d you know where the backpacks were?”

She glanced over to the cabinet. “Oh, that? When I came down here half of the cabinets and lockers were open. Most of the stuff was still inside, though. Decided I wasn’t… you know.”

I waved it away. “I don’t blame you. Before takeoff tomorrow, I’ll need to do a full survey of the ship and her systems. I wouldn’t expect to leave until sometime in the mid-afternoon. That’s assuming there’s nothing wrong.”

“And if there is something wrong?” Minuette eyed me, her smile fading into a nervous fear.

“I have replacement parts or repair kits for about ninety percent of the Blossom. If it’s part of that ten percent, then… time for a distress flare, depending on the damage.” I sighed and shook my head, my tail twitching. “It’ll be hard to see out here, beyond the mountains. We might need to wait until nightfall to send it up. Still, that’s… probably thinking too far ahead. Chances are we’ll be fine.”

Minuette nodded slowly. She moved as if to rub her cheek, but stopped herself at the last minute. 

“Minuette?” I asked quietly, watching her carefully.

“Hm?”

“Why are you really out here?”

For a split second, her eyes twitched and her smile faltered. She looked at me, her big blue eyes searching mine, but I didn’t know what for. I leaned back a little, taken a little off-guard by her intensity. Minuette had said I wouldn’t have done what I did in the pass a few years ago. Well, the Minuette I knew wouldn’t be looking at me like this back then either. 

For the first time, I realized we were almost strangers to one another. Again. I shivered. I didn’t like the idea. 

“Moony,” she replied, an ironic smile playing across her lips. “I think we both know we have things we’d rather not talk about right now. No matter what, it has been a long night, right?”

I nodded mutely.

“Then why don’t we get some sleep?” Minuette asked. “Leave the… complicated questions for another day?” 

I nodded again with a sigh. “I guess that’s a good idea.”

“One day at a time,” Minuette replied, though it had the sound of a practiced mantra.

She stood and patted me on the shoulder, then walked down the ship to the second bedroom. She hesitated before stepping inside though.

“Hey, Moony?” she called.

I watched her, still sitting in the dining room chair and suddenly wishing we’d had more than granola bars to eat for dinner. “Yeah?”

“No matter what… um… thanks for everything. For taking me.”

Without waiting for a response, she walked into the bedroom—her bedroom—and slid the door closed.

“You’re welcome, Minnie,” I whispered.
> Morning Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




A combination of birdsong from the forest and patchy sunlight through my porthole woke me up from a fitful sleep. I’d dreamed of nothing but the Pass. I’d dreamed of making it through without a scratch. I’d also dreamed of smashing the Blossom to pieces to send us crashing down into the black storm-torn depths below.

I yanked myself upright, forcing myself not to slip back into another hazy dream. I made it to the edge of the bed before I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and straightened out my pajamas—only now realizing that I hadn’t given Minuette anything similar. I swore to myself. It had gotten cold last night as another chilly autumn storm had washed over the Blossom. Cold enough that I’d decided I was going to wear something a bit better than a simple black turtleneck while working on the ship today.

But it doubted Minuette would have anything like that either. Ugh, I was going to have to find a town nearby and stop for supplies for her and probably double up on our foodstuffs. I had not planned this out well. Which was extremely annoying since I was a fantastic planner!

 I dragged myself the rest of the way out of bed. As much as I wanted a hot shower right now, I needed to check on my passenger and make sure she was okay. According to a small weather charm I had running on my nightstand, it had actually gotten slightly below freezing outside in the early hours of the morning. 

I would know because I’d been staring at my closed sunlight half the night thinking about what Minuette had said. And done. And… well, everything about Minuette. Plus all the other reasons I had gone on this trip. That she didn’t need to know.

At all.

Ever.

I stumbled across the cold deck, yelping with every touch of my hoof against the chilly wood. I reached out and engaged the heating system that should get the ship comfortable again. The last thing I wanted to do was wear down the core crystal by running it all night, so I’d turned it off. Maybe I should have dealt with the wear and tear. 

I opened the door and looked across the short hall, but the other bedroom door was still closed. I glanced down to the lounge and galley, but the lights were still doused and the Spellsinger’s Sight hadn’t been activated. I severely doubted Minuette would have gone outside, which only left her cabin.

I stared at her door for a few moments, but eventually decided that barging in on her was not the way to improve the low-level tension between the two of us. At least, I think there was a low-level tension. Maybe. Maybe not. I was terrible at reading other ponies. Or any other creature for that matter.

With a yawn, I made my decision, and padded down to the galley, flicking on the lights to low as I went. The galley had just enough room for one single pony to work in, but I didn’t mind the cramped confines.

In fact, I only minded one thing: that my coffee pot was empty.

I quickly rectified that and soon had a full eight cups of the anti-morning fluid going. I brought out a pair of mugs from the storage locker and put them on the counter. I had no idea how Minuette liked her coffee, or even if she was one of those heathens who didn’t like coffee. If that was the case, I might have to leave her behind on principle.

Okay, not really, but it would be weird.

I engaged the Spellsinger’s Sight on the forward bulkhead to let in the light of the new day. And that’s about all I saw. Patchy clouds above, an endless field of green conifers directly ahead with a few streaks of brown. Still, I caught sight of at least a dozen squirrels and chipmunks scampering around the trees. More than a few of them cast odd glances my way. I didn’t know how I knew they were odd; it was just a feeling.

Just as I poured the first cup of coffee, I heard some rattling from the other bedroom. I found myself wondering how somepony who could willingly be best friends with Pinkie Pie would handle mornings. There wasn’t much question, really. And while I didn’t consider myself a morning pony, I didn’t outright hate them. I still probably wasn’t ready for Minuette in the morning, though.

I looked up just in time to see Minuette come stumbling out of her room, half wrapped in blankets and sheets, and rubbing the sleep out of her eye with a single hoof. She bumped into the door to the head and blinked a few times. Her hair was a mass of pure chaos. Her tail was even worse. She practically looked hungover.

“Ugh,” she muttered. “Mornin’?”

I gaped at her. I’d been right. I hadn’t been ready for Minuette in the morning. 

“Uh, hi?”

“Please…” She stared at the coffee cups and the pot. “Tell me you made enough for the both of us?” 

“Uh… yeah?”

“Oh you’re a blessing from Celestia…” she murmured as she stumbled over and bumped into me.

Before she could grab it in her sleepy magic, I poured her a cup, only to be stopped about halfway through my pouring. At first, I couldn’t figure out what she was saying because the words were nothing but a garbled mumble. 

“Ugh, do you have cream and sugar?” she spat out, giving me a bit of an evil eye.

“Uh… sure?” I levitated over a sealed container of sugar from the pantry and a small jug of milk from the icebox.

She snatched both before I could react. With speed that should have been impossible, she poured like a quarter of a cup of milk into the mug, then filled the rest of the mug to the brim with sugar alone. Then, she downed half of the steaming mug in less than ten seconds.

When the mug hit the counter, Minuette’s trademark smile was back and brighter than ever. She shivered from horn to tail, looking positively ecstatic. “Ohhhh… you got the good stuff.”

“Uh… it was just milk.”

“I meant the coffee! This is straight from Seaddle!” 

“Well… yeah,” I shrugged again, feeling a little embarrassed. “I mean, it’s just the brand I like.”

She grabbed my face with her hooves before I could take another sip, looked me deep in the eyes, and smiled. “You have wonderful taste, Moony.”

I flushed despite myself. “Thanks?”

She beamed even brighter at me before letting me go to down another quarter of the mug. “Celestia, something to burn out that chill. Did the heater go out last night? I was freezing!”

I winced. “Yeah, I turned off the heating and cooling systems last night to conserve fuel and prevent the crystal core from getting more wear than necessary…”

“Is that why you have those cute pajamas on?” she giggled.

My eyes went wide and I only now realized what I was wearing. The front of my fuzzy shirt read in bright pink text ‘Even Discord couldn’t get me away from my books.’ According to my sources, it had been signed off by the Lord of Chaos himself. I didn’t really believe those sources though. My pajama pants were themed appropriately, namely being chibi book characters from one of my favorite bookstores in Vanhoover.

“I… uh… that is…”

“I think they’re adorable, for the record,” Minuette said with a toast of her mug. 

I could feel myself going scarlet and could see Minuette’s eyes dancing in mirth.

“Is this revenge for turning off the heat?”

“Yup!” Minuette said, her ears wiggling. “And I’m going to be doing it every morning until you either keep the heat on at night or find me a pair of pajamas with cute clocks or something.”

“Would something that read ‘Mornings are only good for books and coffee’ work?” I offered helplessly.

She booped my nose with a hoof. “We’ll see tomorrow morning, won’t we?”

I groaned and knocked back some of my own coffee.

“Tell me you didn’t just drink that black?” Minuette said, cringing back from me as if I had just revealed myself to be a Chrysalis Changeling. 

“It’s an acquired taste,” I informed her airily.

“Why would you want to acquire something like that?” she demanded as she refilled her mug and once more infused it with enough sugar to run Pinkie Pie for ten minutes. “That’s disgusting! It’s like drinking ash!”

“I like the bitterness,” I replied.

“Uh-huh,” Minuette said, still looking at me as if I was a spacepony. “Whatever you say.”

“Okay, enough teasing!” I cried, waving a hoof in the air. “Or I’m putting you on kitchen duty!”

“Gee, I knew you were willing to take risks, but I didn’t know you wanted to outright gamble with your life,” Minuette replied with a cocked eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you can’t cook.”

“Oh, of course I can cook,” Minuette grinned. “The question is, am I willing to make anything you’d actually enjoy?”

“Let me put it this way,” I shot back with a huff. “Unless you were serious about walking back to Vanhoover, I still need to do a thorough survey of the Blossom. And it’s going to be much better for both of us if I’m well-fed and well-caffeinated so I don’t miss anything important during the survey.”

Minuette glared daggers at me. I glared daggers at her.

Then somewhere along the line, we both found ourselves laughing. And in an instant, the tension lingering in the air that had been haunting us since my idiotic little stunt last night finally faded. 

“I’ll get something going. Why don’t you take a shower?” she replied, her smile honest and genuine.

“You’re sure?” I said, hesitant. “I mean, if you haven’t cooked in a galley before—”

“I spent a year riding the rails on the Friendship Express as a short-order cook after I got out of Gifted Unicorns. Seemed like a fun—and safe—way to see the country. Granted, I never ended up seeing most of it because I was too busy working, but it was a good idea in concept.”

“You were a short-order cook?” I stared at her as if she had grown a second horn. “Seriously?”

“Yes, I was!” Minuette huffed. “And I was a darn good one! Now, shoo or you’ll never get to see just how good!”

I turned and took a few steps, only to turn back. “There’s—”

“I can find my way around a galley!” She unwrapped one of the sheets from herself and chucked it at me. I snatched it out of the air with my magic. “Shoo!”

“Okay, okay!” I said, laughing a little nervously. “I’m going!”

I still glanced back once before closing my bedroom door. Minuette was humming away happily, spinning ingredients in the air above her head as she worked. She’d already thrown all of her extra blankets onto one of the sofas. 

Seeing her there, the light of dawn starting to filter through the trees beyond, I couldn’t help but sense that maybe, just maybe… she looked like she belonged here.

Then, I pushed the silly thought out of my head and got my shower going.

As I washed my mane and tail, I did a little bit of mental cartography. The closest town would probably be near the base of Canter Basin Lake. It was a popular tourist destination in the area and I think it even had a small Skydock. And since the Friendship Express didn’t go this far north, Minuette had probably never seen the place. I’d seen plenty of pictures in my studies of Equestrian geography, but it would be nice to see Canter Basin Lake with my own eyes. 

Depending on how fast I got my survey done, we might even get to spend the night there. But more importantly, it would have cold-weather gear which we could both use. I had a cold-weather rig I’d purchased for working on the ship up near the Frozen North. I hadn’t expected it to get as cold as it had on deck. It would only get colder as we went north. I wasn’t sure how I missed that, but it seemed that I would be wearing that for most of the rest of the trip. I needed to get my passenger something similar.

I had just stepped out of the shower, dripping wet, when Minuette knocked on my door. “Five minutes, Moony!” 

“I’m coming!” I shouted through the door. “Just hold your horses!”

Minuette giggled on the other side and trotted away. I shook my head and glanced at my wardrobe as I dried myself with a towel and a few spells. It would take me a good fifteen minutes to get fully dressed in my cold-weather outfit. I shrugged. I could do that after breakfast. I threw back on my pajamas and came out of the bedroom adjusting my top. With a grunt, I threw my second set of pajamas at Minuette, who caught them deftly in her magic.

“There, something so you don’t get chilly down here,” I said. “Only thing I got aside from one of my sweaters.”

“I’ll try one on later,” Minuette said with a smirk. “While you’re crawling around your pretty little ship.”

As whatever she was cooking sizzled in a frying pan, she quickly got on my pajama bottoms, then wriggled her way into the shirt. 

It was only then when I realized the two of us were definitely not the same size. Close enough to share a little, but definitely not for anything public. Minuette had rather impressive hips and shoulders. Not to mention her barrel and chest were quite a bit wider than mine. I blushed fiercely when I realized I was staring at just how stretched the words ‘Mornings are only good for books and coffee.’ I’d never thought myself to be a small mare, but Minuette definitely had the build of a pony who got a lot more exercise than this little bookworm.

Minuette, on the other hoof, looked over herself and nodded. She somehow ignored the fact that my pajama bottoms ended near her knee when that pair normally went all the way down to my hoof. And… well, everything else. 

“Maybe I’ll skip the sweater, but the outfit is cute enough,” Minuette finally said with a shrug. “Now sit your butt down and have breakfast, Miss Fancy Airship Pilot.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, shooting her my best salute as I plopped down into my chair—only to realize that Minuette had actually set the table as well, complete with knife, spoons, forks, our coffees, and a glass of orange juice for the each of us. “Uh, Minuette, you didn’t need to do this.”

“Least I could do,” she scoffed. “You’re offering me a free ride up to Whinnyapolis and even offered to investigate the Waystone Treasure. The least I could do was cook for you.”

With that, she levitated two omelets over, complete with toast and hay bacon. Mine just had green peppers, onions and mushrooms, exactly how I liked it. Hers was half coated in cheese. 

“How’d you know…?” I asked, staring at her in wonder.

Minuette burst out laughing. “Moony, we went to school together for how long? You ordered the same thing three times a week! How could I not know?”

I flushed again, my ears going back. I could have never said how Minuette liked her omelets.

I cut off a bite and went to season it, but Minuette snatched the salt and pepper away before I could use it. “Try it first!”

I glowered at her, but humored the mare by popping the bite into my mouth. I chewed once, twice… and three times. It didn’t need any seasoning at all! 

“How’d you do that?”

“Trade secret,” Minuette said with a wink.

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she was too busy working on her own omelet, so I let it drop. About halfway through mine—and I practically devoured the thing—I took a drink of coffee and looked up at my passenger.

“So, as you probably noticed, I didn’t exactly plan to have guests on—” That’s when something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. You said you arrived here for a job for the Guild. Why didn’t you have any luggage?”

Minuette shrugged off the question. “Normally, I’m not a huge fan of airships. Especially after all the stories I’ve heard about lost luggage. So I sent my bags with a friend on the Friendship Express. She’ll deliver it to my house. I hadn’t really been expecting to run into you and…” She waved at the Blossom. “Get involved with all this.”

Well, it seemed plausible enough. Either way, it didn’t change the situation. 

“Well, after last night, I realized I’m going to probably need to be in cold-weather gear from here on out. And I think you should get some, too.”

“Sounds fine to me,” she replied. “Being on deck is freezing when we’re in the air!”

“And it’s going to get worse,” I muttered. “So we’re going to take a detour to the town of Canter Basin. If I remember correctly, it’s about four hours north-east from here. We’ll dock, get supplies for two, get you a cold-weather rig and some pajamas that fit.”

“I think they fit just fine.” She shook her shoulders at me and grinned.

I went scarlet before she started laughing. I threw a piece of toast at her and she laughed even harder. 

“And you said you never got to see anything when you were out and about before…” I said slowly, fiddling with my fork a little. “Thought you might enjoy seeing Canter Basin Lake.”

Minuette’s eyes lit up like twin bonfires at midnight. “Really?”

“I mean… considering it an apology for freezing you last night.”

“Deal!” she squeaked, her trademark smile now firmly in place. “You’ve definitely got a deal, Moony.”

I laughed a little and enjoyed the rest of my omelet. It was better than it had any right to be. And I didn’t mind one bit.
> Inspections
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




It was well past noon when I finished my survey of the lower hull of the Wandering Blossom. I trudged up the gangplank leading from the grassy knoll to the deck, wearing only a light parka. It had warmed up enough to be just chilly, which was nice especially in the foothills of the Unicorn Range. We were still a few thousand feet above sea level and cold winds had a tendency to sweep over the impromptu landing site.

Minuette had spent half the morning at my side, quietly inspecting the hull until a particularly cold wind had driven her back into the warmth of the Blossom. Now, she was back on deck, dressed in my spare parka, a soft pink that would have worked with my coat, but didn’t exactly work with Minuette’s blue. She still wore it well. Too well. 

“So, how does it look?” she asked as she floated a mug of coffee—bless her—to me.

I took a long sip and let the liquid wash away the lingering cold. Then, I turned to look out over the ship. I still needed to do a survey of the main deck, the wheelhouse, and probably the engineering compartment. Especially after…

Well, there wasn’t any good in delaying the truth. 

“I ground the keel of the ship against that cliffside pretty good,” I muttered as I stepped over to the railing and looked down at the Blossom’s curves. I couldn’t see the keel from here, since that was the very bottom of the hull, but I could still see it in my mind’s eye. “It’s pitted from bow to stern. There are gouges in the wood in a few dozen places. Not enough to break through, but there are two spots that are pretty deep.”

“Does that mean…” Minuette swallowed. “Does that mean she can’t fly?”

I rubbed my eyes with a hoof. Obviously, I had gotten some grit in them. “No, no. The Blossom can still fly just fine. None of the gouges got close to any of the levitation crystal housings. But those are now weak spots in the hull. Under strain, like a water landing or really bad weather, those spots could potentially give and we’d have a hull breach.”

“That sounds really bad, Moony.” Minuette took a gulp of her own coffee as she looked out over the treeline. 

Despite her nonchalant attitude, I could tell she was worried. Maybe it was because I was too. Just a little.

“It’s not as big of a deal for airships as it would be for something that sails on the water,” I admitted. “It’ll restrict our operational ceiling—we won’t be able to fly more than say, eight-thousand feet above sea level—and I’ll have to keep the engines at half-power until I’m sure she can handle more. But that’s not the worst of it.”

“What, there’s more? Didn’t you just have this ship built?” she asked, shock seeping into her voice.

“Yes,” I spat, then knocked back a good chunk of the wonderfully-bitter coffee. It suited my mood. “No, the worst part is that the starboard stabilizing fin is cracked in four places. Between my little roll stunt and me cracking it against a cliff wall on the final run, it’s a minor miracle the whole thing didn’t break off.”

“And…” Minuette licked her lips and glanced my way. She obviously got that it was a big deal, but it was equally obvious she didn’t know why. “What’s that do?”

I tried not to yell at her. She hadn’t spent years studying airship mechanics, after all. She’d just hitched a ride. I was the one who got reckless for no reason. Well, I had a reason—if I was going to be perfectly honest with myself—but it wasn’t a good one.

Instead of admitting any of that, I took a slow, deep breath of the alpine air and let it out again. 

“The stabilizer fins do a few different things on an airship this size. The Blossom is more easily affected by storms and wild winds, even ones made by Even Keel. If you had an airship that was built to operate around Canterlot or other areas well-controlled by pegasi weather teams, they’ll usually only have small sheets attached to the envelope—the ‘blimp’ part.” I added, watching Minuette’s face. “The Blossom stays aloft through her enchanted mainsail, levitation crystals set into the bottom of her hull and the stabilization fins. The fins even all those pieces out to make sure the ship stays flying.” I pushed up my glasses and fiddled aimlessly with my mane. “They also keep the ship level during bad weather and even act as part of the rudder assembly for quick navigation.”

Minuette was silent, though when I glanced at her, it wasn’t a silence of not understanding. She was the best clockmaker in Equestria. She understood mechanical engineering in a way I never would. I just knew a whole lot about a whole lot. Most of it was useless to the current situation.

I turned around and sat on the deck, eyeing the dented railing on the bow. “So, we’ve got two options.”

“And those are?”

“Head back to Vanhoover for a proper refit and damage assessment,” I sighed, slipping my glasses to rest on my horn and rubbing my eyes again. “Or continue on to Canter Basin and hope they have an airship mechanic with the necessary parts. Hull patches shouldn’t be a problem. It’s the fin I’m worried about. Without that fin working right, I won’t be able to safely navigate the trip to Whinnyapolis. Most of the Equestrian Northwest is only loosely controlled by pegasi weather teams and usually only that’s done near towns or other settlements that actually have teams. A lot of what’s out here is at least partially wild.”

Minuette flopped down beside me and rubbed her chin with a hoof. We sat there for a long time, just thinking and pondering the situation. 

To my total lack of surprise, it was Minuette who smiled first. “Well, seems simple to me.”

“What does?” I asked.

“You said Canter Basin is… what? Four hours northeast?” 

I nodded. “Something like that.”

“Then we head for Canter Basin and find a mechanic there. If there isn’t one, we do a little sightseeing, then head back to Vanhoover to get her all fixed up.”

“You realize a proper repair job might take days or weeks, right?” I pointed out. She probably had no way of knowing, really. But she had to know what she was saying. 

“And what would you do during all of that?” Minuette asked, her smile not even dimming.

“Honestly?” I thought about it again. “Probably rent a place in Vanhoover. I spent a lot of time and money on the Blossom. I’m not leaving until she’s done.”

“Then I either harass you or…” Now her smile did dim slightly. “Or go back to Canterlot.”

“Well,” I said quickly as I picked myself up off the deck. “We don’t need to face that yet, right?”

Minuette nodded, looking up at me. “Right!”

“So, if you’d be willing to make us lunch, I’ll finish the survey of the main deck and the wheelhouse. Then it’ll just be a check of the engineering section. Assuming it all checks out and we get a good tailwind, I might be able to get us into Canter Basin before sundown.”

I reached down and picked her up off the deck. 

“Now that’s acting like an airship captain!” she said with a wink. “I’ll be right back with some sandwiches!”

With that, she scampered to the hatch and headed below decks, not even looking back. However, I stared after her, even after the hatchway had closed. Had she really just turned what should have been a devastating moment—one caused by my own stupidity—into something with a silver lining?

Not to mention… she wanted to go sightseeing? With me?

I mean, I didn’t have a reason not to go. I wasn’t in any particular hurry. I was in even less hurry than Minuette to head back to Canterlot—though I still didn’t have a clue why she was avoiding the place. I mean, it was Minuette, right? Everypony loved her, and I mean everypony. 

Why would she want to go sightseeing with me?

I shook my head and summoned my survey checklist in a flash of magic. It was time to focus on questions I could answer. Like if the Blossom would shake herself apart the moment I tried to get her airborne.

Three hours and two sandwiches later, I was happy to acknowledge that the answer to that question was a definite no. While one of the railings on the bow was dented, there had been no other notable structural damage save for a few scrapes and gouges along the main deck from falling debris. The wheelhouse had turned out completely unscathed and the engineering compartment almost as pristine as my first walkthrough six months ago. I’d even done an inspection of the sub-deck, crawling around down there after pulling up the hatches that made up most of the hallway of the main deck. Everything was still strapped down and the hull was entirely intact on the interior.

Minuette had been beside herself with glee when I announced that the Wandering Blossom was fully air-worthy. While I wouldn’t be pulling any more daredevil stunts anytime in the future with a cracked stabilizing fin, that was fine by me. The more time that passed between that moment and now, the more stupid I realized I’d been. 

So, it was with no small amount of trepidation that I personally invited Minuette to join me in the wheelhouse for takeoff. And it was with no small amount of relief that she reacted with another dazzling smile as she climbed up the deck. 

I had taken the time to don my cold-weather gear and stow a sweater, a parka, and some long socks I’d found in the bottom drawer of my dresser. Minuette had just raised an eyebrow at me at the sight of them. I’d unsuccessfully hidden a powerful blush and mumbled something about ‘just in case.’ 

Still, embarrassment aside, I managed to put on a cool head as I strapped myself into the pilot’s chair. I took a page from Minuette and used the five-point harness design this time, as did she. I engaged the slatted curtain for the aft section and engaged the forward-shield after retracting the forward slats. I checked my gauges, went through my preflight checklist, and finally realized it was time. It was a little before three o’clock, and according to the maps I had stored in a compartment between the two of us, at one-half, it would take us three and a half hours to reach Canter Basin from our current position. We’d arrive shortly after dark, which was too bad. Canter Basin Lake was supposed to be spectacular at sunset.

But one thing at a time.

I shifted the crystal core into its engine configuration, then unfurled the mainsail and the jib. I slowly throttled up the levitation crystals until we finally took to the air. There was a strange sense of freedom to feeling the ship shiver in the light breeze, to being unfettered by such annoying things as gravity. 

I found myself smiling.

Using the rear turbines, I began to slowly nudge us forward at one-quarter, keeping the levitation crystals running until I was sure we’d be past the tree line. On a whim, I waved to all the squirrels and chipmunks, much to Minuette’s amusement and my embarrassment. 

And then, we were finally off. Using the course I charted earlier, I adjusted our heading and throttled up the engines to one-half. Even at that speed, I could feel the ship begin to shimmy slightly and found myself constantly needing to adjust course to compensate. I sighed at myself. The constant correction was going to be a pain.

Once we were well above five-thousand feet, I evened out the Blossom. I didn’t want to push us any higher. Minuette had spent most of the ascent staring at the instrument panels, myself or the deck. Only after I breathed a long sigh of relief did Minuette do the same.

“Everything okay?”

I nodded, leaning back in my chair. “The captain has turned off the seatbelt signs. You are free to move about the cabin.”

She giggled and I rolled my eyes at her. 

“We’ve got a good tailwind, thank Celestia,” I said. “We might be able to arrive there before sundown. Which would be nice. The books I’ve read said it’s pretty around then.”

Minuette was quiet for a long moment after that. I turned toward her and raised an eyebrow. She was just staring down in her lap where she held some bundle she’d brought up. I guessed it was more snacks.

“Hey, Blue?” I asked, prodding her with a hoof.

She blinked, then stared at me with a half-smile. “Did you just call me Blue?”

I blushed and mentally kicked myself a few dozen times. 

“Nopony’s called me that since we were third-years at Gifted Unicorns,” she said wistfully, now looking even more lost in thought. “Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine used to call me it all the time.”

Before I could prod her again, she eyed me up and down.

“And now you’re calling me it?” she raised an imperious eyebrow. “Just who do you think you are, Moondancer?”

My ears went flat. “Uh…”

She burst out laughing. “I’m kidding! Lighten up, Moony. I just got lost in my own head. Happens sometimes.”

She said that too quickly and too cheerfully, even for her. But she also didn’t let me get a word in edgewise.

“Anyway, I brought something for us to work on together!”

Minuette unwrapped the thing in her lap, bringing out something I hadn’t been expecting. 

The Waystone.

“Minuette…” I sighed. “Are we really going back to this?”

“You promised!” she said with a small pout. “Come on, Moony! What’s the harm? We already know the Waystone itself is real! Why not check the rest?”

“You’re really into this, aren’t you?”

“Well, you aren’t the only one who did some reading last night. You have quite a collection of travel guides!” Minuette beamed at me. “They had some good stuff in there.”

“Those are Even Keel’s!” I cried. “I just shoved them into your bookcase because I didn’t feel like throwing them out!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Minuette informed me, her nose in the air. “One of them talked about how Waystones were super popular in this region hundreds of years ago! And they contained…”

I facehoofed. “You read the one about the Cloudshark, didn’t you?”

Minuette nodded like a bobblehead. 

“Minuette, that is like the biggest tourist attraction of the gullible in the entire Equestrian Northwest!” I cried, waving my hooves in the air, then adjusting our heading a little to keep us on course. “The Cloudshark didn’t even exist. It’s a myth! And the chances of us happening to find a Waystone from that ship—which didn’t exist—is next to impossible. The odds are astronomical!”

“Then who better to find her than a pony with a couple stars on her butt?” Minuette quipped.

I groaned again as the ship rocked slightly. We were heading beneath another Northwestern rainstorm, but this one was nothing more than some drizzle and light wind. 

“Moony, what do you have to lose by trying?” Minuette said, bringing out her ‘wounded puppy dog eyes.’ “Please?”

“Okay, that?” I pointed at her face. “That is just not fair!”

She grinned at me, then went back to the eyes. Those damn unfair eyes.

“Fine!” I snapped, yanking the Waystone from her lap. “Yes, I did at least figure out how to unlock most Waystones last night. Doesn’t mean that the technique will work for this one though, so don’t get your hopes up!”

Minuette didn’t reply. Instead, she just watched me like a hawk, grinning all the while. I found myself blushing for no good reason as I studied the inscriptions on the sides of the casing. Now that I knew what to look for, I could see the breaks in the metal. 

With a careful application of magic, I applied pressure to five points at the same time. Instantly, several pieces of the outer shell flew an inch or two outward. I blinked in surprise while Minuette let out a little squeak of excitement. I hadn’t actually expected that to work.

But now that it had…

“Minuette, can I get that magnifying glass again?” I asked. At this point, even I was curious. 

In less than a second, a golden disc of magic glass floated before me. I peered through it and spun the entire orb in my magic. Part of the security system of all Waystones were the outer markings, which often had clues as to what the thing actually was. But they had to be matched up in the proper order.

However, I had spent most of my life in libraries. I was good at making order out of chaos. 

I juggled pieces in my magic, aligning them to the correct spots as needed, until I only had a single piece—the cap—left. It was a circular piece of golden metal that fit on the far side from the window to the six-pointed crystal. There was a small notch in it, too.

“Okay… let’s… see if this actually is something,” I muttered to myself as I slammed the cap home. 

The entire orb began to crackle with blue magic. The crystals inside flashed on and off in a rapid pattern.

“Oh not again…” Minuette cried. 

I shielded my eyes, only to have the entire Waystone jerk out of my magic and fly to the center of the wheelhouse, a few inches in front of the forward screen.

Then, the last thing I expected happened.

A griffon appeared before us.
> Phantoms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




“If you’re seeing this here message, means either that clouds-for-brains Admiral Fairweather gunned us down, or you’re a thief, may the Egg curse your blackened soul!” The blurry image of a griffon spat before coughing several times. “But unlike the rest of those birdbrains, I ain’t the type to be spiteful. Somegriff should get to enjoy our trinkets. Looks like it’d be you.”

The griffon burst into another set of hacking coughs. If I knew my medicine, it sounded like early-onset pneumonia. I stared at the figure, but he was too out-of-focus to make out any details, save for his general shape. Definitely a griffon and, from the sound of his voice, probably past middle age. 

I glanced at Minuette, but she seemed enraptured by the figure in glowing yellow light. I could even see the griffon’s reflection in her wide eyes.

“Ain’t even sure if this damn thing works. Silver Tides swears by it though, and I trust that crazy old mare. Made a pact. Hopefully this is you, Silver. Though if it is, why you need a damn map in the first place? You were there!”

Another bout of coughing, then almost a full minute of deep wheezing. The image faded in and out a little. I caught sight of a black cuirass with a brown sash and a head full of blazing orange feathers streaked with grey.

“Enough babbling. This here be the record of the Cloudshark, best damn ship to fly the skies! Whoever ya are, ya best know that we gave as good as we got, but fates weren’t with us last night. Starboard cargo pod got blasted clean off by the Valiant Sunrise. We’d been making for the Phantom, hoping to hide in the fog beside her, but Fairweather caught up to us before we could settle in. Captain managed to spiral us up into the rain, but not before we lost the pod and took damage to the starboard side.”

The griffon seemed to reach out and steady something, maybe the Waystone itself.

“Best guess is the pod smashed on the west side of the ridge. Probably spilled most of our haul halfway down the mountainside. Ain’t gonna get time to get it for a while, but I reckon this thing should serve us right well when the heat’s died down. Ain’t never lost a score yet!”

Suddenly, alarm bells sounded and the griffon looked around in panic. Indistinct shouting came from somewhere. I had to stop myself from looking around the wheelhouse. 

“Black skies, ain’t one thing, it’s another. Fairweather’s found us again and this time she brought Armada friends! Well, ain’t gonna lose more. Cloudshark’s too good for—”

There was suddenly an explosion to the griffon’s right, and the image vanished in a blinding flash.

Minuette and I just sat there, staring at the Waystone as it slowly settled down between the two helm stations. The rest of the lights went out, leaving only the blue lightning arcing over the six-pointed crystal.

I didn’t have a clue what to say. Even if I did, I couldn’t find it in me to break the sudden silence that descended on the wheelhouse. It was only then when I realized I was holding my breath. I forced myself to let it out in a slow, unsteady rhythm, just as Minuette did the same thing. 

Finally, after what felt like hours, Minuette turned to me. Her eyes were as big as ever, her mouth still gaping. 

“D-did that… that just happen?” she whispered.

“You… you mean…” I licked my suddenly dry lips and met her eyes. “You mean the projection of some old griffon talking about…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence. This couldn’t be real. This kind of thing didn’t actually happen. Well, it didn’t happen to anypony except for the Princess and the Protectors. I’m sure it happened to them all the time.

“He said the Cloudshark, Moony.” Minuette’s voice was still a whisper. “The Cloudshark!”

“Can’t be… that ship… it’s a myth…” I didn’t exactly sound convincing. Not even to myself. “There’s just no way…”

“Then what about the other names? Admiral Fairweather?” Minuette bounced up and down in her seat. “The Valiant Sunrise?”

Those were names I knew. I didn’t especially want to admit it since I didn’t want to fuel Minuette’s false hopes about the reality of this madness. But, I couldn’t exactly lie. I swallowed and adjusted my glasses. Then adjusted them again for good measure.

“The Valiant Sunrise was Admiral Fairweather’s flagship. She was one of Equestria’s only Mare-of-War airships back in the late 400s,” I said woodenly. “Despite her work with the Wonderbolts, Fairweather was one of the best airship commanders of her day, an important thing since the airships had only really been around for a century or so.”

“And did Fairweather serve in the Equestrian Northwest?” Minuette asked slowly, the edges of her mouth twitching. She already knew the answer.

“She served all over!” I protested, then caved almost immediately. “But yes, her primary area of jurisdiction was the North Equestria, operating out of Canterlot. Admiral Rolling Thunder captained the HMS Eternal Sun and her territory was Southern Equestria.”

“So everything that griffon said could be true!” Minuette’s smile was growing by the second. Then, it suddenly fell. “But… it doesn’t say anything about where it happened. Just something about a ridge and a… what did he say?”

Pieces started to click into place. While I’d never been to Canter Basin Lake, I had always wanted to visit. And I always did plenty of research on any place I considered visiting. I felt my heart start to thrum as I realized I knew exactly where the old griffon had been talking about.

“Phantom,” I breathed. “He had to be talking about the Phantom Ship of Canter Basin Lake!”

“The what?” Minuette cocked her head to the side.

I ignored the question, popped open the navigation console, and yanked out a bundle of topographical maps. It took me a good minute to locate the map I wanted and another thirty seconds to find Canter Basin Lake. I immediately highlighted it in my magic and pointed it out.

“Canter Basin Lake is actually a collapsed volcano,” I said quickly. “It’s been long dormant. Now, there are two islands. One’s called Isle of the Witch—used to be a coven of unicorns there—and the second is a tiny little speck in the southeast called ‘The Phantom!’ It’s called that because, at night, the rock formation looks a lot like a ship!”

“Moony,” Minuette said quickly as she stared at the map. “Do you realize what this means?”

I rocked back in my seat and stared out at the endless pines and rolling hills. I shook my head. Not because I didn’t know, but because I couldn’t believe it. Had Even Keel actually…

No, no, no! I wasn’t about to buy into this! 

“You have to admit it all fits!” Minuette cried, still bouncing up and down. “Moony, that griffon just told us exactly where one of the cargo pods of the Cloudshark landed! And we’re already heading there!”

“Even if that was telling the truth, there’s no way to know if anything’s left! He just said the west side of the ridge!” I shot back. I highlighted the western side of the crater-like lake in my magic. “Canter Basin Lake is huge, Minuette! It’s about six miles long and five miles wide! Do you really want to go digging up and down a mountainside for six miles?”

“There has to be some sign!” Minuette insisted. “Broken trees, a rockslide, something! You can’t just say no to this, Moony! Anyway, you promised!”

“Celestia on a pogo stick,” I muttered under my breath. 

I had promised. Not only that, but I’d also terrified her multiple times and nearly froze her to death last night. Like it or not, I owed her one. At least one. 

I took a long, deep breath and put away all of the maps save for the one showing Canter Basin Lake. Then, I adjusted our heading—again. By that time, I had calmed down enough to look her in the eye.

Minuette was still bouncing in her seat, her eyebrows raised, waiting for my response.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” I announced. “I will do a flyby of the western ridge if we get there with enough sunlight. You’ll be responsible for looking for any signs of this cargo pod. If you do—and don’t hold your breath—I’ll mark it on the map and we can go there tomorrow while the ship’s being repaired.”

Of course, that was assuming they had a mechanic who could fix the Blossom. And the parts. 

“After this though, we’re even!” I finished. “This is all I’m promising, Minuette!”

“Deal!” She reached out a hoof and I bumped it reluctantly.

“Just don’t get too disappointed when we don’t find anything,” I warned her as I put a little more thrust into the turbines. I wanted this over with as soon as possible. “If that recording was real, it was made over six hundred years ago. Entire forests can grow in that time. Even if it was there, it might be long-buried or long gone.”

“Don’t be such a downer, Moony!” Minuette laughed as she turned to face forward, still bouncing. “Lighten up and have some fun! This is fun!”

“I’m not a downer, I’m a realist.”

“Realist my flank. You’re just grumpy.”

“I am not grumpy!” I cried.

“See? Totally something a grumpy person would say!”

“That’s… that’s circular logic!”

“A grumpy librarian, too.”

I decided to quit while I was behind.
> Ridgeline
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




Halfway through our journey to Canter Basin and the lake beyond, we caught a second tailwind. I had mixed feelings about that, since it meant we would arrive nearly an hour before sunset, though I wouldn’t need to push the engines as hard. Granted, I was fairly sure the Blossom could easily do three-quarters even with the scoring on her hull, but I wasn’t going to take any more chances.

What I hadn’t been ready for was the Waystone suddenly coming to life when we were about ten miles out of Canter Basin. It started to emit a soft blue light. Minuette’s smile became a full-fledged grin again and she began to bounce in excitement. She took it as a sign.

I had to do the same, because the more I thought about the situation, the more I started to wonder if Even Keel had really given us a functioning treasure map. If that were true, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had known. And if he had known, why had he done it? Despite his claims to being rich—and he was absurdly rich—why would anyone turn down a chance at a six-hundred-year-old treasure trove? It didn’t make any sense.

But it wasn’t going to make any more sense tonight.

Per my promise, I swung wide of the town of Canter Basin, a small tourist and resort town with a single Skydock. Instead of heading in, I navigated our way along the western ridge of Canter Basin Lake. All the while, the Waystone, now sitting firmly in Minuette’s lap, got a little brighter. I tried to ignore the thing. 

Despite my doubts, I still didn’t actually believe any of this craziness. 

The Cloudshark had been a myth, nothing more. Yes, Admiral Fairweather had chased plenty of air pirates, but the Cloudshark was supposed to operate out of the frigid—and supposedly cursed—lands that would one day become the Crystal Empire. The legends said that their unicorn captain—Captain Diamond Facet—was the last survivor of a noble race of pioneers, with a 'coat like gemstones.' Obviously, part of the lost legends of the crystal ponies. 

Then again, the legends also said he ate diamonds for breakfast and had once courted a young dragonness. Oh, and he had three windigos as pets which he used to freeze his prey before he struck. There was the griffon first mate and two diamond dog enforcers. Not to mention the fact that his ship could fly without an envelope, despite the fact that levitation crystals and the like hadn’t been developed until the 8th Century.  

The whole thing was just one silly bedtime story.

But even I couldn’t just ignore the griffon’s words. 

Minuette? She wanted to believe. And I couldn’t find it in myself to take that away from her. Something about her enthusiasm gave her a glow I didn’t have the heart to douse. So, knowing full well I was on a fool’s errand, I continued on, the Waystone glowing ever brighter and Minuette bouncing ever higher.

I’d helped her imbue her conjured magnifying glass with a version of Spellsinger’s Sight, allowing her to see through the entire hull of the ship as it wasn’t there. She kept moving it in every direction, scanning the trees in a jerky, almost nervous manner as if she didn’t want to miss a single inch of the mountainside. 

I brought the ship a little lower for her and idly kept my eyes open. We were running on turbines and levitation crystals, so I’d retracted the sails again to make things easier to see. My eyes scanned the various kinds of pine trees, outcroppings of rock, and the occasional creek, but nothing jumped out as a definite sign of buried treasure.

Why was I doing this again?

“Anything yet?” Minuette whined as she checked directly below us with her conjured looking glass.

Right. That’s why.

“Not a thing,” I replied smoothly, shifting the Blossom to port to avoid some taller trees on a rise. “Come on, Minuette, it’s been a long day.”

“Nope!” she chirped. “We keep going until we run out of sun or run out of mountainside.”

“We’ll probably run out of both at the same time,” I muttered. “I’m not seeing a way we can...”

I paused and squinted ahead.

Minuette’s head jerked up just in time to see the anchor beacon flash again.

I brought the Blossom a little higher and blinked a few times as I recognized the silhouette.

“What in Equestria is a Nimble-Dancer 14X doing out here?” I muttered to myself, staring at the airship currently floating solely on levitation crystals a few hundred feet off the mountainside. 

In the light of the setting sun, I managed to catch the name printed across the bow in elegant letters: To Dream in Colour. With the Trottingham spelling of ‘color.’ 

“Wait… I saw that ship when we left Vanhoover…” I muttered to myself, though I hadn’t taken the time to give it more than a passing glance when we were casting off.

The ship was at least double the size of the Blossom, with sleek silver lines, two masts, and an entire aft castle. The airship had to be at least four decks, with a large wraparound bridge at the top. Unlike the Blossom’s narrow portholes, most of the decks had large glass panes that revealed an opulent interior. I couldn’t see details, but I could see reflections of gold, silver, and chrome. Her stabilizing fins were retracted, but both of them had a bright golden sheen. I knew how much that model of fin cost. Each was a quarter of the price of the Blossom itself.

I eased down on the throttle to let momentum carry us closer, though not close enough to worry anyone. I also made sure our running lights were on, even though there was still easily enough sunlight to spot us. The last thing I wanted was for them to think we were trying to sneak up on them. Ponies this rich tended to get jumpy. 

“Wow,” Minuette whispered. “That’s one heck of a ship…”

I nodded dumbly just as we got close enough to make out three figures on the ship.

On the main deck, a cream-colored unicorn mare was pacing back and forth before two other ponies, a smaller gray-maned unicorn—barely more than a filly—and an orange pegasus with a dark mane. She looked to be yelling at them as we approached, but then she froze.

Somehow, her eyes locked onto mine through the forward shield, though we were at least a couple hundred yards away. She shouted something, then I caught her horn lighting up a bright magenta.

A moment later, the lights aboard the To Dream in Colour blazed white, then red, then white again. It was an old airship signal for ‘do not approach, operations in progress.’ And while I didn’t see any operations, whoever this was seemed like she had an attitude. I could see that even from here, so I veered the Blossom well clear, while both Minuette and I watched them slide by.

The pegasus waved cheerfully at us. The filly just stared like she was nothing more than a ponyquin. And the mare just glowered at us as if she were trying to burn a hole in our hull.

Then, we finally passed the other ship and left them behind.

“Okay, that was…” Minuette said slowly.

“Weird,” I said flatly, shivering slightly.

“Weird’s a good word,” Minuette said with a nod. “In fact, I...”

I didn’t realize she had paused. I kept thinking of the look that mare had given us. It looked like a challenge. One I didn’t really appreciate. I had half a mind to turn us around and demand to know what her problem was. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more— 

“Moony!” Minuette hissed. “Directly ahead!”

My eyes snapped up from my annoyance with the other mare to see where Minuette was pointing. We’d moved around a bend in the mountainside and were now out of sight of the Colour by a large outcropping of rock. 

What lay beyond that was what had Minuette so excited.

It also made my heart stop in my chest. I gaped.

There, on the side of the mountain, was a small copse of trees that seemed far shorter than the trees that surrounded it. In fact, as we got closer, I realized there were other trees amidst the new ones, but they were ancient… and broken.

“No way,” I muttered as the sun continued to slip further down the horizon.

Minuette had her magnifying glass floating in front of her. She’d somehow adjusted it to act as a telescope. I couldn’t see whatever she was seeing, but she was bouncing up and down faster than ever.

“Moony…” she whispered. “That might be what we’re looking for!”

And that when the first of the evening winds came down the mountain and shoved us hard to port. Minuette squeaked in surprise while I swore and tried to get the Blossom back under control. But with a cracked stabilizer fin, it was far harder than it should have been. Oddly, the Blossom listed to starboard even as I fought the rudder. Swearing, I flipped a few switches and turned up the crystal core’s output, then shunted it all to the starboard levitation crystals. 

Minuette was holding onto her seat for dear life as I clutched the yoke, but even that wasn’t enough. I swore again and snapped open the mainsail, then the jib. Both billowed to full immediately and the Blossom jerked again, spinning slightly on her horizontal axis. I had to use the turbines to get her to slow down.

By the time I had her back under my control, we were a good half-mile from the spot we’d just been in. I dropped us to a measly four hundred feet where we hopefully wouldn’t catch as much of the wind.

“What was that?” Minuette cried, staring at me. 

“I told you, the weather out here is wild!” I spat, annoyed at myself for being unprepared. “They probably have a pegasus or two handling weather for the town itself, but not for the whole lake. We’re talking over thirty square miles of lake and forest, Minuette!”

I looked out through the forward screen as another gust pushed us back from the ridge. I got an odd sense of satisfaction when I spotted the lights of what had to be the To Dream in Colour moving off back toward the town of Canter Basin. 

“But… but it could be right there, Moony!” Minuette cried, pointing back at the spot where we’d seen the younger pine trees. “Right there! And there’s another airship out here! For all we know, they could be looking too!”

“If they were looking, they wouldn’t have stopped at that random spot,” I said. “The only thing I saw beneath them was an ancient rockslide.”

“See? They might!” Minuette said. “We can’t know!”

I turned to look her square in the eye. “No, we can’t know. But what I do know is that if I try to get through that wind tonight with a cracked stabilizer fin, that fin will probably shatter. If that happens, we’re at the mercy of the winds for most of our navigation.”

“But, we have those turbines…” she protested, flailing her hooves a little.

“Turbines are only good for flat-out forward momentum. If you want to land anywhere near that spot, Minuette, I need to be able to get this ship in just the right spot to prevent her from banging into the rocks!”

She deflated and blew a raspberry, crossing her hooves over her chest. 

“Look,” I said, trying to find a way to salvage the moment. “I’ll mark this down on our maps. Let’s get to town, find out what it’ll take to fix the Blossom. Once that happens, we can plan our next move, okay? Even that other ship is heading back in. Worst case scenario, we can hike out here tomorrow and investigate. It’ll take probably half the day, but we can do it.”

Minuette pout vanished, only to be replaced by a look of suspicion. “You’d be willing to do that with me, tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” I sighed and looked down to the deck. “It’s my fault the fin is cracked, otherwise we could handle that wind.”

Minuette reached out and patted me on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Moony. That’s behind us. Anyway, I like your idea. You’re right. The last thing we need is to scuff up the Blossom more.”

I looked back up to see her smiling again. Just that was enough to lift my spirits a little. 

“Let’s head back to town,” she said. “We’ll go with your plan.”

“Thank you,” I said honestly. “I promise we’ll get there as soon as we can, okay?”

“I’m going to hold you to that!” she said in a sing-song voice, though there was a hint of steel there too. She was serious. 

That’s okay. I didn’t mind.
> Canter Basin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




After marking off the suspected location of our target on my map of Canter Basin Lake, I changed course and steered the Wandering Blossom back toward the town. I took it slow, worried that the unexpected wind might have damaged the fin even more, but we weren’t in any special hurry anymore. 

Truth be told, I hadn’t expected to find anything anyway. To have found even a hint… well, even I had to admit it was a little exciting.

We arrived over the town proper about an hour after sundown. To my complete lack of surprise, the enormous To Dream in Colour was moored at the tall Skydock at the edge of town, though I didn’t see any activity on the ship itself. Maybe those three ponies had gone into town for a change of pace from their crazy life of luxury?

Either way, it didn’t matter. I quickly walked Minuette through the process of mooring the Blossom from the bow of the ship, since there wasn’t anypony stationed on the Skydock after dark. I wasn’t really surprised, either. Aside from the behemoth, there were only three other airships here, all half the size of the Blossom. The Colour took up an entire side of the Skydock by itself. 

As I gently moved the Blossom into position, Minuette rushed out into the chilly air and worked some magic with the lines to the mooring points. As soon as the three lines were in place, I felt the Skydock’s mechanical locks slide out to secure the Blossom into her slip for the night. Convenient that one acted as a gangplank.

Only then did I finally power down the crystal core to minimum and complete my post-flight checklist. Minuette joined me back in the wheelhouse just as I had finished up. I closed both slatted curtains, then smiled at Minuette as we stepped out into the cold, together this time.

Both of us could see our breaths fogging in the chilly mountain air. I hadn’t realized how cold it would be up here and cursed myself again for not having something for Minuette, who was already shivering slightly. My dark ‘flight suit’ kept me well-insulated. Instead of beating myself up about it, I rushed us over the gangplank and into the elevator in the center of the Skydock. Thankfully, the elevator was heated. She rubbed her hooves together next to a vent and looked at me curiously.

“So, what’s the plan, Captain?”

I smirked at her a little. “You know, I could get used to you calling me that.”

“Only if I get a turn someday,” she said sweetly.

“Noted,” I replied, even though I was never going to call Minuette ‘captain.’ “But you realize that makes you my first mate, right?”

“I can think of worse things,” she quipped.

We both laughed, though I was happy the cold hid my blush. 

The ground floor of the Skydock for Canter Basin had a nice rustic feel, made to look like an old log cabin from the frontier days. There were two closed food stands, a lot of sofas and chairs, and a single information kiosk with a bored-looking pegasus leaning against the counter, reading a book.

She looked up when the elevator rattled to a stop, then raised an eyebrow at us as we approached.

“You’d better be more polite than the last airship that docked, or you’re getting charged extra for your maintenance fees,” she said flatly.

I blinked, then realized she had to be talking about the ponies who’d come off the Colour. I checked the lanyard around her neck for her name and tried to laugh off the comment. I probably sounded like a donkey with a sore throat.

“We’re not here to start any trouble, Miss High Wind,” I said with a weak smile. “Just want to pay our fees for an overnight stay and see if you have an airship mechanic on hoof.” 

“We’d be really appreciative if you could help us out,” Minuette added, directing her nearly-lethal smile onto the mare.

The mare was probably five years younger than either of us, but she still blushed profusely under Minuette’s smile. I couldn’t say I was surprised when High Wind straightened up a little and slipped her book away, giving us—or more accurately, Minuette—her full attention.

“Well, you’re already doing better than those three,” she said, her apathetic expression gaining some actual warmth. “Let’s see, what class is your airship?”

“Modified Bright Bow 7S,” I rattled off. “Beam’s the same.”

“Core type?” she asked as she pulled out a clipboard.

“Albatross.”

Her eyes snapped up to mine and she raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t one of Even Keel’s, is it?”

It was my turn to blush. I looked away and just nodded.

“Well, that’s a different story!” High Wind proclaimed, her face suddenly breaking out into a grin that rivaled Minuette’s. “Torque Wrench’s been aching to see an Even Keel design. I’m sure I can get her up for this, especially since she’s only here for a couple more days.”

“You’re losing your mechanic?” Minuette asked with a frown. “Isn’t that bad?”

High Wind shook her head. “No, no. Torque Wrench is from a little town west of Manehattan. She’s friends with old Vector Angle, our normal mechanic. The cranky old stallion just asked for a favor so he could see his great-grandfilly in Fillydelphia. Anyway, you don’t care about that. You care about that ship of yours!”

I was a little taken aback. Her attitude had changed a lot when Minuette had smiled at her, then a whole lot more when I’d mentioned the Blossom was an Even Keel ship. I had a sneaking suspicion this mare might want to be the next airship mechanic for this little town.

“Docking fee is 50 bits,” High Wind announced with a smile. “All of Even Keel’s ships get a discount. Ponies who don’t yell at me also get an additional discount.”

I wasn’t about to question it, so I quickly hoofed over the bits. They disappeared into a register and High Wind wrote out a receipt for me, then leaned forward on the counter.

“Now, what do you need help with on your ship?”

“Starboard stabilizer fin’s cracked. In four places,” I said it all in a rush, wanting to get it over with as fast as possible. “We got caught in an evening wind coming off west Canter Basin Lake ridge and it damn near blew us half a mile out of position.”

“The west ridge?” High Wind eyed us both again. She seemed to be revising her opinion of us every few seconds. “Tell me you’re not one of them.” 

“‘Them’ who?” Minuette asked, mirroring my thoughts. 

High Wind blew a red bang out of her face. “Treasure hunters. Every few years, we get a freaking mob of them scrambling all around the lake trying to find the supposed hidden treasure that was buried there by pirates or something equally as absurd. The group that came in before you? They were definitely part of that lot.”

“Wait, there are more?” I cried. I had to push my glasses up before they fell off my face.

“Yeah, some idiot in the Canterlot Times did another article. A part-time reporter called Still Waters. There are airships from here to Whinnyapolis hunting for the wreck of the mythical Cloudshark. Most of them came through here about two days ago. Be happy you missed them. Canterlot ponies can be such a pain.”

I coughed, but I wasn’t about to enlighten her as to the official home port of the Wandering Blossom.

“Anyway,” High Winds chuckled. “Sorry, get me going and I’ll never shut up. You two don’t seem like the type for that anyway. Anything else to report on your airship?”

I was happy to move away from the topic of treasure hunters and frustrated to go back to the topic of the Blossom’s damage. 

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Scoring on the underside of the hull. Port and starboard of the keel, pretty much from stem to stern, with gouges near the port quarter and amidships on the starboard side.”

High Winds slapped her hoof to her face. “You didn’t.”

I winced. I had a feeling somepony who knew airships would know how that damage occurred, especially with a cracked fin. “Yeah.”

“First run?”

“Yeah.”

“You tried to capsize her, didn’t you?” 

I just nodded.

High Winds let out an explosive breath and just clucked her tongue. “You aren’t the first to think they’re good enough to do the pass on her first run. Be happy you got out of it with just that. Last three ships who tried that run with a greenhorn at the helm ended up being towed back to Vanhoover. The one before them? They actually crashed to the bottom of the pass. No casualties, but the ship was a total loss.”

“I get it!” I snapped, my eyes snapping open as I glared at High Winds. “I was dumb, okay? That’s already been made abunda—”

Then Minuette’s hoof was on my shoulder. I glanced at her and her small smile, and all the fire in me just snuffed out. I hung my head. 

“She knows,” Minuette said for me. 

High Winds was silent for a time before making a noncommittal noise. “I can see that. Well, I guess I pushed you a little, so we’ll call that even. No yelling tax. This time.”

I chuckled despite myself as I looked up. High Winds smiled a little at me while she finished writing out the work order for the Blossom. 

“Any idea how long the repairs will take?” I asked, cringing. 

“Torque ain’t gonna work on her at night, but we’re open all night, so you’ll be able to stay in your ship if you don’t want to get a room in town,” High Winds shrugged. “She’ll probably get started first thing in the morning. That pony’s usually up hours before dawn. She’s crazy. There’s no other outstanding repair orders—I think—and unless The Ascension of Harmony arrives, you should be first on the docket.”

I twitched at the name of the airship she mentioned but managed to keep any other reaction to myself. At least, that’s what I told myself.

“As for the length of time for the repair, I’m no good with stabilizing fins, so I couldn’t begin to guess. Torque should tell you before she gets to work though.”

“Thanks,” I said with a sigh. It had been about what I expected. 

“I don’t suppose you have a good diner in town you’d like to recommend?” Minuette asked sweetly.

“And an outfitter that might still be open?” I added quickly. “My friend here was a last-minute addition to the crew and we need some gear.”

“There’s only one diner in town now that Super Daisy shut down,” she replied as she pointed toward the front doors with a wing. “That’s gonna be Caesar Salad’s place. It’s right out the front door and a block down the street. You can’t miss it. As for outfitters, a fair amount of them are closed for the off-season. But I think Tulip Tool’s still keeps pretty late hours. Try to be in there before ten though, because she has plans after that. Specific plans.”

High Wind blushed and coughed into a hoof. 

Minuette giggled, but I just rolled my eyes. 

“Don’t worry, lover girl, we won’t mess up your date,” I said with a laugh. 

“You’d better not! That’s my fiancée!” she snapped, though she was still blushing.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “I promise not to flirt too much with her.”

High Winds’ eyes lit up. “Oh, no, go ahead and flirt with her, but I wanna be there to watch. I’ve seen her suplex an earth pony twice her size with just her wings!” 

She let out a smitten little sigh and stared off into some special place lovers get to see. 

I shook my head. “Well, thank you. I appreciate the help, High Wind.”

High Wind came back to herself. “Right, thank you! I’ll make sure Torque gets your work order as soon as possible! Have a great night!”

Minuette giggled and waved at the pegasus mare as we headed for the door.

“Okay, that?” Minuette squealed softly under her breath. “That was adorable.”

I couldn’t help but nod in agreement, even if romantic ideas were exactly what I was trying to avoid right now. That had been adorable. 

“Yeah, it was pretty cute. Now I really want to meet this Tulip Tool,” I replied. 

Minuette’s stomach made a rumbling protest. She looked up at me and blushed faintly. “After dinner?”

“Sure, after dinner,” I agreed as we stepped out into Canter Basin itself.
> Rivals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




The walk between the Skydock and Caesar Salad’s diner was a quick one. Primarily because both of us were trotting the whole way. While I wasn’t strictly cold, Minuette kept shivering. And every shiver sent a spike of guilt through me, even though this wasn’t my fault. She wasn’t my size at all! It would be like asking Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to wear the same dress! 

Well, okay, we weren’t that different, but we were still different!

Thankfully, the issue became moot when we arrived at the diner. I took a quick glance around and realized it was built in the same style as most of the buildings in Canter Basin. In fact, everywhere I looked, there were rustic-looking log wood cabins, old-style structures that looked like they were from two hundred years ago, and even gas-lit streetlamps instead of the enchanted firebulbs I’d seen in every city I’d ever been to. 

But that was as far as I got before we rushed into the restaurant, stomping our hooves and rubbing them together to get the chill out. 

“Okay, yeah, I need something better than this parka,” Minuette said with chattering teeth.

“I’ll get you something!” I cried. “I promise! Let’s just get some food first, warm up, and then we’ll find Tulip Tool’s shop, okay?”

Minuette blew out a long, deep breath that fluttered her mane a little before nodding. “Okay. Okay, I’m good.”

And then her smile returned. That return settled something in me, something I couldn’t quite put a hoof on. And something I didn’t want to spend too long thinking about.

I glanced around for a waitress, but only saw a sign that read ‘Seat Yourself’ next to a pile of menus. I snatched two off the top and glanced around the place. Minuette kept looking back at the menu table for some reason. I was about to ask her why when I realized a horrible truth.

The place was packed with ponies. 

Apparently, we’d come at their peak time. Most of the people around here looked like locales, with a smattering of tourists. There were also a hoofful of well-dressed unicorns with postures that were far too straight for my liking. In fact, every single table was taken, save for a single booth.

A booth near a very familiar group of ponies. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered as I stared at them.

“What is it?” Minuette asked as she scanned the room. She didn’t see the open spot at first glance, which, considering how crowded it was, didn’t say much. “What’s wrong?”

“Remember that airship we passed on the west ridge?” I said, shoving my glasses all the way up my face with a scowl. 

“The super fancy one? The same one at the Skydock?”

I nodded and pointed just to the left of the empty booth. “Guess who’s next to us?”

Instead of showing annoyance, Minuette looked excited. Why did she look excited?

“Well, come on!” she cried as she hurried forward, using her magic to pull me along despite my weak protests. 

And before I knew it, we were seated right beside the group from the To Dream in Colour. I quickly hid behind my menu and floated Minuette’s menu up to do that same. 

“Minuette, what are you doing?” I hissed.

“You heard what High Winds said!” Minuette replied in a normal voice. “Maybe they’re doing the same thing as us. I mean, we have the advantage, but wouldn’t be nice to have someone to bond with over this?”

“If you want a shot at this, then no, it would not! I didn’t even think we would have a single pony on this insane quest, but now it looks like some idiot reporter unleashed half of Canterlot on the Equestrian Northwest a week ago! I mean—”

“Wow,” said a voice from behind our menus. “Late to the party much?”

The voice wasn’t dripping condescension. It was positively raining it. It tweaked me in all the worst ways. Superior, self-righteous and so much more. Instantly, I felt my hackles rise and I slapped down my menu to find the source of that voice. 

And sure enough, it was the cream-colored unicorn. She had a spiky yellow and orange mane with a few odd neon pink highlights showing under a somewhat lumpy-looking red bandanna. Dark blue eyes, and one of those rare ponies with natural white socks and that splotch-thing on their forehead. She was leaning a hoof on the counter between our two tables and smirking at us like she’d discovered the secret to becoming an alicorn months ago. 

My eyes flicked to the two other figures. There was another cream-colored pony there, a filly who looked barely old enough to have a cutie mark—though she wore reddish overalls so I couldn’t actually tell if she had one—with a silver-white mane. She stared at me with strangely distant eyes, as if she were focusing on a point somewhere on the inside of my head. 

The other was currently rolling his eyes, the orange pegasus with sleek-looking wings and a mane that was just a mop of dark gray and purple plopped atop his head and spilling over his shoulders, sticking up in odd angles because of the old-fashioned flight goggles he wore on his forehead. He was dressed in a thick brown coat with a tattered-looking red scarf. He waved at me, looking almost as cheerful as Minuette.

“Hello?” the mare said, her voice like a cheese grater against my horn. “Anypony in there, or are you too busy staring at the competition and realizing how outclassed you are?”

Minuette had put down her menu now and was starting openly at the crazy mare. I was doing practically the same thing, though I recovered a little faster. 

“Excuse me?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“Don’t give me that!” she snapped. “I heard you talking about the article! You’re here for the same reason we are, but you’re already too late!”

“Daisy—” the pegasus said, only for the mare to turn and give him a death glare so strong I was surprised he didn’t crumble to ash on the spot. “Fine, Snappy. Can you try for five minutes to not act like a rampaging Ursa Minor?”

“She would likely prefer the designation of an Ursa Major,” whispered the filly in a tiny voice that somehow sent chills down my spine. 

“You’re damn right!” she shouted, then turned her attention back to us. “And here I thought all the little Canterlot snobs had mostly cleared out.”

I noticed a group of ‘Canterlot snobs’ directly behind them eyeing the mare disdainfully. 

“So, if you just want to watch our taillights for the next few weeks, you’re more than welcome to.” She sneered. Did she have any other expressions? “But don’t you dare try and get between us and our prize! The Cloudshark is ours!”

I gaped at her, trying to comprehend just what in Equestria was going on in that frizzy-maned head of hers. 

“You mean… it’s really real?” Minuette squealed softly. “I mean, really really real?” 

“Oh, it’s real,” said the stallion. “Only reason we’re out here. Just a simple recovery operation. If somepony would listen to reason, it would go a lot faster.”

He gave the mare—Snappy, I think he called her?—a glare of his own. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as hers had been. 

“But if everypony already came through here a week ago,” Minuette asked, tapping a hoof on her chin. “Why didn’t you go through with them?”

Snappy snorted loudly before floating a cider bottle over to her lips. After a couple chugs, she smacked her lips and slammed it back onto their table, where their half-eaten meal still lay. The filly continued to eat her peanut and celery sticks with a somewhat frightening level of precision with her knife and fork. 

“That reporter gets all the details wrong!” Snappy laughed. “Like how the article reports that the goods are on east ridge. Every other location has something wrong with it. You think they’d stop using Captain’s Log by now. It’s obviously intentionally wrong.”

For the first time, the filly spoke up in an odd emotionless tone. “Sis says that anyone who follows the directions of Quick Print is a—” 

“You weren’t supposed to hear that!” Snappy… well, snapped. “But it’s true anyway!”

As she was ranting about how everypony else was wrong, I started to wonder. The mare was definitely drunk. Or maybe she was just that cocky. I glanced at Minuette, who was listening in rapt attention. The other two seemed to be ignoring her for the most part, aside from the pegasus’s occasional eyeroll.

That’s when I got a crazy idea. However, before I could do anything about it, the waitress showed up, a tired-looking earth pony mare with frizzy blue hair and a frizzier green coat beneath a coffee-stained apron. 

“What can I get ya girls?” she asked with a weary smile. 

I blinked, realizing I hadn’t even looked over the menu. Snappy had started to argue with the pegasus, so we were probably clear for a minute or two. Minuette squeaked and quickly scanned through the menu.

“Chocolate chip pancakes, please!” Minuette chirped at her with a smile. “And just a water for now.”

The waitress didn’t write anything down, but she nodded anyway before turning back to me. “And for you?”

“Uh…” I scanned through the menu as fast as I could. Thankfully, spending most of my life reading helped me process the data efficiently. “Mountain Mare’s special, well done, extra mushrooms, please. And the blackest coffee you have.”

The mare nodded. “Out in a bit, dears.”

Then she trotted off toward the kitchen. Probably. I lost track of her quickly when one of the other parties got up and started filing out of the place.

“Chocolate chip pancakes for dinner?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at Minuette. “Really? What are you, seven?”

Minuette stuck out her tongue at me. “‘Blackest coffee you have’? What are you, sixty?”

I could point out a dozen flaws in her logic. Instead, I just laughed with her quietly and shuffled the menus to the back of the table. 

“Minuette, I got an idea, but you’re going to need to trust me,” I hissed quietly as I eyed the trio. “You’re the one who wants to find this thing. Well, if it’s real, I know just who can help us. Do not mention the Waystone.”

“But—”

“Seriously, Minuette!” I dropped my voice until even I could barely hear it. “You’ve got to trust me. I said I’d help. This is me helping.”

Minuette looked conflicted, but finally nodded just as Snappy turned back to us. 

“And that’s why I’m in charge!” she proclaimed loud enough for the whole diner to hear it. “Can’t believe you ponies are still trying.”

I blew a raspberry at her. “Yeah, news flash, this whole thing is a hoax.”

The stallion sucked in a breath, his expression a warning. “You might want to be—”

“A hoax?” Snappy whispered.

“Oh dear.” The filly scooted away from the older mare. 

“You think that the pride of my family—and of his family—is… is… a…” She stabbed a hoof in the direction of the stallion. “Hoax?”

“Like you said, there’s only the article in the Canterlot Times,” I said with a shrug as I leaned back against my cushion. “And you’re right, I’ve seen it reprinted in the records of the Canterlot Cosmo. If there was any truth to this treasure, it would have been found by now.”

“That’s because no one can actually read the Captain’s Log for what it really is: misinformation!” Snappy’s eyes got huge as she waved her hooves in my general direction.

It took everything I had not to laugh at her. Minuette did some sort of cute giggle-snort thing though.

“And you’re the only one who can unravel it, huh?” I pushed my glasses up my face. “No offense, but you don’t exactly look like Daring Do.”

“None taken,” the stallion said with an easy smile.

I decided that while Snappy might be a raging bitch, her companions were… decent. Well, the stallion was. I had no idea what to think about the filly. 

“In fact,” I continued before she could say anything—and because I was sick of thinking of them as ‘the stallion’ and ‘the filly,’ “who are you supposed to be anyway?”

The pegasus stallion jumped in before Snappy could hiss out something.

“I’m Easy Wing,” he said, eyeing his companion. “The quiet one is Whispering Trinket. We usually just call her Trinket.”

She paused in her eating for about three heartbeats before continuing. That was as much as we got for an acknowledgment. 

“And this radiant bloom of moonlight is—”

“My name is Snappy Comeback, and don’t listen to anything that idiot says about anything else I might be called!” Snappy spat out in a rush, giving Easy another death glare.

“And who might you fine mares be?” Easy asked as if Snappy hadn’t said a word. “Forgive me, but I swore I’ve seen you before.”

It was odd. Coming from another stallion, that would have been the opener to a bad pickup line. But his friendly, casual manner soothed all the nerves that Snappy constantly jangled.

“Well, this little ray of blue sunshine next to me is Minuette,” I said, gesturing to her with a hoof.

She happily waved back.

“And I’m—”

“You’re Moon Dancer,” Trinket suddenly whispered.

When I glanced at her, I almost jumped out of my seat. Her eyes were fixed squarely on me as if I were a moderately interesting rat in a maze. 

“H-How could you possibly know that?” I gaped at her. 

“Newspaper.”

Minuette cocked her head. “What newspaper?”

“Canterlot Chronicle,” Trinket said, her head cocking to the side a little as she regarded Minuette. “You were in it as well. Short article, written six years, five months, and twelve days ago.”

I did the math… and ice filled my veins as she returned her attention to me. I braced as best as I could, even though I knew it wouldn’t be enough.

“There was a photograph of you embracing Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

My ears flattened so quickly they stung. I could still feel her hooves. I could still remember the tears. From both of us. How her wings had—

“You were in the background,” Trinket continued, looking at Minuette. “You looked pleased.”

“I… uh… was that the party Pinkie helped with?” Minuette asked me. “The one Twi threw for you, right?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took one long deep breath to make sure my voice didn’t crack. 

“Yes,” I replied, my voice far steadier than I had anticipated. “Yes, it was. Though, I hadn’t been aware an article had been written about it.”

Trinket met my stare and I lost the contest very quickly.

“It was in the Lifestyle section,” Trinket replied. Jeez, did this filly ever blink? “Third page, right side on the top. The article was four hundred and twenty three words long.”

A silence descended upon both of our tables as both Snappy and Easy seemed to wake from a trance.

“You actually know Princess Sparkle?” Snappy cried in a shout so loud everypony in the room stared at us. 

“I haven’t seen her in some time,” I said flatly in a low voice. “We went to school together. That’s it.”

“I haven’t seen her personally in…” Minuette tapped her chin. “Four months?”

I tensed yet again. When ponies found out you knew the reigning monarch of Equestria, one of two things happened. Either they nodded, said something along the lines of, ‘that’s cool,’ and moved on, or, they went completely nuts and started to demand introductions, favors, and any number of things.

I watched the room.

Within a minute or two, most of the ponies had simply shrugged and gone back to their meals. 

Most of them.

The group of Canterlot unicorns sitting on the other side of Easy, Snappy, and Trinket started to unfold themselves from their seats. I caught the eye of the first one, a navy-coated stallion who looked like he had chronic neck pain from staring down his nose at everypony he met. He was dressed in a black vest and a cravat.

And when he met my gaze, he paused. I lit up my horn and glared him back down into his seat. The stallion glowered at me briefly before gesturing to his companions that they should remain seated. 

“Please don’t yell that again,” I said coolly. “I’d rather not deal with the consequences.”

Easy’s body jerked, as if he’d suddenly kicked somepony. Snappy yelped and held up one of her hindlegs to rub it, glaring death once more at her companion. 

As for Trinket… she’d gone back to nibbling her food.

“Anyway,” I said, redirecting the conversation away from rocky waters. “I had been wondering how you thought you were so amazing to unravel a six-hundred-year-old myth.” 

“It’s not a myth!” Snappy cried. “Listen, you ignorant little nerd, stop blabbing things you don’t know!”

“Then you’re going to have to give me a reason,” I said with a smile. “Especially after that little outburst could have brought the entire diner down on my head. Do you have any idea how crazy ponies are about anypony even remotely connected to royalty?”

Just because I hated what had just happened didn’t mean I couldn’t use it to my advantage. In fact, maybe that would work out as a coping mechanism.

“You want the truth?” Finally, Snappy stabbed a hoof at Easy. “That is the great-something-grandcolt of Admiral Fairweather herself.”

“Oh!” Minuette cried, clapping her hooves together. “Isn’t that the commander of the Valiant Sunrise? The ship that—”

“So, Smiley here does know something!” Snappy snarked with a snort of a laugh. “Yes, filly, the Valiant Sunrise was the ship that chased the infamous Cloudshark all over the Equestrian Northwest after the equally-infamous Diamond Crown train heist.”

She sounded like a tour guide. A really bad one, but still, a tour guide.

“Thank you so much, Miss Encyclopedia Blue,” I said, waving my hooves to get the mare to move on. “Do you know anything that’s not in a history textbook?”

“Don’t give me that!” Snappy shot back at me. “Most ponies think the Cloudshark isn’t even real! And almost everypony else thinks it was some stupid insurance fraud scheme by Diamond Crown!”

I almost swore, but managed to keep my expression intact. That had been a dumb move, almost tipping my hoof and showing I knew more than I was trying to let on. Minuette glanced at me, a tiny frown on her lips, but Snappy’s attention was back on me, exactly where I wanted it.

“And I’ve never bought that scheme idea,” I shot back. “The Cloudshark was real. The historical reports of Admiral Fairweather and the crew of the Valiant Sunrise all but confirm that.”

“No,” Snappy said, her smug grin growing by the second. “They do confirm it. And they also confirmed that there was a pitched battle right over Canter Basin.”

“Okay.” I raised an eyebrow while mentally I did a little happy jig. “And?”

“Ugh, seriously?” Snappy facehoofed. “How can you be this dense? What, do I need to actually show you the proof that it’s real?”

Trinket let out a loud yawn and stretched her hooves. Easy eyed her and looked up at Snappy.

“Snappy, Trinket’s about ready to pass out. Let’s just—”

“No!” Snappy shouted. “I’m not about to deal with this nonbeliever making fun of us. She dares to question the validity of our heritage! In fact—”

“Sorry to interrupt,” said our waitress—not sounding sorry at all—as she returned with our meals. “But I believe you mares ordered dinner?”

Everyone went silent for a moment. I’d forgotten entirely that we’d ordered and at a sidelong glance at Snappy’s table and her half-eaten meal, I knew she’d forgotten there had been food at all.

“Thank you!” chirped Minuette. “I’m starving!”

The waitress made sure to give Minuette her tower of pancakes first. And when I mean tower, it looked like a true tower. There had to be twelve pancakes in that stack! 

My meal, which was supposed to be an omelet with a side of waffles, was technically as advertised. Only the omelet looked like it had come from a roc and there were at least five waffles stacked on one another, not to mention separate plates of fruit and toast.

“Maybe I should have gotten the kid’s meal,” Minuette mumbled as the waitress finished putting down my three plates.

“Um… yeah,” I said as I took in the size of the meals. I took a large gulp of my coffee. The bitterness gave me courage. 

“Miss?” Minuette called before the waitress could get away. “Could I get a hot chocolate please? Extra whipped cream?”

The waitress nodded. “Sure thing, hun.”

She hurried off to help some other tables as Minuette suddenly attacked her stack of pancakes. I nibbled on some of my omelet before looking back up to Snappy.

She just glowered at us. “Saved by the bell, hm?”

I sighed. This game was starting to wear on me. “Look, if you have proof, just tell us so we can be properly amazed. And so we can get back to our meal.”

Snappy’s eyes narrowed and her ears went flat. The filly scooted closer to Easy Wing, while the pegasus put a wing over his face. 

“You’ve seen our ship?” Snappy hissed.

“Yeah, kind of hard to miss,” I rolled my eyes.

“Be at the forward gangplank at nine-thirty tonight. And I’ll prove it to you. You look like you have half a brain—maybe—so I’m hoping that showing you this will be enough to get you out of our manes. Then you’ll realize just how outclassed you are and skulk home in that little boat of yours.”

“Snappy, I—” Easy began, but—shockingly—Snappy didn’t let him get any further. 

“Nopony asked you!” she hissed to him, her eyes never leaving me. “Just be there.”

With that, the mare spun around and began practically mugging her food, not breathing a word to anypony else at her table. 

I glanced at Minuette and smirked just a little.

“What was that all about?” she whispered, ducking her head to make sure her voice didn’t carry. “Moondancer, that… well, that seemed kinda mean.”

“I’m the one who’s kinda mean?” I scoffed. “Minuette, you heard what she said. She practically called you clueless!”

Minuette thought about it for a moment and shrugged. “I don’t think she meant it that way.”

I gaped at her as she attempted to conquer Mount Pancake. “You can’t be serious.”

She waved her fork at me in her magic. “Completely serious! Anyway, you were egging her on!”

“I was not!” I cried, a little louder than I should have.

She continued to smile, but cocked an eyebrow. I folded in seconds.

“Okay, maybe a little, but she had it coming! In fact—”

Before I could point out the flaws in Minuette’s logic, Snappy suddenly sat up and marched right by us with only a muttered reminder of our ‘appointment.’ Easy Wing just looked awkward and waved. Trinket? Trinket just stared at us listlessly as she trotted past us. I shivered.

“That is one creepy filly,” I muttered to myself.

“I think she’s adorable,” Minuette announced.

“You would.” I rolled my eyes.

“So, what were you saying?”

I took a few more bites of my waffles, as I’d been attempting to dismantle my meal while we’d been talking. However, it seemed a little easier now that they were finally gone. I should be able to speak freely.

Though an improved whisper charm I cast on the table itself helped.

“Okay,” I said after a swig of coffee to collect the rest of my thoughts. “Here’s my plan—”

“Tell me you’re not going to steal their evidence,” Minuette said, looking pained.

“What?” I cried, flushing. “No, of course not! Why would you think that?”

“I remember there was a time when you sometimes got a little too into… um… things.” She at least had the decency to blush a little and not meet my eyes.

I ignored the implication. “No. I’m still not entirely convinced this is real. And even if the Cloudshark was real and it dropped some of its payload, I really doubt it’s still there. Or can even be found.”

“I thought you believed after seeing the message on the Waystone!” Minuette’s ears went flat again. 

“I mean…” 

This all seemed so absurd that even with that evidence. I was having a hard time believing it. We’d spent a long time on the ship after seeing the message and the more I played it through my head, the less realistic it seemed.

But in the face of Minuette’s pleading eyes, I once again found myself unable to dash her hopes, though I didn’t have a clue why this was so important to her. 

“I… I don’t know…” I trailed off lamely.

“Then why did you maneuver her into showing us her proof?”

I couldn’t help but crack a grin. “Because if it is real, I want to know what they know. How they know what they know. Because they seem to be taking it seriously. Snappy’s a nutjob and I have no idea what to think about Trinket, but Easy Wing seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I doubt he’d go along with this if it was all a ruse.”

“You baited them to actually find it!” Minuette gasped, her hooves flying to her mouth in shock. “You do want to find it!”

“No, that’s not what I said!” I protested. “I just—”

“Just say you believe!” 

“No!”

“Moony!” she said in a sing-song voice. “Come on, Moony!”

“I said no! Shut up!” I crossed my hooves and shoved a large piece of waffle into my mouth. 

Minuette kept grinning at me. 

For once, I had enough fortitude to fight her off. I shook my head again and grabbed another bite.

Minuette finally burst out laughing after I’d stuffed my mouth so full I probably looked like a chipmunk. I certainly felt like one.

That was my signal to actually swallow before I choked. 

“Now, admit it!”

“Ask me later tonight,” I said, adjusting my glasses and gracing her with a smirk. “And we’ll see.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

After all, whatever Snappy had might actually be good. It still wasn’t likely, but there was no harm in a little investigation. The Crystal Empire wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t need to rush.

I glanced at Minuette who continued to wage war against Mount Pancake and smiled.

Nope. Didn’t need to rush at all.
> Supplies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




“You’re sure about this one?” Minuette asked as she twirled in place in the back of Mulberry Mountain’s Wilderness Emporium. “I mean, it’s a little snug.”

I swallowed hard as I sat in a hard plastic chair while the salespony eyed Minuette with the faintest of smiles. 

I had always been on the short side for a Canterlot unicorn. I was stocky, with not the best figure. My barrel and chest were a little thicker than I’d like. There were a few other things, but from what I’ve read, most mares felt the same about their bodies. 

Minuette, on the other hand, in some ways reminded me a lot of… my… my best friend… during grad school. Not a perfect figure—her shoulders were crazy broad—but curves in all the right places. She had a long, tapered horn and a face made for smiling. She wasn’t some knockout like Princess Cadance or Princess Luna, but she had the whole mare-next-door thing down pat.

And right now, that mare-next-door was wrapped in a midnight-blue bodysuit made for high-altitude climbing or airship work. And when I mean wrapped, I mean wrapped. The suit was practically skintight! It showed off… well, everything.

I swallowed again. Minuette and I had been on and off—despite her claims—friends for years now. And yet, I’d never seen her like this. 

I frankly wasn’t sure what I thought about it. 

In the end, I decided to tell her the truth when she stopped twirling to look at me, biting her lip in concern. 

“You look… um… pretty cute.” I whispered the last two words. 

Minuette beamed at me, then looked to the salespony with a confident nod. “Definitely this one.”

I blew out a long breath that I only barely kept Minuette from noticing as she hopped off the platform near our other purchases.

She’d also gotten herself a new parka, a few sweaters, and some absurd fuzzy slippers that looked like small ducks. They even quacked if you stepped the right way. 

It hadn’t escaped my notice she had gotten a second pair in a different size. But I would throw myself off the Blossom before I wore anything like that.

Besides a new ensemble for Minuette, I decided to humor her by buying more supplies that were more oriented around her current obsession. While I did place an order for some food to be delivered to our airship in the morning, I also picked up some light digging supplies—shovels, small picks, and the like. I’d even sprung for metal detector bracelets, one for each of us. The charms on them probably wouldn’t last more than a few weeks, but it would let us cast and channel a spell of metal detection while we wore them. Useful, since neither of us knew that spell. 

If there was some truth to all of this, I wanted to be prepared. If not, I could always swing back into Canter Basin and return them.

It also helped that Minuette looked positively ecstatic when I’d thrown them in the cart.

We stayed until about ten minutes after closing, something Minuette thanked the three salesponies helping us for at least five times. By the time we finally walked out of the store—Minuette now properly attired against the cold—all three had been blushing from Minuette’s attention.

I checked the clock set into the steeple of what had probably once been the town hall for the town. 

“We should be able to take all of this back to Blossom,” I said, hefting my half of our purchases in my magic, “and still have time for our little meetup.”

“Good thing, too,” she replied, pointing up to the sky. 

Above our heads, a wave of clouds had descended upon the city, reflecting some of the light back down—and through the snowflakes already falling lazily from the sky.

“Oh come on!” I cried in annoyance. “Snow? Really?”

Minuette responded by sticking out her tongue and catching a single snowflake. She lapped it up and grinned at me. 

“Snow is a pain to navigate through!” I snapped as I trudged toward the towering Skydock a little over half a mile away.

“You’re not navigating,” she corrected me, practically prancing beside me. “You’re just walking.”

“I meant for flying! I don’t want to have to deal with this in the morning.”

“And it’ll probably be over in the morning. It’s only, what, early September?”

I glared at her. I regretted calling her cute. Okay, no I didn’t, but still!

She just smiled right back at me, leaving me muttering under my breath.

At a little after nine, the town of Canter Basin looked like it had mostly turned in for the night. The cobblestone roads—probably built to make it easier to deal with rain and snow—were empty. I liked it, even if the stupid snow was coming down. The silence of the entire place was a wonderful change from the mad bustle of Vanhoover, or worse, Canterlot, which always had some fancy party, Wonderbolts show, monster attack, or coronation making all sorts of racket.

Racket that I often heard even through the walls of the libraries I had spent so much time in. Once those wonderful homes of books had protected me from all the things that bothered me, all the things I couldn’t escape from in the real world. 

Then, that had changed.

“Hey, you okay?” Minuette asked beside me after licking up another snowflake.

“Huh?” I blinked at her. I’d forgotten she was even there.

“You okay?” she repeated, her eyes a little wide, probably from concern. “You looked kinda distant there for a minute.”

“Oh,” I replied, adjusting my glasses, then doing it again for good measure. “No, no… I’m fine.”

Minuette watched me for a long moment. It seemed like she was about to interrogate me further, but instead, she just smiled at me. 

We continued like that for another block. 

“Thank you,” she said out of nowhere.

“For what?” I asked, my ears perking up. 

“This,” she gestured as if trying to encompass the world. “No matter what happens tomorrow, just two days on an airship with you has been more fun than I’ve had in a long time. Occasionally terrifying, but fun.”

I gave her a sidelong look as if she had just revealed herself to be a changeling. 

“But… you’re Minuette,” I blurted out as my glasses slipped down my muzzle. “You’re… you’re easily the most fun pony I know! You’re friends with Pinkie Pie! How could you not be having fun all the time?”

My voice almost turned into an incredulous screech by the end of my declaration of disbelief. Minuette’s ears folded back in response as we continued our way through the deserted streets. 

“I may be friends with Pinkie,” Minuette said slowly, staring up at the sky and letting snowflakes melt against her face. “But it doesn’t mean I am Pinkie. Anyway, I haven’t gotten a chance to see her in almost a year. Her new tour with Cheese Sandwich is taking up a lot of her time.”

My only real interaction with the pink earth pony had been at… that party. She seemed happy and pleasant enough, though way too hyper for my tastes. I could never keep up with a pony like that. Still, depending on how close Minuette had been with her… was that the reason she’d left Canterlot? The reason she’d begged to come with me?

“I’m… I’m sorry?” I offered.

“It’s okay,” Minuette said with a wistful smile, still looking up at the low faintly-glowing clouds. “Sometimes, life has a way of taking ponies in different directions. Doesn’t mean they’re not friends anymore, but it means things are different.”

I nodded silently. Those words sounded so familiar. Almost too familiar. I had heard something like them before. I had to swallow a lump in my throat, but still couldn’t find the words to respond to that.

“So, I just wanted to say thank you. This… well, I needed this. I can’t really tell you how badly.”

“Well…” I swallowed again and glanced at her, only to realize she’d fixed those huge blue eyes on me again. “Y-you’re welcome.”

She smiled again. I wondered how she did that so much, especially for somepony who’d said they’d been lacking in fun so much.

Then, for the moment, I decided I didn’t care. So I just smiled back at her.

We were both silent the rest of the way to the Blossom. But it was a comfortable, casual silence. 

I didn’t often get to have silences with other ponies. 

I decided I liked it.
> Fairweather
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




High Wind had been delighted to see us when we’d arrived. She’d confirmed that Torque Wrench would look at the Blossom’s stabilizer fin and hull in the morning. To make things even better, the snow was supposed to stop just before dawn. She’d given us an updated weather report and grinned at us as we ascended back to the gangway platform of the Skyport. 
Once our supplies were properly stowed away, I checked the clock on the lower deck. We’d probably end up being a few minutes late. I didn’t really care. Minuette and I had both opted to keep our flight suits on. I threw my old and slightly ratty black sweater over mine, while Minuette tossed a new gray-and-blue jacket over herself as we prepared to brave the cold again.
Now, we were ready to venture into the snow—and the falling temperature—to discover what ‘proof’ Snappy and her crew supposedly had. We stopped by the hatch to the main deck to put our boots back on, then hurried out into the cold. 
Our breaths fogged as we quickly made our way down the gangplank and to the far side of the platform. There, the To Dream in Colour looked like some sort of magic-infused Hearth’s Warming ornament forged by a mad unicorn mage. Every light on the ship seemed to be glowing cheerfully through the lightly falling snow. 
I looked over the ship and frowned. Snappy had said to come to the forward gangplank, but the aft one was near the aft castle and presumably the main hatch. I didn’t exactly want to have this meeting on the ship’s deck in the middle of a snowstorm.
I was about to tell Minuette to head to the aft of the ship with me when Easy Wing swept out of nowhere to land in front of us. Minuette squeaked in surprise and jumped back. He smiled at us, but I just glowered at him.
“What’s the big idea?” I demanded. “Are you trying to scare us off the platform?”
“Sorry about that.” The stallion chuckled dryly—still dressed only in his scarf, because most stupid pegasi were practically immune to cold weather—and shook his head. “Decided I should come meet you. Snappy wanted to leave you out in this for a good fifteen minutes as a test to see how serious you are.” 
“Yeah, screw that,” I huffed, my ears flattening as I wish I’d gotten a cap. “If that’s her idea of a warm welcome, we’ll go back to our ship.”
“It might be hers, but it’s not mine,” Easy chuckled again. “Come on, she’s in the ship’s study. I’ll take you down there.”
I eyed him suspiciously, but he seemed to be the only sane one on this ship, so with a glance at Minuette, I shrugged. “Lead the way.”
Easy took the lead, walking down and across the aft gangplank. I followed him, with Minuette right behind me. The moment we stepped on board, I could feel the hum of the engines and the core—no, cores—rattling the deck beneath our hooves.
“What the heck are you doing to your ship?” I called to Easy as we headed past the two secured mainsails. “Your cores sound like they’re about to crack!”
Easy laughed as he made it to the main hatch leading into the interior of the Colour. However, he didn’t answer until we were all inside. He shook the snow off of himself, while Minuette used her magic to brush off both herself and me. Then, as always, she just smiled at me. Oddly, the rattling was much more subdued here.
“Trinket’s playing with the crystal cores again,” Easy said with a shrug and a grin as he gestured for us to take off our winter coats. “Every time we’re in dock she’s trying to make them work better.”
“Trinket?” I said flatly. “The little filly? Are you kidding me? Why would you let a filly play with your engine cores?”
“Because that little filly is what got this ship moving in the first place,” he said with another chuckle while he hung the coats up beside the door. “More or less.”
“What?” Minuette and I said as one. 
Easy smirked at the two of us, but it didn’t come across as snide. He seemed more amused than anything else. “Well, do you want a tour of the ship or do you want to see the proof Snappy was blabbing about back at the diner?”
I glanced at Minuette. She actually looked torn between the two options. 
“Could we take a raincheck on that tour?” I offered, watching Minuette’s reaction. Thankfully, she nodded in approval. “We’re here to see what you three have.”
“Sounds good.” Easy shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too much of an issue, as long as Snappy doesn’t try and throw you out. And even if she does, I can usually get her to calm down. Well, sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
Easy just laughed it off and led us deeper into the ship. However, I decided to take my time and just see what the so-called ‘competition’ had at their disposal.
This deck of the Colour once appeared to be a large lounge, complete with what had been a cocktail bar on the port side. However, now it seemed to serve as an equipment storage area. Various sets of gear were hung up to one side, everything from swimsuits to high-altitude pressure suits. There were pickaxes, full metal detectors that anypony could use, and even some sort of saw-like contraption I didn’t recognize. There were dozens of crates scattered in piles and stacks everywhere. And on every wall were thick glass-sheeted windows, now showing little more than the flurry of snow being lit by the ship’s external lights.
The only really odd thing were the crystals hanging from the ceiling. I stopped and stared at the large red one. It was cracked down the center, almost like—
Easy must have seen me looking around. “Yeah, yeah, it’s a bit of a mess. But Trinket’s put up the old core crystals and I think those sort of make up for it, you know? Kid’s not exactly the most engaged filly around.”
“These are… core crystals?” I asked, pulling away moments before I would have used my magic on them. “And you have them just hanging from your ceiling?”
Easy shrugged as he wound his way around a large stack of boxes each stamped with the label ‘Griffon Dragoon - Civilian Surplus.’ I didn’t even want to guess how they got griffon military supplies from two centuries ago. Instead of asking, I just trudged past them. 
He eventually led us to a stairwell set near the port side of the lounge and glided down. Minuette and I walked down—as if we had any other choice. I hated when pegasi showed off. 
“This is Deck Two,” Easy said as he trotted forward through the wood-paneled corridor. “Here’s where our forward lounge is, Snappy’s study, the map room and a few other places where only Trinket goes.”
I was starting to see signs of wear-and-tear. The carpet had several large oil stains on it and the wood panels had cracks running through most of them. However, all the light fixtures looked new. There were even a couple yellow crystal cores hanging from the ceiling.
As a general estimate, we had to be about three-quarters of the way through the ship when Easy stopped, turned, and knocked on a door. 
“What?” shouted an all-too-familiar voice from inside. “I’m working!”
“Hey, Snappy,” Easy said, who didn’t even flinch at her screech. “Your new friends are here!”
I heard the sound of pounding hooves and the door was flung open with a flash of light green magic. And there Snappy was, her cream coat mussed and dirty in places. She glowered at the two of us as if she didn’t have a clue who we were. Or maybe she was just glowering at us because we existed.
“Nice to see you again,” Minuette chirped. 
“Right,” Snappy muttered. “Proof.”
“That’s what you promised us,” I said with a sidelong glance at Minuette. 
She was still smiling. 
“Yeah, yeah… okay, let’s get this over with so you can slink back home!” Snappy turned on a hoof and marched back into the room. 
“Good luck, you two,” Easy said with a chuckle. “I’ll be in the forward lounge when you’re done if you still want that tour. Front of the ship, just follow this corridor.”
“Thanks, Eas—” Minuette began, only to be cut off by Snappy.
“Can it, Easy!” The mare shouted from inside the dim room. “They’re probably boinking each other already, so don’t get any ideas, because you definitely don’t have enough game to get in on that!”
“W-what?” I sputtered. I felt my cheeks grow hot with a mix of indignation and embarrassment.
I couldn’t even look at Minuette.
“That’s… that’s not true!” Minuette squeaked in a voice about four octaves higher than her usual tone. 
“Pay up, Snappy!” Easy said in a sing-song voice. “They’re legit!”
“Screw you,” muttered Snappy’s voice from inside, but a ten-bit coin suddenly shot out between Minuette and me to land right in Easy’s outstretched wing. “And you two, get in here!”
Still reeling from Snappy’s assumption—and apparently, bet—I stumbled inside with Minuette. The room was so dim I couldn’t see a thing at first. It was made even worse when Snappy used her magic to slam the door shut behind us.
Right before I cast a light spell, my eyes started to adjust, revealing red lamps in every corner of the room.
“Oh, right, you probably can’t see,” Snappy said, sounding bored. 
I squinted at the direction of her voice, only to yelp when brilliant white light filled the room from recessed lighting in the ceiling. 
“Why don’t you warn a mare next time!” I shouted as my eyes watered and I rubbed them furiously. I blinked constantly, trying to get the afterimages to go away. 
“Oh, suck it up, you big baby,” Snappy said.
When I finally got my vision back, I found Snappy sitting behind a massive wooden desk covered in books and maps. All sorts of cartography equipment lay scattered over everything, including several other mismatched tables pulled up beside her. She looked like some Daring Do villain plotting the end of the world.
“You want proof?” she demanded in a somewhat ominous tone. 
“Yeah, that’s why—”
“I was being dramatic!” she snapped. “But you had to go and ruin it. So, if you really need a reason to go away, here it is.”
With that, she used her magic to pick up the book that had been lying at the very center of her scratched up desk and flung it at me. Without thinking, I snatched it out of the air.
Minuette came up beside me as I lifted it up for us to inspect it.
The book was old, bound in a type of pineapple leather I hadn’t ever seen outside of the RCA Stacks. However, the binding was solid, so whoever had owned it had taken good care of the thing. Age had made the front text hard to read, though.
I squinted and adjusted my glasses, bringing it closer. Minuette squinted beside me, too. 
Finally, I lit my own horn. That light managed to be enough to show the embossed letters where gold leaf had once been. Slowly, I read the words aloud. 
“Logbook of HMS Valiant Sunrise - Year of Our Princess, 413.”
Minuette sucked in a breath as I adjusted the angle to read the second line of text.
“Commanding Officer: Admiral Sunny Fairweather.”
I gaped and stared at Snappy, who just looked smug.
“You know any dating spells?” Snappy asked, her snide tone like a claw against a chalkboard.
Minuette took a step back, going scarlet again, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“One or two,” I shot back.
“Try them,” she challenged.
“Moony…” Minuette said slowly. “Are you sure that’s… that’s a good idea?”
I ignored her and focused my magic. Dating spells were complex things. I was forced to draw a magic rune around the book as it floated in the air before us. Patterns of pink magic swirled around the book into a solid double-circle with the runes I still remembered from grad school.
“Oh,” Minuette said, letting go of a long breath. “Dating spells. I get it.”
I didn’t know what she was—no. No, she couldn’t have thought it was… no. That was insane. 
My distraction almost cost me the spell, but I managed to power it in the nick of time. A surge of pink light swelled out from the book into the circular border of the runes, then flowed into my horn. 
“This… this is authentic,” I whispered in awe. 
Right now, I held a six-hundred-year-old piece of Equestrian history in my magic. Without thinking, I flipped the book open, dispelling the leftover magical signs with a thought. 
“Go to March 8,” Snappy’s snide voice commented.
I didn’t care about her tone. I just did as instructed as Minuette leaned in close to read the logbook. 
“‘Ship’s Log, March 8, 413, Admiral Fairweather commanding.’” I licked my lips. The writing had obviously been done by wing and it was a little unsteady, as if the author were injured… or more likely, on a ship in bad weather. “‘Cloudshark spotted six hours north-by-north west of the village of Vanhoover Bay. I suspect they’re en route to their hidden base in the Frozen North. I have no intention of allowing them to get away with another robbery. I’ve requested support from the North Fleet, but they did not arrive in time to assist in the engagement.’”
Snappy let out a low, throaty chuckle as I took a breath. Minuette trembled beside me, though I wasn’t sure exactly why. 
“‘We engaged them with two volleys from our long nines as the Cloudshark was coming in for a water landing upon a large round lake I had never before seen. However, the ship is quick as ever, and turned their propellers to full, performing a spiraling ascent that the Valiant—despite her many sterling qualities—could not match. We lost the pirate vessel within the storm clouds above, despite an entire evening of searching on ship and on wing.’”
“That’s almost the same—”
I cut Minuette off with a light kick against her back leg and quickly went back to reading before Snappy could say a word. 
“‘All is not lost, though. During one of the enemy’s spirals, Leftenant Sharp Wit managed to anticipate the target’s motion and we unleashed a full broadside upon our nemesis. Lookout reported that the starboard cargo pod had been blown from its mooring and sent crashing toward the western ridge of this odd lake. In addition, a single cannonball tore a great hole in their starboard bow. I am confident that such damage will prevent them from any water landings in the near future. We will continue pursuit of the enemy and retrieve the stolen goods. For the Sun Princess!’”
Before I could go any further, light green magic ripped the book from my hooves. 
“Hey!” I protested, trying to grab it back, but Snappy was too quick and stashed it somewhere I couldn’t see, probably in a drawer. “I wasn’t finished!”
“Yes, you were,” Snappy said as she leaned over her desk. “You now see what we have. All you have is a little newspaper clipping. This logbook contains the Valiant Sunrise’s entire hunt for the Cloudshark. Every encounter. Every battle. Down to the final moments. How are you expecting to find this thing when we have this?”
“We have something just as good!” Minuette snapped.
Snappy’s eyebrow shot up. “Is that so? Quid pro quo, then!”
I shot Minuette a warning glare and her ears flattened when she realized what she had just said. 
 “We…” I thought fast. Considering the level of obsession this mare was showing, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to storm our ship if she found out about the Waystone. We needed a different story. “We have an account from a junior officer of one of the other ships that joined the Valiant Sunrise.”
“Really, now?” Her eyes narrowed. “What ship?”
I wracked my brain over the legend. While I knew about Fairweather’s ship, I didn’t really know airship disposition during the 3rd Century in Northern Equestria. In fact, that only one of any note was…
“Immortal Dawn,” I answered quickly. “It was the Immortal Dawn.”
Snappy narrowed her eyes even more. “That ship didn’t join the hunt until the third battle. How would there be any information about this battle?”
I almost swore, but managed to keep myself in check. “Transfer of personnel. Some ponies were injured in the second battle. This junior officer ended up chatting with one of the injured ponies in the mess. Or their sickbay. I don’t remember which.”
Hopefully that little act would be enough. Hesitation and confusion over minor details were always a good way to make it seem like you knew what you were talking about. Or at least, that’s what some of the books on spycraft had talked about when I’d been studying them a few years ago as a change of pace.
“Hmph,” she muttered with an exaggerated sniff. “Sounds like you got the second-rate edition. Not worth my time.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, then cursed myself for not keeping that one in. Minuette was staring at me openly, but I tried to ignore her. 
“Well, there!” Snappy said with a growl. “You have your proof. And I don’t want you yokels getting in my way! So now that you know you’re hopelessly outclassed, get off my ship, get off this Skydock and stay away from my treasure!”
With that, Snappy huffed again and turned around to stare out the portholes along the bulkhead, still showing little else than snow.
“Let’s go,” I muttered. “I need to think.”
“But…” Minuette looked at me briefly before nodding, seeming a little sad. “Okay.”
We left Snappy’s study—and Snappy was kind enough to slam the door shut behind us with a burst of magic—and found Easy Wing leaning against the wall with a smile.
“So, you survived,” he chuckled. “That gets some good marks from me. The yelling wasn’t all that bad, either. You’re practically BFFs.”
“Hardly,” I spat. “Why is she like a rabid porcupine?”
For just a split second, his smile faltered a little. I saw something behind his easygoing facade, something in his eyes. But it flickered too fast for me to process properly. We weren’t the only ones keeping secrets on this ship.
“That’s just how she is,” he replied with a shrug as he gestured toward the bow of the ship—pointedly away from the main hatch. “She’s… passionate.”
“More like obsessed,” I replied.
“Probably a better word,” he admitted as he hopped over a series of power cords stretching across the deck. 
Minuette and I were careful not to trip over the cabling, though I did frown at it as we passed. 
We walked in silence for a short time. Several of the overhead lamps were out in this section of the ship, creating a patchy pattern of light wandering through the long corridor. About four doors down from Snappy’s study, the corridor opened up to be about twice as wide as before. There were two staircases leading to the lower deck, along with a rather intricate series of cracked crystal core chandeliers above each staircase. Each one was in a spiral, and these actually had some power left in them as the brief bolts of magenta energy flickering between them indicated.
Once, this room had been a grand entryway into the section beyond. I looked up and caught sight of where a hatch had once been that would have led down a set of stairs to this deck. 
Now, like most of the ship, it might look incredible on the outside, but it wasn’t much to look at on the inside. Most of the wood paneling had been ripped up and huge sections of the carpet were gone, leaving only scuffed wooden deck planks behind.
“Those are beautiful,” Minuette whispered as she inspected the chandeliers. 
With a smile, she lit her horn and sent a tiny mote of magic into the impromptu crystal array. Instantly, gold magic began to course through the crystals along with the magenta, filling the room with colored light. With a little giggle, she did the same thing to the port-side chandelier. 
“There,” Minuette declared. “That should—“
Every light in the section suddenly went out, save for the chandeliers, plunging us into a red-tinted darkness. Minuette let out a squeak of surprise.
Easy Wing—at least, I think it was Easy Wing—groaned and took to the air, though I could barely see him in the startled gloom. “Give me a minute to go talk with—”
“You energized the crystalline matrices,” said a whisper of a voice directly behind me. 
I yelped and whirled around to see the listless expression of Trinket mere inches from where I had just stood, her eyes shining in the reflected magenta light of the chandeliers. 
“What the heck!” I yelled, holding a hoof to my chest. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
The filly cocked her head to the side. “No.”
That was all she said. ‘No.’ 
I grumbled under my breath, taking a few long steps away from the filly until I was beside Minuette, who became Trinket’s sole center of attention once more. 
“Um… yes?” Minuette offered to the unnerving stare of the strange filly.
“I didn’t think that was possible.” She stepped over and studied the glowing crystals. “Most of these are over thirty years old. The one in the center is sixty-three years old.”
“It’s… it’s a simple enough spell,” Minuette said quietly. “I could show you. But, it might be easier with the lights on.”
“The lights off allow the magical effect to be more visible.”
“They also make this place look downright creepy, Trinket,” Easy said from somewhere to my right. “Help a stallion out?”
Trinket closed her eyes, then a bolt of gray magic flew from her horn, spun around everypony in the room at least once, then shot up into the ceiling. A moment later, the overhead lights flickered back on. 
“Better,” I said, with a faint glower at Trinket. “Why’d you have to sneak up on me anyway?”
“I didn’t sneak.”
“She didn’t,” Easy offered, his ears twitching with the awkward air that had descended on most of us. “She’s always been... really quiet when she moves.”
“Creepy,” I muttered to Minuette. “Super creepy.”
“I think she’s adorable,” Minuette proclaimed. 
“You would.”
She stuck out her tongue at me.
And I rolled my eyes at her. 
“Anyway, I think I was going to show you the loun—” Easy began before a familiar shrill voice cut him off.
“Trinket! Easy! Get in here! Your break is over! We need to go over grid 10x31x12!”
Easy let out a long, low sigh and rubbed his face. “Or... not.”
“What?” I scoffed. “You just come running whenever she screeches?” 
Instead of getting defensive—like a normal pony—Easy shrugged. “It’s easier this way. For everypony.”
Trinket had already started back down the corridor toward her sister’s study. With a sigh, Easy followed her. 
I glanced at Minuette, who just shrugged at me in return. Then, she followed the other two. I rolled my eyes again and fell into step behind them all.
When we arrived at Snappy’s door, she flung it open before Easy could go for the knob. 
“Took you long enough,” she cried, then stopped when she noticed we were there too. “Why are they still on my ship?”
“Because some of us try to be gracious hosts,” Easy said with a faint glare in Snappy’s direction which she took no notice of. 
“That’s stupid. Get them out of here. They’ve got a long trip home with their tails between their legs,” she said, expression going sly and snide at the same time.
An evil, cocky little smile appeared on her face. 
That little smile was really starting to grate on me. I’d seen it too many times already. Part of me wanted to knock it off her face. Maybe even physically. 
Then my eyes slid to Minuette. Snappy’s smile didn’t seem to have any negative impact on her whatsoever. My ears flopped down and Snappy chuckled.
“Whatever,” I grunted, and turned to leave.
“Snappy, you can be a real...” Easy let out a grunt of exasperation. “Trink, will you help your sister for a few minutes?”
“Only if you promise to come back,” she said in that same listless voice.
“I’d never abandon you with her,” Easy swore.
Snappy just sniffed at him.
“I’ll escort you off the ship,” Easy said to the two of us. “Why don’t we go before someone gets even grumpier.”
“I’m not grumpy, I’m dedicated!”
“More like committed,” I muttered under my breath. “As in, ‘should be committed.’”
Easy laughed, much to my surprise. Minuette nudged me in the side, but she was smiling all the same when I looked at her. 
We all made our way through the long corridor and into the lounge-turned-storage-area before stopping at the main hatch.
“Okay,” he said with a mostly honest smile. “This is my stop.”
“Why do you put up with her?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
Easy burst out laughing again. “If I had a bit for everypony who’d asked me that...”
“You’d be filthy rich,” I guessed.
“I’d be pretty close,” he admitted with a sigh. “Short version? Snappy’s had her eyes on the Cloudshark treasure since we were fillies in Manehattan. She’s descended from the... third officer of the Valiant, I think? And I am a direct relation to Admiral Fairweather herself. We just never had the means until recently to come look for it.”
“And by means you’re talking about this airship,” Minuette guessed. 
“Yup!” he replied. “We found her—”
“Easy, stop trying to score with those two lovebirds and get your feathered ass down here!” screeched that wonderful voice.
It seemed like the only thing that could really ruffle this stallion’s feathers was either the concept of Minuette and I being together, or the concept of us being together and him trying to get in on it.
However, since all three of us went scarlet and avoided one another’s eyes, I didn’t get a chance to poke him about it.
“We should... um... probably go,” Minuette squeaked.
“Right!” I said, way too loud.
I nodded to Easy Wing. The rest of the ship might be crazy, but he seemed normal enough. How he survived on this ship, I would probably never know. 
After he returned our winter protection to us, I pushed open the hatch, only to find that wind had kicked up, blowing snow right into my face. I yelped and was forced to use my magic to create a flimsy shield to protect my eyes. Minuette did something similar.
I glanced back to see her waving at Easy as he closed the door while Snappy yelled something else.
I shook my head, then trudged through the small drifts of snow on the deck of the To Dream in Colour, leading Minuette to the platform and the Wandering Blossom on the other side.
The heat in my cheeks kept my face warm the entire way back.
> Repairs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




That night, I had trouble sleeping, though I wasn’t sure why.

After leaving Canterlot, I’d lived in Vanhoover. During that time, pegasi controlled the weather around the city, just like most major civilized areas of Equestria. In the middle of winter, we might get the occasional storm like this. Apparently, the wilder parts of Equestria ran by different rules.

I could see the snow swirling above me through the skylight, softly glowing in the light from the Skyport. 

Even then, I didn’t think it was the weather keeping me awake.

The encounter with the crazy crew of the Colour wasn’t it either. Yes, Trinket was creepy as all get out. Snappy was obsessed and obnoxious and loud and… a lot of other things. And Easy was way too normal to be on that ship.

And it wasn’t... her. I was sure of that. Well, mostly sure. There was hardly a night that went by that I didn’t at least think about her a little. So I should be used to that, right?

Was it the two voices from the past? Admiral Fairweather aboard the HMS Valiant Sunrise. The other, a gnarled griffon claiming to be aboard the Cloudshark under fire. Both claimed that one of the treasure-laden cargo pods of the Cloudshark had crashed into the west ridge of Canter Basin Lake.

I still didn’t really believe any of this. Not a word. This was insane. 

But...

I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, did I? 

Minuette and I hadn’t really talked about my plans. They weren’t really of any of her business, after all. And the only plan I truly had was to see the Crystal Faire. But that was weeks away. After that? I’d occasionally thought about running some light cargo in the Trottingham area to pay off the rest of my debt. But I could hardly call that a plan.

Truth was, I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing. I just knew I had to get away. 

Best for everypony, really.

So, what was I hiding from? I mean, this was Minuette! How could I not trust her with the truth? 

That’s something I couldn’t quite answer.

And that also left me with only one thing that was keeping me awake.

With a sigh, I flung off my covers, slid into my slippers and padded to the door. I popped it open and stepped across the short hallway to listen just outside Minuette’s door.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t really want to talk to her, after all.

A soft snore came from inside the room. 

I lifted a hoof to knock anyway.

Then, I hesitated. Finally, I shook my head.

Minuette... was Minuette. No, I wasn’t going to bother her with something like this. I needed to just tough it out and get some rest.

Still, it took some effort to turn around and walk back to my room. Once I closed the door, however, it was easier. I pulled off my slippers and crawled into bed, snuggling up under the covers, accidentally bumping Smarty Pants, who’d slipped under the sheets. I adjusted the little stuffed doll, leaned back on my pillow and sighed.

Hopefully, tomorrow would reveal that both accounts were bogus. There would be no treasure of the Cloudshark, no ancient loot, no secret stash. And then, I could make a beeline for Whinnyapolis and deliver Minuette as agreed. 

Then, I could finally, at long last, be alone. Just like I was supposed to be.





A loud knocking woke me from a frigid dream. I blearily looked around, trying to figure out who could possibly be so annoying to make that kind of racket. 

I looked around, but there was nopony in my room. I levitated over my glasses, but my restored sight didn’t reveal anypony either.

Then I looked up to see a red-maned mare with a yellow coat. She wore a pair of denim overalls and a green bandanna. And she was waving at me through the skylight with a grin. 

The overall look told me immediately who this mystery pony was. And that I’d forgotten to make the skylight opaque before passing out. 

I waved to acknowledge her, then stumbled out of bed. For privacy, I closed the skylight so I could quickly change into my nice warm jumpsuit and took a glance in the mirror, eying my mane. 

It was the only thing I’d had left of... her. I’d decided to go back to my old style, from before, even though she had sworn she’d liked the one I tried out after the Battle of Unity. Now, I was wondering if I hadn’t made a mistake.

Both styles were wrapped up in her, but this is the one I had before, so that was something that helped me get through most days.

I brushed it quickly, then hurried out of my room. 

I knocked on Minuette’s door with a few quick raps, my hesitation from last night gone. 

“W-wha?” said a sleepy voice from the other side.

“Minuette, Torque Wrench is here,” I called through the door. “I’m going upstairs to meet her. Get ready, because we’re going to town today. Wear your jumpsuit and for the love of Celestia, put on some coffee, please?”

“O-okay, Moony...” 

I estimated there was a 50/50 chance that she would do as I asked and not immediately fall back asleep. But I wasn’t going to keep Torque waiting. It was never a good idea to make your mechanic unhappy when you owned an airship. I’d read enough accounts to know their pleasure is what determined both price and effectiveness.

I jogged through the ship, winding my way through engineering and up the stairwell to the hatch. After adjusting the collar of my jumpsuit, I opened the door, waiting to see the ship coated in snow and frost.

Instead, Torque Wrench stood there on a completely clean deck, save for a couple of small puddles. While snow speckled the ridges of Canter Basin Lake, and some trees on a large rise in the distance on the port side, there was nothing.

“Jetstream and Rainy Skies cleared up the storm early this morning,” the pony said, obviously reading my expression. “Brought a nice little windstorm before dawn that yanked away all the wild snow.”

“Well, that was… unexpected,” I said as I walked out of the Blossom’s hatch and met the newcomer. “Would you be Torque Wrench?”

“That I am,” she said with a nod, offering her hoof.

“Moondancer,” I said, then took it. A second later, my entire world was shaken. No wait, that was just the earth pony being absurdly strong. 

I had to wiggle my foreleg to get feeling back in the limb. 

“So, I hear you’ve got some hull damage and a cracked stabilizer fin,” Torque said, her eyes twinkling. “That sort of damage sounds a mite familiar.”

I blushed, my ears folding back as I avoided her gaze.

“Just the truth, missy,” Torque said in a voice that brooked no defiance.

“Yeah, I tried to run North Unicorn Pass,” I admitted as I rubbed my mane.

“And?”

“At night.”

“And?”

“In a storm.”

“Yup, that about aligns with what I saw in my inspection this morning,” she said with a chuckle. “Hope you don’t mind, but the girls’ windstorm woke me right up and decided to get an early start.”

My head snapped up. “You’ve already done your inspection? But… but… what about the interior hull?”

Torque laughed and waved off my worries. “Missy, none of that damage could do a thing to the interior of one of Even Keel’s babies. Way I see it, you just need some planks replaced along your keel. The fin, though? That’s another matter.”

She looked a little more thoughtful and my heart sank. “Don’t tell me… you don’t have the right model.”

“No, I don’t,” Torque said with a shrug. “Those are custom Shimmerblade J14s. Good thing, too. After what you described, anything less would have snapped clean off in that run.”

I slumped and rubbed my face. So much for my grand adventure… or getting away from everything. I wondered what I would tell Minuette. And how—

“Hey now!” Torque shouted with another laugh, waving her hooves in my face. “I didn’t say it was hopeless, missy. I do have a Shimmerblade H8, but it’s shorter than what your ship here was designed for. Other catch is I only have one.”

I glanced at her, pushing my glasses up my muzzle. “I’m sorry, you’ve lost me.”

“They’re both Shimmerblades,” Torque explained in the voice of somepony used to informing ignorant ponies about their own airships. Sadly, at the moment, I was one of those. “Means that the mounting is going to be the same, so we don’t have to worry about extra hardware. But it’s about half as long as the J14. I can trim your J14 to match the H8, but it means the ship will be less stable in storms or high winds. She’ll fight you, mad because she doesn’t have what she needs.”

“But she’ll fly?” I asked, hope rising again.

“As long as your core crystal is intact, oh yes, she’ll still fly, missy. Just be a little shaky when the winds get gusting or you push your turbines hard.” 

I couldn’t believe it. She was saying she could do it! I exulted in that for a second before I came back down to earth. Now, came the hard part. 

“Thank you,” I said honestly. “This… this actually means a lot to me.”

“Well, you’re welcome. Be a pleasure to work on one of Even Keel’s ships. Right pleasure.”

I stood up again and smiled awkwardly. “I guess that only leaves two parts left, now that I know she can be fixed up.”

“Well, the answer to your first question—and correct me if it’s not your first question—is that it’ll take about a day, two tops. The woodwork is easy enough. There are more carpenters in this town than you could believe. After she’s been properly sealed, you could take her sailing through the North Lunar Ocean if you had a mind to. But working on the fin will be a delicate process. If I get the size wrong by even an inch, she won’t fly right. She’ll end up handling like a bad shopping cart at the grocer.”

I breathed out a long sigh of relief. I had been worried it would take a week or something. “No, no, that’s fine. Really.”

“And your second question’s a bit trickier. The H8 runs about eight hundred bits. Labor for retooling your existing fin would probably be… oh, since it’s an Even Keel original, let’s just call it five hundred bits. I’ll even throw the woodwork in free, if you’ll let me do a thorough interior inspection of the lower hold and the engineering compartment.”

I paused for just a moment, then nodded. I had enough for that, especially since, by my own estimates, she was giving me a hefty discount. Yeah, I had enough. 

“Done, to all of it.” 

I reached out a hoof and was once again subjected to the mad grip of the earth pony mechanic. It was a wonder my foreleg didn’t come out of its socket.

“Well, then, you okay with me getting started right away?” She asked with a grin. “Though it’ll take an hour or so to lasso a good carpenter.”

“That should be plenty of time,” I assured her. “We’ll be off the ship by then and I’ll leave the hatch unlocked.”

“Miss Moondancer, you’re my kind of captain. Honest, straightforward, and to the point. Let’s get this show on the road.”

She gave me a little salute and sauntered back down the gangplank.

“Thank you again!” I called after her. 

She waved back as she headed down the elevator to the ground floor.

I smiled to myself. While I didn’t like the idea of being stuck in town for a couple days, maybe we could find a way to investigate that silly spot where the treasure supposedly was located. That would keep Minuette occupied. The cost in bits was going to be painful, but… it was really a drop in the bucket. Nothing to be done about it. 

At least the Wandering Blossom would fly again. And this time, I would treat her the way she deserved.
> Excursions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




When I went back below deck, I found a pot of coffee ready to be injected into my bloodstream and Minuette passed out on one of the sofas just past the galley. Somehow, she’d ended up on her back with one of her forelegs twitching up in the air like some sort of huge blue cat. She’d even cocooned herself in three blankets.

I poured myself a cup of the heavenly liquid and sipped. Then, I just stood there, watching her snore her head off. She even snorted occasionally, and that was always accompanied by a twitch of her navy and white tail. 

Finally, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I started to laugh. I laughed so hard I almost dropped my mug. Just seeing her passed out like that… or who knows? Maybe it was the euphoria that I didn’t have to go back to Vanhoover. Correction, that we didn’t have to go back to Vanhoover. Either way, everything was suddenly hysterical.

It was my laughter that finally woke her from her catnap. She sat up with a jolt, looking around in confusion until her eyes landed on mine. I saw recognition dawn there and she went scarlet. Her ears flattened and she tried to burrow under the sheets to hide.

“Thanks for putting on the coffee,” I said, lifting my mug in a little salute of my own. “It’s perfect.”

“I didn’t sleep well,” she mumbled from somewhere beneath all those blankets. “I’m tired!”

“Sure you are,” I replied with a smirk. “Well, I’ve got something to help that if you’ll come out.”

“Not coming out until you stop snickering.”

It was true. I hadn’t stopped snickering since she first woke up. 

“I’m working on it,” I replied airily. 

“Work harder!” Minuette snapped, her ears twitching in vague annoyance. 

Finally, I got it under control and I raised an eyebrow at my traveling companion. With a huff, she eventually slipped out of her blanket nest/cocoon, only to trip on the edge and end up sprawling right at me. I managed to catch her in my forehooves at the last second while keeping the piping hot coffee from pouring all over us. 

Then, we were an inch or two apart. I swallowed hard as I found myself staring into her dark blue eyes. I stammered something incomprehensible before she managed to straighten herself out. I quickly let go of her and took a few comfortable steps back. 

“Nice save,” Minuette said, smiling at me. 

I couldn’t meet her eyes. Not quite. And especially not with my cheeks burning. There were days I hated having such a pale coat. Namely, most of them.

 Instead, I just nodded and guzzled my coffee. At least she was in her jumpsuit. Actually, wait, that didn’t help. Because that kept emphasizing parts of her that I shouldn’t be staring at. 

I threw her a red scarf—it was trailing out from her bedroom’s hatch—and she caught it in her magic. “Come on, get dressed, because we have plans for today!”

“Oh, did the mechanic already come by?” 

Finally, I found myself able to look her in the eye as I nodded. “Yup! It’ll cost a bit, but she should get the Blossom nearly back up to her normal capabilities with some creative engineering. She’ll actually fly again!”

Minuette cocked her head to one side. “Uh, didn’t we fly all the way here after the… um… run?”

I flushed. “Well… yes. I meant fly like she’s supposed to!”

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

I glared at her, but she was the picture of cheery innocence as her magic worked the coffee pot and a mug, pouring an unholy amount of sugar into her coffee. Coffee was supposed to be bitter, for Luna’s sake! 

“So, you said something about plans?” Minuette asked after her first sip.

Now, it was my turn to be a little bit smug. “You know that spot we found with the broken trees?” 

“Yeah.” Minuette nodded, her eyes slipping to the safe where we’d stashed the Waystone. “But you said the winds were too bad to get to it.”

“At night,” I corrected her. “But now, it should be okay.”

“But the Blossom still needs to be repaired,” Minuette pointed out. 

Why was she suddenly coming up with all the problems?

“What’s with all the naysaying?” I demanded, sitting down and putting my hooves on my hips. “You were practically frothing at the mouth to get down there yesterday!”

“I’m… trying not to get my hopes up?” 

And that’s when I saw it. Specifically, I saw it in her eyes. Somewhere inside, she was practically vibrating with excitement and eagerness.

“Yeah, not buying it,” I decreed. “Drop the act, Minuette.”

And, to my surprise, she did. Dropped it instantly. Instead, she leapt forward, now physically vibrating. “Okay, come on! Tell me!”

I chuckled and smirked at her. “I’m thinking we rent a pegasus tour wagon to take us out to the spot. Then we look around a little... with that.”

I pointed at the safe where the Waystone was in.

“Worst case scenario, we get a little hiking in. I don’t usually like hiking, but I’ve never really been to the Equestrian Northwest before, so… might as well try it.”

“And best case scenario…” she squealed, clapping her hooves together. “We find the treasure of the Cloudshark.”

I shrugged. “I mean, crazier things have happened, but I’m not holding my breath. Even with all of this, I’m still having trouble believing there could be a six-hundred-year-old treasure just lying in the dirt.”

“But there’s a chance!” Minuette said, bouncing up and down a little. “There’s a chance, Moony!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. There’s a chance.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, then went back to the pot for a refill. All the while, I felt myself smiling. That seemed like a rare thing lately. At least… since I left Canterlot. Not a lot of reasons to smile a real and honest smile. But Minuette had a way of pulling it out of me. 

Who knows, maybe Minuette was exactly what I needed on this little trip. She wasn’t part of my plan, but I kinda liked having her on board. After all, I was willing to go tromping down a mountainside to look for some centuries-old buried treasure that probably wasn’t there pretty much just to make her happy.

Minuette downed the last of her coffee and put the mug in the sink. She flipped on her bright red scarf and beamed at me. “So, what are we waiting for?”

I smiled even wider. Who knows, maybe this might actually be fun. Stranger things had happened. 





We’d managed to finally make out of Blossom with some of the gear we bought yesterday in our saddlebags, as well as heavy coats to stave off the cold wind wandering around the town. It might have been overpacking, but Minuette promised she could do a dimensional bag spell, so we could always shove stuff in there if we needed to. 

We’d stopped at another diner, had a quick bite to eat, and then asked for directions for the pegasus tours. Any tourist attraction city, especially one in the wilderness, had at least one team of pegasi that offered aerial tours of the surrounding landscape. I’d heard it was a profitable business since all the pegasi had to do was keep the wagon in good repair and fly around. Maybe it was a little like being a taxipony? 

It was about ten in the morning by the time we made it to the ‘Canter Basin Airtours’ building on the outskirts of town. I spied a small landing strip behind the small one-story structure with cute little decals of flying pegasi all over the windows to either side of the door.

“I already love it,” Minuette declared. “Just by itself, this’ll be fun!”

“I doubt it’ll compare to the Blossom,” I informed her with a smirk. “But it’ll get the job done.”

I opened the door and let her step in first. We found ourselves in a small room that seemed to be both a reception area and a waiting room. Various Wonderbolt show posters were scattered over the walls between pegasus-eyed photos of the Canter Basin area. The entire place had a homey feel, made entirely out of wood with a thick rug beneath our hooves. 

It looked like a tourist attraction, but at least it looked like the good kind of tourist attraction.

Behind the main counter was a petite pegasus with a dappled gray coat and a dark blue mane. She cocked her head at us as we entered, looking surprised. I couldn’t blame her, since it was definitely off-season for tourists. She put away the book she’d been reading and sat up on her stool that put her at eye level with us. 

“Welcome to Canter Basin Airtours,” she said with a vaguely awkward smile. “What can I help you two with today?”

I stepped up to the counter. There was a large topographical map of Canter Basin there, with numerous routes suggesting tour paths in different colors. I studied it briefly before spotting the approximate area we wanted to go.

“We’d like to charter a flight to a specific destination,” I explained. “Can you do that?”

The mare frowned. “You mean, just drop you off somewhere and leave you? At this time of year?” 

I glanced at Minuette, who just shrugged.

“Yeah, pretty much. And then pick us up later in the day.”

The mare jerked backward. “Uh… that’s… yeah, that’s not normally what we do. Especially now. I mean… sometimes, but… you know what, let me ask.”

I expected her to hop off her stool and trot through the door in the back wall to ask somepony else. Instead, she suddenly hollered with a voice so loud it left my ears ringing as I staggered back a few feet away from her.

“Hey, Swift Glide!” the mare called. “We’ve got a special request! Get your shaggy flank out here!”

It was amazing that a pony so small could make that much noise. I rubbed at my ears a little as Minuette stepped up beside me, looking a little dazed. 

There was some grumbling in the next room and a few thuds. Eventually, the door banged open and a shaggy, snow-colored pegasus stallion about my height trotted into the room. His mane was a mass of lopsided brown and blue curls. He projected an absolute air of confidence around him, especially with the heavy brown flight jacket that reminded me of an old-style Wonderbolts off-duty uniform.

“Jeez, Nebula,” the stallion—Swift Glide, I guess—groaned. “I keep telling you, one of these days, you’re gonna deafen somepony with that yell of yours.”

“I haven’t gotten any medical bills yet,” Nebula said with a huff. 

“And if you get one from me?” he grumbled, rubbing his own ears. I had the feeling he’d been subjected to that yell far more often than was medically healthy.

“Then you’ll end up paying it anyway,” she said with a smirk, jumping into the air and giving him a kiss on the cheek before spinning over his head to stop on the other side. “And you’d grumble and love me even more.”

The big stallion—to my surprise—blushed, rubbed his cheek, and took the spot Nebula had previously occupied. As if the last exchange had never happened, he looked up at the two of us. “Sorry about all that. What’s the special request?”

Since Minuette was too busy making little ‘awww’ noises, I took the lead again. I highlighted our desired target on the map with my magic. “We want to charter you to drop us off here, leave, then come back just before the evening winds pick up.”

“Huh.” Swift Glide rubbed his chin with a frown. “You ladies know it’s mid-Autumn, right? Sometimes it’s hard to tell since we got mostly evergreens up here. Weather’s unpredictable. We don’t like dropping off ponies during the off-season and you two don’t seem the seasoned hiker type, no offense.”

“None taken!” Minuette declared for the both of us, which wasn’t strictly true. Still, I let it drop.

“Still, we need to get out to that area today,” I insisted. “We’d take our airship, but it’s undergoing some minor repairs.”

He cocked an eyebrow at us, his expression suddenly stony. “Which airship? The big one or the small one?”

Well, I’m guessing somepony had an encounter with Snappy and her two misfits. 

“Small,” I said a second later. “The Wandering Blossom.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. So did Nebula, who was now hovering on his right. 

“The custom Bright Bow 7S, right?” he said with a hopeful smile.

Minuette and I both nodded, though of course, she took a moment. She didn’t know the Blossom like I did.

“That’s the one,” I said. “Why… do you ask?”

I didn’t really need to ask, but it was polite. And I was trying to do a little more of that. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but I was doing it. I mean, it couldn’t hurt, right?

“I thought we’d seen the last of you treasure hunters,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that snow last night was meant to run you all off. The town’s had… a lot of issues with them the last few days.”

“How do you know we’re—”

Swift rolled his eyes. “Your accent pegs you both as being born and raised in Canterlot for most of our lives. Both of you are overdressed in those Skyclip Harnesses… oh, and there’s a shovel sticking out of your marefriend’s bag.”

I turned around and realized that yes, the spring-loaded shovel had snapped open withou—

Minuette had gone red. 

I spun back around, going scarlet myself. “She’s not my marefriend!” 

“N-nope!” Minuette said, shaking her head desperately. “Nope! Not at all! Just old friends!”

“Where do you get off saying something like that anyway?” I shouted at him, my cheeks feeling even hotter as I practically climbed the counter. 

Nebula cackled faintly at the stallion’s sudden embarrassment.

Swift, to his credit, held up his hooves in surrender. “Sorry, sorry! I assumed and that was stupid. When you live a life like mine you… tend to sometimes see things that aren’t there.”

“Yet,” mumbled Nebula with a little smirk.

When I shot her a glare, she was conspicuously looking in the other direction. 

“We’re not a thing,” I restated. “Just traveling… traveling companions.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and wondered why I was getting so annoyed about a stupid assumption.

“Okay, I was trying to take a nap, but all I hear is yelling!” said the voice of another mare, who entered through the same door Swift Wind had come through. “What’s the problem, darlings?”

“Just, a miscommunication, Jade Sea,” Swift said.

“Swifty’s shipping senses activated again for no reason,” Nebula said with a smirk directed toward Swift. “I swear he should have been a matchmaker.”

The newcomer was another pegasus with a teal coat and a mane of purple, pink and blue. She actually wore a full flight suit that fit her perfectly. In fact, she looked vaguely familiar as she smiled at us before leaning up to give Nebula a kiss on the cheek… and then gave Swift the same?

Swift reached out a wing and Jade Sea snuggled under it. These ponies had no problem with public displays of affection at all.

“Wait a…” I mumbled to myself.

What was going on here? Nebula was too old to be their daughter. And the kiss Nebula had given Swift hadn’t been one of a friend or…

Minuette let out a gasp, dropped to her haunches and put her hooves to her mouth. “Oh my goodness!”

“What?” I asked, feeling a little out of my depth—and a little annoyed that Minuette had apparently put a hoof on the oddity before me. “What is it?”

“They’re a trio!” Minuette squeaked, beaming at the three of them.

Swift blushed, but Jade just chuckled while Nebula rolled her eyes. 

“At least she didn’t call us a herd,” Nebula said, her wings fluttering a little faster. “She’s too cute to buck out the door.”

“Nebby, be nice!” chastised Jade Sea, though Jade looked maybe two years older than Nebula. 

“Wait… you’re… all together? Together, together?” I said, scratching my head.

Every one of them nodded and seemed to be waiting for my reaction. I flopped to my own haunches and tried to process what I was seeing. Relationships were… well, I wasn’t very good at them. Especially romantic ones.

Canterlot was a very traditional city, especially Upper Canterlot. Despite my best intentions, high society had played a pretty strong role in how I developed my worldview. For them, I knew that male-female relationships were considered to be ‘the norm.’ That wasn’t to say that same-sex relationships were shunned, but more considered to be ‘daring’ or ‘avante garde,’ though they’d been around since before recorded history. 

Relationships involving three or more consenting adults were far more rare, at least in Canterlot. I’d met one or two groups like that in Vanhoover and had never known what to think. Not that it was necessarily bad… it was just… it would be like the sun rising on its own. Just… hard for me to comprehend. 

And even before my ultimately disastrous attempts at romantic relationships, it was the one thing I had never studied, not even during my self-imposed exile from the world of friendship. After that exile had ended, I’d never studied polyamory. I never thought I’d need to. I’d been right. Mostly.

 “I… sorry.” I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Like you said, we’re from Canterlot and it’s just… weird.”

“Weird how?” Nebula demanded.

Jeez, chip on the shoulder much?

“I’ve never been able to make a single mare happy,” I blurted out. “How the heck are you supposed to make two ponies happy at the same time?”

Jade Sea laughed, a melodic and rather beautiful laugh while Swift watched her fondly. She was only a few inches shorter than him and she fit under his wing perfectly.

“Lots of grace and understanding,” she answered smoothly. 

She almost sounded like… her. Almost. 

“Anyway,” Swift said, mercifully yanking the conversation back on topic. “These two ladies want to head out to the west ridge about three miles north of the Watchmare.”

“In the middle of Autumn?” Jade frowned and looked down at the map, where my magical spot still lay. Then she let out a low sigh. “You’re hunting the Cloudshark, aren’t you?”

I shared a look with Minuette. She shrugged at me, then unexpectedly leapt to the forefront of the conversation with a simple “Yup!”

“I won’t even bother to ask why you think it’s there of all places,” Jade sighed again, this time with a shake of her head. “I’m guessing they’ve already told you why it’s a bad idea?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, offering a shrug of my own.

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I’m probably a year older than you. Can the ma’am and call me Jade.”

I smirked. I liked this mare. “Sorry, Jade.”

“That’s better,” she huffed, her eyes dancing. “So, here’s the deal, ladies. As long as Swift is on board, I’m willing to fly the two of you out there. But the weather’s been getting wilder every day, and earlier in the afternoon, too. If the winds pick up too bad or we get rain or snow, you’re going to get picked up and we’re charging triple.”

I blinked a few times. “Something we’re missing here?”

“It’ll take us about three hours to fly out there,” Swift said, tapping his hoof on the spot on the map. “Three hours back. That’s assuming decent winds. But storms out here are nasty, wild things.”

“All pegasi in Canter Basin are required to be part of Search and Rescue,” Nebula said, her voice a little somber while it lost a fair bit of her snark. “We sometimes get idiots who fly out in late Autumn or early Spring. They get trapped by floods or windstorms. Had a stallion get hit by a lightning strike last year.”

Minuette’s ears were practically pasted to her head at this point.

“If you’re trying to freak us out…” I began.

“We’re not trying to freak you out,” Jade replied coolly. “We’re trying to tell you that it gets dangerous here around winter. This isn’t one of the places where Cloudsdale delivers snow days on a silver platter. The winter we get is straight from the Frozen North. And you’re coming in at the beginning of it. It’s been eighty years since there was a death because of the storms, but we’ve had ten cases of frostbite in the last five years, four of them from around this time of year.”

I glanced again at Minuette. We both were alpine unicorns, raised on the massive peak of Canterlot. We knew a little about cold, but we had lived in the city where the living avatar of the sun dwelled for most of our lives. I suspected that changed matters.

I thought Minuette might finally back down and admit that this was a bad idea. 

“So… can you try?” Minuette asked hesitantly. 

Three pairs of eyes slid over to me, waiting to hear my response.

I sighed, rubbed my face with my hooves and shrugged again. “What she said.”

Jade raised an eyebrow at the two of us, then eyed Nebula and Swift. 

“Yeah. We can try.”
> Watchmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




I held on tight to my seatbelt and thanked Celestia I didn’t get airsick. Okay, getting airsick and buying an airship would have been really dumb, but this ride was starting to make even me feel a little green around the gills. 

Minuette, on the other hoof, just kept staring out the immense wraparound window of the Airtours All-Weather Chariot, gaping at the shocking blue lake that lay beyond the ridge we were soaring over. The blue of Canter Basin Lake was rather startling. I’d never seen anything like it. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. If I were to guess, the color was the exact same hue as Minuette’s eyes. 

Why I happened to come to that conclusion, I had no idea, but the more I thought about it, the more true it became. 

“Why are you doing this?” I nearly had to shout over the sound of the rushing wind buffing both the Chariot and our pegasi pilots. 

Minuette didn’t turn to look at me. Her eyes were glued to the immense lake. I spied the forested hulk of the Isle of the Witch breaking the surface of the lake and guessed we were nearly to our destination. 

“Minuette?”

“You’re not asking why I’m flying out here, are you?” Minuette called back, still not looking at me.

I blinked. I hadn’t expected that response. “No, I’m not.”

She was silent for a time, but I couldn’t see her face since it was all but glued to the window. I had no idea what she was thinking. Then again, I wasn’t exactly spectacular at reading ponies, so it probably didn’t matter. 

“I wanted to see places in the world that aren’t controlled by our magic,” Minuette said, her voice soft enough that I could barely hear her over the racket outside. “That’s… not everything. But that’s a pretty big one.”

“You just wanted to—”

The Chariot dipped and began to descend, cutting off any further questions. I wished I hadn’t spent so much time just gawking. When I’d piloted the Blossom over this area, I’d been too busy trying to keep my ship from floundering to really enjoy the sights. Now, I had the chance to actually look at the world around me beyond Canter Lake. And it was nothing but trees, tiny lakes, rock and the occasional bit of wildlife. Despite that, it was beautiful. It still was. And yet, I found myself wishing I’d taken the time to focus on my traveling companion. 

I’d been so caught in the moment, there were times I forgot she was there. Granted, those were becoming less and less, but still, that wasn’t the mark of a friend. And despite my departure from Canterlot, I did want my friend back. 

But I didn’t often get what I really wanted. 

I distracted myself from the melancholy thoughts by glancing through the front window at the sight of Swift Wing and Jade Sea in their harnesses. If I focused, I could almost see their innate pegasus magic flowing through their wings and into the wooden structure of the Chariot. I’d found out that Nebula rarely flew tours for non-pegasi. Because of her size, she had trouble hauling the Chariot. She tended to stick to pegasi tours, guiding other fliers through the wilderness of Canter Basin. 

I watched the two pegasi and spied our destination. Before us, lay a familiar ridgeline… 

And an even more familiar airship. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I muttered, deeper thoughts forgotten as we flew past the To Dream in Colour. I couldn’t see anypony on the main deck, but somehow I knew Snappy was on board. The airship itself was hovering only a dozen or so yards above the treetops back at the rockslide where we’d first spotted them. The glistening silver and black ship swayed from side to side in the winds Swift and Jade were fighting, but Colour had her skyanchors down. I thought I saw movement in the rockslide, but we were past it before I could study it further. 

“Was that the Colour?” Minuette asked. 

I jumped slightly. The winds weren’t as bad now that we’d descended below the ridgeline. She’d apparently turned her attention to me now that she couldn’t gape at the lake anymore. It was also a lot quieter in the Chariot’s cabin, so she seemed so much louder than she had been before.

“Yeah,” I said with a shaky nod. “I think they’re still searching that rockslide.”

“I kinda feel bad for them…” she said, rubbing her saddlebag with the Waystone cradled inside. “They don’t have a magic compass.”

“Don’t,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “They’re just as competitive. Snappy wouldn’t hesitate to use any and every advantage she could get if it meant she could get to the treasure first. That’s assuming there is a treasure.”

“You’re still doubting?” Minuette’s eyebrows went up. She seemed genuinely surprised. 

“Of course I’m still doubting,” I replied with a laugh. “Minuette, this whole thing is pretty crazy and…”

Suddenly, I finally made the connections.

“You came out here to search for it, didn’t you?” I almost shouted, pointing a hoof at her. “You actually read that article everypony’s talking about in the Canterlot Times!”

Minuette flushed and looked away from me, not meeting my eyes.

“Ah-ha!” I shouted in victory. “That’s all I am to you, nothing but a ride so you can strike it rich!”

“No!” Minuette snapped, whirling back on me in seconds, the intensity of her stare enough to make me jerk backwards. “It’s… it’s more complicated than that.”

“Then simplify it for me,” I said, though a lot of my bravado was gone. “Come on, Minuette. This is me!”

“I…” Minuette trailed off, then shook her head, once again not meeting my eyes. 

What was with her? Since when was Minuette timid? It was like an image of Celestia doing farmwork. It just didn’t make any sense. Still, I wasn’t the only one keeping things to myself. Celestia, this wasn’t even the first time we stumbled across something like this.

It had been years since we’d really sat down to have fun. Years since I had called her friend. I wondered if we really knew one another at all anymore. 

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the loud thump of the Chariot’s heavy wheels down on solid rock. I would have bounced right out of my seat if not for the seatbelt. I glanced to the front to see both Jade and Swift skidding to a halt on a narrow strip of gravel surrounded by soil and pine trees, but that was about all I could see. 

“I… I, uh, think we’re here,” I said, hating how unsteady my voice was. 

“Yeah,” Minuette said, her voice vaguely hesitant.

She looked up at me and after a split second, stared grinning again. I couldn’t help but grin back at her. I didn’t know how she bounced back like she did, but maybe it was for the best that I simply left things alone. Anyway, I knew what would happen in the next couple of hours. We would find nothing and finally Minuette would have to admit this was a wild goose chase, no matter the reason she came out here. And then…

Well, then I’d take her to Whinnyapolis and we’d part ways. 

Simple.

Our pegasi pilots were unlatching themselves from the harness. Minuette and I undid our safety belts and I tossed open the door with a flash of my magic. I immediately staggered backward as a blast of cold wind hit me full in the face, nearly knocking my glasses off. I stumbled back, only to get caught by Minuette. 

“Thanks,” I mumbled and trudged my way through the wind flowing into the Chariot until my hooves were on solid ground.

Then, I took a moment to actually stare at our surroundings. 

It was a little after noon and the distant cold sun shone bright upon the immense forest of pine trees, prickly-looking shrubs, craggy rock formations for as far as the eye could see. We were on a short cliff that gave us just enough view to see the rolling hills beyond Crater Basin, coated in nothing but dark greens with the occasional splash of gray or brown. I studied the various trees and shook my head in wonder. I spotted firs, sugar pines, lodgepole pines, mountain hemlock and a few more trees I couldn’t identify. There weren’t any flowers this close to winter, but that didn’t make the view any less breathtaking. With nothing but an icy blue sky overhead dotted with a few white clouds, I didn’t think I’d seen anything like it before.

“Wow,” Minuette whispered beside me as we stood at the edge of the short cliff. “This is… incredible.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice the same tone of awe. “Yeah, it is.”

Our reverie was broken by our two pegasi pilots, starting with the shaggy and wind-swept Swift. “Too bad you aren’t on the other side of the ridge. The lake would be perfect today.”

Jade stepped up beside him and gave him a nudge. “Let the ladies have their own fun, Swifty.” 

“Just saying!”

Jade snorted and shook her head, then turned her attention to us. “However, I will point out one thing to you two.”

She pointed directly behind us. We turned and both of us gaped at the rearing peak practically looming over us. It was a massive, scree-covered tower of stone with a few dense copses of trees fighting to survive in various spots on the surface. The top of the mountain seemed to be made of black obsidian, though it was hard to tell from here, as there seemed to be bits of snow clinging to the leeward side. In fact, in the noon-day sun, I could almost feel the ambient magic flowing off the lake being cut in half by the peak.

“That’s the Watchmare,” Jade Sea said, plopping down on the stone and looking up at it. “Always been one of my favorite sights.”

Swift Wing sat next to her. “On the peak, there’s a nice little observation post where you can look out over the whole lake and even get the best view of the Isle of Witches in the entire Canter Basin.”

“Well, best if you’re not being flown around by us,” Jade quipped.

It was Swift’s turn to nudge her. She giggled softly. 

“Anyway, enough with the sightseeing,” Jade continued. “The winds we had to fight through to get here were definitely wild and if I know my winds, that means we’ll get a full wild storm within a few hours.”

Minuette glanced around the crystal-blue sky. “But… there’s only a few clouds.”

The mare shook her head. “You’re still thinking like a Canterlot mare. The Equestrian Northwest doesn’t give you much warning when a storm’s about to hit. This is wild weather. Personally, I think the reason it’s so wild is because it’s ticked off ‘cause us pegasi wrangle it so well throughout the country.”

“Don’t go into your natural Gaia theory again,” Swift groaned. “Please?”

She shot him a glare, but shrugged anyway. “So, we found the best spot to get to that old broken forest. This here is the closest safe spot to land and this is where we’re going to pick you up.”

“How do we get to the broken forest?” I asked, turning to once again look out over the slope that seemed to go on for a dozen miles at least.

She tossed a compass at me with a wing. “Yeah, yeah, I know you have one, but this way we can be sure. That compass has a barometer on it anyway. When that starts dropping, turn tail and scamper back here as soon as possible. As for the broken forest, you’ll want to head west about two, maybe three miles. There’s no trail, so just try not to disturb the forest too much. Most of the animals are getting ready to hibernate and they can get grumpy.”

“Animals?” Minuette asked. “Like what?”

Swift shrugged. “Bears mostly, plus the usual assortment of critters. Don’t worry though, most of the bears are pretty friendly. I heard in Devil’s Dyke that a few of them understand Equestrian. Something about some pink-maned ex-model who came through here a few years back.”

Jade Sea slapped him upside the head with a wing, but laughed as she did it. “Don’t you listen to him. Just steer clear of them. Worst comes to worst, a few fireworks will frighten them off, okay?”

I nodded. I wasn’t much worried about a bear. I had more than enough spells in my proverbial quiver to deal with ornery wildlife. Minuette looked less than enthused, however. 

“I don’t wanna deal with bears,” she whispered. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” I said in a sing-song voice. 

She nudged me, but I smiled at her and the very real fear in her eyes seemed to slowly fade. 

“Okay, that’s about it,” Jade said with a nod. “Instead of going back to town, I think we’ll head up to Watchmare for lunch and some downtime. There’s a small pegasi roost nearby that’s pretty cozy.”

“Oh, is that what you had in mind?” Swift asked, leering at her just a little.

She smacked him again.

He laughed. Then she did. Huh, they did make a cute couple. And with Nebula’s snark, heck, maybe this kind of thing would work for them. Still strange though.

“You two good?” Swift asked with a smile.

I glanced at Minuette, who was cinching her bags tight around her middle. “Ready!”

“We’re good. We’ll see you back here in three hours?” I asked.

“Don’t be late,” she said, her voice suddenly serious. “It’ll start getting dark around four-ish. And with the winds coming off the lake, we won’t be able to fly in that.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I said, offering her a jaunty little salute. 

She stuck out her tongue at me and walked away without another word, hitching herself up to the Chariot. 

“You two have fun finding a treasure that doesn’t exist!” Swift said with a laugh, then wandered over to join his marefriend. 

“It does so!” Minuette shot back, but Swift ignored her.

“Come on,” I said, cinching my own saddlebags. “I don’t want them seeing the Waystone. And it sounds like we’ve got a long way to go through all of this without a trail.”

I glanced around, looking for a way down as the Chariot and the two pegasi took off. Both waved at us and headed for the peak at our backs. I barely gave them a second glance as I caught sight of a broken tree that would make a perfect ramp down the slope. 

“Moony?” Minuette asked as I made for the old log.

I paused, one hoof on the lichen-covered bark. “What’s up?”

Minuette bit her lip and looked up at me. She swallowed hard, then smiled. “Thank you for doing this with me.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” I chuckled. “This could still all be a massive waste of time.”

“Nah,” Minuette said with an almost unnerving level of confidence. “I don’t think it’s a waste of time at all.”

I had no idea what to say to that. So, instead of just stuttering out an incomprehensible response, I led the way down the long broken tree to the forest floor below. 

After all, I still wasn’t sure about this being a waste of time. But, I was starting to think that Minuette might—just might—be right.
> Broken Forest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




I took a long swig from my canteen as I lay against one of the thick sugar pines that seemed to make up half of this forest, all while staring at the Waystone again. Minuette guzzled some water of her own, then brought out a pair of granola bars. She tossed one to me, and immediately began devouring hers.

I couldn’t help but notice that the magical blue arrow continued to point due-west. I checked it again with the compass and pressed my lips into a line. 

“What’s wrong?” Minuette asked, her ears cocked slightly. Her granola bar already gone, she pulled out an apple and started to munch away.

“Let’s assume, for the moment, that the Cloudshark is real,” I said slowly, trying not to get her hopes up. It was probably a fool’s errand, but I had to at least try to stay grounded in reality. One of us had to, at least. “First of all, Canter Basin is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the entire Equestrian Northwest. The idea that a cargo pod filled with treasure could be just left here unnoticed for six hundred years seems impossible. Second, I have trouble believing that a wayfinding spell, even one used on a Waystone, could possibly stay active for this long. And third… if this was actually real… why did Even Keel give it to you?”

Minuette shrugged. “He said that it was time for it to move onto different hooves. I didn’t really understand what he meant, but a treasure hunt sounded fun, so why not? Why would I question somepony just being nice?”

“No.” I shook my head. “There’s something else going on here and I’m missing it. The Cloudshark, the Valiant Sunrise, Admiral Fairweather, Even Keel, that griffon on the orb… there’s a piece missing and it’s driving me crazy. Keel claimed that he was already rich enough when I pressed him. Well, I did my research on him when I was looking for a shipwright for the Blossom. The stallion’s loaded, so that checks out.”

“What?” Minuette giggled. “You think he already got all of the treasure and that’s how he’s rich?”

I shook my head again, my mane flapping in the cold wind. “No, he built his shipwright empire from his family’s wealth. He comes from ‘old money,’ the kind of money that’s been in a family for generations. His whole line’s been one long list of shipbuilders, designers, and innovators. It’s one of the reasons why I picked him, not just for his unique take on airships.”

“So… what does that have to do with anything?” Minuette asked, cocking her head. “You’ve… sorta lost me, Moony.”

“I’m sorta lost myself,” I admitted, despite myself. “I wonder where he got the Waystone in the first place. And I don’t really believe his story about him being ‘too rich.’ I mean, he’s no old-school griffon, but he could still use those bits to better grow his business, leave to his grandfoals, something. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“And the idea that he’s just a nice old stallion who loves what he does and decided to do us a favor never crossed your mind?” Minuette sounded vaguely disappointed and I squirmed against the tree. 

I breathed in the scent of pine and underbrush, staring up at the tall canopy and the sunlight streaming through the needles. 

“It did cross my mind,” I admitted as I stuck the wrapper for my granola bar into a saddlebag. “But it’s still nagging at me. There’s something we’re not seeing.”

“Well,” Minuette announced as she climbed to her hooves, signaling the end of our fifteen-minute rest. “I think you’re right.”

“I am?” I asked as I stood up and cinched my bags again. I adjusted my glasses and used my magic to brush my bangs out of my face.

“Yup!” Minuette beamed at me. “You’re not seeing ancient treasure in front of you because you’re spending too much time in your own head!”

I rolled my eyes at her. “That was terrible.”

“Was not.”

“Was so.”

“Was not.”

“Was—you know what? No, I’m not doing this with you.”

She stuck out her tongue at me and lifted the Waystone in her magic. The blue arrow pulsed in the same westerly direction it had for the last hour and a half. She nodded in satisfaction, then trotted through the trees, her boots barely making a sound on the pine-covered forest floor.

I smiled and followed, taking one more gulp from my canteen before stowing it.

The trip down from the little cliff had been relatively easy. After a certain point, the slope leading up to Crater Basin Lake tapered off into nothing worse than a shallow decline. There were still the occasional broken tree, boulder, or rock in the area though. In fact, there were enough rocks in the area that I guessed some sort of landslide had happened within the last few hundred years. This entire area was supposedly volcanic, so it could have happened in an earthquake. The geological records of the Basin were a little spotty because of how lightly populated this area was. I knew a few things about the region from my studies, but nothing really specific on why we’d randomly come across boulders the size of houses in the middle of the forest. For all I knew, maybe some geyser had gone off four hundred years ago and blown rocks all over this side of the mountain. 

In fact, hiking through the forest was sort of like traveling back in time. As we continued on for another hour, we found more boulders, broken trees, small ledges showing dozens of striations, and more. We continued to let the Waystone guide us—even if I knew it was silly—and the arrow continued to blink steadily. I had to admit that if this was a fake, it was the greatest fake I’d ever seen.

“Moony?”

“Hm?” 

I’d been staring at the Waystone, walking on autopilot for probably a good ten minutes now. My eyes lifted up to Minuette’s. Her eyes were wide as he pointed in front of her.

I looked up… and sucked in a breath. 

There, in front of us, lay about three dozen shattered and broken pines. Some of them had been thick as Minuette and I put together. New trees had grown up in the area, but they seemed almost like a backdrop compared to the sight of this sudden and random act of destruction.

I stepped up to the closest broken pine. The thing had to have a trunk at least ten feet in circumference. It rose about eight feet in the air before it simply… wasn’t there anymore. There were a few jagged remains of what had been the rest of the trunk scattered at the roots of the newer trees. 

“What happened?” Minuette asked as she studied the trees. 

Thinking briefly, I focused on the area with my horn, trying to capture all the broken trees in the local area. There were more than I expected and by the time my pink magic had washed over the area, I was panting slightly. Then, I reconjured the magical snapshot I had just taken between the two of us at about a tenth of the scale. A few seconds told me everything I needed to know. Apparently, it did the same for Minuette.

“Something landed here,” she breathed. “Something big…”

“It came in at a slight angle,” I muttered, studying several of the taller broken trees. “As if…”

As one, our eyes slid to the Waystone. I adjusted the map and Minuette adjusted the Waystone. 

The direction of the landing fit perfectly.

“It bounced,” I whispered. “Something came crashing down from the sky and literally bounced.”

That’s exactly what Minuette was doing now, bouncing up and down in excitement. “Does that mean…?”

Geometry didn’t lie. Granted, this was six-hundred-year-old geometry, but the angles were still the same. The right angle, the right surface, the right amount of trees… it was possible.

I pointed with a hoof toward the other side of the broken trees.

Minuette took off like a shot. I yelped in surprise, but quickly gave chase. We had to be within a few hundred yards of the broken forest we’d spotted from the air. We probably hadn’t gotten close enough to see this little spot…

Minuette galloped between trees and over shrubs with an almost unnatural grace. I had a hard time keeping up. A sedentary life was not one that made one’s legs strong and quick. I didn’t know how being a clockmaker did it, but I wasn’t going to ask those kinds of questions. I was too busy panting and trying to keep up.

Then, of course, I crashed right into her when she came to a sharp and sudden stop. We went down in a sprawling heap, one of our saddlebags bursting open and sending supplies rolling around the copse. The Waystone itself rolled out of Minuette’s magic, stopping just shy of a large boulder that had landed in the middle of the forest. 

The arrow pointed directly at the boulder. It flashed on and off rapidly, humming faintly.

We disentangled ourselves. I managed to get to my hooves first. It was a testament to how in shock we were that neither of us were awkward about it. I helped her up and we looked around. 

Where the small spot of broken trees behind us had maybe numbered in the dozens, this one numbered in the hundreds. Scattered branches and pieces of wood lay strewn everywhere. I’m sure the boulder hadn’t helped, because that looked like it had come flying out of the sky too, rolling to a stop on the edge of the shattered forest. As before, there were plenty of new trees, but something had actually prevented the broken trees from decaying into mulch. They still had lichen on them and were surrounded by shrubs, but they were still intact. Just like the ones in the ‘bouncing crash site.’

But there was something else. Something else that bothered me. 

I stepped forward and picked up a large chunk of wood that didn’t look quite right to me, as Minuette went for the Waystone. Ignoring everything else, I used my magic to briefly clean the piece of wood of dirt and gravel. I turned it over and over in my magic, only to finally see what I hadn’t realized I’d seen. 

The piece of wood had three narrow metal bands around the center. They were so corroded that they blended in with the dark browns of the wood itself. But when my magic washed over them, faint patterns could be seen in the metal. I lifted it closer to study and saw… something impossible.

“Eanar?” I muttered to myself. “Why would an overgrown splinter be bound with a rune of endurance?”

There was a brilliant flash of yellow light. I whirled to see Minuette tumbling backward, only to stare at the grizzled old griffon we’d seen in the recording a few days ago, floating above the Waystone. He didn’t seem to be under attack this time, though I couldn’t see any of his surroundings. His left arm was in a sling and there were cuts and bruises upon his face, but he was smiling.

“Ain’t the way I thought things’d happen, but that’s the way of the gusts of fate, I reckon,” the gnarled griffon said. “Ain’t no chance for me to recover what we lost now. Best chance is to get young Arrow Star back to his mum. Givin’ him this here trinket and told him the secrets. Silver Tides ain’t dumb enough to try to get back into Equestria and the Cap’n… Cap’n never had a nation that didn’t want his head. Reckon’ that’s why Fairweather likes him so much.”

The griffon let out a low chuckling cough as I stepped closer, still cradling the piece of wood. 

“If yer seeing this, ya found the starboard pod. Good on ya. Hopefully Arrow, ya’ll have found this when yer big and strong, like your uncle Garth. Remember, just ‘cause I’m a griffon, don’t mean I ain’t yer uncle! You’re here because Commander Garth saved yer feathers. Now, use what ya find here to build yerself a nice life.”

The griffon—Garth, apparently—laughed a wheezing laugh that turned into another cough, then leaned forward with a grin on his gnarled beak. 

“Find some cute mare and settle down. Ya never were one fer this life. The days of the Cloudshark are over and I don’t want my favorite little featherbrain to try and relive ‘em! Yer meant fer greater things than that, little Arrow. Ya still got the rest to find, though ain’t no shame in skipping the last. Remember, ya can’t enjoy the spoils if yer dead. Somethin’ the Cap’n taught me. Taught us all. We may have been pirates, but it doesn’t mean we ain’t good in our own way. Say hello to your mum for me. And thump that big brother of yers! Three more, Little Arrow, then you settle down. Three more…” Commander Garth sat back against some sort of large chair as he smiled. “Three more and we can all finally rest.”

The gnarled old griffon relaxed, laughed, and faded away.

Once again, both of us were struck dumb by the sudden appearance of our ghostly guide. I started to wonder. Maybe… maybe there was something to this after all. Maybe it was worth taking a little more seriously. I mean, what better place?

My eyes drifted from the Waystone to the boulder. I snatched up the Waystone in my magic, but the blue arrow continued to point at the boulder, even as I moved around. 

Still, I couldn’t help but look beyond the boulder. There were shattered trees everywhere, not to mention shards of broken wood. The floor of the forest was practically littered with the pieces. I shifted through the debris and found several other pieces of wood bound in metal with the same runes. 

All while I was scouring the area, Minuette was inspecting the ground near the boulder. Suddenly, she yelped in surprise and I trotted back to see her bouncing up and down in glee.

“I found it!” she squealed, holding something aloft in her magic. “It’s real! I told you!”

As I approached, she practically threw what turned out to be a mostly-intact plank at me. I caught it in my magic as she ran up to meet me. With her bouncing beside me, I turned the age-darkened wood over. With a brush of my magic, I cleaned the dirt off the surface, just to be sure.

But even I couldn’t deny the name etched into a metal plate set into the wood. 

“Cloudshark,” I whispered to myself. “I don’t believe it. But… that can’t be! There’s nothing here!”

Minuette’s eye drifted to the Waystone and the arrow still pointing at the large, lichen-covered boulder. 

“What about there?” she asked, pointing at the boulder. 

“That’s just a location marker,” I muttered, still staring at what had to be a piece of the outer hull of the famed airship. “It’s pointing in this general direction. It’s common…”

I trailed off, but before I could say a thing, Minuette asked the big question.

“Wait, didn’t Garth say that the Waystone was attuned to the cargo, not a specific place?” 

My eyes met hers for a moment and my heart skipped a beat. I placed the Waystone on the ground carefully, then turned to face the boulder.

The boulder was three times my height and roughly spherical. The top and northern sides of the boulder were awash with bright green lichen, complete with…

“Flowers?” I gaped as I stared at the pretty pink and purple dagger-shaped flowers. “What the heck did…”

I looked down at my hooves and saw yet another piece of what had to have been the starboard cargo pod. Enchanted with steel bands and runic symbols to strengthen the endurance of the ship. That’s why the broken trees hadn’t been taken over by the forest. That’s why there were flowers on top of this rock. The magic from the runes was still active and leaking all over. 

“Uh, Moony?”

“Sorry!” I squeaked, shaking my head out of magical sciences mode.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, just… distracted. Okay. Let’s… let’s try this.”

I planted my hooves on the earth, lit my horn, and tried to wrap the entire boulder in my magic. That quickly proved to be useless, since it took so much energy out of me just to keep the spell going. So, I adjusted it to instead act as a cup. That was doable, but still hard. I didn’t have the raw magical strength as… well, her. That didn’t stop me from trying. My horn lit into two layers of overglow as I tried desperately to lift the boulder. It scraped the dirt as I tried to pull it from the earth, but I couldn’t get any serious height.

At least until Minuette threw her magic into mine. It was a weird sensation and one I hadn’t felt in years. I glanced at her and she grinned at me—of course. I rolled my eyes, but still smiled back. And with her helping, we managed to raise the boulder almost three feet off the ground, well enough to float it into a small area of prickly shrubs.

As we did, I watched the Waystone. The arrow stayed pointing at where the boulder had been.

With a gasp, we both let the boulder go into its new home, with only a few crushed twigs to show for it.

Minuette immediately raced forward again. I couldn’t help myself; so did I. Less than ten seconds later, we both stood at the spot where the boulder had been. 

However, to both of our surprise, there was nothing but slightly damp earth in the shape of the underside of the rock.

“Aww…” she muttered, slumping down. “Nothing?”

I moved the Waystone back and forth again, but sure enough, it kept pointing to the same spot. Wanting to be absolutely certain this time, I floated out the two bands of metal detection. I offered one to Minuette and slipped the other one on my right forehoof. 

The moment I waved my hoof over the center of the spot, I felt a buzz through my entire body. I sucked in a breath, unwilling to let myself even consider what that implied.

“Minuette, give me the shovel.”

She did as I asked and I quickly snapped the camping shovel together. With a grunt, I slammed the shovel into the tightly packed dirt. It took some effort, but I managed to pry out a small clod of dirt. It took a good five minutes of work until I finally started to make some real headway.

Then, the shovel made a thunk when it hit something hard.

“Another rock?” Minuette asked, her voice more curious than disappointed. 

But my heart was hammering in my chest. “That’s… not the noise a shovel makes when it hits rock.”

I threw the shovel to the side and went to my next best tool, pulling away the dirt with flares of pink magic. Less than a minute later, I felt it.

As the gravel and soil came away, a medium-sized box was revealed, roughly the size of a duffel bag. It was made of rough, solid wood that had hardened to something like teak from age. There were holes and scratches, but the surface was remarkably intact. 

But on the top of it was the marred and stained golden crest of Diamond Crown Company. 

The company who had owned the train the Cloudshark had supposedly robbed. 

“Is that…?”

I didn’t answer Minuette. Instead, I just dug harder and faster until I found the padlock. It was surprisingly simple, though oddly it hadn’t enjoyed the protection created by the runes of endurance. It was rusted almost all the way through. Without a second thought, I snatched the shovel and swung it down to crack it across the lock. 

The padlock shattered like it had been made of glass.

“It’s real…” she whispered before I yanked the whole thing out of the hole and set it down on the ground beside us. 

My heart continued to hammer. This couldn’t be real… could it?

My entire body buzzing with a dozen emotions, I slowly lifted the lid and my breath caught. 

The sun glinted off dozens of large metallic crystal-like objects. Each of them had a slightly different shade. Some were silver, some gold, some pearlescent… and more. All of them had craggy contours, as if they were something in-between raw ore and crystal formations.

“It’s real,” Minuette squeaked from beside me.

“It’s freaking real?” I shouted as I stared at the crystals. “And… I thought it was going to be gold or something…”

“That’s definitely not gold…” Minuette’s voice vibrated somehow, as if she were trying to contain a volcanic eruption.

“It’s…” I breathed as I sat down before the chest. I delicately reached out a hoof and touched one of the crystals. They were all slightly warm, the warmth of the sun on a comfortable summer day. “Minuette, this… this is Celestial Iron… how can this be Celestial Iron?”

“No, that can’t be,” Minuette whispered. “Celestial Iron’s super rare. Like, that’s what Princess Celestia and Luna’s regalia was made out of!”

“And this is enough to make about a hundred of those.” I shook my head, unable to believe what I’m seeing. “This… this stuff absorbs magic. It can be crafted into almost anything. The scientific and magical possibilities of this box are limitless, Minuette. This box alone would be enough to buy three airships the size of the Blossom!”

“It’s real,” Minuette said again, a nervous giggle slipping into her voice. “Moony! It’s really real!”

I had no warning. No warning at all. One moment, I was staring at the chest, the next, Minuette had bowled me over in a hug so tight that I’m sure ribs were on the verge of cracking clean in half.

“W-what are you doing?” I said—rather unnecessarily. “Minuette! I need to breathe!”

“Breathe later!” Minuette chirped, then she let out another wordless squeal. “It’s real and we found it! It’s real and we found it! It’s real and we found it!”

Eventually, I used my magic to pry her off me.
> Smuggling Run
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




In the end, I was surprised all of Canter Basin hadn’t descended upon us with Minuette’s shouting and screaming in joy. I eventually had to do the whole ‘shove-a-hoof-in-her-mouth’ cliche. I hated cliches.

Now, we were heading up the slope to meet with our ride out of the forest. I had decided to carry the chest on my back. With Celestial Iron being a magical mineral-crystal hybrid that only grew naturally in the Unknown West, it had a lot of special properties. Thankfully, being unnaturally light was one of them. It was like carrying about a dozen large books. And I had plenty of experience with that.

“I still don’t get why that was all we saw,” Minuette continued. She’d been yammering for the last two hours and seemed to need next to no input from me to keep going. “I mean, an airship cargo pod is… what? Huge, right?”

For the first time in thirty minutes, she looked at me, as if seeking my explanation. I shrugged at her, levitating out my canteen and taking a swig. 

“Depends on the type of airship,” I replied, wiping my mouth with a hoof. “Most information about the Cloudshark’s design is legend, so I doubt it can be trusted. The only thing I know for sure was that it was definitely a dirigible-class airship, not crystal-class. Crystal levitation was only developed in the last two hundred years. But the fact that there was a pod narrows it down.”

“Narrows it down to what?” Her eyes wandered to the chest on my back. “Come on, Moony! You’re supposed to know everything!”

“I don’t know everything!” I protested and looked away to hide a faint blush. “I just… studied a lot of things. It doesn’t make me an expert.”

“Well, unless you need a clock fixed, you’re going to be better informed than me on this!”

I rolled my eyes, but she was probably right. 

“Most ships of that era were designed like naval ships,” I continued as we tromped through increasingly cold gusts of wind. “Cargo was contained in the main hold. The only airships that used pods—except for huge cargo liners—were small and fast cutters that weren’t designed to carry cargo. The pods were lashed to the port and starboard sides, usually toward the stern.”

“To give the ship more cargo space?” Minuette asked, cocking her head at me.

“Something like that,” I said with a nod. “They were most commonly used by smugglers, so they could drop their cargo and run if an Armada ship came up on them. There were a few griffon ships infamous for that maneuver.”

“How big would the pods have been?” Minuette frowned. She was obviously working on something, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“Maybe the size of one of the cabins on the Blossom?” I said, giving her another shrug. “A little smaller? Why?”

Minuette nodded at the chest on my back. “Then why did we only find that? Why only one chest? Something like this could have been stored in another spot on the ship, right?”

I paused to think, though made sure to keep walking. The sun was beginning to get a little low on the horizon. Minuette had a point. If the chest we’d recovered was all there was to it, there would easily be enough room in the main hold for it—or even in a cabin or a closet—unless everything else had been jam-packed.

The more I thought about it, in fact…

“It… is a little weird that was all that was there,” I admitted with a glance back at the small broken forest. I couldn’t see it from here, of course, but I could picture it in my head. “But for all we know, somepony already discovered the rest of it centuries ago. The only reason this chest wasn’t found was because of that boulder. Since we had the Waystone, it brought us to the last piece of that treasure.”

“Maybe,” Minuette mumbled, her ears twitching. “It’s weird though.”

“Yeah, weird,” I echoed.

There didn’t seem to be anything else to say. This thing had been sitting in that broken forest for six hundred years. Who knew what had happened in all that time?

We walked in silence for a time, until we were twenty minutes out from our destination, by my estimation. And none too soon, because the gusting wind had started to rattle the trees all around us. It looked like that wild storm was coming a bit early. Both of us picked up the pace, settling into an easy trot, though since it was still uphill through a forest on a slope clogged with gravel, underbrush, and patches of loose soil, it was far from easy going. 

We were ten minutes out when I heard it over the sound of the rustling trees.

Most airships running on normal power tended to be fairly quiet to the outside observer. The Blossom certainly was. Big liners weren’t, of course, but that was because they had to have massive engines to keep those monstrosities afloat. It was rare for airships smaller than that to make a ton of noise.

However, the thing that slowly slid into view above our heads was making a ton of racket, enough to force both of our ears down. It was the sound of crystal cores running at their highest setting while spinning the main turbines at full power.

We froze as various lights seemed to scan the trees until they focused on a small clearing up ahead, maybe a quarter of the size of the space where our Chariot waited. 

I peered up at the shape and caught a glint of silver in the late afternoon sun.

“Oh, no,” I muttered. “How did they even know where to look?”

“Who?” Minuette almost had to shout over the humming airship struggling against the winds. “Who are they?”

“You’ll see.”

And just as I said it, two figures appeared in the beam of light. The first was an orange pegasus in a flight jacket. And actually riding him was an all-too-familiar unicorn mare.

“Huh, Easy Wing is stronger than he looked,” I muttered.

Easy hadn’t even touched the ground when Snappy Comeback leapt off his back and charged right for us at top speed, fire in her eyes. 

Instinctively, I planted my feet and conjured a shield bubble around Minuette and myself. While probably a silly move, it did force Snappy to skid to a halt an inch away from the shield wall. She didn’t seem to care, because she stood up on her hind legs and slammed her forehooves into the shield.

“That better not be what I think it is!” she screeched.

Easy Wing managed to catch up at this point. “If it helps, we tried to stop her.”

“Who’s flying your ship?” I demanded, ignoring Snappy’s tantrum-like pounding. 

“Trinket,” Easy said with a shrug.

“You’re letting a filly handle that beast in a brewing wild storm?” I shouted, incredulous. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“The brat’s more talented than she looks!” Snappy shouted. “Now answer my question!”

“Um… she didn’t ask a question, did she?” Minuette pointed out.

Snappy tried to turn Minuette to ash with just a glare. It didn’t do much. 

“You gonna stop acting like a maniac?” I shot back at the annoying mare. “Get off my shield!”

“Drop your shield and I won’t need to be on it!”

“I wouldn’t need it if you hadn’t charged me like an enraged minotaur!” 

“Ladies!” Easy called, flapping up into the air only to land back on his hooves quickly. “Can we try to be civil? For now? Those winds are getting worse.”

Snappy and I matched glares. Thankfully, she was at least smart enough to know I had the upper hoof here. She got back down on all fours and took two steps backward.

I lowered my shield and immediately wished I hadn’t. I hadn’t realized how cold the wind had gotten and my shield had kept most of it out. 

Snappy didn’t seem to care, because she rushed at us, once more skidding to a halt inches from us. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mane was a mess and her coat was caked in dirt and grime.

She looked like a crazy pony.

“What’s in the box?”

But even looking like a crazy pony, I couldn’t resist. 

With a smile, I levitated the chest off my back and dropped it between us—forcing her to step back again. Another twist of magic, and the top popped open to reveal the contents.

“Isn’t it exciting?” Minuette squealed. “I can’t believe we found it!”

Snappy had gone white, her eyes wide, her body almost trembling. With a faint glow from her horn, she lifted a single Celestial Iron crystal from our cache and floated it before her eyes.

“How…” she mumbled, never taking her eyes off of the treasure.

“We have this awesome Way—”

I kicked Minuette in the side and smiled, but Snappy didn’t seem to register it. However, I did notice Easy raising an eyebrow.

“We spotted a broken forest in the air yesterday, decided to check it out,” I said casually, shooting a glare at Minuette. “We found it under a boulder.”

“Right… boulder would mask the… the magic signature matching the samples after the eruption…” Snappy mumbled. I could see the Celestial Iron crystal rotating in her eyes. “But it shouldn’t be there, not after…”

She began to mumble to herself, things I couldn’t understand. Her eyes went unfocused and the crystal dropped from her magic, only to land back in the chest with a thunk. 

“Is she… okay?” Minuette asked at Snappy’s distant expression.

I waved a hoof in front of her eyes to a total lack of response. 

“Not this again…” Easy mumbled, facehoofing. “Look, she’s just a little obsessive. And… we might have spent a few days in the spot I think you’re talking about earlier in the week.”

I winced. Even I had to feel the slightest pang of sympathy for her for that little blunder. 

“How did you find us anyway?” I asked.

“I was doing an aerial recon.” Easy’s eyes slid to Minuette. “And let’s just say some noise caught my attention. I’ve got good hearing.”

“Minuette!” I hissed.

“Sorry!” she squeaked. “But at least it’s them! Maybe we could help each other out. I know the legend said there were more pieces of the Cloudshark that fell off before she went down.”

Easy took one look at Snappy and coughed into his hoof. “Thank you, but… that’s not a very good idea.”

“Are you sure?” Minuette persisted. “We could all be partners and share!”

“Celestia no!”

To my surprise, I hadn’t been the only one to shout those words. Snappy had come back just in time to shout it out loud. She shot Minuette another glare, then turned her attention back to me.

“You were trying to smuggle your little prize out, you damn thief! Trying to get out before the good and honest hunters who’ve spent their entire lives seeking this could recover our rightful family spoils.”

“Hey, who are you calling a thief?” I shot back, feeling my blood begin to boil. “And the way I see it, if they were yours by right, you’d have already found them! Or have some claim to them!”

“Don’t muddy the issue!” She poked me in the chest. “You may have found it, but...”

She trailed off, her eyes dancing between me, Easy, Minuette, and the treasure. 

Both my eyebrows went up. I couldn’t read her expression, but I didn’t like it.

“You’re not about to try stealing this, are you?” I asked slowly. “Trust me on this, Snappy. That would not go well for you.”

Snappy shook herself, then brought herself up to her full height, as if she were some offended queen. “Please. I’m no ancient griffon pirate. You may have won this round, but I swear by the moon and the stars that you’re not going to get to see one more piece of my treasure.”

“Is that so?” I scoffed, feeling a smirk slide over my face. It felt… surprisingly good. “I’ll take that wager.”

I held out a hoof.

She glared at me, then my hoof, then me again. Then, with a snarl, she bumped so hard I almost staggered backward. 

Both Easy and Minuette took a deep breath as if some sort of peace treaty had been signed. It was silly, because it hadn’t. A ceasefire, maybe, but nothing more.

“Come on,” she barked at Easy. “We should get back up there to make sure the squirt doesn’t crash my ship.”

I glanced up, but the To Dream in Colour still flew squarely over our heads, jostling a little in the winds. Trinket must be one hell of a pilot. 

Snappy did a quick about-face and stalked back toward the small clearing, her tail twitching in annoyance. 

Easy Wing, on the other hoof, stayed behind. “That… went surprisingly well.”

“That was ‘surprisingly well?’” I scoffed. “I’d hate to see things going bad.”

“Me too,” he replied with a nervous chuckle. “Anyway, congratulations. You two seem like good mares. I think having a little competition for this might be fun.”

“Easy Wing, get your feathers and the rest of your lazy ass over here!”

All of us winced at the banshee’s screech.

“See you ladies down the road,” Easy said with a nod before he bolted back toward the clearing. 

We both watched them go. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but I suddenly felt very sorry for Easy Wing and Trinket. 

Snappy? Well, she wasn’t going to get a single piece of our treasure. She could suck it. 

“Come on,” I said as I put the chest on my back again and hurried forward while the Colour pulled away from its position. “We need to meet up with Jade and Swift quickly. I just hope they’re still there.”

Minuette nodded, still looking a little bewildered, and hurried after me.
> Treasures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




I heaved a sigh of relief when I plopped the chest down between the two lounge chairs in the forward section of Blossom’s lower deck. While I’d activated the spell to let us see outside, there wasn’t much to see, save for the nearly horizontal rain blasting by the Skyport’s spotlights. 

We’d been lucky to find the Airtours team waiting for us on the small cliff. The rain had already started when we’d scrambled up the slope to them. They had looked like they’d been minutes away from leaving and had only given us extra time because of the appearance of the To Dream in Colour. The flight back to the town of Canter Basin had been bumpy and chaotic, so loud that we could barely hear ourselves think, let alone talk. 

After saying our goodbyes to the crew, we’d sprinted across town to the Skyport, trying to ignore the stinging rain coming from on high. After a brief stop to talk with High Winds about the Blossom’s repairs, we’d made the final dash up the elevator and to the hold of my airship. 

Now, Minuette was in her room, drying off from the rain. As for me, I had wanted to get the treasure squared away first, but with that done, I floated a towel over from a cabinet and vigorously tried to cleanse the water from my mane, tail, and coat. By the time I was done, I probably looked like a giant cream-colored cotton ball with hints of purple and red for a mane, but at least I wasn’t shivering from the cold.

I threw on a sweater—our jumpsuits were hanging in the head—wiped down the chest, and then opened it once more.

The crystals of Celestial Iron glinted back at me. I didn’t actually know how much this stuff was worth, but… it could change a lot of things for me. It could be the first really good thing that happened to me with no strings attached. 

I didn’t know if I deserved it, though. Considering everything that had happened back in Canterlot before my abrupt departure, not to mention that this whole thing was Minuette’s idea. 

Silly, excitable Minuette. When we’d been fillies, she’d been the one to constantly drag me out into actually doing more than staring at a book. She’d also been the one to try the longest and the hardest after… well, after the first incident years and years ago. 

And now, she was here. One of the best clockmakers in Equestria, now on a little airship with a former librarian in the middle of nowhere.

I floated up one of the crystalline minerals in my magic and watched the cabin lights reflect off the rosy facets.

Why was she here?

She didn’t need me. Okay, maybe on this trip she needed me, but she didn’t need me in general. Did she? She’d been cagey when I first asked all the way back in Vanhoover and I wondered if now was the time to figure out what was really going on.

Then again, that might lead to her asking the same questions about me. And that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take just yet, even though she might deserve a few answers. After all, the reason a small fortune in Celestial Iron sat at my hooves was because of her crazy idea. 

I heard her door open and turned around to see an annoyingly well-groomed Minuette step out under the cabin lights. She grinned when she saw me watching and struck a ridiculous-looking pose as if she were some catwalk model or something. 

I burst out laughing.

She tried to look offended but broke down into giggles after less than five seconds. As she walked toward me, I decided that despite how her jumpsuit fit her, I think I liked her better without it. Just her for her. It was nice. 

“Checking out our amazing haul, huh?” Minuette said with a grin as she plopped down onto the opposite lounge chair. 

“Something like that,” I said, floating the crystal over to her. She snagged it in her magic. “I… I’m still having trouble believing it’s real, to be honest.”

Minuette’s eyes went huge. “You don’t believe ever after—”

“No!” I raised my hooves in self-defense. “No, not that! I can’t really deny it anymore. I mean… I guess it’s surreal? Like… us finding something people have sought for nearly six hundred years?”

Minuette smiled warmly at me and she levitated over her saddlebags, then extracted the Waystone. “We did have a pretty big advantage.”

“Yeah, I suppose we did,” I said. “Never thought I’d be grateful to a griffon for a huge treasure stash.”

“Hey, that’s a stereotype!” She giggled. “But until a few years ago, a pretty accurate one.”

“Yeah, well… even the griffon on that Waystone isn’t anything like I’d imagine. I didn’t even know they had mixed crews back…”

I trailed off and realized I was avoiding something. Something important. 

A gust of wind rattled the ship a little, but only a little. Minuette glanced outside and shivered before turning her attention back to me.

“Moony?”

“I guess I owe you an apology,” I said, staring down at the treasure and pointedly not at her.

“What? Why?”

I laughed. “Only you would ask ‘why’ to that statement, Minuette. Because… I didn’t believe you. I kept pointing out how silly it all was and… I wasn’t exactly a great friend.”

“Now you’re the one being silly,” Minuette said with yet another laugh, one that finally made me look up and meet her eyes. “I didn’t… well, I didn’t really believe myself until we saw the chest. But… with everything that’s happened to me in the last couple of years, it’s just something I needed to at least pretend to be real, if only for a little bit.”

I wanted to ask why, but something held me back. Maybe it was her glowing smile. Maybe it was her shining eyes—though they had dimmed for just a moment when she’d mentioned ‘the last couple of years.’ Maybe it was the way her entire being vibrated with pure happiness.

I couldn’t take that away from her. I knew life would eventually do it anyway, but there was no harm in letting her enjoy this win.

Celestia knew I needed more wins in my life. Everypony did.

Then, despite my best efforts, the joy faded anyway.

“But…” she said slowly, her eyes flickering around us. “I guess that means you’ve fulfilled your part of the deal. It was originally for Whinnyapolis, but then got shifted to this, even though you never really formally agreed to it. You’ve taken me to a destination, given me an adventure and a few days off. So if you want to head straight to Whinnyapolis now… I would understand.”

I gaped at her, trying to process what was going on in that crazy blue head of hers. Then again… she was mostly right. I hadn’t agreed to be her tour captain or anything. She wasn’t paying me. I didn’t have any reason to keep going with this craziness. And selling the Celestial Iron, even half of it, would net me a tidy sum.

I could go back to my plans. 

Well, plan. Singular. Because the only thing I had wanted to see before I left Equestria entirely was the Crystal Faire. And that wasn’t for a few weeks. 

I looked down at the Celestial Iron. Despite everything else, it didn’t really matter to me. Bits were nice and all, but… I had the skills to work off what I needed to. It would take more time, of course, but that was okay. 

I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. 

I kept wondering why I should help her.

But then I wondered why I shouldn’t help her.

“Yeah, right,” I said with a smirk as I snatched the Celestial Iron crystal from her grasp. “Like I’m going to let you get filthy rich tracking down the rest of the treasure without me.”

A spark of life returned to Minuette’s eyes, though it was hesitant. “What do you—”

“And somepony has to keep you out of trouble! For all I know, you’ll rent a second-rate hot air balloon and get yourself stranded next to some forgotten train track.”

“Hey!” she protested, but that spark grew brighter with my every word.

“And I’m pretty much the only shot you have at beating those wannabes on the Colour.”

“They’re nice! Mostly!” The spark had become a fire.

“So yeah, I think you’re going to end up being stuck with me for a little while longer, Minnie.”

I had no warning, even though I should have known. A speeding blue bullet slammed into my chest and bowled me right over into the narrow space between the chair and the bulkhead. I yelped when I banged my head, but my assailant didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy trying to crush the very air from my lungs.

And she managed to do all of this while babbling, “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!”

“Minuette!” I gasped, trying to pry her off me. “Minuette!”

It seemed like hours before I got a response. That was probably the oxygen deprivation. Probably. 

Her blue head popped up less than a few inches away from me. “Huh?”

“Air!” I wheezed.

“Oh, right!” Minuette disentangled herself from me and grinned sheepishly. “Um… sorry.”

I conducted a refresher course on breathing to my lungs through the use of several deep lungfuls of wonderful life-giving air. 

“I’ll live,” I coughed a few times, but still offered her a weak smile. “Probably.”

She stuck out her tongue at me. 

And that’s when I realized we were inches apart, with her on top of me, tucked in a narrow space between a bulkhead and a chair with a storm raging outside. 

If I hadn’t been such a prolific reader, it might have been romantic. Instead, I found it a little bit cliché.

That didn’t stop me from blushing like mad as she scrambled off me with a dozen or so more apologies. 

Eventually, we found ourselves back in the lounge chairs, grinning like idiots as we looked between one another and the Celestial Iron. I took a deep breath and yawned. It was only a little past seven, but it felt like midnight after the hike, the crew of the Colour and us running all over town. 

I knew I wasn’t up to actually cooking anything in the galley, so I levitated out four granola bars from the pantry. I dropped two of them on Minuette’s lap and then began to scarf down one of them myself.

“So… what now?” Minuette asked after she’d devoured the first one. 

“Sleep,” I muttered, halfway through my second. “Then we ask the magic eight-ball what else it knows.”

“We can’t find out tonight?” Minuette pouted a little. “Please?”

I shook my head emphatically. “No way. We need to get some rest and I don’t want to stay up half the night trying to figure out the next mystery.”

“Come on, Moony!” Minuette begged. “Please?”

I looked at her as I finished my last granola bar. Her bottom lip was out in the biggest pout I’d ever seen. 

“Fine,” I grumbled as I gestured for her to do the honors. 

With a grin, she floated up the Waystone in her magic and placed it right on top of the Celestial Iron. The blue arrow instantly appeared again, this time pointing straight down. It flashed numerous times before it exploded into a small nebula of teal-colored light. A second later, there was a familiar flash of yellow magic as Commander Garth once again appeared.

Whatever had happened between the first message and this message hadn’t been kind to the griffon. He had an eyepatch over the right eye and both his right foreleg and right wing were in slings. A single eye glared down at us from his grizzled beak. 

“Getting this down now before we get too far. Don’t wanna lose sight of our latest stash. Cap’n had the good idea of stowing the port cargo pod landside so we could escape the Armada, but the way things are going…”

Commander Garth shook his head sadly. 

“I got a feeling this ship ain’t gonna be in for a graceful landing when we’re free of that feathered bitch Fairweather. So, this one be a better note. We did a dive through the Coltumbia Gorge, found a pretty little waterfall, reminded me of the veil Taproof’s missus wore on her wedding day. Good spot to hide. Gorge so big and long, no one’s gonna think to look behind some random waterfall. The Egg knows there’s hundreds of them here!”

He coughed a few times, a claw to his beak before looking back at us through time.

“We just gotta make it to the Moon, then we’ll be okay. Might need to scuttle the ship, but treasure’s no good to ya if yer dead or behind bars. We’ve still got the aft pod and what’s in the hold. Even if we never manage to get the other pods back… we’ve got enough to retire. Maybe get that kid some help.”

A bell sounded near the commander. It didn’t have the frantic energy of an alarm bell, but it seemed important somehow.

“Aye, looks like we’re going to make a break for the next wild storm. Hopefully, this’ll be the last one of these, Egg-willing.”

Then, his picture fizzled out entirely, leaving us alone in the lounge.

“What do you think he meant by getting to ‘the moon’?” Minuette asked.

I shook my head and tapped a hoof on my chin. “That’s not the important question.”

“Then what is?”

“Where that waterfall is.”

“But like he said, there are hundreds along the Gorge. And that’s going even further north. The wild storms are going to be even worse.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged. “But it’s not going to be like trying to thread the pass. Anyway, he told us exactly where to look. Something that looked like a veil.”

“A veil?”

“A bridal veil,” I said with a grin. “In fact, that’s our next stop. Bridle Veil Falls.”

“You… know where it is?”

“You don’t stay a bookworm as long as I do without picking up on a little bit of everything,” I replied with a tiny bit of smugness. “Now, let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow, we leave Canter Basin. And this time, we’ll be officially treasure hunters.”

She leapt at me for another hug.

One of these days, I’d start to see them coming.





-END OF ACT I-