The smell assailed them well before they could see it. An acrid stench, repulsive both to the senses and the soul, permeated the air for miles around. Rot, decay, death and waste all conglomerated and coagulated to create a sensation that seemed to come straight from the underworld. The midday sun turned the putrid breeze into an insufferably humid wall of repulsion. As if the offense to their nostrils wasn’t enough, their eyes and ears were the next to be treated by the rancid grandeur of Huang Hoof, the provincial capital and local cesspool of their corner of Umala.

Silently, the passed under the southern gatehouse and into the streets of the filthy sprawl. Drunkards stumbled by, vendors hocked their wares, most of which seemed cheap and unfit for consumption, and the daily crowds of people fighting to survive streamed through the alcoves, walkways, and alleys that haphazardly winded through the utterly senseless layout of the squalor. A constant roar from the moving crowds, the incessant buzzing of flies searching for the richest deposits of sludge, and, of course, that strangely ambient and rumbling hum that seemed characteristic of such cities.

Koi inconspicuously pulled Pan over to the side under a small overhang, out of traffic. He glanced around to see if anyone was listening in on them. Satisfied that they were not be eavesdropped on, he asked Pan, “Do you have any city experience?”

Dourly, Pan shook his head. “Not since I was young.” With a wretched face, he shook a gelatinous bulb of scum off his left hoof. Looking up, he realized it must have fallen from one of the shabby apartments that were crookedly piled upon each other above them.

The gold stallion winced ever so slightly at his answer, then said, “The outer areas of the city aren’t safe. Stick with me, and we’ll head closer to the center.” Slyly, he nodded to the crowds. “Don’t talk to any of them. Don’t listen to any of them. If they try to stop you, they’re trying to rob you. Stay close to me, and don’t wander off. Never head down a street if you don’t know where it goes. You got that?”

Pan weakly nodded.

Smiling, Koi patted a hoof against his companions shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

He peeked out onto the street once more, and motioned for his conspicuously monochromatic friend to follow as he stepped out into the main thoroughfare from below the reed canopy. Without warning, they were instantly swept into the stream of bodies. Both by their own will and by that of the entirely earth pony crowd pushing and shoving around them, they were slowly dragged northeast, in the direction of the ungainly collection of stone blocks at the center of the city that seemed to constitute a palace.

A hoof grazed Pan’s right side, and he tried to twist and see who was doing it, but the clamoring limb slipped away. Another pony walking nearby gave him a menacing glare, as if telling him to mind his own business. Trying his best to ignore it, he kept his eyes glued to Koi.

After a few more uncomfortable minutes of being jostled around and shoved in all directions, they were unceremoniously deposited in front of another gatehouse built into the second tier of stone walls. Peering in, they saw what seemed to be an entirely different city: wide, paved streets, hardly any pedestrians, and a surprisingly pleasant aroma of freshly cooked food.
Quizzically, Pan turned to Koi and asked, “So what exactly are we doing here?”

“Looking for directions,” Koi gruffly replied before setting off through the gate, with Pan struggling to keep up.

“And how do you intend to find those?”

“By finding a map.”

Pan shot him a strange look. “That’s the plan? Just find a map, simple as that?”

Pedantically, Koi returned the stare with a defensive riposte. “Yep.”

Snorting, Pan replied, “If you don’t mind me saying, I think you’re underestimating the complexity of thi-”

“Ah, there we go! ‘Huang Hoof Cartography’! A map store!” Koi declared, interrupting him a bit too eagerly. He gesticulated towards a sign hanging from a plain enough looking wooden structure, a typical specimen of the Umalian variety of architecture, complete with the pagoda roofing and paper windows.

“I... how did...”

“That wasn’t too hard. Maybe they can help.” The heavy-set stallion lumbered up to the door and stepped into the dark interior.

Realizing he was alone on the street, Pan hurried in after him, shaking his head, his only thought being, ...he can read? Wood floor panels clicked and clacked under his hooves as he ducked through the entryway after Koi. After letting his eyes adjust to the darker interior, he took a look around. Koi was already talking with the owner, an utterly generic looking light brown stallion with a black mane, as was typical for Umalians. Panting, he walked up to them. They had just gotten past greetings

“What can I do for you?” the merchant asked.

“We need directions.”

The merchant let out a forced laugh, then said, “Well, you came to the right place! Where do you need to get to... Koi, was it?” Quickly, he tacked on, “You can call me Papyrus, by the way. I probably should have said that sooner.”

“Equestria.”

All of the color drained from the merchants face, and he seemed to be on the verge of breaking into a cold sweat. He quickly tiptoed to the door, peeked outside to see if the coast was clear, then slid it shut with far more force than necessary. Satisfied, he walked back to Koi and Pan. Weakly laughing, he said, “Heh, sorry about that. You never know who’s listening.”

“I take it we probably shouldn’t have asked about that?” Pan surmised.

Papyrus nodded. “You could say that.” He walked around to back behind his counter. “The folks in the palace don’t like us common ponies discussing things outside of Umala.”

Confused, Pan asked, “The folks in the palace? As in...”

“As in the provincial governor, his Jade Lotus friends, and his samarei lackey,” he answered. Laughingly, he added with a hint of bitterness, “Who, might I say, is a crazy bitch.”

“The samarei?”

“Yep. All of us shop owners hate her. She’ll kill you if you don’t do what she wants. Rumor has it she even has the governor under her hoof--” Winking, he added, “--don’t tell anyone I said that.” He rapped a hoof against his counter beside him. “But that’s all beside the point!” More pointedly, he asked, “Now why is it that you want a map of Equestria? You’re not planning on going there, are you?”

Pan and Koi looked to each other, then simultaneously replied, “Yes.”

The merchant exhaled through his nostrils for an uncomfortably long time, as if disapproving. “Should I even ask why?”

“We’re seeking warriors to defend our village from a gang of bandits,” Pan responded.

“How many bandits are we talking, here?”

“Forty,” Koi answered.

Shaking his head and clicking his tongue, the merchant ducked under his counter, searching for something. He emerged a few moments later with a key in his mouth, and started to walk towards a padlocked panel towards the back of the room. “I suppose today is your luck day. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t do this. But...” He slid the key into the hole. “...special conditions allow me to make an exception.” With a twist of his neck, the padlock came undone. He slid the panel open. With a wink, he said to them, “Don’t let anybody know that I showed you this,” and then slipped into the dark closet.

The farmers followed him in, and found themselves in a surprisingly spacious storage room. Shelves full of scrolls lined the walls, and countless locked chests filled every corner. Not paying these any mind, Papyrus strode straight down the aisle to a small, red coffer with a golden trim. He knelt down and pressed a hoof into a groove carved into the top of it. A strange whirring sound emanated from it, and it popped open.

Pan watched in fascination, failing to comprehend what was happening. How had he opened the box without a key?

Answering the question that he never actually asked, Papyrus said, “I had a unicorn friend of mine whip up an enchantment that allows me, and only me, to open this chest. I just put my hoof in this notch, and it’ll unlock by itself.”

“Unicorn? How? There’s only earth ponies in Umala, except for some merchants and mercenaries.”

“...it was a long time ago,” he answered under his breath. The cartographer reached into the box and pulled out a scroll, then turned around and rolled the parchment out so they could see it. “The Jade Lotus clan issued a statute a few years ago that made it illegal to own or produce a map of anywhere other than the Jade Lotus territory, except when commissioned by officials. Something about ‘keeping the mindset of the people focused on here and now’. Technically, by showing you this map of the world, I could be tried and executed.”

“Here...” Pan reached for his saddlebags. Any pony willing to risk so much just to help them truly deserved payment. He rooted through the bag, and to his horror realized that his purse, which had held the few coins that their entire village possessed, was gone.

Seeing the look on his face, Papyrus asked, “Something wrong?”

Stammering, Pan said, “I... well... our money is gone.”

Chuckling, the merchant replied, “Don’t worry about it. I’m doing this for free.”

Together, Pan and Koi raised four brows.

“I’m not going to be sticking around here much longer. It’s about time I got out of this city. Business has been poor, and I’d my work in this region is done. Consider this my treat.”

Both of the farmers sunk to their knees, unable to match the generosity of the merchant.

Awkwardly, he said, “Please, please. No need for that.”

They got back to their hooves, still unable to look him in the eye.

“Now, do you want to take a look at this map or not?” He motioned to the open paper on the floor. They huddled around it, scanning over it’s contents. The map, which consisted of many different islands, which were made of smaller islands, which were sometimes made of even smaller islands, and half of it was covered with water, and was also extremely colorful, was alluringly mysterious to the two farmers, and they naturally felt inclined to pour over every fragment of it. “For convenience sake, do either of you happen to be able to read?”

“I can, but I don’t recognize this writing,” Pan answered.

“Huh? Oh, right. That was a silly question. This map is labeled in Equestrian script, not Umalian. I guess I’ll have to explain it.” In seconds, his hoof was flying all over the diagram. “Well, here we are, on this little peninsula here. That’s Umala. The division line between the Jade Lotus clan and Red Dragon clan goes straight through the middle, starting from the old capital of Ponyo. As you can see, if you just head north, you’ll hit the Equestrian borderlands, and beyond that, Equestria itself. I’m assuming you’re going to Canterlot? Ah, who am I kidding? Where else would you be going if you’re looking for help?”

“...sure?”

“Good. Now, we’re in Huang Hoof, which is roughly here.” He pointed to a blank space of land somewhere in the middle of the southern half of Umala. “To walk from here to Canterlot would be...” He paused to think, then continued, “Anywhere from two to five weeks, depending on how fast you go, and what you run into. Best estimate would be three.”

“And what exactly lies between us and Canterlot?”

Papyrus leaned back and planted his hoof under his chin in consideration. “Well, once you get out of Jade Lotus territory, you’ll be on Red Dragon turf. As long as you don’t get yourself in trouble with the law, you’ll be fine, since you are, as far as anyone is concerned, two random peasants. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Crossing the borders, however... that’ll be tough.”

“Borders? There’s more than one?”

“Obviously there’s the one between Umala and the Equestrian borderlands, but the more dangerous one to traverse will be between the Jade Lotus and Red Dragon clans. Round the clock guards in a fully militarized area, and more flying and magic-using mercenaries than you could ever care for in the world.”

“What if we went by sea?” Koi asked, motioning to the large bodies of water surrounding the Umalian peninsula.

“Both clans maintain navies that can and will sink any ship that is accused of ‘smuggling’, whatever that may mean. No, much too risky. Unless...”

“What is it?” the farmers asked with urgency.

Muttering, Papyrus said, “No, no, that’s a stupid idea.”

“What’s a is a stupid idea?”

“But on the other hoof...”

“What?”

Papyrus looked at them and said, “There’s a river that runs through Huang Hoof that goes all the way to the north end of Umala, the Tayang river. If you can find a vessel willing to smuggle you up it and drop you off as close to the border as possible, then it’s possible, and it’ll cut down your trip by at least a week. And since I’m guess that time is of the essence for you two, I’d go with this route if I were you.”

Pan looked down at the map once more. “Something tells me we won’t be able to just ask some ponies to do this for us and expect them to comply.”

“You said you lost your purse, correct?” the cartographer asked.

“Yes, but what does that have to do with this?”

Papyrus walked back over to the chest and pulled out a wallet bag. Taking it in his teeth, he swung his head and tossed it to Pan. It landed with muffled clinking.

“What’s this?” Pan asked, poking it.

“Leverage.”

Pan undid the drawstrings and he and Koi peaked inside. It was filled to the brim with silver coins. Gasping, he exclaimed, “We couldn’t possibly accept this!”

“I could always take it back, if you don’t want it.”

Reflexively, Koi’s hoof wrapped around the wallet and pulled it closer to him.

The merchant smiled. “I won’t be needing it anymore. If everything goes the way it should, I’ll be out of here faster than I can spend all of that.”

Bowing once more, they said, “Thank you again.” They stood back up, then Koi asked, “What exactly should we do with this?”

“Head down to the piers, north of here, on the other side of the palace. Look around for some of the larger freight ships that seem foreign. Usually there will be a couple foreign Paxonian ships heading up and down the river. Shouldn’t be too hard to find one willing to take you if you show them the money. Now, if you don’t mind...” He scooped up the map, and placed it back in the red coffer. After slamming it shut, he ushered them out into the main room, which was searingly bright in comparison to the closet. “I don’t know what cosmic force gave you the good fortune to arrive in my shop on this day, but I’m sure we can all agree that this turned out the way it did. I suggest that you make haste; ever second spent in this city is dangerous, especially if you’re looking to break the law.” He pulled open the front door for them.

The three of them stood before the door. Pan and Koi dipped their heads and said, “Thank you, Papyrus.”

He flashed an effulgent smile, and shooed them off. “It’s the least I could do. Now stop wasting your time, and go! And the best of luck to you!” With a slight shove, he pushed them out of the shop and into the city and closed the door behind them.

The farmers took a few steps out into the mostly empty street, and looked back at the shop. Quietly, all of the lights went out. It seemed Papyrus was closing for the day. Looking to each other, they nodded, then took off towards the far side of the palace, hoping to find passage.

Papyrus waited a few moments after he closed the door to recompose himself. His legs were shaking, and he was short of breath from nervousness. He jumped up and down and shook out his limbs to calm himself, then quickly rushed around the room and blew out all of the lanterns. After checking behind every panel in the building to ensure that he was alone, he went back into his storage closet.

The red coffer popped open again, and he pulled out a glass jar, and turned it around in his hoof, examining it. A swirling, dancing flame, both astonishingly colorful and dark, frothed within the jar. Against all intuition, the fire made no light of its own as it pressed against the walls of its prison.

He set the curious artifact down and ran back to his counter in the main are of the shop, and pulled out a piece of parchment and quill from below. Once again glancing about to make sure there was no one around, he rushed back into the closet, and sat down on the floor next to where he had set down the jar. After rolling out the paper, he began to write.

Extraction required. The situation in Umala is getting too hot to handle, what with all of these mercenaries running around. I should have left weeks ago. Enclosed is a copy of all of the research I have done since the last message, should I not be able to deliver it in person. I think I’m on the right track, but there’s nothing else I can do here until things calm. I will wait at the scheduled rendezvous point every night at the predetermined time. Please get here soon.

- Deep Coat

PS - Two farmers came through here just now, and said they were heading to Equestria. By my reckoning, they’ll cross the northeast border within a week. I’d recommend sending out some folks from the IC to meet them there, and spare them the walk through the basin.

PPS - They’re looking for folks to help defend their village from forty bandits. Take that as you will.

Dropping the quill from his mouth, Papyrus stood back up and walked back to his special chest. Reaching in, he pulled out a few more bundles of paper: his work for the past few years. He set it down next to the letter, and waited for the ink to dry. After blowing on it a few times to ensure that it was good, he uncorked the bottle with the strange flame.

Muttering to himself, he said, “Only one other jar of this stuff. Hopefully I won’t need it.”

He dropped the heaps of scrolls into the flame, and they disappeared in suspiciously green smoke, and the supernatural fireball with it. The sulfer-like smell made him cringe, but he remained rooted in place, unsure of his next course of action.

Looking around himself, at the mountains of maps, records, correspondence with his part-time employees, he sighed. It was time to pack.

Her smirk gradually turned into a full-fledged grin. Though she couldn’t see inside the map store, the hole in the ceiling tiles allowed her more than enough ability to hear what they were attempting to clandestinely discuss. “So, we have two fugitives and a traitor on our hands, do we?” she said to herself.

She stood up and deftly hopped off of the roof of Papyrus’s shop, unnoticed by anyone. After landing in an alley and dusting herself off, the mare strode out into the street. Were it not for the blade strapped to her wrist and the fact that the sinews of her muscles could be spotted from blocks away, no one would have paid the grey any mind. Instead, passersby whispered “Leiko!” to themselves and swiftly ducked out of the street to make way for the samarei.

The stone palace loomed in front of her, and she thought to herself, He’s going to love this one.

As if the constant stench of garbage wasn’t enough, the murk of the Yangtze river provided yet another layer of repulsiveness to the distinct aroma of Huang Hoof. Though they hadn’t expected much, the wharfs failed to raise their opinion of the city an any way. The first thing they saw, in fact, was what appeared to be a corpse being dumped into the sludge-like water. From the distance they couldn’t be sure, but judging by the ways the ponies doing the dumping were acting, and the fact that they seemed to be trying to hide what they were doing, certainly lead them to believe that.

Ignoring this strange occurrence, Pan and Koi immediately took to searching for foreigners. As it turned out, that was easier said than done.

“We’ve been at this since noon,” Pan groveled. Both to soothe his rapidly decaying nerves, and to keep himself from slipping into idleness, he reached into his saddlebag to make sure that the wallet of coins was still there.

Koi grunted. “We have no other options. Either we find a boat, or we walk. And given what the cartographer told us, I’m not too keen on the second.” He gestured to a medium sized freight ship. “Let’s try that one. They don’t seem busy.”

Rolling his eyes, Pan followed the gold giant to the unsightly wooden box, with two triangular sails that seemed to be aimlessly planted along the top. They followed one of the many piers down a ways, and then walked across a gangway that extended from the dock to the flat-bottomed river boat.

Koi’s weight made the whole ship tilt for a few seconds, and the sailors noticed.

“Who the hell are you, and what do you want?” one of them asked, trying his best to mask his surprise with passive aggression. Some of the other sailors, clearly not Umalian by descent given their more colorful complexion and strange accent, got up from wherever they happened to be sitting and gathered on the main deck to see what the commotion was about.

Confidently, Koi answered, “We want to ask the captain something.” Seeing the cynical and condescending looks everyone was giving him, he then added, “If that’s okay.”

The first pony, who was light red, answered, “I’m the captain. And I’m not going to ask you again: Who are you two, and what are you doing on my ship?” He motioned with his eyes to the other crew members. “Don’t make me sic my boys on you. That might turn ugly.”

Koi nodded to Pan, who in turn pulled out the wallet from his saddlebags. “We’re two farmers from a village south of here, and we need passage north. We have a proposal to make, if you’re willing to lend an ear.”

The captain waved a hoof, and the other ponies relaxed as he drew closer to the two farmers. Gruffly, he asked, “What sort of proposal are we talking, here?”

Quieter, Koi explained, “We need to get north, into Red Dragon territory. If you can drop us off as close to the northern border with Equestria as possible, we can make it worth your time.”

“Hold on, now, let me get this straight...”

“I’m listening.”

“You want me...”

“Yep.”

“To smuggle you north?”

“That’s what I said.”

Unexpectedly, the captain broke guffawed, and the rest of the crew with him. “You have got to be shitting me!” He turned to the other sailors, and shouted, “Did you hear that? Ol’ country boy here wants us to take them upriver! Ain’t that the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard?”

Though it seemed more like an attempt to please their captain than an actual expression of mirth, the sailors joined him in laughing nonetheless. Pan and Koi, on the other hand, simply stood in stoic silence, waiting for them to finish.

When the chuckling finally ceased, Pan dropped the wallet at the hooves of the captain. “I believe this will be more than enough to convince you.”

His face suddenly turned serious once again, and he gingerly prodded the wallet, suspicious of its contents. After slightly unfastening the drawstrings, he peeked inside, then just as quickly tied it shut once more, nervously laughing as he did so. The captain gave them a look that seemed to be asking ‘are you serious?’, and scanned the surroundings for people watching.

Koi planted a hoof down on the wallet, and started to drag it back towards himself. “That can all be yours if you do this for us.”

“Well, hold on a second...” the captain placed his own hooves on the wallet. “I’ll be taking a big risk, and I have no way of knowing that you’ll pay me at the end. We’ll take the money now, and then everything will be good.”

Using his bulk to his advantage, Koi shot the captain his most intimidating look, easily crushing all opposition. “I’ll give you half up front, no more. You get the rest when we’re at shore in Red Dragon territory.”

They remained deadlocked for several tense minutes, until the captain finally relented. “Alright, fine. We do it your way.” He extended a hoof towards Koi. “Captain Baha is the name. This fine vessel here is the Fighting Spirit.”

Koi returned the gesture, and locked his hoof with the captain’s. “Koi. And he’s Pan.”

Baha smiled, then said with great enthusiasm, “Welcome aboard!”

The rest of the foreign crew shouted their welcomes as the two Umalians got more comfortable with the ship.

Baha motioned for them to follow him. “Come with me, I’ll take you down to storage so you can stow all your crap. No sense carrying all of that yourself.” They ducked into a tight stairwell that lead to the lower deck of the ship.

“This is... dark,” Pan said quite flatly.

“Heh, well, you get used to it.” The captain directed them towards the far end of the room. “This isn’t the fanciest ship on the river, not by a long shot. But she gets the job done. Any goods that can’t be stored wet go down here. We also sleep down here, so there’s that. Now...” He pulled up a floor panel to reveal a hidden compartment. “...Normally, that’s were we store some more illicit goods, but I guess this time our cargo is a bit more alive.”

With a hint of worry, Koi asked, “We don’t have to go down there, do we?”

Captain Baha laughed heartily and slapped him on the back. “Only if we get stopped by a patrol boat!”

Before they could ask if he was joking, Baha closed the compartment and pointed around the room. “You can set your stuff down anywhere, so long as it’s out of the way. And don’t worry: I’ll personally see to it that none of my crew messes with your stuff.”

The farmers bowed. “Thank you.”

“Ah, no need to thank me. Just common courtesy,” he stammered in response. He coughed, then abruptly changed gear. “We’re actually taking a shipment upriver anyways, but not into Red Dragon territory. We’ll leave tonight and anchor a few miles upstream.”

“How long will it take?”

“What, to get to the northernmost point of the river?”

“Yeah.”

Baha’s eyes drifted off into space as he thought about it. “About three to five days, my best guess. Depends on how many snags we hit.” Sensing their apprehension, the Captain jubilantly declared, “But no need to worry about that! Captain Baha will get you where you need to be no matter what it takes!”

It was almost dark by the time they shoved off from shore, and by the time the sun had finally disappeared, they were still within the boundaries of the city. The size of Huang Hoof had been impressive from a distance, but it wasn’t until they were in the heart of it that they truly gained an appreciation for its magnitude. In a space that was only a bit larger than the valley that their village sat in lived more ponies than they could hope to know in a lifetime.

Baha joined the two farmers on the main deck as the stood, watching the flickering lanterns of the city fade into the distance. A warm evening breeze grazed their sides.

“We’ve got a breeze behind our back. Hopefully it stays that way.”

One by one, the lamps scattered around the ship were lit by the crewmen. With the black backdrop, they seemed to hover in the nothingness, like the stars above.

“Jade Lotus patrol boats don’t tend to sail these waters. They’re usually around the coast and the Imperial Pass. Should be smooth sailing, at least for the time being.”

Pan sat down and leaned against a barrel. In the dim firelight, he ran his hoof over the talisman strapped to his right leg: a parting gift from Rise, a mare he hardly knew, but desperately wished to see again.

The last visible traces of the enigmatic city, Huang Hoof, faded from sight, and the only thing to keep them company through the night was the light of the lamps, the sloshing of the water, and the chiming tiny bell strapped to the top of the main mast--a ward against ill fortune.

At some point, Koi had hefted the nodding off Pan down to one of the cots in the hold, but the smaller stallion, hardly a colt in comparison to Koi, didn’t even notice. For the first time in quite a while, they felt good about their journey.