“All in.”

Dissero pushed his chips forwards with false confidence, taking one last glance at his cards before laying them face down on the table. He leaned back in his seat, his eyes daggers aimed straight at Silver Feather seated across from him.

The pony to Dissero’s left shuffled his bits momentarily before folding, but Dissero hardly noticed. As far as he was concerned, Silver Feather was the only true enemy at the table. Who cared if he lost his money, who cared if he was making a stupid move. He sure didn’t. All that mattered was that he beat Silver at poker. Just. One. Time.

Silver for his part was doing an excellent job of being absolutely infuriating, smirking at Dissero as if he knew exactly what the unicorn was thinking. And the worst part, Dissero thought, is that he probably did, the cocky bastard.

Silver didn’t even flinch as his turn came around, his smile growing only wider as he calmly organized a portion of his bits and pushed them lazily into the center of the table. “Call.”

The pony to his left was quick to fold, and the griffon after merely perked a brow curiously, having folded earlier in the round. It was just the two of them now, the pegasus and the unicorn, staring eachother down from across the table as the dealer levitated another card onto the table, followed shortly after by one more.

Dissero didn’t even look, keeping his eyes trained to those of his nemesis. He knew if he looked he wouldn’t see anything good. No! He mustn’t think like that, those were losing thoughts! Grimacing, Dissero looked down at the cards on the table.

Well that was no good.

He’d been beaten yet again, his two pair soundly crushed by the straight flush sitting before Silver. He sighed as yet another pile of bits disappeared into Silver’s rapidly growing collection. The pegasus winked at him as he reorganized his money pile. It was a wink that Dissero knew well. ”Better luck next time, Dissy,” it said. ”Hope ya had fun, I know I did.”

Grumbling, Dissero pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. He stretched his back as he glanced around, taking in his surroundings. He had been to many taverns all across Equestria, and a few in the neighboring lands of Gryphos and Zebrica, and there came a point where they all started to run together. He knew other merchants that were very proud of their ability to name every establishment from Baltimare to Manehattan, but he certainly was not one of them. The open spaces, clean wooden flooring, and wide brick fireplace were all typical of the average Equestrian tavern, which combined with the local musician playing a lyre on the stage and gentle chatter of the patrons gave it a very homely feel. He spotted Stormslider watching him from another table, sitting with the rest of his crew, and went to join them.

“Another week’s pay down the drain?” Storm quipped as he sat down beside her. Ember and Cleaver spared him brief nods of acknowledgment before returning to their own conversation.

“It would be, if I wasn’t paying myself,” Dissero replied, mentally subtracting the lost funds from the collection of bits he kept stashed in his quarters on the airship. “Honestly, what does he even do with all those bits?”

Storm rubbed a hoof against her chin thoughtfully, the other idly toying with her mug of cider. “That magic headset of his, I believe. The music for those aren’t cheap. Do you want a drink?”

Dissero waved a hoof dismissively. “It’s fine, I had one earlier.”

“You sure? It’s Ponyville cider, you know. We won’t be able to get anymore until we come back next year.”

After a moment’s contemplation, Dissero relented. Ponyville cider was good. “Alright, fine, I’ll take it. I’ll pay you back when we get to the ship.”

Storm nodded, raising a hoof to catch the bartender’s eye before motioning towards her mug. The bartend tipped his hat in acknowledgment, filling a fresh mug with the brew so popular in the Equestrian Heartlands and levitating it towards the table.

Dissero caught the mug in his own magic, lifting it to his lips and taking a deep drink of the warm liquid, savoring the strong apple taste as the booze ran down his throat. He immediately felt his body relax, the recent defeat forgotten in the wake of the Apple Family brew. He made a mental note to buy an extra barrel or two, for recreational purposes of course.

“It’s fine, Captain, I think I can afford it. Though I would appreciate it if you could replace those seams in the reactor room,” Storm said, looking around as she took a small sip of cider.

Dissero frowned. “Didn’t we replace those a couple months ago?”

The pegasus mare nodded again, taking on the patient tone of a teacher in a classroom. “Thundercloud reactors are extremely corrosive to metal; if the iron seams aren’t replaced every two months then the probability of a breach increases sharply.”

“But we replaced them just two months ago,” Dissero insisted. And they hadn’t been cheap, either.

“Don’t worry about it, Dissero,” Ember said, waving a hoof dismissively. “The reactor’ll be fine, those seams should last a year at least.”

Stormslider’s ears flicked, the barest hint of annoyance flashing across her normally calm face. “I think I would know better on the subject, Ember.”

Ember snorted, leaning forwards as she levitated a lighter out of her mane and flicked it open. “Oh really? And why might that be, miss Academy Star?”

Cleaver and Dissero exchanged exasperated glances, each of the stallions taking a pull at their respective drinks.

“You know full well that I have a degree from the Royal Aerial Ac—” Storm began.

“Blah blah blah,” Ember interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Just because you spent a few years reading books doesn’t mean you know everything about how a machine works.”

Storm cocked her head, her brow furrowing. “Actually, it does.”

“Hey wow, look at the time!” Dissero exclaimed, cutting off Ember’s angry retort. He glanced at the grandfather clock near the bar, curious as to the actual time, and was surprised to find that it actually was getting late. “We should probably get going. Places to be, places to see!”

Cider levitating at his side, Dissero stood up and walked back to the poker table, sending a silent prayer to Celestia that the two mares wouldn’t simply re-ignite their argument or, worse, wait until they got back to the ship to do it. It was true that Storm didn’t know as much about general machinery or structures as Ember, but the mare was better than anypony he’d met with a cloud engine. She’d gone to the Academy too, graduating with flying colors.

Coming up to the poker table, Dissero wasn’t even slightly surprised to see a couple more of the previous players simply watching irritably, their pots having apparently been emptied into Silver’s waiting hooves. Luckily, Ponyville was a relatively calm little town, and as such he had no worries of Silver’s abilities sparking yet another fight. He waved his mug around to catch Silver’s attention.

“C’mon, we’re heading out.”

“Aw, what?” Silver whined, gesturing helplessly to his pile of bits. “Can’t ya see I’m workin’ here?”

Dissero rolled his eyes. “Stay if you want. You can find your own way to Canterlot, right?”

“Pfft, as if you could fly the ship without me.”

For a moment the two stallions said nothing, simply looking at eachother. Silver smirked as Dissero frowned. They both knew the truth behind the statement.

“Whatever,” Dissero said as he turned around. “I’m not getting up to let you in once I go to bed, and I’m the only one with a key.”

“Alright, alright, fine! Sheesh.” Silver stood up, sweeping his bits into a saddlebag with a wing. “Sorry guys, I gotta head out.”

The other patrons at the table didn’t even bother to hide their relief, a few of them even pulling some fresh bits out of their bags and placing them on the table. Undisturbed by the obvious reaction to his departure, Silver slung his saddlebags on and followed Dissero out into the Ponyville night. They met up with the rest of the crew in the street, and together the five ponies made their way to the Ponyville Skyport.

Despite the high interest in the quality foodstuffs produced in the town and the lack of any major waterways nearby, Ponyville still didn’t have a very well developed aerial infrastructure. The skyport was little more than a few squat towers surrounding a cargo lift, nothing like the towering structures of Fillydelphia or the intricate network of aerial moors along the Manehattan coastline. Most trade with the town was still conducted by land-bound caravans, with the rest taken up by a single freight railway and those airships small enough to use the skyport. Ponyville simply didn’t have the money to expand upwards. And so when the crew climbed up the narrow stairway attached to their tower and clambered onto the platform at its peak, it was no surprise that only one other of the five towers were occupied.

Dissero levitated the key out of his bags and unlocked the thick metal door, holding it open for the rest of the crew to enter. He came in last, swinging the door shut with a heavy thud before turning the lock. “Better get some rest, guys,” he said. “We head out for Canterlot tomorrow.”

After saying their goodnights, his crew dissipated to their respective quarters. Meanwhile, Dissero took a detour to the cargo hold to inspect its contents, ensuring that the ship was properly stocked for the journey. One of the perks of his pegasus crewmembers, one of which was a trained cloudgineer, meant that he didn’t need to purchase any fuel for the cloud reactor, but the ship still needed food, replacement parts, and of course the delicious Sweet Apple Cider that could be sold in Canterlot for profit. Still, even though they had just sold their previous cargo and restocked, the hold was nowhere near full.

Satisfied, Dissero made his way to his own quarters, the door closing behind him with a noticeable creak. Turning the lights on with a flick of a switch, he stepped up to his desk and sat down, his eyes falling upon the map placed carefully on the wall above it.

It was an old map, around ten years to be exact, and Dissero knew every detail of it like the bottom of his hoof. Every part of Equestria was shown, as well as some areas in the lands of Gryphos and Zebrica. The ink was freshest where it described the artic wastes of the north, near Stalliongrad, and was noticeably faded around Fillydelphia, which was outlined with intricate and loving detail. Small notes had been penned into the parchment near every settlement and landmark, and in one corner the landscape of northern Gryphos had been charred by fire, the map curled up and blackened. It was an old map, and it had traveled with Dissero far and wide as he filled it in.

He frowned at the map as he mentally outlined the path to Canterlot, thinking on how he had not added anything new to it for the past year. There was still plenty of space around the edges, space he knew could be used for Minos or Mustangia, or to fill out the remains of Gryphos or Zebrica, or for any one of the number of smaller nations and city-states that dotted the Known World. He used to add things to this map regularly, always going somewhere new. He remembered when he was younger, and he dreamt of putting the whole world on this map.

But that was a long time ago, and it had been a long time since he went anywhere new. No, these days he stuck to routes already charted, nothing new.

Not since Gryphos.

With a small nod to the map, he turned and climbed into his bunk, setting his saddlebags down near his bookshelf. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, and allowed the sound of the wind and the quiet groans of his airship to lull him to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Gotta say, guys. I am super excited to be back. I spent so long just rewriting these first few chapters, until I eventually settled on this iteration.

Though honestly if my co-author hadn't stopped me I probably would still be rewriting.