“Wow,” Twilight said softly as she stared at Canterlot. Or at least, what remained of it. Before she had spent most of her time running around it and hadn't had much opportunity to really look at it that closely. Now, though, she could see just how wrecked it was. There were houses and walls again, but they seemed to all be made with earth bending. There were a few guards stationed around the walls, but they didn't even seem to be paying attention. The entire city looked, well, sacked. Almost every piece of cloth they could see, be it hanging from windows or on roofs, were filled with holes and tears.

“For obvious reasons, try to keep who you are a secret,” Cheese said as they headed towards the main gate. “You're... not likely to be the most popular pony around here.”

“What, after pretty much wiping the whole place out single hoofedly, she's not popular? Who'd have thought that?” Rainbow asked with a chuckle. As they walked, her wings lightly flapped with each movement.

“You're gettin' the hang of it, right Sugarcube?” Applejack asked as they made their way to the gate.

“I think so. I mean... it's not perfect, but I think I can make out general shapes now. Walls, ponies, things like that. I still have a long way to go, but it's working,” Rainbow mumbled before sighing. “It's a pain in the butt, though. Trying to differentiate between what's just the wind, and what's it bouncing off things. I think I'm starting to understand why the air benders don't use this.” She gave her wings a little flap, before quickly tucking them in. “We're almost to the gate?”

“Eeyup.”

“Two guards?”

“Eeyup.”

“... Are they lounging against the wall?”

“Eeyup.”

“Perfect.”

Twilight held her breath as they walked towards the gate. They got a cursory glance. “Benders?” the nearer guard asked.

She nodded quickly. “Yes. Water bender. I--”

“Move along,” the pony said with a wave of his hoof, barely even giving them a second glance.

Twilight let out a soft sigh of relief once they were out of earshot. “Well, that was easy.”

“Somepony is really bored with their job,” Rainbow said softly.

“The sun is currently a great ball of butter,” Fluttershy said softly. “I don't think it's boredom, I think they just don't really... care anymore.”

Pinkie nodded. “That's probably true. Hey, we could throw a really big party! I bet I can find some balloons and some glitter. Ohhhh, and with a few desserts and treats, it would be the best ever!”

“Pinkie...” Twilight muttered.

“I know where we can get some music and a disco ball,” Cheese added.

“Cheese...” the alicorn said, her voice tinted with annoyance.

“Ohhhh, and I bet we could even set the ball up so--”

“Remember, Trixie is on the way!” Twilight hissed, turning to glare at the two.

“Sorry...” they said in unison.

“Good. Now, moving on. Where are we going to find this ship of yours, Cheese?”

There was a few seconds of silence. “Err... well, about that. I did mention you'd get on a ship to there. Delivered, sorta. In fact.”

Twilight frowned. “Why do I have a feeling there is a but in there somewhere?”

“But you're probably not going to like how it's done. Turn right at this street.”

------

Twilight stared at the long line of barrels in front of her. “You've got to be kidding me.”

“I'm sorry, miss avatar,” the gray earth pony said as he leaned against them. “But getting you in as supplies is, well, the only way to get you in there. You can't exactly march onto the ships. I've got some cushions in them, so it should at least help.”

“I thought you said there wasn't any contact from them?” Twilight asked Cheese.

“There are still ponies stationed out there, keeping an eye on the place. It's just the Shadowbolts themselves that seem to have been cut off. The place is a prison holding some of the most dangerous ponies to the Water Nation. They have to keep at least somepony watching it.”

“These smell like pickles,” Rainbow said with a groan.

“They hold pickles. Listen, I know this won't be comfortable, but it's the best I can do,” the stallion said. “If I could get you a big crate, I would. But I can't. It's this, or nothing.”

Twilight sighed and gave a nod. “Well, we don't have any choice. We... well, let's go.” She got to her hooves and flew into the air, before gently lowering into one of the barrels. She cringed. “They do smell like pickles.” She paused halfway in. “Cheese, you will be coming too, won't you?”

“I'm afraid not,” the sandwich said. “For now, it's best that I stay here and try to organize whatever delays I can. If Trixie finds you, you'll be in a real pic--”

“Don't,” Twilight warned.

“Anyway. I'll just get in your way against the Shadowbolts. We're all counting on you, Twilight. Never forget.”

She nodded and slid inside the barrel. The others slowly climbed in their own barrels and had the lids slowly applied. One by one the ponies were lifted and moved, the light clatter of wood on wood surrounding them.

“Everypony okay?” Twilight called out.

“Cramped, but fine!” Rainbow called back.

“Keep it down, I can't go down the street with yelling barrels!” the stallion snapped.

“Sorry,” Twilight called. They soon heard the gentle creaking of wood as they were hauled through the city. She sighed and leaned back against the wall of the barrel as best she could. She didn't like this, but it wasn't as if they had much choice. She never would have imagined they'd be sneaking in through pickle barrels though.

------

“We're here,” the stallion called out. “Going to put these barrels in the back, then you're all good to go!”

“Get on with it!” another voice called.

“Right! Sorry!” There was a lot of shaking as the barrels were moved one by one into position. “I'm putting you guys in the back. Try to keep out of sight, hopefully you won't be moved until then. It's about a day trip, so if you have to leave, try to keep hidden.” There was a lot of creaking sounds, before they heard the cart being rolled away. Then they just waited. Twilight leaned back and let out a groan.

The barrels smelled awful, they were dark and, worst of all, they weren't roomy. The cushions were nice, but she had to scrunch up her knees a bit or they dug into the sides and she couldn't even sit up fully without hitting her horn on the top. She almost wished she was an earth pony or pegasus, at least then she could fully stretch out her neck. “Spike, how are you doing?”

“Fine,” he called back. “Smells funny, but at least there's plenty of room!”

There were low groans from her friends. She wished she was a little baby dragon now. She moved around a bit in the barrel, trying to get comfortable before finding a position. It forced her back to arch in an odd way, but at least it was bearable and allowed her to stretch her legs out for a little bit.

She went completely still as she heard muffled talking from outside. After a few minutes the talking stopped and she let out a sigh of relief. Then she felt an odd sensation pressing against her entire body. It took her a few moments to realize they were moving. The momentum soon balanced itself and disappeared, though she could still feel a little bit of movement. They were flying, the ship had taken off. Now all they had to do was wait.

------

Twilight was shaken from her pained thoughts by a loud thump. She heard a few more before she realized it was one of the barrels. After a few more moments there was a light cracking and finally a sigh of relief. “I'm out!” Rainbow's voice came.

“Rainbow!” the alicorn snapped. Her horn glowed and she ripped the lid off hers as well, before getting up. Almost every muscle in her body objected, screaming at her as she climbed up and popped her head over the rim of the barrel. The room was dark, though there were small beams of light peeping through holes in the boards. The room appeared to be filled with barrels and crates. She could see stairs off in the distance, but the doorway at the top of them was closed. “We were supposed to stay hidden.”

“If I had to stay in that any longer, I was going to take this place down myself just for an excuse,” Rainbow snapped as she stretched out her wings and hooves. “Oh yes that feels good. Come on, girls. Place is empty, get a little stretching while you can.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine. I'll give some lig--” She let out a yelp as Pinkie popped out of her barrel and covered her horn. “Pinkie, what are you doing?!”

“Twilight, we're in the hold of a traveling ship. This ship probably has cannons and that means gun powder. Don't you EVER read books?” There was a light snicker from Rainbow. “All it takes is the slightest spark and then cablooey!”

Twilight let out a small eep. “I ummm, I-I hadn't actually thought of that.”

“While ah'm not normally one tah be too over cautious, ah gotta agree with Pinkie on this,” Applejack said as she came out of her barrel. “Ah mean, ah'd rather we not get blown sky high before we even... Pinkie, why are yah laughin'?”

The pink mare giggled, starring at the other earth pony. “B-because, hee hee, we're already sky high! Bwa ha ha ha!”

“Keep it down!” Rainbow snapped, turning so her ear was towards the entrance. “Just get some stretching done and get ready to hide if we need to. Anypony see somewhere we can lay down and wait while we go?”

Twilight frowned and squinted, peering through the darkness. “I... think if we push out the barrels a bit, we'll have room. There is a lot of stuff down here, so it'll be a tight fit.”

“As tight as the barrels themselves?”

“No,” she mumbled. The ponies moved about as quietly as they could, moving the barrels around a little so there was a narrow space between them and the wall. They then quickly spread out in the narrow opening. Twilight quickly replaced all the lids as the ponies tried relaxing. “So, it should be a fairly long trip, but at least we won't have to walk it for once.”

“I never minded the walking,” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “Well, I did. But I never minded the exercise. I hate having to do all this skulking around. We should just take the ship over like we did before. It would be so easy.”

“Perhaps,” Twilight said with a sigh. “How much metal is on this ship?”

“Ain't much,” Applejack said with a frown. “Big wooden thing, kinda a pain in the flank if yah ask me. Mah bendin' won't be much use here. Yah know, ah went an' invented metal bendin', yah'd think our enemies would have the courtesy tah at least use it in more things.”

“Wood is cheaper,” Fluttershy said softly. “Easier to lift up, too. We haven't fought many tanks in a while, either.”

“So it would be down namely to me and Rainbow,” Twilight said with a sigh. “That's not even mentioning the problems we might encounter trying to fly this thing. Does anypony know where this place is? Especially with Discord... discording everything? The maps they use probably don't even work anymore, there's probably something else they navigate by.”

Rainbow groaned and flopped onto the ground. “Great, so we have to keep going and hiding like rats in a ship? This is soooo boring!”

“Better bored than lost,” Twilight said with a shrug. “We'll just keep our heads down and try to avoid any problems. As long as we're quiet, they should head straight there.”

“Yah know, ah think we might be forgettin' somethin',” Applejack mumbled.

“What?”

“There's gonna be a whole battalion of them out there, right? Keepin' an eye on this outpost an' all that? How we gonna get past them? Might be too many tah fight.”

Twilight went silent for a moment before shrugging. “We'll have to sneak around. We're just being delivered, so once we're dropped off, we can sneak underground. Or underwater. Or whatever there is. It should be... sort of easy.”

“There might not be that many of them,” Rainbow said with a snicker. “I mean, this place is on lock down, right? How many ponies do you really need to keep an eye over a place that doesn't have anypony coming in or out?”

Twilight shrugged. “If we're lucky? Very few.” She closed her eyes.

“Well, I think there's only one thing to do now! Let's play a game! How about... Eye spy?” Pinkie asked as she laid down. “Come on, guess!”

“Is it a barrel?” Rainbow asked.

“Gasssssp! You're right, how did you know?” the mare asked, eyes wide with wonder.

“Because that's the only thing around here.”

“Ohhhh! Well, Dashie, your turn!”

There was a face hoof from the mare. “Pinkie, I'm blind. I literally cannot play eye spy.”

There was a small pause from the mare. “Oh... right. Well, what do you want to play? Want to sing a song?”

“I'd hate to have to remind everyone,” Spike said with annoyance. “But we are still hiding here. So maybe singing and dancing aren't the best ideas?”

“I'm with Spike,” Fluttershy said as she gently cradled Angel to her chest, petting his fur softly. “A little sleep could do us good.”

Pinkie let out another giggle. “Okay! I'll take first watch, everypony sleep well.”

Twilight almost objected, before shrugging and rolling on her side. If anypony could get them up when trouble came, Pinkie could. She doubted the mare would fall asleep on the job, either. Sometimes she wondered if the mare even did sleep.

She tried to imagine what awaited them ahead. Just what kind of place did the Shadowbolts call home?