I should probably mention that traveling to Baltimare on my own, especially since it meant leaving all my friends behind, was a lot harder on me than I might have made it appear. There's a lot about these five ponies super important to me, more than anything in the world. During the time we happened to get to know each other, I've grown closer to each of them than I ever felt towards anyone before. And yes, when I say anyone, I really mean it that way. There never was anypony else so special in my life than the five mares whom I just so happened to befriend by chance back when. I couldn't tell whether our friendship would carry on forever, never leaving any of us alone ever again. But I sure did hope it would. After all, what else did I have to hope for?

There was a reason for me considering my friends as important to myself as I did, and it was nothing but pure and simple logic. I would mean that a pony can't fully cherish the light if they haven't also spent some time in the darkness before. And even though I could consider myself lucky to have lots and lots of friends to this date, in different cities all over the country no less, I also knew what it was like without them. Yes, believe it or not, there was a time in my life where I didn't have all these ponies around me. A time, when I felt truly alone. And I didn't want to go back there, ever.

Though I suppose I have to, now that I already mentioned it. Silly. Well, where do I start?

It all goes back to my very early days, back on that rock farm I grew up on. That was ages ago, mind you. So far away in fact, I hadn't even gotten my cutie mark back then. But those difficult times remained with me ever since, maybe as some kind of warning how not-fun my life could become if only I wouldn't take good care of it.

Like I said, there were no friends, back in the day. There weren't even any laughs or smiling, let alone much of a reason for either of them. During most days, I hardly even talked to anyone. And who was there to talk to, anyway? From the day my ever so cheerful granny passed away, the only other ponies around me were my parents and sisters. None of which are very talkative. I couldn't hold it against them of course, that was just how they rolled.

Still, it didn't make my situation any more pleasant. And if we ever engaged into any wider discussion, the subjects were mostly very monotonous, since the only thing my family ever cared about was rocks. That really was our only topic of conversation every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and before bedtime. Apart from those, we didn't have a lot of occasions to talk. Mostly because we spent our time spread around the fields outside, taking care of the rocks.

Life was very different from what it is today. And along with that, there also were a lot of things different about me. I wasn't the cheerful, happy mare I am today. Although I felt drawn towards becoming the way I became. I suppose you could say that in a way, I always wanted to be a party planner. But that's a desire pretty hard to fulfill if you don't even know what a party is.

Back before that rainboom happened, I could never quite put my hoof on why I didn't fit in at the farm. I only felt that my life couldn't just start and end here, and at a given time, there needed to be something else. For starters, I didn't even like rocks. Or probably not as much as I was supposed to. Like, they're sort of funny and all, but I wouldn't go crazy and devote my life to them. I was, however, the only one in my family who didn't seem to enjoy them as much as the rest of us did. And never meeting anypony else most of the time, I quickly came to the conclusion that my fantasies were probably all just a silly thought, which I shouldn't pay that much attention to.

Except it didn't work like that. Some things just aren't that easily forgotten about. On occasion, I'd spent entire nights lying awake in my bed, trying to figure out what could be missing from my life. Being homeschooled, I never even learned about singing or laughing...or what any of those even meant. All I kept getting taught were rocks. That, and some reading and mathematics. The basic stuff everyone needs to survive, but nowhere beyond that. Everything else remained a mystery I could only wonder about.

I guess it's easy to imagine what came next. Long story short, all those emotions kept flooding through my head and whatnot, while simultaneously I had no idea what any of them could mean. In theory, I could have just asked my dad about all this, clarifying the whole matter very early on. But I didn't because, to be honest, I think I was afraid of what he was going to say. I really cherished these emotions of mine, and having them crushed would be the last thing I ever wanted.

Still, I knew there had to be something which needed to solve that problem. I needed someone to talk to, somepony who would understand me, without turning the subject to me better concentrating on my rock studies every ten seconds or so. A friend. For reasons I already mentioned, that was a lot harder than it sounded. Our farm lay so distant from the next town, no-one ever came to visit. And neither did I ever go to visit anyone else. So where was that so-called friend supposed to come from?

It took me a while, but I came up with a solution eventually. If there weren't any friends for me to be made the old-fashioned way, I would just have to come up with them myself. It sounded silly at first, but turning the thought around in my head a number of times, I eventually decided it was worth a try. So sometimes, when nopony else was around, I started having short conversations with the objects in our house. Now of course, and just like I expected, they wouldn't answer. Chances were they didn't even understand what I had to say. But just getting all my troubles off my chest, putting them into words and throwing them out there...it felt a lot better than I originally thought it would.

By time, I grew accustomed to that new hobby of mine. Whenever my folks didn't pay attention, I'd go ahead and share my troubles with those newly discovered "friends" of mine. Which was great, since I could talk to them about almost anything without ever getting criticized, scolded, or yelled at. Be it my search for a greater cause, emotions I didn't fully understand, or even the thought of leaving the farm behind some day in search for a better life, they were always there to listen. After a while, I even came up with names for my friends. Something like Rocky, Mr Turnip, or Madame Le Flour, to name only a few.

I know, I know. Looking back now, all of that probably sounds plain ridiculous. But it made perfect sense to me back then. I was just a filly, after all. And even though I still did realize how these friends of mine weren't real, I started to treat them more and more as if they were, trying to push that annoying bit of reason to the very back of my mind. Somehow, I thought, my friends could in fact become real, if only I believed they could. Which wasn't much of a rational thought, I know that. But you should picture the look of surprise on my face when some of them actually did reply to what I told them, one day.

Initially, I was taken aback of course. Inanimate objects weren't supposed to respond when spoken to, right? Especially not with their voices being mostly distorted versions of my own, though that might as well have been a coincidence. Or did it all just come down to me not being objective enough? It was hard to tell, really. What mattered was that I eventually decided there was nothing to be so perplexed about. I always wished for some real friends, and now here they were. I figured I should be happy about my wish coming true, not wondering why it did in the first place. All I needed to do was cherish the moment, since there was nothing more to ask for.

And so I did. From a certain point onward, I started talking to my friends at any time I possibly could, hours at a time on some days. Even if doing so meant slacking off on my other tasks and not getting as much farm work done as usual. I also decided to let down my guard about nopony ever listening to me...well, us, really. A filly talking to some random objects...I didn't think my parents would have liked that idea very much. But a filly talking to her friends? That was a different story entirely.

Or so I thought. Unfortunately, my dad never actually shared that opinion of mine. After some time, it was him who walked in on me having a casual discussion with Mr Turnip on some minor issues. Actually, I think we just talked about my day, and that was about it. When I noticed my father standing in the room's entrance mouth agape, I didn't immediately feel embarrassed or anything. Instead, I tried to make the best off the situation, and started introducing the two. In my mind, they'd probably get along just fine, given a few minutes.

Only the same thing didn't happen outside of my head. Instead of rejoicing with us, dad suddenly got angry. Like, really angry. I don't think I ever saw him being this furious ever before. He spat and cursed for hours, scolding me for everything off about myself (in his opinion), and how ungrateful a daughter I was to just ignore the hardships of our lives for something dumb and inconsiderate like this. I'm not so sure about his exact words, and there were a lot of them, really. All I do recall from that day is crying almost the entire time, sobbing, hopelessly cornered, as I tried to tell him I was sorry and I didn't mean it like that.

Any apologies of mine were met with deaf ears, however. Only after he quit his rambling, my father seemed to become mildly aware of what was happening around him. The rage brought upon his face ceased to be rather quickly, and became replaced by the cold sternness which I usually saw him express. He then made me promise to not ever do anything of the like to him ever again. Scared as I was, nodding off his requests didn't take me very long and neither did it force a whole lot of consideration out of me. And as I did, he seemed genuinely appeased for once. I was still sent to bed without further notice, agreeing that we wouldn't ever talk about this again.

In the time that followed, I generally tried to keep away from turnips, bags of flour, or anything else that might remind me of the friendships I wasn't allowed to have. Truth be told, I was too afraid of what would happen if any of them tried talking to me again. I knew I would get the blame if they ever did, even if I wouldn't do any of the actual talking.

Three days after the confrontation with my father, the sonic rainboom happened. And with that sight, everything changed. My life took on a new purpose in less than twenty-four hours. I earned my cutie mark the next morning, and even managed to make my parents smile in the process. After a number of long talks, we agreed that I really wouldn't fit in at the farm for much longer. I also finally got around to explain to them how I wanted to travel the world in order to fulfill my destiny, whatever it might turn out to be. I'm not sure whether dad ever fully understood me, but I suppose we still parted with no bad blood running in between.

In short, I decided to leave the farm behind for good. Wandering the Equestrian steppes for a few days, I eventually decided to head for the nearest larger town, which just so happened to be Ponyville. Here, I found new friends, real friends, and even a secure source of employment at Sugarcube Corner. Through parties and laughter, most of my past hardships were forgotten within days.

Was there truly a reason to rush things like that? I mean, sure, who was I to blame anyone? I'm not much of a calm pony myself. Most of the time, anyway. But right now, Trixie's level of determination would freak out even me. She rushed all the way back across the cafe (or whatever this place was), eyes kept straight, not venturing off-path even once. Marching through between all these stools, tables, and other obstacles, she didn't wast a single second coming to a stand, looking around, or even keeping an eye out for me following her. She didn't seem to bother whether I managed to keep up or not, not once turning around the whole time.

I did keep up, of course. But her attitude still confused me. Maybe she still hadn't come of the meanie-track as much as I hoped she did?

Our destination lay somewhere to the room's opposite end, where a row of tables were situated right next to the building's eastern wall. The windows looking out towards the street illuminated the space a few feet into the room, thus making the scenery over here appear a lot more welcoming than it did back where I came from, just now. Something I shouldn't let myself be fooled from, though. And I didn't.

Also, I had to go all the way back through the cafe, and that by itself felt frustrating already. Why did I even need to go all the way to the counter if the ponies I needed to talk to were right here, at the entrance? Or was this about Trixie and meeting her here? Probably.

Shortly before reaching the exit door, the blue unicorn turned left, heading for the row of tables situated directly next to the wall which separated us from the outside road. What was different about these tables was only their shape; as opposed to most others, the ones in this row were cut into a rectangular shape, one of the shorter edges bordering the thick stone itself. Which made for one less side to potentially sit at. They didn't seem to have thought that through very well.

Trixie was obviously leading me towards a specific one of them (I have an eye for these sorts of things). There was a window right beside it, throwing some light onto the scenery. As opposed to most others, this one actually still contained an intact glass frame. It depicted a checkered pattern of red and green rhombuses, thus throwing an interesting light on the whole matter. Quite literally, to be honest.

There were three other ponies already seated where we were headed. Only two of them were sitting upright, much like I had expected. The dark-grayish unicorn stallion about my age joined by a considerably older, white-coated earth pony mare were emerged in an immense discussion over some topic I couldn't quite make out thanks to their low voices. For time being, they didn't seem to pay us a lot of attention.

The third one, a middle-aged, dark blue pegasus stallion sat to their right, if one could call it that. Turned sideways towards the table, he had his back rest against the adjacent wall, both eyes calmly fixated on a large mug that was enclosed in one of his fetlocks. His left foreleg lay flat on the wooden board to his side, more or less supporting some of the stallion's weight. A worn-out, dark brown Stetson rested on top of his head, obscuring most of a purplish mane and the upper portion of his face, respectively. It somewhat reminded me of the hat AJ kept wearing everywhere, though hers had been in a way better state than the pack of lump this pegasus called attire. At least, I did suppose that's what he called it. Why else would he even wear it? Anyway.

Trixie didn't wait around for any kind of introduction to be made, but settled down opposite of them immediately. Chances were they already took care of that earlier. As soon as she started to move around the table for a decent spot to sit, the two ponies formerly engaged in their discussion looked up in a mixture of surprise and skepticism. The latter accounted mostly for the unicorn stallion, whose eyes kept flashing from one of us to the other. I wasn't sure what to make of his expression; whether it was nervousness radiating from it or something else, but he did seem a bit uncertain about the entirety of what was going on.

The mare seated in the middle didn't lose a single trace of her somewhat grim resolution. She turned to face Trixie and me as soon as she noticed us arriving. Brushing a few strains of her thin, blonde mane out of her eyes, she subsequently placed both hooves onto the table in front of her. A look of clear patience on her face, I could tell nonetheless, this pony was already waiting for the newly arrived to get down to business. Which probably accounted more for myself than my unicorn companion, but still.

There was a simply constructed bench placed on this side of their table, which spanned all across its length. As it consisted of nothing but a long board supported by what looked like little more than a number of four or five foot-long sticks, I had to admit our seating fit the rest of the room's charm surprisingly well. When Trixie placed herself down somewhat close to the wall, she left more than enough free space left of her for me to sit on. So that's what I did.

Swinging the old hips around to be placed onto the raw, and roughly crafted wood, I might've kinda-sorta forgotten to keep an eye out for any splinters sticking out of it. The price to pay for that second of neglect shouldn't come as much of a revelation to anyone who'd actually given some thought to these, but it still caught me my surprise. Knowing I needed to make a decent first impression around here, I tried hard to keep my external response to a low wincing and a twitching eyelid. Some details that were. With any luck however, the three ponies opposite of me hadn't even noticed.

At least their strange pegasus friend sure hadn't. Engulfed in his deeply philosophic cider studies, he didn't even seem to recognize the two newcomers opposite from him, let alone any possible mishaps they might have experienced. And the halfway honest smile which I put on after another second's thought ought to have convinced the two others as well. Or not, who knew.

The white earth pony gave a faint nod first to me, then another one over to Trixie. That cold, emotionless expression of hers never leaving her features even once, I quickly came to the conclusion that she must be some professional businesspony. Whatever someone like that would do in...well, in a place like this.

"You have returned, I see," she observed, regarding Trixie. The cool and confident voice carrying her words matched the presumed personality pretty well. She turned to face me next. "Then you are Pinkie Pie, I suppose?"

And what a question that was! Well, probably not that much of one, and nothing different from what I should have expected in the first case. But she was right; this was in fact the one and only Pinkie Pie standing...sitting before her, and I would make that introduction of mine with all the necessary drama that had to flow into it.

"Yes, indeedy," I answered her with a simple nod. On second thought, there hadn't been that much need for being dramatic after all. From the corner of my eye, I could see the unicorn stallions eyes narrow ever so slightly.

Again, she nodded. "It's good you're here, then. Also, I'd say a short round of introductions would be in order, so..."

The mare's eyes wandered over to her unicorn companion, some amount of expectation flowing in her gaze. Only he just arched an eyebrow in response. "What? Polly, you're not seriously considering this to be an actual option?"

"And why wouldn't I?" the mare retorted with a shrug. "Come on, I've seen this before. You think she won't fit in, don't you?"

"That's not what I said!" he yelled, causing a few curious glances to be cast over to our little group. Noticing, her lowered his voice back down again. "I mean...I'm just saying, we've got more than sufficient crew members available, already."

"You didn't sound like this five minutes ago. Now, could we just try to get along, and see where it goes...?"

He clenched his eyes shut in frustration, averting his gaze from those around him altogether. When he remained silent for another moment or so, the mare looked down onto the wood before her with a low groan. "Yes, yes. Let the lowest in command do all the dirty work for you gentlecolts, honestly!"

She turned back around to face me. "Very well then, let me just make this short. To my right, you'll see a pony called Strange Days, runaway noble from Canterlot, and - for some reason - current first mate on the VCR Cornucopia. To my left..." her eyes wandered over to the half-conscious pegasus pony. "...to my left the captain of said ship, who - despite having an incredible talent for his job - doesn't appear very capable of a whole lot during his spare time. Same goes for the awareness of his surroundings. But call him by his name - Saratoga, that is - and he might even notice you're there."

Like on queue, the middle-aged stallion lifted his hairy chin a few inches out of his mug. "Someone say me name?"

I couldn't immediately identify his accent, but that didn't seem the most important thing right now. The mare, who's name I obviously suspected to be Polly shot me a glance that said told you so in fourteen different languages. Seven of which I didn't understand, and three which I couldn't even read. But I suppose they all meant the same.

Also, runaway noble? Maybe that explained the weird, cream-colored streak in a mane which otherwise was gray as his coat, albeit a few shades darker. The streak itself ended just above his left eye, a feature that appeared distinctly familiar. Ever since first meeting Twilight, I always wondered whether these were some kind of Canterlot-thing, and I simply missed out on them so far. I should ask her that some time.

"...as for myself, my name is Polly..."

Called it.

"...or at least, that's what most ponies prefer to call me."

Oh?

"Well, truth remains, her actual name is almost impossible to pronounce, so we had to come up with something," the unicorn interrupted her with noticeably less enthusiasm. Also did his remark earn him a more than just annoyed glance from his companion.

"It's not impossible, it's just that you mainlanders keep failing at trying to pronounce it," she furiously replied. "Then again, I've never seen any of you actually trying."

Polly's eyes fell back onto me, just before she lowered them in frustration. "Sorry...sorry," she mumbled, trying to regain her former composure. "Anyhow. Your friend told me you were looking for a ship to quickly bring you somewhere south-east from here. Also..." the mare narrowed her eyes, becoming somewhat hesitant. "Also, she failed to mention any specific location. Pardon my doubts, though I would like to clarify whether there could be any misunderstanding here. There's not that many places for a pony to travel to in that direction, but it's still a few of them, and they're all situated a good deal apart."

"Well, uh..." I trailed off, trying to clear my throat for a moment. What came along was some nervous giggling which I hadn't planned for. Not that it helped in any way. "Well, truth is, I don't really know myself, yet. But it is in that direction, that much I'm super sure of. And I'm kind of in a hurry, so if your ship is going at quick speed, it'd be pretty good if you could drag me along." My eyes flashing from one of them to the next I added an insecure "Okay?" hoping that would somehow make myself more trustworthy or whatever.

"I'm not sure on how you define speed, but I think we could provide as much." She ran a hoof through her mane, examining me more closely. "The Cornucopia isn't much more than your average merchant vessel. Regular shape in rump, three fully equipped masts...you get the idea. But the speed she's showing whenever catching a proper wind is remarkable, nonetheless. I can give you the figures, if that's what you need."

I nodded. There was a fifty-fifty chance of these numbers either being any helpful or not, so why not give them a shot?

"As you wish. We'll be headed for the northern port of Chuda-Druzyovsk, both of which form the largest city of the Pegasilian islands. You might have heard of those...no? Well, that's just as fine, you'll see when we get there. The port itself is located an approximate thirty degrees east-south-east from Baltimare, at a distance of a good 3,200 nautical miles as the pegasus flies. We're planning on covering these in about three weeks, give or take a few days. Everything clear so far?"

I had no idea what that pony was talking about, but she sure sounded like someone who knows what they're doing. So I nodded again. And Polly nodded. And her unicorn companion (what was his name again?) nodded. Trixie didn't nod, so we just ignored that. It was a good time.

To be honest, Trixie didn't say a whole lot in general, contributing to our little talk. I never paid her much attention while trying to come to terms with the others, either. Only when she cleared her throat to end the short silence that followed did I notice her sudden passive attitude. I also remembered that she was still sitting there...in conclusion, I might have gotten a little carried away.

"Well, you seem to be going along just fine," she explained, while pushing herself off the bench in an effort to get up. Polly however was also quick, raising a hoof to interrupt her.

"Oh, you're welcome to stay. If any, I'd have to thank you for bringing Miss Pinkie any us together."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." the unicorn to her side began, only to be cut of by a stern, sideways glance from the mare. Which, again, confused me. Wasn't he supposed to be in charge here or something? That's how I understood their ranks, anyways. Especially since their captain didn't appear to be much of an authority figure.

"It's fine, really," Trixie replied, fully pushing herself to all fours now. "I haven't had a bite to eat all day...if one can even call it that, anymore. And...no offense to this location we've got here, but they don't exactly serve a whole lot of food. I'll...There's a small bakery down the street, one that I usually buy crackers from. At times they even serve some with peanut butter, so..." she trailed off, looking into several pairs of questioning eyes. "Trixie doesn't...I don't know, should I get you anything? Do you want some crackers, as well, maybe?"

Polly glared at her, a certain amount of anger clearly flowing into these hazelnut eyes of hers. I think it took me a moment, as well.

"So, does that mean...oh, OH! Sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Between Trixie's nervous stuttering, I could clearly tell her cheeks reddening by the second...among other parts of her face. "I...I think I'll just go now, then. Wouldn't want to disturb you. Uh...I'll be back in a bit."

And just like that, she stepped over the bench in a hurry, then made sure to rush out the door without another second's notice. A reaction so uncalled for, I had troubles to keep both jaws clenched together without one of them dropping to the ground. Or the ceiling, depending which jaw that would be. Still, even the pegasus who hadn't been paying attention most of the time (I presumed) curiously lifted his head when he realized what was going on. But only little later, and with the short notion that "Baltimare's a weird place," he went back to the vacant state from before.

Needless to say, I still didn't feel so sure about what to make of him.

"You'll obviously going to have to pull your own weight, once on board," the, uh...he said. Seriously, what was his name again? Luckily, Polly cut him short within a moment's notice, so I wouldn't have to describe him any more for now. Or, you know, she might just not want him to talk right now.

"Yes, yes, of course. I was just about to get to that part." Turning back to me, she added, "You see, our ship is nothing but a regular merchant vessel, carrying goods from Equestria's shore to other parts and islands. Sometimes, we just travel along the coast, though these trips are usually cheaper and easier when made across the land route, so sailors usually don't do them. But that's not the point. What makes our ship special is that it operates independently. We're not part of any larger trading company or government branch to take orders from. Instead, we ship anything that needs to be delivered anywhere, as long as the price tag suits our needs.

"Of course, along with that independence come a few downsides as well. For starters, we're not as wealthy as most of the richer companies are. There's always enough bits to pay our crew members, mind you. But it's still tight every now and again, so we obviously can't afford to take you along just like that. You may travel with us as an employee, and we'll make sure to provide you with sufficient meals, as well as a decent bunk inside a cabin of your own. And once we reach our destination, you'll be free to annul your contract and go wherever you please. However, there needs to be some kind of work for you to do until then. Is there anything you're particularly good at?" With a somewhat sarcastic note, she added, "Something about balloons, I presume?"

"Balloons?" I arched an eyebrow. "How did you...oh."

It really was pretty obvious, wasn't it? Silly me. "Well, yes and no, I suppose. That mark pretty much means I'm good at planning parties and cheering others up. I even got it the first time I tried to do that...a while back." I scratched my chin, trying to come up with something to add. Throwing parties by itself probably wasn't that helpful on a ship. Even if bringing cheers to others was always kinda helpful. "I...also love to bake!" I then continued. "I'm pretty good at that as well, can't plan a party without plenty of cake, y'know? I've even been working in a cafe for the past few years. Uh...and cooking, I...should be able to do that. I guess."

"Well, that just too bad," the unicorn stallion retorted, folding his forelegs. "But I'm afraid the spot in our kitchen is already taken."

"It might be," Polly added, not even sparing him a glance. "But the kitchen is still my department to work on, and I really could use a pair of helping hooves every now and again. I'm...certainly not getting any younger, as much as I hate to say it." She massaged her temple, hesitating for another moment. "I'm not sure about these qualifications of yours, but it seems like you know what you're talking about. Which will have to do. If it were up to me, I do think we could easily hire you, even if it's only for one trip."

The unicorn cleared his throat. "If I may have a word to add..."

"You may," Polly replied. "But I suggest we ask about your superior's opinion first."

Without further notion she turned around, poking the hibernating pegasus in his belly a few times. "Captain," she added to her motion. "May I get an amen for that suggestion of mine?"

"Huh? Yee, sure, wha'ever." His words came across lulled in some halfway delirious state, the mug of cider...or whatever else formerly filled it slowly slipping from his hoof's grasp before landing on the floor with a loud thud. A victorious half-grin across her muzzle, Polly turned back to address her other companion.

"The captain thinks it's a splendid idea," she noted, interpreting his words with a somewhat widened reach. It didn't cause much more than an annoyed groan from the unicorn, and as far as I could tell, I represented the least of their problems right now. That is, if the sudden snoring from below a certain pony's Stetson was any indication.

Noticing him, Polly shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I guess we'll get back home the old-fashioned way, again. Oh, and Pinkie? We'll be leaving tomorrow at noon, so I suggest you get yourself ready for a longer trip, and finish off with whatever preparations you'll still have to make. The ship is currently tied at docking bay 94; I take it, you do know how to get there?"

"Uh..." Okay, I admit, I didn't have an answer for that one. At least none that was correct.

"Might as well, might as well," Polly replied, though I could tell she didn't exactly enjoy hearing that from me. "Just...come back here then, alright? I'll pick you up at about...make that nine in the morning. That way, we'll have a few hours to get everything in order, and I'll show you around the ship before we'll leave port. Would that be alright with you?"

"Like an offer I can't refuse," I told her with a smile, putting one hoof down on the table. It really was though. Three weeks might be a long time to go, and certainly delay the fulfillment of my task, but I probably couldn't do any better. Which didn't come as a surprise, either. I couldn't just teleport over there in the blink of an eye, mind you. Though Twilight might have...no, wait, that was ridiculous. Even she couldn't teleport across a distance like that one. I should have considered that earlier, maybe...but really, there was no way she'd ever be able to pull that off.

Or was there?

"Then this much should be settled. I'm happy to welcome you aboard." Polly gave a satisfied nod, before turning to her captain, who was already happily napping away in the corner. The scowl she produced as a consequence did very much match the one her unicorn friend had been wearing for the past two minutes or so. "Lift him up," she said, looking back at him. "Would you?"

The unicorn lit up his horn without further protest, wrapping a pale, white aura around his captain, who subsequently rose a good few inches from his resting place. He didn't wake up during his short flight, even though his head got jolted back a good deal in the process, and his hat slipped off and fell to the ground. Never breaking his concentration, his first mate had him float over to the earth pony mare in between them, then put him down until he rested firmly upon her back, head and limbs dangling down loosely to both sides. Grimacing for a moment, Polly didn't need longer than a few seconds to balance out the additional weight. I could only imagine how many times they already needed to practice this routine in the past.

"Ugh," she groaned. "I don't even want to think about his mood when he wakes up tomorrow and realizes that vacation time's over."

With a short "I'll see you tomorrow, Pinkie," she took a few steps around the table, then started wobbling towards the exit with her unicorn friend following close behind, keeping an eye out for his captain, while also trying to place his cowboy hat back where it belonged. The entire scene kept making a bit of a surreal appearance, and it certainly did gain them a few slightly amused glances from all around. Not that I would mind. I've seen way crazier things than that in my day.

As they exited, I couldn't think of anything better than to triumphantly lean back in my seat with a satisfied grin on my face. Lucky me, I didn't actually do that. Just in time I remembered that I wasn't sitting on any sort of luxurious armchair or anything of the sort. There was  only a bench beneath my haunches, and leaning back would've easily sent me doubling over without any further notice. So I restrained from that and only grinned, nevertheless. That, and I took a victory sip out of my mug of cider. Only there was no mug of cider. Which was something I didn't realize in time, and it must have looked pretty stupid, altogether.

Whatever, no time for that now. What mattered was that I finally achieved what I'd come here for: I managed to get myself a spot on a vessel - a presumably fast one at that - which would take me away from this awful place, and right in the direction where I belonged. The rough direction, mind you, which was an improvement in any case. The friend making process with the ponies in question still didn't come across as expected...I suppose. Then again, there would probably be plenty of time for that once we got on the ship. Three weeks would be more than sufficient for some fun to squeeze in, after all. Call it what you want, but I had an overwhelming feeling of success and accomplishment just now, and nopony would take that away from me.

Wasn't so hard in the end, was it? Next Chapter: Chapter 11 - Considered Even Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 16 Minutes