I couldn't tell just how fast exactly our ship was sailing at any time. When the coast disappeared from sight, there was nothing but water all around, and not a single permanent mark in sight to deduct our position from. Which probably wouldn't even help in the first place, considering I hadn't ever been here before. Or had I? That was a tough one. After all, if I didn't know where I was, I also couldn't know whether it should be any familiar or not. I could guess, however. That wouldn't get me anywhere either, but I could.

What I'm trying to say is that there wasn't any way of telling how far we made it out into open waters thus far. Aside from that, I couldn't even tell what time it was, or how long we've been at it. With the sun's position locked in place since before we left port, days and nights just seemed to have faded into one another, creating a weird blur of different times of day following up on one another.

Am I being poetic? Sheesh. Looks like my brain's doing the thing again.

There was nothing for me to keep track off, one way or another. Hadn't it been for the constant amount of commands and orders given behind my back and the actions carried out in response, time might as well have stood still all along. And even their constant yelling couldn't distract me forever. Along with the repetitive motions of the waves beneath on each side, every word spoken eventually just turned into some dull background noise. Instead of paying it any more attention after a while, I continued to dwell in melancholy while looking out the ship's rear, right into never ending nothingness. And I could have gone on like that until our arrival in three weeks without end, hadn't Polly stepped onto the main deck at some point, impatiently calling me to work.

Only then did I snap out of my thoughts. I also remembered that there would be something more for me to do here than just useless glancing at the waves. We...kinda talked about that the first time we met, didn't we? I agreed to work for my pay, and that's what I was going to do. It's not like just sitting here and feeling sorry for myself was ever going to do any good.

For a short while, I even felt mad about myself for getting carried away like that, looking back to what I myself had run away from. There was a certain expectation I had towards myself, and disobeying it didn't sit well with me...somehow. I think it was this kind of anger I experienced from my father years ago that still made me feel like this whenever I didn't play along my usual rules. As if I'd directly inherited something just from his behavior. Odd.

Okay, okay. Never mind. There were some much more important things to worry about right in front of me now. Just causing the whole day to become a drama around my own emotions really wouldn't do these ponies any good. And neither would anypony get any fun out of those laments, least of all myself. No good. So I brushed them off. Chances were, these feelings only resulted from the sudden changes of situations I'd gone through lately. A few days to get used to living on a ship and everything would turn out just fine, or so I told myself. Besides, there was some work to do, now. And nothing like some good, old-fashioned kitchen labor could easier get me distracted from whatever it was I needed to be distracted from at the time.

And right now, there was something I needed to distract myself from big time. Which was the image of a crying, helpless soul embodied by a yellow coat and a long, pink-ish mane. Crying because of me. Ugh, silly thoughts! Don't you ever stop that?

I marched past Captain Saratoga, who stood halfway stable at his command post, overlooking the scene before him with limited enthusiasm. Every now and again, he would raise both forehooves and vigorously massage his temples, a groan escaping his throat every time he did.

Stepping down from the raised deck, I headed for what lay below it. The enclosed areas were probably a bit more comfortable right now, shielded from the sun's heat and all that. It was still pretty hot out here, even though we had quite a strong wind blowing in from up north. Trotting down the short flight of stairs leading to the lower deck in the ship's center (Fourteen steps! I counted each of them, repeatedly), I made for a left turn, facing the door to the corridor that lay adjacent to our kitchen.

I kept an eye out for the remaining ponies in our crew, hoping they would regard me a bit friendlier now than they did earlier. It's not that I don't appreciate a good smile, even if it's just a grin. But the looks I've been receiving so far were more creepy than inviting...whatever they meant to say.

Right now, nopony actually spared me a single glance. Not intentionally, anyway. These ponies were too caught up with whatever they were doing. And since the captain seemed to keep his vessel at a pretty sharp course with the wind, said tasks required more than enough attention. Oh well.

It was probably for the best. Despite having a...well, a bit of a tendency of wanting to stand in the spotlight on any other day, I did in fact long for some solitude at the moment. And spending time in the kitchen with Polly would probably be the closest I could get to having some alone time. There really wasn't any need for all these ponies to see me down and out like that, especially since I'd been the one who wanted to bring some cheers to this place, not make it any more gloomy. Some of these ponies sure looked like they could need a good laugh.

Turning for the door, I even noticed a thick, pink curtain obscuring part of my vision. Which most likely meant my mane was hanging down all limply again. I guess that made sense. All things considered, I really hadn't been the most cheerful of ponies lately.

Nevertheless, a mane dangling downwards like that was something that needed to be taken care of, especially while cooking or whatever. The last thing a hard working sailor pony needed was a loose strain of pink hair swimming around in their dinner. And the last thing I needed was having to walk the plank if something like that ever happened.

A sore chuckle escaped my throat at that last thought. Well, at least the whole laughter thing still worked out...more or less.

I pushed open the door, thereby following Polly inside. While she wasn't actually out here waiting for me, she had walked back the same path just a minute ago. Technically, I was still following in her steps. Wasn't I? Probably...not.

Finding the kitchen wasn't that hard. Even though I had to skip through an enigmatic maze that could easily send a pony's mind into the oblivious darkness that was insanity. Because I remembered this most complicated walk all too well from last time: Second door to the right, and there I was. If any, the challenge was finding the door's position on the wall, given the hallway's scarce lighting. But even that was something I managed to accomplish after a few failed tries. The resulting headache only lasted for a few moments or so, nothing to be worried about.

Our little workplace itself was well lit up with a number of candles, so orientation wasn't much of a problem from here on. Much like completing our actual task wouldn't be. As I came in, Polly already started stacking up some of the ingredients for whatever it was we were to prepare for the crew. Like I said, not that hard.

I might not have an idea where my journey would one day lead me to. But this? I was definitely ready for this.

Trotting around the central counter, I shot Polly an anticipating glance, up and running to get the job done.

I was not ready for this.

After hours and hours of hard work and menial labor, followed by the stress of distributing the dishes and making sure everyone on board got their stomach filled, Polly and I finally found a chance to get some rest. With everyone finished, the two of us strolled back into the kitchen, exhausted and defeated.

When I say exhausted, I don't mean the kind of exhausted that causes a pony to go all sweaty and heavily panting like they'd just run a marathon, mind you. What I felt now was more the kind of tired weariness, which makes it hard to keep any one of your eyelids from just dropping down and carry you to sleep, let alone both of them. The kind of exhausted that automatically draws a pony towards the nearest soft object that looks fit for a head to rest on. Comfort really was kind of a secondary thing in these cases.

The candles were long gone and burned out. We didn't replace them after finishing and cleaning up all of our day's work. The ship was only able to carry so many of them, and the reserves needed to last until we reached our destination. Most importantly, they had to be used to keep track of our work. So whenever there wasn't a meal to be prepared, and we didn't necessarily require them, the ship's kitchen rested in utter darkness.

Well, more or less. There still was some sunlight flooding in through the ceiling cutout above the fireplace, which lead to a narrow shaft and ended somewhere on the stern deck. Up there, it was sealed with a steel grid, of course. Wouldn't want anypony on board to become an ingredient of tomorrow's lunch, after all.

Still, a few beams of light actually made their way down here, and while they didn't provide as much light as one would hope for, it at least was better than nothing. And better than on normal days, I suspected. Who knew how dark the nights in here would get, once Celestia actually recovered. Whenever that would happen. As soon as my eyes had adjusted to the darkness in here, I could easily make out the outlines of shapes around me, but it didn't go far beyond that. Which had to do, I suppose.

Both of us had fallen back onto our haunches, resting in front of the central counter once again. I suppose she was sitting approximately across from me, though even that was hard to make out in this dim light. All I could make out was the four feet high surface in front of me, on top of which rested a decently sized bowl of lukewarm mushroom soup that I occasionally took a sip from. As did Polly from hers. We slowly and tiredly got our meals done, before heading off to bed. Both of us were worn out and tired, generally not doing a whole lot of talking.

In the dim twilight, the only time I could actually see Polly still being with me were those at which she leaned in towards me to take another sip off her soup. My two forehooves resting on the counter, right and left of my own bowl respectively, I occasionally shot a glance in her direction. Make sure she was still alive, or something like that. I really couldn't tell whether she noticed my eyes resting on her at any time, if they ever even did in the first place. Anything was hard to tell when only going by the outlines of things.

"You know, I never did get your actual name," I said, trying to direct my words in her approximate direction. Had to break the ice...somehow. "Didn't you say there's something about ponies unable to pronounce it?"

A sigh came to met me from the other side of the room, followed by a few moments of silence, before my companion had the nerve to speak up. "It's a long story."

"But you do come from these islands we're headed to, don't you? The what's it called...Pegasilians?"

"Yes."

Another slurping sound indicated Polly was more intensely interested in finishing dinner than holding a conversation. She really wasn't what I call uplifting in any case. Which reminded me how I hadn't actually seen her very cheerful at any time, so far. No matter how tough or easy the current situation was going on us, and no matter the mood, I could always see some kind of deep concern in these oddly brown eyes of hers. Like an age-old worry, something that wouldn't leave her alone.

In other terms, lots of ponies around here needed to be cheered up. But she made it farther up the list with every passing minute.

"Aw, come on," I told her in a somewhat demanding tone. Not that negative, forcefully demanding, mind you. More of a friendly way of inquiry, with some comic mixed into it. Like I could ever go without that. "What's gotten your tail? Aren't you going to tell me about anything?"

A similar response like the one from earlier came rushing over to meet my request. First a sigh. Then silence. I wondered if that was some kind of signature routine of hers. Because if so, it might still need some work. Over time. For now, I'd give it a six out of ten.

"I grew up in Druzyovsk if it helps you any," she eventually got around to explain. "That would be the southern part of the city, then. I can't say whether I was born there or not, but I grew up there. Maybe I didn't even originally come from the islands, but I lived in Druzyovsk for as long as I can remember." I heard her sigh again. Someone was being melancholic, alright. Not like that ever happened to me, uh...never mind. "I never knew my parents, to get to the point. Maybe they're dead, maybe just...gone elsewhere. I don't know, and I don't really care, actually.

"For what I remember, I've always been out, living on the streets where I'd make a living and earn myself a warm meal every now and again. It's the best an abandoned orphan can do in an outpost of civilization such as our island...if you'd want to call it that. I came around both Chuda and my hometown, making a few bits here and there...well, with whatever it is a filly that age is capable of. Eventually, I got myself into cooking, then landed a job preparing the meals at a the Kameny. The place where all those zebra refugees lived, twenty-five years ago...ages ago, really.

"After that, I tried getting myself off the island, and somehow ended up on the Cornucopia. I started doing the same errands here that I've already done back home. Since I'm still here today, I guess that's all there is to it. So, if you won't mind, I'd just finish my soup right now, and we can talk about all this some other time."

Could we, really? There was a problem with that 'other time' part, however. When starting this conversation just now, I had only one question to ask her. Now, since the answer had come across cryptic as it did, I had several. That was a major issue to me, fatigue or not. And I wanted it to be cleared up quickly and easily, so...

"Can I ask you something else?"

She chuckled, bitterly. "You're not going to give up on this, are you?"

"Nope." I tried a smile, only to quickly remember how pointless the latter part was.

"I know what you're going to ask," Polly continued, almost regretfully. "And I don't know if you're familiar with the zebras and their history. No offense, but you're probably too young to have read about it in the papers, and...and if you're not familiar with the islands themselves, well..." She trailed off for a moment. "I'll explain that to you someday, alright? Just, just not now. I'm really not in the mood for that subject in particular."

"Uh, okay," I replied, tapping a hoof against my chin. "That wasn't what I wanted to know, but okay."

"Then what was?" She sounded confused. I guess I couldn't blame her. Or could I? That would be pretty mean. I didn't wanna be mean. But she asked me something, so I needed to react in any case. Not by blaming something on someone, but by doing that thing ponies usually do when asked a question. What was that again? Oh, right. Answer the question.

"So you do want to hear me out, huh?"

"Depends on what you want to know."

"Yes or no?"

"Just ask the question."

"Well," I began. "This one's about these towns you come from...I mean, practically you're only from one of them, but there's two of them...on that island...of yours...right? Like, you keep referring to them as two places, but when we first met, the name sounded like it was one single city. But now it's not, and that's really, really confusing." I took in a breath. "So, what's the deal, there?"

"Oh," she muttered. That didn't seem to have been what she would've guessed. Why she wouldn't, I had no idea. Zebras or not, the idea of that name had been bugging me ever since they first brought it up. Asking for that now, the first good chance I got, seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

"I...I don't know about that one for sure," Polly stammered. "As far as I'm concerned, they used to be two different cities. The island they're on has a large bay at its west coast, which is also the spot where it would first be settled. Founded by the ponies who originally emigrated here after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, or so I've heard. They feared Celestia would become too much of a tyrannical ruler when running the country all by herself. Call them crazy because they probably really were.

"Whatever. They sailed over to the islands, first arriving at that bay. For reasons I couldn't ever figure out, these ponies somehow thought of it as a clever idea to found two different cities. Chuda on the northern shore, and Druzyovsk on the southern. I don't even know if those were their original names. But the current ones work well with the modern day language we've developed, so I guess that's alright.

"Both cities naturally continued to grow over the ages and all...you get the idea. Eventually, they started spreading out along the coast, until the suburbs merged somewhere halfway. So it's practically just one big metropolitan area, thus giving it that double name. As far as administration goes, however, there's still two different cities with two different mayors. They never got to set a fixed border between them, either. Somewhere in the center, there's still a zone about half a mile wide that no-one's quite sure which city it belongs to. The inhabitants don't even know whom to pay their taxes to."

She sighed, again. "The Pegasilian government has always been a mess. As goes for many things around there."

For a whole while then, I said nothing. Technically, I could have asked her what that zebra business had been all about, but she already told me that wasn't going to happen. So why waste any more time on that? Or strength, for that matter. Being the mare I am, I never really imagined I'd ever get into a situation where I'd actually think about preserving my energy.

"I'm finished, by the way," Polly added after a good while of silence. "How about you? I'd really like to call it a day."

"Yeah, same here," I said, looking down at my emptied out bowl. "Just finished up, actually."

Now that statement was only partly true. But since no-one ever actually saw what truly happened, including myself, did that really matter? So, I just might have slurped down my entire meal after about five seconds, and failed to mention it then. Might. But again, nopony was there to witness it, so did any of that actually happen? Does anything happen, ever? If a tree falls down in the woods, and all that. Well? I guess we'll never know...

A minute later, I was up on all fours again, following Polly out into the hallway. It wasn't any lighter in here than inside our workplace, but the door outside had been left creaked open ever so slightly, letting some amount of sunlight fall in from the west. There weren't any more impressions to be gathered at this time, however. Apart from the sounds of waves splashing against the ship's hull, everything was dead silent. I suppose the crew made their way to bed a good while ago, and only two or three of them were still stationed outside for the watch, 'cause you never know.

We wouldn't have to go outside ourselves, mind you. As opposed to most of the crew members, Polly and I were as lucky as to have our cabins placed up here, right across the kitchen. Everypony else had to sleep downstairs below the decks. Somewhere along with the cargo, I guessed. I hadn't actually been down there, just yet. Our little tour didn't cover that part of the ship, but I probably would get to take a glimpse at everything, anyway.

As we stepped out into the corridor, Polly turned to face me one last time for that day. "One more thing Pinkie," she said, averting her gaze, both eyes locked onto the wooden floor. "I...well, I know this might come out of nowhere, but remember: We're in a rough place here. Some of the ponies traveling with us might get a bit aggressive or loud from time to time, so...if you ever feel like you're being bullied or harassed by anyone, just remember, I got your back. As does the captain. This is your first cruise, don't hesitate to tell us if there's anything wrong."

I arched an eyebrow. Where did that come from all of a sudden?

"Uh...okay? Thank you, I guess?" I muttered, unable to spontaneously think of anything more fitting. And why would I be bullied, in the first place? Unless all of these ponies really were just big meanies, which I couldn't know, but didn't think so. Besides, I was a big girl, right? I could take care of myself just fine. Polly didn't seem to make a point at all, I though. Then again, this wasn't the time for arguments, so I only thanked her instead of going in that direction.

And with a low and emotionless nod and a "Goodnight," Polly went to her cabin and had the door slide close behind her. she never even gave me the time to greet her back. Weird.

I put the notion off with a shrug, and headed for bed, myself. The doors up here weren't locked or anything, so stepping in and out wasn't that big a deal. I was in within seconds. And once I was, the only thing I could think about was finally, finally getting some rest after this long and hard day. For the first time in years, the thought of sleeping through the rest of the night pushed themselves to my mind's forefront, pushing everything else out of their way. Including friendship and laughter, actually. On any other day, I'd have been alarmed by that, but now it seemed only reasonable. Because if a good night's sleep wasn't something well deserved now, I didn't know what was.

I flopped onto my bunk, a soft slumber embracing me just as soon as possible. Which took a minute or so even now, since this wasn't the most comfortable of beds. It didn't even feel that much softer than the wooden planks on the floor, but none of that really mattered to me right now. I covered myself with the thin sheet provided to me, then started drifting off into a dream with - hopefully - lots of cake and candy.

The last thing I noticed before dozing off was a stack of bags, crates, and barrels occupying part of the room's opposite corner. Surely, there was some explanation for this, but none that I wanted to go after anymore tonight. Talk about sleeping beside the cargo, though. And I considered that to be a joke just five minutes ago.

Again...weird. Next Chapter: Chapter 14 - Doughnut City Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes