It was strange when things changed while you were away. When Tarnish had first come to Rock Haven, there had been no train station. When he had left to return to Ponyville, still no train station. Coming home with Maud and the rest of the family, there had been a train station. Life had a funny way of making changes.

Near the train station, something was covered in a dull brown tarp. Something large. Tarnish eyed it as they approached, trying to guess what it was. It was a bit large to be a wagon, though he supposed it could be.

Twilight Sparkle breezed past him, her horn glowing, and Maud pulled up beside him. He came to a stop and stood there, waiting, watching, wondering what was beneath the brown tarp. He tilted his head a bit and saw that Maud was beside him, her head cocked to one side, also studying the mysterious shape under the tarp.

With a showpony’s flourish, Twilight circled the tarp once, twice, and then a third time, a broad smile upon her face. It was clear that she was enjoying this a great deal, and after everything both Maud and Tarnish had suffered, Twilight wanted to see them happy.

“Tada!” Twilight yanked the brown tarp away and revealed—

A silver egg. There was no other way to describe it. Tarnish stared in astonishment at the strange looking silver egg with four wheels. It was an egg and it was silver. He blinked a few times, not quite sure what it was that he was seeing, and then, at a total loss for words, he reached up and scratched his head.

“The ultimate in ultramodern luxury travel. One streamlined travel wagon. It’s a bedroom and a research hut on wheels. It’ll be great for both of you.” Twilight extended her wing and pointed at the trailer, showing it off.

“That’s going to be too heavy to pull,” Maud said in a voice that conveyed no emotion about the situation whatsoever. “I do not mean to offend, but I think I’ll be happier with a standard buckboard wagon.”

“Wait… wait, hear me out, okay?” Twilight smiled at Maud and then rapped on the travel wagon with her hoof, which produced a metallic thud. “This is aluminium and steel… I know it seems heavy, but compared to a standard four by eight buckboard, this is much, much lighter. A standard buckboard weighs about five hundred pounds with all of that wood. This weighs in at just under three hundred and fifty.”

Beside him, Tarnish heard Maud make a peculiar inhalation sound.

“This also has storage compartments. I haven’t seen those up close yet, so I don’t know much about them, but I know that you will no longer need to carry big, heavy, waterproofed trunks to hold your gear. Those trunks are heavy. This will hold everything you need.” Twilight looked at the wheels and made a gesture. “You’ll notice that the wheels aren’t made of wood, but of a light alloy and have solid rubber tires for traction. They won’t break and aren’t subject to stress like wood can be. They’re also lighter. The wagon also has better suspension making it easier to handle and better brakes for maneuvering up and down hills. It also has a locking differential that only allows it to roll in one direction, should it be needed.”

Maud moved away from Tarnish’s side and began to circle the wagon.

“Inside is a bed just big enough for two, storage compartments, it has a window as you can see, a locking door, water storage, it is a home on wheels.” Twilight fell silent and waited as Maud circled around her and the wagon, having a look.

“Just under three hundred and fifty pounds you say?” Maud came to a stop and peered at Twilight through half closed eyes. “And it’s sturdy? It’s not aluminium foil?”

“It’s sturdy enough. It’s airship grade aluminium. There’s not very many of these yet. The manufacturer is trying to make camping a luxury experience for the very wealthy. He’s having trouble selling these. They’re very, very expensive, as you might imagine.” Twilight pounded on the hull again. “It’s insulated too, so it isn’t just bare metal on the inside.”

“Huh.” Maud turned and looked at the wagon. “I think it’s starting to grow on me. It isn’t much to look at, I suspect that in the field it is going to get dinged and dented quite a bit, but there is a certain charm to it.”

“I want to see the chicken that laid this,” Tarnish said.

Twilight struggled to keep a straight face, snorted once, made a strange sound deep in her throat, and then unable to stop herself, succumbed to laughter, a wide smile upon her face as her eyes twinkled with merriment.

“It’s aerodynamic… that will help with the wind dragging on the trailer and making it harder to pull. It’ll also keep it from blowing over. It’s kinda tall.” Maud’s dreary deadpan stood out in sharp contrast with Twilight Sparkle’s bubbling laughter.

“The original design was meant to be hung under an airship gasbag,” Twilight said, offering an explanation. “It was meant to be a small, private cabin. That is what that window is for in the front. It was small and sleek and designed to cut through the air. It was a bit too small for an airship is what I understand, and there was a second pod for the engines, which could not be reached unless you were a pegasus. Not a good design… so it was turned into a travel wagon.”

Tarnish eyed the silver egg and yes, he could see it being part of an airship. A micro airship. Or maybe something hung under a great big hot air balloon. He was coming around to it. He walked up to the side, looked at the wheels, and then looked at the door. There was a key in the lock.

With his magic, he turned the key, opened the door, and noticed that a little fold down step came down when the door was opened. That was a nice touch. Nothing magical, just practical engineering. It looked sturdy enough, at least to Tarnish’s eye. He stepped up, testing the fold down step, and then went into the wagon.

The inside had cubbies and storage bins. The bed, which sat over the rear axle, had a storage compartment beneath it. Tarnish could see two swing out doors. There was a little counter space up at the front of the wagon, just below the window. Much to his surprise, there was a tiny sink on the counter, and one small, delicate faucet. The floor was flat and there was a door down in the floor in the middle of the room. Tarnish deduced that with the wagon being egg shaped, and having a flat floor, there had to be storage space under the floor.

Past the bed, out in the longest part of the ‘egg’ that extended out past the rear axle, there was another storage compartment, what appeared to be a closet. The bed had no sheets, but was just a rugged looking rubberised mattress that looked like it would be easy to clean.

The ceiling was also flat and had a door that mirrored the one down in the floor below, meaning there was storage space up there. The side walls followed the curve of the egg. The interior was spacious, far larger than Tarnish thought it would be, but it was still small and cramped. Two ponies inside of here would have to be on friendly terms. Very friendly terms.

Grinning, Tarnish wondered how the wagon suspension would hold up to any sort of vigorous bouncing up and down in the bed. The old wagon creaked a bit and the suspension was less than kind.

“Well, how is it in there?” Maud asked.

“Maud, I think we’ll actually have more usable storage space than in the old wagon. Plus, there is a sink.”

“A sink?”

“Yes, a sink.”

“What a peculiar thing to have in a wagon.”

“A sink and a bed.”

“Hmm.”

Twilight, who had been listening to the exchange up to this point, decided to say something. “So… do you want it?” Twilight took a step closer to Maud. “I think this will be perfect for the needs of any explorer.”

“We’ll take it,” Maud replied, “I wonder how it pulls. I can’t wait to be hitched up.”

Standing near the pumphouse, Tarnish watched as everypony else checked out the new wagon. Igneous pushed Limestone aside and went inside to have a good look around, Marble was looking at the wheels, and Cloudy stood nearby talking to Pinny.

Maud seemed to like it, but she remained tight lipped, and so Tarnish didn’t know how she felt about it. He missed the old wagon, but this one… this one was pretty nice. He thought about those panicked final moments before their long and dreadful escape. He had tried grabbing everything he could from the wagon, but so much was left behind.

“Remember to breathe, Tarnish,” Pinkie said as she appeared beside Tarnish.

He realised that he had been holding his breath and he let it out in a gasp. He felt Pinkie patting him. He sucked in a lungful of air and tried to shake what he was feeling. He didn’t even know what it was that he was feeling. Panic? Was he anxious? For a moment, he could smell the sulfur in the air, and his eyes stung from the memory. He started to think about the terrible condition Maud had been in after her long run and he felt a shudder creeping up his back, starting from his dock. He gasped, finding it difficult to breathe and—

“Tarnish… hey… it’s okay,” Pinkie Pie whispered as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and squeezed. “There there, it’s all over… it’s just memories, okay? Try not to think about them too much. Shh… just be calm. It’s okay… you’re okay and she’s okay.”

With a plop, Tarnish sat down in the dirt, his backside sending up a cloud of dust. He felt Pinkie stroking him and he leaned against her, knowing that she was more than strong enough to hold him up. It was difficult to keep breathing, Tarnish had to think about the act, or so it seemed, because otherwise, he would stop. His barrel felt tight, like some great weight was crushing him. He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut, and focused upon the act of drawing in much needed air to his lungs.

With his eyes closed, he did not see his mother, Pinny, approaching, with Cloudy right behind her. The others, who had been staring at the wagon, were now all watching Tarnish. But all Tarnish was aware of was Pinkie Pie’s comforting embrace and the act of his own breathing.

“After bad things happen, you try to go about your life and act like everything's normal.” As Pinkie Pie spoke, Pinny and Cloudy arrived, and Pinny nosed her son. “But these bad things, they have a way of creeping up on ya afterwards… this is why you need friends.”

“I’m okay,” Tarnish said as he opened his eyes. “I’m fine… I just needed a moment. I don’t know what came over me.” He blinked, still feeling peculiar, sniffled a bit, and then cleared his throat.

“Baby,” Pinny said in a maternal whisper into Tarnish’s ear, “don’t think about what you lost, instead, think about what you kept. You did good keeping everything that is important. You and Maud saved each other. Now buck up, take a deep breath, and try to give me a smile. Can you do that?”

“Hey, I want a smile too,” Pinkie Pie added in a chirpy voice that was syrupy with affection.

Lifting his head, Tarnish looked at Maud and saw her staring at him. He had saved everything important to him. She meant the world to him. It became a little easier to breathe and he felt the tension in his body melting away. He felt better. He was starting to feel like he usually did, however it was that he felt when things were normal. Whatever normal was.

“Thank you, Pinkie, for looking after my colt.”

“Eh, don’t mention it, Pinny.” Pinkie Pie’s lower lip protruded and she looked thoughtful. “I like having a brother. It’s kinda nice.”

“Yeah, it is,” Applejack agreed.

Twilight’s ears perked. “Brothers are the best, aren’t they?”

Standing in Maud’s room, Limestone watched as Maud looked over the few rolls of film that Tarnish had managed to save. The canisters, small and black, had little grey lids on them. In the corner, Tarnish’s saddlebags sat in a heap, left where they had been placed. The silver sword was propped up in the corner, resting against the wall. Limestone burned with curiousity about the sword, but she did not touch.

“Are you really going to leave so soon?” Limestone asked in a vulnerable voice that few heard. “You just came back. I don’t understand what the hurry is.”

“I plan to stay for a while,” Maud replied to her sister, “but I want to get started again. I think Tarnish and I will go to Manehattan for a while. There is something we must do there. After that, I plan to come back home for a bit, but I can’t promise we’ll stay long. It’s the end of summer and fall will soon be here. After that is winter, and I can’t get much work done in the winter.”

“So we have to wait for winter before you and Tarnish decide to settle down.” Limestone’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head. Reaching out, she smoothed away a wrinkle in Maud’s smock and then tugged on her sister’s belt to straighten it out. “We should have most of the cottage done by winter so you and Tarnish can have a private place to make kissy faces at one another.”

“Come winter, we’ll settle down. Maybe we can invite Pinny to come and stay with us.” Maud turned to face Limestone. “Winter is a time for fellowship and togetherness, but—”

“Come spring, you’ll be heading out again?” Limestone asked, cutting Maud off. Much to her dismay, she saw her sister nodding. Limestone cleared her throat. “Take us with you, I mean, if you can… if it is safe. Surely not every place you want to go is life threatening. Isn’t there some place we can all go together?”

Blinking once, Maud considered her sister’s words for a few moments before answering, “I think I’d like that. A family adventure. All of us together. I don’t know where we would go though.”

“Hopefully, some place without dangerous magical vortexes or gropey grape plants.” Limestone grinned at her sister.

“That reminds me… Tarnish has seeds from the beetle melon in his saddlebags. We should plant them around here and see what happens. The soil here might be ideal.” Maud turned and looked at the saddlebags in the corner of her room. They were still a bit sooty and dusty looking but, being magical, they had survived the abuse rather well.

Outside, the bell began ringing, and both sisters’ ears perked. Limestone turned around and faced the door to her sister’s room, while Maud’s eyes glanced over at Flamingo. It used to be that getting visitors was pleasant, but now, it was something to worry about.

Author's Notes:

Soon departing.