It was a warm enough Thursday afternoon, right at the start of fall, I was off, and I was relaxing on the roof, wearing the hazard stripe athletic outfit and soaking up the sun after a good round of exercises. "Maybe I could do that for a while. Get all kinds of muscles going on. Not ridiculous ones, just lean, but well defined ones." The sound of business inside was a faint background noise, and it had just started up when I started relaxing.

My musings were brought to a halt when Rainbow landed next to me. "Yang, there's an airship heading towards Ponyville and it looks like it could be pirates!"

I sighed and sat up. "Have they made any hostile moves yet?"

"Well, no, but there are cannons sticking out of the hull."

"I'll go prepare for a fight."

It didn't take long for me to get the Hunter outfit on and return to the roof and keep an eye out for the airship in question. Rainbow had taken off, likely to inform Twilight, and left me with no descriptions. "Then again, 'airship that looks like it could have pirates' is pretty vague. Pirates. . ." Something at the back of my mind said it sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

Twilight teleported next to me, and I only flinched a little bit. "I'm ready to help you, Yang."

"You think this could be another sealed evil?"

"I hope it isn't. Luna hasn't mentioned anything like it, but that's not much of an indication of anything. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, after all."

"Maybe diplomacy will work for once. Do you have a vision spell or something like that?"

"I do." Twilight's horn lit up, and it looked like her magic formed a pair of oversized glasses on her face. For a bit, she looked around. "Aha, I found the ship. Looks like it'll be here in about, oh, twenty or so minutes, from east-northeast."

"Details."

"The crew's made of a myriad of species. Most of them are moving around, but there's a griffon at the helm. He's standing still enough to make out some details."

I felt my heart leap a bit. "Like?"

"Light blue feathers, white coat with gray swirls, red eyes, black beak-"

"That's Shamrock! Twilight, teleport me there now!"

"I can't do that while you've got that outfit on."

I looked over myself and realized she was right. "Oh." Then I remembered my plans. "Well, thanks for the heads up. He's friendly, so we'll be fine. Seeya!" I leapt off the roof, went into the kitchen, and started cooking with a big smile on my face.

"What's got you so happy?" Gavan asked as I practically floated around the kitchen.

"Oh, just someone I haven't seen for a while."

It didn't take long for me to finish my project and take the finished meal to the patio. After setting it on a table, I jumped back up onto the roof and saw that the ship was much closer, and seemed to be heading straight for my area. The cannons were just visible, sticking out just a bit from the hull.

I couldn't help myself as I started waving at the ship, hopeful that it was indeed the bird I had feelings for. In case it wasn't, I had the explosive shells loaded in the Ember Celica.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, the ship started slowing down and turned. Four anchors that looked more like big stakes shot down from the front and back of the airship, digging into the ground in front of the Carne Den, bringing the airship to a halt. A diamond dog, female by the looks of it, stuck her head overboard to look down. "Wow, they do work. You were right, Shamrock!"

"Thank you, Ark!" Sheer happiness filled me when I heard the bird's voice, even more so when I saw him at the railing. "Ah, there's my treasure. I'd better go keep her from exploding."

"She wouldn't do that, would she?"

"She has fire magic." As soon as Shamrock leapt off the deck, he started gliding towards me.

I didn't need to say anything when I caught him with a tight hug, but I spoke anyways. "I've missed you." I wasn't about to tell him how much I actually didn't think about him since he left. "Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until winter?"

"We got the repairs done quicker than I expected," he explained as he held me in a talon and wing hug before half breaking the gesture. "This is my grandfather's airship, the Pathfinder, and she's never looked better. We even got some new anchors installed at Horseshoe Bay."

"Hey, is that the girl you've been talking about the whole way here?" a rather round pegasus with a white apron asked.

"Ah! Uh, would you like to meet the crew, Yang? I know they want to meet you."

I would have answered, were it not for my stomach growling. "Heh heh. How about we have something on the patio? I've already made something for you, and I'll make something for everyone else."

Shamrock looked over the roof and noticed the lone plate of food. "Well, that's a very good offer. Come on down, everyone!"

Shamrock's crew was. . . Eccentric, to say the least. Their cook was a round pegasus stallion named Queen. The navigator was a female hippogriff, Selene, dressed in clothes fancy enough to get Rarity fired up. There was a big male minotaur, Adamantine, that smelled of iron and gunpowder. Finally, there was a female diamond dog, Ark Bark, that was constantly working on a small wooden sculpture by claw.

"So, how's the food, everyone?" I asked once they were done with their meals. "I'm not going to have much of a paycheck this week at the rate they're going."

"It's not the finest food I've had," Selene said. "That being said, it was delicious. I especially enjoyed the smokey flavor on the brisket, was it?"

"It was pretty good," Queen said. "I'd like to talk with you later, Miss Xiao Long. I'm thinking about making a big order on the stuff."

"Oh, I'd be happy to discuss a deal," I said as I started imagining the bits that could come from such a big order. Even if I had to do it alone on Sunday, I'd be happy about it.

"I see you got a new outfit there," Shamrock pointed out. "You look great."

I smiled and felt a blush come on at the compliment. "Aww, thanks. I call it Hunter, and it's got a total magic nullification feature. There is no spell that can affect me."

"Good or bad?"

"Yep."

Adamantine elbowed Shamrock. "Looks like you managed to cast a spell on her anyways, buddy. Tell her what you've got planned for her."

"Ah, right," Shamrock cleared his throat. "Yang, I would like to take you on a trip north to a place that I cherish. It's a place that my grandfather took me, and where I found my pendant. It's the ruins of some ancient beings, and it's in very good condition, too."

I zipped over to Shamrock and held his beak shut. "Don't say anything else. I'm pretty sure Twilight would go nuts over that and I don't want her to come along. She'd kill the mood real fast."

"Sounds like you got it, Captain," Ark said before going back to chewing on a rib bone. "How long do we have to stock up and prepare to go back north?"

"That depends on Yang," Shamrock said. "A few days for sure, next Saturday at the latest."

"I can get my own vacation arranged," I said. "By the way, why did you show up with the cannons out?"

"Adamantite and Ark Bark got into a fight on the way here and broke the lines that held the cannons in. They're going to fix that first. You got a good hardware store around here?"

"Hammer N' Nails is pretty good. If you need more stuff, I have connections." I started giggling inside. Being wealthy and connected was awesome!

Shamrock turned to the minotaur and diamond dog. "You two will start there. You already know the damage, so I expect you can be quick."

"Yes, sir!" the two said.

"Queen, the food's all yours to handle."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," the pegasus said.

"Selene, see what you can do for general housekeeping stuff."

"But of course," the hippogriff smoothly said.

"And Yang, you just keep on being gorgeous, got it?"

I gave a sharp military salute. "Yes, Captain!" A moment later, I broke down with a case of the giggles. "I'll do what I can to help everyone."

"Alright. Everyone, you've got your tasks. Let's go!"

While Shamrock and most of his crew left the Carne Den, Queen and Selene stayed to help with the cleanup. "Nice setup you've got here," he said as we brought the dishes in. "And everyone's working together so well."

"Yeah, these guys are pretty cool," I said. "Truth be told, I like working in the kitchen. It's warm, busy, and always smells delicious."

"It's a good way to live." Queen smoothly joined a griffon washing the dishes. "So, let's talk meat."

"It's good stuff, isn't it?"

"It is. I would like to buy some smoked meat from you, preferably not cooked."

"Well, today's not a good day for that. I could arrange for a delivery and get however much you need done on Sunday, though."

"That sounds good. I'm looking at getting a month's worth of food."

That got my attention. "A month? That's a lot of meat."

"Thankfully, there's not a lot of mouths to feed."

"Still." I turned to Selene. "You've been pretty quiet."

"Sorry, Miss Xiao Long," Selene said. "The uniforms here are very well made."

"Oh, if you think the uniforms are well made, I've got a whole lot of other clothes upstairs from the same mare."

"I would like to see her work."

I turned to Queen. "Feel free to get a menu and come upstairs whenever you're ready to start on your order."

"That. . . Kimono, you called it? It's beautiful."

I gave a small bow at the compliment. "Why thank you."

"The colors are completely out of season, though."

The bow turned into a slump. "I know. . . But Rarity put me on a new clothing embargo, so I can't get a Summer, Fall, or Winter kimono."

"And she made all this for you?"

"Almost." I used the buckle to change to my original combat outfit. "She didn't make this one." A moment later, I was in the Barmaid dress. "And she didn't make this." Another use and the Hunter outfit was back on. "Hey, I just thought of something: are you good at sewing?"

"Not at all. Navigation and astronomy are my skills."

"Aww. . ."

"I may be able to talk her into something for you, though. I presume she's in town?"

"Carousel Boutique, south from here."

"Everything in town is south from here."

"So it is." A knock on the door interrupted us. "Excuse me." I answered the knocking and found Queen there, a menu under his wing. "You ready to place that order?"

"Yes," Queen said as Selene passed us to go on her errands. "I hope you have some paper ready."

The order was a big one, and I promptly took it to the post office to get it sent off. Queen even paid for the order and postage up front, which was nice. As soon as I got back, I put some reminders about the order in the office and my room. Sunday was going to be busy for a change.

I was excited and ready to face the adventure head on. Ruins may not have been my definition of exciting, but a trip on an airship and getting out of town for a bit sounded fun.

Author's Notes:

And so begins another arc. This one will delve into a bit of ancient Equestrian history, which was a lot of fun to write.