The Endeavour skimmed through the clouds, flying at an altitude of a little over one thousand feet. The three companions, well rested, let out a cheer when the western coastline of Equestria came into view in the far distance. Overcome with happiness, Rainbow Dash threw her forelegs around Tarnish’s neck and squeezed him.

Tarnish, looking none the worse for wear, returned Rainbow Dash’s affection, and he gave her a tight squeeze with his foreleg. The trip home had been hard on her, it had been hard on all of them, but Rainbow Dash in particular had been hardest hit by everything that had happened in Windia. Now, with Equestria in sight, Rainbow Dash had once again found her smile.

“Hey,” Rainbow said in her scratchy voice to her companions, “what is Skyreach?”

“Oh, come now, Miss Dash, we all know the answer to that question,” Daring Do replied. A sharp gust of wind pushed her pith helmet askew and the pegasus pony mare looked irked that the wind would be so rude. “It’s the fabled lost city of the pegasi, a place that many have gone in search of, but none have ever returned.”

“No”—Rainbow held up her hoof—“no, I’m asking, what do you think Skyreach is? I mean, what is it really? Do you think it is really real?”

“Miss Dash,” Daring Do began and then she took a deep breath as the wind continued to play with her pith helmet. “Miss Dash… in archeology, there are all kinds of stories of lost cities, ancient centaur vaults, cities made of gold, forgotten settlements of ancient humans”—she paused, blinked once, and then looked Dash right in the eye—“and most of them are just myth. Oh, there might be something to that myth, most myths have some rooting in reality, but these mythical places never live up to the stories made about them.”

“Yeah, but what about Skyreach?” Rainbow’s head tilted off to one side in an almost birdlike manner.

Daring Do did not reply right away, but instead she turned about to gaze at the distant shoreline of Equestria. The wind continued to pester her, tugging at her feathers, her khaki shirt, and her hat. A fresh, clean, and brilliant white bandage was secured to the base of her neck, just below the collar of her shirt.

“There is most certainly something,” Daring said in a low voice. “I had a colleague go off in search of Skyreach. He took a well funded expedition off to the Howling Peaks, where Skyreach is rumoured to be. He, and his expedition, they never returned. A rescue party was formed and two ships were loaned… that expedition never returned either. After that, we gave up. That was quite some time ago.”

“We have the key now.” As Tarnish spoke, he thought of home and all that awaited him there. “That funny little gem shaped like a snowflake. It’s cold and it has some strange magic to it. It grows brighter when you hold it up to the east and west.”

“It might be for Skyreach, it might not. We shall see.” Daring Do tilted her head back and looked up at Tarnish, who towered over her. “It is supposed to be the key though, and we went through an awful lot of trouble to get it.”

“Twilight might be able to study it and tell us more,” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“She might.” Daring Do nodded her head and changed the subject. “The real trouble with ancient pegasi cities is that most of them no longer exist. Making things out of cloud… well, it degrades over time. That’s what makes Skyreach so exciting and why the stories endure. A city built on the peak of a mountain that reaches above the clouds. And, if you believe the myth, completely inaccessible by ground.”

“What do you think this key does?” Tarnish asked, sounding almost foalish with his excitement. “Do you think it is really a key? It’s kinda neat, a sapphire cut into the shape of a snowflake. Never seen anything quite like it and when I hold it in my magic, it makes me tingle all over.”

Squinting, Daring Do looked thoughtful as she peered at the shoreline. “It appears to be a compass of sorts, which will be useful. From what little I know about the Howling Peaks, if you fly anywhere near them, your ship controls will go crazy.” The pegasus pony mare puffed out and shuffled on her hooves. “Bah, it’s just stories, designed to scare away the foolish and the superstitious. The ancient pegasus pony tribes didn’t have anything that could affect modern tech. They were bronze age primitives that feared and mistrusted magic. They were brutes.”

“But we have this magic key—”

“Tarnish, for all we know it is just a simple compass enchantment on a cleverly cut sapphire gem.” Daring Do turned to look up at her colleague and boon companion. “It might have nothing at all to do with Skyreach… given the attitudes about magic that existed during that time, it seems unlikely that an ancient pegasus pony tribe would have a magic key that somehow unlocked the way to their city. Do you know how difficult it is to have a fortress and only have one key for it, when you have a whole army?”

Taking a step back, Tarnish nodded. “Point taken. So all of this might’ve been a wild goose chase.”

“That seems likely,” Daring Do said, acknowledging Tarnish’s words. “But that is what we do. We go on wild goose chases. We have fun. Explore exotic locales. See the world. And sometimes… sometimes—”

“We get lucky,” Rainbow Dash said, finishing Daring Do’s statement.

“Yes. Sometimes we get lucky. This gemstone might have nothing to do with Skyreach, but something else entirely. If we follow the compass spell, it might lead us to something fabulous.” Daring Do smiled for a moment, and she gave both of her companions a sly wink. “Or it might lead us to our doom.”

Rainbow Dash, shrugging, added, “Or, you know, it might lead us to Skyreach.”

Author's Notes:

Why, no, this isn't a clopfic. I'm sorry. I probably should have included that from the beginning. Deal with it. Or don't. Maybe check the feature box for mindless wank-fests?