“Apple Bloom!”

“Sweetie Belle!” AJ and Rarity shouted simultaneously and approached their sisters with murder in their eyes. The fillies attempted to hide behind Rainbow, but she took off to make way for the elder sisters.

“Why are you two here? I thought you were supposed to stay with Big Mac.” shouted the farm mare.

“What am I supposed to do with you, Sweetie Belle?” Rarity stood in front of her, shaking her head and rubbing her forehead with her hoof.

“How did you squirts even get on board?” Rainbow asked the three, who hadn’t quite escaped the glares of their siblings.

“A porthole was open,” Scootaloo started.

“And we climbed in,” Dawn finished. Holly cowered behind him and looked over to her mother, who was being held by Luna as she stood next to Twilight. Both of them were still unconscious.

“Weren’t ya'll the one who flew out of a porthole, sugarcube?” AJ looked at Rainbow and raised an eyebrow.

“Well... I'm... um,” babbled Rainbow “I’ll go and help Star and Hawk with the damage.” She vanished in a small dust cloud.

“Come back here right this instant, ya varmint!” AJ angrily shouted while leaning as far over the railing as possible.

“It doesn’t matter. No use crying over spilled milked,” I said with a shrug.

“Right, I think it would be best to put Twilight and Fluttershy in their rooms. Then we can see what comes next,” Armor concurred while Cadence took the two unconscious ponies from her mother and took them downstairs. Dawn and Holly followed her straightaway.

“You should also go with them,” Rarity commanded. “We will talk about your punishment later.” Scoots kicked a stone over the deck and disappeared with her two friends below deck.

“Well, Light, any ideas where we can get materials to fix the damage?” Because Nightmares did have physical bodies, they were unable to cause damage to objects. Therefore, we didn't have any materials to carry out repairs on board.

“The next big town is about ten kilometres away. There are some hardware stores that will have wood and tools,” I explained while trying to remember the stores in my mind. “I think our best chance will be Praktiker or OBI.”

“Praktiker? OBI?” Trixie asked, bewildered.

“It's the name of the stores. I think we will get what we need there.” Armor thought for a moment.

“How much time would we need?” I briefly checked the position of the sun, which told me it was already past eight, maybe even nine. By car, I would usually need about twenty minutes when I drove through the tunnel.

“To get the materials and come back, I think maybe late afternoon.”

At that moment, all three pegasi came back. Star and Hawk landed next to us, Rainbow a bit withdrawn to keep the distance from AJ and Rarity

“The rear got some strong scrapes that have to be patched. The two water tanks are totally done for. We will need new ones, plus the right wing is broken. We also need something to fix the mast or a new one,” Star summarized.

“Light,” Armor turned his attention to me again, “assemble a squad and acquire the materials. Do you know what we need?” I thought for a moment.

“Something to seal the rear.” I was sure a little wood glue together with some clear waterproof lacquer would do the trick. “Two new water tanks and something to fix the mast or a new one, but I assume that fixing would be easier.” Armor nodded.

“Star and I will stay here and try to fix everything we can. Cadance will take care of Twilight and Fluttershy.” He turned to face Luna. “We regret that you had to step in, your Highness. I will prepare your room immediately,” he said with a small bow.

“You have our thanks, Shining Armor, but we think a normal room would please us.” Luna smiled briefly. “We will go and look after the fillies and talk to them.” With those words, she also went downstairs.

You could say whatever you wanted about Luna, but she seemed to know how to handle kids. Cadence seemed to have inherited that from her.

“Okay, Trixie, Rainbow, and I will go. We need materials, and we can look to see if we can get our hands on an atlas for our magic globe in there.” I pointed towards the conference room.

“I coming too, sugarcube,” AJ interjected from behind me. “No objections.”

“Fine by me. Let's take a quick peek in the house. I'm sure we will find a few supplies. I would like to preserve ours as much as possible.”

“With Luna and the fillies, I fear we will run out sooner rather than later.” Armor, who had observed my little presentation, nodded in approval. “I wasn't wrong when I choose you as my right hoof.” He smiled and vanished with Star and Hawk towards the back of the ship to observe the damaged wing.

“Pinkie Pie, could you please watch the little ones? The last thing we need is them getting lost here,” I spoke before I even found her.

“Oki Dokie ARRR!” I looked up where Pinkie Pie hung from the ropes with an eye patch and a hook over her right hoof. I tried to avoid thinking about where she had gotten them.

“I will start to clean up below deck. I will see your later, dears.” When Rarity also left the deck, I lowered the ramp, which simply crashed to ground.

“Okay, I think we will have to jump.” I quickly transformed into a pegasus and glided with closed eyes downwards. I opened my eyes as I felt the ground under my hooves. Rainbow picked up AJ under her forehooves and placed her next to me, and Trixie simply levitated herself to the ground. “Rainbow, could you please get us some saddlebags and meet us in the house?”

“Of course you couldn't think of it sooner,” she replied with irritation and flew back up to the ship. I jumped over the small fence on our property and walked up the driveway towards the cellar entrance. The door was still off the latch.

“I have to admit that this house is bigger than I expected it to be,” said Trixie, marvelling.

“Well it's build for humans and not for ponies. Humans tend to be a little bigger than ponies.” I placed emphasis on the 'little' part.

“It's okay, sugarcube. We’re only here for the supplies,” AJ said and walked past me into the cellar. I followed her and could see that, unlike my last visit, the water had run out, mud the only remains of the flooding. AJ walked straight towards the boiler room.

“This way.” I pointed right towards the stairs and took the lead. I opened the door to the corridor and walked straight ahead into the small dog room. Here we found among two baskets, three cabinets in which we stored old clothing, the good porcelain, and beverages.

“Did you have pets?” Trixie asked when she spotted the baskets. I only nodded and opened the balcony door for Rainbow Dash.

“Two dogs, Fiete and Fanny. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they are. Not to mention where my family is.” I faced the larger cabinets and opened it with my magic, for the bolts were too high for me to reach.

We had had to install those things because Fanny had learned to open the door to get to the snacks inside. The doors opened to reveal multiple levels with one litre bottles of Apfelschorle. “All right...”

“What’s that, sugarcube?” I levitated one of the bottles out of the cabinet and presented it to AJ.

“Apfelschorle. I think you will like it.” AJ kept staring at the label of the bottle. It seemed like she tried to read something. “What’s the problem?” She mumbled something before she looked past the bottle over to me.

“What language is that supposed to be?” Bewildered, I inspected the label myself, but I couldn't read it.

“That should be German… why can't I read it?” I knew the letters, I knew the words. How could it be that what was written there made no sense in my head? Then it crossed my mind. Trent had enchanted me back then so I could understand every language. That spell was on my old body, not this one. Albia had made this one, and it seemed like she didn't see a reason to let me keep my native language. I groaned. “Never mind. I know what it is.” I opened the lid and took a sip. Tingling, cool, and tasty, the beverage washed down my throat. “Want some?” I gave AJ the bottle, who held the bottle with one hoof and took a sip, only to spit it right back out.

“That’s what you call apple flavour? We had to run somepony out of town for less.” She stepped out on the balcony and threw the plastic bottle in the garden. I followed her outside.

“This beverage was mass produced for thousands of humans. I'm not even sure if there is even real apple mixed in...” She looked at me, flabbergasted. “You could say it's a potion that’s supposed to taste like apples.”

“Humans are strange beings if they simply accept something like that.” I couldn't hide my grin as my thoughts were similar. With a loud muffled thump, three saddlebags landed right next to me, followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Here’re the bags. What now?” I took one and handed the other two to AJ and Trixie, who had just now stepped out on the balcony. Trixie had a half-empty bottle levitating right next to her.

“Well Trixie think it's good,” she announced while taking another sip. “I've drunk worse.” I could tell by the expression on AJ's face that we had different views on 'worse'.

“It's the best we have at the moment. Well, maybe aside from tap water.” But to be honest, I doubted that water and electricity were still running. “Everypony should take a bottle. I will look into the kitchen to see if there is still anything edible left.” I also doubted that. The only that could still be good would be noodles and canned food, nothing we could prepare on the run. Maybe the canned food, but I was almost sure that we didn't have anything vegetarian.

I left the three standing there and walked through the corridor in my mother's apartment and went in the first room to my right. The smell wasn't particularly pleasant. I wasn't sure what caused it; either the bin of bio waste under the sink or the fridge. As I opened the fridge, my question regarding the smell was answered. A green film coated everything that was once edible. In an instant, I slammed it shut again. My electricity question was also answered.

I opened the cabinet that was directly next to the fridge, and I found the noodles, some kinds of tea, and cocoa powder. I stored everything in my saddlebags. The last thing I wanted to check on was the breadbox. For that, I needed one of the chairs. I pushed one with my magic in the right place, climbed on the chair, and moved onto the kitchen table. Again I was reminded that ponies were relatively small when I stood in front of the counter and only my horn suck out from the table. I opened the cabinet and looked over the small chasm into the cabinet. The bread was, of course, mouldy and inedible, but the milk was still good. We always bought the long-lasting unskimmed milk that was durable for a few months. I took the last four packages in my magic aura and levitated them behind me as I walked back to the balcony.

“Where are AJ and Trixie?” I asked Rainbow, who was chilling in one of the deck chairs and enjoying her Apfelschorle.

“They wanted to see your apartment.” I placed the milk on the balcony and hurried as fast as I could upstairs. My living room and my bedroom were okay, but my office has always been a mess and a lot of stuff was laying there. Even stuff that nobody was supposed to see, especially a pony. I took the last set of stairs with a small hop, slithered a little bit due to the laminate-covered floor, and heard Trixie talking in the kitchen.

Relieved that she wasn’t in my more private rooms, I trotted slowly towards them. Past the broken mirror and the unhinged bathroom door, I headed straight into the spacious kitchen of my attic apartment.

“Look at this, Applejack.” Trixie stood in front of my large dresser that held my TV and looked into a big photo album. Okay, this was almost as bad as a visit to my more private rooms. AJ was looking over to her from the wall, where there were a few pictures from parties, towards the album, and on her face appeared a wide grin.

I knew that bright white album with the old Polaroids. Baby pictures.

“Oh, somehow he is so cute.” I placed myself behind the two of them and tried to catch a glimpse of the picture in question. It was a picture of me when I was about half a month old in the arms of my grandmother, who was sitting on an old armchair. Trixie turned the page and the pictures jumped a few years. To be more specific, it was my first day in kindergarten. My young self stood on three small steps towards the small building. “Say why aren't ya wearing your glasses here, sugarcube? I mean, you wore them when you came to Ponyville.”

“It was first diagnosed that I need one after an ant flew in my eye.” That happened during a bicycle tour with my mother and a few good friends. And then the stupid thing had released its acid under my eyeball. The visit at the ophthalmologist revealed that I had weak eyesight.

“That sounds painful.” The kids in school were even worse.

“When I think back today, it wasn't that bad, but when you are younger, it seems like more of a big deal, AJ.” I took the album from Trixie and placed it back in the drawer. “Well, let's go.” They both followed me outside, disappointed that they weren’t able to see more embarrassing baby pictures of me.

“Well, where to?” asked Rainbow, already waiting for us.

My eyes scanned the road and spotted something that should be able to simplify the entire mission. It was my car.

“I guess we don't need to walk all the way,” I commented and sprinted to the little trench in which my car had been parked by someone. I had actually believed that either my family or scavengers had taken my car, but the small blue Clio was simply lying in the trench a little down the road.

“I thought we would need a human to operate one of these things,” Trixie objected as I tried to pull the little vehicle out of the trench.

“And what was it again I used to be? Come on, help me a little or do you prefer to walk all the way?” She didn't ask a second time, and with a little help from Rainbow Dash and AJ, we pulled the car out of the trench. I tried to open the driver's door, but the door was locked and the engine immobilizer was activated. “Step back,” I advised for safety reasons, as I didn't knew how tech would react to contact with magic.

I opened the door and deactivated the engine immobilizer. To know the plans of these little gimmicks proved to be useful, but I doubted that this would work with modern cars. I placed myself on the driver's seat under the watchful eyes of my companions and opened the hatch under the steering wheel with my horn. To imitate a radio wave with my magic was easy, but an electrical spark was needed to activate the ignition. After a few tries, I managed to reveal the wires.

“I thought we wanted to drive that thing and not destroy it?” Rainbow Dash mused and landed on the bonnet to see what I was doing. Trixie stood in the driver's door, and AJ watched through the passenger’s window.

“I have to get the engine running. For this, I have to hotwire the right cables. Well, I wouldn’t have to if someone else didn’t have the key for the ignition lock.” I have to admit that I was slightly irritated as I didn't know much about cars. My brother, Nils, was the mechanic of our family. I knew enough to install or uninstall a radio inside my car. To imitate an infrared command for the engine immobilizer paled in comparison. And to unlock the door was only applied levitation.

“Why didn't you tell us that in the first place?” Trixie said and pulled me out of the car on my tail. I sat down on the asphalt and watched as Trixie coated her horn in her light blue aura. “So, where is the lock?” I pointed to the steering wheel. She searched briefly, found the longish keyhole, and tapped her horn against it. Instantly the engine started and the speedometer lit up. I quickly shoved Trixie aside and checked the fuel and oil gauge. Sadly, it was almost empty. We would have to refuel somewhere on the way.

“And this thing is really able to transport us safely to town?” asked AJ, looking worried as she took her place on her seat.

“Well, I've had never to operate it with magic, but I think it'll be Okay.” Maybe I shouldn't tell them that the steering had way too much scope. And the tires were worn down. It was supposed to be sent to a workshop before all of this had happened.

“Well if you think so, sugarcube...” AJ said as she sent the seat up for Rainbow and Trixie to get in.

“Not to be a buzzkill, but this thing doesn’t look like it's fast at all. I’ll fly shotgun,” said Rainbow and took off with so much force that it left a lasting impression on my bonnet. I couldn't suppress the grimace that came on my face when I saw the dent in my car. On the other hand, the headlights were already broken due to the forced parking in the trench, and the dent on the rear had been caused due to my brother’s scooter. I don't think that I would ever need it again. Trixie took my invitation and leisurely laid herself on the free backseat.

“Trixie could get used to this form of transportation,” she said with a grin and pulled one of my old sweaters out of the foot well. These sweaters were always in my car just in case I needed something to change into. She used the sweater as a blanket to protect herself from the still somewhat cool morning air.

“Well, all or nothing.” I positioned myself onto the driver's seat and rearranged the mirrors and put the car into reverse. I could barely watch over the bonnet, but it would have to work. I operated the pedals with my telekinesis and straightened the car on the road. I shifted into the first gear and laid one hoof on the steering wheel. I switched on the radio, with my favourite CD still inside. Rise Against – Satellite instantly came on, and with a rev of the engine, we drove down the battered road of my little hometown.

Author's Notes:

You have to remember that they are "little" ponies. They aren't bigger than a big dog, reaching the tight of a normal human. That and because Light has not very much confidence in his magic is why he told them earlier they couldn't operate things like cars. Well turns out they can.

Thanks to Muetze198 for translating
Special thanks to JBL for editing.

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