Day 1

The expedition was a lot more involved in getting going than I ever imagined and I would have failed completely without Midnight Sparkles assistance. The entire operation was far beyond anything I had experience with in the past and I was ever so thankful for her experiences and skills.

So I decided to make myself useful in some way and record the expedition for posterity because of its potential effects on the long term conditions in Equestria.

The day started when I arrived by the airship this morning as it was getting ready to leave to find one of my friends already there waiting for me, he was going to join us as it turned out as he was still attached to the Dream Legion and was joining as part of the guard compliment we were bringing along.

After some quick and friendly banter, we boarded the sh…

XXXXXXXXXX

“Morning Swift,” I said and paused as I spotted him outside the ramp, “Didn’t expect you here.”

He saluted quickly and then shrugged, “Didn’t you hear? I’m coming along. Still attached to the Legion and command thought it was best to send me along.”

I nodded and yawned, “...Sounds good to me. Sorry, long night.”

“Yeah, I had the same kind of night,” Swift agreed with a smirk.

I grinned briefly as we started up the ramp before I frowned, “Minuette okay with you leaving for a couple of months like this?”

Swift shrugged, “Wouldn’t say okay as much as, understand how things are in the Guard,” he admitted, “I’ll miss her, but I have my duty.”

I nodded and flicked my right ear.

“Commander,” Tempest said, waiting at the top of the ramp, “Everypony is ready.”

“Thank you, Tempest,” I said, giving her a nod, “Your quarters okay? They rebuilt everything like that to fit ponies better.”

“They are fine, sir,” she said with a nod, “The Captain is waiting on the bridge.”

“Let’s not keep him waiting then.”

To be fair, I was a bit late, I wanted a quick talk with Celestia before we left and it dragged out a little more than I had planned so we were a bit behind.

Tempest nodded and moved to lead the way through the passage through the ship, up a pair of metal stairs, by the time we reached the top, she fell back to a hoofstep to my left while Swift moved along in the same position to my right.

Classic by the book guard position.

Tempest had been studying more than magic it seems.

The airship was big, but not that big or it wouldn’t be able to fly at all so it didn’t take long to make our way up to the bridge.

Everypony was ready to go.

Captain Jetstream turned to me when we entered. Despite his name being extremely pegasus, he was an older earth pony, his mane starting to go grey and were cut short, a captain's hat resting on his head. He was an experienced airship captain, having been in Equestrias(admittedly small) airfleet for his entire life.

“We’re ready to cast off, Lord Page,” he said with a nod as a greeting.

The pegasus mare by the wheel looked over to us when we entered and quickly saluted.

I nodded to them both and then turned to Captain Jetstream, “Your ship, your show, Captain. As soon as everypony is onboard, take us out.”

Captain Jetstream blinked at me in slight surprise before he slowly nodded, “Yes, sir.”

With that, I turned and left the bridge to leave them to it. They didn’t need us looking over their shoulders as they worked.

We made our way down to the hold where it had been set up as part cargobay for supplies and part workspace for the expedition.

That’s where I found Midnight and Moon Dancer by a desk covered by a big map. From the volume of their voices and the way the rest of the team were avoiding that half of the hold, they were having a bit of a disagreement.

“So…” I asked as I stopped to look at them, “I take it we’re not quite sure of our final destination yet?”

Moon Dancer blinked at me in surprise as they both turned to me and Midnight shook her head with a smile,

“Oh, no,” she said and tapped her hoof on the map, “Moon Dancers estimated position is a very good starting place for our search.”

I frowned, “So… what’s the argument about?”

Midnight shook her hoof, “Oh, we were just discussing the theory of metathaumical flow in relation to leylines. For a spell like this it’s clearly necessary for the casting site to be by a leyline.”

Moon Dancer shook her head, “It’s not!” she said, “You can use a lot of unicorns instead, redirect the flow temporarily, use a magical cistern, or even pony sacrifice to power the spell!”

Midnight rounded to her again, “All of which adds difficulty, unnecessary steps or is evil!”

Moon Dancer put her hoof onto the table, leaning forward, “Turning ponies into blood drinking monsters! I don’t think ‘it’s evil’ would stop them!”

Midnight's wings spread in protest, “It still added unnecessary steps and for something that complex in the first place, why do it that way if there is a leyline with easily accessible power!?”

“There might not be an easily accessible leyline!”

I made my escape before they pulled me into the argument. They’ll figure it out, they were both among the smartest and most educated ponies I knew.