Twilight was standing at the dockside, looking out to sea. The small port town of Mareanda was quite unassuming, tucked away in the South-West of Equestria, more than day's canter from Ponyville. The ships that docked here were... unique as this was the port chosen for classified naval operations thanks to its relative proximity to Manehatten, which led to the former being overlooked; besides most of the regular shipping docked in the city of Fillydelphia thanks to its position on the river Maresy.
Twilight just stood, contemplating what it was that Princess Celestia had asked her and her friends to carry out. All she knew so far was that they'd be casting off to some distant land beyond the Atlantean shipping lanes to try and re-establish diplomatic relations long lost from the First Age of Equestria; the full scope sat in a scroll in her saddlebags but she was not at liberty to open it until they were out of sight of land.
"Hasn't that ship arrived yet?!?" Came an impatient cry from above. Twilight sighed and answered.
"Rainbow, this isn't a day trip to the Golden Oat Islands. It takes meticulous planning and preparation to initiate a voyage into possibly unknown waters."
"Awww. But we could've covered it in at least half the time if we went by air." Dash replied.
"Now ya know we can't go bah air." Applejack answered back as she walked up to where Twilight stood. "Princess Celestia did say it were beyond Equestrian weather controls, right?" Twilight nodded in response. "So travellin' bah air would freak out anyone who ain't even known of Equestria."
"Won't it be cool?" Pinkie Pie asked as she popped out of a nearby sack that hadn't even looked as though it contained anything. "The Princess has assigned us this mission to explore strange new lands, to seek out new life and new civilisations," She leapt from pony to pony as she said this, "To boldly go where no one has gone before." She was just about to don a helmet with bull horns on it when Twilight interrupted.
"It's 'to go boldly', Pinkie. It's just not right to split your infinitives. Besides it's not where nopony's gone before; according to the Princess there were relations between Equestria and these lands but they broke off not too long before the end of the First Age."
"Ohhhh, Twilight, you just ruined a good operatic." Pinkie moaned as Rarity came up dressed in something that looked like a cross between a seacolt's uniform and a dress suited for a picnic.
"Dearie me, Pinkie." She declared. "I doubt we have time for opera. Have you any idea how long they run?" Pinkie put her pastern to her chin and seemed to be working it out. "Three days on average."
"Anyway," Twilight budged in after a few exchanges of views between the four mares, "It looks like our boat's arrived." The amount of time it took to get a word in meant that it was only just drawing up to the dockside proper.
Twilight, Rarity and Applejack attended to the loading of supplies and discussions of crew complement with the skipper while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went in search of Fluttershy, who hadn't been seen since the previous evening. Eventually they turned up with Rainbow carrying a rather tense-looking pegasus, which prompted Twilight to ask.
"What's got into her now?" Rainbow set her down beside the main mast before answering.
"Pinkie's tirade about adventure yesterday gave her cold hooves." By now all were ready to cast off. The captain had assembled a crew of 16 mares and two stallions plus himself. Including the mane six this tallied to 24 ponies on board.
As the Bow Wing sailed out of harbour Fluttershy kept herself at the railing, fearing that she'd get seasick although the greater worry for everypony was homesickness. By the time they lost sight of the shore the sun was sinking with increasing rapidity, indicating that it was getting on for sunset. Now Twilight had all her friends gathered in a particular cabin and sealed it with extreme caution.
"Okay, everypony." She addressed them as she broke the seal upon the scroll. "Princess Celestia wants us to form an embassy with..." Her eyebrows rose fast as she read the name.
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