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The Empire of the Moon on FIMFiction.net (not preffered: please read on Google Docs!)

Shaking. That was what Twilight felt as she stirred her way back from fitful unconsciousness, her eyes blearily opening. Somepony was shaking her hammock, and she blinked, craning her head up to see who was waking her up at what felt like an unearthly hour.

Rainbow Dash’s blue face met hers, and she hissed. “Twi. Wake up, Twi.” “What is it, Rainbow,” Twilight asked, reaching up to rub her eyes. “Fancypants told me to wake you up,” the blue Pegasus hissed in her ear, “and to tell you to be quiet.”

“Uh...” Letting out a deep sigh, Twilight groaned. “Okay...” She carefully climbed out of her hammock, barely avoiding smacking Fluttershy in the hammock next to her with her hoof as she rolled out, and slipped onto the deck. “What is it?” “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me, but he said to wake you and Princess Luna and tell you to meet him in the cabin.”

“In the...” Twilight grimaced, as Blueblood was the last pony she wanted to deal with shortly after waking up. “Do I have to,” she whined, and Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped. “Yeah, I think so. That old guy sounded really, really grim.” “Rainbow... Everypony’s grim,” she noted, but Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Yeah, but I think this was serious and pertains to us.”

Nodding, Twilight slunk from the forecastle to the hold, pausing to pick up the Element of Magic from the crate she’d laid it atop and tuck the tiara in her mane, behind her horn. A lot of ponies were snoring around the ship, but Applejack and Big Macintosh were already awake., missing from where she had seen them sleeping last. She climbed the stairs to the deck, and found the both of them standing outside the cabin’s door, looking nervous. “Twi? What’s goin’ on,” Applejack asked her, and Twilight shook her head. “I have no idea, Applejack. Do you know anything?” “Not much. Th’ princess came by here and told us to stand watch here an’ make sure nopony eavesdropped. I reckon you’d best get in there,” she said, nodding to the door, and Twilight squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

“This can’t be good,” Twilight muttered, opening the door and walking in. Her jaw promptly dropped at the room she beheld; light and airy, white with gold filigree all around, it was in every sense of the words a great cabin; opulently furnished with expensive fixtures, such as a huge bed that dominated the rear half of the room, and a large, heavy table. There was a liquor cabinet near to the door, and a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Twilight felt stunned as she looked around, but Princess Luna waved her to the table with her hoof. Blueblood and Fancypants were already sitting around it; the young stallion looking surly and angry, while Fancypants looked grim. “Good, you’re here, miss Sparkle,” he said. “We have a problem.”

“A problem so urgent it couldn’t wait until a civilized hour to arouse me,” Blueblood whined. He’d dressed the cut on his forehead himself, evidently, and Twilight noticed a tall bottle sitting on his bedside table, half-empty, and his eyes looked bloodshot. She frowned, as she didn’t know many ponies who drank much; Rarity sometimes had a glass of wine, but the smell coming from the bottle reeked much worse than any wine she’d ever smelled Rarity drinking. “What’s wrong, Fancypants,” she asked, walking up to the table and sitting down.

“I’m afraid, miss Sparkle, your Majesty, that I feel we have a discipline problem aboard the ship,” Fancypants said, gravely. Blueblood glared daggers at him. “I should say so, Fancypants,” Blueblood snarled. “If this is your way of apologizing, you’ll have to do better than that.”

Twilight and Luna both glared at Blueblood, and so did Fancypants. “Apologize? For knocking you down when you raised a hoof to my daughter?” Fancypants shook his head. “Hardly. But that is the... Origin of the problem at hoof.” “What is the problem, then,” Luna asked, and Twilight nodded to him.

“I’m afraid the crew are upset. My confrontation with Blueblood was witnessed by one of them, and it’s spread to all six of them by now.” Blueblood snorted. “Well, of course they’re upset. You struck me, their captain. What loyal crewpony wouldn’t be upset? You should be thankful they haven’t tied you to the mast and flogged you yet!”

“Blueblood, be silent,” Luna hissed at him. “Especially seeing as how you built this ship, you should know full well it doesn’t have a mast! Fancypants, are the crew upset at you?” “I almost wish they were, Your Majesty. That would make this matter much simpler, I could disembark in Manehattan. Unfortunately, the matter is quite the opposite. During the ‘night’ watch, all six of them came to me to express the opinion that they were glad I had struck Blueblood, and two of them were vocally of the opinion that I hadn’t hit him quite hard or repeatedly enough for their satisfaction.”

“Oh... Oh, dear,” Luna said, while Twilight gulped. “That’s, uh... Bad, isn’t it,” she asked. Blueblood looked shocked and outrage, while Luna and Fancypants were appropriately grim. “It is indeed, miss Sparkle.” “Fancypants,” Luna asked, quietly, “Do you think a mutiny might be forthcoming?”

“Mutiny? No,” Fancypants declared. “But only because of your presence. All six of them are, quite frankly, rather amazed and enthralled to have you aboard. But that’s the problem, I fear; Blueblood has engendered nothing but contempt amongst his crew, and they feel more loyalty to you - and, I daresay with no small measure of embarrassment, myself - than they do to him.”

Twilight gulped. “What does that mean?” “I’m afraid it means that we’re close to a disciplinary breakdown on the ship. They may refuse to sail under Blueblood - one of them mentioned that after he’d heard that Blueblood had gone beyond ranting and actually attempted to strike a pony for insubordination, that he’d sooner desert the ship in Manehattan than take orders from him again.”

“Fancypants, this is a bad joke, and I’m in no mood for it,” Blueblood said, gazing darkly at him. “The crew are loyal, well-paid sailors who know their place and respect their betters. I should have you thrown off the ship the moment we make port.”

Fancypants remained silent, while Twilight narrowed her eyes at him, speaking up before Luna had the chance. “No. I’m tired of this,” she said, rubbing one of her eyes, then the other. “You tried to hit two of my friends. And you’re not even sorry?” She shook her head, putting her hooves up on the table. “Princess, I’m not sure I can respect Blueblood any more, even if it is his ship.”

“You common cur,” Blueblood snarled at her, but a glance at Luna froze him in his place; she glared at him furiously, her eyes and horn glowing inky black and nighttime blue. “Blueblood, I told you to be silent. If you insult Twilight Sparkle or anypony on this ship again, you will answer to me. Do I make myself clear?”

Quivering, Blueblood shrunk back from her, nodding. “Good.” Luna let the glow in her eyes and horn dissipate. “So, the crew have lost all respect for Blueblood, then?” “I’m afraid so,” Fancypants said with a heavy sigh, and Twilight could only sigh as well. “And I’m pretty sure none of my friends would give him the time of day, after he tried to hit Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch. Rainbow was telling Pinkie about how Fancypants had run in to save her and Vinyl, and Rarity recounted her... Less-than-pleasant experience with him the last time we were at the Gala. Big Mac muttered about how he wouldn’t tolerate him striking any mare around him, and Vinyl Scratch said that if he tried to hit her again, she was going to ‘buck him up’.”

Blueblood looked horrified at what she was saying, angry and horrified. “Auntie! You can’t... You can’t let that pass! Order has to be restored! This is my ship!”

“Yes, Blueblood. This is your ship, but you’re a very poor captain of it.” She glared at him. “The crew are refusing your orders, and you’ve assaulted your passengers. What do you suggest, Fancypants?” “Your Majesty, I regret to say that I feel that I cannot be an unbiased party to any action, as I was involved in the altercation that took place.” “Even so,” Twilight said, “I think you’re probably the most experienced pony on this ship. I... Really don’t have any idea what to do, and I don’t have a library of nautical procedures to look in for an answer.”

She looked to Princess Luna, who shook her head. “I’m afraid all my sailing experience is literally millennia out-of-date. The last time I was aboard a ship, if a fight such as that had broken out, the matter would have been resolved with one of the ponies in the fight being killed and thrown overboard.” She shook her head. “I honestly don’t know what would be appropriate, short of summarily seizing the vessel. I don’t want to do that,” she said, glaring at Blueblood, “though the option is appealing to me more and more by the minute.”

Fancypants looked down at his hooves, a grim, morose look on his face. “I really have no standing to comment on the matter,” he quietly said, eliciting a triumphant, if mean, look from Blueblood, “But, if I had to say, I might suggest relieving him of command. The crew and passengers seem to be unanimous in their contempt for his ability to command this vessel, and a ship can’t sail if the crew has no confidence in the captain.”

“H-How dare you,” Blueblood snarled, but Twilight rolled her eyes, looking up at Luna. “Could that work? We put somepony else in charge of the ship? He still owns it, but another pony becomes the captain? They fly us across the sea and then he can do whatever he wants with the ship?”

“That... That could work, I suppose,” Luna said, stroking her chin with her metal-clad hoof. “Or we could simply put you ashore in Manehattan, Blueblood; pay you for the use of the ship, rent it, if you will - is that the right word?”

“Charter would be the more appropriate term for an agreement for the temporary use of a vessel, Your Majesty,” Fancypants added, and looked to Blueblood. “Would you accept a bareboat charter arrangement, Blueblood?”

“No, I would not,” Blueblood responded, angrily. “This is my ship, mine! I designed the drives, I designed the balloon system! I paid for her, I’ve made her my life’s work. She’s not available for charter or sale!”

Feeling her patience waning, Twilight stretched up to bring her head level with the Alicorn and the two tall stallions in the room, bracing her fore hooves on the table. “Alright then, how about this: you stay on the ship, in your fancy little bedroom with all your fancy little toys, and you stay out of our way. We make somepony else the commander of the ship, you get to stay the owner and get whatever Princess Celestia said she’d give you for the voyage, and we get across the sea without killing each other? Please?”

Anger flared in Blueblood’s bloodshot eyes, and he reared up on his own haunches, bracing his own forehooves on the table. “How dare you take such a tone with me, you - you commoner!” He snarled, and Twilight couldn’t help but start to snarl back. She had very seldom known such an infuriating pony. Luna and Fancypants both looked about ready to smack Blueblood down - verbally or otherwise - but Twilight beat them to the buck, her patience having run out.

“Shut up, Blueblood!” Twilight stamped her forehoof on the table, and jumped up onto it, getting in his face, feeling a surge of anger run through her. “I’ve about had it with you! You tried to hit two of my friends, and I don’t know what this hangup you have with ponies being ‘common’ or - or whatever it is you have, but I’ve had it! I would literally rather spend time with any other pony on this ship than you.” Blueblood took in a breath to speak, but Twilight cut him off; she focused on his mouth, forcing it shut telekinetically, his eyes going wide as he realized she was restraining him.

“Princess Celestia named me to speak in her stead,” she declared, angrily. “And I’m declaring that I think we don’t need you on this trip at all. I don’t know what your major problem is, and frankly, I’ve stopped caring. Equestria came under attack, ponies almost died, and now the sun is stuck in the sky, beating down on all of us, and you’re worried about who’s of common birth or not? What does that even matter?!”

She let go of Blueblood’s mouth as she realized she was probably cutting off his air supply, and he gasped, scrambling backwards and abutting against the footboard of his bed. “Are you going to start trouble again,” she asked, and Blueblood whinnied with fear, shaking his head.

“Good,” Luna declared, standing up and laying her wing over Twilight’s back. “Your choice, Blueblood: we put you off in Manehattan, or you get to come along as the owner but not the commander, and if there’s any more trouble from you, you stop being the owner.” She looked to Twilight, and Twilight nodded at her, feeling in agreement with her. “Then it’s settled,” Luna said. “All we need is your answer. What’s it going to be?”

“I-I-I...” Nervously, he looked between Twilight standing on his table and the Princess standing next to her, and gulped. “I-I’m not getting off,” he said, quickly. “Somepony has to fly it back across the sea when you’re done, and she’s mine.”

“Fine. Then it’s settled. We are officially relieving you of command of this vessel,” Luna declared. “Twilight, who should we put in charge?” “Um...” Twilight looked over to Fancypants, who looked rather embarrassed. “Fancypants... I can’t think it should be anypony but you.”

“I...” The older stallion shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I have skippered a vessel about this size in the past, but that was a long time ago... And it was only a temporary arrangement. Moreover, I’m not sure that such an appointment would be appropriate, given that I was involved in the altercation that sparked this... Unfortunate affair.”

“Nevertheless,” Luna said. “Can you name anypony better suited than you that we have on hoof?” “I fear I can’t, Your Majesty.” “All right,” Twilight said. “This is a small ship, isn’t it? So if the owner’s not the commander anymore, that means we should probably appoint a - a what was it?” “Coxswain, miss Sparkle,” Fancypants filled in. “A coxswain would be the appropriate rank and title for the pony who administers to and operates a ship of this size in the absence of a captain. However, this ship does still have masters - the two of you, Your Majesty, miss Sparkle.”

“What’s the difference,” Luna asked, as Blueblood slunk back to his bedside, having realized that he had been rendered superfluous to the conversation, and she turned her head to ignore him. “Well, your Majesty, on vessels with complicated arrangements, there are, generally speaking, three primary parties to know. The owner of the vessel is the owner of record; typically, if they are not also the master or commander, they aren’t present on a voyage, they simply own the ship and profit by doing so. The Master of a vessel is the party who makes executive decisions, and they may also be present or absent as they decide. For instance, the Master might decide to sail the ship to a given port, or to load or unload a given cargo. The Commander is the pony who operates the vessel - orders the crew about, ensures the smooth sailing of the ship, and in a crisis is the absolute authority aboard the vessel. In most arrangements for a boat this size, one pony would be at least two of those things unto themselves. However, at present, we have a three-party arrangement. The Crowns have decided to deem Blueblood unfit to be the Master and Commander of this ship, therefore he is only the owner. I assume some form of arrangement has been made to compensate him for his vessel’s time, but that’s not really germane to the topic at hand. He still owns the boat, but he no longer has any decision-making authority over it until such time as our voyage no longer requires his ship and he can do with it and himself as he pleases. The two of you have become the masters of the ship. You decide where we go; in this instance, we’re sailing across the sea to the countries that the founding ponies fled from when they landed here in Equestria. And you want me to be the Commander, to ensure the day to day operations of the vessel, to get the ship where you decide it must go, and, should an emergency arise, to deal with it.”

Luna and Twilight looked to one another, and Twilight nodded. “That... Actually, that’s a clear and... Pretty good explanation of the situation as I understand it.” Luna nodded. “I concur, Twilight Sparkle. So it is settled; Fancypants, We hereby order you, in the name of the Crowns, to assume the post of coxswain aboard this ship and guide us across the sea in accordance with previously-outlined plans. Do you accept this responsibility?”

Fancypants closed his eyes, taking in a breath, and sighed. “I do, Your Majesty, but we must be clear that in the event of an emergency, only one of us can be in charge.” Twilight blinked, as Luna met Fancypant’s eyes, and nodded. “We accept and understand this requirement. Twilight and I shall follow your orders as necessary, pursuant to whatever emergency arises, and we shall take your counsel in all other matters.” Gulping, Twilight nodded. “Yes, we will. I’ll make sure all my friends know how this works, too.”

“Good! Then, if you’re taking my counsel, I must suggest a few things at present,” Fancypants said, sitting more comfortably at the table. Twilight settled back down at it, and Luna nodded. “By all means, Fancypants.”

A piercing whistle broke the ‘morning’ stillness. “All hooves on deck, y’all! Get ‘er up an’ out here!” Applejack let out another piercing whistle. She and Big Mac were standing by the cabin’s wall; Rainbow Dash and one of the crewponies, a Pegasus, were flying around the ship when she whistled, and they rolled over and banked to the deck, landing solidly in the middle of the ship. Luna had hovered up to the cabin’s roof, and was standing atop it, regally overlooking the deck, as Twilight and Fancypants stood on the deck.

The ponies belowdecks started to boil out from underneath, hurrying. Derpy Hooves was first, followed by two crewponies, Vinyl Scratch and Pinkie Pie, another crewpony, Fluttershy and Rarity, and the last two crewponies. “Fall in, y’all,” Applejack yelled, then added, almost parenthetically, “That means line up.” She hurried to line herself up as the six crewponies fell into a line after a moment’s glancing around; she stood next to the nearest of them, and Big Mac followed suit, standing next to her. Twilight saw her friends line up after only a moment, with Derpy in the middle and Vinyl Scratch on the end. She squirmed inside; she didn’t like to give the impression she was giving orders, but she needed to explain this, and Fancypants had assured her and Luna that it would be best if they did so, rather than he.

“Alright, everypony,” she said, coughing and trying to make her voice louder whilst not yelling at them. “We’ve had some problems aboard the ship, and Princess Luna and I have come up with an arrangement that holds everything together. Prince Blueblood has been stripped of his command of this ship,” she declared, and let it sink in, letting the crew and passengers look around at each other.

“Princess Luna and I, acting as representative of Princess Celestia, have taken control of this vessel, but not ownership. Prince Blueblood remains the owner of the vessel, but he is no longer in command, and is probably going to stay in his cabin for most of the voyage as he insists on remaining aboard. However, Fancypants has been appointed the coxswain of this vessel. It is appropriate to refer to him as captain, skipper, coxswain, or, if you can pronounce it, ‘cox’n.’.. Coxn... coxen... I’m not sure I pronounced it right.”

“You did, ma’am,” the pony with the Bronxo accent said. “It’s ‘Cox’n.’ Ya had it right the first time.” Twilight nodded at her. “Thank you. Now, if you have any trouble, concerns, questions, or whatever, please, come to any or all of us, quickly, but if anything goes wrong, everypony is to look to Fancypants for guidance, and if he gives anypony any orders, we all need to follow them. All of us,” she emphasized, “Even Princess Luna and myself.”

“So, does this mean we have a proper chain of command,” the Pegasus crewpony who had been orbiting the ship with Rainbow Dash asked, and Twilight nodded. “Yes, we do, but it’s very short. Basically, it’s Fancypants for anything day-to-day or emergency, with Princess Luna and myself making any major decisions that need to be made... With the input of everypony who has a stake in them, which pretty much means everypony for most things. Does anypony have any questions?”

The Bronxo-accented mare raised her hoof, and Twilight nodded to her. “If you’ve relieved Blueblood of his command, does that mean we’re workin’ for the Crowns now?” Twilight blinked. “Um... I... That’s a good question. I don’t know.” She looked back to Princess Luna, who nodded, spreading her wings. “That is what it means. We hope that none of you have any objections, but we very much need every experienced sailor who knows how to fly this ship, and so cannot afford to allow anypony the option to depart before our voyage across the sea is complete.”

The Bronxo-accented pony laughed. “Hah! And my old man told me I was too sassy to be in the Navy. Guess he was wrong, even if I did get conscripted.” She saluted, with her forehoof, and the rest of the uniformed crewponies followed suit, directing their gaze to Princess Luna. She closed her wings, nodding her head. “And, that’s, um...” Twilight nodded. “That’s all, isn’t it?” She looked back to Fancypants, who shook his head. “Not quite. You need to call roll.”

“Ah! Right!” Twilight looked around. “My parchment, I think I dropped - oh.” Fancypants levitated the rolled up parchment and pen to her, and she took them from his grasp, unfurling the parchment. It had nothing but a list of names on it, and she cleared her throat. “I was supposed to say something before I started, wasn’t I?” “If I may,” Fancypants asked, and Twilight nodded to him. “Of course.”

“Roll call! All hooves, stand to attention! All passengers and guests, present yourselves for roll!” He thumped the cabin’s door with his hindleg, and tugged it open telekinetically, as the six crewponies drew themselves up straighter, with their legs together, with more or less the expediency of experience warring with years being out of practice. “That means you too, Blueblood,” he called into the cabin, then walked to the line of crew and passengers, seating himself firmly on the end, squaring his shoulders, head and ears up. Prince Blueblood slunk out of his cabin a moment later, his eyes more bloodshot than they had been when Twilight saw him last, mere minutes ago. He reeked of alcohol, and she winced, but decided not to say anything, as he carelessly sat at the end of the line.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight called out, and looked up to the top of the Cabin. Luna spread her wings. “We are present, Twilight Sparkle.” She had, according to plan with Luna and Fancypants, called Luna first, and Fancypants second, to set an example.

“Fancypants, Coxswain!” “Present, ma’am!” Fancypants saluted smartly, then lowered his hoof, and she checked him off the list, quickly looking back up to check Luna off.

“Wavechaser, Able Airpony!” Twilight read off the next on her list, and a tall, thin Earth Pony in a sailor’s uniform saluted smartly. He had a navy blue coat with two-toned yellow mane and tail, both short and unkempt, as well as a matching tuft of beard below his chin, and was wearing a watch with a white band around his left forehoof. “Present!” Twilight duly ticked him off, and moved on to the next one.

“Smoke Curls, Able Airpony!” “Here!” Twilight glanced up; the rakish mare with the Bronxo accent, her left ear had a jagged edge on top. Bright, piercing blue eyes and a coat the color of charcoal, her short mane was striped toothpaste-green and salmon, while her short tail was primarily the same green with salmon tips. Her salute was sloppy, but swift, and Twilight ticked her off the list.

“Cherry Sky, Able Airpony,” Twilight called out next, and a Pegasus mare with a gray coat a few shades more purple than Derpy’s saluted with her wing. She was wearing tinted pince-nez sunglasses that were identical to Vinyl’s except for their red tint, and her mane and tail were both tightly braided in two tones of red, bright and vivid, like a maraschino cherry, and lighter, pinker. “Right here, ma’am!” Twilight nodded at her. “Um, could you take the sunglasses off during roll call,” Twilight asked. As soon as she said it, she felt a little absurd, as she was, notionally, giving an order. “Er... Yes, ma’am,” the Pegasus said after a moment’s hesitation, pulling them from over her green eyes and tucking them in the pocket on her uniform’s flanks. At the far end of the line, Twilight saw Vinyl Scratch shift uncomfortably, levitating her own sunglasses off her eyes and resting them behind her horn.

Moving on, Twilight called the next name on her list. “Cloudstrike, Able Airpony!” “Present, ma’am!” Another Pegasus, his coat as gray as Derpy’s saluted with his hoof. He was short, shorter than Twilight by a few inches, with a young-sounding voice and piercing violet eyes, wearing a short mane as white as snow with silvery-grey tips and a matching, short, upright mane. He was wearing two thick, fluffy legwarmers on each of his rear legs.

Twilight read off the next name on her list, in order; “Rusty Sunrise, Machinist’s Mate!” The name conjured up an image of a rugged pony with a massive, rusted wrench, and she looked up. “Present, miss!” The Unicorn stallion who answered was anything but what his name implied; his voice was quite nebbish, and he had more or less the same build as Twilight, wearing his mane short-cut, neatly-cropped tail to match that graduated from red to reddish yellow, and a coat the color of wet, brown sand. He was wearing a white vest over the front of his white sailor’s uniform, festooned with pockets, two of them bearing protectors and a number of pens. Twilight nodded to him, and moved down to the next name on her list, the last member of the original crew.

“Ah... Winestripe, Machinist’s Mate,” she called out, blinking. “Right here, miss!” Twilight was taken aback for a moment; she hadn’t seen this member of the crew before, and she was rather sure she would have. Standing as tall and as thin as Princess Cadance, the mare she beheld didn’t appear to be a pony at all, except for the unicorn horn emerging from her mane. Her coat and horn were a deep, rich blue, but she had vivid, snow-white stripes on all of her exposed coat; her face and neck, her lower forelegs and most of her rear legs. They reminded her of Zecora’s zebra pattern, and her mane and tail reinforced the impression; her mane was solid white, worn short-cut and sticking together in square bangs, but the last inch or so was, with a diamond up and down pattern, solid black. Her tail had the same colors, but tied up in a tight, complicated braid pattern alternating black and white loops, with a big tight bun at her rump and a thick loop of black hanging from it. She was wearing white shoes on all four of her legs, but the shoes over her rear hooves were tightly bound up with white straps with buckles around them.

Twilight blinked at the odd Unicorn Pony. “Okay,” she said, her voice betraying her surprise, and she could see the tall unicorn mare shift uncomfortably, but Twilight shook her head, deciding not to make anything of it, and moved on. “Let’s see... Prince Blueblood!”

She knew where he was and looked at him, and Blueblood glared back at her, angrily. He didn’t speak, though, and an uncomfortable silence reigned for a few moments. She had hoped he would have understood by context, but as he didn’t answer, she cleared her throat, pointedly directing the call again. “Prince Blueblood!”

His bloodshot eyes narrowed and focused on her, and Twilight took a deep breath, rolling up the parchment in front of her and walking back to him. “Blueblood, I called your name. Are you going to answer, or make a scene,” she asked, pointedly.

“No,” he said, angrily, and Twilight rolled her shoulders. “No, what? No, you’re not present, or no, you’re not going to make a scene?” The Unicorn stallion’s face twitched. “I’m right here!,” he snapped at her, his voice pouting and defiant. “Are you blind?!”

His snapped and angry exclamation got a series of gasps and nickers from the rest of the ponies assembled for roll, and Twilight blinked, gulping. What do I do, what do I do... I’ve got to keep order, I’ve got to look strong... What would Celestia do?

Squaring her shoulders, she drew herself to her full height. “Blueblood, you’re out of line,” she said, trying to fight down the urge to quiver. “Confine yourself to your quarters. Now.” She nudged her head towards him, and he stayed on his rump, staring at her. “What if I don’t,” he asked.

Twilight blinked, and looked towards Fancypants, then Luna, but both of them nodded to her. She hunched her shoulders again, straightening her head up. “Curl, Wavechaser!” The snapped, sudden order she decisively belted out took a moment to take effect, but the thickly-accented mare and the tall Earth Pony stallion stepped out of line, Smoke Curl saying “Aye, ma’am?”

“Escort Prince Blueblood to his quarters,” she ordered them, and the both of them snapped off a salute. “Aye, ma’am,” Wavechaser said, walking up to Blueblood. “Come this way,” he said, to Blueblood, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Blueblood batted his foreleg away. “Don’t you dare lay a hoof on me, commoner,” he snarled at Wavechaser, and Wavechaser blinked. “Miss Twilight said to confine you to your quarters. Are you going to go?”

“Are you going to make me? I’ll throw you overboard,” Blueblood snarled, and Luna cleared her throat. “Twilight? We suggest you handle this. You know what to do.” and Fancypants nodded at her as well. She stepped up, narrowing her eyes. “Blueblood,” she said, fighting to keep her voice calm, “I won’t order these nice ponies to get into a physical altercation with you. You’re not worth it. So, you can let these crewponies escort you to your cabin, or I’ll ask my friends Applejack and Big Mac to restrain you in the hold. Big Mac? Will you hold him down if I ask you to?” “Eeeeyup!” The mammoth red Earth Pony called from the end of the line. “AJ, have you got your lasso?” “Always, sugarcube,” Applejack responded, producing the coil of rope from her saddlebags.

“It’s your choice, Blueblood,” Twilight said. His face looking paler than usual, Blueblood looked down the line at Applejack coiling up her lasso and Big Macintosh meeting his gaze over the assembled ponies’ heads. He gulped, and turned, as if it were his own idea, walking back to his cabin and slamming the door behind him.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Twilight said, with a sigh. “Um... What’s the right thing to say now,” she asked Fancypants, aside, and he murmured “You’re thinking of ‘fall in.’” “Right. Fall in!” The two crewponies she had called out of line fell back into it quickly, with Applejack returning her lasso to her saddlebags and squaring her shoulders. Rainbow Dash snickered, quietly, nudging Applejack’s side, and Twilight couldn’t help but fight the urge to giggle at the status-conscious Unicorn fleeing in fear of being physically restrained by the two farm-ponies, and to start shaking from the tenseness of the confrontation.

“Um, let’s see... Fluttershy,” she called out. She looked to see Fluttershy, and could see her pastel-yellow friend’s lips moving, but could barely hear a squeak from her. “Come on, Shy,” she encouraged her. “A little louder, so we can all hear?” “U-Um... H-Here, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, still painfully quiet, but audible. Twilight ticked her off the list, with a smile.

“Twilight Sparkle!” A moment of awkward silence passed, and she let out a laugh. “Oh, doy! I don’t need to call my own name.” She checked herself off, with a giggle. “Applejack!” “Here, y’all!” AJ let out a whistle, and Twilight ticked her off. “Big Macintosh!” “Eeeeyup!” Applejack’s brother called out, and she ticked him off as well. “Rarity?” “I am present, darling,” the white Unicorn mare responded.

“Excellent, excellent. Vinyl Scratch!” “Yo!” The other white Unicorn mare gestured in the air by telekinetically levitating her glasses and waving them, and Twilight ticked her off. “Rainbow Dash!” “Here!” Rainbow snapped to attention, saluting, and Twilight grinned, checking her off. Pinkie Pie pre-empted Twilight by calling out “And I’m here, too! Oh, wait, is this like school where you have to wait for the teacher to call your name even though you’re right in front of her and she can see you’re there?”

Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “Aaaand there’s Pinkie Pie. Yeah, it’s supposed to be like that, Pinkie,” she said, checking her off on the list, and the pink mare’s ears drooped. “Sorry. I’ll do better next time,” she said, and Twilight smiled. “It’s okay, Pinkie. Derpy Hooves!”

The gray mailmare held up her hoof, half-stepping forward to be seen. “I’m right here, Twilight,” she called out, and Twilight smiled. “I see you there, Derpy. Thanks!” Derpy stepped back as Twilight ticked her off the list again, and got to the last name. “Aaaaand... Spike!”

Twilight reflexively glanced down and to her right, but Spike wasn’t there. He didn’t speak up, and she looked to her left, but he wasn’t there, either. She looked up and down the line, as the ponies assembled started to look around for themselves, but her assistant wasn’t in the line, either. “Spike?”

Worried, now, she darted up and down the line, looking for her small purple Dragon friend, then she looked to Rarity. “Rarity, have you seen Spike? I guess I assumed if he wasn’t with me, he was with you.” “I haven’t seen him in a while, Twilight,” Rarity said with a worried blink. “I just assumed he was helping you.”

“No, I...” Twilight blinked, and Fancypants stepped forward. “What does he look like,” he asked, and Twilight sat back on the deck, describing Spike. “He’s a small purple baby dragon,” she said, nervously. “Green crest and ears, short!” She indicated his height by holding two of her hooves apart. “Spade tail, walks on two legs.”

“Right! Wavechaser, Curl, search the hold and forecastle! Open up every crate if need be!” The two of them snapped their hooves into a salute, and darted off, down to the hold. “Sunrise, Winestripe, search the engine compartment. He’s small, he might have gotten into the machinery, so look thoroughly!”

The two unicorn crew snapped their hooves to attention, and followed after the two Earth Ponies. “Cloudstrike, Sky, Dash!” The two remaining crewponies snapped to attention, and Rainbow Dash followed suit, jumping out of line to salute. “I hope to Celestia he didn’t fall overboard. Retrace our route, spread out. If he fell, he might have survived. Stop and ask at any settlements or houses we may have flown over, somepony may have taken him in to render aid. Just be quick about it!” “Yes sir!” Rainbow Dash snapped off a salute, and took off in a rainbow-streaked blur, followed just behind by the two crewmembers. “Fluttershy!” “Y-Yes?” The timid Pegasus asked. “Inspect the hull and the balloon. He might have gotten himself somewhere he’s not supposed to be and become lodged.” “O-Okay,” Fluttershy timidly murmured, spreading her wings and flapping into the air, slowly flying out and around the balloon. “Your Majesty, would you please inspect Blueblood’s cabin? He’s least likely to mouth off or talk back to you, and we don’t have time for his tantrums right now.”

“We shall do so at once,” Luna answered, hopping down from the cabin’s roof and opening the door, walking into it. Fancypants nodded at her. “Miss Hooves!” “M-Me?” Derpy pointed at herself, and Fancypants nodded. “Yes. You’re a Royal Mail Carrier. I need you to disembark, fly to the nearest postal office and compose an alert letter to all emergency services, hospitals, and postal employees between Canterlot and Manehattan, and Canterlot and Ponyville, to be on the look-out for the dragon Twilight described. If he fell from the ship, he may be injured, and have wound up in a hospital or clinic somewhere; and if he’s not injured, he may be trying to make his way by road or overland either to his home, or to our next stop. Any replies should be sent by pegasus courier directly to the ship by way of Manehattan, and if the dragon is found and fit to travel, he should be conveyed to Manehattan as well. Once you’ve had the letter copied and disseminated, return to the ship.”

Derpy’s eyes were wide and proud, beaming at Fancypants, and she said “You can count on me, Mr. Fancypants sir!” She turned and dove off the ship’s side, narrowly passing between the fins and snapping her wings open, gliding away.

“Fancypants,” Twilight said, squirming uncomfortablely, “Is there anything I can do?” “I’m afraid not much. Go to the railing and look around the ship if you can, or return to whatever you were doing otherwise,” the old Unicorn said, with a sad sigh, walking to the forecastle platform and looking out to the front. “One of the hardest parts of command, miss Sparkle, is that once you have given orders, you must wait patiently and trust in the competence of the ponies who answer to you to carry out the tasks you have assigned them.”

Twilight frowned, glad that Fancypants had been the one belting out orders and not her. “I... I don’t think I like command very much, then,” she said, joining him on the forecastle, rearing out and craning her neck to peer down, around the hull.

“Neither do I care for it myself, miss Sparkle,” Fancypants answered sadly. “Neither do I.”

“Where do you think Spike is,” Apple Bloom hissed, quietly, as the clatter of hooves tromping in every direction around them rumbled through the secret compartment in the bottom of the apple cart. They had taken the opportunity to slip out and stretch their legs when the adult ponies had gone upstairs for roll call, but had been forced to dive back in and pull the hidden door shut behind them when ponies had charged down the stairs.

“I dunno,” Sweetie whispered back, her horn providing a pale, ghostly glow that showed her face was nervous with fear. “But if they look in here, the jig is up.”

“I haven’t seen him in days,” Scootaloo murmured. “At least we managed to get some zap apples before we got back in, though... Are you girls sure this is a good idea?”

“No... But I’m kind of afraid of what’ll happen now if they catch us,” Apple Bloom murmured, curling her forehooves around the bow from her mane. “Maybe we should try an’ sneak off the ship in Manehattan?” “I dunno... What then? I think we might really be in trouble,” Scootaloo murmured, and Apple Bloom shrugged. “I dunno, we could go look up my cousin Babs? She’s gotta have established a clubhouse or somethin’ we can hide out in.”

“That’s not a bad idea... Do you think we can sneak past ‘em all, though?” Sweetie asked. “‘Cause... I’m not so sure we can. Maybe we’d be better off staying put?” “Maybe... Let’s just sit tight, y’all,” Apple Bloom said, closing her eyes. “Sit tight an’ stick together.” She stretched out one hoof, and her two friends touched it, softly. “Together,” Sweetie murmured, and Scootaloo nodded. “Together.”

Rainbow Dash had lost all sense of time since she had left the ship. She had flown and flown, leaving Cherry Sky and Cloudstrike in her wake what had to be hours ago, but she wasn’t wearing a watch, and the sun beat inexorably down on her as if it were midday, and had since she had taken off.

It was making her back uncomfortably warm, though with the airspeed she could maintain, it wasn’t too bad. She had darted from settlement to settlement, with the most liberal definition of settlement that she could use; every farm-house, lonely cottage, crossroads with an inn and a tavern and a post office and everything bigger than that, she’d hit, but to no avail. Nopony had seen Spike, and she finally reached Canterlot itself.

The city was much more somber than it had been yesterday, much quieter. Workponies were at work in the mountain above the city and on the valley below it, digging into the mountain and clearing what looked like huge foundations in the valley below. She flew over the city, shaking her head, and spotted a pair of armored Pegasi rising to meet her. Sighing, she came to a hover as they approached her. “Rainbow Dash?” She sighed, relieved that she was recognized. “What’s wrong? Why have you turned back?” “I’m looking for Spike,” she said, “Short purple dragon, really hard to miss. He wasn’t on the ship when we called roll this morning, and I was sent back to look for him.”

“I haven’t seen a dragon,” the one said, looking to the other, who shrugged. “We’d better take you to Spitfire. This way, please.”

“Spitfire? She’s here?” “Yeah. Come on.” The two ponies dived, and she followed them, landing in the castle courtyard. Spitfire was present in her dress uniform, along with what seemed to easily be two dozen Wonderbolts in flying uniform, evidently giving a briefing. “And that means vigilance. We have to keep our eyes and... What in Tartarus are you doing back here,” she said, turning to look at Rainbow Dash. “I don’t believe you of all ponies deserted!”

“Uh, no,” Rainbow Dash said. “I was sent back - I’m looking for someone.” She panted, heavily, and Spitfire shook her head. “You’ve been flying all this time? No wonder you look like you just got out of a sauna.” She turned to the pony next to her, a shorter Wonderbolt mare. “Finish the briefing. I’ll see to this.” Turning, she gestured for Rainbow Dash to follow her, and led her into the castle’s foyer. Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh, slumping on the first bench she came to, launching into a spiel she’d launched into a dozen times, explaining that Spike was missing and they were looking for him.

“Your little dragon, huh? Well, lucky for you, I do know where he is,” Spitfire said, and Rainbow Dash gaped at her. “Y-You do? Is he okay?” “He’s fine. He wandered off yesterday and got lost in the caverns under the city. Some Royal Guards dug him out this morning while they were making a sweep of the crystal caves and put him on the train to Manehattan.”

Relief flooded through her, and Rainbow Dash let out a groan and tucked her head into the bench’s cool marble surface. “Thank Celestia.” She sighed, and stretched. “I-I should probably get back to the ship, then, tell them they can call off the panic.” “Take a half hour’s rest, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said. “You’ll be useless when you get back if you don’t.”

“Yeah... I guess that’s not a bad idea, Spitfire,” Rainbow said with a weak groan, pushing herself up on her forelegs. “Hey, Captain Spitfire? Can I ask you something?”

The flame-maned Pegasus had turned to the door, but looked back to Rainbow Dash, and nodded. “I guess.” “Why did you... You know, flunk me?” “Flunk you?” “Yeah... What you said when the Academy training course was complete. You flunked me out, told me I couldn’t join the Wonderbolts.”

“Oh. That.” Spitfire shook her head, and walked to the bench, sitting on it, next to Rainbow. “I didn’t flunk you out, RD.” “But... You didn’t let me join.” “Those aren’t the same things. Lightning Dust flunked out; you were simply not accepted to join. There’s a difference.”

“I... I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash said, scratching her mane. “Well, it’s simple. You passed all the qualifications you’d need to be accepted into the Wonderbolts. You passed everything, and you were pretty much the best applicant I’ve ever seen. But you weren’t accepted into the Wonderbolts.”

“I... Why not,” Rainbow asked, blinking, feeling hurt inside. “I’ve been trying to get into the Wonderbolts my whole life!” “I know,” Spitfire said, and sighed. “Look, RD, I wanted you. I wanted you in more than anypony I’ve ever seen come through, but I got orders from Princess Celestia herself not to award your commission.”

“You...” Rainbow Dash blinked, hard, and peered at Spitfire, staring into her metallic orange eyes. “You got orders... From the Princess to turn me down?” Spitfire took a deep breath, and sighed, nodding. “I’m afraid so. The order came down the day before qualifications were over.” “But... What... I... I... Why?! I’ve been working my whole life to be a Wonderbolt, and now you tell me I didn’t somehow blow it but I made the grade, and I was turned down because... Because... Why?”

“Because this,” Spitfire said, reaching out and tapping the Element of Loyalty around her neck. Rainbow blinked, looking down and pulling it off her neck; she’d been wearing it nonstop since yesterday, and had forgotten she was wearing it. “She didn’t have to explain anything, and she didn’t, in the letter I got, RD. But after I had to inform you - in front of everypony, no less, and for that I’m sorry - that you weren’t being awarded a commission, I flew up here from Cloudsdale to argue for it. I wanted you,” she repeated, tapping Rainbow’s shoulder. “I wanted you bad enough to argue with the Princess.”

“Well... I... What did she say,” Rainbow asked, feeling cold and hurt inside, and Spitfire sighed. “She told me that even if you had the potential to become the best Wonderbolt ever to live - which, by the way, I told her rather vehemently you did - that you were far more important to the Realm as one of the Elements of Harmony than as an active Wonderbolt. When she put it that way, I had to agree with her.”

Spitfire poked Rainbow Dash in the chest again. “You could have been a great Wonderbolt, the greatest. But there’s a good reason the Princess sent you and your friends instead of any given six Wonderbolts. You’re something special, more special than any Wonderbolt. It’s not something just anypony can do, it’s not something just anypony can be.”

Blinking, feeling her lips tremble, Rainbow Dash watched as Spitfire reached up, stroking her mane. “So, I’m sorry I had to break your heart like that, alright? But it really had to be done. Because, I guess, of something just like this - we don’t need you. The fastest pony in all of Equestria really can’t do much more on civil air patrol duty than a slower pony. But she can do something important on the mission Celestia sent you on,” Spitfire said, poking Rainbow Dash in the shoulder. “Honestly, I think you’re doing the most good right where you are.”

Rainbow Dash listened to Spitfire’s encouragement, but it didn’t make her feel much better. She trembled, fighting back tears, as she sucked in a breath. “But... I... I...” Feeling supremely dejected, she closed her eyes and laid her head in her hooves, and Spitfire sighed. “Yeah, I know. But tell me, would you really rather be out there, getting ready to deploy on civil air patrol, than be with your friends at a time like this?”

Trying not to sniffle, Rainbow Dash gulped, thinking about it. It was a hard thing to admit, her options torn between the dream she’d always wanted to live and her loyalty to her friend, but it really was a foregone, if difficult, conclusion. “I... I, um.... No,” she whispered, finally, and Spitfire patted her neck. “I didn’t think so. Now, get yourself rested. You have an airship to catch.”

“Twi’, you okay?”

Twilight looked up at Applejack’s face, and sighed. She was sitting in the cargo hold, using a crate for a table and shuffling through all the papers and parchments she had in her saddlebags. “No, AJ, I’m not. Not really.” She sighed. “I just can’t seem to figure out when I lost track of Spike. Was he with us when we boarded the ship?”

“I can’t right say,” Applejack said with a sad sigh. “I was worryin’ about Fluttershy, I figured Spike was with you or somethin’.” Applejack sat next to the crate, looking down at Twilight’s papers and shaking her head. “This is a real pickle we’re in, isn’t it?”
Nodding, Twilight sighed. “I’m afraid it is, and I don’t know what to do. About anything.” Reaching up, she rubbed her eyes with her hooves, then laid them on the table. “Why, out of all ponies in Equestria, did Princess Celestia ask me to do this? To - To speak for her? Surely Princess Luna is capable of speaking for the both of them? I’m... I’m really not. I don’t know anything about running something like this.”

“That, Twilight Sparkle, is precisely why my sister has entrusted you with this task.” Twilight glanced up to see Princess Luna emerging from the engine room, slinking gracefully through the cramped cargo hold despite her amazing height. She nodded her head to Applejack, sitting next to her and peering over the crate at Twilight. “She wants you here to moderate me with your inexperience and cautious nature.”

“To... To moderate you?” Luna nodded to her, and let out a quiet sigh. “For all that I’ve learned in the past two years, you have lived all your life in the modern Equestria my sister has forged in my absence. You are... Connected, then, connected with its values, its mores, in ways I am not. You are also my sister’s protege, and I fear you are likely in a better position to know her mind these days than I. That is why she wants you to speak for her.”

“I... I’m not sure I understand, Princess. Why does that matter?” “My sister entrusted you with this responsibility so that I could not unilaterally take any action or make any declarations on behalf of Equestria that she would not have made. She trusts your judgement of her character and desires enough to have you speak for her stead; suppose for instance, at some point in this venture, some of us wind up afoul of the laws of a land we are forced to pass through, and they wish to hold our companions for trial. My inclination would be to free them by whatever means are necessary; forcefully, if need be. But that would be tantamount to declaring war on their kingdom in the name of Equestria, which is not something Celestia would do lightly, I believe.”

Twilight blinked, gulping, looking up at Luna. “Hence, you are here to speak for my sister; to suggest what she would suggest, to argue as she would argue, to convince me - or be convinced by me - of the right course of action.”

Twilight coughed, clearing her suddenly dry throat, her ears drooping. “But, I... I’m not sure...” She frowned. “I don’t know if I can do that right. I was so frazzled by everything that I couldn’t even keep track of Spike.” “The fault for that is everypony’s,” Luna gravely said, with a sad sigh. “I never even thought of it. My thinking is, I fear, in many ways not so much old-fashioned as antiquated. The last time I took a voyage by ship, it was in the days when such voyages were primarily raiding parties of ponies sailing out in a long boat to raid another settlement for riches or supplies. To that way of thinking, if a pony failed to arrive at the dock on the day the adventure set sail, they were either taken ill, injured, dead, or cowardly, and in any event unwelcome on the ship if they could not make their own way to the launch.”

Twilight blinked, letting that set in, while Applejack turned her head up, looking up at the tall Princess. “Pardon me, but... That sort o’ thing really happened?” “Oh, yes, Applejack. It really did.” She sighed, craning her neck to look up at the roof of the hold. Such things.... Well, that was quite literally another era, one that my sister has spent a thousand years carefully crafting modern Equestria to have forgotten. I failed to think to assure that all of our travellers were aboard because I assumed that all who were coming and in a condition to come had made their way successfully to the ship. Fancypants is disappointed with himself that he didn’t insist on roll being called before we set sail. Blueblood, who should be the captain of this vessel, neglected that duty, among his other faults. And everypony else, I imagine, simply assumed that Spike was within eyeshot of another pony and left it at that.”

Twilight nodded, sadly. “But... What if he’s lost? What if he’s lost somewhere, and scared, and alone? What if... What if we can’t find him before we’re ready to sail?”

Luna peered back down, leaning her neck over the crate commandeered as a countertop. “What do you think we must do in such an eventuality, Twilight Sparkle,” she asked, and Twilight bit her lip. She really, really didn’t want to say it, and her throat felt tight as she took in a breath. “I... I suppose...” She looked up to Applejack, who looked sad, but resigned, and nodded. “I suppose we’d have to... Sail without him,” she admitted with a sad sigh. “This is an urgent mission... We can’t really wait, can we?”

“That depends. Do you believe that what he brings to the mission is more important - and so irreplaceable - that we’d be more likely to fail if we left immediately without him than if we delayed to locate him?”

Gulping, Twilight bit her lip. “Um... He...” She sighed. “Spike has this thing set up with his fire. It lets him send letters directly to Princess Celestia, and she can send them back to him... I... I guess we don’t, strictly speaking, need him, but he’s really, really helpful to have around... And he’s like, my oldest friend.”

Luna nodded, and sighed. “I hope we do not have to make that decision,” she said with a sad sigh. “Let us... Hm?” She tilted her head, looking up the stairs, as somepony on the watch yelled out. “We should see what that is,” she murmured, standing and climbing up the stairs. Applejack followed her, and Twilight followed them both, with a worried sigh.

“Wings ho!” One of the crew clearly shouted - Twilight looked up to the top of the cabin to see Cloudstrike rearing up on his back legs, flapping his wings for stability as he pointed to their aft. Twilight rushed to the side of the ship to look back; the two pegasus crewponies had returned an hour ago, having given up their search when Canterlot was in sight, but they’d said that they’d seen Rainbow Dash zig-zagging her way towards the city when they’d turned back.

Now she was back, and though she looked exhausted, she was still flying, catching up with the ship. “Water,” Twilight called out behind her. “Somepony get some water, Rainbow’s back.” “On it, Twi,” Applejack twanged at her, darting back down the stairs, and Twilight waved at the speck of rainbow-colored pegasus in the distance.

The rainbow-maned-and-tailed Pegasus caught up to the ship shortly, pulling alongside and banking in, landing on her hooves on the middeck. She looked woozy, breathing hard, but alert, and after Applejack and Fluttershy got fluids into her, she finally sat back. “Spike’s okay,” were the first words out of her mouth, followed by a long, deep sigh, and she grabbed the offered cup of water from Applejack, knocking it back greedily. When the cup in her hooves was drained dry, she launched into her story.

“Oh, thank Celestia,” Twilight muttered when Rainbow explained that Spike was on a train to Manehattan. “He’s alright. Heh... I knew he was. He had to be.” She smiled, weakly, as Fancypants nodded. “That is quite the good news. Miss Dash, perhaps you should go and rest belowdecks, get some wind back in your lungs.”

“Yeah... That’s not a bad idea,” she replied, standing up and walking to the stairs, slowly but not shakily. Slinking below, she found herself followed by Vinyl Scratch, who laughed as Rainbow sat at the crate that was serving as a table. “Dude, RD. You look beat.” “I feel beat, Vinyl,” Rainbow Dash replied, with a groan and a sigh, as Vinyl slid in opposite her, levitating her glasses from her violet eyes, tucking them behind her horn. “Well, forget about it. We’ll be in Manehattan in a few hours,” she said with a grin. “I need to get to Octavia and make sure she’s not freakin’ out, then I need to recover my headphones, portable and the Disk of Destiny. Once I got that...” She grinned. “Wanna tear the town up before you girls ship out?”

Rainbow snorted, and laughed. “Sounds like fun, Vinyl. I dunno, though, they might need me here...” “Well, yeah. I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But if they don’t... You, me, Pinkie, maybe Octavia if I can talk her into it, we hit the town and tear it up, filly! Who knows, maybe we’ll get y’all laid before you ship out, huh?”

Rainbow choked at Vinyl’s suggestion, half-way between a laugh and a snort of utter disbelief, even as Vinyl reached across the crate and prodded her in the shoulder with her hoof. “What? Come on, that’s what sailors are supposta do before they ship out.” “We-Well.. I, um... Uh....” Nervously, Rainbow Dash felt a strong blush creeping up on her cheeks. “I’m not, like, so sure... I mean, you know, I’ve...”

Disbelief and amusement crossed Vinyl’s face as Rainbow prevaricated, and she slowly spread a bright grin across her lips. “You’ve... Never? I mean, you’re a...” “Uh... K-Kinda?” Rainbow Dash felt her blush intensify, as Vinyl propped up on the crate, reaching over and noogieing her, strongly. “Well, that settles it, then. We’re going to have to break you away and get you laid before you head out to save the world, aren’t we?”

Blushing intently, Rainbow Dash lowered her head to the table, hiding her eyes under her forehooves. “Oh, wow,” Vinyl muttered. “You... Okay?” “Just dying of embarrassment,” Rainbow responded, and Vinyl stood up from her side of the crate, sitting next to Rainbow and rubbing her hoof over the Pegasus’s back. “Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean, you know... I didn’t mean to... Hey, we cool?” “Yeah, we’re cool, I just...” Rainbow Dash straightened up, taking a deep breath. “I just, um...” She glanced around the cargo hold, and finding it empty, continued on with a low voice, “I don’t talk about my sex life much, okay?”

“Oh... Oh!” Vinyl lowered her own voice, and grinned, prodding Rainbow in the wing with her elbow. “You’re a mare’s mare, then,” she said with a cocky grin, and Rainbow gulped. “Uh - I didn’t say that! I just... I... I... I don’t know,” she mumbled, hanging her hooves in her head. “Okay? I don’t know, and, well... This probably isn’t the time to be dealing with my hang-ups, is it?”

“Hey, s’always time to work through what’s ailin’ you if you’ve got to,” Vinyl said, with a shrug. “But hey, if you’d rather not go there, we’ll just tear the town up, three or more mares on a mission to party. Sound good?”

Snorting, Rainbow grinned, the blush on her face starting to go down. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said, offering her hoof to Vinyl, who bumped it with her own.

“Hey! Did I hear someone say party?” Pinkie Pie peeked out of the forecastle, and jumped out into the hold, bouncing literally over the crates to flop into the makeshift seat on the other side of the makeshift table, grinning broadly. “What’s this about a party?” The bubblegum-pink mare leaned forward, eagerly, and Rainbow Dash grinned back at her, explaining Vinyl Scratch’s suggestion of a party crawl of Manehattan.

After Rainbow Dash’s return, Twilight relievedly found herself sitting on the forecastle, listening. There was laughter on the ship, she heard it coming up from the hold, and it made her smile, even though she didn’t feel like smiling.

“Hey, Twilight. How’re you doing?” Twilight looked up from the parchment she was reading to see that Derpy was standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the forecastle platform, so her eyes were on the same level as Twilight’s.

“Hey, Derpy,” Twilight murmured, smiling at her. “I’m... Better than I was,” she conceded. “But I’m still worried.” “Me too,” the gray pegasus confided in her. “I can’t help but feel we worried a lot of ponies for nothing, with the way I sent out messages to everypony between Manehattan and Ponyville. Did we overreact?”

“I wonder that myself,” Twilight murmured, “but what if we hadn’t found his trail so easily? I just don’t know, but Fancypants thought it was the appropriate course of action, so...” “Yeah,” Derpy said, laying her head on the forecastle. “I just hope nopony’s angry at us.”

“As do I.” Twilight sighed. “Well, we’ll be in Manehattan in a few hours, right? What time is it?” Derpy plucked the pocketwatch from the strap on her saddlebag, setting it on the deck: the clock said it was half-past noon. Twilight nodded. “Thanks, Derpy. You wanna go through everything that’s in those bags, maybe catalog it?”

“Can’t hurt,” Derpy said with a smile, walking up to the forecastle and sitting next to Twilight. “Can I help?” Her voice wavered, as if she were afraid of rejection; Twilight blinked, and smiled, sitting up. “Of course you can help, Derpy.” The cross-eyed pegasus beamed brightly, sitting next to Twilight and pulling her saddlebags off her back.

“Wow.” “Mmmhmmm.” “I seen it before, but never from up here.” “It’s... huge.” “I bet it’s a lot of fun!” “It really is incredible.”

Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity all commented on it, and how could one not; the city of Manehattan sprawled out below them as the airship’s fluttering, undulating wing-fin-beats propelled it into the city, over the city. It was truly unlike anything Twilight had seen before; in size and scope, it made Canterlot and the Crystal Empire City both look practically as small as Ponyville.

“Home sweet home,” Vinyl said, joining them at the front of the ship, her voice sarcastic as she reared up to lean over the railing, peering down at the city. “Heh. I can see the place I grew up from here.”

“You don’t sound too happy to be back, Vinyl,” Applejack noted, and Vinyl shrugged. “Yeah, I dunno. I can’t really explain it. I mean, I love this city. You’d think it’s more my speed than Ponyville, right?”

“Well... The thought does occur, darling,” Rarity said, peering over at the other white unicorn, and Vinyl sighed, slumping forward, resting her forelegs over the railing and peering out. “I dunno. I guess I was really burned out when I moved to Ponyville last year, yanno? There’s only so long you can live at a full gallop before you just about drop to the ground and cry. I live my life that way, and I love it, but... Sometimes I don’t. Does that make any sense?”

“Well, sorta,” Rainbow Dash acknowledged. “I mean, I’m that way. All speed, all the time, except when I’m not, yanno? Even I like to kick back and take it easy, read a book or just close my eyes.” “Yeah, I hear you,” Vinyl said, with a chuckle. “I’d been going for like... Well, nonstop, since I got my first gig, living in the limelight, pumpin’ bass and music all day and all night, but... Well, after a while, it got to me. I was kind of a heavy drinker for a few months in there. Things got... Well, they got kind of bad,” she admitted, sourly, closing her eyes.

“What happened,” Twilight asked, worriedly looking to Vinyl. “That doesn’t sound healthy...” “It wasn’t. I figured that out when I woke up one day at nine PM with my contact lenses up my nose, feeling like I’d just swallowed about four quarts of fine sand and chased it with ground glass, out on a quay surrounded by seagulls and used condoms with no memory of the previous day or night.”

“Used -” Rarity choked off, and she and Fluttershy both began to blush furiously, and Vinyl snorted. “Yeah... I don’t think I was involved with them, but still, you know?” “Wow... Harsh,” Pinkie opined, and Vinyl Scratch nodded. “I know, right? There’s partying, and partying hard, and then there’s the kind of party that wrecks your life. That kinda... Scared the fertilizer out of me.”

“What’d you do,” Rainbow asked, and Vinyl chuckled. “Welllllll, I went to my agent and asked him to put all the offers for upcoming gigs on the table, and there was a gig in there to DJ a fashion show in some nowhere rural town I had to get a map and a magnifying glass to find. It was offering like, literally one-tenth of what I’d normally get for a job in-town, and it needed travel that wasn’t compensated, too. He told me that he’d just been about to compose a letter to the offerer telling them to please make serious offers only when I told him to just shut up and book me and my gear on a train out there.”

Twilight blinked; looking around, she saw that the rest of her friends were also blinking, looking between one another, and Vinyl chuckled. “Yeah, I know, right? I actually took a loss on that gig going in, between the pay and the cost to ride out there with my gear. I didn’t even have a road crew ‘cause all the venues I normally played had their own hooves to hook everything up, so it was kind of hellish getting everything up in time. Then you girls trotted out on stage in those outfits.”

Rarity gulped, blushing in mortified horror, and Vinyl looked back at her, laughing. “Hey, I kind of liked ‘em, no matter what that stuck-up pony said. Well, most of ‘em, anyway.”

“O-Oh?” Rarity blinked, perplexed, staring at Vinyl. “Who could possibly have loved those abominati-....” She cut herself off, looking around at the five friends who had basically dictated the designs of the dresses in question, all of whom coughed in embarrassment and looked away.

“Hey, I just spin the disks and all I wear are headphones and sunglasses and sometimes socks, so what do I know about fashion?” Vinyl grinned, shrugging. “But I did think they looked nice. Still, that was a disaster. Hoity was so appalled at the show he refused to pay me, and I was just kind of so worn out so I didn’t even argue or threaten to get my lawyer to sue the cutie mark off his flank or anything, I just kind of walked off, into Ponyville, got myself a scoop of hay fries and tried to find the bar.”

“Wow. You must’ve been lookin’ forever, sugarcube; there ain’t no bar in Ponyville.” “Believe me, I know. It was after midnight when I gave up. I was about to go try and find a hotel when I heard music coming from a house. Like, totally lame music, only it wasn’t, you know? I wound up just sitting there, outside this house catty-cornered from the library that some maniac carved out of the inside of a tree, listening to this music coming from inside, when I noticed there was a card in the window; the occupant was looking for a housemate.”

“So... You knocked at like, one in the morning,” Rainbow asked, and Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I did. It just... Seemed like fate, you know? And Octavia answered and even though we’re like, totally opposites, we just hit it off and I moved in that night, and it’s been like, the best thing in my life since my dad pulled strings and paid out the nose to get me into good music schools... She probably saved my life, yanno? Just... Being there, at that moment in time, needing a roommate, and me deciding to go for it without knowing anything about her but that she played the cello.”

“Uh-huh... So that’s why I get blasted out of bed by you screaming ‘good morning, Ponyville!’ out of your bedroom window at least once a week at 8 AM,” Twilight asked with a wry smirk, and Vinyl shrugged. “Yeah, well, I do that when I’m feelin’ really good, like I just got back from an awesome gig or something, yanno?” She grinned back at Twilight, who rolled her eyes. “It’s not like anypony’s ever complained...”

“Would you stop if we did,” Twilight asked, and Vinyl sat down, placing her head in one hoof and thinking visibly about it for long enough to make Pinkie break into a giggle, which in turn made Twilight laugh. “I’d probably forget,” Vinyl admitted. “And it was probably the best that ever happened to me, going to Ponyville, ‘cause I got know you fillies, and that got me my first gig at the palace.”

“Really?” Twilight blinked. “How did that happen?” “You don’t remember,” Pinkie asked, shocked and peering at Twilight, with a laugh. while Vinyl snorted at her. “Dude, I was like, three yards from you at that gig. White unicorn, sunglasses that look like just like these on account of being these very sunglasses? Speakers bigger than Celestia and a turntable mixer? It was a wedding?”

Snickering, Applejack snorted. “How could anypony forget... Surely you didn’t forget, did you, Twi’?” “No, of course not. I remember you were there, I just didn’t know it was you knowing us that landed you that gig.” “Well, specifically, it was me,” Rarity admitted, and Twilight blinked. “It was? What happened?” “Well, after that unfortunate unpleasantness with that uncivilized band of changelings was dealt with, the musicians were nowhere to be found. Cadance happened to mention in my presence that she was afraid a wedding reception without any music would be terribly dull, but that she couldn’t imagine putting a band together in under four hours’ notice. So, I suggested that we might be able to call upon Vinyl here. She asked me where Vinyl was, and when I told her she lived in Ponyville, she spread her wings and launched right then and there.”

“Wow. She never told me.” “I think you were busy helping Princess Celestia with something,” Rarity murmured, and Twilight shrugged, nodding. Vinyl grinned. “Yeah. She landed outside my house in a frantic need to get tunes, so I grabbed together my kit and a bag of disks and she teleported me and all of it straight into the palace. That was awesome. And that’s how I wound up playing Princess Cadance’s wedding reception, which in turn led to me being slated to play the Gala yesterday.”

She sighed, and shrugged, and Twilight frowned. “Man... I know how you feel.” Twilight sighed sympathetically. “Sorry. You’ll still get paid, I’m sure, and-” “Naw, man, it’s not even that. I’m not worried about the bits. I’m bummed I didn’t get to do the gig - Pinkie and I even recorded a song entirely for it. But not even that... I’m just worried that Octavia’s gonna think I’m hurt or dead or something, and I need to get to her like, as fast as is literally possible.”

“Not to worry, my dear!” Fancypants’ voice came from behind them, making all six of the mares on the forecastle turn their heads to look at him. “We’ll be docked in about ten minutes, and you should be able to get off immediately.”

The relief on Vinyl’s face was palpable, and she hopped down from the forecastle, hugging Fancypants, tightly. “Thanks, dad,” she murmured, and he reached up, stroking his hoof through her mane. “I do hope you can assuage your friend expediently.”

Vinyl grinned, and Rainbow Dash looked up at him. “Hey, mister coxswain, sir?” “Yes, miss Dash?” “Um... Do I like, need to be here for this docking?” “Well, I suppose not, as you’re a passenger. Why?” “I’d like to get off now, fly to the train-yard, and find Vinyl’s bags.”

Vinyl turned to peer at her, levitating her glasses up and behind her horn, blinking. “Really? You’d do that?” “Of course I would! What’s a friend for? If it’s okay with the captain, that is.”

Fancypants couldn’t help but chuckle, and smile. “Very well, miss Dash. You officially have permission to disembark early.”

Rainbow Dash squared her shoulders, snapped off a salute, and turned to the edge of the railing. She jumped, kicking off the railing and plummeting down towards the ground, snapping her wings open and joining the layer of pegasi flying above most of the city’s rooftops. Vinyl sighed, walking over to the railing and chuckling. “I could do that,” she said with a smirk.

“Permission denied,” Fancypants said, quickly, causing Vinyl to laugh. “Okay, okay, I won’t... But I could. Man could I jump from up here.” She peered down at the city below - they were starting to cruise smoothly over larger buildings, some of the ones up ahead came up even higher than the ship. “So, uh... Where do we get off?” “Good question,” Fancypants said. “As it happens, the answer is right ahead of us.” He climbed to the forecastle and pointed; following his hoof out over the prow, revealed a dock high in a building hanging out over the road, very firmly reinforced below with struts and above by cables. “Now, just sit tight, and let the crew do their work,” Fancypants advised them, turning back to see to that work.

Docking wasn’t a terribly complicated affair; Cherry Sky and Cloudstrike took the forward and aft mooring lines and flew out to the building, while the engines were cut. As the ship drifted close, they were secured to capstans in rooms at opposite corners of the building, which were then turned to reel the ship in, and it was carefully tied to the dock. The moment the ship’s side touched the air-quay, though, Vinyl Scratch leapt off it and started galloping down the length of it, quickly disappearing into the building, causing Fancypants to let out a sigh. “She really should have waited for permission to disembark,” he opined, with a sad, fond smile.

With a chuckle, Twilight walked to Fancypants. “May I have permission to disembark? I need to go find Spike,” she said, and Fancypants nodded. “By all means, miss Sparkle,” he said, nodding to the gangplank. “Though somehow, I suspect you won’t be long.”

Following his gaze, Twilight gasped, as did the rest of her friends when they looked; the small purple dragon was walking down the plank toward the ship, with a bindle stick over his shoulder. “Spike!”

“Uh, hi, Twilight,” Spike said, as the purple unicorn leapt at the gangplank, galloping down its length to intercept her assistant. She almost tackled him, diving to a stop on her belly in front of him and curling her forelegs tightly around him. “Spike! Oh, I may never let you out of my sight again! You had us worried sick.”

Twilight ignored her assistant’s struggles for a few moments, clinging him tightly against her chest and nuzzling the side of her head against the baby dragon, as he gasped and panted. Finally she loosened her grip, and Spike sucked in a deep, dramatic gasp of air, reaching up and running his clawed hand through her mane. “Geeze, Twi’li, we were only separated like, a day.”

“A day, maybe, but you had me worried sick!” Twilight stood up, and levitated Spike into the air, planting him on her back, firmly between her shoulders. “Come on. Let me show you the ship, and you can tell us where in Equestria you were.”

Spike sighed as Twilight pivoted on the quay, walking back to the ship, slumping over her and holding onto his bindle tightly. “Oh, brother. I’m in for it now, aren’t I,” he asked Applejack as they passed, and she laughed. “I reckon so, Spike.”

“Man, next time I get hungry, I’m just gonna gnaw on a statue or something,” Spike muttered, looking around in awe as Twilight carried him onto the magnificent airship and down into the hold. Once inside, she planted him atop the crate that had been pressed into service as a table. “Alright, Spike, talk,” Twilight directed him, poking him in the stomach with her hoof. “The last time I saw you, I sent you to Pinkie with food, and she said you’d gone back to watch the ponies playing football. So what happened?”

Sitting back, Spike sighed, shifting his bindle stick to leave the bag in his lap. “Well, when I got there, nopony was still playing. I got hungry, but I just has the munchies for something crunchy, like a gemstone or something. So I remembered you saying there were abandoned crystal caverns underneath the castle and I went to find my way in.”

“You... You did?” Twilight blinked. “How in Equestria did you find them?” “Oh... That wasn’t hard,” Spike admitted grudgingly, rubbing the back of his head and unwrapping the bag, revealing a small hoard of gleaming, shiny gemstones. “There was a cavern tours thing being built in town, but it was all closed up. I just, uh, slipped through a board in the fence and went down into the caves... But the tour route was lame, and didn’t have anything really, really good in it, so I started climbing down. I found this hall of mirror-like huge gemstones, and... Well, I kind of... Pigged out,” he admitted. “I fell asleep and I don’t know how much time passed. When I woke up, I couldn’t find my way out, but I kept wandering and I kept finding all these gems, so I started collecting them... Then a couple of royal guard pegasuses found me and took me to Princess Celestia, and boy was she surprised to see me... I guess I, uh... Missed a lot, huh.”

“Yeah.... You could say that.” “The Princess filled me in,” Spike said. “Then she gave me this and put me on the train to Manehattan.” Spike held up a parchment; unrolling it telekinetically, Twilight saw that it was a royal writ declaring that anypony who read it was to to facilitate the conveyance of the dragon Spike from Canterlot to Manehattan and from there onto the air vessel REAS Unicorn’s Splendour without let or hinderance and, if necessary, bill the Crown for any expenses incurred in conveying him expeditiously to his destination. It was marked with her royal seal.

“Really? That’s the ship’s name?” Twilight blinked. “Wow. Narcissistic, much?” “Er... Huh?” Spike blinked at her, and Twilight laughed. “Nevermind. Come here.” She tugged Spike and wrapped her forelegs around him, holding him tightly to her shoulder and nuzzling the side of her head against him. Spike sighed, but wrapped his arms back around her neck, nuzzling into her in return. “You really missed me, huh?”

“Yes, yes I did. You nearly gave me a heart attack,” Twilight said. “We thought you’d fallen overboard or something. Rainbow Dash, Cloudstrike and Cherry Sky checked like, every town between where we were and Canterlot, and Derpy had the royal mail send out a letter to every hospital, clinic, country doctor’s office, police station, fire brigade, and post office between Manehattan and Ponyville looking for you!”

“Uh... Wow.” Spike said, with a tiny voice. “Really? That much trouble?” “Uh-huh.” “I’m sorry.” Spike closed his eyes, nuzzling into her, and Twilight sighed. “It’s... Okay.” She nuzzled back, glad to have Spike close again, and Spike let out a sigh of his own. “Wait... Derpy? Derpy’s with us?” “Yeah. She’s here accompanying the Princess.... Actually, wait. Now that I think about it, I think there were some of her batpony guards with us on the docks, but I don’t remember them getting on. Maybe I should look into that, too.”

“Oh brother. Here we go again?” “Quite possibly.” Twilight stood up, chuckling, and Spike gathered up his spilled belongings, tying them back into his bindle stick.

Vinyl galloped past the small purple dragon without stopping - she took a moment to focus on him as she ran past him, inside of the building, but if he was here, then their search for him was over; her search for Octavia had just begun. By the time she burst out onto the street, she felt her worry growing more, not less; she’d reached the city, but now she had to find her housemate.

“Oh, man...” Looking around, the enormity of the city seemed to press in on her for a moment, but she shook her head. “Okay, think, think... She invited you to this gig of hers before Pinkie popped up and told you about the Gala...” Knocking her hoof against her forehead, Vinyl started trotting down the street.

The citizens of Manehattan were on edge, moreso than usual; she saw a lot of umbrellas deployed despite the utter dearth of clouds in the sky. Naturally, they were shielding themselves from the sun’s heat; a great many awnings had gone up as well.

“Nnnnh. Think, Vinyl, think,” she hissed to herself. “Where would she be... In a hotel? Probably, if the trains are all down or not available for the public.” Turning, Vinyl started to walk. “Which hotel?” She couldn’t remember, assuming that, indeed, Octavia had even told her which hotel. “So... The venue. I can start from there. She said the gig was going to be at... The park. Not helpful.” Sitting down against a storefront, Vinyl frustratedly scuffed the sidewalk with her forehoof. Think think, think! she inwardly railed at herself.

“Hey, lady, move it! Yer’ blockin’ traffic!” A stallion’s voice, grating and annoyed, spoke out behind her. “Ah! Geeze, sorry,” Vinyl muttered, jumping up and forward, hurrying on with the flow of traffic. A few moments later, she chastised herself. What the hell? Why didn’t I tell him to go shove it? Vinyl shook her head. “I’ve been livin’ in Ponyville too long,” she muttered; before she’d moved in with Octavia, she wouldn’t have thought twice (or even once) with responding to such an order from some irate pony with a rude gesture or an invitation that he do something anatomically improbable with himself.

Far from making her bitter or hardened, it just made Vinyl feel more worried about Octavia. She knew Octavia was a grown mare and could easily handle herself, but all the same, she wracked her brain harder, trying to fight through the mental block between herself and concluding where Octavia would be staying.

It hit her, then; she didn’t need to find Octavia. “That’s it! I’ve got it!” “Yeah? Well don’t give it to us,” the wise-cracker behind her commented, but Vinyl was in such a hurry she didn’t even talk back to him, kicking off and galloping across the street, hurrying uptown.

Four blocks later, Vinyl took the stairs of a green and red building two at a time, until she reached the office she was looking for. She opened the door, barging in. “Where’s Vic,” she demanded of the secretary - unknown to her, as he went through them about once every six months or so - sitting at the desk in the foyer. There were two other ponies in the lounge, burly Earth Ponies the pair, both of them looking like brothers.

“He’s in a meetin’,” she advised Vinyl. “If you have a seat, he’ll see you when he’s ready.” That, at least, told her everything she needed to hear, and Vinyl marched straight to the frosted-glass door in the frosted-glass wall, telekinetically tugging it opening and walking in.

The agent whom she had mentioned to Rainbow Dash was sitting behind a large desk, a huge stogie, unlit but well-chewed in his mouth. He was, in fact, in a meeting - only about half an expected event, as she knew full well he had a habit of having his secretary say he was in a meeting and make ponies wait just to make himself look more important.

The pony he was with looked like a match to the two outside, and she supposed that he must have been the brother nominated to act as spokespony, but she didn’t care, as the suddenly-opening door made Vic start and sit upright. “V-Vinyl? Heey, Vinyl! Viny, Viny, Vinyl! It’s good to see you, kid, but I’m kinda busy,” he said, invoking the nickname that she absolutely hated but he wouldn’t stop using no matter how often she told him to stop in the saltiest language imaginable, it as she walked up to the desk, rearing up beside the pony sitting at the front of it. “That’s nice, I’ll be quick. Where’s the symphony players staying?”

“T-The symphony?” The pony beside her turned his head to glare at her, angrily, as she stared at him. “Yeah. The Royal Canterlot Symphony. In town for the Tricentennial? I need to find ‘em.”

“What, the Symphony? I don’t think they need a DJ,” Vic said, with a chuckle, taking the cigar from his mouth and gesturing to the door, beyond which the two big ponies from outside were standing, glaring angrily at her. “Look, Vinyl, have you met these guys? They’re three-fourths of the Barbershop Brothers, you might’ve heard of ‘em? They’re without an agent at the moment, and looking to retain my services, so if you could, you know... Wait your turn? Especially since I hear you’re freelancing nowadays?”

“What?” Vinyl blinked at him. “Canterlot ring any bells?” Vic’s eyes narrowed, and she narrowed her own in return, craning her neck down over the desk as Vic bit into the stogie, hard. “I might turn a blind eye if you decide to play some nowhere hickville town hall or something for some local hickville thing, Vinyl, but this is twice you’ve freelanced a gig at the Castle. Frankly, I’m hurt,” he said, gesturing to his cheap suit. “I’m hurt that you would go behind my back and do something like that. I might almost think you don’t need my services anymore; whereas these gentlecolts do. So, if you don’t mind?”

Vinyl felt a headache coming on, as she stared in disbelief through her glasses at her agent. Crown Vic was a Pegasus, lounging in a broad, wing-backed revolving chair with a copy of the cutie mark visible on his flank stitched above his head - a broad, ostentatious gold crown festooned with red jewels. “Dude, seriously? You want to do this now?”

Vic laughed, and took the stoagie from his mouth, gesturing at her. “No. I wanna do it later. So, do you mind?” She almost lost it, but stamped her hoof on his desk, hard. “Yes, I do mind. One simple question, Vic, and I’m out of your mane: Where can I find the Symphony players! Don’t even pretend you don’t know, Vic, we both know damn well you’d know. Nothing musical happens in this town without you hearing all about it.”

“The Symphony, huh?” Vic made a show of scratching his mane, while the three burly Earth ponies shot angrier and angrier looks at her. “Yeah, I suppose I do know. I sent you a letter sayin’ I was gettin’ offers for midnight post-party parties that desperately wanted DJ PON-3, but you wrote back with some malarkey about blowing it off to attend the symphony - like you’d voluntarily listen to anything that didn’t have more bass than a Nantrotet fisherpony’s catch of the day! Then I hear through the grapevine that you’re not even gonna be in town, you’re spinnin’ vinyl at Canterlot Castle. Without having gone through me, without paying me my finder’s fee. For th’ second time! So I don’t really feel inclined to give you the time of day, even though it’s been the same time since yesterday!”

“Oh, for the...” Vinyl snarled. “Look, Vic, when you get hired directly to play the Castle - the very same castle where our Sovereign Princessesses Their Royal Majesties the Princess Luna and Princess Celestia live - you don’t friggin’ argue, or tell an agent of the Crowns to talk to your agent! The first time, I was called on literally at a moment’s notice, and I didn’t even get paid for that gig at all. This time, I was asked to do it by a friend. There ain’t no finder’s fee, ‘cause nopony had to find me, get it? I was hired directly.” She stamped her hoof on the desk, angrily. “And all I want from you, right now, is the answer to a very simple question, because my best friend in all of Equestria is in that symphony, and now she’s gonna be tearing her mane out worrying about me ‘cause I was at that castle when all hell fell out of the sky on top it and everything’s gone and dropped into a pile of manure!”

Again, she stamped on the desk. “So the only thing on my mind, now, Vic, is getting to my friend so she knows I’m okay, and the only thing between me and Octavia is you.” She dragged her hoof across the edge of the desk, scuffing the polished woodwork, levitating her sunglasses from her eyes and securing them behind her horn. “So, are you gonna tell me where I can find her, or am I gonna have ta make ya?”

Vic stared at her for a long, silent moment, his jaw open as he beheld Vinyl angrily staring at him. Then he laughed, uproariously. “Wow, Vinyl. You’ve gone soft in hicksville, haven’t you?” He snorted, chomping down on the stoagie, and Vinyl felt herself getting angrier and angrier. “Give me one good reason why I should tell ya, why don’t ya.”

Snorting with anger herself, Vinyl cast around - the trio of brothers looked furious, but she didn’t care. She looked from Vic’s collection of vinyl disks - first-pressing collectibles, many of them her own mixes - to the window behind him, looking out over the noon-lit street, to the wall of drawers on the other side, full of tropies Vic had won golfing.

“I’ll give ya three,” Vinyl said, rearing back and kicking away from the desk, landing on her hooves. “One.” She levitated the largest, the only first-place trophy on the chest-of-drawers’ top, and smashed it into his desk, breaking the trophy from the wooden base and leaving a huge dent in it - and an outraged look on Vic’s face. “Two!” She yanked the rarest piece of vinyl from his collection, the gold-colored first pressing of Louie Stronghoof’s second record, easily worth an order of magnitude more than she’d agreed to play the Gala for. She levitated it in the air, above the desk, spinning it rapidly, and jumped back up, onto his desk, craning her neck down to stare his face as he watched the disk, horrified. “The third good reason is whether I put this back on its stand or send it through your window, Vic. You’ve jerked me around so much, I don’t care if I ever hear from you again. Tell me where can I find Octavia!”

“Alright, alright!” Vic was visibly sweating, reaching for the spinning disc, but Vinyl levitated it out of reach of his hooves. “Ah-ah-ah. Talk first, Vic.” “They’re at the Walldwarf,” he snarled. “I swear, they’re at the Walldwarf!”

“Cross your heart?” “Cross my heart,” he exclaimed, standing from the chair, bracing one hoof on the desk and reaching for the spinning disc, which she still danced out of his reach. “Hope to fly?” “I’m a Pegasus! I can always fly, you twit!” he snapped back, and Vinyl smirked, repeating her demand. “Hope to fly?” “Hope to fly!” He snapped his wings open. “Just give it back!”

“Stick a cupcake in yer’ eye?” She said with a grin. “W-What?!” Vic stared at her, and she grinned, turning her head back, floating the spinning disk back through the door to his receptionist’s room. “Vic? Think fast.” She bobbed her head up, tossing the levitating disc into the air and releasing it. With a panicked shout, Vic leapt forward, trampling over the pony in the guest’s chair, snapping his wings to dive through the door. Vinyl telekinetically yanked open the door to his balcony, hopping from the desk to it, turning back in time to see the levitated disc drop, Vic’s leap carrying him too short.

She caught it telekinetically again, and set it down on the carpet, even as Vic struggled, crawling towards it. “Vic? Yer’ an asshole. Go fuck yerself,” she snarled at him, and leapt from the balcony, kicking up and off the railing, out over the street. Her horn glowed again as she felt her weight almost completely vanish, and instead of dropping like a rock, she sailed down the street, accelerating, but only slowly, towards the street below.

Reaching the opposite building’s walls first, Vinyl arrested her jump on the side of a second-story balcony, letting it absorb her momentum as she clung to it for a moment, her right legs on top of its railing and her left balanced on the edge of the balcony itself, then hopped forward, down to the street, surprising an old Unicorn stallion and making a young Pegasus mare shout “Hey, watch it!” as she landed, her landing disturbing the mare’s newsstand’s stocks. Vinyl spared her a glance, eyes glancing out over the news stand. The prominent picture on the front page of four different rags was all the same - a stock photo of Canterlot Castle from afar, with an airbrushed image of some kind of bolt of hot energetic death streaking down at the top and the headlines “CANTERLOT ATTACKED!” or “EQUESTRIA AT WAR?!” or similar. She shook her head, and turned away, ignoring the angry mare, galloping back downtown towards the named hotel.

The Walldwarf hotel was so named because legend had it that when its foundation had been dug, the workponies had uncovered an ancient wall or fence of stone running more or less along the foundation’s outer line, so low that they concluded it had to have been built by a dwarf pony. She had no idea about whether that story was likely to be true or not, but having played at the Walldwarf as a venue more than a few times, she was familiar with the story thanks to the gold inlaid image, supposedly life-size, of the dwarf pony (the size of a colt or filly) complete with trowel and bucket presumably for masonry work with an incongruous mining helmet, and the wall along the bottom inside of the lobby walls.

At the moment, though, Vinyl only cared inasmuch as the gold inlay of the dwarf pony in his cheerful miner’s helmet alongside his wall made it unmistakably clear that she was in the right place. Her breath came hard, fast, as she tried to bring it under control, approaching the reception desk.

“May I... Help you,” the pony on the desk said; snooty and haughty, she looked down her nose at Vinyl, and at the moment, Vinyl didn’t care. “Yes, you may,” she said, rearing up and resting her hooves on the edge of the desk, giving herself the height advantage. “I need to find somepony. A member of the Symphony.”

“Miss, we don’t-” “Her name’s Octavia, just Octavia. Earthtone gold-gray coat, dark and light gray mane and tail, worn long. Purple treble clef cutie mark, wears a white collar with a bowtie, eyes a lighter shade of purple than my glasses. Plays a cello, is she here or not?”

The snooty mare levitated a pair of delicate glass spectacles onto her nose, keeping her gaze level, forcing Vinyl to bend back down to meet her eyes. “As I was, ahem, trying to say, we do not give out information on our guests to just anypony who walks in here. We must keep our guest’s confidence, after all.”

This is a bad joke, right? Vinyl felt her headache coming back, and she took a deep breath, sliding down from the countertop. “Look, lady -” “Manager-” “Fine, Manager Lady!” Vinyl exclaimed. “Octavia’s my housemate, okay? She’s a member of the Royal Canterlot Symphony, and I was supposed to be here last night to see the show. Only I wasn’t, because after I agreed to come and watch her play, I got an offer myself to play the castle, and you do not turn that down. So I already blew her off once, but you know what? I was in the castle itself, setting up my amps, when the skies opened up and started raining death right on my head! And you know what I did, Manager lady? The very first thing I did was worry that Octavia was gonna be afraid I was dead, so you know what I did then? I didn’t hunker down in some cave, or stampede out of the city with the panicked herd of snooty-snout nobs, I tried to jump a moving train to get here. And you know what? I fell off, ‘cause the roof of the caboose was tin and I couldn’t get any grip. Now, most ponies who’ve just fallen off a moving train and narrowly avoided being bodily dismembered take that as sign from Celestia to pack up and do something less risky with their lives, but I had to get to Manehattan, so I galloped from the Canterlot train depot, at the base of the city, straight to the airship quay where they were launching an airship to travel over the seas and sort this mess out, and I jumped on it as it was departing. Had to be at least a thirty yard gap, with about half a mile below me if I blew it. Then, when I got to Manehattan, my agent was giving me grief about wildcatting instead of just telling me where I could find her, so I threatened to break a priceless first-pressing LP worth three times easy what you get from a gig at the castle if you sold it to a pawn shop. Do you know how much you get for a gig at the castle? A lot, and I blackmailed my agent with it to get the place I could find Octavia out of him. Even money I’ll never work in this town again, and you know what, Manager Lady? I don’t care.”

Stretching back up onto the counter, Vinyl glared down at her. “Right now, the only thing standing between Octavia and me is you, unless the Symphony isn’t staying here and I need to march back uptown and force-feed that snake in pony’s coat his own desk. Which is it?”

The manager was definitely taken aback by Vinyl’s excited declaration, and she coughed, squaring her own shoulders. Awh crap, she’s gonna give me a snoutful of snoot, Vinyl recognized, as the annoyed-looking mare glared up at her. “Well, that’s quite the tall tale, but it doesn’t matter to me. The Princesses could walk in here and demand to know about one of my customers and I’d tell them the same thing I’m telling you; the Walldwarf Manehattan Hotel protects the privacy and keeps the confidence of our guests.” She looked down, ruffling the pages of the register on the desk telekinetically. “So, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose whether the mare you’re looking for is even with us today or not -” “Look, lady, quit with the fertilizer,” Vinyl said, with an angry glare. “If she wasn’t here, you would’ve told me that already so I’d be out of here, out of your mane and on my way uptown to buck up the jackass who told me she was here. So where is she?”

The manager cleared her throat, craning her head to glare at Vinyl down her nose. “A-hem. As I’ve told you, the confidence of our guests is protected. I suggest, then, that you go and find something else to do.” “Oh yeah? So, you’re the only pony standing between me and Octavia?”

“No. They are.” Vinyl turned her head, to see two large Earth Ponies in bellhop outfits standing behind her. “And if you don’t leave on your own, I’ll have these gentlecolts restrain you and summon the police to have you removed.”

“So that’s the way it’s gonna be, huh?” Vinyl looked back at the two bellhops. She might have been able to knock them out by smashing the huge planters with stunted trees over their heads, but a tangle with the cops would be really problematic. “Can you at least take her a message for me, then?”

“No. There’s the door,” the manager said, snootily, gesturing to it. “I suggest you make use of it immediately.” Looking back, she sighed, and turned. “Fine,” she muttered, and walked to the door, with one of the bellhops turning to escort her out. This isn’t over, bitch, she thought in the direction of the snooty manager mare, but walked out, levitating her sunglasses back over her eyes.

Outside the door, Vinyl looked up and down the street; she was so close, she wasn’t going to give up that easily. The bellhop said “Miss, if you’d please?” “Huh?” “Please move along. She’ll get angry if you loiter outside the door.”

The urge to tell the Bellhop to shove his hat somewhere decidedly unhygienic flared up in her, along with the urge to levitate it from his head and do it herself, but Vinyl restrained her anger, only rolling her eyes, and turned to depart, walking down the street, slowly, to spite him. She realized after a few seconds that he was following her, and was about to give him a piece of her mind when he murmured, “This way, miss,” and ducked down the narrow service ally at the side of the hotel. Vinyl frowned, but followed him. If this guy thinks I’m gonna shake my tail at him to find out where Octavia is, I’m gonna buck it out of him, she darkly thought, but when the bellhop reached a service door and turned back, he was grinning. “Oh, my Celestia. You’re DJ PON-3!”

Relief washed through her, and Vinyl let out a relaxed sigh. “Yeah. Yeah, I am,” she said with a grin. “You a fan, dude?” “Yeah, totally,” the bellhop admitted, gushing at her. “I catch every show you play in Manehattan. Heck, I even went out to Ponyville last time you did a show there. Tiny town, nice ponies.”

Chuckling softly, Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, I know. Why do you think I stayed there? Why do you think I’m so desperate to get to my friend from there?” “Yeah, um... I get that,” the bellhop murmured, looking around, nervously. “This could cost me my job, but...” He nudged his breast pocket with his hoof, and a shiny brass key fell out, falling to the ground with a high-pitched ting. “Ooops. I guess you picked my pocket while I was hustling you along.” He nodded his head at the maintenance door. “That’ll open all the doors except the guest doors. You’ll have to, um, knock, I guess. She’s on the thirteenth floor, room 13204, I think. That is, thirteenth floor, second hallway from the front, fourth from the left, if you were facing the building from outside. I’m gonna go get something to eat, when I get back, I’m gonna ‘discover’ my key is missing, so you’d better have finished up or gotten out of sight before then, kay? You’ve got about twenty minutes... I’m a slow eater.”

Vinyl couldn’t help but grin, as she levitated the key and stuck it behind her ear. “You’re a bro, dude.” She raised her hoof, and he bumped it. “Look, I don’t have any idea where the next gig I do will be, or when, but when you hear of one you wanna go to, no matter where it is, just drop me a line, you and five of your best friends get tickets and train fare, ‘kay?”

The bellhop grinned. “That’s a deal. Did I say I was a slow eater? I think I’m gonna go have a big bowl of Spicy Joe’s three-cheese, four-bean, five-alarm chili, so I’m gonna be tied up in the can for a while. Make it half an hour.”

The bellhop ambled away, and Vinyl took the key, unlocking the door to the service entrance. She quickly tugged it shut behind her and looked around - though largely unmarked, the service rooms she was in were lit by incandescent lanterns that probably desperately needed to be changed, judging by how one was flickering and the others were dim. Still, it was enough light to see by, and Vinyl started looking around, past the boilers and heavy machinery, until she found stairs, after a close call with a door that led back into the hotel’s opulent first-floor hallways.

Climbing the stairs, she counted off landings with doors on them until she found a doorway leading out to the thirteenth floor, and reckoned that once she got into the hallways, she wouldn’t look out of place unless she ran into that harridan manager or the other bellhop who had been called up to eject her. She waited with her ear to the door, listening for a few moments to convince herself the coast was clear, then unlocked it, slipped through, and locked it behind her.

There was nopony in sight, and she checked the floor number on the nearest door - she had wound up near room 13721. Inwardly grumbling at the huge size of the Walldwarf, she carefully navigated her way to the corridor that went between the room halls, and headed for the front of the building, repeating to herself the number 13204 in her head as she went down the hallway. Finding the second hall, she turned and started to walk down the hall, counting off the rooms until she arrived at the designated room, and after a look around, knocked on it.

Her chest felt tight; Octavia hadn’t seemed too upset that she’d had to cancel watching her symphony, but that was before Canterlot was attacked. She heard shuffling from within the room, and finally the door opened.

An Earth Pony stallion with a deep, rich purple coat and vividly blue mane and tail answered the door. He looked haggard, as if he hadn’t got much sleep, but the cutie mark of a golden lyre on his flank was an encouraging sign, and Vinyl blinked. “Uh... Hello?”

He looked her up and down, and groaned. “I swear to Celestia, if this is one of those things I arranged when I’m drunk to prank myself when I’m sober, I’m going to buck myself right in the face,” he muttered. Vinyl blinked again, and levitated her glasses from her eyes, settling them in behind her horn. “Uh... No. It’s not. Promise,” she said, and the stallion sighed. “Good.”

He started to close the door, and Vinyl winced, just barely catching it telekinetically, jamming her forehoof between the door and the doorjamb for good measure. “W-Wait,” she said, and the hung-over pony opened the door again, angrily blearing, “What?” at her with deep frustration in his voice. Vinyl sympathized, having woken up with a similar sensation many times.

“Look, I’m looking for Octavia. I was told she was in this room,” she said, and the purple pony groaned, face-hoofing. “Octavia? Octavia? Why would she be in my room,” he said, turning around, angrily. “I don’t need her in my room.” As he turned, Vinyl saw Octavia’s cello sitting in the corner, and the purple pony blinked. “I... What?” Looking around faster, he groaned. “This isn’t my room.”

“Yeah... Wow. Okay, you’re having one of those mornings. Look, I get it, I’ve been there. Just tell me where she is, then, and I’m outta your mane.” “Nnnnnh.” The hungover pony groaned. “Let me... Oh.” He pointed down the hall. “I’m in 13201, but I have a window, and I wouldn’t have wanted a window with this hangover. I... Buck me, we must have traded rooms.”

While sympathizing with his plight, Vinyl was growing irritated with the continual obstacles in her way. “Alright. Fine. That’s fine.” She telekinetically reached in, grasping Octavia’s cello and carefully setting it in the open carrying case, along with its bow. She levitated them out, towards the door. “Just give me the key to 201 and you can go back to sleeping it off. Deal?” “Nnnnh... Give me a second,” he groaned, turning back. He took a key with a fob that had the numbers 13201 stamped on it from a nightstand, and tossed them out, into the hallway. “Feel free to not knock again,” he said, hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on the handle, then shut the door in her face.

“Suits me just fine,” Octavia muttered, bending down to pick up the key in her mouth, advancing down the hall to the windowed end, and putting the key in the lock of the first door. She unlocked it, carefully, and pushed the door open.

She’d better be in here, Vinyl thought to herself. The door opening revealed a rather dramatic sight; Octavia collapsed on the thick hotel bed, surrounded by newspapers and what looked like composed or half-composed letters. There was a massive floor harp sitting in the corner of the room, and she set aside the keys and the cello, tentatively walking into the room and closing the door. “O-Octavia?”

The haggard-looking mare raised her head, slowly, groaning before she had even opened her eyes. She had an incredible, impeccable upper-class Canterlot accent, albeit marred by the unhappiness in her voice. “What is it,” she asked. “I already traded rooms, now will you please let me be? I have a lot of letters to write,” she complained, opening her eyes.

“Who you writing to,” Vinyl asked, as her housemate’s mulberry eyes locked onto her own. There was a split second of disbelief, then Octavia cried out her name, as if stunned she was still alive and unharmed. “Yeah, I’m here,” Vinyl said, relief draining through her, sapping the energy from her limbs as all the effort she’d gone to paid off, stepping towards the bed. Octavia jumped out of it, and pressed into her, chest-to-chest, head alongside Vinyl’s, hugging her ferociously tightly. “Vinyl! I... I was so afraid,” she said, her voice wavering as she pointed with her foreleg to one of the newspapers, one with that image of the beam of energy hitting the castle from the sky. “Oh my stars, I... I didn’t...” She sounded close to tears, and Vinyl felt the same way, closing her eyes and pressing back into Octavia, sitting down and holding her. “It’s okay. It’s okay, Octavia. I’m here,” she murmured, nuzzling her friend’s cheek, and Octavia sighed, heavily.

“The newspapers were giving conflicting accounts,” Octavia said. “Some of them said there were no casualties, others said there were streams of refugees flooding the roads. The trains are all commandeered, I couldn’t get a ticket to Canterlot, or home, or anywhere.”

“It’s okay,” Vinyl murmured, reiterating. “I’m okay. Everypony’s okay. As far as I know, nopony’s been hurt, just scared,” she explained. “I had a hell of a time getting here, but I made it.”

Octavia finally released her bear-hug, leaning back and sitting down, peering at Vinyl. “You... Oh, you did.” She sighed. “I don’t even want to know, do I?” “Probably not, Octavia. Even though it was really, really cool.” Her friend blinked, peering into her eyes for a moment, then let out a wry bark of laughter, smiling and closing her eyes, blinking away tears. “I was so worried, Vinyl. I thought... Since you were going to have been in the castle itself...” “Chill. It’s fine, we’re all safe,” Vinyl replied, reaching up with her forehoof. Octavia touched hers to it, not bumping, but connecting and holding her hoof to Vinyl’s. “Twilight and her girls, and from what I understand, her big brother and his wife, protected Canterlot from the hit. It was intense, blew my amps all to hell, but nopony got hurt.”

Octavia blinked at her, and sighed, relieved and slumping. “Thank Celestia,” she murmured. “I read that the Elements of Harmony were involved, but again - nopony’s printed an account that doesn’t contradict another.” “Yeah, it’s pretty twisted up. But fortunately, I know what happened straight from the horse’s mouth,” Vinyl said, with a grin. “I jumped the airship Twilight and her girls were riding out here, and they told me all about it.”

“You know what? Tell me later,” Octavia said, closing in for another hug, which Vinyl gratefully received, squeezing her friend. “Just tell me again you’re fine.” “Well, I’m alive,” Vinyl answered her. “There’s a good chance I’ll never work in this town again, ‘cause I told my agent to do something anatomically impossible because he was being a dickhead about just telling me where I could find the Symphony, and when I got here, the manager lady gave me a snoutful of snoot and wouldn’t tell me whether or not you were staying here, wouldn’t even send you a message for me, so I might just, maybe, technically, be trespassing to be here, but I don’t care. You’re safe, I’m safe, and now I know you can stop tearing your mane out worrying that I’m not safe.”

“Trespassing?” Octavia blinked, leaning back to look into Vinyl’s eyes, and she sighed. “You did something stupid, didn’t you?” “Things have been stupid since I tried jumping onto a tin train roof while it was moving yesterday,” Vinyl replied, with a laugh. “I’m just glad it’s over.”

“... Oh, Vinyl,” was all Octavia could think to reply, rolling her eyes dramatically and hugging Vinyl again. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t manage to do something completely irresponsible, would you?” “Probably not, no. You mad?”

“Mad? No. I’m exhausted, Vinyl,” Octavia quietly said. “I passed out... Yet, I’m exhausted. I was trying to write letters to everypony I could think of whom you might, for some reason, have contacted first, maybe because you couldn’t get out of Canterlot or something. Then I got afraid you might have been injured, so I got a list of hospitals and clinics in and around Canterlot and I was writing them all with your description. Then I started to worry that you might have been killed, and I... I...”

“Easy, easy.” Vinyl sighed, and let go of Octavia, walking to the single bed. She telekinetically swept the unfinished letters and newspapers off it, and climbed up. “I’m right here, and I’m beat, too. You can relax now - we both can.” She patted the side of the bed, and Octavia blinked; hesitating for a moment, then she climbed up, into the bed, slowly laying down at Vinyl’s side.

Vinyl turned to her side, stretching her foreleg out, over Octavia’s shoulders, and the earthtoned mare closed her eyes, laying her head close to Vinyl’s. “You know, I haven’t even begun to try and calculate how much all my amps and speakers blowing out is gonna cost me. I lost my portable, my headphones, and the Disk of Destiny on a boxcar they went into when I couldn’t stay on top of the caboose. I have no idea if I’m in deep trouble or not for jumping on that boat, I told my agent to do something anatomically impossible, and if the harridan manager of the Walldwarf catches me inside her halls she’ll probably have me arrested. And you know what?” She rolled closer to Octavia, curling her hoof protectively over the cellist. “I don’t give a damn. From the moment I came to my senses back there in Canterlot, the only thing I could think of was that if you heard about what happened, you’d freak out worrying about me.”

“Am I so predictable,” Octavia asked, rolling over to press her back into Vinyl, and Vinyl grinned, closing her eyes. “Wellllll, a little bit,” she admitted, sliding her other forehoof under Octavia’s head. The cellist sighed, softly, and smiled. “Vinyl?” “Yes, ‘Tavia?” “Shush, and turn out the light.”

Vinyl looked up and around; telekinetically she tugged the window shades closed, flicked the light switch, and closed her eyes, laying her head on the pillow, her muzzle in Octavia’s mane.

“Derpy?” Fluttershy poked her head into the forecastle compartment of the ship, but even in the last place she looked, there was no sign of the gray pegasus. With a quiet, almost imperceptible sigh, Fluttershy turned around, about to give up and try later.

“What d’ya need, sugarcube? Maybe I can help.” Applejack looked out from behind one of the crates at the very front of the ship, a rope in her mouth, tugging it tightly and stepping away. “That oughta hold for new. What d’ya need, Fluttershy,” she reiterated, as the shy pegasus’s ears drooped. “Well, I was hoping to find Derpy, because I know she has a mechanical clock.” “Aaah. I see.” Applejack walked out, and Fluttershy turned to walk with her, as they slipped back through the hold, past Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Winestripe and Wavechaser playing cards on the crate-table. Winestripe seemed to be having a run of luck, though Pinkie looked like she was holding her own.

“So, what d’ya need to know the time for,” Applejack asked, scooting past Big Mac as he braced and carefully fed out a rope in his mouth, slowly craning another crate down into the hold. On the far side of him, a carpenter pony was sawing away the deck planks around some of the ship’s ribs.

“I, um... I wanted to know if the post office would still be open,” Fluttershy said, reaching into her saddlebag and presenting a pair of letters, already sealed and addressed. “I wrote these letters to Zecora, telling her that we’re going to be away for some time, and asking her to please continue looking after our pets and all our animal friends.”

“Uh-huh, I see, I see.” Applejack nodded to Fluttershy. “You know, there’s a post office in this here buildin’ we’re hitched up to. Actually, a lot of us are writin’ letters, we’ve got ‘em in a big box and I was gonna take ‘em on down later. Do you want me to take yours, too?”

“Oh, that would be lovely,” Fluttershy beamed at Applejack. “If it wouldn’t be a problem?” Grinning back at her, Applejack took the two letters, and put them in her own saddlebag. “It’d be my pleasure,” she said, nudging Fluttershy. “But, uh, why’d ya write ‘er two letters?” “Oh... One’s addressed to her at my cottage, the other is addressed to her at her hut; just in case she misses one.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Applejack said with a grin. “So, what’s next fer you, with your letters in the mail?” “Um... I... Don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Applejack thought about that for a moment. “I’m not sure. Are ya any good at carpentry?” “Um... No,” Fluttershy admitted, sadly. “Clockmakin’?” “No.” “Know anythin’ about stockin’ supplies fer a long voyage?” “I’m afraid I don’t... I feel useless,” Fluttershy admitted, sadly, and Applejack smiled, reaching up to stroke her mane.

“Relax, then. If you really want to find something to do, though, I’d say you should ask Fancypants.” “Um, okay,” Fluttershy murmured, with a soft smile. “Where is Derpy, anyway? I looked all over the ship for her.” “Well, a short while ago, Luna took off outta here to go and meet with the mayor an’ then to hold a press conference. Derpy went with her.” “Ahhh, I see.” Fluttershy nodded. “I think I’ll go and find Fancypants, then. Is he abovedeck?” “As far as I know.” Applejack grinned, leading the way up the stairs, with Fluttershy following. Rainbow Dash looked up from the card game calling after them, “Hey! If you two see Vinyl up there, tell her I got her stuff.”

“Will do, RD,” Applejack called back after her, and she climbed to the top. Fancypants was standing with a pony wearing a hard hat, looking at some plans. “O-Oh, he’s busy. I’ll ask later,” Fluttershy murmured, vanishing back into the hold. Applejack sighed at her shy friend, but nodded.

“‘Scuse me, Cox’n,” Applejack said, confidently interrupting. “But I done like you said; I done tied off all those ropes where y’indicated, an’ they’re all ready to be hooked up to that spinny-post. Can I take th’ mail out now?”

Fancypants nodded to the pony he was with, and looked back to Applejack. “Excellent! You’re sure those knots will hold?” “Darn tootin’ they’ll hold. I may not be a professional sailor, but there’s only so many ways to hog-tie a rodeo pig, an’ I know ‘em all.” “Excellent,” Fancypants exclaimed. “Then by all means, please, take the mail to the post office.”

“Gladly,” Applejack said. “Though, if I may... I’m not sure I follow yer’ intentions. It’s almost like y’had me tyin’ ropes to the frame o’ the ship without goin’ nowhere.” “That’s because that is exactly what you did, Applejack,” Fancypants said with a patient smile. “Once the modifications have been cut in the deck, those ropes will be tied to the ropes holding the balloon to the ship. Then we lower the balloon flush with the top of the cabin and construct a framework to hold it more firmly in place.”

“Ah... Sounds fancy,” Applejack said. “How long do you reckon this’ll take?” “Not long, fortunately. Three days at worst, but likely a day and a half as the work will be ongoing around the clock. Of course, first we’ll have to empty the hold so the shipwrights can get to work, then we’ll have to fill it again... I’m still not sure about the interim or final sleeping arrangements, but we’ll manage somehow, once we see what we’ll have to work with.”

Applejack nodded. “Alrighty, then. If need be, I can always pitch us tents on th’ docks... But anywho, I’m gonna head out on that mail call now.” The well-dressed pony nodded to her. “Very well, miss Applejack. Carry on, and I’m sure we’ll find a use for your talents when you get back.”

“Will do.” Applejack put Fluttershy’s letters in the mail sack, and hoisted it over her shoulders. “Oh, Cox’n? Could you speak to Fluttershy? She’s feelin’ awful useless an’ it’s eatin’ her up. Maybe you can figure a way to put her to work?” The gentlecolt took a thoughtful look for a moment, and nodded. “I’ll speak with her, see what she can do, and find a way for her to be useful,” he agreed.

Octavia woke up slowly, stretching out. She was on her back, and felt a little cold, as the covers hadn’t been pulled up. Her right side was warm, though; she turned her head, and her eyes tried to focus on the haze of off-white and blue next to her.

Oh! Oh, that’s right, she recalled, the events surrounding her awakening from the exhausted slumber she had fallen into before coming back to her. Vinyl had arrived, giving the barest hint of a tale which was dramatic and, knowing her, impulsive.

Vinyl’s head was buried in her mane, and the unicorn let out a sound between a whinny and a snore in her slumber. Octavia rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but to smile, wrapping her left foreleg over Vinyl’s right foreleg, which was laying heavily over her chest.

She hadn’t wanted to like Vinyl, early in their time together, she reflected. Their first meeting had seemed like a sending from Celestia herself; the house she now shared with Vinyl had been owned by an old mare who had let Octavia rent the spare bedroom in the house. She had been a violinist, and they could spend hours, days even, wiling away the time playing their music together, cello and violin in harmony. And certainly, she hadn’t minded if Octavia fell behind on the rent - after all, she’d been a young, struggling musician herself, a great many decades ago, and she knew it could be hard to scrape up money if you didn’t have a permanent chair in a good symphony.

When she had passed on, Octavia had been devastated. She hardly knew what to do, where to go. For the first time in her life, she’d felt accepted for who and what she was, and the mare had passed on. She had been numb, attending the old mare’s funeral; she’d organized it at the last minute when Ponyville’s court clerk had come to the house to enquire after any next-of-kin, and it had turned out there were none on record.

She hadn’t known what to do, then. She’d almost worked up the courage to pack when the lawyer had knocked on the door and informed her that she was required for the reading of the will. Octavia had been shocked to learn that not only had the old mare not had any living relatives, she’d left her entire estate, house and all, to Octavia!

That had been years ago, and Octavia sighed, thinking back on it. It had been lonely, very, very lonely, but it had given her the freedom to focus on her musicial growth and expression, at least for a while. Then her money had run low - almost out, really - and she was facing the harsh need to either attempt to cut a deal with the tax assessor or sell the house. It had been almost a whim when she got the idea to rent out the spare bedroom, but most of the ponies who came to the door either wouldn’t meet her asking price, or had nothing in common with her. She’d felt lost, and had been playing a mournful tune on her cello with less than two days before she’d have to face the financial music, when a hoof had knocked on the door at two in the morning.

Vinyl Scratch had seemed like she’d been sent from Celestia, that night. She had a musical background herself, and seemed to be in a lost place herself. Although she wasn’t a classical musician in the manner Octavia was - indeed, it was dubious at best whether Octavia could classify Vinyl as a musician at all - she very thoroughly loved music, and they’d spoken at length, about music, about life. She hadn’t even batted an eyelid at Octavia’s asking price, which was probably the highest in Ponyville, simply cutting Octavia a check then and there for two month’s rent in advance.

A few days in, and Octavia had started having second thoughts. Vinyl was very much an extrovert, but she was also, with the benefit of a few night’s good rest, boisterous, loud, raucous and, worst of all, in the absence of alcohol, a morning pony, none of which Octavia was. She lived for sounds that Octavia had considered to be more cacophonic noise than music. She was also horrifically rude by the standards of Octavia’s refined upbringing, and even somewhat rude by the more relaxed standards of sleepy, happy Ponyville, but never purposefully. Octavia had considered telling Vinyl that she would have to move out after the first two months, but she needed the income to pay the bills, and Vinyl was, if nothing else, at least friendly and beneficent.

In darker moments, Octavia had sometimes resented Vinyl; Vinyl was easily the second-wealthiest resident of the town, following Filthy Rich and ahead of Rarity, and the DJ’s money was one of the lesser reasons she had to resent her. Then, almost without fail, Vinyl would do something to remind Octavia that she was Vinyl’s closest friend and confidant, and the feelings melted away.

She sighed, rubbing Vinyl’s foreleg. The off-white mare shifted, mumbling something in her sleep, and laid her head up against Octavia’s chest, atop her right shoulder. Sighing softly, happily, Octavia reached up, stroking the unicorn’s horn with her hoof, looking back up at the ceiling.

When she had finally gotten her break - when somepony from the Royal Canterlot Symphony had heard her play and invited her to join the Symphony - it had been like a dream come true. She’d been beside herself when she told Vinyl, who had squealed with joy with her. They’d danced around the house for what felt like an hour. The next morning, she awoke to find what seemed like half of Ponyville crammed into their house to congratulate her and throw her a party; Octavia had, of course, enlisted Pinkie Pie’s aid in throwing her a celebration, and Pinkie, well, did what Pinkie Pie was best at.

It hadn’t been until later that she realized what Vinyl had done; Vinyl had told Octavia of her father, of course, but it had been months later when she realized what had no doubt transpired, after Octavia had seen Fancy Pants attending a performance from one of the highest ranked boxes in the symphony hall, animatedly chatting away with the director. Yet Vinyl had never brought it up; never hinted at it, certainly never held it over her head. It had taken a while, but Octavia had finally come to grips with the fact that Vinyl had simply done it out of kindness.

She took in a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh, as her hoof slowly stroked Vinyl’s horn. Vinyl’s music had been difficult for her to come to grips with, the boisterous unicorn had seemed an odd fit in a house full of warmly antique furniture, she could be abrasive and straightforward, but Vinyl was, before anything else, a devoted, loyal friend.

If it meant enduring being shaken out of bed by throbbing bass at approximately the crack of dawn every now and then, it was still a bargain, having a friend in Vinyl. “I’m sorry,” she whispered softly, turning to rub the smooth, rounded outside of her hoof along her friend’s horn, curling her other foreleg around Vinyl’s. “I’m sorry for all the times I’ve resented you,” she whispered to her sleeping companion. “I’m sorry I resented the way you seemed to throw money around like it was nothing when I first met you, and I’m so, so sorry for all the times I’ve resented your horn,” she whispered, “and I’m sorry for all the times I’ve thought your music was abominable noise. It’s not, it just took me a while to realize that.”

Vinyl shifted against her, and Octavia felt her heart skip a beat, worried that she’d awoken the off-white unicorn mare, but Vinyl simply stretched out against her, her forelegs tightening around Octavia for a moment, then loosening. Octavia closed her eyes, and smiled, stretching herself out and yawning. Despite all their differences, she had come to realize that she would feel devastated without Vinyl Scratch in her life. The thought that she might have been killed in the attack on Canterlot was, if anything, far more terrifying than the notion that someone had actually launched an attack on Canterlot, and she was so very, very glad to have Vinyl close, safe and sound. “Sometimes, Vinyl,” she whispered again, even more quietly than before. “Sometimes, I feel like you’re the only pony in the world who really, really cares about me,” she almost subvocalized, closing her eyes and nuzzling against her friend’s mane.

A loud knock at the door startled her out of the comfortable reverie, Octavia raising her head. Vinyl raised hers as well, bashing her horn into the underside of Octavia’s chin, causing her to let out a yelp. From the other side of the door, she heard a loud stallion’s voice. “Is everything okay in there?”

“What? Ow! What?” Her jaw hurt, and Octavia turned to look at Vinyl, who had a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry, ‘Tavia,” Vinyl murmured, as she groggily lifted her head, then gulped, “Oh, fuck. I think it’s the fuzz.” “The what?”

Another loud series of raps issued on the door. “Security. Please, open the door,” the stallion outside said, and Vinyl winced. “So, not the cops, but nearly as bad.” “What’s wrong with it? Hold on, I’ll go sort this out.” Vinyl cringed as Octavia rolled out of the bed, walking to the door and opening it. Two stallions, a large unicorn and a larger pegasus, wearing a dark green version of the bellhops’ red staff outfit, were standing outside. “Why did you wake me up,” she asked, as the pegasus tried to peer past her, into the gloom.

“Miss - this isn’t your room.” “Yes, I know,” she answered, blinking at him and taking a deep breath. “The stallion who was assigned to this room didn’t wish to have a window, so he traded with me. We’re colleagues and as this entire hallway was rented by the Symphony, I didn’t see it particularly worth informing the staff. Is there a problem with that?”

“No, ma’am, not with that.” His eyes narrowed, and he leaned close, quietly saying “Miss, are you being threatened?” “What?” Taken aback by the question, Octavia peered up at him. “Threatened? By whom? That’s absurd.” “Miss, we’ve had reports of a break-in.” “A break-in?” “Yes. It seems a belligerent pony approached the desk, demanding to know if you were here. The manager told them to go away, but they were insistent, and after they were escorted out of the building, one of our bellhops reported that his employee key had gone missing.”

Oh, Vinyl, you really did get yourself into trouble, didn’t you? Octavia sighed, and pressed her hoof to her face, making a snap decision to cover for Vinyl rather than try to explain things. “Look, I don’t know what to tell you about your break-in, but whomever you’re looking for, she’s not here. May I go back to sleep?”

He peered into her eyes, and Octavia blinked. “I never said we were looking for a mare.” The pegasus stallion reached in and flicked the light switch, causing the ceiling fixture to shed bright light on the room. Octavia cringed, turning her head around to see that Vinyl was still on the bed, having squirmed herself half-under the sheets, and her unicorn housemate facehoofed.

“Miss, if this mare has threatened -” “I said she hadn’t,” Octavia snapped, angrily, feeling her temper flaring. “This is Vinyl, my housemate. We live together, she’s my very best friend in all of Equestria, and she told me that, when she told your manager why she needed to find me, your manager wouldn’t so much as alert me that my friend was here looking for me, alive and well, which I had very good reason to believe she was not!”

“It’s alright, ‘Tavia,” Vinyl said from behind, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “It’s not like I haven’t been kicked out of a swanky hotel before. And I didn’t even blast out all the windows this time.” She rolled off the bed, walking towards the door, but Octavia turned to bar it, putting her hoof down, literally. “Vinyl, I am not inclined to tolerate this mistreatment and disservice! I was so scared, and rather than bringing you to me, or even letting you send me a letter, the staff barred you from contacting me and sent you away? It’s intolerable, you’ve done nothing more than you were compelled - by appalling behavior on the part of the hotel - to do in order to reach me.”

The two stallions met her gaze, seemingly unimpressed. “Miss, are you going to be difficult? Your friend is being banned from the Walldwarf Manehattan hotel.” “Banned? For finding me?” “For breaking and entering and picking hotel property off a staffmember’s person.”

Behind her, Vinyl chuckled. “Oh yeah. That was funny. He walked out to talk shit to me and I took it right out of his pocket. He didn’t even see my horn glowing, classic, just classic.” “This isn’t funny,” the security stallion declared. “The manager’s giving you one chance to vacate the premises before she calls for the police.” “Oooooh, like I ain’t never been in trouble with the law before, bro.” Vinyl dramatically rolled her eyes, and tried to slip past Octavia. “Whatever. Octavia knows I’m safe and I know she’s not stressin’ anymore, so whatever. Smell you dogs later.”

Octavia let out a tremble, and felt a burst of unexpected combativeness swell up within her, and she held her hoof up, in front of Vinyl’s nose. “No.” Vinyl blinked, peering down her nose cross-eyed as Octavia pressed her hoof into it. “No?”

“No,” Octavia asserted, and turned to glare at the security ponies, outrage in her eyes. “This is wrong; this is unjust. My friend has been badly mistreated by the Walldwarf Manehattan Hotel, and by extension so have I! You will not be barring Vinyl, you will drag your manager up here to issue an apology to the both of us immediately!”

The pegasus stallion lowered his head, meeting Vinyl’s gaze, as she continued, “and if you want to throw Vinyl out, you’ll have to throw me out, too!”

Vinyl broke into a loud, uproarious, raucous laugh as Octavia’s collar was hurled at her from behind, through the doors of the Walldwarf Manehattan’s main entrance, as they sat on the sidewalk outside. A pony tried to heave her cello’s case out the door behind them, but Vinyl caught it in mid-air telekinetically, levitating it over to them. “Damn, ‘Tavia! I didn’t think you’d ever try something that ballsy!”

Octavia was flushed with embarrassment, shaking with some anger at the mistreatment she and Vinyl had endured, but mainly with the fearsome spectre that the police might have summoned and arrested them. “I... I don’t know what to say, Vinyl. I...”

“It’s cool, Octavia. That was pretty damn awesome, you sticking up for me like that. Kinda stupid, but awesome.” She lifted Octavia’s collar and slipped it around her neck, affixing it carefully. “There you go.”

Octavia looked down, touching the collar with her hoof, and sighed. “Thank you, Vinyl. I... I’m at a loss. I... What now?” “Forget those losers, Octavia.” Vinyl nudged the side of Octavia’s head with her own. “You, me, the Big Apple... This is my town, and I don’t think I’ve ever shown you around properly. I’ve still got my loft here for us to crash in ‘till we can get back to Ponyville. I moved most of my furniture to your house, but it’s cool, we can work it out... I think I’ve still got a couch that pulls out into a bed... Meh, whatever. We’ll figure it out.”

Vinyl grinned at her. “C’mon, let’s go to the airship dock. The girls’ll be glad to know I found you safe and sound, and then maybe you, me, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash can hit the town.” “Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? They’re here?”

“Oh yeah, they’re here, all their girls are here, Princess Luna’s here, hell, even Derpy Hooves is here.” “Derpy Hooves? Our mailmare, with the odd eyes?” “Yep. Turns out she’s in tight with the Princess.” Vinyl stood up, lifting the cello telekinetically. “And so is my dad, of all ponies. C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”

Octavia rubbed her eyes, and stood up, following as Vinyl started to walk off down the road. “You simply must explain all of this to me,” she said. “How did you come to be here with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Princess Luna and Derpy?”

With a laugh, Vinyl levitated her sunglasses from behind her horn to her eyes. “Long story, kind of awesome. Come on, we’ve got time.”

Vinyl explained the story of how she’d arrived at Manehattan as she led Octavia through the streets, beginning with the ponies dashing anomalously through the Castle and her amps overloading and blasting all the windows out, through to the part where she’d blackmailed her agent into giving her the place the Symphony was staying at and snuck into the Walldwarf with the aid of the bellhop who was a fan.

Octavia hung her head sadly as Vinyl completed the parts of the story she hadn’t been present for, and sighed. “Vinyl, I am so sorry for the way they treated you. I cannot believe how rude they were, and I promise, everypony I know will be hearing of the appalling treatment we received at the hooves of that terrible hotel.”

Vinyl laughed, shaking her head. “‘Tavia, why worry? They didn’t have us thrown in the slammer, so why waste any more time thinking about those losers? The worst they did to us was fling us out on our rear ends and cost us some sleep. We can get some shuteye anywhere.” “It’s not just the rude awakening, or the mistreatment we endured. They’ve humiliated us; me in front of my entire group of colleagues no less, and they’re completely in the wrong. What will it do to our reputations for others to know we were ejected and barred from their hotel?”

“Well, I dunno. I mean, it won’t really... I...” Vinyl levitated her sunglasses away from her head, peering at Octavia, blinking for a few moments, perplexedly. “I... Huh. I never thought about that. It won’t do anything bad to my rep, I guess. I never thought it could drag you down, though.” Her ears drooped, followed by her head. “Wow. I’m the asshole here. I... Sorry, ‘Tavia. I never thought about what could get brought down on you if I snuck into that place.” Vinyl Scratch felt suddenly dejected, and it showed in her voice, making Octavia pause for a moment, then shook her head.

“No, Vinyl. You did nothing more than you were forced to do by the extremes of uncooperativeness and disharmony you encountered. As for my reputation, well...” She sighed. “I don’t know. The director likes me well enough. If he takes my side in this matter, the Walldwarf might be the ones who come out of this looking bad.”

“And... If he doesn’t?” Octavia took a deep breath, and sighed. “Well then, I’ll probably have just thrown away my entire life, since if you get sacked from the Royal Canterlot Symphony, you’re blacklisted everywhere. I’d be lucky to find employment playing in a saloon band in Appleloosa...” “Huh... Could it really get that bad?” “I...” Octavia swallowed. “I don’t know, Vinyl.” She slid closer as they walked, pressing into Vinyl’s side. “We should... I... Um, I’m not sure. We should get on top of this, somehow?”

“Well... Wait, hang on a moment! The Royal Canterlot Symphony is part of the Royal Catering Corps, right?” “Um... Yes, I suppose it is. I’m not sure how that came to pass, but we are officially. Why?” “Well, the Royal Catering Corps isn’t a company, it’s, well, exactly what it says on the tin. And I happen to know where we can find Princess Luna. Having your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss in your corner is pretty much the ultimate trump card against getting fired, isn’t it?”

“Vinyl - the Princess? W-We can’t really bother Her Royal Highness the Princess Luna with such a... Mundane matter, especially at a time like this.” Vinyl frowned, lowering her sunglasses again. “Huh... Well, then... What say we stop fretting over it and whatever happens, happens? If things start to turn south, we’ll go and correct whomever needs correcting.” She nudged her head to the left, pressing it into Octavia’s. “Come on, let’s go dig up Rainbow Dash and Pinkie and party.”

“Party? Vinyl... I...” Octavia sighed. “Vinyl, are you sure that... Partying... Is what we should be doing at a time such as this?” “Well...” Vinyl paused, running her hoof through her ice-blue hair. “It’s what I’d do, but... If you think it’s a bad idea, well... I dunno. What do you think we should do?”

“That’s just it... I... I don’t know. Part of me wants to try and find a way to get our side of this out first, part of me wants to go crawl up in a hole.”

“Well... If you wanna hole up, my loft’s... Well, it’s pretty far from here, but we can get on the subway. We can buy some curtains and like, block out everything if you want... Is that what you wanna do, ‘Tavia?” Vinyl’s voice was soft, earnest; far from recrimination and sarcasm, her question was heartfelt and sincere. “I... I, well...” Octavia swallowed, and sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe? It sounds nice... I just wish we were still in bed,” she admitted. “Then we can go find somewhere else to sleep, if you think that’s best, ‘Tavia,” Vinyl offered, but Octavia shook her head. “I just don’t know what would be best, Vinyl. I just... How can you party at a time like this?”

Vinyl sucked in a deep breath, and blew out a sigh, with a shrug. “I dunno, you just... You do. You just don’t sweat what’s worrying you, put it out of your mind, get lost in the music and the beat and the party and worry about it later. Like right now, I’m not sweatin’ the fact that I told my agent Vic to go fuck himself, or threatened to break his single most prized possession.” Octavia recoiled slightly from Vinyl’s casual use of such intense vulgarity, but Vinyl didn’t seem to notice. “I’m not sweatin’ that stupid, up-tight useless manager lady at the Walldwarf, either, or the fact that the sun’s stuck in mid-air. Why? Because either there’s nothing I can do about it, or there’s nothing I care enough to do about it. All I care about right now is that I’m glad you’re okay, ‘Tavia, so, screw the rest.”

Octavia considered Vinyl’s statement for a moment, as they walked down the street pressed together from flanks to shoulders, and sighed. “You can be so... Care-free at times, Vinyl. Careless, some might even say. I sometimes wish I could be so unworried.” “Well...” Vinyl shrugged. “I guess if you’re really worried about it all, then, what are we gonna do?”

Thinking about it harder, Octavia shook her head. “Nothing. There’s nothing we can do, is there?” “Not that I can see.” “Nor I...” Blowing out a sigh, Octavia leaned her head to the right, resting it on Vinyl’s shoulder briefly. “Okay. Let’s, um... Let’s try it. Let’s go find some friends and try to have a good time.”

“You sure, ‘Tavia?” “Yes, I’m positive.” “Well, alright then. Good timing, since we’re here.”

Vinyl turned, leading Octavia into the tall, towering building, and through the lobby, to the elevators. The building, though huge, was mostly deserted, and they had the lift to themselves as they rode it up to the floor Vinyl set it to.

“So, ‘Tavia... Can I ask you somethin’?” “Of course, Vinyl,” Octavia responded, as Vinyl set cello case down, stretching and sitting herself in the back of the car. “Um...” Vinyl scratched her hair with her hoof. “I didn’t want to interrupt you, ‘cause, well, you were kind of laying out some stuff I figured you didn’t mean for me to hear, but... Well, I’m sorry if I’m a jackass.”

“I... I beg your pardon?” Octavia asked quizzically, and Vinyl sighed. “I didn’t... I didn’t realize you were in a tight spot money-wise. I didn’t mean to come off like a dirtbag throwing cash around. I just... I didn’t see anything wrong with the price you quoted me. It seemed like a bargain to me. And I... Well, I guess I’m not so easy to live with. You never complained, so I thought you were, you know, cool with my music, and the way I sometimes get enthusiastic about a new day. It’s just...”

Vinyl let out a tremendous sigh and slumped to the floor, laying on her belly and crossing her hooves under her head. “You know I was burned out when I came to Ponyville, but I don’t think... I don’t think I’ve ever told you just how burned out I was, just how much in a bad spot I was. Then I met you, and you were... Nice to me. Friendly, warm... Inviting. I met you, and I met Pinkie Pie the next day, and everything after that is just kind of a blur of being in the nicest place I’ve ever been in. I guess I don’t have any volume control, though, so when I started feeling happy about life again...”

“...You shake me out of bed at the crack of dawn with a blast of bass.” “Yeah, that. You, and Twilight, and everypony in about a block radius. I... I didn’t mean to be an asshole, I just... Nobody ever complained. I thought Ponyville was fine with it. Here, things are different. If you don’t like what someone does, you tell them to knock it off, if you’re feeling nice. You tell ‘em to knock it the hell off before you shove it up their ass if you’re not...”

Vinyl blinked, and sighed, heavily. “Man, I love this city, but... Is just being here making me a jackass?” She bit her lip, and Octavia sighed, sliding over and sitting next to Vinyl, stroking her housemate’s ice-blue mane with her hoof. “Your language has been rather saltier today than I recall it being previously,” she admitted, “But I think everypony’s been under a lot of stress lately, and everypony has a different reaction to that.”

“And I turn into an abrasive bitch, huh?” “Well... You certainly are shorter of temper and faster to resort to salty language, but Vinyl, you always mean well.” Octavia settled down next to Vinyl. “How long is this lift ride, anyway?” “I dunno... We should be there, but I guess it’s slow or something. We’re still moving, though, right?”

Octavia focused for a moment on the sensation of added weight, and nodded. “Yes, we are. But slowly, I think.” “Oh well. As long as we’re moving...” She sighed softly, and looked over at Vinyl. “Look, Vinyl... I’m sorry. I had no right to resent you because you were successful. Ponies obviously like your music, and... I’m sorry I ever thought it wasn’t music. I simply... Have spent all my life learning more classical forms of music, so the music you weave just... Seems very strange to me, sometimes, even though I’ve gotten used to it. But I’m sorry I ever thought it wasn’t music.”

“Hey, chill, chill. S’all good, ‘Tavia.” Vinyl learned over, pressing the side of her head to Octavia’s, with her eyes closed. “You’ve always... You’ve always been a good friend to me, really. If you want me to try and keep it down, well -” “No, Vinyl.” Octavia laughed, softly, wryly. “You wouldn’t be you if you ‘kept it down’, I’ve come to realize. Somepony who ‘kept it down’ wouldn’t have jumped aboard a moving train to try to find me when I was frightened out of my mind, and she wouldn’t have then stowed away on a royally-commanded airship, and she wouldn’t have found her way to me.”

Octavia pressed her head back against Vinyl’s, and slowly sighed. “So, what did you want to ask me?” “Well, um... I get the money, and the blasting you out of bed at the crack of dawn... But why would you resent my horn, of all things?”

“I... Ehhh...” Octavia’s voice caught in her throat, her face flushing as she pulled back, turning her face to look at Vinyl. “I-I.. You weren’t supposed to... I...” Freezing up for a moment, Octavia finally resorted to lowering her head and closing her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about that right now, Vinyl.”

Octavia felt Vinyl’s quizzical gaze on her for a few long, long moments, then her friend nodded. “Okay, ‘Tavia. Okay.”

The elevator finally shuddered to a halt, and both of them picked themselves up off the floor, as the doors emitted a loud poing! and began to open. Vinyl levitated the cello again, and they walked out to the level of the sky-scraping building with the airship quay built in.

What they found was a bustling mess of busy activity, with what looked like half a lumber yard’s worth of lumber stacked up, and more rope than Vinyl could recall ever seeing in one place, laying in coils and spools on the ground, hanging from huge blocks high above their head. “Woah. They’ve been busy,” she opined, as she walked out towards the quay. Fancy Pants was, of course, on-deck, directing activity, and Vinyl grinned, walking along the quay to the side of the ship. The motion caught his eye, and Vinyl grinned. “Hey, dad; I found her. Permission to come aboard?” “Why, granted, of course, granted,” he replied with a broad grin, and Vinyl walked onto the ship’s deck, grinning broadly as Octavia followed her, staring around in amazement.

Fancy Pants turned back to the hard-hatted unicorn pony he had been speaking with. “Have you got what you need to proceed?” “Yeah, sure we do, but we’ll need you and yours off’a th’ boat.” “I see. Do you want me to detail any of my crew -” “Nah, that’s exactly what I don’t need. Look, your boys may be good sailors, and even good half-assed engineers in a pinch, but this is what me and my boys do fer’ our livin’. Even if we weren’t a Union crew - and that’d be a huge violation o’ Union rules - tryin’ to integrate a bunch of newbies into my crew would slow us down so much that we’d lose time. You wanna help, get this boat unloaded, disconnect the drives and the engine, and make sure there’s an unendin’ supply o’ strong coffee and good donuts, and we’ll get your boat modified to your specs on time and on budget, got it?”

“Hmmmm... I see.” Fancy Pants sighed heavily, and nodded. “Well then, I suppose we’d better empty the ship.” The hard-hatted unicorn nodded at him, and Fancy Pants turned back to Vinyl. “Is this the friend you were so worried about?” “Yeah, pops,” Vinyl replied. “This is Octavia. I had a lot of trouble finding her, but I did in the end. Octavia,” she said, nodding to the musician, “This is my old man, Fancy Pants.”

Octavia smiled at the dashing, large Unicorn stallion, reaching up to shake his hoof. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she murmured, and he chuckled. “Oh, there’s no need to ‘sir’ me, I haven’t been Knighted and you aren’t part of the crew, miss Octavia. Vinyl’s wrote so much about you to me. Thank you for taking my girl in under your roof.”

Vinyl laughed, a short, incredulous bark of laughter. “Dad! I’m not a filly, I haven’t been for ages!” “You will always be my daughter,” Fancy Pants replied with a smile, reaching up and brushing Vinyl’s messy, spiky hair with his hoof, garnering a grin from her. “I do so wish I had more time to spend with the both of you, but it’s fallen to me the task of emptying this vessel from stem to stern, keel to deck. Including the ship’s owner and his lair,” he darkly muttered, before breaking back into a smile. “But that can be dealt with later. For now, miss Dash returned from the train yard some time ago with a set of saddlebags which were not her own, so I believe she recovered your wayward belongings.”

Vinyl brightened immediately, and Fancy Pants smiled. “Go and collect your things and your friends. Anypony you can talk into leaving and going out for a night of recreation will be a pony not underhoof.”

Grinning at her father, Vinyl turned to look at Octavia. “Well, you heard ‘em. Wanna round up the girls and have a night on the town?” “I... That sounds good,” Octavia replied with a grin. “Let’s go.” Vinyl set her cello down, and led her belowdecks. It was difficult to move with the beginnings of the alterations in place, but she smiled when she saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting at the makeshift table. They were playing a card game, but both looked up when she walked down the stairs, with Octavia in tow. “Vinyl! And you brought Octavia,” Pinkie enthused, and Rainbow Dash grinned. “You found her, huh? Nice going,” Rainbow Dash said, holding her hoof up, which Vinyl bumped on her way past. “You would not believe what I had to do to find her, though - or how she stood up for me and we both got kicked out of a hotel. That was awesome.”

Octavia’s ears drooped, and she chuckled nervously. “I, uh... Heh. I wouldn’t say it was awesome, really, more like foalish -” “Nah, ‘Tavia. You put your hoof down and stood right by me when those snooty snouts were giving us a snoutful of snoot.” Vinyl turned around and smiled at Octavia, who sat down, blushing. “We-llll, I...” “So, what’s up? You wanna get in on this,” Pinkie asked, holding up her deck of cards. “I can re-deal us.”

“Nah. Actually, my dad said we needed to like, get everypony off this airship we could, ‘cause we need to vacate it for the shipwright dudes. Sooooo... What say we hit the town and go party, girls?”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up with delight, and Rainbow Dash laughed. “A night on the town, huh? Could be just the thing after the weight of the last few days. I’m in.” “Oh, if there’s a party, I’m always in,” Pinkie added hastily. Vinyl sucked in a breath, but Rainbow Dash cut her off by lifting Vinyl’s saddlebags off the floor and setting them on the card-crate. “And look what I found!”

“Oh-ho-ho-ho!” Grinning with glee, Vinyl reared up, opening her bags, and laughing maniacally with joy. “It’s all here! My portable spinner, my headphones, my spare glasses, and the Disk of Destiny!” She pulled the shining, golden LP from the bag, squeaingl with delight.

“Ah, it was nothin’ special,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin, brushing her hoof away, but was taken completely by surprise as Vinyl seized her behind the head and pulled close. Before she knew what was happening, Vinyl’s lips were on hers and the unicorn mare held nothing back; her lips spread, head tilted to seal her mouth against Rainbow’s, and her tongue, wet and warm, lashed against Rainbow Dash’s lips.

Her heart skipped a beat, as Vinyl pressed the heavy kiss suddenly into her, that her mouth fell open, an opportunity Vinyl took. Rainbow felt a small tremble run through her as Vinyl’s tongue pressed into her mouth, against hers, strongly pressing into and around her tongue, filling her mouth for a brief eternity, then pulling away with a loud ‘mmmmwah!’

Rainbow Dash remained in the pose she had been, frozen by surprise. Pinkie Pie broke into a giggle, while both Rainbow Dash and Octavia had furious blushes on their startled faces. “Ho-ho-ho-hooooooooly shit, girl,” Smoke Curl laughed from the other side of the apple cart in the middle of the hold; causing the two machinists to peek in from the aft compartment, and Fluttershy and Rarity to look in from the forecastle hold.

“What?” Vinyl asked with a laugh, looking around. “You fillies have never seen a mare kiss another mare before?” She smirked, and pushed back from the crate, laughing and levitating her saddlebags over her back, rolling her shoulders as the familiar weight of her portable gear rested over her shoulders again. Pinkie Pie’s giggle simmered down a quiet chuckle, while Smoke Curl’s surprised utterance rose into raucous laughter. From the front, Rarity and Fluttershy blinked at one another, as Vinyl nudged Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Hey, you okay?”

“W-What? Y-Yeah. I’m fine. Fine, just, uh... Surprised,” Rainbow Dash said, blinking, touching her hoof to her mouth for a moment, then shaking her head. She could feel the blush rising on her cheeks, and coughed, standing up. “Yeah, let’s uh... Go, right?” “Yep. My pop told me to take you fillies and show you a good time. Who’s comin’?”

“Me!” Pinkie held her hoof up excitedly, and Rainbow Dash coughed. “I, uh, guess I’m in,” she said, shaking her head. “A party, you say,” Rarity asked from the forecastle, and Vinyl grinned. “Yeah! C’mon, Rarity, Fluttershy, let’s go.” “Well.... I would love to get off this ship. If we’re going to be sailing on it for quite some time, I simply must make some purchases in town before we go, too.” “Alrighty. Fluttershy?” “I... I...” The meekest of the ponies on the ship looked around for a few moments. “I...” Her eyes flicked up to Rarity, then to Pinkie and Rainbow, and she sighed. “Okay.”

“Righteous. Smoke,” Vinyl asked, then looked back to the machinists. “And you guys? You in?” “Man, after seeing that, I’d love to see what you consider a party,” Smoke said with a laugh. “But we can’t. We’ve gotta get this ship empty, and then I’m like, outta here. Gotta go see my folks before we sail off over the sea, yanno?”

Rusty Sunshine and Winestripe voiced nonverbal agreement with Smoke Curl’s turning down, and Vinyl nodded. “Sorry to hear that, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck.”

The crewponies turned back to what they were doing, and Vinyl nudged Octavia. “You comin’?” “I... Uh, yes, of course,” Octavia murmured, only just starting to get her blush under control, and shaking her head. “Awesome! But, uh, where are the others?”

“The others?” Rarity slunk into the cargo hold, having slipped her saddlebags on. “Well, let’s see. Princess Luna and Twilight went off to attend a press conference, and Derpy Hooves and Spike went with them as aides. Applejack and Big Macintosh elected to stay here and assist with the unloading of the vessel, and then I think they were going to look up family in Manehattan to send a message to the rest of their kin. Wavechaser asked for and received permission to disembark the vessel to hurry to his ailing grandmother’s side, Smoke Curl, Rusty Sunshine, and Winestripe are here, and I believe Fancy Pants has enlisted Cherry Sky and Cloudstrike as messengers. Prince Blueblood,” she said, spitting the name with venomous rancor, “has been sulking in his cabin since roll call, and he can rot in there for all anypony cares.”

It was more rancor than one normally expected from Rarity, but the brilliantly-white-coated mare brushed her elegant coiffure with her hoof, dismissively. “So, where shall we go?” “Good question,” Vinyl said, with a laugh. “You girls hungry?”

As those who were going with her generally expressed their assent, Vinyl grinned. “Alrighty then. Dinner first, and then we are going to hit this town!”

Empire of the Moon on FIMfiction.net
Table of Contents (On Google Docs)
Next Chapter: A Day on the Town

Author's Notes:

I'm starting to think nobody likes or cares about this story. I haven't seen so much as a single comment appear on the chapterized Google docs where I'm writing these, let alone any anonymous animals read the chapter I'm writing.