From that point on, life on the Cornucopia changed. As the following awake-cycle carried on, I could immediately notice something being off about the crew and their approach towards me. Although almost everyone had more or less ignored me thus far, they now became increasingly evasive of me wherever I went. This carried on to a point of everypony seemingly just avoiding me altogether, much like I was carrying some kind of disease around with me. The looks I received from all around felt more grumpy than right-out angry, but still nopony appeared to think very friendly of me.

Polly didn't talk very much to anyone, either. All the while, as we worked together that morning, she never attempted to speak up for any longer than she necessarily had to. And that really wasn't like her. Usually, she acted lively enough to at least try starting a conversation sooner or later, but today that didn't seem to be the case. And whenever I tried to do the same (which I did several times), she either ignored my requests or shook them off with a generally brief and stoic answer.

I first thought there was something I'd done to provoke her anger. Only after a while did I accept that she was probably just going through an off-day of sorts. Everyone had those now and again, even myself. Hadn't it been for everypony else acting this strangely, I probably would have ignored her antics altogether. Even if her generally negative attitude continued to bother me. On the rare occasions when Polly actually went outside to leave her workplace, she acted even less friendly towards everyone else than she had towards me. And much like yours truly, she did get avoided a lot by them.

It felt like the whole place was going crazy. Which also meant I hadn't done a very good job, so far. Spreading friendship and harmony, and all that. If there was anything I could take comfort in, we still had a long way ahead of us. From what I've learned through overheard conversations, we had only made it across about one third of our journey. So if everything went well, I'd still have a good more two weeks to correct any mistakes made on my part. Or anything that I hadn't done at all, when I probably should have. Which I should. Somehow. All of this complicated logic stuff started effectively messing with my head, again.

Two weeks of time, during which I had to figure something out. For time being however, and given the current mood, that didn't seem to work out. I still couldn't find anypony else to talk to. And Polly didn't want anyone around herself at the moment, while most of the crew apparently only felt that way about me in particular. Despite my best efforts, I really didn't know where to start.

The captain was up at the steering wheel, where he'd taken in his usual posture once again. Leaning onto his wheel, hooves folded, he gazed out into the open before him, eyes darting around the scene for whatever there was for him to take notice of. There was no way for me to tell whether he would be up for a conversation or not, but I also decided it wouldn't be worth finding out about. Not that I would mind him taking me to his office so he could doze off on the couch again; everyone needs their breaks from time to time, after all. But given his level of motivation, I hardly believed talking to Saratoga would get my efforts in friend-making anywhere, anytime soon.

I eventually decided I'd see if I could find that one colt from the day before. Friendly Card, or so I remember to be his name. I didn't really know anything about him, but if yesterday was any indication, he might at least be up for some talking. Which wouldn't mean much, but it could be a start, at least. I'd have to see where to continue from there.

Searching far and wide around the ship for any indication of said pony's presence, I was surprised to find him on the stern deck. I might have been wrong, but not many ponies apart from Captain Saratoga would usually stay up here for longer than they had to. Trotting up the staircase on the ship's port side, I was surprised to see him and Strange Days huddled up in the far right corner of the upper deck, emerged in quiet discussion. I couldn't make out what exactly they were arguing about because they proceeded through their quiet discussion very quietly. Thought I'd mention that.

Now, I didn't really feel like being sneaky or anything, so instead I pretty much approached the two much like I'd done with everypony else ever. Much like I predicted, my chances of surprising them were significantly narrowed by my approach, but I never even planned for that to happen. Cheerfully bouncing up and down the deck, I didn't make much of a secret out of myself.

Also leaping up and down like that, while the ground itself keeps rocking back and forth beneath you may, given the fitting circumstances, provide a teensy bit of a challenge. It had taken me a few days to figure out how to deal with all those ship antics.

I only closed about half the distance towards them, as Strange Days' eyes darted in my direction with some concern. His features gave away the same passive hostility as always, although he appeared to be a lot more content with his situation than usual. For his personal standards, he seemed almost cheerful, really.

It was a strange sight at first, but never too far out of the ordinary. For the most part, I totally ignored his looks and kept leaping towards them without any change of pace. It wasn't until Friendly Card raised his head in my direction that I abruptly stopped, and almost crashed into the wooden floor at his sight. Or rather, the floor crashed into me, given the perspective. The angle I came to land on was far from perfect.

But what was wrong about him, you ask? Well, first of all, he didn't look so good. Okay, not good at all. His entire face was noticeably paler than yesterday, and even upon first spotting me, he looked like he was going to throw up at any moment. Or something. I could think of a ton of things that might be wrong with him right there, not feeling so sure whether I could resolve the issue in any possible way. My heart skipped a beat at the sight, before I could manage to shake off the nasty feeling, and raise myself to all fours again.

"Ah! Miss Pie, just the pony I was looking for!"

Strange Days greeted me with a subtle grin as he said so. Our first mate spoke with utter confidence and, in my opinion, he seemed a little bit too sure about himself. It could be that he simply decided to join in the whole crew's decision to act and behave all strangely today, but I felt like there was something else behind that facade of his. As I approached, eyes slightly narrowed, he gave a gentle push to Friendly Card's shoulder. The stallion quickly took the hint and started to trot off, his eyes worriedly fixated on me all the while. He never stopped his nervous shaking all the while, and disappeared from the deck without ever stopping for seconds.

Reconsidering the situation after Friendly Card disappeared, I thought that maybe I shouldn't mind him too much. From the mere sight of it, that pony might just have caught a cold or something. If so, a little bit of rest could only do him good. It was Strange Days I was more worried about. He tried putting on a smile as soon as we were left on our own accord. But it didn't take me any longer than approximately zero point two-seven seconds to recognize it as a fake. When my eyes questioningly darted towards the direction in which our third wheel had just left us, he shook it off with a wave of his hoof.

"Don't worry about it, he'll be fine. I needed to talk to you in private at some point anyway, so it's just as fine that this little disturbance of our peace is gone." He glanced at me suspiciously. "Now, what do you say, why don't we take a short walk together? There's something I'd like to discuss."

"Discuss?" I replied, trying to make out what he was planning. "But what's wrong with him?"

"Well, you know," Strange Days trailed off, once more gesturing with his hoof. "Must be the waves or so he told me. Getting thrown back and forth all day can leave everyone a little seasick, even after years of experience as in this case." He began trotting in the same direction that Friendly Card had just walked off to. "I suggest we head below deck, then. Some things are better to be kept without any curious ears glued onto us from all sides."

I never lost my suspicion towards him, and neither did I refrain from showing so. Eyes narrowed, I began following him back down the staircase, down to the main deck. From here, he took a sharp right turn and headed for the quarters below. Our quarters, to be exact. I couldn't tell whether that accounted for him, too. Somehow, I'd never bothered to find out where he slept.

I caught up with the somewhat hasty unicorn stallion about halfway to the door. Just then did I produce a hesitant "Okie-dokie-lokie," to answer his request, but he never paid it much attention. Nope, Strange Days had his next sentence already up and ready on the tip of his tongue.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" he proceeded to ask me instead, motioning nowhere in particular. "How the sea's beauty so easily eclipses the sight of any landscape that Equestria has to offer, especially those available to any stuck-up noble class life in Canterlot...oh, please, after you."

The door had been left halfway open as we approached it, leaving nothing but a small gesture for him to offer me said spot. It was the kind of gentlecolt-y behavior that I suppose just came along with originating from Canterlot. Even though not everypony from that city necessarily behaved that way. Rarity had it proven to her in a pretty obvious way, back when.

Was Strange Days a gentlecolt, then? How exactly would I even define that word? I'm all for parties and all, but I've never really clicked with the Canterlot ponies and all their fancy-shmancy galas and whatnot. Celebrating without any laughs or loud music may be appropriate for some ponies, but this party mare right here knew where her spot was. Or not, looking at some of the more recent developments.

"If I may ask," he continued, as the door closed behind us. "How are you enjoying your trip so far? Speaking from my position, I am naturally concerned for the well-being of those serving on our ship. And wouldn't you agree about the Cornucopia being much of a marvelous vessel?"

"I...guess so," I told him, scratching my head. Answering that question was a bit harder than I thought it might be. After all, there weren't that many others of it's kind I could compare our ship to. "I've never been very involved in any business concerning ships, mostly. So, I think it's alright. The ponies on here may be a bit weird sometimes, but..."

"And aren't they, really?" he cut me off. Contrary to what I expected, that last remark seemed exactly what he wanted to hear. We continued trotting ahead side-by-side, almost across half the corridor before he continued, leaving me somewhat confused there for a moment.

"Don't get me wrong. I had my reasons to leave Canterlot at a very early age, and neither am I planning to go back there. But I do also have my doubts about this life I'm leading, now. A lot of ponies on this ship are either a bunch of uneducated brutes, or some other lazy good-for-nothings, as you may have noticed."

"Uh...maybe?" I still didn't know where he was going with this. Literally. There weren't that many doors at the end of this hallway.

"Now, I wouldn't bother." He raised a hoof, gesturing mildly. "Not too much, anyway. Weren't it for one particular representative of the latter group also being in charge of our entire operation. And don't worry, I'll get straight to the point. You should know, just as I do, that Saratoga is nothing but a pair of shackles holding the rest of us back. Whether or not you see that as clearly as I do after only a few days on board, I couldn't say. But I tell you. I've served on this great vessel for so many years now, and I've taken notice of what it is capable off. This magnificent ship could bring us wealth and fame, we could easily arrive on top of the world. And yet, all we do is complete simple deliveries, days and years after another. Chuda to Baltimare, and back. That makes for about ninety percent of what we do. And of course it never pays off any more than we need to squeeze by, just so.

"After I worked myself up to first mate, I always tried to remember how much younger than the captain I am. Almost a decade, to be plain. And that I would somehow, in some way, probably inherit the Cornucopia from him, and lead it to the glory it truly deserves. With such a ship, and a young and confident leader, anything is possible. Come to think of it, we could easily be bathing in coins."

As we reached the corridor's opposite end, Strange Days proceeded to push open the door to the captain's cabin. My eyes went wide with alarm. This had been one strange conversation, so far. And I didn't mind, I've had those day-in and out. But right now, I definitely felt like he was crossing a line. The captain wasn't even in here!

"Are you sure we're allowed in there?" I asked. "I don't think the captain would like..."

"Well, he's not here!"

Saying so, Strange Days slammed a hoof down onto the floor, causing me to jump back. His eyes were dangerously narrowed, and I quickly took a few steps away, just in case. I had no idea what made him so mad all of a sudden, but whatever it was, it sure did give me a scare or two. Lucky me, he quickly recovered, and sighed.

"Sorry about that," he explained. "I am feeling...terribly tense at the moment. Let's go in either way, shall we? Even if the captain wouldn't approve of us doing so...well, consider it somewhat symbolic for what we are about to discuss."

He closed the door, then carefully walked over to the room's desk, yours truly following in his wake. I still couldn't tell what that stallion's intention really was, but at least he didn't try to be anymore threatening. For now. Nevertheless, I figured I might need to keep an eye on him. As I did. At the moment, he continued to show all the symptoms of meanie-pants, and I didn't know about a good doctor anywhere nearby.

As he rushed around the table to face me, our eyes met with a sense of mutual distrust. It was a bit hard to tell which one of the two of us felt more uncomfortable by that. But if Strange Days thought I would be the first one to give in here, he sure had another thing coming. He really did.

Eventually, it was him who looked away first. Much like I had predicted. He cleared his throat, eyes darting to the door, then back towards me. He didn't look me in the eye again, as I noticed. I assumed his gaze was fixated somewhere around my muzzle or so.

"Now," he began. "I suppose I can't really make it a secret anymore that I believe myself to be a much better fit for the ship's captain. And have done so for years. Unfortunately, several obstacles still stand between me and reaching this accomplishment, even today. One of them being that I can't get rid of Saratoga on my own. I would need a considerable support among the rest of the crew for that. Most importantly, I need the support of the one pony through whom the captain draws the most of respect from the crew...you probably see where this is going."

I didn't. "I don't."

"Really?" His eyes were giving me the same unbelieving message as his words, but they quickly changed back to a much more gentle expression. "I mean, of course. And the pony I am talking about would be Polly. I've...discussed this issue with her several times before, but she wouldn't hear of it. Said she would never take part in that little mutiny of mine. The terminology by itself is a clear outrage against my own dignity, if you'd ask me..."

He trailed off, and gave me an odd look, seeing how my body suddenly supplied me with some information about what was to happen next. Pinkie Sense and all that. And I guess I was taken a little off-guard myself, when all of a sudden both ears came flopping down into my face, taking turns. Trying to visually make out the reason for that didn't work so well either, given how my eyes started to hastily flutter for a second or two. And lastly, my knees went all shaky. It dawned on me, then. All of the three combined could only mean one thing!

Unfortunately though, Strange Days didn't seem to know what that one thing was. "Are you even taking me for my word, right now?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry," I replied with a slightly suppressed laugh. "I can't even control these movements. My body just does something like that from time to time. It's a bit distracting, but also somewhat helpful because it predicts the immediate future and all, so there's that."

"Immediate future, huh?" Strange Days arched an eyebrow. He really did believe I wouldn't take him seriously. That was just sad. "Tell me then, does your immediate future result in somepony who's currently in this room becoming the Cornucopia's next captain?"

"Oh, nononono...no," I explained with some hesitation. "What it does mean is that someone might enter or leave the room. Either way, all I can tell for sure is that the door will open."

The door opened.

"See?"

Tell you the truth, I don't think our first mate was as impressed or stunned by my talent as most other ponies would have been. Even the reaction Twilight had responded to it with way back when didn't come to his mind, it seemed. He paid me little to no attention at all during that moment, as his attention had shifted elsewhere, which I assumed to be somehow connected to the opening door. When I turned my head to see what had distracted him, I quickly noticed. He had obviously lowered his gaze onto a certain, pale-coated earth pony mare standing in the door frame. As far as I could tell, she didn't seem all to content with the two of us being here.

To my defense, I had been very skeptical about even coming here. But that didn't matter now. I got that unpleasant feeling in my stomach telling me that I'd screwed up pretty badly. And making things even more miserable, Polly certainly wouldn't think any better of me after all this was over.

"I was showing your assistant around, is there something wrong with that?"

Strange Days fell even further into his defense position. He looked somewhat challenging to a certain point, as he spotted Polly standing in the door frame. And she didn't seem very convinced by his answer. Not at all, to be precise. Instead of answering to anything or anyone in particular, she remained silent, a cold, rational glare on her face. And waited. The two of them stood facing each other like this for a good twenty seconds or so, until Strange Days once more became the pony to give in first. He sure did need to practice his skills a bit.

"Let me guess, you've been eavesdropping on us, as always? How much of our little conversation did you manage to catch, if I may?"

Polly never even bat an eye, when she looked dead into his.

"I've heard enough," she retorted, her voice sounding a lot lighter than I'd have expected.

"My sweetest, dearest Polly," Strange Days continued, and I think I even saw her eyelid twitch for a split-second. "After all this time, I really don't know what to say to you. Still, I'll repeat myself again. Shouldn't it be more than clear that we're wasting our potential with every new day that we keep Saratoga in his position? Even you should be smart enough to know so. And yet, you never even once considered my way. Naturally, I had to go over to taking a less conventional path."

Without any emotion across her face, Polly blinked and continued to stare at him. "Yes," she stated. "You did."

"Oh, come on now, don't give me that! I think we all have our problems with the current leadership, even you. I could do better than our captain does in every aspect, and you know I could do better! I can bring along the wealth and success all of us have ever wanted and dreamed of. And I can protect your interests. And, above all, I can protect your little protege that you've grown so fond of for whatever reason! Do you honestly think Miss Pie will last much longer with Saratoga doing nothing to protect her? Do you?"

His nostrils were flaring, but Polly kept her cool. She never even flinched all throughout his speech. However, the same thing didn't apply to myself. I may be patient with ponies around me, even if they don't seem to like me at first, but at some point, I just didn't understand their reasoning, anymore. And neither could I comprehend why everypony here treated me like some sort of giant baby that needed all-round, extra care all the time.

"I can take care of myself," I stated. "I..."

"Shut up, Pinkie," Polly told me in her same, emotionless voice as before. Turning around to face her, mouth agape, I felt at a loss of words for the first time in days. Through everything I had heard and listened to so far, I couldn't explain to myself why she'd say something like this. Her words felt like a punch to the chest, and I hoped she knew that. Only somehow, she didn't even seem to take notice. Her eyes remained with the gray unicorn stallion behind me. "You were saying?"

"Me?" Strange Days jerked back, looking baffled. almost offended. "I wasn't saying anything! I was done speaking, as a matter of fact. Maybe now you could come up here and make a point for once. It's about time, either way."

"You're done, alright. That's just as well," Polly observed, as she turned to leave. "Come along then, Pinkie. We've got dinner to prepare."

"What? But I..."

"Not 'buts,' not now." She shot me a glare that caused me to shrink back almost immediately. "Call me what you will, but I'm still your superior. And if I remember correctly, we agreed that you would follow my orders."

I kept looking for a good response during the seconds that followed, but nothing useful anything that came to mind. And likely, there wouldn't be anytime soon. I felt my ears dropping, as I accepted my fate with a sigh. "Yes, of course," I mumbled, slowly trotting back out of the room that I'd just entered. There didn't seem to be any other option.

Strange Days groaned as I walked away from him. "Why are you still doing this, Polly?" he asked. "That's all I want to know. Why, in the wide world of Equestria and beyond, aren't you giving my theory a single chance? Just that! It's all I ask for!"

It took another moment for Polly to finally snap. Just as I reached the doorstep beside her, I noticed the mare take in a deep breath for her retaliation.

"You want to know why? I can tell you why," she replied with a hiss. "I'm still here because I'm content with what I have, Strange. And maybe you should do the same. I'm not allowing you to take this ship because it does not belong to you, you hear? Or myself, for that matter. The Cornucopia won't get anything out of ponies like you who try to become more than they are capable of handling, and that is a fact.

"What if I would be acting the way that you do? Can you tell me that? What if I tried to acquire the next highest step in the ladder? Because you can probably guess whose spot that would be. And I can't think of anypony on this vessel who would stand up to defend you. So ask yourself: Where would you be if everyone thought the way you did? Then start opening your mouth."

And with that, she turned and left. I hopped past the door step with a single, tiny leap, then attempted to follow her. Of course, Strange Days' reply wouldn't have us get very far, either way.

"The day will come that I'll say 'I told you so,' Polly. And with that attitude of yours, it'll come sooner than..."

He got cut off once more, this time by a door that slammed shut. Polly had given it a good-hearted kick with her hindleg as we left. After that, it wouldn't take longer than a mere half-second to reduce the first mate's angry ranting to a low and muffled background noise. The two of us trotted back down the corridor in silence.

"So...what now?"

It was the best I could muster, honestly. After that conversation just now, I honestly didn't know what to say. Contrary to what I expected though, Polly didn't even bother to answer my question. She just kept at her relatively high pace in perfect silence, up until we reached the kitchen door. Once there, she took a turn an marched right through, not trying to notice me in the slightest. With no better choice to make, I followed her, again.

"You're not being very nice, you know," I carefully explained as I did. "You could at least try to be a bit more kind."

That's something Fluttershy would have said, right? If so, I might use it just as well. At least she always came through with it, so why shouldn't I, either? I expected Polly to understand that, only to be severely disappointed by her remark.

"Not now, Pinkie. Really, I'm not in the mood."

Silence fell between us after that. She obviously didn't have anything further to add, and I couldn't think of anything that would serve as a good retaliation to that statement. To be plain, she'd made her point pretty clear. I glanced up and down the central counters, in search for something to cheer either of us up. When there wasn't anything to be found, much like there wasn't anything coming up in my head, I decided to gather my courage and ask her something that had been on my mind for a while. And this time, I was real serious about it.

"Polly...do you think I'm just a big baby?"

She looked at me intensely for a few seconds, then sighed. "Do we really need to go through this, now? I respect you, and you should know that. But I think you're not very good in caring for yourself in some certain environment. Especially if your surroundings are particularly hostile to you."

I arched an eyebrow at her. Was that it, really?

"Oh, come on, now. That's nothing to big to take care of. Besides, I know a perfectly safe way to deal with this."

"Yes?"

"You know, I got scared of a lot of things when I was little. But then my granny told me all you have to do is laugh to make them go away! Because whether you believe it or not, a little laugh every now and then can resolve so much in your life...it's how I learned to take care of myself, as I do right now." Just as I finished the sentence, another idea for a more decent conversation came to mind. "Did your granny ever tell you stories like this? I bet they must have been...oh, right..."

Not my proudest moment, I agree. But judging from her expression alone, Polly didn't seem to mind all that much. It was hard for me to tell whether she was actually still paying any attention to what I said. I decided to better keep any family issues out of this. Neither of us had generally made particularly positive experiences on that matter, after all.

"Laughter won't solve everything, you know?" She shot me another glare, and I could tell I probably should have kept quiet. Although I can't help it, really. "It won't help you here, even if you still think so. Which is why I think you probably shouldn't have come with us. That was...my mistake, I guess. But it's too late to turn back now, so we'll just have to settle with what we have. There, I said it. Now, can we please stop going on about this?"

"Alright, I just..."

"Pinkie..."

"But..."

"NO!"

"And why not?"

I could hear her sigh, combined with a slight shake of her head. It was ever so low, but neither did it escape my ever so watchful ears. She turned back to face me with a nickering sound escaping her throat. "What is it now? Can't we just bury the topic and agree that we've all made a mistake?"

"What indeed," I replied, more angered than usual. I mean, I still sounded nicer than most ponies when they're angry, I guess. But enough was enough, and I wanted a better explanation from her than just that. "I'm wondering why nopony on this ship won't treat me the way they usually do, that is all! Why can't I be friends with anyone here? Why are you all acting so weird, and saying I can't watch out after myself? I want to know! I thought this was an adventure I was going on, and adventures are supposed to be fun! But do you know what this is? It's the exact opposite of fun!"

Polly didn't respond; at least not directly, and not by the use of any words. She even evaded my looks when I tried to return her glare from earlier. Instead, her eyes wandered down, towards the counter. She turned to approach me, taking it one step at a time. When we were only less than two feet apart, she quickly raised up one foreleg, slapping me clean over the head with it.

That came out of nowhere. And it hurt a good deal more than I expected. Not even Dad would punish me that way after I'd made him angry. Not too often, anyway. Wincing, I rubbed the back of my head, trying to focus on her cold glare once again.

"I'm not answering that," she then explained, looking me dead in the eye. It was one of those looks a mother would give her foal when trying to make it clear that there wouldn't be any further discussion on this. "Don't we have a meal to prepare? I remember telling you to peel me some potatoes, earlier today. Didn't I?"

She turned around, her jaws swiftly picking out one of the smaller knifes from the nearby drawers. Then, and without a comment, she dropped it on the counter in front of me. Lastly, she trotted back to the room's other end with one last thought to add.

"You had better get to it."