****

Zebrica

Ari

This morning’s break in had me on edge, my ears twitched at the slightest noise and an awkward taste had invaded my mouth, not literally mind you. I still hadn’t gotten any food as Wekasi was a stallion on a mission. His mission being getting me on the road, err, into the sky as fast as possible. Not that I blamed him, the sight of the trashed office unsettled me as well.

At least I didn’t have to refile all those papers.

Still, no being had heard anything…But Echo was twitching his ears when…No, he would have said something…Maybe…I would have to ask later.

The question still stands unanswered, why trash the office? What would be in there that they wanted? Better yet who? Every being was very happy and friendly in the town, the equestrians were even learning the language and calling the village home…I didn’t blame them considering what they would have to go home to.

I really wanted to ask the princesses exactly what they were thinking starting that law up.

The stairs forced me to focus on placing my hooves for a second, my muzzle scrunched up as the hard wood made contact with them. I wasn’t heavy per say, actually I was quite trim from my experiences here. But even with careful measured steps the cracks in my hooves were unforgiving from the abuse I had put them through.

Lyric didn’t know a spell for hoof cracks.

Gently, gently now, slow and steady.

I was not looking forward to the healing process.

With the stairs behind us I retreated back to my thoughts. The mystery of the break in taunting me, forcing my earlier excitement to the background, all my experiences in this world told me that if something could go wrong it would. Maybe there was something else going on in Zebrica? Okay, there probably was plenty of stuff going on that I didn’t know about. No being is just going to hand me a list of national problems, and as I had learned, many problems were disguised and covered up in many layers of pastel paint. I mean this seemed like a happy town, it didn’t hint that slavers used to come and collect bits and zebras every so often.

The weather didn’t exactly spell doom with the calming clear blue either, but the world was still ending, slowly, and at a near invisible pace in most parts.

Why…

A kiss brought me back to the road in front of me.

Chitin left my muzzle as I felt her tense under my wing, my thoughts of the office fading as I was gently reminded of my beautiful emotionvore. I really would have to learn to control my emotions more.

Turning to my mare I gave her a nuzzle and kiss in return, trying to keep myself centered in the moment, reflecting on the day could wait. She smiled a little, her happy expression being my focus before white and silver dominated my sights, such colors sent my wings into a ruffling fit, the urge to fly and express my excitement had come back.

Small giggles escaped my marefriend’s muzzles, quickly joining the happy murmur of the crowd.

It was smaller than the ape’s ship but so much more…Newer? That was the best word for it. The metal shined in the sun, the hull looked to be freshly polished, and the engines only gave off a well maintained purr that I could hear from here.

We still had a long way to go though.

Currently, we were following the languid and all too slow procession through the town, and no, I still didn’t know its name. No speech had been needed as all the zebras and former equestrians were well informed of my plan, talking of it to their family and so forth. That should have worried me more than it did, but in light of this morning’s chaos the town wide acceptance of my kidnapping the princess plan overnight was the least of my worries. After all, they were the least racist town I had been in so far.

There was still the possibility of more assassins, Moonlit Echo turning, and…Deep breath, relax your wings before she notices again.

I still felt the need to keep my mares under my wings. Somehow the feathery flesh shields felt like a master defensive mechanism…Instinct’s logic not mine, but I didn’t feel like arguing with myself on that, and I enjoyed feeling their presence too. My feathers were very sensitive at least, I could feel the slight changes in the fruit scented breeze as we walked.

And I felt Ayodele behind as she walked with a high step, muzzle right by my tail…She was still so happy even after that break in. No, it was probably more to do with being near me.

Definitely had to with my presence, her nose bumped my tail, again. Another exhalation of air spread across my inner thigh and forced me to distract myself.

We will have different cabins at least.

So I returned to the same line of questions as before and all of them were still no closer to being answered. The key fact still glaring out at me, no being had heard anything…Too convenient if you asked me, no floor was creak proof, and it had to be impossible to make that much mess and have remained completely quiet.

The same questions ran through my thoughts again.

Who had broken into the office? Nothing added up, the postcard ready town, the grateful, freed residents, and still as we moved along not a frown could be seen. Well, Echo didn’t count; he was allowed some angst considering his predicament.

A predicament we would have to discuss later, especially since he now knew I could sleep through most things.

First things first, we had to take off.

Smiles were everywhere as our procession continued to inch through the main street, Wekasi and I had to stop and shake hooves on occasion. Unsurprisingly, those few hoof shakes snowballed into many, slowing us down even more, and the small town seeming to be more like a city in rush hour with how this crowd moved. Finally the beach was upon us, the beige sand soothing to my hooves, and the air was filled with even more excited voices. Skinny bodies crowded the shore line, looking at our rag tag group with perked ears and busy tails. All of that dissolved into the background as the sound of the engine grew, the idling ship hovered in place before us.

An airship, a home of my own!

My mares shared another amused look as my wings fidgeted; they still twitched faintly from my excitement even as I tried to rein them in through calming breaths.

It was exciting for my herd, even if they scoffed intially, their eyes shined in the light. They were happy.

We approached the raised platform, eventually climbing the dock, with our hoof steps echoing over the planks. On the way up I craned my neck to take it all in.

The vessel was easily as tall as the city hall and that was not including the balloon half of the airship. Three levels of hull space indeed. My eyes traveled along the sleek vessel, the bottom half a shiny white hull reminiscent of a colonial ship. The only difference being that it had small reflections along the hull, the glittering in the sunlight only adding to the extravagance of the vessel. With a squint I confirmed my suspicions, they were small windows. Set in three lines parallel to each other, they ran along the length of the body, a clear mark of the different levels. The shiny line up only interrupted by a loading hatch like door that was laid out to the raised platform, dirty hoof marks printed to and fro along it.

We all paused to take this in; Kapera even gave my shoulder a pat, a look over confirmed her reaction. She was grinning as her eyes traveled over it, nodding slowly and deliberately.

Stomps that were quickly followed by hollow clip clopping alerted us to the Zebras before they exited the hull, a fine sheen of sweat was on their coats. But they looked happy as well. A fact that made my already excited smile grow, the thought of why they must be covered in sweat making my stomach cheer.

Our food was loaded.

They gave us a large wave as they noticed us, big smiles on their muzzles as well. I carefully waved a hoof back as they approached us.

“I take it that the Freeway model is satisfactory?” Wekasi asked as he turned from them to look at us. “That’s a yes then?” He added with an amused smile as I couldn’t form any words, still smiling widely as I took in the structure. It was like getting a new car, the excitement and sheer newness of the vessel made me speechless, also accompanied by the urge to rub my cheek on it to feel the smoothness. “I’m afraid I don’t know much on airship’s inner workings but Nomalanga will give you the rundown. She is an expert on this ‘technology’.” He said technology like it was a foreign word and gestured to the deck above us, there a zebra looked over the railing. A dark hoof waved down at us madly, most likely at the mention of their name. “I’m afraid this is good bye for now, I still have a mess to make sense of.” He sighed, giving us a smaller smile. “But, by the time you return I am sure it will be sorted out and all members of your herd will just need to sign some papers.”

Still a great deal, no regrets…Yet. I wasn’t trying to tempt Murphy.

Returning his statement with big grin, I gave him a hearty hoof shake. “Thank you for hospitality and this amazing ship,” I stressed the ‘amazing’ part, hoping he understood just how much he had helped my herd. As I released his hoof and gestured to my marefriends. They hammered in my meaning, both of them were giving him big smiles, tears were pooling in Lyric’s eyes as she tried to blink them away. “We are very grateful for this.”

I think he noticed my feathers moving with the muscle twitches. I don’t even know what my tail was doing but he looked very amused.

“It was my pleasure my new friend,” he nodded to my mares, “Friends.” They returned a nod; Chrissy seemed to relax against me slightly as he said that. It hit me a little more then, how much it must have hurt. I can’t even imagine how it felt to finally be accepted. Racism was another thing to tackle while I was in Canterlot. “I wish that you all have a safe trip.” He finished, with a final wave farewell he turned and followed the exiting labors down the ramp.

Still smiling I picked up the pace, now trotting to the loading ramp and entering my new ship, my group not far behind.

The salty air was gone now, replaced by a clean pine-like scent; it was oddly refreshing to my nose. Crowds disappeared from our peripheral vision, replaced with the darker visage of the hull’s interior.

Dim lighting made us pause while also allowing us time to take in the room or floor; I wasn’t quite sure how it was divided. We were inside the second level, a space that I’m sure was very expansive if the outside held true. But it was hard to tell when it was packed to the ceiling with stacks of hay bales and pyramids of barrels. Small paths were weaved in among the towers of food, left from the workers, and making the level feel almost like a dungeon with all the windows blocked off. Our only light was from a bright yellow jewel that illuminated the two sets of staircases in the center of the space, one leading up and the other down. They even had hoofrails, unlike the ships I had been on before.

Quietly, talk started among Kapera and her assistants, even the cousins were giving appreciatory sounds as they stayed by my flank.

The Thestral looked around from his perch in Dinari’s arms with his broody silence, only a stray snort escaped.

Obvious observations were made among ourselves as we made our way up to the clearly new stairs. Like how they shined with a fresh coat of finish and were only marred by the many dirty hoof prints leading up and down both sets of stairs.

I shared another quick nuzzle with my mares as we made our way up to the first level below the deck, happiness making me almost giddy. But while we were eager our group was also…In awe. This seemed like a dream after all I have had to endure, my own home, a safe place to live.

No baddies jumped out as we ascended the stairs, nor were any traps sprung or assassins waiting above for us.

It was a miracle, especially after his office. My brain faintly screamed that something was wrong, that was my instinctual brain mind you. It had also told me to run back and comfort Ayodele with my wings…Yah, you see how I might be taking its demands with a grain of salt. The instincts were going by ‘populate and protect’. It did not take into account the work and commitment a relationship involved, not even considering that I still had to meet with royalty, and all the work that went along with that.

More hoofs thumped hollowly above us, echoing back to us in the new floor we had entered.

The first floor wasn’t set up as any sort of thing yet; all it held was crates with pictographs of planks and gears on them. Those five crates were hanging out by the walls of the otherwise empty space. If this level was the same dimensions as the other two floors beneath us then I was thoroughly impressed with a ‘modest size’ airship. We were loaded in food! This room was easily over fifty feet long, and just like the other floor it was nine feet tall, providing clearance for even Dinari.

And Wekasi still called this a modest model of an airship...Well, if you compared it to the ape’s then it was.

Every being had stopped once again to take in the massive cavern of a hull, clearly as impressed as I was with it. I gazed down the level until sunlight flickering caught my attention, it highlighted the final staircase. My group began making our way over to it, absently I wondered at how it strangely enough wasn’t beside the one we just climbed. I swiveled my ears as I started to trot, listening as our hums of appreciation echoed back to us along with the clip clops.

I have no idea what to even do with this floor; this whole vessel is really much larger than I was thinking of. Maybe I could turn it into a playroom or a workshop? Make some pony walls to separate things…

When we reached the deck a feminine voice greeted us, “You must be Ari!” Stripes flashed before my eyes. A monochromatic backdrop that gave me no time to react as my hoof was grabbed and shook with a force that spoke of endless energy. She shook me with that energy too. “It’s a pleasure to meet such a hero.” She gushed, brown eyes coming into focus, they almost assuredly had stars in them.

Snorts of surprise escaped from my mares as we all tensed and leaned back onto our haunches from the greeting.

It wasn’t the energy, no; I had a friend that was very excitable like this.

What held my attention had been the last word.

Hero…Dear lord, just what have the locals been saying about me? It was called ‘doing the right thing’. Also, I needed to get free then anyway. I was not trying to be a hero or a leader, despite what Folami insisted. Think about it, who wanted to be in charge? That poor mayor acted like it was normal for angry Gryphon hens to burst into his office!

I am going to be a dad to two magical foals, which sounds good enough to me. No politics needed thank you very much.

We were still braced back as she let go of my hoof, backing up a couple of steps as she took us, well, mostly me in. Of course, I did the same to her.

Goggles were hanging from her neck, smudges of an oily nature splattered here and there on her face and forelegs. A cutie mark of a big gear and wrench adorned her flank, which only confirmed that this mare knew her way around the ship.

“Err, yes,” I started as she smiled at me, not sure how to respond to such a word as ‘hero’. “Uh, I am Ari and you must be-.”

“Nomalanga,” She finished for me, ears twitching as she looked me over again. “And may I just say you look pretty fine for going against the king of pirates.” A long snort made her pause and I looked over to Chrissy who was very clearly saying back off with her ears back and bared teeth. “Oh, oh no, no way missy,” she was shaking her head very rapidly. “You got me all wrong miss changeling, I’m happily married and with foal.” She looked to me as I blinked, eyes straying to her stomach. There was marriage here? Wait, no, she was pregnant? Her stomach was still so narrow. “Don’t worry, I am not a herdwrecker.”

Lyric slumped a little into me on hearing that, resting her head on my withers, whatever posturing she had been doing done.

At that admission Chrissy also relaxed, ears splaying a bit, and a more hesitant smile replacing her threat. “Ah, perhaps I was quick to jump to conclusions and congratulations.” Her smile grew a little softer as she said the last word, eyes straying to the striped stomach.

The mechanic gave a slow nod, winking with an easy smile at my mares. “Thank you! I can see why you would worry though; even with all those cuts on him he still has his looks. I’m surprised you even let him near other mares!” Calming down slightly, she turned back to me. “I’m sorry about that, I was just meaning that you did pretty well to only get covered in cuts and crack your hooves…” Her smile faltered then, “Is it true you cracked them breaking the chains of…Well?”

“Yup,” I nodded, holding in the wince as I shifted my weight, breathing deeply as I tried to relax my muscles a little. First the office threw my instincts into overdrive and now her sudden greeting had riled them back up.

The chains…

Shaking off the images of the pirate’s hulls, I looked up from my hooves to see the zebra had resumed having stars in her eyes, at least for a second. They lasted for a moment longer before she shook her head. “So what do you know of airships?”

I blinked once, twice, and nothing really intelligent came to me. I could say they looked like ships being carried by a large gas chamber or that they were propelled by two engines but any being could see that. Earth wasn’t exactly filled with airships, sure zeppelins come to mind but that was way before I was even born, and I only vaguely remembered the pictures from high school.

So, “Actually I know nothing on how they work.” She blinked back at me, “Surely you heard that I’m not from around here?” A blush colored her muzzle as she muttered something about exaggerated gossip, but I continued, “On my planet we have them but you would have to be crazy rich and eccentric to have one. I was not rich or eccentric though.” Her attention was on me, every being was, soaking up my words. “I do know how to steer a boat, drive a car…” I trailed off at their blank looks.

Explaining cars would bring up more questions, which could lead to a question I couldn’t wiggle out of. It was very easy to see myself holding an ‘Earth seminar’ if I even tried to explain myself.

But the mare recovered quickly, “Okay so how about we start with a tour then,” I nodded as she carried on. “After that I can give you the manual to read up on and as your test flight you can fly me home!” With that she turned and began the tour at a brisk trot, off towards the bow of the deck before I could mention the problem.

For now I just shared a shrug with my mares, knocking Lyric’s head off of my wither in the process, but she just yawned and carried on. Nomalanga would soon learn that although I love to read I couldn’t…Yet, it was on my very long to do list.

“-And that is why the these railings double as excellent baby gates,” of course she would focus on that, she knows…There was that wink again, “That is until they start flying, I’m assuming they will have wings of course.” My eyes wandered to where her hoof was pointing, small runes were carved into the silver rail.

Kapera noticed the runes as well, muttering to herself as she shook her head. Faintly I heard, “Poor work, just shoddy work, you aren’t supposed to leave the cuneal writing in plain sight to wear off.”

Still our guide was looking at my herd for a reaction, ears perked and eyes eagerly looking between our faces.

Thankfully my mares took over.

“So do they protect against accidental magical outbursts? Do they contain ‘teleporters’,” Lyric asked, draconic slits narrowing at our guide. My ears splayed as I recalled the brief mention of that when they tried to teach me about my aetheratic channels, magical foals were going to be interesting. Nomalanga just cocked her head, eyes moving left and right at the empty air. The air had no hints.

The master smith answered for her, “Nope, these will just stop the foals from walking or smashing through them…” She trailed off, stepping up to the railing to run her paw along them. “You will be re-enchanting these within five years with the placement of the writing too.” She gripped the railings, letting the palm of her paw sweep along it. “The wear and tear is going to be brutal from the winds.”

“Uh, t-the, the captain’s quarters! Let me show you that!” A spirited recovery, her ears sat up from their splayed position as her smile shone with enthusiasm again.

Really, it was hard to reply to Kapera, I mean it wasn’t like the mechanic enchanted the ship. Nomalanga was just the delivery mare.

From the railing, she trotted over the large quarters taking up the bow, two doors on either side of the wall we faced. Both were white, as was the siding of the cabin, and the roof. Opening the door on the right, Nomalanga made a grand sweeping gesture with her hoof for us to enter.

I knew was going to love this.

Our new room took up only half the cabin but it was still huge. It was more long than wide, the back quarter holding an impressive sized bed, easily enough to hold myself and mares, with room left over for wiggly foals.

Stepping inside she continued the obligatory tour.

“Your bed,” she gestured to the giant square of promised comfort. “The sheets made from the finest silk, imported all way from Japony.”

“Repeat that,” I deadpanned to the zebra.

She didn’t know what to say, gaping maw struggling to think of what she had said that was confusing. I didn’t blame her but I just didn’t believe her, “You said Ja-pony.” I sounded it out, my logical mind questioning once again what sort of parallel world I had landed in.

“Yes?”

The poor mare was cocking her head at me; the others didn’t know what to do either, even my mares did not understand why that was so important to me. Their thoughtful eyes narrowing as I took a deep breath, “That is what I thought. I am sorry this world is quite similar and different to mine all at once. On Earth there is a country called Japan so I thought I misheard you.” My friendly smile and cordial tone moved her past the confusion and back to the tour.

“Oh! That would be confusing, don’t worry about it.” She quickly turned with a hop, moving to a yellow jewel embedded in the wall. With the hoof to it a light came on behind a wooden door that had previously blended in with the wall appeared.

The illuminated outline of the door was broken as she opened it, showing me the most magnificent bathroom I had seen so far in this world. I will be frank with you on that; the pirate ships didn’t really have nice bathrooms, or really bathrooms at all. Buckets folks, those were buckets with enchanted jewels tossed at the bottom, and baths were called rain out there. Even the inn in Saddle Arabia wasn’t as…Civilized as this room.

A real porcelain bowl, also a porcelain sink, it was-

Sorry, sorry, I am sure you don’t want to hear how amazing my bathroom is. But, when you have to literally go in the woods half the time and the other half of the time the facilities look like they were out of a third world country having porcelain again is a god send.

The bath was huge too.

Okay, I am shutting up about it now.

After the bathroom our guide moved on to the cabin across the deck. It was exactly what I thought it would be. A mess hall that connected to large cabin filled with bunk beds, a nice bathroom and kitchen. Yes, some of the stuff was imported from countries with eerily familiar sounding names, but I truly didn’t care from where my plates had come from, and my brain needed rest from that sort of stuff. The lights were easy to use, the enchanted plumbing did create some questions but I filed those away for later.

One room was left.

“This is arguably one of the most important rooms on the ship,” Nomalanga started as she opened the left door on the captain’s quarters. It was the control room.

“Wow,” I said ever so articulately.

My eyes were big as they traveled around the ‘L’ shaped command room, a narrow hallway leading to a wide front that spanned the width of the ship. Glass windows took up the far wall, showing the waves futilely trying to reach us and puffy wisps of clouds looking down as they wondered why we weren’t joining them.

“Exactly,” our guide chirped out. She started down the hallway, stopping to hit a purple gem before continuing. “This is where the magic happens!” A hum echoed throughout the ship and I tensed, unsure what was happening, “Don’t worry, I’m just closing the loading bay.”

“Ah, thank you,” my ability to speak was growing, as was my smile.

Relaxing slightly, I tucked my wings in and trotted ahead of her, looking at the panel that rested below the window. It was very similar to a modern boat’s control center; on second thought perhaps a plane’s control panel would be more accurate. There were no electronic elements per say, but the idea was there. In the center of the panel were two levers and a steering wheel. To the left of them were little containers that held water, water that was sprinkled with tiny red gems. Next to the jeweled water was a written scale on the metal board. It was measuring something, what it measured I hadn’t quite determined yet. More testing apparatuses were laid out as I looked further to the left. All with scales that were written in different languages, extra points to the designer for being inclusive of other cultures. Ignoring the prominent linguistic problem, I looked to the right of steering wheel and found five panels filled with a jewels, all labeled again with symbols in varying languages. But beyond those panels was a table secured to both the right wall and the control board.

On the table lay a map, a very big map, and it looked even more filled in than the Diamond dog’s map. The east side of it anyway, the west was still a blank mass of dark blue beyond Zebrica.

My self guided tour was soon cut short, “As I was saying Ari,” my tour guide appeared in front of my path, blocking my view of the map, “Before you can touch the control panel you have to read at least chapter one.”

****

Moonlit Echo

I still can’t tell if this is all an act, not Ari being a Alicorn, it was this ‘I don’t know how to read’ farce. Here he was explaining how he couldn’t read any of our languages, any, yes I call horse apples on that too.

He wrote the princesses a letter.

An illiterate Alicorn wrote a letter in Equus…Exactly, my point has been made. Sure, he could be illiterate; I mean his nonsensical signature and alien status had certainly made me consider it. But all I needed to do was think of that letter and my questions rose again.

We needed to have a long talk, him and I, and not just about the how he should and shouldn’t act around royalty. But about what he knew, so many things still didn’t add up.

My world felt forever changed, going from a regular routine guarding the peaceful city of Canterlot to this crazy place, this world that was impossible yet real.

The world didn’t add up, nothing in the books made sense anymore.

Pirates that didn’t exist had existed, slavers that were bad adventure fiction material were real, and then there was the role that the peaceful nation of Saddle Arabia and the other southern nations played in the slave trade. Almost as crazy as the swamp land that was now Minotaria and whatever mess the Griffin Republic was in. Yes, I believed Bente, that hen’s outrage was very real.

This was real…

Do the princesses know?

No, I mean, that was unanswerable right now. So, going one step beyond that question, how had this world come to this? The books spoke of the Great War ending, world powers were balanced, and all the evil monsters were killed or trapped. Discord was trapped in stone, the changelings sent to the southern badlands, and every last shadow pony banished to Tartarus itself. But that sounded more like a foal’s tale now.

These mares didn’t seem truly evil, at least not like the stories and events had suggested.

For the life of me I couldn’t find an evil angle for freeing slaves, not one that they were doing anyway. Rescuing enslaved equines that weren’t even supposed to exist…To do what with them, feed off of them? Enchant them to make an army to take over Equestria?

No, they could have done that and many other things but they just wanted…A home in exchange.

Evil sirens and changelings that only asked for a place to live, sure they were…With foal.

Deep breaths, I just have to remain calm and assess the situation. In. Out. In…He rutted the bug and somehow impregnated her…Out…And a siren hybrid. Despite their mercy on me so far that fact still disgusted me, on a base level it seemed wrong, I didn’t know why but it was definitely wrong.

I wanted to buck his face in for doing that. But-

A rumbling and tilting of the room alerted me that something was going wrong.

“NO!” The shrill squeak of the goggle wearing zebra drew my eyes to her. I don’t know what her name was due to the fact that only had tuned in occasionally, evidently not when she was introduced. But really, why would I want to listen to how great the bucker’s ship was? Speaking of that bug lover, he was holding onto the right lever and slowly easing it down to the same spot as the left lever, ears splayed and a sheepish smile on his muzzle.

“Sorry.” He offered as the room regained stability.

He was such a…Ugh, I can’t wait till I was home, then…I don’t know what then, but it had to be better than being his prisoner. I mean he was denser than a young colt about some stuff. Well, that was actually okay, that is, it will work in my favor.

With all this time I had come up with a new plan. The nail tucked away in my ropes, while a viable back up plan wasn’t going to cut it in the long run. It was due to becoming the teddy bear for ‘miss muscle’. You would think she would have to put me down some time, right? No, the Minotaur hadn’t let me go once; even when she slept…She snored, just in case you were wondering. I couldn’t really sleep with that long honking of hers blowing into my ear continuously.

But I still didn’t see who broke in to the office, you know, the room’s door being closed and all.

Not that they came up the stairs…Or down them.

“You have to raise both at once,” the mare was looking intently at Ari, ears back. “At the same time,” Goggles was looking at Ari carefully as she repeated herself, placing both hooves on his as they gripped the levers. “Ready?” He nodded and I watched on in rapt attention, ready to make an emergency roll away if he crashed us.

****

Ari

After a few hiccups, okay, a lot of hiccups, I got the ship in the air. This was also after demonstrating that I knew what every button and contraption did. Knowing to hit the big black jewel on the fifth panel to shut off the engines in a emergency, or how to cut the magic to the other rooms and floors in case the output jewels needed replacing, all the basic controls.

Frankly, it felt very similar to learning to drive all over again, complete with nervous backseat driver.

“See Ari, you are a natural!” Nomalanga was laying it on a bit thick but I still appreciated the vote of confidence, my wings unable to help themselves as they puffed up. “When you do learn to read please give the manual a through look over, it is much cheaper to maintain the engines yourself than repair them. Parts aren’t cheap!” She added cheerfully at the end.

“Okay…” I trailed off, “I think I have the hang of it and I promise to not accidently touch any buttons.” The mare nodded her understanding but didn’t move away. “This really isn’t too different than a boat from my planet, you can relax.” My ears went back and every being looked to her as well.

Her hooves still didn’t move off the wheel.

Nomalanga seemed to get the hint after a minute of staring, slowly releasing her iron grip from the wheel, one hoof left. “Sorry, it was just…” She slowly released the grip of her second hoof, sighing and deflating as the room stayed the same, no titanic flips or tilts.

I may have over steered at first, not unlike a new driver taking race car driver corners at a high speed. That may be why she insisted that I didn’t raise the levers too far above the halfway point. Especially for long periods of time, however it also had to do with not overheating the engine in the summer heat.

This was summer and I wasn’t even dying from the heat, I loved that fact.

Anyway, aside from watching how far I raised the levers and adjusting my steering for such a large vessel I was ‘a natural’ as she put it, so with the wheel to myself I looked over the horizon. It was clear and blue as we were flying relatively low, just high enough that we wouldn’t hit the masts of the ships but not high enough to obscure our view with white cotton candy.

Settling down on the shiny floor, I looked away from the great blue, “So where am I heading Nom?” My mares chuckled from my sides as Nomalanga scrunched her muzzle at me.

“Don’t, that is just a no. It’s Just Nomalanga, okay Ari?” I nodded my acceptance, holding in my chuckle at her serious tone. With a sigh she nodded back before turning over to the map. “As to where we are going, it is just a quick flight from Malawia to Cape town, only four hours at half speed.”

Quickly glancing at the clear skies to find them clear I turned back to the mechanic, just in time to see her hoof move north along the Zebrican coastline, settling on the middle of the east coast.

So we had to return Malawia after this was over…And Moonlit Echo still hadn’t really given his acceptance. Sure, he verbally agreed to the deal and he seemed honest. But he was also given that deal or he would remain tied up for awhile. It was a clear winner in my book. His presence nagged at my instinctual mind, it saw the threat that he posed to my herd almost as clearly as my logic did.

He knew about my sleep issue after all, what was to stop him from sneaking around when I was asleep?

“Nomalanga,” said mare turned back to me a smile, goggles bobbing as she walked over. “At half speed how long does it take to cross the Narrow Sea? That is to say, how much distance can this vessel travel in a day?”

With splayed ears she answered me, “Well, there isn’t an exact answer to that.” We were all watching her now, the others sitting up straighter from their spots on the floor. “There are many factors that could slow you down, such as daylight.” I cocked my head at her, “When you are back on the continent I don’t recommend flying low or at night.” Before I could ask why she continued, “Mountains have a way of sneaking up on you.” I nodded, remembering the river like mass of clouds from the Diamond Mountains. “Not to mention movement at night attracts monsters.”

“So how long do you estimate it will take if all goes good and we don’t travel at night?”

A dull echo filled the room as her hoof tapped, “Hmm, maybe two days.” Trotting over to the table, her eyes flicked between different points on the coast. “Well if you make a slow turn from Cape Town and head straight,” she dragged her hoof in a line from the east coast to the middle of the opposing shore, “To Shallow Shale then it should two days if you stick to traveling in the day.”

Kapera grunted her approval as I nodded; looking back I saw that she was still crossing her arms over her chest…Should I be getting her clothes or something? Everything on two legs, with a certain ape shaped exception, wore some form of clothing.

Beside her the Minotaur siblings were leaned back against the wall, looking at the passing horizon. Of course Echo was there as well, looking at the horizon with his ears back, and not much else to his expression.

How had this plan gotten so complicated?

This room had a clock, magically synchronized with the movements of the sun and moon, and according to it only two hours had passed. Due to the lack things to do we had all decided to lie down, my magic manning the wheel as we watched the small towns pop up and move on below us. They were small breaks of color in the otherwise green and beige coastline, occasionally a small patch of slate like rock would crop up, but that was even rarer than the towns.

Along with the background purr of the engines there was a steady tapping; for the most part I ignored it, years of babysitting having conditioned a level tolerance in me that I would like to think was impressive. That and Jay, she was the excitable friend I mentioned before. Just like Jay, my airship instructor couldn’t handle the calm moments for too long.

Two hours being this mare’s maximum tolerated quiet time.

“So what are you two doing on the mission?” Nomalanga asked the Ayo’s, looking back to the cousins that were laid out beside each other.

Just the purr remained, until some faint disgruntled cawing signaled we had disturbed another flock of white sea birds.

They looked to each other as a thump sounded on the roof, promising me that I would be cleaning bird ‘presents’ off the roof in the near future. A large white feather fell across the window and held their gaze. After it passed they still didn’t seem to have come up with an answer so I chimed in, “Oh those two are here to help with incapacitating the princesses if they don’t listen to words.”

Brown eyes flicked back over to me, energy back in them as her tail started flicking about.

“Oh, are they making the magic inhibitors or-,” She cut herself off as I held up a hoof. “Oh, um okay.” The hint was received and her head turned, eyes looking around the room before settling on Gennady’s shoulder. “So how did you lose your arm?”

With that, the overly social bull started explaining the ‘Battle for Freedom’ as he called it, the groans at that cringe worthy name only surprised him. With the explanation, not only was the mechanic distracted but I also learned some things too, like how Kapera now owed a captain a new ship. I had wondered where that ship had come from.

The next two hours passed with many laughs and smiles, even Echo managed a smile at some points in the exaggerated retelling of the fight. At least I think he was smiling, Thestrals had pointed canines so it could have been a threat, or even a grimace…Anyway, Gennady proved himself to be very good entertainer.

The tip tapping of talons sounded above the cabin before a flurry of white feathers, some seemed unusually large as they floated down the window, and the bird’s reason for leaving was a significantly larger town that had appeared on the horizon.

“Cape Town!” Nomalanga shouted, the declaration reverberating back to us in the room.

Keeping my ears pressed to my head in case she had any more statements to make, I watched the buildings close in, the town appearing to be made up almost half ship yard and the inner portion a collection of businesses. No small cottages or quaint townhouses, these buildings were five stories tall at the minimum, with most scoffing at such a small height, and trying to touch the sky with clearly added on floors. It was the closest to a big city I had seen so far, even the color scheme imitating the sheer ‘blah’ of a city with a meshing of dull browns and grays.

On any other day I would have wanted to explore it, but we weren’t going to be stopping here for long, just long enough to unload the pregnant mechanic.

Speaking of the mare, looking from the window and over Chrissy’s body I spotted the eager zebra. She was doing a short pace along the right side of the window; tail flicking and her smile growing as the folded sails came into view. “Hold on,” I said as my magic lowered the levers in sync, adjusting a knob on the left panel before I steered the ship toward the only empty parking space left for airships.

“Agh!” My ethereal field flicked off momentarily as the hard edges of hooves jabbed into my back; opening scabbed over cuts that should really have stayed closed. This was followed by my neck being wrung in a painful imitation of a hug.

Rosy hued magic plucked the excited zebra off of me as I parked the ship, the engines idling as I gasped for sweet oxygen.

Despite her time enjoying our company the mare had the bay open with a hastily exclaimed thank you, galloping down the stairs faster than I could blink. We all rose from the floor and walked onto the deck, just in time for to see a poor stallion get bowled over on the platform. The nickering reached us on the deck as she nuzzled her equally happy husband who managed to get a quick sweep of wave to us.

I gave a weak wave back, glancing at my mares as I did so. Chrissy appeared amused, ears forward and eyes relaxed as she leaned into me slightly, Lyric was very much the same, happily smiling as two small sighs escaped them.

Nomalanga was only four months along.

“Look at what you have to look forward to Ari,” Kapera said as she chuckled under her breath.

“Yeah…”

Leaving the happy couple behind us, I turned the ship, slowly, before I began our ascent into the increasingly cloud filled sky. My idea being that I could shave a day off the travel time if I flew high and at night. She had said I shouldn’t fly at night on the continent, not on the sea.

Sea Serpents can’t fly, right?

We only had three hours till sunset, at this pace we might make it to Shallow Shale early, late afternoon tomorrow…I hoped so anyway.

Adjusting the gas again, I watched from between my napping mares as the white cumulus parted for us. I ignored the soft puffs of warm air on my rump. Clouds of all shapes drifted around the ship, looking ever so tempting, and drawing a yawn from me.

The sun was closer and brighter than I had ever imagined it could be, taking up nearly the whole window with its filtered rays. But even so, the cabin seemed to get a chill as we climbed higher.

Kapera left to search for some blankets as we all settled in, an odd crunch coming from somewhere, twitching my ears I waited. There, my wings relaxed over my mares as Gennady rolled around some more apples in the barrel that we had brought up during the trip. It was just that big lug. Dear lord, every since some being had sneaked by my herd, unhindered or undetected to the office…To put it nicely, my instincts were still in overdrive.

Or maybe this world was making me paranoid, not everything had to be about me…Nah, I am pretty sure I had a growing list of haters.

Would the princesses be joining that list?

Soon enough we were settled, the sun set, rapidly making way for the moon. I saw why she had said not to travel at night. Inky darkness crept through the sky, faintly illuminated by the light reflected off the moon, and shadowy cumulus crept around the ship. The moon that dominated the night sky as the only source of light, soothing my nerves as I locked gazes with it, and forcing another yawn escaped my mouth. Looking at my herd, noticing absently that they were only bodies remaining in the room, and the warmest by default.

Another yawn and my vision swam.

Maybe a quick resting of the eyes was due.

Squinting my watering eyes at the clock I saw I still had four hours, yes, four hours till sunrise. My magic had the wheel. The small creaks and tip tapping on the ship reminded me of home, even the purr of the engine was like the fridge.

Just a little rest...