I was in my own personal hell. When I was younger, I always thought it would be shopping with my friends or my mother on Sundays in the city, but that was surely no comparison to what awaited me today. My friends wouldn’t ever do it anyways, and my mothers… Well, one of them was in another world and probably had other things on her mind; the other one sat her flank on her throne and was dull. Still, there was no sign of me getting over this dread. Even though I was sure Celestia would have her fun with this, it was another white pony that was causing my headache.

I got the letter quite early today, telling me that our airship was ready for inspection. Twilight had probably managed to get one with the help of Celestia. It would be one of the bigger cargo ships that travelled between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, and we intended to use it for our exploration of Earth. Because of that, there were some modifications to be made at the Manehatten dry dock, and I would personally inspect them. Apparently, Rarity wasn’t only an expert on fashion, but also an expert on ships. How could she not? She had made quite a few cruise trips with her parents, so it was kind of a hobby for her to know about those things. Of course, it was also a nice opportunity for a stroll through the city. I was preparing for a very long day ahead of me, as tree after tree passed the window of our train.

“... Oh, and the fashion, darling! It’s definitely not Canterlot, but Manehatten has its own interesting style, you know. I’m really excited! All the hats and stores…” she continued from her nonstop chatter for almost an hour now.

From time to time, I nodded politely to show that I had not fallen asleep. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep after the party last night. Actually, now that I think about it, I didn’t get any sleep at all. It took until two in the morning for the lake to be cleared, and then AJ was still in the mood from her prize that evening, so the party had continued in the bedroom. Not that I was complaining, but a stallion still needed his beauty sleep.

“May I offer you something?” One of the attendants opened the door to our small cabin and looked questioningly at Rarity and I.

While Rarity preferred to sit on her own pillow, I had gathered the other three to build a make-shift sofa. I hadn’t drunk that much, but it had left quite the hangover.

“Just ignore him,” Rarity said to her. “It seems like he didn’t get that much sleep last night.”

If she knew that, why wouldn’t she just shut up?

“I’ll take a fruit tea, cherry if you have it, with some honey,” she continued.

I laid my head back on the pillow and barely heard the door shut behind me, knowing Big Mac would get his revenge, but not that fast. The big guy had said goodbye to me at the station and grinned, a spooky grin Pinkamena would have been proud of. He had wished me a good day with Miss Rarity after all.

“Darling, why are you so unsociable? The party was a complete success. The lake is safe, and the farm even got a good profit since there's usually no harvest during summer.”

“If it had just stayed at that, I would be fine,” I said. “AJ was too happy to let me sleep peacefully.” Rarity looked confused, so I continued.“The whole night I couldn’t even rest my eyes, and I had to work the day before, so after the party…” Now she seemed to understand.

“Why didn’t you mention it earlier?” she said as the door opened. The attendant had returned and handed over Rarity’s tea.

“Excuse me, dear, but could you please…” I couldn’t get the rest, my mind drifting away, just closing my eyes and relaxing to the soft movements of the train.

A hoof hit me in the face, startling me. “Excuse me, darling, but difficult times...” she said, smiling at me. The attendant still stood behind her, but I hadn’t noticed the glass with the red liquid before. “I asked Quiet Staff to bring you a drink.”

She levitated the glass in front of my muzzle and pushed it carefully against my lips. Still dozy, I opened my muzzle and felt something viscous running down my throat. It tasted weird and spicy, but I loved spicy stuff.

“What is it? It’s quite good… in its own way…” I smacked my lips and tried to savour the aftertaste.

“Well, it’s coffee, hot sauce, two raw eggs, and a few aspirin. It might not be anything special, but it does help quite well when I have a sleepless night in my boutique,” she said, listing the ingredients.

Okay, knowing the ingredients didn’t quite help, but the result was awesome. My eyelids were soon free of any weight, and the numb feeling felt my body.

“Thanks, it worked,” I said, but now my stomach was growling and making weird noises.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” the attendant asked as she watched from the entrance to our small cabin.

“That will be all. Thank you, dear,” Rarity responded.

The unicorn bowed quickly and shut the door with her magic.

“How far is it until Manehatten, Rarity?” I asked her as she was looked out of the window.

“I would say about an hour. We should be there by noon.”

With the usual delay that could even make the German Bahn proud, we arrived at the largest station I had ever seen in my Life. I had travelled to various other big cities on the train before, but this one definitely set a new record. Travellers arrived at three different levels from not only all over Equestria, but also other countries I had never heard of before. Cows, deer, and griffons were crowding just as much as ponies around here. On the highest level, the carriages were arriving, as well as pegasi and other flying species, while the lowest level looked like a station for a tram. It seemed like it was run by magic and went to the most important spots in the city. Rarity and I were at the ground floor, which held several smaller shops next to the tracks.

“If I didn’t know better, I would say I’m back on Earth again,” I said. Everything at this station looked like Hanover, where people from all over the world would visit the city.

“Are you saying that Earth is just like Manehatten?” Rarity asked as we carried our luggage on our backs towards the exit.

“Change all the ponies, griffons, cows, deer, and—” I didn’t know what just passed me, but Rarity seemed to recognize my look and followed my gaze.

“It’s a hippogriff, darling,” she said, causing me to think for a bit.

Head and wings from an eagle, the body of a pony, and about the same size. It was better to not even try to think about how that could be possible.

“Yeah, well you could take this crowd here. Change them to humans, and you would have Earth,” I continued. “Except that the entrances to the shops would need to be about four hooves taller, at minimum.

“The whole Earth is like a station?” She looked quite stunned.

“No, but our stations really do look the same,” I said. After seeing the skyline of Manehatten, I was pretty sure that it could also be a city of humans. “The city pretty much resembles our architecture. However, Ponyville is…” I tried to search for a fitting word.

“Is a more sleepy town with its origins back in time?” she ended, and I nodded. “I’ve heard that various times, so don’t worry about it. While I love the glamour of the city, my home is and always will be Ponyville.” I could understand that really well.

“You know, the village I’m from is even smaller than Ponyville, so I can understand it pretty well,” I told her, and she nodded in approval.

“Oh, please wait a second, darling. I found something.” With that, she was gone from my side, and her snout pressed against a shop window. Over it was a sign I couldn’t really read.

There were some dresses in it which were, if you asked me, rather exotic-looking.

“It’s the newest collection from Madame Frida. She’s been designing for ponies for around a year now,” Rarity explained.

Every one of the dresses was in brown or white and looked like they were made out of feathers.

“So if you would like to look like a chicken, it would be a perfect fit! Maybe I should ask Scootaloo…” Again, I spoke quicker than I could reign myself in. It was a common thing for me to just spill any silly things that came to my lips. I waited for the roasting from the unicorn next to me, but nothing happened.

“Well... it definitely does look chicken-like,” she said and giggled. “You’re welcome to share your opinion, Light darling, otherwise it wouldn’t be any fun.”

“In that case, I’m happy to be your very special critic today,” I said, bowing slightly in front of her.

We continued our way and soon reached the two giant gates that marked the exit. Outside, there was an enormous plaza with various carriages and their drivers, a large street with a lot more carriages on it, and skyscrapers as far as you could see. Since the ceilings hung lower for ponies, I couldn’t tell how high these skyscrapers were, but if I had to guess, I would have said around thirty to fifty floors high. While I was looking around, Rarity stepped towards a carriage and waved for me to follow.

“To the shopping mall, please,” she said to the stallions that pulled the carriage and sat back.

I surrendered to my destiny and sat down next to her, the carriage moving on with a small hitch once I’d made myself comfortable. All of the buildings were made out of brick and gave that folksy charm. It looked like I’d landed in a city from around the turn of the century. It was somehow fitting of Equestria that the trains ran with coal, there was no electricity, and if there was, then only in form of a giant battery from a certain DJ while smaller devices ran purely by magic. The best example was Rarity’s sewing machine. The road in front of us led directly to a bridge, and while looking at the other side, I recognized for the first time that there was no dirt under us, instead pure, solid stone.

“Is this a synthetic island?” I pointed to the stone which all the buildings and the road were built on. Rarity laughed, just like our drivers.

“Not only the other side, darling. Up to ninety percent of Manehatten stands on an artificial island in the small bay between Equestria and the griffon kingdom,” she said. I knew my astonishment would have showed, as I thought there wouldn’t be such a thing here.

“I never thought I would meet a unicorn who didn’t know that. Missed school in Canterlot?” one of our drivers asked, not even looking back. It was nice to be treated like a normal tourist, but oh Celestia, he was simply pleading for revenge.

“Well, I’ve been living in another world up ‘til a few months ago, so I’m seeing quite a lot of things in Equestria for the first time,” I answered sincerely, waiting for his response. After all, how many arrivals from another world had been in the newspapers recently?

“You mean you were raised in foreign country?” the driver next to the first asked. “Like Ponyland or Germane?”

“Not really. You could say it was practically another world,” I answered. It was more an alternative universe where the world was settled by humans and not ponies, but that wasn’t something to be discussed here.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, your highness, I didn’t mean to—” He seemed to understand who I was.

“Don’t worry,” I interrupted him. “The shock was just for the dictum. I’m Blue Light. Nice to meet you…” I waited for his name.

“Push,” he answered, “and this one next to me is my brother Pull.”

First place for the most creative names was surely going to Push and Pull. I had discovered many other weird names, but at that moment, I wished my brain would stop its silent laughter.

“Nice to meet you both. If I’m not bothering you with my questions, what’s the city like?” I asked while they stopped at some sort of traffic light, a device with signs instead of bulbs.

“A bit troubled since the griffon situation’s gotten worse. Mostly only travellers on business come here anymore.”

I thought back to the meeting with the griffon soldiers over the desert just outside of Fillyburg. The poor guys; even though they had been enemies at that moment, to be eaten by the changelings… I could imagine that their government wasn’t really happy about it. Since none of those two seemed to have anything more to say, I looked up into the sky and saw no sign of pegasus or griffon.

“We’ve reached the shopping mall,” Push or Pull said. I wasn’t really paying attention.

While getting off the carriage, I noticed that they were the same except for the eye colour. Earth pony twins with brown mane, light brown coat, one with blue eyes, the other one with green eyes. The one in front of me had a cutie mark of a carriage that was being pulled, and I would have bet that the other one had one being pushed, though I couldn’t see it at the moment.

“That will be ten bits please,” they said, but Rarity ignored it, so I paid for it.

I waved to both of them in farewell before they were back into traffic and gone. It was really strange to hear various hooves instead of running engines and the sound of cobblestone instead of smooth asphalt. I turned to follow Rarity towards the entrance of a large building, the structure of which I wasn’t able to discover yet. The ground floor was filled by various shop windows, same with the second floor, and the ceiling was a large glass dome. I gulped once I recognized the stuff behind the shop windows: dresses, dresses, shoes, and shoes. Instead of human shoes, you could find some in sets of four or two, maybe for various occasions.

“Rarity… just out of curiosity… Is there anything sold here other than… fashion?” I asked, but got no response.

Instead, she pulled me behind her through the wooden door that would have better suited a church to mark the entrance. My fears were sadly confirmed as I spotted boutique after boutique pressed into the building, mares walking around with their unlucky friends behind them carrying the bags, or just bags being pulled by magic. Soft music was played out of some speakers that seemed to be a radio station. The temperature, as usual in these places, was much too high for my taste, but since there was no air conditioning, I could not expect anything else in a building like this, and with this amount of ponies inside.

“Welcome to the biggest and only building that was built for the sole reason of selling fashion. This is the mareland of Equestria,” Rarity explained. I wasn’t really surprised.

Signs with offers were everywhere, salesmares that praised the best and latest fashion to passing ponies, and even the worst sort was here: salesmares equipped with perfume.

“Uhm… I think I’ll take a rain check on the whole thing with being a critic. I’ll just take a cab to the dry dock…” My escape attempt was prevented by a light-blue aura around me.

“Come on, darling! This is the paradise of fashion! I bet we could find something that you’d like, and even if we can’t, I could get ideas to make something for you myself.”

Rarity was a designer herself. She wasn’t just here for shopping – she was also here to gather some ideas.

“Well, if you think so…” I wasn’t able to keep all the sarcasm out of my voice. We walked past the first few shops together, and I knew that Rarity would only look at me to give me a bag to hold during the next few hours. However, there was another question that hit me.

“How come there are no pegasi flying here? They even use the stairs!” I pointed at some of the stairs in the far distance, but she didn’t even look.

“Because it’s forbidden to fly in this town unless you get special permission to do so,” she said and disappeared into one of the shops while I waited patiently for her to come out again.

“Why is it forbidden?” I asked as we continued our way.

“Well, darling, everypony lives in those skyscrapers, you know. Would you like to have various pegasi always flying past your window and looking inside your apartment?” she responded. I decided that I couldn’t even think to live in such a city.

“Rarity!” We both looked towards the store from where the voice came from. A red unicorn mare stood behind the register and waved eagerly to us. Her purple mane was styled and groomed like Rarity’s, with the only difference being it wasn’t curly and only reached her shoulders.

“One moment, darling,” she said but didn’t wait for my answer. Instead, she disappeared into the shop to greet her acquaintance. I should have counted on her being recognized by the ponies here. At least her fashion was also praised by Canterlot. I hadn’t been to a lot of parties at the castle, but her name was often heard with a connection to fashion. I spotted a nearby bench where other despairing stallions probably waited for their marefriends. I took a seat next to one of them and listened to the radio, all the while taking in the sights.

“Which mare are you with?” asked the earthpony stallion on the bench next to me. The poor pony was sweaty, with a huge bunch of bags in front of him. Those would not be easy to carry for sure.

“With a friend of mine. White unicorn, purple mane, speaking with an acquaintance in there,” I answered and nodded towards the store.

He observed the actions for a few seconds before saying, “I would’ve waited here too.”

“Don’t have a choice since she’s an expert I’ll need later.” He nodded.

“So she’s not your marefriend?”

Really? He was here with a marefriend himself and yet still wanted to see if Rarity was free?

“Just a friend. My marefriend is at home at the farm,” I said. He nodded again.

“So, no herd?” What? I’d been stumped for an answer again.

“A what?” Now he seemed as confused as me.

“Well, a herd, duh.” Reading my still curious expression, he sighed. “You know, a relationship with more than two ponies, normally one stallion and various mares?”

Polygamy. Now it made sense for me, but I wasn’t surprised. There were far more mares than stallions in this country.

“Oh, well, I believe in a simple relationship. One stallion and one mare.” He just shook his head.

“Your loss,” he said.

I saw several mares heading for the bench, and my conversation partner stood up. “See ya. They’re my marefriends.”

He went towards the mares, and I watched him give each one of his mares a kiss before they continued their way. The poor guy was loaded like a donkey, but it was my loss? I shook the thought out of my head and listened to the radio again. The soft music was replaced by a broadcaster.

“Let’s start with the gossip,” the broadcaster said, and I wished that Casanova would come back. “Rumours are still boiling about the newest member of the royal family.” So either me or Armor. With my luck… “Prince Blue Light…” well guessed “…is still shielding himself from the public. He’s officially drawn back from Canterlot and is living with his marefriend at a small farm in Ponyville these days.” They could have at least called her name, but I guess advertising was advertising after all. “There are no verifications as to why he has changed so much after the fight against the changelings.” At least the discussion about the horn extension was off the table. “The royal family has already disclaimed the rumours that he had been swapped with a changeling. Those appeared after a photo showed up, showing him with wings on a cloud, pulled by a pegasus.” So somepony had captured what happened when we had stayed with Armor and Cadance with a camera. Wonderful! “We have a professor from Canterlot University here to present his theory. Welcome, Professor Hoofington.”

“Thank you, Gossip,” a dark voice answered that seemed to belong to an older stallion. Compared to him, the voice of the announcer sounded jarring.

“Professor, you have your own theory about this. Would you be so kind as to share it with us?” Great bridge, really creative.

“Exactly! Nopony can change himself in that small amount of time, not without some powerful magical aid. As far we know, the talent of our prince is the change—”

“So he changed himself?” she interrupted the professor.

“No, but it would explain the wings. As we learned in magic kindergarten, objects can only be changed to a specific point: form, material, or state of matter. For ponies and other lifeforms, we need an element, a basic you could say. For example, through the last hundreds of years, some of the earth ponies are now carrying some DNA from pegasi. If there is enough information implemented, an experienced unicorn could add wings to an earth pony for some time.”

I was impressed. This Hoofington had figured out my new ability through indirect means. Twilight had done so as well, but she had to examine me directly to get the clue.

“But wouldn’t this only prove that his parents were probably pegasi?”

“Coming right to that in a moment. There was also the picture where you could see the prince as an earth pony. Everypony thought it was a fake, wherein somepony removed the horn from the picture with magic. I now believe that it was authentic, which can only mean one thing. He has all the genetic information from pegasi, but there is also earth pony in him. There is only one race that could fulfil those terms: the alicorns.”

“You mean Princess Celestia and Luna?” She raised her voice to add a dramatic effect for her audience.

“Exactly! It would mean that he was transmuted all this time to hide his true origin. Accordingly, he is the biological son of princess Celestia,” he emphasized his last sentence quite a bit. I was really impressed that they were already considering this new angle. On the other hand, this Hoofington seemed to be quite smart.

“This would be a sensation!” You could hear a knocking sound on something like a table. “But why hide all this then? The last known descendant is Princess Cadance, and she was born over a thousand years ago. They weren’t hiding her back then.” Okay, Cadance was old. Did Shining Armor know that? “Besides that, what’s all this about another world?” Looked like they couldn’t get the solution to everything at least.

“Well, you would have to ask the prince or the princess yourself for that,” he said, adding an intonation to end the interview.

“In that case, thank you for being here today. Let’s recap the main revelation: Prince Blue Light is obviously the biological son of Princess Celestia. We shall continue trying to pursue investigations towards this. Let’s head over to our next topic, Cloudsdale…”

I stopped listening and started to think over everything I just heard. How could you explain everything? What would Twilight say?

“I’m scientifically impossible!” I said, imitating her voice.

I had still to wait over a quarter of an hour before Rarity finished her conversation with her friend. We continued our way through the building. At some places, she bought something but never used me as a pack mule. Later we sat at a small cafe, which was rare here, and had lunch, something we had missed on the train.

“Tell me, Rarity… I listened to a professor talking about DNA on the radio earlier. How high are the chances about… whatever comes out in the end?” I tried to stay away from the explicit topic during lunch.

I had a dish of pasta and tomato sauce while Rarity enjoyed a soup that I wasn’t able to identify. Her choice was the special of the day.

“You’re asking the wrong mare, darling.” I tried to rearrange myself on the pillow. “Twilight would be the better choice for this conversation.”

“That’s… not possible. You see, it’s about something I’ve been wondering about since I’ve came here, and it’s certainly not something you would ask directly.” She seemed to think about it quickly.

“I’d love to help you, as long as it’s nothing too personal,” she said. I nodded in response.

“It’s about Rising Dawn. When I met Twilight, I was unable to see her as a mother and definitely not to be a single mother on top of that.” Rarity seemed relieved.

“Well, she already raised Spike even though she was still a filly herself. So, if somepony has any experience with parenting, it’s Twilight. Even though I think she’s doing it by book.” Rarity had to grin about that.

“So what about Dawn?” She took a spoonful of her soup before answering.

“Dawn… is special.” I asked myself what she could mean by that. “To put it roughly, he came into this world just like you, by accident.” I didn’t have a clue if she meant accident in a magical or sexual way, but it seemed like she was aware of her own ambiguity. “Twilight was working on a teleportation spell and while doing that, well, she took a soul with her. It manifested itself as Dawn, but since a soul needs a body, Twilight’s magic unknowingly created a body after her model. Matching the soul, of course, so there’s no real father.” That sounded more like Twilight Sparkle, the number one bookworm and magician.

“What can I say, Rarity? I’m not wondering anymore.” She smiled and we finished our lunch, both of us laying some bits on the table before we left.

Over the next half hour, we did more shopping and talked about different topics which were decided by Rarity, so mostly about fashion in some form. At some points, she asked me about my opinion, but since I had no clue of fashion at all and definitely not of the pony variety, my answers mostly consisted of shrugging. After a while, we stood at the entrance again. I looked up, worried because there was the yet unexplored second floor waiting for us.

“I think it’s about time we go to the dock.” A stone fell from my soul when she said that. “When do they expect us, darling?” I took the letter out of my saddlebags and looked at it.

“Around five,” I said and placed the letter back before following Rarity’s gaze to a large clock, just hanging beneath the ceiling. It was just a few minutes after four in the evening. “How long does it take to get to the dock?” Besides that, I didn’t even know where it was.

“About half an hour. We should take a cab.” I followed her outside and saw her wave for a carriage again.

The description ‘dry dock’ was a poor joke. Where did an airship land if it was not in the air? In water of course. I was more than confused as we passed the largest buildings where multiple ships were anchored and finally reached the harbour. The drivers had dropped us at a depot that was at the address I told them before they left us. The hall was huge. Twilight’s library would surely fit inside up to three or four times. While I stood with my jaw agape, two ponies walked towards me that I only noticed once they greeted us.

“Hello and welcome to the Manehatten dry dock, Prince Blue Light,” an earth pony with a dark red coat greeted me. He was wearing a yellow protective helmet and a tool belt around his neck. His mane was completely hidden under his helmet, and his tail was cut short. “I’m Shipwreck, and I’m the boss here. Friends call me Ship, and this here is my headpony, Clop.”

He pointed at the green unicorn next to him who had some blueprints levitating beside him. He wore glasses and also had a green mane, only slightly brighter than his coat. He shot me an annoyed glare as he saw my face. I tried to hold my laughter again.

“With all due respect, your highness, I’m named after the sound some of the workings produce and not what you’re thinking of.” Seemed like he had heard it various times from different ponies, but such a thing wouldn’t ever get old.

“Excuse me, sometimes I just can’t restrain myself. Be assured that it’s nothing out of evil intent, just some good old fun.” I giggled before continuing. “I think that should do it. I’m Blue Light and this is my friend, Miss Rarity.” She bowed shortly at the call of her name.

“Pleasure, ma'am,” they both said, a bit out of sync. “I would suggest we get right to the point,” Ship continued and I agreed. “Follow me please.” He turned and went to a small side door at the hall. “During the last few days, we’ve worked heavily on the requested modifications. We placed a lamp at the hull in front, where the steering wheel is also located.” It was to protect the helmspony from the Nightmares since he would have to sit outside. Twilight had explained some things to me because, after all, the blueprints carried by Clop were all drawn by her. “Aside from that, we changed the storage into various rooms, so we have eight bedrooms at the lowest level, another two on the first level, along with the kitchen and the new bathroom that was requested.” I just nodded at every point, having no idea how much work or cost all that added up to. Ship opened the door in front of us, and we entered the hall one after another. In front of me was an airship around four times bigger than the Lunar. The hull was painted dark red and strewn with some yellow decorations. The ropes from the balloon hung from it since it wasn’t attached yet, and there were some frameworks around it on which you could climb on deck.

“This is the Celestia, the biggest and most beautiful ship of the merchant navy of Equestria,” Clop stated. I was impressed by the ship and so was Rarity, as she didn’t say a word either, just staring.

“Should we begin the tour?” the boss asked, and without the need for a response, we climbed up the frameworks. I only recognized how high the ship was once I reached the deck. Nothing special, but big. “Here we’ve got the control room,” Shop said and motioned towards the door behind us which laid under the upper part of the deck. “Usually the captain would live in there, but we changed the room to fit the drawings you sent us.” We went inside, and I recognized a room full of maps and books, together with a couch and a good-sized table. At the back, there was a big window that allowed one to freely look outside.

“What’s that?” I asked and pointed at a wooden sphere that was on the table.

“It’s a globe of Albion,” the boss said and pushed the sphere with his hoof three times. It instantly shone blue, and some kind of holograph closed around it, showing continents and oceans. “Equestria is here. To be precise, it’s currently showing Manehatten.” He pointed at a bright shining point on the globe. “The ship is enchanted, so its position will be always shown on the globe. If you put the information about your world in, it should also work.”

“Should?” his headpony sneered. “I enchanted this by myself. It will work.” Ship rolled his eyes.

“Well, if everything here is to your satisfaction, we should continue.” He led us back out of the room and closed the door behind him. “Back there, you can go below deck.” He showed us a small hatch in the ground and trotted over to it. “Originally, there were two storage spaces here. Because of that, everything was built anew.” We went down a small stairway, took a left turn around a corner, and stood in a long corridor. “As I mentioned before, we have the recreation rooms here. Kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, and the communal room.” At each one he mentioned, he pointed towards a door.

“I guess we’re starting with the sanitary installations,” Rarity said, and Ship nodded, leading us to the next door and opened it for us and standing aside. The corridor wasn’t really wide, just enough for two ponies to pass each other. Rarity went in first, and I followed her. It was a medium-sized room with a shower, a small tub that was probably more used for washing clothes, and of course, a sink and toilet.

“The water will be delivered by the rain later. Open catch tanks will be placed on the hull and the water transferred here in hoses. There are filters of course behind the sink and the shower to make the water enjoyable. Same goes for the kitchen,” Clop explained and turned the valve of the shower once. “But since they still have to be delivered, it’s not working yet.

“Can you refill the water by hoof?” I asked and recognized that Rarity was about to ask the same question but remained silent since I was faster.

“Of course. You can open the tanks and refill them by yourself.” With that, we went back out of the room and straight into the one at the opposite wall. It was obviously a kitchen with the fridge, various working surfaces, and a kitchen sink. What confused me were the two different hobs.

“One of them works with magic, the other one with gas,” Ship explained as he noticed me looking at them.

“What about the fridge?” Ship just shrugged.

“Like all fridges, cooled with magic.” I really should start to ask Twilight about the secrets of Equestrian technology. I looked around once again. Otherwise, it just looked like a normal wooden kitchen. We went back to the corridor once again and passed an open room. In there were various couches and chairs, along with some bookshelves.

“I suppose this is the recreation room?” Rarity asked our guides.

“Exactly. You can use it as a dining hall at the same time,” Clop said and went into the room, showing us the tables and pillows behind the door. “Since the ship wasn’t prepared for a large crew, we sadly had to strike a compromise.” Rarity nodded in approval, and we went to another door. “This is one of the bedrooms. They basically all have the same design.” With those words, the green unicorn opened the door. Light fell through a single porthole on a considerably hefty bed. Next to it was a nightstand and a small book shelf in the corner. On the opposite wall were two small cabinets. There was a small lantern hanging from the ceiling, giving a bit additional light.

“Are all rooms designed like this one, gentlecolts?” Rarity turned towards the two.

“Exactly,” Ship replied. “Just the shape is different, depending on the location inside the ship.” Rarity pondered quickly.

“I think we should rebuild one of the rooms here into a sickbay.” I just realized that it was missing, and Twilight for sure had considered one.

“There was one planned, but since you didn’t give us an exact number of passengers, we decided to focus on the quarters,” Clop defended his work.

“That’s all fine and nice, but I think we should definitely rebuild this room into a sickbay,” Rarity explained coldly. “The nightstand and shelves should be removed to make place for a second bed and the cabinets filled with basic medical aid.” Both looked questioningly at me, and I nodded in agreement with Rarity. Clop wrote a note on his blueprints.

“Anything else you would like to change?” Clop asked as he looked over the flying parchment.

“I guess that’s all,” I said and looked over to Rarity, who approved my statement. After that, we went with both on deck again, down the frameworks, and out of the hall. Ship closed the door to the hall behind us before he spoke again.

“With the last finishing touches and changes, the ship should be ready to fly in a few days,” he said once we took the way to the road. “Where shall we deliver it then?” I had to think about it.

“Deliver the Celestia to Canterlot, to the docks right behind the castle.” I didn’t even know if they had a name or not. Clop wrote it down again.

“I wish you all the best then, your Highness. Our ways separate here.” With that Ship bowed shortly, and Clop did likewise after him. After that, both disappeared between some buildings that stood at the harbour. Rarity and I called for a cab again and made our way to the station. All I wanted now was to get a cabin and sleep.

Author's Notes:

This was a very enjoyable chapter to write.

Thanks to ScratchnTavi for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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