Equestria That Was

Chapter Two: To the Black

The ship was quiet, the excitement of the near crash had finally dulled to a managable level as the crew prepared to disembark.

"Like I was sayin', we woulda been fine if ya let me buy new parts 'stead of used ones!" Applebloom yelled from the catwalk at the back of Rarity's head.

The ship was almost quiet.

"Applebloom, please, I've told you time and again, we can't just spend money all willy nilly on things!" Rarity shot back as she turned to face the young mechanic.

"Willy nilly!? We coulda died! I-" she started as she caught the look her older sister was giving her.

"Applebloom, I'll take care of it, you go finish workin' on that engine," Applejack said calmly from the deck below, "We're gonna go into town, tell Gilda and Pinkie to be ready to take on passengers, need ta make up the money we're spendin' on parts."

"Alright, fine. Hurry up an get that ramp down so's I can shut the power off, I'll be in the engine room," the yellow pony said with a sigh as she turned and trudged towards the flight deck. She shuffled her hooves against the deck, grating them in a way that she knew irritated the captain as it echoed through the ship.

The little mare heard the door drop as she crossed into the galley on the upper deck. She heard the distant complaining of her captain, likely a result of her hoof dragging, and grinned privately. It was a small victory, but a victory nevertheless.

"Pinkie!" the pony yelled as she walked up the hallway towards the flight deck, "Cap'n wants you to go solicit passengers, the payin' kind!"

~~

"So, why do they call it 'Wit's End' anyway?" Rarity asked the clerk as she waited for her order to come up.

The clerk, an older earth pony stallion, grinned, "Ol' Wit was a hero round here, after the war. Come back from fightin for the browncoats, set up a homestead outside Palomina. Well, couple seasons go by, buncha ex-alliance raiders decide they felt mighty entitled to what was on Wit's land."

Rarity nodded as the story brought up some of her own memories of the war, "Go on."

The stallion nodded and leaned across the counter, "Well, Wit figured he'd had enough of gettin pushed around in the war, figured he'd take care of the raiders 'for they made life hard on everyone else, so he took a stand right here where we're talkin, took on six of em before the rest tried to make a run on him with their gunship. He brought that thing right down on top of himself, took out the raiders but ol Laconic Wit met his end right here."

"Wit's End, poetic," Rarity commented dryly.

"Exactly! Not a whole lot a unicorns fought for the browncoats, most round here wouldn't go out of their way to help one after the war anyway, least not before Wit did what he did, figured namin this 'port after him was as good a way as any to honor his memory," the stallion finished as the parts conveyor delivered a large wooden crate to the front counter.

"Applejack, if you would be a dear..." Rarity said with a smirk.

"Absolutely cap'n, make the earth pony do it," her second replied with a laugh as she hefted the box onto her back and made for the exit.

"And than you so very much for giving us such a good deal on those parts, you are a true gentlecolt," the white mare said with a smile and a bat of her eyelashes.

"Well thank ya kindly ma'am, truth is we don't get much call for parts for them old Heathspike ships, truly just thankful somepony had a use for them," the older stallion replied with a slight blush and a forehoof rubbing at the back of his head.

The bell rang when the door shut, Applejack turned to see Rarity had joined her outside, "Ya know, I seem to remember another unicorn who used to like to wear a coat, real nice shade of brown if my recollection is correct."

Rarity frowned, "Well, some things don't always work out the way we would like them to. We should get back to the ship."

~~

A lavender mare walked along the dusty, spiraling path through the dockyards. Her eyes flicked between the hulls of the ships. Some were shiny, new, their names printed in clear and precise lettering. The names conveyed such ideals as 'Blue Comet' and 'Unification' but still, none called out to her, not like that one she'd seen land.

She strode on, past the new, clean, sleek ships, to the older, dirtier, more used but obviously well cared for ships. These ships looked like they predated the war, older designs, Heathspike transports, Constellation passenger liners, she even saw one Celestian class luxury liner, though it had seen better days.

'Something is missing, she thought privately, 'something sp-'

"Hey!" an energetic and friendly voice shattered her concentration in an instant.

Her head turned slowly towards the source of the perky voice, she locked eyes with a poofy-maned pink pony perched on a particularly pristine folding chair; it was a sharp contrast to the ship behind her.

"Hi there! You're looking to book passage on a ship right? Well, none better than this I'll tell ya right now!" the pink mare advertised, not dissuaded by the lavender mare's confused expression, "I saw you looking at the ships and Harmony is the best, so the way I figure it, you only have one choice, go with the best ship and best pilot you can!"

The lavender pony blinked, then smiled and chuckled, "Best ship huh? I guess I could go with that. Who's this 'best pilot' though?"

"Me of course, the one and only Pinkie Pie!" The pilot pony proclaimed with a flourish and a grin.

"But you're an earth pony!" The lavender unicorn blurted out, only aware of how racist it had sounded after the fact. She blushed in belated embarrassment, "I mean you don't see a lot of earth ponies piloting spaceships after all..."

Pinkie rubbed her hoof on her forehead, as if looking for something, then she turned her head and stared at her back, again as if looking for something. "Huh, I guess I am, never been a problem before though!" she laughed. "So what's your name?"

The unicorn laughed at the pink pony's antics while secretly thankful she hadn't reacted poorly to her accidental racism. She extended her hoof, "Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"Well,  Twilight-Twilight Sparkle, I'm Pinkie Pie and like I said this ship is the very best so if you need a ride off world then look no further!" the bright mare said while making a grand gesture towards the ship with her forehoof. "You ah... You can pay right?" she added.

Twilight laughed, "yes, I can pay, Pinkie Pie." She flipped a bag of bits out of her saddlebag towards the other mare.

Pinkie grabbed the bag in her forehooves and looked inside, "Well... In that case welcome aboard!" The pilot waved her hoof at the unicorn to follow her, "I'll show you where you'll be staying," She paused as she crossed the threshold of the cargo bay, and turned her head up and to the right, "Gilda, go watch for passengers, I'm showing Miss Sparkle her room!"

"Fine, whatever," the gruff female voice responded as, to Twilight's great surprise, a gryphon dropped down from the catwalk and sauntered down the boarding ramp as if such a thing were completely normal. "I ain't goin out of my way to draw anyone in, Pinkie," she grunted in passing.

Gilda sighed as the two ponies disappeared into the ship, she claimed the chair Pinkie had been sitting in and leaned back. "I'm a merc not a damn concierge..." she grumbled as she closed her eyes. 'Just lay here and take a nap 'till captain gets back...'

"Excuse me."

Gilda cracked an eye open and looked down her beak. 'Pony... ugh.' She closed her eye and pretended not to notice the mare standing in front of her.

"Excuse me, miss," the voice repeated.

Gilda groaned and sat up in the chair, "Okay, what?"

The mare recoiled slightly as the gryphon stared at her, the yellow pony hid behind her own mane, "Well, you see I'm a doctor and there isn't much work on Roan, so I was hoping to sign with a ship-"

"And every other ship in port told ya no, right?" Gilda probed, "Well, ain't my call, figure you'll want to talk to cap'n or AJ about it-"

"Ask the Captain or Applejack about what, precisely?" Rarity interrupted as she stepped up next to the yellow mare, "Pardon me darling, I don't usually leave Gilda in charge of... this kind of thing, we're a bit... short hooved at the moment as you can see and... well I'm rambling on! So, what can we do for you miss..?"

"F-fluttershy," the mare answered, "I was hoping to sign with a crew since there's not a lot of work for a new doctor on Roan... and none of the other ships needed a doctor either and I'd like to try to sign on with your ship... I mean, if that's okay."

"Well... we have been needing a doctor since we lost Sawbones..." Rarity mused aloud, "I'll make you a deal, our next stop is Whitetail, we shall see how things go, and if they don't work out... well, I'm sure you'll find another ship there."

Fluttershy noded and smiled, "Thank you, I promise I'll do my best not to disappoint you!"

"I don't doubt that you will, dear. Let me show you to the medical bay and get you set up," Rarity said as she nodded for the other pony to follow her and trotted up the boarding ramp.

Applejack broke the resulting silence when she shifted the box from her back onto the ground and turned to Gilda, "Take this to Applebloom, I'll take care of passengers."

Gilda grumbled as she picked up the box and trudged into the ship, "actin like I'm some kind of pack mule..."

"Beg pardon!?" Applejack yelled after the retreating gryphon.

"I said we've got plenty of fuel!"

~~

"Alright Mares.... and Gilda, heating up the engines now, we'll be lifting off in two minutes, so please put your tray-tables and seat-backs in their upright and locked positions, stow your bags in the overhead compartments, and strap in!" Pinkie chirped cheerfully into the shipwide address system as she added throttle to the engines.

The deck hummed soothingly the ship's power levels rose. Through the flight deck windows the sunset bathed the deck in a soft orange glow. The track lighting along the walls lit up in sequence as the ship's generators came up to full power. The instrument readouts slowly rose towards the green part of the arc.

Pinkie tapped her hoof delicately against the throttle levers and with a soft tump the ship lifted off of the landing pad and into the twilight sky. The ship continued upwards in a lazy arc as the pilot rotated the engines forward and brought the nose up, clawing towards the black.

"Wonderful flying, as always, Pinkie," Rarity commented appreciatively as she stepped onto the decking. "I'd like you to stay up here on the trip to Whitetail, it's not a long trip and... I'm not too sure about our new passengers, something seems a touch off about Miss Sparkle. I want to be ready for anything, this job can't go wrong."

"It's no problem at all Rare, I'll just count the stars if it gets too boring up here."

~~

"Commander, I've got a visual on the ship we think she's on, I'm going to follow in their blind spot. I'll keep you updated," the feminine voice said into her headset as she pushed forward on her control stick. The small one pony ship accelerated forward with a practiced ease as it slid into position behind Harmony.

"I don't know what they want with you, Sparkle, but you're not getting away from me."