The Anthropologist

by Weavers of Dreams

-79- Follow the Monkey

It was the perfect time to panic, and Lyra had impeccable timing. That being said, after the initial shock, she quickly set to address this newfound revelation with the captain of the airship. The results were less than satisfying.

"What do you mean you can't turn this flying crate around?" the mint unicorn demanded of the salty old unicorn that stood before.

The stallion sighed and scratched his thick beard. "I am sorry, ma'am, but we're under orders to deliver a few important packages to the colony as soon as possible."

"But we're heading for the Western Isles," Lyra protested desperately. "Have you read the book? Oogoos, and mipes, and shadow sprinters are just a few of the dangers we're likely to encounter."

The bearded unicorn sighed again. "Ma'am, Darkest Darkness was an old and obsessed stallion by the time he journeyed to the Western Isles. Alone, I might add. From what I've seen of the place, most of it seems like a maddened fairytale."

Oh, the cliché line Lyra had read in so many books and seen in many movies actually just happened right before her. This stallion had jinxed everything, and made her instinctively pull her colt in underneath her barrel protectively. "You're not very genre savvy, are you, captain?"

"What?" he asked, growing rather annoyed. "Nevermind, ma'am. But, you have nothing to worry about. Not a week after first landing, it was declared safe enough for colonization. Haven't you been reading the papers?"

Lyra look aside. "I've been a little busy this past month or so. Haven't exactly been paying attention to the headlines as of late."

Again, the stallion sighed.

* * *

"Well, that could have gone better," Lyra groaned sourly. She watched Henry stare in fascination at the ship's internal mechanisms and found herself forming a smile. "Well, I suppose it could have been worse too."

As an apology for the inconvenience, the captain had given them a pass for a special tour of the ship. This had made Henry ecstatic, much to the mint unicorn's amusement. Perhaps he didn't quite understand the situation, being so young and all. Or, more likely, it was the fascination that most colts seemed to have with giant machines.

"And this is the pressure gauge for the port side jet engines," the young pegasus stallion said stated proudly to the colt. Despite the greaser hairdo, he was very friendly and rather eloquent in his speech. He almost seemed thrilled to be giving a tour. "See that red bar at the end, kid?"

Henry nodded rapidly.

"Well, that red bar is very important," the stallion explained, beaming. "If the needle ever reaches that bar, we have only ten minutes to lower the pressure or we'll might lose the engines. If that happens, then we have to deactivate all engines, or else the ship would be flying in circles."

"Wow," was Henry wide-eyed response. "How fast do you have to be going for that to happen?"

"Well, not as fast as some us would like," the pegasus snorted with a hint of discontentment. "But, to answer your question, it's been tested up to fifty-seven point four knots. Making the Ivory Titan faster than any other ship in the world. Of course, we don't even need half of that to evade most threats we might encounter in the sky."

From the look on Henry's face, Lyra could tell he had no idea how fast a knot was, but he didn't want to speak up for fear of embarrassment. She chuckled and moved to tackle that one for him.

"Wow, that is fascinating, Mr. Wrench, but, how fast is a 'knot' exactly?" the unicorn asked, rubbing Henry's back with a gentle hoof.

"Please, call me Monkey, or Monk, for short, Miss," the stallion grinned with a wink. "A knot is one point eight-five-two kilometers per hour. So, at top speed, we would be achieving velocities of one hundred and six point three-zero-four-eight kilometers per hours."

Lyra chuckled. "Thank you... Monkey. But... it's Misses, not Miss."

The stallion deflated a bit, ears folding back. "Oh? Yikes... this is embarrassing."

"Yeah, flirting with a married mare isn't the most appropriate thing to do," Lyra teased, patting him on the head. "Though, it is insterting. Most stallions your age don't look for mares who already have foals."

The pegasus' eyes widened a bit. "He's your son? You looked so young, I thought he might be your brother, or a nephew... oh, did you..."

"No," Lyra quickly cut him off with a hiss. "I joined a herd and... as I am unable to have foals of my own, adopted him. Actually, that sounds unfair. Even if I could have foals, I definitely would have adopted him all the same." She rustled her colt's mane fondly. "This little guy's one of the best things to happen to me."

"Well, you've only had me a week," Henry quipped as he tried to flatten out his mane. Why did adults have to touch his hair like that? It was so annoying. Though he would never tell them that. It would be rude.

Lyra smirked.

"Only the official part," she said, nuzzling his head. She knew it annoyed him, but she just loved watching him try to fix his mane.

"Ah, that's sweet," Monkey Wrench chuckled as he watched the two interact with each other. The colt lunged at the mare in a mock attack, hugging her leg in a vice grip. Poor little guy didn't seem to know his own earth pony strength, and quickly became apologetic as his mother wrung her leg to get the blood flowing again, all the while reassuring him that she was fine.

This gave him an idea. "Hey, you what? You two have been great, so I've got an idea for you two."

Lyra, in the middle of hugging her son, eyed him shrewdly. "Hmm? And what might that be?"

"Well," the stallion looked around to make sure no one was listening. "We've got a special cargo. I'm not really supposed to talk about it. But... how would you two like to get a quick peek at something cool? I mean, really cool."

Comments

[pahnazd]

Gotta love chapter names that give us completely different ideas.
Here's to hoping that Monkey is really going to show them something cool and not something sinister. I'm seeing danger everywhere now, aren't I?

[wolfdreamer]

wait the ship is called Titan like Titanic? Oh this is going to end well!

[Geminii]

We've got a special cargo. I'm not really supposed to talk about it. But...

Apparently Lyra just failed her Genre Savvy spot check. :)

And... the ship's name isn't a reference to Celestia, is it?

[Weavers of Dreams]

7859575 Ivory Titan is based on another one of our works, called: Twin Thesis

And, yes, Lyra is a little naïve, but then again, people are keeping secrets from her.