Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter Eight, Caring Cozy Coast: Motherly Diagnosis.

-Kuril-

“Isn’t it a bit dangerous to have some random kraken massaging you Jade?” I walked up to my purring kitten and she just looked up to me in a slight daze.

“He’s not some random kraken though, his name is Escargot.” In response to my daughter’s purred words, the kraken waved a tentacle at me and then continued to rub Jade’s back. This elicited more purring from my daughter, looking at Fizzle I could see she was giving the kraken jealous looks. “He’s really helping me out a lot here, you should try this. It feels really nice.”

What does Fizzle have to be jealous of? It wasn’t like Jade was going to fall in love with a kraken. A chimera was completely okay in my book, but I’m putting my foot down with more bestial creatures that couldn’t speak in a language I could understand.

“Just so long as he doesn’t touch you anywhere inappropriate and is actually helping you feel better.” That made the kraken give me an upset look and it started to gesture with its tentacle that it would never do such a thing. A kraken that’s an absolute gentle tom, now I can say that I’ve seen a lot. When I finally get to dancing hippos on my bingo card, I’ll be able to turn it in for thousands of bits. “Fine, but why did you name the kraken Escargot?”

“I didn’t name Escargot, that’s his name and he knows how to write. Show her Escargot, and could you get my left shoulder while you’re at it? He’s really good at multitasking.” Two tentacles moved to work over my daughter’s left shoulder and she sighed, the kraken also wrote ‘hi’ in the sand. “I think he might have sea pony friends in Seaquestria.”

“Shoo-be-doo shoo-shoo-be-doo?” The kraken threw me a salute after I blandly intoned the general call for help in the ocean that my daughter told me about. I had yet to meet a sea pony, but they had to be real from the way the kraken reacted.

“Thanks for confirming it mom.” Well Jade was currently okay in the tentacles of the kraken. Not a sentence I ever thought I’d be thinking without panicking about it. Now to see what my other two girls were getting up to. “Oh, and thank you too Escargot for being so friendly. This is really good stress relief and it’s helping my injuries heal a little bit faster.”

The kraken clacked and gurgled in a manner that made him sound happy to be of help as I walked over to see what Fizzle and Jacky were getting up to.

“Hey girls, what are you up to?” From what I could see of Fizzle, she was still just jealously glaring at the kraken that was making my daughter purr.

“Nothing much mom, we’re just relaxing. Though I could use help with getting all this sand out of my fur and hair after we’re done having fun.” Despite how lazy she said it, Fizzle had said a word that made me quite happy. I quickly pulled the pony against myself into a tight loving hug. “Ulp… too tight.”

“I’m sorry Fizzle, but you called me mom. I’m not entirely responsible for my actions at this moment.” Though I did loosen up my cuddling strangle hold on the young mare and would eventually let go of her. “Also Abyssinian’s have several good methods for getting sand out of odd places, don’t worry about it.”

“You think sand is hard to get out of fur, try having feathers.” Turning to Jacky, she was in the midst of sculpting a pyramid on the beach and a crab seemed to be helping her with it. “I’m making more sand sculptures before we have to leave… how long do we have before we have to get cleaned up for an early dinner?”

“I’m giving us two hours at least, then you girls need to clean yourselves up.” I glanced in Jade’s direction, the red kraken was still being so gentle with her and it was still slightly unnerving to watch. “So is the kraken being friendly weird to you guys too?”

“Not really, I’ve seen weirder things happen in Turtle Toga just by throwing banana peels around. Just so you know, banana peels are not as slippery as legends would suggest unless the peel was left to sit out for a while.” Jacky turned away from the finished pyramid sculpture and left it to the gathering crabs to play with. “Want to help me build an actual sand castle mom… ulp... why did I say that?”

“Welcome to the party Blackcap, now figure out a way to get Kuril to stop snuggling us to death.” Don’t complain Fizzle, you loved all forms of affection given to you by me and Jade. “She’s going to hug us to death.”

“Why don’t we just say that we love her and hope that she let’s go of us?” I like the never give up attitude you have there Jacky.

“We love you mom!” They both said at the same time as they hugged me back, I felt my heart soar.

It made me feel like a competent mother to have these two turn to me for parenting and motherly affection. I loved my daughter Jade, really I do, but sometimes she just made me feel slightly iffy on the subject of being a mother. It’s been quite a journey so far and now I have two extra daughters to dote on.

“I love both of you girls too and I’m not about to let you go anytime soon until you’re all grown up and then you’ll cruelly leave me all alone without anyone to care for.” I pressed both Fizzle and Jacky up against me tightly. “The both of you will become so beautiful, unlike my daughter who won’t even put in the effort to making herself look good.”

“She doesn’t have to make herself look good, I think she’s already beautiful the way she is!” After she said that, Fizzle dug her face into my neck with an embarrassed sounding groan and red face. “Did I just seriously say that out loud?”

Now you see, Fizzle is how a cute daughter is supposed to act!

“Yep, but it’s not like it’s a secret that you really like Captain La Perm.” After saying this Jacky turned to me and poked my neck with her beak. “Now can you please let us go?”

I sighed and released them, I was going to spend some quality time with them now.

-Three days later, Fizzle-

Kuril was really quite happy to be our mother, like I was happy enough to call her mom.

It even felt nice when she started brushing my mane. I kind of wished that it was Jade doing this, it was just as nice though to have Kuril doing it while she hummed. It was really quite comforting.

“I swear I still feel like I have sand in my feathers. I love playing on a beach, but it’s less fun when you have to wash yourself off afterwards.” There was a general sentiment of agreement at Jacky’s words.

“Say Jacky, could you teach me how to pilot an airship?” If I ever had to fly The Ardent Survivor myself for any reason whatsoever, it would be useful information to know.

“Sure thing, we might as well make a day of it. I was going to do some maintenance on the ship anyway.” Stretching out, Jacky put her hands behind her head and leaned back in the chair. We both looked to Jade as she slept. “Captain and Kuril will have to learn to do it as well, we can’t rely on my bad luck to stay entirely away from me while I’m piloting.”

“Hey, you got us to Palicoast in one piece Blackcap. You even landed the airship intact and in good working condition too.” Come on Jade, you have to know that it was a complete miracle considering your luck on airships. “You’ve even got the most piloting skills out of the four of us.”

I agree, Jacky was the best pilot we have and her luck wasn’t going to stop her from being our designated pilot.

“I’m not that great Captain…” It seems Jacky Blackcap Chickadee was being way too modest for her own good.

Sure she had horrible luck at times and it tended to randomly target those around her, but she was earnest about wanting be our friend. We all made quite a concerted effort to ignore the fact that she was a jinx because of that, she was loyal to a fault and knew how to keep going even if fate really hated her on some days. I respected her and so did mom, Jade and the other people of Airship Mauled.

“Jacky, you are the pluckiest and friendliest bird I know, you’re also the one that knows the most about airships, boats, sword fighting, tying knots and lots of other things like how to aim and fire a cannon accurately.” I leaned into the next brush stroke as I spoke, this was really relaxing. “You may be unlucky, but you’re really talented at a lot of things.”

“I still wonder why you like your hair sticking up and out like this as your preferred hairstyle, it certainly makes you quite unique.” Another brush stroke from Kuril had me feeling really pleasant. “I guess it’s just how ponies roll. Whenever they get a style they like, they tend to spend almost the rest of their lives with it. Unless they force a big change to their appearance.”

“It keeps my hair out of my eyes and it’s an easy style to maintain. It’s the same style I’ve had since…. since my filly days really.” I wasn’t going to change it anytime soon, but maybe I would eventually. Mom wasn’t wrong about most ponies keeping one style of mane for most of their lives with very little change throughout. “So when are we going to get to those flying lessons?”

“Whenever we’re through eating breakfast would be a good time.” Kuril stated calmly.

“Breakfast, who said breakfast, I want breakfast!” We all jumped away from Jade, who immediately woke up at the word.

“That’s my little tom cat for you, always thinking of her next meal. We’re not having breakfast yet, besides I need to finish combing Fizzle’s mane.” The brush strokes stopped and Kuril went to pick up a comb, it was nice to know what having a mother felt like. “You should probably let me care for that shaggy green mess of yours Jade.”

“Not going to happen, I like being a bit scruffy. It makes me look less like a sun priest.” Then why were you still going through your sun salutation ritual Jade? You certainly seemed happier that you could do that again with only a mild amount of wincing. I’m sure that the sun doesn’t begrudge you the days that you missed.

“We’re going to learn how to pilot airships after breakfast, can you go tell The Shapeshifting Siesta and their new groupie slash member of the group that we aren’t going to leave them behind?” The comb strokes Kuril was performing had me blushing, I guess it just felt that nice. “We’re going to be in Palicoast for at least two more days and you’re still not one hundred percent dear daughter of mine. Don’t think I didn’t notice you avoiding the pain killers, we’re going to have a long talk about your health Jade.”

“I don’t want to get an addiction mom, I don’t need them anymore.” After finishing her exercise, Jade gave us a salute and left the room of the inn we’ve been staying at... by jumping off the third floor balcony.

Well it was the quickest way to the first floor and Jade did have a griffon feather to do that strange double jump before she hit the ground thing. How does the feather’s sustain account for all that momentum and allow one to jump off the air without breaking their legs? Magical alchemy was still a bizarre thing to me, like earth pony magic.

I also didn’t understand Jade’s ridiculous fascination with jumping off of high places, she didn’t seem like that much of a thrill seeker to me.

-Hours later, Jade-

“If it’s fine with you, we wish to be on the ship while you do this.” Well that didn’t sound very untrusting at all Clypeus, because we weren’t actually planning to leave any of you behind. I wasn’t about to forget our colorful changeling friends, who might have incidentally changed back to being dark changelings if we ever betrayed them horribly.

“Sure, no pressure to not crash the ship into the nearest deity then. Well let’s get things started Jacky, what’s the first thing we need to know about airships?” At my question we all turned to the parrot who was getting a bit shy at all the attention she was receiving.

“Well to start off Captain La Perm, airships are constructed a bit differently from sea faring vessels. For one they are made to work primarily in the air. They only work in the water in the case of an engineering emergency.” Started up Jacky, she seemed nervous about teaching us stuff. “Is this how Cheerilee feels when she teaches us? Anyway, they are built with as sturdy and lightweight a material as you can get. The Keel is always the first to hit the water or the ground and it has to be made of a stronger material to help create the skeleton of the ship. Depending on propulsion, the ship will be just as easy to use in the water as it is in the air. Any questions so far?”

Nothing but silence here Jacky, we’re listening.

“There are various forms of airship propulsion. Magic propulsion is hard to keep fueled. Jet propulsion doesn’t work in the water in the event of a crash and is a bit explosive. Fin propulsion is the slowest safest form of propulsion and a bit tiring to work manually. Propeller propulsion is useful in just about any situation if a little bit more dangerous than the fins.” Now that Jacky brought up the methods of propulsion, I noticed how most pony ships tended towards aerial fin propulsion or manual propeller propulsion. At least ponies were about safety and conscious of being environmentally clean. “This ship in particular has propeller propulsion which is powered by a small slow oil burning engine, with pegasus made pollutant capturing filters that are still working at eighty percent capacity. When they get down to twenty percent capacity, it’s time to trade them out and recycle the ones you have safely. Some ships can have two or more forms of propulsion and those would be a bit faster than The Ardent Survivor and its two propellers if they were working efficiently together.”

“Question, when can we get to some real piloting here?” Well don’t ignore Fizzle, she raised her hoof and everything Jacky.

“When I go over all the rules of what not to do when flying an airship and how to recognize when something is terribly wrong with the balloon, the ropes, the body and the propulsion systems on the vessel.” It sounded like Jacky has seen every kind of technical problem that could possibly occur on an airship. “Not to mention everything else that can go wrong when I'm on one.”

Author's Note:

Next: Leaving Palicoast for home, will The Ardent Survivor land safely? At this point...

It's up in the air.

Comments

[Velvet-Fresh]

-reads the author's note- Booooo~

Also in advance; Ding!

[Phoenix Swift]

Ouch. That was a bad pun and you know it. That said, keep them coming!

[Darkonshadows]

8941306

I should and probably do feel bad.

Mostly because I could have done worse, I could have gone with the 'YEAHHHHH!' thing after that horrible pun.

[Trump]

Stretching out Jacky put her hands behind her head Hands? - a bit jarring.

[Thy Lord]

8940799
100%

[talontitanbane]

Next: Leaving Palicoast for home, will The Ardent Survivor land safely? At this point...

It's up in the air.

With the track record they have with airships? That boat is firewood.