A Twist in the Tail
Part 6
Not-so-Smooth Sailing
An MLP:FiM fanfic set in the Conversion Bureau Alternate Universe, by Midnight Shadow
***
Vertigo slept fitfully on his cloud-bed, twitching and moaning. With a gasp, he sat up, rolling out onto the floor. He slumped, sighing. The floor was just as comfortable as the bed. He didn’t deserve the bed. He put his head back down. She - he - hadn’t come back the day before. His eyes strayed to the dresser where the picture of the two of them lay. He couldn’t see it, he didn’t have to. He burst into tears.
His friends found him hours later when he didn’t show up for work. He’d fallen asleep, huddled in the corner, tears streaking his muzzle.
“Hey! Yo, Vertigo, V, sup with you?”
“Burster? Break?” Vertigo answered, sniffing loudly.
“You all right, pony?”
“It’s...” he paused, “it’s Glenn.”
“You broke up with her? Can I have her?”
Cloud Burster slapped Windbreak with a wing, “Knock it off you douche.”
“Hey, jus’ sayin’, piece of tail that pretty...”
“You wouldn’t want her anyway, she’s a stallion.” said Vertigo, snarling.
“Hey, woah, what? Nah, I ain’t fallin’ fer that one. She was mare all the way through.”
Vertigo shook his head, getting to his hooves, “No, she wasn’t. Well, she was. But she wasn’t.”
“V, you ain’t making much sense,” said Burster, “was she a mare or was he some fake filly?”
Vertigo clip-clopped over to the bedside cabinet, made of magically-compressed cloud, where the picture he’d kept from Rarity’s was pushed in. “I love him. Her. I don’t know. She, he...”
“You some colt-cuddler now, that it?” asked Windbreak. He couldn’t dodge the hoof that slammed into his muzzle. He spat blood and swore, “buck! buck you, V, just askin’. Seriously, you dick!”
“I-If I were, it would be up to me! But I ain’t! but I love her, and she’s a stallion now.”
“V, you still ain’t making any sense,” said Burster, “I saw her, we all did. She was a mare, you can’t fool a nose like mine.”
“She used to be a human, a male human. When she became a pony, she became a mare. Then she took some... stuff, and now she’s a stallion, and she’s gone.”
“There ya go then,” said Burster, as if that sorted things, “she’s a mare, but took this whatever-it-was. She’s still who she was.”
“If y’ask me, it’s weirder she was this two-legged weirdo thing with fingers.” Breaker danced back, flaring his wings and holding up a hoof against Vertigo’s sudden snarl, “Hey, hey, that all changed, V. Them newfoals, they’re as much ponies as you or I. They’re even the same inside, when they change. I’ve... kinda got my eye on one or two meself. Pretty little things, they are...”
“Always thinking of the tail, you are.”
“Uh huh, and pretty tail from far away... they love the wings on a real Equestrian.” said Cloud Burster, flaring his wings and puffing out his chest.
“You just like thinking they were once one of these... humans.” said Vertigo with sneer.
“Hey, buck you too. Thing is, V, I don’t care if you’re a colt cuddler or not. Shut up, Breaker.” said Cloud Burster, before continuing, “Way I see it, you two had a good thing going. You gotta find her if you still love her, stallion or not. You certainly do pick ‘em though. I dunno what you should do, but seems like it’s hit you pretty hard.”
“She never came back, yesterday.”
“Think she’s at Rarity’s?”
“I dunno, I’ve gotta go check!”
“You better find her, him, whatever, and talk things out. I’ll ‘splain things with the boss. Come on Breaker.” Cloud Burster leaped upwards and shot through the roof-flap, wings barely flapping once.
“V, I, er, I’m sorry ‘bout the whole colt cuddler thing. You’re still cool, even if y’are into stallions.”
“I ain’t, C.B, but I am into Glenn. I gotta go find him.”
Breaker nodded, “Good luck then.”
***
Vertigo flew high above the ground, he’d been circling for the better part of the last three days but had finally picked up the trail. Nopony in Ponyville had seen Glenn, he’d not gone into the Everfree, it seemed he’d gone towards Hoofington through Whitetail Wood. In Hoofington he struck lucky, a chestnut blank-flank had roared through. He’d not stopped nor spoken to anypony except to ask for the quickest route away. It seemed Glenn had been living rough, dining on grass and drinking from streams. He’d been heading away, away from Ponyville, away from Vertigo and Cloudsdale. Ahead lay one thing thing only, the only real way ‘out’. The western sea-shield gateway. Vertigo pumped his wings harder.
***
Anchor Watch whistled to himself, another fine day in the Equestrian Navy. Sea Spray nuzzled him suddenly, nipping him near the base of his tail. Anchor yelped and jumped, spinning about, “Damn it, Spray!”
“Hey hon, gotta make sure my first mate is paying attention.”
Anchor flicked his tail in his mate’s face, “That’s first and only mate, and I know what that bite means. You ain’t getting any out here on deck, leastways not in broad daylight. I’m not in to that sorta thing.”
“Spoilsport. We ready to go?”
“Have you been ogling my backside all morning? You know there’s a storm out there! We’re not going anywhere today, least not until it blows over.”
“Then, mister first mate Anchor Watch, your captain demands your presence below. Specifically, below your captain.”
Anchor rolled his eyes, the sea-blue stallion could be a right pain in the tail-hole, in more ways than one.
The heavy thump of four hooves hitting the deck caused a mild amount of swearing, but the hammering on the door of the captain’s private quarters caused even more.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” grumbled Anchor.
“I’m not!” cried Sea Spray.
The door opened, and Anchor peered out at a lime green pegasus. “Yes?” he asked
“Did... did you see a, oh... oh I’m sorry for being tro-”
“Out with it! I have a very important... meeting... going on in here.”
Vertigo blushed, but he stammered out the rest of his question, “I, er, did you see a chestnut stallion come through here? Burgundy mane, blank flank?”
“Oh, ooohhhh, that explains things. Yeah, we did, a few days ago. He left for Earth.”
“Shield’s that way, right?”
“Yeah, but we won’t be...” Anchor blinked as the pegasus vanished, “horseapples, son, hope you’re a good flier.”
“If he’s gone, you can hang the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door, properly this time, and then get your tail back in bed.”
“Yessir, Captain my captain.”
***
Pointe Vertigo hammered his wings hard, the wind was whipping around his lithe frame sending his mane and tail flying, but still he pressed on. Lightning cracked and thunder rumbled around him as he dove below the cloud layer. He swore loudly, weaving to and fro as the jagged bolts of light sizzled through the ferocious air. A pegasus would never normally fly in a storm like this - they were usually too busy making them. This storm was a breather, a wild storm, one shaped by the pegasi and then set free to burn out it’s fury. It surged around him with almost lethal intent, seemingly aiming to take him down. Ahead glittered the bubble, the local shield-wall promontory, if he could only last a few more minutes...
Sudden pain in his side made him cry out. His left wing seized up as lightning coursed through it. He smelled burning feathers and his horizontal passage all but stopped. He cried out, tears flung away by the tendrils of the storm. Somehow he locked his injured wing, flapping madly with the right as he plummeted. As he impacted spray jet after spray jet, with a small and quiet part of his mind, he thanked his good fortune to have been doing something so monumentally idiotic on the Equestrian side, where clouds could be walked on and were assured to hamper his descent to certain death. Still, the black water rose up to meet him and the breath was knocked out as his body impacted. The world exploded into light and sound; bubbles filled his vision and water filled his ears and nostrils. Absurdly, ahead glittered the bubble of the shield.
So near yet so far, he thought to himself, as he passed out.
***
The first thought, as consciousness returned, was the customary one of ‘where in the seven realms am I?’, followed closely by ‘what in Celestia’s name happened to me?’. After these initial mental utterings, and an audible groan of pain, his brain sheepishly reminded him that he was supposed to have drowned.
“I’m not dead?” he croaked out.
“Sshh, be calm, you’re safe.” said a voice. A hoof touched him softly. No, he realised, not a hoof. A claw? A paw? No, a hand.
“Human?” he asked, tentatively, coughing. He tried again after clearing his throat, “You’re a human?”
“I am, mister pony. How do you feel? I fished you out of the drink a few days ago.
“I hurt. I... I flew into a storm.”
“Aren’t you pegasi supposed to control the weather?”
“Sometimes we just wind it up and let it go like one of those clockwork toys the foals like so much.”
“Is your... wing? Your flock? Are they missing you?”
Vertigo struggled to sit up and eventually managed a half-slouching raised position in what was apparently a bed, surrounded by blankets and pillows, “No, nopony is missing me. Where am I?”
Vertigo looked around at a smallish room; ugly wallpaper, utilitarian fittings, windows with blinds pulled down. Definitely not Equestria, as if that wasn’t a given from the presence of the girl. The human was tall, at least it seemed a lot taller than he was, with mousey brown hair and similar eyes. It seemed kind though, and smiled a lot.
“You were on ‘The Pride of Lyons’, my father’s badly-named boat. We used to take the sightseers out to see the bubble in the sea. It’s really something when there’s a storm on the other side, it’s so beautiful. Now you’re in my apartment.”
“Our pegasi pride themselves on their work, but I must admit the stormfronts from the human world that I saw in the training lessons they made us all take were amazing. Much bigger than we usually allow ours to grow. That’s part of the reason we have storms at sea - it lets our more adventurous storm artists out to play.”
“Only you got caught in it?” asked the human with a soft smile.
“You could say that.”
“Speaking of saying, how can I understand you?”
“I’m not sure, I thought it was just magic, really. Celestia or Luna must have cast it. A unicorn might know better.”
The human laughed, “Real magic.” it hugged its knees to its chest as it sat on the side of the bed, “That must be really something, huh?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Vertigo spread a wing, “I’ve only got these, remember?”
“Barely that, I had to tape the other one. The vet said nothing’s broken.”
“A vet?”
“Human doctors don’t do well with wings, most of the time.”
Vertigo sniffed, “Guess not. What do they call you, anyway, mister..?”
The girl laughed, “Miss, Alice.”
Vertigo winced, “Sorry, I’m not good with humans. I’m Vertigo, Pointe Vertigo. My friends call me ‘V’.”
“Well, V, I can’t say as you ponies are any easier to tell apart at first, at least not from the front,” Alice made a face, “but I had to change your bedding enough so I know you’re a boy pony.”
“Oh horseapples, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it, standard issue plastic sheeting for those with little kids is relatively easy to come by. Icky, but it gets the job done.” she patted him on the neck, pulling her fingers through his rough mane. He decided he liked it.
“Eew. Foals are a lot better at things like that, they learn in the first few days.”
“I bet you still get problems when they’re ill or injured though. I managed to get some water down you, but I haven’t fed you, you must be hungry. Do you eat?”
Vertigo’s stomach rumbled at the prompt and both occupants of the room burst out laughing.
***
The rest of the apartment was much like the bedroom; chitzy wallpaper, bad lighting, a huge wall-screen that lit up with moving pictures and spoke back when you asked it things, and comfortable, if worn and dirty, seats. Two of everything. Vertigo cast his gaze around as he walked unsteadily through the oddly-proportioned rooms. Pictures of Alice and another human, he supposed it was her father since he looked much older and somewhat grizzled, adorned the walls.
“Is he out now, on the boat?”
Alice stopped still and sighed once, before continuing to lay the table, “No, no. He’s gone, passed away. It’s been just me for a while now. I don’t know what happened to Ma, I think she left Dad a long time ago.”
“What happened, to your father?”
“The sea took him, the sea takes most sailors in the end. I... I was out there that night I found you, to talk to him. The storm on the other side of the bubble, he loved them so much. I sometimes like to believe that he made it to Equestria, and that he’s just waiting there for me.”
“He might be, I guess,” said Vertigo softly.
“Unlikely, I... I don’t like to kid myself. They never found his body, but they usually don’t. Porridge? It’s good for you, apple flavoured, apparently.”
It wasn’t, Vertigo decided, apple flavoured. It was, however, nourishing and hot. He wolfed it down and asked for seconds, and thirds. When she had a pained expression on her face at the request for thirds, he politely asked her how much it was going to cost for him to stay with her for a while.
“I-I can’t ask you for money, V, it’s not right, you’re a guest.”
“Then I’ll be a guest who’ll earn his keep. Is this part of the human world mostly pony, or mostly people?”
“People, down this way. Don’t ask me why.”
“Do they get to see many ponies?”
“Why, what’re you planning?”
“When’s my wing gonna be healed?”
***
“YEEEAAAAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOO!” screamed the boy loudly as Vertigo swooped through the air.
“HOLD ON!” Vertigo shouted back, “MY MAGIC SHOULD KEEP YOU SAFE, BUT KEEP A TIGHT GRIP! WE’RE GOING FOR A LOOP-DE-LOOP!”
“BEST! BIRTHDAY! EVER!”
“Okay, okay kids, that’s it for a while, V here is tired. He’s been flying you lot about all morning! Home, your moms’ll be worried about you by now and I don’t think they’d appreciate any more credits being spent in one place.”
“Awwww!” came the unanimous cry.
“No, no, Alice is right. I’m pooped. You guys are a lot heavier than the clouds we hoof about back home.”
“Promise you’ll be here tomorrow?”
“I can’t promise, kid, but I’ll see what I can do.”
The kid ran up and hugged him around the neck before scampering after his friends. Vertigo watched him go.
“Pony rides have got to be the silliest idea I’ve ever heard, and you’re getting thinner doing them, I’m still not sure you’ve fully recovered.”
“I’ll buff up, eventually. I’m done though, Alice, I’ve got to move on. You can afford a better life now, the rides worked, didn’t they? Seems most of you humans would love the chance to live it up amongst the clouds.”
“I think you’d have converts even here if you could guarantee wings.”
“They can’t though. Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn. Roll the dice.” Vertigo stretched, “Is that why you haven’t gone pony yet? I mean your house is lovely and all, but...”
“It’s not lovely, V, it’s cruddy. I only stayed here because I was waiting for Dad to come back. If I left and he returned, how would he find me? Have you really gotta go?”
“I’m sorry Alice, I do. Do you think your father would want you to stay? Tell you what, if you think you’re ready to move on too, you can come with me. I’m looking for a friend of mine, a chestnut stallion with a burgundy mane.”
“Burgundy? That’s kind of red, isn’t it? Anything special you can tell me about this stallion?”
“His name’s Glenn, oh, and he’s a blank-flank. No cutie-mark, unlike me.” Vertigo showed off the stylized compass-arrow mark on his flank.
“Oh! Wait, I think I did see this stallion of yours! Who is he, a brother or something?”
“Something like that.”
“Yeah, I totally saw him! A few weeks ago, coming up on a month now. Several days before I met you, like a week maybe? I dunno. I was on my boat at the time. The Equestrian flotilla came through, I remember because I had to wait and wait and wait while those useless newfoals fumbled about trying to get up the gangplanks. There was this one pony though who came off one of the smaller ships. He disappeared into Manhatten and I didn’t think anything of it. I remember it was weird because he looked weird... no mark!”
“Horsefeathers, that’s gotta be him! Alice, I was going to break this to you tonight, but... I’ve really got to go.”
“Vertigo, if you can wait until tomorrow, I’ll come with you. It can’t be that hard to track down a pony in a city.”
***