//------------------------------// // Quest for Ships // Story: Sunset on the Golden Age // by Lucky Seven //------------------------------// “What do you mean a ship is three hundred bits per day!?” Twilight exclaimed. An overwhelming urge to leap over the counter and throttle this shipwright came over her, but luckily for her, Trixie decided to take her place at bat. “What Trixie’s friend means to say is, don’t you have some sort of discount for princesses who have saved the entire world?” She bargained. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. “Sorry, ladies. You may not like our prices, but we can’t offer discounts to just any popular pony that comes through here. Three hundred bits per day, take it or leave it.” “Then Trixie and her friend will t—” Trixie was cut off as a zipper suddenly appeared over her mouth and was swifty drawn shut. “What our loud-mouthed associate means to say is that that is simply unacceptable,” Discord said, popping in front of the shipwright with a flash, “Mister… Wright? Seriously? Wright? Do you ponies even have a chance to be something other than what you’re named?” “Hey, I’ll have you know the Wright family is a proud and historic one,” he countered. “But you can call me Whinny.” “Heh, Whinny, that’s such an old lady’s name…” Starlight chuckled, earning a glare from everyone involved. “Alright,” Twilight spoke back up, seemingly calmed down. “We’ll pay it. What models do we have to pick from?” “Are you sure you can afford that?” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t your salary only two hundred bits a day?” “It’s fine,” the Princess of Friendship replied, reaching down to take out her satchel. “Celestia gave me a company credit card with no spending limit. We’ll just use that.” “Isn’t that against policy or something?” “Not if I claim it was stolen,” Twilight shrugged, causing Trixie and Discord to nearly fall over in laughter. “W-wow, I didn’t know you had it in you, Twilight!” Discord exclaimed. Snapping a talon, he shrunk down to the size of her satchel, quickly peering inside of it. His voice raised in pitch as he spoke. “Have you ever thought about letting your favorite draconequus use it?” “Trixie is confused,” the magician spoke up. “Can’t you just make anything you want out of thin air?” “Well, of course!” Discord shouted as he turned back to regular size, now resting on Twilight’s back. “But that’s not as fun as getting Twilight here in some trouble with our dear Celly.” “One, get off of me,” Twilight replied, bucking her hips up. Discord tumbled towards the ground, but disappeared before he made impact. Hoofing the card over to the shipwright, she continued. “Two, don’t ever call her Celly again. We have standards here in Equestria, not that you would know. We don’t make fun of Princesses, or use leeches in medical science, or eat generic brand mac n’ cheese. So please, correct yourself moving forward.” “Oh, you’re no fun!” Discord replied, his arm suddenly covered in an abundance of leeches. “Alright, so the manual says to take this rope, and loop it through—” Twilight was cut off by a thud, followed by all her hard work turning into a tight rope coil on the floor. With a sigh, she turned her head to see her friends in a pile on the deck. “Fasten it…” “Oh… You have to tie these?” Starlight asked, tittering nervously. “Hehe, sorry…” “No, you just let the rope stay there and it magically doesn’t move,” Twilight deadpanned. “YES, YOU HAVE TO TIE IT, DO YOU WANT ME TO PAY EVEN MORE?” “You’re not even paying anything at all, Ms. I have a credit card and it’s one more thing to hold above The Broke and Feeble Trixie’s head” Trixie retorted. “So calm down and just read out the instructions again.” “Oh, to Tartarus with this!” Discord shouted defiantly. He snapped a talon rather aggressively, with a level of sass not seen since that time Celestia had found a hair in her cinnamon babka and thrown up. In an instant, the sails and masts were all in position. Unfortunately for Discord, he had forgotten one crucial element to making a ship move. Well, forward at least. With a creak, the hull of their ship began to splinter and give way to the blustery winds roaring through the sails. In a comically quick manner, the ship suddenly turned onto its side, knocking everypony into the water. “Help! Trixie can not swim!” Trixie cried out. Luckily, Starlight came to her rescue, using her magic to lift the four of them out of the water. “T-thank you, Starlight.” Her best friend blushed. “Don’t mention it…” “Hey, Discord?” Twilight said, grabbing his attention. “Hm?” “... You forgot the anchor.” With a sigh, Discord snapped his talons again. The ship was, for the time, back to normal with no wear and tear, this time with the anchor raised. “So it would seem…” “Alright,” Twilight continued as their ship began to ever so slowly leave port. “We’re off!” “Um, to where, exactly?” Starlight inquired. “...” “You don’t know, do you?” Discord asked, dramatically dragging his lion’s paw down his face in frustration. “Oh, for hay’s sake, let me see the letter,” he demanded. Reaching back into her satchel, Twilight grabbed it between her teeth and pulled it free. Turning back to Discord, she dropped it into his waiting paw. “Twilight, it says Las Pegasus right here on the note,” Discord replied with a groan, smacking his face yet again. “Did you not read the entire note?” “I did!” Twilight exclaimed. “But the grammar and syntax were just so terrible that I couldn’t focus on anything but wanting to fix their mistakes!” “Not to mention you read it three and a half years ago when the last chapter of this fiction was written…” Discord muttered under his breath. “Seriously, can we get some narrative going in here?” It had been a few hours since the crew had taken off, and it was already nearing dusk. Discord was off doing things that would most likely cause insurmountable amounts of inconvenience while the rest of the group was busy drinking grog and telling nonsensical stories, as one does aboard a ship. “So then I told her, ‘The jerk store called, and they’re all out of you!’” Trixie exclaimed. Twilight and Starlight joined her in their uproarious laughter.  “Oh come on, Trixie!” Starlight exclaimed between chuckles. “We all know you’re the all time best-seller!” They all erupted into a fit of laughter once more. Laughter that was broken up as the ship suddenly lurched forward and they heard an enormous thud, followed by the crunching of broken wood planks. “Sorry!” Discord called out from the bow of the ship. “I wanted some ice in my martini, but I made the cubes too big and they may or may not have been an iceberg instead! An iceberg that the starboard side of the ship felt the need to say hello to.” Twilight immediately stood up. “Discord!”