//------------------------------//
// Babs' POV (3/5): Traveling By Air 
// Story: Hoodwinked: The Pony Edition 
// by Lighttone GryphonStar 
//------------------------------//

Upon arriving I relieved Tender Taps of his duties. It was just as I thought, Thunderlane was so dense that he didn't even notice Tender Taps leaving nor me switching places with him. Heck, the pegasus didn't even notice me making a call to Golden Delicious using the airship phone. "Hello, it's me Babs Seed."

"The crazy one with the pink hair?" She questioned.

"No, not Lil Cheese."

"The two loves with the crazy hair?"

"There's only one pony on this phone talking to you..."

"Oh... did Twilight fuse you two together again!"

"No!" I screamed back in annoyance. "I'm Babs Seed!!" I didn't mean to be angry with her but the mere mention of Twilight's destructive magic was a little too much trauma for me. "I'm about to deliver that cat food you asked for."

"Oh, now's not a good time..." She seemed a bit distant in her words like she was busy.

"That's fine, I might be a little late anyway due to helping Applebloom with some work."

"Oh, oh, oh. That's just perfect..." She adjusted her voice. "I mean, take your time. I'll just be here in my old cottage feeding my cats."

"Hey, Granny are we--" Another voice echoed on the line before she abruptly hanged up on me. I was more confused than annoyed now.

"Hmm, it's not like her to have guests, especially Italian ones..." I stopped myself as that wasn't a good enough explanation for the accent of the stallion's voice. In fact, it sounded more like a snake was talking. "A snake, now that sounds crazy," I laughed to myself. "A snake around all those cats would be dead in a matter of seconds."

"I know, right?" A voice spoke me far from my spot.

"Oh, hey... Lil Cheese. I almost mistook you for a villain." I was confused for one thing, there was no one in the room beside me and Thunderlane and second ago. And yet here she was standing in front of me with a tray of food.

"I see you got on the airship," She gave a small cheer.

"Yes, thanks to your early warning," In a way I was relieved to talked to somepony else. Thunderlane is so dense I doubt word to him would register a realization I said something let alone an answer.

"Yeah, you move pretty slow," Lil Cheese commented.

"Slow, you try running with these small limbs!" I complained about my current form.

"I'm the same height as you?" Lil Cheese laughed.

"Yeah, thanks to my curse!" I threw up my limbs. Much to my surprise Thunderlane grumped at my scream.

"Careful..." Lil Cheese leered at Thunderlane.

"Don't worry, I have the guard handled just fine." I laughed to myself. "How hard could it be to guard the Crystal Heart. No one is dump enough to steal it--" I was stopped without warning as the alarm went off. "What? How? Its only been ten minutes." I faced the Crystal Heart only to see it unharmed. "Everything is fine!"

A deep voice came over the intercom. Due to the heavy amount of pride and boastfulness I could tell who the owner was. The minotaur, Iron Will. The intercom blazed loudly and he repeated louder, "There will be no refunds no matter what happens next."

"What could possibly happen next?" I didn't hide my screams of annoyance as the alarm got louder.

"Hold on to everything you have and be safe. We are crashing!"

"CRASHING?!?!"

******

"Crashing you say?" Braeburn questioned Babs Seed's word choice.

Annoyed Babs Seed repeated in a deeper voice. "The Airship was literally crashing!!"

Braeburn raised an eyebrow. "Really, there hasn't been a report of a crashing airship."

"It happened just hours ago. For all we know you dumb reporters have heard of it!!" Babs Seed stood out of her chair and pointed enraged at Luster Dawn.

"Don't mock my student," Blueblood laughed, only intensifying the mare trapped in a filly's rage.

"Let's all just take a break," Luster Dawn intervened. It was clear to Luster Dawn that the two were trying to get a good reaction. However it was unclear to Luster Dawn what kind of reaction he desired. The captain was being more brazen simply because he was getting just as annoyed as Babs Seed. But her mentor's reasons seemed more hidden. Luster Dawn knew he had no reason to openly different her against a suspect to why strike a cord?

Another thing popped into Luster Dawn's mind. She looked back through her notes. Just as the captain said, there was no mention of a crash this recently. There was no way his soldiers were that bad. And yet there would be no reason why Babs Seed would continue to lie to them.

This case just got a lot strange and the words were far from over. Neither of them knew what would be coming next as Babs Seed reached the half way point of her story.

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