The ship’s condition was worsening rapidly as it flew, and there were no chances of them making it far. Everyone was hoping to land as soon as possible, and luckily, a good spot was just up ahead, right as the airship’s sputtering started to get worse.
The biggest worry was how it would land. Would it balance properly on the giant fin on the bottom? Or would the whole thing start coming down?
“Hold on!” Tempest shouted. “The landing might be a bit of a rough one!…”
The ship slowed down and did what it always did aside from the broken movements, lowering down to the ground. It sputtered, jutted up very slightly, and then resumed its faulty landing.
Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief. “That was close.”
“I’m going to have to look at the main engine of the ship, check for any other damages, outside, and maybe if we can, figure out a way to fix that holes on the deck…” Tempest mumbled.
“What’s wrong with the hole on the deck? It’s not hurting anyone,” said Smolder, arms crossed.
“It is more of an annoyance and a hazard. It hasn’t hurt anyone yet,” Chrysalis answered.
“I’m going to need some help for this,” Tempest said. “Normally I’d have help but… you know… how about… Chrysalis?”
“I shall not!” The former queen refused. “I may have power that outmatches yours but I am no engineer!”
“It’s not like you have to do too much…” said Spike.
“Besides, your magic can help us get this done faster,” Tempest continued.
“Can I help too?!” Pinkie hopped. “Pleasepleaseplease pleeeease?!”
“Are you sure, Pinkie?” Tempest asked.
Pinkie rapidly nodded.
“Alright then, I guess Pinkie will help the two of us.”
Chrysalis groaned. Trying to figure out the damages a ship was annoying enough but with that pink pony on her side…
She took a breath and calmed down. She was with her throughout nearly this entire journey. How awful could it be?
“Very well…” she grumbled. “But let’s try and make it quick.”
“What do we do?” Fluttershy asked.
“Let’s see…” Tempest mumbled. “See if there’s anything here we can use or improvise to cover the hole. If we can’t get it fixed than just… be careful.”
“Can do,” Spike nods.
“Alright, let’s get to work then. Be on the lookout for any threats. You never know what could be lurking around.”
Everyone agreed and went to work. Tempest and Pinkie went to the lower parts of the ship while Chrysalis flew about to examine the damage on the sides. Meanwhile everyone else looked around another area of the lower ship to see what could be found. There wasn’t much. Nothing that they could find.
“Hm…” Spike pondered, looking around. “I… don’t think we’ll be able to cover that holes…”
“Why did she even think we could find anything in here?” Smolder questioned.
“I mean… double-checking isn’t always a bad idea…” said Fluttershy.
“Well we did that. And… there’s nothing. So I guess we’ll just go up to the deck and wait.”
Smolder flew up to the deck. Fluttershy and Spike exchanged knowing glances telling each other that Smolder clearly seemed a bit more ornery than usual.
Both of them agreed to follow her. They both felt concerned for Smolder, especially considering this mood of hers wasn’t usually easy to notice. Spike got on Fluttershy’s back and she flew up through the hole.
Smolder stood at the edge of the deck, facing away, and Spike got off of Fluttershy to go and confront her.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked.
Smolder sighed.
“Everyone in my friend group is gone… I- I never realized how losing all of them to this stupid corruption made me feel… but… it doesn’t feel good, just how I feel and the fact I lost them.
“I mean, first Sandbar, Yona, and Ocullus get corrupted right off the bat, while Silverstream is presumed a goner and is left behind while Gallus escapes with me.Then we go back to save Silverstream, only to lose Gallus. And then that whole journey becomes all for nothing when Silverstream gets corrupted anyway. We went back for nothing, we lost Gallus for nothing, and now it’s just me.
“I know I’m with all of you and that’s great and all but… what if I’m next, or one of you? What if all of this is for nothing and we lose?Ugh… I hate feeling like this. It just doesn’t sit right with me at all…”
“Well, it’s a normal feeling to have,” Fluttershy said.
“She’s right,” Spike nodded. “Besides, we’re not entirely done for! We’ve survived… a lot… and even after all of this chaos and these losses, we’re still standing. Yeah it’s tough… losing close friends, things going wrong, not knowing when your road comes to an end… but trying has better chances than being down about it.”
“Yeah, I know, I know…” Smolder mumbled. “I’m not used to things like this… never really been on an adventure or had an enemy like this.”
“I know it can be tough,” said Fluttershy. “It’s really scary, but we’re making good progress.”
“Well if we want more, they better figure this ship soon…”
“These things take time,” Spike shrugged. “Can’t rush what we need to do.”
“I wonder what’s even going on…” Fluttershy wondered.
Below the ship Tempest kept analyzing the ship’s engine, which rested flat against the wall. She looked to see if there was any other problems. Although the impact was on the outside, obviously, she wanted to find any alternative faults that were caused by the impact. After looking around the whole engine and finding no issues she explored the engine on the side where the ship got hit to look for the main problem. When she first got down there the hit-spot wasn’t as damaged or scraped away as she thought, nor could she even see anything. Chrysalis made her return.
“Did you see anything?” Tempest asked.
“Some damage, no surprise there,” Chrysalis answered.
“Nothing too severe?”
“Did you honestly think I would find or be able to fix anything?!” Chrysalis scoffed.
“I didn’t expect you to find anything. Don’t put words in my mouth. Where’s Pinkie?”
Out of nowhere, Pinkie spoke. “Someone said my name?”
Tempest shrieked and spun around in a leap, clutching her chest. “Don’t… do that!”
“Tee-hee! Sorry!” Pinkie giggled.
“I was wondering where you went. You said you wanted to help.”
“Yeah, help Chrysalis outside!”
“She was with me, using her tail like a propellor…” Chrysalis mumbled. “She didn’t come to any useful conclusions either.”
“Hm…” Tempest tapped her chin. “I don’t get it! There’s some damage outside but the engine looks fine! It’s as it should be, so… why is it acting up?”
“You’re sure it was in a passable condition?”
“Yes I’m sure!”
Amidst the talking, Pinkie was the only one to recognize that in the shadows, there was a blue pair of glimmering eyes staring right at her. She found herself being unsettled by the gaze, and resorted quick to alerting.
“Tempest! Chrysalis!”
“What is it?” asked Tempest.
“There’s-“ Pinkie looked back only to find that whatever was there was now gone. “I-I saw something-“
“You’re certain you did?” Chrysalis inquired.
“Yeah! Right there! But… it’s gone.”
Tempest went to take a look. She looked around, and paused for a moment. Did she see what was there? Or was it something that caught her. Tempest turned around.
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Oh…” Pinkie said. “Probably my imagination then!”
“Alright, well, I didn’t want to do this but I might as well,” said Tempest. “There’s a backup engine we have hidden here. If I turn it on we can work with this.”
“We couldn’t have worked with that before?-“
“There’s nothing wrong with salvaging, and the backup engine’s got limited power. That’s why it’s for emergencies only. Well, this is an emergency, and luckily if all goes well it has enough to get us through this if we use it right.”
“Well what are you waiting for?!” Chrysalis barked. “Get it started!”
Tempest pushed back her increasing annoyance over Chrysalis’ attitude, before going over to a lever and pulling it. The sound of a starting engine erupted, the noise louder than previous.
“Done.”
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered. “Back to the deck!”
She hopped away, and Chrysalis and Tempest followed.
“I must say…” Chrysalis started as they left. “This type of engineering and technology used for this skiff is quite interesting… seems a bit more advanced than what this civilization is used to…”
“Yeah, the Storm King had quite a lot back then…”
Everyone met back up at the top of the deck as usual, but this time Tempest didn’t go to the cockpit just yet.
“Where to next?” she asked.
“It’s between the Dragon Lands and Canterlot,” said Spike. “Both of them seem… very, very difficult.”
“Yeah…” Fluttershy mumbled. “One’s filled with… a lot of ponies and has the Princesses too, if they stayed, and the other has… dragons. They both seem really tough.”
“Should we, like, vote or something?” Smolder asked.
“Flip a bit!?” Pinkie excitingly offered, taking a bit out of her mane.
“Hold on. Who has a map?” Spike asked. “Because… Griffonstone is closer to the Dragon Lands after all, I think!”
“Yeah, I think so,” Tempest nodded.
“Where do we bring the jewels?” Fluttershy asked Chrysalis.
Chrysalis looked at the book. “Somewhere in a forest near your homes.”
“The ship has limited power right now, but limited power or not, going from Dragon Lands to Canterlot to where we take the jewels seems like a much better time-saver than all the way to Canterlot, all the way to the Dragon Lands, and then all the way back,” analyzed Tempest.
“So… Dragon Lands it is then?…” Smolder said.
“I’m already getting goosebumps…” Spike grumbled.
“This is going to be our toughest challenge yet,” Chrysalis proclaimed. “If we are to succeed, tuck your fear away and make yourselves useful.”
Smolder rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, we get it…”
“Alright. Dragon Lands it is. Won’t take too long.”
Tempest returned to the cockpit of the ship.
Nearly everyone’s stomachs except for Chrysalis’ and Smolder’s were in knots. The dragon lands… a place with dragons of varying sizes. And yet the one place where they needed to get the Bloodstone.
“This… is going to be intense…” Smolder mumbled. “Any ideas?”