Whooves was busy at the ship builder’s yards. Walking along the edge of the dry dock he could see far down into the pit that would soon house the Equestritania. Already he could see its backbone stretching three quarters of the way along the bottom, and the ribs of the hull were already beginning to stand upright at the bow end. “Not long now and the first parts of the plating for the hull will be in place” he thought as he tapped his hoof on the door of the small wooden shack that was the office.
“Enter!” a gruff voice shouted from the other side.
Whooves did so. Inside the stench of cigar smoke suddenly enveloped him. Even though they were only one month into building the ship this was a smell he’d encountered several times and it could only mean one thing. Something was troubling Flam. Sure enough, flam was sat in his wooden swivel chair with his hind legs resting up on his desk. A big fat cigar was sticking out from underneath his moustache, sending a small stream of grey smoke towards the ceiling. Round the office were several items of furniture that he had added to try and make the place more homely. In front of the large desk was a thick rug placed over the hard stone floor and on the wall next to the small stove hung a copy of the side view blueprint that Whooves had produced of the ship.
“Morning Whooves” Flam said flatly “I take it everything is to your satisfaction down in the dry dock?”
“Well yes Sir” Whooves replied quite cheerfully “The workers are really making a good start on…”
Flam interrupted him “Well I don’t mind telling you I’m most disappointed! I’ve already pumped several thousand bits into this ship. When can I at least hope to get something substantial in return?” He puffed on his cigar some more.
“Ship building is a slow venture at first Mr Flam” Whooves explained “You can’t expect the whole structure just to appear overnight”
“Maybe not, but I wouldn’t mind it being a damn bit cheaper! I’ve been looking around at different steel contractors who could supply us with the materials for the hull and structure of the ship” He threw a piece of paper across the desk towards Whooves “This would seem to be the ideal supplier to go with financially. I could get the same amount of steel required for a third of the price”
Whooves picked up the paper and began looking at the details written on it. After only ten seconds of reading he looked back at Flam “I’m afraid you can’t allow you to order from this contractor, Sir”
Flam’s eyebrows narrowed “And why ever not!”
“Well for starters, the reason why the plating from this contractor is cheaper is because the steel plating is only half the thickness required” Whooves slammed the paper down on the desk “It would make the structure of the ship far weaker. If we built the ship with this type of steel I’d be surprised if it didn't snap in two when it leaves the dry dock!”
Flam stood up from behind the desk “You’re breaking my terms Whooves” he snarled “We agreed that if I want to change anything I have the authority”
Whooves leaned further over the desk “That’s as maybe, but this is one choice that I will not allow your views to affect. You’d put everyone who boards that ship in the most serious danger, and that’s if the ship didn't crumble like a card tower first!”
“WELL I SAY WE GO WITH MY PLAN!!!”
“AND I SAY WE STICK TO THE ORIGINAL IDEA!!!”
Both colts were now leant over the desk, almost touching noses as they breathed heavily in anger.
The door to the office opened and both colts turned round the find one of the foremen leaning round the door. Seeing what was going on he tried to slowly back out the door “Um…..er……I see you’re both busy….er….I-I’ll come back later”
Whooves shot a look back at Flam “Don’t bother. I was just leaving”
He strode across the office and taking the door from the foreman’s hoof flung it open, the foreman stepped into the office as Whooves turned round to look at Flam once more “My decision is final on this aspect of the ship Mr Flam, and I don’t care if it means I loose your financing for the project. I’d more likely spend more money on the safest ship around then have my name pinned to a floating death-trap! Good morning Gentlecolts” Whooves slammed the door shut as he left the office.
A small silence passed before the forman spoke up “Um… I’m happy to report Sir that we now have nine of the ships ribs in place. With any luck we should have another three in place by the end of the day”
Flam puffed on his cigar once more “Very good, carry on”
The foreman tipped his bowler hat before quickly leaving the office. Alone once again Flam picked up the piece of paper that Whooves had so quickly dismissed. The cogs in his mind very slowly turned and clicked into place as he came up with a scheme that would satisfy his needs.
“By the time the thing’s assembled and painted up he’ll never be able to tell the difference between the steelwork!” he thought to himself “All I have to do is keep him out of the dry dock until it’s impossible for him to inspect the thickness of the steelwork up close”
He thrust his hoof down into an ashtray and brutally stubbed out his cigar.
The canal that ran through the Canterlot Town Centre used to be a thriving place. Barges and boats used to line up along its clean marble towpaths ready to transport ponies and goods up and down the river that ran straight through the heart of Canterlot. Over time however, the boats had all disappeared one by one with the invention of the airship meaning that goods and produce could be transported in bulk with ease far beyond the rivers limits. It was now a peaceful and tranquil walkway through the town. With the ornate bridges spanning over it’s width giving the canal an air of grace and beauty.
Down on the towpath Octavia was stood playing away on her Cello. Busking may have been one of the lowest forms of earning an income in her opinion, but every little bit helped, and it also meant she could casually showcase her Cello playing abilities to the ponies who wouldn’t normally consider listening to such an instrument. She took a quick moment to tighten her purple scarf before returning to her Cello, deciding to play a tune that she had only just managed to learn from memory. As the notes began to flow from the great instrument she closed her eyes and imagined standing in the centre stage of a concert hall, all the distinguished Colts and Mares applauding her as she played her best concert. Octavia stopped abruptly and put a hoof to her ear. She was sure she could have just heard somepony singing. Not just casually singing to themself, but singing perfectly in time to her playing. Seeing there was no one around her she started playing again, shrugging off the singing as part of her imagination. After a few bars though she could hear the singing again, more clearly this time. It was the voice of a young colt. Instead of stopping Octavia kept playing this time. Hoping that, if she kept playing the music, they mystery colt might just show himself.
The singing was getting louder now “Autumn, Shall we all meet in the Autumn? Golden and glowing by Autumn, Shall we still be best of friends? Best of friends...”
A hoof reached out and jabbed Octavia, causing her to let out a slight squeal. She stopped playing and turned to find Whooves stood next to her “Whooves, you startled me!” Octavia breathed a sigh of relief.
“So I see” he chuckled “Busking today, are we?”
“Unfortunately so” Octavia sighed, resting her Cello up against a bench and picking up an upturned Top Hat she’d set down on the floor, peering inside “An so far all I’ve got in here are a few twigs and leaves from the surrounding trees, a button sompony must have mistook for a bit, someone’s old shopping list they most likely thought was a five bit note and…” She rummaged around inside the hat with her hoof “One bit which somepony has cut in half!” She looked at the half of Celestia’s face that remained on the cut penny “Surely this counts as treason?”
“You know, for once I’m not actually sure” Whooves inspected the penny himself, before putting it back in the hat “What time are you finishing anyway?”
“Oh, I was actually going to go back home now” Octavia said, putting her Cello back in its case “This scarf only just manages to keep out the cold”
Whooves waited till she had shut the case and slung the straps over her back before asking “Well, how does afternoon tea and cake sound?”
Octavia tipped the contents of the top hat into a waste bin before placing it on Whooves’ head “That’d be nice”
They both smiled warmly at each other before walking down the towpath towards the tea merchants.
“Tell me, what’s the difference between the ‘Golden Blend’ and the ‘Canterlot Breakfast Tea’?”
They’d both been stood in the queue waiting for over ten minutes now. It was just past midday, so the Merchants was as busy as usual, but the cold weather outside had caused more seats than usual to be filled with ponies of different hues.
Realising they weren’t going to get anywhere quickly Octavia looked at Whooves “How about we rethink this and just go and have some tea at my apartment?”
Whooves looked back at the customer being served, who was now tapping his chin with his hoof as he held a menu. He looked back at Octavia “Yes, let’s”
They both exited the Merchants as the customer said those immortal words Octavia was used to hearing far too often “What do you mean there are over thirty types of Tea?! That’s not physically possible!”
Octavia sighed as she lugged her Cello case down the hallway of her apartment “The living room’s just through there” she pointed ahead to an open doorway as Whooves walked on in, leaving Octavia to put her case in a room further down the hall.
The room he stepped into was far different from what he’d expected. Over the past three week that he’d known Octavia and had been afternoon tea with her almost every other day he’d built up a rough mental image of the type of accommodation he thought she’d own. Ornate skirting boards, fancy wallpaper and posh Chesterfield Sofas were what he had in mind, but that was not the sight that was before him. The living room was quite narrow, though it had a much higher ceiling than he expected. Most of the objects round the room were put away nicely on a series of shelves that spanned the length of one of the walls, however Whooves noticed a rather large collection of LP records stacked in a not so neat pile on the floor, and he thought about how he’d never really thought about Octavia being the sort of pony who would listen to so many of them, even more when upon inspection the records all seemed to be rock albums. The kitchen joined onto the living room at the rear and consisted of a simple worktop on the back wall with all the usual appliances, several storage cupboards above it, and an island worktop just in front of it with a couple of tall bar stools next to it. At the front of the living room a tall glass window dominated the wall, showing the view down onto the streets of Canterlot below and flooding the room with light, bathing the rather small two pony seater sofa, which sat widthways across the room, in the sunlight. An ornate fireplace was positioned on its left hand side and instantly recognising the design as being one made at the time of the Equestrian Industrial Revolution, Whooves went in closer to inspect it.
“Sorry if it’s a mess in there!” Octavia called from down the hallway “My flatmate doesn’t really know the meaning of the word ‘tidy’”
Whooves suddenly froze, for it was only then he noticed the sleeping figure on the sofa. Well, he couldn’t see who it was other than a unicorn due to a white horn and some rather wild blue and turquoise spikey hair being the only things sticking out from underneath a thick blanket, which rose up and down slightly every time the figure breathed. Whooves quickly rethought his plan and turned his attention to the many books lined up on the shelves.
“VINYL!” Whooves jumped slightly as Octavia stepped into the room and eyed up the pile of dishes sitting on the kitchen worktop “You said you were going to clean those dishes by the time I got back!”
A feeble moan was the reply as a white hoof emerged from under the blanket and pulled it down tighter around the half sleeping unicorn.
Octavia gave a heavy sigh as she walked over the kitchen cabinets and took to mugs out, placing them on the island worktop. Whooves sat down on one of the bar stools as she then took out several small, square packets from one of the high cabinets and placed them down next to the mugs.
Picking one up, Whooves chuckled “So I see you can get all the free samples you could want working at the Tea Merchants then?”
“Well…they’re not so much samples but more like….leftovers” Octavia said putting a citrus teabag in her mug before looking back over at the sofa again “Vinyl”
A Mumble came from beneath the blanket “Go away Mrs Snooty flank!”
“Vinyl, if you’re going to continue sleeping could you at least go and lie down on a bed, like a regular pony. I’ve got a guest over”
Finally, the white unicorn threw back the blanket that she had covered herself with, sitting up and revealing how large her spiked hairstyle was. She shook her head slightly to wake herself up before getting off the sofa and picking up the blanket in a bundle with her magic. It was only as she was walking out the room that she first made eye contact with Whooves, her deep magenta eyes staring deep into his soft blue eyes.
“Who the hay are you?” she asked quizzically, realising that this wasn’t one of Octavia’s regular friends she was used to seeing in the apartment.
Octavia put her hoof to her head “Vinyl, could you at least try to use some manners for once, please?”
Vinyl was now in the doorway, with just her head poking round the doorway “Sorry…… who the hay are you, Sir?”
“Vinyl!”
Vinyl’s head disappeared from the doorway and the sound of her chuckling could be heard from the hallway, followed presently by the sound of a door slamming shut.
Octavia blushed as she looked back at Whooves “Sorry about that. Vinyl doesn’t exactly grasp the idea of being…’respectable’….very well”
Whooves set down his mug of tea on the worktop “Well, at least it’s more polite than anything Mr Flam has said to me over the past weeks”
“Really?” Octavia slurped her tea “Something I’ve been meaning to ask you is, do you actually know that much about him? Apart from when you said he made you the offer, I’ve never seen him when I’ve been working. I’ve asked my coworkers, and only one of them has vaguely heard of the name. Something to do with a mechanical cider press or something”
“He never really mentions his past” Whooves pondered “Something tells me he may have invested in several projects that turned out to be failures just by how quickly he wants to see results with the Equestritania”
“But it’ll be a while before that happens, right?”
“It’ll be a good few months at least before the shape of the ship is recognisable” Whooves nodded “Mainly because the moon is being raised earlier now we’re in winter”
They both took a moment to look out of the great glass window; the buildings across the street had already turned from brilliant white to a light grey with how the sun was descending.
Octavia reach out and held Whooves hoof “It’ll be alright Whooves. I know it. If I can manage to make a living as a Cellist off very few bits a week, then surely you can get your dream ship floating in the skies in less than a year”
“I’ve got to” Whooves laughed “If I don’t then the princess will probably send me to the moon for not having the ship she commissioned”
Octavia had a nagging question at the back of her mind “Speaking of the princess, why isn’t she funding the construction of the ship if she commissioned it?”
Whooves sighed “Well, she wanted to try out a new scheme where it is paid for by ponies, for ponies. Realising that it would take forever for the funds to come through I decided to search for investors for the project, due to the fact that with the Princess’ permission I could promise whichever company invested that the ship could run for their company”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve overcome the most major hurdle of the project” Octavia dipped her snout in her mug again.
“Hardly” Whooves chuckled “That was easy, the hard part now is making sure that Mr Flam doesn’t intervene to much with the building of the ship to make it unable to fly!”
Down in the dry dock one of the foreman Colts had given the order for the workers to pack up their tools, grab their lanterns and head for home. The Foreman himself yawned as though back over the day’s events, shivering slightly as the harsh temperature of the night began to get to him. Seeing that most of the workers were now on the scaffolding ramp out of the pit he turned round to head for home, and came face to face with Flam.
The foreman jumped back sharply “Oh! Mr Flam. You really shouldn’t sneak up on me like that at this hour. I could have quite easily gone backwards into the pit!”
Flam look past him and down at the workers “Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to go back down there. There’s been a change of plan. I now want you working through the night on the ship”
“You what?” The foreman exclaimed “But the workers are entitled to so many hours of rest a day, which they’ve not had yet. That and it’d be near impossible to work on the ship just by the light of the lanterns!”
Flam glared back at him “I don’t care how you do it, use magic if you have to, but if the keel of the ship isn’t at least halfway along the dry dock by the time Celestia raises the sun…” he prodded the foreman in the chest “…then I think you won’t be in this shipyard much longer”
The foreman gulped as Flam walked away, he wasn’t too fond of the idea of him being the one to tell the workers to get back to the ship.
Flam looked up at his office on the side of the dry dock as he walked towards it in the darkness. A faint glowing light began to appear from just behind it, along with the sound of a cart as he grew closer to it. The new materials had arrived, and all that now remained was to get them either hidden or used up before Whooves returned…