Twilight and Fluttershy could safely agree that Vanhoover was one of the most beautiful cities they had ever seen – besides the capital of the Crystal Empire, of course. Most of the buildings, the giant skyscrapers particularly that sat at the centre of the city, dominated the skyline, going up right past the clouds themselves and were a mixture of faded colours: blue, red, green, white, gold and grey. Around the centre, various types of buildings, big or small, or wide or thin, made up the majority of the city. Around the great port and by the sea lay the older buildings: small houses and shops with thatched roofs and such. While going further inland was the newer, more modern buildings, designed as if they were a piece of art.
“So many bright lights,” Fluttershy remarked, her head unable to stay still as she took in her surroundings. “And so many ponies,” she quickly added, the tone of her voice indicating her discomfort of such.
Twilight could only nod in agreement. The two had been walking around the city for a few hours, trying to find a decent hotel so they could get a wash and a place to stay for the night, yet so far they had no luck. And as they day drew on and going closer into night, the streets were becoming even more crowded, putting her crush in a rather discomforting position. ‘We have to find one soon,’ Twilight thought, her eyes peering over the growing crowds for any sign or giveaway that a hotel was near.
Suddenly, her eyes latched onto what she was looking for. A large, rather posh looking hotel painted a dark red that went about seven or nine storeys high. It didn’t look too expensive as well. It was perfect. She tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder, who was standing next to her and looking at the ground to avoid the stares coming their way; it isn’t everyday two mares covered in soot walk the city streets. “I think I just found what we want,” Twilight informed her.
Fluttershy’s head shot up, her eyes brimming with delight. “Really!” she squeaked. Twilight nodded, pointing to the building. When Fluttershy had a look at the hotel, she gulped in nervousness. “Um, would they accept us? I mean we are a bit… dirty, for such a place.”
“Nonsense, Fluttershy, I don’t think they care how dirty we are, just as long as we are able to pay. Come on, let’s get a room.” With that settled, the two ponies trotted into the hotel. Although Twilight was confident they would be given a room for a night, a flicker of doubt never left her. ‘Everything will be fine,’ she assured herself.
“Can I help you, ladies?” the pony at the desk said as they entered, not bothering to look up from the desk in front of her.
The two mares looked at each other incredulously. “Well, uh, yes,” Twilight said, “we’re looking for a room for the night and a good wash. Do you have any available?”
“We certainly do. Just the one, though, I’m afraid. A double bed but comes with a large bathtub in the bathroom and a balcony that gazes across the city.” She took an eye off what she was doing and looked at them. “You look like you certainly need it.”
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances. “Well,” Twilight sighed, “if that is the best you can do, then we will take it.” Fluttershy nodded as well.
The mare disappeared under the desk for a moment, to return with a key in her hoof. “Enjoy your stay, ladies.”
Twilight took it with her magic, while levitating a few bits to the mare for the night. “Thank you, miss,” the two ponies said, and then walked towards the staircase.
The mare watched them go through the doors leading to the stairs with a small smile. “Such a cute couple they make,” she muttered, and continued reading her magazine.
“Do you know what floor the room is on, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as they climbed.
Twilight looked at the key the pony gave to her and read out the number. “Room forty three.” She looked from the key to the sign saying what floor they were on, which had a large ‘2’ on it. “If I’m right – which, to be fair, I usually am – this room would be on the forth floor and the third door to the stairway.” She trotted up the stairs at a quicker pace, eager to get a wash and a rest, while Fluttershy lagged behind, nearly exhausted after driving a steam train halfway across Equestria.
Eventually, they arrived on the forth floor, which greeted them with a large wooden sign by the door that said, ‘Welcome to the forth floor of The Hay Hotel’. Twilight opened the door, then stepped aside to allow Fluttershy through first, who looked like she was about to collapse.
Fluttershy felt like she was about to collapse. After driving a steam train, then walking for several hours across the city, and then going up four flights of stairs had put a great toll on the poor mare. ‘As soon as I get inside the room, then I have my permission to fall over and pass out,’ she thought. “Thanks, Twilight,” she said, sounding out of breath. She quickly walked through the door and looked down the long corridor, Twilight standing just behind her.
“Are you all right, Fluttershy?” Twilight queried concernedly.
Fluttershy looked back with exhausted eyes and smiled. “I’m fine, Twilight. Just fin…” Her voice suddenly faded away as exhaustion took her and she stumbled and started to fall onto her side. Before she could get halfway Twilight quickly caught her with her magic, and set the pegasus gently on her back.
“You poor thing,” she said softly, nuzzling the side of Fluttershy’s face. With Fluttershy safe for the moment, Twilight walked down the corridor until she came to a door with the number ‘43’ in bronze numbers on it. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they had made it. Twilight put the key through the keyhole, unlocked the door, opened it and then walked inside, flicking on the lights with her magic.
The room was very spacious and luxurious. A large space was between the large bed and the door, and had a white carpet that looked more like a field of lush grass than a carpet; it felt so fluffy and soft to Twilight’s hooves. To the right was a door leading to the large balcony, which overlooked the entire city, and to her left was a door leading to the bathroom. In front of her was a bed big enough for her, Fluttershy, and maybe Rainbow Dash as well; she was a bit slimmer than Applejack and Rarity and Pinkie after all.
She jumped a little when she heard something like a cat’s purr come out of nowhere. “Hello?” she called quietly, hoping the creature would appear. The purr came again, this time right by Twilight’s ear, making her realise what, or who, it was. ‘I never knew Fluttershy snored,’ Twilight thought, looking with the corner of her eye at her friend and giggling.
As she thought about it, it seemed sad. She had known Fluttershy for nearly three years, yet barely knew anything about her. The pegasus knew a lot about her, but it was not the same way round. She knew Fluttershy got really uncomfortable talking about herself, and knew she only confided in Rainbow Dash when talking about their childhoods. She hoped, in a way, that one day Fluttershy would confide in her as well. ‘She knows I can be trusted,’ she thought. ‘She’ll tell me when she’s comfortable.’
However, that wasn’t important at present. Now what mattered was making Fluttershy comfortable for a moment. Using her magic, she delicately lifted the sleeping, snoring pegasus off her back, then carried her to the bed and laid her out gently upon it. Then came a moment of sudden hesitance. She knew she had to leave Fluttershy, even for just a second, but didn’t want to. The mare she was looking at, despite covered in soot and ash, was the most beautiful pony in Equestria, inside and out. She didn’t feel like she could leave Fluttershy alone for even a second. ‘Come on, Twilight, what’s gonna happen?’ she mused.
She gave Fluttershy’s head a quick stroke of her hoof, then quickly locked the door with her magic and walked into the bathroom, determined to have a good wash and rinse.
Fluttershy groaned when she finally peeped her eyes open. Her legs, her head, her wings, even her tail ached with exhaustion, and she groaned again, this time more loudly. ‘Still, it feels better then it did,’ she realised. She forced her head up and ran a hoof through her mane, wiping off some bits of ash that had got tangled in it. She suddenly noticed she was the only one in the room, and her eyes widened in fear.
“Twilight!” she called out fearfully. “Are you here?”
“In here!” Twilight responded quickly, giving Fluttershy’s heart a reason to slow down again. Fluttershy’s right ear twitched at the sound, making the pegasus realise she was in the room to the left of her. Ignoring the aches and pains she was feeling to the best of her ability, she jumped off the bed and walked into the bathroom.
“Hey, Fluttershy, glad to see you awake,” Twilight greeted her with a huge grin from the huge bathtub that was on the far side of the bathroom. It was more of a round swimming pool than a bathtub, wide enough for more than two ponies to sit in, yet shallow enough to stand up. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“A bit achy,” Fluttershy replied, “but otherwise I’m fine. Yourself?”
“Really good, thanks. Feel a bit cleaner now having done this.” Twilight then gestured with a hoof and said, “Come on, jump in. The water’s great!”
Fluttershy took a step back, her face revealing her hesitance. She didn’t mind sleeping in the same bed as a friend, but sharing a bathtub seemed to her a bit too much. “Oh, I-I’m sure I can wait until you’re done,” she said, slowly backing out.
“Hey, it’s all right, why not use it while it’s here. Besides, we have shared the tub at the Spa together many times, remember?”
Fluttershy stopped when she realised Twilight was right. “Uh… yeah, I guess we did.”
“Then don’t worry. Come on, it’ll be fun. Plus I can help you with cleaning out your mane. I know you sometimes struggle with cleaning it.”
Fluttershy knew she was right about that as well. “O… okay, Twilight. I’ll come in.” Swallowing down her nervousness – and her blush – she slowly clambered into the bathtub. She sighed pleasurably when she felt the warm water hit her right foreleg. She put her left one in next, sighing pleasurably once more at the amazing feeling of the water on her leg.
Seeing and sensing the water was all right, she quickly moved her body into the water till only her head was above the waterline. “Oh my,” she sighed. “This feels so nice.” She wanted to sink further in, but couldn’t for the fact the water went only up to her lower jaw. She closed her eyes for a moment, and squeaked in surprise when she opened them again to see Twilight sitting right in front of her, grinning excitedly for some reason.
“So how does it feel?” Twilight asked, never once losing her grin.
Fluttershy smiled back warmly. “It feels lovely, Twilight.” She was telling the truth. The aching feeling she had was gone like a puddle that had evaporated in the scorching sun, and the soot and ash that had stained her coat was running off her body and into the water, creating black smudges.
“That’s good, and I’m glad you’re all right as well. You gave me quite a scare when you fell over like that,” Twilight said.
“I scared you? I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to do that. I was just so tired.”
“I know you didn’t. I’m just glad you’re fine now.” She gently moved across the water to sit right next to Fluttershy, forgetting for a moment about personal space. “And I do like this hotel,” Twilight added. “The walls are so thick you can’t hear what’s going on in the other rooms thankfully.”
Fluttershy slowly shifted herself away from Twilight, giving the two some room. “Yeah, it’s lovely. Although I’ll probably have to pay for the duvet after ruining it with ash and soot across it.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. If they ask to pay for a replacement then I’ll do it. I put you on there in the first place, so it should be me that pays for it.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, but Twilight quickly added with a small smile, “My mind is made up, Fluttershy. Nothing you say will change my mind.”
Fluttershy quickly saw that any arguing with her would be a lost cause; besides, she didn’t even like arguing. “O-okay, Twilight. Thank you.”
Twilight smiled wryly. “You are welcome.” Then without warning, her horn flickered to life, and suddenly appearing in front of them was a bar of soap. “Now, would you mind turning around so I could clean the back of your neck?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy nodded curtly, then presented her back to her and dipped her head down so Twilight could see the back of her neck. “Hmm,” Twilight chuckled upon seeing the state of her friend’s neck; it was as black as night. She took the bar of soap in a hoof and began scrubbing the soot and ash off, gently enough so to not hurt Fluttershy, yet hard enough to take it off. “How did we get so filthy?”
Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder and replied, “I’m not sure. Sometimes you find soot in your ears, which isn’t very nice. Or even up your nose, which is just as bad.” She giggled to herself. “You should have seen the state of me after my first day. There wasn’t a speck of yellow on me; the only thing clean about me were my teeth, so my mum said. I was grinning hard enough afterwards for her to notice.”
Twilight smiled at the image Fluttershy gave to her. ‘She probably looked so cute as a filly, and even cuter when grinning. Not that she isn’t cute, of course.’ “So, um, what do you think your mother would say about what we did today?”
Fluttershy shrugged. “I’m not sure to be honest. Probably shocked would be the main one.” She then muttered to herself, “It would be nice to get a letter from her, though.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Just thinking to myself,” she said. She tensed when she felt Twilight rub a bit too hard on her neck.
“Sorry,” Twilight apologised, grimacing.
Fluttershy turned her head around and smiled assuredly. “It’s okay, Twilight. I do have a really sensitive body, you know. I do bruise quite easily.” She turned her head back around, allowing Twilight to continue cleaning her neck.
After a while, Twilight had most of the soot and ash off Fluttershy’s neck. “Would you let your mother know about what we did today?”
“Oh, no, she’ll learn about it anyway. Being in charge of the rail network would mean anything out of the ordinary would be reported straight to her.”
Twilight let go of the bar of soap and let it fall into the murky water below them. Her jaw dropped and she stared at Fluttershy with wide, incredulous eyes. “Are you saying that your mother is Velocity Whisperwing? The mareaging director of the Equestrian railways?”
Fluttershy turned around fully, her wide eyes revealing her surprise, and nodded. “Yes. Yes, that’s my mother,” she replied perplexedly. She tilted her head to the side. “You know her?”
“Know her? I admire her!” Twilight exclaimed, her face in an expression of astonishment. “When I was at school, there were times Celestia couldn’t teach me for one day due to some important business coming up and such. Therefore, she asked a couple of ponies to teach me on their special subjects whilst she was away.
“That’s where your mother came in. She used to teach me geography; I would imagine being a train driver she would know a bit about the land around her. Anyway, she taught me so much that I’m so grateful for. She made me see the difference between hills and mountains, rivers and streams, lakes and seas, and so on and so forth. She gave me a fascination with geography, and made it fun as well.” She paused to giggle as a memory flashed through her mind. “She was such a witty mare. Always had a smile on her face, a joke hidden away for the right moment, and always had time for some relaxation and playing with me when it was lunchtime.
“Even when my studies went to the next level, she sometimes appeared to talk to the Princess about the railway and improvements to be made and such. Sometimes me and her would sit and have a cup of tea and chat about ourselves. She sometimes talked about her daughter and how sh…” Her voice trailed away when she quickly reminded herself she was talking to Velocity’s daughter. She shook her head in disbelief, looking at Fluttershy with a wide smile. “And all that time, that daughter she kept going on about was you.” She ran a hoof through her mane. “Wow.”
Fluttershy was staring back at her in disbelief. “So… that filly my mum was going on about, the one that was a marvel in intelligence, she said to me one night. That was you?” Twilight nodded, her smile forming into a grin. Fluttershy felt a grin form on her face.
At once, the two ponies burst out laughing, unable to fully understand what they had just learnt about each other. Once the two had begun to stop laughing, they wrapped each other in a hug. “This is unbelievable,” Twilight said once she pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. “I mean, first we learn that all of us are connected by Rainbow’s sonic rainboom, and now this.”
“I know,” Fluttershy squeaked. “It was as if we were meant to meet and become friends.” She suddenly hugged Twilight again, startling the unicorn. “And I am so grateful for that. I am so glad to have met you, Twilight. I’m glad to have met all of you.”
Twilight patted her on the shoulders. “And I’m glad to have met you, too.” The two stayed in each other’s embrace for quite some time. ‘Go on, Twilight!’ Twilight’s mind cried out. ‘This is your chance! Say those three words, forget this business, and lead her home. You don’t have to do this!’
‘It was not my decision to go west, remember?’ Twilight retorted. ‘This is Fluttershy’s decision, and I cannot force her to change her mind now. She’ll be gutted.’ Twilight gently pulled away and gave her friend a small smile. “I think we should find that ship now, before it gets too dark,” Twilight advised.
Fluttershy looked blankly at Twilight for a moment, forgetting for a second why they were here in the first place. It suddenly hit her like being soaked in cold water. “Oh yes!” she exclaimed, her voice never going over her usual soft tone. “Oh, uh, I mean, yes, we should find a ship to take us… if you want to get out that is, I don’t want to force you…”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, Fluttershy.” ‘Never, ever, change who you are.’ “Yeah, I think I’m ready to get out myself. I don’t think I’ll get any cleaner, and it’s best we don’t spend any more time idling.” Her horn lit up for a second, then she suddenly vanished, only to appear a second later beside the bathtub, her coat dry as if she never got in. “Am I clean enough?” She began to spin slowly on the spot, hoping she was clean.
Fluttershy’s eyes wandered across her friend’s body, seeing if there was a speck of soot on her. She shook her head when she didn’t see any. “You’re as clean as a fish, Twilight,” she announced.
“Oh, that’s good, I thought… Hang on, did you just use a fish as a simile again?”
Fluttershy nodded meekly, a few strands of her mane falling across her face as she did so. “Fish are one of the cleanest animals in the world, Twilight. They’re perfect for whatever a simile is.” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up to the top of her forehead. “Plus I like fish,” Fluttershy added, wiping away the strands of mane from her face.
After a moment of silence, Twilight sighed, and then shook her head, smiling beatifically. “A simile is when something, like a fish, is used to compare something else as a figure of speech,” she explained.
Fluttershy’s ears shot up at their highest, and her eyes sparkled with interest. “Oh, really? So that’s what it means. I never knew about that.” Her ears suddenly folded, and she looked down at Twilight’s hooves. “Sorry.”
Twilight gave her a wry smile. “There’s no need to apologise, Fluttershy. You are not the only one who doesn’t know what that word means, and you will not be the last. I can assure you of that.” She threw a towel over to Fluttershy, who caught it with her teeth and began drying her face with it. “Right, I’ll go and get ready in the other room while you dry off.”
Fluttershy nodded, then began drying her body down, while Twilight walked out into the bedroom. After flicking on the lights once more, she took hold of her saddlebags and looked through the things she needed, and the things she didn’t for this part of the trip. She took out her books, then the spare snacks that Fluttershy made.
As she sorted out her saddlebags, she couldn’t help but giggle quietly at what she just learnt about Fluttershy. ‘All this time, I knew her mother, yet didn’t know her.’ She briefly wondered what it would have been like if one day, while she was at school, Velocity took Fluttershy to Canterlot with her to try and befriend Twilight. ‘I would imagine it would be something like our first meeting,’ she reckoned.
“Um, Twilight?” Twilight turned around to see Fluttershy standing in the doorway of the bathroom, and had to control herself to not let her jaw drop. Fluttershy looked gorgeous, for her entire body seemed to shimmer like a jewel. “I was just wondering: do I look clean enough?” She began turning herself around so Twilight could check for any bits that stood out.
Twilight looked all over her, and then shook her head. “You’re fine, Fluttershy. Like you said to me: you’re as clean as a fish,” she declared with a smile. “Right, I’ve got enough money to pay in advance if we find the right pony for the job, and a map to take us to the harbour, so we’re all set. You ready?”
Fluttershy took hold of her saddlebags, flung them onto her back, and then nodded. “I’m ready.” Before Twilight could utter another word, Fluttershy trotted to the door, opened it, and began walking to the harbour.
‘Probably wants to get this out of the way so she can get back here,’ Twilight realised. ‘I don’t blame her.’ She galloped after Fluttershy, locking up their room behind her.
A few minutes later, the two were back on the streets and making their way west towards the harbour, which they could make out by some of the magically powered cranes that towered just as high as the highest buildings of the city. The streets themselves, which Fluttershy was really grateful for, were not as packed with ponies as they were when they had arrived. Most of the ponies were indoors, laughing at jokes, or dancing to music, or enjoying the night.
“You know, as you were drying off in the bathroom, I had a thought,” Twilight began.
Fluttershy looked from a city bird to Twilight with a curious gaze. “Did it hurt?”
Twilight stopped in shock, looking at her in feint offence, though the smile on her face put Fluttershy at ease. “Since when did you become so witty? That was something I expect from Rainbow Dash, but not from you.”
“Sorry if I offended you, I just couldn’t help myself,” Fluttershy said, looking at the ground and scraping at it with a hoof.
Twilight giggled. “Don’t be sorry. In fact, that was really good. You should be like that more often.”
“I would like to be, but I’m too afraid that I might say something that could offend somepony. I never want to hurt anypony’s feelings.” She shook her head quickly. “Anyway, what was it you were thinking about?” Fluttershy asked to change the subject.
The two continued trotting down the street to the harbour. “Oh, yeah. I was thinking about what might have happened if your mother brought you to Canterlot one day to meet me. I was wondering what would that have been like.”
“To be honest, I think it would have worked out the same way as it did when we first met each other,” Fluttershy giggled. “Minus Spike.”
“Oh, he would have been there, probably. So you would have been too shy to talk to me, yet you would talk to Spike?”
“Maybe. It might have been different, though, with my mother watching and all. I might have had the courage to say hello. What about you, though? Would you have tried befriending me like you did when we first met?”
Twilight’s smile withered slightly. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I may have given it a go, but I probably would have made a bad first impression. I probably wouldn’t shut up about books.”
Fluttershy gave her a wry smile. “You have never shut up about books, Twilight. It doesn’t matter, though. I like talking with you about books, especially if we talked about adventure books. I do like talking with you about anything, really.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in delight. “Really?”
Fluttershy nodded delightfully. “Of course. What else are friends for?” She quickly looked ahead of her to see they were now coming close to the entrance of the harbour.
Twilight, on the other hoof, looked at her suspiciously. Something appeared to be up with Fluttershy. Ever since this trip had began the pegasus had been more open with her, and had drawn closer to her unlike the rest of their friends. Was it because of this trip? Or, much to Twilight’s hope, was she beginning to feel something for her? ‘Oh, I hope that’s true,’ she thought hopefully.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, was thinking about what she just said. ‘Why did I say that? Granted, there are times when Twilight loses me and everypony else. But those are so few and far in between. I do like talking to her. I love talking to her.’ A sudden thought made her blood run cold. ‘Oh my. Am I falling in love with her?’
She didn’t have time to answer her own question, when the blast of a steam whistle made her scream in fright, and duck and hide beneath Twilight, with her hooves covering her eyes.
Twilight’s ears rang as the blast of the whistle echoed across the harbour, forcing her to close her eyes. When the ringing stopped and she was able to open her eyes again, she saw to her alarm that Fluttershy was no longer next to her. “Fluttershy! Where are you?” she cried.
“Under you,” Fluttershy squeaked in response.
Twilight looked between her forelegs to see Fluttershy prostrated on the ground, with her hooves covering her eyes, shaking in fright. “It’s all right now, Fluttershy,” she said softly and calmly. “You can come out now.”
Fluttershy moved a hoof off one of her eyes to look at her. “Are you sure?” Twilight nodded firmly. With that, Fluttershy crawled out from underneath Twilight, and quickly stood upright again. “What was that? I know it was a steam whistle, but I have never heard one like that before.”
“That’s because it came from that,” Twilight answered, pointing behind her. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder and gasped at the size of the ship behind them.
It was huge, and was longer than anything she had ever seen before. The hundreds of windows that dotted the hull of the ship were lit up as the sun began to go down, and the stars and moon began to appear. The four massive funnels that sat at the top bellowed thick, white smoke, and the two ponies could make out a few of the passengers on board.
It didn’t take much longer for Fluttershy to realise they had been walking in the harbour for about five minutes now.
“A steamship,” Twilight stated. “One of the largest ships that has ever been built.” Her smile fell away as she realised something. “And I bet we could have gone on that ship as well.” She shot her head around for somepony to ask. Her eyes eventually fell on what looked like a worker of the harbour: a dark brown unicorn stallion with a cutie mark of rigging. “Excuse me, sir?” Twilight asked. “But do you know where this ship is heading?”
The unicorn nodded. “It’s heading to the Iron Pony Islands,” he answered, “then it will be heading to Las Pegasus, then taking the Great Divide to get to Baltimare.”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “Thank you, sir,” she said, then walked away with Fluttershy in tow.
“We could have used that ship to get to the Iron Pony Islands,” she muttered to herself as the two walked down one of the seven stone-built piers that made up the front of the harbour. When they made it to the end, Twilight sat on her haunches and watched with sad eyes as the gigantic steamship left the harbour and headed out of the bay.
Fluttershy very quietly sat next her, looking at her with concern. “Um, I don’t mean to intrude on your thinking, but personally I think we didn’t need to take it. We are planning to head beyond the Iron Pony Islands, after all,” Fluttershy said, gesturing with a hoof beyond the harbour and out into the ocean.
Twilight perked up immediately, turning her head around to look at Fluttershy with a look of sudden realisation. “Oh yeah. I completely forgot about that part for a moment. But where are we gonna find somepony who would be brave enough to take us on such an adventure?”
“An adventure, huh? Sounds like fun,” a stallion’s voice repeated, making Fluttershy squeak in fright and shift herself closer to Twilight for comfort and protection. Twilight looked around for the speaker, only for her eyes to stick onto one of the largest stallions she had ever seen, emerging from the shadow of one of the shacks that ran along the pier.
He was as blue as the ocean, and had a mane and short tail coloured like rope. His eyes were a dark brown, and he had a cutie mark of a helm. He was muscularly built, with thick legs and a heavily muscled chest.
He would have looked intimidating, were it not for the bubble pipe he had in his mouth.
“Good evening, lassies,” he greeted them in a thin, northern Trottingham accent. He blew a few more bubbles out of his pipe, and blew them in their direction. “What are fine young lassies like yourselves doing in a place such as this?”
Twilight stepped forward, while Fluttershy lingered close to her side. “Good evening, sir,” Twilight replied kindly. She had always gone by the belief that good manners would get her anywhere. “We’re looking for a ship.” One large bubble floated in front of the two mares, which Fluttershy popped using her nose.
The stallion chuckled, a few more bubbles escaping from his pipe. “Well, we have plenty of those around here,” he said, gesturing with a hoof at the vast number of ships that made up the huge harbour they were in.
‘That seemed familiar,’ Twilight thought. She waved the thought away. “Yes, well, we’re looking for one who would be able to take us to the Iron Pony Islands…” She paused for the sake of dramatic affect. “… And then beyond.”
The stallion’s eyebrows flickered upwards in surprise. “Well, well, well,” he muttered. He removed the pipe from his mouth to fill it up again. “You two are quite the adventurers, are you not?” He smirked amiably at them, and then lifted a hoof up. “I think I can help you two out in your endeavour. Name’s Seahoof, captain of the ‘Wave Breaker’, at your service.”
Twilight lifted up a hoof and shook his, smiling politely. “Twilight Sparkle, at yours,” she introduced herself.
Seahoof let go of Twilight’s hoof, and then pointed it to Fluttershy, who accepted it quickly. She squeaked, “And I’m Fluttershy,” then quickly let go again to hide her face under her mane.
Seahoof chuckled once again, then turned to look at Twilight. “So, the Iron Pony Islands and beyond, huh? That sounds like a massive undertaking, young lass.” He put his bubble pipe back into his mouth. “What do you both hope to find on the other side of the world?”
“We’re not sure, captain,” Twilight replied. “But we are just curious to know what’s out there.” She gestured with her head at the ocean.
“Aye, it is a strange and amazing place out in the ocean. I myself have been beyond the Iron Pony Islands, but it was only for a day before I decided to turn back. ’Twas a shame, really, I would have liked to gone further. Still, no point moping about the past, eh?” He blew a few more bubbles from his pipe. “So now you have me interested, me dears. What be the cargo or passengers you have with you?”
“Just me and Fluttershy here, and some provisions we made or brought ourselves,” Twilight answered. Fluttershy nodded meekly in confirmation.
“Good, good. Now we get to the most important part – price. Normally a trip to the Iron Pony Islands is expensive, but because you are both planning to head further, then it will cost you extra; seven thousand bits – each.”
Both ponies’ jaws dropped. “Seven thousand?” Fluttershy exclaimed. She looked to Twilight and whispered, “We could get our own ship for that.”
Seahoof chuckled. “But whose gonna sail it, lass. You?”
Fluttershy looked at him for a moment, then shied away as she shook her head. “We can pay you that,” Twilight said, much to Fluttershy’s shock. “And we can pay you extra in whatever valuables and artefacts we find on the other side.” ‘If any.’
Seahoof looked at her with a new sense of interest. “You make a good bargain, Miss Sparkle. You would make a fine princess, you would.” Twilight blushed at the compliment. “A deal we have made, I believe.” He thrust out a hoof for her to shake. “You have yourselves a ship.”
Twilight grinned, then accepted it with her own. “A good deal indeed,” she said. Fluttershy’s face, however, stated her doubts.
“Right, I’ll get the crew in line and get the Wave Breaker ready for a morning departure,” he said as he turned away. “Be here by the time the sun rises, or I would gather that you have had second thoughts.”
“Wait! But what about pay?” Twilight enquired as he walked away.
He looked back at her with a grin. “We’ll think about that later.” He dipped his head at them. “Goodnight, lassies.” With that, he turned away and disappeared into the growing night.
“Um, Twilight? Are you absolutely sure this is a good idea?” Fluttershy voiced her concerns. “We only have a few hundred between us, and that’s not even less than half of what we need.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, grinning assuredly. “I got this all under my hoof. Like I said to him, if we find any valuables or lost treasures in the lands beyond then some of it will go to him, while we will pay back a bit at a time. It’s perfectly simple.”
“But what if there’s nothing out there worth of value?” Fluttershy asked
“I’m sure there would be something out there of value they can have,” Twilight said. “But that’s not important right now. What matters is that we have our own ship now, and tomorrow we can leave Equestria and head to the Iron Pony Islands.” Twilight began to hop on the spot, squealing in excitement. “Oh, this is going to be great!”
Fluttershy would have agreed, were it not for the small amount of doubt she felt in her chest. ‘It’s just my guts telling me something is wrong but there isn’t,’ she thought to herself. Although when her guts were like this, they were never usually wrong. Her thoughts faded away like mist when a yawn threatened to burst out. She quickly stifled it with a hoof. “Oh my, I don’t know about you, but I feel tired all of a sudden. Should we head back to the hotel and come back in the morning?”
Twilight stopped hopping on the spot, and looked at Fluttershy for a moment in consideration. “Ah, yes, we should if we’re having a early start. Come on, then, let’s get back to the hotel.”
It took the two mares ten minutes to make their way out of the docks, and another ten to get back to the hotel. By the time they did get indoors, they were exhausted from walking up the hill from the docks.
“Well that could have been a lot harder,” Twilight commented as she kicked the door shut behind her.
Fluttershy didn’t answer at first; she slipped off her saddlebags, then jumped up on the bed, pulled the covers back, and flopped onto her side, facing where Twilight would lay. “Yes, it could have been a lot harder,” Fluttershy agreed. “We would probably still be searching if Seahoof wasn’t there.” She wanted to say that it was almost as if he had been waiting for them, but she didn’t want to worry Twilight just yet, so she kept silent.
Twilight slipped off her saddlebags, then jumped up and joined Fluttershy in the bed. “Are you excited about tomorrow, Fluttershy? Or nervous?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy smiled at her bravely. “I’m excited and nervous, Twilight,” Fluttershy answered. “Excited because my childhood dream is coming true, and nervous because, well… we don’t know what’s out there. There could be anything, and some of it might not be friendly.”
Twilight stretched out her hoof and touched the top of Fluttershy’s own hoof. “If there is, then I won’t let it harm you,” she assured her. “I promise you, Fluttershy, I won’t let anything bad happen to us.”
Fluttershy could feel her cheeks burn pink, but she didn’t care, for the touch made her think Twilight was telling the truth. “I know you won’t.” With that, the two mares said goodnight to each other, and fell asleep, both ponies dreaming about what the trip held in store for them once they got out of Equestria.