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// 83 
// Story: Twilights Mane Passion 
// by Darkonshadows 
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Twilight thought over the general things Saddle Arabia provided to Equestria through trading, the vizier was in a good spot to start devastating commodities ponies took for granted.  She watched as Tress danced on the deck below her as she leaned against the railing and was slightly mesmerized by her friend’s mane as it shifted about to her movements. She was dancing to some sitar music being played by the Princess Jasmine’s bodyguard, Twilight thought his name sounded like Rough Heed.

Saddle Arabian ponies were very much different from regular ponies, for one they were tall and had longer legs. They were taller than most normal ponies and only ponies bigger then Mane-iac would outsize them in general. Despite their size they weren’t any more physically fit than a regular earth pony and they never got cutie marks. Their bodies were built to survive a hot arid realm and the harsh conditions there.

They were already en route to Neighgraba and were riding an airship there, courtesy of Twilight’s parents having recently come by a used airship that once belonged to a band of marauding pirates a few hours before they set out. It was certain that the air pirates were not happy that their airship was stolen out from under their noses.

Rarity was currently working on some outfits in the hold as they needed something to beat the heat; it was made sure that she was focusing on function as much as the form. She was making some loose clothing to protect them from the baking heat of the desert sun and a costume or two for later infiltration plans.

Daring was having a rather intriguing chat with Chrysalis about how bad her translation of Saddle Arabian names was. Jazz Bane was not the name of the princess, though Ballad Din was close enough to being right for the stallion in the green cloak. Daring seemed edgy around Chrysalis because she was a changeling and didn’t trust her very much even if she could speak fluent Saddle Arabian.

Piloting the airship was Nightlight; he looked to be rather bored with being the stallion at the helm and being one of the only three stallions on this ship. Ballad Din was checking the rigging and Rough Heed would every once in a while make sure to survey the skies around the ship. The princess herself was to keep watch of the balloon to make sure it wasn’t leaking air.

Every pony onboard the airship could already smell Pinkie’s baking and were getting hungry, Trixie was likely assisting her with the food. They certainly weren’t going to go hungry with those two around manning the galley.

“Twilight, can I talk to you if it’s alright to?” Fluttershy was always worried about her friends getting hurt, especially Twilight as Tress healed fast enough to hardly ever need medical aid.

“Why of course you can Fluttershy. You know I’m willing to listen to you about anything.” Twilight had flinched slightly as she hadn’t noticed Fluttershy come up to her. Her friend was as silent as a mouse and could go unnoticed just about anywhere when she wanted to.

“Why did you bring me along?” It took Fluttershy a moment to realize she was being cuddled by Velvet again; her friend snickered at her plight. “Also will your mother ever stop hugging me?”

“Not likely, as you’re apparently very cuddly.” Now even Twilight was cuddling Fluttershy along with her mother. She felt bad about doing it just so she could fondle Fluttershy’s mane, it was just so silky and she couldn’t help but rub her face against it. “Your talent with animals and medical training are two very good things to have out in the desert. Just think of all the exotic animals you’ll get to meet.”

Fluttershy enjoyed the attention a bit, but this was probably the only time she was annoyed instead of scared of receiving too much attention. Twilight wouldn’t stop petting her and Velvet’s comforting hooves were nice, but this was getting a bit ridiculous. She didn’t raise her voice to them, she was still the quietest mare you would ever meet and they weren’t exactly making Fluttershy feel too uncomfortable about her personal space.

Velvet and Twilight finally let go of Fluttershy. They both giggled at Fluttershy and she relented giggling a bit with them as well, she couldn’t stay mad at what were a second mother and a very nice friend to her. A friend that she thought had a cute mane style and was attractive.

Fluttershy walked to the railing followed by Twilight and looked over it. The ground slowly crawled by beneath them as the airship chugged along leading Fluttershy to think of Velvet’s eye for detail as an amazing special talent. There were so many uses for it, especially when Velvet was currently acting as the ships mechanic.

“So what’s wrong Fluttershy?” Twilight was going to call a meeting soon. It would involve a plan for what to do when they came within three or more miles of Neighgraba.

The plan for saving Neighgraba needed the subjects of infiltration, information and instigation. They’d infiltrate the city under the guise of a troupe that travelled the world randomly performing wherever they stopped, it shouldn’t be too hard to fool anyone given their lives were already a three ring circus. They needed information of where the vizier was keeping his magical artifact to protect the genie or jinn. They also needed the layout of the palace, city and generally any other information that is pertinent as to what was currently going on in Neighgraba. They already had a head start with Ballad Din and Jasmine, but the jinn or genie could have magically rearranged things or warped the general surroundings to something else.

“I’m just wondering about Angel and the all the animals back at home.” Sure Fluttershy had nothing pressing going on as nature was taking care of itself well enough. After her instigation of the fair chance law around her home that is. Any animal that was injured and on her property was not to be harmed by any other animal, else she would not care for the breaker of that law should they in turn be grievously injured and in dire need of her help later on. Her home was not a place were aggressive behavior lived or very well tolerated, except for Angel who was only angry at Fluttershy for being too much of a doormat at times.

“I’m sure he’ll do fine, he did really well when we went to Canterlot for the wedding didn’t he?” Taking on a thoughtful look, Twilight could see Fluttershy looking at her out of the corner of her left eye. Fluttershy soon spread her wings and flapped them twice before closing them and tilting her head to the right. Twilight looked to Daring Do who was still heatedly discussing something with Chrysalis in Saddle Arabian; Daring did not like the presence of changelings in Ponyville even if they were benign voyeurs. Feeding off married or loving couples was proven to be safe for both changelings and their main source of food. “You left her with Applejack didn’t you? She should be fine and capable of flying within a month’s time, Applejack is a dependable pony.”

“It’s not just that, I want to know if you know what the connection is between Daring and the ‘filly’ yet.” Fluttershy was still thinking of Scootaloo, the guards were trying hard to find her and she was in plain sight and making friends with Apple Bloom. She mentally made a side note that Rarity left Sweetie Belle with their parents and then absconded onto the airship. It was a form of sweet revenge to Rarity for all the times her parents kept sending Sweetie her way while gallivanting off somewhere for the umpteenth time.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I have a hunch that involves why ‘the filly’ is always so excited to see Rainbow Dash.” Twilight made the comparison that Daring and Rainbow looked exactly alike, except for the glaring differences in personality, intelligence and colors. Daring was far smarter than Rainbow and was just a bit more cunning in pinch. “If my hunch is right then Daring must be constantly heartbroken considering the kind of life she has to lead. Aside from that, remind me to introduce Rainbow to Daring’s books later.”

Fluttershy looked over to Velvet dancing with Tress to the music being played, sometimes she wished she could just let go of her stress like that. She couldn’t imagine what Twilight would find out; she just hoped it wasn’t something that would make her cry. Fluttershy’s stomach grumbled and she gave off a frightened goat squeak, before she realized in embarrassment that the noise came from her.

“Stop worrying about every little thing, go to galley and get something to eat Fluttershy.” Twilight put a hoof on Fluttershy and rubbed it gently up and down the mares back. “Maybe Pinkie Pie even has a cupcake with your name on it.”

“Okay, Twilight… do you think that I’ll ever… or that you could ever help me with um… never mind.” Fluttershy’s voice dropped down to a pitch that only dogs could probably hear, she walked away mumbling an apology. Entering the airship she carefully made her way down the steps into the kitchen, a smell wafted up into her nose causing her to hum gently and trot on into the galley following the lifting aroma.

Fluttershy could tell something smelled really good and sweet; Pinkie bounced up to her and sat her down at the table before hoofing to her what looked to be a menu with a smile. The pegasus was curious as to why she was receiving a menu of all things, this was a stolen pirate airship and she didn’t think they would actually run a restaurant out of it. On the menu was the name of the airship, ‘The Indistinguishable Plot’, followed by the name of the restaurant being a welcome to the ‘Goofy Good Grub Galley’.

Rolling her eyes at the menu, Fluttershy just laughed at the resourcefulness that Pinkie had. Deciding to play along she opened the menu and inside she saw that all crew members received food for free. Since there were no passengers on the ship and every pony chipped in to keep it flying, they were all crew members. There was a large upturn in the shy pony’s mood and she started truly smiling as she read what was the first thing on the menu, it was ‘smiles’ and the price was ‘always’.

“So have you figured out what you wanted yet Fluttershy?” Pinkie was wearing a cheesy fake mustache along with a waiter’s uniform. She was already placing a napkin before Fluttershy to use to wipe her mouth when she started eating her food.

“Whatever that is that smells so good, some apple juice and the ‘Plank Pasta Pasty’? It sounds good.” Fluttershy received a wide smile as Pinkie wrote something down. After a moment she showed Fluttershy a perfect sketch of Angel Bunny much to the shy mares amusement and then left it on the table as she bounced off for the kitchen.

“Fluttershy wants whatever that smell is, some juicy fruit and the ‘Plank Pasta Pasty’ special!” Pinkie disappeared into the kitchen. Trixie could be heard grumbling about wanting to be the waiter and be the one wearing the goofy mustache.

Fluttershy wondered how close Trixe and Pinkie were now; they seemed to work well together. If only she were as brave as Trixie was to just walk up to a mare she liked and ask if they could go on a date. Maybe Zecora wouldn’t mind a date or even Chrysalis as the bug like hermaphrodite was pretty in her own unique way.

After twenty minutes of waiting Fluttershy had a warm raspberry swirl cupcake placed before her. It had yellow icing on top of it and on top of the yellow icing was bright pink icing spelling out her name. A mug of apple juice was sat down further from the cupcake and a strange brown plank shaped lump was placed before her with a butter knife and fork.

“Sorry it took so long Fluttershy, it requires to be baked to perfection so that it tasted just right.” Pinkie gave Fluttershy a big hug before bouncing off for the kitchen. “Don’t forget, that no matter where you go there are friends that know and love you for who you are!”

For baked vegetable lasagna wrapped in a thin crust of pizza dough, it was quite tasty.  Pinkie was exceptionally talented at baking things; the spinach really brought the taste together for the pasta stuffed pizza dough.

Yawning after having finished her meal, Fluttershy went to find a bed. As she lay down to sleep, she wondered how things would go once they reached Neighgraba. She prayed for the safety of all her friends, family and those who truly needed it in the days to come. She silently in her sleep pulled a plushy version of Tress to her chest and snuggled down under the blanket.