Thwisssssssssh!
That night, Whizzball descended over the sleepy rooftops of Bountiful. Columns of chimney smoke painted the sky with dull-gray ribbons against the purplish cosmic haze. As the glossy sphere circled around the House of Sehlp at length, it slowed while the occupants of the miniature transport scanned the forest for the Noble Jury.
"Hmmmm..." Roarke's jaw tensed as her thin blue eyes danced between every tree.
"I don't get it," Eagle Eye murmured. "They landed in this town, didn't they?"
"Keep an eye out," Roarke droned. "Your breeder eyes are better than mine."
"Mmmfnnngh..." Ebon woke up, legs curling as his body made a trilling sound. His head momentarily flashed to a black shell and then back with green flame. "Gnngh... are we th-there yet?"
"Just about, candy cane," Eagle replied. "Just attempting to find out where Floydien landed with our friends."
"They probably wanted to distance themselves from the center of town," Roarke said while quietly circling the ship. "In order to frighten the locals less." Silence. She turned and blinked awkwardly at Eagle. "'Candy cane?'"
"There!" Eagle pointed as the vessel passed over a break in the trees. His eyes twitched. "Great Spark! What happened to it?"
"Looks... looks like they crashed!" Ebon stammered.
"Quick, Roarke! Land us!"
"Hmmm... landing..."
Whizzball softly lowered to the disturbed patch of forest floor, touching down just behind the dormant skystone ship. With a hiss, the doors opened, and all three ponies trotted out. They approached the open hangar of the leaning ship. Eagle's horn shone across the bulkheads like a spotlight. At last, the body of a sleeping earth pony could be seen.
"It's Zaid," Ebon squeaked, shivering slightly.
"Zaid?" Eagle asked. He cleared his throat and trotted closer. "Pssst! Hey! Zaid!"
Roarke strolled casually by the stallion. She slammed him upside the head with a metal-laced hoof.
Wh-Whack!
"Snrrkkkkt!" Zaid hopped in place, eyes wided. "I didn't crap in the robes locker, Khao! I swear!" He blinked, then rubbed his head, wincing. "Owwwwww..."
"Mind telling us what happened here?" Roarke asked.
"I'm doing fine, Roarke, thanks." Zaid hissed, rubbing his skull. "Welcome back to the land of the almost-living."
"It would do you well to answer the question."
"Turns out Floydien has a bit of history in Bountiful," Zaid said. "When he saw this town from above, he had a bit of a panic attack and crash landed us here."
"Floydien?!" Ebon gasped. "You mean... as if he's been here before? But he couldn't remember it?"
"Oh, it's way more cliche than that." Zaid managed a tired smirk. "Looks like the dude's a Duke... a Duke-Dude." He gestured towards the village beyond the trees. "Even has a younger sister who's the current Duchess of this place. Chick's pretty hot, as elk's go. But... y'know... couldn't rock the blond ponytails."
"That... is..." Ebon grimaced. "A lot to take in."
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather take it in in the morning," Eagle said, trotting through the hangar and yawning. "There's a cot with my name on it. Ebon's too."
"Better keep your horn on, then," Zaid said. "Power's on the fritz."
"Ungh! You've got to be kidding me!"
"'Fraid not. Booster and Propsy are working around the clock to get the ship in order. That's why I'm not snuggling it up like a bed bug in the engine room right now." Zaid stifled a yawn. "Mmmfff... you know how Props can get when a machine isn't purring right."
"And how," Ebon said, shuddering.
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Roarke asked.
"Getting some much needed sleep," Zaid grumbled. "Which is what I'd be doing, if only ponies in metal weren't playing the drums on my cranium."
"Duly noted." Roarke trotted ahead, flipping on shoulder-mounted manalights. "I would love to learn more about this Floydien situation come morning."
"That makes the two of us!" Zaid called after her. "Last we've been told, his sorry-flank had been dropped—unconscious—inside uptown Bountiful!"
"Then I relish the chaos that begins in the morning..."
"No... no... no!" Props snarled, tossing a wrench behind her. Cl-Clang! "Re-routing the pneumatic mana-conductor to the lateral energy banks isn't going to work! We need to tackle the central frame and bypass the steam vents in order to reignite the mana-pathways!"
"Where in God's name do you get your terminology from?!" Booster Spice sweated, fetlock-deep in a mess of venting pipes. A mess of flashlights and torches illuminated the otherwise pitch-black engine room. "Nnnngh... I-I would most certainly love to read that manual you've got memorize!"
"It's not about memorizing, it's about nuzzling!"
"Nuzzling machinery?!"
"To Floydien, it's his beloved! To me, it's Handsome's beloved's womb!"
"You do realize you're speaking in the absurd terms of a potential psychopath who brought us back to his hometown without realizing it, right?"
"Yeah, well, that potential psychopath is worth twenty of you and four extra legs, buster brown!"
"Whoah! Easy!" Booster Spice waved his forelimbs. "We're on the same side! I... I-I just can't get on your level with you throwing all these terms—and wrenches—willy nilly!"
"Ohhhhhhhhhh..." Props slumped back, covered in soot and pouting. "How I wish the communications array was working so I could hail Uncky Prowsy and get his advice on this!"
"From the sound of it, that guy could put together a mining drill using two elephants and a rubber hose."
"Yeah! And he'd make it sing, too!" Props giggled. "Oh, hey Roarke-Boarke!"
"Hello." Roarke trotted through the engine room. "Do you need assistance?"
"Thankies all around, Roarkey! But... I think we got it." Props smiled tiredly. "If you see Zaidy-Waidy again, tell him I'm sorry for giving him the snap."
"It's unfortunate that you didn't give him the 'snip' or else all our lives would be easier."
"Heeheehee! It's so good having you back!" Props grinned. "I don't understand you half the time, but I love you all the same!"
"Booster." Roarke nodded. "Still a breeder?"
He gulped. "J-just as much as Zaid is... for now."
"Good." Roarke opened the door to the navigations room and trotted on through. "I do believe I will retire for the evening."
"Uhhhh... we m-might be waking Dashie up in a few hours to give the core a zap again!"
"I'll keep that in mind."
Roarke opened the curtain to the observation room. There, she paused, gazing quietly at the hammock.
Rainbow Dash lay, sleeping soundly in her dangling net. Starlight wafted in through the bubbled windows, illuminating the pegasus' blue coat in a soft sheen. She lay with her hooves curled to her chest, her muzzle moving slowly, pronouncing indecipherable words.
Roarke took a deep breath. She stepped back so that she was just outside the observation room. With a jerk of her neck, a command was issued throughout the rest of her suit. The armor hissed in multiple places as it unfolded slowly from the top to the bottom. Soon, a quadrupedal shell stood in place, which Roarke stepped out of. An array of hydraulic cords detached from the metal plugs in her coat. A noticeably thinner mare trotted free of the armor, proceeding once more into the observation room.
Without saying a word, she climbed up and slithered into the hammock. This, of course, made the bed swing noticeably. Rainbow Dash stirred, on the virge of waking.
"Shhhh... shhhhhh..." Roarke issued, gently stroking the mare's bangs as she nestled up alongside her.
"Mrmmmfff..." Rainbow Dash trilled, face tensing slightly. "Windy," she cooed. "Wings... can't... c-can't find where..."
Roarke leaned in and nuzzled her. "It's okay," she murmured. "Go back to sleep. I'm right here..." Her thin eyes gazed past Rainbow Dash. She fidgeted once, then whispered: "...sugarcube."
A smile flickered across Rainbow's face. Like a happy little foal, she curled up against Roarke, sliding into the mare's embrace.
Roarke wrapped her forelimbs around the mare, holding her close. She exhaled with a shudder, gazing into the starlit trees beyond the observation room's windows. As the night waned on, Rainbow Dash slept soundly.
Roarke didn't.