Day 4: Steamship, Essence of Bergamot
Starlight and Trixie boarded the steamship with a few minutes to spare, and so settled into their quarters before heading back above deck. They watched as the crew hurried about their tasks, casting off lines and securing the last of the cargo. An arcanotech winch hauled up the anchor with the touch of a crewmare’s horn, and they were away.
To Starlight’s eyes, the crew behaved as a well-oiled machine, carrying out their tasks with practiced ease.
Trixie, however, wore a frown as she observed them. “Something’s wrong.”
Starlight looked at her with a start. “Wrong? How do you mean?”
Trixie waved a hoof at the crew. “Look at their faces. See how sullen they all are?”
“I guess?” Starlight looked around, bemused. “I’ve heard sailing is hard work.”
“That’s just it; they’re working hard, but there’s no–” Trixie gasped. “They’re not singing!”
Starlight blinked at her. “Should they be?”
“Yes!” Trixie sputtered. “Or at least, whenever I sailed to Trottingham or Baltimare or wherever, the crew would always sing in time to the work they did – hauling lines or furling sails or raising the anchor. It helped bring them together and work as one happy family.”
A russet earth pony crewmare with a fiery red mane cocked an ear towards Trixie. “No reason to sing, now,” she said, eyes never leaving the coil of rope she was gathering. “No sails, no lines—” she nodded at the winch “—no haulin’ the anchor.” She slung the coil of rope around her neck and over her shoulder. “Just a paycheck.” She headed below without another word.
Starlight watched her go, then turned to Trixie, who looked positively stricken by what she had heard.
“No reason…?” Trixie breathed.
The whistle cried out, and the Essence of Bergamot lurched towards open water.
Around mid-afternoon, once Starlight Glimmer had a chance to get her sea legs underneath her, the pair of travelers wandered about the top deck to get a good look at the open ocean. They ran into Captain High Tea just as he was leaving the bridge to make his rounds inspecting the ship, and at his invitation, they followed along, peppering him with questions.
“So the ship is powered by coal?” Starlight asked, eyes bright.
“Aye, more powerful and more reliable on longer voyages than anything powered by magic.” The captain swept his gaze across the foredeck, then began to descend below decks.
“But I’ve seen magical devices all over the ship,” Trixie countered as they entered a cargo bay.
A pair of deckhooves saluted the captain before returning to inspecting the straps and buckles that held the cargo in place. He nodded at them, then said, “That you have, but it’s not what powers the ship. The Artificer’s Guild learned a while back that one reaches a point of diminishing returns once you start using more powerful magic than the average unicorn wields.” They passed through another packed cargo bay, then descended again. “Easy enough to build and enchant a device to haul up an anchor or light a passageway—” he nodded to the half-globes embedded in the bulkheads above them and at their feet “—but it’s another thing entirely to move a ship this size. Technically possible, but industrial mana batteries are not terribly cost effective when coal is so much cheaper. So long as you have enough coal to keep the engines turning, the ship will keep moving.”
The smells of engine grease and smoke began to thicken in the air. A deep rumbling noise got progressively louder the further aft they traveled, and Starlight had to raise her voice when she asked, “What’s the Artificer’s Guild?”
“Heavens above, you two must be from the mainland,” the captain almost shouted as they approached a room lit a bright orange from within. They entered to find a pair of earth pony mares wearing filter masks over their heads, steadily shoveling coal into a furnace beneath a massive boiler. The captain yelled, “How fares the boiler, Ocean Sunset?”
One of the mares removed her mask to reveal herself as the russet earth pony from earlier that morning, her coat color only evident where the mask had covered her face. “Steady as she goes, Captain,” she hollered dully, then donned the mask once more and returned to work.
The captain nodded, then shouted, “Come, let me show you how the engines work.”
Starlight followed, eyes wide as she stared at the massive machines turning and churning and creating one hell of a racket. All around her, massive pistons and cams and cranks danced around one another in an intricate dance of brass and iron and steel. Amidst the cacophony Starlight could barely hear every third word Captain High Tea said.
She turned to see what Trixie thought of it all, and was startled to see she wasn’t right beside her. Looking back towards the boiler room, she saw Trixie bathed in harsh orange light as she looked at the ever-shoveling crewmares, saw her exchange a halfhearted wave with one of them, saw her sigh as she trotted back to catch back up.
Starlight tried to ask what was going on, but Trixie just shook her head and pointed at her ear. Starlight nodded, and they continued on, humoring the captain in his attempts at shouting over the mechanical din.
Afternoon rolled into evening, and Starlight and Trixie headed towards the galley for dinner. As they walked, Starlight asked, “What was all that about in the boiler room?”
“Oh,” Trixie said, putting on a brave smile. “It was nothing.”
Starlight snorted as she whapped Trixie with her tail. “It’s never nothing. C’mon, out with it.”
Trixie slowed to a stop. “It was just, those two mares were working so hard, and I couldn’t help but think…” She took a deep breath, then softly said, “It was just so quiet.”