Finding Serenity

by M1ghtypen

You're Fired

The next morning passed in a flurry of activity. Bon Bon had to prepare for her client, Derpy had to work on the ship, and Thunderlane had to pretend to be busy so that nopony would assign him any extra work. All in all it was a very chaotic morning, followed by a somewhat chaotic midday and a mildly chaotic afternoon.

To top it all off, Octavia and Vinyl had disappeared after their urgent secret mission and hadn’t arrived back on the ship until that morning. Vinyl was sporting a black eye, but both she and Octavia were smiling like they had won the lottery. “I got into a fight!” the unicorn said proudly. She was draped over Octavia’s back, too drunk to stand upright without tipping over.

At least the repairs had gone well so far. Derpy was almost certainly making great headway with the improvements to Sereneighty. Nopony could understand half of what she was saying, but she was so cheerful that it had to be good news. She had plenty of help from Mac and Tick Tock, who were making sure that she didn’t overwork herself in her excitement.

Bon Bon met her client as Lyra was preparing to sell her cargo. Thunderlane was helping her load the nutrient bars onto the cargo sled when a fancy black shuttle landed in front of Sereneighty. “Reckon that’s Bon Bon’s next customer,” the pegasus grunted. He dropped another box onto the sled, causing a loud bang to echo through the shipyard. “Who do you think it is?”

“None of our concern,” Lyra said irritably. “What is it with you ponies and Bon Bon’s clients? Why does everypony always need to know? He’s a lonely loser that couldn’t find a date, but he’s got lots of money so he decided to hire one. They’re all like that.”

Bon Bon trotted off the ship and toward the shuttle to meet her client. Thunderlane watched them curiously and smiled when he saw a familiar brown pony stepping out to greet her. “Don’t think you should be talking about him that way,” he said. “It ain’t smart to insult the ponies that pay you.”

“I don’t believe it!” Lyra giggled. “It’s Filthy!” She jumped up and down, waiving one of her hooves in the air. “Hi, Filthy! Remember us? Filthy, over here!”

Filthy Rich looked up into the ship’s cargo hold and said something to Bon Bon. The Companion glanced back at them and smiled. She then did a double take and smacked her forehead with one of her hooves. “Let’s just go,” she urged. “Go! Don’t wave. You’ll only encourage her.”

By the time she was ready to make the deal with Filthy Rich’s hired gun, Lyra just wanted the day to be over. She and Octavia met Braeburn in a small alleyway. Octavia was less than pleased about the meeting place, but the way Lyra saw it she had no right to complain. “You could have been with me when I chose it,” she said. “But no, you had to go somewhere with the wife. Well, now we’re selling stolen goods in broad daylight in a suspicious-looking alley. This is your fault, Octavia.”

Octavia looked at her in much the same way that a cat might look at a particularly annoying mouse.

Braeburn’s voice startled both of them as he stepped out from one of the side streets. “Am I interuptin’ something?” he asked. “I could come back later.”

*****

Thunderlane waited until Lyra and Octavia were long gone before fetching his favorite rifle and setting out to find Tick Tock and his sister. He needed to lure them away quickly so that he could be back before the others returned.

“Tick Tock!” Thunderlane called. “Where are you? The Captain needs you outside.” The ship was mostly quiet, though he could hear Derpy hard at work in the engine room. She had found and angle grinder somewhere and had immediately set about driving everypony else on board insane with the noise.

Thunderlane eventually found them in the infirmary, which wasn’t at all surprising. He considered trotting into the room wearing his best scowl and demanding that they follow him, but thought better of it. Maybe it would be better to sound worried, like somepony was injured and needed help. Failing in that, he could say that it was an order from Lyra and that he didn’t know why she wanted to see them.

Quiet sobbing reached his ears, and Thunderlane put his scheming on the backburner for a moment. He snuck closer to the door and peeked into the infirmary.

*****

Tick Tock was on his knees in front of an open cabinet, conversing quietly with somepony hiding inside. It wasn’t hard to guess who he was talking to or why she was avoiding him. “I don’t need any help,” Vision whispered. “The needles hurt my mind. I want to stay here and be quiet. Wo shang mei er, mei xin, bian shi tou. I will close my ears and heart, and I will be a stone.” She backpedalled as Tick Tock inched closer, clattering around with whatever else was in the cabinet with her. “No! No, no more, it hurts!”

“You know I wouldn’t hurt you,” Tick Tock said. “You don’t have to be afraid, mei-mei. Nopony is going to hurt you here, alright?”

Visions tear-streaked face peeked out at him from the darkness. “You promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly.” Tick Tock was finally able to coax her out of the cabinet, but she still refused to go near the operating chair. They sat on the floor together while Vision dried her eyes. “You’ve been hiding a lot lately,” her brother pointed out. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me? I might be able to help.”

“Nopony can help,” Vision said sadly. “It isn’t my fault! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I know!” Tick Tock assure her. “I know you didn’t. You didn’t deserve what happened to you, and nopony here would ever disagree with that. This is a safe place.” Vision dried her eyes and honestly tried to smile. She met with limited success, but Tick Tock considered it progress. “There, you see? That’s more like it. We can wait to do our next test, if you want. Would you like something to eat instead? You’re much too skinny these days. You know what mother would say.”

Vision nodded seriously. “Have to clean up your plate before you get any desert. Is there cotton candy here?”

Tick Tock rolled his eyes. “I highly doubt that the Captain keeps a secret stash of cotton candy, but I’ll ask. If she doesn’t, how about asparagus soup?”

“I’d like that.” Vision climbed back onto her counter and curled in on herself. “I’ll be here,” she said. Tick Tock went to find her something to eat, stopping only to say hello to Thunderlane.

“Cotton candy,” Vision continued, even though there was nopony around to hear her. She felt guilty even mentioning them, but it felt wrong to keep it to herself. “Pink and blue. Pink and Blue, two by two.”

*****

Blueblood paced back and forth in the alley he had selected, waiting impatiently for Thunderlane to show up. “He should be here by now!” a pony in tactical gear said impatiently. She and three others had been ordered to keep an eye on the prince. None of them were happy with the assignment.

“Shut up!” Blueblood snarled. “He said he’d be here. Be patient.”

“Says the ponce that can’t stop pacing,” another pony muttered. Blueblood groaned in frustration and trotted to the other end of the alley. He was supposed to stay within sight of his escorts, but couldn’t stand their company any longer.

A familiar sea foam green mane stood out against the crowd. I don’t believe it, he thought as Lyra and Octavia trotted by. What are the chances? This makes my second lucky break in a week.

“Over there!” he whispered to the pony closest to him. “That’s the captain of Sereneighty!”

The soldier shoved him away. “We’re not going anywhere,” she said. “Our orders are to keep you here until the pegasus you mentioned arrives with the fugitives. If they don’t, you’re going back to the ship and flying straight to the capitol for your trial.”

Thunderlane must have tricked the Captain into scouting the area for him, Blueblood decided. I can’t let them get away. This is my only chance to redeem myself, and these fools aren’t going to help me!

Losing his escort was as easy as waiting until they weren’t looking. Blueblood’s horn glowed faintly, and a dumpster at the other end of the alley scraped against the ground. When the soldiers spun around to see what the commotion was, he ran.

It would be best to wait until Octavia and Lyra were somewhere private. Blueblood followed them to a dark alley where they unloaded a cargo sled and talked with a country stallion in a cowpony hat. They traded goods for coin and quickly said their farewells, then started back toward the ship.

The time had arrived. Blueblood readied his pistol and waited for Lyra and Octavia to pass in front of an empty side street. He charged out of his hiding place, opened fire, and followed them as they retreated down the alley.

*****

Lyra’s meeting with Braeburn went off without a hitch. It went so well, in fact, that it made Lyra nervous. She wasn’t used to things going her way, and expected something to go horribly wrong at any moment.

Braeburn had invited them to contact Filthy Rich again whenever they were in need of work. Apparently they had made quite an impression on the business pony, and he was eager to work with them again. Lyra was happy to have a possible source of work in the future, but also eager to get out of town before anypony could link them to the deal.

Just as Lyra was starting to accept that her day was going to turn out exactly as she had planned, the universe conspired to justify her paranoia. A blast of plasma passed right in front of her nose and singed her coat. “Run!” she shouted as instinct kicked her body into action. She and Octavia took off down a side street, weaving around trash bins and partially disassembled shuttles. “What the hell did you and Vinyl do last night?” she demanded.

“It was only a bar fight!” Octavia cried. “This is not our fault!”

Lyra hazarded a look back at their attacker and was so surprised that she almost forgot to keep running. “It’s Spud!” she exclaimed. “Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng! What’s he doing here? How did he find us?”

“Is that really relevant?” Octavia asked. One of Blueblood’s plasma charges sizzled through Lyra’s mane, and the unicorn decided that her friend had a point. They bent their heads low and ran faster, hoping to make it to a crowded area before Blueblood finally got lucky and hit one of his targets.

It was a good thing that Blueblood was as terrible a marksman as he was a mechanic. His pistol filled the air with magical fire, but rarely even came close to hitting them. Lyra was just beginning to think that they stood a chance of escaping when a lucky shot grazed Octavia’s leg and blackened the skin around her knee. She screamed and fell to the ground, rolling to a stop before dragging herself behind a dumpster for cover.

Lyra spun around and pulled out her pistol, but Blueblood’s magic yanked it right out of her grip. “It’s over, Captain,” the prince taunted. He lifted Lyra into the air and spun her so that she was dangling upside-down. It seemed very unfair that somepony so arrogant would have such powerful magic at his disposal.

Octavia leaned out from her hiding place and tried to line up a shot, but Blueblood immediately noticed her and seized her rifle with his magic. “Did I ever tell you how infuriatingly stubborn you are?” he asked.

“I’m quite pleased with the way things are going,” The prince said calmly. “Lyra, you are going to take me to your ship. I will radio the Warhorse, take the doctor and his sister prisoner, and possibly get the rest of you arrested for aiding and abetting fugitives. If you don’t, I’ll shoot Octavia.”

“You already shot her,” Lyra grunted. Her horn glowed brighter, but her pistol didn’t move.

Blueblood pressed the muzzle of his pistol into Octavia’s burned knee, causing the injured mare to grind her teeth in pain. “She’ll recover from a little burn,” he said. “Do what I want, or she’ll never lose that leg again. I won’t hesitate to hurt her, Lyra.”

“I know you won’t,” Lyra sighed. “I flew with you for a long time, Spud. It wouldn’t feel right to shoot you, so I’m offering you a chance that nopony else in the whole ‘Verse would get. Just this once I’ll let you go, even though you threatened my crew.”

“Oh, thank Celestia!” Blueblood exclaimed, throwing his hooves into the air. “The mighty spaceship captain has seen fit to grant me clemency!” He should have been an actor, Lyra thought. That was actually pretty good. Why am I thinking about this now? “Really, Lyra, are you blind? You are both completely helpless and I am extremely well armed. Why would I let you go?”

Lyra sighed and resigned herself to killing her former mechanic. “I guess you wouldn’t,” she said. Her horn’s glow winked out. “Goodbye, Spud.”

Blueblood looked around to make sure that nopony was sneaking up on him. He tried to ask what she was talking about, but as he opened his mouth a heavy engine block landed on his head and knocked him senseless. His horn cracked under the impact, causing his magic to flare momentarily before dying out. Lyra fell to the ground in a heap but managed to snatch up her weapon before it hit the pavement.

“Tell me something,” she said crossly as she stood up on shaky legs. “How is it that you’re still more graceful than me, even with that cooked knee?”

“A lady must be poised at all times,” Octavia answered. “What shall we do with him, sir?”

“What do you think?” Lyra asked. She cocked her pistol and aimed it at Blueblood’s head. The injured unicorn was completely helpless, clutching his horn and moaning pathetically. It was almost impossible to imagine a better opportunity.

Lyra grunted angrily and put her pistol back in its holster. “Hwun-dan aristocrat isn’t worth my time,” she grumbled. “We should get back to the ship. Can you walk?”

“I can hobble,” Octavia said. “We do not have far to go. I will be alright.” She refused to lean on Lyra as they walked away, supporting her own weight with only a grimace to show that she was in pain.

Something clicked behind them and a high-pitched whine filled the air. Lyra shoved Octavia aside as a plasma charge sizzled through the air between them. She spun around, drew her gun, and fired before Blueblood had the chance to pull the trigger again.

Blueblood’s eye imploded as the bullet passed through it and he slumped lifelessly to the ground. His magic, already unstable after the crack in his horn, died along with him. Octavia and Lyra stared at the body for a while as a pool of blood formed around his head. “Let’s go,” Lyra said sadly. “The others will be waiting for us.”

*****

The clouds had grown dark and foreboding by the time Lyra and Octavia finally made it home. Rain was a very serious problem on Beaumonde, since it frequently brought a payload of dangerous chemicals with it. The crew of Sereneighty often joked that Vinyl was so odd because she grew up being dosed by industrial solvents, but the truth was that nopony on the planet would dare spend more than a few minutes outside during a storm. Even the weather teams had given up on trying to stop the rains, instead scheduling them at regular intervals during which nopony was allowed outside.

Thunderlane was waiting for them with his favorite assault rifle trained on ramp leading up to the ship. He nodded to them as they passed, but his eyes stayed focused on the ramp. “Expecting trouble?” Lyra asked.

“Just couldn’t sleep,” Thunderlane said as he rubbed his eyes. “Figured I might as well make myself useful and do somethin’ while I was doing nothin’.”

A small plate of muffins was set aside in the galley with a hoofwritten note sitting next to it. “Dear Captain Heartstrings,” it read in lopsided print. “Thank you so much for taking me in and giving me a job. I finally get to see the ‘Verse, just like I always wanted! I know that it can be dangeris sometimes, but you look after your crew really well. Apart from getting shot this has been the best week of my life. I know that you’re taking a chance by hiring a stranger with no qualifacashons, and I’m very greatful.

Sincerely, Derpy.

P.S.: Shepherd Mac says he wants to stay with us. Can he? He can do odd jobs and cook and stuff.”

Lyra read over the note several times. She then folded it up, tucked it into her pocket, and began looking for the author. She eventually found Derpy, but the pegasus was very busy in the engine room and it didn’t seem wise to disturb her.

Generally speaking, it was a bad idea to startle anypony while they were removing unstable compression coils. That sort of thing often led to electrocution, explosions, fires, or some combination of the three.

Lyra wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and forget about her terrible day, but she wasn’t sure that she could afford to relax just yet. Were they really out of danger? Sereneighty had a new serial number now, but was there another way for the Empire to find them?

She could either lift off now and hope to escape, or lie low and wait it out. The ship was docked in a broken down part of the city, which meant that the port authority hadn’t bothered to ask for her ship’s records. That meant that there was no record of her ship landing with the old serial number. If she took off now it would look very suspicious, so the best option was probably also the easiest.

Lyra decided that she had enough of an excuse to get some rest. She trotted to her room, placed Derpy’s letter carefully on her desk, and collapsed into her bed. Blueblood’s death weighed heavily on her mind, but she eventually managed to get some sleep.

*****

The next morning, Lyra found Thunderlane sitting at the table and distractedly strumming a guitar. “I haven’t seen that old thing in a while,” she remarked as she began looking for something to eat. “Are you alright? You don’t usually play unless something’s bothering you.”

“I’m fine,” Thunderlane said quietly. “Just thinking, is all.” He played a little melody that Lyra recognized, so she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. For a while her hunger was forgotten as she pulled out her harp and began to play.

Thunderlane faltered at first, both because he was out of practice and because he hadn’t been expecting company. He wasn’t half as good as Lyra or Octavia, but he made do. He could also sing, which made Lyra very jealous.

The song slowly coalesced from the broken chords and random scales. When Thunderlane was comfortable with the melody, he lent it a voice.

“Runnin’ from the wingrot out in ol’ Harvest,

I was born to be a mudder but I always knew I knew best.

My baby plays the guitar.

I pick a banjo now.

Oh, the freedom that I have keeps me far from my home,

But I still got me a family wherever I roam,

So I ain’t goin’ back to livin’ that old life no more."

Thunderlane’s hooves clumsily fumbled with the strings of his guitar, and the song ground to a halt before slowly picking up again. She watched him while they played, paying special attention to his contented smile.

“So love me, honey, through the cold and the black.

Love me, honey, until I come back.

Hey, honey, love me.

Love me, honey, through the wind and the rain.

Love me, honey, like a colonist’s train.

Hey, honey love me.”

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” Lyra said. Thunderlane stopped singing so that he could listen to her, but continued to play. “It’s mighty strange that Spudblood was able to get loose and escape the way he did.”

“Must’ve been smarter than he looked,” Thunderlane said. “It ain’t sayin’ much.”

“No, I guess not.” Lyra rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That still doesn’t explain why we ran into him the other day. We told you about that, right? He tried to kill me and Octavia. Somehow he knew where we were going to sell our cargo. How could he know that, Thunderlane?”

Thunderlane narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why are you asking me? Are you pointin’ hooves? I got just as much to lose as the rest of you, remember?”

“I’m not saying that you did anything,” Lyra assured him. “Hypothetically, though, let’s say that somepony helped Blueblood escape and told him where to find us. Why wouldn’t they turn over the doctor and his sister? Why would somepony set us up and then not follow through with it?”

Thunderlane nervously fiddled with the tuning pegs on the neck of his guitar. “We’re just talking hypothetical-like, right?” he asked. “Well, if I had to guess why somepony wouldn’t follow through with the setup, I’d say the payoff wasn’t reliable. Spud didn’t have a contract or a reward posted; he just assumed that he could make somepony pay once he was in the Empire’s good books again. That ain’t exactly an ironclad guarantee.”

Lyra levitated a few of Derpy’s muffins onto a plate, frowning as she considered the implications of the conversation. “Does that mean you’d actually do it if you knew you’d get paid?”

Thunderlane chuckled and went back to playing his favorite song. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he said. “We were just spectacle-ating.”

Lyra returned to her room with her muffins while Thunderlane continued to pick at his guitar. Soon he would have to find somewhere else to play, as everypony else would file in for breakfast and bother him while he was trying to concentrate.

Something yellowish-brown and translucent drifted in front of his face, and he reached up to swat it away. Thunderlane looked up directly into a pair of dark sea-green eyes. He shouted something profane and tried to leap backwards, but tripped over his chair and tumbled to the floor. He was lucky to avoid crushing his guitar.

Thunderlane untangled himself from the chair and discovered Pretty Vision clinging upside-down to one of the room’s light fixtures. He set his guitar on the table and glared at the annoying mare that was watching him through the curtain of her mane. “How long have you been up there?” he barked. “Get down!”

Vision squealed as her hooves lost their grip, and Thunderlane instinctively moved underneath her. He caught her across his back and bent his knees to cushion the impact, then dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor. “You ought to know better than to spy on us like that!” he snarled. “How did you get up there, anyway?”

“Did I scare you?” Vision asked. She smiled curiously up at him, seemingly unaware that he was trying to intimidate her. She examined his guitar and plucked a few strings experimentally.

Thunderlane sullenly snatched the instrument away from her. “’Course you didn’t,” he grumbled. “You just gave me a start is all. Anypony could get startled.”

“I scared you!” Vision giggled. “Big, bad gun pony got scared!”

“I-I did not!” Thunderlane insisted, suddenly on the defensive. “There’s a difference!”

“Okay,” Vision relented. “I’m sorry I startled you.” Thunderlane stomped off toward the cargo hold, thinking that he might be able to get his workout out of the way before anypony else was awake to disturb him. “What a drama quean,” Vision added when he was gone. She chuckled and trotted off to find her brother.

Author's Note:

If you watch Lyra’s appearances in the show, it becomes clear that she likes to jump around to get our attention. So if you didn’t picture that scene with Filthy Rich and Bon Bon the same way I did, you do now.

The song Thunderlane and Lyra play is Wagon Wheel with different lyrics. I was hesitant about including that scene, since I didn’t know how anyone would respond to the lyrics. It’s essentially Thunderlane singing about his life, both the past a bit of his future as well.

Anyway, I’m sorry for the delay on this one. I’ve been working on the next “episode” involving a train heist, and I’ve been pretty busy with other things. On the bright side, there are Reavers at the end of the next episode!

Wait, that’s…that’s not much of a bright side.

Comments

[SnowyFlanks]

I noticed you called Pretty Vision River in this episode... lol Celestia dammit Summer.

[Cirrus Sky]

Reavers are the exact opposite of a bright side. Like... completely