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1 ~ The Weary Knight1,567 words
2 ~ In a far off land/Stowaways2,031 words
3 ~ Hectic Airspace1,655 words

3 ~ Hectic Airspace

Usually, mornings were spent at ones own leisure. Sitting in front of the desk, relaxing with a truly delightful cup of tea. The air quiet and homely. No care in the world.

And yet this morning Propeller Knight found himself sitting by his desk, holding his head in his hands, trying very desperately to ignore the constant chattering of the three stowaways occupying his quarters and sitting around his round breakfast table.

“Might I say, this tea is most splendid!” Mr. Hat praised the tea he had taken the privilege to “sample”. What we mean by this is he pilfered it before Propeller Knight could object.

“Ick! This concoction is not nearly vile enough!” Plague Knight complained, utterly refusing to drink the beverage of gentlemen. “I’d put my, Hee~! Money on something I brew in my lab daily!”

“Oi, speaking of money.” Chester said, holding up the bag(1*) he was still holding onto. “This bombastic thing is still for sale. Only for 2000 gold, a real prize!”

‘It was just 1000 gold yesterday!’ Propeller Knight mentally screamed.

“Bombs?!” Plague Knight yelled out in his manic excitement, immediately holding a huge sack full of dingly gold. “Hee~! Sold!”

Propeller Knight swirled around on his seat, pointing a very accusing finger at the beak face maniac. He knew where that thing came from. “Relinquish hold of my sack at once!”

At the moment he said that time stopped. Or rather, everything was quiet for a full minute. Then Mr. Hat chuckled slightly, followed by Chester and Plague Knight’s roaring mad laughter as the merchant and Knight fell off their chairs and onto the floor.

Propeller Knight sat there, index finger still poignantly staring at where Plague Knight had been seated, having no idea what had come over the stowaways.

Ah, yes. The stowaways. Even now Propeller Knight had no clue whatsoever why those three were on his ship, or how they’d even got aboard. Even yesterday he had tried to fish even a small answer out of the three, but the only one who even tried to answer his question somewhat was Mr. Hat.

Not that his reason of “My Hat Sense told me so” was any good, but at least he co-operated somewhat. Plague Knight was… well, Plague Knight and had just gone off-point so many times propeller Knight just gave up. Chester had just said that he’d tell everything… for 100,000 gold.

100,000! That’s just absurd! Propeller Knight also found himself considering that ‘everything’ may be a much wider spectrum than he cared to pay for.

To sum it in a few words: Propeller Knight knew diddly-squat!

Of course he couldn’t throw them out, they were far out to the ocean now and turning back would have left a bad taste in Propeller Knights mouth. This led to Propeller Knight to, as much as he perished the thought, allowing the stowaways to accompany him.

While Plague Knight and Chester writhed on the floor in laughter and Mr. Hat was politely chuckling, Propeller Knight sighed and turned around to place his hands over his visor so he could bathe in the darkness and horror.

This is not how this trip was planned. Not. At. All.

Below the deck, Engine Room, time unknown

“Don’t this just beat all?” The Blue Mage mook said as he and his fellow disposable meatshields scavenged the interiors of the room that housed the great engines that kept the Flying Machine in the air. “Others get to do whatever but we need to find a stupid rat? What’s up with that?”

The engines were one elaborate system that was spread out all across the ship to distribute power to the many propellers across the Flying Machine’s outer surface. But this area housed the main power source, the thing that kept the whole system running.

It was a maze like area of brass pipes and multiple levelled corridors. Not a nice place to walk in. But unfortunately three mooks were there just to do that.

Green Propeller sighed in frustration. “This ain’t fairl. Why’d we have to do this?”

“Fair? What’s not fair is that unlike you jesters, I. Can’t. Fly.” Blue Mage snapped at Green Propeller who, unlike the grounded mage, was flying about.

“Hey, it isn’t my fault we got stuck with this!” Green Propeller snapped back. “In fact, it’s likely that we’re are here because you aren’t working optimally.”

“Hey, having breaks between your breaks is a real thing. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Blue Mage stated flatly.

“Game?! Is that how you see our lives?” Green Propeller snapped angrily.

“Well, duh.” Blue Mage said as if it was obvious. “We come in troves, if one of us dies we just get replaced. Remember Joey? The guy who got smacked by a shovel so hard he disappeared? No. Funeral. We just went on with out lives and he got replaced with a guy who was exactly. Like. Him. Coincidence?”

“I… That…” Green Propeller stuttered.

“See? You can’t handle the truth!” Blue Mage yelled out.

“You- argh! I’m going to shove you off that platform!” Green Propeller fumed and approached his fellow mook.

“Come and try me, cock bite!” Blue Mage said, ready to blast the other mook with his magic.

“For the love of holy Troupple Mary, shut yer traps!” Propeller Soldier shouted and flew to the scene carrying his pole-axe. “What in tarnation is happening here?”

“He started it!” Both mooks said while pointing at each other.

“Soldiers, now ain’t the time for fightin’ between our own forces! Every soldier need to carry his own weight to complete the mission given to us!” Propeller Soldier said in a gruff and stern manner.

“But I’m not a soldier!” Blue Mage said. “Does that mean I can go take a nap or something?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Propeller Said.

Blue Mage looked a bit surprised by the answer. “Oh… Gee, thanks-”

“If by nap you mean a gruelin’ fall into the depths of the boundless blue to be nabbed by sharks or sea serpents and whatever other sea varmint lurk below our very feet!” Propeller Soldier barked like a nasty drill sergeant.

“And there we go.” Blue Mage said in an ‘I knew it’ kinda way.

“What a great threat, sir!” Green Propeller said.

“Kiss ass.” Blue Mage coughed under his breath.

“Shut it you two! We have a mission and we will see it through.” Propeller Soldier barked. “You two have names, right? Identify yourselves!”

“Sarge, you know who we are.” Blue Mage said with a hint of snark.

“Shut it, Dexter!” Propeller Soldier, affectionately(or not so much) named Sarge, ordered. The nickname was due to his angry drill sergeant routine.

“I am-”

“Same goes for you, Dick!” Sarge yelled at the Green Propeller mook.

“It’s… umm, Richard, actually, sir.” He pointed out.

“Don’t care. Now get a move on it! We have a compatriot to find!” Sarge said and flew off ahead.

“Right behind you, sir!” Richard the Green Propeller said and flew after their apparent leader.

Dexter the Blue Mage mook muttered under his breath, “All this for a dumb rat,” before reluctantly moving along for fear of termination.

Just a level above them a Propeller Rat flew about aimlessly.

And it so happened that just a few levels below a big brute of a man was hatching plans that were sure to bring on the storm.

“This’ll teach those stupid Order of No Quarter morons to diss me!” The Baz said while preparing his dastardly plan.

Canterlot Castle, some time in the future

Two Royal Guards trotted along the courtyard, having a small conversation.

“I feel so stupid right now.” The younger one of the Guards said. “I don’t even know why I have to carry around this… stupid thing.”

Both he and almost a whole battalion of Royal Guards were out and about in full armor and carrying around what looked like huge pony-sized butterfly nets.

The older guard snorted a little. “Boy, you’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Uhh, yes.” The younger guard replied with a raised brow.

“Then you’ll get over it.” The old guard told him. “This here is a rare event and a good opportunity to train ourselves while keeping the land safe.”

The younger guard looked dubious. “So… finding and catching Princess Luna with these nets, which on its own sounds so insane and stupid it’s a wonder I can even say it out loud, is a training opportunity AND a way to keep the place safe?”

The older guard looked at the young one, face straight and completely serious. “Boy, you haven’t been through one of Princess Luna’s Coffee Highs before. To say that it took months to fix the damage last time is an understatement. Trust me kiddo, you’ll appreciate the experience.”

The young guard gulped audibly. “D-damage?”

“Boy, hope you don’t have to witness something like that. But if you do, you’re prepared for anything life brings your way.” The old guard said, dead serious.

The younger guard was aa bit freaked out at this point. To try and take his mind off of that he looked into the sky to try and spot the on the run Alicorn. But he stopped dead on his tracks and dropped his net.

The old guard turned to look at the youngster, who kept staring into the sky with eyes wide a dinner plates. “Hey, what’s up with you?”

The younger guard said not a word but pointed at the sky, the older guard following his gaze. His jaw opened wide as they both looked at something very big approaching Canterlot, followed by a trail of black smoke

“Is that a flying ship?”

“Is that a flying ship exploding!?”

Author's Note:

Dun Dun DUUUUN!

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