Day 20: The Wind-Swept Lover
A bribe of twenty bits to one of the officers for access to his private stock of fresh oranges. Thirty bits for access to the quartermaster’s hidden stash of blueberries. Ten for the cook and his extra care, two hundred for the radio operator to pull an extra shift, and two for a bag of fresh coffee. All were paid in neatly printed checks, save the coffee, which was purchased with two of Lidar’s gifted bits. That was, after all, a personal expense.
“Knock knock!” Spike called, in lieu of actually knocking on the door to Twilight’s quarters. His hands were full, carrying the wide steel tray that held her breakfast. Hearing no answer, he pushed the door open with his shoulder. “Twilight, you awake?”
“Don’t come in. I’m naked,” Twilight answered, already up and seated at the room’s little work desk. She had one of her books open in front of her—The Complete and Unabridged History of Zebraria—a three inch thick tome she was already nearly halfway through.
“Ha ha. Very funny.” Spike’s tone was dry, and he set the tray down on the desk next to Twilight. In addition to its bottle of orange juice and covered plate of pancakes, it held two gently rolled scrolls, some telegrams, and a considerable pile of loose leaf paper, the sheer quantity of it threatening to spill over onto the food. “I was able to get the radio operator to help like you wanted. He had the Zebrarian relay station do a complete transcription of this morning’s Cape Harness Inquirer.”
“Well done, Spike.” Twilight’s tone was encouraging, her ears upright and alert. With her usual efficient manner, she removed the papers from the tray and straightened them into a neat pile, lifting the cover from the plate a moment later. Air rushed in to fill the gap, and a little cloud of steam wafted from the plate, barely visible in the morning sunlight. It smelled like blueberries, and butter, and syrup from the Weeping Wood. “Wow. I didn’t know the Orlovian navy ate this well.”
“Oh, well, I think the cook just likes you.” Spike scratched the back of his head. “Do you want me to read your letters for today?”
“Please,” Twilight replied cheerfully, cutting up her pancakes and continuing to read as she ate. Spike pulled the first scroll from the pile, clearing his throat as he read aloud.
“Princess Luna,” he began, “says that she has arrived in Vineigha for Prince Chain Link’s funeral. She reports that the situation is tense, but that Princess Silver Dove is there as well, and both sides seem committed to a healthy long-term resolution to the Black Hoof problem. She gives your love and your sympathy to Emperor Iron Cross. He invites you to the capital again whenever you should wish it, and hopes that his son’s tragic passing will not sour relations between you and his people.”
“That’s good,” Twilight said slowly, chewing over a mouthful of pancakes as she thought. “Thank her for keeping me updated. Tell her I’m at her disposal if there’s any way I can help, and that I accept Emperor Iron Cross’s invitation. Oh, and remind me to send Silver Dove a letter today. It’s on my checklist for the day but I want to get to it before it gets too late.” Spike’s quill scribbled quickly, and he nodded. “Next.”
Spike lifted one of the telegrams. “Princess Silver Dove sends her love and sympathies, and hopes that once your trip and the current Aero-Lipizzian situation is resolved, she might be able to visit you in Ponyville. She says she was quite taken with your stories of your heroic friends and would welcome the opportunity to meet them.”
“Speak of the mare. I’ll get to it this afternoon. Next?”
He lifted a letter, enveloped but unsealed. “The captain asks if you might join him and the other senior officers for dinner this evening.”
“No.” Her tone took a small downturn. “I really need to study before we arrive in Zebraria.”
Spike paused, looking over the letter towards Twilight. She was still reading, and occasionally chewing on a mouthful of pancakes without looking at or noticing her food. “You have kind of blown him off the last eight nights in a row, Twilight.”
She paused, the motion of her eyes freezing. “Tell him I’m airsick or something,” she finally said, the motion resuming. “Next.”
“Uh, right.” Spike cleared his throat. He picked up the second scroll. “Celestia writes to ask if you’re doing okay.”
“Tell her we’re on course to Zebraria and approximately one day ahead of schedule. No other problems to report. Next.”
“Uh…” Spike lowered the scroll from his sight to look at Twilight. “She asked if you’re well, Twilight. I don’t think that’s what she meant.”
“Oh.” Twilight shrugged, her tone casual to the point of indifference. “Tell her I’m fine. Is there anything else?”
“Uh…” He put the scroll away. “That’s about it. The rest is just telegrams from well-wishers, and letters from your friends in Ponyville.”
“Send my thanks to the ponies I don’t know. Be polite. I’ll read the letters from the girls later.” Her fork stabbed blindly at the plate, missing the pancakes several times as she focused exclusively on the words in front of her. “Thanks, Spike.”
“Sure. Sure,” Spike said. Then he took the seat on the edge of the bed, and waited.
The captain had given up his quarters to Twilight for the duration of the voyage. They were cramped, as was everything aboard the Wind-Swept Lover, but they made good use of the space. Charts covered the fine wood-paneled walls, and elegant woodcuts filled in the gaps. The bed was filled with down feathers, and the large writing desk swung in and out of the wall to save space. But the room’s dominant feature was the window, a single massive pane of glass that covered the entire west wall and half the floor. The morning was bright, the waves below them were white-flecked, and though the clouds moved quickly, their airship’s course was smooth, only a gentle vibration and the occasional sway marking their progression through the sky.
It took a good five minutes before Twilight twitched her ears and lifted her head to look back at Spike. Her fork had been stabbing at an empty plate for nearly two of them. “Oh, uh. Hey, Spike,” she said. “Was there something else?”
“No. Just, uh…” He gestured vaguely in her direction. “How’s the research on Zebraria going?”
“Good!” Her voice was upbeat, and she turned back to her book. “It’s a young country, but reasonably stable all things considered. It has a lot of internal tribal groups, but it’s structured to support that, so it’s not a square-peg-round-hole situation like Aero-Lipizzia. This book is a few years old so I’ll want to read the papers too, but King Kuishia seems to have the support of most of the zebras.”
“Sounds uh… safe.” Spike drummed his clawtips on the mattress, still watching Twilight’s back.
“Should be.” She turned a page. “As long as we restrict our tour to the capital and don’t visit the veldt. Or the bad part of town. Or the docks. The Dockworkers Union went on strike five years ago and he broke it up. But that’s fine! I hear they have a new quinine factory that has some really impressive architecture. And the Palace of Shadows is supposed to be a work of art.”
“Yeah.” Spike nodded, his tone dry and mechanical. “Hey, Twilight?” He perked up a bit. “You want to go on a tour of the airship? I met the engineer this morning and made him some coffee and I’m sure he’d love to give you a tour.”
“I’ve seen an airship before, Spike,” she said, polite but disinterested. “Cabins, mess, bridge, navigation, engineering, cargo hold. Airships in Equestria are pretty much the same as airships everywhere else.”
“Yeah, but…” It took him a moment to find his words, and when he did, he added a kick of energy behind them, lifting a claw for her attention, “this one has an auto-condensing air-cooled engine.”
Twilight’s ears twitched once, and her eyes stopped scanning. A moment passed, and she lifted her head to look back at him.
“It uh…” He coughed. “It has big vents on the side that suck in air to keep the steam condensers cool, but, they’re set up with these external condensation plates, so when the airship skims a cloud it sucks water up and refills the reserve. So the ship can have a much smaller water reserve which makes it faster and lighter.”
He kicked his foot into the air, sitting with his hands folded on the edge of the bed. “It’s really cool,” he said, adding, “and I really think you should get out of your cabin.”
Twilight blinked, looked down at her book, and then carefully placed a bookmark in its pages and shut it. She stepped over to the bedside, and slid onto the mattress next to Spike. Soon, they were seated next to each other, looking out the window and into the sky and the sea below. She tucked a leg around his shoulders and held him close: “So, how are you holding up?” she asked.
“I’m a little worried about you, Twilight.” His tone began to show stain, reflecting the tension in his posture. “And I think Celestia is too. You haven’t left your cabin for over a week.” He sharply held up a claw. “And don’t say you leave every day because trips to the bathroom don’t count and you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” she agreed, softly. “But I’m fine, Spike. A pony I cared about died. So yes, I’m sad. And a little angry. And I know I’ve kind of locked myself in my quarters for most of the voyage. But I’m not going to turn into Nightmare Twilight.”
“Nopony is saying you are. But…” Spike kicked his legs. “Of all the research you could be doing on Zebraria, is dangerous dissident groups really the first thing you think of for a goodwill tour? That doesn’t sound like a decision you would have made two weeks ago.”
“No, probably not.” She let out a little breath. “But I’m just taking precautions. And I… guess I might be a little nervous. But that’s not the end of the world.”
“No, it isn’t. But you get really obsessed with things sometimes, Twilight. And even if you’re super smart, it makes you get carried away and do things that aren’t rational. And I don’t understand why…”
He let out a little breath, then squared his shoulders, and looked her in the eye. “Twilight, why haven’t we canceled the trip? The prince of one of the countries you were visiting got… you know. Nopony would have thought it was odd if you turned around to go to his funeral. And it would have given you all the time you wanted to study these countries more before you tried again.”
Twilight didn’t answer, and after a moment, Spike pressed on. “And I’m really worried that you’re going to run to King Kuishia or the Saddle-Arabian princes or whoever and wrap them all up in a forcefield bubble so nothing can hurt them and then it’ll all spiral and spiral because you want to fix everypony’s problems but you can’t fix the whole world at once. And…”
He looked down at the floor. “You know it wasn’t your fault, right?”
“Heh.” Twilight let out a little half-laugh, then reached a leg around Spike to hug him close against her chest. “I know. And you know it wasn’t your fault either, right?”
They embraced for a long moment, Spike’s head resting against her shoulder. “I am so lucky to have you,” Twilight said, squeezing him just a little tighter.
“Don’t change the subject,” he said into her shoulder, and they both smiled a little. He hugged her as well, and after a moment, they broke apart. “Just promise me you’re not going full Want-It-Need-It on me.”
“Oh my gosh, that was one time.” Twilight’s smile was weak, but she managed a little laugh. “I promise, I’m not going crazy. If Luna had thought she needed me in Vineigha, I would have turned around. And I did consider canceling the trip anyway.”
Spike nodded, his hands resting on the bedside. “So why didn’t you?”
“Mmph.” Twilight turned to the window, looking out at the sea below. Though they were too high up to make out details, ships were clearly visible by the wakes they left, a half dozen streaks of white in the blue below ending with little black points that bled coal smoke. “That’s complicated.”
Spike shrugged. “I got time.”
A nervous smile flashed over Twilight’s face, but she nodded a little, her eyes still on the window. She swallowed. “I really want to win the bet with Celestia.”
Spike’s head perked up. “Does winning the bet really mean that much to you?”
“It’s not about the bet.” Twilight shook her head, quickly adding, “I mean, not that the bet isn’t important, because the solar calendar is a mess and folding down the corners of pages is the first step down the slippery slope to moral deviancy, but it’s not about winning the bet because I want the prize. It’s about…”
She licked her lips. “It’s about Griffonstone.”
Spike blinked once, then tilted his head to the side. “You lost me.”
“That place was a dump, Spike. I mean, sure, the railroad helped, and the Guild is doing what they can, but it takes more than some pine scent and sawdust to cover up the smell of centuries of decay and failure. They’re our closest neighbors, and we just sat there and watched as their civilization fell apart. Or…”
She let out a slow breath. “Or let’s be honest, Celestia sat there and watched. And I’m not okay with that. Don’t get me wrong!” she added quickly, “Celestia is an amazing pony and if I’m a tenth the Princess she is, I’ll be lucky. She’s made Equestria into a wonderful place. But she thinks in terms of centuries. It’s enough for her to say that she’ll fix Griffonstone eventually, and doing it right now would be difficult and risky, so she’ll wait. But a lot of good that does the griffons who have to watch their cities turn to dust before she ‘gets around to it.’ I don’t want to be that kind of Princess, Spike.”
She looked down and poked the mattress with the tip of a hoof. “Because, you’re right. What happened to Prince Chain Link wasn’t my fault, and would almost certainly have happened even if we never visited. But that doesn’t make it okay. It’s not enough to just give the world a little nudge now and then. I want to go out and make it better now. I want to stop what happened to Chain Link from happening to anypony else. And…”
Her jaw worked, and her eyes stayed focused on the window. “And I don’t like it when Celestia implies that wanting to help ponies alive today instead of their great-grandkids is a youthful impatience I’ll grow out of. I know she doesn’t mean it that way but that’s how it feels.”
The tension in Twilight’s voice grew the more she spoke, her barrel tightening as it strained to force the words out. “She’s wonderful and she’s kind and she’s patient, but she’s not perfect, and I can make the world better on my own instead of living in her shadow. I can go out, I can spread friendship, I can help the countries we visit, and I can get around the world in eighty-one days exactly, thank-you-very-much!”
“So you want to win a bet with Celestia to prove that Celestia isn’t all-knowing?”
“Heh. I know it sounds pretty bad.” Twilight’s wings ruffled, and she rubbed at her eyes. “Actually, that did kind of sound Nightmare Twilight-y didn’t it?”
“No, it didn’t. I don’t think it sounds bad at all, Twilight.” Spike prodded her hoof with a claw, just enough to get her to look back his way. “You’re the Princess, remember? And whatever you do to help these ponies, or um, zebra in this case, you’re here, and Celestia isn’t. It’s your call. And I’ll be there to support you, whatever you want.”
Twilight’s breath came out hot, but no words emerged. She reached up to rub at her eyes with one hoof, leaving the other where Spike’s claw covered it. She struggled to speak, and failed, and so Spike spoke instead: “I’m sorry your friend died. I wish I knew how to make it better.”
Then they hugged again, and Twilight leaked fluid from her eyes in a phenomenon that looked a great deal like crying but which she explained was actually caused by extended exposure to high altitudes. It passed after a little while, and they sat together, looking out the window at the passing ships below.
“It’s nice up here.” Twilight’s voice was still rough. “Are those ships following us?”
“No. We’re just in a trade lane.” Spike pointed down to the water below with a single extended claw. “Those two are Aero-Lipizzian freighters. That one is a Saddle-Arabian free trader. That blue sparkly one with no smoke trail is a courier from the Water Palace. And that one is a Tawantinsuyu passenger ship on its way to Equestria. Greetings from all their captains are in the telegram pile.”
“Spike!” Twilight’s eyes brightened, even as she rubbed at them. “Have you been studying?”
He shrugged. “It was in the morning shift report. The captain gave me a copy.”
“Well I’m still proud of you.” She nudged him with a hoof. He smiled, looking off and away. “What about you? It’s been a long trip for you too. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Seeing all the other countries has been interesting.” He gave a little kick of his legs. “Sometimes I get worried though.”
“Worried?” Twilight leaned in a little closer. “About what happened to Chain Link? Or the trip?”
“No. It’s just… it’s hard to put into words.” He scratched at the back of his arm. “It’s like… auto-condensing air-cooled engines.”
Twilight tilted an ear. “What about them?”
It took him a moment to find the words: “They’re really pretty.”
“Auto-condensing air-cooled engines are…” She scrunched up her muzzle. “Pretty. And this makes you worried.”
“Yeah.”
“Spike.” She smiled and shook her head. “There are times I don’t quite get you.”
“It’s okay.” He smiled back. “You want to go to the mess? It’ll get you out of your cabin for a bit. And you can see the ship.”
Twilight looked down, moving a hoof over her sides. “The officers will stare at my wings.”
“They think you’re special, Twilight.” Spike hopped down from the bed, landing on the glass floor. “Please?”
“Oh…” She let out a begrudging sigh, but her forehooves slipped from the bedside, her rear legs soon to follow. “Fine. But just because you were nice to me.”
Spike nodded, and the two of them left, and along with the rest of the crew in the mess, they watched the sun rise.
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This is quite lovely Twilight/Spike character work, and a necessary emotional reset after the last chapter. Nicely done.
7503010
They are a great character pair! Always there to support each-other.
It's great your doing the Around the Wolrd in 80 days story, but I do have a question...
Are they going east or west? Because Griffin stone is East of Equestria.
7503090
7503195
I do not acknowledge that map as canon!
In this continuity, Griffonstone is west of Equestria.
7503319 ok
Ahhh I adore how you write Spike, it's so nice seeing him being so smart and mature. Really does feel like a coming-of-age story for him!
7504228
He's the best assistant-brother multiclass.
"juice, and covered plate"
"juice and"?
...Wow.
I just realized that Twilight just being killed in the assassination attempt is nowhere near as bad as it could have gone. The crisis really does not need an extremely interested Equestria with an angry populace and very-upset-in-multiple-ways Princess Celestia involved.
"The Captain asks if"
"captain"?
"air-sick"
"airsick"?
I could see the hyphen being in there, whether or not that was originally intended, for atmosphere, though.
"The Captain had given"
"captain"?
"the entire west wall"
Why "west"? Is that just the wall that happens to be facing west at the moment? Spike not used to being aboard ships?
Also, it covers half the floor? Hm. That's a curious design choice, it seems to me... especially on a naval ship. Well, then again, perhaps they made the glass extremely strong against enemy fire and then decided they might as well walk on it. Still. Hm. Curious. Must be curved, too, to be a single pane. I wonder what the outside of the ship looks like?
"his claw tips on"
"clawtips"?
And oh dear. Poor Twilight appears to be now swinging from naiveté to paranoia... I expected that she was focussing her research on how likely more... incidents were, but I didn't think it'd be this bad.
"to the bed side, and"
"the bedside and"?
"his shoulders, and held"
"shoulders and"?
"shoulders, and looked"
"shoulders and"?
"resting on the bedside."
The bedside what? Or was it meant to be the edge of the bed?
"the blue below, ending with"
"the blue ending with"?
"quickly adding:"
"adding,"?
"does the Griffons who have"
"griffons"?
...Or was she using it to refer to a nationality instead of a species?
"down, and poked the"
"down and"?
"I want to go out and make it better now."
A project which, of course, could not possibly end badly...
Sure, one can do a lot of good that way, and certain Twilight would be genuinely trying instead of saying that she's there to help the locals (give her all their valuable natural resources). But it's a tricky business, doing international interventions without stepping on someone's limbs of locomotion, and that's before getting into the fact that not everyone Twilight would have to work with would have aims as noble as hers.
As an aside, speaking of deception, I'm wondering if Twilight will visit the changelings after all. Sure, it was soundly dismissed at the beginning, but then things pretty quickly started going off plan and have only been deviating more since.
"it that way but that’s"
"way, but"?
"eighty-one days exactly"
...So I had a thought back at the beginning which I dismissed upon a closer reading of the text there. With Twilight saying this, though, it's returned: is the bed that Twilight would be back in Canterlot in front of Celestia no later and no earlier than eighty-one days? Because if so... well, there might be a twist, but I've a suspicion I've guessed a detail of the ending... :)
"you to do to help"
"you do to help"?
"zebra in this case"
Just in case, are you wanting to use "zebras" as the plural here, with this a typo, or was it deliberate?
"eyes, in a phenomenon"
"eyes in"?
"water below, with a"
"below with"?
"And that one is a Tawantinsuyu passenger ship on its way to Equestria."
Hm. Intersting. So are they flying at least in the general direction of Equestria now? Or is that ship going the opposite direction from the ones Twilight was concerned were following them?
"shift-report"
...I'm afraid that I'm really not sure what that hyphen is doing there; sorry.
"The Captain gave"
"captain"?
"get worried though"
"worried, though"?
"Spike nodded, and the two"
"nodded; the two"?
"watched the sun rise"
[blinks]
Eh? The sun... what?
Okay, and yeah, I thought I was just remembering implications, but:
"The morning was bright, the waves below them were white-flecked"
I suppose that isn't... completely explicit that the sun was up, but it seems odd that a: the morning would be described as particularly bright before the sun crested the horizon without it being before the sun crested the horizon being mentioned and b: that despite the ship's high altitude giving it an unobstructed line to the sun significantly earlier than the ocean under it, so much on the ocean's surface (the waves here and the ships later) would be so visible. Am I missing something?
Oh, and it seemed a bit odd to me that the morning shift report would be so early, but that could just be a matter of language and the practices of this navy. Perhaps, for instance, it's the report to be given to the morning shift.
Anyway, despite the strangeness and confusion at the very end, another very, very good chapter, I think. :)
You are an amazing author. Your depiction of Twilight and Spike feel alive, like I'm reading a memory of a real conversation. All of your other work on fimfic is also of the same quality.
I just thought you should know.
¡Princesses are Goddesses and Goddesses do not poop! Next, you will claim that our dear Princess Luna who just returned form a long vacation and the Mare in the Moon NightMareMoon are the same mare, and a changeling defeated Princess Celestia.
What a great chapter, especially Twilight's new motivation. I wish I knew why Spike was worried about the condensers though, that seems important.
7509304
It might be.
7506010
Thank you! It feels good to know people enjoy my stories.
And yes, I like to think that dialogue is one of my strong points as an author. I aim for realism!
Nice chapter. I had a knee-jerk feeling it was time to wrap up the conversation around halfway through, but you made the whole thing flow without feeling forced or dragged out. Well done.
I missed these two before, it looks like; sorry about that:
"or the Saddle-Arabian princes or"
"Saddle Arabian"?
"That one is a Saddle-Arabian free trader."
"Saddle Arabian"?
7508601 Yes, and now you'll claim that the Cristal Heart has been destroyed by an born-alicorn baby, sure........OH *UCK!
You could fix the typo, or you could just take out the last two words and combine it with the next phrase, so you're not repeating yourself. :B
Man, and Spike just summed up the whole story, didn't he? And Twilight just has no idea.
Twilight, I get that you want to make the world better. But, you can't. The most you can do is: If someone wants to change, you can try to help them. Even then, you usually fail. Until you learn that, it will all end in tears.
Also, revolutions of rising expectations are the most likely to succeed. That is, when things are getting better is when they are most dangerous
Spike, ICR who said "Every traveler should have 2 suitcases. Pack 1 with money, pack the other with patience, tolerance, and understanding. When either suitcase is empty Go Home because the fun part of your trip is OVER."
7503010
This.
8075190
I get such a vicarious thrill out of other people enjoying this story.
And this chapter is the one that gets me to upvote. I mean, it was going to happen eventually, of course, but this is the one that sold it to me.
9526675
Eeeeeeeeeeee.
Feel free to leave comments on the other chapters as you go!
Firstly, I have to say that this kind of ruined the image I had in my head of everyone in period-appropriate wear (including Spike in a sharp suit and bowler hat), but that line is just too adorable not to comment on.
Strain.
I wasn't sure what exactly to quote, but this whole chapter is so touching, in part because it isn't all doom and gloom, and breaks up the tension nicely with moments of levity like this one.
I see it runs in the family...
Reading this chapter after having seen Arcane was pretty wild. Jayce and Heimerdinger have essentially the same relationship as Twilight and Celestia do in this. It can be easy for long-lived beings to forget that regular folks don’t have centuries to wait for change. On the flip side of this, trying to force societies to change en masse can have its own share of problems, as I’m sure Twilight will come to find out. Also, I adore the way you’ve written Twilight and Spike’s relationship in this; they actually feel like brother and sister. Can’t wait to see where this goes!
11182509
Eeee, thank you! I really wanted to address the friction between "Spike is Twilight's family" and "Spike is Twilight's servant" but in a way that felt healthy instead of just grim. :D
Please, let me know what you think when you get to the ending!