Two Mares and a Carpet Bag

by Icenrose

In Which Starlight Glimmer Points Out a Small Miscalculation

Day 3: Airship, Heavensward

Starlight sat at a small table in her shared cabin, frowning over a pair of pamphlets and a small stack of monogrammed parchment. Her magic enveloped a quill as she scribbled notes. “Trixie, I’m going over these timetables, and I’m not so sure about the route you picked.”

Trixie sat on the edge of her bed, basking in the morning sunlight streaming through the half-circle window and brushing her mane the requisite one hundred times to ensure its silken quality. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re right in that The Friendship Express to Manehattan makes several stops and meanders across the countryside, and the Heavensward is a direct flight…”

Trixie moved to look over Starlight’s shoulder. “Right, that’s why I chose it.”

“...but the Heavensward is a luxury liner – it travels slower than the train. Even with the direct flight, taking the Heavensward actually lost us five hours.”

“What?” Trixie stopped brushing at eighty-seven. “That can’t be! I was told the airship was the faster route!”

“Well, technically it is, but we also departed six hours after the train, remember?”

Trixie scowled, then sat back on the corner of her bed with a “Humpf.”

Starlight decided it would be best to leave the vast difference in ticket prices between the train and the airship unmentioned. “Y’know, instead of just being along for the ride, maybe I could help out with planning ahead.” She raised the pitch of her voice along with her eyebrows. “I’m pretty good at organization.”

Trixie’s scowl deepened, and Starlight winced.

To her surprise, though, Trixie took a deep breath, then smiled. “Well, Tr – I did hire you on as an assistant for a reason.” She levitated her roll of banknotes out of her hat, took a few for herself, and hoofed the rest to Starlight. “That’s our travel budget. I doubt it’s enough to get us all the way around the world, but we can buy and sell things along the way to make a profit.”

Starlight allowed herself a relieved smile. “Sort of like the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange, but spread out across the world?”

“Exactly!” Trixie tapped a hoof against Starlight’s chest. “For example, I know for a fact that concertinas made in Manehattan sell for a killing in Griffonstone.”

A muffled hum filled the cabin, and the sunlight shifted from Trixie’s bed to the far side of Starlight’s as the Heavensward made her final approach. “C’mon, friend, let’s get topside,” Trixie said as she donned her hat and cloak, “I want to see Manehattan as the pegasi do, too.”