Vergilius
Thorax awoke gently, feeling well-rested after what had been a good night’s sleep. Stretching in his sleeping nest, he raised his head and scanned the room. Unsurprisingly, he noted it was about the normal time he awoke these days, in the early morning, not long after sunrise. He could see a sliver of sunlight streaming through the crack in the drapes covering the window of their room. However, he also noticed that the window seat that normally served as Spike’s bed was already vacant. This caught Thorax by surprise; Spike typically was no early morning riser, and was usually still deeply asleep by this time of morning, reluctant to get up for anything short of an emergency or some other unusual circumstance.
Puzzled then, Thorax scanned the room for an explanation, but found the room was vacant of occupants besides himself. He thought that perhaps Spike had risen to use the restroom, but a glance at the restroom’s entrance that sat adjacent to his sleeping nest showed that the door was ajar and open just wide enough to show no one was inside either. Thorax was then forced to conclude that Spike was already up and about elsewhere in the building for some reason despite the early hour. Irregular indeed, but also not entirely a cause for concern; Spike would’ve woken Thorax as well if the reason Spike was up so early was an emergency or urgent.
Thorax therefore assumed that Spike was up early for some innocuous reason and opted not to worry about it for now. Instead, he rose to his hooves, stretched a few more times, stopped to use the restroom himself, and then put on his usual disguise and stepped out into the hallway. He headed for Fly Leaf’s room, the door already ajar, for their usual morning practice of guizhou fa, politely knocking as he approached.
“Miss Fly?” he called. “Are you ready for practice?”
Instead, he got no response. Feeling puzzled again, and not hearing or sensing any sign of anyone’s presence within the room, he nudged the door open more fully with his snout and peeked into the room. Like his own room, he also found it void of occupants, and this Thorax found too curious to ignore. Fly Leaf was remarkably reliable on her schedules in the morning, and she was always already up and in her room, setting up to practice guizhou fa, by this time without fail. Never once had this not been the case since the morning Thorax first discovered this was what she did so early in the morning. This combined with Spike also being not where he normally was by that hour was enough for Thorax to start feeling the nudge of concern in the back of his mind.
But he still reasoned there had to be a perfectly logical and mundane explanation for all of this, and thought that maybe they had both already gone downstairs. Thus he turned to the stairs and wandered down them to the second floor. There he paused and glanced around the spacious area that made up the second floor.
“Spark?” he called as he arrived. “Miss Fly?” But he received no response.
Unlike the building’s other two floors, which were more compartmentalized into individual rooms, the second floor was a large, open space broken only by a series of stout shelves of stationery products arranged in a regular grid pattern across the spacious main room. A quick scan was enough to show it was vacant of any occupants unless there was someone in the smaller side rooms, and there were only three such places on the second floor: a maintenance room for the heating and water in the building, a supply closet full of cleaning supplies, and the second floor bathroom.
As Fly typically used the second floor bathroom in the mornings and evenings for herself, Thorax checked there, thinking that perhaps she was simply delayed within, but he found the room empty. He didn’t really think Spike or Fly would be in the maintenance room or the supply closet, so he skipped checking them for now and proceeded on down to the first floor.
“Miss Fly? Spark?” he called again as he arrived in the first floor’s front room, scanning the room for any sign of them.
He didn’t see them, but this time he got a response to his calls. “We’re in here!” he heard Spike call faintly from back in the kitchen.
Thorax felt some of the tension that had started to coil up within him release, pleased to find his growing worries were unfounded as he made for the batwing doors that divided the front room from the back kitchen. “I assume you’re both back here getting a head start on breakfast, then,” he reasoned aloud as he pushed open one of the two batwing doors, trotting into the room beyond. “But isn’t it still a little early for—?”
“SURPRISE!” Spike and Fly interrupted by shouting the moment he entered and turned to look in their direction, finding them gathered around the kitchen table wearing party hats, with a bundle of colorful balloons tied down to the middle of the table. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Thorax gazed at them with wide eyes for a moment, then let himself relax, narrowing his eyes slightly as he smirked a little. “Of course,” he mumbled as he let the batwing door still propped open with his hoof swing shut again. He glanced in the direction of Spike, who was wearing a big and impish grin. “I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do a party?” he asked as he strolled up to the table.
“No, I only agreed to not keep trying to urge you into planning the party,” Spike corrected smugly, raising one claw as he made his point. He stuck a party hat on Thorax’s head, snapping the pointed hat onto the cyan mane of the changeling’s disguise. “I didn’t say anything about not going to Fly Leaf and secretly planning to surprise you with a party anyway.”
Thorax rolled his eyes, but found he couldn’t be angry or annoyed. “All right, all right,” he conceded. “We’re doing the party then, I guess.”
Fly chuckled, and motioned for Thorax to sit down. “Don’t worry, Thornton, we’re still keeping it small,” she promised. “But I think I speak for the both of us when I say you’re not going to be disappointed. First, though,” she turned to the counter behind her, “some celebratory breakfast. It’s your favorite!”
She then placed a tray of toast and butter on the table before them. Thorax laughed at the sight of his typical food choice for eating at breakfast, so to keep up appearances. “I suppose it is,” he agreed with a smile, helping himself to a slice.
Fly and Spike both sat down and joined him, helping themselves to slices as well. But as toast alone wasn’t quite filling enough for the two of them, they added on additional foods to the meal for themselves. Spike got the clever idea of spreading some Thornton Cheese between two of the still-warm slices of toast and eating it like a sandwich (an idea Thorax then had to try for himself, even though he had already eaten his customary amount of toast). Fly, meanwhile, sliced open a grapefruit to eat with her toast.
While they ate, Fly and Spike took turns explaining in brief how they came to plan him a birthday party and what they had done to set it up to surprise Thorax without his noticing (which they found wasn’t hard at all; Thorax hadn’t suspected a thing), and that they would be opening the shop up late today so to have the party. Then, with some hefty prompting from Spike, Thorax explained—without revealing that it was due to his changeling background of course—how he had typically celebrated his birthday (Thorax had to keep resisting the urge to correct them that it was technically his “hatching day”) in the past to Fly. Like Spike, Fly found the introspective practices of changelings “insufficient” for celebrating a birthday, and was only all the more glad they had taken the liberty of throwing him a party themselves.
After they had finished breakfast, Fly then pulled out three cupcakes, and placing one bearing a lit candle before Thorax, she and Spike sang “Happy Birthday” to him before urging him to make a wish and blow out the candle. Unfamiliar with this birthday practice, Thorax had to think about his wish for a moment before finally settling upon just wishing to continue to have the company of his friends, glad that he could have them. They then all took a cupcake apiece to eat.
Thorax found he enjoyed the sweet and creamy taste of his cupcake. “This is pretty good,” he remarked aloud in between bites.
“Glad you think so,” Fly said, pleased. “I have to admit, though, just making you one cupcake still seems a bit insufficient. In fact, Spike and I had discussed for a while about whether or not to make you a whole cake instead.”
“I eventually talked her out of it,” Spike offered, and gave Thorax a wink, knowing Thorax could only eat so much solid food in one go. “I didn’t think you’d eat all of it, considering you’re such a picky eater and all.”
“I probably wouldn’t have, so thank you,” Thorax agreed as he finished off his cupcake. Having already eaten more solid food than he normally would for one meal, his stomach was starting to protest slightly, in warning that eating more still wouldn’t be a good idea.
“In retrospect though,” Fly continued with a smirk, “I should’ve just made you my cherry pie. I know you’ll eat that.”
Thorax perked up at this, hopeful. “Did you?”
“No,” Spike answered quickly and firmly, having not forgotten what happened the last time the changeling was permitted to indulge on the pie.
“Balani devoveo,” Thorax cursed under his breath, disappointed.
“Anyway,” Fly pressed on, downing the last of her own cupcake then dusting the crumbs off her hooves. “It’s time now for the best part. We’ve got a present for you, Thornton.”
Thorax glanced up at her in surprise. “Oh!” he declared before proceeding to scan the room for it. “Where is it, then?”
“Now see, that’s the thing,” Spike remarked as he popped the last of his cupcake into his mouth and he and Fly both rose to their feet. “We gotta take you to it.”
Thorax’s brow furrowed slightly as he hesitantly rose to his hooves as well. “…why?” he asked, not understanding.
“You’ll see,” Fly promised, then turned for the entrance to the back hallway. “C’mon out back. I’ve already got my cart waiting.”
“Oh, we need a cart even,” Thorax mumbled with a little apprehension as they all filed out to the back of the shop, where indeed Fly’s cart was parked, waiting for them in the back alley.
His apprehension then grew as Spike clambered onto his back to tie a blindfold over his eyes. “So you don’t see where we’re going and figure out what your gift is and ruin the surprise too soon,” Spike explained, before leading his blindfolded friend into the back of the cart. “Now you’re good to climb aboard.”
Thorax blindly but successfully hopped into the back of the cart while he heard Fly strapping herself up to the harness up front. “You do realize that I don’t need my eyes to do basic navigation, right?” he asked aloud as he found himself a comfortable place to sit. Changelings were more than capable of using their other senses when needed to find their way around, especially in a familiar location like Vanhoover was to Thorax.
Spike was already a step ahead, though. “I thought of that,” he explained as he whisked away a cloth covering Fly’s record player sitting in the back of the cart with them, and set the needle to play.
The moment the hard rock music on Spike’s record reached Thorax’s ears, the disguised changeling clamped both hooves over them and dropped to the bottom of the cart, the assaulting noise disorienting his other senses almost immediately. But understanding Spike’s intentions, Thorax found himself laughing regardless. “Darn you,” he declared through his chuckling, the chuckles returned by Fly and Spike as the cart started moving and they set off.
Fortunately, Spike recalled that when they had first discovered that changelings reacted badly to Spike’s preferred choices of rock music and were experimenting with it, attempting to discern why, they found that the volume of the music determined how much of a negative effect it had on Thorax’s changeling senses. As such, during the ride Spike kept the record player’s volume adjusted so it was just loud enough to keep Thorax disoriented, but not so loud that it was too overbearing for the changeling. After all, he only wanted to keep Thorax from figuring out where they were going, not to cause him undue discomfort.
It also ensured that Thorax was able to keep enough focus so to be able to still maintain his disguise, seeing they were out in public and all. Yet even though Thorax couldn’t see them, he did wonder how his no doubt odd reactions to the music looked to other ponies. He even wondered what Fly’s perceptions of it all were, not knowing what Spike had told her to explain this effect to her. Fly seemed generally unfazed by it all though, as near as Thorax could figure out (he had a hard time even accurately sensing her emotions in this state) since she wasn’t reacting much at all to this. He swore he even heard her casually comment “He really doesn’t like hard rock, does he?” to Spike at one point while waiting at what he presumed to be a stoplight, but it was hard to know for certain over the rock music that was still playing.
Finally, they pulled to a stop at what Thorax presumed was their destination and Spike at last stopped the record. “So, feeling disoriented yet, bud?” he joked to his friend as he and Fly helped him clamber out of the back of the cart again, still blindfolded.
“Only mostly,” Thorax replied, blindly letting them guide him towards wherever they were heading. “I was still able to figure out that we’re on the far north side of Vanhoover…I just don’t know where exactly on that side. The central portion, I would think though.”
There was a moment of silence at this, and Thorax could just picture Fly and Spike exchanging surprised glances quickly, and he permitted himself a smug grin.
“Well, just so long as you don’t know where exactly we’re at just yet, that’s what’s important,” Fly eventually replied before nudging him forward again. “Now c’mon, we’re almost there.”
They led him a few steps over what felt like sidewalk under his hooves before he heard the click of a large door opening, and Thorax realized they were entering a building. He sensed the room they then stepped into was spacious, large, and mostly empty, as he could make out a faint echo to the sound of their steps. Hearing the door then click shut behind them, Thorax was led a few more steps further into the room before they stopped and sat him down on the cement floor.
“All right then,” Fly said as Thorax felt Spike reach up for Thorax’s blindfold. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Thorax said, getting increasingly puzzled about just what this gift they were planning to give him was. Whatever it was, he practically didn’t even need to smell the excitement they were both giving off in their emotions; he could hear it in their voices.
Spike then whisked the blindfold off of Thorax, the changeling blinking his disguised eyes a few times to adjust to the light. “SURPRISE!” Fly and Spike both declared, throwing their hooves or claws out before Thorax as they both stood before him, watching him closely so to see his reaction.
Thorax then focused his attention on what lay past them. His eyes then went very wide. He thought for sure that there had to have been some sort of misunderstanding, and that what lay before him couldn’t possibly be his gift. He started to anxiously scan the room for what he thought would be the real gift, only to find there was nothing except for an empty shipping crate sitting almost out of sight behind the central object of the room. Even then, Thorax was just about ready to head over to the shipping crate and look inside it anyway when he caught sight of Spike eagerly glancing between him and the central object and Thorax realized it really was their gift to him. His jaw then began to drop, so shocked he almost forgot to continue maintaining his disguise for a second.
They were standing inside the spacious interior of a hangar at the Vanhoover airship yard, and docked neatly within was a sleek air yacht of about forty feet in length. Her envelope was not filled to capacity at the moment, the balloon slung in the usual restraining slings to keep it in place while the airship itself rested gently on the floor of the hanger, low enough that its stern elevator fins jutting from the tail of the ship touched the ground, but nonetheless she was an impressive sight. Her hull was elongated and curved, the nose coming to a sharp point, the point being emphasized further still by the craft’s bowsprit extending out from the tip of the prow. Clearly the yacht was built for speed. Yet it wasn’t precisely a small ship; though she didn’t have a quarterdeck like some other airships, she did have a sizeable control cabin sitting in the aft section of her topmost desk like a one-level deckhouse, and her girth and depth were overall large enough that she clearly had a number of compartments below deck as well, suggesting that she was likely well-equipped with accommodations for her crew. Appearing to be freshly painted in a sandy beige color with golden trim, she overall struck an awe-inspiring figure.
Flabbergasted, Thorax continued to gape at the craft before him, his jaw limply moving up and down as he attempted to form the right words to convey the thoughts racing through him. “Wha…buh…?”
“Ha, speechless!” Spike crowed, pleased by Thorax’s reaction. “I knew you would be!”
“But…it’s…how did you…?” Thorax continued to stutter, his heart beating faster and faster as he began daring to believe this was actually happening.
“So here’s the story we were told,” Fly said, stepping forward with a grin so to patiently explain. She motioned to the airship with one hoof. “This air yacht was originally owned by a local rich business pony living in Vanhoover, but he’s recently come into possession of a newer and slightly bigger air yacht, and as a result didn’t have enough need to keep this one in his possession any longer. He wanted to see to it that it still got a good home though, so as a courtesy, he donated it here to the Vanhoover airship yards along with a donation of funds to pay for any refurbishing it needed, which the airship yards have already done and handled themselves. But, they’ve since determined that they don’t actually have much use for the craft here at the airship yards and thought it’d be better off back in the hooves of a private owner, and were looking to sell it to a buyer, and fast.”
“As such,” Spike continued, picking up the tale, watching as Thorax numbly started to step closer to the docked airship, “they were selling it for a cheaper price than it would normally go for, and Fly and I were lucky enough to be the first potential buyers to seriously inquire about it. So we pooled together some of our funds to get enough to buy it…” He grinned. “…and now we’re giving it to you, Thornton.”
Thorax had by this point stepped close enough to the airship that he could reach out and touch the hull of the craft, but he still hesitated, scarcely able to believe it was really his. He continued to try and find his voice again long enough to actually speak a coherent sentence. “…this…this is all for real,” he finally managed to get out, his voice unsteady as he still tried to wrap his head around this.
Spike laughed. “Yes, we’re not pulling your leg, Thornton,” he promised. “We know how interested in airships you’ve been lately…so we figured you’d be all for owning one.”
Thorax let out his breath in a long whoosh, feeling pins and needles of excitement all over his body as he continued to stare in awe at the airship before him. He licked his lips briefly. “S-so this airship…she’s…she’s really mine?”
“Yup,” Fly Leaf said, reaching into her saddlebags to pull out a sheaf of legal-looking papers. “We’ve already got all the paperwork sorted out for you and everything. All that’s really left to do to make it final is to have you sign your name on the deed and then it’ll be legitimately yours from here on out, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
Thorax continued to take deep breaths, trying to keep himself calm.
“Of course, you can’t legally fly it yourself just yet,” Spike conceded as he and Fly watched Thorax stand beside the airship. “You’d still have to get an airship pilot’s license first, but I’ve been looking into the steps required for that, and I think you can get one easily enough in short order without running into any problems that would…hinder…things.” He gave Thorax a wink, trying to subtly convey that he found no potential problems to Thorax pursuing the license that would also risk them being discovered too much. “In fact, it looks like you were right, and that training cruise you did as part of that airship flying day camp counts as giving you a head start towards that.”
Thorax wasn’t even looking to see Spike’s wink and missed it completely, but he did resolve to himself then and there to do whatever he needed to get the required license as soon as he could. For now though, in the silence that followed, he gazed up and down the length of the airship with a reverence of one who feared that simply one wrong move would cause it all to vanish. Nothing of the sort had happened though, so finally Thorax gathered enough nerve that he gradually lifted up one hoof and gently reached out to touch the side of the airship’s hull, resting his hoof on the smooth material. It felt glossy. Solid. Real. It was in that moment that it really started to sink in that this airship before him was indeed his to use as he pleased now.
With a sharp inhale, Thorax removed his hoof and pressed both it and his other forehoof to his mouth, feeling his emotions bubble up within him against his control, about to burst forth and overwhelm him. When he finally turned and looked back at Spike and Fly Leaf watching him for the first time since he had approached the craft, they saw that Thorax had tears of joy starting to brim in his eyes. Without warning, he suddenly sprang forward and wrapped the two in a bear hug.
“This…is the greatest thing…anyone has ever, ever…done for me!” he declared in staggered bursts, clearly trying to maintain his composure long enough to say it, so overcome with delight as he was.
It was actually somewhat overpowering for Spike and Fly Leaf. Thorax’s joy even seemed so thick that it was almost as if they could feel it themselves as well. Both were momentarily silent, unsure how to proceed. Fly was especially surprised, as while still good, this wasn’t quite the reaction she was expecting from him. Spike, however, recovered more quickly, and with a touched grin of his own, wrapped one arm around his friend’s neck so to give him a loving pat.
“You deserve it, bud,” he said softly, his own emotions thick in his words. He let Thorax go on trying to get his emotions back in control before, in a more light-hearted and teasing tone, adding, “Glad we went ahead and threw you a party anyway?”
Thorax laughed a loud and real laugh at this and nodded his head. Wiping his eyes and a little more in control of his composure again, he released the two and turned to look back at the airship with an awestruck gaze. He nodded his head at it after a moment, gesturing with one hoof. “So…what’s the name of this air yacht?”
“She doesn’t have one at the moment,” Fly Leaf explained, her own grin returning as she stepped forward and placed a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder. “When the airship yards refurbished her, they decided to strike her original name and leave her available for recommissioning at the buyer’s discretion once purchased. That means you can name her whatever you like, Thornton.”
“Oh,” Thorax said, struck by the possibilities as he gazed at the airship thoughtfully.
He was silent for a moment afterwards, so Fly then added, “You don’t have to come up with a name right this second, of course. You’ll just need to come up with one before you take her out on your first flight with her, so the control towers will have a call sign they can refer to her by.” Thorax kept gazing in deep thought at the airship though, so Fly pressed on still. “But if you like, I’m sure Spike and I can come up with a few suggestions.” She turned her gaze to the airship herself. “Personally, I like the name Aurora.”
“That’s not bad, actually,” Spike agreed, stepping up to stand on the other side of Thorax. “It makes me think of another name to consider: Hyperion.”
“Not bad, not bad,” Fly Leaf remarked, nodding her head, then offered another suggestion. “How about Corona Borealis?”
“Or how about Amity? Oh, oh, or even better! Thornton, you could name it after that airship in all of the Sky Trek books! What’s its name again? Something that starts with an E…”
“Now Spark, I’m sure Thornton will want to use a more original name than that. So how about…say…Orithyia?”
“No offense Fly, but what does that even mean? Why not call it something ponies would actually know? Like…I don’t know…how about Starstruck?”
“Well fine, he could name it after one of the princesses then…Celestia or Luna or…”
“Ha, no. A better name would be…say…actually, I’m drawing a blank…Lilac Sky, maybe?”
“But it’s not painted lilac or have lilacs anywhere on it. You might as well call it the Lavender Spirit or something like that.”
“Fine. Call it…eh…Akron.”
“Or how about Macon?”
“Oh, I know! Call it the Spirit of Adventure! Because, see, that implies that he’s flying for the ad—”
“Vergilius.” Fly and Spike immediately went silent and glanced at Thorax for his sudden declaration. Thorax turned around so to return the gaze at both of them. “Her name is Vergilius.” He said this very definitively, showing it was his final choice.
Spike and Fly exchanged looks. Fly finally shrugged. “All right then,” she concluded. “Vergilius it is.”
They both turned and gazed back at the docked airship for another moment or two.
“You know, I think we’ve all looked at the outside of this yacht long enough,” Spike finally interjected. He nudged Thorax with his elbow. “You ready to take a look at the inside?”
Thorax turned to look at him and nodded his head eagerly. “Yes!”
Spike laughed, and motioned at the gangplank that led up onto the craft’s main deck. “Then after you, my friend.”
Thorax didn’t need any second bidding, and quickly galloped on up the gangplank without further hesitation. Chuckling, Spike and Fly Leaf followed him aboard and together they started to tour the craft. Spike and Fly had already toured the craft before themselves, confirming that the airship was indeed worth purchasing, but even then it was hard not to look around the craft without being impressed. The main deck itself, other than being fairly sleek and refined in design, was fairly routine in shape and design, but Thorax was pleased to see that the main deck had many storage compartments built into it to use as needed. In the aft was a hidden hatch that led down into the newly dubbed Vergilius’s closet of an engine room, which was far smaller than Thorax was expecting considering the last airship engine room he had been in, but he also saw it was because the Vergilius was equipped with far more modern engines that required much less space, and were overall cleaner. Thorax also noticed the engines had been newly refurbished and appeared barely used as of yet.
The deckhouse taking up most of the aft half of the main deck was divided into two simple rooms. The front contained the ship’s helm, the controls for which also seemed to be newly updated or replaced, as well as the ship’s radio, a slew of storage areas, and the hatch leading to steps leading down below. Divided from the front by a door, the back room contained an office-like navigation station with a rear-facing desk for map-reading and course-charting purposes positioned under a pair of wide windows looking out the back of the craft, with storage space for papers, maps, and other relevant equipment lining the walls on either side.
The below decks contained the yacht’s cozy living space, and was informally divided into four major separate cabins, so marked by the doorway hatches that could be used to close off each section. Upon heading down the stairs into one of these cabins located in the aft-middle of the ship, one found two wall-mounted beds (or “berths” as Thorax explained the technical term aboard an airship was) stacked atop each other, but other than the entrance to the stairs, the cabin contained little more than that except storage space in the forms of a closet and various cabinets or drawers. Heading towards the ship’s prow however led to the more sizeable cabin, which contained the ship’s galley and saloon—the ship’s kitchen and sitting/living/dining areas, respectively. It also housed one of the two toilets (or “heads” as Thorax again explained) aboard directly across from the galley in its own little enclosed room for privacy. Beyond that in the ship’s nose was a third cabin which housed two more beds, this time set on either side of the room and angled with the pointed shape of the ship’s nose so that they made a V-shape. At the very back of the ship was a more impressive stateroom, bearing a full queen-sized bed and a private master bathroom in the corner.
Overall, the ship was very comfortable and almost luxurious, with the mahogany wood paneling that lined the interior of the below decks only adding to this appearance. It made Thorax quite convinced towards the end of their tour that this was not a cheap airship, and kept wondering aloud just how much it had cost Fly and Spike to purchase. But they both refused to tell him, reminding him that it was a gift from them to him, and he needn’t worry about the price. However, Thorax did eventually get them to admit that it at least didn’t cost them nearly as much as Thorax expected, explaining to him again that, because the airship yards were looking to sell the ship as quickly as they could, they were selling it at what they estimated would be about half the normal resale price for the ship. This didn’t give Thorax an exact number for the cost of the airship, but it did give him a rough idea, and saw that although it likely still cost a pretty penny, the purchase was apparently a heck of a deal, considering the excellent condition of the ship for the price it cost.
Whatever it cost his two friends to obtain, Thorax was still immensely grateful that he had such friends willing to go to such lengths just to surprise him with a gift for his hatching day celebration, and further, he was overjoyed to possess the airship. He told them as such after their tour and they had sat themselves on the U-shaped seat that wrapped around the small table in the airship’s saloon, and they were in turn ecstatic to continue to hear that Thorax was pleased with the craft.
After that, the subject turned to other, but still related topics, namely discussing what Thorax would still need to do to make use of the airship, primarily in getting his airship pilot’s license (which upon discussing the steps necessary, Thorax agreed with Spike that obtaining the license wouldn’t cause too much trouble and that little in the process involved him risking being discovered and revealed, at least certainly no more than the several other things he had done and gotten away with undiscovered in the past). It also led to Fly Leaf sitting down with Thorax and assisting him with signing the remaining paperwork that would confirm his ownership of the airship. Thorax was more than happy to do so, and signed them all as Thornton as he usually did…although when it came to signing his name on the airship’s deed, he did inwardly lament that he couldn’t sign with his real name, and wished, just this once, he actually could for a change.
As they were wrapping up this process and Thorax signed the last form, Spike strolled up after wandering off for a second, a thick volume in his claws. “Here you go bud,” he said as he plopped the book onto the tabletop beside Thorax. “I found the yacht’s operating manual…figured you’d want to look through it first chance you got.”
“Ooh, I do,” Thorax agreed, finishing signing the last paper and sliding it back over to Fly before pulling the manual closer to him, opening it to read.
Fly, meanwhile, looked through the papers to make sure everything was in order, then took the stack, tapped it on the edge of the table to straighten it, and put the stack back in her saddlebags. “Well, that’s got that sorted out,” she said with a grin. “Congrats, Thornton, once we get these papers back into the hooves of the airship yard staff, you’ll officially be the owner of an airship.”
“I can’t wait,” Thorax remarked with a grin as he glanced up from the book.
“Couldn’t we drop them off at the main office now?” Spike asked as he leaned on the edge of the table, watching the two.
Fly stopped to consider it for a moment. “The right ponies are probably in by now, yes,” she admitted, rising. “So yeah, I could probably do that. Unless you want to do it, Thornton.”
Thorax again glanced up from the book. “If you need me to, I certainly can.”
“I’d think you wouldn’t actually need to, seeing you’ve already signed everything,” Spike reasoned.
“He’s probably right, we were told while we were handling the other paperwork that all we needed to do is turn in the final signatures and that was all,” Fly remarked. “They probably don’t care who actually hands it in so long as everything’s still in order.” She rapped the table with one hoof decisively. “So tell you what, Thornton. You stay here and enjoy the airship. I’ll run and drop off this paperwork real quick. Shouldn’t take long.”
Spike glanced back at Thorax, who was already engrossed into the operator’s manual. “We’ll probably still be right here by then,” he told Fly with a grin.
Fly chuckled and turned to exit the airship, heading back up to the main deck. Spike watched her go, then once she was out of sight, plopped himself into the seat she had vacated across the table from Thornton. “Well, now that she’s gone…”
Thorax wasn’t really listening. “Huh,” he remarked aloud as he read the opening chapter of the manual. “Apparently this craft is a Shenandoah Type-40 Private Air Yacht…capable of a top speed of seventy-five point five knots.”
Spike blinked. “How fast is seventy-five point five knots?”
Thorax glanced up at Spike. “About eighty-seven miles per hour.”
“Ah.” Spike watched Thorax continue to read the manual for a moment. “So anyway…you’re calling it the Vergilius.”
“That’s right.”
“Can’t help but notice that sounds like a changeling name.”
Thorax chuckled. “It is.” He glanced up from the book again. “It’s not too obvious, is it?”
Spike shrugged. “I don’t think so. I was only able to recognize it because of what you’ve taught me of your language, and I’m no expert at it as you know. Since most other ponies haven’t even heard linguae mutationis before, I doubt anyone else is going to make a connection.” He paused, and frowned. “Unless they’re another changeling.”
“Even then, they’ll likely keep their distance,” Thorax reasoned. “Changelings typically don’t interact with each other unless they have to when ‘out in the field’ like this, so to help ensure the security of each other and lessen everyone’s chances of discovery. After all, a lone changeling is less likely to be discovered in comparison to a whole group. And as I’m no doubt considered a known traitor of sorts to the hive by now, I’d imagine they’d especially keep their distance from me.” He returned to his book. “I think I’m safe in reasoning that there’s no harm giving a privately owned airship a changeling name, then.”
“Hey, I don’t have any problem with it,” Spike assured. “I’m just curious what your reasons for picking it are.”
Thorax glanced up from the manual once more. He was silent for a second as he considered how to best respond. “You remember the story I told you, about the collapse of the last changeling hive mind some generations ago?” he began by asking.
Spike nodded. “You said some liberated changelings formed something of a resistance group that helped bring it down.”
Thorax nodded. “The leader of that group was a changeling named Vergilius.”
Spike’s eyebrows went up, beginning to understand why Thorax picked the name. “I take it he’s something of a changeling hero, then?”
“More than that, he later went on to become a prominent king changeling upon the hive mind’s collapse.”
Spike straightened, surprised. “A king changeling?” he repeated. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a king changeling before.”
“They’re immensely rare. Vergilius was the last and most recent one known to surviving changeling history, and as I already explained, that was many generations ago.” Thorax pushed aside the manual he was reading and leaned closer to Spike so to explain. “Unlike queen changelings, it isn’t genetic. King changelings aren’t born, they’re made. I suppose they’re actually not unlike what alicorns would be for ponies. They come about only when the changeling in question commits such a powerful and noteworthy deed that he…sort of…magically ascends into a new form we changelings call a king changeling. They are highly respected, to the point that our respect for such a figure is unparalleled in changeling culture. A king changeling is the only kind of changeling who can overrule a queen changeling.”
Spike blinked in surprise again. “No joke?”
“Oh yes, because they have all the same abilities as a queen changeling would, and then some, excepting gender of course. In fact, past history shows that the arrival of one usually signified the king changeling becoming the new and undisputed leader, with the queen changeling becoming subservient to the king changeling in some manner, and that generally depended on the rule and will of the individual king changeling. Again, according to history, most queen changelings would become leading aides or advisors to the king changeling, or even, on occasion,” Thorax hesitated, suddenly feeling awkward, “the king changeling’s…mate.”
Spike pictured something like this happening to Queen Chrysalis and had to laugh. “I bet Chrysalis would hate having that happen to her.”
Thorax chuckled, but nodded seriously. “She probably would, but most likely that would only result in her losing support of her followers and leaving her considered disposed of and cast from the hive.”
“Dang. Where’s a king changeling when you need one these days?” Spike grinned. “I can see why you chose to name your airship after this Vergilius fellow.”
“Well to be fair, it wasn’t only because he went on to become a king changeling. Vergilius wasn’t just a king changeling, he’s perhaps the most famous and prominent of the known king changelings. Not only was he the leading changeling for the resistance that collapsed the last hive mind, he also played a key role in guiding the changeling race into entirely abandoning the hive mind practice henceforth. Because of that, he’s considered the changeling responsible for ushering in the modern era of changeling history and defending changeling freedoms and individuality, which resulted in the creation of many modern hives as a result…at least until Chrysalis’s great-grandmother conquered all of the known hives and brought them all under her control, forming them into the one hive you and I know today.” Thorax timidly tapped his forehooves together. “I decided to name this airship after him because he’s something of a personal hero to me as well. He helped bring about good and great change to my race, helping them for the better…much like what I hope to someday do in seeking friendship and peace with ponies and anyone else I can, so…it seemed fitting.”
Spike grinned. “With all of that in mind, it really does.” Thorax returned the grin, and then, when Spike didn’t immediately comment further, pulled the manual back before him to read. “I hope this airship will help you in bringing about that sort of change you desire one day like its namesake did, Thorax.”
Thorax grinned whimsically. “I hope so too,” he agreed. He turned back to the book. “But for now, in the more immediate short term, it occurs to me the Vergilius could be useful to us in a whole number of ways. Above all, now that we have such immediate access to it, then so long as it’s properly fueled and supplied, we can turn to it as a possible means of escape should we ever have to flee Vanhoover for any reason. In fact, it may very well be our best means of travel in such an instance, because we would have control over where it can go and how it gets there.”
“I agree,” Spike said with a nod, and his grin grew. “One of the other reasons why I decided pitch to in and help get it as a gift for you.”
Thorax glanced up at Spike again. “Then what was the main reason?” he inquired.
“That I wanted to get a birthday gift truly deserving of my greatest friend…and this fit the ticket perfectly.”
Thorax grinned again. “Thank you Spike,” he said softly. “I’m beyond lucky to have you for such a great friend.”
Spike’s grin didn’t change. “Glad to be of service, Thorax.”
So obviously, when I posted the last chapter, I was wondering what sort of guesses readers would make about the gift, secretly hoping, of course, that nobody would successfully guess it. Then the very first person to comment on said chapter got it spot on...followed by most of the rest of you. 
Oh well.
At least now you know why I had Thorax go through that airship training day camp a couple chapters back. I was very much thinking ahead for this chapter and wanted to get Thorax all prepped for it. 
Some fun facts: Thorax's name for his airship, "Vergilius," is a Latin family name, keeping with how I've been using Latin as a stand-in for the changeling language. It's exact meaning is unclear now, but the name "Virgil" is derivative of it, and that was the name of the Roman epic poet who wrote the "Aeneid," which is actually just a neat coincidence. I really picked the name just because I liked the sound of it.
The other names Fly and Spike suggest for the airship are all dropped references to other things, mostly relating back to airships again. Here they are in order:
-Aurora and Hyperion are both names of airships appearing in a series of books written by Kenneth Oppel, and while I haven't had a chance to read the third one yet, they are all quite good. If you like adventure stories featuring airships and almost Jules Verne-like fantasy/sci-fi elements, I highly recommend them.
-Corona Borealis is the name of an airship featured in the now sadly inactive MLP ask blog, Under A Paper Moon, and which was a minor source of inspiration for the airships and their inner workings in this story...even though I ended up going in different directions with the mechanics behind them.
-Amity is the apparent planned name of a spaceship to be featured in a still in-progress MLP fanfic called "Star Bound," which is basically an MLP-ified version of the first rebooted Star Trek film. Speaking of, I do hope I don't have to explain what the name starting with E pertaining to Sky Trek that Spike was trying to recall was. 
-Orithyia is the name of an airship featured in the fanfic "The Adventuring Type," a very good fic that, in case any relevant people are reading this, is getting a little past due for an update (hint-hint). The exterior of the Vergilius was loosely modeled after my mental envisioning of the Orithyia, though sleeked over a little to make her look more speedy over functional.
-Starstruck is one of the few names that isn't related to an airship, and is in fact just the title of one of my all-time favorite MLP fanfics.
-Celestia and Luna are names of airships in the fanfic "Mares of Tomorrow," which sadly appeared to have fizzled no sooner than it had started. I still keep it in my faves though...you know, just in case.
-Lilac Sky and Lavender Sky are the canon names of airships that have actually appeared in the show.
-Akron and Macon were both names of real life airships that were in the service of the US air force. Ironically, both of them crashed.
-Spirit of Adventure is hopefully a more obvious reference to the airship featured in the Pixar movie "Up."
-Later on in the chapter, when Thorax mentions that the Vergilius is a Shenandoah Type-40 Private Air Yacht, the name "Shenandoah" is in reference to yet another real life US air force airship. This one didn't crash...so much as it broke apart unexpectedly mid-flight. You can start to see at this point why people stopped making these airships. 
Finally, the exterior of the Vergilius is all invented, as is most of the control car, but the interior of the below decks is all modeled upon a various real-life private sailing yachts that I researched so to get a feel for what sort of amenities such a craft would have. They're better equipped than they thought, and though challenging getting all the details I needed, it was fun doing it. Made it wish I actually knew something about sailing...and didn't live in a landlocked part of the world.
Also, world building on king changelings, which stemmed largely from me just trying to figure out why Thorax was the only one to achieve the form in the show. When you think about it, this is sort of the obvious answer.
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Man his own airship, he should give air tours of vsnhoover or something cause I doubt the docks will let him park his airship at the docks for free. Not to mention fuel and maintenance costs
Once again, another good chapter! Everything feels so peaceful and happy now...
.... So how long till Twilight and friends come in and fuck everything up?
Come on, we're all thinking it!
I think I see where this story will, eventually (not that I'm complaining, I like to read), be "rejoining" the canon.
*looking at cover picture* Greef price is the we pay? The fu- oh, ohhh, ok i get it now.
GETAWAY VEHICLE AND MOBILE HOME!
Their getaway vehicle in case things turn south. Predicted it.
Can someone buy ME a car? Please? I've been on this dang bike for far too long...
First of all, I like this state of him trying to translate the nature of this day. Its got lore, its got fun, and amusement. And was a nice chapter, but danged if the name chosen wasn't all sorts of red flags for a different reason.
And well, bleep if they run to this.
"Pretium pendimus luctum est…iterum Vergilius uolat…mihi lacrimo non…mihi lacrimo non"
I hope its not foreshadowing to what and nature lended that to. And that it has passed on from what that translates to, because buckle your pants people, it may get rocky.
Sooo...
I was just wondering when the excrement will impact the rapidly rotating blades?
(Also, I was kind of hoping that Thorax wouldn't turn into a moose at the end of this fanfic, but that seems inevitable now. Still love the fanfic, just not the new changeling designs :P)
8229480
the design itself isn't so bad really, its mostly the weird color combinations that make it look off.
Welp, at least they have good getaway vehicle now! I can't wait for them to be attacked by Twilight in a giant sky battle.
8229511
I just don't like the new designs in general, the old changelings were waaaaay better, and way cooler!
Tbh, I also hate the EqG character designs, thouht that is mainly just for the skin colouration.
The only reason I didn't guess an actual airships is I felt that was too obvious. Oh well, not disappointed.
8229242
Dammit I haven't read the chapter yet
8229267 Probably either next chapter or the chapter after that. Scyphi said two chapters ago that there were, "A few chapters and one last plot point before the climax." A few means 2-3, which means that the finale could kick in as soon as next time, unless we have some extra details concerning the airship to wrap up.
8229571
*pictures something akin to the Battle of the Mutara Nebula*
*decides he really doesn't need that temptation*
8229452
Oooh, someone remembered!
I wonder when anyone will notice that naming the ship Vergulius is like saying "Hey, there's a changeling here! Come and find him!"
Okay, the ship will help in the great escape once it begins. I thought it will be a balloon out of sheer financial reasoning. Buying an airship is propably comparable to buying a new german limo today but then again they got lots of layered discounts. Now I just don't know where will they store the ship unless the dock they have it is already paid for a month or so. I belive they could try to find the owner of the storehouse they spend the first night in and try to buy the ruin for a broken penny. It did seem fitting if one took a day to clean out the piss and instal a new lock.
Will the ship be repainted by any chance? Making it light blue or adding a black/green stripe through the sides of the hull wouldn't look bad...
Only fear for the future: If Thorax is going to evolve, just give him a proper colour scheme of a changeling overlord. I just figured the endgame is going to be not with Thorax and Spike running away but breaking out. Of Twi's Castle.
I fully expect airship battles in the near future akin to The Twilight Enigma.
If there are none, I will be very saddened. And then promptly get over it.
Kinda disappointing the Yamato wasn't in here, but this is still great.
I'm sure an OCD princess who specializes in learning things won't notice a ship with a foreign name that doesn't belong to any recognizable language and a dragon first mate wont' find that suspicious at all.
Why not wait until he's on the cart and then blindfold him?
Aw hell I was the first person that answered last chapter. Whoops?
8229726
I have no idea what that is, but it better be some epic airship battle.
I read Aurora and i was like 'Huh, that's interesting', but dismissed it.
Then i read Hyperion and i was like 'Okay, that's very interesting, i wonder if...?'
Then i read the A/N and i nodded sagely to myself, for i am very wise and knew all along.
I highly recommend the Airborne series, and would point out the missed opportunity to mention the best airship in the books, the Sagarmatha, since the Starclimber isn't an airship per se.
i hope we get a spike chapter sometime
His own ship? Wow.
8229979
Well seeing that Thorax can't legally fly it anywhere just yet, for now it will remain there at the hanger until such time it's new owner can relocate it on his own.
I hadn't planned on having it repainted in the story, no, but I kinda like the stripes you suggest, so we'll see. No promises.
8230034
I assume by Yamato you are referring to the WWII era Japanese battleship...if not, then I'm afraid I don't know the reference, and a quick Google search didn't immediately come up with a clear result.
8230171
Um...because all parties involved (including myself) didn't think of that?
8230181
...Dude. If there was ever a Star Trek film you needed to see...
But that said, here's said battle (in two parts) without explanatory context:
8230021>>8230181
Regardless, as cool as it'd be, there are no plans for any airship battles in this tale presently, and there's a variety of reasons for that, but the two primary are that, without giving too much away, the course of the story won't really leave any opportunities for one, and that the Vergilius is no battleship anyway, and wasn't built to be one on demand. She's just a private yacht, basically the sports car equivalent of an airship. She would have little means of fighting back in any meaningful way, and except maybe speed, she would be too outmatched.
8230317
Well, I haven't read Starclimber yet so I wouldn't know (and I really, really, really need to fix that). As for the Sagarmatha's absence in the reference, it was simply an attempt to keep a nice balance between it and the other references, so no one reference got more focus than the others.
I was hoping to find a fellow fan of the books out of this, though, and looks like I have.
8231027
.
It's never to late to change the plotline
But yeah, it just wouldn't work with this story.
8231027
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Eh, that's fine. I'm just glad Thorax has a rockin airship. Now all we need is a scene with him and Spike on the ship with a bunch of mares and they're both wearing shades.
8231051
Well, I don't know about the shades, but...
8231058
Aw come on! You know you wanna write that.
8231027
Starclimber wasn't that great, but it had moments.
We are talking about the same ship, but I was thinking of the anime Star Blazers. Its about the biggest WWII aircraft carrier ever belt being turned into a spaceship and going on a quest to save the Earth by reaching a MCGuffin planet before the evil aliens do.
Here's the movie version (in japanese)
8231355
Ah, that's probably why I didn't know anything about it. Admittedly, not a big fan of animes.
8231118
I have a response to this, but I can't find a way to give it without giving away a critical spoiler or two, so it'll have to wait.
8231409
So wait...Spike and Thorax are gonna get some mares? Nice!
8231412
Like I said...
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll7k6j3gU71qfp25u.gif
8231418
Darn...oh well. I could totally see Thorax pimping out the airship and having fun. I would love to see these two just leave their job and go on a full-on adventure across Equestria.
Or do what the story has been doing and keep me on the edge of my seat with it's super suspense. I don't mind either way.
8231027 Just yet He will storm through the training sessions and even could go straight to the ending test. It's like a car licence. Considering we have at least a month of internal story time judging from the number of chapters... he will get this licence just fine.
I kindda like the idea of Thorax making the ship his own in evry aspect, maybe even an emergency medical changeling pod hidden somewhere in the engine room. We will see the ship in the finale [unless it breaking in two will be the grand tragedy in the end] and maybe in a sequel adventure across Equestria. Who knows.
Point is - if you're going to repaint it; there is one possibility. It's Equestria and so there must be magic paint eather sold to unicorn captains to change colour schemes on the fly or via some sort of changeling ingraining spell. I think you could actually fit two colour schemes on that thing - one that is relatively ussual and the 2nd is something extreme. Like balls-in changeling theme or some sort of Sky Trek repaint. I love the idea of a blue skyship with a dark stripe to be able to morph into a sickly green ship with a holed stripe even if it woudn't have any sence whatsoever and actively worked against their savety, even if Thorax would be forced to use changeling paint as making it could be cheaper.
I suspect Thorax would know how to pull that off, considering he would be taught in the army how to do enchanted camuflage if his disguise is blocked or you use it to avoid detection via scrying for active magic. But now he just knows magic lore, so he could improve on it.
Way to make an intresting talk with the paint seller, I suppose...
Actually changeing the colour scheme on the ship and having it's owner be able to morph as well would be extremely effective in evaiding a flying persuer.
8230034 It's a private ship. It doesn't have a regisered crew as it is technicly a single-pony airjacht. A luxorious recreational one. And Twilight would never get to see said registration papers with the name. However she could find Thorax by just ordering a nation-wide checking of identities and sending her a list of never before seen ponies who appear in any sort of official document. I mean, there are propably lots of isolated villiges outside of regulated law but they don't produce enough ponies moving out of them to stop Twilight to send a guard with a changeling-detecting scan to evryone in the list after it arrives to her. In propably 8 months at least.
For evryone who screams abaut the name... evrypony propably thinks it's some sort of Zebrican or Griffon name. Or some ancient refrence considering almost nopony does know stuff abaut history as Celestia buried evrything after NMM and the only history ponies know are their tribe's founding myths and whatever they celebrate. I also think the only ones suspicious of the name would be captiains of other ships who actually name their ships after egzotic things and they know the whole globe. They never heard of anything like it. Unless Thorax just tells them it's a kind of rare plant he had in his family town or something.
Hey, Handsome Jack here
HJ: Hey kiddos, Handsome Jack here. Just wanted to make this interdimensional phone call to give you one word of advice; don't name your "cute" little air yacht Hyperion, because that's the name of the Corporation I run since I'm its President, you know? So don't do it! Or do it anyway and I get to sue you and trust me, I'd sue the heck out of you! Anyway, catch you never kiddos, Handsome Jack out.
(Liked the chapter by the way.)
I'd be more worried about other changelings recognizing the significance of the name than ponies thinking it has something to do with changelings, especially if the changeling king he's naming the ship after is such an important historical figure to them.
8231531
And see, therein lies the problem I face...Thorax tends to be a bit more sensible than that. Spike I could see as being tempted, but he'd know better than to try it for the same reasons too, plus it's not his airship.
8231570
Another possibility is that ponies could just assume the name's made up. Point is, though, is that its not something I'd see a lot of ponies losing much sleep over. I mean, if you saw a ship with a name you didn't recognize, how much thought and attention would you give it, right?
8231968
As Thorax discussed in the chapter, changelings aren't likely to approach him on the matter, on the grounds that it's the practice that other changelings try not to interact with each other outside the hive, so to help protect each other's cover, and plus Thorax would be recognized as a traitor to his race by now, giving such changelings even more incentive to give him distance...unless they deliberately want to cause him trouble, but I would think doing so would risk their cover as well, so...
8232102
He's got his own ship now, all it takes is for some of Chrysalis's changelings to hide aboard on her orders to do something about this changeling that's caused an even bigger changeling witchhunt than before. Either they'd wait until they're out in the middle of nowhere while flying or it's a relatively quiet/empty day at the docks and thorax boards his ship and they could get away with it relatively easily.
8232125
I would like to point out that if that was Chrysalis's intent, she would've done something about it well before now.
But rest assured. Thorax will have bigger problems than something like that anyway.
I'm loving all the aspects of this story so far. As an editor, there have been a bunch of things that have kind of bugged me (while not really taking away from the story), but— There's one thing in particular I keep seeing that's kind of driving me nuts, though: Fly Leaf and Thorax both have been addressing Spike by his real name at times that I feel like they really shouldn't be, particularly Fly (Thorax calling him by his real name when they're in private is obviously fine). I mean, a while back we got the excuse that it was a nickname as opposed to his 'real' name of Spark, but since both names are being used at a somewhat random rate of occurrence, it's just kind of bothering me. I'm guessing it's just a case of forgetting to use the pseudonym and then remembering later on without fixing the previous ones?
Despite that, you've still got me hooked.
If I had a airship, I would call it either;
Virgo
Orion
Libra
The Zeperion
The Mebius.
I chose Orion or Virgo because they sound awesome and Libra is my horoscope.
Now, who can guess what The Zeperion and The Mebius are referencing. Hint: they both from different series, but the same franchise
8232102 Just hold the idea of a changeing paintjob for a possible sequel. We'll eventually beg it out of you...
8232147
On the contrary, except for one instance with Thorax in the chapter where Fly is first introduced, every usage of the name "Spike" has been deliberate. The reason it's so sporadic on Fly's part is because, knowing Spike asked she not use the supposed "nickname" in public, she tries to keep it limited to when it's just her, Spike, and Thorax. However, in the heat of the moment, she'll occasionally slip up, and Spike often fails to catch her doing it because he habitually responds to both names without thinking about it.
At least that has always been my intent. In practice, it seems to have caused unexpected confusion among readers, though I occasionally suspect its because some of them are trying to read into it more than is actually there...other times I think said reader wasn't being observant enough in their reading and either missed or forgot my explanation for it. It probably didn't help that chances to convey this via Fly proved to be more infrequent than I anticipated. So in the end, by this point, I'm left wondering if it was really worth the effort after all. But considering that we're already more than three-fourths of the way through the story, it's a little late to change approaches.
I'll admit it's a little frustrating for me. To me, it seems perfectly straightforward, but I digress.
In other news, as a writer who always strives to improve himself, I'm interesting in learning in some of these other things you allude to bugging you, if you could please relate them. I mean, I can't fix what I haven't been made aware of, right?
8232367
ASSUMING such a hypothetical sequel were to follow...it's probably not going to go in directions you seem to be anticipating...but that's okay, because there's still more to this story you don't know yet. But all in due time.
8232470
Ha ha!
8232504
Hmm... perhaps I haven't been paying as much attention as I thought... If that's the case, then it's probably fine. It just throws me off personally. Like you said, you haven't really had much opportunity to clarify that Fly is slipping up herself when calling Spike by his real name outside of the three of them, and honestly, even adding something like an 'oops!' when it does happen would just bring more attention to it, on both Spike's and any outsiders' parts, especially since Spike has asked her not to call him that. Frequent slipping would eventually get on Spikes nerves, I would think. As long as it doesn't appear too tangential, though, it might be worth clarifying at some point if Fly slips up again that she isn't doing it intentionally and is still aware that Spike wants to be called 'Spark.' Just my two cents on that.
In terms of other errors, if you give me some time, I'll PM you this chapter in a G-Doc with some edits so you can see what catches my attention.
8232645
Personally, I think she already knows, but there isn't really any concrete evidence to support that, so I'm not pushing the idea.
8232684
Go right ahead!