Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter forty-one, Sandy Situations: Social Power.

-The Ardent Survivor, Gene-

“Flotsam… is Jacky here?” I saw her laying on the deck, her flipper flopping against the wood every now and then as she read a book with a sleeping Nefer cuddled up next to her for warmth.

“Yes, but she went to sleep off the bruises she got from me nearly killing her with a cannon and then taking a trip down the stairs into the hold.” What Flotsam described was an average day for Jacky, she probably rode the blast from the impact.

“I guess I can talk to her in the morning.” The only time Jacky’s curse didn’t seem as active is when she was asleep, she needed her rest. “What are you reading?”

“About this interesting place called Nagrahbah, sounds exactly like Neighgrabah only more magical.” Yeah, Neighgrabah didn’t sound or feel as magical, it was fairly average. Not much magic flying around in the streets, aside from the thieves there wasn’t much danger here. “Do you know what is with those five ponies wandering around and barking like dogs over there?”

“Belfry.” Ah, that certainly explained a lot.

“Have you seen Savannah?” I had felt a little responsible for the Abyssinian. It was my job as first mate to ease some of the burden off of Jacky’s back, I don’t feel like I’ve been doing my job well enough both as her boyfriend and as her structural support.

“She never came back, from what you guys have said she can take care of herself.” Sam continued to read that book.

“What’s so interesting in the book that’s keeping you up?” I asked as I looked over her shoulder.

“It’s full of poetry, stories, culture and small illustrations. I’m reading a story in particular about Nagrabah and how Ballad Din freed the genie he befriended, got betrothed to a princess and continued to work on earning the title of prince. A thousand and one Saddle Arabian tales is quite the page turner.” She seemed quite hooked, but it wasn’t like we were giving her much to do here. She couldn’t practice with the cannon near the city, especially not while Jacky was in the city itself. That way lay untold destruction. “Could it be the same genie we’re after?”

“Who knows, don’t stay up too late Flotsam… make sure Nefer gets a proper place to sleep tonight.” I yawned and set off to get some sleep myself, we had time to discuss the problem in the morning.

-The next morning, Jacky-

“Well that’s bad, Ahuizotl, Dr. Caballeron and Teatime?” I shook a fist to the clear sky. “Why not throw in an army of completely obstructive bureaucrats at me while you’re at it!? In other news, did Savannah...”

“Hey guys, I didn’t want to impose on Amira, so could you let me on the airship so I can get something to eat! I’ll make everyone breakfast.” Savannah offered, making me wonder who Amira was. The name sounded very familiar to me. “If you’re going to ask about last night, I’d say it went quite well for me.”

I looked over the side of the ship and saw Savannah looking quite disheveled and her fur was in quite a disarray. She was quite lucky that she didn’t have a mane like Jade did, I think it would have been tangled badly after whatever happened to her the other night.

“Her fur looks all funny.” Nefer mentioned curiously.

Speaking of appearances, Savannah looked like she was absolutely glowing. Judging by the smile on her face, there had been quite a bit of aggressive snuggling involved.

-Breakfast-

As I ate my food, I suddenly realized why Amira’s name sounded familiar and choked a bit on my food.

Gene, who had his right wing wrapped around me, noticed my distress and slapped me on the back to get me to swallow.

“You slept with one of the Saddle Arabian delegates!?” I watched as Savannah tilted her head in confusion.

“Amira is a politician?” Savannah asked confusedly. “She certainly didn’t feel like one to me, she was way too nice… in so many ways.”

“Yeah, she kindly let you sleep in bed with her!” That was a loaded statement Nefer. “Big sis is so stingy and won’t let me sleep with her.”

Sometime we wondered about Nefer’s innocence, but I’m quite sure that he meant that in a less explicit manner than what Savannah did.

“Yeah… that’s never going to happen in the special context that the others understand Nefer.” At least Flotsam was mentally agile enough this morning to understand what the rest of us were possibly thinking, she looked like she didn’t get much sleep last night. Nefer went to say something when Flotsam cut him off. “Don’t worry about it little brother, there are just some things you were just not meant to know yet.”

“Okay, with this recent news from Gene, we have a change of plans. We are no longer searching for a genie’s lamp discreetly.” So three keys, one in the palace. How were we going to get in? It’s not like the palace had tour groups and it had armed guards round the clock. We had next to nothing on the other two locations, there was one thing I needed to know about. “We are going to try and stop whatever those guys are up to. We know where Teatime is going to go at least. You said Daring Do was also in the city?”

“Yes, but I didn’t see much of her or what she was doing other than trailing Ahuizotl and his band of ferocious felines.” That was about as much as I expected Gene.

“We’ll have to rely on her to handle Caballeron and or Ahuizotl, hopefully she won’t try to take them both on at the same time.” I shook my head and went to go comb out my feathers, all while feeling like I had a long day ahead of me.

-Neighgrabah Gate-

“Halt, we would like to inform you of a recent change to the city and hopefully you can spread it around for us once you finally leave the area.” I had never asked for the mare’s name, but she certainly had a presence at the gate.

“Okay, what did you need to tell us?” We were going into the city to stakeout the palace and listen around for the movements of Ahuizotl, Teatime, Caballeron and Daring.

“Due in part to an as of yet unexplained flaming tornado hitting the Noble’s Quarters.” She stared at me while she said this, as if she suspected me of doing it on purpose. “Quite a number of documents were burned and lost, one such document was a document that explained why the city was renamed Neighrabah. It was to the point that everyone’s forgotten what was written on it. With that said the council have decided to return the city to its original name starting instantly, welcome to Nagrahbah.”

-One second later, Nagrabah Gate-

“Wait Nagrabah and Neighgrabah are the same city?” Why was Flotsam here?

“Yes… ma’am, do you know that you are very far from the ocean?” It was like the guard has never seen a sea pony before, especially not one this far into the desert.

“I’m well aware... I’m with my friends and I’m eager to see the city for myself after having read about it a bit.” It seemed like Flotsam wanted to visit the city and she turned to me with a pleading look. “Please Captain Blackcap, can I go into the city? I’m sure our cabin boy won’t cause too much trouble by himself with our guard butterfly.”

“Sure, but you’re sticking with one of us Sammy and your responsible for whatever Nefer does while we’re gone.” I found myself being hugged Flotsam, who was rapidly exclaiming her thanks for bringing her along. “I don’t quite trust you being alone in this city, so you need to stay with one of us at all times.”

“Guard butterfly?” The guard turned that query to me.

“It’s a really big butterfly that can do nasty things to people, especially those who don’t take the hint to leave our ship alone. Like those five thieves I was accosted by the other day, our guard butterfly got to them.” It was hard for me to express how dangerous Belfry could be. Saying he’s dangerous and seeing him be dangerous are two completely different things. “I don’t think I could do our guard butterfly justice.”

“I was wondering what had them all so spooked after we took them to the dungeons… probably should make a few more thieves I want caught go after them.” She muttered barely loud enough for me to hear.

I guess I was right about snubbing the parking fees leading to me being attacked by thieves. Sure we had plenty of treasure, but we didn’t know when we’d be getting more.

The mare and the other guards checked us over, I only had one sword and a knife on me today. The saber the lead thief had wielded against me was of quite a nice quality, at least compared to the two ancient swords.

“Go on through.” Before I went in on the guard’s command, I just had to ask.

“I never got your name.” I honestly wanted to know it now.

“Scarlet Sunburn, now go on in before I decide to put you on the banned list anyway.” Well Scarlet was rather grouchy today.

-Hours later, Nagrahbah Main Square, Savannah-

“This place is so amazing, but it dries me out so fast.” I felt bad for Flotsam, she wanted to explore the city. She had to keep stopping to drink some water. I wanted to get her back to the ship, but she insisted on seeing some of the odder parts of the city.

“I don’t know how Ahuizotl’s getting in or out, but it’s fairly obvious that there’s a hole in the Thieves’ Quarters walls to sneak into the city with.” Jacky stated as she and Gene joined us. “Any luck?”

“No, haven’t seen any sign of regular Equestrian ponies, just Saddle Arabian ponies.” We had been watching for Caballeron’s goons, I just hoped my good memories of Amira weren’t ever sullied by seeing her acting as a politician.

“How are you holding up Flotsam?” Even Captain Blackcap noticed Flotsam wasn’t doing too well in this heat. “You’re not exactly built for the desert Sammy.”

“To be fair Captain Blackcap, I’m not really built for anywhere, land or sea. Don’t worry I’m not as depressed anymore, I have you guys!” That was a rather quick dismissal Flotsam, her curse was a really nasty piece of work and she obviously craved interacting with everyone on the airship. “Just… don’t leave me alone for too long. Aside from that we haven’t seen any sign of the three we’re looking for.”

“Savannah!” I turned into a large mare pulling me into a loving hug, I gave her an affectionate hug back. “I heard you were idling around the main square.”

“Hello Amira, how are you feeling today?” She still looked beautiful..

“Quite well my… dear… friend.” She coughed into a hoof while blushing. She changed the word she was about to say when she saw my friends. “Who are these strangers? Also is that a… do you know that you are currently…”

“Far from the sea, yes I know.” Responded Flotsam tersely. “How could I not? Also this dry, arid air and sand don’t agree with me. It’s nothing like a beach and there’s a reason why you won’t ever find me swimming around in the sea.”

“I am sorry, it is just that I never thought I would see such a beautiful being like you away from your home.” Stopping Amira with a held up left hoof, Flotsam waited until she had Amira’s full attention.

“You really think… that I look nice?” Did Flotsam have no self-esteem in her appearance? She looked absolutely adorable while blushing and rubbing her left leg with her right.

“Okay enough of the back and forth!” I cut in as I put a paw on the sea ponies back. “Yes, Flotsam you’re really quite pretty. Amira these are my friends. The bruised black feathered bird is Captain Blackcap, also known as Jacky Blackcap Chickadee La Perm. Gene Eric or Generic is the griffon. The sea pony is Ms. Flotsam De’ Brie. They’re nice people for a bunch of pirates.”

“Pirates?” Amira said worriedly, I think she was worried about me being on their crew.

“Blue pirates at best, we haven’t exactly raided, pillaged and or attacked any other airships yet.” Jacky stepped forward and held out a hand, Amira gave her a hoof and they shook. “We’re more like treasure hunters at the moment really. We’ll inform you if we plan to do anything like actual pirates, like right now for instance. We’re trying to figure out a way into the palace to find one of three keys that some villains are after.”

“Villains? What are their names?” She gave me a wary glance and I offered her a friendly smile as I moved over to her and itched her behind a specific spot on her ear, she calmed down immensely.

“Have you heard rumors of a blue, long faced monster named Ahuizotl, an Equestrian earth pony named Dr. Caballeron or a noble sounding unicorn called Teatime Clockwork?” As Jacky questioned Amira, I rubbed my face affectionately against her neck, she seemed a little stiff from finding out who my friends were. “They are after some keys and one of them can be found in the palace.”

“I know of two of those, I have heard rumors of Caballeron and how destruction follows him and another mare around. I have not seen a long faced creature, but I have heard of something fitting that description in the Daring Do books we import.” She seemed unsure as to whether we could be trusted or not. She eventually settled on something, because what she said next was worrisome. “I do know of Teatime Clockwork and I agree that he, at the very least, is up to something. We will be holding a ball tomorrow evening and many nobles, along with those invited to the party, will be celebrating the return of Nagrahbah’s true name. Clockwork’s name is on the list.”

“Can we can get an invite?” I asked sweetly, running my claws through her glorious mane. She sighed happily at my touch. “Also, you never told me you were a Saddle Arabian delegate.”

“To be fair, you never told me you were with a group of pirates. Admittedly, I’ve never heard of your friends before... I will be giving you an invitation, but do not break my trust dear friend.” Amira sent right on back to me, but she didn’t seem angry or as upset as she was a second ago. “What are these mentioned keys that they are after?”

“The keys to, ‘The Caves of Intrigue’, at least that’s what I heard from them.” Generic had a bigger effect than the news of my friends possibly becoming true pirates later on. We did just mention that we were still privateers or treasure hunters right?

“Oh no… are any of you aware of Ballad Din’s tales?” Looking among us, Amira saw that Flotsam had her right hoof raised and was waggling her flipper. “When the Wondrous Cave was opened, it brought many a danger to Nagrahbah. ‘The Caves of Intrigue’ are said to be even worse!”

Author's Note:

Next up, Jacky in a ballroom. Like a minotaur in a easily breakable fine chineigh shop.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Getting in with the delegates, and the guards are considering implementing crual and unusural punishments?

Would be nice to see Flotsam get a flying carpet. Pit the method was lost, used to be common in thecity? Wonder if the effect can be rediscovered, how much the royalties on per piece would be for Jacky. Unlucky to get all up front payment etc?

A new cave? Well, it is the remake.

[Shadowshame]

9575941
Might end up with a sentient carpet that wants to wrap around anything(affectionately) that sits on it with Jacky's luck

[The Scarlett Mare]

“Yeah, she kindly let you sleep in bed with her!” That was a loaded statement Nefer. “Big sis is so stingy and won’t let me sleep with her.”

Oh Nefer... Never change
Stay a child forever