Departure
After months of frantic preparation, the two huge airships stood proud and ready to depart, carrying the STARK WEATHER - MARE EXPEDITION to the legendary CLOUDBREAK ISLANDS. Originally Storm Fleet cruisers that brought the Storm King's an invading army to Canterlot, they were taken as tribute after the Equestrian forces liberated their capital. Now, fifteen years after Princess Twilight ascended to the throne, they had been pulled out of mothballs and given new purpose.
Refitted, refurbished and demilitarised, the lead ship EAS Friendship would carry the expedition's leaders Stark Weather and Professor Mare, along with numerous explorers, cartographers, scientists, historians and geologists. It also carried a full platoon of Twilight Guards. The support ship EAS Harmony was only slightly less impressive, lacking only a few of the decorative flourishes. It was configured with more cargo stowage and less accommodation, and carried support staff and a few junior explorers who could not be housed on the lead ship.
The bows of both ships bore a complex arrangement of machinery, antennae and spark gaps, the STORM PIERCER DEVICES. This recent triumph of Equestrian Science was intended allow the ships to safely penetrate the 100mph winds of the permanent eye wall around the Cloudbreak Islands, and become the first scientific expedition to reach the floating realms within.
It was a warm spring day in Canterlot, the sun shimmering on the gilded marble spires of the capital city. The combined crews and research staff were assembled in Festival Plaza, a hundred and sixty ponies mixed with a sprinkling of other creatures. To their backs were the upper air docks holding their moored ships; in front of them lay a podium on which their leaders stood with the Princess, Twilight Sparkle.
Stark Weather was just wrapping up his speech; "...and I know every one of you will do your utmost, to make sure this expedition stands above all others, as the most significant in Equestrian history!" After a good twenty minutes the pegasus was finally running out of bombastic lines. The older unicorn mare standing next to him was much more reserved, giving a brief speech about boundless scientific opportunity and hinting at all the papers and career advancement that might be reaped from this journey.
"Thank you Professor mare. Yes it's fascinating isn't it, I can't wait to read your reports! I wish I could join you..." the tall lavender alicorn began, with an informality belying her regalia and bearing. "...but this is your adventure!" she recovered. "Go with the wisdom of Celestia and the courage of Luna! You are Equestria's finest..." her gaze passed over the bored-looking kirin at the back "and her closest allies... and I know you will carry our values with you." Speeches finally over, every creature began to file into their ships, or fly to the deck, and made preparations to launch.
CLASHING GALE's wings twitched in excitement. He'd been on the ground long enough, having to listen to those speeches. He'd be in the air soon, maybe not under his own power, but an airship trip was always something fun! As everyone started to file in, the blue pegasus could barely restrain himself from taking to the air and cutting in front of everyone. Once onboard, he moved to the bows, ducking into the equipment spaces and checking the Storm Piercer was in order.
SUMMER SCRIBE technically didn't have a job to do, right then. The little unicorn was overjoyed to be chosen for the mission: she'd be doing the archaeological work, writing the notes for the research papers to follow, generally applying her tomb raiding and history buff skills in the skies! This was going to propel her to SENIOR Distinguished Researcher for sure; nothing like a world first to kickstart her career! She was mostly be a ball of excitable energy during this time, watching the take-off with awe and excitement, clambering around the ship once she was free to roam, seeing how all the rooms and features matched up with the blueprints and instructions she'd read. This was so exciting!
"Finally. I thought they'd never shut up," an unusual creature groaned, "Putting us on stage like a zoo exhibit grumble..." Leading her crew into the engine room, she gave the command: "Alrighty everypony, let's fuel up and get this thing hot." She gave orders to half her crew, then just stood around the doors to the fireboxes, watching the flames grow inside.
Eventually she noticed the rest of the crew looking at her expectantly, then waved a forehoof saying, "Go... do something! Help the others out. It doesn't take all of you just to start this thing, does it?" They proceeded to do so with some quiet protests, and finally the junior engineer Gearshift signalled that the pressure was sufficient. The chief engineer nodded and spoke into a brass voice tube: "Pressure up to nominal and holding steady, Captain. Everything looking good in here."
"Thank you, engineeer." an older stallion's voice replied through the tube, "Half speed ahead." The order given, she pushed the main steam valves open and the engines roared to life, while the chief engineer of a big flying tea kettle, a chocolate brown kirin by the name of NUTMEG INFERNO looked wistfully up at the purring boilers and whining turbines.
REEF SKIMMER, confident the sickbay was already ship shape, took the opportunity to spread his wide wings and circle the ship as it began to lift. The skies over Canterlot were crowded with hundreds of pegasi darting about, seeing the expedition off, so the grey hippogriff quickly found himself helping with crowd control. "Stay back there civilian!" "Keep clear of those props!" 'These ponies had no sense of decorum', he thought, not for the first time.
The Harmony's cabins and passageways were scaled for the Storm King's beasts, so they would normally be spacious for ponies, but at the moment palleted line the corridors, laden with tins, boxes and supplies all covered in netting. Ponies travelling in opposite directions rubbed past each other in the restricted space. The two ships soon began to pick up speed, the Friendship taking the lead with the Harmony close behind, following a couple of hundred feet to one side to avoid the front ship's prop wash. Within ten minutes, they are clear of Canterlot mountain and cruising west at thirty knots.
Six hours later, the shadows were beginning to lengthen as the first watch stood down and the night shift took over. After a hot meal in the mess hall, the ship's crew separated from the senior officers and expedition staff, the later ending up in the saloon at the front of the ship's lower deck. Floor-to-ceiling picture windows on each side of the hull, the only ones of their kind on the ship, provided a generous view of Winnyapolis and the surrounding countryside, eleven kilometres off the starboard side.
'Alriiight' Summer Scribe thought. One could only be giddy for so long when it demands aimless physicality and reciting off ship functionality and errata! So she soon found herself slumped in a saloon seat, hair flopped over one eye. "Cider, please." she pushed out, levitating the glass over to the bartender with her horn and soon drinking freely.
After a few hours of pacing around the ship and making sure his belongings were secure, Clashing Gale also found himself ordering a glass from the bartender. It seemed like they were able to preserve some of the Apple family's famous cider, and he stood at the bar casually sipping at it. As the glass wafted across his vision he noticed the unicorn mare sitting nearby, with a horn glowing with magic and a pretty blue coat a much ligher shade of blue than his own. Catching her eye, he smiled and gave a little wave of his wing.
Summer Scribe perked up a bit at the sudden attention, and peered over at the stallion. 'Oh, he's cute!' she thought, '...and everyone here's here for the mission too, so they probably have something weird and interesting about themselves one way or another.' So maybe she can just be herself and talk work...? 'Come on Summer, go for it!' she told herself, running a hoof down her front to calm her nerves. "Hi! Summer Scribe." she started. "So, like, I'm *so* excited to have been chosen for this!" she continued eagerly "I can't believe I'm going to be one of the first ponies to pierce the Skylands! This is going to be *amazing* for my career! I can't wait!"
Crew continued to file into the saloon as the two ponies talked. One was a large grey creature, resembling an eagle joined to equine hindquarters. He gave the relaxing ponies a scant glance before going straight to a tapped barrel where he collected a glass of citrus juice. 'Always sensible to drink plenty of juice on a long voyage', he thought: 'wards off the scurvy'. The hippogriff then moved to the windows, standing transfixed by the expansive view, sunset painting the pony city and its surrounding fields and woodland in a palette of golden colours. Although a veteran of many ocean voyages, the serene calm and high vantage of the big airship was new to him.
Just outside the door, Nutmeg reached the bottom of the ramp and turned away, seemingly heading towards the cargo bay. The brown and red kirin stopped suddenly, then retraced her steps, her blue eyes glancing briefly at the saloon door before making a show of heading back up the ramp. She only made it a few steps before sighing and turning back. Who was she kidding. The mare hunched down and pushing the door open with a cloven hoof, keeping her gaze forward as she made a beeline for the bar. Looking the bartender evenly in the eye, she said quietly, "I'll have an ale, I guess." At the bartender's nervous silence, her head tilted, "...what?"
"Well it's just are you sure you should be... drinking?" the pony asked, taking a step back from Nutmeg's glare.
"What else am I supposed to do here?" she griped, "Just gimme an ale!"
Hearing a raised voice, Reef looked away from the window, considering the bubbly unicorn, then the... ah, the kirin! He had seen her listing in the crew manifest and immediately had to take a trip to the pony's library when his own collection came up blank on the species. He'd caught a glimpse of her when the ship was being loaded, but this was the first time he'd seen her up close. Such interesting horn morphology! Were those scales flexing as she sat down?
The creature seemed to be having an argument with the bartender. "Now now, there's no need to get angry," the pony said, "Wouldn't you prefer a nice glass of water, or warm milk, perhaps?"
"You think this is angry?" Nutmeg responded angrily, "What's wrong with me having a drink?"
Meanwhile, Clashing Gale's eyes had widened a bit as the mare started going on about her work, but that's okay! He sets his mug of cider on the table, waiting for an opening. "Nice to meet you, Summer! I'm Clashing Gale. Call me either! I can't believe that they wanted MY help with the storm piercing device!"
"Clashing Gale, cool!" Summer Scribe nodded, leaning in, enthused! "Wow, that must have been awesome to learn! I guess you're a technical expert, then? You'll sense the weather patterns up ahead and adjust the machine to deal with them?"
"Yeah, pretty much" the pegasus replied, "I mean, I don't know a lot about its workings, but I do know wind!" He laughed awkwardly and took a long drink of cider.
Summer stroked her chin with a hoof and was about to reply...when her ears perked and swivelled over towards the kirin.
"Wait hang on I have to take this." She hops down from her seat and trots towards Nutmeg, wide-eyed, as if approaching an ancient artefact. "Oh my gosh. A kirin! A real life kirin's on the ship!" she squeed. It's not clear whether she realises this strange creature is a person, indeed a crewmate, or not.
"Please miss," the bartender continued in a concerned tone, "You need to remain calm and in control, and alcohol will not help you with that."
"CALM AND—" Nutmeg squeaked in outrage, as reddish light played up the side of her odd looking horn. Neither of them paid any attention to the approach of the curious unicorn mare.
After his conversation partner suddently got up and approached the... kirin(?), Clashing gave a little shrug then followed, holding his drink in a wing. Glancing around the saloon, he noticed a hippogriff watching as well? He wasn't terribly familiar with the species, but another winged creature was always nice to see. Oh, something seemed to be happening with the kirin... Seeing Summer's comment fall on deaf ears, he interjected "Hey, is everything okay?"
Summer chuckled and siddled over to stand by Clashing. "So, like, Kirin have this super unique ability! When they get really mad, they turn into a Nirik, just burst into flame and make a mess of the place!" she informed her companion. She paused, then stage-whispered "..and that would be VERY bad! Hey, umm, maaaybe we shouldn't be arguing over this right now...?" She side-eyed the bartender with a sheepish grin!
Nutmeg had finally noticed the little unicorn, and told her irritably, "Arguing? I'm not arguing! I'm just trying to get a drink! This pony's trying to serve me warm milk! At a bar! Why do they even have warm milk?"
Worried by the rising tension, Clashing did his best to mollify the kirin: "Umm, you should try the cider. It's good!"
Nutmeg turned to him with a look of almost disbelief, before stomping and shouting at the pegasus, "It's. Not. ALE." With that she seemed to... catch on fire a little. Some of her red ruff ignited into evil red and blue flames, framing her face and licking at her forelegs, hot enough to char the floorboards her hooves had slammed into.
The reality of Summer's explanation suddenly hit him, and Clashing gasped at the kirin's transformation. He took a step back with wide eyes, his eyes darting back and forth as he scanned the room looking for a handy fire extinguisher. "I... uh, I suppose it's not, no." he stammered, "Ale is good too, sure!"
Staring at the flaming mare with horror, Summer was having similar thoughts. 'C'mon, think!' she thought, 'you surveyed every public room on the airship EXCEPT the saloon? How tardy... Uhh! That'll have to do!' In a daring manoeuver, showing off her quick reflexes and thinking, she dove over the bar, landing deftly behind it. Her horn lit and her magic enveloped a hose attached to a tapped keg of root beer. Summer wasted no time opening the valve and turning the flow towards Nutmeg Inferno! "Time for you to cool off, Kirin!" she said, in a melodramatic tone.
Reef was watching closely, and a sudden squawk escaped the hippogriff's beak as he saw the disaster about to unfold in front of him. Acting on instinct, he leaped forward, one oversized wing flaring out to intercept and deflect the stream of bubbly beverage. Unfortunately as he was starting from the other side of the room, Nutmeg took a good couple of seconds of the stuff in the snout, before the rest began to splatter off his feathers. They were waterproof, but he wasn't sure if they were beer-proof; in any case he was in for a lot of preening later, as the stuff was covering his wing and dripping to the floor from the tips of his primaries.
Nutmeg had enough time to rear up and shout, "WHAT ARE YOU—" before being driven back spluttering by the powerful force of the beer. As the odd wing comes out of bucking nowhere to block the blast, she landed hooves spread, dripping with sarsaparilla that hissed into steam, but only made her eldritch fire flare up along her body too.
Seeing the unsettling transformation, the hippogriff turned on the little unicorn. "What on Equus do you think you're doing, pony?!" Reef shouted, "Is spraying each other with beverages a typical break room activity at Canterlot University?"
Whatever the kirin was now, she turned and ran full tilt out of the saloon. Ponies dove out of the way as the fiery mare barrelled towards the exit, the clatter of her hooves and the light playing along the walls of the hallway diminishing as she galloped up the ramp.
"Hey, I'm was trying to... ummm... oops!" Summer replied, realising Nutmeg had fled the scene. She twisted the valve shut and the spray of beverage slackened and shut off. "Um, that went better in my head!" she sheepishly admitted, words blurted out through a haze of adrenalin, as she emerges from behind the counter to face a row of concerned and confused faces. Summer dropped her head down and buried it in her forehooves. "Look, when a Kirin gets mad they - fire, and like - I was going to put it out to stop the ship from burning down! I think I just made things worse, though..." Her body began to tremble as she hid her head under her useless cover.
Clashing Gale stood dumbfounded for a moment as the scene played out. He wasn't sure if he should go after the kirin: maybe just she just needed some time to calm down? Seeing Summer about to start sobbing on the floor, instead he gently put his free wing over the mare. "Hey, sometimes we make mistakes. You were worried, right? I was too, and I was about to grab a fire extinguisher. I don't think they'd let her on the ship if they thought she'd burn it down, right?"
Reef Skimmer, on the other claw, was not inclined to show mercy right then. He glared at Summer with his eagle eyes, and spluttered "So to be clear, your solution to the ship's chief engineer being a legendary fire-unicorn... is to have someone dump a bucket of water on her head every time she looks a bit annoyed? That seemed like a reasonable and practical solution did it? One can only imagine what brilliant ideas you might have for us once we actually reach the Cloudbreaks! Now if you'll excuse me someone has to make sure she doesn't set the whole ship on fire." With that he turned his back on the unicorn, not allowing her another word, and trotted out of the saloon.
'Nnnhhh. The stinging cold rebuke of someone who WAY outranks you.' Summer thought. She tried to hide herself completely under Clashing's wing, with little success. "...This usually goes better!" she whispered, steadying herself once the hippogriff was out of sight and earshot. She looked up at Clashing Gale, her expression gloomy and defeated. "Thanks for defending me, I really appreciate it..." she said, trying to put a little warmth back into her voice.
With a sigh, Clashing gave a little nod. "Well, I'm sure everyone will come around if you apologise." he replied, trying to reassure the mare. "You seem like a good pony, Summer. Maybe we all need a little time to settle down, but we're going to be working with each other at some point, so it'd be good to work out the differences early."
Summer tried to smile at his optimism. "Thank you Clashing... but I think I'm gonna go mope in my cabin now. I'll try to catch you around."
The stallion stepped back and gave her some room. "Yeah, I'm gonna finish my cider and head back to my cabin as well."
With that Summer gave a weak nod and excused herself. Clashing was left staring into his glass and wondering if the whole trip would be like this.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
963 users online
200,290 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
If you did it in the Legend of Spyro universe Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder would probably be sent to he Cloudbreak islands after Dawn of the Dragon and when Spyro and Cynder are now mates along with growing up a bit. They would be sent there by the guardians after reports of surivors from Spyro and Cynder's year of the dragon along with Ember and Flame who would be Ignitus' children had taken refuge on those islands along with the remains of the dark armies who want revenge on Spyro and Cynder for destroying their master and of course Kaos and his army would be in it trying to conur the islands and heard about the powerful purple dragon hero that vanquished the Dark Master. Just like the Skylander version he would just want to destroy both Spyro and Cynder to prevent they from ruining his plans. The Equestrians would play a major role in it too.
They lack discipline and self-control.
The mutiny shall be foal's play. *Helix Splice, the diabolical Earth pony geneticist, cackles in the shadows, with all sorts of EEEEEEEVIL science plans and world domination and all the other stuff scientists are REALLY doing all the time that you don't know about because THEY keep it all hidden!*