Ponyfinder: Potions and Swords

by David Silver

20 - Lake Sailing

The ship became a new home. They ate, talked, and slept on it.

"Don't worry," assured Dark Thoughts. "Your minds are surprisingly effective when you sleep. One wonders how we get any actual rest, considering how busy they are." And the boat did not slide backwards overnight, though he only allowed it the chance one evening.

Just to show off a little? The other times, he brought the boat to the shore and tied it up properly, with the help of those who had fingers or surprisingly clever pony mouths. Either way, the boat never ended up where it wasn't supposed to be. "We're getting close," he called from the highest point of the boat, obviously the favorite place for a feline to be.

The boat accelerated. Its engine was working at the same power, but the flow of water was changing. That acceleration faded away as they hit the glassy surface of the lake they had been sailing towards. "Welcome to it." Dark Thoughts pounced down to the deck in a dexterous motion. "Good fishing up here, what that other cat was looking forward to. But fishing with people wanting to be somewhere?"

"You are full of emangalisayo stories!" came the excitedly happy tones of Sues, emerging from below deck at the side of Zecora. "I could listen for days. Weeks? Do you have an end to them?"

"We are not even halfway through. I will tell them all to you." She inclined her head towards the others as they emerged onto the deck, eyes sweeping over the placid waters of the lake. She went quiet, moving instead to the side of the ship for a better look.

Jon waved out across it. "Nice, isn't it? We just got here. What's that island there?" He was pointing at an island they could see. No small landmass that. "Is that the other side of the lake?" He didn't sound very sure. It would make the lake far too small, perhaps? He just wasn't sure.

"That's the island that has Mae Mae's reach," provided Dark Thought as he wandered. "But that's not where your business is. We're going to sail right past it, on the south." He pointed in the right direction. "Then take a right."

Sues reared up, forelegs on a guard-rail. "Fantástico. We are well on our way." He twisted his head to Dark. "You were a fine choice."

Zecora reared up, joining Sues at his side. "What an idyllic view. We move without choo-choo."

"Choo... Choo?" Sonja shook her head from the front, still on guard for beasts. "What word is that? Why am I the only zebra with the aim to just talk normally?"

Which left Jon to smile knowingly. None of his striped friends were entirely normal in their speech. "That's a word to describe the noise trains make. Their horns." To drive the point home, he began to make chugging noises and pulled down on an imagined rope. "Choo choo!"

Sues inclined his head left and right. "How curious. Have you ridden trains many times? I only did it the once, fadó fadó. How I got to that city." He sank to his haunches. "And yet, you both have the same word for the same thing. Каковы шансы? I never heard it before, and words are a specialty of mine."

"Plumes of smoke." Zecora directed to where smoke would be rising if there were any. "Makes the chugs. Why we both understand it, I can but shrug. That distinct horn, I cannot forget. I will not complain that my words he gets."

They were well on their way, powering over the calm waters of the lake. "I should note." Dark gestured a paw at a fishing rod propped against the side. "Just because I'm not fishing doesn't mean you can't if you want." He held up those paws, swiping the air idly. "These are not made for that sort of fishing anyway."

Jon considered the cat with the head of a pony. "Why is it you don't have hands? The other cat--"

"Purrsian," interrupted Dark Thoughts. "She was a purrsian. I am a sphinx. We are very different species." He clapped his paws with barely a sound. It wasn't a gesture cats were good at. "Bound by the same civility, one hopes, but I am constructed as a sphinx should be, and she, as a purrsian should be. Neither is incorrect."

"True words." Sues sat to the side of them. "I rather enjoy being a pony, but I am, as they say, prevenuto verso. I would hope that all creatures enjoy themselves."

Sonja reached to the side to pull a small trigger, though what effect it had was not immediately obvious. "They said, the dwarves, that ponies were not made for this line of work." She jiggled her harness, both cannons rattling softly. "They laughed, said they thought ponies that wanted to be a good shot had bad aim to start, but they made the firearms anyway."

Jon put up his hands. "This is on me. Sorry for assuming."

Sonja glared at him. "You are not a dwarf. Get your sight cleared. I proved them wrong, not by arguing, but by taking up my gun and getting to work. You can argue all day long, but results? They take the shot on their own." She thrust a hoof at Dark. "He's running a nice little business here. You don't get to argue that he's not 'made' for it when he's already taken that shot."

Dark waved Sonja off. "You're flattering me, but I do appreciate it." His tail swished across the deck behind him. "Oh the looks, the questions..." He nodded at Jon. "I'm not angry, if you're worried. You seemed more genuinely ignorant than malicious."

"And that's better?" Being called ignorant was hardly a compliment in his book.

"Oh, very much so." Dark nodded softly. "Ignorance is solved very easily. Now, you know. My paws are my paws, and I don't begrudge them. You are sailing on my boat. Answering a few questions? The least I can do. You asked politely enough." He performed a language feline stretch, claws digging into the wood of the deck as he bent at an angle that would send most humans wailing in agony. "Mmm... Besides, I have my own tricks, and my own toys. I'm not defenseless."

"I can vouch for that aim." Sonja nodded sagaciously. "Bullets of the mind. I've seen wizards, chanting and waving. Yours came all from up here." She tapped at her head with the flat of a hoof. "You have other tricks on standby up there? You don't have to tell me what they are. Not everyone is comfortable showing off their arsenal." She angled herself, causing her cannons to jingle softly. "Mine are in plain view. No secrets there."

Dark chuckled amiably at Sonja. "What you lack in discretion, you make up for with raw power. I do not feel I would want to cross swords with you, metaphorically."

"Samo malo..." Sues turned towards Dark. "It strikes me. You are at least... partially pony, are you not?" He gestured at his own head, waving a hoof up and down it. "It would seem? Do correct me."

Dark's long equine ears danced. "Yes."

"We ponies." He pointed into his mouth, past his teeth. "We are very clever with our mouths. Did you get that?"

Dark chuckled softly. "Three zebras. I had a feeling one of you would figure it out. Yes, I do have a pony's clever mouth."

That made... wait... Jon frowned. "You could have been helping out the entire time then."

"My price includes your part of the work," stated Dark with complete confidence. "I have gotten you this far, and I will get you the rest of the way. What I ask for isn't that difficult, hm?"

Far from angry, Sues began to howl with laughter. "Menakjubkan! You caught us entirely. I admit my error." He clapped his forehooves together with a grin. "You are full of surprises. That does explain how you get anywhere other than waiting patiently for someone who can lend a hand or a mouth to the process."

"I am quite patient." Dark sprang up onto the top of the boat. "I can and have waited a while. We sphinxes are patient as a habit. You could call it lazy? I call it intelligent. This way I get to travel and be paid to do so." He sat up, proud cat he was. "Seems to be working for me."

Sonja pointed at the fishing rod. "You know how to use that?" She was looking at Jon. "Fishing is not a firing range I have experience in."

Jon considered that rod. "Do ponies... use these?" He took hold of it, twirling it left and right like the sword it was not. "I used to fish, with my friends, back home." He spotted a small pail and peeked inside to see wriggling insects. Bait! "Ah ha." He snatched up a worm. "I'm not used to baiting with... what are those, beetles?" The worm was familiar enough. He was soon casting his line out into the water, trailing behind them with the motion of the boat causing it to drift behind them. "Wonder if I'll get anything..."

Zecora huffed softly with a little smile. "I have seen fishing done by pony folk. I am told all that fish are as kinfolk." She watched Jon teasing his rod in an attempt to lure a fish closer. "Not a habit that I ever tried. That you enjoy it, I will abide."

Sues pointed down into the waters. "Don't catch that one." A tremendous shape passed beneath them. Thankfully, unlike the first large form they saw, this one showed no interest in attacking the boat, simply swimming along with a great thrash of its long serpentine tail. "Vāha! A lake dragon perhaps?"

Sonja followed the progress of the great figure with her guns. "Fighting a dragon from a boat sounds like shooting in a high wind. Let's avoid that if we can, hm?"

As it turned out, Jon was able to catch a few reasonable catches, to the applause of the others. Dark nodded softly. "There is a cooking pit." He hopped down and leaned in, grabbing a loop of metal in his teeth and pulling it up and away to reveal a compartment, dark and smudged. "Fire in there won't get out. Burning my ship isn't the idea, especially when I'm sitting on it." He sat for emphasis. "Go on, get it going."

Zecora looked to Jon. Jon looked to Sonja. "I caught them."

"I can't argue that aim." Sonja walked up to the firepit and sat on her haunches. Soon she had a flint out and struck it with swings of her head, getting a little bonfire crackling in that secure pit. "I'm not used to wanting a fire on a boat. Are we sighting the right target?"

"If you want cooked fish, yes." Dark was already busy with the fish, cutting into them with his sharp claws. They were not terribly manually dexterous, but he had sharp enough claws to dig into them and gut them, preparing them crudely. "Now, I refuse to do the last step." He leaned over the side, cleaning his paws in the waters of the lake like a raccoon might. "Cooking with my mouth? No thanks."

Jon cringed at the mental images summoned at the idea. "Yeah, I got this." Fingers were good for dealing with heated things. "You got a pan?" A pan was thrust against him. "There we are." And soon he was sizzling up dinner. Dinner he had caught himself. That was a new pride.

Not a bad one though. "Do you three eat fish?" He looked between the zebras.

Zecora shook her head, but both Sues and Sonja nodded.

"I have food for you," assured Dark. "I don't let my riders starve on my boat. Tonight, we all eat!"

Soon, hopefully, they'd arrive.

Author's Note:

A lot of interaction in this chapter, but not bad ones, I feel?

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Fish on ships? A right meal with freinds.

[Earthpatriot117]

Well I'm certainly curious about that sphinx and where he came from. He said he was a small sphinx, does that mean theres big ones? Why is he not big then?

[Alzrius]

I'm surprised no one has referred to the boat as being powered by a "thoughtomatic" engine.

[David Silver]

11216280
It hasn't come up in the story, but magical boats isn't a new thing in Everglow. Would it help in the current issue?