Taking Flight

by David Silver

14 - Where Cats Make Messes

Spike stepped off the air ship, reaching a hand back that soon had Gabby's hand placed in it as she hopped free to join him. "Welcome to Abyssia!"

"Huh." She turned slowly to take it all in. They had arrived on a small pad. It wasn't a full airship dock, those were, reportedly, further inside their territory. The periphery was lucky to have a tower here and there that a ship could pull up alongside and not much else. Gabby jogged to the edge of the platform to get a better look at the immediate area.

"I think we're in a suburb?"

"That checks out." Spike joined her, looking over the small community. "And it's these suburbs that are slow in recovering." He hiked a thumb towards the city in the distance. "The cities are already humming. The rural places are farming and ranching. The suburbs are stuck in the middle."

Gabby clapped her hands firmly. "Alright! Let's get to getting things in order then."

Spike waved her towards stairs that lead down to the ground level. Flying was an option they could have taken, but flying around an airship dock was asking for new sorts of trouble. "They have crews doing that. Our job is to join them. For better or worse, we're dealing with an intact government. We follow their lead."

"Huh." Gabby hopped step to step. "That's less dramatic, but we'll help. Not like I don't have time." Her sunny mien faded a moment, but it rebounded almost as quickly, perhaps forced.

"Huh?" Spike let her get ahead of him just so he could snatch at her. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine! What makes you ask?"

"I know you?" He cocked a bit of a smile. "And you're not super subtle."

"I can be super subtle," huffed Gabby as she stepped out onto the ground floor, looking around. "As if you're that much better."

"Not gonna argue that." He stayed at her side. "We're both open books, and I'm reading you."

Gabby burst into laughter at the mental image. "Am I any good? I bet the plot's kinda tired."

"What? No way." He made a casual left right wave. "Best comic I've ever seen. But the protagonist is keeping a secret and I wanna know what it is."

She thumped his shoulder. "You're not gonna give up." But he just shook his head. "Fine... Fine. I'm not a model anymore. I went and got fired, again. Now let's--"

"--Fired? Sassy fired you? Did you do something wrong?"

"We should focus on our job here, or do you wanna be fired too?" She crossed her arms, eyes narrowing.

"Well, yeah, first, this is Twilight. Pretty sure I'm safe from that. Second, checking in on a friend? Doubt she'll be mad about that. So what happened?"

"Spike Sparkle?" A new voice had entered the conversation, a nervous looking cat ringing his paws. "Equestrian delegate?"

Spike turned to face the new cat. "Hey, that's me." He hiked a thumb at himself. "But it's just Spike." Hardly the first time his name got honorifics thrown onto it. "Are you with the--"

"--Builders guild." The cat bobbed his head quickly. "Is she the assistant?" He was looking at Gabby. "Hello, um." He pulled out a pen, unusual for not being a quill. "I didn't get your name, just that you were there. Can I have that?"

"Gabby." She leaned forward a bit, watching the stick make its writing. "Huh, what is that, a pencil?"

The cat seemed confused a moment, but he angled the pen at Gabby. "This is a pen, ball point. It's like a pencil, but the tip doesn't go dull or break."

"Neat!" Gabby had learned a new thing and this pleased her. "So what do you need us to do?"

"Technically... nothing." He half turned away, tapping his pen on the pad. "Any work you do is work not being done by a guild member."

Spike hiked a brow at that. "We're here to get the trade ports ready for action. Them being open will give you plenty to do."

"Right right." He tucked the pad away. "You both have wings." He gestured with his pen at both of those mobility-enhancing limbs. "We have jobs you could save time with. Not that we couldn't get it done ourselves."

"But we can get it done a bit faster, for you." Spike shrugged softly. "If it helps, we're already paid. You can take credit. I don't care."

Gabby shrugged expansively. "Yeah, we just wanna help."

"That actually does improve things." The cat seemed less nervous as he led the way away from the skyship tower towards abuilding still in scaffolding. "You'll join this crew first. Guys!" He shouted that last part, getting a dozen feline heads peeking out from around the canvas covering at him. "Flying helpers from Equestria." He hiked a thumb at Spike and Gabby. "Volunteers."

"Volunteers?" One of the cats, a female, half-laughed. "Just out of civic duty? This isn't their civic."

A male pointed at Spike. "Hey, I know that one. The hotshot dragon. Spire?"

"Spike," he corrected, even if he did puff a bit. Being recognized was always a nice boost to the ole' ego. "Just tell us where you need a hand and we're on the case."

"We're ready!" Gabby struck a dynamic pose with a sure grin. "Got wings, and hands." She wiggled both named bits of anatomy.

A feline hand waved from closer to the top. "Up here," called a male voice. Gabby launched herself upwards to join them. The work began. As promised, the work crew was a fair bit ahead of what one might expect a war ravaged country, at least compared to many other kingdoms Spike had visited before.

Materials were being brought in and work was proceeding smoothly. They were helping, but they were not enabling the action on any level. It was perfectly clear the cats would have gotten it done even if they had never shown up. Still, they were accelerating it, and that was the goal.

A sharp whistle caused the cats to set their tools aside almost in unison. Spike emerged from the hidden structure in progress. "That a warning whistle?"

A rotund female laughed at the idea, waving a greasy ladle at Spike. "That's the meal break whistle. Now, you aren't a guild member." She grabbed a male cat trying to rush past her. "You. These two put in good work?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." He leaned in. "And they aren't being paid."

The large she-cat released him. "Huh, well, sounds like you get fed." She gestured at the table of steaming vittles. "Recharge, break's half an hour. Then we get right back to it."

Gabby snapped a sharp salute. "Aye aye, ma'am!" And she hurried up to join the line, a plate soon in her hand.

Spike was a few people behind her. "Nothing like good work to build a good appetite."

"You can say that again," laughed out a tom cat ahead of him. "Thanks for the hand. Saving us a lot of time we'd normally have to wait for support equipment. Flying is basically cheating."

"Total cheats," agreed a female abyssian between them. "But I'm not against a cheat when it's an option."

The work resumed with a new whistle, subtly different, that summoned the cats away from their food back to work. Gabby nudged against Spike on the way. "They're on task. That's a nice change of pace."

"Huh, yeah." He nodded, thinking of it. "Not often we just lend a hand when things are already moving in the right direction. Let's keep it up."

Gabby thrust forward a hand, met with a balled fist in a fistbump as they took off back to their posts. At the end of the day, the building was still covered in concealing canvas, but it was a building closer to when it could stand free and ready to use. A subtle thing.

"We're staying here." Spike gestured at a building they were coming towards. A two story affair that was wider than it was long. He saw a small sign. "Yep, this is the one." It had a small number above the name of the place. "Twilight arranged it for us. We get a spot while we're here."

"We've worked without it before," half-laughed Gabby, heading inside with Spike. "Won't complain about a proper bed."

Spike went for the front desk. "Spike and Gabby, from Equestria?"

The male cat at the front desk looked confused at the two of them before his eyes went to his papers, flipping through them. "Oh, yeah! Sorry." He snatched one paper out. "Here we go. One suite." He grabbed a key with the same hand to hold both in the same hand as he slapped them down in front of himself. "Payment has been arranged." He tapped at a seal of Queen Abyssia. "You're good for your stay!" He glanced away and back. "Don't tell her I forgot you at first. I see a lot of creatures every day."

Gabby collected the key with a smile. "Hey, we've been working all day too. We're all tired."

Spike bobbed his head once in a firm nod. "Yeah, been there. You found us, no big deal." With a last thumbs up, they headed for their room. "So, uh, looks like we're sharing."

Gabby peeked at the single key. "He did say 'suite', right? Doesn't that mean, like, a really big room?"

This was not correct. The suite was not one large room. Rather it was a series of connected rooms. It had a living room, a bedroom, and a bathing room, each seperated with a proper door. "Huh, nice." Spike wandered about, checking it out. "Hey, they even have a kitchen." It was a mini kitchen, but more than enough for a visiting person to enjoy. "I think Queen Abyssia is showing off."

"Showing off?" Gabby was leaning in from the next room over. "How so?"

"There's no way Twilight asked for this specifically." Spike turned in place, taking it all in. "She probably just asked for 'a place' and this is what she picked. Queen Abyssia that is. She's showing they're not a backwater."

"Works for us," came her dwindling voice. "Wow."

"Wow?" Spike jogged to catch up with her. They were in the bedroom. "Oh." There was one bed. It was a large bed, fit for a queen, but it was one bed. "Oh."

"Yeah..." Gabby rolled her shoulders slowly. "I mean... we are a thing now, right?" She gestured at the bed. "So... maybe that isn't so odd anymore?"

Spike pointed back towards the living room. "Look, if you want, I'll crash on the couch. We've had way less comfortable. No pressure." He held up two hands, only to have one of them be taken between two of her hands. "Gabby?"

She pulled him gently. "Spike, I trust you." She squeezed gently at Spike's captured hand. "Let's just try it out. I think... we'll be alright. If either of us are uncomfortable, we'll just talk it out, like adults."

"Which we are," he agreed with a laugh. "Alright... Then... Dibs!" He jumped past her suddenly, landing on his desired side of the bed and stretching out languidly to make it perfectly clear what part of the bed he was claiming.

Gabby giggled at the display, but cocked her head as a knocking reached them. "Who is it?"

"Room service," came the muffled response. "Dinner."

Gabby clapped her hands. "It comes with dinner? One moment!" She hurried to the door. The moment she opened it, a tray was wheeled in by a smiling she-cat.

"You arrived just in time," she half-sang, setting out trays on the table there. "Eat up! The royal suite gets the best." She flashed a rather dramatic wink. "We make sure of it. Oh, would you like a drink? There's water right here." She pointed to a carafe half-tucked way. "But we can bring juice, or harder beverages as you prefer. Just let us know!"

They had arrived in Abyssia. It didn't seem like it'd be a bad trip at all.

Author's Note:

A new step is taken. Two creatures, one bed, and a big dinner!

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Comments

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Nice fun time for Spabby at Abyssia, course I hope it won't be too awkward when sharing a bed for the first time!

[The Sandwich Guardian]

Good chapter