Equestritania

by Packet

The Conference

The sound of Doctor Whooves’ hooves running on the marble floor echoed throughout the corridor as he sprinted to the conference. Being a scientific advisor and engineer for the royals had its perks, but there was one thing he could never bring himself to manage properly.

Time.

Once again he’d spent just too much time making final corrections to his plans for his latest design and this time he thought it would cost him the job. His jacket, shirt and tie were only helping to make him even more late, restraining his front hooves from making long strides that could have cut down his running time. His saddlebag to, filled with his latest and most prizes plans, now felt like he was carrying a ton of bricks on his back.

Whooves’ flung the door to the conference room open and slammed it shut behind him, taking a brief moment to hold his head in his hooves and regain his breath. When he opened his eyes he flinched slightly, suddenly taking in that several other distinguished ponies were all sat at the long table that stretched the length of the room.

“Excuse my late arrival, Gentlecolts” he coughed, taking his seat at the head of the table “It’s market day, the streets were over crowded” Whooves sheepishly looked at the faces around the table, none of them flinched.

“Get on with it Whooves” One of the colts sitting at the far end of the table said dryly “Most of us have places to go and ponies to see”

Whooves gulped nervously as he removed the first of his plans “W-Well, as you all know two months ago I was contacted by the royals to produce plans for a passenger airship larger than any ship that has preceded it. The purpose for this ship being both to provide a greater connection between Canterlot and the far away town of Trottingham and to act as a symbol of achievement throughout Equestria. Taking note of all the requirements needed for such a ship I have designed what in my opinion seems to be the best design possible for the brief set to me. Gentlecolts, I present to you the Equestritania!”

He rolled out the plans for ship at the head of the table, causing a few of the ponies nearby to lean in for a closer inspection. He then frantically took some other plans and drawings and began pinning them to a large pin board on one side of the room.

“In every age somepony attempts to fabricate a great work which is either magnificent or impossible, the task which I was set was to create was a floating city Gentlecolts, a floating city! What you’re looking at, is a ship that would be the last word in comfort, size and power ever to sail across the Equestrian skies” He finished pining up the last artists impression of one of the ships interiors “As the royals had stated to me when I was issued the challenge of designing the ship it is so have separate 1st, 2nd and 3rd class accommodation just like the great superliners that came before it. However, the separate classes will not be confined to their separate deck spaces and each class will have the free roam of the ship. It’s only their living quarters and dining rooms that will differ from each other”

Whooves produced a small black ballot box from underneath the conference table and placed it before the investors “As is customary with such presentations as this I will now leave the room for you to inspect the plans and drawings at your own leisure. Should you feel that your respective companies would be willing to take on the construction and management of the vessel simply leave a note with contact details on it in this ballot box. I will inspect the offers later on this evening and contact the investors who come forward in due course. If there are any further questions you wish to ask me I shall be back after the half hour of private viewing. Thank you for your time Gentlecolts”

He turned and exited the room. Once outside Whooves let out a huge sigh of relief and leant up against the wall for a few seconds to compose himself. He looked up at the clock on the wall of the coridoor. Quarter past twelve. Deciding that half an hour should be more than enough time for the investors to make their decisions he trotted out onto the streets of Canterlot and headed in the direction of one of his favourite places. The Tea Merchants.

No sooner had he arrived at the Tea Merchants did Whooves realise that once again he was pressing himself for time. As usual, it was always when he was running late that time seemed to go more quickly, and everyone around him seemed to move more slowly. He gently tapped his hooves on the counter as he looked round the café once more, seeing the regular sights of all the different kinds of tea leaves in small glass trays that made up the table tops, all of the different varieties of tea, coffee and other herbal drinks from all over Equestria lined up nicely on the oak shelves and the rather amusing collection of teapots that sat in the window display, proving that sometimes the word ‘novelty’ is too little to describe an items appearance.

“Umm, excuse me?”

Whooves turned round to find a grey mare with long black flowing hair holding out a card disposable cup. Judging from how her hair seemed to be in a slight disarray and how the bags under her eyes seemed quite prominent Whooves could tell that she wasn’t having the best of days “Ah, thank you” he said, taking the cup and handing her the bits, waiting for his change.

The grey mare pressed down one of the keys of the antique cash register. Nothing happened. Sighing heavily she gave it a hard thump with her hoof. Again nothing happened.

“Never mind. Keep the change!” Whooves quickly glanced at the clock behind the counter and sprinted out of the café. There was very little time to get back to the conference.

Discarding his cup into the bin outside the conference room and readjusting his tie, Whooves opened the heavy oak door and made his way back into the room “Now Gentlecolts, how can I be of assists…….ance?”

The room was empty. Normally there was at least one pony who would enquire about the work he had produced. Whooves went to the ballot box and opened it up. Empty. Overcome with surprise he sat down in one of the chairs that lined the table, before taking another look in the box. It was definitely empty. He stood up and walked over to the side view blueprint he’d produced of the ship, detailing all the boiler rooms, the cargo holds, the cabins, the staircases. Reaching out and gently touching the plans he could only think to himself “Was this all for nothing?”

The Canterlot Tea Merchants was normally packed with ponies of different backgrounds. There were the regulars, who with a simple nod towards the attendant could have their regular order sent to their table within a matter of minutes. Then there were tourists, who would spend an eternity enquiring into what all the different flavours of tea tasted like, before complaining that having over thirty different types of tea was physically not possible. This evening however, both of these types of customers were nowhere to seen, for it was around this time of the day when the battle between the setting sun and the rising moon was at its peak that the Merchants was at its quietest, with only the odd love-struck couple or lonely colt reading their evening newspaper taking the time to sample it’s delights.

Whooves was sat in his usual window booth in the corner of the café, holding his head in his hooves as he thought back over the day’s events. He’d spent hours going through the Canterlot Archives over the past month to find out what had made previous airships so unreliable. So why should his designs that had all the possible faults taken out not draw any investors? Not even one? A faint cough interrupted his thoughts and he looked up to find a young attendant holding a steaming cup of tea. The same grey mare with flowing black hair and a long black tail to match that had served him earlier that day. Her hair was still in a slight disarray but the dark patches under her eyes were now less prominent. The green apron she wore hid most of her body from view and partly obscured her purple cutie mark of a treble clef. It didn’t however hide the pink bowtie and white collar that she wore around her neck. She stuttered nervously.

“I-I noticed you were looking stressed. And I just thought you might like this to calm your nerves” She rested the china cup down on his table and sat down on the seat opposite him “A-and I thought you might want this” She gently placed the change for Whooves’ earlier order infront of him.

“Thanks” Whooves sipped his tea “Not to sound rude, but shouldn’t you be getting back to work?”

The mare chuckled as she removed the green apron from around her head and rested it on the seat next to her “My shift just finished, and even if it hadn’t it’s not as if we’re busy” She looked about uneasily before adding “I’m Octavia, by the way”

“Whooves” he replied as they shook hooves with each other “So I take it you’re musically talented with a cutie mark and a name like that, or was there a sudden mix up between a treble clef and a tea cup when it formed?” he chuckled.

“Oh, you saw that?” Octavia blushed as she looked down at her mark “Yes, I play the Cello. This job here is mainly to bring the bits coming in in-between concerts”

“An excellent choice. It’s a beautiful instrument” Whooves raised his teacup to his lips again “Much like you”

This comment made Octavia’s cheeks blush an even deeper shade of red. She adjusted the front of her hair to try and hide this. But it was of no use, she could hardy contain herself as she looked back at Whooves, who simply wiggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to chuckle.

A deep cough interrupted them. They both turned to find a cream unicorn in a grey suit standing over them. Red and white hair flowed out from underneath the bowler hat on his head and a thick red moustache hid most of his mouth from view.

Octavia nervously looked back at Whooves “Oh! I didn’t realise you were expecting company” she got off the seat in the booth “It was nice meeting you Whooves” She quickly trotted over to her saddlebag which was hung on the coat hanger at the café door, stuffed her apron inside it, fastened her bag to her and walked quickly out of the door. She passed the window where Whooves was sat in his booth and game him a quick smiled as she trotted away down the pavement.

Whooves turned to the Unicorn who had interrupted them both, who had now casually sat down where Octavia was and rested his bowler hat on the table.

“I take it I have the pleasure of addressing Dr. Whooves?” he enquired in a deep voice.

”You do indeed” Whooves replied dryly “And who might you be, Sir?”

The unicorn raised his hood “That’s not important right now. What is important are your plans for the Equestritania”

Whooves raised an eyebrow. How could this Unicorn have known about the ship? There had been no official press releases about the plans for the ship yet. He leaned in closer so the few ponies around them wouldn’t hear their conversation “I don’t recall seeing you at the conference?”

“Ah, I arrived late” replied the mysterious character “Unfortunately I missed your speech before you left the plans for the other investors to inspect at their own free will”

Whooves took another sip from his teacup.

“Tell me” The unicorn continued “Have there been any bids by any of the other investors for the chance to build the ship?”

Whooves sighed as he placed his teacup down on its saucer “Not one” he said blunty “It would appear that none of the possible investors are prepared to risk their bits on building the largest airship ever planned”

The unicorn’s green eyes twinkled slightly “Well that’s where you’re wrong”

Whooves’ ears pricked up.

“I myself would be quite willing to provide all the money to fund the construction of the vessel, however, only on the condition that if I feel there need to be changes to any of the ships features or performance they’re chanced to my preferences”

Whooves inhaled deeply “Can I have a few minutes to think about this, Sir?”

“But of course”

Whooves sat back in his seat and thought hard. Taking up the offer from this mystery investor would mean that the ship would definitely be built, and could possibly make him a household name in Equestria for his design. However, due to the implications that came with taking up the offer it could also make his name famous in the worst possible sense imaginable. He wrestled with his doubts for a few more minutes before taking a deep breath and thrusting his hoof across the table.

“You’ve got yourself a deal Mr….err…..”

“Flam” the unicorn replied with a smug look “Mr Flam”

“Well Mr Flam. If you’ll excuse me your investment means I’ve got to a very important letter to write to the Princess” Whooves quickly gathered up his plans and exited the Merchants, looking left and right quickly to see if Octavia was on the empty streets. With only the falling autumn leaves to be seen, he headed for home.

Back inside the Merchants Flam slipped a hoof into a pocket on the inside of his jacket, pulling out several slips of paper with names on them. The names on the slips were those of the other investors from the conference who were willing to invest in the ship. He tore the pieces of paper up before putting the shredded remains into the teacup whooves had left on the table, ready for an attendant to dispose of. His plan was going better than he’d hoped…

----

So there you have it. My first chapter of my first piece ever submitted to FimFiction. Some of you may notice a reference to "Titanic: The Musical" with the wording of a piece of dialogue!

Fun Fact: I based the Canterlot Tea Merchants on the "Northern Tea Merchants" in Chesterfield, England. I used to visit this place quite a bit when I was studying at the college there. So much so that I ended up being one of those customers who could give a simple nod and get their order! You can find more information on this Tea Merchants here!

Comments

[Gherkin]

Being a scientific advisor and engineer for the royals had its perks, but there was one thing he could never bring himself to manage properly.

Time.

Okay, you successfully convinced me that you don't know where Doctor Whooves' name originated from.

Not a bad story overall though. An upvote from me.

[Packet]

1662630 It was mainly a bit of terrible joke I decided to add in. A time travelling scientist pony who can't handle his time management seemed rather ironic and amusing in my opinion. However, I'm not having him time travelling in this story, as it would provide an all to easy plot drive device that could automatically lead to a happy ending, and I don't really want that. The character of Doctor Whooves himself was the first thing that really drew me in to the fandom, since I'm actually a fan Doctor Who as well, and having him as a scientific advisor is a small nod towards Jon Pertwee's time in the TARDIS during the early 70's when he was a scientific advisor to U.N.I.T.

[rexpup]

Good story, please continue.

It's nice to see a story with Doctor Whooves without time travel, actually.

[Packet]

1685585 Thank you so much! I was actually sceptical about having Whooves without his TARDIS at first, but I wanted to do something different that would break this away from a normal piece of Fim Fiction featuring him, and that proved the best way to do so. I may add a reference as to why he can't time travel in a later chapter. But that depends if a good enough opportunity arises