Equestritania

by Packet

Flashbacks

Octavia hated elevators. There was just something about the way in which she could feel the movement heave at her stomach as it initially ascended to the upper floors, yet all there was to tell her the small steel cage she was in was moving was a small display showing the floor numbers go by. Despite this she managed to chuckle to herself at the thought that if Whooves was besides her he could probably calculate the intensity of the force of gravity on her, along with other factors such as the speed of ascent.

But then she remembered. Whooves wasn't beside her. Instead he was somewhere in the labyrinth of medical rooms that lay beyond the elevator doors. A maze filled with bleeping monitors, clipboard charts and... needles. Octavia winced at the thought. She hated needles as well. Her mind was instantly filled with the memories of when she was a filly, sat in the doctor's office burying her face in her father’s chest to hide, trying to get away from the agonising jab of pain from a needle as it pierced its way into one of her forelimbs. Although she knew the injection had been for her own benefit, she was still terrified of them and the prospect of one being used on her. Just thinking about it, she began to panic. Her Bowie that she wore under her scarf suddenly felt far too tight and the elevator walls seemed to feel as if they were closing in on her. She curled up into a ball on the floor and covered her eyes with her hooves, mentally telling herself everything was going to be ok.
To Octavia, it felt like an eternity had passed as she sat in that position. She slowly peeled away her fore-hooves from her eyes to look at the display showing the current floor the elevator was passing. Floor nine. Six floors away from Whooves.

"Come on!" She yelled out, standing up and jumping repeatedly on the spot to vent her frustration at the slow speed.

Jumping up once again, her hooves landed on the metal floor with a sickening thud, louder than before. Her ears pricked up as above she could hear the wine of the motor getting quieter. She felt her stomach almost slot back into place as the forces ceased to work upon her. In an instant, time seemed to stand still.

The silence was tremendous.

A flickering light from control pattern suddenly brought Octavia out of her trance. Looking over at it it simply flashed the message 'Technical Difficulties - Await Assistance', to which she promptly sat back on her haunches with a thump that echoed throughout the empty chamber as she leaned back against the wall, unwrapping her scarf as she became aware of the heat of the building. She had almost fully un-wrapped it when something small and metallic brushed against her hoof from amongst the material. She drew the scarf back to inspect the cause of this to notice a small metal pin that'd been attached to the scarf over a month ago. It was made of thin wire ornately fashioned into the shape of a treble clef, finished off with purple paint, some of which had started to chip off from how much she wore her scarf due to the Canterlot weather, not particularly taking much notice of it as she quickly wrapped her scarf round her neck time and time again.

Where the badge had come from still lingered in her mind though...

***

Octavia had just finished another gruelling shift at the Tea Merchants. The customers had mostly been rude and obnoxious that morning, but it was a market day, reminding her that most of the customers where from outside of Canterlot, so they felt confident about speaking down to her for they knew they could easily disappear and never return.

Slowly walking down the street she felt empty inside. She'd been having trouble sleeping the last couple of nights due to back problems yet didn't feel any pain, nor did she feel tired. Nothing seemed to faze her, until a sharp gust of wind rushed up her back, causing her to wince a little as it ruffled the back of her coat and mane. Luckily, having heard the weather report the day before she'd prepared for such an event by packing her purple scarf into her saddle bag before she went out to work, which now hung around her waist.She sat down on the pavement and undid the bag's buckle, pulling out the scarf with her fore-hooves. Made out of thick wool, it was one of her most prized possessions. Her father had hoof knitted it when she was a tiny filly, shortly after her mother had passed away from illness. Although it affected him drastically, he managed to cope with the loss by bonding more with Octavia and taking a hoof in several new hobbies, the most successful of which was knitting. The scarf had been one of the first things he'd created. A simple bold purple length of wool, no patterns, no complicated threading, just a simply homemade accessory in its simplest form. It had been massively oversized for her as a filly given how her father had no sense of scale when he started creating it, but as she'd gotten older she'd slowly grown into it until it fitted her perfectly.

Feeling it's warmth in her hoof Octavia was about to throw one end round her neck when another gust of wind tore down the street, yanking the scarf out of her grip as she used most of her strength to stand upright. She watched as it began to float away from her, immediately making her break out into a gallop to try and catch up with it as it danced in the wind. Ahead, the pavement ended and the road began, filled with a variety of carts being pulled at speed through the city. Octavia knew that if her scarf ended up caught in the wheels of one there'd be nothing left by the time she'd have reached it. She tried to run faster, but she just couldn't manage it. Closing her eyes tightly, she put all her strength and effort into it, charging forward.

THUMP!

Octavia recoiled as she felt herself collide with something heavy and bounce off it, landing on her back on the pavement. Her vision blurred as she looked skyward. She did wonder if she'd collided with one of the carts in the road.

"Ahem" a polite cough proved her incorrect as her eyes came back into focus.

Before her she began to make out the form of a young colt.

"We must never bump into each other like this again" he chuckled.

Her eyes finally focused perfectly. Octavia blushed as she noticed the voice belonged to the colt she had been speaking to in the Tea Merchants only a week ago. His brown coat and spiky dark brown mane were unmistakable, as was his white collar with green tie. In his hoof he was holding Octavia's knitted purple scarf. Suddenly realising how unladylike she must have appeared to him with her hooves splayed as she lay on her back she stumbled upright to face him, all the time trying to remember his name.

She took her scarf back as he handed it to her "I'm sorry..." He voice trailed off as the stallion's name totally escaped her.

"It's Whooves" the stallion replied, aware of the awkward situation "we're you headed down this street, per chance?"

Blushing from embarrassment, Octavia simply nodded.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Whooves enquired, raising an eyebrow.

Still unsure as to what to say, Octavia simply shook her head, smiling.

Crossing the busy road, the two walked onwards side by side at a steady pace, Octavia's scarf gently blowing in the breeze as she snugly wrapped it round her neck.

"So Whooves" she finally spoke up at last as part of their last conversation suddenley came back to her "How is that airship of yours progressing?"

"Marvellously" Whooves almost beamed, clearly pleased with himself "I've secured an investor for the project, a pony who goes by the title of Mr Flam, and just this week I've had a brilliant stroke of luck, as the owner of one of the most high up shipyards in Canterlot has generously allowed me to use the slip way in his yard to build The Equestritania in!"

The words were totally lost on Octavia, but she smiled politely anyway. Sensing he was loosing her interest, Whooves decided to change the subject slightly.

"In fact" he continued "I was just on my way to the market square for a bit of research for the project and I could use the assistance of a beautiful mare such as yourself"

Octavia blushed slightly from the compliment, trying to angle her head to hide the redness of her cheeks, but to no avail "Me? What could I possibly help you with? I'm a musician Whooves, not an engineer"

"Oh don't worry, it's nothing like that. Its a little matter of fabric choices" Whooves winked at her.

---

Market day was always on a Thursday in Canterlot. The vendors crammed their stalls and carts into the Market Square in front of the steps of the Canterlot Symphony Hall, taking up any room available whether it was an officially designated vending space or not, or even if they'd payed for the privilege to sell their wares or not, resulting in at least one brawl between different vendors every time the Thursday market was held.

Amongst the sea of brightly coloured canvas stall roofs of white, yellow, green and red, Whooves had successfully managed to navigate his way into the area of the market filled with craft vendors, Octavia sticking close behind him, holding his tail tightly in-between her teeth so as not to loose him in the crowd. She'd never been to the market herself and the feeling of having so many ponies of different hues swarming around her and Whooves was rather daunting. She did think to herself about how she had deal with large crowds at some concerts she'd played at, but all those times she'd been high up on a stage out of reach from the crowds, not amongst them.

She suddenly broke free from her concentration as she realised her and Whooves were now stood in a small clearing in the centre of the crowd, next to a tall metal water pump on a large stone plinth. She took a few moments to admire it, having never seen it before for how far into the square it was.

"So that's what that tugging was!" Whooves chuckled.

Looking back at Whooves Octavia couldn't work out what Whooves was referring to, until she looked down and realised she was still holding his tail in her mouth tightly. She spat it out quickly, trying to act as if it had never happened, lowering her eyebrows into a half scowl, as Whooves raised a hoof to his mouth to avoid bursting out laughing.

"What?" Octavia said, this time through gritted teeth.

"Oh, it's nothing" Whooves swept a hoof tip under one of his eyes, suggesting he was wiping away a tear of laughter that hasn't actually formed "But you look like a filly who's about to throw a temper tantrum when you pull that face!"

Smirking slightly herself from that remark, Octavia gave him a playful shove before they both ventured out amongst the rows of market stalls, Octavia choosing this time to simply press the side of her body up against Whooves instead of holding onto his tail as they walked along side by side together.

---

Whooves instinct to bring Octavia with him had been greatly rewarded. In the space of half an hour she'd already picked out over twenty different vendors ranging from those who produced fine cloth from Trottingham to those who had produced magnificent rugs from Saddle Arabia. Her taste in decor had been so good that Whooves had had to quickly sharpen down his pencil he used to jot down the names of the vendors and their details for future reference, something he'd never had to do when he'd done research like this in the past.

Whooves' saddle bag to, was also bearing the brunt of Octavia's taste. Having started out with just his simple black notebook inside, he now had to resort to carrying around the notebook in his mouth, for the bag was bulging with sample scraps of rugs, pillowcases, blankets and curtains for Whooves future reference. Its weight was also causing him to stumble slightly at intervals, though he tried to hide it as best he could.

The two were now walking down on of the many aisle of the market that were nicknamed 'The Flea Market', slightly less crowded than the 'craft' area of the market the wares of the vendors consisted mainly of any junk items they had collected that they thought still had some value in them.

"It never ceases to amaze me what some pony’s class as sellable these days" Whooves whispered to Octavia.

"Quite, but there are items of interest tucked away none the less" Octavia replied, picking up a small stuffed pony with a single purple bow in its mane up in her forehooves "I used to have a doll exactly like this"

She smiled at the tiny figure, stroking its mane before gently placing it back onto the stall, positioning it in a sitting pose before walking along further down the aisle. Everything else was hardly of note, the main recurring items being copper kettles or any other item fashioned in any type of metal.

At the end of the aisle though, one vendor did catch her eye. At the front of his area were two large cork boards displaying his wares, which consisted of a whole variety of badges fashioned out of thin wire. Besides the boards was a sign:

'Cutie Mark Pins - Made while you wait!'

Looking back again at the showcase boards, the effort of the vendor was commendable. Every item Octavia could think of as a cutie mark was present, such as a spade, a flower and a five pointed star. Looking besides herself, she noticed Whooves walking up besides her, having been occupied at a previous stall.

"Just look at these Whooves" she pointed at the boards "Aren't they exquisite?"

Whooves peered in to take a closer look.

"So, you like my pins then?" A voice interrupted them.

Looking up, Octavia and Whooves were greeted with the sight of a slim yellow unicorn wearing a tartan scarf and dark green flat cap looking down on them from over the top of the boards. It was clear that he must have been stood on his hind legs in order to be that high. The accent of his voice clearly told them that he hailed from Trottingham.

The vendor leaned to one side, trying his best to get a casual glance at Octavia's mark; alas he appeared much more obvious than he thought to Octavia whom, still unsure about a good majority of the vendors she'd seen, tried to cover up her flank with her large sweeping tail. Alas, she wasn't quite quick enough.

"That's a very nice treble clef I see there Madam. You wouldn't care for me to replicate it would you?"he swept a hoof across the large pin boards "It'd certainly be a unique challenge given its sweeping design"

"Oh" Octavia began twiddling her tail in her forehooves "No thank-"

"Come on Octavia" Whooves gave her a nudge towards the vendor "You were saying yourself only a moment a go how exquisite these badges appear"

If looks could kill, Octavia would have probably been given a life prison sentence for how she glared at Whooves.

The vendor gave a hearty chuckle, getting down from his position atop the pin boards and poking his head around the side of them instead "If you would step this way please"

Apprehensively, Octavia made her way round into the vendor's stall, Whooves close on her tail to prevent her from backing out. Hidden away behind the display boards, his setup was rather basic, yet impressive for a single pony. A small clay kiln blazed away on a cart parked in his booth, not only being essential to his work but also helping to keep out the worst of the cold. Besides this was his shaping table, a single block of wood suspended on wooden trestle legs with a rounded wooden peg sticking out of one end, almost like a wooden anvil.

The vendor pointed to a wooden stool as he clasped a thin piece of wire in a pair of metal tongs and held it in the kiln with his other forehoof "If you'd be so kind as to sit there please"

Octavia did so, brushing her tail away from her flank so her cutie mark was in full view. The idea of a pony staring at her flank for so long still made her feel slightly uneasy, but her mind was calmed at the thought it was only for the vendors work. Looking up from her mark, she could see Whooves before her, notebook and pen in hoof, scribbling away. He kept throwing quick glances between her and the page.
"Whooves?" A hint of annoyance came to Octavia's voice "What are you doing?"

"Just hold that soft smile you had before you said that for just one moment longer" Whooves continued scribbling.

The sensation of being on a pedestal and being admired by ponies felt strange to Octavia. She kept mentally telling herself that it was only like performing on a stage, but without the bright lights preventing her from seeing any of her audience.

"So" The vendor pulled the wire from the film and placed it on his work bench, pulling out a pair of hoof gloves to protect them as he began to shape it by hoof "Been round all of the market today then have you?"

"Most of it" Octavia replied "Whooves here had some work matters he thought could be looked into here"

"Ah, I see" the vendor replied, he felt far to polite to say that Whooves line of work probably wouldn't interest him, even though he didn't know what it was.

The vendor held up the still hot metal to his eye line, comparing it to Octavia's mark. Satisfied with his work he dropped it into a bucket of cold water besides his workbench, causing it to emit a small puff of steam as the water cooled its inner temperature, setting it in place. Seeing her role in the badges' production was complete, Octavia stepped down off of the stole and walked up to the vendors workbench, peering inside the tin bucket of water to look at it.

"You've done a remarkable job" Octavia noted as Whooves came to sit beside her.

"We'll, it comes with practice" the vendor replied "But it just needs one final touch"

He pulled the treble clef out of the bucket, it having cooled down quite rapidly in the water. Levitating it before his eyes he also collected a pin from a small tray of odds and ends besides the kiln in his magic aura, fusing the two together with hardly any effort at all. He threw a quick glance at Octavia's cutie mark one last time, before concentrating his magic on the badge once more. Slowly it turned from a dull bronze colour to the exact shade of purple as her treble clef. His work finished, he glided the badge towards Octavia, gently placing it in her outstretched hoof. It was perfect.

---

"You really didn't have to pay for this out of your own money Whooves" Octavia said once again, still carrying the badge in her hoof.

"Think nothing of it. In fact, may I?" He outstretched a hoof, gesturing for Octavia to give him the badge, which she did so.

He sat down on the cobbled pavement, Octavia standing still besides him. Whooves gently unclipped the pin on the badge, leaning forward and holding one end of her scarf in his other forehoof, threading the pin through the wool as he brought it towards him, clipping the sharp end back in its holder with little trouble at all.

"Very smart" he said with a satisfied smile "Think of it as a 'thank you' for your help this afternoon"

Octavia looked down at the badge, now fitting in snugly amongst the wool threads.

"It's lovely" she smiled back.

***

Staring at the pin, Octavia jumped with a start when a resounding ping from the elevator brought her out of her thoughts. The great metal door rattled open with a heavy clunk and she got up from her sitting position. Slowly poking her head out of the door to see if there was anyone present to question why the lift stopped, she sighed with relief at the sight of the empty lift lobby and quickly trotted away towards the stairs.

Throwing a quick glance at the stair level guide as she passed, she saw that she was still six floors away from Whooves, but the thought that nothing could go wrong from walking the rest of the way there calmed her mind somewhat.

---

The dim night-time lighting of the hospital ward bathed the corridor in a soft orange glow, like that of a bonfire, but with the warm feeling that accompanied it strangely missing. Octavia stepped very lightly as she walked along, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking up any patients who may be sleeping in the small communal rooms that joined onto the corridor. Each one could hold four ponies in beds at any one time, but due to the frequent discharging and admitting of patients the doors to each of the rooms had been taken off, allowing easier access for the staff and porters.

Despite Octavia’s capability to make her hoofsteps almost inaudible, the young nurse on duty at her small desk piled high with folders and papers still looked up to greet her before she’d even got within ten feet of the desk.

“You’re Octavia Philharmonica I take it?” she asked, taking her wire framed glasses off the end of her muzzle as she shut the folder she was writing in “The receptionist said you were heading up here”

Octavia simply nodded, before nervously asking “So how badly hurt is Whooves?”

The nurse stepped out from behind the desk and walked round to Octavia’s side, picking up a medical document that was lying on her desk with several notes scribbled on it “Well, according to this report he’s sustained heavy bruising to the chest and two cracked ribs, the most likely cause being hooves bucking the body in that area”

Octavia gasped, raising her forehooves to cover her mouth.

The nurse continued “One of his legs was also broken during the attack, judging by the break in the bone the doctor who examined him reckons it will take a good couple of months to heal”

“Can I see him?” Octavia asked almost as soon as the nurse had finished what she’d saying.

“Of course, follow me” The nurse put the document back on her desk, then the two of them walked further down the corridor in the dim lighting.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you contact me about Whooves?” Octavia asked.

The nurse smiled slightly “It was a stroke of luck really, a passer by heard Whooves’ weak plea for help as he was being attacked. The villain fled the scene before they could catch a glimpse of them, but as they approached Whooves to try and help him he apparently mumbled your name before blacking out”

They stood in the doorway to the room Whooves was stationed in.

“He’s the only one in this room” The nurse explained “So don’t feel as if you’re disturbing anyone. If you need anything I’ll be back at my desk”

Octavia nodded her thanks as she stepped into the room. The far wall was dominated by a large glass window, much like the French windows back in her apartment, showing all the city lights of Canterlot twinkling down below in the darkness. And there, besides the window, was the still figure of Whooves in a hospital bed. Octavia trotted over to him, sitting down at his bedside, looking down at his seemingly lifeless body tucked up under the clean bedsheets, covering up all his healing injurys.

She gently extended one of her forehooves and gently clasped one of his own, stroking his mane with her other hoof as she lent over him and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.

“I’m sorry Whooves, I’m so sorry” she quietly whispered “If only we’d spent more time together tonight. If only we’d both gone back to my apartment…”

She noticed Whooves’ black notebook and saddlebag sitting on a small bedside shelf.

“If only you hadn’t had to go back to that damn shipyard!” she almost spat, before looking back at Whooves, his chest slowly rising and falling with every deep breath he took “If only you’d told me how you really felt about me”

It was then that her attention was distracted as she looked back at Whooves’ black note book on the shelf. She became lost in her thoughts once more…

***

Looking up from her mark, she could see Whooves before her, notebook and pen in hoof, scribbling away. He kept throwing quick glances between her and the page.

"Whooves?" A hint of annoyance came to Octavia's voice "What are you doing?"

"Just hold that soft smile you had before you said that for just one moment longer" Whooves continued scribbling.

***

She knew she shouldn’t really, but what Whooves had been scribbling played on her mind. She looked around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, quickly realising how silly that was since she was the only one besides Whooves in the room. She picked up the notebook and opened up it up to a random page. On the pages were scribbles of mechanical devices and rough calculations Whooves had made. In the top left hand corner he’d scribbled the date, flicking through a few more pages Octavia realised that this was the case for all the other pages. Thinking quickly in her head Octavia flicked backwards through the pages to find the page with the date on that she’d gotten the badge from the market. She peeled back the page the followed it to reveal what Whooves had scribbled. Almost instantly, Octavia raised a hoof to her mouth to hide a gasp.

There on the page, was a perfect portrait of her sat on the stool in the market place. Every line was perfect, sweeping delicately to show her mane and tail styled exactly how she had them. Whooves had even gone as far as to add some blushing to her cheeks to indicate her embarrassment from the situation.

Gently Octavia closed the notebook and returned it to the shelf, leaning down to the side of the bed and resting her head on the sheets, holding onto Whooves forehoof once more. Letting her emotions go, she began to feel the tears well up in her eyes as she looked up at Whooves face one final time. Completely drained of all the energy in her body, she was soon in a deep sleep.

---

“Octavia?”

Octavia woke with a start and lifted her head up off of the hospital bed, realising that she fallen asleep clutching Whooves’ hoof. She looked to her left to find Vinyl was stood next to her, holding two plastic cups of tea in her magic aura. Guessing that she didn’t look very presentable what with having slept in a sitting position all night, Octavia began to try and straighten her messy mane with her hooves.

“Vinyl?” she yawned “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you hadn’t returned when I woke up this morning, and you know how I usually can’t stand being alone in the apartment” she handed one of the plastic cups to Octavia “That and I thought I’d come and give you some support after how upset you were when you left last night”

Octavia stared into the cup. It was filled with the cheap, tasteless, vending machine style tea. Whilst she had never liked the taste of it and labelled it ‘The foulest drink in all of Equestria’ she couldn’t help but smile at Vinyl’s attempt to make her feel better.

“So, you’re finally awake then?”

A voice croaked from besides Octavia, causing her to spin her head round the other way. All she could see was Whooves lying in bed with his eyes closed. She was about to turn back round when he slowly opened up his eyelids to look at her.

“Good morning” he managed a small smile.

Octavia’s jaw dropped “J-Just how long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to have a small conversation with Vinyl” Whooves said, inhaling sharply “And long enough to see you sleeping like a filly”

“Yeah” Vinyl joined in the conversation “We had quite a long talk about airships, it turns out it’s quite an interesting subject. I can see why you’d like them so much Octavia, especially a big one like Whooves’” She gave a sly wink.

Even though she was still half asleep, Octavia felt like knocking Vinyl’s front teeth out at that remark.

“Vinyl” she spoke through gritted teeth “Could you give us some time along please?”

Vinyl casually trotted out of the room, chuckling to herself as she did so.

Octavia turned to Whooves “Whooves, about yesterday…”

Whooves managed to raise the tip of his forehoof “No, it’s my fault Octavia. I suppose I really did let my emotions get carried away”

Octavia simply held his forehoof in her own, rubbing it gently.

“The truth is” he continued “I couldn’t get you out of my head since the day I first saw you. You’re perfect Octavia, has anyone ever told you that?”

Octavia blushed “Nobody’s perfect Whooves”

“But you are, both in character and looks. I really shouldn’t have bottled up my emotions like I did, I sure did let most of them out in a bit of a rush yesterday”

“You could say that” Octavia thought back to what had occurred outside the Tea Merchants.

“Octavia?” Whooves winced as he tried to sit upright, but was far to weak to be able to “Once I’m out of this place, would you care to join me for tea again?”

“Are you properly asking me out then?” Octavia smiled “I’d be delighted to Doctor”

She wiggled her eyebrows up and down jokingly.

“Oh” Octavia continued, suddenly remembering “I snuck a small look in your notebook last night, you never told me you were an artist as well as a designer”

Whooves smiled “It’s mandatory really, in order to become a perfectionist of mechanical drawings you have to take a small life drawing course in order to improve your drawing skills. You just happened to be in a good pose, so I decided to put those skills I hardly use to good use”

“Octy?” Vinyl leaned round the doorway “Time?”

Octavia stared up at the clock hanging on the adjacent wall “Vinyl, I thought I’d taught you how to read a clock, it’s obviously half past ten”

“Yes, but it’s a Thursday, I thought you usually have….”

If it wasn’t for the fact he felt rather groggy, Whooves could’ve sworn Octavia’s eyes bulged to be three times their normal size in their sockets.

“No, no, no, no, no! I’m going to be late for work” Octavia began to panic as it suddenly dawned on her how late in the morning it was. She held Whooves fore hoof again “If I have time I’ll be back to visit you before late visiting hours end tonight”

She leaned over the bed, giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead “Goodbye Whooves”

“Goodbye” unable to move too much Whooves simply patted Octavia’s hoof before letting her go, watching her walk over to the doorway of the ward room.

Octavia gave one final glance back to Whooves, waving to him before sprinting off down the corridor; she’d need a miracle to get to work in a presentable state.

Whooves simply sank further back on the bed, closing his eyes. Satisfied with how things had turned out between him and Octavia he began to dose peacefully in the golden morning sun shining through the window onto him.

Comments

[Medi_tation]

Well I'm looking forward to the next chapter...