Author's Note
In which Dragonfly arrives at a new town and quickly makes some friends.
Dragonfly's Arrival
Seahorse Bay
~ Dragonfly's Arrival ~
By all accounts, Dragonfly was an average pegasus.
Born and raised in Cloudsdale, graduated from Summer Flight Camp with good grades overall, with the exception being her almost failing grades in long-distance flight. As her teachers all throughout her academic life remarked, she was always a good measuring stick to compare her classmates to, under- and over-achievers alike. Her purple frame was slim, as was common amongst pegasi, with the small hooves characteristic of ponies who spent most their lives treading on clouds. While others might be upset at such a lack of excellence, Dragonfly was perfectly happy with her lot in life, letting her curiosity and easygoingness take her where she needed to be.
About the only thing truly remarkable about her was her love of all things entomological. Bugs fascinated her. Ever since she had learned how to use her wings, Dragonfly had spent most of her free time visiting the forests below the great city in the clouds, sometimes with one of her father’s many encyclopaedias in one saddlebag and a collection of lidded jars in the other, learning all she could about those strange creatures that were so tiny, so different from ponies, yet so interesting. Beetles, butterflies, moths, spiders, fireflies and so on, she studied, captured and catalogued all she could find that had a hard segmented shell and more than four legs. Most pegasi in Cloudsdale found her a little eccentric for it, but the red-and-green-maned filly’s cheerfulness and eagerness to help others made it was easy to cope with her antics. Some even enjoyed the particular brand of somewhat disgusting trivia she liked to spout out.
At the moment; however, she was not thinking about her beloved bugs.
“‘Welcome to Seahorse Bay’…” Still panting from the long flight, Dragonfly stood in front of the large wooden sign as she read it: “‘Population, thirteen thousand ponies’.”
The purple pegasus looked past the sign. She stood on the top of a hill. From there, she had a great view of the ocean and of the town sprawling at the foot of the hill. The settlement seemed fairly rustic: a collection of cobblestone streets emerging from what Dragonfly guessed was the town square, lined with colorful houses of traditional Earth Pony design. Closer to the shore, a mass of weathered warehouses and commercial buildings by the seashore made up the port lining most of the crescent-shaped bay.
From Dragonfly’s position she could see the hustle and bustle of the trading town. There was a market adjacent to the town square, packed with ponies going about their businesses. A bit further away there was what seemed to be a school with a good number of foals playing in the yard. The port itself looked fairly calm and empty at the moment, with dockworkers lazily sleeping in fishnet hammocks or playing checkers, although she guessed things were a lot more hectic when there were ships that needed loading or unloading.
There also seemed to be a couple small boats tied to the harbor, fishing nets hanging in loose bunches from the sides. Those struck the pegasus as odd: why would anypony want anything to do with fishes? Maybe they traded with the gryphons? That seemed likely, she concluded as she took a more careful glance at the town. Her musings were interrupted by the flapping of powerful wings coming from a few yards besides her, quickly followed by the thud of four hooves firmly planting themselves on the grass besides the road.
Startled, she stumbled to the side as she turned to look at this newcomer. Standing there was a large grey pegasus. On future occasions, she would agree that “large” might have been an initial understatement. This stallion didn’t seem much older than Dragonfly’s late teens, but he somehow managed to be half again as tall as she was! His frame was built to a point she would have mistaken him for one of the Earth pony dockworkers if not for the large wings sprouting out of his back. And on the subject of wings, she had to blink and cover her eyes as the midday sun glinted harshly off his steel-grey feathers. Thankfully, his mane was a more traditional reddish-brown, pulled back and tied in a short ponytail. His actual tail was of a fairly normal length, trimmed for flight performance. His face was stern with maroon eyes, and the mark on his flank was a golden shield with a brown border, flanked by white wings.
The pegasus looked at her curiously, one eyebrow raised.
“Uhh… hi!” Dragonfly said, waving one hoof a bit nervously at her fellow flyer. She looked at herself, wondering if she had anything on her that warranted that look. Nope, nothing seemed out of order. Her fur was still a pleasant, rich purple, her red and green mane was still held in place by her ladybug-shaped hairclips. Her saddlebags were closed and her cutie mark still looked like a colorful dragonfly had landed on her hindquarters. Bolstered by the fact she had not, indeed, sprouted a second head, she decided to insist on communicating: “I’m Dragonfly! Who are you?”
The grey pony didn’t answer. Dragonfly was about to repeat her question, perfectly willing to assume the pegasus was hard of hearing, when she found herself surprised by the rather pleasant and deliberate baritone voice.
“I’m Skywall.” He replied, dipping his head and folding his large wings. “Pleasure to meet you, Dragonfly, and welcome to the Bay.” Another nod. “Stayin’ for long? The inn’s closed for now, but I’m sure we could find a family home to take you in while you sort your business in town.”
“Thanks for the welcome!” Dragonfly bowed a little curtsy to punctuate her appreciation. “And well… I guess I’m staying for a while! That inn you mentioned, is it managed by an old unicorn called Honeywell? Light orange, about this tall?” She pointed to a spot a little above her head with one hoof.
“Sure is.” Skywall nodded again. It seemed to be one of his favorite gestures, as he moved with a certain economy of movement that made him look very much like a particularly lively statue. “You just missed ‘im, actually. Went on a trip abroad last week, something about cataloguin’… stuff. Bugs, most likely. Mister Honeywell really likes his bugs.”
“That’s why I’m here!” She replied, nodding excitedly. “You see, Honeywell is my uncle! Well, great-uncle, but that’s not really important… I’m moving in from Cloudsdale to take care of the inn while he’s abroad!”
“Ah, so you’re the new innkeeper?” The large pegasus’ demeanor changed instantly and he smiled broadly. “Better show you ‘round, then! The inn is right at the other edge of town. Follow me.”
“Uh… sure!” Dragonfly returned the smile and did as she was told, trotting besides Skywall. She had broken the ice and so she was immensely pleased. “Do you have a lot of ponies staying at the inn every day?”
“Not lately. Haven’t had any big ships docking, but when we do folks like hangin’ ‘round for a day or two, ‘till the train comes around to take ‘em or their cargo wherever they need to be.”
“So, things should be pretty calm at the inn?” More time for her bugs! With some luck, Uncle Honeywell would have left his collections behind, and Dragonfly was really looking forward to going through them and making her own notes.
“Prob’ly, yup.” Skywall replied, then chuckled. Or at least she thought he chuckled: it was a very deep sound. “Tho I’ll warn you, little lady… got your work cut out for ya.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ol’ Honeywell ain’t one to spend much time doin’ maintenance, and he’d been without a fixit ever since Hammer Hoof got married and moved to Sunburn Shore… so the place was gettin’ a bit beat-up. We all pitched in to help prop it up just before he left, but we couldn’t get it all done.”
“Ooooh… alright! Duly noted!” It seemed like quite a bit of work, but Dragonfly was still happy. She had just left her parents’ house for the first time and she would have her own inn! Having to learn how to maneuver a hammer shouldn’t be too hard. There was just one thing off with the entire situation… “Er… Skywall, why are we walking?”
“Gotta show you the town, you’ve got ponies to meet. Better do it by hoof.” He kept going at a leisurely trot which, given his long legs, was a canter for the filly besides him. “Anyway, I’m real happy you’ve gonna be livin’ here, Dragonfly. How good at you at cleanin’ the sky?”
“Well... I got passing grades in flight school.” She replied, not terribly confident. Still, she smiled: “My dad works at the weather factory, though! So I learned a thing or two about it with him! Why?”
“Dunno if you already noticed, but we don’t have a whole lot of pegasus flyin’ ‘round here.” Skywall gestured to the sky above the city with one wing. “Lots o’ creaky ol’ flyers who spend most o’ their time sittin’ down in the square playin’ cards… not a lot o’ younger cloudwranglers like you and me.”
“Gee, clearing the sky must be hard, then!”
“You tell me, little lady!” Skywall said, rolling his eyes wearily. “I’m the pony in charge o’ weather here, so I do most o’ the heavy liftin’.” Dragonfly glanced at him again. The lifting of heavy things seemed to be a function he was exceptionally prepared for. “We get a lot o’ left-over clouds comin’ in from other towns in spring, and we’re responsible for breakin’ up the monsoons and directin’ the rainclouds inland. It’s a full-time job for me, and sometimes I need a hoof. That’s where you come in.”
“I’m listening!” She nodded.
“Just keep an eye on the sky. If you see me up there and things start gettin’ a bit hectic, don’t be shy ‘bout flyin’ up and helpin’ out. It’s usually not a big deal, but last Winter Wrap-Up we had to borrow a few pegasus from the nearby towns just to catch all the clouds that got pushed our way.” He rolled his eyes. “Lucky me, we don’t usually have much else to do for the wrap-up since winter’s pretty mild this far south. Can’t rely on outside help all the time, tho. Those pegasus have their own work to do before they can help us.”
“So, help with the weather? Sounds good to me!” Dragonfly patted his shoulder with one wing. “Why do we have so few flyers, though?”
“Beats me, little lady.” He shrugged. “Always been like that, ‘least ever since I arrived in town. We’re not even that far away from Cloudsdale.” The two pegasi reached the end of the slope. “All right, we’re here. Let’s introduce you to some o’ the local ponies.”
~ Twins! ~
The main street opened up ahead of them. Skywall called out ponies and stores as they went by. The building with the big bows on the windows was the clothier. To the other side was the general store, always well-stocked due to the town’s merchant roots. A little further ahead one of the local bakers was standing in front of his competitor’s shop, the two gentlecolts trading barbs.
“Gee, I hope the vitriol doesn’t get into the dough!” Dragonfly commented as they walked past the scene, turning her head to watch the two stocky ponies insulting each other’s skills, baked goods and ancestry. A small bemused crowd had gathered around them, enjoying what appeared to be a regular spectacle.
The larger pegasus chuckled and kept pointing out places and ponies. Dragonfly quickly lost track of all those names, although she did her best to try and memorize the faces. Some of those faces smiled and nodded at them as they went by, with Skywall performing brief introductions to those who asked. Having rarely left the area around Cloudsdale, Dragonfly had never heard so many different accents in one place. There were ponies from all corners of Equestria in this place!
“Don’t worry ‘bout rememberin’ everything, Dragonfly.” He said. “It’s a small town, you’ll learn all the names in a month or two.”
As they walked further down the street, Dragonfly’s trained ears started flicking as they tried to identify what that strange buzzing sound reaching them was. She was good with insects, she knew the noises they made, but that one was completely alien to her. It was a long and regular buzz, increasing in pitch until it ended with a sharp “pop!”.
“Skywall, what is that noise?”
“It’s the other reason we’re walkin’. Let’s just go ‘round this corner here and you’ll see what I’m talkin’ about.”
Rounding the corner, Dragonfly found herself looking at a very strange building in the middle of a plaza. It was almost as large as a warehouse, and its walls were such a mishmash of multiple different types of brick, wood and metal sheeting she had no idea what the original material of the building was. The doors were made out of metal and heavily dented, and many of the windows were cracked and broken, or replaced with heavy steel bars. Through them, she could see flashes and sparks dancing inside the building. A maze of colorful pipes and hoses crawled up the outside walls, sometimes jutting back inside, while others ended in open tubes and hooded chimneys.
Bzzzzz-- pop!
Dragonfly looked up. Mounted upon the roof of the building was an enormous contraption. It looked like two masts set at a slight angle to each other, covered in wires and bits and pieces of steel and capped by two metal spheres. Every now and then a large spark flew between one pole to the other, dancing over the wires and buzzing its way up until it reached the spheres at the top and winked out of existence with a sharp crack.
“That’s... weird.” Dragonfly said, scratching her head in lieu of anything more meaningful to say. “What is this place?”
“This is the Twins’ workshop.” Skywall replied. “See the thing on roof? Don’t fly too close to it or it’s gonna zap ya. It ain’t quite like bein’ hit by lightinin’ but believe me, it still ain’t fun.”
“Wow, really? Why don’t the Twins turn that thing off, then?”
“They say they need it to help power their inventions.”
“Inventions?” Dragonfly quirked her head, frowning.
“Yep. They like buildin’ stuff. Y’know, machines. Actually, let’s see if they’re inside so they can tell you themselves.” Skywall walked up to the door and knocked on it with one hoof. “Hey! Button! Switch! You in there? Got someone here ya’ll should meet!”
“Hang on!” The muffled female voice replied almost immediately. Dragonfly walked up to the door to hear it better. “Just need to test one last thing!”
“Ready?!” An enthusiastic male voice echoed from inside.
“What?! Nonono! Waaait--!”
An explosion rocked the building, sending a gout of flame out of the open window just to the side of where Dragonfly stood. Along with the fireball flew a light green unicorn wearing welding goggles, who bounced a few times on the cobblestone ground before smacking face-first into the side of another building across the street. Startled by the explosion, Dragonfly winced and jumped behind Skywall.
“Ow.” Said the unicorn, sitting up and rubbing his nose. Miraculously, he seemed to have withstood the incident with nothing to show for it but a few singed patches of fur and a mussed mane. “We’re gonna need less power next time, Button!” He yelled nasally and laughed. “Hah, I sound funny!”
“We’re not going to need less power next time, Switch!” Yelled the pony poking her head out of the window. Dragonfly turned her head to see another light green unicorn in goggles, thin wisps of smoke still wafting off her windswept black and green mane. “We’re going to need you to wait until all the restrainers are in place, dummy! Oh!” She noticed Dragonfly standing right besides her and smiled. “Hello! I’m Button!”
“I’m Switch!” Waved the unicorn in the street, cricking his neck. “Ooh, that felt good!”
The purple pegasus blinked, still somewhat flabbergasted. “I’m, er... Dragonfly! Hi! Nice to meet you! So... Skywall told me you’re inventors?”
“It’s nice to meet you too!” The Twins said in unison. Their voices carried a very distinct Canterlot accent. Button hopped out of the window and onto the street while Switch nodded enthusiastically. They were almost completely identical, both fairly short and slim in build, and their cutiemarks were the only way she could tell them apart: both had a button with a smiling face surrounded by sparks on their hindquarters, but it was blue for Button and red for Switch. “And we most certainly are inventors, Dragonfly! Some of the best out there!”
“So... what were you doing in there? Inventing things?” She pointed at the workshop. A faint cloud of white smoke was pouring out of a hole in the roof.
“Almost! We were doing science!” The Twins grinned. Pearly whites all over.
“Uh...” She glanced at the window again. “Explosive science?”
“The best kind of science!” They nodded.
“Cool! So besides inventing things you also research things?” Dragonfly asked.
“Yes!” Button replied as Switch floated a cracked mirror from inside the workshop and brushed his mane down again. “And we’re engineers and mechanics, too! Give us a soldering iron and a box of tools and we can fix anything but the crack of dawn and a broken heart!”
“Actually...” Switch raised one hoof.
“No, Switch. We’ve talked about it before, remember? The electrostatic cardiac de-wrenchinator isn’t ready for prime time yet!”
“Ah.” The male unicorn stopped for a second. “Well, then Button’s right! Crack of dawn, broken heart. Everything else? Fair game!”
Dragonfly giggled. “You two are fun! So, what do you like inventing?”
“Oh, a bit of everything!” They replied, once again speaking at once. “We like coming up with things that help make ponies’ lives easier. Like digging machines for the silver mine, for example!”
“Digging machines?” Dragonfly repeated, surprised. “I didn’t see any mines on the way here!”
“Really? The Hollow Mountain is a very important mine! It produces silver and gems, and a bit of gold, too. Most of it goes to Canterlot! We even built a tram that goes up and down the railroad connecting Seahorse Bay and the mine, so the workers don’t have to stay in the camp overnight if they don’t want to!”
Skywall said: “If you wanna visit it, just follow the railroad to the foothills. Take the tram or fly low, ‘cos the entrance to the mine is a hole in the side of the mountain, so it’s easy to miss.
“The entrance is easy to miss, but the mine itself is huge!” The Twins smiled proudly. “Our parents own it, so we helped build the elevators and machines that ponies use down there.”
“Oh, wow! Your parents own the mine?” Dragonfly’s eyes were wide. “You must be very rich, then!”
They just looked at each other and laughed. “We can pay for the things we blow up! But we let mom and dad worry about the money, we’re here to improve ponies’ lives through science and engineering!”
Skywall cleared his throat. “Crazy snowball-throwing robot, anypony?”
“... right.” The Twins deflated somewhat. “Sometimes it doesn’t quite work out. Like the SnowBot 3000. But that was a long time ago!”
“Yep, but I still remember.” Skywall chuckled. “Darned thing flung half a snowdrift at me when I flew over your testin’ grounds.”
“But you had fun dodging the snowballs, didn’t you?” They asked expectantly.
“Ehh, kindasorta.” The large pegasus shook his head, patting the twins’ heads with one wing. They stood just barely at chest height from him. “Havin’ to power on thru the barrage to knock it over was fun. Gettin’ shot down, not so much.”
“But...!”
“Right, um...” Dragonfly scratched her ear with a wing and looked at Skywall, who just shook his head, smiling. “I still need to get to Uncle Honeywell’s inn.”
“You’re Mr. Honeywell’s niece?” The Twins cheered up again instantly. “That’s great! Why didn’t you tell us before? We have a butterfly-catching machine he asked us to build! Come on in, we’ll show you!”
“All right, you three are firm friends already.” Skywall said, pulling Dragonfly back with one wing. “But looks like the workshop needs a good deal o’ sweepin’ after that blast, and Dragonfly here’s lookin’ mighty pale. Well, even more pale than she’d be after that scare. It’s about lunch time and she could prob’ly use somethin’ to eat after flyin’ all the way here.”
“Oh, fie! You’re right!” The Twins craned their necks to look through the window and winced. “We better bust out the brooms! See you soon, Dragonfly! Welcome to Seahorse Bay! If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask!”
And as the two unicorns in goggles jumped back inside, a chuckling Skywall led Dragonfly down the street. “Mighty peculiar crew, those two.” He quipped.
“I’ll say! Are they always blowing themselves up like that?”
“Oh, only about once a week. I think they got used to it, tho: the worst you see then walkin’ ‘round with is a couple o’ scratches, bruises or a bit o’ limpin’. The doc barely even bothers to treat ‘em most o’ the time, just sits ‘em down and tells ‘em to keep a bag o’ ice on whatever’s hurtin’.”
“Really? That sounds like a mean doctor.”
“Nah. He knows they’re both tougher than they look. Now come on, I wasn’t kiddin’ when I said you look like you need some food!”
Dragonfly opened her mouth, but her grumbling stomach made itself heard before she could say she was not hungry. Ears down in embarrassment, she just nodded and kept following.
~ Roses and Cookies ~
“Let’s make a quick detour here, gotta check with the blacksmith.” Skywall said, nudging Dragonfly down a secondary street.
“Blacksmith?” She asked. “Picking up new shoes?”
“Yep. I land hard and I’m heavy, so I go thru shoes real quick. Shouldn’t take long here, then I’ll show you your uncle’s inn.”
Skywall unfolded one wing and waved it at the old earth pony hammering away at a piece of metal on an anvil by the entrance of the shop. The old stallion stopped what he was doing and pulled the goggles off his face. He wore a harness with loops and latches for hanging tools and other items, as well as a heavy black apron that covered his neck, chest and forelegs.
“Hey, flyboy.” He mumbled to Skywall, gave Dragonfly a glance, then solemnly ignored her. “Looking for your order?”
“Is it ready, Mr. Iron Bolt?” Skywall replied. Both pegasi craned their necks to look into the building. The walls were dark with soot and lined with the heavy tools and chains necessary for the blacksmiths to carry out their work. A young stallion was skimming impurities off a large vat of molten iron a little deeper into the shop, using what looked like an oversized ladle. The whistling sizzle of steel being quenched drifted out of a room in the back. Iron Bolt thought about Skywall’s question for a second, then turned his head towards the source of that noise and yelled:
“Rosie! You got Skywall’s order? He’s waiting for it!”
“Just a sec, pa!” A female voice echoed back, quickly followed by a few hammer blows and the clink of tools being put down. “I got it! Upsy-daisy!”
Problem relegated, the old pony pulled his goggles down and resumed shaping the piece of metal he had been working on. Dragonfly watched him skillfully hammer the iron for a few seconds until a red female stepped out of the back room, balancing a small crate on her hindquarters. She wore the same outfit as Iron Bolt, with a slightly singed bright orange kerchief around her head to keep her long purple mane out of the way.
“I have to tell you, Skywall!” She said cheerfully as she approached the two pegasus, distracted by balancing the crate as she walked. “It’s hard to make shoes for you! Even royal guards have smaller hooves than you! So I decided to use those molds we made when you placed your order last week to make some brand new casts and I’m sure you’ll just love those… Oh, hello!” The earth pony turned her head towards Dragonfly, eyebrows high behind the goggles, then smiled. “Never seen you before! Hi, hi! I’m Rosie. How do you do? New here, or just passing by?”
“New here! My name is Dragonfly, I’ll be taking care of the inn while my uncle is abroad!” The pegasus did another playful curtsy while Rosie pulled her goggles and apron off. “So you’re a blacksmith?”
“Third best in town, only behind pa and my big bro over there!” Rosie grinned wide and pointed to the younger stallion, who looked just a few years older than she did. Still busy skimming the glowing-hot liquid, he didn’t return Dragonfly’s wave. “So you’re the new innkeeper? Cool! When do you plan on reopening the inn?”
“As soon as possible!”
“You know, I was there last week, just before Mr. Honeywell left. Looks like the place could use a little bit more work and…” Rosie started, but was interrupted by her father noisily clearing his throat between hammer blows. “Riiight. Pa doesn’t like ponies talking in the shop.” She looked at Skywall. “Cookie’s?”
“Sure.” The stallion nodded.
“Uh… your daddy doesn’t like ponies talking while he’s working and you offer cookies?” Dragonfly looked from Rosie to Skywall and back again. “I mean, I’m not complaining. Are your cookie jars made of metal, too?”
“Oh, no! I mean, they are but that’s not what I meant at all!” Rosie shook her head and giggled, stepping inside just long enough to put her safety equipment onto a bench. The bandana seemed to be a fashion statement, given she was still wearing it when she stepped out. “I’ve finished those picks you asked me to forge, Pa. So I’m going out for lunch with Skywall and my new friend, see you at dinnertime!”
Dragonfly heard Iron Bolt grumbling a reply Rosie didn’t pay attention to, then followed her and Skywall as they started walking. She took a better look at the earth pony. While Dragonfly herself took the pegasi’s usual “aerodynamic” build far enough she could easily be called “scrawny”, Rosie was the embodiment of the earth pony ideal of a harmonious figure. Her muscles were obviously very strong, after all she was still effortlessly carrying a crate Dragonfly would have problems just holding up, but her physique didn’t seem exaggerated. Stallions would probably say she had curves in all the right places, but Dragonfly figured the soot didn’t help drawing in suitors. Neither would the rose surrounded by three hammers that made up her cutie mark. It seemed hardly romantic. The eyes, on the other hoof, drew attention. Rosie had big, bright pink eyes that carried a certain magnetism that made it hard for anypony to look anywhere else while talking to her. Even the goggle-shaped layer of soot ringing them didn't dim the effect in any way. It reminded her of the iridescent butterflies she used to collect back in Cloudsdale.
“All right!” Rosie’s voice brought Dragonfly back to reality. They were standing in front of a counter full of baked sweets, their surfaces gleaming with more kinds of glazing the pegasus could count. “You can pick any pastry you’d like! It’s on me!”
“What would you suggest?” The young purple mare asked as she blinked confusedly. She tried to parse out the myriad flavors spread across the wide counter. “Gee, don’t they have anything simple, like… raspberry?”
“Sure they do, silly!” Rosie laughed and placed her order, along with a raspberry pastry for Dragonfly. “Let’s go to the table, they’ll bring it over to us there.”
“I thought we were having cookies, though?” Dragonfly walked over and sat down on a soft pillow besides Skywall. Rosie and Skywall laughed.
“No, no. Sugar Cookie is a pony!” Rosie explained, sitting down as well. “Family owns this bakery, her brother runs it.”
“Ooh! So she’s a baker?”
“Nah, she’s a nurse.” Rosie chuckled as Dragonfly looked confused. “Don’t take me wrong, she’s a good baker, but she mostly takes care of hurt ponies. We share our doctor with the nearby villages, so he’s almost never in town. Sugar Cookie and two other fillies hold the fort for him.”
“Pretty sure they’re better than ‘im at this point.” Skywall said flatly. “Haven’t seen Doc around in two weeks.”
“Well... probably.” Rosie shrugged. “The point is that Sugar Cookie is really good at patching ponies up! So if you get hurt, Dragonfly, either go see her or send for her or Tender Hoof or Bedside. If Cookie’s not out visiting somepony or studying at the library, she’ll usually be here helping with the family business. Ah, there she is!” Rosie waved, and a white earth pony with a light blue mane approached the table.
“Hello, Rosie, Skywall. Who’s your new friend?” Sugar Cookie asked. Dragonfly looked at her. Sugar Cookie seemed very friendly, but she also had a very tired air about her. There were bags under her sky-blue eyes, and her braided mane was somewhat loose. The light pink bow tying the braid also looked like it had seem somewhat better days. Rosie was about to answer when Dragonfly perked up:
“Hi! I’m Dragonfly!”
“Mr. Honeywell asked her to take care of the inn while he’s out of town.” Rosie completed.
“I see...” Sugar Cookie smiled warmly. “Hello, Dragonfly. Are you liking our town?”
“I am!” Dragonfly grinned. “It’s very different from Cloudsdale, and it’s got so many ponies to meet!”
“That’s true.” The nurse nodded slowly. “Wait until a big ship makes port. You’ll see a lot more ponies at the Honeywell Inn. Probably even a few gryphons, or a zebra or two if you’re lucky.”
“You have zebras here?!” Dragonfly’s eyes went wide. Zebras! How exotic!
“On occasion, yes.” Sugar Cookie sat down by the table as a waitress walked over carrying a tray with the orders. Dragonfly licked her lips and immediately dug into the pastry put down in front of her. “I really like talking to zebras, but none of them live nearby.” Sugar Cookie looked at Dragonfly wolfing down her food, crumbles and chunks of raspberry filling sticking to the pegasus’ face, and laughed a playful warning: “Careful there! You might choke!”
“Pegasi must have some sort of secret technique for eating like crazy ponies.” Rosie said, smirking at Skywall. “I’ve seen this colt end a bowl of salad before you could say ‘dinner’s ready’!” Skywall chuckled in response.
Dragonfly finished her pastry and licked the mess around her mouth with a swipe of her tongue. “Flying takes a lot of energy! So we eat quickly to recover quickly!”
“Recover quickly to…?” Asked Rosie.
“To fly some more, of course!” Dragonfly smiled and licked the plate clean. “That was delicious, thank you very much!”
“Well, that certainly explains why I haven’t met many pegasi suffering from indigestion.” Sugar Cookie smiled and shook her head. “So I take you’re fond of flying, Dragonfly? Well, more than your average pegasus?”
“It’s fun!” Dragonfly nodded. “I like going around quickly, it gives me more time to catch my bugs!”
“Bugs?”
“Yes! I love bugs!” She smiled wide.
“As in… the squirmy things with lots of legs that like flying around and getting into ponies’ manes…?” Sugar Cookie asked, one eyebrow raised in slight disgust.
“Well… at least six legs, yes! And not all of them fly!” Dragonfly nodded, still grinning.
“I guess I should have expected that from Mr. Honeywell’s niece…” Sugar Cookie laughed despite herself, bringing a hoof to her face. “Just… try not to get bitten or stung as much as he did, please. And no hunting for bugs in town, okay? Your uncle almost emptied the town’s medicine stock last time he went prodding a paper-wasp nest under the roof of the town hall.”
Dragonfly winced internally. Yep, that was Uncle Honeywell alright. Once a brilliant mind, the unicorn became more and more scatterbrained as age creeped up on him. He was still very much coherent in his regular letters to Dragonfly, but his magical penmanship had become rather atrocious over the years, so she expected him to have taken the straight path to clumsiness. Dragonfly offered Sugar Cookie an embarrassed simper. “I’ll take care, promise.”
“Don’t worry, dear.” The nurse said gently. “I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun looking for insects in the woods around town. Mr. Honeywell loves talking about how this region is a ‘treasure trove’, after all. You’ll probably see his collections hanging off the walls at the inn. He showed those off to his guests at every opportunity.”
“Celestia knows how many times I had to hear him talk about his prized Titanus giganteus, or whatever he called that thing...” Rosie smirked, waving one hoof dismissively. Realization dawned and she froze into place with an expression of shock. “Oh, heavens... I actually memorized that name!”
“Ooh! I’ll get to see his titan beetle!” Dragonfly fluttered a few inches in the air, beaming with entomological joy. “I can’t wait!”
“Well, guessin’ this is a good a time as any to get goin’, little lady.” Skywall said. He stretched his wings and popped his neck. Standing still for too long left him feeling stiff. “Mrs. Tea Leaf’s gonna be glad to meet ‘er new boss.”
“Tea Leaf?” Dragonfly plopped back down onto the pillow. “Boss?”
“It’s your inn now, right?” He asked, standing up. Once again, Dragonfly boggled at how a pony that big was ever able to take to the air. “Mrs. Tea Leaf’s the mare who keeps everythin’ in order there. Also makes the tea. She’s got a son, Scone, who does the rest o’ the cookin’. You’ll meet ‘em both soon enough.”
“Oh.” Dragonfly sunk. For some reason, she had not expected to have employees under her authority. The concept was entirely alien to her. It was a level of responsibility she had never even imagined. “So... I guess they’ll be working for me now?”
“Yep.”
“A mare and a colt?”
“Yep.” Skywall nodded and added, “And you’ll have to do the number-crunchin’ to keep the place open.”
“Don’t worry, too much about it, though!” Sugar Cookie was quick to ease Dragonfly’s nerves. “Mr. Honeywell didn’t look like he had much trouble with it, and he always said he was horrible with Mathematics. It can’t be that difficult, right?”
“I... guess? Well...” Dragonfly was unsure, but she could not help but smile. She figured Sugar Cookie’s bedside manners must be excellent.
“Ah, so you’re going already?” Rosie asked, still nibbling on her second cinnamon roll.
“I guess we are!” Dragonfly chippered. “But please come visit! I can’t wait to go behind that counter and greet ponies!”
“Not that fast, little lady.” Skywall said, laughing. “First we gotta get you settled. C’mon, I think you’ve met enough ponies for a week already. We can fly the rest o’ the way there.”
Author's Note
In which Dragonfly's new inn has a little structural issue.
The Honeywell Inn
~ The Honeywell Inn ~
“So, whaddya think?” Skywall asked, standing besides Dragonfly. The two pegasi had landed in front of the Honeywell Inn, Dragonfly’s uncle’s pride and joy.
“It’s... um...” Dragonfly made a face, looking up at the two-floored building. It probably had been a pleasant, perhaps even beautiful, place in the past. The distant past, she had to admit. At the moment all she could see were dingy grey walls, faded down from a white layer of paint applied what seemed to be centuries ago. A little sign up front informed the inn’s temporarily closed state, but the place did not look like it would be reopened any time soon. Had the small windows not been cleaned from the inside and the garden meticulously tended to, Dragonfly would have suspected Skywall of playing a joke on her and taking her to an abandoned building. “It’s... rustic, isn’t it?”
“You can be honest, Dragonfly.” Skywall rolled his eyes, smiling. “I told you we helped prop it up, but we only had one day. It looks better on the inside.”
“Well...” Dragonfly hesitated again, squinting at the inn. “I guess it would look better with a fresh coat of paint? Maybe something a little more colorful?”
Skywall nodded thoughtfully, looking at the flaking grey walls. “Sure would.”
“Sooo... I guess it’s time to go back to town and buy some paint!” Dragonfly smiled confidently. “I’ve got to start working right away if I want to get it reopened!”
“Take it easy, little lady.” Skywall laughed, patting the filly on the head with a wing. “Might wanna go inside and get acquainted with your employees first, y’know?”
“Oh. Right.” Dragonfly scratched her head. Once more, the thought of having to order ponies around and providing for their wages made her uneasy. She dug into the dirt with a forehoof, feeling nervous, until a familiar sound drew her attention. She looked up. A dragonfly came flying around the building, and the pony followed its erratic path through the air. Up, down, left, up again, backwards, straight ahead, down... she had been told by her parents that when she was just a little newborn foal she used to fly (or rather, crash) around the house just like that, and that was where her name had come from. She liked that story.
The insect approached her and she stood still. Skywall, an eyebrow raised, also refrained from moving. The actual dragonfly circled around the two ponies a couple of times, buzzing close to Skywall’s ear before being flicked away, and settled on the other pegasus’ nose. She grinned wide and crossed her eyes to look at the colorful creature.
“Hello there, little friend.” She said softly, scrunching up her nose. “How are you doing?”
Skywall cleared his throat. The dragonfly buzzed off and Dragonfly looked at Skywall. “Well, I gotta get goin’. If you need me and can’t find me up with the clouds, look for a shack on top o’ that hill, all right?”
“Okay!” Dragonfly replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“Sure. See you!”
And with a few flaps of his powerful wings, Skywall was gone already. Dragonfly looked at the inn once more, making a mental note to find out the body of water that dragonfly had come from, and took in a deep breath. If she was to reopen her uncle’s inn, she would have to face the ponies inside. With a determined look on her face, she pushed the faded brown door open--
Except that it did not open when pushed. Instead, it merely rattled on its hinges. Dragonfly blinked at the door for a few seconds, then reached for the handle and pushed down on it. The door creaked and opened slightly, revealing a dark room beyond.
“Well, that’s kinda creepy...” She muttered to herself, pushing harder on the door and stepping inside. She was in the entrance hall. The floor at least seemed clean, which was nice. She blinked a few times so her eyes would adjust to the low-light, and then approached the empty counter. “Hello?” She said out loud, and her voice echoed across the large room and the two corridors on either side.
Suddenly, all she could see was white! She staggered, fell on her rear and whimpered in pain, eyes tightly shut. “Who-- who’s there?!” She cried out, rubbing her eyes.
“You are as dramatic as your uncle, miss Dragonfly.” Replied a stern female voice in perfect Trottingham diction. “I have merely turned the light on.”
“Um...” Dragonfly blinked a few more times, her big eyes still complaining about the sudden abuse. She could see a dark green shape standing at the start of one of the corridors. “Who are you...? Tea Leaf...?”
“Mrs. Tea Leaf.” The earth pony replied sharply, walking towards the stunned Dragonfly. “Now stand up. There is much to do, and less time to do it in.”
“Wait, what...?” Dragonfly stood up. Her eyes had started to focus normally once again, and she took a closer look at the middle-aged mare standing a mere foot away. Mrs. Tea Leaf’s coat was faded green and her mane was a burnt brown color and tied in a severe, perfectly-symmetrical bun covered with a black hairnet. Her eyes were a piercing green, and glancing into them convinced Dragonfly to never do that again.
Clearly, Mrs. Tea Leaf was not a mare to be trifled with, and she looked the part. The bright green leaf pendant hanging from the collar around her neck was the only thing even vaguely friendly-looking about that earth pony, and even then it only made her about as approachable as a manticore on a leash. And then there was her look. Dragonfly was sure she would see those emerald eyes in her nightmares for at least a week!
“You have been appointed as the new manager by Mr. Honeywell.” Mrs. Tea Leaf declared succinctly. “In the interest of his business remaining viable, you must first learn the routine and minutiae of administering a small independent company focusing on providing temporary lodging and catering to ponies from across Equestria. Then, and only then, we may spread word of our return to the marketplace.”
“What?” Dragonfly blinked again, this time in confusion.
“Mr. Honeywell made me promise to teach you the intricacies of the craft so the inn would remain successful during his stay abroad.”
“What?”
Mrs. Tea Leaf rolled her eyes. “You have to learn how an inn works before we can reopen!”
“Oh.” Dragonfly nodded. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”
“Oh, never you mind.” The earth pony let out an annoyed sigh and walked behind the counter. “Follow me. We will start with the bookkeeping.”
Dragonfly would have followed, as she was known to do, but that time she didn’t listen to the order. Instead, she was staring at the walls: they were covered, from three feet from the ground and all the way up to the ceiling, in picture frames. Inside those frames were not pictures, but a wide variety of insects. Their iridescent wings and carapaces glimmered in the light, shining in all colors of the rainbow as the light reflected off the thin layer of varnish protecting them. Spindly legs, far too numerous to count, rested upon blue and red felt backings. Multifaceted eyes reflected their surroundings like tiny little mirrors.
It was entomological heaven.
She felt she could stay there for all eternity, examining all those preserved insects, one by one. Oh, the things her uncle must have noticed while capturing and cataloguing those little creatures! She could not wait to get her hooves upon his notes--
“Ow!” Dragonfly snapped back to reality as she felt a sharp, painful tug on her ear!
“You can stare at dead insects later, miss Dragonfly.” Mrs. Tea Leaf said between clenched teeth, still biting the pegasus’ ear and dragging her towards the door behind the counter. “For now, you must become acquainted with the books.”
“What? No-- ow! Come on! Just five more minu-- ow! Okay, okay! I’m going! Let go!”
~ The Fitful Night ~
Books.
Dragonfly never wanted to see them again.
To say that Mrs. Tea Leaf did things “by the book” was to commit an understatement that would be recorded by historians (likely in books) and referred to for decades to come. The old mare was absolutely obsessed with them. Every little thing that happened in the inn had to be recorded in books. There were log books, accounting books, guest books, cookbooks, complaint books, praise books, books cataloguing other books, all of them neatly stored in rows in the back room. Not a single square inch of wall could be seen in that small room, it was completely overtaken by shelves and stacks of books and meticulously-sorted papers. The only pieces of furniture were a desk and a stumpy chair, tiny bastions of comfort surrounded by the remains of a thousand dead trees.
Indeed, there were a lot of books.
And Mrs. Tea Leaf had Dragonfly become acquainted to those. She had to learn their names, their places in their respective shelves, and how to extract vital information from the words within those yellowed pages. Why would anypony keep records of guest that had come and gone over twenty years ago was completely beyond Dragonfly, but the prospect of having to spend another afternoon locked inside that tiny room with Mrs. Tea Leaf was an incentive that was impossible to ignore. Especially considering the penalty for mistakes was to have one of the heavy yearly logbooks dropped onto her head. And so she learned as best as she could.
Mrs. Tea Leaf didn’t seem too impressed, but she declared the lesson over once her son Scone, a rather bland-looking light tan pony, knocked on the door and called her for dinner. Introductions were brief, and Dragonfly’s dinner even more so. Even ignoring Scone’s talents as a cook, which were just a little short of remarkable, Dragonfly was too famished to bother with generic small-talk. She barely waited for Mrs. Tea Leaf to say a prayer to the Moon outside before gulping down the soup and munching on the accompanying bread.
In hindsight, she could tell that had been a mistake.
What ensued was a full hour of etiquette training, interspersed with comments about the typical pegasi lack of manners, delivered by (who else?) Mrs. Tea Leaf. It was only after a heartfelt promise on Dragonfly’s part that such a disgraceful breach of proper Equestrian manners would never be repeated that the pegasus was allowed to leave the dining room and stumble upstairs.
As the matron made it perfectly clear, it would be improper for Dragonfly to use Mr. Honeywell’s spacious and comfortable suite. And so the room Dragonfly ended up occupying was one of the normal guest rooms at the inn. It was a modest affair: enough space for a bunk bed, a chair and a table, as well as a built-in wardrobe. A small framed picture of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna was placed above the door.
Not the most cozy of places, but it would do.
Yawning, Dragonfly walked up to the window and looked outside. The cool night breeze rolling in instantly made her feel a little better. The Moon already was high in the sky but the clouds obscured most of its silvery glow, and so Dragonfly could see the blinking lights of the fireflies in the garden. In front of her she could see Seahorse Bay’s own lights. The inn was situated at one of the exits to the town, between it and the train station, on top of a small hill. A good location for tired ponies to stop overnight, she reasoned.
Merely thinking about tired ponies made Dragonfly realize just how drained she felt. Her wings ached, her back protested, her hooves had rarely ever walked so much on solid ground in a single day. Not bothering to unpack her saddlebags, she tumbled into bed.
Immediately, Dragonfly found herself facing an entire library’s worth of angry books hovering in the air. She swallowed hard and waved hesitantly at the rather unfriendly-looking literature bobbing up and down in front of her.
“Hello...?” She said. The books did not reply. The frowning covers stared at her, tiny pieces of green emerald lighting up their ‘eyes’. “Hello?” She repeated, reaching towards the nearest book with one hoof. The book pulled back and slammed itself against her head! “Ow!”
Thump! “Hey, cut it out!” Two more books joined in: th--thwump! “Come on! What did I do?”
A barrage of hardcover knocks landed on the pegasus’ head. Dragonfly screamed and took off in the opposite direction, followed by the roar of pages and covers flapping frantically in chase! The strange swarm left a trail of loose sheets of paper as it rushed after the pegasus, the books taking turns to smack themselves against the back of her head. Dragonfly did her best to fly straight, heading towards a tower in the distance!
The door was thankfully open, and Dragonfly dashed through at full speed, skidded for a second on the stone floor, ran back to the door and slammed it shut! She pushed against the heavy wooden slab with all her weight, listening to the dull thuds of angry tomes missing their turn and hitting the door and its frame. Panting hard, she pressed her ear against the wood. Outside, the books seemed to be bickering and fighting each other, and a peek through the keyhole allowed her to see them giving up on the hunt and flying away.
“Whew, safe!” Dragonfly grinned victoriously. The grin turned instantly into a puzzled expression as she noticed the bit between her teeth. Not only that, but the tightness around her muzzle made her realize she was wearing a bridle! “What in the--” She started saying but her words were cut off by a sharp tug on the reins. “Ow! Who did that?!”
“You will not complain, miss Dragonfly.” Mrs. Tea Leaf held the reins between her teeth, her eyes were cavernous empty spaces in which floated two orbs of cold green flames. Before Dragonfly could formulate a reply, she pulled hard once more, yanking the filly’s head back. “It is in terribly poor form.”
“What? No! Lemme go!” Dragonfly pulled against the harness and the powerful counter-tug made her neigh. “This hurts!”
“You have no escape, miss Dragonfly.” Mrs. Tea Leaf said authoritatively, turning around and pulling Dragonfly towards the spiral stairs. “We shall now continue your education. In a room full of books. Huge books. Boring books.”
“Nooo!” Dragonfly locked her hooves against the stone floor as the bridle pulled her. Sure, a contest of strength against an earth pony would be a Bad Idea most days of the week, but she would not go down without a fight!
Mrs. Tea Leaf yanked! Dragonfly tried to run towards the door!
Pop!
“You traitor!” Dragonfly shouted as she saw her body, a little purple stump where her head should be, bust through the door and gallop at full speed away from the tower. Without her! Laying on the floor, Dragonfly-head whined scooted around to look at Mrs. Tea Leaf. “Now look at what you did! Lemme go!” The ghastly green pony grinned and started pulling the disembodied head up the stairs by the bridle.
“It is all for the best, miss Dragonfly.” She said, ignoring Dragonfly’s ‘ow’s and ‘ouch’es as the poor filly hit the stone steps. The ground groaned and trembled under her mighty hooves. “Now you will be able to learn without such trifling distractions as having a body. Now stop complaining, your books await.”
“Oh, no! Nonono!” Gritting her teeth with all her might, Dragonfly bit through the metal bit and wriggled herself loose from the bridle! Before Mrs. Tea Leaf could turn around, the head was gleefully ricocheting back down the stairs. The world rushed past Dragonfly as she bounced against the steps once, twice, then against the rough stone walls, and out of a window!
“Freedoooooooom!”
“Ow!” Dragonfly woke suddenly up with a crack of broken branches and the rustling of leaves. Disoriented and with the wind knocked out of her, she found herself laying on her back in one of the hedges in the front garden. She looked at her hooves and wriggled them. She smiled wide, exclaiming: “Aw, whew! It was just a dream...”
But what was she doing buried halfway into the hedge? She looked beyond her hooves and saw the inn.
Something looked terribly off about it.
“Miss Dragonfly, why are you laying down in that bush?” Came the stern voice, and Dragonfly’s blood curdled. Mrs. Tea Leaf was standing by one of the windows on the second floor, her mane still in its fist-tight configuration but now uncovered. Her eyes, thankfully, looked normal.
“I... I think I was tossed out of the window!” Dragonfly replied shakily, staring at the inn.
“And why were you tossed out of the window?”
“What do you mean, why?!” Dragonfly shouted. “Can’t you see the entire inn is crooked?!”
Mrs. Tea Leaf looked around. The inn was about 30-degrees off-center, leaning forward with the front steps digging into the ground. “So it is.” She replied blankly, turning around. “You should fix that.”
“Wait! You’re not going to help me?” Dragonfly clambered off the hedge with some difficulty and flexed her wings to get the twigs and leaves out of them.
“No.” Came the mare’s voice from the inside. “I will be busy for the rest of the night sweeping the remains of Mr. Honeywell’s entomological displays.”
“Oh, no! Uncle’s collection!” Dragonfly’s eyes became wide as saucers and she dashed back inside through her bedroom window! She did not bother to land once inside, literally flying down the oddly-inclined stairs until the arrived at the entrance hall!
The horrible spectacle brought tears to her eyes. Uncle Honeywell’s once-beautiful displays all lay in a broken heap in the corner. Copious amounts of dirt had crumbled in through the shattered windows as their sills seemed to be almost a foot below ground level. Butterfly wings, beetle legs and all manner of unidentifiable debris were scattered over the slanted floor like the remains of a no-holds-barred every-arthropod-for-itself melee involving nearly a thousand participants. To the side stood Mrs. Tea Leaf as she examined this new cleaning challenge, a heavy sweeping broom resting against her side.
“What happened here?!” Dragonfly gasped breathlessly.
“Is it not obvious, miss Dragonfly?” The earth pony answered flatly. “The tremors that shifted the foundations of the house has caused Mr. Honeywell’s displays to fall to the floor and shatter.”
“Tremors? I... didn’t feel any tremors!”
“A common occurrence in Seahorse Bay.” Mrs. Tea Leaf shrugged. “So much so we barely notice them. Will that be all? I must clean this shambles.”
“You’re going to sweep everything?!” Dragonfly balked.
“That is precisely my intention, miss Dragonfly. Do you have any suggestions as to what should be done with this pile of dirt and broken glass?”
“You can’t just toss Uncle Honeywell’s collection out like that!”
“It is not exactly a ‘collection’ anymore, miss Dragonfly.” Mrs. Tea Leaf glanced sideways. “Unless you are implying Mr. Honeywell would also be interested in collecting irregular shards of glass, that is.” She paused for a second. “Although that is indeed a possibility.”
“What?” Dragonfly briefly pondered whether her uncle ever thought about collecting glass. The thought was quickly swept away by more pressing matters. “No! But we can’t just toss everything out! There must still be intact specimens in there! We need to save as many of them as we can!”
Mrs. Tea Leaf raised an eyebrow. “So you wish to rummage through that pile and retrieve insects.”
“Yes, of course!” Dragonfly nodded! “It is my duty as a niece and an entomologist!”
“Very well, then.” Mrs. Tea Leaf passed the broom to the pegasus and turned away. “Do not forget to sweep the corners after you are done.”
“You’re not going to help me?!”
“No, miss Dragonfly.” Mrs. Tea Leaf replied, nonchalantly climbing the steep stairs by holding on to the balustrade. “I am going back to bed. My contract with Mr. Honeywell clearly states that any and all actions regarding his collections beyond dusting and polishing the display cases are outside the range of my responsibilities.”
“But...”
“Have a good night, miss Dragonfly.”
~ Early Morning ~
The sun was rising when Dragonfly stepped outside and yawned. She had bags under her eyes and glass and wooden splinters all over her dirt-caked forelegs. Hours of back-busting work had resulted in perhaps a fifth of her uncle’s specimens being recovered undamaged. She had saved as much of the rest as she could and so five small bins of assorted insect parts rested under the counter in the entrance hall, to be worked through later with a jar of clear glue, a very fine brush, a jeweler’s monocle and an enormous amount of patience.
She sighed, limping around the garden to take a look at the other side of the building. The foundations had been ripped clean off the ground as a single huge block. Clumps of dirt still clung to the stone pillars joined with cement. Dragonfly had no idea how the inn managed to remain in a single piece, or whether it would ever be able to be righted again, but either way she was impressed by its sturdiness. Not that she had much space left in her mind for being impressed, given the disaster that had just befallen her uncle’s precious inn. At least the furniture inside was sturdy enough to have survived the pile-up with only minor damage. The windows, on the other hoof...
She walked to the front of the building again.
Looking up towards the sky Dragonfly saw the metallic glint of Skywall’s wings as the pegasus went about his early morning rounds. He pushed the clouds around efficiently and without hurry, sending them out to the sea to coalesce until the next monsoon season. Dragonfly waved at the high-flying stallion. Pegasi in general had a knack for long-distance communication, owing to their preference for wide open spaces in the clouds, and Skywall soon landed between Dragonfly and the inn.
“You don’t look too good, little lady!” He exclaimed, concerned, as he noticed her state. “Are you all right? What happened?”
“I’m fine, Skywall... just, uh, need a shower. Or something. Anyway...” Dragonfly waved towards the building. “See anything wrong?”
“Eh?” The massive pegasus turned on his hooves and looked up. His eyebrows very nearly vanished into his mane. “That’s... mighty peculiar. Couldn’t see it from the air but I don’t remember this buildin’ being quite so lopsided when I left you here yesterday! What happened?”
"I don't know! Mrs. Tea Leaf said there was a tremor and the entire building shifted! I ended up getting tossed out of the window!"
"Ooh, that don't sound good. I felt the tremor a few hours ago, but didn’t think it’d been that strong." Skywall frowned. “You’re lucky the place didn’t come down on top of you! Did anypony get hurt?”
“No. Mrs. Tea Cup barely noticed it, and Scone doesn’t sleep at the inn. But...” Dragonfly sniffed and welled up. Skywall leaned in, worried. “My uncle’s collection is ruined!”
“Oh.” Skywall blinked and straightened up. “Right. Uh... Darn.”
“I spent all night trying to save as much of it as I could!” Dragonfly sobbed, two big teardrops perched on the corners of her eyes. “Oh, Celestia! My uncle will be so disappointed when he comes back! I don’t know what to do!”
Skywall scratched his head and offered the crying pony an uneasy smile, saying: “C’mon now, Dragonfly... I’m real sorry your uncle’s, uh, bug collection got messed up, but I think we oughta get you looked at. I mean, you had a rough night, and you’re lookin’ a tad worse for wear. So, how’s about you fly to town and get Sugar Cookie to check you out? I’ll see if I can find somepony to help fix the inn, all right?”
“You will?” Dragonfly looked at the other pegasus expectantly.
“Sure.” Skywall looked past Dragonfly and grinned as a familiar sputtering and whistling sound reached him. "And it sounds like I just found the ponies to talk to!"
"Who?" Dragonfly turned her head. A strange steam-powered contraption was rolling down the street. It looked like a long, squat metal box on tracks, with a boiler mounted on the back, the weird lovechild of a flatbed cart and a steam engine. The pistons turning the wheels inside the tracks chuffed along, trailing puffs of white steam as the vehicle negotiated the slope heading out of Seahorse Bay. On the flatbed were an assortment of boxes secured by chains, and: “The Twins?”
“Yep.” He waved a wing at the ponies as their steam tractor passed by. “Button! Switch! Mind givin’ a hoof?”
Switch, sitting on top of a crate, tapped his sister on the head. Button, who had been operating the control levers, looked around for a second before stopping the tracks. As the boiler whistled quietly with the pistons at rest, they hopped off the tractor. “Hi, Skywall! Hi, Dragonfly!” They said cheerfully. Looking past the two pegasi, they pulled their welding goggles onto their foreheads. “Oh, wow! What did you do to the place, Dragonfly? It looks cool!”
“I didn’t do anything!” Dragonfly pouted. Still, she spotted another difference between the two unicorns: Button’s eyes were a sparkling bright purple, while Switch’s carried a shiny golden color. “The tremor did that!”
The Twins looked at each other. “Tremor? Oh, right! Looks like the reinforced structure held up nicely, then!”
“I guess...” Dragonfly sighed. “Did anypony in town get hurt?”
“Not that we know! Mr. Sweet Dough ended up a little bruised after a big bag of flour landed on him. But he says he’s alright, and that it served him well for working so late!” The Twins chuckled. “So everypony was fine. All we had were a few broken windows, and the fountain in the main square broke. We’re working on something to replace it, anyway!”
“Well, ain’t that a nice little bit o’ chit-chat...” Skywall interjected before the Twins drowned Dragonfly with technical details regarding their latest project. “I can tell you’re goin’ to the ranch today. Think y’all can postpone that and help Dragonfly here? She don’t look too happy with the inn’s new style.”
“Oh, sure!” The two unicorns smiled and turned to the steam tractor. “We brought some tools and gadgets here! It should be enough to bring the inn back to its former glory!”
“Good, good.” Skywall nodded, and turned to Dragonfly while the Twins rummaged through their crates. “And you go see Sugar Cookie. Tell ‘er what happened, maybe she’ll know more ponies who’d like to help. Get somethin’ to eat there, too. You’re lookin’ like you need some more food in your system. I’ll get them Twins workin’ and try to keep ‘em from blowin’ the whole place up.”
Dragonfly nodded through her instructions but grimaced at the last phrase: “... do you think they could do that? The... ‘blowing the whole place up’ bit?”
“Not intentionally, no.” Skywall shook his head.
“Uh... and unintentionally?”
“Just go get yourself checked up, all right? Everything will be fine when you come back.”
“Ow!” Dragonfly exclaimed and pulled her hoof back. “Is it over yet?”
“Almost, dear.” Sugar Cookie operated the mechanical arm so it performed gentle movements with unerring accuracy. One of the Twins’ simplest and most reliable inventions, that hoof-controlled arm tipped with an articulated hand (mirrored on that of a dragon) had improved the nurse’s ability to deal with delicate procedures immensely. “You could have waited until morning, found a unicorn to help sift your uncle’s insects out of the broken glass with magic, and nopony would have gotten hurt, you know?”
“I know, I know... it’s just I didn’t want Mrs. Tea Leaf--” Dragonfly shivered with dread. “--running out of patience in the middle of the night and just sweeping everything into the trash before I could search it!”
“And so you ended up with glass and bits of wood stuck all over your forelegs.” Sugar Cookie shook her head, sighing. She smiled softly. “Please be more careful.”
“I will, I promise.” The pegasus brought a hoof covered in little colorful adhesive bandages to her chest and-- winced. The cuts under the bandages were still tender. “Ow. How many more to go?”
“This is the last piece, I think.” Without further warning, the mechanical hand plucked the wooden splinter out, prompting another pained shiver from the pegasus. Sugar Cookie hummed a little tune to celebrate a job well done and moved on to place a last bandage over the freshly-disinfected cut. “Keep these on until the evening and you should be fine. Are you feeling better now?”
“A bit, thank you...” Dragonfly sighed.
“What’s wrong, dear? You told me your back hurt a little when you came in, do you want something for it, too?”
“No, no. My back is fine.” Dragonfly waved a hoof without much enthusiasm. Her forelegs were plastered with such a comically large amount of the inch-wide multicolored squares that she looked like she had stumbled on a pile of confetti. But her face was anything but festive, and her lower lip trembled slightly. “I’m just sad about uncle’s collection... He spent a long time gathering all those specimens, and just when he leaves a dumb tremor breaks most of them! He didn’t even get to say goodbye to the titan beetle!”
“I... see...” Sugar Cookie’s voice faded. She was conflicted: while her first instinct was to help other ponies, she really did not like insects. She could treat all sorts of weird conditions and illnesses with the most varied and spectacular symptoms, but for some reason bugs bothered her. Especially big ones like that beetle Mr. Honeywell had always gushed over. It was something about all those spindly legs and how they walked. Still, she was a nurse and ponies’ well-being were her priority, and so she sighed and decided to do the right thing: “Listen, Dragonfly... your uncle is a very organized pony, I’m sure he has something in his office that would help you rebuild his collection.”
“Rebuild...?” Dragonfly rubbed nose with a wing as she looked at Sugar Cookie.
“Yes. If you want, I can help you look through his papers to try and find a catalogue of his collection. With that, you would know which insects to catch to complete the collection again!”
“But... all his exotic bugs...!”
“From what he told us most of them are from around Seahorse Bay or the nearby forests. You’re a pegasus, so you should be able to go to more distant places than he did and find even more new items for his collection.” Sugar Cookie smiled encouragingly. “It would be a nice challenge, wouldn’t it?”
Dragonfly frowned for a second, then hovered a few inches up in the air with a goofy grin on her face: “I guess you’re right! I better get working right away!”
“Wait, wait!” Sugar Cookie bit the tip of Dragonfly’s tail to keep the filly from just flying out of the room. “Don’t you think we should try to fix the inn first?”
“Oh. Yeeeah, you’re right about that, too! I left Skywall and the Twins at the inn, they probably need my help!”
“... the Twins are there?” Sugar Cookie stood up, alarmed.
“Um... yes?”
Sugar Cookie already had her first-aid saddlebags on. “We haven’t got a minute to lose, Dragonfly! Let’s go by Rosie’s, ask for her help, and hope we can get to the inn before somepony gets hurt!”
As Sugar Cookie feared, Rosie, Dragonfly and herself were greeted at the gates by an explosion coming from the back of the inn.
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Oooow! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!” Switch screamed as he rounded the corner, his coat and mane letting off steam. Galloping at full speed, he tripped on a rock and rolled on the grass until he ended leaning upside down against a tree trunk. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he shouted: “Okay, that kind of hurt! But at least the stumbling and the crashing cooled me down again!”
“Oh, Celestia!” Sugar Cookie muttered under her breath, running towards the crashed unicorn. “Switch, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me!” Switch grinned at the pony in his inverted field of view. “I think I overloaded the boiler! My, are those old gaskets weak!”
Dragonfly stared at the unicorn in stunned silence as he spoke, but was soon dragged by Rosie to the Twins’ steam tractor, which had been moved closer to the inn and now looked more like an one-pony design bureau. An open-walled tent had been erected on the flatbed, and inside stood Button, a drawing board, and an excessive amount of blueprint paper. Button scribbled frenetically, occasionally stopping, scratching her chin with the back of the telekinetically-held feather, whispering a few words of enlightenment to herself, then going back to the drawing board.
Rosie jumped onto the tractor and peeked over Button’s shoulder. She exclaimed: “Good heavens, Button! What are you doing in here?”
“Oh, just planning a little bit of home improvement for Dragonfly’s inn!” Button smiled proudly, unrolling and hovering five different blueprints into view. Dragonfly recognized those blueprints as being architectural designs, one of them looking very much like some sort of ancient gothic cathedral, but any further details were entirely out of her grasp. Rosie, on the other hoof, seemed to understand it well enough:
“Button, we have to put Mr. Honeywell’s inn back into place, not take it down and build an entirely new one!”
Button opened her mouth to reply, but a bellowing shout from behind the building cut her off. It was Skywall: “Heeey! Li’l help here?!”
“Aw, crud. What now?” Dragonfly in tow, Rosie circled the inn and stopped suddenly as she saw Skywall. The stallion was pulling against a rope tied to a harness around his enormous torso. The rope was tied to the foundations of the house, which groaned and shuddered. His wings were flapping for extra power, but his hooves were digging into the soft earth as he was slowly but surely pulled backwards towards the inn. “Yow! What are you doing there?”
“I was s’posed to just keep the house stable! But the explosion rocked the whole thing! I think... It’s tryin’ to sink further towards the front!” Skywall said between heavy grunts, flapping his wings harder. “Help me pull this!”
Rosie nodded and stood by Skywall, biting on the taut rope and trying to walk backwards. Dragonfly ran back towards the front, stumbling on the same rock Switch had hit just before but hopping a few times with her wings open before recovering and stopping in the middle of the garden.
“Sugar Cookie!” She called out to the earth pony who was still admonishing Switch about dangerous explosions as she finished applying ointment on his side. “I... I don’t know what to do!”
“What a mess...!” Sugar Cookie said, looking around. She turned towards the steam tractor and yelled: “Button, stop what you’re doing and come here!”
“What?” Button replied distractedly, her quill flying over the blueprint paper. Oh, the rush of inspiration was so intense!
“I said come here!”
“Just a minute!”
“NOW!”
Dragonfly chuckled as she saw all the color drain from Button’s face as she dropped the quill and quietly jumped off the parked tractor. The unicorn approached meekly, moving to stand besides her bother.
“Um... yes?” The Twins asked.
“What in the name of Celestia were you two trying to do?” Sugar Cookie asked pointedly.
“We were trying to fix the inn, of course!” They answered promptly.
“By bringing it down?!” Rosie asked incredulously, arriving besides Dragonfly. Skywall stood a little further back, removing the harness. “The explosion almost made it flip on its side! Lucky us we managed to stabilize it again!”
“It was a faulty gasket, we swear!”
“What are all these blueprints?” Sugar Cookie was looking through the multiple plans that stuck out of Button’s saddlebags. “Something about a ‘hydraulically-actuated, high-speed, high-power, sensor-controlled equestrian egress valve’? What’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s an automatic sliding door!” The Twins beamed at their own cleverness. The smiles soon yellowed and vanished, replaced by embarrassed looks. “... we just thought it would be nice to have those installed... you know, so ponies wouldn’t have to push the door open to enter...?”
Rosie brought a hoof to her face. “Shouldn’t you be thinking about that after coming up with a way to put the inn back into place?”
“Hey, one thing at a time! You can’t rush ingenuity!”
“That’s not exactly how I call it, you know?”
“Calm down, everypony...!” Dragonfly, who had been chewing on her lower lip, exclaimed. The other ponies ignored her, until Skywall stomping his hoof down caught their attention. Dragonfly looked at the grey pegasus and smiled awkwardly. “Um, thanks Skywall! Anyway... instead of arguing... can anypony tell me if they have any ideas as to how to get the inn upright again? I mean, keep it simple!”
“Well...” The Twins scrunched up their faces. The entire concept of ‘simplicity’ was more often than not lost in them. “Maybe... we could set up some pulleys on the other side and pull the house back into place? That’s simple, right?”
“It should be.” Rosie said, looking at the inn. “We’re going to need some supports, even if just temporary ones... so the house doesn’t fall back into the hole that pulling it back into place is gonna leave!”
“We can try stacking the furniture on the other side of the inn so it weighs more there and keeps the rear in place!” Dragonfly suggested. “Like a seesaw!”
“Yes, that’s good!” Button said, smiling wide and telekinetically reaching for a blank sheet of blue paper. “I’ll draw the schematics right away!”
“No, no, no. Enough zany schematics for you two for today!” Rosie pulled Button by the tail. Skywall reached forward the same with Switch. “You two are gonna help us pull! Dragonfly and Sugar Cookie are gonna go inside once everything is upright and rearrange the furniture.”
“Wait! No! We’re awful at pulling heavy thiiiiiiings!”
“And once we’re done here, you two are buying a new boiler! A normal one, and not those that fly out of the basement and through the roof if the valve gets stuck! And no automatic doors unless Dragonfly explicitly asks for them, you hear?”
Dragonfly saw the two unicorns being dragged around the building and giggled. Finally, things seemed to be going the right direction. The inn would take a couple of days to repair, and maybe another couple days to prepare for guests (the dingy grey paintwork would have to go), but Dragonfly was optimistic. Perhaps with the inn open Mrs. Tea Leaf, who would no doubt be very cross about the boiler explosion and the whole ‘almost crashing the inn on its side’ thing, would relax a little bit.
Either way, it was time to put her hooves in motion! All that heavy furniture wasn’t going to push itself! Dragonfly took in a deep breath, looked at the work ahead of her, and her stomach growled unceremoniously.
“Um... Sugar Cookie?” Dragonfly asked, digging into the dirt with one hoof. “You wouldn’t happen to have some food in those saddlebags, would you?”
