Coco

Rays of sun poked at her eyes, making her blink blearily. I stayed up too late working on that jacket, Coco thought through the haze of morning grogginess. Who knew that thing had so many loose buttons on top of the hole? She couldn't help thinking she was missing something, too. Was it a button she forgot? No, Coco was missing something else. Something like...

The alarm clock!

Coco bolted up, throwing the covers off herself, and found the clock facing her, with no alarm set. It read nine-twenty-two in the morning. She didn't need to check her ticket to know her ship left at nine-thirty. Horror set in. No, no, no, this wasn't happening! Not to her! The minute hand ticked to nine-twenty-three.

Okay, so this was happening to her.

Coco glanced around in a panic. What was she going to do? Her luggage was packed and ready to go, but she'd never be able to get it to the dock in seven minutes. And she still had Caballeron's jacket here! She had to get that back to him, twenty three minutes ago!

The hotel could just ship this back to me, right? Coco asked herself, turning away from her red suitcase. She grabbed the archaeologist's jacket, stuffed it in her saddlebags, threw them on and ran out the door. There was a close call involving the cleaning staff's cart in the hall, but she managed to get down the stairs and out of the lobby without colliding with anypony. The bank they had agree to meet at was on the corner of the town square, only a few blocks from her hotel. At this early hour, the streets were rather empty, so Coco ran as fast as she could.

The square was nearly empty, except for a few locals out on business. Above, the bank's clock tower struck nine-thirty, sharp; the little bells ringing out half their tune. There was no sign of Caballeron. “Oh no...” said Coco, catching her breath while nearly spinning around in her effort to see if she could catch even a glimpse of him. Not only was her ship leaving this very moment, but now she had accidentally stolen a stallion's coat she had promised to return! Her throat felt tight, her stomach fluttered. Rarity never runs into problems like this when she tries to do something nice!

In a desperate act, Coco turned to a nearby mare that was opening the door of a shop for business. “Excuse me,” she asked, “you haven't seen a brown stallion with a red bandana around his neck here earlier, have you?”

“Hmm?” the mare thought to herself. “Ah, you must be who he was standing around for. He left a few minutes ago, down that way.” She pointed towards the docks. Coco didn't even thank her, she was already off running again. The sea was just a hundred yards away when she caught sight of him.

“Doctor!” gasped Coco, sliding to a stop just as he was about to go into an inn. “Doctor Caballeron, I-” a fit of coughing interrupted. Her lungs were on fire, she could swear it.

“Miss Pommel?” Caballeron sounded surprised.

“I got your- I got-”

“Don't bother talking just yet,” sighed Caballeron. “Just sit down and take a moment before explaining yourself.” Coco could only nod, parking herself on the still-cool sidewalk. It'd been a long time since she had to run for ten minutes straight; it wasn't exactly expected of ponies in her field of work. At least it isn't hot out yet, she thought.

“I've got your jacket.” she finally said, more quietly than she intended to.

“I'm glad you managed to get it to me, I'd given up on waiting. But aren't you supposed to be...” Caballeron looked out to the harbor, and saw the Platinum's stern retreating out to the open sea. “...there?”

“I...” Coco looked at her hooves, and made her confession. “I slept through my alarm. I guess I was up later than I realized... I got your jacket fixed, though.”

“Yes, I'm aware.” the doctor gave her a slightly-worried frown. “I suppose you'll be booking passage on a different ship now?”

“Yes... No... I don't know.” Coco felt her eyes watering up. “I don't have any money left. And I have to be back in Manehatten in six days to meet a client, and I have to be out of the hotel by noon now, and-”

“Easy,” urged Caballeron, “just calm down and breathe.” She did as told, wiping her eyes with a hoof. “Now, Miss Pommel, seeing as how you were kind enough to bring me my jacket instead of get to your ship, I feel I owe you a favor in turn. I could leave you stranded here,” Caballeron said, looking like he was seriously considering it, “but... No, you've been too good to me to warrant that. I'll take you to see the captain of the ship I'll soon be leaving on. I'm sure there's room for one more.”

“R-really?” Coco stammered, looking up at him. A ray of hope! “You'd do that?”

“Sometimes I surprise even myself.” he muttered, before nodding firmly. “Yes, sure. Let's go.”

“I can't even begin to thank you-”

“You thanked me by getting back a worthless piece of cloth I like to wear, Miss Pommel. No need for anything further.”

Before they went to see the captain, though, Coco asked if she could have breakfast; she hadn't the time to eat this morning, obviously. She had some toast in the inn, courtesy of Doctor Caballeron. For some reason, he was not as talkative as he was yesterday; he seemed rather tired. “Did you not sleep well?” Coco asked.

“The world of dreams is a strange one.” said Caballeron, frowning as he looked off into space. Coco didn't press the issue, despite how strange his answer was. When she finished her breakfast, Caballeron lead her back out to the docks. They wove through the hustle and bustle of porters and sailors; the archeologist pointed out a steamer.

“There she is,” he said, “the Nutmeg.”

Coco's ears twitched back a little. “You're sailing in that?” she asked, squinting at the black hull of the Nutmeg. The freighter had definitely seen better days: there were streaks of dirty red rust by her anchors, the paint was flaking off, some of the vent cowls were bent, and the funnel was dented in several places.

“She doesn't look like much, but she'll get us to Equestria in good order.” Caballeron said, confident. “It won't be my first time aboard for a voyage. The captain is a reliable stallion, who doesn't ask questions.”

“What do you mean by that?” It sounded like a line a character of ill-repute would speak in an adventure novel. Some of the mares she worked with read an adventure novel series; Coco couldn't recall the name.

“We archaeologists, especially ones who are willing to get their hooves dirty, usually have to be discreet in our means of travel. It's the best way to get valuables out of lawless lands.” explained the doctor. “We wouldn't want rumors of priceless artifacts guarded by a single stallion to be going around because of a careless speaker, would we?”

“I suppose not.” agreed Coco. It did make sense why one wouldn't want to be asked about their business in places that weren't as safe as Equestria. Not all lands were fortunate enough to have a stable authority.

“Come,” said Caballeron, “let us meet the captain.”

Luckily, the captain was not hard to find. He was a tall and well-built pegasus stallion, pale blue in coat and dark grey in mane; he wore a white cap with a gold anchor on it. When they found him, he was directing the loading of crates. “Ah! Doctor Caballeron!” he boomed, when he noticed the two approach. “You're early, my friend!”

“I'm not here to board yet, Captain Billet-” Caballeron said in a significantly less loud voice.

“Who's this?” the Captain interrupted, stepping towards Coco. “Don't tell me you've got a fillyfriend now, Cabal.” Caballeron's mouth twitched downward, just barely avoiding a frown. Coco didn't know if she should take his reaction as an insult, or just him being annoyed at the Captain.

“This is an acquaintance of mine who missed her own ship out.” said the Doctor.

“What's your name?” asked the Captain.

“I'm Coco Pommel.”

“Barnacle Billet!” the Captain nearly shouted in her face, taking flight so he could shake her hoof. “Damn glad to meet you. So, how can I help?”

“Well,” Coco took a moment to gather her thoughts. The morning's events still had her a little upset, but she put on her best calm. “As the Doctor here said, I'm afraid I missed my ship home. And I don't have a single bit left on me, either... He told me that you could help me, Captain Billet.”

“Call me Captain Bill. Or Barnacle Bill. Or just Bill.” said the excitable stallion, who was still shaking her hoof. Coco glanced at Caballeron, who could only give her a resigned look. “Cabal's right, though! I can certainly get you out of this predicament. There's plenty of room on the Nutmeg, and as long as you're willing to pull your fair share of work, we'd be glad to take you on as far as you want to go. What do you have to offer us?”

“I'm decent at sewing,” said Coco, noting that her hoof was still being shaken, “so if you've got anything that needs to be patched...”

“Don't be so humble, Miss Pommel.” Caballeron piped up. “You're an up-and-coming designer in Manehatten, so you said yesterday evening. That makes you far beyond decent.”

“I guess I am actually pretty good.” agreed Coco. She smiled even as she blushed a little. Even after months of recognition, it was still sometimes embarrassing to be complimented on her work. I should probably get used to that, she told herself, but she knew she wouldn’t.

“I'll take it!” said Captain Bill. “Welcome aboard, and be sure to show up here at a quarter till noon, or else you'll miss your second ship of the day.” He finally stopped shaking her hoof, and flew off to continue directing crates. Coco pulled her foreleg close to her, just in case he came back.

“He's got a very big personality.” she noted. In the future, she'd look out for him. He seemed like a perfectly friendly pony, but even friendliness had a limit. Some ponies just don’t know what personal space is...

“That's for certain.” Caballeron grumbled. “You get used to it, though. I've found him reliable, despite his... boisterousness.”

The two agreed to meet at Nutmeg's berth at eleven-thirty, just to be safe. Coco went back to her hotel, took her luggage, and checked out. It was an ordeal to get it all to the docks, but she arrived even earlier than planned. She met Nutmeg's quartermaster, Forestay; the second mate, Shoal Spar; and the two cooks, Jig and Brig. Apparently, two cooks were better than one. There were some other sailors present, but Coco didn't get their names, they were busy loading the last of the cargo.

Cabelleron showed up sharply at a quarter till noon, just as told. All he had with him was a long box, which he had put on a little trolley to push around. It was the strangest suitcase Coco had ever seen, being entirely made of metal and without any locks at all. Her eyes lingered on it, before Captain Bill emerged from the ship.

“Come on up, everypony, we'll be casting off soon!” he ordered.

“I'll be good not to have to watch my back for once.” said the archaeologist, giving a weary look to his metal box as he pushed it up the gangplank and onto the deck. “You never know what you'll miss until it's gone. But with luck, we'll be back in no time.”

“I sure hope so.” agreed Coco. She had to wonder why Caballeron was watching his back, but that was a question for another day.

Nutmeg set out at noon, just as planned. Coco breathed a sigh of relief. Having come so close to disaster, she was homeward bound after all.

Author's Note

Here is what Nutmeg looks like in my mind. Yes, those are indeed auxiliary sails.