“Wow,” Jessica gasped, her eyes glued to the magical sight of the unicorn city. It sat on several artificial ridges of differing heights, that wrapped around a large portion of the mountain it resided on. The entire dwelling was walled off with polished marble. She could even see a castle, with two large towers each accented with shining gold and midnight blue respectively.

“You like?” chuckled a warm voice.

“Can we visit? I really want to go there!” Jessica squealed, finally tearing her gaze away from the window. She grabbed her feathered companion by the shoulders, his large amber eyes surveying her with amusement.

The flight was nearly over, and Jessica couldn’t wait to get back on the ground again. It was pretty uncomfortable flying with nothing to sit on. She had just taken to sitting cross-legged on the cabin floor with Warmfront leaning against her leg for most of the flight, her fingers idly stroking his mane as they talked. While she could have just rested in the crew quarters, there weren’t any windows in there to see the sights of Equestria.

Plus, she didn’t really much care for Reginald. He often gave her funny looks.

“I think that’s the plan,” Warmfront replied, lying back down on his barrel again.

Leanne moved to his other side. She had gotten bored of playing games on her phone, and had taken to petting Warmfront to pass the time. Her hands played with his mane and tail, and she’d even stroked the part of his back between his wings a few times. It was hard to tell what Warmfront thought of her fiddling with him, but if she had to guess—Jessica would say he was much too polite to tell her to cut it out.

As if on cue, the handsy air hostess ran a palm between his wings, and they gave a noticeable twitch. He blinked, his muzzle scrunching up for a second. Jessica scowled. For whatever reason, it bothered her. “Leanne, will you please stop feeling him up? He’s not some Shetland pony you can just pet at your will!”

“What? I’m not feeling him up!” she retorted, her cheeks reddening. “I’m just stroking him,” she said, her palm still running through his coat.

“You’re not supposed to touch pegasi wings!” Jessica chastised.

“Jack touches Flitter and Rainy’s wings all the time.”

“That’s different. He’s supposed to-”

“Ladies, please,” Warmfront cut in, the fur beneath his cheeks a little redder than usual. “A certain amount of contact is indeed normal for ponies. We’re very social. But, if you want full disclosure-” he looked Leanne dead in the eyes. “Stop playing with my wing joints, Sweetheart. It’s making me want to mount you.”

The effect was instantaneous. Leanne snatched her hands away from him so fast she nearly slapped herself in the face. “Oookaaay,” she squeaked, getting to her feet and slowly backing away. With one fleeting glance back at him, she ran the full length of the cabin to the crew sleeping quarters, several ponies giving her adorable looks of confusion as she flew past them.

Jessica snorted, before bursting into laughter. “Oh, priceless!” She slapped Warmfront on the flank. The stallion let out a surprised whinny, before chuckling along with her.

“What’s up with Leanne?” asked a pale olive-coated mare wearing a Wonderbolt flight suit. Her mane and tail were a very pale arctic blue, and she had the “windswept” look going on that was popular among fast-fliers.

“Oh, hey Misty. She’s just learning about boundaries,” Jessica chuckled, patting the floor next to her. “Come join us.”

Misty Fly sat down on the opposite side from Warmfront, giving Jessica a quick nuzzle before leaning against her leg. Jessica ran her hand over the mare’s flightsuit, finding the ponies’ love of social contact endearing.

“So, hey—I gotta ask you something,” the mare began, gazing up at Jessica with those pretty green eyes. “What would be the best way to get Jack into bed?”

“Uhh…” Jessica faltered, the question catching her completely off guard. Sure, she was over the initial reaction of finding out Jack was going to be having sex with the mares, but it was still really weird for her. “Well… I’m not sure. I’ve never tried to sleep with him,” she added, somewhat lamely. “Don’t you already have a… um…”

Misty Fly frowned, her ears drooping a shade. “Ehh… Twister’s not doing it for me anymore. Plus, he’s kind of an asshole. I’ve been thinking of transferring to a different stallion for a while now, and Jack seems… well, kinda perfect,” she said, grinning happily.

Warmfront snorted. “He really has no idea how lucky he is,” the stallion muttered. More to himself, than anyone in particular. “It’s only ‘cause he’s all exotic…”

“Really?” Jessica asked Misty Fly, ignoring Warmfront’s jealousy… which, she had to admit—was kind of adorable.

“Well, yeah. Not having to take those disgusting herbs will be a welcome change for one thing.”

“Herbs? What herbs?”

Misty Fly’s grin was replaced with a grimace, her snout scrunching in disgust and her feathers ruffling. “Birth control. Tastes like rancid seaweed that’s been marinated in milk left out in the San Palomino desert for three days.”

Jessica turned her nose up. “Eww. Gross,” she muttered, wholly thankful she didn’t have a heat cycle. “So, wait… you’re not put off by him being human?”

“Of course not. It’s not all that rare for ponies to do it with other species. This one time—my cousin got drunk at a Trottingham barn party and let a minotaur rut her under a water tower,” she chuckled, her wings adjusting slightly. “Besides, Jack’s kinda cute, and his hands look… useful.”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I just guess it’s weird for me, because where I come from—humans are the only intelligent species.”

Misty Fly gave Jessica a wistful look, a devilish smile curling her fur-covered lips. “Well, ask yourself this—would you let Warmfront rut you?”

Jessica felt as though someone had just poured ice cold water down her back. She glanced at the stallion, but Warmfront was busy meeting Misty Fly’s look of glee with a less-than-amused glare. Her initial reaction was to say no, but when she opened her mouth, the word refused to leave it.

“I… I don’t… know?” she ended up muttering, the upward inflection confusing her even more.

She’d pretty much accepted that leaving Earth had kind of ended her sex life. Between a guy who liked cock, and a guy who drank so much whiskey he’d probably pass out during, her options were slim. Plus, Jessica paled at the thought of what Felix might do to her if she made a move on Jack. He may as well have “PROPERTY OF FELICITY” tattooed in big letters across his back, surrounded by lots of little pictures of lithium atoms. The unicorn was ridiculously protective of him. The way she often found excuses to touch him with her horn at any given opportunity was evidence enough. Sometimes she would just rub it against his chest for no reason at all, even when there was magic running through it. Spitfire had said that it would be highly inappropriate to touch a unicorn’s horn, but even moreso when the unicorn was casting.

But, Warmfront… Warmfront made her smile when no one else could. He made her laugh when she was feeling down. He could even make her completely forget she was stranded on an unfamiliar planet, with next to no hope of ever getting home. The fact that he was easy on the eyes was an added bonus. His golden coloured mane and tail were always shiny, and the large blue feathers of his wings were always well preened. It was easy to see he took good care of himself, unlike some of the other stallions she had seen.

The sudden, unexpected pondering of what his cock might look like took her by surprise, causing a hot flush to replace the ice at her back. Would it be too big for her? He was a horse, after all. What if he was hung like one? Would the end of it flare deep inside of her when he climaxed? Jessica felt a shudder rattle down her spine from the lewd thoughts running through her head. Was she really considering sleeping with a pony? Maybe he would wrap his wings around her… That would feel really nice—those things were so soft.

“Got’ya thinking about it now, eh?” Misty Fly snickered.

Jessica cleared her throat, suddenly painfully aware she had been lost in her thoughts for a good thirty seconds.

“Ignore her, Jess. She’s just trying to wind you up,” Warmfront interjected, brushing a wing against her side.

“No, I’m not,” Misty Fly countered. “I just don’t want the filly to go without some fun. If she waits until you pluck up the courage to ask her if she wants to, then it probably wouldn’t be all that fun by that point.”

Jessica blushed. She couldn’t believe Misty’s casualness about the situation. Warmfront scowled. “Will you just give it a rest?”

“Okay, fine!” she sighed, turning her eyes once more to Jessica. “So, back to Jack. I wanna be sleeping with him at least once a month. How do I make that happen? Is there anything specific a human would appreciate that I should be doing? I mean, I’ve got game in spades-” she expanded her wings, “-but I’ve never tried to pull anypony that wasn’t a pony before.”

Jessica blinked. Jack seemed really popular among the ponies… “Well, like I said, I’ve never tried to sleep with him, so I don’t really know what he likes,” she began, before spotting Fleetfoot stomping towards her. The General’s wings were flared, her eyelids low, and several ponies scarpered to get out of her way upon catching sight of her.

“Lieutenant Misty Fly,” she addressed, her voice sickeningly soft. It still managed to terrify Jessica, despite the fact Fleetfoot wasn’t even talking to her.

Misty Fly’s face paled, her wings snapping shut with an audible slap of feathers on fur. She jumped to her hooves, saluting the higher ranking mare. “General Fleetfoot.”

“Did I just overhear you asking Jessica for advice on how to get Captain Jack under your tail?”

Misty Fly trembled a little. “Yes, ma’am.”

Fleetfoot stepped a little closer to Misty Fly, until their muzzles were almost touching. “He will do his duty when he’s good and ready. Under no circumstances are you, or any other mare under my command, to try and trick him into sex before he is ready.”

“That wasn’t what I meant! I would never-” Misty Fly spluttered, her ears were so flattened into her mane they were barely visible anymore. Jessica thought of coming to her defence, but she really didn’t want Fleetfoot to lose her cool. The pony really was a nutbag…

“Do I make myself clear?” Fleetfoot barked, fire in her fuscia eyes.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” With that, Fleetfoot turned to Warmfront, surveying both him and Jessica for a few moments. Jess wondered if she was going to get a telling off, as well, but Fleetfoot just blinked. “You’re a big guy, Warmfront. Be careful not to break her.” She tapped him on the shoulder, before trotting off, leaving Jessica blushing furiously, and Warmfront scowling.

* * *

CRACK.

Going from sitting down in a pilot seat, to suddenly standing up on solid tarmac in absolutely no time at all was not something I’d ever experienced before. As a result, I fell over in plain view of many unfamiliar ponies, most of which stared at me with their big round inquisitive eyes.

“Damn it, Felix!” I yelled, falling partly on the unicorn’s back. “How many times have I told you now?” Not once had she ever warned me we were about to teleport. Fucking unicorns, man.

“Bee, this is Jack!” Felix greeted one of the ponies, pulling the mare in for a nuzzle. “He’s a Captain, like you!”

I picked my fallen cap up off the floor, catching an eyeful of the pony she was talking to. Holy smokes… I put my cap back on. It was crooked, but I was unable to care.

In two words, this mare was breathtakingly beautiful. Her huge, heart wrenching turquoise eyes roamed all over my frame, until I caught her gaze directly. It was weird. I kinda had the sudden urge to just scoop her up for a hug.

Her coat was a light tan colour, her mane and tail strikingly ginger and full of voluminous curls. Both were secured with turquoise hairbands at the ends, though her mane parted to either side of her pretty face, hanging freely on one side. It was an adorable look for her. She had neither horn, nor wings, and a subtle glance at her voluptuous flanks revealed what resembled a golden pirate ship wheel with several rubies embedded into the spindles. There was a small yellow flower in her hair. All I could think was that this mare had the “perfect girl next door” look down to a tee.

“Jack, this is Buttercup,” Felix said, giving me a curious look as she pulled back to stand next to Flitter. The pretty flight suit-clad pegasus was also looking at me like she was trying to gauge my reaction. If I had to guess, I’d say that this earth pony was a rather close friend of theirs.

I don’t know what made me do it—perhaps a culmination of their expectations, and Buttercup’s endearing charm—but I dropped down on one knee, and took one of her pretty hooves in my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I purred, planting a chaste kiss on her fetlock.

The cute little mare didn’t react at all for a moment. A moment in which I asked myself what the feathering fuck I was doing. Kissing her fetlock? Are you fucking serious? I was halfway through internally swearing off talking to any pony ever again out of sheer embarrassment, but then she let out a cute little squeak.

Her hooves were suddenly around my neck, and the soft fur of her cheek rubbed against my face in a traditional pony greeting. Fuck it… I gave her the hug I’d been considering a few moments earlier. She was warm, and had a sweet scent that reminded me of pears.

“Hi,” she squeaked, withdrawing her hooves and blinking at me with those pretty turquoise orbs. Both Felix and Flitter were beaming at me. Perhaps I hadn’t messed up after all.

The sound of an upper deck door on the Airbus opening caught my attention. I turned in time to see two more doors open on the lower floor, several pegasi spilling out of them. Jessica stepped right out into the air, a pair of cerulean hooves about her waist, and large cerulean wings flapping behind her. Both she and Warmfront gracefully fluttered down to the tarmac. The stallion set her down, before going back up for Leanne.

“I’m gonna go wake Jason up,” Flitter announced, flaring her wings. “Felix, can you get this?”

Felix nodded, her horn flashing. The large gatling gun on Flitter’s back vanished. The pegasus adjusted her bow with a hoof and fluttered up to the upper deck, brushing a wing against me and smiling as she passed. I grabbed at her tail, but missed by quite a bit. Stupid cute pony.

A large number of earth ponies and unfamiliar pegasi began to crowd around the jet, a lot of them closing in on me and Jessica with inquisitive muzzles and observant eyes. I glanced at my co-worker. She was smiling, but it looked a tad forced as she observed the sea of ponies.

“Don’t you ponies have jobs to be doing? Get back to work!” barked a cute little high pitched voice, a mild southern accent making itself known in the pronunciation. I almost did a double take when I realised it was Buttercup that had spoken.

The ponies met her order with looks of disappointment and little pouty faces, several of them voicing their disdain with an “aww!” or a lengthy sigh. Floppy ears reigned supreme.

“Oh my goodness, they’re adorable,” Jessica cooed, her nervousness all but forgotten.

Warmfront set a slightly whitefaced Leanne down on the tarmac, just as Flitter fluttered down with Jason. “What’d I miss?” he asked, glancing around at the crowd. “Oooh, look at all those cute little faces!” I slapped a palm to my forehead. They may have been cute, but most of them were trained fighters.

Gradually, most of the ponies trotted away to their duties, though a few remained to admire Slipstream. Captain Buttercup seemed unfazed by the stragglers. “Spitfire said I should take you to my ship,” she addressed the four of us, her ears flattening a shade. “So, um… it’s that one.” She pointed a hoof to the largest of the five airships sitting moored above the sky dock.

“Well, lead on, Honey! We’ll follow you wherever you want to take us,” Jason beamed at the mare. That seemed to give her a little confidence, and she smiled.

“I gotta get to debrief,” Flitter sighed, rearing up on her hind legs. She briefly captured me with wings and forehooves, quickly pecking my cheek with her muzzle. “Later, horsefucker,” she whispered into my ear, launching herself into the air a split second later.

I scowled as she flew away, deliberately letting her tail flag wildly in the breeze. That suit wasn’t doing much to cover her feminine charms, either.

“I gotta go too,” Warmfront said, more to Jessica than anyone else. “Felix, you coming?” he asked the pretty unicorn.

He hadn’t even stuttered—something I found a little odd, seeing as he was always a little nervous around her. Felix shook her head, her mane falling briefly over her face before she swept it back with a hoof. “Go ahead without me, Sweetie. I’ll catch up later.”

The stallion gave a nod, spreading his wings. Jessica gave him a quick scratch behind the ear and he faltered for a split second, both of his ears giving a quick flick. Not a moment later, he had launched himself into the air.

I blinked, giving the air hostess an overly inquisitive look. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You just scratched his ear.”

“No I didn’t,” she chuckled, fiddling with her hair and avoiding my gaze. Jason gave an incredulous look, but it was directed at me for some reason.

I snorted. “Jess, we all just watched you do it-oww!”

I grabbed the sharp pointy white horn that had suddenly embedded itself into my stomach, pushing its owner away with my other hand. “What was that for?” I yelped, rubbing my bruised abdomen.

Felix nickered, overdramatically turning up her muzzle and trotting away toward the sky docks. “Hypocrite,” she muttered, flicking her tail from left to right, but she glanced back at me with a devious grin after a few paces.

Buttercup stifled an adorable little giggle behind her forehooves, before flashing me a sheepish grin and trotting off after the unicorn. I wasn’t sure if it was her intention, but her tail was swishing even more than the Felix’s. My eyes were drawn to her delectable equine treasure like a moth to a flame.

A slap to my shoulder snapped me out of my ogling. Jessica gave me a filthy look, but ruined the effect with a small smile. “Pervert,” she muttered, before striding after the two mares.

We set off toward the sky dock, side stepping the multiple wooden wagons the earth ponies had pulled over to unload the sky iron plating from the Airbus cargo hold. Spitfire had mentioned it would probably take a couple of weeks to get the jet fully outfitted with a full skin of armour, so we wouldn’t have much to do until then.

“Wow… That looks like a flying pirate ship!” Jason gasped, gazing up at the magnificent Equestrian airship.

He wasn’t wrong, either. Buttercup’s ship bore a striking resemblance to an eighteenth century Man-of-War, with a horizontally striped yellow and black paint job to match. Hell, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in the British Navy of the time, if it weren’t for the complete lack of sails. Well, that, and the fact it could fly. Constructed almost entirely of wood, it was quite a bit larger than the other airships. A large white gas bag held the craft aloft, connected by three sturdy masts along the middle and several sets of rigging along the sides. A multitude of cannons—too many to accurately count in any short length of time—protruded from several gun ports on its side, and a wooden figurehead in the shape of an earth pony reared on her hind legs adorned the top of the hull.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Felix began, stopping just short of a wooden platform at the base of the tall wooden docking tower. It was attached to a system of pulleys and counterweights, and looked to be a primitive version of an elevator. “I’d like to welcome you aboard Princess Celestia’s Airship, the Thorn of Canterlot,” she finished, with a cute little courtesy of her forehooves.

* * *

The sky was calm. Near enough perfect conditions for stunt flying—a little pastime of Fleetfoot’s. Not that she was really in the mood for such an activity at that moment. Normally, she would’ve gladly taken to the skies after such a lengthy time cooped up on a ship, or better yet—flown the journey herself. Her ulterior motive for opting to be a mere passenger on the flight to Foal Mountain was born of a simple conclusion: mares were curious creatures.

Fleetfoot knew it to be true, being a mare herself. The hypocrisy was not lost on her, either. She lay on a cloud, her forelegs hanging over the edge as she gazed wistfully down at the docked warship, the Thorn of Canterlot. The vessel was currently playing host to a precious payload of humans.

Jack had a hand on the wheel at the aft of the ship—which happened to be a spitting image of Captain Buttercup’s cutie mark. The mare in question was sat on her haunches quite close to his side, chatting animatedly and gesturing with her forehooves to various parts of the ship. No doubt she wanted to impress upon him the magical might of Equestrian technology, given the sheer technological marvel of Jack’s own ship.

Either that, or she too wanted to rut him.

It was becoming a common occurrence, as of late. Fleetfoot found she didn’t mind such behaviours toward him from ponies she considered her friends, despite said ponies often being ranks below her. Felix, Flitter, Spitfire and indeed Buttercup were a few notable examples. But the same could not be said of less familiar mares.

Sure, Misty Fly had irked her on board Slipstream, but that had been more a case of bad timing than Fleetfoot’s opposition of such an appointment. Misty was a fine Lieutenant, and really—what business did a General really have meddling in something as trivial as to which mare gets to have her fun with a comfort stallion?

Fleetfoot scowled, her wings ruffling at her back. She had tried her best to remain professional, but her best efforts had gotten her nowhere. She was supposed to be supervising a mission debrief, but had instead dumped responsibility onto Soarin just so she could goof off on a cloud and gaze down at the object of her affections.

Ever since Jack had shown her the control room of his ship, Fleetfoot had known she was going to have to tread carefully around him, especially considering Spitfire had immediately appointed him Windrunner’s replacement. What had initially been intended as a punishment for him had inadvertently stuck as an actual duty—something that annoyed Fleetfoot to no end. Of course, she could have just put her hoof down and said no to the idea, but then ponies would’ve started asking questions. Annoying questions.

Fleetfoot sighed into the gentle breeze. Felix was at Jack’s other side, her face lit up with laughter. Probably at something he’d just said. Whenever she saw the two of them together, she suddenly developed a serious case of butterflies in her barrel and had to fight back the urge to catch the unicorn on her own and try her luck.

If somepony had asked her a few years ago if she would ever consider herding, she would’ve laughed in their face. But now… Fleetfoot scrunched her muzzle, observing the alabaster unicorn with those perfectly pink, gorgeous curls flowing from her head and rump. If there was ever a mare that could make Fleetfoot want to swing both ways, it’d be Felicity. Not surprising, seeing as she was the daughter of the most successful supermodel Canterlot had ever seen…

An irregularity in the breeze flowing over her coat caused Fleetfoot to scan the skies for any potential assailants. She spotted Soarin in an instant. The Wing Commander soared up to her cloud, a piece of paper clenched in his muzzle and a worrisome look on his face. He alighted on the cloud next to her, removing the sheet from his mouth. It had a Wonderbolt letterhead on it.

“Uh, General? You should probably take a look at this.”

Fleetfoot took the sheet, her eyes scanning its contents. Grouped listings of mostly unfamiliar female pony names were written on it, each corresponding to the underlined names of comfort stallions under her command. Each of the mares’ names had a date beside it. “A heat roster?” she surmised, shooting the stallion an inquisitive look.

It wasn’t uncommon for stallions visiting different bases to service the mares stationed there. Foal Mountain was particularly bereft of stallions, mainly because it was primarily an earth pony base, and not many stallions could handle the ground dwellers’ enthusiasm when they were in season. Several earth pony stallions had even requested transfers to more race-balanced stations. The few that remained were seriously overworked, but all of them chose to remain of their own volition.

Soarin grimaced, pointing a hoof to an underlined name that Fleetfoot had missed. “I thought you should know…” he trailed off.

Captain Jack (Human - no herbs required)

Fleetfoot’s face paled. She clenched her jaw, eyes flicking through the considerable number of mares that had signed up to rut her human. She was going to murder every last one of them… No—that would take too long. “Who gave you this?” she hissed through gritted teeth, her wings flared skyward and the hoof holding the roster visibly shaking.

Soarin gulped, beginning to talk extremely quickly. “General Swift Hooves, ma’am. I saw Jack’s name right away, and I knew you wouldn’t like it. I tried to tell her, but she was having none of it-”

Fleetfoot rolled, her body smashing through the cloud as her wings skyrocketed her down towards the base at breakneck speed. Sailing through an open window, she rocketed down a corridor, her wake nearly ripping the plaster off the walls. Barely a few seconds later, she all but smashed her way through General Swift Hooves’ office door.

The dark-coated bespectacled grey mare was sat at her desk, a quill in her maw, hoof holding her long black mane aside as she signed a piece of paperwork. She didn’t even look up at Fleetfoot’s intrusion. Instead, she let out a sigh, setting the quill aside. “And just what have I done this time to earn the ire of the fearsome General Fleetfoot?”

Fleetfoot reared up and slammed a paper-clad forehoof to the desk so hard it cracked the wood. “This.”

Swift Hooves pushed her spectacles back on the bridge of her nose, inspecting the half-crumpled document beneath Fleetfoot’s hoof. She raised an eyebrow. “You intend to deny my soldiers relief?”

Fleetfoot nickered. “They can have all the cock they want. They cannot, however, have Jack,” she all but spat, her wings flared toward the ceiling.

Swift Hooves glanced at Jack’s name on the sheet for a moment. Fleetfoot thought she was going to foolishly try and argue, but the mare just shrugged. “Okay,” she conceded. Taking her quill, she crossed out Jack’s entire section.

Well, that had been a lot easier than anticipated. Fleetfoot would have taken the matter directly to Celestia herself, but no such ruling would be necessary… She frowned. Just what was Swift up to?

The earth mare smiled. “Hey, I was curious. He must be something quite special if you’re not willing to share.”

Fleetfoot scowled. “It’s nothing like that,” she lied, folding her wings. “Jack is still coming to terms with his new duties. I don’t want him overwhelmed, especially by a horde of amorous earth ponies,” she muttered, stomping a hoof to Jack’s crossed out list for emphasis.

Swift Hooves snorted. “That’s rich.”

Fleetfoot glared at the infuriating mare. “Just don’t try pull this crap again,” she concluded, turning to leave.

“And just what exactly do I tell the mares who expressed a desire to utilise his services?” Swift Hooves asked, the words rolling off her tongue like silk. Fleetfoot could tell she was rather enjoying herself.

“Tell them to use somepony else.” With that, Fleetfoot slipped out of Swift’s office before the earth pony could ask any more questions.

* * *

“That thing’s an engine?”

It sure as hell didn’t look like one, that was for sure. There were two of them—long cylinders constructed of some sort of alloy material that widened in circumference at one end. They each had two large embedded crystals, basically bigger versions of the gems that powered the pony-back mounted gatling guns I’d seen.

“Yep. They’re called Star Drives—named after the pony that’s credited with inventing them. He disappeared before he ever created a working prototype, but everypony agrees he did most of the research that finally helped ponies make the first one,” Felix explained, her horn glowing. The crystals embedded into the engines emitted a brief glow for a few moments. “They seem to be in fully working order, despite your aerobatics,” she said, winking at Buttercup.

Felix, Buttercup and I were in the engine room of Buttercup’s ship, below her private Captain’s quarters. The room was dimly lit, and had no windows, or any other form of natural light. Space was at a premium, as the walls were lined with bins of spare or broken parts, not that the engines looked all that complicated. I had no idea how they were supposed to work, even though Felix had already tried to explain when we were topside. Apparently, they were just bigger, slightly more complex versions of the engines found in Raptors, gradually sapping the latent magical potential of the crew in order to function. Of course, airship Captains had the advantage of being able to completely shut off the engines without plummeting to the ground, which was a definite plus for tired ponies.

Various parts of the engines glowed in turn as Felix worked her magic, her muzzle scrunched adorably and her tongue sticking out of the side of her maw. I blinked, completely unaware for a moment that my fingers had began running through her mane. She looked up at me and smiled, her eyes capturing my soul as they always did.

“How’s the shield generation capacitor?” Buttercup asked, her attention on another, smaller cylindrical device nestled between the two engines that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Could do with swapping out, but you know Swift Hooves will want at least a few more voyages out of it before she raids the coffers for a replacement,” Felix replied, re-scanning the device in question with her aura.

“What’s it do?” I asked, eyeing it with mild interest.

“That’s the thing that stops us getting sunk,” Buttercup answered. “When the engines aren’t being used for kinetic output, they charge that unit, which generates a magical forcefield around the ship, including the helium chamber.”

“That’s amazing…” Humans would no doubt kill for such a device. Probably a good thing they didn’t have access to it, truth be told.

“The griffons have their own version, but it’s crude, at best. Downright doesn’t work at all, most of the time,” Felix added, finding the small wooden staircase with her hooves. “Come on, we should get back to the others.”

We made our way back to the top deck via a wooden trapdoor. I had just emerged when I was greeted with the sight of an annoyed looking Spitfire. “Agh!” I yelled, clutching my chest, probably with a bit too much enthusiasm.

“Captain Jack!” she barked, as I stepped up to allow Buttercup to emerge. Felix was already sat on the deck with her ears a shade flatter than usual. I had a feeling she was deliberately not looking in my direction. The fiery Captain jumped up into the air and began hovering in front of my face. “Would you like to explain to me just what you were doing with Lieutenant Felicity whilst at the controls of an airship?”

“That depends—would you like to explain to me-” I forcibly grabbed her left forehoof. It was currently shoeless, “-why you threw one of your shoes at said ship’s windscreen? You do know that had our altitude been higher—that could’ve cost lives if the glass had smashed, right?”

Some of Spitfire’s bravado seemed to escape her. I could’ve sworn I saw her ears droop a bit. “I’ll admit—I didn’t mean for that to happen. Rest assured, I’ll be be shoving this hoof right up my farrier’s ass the next time I see her, but that doesn’t change the fact that you were fooling around when you were supposed to be working.”

I snorted, releasing her hoof and holding up my arms. “Please, spare me the details, Captain.”

Buttercup snickered, as did Jason, Jessica and Leanne. All of them were leaning against the railing of the ship, greedily lapping up the drama like high school soccer moms. Felix barely suppressed a snort, but Captain Spitfire was onto her in an instant. “And you!” she rounded on the unicorn. “If you’re going to jump his bones-oh come on—don’t give me that look. Everypony knows,” she added, when Felix glared at her with the intensity of a burning hot kitchen knife. “Just wait until you’re both off duty before you finally pop his pony cherry—understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Felix sassed, though Spitfire let it slide.

“Good. Now,” she said, turning to address Jessica, Leanne, Jason and I. “I’ve spoken to General Swift Hooves. She has granted the four of you access to all base facilities, and has set aside a VIP visitor suite for your accommodation while you’re here. Get some rest, as the Thorn will be taking you to meet with Princess Celestia tomorrow morning.”

Jason’s eyes grew wide. “We get to meet a pony Princess?” he squealed, clapping his hands together with glee.

Spitfire gave him a bemused look. “Oh, boy,” she muttered, more to herself than the ecstatic flight attendant, before spreading her wings. “You’re all off duty,” she said, speaking to the four of us once more. “You can explore the base, but don’t get into trouble.”

With a flap of her wings, she launched herself into the air.

Author's Note

I'm back off holiday (or vacation as some of you call it) and ready to write about sexy horses again!

Spot any errors? Let me know in the comments.