Fallout: Equestria - Old Grudges

When I got up yesterday, I didn’t foresee myself partaking in a cross country trip. What is it about my life that I just seem to find myself in these situations? Oh, right, Eighth Note is an asshole.

“So, how far outside the city is this place?” Bluejay spoke up, once again hidden behind the veil of her masked persona.

Two hours of trotting, and we’d just now broken out of the northeast of the Los Pegasus ruins. Thankfully though, in that entire time, we’d heard only a few scattered gunshots far from us, and seen the day old tracks of a pack of feral dogs that had passed across the old highway we followed. In an odd turn of events, to me, the city was abnormally quiet.

“Our destination is three point six miles outside of Los Pegasus city limits.” Vanilla responded with the same precision she brought to every aspect of her life. “It should take us no longer than thirty two minutes to arrive at our current pace.”

“Ugh.” I groaned, lamenting the cracking feeling of my throat. Why couldn’t I have had a minute to grab a drink before we left Starwalk City? Slowing down to a stop, I forced the others to slow in turn. “Can we at least take a small break?”

“Your vital signs show elevation consistent with your previous diagnosis of withdrawal.” Vanilla droned as she did when it came to anything medical. Walking forward, she hoofed back under her robe and into the saddlebag she wore underneath. When she pulled out her hoof again, a glorious sight. “I apologize for not administering treatment, but we have been on a tight time schedule. However, this was in error.” Holding out the small bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey, I hastily grabbed it with my magic.

“Really?” Bluejay grunted. “Do we have time for this if we’re on this tight of a schedule?”

Ignoring her, I quickly unscrewed the cap and put the old bottle up to my lips. Oh, the burn was much stronger than I expected it to be, but like always, it dulled down as the golden liquor flowed. Before I could get more than a few drinks in, I found the bottle ripped from my own magic, and the cap sealed on top again with Vanilla’s magic.

“But, I thought he was addicted to alcohol?” Skeleton Key chimed up as she climbed up onto Bluejay’s back.

“Correct. Sawyer has been alcohol dependent for a number of years.” Vanilla’s not so flattering words replaced my anger of how she stole the whiskey back, with anger of how guilty a light that put me in. “Withdrawal from advanced addiction can cause permanent internal organ damage or failure, advanced psychological and neurological damage, and in some cases…”

“Death.” Bluejay seethed, glaring at me. “Yeah, I get it.” Turning back toward the road, she continued trotting.

“Thank you, Vanilla.” I sighed, using my forehoof to wipe away the last of the whiskey that dribbled down my muzzle.

“You are most welcome.” She replied with a smile, using her magic to return the bottle of whiskey to her saddlebags. “I shall present you with another ration at the proper time to mitigate your symptoms.” Her oddly still cybernetic eyes stared at me as if wanting something more from me. “However, I do recommend that we continue our journey with haste in order to stay on schedule.”

“Yeah yeah.” I grumbled and pulled myself back to my hooves. Even though I’d only gotten a few sips, my legs seemed to protest a little less under me, and a warm fuzzy feeling radiated from my stomach. “Go ahead and lead the way.”

With a nod, she turned around and picked back up to a trot. I don’t think I’ve ever really understood if Vanilla cared because she was built for the Ministry of Peace, or if it was part of the personality she had. Honestly though, it really didn’t matter. She was probably the only pony I know who cares more about my well being than to just keep me alive. I should probably be more vocally genuine about my thanks to her, but… would she even care?

Putting myself at a close trot behind her, I figured that it was a question best left for another day. For now, I just needed to focus on the walk ahead…

After what felt like forever, we finally wound our way through the rocky arid hills just outside of the city. I’ve never taken highway fifteen out of Los Pegasus the few times I’d ever even left on a run for Eighth note, and I could see why. Nestled in a fairly small valley, was the largest collection of rusty junk I’ve ever seen. Numerous motorwagen hulks, crashed skywagons, and even the twisted hulk of the old light rail tram that ran along the highway filled me with an erie feeling like just walking through this place meant I wouldn’t ever walk out again.

The odd ticks and groans of rusting metal kept me on edge as we trotted towards a large bend in the highway. The roadway sign that sat barely hanging on to the steel girders above us remained mostly untouched by time. Unfortunately, various crude pictures of pony anatomy had been graffitied over whatever it had once said.

Following the others as Vanilla turned us off the highway and onto a dirt path, I’d kept my eyes up on the steep valley walls around us. The twisted and burned shapes of dead trees felt like they stretched down at us, their gnarled branches shifting in the wind as if to grab at us. Picking up my pace a bit, I decided to stick closer to Bluejay than before. Looking over at Skeleton Key, I noticed by the way she was again clinging to Bluejay’s mane that she too felt uneasy in this place.

Trotting further up the valley roadway, we followed a curving path that crested over one of the lower valley hills. To my surprise, sitting down in the adjacent valley, was an even bigger collection of junk than before! Taking up the entire valley floor, and even some of the sloping sides, was a junkyard full of every type of rusty wreck that one could imagine. A half dozen various scrapping cranes, and more than a few shack buildings sat surrounded by mountains of junk. There was even what looked like a small boat sitting in a roofless warehouse.

“This is where we’re supposed to meet our transport?” Bluejay spoke up, sounding just about as unimpressed at the sight as I was.

“Yes. This is where the Sunshine Caravan’s acting representative instructed us to meet.” Vanilla responded as promptly as ever.

“Are you sure that this is where we’re supposed to go?” Skeleton Key asked, hopping down from Bluejay. Now that I’d seen where we were supposed to go, the creepy feeling of the place seemed to lift from my mind. “I feel like I’ve contracted tetanus just by looking at that place.”

“You don’t seem to be suffering from any symptoms, but I will monitor you further.” Vanilla said quite matter-o-factly. Leave it to her to miss any attempt at humor, but honestly, it was better than somepony spewing endless bad puns out of them like Eff EL did half the time. Without any hesitation, Vanilla pressed onward.

The further we descended down the dirt road into the valley, the more the scale of this place hit me. Walls of unidentifiable crushed metal vehicles rose thirty feet high around the skirts of the yard, and the ‘small’ ship I’d seen before was much bigger than I’d originally thought. However, one thing that pulled my attentions away from all that, was the stiff looking pony in rusty power armor standing at the massive metal front gate.

“Who dares to approach my scrapyard?” A booming voice erupted through the air as the eyes of the power armor glowed bright red. I nearly locked up in fear as a short gout of flame spewed out from the end of the armor’s tail.

“We have an appointment with Mr. Wingnut.” Vanilla respond again far too promptly. “I believe that you have been informed of our arrival.”

With a crackle, part of the armor sparked and caught on fire for some reason.

“Shit.” The armor boomed before the gate opened up with a heavy creaking. As it did, the eyes of the armor darkened and a few more sparks shot from it’s neck. Before the gate had even opened all the way, a cloaked pony zipped out toward the armor with a fire extinguisher levitating next to them. With a few hissing gouts, the armor was doused and we slowly approached the odd display going on in front of us.

“You should have said something about being expected.” The voice of an older mare came from the cloak before she used a hoof to push it back. The blaze orange mane with deep white stripes of age caught my eye first, but only just. Her apple green eyes exhibited a youth that the wrinkles around them didn’t support, and what little of her lavender coat I could see was marked with various smudges of oil and grease. “Would’ve saved me a fire extinguisher and a roll of ten to three wiring at the very least…”

“Gauge?” Bluejay gasped, removing her mask with her magic. “Is that really you?”

“You know this mare?” I asked, not quite sure what to think. I looked down to Skeleton Key only to find her as perplexed as I was at this whole thing. We both watched as Bluejay trotted up to the odd old mare and threw her hooves around her in a tight embrace.

“Here I was gettin’ all angry you all hadn’t shown up yet, and I didn’t ever once think you might be with them, let alone back on this coast at all!” The old mare said as she broke the hug and stood back with a wide smile. “Goddesses, it’s been what, four years since I last saw you? Time really flies, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Bluejay nervously laughed. She rubbed at her mane and shifted her tone. “It’s been too long. Had I known you were set up here…”

The old mare waved her forehoof in dismissal. “Nonsense.” As she waved, I caught the faintest bit of silver from under her cloak. “We’ve kept a low profile around here for a good reason. Better that most who travel by think that raiders still run this place. Hell, you should have seen Storm go to work on clearing this place. It was magical to watch her purge those sick freaks. Just like old times.” With a giggleing nod she turned toward to door and waited for us to follow her. Vanilla didn’t hesitate, but Skeleton Key and I traded looks before figuring that inside this rust palace would probably be safer than standing around outside.

“Yeah, Storm…” Bluejay sighed dejectedly.

“I know. I miss her too.” The old mare sighed, turning her happy expression to a more somber one. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to the funeral. I was hocks deep in an engine rebuild for the Dauntless. I couldn’t stop or the induction vents would’ve oxidised. I wished I could have made it, but I don’t have to remind you that they don’t make half of the parts for these machines anymore. Synchro brings back what he can from about, but like I said, I’d rather not expose this place by hiring some other exotic junk finder charging me up the ass in bits anyway.”

Looking around, all I could see were mountains of junk. Every now and again, a shy pony would poke their scraggly oil smeared head above a pile to get a look at us, but they didn’t look long. Most broke line of sight the second I made eye contact. All that is, with the exception of a little filly with a very distinct ring worn around her neck. All those stealing only momentary looks at us snapped a realization into place in my mind.

“You want this place hidden because you hide slaves here, don’t you?” I asked, forcing the old mare to almost trip as she abruptly stopped.

“Oh, what am I thinking? Everypony? This is Gauge.” Bluejay spoke up, pointing at the old mare before turning and pointing to each of us in turn. “Gauge, this is Sawyer, Skeleton Key, and… I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

“I am Vanilla.” Vanilla promptly replied with a smile.

The old mare looked back at me with a glare. “Yes, we have escaped slaves here. Ones freed from the east coast who are still here because we give them a safe haven from bounty hunters and slavers. They in turn help by digging through the junk for useful salvage for us, so I would very much like it if you never mentioned anything about this place to anypony outside of these walls.” With a roll of her eyes, she gave off an annoyed sigh and continued onwards. “Besides, it’s hard enough to keep hidden with Wingnut pulling his normal shenanigans with the Dauntless.”

Looking around, I wondered just what the hell we were doing here. Vanilla had negotiated a transport of some sort. Not only that, but it’s kept in a secret junkyard on the outskirts of the city, and we were supposed to get over to the other side of equestria quickly with it. The further around the mountains of junk we wound, the more I felt a pit in my stomach form. Goddesses, I knew better than to trust Eighth Note in having Vanilla go behind my back for things…

Following the old mare at a trot, she lead us around yet another large pile of scraps toward a large clearing near the warehouse I’d seen from on the hill. Turning around the junkpile, I skidded myself to a stop. Before us sat a myriad of sheet metal shacks, and beyond them sat the rusting hulk of the boat we saw. At first, I’d thought that a few of the far shacks had wind turbine generators, but I realized that they weren’t connected to them. Rather…

“You have an airship!?” I spat. The old luxury yacht had been through the ringer over the last two centuries. It sported six total propeller engines, more rusty hull plates than I cared to count, a tacked on large dome built into the center of the ship, and a makeshift ramp that marked an entryway into the dark belly of the deathtrap before us.

“What a piece of junk.” Skeleton Key remarked. I didn’t really know the filly too well, but with her ability to talk Bluejay out of abandoning this job, I already could see that she was the sensible one between the two. And if she could tell this was a bad idea, then I had to give her more respect than I did.

“Hey, don’t knock the Dauntless.” The old mare snapped back at us. “And don’t forget that you hired us.” Sitting down, she crossed her forehooves with a harumph. As she did, I noticed that the ‘silver’ I noticed under her robes before was in fact a cybernetic limb. “Besides, she might not be pretty, but she has it where it counts.”

“Skeleton Key!” Bluejay snapped with the sound of a mother annoyed at her filly. That is, until she snapped as me as well. “Sawyer! Both of you should be grateful that you’ve got the best mechanic on the west coast standing in front of you and willing to help us out.” Turning to the mare, she gave a short, courteous nod, only to shoot back an angry glare at us. “Sorry, Gauge. They’re just a little rough around the edges, been a rough couple of days. Please, lead on.”

“Gauge!” The voice of a mare called from atop one of the junk piles behind us. Turning around, I found an old, green mare waving her over. “Cinnamon and I need your help with this reactor casing they dug out!”

With a groan, Gauge facehooved herself with her cyberleg. “Ugh. I have to go help out them for a few.” She flailed her leg in the direction of the ship. “Just… go in through the cargo ramp. Once in, head up to the bridge and talk to Wingnut. He’ll get you all settled in.” With a nod, Bluejay took a single step forward before Gauge reached out and hooked her cyberleg around Bluejay. “Just a word of warning. Wingnut can be a bit… eccentric sometimes. Just let him have his fun, but don’t stroke his ego.”

“Got it.” Bluejay nodded before Gauge released her and got to her own hooves.

An eccentric airship captain who is supposed to fly us across equestria in a rust bucket. Really, what could go wrong!? Which of the goddesses did I piss off to get this kind of luck?

As the others headed toward the rusted airship, I couldn’t bring myself to take a step forward. My legs shook, I felt jittery, and it took all of my will just to not turn and run. There were so many things that I would do in my life for Eighth Note, but this time he crossed a line.

“Sawyer?” Bluejay called back, stopping after just a few feet. “Are you okay?”

“I…” I sighed, doing my best to keep myself from shaking any more. “I hate heights…” With that, my rear legs gave out and I sat down hard in the dirt. “Why would Eighth ask me to get on… on…” I flailed my hoof at the ship. “That?”

“It’s going to be okay, Sawyer.” Vanilla spoke up. Like she normally did, she was about to ruin the moment. “Based on its preliminary visual state, odd of a crash are…” She was cut off abruptly, prompting me to look up. Bluejay’s magic held Vanilla’s muzzle shut tightly.

“Not helping.” Bluejay grumbled at her. Slowly, she turned her eyes to me and softened her expression. “Hey, I know how scary something can be, Sawyer. But the answer?” As she spoke, she turned and walked back toward me. “It’s not to run away from it. Instead, it’s to face those fears.” Holding her hoof out to me, she smirked. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.”

Part of me hated how she kept going back and forth on me. One minute she was angry, the next, she was the mare I remembered from the stable. But, so far no matter how she’s been, she’s been right every time.

“The whole time?” I asked, raising my hoof towards hers. I tried to stop myself from looking past her at the ship, but it didn’t help. The bright splotches of rusting hull plates sent shivers down my spine as I imagined them falling off mid flight and taking me with them.

“Sawyer.” She spoke softer than before, taking my hoof with hers. “I’ve just found you after all of these years. I won’t let anything happen to my best friend, even in the air.”

“Okay.” I sighed. I couldn’t very well sit here until they got back, and as much as I hated Eighth Note for putting me up to this, it was no excuse to get out of my job. With her help, I got back to my hooves, and the two of us walked forward toward the ship with the others. While with Bluejay at my side, my hooves didn’t falter in their steps, my heart still beat more and more with every inch closer we came.

The dark interior bay that the ramp lead into brightened as we approached. Several rows of various sized wooden crates filled most of what seemed to be the cargo hold. Other than the many pipes and rows of fluorescent lights in the twenty by ten room, there wasn’t much. Only a rectangular post wired up to a terminal that sat against the wall, and the sealed metal door next to it. As we climbed up the ramp and into the hold, the top of the pedestal flashed, and the terminal next to it kicked on with a hum.

“Howdy there, folks!” The happy voice of a young filly played through loudspeakers that must have been hidden in the walls. “And welcome aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless!” On the pedestal, a flickering image of a bright pink filly appeared. The small image of the filly bounced in place on the pedestal as she turned and looked at Vanilla. “Thank you for providing the authentication number provided to you at Sunshine Caravan’s headquarters. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!”

“Authentication?” Bluejay spoke up. “We didn’t…”

“I have already wirelessly contacted the ship’s terminal system. It is much faster than verbal communications.” Vanilla spoke up with a cant of her head toward Bluejay. “If you wish, I could refrain from using it for the remainder of our trip to avoid any more confusion.”

“No-no!” Bluejay waved her hoof with a nervous smile. “Just… forgot you’re a…” Scrunching her muzzle, she turned back to the tiny filly. “You seem to have most of us at a disadvantage, miss…”

“I’m PAI!” The pink filly smiled and bounced. “It’s so nice to meet you, Bluejay! We’ll have plenty of time to talk later however, Captain Wingnut is expecting you up on the bridge for a final preflight briefing.” My stomach flipped over at the word ‘flight’ and I shuddered. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like anypony else noticed. “I’ll get the door for you.” The hologram cheerfully bounced on her hooves again. “Aaaaand open!”

With a resounding clack that I felt through the floor, the door creaked open. A soft clicking came through the walls as a hidden set of motors swung the heavy door open, revealing a set of silver metal stairs. The interior hallway from here looked absolutely spotless.

“All cabins and rooms are labeled to where they connect to.” The small hologram smiled brightly and pointed toward the open door. As she did, Skeleton Key stepped up to the pedestal. With a whine, she stretched her hoof up as far as she could. With a few straining swipes, she waved her hoof through the image of the pink filly, skewing it away from her hoof. “Hey! Quit distorting me!”

“Woah.” A giggling gasp came out of Skeleton’s mouth as she yanked her hoof away from the image. Looking over at Bluejay, she found a stern and unimpressed gaze meet her. “Sorry.” She muttered before taking her place alongside Bluejay again.

“As I was saying.” The pink filly said with a sigh. “Just follow the sign up to the bridge. I’ll inform the captain that you have arrived and are on your way!” With an erratic wave and an even bigger smile that before, she started to fuzz away. “Nice to meet you all, and I’ll see you all on the bridge!” With a flicker, the image disappeared and the terminal shut down again.

“Come on, Sawyer.” Bluejay smiled, wrapping her hoof around me and pulling me close. “All we need to do is talk to the captain, and you can get settled in. I’m sure he’ll alleviate your fears about all this once we get things sorted, you’ll see.”

I didn’t do anything more than grumble as she pulled the two of us forward. I wanted to fight, and argue, but it wouldn’t change anything. From the moment I stepped onto this ship, I was here for better or for worse. So, I might as well get this over as fast as possible, right? Using that idea to push back my fear, I didn’t drag my hooves. Instead, I entered the doorway to the ship willingly with her. As we did, I looked around the long hallway.

The arched ceiling was high enough that a pegasus could fly overhead as we climbed one of the sets of stairs. The blued metal walls nearly sparkled with how polished they were, and a mildly distorted blue unicorn stared back at me from the wall to my side. The stairwell had three flights to it, each one with a well lit landing that sported a pair of large metal doors on each side like the one we’d just passed through. At least the inside didn’t look like a complete deathtrap…

Walking up the stairs, Bluejay and I caught notice of an plaque next to one of the doors. It seemed to list each of the different sections, matching it to an arrow that pointed to its direction. At the top, sat the words Bridge: Deck 4 with an arrow pointing straight up the stairs. With the interior as kept up as it was, my heart began to slow a bit in my chest. Maybe… maybe this wouldn’t be so bad afterall!

Climbing the third and last set of stairs, we walked into a short hallway that lead into a very large and bright open room. The room itself was circular with what seemed to be three ‘levels’ to it. The top level was filled with all sorts of electrical banks, flashing lights, terminal screens, and weird readouts hugging the outside of the walls. Sitting at one of these terminals, was a light pink pegasus mare wearing an oversized headset. She looked at Bluejay and I as we stepped into the doorway, only to shrink down into her seat and look away from us.

Down on the far end of the room, at the ‘lowest’ level, a tan unicorn worked over a myriad of charts and papers that had been laid out over a holographic projector table. Unlike the pegasus mare, he didn’t notice our entry. Instead, he seemed too torn between looking at the papers he scrawled on, and dipping himself toward the large sweeping windshield that gave us a look out at the scrapyard ahead. He’d look up at the sky for a moment before rushing over and marking things down.

Lastly, there was the middle level. Closer to the windshield, sat another pegasus. Her light, powder blue coat felt too soft for the large chair she was strapped into. Bundles of wires ran all over her body to various metallic caps over her hooves and wings. They all trailed up along her back and neck, feeding into a large round helmet that sat over her head. It was an interesting set up, as I could only guess that she was the pilot, and the entire set up allowed her to control the ship.

Sitting behind her however, was the captain’s chair. Sitting in it of course, was who I presumed to be the Captain.

“Captain’s log, stardate… today... point five.” The orange pegasus spoke into his hoof. He sat spinning himself in the large, blocky looking chair that stuck out from the middle of the bridge. “I’ve been... informed of a race of off worlders that seek safe passage across this sector. They should be.... arriving soon for negotiations.” I wasn’t sure why he took long pauses between his words, but if he were a character in a story, it was one with really bad writing. As he spun around to face where we stood, he looked surprised for a moment before a smirk came across his muzzle. Holding his hoof closer, he stared right at Bluejay. “Correction… it appears that they have… already arrived,” He paused and ran his hoof over his blue mane before putting it back to his muzzle. “and their leader is a mare of indescribable beauty.”

Vanilla pushed past us all and trotted up to the odd pegasus. She held out her forehoof stiffly and smiled. “Greetings, Captain. I am Vanilla, the one who has contracted this flight.” There’s that word again. Can’t somepony just not remind me we’ll be a thousand feet in the air inside a steel bubble?

“Why howdy there!” The pegasus took her forehoof in between his own and shook vigorously. Like he flipped off a switch in his voice, a country twang took over his words almost thicker than anypony I’ve ever heard before. “The name’s Wingnut! Pleasure ta make Y'all's acquaintance!” With a sigh, he sat back in his chair and looked at us. As he did, Skeleton Key wiggled her way between Bluejay and I. Looking around, she let out an audible gasp and beamed a smile for a moment before pausing and looking around the bridge as if she’d lost something.

“Wait, where’s the filly?” She asked. Oddly enough, I didn’t see the pink filly up here either…

“Filly?” Wingnut asked before rolling his eyes. “Oh, right.” Hoofing at a button on his chair. “PAI, where are yah?” With a flicker, the image of a small pink filly appeared next to a small lit square on his chair.

“Hey there, Captain!” She smiled and gasped. “Oh! I completely forgot to tell you that the guests are…” Her enthusiasm and words died in her throat as she turned around to find us already here. “on their way up?” Letting out a nervous giggle, she rubbed at her mane, making it flicker. “Sorry about that.”

“How did you forget?” Skeleton Key asked with more than a little annoyance in her voice. “We were just downstairs…”

Vanilla turned herself to Skeleton Key with a small smile. “Us machines sometimes find it easy to lose track of time. Between all of the supertasks, subsystems, and data streams to monitor, some instructions can become lost temporarily.” As she droned on like she did sometimes, the pink filly image nodded in agreement.

“Wait,” I spoke up. “You’re not real?” I immediately regretted asking that, as I’ve had to tell plenty of ponies that Vanilla was real enough…

“Wow, that was rude.” Pai retorted with an annoyed snort. “And yes, I’m an artificial pony in control the ship’s systems. If you don’t like it, the cargo bay door is still open.”

“Pai, now what did ah say about being nice.” Wingnut shifted in his chair, looking down on her. “Yah have ta agree, yah are a bit of an odd sight ta most until they git ta know yah.”

“Sorry.” Pai sighed before looking back over to us. “Sorry I snapped and called you rude.”

“It’s… fine.” I sighed. Looking over, Bluejay seemed uneasy with talking to the small holographic filly. I’d have to ask her about it later.

“We just want to get settled in for the trip.” Bluejay finally spoke, if abruptly and sounding worried herself. If she was supposed to be my emotional stability on this trip, how long am I going to last if she’s already cracking? ”Can you give us a quick layout of the ship so we don’t find ourselves somewhere we shouldn’t be?”

“First off, Ah’d like yah ta meet the crew of the Dauntless.” Wingnut stretched himself out before pointing over to the mare at the terminals we’d seen on our way in. “That’s infrasound. She’s a mite shy, but she’ll warm up ta yah.” With a flap of his wing, he spun himself in his chair to point at the others. “That studious stallion at the chart table is Astrolabe.” Even as the Captain called his name, he didn’t break from whatever it was he was doing. “Don’t bother him when he’s working, tends ta make him irritable…”

“No, Captain,” The stallion spoke with a smirk. “only you make me irritable.”

“He’s one of our resident smart ass’s.” Wingnut said as he gave another soft flap. “Y’all shoulda met Gauge at the front gate. She’s the other smart ass and our engineer onboard here.” Finishing his spin, he pointed down to the Pegasus strapped into the ship in front of him. “And this here’s our Pilot, Shifting Winds.”

“Hey there folks.” The mare gave a stiff wingwag from her chair. “Trust me to fly this old gal like a dream and I’ll do my best to keep it as smooth a ride as I can for all of you.”

“That’s great.” I grunted, hoping to quickly get past all this talk of flying an enormous metal object around, even if it looked damn spotless inside. “I’m really looking forward to getting some rest, so if you would kindly point me in the direction of where I could do that…”

“Ah yes, directions.” Wingnut smiled and gave out a soft chuckle. “Wouldn’t want Y’all ta open the wrong door and fall outta the ship midflight, right?” My legs nearly buckled at that. Thankfully, Bluejay stepped aside and pressed up against me. The sudden closeness tore my mind away from the images it was forming.

"Well, let's see. First, Y'all have the cabins on deck three, that's where me, mah crew, and y'all will be sleepin and restin. It's just down the hall there." He pointed down a hall that sat behind use. "On deck two below the cabins is the galley. It's open all day and night, just walk on in. Seein' as we've already been paid, just help yerself ta anything. Breakfast is cooked by Infrasound at eight am, supper is at six pm." With a hard flap of one wing, he sent himself spinning again. "Let's see. There's the engine room on deck one, that's where you can usually find Gauge or Matrix at..." He paused, rubbing at his chin. "Am ah fergittin anything?"

"What if there's an emergency?" I knew that I wanted to get settled in and clear my mind, but if this bucket wanted to fall from the sky, I at least hoped I could do more than kiss my ass goodbye. Looking over at Bluejay, she looked just a bit disappointed that I'd even brought it up. Better safe than sorry, that's how I want to be!

"Well, there's the lifeboats, I guess." He shrugged as he grumbled. Just the mention of lifeboats on board sent a wave of relief over me. At least somepony was smart enough to have an escape system. "Dunno why yah'd use em. Rowboats aren't much use a thousand feet in the air. They'd just smash ta bits on the ground."

Dear Celestia... We're all going to die.

“Gauge has returned.” Pai spoke up with a cheerful tone. “Shall we prep for takeoff?”

“Yeehaw! Damn right we should!” Wingnut shouted as he flapped hard and spun himself again. “Everypony, prepare fer departure! Let’s git this old bird in the air already!”

“Come on, Sawyer.” Bluejay said as she wrapped her hoof around me again. “Let’s get you into your room. Okay?” All I could do was nod. Honestly, I was just over today. No, screw today, I was already done with this week, this whole adventure! As we turned around and headed back down the stairs to the first set of doors, Bluejay pulled back and slowed us down. “Sawyer… I’m sorry about how I’ve acted.” Both Skeleton Key and Vanilla followed us, staying close behind.

“What?” I asked, not quite sure where this was coming from.

“I… I know that you’ve had your own life. It’s been wrong of me to assume that I could hold you to any standards of mine.” She sighed before turning and opening the sealed door that had the words Guest Cabins next to it. A lavish hallway with dark wood paneling and red velvety carpet curved around a spotless marble wall that outlined the cabins that sat against the outer wall. It struck me as something even more lavish than at The Studio, and that was hard to beat. “The thing is, Sawyer… I’ve been thinking about home a lot recently, and finding you? It… it gives me hope that maybe there are still more Stable residents out there.”

Walking forward, I tore myself from Bluejay’s hoofhold. “I wish I could say that I felt the same.” Looking back, I could tell that they weren’t the words she’d wanted to hear. “Really, Bluejay, the only pony I ever cared to find again... was you.” Walking down the hallway, I turned to the first door I found, and hoofed it open.

“SURPRISE!”

The words were blared at me through a pair of loudspeakers, while I was simultaneously assaulted with strips of paper shot out of a cannon behind the door. I let out a scream that I wasn’t quite proud of before flopping onto the floor.

“Ooops…” Pai’s voice chimed through the loudspeaker with a giggle. “Guess it might have been a bit much…”

Along with her giggles, came those of Skeleton Key and Vanilla. Before I could pick myself up again, I found Bluejay standing over me with a soft smile across her muzzle. She reached out her hoof again for me to grab. Taking it, I pulled myself up and found myself pulled into a hug.

“I’m not going to leave again, Sawyer. I’ll be right here the whole time.” She giggled softly. “Us stable folk have to stick together, right?” As she spoke, an oscillating hum filled the walls, starting off slow, but quickly picking up to a constant thrumming.

“Cloud generator online.” Pai’s voice called out through the speakers. “Spark reactor at ninety eight percent efficiency, hydraulics at nominal pressure. Spooling up rotary drive engines.” A high pitched whine joined the symphony of other noises around us, and I instinctively held onto Bluejay tighter than before.

“Hehe!” Skeleton Key giggled and bounced around on her hooves. “We’re going to fly!”

“Don’t worry, Sawyer.” Bluejay spoke softly in my ear. “The flight will go by fast. Trust me, we’ll be there before you know it.” My stomach did flips as I felt the ship begin to move around under us, and the creaking that came from the walls drew yet another pitiful whimper from my muzzle.

Of all the mean things she’d said to me so far, that was by far the most painful thing to hear. It was a plain faced lie that I’m sure she was going to be dead wrong about…

--Chapter End--

“The sky above is waiting for you.”

Quests Finished: none

Quests Started: Up Up And Away

Levels Earned: none

Perks Earned: none