The Free Skies

On her walk through the hangar, Twilight passed through a few ships, each having one or multiple habitats for all sorts of creatures with seemingly no regard for any kind of classification. It was almost enough to make her change directions and reorganize the whole fleet, but she stopped herself and took a deep breath to refocus on her mission.

Turning away from the mess of parked ships, Twilight and her following made their way out of the hangar and up onto the main deck of the flotilla. Here she could at least see the sky and her destination over the wooden structures surrounding the central section of the Everfree Flotilla.

Shining said something to her about needing to file a report before breaking off, a stallion on a mission. Twilight herself was already moving towards a warehouse with a smaller shack that looked like it had been the tail end of a plane connected to it and the guard marking the entrance.

After a quick confirmation that this was where she was heading, Twilight thanked the guard and stepped into the office, looking around at how cluttered the desk and floor were while cringing. “Hello? I don’t have an appointment, but what I have to talk about with you is important,” Twilight said, not seeing anyone in the office.

Her vision was suddenly filled with a pair of baby blue eyes, causing her to hop backwards in surprise. In front of her was a mostly pink pony with a fluffy mane and tail that looked like the pony didn’t brush it at all. Her cutie mark was a general organization chart.

“Lemme guess, you’re here to stop us from making complaints,” the pink pony monotoned, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Twilight shook her head and held her hoof out for the pony to shake. “No, I heard about shipments being lost and I would like to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’m Twilight, and you are...?”

The pink pony just looked more suspicious and slowly moved behind the desk. “Why? You’re the one behind the shipments not fully making it here!”

“No, I promise I’m not. I had no idea any of this was happening, but now that I do I’d like to help make it stop any way that I can.” Twilight mentally caught up to the moment, realizing that something was in fact, actually wrong here.

“... Prove it.”

“Okay, did the captains of the ships mention Filthy Rich, or Blue Blood?” Twilight moved up to the desk, using her magic to tidy up a stack of papers only to stop as the pink mare’s hoof came down on the stack.

“No, they didn’t,” The pony replied as she messed the stack up how it was before.

Getting an idea, twilight paused for a moment before saying, “Did they give you any sort of paperwork stating the retraction and reclamation of goods that were signed?”

The pink pony stopped at that and looked at Twilight for a few moments before saying, “No, they didn’t.... You’d send ponies out with something like that?”

Twilight nodded and let the magic on her horn fade, looking over the desk again. “Yes. I haven’t had to so far, but it is in the hoofbook I sent out to everyone Canterlot deals with. I... don’t see it anywhere, so I can include another copy with a shipment when I get back to Canterlot.”

The pink mare opened a drawer on the desk and pulled out a book labeled ‘Canterlot Shipping and Handling Guide Book’. Opening the book, she skimmed through it until suddenly stopping on a page. “Huh, it is in here that you would do that for any changes. I didn’t think you’d be more organized than me.”

A smile spread across Twilight’s face, relishing in a bit of pride. “My skills with organization are why I was picked above other candidates when Mrs. Inkwell retired. Since I was an intern before, I knew everywhere that needed to be improved and was able to give the Grand Admiral a full presentation as well as evidence of ponies taking things for themselves.”

“Huh, and here I just started working and was eventually given the position of Head Bosun.” The mare held out her hoof to Twilight. “I’m Pinkie.”

Shaking Pinkie’s hoof, Twilight smiled and said, “Nice to meet you, Ms. Pinkie. And please, if another captain tries to withhold any part of a shipment without the proper paperwork, well... they are trying to steal from the flotilla.”

Pinkie would get a vicious smile and giggle creepily. “Don’t worry, my Sis is in charge of security. We’ll make sure that they’re dealt with accordingly.”

Twilight nods and turns towards the door. “Good, now that this has been settled, how about we go and watch the race?”

Pinkie nods and leaps over the desk, not disturbing any papers. “Sure! You can sit with my family.”

“Sure, as long as they don’t mind.”

Rainbow slammed the dress she wore for the past few hours into a trash can, kicking the can off the side of the ship she was on. “Ugh... finally. Worst part of these Races,” Rainbow said stretching.

She would hear a whistle and roll her eyes as Zephyr said, “Wow, is that show for me?”

“Zephyr.Not today.” Rainbow grumbled in exhaustion.

“Aw, c’mon. Sure ya gotta pay a fine, but there’s nothing really bad about this situation, is there?” Zephyr cozied up to Rainbow as he spoke.

Rainbow glared at Zephyr as he put a hoof over her back. “Get. Off.”

“Ya got the whole situation the attention of those that matter, and from what I heard you even inadvertently got real pirates caught in the act.” Zephyr gives her what he thinks is a smooth smile. “So you’re really more like an anti-hero.”

Pushing Zephyr off she snorts in amusement. “Really? Keep to your own things, Zeph. Copying another mare isn’t something you want your crush to know about.” Rainbow turned and started to walk across a bridge to another ship.

Zephyr shook his head and came up next to Rainbow, pulling out a clipboard from under his wing and looking the papers over. “Not my fault the stuff she had is good. So, the course is one that hasn’t been used for a long while. The beacons are working, but a few are sending out weak signals so we’ll have to be careful around them as it isn’t known when or how they were damaged. There has been unexplained damage to a few ships in that area over the years, and I think it means the area’s too dangerous, but I was basically told to keep my mouth shut.”

“You think it’s an old tank or something that’s been hit with enough lightning to start up every now and then?” Rainbow asked, looking at Zephyr with interest.

“The reports aren’t consistent and almost look like freak accidents until you notice that each one happened on the lowest parts of each ship that got hit.” He shakes his head. “I’d think it would be something bigger than a tank with the damages.”

“I’ll make sure to take pictures if I notice anything down there.”

Zephyr gave Rainbow a chastising look. “Keep your radio on as well this time. It didn’t look good with me yelling at you and not getting any kind of response.”

“As long as you don’t keep a constant stream of flirting.”

“Please, you like it.” He smirked.

“The only part I like is that you don’t say any of that to other mares,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.

“Besides, I don’t like not being able to hear how your ship is doing.”

Rainbow looked at Zephyr. “Still on that ‘listen to her and she’ll tell you what she needs’ crap when it comes to ships?”

Giving Rainbow an offended expression Zephyr lifted his nose into the air and said, “Well excuuuuuuse me, princess. I’m only the best mechanic in the flotilla because of how I think. And don’t forget, I can choose another pilot for The Unseen Lego.”

“You won’t ‘cause you know I’m the best pilot we have.”

“Maybe the most reckless and lucky,” Zephyr sighed and shook his head. “You really need to cut back on the risks you take.”

Rainbow stops and turns to look at Zephyr. “Every risk I’ve taken I knew would work out, not because of my skills but because your work is good enough that you should be working on The Solar Wind. I might not like how you act, but your work is irreproachable.”

Zephyr let out a low whistle. “Wow, pulling out the ten cred words as praise.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and lightly punched Zephyr’s shoulder, continuing on her way. “You aren’t getting more than that. Now let’s get to the hangar, I want to get used to how the Lego flies again before the race.”