Lucky Charm and Zabaa were being tortured.

They had gone on watch just as Pinkie was setting out the first serving of dinner, and the incredible smells drifting up through the forward grating was killing them.

They couldn't even move away because they were assisting Mr. Ralf while he performed maintenance on Nebula's number two engine. Of course, he didn't mind because the dinner was a curried vegetable stew and he thought that vegetables were (at best) a nice garnish for a good chunk of meat. Fresh bread was another matter, but Pinkie had baked the day's batch of loaves and rolls during the morning watch, and there were currently no torturous aromas that would make him drool all over the deck.

"At least it's the first Dog Watch," Lucky said to her zebra friend and companion in suffering. "It's only two hours long, so we will probably get dinner before we die of hunger!"

Zabaa grinned at her and glanced at the quarterdeck. "The sandglass is nearly empty and it will be two bells very soon. We have only an hour left to wait."

"Torque wrench," Ralf called out without lifting his pointy snout out of the engine's access hatch. He held out his open hand in their direction and Lucky levitated the requested tool out of the big wooden tool chest and into his grasp. He didn't thank her out loud, but his tail gave several brisk wags of appreciation.

True to Zabaa's prediction, the crewpony on quarterdeck watch turned the half-hour glass and tugged sharply twice on the airship's bell rope.

"An hour can be a very long time," Lucky grumbled.

Zabaa wiped a line of saliva off of her chin and nodded.

"It smells so good!" Lucky moaned. "Why couldn't it be ship's biscuits and fruit jerky today?"

"Perhaps it would be wise to speak of something else?" Zabaa suggested, trying to breathe through her mouth only. "To distract ourselves?"

"Oil can," Mr. Ralf called, holding out the torque wrench. Lucky took the wrench from him, put it in the correct place in the tool chest, and then floated over the oil can, holding a little rag under the spout to make sure there was no possibility of drips on the deck. Then she sucked at her lips for exactly the same reason.

"What will the Kirin Grove be like, do you think?" Zabaa asked. "Will the other Eastern Kirin all be much like Ms. Ao? The thought is somewhat terrifying, is it not?"

"Oh, she isn't that bad," Lucky replied, and then considered the matter for a moment. "As long as you don't neglect your work, or sleep in, or damage the paintwork, or criticize the Captain, or…" She trailed off and then added, "Anyway, if they were all like her, they would have killed each other off a long time ago."

"Yes," said Zabaa in a flat tone. "Comforting."

"I wonder what sort of food they eat?"

"Wachana nayo!" Zabaa snapped at her.

"Sorry, sorry!" Lucky replied with a sheepish grin. "Uh… Samahani, Zabaa. I just can't seem to think of anything else!"

Zabaa shrugged, then nodded. "Hii ina tatiza sana."

Lucky frowned. She spent a lot of her free time learning Zwahinny from her friend, but she was still far from fluent and it was an idiom she didn't know. "This is a lot…?"

"I think the Equuish word is 'frustrating.' This is very frustrating." She wiped more drool off of her mouth.

Lucky looked back at the quarterdeck. There was hardly any sand in the bottom of the glass. She desperately tried to think of another subject to distract them. Less than an hour, because… "Hey, why do they call them the Dog Watches, anyway?"

Zabaa looked thoughtful for a second. "Truly, I have never thought to ask. So many names involved with aeronautics seem to make little sense, I did not question."

Lucky snorted. "Yeah, a painter has nothing to do with paint, and a snotter has nothing to do with snot—thank goodness!"

"Yet, a halyard does haul a yard up a mast is it not so?"

"Except the jib has a halyard, too, and it doesn't have a yard to haul!"

Zabaa nodded, accepting the truth of the observation.

"Seating lever," Mr. Ralf called out.

Lucky retrieved the oil can and its little rag and then floated over the requested tool. When she looked up from the chest, she saw that her friend was staring thoughtfully at the engineer's waving tail.

"Zab?"

"Oh, I was just wondering…"

It took Lucky a second to catch on, and when she did, she lowered her voice. "Oh, do you think because Mr. Ralf is a dog, he might know the reason behind the name?"

Zabaa nodded but said, "I am somewhat concerned that the assumption might be offensive."

"Mr. Ralf is really nice!" Lucky protested. "I'm sure he wouldn't be mad, even if it's technically racist or something."

Zabaa frowned. "To offer offense is improper even if it is not taken."

Lucky thought her friend could be infuriatingly concerned with "correct" behavior sometimes, but she did have a point. She considered it for a moment and then came up with an idea. She leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

Zabaa grinned and nodded. "Let us wait until three bells, so that if it goes wrong we shall have less time to suffer the displeasure of the honored engineer."

The pair found a few other topics to distract themselves from the enticing smells and totally unfair exclamations of delight from the crewponies who dined below them. They mostly managed to avoid thinking about the delicious meal that awaited them in the seemingly far distant future, until three bells was struck, and then they put their plan into action.

"I do not believe the name of the watches has anything to do with dogs!" Zabaa said, loudly enough to be overheard by Ralf where he was wiping down the engine cowling. "The name for the short watches was used in Equestria long before such excellent officers as Mr. Ralf were commonly employed, is that not so?"

"But it stands to reason! And I bet 'dogging' down the hatches has some connection, too!" Lucky replied. She had long since discovered that the surest way to get a correct answer to a question was to offer up a patently wrong one and let equine nature take its course.

Ralf ears pricked up and swiveled toward the young ponies just before he raised his head and turned to face them. "Ralf thinks you wish to know the reason they are called the Dog Watches, yes?"

The two mares nodded eagerly. "Yes please, Mr.Ralf!" Lucky said.

"Is it not obvious?" the engineer asked them with an ever so slight smirk on his muzzle. "It is because they are cur-tailed!"

Author's Note

No apologies!