Chapter 54: Business Trip 5
An Alarm rang out on the ship, A Fire had been started.
Luckily for everyone on board, the ship itself was equipped with anti-fire security measures, just like any other in the Royal Collection.
And as quickly as the flame started to spread, it has been dealt with.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
But just because the fire caused no injuries, does not mean that it caused no damage.
"Sir, I was trying to cook fish but then I-" The Griffon tried to defend herself and explain the situation, But her boss was having none of it.
"On an open flame?! Are you daft?!" Prince Blueblood yelled at Gilda, his voice making everyone else too afraid to speak over him.
"How old are you? Six? No, Six-year-olds already know the basics of fire safety, You must be a toddler!"
"Sir I-" Gilda wanted to speak, but she was silenced by another yell from the prince.
"Quiet! Do not interrupt me while I speak!" His face was starting to go red with anger, "It hasn't been twenty-four hours since we left the dock and already the alarm has rang. Are you trying to sabotage the deal? Don't answer me! I don't want to hear any excuses from you or anyone involved." Prince Blueblood took a deep breath.
"Anybody who doesn't have a job to do is to return to their rooms until further notice. That means If I see anybody who isn't working walking in the corridors, they will be taking a pay cut. I do not want to hear complaining, now leave." He told the rest of the ponies on the ship.
"But-" Gilda once again tried to speak, only for a blast of magic to hit her in the face, silencing whatever words she was planning to speak.
"I said Leave." Prince Blueblood said, watching as the ponies walked back to their rooms or to resume their work, ignoring the glare on the Griffon's face.
He waited until he was left alone with Starlight before he spoke again.
"Am I being too lenient on them?" He asked, his head moving to look out a window at the shining stars reflected in the water.
"You know as well as I do how important this deal is, Not only for me but for the future of Equestria and its allies," He said, "If I had more time, I would have been able to hire an actually competent crew, but instead I'm stuck with these Idiots."
"I'm sure that the docked pay is enough to show them how serious you are about this," Starlight tried to say, hoping to somehow cheer up her surprisingly moody boss.
"Y'know, Just over a month ago I would have ordered Statues of colored Ice to be made in mere hours, banquets of the finest of food in minutes, Have the chefs of the castle make food with Ingredients they simply didn't have." He said, "I made sure the ponies around me were on their toes, in tip-top shape, ready to take any order and complete it,"
"I'm sensing a 'But' coming," Starlight said.
"But ever since You sent me to Yakyakistan, it's almost as if ponies aren't taking my orders seriously anymore." He looked up from the sea, towards the starry night sky, "Sure, I've seemingly mellowed out by a lot, and Haven't made any insane orders from the staff, but I am still a Prince of Equestria."
"What are you getting at?" Starlight asked, slowly walking forward to stand beside him, looking up at the night sky.
"What I'm getting at is this," He paused for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before he turned to look at Starlight.
"Am I a Joke?"
Starlight Glimmer blinked at that question, her face in confusion.
"A joke?"
Blueblood nodded, "Yeah, I don't know if it was when I arrested you, or during the Art gallery before that, or during the Grand Galloping Gala, or I'm not sure when, But I feel like people aren't taking my orders seriously."
Starlight looked at her boss, a blank expression on her face before her hoof quickly moved and slapped him on the cheek.
"A Joke?" She scoffed at him, "Ha! Don't make me laugh!"
Blueblood rubbed his cheek as he looked at his Bodyguard/Friend/Prisoner-on-Probation.
"You are Prince Blueblood Platinum, You are no joke!" She poked his chest with her leg, "Do you know who traveled the frozen tundra of Yakyakistan with an unconscious Mare on his back? You did. Do you know who managed to raise hundreds of thousands of bits for charity with a single short speech? You did. Do you know who managed to save the lives of the citizens of Neigh York when the streets were flooded with Chocolate? You did!"
Starlight grabbed both his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eyes, "Do you know who managed to convince a Unicorn, One who practically mind-controlled a town into her way of thinking, Using only his words?!" She shook his head as tears started clouding her eyes, "YOU DID! YOU DID IT! All of IT! You did it all!"
"AND IF THAT MAKES YOU A JOKE! THEN YOU ARE THE BEST DAMN JOKE OUT THERE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!" Starlight screamed at her boss, tears trailing down her face before she pulled him into a hug.
Frozen in shock, Blueblood slowly pat the mare on her back, before speaking.
"Starlight, are you- Are you crying?" He asked her, slowly rubbing her back as she hugged him.
"I'm not crying, shut up," She sniffed into his shoulder.
"Hey Starlight," Blueblood called out after a few minutes of awkwardly rubbing the mares back.
"Yes Blueblood?"
"I'm docking your pay to buy a new suit."
"You don't pay me."
"I know."
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"Dock pay?! He can't do that to us!" Gilda Complained as she angrily marched into her room.
"Actually he can, He's our boss," Trixie added helpfully from her corner of the room.
"Um AkShUaLlY, Nobody asked you!" Gilda repeated mockingly before walking over and collapsing onto her bed.
"You know what," Trixie stood up, "I don't like you," And she walked out into the corridor.
"Oh wow, somepony doesn't like me, what a shocker," Gilda grumbled into her pillow.
"She has a point you know," A K Yearling said from her bed, "You have been acting like a jerk since the moment you stepped hoof onto this boat,"
"Can it Glasses, I don't want to hear it from you." Gilda snarled face down into her pillow, "You have the easiest job here, just press a few buttons on a type-writer, how hard could it be?"
"Excuse me?" Yearling stood up from her bed, "Do you know how difficult documenting a scene is, I need to type as fast as the ponies are speaking, I'm not allowed to make mistakes, If I run out of paper or ink, I'm doomed. You wanna talk about easy jobs? You have the easiest one here! Just make sure nothing happens to the boat, and somehow you failed it on your first day, and because of you we're not allowed to leave our rooms!"
Gilda pushed herself up from her bed, "So it's my fault huh? If I remember you were also with us by the fire,"
"You started the fire in the first place!" Yearling pointed at Gilda.
"So that means all the blame is now on me?!" The Griffon pointed at herself.
"YES!" The Pegasus shouted.
"Please stop shouting..."
"What about you? You were the one that flew away the moments things started falling apart!" Gilda yelled at the Pegasus.
"Me? You're the one who started flying up in the sky!" Yearling shouted.
"Please..."
""WHAT?!"" The Griffon and the Pegasus turned to yell at the last pony in their room.
At a small pink filly who was crying under her sheets.
"Oh... Eh, Hey Twerp, You know we're not mad at you, right?" Gilda weakly asked the crying filly.
"Shut up," Cozy Glow weakly said as she dug herself deeper under her covers.
"Cozy... I hate agreeing with her-" "Hey!" "-But Gilda's right," A K Yearling sat down next to Cozy Glow's bed.
"Whatever argument me and her are having, you are not the reason, So please stop crying."
The Next hour passed with the two adults trying to cheer up the filly before all three of them fell asleep.
They were found later that night by a tired Trixie as she entered the room, seeing their sleeping bodies hugging each other.
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As the sun rose on the morning after, Starlight Glimmer scowled in pain as the rays of the sun pierced her window and struck her face.
Her body was sore, and her breath smelled of Alcohol.
She weakly rolled out of bed, falling off it in a tangle of sheets as her tired legs weakly raised her hungover body, a splitting headache threatening to bring the dinner from yesterday back up.
Without using her magic, she untangled herself from her sheets and placed them back on her boss's bed, careful not to wake him up- Wait a moment.
Like a bucket of cold water being poured on her head, Starlight's Hangover was washed away, leaving her staring in shock at the bed she just crawled out of, and at the other pony in it.
"...Fuck."