Chapter 52: Business Trip 3

"Do you see anything in there?!" Gilda the Griffon yelled into a ventilation shaft, her voice bouncing around as a small pink filly crawled through the vents of the ship.

"I just got in!" Cozy Glow yelled back, "Just wait!"

"Hurry up then!" Gilda yelled in return, "The Sooner we catch that Sea-Badger, the sooner we can start relaxing!"

Cozy Glow grumbled to herself as she crawled through the ventilation shaft, moving towards where the sounds of what Gilda thought was a Sea-Badger came from.

Slowly crawling through the vents, Cozy came up to the spot where the sound originated from, and her face scrunched up in disgust as an overly sweet smell assaulted her senses.

"Ugh... Yachoo!" Cozy sneezed loudly, her head banging against the ceiling of the shaft, causing her to jump a bit forward.

Landing in a sticky pink puddle.

"AHH! Blood! Blood!" Cozy yelled in alarm as she quickly crawled back where she came from, her eyes glued to the sticky puddle in the vents, "There's blood!"

"What?! Did the Badger get something?!" Gilda yelled into the vents before closing her eyes and covering her face as a small pink filly fell out of the ventilation shaft and onto her head.

"I don't know!" The filly spoke quickly, her body squeezing into the larger Griffon's head of surprisingly soft feathers.

"That bears a problem then," Gilda said out loud as the thought of the mysterious Sea-Badger hunting on the ship entered her mind, "A big problem. If the Prince finds out about it, we're doomed!"

"WHAT?!" Cozy exclaimed in shock.

"Yes! Whatever happens, we need to catch that Sea-Badger before the Prince finds out. Understood?" Gilda asked the filly on her head, who quickly nodded in understanding.

"Great, Now we need to come up with a plan..."

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"What does this button do?" A Turquoise Pegasus asked as he pointed at a metal button connected to a screen of levers and switches.

"Don't touch that!" Time Turner quickly grabbed Zephyr's hoof and moved him away from the delicate machinery.

"What? I was just asking..." Zephyr mumbled as he sat down in the corner of the Engine room, looking at his new buddy move around and check the equipment.

"You can ask without touching anything," Time Turner told him, "Everything here is very expensive, and it is our job to make sure nothing will go wrong with it,"

"And what happens if something does go wrong?" Zephyr asked, his wing slowly inching towards a big red button.

Time Turner answered without taking his eyes off the engine he was inspecting, "If these Engines malfunction, then we'll be stranded in the middle of the ocean,"

Zephyr stopped moving his wing, stared at the shiny big red button, and pulled his wing back.

"That's bad..." Zephyr said, receiving a nod from Time Turner.

"Catastrophic, yes."

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Across the Ocean, in the Diamond Dog nation of Caninia, A schism was formed in the relationship between the six Princesses of the nation, leading to the country being split into two factions.

One faction is led by the Eldest Princess and current Queen, Katherina Proudpaws, and two of her sisters, Princess Indiana Ambereyes and Princess Fiona Floppyears.

This faction was commonly referred to by the citizens as the Old Castle, With Katherina being known in the international circle as the legitimate ruler of the nation.

On the other side, there was the faction known as the New Castle, led by the second oldest Princess, now Queen Jennino Lanternlight, and her younger sisters, Princess Moonbeam Twinkletail and Princess Ambrosia Muffinsbuns.

What does any of this have to do with Prince Blueblood sailing across the ocean? Well, this is a sort of exposition, allowing the narrator of future chapters to not have to repeat himself and pad out the length of the...

Oh. I'm doing it again, am I?

Apologies...

What we need to focus on at this moment, however, is the ruling Queen of the New Castle faction, Jennino Lanternlight, also known as Jenn for short.

Jenn is what some people may call... Opportunistic? No that isn't the correct word...

Jenn is a person who has an inherent need to make the best of the chance she gets. That in itself was a major cause for the splitting of the Royal Family.

So when her faction managed to arrange a meeting with Prince Blueblood Platinum of Equestria, she had an inherent need to make sure the meeting went perfectly, from having the best chefs available in the nation on standby, to having the best rooms in the castle available for the visiting party.

So you may imagine her reaction when a letter, written and signed by Prince Blueblood Platinum himself popped into existence in front of her.

Quickly opening the letter and reading its contents, she soon ordered her servants to get everything ready for their arrival and more.

Even though Prince Blueblood will not be arriving for a few more days, she could not delay any preparations.

If this deal were to go through, her legitimacy as a ruler would skyrocket in public perception, while also giving her faction a monumental ally on the international scene in the form of a Prince of Equestria.

While Jenn knew that going through with the deal might incense her older Sister, it was simply an opportunity she could not risk letting go of.

The only problem she found with the initial concept of the trade deal was that Caninia would be used as a proxy in order to trade with Griffonia for metals. Something that her sister Moonbeam already came up with a solution for.

Instead of trading Metal from Griffonia by using Caninia as a proxy, The plan will be to trade Cananian metal directly at reduced prices with Equestria, giving the Ponies a better deal than what the griffons would come up with whilst also removing the need to complicate the process by using her nation as a proxy.

She understood that dealing with Griffonia for metals was the smarter thing to do, seeing how griffons have a history of metalwork, and comparing that with Caninia's rather abysmal history of trade, it's not hard to see why the Ponies would think to trade with the Bird-Cats instead of the Diamond Dogs.

But as previously stated, Jennino Lanternlight saw an opportunity to boost her image as both a ruler of Caninia and an Ally of Equestria, and so she planned to take it.

And if it means a number of Griffons will be losing out on a trade deal?

Well, That doesn't sound like Jenn's problem now, does it?

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"We need help capturing a Sea-badger!" Gilda yelled as soon as she slammed the door to the girls' room open, causing the filly on her head to smack her face.

"...What's a Sea-Badger?" A K Yearling asked the Griffon as she placed another set of cards onto the small table sitting between her and Trixie Lulamoon, causing the blue Unicorn to sink even deeper into herself as another bit left her side of the table and moved into the Pegasus's corner.

"I don't know," Gilda answered with shrugged shoulders, "The twerp here," She pointed a finger at Cozy Glow, "Said that whatever we heard in the vents was too big and heavy to be a rat or a raccoon, so it's a Sea-Badger."

Yearling took a moment to think the griffon's words through before she nodded to herself.

"Huh. While I do not think that Sea-Badgers exist, I do know plenty of wild animals that could fit the bill, and let me get this correct, Larger than a rat or a raccoon, and capable of crawling through the vents of a boat?"

"Say whatever you want about Sea-Badgers, nerd," Gilda scoffed at the answer Yearling gave her, ignoring the frown on the pony's face at her response, "I just need to know if you're going to help us or not,"

"I can't help you, I'll be too busy tomorrow... Ugh..." Trixie answered with a groan with her head resting on the table.

"Nobody asked you, I'm talking to glasses over here," Gilda rolled her eyes at Trixie's answer before pointing a talon at Yearling.

"You know what, no." Yearling said with a smirk, "I'm not going to help you find your 'Sea-Badger'" Her smile widened as she took off her glasses and shined a spunky smile at the girls, "Because I'm going to find it first!" And with that declaration, A K Yearling, or Daring Do as she might call herself when nobody's watching, flew out the door of the girls' cabin, causing Gilda to release a Squawk of surprise before she quickly turned and ran after her, Cozy Glow still holding on to her head feathers.

Leaving Trixie alone in their Cabin, twenty bits poorer, and forced to clean up after the card game she and Yearling just had.

"Humph! The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't need to prove herself with finding an Aquatic Mustelidae! Although... If we do find the Sea-Badger before the other girls, will that not prove to Twilight Sparkle that we are indeed the better pony? Hah! How many new species of animals have you discovered Twilight? None! Hahahaha- cough cough, ow my throat..."

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Omake: A Dream Dreams about Dreams on the Moon.

On the Moon sits a castle, a place which not long ago was the battleground for a fight between two Alicorn Princesses and a Powerful Nightmare.

It was in this castle, that the survivors of the Nightmare War decided to restart their society, coping with the loss of members that came with the massacre caused by the reviled "Shadowfright"

And it was during a walk inside the castle that one of the surviving Moon Creatures stepped into what was once a treasury filled almost to the brim with gold and jewels, with priceless artifacts covering the wall, from the floor to the ceiling, the room was immaculate in its splendor.

Now reduced to a large empty storage room, with all the treasures and gold gone, and only a series of metal bars, reminiscent of a prison cell, leaning against the wall like a crude makeshift mockery of a spear.

"Is this really all we have left?" The Dream asked itself as it looked into the empty room, "Some makeshift spears and an empty throne?"

Not even an hour passed since they were freed from the control of Nightmare Moon before Shadowfright killed a majority of the Moon Creatures that were in the town of Ponyville that night.

"Is this our fault?" The Dream asked aloud, hoping for some sort of answer, some sign as to why such cruelties have befallen his race, his brothers and sisters killed by another sibling, for Dreams do not have parents, and they are all siblings in the grand scheme.

"Is this our comeuppance? Our punishment?" It yearned for an answer, from anybody, anything.

"Why is the world so cruel to us?" It closed its misty and cloud-like eyes and wept, tears of teal smoke leaving it as it cried at the cruelty of the universe.

"Hey Jim get over here! Princess Luna just came over and gave us a bunch of food!" The Dream stopped its crying and opened its eyes as someone called out to it.

"Huh?" It so eloquently responded, the deep and philosophical meaning behind the word much to advanced for its simple-minded brothers and sisters to comprehend.

"Charli! Don't interrupt me while I'm brooding!" The Dream yelled back at its sister, causing her laughter to echo around the halls of the now lively castle on the moon.

"Just shut up and get over here! Luna brought this amazing pony food called Peeza, You need to try it!" Charli called to Jim, causing the obviously deep and smart and philosophical Dream who totally wasn't crying just a moment ago to scoff at the air around him.

"It's called a Pizza, Charli! You know that!" Jim yelled as his Teal Smoky body levitated out into the corridors of the castle as he made his way to have some food with his siblings.

He can cry- Philosophize some other time.

"Did she bring any Pineapple toppings?!" Jim asked calling out, receiving a giggle and a "Yucky!" From Charli.