Chapter 53: Business Trip 4
"Starlight, I implore you, you need to eat," Starlight rolled her eyes as she sat watching her boss eat a dinner consisting of readily made food, heated up inside a magic oven and kept warm inside a magic container.
"I already said I'm not hungry," She told him, flipping a page on the puzzle magazine she was reading- Oh! Sudoku.
"That's what everybody says," Blueblood said, once again using EveryBODY instead of EveryPONY, "And then you find them walking around at night searching for something to eat," He took a bite of his Minotaurian Salad. It consists of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Red Onions, Green Bell Peppers, Kalamata Olives, Feta Cheese, and Olive Oil.
For some reason, he called it a "Greek Salad", Once more using the incorrect words for what he was talking about.
Starlight simply summed it up as a quirk of his, like how her Dad is a bit too overprotective, or how she still hasn't returned his coat from when he gave it to her when they were dragging themselves through the frozen tundra of Yakyakistan.
She fell asleep in it, it is hers now.
"Then I will simply not eat during the night, simple," Starlight said, a pen in her hold writing down the answers for the puzzle- Ooh, Trivia.
"By the way, Blueblood, What was the name of the recently discovered owner of an ancient Yakyakistani tomb?" Starlight asked.
Blueblood took another bite of his salad before he floated a small cube of butter and a slice of bread, "We know this answer already, We're the ones who discovered the tomb," He spread the cheese on the bread and put lettuce and onion slices on top.
"I know the answer is King Tarkus IV, so I'm going to answer with 'That snow creature you blasted in the face with magic' Instead." He levitated the bread over to Starlight, "Eat." He ordered before going back to his own food.
Starlight sighed and placed down her puzzle magazine, grabbing onto the bread and taking a bite.
And then another.
And another.
"Told you you'll be hungry," Shut up Blueblood.
"But on the topic of that Yakyakistani Tomb, What do you think Rutherford is up to?" Blueblood asked, another bite of salad entering his mouth.
"I don't know," Starlight finished her bread and with a glow to her horn, levitated over a plate of Salad for herself.
------------------------
"This is our food?" Zephyr Breeze asked as he poked the grainy and brown sludge on his platter with a fork, "It looks like... I don't want to say Throwup so I won't... But it doesn't look good," His face made a grimace as a small bubble formed on his food and popped.
"It is just regular Oatmeal, Zephyr, Do not make a scene of it," Time Turner said as he wrapped a cloth around his neck to keep it clean before taking a bit of his own Oatmeal.
And then he froze.
"So," Zephyr began, "How does it taste?"
Time Turner swallowed his food, a pained expression on his face all the while, "I am sure that the nutritional value of this food more than counts up for the taste,"
"So it tastes like shit?"
"I did not say any such words," Time Turner weakly defended.
"It tastes like shit, gotcha'" Zephyr nodded to himself and then readied his body, a fierce look of a warrior on his face before he quickly shoveled as much Oatmeal as he could into his mouth, planning to finish it all as soon as possible.
"I think I'm going to throw up," Only for him to quickly stand up from his seat and fly towards the nearest trashcan, emptying his stomach.
------------------------
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Cozy Glow said as she sat on the deck of the ship, looking at a small flame cooking skewers of fish above an empty barrel.
"Why not?" Gilda asked, turning the skewered fish around above the flame, "Don't tell me you actually want to eat whatever that Jelly guy is making, dude's a creep," She picked up a skewer, gave it a sniff, and placed it back above the flame.
"But... Are we even allowed to make a fire?" Cozy asked, "Wouldn't it have been easier to just use the stove in the kitchen?"
"Eh, Who cares!" Gilda waved off her concern, "We're in the middle of the ocean, this is a prime fishing location! I'm sure the prince would understand,"
"Understand what?" Someone asked before sitting down next to the fire.
"Oh... It's you." Gilda frowned at the new member of her little circle.
"What? Don't tell me I'm not allowed to sit here?" A K Yearling asked as she took her spot, The coat and glasses she wore earlier that day were gone, replaced with a green shirt and a Beige hat.
"Oh Look at that, Miss Author changed her wardrobe," Gilda mocked Yearling, "What? Is hunting OUR[ Sea-Badger too taxing for you? Needed to get out of that stuffy cloak?"
"Mock me all you want, It won't change the fact that I'm the one who's going to find that Sea-Badger!" A K Yearling proudly proclaimed.
"Not if we have anything to say about that! Right, twerp?" Gilda said loudly before looking over at Cozy Glow, only to find her gone from her spot.
"Twerp? Hey Twerp, Where did you go?!"
"See," Yearling said, "Not even the filly wants to hang out with you,"
"Shut up!" Gilda yelled at A K Yearling, causing the author to jump at the intensity of the shout, "We need to find her! With the Sea-Badger loose on the ship, we can't leave her alone!" Gilda jumped onto her feet and with a flap of her wings, flew into the sky, circling around the ship.
"Shit, you're right," A K Yearling stood up from next to the fire and quickly flew back into the ship, intent on searching the inside while Gilda searches the outside.
---------------------
The Pleasurable sweetness, the Soft caressing touch of its magic, The Scent of its make.
"Concentrated Love Jelly truly is the best food in the world," The Changeling masquerading as Hughbert Jellius thought to himself as he hid behind a pile of crates inside a large utility closet, A jar of glowing pink Jelly in his now black and chitinous hooves.
As the Changeling masquerading as Hughbert Jellius took a sip from the jar of Jelly as if it was a bottle of Alcohol, he failed the see two Brilliant Amber eyes watching him in horror from a small ventilation grill on the ceiling.
-----------------------
Cozy Glow stared in horror as she saw Hughbert Jellius, the cook for the trip, shed his skin in a cover of green fire like some sort of demon from a storybook, and start drinking a sickly sweet substance which smelled almost exactly like the 'blood' she found in the vents.
"I need to tell the prince," She whispered to herself as she slowly started crawling backward.
However, did you know that ventilation shafts have an echo, so even a quiet whisper can be heard loud and clear?
"Who's there?" Hughbert asked loudly, his blank insect-looking eyes quickly moving around the dark utility closet.
Cozy Glow immediately closed her eyes lest he see her irises reflect what little light there was, and covered her mouth with her legs in order to not make a sound.
"Hmmm, Must have been the wind," He said to himself and went back to pleasuring himself with his Jelly.
Cozy Glow silently made her escape.
--------------------
On the Deck of the ship, a barrel cooking a number of skewered fish was left unattended.
And when the ship went over a wave, it fell.
[center]
[b]And the deck was engulfed with flame.[/b][/center]
-------------------------
Omake: A Monument to a Dream.
"There, All done," Princess Luna said as she gently placed down the statue at the top of the hill where Celestia and Her threw the rope to lasso the moon.
"Thank you for doing this for me, Princess Luna, I know you're probably busy but I-" The only other person on top of the hill tried to thank the Princess, but she waved him off.
"Think nothing of it, Spike the Dragon, The Idea you brought up was good enough that we would have done so ourselves had we thought of it," Luna told the dragon and turned away, "Do not stay here for too long, It is getting late," She told him before she flew back to Canterlot.
Leaving Spike to sit down on the grassy floor, the cold mud on the ground leaving spots on his scales as the late autumn chill passed through his body, but he didn't move from his spot.
His eyes were glued to the large statue he asked the Princess to erect.
Made of a black stone, the statue was that of a castle nested inside of a crescent moon, which when looked at from where Spike was sitting, the room made inside the crescent would be filled by the full moon during midnight, giving the castle in the middle a beautiful silver backdrop.
But that wasn't what Spike was busy looking at.
Instead, his eyes were looking at the Black Stone plaque placed at the bottom of the statue, filled from top to bottom with names.
"-Hank, Peter, Carla, Dewitt, Rico-" Spike read out loud the names written on the plaque, his claws holding something and twiddling with it in his hands as he sat on the ground.
It wasn't long before he reached the bottom of the list.
"-Walter, Rummy, Larry, and here you are, Jerome."
Spike slowly stood up from the grass and waddled forward to the statue before bending down and placing in front of it what he was holding.
A heart-shaped gem, the same one that he planned on giving to Rarity in order to get her to snap out of Nightmare Moon's control.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you," He sniffed as he looked down at the gem, "But I know that wherever you are, you'll have plenty of friends," Spike sniffed again and wiped some snot off his nose, his arms cold and sticky, "And- And I'm sorry that- that I- That I- Waaahhh!!!" Spike started crying, salty tears falling out of his eyes as he collapsed in front of the statue.
Of the memorial for his dead friend.
And it was as he cried, that he felt the wind brush against his shoulder.
"Don't cry," He could almost hear him on the wind, "I forgive you." The wind once again brushed against Spike, causing him to open his eyes.
To see a small army of see-through Moon Creatures staring down at him, slowly dissipating back into smoke.
And at their front, made of silver smoke, he saw his friend, Jerome, smile down at him, his ghost already said all he needed to say, as just like all the others, He too dissipated into smoke, his spirit put at rest.
Spike silently cried as the cloud of colorful smoke flew up into the sky, leaving behind no clue that the spirits ever came to Equestria.
"Goodbye," Spike whispered as the cloud of smoke flew too far to see before he slowly stood up from where he cried, and slowly started making his way back to Ponyville.
That night, a new star appeared in the sky, but that is a story for another time.