Chapter 6
Time passed by, the filly making a full recovery under the skillful watch of Peso. Physically, that was. Mentally and emotionally the filly was a wreck. Remi had been her whole world for so long but now she was gone.
'Morning Ashima-' Dashi smiled as she walked in. 'Peso says you're ready to leave the sick bay now, he had to go out on a mission with the Captain and Kwazii so he asked me to come take your bandages off.'
The filly nodded, hopping off the bed. Most of her wounds had long healed but there were still a few that had been slower healing that had finally healed up. 'Morning Dashi.'
'How have you been going?' She asked kindly as she started unraveling the first bandage.
'I'm alright.' The filly sighed. 'Thank you for asking Dashi.'
'No problem. Once we're finished here I'll give you a tour of the Octopod if you like.'
'Sure.' The dog finished taking off the last of her bandages and she glanced at her body. Instead of her gleaming golden coat her fur had become lifeless and dull, what wasn't fur was still red raw scars, a testament to her fight with the pirates. Her normally white mane and tail were still stained with blood, the filly hanging her head. She looked even worse then she had back at the lab.
'You'll be okay Ashima.' Dashi patted her neck kindly. 'It'll take some time but your scars won't be noticeable once your fur grows back.'
'I know.' She sighed again then shook her body and stretched her legs, trying to shake off the feel of the bandages. 'What can we do to get stains out of my mane and tail?'
'I've got some shampoo that'll take the stain right out. Do you want to go have a shower now?'
She sighed in relief. She didn't really want the rest of the crew seeing her bloodied mane. Her neck had been bandaged for so long and they hadn't been able to do anything with her mane until the bandages came off. At least she could do something about that now. 'Yes please. Thank you so much Dashi.'
'It's no problem at all. I know girls like looking their best, well, except maybe Tweak. That bunny always seems to have some grease and oil in her fur. Come on, my room is this way.'
Ashima followed her out of the sick bay, shaking her neck as she stretched. It felt good to be up and around.
'So, Ashima, tell me about yourself.'
'Um- well-' Dashi's question caught her off guard. 'There's really not much to say. I'm twelve and I like running. That's about it.'
Dashi raised her eyebrows in surprise but didn't press it. 'We've got a tredmil in the gym if you want to use it, it's a bit hard to find places to run far when you live underwater.'
'A treadmill? What's that?'
'Tweak would be better at explaining that then me I'm afraid. Basically it's a machine that the floor moves so you have to run so you don't fall over.'
'Sounds interesting. I've never seen one before.'
'This is my room here.' She exclaimed as a door opened and the filly followed her in. 'Bathroom is in there and you'll find everything you'll need in the cupboard.'
'Thank you.'
'No problem.' Dashi sat down on her bed, the filly going into the bathroom. She laid back on her pillow, watching the fish swimming past through the glass. The filly was a strange one but in a fascinating kind of way. She was quiet, reserved, didn't say much. She wondered what would happen with her now that she was better. What would the Captain and Inkling decide to do with her?
'That feels better.' Ashima exclaimed as she walked out of the bathroom, her mane and tail white again. Her fur was a little damp still but it wouldn't take long to dry off. 'Thank you for letting me use your shower.'
'No problem at all.' She got off the bed and grabbed a brush. 'You might want to fix your mane up though.'
Ashima laughed, her first laugh in a long time as she saw her reflection in Dashi's mirror. 'Oh dear.' She looked at the brush then back at her neck. 'I don't think I'm going to be able to fix it myself-' She lifted a front hoof. 'These things aren't much good for holding things.'
'Oh of course, sorry Ashima. We've never had a pony on board before, your actually the first one I've met. There were none back in the city I come from.'
'Yeah, we do prefer staying out in the country. City life isn't really our thing. We like the wide open spaces to run in.' She got a wistful look in her eye for a moment but quickly pushed her memories aside. 'You wouldn't mind brushing my mane this one time would you?'
'Not at all.' She began brushing the filly's mane. 'Reminds me of my old friend I had back home, she was a Rough Collie and she had such long fur. I used to plait it and put all kinds of things in it.'
The filly chuckled. 'Sounds like fun.'
'You should meet my sister then, she's even more crazy about these kinds of things then I am.' She finished brushing the filly's mane and then quickly went over her tail. 'There, all done.'
'Thanks. It gets really annoying that I have hooves instead of paws.'
'No worries-' She placed the brush back and grabbed a purple flower hair clip. 'I'll just add one finishing touch-'
The filly giggled, arching her neck as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. 'It suits.'
'It does.' Dashi agreed, chuckling as the filly played with her reflection. 'One question Ashima.'
'Go ahead.'
'Why do you walk on all fours instead of two?'
She shrugged, turning to her. 'I can walk on two if I want but four is easier. Besides-' She reared, looking at her front hooves. 'These things are practically useless. I can't pick anything up with them so there's not much point. Why do you ask?'
'Oh, I was just wondering. It must make it hard having hard hooves instead of paws.'
'I get by, just got to do things a little differently-' She demonstrated by grabbing Dashi's hair clip out of her hair with her teeth. 'Like this.'
'Hey-' She laughed, trying to take it back but the filly danced out of reach. 'May I have that back?'
'Alright. There you go-' After a moment the clip was back in Dashi's hair. 'Sorry.'
'No harm done. Come on, I'll give you the tour of the Octopod now, starting with the octochutes.'
'Octochutes?'
'They're tunnels that go right to the bottom of the Octopod, the launch bay so if there's an emergency we can get down there really quickly. Instead of using the stairs this time we'll go underneath them-' She led the way to the door and pressed a button, the octochute opening. 'Follow me-'
The filly snorted in surprise as the dog disappeared down the hole. What in the horsefeathers? She snorted, pawing the ground. She was frightened.
'Come on Ashima.'
She jumped at Dashi's voice, seeing her face on the screen next to the door. What is this?
'There's nothing to be scared of, you'll have fun. Trust me.'
'Okay. Here goes-' She jumped like she watched Dashi do, sitting as she slid down the slide. After a moment she opened her eyes, giggling. It was fun. Up ahead she could see another door, the chute opening and she almost fell on her face as she came out of the tunnel.
'Wow there-' Shellington laughed, helping the filly to her hooves. 'You okay?'
'Thanks.' She chuckled, swishing her tail. 'That was fun.'
'See-' Dashi smiled as she walked over to them. 'Told you it would be fun.'
'I don't think we've been properly introduced.' The sea other started after a moment. 'I'm Shellington.'
'Ashima, but you've probably already figured that.' She replied as they shook hoof-to-paw. 'I don't see many other ponies running around here.'
'Your a Welsh pony, aren't you?' She nodded. 'Fascinating.'
'I'm about to give her a tour of the Octopod Shellington, do you want to join us?'
'I'd love to Dashi but I've got to do some things in my lab-' He started up the ladder. 'See you around Ashima.'
'Ashima?' Dasi frowned, looking at the filly who seemed to be frozen. 'Something wrong?'
She shook her head, pushing the demons of her memories back. 'Nope, let's get started on this tour then.'
'Alright. Well, this here is the launch bay-' She swept her paw around. 'It's where the Gups are stored and where we leave the Octopod from-'
The filly dipped her muzzle into the water then snorted. 'It's cold.'
Dashi laughed. 'We're near the Artic now so yes, the water is a lot colder here. We have special wetsuits we wear when we go in the ocean here, they're made by Tweak, our engineer. They keep us both warm and dry.'
'Cool.'
'Speaking of Tweak, let's go meet her.'
'Sure.'
They walked around to Tweak's workshop, the green bunny hard at work underneath the Gup D. 'Morning Tweak.'
'Oh, hey Dashi.' She rolled out from under the Gup on her roller bed. 'You must be Ashima. Good to meet you finally.'
'Hi.' The filly nodded then looked up at the Gup lifted up on the hoist. 'So what are you working on?'
'This is my favorite Gup, I'm doing a couple repairs and upgrades to its drilling system.' She looked up at it. 'I better finish it off in case it's needed.'
'We'll leave you to it then. Come on Ashima.'
The filly followed the dog back around, glancing up at the screens they were walking past. 'What's all this?'
'Another set of control computers, we've got to main set up in the Headquarters. The ones down here allow us to control the radio, the radar and other things. That lever over there opens the Octohatch to let the Gups in and out of the Octopod.'
'Wow.' The filly raised her eyebrows in amazement. 'I've never seen stuff like this before.'
'Most of it is the very latest technology, Tweak is an inventor as well as our engineer and mechanic.'
'A bunny of all trades.'
'Most certainly. Now onto the rest of the tour.'
