Celaeno and her crew didn't usually spend extended time in a single town. They usually stopped just long enough to pick up what they needed, and then they were gone. They weren't domesticated birds. The only home that any of them had ever truly known was the sky. Celaeno and her crew always felt anxious when they were in one place for too long.
Sometimes though, they really didn't have much of a choice. If the ship needed repairs, there wasn't really anywhere they could go. Worse than that though were the times when somebody on the crew was injured and they needed help or treatment that they just couldn't supply on the ship.
It didn't happen very happen, but it was always unnerving when it did. None of them liked it when one of them was hurt. And none of them liked to have to rely on somebody else, especially not with the well-being of one of their own. If they had to trust somebody though, Celaeno supposed that Rainbow Dash and her friends wouldn't be all that bad.
Although, none of them were looking forward to being among the ponies again. Celaeno knew that Rainbow Dash would be excited to see them again, but she had no way of knowing what any of the other ponies would think. They hadn't exactly been the most welcoming in Canterlot, and that had been just after they'd helped save the kingdom from the Storm King's reign. Then again, Ponyville was so much smaller and less posh than Canterlot had been, so the ponies here might not be as stuck up of snobs as the other ponies had been.
Really, there was no way of knowing until she had seen it for herself, so Celaeno made her way into the town in search of her pony friend. Most of her crew stayed on the ship, but Squabble insisted on joining her. He really enjoyed adventures and meeting new creatures. Sometimes the town they were in was too shady for somebody like Squabble. Celaeno and Mullet didn't want him to stumble upon a situation that might be dangerous, so they were maybe a little overprotective about what towns they let him wander around in.
Usually Celaeno didn't let Squabble come out into any town that they weren't already familiar with, but Celaeno had the feeling that Squabble would be safe in a place called Ponyville. After all, what could a couple of innocent little ponies do to them, besides be ignorant of their species?
Ponyville was a lot smaller than Canterlot was. There was no place to land an airship, so they had just landed in a clearing just outside of the town. This immediately caught the attention of some curious ponies who had been walking nearby. The ponies had been cautious at first, but when Celaeno had asked them if they knew where she could find Rainbow Dash, they had immediately relaxed and given her directions to the 'School of Friendship'.
...yep, they were in Equestria all right.
Celaeno was sure that even without the directions she would have been able to find the school just fine on her own. Celaeno had never gone to school herself, but she had seen some around during her travels, and, and this 'School of Friendship' was only slightly smaller than most any other specialty school was, which meant that it was still massive. In a town as small as Ponyville, such a school stood out like a sore claw.
With Squabble very helpfully pointing out where the school was (he was really good at spotting things), Celaeno and her crewmate were soon able to find their way to the school, which looked so much more fancy and friendly than it had any right to be. Just what kind of school was this?
About two seconds after Celaeno and Squabble walked through the doors they realized that the school was exactly what it claimed to be. A school that was meant to teach young ones about the power of friendship. Celaeno had always known that ponies were more friendly than most creatures were, but she never could have expected that she would see a group of them very seriously discussing an essay that they had to write for 'Honesty 101.'
Ponies were such strange creatures.
"Alright, now, where are we supposed to find Rainbow Dash?" Celaeno muttered to herself. She knew that they were actually there to ask another pony, Fluttershy, for help, but Celaeno couldn't really remember what Rainbow Dash's friends had looked like. She had a basic idea, but looking into this crowd of young ponies, Celaeno knew that she could easily mistake one of them for the ponies that they had helped out before.
The best way to go about doing this was to just find Rainbow Dash, who Celaeno knew she would be able to recognize in an instant, and ask her where her friend, Fluttershy was. That way, there would be no confusion...and Celaeno was really looking forward to seeing her bold pony friend again.
As Celaeno tried to figure out where they should begin to look for Rainbow Dash in this massive school, Squabble decided to just take the direct approach. Celaeno had only taken her eyes off of Squabble for a few moments, but when she looked again she saw that he was no longer by her side, but approaching a small study group.
"Squabble!" Celaeno hurried to grab her crewmate. "You know you're not supposed to wander off like that." Squabble may not have gotten far, but there had been a number of times where they had lost him for a few hours just because one of them had taken their eyes off of him for just a few seconds. Squabble could move really quickly when he wanted to, and while that made him very useful in an escape, it also just about gave Mullet a heart attack any time it happened. If Celaeno lost Squabble, her first mate never would have forgiven her.
Squabble squawked at her and gestured to the students.
"Well...yes, we probably could just ask for help." Celaeno admitted. "But you can't just go up to random...creatures." Celaeno had to change what she was saying when she saw that it wasn't just ponies in the group. There was one young pony, but also a hippogriff, a griffin, and a...changeling? Celaeno had heard about how the changelings had permanently changed their entire lifestyle and their looks, but she had never seen one in its new form before.
"Why not? The griffin asked in a slightly bored, slightly judgemental tone. "What do you guys need?" His tone didn't sound very friendly, but he also sounded sincere. Celaeno wondered if this was just as close to friendly as griffins got.
Squabble spoke up before Celaeno could answer. He screeched and gestured wildly, which concerned Celaeno slightly. Sure, she could understand what he was saying, he was just asking where they could find Rainbow Dash, but she highly doubted that any of these kids would know what his squawks meant. If any one of those kids did anything to mock Squabble…
"Professor Egghead?" The griffin nodded as his friends just looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, I know where she is. We were just about to go to her class. You guys can join us if you want."
"Hang on," Celaeno held up a talon to make the young ones stop before they could be on their way. "You mean Rainbow Dash? She's your teacher?" Celaeno had not expected the bold blue pony to involve herself in the education of young creatures. It just didn't suit her.
"Yeah, she's probably the coolest teacher we have." The griffin nodded before he narrowed his eyes and pointed a talon at them. "Just don't tell her I said that." With that being said, the griffin and his friends made their way to class, with Celaeno and Squabble close behind them.
As they went, Squabble was quick to point out to Celaeno that he had been right and she should have listened to him when he said that they should ask for help. He seemed to find it funny that he was the one who had gotten the information that they had needed. Celaeno didn't find it funny, but she did find it very interesting.
"How could you understand Squabble?" Celaeno asked. She had only ever met other Ornithians who could understand his squawks. Not many other creatures bothered to learn the language of the birds.
The griffin looked back at her in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Hello?" He spread his wings and flapped them proudly. "Part eagle here. We griffins know the old bird language too."
The hippogriff gasped dramatically. "You can talk to birds?!" She all but flew into her friend's face, making him stop in his tracks and lean away from her.
"No." The griffin used one of his wings to push her aside. "I can just understand other bird like creatures. Big difference." The griffin continued on his way before his friend could interrogate him anymore.
A few minutes later they reached their destination. The students went into their classroom, and when Celaeno saw the teacher that was waiting for them, she followed them right in.
"You never really struck me as the professor type, Rainbow Dash" Celaeno commented. She smirked when she saw the way that her friend froze up at her words. "Guess I was all wrong about you."
"Celaeno?" Rainbow Dash stood shocked for a moment before she grinned broadly and excitedly flew to greet her. "What are you doing here? I thought you guys would be out plundering the world of all its treasures?"
"We've been doing some plundering." Celaeno promised. What kind of pirates would they be if they hadn't? "We've just run into a bit of trouble, so we've had to put everything on hold for awhile."
"Trouble?" Rainbow Dash's excited grin dimmed slightly. "What happened?"
"A lot." Celaeno sighed and ran a talon through the feathers at the top of her head. "We need some help from you ponies again." And this wasn't an easy thing for her to admit.
"Hey, whatever you need, I'm here to help you." Rainbow Dash said, and Celaeno knew that she meant every word. Ponies were such sincere creatures. Maybe not all of them were, but all of the ones that Celaeno had met certainly were.
"Actually, right now I need to talk to your friend, Fluttershy." Celaeno really hoped that she didn't mess up the name. "She's the one that's good with creatures, right?"
"...Yeah?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "Why do you need her?"
"It's a long story." Celaeno glanced at Rainbow Dash's students, who had been watching their conversation with fascination and curiosity. It wasn't that Celaeno didn't trust them, but she didn't want to go around telling a couple of little strangers about her crew's troubles. "But I'll tell you later."
"You'd better." Rainbow Dash warned before she turned to address her students. "Alright, who here is ready for a field trip to Professor Fluttershy's classroom?" All of the students happily agreed. Celaeno wondered if they all just really liked Fluttershy, or if they just really wanted to get out of the classroom that they'd only been in for a minute or two.
Rainbow Dash lead their group back out into the hallway, which was much less crowded than it had been just a few moments ago, as class had started. Celaeno was glad that they were traveling in a group, and Rainbow Dash seemed to know where they were going, because all of these hallways looked the same to her. Celaeno was sure that if she was here on her own, she would have gotten lost before she had even gone anywhere.
After a few minutes of walking around the hallways of the school, Rainbow Dash stopped in front of a door that looked just like any other in the hallway. She knocked on the door with her hoof, but then let herself in before she could get an answer.
"Hey, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash flew over to her friend, who stopped in the middle of what she had been saying. Celaeno briefly felt bad about interrupting a lesson, but by the looks of things the students were supposed to be learning about the different advantages and uses of several species of insects. As interesting a lesson as that sounded, Celaeno thought that Capper's wellbeing was more important. "You got a minute?
"It's going to take more than a minute." Celaeno said honestly. "But I really need your help."
"Um," Fluttershy looked towards her students and seemed to be hesitant. Rainbow Dash quickly caught on to what the problem was.
"I'll watch your class for you." Rainbow Dash volunteered. "We'll just make it a joined lesson."
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy lowered her head slightly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and gave Fluttershy a gentle push towards the door.
"Of course I'm sure." Rainbow Dash insisted. "If our friends need your help, then I'm more than happy to do what I can to make it easier for you to help. Just as long as I get the full story later." Rainbow Dash glared slightly at Celaeno to make sure she understood.
"Count on it." Celaeno swore. Rainbow Dash nodded and turned her attention to all of the students, none of whom were all that interested in learning anymore. Celaeno didn't envy Rainbow Dash's job, but she couldn't worry about it. She had to get Capper the help that he needed. As Rainbow Dash began the lesson, Fluttershy, Celaeno, and Squabble slipped back into the hallway to talk.
Celaeno didn't know exactly what Fluttershy would do to help Capper, or what she needed to know beforehand, so she just told the pony the whole story. She tried her best to tell Fluttershy what she needed to know without going too far into details, because she didn't want to upset the pony. Celaeno didn't know everything about the ponies, but Fluttershy had always struck her as extremely sensitive.
Apparently Fluttershy could handle more than she looked like she could, because she asked Celaeno for details and clarification. She did seem upset and concerned, but also serious about the situation.
"So Capper has been having a hard time balancing without his tail?" Fluttershy asked.
"He can't even stand without something to support him." Celaeno said. "I don't know if this qualifies as something you would know about, but you're the only person we could think of that could help that Capper would be comfortable around."
"I'll certainly try." Fluttershy said, and while she didn't sound completely confident in her abilities, she didn't seem to be entirely unsure either. "Where is Capper?"
"Back on the ship." Celaeno said. "We thought it would be a little hard to drag him all the way here."
Fluttershy nodded. "Let's go." Celaeno was relieved at the pony's willingness to help. These ponies really were far more kind and generous than most any other species Celaeno had met. She still wasn't sure how much Fluttershy, or any of the ponies, could do for Capper, but at least they had a willingness to try, and at that moment, it was the best bet they had.
Celaeno just hoped that it would be enough.