The League of Extraordinary Gentlecolts

"Yeeeeeeah, I'm with the spirit on this one. I can throw a bunch of words together to sound impressive, but, to be blunt? Impressive lies are only impressive when the target audience knows what you're talking about, let alone believe it. Unless of course, the objective is to distract them with inane babbling so they're not actually -watching- what you or your accomplice is doing..." Glenda looked around, wondering if she'd be able to get into the rafters...She liked sleeping in rafters, for some reason...Or branches. But she kept pacing about, wondering how they were going to operate this thing, let alone get to their destination in time...

"Don't worry about speed," Fleetfoot says reassuringly. [color]"It'll take a while to get her in the air, nut she's got plenty of speed once she's up. As for the issue of weight, that's how I came to be standing here today; I didn't invent hot air balloons, but I did find the next step in the scale. See, ordinarily you'd be right, it is too heavy with oxygen; that is, the normal air that we breath. But this burns hydrogen, which we extract from water, believe it or not, which has proven to be capable of quite a bit more lift. Thus allowing for a much grander design. This is the first such design; this is to be her maiden voyage."

"So it's not magic, though it takes a fairly skilled Pegasus to pull out the hydrogen. But yes, the Solar Diarch is my baby, I don't mind if you call it that," he finishes with a grin.

"Look, if you don't understand the big words, then there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't mean I'm a liar. I could spend the next three days lecturing you neanderthals about the science and technology of trueflight, spaceflight..." as he speaks, his hands light up his display again, this time producing a full technical model breakdown of the Thermopylae (not that any of the others would know what they were looking at). It rotates a bit, before being replaced by recorded footage of the same ship in orbit around a planet. "...and every other conceivable detail you could want until you believe me, but it's not like it matters. I only brought it up so we'd all be clear I wasn't making a dick joke." The display closes out once more.

"Spacefight... TELL ME EVERYTHING... I must know... Must try to build..." Tick-Tock said shocked at hearing that word. If it's what she thinks it is... Then that's TOTALLY something worth trying to build. even more so then the crazy rocket floating cloud-things she had been mulling about in her mind already.

Phoenix very selectively hears only one part of that. "I am rather impressive, aren't I?" By now he is walking up the docking ramp into the zeppelin, disregarding further comment. "Everyone pile on, we need to get moving. I already picked out my room, but the rest of you should sort your selves out and get loaded. Launch is... whenever the captain says, I guess."

Tick-Tock twitchs at not getting ANY answer to her questions... "Hey! Why you not tell me what I want to know?" She asked as she followed him on board.

"Probably one of two reasons: One, he -is- making it all up to sound cool, and as a result he can't back up anything he's blathering about...Or two: He's already said too much and we should expect people coming after him for shooting his mouth of as it is. I'm really not sure which is the better option at this point. Of course, that's keeping logic involved. He could just be a spiteful little monkey and is playing hard-of-hearing to irritate us. It's what I would do." Glenda headed on-board as well, her wings 'shrugging' indifferently. Which room did she want...?

"Hmmm, incorrect." Phoenix pokes his head back out the door. "Those are actually pretty illogical answers- if I was just making it all up, I could just keep making up more and more to answer your questions. There isn't anyone within this universe who knows what I'm talking about- as you all so aptly demonstrated- so who would come after me for saying it? There is one fundamental reason why I don't answer- because you all think I'm making it up, and in order for you to actually believe me, I would have to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk ad nauseum about every little detail until you're satisfied, or else no dice, and that is a colossal waste of time. Maybe that sounds appealing to the crackhead over there" he points to Dakarr, "but not to me. So I'll tell you what. if it keeps you up at night, you can each ask me one question that you think will satisfy the issue, at any point during our little trip, and I'll answer it concisely and truthfully." He looks at Tick Tock briefly. "Freebie, if it'll shut you up: Spaceflight is easy, you just have to build a vessel that is pressure sealed and airtight, give it enough thrust to overcome gravity without actual lift, point it upwards and let fly. Then, once in the vacuum, just point and shoot, and you'll fly forever, or until you hit something. Navigation, and surviving in said vessel, are a bit more complicated, though. Is that good? Go find a bunk."

"For what it's worth, I do believe you are telling the truth about your ship.... And really I'd love to see it someday. If it was possible... Won't be surprized if it's not." Tick-Tock replied with a smile. "And thank you, that is good enough to start planning blueprints on... Or at least some random notes..."

Wishful follows them onboard, seeming lost in thought.

Fluegel shakes his head and gets on.
"Oh whatever I'll ride this things, but if we miss the meeting someone else can try to find out where the elements are."

As you board the Solar Diarch you find yourselves in a fairly large space that appears to be a central command area. A number of ponies ring the edge of the room, working with miscellaneous devices. Others are running about doing various tasks. You can see just about every kind and color of pony imaginable, and not just ponies; a hippogriff busily tries to repair the underside of a telegraph machine, while a zebra listens through an earpiece providing feedback.

There is a doorway to the left, and a spiral stair case to the right.

"Now, the fourth floor is off-limits without permission. There's a lot of sensitive equipment up there, and we can't have anything jostled. Other than that, you're free to go pretty much anywhere on here. Your rooms are on the third floor," Fleetfoot explains, stepping up to a big wheel.

"Miss Shining Rays, if you please."

"Aye sir!" The mare indicated turns out to be a purple pegasus. "Prepare for take-off! Cast off anchor lines, and everyone else hold on to your cutie marks!" She shouts into a cone-shaped piece that you presume reaches everyone that the new orders are relevant to.

You feel a not so slight shuddering as the massive airship begins to rise...

Glenda squawked a bit, scratching at the floor for a second as the ship took off, her wings extending reflexively to try and balance herself as she glanced around, trying to take in all the sights...She'd never seen anything like this before, and she took to stumbling about, trying to assess what the various doodads and machines did...Primarily through observation for now...

Glenda:

Two things in particular draw your attention.

For one, you notice that the telegraph machine has apparently been fixed satisfactorily. The zebra is now punching at a button in no particular pattern you can see. The hippogriff that comes out from underneath wipes his claws off on a rag and leaves up the stairs on some errand. He strikes you as rather dashing... in the front at least.

The next thing you notice is a Bat Pony operating a strange device, consisting of a round screen in front of him, and a thing on his head that remind you of earmuffs. Periodically you notice him sticking a cone piece over his mouth and (you believe) shouting into it, though it's barely audible. He then stops though listening to something, writes down a few notes, and changes several pins on the round screen. Then he repeats this process.

As the ship rises, the shaking stops and a starry background comes into the windows. Everyone now seems to be too busy to pay you much mind...

Phoenix ascends the stairs to the third floor, disinterestedly motioning for Dakarr to follow.

"I don't see the need to go to any rooms for this first trip, if anyone needs me I'll be in near where we got on, see if I can make that into a staging area of some sort."
Fluegel goes off to the rear, or the nearest hold or actual staging area if possible.

Tick-Tock moslly just looks for someplace to start drawing up bloodprints for both her spaceflight theories and the crazy Zeplin-Cloud-Bike idea...

"So, Baron, seeing as I'm carrying your book, where do you want to go?" Wishful says, looking at the Ghostie.

Hmm...He was kind of cute, maybe when he was-Nevermind, ugh...Pony-flank. Glenda sighed softly, but headed up to the third floor...She had a room to pick out and get to her likings, afterall...Though doing so would probably require paint or wallpaper, adhesive, and creative interpretations of logic.

Glenda:

As you ascend the stairs on the way to the third floor, you over hear a pair of voices on the other side of a nearby door.

"You should TOTALLY go talk to her!"

"Nah. She's way out of my league... she's probably already thinking of me as 'Pony Flank'..."

"Fortune favors the bold! Besides, if you won't go out with ME, you ought to go out with SOMEONE!"

"Raz, we've been over that..."

"But she is correct;
We can not let you live such
An empty life, Cal."

"You and your haikus! I'd smack you if I could reach you."

"It makes you stop and
Listen to what I'm saying;
I shall continue."

"Then listen to me;
I shall not ask for her time
Because it isn't mine."

"You added a syllable."

"Whatever. I'm off to bed," the voice finishes. There is the sound of a chair scraping, and the a door slamming from within...

"That fellow Batpony over there, he looks familiar...could you take me closer? I desire to speak with him." the Baron says. It was a little hard to tell from this distance, but he was pretty sure...

"Ok." Wishful walks over to the bat pony at the screen.

Baron:

The bat pony doesn't appear to notice you at first; it would seem the earmuffs make it hard to hear. You do, however, realise that he's using the whole thing to magnify his echolocation, effectively letting him "see" substantially further than normal.

After a few minutes, another bat pony comes up and taps his shoulder, and they switch places.

Seeing the Baron, (and apparently recognizing him) he freezes for a split second. "Uummm... oh horse apples... What did I do now!?!" he exclaims in a timid voice.

Now that you see his face, there's no denying the family resemblance, though you are certain you haven't met him before...

----

Glenda:

As you continue up the stairs, you find a longish hallway with doors on either side (9 all together, including one on the end). A bucket with a bright orange ribbon next to one such door draws your attention... peering into it, it has several rolls of colorful wall paper, a can of glue, several cans of paint, brushes, etcetera.