[Marketplace] Defensive Flying [Open]

[Manestream]

Applejack listened to the Mayor and the Captain speak back and forth, admittedly, with a little groan when she realized all that hard-line pulling was to be for naught, and the ship would have to move. She wasn't too sorry about it though; it did put a damper on traffic, and the Mayor generally had the best diplomatic solutions for everypony. She was about to offer to help guide the ship when the Mayor spoke up:

"Has anyone seen Rainbow Dash? I figure, since this is a sky ship, she may be the best one for the job."

Oh, well, now I guess that does make a lick of sense, as a pegasus pony could have a view and maneuverability no other pony could. "Miss Mayor, I was just talking to Rainbow Dash! Why, she's right-" Applejack turned around and pointed her hoof to where Dash had been standing, but Dash wasn't there.

"...here?" Applejack finished, a little muddled. Turning back to the Mayor, she gave a nervous laugh, and shrugged. Sinking back into the crowd, and away from the center of attention, she started looking for Dash. "Dash- psst! Where'd you go you silly filly?!"

[MudBug]

So engulfed in her munching of the apple she'd bought off of AJ's cart, trying to push the knowledge of that obstructive and irritating...thing...taking up her airspace, that she barely heard the Mayor over her own derrogotary thoughts. Stupid thing. Like a clunk of metal with wings, she had wings, she flew just fine and why did those stupid griffin's need that thing? Couldn't beat her wings. No siree bob.

Looking at the apple core she'd managed to nibble down to the seeds and stalk, she chucked it aside carelessly before her ear twitched.

What was that?

Probably one of the pony's talking, she wondered if she could leave some bits for AJ and get away with an extra app-

There it was -again-.

Frowning, she turned and saw AJ whispering for her and looking just a little silly in the progress as she peered at the cowpony before fluttering over her whilst she kept her eyes to the crowd. She'd wait a good few seconds before poking the apple farmer in the flank with a big, playful, if not cheeky grin on those features of hers.

"Lookin' for me?"

[Inkwell]

Line by line, stroke by stroke, the page began to resemble a stylized window into the real world. Inkwell's sketch blossomed into an elaborate framework of the airship Venture. He smiled and pulled a bottle of ink out of his bag, ready to begin the next phase of the drawing, when he felt something bump into his head. A quick look around confirmed that it was a discarded apple core, and another look in the direction he felt it come from revealed a couple of ponies gathered around an apple cart.

Then he finally noticed his stomach pestering him for food. It was so loud, he was surprised that nopony else had heard it, or he would have been if there wasn't a giant airship to distract them all. He decided he could use some breakfast before finishing up his sketch. Hopefully these other ponies wouldn't be too busy to help him.

He guessed that the pony with apples on her flank would be the one in charge of the cart, so he walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "'Scuse me, freckles, but, um, I was wondering if maybe you were still selling apples? I could use a couple pretty soon." He gave her what he hoped was a friendly enough smile; hopefully this approach wasn't as awkward as he started to think it was.