Harlan Voss put the airship down five times in four days. Windfall Margin had priced those towns in the spring, before the posters went up. Keel Harbor sat at 71–29. Lint Stack sat at 68–31. Drum Cloud sat at 74–26. Pell Low sat at 66–34. Sore Mile, a maintenance depot with one grandstand and a fuel pit, sat at 81–19.
The Canterlot Council called the trip a listening swing. The Gale Report called it five clear-sky windows and a front on a clock. The Arcane Express Sparks Rail was still chalked at 2.6 on the haul board Tuesday morning. The advance booked air.
Ground time ran 11 minutes at Keel Harbor, 14 at Lint Stack, 9 at Drum Cloud, 16 at Pell Low, and 8 at Sore Mile. That is 58 minutes on the boards. The ship logged 1,906 miles and held between landings with the lamps on, waiting on the next window.
Director Ansel Briggs of the wind factory described the windows as a courtesy to the Council. The order sheet lists five holds and a tailwind pinned at 12 to 14 knots so the bunting would face the lens bank. Four holds stuck. The fifth broke at Drum Cloud.
The Gale Report had the front at 16:40, on a ridge line the morning shift had already marked. The window was booked 15:00 to 15:40. Voss was on the third page at 15:49. Maret Holm, crew chief on the late shift, let the pin go.
"They wanted the flags in the lens and the front behind the ridge," Holm said. "I can keep one. The front was the one that floods the pit. The flags went over at 15:52."
The display office filed the stop as finished dry. Holm's board shows 0.3 inches on the stage planks and the north bunting on the rail. The town-name plate still read Keel Harbor. Voss thanked Keel Harbor for ninety seconds. A mare in the rope line said Drum Cloud, loud enough for the second row. The office called it a paired salute to both hosts.
Captain Ivo March of the Wonderbolt display office posted attendance at 12,000, 9,500, 14,000, 8,000, and 11,000. His note counts any pony inside the sound of the address, rope crews and ship detail included. The gate books, which count a pony through the stile who stayed for the bell, read 2,140, 1,860, 3,010, 1,240, and 980.
Briggs said the rope plan and the gate "measure different successes, and the success we are having is the rope plan." He said the factory had met every request from the display office. The lectern copy stopped before the overtime line. The late sheet in the payroll office carries it.
The show card called for a sixteen-pony column over each landing. The formation was printed as Full Column. Nine fliers made the pass at Keel Harbor. Brass Eld, the lead, sat the rest of the card with a left-fore strain logged at 2. The poster stayed as printed. The empty slots stayed in the artwork.
Piper Fen flies out of Sore Mile. The poster carried other names. She took the weather leg from Drum Cloud through the last two pins, including the pass the program still gave to the column.
"My name wasn't on the sheet," Fen said. "The gap was. Somepony had to fly the gap, and the front doesn't wait on a reprint."
The display office sent a still at 19:10. Fen is outside the crop. The caption lists sixteen fliers and the town Keel Harbor. The background is the Drum Cloud pit, wet planks, north rail down.
The Council press desk called the swing proof the slate is meeting ponies where they work. Sore Mile changes shift at 18:00. The airship lifted at 17:41. The late shift watched the lamps from the fuel pit. Holm had two apprentices on the last hold and a kettle on since noon.
March's evening note said every window had been honored and every crowd had exceeded plan. It thanked the factory director. The strain, the plate, the 0.3 inches, and Fen stayed off the note.
March closed on a thank-you to Briggs for the windows. The mileage question stayed on the table.
Across those 1,906 miles, the distance through any district Windfall Margin still prices inside ten points is 0.
The late sheet hit the payroll office at 21:12. Holm's two apprentices and four from the plank crew ran 6.5 hours past the bell at 18 bits. The line is 702. March's evening note, already out, stops above the line.
Fen kept the weather-leg card. It lists one name. The stile cards from the five towns, counted for a mark in the undecided box, come to 41.