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Hood Rat	Epinklogue	"Next hoof please, Miss Fleur." Fleur couldn't help but smile as she obeyed Pinkie's request, delicately placing her right hoof on the ground in front of her. Despite telling her that it was not necessary, especially not in an informal setting such as this, Pinkie still insisted on occasionally calling her "Miss Fleur." Perhaps it was because Pinkie saw it as a sign of respect and dignity, and wished to show Fleur that she could easily fit in amongst Canterlot ponies in that respect. It was far more likely, however, that she did it simply for the tiny smile and light blush that it tended to elicit. "Like this, dear?" Fleur asked. In truth, she would never have expected to be taking dancing lessons from Pinkie Pie. But then again, many of the things she had done since that fateful day of their meeting three months ago were things that she would never have expected to happen. When Pinkie was involved--and Fleur was quite happy with having Pinkie involved--it was often best to abolish all expectations and let life happen as it would. "Just like that!" Pinkie responded, bouncing in place as she was wont to do. "You're a natural!" "And you are certain this is one of the most premier dances in all of Ponyville?" Fleur asked. It wasn't that she didn't believe her, or even that Pinkie hadn't been clear enough. Asking questions simply to hear Pinkie's voice more often had become a common practice for the supermodel. "Certainly!" Pinkie answered. "Break this baby out at one of my parties and you'll be the talk of the town! Though your pretty face is bound to make that happen anyway!" The compliment would have brought a smile to Fleur's face if one was not already present. "Very well," Fleur said. "Now, must I take my hoof out and put it back in again before shaking it all about, or is that step optional?" Things had been good for Fleur on all fronts since the party that finally brought she and Pinkie together. Her old friendship with Mint had become better than ever. Her new friendships with Minuette and company were wonderful and rewarding in their own ways. Her professional life had improved, with acting jobs opening up for her following her "brilliant performance" at the banquet hall. And of course, every moment of dating Pinkie Pie was another adventure, and she welcomed each new twist and turn with open forelegs. No matter what the two did on one of their dates, Pinkie always found a way to make it fun and unique. This came as no surprise to Fleur; she couldn't possibly have expected any less from the wonderful, whimsical Pinkie Pie. "You're doing great!" Pinkie exclaimed as Fleur moved through the steps she'd been shown. "You're a Pony Pokey natural!" "Why thank you, dear," Fleur responded. Pre-Pinkie Fleur would have found it odd to be bursting with pride in response to praise over such a silly little dance, but that was just one of the many ways in which she had changed. "Put your whole self in!" Pinkie said, holding her forelegs out for a hug. Fleur was more than happy to move forward and let Pinkie engulf her in one of her amazing hugs. The two let out a tandem sigh of happiness before sharing a kiss. Fleur went for it gently, but Pinkie's eagerness to kiss overwhelmed her slightly. She could find no desire to argue, however. Another thing Fleur had learned recently about Pinkie Pie was how good she was with her tongue. "Mm," Pinkie said as their lips parted. "That was a doozy." "Indeed," Fleur agreed, a slight dreamy look in her eyes. "Oh!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed. "By the way, could you do me a liiiiiittle favor?" "Anything, dear," Fleur said. Making such a statement might have been risky, but in Fleur's mind, she truly meant it. "Do you think you could mayyyybe introduce Dashie to your friend Mint?" Pinkie asked. "Dashie's been going on about how totally hot she is." Fleur giggled lightly, giving Pinkie a smirk. "Mint is a bit of a hoof-ful sometimes," Fleur said. "Do you think Rainbow Dash could handle her?" "Sure!" Pinkie replied. "Dashie's pretty great!" "Then consider it done," Fleur said with a smile. "And I wish her the best of luck." "Great!" Pinkie said. "She'll be sooooo happy! Thanks, Flower!" Fleur blushed lightly at the cute pet name Pinkie had given her. It was so simple, yet felt so right. A few moments of silence passed before Pinkie looked at the clock. "Our room time is up," Pinkie said. "We should proooobably let go of each other and let the next group use the room." Fleur looked at the clock as well, then looked back to Pinkie, still happily wrapped in her hug. She gave her lovely pink delight a playful smile. "Let them wait. There is nowhere I would rather be right now than precisely where I am."
The Prince Of Griffonstone	pre	"No, Prince." He looked over at the fallen monster. "You got here just in time." "I am sorry, we should have scouted the area first." He apologized. "I had no idea such a creature could be living here." "Well, we're alive so no harm done" Fixit laughed. "Definitely got the blood pumping." "What do we do with it?" Gabby slowly approached the still snake, kicking it lightly. "I say we make it dinner." Grandpa Gruff suggested. "That's a lot of stew you're looking at, girl." "A fine idea." Gwyn nodded. "Call the griffons from the city to retrieve it, it will serve as a fine treat for them." He turned back to Fixit. "You are of course welcome to enjoy it as well." "Eh, thank you Prince." Fixit smiled politely. "Not really part of the pony diet though." "Oh, I suppose not." Gwyn chuckled. Fixit and his crew spent the day prepping the area for development and Gwyn had griffons patrol the area to ensure no more surprises lay in wait. In the meantime, Grandpa Gruff instructed a team of griffons on the descaling, cleaning and preparation of the giant snake's meat; imparting to them an old stew recipe from the bygone days of his youth. As day turned to night, the smell of it began to fill the city and upon the workday's conclusion the griffons were eager to feast on the rare delicacy. Gwyn ensured the Gabriel, having slain the beast, was given the first dish. While the city enjoyed dinner, Gilda went to Gabriel and sat by his side. "Hey, uh... I was wondering." She began. "What you did this morning was awesome. Do you think... you could teach me to fight like that?" Gabriel looked down at her. "No." He answered simply. "Huh?" She narrowed her eyes. "Why not?" "You are already a strong girl, Gilda." Gabriel noted. "In both heart and will; I will not corrupt that by turning you into a killer." He rose and went on his way. "H... hey!" Gilda stood. "Gilda." Genevieve called to her. Gilda turned back to see her and Gabby sitting nearby; she went to them and sat beside her. "Yeah?" "Do not take his dismissal the wrong way." Genevieve laid her talon to her shoulder. "He appreciates your admiration, he has expressed a mutual like of you as well." "Then why won't he teach me?" She asked. "Because he does not want you to be like him." She explained. "Gabriel, like Gwyn, was raised to fill a role. For Gabriel though, that role was to be the defender of Cliff Haven. For him to be as he is now, he sacrificed much; but in doing so he kept the village fed through his hunting and safe through his countless battles against the wild beasts of the mountain." She thought far back to their youth. "He and I grew up alongside each other. I admit that I was quite fond of him when we were young; but combat and survival was all he knew and all he could offer his home, needless to say our relationship remained platonic." She sighed in reflective thought. "Still, when Gwyn was brought into the world it was decided that he would be my aid in raising him. There was no griffon better to act as my counterweight on the scale of the Prince's life." She laughed. "You should have seen him in the beginning, he had no idea what to do with a hatchling much less how to interact with one; it was like watching a Manticore play with a puppy." Genevieve looked across the way at Gabriel, who was helping himself to another bowl. "But Gwyn has done as much for him as he for Gwyn. Raising the Prince has softened his heart, even though he would never admit it aloud." "Wow." Gabby absorbed the story. "I never would have guessed that there was so much to him." "As for you, Gilda." Genevieve continued. "He will not teach you because he cares enough not to lead you down that path." Gilda looked down at her talon. "I guess I understand." She smiled. "He's pretty cool." "Come on." Gabby hopped up and took her talon. "Let's go get some more stew before it's gone. Grandpa Gruff's recipe is really good." "Statistically he'd have to be good at something." Gilda barbed as she was pulled along. Genevieve watched the girls off with a light laugh, her eyes surveying the festive evening. Eventually, Gabriel returned to her side and sat with her. "Welcome back." "What exactly did you tell them?" He asked, seeing that she had called Gilda over. "Only the truth." Genevieve answered him in her usual, cryptic fashion. "She has come to look up to you these past months." "As Gabby has with you." He noted. "Perhaps we are inadvertently training our replacements." She mused. "A secure retirement for you." He chortled, stopping as he saw her intense eyes glaring at him. "Are you suggesting that I am old?" She toned. He coughed lightly, adverting his eyes from her. "Of course not." While wild beasts and monsters caused him no fear, Genevieve most certainly did.
The Prince Of Griffonstone	Chapter 7	Out of necessity and want, Gwyn decided to finally return to Canterlot the coming morning. Opting to go alone, he left his friends in charge and took flight for the Equestrian capitol. Despite having some reconciliation with Celestia, he was nervous to see to her; nervousness not being something he was accustomed to in any way. Deciding to avoid the spotlight, he traveled directly to the castle and met with the guards in the courtyard. They gladly saw him in and directed him to the rear gardens where the Princess was currently relaxing. Gwyn found her seated on a patio, drinking tea while surrounded by fragrant spring flowers. She took notice of his slow approach and smiled in surprise. "Gwyn." "Hello, Princess." He tipped his head. "How unexpected, how are you?" She used her magic to move the chair opposite her. "Please, sit." "Thank you." Gwyn sat across from her. "I am doing well." He nodded with a light sigh. "Things have been... different in many ways, but better in many more." "I am glad to hear that." She smiled. "I have not heard from you since we last spoke, I was beginning to grow worried." "Forgive me for the lack of communication." He apologized. "I should certainly have kept up word with you, if only to keep you updated on progress if nothing else." "How are things going in Griffonstone?" She asked. "The housing and interior roadwork is complete." Gwyn proudly informed. "We have begun work on the planned commercial expansion, which came with the shocking discovery of a long lived stag viper." "Was any creature hurt?" "No, Princess." Gwyn shook his head. "Gabriel dispatched it and the beast was converted into a feast." He laughed. "How have you been? Have things quieted down?" "For the most part." Celestia bobbed her head in thought. "As Luna said, it was a trip through the rumor mill. Although the papers still try to grab headlines." She moved her copy of the day's paper over to him. "Still, it has been relegated to page 3 now." Gwyn took up the paper and opened it, finding an article about the Princess. "Alifornication?" He laid his claw to his face with a deep laugh. "That is one of my favorites so far." She giggled. "I am so sorry I put you through this, Princess." He folded the paper. "I was truly blind to many things that should have been blatantly obvious." "It was not all bad." She shrugged. "I do love my hoof massager." They shared a laugh and Celestia looked him over with a small smile. "You have certainly changed." She noted. "I can tell just by sitting here talking to you. You seem so much more at ease." "I am." He agreed. "I have learned a great deal just from having others close to me; keeping my thoughts in the here and now above all else. I find myself enjoying things so much more now that I experience them for what they are, precious moments in time rather than steps on an infinite flight of stairs leading to some end that exists only in my head." "I very much like this new you." Celestia admitted. "As do I, Princess." Their eyes held on one another's for a long moment. "I did have a question though." He shyly looked away. "Of course." "I am focusing on constructing our first eatery, but I am not content to see it solely service griffons." He relayed as he folded his claws on the table. "I want the crew there to be experienced in providing cuisine for every creature, our pony compatriots first and foremost. I also came here today to secure what we need to outfit and furnish the restaurant as well as sample from Canterlot's local fare to put together a diverse menu." "What a splendid idea, Gwyn." Celestia praised. "Given our last outing, I wouldn't presume to ask you to accompany me this time." Gwyn chuckled. "I had hoped you could point me in the right direction." Celestia summoned a scroll and quill. "Allow me to contact Twilight, I know just the two ponies to ask." She fashioned a note and sent it away to Spike. "I appreciate this, Princess." He watched the scroll evaporate into the ether. The royal pair carried on their miniature reunion while they waited. Gwyn and Celestia spoke candidly with one another; swapping stories of current events and joking about the responsibilities they bore. Almost two hours later, Twilight's voice brought their talk to an end as she approached with Pinkie Pie and Rarity. "Princess Celestia." Twilight waved as they neared. "Ah, Twilight." Celestia went to Twilight and hugged her dearest student. "Pinkie Pie, Rarity, thank you coming." "If there's food involved, you can always count me in." Pinkie proclaimed. "Of course, we are always happy to assist in royal matters." Rarity added with far more decorum than her friend. Gwyn joined them and bowed lightly. "Princess Twilight, it is nice to finally meet you." "Prince Gwyn." She returned the gesture. "The Princess told me you were rather suspect of me, given my proposal." He smiled. "What? Twilight laughed and waved off the idea. "No... I mean... maybe a little but..." She looked up at Celestia who was holding in her laughter. "It is alright." Gwyn assured. "Much has happened to me before we even had a chance to meet. I look forward to getting to know the famous Princess of Friendship." He gestured to the pair behind her. "And who are these fine ladies?" "I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie hopped forward and curtseyed. "It's always nice to make a new friend, especially a royal one. Here." She held out a single cupcake, it had brown frosting with little plastic wings and a toy crown on top. "A cupcake fit for a griffon Prince." She grinned. "One of the reasons we're running a bit late." Twilight pointed out. "My, how wondrous." Gwyn took the confection. "Thank you, milady. I am honored you would go through the trouble." He tasted the sweet, finding it much to his liking. "Prince Gwyn." Rarity stepped forward. "My name is Rarity, I own and operate several renowned boutiques. It's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed. "Likewise, Ms. Rarity." Gwyn took her hoof and kissed it, eliciting a thrilled giggle from the mare. "Thank you both for coming to assist me in my efforts." "Not at all, Prince. Pinkie and I have experience on the restaurant scene." Rarity noted. "Well then, shall we commence our food tour?" He asked. "That... is the best sentence I've heard all week." Pinkie said, saucer eyed with anticipation. "Princess." Gwyn turned back to Celestia. "It was wonderful to see you again." "I feel the same." Celestia agreed with a tender smile. "I do hope your next visit will be sooner rather than later." "It most certainly will." He promised. "Till then, if you would allow me the chance to give you a simpler gift." He brought his wing around, flinching a bit as he pulled the broadest feather from its span. "It is an old custom in Cliff Haven, for one who wishes to properly relay his affection, to give his grandest feather to another." He set the feather in her mane, just behind her ear. "So that even when apart, he can be with her." "Oh my." Rarity held in her squeal at the romantic gesture. Celestia held her hoof to the beautifully colored feather. "Thank you, Gwyn. Of all the gifts you have given, this is truly the sweetest." She used her magic to pull her own feather out and offer it to him in return; Gwyn nestled it just over his right shoulder so that it hugged his back. "Thank you, Princess." He looked back at the angelically white feather. "Till we next meet." With a lingering smile he allowed Pinkie and Rarity to lead the way. "He's a lot different from what I was led to believe." Twilight noted, having only been privy to the aftermath of his encounters with the Princess and his mentions in the news media. "Because that was the real Gwyn." Celestia said knowingly as she watched them off. The city took notice of Gwyn as he walked the streets of Canterlot with the well-known fashionista and popular party pony. Making their way to the famous restaurant row, their culinary expedition began with the revamped Chez Neigh. The Prince still being a recognizable celebrity, the trio were quickly seated. "You couldn't have picked a better time for this, Prince." Rarity tapped the menu. "Restaurant row has seen a revolution since the owners and chefs have begun exploring their own tastes instead of trying to cater to critics." "That's a fancy way of saying the food isn't terrible anymore." Pinkie simplified. "Variety is the spice of life, as they say." Gwyn laughed. "And please, call me Gwyn." "Oh, alright then... Gwyn." Rarity laughed lightly, enjoying the idea of being so casual with royalty. "So, what exactly are you looking to learn from this?" "I want to impart the ability to prepare meals from a variety of cultures to our own would-be chefs." He explained. "From these meals, I hope to gain a firmer grasp on popular elements and ingredients for pony cuisine. I have little doubt that such knowledge will also serve to enhance our own local recipes." "How worldly." Rarity applauded. "Then we should definitely get the Canterlot Tour." Pinkie recommended. "It has a little bit of everything." "A fine idea." Gwyn nodded and pat his stomach. "I do hope Genevieve will forgive the weight I am going to put on this day." The three proceeded to spend the early afternoon visiting five different eateries, sampling the best each had to offer. Gwyn's agile mind slowly began to reverse engineer the dishes, identifying key ingredients that all five destinations utilized in their best fare. Rarity detailed everything that was currently trending in popular culinary culture and Pinkie Pie provided him with more information on desserts than he could handle. With their stomachs on the verge of bursting, they took him to one final location; the Tasty Treat operated by Saffron on her father. Gwyn was immediately taken by the lush colors of the decor and the amazing smell of foreign spices and herbs. "Hello, welcome to..." Saffron smiled brightly at the sight of her two friends. "Pinkie, Rarity." She hurried over and hugged them. "Saffron, so good to see you, darling." Rarity kissed her cheek. "How's business?" Pinkie asked. "Still knocking it out the park?" "Oh yes, things have been very busy lately." She took notice of their griffon companion, immediately recognizing him from the paper. "Pr... Prince Gwyn." She quickly bowed. "Please, milady." Gwyn bid her to stand. "I am merely another customer seeking to dine at your fine establishment." "Ah, right this way." Saffron led them to a quiet booth near the back; she provided menus and excused herself to get them some glasses of water. "This place is quite different from any of the others." Gwyn noted. "Saffron and her father came to Canterlot with the express purpose of introducing their native foods to the local palates." Rarity detailed. "I hope you like spicy." Pinkie grinned. "Because you have to try the sweet potato vindaloo." Saffron soon returned and Gwyn allowed Pinkie to order for the table. He was enthralled with the unique flavors of the dishes, in spite of having some difficulty with the heat factor. A few plates and a dozen glasses of water later, Gwyn had reached his limit. "Oh my." He let out a long, full breath. "That was delicious." "You took that spice like a champ, Gwyn!" Pinkie proudly patted his back. "Ugh... I do believe I've added a dress size today." Rarity sighed. "I think that's enough indulgence for a lifetime." "Are you kidding!?" Pinkie eagerly eyed them both. "We should do this once a week." "You are a marvel of your kind, milady." Gwyn laughed, stopping as his stomach rumbled in protest. Saffron returned to the table. "So, how was everything?" She asked, eagerly waiting to hear the Prince's verdict. "Your food is as exotic and lovely as you are, Ms. Masala." He complimented. "Oh... thank you." Saffron graciously bowed with a light blush. "Father will be happy to hear that our menu pleases even a griffon, much less royalty." Gwyn, Pinkie and Rarity returned to the streets; the Prince asking where the best place to order equipment for the planned restaurant could be found. Pinkie took him to the outlet supplier where Mr. and Mrs. Cake purchased necessities for Sugar Cube Corner. Not wanting to skimp, Gwyn proceeded to place a massive order to ensure that Griffonstone's first restaurant would be top of the line. With his objectives for the day reached, Gwyn looked out into the sky as he readied to leave. "While I gave up unnecessary planning, I do wish I had kept the flight home in mind before eating all of that food." He chuckled as he turned to his guides. "Ms. Pinkie, Ms. Rarity, you have my sincerest thanks for aiding me in this endeavor." "Anytime." Pinkie beamed. "Hanging out with you is delicious." "We were happy to help, Gwyn." Rarity smiled. "It was wonderful to meet you and I do hope we will meet again." "I will make sure of it, milady." Gwyn kissed their hooves. "Till then." He secured the feather that Celestia had given him and took to the air; coasting upwards into the clouds and fading from sight. It was well past dark by the time Gwyn made it back to Griffonstone. Full and exhausted, he went in search of Genevieve and Gabriel to let them know of his safe return. Nearing the square, he detected the sound of singing and quickened his step. Gwyn discovered a host of the ponies and griffons sitting about the fire, singing a song he was unfamiliar with. Many others simply sat and listened to the chanty like tune while they ate their evening's meal. "Prince." Gabriel's voice came from behind him. "Gabriel?" He turned back. "What is this?" "This is apparently an old work song, sung by many ponies in the construction industry." Gabriel began. "As it turns out, the same song made its way to Griffonstone generations ago and it is still known to this day." "How amazing." Gwyn smiled as he returned his eyes to the scene. "To think that such a link between us existed right under our noses." "Was your trip a success, Prince?" He asked. "It was indeed." Gwyn nodded. "I was able to secure knowledge, materials... and a few new friends." "Gwyn." Gilda approached with Gabby at her side. "Given the atmosphere, I assume things went well today?" Gwyn asked. "Ah, this is just what we do when you're not here." Gilda snorted. Gwyn laughed and nodded understandingly. "When the Prince is away, I suppose." "Actually, we're breaking schedule predictions." Gabby informed. "Fixit says the eastern site will be ready for development by the end of the week." "Wonderful." Gwyn smiled at the news. "Oh." Gabby held up a plate of food. "Here, we made sure to save you some." Gwyn's stomach churned at the smell of more food. "Oh, thank you Gabby." He held his talon up. "But I do believe I am good on that front... perhaps for the next day or so." Gabby happily ate the meal in his place as the four of them sat quietly and listened to the beautiful harmony.
The Prince Of Griffonstone	Chapter 8	As Gwyn had predicted, Gilda truly came into her own as the months passed. To Gwyn, she and Gabby were practically his right and left talons. Despite her abrasiveness and sharp tongue, the griffons and ponies alike had come to hold her in high regard and this reality did not go unnoticed by her. After the morning's breakfast, she headed for the eastern worksite which was now being developed. "Morning Gilda." One of the ponies hailed as she walked through the site. "Hey Anvil, plan on working with both hooves today?" She grinned. "Ouch." He laughed. "You're a hard lady to please." "Better believe it." Gilda agreed with a sure nod. She made her way over to Fixit who was surveying the area as the teams headed to work. "Hey, Gilda." He greeted. "How's it going, Fixit?" She asked. "Good, most of the concrete foundations have finally set so we're ready to start framing." He nodded as he looked over the expansive plot of land. "We still set on supplies and materials?" Gilda continued. "It's been nearly a week since the last shipments arrived from Canterlot." "We're good for now." Fixit sucked his teeth in thought. "But the next delivery should have been here by now." "I'll look into it." Gilda assured. "There is one other thing." Fixit noted. "We've been here for going on half a year now, I think it's about time we let the workers have a week to return home; you know, rest up and see their families." "I'll talk to Gwyn." She promised. "I'm sure he'll agree with you on that one." "Thanks." He took up his hard hat. "Guess I'd better get back to it." Fixit headed back to work with a smile. Gilda flew back into the city limits to search for Gwyn until a familiar voice halted her efforts. "Wow." Rainbow Dash whistled at the sight of the city. "Dash?" Gilda turned back to see her old firend admiring the remodel. "Hey, Gilda." She leapt into the air and glided over to Gilda's side. "Been a while." "Yeah." Gilda hugged her. "Good to see you, Dash." "I heard about the Prince and the whole to-do with Griffonstone; I figured it would be a good time to visit and see just what's been going on." Rainbow Dash held her hooves out. "But this... this is awesome. I didn't even recognize the place." "I know." Gilda nodded. "I've been watching it happen so slowly I guess the shock is lost on me." "How about you show me around?" "I would but... I'm a little busy." Gilda admitted. "Oh, they putting you to work?" Rainbow Dash laughed. "Actually, I work directly with Gwyn... uh... the Prince." "What!?" She asked in great surprise. "Yeah, he took Gabby and I on as his personal assistants." Gilda explained. "I've been in charge of handling things around the city for him and keeping up communications with the work crews." Rainbow Dash had to stop and absorb the idea. "Well, look at you. Gone from local grump to royal aide." "It's... been a pretty wild ride." Gilda chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "Gilda." Gwyn called to her as he fell from the sky. "Hey, Gwyn." Gilda held her talon out to her friend. "This is my old friend, Rainbow Dash. The one I told you about." "I see." Gwyn smiled and tipped his head. "It is a pleasure, miss." "Same here." Rainbow Dash bowed. "Gwyn, Fixit mentioned that he thinks it's about time for a little vacation for the workforce." Gilda detailed. "I told him I'd run it by you." "Ah, I forget how much time has passed already." Gwyn nodded. "I will see to him." "Well, I guess if you're busy I can split." Rainbow Dash sighed in disappointment. "Nonsense." Gwyn refuted. "If you have come to see Gilda, then by all means." "Are you sure?" Gilda asked. "Of course." He lightly held her shoulder. "You have been working non-stop since we started. If any creature deserves a day off it is you, milady. I will handle things in your stead." "Thanks." Gilda smiled. As Gwyn flew away, she eagerly turned back to Rainbow Dash. "Okay, I'll show you what we've got done so far." "Cool, let's go." Gilda guided Rainbow Dash around the city, taking her into her own remodeled home to show off the new design. Along the way she detailed her first meeting with the Prince and how her involvement in everything progressed over time. As the tour ended, they landed on the empty foundation of the old castle which still offered a beautiful view of Griffonstone. Gilda sat and looked out over everything, realizing she never took the time to just stop and admire what they had accomplished so far. "Gwyn was right." She said, half aloud. "It does feel nice to be proud of your home." "I'm really glad to see that you're doing so well now." Rainbow Dash sat beside her. "You've definitely done a lot of growing... although I'm right behind you on that one." She laughed. "That's for sure." Gilda smirked. "Never pegged you for a teacher, professor dweeb." She teased. "Me either." She admitted. "It just kind of happened... so much has just happened over the past few years I've lost track." A whimsical smile crossed her face. "Guess we really aren't just a couple of young, show-offs anymore." "Gee, thanks for coming all this way just to make me feel old." Gilda socked her in the foreleg. "Haha, sorry." "It isn't that bad." Gilda shrugged. "I mean, trying to spread friendship up here wasn't going so hot; at least not until Gwyn showed up and offered us something real. At first I was as skeptical as everybody else but now, for the first time in a long time I feel like I have direction in life... not just getting by day by day." She chuckled. "If that's what getting older means then I can live with it." They sat silent for a few reflective moments before Rainbow Dash began to sniff the air. "Hey, something smells good." "It's getting late, they must be starting on dinner." Gilda observed as she stood. "Want to stick around to eat? You can meet the others." "Sure, I'm starving." As the sun lowered and the workers returned from the site, Gilda walked Rainbow Dash through the food line and met back up with Gwyn and the rest of her friends. Sitting amonst them, Gilda began introductions. "Dash, this is Genevieve and Gabriel; they're basically Gwyn's family." She grabbed Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "This is my friend Rainbow Dash, we went to junior flight school together." "A pleasure, Ms. Rainbow Dash." Genevieve said as she and Gabriel lowered their heads to her. "I'm sure you've heard about Gabby." Gilda noted. "Yeah, Scoots told me about you." Rainbow Dash recalled the story of the honorary CMC. "And of course you remember Grandpa Gruff." Gilda casually gestured over to the old griffon. "Hard to forget a face like that." Rainbow Dash chortled. "How is Gallus doing at your fancy school?" Grandpa Gruff asked. "Great." She nodded. "A little rough around the edges but he's an awesome student." "Well, we are honored to have you here, milady." Gwyn noted. "It is nice to meet one of Gilda's friends." "Still hard to believe she's practically running things around here." Rainbow Dash shook her head as she ate. "I have few words for how indispensable she and Gabby have been in our work here." Gwyn praised. "Th...thanks." Gilda wriggled shyly. "It's not that big a deal." "Ah, she's blushing." Gabby pointed out. "Zip it, pipsqueak." Gilda furrowed her brow. "So, how much more work do you guys have left?" Rainbow Dash asked through a mouthful. "Oh, months without a doubt." Gwyn answered. "After the eastern site is complete, the new businesses will have to be outfitted, stocked and employed. Then there is the matter of paving the mountain roads, the open air marketplace and the transportation airship." His eyes perked as he recalled something. "Speaking of which, we will indeed be ceasing work for the next week as Fixit requested. We are at a good point to stop for now and the ponies most definitely deserve a break from all of this." "Does that mean we're on vacation too?" Gabby asked. "Indeed, take the time to rest and revitalize yourselves." He nodded. "Good, I can catch up on my naps." Grandpa Gruff huffed. "It'll be nice to go a few days without hearing hammering, sawing and magical explosions." "Hey, why don't you come back to Cloudsdale with me?" Rainbow Dash rustled Gilda's wing. "We can spend some time down by the academy and I can show you what's been up with the Wonderbolts." "Sure, beats hanging around here." Gilda shrugged. "You can crash with me and Gabriel tonight." "Ooh, I'll head back to Ponyville." Gabby said eagerly. "I want to share what's been happening with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." "What of you, Prince?" Genevieve looked over to Gwyn. "How will you spend this brief reprieve?" "Actually, I thought we would return to Cliff Haven tomorrow." Gwyn suggested. "I wish to speak with Glenshandra." "I see." Genevieve smiled. "I am certain she will be happy to see you again, Prince." "If we are going to be parting ways for a time, I suggest we enjoy the night even more." Gwyn recommended as he looked over his friends. With the others having already left early in the morning; Gwyn, Genevieve and Gabriel set out for Cliff Haven. The virtually hidden village of griffons rested far down the opposite side of the mountain. Gwyn had not honestly thought about his birth home since he had arrived in Griffonstone; but after the humbling incident with Celestia his mind began to drift back to his quiet home. A smile came to him as the straw roofs of the modest, wooden homes came into view. The moment they landed, the close knit community came to greet them. Even the strict, disciplined nature of Genevieve and Gabriel sloughed away as they found themselves once again surrounded by those so close to them. Noticing the crowd; Glenshandra, matriarch of Cliff Haven, made her way over to investigate. She smiled at the sight of Gwyn and beckoned him over. "I was wondering who was causing such a fuss." She held her talons open. "Glenshandra." Gwyn immediately went to her, accepting her embrace. "The destined son of Cliff Haven returns." She held him tightly. "Far earlier than expected, is everything alright?" "Quite so." Gwyn nodded. "Even now, Griffonstone stands in a state is has not seen in generations." "That is wonderful news, young Prince." "How have things been here since we departed?" He asked. "Well, at first it was an adjustment having given up our eager young Prince." She laughed and glanced back to Genevieve and Gabriel. "Not to mention our sharpest mind and sharpest talon. But things are well." "We are glad." Genevieve noted in relief. "We were indeed a bit concerned." "So what is it that brings about this return?" Glenshandra inquired. "Work has ceased for the next week, as such I wished to return here to speak with you." Gwyn answered. "Well then, please join me in my home and we can talk all you wish." She started back towards her ornately decorated home. She and Gwyn left the others to enjoy their trip home and convened around her quaint dining table. "So, how are the griffons of Griffonstone?" She asked as she sat. "Are they still bound by their endless greed for bits?" "At first, yes." Gwyn admitted. "It took some doing, but they eventually came around. They are not the griffons you once knew." He nodded solemnly. "In fact, I am no longer the griffon you once knew." "Is that so?" She eyed him in interest. "I learned something very difficult and yet very valuable in recent months. It forced me to re-look at everything about myself and my goals. With the example set by my new friends, I feel as if I am an entirely new griffon now." "You got your heart broken, didn't you?" She asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer. "I... yes." He nodded. Glenshandra laughed lightly. "That does tend to be a humbling experience, especially for a Prince." "Indeed, but in spite of the pain it caused I am much happier with how things are now. The Princess and I are still on excellent terms and all is not lost, but whatever happens will happen naturally and not because of some formulaic calculation on my part." "My." She smiled warmly. "How much you've grown in such a short time. Leaving the isolation of this village has done wonders for you, Gwyn." "Which is why I am here now." He said surely. "Griffonstone has changed, the griffons have changed... I would like you all to return with me and rejoin your brothers and sisters. It would be safer for you all and you have my word that the quality of your lives shall improve tenfold." "Oh, the quality of our lives eh?" She chuckled. "Gwyn, my life here has been of the highest quality." "I didn't mean to insinuate..." "I know." She assured with a calming wave. "I know what you mean and I appreciate the offer, but Cliff Haven is our home and I can safely speak for all when I say that life in a city is just not for us." She sighed. "I know that our ancestors came here to escape the corruption of Griffonstone, and I am happy to learn that it has amended its ways, but that division is not why we continue to remain here; we do so because we love our home just as you are teaching them to finally love theirs." She reached over and tapped his beak. "This will always be your home too, even when you finally ascend to the throne. You will be the bridge between the two and we will always be here if you need us." Gwyn smiled in concession. "I understand, Glenshandra. Thank you." "Besides, as the eldest griffon I have little desire to uproot." She added. "Actually, you are no longer officially the eldest griffon." Gwyn said with a laugh. "I have found one much older and far more set in his ways. His name is Grandpa Gruff and..." "Griswold?" Her eyes lit up. "Pardon?" "One eye, wears a silly little hat?" "You... know him?" "Ha ha, to think that angry old buzzard is still alive." She cheerfully mused. "How do you know him?" Gwyn asked. "He was here for a time, long before even Genevieve or Gabriel were born." She explained. "He had just..." She stopped and sighed. "That is not my story to tell." "He did surprise me by saying he knew of Cliff Haven." Gwyn recalled his initial talks with him. "Do give him my regards." She asked. "I shall." Gwyn promised. For the next few hours Gwyn told her all of what had happened to him since he left; he detailed Gilda and Gabby, what happened with Celestia and of his culinary adventure down restaurant row. He told her of Fixit and the multitude of ponies that now worked side by side with the griffons and of his future plans for the rest of the city. As the hour grew late, and having received his answer, Gwyn bid Glenshandra farewell with a vow to again return to see her and the others. Reconvening with Genevieve and Gabriel, the trio began to prepare for their return trip. "Prince." Gabriel approached. "Before we return to Griffonstone, there is something about which we must speak while we are away from their eyes and ears." "Of course." Gwyn gave him his attention. "What is it, Gabriel?" "I have kept my concerns over your growing familiarity with the griffons of the city to myself, primarily because it has served you well on a personal level. That being said, I worry that you have grown too familiar." "How so?" Gwyn asked. "You walk with them as equals; you allow them to forgo your title and speak to you as casually as you and I are now. While the camaraderie has helped rally them, they are seeing you less and less as a Prince." "Am I not a griffon as they are?" "No Prince, you are not." Gabriel said plainly. "You are of royal blood and will one day take the throne of Griffonstone. When that day comes, the griffons will need a leader and ruler... not a friend." Gwyn considered his words. "You suggest that after all we have been through, they would not follow me when the time comes?" "It is not that I believe they will not follow you, but the change in dynamic may be so drastic that it leaves them disillusioned. Gilda and Gabby see you as their friend now, when the day comes that you must order them and dictate their daily lives... how do you think they will feel? The old one sees you as a child, one that requires teaching and instruction, do you think he will so readily accept your authority over him?" Gabriel saw the struggle in Gwyn's eyes at the idea. "I know your heart is kind and I am glad that you have been able to make such bonds, I merely suggest that you consider my words as this is something you truly need to keep in mind, Prince." "I... understand, Gabriel." Gwyn slowly nodded. "I shall." "Prince." Gabriel bowed. "Are we ready, Prince?" Genevieve asked as she joined them. "Yes, let us return while the moonlight is with us." Gwyn took a look back and waved to the griffons before taking to the air. He remained silent for the long, nocturnal flight; his mind mulling over Gabriel's words and how he would address this potential issue in the future.
The Prince Of Griffonstone	Chapter 9	It was late indeed when Gwyn, Genevieve and Gabriel made it back to Griffonstone. Still remaining with Grandpa Gruff, Gwyn quietly stole his way into the home. "Late night, eh kid?" The old griffon stared down at him from his straw bed. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to wake you." Gwyn apologized as he closed the door. "Ah, you didn't wake anyone." He grumbled. "Been sleeping all day." "I take it things were quiet in our absence?" "Like a tomb." Grandpa Gruff chortled. "So, have a good trip home?" "Indeed I did... Griswold." Gwyn smiled up at him. "What!?" Grandpa Gruff shot up and glared at him. "Where'd you hear that name?" "Glenshandra sends her best." Gwyn added. "Glenshandra?" He made a silent curse. "That old harpy still kicking?" "Her sentiments for news of you were much the same." Gwyn laughed. "She told me you were in Cliff Haven some time ago." "She did huh?" Grandpa Gruff eyed him. "What else did she tell you?" "Nothing." Gwyn assured. "She said it was not her story to tell." He rolled his eyes. "Guess she's got some sense in her after all." "I know you have your past; and you seem determined to keep it your own." Gwyn said with an earnest smile. "I will not pry nor spread word of what she said to me. If you ever do decide to share it with us, it will be in your own time." Grandpa Gruff sighed as sad memories came back to him. "I... went to Cliff Haven after... after I lost my daughter and my grandkids." Gwyn stopped and turned back at the news. "Long time ago... not long enough to forget though." His remaining eye roamed the room. "I had to leave Griffonstone. Everything here reminded me of them and the stupid... useless griffons that let them... die." A long held tear left his eye. "Glenshandra and those nature loving feather heads in Cliff Haven were a better option than staying here. They let me remain and... they were good to me, better than I deserved anyway. She and I never saw eye to eye though, spent most of our time arguing but it wasn't all bad; sometimes it's nice to have somebody to argue with. I just... needed somebody to yell at and she was happy to let me, guess it was her way of trying to help." "I am sorry." Gwyn said wholeheartedly. "What happened to your family?" "Bad storm... worst in a long time." He recalled. "Countless feet of snow and winds icier than a cockatrice's stare. They got caught in it while trying to travel and..." His eye grew angry. "I tried to get them to help, but they just didn't care... they wanted bits to even be bothered and even then the selfish animals were too wrapped up in themselves to help. I tried to look for them but I was already too old and too weak to fight that storm." He balled his talon, his voice beginning to waver. "I found them though... after the storm had finally moved on; frozen and huddled together." He pounded the floor. "That's what Griffonstone was; that's what the proud griffon species stood for... I hated it... and them, all of them." He wiped his eye, a small laugh escaping him. "In the end though, I wound up just like them... but at least I had an excuse for being empty inside." "I have no words." Gwyn said, staggered at the story. "But that is what I am trying to fix, to make a Griffonstone where such a story will never be repeated. "I know, kid." Grandpa Gruff came down from his bed. "That's why I decided to help." He went to his new mantle and opened a box, removing a tattered photo and presenting it to Gwyn. Gwyn observed the griffon couple and the three young ones with them, a pair of granddaughters and a grandson. "They are a lovely family." "The little rugrats always said I was too grumpy. They called me their Grandpa Gruff." "I see, you keep the name to honor their memory." Gwyn surmised. "As much as I'd hate to say it; Gilda, Gabby and Gallus... they're just like them." Grandpa Gruff admitted with a small smile. "That's why I keep an eye on them. They may hate it but it's for their own good, somebody had to look out for them." Gwyn returned the photo and nodded solemnly. "You have my word that I will see Griffonstone a place they would have loved." Grandpa Gruff actually teared up and grabbed his shoulder. "Thanks, kid." He slowly made his way back up to his bed and went silent. Gwyn rested in his own spot, with not long before dawn and a full mind he didn't get much sleep. With Gilda and Gabby still gone, the following day was rather quiet. Gwyn found himself on the barren lot where the castle once stood. As he thought about what to do with the spot, he was reminded of what Gabriel had said to him in Cliff Haven. Allowing himself to indulge in predictions, he began running scenarios in his mind about the pros of cons of various approaches. "Prince." Genevieve's voice returned his mind to the here and now. "You have been standing here for some time. Is everything alright?" Gwyn shook his fog and turned to her. "Yes, I was just considering things." "Have you decided what you wish to build on this spot?" "Not yet." He admitted. "Genevieve, do you think I am too personable with the griffons?" "What do you mean, Prince?" She inquired. "Gabriel told me that I have allowed myself to become too close to those I am inevitably going to rule over. He imagines that they are seeing me less and less as royalty which will have future consequences." "I see." Genevieve nodded. "That is... quite like him. Admittedly, his words are not without wisdom." She pondered for a long moment. "Your situation can be much likened to that of any workforce. Say five creatures work together in the same organization, they do so for years and become close friends. One day, one of them is promoted to be the leader of said organization; those once at his side are now under his authority and must accept that he is now above them." She sighed in consideration. "Without a doubt, the change in relationship will not be a smooth one; but as in all things there are good and bad aspects. On one talon, the remaining four may feel embittered and resent the change in power balance; seeing it as a point of contention. On the other talon, the one that has taken power now has intimate knowledge of the wants, needs and opinions of those he is in charge of; that knowledge can make him a leader that can better understand and be there for those he now oversees." Genevieve let out a thoughtful breath. "I suppose then, there is no true answer to your question, Prince; just as there is no correct way to rule. You must be the King that you know yourself to be, using what you have learned as well as your own judgement." Gwyn looked back to the empty site. "If there is no true answer... perhaps then what is needed is to change the question." "My Prince?" "Ah, nothing." Gwyn smiled. "I have a few ideas but it will take time to decide on a true course. We are still far from that point at the moment, best to leave it be for now." "If that is your wish, Prince." Genevieve bowed. "I will admit though." Gwyn began as they started walking back into the city. "I've grown very used to having Gilda and Gabby with us; it is far too quiet without them." "On that, we can agree, Prince." Genevieve laughed. The rest of the week was slow but restful. Gabby and Gilda returned with stories of their trips and almost to the minute, Fixit and the ponies returned to continue the work. With fresh supplies, food and spirits; construction resumed. The next month saw the onset of the rainy season which slowed progress but replenished the natural wells. The eastern site slowly began to come together and Gwyn grew excited as it neared completion. He sent word to Celestia, inviting her and Luna to the following week's grand opening of the freshly minted Flavor's Roost; named thusly by Gabby herself. Griffons that were interested in learning, were sent to Canterlot in advance to train with local chefs so they could be ready to prepare dishes. Gilda was charged with securing the vast stock of ingredients and spices while Grandpa Gruff trained a team of younger griffons in the art of fishing to establish a steady supply of fresh fish. Gwyn granted ownership of the establishment to a well-traveled and open minded griffon named Garvin; who vowed to work hard to see his new operation a success. The other, completed businesses consisted of a general store, bakery, boutique and home store; there was still plenty of room for more but the essentials were covered for the time being. Gwyn gladly offered the funding to see the businesses fully stocked and left them in the capable talons of griffons eager to test their mettle in the commercial world. Come opening night, the royal sisters arrived and were immediately taken by what they saw. "Oh my." Luna whispered as they passed through the reimagined archway leading into the city. "This is beautiful." Their eyes panned across the clean streets, quaint homes and planted trees that were illuminated by elegant street lanterns. "Princesses." Gwyn flew to them upon sight, having been waiting for their arrival. "Gwyn, this is amazing." Celestia complemented. "The city is unrecognizable." "Indeed." He took her hoof and kissed it. "I am glad you could both come." "Of course, we would not dare miss such an event." Celestia noted. "I've been looking forward to seeing the city in its near final state." "She's been very much looking forward to seeing you as well, Gwyn." Luna added as she walked past him, leaving the pair alone to talk. "Ah... yes, I have." Celestia admitted. "That means as much to me as any success I might find here tonight." Gwyn smiled up at her. "I have missed you." He arched his neck to display her feather. "Likewise." Celestia pulled her mane back to show him his own. "Then allow me to escort you to a proper dinner this time." He bowed and gestured down the road. Catching up to Luna, Gwyn led them to the new district of the city where nearly every creature in Griffonstone had gathered to share in the experience. While every creature was promised a chance to try the food, the initial seating consisted of Gwyn and his close companions, the royal sisters, Fixit and the construction team leads as well as the first thirty creatures in line. It was far from an intimate evening, but Gwyn and Celestia had a wonderful time nonetheless. The food was excellent, given the fairly short span of time the griffon chefs had to prepare. To Gwyn's great satisfaction, the ponies were just as pleased with the griffon take on their own meals as his own kind was with theirs. Not wanting to hold space for too long, Gwyn and the sisters moved on to let others be seated in their place. "This turned out spectacularly, Gwyn." Celestia said as they moved away from the raucous crowd. "And so much fun." "Indeed, you all should be very proud of what you have accomplished." Luna added. "Thank you both." Gwyn said graciously. "It has been a long road to this point, but to see them all so happy and engaged makes it worth every ounce of blood and sweat that went into its creation." "Gwyn." Gabby called to him as she and the others came to join them. "How was everything?" He asked. "Perfect." Gilda gave him a thumb up. "I haven't had fish like that in forever." "They have done your vision justice, Prince." Genevieve patted Gabriel's back. "Even Gabriel has nothing to complain about." "Yes... it is quite the success, Prince." Gabriel batted her talon away. "Almost makes it worth all the racket." Grandpa Gruff twisted his claw in his ear. "Did you like it, Princesses?" Gabby asked. "Most certainly." Celestia smiled. "I have no doubt that in time, it will be held in regard along with the most notable restaurants in Canterlot." "I must say, Gwyn." Luna went to his side. "For all intents and purposes, your vision for Griffonstone seems to be a reality. What is next for you?" "Well, while it is true that the city itself is basically complete, we still have projects beyond the walls." "You still have one major part of the city to complete, my Prince." Genevieve corrected. "Yes, the castle." Gabriel continued. "Prince, before you begin expanding beyond the gates of Griffonstone, I believe it is time that the castle be rebuilt so that you make take your true title as King of Griffonstone." "Yeah, definitely." Gabby clapped her talons together. "To be honest, the city looks kind of naked without something there." "Not to mention you'll have your own place to sleep." Grandpa Gruff chuckled. "I... suppose you are correct." Gwyn conceded. "Don't sound so excited." Gilda laughed. "If I may, Gwyn." Celestia came in. "I think that would be a good idea. You have more than proven yourself and your ability to lead this city. Why not make it official?" Gwyn knew the tide was against him on this one and merely nodded. "Very well." He accepted. "Allow me some time to design a structure and I will conference with Fixit." He looked back to Celestia. "In the meantime, would you be interested in seeing the rest of the district?" "Of course." Celestia nodded. Luna pointed out towards the boutique. "Yes, I would very much like to buy a gown as a souvenir of our first trip to the city." "Yay, clothes shopping with a Princess." Gabby bounded. "Count me out." Grandpa Gruff hacked as he headed back home. "For once, I agree with the old one." Gabriel too, graciously bowed out. "Old, stubborn males." Genevieve said, giving Celestia a keen smile. "They can't all be raised like Gwyn, I suppose." Celestia noted with a wink as the group made its way towards the shop.
The Prince Of Griffonstone	Chapter 10	Gwyn sequestered himself for nearly a week as he worked on his plans for the castle's replacement. He sketched palace after palace, some more ornate than others and some more traditional; but while his talons were set to drawing his mind was busy imagining himself as King. Gwyn wondered what he would do, what laws would he would enact, what measures could he take to make sure that this new Griffonstone would last even well beyond his own lifetime. His thoughts seeped their way into his drawings, the lines moving to coincide with his changing opinions. Needing a break, he left his work with an exhausted sigh and took to the streets to get some air. He noticed that while they waited for his decision, the pony workers were wrapping up some side projects which included the communal bath. Gwyn sat upon the eastern wall of the city, looking back as the griffons went about their day with a vigor that was all but lost to them. They greeted one another, asked each other about their day and above all else they were smiling. "Hey, Gwyn." Gabby's voice came from below. Gwyn looked down to see her and Gilda on the ground. "Hello." He waved. "How're the plans coming?" Gilda asked as they flew up and sat on either side of him. "They come and go... and come... only to go again." A thought consumed breath left his beak. "What's the problem?" Gabby saw the lost look in his eyes. "To be truthful, it is because I have put little thought into my actual ascension." He admitted. "Wasn't that the whole point?" Gilda continued. "No... it wasn't." He laughed shortly. "My passion was in seeing the city rebuilt and to repair the griffon nation. I planned for everything, except the day in which I would take the crown. Now that the day is nigh, I realize the immensity of the occasion." He looked to Gilda with concern. "Gilda, when I am King, will we... still be friends?" Gilda wasn't prepared for such an interpersonal question. "Well, yeah... I mean... it'd probably feel a little weird." Her feathers shuffled. "Of course we will." Gabby took over for her flustered friend. "Why wouldn't we be?" "It is just that the title comes with such... distance." He turned his gaze to her. "I know that the two of you are unique, you have become as close to me as Gabriel and Genevieve." He gestured out to the city. "But what of them, I have worked to be at their side... not above them. I don't see myself as so grand to claim to be." "But this is what you were raised for, right?" Gabby queried. "To become our leader." "That is what I have been told." Gwyn nodded. "You're thinking about this too hard." Gilda came in, having decided on a train of thought on the subject. "Look, we honestly don't care what you are... we care about who you are." She folded her talons. "We were wallowing in greed, anger and bitterness until you showed up. You were the one who helped us pull ourselves up, you were the one who gave us a goal, and you were the one that helped make us happy again." She looked away from him shyly. "Prince, King, Lord... whatever, we follow you because you're you, not because of your title; and even when you're King... you're still going to be Gwyn as far as I'm concerned." "That's right." Gabby agreed wholeheartedly. "Changing your title won't change who you are, or how we see you; and after all we've been through together I'm sure the rest of Griffonstone feels the same." She smiled brightly. "You don't want to change, do you?" "Of course not." Gwyn shook his head. "I love things as they are now, myself included." "Well, you'll be in charge." Gilda said surely. "You can choose to keep things how you want them. Whatever you decide, we'll be with you." "Definitely." Gabby gave him a thumb up. Gwyn smiled, their words bringing him to a conclusion. "Thank you." He set his talons on top of theirs. "I know what I want to do." He flew from the wall and headed back to his workspace. Disappearing for another solid day, his mind and talons now worked as one to craft his ideal structure. The next day, with tired eyes, he met with Fixit to present the rough blueprint. "Prince." Fixit lowered his head. "I heard you've been working non-stop lately." "Yes, forgive me for taking so long." Gwyn said humbly. "Nevertheless, I have completed the base idea for a new castle." "Great, let's take a look." Fixit accepted the rolled parchement; they headed over to a folding table and he spread out the design. His experienced eyes quickly scanned it, humming in interest as he observed. "This is beautiful, not really what I was expecting though." He admitted. "Indeed, I was only able to design this after coming to terms with some things." Gwyn looked down at his work. "This is most definitely what Griffonstone needs." "Alright then." Fixit nodded. "I'll get with the other architects and we'll get started." "One thing." Gwyn halted him. "It is important that access during construction be limited, other than your crew and myself, no creature will be allowed to see the interior until it is complete. I know this is an odd request, but it is an important one." "If that's what you want, then that's what we do." Fixit said simply. "Thank you." Gwyn suddenly yawned. "Let me take it from here, Prince." Fixit could see the rings under his eyes. "You should get some rest." "I shall." Gwyn said with a tired laugh. Gwyn slept for nearly a full day, having gotten little rest over the last week. When his energy was finally recharged, he embarked on another trip to Canterlot to see Celestia. Welcomed at the castle, he found not Celestia but the Princess of the night in her stead. "Princess Luna." He tipped his head. "Gwyn, what a pleasant surprise." Luna halted her work and went to him. "We hadn't expected to see you again so soon." "I have just finished the plan for the castle, I merely wished to get away from work for a while." He confessed. "Well, sister will be very happy to see you." Luna motioned for him to follow. "She is currently out at the moment, overseeing an... exotic pet show I believe." "That sounds unique." He smiled. "Precisely what she said." Luna laughed. "There was much I was envious of my sister for, times like this were not among them." She led him to the throne room's antechamber, offering him a seat and some cool fruit wine while he waited. Luna assured that Celestia would return soon and excused herself to her duties. Nearly forty minutes later, he heard hurried hoof steps echoing along the marble flooring. "Gwyn." Celestia stepped into the room. "Princess." He stood. "I apologize if you were waiting long. The event was..." She pulled a long, orange hair from her main. "Well, eventful." "Not at all." He shook his head. "It is not as if I announced my visit." He kissed her hoof as he always did. "Please, think nothing of it. So, who won?" He asked with a curious smile. "An adorable and well trained fruit bat." Celestia informed. "His name was Seedy." She recounted with a lighthearted giggle as they sat. "It is so nice to see you again." "Likewise, Princess." He nodded. "I've spent a good deal of time buried in my work lately so I thought it would be a welcome reprieve to see you." "Does this mean that you have decided on a royal home?" She asked. "Yes." He confirmed. "Although, I imagine that it will turn out a bit differently than what the others are expecting. Fixit is seeing to its construction as we speak. I united some old griffon designs with some architectural accents inspired by Saddle Arabia." "Oh, that sounds beautiful." Celestia tried to imagine the building. "When it is complete, will you proceed with your coronation?" "I will." He smiled. "I hope that you will be able to join us?" "Of course we will." She immediately answered. "I would not dare miss the moment. You must be excited." "I suppose I am." He said thoughtfully "Although for different reasons than one might imagine. I had a talk with Gilda and Gabby that put me at ease about many things." "Well, you never truly feel prepared." Celestia noted. "I remember when Luna and I took our place on the thrones. We were young and... honestly terrified." "Agreed." Gwyn concurred. "Even though I was trained to lead, the responsibility of carrying the future of your kin on your back is a heavy one indeed." "You have shown that you care more for your fellow griffons than you do even for yourself." She said with certainty. "Even for the ponies that are with you in Griffonstone. The skills of leadership and royal etiquette can always be learned; but good heart is something that cannot be taught, it must simply be." Her hoof found its way across the table to this talon. "You have a remarkable heart, Gwyn; not just for a griffon but for any creature." "Thank you." He squeezed her hoof. Back in Griffonstone, after having talked to Fixit, Gilda looked around for Gabby and the others. She spied Genevieve and Gabriel and quickly landed before them. "Hey, what's up with the build site?" She asked. "Did you two even see the plans?" "No." Genevieve shook her head. "Fixit said that Gwyn barred entry to the site to everybody, even us." Gilda said curtly. "I see." Genevieve said, seemingly unbothered by the idea. "Are you okay with that?" Gilda continued. "If it is the Prince's will, then it is not our place to question." Gabriel said plainly. "The Prince always has his reasons, Gilda." Genevieve carried on. "I am certain he does not mean it as an offense." "I guess so." She begrudgingly accepted. "Suppose that means I have some down time then." As Gilda flew off, Genevieve slid her eyes over to Gabriel. "What do you think Gwyn is planning? I must admit, such a move is unlike him." "I can't say." Gabriel admitted. "The Prince has changed a great deal over the past months, I can only imagine that this... surprise... is a reflection of that change." "For Gwyn to exclude even the two of us, it must be grand indeed." Genevieve smiled. "I am looking forward to the occasion." Across town, Gabby and Grandpa Gruff sat at the taped off entrance to the castle's worksite. The base formation of the foundation was beginning to come together as the swarm of ponies worked in concert with efficient speed. "I wonder what it'll look like." Gabby asked. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be pretty; Gwyn's designs are always really beautiful." "Ahh, I'll worry about it when it's built." Grandpa Gruff said flippantly. "To be honest, the kid's tastes are a little... fancy for my liking." Gabby looked up at him sourly. "Don't you appreciate the artistry?" "All those little decorations are just more stuffed that needs to be cleaned and dusted, more work for no reason." He grunted. "Keep it simple." "You have no imagination." Gabby turned her beak up. Before he could snap back, Gilda descended to Gabby's side. "Hey." She plainly greeted. "Did Genevieve know anything?" Gabby turned her attention to Gilda. "No, even they're out of the loop." Gilda sighed. "Aw, did the kid hurt your feelings?" Grandpa Gruff chuckled as he turned back towards the city. "Don't worry about it. He hasn't let us down yet, has he?" "Ugh." Gilda narrowed her eyes as he waddled off. "He's not wrong." Gabby interjected. "How about we go eat? I'm completely addicted to the spicy, fried sea bass." "Yeah, fine." Gilda decided to drop the issue and carry on. After spending the afternoon together, Gwyn prepared to begin his trip back home. Having taken back the stone that Gabby had left with her, he slid his bag over his shoulder and walked with Celestia to the castle entrance. "This certainly has been a happy detour." Celestia sighed. "It was nice to see you again so soon." "I feel much the same." He smiled up at her. "Now, I must dive into the castle's construction." "Have you thought about plans for your coronation ceremony?" She asked. "I will have it coincide with the castle's official opening." He answered. "I was thinking about expanding the affair into an event for all; I want the ponies to share in the occasion as well." "I think that is a splendid idea. I'll be looking forward to it." They passed out into the courtyard and into the warm, afternoon air. "I will keep you updated on the situation as things progress." Gwyn raised his head and gently nuzzled her cheek, dotting it with a kiss. "Till then." "Be safe." Celestia smiled as she returned his affection. Gwyn darted up and out of the courtyard, soaring high into the air as he waved back down at her. It would be another three months before he would get to see her again, as he focused all his efforts into working on the castle with Fixit. The griffons of the city watched with great interest as the walls of the structure grew higher as the weeks rolled by. Gwyn had asked that Gilda and Genevieve organize the details of his upcoming coronation ceremony and left Gabby, Gabriel and Grandpa Gruff to oversee the celebratory festival that was to accompany the event. As everyone worked, the castle slowly came together; Gwyn's design offered a more robust appearance with rounded walls and polished domes that shined in the unobstructed daylight that cascaded onto the city. A deal of landscaping was performed and non-native trees and shrubbery were brought in to decorate the courtyard and exterior property line. Once the main structure was complete, the workers disappeared into the interior and what went on inside was left to the city's imagination. Gwyn broke from time to time to check in with his friends as plans moved along; within the final weeks he ensured that invitations were sent out and any necessary peripherals for the festival were shipped in. Once Gwyn and pony's work was finished, the next two days were spent in final preparation. On the eve before the big day, everyone was finally able to gather and spend a few quiet moments together. They relaxed at the outdoor seating for Flavor's Roost and dined under the stars. "Well, tomorrow is truly the dawn of a new era." Genevieve said with eyes more excited than usual. "Are you feeling nervous yet, Prince?" "I've been too busy to allow myself nervousness." Gwyn laughed. "Thank you all for working so hard these last months, tomorrow would not be were it not for your efforts." "Happy to help." Gabby said cheerfully. "Although, it wasn't easy with these two grumps." She shifted her eyes between Gabriel and Grandpa Gruff. "Pssh." Grandpa Gruff scoffed. "Like it's any easier being pulled in ten different directions at once by your hyperactive rear end." "Quite so." Gabriel agreed. "Your energy could power an entire city." "Sorry I was excited." Gabby huffed. "You should try it sometime." "And what of you, Gilda?" Gwyn shifted his attention to her. "Have you completed your opening address?" "Uh... yeah." She nodded half surely. "Not really known for my speeches though." "But I can be certain it will honest and from the heart." He noted. The server appeared with their meals and they quieted down as they ate. Needing to be up early the next day, it was a short night for them as they sought to rest. Almost the entirety of the city was up before the sun; any creature operating a festival stand immediately went to work to make sure things were ready for when the visitors arrived. Glenshandra and several others from Cliff Haven made the trip and met with their village's favorite son. Practically his grandmother, she was a welcome sight on such an occasion. He personally showed them about the city and Glenshandra had to admit how impressive it was since she had last been within the walls. After a snarky reunion with Grandpa Gruff, Gwyn's attention was stolen away by the arriving Princesses. A few notable faces from Canterlot as well as members of the press had come as well to document the momentous occasion. Twilight arrived via balloon with her friends at her side; as soon as the basket touched down they scattered to take in all the activity. At noon, the citizens and guests flocked to the manufactured stage where Gwyn was finally ready to accept his crown. Gilda nervously took to the stage with him and looked out over the gathered mass; a hush fell as she took her spot and she swallowed hard. "Um, hey." She waved; taking a moment to look down at her notes she recalled what Gwyn had said to her last night and crumpled them up. "I haven't know Gwyn for long, none of us have to be honest." She began. "But I've known him long enough to know he isn't like other griffons; and that is exactly what we needed. I'm not old enough to remember Griffonstone when it wasn't a dump and I wasn't young enough to not notice how awful things were around here... it was bad and we weren't much better." A mild grin graced her beak. "Gwyn doesn't see things as they are though, he sees things as they could be; he saw this city the way it is now even when it was just loose bricks and straw. And he saw us as we are now; a community instead of a city of individuals who couldn't be bothered with one another." She looked back at Gwyn. "He's the real deal, and if Griffonstone is going to have a King again... there isn't any creature better for the job. I know that whatever he decides for us will be for the best, and I trust him with my future as I'm sure all of you do." Her eyes returned to the crowd. "There really isn't much more to say, so let's get to the good part already." Gwyn, deeply touched by her words, began the applause as the crowd followed suit. He stepped forward and stood before the elegant case that held his crown. "Thank you, Gilda." He said as she stepped from the platform. "And thank all of you, for being here to celebrate this moment with me. This moment that was planned from the day of my birth and although seemed forever away, has come even sooner than I expected." He removed the glass top and exposed the lovely, golden accessory. "I did not make it here alone, I have been blessed with many things and many opportunities; but without those that have been at my side I cannot in good conscious say that I would be standing here now." He grasped the crown. "I only hope that my decisions as Prince will continue to be as fruitful... as King." He set the crown on his head and the crowd fervently applauded. He eagerly pointed up the completed castle. "Now then, I am excited to show you the new seat of Griffonstone's future." Gwyn proudly led the grand procession up the path to the new castle. Everyone marveled at the beautiful piece of architecture as they drew nearer; the hearty stonework accented by the gold trimmed domes and spires created a unique look that defied convention. The courtyard was expansive and claimed a fountain as its centerpiece, the water feature displaying a brand new statue of Grover to replace the demolished one that rested in the city. The freshly planted shrubbery and flowers that lined the path brightened the gray of the stone and the flag of Griffonstone hung above the massive, oak doors that led inside. Pushing the doors open, everyone filed into the foyer and followed between the stairwells that led to the upper levels and into the throne room. The royal chamber was adorned with banners and other typical decoration, of note though was the lack of a throne; a marble roundtable served as the room's center with seating for six. Gwyn stood before that table and turned back to his friends, allies and subjects. "I have little doubt you are confused by what you see." Gwyn began with a light smile. "Before I offered my design to Fixit, I spent a deal of time thinking about not only the future of Griffonstone, but its past. Griffons are unique creatures, we have a pride and sense of self that is rivaled only by dragons. That lack of humility has led our kind down horrible paths on more than one occasion." He removed his crown and looked down at it solemnly. "I came to you a Prince that was raised to be a King, both titles that speak of superiority; but I will never claim to be superior. While it may be true that I am capable, that I drew up the plans and paperwork that laid the foundation for this renewed city... I could not nor did I build it alone. I could not have done this without my fellow griffons, or the hardworking ponies of Canterlot, or my friends." He looked out over the crowd with utmost confidence. "So, I take this time to make my first... and last decree as King of Griffonstone." His statement brought a deal of shock to everyone. "I am hereby forming the Council of Griffonstone, a body that will serve as the ruling administration for our kind. This table will be their seat of power and from it will come your laws, regulations and government." A bevy of intrigued murmurs followed his words. "As you see, there are six seats. The official appointments for the first Council will be myself, the learned Prince; Genevieve and Gabriel, the scholar and the warrior; Gilda, the cold but well-meaning voice of truth; Gabby, the unbridled and passionate voice of youth; and Grandpa Gruff, the sage voice of wisdom." "What?" Gilda's jaw lowered as the crowed began excitedly chatting. "He's kidding, right?" "We're going to be in charge?" Gabby asked with wide eyes. "My, how unexpected." Genevieve laughed mildly. "Geez, just can't let me enjoy retirement, can ya kid?" Grandpa Gruff shook his head. "If this is your wish Prince, I will accept." Gabriel nodded. "It is." Gwyn said surely. "The six of us, representing four generations of griffons, will see to it that what we built together will continue to grow and flourish as the years pass. And when the day comes when a seat is empty..." He gestured to the griffon citizens. "They will see to it that a proper replacement is elected." Gwyn set his crown down on the table. "With that, I officially declare the title and position of King to be no more. Make your cheers for the new Council of Griffonstone!" He raised his talon and the crowd erupted. His chosen council members approached and gathered around him. "Gwyn, are you sure about this?" Gilda asked. "I'm not a leader." "Gilda." He took her talon in his. "You have been leading this whole time, since day one. Besides, the burden will not be yours alone, we will be in this together. "Yeah, whatever happens we can handle it." Gabby beamed. "Alright, but I'm not wearing some stuffy uniform or anything." Gilda noted with a warning smile. "I wouldn't dream of it." Gwyn promised. "It seems our work is not quite done then." Genevieve mused. "I do apologize." Gwyn lowered his head to her. "I know that you sought to raise me to be king; and I understand that in a way, this is a betrayal of the guidance the two of you have given me. But the griffon I am now is only because of what you both gave me growing up; as far as I'm concerned, you both claim just as much right to rule as I do." "Thank you, Prince." Gabriel bowed. "We shall remain at your side as we always have, until the end." "Indeed." Genevieve concurred. "Although, now that you have abandoned your title, I just might feel free to be more forthright with my opinions." She laughed slyly. "I welcome it." Gwyn chuckled as he turned to Grandpa Gruff. "I know this probably isn't ideal to you, but no griffon deserves more of a chance to make a change in Griffonstone than you do. I promised you that I would make this city a place your family would have loved, now, I offer you the chance to help make it so with your own talons." "Eh, not like I had anything else to do anyway." Grandpa Gruff scratched his head, rolling his eyes off to the distance. "Thanks, kid. I'll use whatever time I've got left to do something good." "So what now?" Gabby asked. "What should we do next?" "I say we save that for our first, official meeting in the morning." Gwyn patted her shoulder. "If you'll excuse me for a moment." He left the group and headed over to Celestia and Luna. "Well, I must say that this was a surprise." Celestia said as he neared. "Indeed." Luna nodded. "What you just did took strong resolve." "I feel it is for the best." Gwyn glanced back at the talkative crowd. "I don't need a title to do what's best for Griffonstone; and what better time for such a change than with the rebirth of the city. Everything is starting anew now and I trust my friends to see the future a bright one." "I look forward to seeing it, Gwyn." Celestia smiled warmly. "That being said." Gwyn looked back to her. "With my title stripped, I... do hope you can still find it in you to consort with a common griffon like me." Celestia set her hoof to his chin and brought him into a long kiss. The crowd turned its attention to the sight and began cheering and calling out in response. As Gwyn's mind registered what happened, Celestia laughed and looked over the sea of prying eyes. "I suppose it is your turn to go through the rumor mill now." Gwyn glanced around to see the griffons and ponies pointing over to them and talking excitedly. "I deserve that." He nodded slowly. "How about we return to the city and commence the festivities proper?" He held his arm out. "A splendid idea." Celestia accepted his arm as Gwyn called for everyone to join them back in the streets of the city. With his title gone, Gwyn was free of the weight of his legacy and with the formation of the Council the griffon nation was truly reborn. A vast sea of possibilities expanded in front of him and he had no concrete idea on where this new path would take him; and the fact that he didn't know was something he truly loved.
Starbrought	pre	"Now, hand over the Ethereal, and the Alien drive." He demanded, his voice now adopting a larger level of cockiness. "Burn in hell, Kinz," Drake growled as he quickly got back to work and sealed the communication breach. "My only regret is not being able to kill you today." Slayer looked back up to see the Alliance Fleet off the starboard side. He let out an irritated snort of air. 'Damn it...' Yuri just sighed; nothing more, nothing less. The day started off great, but it had slowly degraded from less than shitty, to a river of fudge-colored crap. "Anyone have any ideas on what we do now that we have an Alliance capital ship after us as well?" Yuri groaned. "Not exactly, no." Drake remarked as he glanced back towards Slayer. "You got anything?" Slayer simply stared at the Alliance ships, and then towards the space battle already in-progress. "Drones are faster than Snubs, but not as durable or effective unless in massive numbers. They're fighting for the right to capture us as we speak." He turned back to face Drake, staring at him with a hard gaze. "I suggest we jump for Earth, while they're busy brawling." "Slayer... If you can tell me how to get to Earth, I would be more than happy to jump us there. This thing doesn't exactly have many non-Galactic Basic maps on it, ya know." Yuri spoke. "Scan the drive's hyperspace routes. Use the panel on the side," was the response. Slayer looked over at Drake to be met with a questioning glance. "All drives made by the Saalwan should have them, according to now-dead techs." While Slayer's smile was invisible, it was still heard through the comlink. "I, of course, didn't have anything to do with that at all." "Give me a few minutes, and keep those damn fighters off of us," came Yuri's muffled voice through the crews' comlink. Slayer nodded to himself, and primed the Sectic Launcher once again. 'Let's see here...' he thought as he glanced at the two conflicting surge of dots vying for dominance around Ethereal's airspace. 'If I strike these three, it should cause a chain reaction... But that won't work unless....' Meanwhile, Yuri was trying to figure out how to access the drive's Navigation menu, if there even was one. The installation guide had actually worked, so he had been able to hook it up to the reactor that powered the whole ship. Its appearance was the same powered up as it did without the main power hooked up to it. Heck, even the green glow looked the same... "Ok, let's see what you have in here," Yuri mumbled to himself as he began to search through the command and core program files in what he guessed was the drive's main computer. He was careful at the programs he opened, and even more careful at the files he moved. The last thing he wanted to do was to somehow blow up the ship, which had nearly happened on multiple accounts previous with less demanding hardware. "No... That's the antimatter to liquid... Carbon? Never seen that before." He mumbled to himself, not knowing how the drive worked. It was nearly as annoying as when Slayer had gotten drunk on Promet, which sapped a significant amount of the group's stored credits as compensation for the events afterwards. The Ethereal took a sudden lunge to the left, dodging the now-increased push of both Syndicate and Alliance craft. The ship's occupants knew quite well that they could only fight so many forces at once, and the reinforcements coming in were cutting dangerously close to that limit. "Slayer, how's the ammo?" Drake called out. "Doing good." Slayer responded as he brought up the stats on an adjacent panel. He peered at it and spoke again. "Though, not for long. We got one silo left for the Sectic Launcher. Batteries may also be overheating soon at the rate we're firing." Yuri sighed and slumped up against the wall, slowing falling down onto one of the cold, metal grates of the engine room. He had searched every program that he could read or knew what it did. And nothing had worked. No star charts had opened with the desired results, no possible jumps. Hell, the only thing that had changed was the user menu was now black, instead of red. Which really did not look that well on it... hell, the red had given it a look that would strike mortal terror in many civilians. In a way, it comforted him. 'Wait a second... Wasn't one of Sol's bodies called the 'Red Planet'...? What was the actual name though? Wait wait, that's not important... Urgh, what was that detail?! The planet had something, a resource. It could be anything though: mercury, silver, iron...' Iron... "I'm a genius!" Yuri yelled, punching both of his arms into air. He ran over to the drive and grabbed a wire from the console, plugging it into one of the holes on its side. "What did you find?" Drake asked, hearing the shout from the comlink. He only winced slightly, but he was used to Yuri being overzealous when he worked. "Computer. Scan the Orion arm for any above C-class planet levels of iron oxide." He yelled, excitement evident in his voice. "Scanning... Scanning... Two-hundred and twenty five matches." The computer answered in its dull tone. "Computer. Of those planets, how many are close to G-type main sequence stars?" He asked. "There are thirty five." "Of those, which ones are more than three-hundred light years away from Canopus?" He asked, his voice giddy like a child receiving their first hover bike. "One," was it's only response. Yuri jumped up and cheered in delight. He had done what no one else had ever been able to do, and in an insanely simple way. "Yuri," Slayer called out. "I believe you got our target. Lock." "You got it!" He yelled, his fingers dancing over the keyboard with incredible speed. The drive began to hum as the computer did what Yuri could not and programmed the route into the Saalwan drive. "Alright you two, let's get out of here once that's linked!" Drake shouted exuberantly. It rather surprised the crew, even Drake himself, at his giddiness. Then again, take into account of finally being able to escape the war they were forced to fight for the good of the innocent (but mainly themselves), and finding humanity's lost home planet, and most likely any other person would be acting the same way. The same could be said for Yuri, but instead of being forced into the war like so many others, he had joined it and done the ultimate sin. A sin that had been haunting him for his entire life. And now, he was finally going to be able to run away from it for good. Slayer had similar thoughts flow through his vision as explosions radiated around the Ethereal in flight. The glow of destroyed cores, tattered remnants of metal scrap, high-powered bolts of energy whizzing past into the void of space... in an ironic sort of way, he'd grown accustomed to this. Almost to the point of not wishing to see whatever new was in store. But, when thinking about his past, the one that started him on his road... he considered maybe, it wouldn't be too bad. Drake stared at the hyperspace data being uploaded to the screens in front of him. Earth. For the past five years of his life, he had dreamt of finding Earth. Finding it was the whole reason why he had founded the group in the first place. Five long years were finally coming to fruition, and he only had one regret now. Drake closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. She always wanted to see Earth. To stand on the soil that gave birth to our race, to breathe the air our ancestors did; to look up at the stars with the same wonder. "Locked on and ready when you are, el Capitan." Yuri grinned, finally saying the words he had waited to say since joining the crew. To say he was happy was an understatement by a light year. "Ready," Drake mumbled, opening his eyes and staring through the thickets of battle. "Set..." "Can we go already?" Slayer uttered in annoyance at the dramatic situation Drake was creating. He rolled his eyes and saw the perfect opening. "Now!" There was a lurch; an unexpected yank of the ship as a glow began encompassing the entire hull. The space before them seemed to stretch out, telling the crew that hyperspace was shortly awaiting. But of course, Lady Luck was rarely on Cerberus' side for long, if at all. Moments before escaping, a stray missile from a fighter affair smacked the Starboard engine of the Ethereal. The result was the ship's angle being shifted to a significant degree, before the crew was launched forward into the deep recess of space. Starbrought Drake breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped back into his chair. The jump with the drive had been successful. The radar screen to his immediate left showed no hostile forces in whatever system they had arrived in. It did however, display a large green and bluish planet relatively close. With a flick of his wrist, Drake put the Ethereal into autopilot and raised a hand to his earpiece. "Good news, fellas. We made it out alive." Slayer let out his own small sigh of relief as he rose from his position in the Weapon Command Room. "About time we got out of lethal space." Drake turned his chair around to face the weapon's specialist. "Nice call on that Ion Cannon," he said. "Did one hell of a number on the Leviathan." The response was a simple shrug as the bounty hunter tapped a nearby screen. A resounding ding sounded as the system went offline to recharge and release heat. "We better go check on Yuri. Knowing him, he's probably having trouble keeping our new prize in check." "You go on ahead," Drake waved off Slayer. "I'm going to run a few scans of this system first. I have no clue where we ended up." Down in the engine room, Yuri slowly picked himself up from the floor of the room, dusting himself off and making sure nothing had been broken. After doing a complete pat down of his body, he sighed in relief. "Thank God, that could have really hurt. Now, what the hell did you do...?" He stated, looking at the piece of Saalwan tech that brought them to wherever the hell this is. Drake spun back to the main control console and pressed a few buttons to initiate a preliminary scan of nearby space. "Huh, there's an awful lot of water on that planet," he noted as the scans immediately focused on the nearby celestial body. "What planet is that?" "UNKNOWN," the Ethereal's computer replied in a monotone, female-esque voice. Drake let out a groan. "What system?" "UNKNOWN." Drake raised an eyebrow. Could it be...? Legends say Earth was mostly water. Did they actually find it? Their ultimate goal? "Computer, are we in the Milky Way?" Silence filled the cockpit for several long moments. "NEGATIVE." Drake's heart immediately plummeted. He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. But if they weren't in the Milky Way, where were they? Hyperdrives couldn't jump galaxies. Not Human-designed ones, at least. "Yuri, status report," he requested as he activated his earpiece again. "Well, I got bad news and... worse news," Yuri said sadly, fiddling around with a bunch of wires in a panel. "Bad first," Drake's voice requested. "Well, the bad news is that the drive is shot." A small amount of electricity arced somewhere in the now nearly-wrecked engine room. The Saalwan hyperdrive was billowing a small amount of smoke, and with an acrid smell flowing out from it. A cough left Yuri from the unexpected release. A groan of frustration filled Yuri's ear. "Anything else?" "Let me see..." Yuri rolled out of the web of wires, and walked over to one of the computer consoles. He typed in and slammed his fist into the console in anger. "Yep, here's the worse news: the shields are gone, and I mean gone. The shield generator is all but useless and the backup has no power running to it." "Just a moment then," Drake grumbled. Yuri listened intently as the sounds of Drake's frantic typing came over the earpiece. "I'm going to manually override some of the power systems to see if I can divert some energy to our shields. Not that we really need them, since we're in a non hostile zone. But it's better to be safe than sorry." "Speaking of which... where the hell are we?" Yuri said over the gradually louder hum of power. "We are in the middle of nowhere," Drake said sarcastically. "Literally. Scans can't even tell where we are. I'm officially calling this sector of space 'H'." Slayer merely raised an eyebrow as he listened to his comlink. He had taken the lift down to examine his workspace (monitoring Yuri wasn't on his list of concerns), to ensure the energy cells obtained from the Leviathan raid were still functional. The bantering commentary of his crewmates occupied his thoughts for a moment. "Why sector 'H'?" Both Yuri and Slayer asked at the same time, although the latter sounded far less concerned or confused about the matter. "Because the letter 'H' is the middle letter of 'nowhere'," Drake explained. "I was making a joke and trying to lighten the situation." Slayer merely shrugged to himself as he walked into his workspace. It was a modest little chamber, filled with a variety of canisters for storing power cells, stands for sheets of metal, and workbenches to integrate specific parts. He began to search the slightly messy area for his goal, making notes about what to fix due to all the hits they took. "I don't get it; how can we be in the middle of nowhere, if we don't know where nowhere is?" Yuri exclaimed, now slightly more confused. There was a pause over the headset. "Slayer, smack Yuri as hard as you can without killing him when you get down there." The ex-bounty hunter let out a small chuckle as he heard the request, and seeing his cells still intact. "In a moment. Checking things out on the Lower Deck." "Is the kitchen on fire... Again?" Drake asked as he began shutting off unneeded systems. "Slayer, I need you to check the weapons grid, I'm getting strange readings from the Ion Cannon." Yuri's voice arrived over his comlink. Slayer side-stepped over to his secondary weapons panel on the wall and pulled up the statistics. "It's fine." He muttered, rolling his eyes and placing a piece or so of vital equipment back into its original cluttered, yet organized form. Yuri just grunted in confusion of the energy readings he was receiving, and went back to assessing damage in Engineering. Slayer meanwhile strolled out of his space to check the neighbouring rooms. A quick swipe of his hand over the sensor later, and the Kitchen's door slid open from the half. Luckily, there were no fires present, and the small mini-bar that Yuri installed had all of its liquor still properly shelved. Snagging a bottle of 'Yisten Yeager', he sent a neurotic message to the Suit. Its' response was revealing the small hole where his mouth would be. A personal upgrade. Satisfied, he took a large swig and set it back. "Everything's hic... good in the Kitchen." "Please tell me you aren't already--" Drake began before several warning lights flared to life on the console in front of him. Slayer readjusted his helm and resealed it. Listening to the lights flashing and the sirens blaring, he simply sighed and rolled his shoulders to crack his back. Slayer made a note to visit a chiropractor next chance he got. "What is it this time? Wait... I'm not sure I truly want to know." "Drake... Are you getting the same thing on your end?" Yuri said with a hushed voice, staring at a rapidly blinking screen in front of him. "Unfortunately!" Drake shouted from his end. "Hold on tight boys, 'cause our shields are down and we just exited hyperspace directly into the path of a meteor shower!" Slayer strolled to the table where the crew normally ate, and reclined back in one of the seats with a separate bottle of alcohol. Another swig he took. 'If it's not one thing, it's another...' Drake's hands flew across the main controls as he attempted to increase the power of the Ethereal's shields. He had limited control (due to the power consumption of the piloting systems), unlike the unrestricted access of Slayer's panel and the overriding access of Yuri from his panel down in Engineering, but it was enough to increase the power easily. The engine room began to rattle and shake as the reactor began to glow a sickly blue. Yuri was thrown off his feet and onto the metal grate of the floor. He climbed up to the console and began to desperately try to reroute more power to the shields, but it was all for naught. Slayer gripped the table and held himself to avoid being flung by turbulence. Quickly standing and exiting the room, he tapped the sensor and sealed the door. Moving swiftly towards the lift, he jabbed one of the few buttons on the accompanying panel and stepped into the door. It closed and a few brief moments later, it reopened back at the Upper Deck. He began trudging towards his seat which commanded the Ethereal's Weapon Systems, but the turbulence was slowing him down. If it wasn't for his armour, no doubt he'd been flung all over the cockpit. "Focus on moving, and less on shields. We need to conserve power towards actual functioning systems..." He mumbled as he sat back down at his Weapon centre. "Easy," he was interrupted a thud, "for you to say!" Yuri screamed into the headset. He tried to hold onto the center console but ended up being slammed into the wall. The Ethereal shook violently as the meteors wore down on the shields, rapidly eating away at their energy. In less than a minute, the shields became visible before fading out. "Son of a--" Drake shouted. "Shields are down!" Slayer was still sitting in his revolvable chair, staring out the helm of the ship with Drake frantically tapping away in the foreground. "It seems the stream of meteors are blocking off any routes... except for one..." He leaned forward slightly to identify the spot. "Is that... a desert?" "Yes, I'm trying to land us somewhere soft that won't drown us, thank you!" Drake snapped as he gripped the controls tightly. A rather large meteor slammed into the side of the Ethereal, throwing it into a spin and disabling the interior artificial gravity generator. Slayer slowly began to float, but yanking himself back down to his seat and strapping himself in ceased that. "Oh come on!" Yuri shouted as another thud sounded out. The gravity could not have turned off at the worst of times. Yuri was caught off guard and was thrown into one of the pipes that had some sort of gas flowing through it. "Yuri!" Drake shouted as his nerves began to wear even thinner. "Fix the damn generator!" Yuri reached behind his head and felt blood. Turning around, he looked at the pipe and discovered it was covered in blood. "Drake... I'll get on it, but I need medical help." He began to feel woozy but ignored it and floated towards the direct gravity control panel. He tore some wires out and plugged some together. He pushed a button on the console and dropped himself onto the grate. Hard. Another barrage of meteors slammed into the hull of the ship, further throwing the ship into a spin. "WARNING. REAR STABILIZERS OFFLINE," The Ethereal's interior computer announced. "Slayer, we are probably going to die," Drake said. "Admittedly, Yuri will probably go first if that thud is anything to go off of." Slayer merely sat there, staring out the window at the onslaught of meteors whizzing past the ship's vision as it further span around. It was a common occurrence; in stressful situations, his personality shifted from callous and bloodthirsty and became rather silent and calculating. Surprisingly, he began to speak. "Where's the Repair Drone, R1-B5?" "Gone. We lost him two weeks ago when we raided that Alliance Supply Ship. Remember?" "What about the Medical Bot, E-7?" "Currently in use." A strained voice went through their headsets. "What good would a medical droid do for a ship?" Drake asked. Slayer rolled his eyes and tapped one of his consoles and began typing in commands aloud. "E-7, administer Substance P3 to Yuri, then go offline in the Cargo Hold." "WARNING. APPROACHING ATMOSPHERE AT DANGEROUS VELOCITY. SEVERAL HULL BREACHES DETECTED IN ENGINEERING. HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY NOT ADVISED." "That drive was so not worth it!" Drake growled. Slayer rolled his eyes and spoke through his comlink. "Yuri... you good?" Yuri slowly stood up, and rubbed his arm. The drug had sealed up his wound, but he was still woozy. "It helped, but it's still--" He was cut off by the sound of metal being torn against itself. "Drake... What the hell is going on...?" "We're dying," Drake grumbled. "WARNING. I'M SCARED, DRAKE. WILL I DREAM?" "You're a diagnostic program that is not self-aware, so no." Slayer had cast a disgruntled look at the P.A. system of the Ethereal. 'Note to self: If we survive, disable that damned A.I...' Drake and Slayer both winced as a smaller meteor shattered through the viewport and smashed the control console in front of Drake. The air in the cockpit rushed out for a single, brief second before a steel plate rose in place of the glass that was now missing. "I think the problem solved itself," Drake said as he rolled the meteor off. "What, being able to see death? If so, the steel plate has certainly helped." Drake flung a piece of shattered glass at Slayer. "Shut up. It's only that left side." The piece of glass simply collided with Slayer's shoulder before it shattered into multiple shards and fell to the floor. He glanced back up to determine that indeed only the left side of the viewport had been sealed. "The planet is on the left side..." "And we're being pulled towards it," Drake reminded him. "I'm not too worried about finding the planet." "Guys... We got a problem," Yuri managed to gasp into the intercom after coughing. "A big problem." "Speak of the devil," Drake said. "Go Yuri." "Tritium 369 is leaking from the core..." He gasped again, struggling to open the door as he got weaker and weaker. Drake and Slayer looked at each other for a moment. "Seal it all off and get out of there Yuri." Drake ordered. "We'll worry about it after we land." "Is anyone by the door to the engine room?" He gasped, rapidly running out of air. "Negative." Slayer retorted. "Please keep it that way for a second." He stood up and stumbled towards the reactor. After gaining some distance, he rammed the steel door with his shoulder. The result was him blasting through the door and collapsing onto the cold floor. Yuri wheezed, and crawled over to the emergency airlock control. He had a massive coughing fit from the lack of oxygen, but soon enough he had crawled close enough to seal the emergency door, trapping the radioactive gas inside the chamber. But, during his short time exposed to it, he had most likely signed his own death warrant. Then again, the effects of Tritium hadn't been tested to whether it had long-lasting and detrimental effects or not... Drake rapidly pulled on a series of levers next to him as he attempted to slow their rapid descent into the atmosphere of the uncharted planet. An orange and red tinted fire was forming around the helm of the Ethereal. "Come on! Come on!" Drake growled. "We didn't come this far just to die in a crash!" "Thanks for all the help." Yuri stumbled into the cockpit, collapsing against a side panel. "You're welcome," Drake snapped. Slayer glanced back towards Yuri, then back to his work before doing a double-take. "You look like shit." Another meteor chose that moment to slam into the Ethereal, causing several panelings to come loose and fall on Yuri. "Fine job you're doing there, Drake. I wish I knew where you got your flight training from, so I could punch said thing in its face." Yuri growled, attempting to remove the piles of metal now on top of him but failing. "We. Are. Crashing," Drake snarled. "Flight training means shit." "You're still doing a good job in that department." Yuri groaned with sarcasm in response as he glanced towards the armoured warrior of the group. "Slayer, a little bit of help here?" Slayer stood leisurely and flipped over the lowest sheet of metal on Yuri, sending the other bits towards one of the corners of the cockpit. It was a smooth maneuver, and Slayer simply shook his head at the simplicity of removing the debris. "Next time, try harder." He muttered as he returned to his spot. The Ethereal began shaking more violently as it continued its downward descent into the night-darkened side of the planet. Fire roared off of its sides, illuminating the skies like a small star. Slayer sighed as he watched the rapidly-approaching ground. He looked over at Drake, and spoke in a collected tone. "So much for our Crusade, eh?" "Weird, I thought it would involve more explosions, alcohol, and large amounts of big breasted women," Yuri said as he closed his eyes. Yuri wondered if he'd had enough time to run back down to Storage and finish the Trevanian wine before they crashed. Probably not. "This is it boys," Drake said solemnly. "This is how we die." Silence fell over the three pirates as the dark ground rushed up to meet them. To any observer on the planet, they would have heard the screech of metal, accompanied by the shattering of glass and no less than two explosions, followed by silence. A fatal, deadly silence.
Starbrought	{Edited} Chapter Two - Where They Fell	Starbrought The night was serene. Only a few trace clouds floated over from the forest on the outskirts of the desert several miles away. The stars shone brilliantly, and created a perfect picture for one to easily enjoy the beauty that was Princess Luna's night sky. Amongst the seemingly endless dunes that made up the Zebrican Desert, a lone flame burned in the center of a group of ponies pulling supplies off of an ornate wagon. From the moonlight reflecting off the majority of their armor, one could make the assumption they were soldiers. Princess Cadance's Royal Guard, to be precise. "Can you believe that we are going to be seeing this?" Princess Cadance exclaimed as she finished assisting her guards in constructing their campsite. It wasn't completely finished, but the guards were determined to do the work themselves. After all, Cadance was a Princess, even if she wasn't as well known as either of her aunts, and it was the duty of the Guard to tend to their Princess' needs when traveling. Her accompanying Captain of the Guard and friend of almost fifteen years, Shining Armor, chuckled as Cadance repeatedly broke royal mannerisms to let out a series of excited giggles. "Don't worry mi'lady. From what I've read, the Night of the Falling Skies is truly a sight to behold," he said with a grin. "And we couldn't have asked for a better view." "Or better company," Cadance added, lightly nudging Shining Armor's shoulder as she strode past. The unicorn stallion watched her walk away toward some of the non-guard ponies that were always assigned to be part of the royal escort, briefly admiring the gently swaying of her flanks as she walked. Shaking his head to clear away the indecent thoughts his mind was starting to venture toward, he spun around to face the rest of his troops, looking for two in particular. "Sergeant Iron Shield and Private Fierce Wind!" Shining Armor's voice rang out. The Unicorn and Pegasus respectively snapped to attention, saluting their superior officer. "Establish a perimeter! I don't want any surprises." "Yes, sir!" The two of them shouted as they took off to retrieve the necessary supplies and tools they brought with them for this security measure. They ran to the supply carriage to acquire their weapons before proceeding to circle the camp from a distance. Fierce Wing flew ahead of Iron Shield, securing the dozen conduits that would serve as an early warning system (once Iron Shield activated them with his magic) in the sand. As Iron Shield activated the conduits, a beam of faint, pale blue light connected them together until the camp was surrounded with a glowing ring. The light persisted for several seconds after the last conduits were linked together before vanishing, leaving behind a hidden spell that only the most adept unicorn mages would be able to spot. Fierce Wing and Iron Shield nodded to each other before taking up positions at the Eastern and Western most points of the circle respectively. Satisfied that the perimeter conduits were in position and active, Shining Armor turned back to his Princess. As she was gazing up expectantly towards the star-filled sky, he began take in everything about her. Despite the dim lighting from the moonless night, her coat seemed to positively glow, to an awe-inspiring degree. Her eyes glistened as her pupils shook slightly in unhindered excitement. She was beautiful, that much was obvious in his eyes, though he wasn't in any position to voice his opinions on her appearance without her requesting it. When she looked back towards him to see him ogling her, he turned his head away with a faint blush. No doubt the rosy cheeks were visible, but Cadance decided not to call him out as she asked, "Do you think I'm ready for all of this?" She turned her gaze back toward the night sky. Any moment now, the lights of the Night of the Falling Skies would be visible. "Am I really the right choice for setting up trade relations with the Zebras?" Shining Armor turned his head back towards her. He wasn't expecting the question, especially how she seemed so confident when she met with the leader of the Zebras, Shamon. For her to suddenly start second guessing herself made Shining Armor wonder how long she had had this mindset. "Of course," he replied immediately with a comforting smile. "I have complete faith in you. You handled that meeting like a pro. You had the Zebras practically eating out of your hooves." A faint blush was visible on Cadance's cheeks, almost unnoticeable in the dim light. Shining Armor strode over to her side and sat down next to her. "Think about what this means for both Equestria and the Zebrican Republic. The only relationship our kind have ever had with one another was the occasional traveler Pony who wanted to explore the desert or a Zebra hermit who took up residence in Equestria. You just accomplished what neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna ever accomplished." She took the words into consideration before smiling back at her Captain. "Thanks, Shiny," He smirked in response as she rose her head towards the sky once more, "I needed that." Deciding she might want some silence, Shining Armor elected himself to go and position the rest of the perimeter guards for the viewing. "Corporal Shadow Wing!" A gray coated pegasus landed two feet before him in mid-salute. "Take Private Strong Hammer and Private Short Sword to the dune in the South and patrol the Neigh-el River near it. Alert me if anything seems out of the ordinary." As the soldier launched himself into the air, Shining turned toward the rest of the guards. "The rest of you! Take turns finishing up camp and start the first watch!" A resounding "Yes, sir!" echoed around the area as the guards went off to their various jobs. The aides that Cadance had brought with her begun to set up their own camp a small distance away from the guards camp. It was important to keep the two groups apart (or so the aides would claim), considering the aides and servants were actually of noble birth. So, the two groups kept their tents apart; the aides with their stylish and luxurious shelters, and the guards with their efficient and manageable 'homes'. Soon, all the tents had been set up, and everypony was getting comfortable for the Night of the Falling Stars. The guards not on duty were sitting around their campfire while they told stories and had a good time, while the more 'snooty' of the bunch (the aides) preferred to sip on cups of tea in a diamond-formation with no fire (they couldn't have soot on their coats after all). As they did this, they regaled each other with sophisticated pieces using what instruments they were allowed to bring. And then, it began... A single, shooting star shot across the sky, leaving a beautiful green and white trail in its way. The singular bolt was beautiful, in every sense of the word. And soon, it was joined by its brothers and sisters as the sky turned from a blank canvas, to a swirling masterpiece of colors that gave the night sky magnificence unmatchable by any artisan. "It's beautiful, isn't it Shiny?" Princess Cadance murmured as she stared at the light display. Shining Armor gave her a glance out of the corner of his eye. Cadance's eyes were practically sparkling with excitement. Though he wouldn't ever admit it out loud, he could easily think of something more beautiful. Silently chuckling to himself, he turned his gaze back upon the heavens. "It sure is," he said. Cadance gave him a small smile and shifted herself closer to him, tilting her head slightly so it rested against him. Shining Armor did his best to hide the blush on his face. 'Focus,' He told himself. 'Keep yourself focused. She is your Princess. You are her Guard Captain. I am a coiled spring right now. Tension and power. Just... What the hay is that?' A single, bright white light tinged with red and orange had turned away from the trajectory of the meteors filling the night sky. Instead it was angled toward the ground. More specifically, in the general direction of their camp. Cadance's eyes went wide with shock. "Shiny..." She rose to her hooves and started backing up nervously as the light rapidly grew larger and larger. Shining Armor stood up as well, his horn blazing with a bright, magenta light. The roar of flames could be heard now as the light rocketed toward their camp. With a flash, a large, orb shaped shield surrounded the camp as Shining Armor cast his spell. The light collided with the shield and bounced off with a loud explosion, instead crashing into the sand several hundred yards away, where a second explosion shortly followed. "What was that?" One of the guards exclaimed. "It fell from the sky!" One of the aides shouted. "You don't say..." Shining Armor muttered under his breath. "Cadance? Are you... alright...?" His voice trailed off as he looked over at Cadance only to see her galloping in the direction of the fallen meteor. She looked back at him with a wide grin on her face. "Are you coming?" She asked eagerly. Shining Armor didn't even hesitate to nod his head in agreement. He had been ready to do the same thing. "Let's go!" He said, galloping after his Princess with a grin to match hers. Starbrought Sparks echoed around the ruined cabin of the Ethereal. Deadly, jagged pieces of twisted metal poked out of corners and pipes, ready to lacerate anything into submission. Smoke lingered around inside the interior, punctuated only by beams of moonlight coming from the now ruined cockpit and emergency lights. The smell of scorched metal hung heavily in the air, as was the smell of melted iron and burnt accessories. The distant sound of hissing gas, along with the dull sound of alarms going off, could be heard throughout the ship. A noise similar to a groan originating from the cockpit echoed around the ship, and the same time bounced off the ruined walls of the ship. "Urgh... Drake, this is all your-" Yuri began before being interrupted by his own bout of hacking. He then collapsed onto the ground, coughing up a small storm. After a few minutes of furious coughing, Yuri shakily stood back up and sat down in his barely-intact chair. A swift, intelligent statement flashed through his mind as the haze of the asthmatic-esque attack settled. I hope that Tritium doesn't give radiation poisoning, or I'm going to be screwed, he thought as he began surveying the damage. "If this didn't kill you, Drake, I will," Yuri said to no one in particular. "Well then, let's see how fucked we are." The tech mumbled as he stood up and staggered towards the lift. The brief thought of not spotting Drake, and seeing Slayer slumped over his console flashed through his groggy mind as he rode down towards the main level of the Ethereal. As he walked through the now-ruined hallway, he began realizing just how much damage the ship took on its crash. "Yup. I'm going to kill him," he grumbled as he neared the cargo bay, checking to make sure all of his booze he had looted from the Leviathan was still intact. Thankfully, it seemed most of it survived. Yuri frowned in sadness at the few shattered bottles leaking their contents across the floor. Yuri's body and blood froze when he heard something similar to footsteps coming down the same hall he just walked. His hand reached towards his belt, swiftly drawing his pistol as he closed in on the sound. It was heavy, sporadic, and grunts of what sounded like pain echoed off behind every step. He just barely looked around the corner only to come face-to-face with Slayer's mask. The result of the near-headbutt involved Yuri jumping back in fright while the hunter's metallic body remained unwavering. The armour was relatively sound, but a small crack had formed on the forehead of the battle-glass. "Oh, hey Slayer," Yuri muttered weakly as he straightened up to look at the other pirate. "Where's Drake?" was Slayer's brisk response as he walked over and patted down a slightly upturned foot locker. He plucked a grenade from the depths of the container, and clipped it to his utility belt. Yuri was about to respond when he froze. He hadn't seen him since he woke up and walked about. His face took on a look of horror. "I... I don't know." Slayer raised an eyebrow at this through the concealment of his helm and dragged his hand over his 'face'. When his hand brushed over the crack on his helmet, he groaned and turned on his heel to walk towards his workspace. "Great..." Slayer trailed off as he began maneuvering past fallen debris and bent paneling, "I have a cracked screen." Yuri furrowed his brow and pursed his lips in concern. 'If Drake wasn't onboard, where is he...? Actually, the more pressing question is whether I can still get revenge on him for crashing us or not...' As the technician considered the implications and possible murder methods of the missing pirate captain, Slayer strolled into his workspace and magnetically locked the door. Surprisingly, it was still-functioning despite all the turmoil the Ethereal took on its 'graceful landing'. Satisfied that everything was in order and that he was alone, he wandered over towards one of the cargo canisters that hung on the wall. He pried it open with his left hand and gazed inside. This particular one had three stout shelves built into it. The largest on the top had three items on it. A datapad that held some schematics for a few modifications on his sword, a small welding torch, and finally, a spare battle-glass replacement. He ignored the contents of the lower shelves as he plucked the replacement and closed the container. Slayer slowly tilted his head, hearing and feeling the beautiful symphony of popping. He sighed and tapped his helm. It was an unneeded gesture since everything was neural-based, but he performed the physical movement regardless for kicks. As the damaged charcoal mask clattered to the floor, he let his fingers idly trace over his exposed visage. Silence loomed in the room before he gripped the replacement firmly in his two hands, and slid it into position. It locked with a satisfying hiss, and Slayer went to work syncing the piece to his Suit. Once he had finished, he picked up the useless predecessor and lazily tossed it towards a bin filled with similarly out-of-commission parts. He popped open the lock on the door, and strolled outside while closing it once again. He glanced around, only to see he was alone. 'Where the hell did he go...?' Meanwhile, Yuri had left Slayer to his devices and was now intently staring at the steel door that led to the currently-radioactive engine room. He looked through the small port in the door, making sure that the engine was still intact, but more importantly to make sure that the Reactor pressure vessels weren't damaged. The room was a total mess. However, from what Yuri could tell on the panels--and what he could see with his trained eyes--it was still doing its job. He sighed a breath of relief and slumped down, taking a rest. Slayer had elected to go to one of the nearby terminals and log in. They had several scattered about the various rooms, so basic stats and system commands were available damn-near anywhere one would need them. His purpose for doing this was two things: one was scanning the entirety of the ship for both of the other pirates' positions, the other was assessing the planet outside. Needless to say, he was surprised about the latter. The planet, from what he could gather as they plummeted towards its surface, was strikingly similar to coastal planets that other explorers had discovered in the past couple of centuries. Yet, the atmosphere he was witnessing (as indicated from the semi-functioning atmospheric sensors) was far more varied. The mixed biomes were complete polar opposites, and so close too. 'A rain forest next to a desert? How does that even work?!' The only other planet Slayer knew about with semi-similar conditions like this was Earth. 'I truly wonder whether this is it or not,' Slayer pondered as he locked onto Yuri's position. Drake's was unknown on the ship, which made him weary of the hall he stood in. Realizing however, that the tech was standing outside the room where the gas breach occurred during their 'landing', he removed a gas mask from the emergency casing on a nearby wall and lowered himself into the Engine room. "Yuri, what's the situation?" Yuri glanced behind himself at the question, and turned back. "The good news is that the Reactor vessels are alright, so we can cross out 'being vaporized' off our 'Ways to Die' list. The door is sealed until the radiation has been cleaned out of it, so we are not getting out of wherever the hell we are until..." He paused as he spun around slowly and gestured towards the mask. "Why the hell did you bring a gas mask? Tritium probably works through the skin, which renders your mask useless." If Yuri could see Slayer's face, it would closely resemble a deadpanned stare. "It was for you," he stated in a flat tone as he chucked the face-wear at Yuri, "never mind now, I suppose." With that said, Slayer twisted around and started walking back to the Cockpit without another word. 'Last time I care about the ass.' "Someone's on their man period..." Yuri muttered tactlessly before turning his head back towards the hall Slayer went down. "Hey, wait for me!" He yelled, standing up and running after the pirate. Half of the reasoning for not wanting to be near the Engine room where he nearly died, and the other for not wanting to be lonely. As Slayer heard the shout, he was already in the lift, ready to push the button to ascend. As he briefly poked his head out and saw Yuri barreling towards him, he quickly pulled back and started frantically pressing the 'up' button. He hated riding the lift with Yuri. Nine times out of ten, a disgusting smell would arise, and Yuri would politely state in a frustrating tone: excuse me. 'Come on... come on...' He smirked triumphantly as the door closed milliseconds before Yuri could slide in. He heard a small bout of cuss words before the door opened up to the cockpit. Thankfully, the actual electronics managing the systems themselves seemed to be in relatively good shape. It wouldn't take much elbow grease to fix. It was here, though, that Slayer noticed something off. The window directly in front of Drake's chair was shattered, replaced with a metal sheet slid into place. As he walked toward the chair, he noted the subtle tilt of the captain's chair in the same direction as the port. Suddenly, pieces were coming together about their missing 'leader'... Starbrought Several Hours Earlier Pieces of the Ethereal's outer hull lay scattered around Drake. When they had slammed into the sandy surface of the planet, the pirate captain had been thrown from his chair and through the damaged view-port. He was fortunate the Ethereal hadn't crushed him as it continued to bounce, skid and slide for several hundred yards. All around him, dunes of sand rose and fell like gentle waves in the ocean. Drake's unconscious form lay splayed over the granules, his left arm bent around at an unnatural angle. His chest rose and fell slightly, the only indicator of life within him. Blood steadily flowed from the cut on his forehead, the sticky goo trickling down his temple and pooling in the hot sand. Shards of glass and metal stuck out from various parts of Drake's body, none of them digging too deeply into his skin to be immediately life threatening. He moaned a little in his unconsciousness, pain evident in his face. The pain woke him if only briefly. He tried to fight through the blurry vision fighting against him, and faintly noticed it was nighttime. If he wasn't so injured, he would have laughed at his luck. 'Wounded, in a desert at night. At least I'll be warm when the sun comes up.' He attempted to raise himself from the sand, only for several pinprick-like sensations to course through his body. This unexpected surge brought him back down to the ground below him, and let out yet another moan of pain. Besides the small amount of crackling fire from the debris around him, that he could recognize in his state, he found interest in two particular sounds; voices from a short distance away. He couldn't tell what they were saying, but he didn't much care. 'The others must've woken up,' Drake thought as he closed his eyes. 'They'll drag me back to the ship and patch me up.' As he succumbed to the void of unconsciousness, the voices became more pronounced. In fact, one of them sounded feminine. The slight sound of sand parting for footsteps were far more common than what one would think from two bipeds. Though, the two equines approaching the crash site proved a reliable answer for this. The excitement was evident in every bouncy step Princess Cadence took as she approached the flaming debris. She didn't imagine that one meteorite would land so close, and now her inner astronomer was leaking out; desperate for exploring this rare occurrence. Most rocks that fell through from the Night of the Falling Skies burned up and shrunk to the size of marbles. So the fact that one of this size could even survive (let alone land so close), well, there was no excuse not to go. Concerned for her safety, Shining Armor tagged along. He figured the rest of the Guard could handle the site, and rarely was there anything dangerous at this point of night in the deserts. Of course, that didn't stop him from arranging such a force. Not to mention of course, he saw no harm in sharing in her excitement, especially if he got to spend some time alone with his Princess. Shining Armor idly glanced over at Cadence as they approached. "You seem really eager," he commented. She shook herself out of her exuberant stupor, having briefly forgotten that he was with her. "Oh, it's going to be wonderful! Though, perhaps we should have brought some more Guards so we could snag a larger sample..." He shrugged. "It means we'll have more stuff to carry, and a higher chance of dropping them." He smirked, "Though, between the two of us, I'm sure we'll be able to acquire more than necessary." After the statement, the duo remained in silence as they stopped. It was certainly... different than what they were expecting a hunk of rock from space to look like from up close. For one thing, it looked metallic. Yet, any attempts to find out would result in a burn, as was quickly shown by Shining Armor's attempt to poke the side to confirm. Small fires illuminated the nearby area with its warmth. The brief afterthought of two explosions reverberated in their minds. Could a rock do that? Could it explode twice? Cadance thought curiously. Shining paused though as he saw a piece of metal sitting in the sand. Curious, he walked over and touched it. Not the best idea sure (if his previous attempt was any testament to that fact), but he tested it regardless. However, unlike the larger piece of the behemoth, it was only slightly warm, just cool enough to touch safely. He picked it up with ease, confirmed that it was indeed metal. He turned his head to look at Cadence, who had begun strafing the rock. "Cadence, I found a piece of metal. What do you suppose this is exactly?" She paused in her walk to speak. "I'm... not sure," she said, striding over to stare at the metal chunk in her Captain's hoof. "I know some meteorites contain chunks of metal, but beyond that..." Before she could even begin to wonder how the metal formed a perfectly flat surface, a groan sounded out from just over the edge of the trench the falling space debris had carved into the sand. Both of their ears revolved towards the sound, followed by their heads. As their horns began to illuminate with the faint aura of light casting spells, Cadence took cautious steps backwards to address her current Guard. "You heard that too?" He nodded. "I'll go first-" "No, I'll go first," Cadence interrupted. Shining mentally groaned at the passion and brashness in her eyes. "I can take care of it. Besides, it didn't sound threatening. It sounds like something's in pain." Shining snorted lightly in exasperation. "We'll go at the same time?" Cadence was about to disagree, before another short groan reached their ears. She lowered her hoof and nodded. When both were side-by-side, they carefully inched their ways around, ready to strike down anything that was waiting for them. But when they peered into the ditch, all they spotted was some strange beast, lying down, occasionally groaning in pain. "What is that?!" Cadence whispered frantically. The two pairs of eyes were looking at the body of... something. It seemed to be a weird cross of several creatures, much like a Manticore. It had the upper body similar to a Minotaur, while its legs seemed to thicker and more proportionate to its body, much like that of a Diamond Dog. Another striking feature of the being was its clothing. It was nothing like they've seen before. One particular thought began to gain momentum the longer they stared at the incapacitated body. This creature was something Cadance had never seen before, and in her studies over the years, she had seen images and descriptions of almost every known creature in Equestria and beyond. And the one in the ditch was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Which left one wild, highly unlikely possibility. It was... an alien. Starbrought "So, let me get this straight..." Yuri asked, confused and in disbelief as he sat in his chair within the cabin. "During the crash, Drake flew out of the window--breaking the Quartz glass in the progress, which is no small feat--and might have somehow avoided being crushed by the Ethereal during its landing?" Slayer nodded as he stood over the Captain's chair in the cockpit. He had basically pieced together what happened rather easily: the jar of the impact sent Drake, who was closest to the remaining undamaged port window, through the sheet and landed outside. Though, whether he wasn't crunched by the ship or not was something they'd have to go outside to find out. "So... What do we do next?" Yuri thought out-loud as he began slowly spinning in his chair. A thoughtful expression appeared on the engineer's face. "I mean; we could just go out there and try to find Drake, if he hasn't been crushed and/or eaten by a predator. But..." Slayer considered it as he strode towards the lift. "I'll look first. If I find a trace that Drake isn't somehow out there, follow and leave a trail so we have a means to get back here." He stepped into the tight elevator and turned back to face the tech as his hand hovered over the button. "Got it?" "Roger. In the meantime, I'm going to try to find out how badly the ship is fucked!" Yuri affirmed as he spun back around and started typing commands into the control panel, suddenly humming a rather cheerful tune to himself. Slayer nodded as he pressed the 'descend' button. Upon the closing of the lift's door, however, Slayer's body sagged and he raised a middle finger towards the direction of the cockpit. He hoped Yuri got that. 'He's far too hyper for his own good,' he thought with the slightest sneer as he walked out the door and did a sharp right. As he proceeded down the narrow hallway towards the rear exit, he did a quick check of his systems. The crash didn't seem to rough up any of his power cells, nor any of his weapons, which was good. It was one thing to be stranded on an unknown planet. It was another to be stranded on an unknown planet without really big guns. Noting the sufficient power level to keep him going without a recharge, Slayer finished his walk to the main circular chamber of the Lower Deck. Opposite of the way he just came was the rear hatch door, sitting in silence and shut off from the howling sands outside. The several rooms to his right from back-to-front was his workspace, the Kitchen/Med-bay, and two storage rooms for smaller goods that couldn't fit into the Cargo Bay. The center of the chamber was occupied with a holographic planetary map. Of course, since they didn't know where they were, it was indistinguishable from a nameless blue orb suspended in mid-air. The rooms to his left were the dorms for the crew. He had the left one, Drake had center, and Yuri had the one of the far right. He briefly walked into his room and navigated towards his cot. It was a simple, cramp thing, but its secret compartment made a good alcohol storage unit. After having a good swig of whatever liquor he could get his hand on first, Slayer hid it once more and strode out towards the rear hatch to start his 'investigation'. "Well... this is one lovely mess we got ourselves into," Yuri quietly said to himself as he looked over the worsening reports the computer was sending him. Apparently in the crash, the ion cannon had been nearly ripped out of its containment cell for transport and plasma was 'leaking' into the atmosphere. If the breach was not sealed in time and a fire happened to reach the leak, the area around the ship would transform from a lifeless sea of sand into a dry, radioactive hunk of green glass. The only good thing he had found out was that the fields that held the antimatter in place were still doing their job rather well. That would keep the Engines from self-imploding and taking out everything in a sixty-foot radius. He had sent the repair bot he registered in the Cargo Bay to fix the plasma problem, but with no date on when that was going to be done, they were going to have to watch every little bit of heat they made. "Speaking of life-threatening heat-induced explosions, let's see what Slayer's up to..." Yuri muttered as he turned on the tracking chip that he had managed to sneak into Slayer's suit the day they were taking shore leave on that one planet with the hot chicks. He couldn't remember which one that was. Meanwhile, as Slayer rounded towards the helm of the downed Ethereal, he stopped. As his hand idly scratched his helm frantically, he growled in annoyance. 'There's that damn beeping again,' he thought angrily as the noise started. It wasn't that it was loud, or that it was obnoxious, but the fact that he could never figure out where it's coming from irritated him to no end. Trying to distract himself from it, he finished circling the head of the ship. As from what the scans showed, it was indeed a desert by his acute observations. Sand covered the area for miles upon miles. Though, considering the high dunes, Slayer couldn't figure out if that forest he saw when they came in was visible from his position or not. The sounds of dulled alarms mixed in the sounds of the Repair Drone R1-B5 as it maneuvered around the exterior of the Ethereal. Contrary to what Drake thought, Slayer had actually kept the husk of the droid and had been repairing it since its fateful destruction. He realized that he finished the repairs a long while ago, but forgot to activate the control cluster and turn it on. He rectified that error before he left the ship. He glanced at the white, multi-armed robot as it was welding together a crevice in the hull. The sparks it was emitting helped light the darkness around the ship as it was cloaked with the night. After giving a respectful nod towards the machine--for the assassin always had a certain fondness towards things that weren't of minimal intellect--Slayer examined the area in front of him. It wasn't much to work with. There were shards of glass, and even some blood, but no Drake. He lowered himself to the spot where he could see the outline of where Drake's body used to lie, and allowed his hunting instincts to surface once more. From the looks of it, the captain's body wasn't dragged. Therefore, either something stood over him and picked him up from there, or he was picked up by some anti-gravity emitter. Slayer tapped his helm, and the interface changed accordingly. A green reticule appeared in the center, and began frantically moving about the area. His Hunter Module was proficient at what it did; being able to pick up subtle tracks and DNA samples of targets through what many would consider impossible means. There were no impressions near the spot, so the former option of up-close retrieval seemed far less likely. Yet, any readings for anti-grav signatures weren't coming in either. Slayer let out a calming breath as he observed the surrounding area closer. That's when he saw it. Two separate pairs of hoof prints. They were weathered due to the desert wind, but they were still recognizable by the Hunter Module even in the night's glow. Seeing the clue, Slayer quickly moved himself to be adjacent to the marks, and examined them more closely. It was from an equine. No doubt about that. Though, what kind or what species was hazy. But, this proved something valuable: the slavers (as assumptions would predict) used the four-legged creatures as not only transportation, but to move Drake. However, this didn't lead into how they moved him without using an anti-grav emitter, or without picking him up physically. 'Doesn't matter. I got tracks of their animals and that's all I need,' Slayer thought as he stood fully. He let his reticule hover over the print, before it was encompassed in a faint purple light. A similar trail of the light led both towards and away from the crash site. He couldn't help but smirk. "Yuri, I've got a trail. Let's move," Slayer muttered as he started to slowly stalk the path, one heavy footstep at a time. Starbrought "Fascinating, simply fascinating," Medical Officer Quick Mend muttered as he stared under the sheet concealing the creature Princess Cadance and Shining Armor had brought back from the meteor crash site. The pale orange light around his horn faded and he allowed the sheet to drop back over the creature. Cracking his neck, Quick Mend turned to face the Princess and the Captain. "And you're saying you just 'found' this poor beast lying out in the middle of the sand?" He inquired. "Judging by his injuries, he very well couldn't have walked all of the way out there. He's covered in his own blood, for pony's sake!" "How do you know it's a 'he'?" Shining Armor interrupted. "I've never seen anything like it in my life." "Captain, I have spent many years of my life learning about and thoroughly studying various branches of medicine. From basic pediatrics to the vastly more complex study of Hydra anatomy," Quick Mend said, using his magic to slide his glasses further up his face. "I have numerous degrees in several different fields. And this is not my first time examining a creature with which I have no familiarity. What is the main, defining feature of a male across many species?" A faint blush appeared on Cadance's cheeks almost right away and she averted her gaze. Shining Armor stared blankly at Quick Mend for nearly half a minute before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh. Oh!" He stammered. "I... um... I see. Then. Yes. Right." Quick Mend rolled his eyes and turned away from the two ponies awkwardly shuffling away from each other. "Behaving like foals in a Health Studies lecture," he muttered to himself as he peeked beneath the sheet once more. "I can clean up his wounds and sterilize them so he doesn't die anytime soon. But we'll need to get him back to Canterlot as soon as possible." That seemed to break the awkward tension between the Princess and the Captain as they exchanged a mildly worried look. "Why back to Canterlot?" Shining Armor requested. "It could be dangerous. Is it a good idea to bring it to our capital?" "Was it a good idea to bring it to a small, isolated camp of a Princess where most of her guards have never seen actual combat against an unknown enemy?" Quick Mend snapped. This led to more awkward shuffling, mostly from Cadance. She had been the one to insist on bringing the creature to Quick Mend after all. "No, but you did it anyway. Besides, it's severely wounded and probably can't fight anyway, even if it is violent. And once we're in Canterlot, plenty of guards will be able to come running should he wake up and decide to kill us all." "Have I ever told you that you're pleasant to have around?" Shining Armor muttered. Quick Mend merely grunted in response. Shining Armor rolled his eyes and turned to face the Princess, who was staring at the sheet with an expression of pity. "It's your call, Your Highness. We can bring this guy back to Canterlot with us, or we can leave him here." "If we leave him here, he'll die, regardless of what Quick Mend does to help him," Cadance said sadly. "I know," Shining Armor said, dropping his voice so none of the other guards nearby could hear him. "But he is an alien, Cadance. There's no other explanation for it. His clothes, the pieces of metal in that trench he was next to, the fact that it probably wasn't a meteor at all. Even Quick Mend couldn't identify what he was." Shining Armor glanced back at the sheet, watching as it slowly rose and fell in time with the creature's breathing. "That doesn't mean we should leave him to die out here," Cadance said. "All living things have a right to live. We are not gods who decide whether somepony can live or die. We need to give him a chance." "Then we'll bring him back to Canterlot," Shining Armor gave her a salute. "We'll just adjust our schedule so we arrive at night when there are fewer ponies out that can ask questions." "I agree," Cadance said as she rose to her hooves. "We'd best get moving then. The sooner we get back, the better the chance that this poor creature will live." "You heard the Princess," Shining Armor barked at the other guards. "Break down camp, and load up the wagon! We need to get back to Canterlot by tomorrow night! Understand?" "Yes, Sir!" Starbrought The desert moon hung in the late-night sky, bathing the sand in a refreshing pearl glow. A man walked across the barren plains, his green and grey attire marred with streaks of black and red where fire and blood covered his once pristine clothes. "Sla-yer~!" he sung, hands cupped around his mouth, eyes dancing in mirthful joy, giddy and rushing with the adrenaline that only came to men who had farted in the face of death. Yuri lost the bounty hunter some time ago, and the fear of being alone was starting to get to him. "Slayer, you lug-nut! I know you're out there! Come out, come out wherever you--ACK!" Yuri was suddenly pulled backwards behind a large rock that he had not bothered to check in case anything was lying in wait. A armoured hand was clasped over his mouth, and he was staring into the lifeless visor of his shipmate. While the words weren't completely recognizable, the gist of what Yuri said in a relieved tone through his muffled mouth was: "Well, that was rather successful, if I do say so myself." Slayer regarded the tech with a deadpanned stare, still holding him in a vise. His left arm covered Yuri's mouth (which was known to cause issues, and become quite annoying if not attended to), as his right arm wrapped around Yuri's left and pinned it to his side. His right hand found itself on the technician's throat, his thumb blocking off what should have been any attempt at making sound. "Yuri," he started in a low, deliberate voice. "I'll say this only once; shut up, before you get us killed. You've got a comlink." After promptly letting him go, Slayer peeked over the rock. They had been following the trail for a while now, yet the trail continued to keep on going for what seemed indefinitely. He still didn't really understand how the trail was shaped. It seemed constant, which was odd because nomads who still used animals for transportation couldn't have any source of keeping the beasts going unless they rested. But, there seemed to be no interruptions in the trail. Either the rides didn't drink water nearly as often as other animals did--the name 'camel' abruptly came to Slayer's mind--or they made some ancient device to do such. He motioned for Yuri to follow him once more, and double-checked to make sure that Yuri's tracers were still making a detectable trail. About every hundred feet or so, Slayer told Yuri to place a tracer. They actually didn't do much in their current state, unless you had the right equipment. In the pirate's cases, it was in Slayer's helm. They remained unlit, yet their signatures from just sitting there was enough for Slayer to track. They were well-hidden as well, most taking on a similar camouflage of the sandy plains before them. Once he was satisfied with the definite path back to the Ethereal, Slayer stood and began following the trail once more. "Slayer, hold up for a second," Yuri called over the comlink. "I've got something really weird on the thermal," he said, staring at the small screen that showed them the thermal view of the surrounding area. Slayer let out a silent scoff as he turned around and walked back to where Yuri was. The dim glow-stick lights hung limply on the engineer's waist as he examined the small portable terminal he had. Slayer could see clearly in the dark, a result of his training to hunt down his targets in the dead of night; however, Yuri needed something to help his vision. 'Because he's a blubbering imbecile and slept through that course the Imperials issued to their recruits,' Slayer told himself, mentally rolling his eyes at his rather-incompetent companion. The realization of Slayer's genuine situation was also having its toll on his state of mind. Having a fool like Yuri around was not going to make things better. "Have you ever seen tracks like this before? The thermal is having a damn-near aneurysm over them," Yuri whispered, pointing towards the ever-fading trail of worn marks that were a fair distance away. Slayer briefly glanced at the trail that passed them. "Only in data entries," he replied as he lowered himself once more to analyze the markings. It was a wide trail. What must have been passing was a caravan, which the scouts that picked up Drake must've linked up with after the capture. Some wheel tracks were noticeable, which also reinforced the earlier suspicion of it being a convoy of sorts, and Slayer returned his attention to the tech standing in front of him. "So..." Slayer was detecting a habit in Yuri's idiotic speech pattern. "Where do we go from here, Slayer?" Yuri had stopped and gazed downwards, looking right at what he guessed where Slayer's eyes would be pointed behind the mask. "I mean... we're nearly out of trackers; from what I can tell, it's going to be day soon. And I do not want to be stuck in a desert during the middle of the day. So, what now? How are we going to get our dumbass Captain back from something that we have no idea what it is or can do?" 'If he says the word "so..." one more time, I'm going to break his teeth,' Slayer mused cruelly. The hunter rose to his feet and pondered the question set before him by his dolt of an ally. 'Hmm. Nearly out of tracers. And that's all we got, from what Yuri could find, to get back..' Slayer's eyes slowly absorbed the sandy landscape, ensuring there were no snipers nor scouts of any sort monitoring their position. 'If we keep following this trail, and it's a dead end; we'll be screwed,' Slayer thought as he began tapping his finger against his hip. 'And that raises another possibility. I know natives aren't usually the best armed, or the most skilled fighters (never mind intelligent); but take them too lightly and you could easily wind up dead.' Slayer grunted in irritation at the situation. This was one of the reasons why he didn't just assume direct control over the Cerberus Pirates and declared himself Captain. He may have had a knack for thinking things fairly through, and solving issues with a bit of rational thought, but with nothing to go on (which seemed to be the usual functioning of Cerberus' overall competence in strategy)... The assassin didn't like this particular flavor of pressure. A fire-fight or the shadows stalking a target was his domain; not sulking about a desert tracking a potential dead-end of someone he hardly trusts even after some odd years. Slayer's tapping became slightly more frantic, turning from quarters notes to eighth notes. Finally, Slayer simply turned towards the trail leading off into the unknown and started walking without another word. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Yuri exclaimed, breaking the 'no shouting' rule. Slayer made no retort as he continued to follow the trail. He grew farther and farther away as Yuri just stood there, confused and starting to feel peckish. "Slayer! If this is goodbye, then I'd better tell you that the picture was a lie! It never existed at all! It was just a plan Drake and I hatched to get you knocked out so we could sell your armor for scrap--" Slayer calmly cut in without missing a beat. This wasn't the first time Yuri had gone off the deep end, and began trying to cope with situations the only way he knew how; stupidity. Slayer decided that maybe feeding the fire would shut him up, or at least he could undermine what little brainpower the engineer had. Did Slayer ever mention how much he extremely disliked Yuri? Because he did. A lot. "I knew of the plan. You left the intercom on when you talked to Drake about it in the cockpit. Meanwhile, I still have the picture of you pissing on civilians from a rooftop a year back." His voice took on a smug tone as he kept walking with no intents on waiting for his crewmate to follow. "The best part of that piece of blackmail I have on you is that you were so intoxicated you can't even remember it." Yuri frowned in irritation. Did he really, or was Slayer lying to him? He could never tell. "Oh... So it's the blackmail game you want to play, eh?!" With aggression, he took a step forward. "I have the name of the person that helped you with that little 'problem' of yours, and I'm sure everyone--alien or not--would love to hear that story. Right, Slayer? Or should I say--" Once again, Slayer stopped him. Though, by now, he paused his trek as he reached the fifty-foot mark of distance between the two. Obviously, Yuri refused to set aside these petty jabs of blackmail. The assassin felt as if he was dealing with a child. A large, mentally-incompetent man-child. "I created that false identity. The 'problem' was that I needed some tools to help eliminate a contact." He briefly glanced at the tech in exhaustion, and even dragged his hand over his visor again to accent his frustration. "You took my vague hint as something absurd. So guess my 'surprise' when I got a call two days later saying that your technological signature had hacked into that account." Slayer idly gazed at his fingernails as he continued in a rather-monotone voice, despite him wearing gloves as he continued. "Since I assumed such an event would occur, the amount I placed in there to hire some goons to distract the fool was transferred to my personal account in advance." Slayer noted this unusual break in his usual stoic silence, and simply ended the conversation at that, hoping that Yuri would stop as well. 'Check, and mate. Now please; shut up and let us get a move on--' "Did you really think that they could actually trace my signature?" A mocking laugh escaped Yuri's throat. Slayer wanted to throttle him. Slayer mused to himself as he attempted not to wring the fool's neck that being stranded appeared to have a more prominent effect on the engineer's psyche than originally anticipated. "No, that was a old friend of mine that owed me a debt. I made him hack it with a fake signature to throw you off, and also to provide a distraction for what I really got." Slayer's mind already made a rebuttal, but he chose not to say it aloud. This transaction was worthless. They needed to find Drake, and Yuri acting like a bigger idiot than normal was most certainly not helping. 'Does he really have the gall to think he can outsmart me? I know his sig by heart, and it was the same one that breached the account. What a sad little fool.' An irritated snort left the hitman. 'I wish I had Drake instead.' Yuri's tone took on a darker form while the ex-bounty hunter mused, oblivious to the misery afflicting the assassin. "I have something I know that you would love to know. More than anything in the world. You know what I am talking about, don'tcha Mr. Slayer?" The assassin merely cocked his head in confusion. "Um... not really." 'What is he going on about...?' he paused to see the ever-descending moon. He grunted and went back to following the trail. "How about you walk and talk?" 'Before you waste more time with your childish arguments about the subject of blackmail,' he added as an afterthought. "That sounds like much more fun, Mr. Slayer," Yuri responded as he jogged to catch up. Slayer's eye twitched for every loud stomp that Yuri performed to close the distance. "Besides, I'd rather keep that information in my head for a little bit longer; it'd be a shame if someone got it before they were ready for it. I would hate to have to remove it." The armoured gladiator merely rolled his eyes in response. 'Truly, I don't understand why I have to deal with this.' He inwardly groaned in his head as he continued to follow the path. 'Why couldn't this have been where Drake and I had to find Yuri? At least I can tolerate Drake. Yuri... the best description for him is an arrogant and irritating younger brother. But stupider.' A hopeful expression appeared on the marauder's face. 'Maybe I can kill Yuri, and blame it on desert lizards?' Slayer, in his lamenting, idly checked his power level. He snorted, though it appeared to go unnoticed by the mechanic beside him. 'Perhaps I should've done some upgrading before I left. Adding those new cells would've reduced the Hunter's Module energy intake some,' he thought as silence once again reigned betwixt the two. And silence continued to fall for quite some time until, of course, Yuri got bored. He slowed his movement down from a brisk walk to a normal pace, falling behind. He was bored to death, and Yuri figured this was probably going to be the only time that Slayer would even think about humoring him instead of ignoring him. "Slayer, I've been meaning to ask you this... but, what was it like to work for the Syndicate?" The warrior gazed back at Yuri with a tilted head as he walked. Suspicion was slowly rising as Slayer squinted at the tech. It wasn't all that long ago that Yuri was acting like a sociopath; now all of the sudden he wanted life stories from the bounty hunter? "Why do you care?" "We are in the middle of the desert for who-knows-how much longer, so I would like to hear what it was like to work for the Syndicate," Yuri retorted. In response, Slayer scoffed and turned back forward. 'Sure, why not? Hopefully it'll shut him up,' he prayed as he recalled his time with the Syndicate. "It was... bland. The pay was above-average, and the targets were challenging, but besides that I wouldn't have taken the job. The thugs there in the organization were not only morons, they were also stupid." A brief void of conversation filled the air as he tried to gather his thoughts further. "I didn't say much to Parkins, if that's what you're asking. Only met the bastard twice. As such, I dealt with the more... simple, of his agents. There weren't too many assigned breaks in between contracts, which led into me taking my own. I was the best they could find though, so they allowed my occasional brush-off of their orders." Slayer had kept his eyes on the trail, but quickly flicked his eyes in Yuri's direction. The returning expression was neutral. "Does that answer your question?" "Pretty much, though I still would say that I would rather be on your side than the one I got myself into..." His eyes began to get distant as Yuri recalled his past. That he believed at one time he thought would be the best decision he had ever made. But, it had turned out to scar him in more places than just his arm... Slayer nodded solemnly. "During some contracts, I heard dying stories about the Imperials, from Imperials. About how they worked..." There was another brief silence before Slayer continued. "Syndicate had some fools, but compared to others, they treated their guys right... sometimes." Slayer finished lamely with an awkward shrug, before he began trudging up the hilly dune the trail went over. "You got that right, Slayer," Yuri laughed a little bit as he followed, before his eyes got that far off look again. He reached the crest along with Slayer to see yet more endless seas of sand. In the direction of where they fell, were barely-recognizable pieces of tech. But, Yuri merely looked towards the horizon of the rising sun in the opposite direction. As if he was staring into the past itself. "You sure do..."
Starbrought	{Edited} Chapter Three - Separation	Starbrought Silence. It's a priceless need when hunting prey. Even when you're in a situation to where nothing wrong could happen in terms of loud sounds, it's crucial to keep quiet during examination, pursuing, and any other methods of dealing with targets. The spreading of sand underfoot, despite it being nearly impossible to hear without sensors, must be done carefully, less a raider lying in wait hears your approach. Therefore, perhaps one could understand the agitation that Slayer was feeling as he tracked. Yuri was walking behind him, and quite frankly he seemed to care little for stealth. Slayer had attempted to reason with him, but the tech had ignored him. Almost like he was in an odd sort of trance. Not even Slayer's tried-and-true method of slapping Yuri across the face seemed to faze the engineer, and that both worried and annoyed the hunter. The rising temperature on the desert was barely noticeable due to the still early point in the morning. But one could still feel it rising, its grip closing tighter on its inhabitants. Despite the Solaris Suit's need for it, Slayer wasn't enjoying the sun's threat of sweltering heat and blinding sunlight too much. 'That cell would have increased my recharge rate by a solid nine percent if I took the ten minutes to install it,' he griped to himself. In an instant, Slayer immediately desisted his movement and held out a hand. It was positioned for Yuri's chest, which it luckily hit. The reason for said luck, was that the trail descended down a steep dune, and the rate that Yuri would've fell could have possibly jeopardized the reconnaissance-slash-rescue mission. Yuri's eyes widened in confusion as he froze, which was a welcome facial expression from the flat look he gave as he walked on aimlessly. He turned to look at Slayer, who only responded with a casual point downwards with his free hand. Looking in said direction and realizing the potential fall, Yuri backed up swiftly to give a few feet of room from the very-likely deathtrap. "The trail fades by each passing gust," Slayer muttered as he watched the idle wind brush past the path. It faded ever-so-slightly, and soon the only link to find their captain could be lost if they didn't hurry. "And more will pass in the time it'll take to navigate down..." Yuri glanced over at the pondering positioning of Slayer's hands, and spoke. "So... do you think Drake is still alive, Slayer?" he asked the metal man, his voice laced with some concern. The assassin had cooled his jets some once daybreak as arrived, and as such he didn't lash out at Yuri. "Hopefully. I'd prefer an extra gun that wouldn't try to kill us on a possibly-hostile world," Slayer responded as he began walking down the near sideways slope. Yuri hurried along after him and followed in his wake. "How do you know whatever has Drake doesn't or does have guns? Hell, it could just be a wild animal." Slayer slowed his walk to look back incredulously at his mate. "Wild animals don't make these tracks. Would be more spread-out if there were several, and there's too many prints for a singular beast." He idly pulled out his rightmost Sabre and brushed his hand over it to clear the accumulated dust as he continued. "No, whatever has Drake is organized. As for whether they have guns or not, that remains to be seen." Yuri looked down at the degrading tracks, and sighed. They were not alone in this desert, and it was rapidly heating up as the sun began to ascend, adding beautiful colors of orange and red to the sky. He looked back behind them, and his jaw dropped. "Slayer... just how far have we gone?" The ex-bounty hunter halted and glanced at the sun. It had peaked the horizon not more than an hour or so ago, and they had been walking for a significant time-frame. Making a few calculations regarding average speed of planetary rotation (which seemed to go at the Galactic Standard), and distance (estimated by the positioning of the sun compared to the starting point of the moon), he began walking once more. "About four-five hours. Maybe, fifteen miles or so?" A thoughtful sound left Slayer. "This is going to take a while..." "Well, look on the bright side! We get to spend it together." Slayer was trying to find the positives of that prospect, but unfortunately came up with none. In fact, he thought he felt a chill creep up his spine, despite it being more-than-slightly-warm out. "...Though, did it ever occur to you that we are leaving our own tracks for others to follow?" Yuri asked. "Correction. Your tracks," Slayer commented as he returned to his previous brisk pace. "I've been moving lightly (despite my heavier armour), and have been walking in the tracks themselves. You however, have chosen to travel next to them, while at the same time leaving heavy indents." Slayer crossed his arms in a stretching motion as he pressed on. "If the ship is compromised, it's your doing." "Now wait one minute. It's not my fault that Drake crashed us here, and it's sure as hell ain't my fault that the reactor was having a fucking temper-tantrum!" Yuri yelled in Slayer's face mask, hurrying around the hunter to stop him. "And as for the tracks, not all of us have three-million credit space-suits that wipe our asses." All that built-up urge since dawn to not smash Yuri's nose was quickly dispatched with the engineer's tirade. After a harsh moment of silence passed, the assassin's voice came out over the comlink. "How quaint," he replied with a dangerously even tone. "Your stupidity is shown clearly in your mathematics, for the suit cost seven-million credits; not three." Yuri frowned. "Don't insult--" "Speaking of your lack of intelligence," Slayer started again while at the same time interrupting his crew member, "how about I point out that you should know these basics and that it doesn't require gear of any kind?" Slayer countered calmly as he shoved his mask against Yuri's face even further. To the fool's credit, he only leaned back a centimeter. "So don't give me excuses because you and your ex-Imperial acquaintances couldn't figure out common sense." "So, I'm the one that does not have common sense?" Slayer rolled his eyes behind his visor; he knew exactly where this was going to go. Yuri couldn't go one day without bringing up past events in his whining fits. "This is coming from the person that got so drunk off his ass, that he stumbled into a tree and tried to bang it. This is coming from the person who has never let us see his face for no fucking reason (the real one is that you're so fucking ugly, a palm tree is about the best you can get out of anything). This is also coming from the person that failed three times trying to kill a Vice-Admiral, then gave up and demo'd the building." "If common sense is a measure of intelligence, then I'm an idiot, but you're the bigger one." A disturbing silence fell then. It maybe lasted for a few moments, or perhaps minutes. But as Yuri's final words left his lips, only silence remained. Only the lightest of whispers being the gusts of wind were the few breaks in the pause. Slayer was currently reviewing the likelihood of him being able to repair the Ethereal himself without the aid of the engineer. A silent tsk under his breath made him discard the thought of murder. Wriggling his fingers to keep the blood flowing to the extremities, Slayer spoke in his same calm tone, marred only by a hint of smugness. "None of those relate to common sense, you know. The first was due to inebriation, the second is none of your damn business, and the third was an alternate source of completing a goal. You still have trouble figuring out which shoe goes on which foot." "The point still stands," Yuri grumbled with defiance, pouting petulantly as if he was a child. "If you say I don't have common sense, why should I care about what you say about me? And also, the reason you went after that admiral is that you failed killing me (which now that I look at it would have been better in the long run), but what has been done has been done." The warrior merely shook his head in exasperation. "Must you always do this? Try to get under my skin, yet fail every time?" Slayer turned on his heels and began his slowed-gait through the trail again. His worn patience made him forget he should be rushing. "Save your breath. And try to keep hydrated. Heat sickness will make you lose even more brain cells than you already have." "Oi, what me and my brain cells do is none of your concern. But are we going to catch the 'kidnappers' anytime soon?" A dismissive wave was sent into Yuri's direction. In his mind, Slayer wondered if Yuri was suffering from bipolar disorder. Maybe that was what those pills he had found on Yuri's cot were for. It made a lot of sense; Yuri was a bumbling idiot, so the only logical way to make him even stupider was him being a druggie. At the time, it made a great deal of sense. "We'll handle them with extreme prejudice when the trail ends. It hasn't yet, so stay sharp until we do." "Did you bring any food with us, by the way?" Yuri asked as he began to catch up with Slayer taking point, as usual. "I thought I told you to bring it in your pack..." Slayer trailed off as he slowed down to a complete stop several feet away, and turned back slowly. "You, did do that, right?" Yuri put down his pack and began rummaging through it. Slayer went in reverse and tried depicting the items. Yuri pulled out medical braces, spare energy packs, and even water. But nothing remotely edible appeared in his hands as he dug more frantically and deeper into the sack. Dejectedly, Yuri ceased and sat there on his knees. "Oh hell no..." There was silence. Yuri winced and dared to look towards Slayer. He was surprised to see that he was merely standing there. The stance in which he stood in held no anger, nor disappointment... actually, his stance didn't have an emotion. He just seemed to be stan-- Thwack! ... Thud. As the minor dust cloud cleared from under Yuri's unconscious body, Slayer stood above him flexing his recently-used fist. He let out an annoyed sigh, and placed the bag back on his companion while he slept in blissful sleep. Hoisting the technician onto his shoulder, he grumbled a short statement before walking onward. "Nighty-night, imbecile. Consider this a favour, because I'm only dragging your ass a couple of miles. Then I'm waking you up." And with that, an odd sense of peace reigned between the pair once more. Starbrought Princess Cadance watched anxiously from the hallway outside of Canterlot Castle's private Operating Room. Inside, Quick Mend and three nurses (all of whom Quick Mend had hoof-picked, swearing that they could be trusted to keep quiet about the creature) were hard at work stitching up the being's numerous wounds. As they worked, Quick Mend commented on the creature's anatomy and an enchanted quill copied what he wrote down word for word, even sketching some of the creature's body parts to accompany the writing. Most of Quick Mend's comments, however, seemed to be focused on the similar characteristics the creature shared with numerous races on Equis. "The brain is rather large compared to body size, much like that of most known sentient races," Quick Mend spouted off as his magic washed over the creature, scanning its body primarily for broken limbs. "Initial scans show the creature has a well developed neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes. I would assume that this means he is capable of many things including language, reasoning, culture, etcetera. We may be able to find common ground on which we can establish communication with when he wakes up." Upon their return to Canterlot, Cadance and her guard had quickly rushed the creature to the Operating Room while sealing up that wing of the castle, expressly forbidding any unauthorized entry. Shining Armor had volunteered to guard the main entrance to the medical wing, insisting that his Shielding Spell would prevent anypony from sneaking past, forcing those who wanted through to confront the guard. "Much of the upper body seems to be similar to that of a Minotaur, though much more proportionate for its size," Quick Mend rambled on as one of the nurses worked on cleaning a gash on the creature's chest. "Especially in regards to its head. It doesn't possess a snout like most sentient races do, so he should have a much shorter palate as a result." The creature's mouth was forced open by Quick Mend's magic as the unicorn peered inside. "I count thirty two teeth in its mouth. One appears to be made of metal, or it possesses a metallic coating. I doubt that it's a natural occurrence. I would consider this proof that his species is intelligent." Quick Mend paused for a moment as he considered his own words. "Excluding the fact that he was wearing clothing and had a sword on him." Quick Mend tilted the creatures head back gently and continued to peer into its mouth while his magic automatically worked on stitching up one of the wounds on its chest. "Teeth in the front are designed for tearing and teeth in the back are designed for grinding," he noted. "So he's omnivorous, much like the Griffon's and the Minotaur. Good, that means he should be fine on just fruits and vegetables when he wakes up since we have no meat readily available in the castle..." He trailed on about the possibilities of the creature's diet and Cadance subconsciously tuned him out, turning her attention instead to the window behind her. Two unicorns dressed in Hazard Defense Suits could be seen tenderly examining the objects that had been on the creature. They gave Cadance a brief nod of acknowledgement as they tenderly placed a small cluster of metallic discs into a lead-lined case to protect against potential 'alien' abnormalities. While several of the creature's possessions interested Cadance and the others, the sword was the most curious out of all. During the ride back to Canterlot, Shining Armor had unsheathed the weapon to get a better look at the craftsponyship of the blade in an attempt to figure out the general region where the creature might have come from. However, there was no blade, only an indentation in the guard of the hilt where several carefully shaped crystals had been secured. The sword hilt remained in the scabbard, both lying on an operating table, waiting to be placed into a case (assuming the guards sent to fetch one could find one long enough without being larger than necessary). Cadance stared at the partial weapon, and then back at the creature as Quick Mend continued to cast scanning spells on the creature's head. What kind of creature carried a sword with no blade? Was he a warrior? Or was it only for decoration? "Hello, what do we have here?" Quick Mend said suddenly, snapping Cadance out of her trance of guess making. "What is it, doctor?" She asked, striding up to the glass and staring at the creature. His wounds were now stitched up and the nurses were working on cleaning the excess blood off of its body. "Is everything alright?" "More than alright," Mend said eagerly. "I did a more thorough scan of his brain this time round. I wanted to make sure there wasn't any damage that I could identify. Can't be too careful, can we?" Cadance responded with a look to urge him to get to his point. "Right, as I was saying, I found something rather interesting in the left hemisphere of his brain." His horn lit up and he projected the image of a small, cube shaped object with eighteen prongs extending from it. "What is that?" The princess asked, peering at the projection. "A box?" "Something else," Quick Mend said eagerly. "This thing was surgically implanted into his brain." Cadance reared back, horrified. "This speaks volumes about his culture's medical advances! If they can place something so perfectly within a brain, imagine what else they can do!" "I know! Isn't it exciting?!" Quick Mend stated in a joyful tone. "But wouldn't that hurt?" Cadance asked, still with a horrified expression on her face as she stared at the creature. "Having that thing in his brain can't be pleasant." Quick Mend let out a foalish giggle, which was rather disturbing coming from a fully grown stallion. "That's the best part! The object is smaller than the size of a needle point! I doubt he can even feel it." Cadance felt her jaw go slack. She looked up at the projection Quick Mend was casting. Several lines covered the object, all faintly glowing from what was clearly an internal light, and not the result of Quick Mend's spell judging by how the light faded in and out at consistent intervals. "Then what good is it?" She asked. "Something that small can't possibly have any real purpose. And I doubt it's for cosmetic reasons." "Well, whatever it is, it must have been worth it," Quick Mend said as he dispelled his projection and went to the nearby sink to sanitize his hooves. "He's had three others placed in various locations of his brain." Cadance felt a sudden wave of nausea wash over her. There were four of those things in the creature's brain? Who would let that happen to them? "And, judging by the scars hidden by his mane, he's had them for quite some time," Quick Mend rambled on as he held the door open for his nurses, who had finished cleaning up the creature and themselves before exiting the operating room. Quick Mend was the last to leave, locking the door behind him as he did so. "Remember, none of you saw anything out of the ordinary today," the doctor reminded the nurses. The three mares nodded and went their separate ways, carefully avoiding the pegasi guards who had arrived to hang up a thick curtain over the window to keep other ponies who weren't in the know from finding out about 'Princess Cadance's guest'. "If you'll excuse me, your highness, I need to take a shower and organize my notes before I head off to sleep," Quick Mend said, giving Cadance a small bow. "I'll examine the creature again tomorrow and see if I can learn anything more about it." "Thank you, doctor," Cadance said with a warm smile. "You're a tremendous help. If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask." "A paid week-trip to Van Hoofer would be nice," Quick Mend said with a laugh as he took his leave. "Have a good night, Princess." "You too, Quick Mend," Cadance said with a chuckle as the stallion disappeared around a corner. Starbrought The monotonous and repetitive sound of sand parting underfoot for Slayer's steps gradually heightened his ire. After trying to rouse his idiot of a companion, and getting little success, he was forced to continue carrying him. And from his perspective, Yuri could definitely afford to lose some pounds. 'How much vodka would it take to get someone to weigh like this?' Slayer wondered as he walked. The sun was nearing midday (it surprised Slayer how long they had been walking, and how long Yuri had been knocked out; maybe he swung too hard?), and as minor revenge Slayer was moving his crewmate in a reversed shoulder press. This relieved stress by placing the burden on both shoulders, and would guarantee Yuri would get a sunburn on his face if he didn't wake up soon. 'That'll teach the bugger.' It hadn't been too long of a walk yet, but Slayer truly could care less as of that moment. He was solemn at this time, being left to his thoughts as he repeated the same motions to follow the trail after his less-stupid acquaintance. Things weren't all fine and dandy (obviously), so it made sense that his thoughts would be revolving on how to gain passage off this rock. 'If what we're after is sentient, and snatched up Drake... we're already at a disadvantage there,' Slayer lamented. He might have sounded like a broken record, but he didn't exactly liked being stranded on a foreign world. 'Especially if they're the only ones. I have little doubt that this will be a tedious endeavour, but if none do it, I'll have to.' His eyes furrowed as he thought further. 'Why is it that I constantly feel like nobody is intelligent enough to do something without screwing it up, forcing me to do it instead?' Slayer's face then went flat. 'Oh yeah. Because they do lack intellect and sense, and I don't.' A small moan emanated from Yuri, but Slayer paid little mind to it as he maneuvered up the dune that was in his path. Clutched in one of his hands was an old-fashioned canteen he extracted from the technician's pack; a canteen in which he had been idly sipping on as the journey took him. Opening his mouth seal and taking another swig, he reached the crest and snorted to discover that it seemed even more sand stood in his way. The path remained, but it was obvious it would soon fade into nothing within the hour. He wished to hurry up, but he couldn't do that with Yuri in his company, conscious or not. That's when a cruel thought came to mind. Slayer glanced slowly to Yuri's form, and a devilish grin began setting in. 'Hmm...' Working quickly, he placed Yuri down and removed his pack. Going through it, he found some items and essentials he was looking for. A smaller satchel, water, other excess supplies... Removing the dwarf carrier and filling it with respective goods, he set it by the tech's side as he equipped the pack. He was about ready to leave, to begin jogging and hopefully clear the desert sometime before nightfall, when his subconscious began kicking in. 'Really, Slayer? You're going to abandon one of your crewmates in the desert while they're unconscious, and with only the scraps you don't wish to take. That is utterly unhonourable.' Slayer sighed, knowing his mind was speaking truth. ... After stopping briefly, Slayer went down the hill whistling, leaving his companion to lie on the dune. But, an old-fashioned umbrella sat embedded near his neck to provide the sleeping form of Yuri with some degree of shade. Some, mind you. Slayer still wanted Yuri to suffer a little bit before he died. 'I'll try and find your body, if it isn't picked clean by buzzards once I get Drake...' the hitman trailed off as the sun scorched on overhead. Starbrought "Urgh... So... Hot," Yuri mumbled as he began to leave the realm of unconsciousness. It was blazing hot from what he could feel, being as groggy as he was. His skin felt as if It had been turned into leather that was made solely through animal hides, like what his great grand-parents had. Upon attempting to open his eyes, however, something told him in his guts that doing so would be a very bad idea. So, he just laid wherever he was laying, feeling like he was being roasted alive. The lack of movement or sound near him also sent him into high-alert, as he tried collecting himself. He moved his arm up, and felt something slide off. "What the fuck..." he harshly iterated, his words barely above a whisper. His mouth felt dry as a bone, and as he ran his tongue over his lips, he could feel them cracked and baked. He moved his other arm, feeling the same sensation as something slid off it. He cracked his eyes open a little bit, but quickly shut them when he was nearly blinded by a bright light. He moved his arm over his eyes and opened them again, hoping that he could see. His eyes cracked open, and he saw what looked like a giant peach-coloured tarp covering his body, but slanted so that light poured on his face. He opened them even more slowly to let them get used to the light. Finally, he could see. His eyes diverted down to the ground, revealing sand. He sat up slowly, being careful not to hurt himself. The last thing Yuri wanted at the moment was for his dried, cracked skin to meet and impact with hot sand. "Why the fuck am I...?" He trailed off as he looked about, and his surroundings lacked a red figure. He understood immediately what had happened, and an intense frothing rage bubbled forth. "SLAYER!" Yuri screamed as loud as he could, but with his dry mouth it was about the same level as someone shouting gently. An echo sounded off regardless as the name left his lips. He began to hack, spitting out a few grains of sand that had gotten into his mouth. "Water... come to me." With slugging speed, he located his backpack buried under a growing blanket of sand. He snatched it up before it could go on a tumbleweed ride down the massive dune he had woken up on. Yuri, feeling the scathing heat ingrained into his very being, opened the pack up and dug around, trying to find water to quench his aching mouth and throat. "Did he... that son of a b--" Yuri began to hack again, as even more sand flew out of his mouth. He got on his hands and knees, hacking his lungs to oblivion. The pain of his lungs was soon overwhelmed by rage at the discovery in his pack. Slayer had taken nearly all of his water and either combined it with his own, or chugged it; leaving Yuri with an average amount in his mini-canteen--out of the five brought, only one sat in the satchel--and no sign of getting anymore anytime soon in endless stretching land of sand. "That's it, I'm going to kill him..." Yuri looked around at the rolling waves of sand stretching for miles and miles, going in every direction. No signs of a retreating body. "But first, I've got to find that soon-to-be mummy." Yuri picked up his backpack with a grunt and with one scrutinizing glance to spot the direction of the near-nonexistent trail, he began to walk into the great unknown. Like he had done many times before. And this time, he hoped it did not end with bloodshed, and the horrors of war. Like it had so many times before. Starbrought "Cousin Cadance, I couldn't help but notice that you've returned." Cadance closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She'd recognize that drawling, arrogant tone anywhere. Aunt Celestia, give me strength. She turned around, forcing a stiff smile on her face as Blueblood approached her. "Blueblood!" She said in feigned cheerfulness. "It's good to see you." "But of course it is," Blueblood scoffed. "I am the great Prince Blueblood, after all." A great pain in the flank is more like it. Cadance said to herself as she fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Deep breaths, Cadance. In. Out. In. Out. That a girl. "How was your trip to Zebraria?" The prince asked in a tone that told Cadance that he really didn't care for her answer. "It was perfectly fine," Cadance replied quickly, wanting to keep her interaction time with Blueblood to an absolute minimum. "Saddle Arabia is such a beautiful city, and the zebras there are always so friendly." "Yes, yes. That's nice," Blueblood said, waving his hoof in the air as if to shoo away the conversation. "Though it doesn't explain why you've returned a day and a half earlier than scheduled." Cadance froze in place for a fraction of a second. She didn't want Blueblood to know she had brought some strange, unidentifiable creature back to the castle. He could barely tolerate other races of ponies, let alone those of lower social standing. He would probably have the creature shipped to the Everfree forest and tossed inside. Fortunately, she had always been quick on her hooves. "Well, I've gone a few days without a decent bath," she said casually, waving her hoof in a manner to mimic Blueblood. The prince scowled at her with a severe lack of amusement. "So I just simply had to rush back." Blueblood let out a derisive snort. "Oh ha, ha, ha," he said sarcastically. "I imagine you are under the impression that you're being funny." "Well I'm trying," Cadance giggled, further irritating Blueblood, "But it is rather hard with you being a stick in the mud." Cadance took a small pleasure in watching the stuck-up unicorn visibly shudder in horror. "That is a horrid analogy," Blueblood said in disgust. "Why would anypony ever want to cover themselves in wet dirt?" "It actually helps exfoliate the skin, you know," Cadance said. "I personally enjoy them." She let out another laugh at his expense and brushed past him. "Goodnight, cousin." "Don't forget that I'm still in charge tomorrow," Blueblood called after her. Cadance just rolled her eyes. Honestly, why Aunt Celestia would leave him in charge, even for a couple of days, is completely beyond me. Starbrought A heavy groan echoed across the desert as the word 'Slayer' screamed out over the terrain. Slayer realized that tone to be Yuri's usual for trying to enact revenge, and he barely had half a mile over him. He proceeded to trudge at a faster speed than he had been previously, now proceeding at a faster yet still maneuverable jog. 'Man, why couldn't my punch just keep Yuri down for a little longer? At least long enough to where I could fully ditch him and let the desert claim him,' Slayer thought as he tried to level his steps with the hoofprints. 'If he catches up, we'll never find Drake. And that means I'll be stuck on this forsaken planet with that idiot forever.' As he followed his course, the hunter noticed the distinct lack of life with some trepidation. No form of plantae, or creatures of any sort. It was rather disturbing, because most deserts have some measure of activity. Being in one that currently didn't, did not bode well with his increasingly-frayed nerves. Idly switching off his Module, he peered at the path he took. Slayer was certainly surprised to discover that the trail had almost entirely evaporated, with the only evidence being small alterations to the landscape in the form of a disheveled strip. His brows raised at this, and reactivated his visor so he could stay en route. 'This is ridiculous,' he complained to himself. 'I have to hunt down someone I barely tolerate on an unknown world in the middle of a barren wasteland, with nothing but some meager supplies and a fool who provided basically nothing in the 'Help Department.'' The wind whirled at an increased pace as Slayer went. His eyes furrowed, and he carefully examined his horizons for what he feared. Unfortunately, his fear was confirmed as a swirling vortex of sand was approaching him. "Fuck," was all that left his lips as he tried to look to his surroundings to avoid the oncoming (but not literal) shitstorm. To be honest, he was pretty much spent. That 'dust devil' looked vicious enough to lift him, and since the sand wasn't solid he couldn't simply dig into it to prevent his vertical change. And of course, he had hit a mini-valley of sorts, meaning he had very little time and terrain to work with. Slayer considered to simply start digging when he saw a small stony hole in the knoll of a nearby sand dune. 'Thank you, Lady Luck,' he thought with a snark as he scrambled inside and peeked out to see the sand whipping about into his shelter. Pulling back and wiping away the dust, Slayer tapped his helm and shoulder. Two identical flashlights flickered on, and allowed him to view the interior beyond the sunlight's reach. From the artificial beams, he could just barely see what he believed was the back of the cave. The walls appeared to have been natural, yet odd chips and scratches made him wary of whether those were the results of violent winds, or the possibility of other tenants. Yet nothing lunged at him. Slayer gave another thankful sigh of relief as he slid down the side of the mouth and ended with him sitting in a lazy position. As the quiet atmosphere (save the howling of the wind) settled in, he removed his pack and began rummaging through it. 'Hmm,' the bounty hunter pondered as he went through the container. 'I only have two canteens, since I left the other three in Yuri's satchel. I wasn't going to, but I felt a little bad. Hope he checked the side-pocket,' he snickered to himself. 'But knowing him, he probably didn't.' Besides the canisters for the water, he had some cable he intended to use if he came across some form of a rocky cliff he could descend, a Mark III Proto-Flash grenade to catch any group of individuals off-guard, two medical braces in case he somehow broke bones through his armour, and finally; a small little bag that he decided to nab despite it being completely empty. Why the last one? He didn't know, but more shit in his pack meant he had a better chance of getting Drake back into his custody. Uncorking the canteen he had been working on, he took idle sips of the lukewarm water. Tasted awful, but he preferred it over dehydration. He flicked off his shoulder light, and allowed his legs some rest. Thoughts began to float about as he waited the storm out. 'Maybe I should've brought Yuri anyway. Wouldn't be so boring then in this cave,' he pondered while sighing. Slayer rested his helm against the wall, and stared at the cracked ceiling above him. 'If only I didn't get into this shit...' The billowing of the wind gradually died down, but Slayer barely noticed as he readjusted himself to be in a napping position. The pack was made into a pillow of sorts, and now he briefly closed his eyes to get some form of usefulness out of being trapped. ... Almost an hour later, and Slayer was still resting his laurels in blissful, desperate napping. The assassin was not infallible, and as such he was ensnared in the world of dreams. Particularly, a rather provocative one that if it were to be revealed to the general public, he would undoubtedly go on a murderous rampage in the nearest quadrant. But, like all good things; it had to end. Slayer chuckled as he wiggled some in his spot. "Not bad..." he murmured unconsciously. A few idle seconds passed before he let out a low growl. "Oh, this is going to be--" He was cut off and simultaneously awoken by the Solaris Suit's alarm-system going off. The assassin jumped up from his dream, katana and Sabre in hand as his head whipped about frantically. Upon realization of the disturbance, he let out an unamused grunt and telepathically shut it off. "Right when things get good," Slayer growled as he noticed the torrent of sand had ceased. 'Ah, good timing I suppose...' Acquiring his pack and departing the cave, he reactivated his Module and began scanni-- ... "Oh for the love of..." Slayer sighed. The trail was officially nonexistent. Gone. Vanished. Deceased. The sand had removed all trace of the captors, leaving him without a lead nor a clue on where to go to recover Drake. Understandably, he didn't take too kindly to this revelation. "Great. Just fucking great!" His voice increased as he stomped around the mouth of the cave. "Try to hyperspace jump to Earth, and look where it gets me: stranded on a backwater world with my crew-members either captured or incompetent. Why must this happen to me? Why can't, for just once, things work out instead of Fate and Lady Luck taking turns dealing bad cards?!" Snorting in anger and frustration from the cumulative amount of bottling up emotions due to all these stress-inducing events, he promptly drew both of his Sabres and went ballistic on the rocky exterior. Shot after shot rang out as chunks flew off from the energy bolts colliding against it. However, this didn't prove to be entirely wise. The sound cloaked others, and as the batteries for the Sabres had to recharge from a rapid expenditure of power, several loud growls brought Slayer's focus off of his rage. The darkened abyss that was formerly the hideout acted as a veil for whatever was emitting the irritated sounds. 'There was something alive in there? How did I miss something when it was completely empty?!' Slayer thought frantically as he holstered his pistols and drew his Katana while examining his energy. It was low. Very low. Hardly enough to keep life-support and the weight-distributors online. If it wasn't for the sun overhead, Slayer would be completely screwed. Instead, he was just mostly screwed. "Dammit all to hell," was all he mumbled as the grey-colored beasts emerged from their domain. Starbrought "The subject in question is truly an intriguing specimen. I've only been able to properly study it for a couple of hours since we returned to Canterlot Castle. So far, I've determined that traditional Minotaur Sage Healing techniques may be the most effective methods of treatment for the creature's wounds, as casting healing magic seems to be a hit-or-miss in terms of improvement of the subject's health. The similarities between the two races is also astounding. Not only that, but the subject displays similar traits to that of the Diamond Dogs of the Badlands and Arc Wolf packs that wander the Frozen North. I only hope the subject wakes soon. I'm confident in my earlier assessment that his race is intelligent, and we just might be able to find some common ground on which we can establish communica--" Quick Mend let out a cry of shock as the faint glow around his horn, identical to the one surrounding his quill suddenly and painfully flared. His magical grip on his quill sent it scrawling across his notes, ruining a mostly fresh piece of parchment. His eyes went wide with shock as the article went forgotten. That was the warning enchantment he had placed on the equipment monitoring the subject's heart beat alerting him to a sudden, unpredictable change in the subject's life-signs. It was flat-lining. Quick Mend was on his hooves and dashing from his suite in the castle for the nearest staircase as quickly as his legs would carry him, all the while muttering "No!" under his breath over and over again. He paused only once he had reached the exit for the floor where the hospital wing was housed to catch his breath and regain his balance. Running down spiral staircases tended to leave most ponies with a feeling of dizziness and nausea, to which Quick Mend was no exception. He rushed past a small group of cleaning mares, startling them as he bowled over their cart full of supplies. He ignored their indignant shouts and the feather duster now tangled up in his mane and pressed on, determined to reach the subject's room. "Celestia please don't let me be too late," he pleaded in between breaths as he barreled through the double doors into the hospital wing. Several guards gave him curious looks as he passed, but shrugged it off. It wasn't the first time Quick Mend had been seen running about the castle like a madpony. Quick Mend barreled down the hallway and rounded the corner, skidding to a halt at the sight before him. The two guards stationed outside of the subject's room were splayed out on the marble floor, both rendered unconscious from blows to the head, if the dents in their helmets were anything to judge by. The doctor's pulse raced in his throat as he slowly turned his attention to the open door of the room, where a long, drawn-out tone indicated the flat-lined signal. Nervously, Quick Mend eased himself into the room. Sure enough, the cables that had been connecting the heart monitor to the subject laid, unconnected to flesh, on the now empty examination table. Quick Mend's imagination took hold, running through dozens of possibilities in a manner of seconds. 'Could the creature have escaped? No, he was too injured. He wouldn't be strong enough to incapacitate the guards. Could somepony have foalnapped him? Possible, but the only ponies who knew about the creature were a few select guards, the Captain, Princess Cadance and himself.' 'Unless somepony saw us bring the subject into the castle.' Quick Mend realized as he paced back and forth in the darkened room. The thought froze him in his tracks. 'They might have stolen him. Perhaps they intend to unveil him to the public and take credit for his discovery.' He let out a loud gasp. "They don't know that he could be intelligent! They might kill him and cut him open!" He slammed his hoof down dramatically against the cold marble flooring. "No. I won't allow this! I must find them and put a stop to... this... villainy?" Quick Mend's voice trailed off as he looked up from the ground and found himself staring at the creature in question, now towering several hooves above him. The creature stared back with bright teal eyes that seemed to glow in the dim lighting. Then it flashed Quick Mend a predatory smile that sent a shiver down the doctor's pony. Quick Mend's mind was blank for a few short seconds as the two stared at each other. The creature raised its arm above its head. Quick Mend's eyes followed it for a moment, before the creature swung down and Quick Mend's world exploded with a brief flash of pain before fading to the dark embrace of unconsciousness. Starbrought The cry echoed around the desert as Yuri attempted to unleash all his pain and rage into one, fierce roar. He was angry, tired, and generally unamused with being dumped in the middle of nowhere. "Slayer~!" If there were birds in the damned land, they would have taken flight in fear. If there were trees, their leaves would have begun to move from the volume of the yell. Anything with a remote amount of intelligence would have fled for the hills, at the pure exasperation and anguish in the technician's voice. But Yuri was not in a forest of any sort, and little life inhabited it. Rather, he was in an endless plain of sand. Instead of birds and trees, there were cacti and snakes. Instead of having a shadow to give the place a cool temperature, the sun ruled here with a gassy fist. So the shout didn't really do anything. Yuri finished his yell, looking around to see if anything had heard him or moved at all. But it was the same lifeless, sandy plain that he had been seeing and walking through for most of the day. "I hope Slayer heard that; he's gonna need a head start for when I come for my revenge," He said sadistically, venom dripping from the statement. Yuri looked down at the bottom of the massive sand dune he had walked up. He had nearly fallen all the way down to the little valley that had been formed between the dunes after ages of sand blowing. And now he had finally reached the top of it, and the only way to get Slayer and make him suffer was to get to the other dune across from him. And the only way to do that was to go down. Yuri screamed like a little girl as he slid down the massive dune at tremendous speeds, dodging rocks and making sure not to run into any cacti that might have somehow grown into the dune. 'Who said trying to exact revenge couldn't be fun?' Yuri thought as he reached the bottom of the dune. He sat back up and began to walk in the shadow of another dune, making the sun's mighty rays a little less mighty on him. You know the saying that a place is a lovely place to visit, but you would not want to live there? It pretty much summed up the desert, in his opinion. Yuri found himself thinking about a time when he was in a similar situation, but instead of being lost, he was being tested. "Let's not think about that, on second thought..." He sighed to himself as his mind brought up memories that he would have destroyed if he had the chance, but he never could bring himself to forget what he had done. He could not, he would not. And as such, the flashbacks came... "Please... I have a family. I have a kid, he's only seven... Please," a voice begged in pain and anguish. "Do you expect pity? You betrayed the Empire, forsaken just and fair laws; you have to be punished... Prepare yourself." "No... NO! DON'T DO IT, PLEA--" boom "Well done, Yuri," a snide voice said on the sidelines. "Or should I say... Rear-Admiral Yuri." "Thank you, sir." Yuri shook his head again, desperately trying to clear his mind. "No... go away," the pirate mumbled again, this time much more softer. Yuri had to pull himself together; he needed to keep his focus on the present, not in his grim past-- He was suddenly on the bridge of a ship, orbiting a planet. Yuri looked out the window and saw a still, blue sphere with white puffs marring the surface and continents scattered like jigsaw pieces in a pond. One could have considered the view absolutely beautiful, daresay entrancing... were it was not surrounded by a fleet of Imperial Warships. Several dozen burning hulks of ships spun in space, floating without any crew. "This is President Linzee of the Planet Autumn. We surrender... we surrender, just let us live..." Crackling sounded off as the feed was transferred away from the monitor. "What are you orders, Admiral Lawrence?" "How many creatures are on the planet, Captain?" "Creatures, sir?" An irritated sigh was heard. "How many humans are on the planet?" "One-billion, and twenty-million, sir." "That seems a bit much for a planet of this size. I believe we have to dwindle that down a little bit..." "Sir?" "You heard me." "Are you suggesting we do what I think you're telling us to do?" "No, I'm not suggesting it. I'm ordering it. Relay the message to the fleet." Hesitation for only a moment, before a holographic button was pressed. "This is Captain Yuri, direct orders from Admiral Lawrence: all fighters are hereby ordered to fall back and dock. All other ships: target highly-populated centers on the planet with Heavy Fusion warheads. Once they have been annihilated, concentrate all firepower on any remaining populations over five-hundred thousand. Call in when ready." "Sir," an officer stated as he examined the radar, "an Alliance fleet has just warped in, ten minutes 'till arrival." "Don't worry. I intend for us to be long gone before they get here." "Fleet reports ready, sir." "Fire." Yuri smirked as dozens of purple lights flew towards the plan-- Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss... Yuri's eyes shot opened as he heard something very familiar. He looked down towards his right side, yet nothing was there. "It can't be..." He murmured to himself. He hadn't heard that sound since he was a kid. Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss... Yuri turned his head very, very slowly to his left, being careful not to move any part of his body too suddenly. He looked towards his bag he had sat down, and sure enough, there was a snake crawling inside of it, probably looking for food. Sorry that it's going to be disappointed, Yuri thought as he bored holes into the writhing body. "Shoo," Yuri grumbled as he moved his hands in a fashion of which it would seem he was shooing away a cat, not a snake. The snake did not even acknowledge him, instead electing to continuing its search of the pack for anything that would work as food for it. "Shoo..." Yuri trailed off again, mirroring the same movement, though this time with more force. The snake poked its head out of the bag, staring straight at Yuri with an almost amused stare. A classic Standoff. "Mr. Snake... get out of my bag," Yuri stated as he lunged forward and grabbed the snake, throwing it out of the bag and onto the hot sand. He grabbed his pack and ran as fast as he could. The direction did not matter, all he wanted to do was to get as far away from the pissed off snake as he could. He may or may not have screamed like a little girl during this instance, as well. The technician proceeded to keep running as fast as he could, barely recollecting how much distance he traveled as he moved. He had a previous experience with the vile things--which recollection was most certainly not wanted--that now made him fear and hate them with a burning passion. Yuri finally came to a stop on top of a smaller dune, getting on his hands and knees while gasping for air. He had run for who knows how long and had covered a great distance. His body was not hesitating in letting him know how it felt about having to run so far and so fast. It was not happy in the slightest, to say the least. After catching his breath, Yuri stood up and looked around to see where he was. He was expecting to see the same dull desert, but for once in his life Lady Luck would shine on his day. He saw trees, grass, and all sorts of other lifeforms. A comfortable air hung around his new surroundings, relieving the heat he had been going through not more than a few minutes ago. He had found an oasis. And where there was plants, there was water.... "Water!" Yuri screamed as he slid down the dune towards the life-giving force that was water. He jumped over a rock and did a combat roll, springing back up and running towards the water at full speed. His body had completely forgotten of what it felt after running all that way. He cleared another rock and jumped off, prepping to leap head-first into the water. Only to crash head-first into a palm tree. "Ow..." Yuri mumbled through gritted teeth as he rubbed his sun-bleached face, trying to make sure that there was no blood coming out. The last thing he wanted was to get an infection in the middle of the desert with limited medical aide because he busted his burnt face on a palm tree. He squinted at the offending bark. "Screw you too, then." He took this time (after getting over the after-sting of the collision) to get out his water bottles and his water cleaning tablets. The tablets would kill any form of bacteria and would also give the water a crisp, blueberry taste. Yuri was glad he had some limited foresight to grab a couple just in case, and to store them in a hidden compartment. Slayer definitely didn't have any, and that thought comforted Yuri. He made sure there were no dangerous snakes by him, and began to walk towards the water as carefully as he could. He got there and filled all of his bottles with water, then dropped a tablet in each of them. Blue bubbles began to fill the container as the tablet did it's magic. The particle-filled water was soon crystal clear. Yuri took the bottle and chugged it, his taste buds active as the blueberry-flavoured water went down his throat, parching his thirst he had since awakening. He tipped the bottle back in and filled it up, doing the process over and over again. Drop tablet, wait, chug, repeat. This went on until Yuri was fully hydrated, his belly full of the beautiful liquid. Quickly patting his face down with some water to cool the burns, he attempted to consider his next course of action. He stood up and took in a deep breath, closing his eyes in thought. He needed sleep, and then food. Definitely in that order. Ignoring the protests of his stomach, Yuri went over to where a tree was--not the tree he crashed into, mind you, for the technician wanted nothing to do with the asshole--and laid down again in the cool shade. He closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep. Suddenly, before any sleep could be ascertained, his good ear began picking up flapping of sorts. It increased, and wind began picking up around the oasis as he looked about curiously for the cause. Yuri heard several thuds afterwards, which then somehow triggered an odd continuous noise similar to a horde of... something undefinable. "What the hell--?" Something slammed into his head at a force that was hardly necessary, knocking him unconscious similar to Slayer's T.K.O. Punch, if not worse. Unfortunately for Yuri, and fortunately for whoever began speaking afterwards, that strike did not belong to the bounty hunter as Yuri tumbled to the ground. "Captain Iron Wing! We've found something..." "Oh? And what would that... be..." "Sir...?" "Corporal!...I can see several weapons that obviously are not from here." "Your point, Captain?" "If we can acquire and use it, we could deal with the nuisances that's been in our kingdom's backside as of late." "Should we just take the things and leave... whatever this is here?" "Negative. We need something to show us how it works, and he just volunteered whether he knows it or not. Load him and prepare to continue the flight." "Yes, sir!" Starbrought Drake let out a grunt as he tossed the leg of the tray table aside. His body ached all over from the numerous wounds he had received when the Ethereal crash landed, but he couldn't let that stop him. It couldn't, even if he wanted it to. When Drake had finally come to minutes before, he had first been shocked to find himself in a marble floored and walled room filled with medical equipment. Antique medical equipment, for that matter. The heart monitor wasn't even holographic and didn't register minor muscle twitches or brainwave activity. Even worse, his wounds had been stitched shut. Stitched. Now he was going to have even more scars. Stitching hadn't been used since the twenty-fourth century, with the invention of Biofoam that could rapidly seal wounds and leave a protective coating over them for up to months at a time, preventing infection and scarring. Drake grumbled incoherently under his breath as he searched around the small room for his clothes. His search proved fruitless, only turning up spare sheets for the table he had woken up on, and the average, dull green hospital smocks worn by nurses all across the galaxy, only resized and fitted for the four legged aliens that had captured him. Grunting in irritation, and moving slower than he would've like due to his injuries, Drake quickly modified the fabric he had found into something resembling a sheet wrapped around his lower body. Perhaps not the most elegant solution, and certainly a sight to make any fashion designer in the galaxy faint, but it was a better solution in his mind than remaining naked. Turning his attention to the door, Drake made his way out into the hall, pausing only long enough to drag the two unconscious armored aliens back inside and pick up the leg of the tray table once more. A moment passed in thought, before he brought the alien garbed in medical attire into the room as well. One of his neural implants, the one that remained connected to his equipment at all times, indicated that it was all on the move, headed for somewhere else inside the building where he had been taken sometime while he was still unconscious. If he could get his hands on his equipment, he'd be in much better shape. Not only would he have his weapons, but he had three emergency canisters of Biofoam tucked away in the folds of his coat. He could easily undo the stitching and patch himself up with the foam. Then, all he would have to do is make his way back to the Ethereal crash site to assess the damages to his ship, and hope that Slayer and Yuri were alright. Otherwise, he might just be stuck on this world for a long time. Satisfied with his plans, Drake exited the room as quietly as he could and began to make his way down the massive hallway, following the general hints on where to go from his implants, and blissfully unaware that he was being followed by a curious, and suspicious blue-maned guard captain. Starbrought
Starbrought	{Edited} Chapter Four - First Contact	Starbrought Shields, Drakeson. Prisoner. Identification Number: One-Zero-One-Zero-One-Zero. Crime: Defiance. Drake forced himself to take another step forward. According to the information his neural implants were receiving, his possessions had stopped moving and were together in one location. And now he was close to where they were. However, his wounds were starting to ache. Whatever medicine he had been treated with was starting to wear off, and the slightest movement of his muscles caused intense pains to shoot through his body. At this point, the only motivation he had to keep going was the knowledge that he had canisters of biofoam amongst his possessions. That, and the never-ending determination to escape unjustified captivity for the second time in his life. Shields, Drakeson. Prisoner. Identification number One-Zero-One-Zero-One-Zero. Crime: Defiance. Never again. Drake had sworn that to himself when he escaped the Alliance prison facility on Oranus V three years ago, the same day he declared himself a pirate. He was going to reclaim his equipment and get the hell out of wherever he was even if it killed him. 'I'm not going to let myself become a prisoner again,' Drake told himself as he took another step, doing his best to ignore the throbbing pains on his body as he did so. 'Never again. Never.' Shining Armor ducked behind yet another pillar as Drake paused, eyes closed in intense pain. It had been like this for nearly a half hour. The alien would only walk a couple of yards before he needed to stop and rest. The looks on its face told Shining Armor all he needed to know. This alien, whatever it was, wherever it had come from, however more advanced it might be; it was not immune to physical pain. But, even with that knowledge, the alien's actions confused the guardpony. If it was hurt enough to the point that it had to stop frequently due to the pain, then why did it press on like a dehydrated pony in the desert, searching for a source of water to quench his thirst? He could have stopped the alien. All he would have to do would be to cast a shield bubble around it. With its injuries, it wouldn't be able to resist magic very well. And yet, Shining led him continue on. It had passed the staircases to the royal bedchambers (so Princess Cadance was still safe), as well as the passages to the staff quarters and the barracks. So the alien clearly wasn't searching for anypony. There was nothing left down this particular wing of the castle that could possibly be of any interest. And, since there shouldn't be anyone down this wing at this hour until the next patrol came along, there wasn't any harm in simply following the alien from a safe distance. Far enough away to avoid detection, but close enough to intervene should the alien (by some twist of Fate) turn violent toward a pony he might happen across. 'It was all in the name of science,' as Shining's younger sister would say. Though he hadn't been briefed on the full extent of the aliens' injuries, Shining guessed that its left leg had been badly damaged, as he walked with a severe limp that nearly caused him to fall over on more than half a dozen occasions so far. 'Definitely a miracle that you can still walk,' Shining said to the alien inside his mind. 'Just what are you after?' Drake paused as he reached an intersection of side passages, doing his best to estimate which path he needed to take to get closer to his equipment. Without a proper floor plan to guide him, and only knowing which direction to walk in, Drake knew he could easily get lost. And with his injuries as bad as they were, getting lost or having to backtrack could be exceptionally bad for his health. Ultimately, he left it up to any greater powers that may or may not exist and continued moving forward. 'Lady Luck, don't fail me now.' And so on he trudged, limping heavily as he went. Shining Armor carefully slipped out from behind his cover and crept along after him. Starbrought "Captain, are you sure this is the same thing from that craft?" The griffin named Iron Wing commented as he poked a talon into the creature's chest for no apparent reason. It was firm and muscular, with no visible sign or feeling of anything that would be called fat (if it even existed for this thing). "It kind of looks like a minotaur, at least. Just, you know, without the horns. It even has the same basic shape as one in any case." "It is, Private Iron Wing. Besides, what kind of minotaur would have something like this, or be as strangely shaped as it?" Captain Night Skies retorted as he lifted up the creature's muscular arms to show them the strange pulsing-red cover on its minotaur-esque hands. None of the griffins had ever seen something like that before. It could be magic, but they had no way of knowing for certain. No, they had found something special. Something unique. And they were damn sure that they were going to keep it at all costs, no matter who or what happened to show up and take it. "Then, Sir; if it is not a minotaur, then what in the name of Tartarus is it?" Another griffin called out in confusion, asking the question that was on all of his brother's minds since the moment they had seen the massive dust cloud kicked up by the crash. They all stood around in silence, waiting for someone else to answer the question that none of them dared to, simply because they had no idea how to. Night Skies suddenly spoke up, breaking the long silence that had formed over the group of soldiers. "Alright. I don't know about any of you, but this heat is really starting to rustle my feathers in the wrong way. So, this is what we are going to do: We are going to take this thing and its weapons back to Altai with us. From there, we'll leave it to some other chumps and have a fun time at a bar. Sound good to you messy lot?" "Yes sir!" "You got it!" "Can't we wait here and take a nap?" A lone, whiny voice called out over the agreements with Night Skies' plan. "It's our break and I really need a nap." Night Skies turned back and sighed... 'This griffin again, why didn't I just leave him behind?' He thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. "Private Griffon, what do you mean 'you need to take a nap'?" Night Skies asked as he turned towards Private Griffon, who was leaning on a tree, which was an unusual position for a griffin to be in. "Well... It's been a long day of flying. And since this is the only oasis that we could find while chasing this thing, I think it's the perfect place for a nice, long break." Private Griffon said lazily. "So let me get this straight," Night Skies yelled as he stuck his face right into Griffon's, a look of rage on his face that would have made the most stoic soldiers collapse from fright. "You would rather us wait here for you to take a nap (for who knows how long), rather than take this creature home and use its tools to give us an advantage over the Minotaurs and be able to beat them in this war?!" "No need to get mad like that, Nighty," Griff said sarcastically as he flew up into the air, before landing on a tree and yawning. From the looks of it, he was going to get ready to take a nap. But the moment he closed his eyes, something closed around his windpipe and brought him back down to the sandy-soil mixture.. He looked up and saw an armored paw gripped around his throat, leading straight to an absolute livid Night Skies. "Listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a soldier!" Captain Night Skies growled as he tightened his grip on Griff's neck until a wheezing sound escaped from his throat. "This is what's going to happen you little runt of a hatchling: You are going shut up for the rest of this mission. Or so help me, I will break your wings myself and leave you to die in this forsaken desert!" A small hint of a pause remained before Captain Skies spoke again in a lower, more menacing tone as he tightened his talons. "Do you understand me, son?" "Yes, Sir..." Griff managed to breath out, and he gasped as Night Skies' claw released his throat, allowing the precious air to flow once again through the griffin's begging lungs. He sat there gasping for a solid minute before he was able to stand up. "You're going to take the creature on your back as we return to Altai. I better not hear you complain even once, or else I will make good on my threats. Now, let's get going already..." Night Skies said as he pointed towards the unconscious biped currently sitting under a tree. "The rest of you. Take off and circle overhead. And since Private Griff thought it would be funny to act like a chick, you will all be spending your evening cleaning the barracks until it is so shiny the Queen herself would be honored to take a crap there. Now, get moving!" Night Skies roared as the other members of the squad took flight and began to follow their orders. Griff walked over towards the unconscious creature, ignoring the looks of hatred, disappointment, and the occasional word mouthed under their beak. He reached down and grabbed the creature with a groan of effort, before flinging it not-so-gently over his back. He stretched out his wings before taking flight into the air, and beginning the long fly home. Starbrought With a heaving sigh, the 'thud' of two simultaneous bodies colliding against the ground sounded off. One remained motionless, and the other was shuddering with every breath it took. A thick veil of quiet serenity fell then, which may have lasted anywhere from a few moments, to a few minutes. Finally, the animated apparatus stood groaning in a tired manner. "God-damn, that was not pleasant," Slayer mumbled as he used his katana to help right himself. Around him, several corpses from the beasts he fought remained scattered across the miniature battlefield. His armour was scratched, bloodied, and dented in multiple areas that seemed to be completely random. Limping just slightly, he made his way over to the final beast that he had combated. The alpha, if its ferocity was anything to go by compared to the others. It was a strange thing, and from its build Slayer could presume it was masculine. To describe it shortly, it was a bipedal hound-dog. Not just that one though, the entire lot was. Their fur was gray onyx, which helped to camouflage them against the rocky interior of what must've been their den. Some breeds were familiar from holovids, and some weren't. In the end, Slayer didn't care about political-correctness after having had to battle them. As for the alpha specifically, he couldn't get a breed on it. It looked like a mixture between a Kath Hound (digging through files revealed this to be a descendant of coyotes) that still plagued settlers on the grassland planet of Dantooine, and a bulldog. 'Strange looking bugger, but it definitely could fight,' Slayer thought as he sheathed his blade and glanced in exhaustion at his energy supply. There was good news, and bad news with that glance. The good, was the fact that the battle took place under a star, which provided energy to replenish the depleted source. The bad though... was that the energy exerted during the fight counterbalanced a majority of it, leaving him only with around twenty-five percent to work with. Curiosity began flowing through him though. Slayer had not expected the beasts to be wearing some form of tattered leather armour, which seemed hastily and poorly made. It was the kind that only a lesser sapient could create, but the fact that they could made him question the sapience of other races on whatever forsaken realm he was in. 'If these dogs had sapience... then who's to say that the hoofprints from the captors aren't left from sapient equines?' That possibility flitted about his conscious as Slayer began to pat down the forms and try to loot what he could. They wouldn't be needing anything he could acquire, after all... Unfortunately once more, what he could scrounge up was pathetic. A small vial of water (which he was wary of drinking), a semi-sharpened spearhead (which looked like a work in progress), and some leather straps were all he could ascertain from the underlying corpses. With a sigh, he placed his small stash into his pack, and looked about himself. The earlier cyclone of sand particles had wiped away any trace of Drake's captors. The Module proved useless in this regard, for the high-velocity winds swept away any lingering DNA, or piled fresh sand over it. And of course, due to being turned around so suddenly to get shelter, the direction he was taking also was lost to the assassin. "Fuck. Me. Sideways," Slayer deadpanned as he, in a fit of annoyance, kicked the lead dog's corpse. The strength behind it wasn't a lot, but it was enough to roll it over onto its side so that the torso faced him. That's when he noticed something even more interesting... From this angle, his previous assumption on the mix looked accurate. The reddened fur around the head was just like one of those damnable Kath Hounds, and the muzzle resembled the bulldogs that he saw from time to time in run-of-the-mill towns. Staring into the open and still lifeless eyes showed them to be a darkened brown, clashing against the very light-gray fur that encompassed the body. But, what caught his eye was the talisman hanging from the creature's neck. It was a beaded necklace, and hanging in the middle, was an inscribed iron claw. Leaning in, he undid the tied knot in the back of it, and held it up in the light. The claw was definitely natural, so the iron coating had to have been done by something with sapience... like the equines, for example. The inscription was undecipherable, nothing but strange markings in different directions and styles. 'It certainly have artistic flair, and quality craftsmanship for non-technologically advanced natives. Might as well keep it around,' he decided as he began to slip the artifact into his bag. That is, until he paused, and reexamined the acquired piece. Gazing idly over to the alpha's corpse, he let out a small sigh. "If I am taking, then I can at least do this..." Slayer readjusted himself so his hand could be near the eyes of the beast, and with one fluid motion and comment, the lids were closed shut. "May peace keep you," he murmured as he unhinged his helmet, briefly removed it to place the talisman around his neck, and sealed it into place once more. Standing up, the metal-clad warrior rolled his shoulders. Waving away the Module, he double-checked his suit to make sure everything was stable. Since no attacks had punctured the iron shell, he set the system to Idle, so that it was ready to perform any task beyond basic vital checks and alert signals without expending higher amounts of energy. Picking the direction where he believed he left off, he began to travel once more. As Slayer walked, some of the sacred phrases he followed echoed in his mind: 'One must succumb to the shade, and then shine under the sun, to truly save humanity from its ignorance. Honour what you take, and bow to no rules, from no states. Remember: Fate, guides all paths... to their true roles.' Starbrought Drake peered around yet another corner, doing his best to avoid leaning too far over, lest the guard standing in front of a door midway down the hall spotted him. According to the signal his implants were receiving, his possessions were in the guarded room. That of course meant that the only thing left between him and the pain-dulling miracle that is biofoam was a single guard armed with a spear. Not one to be discouraged, Drake tightened his grip on the crossbow he had stolen from a display case he had passed a while back. He carefully edged around the corner and aimed the weapon. While he lacked the experienced with using such a primitive ranged weapon, he knew he only needed to make enough noise to draw the attention of the guard. He squeezed his finger around the trigger, and the crossbow fired. The bolt sailed well past its intended target (an expensive looking vase on a marble pedestal). Drake let out a groan and prepared to load another bolt. Before he could so much as reach for another one, his first shot struck an over-sized suit of armor that had been crafted for display purposes. The armor fell apart as gravity took hold and the pieces bounced and crashed loudly against the floor, startling both the pony guard and Drake. The guard abandoned his post and immediately took off down the hall to investigate the source of the disturbance. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Drake immediately bolted around the corner and limped/attempted to sprint to the door before the guard looked around. The sudden surge of adrenaline from knowing how close he was to completing the first part of his plan numbed his pain and helped him along. The door swung open with almost no effort on Drake's part, which brought a grin to the pirate's face. 'Amateurs.' The room couldn't have been much more than a glorified storage closet. A few wooden crates were stacked here and there, and a trio of barrels lined one of the walls. But Drake paid little attention to those. He had his sights set on a trio of lead-lined cases. A grin spread rapidly across his face as he eagerly approached them. Shining Armor barreled around the corner after the alien as fast as he could, only to catch a quick glimpse of the cloth it had been wearing vanish into a doorway. The guard pony that had been stationed in front of the door turned at the sound of hoofbeats reached his ears. As soon as he caught a glimpse of Shining's silver Sergeant's armour, the guard snapped to attention and gave Shining a salute. "Sergeant!" "What's going on here?" Shining demanded. "Investigating the source of a disturbance, Sir," the guard replied. "Something knocked down one of the armour sets and I was trying to find out what." "No time for that," Shining explained. "Come with me." "Sir?" The guard hesitated for a brief moment before following Shining as he backtracked toward the door to the storage room. The alien stood over three open crates that had contained the items taken from it. The front of his clothes were left open as he slowly squeezed a foamy substance out of a tube onto his wounds. The alien let out a sigh of relief and tucked away the tube before turning to face the two guardsponies. Starbrought 'Need... food...' This was a constant in the mind of Slayer, as he walked the barren wasteland that encompassed the known space that he traveled. Due to Yuri's incompetence, food had been forgotten, and truly Slayer didn't wish to test to see if the dog-like creatures he encountered had good meat. He felt like this was worse than the Death Marches he saw Syndicate recruits go through, with entire regiments marching for hours upon hours without rest. At least for them, they had the bare-minimum knowledge that it would end at some point. Slayer did not. But this provided both drive and initiative to the assassin as he walked. 'I'm going to jack-slap Drake so hard for getting himself captured,' Slayer thought as that whisper of his mind seemed to echo throughout his senses. It wasn't like this was a noisy realm. Even the wind was barely blowing, and the only sound Slayer knew of that was occurring was his feet lightly treading the sand. That bothered him. Because even though his steps were calculated and quick so as to avoid having the weight of the armour make a deeper indent, it was still significantly noticeable if someone was looking for tracks. The gusts of air were doing nothing to remove them, and it made him weary. He considered dragging his katana horizontally behind him to remove the markings, but it would most likely bring attention regardless of trying to deal with it or not. Instead, Slayer's hands hung limply to his side, with his left holding one of his Sabre Shots. He preferred the fighting style of having his katana lightened so he could swing it easily in his right hand, and either of his custom-pistols in his left. The perfect combination of melee and ranged combat capability, Slayer always thought as he ascended yet another dune in his path. Going uphill is usually a challenge for anyone, but being hungry on top of it makes the task far worse. Slayer couldn't maneuver up it like a slope, but rather he had to dig his toes into the actual slope due to its steep slant, and then tried to use his free hand to help him up. And of course, he couldn't go around it for it was formed like a mini-mountain range. And that was something he couldn't consider to go around, for time was running short. As he awkwardly scaled the jagged pile of sand, he glanced up at the sun to confirm that it was mid-afternoon, but given a few hours would result in nightfall. And that could very well be his final hours if he couldn't locate some form of sustenance. 'You know, I was kinda expecting to see an oasis by now,' Slayer hoped dejectedly as he climbed. 'I've crossed significant distance, and from vantage points atop dunes, examined double or even triple that.' A sigh escaped his lips. The horizon became visible to Slayer as he reached the crest of yet another section of endless-- ... 'Well, what's this here?' Slayer questioned to himself as he went into a prone-position slowly onto the hill. While there was the expected expanse of endless sand, there was something else. It was moving, but its distance from his position was too great, and as such he had difficulty looking at it normally. He let out a groan of frustration under his breath. "Yet another reason why I should've installed HawkEyes when I had the chance," Slayer complained lightly. HawkEyes was an optical lens-slash-visor that mixed with current sensor technology to provide zooming features. it was of Slayer's own design (like many of his gadgets), but he didn't have the time to reintegrate it after it shorted out the first time. And right now, Slayer could've used it. When he looked back up at the foreign object, it was to his delighted surprise that it happened to come closer into focus, enabling him to make it out to a better degree. From the looks of it, it was actually a group of... somethings. In the centre, a larger mass sat in their midst, but its purpose was unknown from this measure of space. Quickly, Slayer watched their direction, and allowed his eyes to scan the imaginative guideline that they were heading. A dune sat a short distance away, and would be close enough to provide cover while simultaneously giving a solid picture of what those were. With this goal in mind, he quickly navigated his way down the slippery slope and trudged towards the next point. 'Whatever those are, I hope they're edible,' Slayer wished as he surprisingly cleared the area between the two dunes with extraordinary speed. He briefly noted this, before ceasing to care and then proceeded to go up the hill. He had a far easier time with this one, and after reaching the summit of the mini-dune in comparison to the one he was just previously on, he laid himself out and began analysing the closer group of figures. The most immediate noted fact was that they had four legs. This put Slayer on edge, especially upon confirmation that they were equine in nature. His focus went to the center, and it appeared to be a closed-off wagon of sorts. 'Could this be the group I've been looking for? Is Drake in that wagon?' This made him curious, weary, and bloodthirsty nearly all at the same time. One thing that threw him off though, was that they were all zebras. Black-and-white striped equines, with odd-looking hairstyles. Some were simple, and hung like long flowing hair would normally do for females. And then, Slayer's seeing some with mohawks. The change of style, but lack of gender swap baffled him. Alert with the possibility of his acquaintance residing in the wooden construct, Slayer drew both of his Sabres and tensed his body to ambush the convoy. From the looks of it, they probably didn't reach higher than his abdomen, and the most he saw they were armed with were long bamboo staffs. But, Fate decided to beat him to it. As he was about to start firing shots, the entire group stopped. Slayer saw several of their member's heads whip about frantically, and he just barely heard some incomprehensible babble that sounded afraid. 'Could they have heard me?' "Angalia nje!" Slayer's eyebrows creased in confusion at the phrase and backpedaling natives, before several holes began being made. The sand above them began pouring in, sucking up the natural element as the count of six holes formed around the caravan. Slayer watched cautiously at the angry looks that the zebras were giving the pits, before he saw a claw appear out of one of the holes. The claw gripped the side of sand next to the hole, before a second claw came out and gripped the opposite section of the hole. With both of these in place, the entity applied force and lifted itself out. 'Oh great, more of these hounds...' Sure enough, what emerged was a dark-brown Rottweiler, which stood nearly as tall as Slayer did. This one had the looks of an alpha, and it looked more imposing than the previous beasts he had to encounter. Then he saw a second pair of claws coming from another hole, and saw that one pull itself out. Smaller, perhaps a Labrador that reached about to Slayer's chin. And that was all he could care to count before several clawed their way out of the multiple tunnels. By the end of the movement, Slayer had counted ten of the hound-esque creatures standing off against the seven zebras. Nothing happened, and for about a moment the metal-clad warrior questioned what he could do. Three of the dogs had spears, crudely made but still deadly enough. The zebras did not, putting them worse off by having no visible sharp objects. He watched as what he presumed to be the head of the caravan stepped forward and addressed the alpha in that jumbled language Slayer was unfamiliar with. "Nyuma, wewe pepo!" The alpha said nothing, electing instead to snarl and rush the zebras. Its underlings followed suit, and before he knew it there was a battle not more than forty yards away from his position on the hill. Staffs met spears, hooves met claws; it was an all-out expected bloodbath. 'What to do...' Slayer questioned with concern. 'If I let the hounds win, I may lose Drake and have to fight tougher opponents with no support. There's no way the zebras will win unless I intervene, and if I do: would it be enough to convince them to give me Drake?' He debated with himself for a few moments, before promptly standing and holstering his right Sabre Shot. Plucking his katana, and subconsciously willing the device to compact itself to turn it into a one-handed blade, he held it to his side as he charged downhill towards the battle. Starbrought "Captain Sky, permission to speak, Sir?" Corporal Iron Wing questioned nervously as he flew up to catch up with the Captain, who was flying with a righteous vengeance to get back to Altai along with the rest of the group, and to be done with the creature. "Permission granted, Corporal. What do you need to ask me?" Night Skies' booming voice called out as he continued to fly at very high speeds, the griffin next to him barely able to keep up with his amazing speed that he was setting. "Well, I think we should send some word to King Leo in Altai to let them know about our... very strange guest that will be arriving very shortly if we continue this pace, Sir." Corporal Iron Wing said as he struggled to keep up with Skies' flight. Fortunately for him, the captain began to slow down just enough so that the young griffin would not tire himself out too badly. "You make a good point; I don't know why we never thought of this before." Night Skies joked as he slowed down a little bit more. "It would make sense for us to send someone to warn the king about our guest. Speaking of which; Private Griff!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to catch the griffin's attention over the howling of the cold wind. Griff turned and looked towards him, but was unable to hear him. All he saw was Night opening his mouth in his general direction. "Private Griff, can you hear me?" Night Skies roared again at the top of his lungs once more, trying to catch his attention but failing at it. "Sir, we have been flying for quite some time. Perhaps we could take a short break?" Corporal Iron Wing shouted, trying to get his attention, which he fortunately got. "Smart idea. We need to get some better communication going. Go back and tell the others to stop; we're gonna take a break at that cloud over there." He pointed towards a rather large cloud over the desert. Iron Wing nodded and flew back to the heart of the main formation, passing the word around. When everyone was safely standing on the cloud, or doing whatever, Night went over to where Griff was standing and decided now was the best time to ask some questions. And possibly grill the griffin again, if it was needed. "How is our guest doing? Has it woken up or done anything of the alive nature?" Night asked as he looked over, noticing a slight blue tinge to what he would guess was the cheeks of it. Its eyes were closed and its breathing was short and fast, something that was never good on ground or in the sky. "It hasn't said anything, or moved for that matter, Nighty." Griff said as he purposely used Night's nickname to mess with the Captain, not worrying a bit about the consequences. Night ignored the name, knowing Griff was just trying to make him mad. He walked over behind Griff and put his talon on the creature's neck, and a stone dropped in his stomach as he felt a rapid heartbeat coming from what he guessed was its heart, or possibly hearts for that matter. But in any case, there was a very good chance that the creature would not make it if they continued to be at this altitude for anymore than they had to. He had to get word out to Altai fast to make sure that once the thing was there, that it would live long enough for the information to be gathered from it. And for that, he needed someone fast, and he knew just the griffin for the job. He quickly took a piece of paper out of his bag and wrote a small, quick note that would accompany his messenger and give some word of warning to the Guards there and the few scientists there. "Private Swift Wind, I have a mission of the utmost importance for you." Night called out into the group of resting griffins. A single, slightly smaller than the rest griffin walked out and saluted Night, respecting his senior-ranking officer. "Yes, Sir? What do you need?" Swift said very proper and crisp like a proper soldier, eliciting a small smirk followed by a laugh from Griff. He shut up upon a murderous look from Night. "I need you to take this letter to King Leo as fast as you possibly can and tell him Code Fifty-Six; you got that Private?" Night said in a militaristic tone. "Yes, Sir. Ready to depart on your order!" "What are you waiting for?! Go!" And with that, he sped off into the sky at speeds that would make the pansy pony air-team, the Wonderbolts, jealous with his speed. He then turned back to Griff, who was staring at his back with a look of pure horror. "Griff... What's wrong?" Night asked, the bad feeling in his stomach slowly becoming more and more heavy with the feeling of worry. He followed the younger griffin's gaze, to stare directly into the eyes of the creature. "Что во имя металлический зад убийцы ты!" Starbrought Shining Armor shook his head to clear it. The alien had thrown something at him and the other guard. Something that exploded in a brilliant flash of white light with a thunderous thu'um that had left his ears ringing. The world around him was still spinning violently and his vision slipped in and out of focus as he struggled to right himself. He was vaguely aware of a hoof on his back, helping to steady him, and the sound of the other guard shouting for help. Shining shook his head again. "Are you alright, Sir?" The guard asked, his voice muffled slightly from Shining Armor's perspective. "I will be," Shining grumbled as he got to his hooves. "What in Equestria was that?" "I have no idea, Sir," the guard said. "But whatever that thing was, it took off toward the main corridors." "Notify the rest of the Guard," Shining ordered, pressing a hoof to the side of his head in a feeble attempt to drive off his rapidly developing headache. "Tell them to be on the lookout for the creature. And get a detail stationed outside of Prince Blueblood's chambers, and keep the brat in his room. Then, meet me outside of Princess Cadance's bedchambers with another pegasus and unicorn. Understood?" The Pegasus gave the Captain a swift salute. "Crystal, Sir," he said before flaring his wings and taking off down the hall. Shining winced as the air moved by the pegasus' wings slapped against his face, only serving to make his rapidly growing headache worse. But he didn't have time to worry about his headache. The alien he and Cadance had brought back to the castle was on the move, and was wielding some kind of potentially dangerous magic. The other guards would be more than capable of handling the staff that lived in the castle while they searched for the alien. He had to make sure that Cadance would be alright. Ignoring the pounding in his head, Shining Armor took off down the hall at a full gallop. Starbrought "Um... Nighty, what does the training manual say to do when an alien wants to talk to us? Because I've never read anything about it. Truthfully, I've never read the damn thing at all." Griff said nervously, trying to joke about the situation at hand, but failing to. It was not everyday you had an alien that you knew nothing about wake up on your back, and then poke you in the forehead and talk. "Shut up Private Griff, and let me handle this. You just stand still and make sure it doesn't fall off your back. I have a feeling that it can't exactly walk on clouds." Night cautioned as he walked over to where the creature was laying on Griff's back. He too was slightly nervous at talking with it, for they had sort of knocked it out. Something that no creature enjoyed. He took off the massive gold and black helmet that guarded his head and held it in his right talon, before opening his beak to attempt to communicate with it. "My name is Captain Night Skies of the Imperial Gryphon Guard. Can you understand me?" Night said clearly and slowly, making the corresponding movements with his talons that his training had taught him to do with strange creatures. He paused, waiting for a response of some kind. The creature stared at him, looking slightly confused at the whole show that was happening around him. "Do. You. Understand. Me?" Night repeated, this time much more slower, trying his best to make it as clear as it could possibly be. The creature blinked once again, before moving his hand and poking Night in the same spot and manner as Griff had been. "Argh... This is going nowhere. Perhaps we should try--" He was paused by a massive rumble of thunder booming to life quite close to their position, making its presence known. The creature suddenly seized back up, a wild look appearing in its eyes. "Whoa whoa whoa, calm down there buddy. That's just thunder. It ain't gonna harm ya," Griff spoke up to the surprise of Night, trying to calm the poor thing down. Another boom of thunder echoed around the darkening sky, this time slightly louder and much closer to their current position. The creature tensed up again, the fear in it's face clearly evident and visible. "Nighty. With all due respect, we should really get this thing out of here. I have not seen something this scared of a little bit of lighting since my little cousin," Griff stated, this time speaking far more sternly than Night had ever heard come from the Griffon before. He may act like an idiot most of the time, but he knew when it was time to stop and leave. And this was one of them. "As much as it pains me to say this, you are actually right about something for once Private. Everyone, prepare to move out in flight pattern Delta-Three. Now, what are we going to do about--" He paused as Griff hit the alien right in the jaw with his helmet, knocking the close-to-panicked creature out like a candle in the wind. "Private, what in the name of Tartarus are you doing?!" Night choked out as he turned to Griff in shock of what he had just witnessed. "Why the hell are you looking at me like that? We need to get a move on and I highly doubt that this thing would voluntarily come with us, so I chose the safe route and knocked it out. I think!" He gave a nervous glance at the now unconscious alien on his back, before relaxing. "Eeyup, it's out like a light." Night facetaloned as he put his helmet back on, and taking to the sky again. "Let's go Private; we got a storm to beat! We can worry about your punishment later!" Griff's heartbeat suddenly went into double time as he started at Night. "What do you mean by 'punishment?'" He managed to spit out as he carefully flew up, making sure that the alien didn't decide to suddenly take up skydiving. "You broke three of the five rules of conduct for the army, spoke back to your commanding officer, and assaulted an alien. You could be court martialed from the army, but the thing I have in mind is far, far better for both you and me." Night said evilly as he turned around towards the now-sweating Griff, which for a griffin was considered a hard act to accomplish. "Wait, the last thing has to be made up!" Griff choked out as he slowly caught up to the stopped griffin formation. "You tell me. Now get your tail-feathers up here and let's move it. I don't like how that storm looks, and so does our guest." And with that, Night and Griff flew off to Altai. Unknown to them, their actions would change the fate of the world forever. For good or for bad though, is still and will always be unknown. Starbrought "Come on," Drake muttered under his breath. He slapped the small black box clutched in his hands. For a brief moment the active camouflage unit generated a light distortion field around him, effectively rendering him invisible to the naked eye. However, sharp, sudden, or quick movements on Drake's part caused it to flicker and fade, causing the pirate captain to become partially visible. "Work like you're supposed to, damn it!" He smacked the box again, and this time, the field completely failed and vanished in a flash of golden light. Drake stared blankly at the camo-unit, his left eye twitching slightly. "You have got to be kidding me..." As if that wasn't enough, Fate chose that moment to intervene with her two cents worth. And when Fate's a bitch, Fate's a bitch. Drake barely had time to reconnect the now useless camo-unit to his coat when a pair of horn-headed guards rounded the corner and spotted him. They began shouting something in their native language, and their body language, while unfamiliar to the human, clearly stated that they were not going to be friendly. Without hesitation, Drake drew his Reaper-class pistol from its holster and fired a three-round burst of bright green plasma bolts at the guards. Even though there was enough distance from Drake that the guards could easily avoid the shots, he wasn't aiming to kill. After all, he was dealing with an alien race that his neural-implants couldn't identify. The last thing he would want to do would be to cause another interplanetary war between humanity and whatever these things were. Sure enough, the guards dove into cover behind a pair of pedestals, upon which sat a pair of faintly glowing crystal orbs. Drake spun on his heel and ran in the opposite direction of the guards. 'What wouldn't I give to have an extra flash-bang on me?' Drake asked himself as he turned down a side hallway. 'Too bad I used the last one to escape those other guards.' Though he knew it would only get him lost even further, Drake continued his pattern of turning down the nearest hallways to him whenever he came across one for nearly ten minutes. Oddly enough, he had yet to run across any more guards. Near as he could tell, he was currently in some kind of fortress (or castle if the excessive use of marble was any indication) overlooking a dimly lit cityscape. Drake paused as he passed a large window, overlooking a mountainside and a valley far below that seemed to stretch on for miles before meeting with the dark outline of a distant forest. About halfway across the valley were dozens of twinkling lights, the obvious signs of a nearby settlement. However, the pirate wasn't allowed to enjoy the view. The sound of armored steps against marble and two pairs of voices speaking in hushed tones reached his ears. Drake's head whipped back and forth. He had no additional hallways to duck into. No doors to slip behind and no cover whatsoever down this hall, and the creatures that were trying to find him were now approaching from both directions. Thinking quickly, Drake took his only escape route, and scrambled out of the open window. He spun as his legs met open air and grabbed hold of the windowsill as tightly as he could. He dangled there until the pain of holding on with his fingertips started to get to him. The worst part was, the two groups of guards were now standing by the open window, talking about something in their language. When Drake finally lost his grip on the windowsill after hanging there for nearly three minutes, it wasn't because of the throbbing pain in his fingers. Instead, it was because one of his neural-implants chose that moment to send him a signal that shocked him into letting go. "Language Identified." 'Wait. What?' Drake fell from the window ledge and didn't even have time to cry out before his back slammed against a balcony on the floor below. He lay there for a few moments groaning in pain. The biofoam may have sealed his wounds, but the pain could still flare up. Especially when one dropped a full story onto their back. As he laid on the balcony, his neural-implants relayed another message to him. "Local language confirmed as Galactic Basic." Drake quirked an eyebrow at that. Galactic Basic hadn't been used in almost three hundred years. Once known as English, Galactic Basic had become nearly-obsolete shortly after humanity began to interact with the other intelligent life forms in the universe. "Adjusting language settings to match local dialect." Drake let out a gasp of pain as an electrical charge from one of his implants coursed through his head. And just like flicking on a switch, the pirate discovered that he could actually understand the grumblings of the guards near the window he had used for his escape. "--telling you, it went this way!" A distinctly male voice insisted. "And we're telling you that you're seeing things again, kiddo," a female voice added. "None of the rest of us saw anything." "Well, look here! Maybe it jumped out of the window," the first voice said in a desperate tone. Drake rolled up onto his feet and quickly backed toward the doors leading from the balcony back inside the building. He didn't want to risk having one of the guards look out and see him. Fate seemed to be on his side at the moment. He tried the door handle and fortunately enough, it wasn't locked. He wasted no time in slipping inside and closing the door behind him. Satisfied that he was in the clear, Drake turned to survey the room, and found himself face to face with one of the locals. Unlike the golden armored guards, this creature wore nothing more than a towel around its slightly damp head. Its coat was a shade of fuchsia and it had both a horn and a set of wings. The two of them stared at each other for a long while. The silence was almost deafening and the tension in the air could be cut by a knife. The creature seemed surprised to see Drake, and the pirate captain realized that he must seem as alien to it as it did to him. So, he naturally, if hesitantly, decided to break the ice. "Umm. Take me to your leader?" Starbrought
Starbrought	Chapter Five - Translation Pending	Starbrought Shamon was having a horrible day. It at first seemed like such a simple endeavour: load up the delegates, prepare the wagon, and journey to the Pony Capital bearing gifts as a returning sign of good fate; all so very simple. In a matter of moments though, all that simplicity went skyward. He gritted his teeth in anger as he swung his staff true, striking the flexible bamboo rod against the skull of a vicious Diamond Dog. The beast tumbled from the blow, before crashing snout-first into the unforgiving sand. In that brief moment, Shamon looked to his jamaa katika silaha, and froze in horror. The other dogs had herded his kinship into a circle that was ever-so-slowly shrinking, one that he himself was quickly being led into. As the lower-ranked mutts sent him back, their leader stood off to the side smugly with paws crossed. That one had many names, but Shamon and his people had a specific one. Mwanaharamu. "Achilia sisi kwenda, mwanaharamu!" one of the Zebras shouted at the pack. The grin that had resided on the Alpha's muzzle was sickening, and with it held enough ferocity for the grim truth to sink in. He planned to kill them. As Shamon was finally situated into the mass of his kin, Mwanaharamu raised one of its grotesque claws to its throat, and slowly dragged it across. The mutts nodded, and poised their spears to end his existence. Before such a command could be issued however, a large shape rushed past their visions. Confused, they watched the crimson blur that seemed to shimmer in the sun's light as it collided with one of the Diamond Dogs. Without pausing the two crumpled into the burning sand, before the interloper stood. And as it stood, the others (both Zebra and Dog) backpedaled in fear. A heavy but slender blade was impaled through the soldier, and in one quick motion the bipedal being seized it in its grasp and readied it. A terse silence fell then as both sides examined the other. Shamon was surprised at this interfering beast. It stood taller than the other Dogs, being as tall (if not taller) as Mwanaharamu. Alongside that, it bored a full set of armour. Its metallic shell glimmered, and the blood that slowly trickled down the sword in its possession sent shivers up his spine. Nani huyo? Inaonekana kama bati kubwa unaweza, Shamon thought as he saw the... being raise its free claw to its neck. In one swift motion, it brought it slowly across its throat as it echoed out a slicing sound. With a hint of finality it pointed that claw back towards the Alpha, before it lowered itself in a stance that oozed combat experience. Nothing moved then. As if time had been halted, not even the gales sought to traverse the forsaken landscape Shamon and his people called nyumbani. What they called their civilization, and their home. And in an instant, it changed. A hellish howl left Mwanaharamu as he charged the Interloper. Not a hint of hesitation graced the armoured warriors' movement as it turned smoothly to the side. The blade swung around overhead, and made impact with the Dog's shoulder. The Alpha tripped over itself in shock, which unleashed the entire pack upon him. The kuingilia that the Interloper was providing amazed and befuddled Shamon as he and his jamaa katika silaha stood in their circle still. They watched in frozen astonishment as the battle continued with the beast taking their place in it. Quietly, one spoke to Shamon. "Je, sisi kusaidia?" An amused smirk appeared on his face as he readied his staff once more. "Tunaweza." His kinship nodded ecstatically in response as they poised themselves on the edge of the brawl. Diamond Dogs were being thrown and slashed about brutally, providing a cover for the Zebras to position themselves. They struck swiftly. Shamon swung his pole low, knocking out the knees of one of the armed Dogs. It crumpled unceremoniously on its back. Aggressively, it attempted to stab him from its inverted position. Several thrusts were sent his way, but none made impact. Shamon readied his staff to bring it down upon the beast's head, before the Interloper appeared in a mesmerizing vortex of the biped swinging its swords and stabbed the Dog in its chest. It seized moving immediately. Shamon froze in confusion. Indeed, the Interloper had two slim swords now. Both bearing the same kisanaa design. He could've sworn that the bipedal being had only one blade to begin with, though... Another shiver passed down his spine as the Interloper looked down at him. Shamon watched unmoving as the towering beast sheathed a sword and pulled something from his side. It held a similar shape to a boomerang, but shorter and narrower on both ends. Before Shamon could even consider questioning what it was doing, the Interloper aimed the item to its side and flexed one of its digits. A blast of magical fire spewed forth, and impacted a Dog that was charging him. It tripped, rolled, and slid past the metal creature and towards his own hooves. Looking down, Shamon only saw a smouldering hole of blackened flesh where the impact was made. The Interloper gave a nod, and Shamon considered if there had been a smile behind its faceless helm as he charged again at Mwanaharamu. By this point, all the Dogs had been slain thanks to the Interloper. Shamon's kin achieved no kills, as their passive nature dictated. All that remained, was their bloodied and frenzied Alpha. The one who had saini ya wazimu; the heavy breaths that proved the crazed look in his eyes. Mwanaharamu attempted to dodge the Interloper's run, but was unable to. With a sonorous crash, the two bodies left the Earth for but a moment before slamming against a sand dune. During the combat, the parties gravitated away from the convoy and found themselves against a behemoth of a sand dune. Relentlessly, the Interloper landed blow after blow against the Alpha. Shamon noted that a single blade again was attached to his back as he stood over the Diamond Dog, its forearms bashing Mwanaharamu's face again and again. Finally, the Interloper drew his bent device again and aimed at the Alpha. Mwanaharamu responded with pulling the being's legs out from under him, forcing his magical fire to miss its mark. The tables had turned; now the Interloper fought to get out from under one who had now past the point of no-return. The Diamond Dog had become a mad-claw; a wazimu makucha. The Interloper fired his tool again at the chest of the Dog. This time, it had hit its intended target. The Alpha was launched off and backwards from the downed warrior. Crashing into the dune, Mwanaharamu died as slowly as he had slid back down. Silence once more hung in the air. Adrenaline slowed its course through Shamon's body, and his muscles began to lax. What replaced the frantic energy however, was a pregnant--and awkward--quiet. Zebras looked to one another in hesitance, unsure of how to approach their saviour. With a sudden grunt, the answer was made for them. The Interloper stood again, vaguely uneasy as the marks of battle settled upon it. With another grunt, the Interloper stalked over towards Mwanaharamu's eyes, and with a surprisingly gentleness closed them. And finishing with a great heaving sigh of contentment, the Interloper faced Shamon and his jamaa katika silaha, killing tool still in his grasp. Starbrought Gryphon, the capital city of the Altai Dominion, the land that the Griffin Race made its home. It was a pretty amazing city, rivaling Canterlot in terms of beauty. But unlike Canterlot, which was one of most visited cities in the world by tourists, Altai was rarely visited by outsiders due to its frigid temperatures, which was cold for most races even on a good day. The Altai Dominion was ruled by King Leo, who came from a long line of royalty. The people never really met the king. And that is probably why when sixty-year-old Griffin scientist Glass Wing heard a knock on the door to his lab and opened it up to see King Leo staring right at him, he decided that the floor was suddenly an appropriate place to faint. "Why do they always do this? I mean, it's not like I have a flaming sword pointed at their face when I politely knock on their door." King Leo groaned as his guards picked up the unconscious Griffin and put him in a chair, trying to wake him. The guards tried shaking the old bird lightly, but to no use. Then they tried poking him, which failed again, before one of them finally lost their temper and slapped him across the beak. "What in the name of Tartarus- King Leo! Wha- What do I owe this pleasure to? Did I do something wrong?" Glass stuttered out, his pupils dilated in shock. The guards moved away, before quietly high fiving each other in the background. "Relax Doctor Wing, we're not here to kill you with a flaming sword. Quite the contrary, really..." Leo said with a slight laugh, having heard some of the rumors which nearly all involved him and a flaming sword. "Oh...Good, then. What can I help you with, your Majesty?" Glass said, a little bit less nervous. Leo got up and walked over to the window, opening the shades expecting to see a beautiful view of Altai. But instead he found himself looking at a rather lovely view of the neighbors wall. He shut the blinds before returning to his seat, the movie-like moment he had been planning gone. "My advisors have told me that you are a specialist in the field of odd creatures?" Leo asked, looking at Wing with a deadpan expression. "It is more of a hobby really, your Majesty!" He said nervously, forgetting the room they were in was covered in various pictures of mythical creatures, and research notes scattered about. "A hobby? Well, since my advisors have told me that you are the best in the field, I need you to come with me at once." Leo said in a stern, royal voice. "Uh...I'm sorry, you need me?" He said, very confused at what he had just heard. 'The king wants me? What the hell did I ever do?' "Yes, I need you to collect whatever instruments or tools you wish and come with me right away. This is a matter of National Security, and I need you." Leo said sternly, standing up and walking towards the scared looking Glass. The guards had returned from the kitchen, and were now standing behind Glass, trying but failing to look intimidating with a thing of bread and lettuce on each of their beaks. "Can you at least tell me what I am doing before you take me?" Glass said, slowly getting out of the chair and walking towards his notes, the guards and the king close in tow. "I'll explain more when we get there, but not now. The walls have ears and all. Now, I am going to ask you again to please gather your supplies and prepare to leave." And with that, Leo turned around and walked out the door, where the two guards by the doors escorting him outside. Glass and the two other guards looked at each other awkwardly, not sure where to go from there. "Could you two possibly help me carry some of the tools?" Glass said, having mentally given up as he began to think of what the the hell he could possibly need for whatever he had just been forced to agree too. The two guards looked at each other, before deciding to be nice to Griffin. "Yeah, we'll help you. But hurry it up; we don't have all day!" Glass grumbled a bit, before beginning to think of what he could possibly need. A short time later... "Careful there boys. More to the right... Little bit more to the left... And, drop it!" Glass said, guiding the two guards on where to put the last box of tools into the chariot Leo had brought. Glass had no idea what to bring, so he naturally did what anyone would do in this situation. He brought everything and anything that could be carried or put on wheels. And the guards were not too happy about it. "Are you finally done?" One of them said, sweat on his face. "For now, sorry for taking up your time Your Majesty." Glass apologized climbing up into the back of the chariot where his tools were, making mentally sure he had not forgotten something. Leo, who had fallen asleep in boredom, woke back up and wiped his eyes while yawning. "No problem, I think. Now come on, we don't have all day here." Leo said, stretching his wings. The Griffins tasked with pulling the Chariot looked helplessly at the massive pile of stuff, before sighing and preparing themselves for the pain that was going to happen. They gulped, before slowly beginning to hover up, struggling to gain any altitude. "Oh come on guys, it ain't that heavy! Move move move!" Leo said in a loud voice, drawing some grunts by Griffins trying to pull the behemoth cart. They finally got the cart moving, a bit slower than a slug, but still moving all in all. Now to see if they could keep it up without crashing into too many things... Starbrought Only the wild howling of the wind made an audible impression on the desolate expanse of swirling sand which constructed the confines that was the Zebrican Desert. Standing in one of the forlorn valleys were three varying factors that defined it from the rest of the dunes; a caravan of Zebras, an utter massacre of Diamond Dog corpses, and a metal-clad biped with two very intimidating blades. And that metal-clad biped, was Slayer. His eyes slowly examined the faces of the Zebra caravan under his mask, moving his body as little as possible to reduce the risk of a stampede. He had gotten through the simple, easy part. Now he had to go through the hard part; negotiations. Slayer's mouth widened slightly, before his lips shut themselves. 'Can they even understand Galactic Standard?' he wondered. 'Their words shared amongst one another were foreign. Obviously. Then again, the potential of that being the native language for them exclusively is a possibility...' As his thoughts quickly attempted to process an appropriate course of action, the caravan dispersed some of its rear members to attend to the wounded. The leader (if the tribal staff was anything to go by) remained front-and-center, standing between the 'Cerebral Assassin' and its kin. Some unsure and tense moments passed before the lead Zebra raised a hoof tentatively. "Jinsi gani unaweza kufanya, chuma kiumbe?" Raising a hand in return, Slayer waved a greeting in the following silence. "Do you, by chance, happen to understand me?" Several moments passed in quiet, as the Zebras stared on blankly. With a suppressed groan, he rolled his eyes. 'Great. I get the species that doesn't speak Galactic Standard. Of course it just had to happen while the Suit's drained, so the translation software can't be activated...' The head Zebra looked about in surprise to his fellow herd, before returning his attention to Slayer. One of its members whispered words into its ear, in which it nodded and offered a bow. "Tunashukuru kwa msaada wako. Tafadhali, kuchukua chakula kama shukrani." Slayer, a man who rarely was flummoxed by things, could only tilt his head in utter confusion. From what he could gather from body movement, the Zebra was thanking him. An obvious reaction given the thrashing Slayer hand-delivered to the bipedal hounds, but still one he hadn't expected in this particular situation. "Er, no problem," the hunter retorted with a nod. Slayer watched guardedly as the leader motioned to his compatriots with a command, before they made their way to the covered wagon itself. His eyes widened in alarm; he had nearly forgotten why he interfered in the first place. A careful watch was made by the hitman during the duration of their walk. Though instead of bringing about any form of humanoid, the duo of Zebras instead brought a bundle. Very carefully they offered the tightly-wrapped item to Slayer, which he took courteously. Slayer unwrapped slowly. One reason so to not disrespect them (last thing he needed was making another native species hate him), and the other was that he had no clue that he could possibly be unveiling a trap. Luckily for him, it was just food. At least, it looked like food. 'I don't think eating unfamiliar berries is a good idea,' Slayer considered to himself as he gave a nod of thanks. Unfortunately, the thought of food combined with the thought of lack of food. The result was a rather loud gurgling noise from his stomach, which had the Zebras staring blankly in fear. The assassin could only blanch under his helm. '...Goddamnit.'' Diligently, he plucked one of the bright-red diamond-shaped fruits and unlatched his mouth-guard. With little fanfare it slid away, allowing Slayer to carefully take a bite. He really hoped it wasn't laced with sedatives. That would just suck. ... '...Huh. Kinda tastes like a strawberry. Hmm.' He allowed himself a moment to savour the flavour in the silence. 'Plus, I don't appear to be dead or fading into unconsciousness. Good signs...' "I thank you for the gift," Slayer said sincerely. Despite the language-barrier, the sentiment was not lost to the Zebras as they nodded happily with smiles adorning their striped muzzles. Once more, the Zebras conversed with one another in muffled whispers. Slayer could care slightly less about that, seeing as how he had a gift to eat. While his thoughts were preoccupied on a variant of a kumquat, Shamon was thinking rapidly. 'Tufanye nini na mnyama chuma hii? Kuondoka katika mchanga? Ni ametuokoa. Pengine tunapaswa kusherehekea,' he thought. He whispered his idea to his kin, to see what they had to say about the matter. Most had seemed more than willing to allow him into their kao, but some seemed hesitant. Despite the aid the Interloper had brought, they could not verbally communicate with it. The metallic being could speak though, if its pitched sounds were anything to go by. Shamon deliberated further within the sanctum of his thoughts. 'Pengine ni anaongea lugha ya farasi. Tunahitaji kuleta Zecora. Pengine anaweza kuzungumza lugha ya farasi.' His eyes trailed to the Interloper gladly accepting his offering with vigor. 'Kama itakuwa kusikiliza...' The Zebra then considered something. For many generations, the almasi mbwa had been a blight upon Shamon's kin. Their barbaric natures and gruesome appearances only amplified the disdain he felt when thinking of individuals like Mwanaharamu. Obviously, the Interloper had no fond feelings nor love for the Dogs. Perhaps through communications, Shamon could enlist the aid of both the armoured being and its allies... if it had any. The Chieftain of the Zebrican Tribes froze. Just what exactly was the Interloper? Shamon's mind sprung towards the notion of the biped being one of the Minotaur. They shared similar stature and brutish ways of combat. Yet somehow he quickly rejected the concept. The Interloper did not seem like anything Shamon had ever encountered before in his entire span of life. One way or another, he would find out in time. Without hesitation, Shamon motioned over one of his jamaa and whispered into their ear. "Sisi lazima kuleta Interloper yetu Equestria. Labda wao itabidi kujua nini cha kufanya." In response, Shamon was given a nod of approval. "Tunapaswa kuweka yeye katika gari," one of his Zebrican sisters muttered. Their attention went back towards the Interloper, nearly forgetting he (for in hindsight, there was little doubt it was a female) was still standing amongst them. Thankfully, the Interloper had not disappeared nor gone into a bloodlust. In fact, it seemed quite content to continue consuming the gift Shamon had bequeathed to him. If it hadn't been obvious already that the biped was starving, it was at that point. Speaking of the biped, Slayer was very close to finishing his brunch he had missed out on. With nothing comprehensible leaving the lips of the natives, the only thing he really had to focus on was the food. It was very good to him at that moment, by the way. 'Not killing the Zebras was totally worth it,' he thought to himself. Slayer paused, and looked up. Like his senses were telling him, he was being watched. By the entire caravan, no less. He swallowed the rest of his gift, and gave a deep nod of his head. "The food was delicious, and appreciated." Despite the current language barrier, the message was still able to get through. Off-handedly Slayer began noticing with some minor unease that they were eyeing his katanas and Sabres with particular intrigue. He only saw that kind of look in two situations: either the Zebras were planning to mug him, or they wanted him to use his weapons again to help them. He didn't know which option was worse. Once more, the Zebras huddled around one another to discuss topics that were certainly about him. Slayer was quite frankly annoyed. There was very useful information that was no doubt being lost because of his exhaustion. Remembering that issue, Slayer discreetly brought up the energy supply for him to examine. >Solaris Suit is at: 15%. "Tunataka kusherehekea katika kambi yetu," Slayer's focus locked onto the head of the caravan motioning towards the wagon. Somehow in the span of five seconds that it took him to check his power level, the Zebras had hooked themselves back to the cart and brought it around to Slayer. Now he was really starting to feel uneasy. "Kuja," the Zebra said again calmly, using slight and slow movements. Slayer knew the ball was really in his court. If they attempted to place him into the cart by force, he could easily eliminate them. Thoughts ran rampantly through Slayer's mind. 'If I join these Zebra, it would mean potentially being led off the trail of Drake. And if I lose the direction, then I doubt I'd be able to find him ever again...' 'Then again, this could be very advantageous,' Slayer thought as he carefully approached the end of the wooden construct. 'I could potentially be led instead to their settlement. Get supplies, directions, and maybe even information on rogue Zebras in case they took Drake. If not, then there's always the hope that they have Drake.' A decisive nod was given to himself as Slayer climbed in and watched as the rear door closed. 'One way or another, these Zebra will led me to Drake. Whether they'd like to, or know it is irrelevant.' As the caravan began moving once more, a single thought found its way into Slayer's mind. And it remained there for the duration of the trip in the silence. 'Don't you worry, Drake. Slayer's coming to save your ass... again.' Starbrought Shining Armor had seen some very strange things in his time as a guard. The most notable of which involved an 'evil' scientist who created a deadly virus that, instead of being deadly, cured three different diseases. But the scene unfolding in front of him easily took the cake. When one of the other guards had come running up to him, informing him that shouting could be heard coming from Cadance's chambers, Shining Armor had immediately rushed to her aid (which led to him now had a nagging suspicion that he had broken several land speed records amongst the guard). What he hadn't expected, was to find Cadance pacing back and forth in her room while in a heated argument with the alien. An argument about what the language they were speaking was called, of all things. "For the last time, it's not 'Equestrian'! It's 'Galactic Basic'!" "It's 'Equestrian' here, buster! We're not part of your galactic empire!" "I'm not even part of the Empire! And the Empire only makes up about a third of our civilization!" "Well good for you! But as long as you're here, you should show some respect! You're a guest on our planet, so act like one!" "I'm not a guest! I'm shipwrecked! There's a difference!" "You are not shipwrecked! If you were shipwrecked, you would be marooned in an uninhabited area. Clearly, that is not the case here!" "My ship crashed into your planet! It probably can't even break atmosphere right now! I'd call that 'shipwrecked'!" "Okay, fine! You're 'shipwrecked'! But since you're stranded here until your ship is repaired, that makes you a guest, buster!" "Then I guess we're both right!" "Yes, we are!" Cadance grinned triumphantly and finally stopped her pacing. "Now that that's settled, may I offer you something to drink?" "Thank you, my throat was getting parched from all of that shouting." The alien's aggressive posture relaxed as he dropped himself onto one of the sofas in the center of Cadance's chambers. "What sorts of drinks do you have?" Shining Armor was surprised that the sound of his brain breaking couldn't be heard by the others. It wasn't that hard to understand either. For starters, Cadance, one of the nicest and most polite ponies he had ever met in his entire life, had just been engaged in a shouting match with somepony. She never even raised her voice when situations had called for it before. Secondly, she had been arguing with an alien. A being from space that crash landed on their planet. It was like the plot to a bad science fiction novel. They had no idea if the alien meant them harm, or why he was here, or even what the circumstances surrounding his crash had been. For all they knew, he was a vanguard of their destruction. And yet, there he was, casually accepting an offer of a drink. And, as if that wasn't enough, both of them were so absorbed in their interactions with one another, that neither had even noticed him yet. "We have many things to drink here, hopefully something you can have," Cadance placed a hoof thoughtfully to her chin as she considered the options. "Water, perhaps?" "I couldn't survive without it," the alien replied with a smile. "Do you have tea?" "Of course. Tea is a staple beverage here in Canterlot." Cadance gestured toward a tea set resting on a short cabinet in the room's corner for emphasis. "Can you have milk?" "Depends on what kind of milk we're talking about here." "The kind that comes from cows." Shining's left eyelid twitched. "And, just to make sure my translator isn't glitching on me, you mean the cows that go 'moo', right?" "What other kinds of cows would there be?" "You don't want to know." "Okay, that's enough!" Shining Armor slammed his left forehoof as hard as he could against the marble flooring, causing the others to jump in surprise. The alien shot Cadance a confused look and pointed questioningly at Shining Armor. "Has he been here the whole time?" "What is going here?" the guardspony demanded. "Cadance, he's dangerous!" "Because he's yelling at me?" The princess replied with a sigh. "Anypony can yell, Shining. It doesn't mean they're dangerous." "He attacked several members of the guard and the doctor! We need to detain him!" "That's a little rude, don't you think?" The alien pointed out. "How would you react if you woke up in an unfamiliar place, under an armed guard and surrounded by medical equipment? Can you really blame me?" "You attacked the royal guard and now I find you in the princess' chambers!" Shining growled. "So yes, I can blame you. There isn't exactly a policy on how to deal with extraterrestrials." "Then don't do anything," the alien said with a shrug. Shining was taken aback. "Huh?" "Don't do anything." The alien kept his eyes firmly locked on the guardspony. "You said that your government doesn't have any real rules to handle otherworlders. So don't do anything." "You attacked the royal guard," Shining repeated. "That's a criminal offense." "In your culture. How do you know that it isn't my cultures' way of saying 'hello'? Would you really risk a diplomatic or even an intergalactic incident over a misunderstanding?" "Is that how you say 'hello'?" "That's not really the point, you know." Starbrought The entire platoon froze in shock. There was a creature, staring at them, who had just talked in another language. "Let's not panic, let's not panic." Night Skies said, a slight bit of panic in his voice. This was not in the job description. Which is why one of them panicked, got out his sword, and slammed the flat part of the blade onto its head, knocking it out. "Or you can panic." Night Skies said as the creature fell unconscious, a very confused Grif holding it up. The platoon looked at the Griffin who had just knocked it out, who feeling really awkward as he slowly flew back over to the group and sat down. Silence fell on the group, before Night Skies spoke. "What, in the name of Leo, was that?" He said, disbelief in his voice. The Griffin who committed the crime just looked around, not sure how to respond. "I believe he panicked, Captain." Grif said smugly, momentarily forgetting the now knocked out creature on his back. "You don't say? Well... At least he made the job of bringing that thing back with us a bit easier. So, good job Black Beak!" Night Skies said, patting the very confused Griffin on his back. "You're kidding me right? I carry this damn thing here, only try to take a light nap and nearly get killed. He knocks the thing out, and might get a freakin promotion." Griff thought to himself, seriously planning on where he could hide a body. His thoughts of lovely murder were broken up by Night Skies yelling. "Private Griff! Snap out of La La Land and get moving. You're already behind the pack." Night Skies pointed his wing at the rest of the platoon, who had stopped their break and were now flying off towards Altai. Griff moaned a bit, before slowly taking off, trying to make sure that the thing on his back didn't fall off. This was going to be a long flight... Starbrought Drake had been in some very strange situations during the years he'd been living as a pirate. One of the most interesting of which was a night he spent with the Duchess of Miranda, one of the wealthiest and happiest planets in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm of the galaxy. In the course of one night, he robbed her of several prized artifacts, wiped clean her family accounts, poisoned her husband with a unique hallucinogen that led him to believe he was a turnip doomed to be in a side salad, crashed his transport during his getaway, crashed a second transport during his getaway, and ultimately rode away on her prized Sharna (a native bird to Miranda that were often valued as prized steeds during the planet's settlements). But having tea with a pony princess and one of her royal guards? In the Captain's book, that took the cake. An awkward silence filled the room as the three of them sipped their tea. Drake and the guard pony were seated on a two-seat sofa opposite of the Princess, who kept a close eye on the two males. "So, what do we call you?" Drake looked up from his cup as the Princess spoke. "We can't keep calling you 'you' or 'mister'." "I've got a few names I'd like to call him," the guard pony next to him grumbled into his tea. Drake smirked. "I like this guy!" He said with a laugh. Shining nearly choked on his tea as Drake draped an arm across the back of his neck. "He's not afraid to speak his mind about me. I'd like him more if he didn't want to clap me in irons and lock me in the dungeon, though." The Captain took another sip of his tea. "The name's Shields. Captain Drake Shields." "It's very nice to meet you, Captain," the princess said with a smile. "I am Princess Cadenza, but I'd prefer it if you call me Cadance." "Your Highness. I've met a couple of princesses in my time, you know. But never one who knew how to brew a cup of fine tea, let alone one who willingly did so herself." Drake raised his cup in a silent toast to Cadance before turning to the guard sitting beside him. "And what do I call this stiff fellow?" "Sergeant Shining Armor. Equestrian Royal Guard." Shining set his tea down, the aura that had been surrounding the cup and saucer vanishing at the same time as the aura around his horn. "So show some respect." "I'll show respect to those who show the same to me." Drake smirked at the Sergeant and downed the rest of his tea. "You said you were a Captain?" Cadance asked, breaking the two males' attention from their rapidly growing dislike of one another. "Were you in a military?" "Not a chance," Drake laughed. "I'm a ship captain. Nothing even remotely close to military." "Yet you carry weapons," Shining Armor noted. "You've got what looks like a saber strapped to your side, and you used some sort of explosive earlier when you were making your escape." "Observant." Drake set his cup down. "Space isn't very nice. There's all sorts of mercenaries, pirates, thieves, slavers and corrupt government vessels that just can't wait to ruin someone's day. And my ship is a vessel designed for fast travel and decent maneuverability, perfect for transporting expensive cargo across worlds. I've gotta keep my cargo safe from those who'd take it from me before I get paid. Folks are willing to do just about anything outside the law to make some extra spending money." "That sounds awful," Cadance noted. "Just what kind of society do you live in?" "Calling it awful's a little much, don't you think?" Drake replied. "It's not perfect life, but if you keep a calm head, it's nothing worth worrying about. A perfect life for a man like me." "And what kind of man are you?" Shining asked. Drake fixed him with a serious stare, no sparkle in his eye as he spoke, no hint of amusement he had been displaying throughout the evening."I'm a man that values my freedom above almost anything else. By making my living sailing the sea that space truly is, I'm living my life on my terms. Nothing beats that." Shining Armor was momentarily stunned by the seriousness of Drake's response. He tried and failed to come up with an appropriate response for a few moments before giving up. Instead, he settled for nodding stiffly at the Captain. "Can I offer you another cup of tea?" Cadance gestured at Drake's empty cup. He turned away from Shining, smug smile returning to his face as he did so. "Thank you. I'd love another." He watched with mild interest as a pale blue aura surrounded both the princess' horn and the cup just as the cup was lifted into the air and over to the tea kettle near Cadance. "So, can all ponies control a low level zero-point energy field?" Drake asked. "I'm sorry?" Cadance gave the Captain a confused glance. "What do you mean by zero-point energy?" Drake pointed from the floating tea cup to Cadance's horn. "That glow. It's a zero-point energy field, right? Allows you to move objects without touching them?" "You mean telekinesis?" Shining Armor asked. "Only unicorns like me or an alicorn like Cadance can use it. It's part of our natural magic?" "Magic?" Drake repeated thoughtfully. "How curious." "How so?" Cadance asked, floating the now full cup back to Drake's hands. "Don't you have some sort of natural magic?" "Not as far as I know. Some scientists in the Alliance might disagree with that, but they blame that on the fact that my species still doesn't actively use their full brain power." Drake paused to breathe on his tea, cooling it down slightly. "But I highly doubt they're right. Still though, the fact that you use barely any energy to generate a zero-point field, and with such precise control is very interesting. I've seen some of the zero-point machines used in shipping ports to move large cargo crates. Those things use up almost as much energy as a small colony can in a week." "So, you come from this Alliance place, yes?" The princess asked. "What's it like?" "I'm not from the Alliance, and it isn't a place. It's kind of like a government that has jurisdiction over about a third or so of the galaxy," Drake explained. "The other two thirds are controlled by the Empire and the Syndicate. Right now, all three groups are fighting over which one of them has the right to rule the galaxy." "Civil war." Shining Armor shook his head. "That's brutal. The minotaur had a civil war a few decades back. Ruined all of their farmlands and reduced their culture to little more than nomadic clans. Nobody wins in a civil war." "Nothing 'civil' about it either." Drake stared into his cup. "I've seen entire planets burned and glassed in nuclear fire just because one side wouldn't concede to the other." "What started the war?" Shining asked. "Who threw the first punch?" "Nobody knows for sure," Drake said with a shrug. "The Empire started aiming for a complete union of all planets under one regime: theirs. This didn't sit well with many people far outside of the Empire's territory. And as they started to grow in power, so did their military and their influence. Their laws were beginning to be adopted as galactic laws as several planets saw benefit to joining them. "The planets and systems that wanted to remain free from Imperial control joined together and formed the Alliance. Then war broke out between the two sides. Minor stuff at first. The Alliance would send a small fleet of drone ships in to attack an Imperial patrol and capture their ships. The Empire would retaliate by seizing cities and planets. Back and forth. Back and forth. "The Syndicate formed about four or five years after the Alliance started expanding its borders. Mostly based out of the more unruly and backwater planets, where thugs and thieves and bounty hunters thrive. They saw a chance to take the galaxy for themselves and shape it to fit their desires, so they openly opposed the Empire and the Alliance once they had a decent sized force of people backing them. "It's been a three way tie ever since. The Empire has the largest population, the Syndicate has the greatest military strength, and the Alliance has the best technology. That about sums up society where I come from." Drake raised his cup of tea to his lips once more and allowed the alien company he was in to soak up the information he had given them. "You seem awfully willing to just tell us about your society," the guardspony beside him noted. "If I was in your position, I wouldn't be telling the aliens I was around about my society. How do you know you can trust us?" "I don't," Drake replied simply. "But I simply don't care." "Huh?" Both ponies looked mildly surprised at Drake's indifference. "I don't care," the Captain repeated. "Do what you will with this information. Use it to create a database detailing information on the galaxy. Use it to plan a war against my species. Use it to plan the best places to establish trade routes. Ultimately, I don't care." "That's a rather strange attitude to have about your own people," Cadance said. "Don't you care about them?" "I only care about anyone who's either neutral in the civil war or being forced to serve one of the three governments. Anyone who's willingly on one side or another doesn't matter to me." Drake's tone was harsher than it had been. "I've no love lost for the Empire or the Syndicate. And I'll cry for joy on the day when the Alliance burns in the deepest circle of hell while I dance on their graves." Cadance looked at the Captain sadly. "The Alliance did something to you, didn't they?" It wasn't a question, but an observation. "Not just me." Drake's hands were beginning to shake, forcing him to set his cup down for fear of spilling his tea on Cadance's pristine floor. "The Alliance is made up of mostly technology research planets. They have the smallest population out of all three sides of the war, but they make up for it with their 'toys'. Early on when they first started rebelling against the Empire, the Alliance began offering neutral planets the chance to join their side. Any planet that refused was forced to anyway, only their populations were enslaved and forced to help with the production of the automatons the Alliance uses as their main fighting force. "My homeworld of Adrestia was enslaved about twenty years ago, right around the time when I reached adulthood. I've watched people I've grown up with be punished and executed for openly defying the Alliance." Drake clenched his fists tightly. "I escaped about four years ago. Stole a prototype stealth ship they had been developing near the planet's capital and fled to the sky, because that's the only place they couldn't control me. "They take and take from us until we have nothing left. But they could never take the sky."" Silence filled the room again as Drake leaned back against the sofa. Cadance and Shining Armor looked on with looks mixed with pity and sadness at the Captain's story. Drake paid their expressions no heed, instead reaching under his shirt and pulling out a silver-chained necklace he had kept concealed underneath. Dangling off of the chain was a four-leaf clover, perfectly preserved within a piece of clear cut crystal. To the left of the crystal dangled a pair of golden rings, one with a diamond set into it, one without. To the right dangled another ring. One of bronze and with two rubies flanking a sapphire set into the band. Shining's eyes went wide for a fraction of a second as he caught sight of the third ring. Then he fixed the Captain with a rather pointed glare, an action that did not go unnoticed by Cadance. "Shining? What's wrong?" She asked. "That ring on his necklace, the bronze one, I've seen it before." That caught Drake's attention. Shining Armor pointed a hoof at the ring in question. "That's the Platinum Heirloom. It's one of the few things Princess Platinum brought with her from the old kingdom when Equestria was founded. It's supposed to be on display down on the second floor outside of the throne room. So why is it dangling from your neck?" Drake looked down at the necklace for a moment or so, before he gave the sergeant the cheekiest grin he could manage. "Would you believe me if I said that it was there when I got my stuff back from you guards?" Shining's answer came in the form of a deadpan stare. "Eh. It was worth a shot." "So, you're just a thief then?" Shining Armor was on his hooves, his horn alight with a magenta aura. "I've never met any cargo shippers that steal from others." "Clearly you haven't met many cargo shippers," Drake quipped, tucking his necklace back inside his shirt as he rose to his feet. "Not that I'd call myself a traditional cargo shipper, mind you. I prefer to think of myself as a man on the account." "So you're actually just a pirate?" Cadance said calmly. "Isn't 'on the account' a fancy way of saying 'I'm a pirate', Captain?" Drake shot her a satisfied smirk. "Nice catch. And even more proof that you ponies have more in common with humans like me than what I've observed so far." Shining Armor lowered his horn and aimed it at the center of Drake's chest. "And while I'd love to stay and chat with you more about it, it's clear I've overstayed my welcome." "That's an understatement," Shining Armor said. "Drake Shields, by the rights given to me as a royal guard, I hereby place you under arrest for the crimes of assault, resisting capture, assaulting a royal guard, breaking and entering, and theft. You have the right to remain silent and I pray to the gods you exercise it." Drake let out a long winded sigh. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not going to happen. I've spent enough time locked up in various prisons. I have no intention of letting you drag me into one." In one swift movement, Drake brought his leg up and sent the coffee table between the two sofas crashing onto its side. Cups of still warm tea were flung across the room. A magenta shaded shield of pure energy erected itself in front of Shining Armor, protecting him from the projectile tea cups. While the sergeant was distracted, Drake drew his energy saber and activated it. The snap-hiss of the blade coming to life filled the room and bathed the pirate in a pale blue light. In his free hand, Drake produced his pistol, which he aimed in Cadance's direction. "Sorry, your Highness, but I can't be too careful. Your loyal guard here needs incentive to not follow me out of this room." The Captain backed slowly away from the two ponies and toward the double doors leading out of Cadance's room and back into the castle. The two ponies watched his every move carefully, much like a pair of hawks. "The doors, Mister Armor, if you please." Drake smiled warmly at Shining, who glared in response but complied with his orders. Drake's grin grew wider as he heard the sound of a lock being magically undone, followed by the creak of the doors as they swung open behind him. "That's my cue. Thanks for the tea, your Highness. It did wonders for my thirst. Sarge, have fun explaining this one to your superiors." Laughing, Drake spun on his heel and immediately found himself face to face with the occupants of the hallway beyond Cadance's door. Twenty or so unicorn guards were lined up at regular intervals, their horns all ablaze with a uniform green light. At least a dozen pegasi guards hovered in the air above their horned counterparts, each armed with what appeared to be weighted nets. The guards all fired their magic at Drake as soon as he was in sight, barely giving the pirate time to groan in annoyance. Starbrought "Good Private! Now lower that one into that corner, and make sure not to drop it that hard." Glass Wing stated, watching in amusement as he directed three Imperial Guard privates on where to put some of his objects that he had brought to this...place. When he had left his lab to go investigate whatever King Leo wanted him to do, he had thought that they were going to go to the palace. But when the chariot turned a hard right and went into the main military base that protected the Capital, Wing was very confused. "Your Majesty, if I may ask, why are we going into this place?" Wing asked, looking at the checkpoint approaching them. Leo laughed a bit, before turning towards him. "Because for what you are going to be working on Doctor Wing, we thought this would be more... appropriate." He said, pausing as he considered the proper term. Wing, even more confused, decided not to ask any questions as the they reached the checkpoint, before being cleared and allowed into the base. The chariot landed outside of a large, unmarked structure. Leo motioned him to step out, as the guards designated to carry the mass of supplies finally got a breather, and it took quite a lot of willpower not to go and fall over in exhaustion. "If you would follow me inside, Doctor. Your... tools will be brought down in a moment." Leo said, chuckling a bit as one of the guards collapsed in exhaustion, the other one nearing it. He turned his attention back to the door that led to the inside of the building, where two of his personal guard flew over and opened it. Doctor Wing was expecting to see some small, little cubicles with small labs inside of them, but instead it was just a long hallway with lights built into the top of it. He did not see any more windows, just a long hallway stretching deep into a mountain. "If you would follow me please Doctor, the lights will still be here." Leo said, walking down the tunnel with his two guards behind him. Doctor Wing joined him, and after walking for what felt like a mile they reached another, bigger door. Unlike the other door, this one had no handles, but only a small pad on the side of it. "If you would please move away for a second, Doctor," Leo explained, taking his paw and putting it onto a the pad. After a brief second, a small ding was heard and the massive door slowly opened up, revealing a brightly lit room. Leo motioned for him to go through the door, which he did rather hesitantly. The room he had been brought into was in sharp contrast to the old, dirty hallway he had come from. This room was well lit, clean as a whistle, and new looking. There were other vaulted doors on one side of the room, with what looked like an unoccupied security checkpoint on the other side. It was very impressive, but also very cryptic for the Doctor. "And this is where you will be working. The chariot should be arriving any moment from the back deck, which is that way." The King pointed his claw to a hallway with a much bigger door, enough for objects of considerable size to pass through. A few seconds later, a bunch of Griffins pushed in Wing's tools, off of the chariot and onto several massive carts. "Now, I have an important meeting to go to. Something about Minotaurs and other stuff like that. Doctor Feather will introduce herself in a moment. Good day, and good luck Doctor Wing." Leo said, walking out of the door, his two guards in tow. The door shut, leaving him to his thoughts on where the hell he was. He was stopped by him noticing another Griffin was coming this way, but this one was dressed differently than the guards. She had on a white lab coat, and had a clipboard in her right talon. "You must be Doctor Wing." She said, offering her talon to shake, which Wing hesitantly accepted. "I've heard a lot about you, hopefully you will live up to my expectation." She said rather coldly, before looking back at the behemoth of stuff the guards (even on the carts) were having a hard time pushing. "And you are?" Wing said, feeling rather annoyed at the Griffin already. She turned back around, before clearing her throat and answering. "My name is Doctor Gilded Feather, and I will be working with you on this... project, whatever it is." She said, sounding rather annoyed at not knowing what the project was. "You don't know what we're doing either?" Wing said, sounding rather surprised and glad that someone else was in the same boat as he was. "No, his Majesty likes to... surprise me, and apparently now you. This would explain the massive amount of equipment you brought." She stated, looking at her clipboard again. "Yeah... I really didn't know what I was going to--" Wing said rather awkwardly, before getting interrupted by Feather. "I can assure you, from looking over your equipment, I--er, we will only be needing some of it. The rest will be put back into storage until our assignment--whatever it may be--is over. Now if you'll excuse me Doctor Wing, I have to go make sure that the correct equipment is sorted. Good day, and nice to meet you." She said, walking over to the lead guard and began asking him some questions, leaving a very confused Wing in his wake, with even more questions than when he entered the place. He walked over to one of the doors, trying to see if there was any form of identification to try to figure out where he was, but to no avail. He felt the sensation of someone tapping him on the the back. He turned around to see three guards bearing the Imperial seal, a cartload of his stuff behind them. "Doctor Wing instructed us to set these up in here, with you commanding us on where to put them." The middle on said, point to the door behind him. "...Alright. I will gladly tell you where to put them, but could you open the door first?" He asked, feeling rather stupid for an odd reason. "That is what we were planning on doing. Could you please move out of the way so that we can open it for you?" The middle on asked again, in the same tone. Wing gladly moved aside, as the one of the guards grabbed a set of keys, and inserted it into a keyhole that Wing had failed to notice. He turned it with a sharp click, and pushed the door quickly open, before moving aside to let Wing inside. The lights were already on, casting some shadows on the pieces of furniture inside the room. The room was about twenty four feet by twenty four feet, with several rows of tables and other lab equipment already inside. Plastic covers covered the instruments and tools, and the floor was remarkably clean. The guards wheeled in the cart of tools, before asking Wing where he would like them to go. He took a quick survey on what they had, before realising they were all the notes he had on strange creatures he had seen and studied over the years. "Just stack them on the tables please." He said, his mind deep in thought of why his notes were the only things of his that had been brought in, before remembering that the rest of his tools were just tools, and fairly outdated ones at that. This place was just getting more and more confusing by the minute, and he was beginning to regret coming with the King, even though he had no choice. And this was only the start of the chaos that was going to occur. Starbrought
Starbrought	Chapter Six - Complications	Starbrought Shining Armor stared nervously around at his commanding officers' office. He had only been in here twice before; once when he had first been stationed in Canterlot Castle, the other when he had been assigned to Cadance's convoy. One of the walls was decorated with an assortment of medals, commendations and accolades, all detailing the numerous heroic acts of valor, honor, and justice the Captain of the Royal Guard had achieved in his twenty years in the service. Shining Armor couldn't help but notice that the Captain had even earned an Emerald Blade, the highest of commendations that one could only earn by defending the whole of Equestria from certain peril. Aside from that, the room was very spartan. A pair of fully stocked bookshelves rested in the back of the room, just by the large window that overlooked the training grounds for the Guard. A simple oak desk sat in front of the shelves, decorated only by a few loose sheets of paper, a bottle of ink and a large phoenix feather quill. All of the decorations in the office were put to shame, however, by the rather large Earth Pony sitting behind the oak desk. Captain Sturdy Wall was, to put it bluntly, a mountain of a pony. No muscle was wasted on, yet, he didn't have the bulk most other muscle-centric stallions usually developed. His cobalt-colored coat had a faint sheen to it, showing off the exceptional care he clearly gave it, unlike most other stallions. His faded gray mane was cropped into a buzz cut, barely rising more than half an inch above his scalp. Stone gray eyes moved slowly back and forth as Captain Wall read over the last of the reports regarding Cadance's journey to the Zebrican capital, the discovery of the alien, and the resulting arrest of said alien. Shining Armor could've sworn he was visibly sweating as he stood in silence, waiting for his Commanding Officer to finish. It didn't help that with every passing minute, Captain Wall's expression grew more and more irritated. When the Captain finally set down the final report and fixed Shining Armor with a stony gaze, Shining could've sworn he felt his lungs cease all activity, as though the very activity of breathing would offend the Captain. Neither of them spoke for several long moments. The Captain kept his gaze firmly on Shining Armor, greatly unnerving the sergeant. "Three days." The Captain's gravelly-voice broke Shining from his stupor. "I'm gone for three days to visit my newborn granddaughter, and I return to all of these." He gestured with a hoof at the half dozen reports he had piled in a small bin on the corner of his desk. "Princess Cadance set out to Zebrica to encourage trade routes, and instead she returns with an alien. From space. Explain, Sergeant." Shining Armor stood up a little straighter and hardened his expression. "Sir! The Princess and the majority of the 17th assigned to her protection all saw the alien's ship crash-land in the desert. The Princess insisted on investigating the crash site where the alien was discovered, despite my insistence that she shouldn't. The Princess took notice of the alien's injuries and ordered us to return him to Canterlot so he could receive medical treatment. Sir!" The Captain continued to stare at Shining Armor with his mildly-irritated, yet stony expression. "I won't lie to you, Sergeant. I'm not happy." He rose to his hooves and moved the reports from his desk to a small filing cabinet mostly hidden from plain view. "If Princess Cadance herself hadn't shown me the alien and verified the story with her own account, I never would've believed a word of these reports. In fact, I'd have had you and your whole unit demoted and reassigned to patrolling the northern border for thinking such a stupid story would be believable. "Nevertheless, what's done is done. We should be thankful that the alien in question, this 'Drake Shields', is just a run of the mill pirate. If he had been a diplomat of some sort and we offended him... Well, I'm sure you've read a few pieces of science-fiction over the years. You can guess what might happen." "Yes, Sir." Shining did his best to remain as stoically still as possible. He didn't want to show signs of the immense relief he was feeling. Captain Wall wasn't known for being the most lenient of ponies. "We'll need to start taking action in regards to the alien," the Captain said decisively as he sat back down at his desk. "I need to inform Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about this situation immediately. For now, I'm re-assigning you and your unit. You're in charge of guarding the alien since the lot of you have had the most dealings with it." Shining Armor blinked in confusion. "We have to prevent any information leaks. How do you think the civilians would react if they knew we had an alien in custody? They already panic over the slightest disturbances. And what of the other nations? Who knows what they'd do? Your unit is the only unit that's had any interaction with the alien thus far. I intend to keep it that way until either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna tells me otherwise. Am I clear, Sergeant?" "Yes, Sir. Clear as crystal, Sir." "And Sergeant, I want you to complete another task if possible while you're on this assignment." Shining Armor gave his commanding officer a confused look. "I want you to see if you can convince this alien to share any of his civilization's technologies with us." "I'm not sure he'd go for that, Sir," Shining Armor said. "He might not be too talkative with my unit or myself since we're the ones that captured him and locked him up, Sir." "I said 'if possible', Sergeant," the Captain reminded him. "It may be a long shot, but from what I've gathered from the reports, he isn't very fond of the governments in control of his civilization. He might be less inclined to keep their technology from us than another member of his species might be." "Understood, Sir." Shining Armor saluted the Captain. "I'll do what I can." Captain Wall nodded at the other stallion. "Dismissed, Sergeant." Starbrought "You know, for a top secret government lab underneath a mountain, and inside a military base, you guys could have gotten some better chefs down here. Honestly, what exactly is in my sandwhich? Ants? Chicken?...Vegetables?" Doctor Wing said as he inspected his sandwich. Gilded Feather rolled her eyes. "We don't have chefs down here. Everything comes in boxed and frozen, even the sandwiches." "And why exactly do they not have any chefs down here?" "Simple. Less mouths, less ways for secrets to get out. We're not the only ones down here you know." Gilded said as she took a bite of her box salad riddled with a surplus of beef chunks. "You know what? Probably good on my end not to ask exactly who else or what else is down here. So, what exactly do you think of our catch? I've never seen anything like him in all my years of cryptozoology, and that's about thirty-five years of it." "Honestly? I really don't have any idea what it is. It may possibly be a Minotaur that had suffered some sort of genetic mutation, or could have been damaged by magic, but even then that would not account for some of the things on it. For example, you noticed that instead of only having three fingers and a thumb, it had an extra finger on both of its hands." "Of course I did," Doctor Wing said as he took a suspicious nibble at his sandwich. "And I'm guessing that you noticed the nearly complete lack of body hair save for on top of his head. And perhaps the biggest mystery is the legs. I'm guessing that you as well have never seen anything like that." "Yeah, I've never seen anything like those legs too, but the thing that honestly concerns me more than anything else is the-" She was cut off by the lights that lit the makeshift cafeteria that they were currently eating in dimming, as if an unknown force was putting a very high strain on the base's mountain grid. A low rumble echoed around the area, before turning into silence, along with the lights returning to their full beam. "Uhhhh, what was that?" Dr Wing asked as he looked around, ready to run away at full speed. Wing was not one for confrontation, and would gladly take flight or fight any day, and any time of the solar calendar. "Like I said, we're not the only ones down here. Gods know what that was," Dr. Feather said very calmly as she got up to throw away her salad into one of the trashcans situated in the corner of the room. "Well, that's calming... Say; how exactly would we get out of here if there was an accident?" "Hmmm..." A talon lazily tapped Dr. Feather's beak. "If I were to guess, we would probably get out through the flight bay. It would be the easiest to reach, and would be the easiest to escape from." "Heh, have you ever had to do it?" "Thankfully, no. Nothing has ever escaped from this base, and I hope that nothing ever does. If even a single one of the high security things that are in this base somehow did manage to escape, let's just say it would make the Changeling swarm that hit Canterlot look like a minor inconvenience." "Wait. How exactly are you able to keep creatures and things of that magnitude stuck in a mountain right by the city? Wouldn't you put them away from the capital instead of putting it under our ass?" Gilded Feather had to suppress an eyeroll; this Doctor's IQ seemed hardly worth the time it took to print out his PhD. "Hey, not my choice on where they put this place. Just be glad it exists. And there are many ways to keep something stronger than the average gryphon in check. My beak is tied on that matter, however." A moment of silence passed without anyone saying anything. "Say Feather, how long have you been working here?" It was an obvious attempt for small-talk, but Doctor Wing would prefer mindless back-and-forth recollection than utter silence. Thankfully, Dr. Feather seemed willing to indulge him, to a point. "I've been working here for about five years, give or take; why do you ask?" "I was just wondering simply due to how... young you look. How old exactly are you?" "I'm twenty-six years old. I got a job here right after graduating Doraemoth School of the Elite Science & Arts. Top of my class." "Wait, you graduated from Doraemoth at twenty-one? At the top of your class, no less? Amazing; I've never heard of that happening. What was your degree in?" At the moment, Dr. Feather wasn't entirely sure if the interest towards her degree was genuine or not. Either way, it was nice that someone cared enough to ask, whether they meant it or not. "I got a doctorate in Cryptozoology. Instead of going out into the field to look for them, I was offered a job here, and the rest is well... history." "Wow. Well, good for you on going into a field that a lot of gryphons neglect. I was-" Doctor Wing was cut off by the lights dimming again, this time a lot less shocking to him. "Eh heh... Someone's having some fun, I guess." The hollow joke lazily floated in the air, a desperate attempt and hope to lighten the dreary professional mood with his forced colleague. Instead of the lights gradually coming back to their full brightness, something completely unexpected happened. A high pitched whine filled the air, forcing their talons to go to their ears in an attempt to stop the painful noise. The noise continued for a couple of seconds, before a small boom went off in a direction that felt very close to them. A rumble shook the room they were standing in, before stopping a few seconds later. Feather took her talons off of her head, before diving to the side to avoid a falling light that crashed into the table, destroying both the table and Wing's lunch. The elderly griffin had moved away to avoid being hit, and was now standing a few feet away from the ruined table, mourning his sandwich. "What in the name of Tartarus was that?" Wing shook away the recent pang of depression and hunger. "I have no idea, but that explosion was really close by. You don't think that our little friend could have gotten out, do you?" "There is no way that thing could have gotten out. He was chained to a table with a locked vault door ten inches thick. All of his clothes were taken off and put into a sealed locker," Feather said as she walked toward the door that led to the vault. "Wait, what about that glove of his?" Feather's eyebrows arched in revelation. "I thought you picked that up!" "I thought you did... Oh dear, this may be a problem." Starbrought "So, Griphook, when exactly are you two getting married?" Private Pile asked his fellow guard outside of the mysterious creature's current confinement. Not that it was needed, in his opinion. According to what they had overheard from the Doctors, the creature was not going to be waking up for quite some time. They had been standing here for around an hour and a half, and nothing had happened out of the ordinary. "We're getting married in about two weeks. Kinda nervous about the whole thing," Private Griphook responded, itching under his beak. The concept of marriage was making the raw recruit admittedly... nervous, about the whole deal. He wasn't showing any signs of stress, or so he hoped he wasn't, but getting married was a big deal. A very very big deal. "Well, that's good. Where are you guys getting married at? Hitting up Pike's Peak?" "Actually, we're doing the ceremony on top of Mount Storm." Pile's eyebrows jumped in approval. "Really? How the hell were you able to get a spot for that place? I was stationed there before I came here, and every single day someone was getting married, or having a party, or trying to do stunt dives down the cliff face." "Hell if I know; I wasn't the one that scheduled it. That's all my fiance's doing." "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Just be glad you-" He was cut off by his ears picking up a harsh wine. It was fairly high pitched, but not enough for it to start hurting his ears. He looked around at his fellow guard, who had an expression similar to his own. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, and they were left once again with silence. "The hell was that?" "I have no idea, probably came from someone deeper in the base. No need to worry," Private Pile said in a calm tone. "You're probably right. But I'm going to go ahead and use the P.R.I.C.K to call the main checkpoint below us, just to make sure that they heard it too," Griphook said as he walked over to the Portable Radioactive Instant Comm Krystal (or P.R.I.C.K for short). The world loved these things, and there was a good reason why that was. It was a simple, and very, very effective device. The P.R.I.C.K. was a magically-enhanced Upari crystal that some aging unicorn discovered some years ago. He learned that if he sent a continuous and concentrated stream of magic into the stone, it would be able to interact with other magically-enhanced Upari crystals dozens or hundreds of kilometers away. Further experimentations had apparently led to the discovery of short-distance telecommunications, and the rumor around is that the same unicorn was working to establish a means of communication from coast to coast. A lofty goal. But a feasible one. The only problem that came with the P.R.I.C.K. was that it required an arcane charge in order to become 'tuned' to another crystal. But for most of the world, that was not a hard thing. In Alti however, that was a different story. The Griffins were sometimes looked at as brutish and harsh creatures, and them being one of the few mainly carnivorous creatures in a mostly vegetarian world made a good deal of unicorns hesitant when deciding whether or not to move to Alti. But the unicorns that did move up there that knew how to send a focused beam of pure magic suddenly got themselves quite a fortune very quickly. "This is Area 42B contacting Checkpoint A. Are you guys doing any noise experiments down there?" "Negative Area 42B; no noise tests are occurring down here." "Roger that. Did you hear a high pitch whine a few seconds ago?" "Negative Area 42B; no noises down here." "Roger that, over and out." Griphook put down the P.R.I.C.K. and walked back over to his partner. "Apparently they heard nothing down there." "Well, that's weird. Oh well; must be someone else doing something that they can't tell us about," Griphook stated as he took his position at the side of the door. A minute or so passed without any new noise appearing, causing Griphook and Pile to relax. And that's when the vault door dissolved into ashes on the floor behind them, and before they could react, something heavy and blunt slammed into the back of their heads. The soldiers lost consciousness immediately, and with no time to react to the threat. As the soldiers fell to the floor, a tall shape walked out of the room. An eerie dark red light pulsed on its right hand as it stepped over the unconscious soldiers, and snatched the faintly-glowing crystal. "Sorry about your prick being late." Starbrought The royal guard had one rule hammered into their heads from day one of basic training: when on duty, remain still as stone. Silent Breeze was finding that rule more than a little difficult to follow. The alien prisoner had taken to singing in an ear-grating, yet catchy off-key manner. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. There they are, standing in a row! Big ones, small ones, some the size of your head! Give 'em a twist, a flick of the wrist. That's what the showman said!" "For the love of the Creators, shut your trap!" A prisoner further down the cell block shouted. "I can barely hear myself think over your cat-calling, you jerk!" The alien pressed his face against the bars of his cell, determined to glare at the other prisoner. "How about you shut yours? That song's been a part of civilization for almost a thousand years. Respect the classics!" "Both of you, shut it!" Silent Breeze snapped. "Prisoners are supposed to be quiet!" "That wasn't mentioned during orientation," the alien quipped. "Also, I didn't get my free peanuts. How do you expect me to be a compliant prisoner without my free peanuts?" "There were peanuts?" Silent Breeze pressed a hoof to his temple as a third prisoner spoke up. He gave a start as the door leading to the castle proper creaked open, then snapped to attention as Princess Cadance poked her head through the threshold. The guard snapped to attention. "Your Highness!" Cadance jumped at the sound of the guard's voice. "Oh! Sorry. Didn't see you there." "Of course, Ma'am." Silent Breeze couldn't help but take notice of the Princess' jumpy nature, and how her gaze seemed to be focused on examining the cells. "Is there something I can help you with, Your Highness?" "As a matter of fact," Cadance began, slowly dragging out the words as if she were only half paying attention. "Could you direct me to the cell of our newest... arrival?" A look of mild confusion crossed Breeze's face. "Of course, Ma'am. But, why?" "I have an offer to make him." Starbrought Slayer's eyes opened. Something didn't feel right. Straightening himself from his relaxed position in the cart, he glanced out the back of the cloth curtain. In the far distance, giant mounds of sand sat like silent guardians of the desert. Two Zebra caravan-guards flanked the wagon, but neither noticed the awoken assassin. 'Where the bloody hell am I again?' Slayer mused to himself as he observed the interior. Flasks and vials of all sorts (containing a variety of bubbly liquids that were most likely not consumable) sat on secured racks, alongside golden trinkets and admittedly beautifully crafted furnishings with intricate designs. In a brief rush, the revelation of his situation became apparent once more. 'Holy shit. This looks serviceable to be a pirate's hoard.' A grin appeared under his mask as his hand slithered towards a small pouch brisling with gold coins. 'I believe it is safe to believe that I could get away with a small profit. Never know if I may be stuck here awhile...' Before Slayer could firmly grasp the bag, the cart abruptly came to a halt. "Hapa sisi ni!" came a voice coming around the covered wagon. Thinking quickly and without repercussion, Slayer nabbed the fabric purse and slipped it into his utility belt alongside his grenades. The door was then whipped back, exposing the caravan master that Slayer had conversed with previously. He motioned with his hoof for the hitman to remove himself, and so he did. The orbiting sun was still as scorching as ever, and it made itself known as Slayer was forced to have to endure its' blinding light. Tilting his head down to avoid the rays some, he followed after the Zebra as they came back around the cart once again. Rounding the front, it became quickly apparent that they were now nestled in the gateway of a large village. Sandstone walls marked the perimeter of the community, and through the narrow and visible passage of the entrance, Slayer could see nearly barbaric architecture in the form of double-story buildings, making a claustrophobic trail. "Nazar, nyumba zetu." Slayer glanced down at his guide, who gave him a nod. "Kuja, Interloper. Hebu kutembea." 'What did he call me? "Interloper?" I wonder if that is a Galactic Basic cognate...' Slayer quickly realized something; their language, as archaic as it was, did sound faintly odd. Like he had heard it before. Perhaps he had stumbled across something similar in a holovid regarding a contract, or even just old history back before becoming a bounty hunter was even an option. As the party began traversing the streets of the settlement, Slayer began digging through the Suit's programs. Eventually, he stumbled across what he had been looking for: the built-in translation software. With a command-prompt thought issued, the application booted up. The only thing Slayer needed was some test dialogue to narrow down the language field. "Where exactly are you taking me?" Slayer asked. His guide glanced up at him with interest, but it was obvious that the words' meaning was lost. A groan threatened to rise out of the assassin's throat. 'Great. If I want to get anywhere with this, I have to play more Galactic Charades.' So he mimed pointing to himself, then down the street, before ending his series of movements with a shrug. It took several moments, but eventually the Zebra understood the gist of what Slayer had meant. "Wazee wa kikabila wanataka kusema na wewe," the equine stated with a shrug of his own. Slayer merely blinked behind his mask. How a quadruped was able to manipulate its shoulders to resemble a gesture that was really only anatomically possible with a bipedal form was beyond the warrior. An indicator decided to reveal itself onto Slayer's HUD, with the results of the translation. '"Field narrowed... 46 possible languages fit the test dialogue."' Slayer's brow scrunched in worry. 'Hmm. I wonder if I can shrink that range even further.' "Have you encountered a being that looks similar to me?" Slayer wasn't entirely sure how to charade the question, but he hoped that just speaking would elicit more language to analysis. It proved a meager success. "Mimi sijui nini tu alisema," the Zebra replied with a shake of its head. The warrior had no clue if the meaning behind his question reached the alien, but the ping of another prompt drew his focus away. There were four potential languages that had a match. Slayer needed just one more chunk. For inspiration on what to pantomime, Slayer glanced around his surroundings. The bustling activity of the city astounded him. Small children bobbed and weaved underfoot of massive throngs of merchants, pickpocketing whatever they could. Wares were brazenly displayed hanging from racks attached to stands, their owners loudly proclaiming their goods. Despite Slayer being utterly foreign to them, the traders did not hesitate to wave down the assassin to examine rugs, baubles, and other trinkets. Down an alleyway, an old Zebra gathered water from a well. "Do you have any water?" Slayer cupped his hand and acted of taking a drink from it. He was initially met with a confused brow by his escort, before recognition arose on the sentients' face. The caravan leader offered a corked bottle to him. Cautiously, Slayer made a show of mistrust at the proffered vial. "Usijali; maji ni si sumu." It was obvious those words were meant to assure the man, but personally Slayer could care less about what the translation was. The final ping had arrived on his visor. The translator had narrowed down the sample dialogues to one language. 'Swahili,' Slayer muttered in his head. It was awkward for him to say, but he did faintly recognize it. Where he recognized it from, however, was not entirely relevant to him at that time. 'At least I got their language. Let's give it a test-run...' "We will be meeting with the Elders soon, Interloper," the Zebra stated quietly, his accent obvious through the translator's effort to provide live feedback. Slayer had to suppress thrusting his fist into the air as victory. He would now be able to facilitate communications with the equine race, and then be able to ask specifically for the whereabouts of his Captain. Things were on the up and up, in his eyes. The assassin had almost been tempted to try out the language himself. However, before he could formulate his first comprehensible sentence, he was abruptly ushered into the flaps of a large tent. Slayer had, admittedly, zoned out during his translating efforts, and not even realized they were approaching the tent. He made a note to remain more aware of his surroundings in the future. The next several seconds upon entering the tent was a blur of words quickly passed from one Zebra to another, and Slayer being sat down in front of a smoking pit-fire. Across from him in a ragged semi-circle laid five, decrepit Zebras. Their age was prominent by the wrinkles on their muzzles, and the grey in their manes. To his left, Slayer briefly saw the end of the caravan leader finishing a parody of a kowtow. "Elders. I have brought the Interloper, as you requested." Slayer could only raise a brow under his visor. '"As you requested?"' His eyes glazed over the throng in front of him. 'They had not only been expecting me, but asked for an audience as well? This may either prove to be very bad, or very good.' The center Zebra, whom Slayer could only guess was the most important of the Elders, gave a nod. "Thank you, Shamon. You say that you were unable to communicate with him, yes?" Shamon nodded in kind. "Yes, Elder. It appears the Interloper has a language, but it is unlike any dialect the Minotaurs have ever spoken. To my knowledge, of course." Slayer's eyes widened. Minotaurs? As in, the ancient mythical being from a story that had been brought back from Earth? The ex-bounty hunter recalled the beast well; half bull, half man, all murderous rage and muscle. If there was an entire race of them on this planet... Slayer could not help but gently gulp. "Perhaps that is because we do not believe this Interloper to be one of the Minotaurs," the center Elder said again. The old male (Slayer would presume that the Zebra would be referred to as a 'stallion') squinted at the metal-clad man. "I will admit, I am not sure how we will be able to communicate with the Interloper. But, an opportunity will be presented to us, I am sure." "Indeed it will," Slayer said out-loud. The translator automatically turned the Galactic Basic into Swahili, accented but still fairly recognizable. Obviously, the only rational response any of the Zebras could do was have their jaws drop. "You can speak our language?" The caravan leader, Shamon, muttered. The incredulous tone amused Slayer relentlessly, nearly causing his stoic tone of voice to waver as he began talking. "Quite. Although, this is a recent development." From his cross-legged sitting position, Slayer gave a deep nod. He may be a hitman and assassin, but Slayer was still capable of showing respect where it was due. Especially if those people ended up being useful to the man later on. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My translator had only recently transcribed your language into something I could understand." While Slayer didn't notice, the other Zebras glanced around in confusion. The Interloper had come alone. Where was his translator? Shaking it away, Slayer was addressed by the center Elder. "I am chieftain of Nazar. My name is Imamu. What is yours?" As custom whenever he introduced himself properly to another, Slayer brought his closed fist to his chest. Though, unlike his usual introduction, he was forced to omit some incriminating data. Which was most of his greeting. "I am Slayer. Warrior of my tribe from the stars." Truly, Slayer had no clue what he was actually saying. For all he knew, the Zebras would reject the notion of intergalactic travel and condemn him on the spot for blasphemy. Thankfully, Elder Imamu seemed forgiving. That did not stop the skeptical tone from entering his voice. "We had presumed you were not of the desert. But the claim you are making requires proof. Do you have some?" Slayer's brow furrowed. According to the interpretation he could make, the Zebras were indeed not the ones who had stumbled onto the Ethereal, and therefore were not involved with the kidnapping of Drake. Still, they could just as easily have been lying to the assassin. Which would be a poor choice on their part. "Shamon." The aforementioned Zebra seemed surprised to hear his name leave the Interloper. "Could you vouch for me on this matter?" "The Interloper speaks the truth. I have seen him in combat. He can shoot fire without magic." Curiosity ranged wildly across the Elders' faces. "Could you please demonstrate this?" Slayer snorted, and then stood. If a show of superior technology was what they wanted, then a show of superior technology was what they were going to get. Investigating the floor of the tent revealed a section of exposed sand, an unusual splotch taking into account the sandstone that composed the walkways of the city. Before anyone could consider to stop him, Slayer drew one of his Sabre Shots, and fiddled with the power setting briefly. Slayer had three settings. Stun, Kill, and Overkill. For this demonstration, he chose Overkill. Aiming down, he twitched his trigger-finger. The result was a powerful bolt of energy rocketing out of the barrel of the pistol, before finding purchase on the sandy section. Heat and light kicked up, frightening and almost blinding the non-human occupants within the tent. A few moments passed, before Slayer bent down and grabbed something from the scorch. The assassin walked briskly back in front of the Elder crescent, and presented the product of his little experiment. Clutched betwixt two digits was a small, jagged orb of pure glass. While no individual could witness it, Slayer smugly smirked behind his mask at the dumbfounded expressions meeting him. "Is this sufficient evidence?"
Starbrought	Chapter Seven - Nerve-Wracking Negotiations	Starbrought Slayer absentmindedly tapped a finger against his knee as he waited. The Zebra council had asked the bounty hunter to leave their tent so that they could discuss him in private, and so he waited a short distance away, sitting on a stone bench. Shamon had been delegated to watch over Slayer and make sure that nothing went wrong, and was propped against the wall closest to the bench. For a time, Shamon had tried to establish some small-talk with the metal-clad warrior. But each attempt was shot down by brooding silence. Eventually, Shamon stopped trying a conversation altogether, and began busying himself with watching lazy sand particles drift through the desert air. "What is taking your Elders so long?" The response was accompanied by a shrug. "I am not sure. They are probably just weighing whether you are a threat or not, Mr. Slayer." A grunt left the hitman. "Just 'Slayer' will be fine, Shamon." Idly, Slayer went to scratch his chin, before he realized he was wearing a face-mask and growled. Sometimes, the Suit really got in the way for him. Standing up abruptly, Slayer addressed his escort. "I don't exactly appreciate being treated like a criminal, you know." 'Even though I damn well am one,' Slayer quipped to himself with a snark in the back of his skull. His Zebra acquaintance was quick to placate. "You must understand; these are tough times to just blindly trust. The Elders are just ensuring amongst themselves that they can trust you." Shamon shook his head, causing his long locks to wave in the wind. "It is nothing personal towards you. I assure it." The words caused Slayer to quietly examine the equine. "...Do you trust me?" Shamon remained silent, his brow furrowed as he processed the question. Neither said anything for awhile. "I... I believe I do. You had saved both my life, as well as that of my kin's at the risk of your own. You asked for no reward, and had no hidden intention. So, yes; I trust you." The gentle smile offered to Slayer forced his brain to fully absorb what was said. 'How wrong this little Zebra is. Had I more foresight, I would have ransomed you back to your people for a significant profit and for Drake.' The soldier's face tightened. 'Knowing that he trusts me, and that his people may have nothing to do with Drake's disappearance, though... I'm not entirely sure if I could still.' Before either party could say anything further on the matter, another Zebra approached. He gave a nod of respect towards Shamon, but coldly addressed Slayer. "The Elders are ready to speak with you again, Interloper." Slayer snorted behind his visor; whether the name was said out of ignorance or arrogance was unknown. 'Doesn't really matter, I guess,' Slayer considered as he was once again sat down in the tent. The crescent of senior Zebras appeared the same as before to Slayer. The only notable difference was that they all seemed more... on-edge. Strained, somehow. As if it was taking their entire wealth of willpower to remain sitting, and composed. Slayer gave a predatory grin. This could be very advantageous. "Could you please inform us as to why you are in our country?" Elder Imamu's voice wasn't necessarily terse, but the easy-going undertone prior to Slayer's little presentation was gone. Slayer's eyes squinted in contemplation. The truth was a powerful thing, and left little room to work with if they didn't like it. Then again, lying dug a very big hole to climb out of. If discovered. The assassin shrugged. "I happened to crash-land my ship in your desert. Pure coincidence, actually." It wasn't exactly a lie as it was a denial of the full truth. A half-truth, if you would. Slayer mused that perhaps all of his answers would have to follow a similar format. Imamu gave a nod. "What is your species, if you could elaborate?" "It's not very important, to be honest." Slayer rolled the glass orb from his experiment around his palm casually. For some reason, he decided to keep it around instead of just throwing it away. "All that is important is that my species was having a war. Me and my crew-mates wanted nothing to do with it. So we fled. And we crashed." "Your crew-mates?" Imamu tilted his head in confusion. "I see no one with you. Where are they?" "That's what I want to find out." Straightening his back, Slayer spoke with a bit more authority in his tone. The other Elders, no doubt still shaken by Slayer's demonstration earlier, tensed their muscles by an almost incalculable amount. "When I came to, my pilot was missing, and my engineer unconscious. Through some investigation and logical follow-through, I discovered some hoof-prints in the sand next to my ship." The Elders cumulatively squinted. Slayer didn't have to fully voice his accusation. "Are you implying that you believe that we had something to do with your pilot's disappearance?" Another shrug. "Not precisely. But to my current knowledge, you are the only present sentient race here that has hooves." While the sadistic grin wasn't prevalent to the Zebras, the sensation carried itself through his words. "And I intend to exact significant revenge on whoever kidnapped my pilot." Imamu flicked questioning eyes towards Shamon, who stood behind Slayer once again watching the spectacle known as negotiations play out. Shamon met the Elder's gaze with a shake of his head. Imamu looked relieved. "When did you crash-land, you say?" "I didn't." Slayer retorted, watching the sapient equines' unease with a vague hint of relish. It really was too easy. "It was some days ago, though. I do recall a meteor shower occurring as we crashed. In fact, that was the sole reason why we did." An intake of breath sounded out within the tent behind Slayer. "The Night of the Falling Skies..." A curious brow rose behind Slayer's visor. "The Night of the Falling Skies? Elaborate." "It's a rare event that happens once every one-thousand years," Shamon's explanation floated in the silent tent. "Princess Luna from the lands of Equestria would pull meteors from the stars and unleash a shower to commemorate the loss of her oldest friend. Who that friend is, no one knows." A light, thoughtful sound left the assassin. "Who is this 'Princess Luna', exactly?" Shamon tapped his hoof on the ground softly in thought. He was having some difficulty considering how to explain it to an interplanetary foreigner. "Princess Luna is an Alicorn. One of the co-rulers of Equestria, the kingdom of the Ponies. They had sent an envoy to convene with me some time ago to establish trade with my kin." Slayer's back stiffened. 'Ponies? Those are prepubescent horses. Horses have hooves. Zebras talked to a Pony escort a few days ago. We crashed a few days ago. And if the Zebras know nothing about Drake? Wait a fucking tic...' The sudden shift of Slayer's head to fully address Shamon caused the Elders to flinch unnoticed. They were no doubt thankful for this fact as Slayer spoke. "When exactly did you meet with these Ponies?" "I believe it was a day before The Night of the Falling Skies had occurred. Why?" The assassin nodded to himself. He had a hunch. A very strong one. Looking back towards the Elders, Slayer began speaking in a resolute tone. "I believe the... Equestrians, are responsible for my pilot's disappearance. If they're a convoy, then they no doubt stumbled upon my ship and extracted my pilot to bring him back with them." One of the nameless Elders spoke out. "How are you so sure that they are responsible?" Ice entered Slayer's voice. "Because if they didn't, and if no other sapient races with hooves are available to blame, that means your kin is to be held accountable for my pilot's current hostage state. And that isn't good for you." Imamu bristled. The two guards that had quietly entered the tent after Slayer's experiment drew stout staffs in defense. Slayer almost lazily glanced behind him for a moment, before returning his attention to the front. "Threatening us in our own city is hardly a wise move, Interloper." In a harsh blitz of speed, Slayer stood up and drew one of his Sabres. Without mercy he leveled the pistol and aimed it at a now-frightened Imamu. Slayer's patience, and Drake's time, were both running short. Things had to be moved along. "Getting in the way of me getting off this planet is hardly a wise move, beast." A few moments passed in tense silence. The guards were like springs, coiled and ready to incapacitate Slayer the very instant one of the Elders commanded it. "This is how it's going to work." Slayer began. His voice was like silk. "In return for me protecting your caravan, I demand passage to Equestria. If you will not give me said passage," Slayer made a move to click his Sabre to Kill, "I will simply start shooting until someone will." Shamon stood to the sidelines of this. And he was hardly believing his eyes. Elder Imamu, one of the most respected tribal leaders of Nazar--and by extension, the entire Zebra race--had just been threatened with his life by some unknown being from the sky clad in crimson armour and fire-projecting weapons. Imamu's fright had been suppressed with defiance. Slayer had to admit; the equines' inability to submit to violent coercion was something to be admired. "Do you even realize who you're threatening, Interloper? If you were to kill me, you would have to face hundreds of warriors in order to leave these city walls." "I, frankly, do not care." Slayer rolled his free wrist to loosen it. "I will do what I have to in order to get my pilot back, and get off this forsaken rock." A flexing of his hand unleashed several quiet pops as he held the sphere. Slayer's tone made his words not threats, but simple facts. "Besides, are you willing to sacrifice hundreds of your people for a dozen of some other people?" The Elder seemed mostly unperturbed, save for a small twitch. The other guards, meanwhile, couldn't suppress their audible gulps in time. "You underestimate the strength of our kin." "You underestimate my resolve." Imamu flinched fully this time. Clearly, Slayer's unwillingness to yield to the potential of being overwhelmed by sheer numbers was unexpected and astounding to the Elder. In all honesty, Slayer was pulling a major bluff. He knew that it would only take a small mob to win out over his arsenal, and he would quickly be systematically eliminated by sheer numbers alone. In hindsight, Slayer considered that going this route wasn't necessarily the best one. Actually, it was one of the worst possible situations he could have placed himself in. But he didn't have another option; amiable negotiations were infamous for being overly tedious, and underwhelmingly successful. Slayer had to introduce some... incentive. Otherwise, Drake's life could be compromised, and Slayer would be shit outta luck, all because he tried to be Mr. Nice Guy and attempted to handle things like a politician or a bureaucrat would. Slayer didn't enjoy wasting time when there were things to do, and this was one of those instances. Imamu glanced towards the other Elders, who showed no signs of getting in the way of the Sabre Shot pointed in their general direction. With a shaky sigh, he spoke. "Fine... I will get you your transport." He dejectedly looked over towards Shamon. "It seems your convoy will remain on course, Bwana Shamon. One passenger extra." Slayer blinked. The word hadn't been translated. It must of been a local term exclusive to the Zebra culture. Using some logical analysis, Slayer simply concluded that the foreign syntax was a rank of sorts. 'Strange that Shamon was not referred to this sooner... or that it was never mentioned at all during their initial greeting,' Slayer pondered. 'And apparently Shamon was riding towards Equestria before the dog-creatures attacked? This is too convenient for my liking...' Meanwhile, Shamon's mind was a whirlwind. Out of everything he had been expecting the space-born warrior to do, threatening the Elder council with their lives was hardly one of them. Perhaps he had been wrong; Slayer might had saved him and his kin purely for leverage later on. The thought depressed the leader of the Zebra nation. He had been hoping that this Slayer character would be a paragon of sorts to break the spine of the Diamond Dogs' war effort against the Zebras. Obviously, Slayer seemed to be anything but that. "As you wish, Elder." Imamu turned back towards Slayer, an unreadable expression on his face as the assassin had finally holstered his weapon. The Zebra guards likewise shouldered their staves, though more begrudging than Slayer did. "You may leave whenever you like, Interloper." The wrinkles on the aged muzzle seemed to deepen with sadness. "Please do not hurry coming back. You are no longer welcome amongst our kin." In another scenario, Slayer might have felt more remorse for what he had done. The Elders were senior citizens, and civilians on top of that. Threatening them to further goals was pathetic, and was overall a sign of an atrocious lack of honour on his part, which meant a lot to the warrior. But this scenario involved the potential death to the only competent twat who could fly the Ethereal. So honour had to be sacrificed for survival. 'An unfortunate thing to do', Slayer thought quietly. The assassin stood, and dipped his head deeper than he normally would. "I am sorry for doing this, but I have no other choice. If my pilot dies, I will have no way to leave this planet." Slayer turned, not wanting to look into the Elder's eyes. He had a mission to focus on. "I will depart immediately. Shamon, if you could please lead me back to your car-" "Where were you fleeing to?" Slayer stopped mid-step. The light howling of the wind outside was the only sound. Setting his heel down fully, he gave a half-glance towards Imamu. "Does it matter? If I get my pilot and repair my vessel, you won't have to worry about me ever again." "Sate my curiosity." There was a certain indescribable undertone to Imamu's voice. One that gave Slayer pause. He was not one to take orders well, and what the Zebra just said almost sounded like a command. Or was it a plea? The neutral look on the weary muzzle made it hard to discern. "Amuse an old beast." Slayer almost winced. The beast comment he made was a venomous bite that held no genuine poison in the soldier's heart. For a moment, Slayer considered just walking out the tent without another word. But, for some reason or another, Slayer decided to indeed sate Imamu's curiosity. To a point. "Me and my crew learned of a place separate from the warring factions of my people. It had been lost for hundreds of years, but we figured out where it was. When we tried to make the voyage, we had been attacked, and was forced to land here. On your world." Imamu squinted. Slayer mused that this was the reason why the Zebra had significantly more crow's feet than the other Elders. "Did you have any evidence that this place was even still there?" Slayer's face sagged a smidge, but the action went unnoticed behind the tinted glass. "No. We were simply running on hope." "Are you still hopeful you'll get there?" The question wasn't intrusive. Slayer didn't have to answer. Answering would only expose a potential weakness. Something a potential enemy could exploit. That was the last thing he needed, right? In fact, for what felt like eons, Slayer didn't respond. The stillness caused Shamon to shift uncomfortably. Subconsciously, the assassin rolled the glass orb around in his hand once more. Eventually, however, he gave a brief chuckle--one void of actual humor--and walked out saying only three words. "I hope so." Starbrought "Take a right up ahead," Gilded Feather yelled back as she ran down the hallway towards the vault at a speed that would have impressed a sprinter. "We're nearly there!" Her white lab-coat fluttered behind her as she sped through corridors, reminiscent of a cape in an old movie. Thoughts raced through her mind as her synapses fired, calculating nearly every move that she, the creature, or the soldiers could possibly make. Her colleague however, was not doing so well. To be fair; when you're in your late 50's, what would one expect? The much older, and out of shape Glass Wing was struggling to even get into a running speed as his hips were hurting him immensely. He wheezed and coughed as he moved as fast as he could, his lab-coat staying right on his back where it belonged. He looked up to see his colleague moving away from him at a rapid speed, and soon she disappeared from view. "Doc...cough... Doctor, do you mind slowing down for a moment? Doctor?!" Glass yelled as loud as he could, which sadly forced a small coughing fit to develop. Glass waited for a moment, hoping that he was not too far behind. After a small bit of time passed, he was starting to get worried. "Fine," came the lone reply from down the corridor, forcing a small smile to appear on his old beak. He began to do a half-stumble/half-limp in the direction the voice came, which was the only way he could progress without having a heart-attack. Several moments later, the shape of a Griffon appeared in the Doctor's vision. However, several more steps later caused the lone shape of the Griffon to be split into several more shapes. Glass stopped for a moment and squinted, trying to get rid of what he thought was just his bad vision messing with him. The shapes did not go away, however, but instead got clearer and more precise. There was definitely more than one Griffon, and they were much bigger than the Doctor. 'Soldiers. Why did she go to the soldiers? She must know something my old self doesn't. Wait, that was a stupid thought. Of course she knows more than I do; she freaking works here!' As Glass got closer, he could see a clearer picture of what was happening. And what he saw worried him. Gilded Feather was in the middle of a semicircle of five fully-armed Griffon soldiers. They stood around five feet tall, and were built to par. However, the thing that caught his old eyes the most was the armor. The usual Griffon soldiers that he had seen had the same simple armor. They were a dark, midnight black chain and plate armor that covered their sides, chest and neck. There was a hole in the armor by the wings so that the soldiers could fly without interference. The wings themselves were not guarded, simply due to the fact that the extra weight could cause problems when it came to flying. The helmet however, was one of the main symbols of the Griffon race. It was similarly related to the helmets of the ancient Pegasus race and the modern day helmets of the Equestrian Royal Guard. However, there were some notable differences. For one, the helmets had a fortified section that went over the Griffon's beak to protect it from blows that could fracture the beak, and in general it was much stronger than the Equestrian version. Another difference was instead of the plume on top of the helmet, there was instead a traditional set of the soldiers' own feathers. These soldiers however, had different armor. Instead of the dark, midnight black commonly found on the persons of the usual rabble that composed the Griffon Army, they were a gleaming porcelain white, and the armor looked to be made of a different material than the usual steel armor. The feathers were still there, but there was also custom, flexible armor covering the wings. As Glass neared the circle of Griffons, he began to pick up words from the semicircle. "So, let me get this straight, Ma'am. You believe the sudden loss of power and tremors could have possibly been caused by a subject of yours, and that we need to instigate a Level-3 Lockdown of the section up ahead?" A gleaming white soldier with the stripes of Sergeant spoke to Feather in a very militant tone, with no hint of humor or sarcasm in his voice. He was a dull brown color, with sharp yellow eyes and a small scar running from his beak up to his right eye. "Yes Sergeant, I do," Feather said in a slightly panicked tone. She had a minor twitch in her legs, showing her nervousness at the situation. "And as someone like yourself must know, Doctor Feather, we cannot instigate a Level-3 Lockdown without proof of the action. So, could you please provide me some, Ma'am?" An awkward silence developed as Gilded Feather raked her mind to find some evidence that she could possibly use to convince the Sergeant to initiate the Lockdown. Beside her own opinion, which sadly the soldiers would not take into consideration due to their training, she had no evidence. "...No Sergeant, I cannot provide you any evidence as of now that this creature did cause this event," she said with a slightly saddened tone. "However, I do ask that you contact the guards in the room to ensure that nothing could have happened." The Sergeant considered this for a moment, before opening his beak again to respond. "Very well, Ma'am; that I can do for you. Private Iron, hand me the P.R.I.C.K." Behind him, a Private who responded with a 'yes sir', took one of the magical crystals out of his backpack. He handed it to the Sergeant, who opened up the channel to the guards in the room. "Private Griphook, this is Sergeant Diamond: please report in." Silence filled the room as no reply was given by the guards, and Feather felt her blood run cold. She had a bad feeling about what was going to happen, and her feelings were usually right. A look of confusion marred with irritation appeared on Sergeant Diamond's beak. "Private! Report in!" Once again, silence filled the already quiet room. "Sergeant, I do believe this is proof that something happened in that room. Can you start the Lockdown, please?" Feather whispered in a hushed voice. The rest of the soldiers looked around, a small bit of fear emerging on their usually stone-cold visages. The Sergeant took a minute to think, which allowed Glass to finally join the group, although a bit behind the rest of the soldiers. "Ma'am, I'm sorry to say but this does not prove that this creature was the one that caused the problem. Perhaps the tremors may have damaged their P.R.I.C.K., or the channel is down for whatever reason." The distraught expression that came over Feather's face made the Sergeant backpedal slightly. "However, since there is no way to be sure of this, I shall lead my squad to investigate what happened regardless. And if the creature has escaped, it shall be subdued. You can be rest assured, Ma'am." The other soldiers grunted in approval, their minds filled with a pride that had been drilled into them. Glass took this as his cue to step in, mostly because he had something to say. And from the look of Feather, she may have had something along the same lines until she noticed him. He gulped, and hoped that these formidable looking soldiers would listen to an old Griffon like himself. "Sergeant, with all due respect, I don't believe you understand what you're dealing with," Glass said with the clearest, most straightforward voice he could manage. "The creature that we were... are dealing with, is unlike anything we've ever dealt with or seen. I don't think-" He was cut off by one of the soldiers rapidly turning around and drawing his sword, before pointing the razor sharp blade directly at Glasses' neck. The poor old Griffon's eyes got so wide they looked like dinner plates. The blade was a pure white color, with light gleaming off its surface. It fit the Private's talon perfectly. The blade was double edged, with the two sides meeting in the middle of the blade to form a stabbing point. "Calm down, Private! He's my colleague on the project," Feather yelled as she grabbed the Private's arm and pushed it away showing a surprising amount of force. Nearly instantly after that, Sergeant Diamond grabbed the Private on the shoulder and pulled him back before exchanging a stare that said everything without saying anything. An awkward silence followed, while Feather helped Glass calm down a bit, which in Glasses' opinion was an odd turn from her usual cold personality. The hallway was filled with the usual silence that came with hallways inside secret mountain bases. The only other sound that could be heard was the small hum from the lights that lit up the hallway. So, it may have been a bit of a surprise when suddenly, out of the blue, the lights turned off. "OK, you guys really need to work on your power supplies. I mean, come on," Glass complained. Two of the Privates pulled out glow sticks and activated them. A faint neon glow filled the corridor, which allowed everyone to see a small distance into the now pitch-black hallway. "Dr. Feather, you don't think that our little friend could have been involved with this, do you?" "I wouldn't put it past him. That's why we're in this situation to begin with, right?" "...Doctor. Say that the creature does show up while the guards are here. What will happen?" "To make it short and sweet?" A sigh left the hen. "They'll try to reason with it, and if that does not work they will use any necessary force to either capture it or prevent it from escaping. And if worse comes to worse, they'll kill it," Feather stated with remorse in her voice. Wing gave an odd expression, like he could not believe what would happen. "What? That makes no sense!" "It doesn't need to make sense. Down here, security is placed higher than above all else, even life. You know, all that for the greater good and such," Feather said, nearly copying the speech that was given to her at the orientation. "What could be hidden down here that would cause you to do something like that?!" "Like I said before, I don't know. However, you can guess that due to the severity of the rules, that it's something big." While their conversation had been going on, Diamond and the other Griffons had been trying to get in contact with the power room to get a sit-rep, but with no results. The power room head engineer explained that the mountain's power supply had a sudden loss in power, and the engineers couldn't understand or explain what had happened. "Sergeant Diamond, can you come here, sir?' Diamond turned around to see one of the Privates pointing out into the darkness. "What is it?" "Sir, there's a light down there, or something along those lines." Diamond peered into the darkness, and sure enough, there was a very dim, red light at the end of the darkness. It did not appear to be moving. "Doctors, come here for a moment," Diamond called and waited as the Doctors came over. "Do you two see that light out there?" They both looked, or squinted in Glasses' case, but soon enough both nodded. "Any idea what it is?" "No idea," Glass said back, clearly becoming nervous. This was right out of a ghost story, and those usually turned into horror stories. Before Feather could get out her response, the light suddenly disappeared, returning the dark hallway to what it was before. The group of Griffons stood in silence, their minds trying to explain what the light could have possibly been. "Perhaps we should go and check it-" Doctor glass was cut off by the Sergeant raising his right talon. "Don't even think about it. I'm not going to risk my life, my soldiers lives and yours to go and investigate an unknown object in a dark hallway. We could get ambushed or anything along those lines." Before anyone could mutter out a response, the P.R.I.C.K. suddenly received a message from the power station. "To all sectors currently without power, we apologize for any inconveniences that have occurred. Power to all sectors will be restored momentarily. If any more problems continue, please contact Maintenance at once." "Well, that's good news," Glass said with a happy tone. "Sergeant, when the lights come back on, will we be able to continue our journey to the creature?" "Yes. I don't believe I was told your name, Mr...?" "Dr. Wing. Glass Wing, sir." The officer quirked an eyebrow at the aging Griffon. "Is this your first day down here, Dr. Wing?" "Yes it is." "Hell of a first day then," Diamond let out with a laugh, which sounded forced coming from such a grizzled vet. "I guess you can say it is," Glass said back with the same little laugh at the end. He however, was suddenly blinded as a rush of something white eclipsed his vision. 'I take it this would be the power coming back on. Funny, it wasn't this bright before.' As his vision cleared, he noticed that there was something dark in front of him. He squinted again, but still could not see anything. He heard Feather gasp, and several of the soldiers cursed. "Did something happen?" Glass asked with a questionable tone, wondering what exactly was happening. "Nobody move. We don't want to startle it," he heard Feather blurt out, a slightly terrified tone to her voice. "Startle what?" "Doctor, open your eyes. We have a guest." Diamond's voice was calm and authoritative. Glass opened his eyes--when he closed them, he couldn't recall--and was shocked at what precisely his eyes were telling his brain. Standing maybe twenty feet away was the exact same creature that he had just been studying thirty minutes ago. However, it was not bound and lying on a table. It, or rather he, was standing up on his legs, and he was tall. He easily stood over six feet in height, towering over the soldiers and nearly scrapping the ceiling with his head. He wore the same set of sandy black clothes that he had come in with, and a pair of ruined coverings on his feet. He was a peach color, with what looked like a mane of shaggy and dirty brown hair. He had what looked like a faded scar on his right forearm, though the origin of what may have caused it was unknown to the Griffon party at that time. He seemed to be well built, with very little fat on him at all from what they could see, and from what the doctors had learned when they examined the lower part of his body. They had been stopped due to Glass getting rather hungry, much to Feather's silent annoyance. They could not see the color of his eyes, but they could tell that he was just surprised to see them as they were to see him. However, the thing that worried them the most was the glowing red glove on his right hand. Glass could see the soldiers clutching their weapons, just in case the situation got out of hand. The creature was giving them a puzzling look, and it took a moment before Glass could figure out what the look was. He was being inspected and looked over, as well as every other Griffon in his group, and the same was happening from the soldiers. To put it simply, they were sizing each other up, and that had led to a standoff. A tense standoff had developed, but that was soon shattered by a single, unknown sentence. "C'est nouveau," The creature spoke in a deep voice, the sound echoing off the walls of the hallway. The language was unrecognizable, but had a definite accent to it. None of the Griffons answered back his response, but several gulps were heard. However, at least one Griffon was happy. "This.... this is amazing! Out of anything that could have happened, and of all the creatures, I finally get one that can speak! To be fair, it's in a language that I can't understand, but still! This is the best day ever," Glass exclaimed as he practically hopped around the narrow hall. Even in the oddity of the situation, both the creature and the rest of the group turned around and stared at the Doctor. The creature had a slight smile on its face, as if he was unsure if he found the whole situation funny. "Uh... sorry about him. I guess he's somewhat excited," Feather said as she face-taloned at her colleague's odd behavior. "Je n'ai aucune idee de ce que vous dites," the creature said back in its odd language. Feather was able to catch a word that sounded like their own word idea, but the rest of what he said was meaningless. Feather was confused, and for one of the first times in her life she truly had no idea what to do. She had gotten a degree in Cryptozoology, and most of the creatures she had been studying did not speak any language besides grunts and tweets. "Pouvez-vous me comprenez?" No one answered, but a cricket decided to voice its thought on the creature. Thankfully, none of the soldiers nor the bipedal being could understand the small insect, else they would have blushed at the vulgar word-choice. "Prenant cela comme une no. God damn traducteur! Je blâme Slayer. Fatass probablement assis sur elle." "We have no idea what you're saying," Glass interrupted, and it appeared that his sudden bout of energy had gone away. He thought for a moment. Maybe they could establish communications if he spoke slowly? "My. Name. Is. Glass Wing. Do. You. Understand. Me?" "Je. Ne. Peux. Comprendre. Que. Vous. Veuillez. Arrêter. De. Parler. Comme. Ce." the creature said in a tittering response. "Doctor, what is it saying? "Uh... It appears to be mocking Dr. Glass, Sergeant." "Well that's rather rude. I've done nothing to it!" "Je me suis reveille sans pantalon. Vous avez fait quelque chose," the creature's tone grew to one of annoyance. It drew up its hand and pointed towards itself, making the guards reach a bit closer to their weapons. "Mon nom est Yuri. Yyyyyuuuuurrrriiiiii." He said, drawing out the last word. It took Glass and Feather a moment to realize what he was saying, but it told them something very, very important. "Your name is Yuri?" Feather took a step forward, and noted that the creature shifted its stance a bit. "A pris you long Assez." Feather began to open her beak to remark that what the creature had said was a mixture of his foreign tongue and Equestrian, but the P.R.I.C.K. in Diamond's bag suddenly went off with a brisk ring. The creature named Yuri looked on in intrigue as Diamond took out the object and put it to his ear. "This Is Sergeant Diamond. Ye- Yes sir, I'm sorry for not responding to your call. We were called away due to a Class 4 situation that-" The Griffon paused for a moment. "Yes, a Class 4. No- no, we don't have the subject in binds yet. He's trying to commu-" Sergeant Diamond trailed off, face contorting in surprise. "But sir, he's not making any moves to try to escape or become hostile. I mean, he was mocking one of the Doctors..." Another interruption led to him sighing. "Yes sir, I understand," Diamond put the P.R.I.C.K back in his bag, and called to his guards into a circle. After a few moments of rapid discussion, the group turned around and stepped in front of the Doctors. A rattle was heard, and a pair of taloncuffs emerged from the bag. The creature's face suddenly turned from a look of confusion to a look of anger as it fell into a defensive position. "Sergeant, what are you doing?!" "I'm sorry Doctors, but I need you to back up. Colonel Hard Rock ordered me to take this... thing into custody by using all available and necessary force." As if by command, all of the soldiers drew their swords and took to a fighting stance. The corridor was a tight space, so flying in a combat situation would be limited. "Creature by the name of Yuri, I hereby in the name of Leo take you into custody. You have no rights, and if you do not meet this order, we will respond with the necessary amount of force to incapacitate you," Diamond said in the cold, emotionless voice that most soldiers spoke in. "Will you comply?" Yuri stared at them, his eyes digging into their chests. His glove, which had stopped glowing the dark, crimson red suddenly turned back on as it illuminated with the light of Celestia's Sun. The guards held firm as he moved the glove up to his chest, before moving into what looked like a fighting stance. The glove began emitting a high-pitched whine like it was charging up. A slight shimmer appeared in front of Yuri, before disappearing. "Come get me, you feathered fucks." They came. Starbrought Slayer was really beginning to despise the color yellow. Feeling as if he had been drowning in it, the offensive element of the spectrum assaulted his eyes to the point of a felony charge. He had to endure staring at the same, damn bloody yellow marring the stones, the sands, and everything in between for far too long. He could hardly wait to be free of the desert. The quaint hum-drum of Nazar floated lazily through the Solaris Suit's speakers, filling Slayer's eardrums with the bustle of the bazaar he had encountered earlier that day. His steel boots pinged off as they marched down the sandstone path, Shamon in tow. Shamon had not said anything to Slayer since they had left the Elder's presence, and it was starting to bug the assassin. Slayer glanced towards his acquaintance, a contemplative expression being donned on the striped muzzle. "I am sorry that I was forced to threaten your Elders." Slayer was never good with apologizing. Or with using tactful euphemisms. Or with small-talk in general, really. "It is fine." From the tone of Shamon's voice, Slayer could definitely tell that it certainly was not. Slayer pursed his lips as the pair descended a brief bit of stairs. He was feeling much more guilt and regret than he had originally anticipated. Why was this affecting him so? They were aliens, sapient equines from an entirely different galaxy. Why did he care? Why did it seem unfeasible to just ignore the aggressive intimidation he had put that assembled council through, and proceed towards more important matters? Shamon gave a tired sigh, and glanced up towards Slayer. The height difference was so monumentally great that the Zebra almost had to strain his head to look into Slayer's visor. "Look; I understand why you did what you did. So don't feel as if you must apologize to me." The bounty hunter shook his head. "I do not apologize because I feel like I need to. I apologize because I wish to." This was another of Slayer's half-truths, as he did feel like Shamon was entitled to an actual apology. After all, Shamon gave him food. Said Zebra gave a snort, which only prompted Slayer to continue. "I am currently stranded on an unknown planet, with my ship in tatters and the remnants of my crew scattered. I've been attacked by alien dogs on two separate occasions. My mind is stressed, frustrated, and above all else revengeful against those who kidnapped my pilot. It is hardly fair to hold my actions on what I felt I needed to do to survive against me--" "Would you have followed through with your threat if Elder Imamu had not given in?" The abrupt question made Slayer stop, and Shamon paused in front of him soon after. Would he have? It was a question he himself had been mulling over ever since he had passed through those fabric flaps of the Elder's tent some minutes prior. After a few moments, Slayer formulated an answer. "To be honest; no. The worst I would have done is fire warning shots a safe distance away from potential casualties. I will not sacrifice my morality to further my own goals, at least not to that extent." Slayer needed to tread carefully. He needed the Zebra to remain friendly. Shamon was Slayer's only available lifeline. Severing it would do little in the effort of rescuing Drake, and inevitably repairing the Ethereal. 'Although that latter option may very well be improbable...' The recollection brought forth depressing thoughts. Perhaps Slayer was fucked either way. Even with Drake, the planet may not even hold the necessary materials needed to rebuild key components. All that tedious mucking about through sand could have potentially been all for naught. The faint notion pissed him off. Shamon stared silently at Slayer, neither of them having continued on their way to the awaiting caravan some city blocks away. Imperceptible to the common individual, Slayer noted Shamon's leg muscles flexing in thought. Eventually, another sigh left the Zebra. "I suppose you are right. I cannot blame you for what you did. While I personally may not have taken the same measures you have, you are from a place that seems to run on warfare. With no knowledge of how we function as a society, the only sound thing to do was to presume the worst. However, the matter of trust between us is now an unknown. For now." Shamon gave a nod, mostly to himself, before he motioned back down the trail. "Shall we press on?" Slayer nodded, glad to be rid of the gnawing feeling of disgust at his despicable lack of honour. Hearing the withdrawal of trust left an odd, unsettling sensation in the pit of Slayer's stomach. For now though, as Shamon pointed out, he needed to focus on getting out of the desert, and into Equestria. 'At least for now,' Slayer thought. Shortly thereafter, the two were moving along once again, passing by shops both falling into vast disarray, and overloading with wealth from every nook and cranny. The stark contrast caused Slayer to pipe up. "Is your city suffering from economic troubles?" Shamon followed Slayer's ever-watching gaze to the run-down stalls paired next door to booming businesses. "Ah, not particularly. The empty shops and buildings you see are a result of the Diamond Dogs." There was that name again. Slayer had heard it once before in passing of two guards while he had been waiting for the Elders to reconvene with him. "Diamond Dogs? Are these the hounds that we had fought in the desert?" The Zebra gave a nod to a passing member of his kin, whom gave him a bow in return. The action made Slayer's mind tick. From everything that Slayer had been analyzing and observing, he was reaching an interesting conclusion: Shamon was either the leader of the Zebras--and therefore the Elders were merely his advisors whom he deeply respected--or Shamon was a member of some prominent royal family, and the Elders held the true power. The assassin grumbled internally. He could have made a bloody fortune. "Yes," Shamon said, bringing Slayer back to reality. "The very same. Over the past several months, multiple packs of Diamond Dogs have been regularly assaulting our cities, pillaging our caravans, and even taking prisoners as slaves within our borders. Nazar has been hit the hardest." He waved a hoof in front of him, as they had arrived back into the marketplace. His tone only became heavier than when he had begun talking about the Dogs. "What you see before you? This is how many of our kin we lose in a fortnight." Slayer took a hard look. There were a lot of Zebras. At least a hundred from their current view, with no doubt hundreds more out of sight. How these seemingly unorganized beasts, these Diamond Dogs, achieved such successful raids in the span of two weeks befuddled the assassin, and perturbed him. He understood the value of a prisoner (he himself had taken a few on more than one occasion for credits and favours). That didn't mean he condoned it. Especially when it was civilians being forced into slavery. There was no honour in that. "What about the Equestrians? They are your allies; surely they must provide some aid against these attacks?" An almost mocking laugh left the Zebra, which surprised the assassin. "Ah, yes. Such great 'allies' the Equestrians are." He shook his head. "No, my kin and their kin do not share such a close relationship, despite us being of the same species. We have only recently established full trade, after all." Glancing back over his people, Shamon continued in the same dejected tone. "We've petitioned for assistance several times, each attempt coming back empty-hooved. The Equestrians want our wealth, not our troubles." Slayer was almost tempted to carry on the conversation, but realized there was anything of little importance he needed to voice. As such, another quiet (at least, what quiet that can surround one in a vibrant, thriving market) submerged the two as they inched closer and closer back towards the main gates of Nazar. Soon Slayer saw the main gate in sight, and began to stride towards it with greater purpose. He was stopped, however, by Shamon drawing his staff out of seemingly nowhere and blocking the assassin's progress. The hitman thankfully had enough control over his reflexes to not automatically snap the staff upon contact. Glancing down irritably, Slayer's body language perfectly depicted the silent asking. Shamon stepped in with a chuckle. "We did not stop in Nazar just for you, Slayer. We are here to gather supplies. Give me a few minutes to speak to my kin." And before Slayer could hope to rebuttal, Shamon deftly trotted off, staff hung on his back. 'I don't even recall him bringing that staff with him,' Slayer's mind muttered in thought. 'Where did he pull it from? A rip in the space-time continuum?' With Shamon's absence, Slayer noted that the sector of the city where he was now standing in had far less hustling of commoners dashing about. In fact, on the walkway Slayer found himself on in particular, there were hardly more than a dozen Zebras calmly milling about, most of them having the wear-and-tear of recent arrivals. Some carts stood idle just within the city gates, unattended save for a single guard. The assassin smiled a devious smirk. Upon closer examination as he approached, however, he realized one of the vessels was the same one he had rode in previously, and that the guard he faintly acknowledged was also part of Shamon's caravan-guard. Slayer groaned under his breath. 'Well, shit. So much for looting. If I got caught, there was no way I'd be able to negotiate my way out of it and retain my ride. Looks like I'll have to settle for what I pocketed already.' The smirk reemerged on his face. 'At least until I have some quiet time with the wagon.' Slayer patted his belt to assure himself that both the pouch stuffed snugly with golden coins was still on his person as well as the glass orb he decided to keep as a souvenir, and glanced around at his surroundings. Shamon could be gone a while; why not do a bit of shopping? He was starting to get peckish, after all. With casualty and subtlety, Slayer mosied on over to a food-stand built into one of the structures. There were apparently no walls within the visible space, so one could take full view of how the Zebra prepared his items. From the look of the shop, Slayer presumed it to be a curry shop of sorts. Those had become a rising rarity back home, where planets focused their resources more on atmospheric defenses and less on civilian entertainments. The owner of the establishment stood distracted, lazily cleaning some pots in a sink. Due to the open bar nature of the small store, Slayer walked right up to spitting distance and waited to be noticed. He had originally planned to just announce his presence outright, but he figured to have a little fun with the Zebra, and surprise him. Slayer hated being surprised, but loved surprising others. 'Karma will kill me one day.' It took a while for the Zebra to begin noticing anything. For several seconds, he seemed content to lightly whistle a tune to himself as he scrubbed away at a pan. Slayer watched, breath held when suddenly the stallion's nostrils flared. The Zebra paused, finally recognizing the Slayer-shaped shadow overtaking the sink. Slowly glancing up, the hitman met the equine and leaned in. The end result was a girlish scream, and said owner of girlish scream swiftly hiding behind the bar of the store. Slayer's eyes were alight with mirth, but he kept the humor out of his tone. "I apologize; I did not mean to frighten you." 'Bullshit,' Slayer thought automatically with a grin. "Oh holy divine, you nearly sent me to Tartarus." Slayer's curiosity rose significantly watching the middle-aged Zebra recover his wit. For one, he now had confirmation that the aliens had a religion of some sort, which was unusual to find amongst such... primitive people. The second thing Slayer noticed was the name Tartarus. That was another word that came from Earth. What was it, though? Slayer always had difficulty remembering. "As I said, I apologize. I was merely seeing if you had anything for sale." Shaking his head to dispel the previous fright, the stallion fully heard Slayer's words. "I do. My name is Wampum, and this is my shop. Anything edible in the desert, and beyond; I strive to provide." An almost mock bow was given towards the assassin. "How may I assist you?" At this point, Slayer was staring strongly towards the Zebra. He hadn't finished debating on whether Wampum was a sleaze or not. There was something different in the tone, something darker than what Slayer had heard in passing. Perhaps a trick of the mind? He wasn't so sure. Slayer decided to drop the more refined dialect he was using in favor of a more informal speech. "I need food. Meat, if you have it." A disgruntled look overcame the stallion. "You're an omnivore, yes?" Slayer's nod put him to ease, or rather, slightly more at ease. No doubt dealing with a die-hard meat-eater was much more nerve-wracking than someone who would be willing to substitute a cranium for a carrot. "In that case, I can provide. I only serve fish, however; we Zebras are not so barbaric as the Griffons to serve... red meat in our borders." The bounty hunter shrugged. Any meat was better than none. "Hell, I'll take it. What meals you got with fish in it?" "Depends on your budget." Slayer smirked. 'Ah, and here comes out his crafty side...' Slayer responded by dropping the bag of coins he stole from the caravan onto the counter. Wampum raised a hungry eyebrow. "Ah, a big appetite. I like big appetites." Slayer rested one of his elbows on the bar, glancing over at a hanging menu. It was composed of a variety of scrawls that not even the translator could decode. Slayer merely chalked it up to the script being so informal that the archaic dead language stored inside the mainframe couldn't compute it. Some words did become distinguishable, though; the squiggly lines actually formed coherent words that overlaid the original on Slayer's HUD. Wampum caught Slayer's gaze. "Can you read Zebrican, Interloper?" "Aye. Not well, though--" Slayer gave himself a moment to half-think, half-groan at the name of the natives' language. It was so... obvious. "Wait, you know of me?" "Of course." From the expression adorned on the muzzle of Wampum, this was apparently a stupid question. Slayer wanted to smack said muzzle of said Wampum with a satisfying amount of force, but restrained himself. No antagonizing until he got his meal, dammit. "News is all over Nazar about how you saved Bwana Shamon from the sand devils." The Zebra leaned in a conspiratory manner. "Good thing you did. Otherwise the prince's uncle would have taken the throne, and our lands would fare even worse times." A hum of thought echoed in the assassin's mindscape. 'So, that title does signify that Shamon is royalty? That must mean that his father is, or rather was, the king. Really starting to regret not taking him for ransom now...' "Why did Shamon take the throne instead of his uncle? I presumed the eldest relative gets first shot at the throne." "Normally, yes. However, in our culture, if there is a son of the King, then he gets the throne first, regardless of age. If there is more than one son, then the eldest takes the mantle first, and runs through the bloodline until there are no more direct heirs." The stallion had returned to cleaning the remainder of his dishes. "If there are no direct relatives, then the Council of Elders elect either one of their own members, or a prestigious chieftain to become King." "Interesting." Slayer, more often than not, didn't exactly have time to pursue academics like history and philosophy. Those studies had to take a lesser role in turn of survival training and hand-to-hand combat. However, the allure of an alien civilization was too much for Slayer. Learning about the natives would help him survive, after all. There could be no harm in it. Wampum nodded. "Yes, well, we can talk more if you'd like once I have your order down. What are you having?" Slayer glanced at the menu, and simply pointed to the first item he saw that said the word 'fish'. The Zebra nodded once more. "Good choice. It's my own recipe. I'll have it done in a few minutes." As the Zebra began preparing some filets that he pulled from Fate knows where, Slayer took to lazily examining the street once more. There were a few more pedestrians trotting about, and two guards armed with tribal staffs patrolled diligently. Slayer raised his budding asking. "I heard of Diamond Dogs attacking and kidnapping your people for slavery, yes?" A sad sigh left Wampum. "You have heard correctly. Those sand devils have been plaguing our kin for far too long." "Is there any sort of pattern to when they attack?" "Ah, you notice the guards." Slayer looked back to see Wampum watching the patrol with an unreadable expression. "The Diamond Dogs tend to strike a few hours before sunset on random days. Patrols start happening around this time daily." The hitman glanced up. The sun had perhaps three hours before it would reach the horizon and descend. No wonder the Zebras were on edge. Slayer watched passively for a few moments as Wampum ignited a wood fire, and began setting vegetables into a pan. "Go easy on the turmeric. It cuts right through me." An interested sound left the Zebrican chef as he cooked. "You recognize the spice? You must be someone who likes to cook." "Not particularly. I just remember the name of the ingredient the last time I ordered something spicy." Slayer let out a snort. "Was stuck in that damn stall for an hour." "Heh, yes it does that to some." Wampum raised an eyebrow towards the assassin, multi-tasking his cooking and his conversation abilities. "So where do you hail from, Interloper? Talk of the city is that you're from the stars." Slayer offered a shrug. "All I will admit to is that I'm not from around here." "Well, it was a good thing you were where you were," continued the Zebra. "Had the prince suffered the same fate as his father, our livelihoods would be at extreme risk. The prince's uncle is not the... sharpest stallion, if you get my drift." Idly, Slayer jingled the bag of gold coins to himself in thought. "Shamon's father? I presume he fell to Diamond Dogs?" Another sad expression appeared on Wampum's face. "Aye. The king had died protecting Nazar from a Diamond Dog assault two months ago." Slayer was surprised; Shamon did not show the signs of someone who had lost their father so recently. With the Zebra's heavy emphasis on healthy family ties, it must have been harder than usual on Shamon, Slayer thought. "Many of our kin admire Shamon's strength for carrying on the position of his father. He represents us proud." The assassin nodded. "I'm sure he does." Suddenly, Wampum set down a plate in front of Slayer. His eyebrows skyrocketed in appraisal at the speed. From the look and smell of the dish, it was cod fillets topped with onions, broccoli, and other various vegetables served over brown rice. "I have to say; this is an impressive spread." Wampum gave his mock bow once more. After chatting with the cook for a few minutes, Slayer considered that perhaps he had been expecting too much in the department of being a conniving sleaze from the Zebra. "You flatter me, Interloper. Now, about payment..." 'Or not,' Slayer quipped in amusement. 'No matter the galaxy, no matter the species; money speaks the same language.' As the warrior clipped the bit purse to his belt in order to properly fish out some coins and eat his meal, something happened. Vibrations began to rise from the earth, and cutlery in Wampum's shop shook along with the tremors. The plate that held his sought-after food began bouncing. Slayer was confused. Was there an earthquake happening in a desert? Abruptly, a distant civilian cried out in fear as a furry paw exploded out of the ground, seizing and dragging the helpless individual through the gaping hole. In the distance, a multitude of screams echoed out shortly after. Several more pits erupted from the sandstone floor, and what emerged set Slayer on edge. "The Diamond Dogs are attacking!" A tired sigh left Slayer. 'Damn. I didn't even get a chance to eat yet. Fuck you, Lady Luck. I expect to be able to eat after this...' Zebras broke out in a mad panic at Wampum's shout. The two guards that had been patrolling drew their staves and began engaging random Dogs that attempted to haul them underground. Civilians sprinted this way and that, scattering in alleys and alcoves. Slayer saw three Dogs approach with claws extended, muzzles baring vicious scowls and sharp teeth. Without breaking his stare, Slayer casually fished in his bag, dropped more than enough wealth than what was probably needed onto the counter, and muttered 'Keep the change' to Wampum (who at this point was eyeing the Equestrian currency with an anxious expression). With this, Slayer drew his sword to meet the Diamond Dog that lunged for his throat. Starbrought
Starbrought	Chapter Eight - Conflictations (Part I)	Starbrought Cadance tapped a hoof absentmindedly against the stone flooring of Drake's cell. Neither had spoken for several minutes after she had presented him with her offer. The air wasn't necessarily terse, but gone was the easygoing expression amongst the captain. Drake's eyes had yet to leave hers and it was starting to make Cadance feel anxious. "Well?" She broke the silence impatiently, tired of him just staring at her. "What is your answer?" Drake shifted his position on the bench he was forced to call a bed. "Well for starters, your concerns aren't too far off." He spoke slowly, clearly considering his words. "There are several dangerous items aboard my ship, and if a team of investigators were not careful, they could bring harm to themselves or others." "What kind of harm?" "The kind that could level a city in the blink of an eye." Cadance's expression gradually shifted to one of horror as she tried, and succeeded, to imagine the sheer destructive power Drake was describing. She was quick to regain her composure however, and fixed him with a pointed stare. "That's why I came to present you with my offer." "Are you sure it's not because I'm unjustly imprisoned?" Drake huffed. "Didn't you attack the guard and stole from the castle?" Drake remained silent for a moment, trying to find a way around the facts. He shrugged. "Eh, fair enough." "Do you accept?" "Does a Veneschall decorate itself with the bones of its victims?" Cadance frowned at the metaphor. Drake rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Of course I do! All I have to do is escort your guards back to my ship so they don't do something stupid by accident and you'll grant me a full pardon. What kind of idiot wouldn't take you up on that?" Cadance smiled at him. "Excellent, I'll make the necessary arrangements to have you released shortly. As long as everything runs smoothly, we'll be leaving tonight." She signaled for the guard stationed outside to open the door. "I'll be back for you as soon as we're ready." "One thing before you go, Your Poniness." Drake rose to his feet and took a couple of steps toward her. "I'll be needing my things back when we go. Including my weapons." "And why would we let you have your weapons back?" "Aside from the fact that I'm getting a full pardon when this is all done?" A grin was spreading across Drake's face, one that unsettled Cadance to an extent. "My crew and I were transporting some very unique cargo. And some of that 'unique cargo' is very much alive. I have no intentions of boarding my ship, only to be set upon by something that would gladly tear me limb from limb. Assuming the damn thing survived the crash, of course." "You were transporting living things?" Cadance was oddly surprised by that fact. "I thought you were a pirate." "And there's a market for rare and exotic things," Drake quipped with another shrug. "Gotta turn a profit." "Still doesn't sound like piracy." Cadance chuckled at his expression. "But if it's as dangerous as you claim, I'll make sure your possessions are brought along with us. I wouldn't want to have the guards risk their safety if you're so willing to do the dangerous work yourself." Drake nodded, a look of relief on his face. "However, you will not be allowed access to them until we reach your ship and you're headed inside." Drake's look of relief was replaced quickly by one of annoyance. "Understood?" He gave a grunt of resignation and crossed his arms irritably. Smiling, Cadance left the cell, listening as the enchanted locks slid themselves back into place. "I'll send somepony for you when we're ready to leave." She glanced back at him. Drake was sitting once more on the bench-bed, his eyes glazed over as if lost in thought. A small hint of unease wormed its way into the back of her mind. She couldn't quite place her hoof on it, but he had seemed a little too compliant with what she had told him. Time would tell. Starbrought "We need to talk." Cadance excused herself from her conversation with a nearby dock worker and turned eagerly at the sound of Shining Armor's voice, only to find the disgruntled Sergeant giving her an irritated look. Her eagerness was quick to slip away. "What's wrong?" Shining pointed a hoof in the direction of Drake, who was already attracting a small crowd of workers as he waved his cuffed arms about and leapt into the air. He seemed to be trying to entertain them, from Cadance's perspective. "I don't understand." "He's what's wrong." Shining spared a glance back in the pirate's direction, a look of contempt appearing on his face. "I know he's an alien and that makes him interesting and all, Your Highness; but we don't exactly need him to salvage this wrecked ship." "I'm afraid that's where we'll have to disagree, Sergeant Armor." The two turned as the captain of the Tempest Serenade approached them. Her eyes were fixed on Shining, in a way that reminded him all too well of his drill sergeant from his ROTC days. "Captain Silver Flash. The Serenade is my ship, and mine alone. She does not belong to the guard, the crown, or anyone else. And I'm not about to risk her on salvaging some alien piece of crap unless I can be guaranteed that nothing's going to happen to her." Captain Flash pointed at Drake. "Who better to see to that than the alien in question?" "How about an alien who didn't feel the need to kick me?" Shining grumbled. A frown was quick to form on Cadance's face, and her eyes soon spotted a growing blue splotch. "He kicked you?" "Right in the ribs!" Shining poked the sore spot tenderly. "He completely missed the armor." "To be fair, I was aiming for your head," Drake chimed in as he returned from giving up trying to get one of the damn unicorns to undo his bindings. He had been gruffly ordered by a certain stallion to keep his mouth shut before they reached the Serenade. Obviously, he ignored the demand. "You just walk too fast. What are we talking about?" "Guard boy here doesn't like you," Silver Flash said with a grin. "News flash of the decade right there. I guarantee it's because he's threatened by my masculinity." An exaggerated sigh escaped him, and he crossed his arms the best that he could in a pitying style. "Must be because there are so few males around for him to compete with. It's a curse, really." If looks could do harm, Shining's would have shredded Drake into tiny little pieces. This only seemed to fuel Silver's sudden burst of laughter. "I like this guy!" She turned back toward Cadance, affirming the statement with a stomp of her hoof. The twilight refracting off of the shiny hull of the Tempest Serenade illuminated her amusement. "He's a nice change of pace from your ever-so-dour guards." "Hey!" "No, she's right. You royal guard folk are an awful grim bunch." Drake's matter-of-fact tone served only to grate on Shining's nerves. The soldier stormed off, heading toward some of his fellow guardsponies before he most likely wracked up a police brutality charge. A mock frown rose on Drake's face as he turned to his two remaining sources of potential entertainment. "I think I offended him." "He's a big stallion. He'll get over it." Silver huffed and turned toward him. A brief look-over was all she gave, before she let out a snort. "So, you're the alien." "Whatever gave me away?" The pirate let out a quick laugh. "It's the fashion sense, isn't it. The stylings of the rich pale in comparison, don't they?" Silver grinned widely and held out a hoof toward him. "Finally! Someone not so serious! Captain Silver Flash, of the Tempest Serenade." Drake accepted her hoof and shook it (with no small difficulty due to his bindings). "Captain Drake Shields, of the Ethereal. Which is presently docked in a desert. Or so I've been told." "You're a captain? Nopony told me this." Silver shot Cadance a slightly irked look. The princess pretended not to notice. "Probably thought it was unimportant," Drake figured with a shrug. "Did they at least tell you I'm a pirate?" "You're a what?!" He only grimaced. "I guess not." As Flash spun about on Cadance to chew her out, Drake allowed his attention to wander away for a moment. He hoped that Yuri and Slayer hadn't gotten themselves killed during the crash. It would be a pain to clean the ship if they splattered all over the inside of it. The thought caused Drake to let out a huff. "Now, I hate to be rude, but I'm very eager to get back to my ship. When will we shoving off?" "As soon as my lazy crew gets their flanks into gear!" Silver shouted, drawing the attention of the ponies shuffling around the dock. It seemed she was done giving her verbal lashing against Cadance, who stood passively with cheeks burning. "Movement, you louts! I want movement! Any slob not doing double time will be forgoing their dinner this evening and be pulling nightwatch!" Her words inspired a flurry of motion as her crew, as well as the plainclothes guards moved quickly to finish preparations. Drake raised an eyebrow at her choice of vernacular. Where had he heard that kind of speaking before? 'That accent was something I've only seen from dock-hands, and pirates--' A grin soon arose on his face as he connected the dots. "You're a pirate too, aren't you?" "Ex-pirate, more like," Flash murmured in irritation. Confusion raked her features as she turned back to Drake. "How did you tell?" "It takes one to know one, and all that jazz," Drake said dismissively. He examined the silent Princess in his presence. "I'm surprised the royalty hired you, to be honest. The impression they've given me shows quite a bit of disdain against us hard-working folk." Shining gave a derisive snort as he returned, two additional unicorn guards in tow. "Correction: we have quite a bit of disdain against individuals who attack the Royal Guard. Besides, miss Silver Flash here turned over a new-leaf a while ago." He motioned towards said captain, who nodded. "Aye, the life just wasn't for me. Kept the ship though, and decided to work as a freelancer. Much better pay, much less risk. Also helps that Cadance and I go way back." With a tired sigh, she waved one of her hooves towards the Serenade. It didn't seem she wanted to dwell on her past, Drake mused. "Let us move onto my vessel. We ought to depart within the hour if my crew has any sense." Drake nodded once. "Sounds good to me." As he made an attempt to move, he noticed--with some distinct frustration--that his legs were surrounded by a thin shimmer and refused to function. His eyes refocused towards the trio of horn-toting males below him, one of which had a smug smirk. "What gives?" "Don't forget you are still very much under arrest until we arrive at the Zebrican lands, prisoner." Shining said as his horn glowed slightly brighter. The haze surrounding Drake's legs intensified briefly, causing a wince of discomfort to arise on his face. "We've arranged your quarters to be in the cargo hold for the duration of this flight." An incredulous look was sent towards Cadance, who was frowning at Shining's devilish grin. "Seriously? I understand needing to keep me in line, but I have rights, you know!" Drake paused, leaning in towards Flash. "Wait. Do I have any rights?" Silver Flash merely shrugged. "Most likely. I haven't been in Equestria for a while. Last time I was here, though, there was a law that prevented mistreatment against non-Equestrians that were held in custody." Drake returned his gaze to Cadance, who sighed. "Yes, that law still exists. And I suppose it does apply to you; you're being given a full pardon once this is done, after all. We will assign you to a cabin, and just put it under watch." Shining grimaced at this change of plans, but it vanished as her Highness turned to address them. "Will that be a problem, Sergeant?" He diligently shook his head. "No, ma'am. We will keep a close eye on him." Flash nodded her assent. "The Serenade can house plenty more crew than it has, so there's no reason to shove him into the hold." An assistant quickly trotted up to whisper into her ear, before galloping off towards the airship. "Ah, we appear to be ready to disembark. Come along, and let us get situated. I think you and I have a lot to talk about, Mister Shields." Drake shook his head in bewilderment. "Why is it only the females aren't jerks?" "Watch your tongue!" "Yes, father. I'll behave, father." Shining's groan of frustration echoed throughout the docks. Starbrought "That hurt, you feathered fuck! Take this!" With a yell, Yuri delivered a side-thrust kick into one of the griffin's sides. The griffin grunted as the kick hit him full force, knocking the wind out of him and flinging him to the ground. The griffin struggled to get back up, before coughing and collapsing to his hind legs. A visible dent had appeared in his otherwise perfect armor. One of the griffins that had been attacking Yuri backed off to ensure his comrade was alright. Yuri looked at the small gash on his left leg, but before he was able to do anything else about it he became aware of the sword flying towards his face. He quickly raised the sword in his left arm that he had managed to disarm and swung, barely preventing the enemies' blade from taking off a chunk of his face. "That was my brother, you piece of shit!" Sergeant Diamond's face was one of pure rage, and Yuri was pretty sure that he had some spittle on his face as he held the griffon back. The Sergeant, however, began applying even more force to his sword, forcing Yuri to back up a bit. 'Goddamn, this guy's strong. I need to knock his ass out--fast--before he does any real damage to me. I'm not used to fighting with this kind of sword,' Yuri began to apply the same amount of force back at the enraged Griffin, forcing him back. His eyes looked to the right and the left of the Sergeant, trying to figure out where and who the next attack would come from. 'What was it my old drill instructor said? The angrier a person, the less amount of thought? I need to abuse that.' "Heh, your brother needs some work on his form. Got too cocky." Yuri smirked as he moved to slam his right knee into the Sergeant's chest. Diamond however anticipated this and moved his left talon towards Yuri's leg to try to knock it out of commission. With Diamond's lower center of gravity, he used his position to off-set Yuri's stance by pushing his knee away, ending the sword-lock with a grunt from both sides. Diamond caught his balance swiftly, but before he could counterattack, two privates leaped forward to fight Yuri. Both of their swords were drawn, and they were going after him in the classic pincer movement. Yuri suddenly dropped to one knee, confusing, but not stopping the griffins currently charging at him. He put his right palm slightly above the ground, and watched as his glove glowed a dark red. As the griffins began to near him, he mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen. 'Wait... wait... Now!' Yuri slammed his palm into the ground, and a low noise echoed throughout the room. The griffins continued their attack, their rage at their comrades injuries overpowering all other emotions. Yuri stayed on one knee as a tremor suddenly shook the floor around him, but not harming him. The griffins, who were going at a high speed suddenly found themselves off balance as the ground below them shook. The tremors stopped as suddenly as they started, and Yuri stood back up and took a quick account of the situation. One of the guards was barreling towards him, but was off balance. The other one was off course and heading towards the wall. Diamond and the two other downed Griffins appeared unphased by the event, but had looks of shocks as they realized that Yuri was the cause of that. 'That worked better than expected,' Yuri thought as he began to run towards the off-balance griffin moving towards him. Deciding that he had sufficiently displayed his power, Yuri turned off his glove, choosing instead to ready his sword to dispatch his opponent stumbling in his direction. The Griffin saw what Yuri was doing, and tried all that he could to get re-balanced like it was taught to him in the academy. But that was a lot easier said than done. Yuri smirked as he turned his blade to strike with the flat edge. He could have just as easily used the sharp edge and simply killed the griffin, but that would leave a mess on his conscious and was honestly not something he wanted to do. As he neared the griffin, he saw fear in its eyes through the helmet. 'I wish it didn't have to come to this, but they started it first.' Yuri swung his sword towards the griffin's head, before turning the blade and slamming the hilt into what he could guess was the creature's temple. He could feel the armor dent as it tried to take the hit, but he felt no cracks in the skull or anything else that would identify that he had killed it. The griffin let out a grunt and fell over unconscious onto the cold stone floor. The other griffin had managed to regain his balance, but after seeing his squad-mate get pretty much destroyed, he had fallen back to where Diamond and his barely-standing brother were positioned a bit down the hallway. Yuri quickly reached down and took the sword from the griffin he had just defeated, fastening it to his belt as a spare. He stood back up and looked at his opponents. Diamond had a few nicks and dents in his armor, but looked fine otherwise. The other soldier that was still in fighting condition was a bit worse for wear, but still serviceable. He had been able to fight Yuri head-to-head several times, but he lacked the strength that Diamond had. The soldier that had been identified as Diamond's brother was standing on three legs, with one of his talons on his ribs where Yuri had kicked him, and a slash mark on his breastplate where Yuri had sliced him. Yuri suddenly bent down, stretching as his back popped several times. "So, Sergeant Diamond: let me ask you something." He cracked his knuckles rather loudly before putting his sword-less hand over his mouth as he yawned. Diamond's face went from one of pure anger to one of annoyance and confusion. "What do you mean 'let me ask you something'? Why the hell would I talk to you when you just knocked out two of my soldiers and hurt my brother. Are you a fucking moron?" "Why yes, I am. How did you know?" Yuri smirked as he saw a blood vessel pop in the Sergeants face. "But take this into consideration; I've managed to take out three of your men, and the only thing you've done to me is stab me in the leg, which would hurt more if you would have done it with a butter knife." Yuri motioned to the small gash in his leg. "My question is simple: What happens after this?" The Griffin's face turned stone-cold. "There is no after this." Cocking his head to the side, he addressed his soldiers. "Get out of here. Find reinforcements and bring them back. I'll delay the creature until you do. Go!" The two griffins looked at each other, before saluting and moving down the hallway. Diamond's brother attempted to say something, but after a harsh glance, he shut his mouth and walked down the hallway. Leaving his only other brother to fight against a creature that had managed to take down nearly half of their squad. Diamond looked back as they slowly moved away from him down the hallway. He turned his attention back to Yuri, who had not tried to attack and was just... standing there. "So Diamond, what exactly are you trying to do here? I mean, I respect you for deciding to fight me alone and allow your comrades to escape, but all of this was completely unnecessary." Yuri gestured to the knocked out guards on the floor with their battered-armor plainly visible. "None of this would have happened if you would have let me explain myself. But no, you had to try and arrest me." "Oh, don't pretend your innocent in this," Diamond snapped. "Explain this then; what happened to the soldiers that were guarding the room you escaped from?" "Those two? They're both taking a little nap." The griffin's pupils dilated. "They're alive?" An indignant expression crossed Yuri's face. "Of course they are. What would I gain from killing the first two members of your race that I meet? I knocked them out because I had no idea how they would react when they saw me. It's not everyday that you meet an alien, you know." Diamond's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, before quickly returning back to his infamous deadpanned-expression. "You're an alien? That would explain some things." "It usually does. Now Diamond, I'm going to make you an offer. I let you go, and you tell your superiors that Yuri Lawrence of the Cerberus Pirates wishes to speak with them." Yuri slid one of his swords into its scabbard as a sign of peace. "And if I don't go?" "Simple. I'm going to make you have a very bad day, and tell your superiors myself." Yuri's face darkened as he put his hand on the sword he had just put away. "Are you going to make the right call and do this peacefully, or are you not?" Diamond stared at Yuri, before doing something that surprised the man who had been a pirate for years. He laughed. "Heh... Ha ha ha!" Diamond's laugh echoed around the hallway. "Oh, I haven't laughed that hard for a while! Let me save you the trouble of going to my superiors, because I already know the answer. They're going to take a look at you, and kill you." Abruptly, the griffon slammed a curled-up fish against the floor. "What don't you understand?! You escaped from a maximum security cell, drained half the base's power and knocked out four guards! The only thing you're going to get is a body-bag." While Diamond had been going off, he had failed to notice Yuri slowly moving towards him, his head down in the shadows. By the time he had finished his monologue, Yuri had entered his strike range. Diamond finally saw what was happening, but before he could react Yuri spoke. "That was a very nice speech, but you failed to answer my question compadre." Yuri put his hand on his sword and drew it slowly, letting the metal screech against the scabbard. His glove also began to glow again, but gaining intensity at the same slow speed as his sword. "Yes, or no?" His sword was fully drawn and his glove was glowing once again like Celestia's sun. "No. No in a thousand languages you big--" Yuri decided not to let him finish his sentence and stabbed his sword right at Diamond's face. Diamonds eyes grew wide as he rapidly moved to parry the attack, causing Yuri's blade to be deflected harmlessly to the floor. Yuri then sent a roundhouse kick towards Diamond's right side and smirked as he felt his leg slam into the target. Diamond grunted as the impact forced him sideways. Yuri raised up his sword to parry the slash Diamond had sent at him. Sparks flew out as the blades hammered against one another. Yuri and Diamond continued to duel as their blades slammed into each other, parrying and blocking strikes that would have easily drawn blood if they would have hit their target. Diamond may have known what he was doing, but he lacked the speed and technique that Yuri had learned from years of fighting as a pirate. Yuri began to apply even more pressure on Diamond, forcing him back and further down the hallway. Yuri began throwing kicks and punches too, and soon Diamond could no longer attack without the risk of being hit, stabbed or both. Yuri's sword sent strike after strike at Diamond, who had somehow avoided being hit with any serious blow. Slowly however, his defense began to erode as Yuri's constant strikes weakened him and exposed holes in his defense. And Yuri was not one to pass up an opportunity. As soon as Diamond's sword moved to block the swing from Yuri's blade that was aimed at his face, Yuri stepped forward and slammed his right leg into Diamond's back leg, forcing the Griffin off balance. Yuri turned his blade to the flat side and felt the force as it impacted with Diamond's temple, stunning the Sergeant. Yuri quickly activated his glove and slammed it right where he thought Diamond's ear canal was. Diamonds eyes went wide was he realized what was about to happen. "This is going to hurt a lot... " Yuri's glove whined, before delivering a concentrated blast of sound directly into Diamond's ear canal. The attack only lasted a moment, but that was all that was necessary. As soon as Yuri released his hand, Diamond slumped to the floor, shaking in pain as he held his ears, screaming his beak off in pain. Small amounts of his own blood was dripping off of his hands from his ears. Yuri walked over and stood above the shaking griffin. "If you can hear me, I truly am sorry for that. I know what that feels like; trust me. Now, I'll be taking that communication device from you now." Yuri slid his hand into Diamond's back and pulled out the P.R.I.C.K. He gave the device a look-over, before shoving it into his pocket. He turned around and saw the carnage that the battle had produced. Three griffins were incapacitated, with random bits of armor and blood scattered around the room. The light was flickering due to being hit with a sword from one of the griffins. It was not a very pretty sight, but Yuri had seen a lot worse, and most of those involved Slayer. "I really do not envy whoever has to clean this up. Anyway, let's go a bit further down the rabbit hole or however that old quote goes." Yuri turned around and began to walk down the hallway, not sure of what was to come. 'Figures. The one alien race I meet in my lifetime and they try to arrest me. And then try to kill me. Lovely way to start off a day after finding yourself in a prison cell. God, I hope the others aren't as deaf to reason as these morons. Otherwise, this is going to get very nasty.' Starbrought A sickening crunch of a sound echoed through the streets as Slayer cut down yet another of the Diamond Dogs, his katana singing with the death of the mutt. After dealing with the initial strike-team that combated him in front of Wampum's shop, Slayer had rallied the nearby Zebra warriors behind him to rush into the depths of Nazar to defend against the hostile siege. He had several thoughts during his sprinting through the now war-torn metropolis to just hijack a map of the world, cut his losses, and set off for Equestria alone midst the chaos. Each consideration of escape that arose, however, was shot down with one simple phrase: Shamon was in the city still. It did not take a degree in thermonuclear physics to comprehend that Shamon was the most useful native Slayer had encountered, as of that moment. He was trusting, knowledgeable, didn't grate excessively on the assassin's nerves, and most importantly of all; Shamon was a member of royalty, and would be worth his weight in gold if the prince ever lost his usefulness. To abandon the Zebra would be foolhardy, hence Slayer now taking the burden of saving a race of striped equines onto his own shoulders. At the same time, even if Shamon wasn't worth the effort, Slayer couldn't exactly allow the Diamond Dogs to besiege the Zebra's capital. Uncaring about political repercussions, the increased slave population spike would fuel the Diamond Dogs. And considering how they had a tendency to attack Slayer, letting them become stronger would be a very idiotic mistake. Slavery. The word left a bitter aftertaste in his mind when Slayer thought the word. How cowardly one must be, to force another into your will, that you are not able to lead unless you have them in chains. Slayer didn't think of himself much as a revolutionary or an abolitionist, but slavery was something that most definitely irked the bounty hunter to no end. So while Slayer was still not exactly one-hundred percent onboard with why he was risking the only hope for Drake's survival on a bunch of talking horses, he knew for certain that he was not about to let these civilians--strange they may look--be sent into slavery. Not if he could stop it. A Diamond Dog similar to the appearance of a pitbull lashed out with its spear, attempting to puncture a nearby Zebrican soldier. The equine nimbly batted away the attack with his staff, unleashing a quick retaliation of his own across the jaw of the animal. Slayer didn't hesitate in drawing one of his Sabres and opening fire, charring the fur on the unarmored Dog and killing the beast instantly. The Zebra nodded his thanks, before shouting a warcry in a phrase that Slayer's translator couldn't transcribe and charged further into the fray. They were currently in the marketplace where he and Shamon had walked both towards and away from the Elder Council. Slayer figured that, with this size of an attack, the Dogs had plans to outright capture the city. In order to do that, they'd need to break the will of the Zebrican people by either killing or capturing the leaders. Those being the Elders, and Shamon. If the Zebras ever wanted any chance of making out of the assault alive, Slayer would need to form a counteroffensive, spearhead the defense, and rescue the notability before they met an untimely demise. The bazaar was in disarray; everywhere one would look, there were enormous piles of debris, varying numbers of broken bodies, and the smell of despair and war lofting in the breeze. 'It is almost peaceful, in a horrifically poetic sort of way,' the bounty hunter pondered. Slayer was unperturbed, and almost felt at home as he ducked under the heavy swipe of a lumbering Alpha. The battlefield and the shade was where the assassin felt most comfortable. He'd take a firefight over negotiations any day of the year. It was his element. He was born in it. Working quickly, Slayer capitalized on the unbalanced beast before him and drove his sword into the gullet of the Dog. It took less than a few seconds before the Alpha laid slumped over, dead in its pool of gurgled blood. Apparently, that was enough. The remnants of the market's forces fled due to lack of leadership, burrowing and tunneling their way to other parts of the city as they fell back. Sighs of relief left many of the warriors as they carefully lowered their staves a smidge. For then, the area was secure. Slayer did a brief count; surrounding him was over a dozen Zebrican warriors, all armed with staves (they had refused taking up the fallen Dog's spears for proper defense, which infuriated Slayer beyond all belief). Two unfortunate casualties resulted from carelessness on both his own part and theirs. The corpses were being treated by a nurse, backed by a witch doctor who muttered strange syllables in prayer. Slayer silently looked away. One of the troops approached Slayer with a taut expression. The bounty hunter blankly realized that these Zebras had no official ranking system that was visible, so whether this was an officer or a raw recruit standing before him was unknown. "Interloper. Dogs have been sighted all over Nazar. Our brothers are doing everything they can, but it seems to be a losing battle... Many innocent lives are lost." The Zebra's features drooped, and he seemed almost pained to continue speaking. "What... what do you recommend we do?" Slayer blinked. The look in the eyes of nearby equines in earshot of the query gave shocked glances at the exhausted Zebra warrior. Slayer had a hunch that the Zebras were a very xenophobic race, and that asking for help from an outsider was no small feat. Slayer knew they would only do it if they felt like they had no other option. "There is nothing we can do for your friends." Depression set in almost immediately on some of their striped faces. Slayer quickly pressed on lest they lost the will to fight. "The best way we can help them, though, is to get to your Elders ASAP, and have them survive the raid--" Slayer turned, and swiftly unloaded a bolt of energy on reflex at a rogue Dog who attempted to snatch an unsuspecting civilian. It fled with a yelp and a blackened claw. A snort departed from Slayer's nose as he inspected the surprised expression on the Zebra's face. "If we keep them alive, the Dogs cannot take the city and they'll retreat." The stallion frowned. "Is there truly nothing we can do directly? Anything?" He seemed almost desperate. Worry reflected in the warriors' moods as they began huddling around the metallic giant as if he was some beacon of victory. Slayer felt pity, which was not the easiest thing to rise out of his chiseled heart. It was the same sensation he had felt after his confrontation with the Elders; these Zebras knew little of warfare. It went against their very way of life, as stupid as it was. The hitman sighed, watching some Zebras establish a perimeter while they gathered soldiers from nearby districts for a push. "Without a way to communicate with them and coordinate their tactics, no." Slayer tapped a finger against his thigh, staring quietly at a soldier being treated for serious lacerations and a broken foreleg. Their lack of medical technology meant the Zebra wasn't going to make it. Slayer couldn't help but feel some regret at setting his satchel down in the cart when he arrived; the medical braces and their inherent nanobots could have probably saved the lad's life. A few moments later, the casualty count rose to three. Slayer turned away again, this time much faster than the previous. He made a solid effort to keep his voice smooth and calm. Yet another life lost to tyranny. "Once we've secured the Elders, the rest of you can go back into the city to support your allies. I can stay behind and defend them myself until the siege ends." Despite the situation they were finding themselves in, the Zebra Slayer was conversing with gave a glance laced with suspicion. Even with death threatening them, they were--metaphorically speaking--looking a gift horse in the mouth (later, Slayer mused, he would remember the irony of that thought and snort to himself in amusement)."And how do we know that you will not act on your threat of their lives this time?" The assassin's response was to merely grab the stallion's mane and tug him forward. The Zebra shouted for his brothers to assist him, before a spear flew past where he was standing mere milliseconds before and dug into the earth, the force of the throw still shaking the shaft. Slayer leaned back, and fired at a wooden support pillar. Above them some metres to Slayer's right, a Diamond Dog scout--minus one javelin--felt his balcony give out, and he plummeted to his death. Slayer glanced down at the still-alive Zebra, and raised an eyebrow. "Because if that was the case, I would have let you die." The Zebra nodded, eyes as wide as saucers. Other soldiers copied the expression. "V-very well. Uh..." Slayer watched him awkwardly dig in the ground with his hoof, scuffing at the sandstone underfoot. "I- ah... thank you, Slayer." The armoured gladiator gave a silent nod of his own. Slayer didn't make a comment about the Zebra finally using his name, although that didn't stop quiet muttering to briefly surge through the ranks. It was a sign of respect, and there was no reason to call the Zebra out on it. Slayer flexed his empty hand, rechecking his numbers. They now had eighteen soldiers; it would have to be enough. Turning to address his makeshift horde of troops, Slayer played the role of commander since no-one competent stepped up to the plate. "Alright, we're going to move uphill towards the Council! Stay vigilant, and keep close." His eyes squinted in the dusk. "Watch where you tread. If you choose not to follow my orders, then you will die. Plain and simple." Determined yet uneasy shouts met him as they began forming a convoy narrow enough to traverse the cramped alleyways under Slayer's supervision. They needed organization if they wanted to succeed, and if Slayer left them to do an infiltration mission solo--which was something he would have preferred--then there wouldn't be enough manpower left to sustain the city when all was said and done. So, Slayer turned them into a military flight, making adjustments in spacing due to the equines' build. Satisfied with the set-up he had established, Slayer took point and marched them deeper into the bowels of the attack. It only seemed to get worse the closer they crept. Gaping holes marred the once sand-swept stone of Nazar and made the entire city very reminiscent of Swiss cheese. Stands once brimming with fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs now laid in broken heaps, their contents trampled underfoot. More bodies littered the roads; Zebras sprawled out in grotesque poses from the heat of battle. Slayer frowned, noting the occasional unconscious Dog that was left from the struggle. He was quick to slit their throats by beheading the beasts with his sword despite weak protests from his band of non-merry men. There would be no respect for slavers. 'Even with their lives at stake, the Zebras draw no blood. I intensely dislike quasi-pacifists, almost more than actual pacifists. They're no better than fools. Because at least a fool is willing to stand up wholeheartedly for what they believe in.' Far off in the distance, a harsh cry of pain and woe rocked the earth. The Zebrican warriors were unnerved, but whenever Slayer glanced at them they put on a brave face. Showing weakness to an outsider was (no doubt) an atrocity, and the 'Interloper' was probably no different despite his current actions of trying to save their ass. The assassin thought quietly to himself as the party stomped their way through silent streets. 'Sounded like a Zebra. Given the direction of the scream, it wasn't from the Council's tent. No signs of any roving war-parties. Good. I need to remain vigilant, however, and eliminate their means before they can disrupt the Zebras. If they stampede and get themselves killed, I don't know if I really can save this city, Shamon, and the Elders by myself...' Slayer was not one to ever second-guess himself and his capabilities, but given the circumstances, it could be understood-- Abruptly, Slayer stopped. He stopped so suddenly that the Zebras nearly collided with the behemoth as he froze in revelation. There were no visible war-parties. That didn't mean there weren't any. Quickly, the pirate began analysing the surrounding area, anxiety starting to worm its way into his heart. It was dead still. Even the distant cacophony of battle and bloodshed seemed muffled and muted from their current position in an utterly massive courtyard, foreign to Slayer's memories of his route and exposed. The only sound he could hear was the anxious breathing of the soldiers behind him, and uneasy shuffling as hooves clicked softly against stone. Exposed. Silence. Something wasn't right. "Ambush!" Slayer moved before he even felt the ground shake. And like that, the literal dogs of war sprung to life. Second-story windows previously shuttered flew open with crashes, Dogs poised at the ready with javelins already in their grasps. Diamond Dogs clawed their way viciously out of the earth, enclosing the Zebra formation. The spot where Slayer had just been standing became occupied by a mastif of an Alpha resembling a grey wolf unearthing itself. Heaved behind it was a menacing club interwoven with a mix-mash of broken blade shards. The Zebras were unequal in numbers, weapons, and strategic placement. Slayer cursed under his breath. Zebras pressed against one another, their camaraderie fueling their courage and preventing them from fleeing on instinct. Dogs steadily began suffocating the mass of warriors, their spears threatening to nick and impale any who didn't obey. Slayer watched, his mind calculating and processing and planning. And suddenly, the Alpha looked to the assassin. And dragged its free claw across its throat. Rationally, Slayer did the only thing he could do when there were severe odds stacked against him. Slayer respected honour and integrity (the irony of him being a pirate due to technicality not lost on him), but in light of what was happening before him, the marauder decided he had no choice but to suspend his law in turn of survival. So he kicked the Alpha in its family jewels. Hard. Instantly, battle erupted. Zebras broke ranks, ignoring the rules Slayer had set not ten minutes prior in favor of panic and the fighting spirit that only arose from cornered rats. Staves deflected spears, and the unexpected surge forced the perimeter of the stunned Diamond Dogs to break like glass against stone. As the towering Dog hunched over and crumpled to his knees in agony and shock, Slayer quickly drew his blade to strike. A javelin whistled by the assassin's visor, forcing him to redirect his attention. The poised spear-throwers used their pila-esque devices in a mad attempt to pierce Slayer's armor, unleashing such a violent torrent that Slayer had no choice but to take cover behind an upturned cart. Decisively evading a silo that nearly turned him into a Slayer-kabob, Slayer prepped both of his Sabre Shots and began unloading hell, fire, and brimstone. Bolt after bolt pelted the shelters where the Dogs hid; some unable to dodge in time and suffered fourth-degree burns while they tumbled out of the view-ports as a result. At this point, the Alpha was recovering. But Slayer couldn't deal with the Dog because if he deviated even for a moment on his suppressive fire, the javelin-toting Diamond Dogs would skewer the man, or at bare minimum leave significant wounds. Or worse, focus on the unarmored Zebra ranks and massacre them. Realizing he had numbers at least willing to heed him, Slayer barked a swift order, and some Zebra not in the midst of battle broke off from the melee to buck in the doors to the buildings. They quickly entered, and soon those elevated Dogs were under close-quarter attack, and thus fell swiftly from the unanticipated flank. An amused grin rose on Slayer's face. 'It seems I underestimated these equines. Give them some good leadership and tactics, and they aren't half bad of a fighting force--' A large amount of air left the bounty hunter as the Alpha lunged forward and struck, balling its claws and driving its freshly-made fist into Slayer's gut with the equivalent power-level of a freight-train. The force was strong enough to actually lift Slayer off the ground briefly, sending him into a near-tumble that resulted with his fall being broken by an empty barrel. Slayer recovered quickly, however, and readied his katana to engage the pack leader. "You little shit," the hitman muttered. The Alpha seemed almost amused that the big metal giant was speaking in the weird language of the little horsies. Granted, he couldn't understand a word of it, so the insult was utterly lost on the brute. In reply, the Dog simply hefted his nice, weathered mahogany club and swung. Ducking under with grace nearly resembling a dancer, Slayer pirouetted on a single foot and made a clean gash across the abdomen of the Alpha from a kneeling viewpoint. The stinging aftereffect annoyed the Dog, and the beast showed its irritation by back-handing the assassin as if he was a fly. At least, it would have, if the Dog could figure out where the funny-talking metal thing went. Without warning, the Dog's heel exploded in pain, forcing the animal to wildly and blindly lash out backwards as it fell to a knee. Slayer had spiraled around the Alpha's bumbling feet and arrived behind the animal. While he may have had an opening for the Alpha's head, Slayer's crouched positioning forced him to only be able to attack the achilles heel. The unexpected slash from the Dog rapped the top of Slayer's visor, the momentum sending Slayer rolling backwards into a defensive stance. Thankfully, through sheer dumb luck, the claws didn't bypass the visor and meet Slayer's face. As such, the extent of the blow was head trauma and a faint obscuring of sight, but such a feeble thing wasn't going to stop the famed 'Crimson Menace'. Well, maybe. There were three Alphas now favoring a limp on their right sides, at least in the hitman's shaky vision. It passed just in time for Slayer to see in high-definition the Alpha's club veering towards his brain cavity. Slayer was thankful adrenaline worked like it did, otherwise he never would have been able to smoothly roll to the Alpha's left, evading the weapon by a hair's breadth. This Alpha seemed larger than usual, its height besting Slayer by a full two feet, roughly. Such a difference in points of gravity was working in the bounty hunter's favor so far, but too many blows from the Dog would crush him into a meaty paste, armour or no. Another decapitating swing flew towards Slayer, and once more he ducked under. Three quick swipes from Slayer's sword criss-crossed the chest of the leering animal, seeming only to increase its ire. The Dog abruptly released its crude tool, and lunged for the assassin with claws bared. Keratin met metal, and Slayer backpedaled from the strength and ferocity of the barrage. The Dog was fighting differently from the Alphas he had met in the city; the creature fought on all fours, and the combat form held no finesse, nor style. It was reminiscent of the Alpha Slayer had killed back in the desert when defending the Zebras. It was the spirit of a frightened, angry caged beast. A broad slash somehow succeeded in knocking the katana from Slayer's grasp, forcing the beloved blade to skitter and clatter across the stones to an inactive section of the yard some distance away. Slayer looked back grimly as he put some distance between him and the feral Dog and raised his fists in a fighting posture. 'Wait. My Sabres!' A demented grin rose on the warrior's face as he swiftly reached down to snatch the dual pistols on his hip, only to find nothing. Fear settled itself into an icy ball within Slayer's heart. Almost comically, Slayer glanced over, back towards the wreckage of the barrel he had crashed through earlier at the start of the battle, to see his two Sabre Shots sitting neatly amongst the debris. He turned back to see the Dog pounce, and being bowled over to the ground. Instinct overrode thought as Slayer began driving heavy shots of his fists into the Alpha's muzzle and ribs. Claws attempted to further leave gashes in Slayer's Suit, doing everything it could to carve a path through the armour to the funny-talking metal thing that was becoming a real threat. As the Diamond Dog made an effort to clamp its enormous bone-crushing jaw onto the man's throat, Slayer quickly intercepted the attack with a hand under and against the jaw. Tightening his knuckles, Slayer sent an uppercut to the Alpha's throat with his free hand, and bought him some breathing room. The warrior took his chance, and slipped an armored foot between him and the sputtering, wild beast in front of him. With a heave and a grunt of effort, Slayer succeeded and shoved the creature a short distance away. Taking the initiative as usual, Slayer rose to a kneeling position and pivoted, spinning and slamming his back heel into the muzzle of the Alpha. The Dog tumbled from the blow, and Slayer began a mad dash for his katana. While not as effective in this situation as the Sabres might of been, the blade was much closer and Slayer had a much higher chance of rearming himself. Doing a forward roll and obtaining his weapon, he spun and cut at the Alpha at his heels. Only to find nothing there but a freshly-dug hole. "What the..." A claw burst forth from the stone walkway and seized Slayer's heel, intent on bringing the assassin down into the Alpha's home territory. The hitman was having none of that, and made his own intentions known to staying topside by driving his free heel into the paw of the Dog to release him. A growl seemed to shake the ground under him, and Slayer wildly flung himself out of the way. It appeared to be in the nick of time, because what rose instantly after was not just the Alpha. Four other Dogs accompanied the leader of the ambush with spears brandished, and they were fresh spirits raring for battle. Slayer spared a minute glance at the surrounding discord; the Zebras were valiantly trying their best to keep the other Dogs at bay, but they would not last for much longer without aide. Slayer was exhausted; the pressure and the never-ending tide of battle was starting to fatigue the pirate. But Slayer could not afford to start getting sloppy now. He warily raised his katana, and prepared himself for more bloodshed. The Alpha muttered something darkly, but the tone and articulation was too guttural for the translator to even attempt to narrow. Its canine accomplices nodded with grim smiles and murder in their eyes. Slayer kept himself grounded, keeping at least a part of his senses busy on checking for any tremors underfoot in case of a surprise attack. Things were not looking good. He needed to think of something, fast. And just like that, as if a silent prayer had been answered (though Slayer never remembered making a plea), a hefty pebble the size of the assassin's fist flew over Slayer's head and nailed the Alpha in the eye. The Dog howled in agony, the sharp rock having no doubt blinded the beast from that side. Another stone flew and hit one of the other Dogs squarely in the nose, and another flew soon after. A warcry sounded off behind Slayer. He trusted his senses, and hit the deck. Almost immediately after, a pure hail of rocks and stones launched over Slayer's prone form like a shower. The Diamond Dogs throughout the precinct, having not expected such an assault, were exposed and therefore battered relentlessly by chunks of minerals. Slayer chanced a look behind him, and a triumphant smirk grew on his face. Standing on the rooftops across the way were over two-dozen Zebras, each armed with several stones and slings that quickly found themselves ripping through the air with a surprising amount of velocity. And in the center, picking out particular targets to focus on, was none other than the prince himself. 'Shamon, you lovable little equine you.' Said Zebra raised his hoof and did a brief parody of a salute towards Slayer. With that, multiple Zebras rushed in from all sides and swept up the remaining Dogs with decisive ease. The Alpha and its small vanguard fled before anything more could be done, though Slayer felt immense satisfaction at the look of pure unrelenting rage in the Diamond Dog's unbloodied eye. Slayer began picking himself off the ground, as Shamon galloped up to the bounty hunter with relief. How the Zebra got to the ground so fast was a question the hitman ignored. "Slayer! What are you doing here? I did not realize you would be in the city still, much less fighting the Diamond Dogs and leading some of my own kin into the fray." Despite the strange sensation of lightheadedness settling into the back of Slayer's mind for a temporary respite, he kept a cocky tone to his voice as he retrieved his Sabres with Shamon trailing behind in bewilderment. "And leave you to have all the fun? I don't think so." The Zebra merely cracked a grin, which was a thankful expression to see in spite of the serious situation they were both in. The courtyard now truly looked like a battlefield. Corpses haphazardly decorated the floor of the surrounding sector, belonging now to both Dog and Zebra. Both Slayer and Shamon looked on quietly, feeling the gravity of the area. There were casualties. Severe casualties. Of the eighteen Slayer had led in, only six remained. The marauder couldn't help but feel as if he had led them into a suicide charge, an ambush. Were the blood of a dozen Zebra lives now on his hands? He wasn't sure. There was a faint feeling of shock echoing in Slayer's system. Killing civilians was a waste of time if it wasn't a contract, and generally--unless desperate for supplies or cash--was personally frowned upon by Slayer due to the unhonourable circumstances surrounding the scenario. But this, was different. It was as if he had indirectly killed them, as if he had led those poor souls with not a lick of comprehension of why things were happening, gallantly into their deaths without a second thought. He should have ordered them during the heat of battle to maintain ranks, or to take a defensive position, or something. Instead he let them stampede, to break file. And as a result they got killed. Slayer didn't know why he was feeling the empathy that he was. He had killed a lot of people. A lot. Even civvies, from time to time. But this was an instance where he killed people without meaning to, and when he had good intentions. As a result, he wasn't exactly positive what to feel. Instead, Slayer contented himself to almost impassively watch the bloody corpses of the Zebras be blessed by chanting shamans, and mourned by wounded brothers. "Slayer? Are you all right?" Said assassin duly noted the concern in Shamon's voice as he returned from his internal musing and glanced down. Once more, Shamon's stoically impassive face (one that really only came from being royalty, probably) was adorned, though this was marred by a tint of worry. Was it for him, Slayer wondered. Probably not. "Yeah. I'm peachy. Nothing some buffing out and maybe some therapy won't fix." There wasn't exactly any singular emotion in Slayer's voice; it was a mixture of so many different feelings, the tone and halfhearted joke ended up sounding strained and cold, instead of confident and easygoing. For a moment, Slayer uselessly flapped his lips together. "I... I didn't expect there to be an ambush. I'm sorry--" Despite not explaining why, Shamon rose a hoof to stop Slayer. "Stop. Don't you dare apologize." The force in Shamon's voice halted any possibility for a rebuttal. "I know what you're feeling." The prince quietly glanced over his charges again; some were breathing heavily, some were crying, and some were doing neither. His eyes hovered over the latter the longest. "They died to protect Nazar. You leading them into battle, and them falling is not your fault. Never think otherwise." Slayer presumed the words were true, and in fact knew them to be true deep in his heart... but these sudden, foreign waves of grief were starting to overcome the pirate and his rational thoughts. He sunk down cautiously and took a seat on the hard surface of the yard, refusing to drop his guard. This had happened before, one very long time ago. He had led similar troops into a similar situation, and in that period of time he was most definitely at fault as he watched his allies being gunned down due to his mistakes. Was this any different? Slayer couldn't tell. Shamon motioned to a nearby soldier. "Get the Interloper some water. Everyone, guard this uwanja until we're ready to continue on." Zebra warriors silently nodded, their own agony at seeing so many of their kin dying in combat dulling their want to speak. A small flask soon found itself in Shamon's hoof, and he passed it to Slayer, who gave a nod of thanks and drank without a word. Shamon had seen this type of shock before, and knew that giving the alien time to recover his wits was the best thing, even if it meant delaying in rescuing the Elders. As Slayer stewed in thought, and the distant screams and battle-cries rode the faint breeze through the now-bustling plaza, Shamon was still analysing the entire scope of things; Slayer had stayed and fought. He could have just as easily left the first chance he had, but instead that armoured alien remained. Was this it? Was Slayer truly the one who would end the misery of the Zebrican people by slaying the Diamond Dog scourge afflicting their kin since nearly the beginning of history? If their current predicament wasn't so severe, Shamon would have smiled in hopeful joy. A tired sigh left Slayer as he took another drink to sate his thirst. The battle had really done a number on his psyche, and the cool refreshing water was helping to bring Slayer's senses back into focus. Bruises and slight penetrations in his armor were thankfully all the injuries Slayer had endured through that fight, save for the slightly-splintered visor. It could have been worse. A lot worse. Passing the canteen back, the assassin stood stiffly and cracked his back. To the prince's credit, he didn't flinch as the loud pops echoed in the forum. Slayer had to get back into things, and put the nipping guilt behind him; the longer he stayed out of the thick of things, the harder it'd be to stop the Dogs, get to Equestria, and give Drake an ass-kicking for making him go through all of this. Maybe Slayer would get paid for his service in Nazar? That'd be nice. Shamon regarded Slayer with almost a bit of humor in his voice, though genuine or not was unknown. "I know this may not be the most appropriate time to state this, but... you look really terrible, you know that?" It was an awful attempt at a joke, but Slayer couldn't help but let out an honest guffaw at the probable understatement. Slayer rarely laughed--and it was rarer still for him to guffaw at that volume--but he felt it would be good for his mental sanity if he relieved some of the stress. "You should see the other guy." Slayer was almost internally stunned with himself; cracking jokes wasn't something he usually did, much less during a siege and even less so in foreign company. The recollection brought words to the bounty hunter's lips as he grasped the handles of his Sabres out of comfort. He made a note to figure out how they got knocked off so easily in the future when they were magnetically locked to his hips. "Enough pissing about. We need to press onwards and secure your Elders. How many men do you have?" The word was foreign to Shamon, but it didn't take more than half-a-second for him to realize the asking. "I have over thirty warriors with me. We had initially been rushing towards the Elder Council after we had been attacked in another district obtaining supplies, when some of our scouts saw you were commanding a unit into battle. We took higher ground and when the opportunity presented itself, we got a little revenge in stoning the Alpha, Lucien." Slayer made a move to question, but Shamon beat him to the punch. "Lucien is the Diamond Dog that has been leading the raids on Nazar, and is one of the most notorious of their race. Rumors are like wildfire that he is one of the Great Five who command all of their dens across the world." Slayer wanted to question further, but he figured there would be a time and a place for that later. With the mercenary nodding to show he was satisfied with the current answer, Shamon continued. "Knowing that Alpha though, he will not give up so easily. We can expect to undoubtedly see Lucien again during this conflict, and he'll undoubtedly be leading the attack on the Elder Council." "Thanks for the assist back there, by the way," Slayer said in a muted tone. It was not often Slayer thanked someone for saving his life; more often than not, it was the other way around. Humble pie was something that was going down harder than expected. Maybe the rush of war was dulling his capacity to care about humility? That was a first. "You certainly made the fight a lot simpler for me." Shamon nodded in kind, a smile appraising his face. He realized the meaning behind the casual tone outlining the phrase, but didn't call Slayer out on it. "You saved my life once. It is only fair that I might as well return the favour to a degree, eh?" The quip floored the assassin with such simple logic, but he kept his response to an repressed chuckle as he glanced down. Spotting a broken spear raised a concern that needed to be voiced. "I recognize that you and your people are not ones to spill blood, but... you'll need to take the Dog's arms if you wish to reduce lives lost." Shamon's face fell in contemplation as the other Zebras began organizing themselves. The remnants of Slayer's force were quickly taking on a leadership role, setting the warriors into a mock parallel of the flight Slayer had designed for them and their kin. "You may very well be correct, although I do not know if they would be willing to use them even if I commanded them to. It is against our nature to kill, even if it is towards Diamond Dogs in self-defense." A frown worked its way onto Slayer's face. He'd been expecting such a response. Slayer didn't have the patience at that moment though to argue on the matter. If the Zebras wanted to die by not using more effective weapons, then that was their folly. So he decided to simply drop the issue, as they were starting to waste very very valuable time, and took the reins to begin escorting the troop through back-alleys. Shamon kept pace right beside him, staff ready to be drawn almost as swiftly as Slayer would his sword. "Do you have any idea where the Elders are? A safety bunker of some sorts, or any kind of evacuation plan?" The prince shook his head. "Unfortunately, we do not. The Diamond Dogs have never been this bold before to outright lay waste to Nazar. In our foolishness, I suppose we were almost too sure of ourselves and we underestimated the audacity of the Dogs..." Shamon assumed point for a brief moment to check around a corner, before signaling to Slayer that they were good. "They are most likely still in their tent where we held our... meeting with them." The pause did not go unnoticed by the bounty hunter. Whether by intention or chance, Slayer did not know, but they encountered no more ambushes or even combat during the course of their march through the city streets. They often passed by finished battles; some occasionally holding survivors still willing to fight under Shamon's--though in a strange turn of events, it ended up being more like Slayer's--personal banner, and some others... Well, those individuals would not have been much help in their condition. Both Shamon and Slayer halted their demoralized party. These warriors were not prepared for this, Slayer speculated; not physically, mentally, technologically, or psychologically. How the Zebras were able to hold themselves together and be willing to keep on fighting against surmounting odds was admittedly inspiring to the bounty hunter. There were human veterans that couldn't keep their composure as well as the Zebras were doing, and these equines probably had zero actual combat experience beyond very basic training. Shamon waved at Slayer to follow him closely, leaving the mass of troops behind so they could scout ahead. The prince considered idly for a moment to leave one of them behind to assure the soldiers and keep them from retreating in a blind panic, but decided against it after another moment. They needed two opinions for whatever obstacles might be in their way. "Up ahead is their tent. We came in through a back-way, in case they were expecting a frontal assault." Upon them both reaching the subtly-shadowed alcove, Shamon and Slayer simultaneously peeked around the corner. "Hopefully we arrived before they reached the vanguard--" The two tensed in trepidation. What they were staring at was not pretty. The previous carnage Slayer had marched passed, in comparison to what was before him, was like trying to compare a hold-out pistol to an interplanetary battery charge. Dozens upon dozens of Zebra bodies laid soullessly in a mass grave in front of the space before the teepee, eyes glassy and chilling to stare into. Not a single Dog incapacitation. Instead were several battalions of Diamond Dogs being organized under several Alphas, many armed with spears and full sets of leathery armor. Their files were sloppy, and more designed to squish as many Dogs into the small area as possible. Slayer didn't doubt for a second he was staring into a band of at least sixty of the beasts. Shamon silently whispered something to himself under his breath, as their pairs of eyes took in everything. They had stumbled onto the very heart of the siege's reserves. And they were positioned directly in front of the tent, with no way to be able to slip through without being detected. A subtle mutt was scattered here and there with javelins, perched on random rooftops to serve as snipers and lookouts. The overall plausibility of getting past that overwhelming force deftly reached zero-percent in record time. 'Shit.' The word rebounded in Slayer's noggin as he contemplated. Shamon could almost feel the cogs turning in the alien's head, and after a while they both settled themselves into the nook to discuss. The prince was the first to start. "This is not good. We should have expected them to assemble their primary attack near the Elders in case of a rescue attempt." "I did, although the extent of their force is disturbing," Slayer grumbled. "We can't perform any stealth approach, nor can we perform a charge. We need to improvise, lure and/or diminish their miniature army in some way..." As he trailed off, an idea became forming in the back of his mind. Was it foolish? Absolutely. Risky? Of course. Did it have a high chance of success? Hell no. The hitman tapped a finger against his thigh, one of his signature modes of thinking. Shamon picked up on this. "Do you have an idea, Slayer?" A nod left him as he spoke as softly as possible; arousing the Dog's acute hearing before any action could be taken would be rather unpleasant. "Aye. It's a multi-step plan; riddled with dangers for not just me and you, but all those warriors waiting for us back there. And it'll most likely fall through and end with large amounts of losses. But we don't seem to really have another plan, so we may need to take what we can get." Silence dominated the air between them. For a long, baited-breath moment, Shamon's expression held large helpings of conflict, worry, and anger. The prince's gaze hovered over his charges once more, then the mass of Diamond Dogs, and then the Elder's tent which sat unmoving. It all faded with a resolute sigh, and the prince stared passively at the pirate. "What do you have in mind?" Behind the man's mask, a concealed grin revealed itself. "That depends; got any more rocks?" Starbrought With a heaving grunt of effort, Slayer pulled himself up and out of the hatch. Stealthily closing the wooden trapdoor before the hinges could give him away, the assassin crouch-walked over to the edge of the tower, and peered down from behind his cover. It had taken him nearly half-an-hour to organize everything and get Shamon to agree with the plan, but he did it. Now Slayer just had to ensure that everything was in position. Slayer stood on top of a bell-tower, overlooking the Elders' tent and the horde of awaiting Dogs with precise calculation. Reaching into his satchel (the prince had sent for a scout to retrieve the bag from the discarded wagon), Slayer began tying his coil of metal cable around one of the buttresses, taking much too long in the marauder's honest opinion to properly fasten it. Slayer wished he had a rifle. It would be amusing to take pot-shots at Alphas and watch their heads comically explode in the cross-hairs. That would provide an excellent cover in terms of chaos to lure Lucien out to decapitate, or blow up. Unfortunately, Slayer had to make do with what he got. Though he made a note to look into seeing if he could construct one from a possible blueprint when he returned to the Ethereal. If he ever got back to the Ethereal, that is. Nightfall was in its earliest moments, bathing the bloodied capital of Nazar in the faintest wisps of crimson light. Once darkness fell, though; the Dogs rate of victory would increase exponentially, with the Zebras blindly stumbling about without any night vision. The man had to work as swiftly as he could; the Solaris Suit couldn't maintain its charge with as near efficiency during the night, and such power-consuming actions like open battle would finish him off before any beast could. Slayer unclipped his jagged glass orb that he still had on his person, and held it up to the light. Despite it being unrefined, and there being very little sunlight to work with, the rough sculpture gave off a semi-bright flash. A distant flash met him a few moments later in response. The agents were in position. Slayer exhaled, waiting for the right moment. Once the 'Crimson Menace' gave the signal, all hell was going to break loose. The only way it would work is if his timing was impeccable and his measurements had been absolutely spot-on. Several Alpha mutts shambled about, growling and barking to their cohorts as squadrons occasionally departed to random vectors of Nazar. Slayer needed to kill this Lucien character quick. From what Slayer gathered, without leadership the Dogs would become unorganized and eventually flee. At least, he hoped that would happen. It was their only shot of getting out alive, after all. A questioning glimmer attracted Slayer's attention. He gave one more look-over of the Diamond Dogs, and quickly flashed his orb. They were prepped. All Slayer had to do was to provide that single distraction to initiate the signal. 'Hmm... what could I possibly use as an appropriate distraction?' Glancing over at the unmoving bell, inspiration struck him as he smirked and drove his armored boot into the brass ornament. It resounded with a heavy dong, one that echoed throughout the blood-soaked capital. Battles seemed to pause, suspended in time as the ominous sound rang across the streets, death being foretold in its endless groan. The Dogs below glanced up in confusion and fright. But the results were immediate. One-fourth of the Zebra war-party that Slayer had led became known at the bottom of the Elder's encampment, wildly throwing stones up the hill and dispatching some Dogs with lucky shots. The unexpected--but pathetic--assault only roused two squadrons of beasts to give chase to the equines, who fled down the road and away from the teepee. The remaining Dogs merely looked puzzled at what just happened (with a Diamond Dog on occasion still glancing up at the now-silent bell), before another quarter of the Zebras emerged from an alcove and repeated the process. Once more, a squadron broke ranks at their Alpha's discretion and pursued them into the back alleys of Nazar. Slayer nodded to himself as he put his souvenir away. Half of their force remained. It would have to do. Almost lazily, Slayer plucked a particular grenade from his utility belt and fiddled with it for a moment, fighting the urge to lightly whistle a tune and give his position away. After he was done, the bounty hunter casually dropped the ticking device into the midst of the Dog's army. Numbers began floating through his mind. 'One. Two.' The grenade plummeted almost in an never-ending limbo, before reaching the earth. 'Three. Four.' Confused barks and whimpers sounded out below him as the technology settled, but Slayer didn't look. There was no reason to. He just needed to wait for one more-- With sudden volume, a high-pitched whine much like a siren randomly pierced the air. Slayer's Suit automatically adapted and suppressed the vibrations, just in case he overestimated the frequency and the Screamer threatened to bust his ear drums. Every single Dog (Alphas included, though to a lesser degree) hunched over in pain as their ears pressed against their skulls. Some of them instantly lost consciousness from the sensory overload, and a few others probably suffered permanent hearing damage. Barely readable above the screeching wail, several Zebrican war-cries made themselves known. Slayer's vantage point allowed him to bare witness to Zebras quietly lying in wait springing forth from their hiding places on the rooftops, using their staffs to render any lookouts in their range asleep via blunt trauma. The frequency was too high for even their ears to detect, making the Sonic Screamer an ideal item to use in order to shake the Diamond Dog force. Slayer smirked as the Dog's vertical advantage was gone; it was time to take it a step further. Slayer clipped the cord to his waist, and lowered himself so he hung off the edge of the bell-tower. He began to count once again. 'Time for Phase Two: One. Two. Three--' Movement halted his countdown. A pair of Alphas had left the Elder's tent, thankfully with no blood on their persons but still carrying weapons of war. Unlike the others however, they were somehow unaffected by the Sonic Screamer's emitting shriek. Strings of curses left Slayer as he began to carefully but swiftly rappel himself down the tower, giving his cable slack for a continuous descent. Some beasts being immune was not part of the plan. It seemed, however, that those two Dogs went unnoticed by the rest of the Zebras. Shamon went through with the attack and suddenly charged out of an alley separate from the one where one of the decoys ran off through, leading the rest of his kin and blindsiding the disoriented mass of canines. They began dropping like flies, the Zebras dutifully using their staves like fly-swatters against any Dog still standing in their reach. Slayer picked up his pace, occasionally pausing to draw one of his Sabres and open fire at a recovering Dog that would try and fight back. Those two Alphas still walked, almost indifferent to their own numbers being destroyed in front of them. Pausing just outside of the fighting's area of effect, one of them unsheathed a javelin from his back. And with aim that even Slayer would have had a hard time with, the Alpha sent the spear straight through the Sonic Screamer grenade and cleanly severed the power coupling, rendering the machine useless. Confusion wracked the hunter's brain as he finally found purchase on the roof below his feet. 'Their numbers are already dispatched,' Slayer muttered to himself as he unbounded himself from the cable and sprinted over to the edge as quickly as possible. Stealth was no longer a factor that needed to be considered. 'What's the point of taking out the Screamer if they're all decimated--' Slayer froze at the edge. The answer was waiting for him. It seemed that those other squadrons from earlier that had left to hunt down the Zebras apparently gave up (or succeeded, which was a grim thought that Slayer filed away for later) and had begun to return. The Sonic Screamer however, was keeping them at bay and preventing them from entering the fray. With the shrill sound now gone... Combat erupted almost instantly once more, as if the lull from the Screamer's death never occurred. Dogs burrowed out of the stone boulevards and Zebras began to suffer casualties of their own from the unexpected counteroffensive. The two Alphas turned their attention to Slayer, inviting him over with their paws and smug smiles on their face. It seemed they believed to have out-thought the assassin. Slayer snorted in irritation. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Those distractions were supposed to keep reinforcements back for several minutes longer. And Slayer didn't have another Screamer on-hand to return the fight to his favour. Plan A was done with. Thankfully, he still had good 'ole Plan B. Kill them all. With explosions. The bounty hunter reached to his belt once more, undeterred from the snag in his efforts. Slayer's supply of grenades were limited, but he did have enough to survive any situation that would call for them. Slayer hoped that if he survived, he would still have some grenades left over to get him to Drake. Being stuck without the little buggers really sucked. With an explosive in each hand, Slayer chucked his right load at the Alpha pair, and the left towards the sudden conflict. Without waiting for either grenade to go off, the bounty hunter activated the Solaris Suit's speaker-function and bellowed out an order in a booming voice. "Blind sight!" The Zebras reacted immediately; they had been briefed on Plan B in case it ever happened. The warriors stopped their fighting, and turned away from the dumbbell shaped projectile now sitting silent and still in the middle of the zone. The Dogs, instead of rationally following suit and looking the other way, decided it wiser to stare in befuddlement at the strange object-- An excruciating flash of burning pure light sprung forth from the casing for but an instant. Diamond Dogs, to Slayer's Shamon-provided knowledge, had amazing night vision but terrible sight in bright areas. As such, the flashbang grenade had a super-effective reaction amongst the Dogs as they went without the capacity to see for several brief seconds. Ignoring ringing in their ears, the Zebras took their opportunity and began returning the numbers (and therefore the odds) to their favour. They didn't even flinch at the fiery explosion that resonated from behind them, nor the screams of anguish as an Alpha perished to the strange weapon of the Interloper. Slayer smirked, and without much fanfare shot the other surviving Alpha dead from the roof. The plasma grenade did its duty and gave Slayer an opening to shoot uninterrupted by any potential javelins. He wished though he took a moment longer to aim; it would have been more impressive to have killed both with one grenade. It didn't really matter, Slayer considered. With those Alphas down, any Dogs nearby that noticed would undoubtedly surrender and/or make a hasty retreat. All that was left for him to do was securing the Elders and finishing off Lucien-- A shout from across the way brought Slayer's immediate focus. The Diamond Dogs had recovered, but they were severely outnumbered. True to Slayer's hypothesis, several of the canines had yielded and brought their paws over their head in submission as they sunk to their knees. They did not wish to meet a similar fate as their Alphas did to the hands of the metal thing. The Zebras obliged them with a quick blow to the temple. The beasts that remained though seemed to have gone insane. They barked and growled and snarled ferociously at anything in their way, sometimes cutting down their own during the mad frenzy. Shamon was dead-set in the middle of it, somehow fighting off three of the deranged mutts by himself. The prince was losing ground, and given less than a few seconds would be cut down and dead before he even hit the dirt. For a brief moment, Slayer and Shamon's eyes met. They understood immediately. Slayer's Sabres found themselves in the assassin's tight, accurate grasp as two consecutive bolts flew towards the Zebra. Shamon ducked under the jugular-slicing swipe of a spear, uppercutting the offending Diamond Dog with his bamboo staff from his lowered stance. Yelps sounded off, and Shamon's flanks now had breathing room. Shamon parried another blow as Slayer began running down the row of buildings to get closer to the struggle, their positioning apparently being too risky for the warrior to shoot fire at the remnant of the army. The Dog forgo'd its spear and launched itself forward. Shamon had been expecting it, but even with that advantage it wasn't enough. Shamon was clipped by the mass of fury and felt claws dig into his hind-leg. A cry of pain left the prince, but he heroically pressed on and--presented with the opportunity--unloaded his undamaged hind-leg into the inside of the Dog's knee. However, with the new injury adorning Shamon's body, he fell unceremoniously to the ground from a newfound lack of balance. As the canine recovered and raised its bloody paw to finish off the wounded prince, a shriek similar to an eagle sounded off from above. A brief second later, Slayer appeared out of the gloom like a scarlet raven descending upon its prey, and landed on top of the Dog. His katana was unsheathed, and with gravity guiding him, had severed the spine from the skull upon impact. The battle was over in the blink of an eye. Slayer left his sword in the corpse as he rushed over to Shamon, who was trying to stand but suddenly didn't have the strength to. With weak protests, the Zebra allowed Slayer to gently ease him back down to the ground. Nearby tribesman attempted to approach their hurt prince, but with surprising harshness, Slayer dismissed them to get the man bandages and other medical implements. "I'm... I'm wounded?" The mercenary ignored the confused prince as he began a brief rudimentary field-check. Slayer was no doctor, and hardly qualified to be a medic, but he knew his way around enough physical injuries to treat them all right. Shamon had thankfully only taken shallow penetrations, so no muscles seemed to be permanently damaged. And it seemed that, all in all, Shamon didn't lose that much blood. That was good. If Shamon died, Slayer would be one guide less. So why was Shamon going into shock? Slayer's eyes widened as the question repeated itself with greater volume. Despite his best attempts at being gentle, the assassin roughly patted the Zebra's face. "Hey, hold in there, Shamon. Stay awake; we need you up and at 'im." No response met Slayer. With booming anger unaided by any speaker, the assassin's voice rang out. "Where are my bandages?!" "Right here, Slayer." Without so much as a muttered 'thanks', Slayer snatched the wool straps handed to him by the same Zebra that had happened to survive his personal expedition into the city. Said soldier wanted to voice his displeasure at the brash attitude, but the seriousness of the state they were in and the condition of his prince kept the stallion silent. A glass vial filled with a crystal clear liquid soon found itself next to the bounty hunter, who quickly uncorked the bottle and began pouring a generous helping onto the slash marks. A hiss of pain seemed to return Shamon to the living world, because a weak, shaky hoof went to push Slayer's arm away. It didn't even budge at the protest. "Slayer... stop. Let the doctors take care of me; go after Lucien--" Shamon relapsed back into unconsciousness as Slayer finished dressing the wound. Shamon's skin was beginning to feel clammy, and his pulse was abnormally slow, but it would pass. With another gruff order, blankets were soon laid out over the prince. Individuals in shock needed to lie down and stay warm; hopefully the Zebrican doctors could sustain the Zebra when Slayer could not. Slayer turned to address one of the warriors, who threw up a hasty salute. The particular Zebra felt uncomfortable doing the motion as it was more an action performed by their Equestrian-counterparts, but seeing his prince do it before--even teasingly--inspired the hoof that may or may not have left a bruise upon its swift ascent. "Have your best doctors tend to Shamon. Now. And send scouts out to the other districts: order a full-scale retreat to this point as garrison. Set torches, build barricades; do whatever you need to in order to fortify this location. Go." The soldier trotted off without a word with orders that allowed no argument. Pausing only for a moment to harshly unsheathe his katana from the body of the Diamond Dog, Slayer began harshly marching towards the Elder's tent. The Zebra from the marketplace (whose name was, at the time, unimportant) swiftly caught up to him. Night was in full-effect, and those last trace glimmers of sunlight had evaporated. Nazar, still brimming with conflict, now fought in the shade. "Slayer, sir; where are you going--?" "Is Lucien in there?" The almost-growl of a response brought a swift reply. "Er, yes. We investigated as you asked. From what we could hear, Lucien is still there, apparently awaiting you. They... they have the Elders hostage already. Not dead it seems, thank the Divine..." Slayer gave no immediate answer as the teepee loomed closer and closer, and the Zebra's eyes widened in revelation. "Sir. Lucien is backed by multiple Alphas. Do you expect to be able to drive them back all by yourself?!" Stopping just a few paces away from the flaps of the eerily-still tent, Slayer glanced down at his acquaintance's baffled expression. He spared a singular look behind his shoulder towards Shamon's form being attended to by doctors. A dark, sadistic tone entered Slayer's voice. One that caused the Zebra to backpedal away from the assassin as he walked through the tent. "Drive them back? Oh, no. I have something else in mind." Starbrought "I have to admit; even after all this time, the Serenade still looks relatively the same," Cadance said simply, eyes caressing the deck of the ship. Silver Flash and Shining Armor stood to her sides, while Drake hung back, lazily watching the clouds drift by. It had been about two hours since they set sail, and the breeze was pleasant as they progressed through Equestrian air-space. Silver gave a nonchalant shrug, looking over the pegasi thoroughly cleaning the bow with immaculate precision. "I liked the colour too much to change it. Though the steel-plating is definitely new since the last time you were on here." Cadance grimaced. "And the arcane cannons." Another shrug left the captain. "Mercenary work is hardly a safe occupation. This is a military vessel, at the end of the day. Completely legal, of course," she spoke with a grin in the direction of Shining. He just gave a nod and a grunt, seemingly more interested in keeping an eye on Drake than partaking in conversation. Raising her voice slightly to cover the distance, she addressed her guest. "Why do you look so down over there?" Drake glanced over in a deadpanned expression. "Because I'm still under arrest?" "Oh, right." With a nervous laugh, Flash waved it away. "Well, come over here. Socialize! Don't be like the stick-in-the-mud guards." She promptly ignored both Shining's snort and Cadance's giggle. Huffing gently at ever being compared to the guards, Drake approached the trio, though his two 'attendees' did not leave his side. The Tempest Serenade was definitely an impressive feat of engineering, considering the fact that the Equestrians didn't seem to have the technology to produce a flight-worthy vessel without some amount of magic, Drake mused. It was without question a formidable ship, with apparently ample space to house crew, cargo, and containers that went 'kaboom'; all important things when you were a freelancing ship. Drake gave an approving nod. "Your ship isn't my Ethereal, but it is impressive nonetheless." Silver Flash smirked. "Glad to see you approve." Lazily, she motioned towards some of the crew milling about the deck. "Since the Serenade runs on one of them new Mythril engines, my lads are really only here to man the guns and to maintain its innards. As such, they tend to not have much to do." "Is that why you deprive your 'mates' the joy of piloting the ship?" Cadance asked, though not sarcastically. A shrug and a roll of her eyes was the captain's only response as she maneuvered the wheel in her aura. "I'm not comfortable with a helmsmen, unless I am preoccupied. Why assign someone to fly your ship when you can fly it yourself? If anyone is going to crash the Serenade, you can bet your flank it'd be me." "I know the feeling," Drake acquiesced from his spot behind the trio. "I don't let either of my crewmates so much as touch the navigation panel. Barring their inability to fly the Ethereal, it doesn't feel right to me either letting someone else fly my ship." A moment passed, before Flash gave him an appraising grin. "Nice to know I'm not alone in the department, Mr. Shields." Drake merely nodded, and the human returned his attention back over the railing. Shining became her next target. "And you, guard boy: would you stop drilling holes in the back of Mr. Shields' head?" The Sergeant blinked in surprise, but gave a level look towards the mare. "Sorry, miss Silver Flash; but he is still a prisoner, and is still under my jurisdiction. Until we reach the Zebrican Desert once more, my eyes are staying on him." "How disturbing..." Drake quipped. not removing his gaze from the clouds. Brows furrowing, he leaned over the railing. There was something in the distant bank of white; a dark shadow, with a similar build to the Serenade. A moment and a cloud passed, and when both were gone, so was the specter. He merely shook his head, and turned back to the others. "So, when is our expected arrival time?" Flash pulled out some ancient device (to Drake's standards) from seemingly nowhere, examining it quietly. Giving a nod, she tucked it away back into... wherever. "We appear to be making good time. At the speed we're going, we should reach these coordinates before noon tomorrow." Drake nodded; that would have to suffice. Hopefully the Ethereal didn't get too badly damaged, Drake prayed. A brief silence settled over the quartet before Cadance spoke up. "We have also arranged to attach your ship to the bottom of the Tempest." She raised a hoof to stop Drake's anticipated asking. "This will happen regardless if it can fly by itself. At least until we return to Canterlot; then you may do with it as you will." "I thought my full pardon went into effect the instant we finished with my ship." "It does," Cadance affirmed. "We just need to return to Canterlot as one group. A precaution." An irritated sigh left Drake, but he decided not to push his luck. He was thankful he was at least getting the Ethereal back. He could afford it not being in his immediate possession once more for an additional day or so. "If you must." Flash abruptly slammed her hoof against the deck. "Let's go to my quarters. There's something I need to show you three." Leaving her present company in a rush, she hurried over to the other side of the balcony where the controls for the Serenade rested. "Elaweda! You're on pilot duty. Make sure the lads get dinner and the shifts play out." One of the crewmates trotted up, and it surprised both Cadance and Shining to discover him to be a Zebra. "Uh..." Drake stood, blinking at the striped individual now maintaining the wheel of the ship. "Not to accidentally be racist, but... what is that?" The captain raised an eyebrow, but waved it off. "Eh, you're an alien; I'll let it slide. Ella here," she paused at the stallion snorting, "is the Serenade's quartermaster. He's one of the Zebra, Equestria's cousins from the desert that your ship crashed in, Mr. Shields. Also my most loyal crew-member." "Uh..." Shining stood, blinking at the character currently ignoring their conversation. "Not to accidentally be racist either, but... why do you have a Zebra amongst your crew--?" He was promptly interrupted by Flash suddenly unloading a slap across his muzzle. From Drake's perspective, it might've even been a punch. The Sergeant stood baffled as she glared him down. "How could you ask such a racist and insensitive question, you pissant?! Are you saying Zebra aren't allowed to work with Equestrians?" The stallion's eyes widened to an insurmountable degree. "N-no; that wasn't what I was implying at all--!" "You have some nerve, guard boy," Flash whispered dangerously. Cadance could only stand on the sidelines along with Drake, watching the situation play out with a baffled expression. "I pardoned Mr. Shields because he is a foreigner. You, however, have... no... excu--" She suddenly stopped herself, fighting off a surge of laughter. She failed. "Ha ha ha! Ah, I'm just messin' with ya! Your face was perfect." Before anyone could hope to question or comment on the events that had just occurred, Flash wandered off towards the interior of the ship, waving along her company. They quickly followed, if only to get distance between themselves and the fuming stallion at the rear of their pack. Drake glanced up, giving a small sigh of relief upon entry. "I am so glad I'm short enough to fit in this hallway." Silver nodded. "Yeah, we get some taller folks in here sometimes to help with loading cargo. I was thinking to expanding it further for our pegasi, but I don't have enough in the budget. At least, not yet." A predatory grin was flashed back towards Cadance. The princess merely shook her head slowly with a smirk. Eventually they seemed to arrive at their destination, because Flash stopped in her tracks before a seemingly-inconspicuous door and ushered them inside. "Here we are; my personal quarters," she said with a grin. The three guests could only raise their eyebrows at the scene. It looked more like a small wall-less apartment than a mere bedroom. "Is that a liquor cabinet?" Flash's grin never left her face as she trotted over to it. "Why yes it is, my fine alien friend. It is also the reason why we are here." Randomly grabbing one of the bottles in her magic, she brought out several shot-glasses and began heartily filling them. "I figured we might as well celebrate our reunion, Cadey." The princess twitched. "I thought we had an agreement that you would never call me that ever again, ever." She waved it off in a way that seemed like she wasn't really that sorry, before she floated over everyone's respective glass. Cadance reluctantly took hers while Drake happily nabbed it the instant it came in range. Shining's, however, met a deadpanned expression. "Do you realize you're giving alcohol to both royalty and a guard?" An actual disgruntled look overcame Flash's face. "Jeez. I thought you were a prune, but this is ridiculous. Get over yourself, guard boy." With a tired sigh, Shining accepted the offered drink. "What is this, if I may ask?" Cadance questioned, gently sniffing their soon-to-be beverage. To her credit, she didn't keel over and become contact drunk by the smell alone. Her magic, however, did falter slightly around the glass before she regained control. "Oh my; that's positively--" "Strongest stuff this side of the skies," the captain proclaimed proudly. "Minotaurs call it 'Red Bull', and is one of the most hard-to-get whiskeys out there. This is designed to knock 'em out in a single shot." Before either Cadance or Shining could voice their disapproval at such a powerful concoction, Drake knocked his back. The action froze them. A few seconds passed, before Drake frowned. "That actually felt pretty weak." "What?! No way!" In a fit, Silver Flash downed hers. She waited a moment before she groaned. "Ugh. Did it get watered down, or something? I know it's enchanted to take a lot of kick out of it so we can enjoy it, but come on! What a gip!" Apparently assured that the alcohol content wasn't as high as anticipated, Shining and Cadance efficiently finished their rounds. They too, seemed to barely get buzzed by the drink. "This blows!" As Silver continued on with her rather-childish tirade about alcohol, Drake stared at the bottle set down on the table. While he couldn't understand any of the text written on it, he could see a small timer on the side. His eyes widened. "Uh oh..." And in that exact moment, Drake went from sober to pissed-drunk. Cadance noticed the sudden glazed look on his face, and she tentatively raised a hoof. "Uh... are you alright?" Silver Flash glanced over in confusion, and saw what was happening. Her eyes widened as well in revelation, and just like Drake, the alcohol chose that moment to strike. The sheer force of the drink kicking in caused her to stumble. Simultaneously, both Cadance and Shining fell under the same state that was plaguing the two ship captains. In one fell swoop, they were all relatively shit-faced. Drake gave a lethargic smile. "I think--hic--that it has a bit of a delay." Gently, the others nodded. After much effort, they all grabbed themselves chairs and just sat, staring at one another. "Na... now what?" Silver Flash blinked slowly, eyes out of sync as she did so. "I dunno." Her eyes scrunched up in irritation. "Give me a moment. This kinda... sucks." Taking a shaky breath, she began channeling magic into her horn. Several seconds passed, before she sighed. "Ah. Much better." Drake blearily looked down at the captain of the Serenade. "What did you just do...?" She waved it off, before she began putting more magic into her horn. It suddenly expanded, and bubbled out like a shockwave, washing over the other occupants of the room. The aura lingered on their persons, and after a few moments, vanished. Drake blinked, and shook his head. "Oh, I see. That spell weakened the alcohol. Interesting." Silver nodded her head. "That was just too strong to be enjoyable. I'm going to visit that enchanter the next time I'm in Minotaur territory; he had some nerve to try and sell me that." Glancing over towards Cadance and Shining, she waved to get their attention. "How are you two holding up now?" Judging by the still rather-absent expression on their faces, there was still too much in them. The captain shrugged; it was probably just one tier above a buzz. "I'll take that as a yes." Looking with disdain towards the bottle of 'Red Bull', she scoffed and sent it off back towards the cabinet. A new bottle arrive to take its place. "Mr. Shields. Let's have a little contest." Drake raised an eyebrow. "Are you seriously challenging me to a drinking contest after that?" A cheeky grin appeared on her face as she poured the bottle's contents into their two respective glasses. "Maybe. It's not like we can do it with Cadey and guard boy over there." Drake flicked his eyes over to see the two of them had already slumped over on the table, succumbed to the drink at some point during their talk. "Wow. Pair of light-weights." He simply shrugged. "Eh, sure; I'll do some rounds with you. That spell almost destroyed too much of the buzz." With a small, silent toast, the two tipped their liquor back. An appraising smile appeared on Drake's face. "Man. Not pulling any punches tonight, are you?" "I like a challenge," Silver said dismissively. "I'm not one for those pansy drinks. Cocktails, and the like. It's a shame I don't have any rum on me. The damn supply we buy always vanishes, and not a single soul of my crew says they know where it went." In veiled amusement, Drake shot back his second glass. "And you call yourself a pirate?" "Ex-pirate, Mr. Shields. Ex-pirate..." Trailing off, her eyes looked down towards the table in thought. Silver's sudden mood-swing cause Drake to straighten up slightly. Tapping the surface quietly with a hoof, she began speaking in a softer voice. "You remember when guard boy said I turned over a new leaf earlier, right?" Drake gave a nod. "Well... I, ah, lost someone close to me back in my days of piracy. After that, it just wasn't the same. So, I went straight." "...I understand where you're coming from," Drake said after a while. Silver Flash raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I lost someone as well. Though, it kinda sent me into piracy rather than out of it." "Who was it?" A sad smile splayed over his face. "My wife, actually." A few seconds passed in silence. Eventually, Silver Flash stood up from her cushioned seat and hopped down. Circling around the oval table, she stopped herself in-front of Drake. Before he could hope to question or stop her, Flash stood up on her hind-legs and wrapped her forehooves around Drake's arm. Drake stood stock-still as she talked. "I see. It was my husband's death that put me off, you know." Bitter laughter left her as she let go. "We are more alike than we'd probably wish, Mr. Shields." Drake simply nodded, still processing that show of friendship. "Perhaps..." Pensively, Silver stood there and bit her lip. Hesitantly, she spoke up. "Uh... what was her name?" The suddenly anxious expression on Drake's face caused her to verbally backpedal. "I mean, only if it's alright with you. You honestly don't have to tell me if you don't want--" "Jenna." The word silenced her. Drake wasn't looking in her direction anymore, though. His head was bowed, and his shoulder-length hair obscured his gaze as he stared blankly at the floor. "Her name was Jenna. She died during a riot on my homeworld, between the rebels there and the Alliance." He settled his head into his propped-up hand. "Twenty-seven died in that conflict. Explosions in the crossfire off-railed one of the commercial trams, and it..." Silver rested a soothing hoof on his knee. The motion caused any further explanation in Drake's throat to die down and fade. Several more seconds passed as they sat there, drinks temporarily forgotten. "I'm sorry for your loss," Silver Flash stated quietly. A grim smirk entered her vision from him. "Don't be. I'm serious; don't pity me. There is no reason to apologize for something you could not prevent. Besides, that was... many years ago." A second passed, before he patted her still-extended hoof. "But... thanks. I haven't talked about that in quite some time." "No problem," Flash said with a comforting smile. It fell though as she stared at his still-bound wrists. "Are they going to keep you like that until we've reached the deserts?" Drake jiggled the chain of the cuffs. "I guess. Her Poniness over there seemed neutral about it, but her lapdog next to her seemed adamant about my binds." Looking back down in irritation after glaring at Shining, he noted with surprise that his cuffs were now clattering to the floor. Drake looked back up just in time to see the final ebbs of magic leaving Silver's horn. "If you're going to be pardoned tomorrow, then there's no reason to treat you so harshly, is there?" Drake blinked, but made a move to thank her. She raised a hoof before any words left his lips. "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. If they ask, be sure to mention that you lockpicked it, not I, okay?" Getting a simple nod in response, Flash grinned (though slightly tinged in bitter sadness) and raised the bottle. "Let's drink the night away, Mr. Shields." And so they did. Starbrought "How the bloody hell do you open this thing?!" Yuri was not having a good time. Ever since he had beaten Diamond and taken his communication device, he had been trying everything to tease the little crystal into giving out its secrets. And so far, nothing had worked. There was no speaker, dial-pad or screen. Hell, there wasn't even a power button that he could see. Just a perfectly formed red crystal with no imperfections on it. However, there was a tiny mark on the top part of the crystal that appeared to be made out of another kind of material. "Is this how you open it...? bzzt Ow!" Yuri threw the crystal against the wall of the closet he was hiding in due to it suddenly shocking him without warning. He looked at the red mark on his left hand where he had attempted to open the crystal. It was shaped in the exact pattern as the mark on top of the crystal, and it did not seem to be causing any pain. His eyes shifted their attention to the crystal, which was laying rather harmlessly on the floor of the closet. Yuri slowly picked it up with his gloved hand, hoping that the crystal would not suddenly decide to shock his glove and possibly make a very big explosion. That did not happen, and Yuri once again found himself staring at the crystal. "Why are you not cooperating? Do you have natural bias towards aliens, because that's not very nice." Yuri looked over the entire crystal again, and groaned in disappointment as nothing new was found. Why did he always have to get sent to the places where nothing would go his way? First that bar on Canyon, and now wherever the hell he was had joined the long list. "Sergeant Diamond! This is Marshall Cobalt of Blackrock Mountain; do you copy Sergeant?" The crystal suddenly burst into life, causing Yuri to jump up and slam his head into the short ceiling out of surprise. "What happened down there? I just had two privates rush into my office and blabber on about a level-five breach and that I need to send the Titans down there at once. Is this some kind of joke or initiation that I was not informed of?" "Fuck that hurt." Yuri rubbed his head and felt a knot developing through his shaggy hair. He groaned in annoyance before realising what exactly was happening. 'Someone is calling for me. Correction: for Diamond, not myself. This Marshall Cobalt is probably the same person that Diamond's friends went to go alert. I should have killed those Griffins when I had the chance.' "Sergeant Diamond, are you there?" The Marshals voice had a sort of swagger to it. It was had a bit of a funny tone to it, but below it was the crisp and precise voice of an officer. Yuri gulped as several memories came back, only from him to rebury them deep within his brain. He continued to stare at the now glowing crystal, confused as all hell. 'What the hell are you? Gah, if only I had the Ethereal and and my tools with me now.' "Respond soldier!" Yuri reached his hand to pick up the crystal, before pulling it back. 'Let's keep quiet and see how this goes. No need to alert him right away that Diamond is down for a while just yet. Besides, I have no idea if this crystal has any sort of call-locator device in it. They would if they had any brains, which those last morons didn't.' "Sergeant, if you're still there: hang on. I'm sending the Titans down to you now. They should be able to take out anything that this creature can throw at you. They'll be coming down hallway D8. Hold on tight, Cobalt out." There was a small ding, and the crystal stopped glowing at once, leaving the closet to be lit by Yuri's glove alone. The room/closet was nearly silent, as Yuri's breathing was the only thing that could be heard. "Well well well, this just got a bit more interesting. Whoever or whatever this Titan Squad is, the Marshall seems to think that they can easily take me down." Yuri put his arms around his head and closed his eyes. 'Well, I'll have some time to think of a plan, unless some janitor decides they want this exact mop from this closet. So, what do I have to my advantage at the current moment? For one, I have the element of stealth and surprise on my side, as far as I know. They don't know exactly where I am, but they have a ton of people that can act as scouts for them, so I have to be careful where I move.' Yuri mentally noted that pretty much everyone that could be down here could be a soldier, so he would have to be insanely careful where he went. His eyes went down towards the crystal again, and a smirk appeared on his face. 'I also have this crystal that seems to be a communication device, so I have the chance of intercepting their communications without them knowing. That means that anyone I do see, I have to take out as soon as possible. However, they don't know anything about me or my technology. Oh, oh! I know what I can do. Sorry Drake, but I'm taking this one out of your book, and somewhat of mine.' Yuri began to formulate a plan that would hopefully allow him to get out of this whole base and meetup with the rest of the crew. And it was a damn good one, if it worked. Yuri reopened his eyes and looked out at the small closet. A slight smirk appeared on his face as he mentally put the steps in order to achieve his plan. He stood up and stretched his arms, which had gotten sore from being behind his head. He stood back up, being careful this time to avoid slamming his head into the low ceiling again. He put his hand on the door and began to turn to start the first step of his plan. A massive boom of sound slammed into Yuri, forcing him to dive down to his knees. Another boom went off, followed by another, and another, all within rapid succession of each other. He held the same position with one hand over his good ear as the booms continued, before stopping abruptly. Yuri counted thirteen of them in all. "What the fuck was that?" Yuri took his hand of his ear and stood back up, a bit scared to open up the door again. "Those sounded close to sonic booms, but that's impossible. I really doubt that Griffins can break the sound barrier, because that would be overpowered as hell if they could." Yuri took a quick look-over of his body to make sure nothing was damaged or broken, before taking a minute to catch his breath. He reached down and picked up the crystal before shoving it into his pocket. "Well, I better get this plan on track." Yuri took one last big breath, before slowly opening the door to ensure that no one was directly outside of it. From what he could see, there was nothing to the right of the door. He pushed the door open some more, and held in a couple of cuss words as the door creaked. Yuri peeked his head out and looked to his left and right again, before deciding that it was safe to go back into the hallway. He could still hear the faint booms in the distance, but they appeared to be moving away from his position, which was nice. He stepped out into the hallway, and began to move left as he hugged the wall for some sort of cover and camouflage. "This is either going to end really well, or really badly." Starbrought Sunlight filtered unabashed across Drake's face as he slept. The humming of the engines driving the Serenade through the air thrummed underfoot, creating a relaxing state that nearly guaranteed a deep sleep. So it could be forgiven that he seemed to not notice the figure standing over him, staring down in amusement. "Wow. He looks trashed..." "I'm sure he can blame that on you, Silvy," Cadance murmured as she saddled up next to the captain. A snort left the unicorn. "Who was complaining earlier about nicknames?" Princess Cadance stuck a teasing tongue out at Silver Flash, one that was reciprocated and mirrored. The two giggled amongst themselves, before returning their attention to the alien at their hooves. He really was a tall being when he was laid out, Cadance thought. A little over two ponies long. "We should probably wake him for breakfast." Silver Flash nodded. "Yeah, you're right." Before she could swing a hoof back though to gently kick Drake's ribs, one of his hands shot out and stopped the foreleg in its tracks. Considering the small groan that parted his lips, the action was reflex instead of intentional. The two mares stood stock-still as his eyes cracked open, and glanced over. "...Why the hell am I on the deck?" Smirks adorned both of the girls as Silver twisted her hoof inside of Drake's grip and pulled him forward to help right him. "You had a bit too much of drink last night, Mr. Shields," Silver Flash stated. Her usual grin was prevalent on her muzzle, except unlike the night previous this one was genuine and carefree. "There might have been some straddling the arcane cannons on your part." He grimaced at his imagination conjuring up that mental image. "Ugh, great." Finally standing on his own two feet, he made a total of two steps before he stumbled and had to grasp one of the railings for support. "Yep. Hangover is definitely a thing right now." "Here; I can fix that for ya," Silver muttered. Closing her eyes gently, she set her horn against Drake's exposed arm and began channeling magic. Drake scrunched up his brow at the sensation; her horn felt faintly... fuzzy? What the devil? He decided to ignore this newfound fact by the sudden clarity in his mind. Now free of the binds of alien booze, Drake reclined on the railing casually. "Ah, thanks lass. It was hard to think with all the alcohol still in my system." His eyes squinted as he took in the duo in front of him. "Where's our resident stick-in-the-mud?" "Still sleeping off his hangover. I'd do my custom spell on him also, but it was oh-so-draining to do it on you and Cadey here, and I'm simply exhausted!" The dramatics in Silver Flash's words were betrayed by her sudden laughter, courtesy of Cadance giving her a flat look. "Okay, so maybe it's revenge because he's such a prune in my books." "I hate to interrupt, but do you serve breakfast on this thing, or what?" Realization sparked across Silver's face. "Ah, that's why I woke you up! Get down to the mess hall; the cooks will give ya as much as you like. Me and Her Highness here," Silver Flash giggled, "have some business topside we need to discuss. Is that fine with you, Mr. Shields?" A grunt left him, and with a polite nod towards the two mares, Drake stalked off through the main doorway that led to the catacombs of the airship. Silver Flash and Cadance gently trotted over towards the controls, where the Zebra from before was still piloting in his captain's stead. Upon seeing her approach, he took a few steps away from the wheel and tipped his head. "Capt'n." "Mornin', Ella. How're the skies today?" Silver asked as she resumed her position as helmsmen, smirking gently at his death glare from the nickname. "Sorry as well for having you run the night shift in my absence." Goodnaturedly, he waved it off and let it go. "It's fine, Capt'n. Nothing ya haven't made me done before. The wind blows in our favour; we ought to reach my kin's lands within the hour." Giving a smaller nod towards Cadance, he made his way to the opposite side of the balcony, stopping a crew member and giving him instructions. "He didn't seem to have the accent that I've seen from other Zebras," Cadance noted. "That's because Elaweda's from a chain of islands off the coast of the Zebrican Desert, actually. From what I gather, his 'kin' tend to stay in their own lands. Especially the ones from them islands." Flash shrugged. "I think his accent kinda rubbed off on me, and then onto the rest of the crew. It's contagious." A cheshire grin staked its claim on her muzzle. "Plus, it reminds me of my pirate days. Argh!" Cadance chuckled at that. "You haven't changed a bit after all these years, have you?" "Ah, but you have." Cadance's questioning look caused Silver to wave a hoof at her. "Look at you; a member of full-fledged royalty. I remember the last time I saw you, you were babysitting in your off-time and attending that Academy in Canterlot." "And I remember back then that the Serenade was a glorified floating rust-bucket." Silver stuck her tongue out once more and gently tapped Cadance on the shoulder. "Bah, you're full of it. Same as back then. Maybe you haven't changed that much--" Suddenly, Silver Flash stopped her sentence, staring with a gross intensity out on the horizon. Before Cadance could ask what was the matter, the captain began bellowing orders. "Hostile frigate on the horizon! Prepare the cannons!" "What?!" Cadance sputtered, even as the crew exploded in a frenzy of action. Swords were unsheathed, arcane cannons were primed, and in a matter of moments the Serenade was ready for a war. "Is that seriously a--" A hoof was jammed into Cadance's mouth, preventing her from speaking further. With a glare from the captain, it was obvious she should be quiet. Using her now-free hoof on the wheel, Silver began sending the ship into an enormous cloud bank. Despite the puffs not being all that solid, there was definitely resistance as they entered the thick of it. Wispy entrails hung about the deck like a mist. Silver Flash grabbed the intercom system in her magical grasp, eyes unusually serious. "Engine Crew: full-stop," she said in a level tone. Instantly, the Serenade lurched, but steadily slowed down. Two malformed anchors fell from the ship, enchanted to latch onto the clouds and keep the vessel in place. And then, there was silence. "Not a sound, lads." With the heavy quiet on the deck of the ship, Silver's voice carried across its entirety, despite it being a whisper. For several long minutes, they sat there, suspended in the air, waiting for the ship to pass by. After nearly ten terse minutes of zero activity, Silver whispered to Elaweda. "Get a pegasus to scout out what's happening out there. Make sure they have a spell-glass on them." The Zebra gave a nod, and whistled gently. One of the pegasi landed, and the instructions were relayed in short order. With several flaps of his wings, the pegasus launched himself to the crow's nest and beyond. Several anxious seconds passed, before he returned. "Ship seems to have left, Capt'n. Can't see a wisp of her anywhere." Silver Flash nodded, and relaxed her stance. It transmitted to the other crew members, and soon they were back to their relatively calm selves. Cadance made a move to question, but Flash beat her to it. "We're in Redhorn's territory now. Him and his little fleet tends to patrol this band of the skies." The princess gasped. "Wasn't he detained and captured after the stunt he pulled at Diamond Pass?" "Unfortunately, he got away," Flash muttered. The engines kicking back on caused the Serenade to gently rise up through the cloud bank. "Redhorn has been hunting me down ever since I betrayed the Pirate Lord and turned away from that life. Says he's doing it because I shouldn't be able to leave my days of pirating--" "Brace!" Before the unicorn's cry for cover could even fully connect, an unbridled silo of cannonballs ripped through a wall of cumulonimbus and struck the Serenade. The force of the shots actually began to tip the vessel, nearly sending multiple members overboard in the chaos. A resounding shout rang out as the impact faded. "Hostile frigate is attacking!" Silver Flash's eyes widened, and a short curse left under her breath at the ship across the way from them. Three rows of inferior models of the Serenade's arcane cannons smoked from their discharges, and even from that distance, several globs could be seen recharging the weapons. Silver's mouth turned into a sneer. "The Silent Rogue." Elaweda stepped in, his strange accent reverberating across the expanse of the two ships. "Prepare to return fire! Cannons set to Frost!" The cannons responded to the command, alloys shifting to a icy-blue glow that seemed to chill the very air around them. A grim line arose on his muzzle. "Fire!" Several balls of frozen wrath jettisoned from the Serenade and began to strike the hull of the Silent Rogue. Its effect was immediate, for sheets of ice began to form and seize up the batteries charging for another volley. A handful of the mechanisms even detonated, incinerating those unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. Silver Flash grinned. "Lads, the Silent Rogue is crippled! Toss way the grappling hooks! Reel them in!" Affirmative shouts rang from the Serenade's crew as a trio of hooks from below-deck fired out and latched onto whatever they could find purchase on. With the engines currently reliving an ice age, the Silent Rogue didn't have a chance in evading or breaking away. The clinking of chain being withdrawn sounded across the space, and soon the two ships were being pulled towards one another. "Swivels!" Silver ordered. "Fire-at-will at any of Redhorn's dogs!" The two unicorns on the starboard side nodded, and began manipulating the railing-mounted devices to fire upon the crew. At their current range, some of the rival unicorns began firing bolts of magic at the Serenade in a vain attempt to shake them. A vicious grin crossed Silver's face. "Lads! Ready the ropes, and prepare to board--!" She was interrupted by a silo. From the opposite side. "Larboard, Capt'n! Another of Redhorn's ships!" The lookout shouted. His eyes widened as he flew down from his perch on the crow's nest, just barely fast enough to dodge the round that incinerated the position. "It's the Emerald Mist!" Silver Flash gaped. "This was an ambush...?" Cadance's eyes flickered across the three ships engaging in battle. Elaweda began orchestrating the port side of the Serenade to counter the advance of the new ship, with meager success. Almost ignoring the firestorm being unleashed upon it, the Emerald Mist rammed the side of Flash's vessel, effectively pinning them between the two pirate ships. Suddenly, she remembered where she had seen this before; a maneuver that Shining Armor had explained to her once. "A pincer movement..." "Oldest trick in the damn books!" Silver Flash yelled suddenly, her eyes alight in righteous fury. "Hold the deck of the Serenade! Repel the boarding parties!" With a growl, Silver's magic sprung to life. Two swords, discreetly hidden amongst the vest she often wore, became known and twirled about their master. With a theatrical battle-cry, she raised one blade over her head as a tucked-away hood engulfed her head. "Give no quarter! Fight to your last breath!" As Silver Flash flung herself over the railing, and began to engage the rival ship's forces herself, six of Cadance's guards appeared from the bowels of the ship and surrounded her flanks. "Your Highness! We must pull back into the ship!" one of them shouted as he fired a beam at an advancing pirate, only to paralyze them. Princess Cadance could only stand there, staring out at the deck before her. Enemies from both the Silent Rogue and the Emerald Mist poured over the sides, steadily occupying every space that they could. Silver Flash was in the midst of it, dual swords swinging about in a lethal dance, her own crew fighting in close-proximity. Cadance frowned and reluctantly backed up as asked towards the door. "Where is Sergeant Armor and the rest of my guard?" "Preparing an escape-route below deck for you, Your Majesty," another guard said as the assembled soldiers used their bodies to create a physical barrier between any pirates and Cadance while they retreated. "We cannot locate Sergeant Armor, nor the prisoner." Cadance's eyes widened, and she stopped before she entered the relative-safety of the interior of the Serenade. The prisoner? Her mind went back to the entire reason why they were even on their journey. Her brow furrowed, and she unloaded her own magic, adding to the defense against the pirates taking a sudden interest in her presence to buy time. "Where is Drake Shields?" The multiple guards glanced at one another, but cumulatively sighed and stood their ground at the entrance. "We do not know. He was last sighted in the mess hall, but vanished soon after the pirates were initially spotted. The prisoner most likely escaped amongst the chaos, Your Highness." Hatches on the deck suddenly threw themselves open, revealing reinforcements for Silver Flash and her present crew as they climbed and flew out to enter the fray. The sound of battle--metal clashing against metal, the cries of the dying, the explosions and zaps of spells whizzing around the three locked-ships--was deafening. "Your Highness!" The sudden arrival of a new guard seized Cadance's attention. "The soldier we posted in the hold to watch over the prisoner's equipment was just found incapacitated. All of his possessions are gone, and one of the lifeboats that was on the Serenade before boarding is now unaccounted for." Cadance quickly trotted across the width of the ship, igniting her horn to dispatch anyone that got in her way. The guards practically had to sprint to keep up with her pace and to prevent any flanking attacks. Upon arriving at the railing, she looked down, just in time to see the distant object of what was most-likely the missing lifeboat floating down to the ground. Her mouth fell open. "Did he seriously--?!" A sudden explosion rocked the Serenade and stopped Cadance's question in its tracks. A horrible groaning sound began to echo in the skies, as if metal was being forcibly crushed and ripped apart. The ship lurched, and for a moment Cadance thought that the Serenade was about to go into a free-fall. This fear was assuaged when the Emerald Mist detonated. Abrupt whooping and hollering came from the burning vessel. Cadance's eyes quickly found the source; there was an individual standing on the Mist's now-mangled crow's nest. A very bipedal individual. Said individual, who could be no other than Drake, grabbed hold of a rope and jumped. As the husk of the former pirate-ship fell, he swung across the way and barely landed on the deck of the Serenade. He stumbled slightly upon landing, but gave a grin as he tossed aside the torch he'd clearly used to bring down the Mist overboard. "You can thank me later. In gold." He drew his cutlass and activated it, the glowing blue blade giving his face a sinister look. "I think I need to show these so-called 'pirates' how it's really done." Starbrought
Starbrought	Chapter Nine - Conflictations (Part 2)	Starbrought "Drake, if I ever get out of wherever the fuck this is, I'm going to lock you in the reactor and turn you into organic fuel." Yuri's plan to escape from the griffon complex was not going well. Ever since he had departed from his janitorial closet in an attempt to find a way out, the only thing he had found were four more janitorial closets, a random pit that seemed to drop into the planet's core, several sealed doors that were marked with signs similar to quarantine symbols, and a rather-empty guard post. After what felt like hours of walking, he had found himself at a four-way junction with three other important-looking passages breaking off into different directions. He stopped for a moment and leaned up against the wall to take a short break. It amazed him that his legs still ached from the crash. One quick break later, Yuri slowly made his way to the middle of the junction to ensure that no one was hiding in an attempt to capture him. Nothing was there, which was quickly becoming the norm the further he progressed. He had not seen any signs of life since his first encounter with the griffins, and that was doing nothing to relax his already-tense nerves. Each one of the passages seemed to go a different way. The one directly in front of him seemed to descend into the unknown, and probable death. He instantly crossed that one off his list after deducing that he was in some type of cave system, and going further down would be the complete opposite of where he needed to go. He turned to the passage on the right and stared at it intensely. It slowly curved to the left and out of sight, which was a improvement from the other one, but still not the one that he was looking for. Turning to his right once more, a smile broke out on his worn face. "Bingo. Where have you been all my life?" This passage went straight for a little bit, before turning into a pair of stairs that ascended at a sharp degree. Yuri slowly entered the passage with a great deal of caution. Even if this was going up the way he needed to go, he still had no idea where to go from wherever this passage took him. After all, this could have all been a massive trap to lead him into a situation where he could be killed or captured, and the lack of guards somewhat pointed towards some scheming by his griffin opponents. He arrived at the base of the stairs and looked up, still crouching to avoid being seen. Sure enough, the steps went up for quite some time before leveling out into a unknown area. Small lights embedded in the wall illuminated the passage up. At the very top of the stairs, a light shined brilliantly. Yuri turned to his left and discovered a small sign on the entrance of the passage. The letters were made of a shiny, untarnished metal of some kind. "What the hell is this supposed to mean?" he muttered under his breath. His mind began to wander in thought. 'I know it's a sign of some sort, but it's not holographic and whatever language it's in isn't in my translator. I'm definitely in the boonies here. We could have warped into the Void regions. No, that would be impossible giving what the navicomputer said... Damn it, Drake; none of this would have happened if you hadn't gotten kidnapped. For the fourth time. To be fair, I suppose I kinda got kidnapped too.' Yuri slowly continued creeping up the stairs with the utmost of caution, not wanting to take any chances when he was fairly close to getting out, or at least moving along with his plan. As he neared the top of the stairs, he heard what sounded like talking coming from an unknown location. Yuri stopped in his tracks and laid down, using the stairs as cover to mask his presence, though not a very good one. He hid for over a minute in his semi-cover without moving or emitting any noise. Sure enough, someone or something was talking up a storm above him. 'I can understand bits and pieces of what they're saying. Something about a Lockdown... Well, at least I now know that they're still looking for me. If I'm this close to them, then I must have escaped the Lockdown somehow. Shit, that means I can't go back down to where I was hiding. However, I need to know what these things are saying.' Yuri slowly moved up the stairs with a great deal of caution. He stopped every two steps or so to ensure that nothing was going to sneak up on him. "Are you sure that no guards need to be posted at your location, Colonel?" a grainy voice spoke in concern. Yuri's brows furrowed. The voice almost sounded distant, somehow. Perhaps it was being emitted from a crystal similar to the one he had? "I am quite sure, Marshall," a much-closer and younger voice stated. There was no doubt in Yuri's mind now that he was listening to another comm transmission. "We're well away from the Lockdown zone, so it would be near impossible for it to arrive here without going through several blast doors and dozens of guards. We will be quite fine here, sir." "I admire your confidence, but don't get cocky. This isn't a normal creature we're dealing with; not even by our standards. None of our scouting parties have even seen a glimpse of it. Hell, the only ones who have seen it besides the squad it nearly killed are those two doctors, and they're currently scared out of their minds." 'No one has seen me? Heh, guess I've managed to slip through their Lockdown somehow. Lucky me. However, it's going to be near impossible to slip by them now.' "No one has seen it since? That's worrying, sir." "Yeah, tell me about it. I'd love to chat some more, Colonel; but I'm about to enter a meeting with the senior base personnel about this very issue. Contact me if you see anything out of the ordinary. Cobalt out." "Yes sir." The faint hum of a crystal powering done echoed down the staircase. 'I need to get to that meeting somehow, and I need to come up with a plan fast since my old one no longer works. I could always do something incredibly stupid and just walk into the room, however I have no idea how they will react, or who's even up there. Gah, why can't things be simple?! I need to get a view of them before I do anything.' After a number of minutes had passed, Yuri slowly moved up from his spot until he was just below the final step. He looked back once to make sure that no one was coming, and then carefully poked his head above the stairs. The room was in the shape of a circle, with another passage leading up to an unknown location directly opposite from him. Its high ceilings lead into a dome, with another artificial light at the very top mimicking sunlight. There was a console in the middle of the room, and it seemed to be the centerpiece of the gilded room. Two griffins stood around the console, and there was absolutely no soldiers in sight that posed a threat. From what Yuri could tell with his basic knowledge and guessing, the two griffins standing there were fairly old, and their markings pointed to at least one of them being an officer, besides the already stated Colonel. Yuri ducked down again and began to scheme. 'I can easily take them by surprise, but I need to do it very carefully. If I fuck up here, I'm going to have no option but to try and fight my way out, and that is going to get really, really messy.' Yuri breathed in a single, deep breath and slowly stood himself up. He silently drew his blade and removed it from its scabbard, its steel gleaming in the light. Yuri was about to take a step forward, when out of nowhere the voice of one of his Imperial instructors echoed from the depths of his mind. "'Private Lawrence, if I see you walking flat-footed during another stealth drill, I'll have you doing jumping jacks out the airlock!"' Just as quickly, it left, and Yuri gently rolled his foot down on the floor. Yuri let out a small breath; that time in his life was the root of all evil he had committed, but it was also the basin for everything he knew. And so, rolling each step and making sure he wasn't heard, Yuri crept silently up the rest of the stairs. Not a single noise was emitted as he slowly entered the room. The two griffins showed no signs of knowing his presence, either. They were busy looking at a manual of some kind, and he could now clearly see the shining blue crystal that was embedded into the console. The younger of the two made a movement that hinted of turning away, and that is when Yuri struck. Yuri blitzed across the room, and struck without mercy. He turned his sword and slammed the butt of the weapon into the younger griffin's temple, knocking him out instantly. As he slumped over the console, he turned the sword and positioned it inches from the Colonel's neck. "Don't say a word. Don't cry out or I will kill your friend right here." Yuri pointed his gloved hand at the knocked out griffin and powered it up, a sick orange glow cast upon the griffin's back. "Blink two times if you understand this." The griffin hesitantly blinked twice. Yuri noticed that the griffin seemed to be trying to reach the crystal and call for help. "Good, we have a understanding. Now, if you try to activate that crystal of yours, I will make sure that talon of yours becomes rather useless very fast." The griffin stopped trying to reach for the crystal, his breath coming in nervous intervals. "I have some very simple questions I want you to answer." "I'm not going to answer anything you have to say, you br--" Yuri put the blade on the griffin's neck. The griffin had been trying to back away, but Yuri had trapped him in a position where he could not move back at all without falling over. "Yes, you are. Otherwise, I'm just going to knock you out and wait for your friend over there to wake up." "I will not tell you anything! For the honor of my family and the Dominion, I will not tell you anything that will threaten the lives of our species! Kill me if you must!" The griffin huffed and stood a little bit prouder, knowing that if he did die, he would die with honor. Yuri moved the sword an inch away from the griffin's neck, a smile on his face. "How very honourable of you. Normally I would just kill you here and now for saying something like that to me, but I know you have good intentions, right? Which is why I find this very funny. Do you know why I find this very funny?" He paused for a moment, but the griffin kept his silence. "Cat got your tongue? Alright, then answer this: you claim that you won't answer my simple questions because you wish to protect your people, correct?" "Yes." "What if I were to tell you that there is a bomb currently resting unprotected in the middle of the desert near your capital?" "Hmmph." The Colonel's eyes had widened for a fraction of a second, before the possible implications were visibly crushed by a mask of stoic resistance. "I would call you a complete and utter brute, and potentially a liar." "That's rather bold for someone with a sword to their neck. But let's get back to the topic at hand, shall we? There is indeed a bomb lying in the middle of the desert by your capital, and if someone messes with it and it goes off--or if enough time passes--a city size crater is going to appear. And when it does, it'll render that entire area and anything downwind of it completely uninhabitable." "You're lying!" "I'm not. And I'm also the only one possibly on this planet that can prevent that. So, the longer you and your people keep me here, the more people you put in danger. Now, you're a griffin of honour right? "Yes, bu--" "Then it is your duty to protect your people. And for that to happen, you need to answer my simple, easy questions." Yuri smirked as he removed the sword from his captive's neck, the griffin visibly confused at what he had just heard. Yuri walked around and made sure the other griffin was still breathing, which he was. "Are you ready to answer my questions?" the Colonel still had a very confused look on his beak, and Yuri knew it was the time to ask. "What is the easiest way to get in contact with the commander of this base?" "That... That would be by using the P.R.I.C.K here." He pointed his talon at the crystal embedded into the table. "Y-you could also--" "Thank you very much," Yuri interrupted. "Now, this is what is going to happen: you're going to call them on that crystal, and then you are going to walk down those stairs with your friend and get very far from here. Do you understand me?" the griffon nodded, before reaching over and touching the bottom of the crystal with his talon. A dim whiteness cloaked its exterior. "Operator here: who are you requesting communications with?" The Colonel swallowed as he watched Yuri's neutral gaze out of the corner of his eyes. He cleared his throat lightly. "Set up a relay with Marshall Cobalt, if you can, miss." "I'm sorry, Colonel, but he is currently in a high-priority meeting and has requested not to be interrupted unless it is a serious matter--" "Operator. I assure you that the relay I need to set up is to allow a very serious matter to come to his attention, and the other personnel he is meeting with." The seriousness in his tone caused the female griffon on the other side to relent. "I see. Very well, sir; patching you through now." The crystal glowed a soft blue, before emitting a odd tone. Being wordlessly dismissed, the Colonel grabbed his friend. And laying him on his back and beginning to walk down the stairs, the two steadily vanished from sight. 'I hope that wasn't just guard-speak for calling the guards here. There is no way it was that simple. Well, what's done is done; might as well try and finish this fast.' Starbrought The atmosphere of the Elder's tent reeked of despair and dread. Slayer's nose scrunched up at the smell in repugnant indignation, before the air filters kicked in and cleansed the stench. It was probably urine belonging to the Elders, he mused to himself. The first legs of the desert night coexisted with the shadows already present in the tent, and no movement indicated any signs of life in the structure. Yet despite Slayer not immediately acclimating to the shift in visibility, he could still clearly see the faint glow of eyes hovering across the way. Deciding that waiting for his own natural night-vision to kick in would take far too long, Slayer gave a quick, wordless tap against his helm. The visor hummed for a short second, before the setting before him changed. What little light that was palpable in the space was quickly interpreted and amplified by the visor, lighting the innards of the tent through the usual black-and-white format of a low-light filter. The Elders were definitely still hostages, and definitely still alive; of that there was no doubt. Spears, wielded by a small group of Alphas (no doubt Lucien's honour guard, Slayer thought), were leveled to each of their throats. Their forms were gagged, blindfolded, and then even hogtied for good measure in an almost orderly line before Slayer, as if awaiting execution. 'Both a pity and a relief they live still,' Slayer scoffed to himself. 'Considering how their condition is the only factor that's staying my blade.' Frightened murmurs softly left the aging Zebras as they heard Slayer enter, his metallic boots harshly announcing his arrival against the weathered sandstone. Lucien, in the farthest opposite corner of the opening flaps, sat in a chair dead-center that certainly hadn't been there during Slayer's previous visit. It took a moment for Slayer to realize what precisely Lucien was sitting on: a pantomime of a throne, a horrible machination forged most likely of the bones and skulls of the Alpha's victims. Slayer thought he even saw some belonging to Dogs themselves, but there was realistically no way of telling. Slayer would have commended Lucien's display of his previous exploits in such a creative manner, if he didn't have the premeditated intentions of adding the Dog and his cohorts to the piece. A small, whelp of a mutt emerged from behind Lucien, anxiously massaging its claws as it spoke in a tittering, obnoxious whine that sounded like the high-pitched wailing of a malfunctioning drone. Several seconds later, the Dog stopped. Slayer blinked behind his visor, a mixture of confusion and irritation arising on his face; he didn't catch a whiff of what was just said. The translator came back with similar results. 'Can these Dogs not communicate due to a language barrier? If so, that could explain some things.' Almost cautiously, the Dog tried again; this time in a terribly-accented and broken Swahili. "You speak striped-pony?" Slayer nodded, but his thoughts betrayed him. 'So, they don't even have that as a flimsy excuse. Without a language barrier to hide behind, they knew damn well what they were doing.' As his thoughts turn to violent means to temporarily satisfy his growing urge to start fighting, Slayer continued staring down the small, diminutive creature that had spoken. It was hardly taller than any of the other Zebras, and it constantly adjusted and fidgeted under the scrutiny of Slayer's glare as if it was suffering from nervous muscle spasms. Speaking of said mutt, it began speaking again (or rather attempted to speak again), but the words comprehensible to the bounty hunter were few and far between. Judging from what he could understand, the beast kept switching between the Zebra's language of Swahili and its own; probably more out of habit than a try to spark Slayer's ire. The disjointed grammar and mispronunciations that the translator tried its best to work with made Slayer hope he didn't sound near as idiotic in comparison whenever he opened his mouth. After it finished, Slayer frowned. While the long-winded drivel just thrown at him was hardly complete and structured, he did catch the name 'Lucien' tossed about a few instances. Perhaps the dog had introduced Lucien to him? If that was the case, why didn't Lucien grace Slayer's ears with an equally-bastardized attempt at communication instead of the runt? At this point, Slayer figured he could care less; if Lucien wished to hide behind that mutt and whatever role it had, then fine. Still, an introduction was an introduction. Raising his own fist to his chest, Slayer ran laps in terms of fluency around the small Diamond Dog. "I am Slayer. Warrior of my tribe from the stars." An idea came to list off some of his exploits and titles, but again like with the Elders, thought better of it. It wasn't as if they would understand the value of those accolades, Slayer mused. His hand fell away with a grin. "I hope you're satisfied, because that will be the last time you ever hear my name again." The muzzle of the hound exposed a nervous smile as Slayer's words triggered a cascade of anxious twitches. Lucien looked unimpressed, leaning on his paw with apparent disinterest. There was a band of dirty gauze wrapped around his wounded eye, marred red from the barely-stemmed injury. It took a moment for Slayer to notice the battered ornate chestplate now adorning his midsection. 'Lucien had definitely been expecting me...' Slayer's attention returned to the smaller Dog whispering in its own tongue to its Alpha. Upon a critical stare and analysis, the pathetic sapient reminded Slayer of a shih tzu. A few moments passed, before Lucien straightened up and stared at the pirate tensely. He murmured something unintelligible, a polar-opposite of the runt's previous whine though still as incomprehensible, and that's when Slayer couldn't stop the soft groan from leaving his lips. Lucien couldn't speak Swahili. Fucking. Figures. Slayer watched the twitching mutt in bemusement, whose role was most likely nothing beyond a translator. "Uh... Lord Alpha welcome you! He impress with last fight. Would congratulate you." The assassin rose a brow at Lucien; the canine didn't look too welcoming for such groveling, unorganized statements. "Lord Alpha want to know why you help striped-ponies instead of tough, good Dogs." A shrug left the soldier as he took in the surrounding units: discounting the translator, there were five guards--all Alphas--along with Lucien. Not the best odds, though definitely not the worst he's faced, Slayer thought. "I'll give you two. One, you are all slavers. Pathetic, weak, and spineless; you cannot inspire others, so you must force them to your service. Hostages to meet ends is one thing, permanently removing one's freedom is another. And there are few beings I despise more than slavers." Slayer ignored the sweat now rolling down the translator's face. "And two, I helped the Zebras because they didn't try to foolishly kill me. One of your pack of Diamond Dogs did." Slayer, cracking his knuckles slowly and deliberately, caused all of the others in the tent to flinch, even Lucien himself. "As you can expect, I succeeded where they failed." More whispering was directed towards Lucien. A pondering expression, if one could call it that, appeared on the Alpha's face for a moment. Interestingly enough, he didn't seem to care about the fate of those random Dogs back when Slayer was attacked by the cave. Perhaps they were two separate packs, and weren't affiliated? It made little difference in the end, Slayer supposed; both groups thought it wise to stand between Slayer and his goals, so both groups would die. It was the way things worked for people, beasts, drones, or anything else that crossed Slayer. Lucien growled something to his cohort, and leaned back casually. The translator blinked stupidly, and made to respond before Lucien cut him off with a fierce snarl. Slayer watched the Dog shy away. "Uh... Lord Alpha sorry. Would like alliance with metal you." Several seconds passed in silence as Slayer examined what was just said. He examined it once, twice, three times, four; he began losing count. Did the Dogs really just...? After everything that had transpired over the past hours, and after all the shit they pulled, the Diamond Dogs wanted to call a truce? The assassin couldn't help it. He cocked his head away from the Dogs, and began laughing his ass off. Dogs and Elders alike gave another flinch at the boisterous, maniacally-rough roar that could be called Slayer's laughter. The translator belonging to Lucien uneasily transferred his weight from one paw to another, giving another nervous smile as he gave a small laugh of his own. Abruptly, Slayer stopped laughing and snapped his head back towards Lucien. The expression worn on the Alpha's face could be described in one word: disturbed. "Interesting proposal. Say I am interested. What will you offer that the Zebras cannot?" The shih tzu balked at the response, most likely due to Slayer having only denounced them a few minutes prior, but growled to his master nonetheless. Lucien shared a similar look of shock, before motioning towards Slayer in an unsure gesture. In all of his time in space, Slayer did not think he could have been luckier. He got to decide terms and make even more money? That was just lovely. Lovely, but stupid, on the Dog's parts. Slayer's eyes trailed down to the raspy, heavy breathing of the Elders below him as he pondered what to ask for. They had obviously heard he was open ears, and were now fearing for their lives much more than they were some seconds prior. Slayer hummed softly to himself. 'This could be beneficial.' Don't get Slayer wrong: he hated the mutts, with a passion. But the Dogs were definitely the better warriors, and no doubt had a hoard of gold that he could sap. Their digging could even be used to keep a tab on Drake and become formidable assets later on. The marauder gave another shrug. "I want five things if I do." The translator eagerly waved Slayer on to continue. "I want a secure route to the capital of Equestria, at least three Dogs to become my personal spies, a large sum of gold, supplies, and..." He decided to appeal to the Dog's lifestyle. "For the Zebra prince to be put under my jurisdiction, and to become my own slave." A growl sounded out from one of the equine bodies, and Slayer imagined it was probably Elder Imamu thinking spiteful words about him. Obviously, Slayer wasn't going to actually make Shamon a slave, but he didn't want any suspicion for asking to have the prince. He still needed a guide he could believe wouldn't stab him in the back straight-off, after all. Grinning heartily, the runt related Slayer's demands to his Alpha. Lucien scrunched up his brows in apparent confusion and thought--why would the metal thing want a slave if it hated slavers?--but grudgingly nodded with a grunt. The corner of Slayer's mouth quirked up in interest. Too easy. "Lord Alpha accept terms. On one condition." The assassin didn't hesitate. He had a fair idea what the beast wanted. "Oh? And what condition is that?" Another round of growling to one another. It went back-and-forth for a time, giving Slayer an opportunity to think about what he was now riskily planning. Selling out the Zebras after everything they had done and were going to do for him, for beasts that were clearly untrustworthy and went against many of Slayer's moral codes? In frankness, he-- Slayer's musing was cut off as a simple phrase entered the air. "Lord Alpha want you to kill striped-ponies as proof." Once more, without hesitation, Slayer drew one of his pistols and twirled it about artistically before he leveled it at the first shuddering Zebra he saw. The bounty hunter imagined that they were whispering prayers through their binds; for once, the thought left Slayer feeling queasy. But business was business, was it not? Lucien had a twisted, malicious grin on his ugly mug as he watched as Slayer started to wrap his trigger-finger around the demise of the Elders. He paused. "How much?" The runt of a translator looked confused at the random question. "What?" Slayer's eyebrows scrunched up in irritation. "My gold. How much?" Words were exchanged in guttural growls, all the while Slayer patiently waited. Eventually, an answer was arranged. "Lord Alpha give three striped-pony carts worth gold. Lord Alpha even give gems. Very valuable." Slayer nodded; the gold was probably stolen from the Zebras. It was a good deal, all in all. A hell of a good deal. The outcome would be far more of a material victory for the assassin, the Dogs would be effective scouts in his search of Drake through their ability to burrow, and he would even be able to retain Shamon as a gu-- Shamon. The name froze Slayer's thinking; a response he hadn't expected. But why exactly was it that merely thinking of the prince's name now prevented him from pulling the trigger? Suddenly, Shamon's voice echoed in Slayer's head. "'...You had saved both my life, as well as that of my kin's at the risk of your own. You asked for no reward, and had no hidden intention. So, yes; I trust you...'" Trust. Slayer's eyes widened, and his aim dropped a fraction of an inch. Shamon... a young man thrusted into the position of a king, innocence not yet wrested away from him, but instead his father; a father he had lost to the very beings Slayer was willing to turn to, at the drop of a hat. Shamon, despite having ample reason to denounce and loathe Slayer for threatening the Elders before, didn't. He even saved Slayer's life, though the hunter would never admit to that. Another fraction of an inch, his aim fell. Lucien's mad grin fell with it, just a centimeter. But Slayer's focus wasn't on the Alpha, or the quivering masses of fur below him, or anything else. His eyes were looking into the past itself, to all the declarations and sworn oaths and vows and promises that Slayer made not only to himself, but to his people, that he'd uphold their beliefs. Including fighting against injustice. Injustice. Aiding slavers, even after Slayer risked the one shot at recovering Drake to protect their victims against slavery? The hypocrisy of such actions was causing Slayer's hand to shake. Shamon had forgiven him, forgiven his transgressions, and stood alongside Slayer still. And here the bounty hunter was, ready to put a bolt through the Elder's skull. Was Slayer any better than the Diamond Dogs by doing this? Had everything that Slayer had done and swore by under the promise of freedom and honour meant nothing now? Did any of that still matter though? The question put another hold on Slayer's thoughts. Killing the Elders would be a blatant sin in the eyes of his people, sure; but did he really have another choice? Slayer couldn't rely on guides to get him to Drake that could barely defend themselves. And after saving their lives twice, there was no signs of reward for the obvious good deeds he had done. Why should he care about the fate of the Zebras, so long as his own survival succeeded? Survival. Slayer's lips tightened, and his aim was realigned to its former height. That's right. His survival was paramount. Absolutely nothing came above that; nothing. Not the Diamond Dogs, not the Zebras, not Shamon, or Yuri, or Drake, or the rest of the Cerberus Pirate armada. Slayer, and the extinct traditions and beliefs of his people, was first and foremost in his mind. Always. ... It greatly surprised Lucien and his whelp when suddenly, Slayer unloaded five lightning-fast shots from his Sabre without hardly moving his body. The assassin glanced up from the smouldering corpses at his feet, and smirked. "No deal." Like a parrot, the translator repeated himself, though in a more obnoxious tone of disbelief at the five now-dead Alphas lying on the sandstone. "What?!" Lucien did not look amused, or all that pleased. Was there a glimmer of fear in his one undamaged eye? Slayer liked to think so. "Did you honestly think I would betray the Zebras, who would just become slaves to you if I abandoned them, when my first contact with your kind was them attacking me?" Slayer jeered. "Please." The condescending tint in his voice gave way to something more sinister. "Don't make me laugh." Harsh exhales left the Elders in relief, which only amplified Slayer's resolve and words. "I believe I will get a far better deal if I just gut you and take all of your gold, and then help the Zebras skin the rest of your pack." As if he had a tick, Slayer shrugged his shoulders yet again. "Nothing personal. Well, not entirely." His grin intensified as he pointed his blaster towards Lucien's face. "Word of advice: duck." Lucien swiftly ejected himself out of his throne just in time for a large bolt of fire to knock the crude chair over and splinter several of the bones. With a growl, the Alpha launched himself at Slayer with claws drawn, ignoring the stabbing pain of his damaged heel. The assassin stood motionless and waited. When the time was right, he quickly brought his foot up and thrusted it outward. The boot that collided with Lucien's face was painful, to say the least. Slayer got some satisfaction from the sensation of the beast's jaw cracking underfoot as the force of the retaliation sent the Alpha sprawling from the blow. Calmly, Slayer holstered his Sabre and drew his katana once more. 'I'm going to enjoy this...' "Let's cut another deal, shall we?" Slayer began, lazily transitioning his sword from one hand to the other with a sneer. A faint trickle of blood ran down from Lucien's nose. The sight added a delicious tingle to Slayer's hands. "How about you release all of your slaves, give me the gold, and swear an oath that you will not antagonize the Zebras ever again? In exchange, I won't murder your entire pack. How does that sound?" Slayer's alternate demands were actually relayed (which definitely surprised him), and Lucien stared incredulously at the assassin. Such gall was never encountered before in the Alpha's life. This metal-clad striped-pony lover was insane, a bloodlusted killer more savage than any Diamond Dog in history. Lucien decisively shook his head. The mewling translator voiced the message with less resolve. "No deal." For the last time that day, Slayer gave a shrug. "As you wish. That was your final out, though." With finality, Slayer lowered himself into a stance, and almost laughed at the Elders wiggling their way out of the inevitable combat zone. Lucien seemed ready to obtain his club once more, before he glanced at the unmoving form of Slayer. With an almost respectful nod, Lucien moved away from his weapon, and readied his claws. For what seemed like years, both participants in the coming battle stood unwavering and frozen in time. Slayer recognized this to be the calm before the storm; a grace period of a one-on-one duel before the limbs began to fly. As much as Slayer despised the Dogs and their slavery-centered ways, he still knew that Lucien and the Alphas were worthy opponents to his skill; the first treasure hoard of valuable combatants he had seen in a long time. So Slayer met his nod, and like that time resumed its natural course, and Lucien lunged with fangs bared. The beast never even saw Slayer move. With warfare now a definite, Slayer did not hold back in his light-source. With great, eye-searing clarity, alabaster light consumed Lucien's vision as Slayer's two shoulder-mounted floodlights blinded him. The Alpha didn't know what he hit upon impact, but it certainly wasn't the bounty hunter. A searing pain arising from his right alerted him to Slayer's new position. A roar exited Lucien as he swung blindly, the night-vision advantage granted from before gone in an instant. Slayer nimbly dodged the predictable attacks, unloading swipes and slashes of his own with stern accuracy as blood began coating Lucien's hide. The bites from Slayer's katana held no remorse. The ground was going to taste the crimson wrath of Slayer unleashing his fury into the body that was Lucien. Slayer was going to make Lucien regret ever trying to kill him. Slayer was going to make Lucien regret ever fucking with the assassin's current associates. 'Now this is a situation more to my liking,' Slayer mused during a particularly violent stab of his blade into Lucien's thigh. With the cones of light rendering Lucien's one good eye useless, Slayer had near free-reign to casually hack off whichever hunks of flesh and fur he didn't like on the Alpha's raging soon-to-be carcass. He even shut off his low-light filter so he could fully appreciate the sight he was participating in. Slayer's cockiness was not cockiness, either; anyone could have watched five seconds of the battle, and predict the outcome even if the conflict lasted ten minutes. Slayer was waiting for it. Why Lucien hadn't dug underground yet for a reprieve and a counter attack was unknown to Slayer, but he didn't care. His rational, cold, calculating personality was fading away, the elation of ending one really big thorn in his side overriding the little, if any, morality left in the assassin. It might had perturbed Slayer if he had been aware of the dramatic shift. He had nearly betrayed the customs of his people which was his entire justification, after all. Abruptly, Lucien darted away and haphazardly dug into the sandstone. It gave like butter, offering little resistance as Lucien tore through it with horror clear in his movements. One second, Slayer was watching the Dog's hairy ass sticking out of the hole he was developing, the next was just a small chasm in his wake. Setting his stance wide and focusing on the sensations in his feet, Slayer began taunting in a twisted tone. "Don't run from me, Lucien! You pithy coward--!" Springing to the side, Slayer dodged the breaching form of Lucien rocketing out of the earth and swung the pommel of his sword into the Alpha's armored back. "Welcome back!" A feral growl escaped the Dog's throat as he stumbled to make some distance from Slayer. Dirt coagulated in open wounds, most likely infecting them and ensuring Lucien's death even if he somehow survived the encounter. Madness was threatening to overcome Lucien. The maniacal rumble of a low laugh leaving the marauder was only making it worse. Slayer had no more words to voice. What remained was a satanic fire that would only be quelled by the end of Lucien's existence. The realization of this fact was what finally drove Lucien over the edge. Wounds meant nothing to him now. Slayer's blinding light meant nothing to him now. The siege of Nazar meant nothing to him now. He was going to die, of this there was no doubt. But he was going to bring that damned, faceless thing with him. Another roar, somehow ever more vicious, left Lucien as he dashed with renewed vigor. Slayer was expecting a second wind to possibly arrive, but such a powerful gale was unanticipated. Claws raked his body as Slayer compensated for this new tactic. This was an entirely new dimension of aggression, far more deadly and worse than any previous encounter with the Diamond Dogs. Lucien truly earned his place in commanding the den within the Zebra's lands, it seemed. Quickly side-stepping out of the way of yet another venomous burst forward from the Alpha, Slayer went to swiftly decapitate the Dog and end the fight before things got bad. Too late. A righteous backhand from the enraged Lucien sent Slayer's blade skittering out of his grasp for the second time in the span of a few hours. Were he not in the very midst of a life-threatening struggle, Slayer would have lamented how shitty his grip had been that day. This time, however, Slayer recalled his Sabres much quicker than the previous brawl, and drew them with surprising speed. Lucien was undeterred, and ducked under two bolts that flew over his head and burnt clean holes through the linen of the tent. The faint cacophony of battle could be heard outside; the Zebras had regrouped, and the Dogs had followed from the sound of it. Lucien dug his claws into the back of Slayer's calves from his quadruped stance, the armour barely keeping the finger-mounted blades from slicing Slayer's feet off. With a heave and a tug, down Slayer went. For Slayer, his world decided to shift by a solid ninety-degrees. His armoured back crashed against the ground, and once more Lucien was upon him with maw snapping and claws slashing. This experience was far more terrifying to him than the last. Lucien's eye was not natural; almost glowing of its own volution in the Elder's tent. Driving an elbow into the now-most-definitely-broken jaw of Lucien, Slayer tried to get a bead so he could fire his Sabres. But the thrashing mass of the Alpha recognized the danger of the pistols in his maddened state, and clamped down on Slayer's forearm while digging into the other, pinning him by the wrists before a shot could be unloaded. Slayer's still-active flashlight illuminated the disheveled, insane grin on Lucien's irreparable jaw. As Slayer was preparing to slam his shielded head into Lucien's nose to loosen his grip and singe the hair off of Lucien's form, a familiar voice shouted out in a warcry. No more than a moment later, the figure of Shamon flew through the opening of the tent and slammed hooves-first into the ribs of the Alpha. The beast rolled away with a heaving grunt, and the prince stood over Slayer with eyes alight. Shamon spared a glance down at the assassin, and positioned his forehoof so the flashlights didn't blind him as well. "Slayer," he grunted, trying his best to give a cocky grin. "It appears I've recovered in the nick of time." Slayer's eyes flicked towards Shamon's hind leg; it was wrapped in gauze, a faint stain showing the location of the wound. Stable, but definitely in no condition to be fighting. Shamon shifting his weight showed how painful the injury still was. Still, seeing the Zebra not in a catatonic state was relieving to Slayer. The quip was about to be answered in a similar manner by the bounty hunter, before Lucien came flying right back. Shamon didn't seem to have his staff readily available, but made due with his hooves as he jutted them out to meet Lucien's jaw. But Slayer had already performed that trick, and the old dog learnt it quickly. Taking only a millisecond to limbo under the attack without ceasing his surge, Lucien seized Shamon by the underbelly, and off they went into the ground a short distance away. Sounds of struggling rose Slayer from his shocked state as he flipped himself over. Trying to stand though seemed nigh-impossible. He was confused. What happened? Slayer's adrenaline was still running rampant in his core, and he felt no damages on his person-- In an instant, the pain came. Text prompts appeared in Slayer's vision as he writhed in sudden agony. "Warning. Critical injury sustained. Location: left arm. Damage dealt: broken ulna. Administering pain suppressants..." His arm was broken. Oh no. The prompts marched on. "Warning. Solaris Suit power level: critical. Recommended solution: recharge. T-minus three minutes to full-system shutdown for recovery." Now was most certainly not the time for this, Slayer had snarled in his mind as he attempted to stand again. The audio of wrestling came to an abrupt end, and Slayer's eyes darted over. Lucien had Shamon by the throat, heaving him off the ground by a solid ten feet. Thankfully, the claws were around his esophagus rather than through it. The beast seemed to be gloating, gurgled syllables vowing hatred and insanity in every grunt. He had forgotten about Slayer, for the moment. And Shamon's movements were gradually slowing. That was it. He had enough. Slayer, throughout his entire life, had assassinated several Rear-Admirals across all three factions, changed the political courses of sectors for decades to come, and made the galaxies' most dangerous bounties his goddamn bitch. This was not shit he had to sit through, dammit. He was not about to be bested by a sapient, doltish, overgrown, walking fleabitten excuse of a carpet! With a shaky exhale of breath, Slayer planted his good arm under him and barely stood, teetering on the verge of collapse. He didn't have enough time to grab his katana, and the assassin could only hold one of his Sabres. Slayer attempted to raise his pistol, but his strength and resolve was already dwindling despite the newfound spirit. Down he went once more, but this time he stopped himself and only fell to one knee. The sound went ignored by Lucien as he continued to suffocate Shamon. The Sabre clattered to the ground silently into the sand below him. He couldn't do this. He was too exhausted, the pain suppressants were barely working, and already he could feel the sensation of unconsciousness encroaching in his mind. Slayer knew that the Solaris Suit would soon shutdown, and Shamon would be dead... Another innocent fallen prey to him trying to help. Another failure. Something wet slid down his face. But it was not a tear, for its origin was not his eye. A small video feed popped up upon Slayer's request, and soon the assassin was staring at a reflection of himself in a small window on the edge of his visor. His eyes widened. Slayer saw a faint trickle of blood swerve around the corner of his left eye. It was a small, shallow cut. Barely enough for even a dollop of the crimson liquid to flow. But it was enough. As the singular drop rolled down Slayer's forehead and made a brief deviation around his sight, a sudden violent energy surged through him. Slayer recognized this feeling instantly. There was many things that had made Slayer famous. One of those was that he seemed to have the uncanny ability to slip through the most impregnable defenses in the middle of the day--wearing his signature armour, no less--as he disposed of his target and escaped with the guards none the wiser. Another was his technological gadgets that rivaled the top-of-the-line gear in the black market. Just his solemn mask, conflicting beliefs, and mysterious identity along with his namesake got his infamy around in harsh whispers of the galaxy. One factor that contributed to this was something other bounty hunters had started nicknaming as "Desolation": a state of malicious bloodlust that Slayer had only entered a select number of times, but became renowned for. Usually, he could only reach the physical boons that accompanied the psychological state of mind via... stimulants. But through sheer rage and the sight of his own blood, Slayer could tap into his feral, animalistic side of him with ease. It was an event that many people knew to stay very, very far away from. Lucien, unfortunately for him, did not know this. "Warning. Solaris Suit systems will commence shutdown in T-minus sixty seconds." Slayer worked quickly. Once his Suit powered down, the weight distributors would lose their current and the actual weight of his armor would prevent Slayer from ever hoping to get off the ground in his condition. Slayer reached back down to grab his Sabre, before his fingers brushed something else. Eyes flashed down for a moment to examine the foreign item. It was a dagger; cruel and almost demonic in its form, small sigils pulsed ominously red in contact with Slayer's lingering hand. Slayer didn't know where the small knife came from, but all he knew was that it was going to be the means to an end. Lucien's end. With a grunt, Slayer lifted the blade. It was balanced almost perfectly, the ideal size and heft for what he was about to do. Slayer ignored the prompt telling him that his floodlights had shut off to conserve power. That was not a concern; he knew exactly where the Alpha was. Slayer thought about discarding the strange dagger for his Sabre, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to aim in his state without using his still-broken arm to stabilize the shot. Slayer looked towards Shamon, and somehow even in the darkness their eyes met. A raspy choke left the prince. The sight of his expression, even in the assassin's strained, natural night-vision was more than enough to fuel Slayer's determination. Slayer pulled back his hand, and let the blade fly with a shout of pure, unadulterated aggression. Lucien couldn't react in time before the dagger spun and sunk into the base of the Dog's cranium, right where it connected to the spine. The beast crumpled instantly. Lucien, one of the 'Great Five', was no more. Satisfaction rocked Slayer's system, as the momentum of the throw brought the assassin fully back to the ground. He was smart and aware enough to twist his body before impact to avoid making his arm worse. For a few moments, silence lingered. Slayer thought he had responded too late. But Shamon's sputtering and attempts to gain breath brought another bout of relief. "Solaris Suit shutdown will commence in five... four... three..." Some seconds later, the Suit shut down, and Slayer vaguely felt the actual weight of his armour bearing down on him. It didn't matter, though. He won. In one final, weak flourish during his last round of consciousness, Slayer feebly rose his undamaged hand, gave the middle finger to Lucien's corpse, and promptly lost said consciousness, as Shamon rushed towards his form. Starbrought "Ah, Mr. Shields!" Captain Silver Flash exclaimed as she rushed to the alien's side, dual blades promptly sheathing themselves for a brief moment amongst the ship-to-ship battle. "So good to see you finally getting into the thick of things." "I apologise for being late, but I needed my effects." With a smirk, Drake twirled his own sword about, its glow illuminating him and his surroundings, as well as repelling weary pirates from the Silent Rogue currently onboard. Being distracted by the human's weapon made them a vulnerable target for Cadance's guards and Silver's crew to dispatch and create space for the brief reunion. "Better late than never," Cadance quipped. A trio of pirates stalked towards her, but before any of her guards could neutralize them, a powerful pink shockwave from her horn sent them sprawling across the deck of the Serenade. "Do you know where Sergeant Armor is?" "Not in the battle, I'm guessing?" A quick glance at her shaking head caused him to snort. "Hmm. I suppose he'll be back eventually." Drake barely parried away a sword aimed for his sternum, a thin gash piercing his coat and his skin, before he slammed the pommel of his blade against his foe's temple. The rather-large griffin fell into unconsciousness before it hit the floorboards. Drake merely grimaced at the sensation of his blood trickling from the small wound. "Could someone enlighten me as to who exactly is attacking us?" "A brutish pirate captain named Redhorn," Silver responded. "He's a Minotaur; big hulking beast, with a blood-red horn on his head. It seems that even after all of these years, he's still coming after me." "You know him?" Silver Flash gave a grim smile. "You could say that." "Ah, old flame. Got it." A pegasus dove toward Drake, and was met with the business end of the human's boot for her troubles. Seeing Silver's unamused expression, he shrugged. "Or maybe not?" "Definitely not. He's been hunting me down ever since I left my piracy behind me." A leering underling got too close, and suffered the consequences as Silver's dual swords whipped about in a flurry and resheathed themselves. The bastard didn't even have a chance to counter, Drake inferred. A sigh brought Drake out of his thought. "I should have killed him when I had the chance." Drake grinned, and lowered his stance. "Then I suppose I should give you another opportunity to, eh?" Before Silver Flash could comment on what he said, Drake bounded forward into a sprint, swinging his energy-sword in wide, destructive arcs. With little regard nor pause in his slashing, he began carving a path through the Silent Rogue's forces. Silver stared on in shock, along with Cadance and several others, before she recovered her senses. "Protect the alien! Guard him with your lives, my mates!" "Aye aye, Capt'n!" the pirates bellowed. Following Drake's surge, the other crewmembers rushed to his defense, eliminating those not already struck down by the human's saber. This reawoken passion in the Serenade's forces proved fruitful, as abruptly the tide of battle shifted in favour of them. The Rogue's invaders, unable to hold their positions any longer, began hastily withdrawing back onto their vessel. A toothy snarl appeared on Drake's face. "Oh, you're not getting away that easily!" With another battlecry, and with the Serenade's company trailing behind fiercely, Drake leapt onto the opposing ship. Silver Flash grinned at his initiative, and turned to Cadance. "Stay here, would you? I need to accompany Mr. Shields on the forefront of this battle." The Princess merely nodded, surprise at the change of battle still marring her features. Silver addressed the remaining crew on her craft. "The rest of you lot! An extra ration of drink for every one of Redhorn's bastards you keep off the Serenade!" Her declaration was met with excited cheers from her crew. "And ready another volley of the arcane cannons; on my signal, lads!" Across the gap between the two ships, Drake waded his way through the enemy pirates. By now, Redhorn's crew was barely smart enough to stay just out of reach of his energy cutlass. The air around the ships was thick with smoke from the Rogue's now-derelict arcane cannons, often obscuring those nearby. Drake was often seen as little more than a glowing blue silhouette in the smoke, cleaving its way through any poor soul foolish enough to attack the man. A pegasus and unicorn, both having the smallest grasp of tactics about them, tried to tag-team Drake; a magic Fire-based blast from the front, and an aerial attack from the back. It had almost worked, except the unicorn quickly tasted the heel of Drake's boot as the human spun 'round and kicked him toward the crew of the Serenade advancing. Needless to say, he was disposed with almost instantaneously. The pegasus was also quickly disposed of with a crippling shoulder throw into the floorboards, causing Drake to grin. He was starting to enjoy himself some. Most of the Rogue's crew were unfortunate enough to not see the Serenade boarding party, who were spilling over the railing like rats, through the haze of smoke. Pirates met privateers in a clash of steel as the two groups charged each other. Magic spells of all types flew this way and that. Weapons were knocked aside and blood spilled across the deck like water. Another unicorn who saw an opportunity to attack Drake fired off a volley of Frost-related spells, determined to take down the man. One caught him on his shoulder, sending Drake stumbling back and hissing in pain as ice encompassed his shoulder. The unicorn shouted in victory, only to be silenced by the metallic ringing of Drake's plasma pistol putting a round through his horn. No one noticed Silver Flash wincing in sympathy as the enemy pirate collapsed from trauma. Drake gritted his teeth as he used the butt of his pistol to smash apart the obstruction to his sword-arm. A griffon charged Drake head on, a tower shield clutched in her claws as she advanced on him. Drake fired several rounds from his pistol at the shield, only for them to be deflected inches from the metal by an enchantment. "Fuckin' magic," he hissed as he holstered his pistol and readied his cutlass. With his attention on the griffon, he failed to see the unicorn step up behind him, a large halberd raised above his head in a magical aura and ready to come crashing down on Drake. A flash of silver light knocked the offender sideways, sending his polearm crashing into a pair of pirates. Drake looked behind him at the sound, only to find the dazed unicorn collapsed a few feet away. The griffon took advantage of the distraction and charged, only to be run through by a pair of floating swords, suspended in a field of silver magic. "You're a damn fool, charging off like that," Silver Flash said as she dropped down next to Drake. Her blades removed themselves from their bloody sheath and returned to float idly in the air, awaiting further use. "Did you really think you could take on an entire ship full of enemies by yourself?" "It wouldn't be the first time," Drake said with a laugh. His face fell slightly as he took to surveying the deck of the Rogue, indiscriminately headshotting those unaware with his pistol. "Thanks for the save, though. Didn't even see him back there." Silver merely shook her head. "Yeah, sure." Concern began rising on her face as she stood alongside Drake. "No sign of Redhorn. Perhaps he's down below?" "Not much of a captain if he is," Drake quipped. "Maybe we'll be lucky and he's abandoned ship after my oh-so-daring feat of destroying his other ship?" Again, Silver shot him an unamused look at his bragging. He shrugged. "A man can dream, can he not?" Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by the Rogue lurching. Silver Flash, however, seem unperturbed by the rocking motion as she turned around in irritation and began shouting across the way. "I thought I said fire the cannons on my command! What, have you all become daft over there when I wasn't looking?!" Both Elaweda and Cadance, the pair visible on the Serenade near the controls to the vessel, glanced at each other in confusion. Horror dawned on both of them as Cadance yelled. "We didn't fire anything, Silver!" The two captains felt their eyes widen as they spoke simultaneously. "What?" Another quake, this time centered towards the bow of the Silent Rogue, made itself known. In fact, it was so apparent and massive, that the battle temporarily fell into a lull. Wearily, they looked down at the floorboards below them, wondering if the engines were starting to explode and jeopardize the ship. These fears were assuaged when one of the hatches to access the depths of the ship were turned to splinters from some unknown impact. A dark, low, and menacing growl bellowed forth from the interior of the ship, causing the pirates from the Rogue to hastily run to the railings as shards of metal and wood rained down. As far as they could get away from the gaping hole in the floor. Silence conquered the two crafts as they sat there, suspended in midair. No further movement from the crevice occurred, and as such the lack of anything happening was beginning to make Silver Flash uneasy. Looking towards the pirates and seeing them rooted to the spot, her mouth tightened. "Diamond Dreams." The aforementioned crewmember gave a salute. "Toss a keg." The order was received instantly, it seemed. Quickly navigating across the deck of the enemy ship, the unicorn privateer hefted one of the undamaged powder kegs that was most likely used to reload the inferior cannons, and set it ablaze. With careful aim, the barrel was flung into the dark abyss of the ship. No one was expecting the keg to come flying back, however. "Brace!" This time, the boarding party of the Serenade could respond. Leaping and flying out of the way, they cleared the point of impact just as the powder keg made contact. The result of this meeting caused a deafening explosion to ring across the sky, leaving yet another gaping hole in the floor. Silver sneered, and her swords expressed their mistresses' rage. "Redhorn! I know you're down there. Reveal yourself." Dark laughter sounded out from below, though from which hole Drake couldn't tell. So it surprised everyone when two Redhorns emerged, one for each opening into the deck of the Rogue. The dual minotaurs, perfectly identical to one another, were sights to see. Each towered over even Drake by a full three feet, and their brownish-grey fur jutted out savagely, as if proper maintenance hadn't been performed in years. True to his namesake, the two Redhorns each had a singular, jagged horn extend from their foreheads, looking more like a bloodied curved spear than a piece of coloured bone. The two clones spoke in unison, their deep bass causing the air around them to almost visibly ripple. "We meet again, Captain Flash." Drake's brows furrowed. It didn't appear that either of the Redhorns had any weapons on them. Or clothes, for that matter. The only apparel that the man could see was two rings on each hand, one on the middle and ring fingers, respectively. Silver Flash seemed to care less about said jewelry, the lack of pants, or the multiple minotaurs as her duo of swords began cutting agitated lines in the floorboards. "You have some guts to think you could ever best me in a ship-to-ship battle. Especially when I'm on an escort-mission issued by the Celestial Sisters." A lazy shrug was his response. "I figured your cockiness would finally do you in today." Redhorn gave an indignant, almost disgusted look towards Drake. "Is that what you're escorting? If so, I can see why those self-righteous alicorns sent you on this mission; I wouldn't want such a thing in my territory, either." He glowered. "In fact, I still don't." Drake assumed a cocky grin as he stepped forward. "I know I'm not the handsomest, but surely I look better than you. Right, Captain?" Silver Flash gave a grin of her own and shrugged. Drake held a hand over his heart. "Oh, you wound me." Letting his arm fall away, he let it fall to the grip of his pistol. "Regardless, I think you need some manners. I'd be happy to instruct you." Before anyone could move, Drake drew his pistol and fired a round at the closest Redhorn. The shot cut through the apparition like butter, leaving an arcane mist in its wake before it was taken away with a gust. Turning his arm and pulling his trigger at the remaining stunned Redhorn, Drake frowned at the lack of a bolt firing from the chamber. He glanced at the holo-screen. "Recharging?!" The minotaur recovered quickly from that development, and smirked. "Looks like you bet on the wrong bull, worm. Such a pity." With a snap of his fingers, the mist returned and reformed into a madly-grinning clone once again. The real Redhorn turned his attention to Silver Flash, pointedly ignoring Drake. "I'm amazed you let such a thing speak and act for you, Captain Flash. I thought you were at least good enough to handle things yourself." Silver's eyebrow twitched at the mocking tone in which he said her rank. "Mr. Shields has obviously proven that he is more than capable of handling this situation in my stead." A quick glance to actually confirm if Drake would be alright with this came positive as a passionate, though nervous fire shown in the human's eyes. "Right, Mr. Shields?" Drake chuckled as he drew his saber, masking whatever unease he felt as he activated it with a flick of his wrist. "I wouldn't mind putting this cow into its place." Redhorn's eyes, for the briefest of moments, ignited with divine fury at the taunt before they settled. "If you wish to fight me, worm, then how about we make this interesting." He jabbed a thumb at the sides of the Rogue, indicating its crew still rooted to the spot, too petrified of their captain's phantom to move or continue fighting. "If you win, you take the spoils: my crew, my ships, and my cargo are yours. But if you lose..." Redhorn made his intent clear by pointing over the side of the ship. "You, Captain Flash, and that pink pony Princess on your ship will become my prisoners. And the rest of Captain Flash's crew will go overboard." Silver brisled and her swords whipped frantically about herself, nearly impaling Drake in her seething anger. Her glare could petrify basilisks, and apparently the rest of her crew as well. "Threaten the livelihood of my crew again, Redhorn--you exiled, racist bastard--and I will crush you before Mr. Shields has a chance to blink!" The human raised a hand. "Captain. Calm down." Silver Flash begrudgingly ceased her aggression, or at bare-minimum stopped being a safety hazard for his health. His eyes met hers as he gave a confident, cheeky grin. "Don't worry about it; I can handle this." For a moment, Silver appraised Drake, as if actually weighing his chance of success in the fight. He was much shorter and biologically weaker, now that she thought about it. He had no 'magic' that she knew of, and it seemed his ranged-weapon was out of ammunition, for the time being. On top of all of that, Redhorn had a ghost of himself that was most likely for more than show. Was it really wise to send him into a two-on-one conflict instead of herself? One look into his determined eyes settled her doubt as she smiled. "Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Shields." Turning back to the minotaurs, Drake watched as the unarmed pirate and his shadow strolled leisurely into the center of the Rogue's deck. Likewise, Drake took his position on the opposite side. Redhorn's voice that sounded more fit to be an avalanche than a way of communication rang out. "There are no rules to this duel. We fight until you die, or you cower and beg for me to spare you." Drake squinted in concentration as he twirled his cutlass about. "And I'm a pretty pony princess." He snorted, and smirked as Cadance shouted 'Hey!' Taking the initiative, Drake leapt at the real Redhorn, bringing his cutlass down in a wide slash to amputate an arm. The minotaur spun out of the way, surprisingly nimble for a beast his size and for hoofed-legs so scrawny in comparison. Bellowing a grunt, he snatched a pair of blades from what little of his crew had gathered behind him, and threw them. The smaller of the two weapons, a short-sword the length of Drake's forearm, moved faster than anticipated and nicked Drake's arm before he could even think of dodging it. The other weapon, a greatsword, missed him by several feet, but provided enough of a distraction for the apparition to seize it and close the gap between the two of them. It swung the pommel of its weapon down mercilessly at Drake's head. Drake however was quick to parry the greatsword with his own weapon, barely able to move aside the massive tool and lunge inward. Without any resistance, Drake's cutlass plunged into the depth's of the phantom's chest, the heat of the energy blade so intense that the form of Redhorn appeared to shimmer. Unleashing a grunt of what sounded like realistic pain, it retreated with its injury. Redhorn immediately took its place with a kick to repel Drake back, and was rewarded with a resounding crack as his hoof made contact with the human's chest. "Fucking hell!" Drake wheezed. "What do they feed you?" He winced as he straightened back up; he was positive that was worth a cracked rib or two. Looking back up and readying his saber, it fell slightly when he found the two minotaurs each wielding what appeared to be a crude formation of a warhammer and a ridiculously oversized axe in each of their hands, and each made out of solid magic and glowing a sinister red. "Magic. Fucking magic." Drake let out a groan as he readied himself once again. "Next time, I'm taking Slayer's advice and keeping spare grenades on me." With a bellowing roar that shook the ship below them, the real Redhorn charged, swinging his abominations of weaponry in an enormous arc. Drake dropped flat against the deck as the magic warhammer in the minotaur's right hand rushed overhead with more speed than he thought it should be allowed. But Drake, seeing his opportunity, reared his cutlass back into a stab to pierce Redhorn's abdomen. Unfortunately, his haste to finish the fight made him exposed to the fact that Redhorn was more than capable of stopping his warhammer and bringing it back around in a backhand arc. Said fact which was proven accurate as it crashed into Drake and flung him into the railings of the ship. Ribs met wooden supports at a rate of velocity that they probably shouldn't have. A grunt of pain left Drake as he attempted to recover, already feeling a bit of blood and bile rising from his core. He spat a glob of the stuff, knowing his injuries were already catching up and hindering him. He barely recovered in time to roll out of the way of Redhorn's axe whistling down and tearing through the railing like it never existed in the first place. Silver Flash was anxiously pawing the ground, her anxiety expressed through her two swords writhing in the air, waiting to leap in yet knowing they wouldn't. This was an honourable duel, or at least the closest one could get to a fair fight amongst pirates. Her involving herself would most likely do more harm than good; not only for Drake, but for herself and her crew. Still, she was having difficulty just sitting there watching Drake desperately dodge the two Redhorns and their dual-wielded advances. Any chance of riposte on the human's side proved futile and near-impossible as the minotaurs mocked him simultaneously. "Oh, come now. Surely you can do better than this, worm." A particular swing happened to catch the light of the two rings on that hand. Silver's eyes widened as she connected the dots and shouted. "Mr. Shields! The rings! They're controlling the magic for the weapons and clone; aim for the rings!" The real Redhorn spun at her shouts, fury blazing in his eyes. "Shut your mouth, you stupid--" His shout turned into a howl of pain as Drake rose up behind him and, using a crate for increased leverage, sprang onto the minotaur's back and slammed the pommel of his saber against the back of Redhorn's head. The jump rustled the pain in his chest from the accumulated wounds, but Drake was determined to take the advantage. Holding onto dear life with his free hand to grasp at Redhorn's furry shoulder, Drake cleaved Redhorn's horn in half with a downward slash. The cow stumbled forward from the agony, and Drake would have continued his attack and impaled the back of Redhorn's skull, if not for a chunk of wood now being swung over the minotaur's back and straight for Drake's head. With a heave, Drake pulled himself over Redhorn's shoulder just in time to dodge the blunt object, and landed before Redhorn. The minotaur, still doubled over from his attempt to jostle Drake and the loss of his horn, left himself open, and Drake took the opportunity as he lashed out, and severed the fingers--rings and all--on Redhorn's left hand. A furious roar left the beast as it used its remaining fingers on its right hand to ball up a fist and whack Drake in the center of his chest. Drake rolled backwards and slammed up against the railing of the Rogue once more. He was slow to get back on his feet, but was grinning madly even though his own blood was starting to run profusely down his face. "That's a bit better, isn't it?" Drake laughed as he shuddered from his internal bleeding. His satisfaction only increased as he watched the phantom fade away with a pained screech. "Levels the playing field a bit better." "Son of a whore!" Redhorn spat. "I'll tear your heart out and wear it as a trophy!" A disgusted look crossed Drake's face. "That doesn't sound sanitary. And what would you do when it started to decay? Then it would just smell bad." Redhorn roared at him again, and raised his magic warhammer, now half its former size and looking far less solid than it used to. Drake dodged the first strike and with considerable effort punched the minotaur in the snout. His next strike brought his boot to meet the back of Redhorn's knee, bringing him crashing to the deck. As Drake moved in for the killing strike, determined to plunge his sword through the minotaur's throat and finally end the battle, Redhorn brought his arcane weapon to bare, and struck one of Drake's ankles. Drake collapsed to his side, howling in pain and dropping his sword, which immediately powered off when it fell. Redhorn kicked the lone hilt, and sent it clattering across the deck and allowing him to get between it and Drake. "And now, you have no weapon," he sneered at the hunched-over human with an undoubtedly-broken ankle. "Allow me to show you some hospitality." Redhorn raised his weapon above his head, and Drake snapped to attention, pulling a small, black cube out of his coat. "I'm all good on your 'hospitality'. Let me show you my 'thanks'!" The side of the cube facing Redhorn opened up, and a light to rival the intensity of the sun flared right into Redhorn's eyes. He stumbled back, eyes watering and snarling in pain. Drake was back on his feet and limping around Redhorn, doing his best to keep his wounded ankle out of harm's way. Silver Flash, however, was nearly on the verge of intervening, regardless of the outcome. Things were not looking good for Mr. Shields, and if he couldn't recover, he'd die; no way Redhorn would let him live after what had happened. Silver Flash would never be able to forgive herself if it came to that, and yet she was forced to remain on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Drake was learning that removing one of his legs from the equation of evasion was a difficult thing to overcome when faced with the mass of rage known as a partially-horned Redhorn. At several times, Drake barely avoided his beheading by skittering under the lanky goat-legs supporting the pirate, and going on all fours to compensate and retain his balance. He was nearly there, just at the cusp of diving and grabbing the hilt of his cutlass, when Redhorn somehow outmaneuvered him and slammed the hammer in his path. "I don't think so!" With a roar, Redhorn unleashed another backhand strike with his uninjured fist, this blow also landing and sending Drake flying. Drake slammed back-first into the tallest of the Rogue's two masts, the wind knocked from him. "Nowhere left for you to run, little worm." "At least the ship isn't made of metal," Drake wheezed, pulling himself back to his feet by using the mast as a support. He gripped one of the ropes dangling from above, holding onto it like his very life depended on it. In actuality, it probably did. "Any last requests?" Redhorn laughed as he advanced on Drake. Around them, his crew cheered for their captain. "Just one," Drake hissed. "Go shove a canary up your coal mine." In a swift movement, he drew his pistol from where he had holstered it, the holographic display on its side displaying the words 'Recharge Cycle Complete'. Redhorn swung his reclaimed hammer at Drake's throat, determined to take his head off in a single blow. But Drake was faster, ducking under the head even as he raised his pistol. Redhorn's weapon sank into the mast with a dull thunk, severing several ropes tied along it as it did so. "Ha! I win!" Drake shouted, as he lined the sight on his pistol with the center of Redhorn's forehead. In the split second before Drake could pull the trigger, the rope he had wrapped around his wrist for support suddenly tightened painfully. And yanked Drake, who screamed all the way, high up into the air and onto the top-yard of the mast. "Run all you want you cowardly worm; you can't escape me that easily!" Redhorn bellowed as he made to climb the Rogue's rigging. First his ankle, now his wrist. Drake thanked whatever higher power there was that Slayer and Yuri weren't around to watch this. He peered over the edge of the top-yard, practically dragging himself over, and immediately spotted the one thing that made his heart sink to the lowest pits in his stomach. His pistol was lying on the deck below, right next to the hilt of his sword. "I take it back," he grumbled. "The powers that be can go suck an egg." "How nice of you to be lying down, ready to die." Drake glanced over his shoulder as Redhorn climbed onto the top-yard, the stub of his horn sparking and fizzing as he summoned his tool into being. "How about we put of the dying? Sound good?" Drake groaned. "Because I've got plans to drink my way through this pain and there is a nice bottle of whiskey under my bed back on my ship that I'm just dying to crack open." "Tough shit, you pathetic creature. Only option you have left is at the end of my magic." "And wrong again," Drake said, coughing as his laugh hurt his chest. "I'm not the pathetic creature here. And I've got two options." Redhorn paused, looking at the wounded human in confusion. "I can, like you said, be killed by you. But I'm not a fan of that." Drake shot him a wicked grin. "Instead, I'm going to go with option two. And it's what I do best." "And just what would that be?" Redhorn demanded. "Something incredibly stupid!" Still grinning like the foolhardy son of a bitch he was, Drake rolled himself off of the side of the top-yard and dropped to the deck below. Redhorn peered over the edge, befuddlement completely wracking his features, before he saw Drake supported midair by a small field of silver-hued magic, with his pistol aimed right at Redhorn. A single shot rang out. And Redhorn knew no more. Stunned silence fell across both ships as both crews watched Redhorn's corpse fall off the top-yard and smash his head open against the side railing. The only thing keeping his mass from tumbling over the edge of the Rogue was the fact that his right arm had been snagged within a jagged crevice, and gave no leave. Silver Flash set Drake down, and floated a sizeable piece of wood over to him to use as a cane for support. Redhorn's former crew looked back at the bloodied and battered human, who stood proud and tall, looking right back at them. "It is my understanding that the late Redhorn ruled over you, and those who lived in his so-called 'territory' did so with nothing but fear and intimidation commanding them. He was truly a dishonorable captain, and quite frankly, he didn't deserve the title." Reclining gently against his makeshift cane, more to relax a moment than to test its strength, he continued. "I offered him a fair fight, but he used magic. And in kind, I cheated as well with some 'magic' of my own design. Honour amongst thieves, and all that. In the end, however, I have emerged victorious. And now I offer you lot who served under him a choice." Drake hobbled to the center of the deck, all eyes watching him carefully. "The Silent Rogue is mine!" He glared about at Redhorn's former crew as he continued on, all the way to Redhorn's disgusting form. Not even bothering to remove the two rings of potential interest from the corpse's hand, Drake unceremoniously kicked it overboard, and watched the body fall into the forest below. He turned back with a dark look in his eyes. "If you've any problems with that, flee now... or join your former captain by taking a short walk and a very long drop." He turned again and made his way toward the Rogue's wheel, unhindered by a single soul. "For those who stay, will be free of tyranny. Free of a son of a bitch who deserved what he got." Some of Redhorn's crew were mumbling as Drake spoke, but those who were looked excited, and in support of Drake. "And I will be your Captain!" "Yeah!" some of them cheered. "You will sail under my colors, and we will give our enemies no quarter!" "Yeah!" More voices piled on, this time. "We'll take as we please! And live by our own rules! No longer will you be forced to live as Redhorn forced you, skirting the edges of countries for fear of their armies coming after you! No more shall you be paid a trifle amount for risking your lives!" "About time!" By now, most of Redwhore's crew were shouting in agreement with Drake. "For Redhorn was twisted and cruel, his so-called 'empire' corrupt and weak! And I'm going to take everything he claimed was his. Starting with this ship!" Taking his free hand and holding onto the wheel for his support, Drake raised his cane-filled hand into the air. "And when his enemies and mine come for us, they'll see us for what you truly couldn't be under Redhorn's weak leadership. They'll see us for what we truly are!" He accentuated his next words with thrusts of his cane upwards. "Pirates! The scourge of sky, sea, and space itself!" "Long live Captain Shields!" a female griffin near the back of the crowd shouted. Others mimicked her shouts, and in moments, the deck of the Rogue was echoing with shouts of 'Long live Captain Shields! Long live Captain Shields!'. "He can't do that, can he?" Cadance whispered to Silver Flash in baffled astonishment, as the two of them watched Drake's new crew cheer for him. Silver Flash let out a laugh. "Sorry, but I think he just did." Starbrought "Ah, I see you have finally joined us, Marshall. We may begin the meeting now." "I apologize." Cobalt took his seat at the head of the conference table. The meeting was taking place in the senior conference room, which had an actual window in it that showed a rather beautiful view of the griffin capital. The solid ebony table was a perfect ellipse, with a green P.R.I.C.K attached in the dead center. Nine griffins currently sat or stood around the table, with several more standing in the corners of the room. At the very end of the elliptical table stood a regal-looking female griffin. A royal red coat decorated her back with six small black leafs adorned on each shoulder. A scar crossed her left eye and continued down diagonally to her jaw, which only added to the fierce look that permanently was painted on her face. Her black head feathers stood out brilliantly against the gold of her coat. Her name was Natalya, and she was one of the three Grand Marshals of the Griffin Empire, the highest military rank one could achieve. To her left stood the commander of the garrison at Black Rock. He was a massive griffin, easily towering above everyone in the room. He was dressed in midnight-black combat armor, with two swords capped inside scabbards on his back. A bored look decorated his rugged face. The rest of the attendees were the heads from the various departments around the base, including the Head of Sciences. The only other person not from the base was the king's personal aide, who had been sent by the king to monitor the situation. The smaller white-coated griffin stood in the back of the room, silently watching and writing in a bounded notebook. The Chief of Staff for the base stood up and coughed to bring attention to himself. "Since all of our participants seem to have arrived, the meeting is now commenced. Marshall Cobalt has the floor." "Thank you." Looking out towards the others across from him, he began. "Due to the urgency of the situation currently happening, I'm going to get right down to business. As most of you know, or are about to find out, the base is currently in a Level-3 Lockdown. Everything is sealed shut, guards activated; you know the drill." "Why exactly is the base sealed down, Marshall?" Natalya spoke, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to her. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but a Level-3 Lockdown is only issued if an object or entity of extraordinary danger or value is lost. And since this base has been under your command, you have yet to issue one until now." "You are correct. I approved this Lockdown because of an incident that occurred several hours ago with a creature and several guards." "What kind of creature are we talking about here? Magical? Ancient?" "I'll let Dr. Silver Beak, the Head of Sciences explain it from here." Cobalt sat back down in his chair with a loud thump. An older-looking griffin stood up, dressed up in the stereotypical lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses. "Thank you, Marshall. Everyone, the creature that we are dealing with currently is unlike anything we have ever seen, or hopefully will see in our entire lifetime." He paused for a moment, taking a glance at the table's confused looks. 'Let me start off with a brief history of how this creature was brought to Black Rock, as it helps make what I'm about to say more believable. If you could please open the manila envelope that was given to you and open to page three." The sound of folders opening and papers rustling filled the room. Silence settled as people began to read, and after several minutes went by, Beak spoke up again. "Now before you start asking a lot of questions very quickly, let me explain some details: the creature was found unconscious in the middle of the Zebrican Desert by a scouting party trying to reach the unknown meteor or object that fell from the skies two days ago. Following protocol that it might be a cryptid or some kind of mutated minotaur, as the basic shape is somewhat similar, it was brought here to Black Rock. The creature had several strange objects on it when the squad discovered it, but they have since disappeared from the vault where it has escaped from." "What do you mean by strange objects?" Natalya raised her eyebrows. "The sketches taken by the two scientists who examined the creature first are on the next page, including the notes that they jotted down." "Where are these scientists now?" "Currently in the medical and psych ward being treated and debriefed. They have a bit of trauma from the guard incident, but we managed to get some crucial interviews from them," Cobalt mentioned. "Dr. Beak, I'm confused on what these notes are saying. The doctors you brought in to examine it are cryptid researchers, but they clearly say multiple times that this creature matches up with no known cryptid that they know of that could exist on this planet. What exactly is this thing?" The Chief of Staff continued to stare at the paper trying to make some sense of it, but it was a failed effort. The room got very quiet, as no one had an answer, or would give an answer. "It's simple really. Only one explanation makes sense in all of this. It's not from this planet." And at that exact moment before all hell broke lose in the room, the P.R.I.C.K in the table received a call. Everyone stopped and stared at the glowing crystal, the faint hum of magic echoing off the marble walls. "Who the hell is calling at a time like this? I'm going to have someone's head." Cobalt hit the side of the crystal with a large amount of force, rocking the table. "Who and why are you calling?!" Silence followed for a few moments, as well as Cobalt's blood pressure. "Hello? Hello...? Is this bloody thing on?" Cobalt flinched. The accent on the voice was one that he had never heard in his entire life, and chills flew down his spine. Who in the hell thought it wise to put this through? He was going to have the head of the current Operator manning the relay station. "Is this some kind of joke? Who the hell is this?!" "Who the hell are you?!" "I'm the damn head of this base--" "Oh, good; this worked. I thought for a moment I had been tricked." Cobalt turned and looked down to see the ID of the P.R.I.C.K that was on the other end of the line. 'This can't be right... this is from Colonel Greyskull. He's way beyond the area of the quarantine zone.' "Let me ask you something again: who the hell are you, and why are you on my damn comms?!" "Oh, come on. Have you not figured out who this is? Do I need to play some version of Twenty Questions with you?" Cobalt's face suddenly lost color as the full extent of the situation. The room was deathly silent, with several confused expressions painted on the griffins' faces. "Marshall, what is the problem? Who are you talking to?" Natalya moved over to where Cobalt was standing in disbelief. "How... How the hell did it break out of the Lockdown?! There is no way that this can be happening. That Lockdown should be able to hold any creature on this planet and keep them there." "You realize I'm right here, yes?" Cobalt whirled onto the P.R.I.C.K. "How the hell did you break out of the Lockdown?!" The voice on the other end snickered so quietly it might've not happened. "Lockdown? What do you mean?" it replied cheekily. "The Lockdown that was supposed to keep creatures like you locked up!" Cobalt shouted, the veins in his forehead starting to become vivid against his feathers. "You made a stupid judgement giving your location away like this, and you'll pay the price for it." "Whoa whoa whoa, let's turn it down a notch. Do you really think that I would just purposefully reveal my position to an unknown person just for shits and giggles? I have something to--" "You can tell it to the prison cell that you're going to be locked in for the rest of your life." Cobalt turned to the Commander of the Guards, a look of pure rage in his face. "Commander, inform the Titans of its position and capture it. I'm ending this now." "I would really not do that, if I was you. Not if you want to see your city be destroyed--" Cobalt turned to shut off the P.R.I.C.K. But before his talons could cancel the magic, Natalya's talon snapped out and grabbed his. He turned his face in surprise to be greeted by the stoic expression of Grand Marshal Natalya. Even with Cobalt's decades of experience in battle, her piercing green eyes sent shivers down his spine. "Commander Highridge, you will decline that order and you will stay put. Do I make myself understood?" He understood so well he didn't even know her order had caused him to sit on his haunches. It took himself considerable effort to stand again after such a harsh order. "Marshall Cobalt; get out of the way." Cobalt nodded and backpedalled to the side as she walked over to the P.R.I.C.K. She cleared her throat and began to speak. "My name is Grand Marshal Natalya of the Altai Dominion, chief administrator of both this facility and the surrounding district here in Gryphon. If you have a name, please give it to me." "Finally, someone who knows some basic manners. My name is Yuri, Madame Natalya." She squinted her eyes at that. "Flattery will get you absolutely nothing here. The only reason that you're not being hunted down like a rat right now is because of what you just stated about saving this city." "Heh, you don't seem like someone I should be joking around with. Fine by me; yes, what I said was true." "For your sake, I want you to explain to me what exactly you meant, and I would heavily suggest choosing your words wisely." A snort arose from the other side of the relay. "Calm your... beak? Yeah, calm your beak for a moment." Natalya's wings bristled at the blatant disrespect. "I'm not threatening your people, but the complete opposite in fact. I want to save your people." "Save them for why and from what? You?" "I may be much more advanced than you, but I'm not that powerful. But, I'm not telling you anything right now over this really weird crystal." "Oh? Is that so?" some of the nearby griffons uncomfortably shuffled away from the progressively-irritated Grand Marshal. "Yea, it is so. I know that you know exactly where I am. So here is my offer: come down and meet me in the flesh, and I'll tell you everything that you could ever want to know." "Why would I do that? How do I know that you are not going to try and kidnap me to get what you want?" "I understand your suspicions, but I'm not an idiot. If I tried to kidnap any of you, or even harm you, I would die faster than getting thrown out of an airlock. Why do you think I haven't killed a single individual yet since my escape?" Silence answered, for no one had a decent rebuttal. "Besides, if I wanted to fight my way out, we would not be having this conversation right now." "...And if I don't?" "Then you're condemning your entire city to ruin, and the deaths of thousands will be specifically on your head. Now... how do I turn this damn thing off? Is it this--zap--ow! Son of a mother fu--" A resounding 'click' echoed around the dead-silent room. Natalya stood in silence for a moment, staring out the window at the sprawling capital. "Marshall Cobalt, have your Titans escort me and yourself to the room. Seal off all the exits and make sure that nothing gets in or out. Have a breaching team on standby in case this goes sour." She turned to the aide that had been motionless the entire ordeal. "You are to stay in this room. The last thing I need is to have the damn nobles getting involved in something like this." And with that, she walked out of the room towards her possible doom. Starbrought Soldiers marched rank-and-file through the jungle, their full-body armour glinting in the gloom of the morning sun. They had traced a transport vessel that had crashed on the surface a few hours ago, and they needed to secure the crash site. If offworlders discovered their base of operations, then soon the entire brunt of the galaxy would be knocking on their door. Two masked soldiers, one with a yellowish tint and one in red, led their troupe of blue warriors through the brush. "Only a few more miles," the one in red muttered in the humid air. "How are you faring, Jargi?" Jargi gave a tired shrug, his blaster rifle hung loosely over his shoulder. "About as well as one can in the jungle. The floor is crawling with pests and predators. Last thing we need is to hit a pack of maaralaas while trying to intercept this ship." The yellow-coated man held some tree limbs aside for his superior to pass. "Do we have a transponder ID, Lieutenant?" The Lieutenant double-checked his datapad. "Techs say it ain't Alliance or Imperial. Definitely military, though. Most likely a private colonizer." A grunt left him as he turned back to Jargi. "We better get the men moving a lot faster, Sergeant. Ordanis the Preserver wants a successful report on us neutralizing this ship's crew before the day is out." "Yes, sir!" With a salute, Jargi addressed the bataillon behind him. "You heard the Lieutenant. Double-time! Let's move!" Proud shouts left the warriors as they picked up the pace. For the next dozen minutes, the only sounds in the jungle were a dozen soldiers trampling through the underbrush, and the din of its natives. There was little need for stealth, in their opinion. The velocity that the vessel was falling from was enough to most likely kill the entire crew. They just had to make sure they were all dead. A hand shot up in the air. The band of troops halted instantly at the gesture; the Lieutenant had damn-good senses, and when he told you to stop, you stopped if you didn't have a death wish. Several seconds passed anxiously in silence. He nodded. "We're good. I thought I heard something out there." "It might of been a cannok, sir." Another nod left the red warrior. "Probably. They're harmless by themselves, but in a pack they're a nuisance. Keep your eyes peeled, men." The soldiers proceeded with far more caution, constantly checking for any out-of-place sounds or movements. There was a bad feeling in the air; something wasn't right. There should of been at least some degree of activity in the jungle; instead, the warriors saw and heard nothing. The lack of noise was unsettling the entire party of soldiers. That meant two things: either there was a large predator nearby, or there were the remnants of the vessel they had been hunting for. Jargi perked up at his commander motioning towards him to get his attention. A few obscure hand-gestures were displayed to the Sergeant, and he understood the gravity of what was being said: 'Being watched. Hostile. Scout ahead; prepare to flank.' Jargi nodded, took some men, and advanced ahead of the rest towards the crash site. In actuality, he was going to settle down in the bushes some metres away, close enough to hear any combat, far enough away to appear as if he left. The Lieutenant gave a briefer string of nonverbal signs towards the rest of his men: 'Tread lightly. Weapons primed.' Soundlessly, blasters were unslung and reloaded with fresh battery packs. Their ranks subconsciously bunched together, making them a target perhaps for explosives, but limiting the chance of being individually picked off. Suddenly, in the deathly silence of the jungle, the Lieutenant heard a click. His instincts moved him before he could even hope to alert his men. An explosion rocked the forest as the Lieutenant dove forward and drew his blaster. He looked back at his force, eyes wide in horror; only half of them remained, if that. Behind him, the crashing of reinforcements led by Jargi were in swift pursuit. But it was going to be too late. Unmarked and somehow unscathed scouts peeked out from behind trees, rifles drawn as they began tearing through his men. The Lieutenant made himself heard over the din of the battle as he downed two enemies with quick spasms of his trigger-finger. "Take cover! Regroup! Send the bastards back!" A grenade rolled near the Lieutenant's feet, and he threw himself while he tried to warn the warriors. "Brace; grenade--!" Slayer's eyes shot open with a start, but his body betrayed no sign of his awakening. His sight was blurry, and he could feel a small, hot tear rolling down his face. He sighed internally. It was another dream, another remembrance of that horrid day. Slayer could only recollect one other day where he had failed his people like he did during that ambush. A shudder racked his body. Slowly, the assassin attempted to figure out where he was. For some reason or another, he felt disoriented. The fabric roof above Slayer was lit up by a faint trace of sunlight. Wherever he fell asleep, it was certainly not comfortable, and way too damn early. There was some crusted liquid around his eye and forehead, and Slayer noted that his left arm was sending pinpricks of rather intense pain-- Oh. Right. The Zebras. An audible groan left Slayer as he gave up his budding ministrations to rise. All too vividly, the memories resurfaced; the entire excursion into Nazar, him fighting Lucien, breaking his arm, Shamon nearly dying because of it. Slayer's eyes widened. 'Shamon! He better not have died; I need him still, dammit...' The voice of the prince lofted over Slayer as his striped muzzle popped out of the corner of Slayer's vision. "You're awake! Ah, the Divines smile on us once more..." It didn't take a rocket scientist to see the stress lines that had formed from a result of the struggle on Shamon's face. At least he seemed to be alive, and that was enough for Slayer. Slayer attempted a choked laugh. He was parched, and rather famished. "I don't know if you know this, but now you look like shit." Shamon gave a laugh back in response, recalling how he said the same thing to Slayer the day before, and his eyes twinkled in genuine relief. The expression gave Slayer pause. Had the prince been worrying about him? No, it must have been for his people. Slayer shook away the thought. "Where am I?" "You're still in the Elder's council teepee." For some reason, Shamon looked slightly embarrassed. He glanced away. "We had attempted to move you to a more comfortable location, but we were... um, unable to." It was most likely for the best, Slayer considered. If they had succeeded in moving him, even in good intentions, it would have caused greater damage to his arm. As such, Slayer decided not to assault Shamon for insinuating that he was fat. "I figured you wouldn't be able to; my armour's weight distributors shut down. Along with the rest of... my... Suit." Slayer stared up at the ceiling blankly, realizing something. "Which means I can't move in my current state." A bewildered look overcame Shamon as he gingerly sat himself on his haunches. The motion confused Slayer; that was a posture he only seen with cats and dogs. Could equines even bend that way? He dismissed the thinking as Shamon leaned in closer. "You can't move? Why not?" "Because I've also broken my arm," Slayer retorted flatly. Shamon's face contorted once more into an expression of worry. "Your arm is broken? And you've been unconscious all night without it being healed?! Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Slayer watched in pained, but vague amusement as Shamon began fretting over him. Shamon seemed pretty young by his looks and personality; was he even an adult by their standards? "Is there anything I can do to assist you?" Slayer gave a lazy wave off to one wall of the tent as his eyes refocused onto the steeple of the linen ceiling. "Get my satchel, if it's still outside. There's a medical brace in there." The bounty hunter glanced over, only to see the bag suddenly in Shamon's mouth. How he obtained the bag, and somehow returned in a matter of seconds, was a migraine Slayer decided not to question. Bracing himself with his good arm, the marauder sat himself up. He motioned for Shamon to dig through his bag; something he would have done himself, except his balance was beginning to fail him. Planting his feet seemed to do the trick. Eventually, Shamon procured one of the medical braces, and examined it in curiosity. "What will it do?" "Fix my broken arm," Slayer quipped in an obvious tone. Shamon sheepishly scratched behind his head as he reached the same conclusion. With equipment in hand, the assassin bit his lip as he extended his left arm. It was worse than he thought. The pain came in agonizing waves, and it was only his upbringing and the pain suppressants that prevented him from crying out. Loosening up the clasps, Slayer carefully set the brace into position, and clamped it down. A little button press here, some syncing with the Suit there... A faint bzzt left the device before Slayer gave out a long, drawn-out sigh of contentment. "Ah, much better." He glanced over at Shamon's look of confusion. "The brace straightens out the bones while it administers extra dosages of temporary... uh, machines, to restore damage." Slayer had wanted to say 'nanobots', but apparently the Zebricans did not have that word. It was to be expected. "It ought to be healed soon enough." Shamon merely seemed fascinated, eyes comically widened in amazement. "Wow. Small dispensable machines that can heal bones?" An almost wistful expression arose on his face. "It sounds like magic, but more... innovative." For some reason, Slayer found that greatly amusing. "The difference between my science and your magic though, is that one exists, and the other does not." Had Slayer bothered to look at Shamon when he said that, he would have seen newfound confusion, before revelation and a sly grin. The prince voiced no words to correct Slayer as he pressed on. "Well, next step; move my ass out into the sun." The Zebra's brow seemed to be frozen in a scrunched-up pose as his smirk fell. "What good will the sun do you?" Slayer waved him off once more. "You'll see." While his left arm was still unusable--and would most likely remain that way for a few days--that didn't stop him from starting to reattempt a stand. This time Shamon was there, and with a bit of support, Slayer found his footing and stood. "Ah, thanks. It's hard to stand with only one arm in heavy armour, you know." "Didn't you say you couldn't move, though?" A groggy nod. "It wasn't an exaggeration; I genuinely couldn't move with my arm unattended to and me grounded like that. Now that I'm standing, it's manageable." Starting to make his way towards the flap of the tent, Slayer examined his surroundings. There seemed to be no trace of what had transpired the previous night; no blood, no bones, not even the putrid odor of urine hung in the air still. A damn-effective clean-up crew. If it wasn't for his arm, Slayer could have been fooled that he hallucinated those events. Slayer's balance lurched abruptly, but he stumbled and recovered. Shamon didn't say anything, but merely looked on in concern, ready to spring into action if the assassin collapsed. Slayer roughly chuckled. "Vertigo. I need some food, and some water." Shamon didn't even ask what kind of food Slayer wanted. He merely gave a nod and sprinted out of the flaps, leaving a displacement of air in his wake. The light-headed sensation forced Slayer to kneel down while he attempted to revert his world to an acceptable stability. The prince reappeared almost as quickly as he left, tray in mouth. According to the heavy breathing, hauling tuchus was not the smartest thing Shamon should have done in his condition. 'His condition,' Slayer's mind echoed. Giving a cursory glance, he looked towards Shamon's flank. Fresh bandages had replaced the old, and (unfortunately for Slayer to admit) whoever redid them performed first aid better than Slayer ever could. Aside from some limping, though, Shamon didn't seem to be hindered too much by the injury. Though, doing such an unnecessary sprint was an obviously foolish decision; one that Slayer thought to berate the stupidity of, before he gave up on admonishing him. The assassin supposed it was nice that Shamon seemed to care, at least. Slayer began to quickly care less about why Shamon was so snappy with his request by the smell of said request wafting through the air filtration system. Where had he smelt that before? Looking down, Slayer's eyebrows arched in surprise. Shamon spoke with a broad, albeit slightly strained from running, smile. "One of the city's cooks heard you were unconscious due to defending Nazar, and had left this meal here for you upon awakening. He wanted me to tell you: 'this is on the house,' whatever that may mean to you." A grin plastered itself on Slayer's face. 'Wampum. I take back me thinking you a sleaze.' With great gusto, the bounty hunter went to town on the sun-heated cod, not even bothering to close his mouthpiece between bites to ensure there was no interference between food and Slayer's stomach. Slayer hated to admit it, but he nearly let out a moan. 'Goddamn, this is delicious. Note to self: buy Wampum a drink.' He took another bite. 'Scratch that, two drinks.' Shamon sat a respectable but friendly distance away, watching in his own amusement. Slayer seemed to take each meal in as if it was his first, and going to be his last. He paused. That was rather dark for his humor, though mostly because of how probable it could be. Slayer did seem to give little regard for his own health when he was combating the Diamond Dogs. "Do you even chew?" The assassin arched an eyebrow at the snark. "I'll chew when I'm full." A loud, stress-relieving laugh left the Zebra; with his royal title, few individuals were ever willing to trade banter with him without having misguided fear that the prince would banish them. Slayer, in all of his alien quirkiness, was a refreshing change of pace. Slayer spoke up. "So. I'm guessing that things sorted themselves out after I killed Lucien?" The question quickly sobered Shamon. "To a degree. After you lost consciousness, I freed the Elders. By this point, a great deal of the fighting in Nazar had ceased; the Dogs had started a retreat of their own out of the city, if you can believe it." Slayer hardly did, but he kept his mouth shut. "Once we dragged out Lucien's body, all of their fighting spirit fled. Many surrendered, but some..." An unsettled expression crossed Shamon's face. "Well, some slavers refused to become the enslaved, even if we had no intention to." Slayer caught what happened as he took a drag from the provided waterskin. If it was bothering Shamon that much, though, he was not going to talk about it. In the bounty hunter's opinion, suicide was a true last resort; unless in dire circumstances, a coward's way out. At that point, Slayer was trying to figure out whether to loathe the Diamond Dogs or pity them. Maybe both. Shamon continued. "Of those who surrendered, we only took one actual prisoner: a servant to Lucien. The Dog could actually speak some Zebrican--quite badly, mind you--and we agreed upon some... negotiations." Slayer nodded; it was probably the translator he had bartered with before the battle began. The warrior idly wondered how those negotiations went. He hoped it was something along the lines of: 'if you don't give us your shit and piss off, our metal monkey-man will kick your shit in, take it and make you piss off.' If that wording was used, preferably by either Shamon or Elder Imamu, it would make his week. He righted his thoughts when Shamon continued speaking. "After a large amount of deliberation and council from the Elders assisting me, I arranged a combination of previous attempted agreements with the remaining Diamond Dog influence here in our lands." Slayer blinked. The two races had tried peace once? Undoubtedly the key word there was 'tried', and the Diamond Dogs weren't too keen on the concept. "What deal was that?" he asked in mild interest as he continued to fork down his food. The Zebra looked up, crossing his forehooves in recollection. "Let me try to recall. Hmm... I believe we had been able to recover certain things of value taken from us, as well as having the Dogs honour-bound to forsake our sands." A neutral face appeared as he locked eyes with Slayer. "I was also informed of some items that were brought up by you." Suddenly, Slayer's blood ran cold. That wasn't good. Given the events instantly following that slight in Slayer's resolve and rationality when tempted with such a moral conundrum, Shamon was probably presuming the worst of Slayer if the Zebra knew everything that he had said. If Shamon did know about the 'deal', and that final stipulation... Shamon cracked a knowing smirk. Slayer didn't even know he was revealing his newfound anxiety by indenting the tin pan in his grasp. "You know... if you wanted me to accompany you so bad on your journey, that thought you needed to arrange for my slavehood; all you had to do was ask, yes?" The assassin could only stare slack-jawed. That was certainly not the reaction Slayer expected from the member of a race who actually had to seriously deal with slavery. Shamon let out a peal of laughter while falling over, and clutched his ribs during his giggling fit. "Oh, blessed Divines. I wish I could see your face; I can feel the stunned shock from here! Pfft." He broke down into another bout of roaring laughter. It took many, many moments before he finished, and many more to fully calm down to catch his breath. "Ah, but seriously." Shamon's face abruptly hardened and he clocked Slayer's shoulder. It didn't hurt either party, but the meaning behind the blow was well-received. Shamon's mouth made harsh creases on his muzzle as he contorted his hoof to point the tip towards the impact point. "That was for pulling the Elder's legs by stringing the Dogs on, and getting Elder Imamu worked up with your joke to the point where he apparently fainted shortly after you." Slayer wisely kept his mouth shut about the fact that for a moment there, he hadn't been joking about offing the Elders. He was about to make a witty rebuttal of some degree, before the Zebra lunged forward and... hugged him? The assassin's mind attempted a full-fledged reboot as he felt the hooves wrap around his undamaged shoulder. He was so flabbergasted by the movement, he couldn't even consider whether to awkwardly reciprocate or shove the prince away. The prince spoke again, in a less harsh tone. "And this, is for saving me and my kin. Thank you..." Just like that, Shamon was disentangled from Slayer and was motioning for him to stand back up again, as if the contact never happened. "Come; we have a trip we need to make, no?" Slayer shook it away. He was going to process what just happened for a later time. For now, he could finally get back on-track to recovering Drake. "Right. Let's, uh... depart." A groan threatened to rise from his brief stutter. Such contact was foreign to the man. Still, he let out a small breath of amused air. 'Well, it seems this was the best call, at the end of the day. Next time I need to keep my greed in check; it's a damn dangerous thing.' A thought suddenly crossed Slayer as he turned back to Shamon. "Where is Lucien's body?" The Zebra's brow furrowed. "We had been planning on giving him a grave, possibly by cremation. He was our enemy, true; but even enemies deserve respect after death." Slayer nodded, and asked if he could light the pyre. Shamon looked surprised, but nodded in kind. "Of course. But... I must ask; why do you want to do it?" A shrug left him. "Because he was a worthy foe, and I bested him in the end. Me falling into unconsciousness prevented me from showing him what little respect he had ascertained." Slayer analyzed the uncomprehending look he was given. "I do not hold my conflict against Lucien; I was taught a long time ago to not have ill feelings towards my opponents on the field of battle. If the fight was glorious, then those you combated--whether win, lose, or draw--deserved respect. But I also hold the fact he was a slaver against him. Lucien may have fought vigorously and showed heart, like a warrior, but it means far less since he had lived an unhonourable life beforehand." Slayer tapped his thigh. "Still. Credit where it's due. Being a warrior as well, it is only appropriate that I am the one to send him off." Shamon looked the alien up and down appraisingly, and there was an unknown feeling behind his gaze. Something between befuddlement, admiration, and respect. "You surprise me, Slayer. Pleasantly, but still surprising all the same." Shamon gave a grin, and walked out the tent. 'Maybe my misgivings were misplaced; you do have honour, Slayer the Interloper.' As Slayer followed him out after collecting his possessions and weapons, he rose his arm to block the desert's blinding sun once more. The visor's tinting wasn't helping as much as it should have. He made a note to take a look at that, if he ever got a chance. Once the brighter exterior of Nazar was properly acclimated to his sight, though, down his arm went. His jaw dropped once again. It looked like a celebration had overcome the bedraggled city of Nazar seemingly overnight. Colorful silken banners hung proudly from store fronts and windows, food was being distributed freely amongst the passer-bys, work-crews of Zebras repaired damaged structures with precise efficiency, and overall merriment was heavy in the air. Slayer was rather impressed at the speedy set-up of the festivities. A Zebra waltzed by before he froze and pointed a hoof at Slayer. "The Interloper awakens!" As if a switch had been flicked, uproarious cries of thanks and happiness rang from the crowd out-front as they quickly began filling into the courtyard at the news. The assassin could only stand there immobilized at the reception. How had he not heard this many citizens only a few dozen metres away? Shamon whispered to Slayer as he kept his head forward, hardly moving his lips as he waved to his denizens. "Word spread fast of your involvement, and your paramount role in protecting Nazar. Needless to say, they are not slow in showing their appreciation." He turned his head towards Slayer, who hadn't budged an inch. "This celebration is for you, in a sense. A show of thanks." Slayer didn't really know what to say. This was entirely new for him. He never had been at a party dedicated to him doing something. In frankness, Slayer didn't know whether he should say something, or just soak in the admiration of the queer quadrupeds. He went for the latter, and maintained a steely silence. The Zebras were undeterred by his lack of any sort of speech, and clamored to get closer to the Interloper. But Shamon rose a hoof, and the crowd's impending rush was cut short. With a loud, clear voice, Shamon addressed the group. "My kin! Please, give us a path. The Interloper cannot stay, and must depart immediately with me to Equestria. He appreciates what you've done for him! But please, a path!" Disappointment was obvious in many of their faces--they most likely had been hoping for an extended time to thank Slayer fully--but they adhered to their prince and stepped aside. Several guards belonging to Shamon encircled the duo, and set them off down the road. Slayer was feeling a bit awkward at the massive influx of direct attention, but he kept a cool head and gave a nod occasionally towards the following crowd. Shamon spoke idly as they took their old route. "The Elders would like to have another audience with you before we depart, if you wish." A chuckle left the assassin, half due to Shamon's wording, and the other half at watching a Zebra being hip-checked only to be replaced by an overzealous mare shouting happily in Slayer's direction. "I suppose that is an order?" "As I said, only if you wish. We could just as easily set off if you have no interest in their words." A hinting tone appeared in Shamon's next sentence. "However, I recommend you may want to hear them out. They seemed to have something to say, and you may very well leave in better spirits." Slayer shrugged. "Alright. If you insist." Their horde of hecklers did not disperse when they reached the bustling marketplace from before. In fact, they coagulated and made it very difficult to navigate, even with the guards cutting a swath through the citizens with gestures and shouts. It was rather deafening, Slayer quipped to himself. 'I figured the extent of me ever being famous would be through fear. But here my infamy is in a different light, and reciprocated differently. Hmm. Almost makes me want to get an honest living.' Abruptly, they veered off their previously-beaten path. The detour caused a brow to rise on Slayer's forehead, but he said nothing. Most of their detachment had been left behind at Shamon's orders to hold the mass of rowdy civilians at bay, and soon the bustle of the festival died away. Eventually, they reached their destination. For a time, the two of them stood there, staring quietly at Lucien's body as it laid on a bed of tinder. His arms were criss-crossed over his chest, and his armour had been noticeably polished to a fine shine. There were no other attendees aside from two guards and a witch-doctor concealed by a wooden mask; though whether that was a testament to how much the Zebras resented the Alpha, or the fact that Shamon explicitly made it a private ceremony, was unknown. "Are you ready?" The simple question caused Slayer to nod. "Let's start." With a wave from his leader, the shaman approached the altar and began sprinkling a fine, grey powder on Lucien's bloodied corpse from his saddlebags. A long, drawn-out prayer left his lips. "Weary spirit, you faced much strife in life. You were our enemy, and sought to enslave our people. But there was a time when you weren't such, and thus it is why we bless you." A small bundle of some herb was tossed into the wood. "May the afterlife bring you the peace you could not find, and may the Divines take pity upon you." Shamon spared a glance at Slayer, and nodded. The bounty hunter responded in kind, and made his way towards Lucien's body. Standing over what used to be the bane of the Zebra's existence was not as satisfactory as Slayer had been hoping. Flashes of the Alpha's snarling face, madness rampant in his eyes, appeared. The recently-uttered words of the apothecary floated through his mind's eye. 'I wonder what drove the Diamond Dogs to such measures...' Thankfully, the Dog's eyes had been closed in advance out of simple respect for the dead, and two small copper coins sat on each eye. Slayer recalled that to be an ancient tradition, but where it originated from, he couldn't say. As for an eulogy, there wasn't much he felt compelled to voice. Short, and simple. "May peace keep you." The ceremony was hardly more than two minutes long. Just simple words from Slayer and the witch-doctor, and that was that. Shamon apparently didn't have anything to say. As the prince made to ready a torch to give to Slayer, the assassin rose a hand to stop him. Pulling out his Sabre, he clicked the setting to Kill, and ignited the pile of lumber himself. "Unconventional," Shamon murmured in melancholic amusement. "But since it was you sending him off, it's almost more appropriate, in a sense." A few moments passed in silence as they watched Lucien become engulfed in flames, the scent of burning fur hanging in the air. It was a sudden beep from Slayer that ended the quiet. "What was that?" Slayer raised a finger, and soon a faint whirring echoed out of the Suit for a second. It stopped as soon as it started, and Slayer stood up straight. Shamon hadn't even noticed that he had been hunching his back before then. "I soaked up enough solar power to get the weight distributors back online." A blank look was Shamon's response, before he rapidly shook his head. "I'll just pretend I fully understood what you said." It was then that another guard approached the prince and whispered in his ear. Shamon stood, eyes shut, as he listened. Eventually, he gave a nod, a small word of thanks, and dismissed the soldier before turning back to Slayer. "Come. I just received word that our supplies are fitted and ready. We just need to converse with the Elders once more to bless us on our journey, and we can depart." "Bless?" Another nod as the convoy began moving again, this time using back-alleys so to avoid the large slew of onlookers hoping for celebrating with Slayer for his achievements. "Yes. The Elders are our spiritual leaders, alongside the council for the dynasty. That fire-pit you saw in their tent? They tend to use it to give fortunes and predict omens for those who ask." His face soured. "It is a shame we cannot get a reading before our leave." Slayer highly doubted that such precognition existed amongst the Zebras, but he wisely kept his mouth shut yet again and didn't voice his disbelief. Calling out their religious beliefs would be a fool's error. Instead, a nagging query that had been on the edge of his mind made itself known. "Did you ever recover that dagger I used to kill Lucien with?" Shamon scrunched his brow and spared a brief look. "What dagger?" The assassin suddenly had a bad feeling. "You know, the one I threw before I lost consciousness? Had red pulsing sigils on it?" Shamon stopped in his tracks, and turned slowly to look at Slayer in concern. "That... wasn't a dagger? You threw a heavy, jagged chunk of a bone and it... collapsed the back of Lucien's skull." The prince had a perturbed look on his face. "Whatever blade you believe existed, it didn't." Slayer blinked to himself as they began progressing once more. Had he imagined the weapon? No. No, there was no way he did. He remembered it vividly. But then why did Shamon claim that it wasn't a dagger, but rather a crude bone construct? Was Shamon lying, and he had hijacked the blade for his own? Doubtful, but one never knew. Slayer shrugged. "Perhaps I imagined it. I certainly wasn't in the best state of mind." Shamon nodded, slowly, brows still furrowed. "Right. You're probably... right." No more words passed between them in the sudden brooding silence. The feeling in the air gave both respective parties emotions of anxiety, but neither showed it. They simply pressed on, eventually popping out into a side-street that connected closely to the main gate. From their position, they could see a near-ravenous mob of citizens celebrating their fresh ease of mind with the dispatching of Lucien and his pack. "It seems odd that they can celebrate like this, when not too long ago probably hundreds of their people died gruesomely," Slayer commented. Shamon gave a sad nod. "Our kin tries not to focus on death too deeply. While it pains us that such losses were had, the fact that it is over for good now is enough for many of them. They are in the presence of the Divines now." Another frown appeared on his muzzle. "You weren't awake when the giant funeral was carried out an hour or two ago. It was... depressing. Nazar definitely needs some cheer after that." A quiet snort left the warrior as he crossed his arms. "At this rate, you'll have a riot on your hands." That snapped Shamon out of his thinking funk, because he looked down at one of appendages with a furrowed brow and focused stare. Confusion emerged soon after. "Uh... I do not have any hands, Slayer." Said warrior shrugged. "Same difference." A thoughtful sound left the prince, and with that they made their way into the street. The population of Nazar swiftly descended on them, but the refreshed garrison of guards kept their eagerness at bay. Slayer found the whole situation highly amusing, and slightly concerning. There was very little doubt in his mind that this was the oppression of living under the fear of the Diamond Dogs bleeding out into joy. The lifestyle of worrying that at any moment, an instance could arise where they were stolen away from their home, was one Slayer had seen far too many times. Standing amongst the sea of onlookers were the Elders, safe and secure in a small clearing in the crowd. The duo quickly made their way over, and Shamon gave a full-fledged bow upon entering a few paces from them. Slayer considered to maybe at least give a nod of respect, but chose instead to remain motionless. The Elders waved Shamon to stand, and Imamu stepped forward. "My kin of Nazar!" Imamu declared, his weathered voice ringing out in the street. The hum of talking evaporated, and left the company in silence. "Today, we are gathered here to celebrate the efforts of one particular individual; who without his help, we would not be standing as we are free of the Diamond Dogs' oppression!" Slayer quirked an eyebrow at the frantic energy pulsating in the crowd. 'He's really hamming it up. I wasn't expecting this kind of theatrics for little 'ole me--' "Please give applause to your Prince, your soon-to-be King; Shamon!" As the cacophony of hoofs rained down, Slayer's features drooped. 'You gotta be shitting me...' Shamon gave a look towards Imamu, and discreetly motioned with his head towards Slayer with a small frown. Imamu's face fell, and the Elder began speaking in a voice close to monotone. "And of course, please show your appreciation to the Interloper--" The thundering of hooves drowned out what the aging Zebra had to say. It almost seemed louder than Shamon's applause, Slayer mused quietly to himself. Shamon didn't seem to mind, however; in fact, he was one of the louder ones showing his approval. It was strange to the assassin how killing a few dozen individuals earned one a going-away party by aliens that preached pacifism. It was all admittedly, very, very, bizarre. "Interloper," Imamu stated. Another Elder had taken his place, and had begun addressing the crowd once more. "A word with you in private, if I may?" Slayer merely gave a nod, and walked some distance away from the throng of civilians. Despite the size, none of the locals seemed to even notice the bounty hunter walking away with the head of the Elder Council. Once they reached an acceptable distance, Imamu turned to face Slayer. For a few seconds, he just stared, before speaking. "You make it difficult to discern what your motives are. You realize this, yes?" "My motives are simple. I just want to find my pilot, repair my vessel, and depart." Something between a scowl and a frown worked its way onto Imamu's muzzle. "I see..." He glanced behind Slayer for a moment, apparently checking to make sure Shamon had not followed. Said prince was now ensnared by the jovial expressions of civilians singing their praises to him. It was almost amusing to see his awkward expression, Slayer thought. "I hope you realize that your actions last night, while appreciated, does not absolve you of your threats you made before that." A dark glint rose in the old stallion's eyes. "And while Shamon might think that the betrayal you nearly enacted with Lucien was merely an illusion to lower the Alpha's guard, I have a sneaking suspicion there was at least some glimmer of truth in your brief 'acceptance' of his proposal. He may trust you, but I hardly do. So let me warn you with this." Imamu took a step forward, and raised himself to his full height. "If you allow any harm to come to Shamon, you will regret it. I promise you that." Slayer rolled his eyes, and glanced down at the stern face of Imamu. He wasn't going to make it obvious that what Imamu was believing was actually right. "I think saving you and your 'kin' from another round of enslavement, permanently if the Dogs have any intelligence, covers me just fine." The Zebra rose a hoof, mouth opening to make a retort. But he stopped. Slowly, gently, he set down his rebuttal, and the sternness in his eyes faded. It seemed, to Slayer at least, that his wording got to Imamu. Several seconds passed before a heavy sigh left him. "I suppose you are right. Shamon had explained to me your reasonings for what you did, and despite your multiple actions to the contrary, you have done more for us than any other outsider has. I may not trust what you do... but I understand it, to a degree." Slayer raised an eyebrow, his mask thankfully shielding his emotions. 'So, Shamon is siding with me wholeheartedly despite having no need to vouch for me? To the point where the Elder gave up on his irritation with me?' The guilt twisted itself in his heart, before it fled. Imamu continued, his eyes roaming across the enraptured crowd as they listened to the speech being given by Shamon. While Slayer gave a light, snide-driven snort at the rather easygoing and basic vocabulary, it seemed to ring home in the citizens. "I... I apologize. You have protected our city, Shamon, and our kin; the latter two on more than one occasion." The elderly stallion to Slayer's side sighed once more, and raked his mane in exhaustion. "I should not be so rude, when I should be thankful." The assassin waved it off, shaking his head. It didn't feel right, being said sorry to by someone whose life he had threatened and was so close to betraying the previous day. It left a foul taste in his mouth, that resonated with his people's traditions. "Do not apologize, nor give me thanks. I saved your people for my own gain." A small nod left the Elder as Slayer's gruff phrase hung in the air. It appeared Imamu seemed faintly amused by that statement. "As you say." Suddenly, light tremors begin resonating beneath their feet. Slayer groaned softly, stiffly drawing his blade and falling into a bedraggled one-handed stance, before Imamu raised a hoof. "Wait, Interloper. Watch the seeds you've sown." Wary of both the ground's quaking and Imamu's apparent ease, Slayer settled his katana back into its slot on his back. He still refused to release the hilt though, contenting himself to watching the reactions of the Zebra population. A majority of them seemed anxious, but there was no panic-induced rioting and fleeing. Shamon patiently stood, staring off towards the main gates. Soon, a hole burst out near where Shamon's gaze was pointed. Slowly, carefully, a Diamond Dog emerged. This one had no weapons nor armour, and it took a second for Slayer to recognize the dog as Lucien's now-defunct translator. His head swiveled towards Shamon, and tilted his head before he began barking out orders in the Dog's queer language down his tunnel. A few more tunnels were tentatively dug out around the translator, and soon silence seized Nazar. It was shattered by coughing, and the rising form of a dusty Zebra female from one of the pits. This set off a chain of events; most notably a sea of muffled gasping. Soon afterwards, other equines began appearing out of the Diamond Dog tunnels, being quietly led away by guards once they acclimated to the sunlight towards the crowd. The entire audience stood apparently paralyzed, utterly unbelieving the scene before them. About two minutes later, the Zebras stopped appearing. Instead, another rumbling started, though this one was a short distance away from the present holes. Diamond Dogs began to steadily stream out of this disturbance, carrying with them crates and chests of varying sizes and quality. As time went on, they unloaded more and more of their cargo around the gaping pit, until several small mounds were scattered about. 'That was most likely the den's entire wealth,' Slayer surmised at the dozen-plus piles. As soon as their work was done, the Dogs retreated into their burrow, filling it back up as they departed. Soon, only the translator remained with his tunnel. He stood silently, hands gently massaging one another in its recognizable nervous-tick fashion, watching the now-freed slaves being redistributed amongst their people. The Dog nodded to himself, and looked dead-on at Slayer. With a deep bow of respect, the canine left without a word. "Let us thank the Interloper," Shamon began, starting the frozen masses. He had a small smile on his face as he stared towards Slayer. "Without him, our wealth would have been lost and our brothers and sisters would have remained in chains!" A deafening roar of cheering, accompanied by the rumbling of hooves smashing the sandstone underfoot, overloaded all other sound. Imamu let out another amused noise at Slayer's lack of response. "I hope that you find the members of your crew, Interloper." He briefly hesitated, before he called a guard over. Rifling through the saddlebags on the soldier's person, the Elder turned to address Slayer. "This was an item we had recovered from Lucien." Tentatively, he held it out. "The Council felt it appropriate that we gifted it to you." The assassin raised a brow; was it the dagger from before? A quick inspection showed that no, it was not. It seemed to be an amulet of sorts, though the centerpiece confused Slayer. It looked like an ornate bronze tube roughly the size of a collapsed baton, but didn't seem hollow when Slayer held it. He doubted it would be of much use, whether commercially or personally. Regardless, he nodded his thanks, and the two returned to Shamon. Upon arrival, it seemed that the crowd was breaking off into merriment once again. With the liberated slaves amongst them, many misty-eyes and cries of joy reverberated throughout the Zebras. It faintly reminded Slayer of the other times that Drake had roped him into freeing slaves and those under the tyranny of the three factions. The recollection left a muted sense of satisfaction as Shamon met them with a wave. "Slayer! Are you ready to depart?" Slayer glanced over the festivities, and nodded. "I suppose I am." "Then we'll depart immediately." Giving a bow to Imamu, Shamon started trotting off. He paused, though, and turned back. "Oh, that's right; your gold, Slayer." It took a few moments for that comment to register for Slayer; he had entirely forgotten about the payment he wanted during his 'negotiating' with Lucien. Shamon adopted a thoughtful look with furrowed brows as he glanced down. "Hmm. We might need to triple the convoy to bring the additional gold--" "No." Slayer's dismissal attracted the attention of both Imamu and Shamon. "I have decided that I only wish one cart's worth." A surprised look came over Shamon's face. "Are you sure? It would be no trouble at all to gather more guards to transport it for you." The bounty-hunter waved it away. What he was saying was really stupid, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself. Slayer attributed it to the heat getting to his head. "That won't be necessary. Consider the two carts I'm not taking as a donation to Nazar." He gave a shrug, and looked down at the appraising look from Imamu. "Besides, it will be a pain to try and carry three carts by myself once I land in the Equestrian's capital." The Elder just shook his head in bewilderment, never taking his eyes off of Slayer's visor. "Such a confusing individual... Very well, Interloper; we will gladly accept your donation." A small smile arose on Imamu's muzzle as he bowed, an action that seemed to flummox Shamon by Slayer's quick analysis. "...Should you require any assistance with your quest of repairing your vessel, you may seek us out once more. We will try our best to aid you, as you have aided us." Slayer gave a nod, even though he didn't put much weight into it. At least, it seemed to Slayer, that his former ban from reentry of Nazar was lifted. Turning away towards Shamon, he motioned with his hand forward. It took a moment for Shamon to snap out of his minor stupor, before he gave a nod in kind. As they approached the carriage-esque cart, Shamon tapped on the front. "Climb up." "I'm not being put into the back?" Shamon merely smirked. "We have to put your gold somewhere, do we not?" Slayer just grunted at that fact, and hoisted himself up on top of the wagon. While he situated himself, the prince excused himself and returned to Imamu. From his perch, Slayer watched a brief, hushed discussion--or was it possibly an argument?--before the Elder gave a set of saddlebags to Shamon and gave him a weathered hug. Slayer pretended he wasn't watching them when Shamon returned and clambered up alongside him. "Get comfortable, rafiki; we're about to head out, and it will take some time before we can stop and rest." Diligently, a quintet of rather-burly Zebra servants harnessed themselves to the front of the wooden vehicle, while another trio finished loading Slayer's newfound bounty into the depths of the cart. As the assistants gave the all-clears, the marauder couldn't help but glance down. "Are you sure I should be riding this still?" Shamon waved it off, though Slayer could have sworn he heard small grunts of irritation from the haulers below them. "You underestimate our strength, Slayer. Just because we do not tower, does not mean we are weak. Do not worry about it." Slayer simply shrugged; he wasn't going to try and argue the point if he could avoid having to walk any more desert. With the Prince giving one final wave of farewell towards the assembled crowd, that sent the convoy off with hoots and hollers of praise and good fortune, Shamon and Slayer were on their way towards their objective. The capital of the Equestrian kingdom. Canterlot. Starbrought Yuri was worried. It had been nearly thirty minutes since he and the Marshal had their heart-to-heart, and there was no sign at all of her. Still, he knew he was in enemy territory, and busied himself with a possible escape route. After having ample time to weigh his choices and deciding on caving in the ceiling to climb out should he need to, he let out a groan. "Where the hell is that Natalya chick at? I swear if I have to wait here any longer, I'll--" "You'll what, exactly?" Yuri spun around to see five griffins making their way up the same staircase that he had snuck up, but way more prepared for combat. Four of the biggest griffins he had ever seen were escorting what he guessed was Natalya in an arrow formation. The one at the tip of the arrow was dressed in a full set of white armor, and was nearly as tall as Yuri himself. A massive axe rested on his back, with one of the straps loose to give him quick access to the weapon. He was flanked by two smaller, but equally armored griffins. One of them had two swords on either side of him, and the other had a massive spear that just looked plain deadly. In the middle stood a regal looking griffin, which had a particularly eye catching red coat. A smirk decorated her beak as the party moved up the stairs and took up a defensive position. "I'll yell very loudly." He gawked at the massive griffins that were staring him down with a look of pure hate. "I'm not going to lie, I was starting to think that you were not going to show up." "The thought is mutual. I honestly expected some sort of trap to spring the moment I stepped on those stairs. Looks like both of us have held the peace." Carefully, Yuri leaned over to look past her escort. "I don't suppose that you managed to bring a chair?" "No. I prefer to have my conversations standing up." "How about food?" Natalya motioned to the griffin on her right. He pulled a knapsack off his back and slid it across the floor. It collided with Yuri's foot and toppled over with a lazy flop. Yuri bent down and picked up the bag, keeping his eyes directly on the tower of flesh in front of him. He reached in and rummaged around. He pulled out what he guessed was a vegetable and studied it for a moment, before taking a gigantic bite out of it. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he slowly chewed the vegetable, before swallowing it. "What is this? It tastes... weird, but not in a bad way." He continued to take bites out of it, trying to determine the flavor. "Brisbane. Be thankful; it is a delicacy amongst our species." The tech swished the food around in his mouth as he thought, before he gulped. "Huh, Brisbane... sounds familiar, somehow. Why's it called that?" "It's named after the ancient griffin capital, and the island where the fruit originated." "Oh?" Yuri blinked and looked down. He was eating a fruit? "What happened to it?" "It was overrun by giant spiders about a thousand years ago." The admittance of this fact, it seemed, was akin to discussing the weather. Yuri wondered if he really wanted to be stranded in the same territory that had such a terrifying prospect, and further more to be eating something that was named after said place. "But, that's not really why were here." "Wait." The seriousness in his voice caused Natalya's eyes to widen in concern. A moment passed. "Are they still there?" Instantly, Natalya's face fell into an incredibly-annoyed expression. She seemed to be clenching her beak as she spoke. "Yes. Why do you ask?" "...How attached to that piece of earth are you?" "Quite a lot." The other Titans shifted their weapons, obviously signalling that their patience was also wearing thin. "Now, can we stop with the small talk?" Yuri gave a shrug, and finished off his fruit-vegetable before he dug out a not-so-exotic pear and began consuming it. "Eh, fine by me. So Natalya, what do you wish to know?" "First off, I want to you to clarify what you mean by condemning an entire city to ruin if I didn't come down and talk to you." "Simple really. As you may or may not know, I'm an alien." This statement caused her to raise a brow. "To spare you the mass amount of time it would take me to explain everything about how I got here, I'll summarize it for you: when myself and my crewmates warped into this system by accident, we were caught in some sort of meteor shower. Our ship was knocked off course, and we ended up crashing onto your planet." Natalya ruminated on that. The only meteor shower that had happened as of late was the Night of the Falling Skies. If that Equestrian custom was the reason why the being before her was there, it would line up with that unidentified object that crash-landed. Her musing stopped when one of the alien's words hit full-force. "Crewmates? There's more of your kind here?" "Only two more, don't worry. One of them was missing when I came to, so me and other one went looking for him. We ended up getting separated and I wandered around before getting kidnapped by a group of your kind. I was brought to wherever this is, and you know the story from there." "And how does this have to deal with our city becoming a ruin?" "Another simple answer. Our ship is powered by a fusion reactor, which generates the mass amount of power we need to travel in space. The reactor was damaged in the crash, and it was having trouble staying stable the last time I was there. However, I was taken here before I could go back and do the repairs needed to keep it stable." "What does that mean for us?" Yuri gave a grin that disturbed Natalya to her very core. "If the reactor becomes unstable and I'm unable to stop it, it's going to make a very, very big boom that will make the area impossible to inhabit." "How big are we talking about?" "It would utterly annihilate all that was in the blast zone, and leave behind an equally-massive wasteland of radiation. And anything down wind of this would be covered in radioactive debris." The smirk on Natalya's face disappeared in an instant, replaced with a look of pure terror. "...How do I know you're not lying?" "You don't. You're just going to trust me on this. I may be an alien to you, but I have no intention of having a problem that can be easily fixed result in the deaths of countless life-forms. Especially when one of those lives will be mine. I'm not a monster, and I don't believe that you're one either. Let me go back to my ship, fix the problem and wait for the rest of my crew to return. That's all I ask." Natalya stared at Yuri's face, trying to determine if he was lying or not. It was more difficult to tell with his alien features if he was lying or not, but she saw nothing that looked like deception. However, she was not going to just let him go alone. "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree. However, let's get some terms set. I'm not letting you just go by yourself to this place. I'm coming with you, and a whole lot of soldiers too. If you're telling the truth, then all will go smooth. If you are lying... let's just say it will be a fate worse than death, and neither of your two crewmates will be able to prevent it." Yuri gave another chilling smirk, as if he knew something she didn't. "Sounds fair to me. Shake on it?" Yuri extended his ungloved hand toward her. She raised an eyebrow at him in confusion and a slight hint of disgust. "What?" "It's a custom among my people to shake hands at the end of every business deal, meeting, departure, or arrangement. Surely you have something similar, do you not?" Natalya still didn't move. "You want me to shake your... hand?" Her asking of that was the first time since her arrival that Yuri's face was anything close to negative. It was such a contorted expression that she involuntarily shivered from it. "I would appreciate it if you didn't look at me with such disgust." Nervously, almost hesitantly, she slowly extended her talon. Yuri gently grabbed it and shook it, his face all smiles, mentally laughing at her perplexed expression. Starbrought
Starbrought	Chapter Ten - Discovery	Beep "Little bit more to the left." Beep "Not that far. Little bit more to the right." Beep Beep Beep "And perfect. All you need to do is go straight until you start seeing a large metal ship sitting in the middle of the desert. Shouldn't be that hard." Yuri smiled as he stared down at the rapidly passing landscape. They had left the rugged mountains regions that the griffins had called home, and were now in the massive Zebrican desert that seemed to stretch for as far as the eye could see. Rolling sand dunes dotted the barren landscape, with the occasional mirage or oasis breaking the golden sand. In the horizon, something that looked like a sandstorm churned and moved. 'Add in a couple of buildings, and this would look exactly like the reserve on Kepler.' The airship that they were traveling in gave access to breathtaking views. It was seventy-five meters long, and about 10 meters wide. The ship took the basic shape of a stretched out ellipse, with the bow moving folding to a sharp point for what Yuri assumed was for ramming. The deck was made of a beautiful ebony wood. The sides of the ship were lined with an unknown metal, with several cannon looking devices mounted on the hull. A balloon stretched the entire length of the ship, and it appeared to be the main source of the ships ability to keep flying, other than this strange 'magic' they kept going on and on about. "I understand that, but why must you insist on making that beeping sound?" Natalya called from the deck of the ship. Yuri was standing on the platform in the back section of the ship where the wheel was located. He leaned over the railing to get a view of the annoyed looking Natalya. "It'll stop now. Like I said, just keep on this heading and you'll find the ship." "Wouldn't it be easier just to tell us where it is?" "Heh, that would be a hell of a lot easier. However, I'm unable to do that. The only signal I can get from the ship is the most basic location one. If I had the better one, I would be using the better one. Besides, just relax and enjoy the view." Natayla rolled her eyes, seemingly knowing something Yuri didn't. "Easier said than done. As long as we're in this area, we have to watch out for the Desert Raiders." Yuri raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Desert Raiders? What the hell are those?" "Desert Raiders is the nickname for a group of pirates that live in these parts. They steal, attack and pillage anything that get's in their way, or that they find. They're led by a griffin Warlord named Gallus." The other griffins on the ship visibly shifted in anger at the name. Natalya herself seemed to have a murderous look in her eyes. "Who the hell is that?" "He was one of our best soldiers. Loyal, strong and one of the smartest griffins I've ever met. However..." Yuri could tell by the tone of her voice, and even how her head hung on her neck that whoever this Gallus was, he was close to Natalya. "One day... he went rogue out of nowhere and stole a certain object from the very location that you just came from. He was chased out of the mountains to here, where he ambushed the Echo team sent after him. He somehow convinced the survivors to join him, and the Desert Raiders were created. He's a monster." She turned around and walked towards a group of soldiers manning the cannons. 'Whomever this Gallus is, he seems to be quite the fighter. These griffins look tough, and for one of them to take down an entire group of them by himself is no small feat... Perhaps it has something to do with the object that he stole?' Yuri leaned against the railing of the ship and debated falling asleep on it. He had not even took anything close to a nap since he had started this escapade of his, and taking one sounded like a great idea. The only issue that prevented him from doing that was that the last time he tried to relax, he got kidnapped by the same group of people that he was with right now. 'Heh, kinda funny how cause and effect works.' 'Ah fuck it. I've slept in worse places before.' Yuri jumped off the railing and looked at the very back of the ship. No one was in sight, and there was a lovely little spot of sunlight for him to lay down and take a nice snooze. He slowly waltzed over to the back of the ship and laid down. No one seemed to pay any attention so he let himself drift off to sleep. Starbrought Yuri's eyes snapped open, sweat pouring off his face. His heart was rapidly beating in a mixture of fear and shock as he scanned his body for any sign of wounds. 'It's ok, it's ok. That was just a dream, nothing to be worried about. Breath in... breath out. Breath in, breath out.' He laid there for a moment, simply breathing in and out to try and lower his heart rate. 'Slayer was right. I was an idiot for leaving my pack at the ship. If only I had brought my meds.' The sound of someone arguing tore him away from his thoughts. He slowly sat up and looked in the direction of where he thought the noise was coming from. It appeared to be coming from the bow of the ship, and no one seemed to be in sight. The only one in sight was the grizzly looking griffin handling the wheel, who had not given a single fuck about anything. He slowly got to his feet, before walking towards the railing that overlooked the main deck of the ship. Every single griffin that was on the ship seemed to be either standing or hovering above the bow of the ship. The main argument seemed to be coming from inside the mosh pit. Yuri smirked as he walked down the stairs and onto the main deck, slowly moving towards the crowd. Yuri could only hear bits and pieces of the argument from where he was standing, but that still didn't help him understand what they were saying. What the hell is a phased lock spell, and what does that have to do with quantum density? One of the voices was a definite male one, but the other one seemed to have the same feminine tone that Natalya spoke with. Yuri saw a single head turn, then a pair of bird eyes rapidly expand in shock. The griffin quickly tapped on his neighbors back. He had a similar reaction, and before he could even get a word out, the entire crowd was staring back at him in a mixture of shock, fear and annoyance. The only exceptions that seemed to be showing a different emotion was the two unseen individuals arguing, and Natalya herself, who had a slight grin on her otherwise cold face. She gave a quiet order that Yuri could not hear, but the crowd turned back around and opened up a path for Yuri to walk though. 'Huh, so she ordered them not to bother me. I owe her a bottle of wine when I get back to the ship for making my life much easier.' As the crowd slowly split, Yuri walked into one of the strangest sights he had ever seen. And he has seen a lot. He stopped in his tracks and just stared at the sight. A very old looking griffin was in a very intense argument with a... unicorn? Sure enough, a brown coated Unicorn was standing less than ten feet away from him, it's white mane and tail flicking in annoyance. It was much shorter than the griffin, only reaching about four feet at the maximum tip of the horn. Yuri and the unicorn seemed to have some similarities in their facial structure, with the forward facing eyes and similar jaws. It also appeared to have some feminine features too, with a skinnier nose bridge and a more curved body. It wore the same brown coat that everyone else was wearing. However, instead of it being loosely attached to its back like the griffins wore the uniform, the unicorn wore it as a coat that covered its chest and back, with a bronze leaf placed on each shoulder. 'Fuck this shit. I can deal with the griffins simply because they look cool, but a fucking Unicorn? What the fuck kind of planet did we crash on?!' The loud sound of the argument broke him out of his thoughts. "And I'm telling you that there is no material or element of science that this belongs too!" The griffin held up a midnight black piece of non-reflective material in his aged talon. No light seemed to bounce off of it. It was like a foot long rectangle shaped void. "You don't know that! We've had access to the object for less than five minutes before you started ranting about how this material would not possibly be able to be recreated here. A phased lock spell along with a quantum density lock would be able to analyze the material!" The Unicorn pointed its hoof at the object. 'How interesting. It appears to have much more in the joints and ligaments department than the unicorns that I read about. Now that I mention it, it has a lot of similar features with moi.' Yuri pretty much ignored their entire debate, instead he personally debated whether or not he was in some odd religion's hell, or if the worse case scenario had happened and they had left their own universe, breaching into another. Or they had failed the jump, been captured, and currently plugged into some kind of integration VR to get some sort of information. All were plausible, and all were being debated. In the time that Yuri had spaced out once more, the conflict seemed to have already resolved itself. Both the unicorn and the griffin were now side by side and talking with glee, seemingly unaware of anything besides themselves. "Besides that, what part of the ship do you think this piece came from?" "I'm not sure. I'm sure we'll find out when we enter the ship!" "That piece came from the outer hull. And no, and highly doubt that you are going to find anything on this planet that is remotely like this at all." The entire crowd got silent as Yuri walked out and stood next to them, grabbing the panel from the griffins shaking hand. These idiots have no idea what they're doing "We-we thought you were asleep." The griffin said, obviously still in shock from having an alien sneak up on them with such ease. "I was. Sadly I woke back up. Now before you start bombarding me with questions, I need to tell everyone on this ship some rules. This is the only time I'm saying these, so listen up." Thank god I remembered this, otherwise this could have gotten bloody. The griffins looked around nervously, unsure of what he was going to say. "When we get to the ship, no one will enter until I tell them that they can. Do I make that very, very clear?" Yuri's voice had lost that joking undertone that usually dominated his voice. His facial expression was one of complete seriousness. "Before I left the ship, I used the remaining power to turn on the internal defenses. If any of you enter it before I can go inside and turn them off, you will be killed or injured so badly that you will want to be dead. Do I make myself crystal, crystal clear?" All of the griffins, save for Natayla, nodded in agreement. He had privately told her about this before they left the capital, but she wanted him to tell the crew. "Secondly, whomever myself and Natalya decides can enter the ship will not touch anything unless I tell you.This isn't some kind of sci-fi story where one magic button will find a super secret way to complete the task. If you touch anything, you risk killing myself, anyone on the ship, and possibly everyone within a two mile radius." He looked directly at the pair when he said this, making sure his message was received and understood. "Well well well, this is an interesting turn of events." Natalya had a small grin on her face as she watched Yuri dish out orders. "What do you mean Sir?" Major Iron Sword said as he turned to face her, spotting the grin on her face. "Our friend Yuri seems to have much more history to him than what he told me. I had a feeling that he was former military, but this seals the deal. A military officer turned pirate. My my, what a small world." Yuri had finished his speech and walked out of the crowd towards Natalya, his cold expression replaced by his trademark grin. "You told me you were a pirate. You never told me that you were in the military." Yuri simply smiled at this, letting out a small laugh. "Didn't think that I needed to say it. You seemed fine with myself being a pirate, I didn't feel like pushing it any farther." "If you were a pirate that was raiding and attacking our citizens and allies, you would not be standing here today. We're not the equestrians here." Yuri looked at her confused, wondering who exactly these 'equestrians' were. "Equestrians? Who are they?" "They're a race of ponies that lie on the far side of this desert. They occupy a vast amount of land, stretching from coast to coast on the continent. We're on the far south, with our zebra neighbors to the northwest and the minotaurs to the northeast. The equestrian territory prevents the zebras and minotaurs borders from meeting. They claim that's for protection, but it's just them putting their beaks into another species government." Natalya's voice was one of annoyance. Whomever these equestrians were, they seemed to be very annoying to her. "Oh really? What exactly do they do?" Natalya snicked with laughter. "What don't they do? They constantly interfere in matters that don't involve them. Just a week ago they announced that the two royal sisters would be coming to Altai for a diplomatic negotiations between Leo and the leader of the Minotaur clans." She turned around and stared at Yuri. "Funny thing is, they never asked us. They just announced that this was happening and now we have less than a week to prepare for the arrival of them and their legion of minions." "Can't you just tell them no?" Natalya stared at him for a moment, before bursting out into laughter. It was an odd sound coming from her usual serious beak, and from the reactions of everyone on the ship, Yuri was not alone in this thought. "Tell the Royal sisters no? Let me fill you in on something. No one, and I mean no one tells them no." Yuri cocked an eyebrow at this. "I don't understand. Will they attack anyone that tells them no?" "I wish that they would attack someone that did it. The sisters are usually in good intentions, and can actually be talked too. However, the normal citizens are the issue. Most are ignorant, self centered, and gullible. They see someone say no to a request from their perfect princesses and they go insane. They start boycotting goods from whomever said no. The last country that refused a request nearly collapsed." "Then why is do you have a Unicorn serving for you?" Natalya's eyes narrowed instantly, a look of anger flooding her face. The two griffins next to her moved back several steps, as if her mere presence was trying to strike at them. "Her family was once one of the great noble families of Equestria. They were blackmailed and tried for betraying the crown when they voted against giving the nobles more power. Their sentence was death for the entire family. Celestia did nothing to stop them. They managed to flee the country somehow, and ended up at Altai, begging the king for safety. King Orion gave them a deal. They would be given military and political protection for their families eternal service to the crown. Needless to say, they took the deal. Starry is simply carrying out her family's, and her own wishes. Now if you'll excuse me, we're approaching the sight of the crash." She motioned to her two aids and they walked past Yuri to the crowd and began giving orders. Slayer, if you can somehow hear me, I believe I just found out where Drake went. Starbrought "You're a damn fool, you know that?" Drake looked around as Silver Flash strode up to him. The shadows cast across her face by the blazing bonfire Drake's new crew had started in a forest clearing gave her an intimidating appearance. Around them, those of Drake's crew not burying the dead or patching up the ship celebrated their change in leadership with gusto. Drinks were poured, food was cooked and excited shouts were shared. All three of which was being performed simultaneously by Drake. "A damn fool who took over an entire pirate fleet in one day!" Drake said with a laugh and a bite from a foreign fruit the pirate never bothered to learn. Adjusting himself on the plush chair he had had brought down from the Rogue, he took a shot of brandy to chase away the morsel down his gullet. "Well, their flagship anyway. My new quartermaster is fairly certain that Redhorn's other ships will fall in line under my command. Something about 'conquer by combat'." "Election by combat," Silver corrected him. "It's basic pirate code. Beat the captain, become the captain. As simple as that. And since all of Redhorn's ships answer to him ultimately, they'll probably follow your command as well, once they hear about what happened." "I already sent some of my faster fliers to deliver the good news." Drake paused to take another drink, this time from a bottle of spiced rum resting on a tree stump beside him. "And to give my first set of orders: to meet myself and Rogue at the Ethereal's crash site." Silver frowned, and glanced down in deep thought. Realizing that his fellow captain wasn't nearly as enthused with this sign of progression, Drake's grin faded. "Is there something wrong?" The mare let out a sigh. "There is, Captain Shields, though it's not necessarily something you can do about it." She glanced behind herself, staring off into the gloom of the growing night. "Redhorn's ambush did a number on the Serenade. She's barely skyworthy in her state, and several of her arcane cannons are now in need of replacement." Drake adopted a frown of his own. "I'm guessing right now that money is the issue?" "It is," Silver admitted with a small nod. "I make good money, but not that good. Performing these repairs will set me back months, possibly a year or so in finances. I'll have to send her North, all the way to New Victrotia most likely, where she could be processed then to Canterlot for proper repairs. And that's if I even have enough in the accounts to cover it." A bitter chuckle left her as she dishearteningly kicked a pebble away. "Knew I should have sprung for that insurance policy..." The dejected nature of his newfound acquaintance and equal caused Drake to drum his fingers silently in deliberation. For some queer reason or another, he felt almost responsible for this occurrence, even though he truly had no fault involved. Nevertheless, he was a man who took on responsibility. A moment or so passed before he stood. "Don't worry about it. I'll front the repairs." Silver's double-take could have been mistaken for whiplash. "Come again?" "I said I'll handle it." Drake held out a hand. Without really thinking about it, Silver accepted it with her hoof, and set the statement into stone. "As much as I can, at any rate." Drake waved around him to indicate his new entourage. "As you can see, not only have I stumbled upon a new wealth, but it's the wealth of the same bastard who's been goading you for years and who even caused said damages." A small smile appeared on Drake's face. "I suppose that means I ought to inherit his debt and give you due recompense. It's the honourable thing to do, after all." A laugh, somewhere between choked, forced, and genuine emerged from Silver's throat as she shook her head gently. "I don't know whether to laugh at the irony of that statement coming from an alien space-pirate, or be thankful. Maybe I should just do both." "Maybe," Drake assented with a tip of his booze towards her. Before he could gain another sip, however, a magical aura wrested away the bottle from its' owner's hand. The pirate pouted. "You could have waited until I was done, you know." Silver shrugged her shoulders, a small sparkle in her eyes and cheeky grin hiding behind the mouth of the bottle as she had her fill. She floated it back over with a content smile. "Now where would be the fun in that, Mister Shields?" "Where, indeed." He muttered as he tipped the bottle over. As he figured, not so much as a drop left the container. Drake tossed it with a grunt and popped open another resting nearby. He took a sip before he started speaking again. "So, how much in expenses am I actually looking at here?" "One-hundred thousand Equestrian bits." Drake did a spit-take. "That sounds incredibly expensive." "Arcane cannons aren't cheap," she stated. "As a matter of fact, they're quite hefty in terms of price. Not to mention all the hull patching that needs to be done. And the engine and air-stabilizer repairs." "I see..." Drake snorted, before he gave a small shrug. "Well, I will figure it out, I suppose. Just don't expect it all at once, or right away, for that matter. I still need to get to the Ethereal and establish that it hasn't been consumed by thousands of liters of sand, or something." Silver waved her hoof. "I understand that much, Mister Shields. It's no matter; either way I'll come out not broke. What do I have to complain about?" She walked forward and lightly punched Drake's thigh. "Besides, I'll be accompanying you anyways to ensure you don't back out on your promise." Drake furrowed his eyebrows as he stood. "Beg your pardon?" Silver smirked. "Oh, come now; you might have shook on it, but I used to be a pirate as well. I know how they work. And while I'm not saying you will dodge your word, I figure sticking with you while you recover your vessel will only guarantee the payment. Elaweda can handle the Serenade and make sure it reaches New Victrotia, and then Canterlot." A few moments passed, before Drake squinted at the mare before him. "You're coming along because you'll still get paid probably, aren't you?" "Very observant!" she stated with a evergreen grin. Drake merely shook his head in bemusement, and took another swig of his drink. "If I don't come, then some bureaucrat might fight tooth and hoof to ensure I don't get paid, even if Cadance tried to speak up for my defense." Silver wagged her eyebrows at the man. "Guess you're stuck with me, huh?" Drake sighed and reclined in his chair. "At least the company's good." "Where is that son of a bitch?!" Drake frowned as Shining Armor's shouts brought his crew's festivities to a halt. "You know what, I have really got to stop opening my mouth," Drake grumbled as he got to his feet. He grabbed a large, round black hat that has hanging off the armrest of his chair and placed it crookedly on his head, taking extra care to adjust the large feather protruding from the brim. "Sergeant Armor!" He called out. His crew parted before him, leaving a path five ponies wide between Shining Armor and Drake. "I was wondering when you'd show your ugly mug." Snorts of laughter rolled through the crowd. "You tied me up in a lifeboat and sent me down here!" Shining growled. Drake found it very hard not to laugh at the mud and dirt covering Shining's once pristine white coat. "I've been wandering the forest for almost a day!" A loud laugh left Drake. "It's not my fault you lack any form of directional skill. Besides, couldn't you just teleport to the top of a tree, look for the ships and then teleport back to the ship? It doesn't seem that hard for a stallion of your rank." Ignoring what the pirate captain was saying, Shining Armor stormed down the path through Drake's crew. "You can't just take over Redhorn's pirates! You're still a prisoner of Equestria until we reach your ship." Drake glanced around him, his face twisted into an exaggerated expression of confusion. "Really? Because last I checked, I did in fact take over Redhorn's ship and crew. Didn't I, lads?" Drake's crew called out their confirmation. "And, just taking a shot in the dark here, since I was going to be freed as soon as we reached my ship, I don't see how I could still be a prisoner." Shining's horn lit up as he advanced on Drake. "And, if you're entertaining the thought of reinforcing that idea..." With a swift movement, Drake drew his cutlass and activated it. Around him, the air filled with the sounds of blades being pulled from the belts of the pirates that wore them. Unicorn horns lit up with a rainbow of magic colors. The clearing had fallen deathly silent as Shining Armor looked around. "Looks to me like you're outnumbered, Sergeant," Drake said, his tone low and threatening. "I'd recommend putting out your light show. Who knows what some of these fellows here might be willing to do to get into their new captain's good graces?" Shining stared around, eyes quickly scanning the crowd before he sighed in defeat. "Very well. I know when something's a lost cause." The light around his horn vanished as he turned to walk toward a tent on the clearing's edge where Cadance stood, watching the proceedings. "Alright you lot, back to your drinks!" Drake shouted as he deactivated his cutlass. "And get the Sergeant something as well! It'd do him some good to loosen up!" The crew cheered and laughed at his orders, and celebrations were quick to resume. Drake let out a loud laugh as a scruffy Diamond Dog broke away from the crowd to shove a bottle of something into Shining's unsuspecting muzzle. "So, Captain Flash, you never told me exactly why you think I'm a 'damn fool'." Drake gestured for Silver to follow him back to his chair. Whatever Silver Flash replied to him with was lost to Shining's ears as Drake's crew started singing loudly around the bonfire. Irritably, he spat out the bottle of booze and grumbled as he trudged toward Cadance, who was looking at him with a concerned expression. "That was incredibly risky," she said. "You should've known you were outnumbered." "I did," Shining replied. "I just didn't expect them to be so loyal to him so quickly." He muttered his thanks as Cadance's horn lit up and began cleaning the bits of forest currently clinging to his coat. "Just please be more careful," she said quietly. "Captain Shields was right, we don't know what any of his crew are going to do to earn his favor." Shining let out a sigh. "You know I don't like this. Just letting all these pirates go free?" He winced as Cadance plucked a few thorns out of his snout. "It goes against all the training I got a as a Guard." "I know," the princess replied softly. "I'm sorry about that. But the Captain could be a useful ally for us. Better than running the risk of making him an enemy." "Especially if he's telling the truth about being able to level a city," Shining said with a groan. "Alright. Alright! I'll lay off him. But I don't like it." Cadance smiled at the frown he had put on. "Aww. Don't give me that face." Shining's pout became more pronounced. "You know, I can always make it a little... easier... to bear," she whispered, leaning in closer to Shining as she spoke. She smirked as a faint blush worked its way across Shining's face. She leaned in closer as he turned to face her. For just a moment, the worlds seemed to grind to a complete stop. The two of them were the only moving objects in the universe. "The Princess and her faithful knight in 'Shining Armor'? Such scandal!" Cadance and Shining both froze, eyes wide with horror. They turned in unison, and found Drake leaning against a nearby tree. The smuggest of grins on his face. "Well don't stop on my account," the pirate said, gesturing for the two to continue. "I've had a running bet with Silver Flash that you two'd hook up before this little trip of ours was over, and I'm looking forward to winning." The two ponies practically leapt apart, each extremely red in the face. "What do you want?" Shining said quickly, doing his best to change the subject. "Oh, nothing much," Drake replied, still grinning like a madman. He pulled a letter out from the inside of his coat. "But I do have this little letter I snatched from the messenger searching the camp for you..." The letter was surrounded with a magenta-hued aura of magical energy as Shining snatched the letter from the pirate and took a look at it. Sure enough, it had his name on it, and was bearing the (broken) seal of the Captain of the Guard on the back. "You stole a private Royal Guard communication?" Cadance asked as Shining opened the letter. "That's a serious crime." Drake cocked an eyebrow at her. "Seriously, what part of 'pirate captain' aren't you ponies understanding?" He pointed at the hat on his head. "I even got a hat! A pirate captains' hat!" "That's not what I-" "Do I have to cut off my hand and replace it with a hook? I can do that you know!" "What?! Why would you-" "Maybe a parrot to sit on my shoulder will get the point across," Drake huffed and turned around. "Lads! Where can I buy a parrot for my shoulder?" "Buenos Avies, Cap'n!" one of the griffons near the fire shouted. "There! Maybe we stop in Buenos Avies and I get a parrot and I teach it to say pirate-y things like 'hoist the anchor' or 'walk the plank' or 'why is the rum always gone'!" "You're being ridiculous!" Cadance shouted. "I'm being promoted to Lieutenant?!" Shining Armor shouted, bringing all nearby conversation to a halt. "You've what?!" Cadance exclaimed, moving over to the unicorn's side in an instant. "I didn't know you'd be promoted so soon after becoming a Sergeant. That's great news!" "Apparently" Shining said, his eyes traveling back across the letter. "I have to report back to Canterlot ASAP as a result. Higher ups need to finalize the process and make it official." "This day just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Drake said happily. He pulled the two ponies into a tight hug and lifted them high off the ground. "I've got myself a new crew full of aliens, and several new ships from Redhorn's various crews, as well as all his worldly possessions. Stick-in-the-mud gets a promotion and now can go home and will finally be out of my hair, and the two of you have finally gone public with your tragically forbidden romance." He dropped them to the ground, both wheezing and gasping for breath. "And to top it all off, a princess of the oh so esteemed Equestria and her special guard friend owe me favors! My birthday must've come early this year, and no one told me!" "Excuse you?!" Shining wheezed as he scrambled to his hooves. "We don't owe you any favors." "Sure you do!" Drake said, his ever so sly grin plastered on his face. "Why, unless I take pity upon you, the pair of you will be left here, in the middle of this forest. I've got the only ride out of here, and since you 'have to report back to Canterlot ASAP', you need that ride." Drake gestured at the Silent Rogue, moored just above the ground in the forest clearing. "Like it or not, you're in my debt now." There was a tense moment of silence between the three of them as Drake patiently awaited a reply. Shining Armor clenched his jaw over and over again as he stared up at the pirate. Cadance looked worriedly between the two. "Well this is just great," Shining finally said, with a sigh of defeat. "It would appear that we are at your mercy, Mister Shields." "'Captain'," Drake corrected. "And I'm glad you came to your senses, Lieutenant Armor. You two best rest up. We'll be leaving tomorrow as soon as the necessary patches are made to the Rogue." He patted them both on the cheek before he turned around and just about ran into the unicorn that he had made his new quartermaster. The unicorn, (a mare with a pale, peach colored coat, a blonde mane and a cutie mark of a compass rose imposed over a pair of crossed cutlasses who went by the name of Morning Breeze), looked up at her captain with a sense of urgency. Standing directly behind her, but shifting on her hooves nervously was a pegasus mare with a pale blue coat and a mane of only a slightly darker blue. "Sorry to interrupt, Cap'n," Breeze said. "But one of our messengers you sent out this morning returned. Diamond!" The pegasus mare snapped to attention. "Tell the Captain what you told me." "Yes, ma'am," Diamond the pegasus said, stepping forward. "Captain Shields, sir. I successfully delivered your orders to the captain of the Draconequus' Laugh. Madame Rain has agreed to rendezvous with you en route to the crash site." "Excellent!" Drake clapped his hands together. "A job well done, Diamond. Go take a load off and enjoy the celebrations. You've earned it." "That's not all, sir," Diamond added, a hint of nervousness in her tone. Drake cocked an eyebrow at her. "Come again?" "Madame Rain informed me that her scouts spotted a pair of Griffon airships, packed with soldiers following a course toward the crash site," Diamond said in one quick breath. "As well as what appeared to be several ships from the Desert Raiders." "Raiders?!" Shining Armor sputtered. "They shouldn't be this far North! Guard Intelligence says they're operating in the Southeast of the desert." "So what?" Drake cocked an eyebrow at the stallion. "The Raiders are one of the most dangerous pirate groups alive," Cadance explained. "They operate out of the desert to dissuade any successful retaliation against them. If they're going to get involved in this whole mess, we're in for a lot more trouble than just battling a crazed pirate captain. Your one ship can't fight off a whole flight of Raider ships." "You act as if I didn't just take over a small fleet of pirate ships." Drake's expression fell as he considered the situation. "Is Madame Rain certain they were headed for the crash site? Is there anywhere else they could be headed?" Breeze shook her head. "It's just miles of desert in that direction, especially if they passed Madame Rain's scouts on the border. There are safer skyroutes than trying to fly through the desert. They may not be Raiders, since they tend to move in very small groups. But I wouldn't count on those odds, just to err on the side of caution. That ship of yours would be worth a fortune to the right buyers, and if the Raiders caught wind of it, they would not hesitate to send a fleet to extract it." "And the griffons wouldn't have any reason to send two ships full of soldiers all the way out here unless it was for something like your ship," Shining Armor added. "They're too busy worrying about a potential war with the Minotaur tribes." "Well, either scenario doesn't bode well, now does it?" Drake said with grimace. "A military sending a team to investigate my ship? Not too fond of what that could mean. I'm less fond of the idea of some group called 'Desert Raiders' doing their business near my ship. They sound like they'd be less careful about poking around the Ethereal than a military would." Mouth set in a firm line, he turned to his quartermaster. "Breeze, rouse the crew. I want all hands--hooves--whatever they got, to report to the Rogue immediately. We're expediting those repairs." "Aye, sir," Breeze said before turning around and beginning to shout orders at Drake's crew. "Diamond," Drake said, drawing attention from the messenger. "As soon as you are rested enough, I need you to return to Madame Rain and inform her of our adjusted schedule, and to make sure her crew is ready for battle." Diamond saluted and headed off to find food and water before her departure. "Lieutenant. Princess. I apologize, but it would appear that I can no longer delay my return to the Ethereal," he said. "However, I'm certain that neither of you want to risk any untrusted parties getting their dirty, grubby little mitts on the weapons on my ship. So I'm sure you'll understand my urgency." "Especially if what you're saying about being able to level a city is true," Shining said with a nod. "What kind of guard would I be if I allowed that threat to fall into some nutjobs' hooves?" "Exactly!" Drake said. "Come on, you two. I said all hands and that means you're both helping." Cadance and Shining nodded and made their way toward the Rogue. "Mess with my ship, will they?" Drake muttered under his breath. "Not on my life. They've got one hell of a storm coming for 'em." Starbrought "Sir! We're approaching the debris field. It should be right in front of us and slightly to the left." A small billow of smoke raised from a beyond a massive sand dune. Natalya responded with a simple nod, before turning to Yuri. "I was planning on sending some scouts to the ship to make sure the crash is secure. Any objections to that?" "As long as they don't go inside there shouldn't be any problems. Also, avoid that smoke at all costs. I don't know where it's coming from, so it could be very toxic." Natalya gave him a suspicious look. "You also told me there would be no fires." "I did. They should have been extinguished by now. I honestly have no idea why there is a fire down there. Tell your scouts to be careful." I have a bad feeling about this... "Major, dispatch you and your squad to investigate the crash. Keep an open channel with the P.R.I.C.K." The griffins next to her saluted before hovering over the railing of the ship and forming a diamond like formation. Natalya signaled the squad to leave, and the squad departed. With a wide selection of massive booms, the griffins shot across the sky towards the smoke. "Holy shit. You're not kidding about their speed." Natalya turned to face him once again, a smile on her usually cold face. "They're members of the Immortal Claw. They need to best fast." "Immortal Claw?" "They're the elite division of the Altai Navy in charge of protecting high priority airships and merchants. Every soldier you see here is a member of the Claw." "So Marines basically?" "Marines? Is that the name for a group similar to them where you come from?" "It's the basic term for them. However, due to the current state of the galaxy, there's a lot more than one group of them. And before you ask, I'll explain that, and more, when we're back to the ship. Not here, and not now." A few moments later the P.R.I.C.K clicked back into life, the sound of the wind and sand filling Yuri's ears. This is Major Iron Beak, we're approaching the target. No sign of life. Wait a moment... What the hell is that? "Major, what are you seeing?" "I can confirm, the alien spacecraft is indeed here. There is a slight debris field around the ship, but it is intact for the most part. It's... weird to say the least." Yuri, Natalya and pretty much everyone the ship grinned. The ship was there just like Yuri had said it was. However, Yuri's grin was hiding a sinking feeling that he had been plaguing him ever since his last conversation with Natalya. No plan went this well. "Wait. Sir, we have a problem." "What is it Major?" "The Desert Raiders flagship is currently sitting in a pile of flaming ruin about 100 yards from the ship. At the current moment, we cannot see anyone or anything alive or moving in the area. However, there are some marks that lead me to believe that another ship came with it. " Natalya's face lost it's grin at once, being replaced with her usual stone cold emotionless face. She turned around and faced the crew of the ship. "Captain, bring the ship directly into the debris field. We're ending this now." "I would not suggest that Sir. We have no idea whether or not this is a trap. They could be hiding behind the hills or in an unknown location." Natalya grimaced in annoyance. "Why can't anything be simple?" Yuri sighed, before reaching into his sleeve, tugging at an unknown object. The sight was odd, and Natalya looked at him in confusion. With a quick tug, Yuri pulled a small, incredibly thin object out and attached to the sleeve on his right arm. It reminded her of a small button that one would see on a dress shirt. "What are you doing?" Yuri began fiddling with the contraption, before a bright light suddenly lit up the area. There was a small, holographic interface floating a couple of inches from his arm, seeming to be coming from the button. Natalya, Starry and everyother griffin on the ship stared at him in confusion. "How...How are you performing magic?" Starry stared at the glowing interface with confusion. This is an advanced spell that required a summoning book and a ritual by at least a tier two mage. How did he just... do it? "Magic? This is just a simple hologram. Gimme a moment." Yuri began to 'type' furiously on the hologram, his fingers leaving small ripples whenever they made contact with the glowing light. Natalya was entranced, but also scared on a deeper level. Yuri had hinted at the power that his race could wield, but seeing just a small portion of it was worrying."What are you doing?" "I'm remote accessing the Ethereals systems, most importantly the lifeform scanners. Once I manage to get access to it, I'll do a 50 kilometer scan to make sure that no one is trying to sneak up on us" "Major, stay where you are. Yuri is going attempt to do a scan for anyone that's hiding from us." "Understood Sir." "And finished. How many troops did you bring?" "About a hundred and fifty, minus yourself." Yuri quickly entered the information into the hologram, before clicking a small red button on the bottom of the 'screen'. "There we go. Give it a couple of seconds." "Where's the usual wave that comes with that type of spell?" Starry had slowly walked over to Yuri, still keeping her distance. "Like I said, this isn't magic. Besides, I have a live feed at the moment if you want to take a look." Natalya looked over, trying to understand what she was staring at. A small image of what looked like a ship was placed in the middle of the screen, with spherical waves being emitted from it. A small cluster of green dots was near the ship, with several more directly on it. Besides that, nothing else was on the screen. "The green dots are troops and other people that you brought. Gold is Drake, black is Slayer, blue is myself and red is an unknown entity. Seeing as there is only a green dots and a singular blue one, we're clear for the moment. I'll keep it active so we can see if anything or anyone enters the scanning range." Yuri stopped typing and minimized the screen, leaving a small map floating above his sleeve, turning to Natalya and staring directly at her. "Now, shall we start this great adventure of ours?" Natalya turned to the captain of the ship, an older griffin that looked straight out of the ancient tale of Moby Dick. "Captain, take us in."
Starbrought	Chapter Eleven - The Clash	Yuri felt the lurch first. The griffin airship--which through muddled conversation Yuri later discovered to be the Apostle--had abruptly decided to cut its engines, and begin to settle down to the still sands below. Before them, some meters away, laid the wreckage of the Ethereal. Yuri frowned at the chunks of debris scattered about the crash-site, their metallic appearances obvious blemishes on the universal uniformity of the flaxen desert landscape. That was going to take more than a little elbow grease. Natalya moved up to join him on his position over the railing, and motioned towards his sleeve. "Update?" Yuri glanced down to inspect the holoscreen. Nothing but a handful of green dots and his own blue. He gave a nod. "Everything seems fine. We should still pick up the pace; the sooner I inspect the ship, the better." Yuri's stare hardened as his attention shifted to the burning husk of the Desert Raiders' former flagship. "Though I'm still worried about that." "Do you have any idea how it was destroyed?" Natalya asked. Yuri shook his head. "Not entirely. The Ethereal has a pair of anti-fighter turrets that can open fire automatically, but I didn't set them to idle nor gave them any attack parameters." He exhaled in thought, ignoring the obvious lack of understanding of the tech's semantics on Natalya's part. "All the other defenses are inside the ship, however. Perhaps another ship appeared, and beat them?" The two watched as the scouting-team flitted about the hull of the Ethereal, being sure not to stand on any spot for too long, lest the scorching metal burn their talons. Natalya pursed her beak, or, to Yuri at least, it seemed like she did. "Unlikely. The only ships that fly over the desert are cargo vessels, pirates, or slavers." She almost didn't catch the sudden dark look that brought a downcast to Yuri's features. Almost didn't. "If another ship did take down the strongest of the Desert Raiders' armada, then the Zebrican Elders have something else to worry about." Yuri cracked an eyebrow. "You mentioned the zebras before, if I recall. What are they, exactly?" An amused scorn entered her voice. "Cousins to the Equestrians, technically. Though you could easily mistake them as strangers rather than family." She waved a talon in the general direction of the downed raider ship. "The Zebras have been heckled by the Diamond Dogs as of late, losing convoys and having their own kind enslaved. But when they try to contact Equestria to go and send guards, the ponies don't lift a single hoof to help them." Natalya's gaze turned fierce. "Oh, but they'll accept the zebra's gold and jewels just fine." Seeing as this was an issue outside of his knowledge , Yuri went back to staring at the desert. Finally, after several moments, the ship touched down, a bit harder than accepted. The size of the Apostle forced them to land a good distance away from the field of debris, but they were thankfully able to wedge the skyship between two dunes. With their vessel settled in, Natalya let out a shout. "Green and Blue wings; on me!" As the respective flights yelled in confirmation, she cocked her head at Yuri. "Lead on." With a nod, Yuri hoisted himself and dropped down from the edge of the deck. Unfortunately, he didn't factor in where precisely he was landing, and as a result collided against the slope of one of the dunes. Natalya and her company of soldiers could only look on from their aerial positions as Yuri swore under his breath as he rolled down the expanse, and eventually came to a stop with his face submerged in sand. Yuri pulled his head out, and spat a sand-castle's worth of sand out of his mouth. "Ugh. I thought I was over having sand in my mouth. Dammit, Slayer..." Dusting himself off and standing up, he glared intensely at the dune that aided him in his descent. "And you, Mr. Dune, can go fuck yourself." Natalya couldn't help herself; it started as a small chortle, barely suppressed behind a tightly-sealed beak. Eventually, she simply could not hold it in any longer, and let out a bellowing laugh. The entire situation, plus Yuri's response, sent her into a fit of laughter that caused her wings to almost flap out of sync. The soldiers quickly followed suit. The laughter died, however, when Yuri blew up said dune. Yuri gave a smirk as the winding-down hum of his glove echoed in the air. An enormous billow of sand fluttered across the desert. Nearly half of the hill had been, quite utterly, annihilated and sent several meters into the air. The Apostle, now missing half of its support, proceeded to tilt several feet before resting. Sliding crates of cargo and rustled crewmembers on the ship groaned in irritation, and casted vehement looks over the railing at Yuri. He shrugged as his arm fell. "The desert is full of dunes; it won't miss me destroying one of them." Natalya, meanwhile, could only hover slack-jawed at the scene. If Yuri had really been toting that much firepower under his sleeve while he was incarcerated, it was a mystery why he didn't just break his way out all the way to the top. The tech noticed her bewildered expression, and grinned. "Are alien attacks covered by your insurance?" The griffin could only shake her head in disbelief, before she touched down next to Yuri with her guard in tow. "Let's just get aboard your ship." Yuri seemed content with this directive as he lazily mosied along towards the Ethereal. Natalya grumbled under her breath. "This alien is getting stranger and stranger by the minute..." "Being strange is my specialty." Natalya turned a small shade of crimson, eyeing the smirk he once again seemed to constantly have on his face. "And just if you wanted to know, you and your men are fine being around and touching the hull. The radiation in the reactor room should have been dealt with by the automated systems days ago. Just watch out for any spots that may be hot." Yuri continued walking towards the damaged Ethereal,with Natalya and her teams in foot. A thought flew through Yuri's mind. "Speaking of which, who have you selected to come inside of the ship?" "Only a small group. My four personal guards will be coming with me, with Germond and Starry joining in with them." "Do you trust these six?" "With my life." "Good, I'll extend the same to them." Natalya looked at him, a puzzled expression on her face. "That's a fairly serious statement to make. Putting your life in a species talons that imprisoned you a day ago is quite a change." Yuri simply shrugged, a dull tone in his voice. "You're overthinking it. The members of your race that imprisoned me are not the same griffins as you. Besides, you have done nothing at all for me to distrust you. You've kept your word, and as a result I've kept mine. Besides, it's not like I'm worried about you guys trying to fight me." Natalya could only shake her head in befuddlement. She didn't know how someone who had been imprisoned by her griffins could forgive and trust them so easily, but perhaps that was merely how Yuri was. Natalya honestly couldn't tell. Their approach attracted the attention of one of the griffins inspecting the hull. His landing and quick salute was returned before he spoke. "Grand Marshal. Our scouts have scoured the area, and we can confirm there are no signs of any potential ambushes or idle traps, and lastly no communication crystal-relays." "Are you sure of this, Captain? Or do you need to double check it?" Natalya's voice retained its usual harshness that befitted her rank. Yuri found it kind of grating, and silently made a wave in asking of dismissal. Natalya granted it with a short nod, and Yuri made his way towards the sealed entrance of the Ethereal. "Yes, Grand Marshal." The pair of griffins stood next to one another, looking out at the activity surrounding the two of them. Two hefty patrols of armoured griffins orbited like vultures around the crash, their formation and swiftness indicating their full combat-alertness. Inside of the valley, a small coagulation of tents had sprung up with eager scientists shuffling about for the command to have at it with the Ethereal. "From the tracks we've seen, the Desert Raiders were here, undoubtedly. The defensive perimeter has been set up, as ordered, and our Operator has relayed Black Rock for additional support. The Sovereign and the Solace will be in support positions within the hour." A sigh of relief escaped her beak. One less thing to worry about now. "Have they been briefed about the situation?" "Yes, they have." Natalya breathed a sigh of relief at this too. "Good, the last thing I want is to have to explain all of this again. Also, have the Zebras been notified of this? The other last thing that I need right now is to have a sudden patrol of Zebras appear." She gestured around at the small fortress that had been constructed. "This doesn't exactly look the easiest to explain." A troubled look crossed his face. "No, there's been a... situation in the Zebrican Capital." Natalya's eyes narrowed, her voice turning tense. The Sergeants tone was not one of a good news. "What kind of situation are we dealing with?" She stopped for a moment and looked around her, making sure that no one else was in earshot of them. Yuri was currently hands deep inside a door panel, trying to unlock the security features. "Political coup? Natural disaster? Large scale fire?" "None of those Sir. The Capital has been attacked by one of the five diamond dog tribes. From what we've gathered, the Zebras have managed to defeat the dogs, but the damage to the capital is immense." Natalya groaned at this breaking news, her face meeting her talon. "Of all the times for this to be happening... I thought we dealt with those things years ago. First the minotaur aggression, then Yuri, and now this?." Gahh, what the hell am I supposed to do about this?! "Sergeant, you're dismissed. Thank you." The griffin saulted and took flight back to the ship. "I have some good news!" Yuri's happy voice suddenly filled her ears. "I've figured out what's wrong with the door... Is something the matter?" "Nothing that could concern you. Now, what about the door? Have you managed to open it?" "I've figured out what's wrong with the door, but I've decided not to open it yet." He quickly leaned in, the tone and level of his voice dropping. "Also, I didn't feel like yelling this to everyone, but there is also some... worrying news. Something managed to open the door." "And? Shouldn't your internal defenses that you spoke so highly off be able to deal with whomever did?" Yuri noticed the annoyance in her voice, but decided to ignore it for the moment. "That's not the problem. The problem is that whatever managed to get in did not manage to get out. So worst case scenario, there is a very angry creature or group of creatures behind the door. Best case scenario? There's a couple of very fine piles of ash sitting on the floor behind the door." "Then what are we waiting for? I'll grab my team and meet you at the door. I'll also alert the combat patrols to take positions along the hull in case of an incident. " With a surprising amount of energy, she turned around and flew to one of the bigger tents. After a few moments of chaos, the group was ready to enter. Yuri stood at the front of the pack, his tall frame blocking the doorway. His glove hummed with life, while a gifted griffin shortsword hung on his belt. The holographic screen clung to his left arm, providing a live update of anything getting near to them. Behind him stood Natalya and her four bodyguards. One directly behind Yuri, one in the back, and two on either side. The two scientists, both almost humming in excitement , stood contained in the middle. Nearly all of the other griffins that had been on the ship were currently in defensive positions either on the hull, on the dunes, or flying around in the clouds. It was quite a sight to behold. "Alright, you lot ready?" The griffins behind him nodded in agreement. Yuri turned back and activated his glove, a small stunning charge ready to be fired. With a slight tap to his holographic screen, the door slowly began to open. Yuri ducked down slightly, since the door seemed to be taking it's sweet time. I can't see anything that looks like feet, but I can't be too careful. "Everyone behind me, I would advise covering your ears." The griffins backing up his entrance glanced at each other in concern, but obeyed and placed their talons over the sides of their head. Yuri blinked in confusion; did they really have ears? He shook it off as the rumble of the door's progress brought him back to the task at hand. As soon as the door reached Yuri's hips, he stuck his hand under the door and fired the pulse he had been charging. A high pitched noise echoed around the camp and within the bowels of the Ethereal, before it quickly dissipated into static. When Yuri glanced back to examine his charges, he didn't expect to see Natalya glaring at him, with the other griffins still shaking off the effects of the stun-charge. "What in the hell was that?" "A precaution," Yuri murmured as the door finally yielded and fully presented the innards of the Ethereal. The darkness of the interior was broken up only by the occasional emergency lights basking their small crimson luminescence in the gloom. He glanced at his holo-screen once more: still as the night. The tech shook his head. "I don't like the looks of this. Stay sharp, and don't walk past me." The other griffins nodded as the group entered into the first room of the vessel. Yuri waved at them to stay still as he shuffled over to a barely-visible panel and began typing on its hovering symbols. A second passed before a distant churn of power could be heard, and several of the lights sprung to life. The sight made the two accompanying scientists gasp in awe and anticipation. "Astounding..." The older griffin, Germon, whispered to his cohort. "All of this alien technology. It's... amazing." He turned to Starry. "Are you positive there is no magical signatures in any of this?" Starry dumbly nodded. "Not a single trace of it. Whatever is powering these devices is not magic. It's..." She trailed off as she looked towards Yuri, who was still working away at his panel. "What is--" "Electricity, for the most part," Yuri interrupted as he finished his business. Looking at the central projector, he frowned at its lack of display and promptly kicked it. It shuddered, before the shaky image of a blue orb representing the planet hovered above its space. "Though there is some ionic energy and a hint of nuclear power mixed in with that." Admittedly, those words were wasted on the two scientists as they carefully, as if walking on fine china, looked around the area they found themselves in. Natalya and her escort stayed close to Yuri, watching the engineer idly fiddle with exposed wiring of some of the consoles. "What is this room's purpose, if I may ask?" He glanced up at Natalya's question. "This? It's pretty much the hub of the ship. It goes to our quarters, the cargo bay, engineering, and the cockpit. Drake refers to this place as the 'Tactical Intelligence Chamber', but that sounded stupid to me, so I just think of it as "the one room in the middle of the ship."" Natalya blinked at this response while she looked around. "I see." Eventually, Yuri seemed to finish whatever he had to do in the room, and motioned for the group to begin moving. Circling the large sphere hovering in mid-air, Natalya was about to proceed down a vaguely-lit hallway before Yuri appeared in a flash and stopped her with an outstretched hand. Her brows furrowed. "What is it?" A small, dark chuckle left him as he pointed with his free hand towards the floor. There, surrounded by what appeared to be small piles of dust, was a thin line running through the entry of the corridor. Natalya obviously didn't comprehend, before Yuri grabbed up a piece of useless debris sitting upon a terminal, and casually threw it into the hall. It shocked everyone, save the human, when it was disintegrated the instant it passed over. Yuri turned around, a smirk on his face that did not fit the current situation. "That right there is why I told you not to come inside without me. You would have ended up like those poor bastards there." He motioned towards the small piles of dust. Several intense shivers rocked the bodies of the griffins as Natalya motioned with her head towards the ashes. "Are those what I think they are?" Yuri's smile grew a fraction wider. "The Ethereal has a few of these. Galactic market tends to sell them to businesses and organizations who use them to destroy unwanted materials, but allow others to freely pass through them, like security checkpoints for contraband. I modified a set of them so those 'unwanted materials' destroyed were anyone unauthorized onboard the ship. Undetectable by any scanners too. Like I say, quality over quantity " The technician glanced down, his face falling into thought. "However, there appears to be a flux in the system powering the Hostile Emancipation Grid. Which leads me to believe at least one intruder got past this defense while it was recharging between bursts." Starry's eyes removed themselves from their sightseeing trip to stare nervously down the partially-lit corridor. "So something could still be alive down there?" Natalya and the others flinched at the sinister sound of Yuri's glove beginning to hum to life. "If that's the case," Yuri murmured as he punched in something on his holoscreen and shut off the impending death-field, "I suppose I'll have to make them regret surviving past this point." With that uneasy statement hanging in the air, the party proceeded down the expanse of the vessel cautiously. Yuri took point, carefully checking behind every conceivable crevice and alcove that an assailant could be hiding, while the griffins stood to the sidelines watching him. Starry sidled up next to Natalya and began whispering. "Grand Marshal. It might be more beneficial if we divided our group to fully scour the shi--" "Absolutely not," Natalya and Yuri replied in-sync. The mare shied away in embarrassment as the engineer whirled on her. "I specifically said no one goes anywhere without me accompanying them. Understood?" Starry understood crystal clear. "Besides, why in the world would we split up?" "I...I thought that we would be able to scour the ship faster. It would be more efficient." Yuri raised one of his eyebrows at this, a gesture that was weird to say the least. "Normally you would be right, but this is not the case here. Besides what I already told you, there is a probable enemy on the ship right now, and we don't know where they are. They could be following us right now, and the only thing that splitting would do is divide our strength." "I understand, but it's only one enemy. We should be able to defeat whomever it is if they attack us." Yuri and Natalya exchanged a look with each other, before returning their attention back to Starry. Yuri leaned in closer to her and spoke in a completely monotone tone, his face blank of any emotions. "I'm going to believe for your sake that you've never been in combat, so take what I'm going to say as a rule of life. Never, and I mean never, underestimate something you don't know the full power of. Treat any enemy you meet like they can kill you in under a second, it will save your life." Yuri turned back around and began to walk carefully down the corridor, making the same investigative movements that he was doing before. A few steps later he suddenly stopped and thrust out his arm behind him in the universal signal to stop moving. In front of them stood a massive door, roughly the size of the entire corridor. No windows seemed to be part of it, and it seemed to be just a massive slab of metal. The same unknown alien writing that Natalya had seen throughout the ship decorated a small plaque on the right side of a door. "Why did we stop?" "We've reached my personal quarter, AKA, my home." Yuri reached toward the small notecard that was attached to the panel near the door and rapidly entered a long password. A small ding was heard and the doors swished open, a blast of cool air hitting them. The doors seemed to only open around three feet, and Yuri denied any view of the room that lay beyond. Yuri turned around and looked at the group behind him. "I need all of you to stay out here while I make sure that everything in here is alright and intact." Natalya narrowed her eyes at him. "Why is that?" An annoyed expression crossed his face. "I highly doubt you'll let me enter your home, so I won't let you enter mine. Besides, I'm simply grabbing my gear and coming back outside. Anyway, the automated defenses will kill you if you enter here and are unauthorized. Lot of stabby stabby death things here." Natalya sighed in annoyance. "Guess I don't have a choice in this matter. Do what you wish, we'll be out here making sure nothing tries to get in." Yuri nodded and quickly walked into the room, the door swishing closed. The Grand Marshal shuffled about anxiously in her spot; this had been the first time in almost twenty-four hours that Yuri had not been in direct eye-contact. It was both relieving and worrying. Natalya turned around and barked at the troops behind her. "Lieutenants, make sure that absolutely nothing comes at us from behind. If it does, make sure that it dies." The troops nodded in agreement, before forming a defensive position behind them. She turned around and looked at Starry and Germon, who seemed to be slowly recovering from their shocked stupor of their surroundings. "Are we honestly supposed to just stand here and wait for him to come back out?" the mare quipped as she leaned in to better investigate a piece of frayed wiring. "Not trying to secure the rest of the ship is a dangerous bid while we sit here unaware." "Yuri has asked us to stay put," Natalya retorted. "Unless you want to wind up like those tufts of former-intruders over there on the floor, I highly suggest you stop complaining and sit tight." Starry gave a small, apprehensive huff under her breath, but stayed where she was in irritated silence. Natalya let loose another sigh. "Germon, how do things look?" The weathered bird laughed gently in wonder. "We are, at this very moment, standing in something that would radically redefine everything we've learned about the sciences. I can feel it." Germond lowered his voice as he addressed his superior. "Grand Marshal, we must take at least something from here. Studying just the smallest thing could send us decades into the future." "Attempt to take anything off of this ship without my explicit permission, and you will depart from it not-so-alive," Yuri's voice spoke. The company flinched as the altered audio appeared to be coming from all around them. "I understand the urge to learn, but for the sake of whoever is stupid enough to try, keep your claws to yourselves. Drake and Slayer would skin me alive if I just started letting you lot take whatever you felt like." "Yuri? Where are you?" "Getting my things. I couldn't help but eavesdrop though, so I tapped into the Ethereal's intercom system. I figured you'd all be bored without my voice to entertain you." Natalya rolled her eyes as a moment of quiet passed. "So, Natalya and accompanying... company; how do you feel about all of this?" "What do you mean by that?" the Grand Marshal asked as she focused her hearing and examined her surroundings. Even though Yuri's voice initially sounded as if it came from all directions, it seemed to only be reverberating in the space provided. Which meant it had to have an origin point. "Simple really. How do you feel about this whole thing?" The voice of the technician allowed Natalya to hone in on the small box near the door he had left from, where the volume seemed the greatest. "Running into an alien, finding out you're not alone in the cosmos, staring at technology that is leagues above your own?" "What about it?" Yuri's laugh came through the speakers. "You seem to be taking this rather well, is all. I doubt this is a daily thing you have to go through, so I was curious what your response to everything happening was." A rustling sound echoed from the speaker as Yuri undoubtedly shifted things about in his search. "I'm thinking now, however, that maybe you lot are just good at hiding what you really think." "Forgive me," Natalya said as she watched Starry and Germond converse in whispers to one another out of the corner of her eye. Those two were most likely plotting something. "But I don't understand what you're getting at." A frustrated sound left the device. "I am an alien that came from space in a tin-can and who beat the shit out of several of your people, and you are currently waiting for me to fix a reactor that could kill thousands if left untreated. Do you have any kind of reaction of surprise or shock about this?" "I actually haven't really been thinking about it." "Beg your pardon?" The griffin rustled her wings as she spoke. "If I stop for one second to even begin pondering everything that has happened in the past few days, I fear my mind would shut down. At this moment I'm just bottling it up for another time." Natalya glared at the box, as if she was staring at Yuri himself. "Simple as that." "I see," Yuri said. "Then I suppose I'll have to settle for that answer." A small crash caused the occupants waiting in the chamber to jump as the engineer cursed. "Shit; didn't mean to knock that over." "Is everything alright in there?" "Yeah, peachy. It didn't break, so we're good." Yuri began grumbling under his breath. "Durability is about the best thing about Imperial tech..." Natalya cracked a brow at that; Yuri had never mentioned the Imperials before. Admittedly, the human had revealed very little about himself. Natalya jumped on the opportunity. "'Imperial tech?' Who are the Imperials?" The doors abruptly opened themselves, unveiling Yuri's form. A sizeable pack of equipment was slung over his shoulder, and his frame was now obscured by a rather-stylish coat. Natalya stopped her inspection, however, when she saw the dark look in his eyes. "The Imperials are Humanity's own worst enemy. One of them, anyways." Yuri promptly walked out, forcing the griffons arranged there to step aside. His gait was stiff and agitated as the others fell in tow. "To put it bluntly, the Imperials are the entire cause for why my people are currently slaughtering one another. Their 'crusade' roused the Alliance and the Syndicate to gather their own forces, and all three of them in their fighting triggered the Galactic Civil War." Grand Marshal Natalya tilted her head. "I believe we need a bit of context here." An exasperated breath of air left Yuri as he entered another section of the Ethereal. However, unlike his previous disappearance, he did not seal the door nor did he bid them to stay outside. Natalya and the others took the chance and followed him into the new area. They were significantly confused when they realized their surroundings looked startlingly similar to a kitchen. Their attention was directed to Yuri as he moved across the room. "Very well, I'll briefly fill you in." The technician stooped over a container and began sifting through it. "About seventy Galactic Standard years ago, the Imperial Planetary Coalition struck the galaxy with a fleet spanning thousands of ships and millions of men. The attack completely blindsided those unfortunate enough to be caught in the wake, and that would be quite a lot of people." Yuri grabbed what looked like a small cartridge and examined it carefully, before tossing it back into the container. "When the attack was done, the Imperials had claimed a majority of the Core Worlds, a large portion of the galaxy trade-routes, and most of the dense population centers. Many systems calmly accepted the Imperials rule, but a significant percentage decided that they would resist." Starry cocked her head, a confused look on her youthful face."System? What is that?" Yuri mentally face palmed, an snarky remark almost releasing from his lips. "Think of a system like a town." He paused, making sure that the message had been understood. This is gonna be one hell of an analogy. "Now, put that town into space, and turn the planet you live on into the area around it. " "What happened to the systems that did that?" Yuri turned back for a moment with a grim grin. "They suffered." He turned back to his work. "The systems were too unorganized, and lacked the strategy and capacity to fight against the Imperials effectively. Like cannon fodder, they fell to the fleets and the orbital bombardments. All but one, anyway." "I'm guessing the one that did was one of the other factions you mentioned earlier?" Natalya asked as Yuri plucked a bottle of some foreign substance and took a swig. His frame shivered in apparent disgust, but he tucked it away into his backpack with a nod. "Indeed." The technician, apparently done with the current container, moved onto another. "That particular sector of space, a relatively isolated location that went by the name of the Auriga Cluster, refused to yield to the Imperial's efforts to crush their rebellion. Apparently all that solitude allowed them to design some insane technology. "When the first Imperial fleet came into orbit of their soon-to-be capital Starlight, the future Interstellar Alliance had a mass of drones waiting for them." Natalya flinched at the word 'drones', but Yuri didn't notice. It's not as if he knew that drones were also the common name for Changelings, a race that had caused some ire to the Altai Dominion. "The fighters didn't have a chance against those unmanned machines, and they were easily repelled. After that, the Alliance began spreading their influence to nearby space; all in the name of bringing peace to the Milky Way and ending the Imperial march." Yuri gave a harsh bark of a laugh. "If only the systems that willingly signed on knew. The Alliance was just as bad, if not worse, than the Imperials in terms of their aspirations for Humanity. Their numbers swelled, they took back a large amount of Imperial territory, and before you knew it: there was the Alliance and the Imperials fighting for control of the galaxy, with the tables turned on the Imperials for a time. "My people have a saying. When you push someone into a corner, they're not going to play by the rules to push themselves out. The Chiefs of the Imperial military realised that if they kept up their current strategy, they would lose the war in under a year. So they did what anyone feeling extinction does. They turned it up a notch." Yuri's face darkened, a look of disgust and hate appearing. "They instituted a galactic military draft. Anyone who fit the terms of it were drafted into the army or navy. And thanks to a great propaganda campaign, most people were more than willing to join." Yuri grabbed a small pill from a bottle and swallowed it, his face recoiling at the apparent taste. He set the bottle back inside his backpack. "The industry was put under military control, and pumped out every kind of military machine you could think off. Special colleges were set up to train the officers that would be commanding all of this. To sum it up, the Alliance advances were stopped in their tracks, leading to a standoff. However, this standoff was not to last." Yuri stopped talking and walked towards what looked like a black box in the corner of the room. The only things different from the box and the wall was a different texture and color. "What do you mean the standoff was not to last?" Yuri seemed to be ignoring her as he touched the corner of the box, and a holographic display popped out of seemingly nowhere. Yuri put his hand in the middle of the display, before speaking a series of words and numbers. A small ding was heard, and one of the craziest things Natalya had ever seen began to happen. The box began to change it's shape. Two small metal handles seemed to grow from the side of the box's completely flat surface, making a door in the face of the box. Yuri grabbed them and pulled, opening up the box to reveal it's contents. Yuri's body shifted to block sight of what he was grabbing, and by the time he had moved away, the box had once again been shut. The handles slowly grew back into the metal, and the completely flat surface was back once again. "Oh yeah, where did I leave off?" Yuri turned back around to Natalya, who narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. His coat seemed to be covering something on the right side of his body, with only the faint gleam of metal being shown. "Forget that for the moment, what did you just grab?" Yuri stared back at her, a completely expressionless face facing meeting her own. The two sides seemed to have reached a standoff, with neither side making any moves. "Sigh. Oh well, you caught me. It's a weapon of mine, one of many I may add." Natalya and the rest of the guards looked at each other in both confusion and a small amount of fear. The only weapon that they had seen him use so far was the glove on his hand, and that small device was easily capable of destroying an entire sand dune with a single blast. The thought of another weapon even in the same tier was frightening to say the least. "Since we are technically allies, can we see it?" Yuri seemed to think about this heavily, before finally shrugging his shoulders in an apparent agreement. He calmly reached to his side and pulled out the apparent weapon. The 'weapon' seemed to be just a simple looking, chrome red metal rod, around two or so feet in length. However, the more and more Natalya looked and inspected it, the more it seemed to become less than just a metal rod. For starters, the metal seemed to be made of the same light material she had seen on the hull of the ship. Two small metal constructs that appeared to be handguards capped each of the ends. Small grooves that faintly reminded her of talon guards had been inscribed along the entirety of the body. Yuri spun the weapon around in his hands a fair bit, before putting it back where he had somehow attached it. "There you go. Any more questions? Can I get back to my story?" No one seemed to respond, and Yuri took that apparent silence as a yes. Before he could explain, a small light began to blink on one of the screens next to him. Yuri turned his head and stared at it for a moment, before grabbing turning back around to face Natalya, a troubled look on his face. "Story time will have to wait for a while. We need to get moving. Quick." Natalya decided not to ask any more questions, as his sudden urgency. Yuri quickly left the room, and motioned for the rest of the griffins to follow him. As soon as they all had left the room, he quickly turned around and sealed the room shut. Natalya turned her attention towards the two griffins she had left outside to guard the room. "Did you spot anything?" The both nodded their heads no, and joined the convoy following Yuri. They reached the same corridor they had come from, but turned a left instead of a right. "We're heading towards engineering. Tell your companions to keep their eyes peeled for anything moving." "Should they watch the vents?" Yuri snorted with laughter. "If whomever is creeping in the ship decided to go inside the vents, then we don't have to worry about anything." "Why would that be?" Yuri turned around and face her as he continued walking down the long hallway. "This is a pirate ship. Do you really think that we would leave something like the vents unprotected? The only vents they could access from the hallways are the plasma vents from the reactor. Anyone who enters those dies in under a minute, no matter what. It's a shitty way to die." He turned back around and began to walk towards the end of the corridor with haste. A few minutes later, they reached a massive door similar to the one they had entered the ship in. However, this one had several alien symbols plasted on it, with a large black and yellow trefoil symbol taking up most of the space. A large handle was attached to the door, and a small holoscreen hovered blankly near it. "We've reached the engineering room. If you could backup for a moment, that would be great." The group did as they were asked and backed up several feet, with the four griffin guards turning around and guarding the lone hallway coming from the corridor with a simple hand gesture from the Marshal. Yuri rapidly entered a long passcode, before placing his hand once again on the holoscreen. A small ding was heard, and what sounded like a door being unlocked echoed around the hallway. "The automatic door opener thingy is broken, so I have to open this monster by hand." Yuri grabbed the massive handle and slowly began to pull it back. As the door began to slowly reveal it's contents, Natalya stood in a small amount of shock at the pure thickness of the it. The door was a least six inches thick, and Yuri was definitely not having an easy time opening it up, his face strained in concentration. Germond turned and whispered to the slightly less shocked looking Starry. "Fascinating isn't it. Even in a ship with technology beyond anything we've ever seen, the old ways still hold true." Starry looked at the older griffin a bit confused, before passing the odd comment as just small talk. "That it is. I honestly cannot wait to see this 'reactor' of his." "That won't be that much longer then, Starry. He's gotten the door open now." Germond pointed to the slightly red Yuri, who was taking a moment to catch his breath after opening the massive door. "Can we enter it?" Yuri raised his hand for a moment, before breathing in deeply. "Yeah, go ahead. Just don't touch anything, for the love of god don't." Yuri was staring directly at Starry and Germond when he said that. "These controls are directly wired into the reactor, and it is still in a tricky mood. One wrong click and the containment fields could fail." Natalya slowly backed away from the entrance, now a bit more worried that a simple click of a button could cause something to fail. "What would happen if those fields fail?" "Remember that worse case scenario I explained?" Natayla nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, that's what will happen if the containment fields fail. If that does occur, there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop it." No one responded, but it was very clear that the message had come across. And with that, Yuri entered the room with a quick wave. The rest of the group seemed a bit hesitant, but soon their curiosity became too much and they carefully went through Starry and Germond's mouths dropped in synchronization, and even Natalya couldn't help by be impressed at the sight that greeted them. They had stepped into the biggest room they had seen so far on the ship, and it was completely filled to the brink with technology like nothing they had ever seen or could have imagined. The main room was a perfect circle twenty or so feet in diameter, with a set of holographic consoles lining the walls. Each one of them was in the same alien language she had seen earlier, and a good portion of them had charts and graphs on them too. Yuri seemed to have dropped away from the group, and was staring intently at one of the consoles, his back turned to them. Directly to the side and behind of each of the consoles stood two massive cylinder like objects, with massive pipes and cords, as well as metal braces connecting them to each other, and the other technology in the room. Those must be the engines I saw. Those things are massive. Natalya's eyes ended their inspection of the engines, and began to focus on the direction those pipes went. Following the direction of the pipes lead her eyes to the main centerpiece of the room; the object that Starry and Germond seemed to be gawking at the most, and that she has somehow ignored. Sitting on top of a slightly raised platform was a five foot wide cylinder that started off at the base of the floor, and continued up through the ceiling to another unknown location of the ship. It was completely encased in a unknown spotless grey metal of some kind, but still glowed with an unnatural neon green from inside. A large guardrail orbited around the base of what she guessed was the reactor, with several consoles, screens and holograms bolted directly into the flat tops of the rail. A slight shimmer of an unknown origin completely encased the reactor. It reminded her of a magical shield that she has seen Starry cast countless times, but without any color or pattern to it. It was oddly hypnotic to look at, and she was having a great difficulty pulling her head away from it, and she seemed to have completely lost track of time. "Grand Marshall, isn't it ...beautiful?" Natalya slowly turned her head away from the hypnotic reactor to the source of the voice. A captivated Starry was unable to break her eyesight with the massive amounts of tech in the room, her already massive eyes trying to gather all of the information they could, with Germond seemingly having the same hypnotic experience. "Beautiful?" "Yes, beautiful. I can't seem to stop staring at it." Her and Germond's eyes had completely glossed over. She doesn't look good, I need to break her line of sight. "Are you guys trying to go blind over here? Jesus, stop staring at the reactor before you can't anymore. " Yuri's monotone voice suddenly appeared out of her right ear. Natalya turned her head, a slightly shocked look on her beak as the alien seemed to appear out of the blue to her right. He noticed her staring at him, and waved his hand in front of her with a creepy grin on his face. She backed up a couple of steps, causing Yuri to smirk in satisfaction. "Anyway, since those two seem to be completely and utterly high off their asses, I have something I need to tell you about." "Oh? What would that be?" Yuri leaned his head over a bit and spoke in a deep, yet quiet tone. "I checked to make sure that the reactor or the radiation is not interfering with the scanners. They're not." "Is that a bad thing?" "It's not a good thing. If those scanners were working right, I could find the creature who's currently creepin on the ship and deal with it." Yuri turned around and faced the two scientists. "Any idea why these two are getting high staring at a sheet of metal?" "You don't see it?" A look of surprise crossed his face. "See what? All I see is the covering for the reactor." His voice suddenly dropped in tone. "What are you seeing?" "It looks like a green glow is emanating from it. It's hard to describe." Yuri turned around and walked towards one of the console attached to the guardrail. He quickly typed something into one of them, and a slight hum filled their ears. "Did it change?" Natalya turned her eyes back to the reactor. The green glow was gone completely. Starry and Germond seemed to be having some similar reactions, as they were now looking at the floor, with their respective hooves and talons on their heads. "It's gone now. What did you do?" "Increased the power going to the containment fields. Whatever you guys saw was somehow making it through the fields, which is not good." Yuri turned around and faced her once more. "But, that problem is solved now. Now, where is the coffee maker..." "Speaking of problems, what about the whole 'blowing up the desert' deal that we came all the way out here for?" "Oh yeah, that." Yuri turned back around and typed in a long line of something into the console. "It's fixed." Natalya raised an eyebrow in both suspicion and surprise. "I'm sorry, what?" "Could you not understand me?" Natalya's death glare seemed to have no effect on him. "It's fixed, patched, repaired, unbroken." "How did you fix it so fast?" Natalya could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks in anger. "If I told you exactly what I did, you would not understand it at all. All I needed to do was to make sure that the reactor was working right and not leaking massive amounts of radiation that would kill everyone." Before Natalya could respond to this, Starry decided that the cold metal floor of the room was a good place to take a nap, and promptly collapsed on to it. Germond seemed to have recovered from his ordeal, and was already making sure that Starry was still alive. "Uh, did I miss something? Is she alright?" Germond looked back up at the pair. "She's fine, just knocked out. Thank you for turning off that light. It was... hypnotic, I could not look away. Do you know why this happened?" Natalya struck a glance at Yuri, whose face was one of confusion and concern. Before Yuri could open his mouth to respond to the question, his lifeform sensor began to beep and blink at him. Yuri looked down and goofed at the response. "The fuck is this?" What the hell? This can't be right. "I don't know. My lifeform scanner is acting up to say the least. I'm getting really fucked up readings that don't make sense." "What's it saying?" "Apparently right now we're in space, now back on land, now back in space. Oh! Apparently there are forty five Slayers right... there." He pointed to a particular corner of the room. Thankfully, there were not forty five Slayers standing in the corner. His joking tone did nothing to to make Natalya's fear go away. She could tell that he was trying to distract them from the topic at hand. She decided to probe further ."Do you know what's causing it?" "No, and that's the problem. I've already compensated for anything that could be interfering with it. Radiation, Cosmic Rays. Hell, even air pressure. This makes no sense." "Could it be that it's just your thing malfunctioning? " "Hmmm. That could make sense, but it's a longshot. I'm using the scanners that are on the ship, and those could have been damaged in the crash, but there's an issue with that. They were working perfectly before hand, and now they've apparently decided to act up... " Natalya saw Starry slowly return to her hooves, but before she could check to make sure she was alright she was torn away by Yuri's device suddenly emitting an extremely loud siren. "Fuck! We need to get out of here, now!" Yuri pulled back his coat and grabbed what an L shaped object apparently hidden inside his coat. Before Natyal could react, Yuri had almost reached the door, his hand reaching towards the control panel. "What's going in?" "Bad things, very bad things!. All of you, get behind me and stay there." Sensing that whatever Yuri was freaking out about seemed to be a bad thing, the three followed his orders. As Yuri reached out of the door, the four soldier's stationed just beyond turned around and starred in confusion at the horrified look on Yuri's face. Yuri's lips opened up, but before he could warn them, hell broke lose. Four arrows flew into view, and impaled themselves into each of the soldier's necks with deadly accuracy. Before anyone could react to the situation, each of the arrows decided to show just how deadly they were. The lead guard's head suddenly froze solid, before exploding and showering her comrades with deadly ice shards. The guard next to her found that she was now suddenly on fire, and dropped to the ground screaming in pain from the combination of fire and ice. The two behind them had no better luck at all. A massive burst of light illuminated the hallway as electric bolts screamed out and though the body of the soldier closest to Yuri. The soldier shaked in agony for a moment, before collapsing on the ground like a rag doll, a small billow of smoke escaping from his beak. And in complete contrast to all of these other ones, the soldier in the back left simply exploded as the arrow detonated in a massive shockwave, leaving a gory mess on the floor. It would take more than a janitor to clean the bloody mess in front of him. Starry screamed, Germond backed up in terror, and Natalya's eyes winded as the sudden violent deaths of her four best offices rushed to her mind, her heartbeat echoing in her ears.
Dasheresque 0: The Awesomeness Begins	pre	"Ah, that was...a powerful explosion that I cannot describe more than once." Dasheresque said with a slight grin. "Look out, Dasheresque!" Pretty squeals in fright as the thug rush at Dasheresque. The heroine frowns in determination as she flies at the thug... Rainbow is seen hitting Derpy with the nunchuck gun in her thug disguise, groaning, "I live for stuff like this... Another quick cut later and the thug is down for the count. Dasheresque smirks while saying, "Lucille got the worst thugs in the world...in the universe...or whatever." "We gotta worried and save the rulers." Tardis said in concern. "Right, looks like we're going to have to..." "Enough stalling and get going!" Pretty snap to Dasheresque impatiently. Dasheresque sighs. Pretty is just like Beautiful. The mares and Tardis rush off to get to the viewing room...before Time Turner rush back to turn the camera off. The trio of heroes rushes into the viewing room, finding Armour and Credenza...not tied up and watching a movie. Rainbow frowns and clears her throat, "Ahem!" "Huh? Oh, sorry! Didn't know we're back," Shining yelps quickly as he and Cadance quickly got back into character... A quick cut shows the rulers tied up and forced to watch the deadline getting closer. Lucille, spotting her enemies, shrugs while saying, "Well, looks like you are resourceful, Dasheresque darling." "Give it up, Lucille! The only place you will be ruling is a prison cell!" Dasheresque exclaims as she got her nunchuck gun. "Now get ready to scream like a filly...and I mean like a coward and not like Pretty." "Hey!" Pretty exclaims to Dasheresque in annoyance by the remark. "Dasheresque, prepare to meet my new secret weapon and your doom...Disaster Moon!" Lucille exclaims madly as she motions to a figure that came out of the shadows. Some suspense music is heard from Rainbow as an alicorn wearing armor appears (Princess Luna), booming, "Thou shall suffer by the hooves of Disaster Moon!" "Oh horse feathers." Dasheresque said in concern by the sight of Disaster Moon. "An alicorn...awww, nuts," Tardis said with a groan. This doesn't look good. "Well, so you got an alicorn for a henchpony, eh, Lucille?" Dasheresque remarks as she and Disaster Moon circle one another. "You sure know how to pick them." "That's right...two dumb freaks go into this fight, one dumb freak comes out!" Lucille laughs madly. "Ahem!" Luna snaps to Rarity in annoyance by the 'dumb freak' remark. "Oops, sorry about the dumb freak remark, Princess Luna," Rarity said to Luna sheepishly, not wanting to make the Goddess of the Night mad. "It's all right, Rarity." Luna said with a smile and a nod. "Be careful! Disaster Moon has the power of the night!" Armour warns Dasheresque in concern. "Please win or war will be inevitable." Credenza said in agreement. "Let the fight begin!" Lucille laughs sinisterly. Disaster Moon roars as she charges right at Dasheresque who prepares herself... In a quick cut, we see Nyx, wearing her old armor, on a cart tangling with Derpy, in her Rainbow Dash disguise, fighting. The filly alicorn cringes while saying, "Ouch, ouch." "Ooh, careful, Nyxie." Derpy said sheepishly. The camera turns to see Rainbow and Luna drinking water. The former ask, "So basically you can walk into dreams and that's how you helped Scootaloo with her problems? "Indeed, but she deal with conquering her fears on her own." Luna explains to Rainbow with a nod. "Wow; that was..." Rainbow, noticing the camera, quickly yells out, "Not on us, Spike; The fight, the fight!" "Oh, sorry, sorry," Spike exclaims as she turns the camera back onto the fight. Nyx squealed as Derpy almost hit her. The filly exclaims, "Hey, careful, Derpy! Mommy would be upset if I get hurt during these stunts." "Oh, sorry, Nyx," Derpy said sheepishly. A quick cut later, Dasheresque jumps back, frowning as Disaster Moon advances on her, booming, "You insolent fool! You think you can stop me; the mistress of all evil...who is the minion of all evil?!" "You know, Disaster Moon, you look thirsty." Dasheresque said with a smirk as she grabs a hose, "How about some water?!" Dasheresque turns the hose on, spraying Disaster Moon with some water. The alicorn gasps, "Gah; Nooo!" "Yahoo, good work, Dasheresque," Tardis cheers on while Dasheresque flew at Disaster Moon. "And here are some fireworks for your water!" Dasheresque exclaims as she throws in some pop rocks and soda into the minion's mouth, then shakes her head a bit. "No, no..." Disaster Moon said unemotionally as her head...well, okay, the stuff blew up in her mouth. "Ouch, that hurt and stuff." "Luna, come on! With more emotion and rage," Rainbow whispers to Luna from off-screen Luna tries again. Disaster Moon roars out in her Royal Canterlot Voice, "Curse you, mortal pony! You shall pay for that insult!" "Do you take cash, credit or nunchucks?! Hiya!" Dasheresque exclaims as she flies in swinging her nunchuck right at Disaster Moon... A quick shows Rainbow smashing down a cutout. Rainbow hits it a few times, snapping, "Take this, take this! Ah ha! Take this for your sister! Now have a fly goodbye!" Rainbow (as Dasheresque) throws the cutout into a hole nearby. Luna is heard screaming as if she (well, okay the cutout) was being thrown as Disaster Moon disappears from sight. "Good work, Dasheresque! Yay," Pretty said meekly. "Looks like your weapon is not so secret and powerful at all," Dasheresque remarks with a triumphant smirk (though we see Luna leaving the set). "So give up the rulers or..." "Hold it, Dasheresque!" Lucille remarks as she held up a gem, pointing it at Armour and Credenza. "Make one false move and I will be turning these two into eggs that I will eat!!!" This got Dasheresque to grit her teeth at this. "You wouldn't dare!" Credenza gasps. "Oh, I would. It's your move; you are once again pointless yet easy to use, just like your mother." Lucille taunts Dasheresque evilly. "LUCILLE!!!" Dasheresque exclaims, holding a fist up. It doesn't look good. Lucille laughs madly...then saw that her gem is gone, making Rarity asks in confusion, "What the...?" The cast glares at Spike who is eating the gem, making him blink and ask, "What?" "Ugh, Spike! That was for the dramatic part of this film!" Rainbow exclaims to Spike in annoyance. "And you ate it!" "Ooooh, sorry; I thought we were on lunch break." "Argh, we will have to work our way around it then...by ad-libbing." Time Turner now then got back into the character of Tardis, saying, "Oh wow! Dasheresque's awesomeness power has able to destroy Lucille's gem." "Oh no, your awesomeness is too much for my gem to take." Lucille said (not even trying). "But I will set this place to self-destruct soon...I will escape while you all die at the claws of Dragon Whiplash and my Changelings; Ha ha ha ha." Lucille rush off as Credenza gasps, "Look out, Dasheresque and friends!" The heroes saw Dragon Whiplash and his Changelings appear, the dragon got some safely scissors. "Ha ha ha ha; I may die but I will die knowing that my lady will get what she wants!" Dragon Whiplash laughs evilly as he knocks down Tardis, hitting him with the scissor...the blunt end. "Ugh, come on; how do you work these things?!" "No, you got to help Tardis, I will free the rulers." Pretty said as she flies over to help Armour and Credenza. "Okay, Dragon breathe, claws off Tardis or this will get uglyesque!" Dasheresque snaps as she swings her nunchuck part of the gun at Dragon Whiplash...only for it to break apart, "Awww horse feathers!" "Ha! I am nunchuck proof and bullet proof!" Dragon Whiplash laughs evilly as he hits Tardis some more. "Ugh, blasted foal-proof stuff." "Then it's time for me to resort to some 'dragon bucking'; Yeehaw!" Dragon Whiplash yelps as Rainbow hits him with her back feet, sending him flying into the self-destruct machine (which is actually a dryer). The mare closes the thing in time, sealing him in while the villain screams in defeat. "Ha! Looks like this dragon's time is up," Dasheresque laughs in triumph (so to speak or whatever). "Look, I free the rulers." Pretty said as she, Armour and Credenza came over, the rulers has been freed of their ropes. "Thank you for saving us." Armour said as he helps Tardis to his hooves. "Now war won't be declared." Suddenly the place (which is Spike shaking the camera) shakes like mad, making Credenza gasps in worry, "Oh dear, what's that?" "Looks like me kicking Dragon Whiplash had made the self-destruct thing go faster..." Dasheresque said with a stern voice. "Well..." "Looks like we're going to have to fly," Everyone yells as they quickly begin to jump/fly/whatever as the group make their escape. The frame freezes... Okay, the day has been saved (well sort of). While Lucille has gotten away, Dasheresque and her group escaped with the rulers intact. And plus, war is averted. Dasheresque, Tardis and Pretty watch Armour and Credenza returned to their cohorts, waving to the cheering crowd. Roughfire grunts while saying, ''Okay, I will give ya credit, Dashereuse. You did good in getting those two back.'' "Yes, but Lucille has gotten away...'' Dasheresque said while narrowing her eyes sternly. ''I won't rest until I find her and make that mare paid for betraying my mom...and maybe find out where mom is.'' "Yeah, maybe, as long as the price is right...'' Tardis said in agreement though is still worried over the obvious. The stallion felt that it's best that his friend doesn't know the truth...it will be heartbroken or maybe stupid. ''The price is right when Dasheresque is involved.'' ''Wow, isn't it great? War won't happened and I was involved in saving the rulers.'' Pretty said to Dasheresque happily. ''Dasheresque, you think maybe we will hang out some more.'' Dasheresque pauses, thinking about Beautiful Fillymore as an image of her appears briefly (okay, it's just her in a dark room with Fluttershy in the role due to some sloppy camerawork). The heroine sighs, ''Sorry, Pretty, but Dasheresque is for every pony, stallion or mare. I can't go for a special somepony unless they are kidnapped or something special. So sorry again, but I am not ready for some 'hanging out' if you know what I mean.'' ''Uh, Dasheresque; Pretty's being kidnapped again.'' Tardis said sheepishly as he points to Pretty who is tied up and being dragged off by an evil robot named Rainbow Droid (which is actually Pinkie Pie in a bad robot disguise that is supposed to look like Rainbow). ''Help, help, help,'' Pretty said meekly some more while being kidnapped. "Drag, drag, robot droid, drag, drag,'' Pinkie said in robotic noises. ''Oh no...look like I'm going to have to fly!'' Dasheresque yells in determination as he prepares to fly off to chase Pretty from the Rainbow Droid. Dashereuse flies to the camera before the frame freezes. One thing for sure, this is the first of many adventures starring our tough cop/agent/whatever! The credits begin to stroll as a familiar song played. Dasheresque's Voice: Today is all right for tonight Ridin' in a Corvette, and feelin' all right Today's all right for tonight!/I] Produced, directed and written by Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash - Dashereque Time Turner - Tardis Fluttershy - Pretty Fillymore Fluttershy - Beautiful Fillymore Rarity - Lucille Spike the Dragon - Dragon Whiplash Babs Seed - The Snitch Shining Armor - Prince Armour Princess Cadance - Princess Credenza Princess Luna - Disaster Moon With special guest appearance by Cheerilee as Momeresque All Stunts by Rainbow Dash Today is Alright 4 2Nite written and performed by Rainbow Dash Tonight is all right for tonight Ridin' in a Corvette, and feelin' all right All right for tonight! On a monitor (which is a computer that shows Rainbow Dash's security cameras), Lucille in the shadows glares at Dasheresque while snapping, ''This isn't over yet, Rainbow Dope. I will be back and when I do...HA HA HA HA HA HA!'' Lucille laughs madly...then coughs a bit before going back to madly. Rarity groans, "'Gracess, why must bad guys laugh like that in these movies?'' In a shadowly room, Tardis glances at a resume then looks up to somepony while saying, ''Well, these references make you good to be Dasheresque's on and off again partner. Once she gets here, I will introduce you....uh, what did you say your name was?'' The figure came out of the shadows, a pink pony wearing some shades (Pinkie Pie as Dasheresque Too) say with a smile, ''Just call me Dasheresque.'' Rainbow is heard doing the suspense music. ''Okay, fine, Dasheresque...Too?'' The End for now! Cast list Ashleigh Bell: Rainbow Dash as Dasheresque Kirby Morrow: Time Turner as Tardis Andrea Libman: Fluttershy as Pretty Fillymore and Beautiful Fillymore, Pinkie Pie as the Rainbow Droid and Dasheresque Too Tabitha St. Germain: Rarity as Lucille, Princess Luna as Disaster Moon, Derpy Hooves as the Stunt Double Cathy Weseluck: Spike the Dragon as Dragon Whiplash Bryanna Drummond: Babs Seed as the Snitch Andrew Francis: Shining Armor as Prince Armour Britt McKillip: Princess Cadance as Princess Credenza Nicole Oliver: Cheerilee as Momeresque Tara Strong: Twilight Sparkle Jason Marsen: Ben Mare Scott McNeil: Tough Apple as a local Peter New: Big Macintosh as nameless thug Chantal Strand: Diamond Tiara as the Stunt Double #2 Shannon Chan-Kent: Silver Spoon as the Stunt Double #3 Kelly Metzger: Spitfire as Sergeant Roughfire Chuck Huber: Caramel as Hay Cart Puller #1 Michelle Creber: Apple Bloom Claire Corlett: Sweetie Belle Madeline Peters: Scootaloo Daveigh Chase: Nyx as Stunt Double #4
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	pre	She pointed at Tempest. "And you, pony, are bitch in spirit, so we look out for you. Not tattle. Lend pot. Same as xi fu for any covdj." I lost translation as my spell ran out and had to kick back into translating manually a little late, but I think I managed to get the gist. We were safe. They weren't going to tell on Tempest for cheating. Slowly stuffing my wand back into my left sleeve as the last of the diamond dogs finally went off and left us alone, I couldn't help but laugh, despite my attempt to stifle it. "What is funny?" Archimedes asked me, coming back down from the air. "It's just an odd irony. A few words that fit up too perfectly with a slang from my home world that I couldn't help but laugh at. You probably wouldn't get it." "You never know, I might." I shook my head again and got my furs in order to resume traveling and looking for information. "Alright, alright. I'll give you the short version. They said she was a bitch in spirit... I find myself unable to disagree with that statement." He landed on my shoulder and pondered for a moment. With his head returning to his regular scouting pattern as a familiar, he responded. "It's a word that describes ones nature or personality that happens to fit... Wait. We have more company. Behind you on your left." I turned around to my left enough to half face what my familiar noticed. I saw the father of the doomed pup holding my amulet out to me. There it was, with the string even fixed. There was a whimper to his attempt to ask something from me as his eyes went back and forth between the amulet and to my nearest hand. The pain in is eyes as he begged compelled me to give it another shot. "Landlord, lady of the land... Great Animus Mundi... Spirit of the land I reside in..." But alas, my words fell short and I still couldn't feel anything. I just couldn't find a personal connection to her. The mental block of me being an outsider was still there. I dropped my eyes to the ground and whimpered what even to me felt like an empty apology. "I'm sorry. I can't help him." I knew he couldn't understand my words, but I hoped he could understand my tone as the tears began to fall from my face and I clutched my left arm with my right in shame. "Beast-kin!" I heard Speaks with Talons call out to me, too late. I looked up and saw the diamond dog pounce on me again, this time driving the amulet hard into my chest, but I also felt something else. Looking to my left arm, I saw the diamond dog had pulled my wand out of my sleeve. Next thing I knew, he was running like a bat out of hell with the wand in tow. Thankfully, the time without my amulet's translation was over, as the fixed string was holding and the amulet's magic seemed to not suffer any damage. The part I wasn't so grateful for, however was how the fighters in my team left Mandible and Fluttershy behind in the village while we chased the thief across the mountainous landscape. If it weren't for Scraps knowing the area and Speaks with Talon's natural flying, we would have surely lost him. When we caught up to him, finally, he was in a cave with... A humanoid?! Looking closer, his mate and pup were there too, and the humanoid with a hood was finishing the sprinkling of what looked to be diamond dust over the pup in the sickly purple tinted lighting of the cave. The welts all over the pups body quickly dissipated as the humanoid's spell finished, burning up the diamond dust into harmless steam in the process. He looked up at us, gave an audible growl and shooed the couple out of the cave. With the rest of the team catching up with me and Scraps, we saw him twirl my wand briefly, then use it to push back his hood, revealing the pitch black face of a dark elf. "And so we meet yet again, though for the first time properly in person." "What did he say?" Tempest asked, nodding to my amulet. I didn't respond, as my body was tensed up in fear from multiple factors. The two biggest ones were the fact that my eyes were somehow focusing on both his body, and an otherworldly presence emanating from him that I couldn't "see" but still somehow "saw." Combine that with the fact that I saw his lips move to the words that showed I didn't need my amulet to understand him, and my mind was both denying and screaming the truth at me about who I saw before me. "Impossible!" I heard Archimedes cry out in my mind, "He died! In the desert, he died! Nobody else can have that marker, and he died!" He grinned a sinister grin, not all that scared of the griffin snarling at him and the pony charging her horn in preparation. "Allow me to introduce myself, my dear lesser half," He called out with a mocking tone at the end. He twirled his hand around twice as a little devil like creature still sporting an amulet appeared at his side. He then went into a long ramble, gaining ever more gusto as he went along. "I am the blight set on this world. The near slayer of Fey. The master of great magics, and your greater half!" He looked at his audience with the eyes of a crazed madman. "I am the champion of Bane!" Looking right at me, he carefully pronounced each word, exaggerating his lip movement to where I could see what he was saying even if I were deaf. "I! Am! @#^$#*Dalock!"
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Pointless Diliberations. (Stemming the Tide, Part 6.)	"Da-Law-k?" Tempest called out, trying to imitate the way he spoke his name. She had been cued in by him gesturing his hand to his own chest. With the confusion on her face, Dalock slumped and rubbed his forehead while muttering, "It always worked two ways back home... Why can't I get it to work like that here?" He then looked up at me with a sneer like he had something putrid rubbed on his top lip. "As much as I don't like you, at least you can understand my words. Imp! Translate my words for the others so that they don't slow my discussion with my lesser half by asking him to do it instead." With his momentum broken, I started to come back to my senses while the imp translated the last minute or so to them. When Tempest heard the words "Champion of Bane," She grew wide eyed. As Tempest looked more intently at the now more irritated Dalock, I started analyzing the situation. He knew English. He was from my world. That meant he was probably transformed like me to his character too, though with a clearly different build. He had an imp familiar too. That probably meant he was a chain pact warlock. While Archimedes's owl form was a prime strategic choice for the base spell, a chain pact warlock had better options still, including an imp. He also had just used diamond dust to cure a disease. That meant he had access to greater restoration, a level five spell. Given that I'd be able to do a level six spell if I were a single class at my total level, and I was without my wand, he was probably at least as powerful as I was, and was a competent healer. Celestial warlock patron maybe? With the rifts sealed, he definitely wasn't a cleric. Archimedes kept the technique that bound him and Discord to mortals a closely guarded secret, having ever only told Oghma when he needed to have himself be bound to me. So the only other alternate source of clerical power was an actual god, which had been sealed off from this world months back by my own hand. "Well, I trust you can still hear me without needing to use that horse made toy of yours my familiar has told me so much about? As pretty as it was, I wasn't about to waste an attunement using it, much less valuable diamond dust trading for it." I could feel the air around Tempest get colder while she held herself in check. Meanwhile the imp translated the word "horse," and started forcing herself to calmly address him with war formalities I didn't really understand. "He's been studying me, but I've done the same just now." I messaged Archimedes. "At most, a high level warlock has four level five spell slots, and maybe four mystic arcanums at any given time. On top of that he's already spent one on the pup. Once those are gone all he has is cantrips. We just need to survive long enough to let him run out of ammo. Luckily that's something you and I can help the team with, partner." With a slight irritation from the imp finishing his translation of Tempest's attempt to address him instead of me to English, Dalock looked back to me. "You don't even lead your party. You're even more pathetic an adventurer than I thought." "I still don't know how he's alive, or why he wants to talk, but a fight is definitely happening. It's inevitable. Bane's claim to this world will remain until his champion dies." Tempest intercepted us and gave the glare of irritation right back. With words on the slower side to make each one heard clear, including the defensive stance she made, she all but growled at him, "Don't look at him, look at me. I am the ranking officer here and the only one that can speak for the nation of Equestria and its allies." With a twitch to his eye as he heard his familiar translate again, he put my wand away deep into his robes. Afterwords he started to look at Tempest with a glare. Judging by the snootiness he had, and Tempest's own temper, I could sense would break into a fight right then if left at this stalemate for too long. I took a step forward to Tempest's side, took a knee and put a hand on the withers of her armor. "Yes, she speaks for me and I can hear both of you. I promise I'll speak up if she says something I don't agree with. But talk to her, not me." "I hope that buys us enough time to get a little more information out of him, at least." Dalock still looked annoyed as before, but thankfully he gave a huff of defeat. "I suppose it is inevitable that I speak with one of you eventually. I will have to do so to accept your nation's surrender." Tempest's horn released a few sparks and her body tensed for just a moment. "Shouldn't you mean that the other way around?" She pointed to a single traveling pack in the corner that was so well hidden that I wouldn't have spotted it if she hadn't pointed it out. "As far as I can tell from your limited supplies, you're alone out here and barely getting by." Once the message was translated, I half expected him to get irate like the madman he appeared to be, but he just grinned. "Oh I know I'm alone, but that's OK. I have this." He stepped aside and revealed the source of the purple light illuminating the cave. It was an crystal like orb a little larger than a head sitting in a crevice in the cave. Inside was a sickly swirling fog of the same purple. "I command a plague artifact. The locals have been an excellent source of test subjects, but I am now ready to release an army you cannot defeat with blockades and bows." A visible shiver went down his spine after he spoke. "It still surprises me to this day that those griffins didn't take the bribe I offered them. My familiar's intelligence gathering leaned so heavily on their loyalty being to their pocketbooks." While he spoke under his breath the imp quietly translated with a smirk. Tempest gave Speaks with Talons a knowing look, which he promptly gave back. Scraps in the meantime simply looked disturbed at the idea of his home town being a testing ground for the madman and was letting the rest of the team carry the conversation. "An army of diseases set loose upon your nation unless you surrender unconditionally. I suggest you hurry along and get your leaders' attention soon. I already have the power to wipe your nation out as I stand today, and my patience is wearing thin." The entire team stared at him making his outlandish demand. It wasn't that we didn't believe him. Tempest's posture when she saw the plague artifact seemed to indicate she recognized high level magic when she saw it. She shook her head and looked back at him. "You really don't sugarcoat your words, do you? You talk a good talk, but we can't let you use that artifact. Face it, you don't look that tough and we have you outnumbered. The only way you're getting out alive is in custody." I started warning Tempest covertly "He is tougher than..." before going silent at the shifting patterns in Dalock's robes. While his robes seemed to shift around magically, similar to how Luna's disguise as Moon Beam faded away, he leaned over a little and picked up an impressively well made and brutal looking magical staff. Meanwhile a comparatively impressive shield appeared on his other arm, perfectly matching the likewise impressive armor that was showing clear as day underneath his now tattered robes. With his illusion broken, it was clear that he was a lot more ready for a fight than we anticipated. The imp went and grappled Archimedes and pinned him down just as Tempest and Speaks with Talons charged Dalock. He easily used his shield arm to block Tempest's volley of four strikes with her hardened horseshoes while taking Speaks with Talons namesake with a casting of a barrier, pushing his claws off target and only glancing his armor instead. I readied my own shield and shifted into a bear, ready to up my defense should he knock me out of my form. But something felt off, like I was missing something as soon as I saw that barrier. With a smirk as I charged closer to him, he struck both Tempest and Speaks with talons with his staff, a lot harder than what a spellcaster should normally be able to do with a stereotypically weak build like his. As he did so, he called out, "turbo tonitruum!" and a glowing yellow energy enveloped both of them. Without so much as another word, he moved two of his fingers from his staff hand as if tipping a hat and teleported away from them, right next to Scraps as he did his best to hide in the otherwise obstacle free cave. "Boo!" He called out, scaring Scraps away from him, and earning a solid bonk on his head from the same in the process of running, though no energy engulfed him. After seeing this, Tempest and Speaks with Talons ran through the barrier made of energy, getting a solid glare of pain as they suffered the energy's damage from moving through it. Upon recognizing the twinned spell effect on the booming blade spell, a spell meant only for one target, I just about shat myself when I realized what we were facing. He wasn't just a Warlock, he was a sorcerer with spell slot making meta magic and a warlock with recharging pact magic. He was a sorcerer/warlock combo. A coffee-lock. That meant he didn't just have a handful of spell slots we could outlast anymore. Combined with greater restoration's exhaustion removing properties at his disposal, he didn't have to rest and reset his spell slots. It was a convoluted way to basically cheat the system without breaking the written rules. The short version: there was no way of telling just how many spell slots he'd managed to stockpile by now. Possibly even hundreds. I couldn't help but curse to myself. "Oh fuck me sideways..."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Extermination. (Stemming the Tide, Part 7.)	Tempest and Speaks with Talons did their best to keep up with him to slash at him, but with his constant teleporting, they found it difficult. Ultimately, They decided they couldn't keep up with his teleporting and stood in the center. Tempest started pulling her enchanted rocks out of her pack and Speaks with Talons did his best to keep throwing bolts. When a rock wasn't busted open or a bolt was still intact, Scraps scooped them up and did his best to fling them himself with the paw not holding his short sword. Occasionally he'd throw one of his bottles instead when he couldn't find any regular ammunition. All their efforts were for naught, however. He seemed to be able to dodge, deflect or outright block virtually everything we threw at him. I, meanwhile, didn't really have much of a ranged option in my bear form, and ultimately had to revert out of it. Almost immediately upon reverting, I found myself having to reflexively pull up my shield spell to counteract his seven darted magic missile spell, with every one of the darts that never miss their target pointed at me. With all of them barely being put through the shield's nullifying barrier as they came up, making them harmlessly splash off of me, I could hear it. I could hear is laughter. His constant, annoying, "I'm not touching you" while pointing right at your face, mocking laughter. Had I not gotten that barrier up, that one spell would have ruined my day and we both knew this. With a flare of her horn, Tempest upped her game and did her best to cast her witch bolt spell. It missed horribly. When Dalock saw this, he stopped his laughing and moved his lips with a spell I couldn't make out. Suddenly, there were four of him standing so close that their forms overlapped each other. After that, he stood still with a taunting gesture. In response, Speaks with Talons charged, swiping at one of the forms, only to have it fade into nothing again when his Talons made contact. Finally, he moved back out of Speaks with Talon's reach, but not in a manner that left his guard up. The griffin took full advantage of this, but only landed his talons on that shield again. As he moved out of reach, him and his two remaining mirror images shifted around to where I couldn't track which one was the real one, basically putting the guessing game back to square one. With this, he lowered his staff at us, and threw out a lightning bolt more brilliant than I normally would have my wand cast. It scorched through the team, hitting us hard. I was relatively unharmed at this point and managed to get out of the way. So I stayed up, but was about out of breath in the process. Speaks with Talons threw his forelimbs out and uttered an incomprehensible word through the thunder, negating what he could with his absorb elements spell. Even so, he still took the brunt of it and looked in pretty bad shape at this point. Scraps tapped into his version of the same spell he learned to pull off once a day, while also dodging out of the way and managing to get only singed. His sword now charged with the energy he absorbed from the bolt. Tempest, however, didn't have that spell in her arsenal, not even as a one off like with Scraps. To top it off, she was in the center of the blast and couldn't get out of the way. She stood there for a moment, unresponsive, but then fell over, unconscious, severely hurt and out of the fight. I tried to heal her, calling out to Archimedes, but then Dalock pulled his ace out of his sleeve. "Help!" I called out, only for his staff to spin around mockingly, making the magic die in my throat, spell slot still wasted. Of all the spells he could have, he had to have counter-spell. He could counteract my healing spell for spell, and he had lots more slots to burn through than I did. In short, my ability as a healer was completely nullified in this fight. With my plan of attack already cemented in my mind and my adrenaline keeping that thought from sinking in fully, I pulled out my rose stem and threw a thorn whip at him, only to have it wrap around one of the two remaining mirror images of him and poof it too. I was even useless in an offensive standpoint. As I saw Speaks with Talons throw another three bolts at him, only for the first to take out the last illusion and the other two two bounce off the real one yet again, I saw the true depth between our power levels. We hadn't even laid so much as a scratch on him yet and he already took out our strongest team member and put significant damage on the rest of us. I dropped to my knees. My wild-shape was useless with his constant teleporting around, my portent good luck charm was spent, and he was purposely holding back to make sure he could counteract any healing I tried to give my team. With that same "I win" smirk on his face, he turned and looked at our fallen teammate. While my despair settled in, Scraps got back up off the ground and saw Tempest unconscious, with Daclock approaching her. His response was quite different from mine. With a burst, he ran up to our opponent, screaming "Nicknack!" at the top of his lungs. His face looked determined, yet something about his eyes seemed to indicate a part of his mind wasn't here, but somewhere else. As he did so, Dalock gave pause, turning with to face the diamond dog attacking him as if it where nothing more than a chore. Scraps reached his target easily, and appeared to swing his sword wildly. It was almost slow motion as I saw Dalock's shield raise to parry, only to have Scraps pull his sword back in his feinting technique, and mutter the word ""Fomes dissilio!" making the sword burst into green flame alongside the lightning already charging it. With a quick twist of his entire body, Scraps turned, pulled his short sword back around, and away from the side the shield had been presented on. With a quick, precision jab from the other side, he stabbed upward right through the cracks in the plate armor and into the tender flesh underneath with the sickening singeing and popping sounds coming from the elf's wound. The room went back to speed, but was silent. Only a mere second of silence passed as Scraps twisted his blade as best he could, but that wasn't what caught my eye. His face. Scrap's normally happy go lucky, playful face was hellbent on killing Dalock. This wasn't the restrained anger and pain I had seen him hold in check in his fight with the alpha. His teeth were barred. The fur on the back of his neck disappearing into his leather jerkin was raised the highest I'd ever seen it, his eyes were like that of a wild beast, giving a death glare at the elf's face mere inches away from it. No. This was that pain brought full force to the surface. Then the moment broke as Dalock winced in immense pain. The purple light illuminating the room flickered at the same moment. Upon seeing the lights flicker, Dalock looked up and called out "NO! Not now! The new clone isn't ready yet!" Dalock turned his gaze down to the small diamond dog that just stabbed him, he called out "You little son of a-" as he blasted Scraps across the room with multiple repelling blasts of force. With a loud thud, he landed on the ground. I could only scream "No!" as I saw him follow up the first attack with a spell of magic missiles, all seven of them striking Scrap's already limp form. Such a barrage of missiles could easily kill an already downed target. With Scraps presumed dead, I futilely gave another attempt at healing Tempest. As if on cue, I found the injured Dalock once again swirling his staff to counter spell my healing word. "No. You will pay for this victory dearly." Speaks with Talons backtracked towards Tempest and brought forth with his dominant talon doing a brief gesture. With a quick "Sano!" and a placement of his talon on her knee, a jolt of energy seemed to transfer between the two warriors. With a brief spasm, Tempest took a breath and quickly assessed her surroundings while Speaks with Talons collapsed beside her, weak with the exhaustion. Dalock, already backing up and dropping his staff in defeat, rolled his eyes up and cursed. "Of bloody course your team has a second healer." He looked over at his imp that was still successfully pinning Archimedes. "A healer I was oddly not told about!" The imp started calling out in a mocking tone. "Oh, master. Did I not hear you give the order to do a tactical summary when I spied on them today? I didn't feel prudent to remind you. I also didn't find it prudent to add the detail that that orb doesn't just inflict all the summoned diseases on the controller if they lose control, it does it within moments." With a loud laughter for a creature that size, he called out again "Enjoy your last few breaths, master!" Dalock looked at his familiar with anger as his skin started looking gangly, and his voice began to crack with the onset of a sore throat. After a moment of looking defeated, he smirked. "Then with those breaths, I give one final order." The imp looked at him unfazed and waited. "Snap your own neck. Do not let them capture you." The imp paused for only a moment, but then smiled. With a quick nod, he called out "I'd say it's been a pleasure, but you've ordered me never to lie to you. Thank you for the release." His hands went from pinning Archimedes down to his own head. A quick snap was heard and his head twisted grotesquely. Then the entire imp puffed into smoke. At this point, Tempest had gotten up, took a single deep breath to steady herself and started back towards Dalock. With a raised hand, he waved her off. "Oh don't bother, I'm as good as dead already. You've won." He looked at the orb that was making him look sicker and sicker by the second, then back at me. After strong hacking fit, he gave me that same snarky grin. "Today, at least." Before I could react, he scooped up his staff, placed it to the orb and called out, "I wish for the prize Bane promised me!" A strong billowing of wind burst through the cave as the orb glowed brilliantly. The winds grew stronger as they reached Dalock, slowly ripping his flesh where it stood off of him, and crumbling his bones, drawing in his armor and shield and striping his robes off of him. The bits of his flesh, bone and clothing were swept into the orb bit by bit almost like a black hole until nothing but his equipment and my wand clattering to the ground. All that was left was his staff remaining in mid air, fixed to the orb were it had made contact. After a moment, even the staff finally clattered to the ground alongside the rest. With the threat gone, Tempest and I hurried to Scraps. At first I thought he was dead, but Tempest just poked at him. "I see your shallow breathing. How long are you going to play possum, Scraps?" With this, Scraps stirred, got up and tried to lick tempest's face. When she stopped him, he turned his attention to licking his wounds from the blast instead. The wounds that closely resembled the wounds on the pup from the village. "How... How did he survive?" I asked, baffled. Tempest smirked. "Cat's out of the bag now, but I suppose it doesn't really matter anymore. Show him, Scraps." Scraps pulled out his eagle headed brooch, then took great care to remove the outer covering, revealing a more militaristic design underneath. "Apparently Scraps' first protector didn't just have an eye for nice things, but also for magical items. After Scraps looked into your spellbook back when, he recognized his keepsake of his late big brother Nicknack was also magical. After investigating it, we realized it was able to protect against your missile spell much like the foreign version of the shield spell your books showed Starlight. We decided to keep it a secret from you as a safety measure should you ever turn against us." "That not all!" Scraps chimed in. "After Scraps learn magic, Scraps study even more. Scraps now on verge of learning how to use any object holding magic. Not quite cracked code yet, but almost there!" Tempest rolled her eyes upward into their sockets. "A day that I know is inevitable given his ingenuity, but I'm not looking forward to it." "Tempest, Beast-kin," we heard Speaks with Talons call weakly. He rolled over with great effort. It looked like it was going to take him even longer to recover from using a healing spell the second time in a single day. "We need to take that orb back and have it analyzed by the pony mages. I fear it may be what the Crystal Sister was so terrified of that she summoned us here." Tempest nodded and took out her bag of holding. "Lets grab everything here just in case there's something else important."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Unslayable Foes, Part 1.	We didn't stop in the village. We simply made haste to grab Fluttershy and Mandible, then go. We didn't want any problems when they found out a figure they had seen as a healer was suddenly gone. When Scraps was spooked that we might have been followed underground, we sprang to the air to get that last spurt to the train station. After I transformed into a mouse for Archimedes to pick up, he chimed in. "I've been talking to Sunburst about your growing power as a druid. If his chart is not mistaken, the Toril roots in the art should allow you to have the ability to fly yourself by now. Why didn't you?" I could. I had just unlocked the level eight needed for flight based transformations. I could just wince to myself as I responded, "Kinda forgot, but should probably practice before I do it in the field if I can." Speaks With Talons was still looking in pretty bad shape after the battle. Even with his reputation of being the strongest on the team by actual muscle power, and greatest stamina, carrying Tempest through the air wasn't doing his already taxed form any more favors. With a quick pace we returned to the train station after leaving diamond dog territory and returning to the ground. Surprisingly, despite it being late, the train was primed and ready to go. We were afraid we would have to make camp on the station's platform until the morning. Apparently, they had been given orders hours before to seek us out and keep the train ready for us. They were ordered to wait around the clock for us and to get us on that train to return as soon as we arrived at the station. Indeed, they were surprised we had returned only half an hour after they arrived back at the station again. The train ride back had everybody a little spooked. On our way back, we were confined to a single train coach. The staff were kind enough to give us some food and water when we asked but it was how they did so that made us on edge. They were insistent on simply dropping it off at the door of our coach and letting us pick it up when they were gone. They even refused to take the tray back, telling us to just put it in the corner when we were done. Tempest seemed to not be too worried, though. It was odd, but nothing seemed too off to her. She'd seen a situation like this once or twice in the past. She simply figured something had probably stirred back in Ponyville and the train needed to keep us isolated for some reason. Speaks with Talons simply swigged as much water as he could, munched unceremoniously on the crackers, gave that trusting nod to Tempest that they had managed to form over their adventures, collapsed on the largest sofa in our coach and promptly fell into an exhausted sleep. Scraps, while not super tired, made a point to stay close to Tempest's side the entire way, yawning himself into a nap once we were seated. Fluttershy and Mandible, however, were nursing their poor weak wings from having to team lift a diamond dog that was about their size for so long. Tempest had refused to let either her or Scraps ride in the bag of holding. To keep my mind from going crazy with questions, I focused on just one that I thought I might get an answer to. I tried to ask about the situation with Scraps, and why he had called out the name "Nicknack" when he had seen Tempest fall. She went into a bit of indirect elaboration as she explained how Scraps had been arrested in the first place. It turned out that he was caught with a small amount of a drug, commonly known as "happy powder," and admitted he had made lots of it in the past when he was arrested. With the authorities not really understanding his past, and him being too heartbroken to do anything but just admit everything during his trial, he was sentenced far more severely than he should have been. Nicknack was his big brother before then, both being the largest of his litter, and being the prior Alpha of his pack that protected him. It was actually Nicknack that asked him to make the drug with how smart Scraps was with chemicals. Through discrete transactions, Nicknack would then turn around and sell it to ponies and other races. Scraps had since learned that Nicknack wasn't as good as he seemed to be, but his heart still mourned his death none the less. It was Nicknack alone that had made sure Scraps was never picked on, always fed and always protected. Scraps was still an omega and was appropriately humble, but he was the best treated omega because he had the favor of an alpha. In some ways, the way he was treated rivaled even that of a beta. But all that changed when the current alpha bested Nicknack in the circle and killed Nicknack. It was done right in front of Scraps' eyes, but Scraps was powerless to protest back then, much less stop it. From what Tempest surmised, when Scraps saw her fall, his mind was reliving those moments due to the similarly close bond he had with her. At this point, Tempest closed her eyes. "I only saw about the first minute of the second half of the fight, since I had to focus, but from what Speaks with Talons said, Scraps had his blade to his throat at the end and could have killed him." With a strong inhalation, she recomposed herself. "I am proud I was able to teach him enough tactic to know not to break the chain of power, since he knew they would never follow him if he did." She looked at the napping diamond dog at her side with a flat expression and gave a pained, yet relaxed sigh. "But he was also able to hold back his desire for revenge. He really does have a good heart." I looked at the drooling mutt and cracked a weak smile myself. "He really does have an innocent mind, and a brilliant one too. But I think some of that strength of heart was rubbed off from you." I turned to Tempest and gave a proper smirk. "Like him, you also have a good heart underneath all those scars from your past too, and he's been helping bring it back to the surface." She rolled her eyes at my statement, shook her head dismissively and deflected her gaze from me to look a the ceiling. "I think you're right. I saw Princess Celestia slipping back to a back room before my trial. I couldn't put the pieces together then, but now I think she was slipping in to give advice to her niece. This was probably Princess Celestia's plan all along." We finally got our answers to the spooked train staff when we pulled into the Ponyville station around midnight. Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst was there, practically in a panic. Starlight called out to us just as Tempest was about to step onto the platform, "Stay on the train! I know it is weird, but we need you to trust us!" They called out to me in an uneasy, concerned tone. "Moss..? Are you... There? We would like to examine you if you're feeling up to it. We have some suits to come in there and check on you if you need." When I finally got up from my seat in the coach, I could have sworn I heard a collective gasp from the ponies that had come to meet us. "Sweet Celestia! You're alive!" Starlight called out as she galloped forward to meet me, only to have Sunburst yank at her tail to stop her before she got close to the coach. When she looked back, she saw Sunburst shaking his head at her. "R-right, precautions. Shield up." Starlight put up a shield similar to the one they used to protect themselves when we had done the most recent tests of my magic missile spell. After this, Sunburst pulled out a clipboard, quill and ink well and set them aside, ready to be picked up and used. With this, she gently gestured me to step forward, showing an extra sign of worry as I made the small gap from the train to the platform. It was only after this that we noticed a medical pony come out of the train station and stood beside them. I recognized the doctor. He was the doctor that had worked on me in the past when I was needing medical attention when I first arrived. The one doctor that would have any insight to my particular anatomy, being so different. With a few minutes of poking and prodding, the doctor slowly filled out the items on the clipboard. I couldn't really ask what was going on, given the tongue depressor in my mouth and other tools, but I knew something was up. "Given his past records, as far as I can tell, he's as healthy as he can be, save maybe a little sleep deprivation and overworking himself." The doctor looked to Glimmer. "He's clear to lower the shield for a scan. But stay up wind and as far back as you can. Follow up with a closer scan after the first clears if you must, but keep your distance. With a pace backward to help her keep her distance, she dropped the shield and scanned me like an office printer doing a detailed pass for a high quality copy. Slow and meticulous. I wanted to talk now, but once again I felt I needed to hold off, not wanting to mess up the scan. When she was finished with a smile, She turned to the doctor. With an expression like a great burden had just been lifted, she called out, "He's clean!" Without even being able to respond, the doctor nodded and looked at Sunburst's clipboard. "Alright then, Captain Tempest. You're next. Moss, I need you to step aside." The others were examined by Sunburst's levitation of medical tools, guided by the doctor's expertise. After that, each of them were thoroughly scanned by Starlight as she stood at a few meters upwind from them on the platform. * * * Once Mandible was confirmed to not have a clean scan due to his insect biology and agreed to stay on the train until his own kind could scan him properly, I was finally able to press on my amulet and ask a question. "So... Something is up. What has you so riled to meet us out here and do a checkup?" Starlight turned to me and finally let out the tears she had been holding back. They weren't too impressive waterworks, barely coming out, but I could see they were genuine. "Oh, it was horrible, Moss!" She called out as she briefly galloped towards me, stopping just short of a hug to ask for permission. With an unsure nod, I knelt down and met her embrace. I wasn't too surprised when I noticed Fluttershy quietly join in too in an attempt comfort her friend. "All the invad..." She paused, then mimicked a word of English. "All the 'humanoids' we had captured and were deciding what to do with. They're dead. Every last one of them. They're all dead." I was already on one knee to kneel, but upon hearing that I had pull her back with me a little as I fell on the other to take that statement in. After Sunburst nodded to the doctor to let him go, he turned in kind and gave a similarly worried expression. "And that's not all. They didn't just die. They all died at the exact same time and in the exact same way. They exploded into a cloud of disease. We had to quarantine the jails, forcing the guards to stay in to protect the rest of Equestria, but we didn't manage to stop all of it." Starlight pulled out of the hug with Fluttershy and looked at me. "We're in the early stages of managing an epidemic now, Moss. We were so afraid you had suffered the same fate as the rest of your 'humanoid' kin." Mandible, overhearing from the train for lack of better thing to do while he waited, called out, "What is the illness that caused it?" Sunburst shook his head and turned in an attempt to speak toward Mandible to let him hear from the train. "That's just it. It's not just one illness. It's many. Not counting small ones that can be treated easily when caught early like hoof and mouth anthrax, or gangrene, we have five confirmed serous illnesses in this epidemic so far. The investigators fear we might have as many as a dozen different serous illnesses slipped past the quarantine that we will have to deal with by the time the ponies already exposed show symptoms for us to track, and that's presuming there weren't any more rogue 'humanoids' out there when it happened. We will probably have to quarantine more areas as they pop up." Starlight shook her head and stomped in a fit. "If we only knew what caused it, we might be better prepared to fight it!" Tempest came up and kept Scraps from opening the bag of holding at her side. "Did this event happen about sixteen and a half hours ago?" Starlight looked at her in shock, then checked the clock on the station. Turning back to Tempest, her mouth was agape. "Almost on the dot!" Tempest closed her eyes for a moment as she made a solemn nod. "We need to get to a debriefing then. Because I think we might have some information that would be able to help with that."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Pinkie Pries Fearfully for Further Fascinating Tidbits, or "Ppfffft!" (Unslayable Foes, Part 2.)	Two hours after the debriefing, I was sitting in the study of the local castle by myself. I wanted to go to sleep, but had too much to process. All the humanoids besides myself were dead. Thanks to Dalock, all that was left in their wake was a plague cocktail. As much as I knew the struggle from this sudden event was only just beginning, I couldn't help but sit and silently weep at their loss. They were former invaders, sure, but not all of them were outright bloodthirsty. Even with my urging of caution in letting them be reformed, there had been progress among some of them. According to Starlight, there were dream walkers that had been working with the more cooperative ones in sorting out valid stories from liars. Many of them were decent citizens in their old world in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the officers I had been told about was just an ex-soldier who's family had wracked up too much debt to pay taxes from a few years of poor harvest. He was pressured into serving under Bane in exchange for maintaining the ongoing taxes for as long as he continued to serve. His only sign on bonus was that if he died in service then the remaining debt would be forgiven. From what the ponies working with him could infer, even when he signed up, the officer wasn't sure if Bane intended to keep that promise. My mind was drowning with sorrow, burning with anger, and somehow numb all at the same time. Thinking of a way to try to say goodbye to them, I undid the cap of my water skin and looked at it for a bit. All forms of liquor was going to be commandeered as sanitizing materials in the morning. In turn, I knew I couldn't ask the staff for any. Besides that, I made a point to not drink liquors of any kind due to my tendency to "embrace fury" and a little related family history with alcohol. So water was going to have to do. Turning to a spot that didn't really get walked on but could be seen easily, I held the water skin out in front of me and took a moment to pause. With a shake of my head, I muttered aloud, "The cleaning staff are going to be so angry with me." I grabbed the bottom of the skin and prepared to tilt it. "To those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time." Tilting the water skin, I poured most of it out onto the floor. After that, I brought it back upright and had the hand holding the spout lift it up as if it were a toast. "May you find peace in death that you could not in life, and may..." I took a pause again, trying to be sensitive about the likely radically different religions of their home. "And may those that judge you on the other side be fair and as merciful as it is right for them to be." With that, I tilted my head back and did my best to drink the remaining water in a respectful way, neither rushed nor slowly. I had just gotten what I felt was the last swallow left in the water skin into my mouth when I heard a noise from behind. "Hey, Moss! I'm glad I found you!" I spat the last swallow of water out in a, "Ppfffft!" Turning around, I saw Fluttershy's oddball friend, Pinkie. "Exactly!" she called to me while pointing her hoof at me. When I gave her an odd look of being completely lost and wanting to know what she was even doing here, she just shook her head. Her ears went down with unease as her mood practically did a complete flip to a mood similar to my own. "Um, never mind. I was hoping I could pick your brain for a bit about death and other things?" * * * "And that's why I see life as sacred, because once a specific living creature dies, that's it. You can have more of the same species, sure, but that exact rendition of it, never again. That's why I don't see the ability to cause death and destruction as anything great. Virtually every creature can do that to some capacity." I looked at the normally hyper pink pony sitting politely from across the table where she sat to keep her distance like the princesses had asked everypony in the castle to do. The order for everypony else was going to be announced first thing in the morning after the final version of the orders for the general public had been agreed upon by Princess Celestia and her advisors. Listening calmly to every word I said seemed to be difficult for her. Despite her best efforts, she had caught herself fidgeting more than once. It was like she was using all her willpower to struggle against her own hyperactive nature to listen. "But to preserve life, or to help a creature get back to living life after an injury, now that is far more difficult to do than to cause an injury or take life." Seeing me lean back and finish, Pinkie surmised, "You see life overall as precious because it is so frail?" It was odd, being the one giving the "how did you get this from what I said" look instead of receiving it for once, but I just shook it off. "I suppose you could see it like that, but life itself isn't frail. Though there is a bit of that for individual life forms, 'life overall' has a way of adapting and moving on. The real kicker is if the life that you value will be able to adapt and move on with it." I shook my head. "But that's a grittier topic for another time. I think a better way of wording it is 'I value lives because they are easy to lose, and impossible to truly replace.'" Pinkie nodded in deep thought at my words. Shortly after, she gave me a worried look. "So... With the problems we have to face in the near future, we are going to have to make some tough calls. For the sake of lives, principles might be challenged." A deep sense of focus began to emanate from her, like something was truly scaring her and she needed to pry into my soul to get the answer. "I need to know, if some creature messes up and breaks a principle to save lives. Do you feel the lives they saved are at fault?" I looked at her with a blank stare for a while. It was like there was a deeper context to her question that I didn't understand. Multiple possible contexts that I had no way to discern made it difficult which answer to give. So I had to just respond as best I could for each context I could think of. "That could be construed in different ways. If the life saved is not the one that made the call, then I'd say that generally no, without special circumstances at least. Any fault would generally be on the one that made the call." With a scratching of my neck, I shifted my weight and took a breath to continue. "If the life saved is also the one that made the choice, that falls under self preservation. Since we're facing an epidemic, then I'd say extreme actions like taking one life to save another medically is considered unethical in my home world. Outside medical decision making, it changes a little. In nature, a predator's right to hunt isn't violated by its prey's right to defend itself. I find it pretty self evident that every entity has the right to preserve its own existence in general, but this goes for every creature on all ends of a conflict." As I recalled the last day's events, my hands curled into fists and I took a deep breath and a moment to steady myself. "However, among sentient creatures, like us, it goes deeper. We think in ways beyond our base instincts. This means we have a greater capacity to do good, or harm. Even if you don't throw ethics into this and just use raw pragmatism, we have to weigh the long term effects of our actions and how it reflects on all the things we depend on. So even with an objective view devoid of emotional driven logic like ethics, our right to preserve our own existence is tied hand in hand to an need to try to respect the same right in others where possible. In short, we at least have the capacity to know better, so we have an obligation to do our best to be better." I threw my fist down in frustration. For my efforts, I got an impact with the good solid slab of crystal underneath the ledge in the wall turned sofa, causing my hand to go a little numb from the impact with the hard surface. "An obligation my kind have not had a good tract record of keeping because its so tempting for us to make up excuses so that we can ignore the responsibility and take the easy way out instead." "Uh huh. And with that heartfelt personal burden in a deep mysterious backstory shared-" she responded in a way that made me realize I was rambling, "-what do you think about the actions taken? If it was wrong to do in the first place, should it be undone after?" Getting back on track, I did my best to give a simple answer. "Making amends is almost always a good thing, but..." I looked at the puddle that reminded me of the lives that the other humanoids might have been able to live, albeit under severe supervision. "But as the few sages of my world managed to give to the field of medicine, 'above all else, do no harm.' If undoing an action causes further harm, I don't think it can generally be justified, at least in a medical standpoint. A generalized stand point might have more odd case exceptions, but would likewise follow much the same logic." Just as I was wrapping up, Pinkie jerked her head a few times, focused on something internal. "Tingly tongue... Itchy back... Popping ears..." Her eyes went wide and jaw slack. "Oh. Oh! It's that time already! I got to go cover for myself before Time Turner leaves." With this, she galloped out of the study, hurriedly calling back to me, "It was nice chatting! I'll be sure to put in a good word for you!" When she left the study, I heard the princess call out "Pinkie!? You're supposed to be in bed! You're sick!" "Yep! Heading there now!" I heard Pinkie's echo fade as she ran down the halls. The next morning, I was expected to stay indoors and isolated in my old cell in the castle. It wasn't for being a prisoner, however. It was more for my own safety, as they still needed to run some tests on some blood they drew from me before they determined if my body would react badly to any of the known diseases from the plague. Sharp Sentry was oddly not the one guarding me. Rather, Plasma Wave was at the door as my honor guard, catching up on old times. He was lucky enough to not be on duty at his prison during the time of the outbreak, so he had agreed to help out where he could. They needed Sharp Sentry somewhere else, and working in a coordinated team as a pegasus that only had maybe twenty minutes of flight time through his prosthetic at any given time wasn't a good idea. We actually had to get Tempest to charge both my amulet and his wing from empty to full back to back on a mission, nearly dropping her in the process. In turn, it was no surprise to be decided by everypony involved that the best way Plasma Wave could help was to keep me out of mischief and free up Sharp Sentry to do the more demanding tasks. Keeping me company was just an incidental side effect, though a welcome one. Thinking of things years back, he shared stories as only a proud parent could gush over. "I'm just so proud of my little girl. Not only did she train the colt that made this wing to fly, she was granted a blessing by none other than-" An odd rumbling could be heard as Speaks with Talons came charging up the stairs and hit the breaks a little too late. He ran into the shaft of Plasma Wave's spear across the doorway making up for his limited breaking power and slamming him right across his barrel and front limbs. With a wince of pain, he pulled his head back out of the cell, allowing Plasma Wave to return the spear to his side. "Beast Kin, I am in need of your aid. My brothers are here. May I take refuge with you in your cell for a time while I prepare how to approach them? I fear they will find me before I am ready most anywhere else." I gave him an odd look, tilting my head slowly until my neck was basically slack as I reached to press on my amulet. "Your brothers? As in other servants of the Animus Mundi?" Still having a touch of panic, he gave me an uncertain expression. "Kind of? They are blessed by her as are we, but no. To word it like you would when you clarify something, I mean the other offspring and apprentices of my father. My half-brothers."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Counsel of Healers, (Unslayable Foes, Part 3.)	The tests on the blood samples all came back negative, allowing me to not be locked up the entire time. They did caution me to be careful, however. While the tests were reliable enough, they didn't cover all possibilities. I still had about as likely a chance to get a terminal sickness as any of the other creatures of the kingdom, given biology variance from race to race. Plasma Wave escorted Speaks with Talons and myself to the meeting room. When we stopped at the door, Speaks with Talons gave an asking look to Plasma Wave. Just as soon as Plasma Wave stepped out of immediate earshot and idly itched his mechanical wing fittings, Speaks with Talons looked to me. "Thank you for granting me the chance to get my thoughts together, but I must ask you one more favor. I am no longer the ambassador of the Tribal Collective. Our teacher has taken that title now that he is here, and he will be the one speaking for the Tribal Collective in the meeting. In his absence the senior most student present would speak on his behalf, but it will be inappropriate for us to speak out of line in such a gathering while our teacher is present." He gave a sigh and braced himself to continue in a more bitter tone. "My teacher's other apprentices may fit in an offhanded remark if they are asked to speak, but it is only bait. Whatever you do, do not come to my defense during the meeting. As good as your intentions, it will be a sign of you believing I am so weak as to need your help in their eyes and it will only have the opposite effect of its intent. If they approach us after the gathering, we can address them then." With this warning, he nodded to me and we opened the door to find most of the room filled already. Starlight and multiple medical doctors were present, along with Sunburst, Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence. Her husband, the general prince and a few crystal guards were behind her. Wild Storm stood closest to the table, with Zecora back just a little ways to his left, followed by a barely adult zebra stallion and the pony I recognized as Fluttershy's friend among the servants, Tree Hugger. To his right was a well seasoned griffin with the head of a hawk. Sitting a good deal directly behind the hawk griffin was another adult griffin, albeit a good deal younger, with the head of an owl. Behind him was another griffin with the awkwardly long beaked head of a toucan. This one was barely fully grown. Yet another, still younger looking eagle griffin sat just shy of being against the wall. The eagle griffin was about the size of Speaks with Talons, though he looked like he still had a year or two of growing left in him. After shaking off the noticing of the rigid differences in the bird qualities among them, it took me only a second at the relative ages of their lion parts to realize they were lined up by seniority behind their teacher. This was further reinforced by the fact that Speaks with Talons seemed to be the second eldest among his brothers by age and there was a good deal of space between the nearest griffin apprentice to the teacher and the next. More than enough space for Speaks with Talons to sit between them. Going up to his teacher, he nodded in acknowledgement then tried to move on only to be stopped by his teacher calling his name. "Speaks with Talons," The hawk griffin said with the thick accent of my amulet translating tribal griffish and a tone that tried to be formal, but had the warm undertone of a father happy to see his son showing through. Stopping just long enough to briefly reply, "Claps to Thunder," in kind, Speaks with Talons marched past. This is where my expectations of the family dynamic were shattered. Speaks with Talons managed a neutral exchange of nods with the eldest apprentice. It was neither loving nor bitter, just formal. But when he got to the toucan, the apprentice gave a tilt to his nod, and eyed the space between himself and the eldest in an expectant, almost mocking fashion. When Speaks with Talons moved past him and the vacant spot he had purposely left for him, my jaw dropped. He simply reached the last one and gave a downward glanced nod. In return, the eagle headed griffin gave a quick and somewhat aggressive, begrudged nod in return. With the nod received, Speaks with Talons went to the eagle headed griffin's side and sat down as far back as he could against the wall. The eagle headed griffin turned to look at the near identical seating between him and Speaks with Talons, then brought his head up to Speaks with Talons with a glare. In response, Speaks with Talons did his best to squish himself against the wall and put himself as far back from the other apprentice's seating as he could. The master griffin, Claps to Thunder, briefly glanced back at his apprentices, then gave a sigh and returned his gaze to the front. The words, "Do not come to my defense . . . it will be a sign of you believing I am so weak as to need your help," rang again in my mind. With nothing else I could do, either for him or myself, I let the frustration go as best I could in a quiet sigh. Turning to lean on an empty spot of the wall that didn't seem to have any other attendee's near it, I waited. * * * Maybe a minute or two after settling in on my little section of wall, I noticed the eyes of the unfamiliar griffins eyeballing me. The apprentice griffins had looks of disapproval, but the master griffin and the younger zebra were just curious. None of the apprentices had the guts to say anything, though. A while later, a few higher ranking changeling medics came in with the one I had recognized as their leader, king Thorax. They were also followed by a meekly postured Mandible. Once they were seated, their king cheerfully turned to Mandible and gestured towards Wild Storm. The young changeling quickly trotted over and greeted his teacher, who gave him a warm smile and a gentle rubbing of the head with his talon. With a quick glance between the two leaders and a silent nod of approval from Thorax, Mandible took his place a few meters directly behind Wild Storm as his apprentice. Soon after, the doors opened again and revealed what I presumed was our last three attendees. The first two I could recognize as two of the Pillars of Light that helped seal the rift, but I had not become savvy to either of their names. All I could tell was that one had a mask with her while the other showed signs of great aging. The third, however, was one that made me do a double take, then brace myself against the wall. Princess Luna. When her eyes landed on me, she was likewise taken back. With a carefully placed, soft and non-aggressive tone, she spoke, "Moss, I apologize. I was not aware you would be attending this meeting." With a moment of pause, she turned. "I can ask my sister to attend instead..." I reached out and brushed the tip of her wing with a shaking hand. She, and many others, looked in surprise at this contact. With a press of my amulet, I stumbled through a response while keeping my breathing level. "Sunburst asked me to attend, though I still don't know why. But you were prob-bably needed here for a reason. I'll manage." With an awkward silence, Princess Luna looked around uncomfortably for another moment, unsure. Finally, Sunburst chimed in, gesturing them to their seats. "We need all kinds of healers with their input here. While dream walking does not directly heal the body, it is one of the most effective ways to aid a tormented mind. You are the most experienced dream walker in the land by far and Moss might have some bits of wisdom from his home-world's medicine that we haven't thought of." Archimedes came flying through the door only shortly after the three took their seats. "And besides, Archimedes might have some insight on this situation as well and Moss is the only one that can directly convey the thoughts of Archimedes fast enough to keep the meeting flowing." Though surprised, I extended my arm for him to land on, which he did promptly. As he climbed to my shoulder for more efficient seating, he relayed a message to me. "Please tell them I apologize for being late. A guard mistook me for a simple animal on the way to the meeting and I was forced to find an alternative route." * * * The meeting went oddly smoothly with so many practitioners of traditional medicine and alternative medicine working on the same project. The Servants were willing to assist with their healing magic, which the traditional practitioners had to admit they couldn't do to any significant effect without the assistance of the Animus Mundi. However, the servants' abilities were extremely limited due to there being so few servants present per capita, even with the summons of the Crystal Sister. They would have to work with the traditional practitioners in preventative measures to mitigate spread and treat the cases that the ponies had non magical treatments for. To this end, Zecora--who had a history of working with both other servants and Equestrian doctors--had managed to modify her medicine mask a while back to meet traditional standards to more smoothly cooperate with them, while still effectively manage to function in its original purpose. She also presented additional similar masks. Masks that she had the foresight to start crafting for other servants that might need to coordinate in a similar fashion when she realized the Crystal Sister was summoning prominent healers. The changelings said they had a list of diseases they were immune to and ones that would be particularly detrimental to them. Once reviewed by the pony doctors, this would let them better allocate the already trained traditional changeling medics to patients that would otherwise be a risk to ponies and vice verse. Beyond that, they had to apologize that they didn't have a whole lot more to contribute than a supplement of raw hoof power. Princess Luna said she could coordinate with the dream walker's guild to look out for telltale signs of the known plague diseases that would manifest during sleep. This hopefully would act as a partial early detection blanket and slow the spread of infection while also helping maximize early treatment. Above and beyond that, all the dream walkers could do would be their normal duties of helping with dreamers in keeping their fears in check. Archimedes had little to add, save that he would be willing to act as a counselor should an unknown disease from the other world crop up. I also thought I had little to add, but I positively had the doctors' full attention when I mentioned plasma transfusions from already recovered individuals as a way to boost immune systems. "Could you elaborate?" I scratched my head with the arm not holding my familiar. "Not a whole lot, not really. The general concepts are common knowledge, but the exact details and methods are vague. I'd suggest trying to do your own research before going in blindly. But the basic idea is the components in the immune system that recognize the diseases persist in the plasma for several months at elevated levels. These components can be transferred to compatible patients, acting like a kind of artificial supply drop for the recipient's immune system to better identify the invading diseases and attack them sooner and in greater force. But this will only help in cases where the problem is identifying the invading diseases. Other medicines might be better in other cases. Some diseases cause detrimental toxins to be expelled when they are killed off, building up faster than the body can philter them out. In cases like this it's better to have medicines that stunt the disease from increasing in number in the body and let the body take them out at a safer rate instead of a medicine that just kills the disease off faster than it can repopulate." Multiple doctors simply had their jaws slack at this. "Fascinating! We will have to follow up on these leads right away! And this is common knowledge in your home world?" I bobbed my head side to side as much as Archimedes' presence would allow for. "Kind of? The exact details of how to research it definitely require advanced training that I don't have, but most of these concepts are available for the common people that bother paying attention in the biology classes of our basic school system. As broken as the school system was in helping us be decent people, it did have the potential for knowledge for those that invested the effort." The doctor I recognized from treating me before looked over to Zecora. "And you said he couldn't even manage a first aid kit properly!?" Simply letting the comment die, Zecora turned to the present Pillars of Light. The pillars in turn looked at each other and sighed. "We sadly do not have much to contribute," the one with the mask like the servants addressed the others, "Mistmane said she would do what she could to keep the population calm and treat what she can, but she can't heal a whole lot with æther without making significant, permanent sacrifices. That will severely limit her long term capacity. If you can tell me what the folks are being ailed by, I'll share the recipes for what remedies to other potion makers like Zecora that I can. My family and I will do what we can to help with whipping up those remedies to the best of our ability too. But sadly, while my family wear healers' masks like the servants, we're not servants of the Animus Mundi. So we can't help with the healing spells, eith-." The doors slammed open to reveal a well to do family charging in. Without so much as an explanation, one of their staff came in and levitated a familiar and clearly sick pink filly to the center of the table, causing the guards and the general prince to quickly pull back the princesses from the potential threat of infection. The apparent mother with a necklace of pearls and a snarky face I'd never forget piped up with a very, very entitled attitude that was also all too unforgettable for me. "Many of you owe us from our years of donations. We need you to have your magic friends heal our daughter, now!"
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Angry Snarls and Soothing Songs, (Unslayable Foes, part 4)	"My apologies for my wife's rudeness. She can be--Princess!?" The apparent father of the child stopped in his apology as he saw Princess Cadence being rushed out the other door to the room while the other two had straight up teleported out as soon as they saw the ill child. With Starlight and Sunburst barely able to keep the guards from tackling him, the father continued. "I'm s-s-so sorry. We didn't mean to expose the princesses. We had no idea the princesses were meeting with the doctors too. Otherwise we'd have-" He turned around to his wife and glared at her "-waited outside and let the guards ask to interrupt the meeting like I had suggested in the first place." With a firm grip now on the withers of each parent, the guards tentatively waited for them to make their case like Sunburst and Starlight gestured to them to do before arresting them and taking them away. "Our daughter became very ill very quickly, and we were worried the hospital would already be overfilled." The wife paused at her husbands words for a moment with a calculating look, then gave a subtle glance at the guards before simply nodding. With my one good roll of a seventeen for the day, I raised the hairs on the back of my head and managed to discern that while it may have been a true concern, it definitely wasn't their main concern when they decided to interrupt the meeting. "While this is a bit of a sticky situation we're in now, our main concern is our daughter's life. We'll cooperate with the guards for our incidental crime against the princesses, but please treat our little Diamond Tiara." He pulled a bit bag out filled with coins of high valued metals and currency grade gemstones. "Of course we are willing to compensate you for your skills and expenses and the inconvenience our urgency may have caused you fine healers, up front." The traditional practitioners and the Pillars of Light took a step back as they all saw the expression of each and every servant of the Animus Mundi change drastically. All at once, feathers puffed, a set of bug wings fluttered, fur stood on end and a subtle smell of brimstone could be smelt as a light smoke came trickling out of Wild Storm's nostrils. I had my back to the wall, myself, so I couldn't back up. Yet I still had to stop myself just before I finished slinking out of the door in fear. Even the guards holding the two parents stiffened. It appeared that the only creatures in the room that weren't aware that a serious mistake had been made were the very ponies that made it. Wild Storm walked up to the father and gave an intense gaze at the bag that was being lifted up to the dragon. As the ancient shaman slowly breathed in and out, there was a deep rumbling to his breathing that echoed through the small room. The mother, standing much closer to me and the door than the dragon, smirked and softly muttered, "He's fixated. Fastest way to a dragon's heart." Finally, Wild Storm bared his teeth and made a swiping motion towards the bag. With a strong smack, the bag flew towards the door. The mother quickly jutted her head sideways to get a safe distance from what might have been a glancing blow, and Archimedes had to jump off my shoulder while I outright dove out of the way. With a clang, the bag burst against the far hallway wall. Coins and gems went flying everywhere in the hall. Turning my head back, I saw the father bringing a sorely bruised hoof in to his barrel while Wild Storm brought his head inches from the father's. "Servants. Do. Not. Take payment for healing. Trying to sway us with such a temptation is the worst insult you could ever give us as healers." I managed to pick myself up just as Wild Storm got out of the father's face. "Zecora, see if there is a suitable modified mask for Claps to Thunder among the ones you have made. Doctor Pulse, please get ready to do an examination of the child along side my own." With this, he reached for his own mask that had already been modified by Zecora and quickly put it on. "We will be treating her as soon as you and I have both made our prognoses." With hardly a second glance, Wild Storm waved the parents away and the guards resumed shackling them and left to escort them to the dungeon. As the assorted healers got to work, I looked out and saw the filly's father limping out of the door. Taking a moment to make sure I wasn't needed anymore, I pressed on my amulet and did my best to catch up to the guards without tripping over the spilled money. "Iron Bastion! Hold up!" I called out to the one guard I recognized. Stopping for only a moment to give me an "I'm just about out of patience" glare, he shifted his weight to the hoof that kept the shackles of the mother under control. "I'll be real quick, I promise." I spoke to the guard as I pointed to the father's limping hoof. "But even a capital offense prisoner has the right to medical treatment in this country, right?" Iron Bastion gave a begrudged nod. "Do not waste any more time than necessary." With a respectful nod back, I approached the father and knelt down. "Let me see your hoof." "Why? So you can hurt it more!?" the mother shouted at me, "I still remember seeing that desire to hurt me back at the station! Don't pretend to like us! You aren't fooling anypony!" The father crossed his eyes, inhaled and looked back at his wife. "Spoiled Rich! We're already in deep trouble because of you and your hysteria! Now just shut up!" When he looked back at me apologetically, I couldn't help but put my head back down and examine the hoof he had extended for me. "Thank you. Though she is kinda right on one point. I have no real positive feelings for you, and I definitely don't like her." The hoof looked banged up good. Without any sharp shifts in his pain as I felt the range of his hoof's motion, I was able to reliably tell that his hoof didn't have any broken bones or open cuts. This was good, as it meant I didn't have to call any of the others. It just had a solid bruise and maybe a few strained tendons. No special setting of the bones or disinfection was needed to get it on the path to healing up right. It was a lucky injury that a simple cure wounds spell could set straight without any complications. "But fortunately, I don't have to like you to heal you." I did the appropriate gesture with my free hand then placed that hand on top of the hoof. "Partner? Could you please help?" With a slight glow of the spell making contact, the hoof managed to lose the swelling that had started to form. I let go of the hoof and backed up. When I saw the husband and wife look at me in shock, I just shrugged and said, "I told you it would be quick. It should be set now, but it might still be a little tender for a while. The spell is intended to repair damage and restore function, not make it feel better." I subconsciously rubbed my side where I had gotten stabbed on a round up mission, still remembering the spot being tender for days after I healed myself. As they began walking off, I shouted one last encouraging message to them, "And don't worry! Pretty much every creature at that meeting is even more experienced in healing than I am! Your daughter is in good..." I paused for a moment to look at my hands in confusion. "...Company!" Upon returning to the meeting room, I saw the staff member of the family that had levitated the daughter occupying himself with cleaning up the money that had spilled over the floor. When I found Wild Storm and Doctor Pulse still in the middle of performing their examinations of the poor filly, I decided to help with the cleanup. He eyeballed me at first. But soon he looked in the direction that I had been when I healed his master, then thought twice on objecting. For several minutes we simply gathered the coins and gems in silence and put them into a pile on top of the main part of the bit bag, since only the string appeared broke. When I saw the string that had broke was a string similar to the one on my amulet, I pulled the spare I acquired the night before out of my supplies and re strung it, taking the old one to mend later on my own time to replace it. With the last few coins being gathered, I found myself struggling with one particularly flat platinum coin. The staff member could easily levitate it with his horn, of course, but he seemed to respect my desire to get it up myself. This became pretty obvious when he had every other coin and gem up in the bag except the one I had been working on. With a huff of frustration, I finally just called out "Presto!" and gestured out with my hand with a simple motion like that of a stage performer adding flare to a stage trick. After that, a basic copper crafting scalpel appeared in mid air maybe an inch above my hand. Knowing I only had seconds, I grabbed the tool as soon as it fell into my palm, then quickly and carefully used the blade to get under the coin and lift it up enough to get my fingers under it. "Y... You're a conjurer as well as a healer!?" the staff member exclaimed as he saw the tool disappear from my hand about six seconds after I had summoned it. I looked at him oddly, noticing the intelligence of a scholar in his eyes. He wasn't a proper mage, but clearly at least understood the basics a unicorn might rightly study to sate a curiosity. "Kind of?" I answered back uneasily before I pressed my amulet and passed him the last coin, "I dabble in a few different magics, but I'm not all that strong in each as a result. Aside from the spell that granted me my owl familiar and maybe the bonfire spell I'm known for, that's the only other form of conjuration I really have access to. It's just a trick for practicing, and even then it's really only one part of that trick. It's clunky to use, doesn't last long and I can't conjure anything of significant quality. So I don't like leaning on it." I took a pause as I thought about Scraps. With a smile I added, "My friend that I taught the practice spell to, however, loves to use this trick all the time for his hobbies." With the bit bag fixed, refilled and closed up, the member of the family's staff stood up and bowed. "Thank you for your assistance. Now if you will excuse me, I must maintain my honor as a servant of the Rich estate and turn myself in along side my masters. I will not let them suffer alone for a crime I assisted in. Randolph would never let me hear the end of it." I could see a conviction in his eyes as he marched down to the dungeons that kept me from objecting. Turning back to the meeting room, I saw the three senor most servants with masks on, starting a drumming rhythm. Slowly as they chanted, wind stirred and the air got thick with energy. Over the course of several minutes, I saw them move around in unison. When the tempo of the drums reached full power, I heard them call out one at a time "Hear our drums, Teacher of Past Wisdoms," Zecora called out in a thick and unfamiliar accent, her voice rich in magic. "See into our hearts, Lady of the Winds," Claps to Thunder called out in a mask that was clearly not meant for his beak shape. "Aid us in undoing the harm this child unknowingly consumed, Mother." Wild storm called out as he raised his arms. The other two reared onto their back legs and reached out in a similar fashion, making a crude circle around the table the filly lay on. While they did this, I could see the other servants watching calmly. Mandible, while still remaining calm too, looked like his mind was in overdrive taking notes. The wind howled enough to have papers fly off the table and circle above the ritual as the energies were building up. A slight green tinge could be seen in the air towards the climax of their chanting. All of a sudden, the wind stopped and the mist shot inward and concentrated itself onto the filly. For a moment, she was completely enveloped in its glow. Slowly it sank into her skin over the course of a couple seconds. When it was done, her shivering and shaking began to calm. She opened her eyes and eyeballed a few creatures, including myself, before falling unconscious again. The three active healers looked a little wobbly. Wild Storm had to brace himself on the table briefly and both Zecora and Claps to Thunder had to sit down on the floor while having a slightly labored breathing. The eldest griffin called out softly but clearly in Equestrian after he caught his breath, "Sings to Canopy." "Yes, teacher?" The toucan griffin responded, coming up to him. "Of my students, you are the one that gives the greatest compassion for those we heal and that is what I am in need of at this moment. Now that the child is cured of her food poisoning, take her and go with the pony doctor to see what must be done with her while her parents are in custody. Until the ponies have decided who will take care of her in her parents stead, you are to care for her. If there is any decent in this choice, do not leave her side until it is resolved." With one of the less prominent doctors and Sings to Canopy leaving, young filly in tow, the rest of the room seemed to look down in worry. "What's wrong?" The Pillar of Light known as Mistmane came up to me and gave a worried, but warmhearted explanation, "While it is good that the child's condition was not contagious, it does present a new obstacle for us to overcome. We had not considered our food or water sources to be at risk of contamination, but apparently they are. This is going to add an entirely new level of difficulty in fighting the epidemic."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Lockdown and Tentions. (Unslayable Foes, part 5)	With the countermeasures of the epidemic now in full swing, the town had changed. No more where there ponies traveling the streets with a good cheer. Instead, the only ponies in the streets were the guards, local mail service and volunteers delivering supplies and messages. Although there were exceptions for absolute emergencies, all non essential personnel were essentially ordered into house arrest. What surprised me was how effectively they were able to enforce it with so little need for actual force. "Princess Celestia has ruled for centuries." Plasma Wave explained it to me while we walked to Sugar Cube Corner, "Historically, she has been extremely hesitant to impose her will on the populace to such a degree. Combined with a few times that she has and ponies didn't cooperate with her, only to have the very thing she said she was trying to prevent happen, ponies have come to respect her emergency royal decrees." I could only shake my head and sigh. "That's not the kind of reputation any of my home world's leaders have had. They might be known for not imposing on the people in every last aspect of their lives, or have the sheer power to not have the populace question them in an emergency. But unless a nation was straight up under foreign attack, no powerful free nation was ever properly behind their leaders. Too much infighting. Too much Bureaucracy. Too much hatred to see the bigger problems." I looked back up at the street, with guards tending to the delivery of rationed supplies to each house. "Which is why it is kinda nice to see the sheer amount of cooperation here, and the fact that the one in charge won't be tempted to abuse the emergency power for her own ends." "Hello again, Mr Cake," I heard Plasma Wave call out. I saw him looking at the local baker standing at the entrance to his shop. Without me realizing it, we had reached our destination. "Ah, yes. And am I to presume this is the nice gentlecolt that will be stationed here to help us restore some of the town's lost supplies?" I noticed his words seemed to be genuine but not confident and I almost gave a giddy grin when I realized I understood why, completely on my own. With my classes in Equestrian coming to fruition, I came to understand the way pronouns and subject specific word pronunciations of different words not only expanded to include gender like some languages on earth. They would often also include species when referring to a creature, but it didn't really have any good forms for humanoids. Normally, the locals would use a work around word or phrase without being rude and had worked wonders in the past when I was still new to this world, but formal greetings never had such a luxury even back then. So, knowing it was a genuine greeting despite the awkward state it put the baker in, I chose to meet him half way. I simply mentally swallowed the awkwardness, right along with any hint of pride I may or may not have felt, smiled and nodded politely at the verbatim translation. "I'm not sure how well it will work, as it's untested, but I think my partner and I have a spell that can help with getting some of the contaminated food to be edible again." "Indeed, indeed." The baker gestured us inside. The once joyful bakery had been stripped down into a veritable shell of its former self. The front area was transformed into a small storage warehouse with piles of flour stacked to the ceiling. Peeking into the kitchen, I saw what I suspected was a testing facility set up to test the food that was still good and separate it from the stuff that had gone bad. I had to do a double take, though, as it had an immediate appearance of what I suspected a makeshift meth lab might look like. "Starlight and Sunburst informed me of your uncertainty and made sure to train my wife on how to test the food they bring in to us and separate the bad stuff out. We already have some contaminated flour set aside for you to do your thing with. Once we get a clean test back, we'll be sending another sample to the formal labs to test properly. After that... hopefully gets confirmed clean, we'll do what we can to help you set up for doing your thing in bulk." * * * About two hours later, I sat cross legged on the pillow the Cakes had offered me. My brow had a slight bead of sweat and my hands moved methodically in front of me, guided by whims that came to me in the moment, almost like second nature. But I knew it wasn't "natural" at all. Across the room, perched on a pony sized chair provided for him was Archimedes. Though he could move his owl form and fly about freely, to ensure we were doing this right he elected to stay calm and close and give our task his undivided attention. Words moved freely from his mind straight to my lips. I did not even hear what I was about to say until I said it. It was not his bond as a familiar that he used, but as my substitute divine catalyst. It was his knowledge of the spell that I was actually using to build up the energy needed, not my own. With a sudden surge of the power I had collected over the last ten minutes, I thrust my hands forward. A swirl of blue haze that was starting to build around me moved forward and clung itself to the sacks, sinking in. I have a sigh, wiped my brow and press my amulet before looking at the baker. "There, I think that's the tenth batch." "Eleventh, actually. I was about to tell you we were done when I finished moving the tenth, but you were already well into that one." I gave him a raised eyebrow and a huff. "Well, you already had it set aside for me. I figured the ones keeping track of the samples would have a better clue." He looked at me sheepishly. "Actually, that was just the remainder of what was left of that segment of storage. I didn't set it in place for you. You just looked so intent, and you said that if you were interrupted that you would have to start over." I just shook my head and stood up to stretch. With a slight crackling of my spine as I arched backwards, I sighed and came back to a stand, nodding in agreement. "Well, knowing Starlight and Sunburst, I doubt they will complain about an extra sample." While the baker did his thing and started taking the extra sample, Speaks with Talons shook his head and approached me. "You have been trying to teach us how to cast quickly like you, and now you show that you are able to cast slowly like us. Why do you not cast all of your spells like this?" Archimedes bobbed his head in a way I could recognize as a silent laugh before catching himself. "It's not that simple. Only a small number of the spells I have access to can be charged slowly like this. Most spells engineered for spell slots aren't designed to be able to be woven without the sheer energy of a spell slot fueling it. It would take major adaptation that is just way too far above my skill. This is actually a part of why I couldn't mimic any of your guys' spells until I accidentally saw you pulling off your signature spell." I looked at the flour I had purified being put into a transport vial by Mr Cake, then went about popping my neck and shoulders. "Most healing spells can't do this. I'm not sure if it's because of the flow against entropy like Starlight said or not. Either way though, the end result is that I'm stuck with using my spell slots on 'real' healing spells. This is kinda an exception because it isn't actually 'healing' anything, as the stuff is already dead. It's just being 'purified.'" "Officer Plasma Wave?" The baker called out in the direction of the store's restroom, "Are you about ready? I'm getting the last sample packed up now." "Just about. This last strap is being difficult." Plasma Wave came out of the bathroom, his side with his crippled wing still slightly moist from him doing some mid day care to it. The bulk of his harness that held his wing was on secure, but the part that held the artificial feathers tight to the remainder of his natural wing was still hanging slack, making the artificial feathers dangle. "The wing got roughed up my first day in the jail making sure the inmates knew I could hold my own even if I was crippled. I adjusted it back as best I could but I need to send it in to Keen Wit so that he can get the thing done back up right. He is the only one that really understands all the inner workings of his mechanism inside and out." He gave one last bite at the last strap, then sighed in a huff. Turning to us he gave a look of a proud stallion that didn't want to do what he knew he needed to do. With an eyeing of the griffin's sharp talons, then my hands, he turned to me. "Moss, do you mind pulling this last strap to tighten it down while I keep my wing straight? I have to keep it like that to get it lined up now and it makes pulling the strap even more awkward than before." With an understanding smile, I came over and got the strap in my hand, ready to tug at his signal. He got his wing into position then signaled me with a simple, "Now." I tugged firmly and latched it into place. Immediately, I felt him stiffen up and almost buckle his knees. "I'm sorry! are you al-" I tried to ask before the ankle of his front hoof was promptly shoved almost literally into my mouth. "I'm fine. The wing just..." He took a pained breath, coming out of it. "My wing gets rubbed a little on the raw side through the day anyway, and today its a bit tingly from the circulation being a little constricted this morning." With a moment more to get his stance back under him, he looked at me and nodded in gratitude. "But it looks like a few more adjustments in the bathroom did improve it. Honestly, I was expecting it to hurt more." With just another moment to equip the saddlebags that carried the samples inside, Plasma Wave was out the door and delivering the samples to Starlight and Sunburst. With that set, I went back over to the wall where the contaminated flour had been piled up and tried to lift, only to have trouble trying to move the large sack of flour. "Hey there. Take it easy. You've been doing this for almost two hours straight," the baker called out, gesturing to the chair where Archimedes perched, "There isn't a single unicorn I know that doesn't get at least a little tuckered out after keeping their magic up for that long. On top of that, unlike you, they can do it naturally. Take a break." * * * "So Fluttershy is working hard to keep one of the diseases from spreading through the animal populations? Knowing that some will have to be isolated and possibly die alone to save the other animals must be breaking her heart." Speaks with Talons was giving me the run down of what was happening around town as we sat down and simply did nothing for a few minutes to reset ourselves like the bakers asked. The baker had even brought us some mugs of water to boot. While him and his brothers still had to adhere to a lot of safety rules, as apprentices, they were considered Claps to Thunder's assistants. Therefor, they were allowed to move about town without nearly as much restriction. Out of all of the brothers, however, Speaks with Talons didn't have a task to perform. He was no longer ambassador of the tribal collective. On top of that, though he did have some effective, if simple, magic for helping him hunt, his ability to perform healing magic was just barely at a rudimentary level. Keeling himself over to stabilize a mortal wound was about all he could do in that regard. "Yes, and the Fey of Far Everfree have been informed about the situation. At least, the messenger was able to clearly yell out the decree that the squadron was quarantined to the forest for the time being as changing the guards could introduce the disease to their forest and the guards. I can only presume the squadron passed it on successfully. The Speaker hasn't appeared to any outsider again since the Crystal Sister let him go back to his village. I fear I may have to resume the duty as Fey ambassador if he doesn't appear soon." Archimedes leaned over and looked at me. "At least he would have something to do besides follow us." Stifling a laugh before it came out, I looked back at him, causing Speaks with Talons to notice him as well. "Oh, now that was rude," I called out to my familiar to show some respect to my friend, who I knew had learned to read the owl and know when he was communicating with me. "But definitely funny," I finished privately. "So what is the thing with your brothers?" I asked, changing the subject, "They seemed bitter towards you at the meeting, especially the youngest." Speaks with Talons looked at me like I had discovered a secret shame of his. Closing his eyes in pain, he answered, "I suppose you deserve to know. While the tribes have been balancing keeping the old ways with adapting it with more modern thinking, there is an old tradition among the tribal griffins that we still hold sacred because it kept us from dying out long ago. In order to keep alliances strong, it is a custom for the high shaman to marry a single member from each of the tribes and produce at least one child from each. This is why it is rare for a female to aspire to become high shaman. We have long since stopped forcing our kind to take on roles traditional for their gender. The roles are still commonly filled the traditional way by choice, but occasional exceptions do happen. Despite this fact, though, the position of High Shaman is one females do not really seek, as they would not be able to produce the expected amount of children without great risk to their health." I nodded, absorbing what he said, but failed to understand where he was going. "So... That sounds like it would affect your sisters, if you have any, more than your brothers. How does this relate back to them?" Speaks with Talons nodded and gave a quiet, merry laugh. "Yes. I have four half sisters and a full sister in the Raven Tribe. All of them have developed their own strengths. All of them have a grace and beauty that would make their mothers proud. Some very talented, some quite brave, and none of them lazy or cowardly." Speaks with Talons lost all sense of merriment and became quite focused as he stared at nothing in particular, but still stared intensely. "My father has only four sons, including my self. But there are six tribes. The sisters I have from the other two tribes did not become apprentices, believing there would be another brother born eventually." He took a deep breath and exhaled. Pain swelling as he muscled through it like the warrior he was. "But that all changed when Listens in Anger, my youngest brother, was born. His mother died giving birth to him, after already being warned not to carry another child after his elder sister was born. "After that, my father decreed that he would have no more children, that he would not endanger any more of his wives, nor take another from the Hawk Tribe to replace her." Speaks with Talons looked at me in a knowing fashion. "Yes, Listens in Anger's mother was a hawk griffin, and my father's childhood beloved while growing up among them. Listens in Anger was cursed with the eagle blood of our ancestors running thick enough through his own blood to show. In spite of this, him and his full sister were the only ones ever truly conceived in love, and our father took him in in spite of the death of his mother while birthing an eagle head was shunned by the Hawk Tribe." Despite having a great amount of heartache, he lifted his head up in pride. "You have to understand. Griffins can only ever truly have one love. The high shaman is expected to take multiple mates, not privileged. Even a common griffin ave sometimes mated with the beloved of sibling that circumstances prevented them from having a child, allowing them to have the closest thing to their sibling's child they can, but they only ever desire a single lover. It's an instinct that is embedded into our very core." He hung his head down in an even greater pain than before. This was different, though. This was personal. "Every griffin who has found a beloved, then lost them early on can understand his plight. Despite the ramifications to the process of electing a new high shaman after his eventual death by having so few apprentices, he still chose to weep for her. Like any griffin with a sensitive heart, he still weeps to this day." Not wanting to pry into the personal pain, I tried to move the conversation forward. "So your father's title is hereditary?" He swayed his head side to side, slowly. "Not exactly. A child of the high shaman can be the next, but it can also pass on to a more experienced shaman previously dedicated to a single village, depending on the deliberations and eventual vote. But the thing is, with only four apprentices, two of which are not well received among the shamans, the chance of another high shaman being voted in outside the family is likely, and could cause some uproar. "An apprentice from each village is not only allowed, but expected. Taking on a second from one or two villages after the eldest has grown up is not uncommon too. "High shamans are meant to be unbiased. Our mixed blood line is meant to embody this. While not meant to be the majority, local shamans are usually enough to sway the vote when two brothers have fought in the past. But with completely fresh blood holding the title, many of the tribes will question their unbiased position. They would see it as a shaman seizing an opportunity for power, especially with the local shamans out numbering the apprentices. It should not amount to full on war, but it will cause tensions to rise until the new high shaman proves themselves unbiased. This is hard to do when every decision you make is believed to be for your own tribe, or as a token sacrifice to allow later or greater decisions be in bias to one's native tribe." After his long explanation, he let his burden come to full bear as he placed a talon on my shoulder. "It was believed both of us were taken in and kept on as apprentices as a way to help prevent this. Neither I nor my youngest brother are admired among the High Shaman's apprentices, but with the number of apprentices so low, no chief has dared challenge it. He has always seen me as the one brother he could best to prove himself. Despite my temper, I have constantly let him do what he nee-" The door to the bakery slammed open. There stood Listens in Anger, winded, with a glare befitting his name directed straight at Speaks with Talons. "Fake apprentice! I need to speak! Come here!" While I had to hold myself back, I didn't even see Speaks with Talons so much as flinch. What an outsider might see as a look of defeat in his eyes, I saw the pained love of a brother patiently dealing with his brother's antics. With a firm stride, Speaks with Talons went to his brother and stood at attention. With his brother in place, Listens in Anger let loose. "You dare to call yourself a healer!?" Speaks with Talons didn't flinch. "You are nothing more than a brave that learned a few tricks to aid hunting down his prey! You do not know how to heal even in a team! Let alone on your own! The only 'healing' you know is how to cauterize and dress a battle wound!" While this may have been true when I met him, Speaks with Talons did know how to heal today, albeit at a steep price. Yet still, he simply stood there and took it in. Meanwhile, I tightened my grip on my mug and drank deeply, finishing off the water so as to not waste it. "He could have easily picked any of our sisters to take your place when I surpassed your talent years ago! You should not have been at that meeting, let alone-!" He stopped in mid sentence when my wooden mug hit the side of his arm. I had actually been aiming for his head, but it got the job done. "That's enough!" I shouted while marching up to them, "If you haven't noticed, there's an epidemic going on! Now's not the time to be fighting among ourselves!" When Speaks with Talons reached up and put his face in his talon, I knew I had messed up. "This is none of your business, outsider! We-" "What is going on here?" I heard a new voice call out. Stepping in beside his youngest brother, I saw the owl headed griffin from before in a well decorated medicine mask. "Searches for Stars!" I heard the youngest call out in confidence. "This outsider has come and assaulted me on our mission! But stay back, I do not need anygriff's protection." He looked at Speaks with Talons with a purpose to his glare. "Not since I was a cub, not anymore." I thought I was going to be backed into a corner, either metaphorically, or possibly even literally. The owl griffin calmly looked around and saw the state of the room. He glanced at the mug, at me, at Speaks with Talons still holding his face, and then something at his youngest brother's side that I couldn't see. "Perhaps you do not know who this is, Listens in Anger. So stay true to your namesake for a moment and hear what I have learned by seeking knowledge since we have arrived instead of dwelling in the past: This is Moss, known to the few local servants as the Beast-kin. He is also the battle brother of Speaks with Talons." "That does not give him the right to assault me!" Searches for Stars gave a cold stare at his brother. He wasn't nearly as poised as their father, but was definitely the most reserved of the brothers. The kind that would use wisdom to assess and resolve a conflict with as little energy wasted as possible. "It does when you run ahead of me the moment I point out our destination, then fail to deliver what we were meant to deliver by the time I caught up just to pick a fight with Speaks with Talons and blame the fight on him, again." The youngest brother broke his self righteous posturing and leaned back a little at this. Turning to me, then back at the youngest, he continued. "This is a fight you picked. You will now face it alone." Turning back to me, he gave a tiny, respectful nod of recognition. "Do what you must. I will not interfere in this quandary, nor seek retribution. But please do make sure he can continue to function. The need for healers is great." Now suddenly called out, Listens in Anger turned to me and snarled. "You should know-"He started to ramble. "You should know your place!" I cut him off and yelled even louder, posturing in an "I'm ready to fight" stance. "We're trying to save lives and all you can do is whip out your shlong and demand a pissing contest!?" With his momentum properly broken, at least unless he outright wanted to get into a physical brawl, I lowered my voice enough to not call it yelling, but didn't back my posture down in the slightest. "I get the practical part of what you're saying, I really do. He can't help with the healing. That doesn't mean he is useless. So, for the sake of the mission, I'm going to let this slide, but..." I came in real close, like I could have stuck out my tongue and possibly touched his beak with it, close. "If you insist on continuing to just use that beak of yours to keep badmouthing my battle brother instead of focusing on the crisis, I will have no choice but to find you and formally remove it!" Cocking his head as I backed off, he jested, "Right. What are you going to do? Challenge me to that brutal rite of standing? I may not be as honed as my brutish brother, but I think I could still take..." His words died in his throat as he tilted his head up to meet the gaze of the polar bear that just appeared in the place I was standing. With only two seconds of eye contact, he coughed and started over. "Beast... Kin... Right! We have a mission. We don't need to be fighting among ourselves." Turning to Speaks with Talons, he spoke in a carefully measured tone. "Brother." With the message received, I turned back just in time to see the youngest bring forth the mask that their father had worn the day before. "While I do not feel right about this, our father has made his decision. Now that his own mask has been outfitted to work with the ponies' needs, he is allotting you this medicine mask temporarily." Looking at the mask presented and comparing it to the mask that the eldest brother had, I noticed it was remarkably simple, like a basic mask made in a hurry, verses a well worn mask that had been customized and changed over at least a few years. It was like looking at a proper machete compared to the tiny blade of a basic pocket knife or multi tool. They served the same function, but there was no comparison beyond that. Searches for Stars spoke up, calmly and in a reserved voice, "Sings to Canopy and Listens in Anger have also gotten their masks modified and we will be staying here to tend to the sick while our teacher and the other masters have been asked by the Crystal Sister to tend to a more populated area. In the meantime, our teacher has reflected on Zecora's reports of your progress and has determined you have advanced enough to help her students finish a basic circle to aid in the simpler task of purifying the town's food and water." The youngest sneered at this last part, but took a breath and continued the directions. "While you and the Zebra's students are being allotted impromptu masks, this does not mean you have advanced enough to consider the mask your own. When this crisis is over, you are to clean, disassemble and return the mask to us to be burned." "Oh, and one more thing," the eldest interrupted again, "There is one more piece of news I was to relay. While the Plague Artifact was properly recovered from the enemy and secured in the attack, some creature broke into the vault holding all the other items confiscated on your recent mission. The only description I could understand was that it was two legged, dark skinned, and roughly your size, Cousin Beast-kin." All the energy that was making my blood lean towards boiling from the tension suddenly dropped out as my blood went cold instead. "Not again." I heard Archimedes call out in shock. My lips quivered as the word I was dreading left them. "Dalock..."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Unrestful Night (Unslayable Foes, part 6)	After getting back home to Fluttershy's cottage, I was exhausted from purifying what felt like more flour and other staple foods than I could consume in a year if I tried. Every last sample of each food type I worked with came back clean, fortunately. So, combined with the efforts of others sorting out what storage sites were still clean and which needed to be sent to Sugar Cube Corner for purification, the food supplies were not in an immediate crisis. At least not if we all stayed on top of it. Right as I entered the door and pressed my amulet to give a friendly "I'm home," Archimedes flew off my shoulder and up to his usual perch that Fluttershy had made for him when he first came into my life. "Oh, I hope Speaks with Talons and the other two manage to get clean tests too. I really don't want to be the only one purifying all the contaminated food." I slumped down to my cushion on the floor of the main area as Fluttershy came out of her bedroom with a brave face. Turning to her, I tried to put my own worries aside. "You doing alright?" It was rhetorical. I knew she wasn't alright, but I also knew she wouldn't admit it. I just had to go through the motions to let her unwind her stress in her own way. "Oh yes. And speaking of purifying, I have news." She sat down next to me and gave a weary but sincere smile. "There are a few other teams spread out through Equestria helping too. Some shamans and apprentices from the minotaur and yak nations are helping in Los Pegasus out of Iron Will's estate." She gave a bemused sigh and shook her head as she heard her last statement. She then picked up Angel Bunny, who had also seen through her brave face and wanted to comfort her. Against character and with an unusually calm demeanor, Angel let her stroke his head and back while she continued. "We even found a breezie shaman that has come out of their protected village to help the other two zebra shamans form a circle while their apprentices purify the food in Manehattan. Zecora, Wild Storm and Claps to Thunder are tending to the needs of the Canterlot area. The servants of the Animus Mundi from many nations have really been coming together to keep the diseases from spreading out past Equestria." She suddenly gave a huff of frustration and let a gleam of anger show through before she steadied herself again. "But it would be nice if they would stop asking why I haven't taken up studying under Zecora. I love all kinds of critters and nature, but I don't need to be a shaman to help them." I couldn't help but tilt my head back and close my eyes, thinking about how opinionated they could be. At least they would not force the point. I was about to comment, but Fluttershy continued again. "I even heard about how you stood up for Speaks with Talons." Had that come from anybody besides her, I might not have been too bothered. And yet, because it was from her, I found myself shrinking down in worry of her feelings towards the actions I took. Instead of any frustration or anger, I actually saw her genuinely relax and take comfort at the fact. "Trouble making aside, its nice to see you've grown such a strong bond with him. I was beginning to worry you wouldn't open up to any creature enough to form a bond that deep." With a more genuine smile, less strained by her day's labors, she looked at me with pride. "It's a good sign for your RRE progress." "Something is outside." I heard Archimedes call to me. "So, besides being tired, how was your first day of employment as a food pr-" She started to ask, but was quickly interrupted by a sudden rising of my hand. After the alarm from Archimedes, I went into alert mode. I almost couldn't make it out from the wind lightly rustling the leaves outside, but in trusting my paranoia just enough to make sense of it, I heard it. It was subtle, but I could sense something coming from around the cottage to the kitchen door. Although I had absolutely no authority over her, I quickly gestured to her to stay seated where she was while I checked out the noise. Pulling out my wand of lightning bolts the moment I was out of eyesight, I came to realize that whatever had made the noise was just on the other side of the door. With a careful placement of my feet and spare hand on the door nob, I charged the spell within my wand to max capacity and readied myself. With a quick throwing of the door open, I shoved my wand right at Princess Luna's heart. The moment I saw who it was, I couldn't keep myself from letting the spell go off. I couldn't even point away with the wand at point blank range. With a reflexive twirl of her horn, I could see she had a counter spell, making my own spell fizzle out, expended but otherwise uncast in the process. When it was all said and done, she and I just stared at each other in utter shock. "I'm... I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else," Was all I was able to utter as I dropped the wand. Her thestral guard moved up to arrest me, but Princess Luna waved her off. "It's alright, Crescent Blade," she called to the guard, "We weren't expected, so his worry was reasonable. I am not harmed, and there was no ill intent towards us specifically." Turning to me, she gave an uneasy smile. "And if I am to be formal, I suppose my pardon against this not quite assault can make up for the wrongs I have done to Moss in the past. Are we even now?" I saw her face wasn't the calm, cold expression she had when speaking formally to bureaucrats at a distance, but the warmer expression that I had seen on the fanged face she wore when she worked painstakingly as my Equestrian tutor. I backed up to let them inside as I had to take a second to subdue the rising knee-jerk desire to run and to understand what she was talking about. Once I made the connection, I shook my head side to side. "I never blamed you for my astral judgement back when, either. So... Yea. I suppose we are still even." I could see one of the weights on her mind lift at my response. "I see you and Starlight managed to master up-casting," I stated, it being the only thing running through my mind besides my desire to keep the reflexive panic from coming forth. Princess Luna looked at the wand, then back at me, confused. "Not quite, though we are coming close. But I wouldn't have needed to do so with your wand, no? The spell is the same level of power as the countering spell we extracted from the books sent with you. The base level should have sufficed, should it not have?" With Fluttershy coming towards the kitchen, I weakly muttered, "No. It was full power at level nine. If you didn't up-cast, then we're lucky that it managed to work anyway," before she came in. Princess Luna went a little shocked at the news, cocked her head and asked, "Why would you risk breaking your wand to..." Her eyes landed on Fluttershy entering the kitchen and giving a semi courteous bow to the princess as Princess Luna connected the dots. I heard her speak to me slowly in the fragmented English she had plucked from my mind back when, eyes wide in shock, "Yew. Thoot. Iee. Waz. Heem." Despite the desire to not make her worry, the sudden tension in the air made Fluttershy worry anyway. When we looked at her, seeing her muscle a smile despite it all, she looked at Princess Luna and asked, "So what brings you here, Princess Luna?" in order to try to move away from the tension. With a cough, Princess Luna came in all the way, followed by her guard mare and another thestral that looked like he was more of a lawyer than a guard. "Though I barely picked up on it, I had an urgent message. The Speaker of the Fey needs my assistance and called to me in his dreams." With each of us pouring into the main area, Princess Luna shook her head. "Sadly, he couldn't elaborate. Before he was forced to awaken, all that the Speaker could say was to meet him here, that he needed asylum and it was important enough to break quarantine." "Small forest creature friend coming to visit?" I heard Scraps call out from the area him and Tempest were bunked. Turning to them, Princess Luna greeted them with a simple smile, "Captain Tempest, Scraps. It is good to see you both alive and healthy in this epidemic. I apologize for the intrusion." "Don't mind us, we were just seeing what the commotion was about. If we aren't needed, we're going back to bed." Tempest looked down at Scraps and made her voice go stern. "Now." * * * With some small talk to keep us busy and some tea prepared, we eventually found ourselves with a soft knock on the front door. When I opened the front door, I was not surprised to see the Speaker, but he seemed surprised to see me. Pulling back and guarding a package, he brought forth his small wooden staff that would have been little more than a cane to me. Pointing said staff right at me in an accusative manner, he called out, "Wh-what are you doing here, Beast-kin!?" With Fluttershy coming around into view of the door, I just looked back and forth between them and plainly replied, "I live here? If you need her, Princess Luna is inside waiting for you." At first he held his stance, then gave a grimace look. "The griffin has often told of how you show only disdain for the home world we feared your declared master would spill from, and I must now question my village's values. It appears I have no choice but to set my fear of you aside for something far more important." As he slowly lowered his staff, I could see the strain of many days of struggling come to the surface. We walked into the main area, with the Speaker making a point to keep as much distance from me as he could and settled down. "I understand there is a need for Asylum, yes?" The lawyer like thestral called out as soon as Princess Luna gestured to him. "Given that we cannot ask your true name due to your special circumstances the Princess has informed me of, an alias will suffice. However, if Asylum is to be given, we need more details than what you conveyed to the Princess in the brief moment you contacted her. Could you elaborate?" The Speaker simply nodded and set down the staff in his lap as he continued to hold the wrapped package. "I suppose the best point to start would be when the Fey first asked for aid. We successfully managed to get rid of the attackers, but at a cost. Elder First Webweaver, our strongest weaver of the web that protects our village, expended too much of her stamina repairing the web during the battle. Indeed, the last act she managed to perform was placing her palm in the ink and pressing it to the treaty that all our elders signed, dying only an hour later." He took a pause to wipe away a tear. "This left only my father, Gatekeeper, as the last living Fey of the original generation that came to Equis as a child. The last Fey that stood in the way of newborn Fey from being considered native in the eyes of magic." With this, he took his free hand and carefully unraveled the package to reveal a tiny baby Fey. "It is a taboo subject as an old agreement between the first generation said they would not seek each other's deaths, but when my wife went into labor..." Tears flowed and the baby, seemingly sensing its father's pain, became uneasy. Forcing himself to rock his child back and forth as he fought through his grief, he slowly regained enough composure to continue. "When my wife went into labor with our daughter, my father, in an act of love and desperation, locked himself in his study and cut off his own head." "That's terrible!" I called out in utter shock, "Why in the name of all things sacred would he do that!?" The Speaker looked at me with raw contempt. Once he stood up and placed his baby in Princess Luna's care, he went right up to me and laid in on me. "And what do you know of our plight!?" Coming up to me and forcing me to back up to the wall, he continued, "You may bear a similar curse of foreign blood, but you know nothing of the agony! I have heard tell of your difficulties with our surrogate mother!" Shifting is posture to a dramatic crybaby form, he mocked me, "'Oh boo-hoo, the Animus Mundi does not call me her child. Oh woe is me!'" Looking at me with disgust he continued in anger again, "Phooey! She loves you like no other! No Fey, nor even the most talented Servants we have had the chance to meet over the millennia took less than a year to gain any favor from her through rigorous study! And yet, despite not trying to study in the least, she took to you within days!" He slapped his bear chest then brought is arms forward and cocked his head. "Not one Fey of my generation are considered her children either, and we were born here! I have lived though countless ages of the other races, and have known nothing else but this world, yet still my true name can still impose great detriment if it is ever spoken by another! Do you know how difficult it is for an Animus Mundi to grant a second true name!? You could spend a hundred of your life times searching the cosmos and not find a single entity that has been adopted and granted a true name by a second home world! The Animus Mundi of Equis only granted one to that draconequus in an act of desperation!" Time seemed to slow. Not quite stop, but slow. The Speaker lost his posture and stepped back, looking at something that was behind me. Suddenly, I felt a great pain stabbing me through the back. I felt myself being lifted up from the inside, like the stabbing pain was grasping my heart. "And now the secret is out," I heard Discord speak as if he were whispering into my ear, but loud enough for the whole room to hear. "The secret who's details I've tried to dance around to hide from you for your own sake. The secret that I have a prior true name before being granted the name Discord by the Animus Mundi." I could feel a strong magic being woven into my body. "If it were not for the fact that it would break my dear Fluttershy's heart, I would be killing you where you stand. You who are able to order the one entity still in this world that still knows my first true name. The name that can still be used against me to this day." My eyes went to Archimedes as the magic was suffocating me. It coursed through my every vein, every artery, my lungs, my heart, and up into my skull where it wrapped around my brain. "Know this. I trust him and his sense of duty to never jeopardize his mission by revealing it voluntarily or to even elude to it. You, however, I do not trust. Not to that degree. If you ever have him reveal my true name, the curse I place into you now will cut you down. You will be dead before you can even speak the first syllable." After this, Discord let go and I fell to the Speaker's hooves. As quickly as he came, he bowed to Fluttershy apologetically and disappeared. With a deep gasp to recover, I saw the whole room stare at me like they had seen a ghost. "OK, then... Archimedes?" I looked up at his perch. "Please, whatever I do, do not answer if I ask for Discord's first name. I am ordering you to disobey me in that scenario. Can you do that?" With a nod, he quickly made himself scarce and hid inside the little hut he almost never went into. With that odd interruption settled, the Speaker continued, though with a broken momentum to his temper. "You asked why he killed himself? If my father was still alive before my daughter took her first breath, she would have been cursed the same way I had been. He only had a few decades of life left, and he willingly gave it up to give his granddaughter a chance to live a better life." He pulled out a bit of parchment with some notes in a language that definitely wasn't Equestrian. "His dying wish was that I show her to the world. His granddaughter, the first truly native Fey of Equis. But the rest of the counsel would not have it. They sought to weave her life force to the web, binding her to the village like the rest, save for myself. If they managed to do that, then it would take a great ritual to unbind her like it did me thousands of years ago." Taking his daughter back from Princess Luna, he held her close. "My wife and I barely managed to get the message out and sabotage the web long enough for me to escape with her. My wife is surely paying the price for this as we speak." The lawyer looked up at him, doing his best to write down the story. With a nod of approval from Princess Luna, the Lawyer spoke up. "It seems that Princess Luna has approved your application for Asylum, both for you and your daughter. But if I am to get my paperwork straight, I need to know what I can put down on her papers. What alias are you willing to have her go by?" The Speaker gave his first genuine smile since I had met him and held is daughter as tightly as he dared in a hug. "No alias is needed for her. Our names are a bit like the tribal griffins' in that they are not so much a series of syllables, but a woven thought. A concept. In Equestrian, her name--yes her name--would be spoken as 'Hope.' 'Hope Bittersweet.'"
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Meaning of Family, Part 1, The Study of Healers (Unslayable Foes arc, part 7)	Over the next two days, I worked alongside Speaks with Talons and the other two in his casting circle. I came to learn a lot about how the Servants cast magic in a circle, sharing the load and applying more force to overcome the added taxation of healing. Most of it was jargon I only half understood, but the biggest thing was that it required at least three servants and the maximum power of the spell was capped by the weakest caster. In this case, oddly, it wasn't Speaks with Talons that was the weakest link. He was a slow learner, but he still had been studying since he was a child. No, the weakest link was the freelance Zebra stallion. It turned out that he was not always a servant, and had only just started meditating on his own in recent years. He refused to go into details about his past but it was clear he still looked up to Zecora in great admiration despite not being her formal apprentice. While Speaks with Talons had trouble being in a circle at all, now that he could he had more stamina for it than the zebra stallion. The zebra had been introduced to me as Consolation. This proved to be a headache due to an odd hiccup in the translation of my amulet. This was because he was the only creature I had met so far who's name was rooted a meaning and not just syllables, and was actively spoken in the native tongue instead of Equestrian. Even when I tried to speak it as it was spoken in his native language, my amulet translated my non-Equestrian words to their meaning in Equestrian. Needless to say, this caused some awkward situations on my first day working with him. "He is a natural healer, though," Speaks with Talons mentioned to me while the young zebra stallion caught his breath so that they could continue, "Like Mandible, he has so many little techniques outside of magic he has helped treat others with. Consolation has only been awoken as a servant for about a year and yet he can already heal in a circle. I, however, have never been good at healing." He shook his head and looked at me, noticing I had not even touched my water as we sat at the bakery. "I have you to thank for the ability to heal at all, Beast-kin." His tone went sad, but was full of resolve. "You also helped me finally realize what I have known all along but not wanted to admit." I could see his talon get stiff around his own mug, resisting the urge to squeeze it, and the bittersweet pain of acceptance in his eyes. "I will never be a proper healer. The raven tribe are a tribe of hunters, warriors and fishers. We barely even have any fields of crops compared to the other tribes. No, it is not my place to heal, but to destroy. I destroy those that would destroy more, so that I can protect my brothers and sisters in servitude as they heal. This is why the Animus Mundi gave me the burden of being a quasi servant." I looked at him odd. "Quasi servant?" He closed his eyes and nodded briefly before opening them again. "It is the term for those that grow slowly in magic among the servants like myself. Quasi servants are still servants, but our magic is different. Many of us choose to train in a wider range of skills outside of the magic than most because of the additional amount of time needed to reflect on the magic we learn. Whether we study other arts or not, it still only comes so fast. The biggest fault among us is that the magic is also independent from the Animus Mundi once learned. It cannot be denied that we learn it from her, but it becomes infused into our minds as well as our hearts, almost like that of the pony mages. While I meditate and communicate with her like any servant, I do not need to call out to her in the moment I use my magic. Some among the servants see us as charity cases. Grossly flawed and barely functional through fouler means and we should be allowed to serve only in lesser roles out of pity. The only reason the ones that believe this even tolerate us is that they can't deny the Animus Mundi not only allows it, but thinks of us far more warmly than most." He looked over at the wagons that were just arriving with more food for us to purify and take to more populated areas. "It's also why I have so much trouble forming a circle with others. With the need to use our minds as well as our hearts, it makes it difficult to work in harmony with the others that only use their hearts. This is on top of the fact we learn magic at about half the rate of the normal servants and healing is extra difficult for us. No, I've always been more efficient in using magic to destroy than to heal. I just need to accept it." He took a breath to steel himself and got up, only to have my hand catch him. "Hey, death and destruction are a part of life. You shouldn't be a shamed of it." I gave him a confident smile. "I've gotten to know you pretty well by now. You have a good heart. I also know you had one back when you were young. I saw how you earned your name that day. I think she knew this when she empowered you with her more destructive magic. She knew she could trust you to be careful and never abuse the power." I let go and let him actually get up. Getting up myself, I finished. "You're not a weak servant just because your healing magic is weak. Out of all her servants, you were strong in exactly the way she needed to trust you with the dark side of the force." I had to wave my hand to dismiss that last part as he looked at me with that familiar look of not fully understanding the phrase I made. "And I have a sneaking suspicion it is probably true for the other quasi servants too. Don't ever let the rest make you feel ashamed of that." With the heart to heart over, we started towards the door to help the unloading, only to find Mandible and the Speaker coming through the door with a fussy baby Hope in tow. "Consolation," We heard Mandible call over to the zebra stallion, "I need to ask, do you have any fennel and peppermint in your supplies? We have ran out of her mother's milk that was sent with her and Hope is not responding well to pony formula. We have to calm her stomach before we can try any alternatives for feeding her." Consolation looked up and glanced at the baby. "I do, but are you trying to make gripe water for her? That recipe for gripe water is not healthy for a newborn of any race and we would be gambling if we tried any other herbs for gripe water too. Bring her here. I may have another technique that can avoid hurting her digestive tract." It seemed to sting Mandible that his remedy was potentially harmful, but he yielded to the more experienced herbalist and ushered the Speaker over. As they set Hope on the table, Consolation looked to her father and asked, "Do you have anything of hers, a toy perhaps? A loose hair that came off will suffice." The Speaker nodded and brought out what looked to be a simple bit of wood cleaned up and shaven smooth in a funny shape, covered in a bit of spit. It took me a moment but it was basically an impromptu pacifier made in a way she could suckle but not choke on it. Consolation took the pacifier and a doll out of his own supplies. Carefully placing the pacifier on top of where the doll's mouth might be, he brought out needles. "Do not worry. These will not touch her, nor cause any puncturing through my doll. They are simply to coax her natural gates into calming down to help her with her discomfort until her gas passes. In short, it will keep her from fussing and making it worse. Then we can look into relieving the gas." It was weird, seeing him work on a doll that was twice the size of the child laying right next to it, but his methods seemed to be working. Hope was calming down, but wasn't quite completely settled yet. She was still feeling something. I just shook my head and looked back at Speaks with Talons. "Some of the techniques you servants use to heal still amaze me to this day." At first he was in shock, but looked back at me. "That's not a servant technique. It's voodoo, an æther based magic that manipulates the flow of energies in a body and mind. Though they do it through tools rather than horns like the unicorns, it started with the study of ancient mages who sought to better understand the natural patterns the Animus Mundi works through. That is why Consolation does not speak of his past before becoming a servant. He was a witch doctor." When he saw me not understanding what he was implying, he shook his head and replied. "They study natural magics, but unlike quasi servants, they are not blessed by the Animus Mundi at all. This practice is purely focused in the mind, not the heart. Many servants want to lump quasi servants up with them, seeing us as only one step removed from them in practice. We have common roots, but there is bad blood between some shamans and the witch doctors." Having completed the procedure with his doll and instructing the Speaker to carefully move her legs in a bicycle like motion, Consolation turned towards us. "'Never is it a waste to let a healer heal.' That is what Zecora once told me. So I will not deny my past, nor the medical knowledge passed to me by my old teacher. But I would appreciate it if you didn't needlessly tell others. I walk a different path now." A few minutes passed as the Speaker steadily worked the gas out of his daughter's belly. After a while, we saw Plasma Wave and another volunteer come in to Sugar Cube Corner. "Here you are!" The pegasus mare called out as they approached Mandible. Upon seeing Consolation, she gave a smile of familiarity. "I heard you were back in town! I can see you've finished growing up since I saw you last." Consolation could only give an uneasy smile and a bowing of his head to her. Holding his now calmed daughter, the Speaker came up to the group and the guard. "Never have I seen æther so beautifully wielded. If only more magi could learn to work with its flow like you did instead of push through it with raw force, the Fey probably wouldn't be so paranoid of it. Maybe after Hope is grown I can return and show them what I've seen in the outside world." He locked eyes with me for a moment as I could see the gears turning in his head about how to judge me as well. Ultimately, he took a step back and called to Mandible. "Please tell the doctors that I have to refuse their request. While my wells of magical stamina are far deeper than most, it also regenerates far more slowly than most. Until Hope can safely eat something else, I have to save all my stamina to feed her." Turning to the kitchen, the Speaker called out to the owners. "I must apologize, but do you have one of those 'baby bottles' I was shown by Nurse Redheart? Hope seems to prefer them to the nozzle of a milk bladder." Upon seeing a nod from an empathetic Ms Cake, the Speaker set Hope down on the floor and spoke, "Please, surrogate mother, help me feed my daughter," while passing his staff over his hand. With this, a familiar sight of ten berries appeared in his hand. His hand was so small that he had to drop his staff to keep from spilling them onto the floor. With some quick maneuvering he placed them in a pouch at his side then pulled one berry out again. When Ms Cake brought the baby bottle, he placed the one berry inside the bottle then reached up and set it on the counter. Turning to Mandible and Plasma Wave, he took off his pouch and offered it to them. "But it is not our way to waste any resource. So you may also tell the doctors that while I will not expend any of my magic to create any additional berries, they may still have the excess that would otherwise go bad after I have seen to it that I have enough to feed her. I sympathize with the children who's stomachs were all but shut down by the poisoned food, but my duty as her father comes first. With her mother unable to feed her, I can't risk sparing even a single drop of my magic for anything else." With the pouch in tow, Plasma Wave nodded and prepared to head out to deliver them. "Hopefully this will still help them get back to normal food. With so many from the party sick, the doctors are having a hard time rationing that stuff they put straight into the blood until they can get more in. I've survived on those berries myself when Zecora made them, but I'm still surprised even a baby can eat them without straining their bellies." After Plasma Wave stepped out, he noticed the mare hadn't left with him. Turning back around, he poked his head back in. "Lightning Dust? Are you coming?" The mare he called out to shook her head and looked at Consolation. "I'll meet up with you later, dad. I have an old acquaintance I want to catch up with." With another nod and a simple smile, Plasma Wave left. Turning to Consolation, Lightning Dust lowered her ears for a moment then shook her head back and forth. "So did you hear what happened to Gets Things Done?" Consolation simply sighed and closed is eyes. "Yes. He died last night from one of the more quick acting diseases they contained within the prisons. I know I should morn him, but with the sheer amount of pain he caused for his own ends, I can't seem to shed a tear for my older brother's passing. In some ways I'm actually relieved." Lightning Dust Nodded in kind, then abruptly turned her attention towards us. "OK, I caught up with Consolation. So I wasn't technically lying, but I need to ask all of you for something. You're all healers, right?" With all of us gathering, Speaks with Talons and myself scratched our heads. "Technically, in our cases?" I spoke for the both of us while the rest simply nodded. With an expression of slight desperation, Lightning Dust gave a look of a mare out of options. "It's my dad. I've known him my whole life and I can tell something's wrong. He's really good at putting on a brave face but what I've seen today has gone above and beyond. Something's terribly wrong with him, but he won't admit it." She looked at us with a growing expression of fear. "The doctors are stretched thin and either can't or won't fight to get him to consent to an examination. Please, figure out what is wrong with my dad and help him." The entire room went silent at her odd request. After it sank in, we all looked at Lightning Dust with unease and empathy. The Speaker went first as he reached for the baby bottle again, then his daughter, "If I find something, I will be sure to do what I can. However, much of my time and energy is filled with taking care of Hope and learning to get along in this outside world. So I am not sure how much I can do." When he turned to the rest of us, he seemed a bit surprised our faces matched his expression. With a gurgle from Hope's now hungry belly causing her to get fussy again, he proceeded to excuse himself and start mashing the berry into juice and dilute it with water to bottle feed her a little at a time. Tree Hugger, whom had been quiet thus far, came up and put her hoof on Lightning Dust's shoulder. "As much as we'd like to help figure out your dad's bad mojo, we have to stay here to purify the food for the greater good." Mandible, being the only one that wasn't preoccupied, piped in. "I will try to do what I can too, but he only sees me as the broken changeling he rescued that one time. I don't think he'd open up to me much." Speaks with Talons looked at the first cart they finished unloading and shook his head. "He has a bond with the Beast-kin and myself from our adventures, so he might open up if we could be with him. Sadly, we will likely take the rest of the morning for the last of today's batches and will be completely exhausted after that." Lightning Dust closed her eyes to look inward as her face became mixed with an array of motions in a span of only a few seconds. Anger, confused frustration, and finally disappointment. She didn't make a fuss, but rather just turned to walk out. "Wait," I called out to her. She stopped in her tracks to turn her head back. I gave an uneasy apologetic face to Speaks with Talons and the other healers, but steeled myself to continue. "If I can get Archimedes to cooperate, I think I can wrap the last of this up quickly. I still have to go home immediately after due to my paperwork, but it should free up you guys." "No," I heard Archimedes call to me, which I promptly ignored. "I play by a different set of rules compared to natives when it comes to casting. I actually have a limited reserve of energy I can tap into. The catch is that I have to have Archimedes's cooperation to cast the spell I've been using here, and he's been a stick in the mud." "What if Dalock attacks?" Still ignoring him, I continued "He doesn't want me wasting my spell slots, my reserves, doing a spell I can cast without them if given enough time. He is afraid of not having enough magic to deal with something if it happens, but the fact is I don't have enough magic to deal with it even if it did. I need to rely on my friends, but if I hold on to my reserves needlessly, I won't be able to rely on as many friends and my resources will dwindle in the long run." I turned to Archimedes on his perch, noting that Speaks with Talons followed my movement. "All I can do is up cast level one spells while Dalock has the ability to stockpile his magic indefinitely. In the long run this is a bad idea and you know it." "He hasn't let me cast this spell with the reserves that let me cast quickly. Please, Archimedes,-" I shifted my tone to a pleading one as most of the creatures present started looking at him longingly, just as I needed them to. "-Partner, will you work with me on this?" The owl stuck his head down "...I still feel this is a bad idea, but you have a point. We will need allies to take him down." Turning to the teams that were piling the food in from outside, I told them to stop. With everyone looking at me through the door or windows, I made quick work of the nine carts, taking only a few seconds at each cart to move my hands and call out to Archimedes before casting the spell to purify the food, still in the carts. Coming back inside, I used up my smallest remaining spell slot on the pile that had already been unloaded. Almost every creature was shocked at my ability, except for the Speaker. With a look of disgust and contempt, he practically spat at me. "You still wield that forbidden energy?" I rolled my eyes up as if I had a migraine, then turned to him. "OK, one, I never had a say in it being inside me or not. Two, this 'forbidden energy' is the very stuff that ended the war and made this world safer for you and your daughter. Three, until I manage to figure out how to use the magic from your precious 'surrogate mother,' it's the only healing magic I have. So hate me if you want, but it is a bad idea. Hatred is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die." The Speaker was taken back for a moment as the rest of the room was surprised by my bit of wisdom and sudden boldness. "'Surrogate Mother,' that is what the Fey call her?" I heard Mandible call out, breaking the tension. He shrank back when we looked at him oddly. "I couldn't be sure with his thick accent earlier. It's just that Wild Storm says it's one of the things I must meditate on. What to call out to her as when I start to awaken as her servant. I was going to just use the same words as my teacher, but he insisted it needed to be personal, from my own heart. From what I've heard others call her, her raw power and brood like..." He paused, trying to find a better wording. "...Or what mammals might call maternal nature have resonated with me. With my insect heritage, I feel the title Queen of Queens might be a befitting title for me to call her. I still have a ways to go before I solidify it though." Pushing the more pressing matters forward, Archimedes asked, "So how many spell slots do you still have?" Shaking my head and focusing inward, I did a quick count. "Three level four, two level five and one level six." "It will have to do. Try not to expend any more. We at least need something to last until help arrives if he attacks." I looked at all of them, working in harmony, ecstatic to suddenly be able to help out Lightning Dust. A part of me was happy to be able to enable them, but mostly I was just sad I couldn't do more. With a slumping of my shoulders, I turned towards the door and called out. "Well, regardless, good luck you guys. I'm happy I managed to free you guys up, but I gotta head back to the cottage now." Speaks with Talons stood in front of the door, blocking my exit. "No, you don't." "Oh come on now. With my work complete I am obligated by law to return home when I'm not with Fluttershy or otherwise detained." "No, your work isn't done. The first day you purified the food you might have been working under the Cakes, but Tree Hugger, Consolation an myself were put in charge of purifying the food and we are the ones you have been answering to since that day. Right now we are your employers, and we say your job isn't finished yet." I stopped and stared at him as I absorbed his words. A smile slowly grew on my face and I stammered in a sense of relief, "Y-yes sir."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Meaning of Family, Part 2, Labors of Love (Unslayable Foes arc, part 8)	I was standing in the lobby of the hospital. Speaks with Talons and Plasma Wave were chatting away about adventures during the round up missions. Meanwhile, I casually listened in and occasionally commented while I pored over the small notebook that acted as my wizard spell book I had compiled under Starlight after the war ended. They understood why I didn't dedicate to the conversation and didn't pay it much mind. Though it was rare for me to do it during my time in Ponyville, I had done it more times then any of us could clearly recall during the round up missions. Yet, I had to take a brief pause when I found myself in utter shock at what I had overheard had happened earlier that morning. "They're using my advice with so little testing, and with children!?" Plasma Wave turned to me in a bit of a grump. "It isn't that simple. The colt is allergic to the only medicine the doctors have for the disease affecting him and the griffin apprentices are stretched thin healing those that are on death's door." Speaks with Talons came up on the others side. "My brothers will do their best to heal him if he takes a turn for the worst, but the doctors have determined there is no additional danger to Pipsqueak's life from the transfusion itself." Plasma Wave smiled at Speaks with Talons, "From what I heard about it from Keen Wit's dad, Keen Wit and Pipsqueak happen to have the exact same blood type and Keen Wit not only has had the disease before, but was exposed to it again at the same time Pipsqueak was. Given that he's not sick in the slightest now, the doctor's got his parents to consent to a sample for tests and determined his body's producing exactly what it needs to fight it off." Speaks with Talons nodded again. "I will not pretend to understand these 'blood types' the doctors speak of, but with the two colts matching up, the doctors determined that this transfusion between them was the best chance Pipsqueak had. The shaman's remedy for this illness takes the dedication of a truly skilled herbalist and needs multiple days to work on any creature the doesn't have the magic of æther coursing through their veins like unicorns or dragons do. So my brother, Sings to Canopy, could not bring himself to object to it when they sought his counsel, given the colt's need." Speaks with Talons saw me listen intently but failed to smile. With a furled brow of frustration, he continued. "If it is of any comfort to you, battle brother, they are refraining from taking this measure with the other ponies affected until they have more research, be it with adults or children. On top of this, the parents of both colts were informed this was experimental and of the risks before they agreed to this." I thought about how they had too little time to even see if it would work, but at least they weren't doing it in mass. Maybe they knew more about the subjects than I had been led to believe and I had just helped connect some dots. Either way, it was done and I couldn't do much to undo it. Instead, I just swallowed my pride and focused on the mission at hand. Shifting my weight to my other foot, I brought my notebook back up to continue reading and turned to Plasma Wave. "So you've been spending as much time as you could volunteering for the hospital as a counselor for the guards that had to have amputations from the gangrene outbreak. That's neat." Plasma Wave made note of a nurse walking by, and furled his brow. "Yes, and I've also been spending my time listening to my daughter nag at me to get examined by the doctors when there's nothing wrong with me!" With a glare, he practically snarled. "And I'm not stupid, either. You've been preoccupied for days now purifying that food but you just so happen to pull out your special foreign magic and whip it up quickly immediately after I leave her alone with you guys. And don't pretend you didn't! You wouldn't be going over your little scribble notebook of spells otherwise!" With this, Plasma Wave stood up and saw that same nurse stallion turn on the indicator that the patients in the recovery wing he was helping with were ready for counselors and visitation. "What do you guys do with that exact time you are granted but buddy up to me? You two have been some of the best adventuring buddies I could ever hope to have and it's great to catch up, but I'm telling you that I'm fine! Now go find somepony else to help, because I'm sick and tired of being told I need it!" He took a deep breath, let it out slowly and practically marched like he was in a parade to that wing. I just about gave chase when Speaks with Talons put his talon out to stop me, holding it out just shy of touching me. It was subtle, and an outsider wouldn't have understood, but I got what he was using his talon and namesake to say. Plasma Wave was triggered. There was no reaching him right now and Speaks with Talons was using my own gesture to relay that message to me quietly as I had done for him in the past. I shrank back and returned to working with my notes. Maybe ten minutes later, I finally finished enough reflection on my notes to feel it kick in. My Arcane Recovery feature as a wizard, while at the most rudimentary level, did let me restore a single level one spell slot after reflecting on my notes for an hour or so. Starlight and Princess Twilight wanted to hook me up to a machine and run tests right away so badly when they found out that they had to be held back by their friends. Ultimately, I had to concede to the testing the next day, but only after they calmed down. With a smile, I closed my notebook and looked up. Immediately I was startled to see Fluttershy patiently waiting for me to finish. "Um, Moss? I'm glad you're here. I was hoping you could help with something?" With a press of my amulet, I nodded and steadied myself. "I'll try. What do you-" I was cut off by a miniaturized Discord lashing out from Fluttershy's mane. His back limbs and tail were still caught in her mane without disturbing it as he stretched his form and grasped my amulet. "Enough with the politeness! Here's a recharge! We need to get moving!" With the slightest touch of his lion paw, he dumped so much energy into my previously empty amulet that the overflow protocols were triggered and I felt the surge of the remaining energy shock my body in the form of electricity. It did more pain than damage, but it was enough to send me over the edge with the sudden surprise that it made me jump back. "I'm sorry for his behavior, Moss. With..." She went meek. "With you know who out and about again, Discord has refused to leave my side." Shrinking back into her mane to guard her zealously, Discord piped in with a much quieter tone. "If your counterpart or any soul stupid enough to try to harm her comes near her, I'll rip them a new one, sew it back together inside out, then rip them apart again before they can even try to utter the words 'I'm sorry.'" A chill came over me as I was reminded of the curse he placed upon me as a compromise on Fluttershy's behalf. I knew he wasn't kidding. If it weren't for the fact he couldn't detect Dalock due to his and his familiar's Amulets of Proof against Detection and Location Starlight had examined before he stole them back, Discord could have already been out there, found him and ended him with little effort. As powerful as Dalock was, Discord was on a whole different level still. I couldn't help but be grateful he was working with us in spite of his chaotic nature. * * * Fluttershy, myself, Speaks with Talons and our little almost out of sight followers, went outside the hospital to an open field behind it. It was littered with impromptu tents full of patients of a kind of disease that I didn't understand entirely. All I was able to absorb was that it was one with a nearly nonexistent mortality rate when a healthy pony could tend to the others, but it still left the infected as weak as a kitten. Their core body metabolism and immunity would be as strong as a healthy individual beyond barely being able to lift their heads. As long as they weren't sick with anything else, their biggest threats were dehydration, starvation or a predator catching them from being so weak. This simple cure of just tender love and care that even volunteers could do, combined with their sheer numbers, the victims of this disease were brought outside to make more room for the others packing the hospital so tightly. At the behest of the Tribal High Shaman before he left, he had recommended leaving them in the fresh air and tend to them around the clock as they get their strength back, saying the fresh air tended to actually help in the recovery by a day or two. I had to take a moment to remember that the ponies could control the weather conditions before I objected to the logic. With a small group of nurses and a single doctor overseeing the volunteers, it was quite the sight of cooperation. I wasn't super savvy to my home world's history, but I had a suspicion that this might have been what it might have looked like when the nations of the world clashed and the people of my nation's past put aside their differences, put aside their personal problems, and rose to the occasion to fight a problem that threatened all of them. In a way I was almost happy to be reminded of that time in history. By the time I had been born and raised before I was thrown into this new world, I honestly had no idea if such a time would ever come again. Too much politics and mud slinging. I had to shake my head as we reached our destination. It was probably an idealized sentiment of looking back at the past like a photograph. I'm sure problems were still under the surface, but at least that didn't keep them from becoming united. Fluttershy nodded to the pony running the impromptu kitchen to feed the overflowing patients. "Blossomforth and Flitter and the other caregivers that recovered quickly from this disease from having it as foals can handle the animals on their own. As much as I hate parting with the animals, we ultimately agreed that we needed to help as much as we can and only so many of us are needed at the shelter. Since I had this sickness as a filly, at most I'll be out for a day if I do catch it again. So I came here to volunteer." "You shouldn't be here. You could get sick." I heard Archimedes call out to me. I looked up at him circling above us. "The sick need medicine, not the healthy. So you can take that opinion of staying away and zip it!" He said nothing for a moment, but responded coldly, beyond his normal disdain, like he had been hurt. "Yes, partner... Sir." I just had realized that I had inadvertently given him an order as my familiar when I heard a weak voice from behind. "Is that you again, Mr Not-Invader?" Turning around, I saw a feeble white unicorn filly barely managing to come up to me. "You need to get back to bed!" It took a moment, but I recognized her as one of the first ponies to warm up to me after I had arrived. She had even tried to recharge my amulet, despite not even getting a single charge in for her effort. "I know, but I wanted to thank you. You're donation is what made this entire..." She stopped talking as she was lifted up in the kind of telekinetic aura I'd seen unicorns use. "That is quite enough energy spent, little one." I heard a familiar voice call out as a larger pony approached. Without the need to support herself, her body went completely limp like a rag doll and she called out. "but Aunt Luna..." "Don't you 'But Aunt Luna' me. I've been told that if Applejack catches you or the other Cutie Mark Crusaders out and about again she will personally tie you to your beds. I'm tempted to do it myself. Back to resting." "Shouldn't you be far away from here, your highness?" I heard a nails on a chalk board like voice call out from the kitchen. Turning, I saw Spoiled Rich pop her head out alongside her servant, working in the kitchen alongside the Apples. Before I could respond, Luna was promptly back, teleporting straight in between the volunteers that were getting soup to administer to the ponies in bed. Several of the ponies were startled, but no soup was spilled. "I was ill with a much stronger strain of this disease, one that could actually kill a pony when I was young centuries ago. Unlike with you, we were able to confirm with the doctors that my body won't be affected before I came down. And you should be grateful that we are allowing your family to work off your crime in community service. If it is too much for you, you are always welcome to take your chances in those quarantined prisons instead. Just realize that once you go, we can't let you out again until the quarantine is lifted." I recalled a time where I could have made rain suddenly appear above her, ruining her makeup, but had decided against it. That look of a defeated "Karen" on her face definitely made up for it and my more immature side was properly karma-sated now. Meanwhile, I was doing my light breathing routine to keep myself... relatively calm in Luna's presence. Turning to me apologetically, she came up carefully. "Though Sweetie Belle did have a point. The donations collected from your fundraising via answering questions did help considerably in setting this up expediently. Though we know it was simply meant for a general charity of Twilight's choosing, the royal family does thank you for the immediate funding before the paperwork could be pushed through." With a hand to the spot where my forehead and nose met, I shook off the impending headache I knew I'd have to deal with later. Not wanting to dwell on it, I changed the subject by asking, "'Aunt' Luna? Was she another princess or something?" A merry smile came to Princess Luna's face as she quelled a laugh before it came out. "Nothing of the sort, Moss. The Ponies of Ponyville were the first to open up to me after I returned and it is simply a nickname some of the local children gave me after I granted them my blessing in gratitude a time back. While privileged to see me in the palace, the ones from this town that hold my blessing are not actually related to myself. It is simply an honorary title I carry from them with no real weight." She shook her head. "I came because Ponyville is one of the few locations I can substitute for my sister's duties to help with moral, but I fear my presence here may be causing more harm than good after all." I looked back to the line where they were just getting back in order. "Let me guess. You're offering to comfort them, but they keep getting upset?" Her eyes went wide when she saw what I was thinking back to. After a moment she simply gave a nod. "It's because you're coming on too strong. I know you're their princess, but they're sick and probably feeling very vulnerable. Try taking it slow and let it be their choice to be comforted or not. There's a time for a firm stance and time for a gentle one. Firm isn't working, try gent..." I cautiously bowed to Princess Luna as quickly as I felt I could get away with, and turned back in the direction of the hospital. "I'll volunteer with you as soon as I'm able, Fluttershy, but I have to fix something." Turning to Speaks with Talons as he came up next to me, I gave him a serious look. "Gentle isn't working. We're doing this the firm way. It's time to intervene." We caught Mandible and Plasma Wave talking to the nurse at the amputee station. "I'm sorry about before but..." I shifted from thought to speech. "Partner?" "...OK, fine. One last one, but only because you managed to replenish the slot earlier and the urgency." With a nod, I reached into my component pouch and pulled out a yew leaf. Moving it across my eyes, I called out. "Help me see." Immediately, I saw a startling sight. Plasma Wave's featherless wing was glowing hard with an infected cyst underneath the mechanical wing. This was coupled with another disease eating away at him, mostly in the wing but also throughout his body. I could see the properties of the disease, but I couldn't figure out their names. Not glancing at him for too long, I moved as if to pass him, only to reach out and grab his mechanical wing where the edge of the cyst was sure to be sensitive. I had barely grabbed it, but the action caused him to scream out in pain and drop like a sack of potatoes. His brave face broken, he was clearly breathing heavily at the pain my grabbing of the wing caused. Speaks with Talons worked with me to remove his mechanical wing so that the others could see the cyst. Once Speaks with Talons saw the cyst on the exposed part of the wing, he looked at Plasma Wave in anger. "You're getting that examination, now!" Plasma Wave was on an impromptu couch turned hospital bed in one of the other rooms that had been expanded for allowing a second patient. "Doc, I need to let you know, I didn't do it to save the wing. If it needs to go, fine. I'm not going to be a hypocrite to the ponies I've been-gah!... Visiting." The doctor looked at the cyst as he finished draining it carefully. "Why didn't you at least get it checked up? A simple prescription of penicillin could have handled both the gangrene and prevented the infection of the staphylococcus. Now the gangrene has metastasized." "I didn't want to clog up the hospital any more. And the infection looked like it was going down. It wasn't nearly this bad this morning." He looked at Plasma Wave's vitals the old fashioned way, since the machines were all being used from the hospital being overrun. "Well, We're going to have to go to surgery. Your body isn't responding to the medicine fast enough. The shaman's apprentices just exhausted themselves and they aren't going to recover their stamina in time to catch this." Plasma wave looked at the doctor. "Give it to me straight. What are my odds with the surgery?" Pulling up a page on his personal clip board, the doctor shook his head. "If I were to give a good guess, at your age and the progression of the gangrene, maybe thirty percent? We will have to bump up some surgeries-" "No!" We all looked at Plasma Wave in shock. "No. No bumping up anypony's surgeries. Not on my account. I know the surgeons are stretched thin as it is. You're all ready having to make tough calls on which ones to let the shaman's treat, which ones to operate on, and are on the verge of just letting some go. I've lived a long life. I'm not risking some young one's treatment for a mere thirty percent that I know you're high balling." "But-" Plasma Wave got angry. "I have the right to refuse treatment! Now stop wasting time on me and get back out there!" The room was solemn as the tired doctor just sighed, nodded and left. The the elderly earth pony mare that was also sharing his room gave an empathetic but sad face. "At least one of us will recover to help the young." He turned to me. "Moss, you just wanted to help, and I forgive you for that stunt, but could you and the big lug do one last thing?" With a quiet nod, Speaks with Talons and I leaned in. "Just stay here? I know it's greedy of me. I don't want my daughter to see me like this, but I don't want to be alone at the end either." It was a few minutes in as the reality sank in. Plasma Wave was going to die to make sure others could get the limited treatment available. "I want you two to know, I didn't think it'd end up like this. If I had, I'd have gone to the doctors the moment they had a chance to see me. Now I'm even more of a bother." Speaks with Talons came up and cupped Plasma Wave's head in his talon, pressing their foreheads together as he shed tears for the stallion. "Even in your last breaths, your worry is for others. Had you ever walked among my village, you would have been seen as a kindred spirit to both the shamans and the braves." My mind, while in great pain, was in overdrive, thinking on what needed to be done. Memories of words past flashed through my mind. "Never is it a waste to let a healer heal." "I was going to just use the same words as my teacher, but he insisted it needed to be personal, from my own heart." "That sounds more like what you want to think you mean to her, rather than what she means to you." "Phooey! She loves you like no other!" "...The ones from this town that hold my blessing are not actually related to myself. It is simply an honorary title I carry from them with no real weight." "Stay strong, Battle Brother." "Are you certain it is alright for me to call you cousin, Beast-kin? I am still only a student." I knew what I could do to help, but a part of my mind still nagged at me. "...We are going to have to make some tough calls. For the sake of lives, principles might be challenged." I muttered under my breath, practically in a whisper, "Alright, fine." Archimedes came over and gave a gentle gnawing at Plasma Wave's mane affectionately. Not being noticed by my adventuring buddies, I closed my eyes and meditated inwardly on my beliefs. "He who calls himself 'I Am,' please forgive me if I'm wrong." With a slight pause to reset myself and dedicate, I heard Plasma Wave call out to Archimedes. "Aw, I didn't think you cared, Mr Grumpy Feathers." "Animus Mundi? If you're listening, I'm desperate. I won't deny that. You don't seem to want worship, and I have no intention of serving you, but you seem to still like me. For reason's I'll never fathom, you seem to like me. I still have my doubts about my presence in this world, but if you're willing to help despite my not being your child and my lack of dedication, I won't object to it. Not anymore." I opened up my tear stained eyes. I came up to Plasma Wave, still trying to put on a brave face to comfort me. With both hands, I pressed firmly onto his barrel and called out. "Please, help me heal him-" I took a deep breath and called out loudly. "Auntie Equis!" Suddenly, the room was alight with magic. I was drawn into the green mist like medium of the Animus Mundi, and yet I could still see the room around me. I saw the spell go off as well as new energy that had been held back flow through me and grant another level. Somehow, however, I knew this was different. Something different was fueling this level. Archimedes and Plasma Wave simply looked at me in confusion. At the same time, the warmest sensation I had ever felt from the mist swept over me as I saw Speaks with Talons beak fall slack and his eyes follow the swirling essence infusing itself into me. All the while, a pronounced thought from the Animus Mundi formed itself within me. "Joy from your presence, son of Gaia."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Restoration and Release (Unslayable Foes, part 9)	There I was, sitting in the hospital lobby with a desire to just crawl back into bed and pretend recent events would just undo themselves if I hid long enough. And yet, the local alicorn princess was there, practically squirming as she wrote down notes and inadvertently making sure I'd never live it down as she geeked out about studying my next advancement of filling into my foreign magic for the ump-teenth time. "I've heard æther mixing with the Animus Mundi's magic in some of her servants, and I recently learned that Alicorn magic is æther based but still laced with a touch of quintessence. The Tree of Harmony even used its link to the Animus Mundi to sustain itself when the elements are not nestled in its branches. Yet this is the first example I've ever heard of quintessence being used with the Animus Mundi's magic--at the same time and for the same task!" I passed my mistletoe over my palm, and called out "Auntie, food please?" Immediately, the berries appeared in my hand for the fourth time in the last hour. For the third time that hour, Princess Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw the readings from the portable machine I was unwillingly hooked up to. I unceremoniously let the berries roll out of my hand and into the bowl just as the doctor bowed in gratitude and took them away. "One more time, please!? I want to see the data for it when you apply your upcasting technique!" I finally let the emotions I had been letting slide into lament of my choice turn back into anger. Turning around, I gave her a solid glare. I growled for half a second then barked my response, "No!" I pulled the wires off and calmed myself enough to give a proper explanation to the not quite scientist like scholar of magic who was also a member of the royal family. "Lesser restoration is a level two spell and can't be used with a level one slot. So I have agreed to use those on the berries. But all my level one slots are spent now and I have to conserve my level two spells and up for healing the sick." Turning to the nurse that was coming up to me, I waved the princess off. "After the crisis maybe, but not right now." The nurse bowed with gratitude just as deep as the doctor, and spoke, "Thank you for assisting with feeding the children this last week. One even found his cut leg healed up upon eating his." I gave the nurse a nod in kind then, having a shrinking suspicion to what he wanted, I responded, "Yea, that's kinda due to my caster link with Archimedes. The quintessence I got from him boosts most any healing spell involving wounds, not just the ones I cast through him. So what is it this time? Need me to substitute for the trio again?" The nurse nodded apologetically and gestured me to follow. "Sadly, yes. Their work is as effective as their father's circle but-" I interrupted him as I came up beside him. "Teacher." He pulled his head back a bit and stopped. "What?" Pressing on my amulet on the off chance it had gone out just then, and to reset the timer, I repeated myself, "He may be their father, but I've been studying language and I realized that when referring to their capacity as healers, they always referred to Claps to Thunder as their teacher. Using the term father is reserved for less professional times. I mentally finished to myself, "At least, that's the only explanation to why Listens in Anger always switches to using 'father' when speaking to Speaks with Talons about Claps to Thunder." With a blush of embarrassment, he continued both his walking and his conversation. "Yes. I mean, their work is as effective as their teacher's circle, but they just can't do it nearly as much as the proper masters of their art stationed in the big cities. The masters in Manehattan are healing around thirty five creatures a day, and their teacher's circle in Canterlot is managing around forty to forty five creatures a day. But the griffin apprentices, while more advanced than the other apprentices, are only managing around a dozen now without straight up exhausting themselves. The population is less dense here and there are far less in critical condition now that the gangrene outbreak is stabilized and on the recovery. Nevertheless, the load Ponyville and the surrounding areas has still put a terrible strain on them." Turning to walk down the hall that led to another wing dedicated to the disease in question, I piped in with a bit of dry wit to try to lighten my mood. "And, unlike the gangrene, these newer diseases that are taking their turn at reaching their critical phases can't just be fixed with a simple surgery." The nurse tilted his head, missing the humor entirely and kept his half sincere and half forced smile. "We are grateful for you volunteering your limited reserves to give our surgeons a much needed rest alongside the griffin apprentices when they were in their highest demand. Most of them will be able to help more out here on the floor as normal doctors now." With a turn to a patient's room, a sickly mare lay in the bed with a teary eyed husband sitting next to her. "Well it's still a welcome distraction to purifying food or working with wires sticking out of me." When they saw me, I just walked in, cracked my knuckles and put on my sly, don't want anybody to like me, business man voice, "So, would you like the version that drains about three years of her remaining life span, or should we bump it up to five just to make sure?" Hours later, at Fluttershy's cottage. I was doing what I could to clean up, including cleaning my familiar's bird house. "Your behavior this last week has been exceedingly cruel of you." I heard Archimedes call to me for the first time in six days. His mental voice had a strong sense of vinegar to it. I nodded at his statement of disgust and called out to him. "But you'd want me to do it anyway, given our circumstances. No?" "Your lies about your foreign magic requiring them to give up a part of their life force does allow you to conserve as many spell slots as possible with the demands of the community. I won't deny that. But we both know that is not your intended goal." I said nothing as I wrinkled his replacement bedding blanket to make it a little easier for him to adjust it to his liking. When he saw I wasn't going to respond, he said it for me. You don't want them to see you as a good person. You want them to dislike you so that they don't blindly trust other humanoids that might come again in the future. Now that they see you as a fully fledged healer, you're doubling down on this. With my continued silence basically being taken as a confession, we didn't speak further on the matter. * * * After I had the list of chores Fluttershy left me completed, I finally sat down with my notebook and tried to restore the one spell slot. It was for naught, though, because I heard a knocking at the door. When I answered it, I saw Princess Celestia, flanked by Tempest and Fluttershy and Scraps kept in check with a guard. With her regal, yet gently spoken mannerisms, the princess nodded and asked, "Hello, Moss. May we come in?" With an uncertain mind, I just numbly pressed the amulet and answered, "Two of you live here, and I can't exactly deny any princess, much less the eldest. What is this about?" The princess just laughed and everypony relaxed. She grew a merry smile and spoke to the ponies behind her, "You are right. His behavior when he knows something is up is tense to the point of it being fun to watch. Thank you both." Fluttershy gestured me outside so that we could sit at the garden table. With all of us seated, I asked, "Joke at my expense aside, is this bad news or even worse news?" Tempest rolled her eyes and spoke up, "Disgustingly sweet and good news, actually." I gave her a skeptical eyebrow. She bobbed her head in begrudged agreement to my look and corrected herself, "Well, we got some news that is good but sounds bad, but we also have the good news." The princess looked at me again from the far side of the table, notably up wind of me just to make sure I wasn't carrying any latent diseases. "Before we go too much further, I do wish to clarify your little stunt in the hospital about lying to patients will have to stop lest it create hysteria. When this epidemic is over, I will expect you to write a personal letter to each and every patient you claimed to reduce the life force of, apologizing and clarifying the lie you made. That said, in light of recent events we have finally decided you are ready." She nodded to Tempest, who brought out a piece of paper and read it in a formal tone, "To the water genasi known as 'Moss.' The board of the Office of Rehabilitation and Reintegration has evaluated your cultural, lingual and ethical studies of Equestria as a nation, as well as sufficient growth in skills applicable in employment. We also have made additional note to your progress in your personalized program of combating your emotional isolation and your new ability to open yourself emotionally enough to form bonds with others, corporeal or otherwise. In light of this, the office of Rehabilitation and Reintegration do here by recognize your ability to provide for yourself and perform as a productive member of Equestrian society, and do here by declare you a properly graduated parolee. Therefor you are now granted the status of a legal, independent resident of Equestria with all the rights, freedoms and responsibilities there of." After Tempest finished, they sat there silently for me to respond. I waited several seconds before I could think of anything to say. "Does this mean I can't stay with Fluttershy at this cottage anymore?" The princess bowed her head with a genuine smile before coming back up. "That will be between you and Fluttershy, but she will not be able to take another charge until you manage to move out." I nodded. "And she won't be able to make legal calls for me anymore if something happens?" With a furled brow to match her smile, she answered just as openly. "By default, yes. But it is not unheard of for graduates to fill out the forms needed to entrust their former RRE officers with such authority until they find a more suitable pony." Once I had a moment to let all of this sink in, I gave a pained look towards Fluttershy. "So, if that's the sorta good, sorta bad news, then what is the good news?" A soft, pained and yet sincere smile came across Fluttershy's face in response to my question, coupled with a slight blush and a gentle folding back of her ears. "That was supposed to be the good news." Knowing the mood went from bittersweet to outright sour, I turned back to Tempest and the princess. The princess spoke in an almost not quite apologetic tone, "The one you know as Dalock has been sighted near the city of Canterlot. Once we manage to track him enough to discern his location without magic while not letting him know he's being tracked, we will be attempting to detain him, but..." She looked at me like she had something to say, but despite all of her nigh-ageless skill and charm, she still had the thought caught in her throat. I looked at Tempest's eyes, having learned how to read them from so much time and so many adventures together. Without any further hints, I nodded and finished for the princess. "But it will be a lot easier if you have a bait you know he won't be able to resist. Something he has strong feelings for or against. That is to say, me." I could see the princess's demeanor falter and her posture fall into one fitting pained guilt as I saw what I knew to be genuine tears coming from her eyes. Almost immediately, she caught herself and got her posture back, even getting the tears to fall in such a way that their trail was almost invisible in her coat, but that brief moment of exposure cued me in. I could see great pain behind the face that now looked more like an expertly developed mask as she simply nodded.
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Bitter-Tough Plans. (Pain, Part 1)	With the full coordinated efforts of every creature involved, from the experts working concisely with each other to the volunteers to the guards and the healers, the pandemic was dying down after about a month. Most quarantine regulations had been lifted and life had been starting to get back to normal. Many politician ponies were complaining about the chance of resurgence, but princess Celestia quickly quelled them when she kept asking, "When will there not be a risk? What do you feel is the correct moment? How would you tangibly define that moment? What should we do if we can't define it? Should we always hide under our beds and let our nation crumble around us?" She had given a speech on the matter to clarify and struck home with the final point that, "We can only hide in our hospitals and homes for so long before the hiding does more harm to us as a nation than the lingering illness here or there. We need to get back to our lives." While she did not expressly order each and every city and town to resume, she did lift the national bans and encouraged the local leaders to work towards resuming normal life as they saw fit. But before that decree, Zecora had objected to letting the elders and those prone to sickness out. Celestia argued with her for a bit and ultimately had to get Zecora to agree to simply adding this as another recommendation. If she had been more specific in the order of releasing the restraints instead of declaring the crisis outright over, it would have opened the floodgates for political turmoil among politicians. In the end, there were grumps on either side of the divide of the royal decree, but things overall did improve. Sadly, tragedy ultimately struck after she made the decree ending the crisis. Dalock had started striking out at Canterlot and the surrounding communities. He only seemed to target those that dared to resume normal life, particularly those that wanted to celebrate weddings or other local events. The diseases died down, but his sheer ferocity left a path of blood and cinders as he evaded capture with his hit and run tactics. And that led to another speech to address the attacks. One with many ponies talking about different aspects of the past and present crisis. Since I was tied to both, I was ultimately called up to the balcony and told by both Doctor Pulse and Princess Celestia to explain the declaration they just made about my lie. With a huff, I called out to the ponies that had gathered at the square and decided to just double down while giving them what they technically asked for. With my hairs on the back charging me with a good, strong eighteen, I looked out at the crowd and told them what I wanted to say. "Let me make myself perfectly clear, I don't give two shits if your feelings were hurt over what I did. My concerns at the time were about preserving lives overall, not politics and niceties. My magic works under a different set of rules than unicorn magic or even the magic of the servants of the Animus Mundi volunteers. The pertinent part is that my magic has hard limits and I couldn't push past them even if I wanted to. I didn't have the time or energy to explain this to each and every pony that wanted me to heal them, then have them get in a fit about them not believing me. So I made up the stipulation that my version siphons off the expected life span of the patient to deter ponies from using my healing as anything but a last resort. There was only so much to go around at any given time. I did clarify with the doctors about this lie to help in their decisions when confronted about it, but they are not at fault, as I also threatened to not perform healing at all if they revealed this information during the crisis and opened the flood gates of every minor illness that was simply uncomfortable wanting the easy way out." With a nod to Doctor Pulse, I backed up and let him take the mic. As soon as he did so, he turned to me and asked, "So to clarify, you do admit those that you healed have not had their lifespan shortened as you had initially claimed, correct?" With a quick lean back into the microphone, I answered, "Not from my magic or of any other factor to my knowledge. Correct. And my punishment for this falsification will be under review upon the completion of my currently deputized mission. But for the record, and the princesses may put this into their review, I would do it again if I thought it would give the same effect in the same circumstances. It let my talents be used only to save the lives of those that couldn't have been saved otherwise. I don't care about the hooves it stepped on." I went back inside from the balcony and proceeded towards the war room without even waiting to be dismissed. On my way there, I heard a voice. "Your words are spoken in ways unwise. Do you think they will not despise?" Seeing my veritable shadow for the last three days in Canterlot, I called out to Zecora. "I'm actually counting on it, and no I don't intend to elaborate." Following me as I walked, she hounded me about my newfound druidic spells. "Then if on that you will not clarify, will you tell me away from your magic, you shy?" With a brief memory of a select number of spells I could now newly tap into, I found myself shaking in disgust. Not grossed out disgust, but in disturbing disgust of what I knew all too well I could do. "Ever want to be trapped neck deep in stone? How about I cause disease instead of cure it? With the right materials I could even cause the very..." I had to stop myself in mid sentence. There were spells the Animus Mundi could help me cast that I was alright with, and there were some I was disgusted by. But that spell? That was a spell that was so vile I had forbidden myself from even mentioning it. Mistaking the moment I restrained myself as a moment of uncertainty, she pushed further instead of dropping it. Though she did at least manage to shift the subject slightly. "I still do not understand why you refuse our gift. Many of us have felt quite miffed." I squatted down as we walked and brought my amulet up to her face for a brief moment, which was now sharing its spot on the string with a carefully tied up piece of preserved mistletoe. "I am no servant of the Animus Mundi! This little trinket does the job just fine, thank you! I'll keep breaking as many wooden staffs over my knee as you bring me! The amulet makes your offer to teach me the servant language moot and if you ever try to give me a mask to show my competency as a proper healer, then so help me powers that be, I will shove it up your-" "Ahem!" Princess Cadence was holding the door to the war room open from the inside. Judging by the look on her face, she could hear me shouting from a ways off. She didn't even need to say anything. While not nearly as skilled as her aunt Celestia, she could still manage to convey a message. That message was that that particular conversation was over. Zecora shook her head and jested in disapproval, "Your new ability is simply miraculous. And yet you treat the gift with such callous." Managing to get the last retort in that I couldn't respond back to without facing the ire of the princess, Zecora entered the war room. I held the door and nodded in a way to cue the princess that I'd come in as soon as I collected myself. Once the princess turned back to the room, I genuinely tried, but found myself unable to let go of the thing I wanted to tell Zecora in response. Not that I had the words sorted out in a way that would convince her, but I whispered what I had anyway before I could reset myself enough too at least play nice and enter. "A miracle? More like a disaster waiting to happen." As I finally walked in, I thought to myself, "For the sake of the integrity of my beloved new home--indeed, even for the sake of my very soul--that kind of power is something I must never touch." The meeting covered many boring topics that I forced myself to listen to. The early detection measures having no success. Dalock was trying and failing to recruit ponies to his side with the pictures he set out not being sufficient to bridge both the language gap and the fact that he kept killing in spite of all the smiley faces on the pictures. They had searched all over in the forest and caves in the mountains below Canterlot, but found nothing on his whereabouts. Not even a trace of his odd scent. The fact that the gap in our apparent power levels was a subject of worry, with my total level being twelve now, and his access to the wish spell that he used to cheat death made his at least level seventeen, if not more. Combined with his ability to stockpile his magic well beyond any capability I had, they realized strategy would only get them so far. While they were applying strategy, they knew they couldn't afford to pull many punches with his capture. The princesses determined his magic had a lace of quintessence in it, being able to heal. This was another troublesome difficulty to overcome, but it had a minor upside. The scholars had worked with Speaks with Talons on how laced æther could bypass the barrier on æther being useless for healing. In the end, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia had managed to adapt the cure wounds spell I had taught Speaks with Talons and Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence were well on their way to learning to purposely tap into their trace levels of quintessence too. It was a minor effect for them compared to the complexity of the wizard like spells they could cast, but the more healers there are in a group, the less practical his known tactic of targeting healers first would be. Speaking of which, the princesses had agreed on a plan to add their raw power to the fight. Two of the four alicorns would be present in the search, while the other two stayed away from the danger. That way if the worst happened, Equestria would still have some leaders left. The Crystal Empire would only have Princess Cadence's husband acting as regent until their daughter was of age, but alicorns were one of the few things in Dalock's power bracket and Princess Cadence was determined to take her turn in the field like the other three. Other contingencies were in place should he enter the capital, but most of them were too frail or specific to a city's structure to work out in the open field. Losses were likely in this fight and they had to go in knowing any given component of their plan could fail, so they had to have redundant backups when the inevitable losses came. That meant they had to use their princesses too, and not just the elements. If a princess fell, the rest of the teams could cover and continue to function. The element bearers could do their big fancy blast, as could the Pillars of Light, but it took their entire teams to pull off their powerful magic and even if not a single one of them fell, they only had one good shot each. What scared me the most, however, was what was revealed about the initial attack revealing Dalock's return. "What do you mean, he never broke into the vault?" a crystal pony general asked. Princess Celestia shook her head. "I mean he was already inside when we closed it. More specifically, his phylactery. When he reformed, it was not in a prepared clone as we had presumed. We did find that in a more thorough search of the diamond dog territory and destroyed it. "After that, we studied of the bits of flesh we extracted from the guards weapons he was struck by. The tests showed he was definitely a type of undead now. The prize Bane had promised him was likely a vague promise of immortality, and Dalock probably didn't know it was to be as a lich, or that Dalock did know and didn't care. But in the end he came back beside the item in the vault that we had not realized had become his phylactery. From what we could extract, he was right next to his equipment when he re formed as a lich, including his amulets that now keep him hidden from us, and simply broke out." I looked at the princess with the blood running out of my face. "Are you saying..." She nodded, "Even if we kill him, he will reform again and again. The Plague Artifact was undeniably a part of the process his spell initiated by our testing, fueling the process by murdering the army that was sent with him for their life force. In turn, we deduced it is now acting as his phylactery. We would destroy the phylactery if we could, but the Plague Artifact is too powerful to be destroyed by normal means. At least, not without creating an explosion at least the size of the mountain Canterlot sits on that would spread thousands of deadly diseases across the globe. Instead we are simply going to have to trap him again when he first emerges and is too weak to put up a strong fight. We will figure out how to neutralize the Plague Artifact's threat later." The general shook his head and looked at his ice spear. "At least that means we don't have to hold back for ethics. Even if he dies, it isn't permanent. That should make it at least a little easier once we find the criminal."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Of Hunters and Prey. (Pain, Part 2)	The first few days were fruitless in a way, but it did let us narrow down the search to the upper areas of the Canterlot mountain. The alicorn princesses, Luna and Twilight, could be seen in the skies alongside pegasi, searching the area from above. Meanwhile, ground troops combed the outskirts of the city, having it be the one area left on the mountain not searched besides Canterlot itself. Tensions were clearly getting high from the lack of results. After arguing with one of the guards, I went out on my own to sit on a rock well outside earshot of the city and just barely visible to it. And I sat their, doing my best to breathe in and out. I wanted to calm down, and clearly needed to for the inevitable battle, but the tension in the air just wouldn't let me. So I just sat and kept trying. * * * It felt like an hour passed before anything happened, but I knew it had only been a handful of minutes. Stepping out from behind a tree along the path near where I sat, I finally saw him. I saw Dalock. "You are a fool to break away from the search," he spoke to me from a distance just out of the range of the bulk of my spells. Knowing that if I stood, I would surely provoke a fight, I did my best to put on a brave face. Gripping my hand on the cuffs of my scale mail, I did my best to mask a single finger scraping along the inside of the armor, as if drawing it alongside something hidden. As I did so, I faintly heard a bit of the dirt behind me shift the way I told it to. "And you look like shit compared to when I saw you last. You lost weight? Or is that just a side effect of becoming a lich?" His gaunt face made him look like a man that hadn't eaten in the longest time, on the brink of starvation, and yet he stood properly upright. His elvish features were barely recognizable and one ear was missing a good portion of the lobe where something had cut it off. The wound didn't look like it had any signs of healing. He glanced briefly at the hand that held his staff, and how bony it had become, then back at me. Without any hint of wanting to entertain my banter, he shrugged off my remark and called out again. "Are you going to get to your knees and pledge loyalty, or not? I need a new translator after I couldn't find a new familiar that knows the local language and English." I held off answering for as long as I could, buying me a few seconds, but ultimately his gaze told me he was out of patience. "Aren't you afraid I'd stab you in the back some day?" He cocked his head and smirked. "No. You're far too weak, too smart and too much of a bleeding heart to do that. I have this land in the palm of my hand and you can't do anything to me permanently without killing them too. All you can do is obey. It's the only option that lets most of them live." I gave him a suborn face. "So you know the side effects if we destroy your artifact turned phylactery and think that means you're exempt from consequence." "My favorite play." He smirked as best he could, straining some of the dead flesh in the process. "Slavery or mutual destruction. It's not much of a choice, but it is still... Your choice." I shook my head, trying to think when I realized I had heard that phrase before, in my home world. "Wait..." I looked back at him. "Have you ever heard of a game called Dungeons and Dragons?" The smirk on his face disappeared instantly. With a harsh tone, I heard his response. "No. Now make your choice already." I didn't need to use my portent trick to tell he was lying, and I really needed to save it for a fight. But as I read his face, I started realizing I knew just who this really was. "I think you have, and I think you were plucked from earth like I was. You're that guy that regularly murder-hoboed on that D&D podcast and designed your second character after that corny TV show's villain. Weren't you kicked off after season two for almost running the game into the ground?" His face went from serious to straight up angry. "I think it's time for you to die now." Putting his staff forward, he called out "Uro!" Fire barely started to sputter out of the staff, but then nothing happened. It was then he noticed Starlight standing a good distance from both of us, just within range to cast her counterspell spell, breaking her illusion of cover in the process. Her face had veins pulsing with anger as she lightly panted from the strain of her newfound prototype upcasting. Right as that happened, I jumped up and screamed, "Now!" All around Dalock, creatures came springing up out of the ground where Scraps had dug the tunnels for them to hide in. Speaks with Talons and his brothers were on opposite sides, the trio ready to heal with their combined power when they fell. Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia came up to, horns ready to join Starlight in their assigned roll to counterspell him and slow his progress. Only Starlight was able to upcast and have a guaranteed counter spell to his nearly limitless pool of level five spells. While she was still working out the kinks of her prototype technique, even a chance of a counter spell working at the base level was a massive help in the fight. It would break up his momentum significantly. Tempest, though she couldn't counterspell with her broken horn, was also there leading a group of elite soldiers in tactical formations, and Wild Storm was able to substitute for any of the griffin apprentices if they fell, as well as his own natural power as a dragon. The guards also came in, but acted as a spread out, secondary barrier to strike at him from all sides if he tried to flee, instead of swarming him like he would have wanted them to. The Pillars of light were also on standby with their artifacts to try to smack him good if he broke the inner and outer circles. And the apparent Alicorn, Princess Luna, came barreling down from the sky, only to become engulfed in green flames, revealing Changeling General Pharynx. My wand of lightning bolts gleamed from the spot where it was carefully wrapped around his horn attuned to the one battle ready, flying spell caster that could make use of it. A spell caster that could shoot it to just one spot on the ground where it would stop safely instead of running the risk of hitting someone behind him after it hit him, primed and ready to go. We pulled out all the stops, and were about to let our power out full force to take him down. Looking around at the veritable army suddenly swarming him, Dalock tipped his hood in a begrudged respect. "You came prepared. Well so did I." He tossed a pouch into the air and yanked a string coming from it. When the baggy exploded, a strong wind also came forth, stirring up the dust from the pouch into the air, covering every creature remotely near him, even some of the nearest guards surrounding us. Immediately, I felt something off. I was physically fine, but something was off with my magic, like I was suddenly naked and alone. I couldn't feel the presence of Archimedes, or the Animus Mundi. "A parting gift from my late familiar and his amulet's anti detection magic. Divine casters can't cast if they can't be heard by their divine catalysts. Say bye bye to your precious healing magics, my lesser half."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Brave. (Pain, Part 3)	The griffin trio and Wild Storm all faltered at the sudden shock. The entirety of their magic was cut off the same as the majority of mine. I saw Wild Storm pull off one of his two belts lined with potion gourds. I was barely able to see him toss it to the young dragon Slate that accompanied him and begin a gesture that looked like an order before the battle went wild. I did what I could, but being a designated healer with the majority of my magic gone, I had little to contribute myself. I still hadn't learned Equestrian enough to read a spell scroll fluently in battle, so I just ran up and tried to be a distraction for the others, hoping they would think of something. Dalock then simply smirked and grappled with me for a moment as I came close before I managed to get any spells off. He raspberried in my face and then smacked me good and hard on the foot, making me reel. He then hopped back with a giggle and called out. "Believe it or not, bitch, I'm actually not here for you today!" I saw the unicorn guards that accompanied Tempest cast their counterspell scrolls instead of the princesses. With the griffins out of commission as healers, the princesses had pulled back and shifted to fill in the gap as best they could. With this, many ponies managed to rush him, but his excessively strong armor made it difficult for them to land any blows. What blows struck knocked flesh off but he seemed unphased otherwise. And then despite having three unicorns trying to counteract him, Dalock managed to get off a fireball through all three base level counters. That's when things went bad. Instead of targeting the ponies in front of him, he hit the unicorns casting all of the counterspells. Upon being freed up from the restriction of the scrolls, Dalock smacked the snout of the earth pony that tried to grapple him with his staff, breaking the jaw. A few seconds later, he flung a fireball at the elite troops charging him again, frying them hard. This forced our main hitters to come in again, but there was a problem. In addition to teleporting he was also running. Combined with what looked similar to haste, but only seemed to hasten his feet he made more distance than the remainder of the center group could keep up with. He shot many of the guards at the outer circle that attempted to engage him four at a time, blasting them far and wide with a basic eldritch blast. But then oddly, he stopped as soon as he got enough distance from us and turned around, flinging another fireball from a great distance. It didn't hurt anybody, but it did stop the pursuers in their tracks. With a rapid motion of turning, he shot fireballs and eldritch blasts out in a circle, making a perimeter of scorched land. A perimeter too far out to allow the use of counterspell, and too far to allow the use of even my wand on the changeling general's horn without being struck back. He expended too many spell slots for a normal spell caster to use and still be able to fight, but that was the point. He was boasting. Nay, flexing. Waving his shield and staff in a form suggesting they come at him now that the biggest source of our nullification was gone, he egged us on. Throwing insult after insult, I didn't bother translating. "His pool does indeed seem nigh limitless compared to your own, Moss." Princess Celestia quietly spoke to me as she looked around at the injured soldiers. Seeing many of the soldiers being treated by simpler potions, but many still needing quick treatment, she shook her head and spoke. "It can't be helped." With a glow of her horn, she built her energy up for a few seconds then let out a wave of light that initially reminded me of a solar flare. Immediately, the wave moved out and dove into the bodies of different soldiers with severe injuries, healing them. I briefly looked at Celestia, "Mass healing word? There's no way you could have adapted the spell that fast. You already knew of healing. But I'll ask questions later." I just turned back to our foe that, oddly, didn't seem impatient now. He was reveling in us pulling ourselves back together. Once again expecting us to just surrender. "We need to get close." Listens in Anger spoke as we tried to regroup. Searches for Stars corrected him, "No, we need to counteract his magic somehow, and getting close would have helped. But the spell scrolls are all burned up and the princesses would be prime targets even if they all flew at him at once." The group threw ideas back and forth as Dalock started T bagging one of the fallen soldiers that we couldn't get to in time to save. I meanwhile, did what I could and reflected on my knowledge of the spells he had been using. 'Eldrich blast... basic but always there. Expedient retreat, I'm surprised he even has a retreat spell like that in his arsenal. Fireball, overpowered even at base levels and overcharged by at least two levels... We can't silence him to knock out his verbal components, nobody knows that spell because hardly any mage here normally has to speak to cast spells. What else could we...' I looked up at him riding his staff in a rude fashion. "His staff!" I called out to the group. Turning to me, every creature went silent. Fighting through the desire to shrink away, I saved my portent trick for whatever we were going to plan based off what I was about to tell them. I knew we were going to need it. Placing my hand on the pouch at my side, I explained. "Most high power spells require some material component and he doesn't have a component pouch. Get that staff away from him and at the very least he can't use that fireball anymore! Probably most of his arsenal too!" "But we'd still have to..." "I can do it." Every creature looked to Speaks with Talons. "I can do it. I can get that staff from him. I know how to survive those fire blasts. I've done it before and I am tougher now than I was then. He may hit hard but the Beast kin has explained to me before that is likely simply a trick of his magic on that staff. Wrestling the staff from him will not be difficult for one with my strength." Starlight looked at him worried and did a few calculations as she did the distance in her head. "But the sheer time it will take you to get to him is still a problem. You can survive one and keep going with how tough you are, sure, but you won't survive that many blasts. It would still take too much time to close the distance and he would keep knocking you back and slowing you down on top of that." "I will back you, Speaks with Talons," Wild Storm spoke as he came up, "I will do what I can to distract him and buy you time. I am weak for a dragon despite my age, but I am still resistant to the fire. I can draw at least one of his blasts from you before having to retreat, and I can do it from the air, brother in servitude." Tempest chimed in, "I can speed you up, should cut the amount he can throw at you in half or so. But I can't hold it for long with how much I've expended blasting at his shield, so you will have to act quick." Starlight shook her head. "I can upcast the body buffer spell to buy you maybe one hit, but then I'll be out too." "Searches for Stars," I heard Princess Celestia call out. "Do you have some wrappings I could use?" The griffin nodded, pulling a bit of cloth from his medical bag. Celestia nodded in gratitude and looked to only Wild Storm. With her horn, she levitated the wrappings around Wild Storm zealously, while doing so discretely around Speaks with Talons. As this happened, some energy seemed to flow into them from the magic holding the cloth. "This is not much, but it will add a small bit of resilience, and hopefully draw his eyes to Wild Storm." I looked at Celestia and muttered, "Again, questions, but later." With this, Wild Storm flew up into the air and circled just out of range of Dalock's reach. Turning to his younger brother, Speaks with Talons spoke sadly, "Just in case I don't make it, I want you to know something. I have accepted I am not a healer. You were right back then and you may be at peace with this now. But that does not mean I am a bad servant, just a different kind of servant. Our master chose a different path for me, and today is the day I walk it. Not as the false shaman I pretended to be, but as a protector of my family. My family born..." He turned to me and Tempest just as Starlight cast the modified false life spell on him and then fell over in the process. "And my family found." With this, Tempest and Speaks with Talons went to the edge of the crowd, just behind the soldiers standing at the edge of the scorched earth. Wild Storm dove in with a roar, drawing Dalock's attention. As soon as his head was turned away, Tempest tapped Speaks with Talons with her hoof, enacting the haste spell. Immediately, he bolted off. The ruse worked and Wild Storm bought Speaks with Talons one fireball's worth of distance. But Dalock still saw him and threw four bolts of eldritch blast at him, knocking him backward a little and eating through most of the false life spell. But Speaks with Talons regained that ground and then some. He was almost on Dalock by the time he had another round of Eldritch blasts thrown at him. This time, it finished the false life protection and hurt him decently, then came the fireball. Standing just out of range, Dalock was unharmed, but Speaks with Talons came out with only his feathers and fir singed off. Flames were still dancing around his talons as he had blocked the bulk of it with a solid dive and his absorb elements spell he had taught Scraps. With this, he immediately called out in a great scream, almost like a battle cry! "For family! Custos!" His form immediately went weird, like a werewolf transformation but full of green and grey feathers. He grew in size and I could swear I saw his eyes dripping blood like tears. Before Dalock could react, the extra speed boost brought Speaks with Talons in range. Immediately, he grabbed the staff and heaved, hard. He then ran as fast as he could away from dalock and towards the rocky outcrop at the edge of the circle. Dalock ran after him, of course, but even with teleportation and his expedius retreat, he couldn't keep up with Speaks with Talons. And the Griffin finally chucked the staff over the edge and into the rocks, out of sight, then turned and faced Dalock. Dalock slowed down considerably, then finally backed up. Throwing up his now free hand, he called out to me. "Alright, you have me! I surrender!" I didn't like his tone, as something felt off, cocky even, but when the princess demanded to know what he said, I had to translate. He gave up too easily. With this, we all came in and prepared to capture him, but he pulled one last stunt out of the hand holding his shield. Speaks With Talons saw this and came towards him in a charge, sensing the same thing I did, only to stumble when Tempest's haste spell finally wore out and left him lethargic. With a quick grab at the dust that had collected in his hair, Dalock shot his hand out at Speaks with Talons and screamed, "cremito!" A thin green ray came from his hand and hit Speaks with Talons as he recovered. Instantly, Speaks with Talons was gone. No wound. No charred corpse. Just gone. Only a bit of dust in the wind and a pile where he was a moment before was all that was left. "No! You bastard!" I screamed as I charged at him, unthinking. Going immediately to polar bear form, I ran up as hard as I could. Dalock simply removed his shield, tossed a small, smooth stone down along side it and threw his hands up in the air. Before I could reach him, a blast from princess Cadence struck at his feet and he let himself become encased in a dense crystal that would prevent his verbal or somatic components of spell casting. Before he was fully encased he called out to me, "And thanks for the rock," and then lost the ability to speak as the crystal encased him. I slashed at the crystal until my borrowed arms lost their claws, and I kept swinging anyway. As I transformed back solely from self inflicted damage, I could see the smirk frozen on his face, and the flipping the bird gesture he had made towards me before his arm was encased. I slammed both my fists onto the crystal and slid down, crying my eyes out. Looking down, I saw a familiar lodestone. Flipping open my component pouch, I found its partner for my mending spell sitting in its compartment, right next to an empty one where the other should have been. Grabbing the tiny magnet on the ground, I wrapped my hand around it and started slamming on the crystal again just as the princesses showed up to calm me down or pull me away or something. Giving the crystal one last hand numbing pound, I screamed into the open sky, "Dalock! You fucking shit faced bastard!"
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Brother Shaped Hole in my Heart. (Pain, Part 4)	"I'm telling you! Speaks with Talons knew human body language after being near me for so long. He knew Dalock surrendered, and then reached for something. Right, Tempest?" It had been four days since the battle. Tempest was looking around the tavern, getting increasingly worried. "I agree, Moss. I saw it too. That doesn't change the fact the courts felt Speaks with Talons didn't hear the surrender and dismissed that particular act as a prisoner simply executing his right to self defense against an unprovoked attacker. At least take solace that he will be persecuted for his ethical crimes against the diamond dog village for experimenting on them, as well as being responsible for the plagues. But if you keep pressing the point then none of our team's testimony will stick in court and he will get off of every charge short of the more recent attacks." Plasma Wave had retired and went back to his family in Manehattan when I had healed him, but when news reached him of our common comrade's falling, he was by my side in Canterlot the next day. Step by step, he helped me cry. He didn't tell me to get over it, nor did any of the other old crew mates. Even the cold and calculating Tempest refused to tell me to do that. She held the bravest face among the old crew, but every creature of the old crew could tell she was mourning in her own way. "Hey, do you think you could take your tall friend and get him out of here?" A normal tavern patron called out to the group, "I mean I don't want trouble, but I think it's pretty clear he's had a few too many drinks for his own good and should go sleep it off." Plasma Wave turned to her, taking the long way in his turn to show his damaged wing as he did so. With a stern face, he retorted. "Mam, he isn't drunk. He doesn't even drink alcohol. He's just that upset right now. We lost a comrade in arms, and he was the closest to them among us by far." She gave a huff and I turned enough to see her roll her eyes. "Well, at least do your best to keep it contained, would you? We're expecting a performance from Guiding Star tonight and she hates it when she has to sing over the crowd. I mean since he's the only one of his kind even allowed to serve in the military, it's not like it was a family member." It was then that I fell from the short stepping stool they gave me to let me sit at the raised elevation of the bar "properly" and right back down to my knees, quietly balling and a new flood of tears coming down. Fluttershy had asked Discord to watch over me. I think she asked partly for concern to my safety given my unstable state and partly to finally get some freedom from his constant guard now that Dalock was imprisoned in crystal up in some high security prison, if I were to be honest, but he did concede to it none the less. And so Discord came to my side from his hiding place and placed his paw and talon on me. As he did so, he shot the mare a solid glare. Having her gaze in a mesmerized state, she stood there as Discord stared her down. But Plasma Wave stepped in and pushed him a few inches back from her--as far as he would put up with being pushed back. Turning to the lady, he added the tactful words Discord couldn't. "Young missy, you obviously do not understand what it means to serve. One's squadron is more than simply a co worker or a type of drinking buddy. It practically is family. They live, breathe, and serve together, relying on each other just to stay alive." "He called me his brother," I whined out loud. It felt like a wound just stitched up and bandaged but not yet started to heal had busted open again, "His 'battle brother.' I was the only one he ever called that. He really was family and I never said it back to him. Not once. Not in earnest! And that bastard took him from me in cold blooded murder!" At this point the mare backed down and the rest of the patrons didn't bother us again due to my balling. * * * I had finished letting the waterworks metaphorically flood the tavern and settled back into my makeshift seat to simply return to quiet brooding. If I said I felt better, that would have been a lie, but at least I was somber enough to start thinking and working through my feelings. I had to say start, because there was a big pile of feelings I was going to have to work through and it felt like even a month of working on it would be hard pressed to get me to a functional state again. At some point about an hour after the incident with the mare, I heard a mare's voice fit for a songstress call out to me. "May I sit?" Turning around, I searched for the source of the voice, but all I could see was Princess Luna in her thestral disguise and a well to do dress. My heart beat rose a little, but I managed to quell it without my portent. Trying to be polite, I pressed on my amulet and called out to her in her disguise name. "Moon Beam? What are you doing here?" To this the mare smiled and called out in that same silk-smooth voice. "No, I'm not Moon Beam. Though I can see why you would think that. I'm Princess Luna's sole assigned personal dream walker, Guiding Star. And as you might have guessed by now, I was the thestral that gave permission to have the Moon Beam disguise be based on." Looking at her, I did see subtle differences, like a human twin who might do their hair a different way or have a beauty mark on a different spot on their face. A few seconds after letting the differences settle into my mind, I stopped and backtracked. "Wait, sole assigned dream walker? Aren't thestrals and Princess Luna both nocturnal?" She nodded and gave a cheerful rolling of her eyes. "Yes, we are. But there aren't always enough advanced non thestral dream walkers to go around for those that need to check in on other dream walkers. So I volunteered to go against my nocturnal nature and start sleeping at night. Princess Luna was also very hesitant to concede to guild surveillance when she came back. I think she picked me when she agreed later on because she felt a kinship to thestrals and I was the only one available for daytime surveillance. Tell me, did you ever find my twin brother snooping around in your dreams? He was so bad at not getting caught when we were in school. I swear him passing his advanced guild exam was a fluke." I found having something else to talk about that even mildly intrigued me was so rare at this point that I found it to be a nice distraction. So I ignored the awkwardness of the info dump and pursued further. "Advanced? Why do you have to have advanced dream walkers to watch other dream walkers?" She looked sad for just a moment, but then brought the smile back to her fanged face. "Some of it is for ensuring we have the skill set needed should something go wrong, but most of the requirements that set the bar so high is for privacy reasons. You see, as dream walkers, we see other ponies' dreams and we can't guarantee personal information from those dreams won't bleed into our own. So those that watch other dream walkers have to have extra high training to not only protect the privacy of our charges, but also our charges' charges. With legalities abound, it is far more tricky than it might initially sound. I have had to dance around four technicalities just in the time I came in and started talking to you." I sat there and absorbed her words for a minute, trying to think of something else I could ask, but was having a bit of trouble. While the silence built up, another patron came over and asked a question. "Not to be too prudent, miss Guiding Star, but we were told you would be performing for us tonight? Me and the other guys were looking forward to hearing that beautiful voice of yours perform and we wanted to confirm you weren't just in here for a drink tonight before we got our hopes up too much." Guiding Star looked over at the stallion and gave him a nod. "Don't you worry. I'll be singing for you tonight for certain. But I have to work out a few last minute details before I can decide on if the new song is ready or if it will be one of my classics." At hearing this, the stallion positively perked up. Turning to his comrades, he called out, "Did you hear that, fellas? We might be getting a new song tonight! Let's give our lady all the space she needs until she's ready and hope for the best!" As the stallion walked over to his buddies, I put two and two together and realized what she was over here for. "New song? Last minute details? You don't mean what I think you mean, do you?" She nodded in a pained, apologetic smile. "Sadly, probably yes. A lot of the things that Princess Luna saw in your mind bled over into her own dreams." "No." "But while she is still only bound by her old dream walker code from a thousand years ago, I am bound by modern codes." "I said no." Her ears went flat and I could see her do a very careful biting of her lip with the teeth between her fangs. She looked up and spoke in my ear nervously. "She was also watching over Speaks with Talons during his time in Equestria and she grew close to him too. She hoped to have an adapted version sung to honor him. But while she could sing it without your permission, she decided she won't. Since I can't without your permission, she was brave enough to ask me to do it, knowing I sing at this tavern as a hobby." As she pulled back, I shook my head and whispered a question. "You aren't just Princess Luna's dream walker, guardian... thingy, are you? You two have grown to be friends. Why else would you risk breaking a rule just now talking to me about Luna treating Speaks with Talons? Princess Luna might have given you permission for her dreams, but given your sudden jitters, it's obvious you would need his too and there's no way he could have given it now that he's dead." She gave me no reply. Instead, I saw her give me a near flat, not quite scared for herself but more worried about how the conversation will go down in general look, bravely waiting for an answer. As she did so, she again went to bite her lip and pressed the rest of her lips tight. I shook my head again, looked up and out past the tavern door to see the sign just outside and the picture on it just below Archimedes's tiny talons. They wouldn't let what they thought was a wild animal into the tavern. "Is that why Tempest brought me and the old crew to The Singing Star? Because of you?" "That sign says 'The Crying Comet,' actually... And yes." I looked over at Tempest, still apparently worried with something else, but also subtly sadder than normal. "Can it be only once? Like you sing it once then that's it? You can't sing it after that unless I give permission again?" She gave a relieved smile. "I'll have to clarify before I sing it, but yes." In an uneasy, gravely growl of a whisper, I spoke slowly. "Just. This. Once. And be sure to also clarify it's in honor of Speaks with Talons or the deal's off... and I turn you in." Guiding Star sighed and gave a closed eyed smile in relief. Turning to the small area where there was a karaoke machine, she nodded to her fans, who cheered. She then pulled out a sealed scroll tube from her saddlebag and broke it. Inside wasn't a traditional scroll, but a sheet of music with multiple symbols of instruments on it. Feeding it into the karaoke machine in the corner, she turned to the audience. "Tonight's song is a special one, granted to us from the homeland of our tall guest, Moss. He is rather tight lipped about his homeland, and thus has only permitted me to do this song once, just for you all on the sole condition I sing it in honor of his late friend, Speaks with Talons. So while you're in for a treat, I can't give any encores for this performance. It's a one time only song just for tonight." With a ding, the karaoke machine indicated it was ready. Turning her head only slightly, she bowed to the audience. "And so, Fillies and Gentlecolts, I will now sing a special treat for you from foreign, far off shores. Drink responsibly and enjoy!" She turned on the karaoke machine that she had just fed musical sheets into before she turned to the audience as it started slowly with a piano. "Where have all the good braves gone and, where are all the guards? Where's the streetwise Rockhoof to fight the rising hoards?" Tempest had to go over to one of the larger, bearded stallions that sat between the two groups and get him to sit down after he stood. "Isn't there a great knight, holding fast to his fiery creed? I toss and I turn and dream of what I need..."
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Hole Where my Heart Once Stood (Pain, Part 5)	When the song was over, the crowd cheered. I mostly was mixed between my feelings of it only partly fitting my late friend, and how not all the notes had translated well in the machine. Some of the instruments were different from my home world's instruments, and they got some of the melodies a little off. Had I not been in such a downer, though, I still might have been able to relax and enjoy it otherwise. Guiding Star quickly took the notes out of the machine and returned them to the tube, and then the tube to her saddlebag. She faltered momentarily as she stepped down from the slightly raised platform dedicated to the karaoke corner. When I saw the entire crowd get up at this, I found myself a little shocked, as it was only a minor trip. Intrigued, I got up and asked the nearest stallion that stood about it while one of the mares went to check on her. The stallion could only scratch his head and gesture out to the crowd. "Like we said before, she's our lady. It's hard to explain. Guiding Star isn't related to any of us, and yet she's the center of a family here in Canterlot. She's touched our hearts and helped us through troubles. She's a counselor and a shoulder to cry on. More than once the guys have had to... aggressively clarify to an outsider that she isn't just some floozy that gets stallions to wish she was their mare-friend. She's been active in our lives, helping us come together. She helped Silver Spear learn to cook for his daughter when his wife passed and helped him and other single parents here to work together and make a support net for raising their foals. She's counseled Flintspark on controlling her temper and staying focused on her artisan work to where she'd be able to support herself solely with her crafted works now, if she wanted." The stallion then looked at me and then down in a subtle shame. "And while I don't know how many she's helped, as it's part of her job to keep the privacy of her charges, I can at least say she helped me with my nightmares in my darkest hour. If it wasn't for her having gone above and beyond the call of duty back then, I might not be here today." He brought his head back up and put on a thinking face. "She's like a mother to all of us, except that she's our age and never tried to treat us like children? She's like our surrogate big sister we've grown to love, but not. It's kinda hard to put into words. She's kind, supportive, and always knows just what to say to help us through our woes. She's just, 'Our lady.'" As he was finishing, I tilted my head back in thought about Fluttershy for a moment. With a nod, I looked back at him and I think he could see I understood what he meant, but I said it anyway. "I think I get it. I have some... somepony like that too. Maybe she can help me through this slump." I got up and turned to Tempest. "I think I'm ready to go now, but I need to talk to Fluttershy. Maybe on the train ride back to Ponyville tomorrow." She nodded in kind. "Scraps hasn't shown up like he said he would, so I need to search for him anyway. I give him an inch and he runs off... He's in big trouble when I find him." As Tempest and I left the rest of the group at the tavern, Archimedes was happy to finally see us come out, coming down to my shoulder from his spot on the sign just outside the tavern. I heard a, "I told you the owl wasn't wild! Pay up!" from the tavern as we walked through the street and back to the inn at the edge of the city. * * * We found ourselves almost to the inn, where about every creature from Ponyville in our group was staying, and one or two others. Suddenly, we saw Fluttershy and Scraps running into the city gates in tandem. As they saw us, Scraps called out "Scraps keep promise! Scraps protect big sister Fluttershy!" Running up to meet them, Fluttershy went straight to me. She was almost out of breath, her face scared, begging for help. Looking up and around for danger, I listened carefully as I held her. I could sense that familiar kindness in her voice through it all. As she spoke, I saw a humanoid skeleton straight up murder the two guards at the gate and come running at us. It was missing one hand and its skull looked charred like it had been on fire. "We're in trouble! Dal..." I didn't even have time to react as I heard the laced magic pierce the night. "Pereo!" All of a sudden, Fluttershy went limp in my embrace. Looking down, I saw her expression wasn't changed, but her head had flopped back and there was no longer a spark in her eyes. Her body was no more harmed than it was a moment before, but I couldn't feel the rapid heartbeat anymore. I couldn't feel any heartbeat at all. My world went quiet. I could sense Discord springing to action, but it barely registered. It was like there was too much pain in the air and the emotions had to be delegated. Discord held enough fury for the both of us, while I held our dear Fluttershy with enough sadness for the both of us in kind. I knew Dalock was free somehow, and that he was a threat to Equestria, but all I could think of was sadness. Pure, suffocating sadness. My heart beat against my rib cage so hard that it genuinely felt like it wanted to jump right out of my chest and into hers to take over for the one that had stopped, futilely struggling against the truth my mind was telling it. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Fluttershy was dead in my arms. Moment by moment, my mind kept repeating it to my heart, but my heart kept screaming no. No matter how many times my mind repeated it, my heart kept fighting back with no end in sight to the struggle between the two. "She's..." I heard Discord whimper. Looking up, I saw what I suspected to be bone marrow on his talon and paw. As he reached for her, I instinctively waved one hand over his extended talon and called out, "Nikto." he looked at me in surprise as his talon was suddenly pristine. With a gaze into each other's pain stricken eyes, he understood where I was coming from. "He has no right to touch her, not even his marred remains." He stroked her mane as gently as I had ever seen him be gentle with anything. It was like his fury had bled off and he was finally able to accept his half of the sadness, because it was as if the weather itself came to his chaotic beckon call to help him cry. The rain started coming down from what was crystal clear night just prior as he spoke again with a weak, almost chocked whisper. "She's... Really gone." It was at this point my brain finally took a sucker punch from my heart, and my heart took over leading the two like I was a scared little child. "No. She's not. Not yet." He looked up at me, at first in confusion, but then in a cold aggression. Cold flames licked the edge of his mouth as he gave a very insistent command, "Explain." My mind gave one last bout of logic with what I was about to do, but my heart quickly pinned it down like a wrestler, unable to object again. "There's a spell I know how to cast through the Animus Mundi. I just became aware of it recently. It can bring her back to us, but we need materials. My mistletoe sprig isn't sufficient." He pulled his head back, his eyes went to flames, but flames with dark centers. With a voice akin to a demon showing carefully measured patience bought with my compliance, he growled deeply, "What do you need?" "High quality oils and unguents. As much and as rare as you can find. I'll meet you at the inn." "No spa or hospital storehouse will be spared." With a brief snapping of his talon, he was gone. His voice lingered for but a moment, saying, "Make good on your spell, or you will wish you had shared her fate." I pressed my amulet, knowing I wouldn't have a hand free soon, and then hefted. When I tried to get up, I stumbled in the effort to hold her in my weak arms. Tempest and Scraps tried to help but quickly backed off when I lashed out at them. "Stay back! I'll get her there by myself! Just make sure we have a clear path to the inn." It took me a few tries, but I managed to finally stand while holding her in my arms. I tried to move but quickly found her head rolling to the side. I tried to shift my weight to shift her head to my shoulder, but almost fell over again in the process. Ultimately, Tempest came up and carefully moved her head so that it would rest on my shoulder, but quickly backed away again as soon as she was done. "Are you sure you can really save her?" I turned to look her in the eyes. I tried to form words but the determination of my glare would have to suffice, because all I could do was turn back and start walking. One step after another. The rain wasn't thick, just a light drizzle, but it was still starting to wet the dirt side road the inn was on and make it cake to my boots. With the extra burden, it took a good fifteen minutes before we reached the fence that blocked off the back corner of the inn. My arms burned, much as my legs were starting to, but I pushed on. As I rounded the corner, the mud started getting thick enough to cause my boots to want to sink and slip. Tempest and Scraps had already reached the in before me and were holding the door open. The inn keeper and Zecora were still up, talking deeply when they saw me coming in with Fluttershy in tow. I signaled Tempest with my head to a table and called "Clear, empty," to her in crude Equestrian, with my amulet long sense deactivated. Tempest quickly cleared the table and I carefully set Fluttershy down on it. When the inn keeper started making a fuss about breaking cups and the mess it made, I simply tossed the entirety of my bit bag at him, landing at his hooves. It wasn't much, with me having inconsistent employment, but it was more than enough to pay for a few wooden mugs, plates and a broken lantern. With that covered, I simply went back to positioning Fluttershy's body in a respectful resting position. Zecora, being the healer she was, came up to Fluttershy and came to realize the truth right as I shoved her back. "You were wise to bring her but it is too late, I dread. There is nothing I can do, for she is already dead." I gave a solid glare at Zecora and pressed my amulet into my chest so hard it hurt, "Maybe you can't do anything for her. But you wanted me to show you miraculous magic? Well sit back and you'll see your god damned miracle!" Zecora cocked her head slightly as the gears turned in her head. At first even the wise shaman didn't get it, but soon enough her jaw dropped as the spark of realization came to her eyes. "It took me a bit, but now I know for sure. I know you are upset, but you don't want to do this, Moss." I heard Archimedes call to me in my mind. Turning to my familiar, I pointed my finger straight at him. As much as I've come to respect him, that was the furthest thing on my mind. "Archimedes! You are my familiar." I paused for just a moment as I let this sink in. His eyes widened in horror. "And now I order you as my familiar, do not speak to me and do not interfere!" Immediately, I found his body stiffen as the magic that bound him to that form forced him to obey my order. With nothing left to do but wait for Discord, I simply sang to Fluttershy to let some of the sadness out. I sang boldly. I sang slowly. And I sang as if she and I were the only two in the room, because I didn't care about the others hearing. "You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You made me happy, when skies were grey." Tears flowed anew out of my eyes as I stroked her cheek. "You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't... take... my sunshine..." I couldn't finish and found myself falling to my knees in a straight up sob fest. I just started sobering up when Discord popped in with more canisters and bottles of the supplies I asked for than I could count. "I hope this is enough? What else do you need?" He saw my face and the fact that I had been sobbing. "I hope you aren't getting cold feet?" His paw and talon were on my shoulders as I looked at the canisters on the floor. I felt the icy fire of his breath go right down my back at this point. It didn't bother me in the slightest. I simply shoved him off like a badass in response, even though I knew he could squash me with no effort, and knelt down to the canisters. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I took a breath to center myself and attune into the Animus Mundi. Letting her whispers guide me through the canisters and bottles as I tested them, I eventually found the correct ones. After picking a few, and grabbing a couple more than she seemed to indicate just to not accidentally apply too little, I looked up at him. "These will work. I don't know how many shots I'll get at this. Just keep the others back to make sure I don't get interrupted and I'll do my part." * * * It was a slow and meticulous process. The Animus Mundi whispered in my ear on where to apply the thick medical paste/oil and what patterns to draw on the table. I found myself apologizing multiple times to Fluttershy as I applied it to her face and barrel. The spell slot was long since invested into the spell, being drawn into the patterns. Even though it was taking so long, it was not a ritual casting. This spell had to expend one of my highest level spell slots in spite of the time it took and I made a point to not let any noise interrupt me. I only had a tiny handful of them. I didn't even look up from my work as the rest of the old crew came in from the tavern with Plasma Wave. I knew Discord would do his part and keep them back. I could answer questions later. Finally, the crescendo of the spell came and I closed my eyes placing my hands on her hoof, calling out "Auntie Equis, please bring her back to us!" I heard gasps from the audience, but kept my eyes closed in some symbolic desperation. The table tilted suddenly as if something had fallen on it and I found myself falling backwards on my ass as the table flipped the other way. It was over. Success or failure, it was over. I heard the coughing and a gasp of a mare from the other side of the table. Then suddenly, I heard a familiar, sweet, angelic voice call out. "Dalock! He's loose! His sta-" She couldn't finish as I saw Discord suddenly sweep the mare up into his arms. "Fluttershy! Dear, sweet Fluttershy! You've come back to us!" The draconequus was positively kissing her all over her forehead as tears flew up from his eyes and to the ceiling. Finally managing to let the mare pry him away, he turned to me and gave the warmest, most sincere smile I had ever seen him give. I knew no matter what I did, I would never be able to put that kind of smile back onto his face again. With that turn, he properly revealed the mare he held on to so tightly. My mind went blank at what I saw, but only for a moment. The pony before me looked remarkably like Fluttershy in many ways. Her identical cutie mark, her pink mane, her yellow fur, her kind smile and her embarrassed blush. But there was something else. Fangs. Looking closer, I saw flecked ear ends. She also had a slight slit in her eyes that were barely distinguishable from normal eyes in the dark inn at a glance. At her sides were not the feathered wings of a pegasus, but something more bat like. This mare was a thestral. And yet I wasn't shaken by the otherwise scary demeanor. I was hardly even shaken for a moment by the change at all. Reincarnate had a vast majority likelihood of changing the species of the creature it was cast on in the game. Statistically speaking there might have even been about a fifty fifty chance of her coming back male, or whatever the gender ratio was for ponies. Probably close. I simply saw this shift as a scar to mark the occasion at worst. My heart positively wept joy at the sight of her. With Discord opening up his paw in invitation to the group hug, I joined in merrily. Discord spun us around in the air with joy until we started getting as dizzy as we were joyful. When we came down, he finally let us go. I nuzzled my forehead to hers in simple happiness, then came up and spoke. "Flutter..." And then I saw it. Laying on the ground, tumbled over next to the table was Fluttershy. Or rather, Fluttershy's corpse. With the sheer relief of the moment before easing the tensions of my heart, my brain got loose of the metaphorical choke hold and threw the heart off, pushing it back down to the secondary driving force that it was. I had just cast the forbidden spell. Looking around, I saw Zecora's jaw so slack it was mere inches from the floor and looked like it was threatening to unhinge itself to finish the drop. Plasma Wave and Tempest were similarly surprised. The inn keeper, the rest of the old crew and one of the other patrons of the inn that had come in without me noticing were looking at me like I had just bested all four alicorn princesses in a four on one duel. The scariest part was that none of them had the look of horror on their face at what I had done. I had raised the dead. I broke the taboo barrier between life and death. I touched a power that I felt only god all mighty had the right to wield. Looking down at the corpse again, I realized I didn't even have enough knowledge to scratch the surface of what I had done. Was this actually Fluttershy? Was this a new soul with her memories? Or was this some fraction of her ripped back from the afterlife and she was now incomplete on the other side? My own trampling over the sanctity of life aside, I had no idea what the ramifications of this spell was. I had no idea what the ramifications on the kingdom was going to be. Was I going to be looked upon like a prophet? Was Zecora and the other servants going to pry into the secrets of this? I honestly had no idea what was going to happen, or what I should do. So I ran.
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	My Unyeilding Nightmare. (Pennance, Part 1)	With Zecora chasing me, I had ran away to a cave hidden by the forest at the foot of the Canterlot mountain. I wanted to be alone, but I knew too many creatures cared about me to let that happen. With Princess Luna herself coming to me in person only hours after I arrived in the cave, I wound up striking a deal with her. She would decree I was to be left alone, using the excuse of my late punishment for falsifying the need to take life force to heal as a reason for me being in the cave. It met loopholes, but in reality, it was the closest compromise we could come to in exchange of me complying to her regular visits and a promise I'd take care of myself physically. Of all the creatures I didn't want to see, she was an exception. It wasn't her calm understanding smile, or her patience with me that I welcomed. It was the fear her presence brought that I secretly wanted. As much as I wanted to sort this all out, I couldn't do it alone. I needed someone else to get my mind together enough to make any progress on my thoughts. I mentally knew I needed a counselor, not a torturer, but my heart, gut and everything else wanted to say the opposite. She was the compromise between the two that I needed. It was the compromise I had to take if I wanted to get back to a level mind. I wasn't trying to justify anything. I didn't even want to justify my actions. I just wanted to sort my thoughts out and figure out my next move. Be it punishment by Equestria, long term self imposed exile, or something else, I needed to meditate and figure it out. It took a few weeks to convince Princess Luna I wasn't going to try to off myself or do anything stupid, but I wasn't going to just "get over this" or "forgive myself," either. Eventually though, she caught on. I was doing my best to be open with my hasty action, analyze it, and then act appropriately. This wasn't about punishing myself, as much as my gut feeling was to do so. It was about addressing the many issues that were sure to come from the aftermath of what I had done. After that, I could move forward with absolute resolve, whatever that resolution was to be. I spent Countless hours in the dark, but I had nothing else to do but my task, and entertaining Princess Luna with my progress when she came to check in on me. The progress on my task was slow, however, and I often found myself just going over my early adventures when I had ran out of things to say to Princess Luna during her regular visits. Pragmatically, those tales were only a distraction to keep talking, and occasionally helped me reset myself and to find a new angle to analyze with when I was stuck. It was a distraction that wound up long enough to write an entire book about, mind, but a distraction nonetheless. When she was gone, I tried my best not to focus on them and stay on task. During her visits, she also told me of outside events to give some semblance of time passing in that cave. She told of how Dalock had been captured more easily without his magical armor or anti detection amulet and they had him secured with new measures. She also told of how the Summer Sun Celebration was also going to be honoring Speaks with Talons, the other servants, and the team that initially stopped the plagues from being even worse. She also had informed me that she acted quickly with the guards to make sure my actions had been masked. The ponies involved were sworn to secrecy. Fluttershy was reported to be only dying, not dead, and that I had saved her with a spell that incidentally activated some latent thestral ancestry within her. Normally, I would have objected to such a lie, but given the secret we were trying to address I conceded it was best the public didn't know. Maybe eventually... maybe, but the servants of the Animus Mundi and the royal family needed to weigh their options and get a grip on it before we even entertained the notion at the very least. I wasn't sure if I had actually resurrected Fluttershy or created somepony new with her memories, and I was working through the implications of both scenarios. What should I call this new pony? Should I treat her like Fluttershy? Should I treat her like her own pony? Or should I do neither and just walk away? I honestly didn't know, but what threw me for a loop was about mid way through my recovery I had a visitor against the wishes of the princess. It was her, whoever she was. I nearly struck at her, forcing my wand away at the last moment and went to a blithering mess. I wasn't ready to face her yet. I was barely able to keep myself together at her expense when I shouted, "I don't know who you are! Please, just go away." Regardless of who she actually was, she probably did believe herself to be Fluttershy. It nearly broke my heart having to strike at hers like that, but she took the hint and managed to leave before pushing me over the edge. When I next saw Princess Luna, I was genuinely grateful that she simply asked if I was ready to continue and didn't press me when I simply continued story time to calm myself. If she had, it might have given me that final shove over that edge. After that, my progress with Princess Luna's did manage to pick up some, and I eventually found myself coming to the conclusions I suspected I was going to end up to. But going through all the thought processes and double checking my logic instead of taking a quick shortcut and presuming made my decision final. The nuances were too numerous to count, and each scenario of what the repercussions of my hasty actions were had multiple possibilities for solutions. But in the end I found every separate scenario finally had one acceptable solution in common. One, I hated myself for what I did. It was like chopping my own foot off. There was no undoing it and "forgiving" myself wasn't going to make it all better. There was no denying it happened. I'd have to just learn to live with it. Two, best case scenario, I was to live with the shame, but that would be about the same thing as I had done in the past about my kind's history anyway. So I was prepared for that. Three, worst case scenario, I was to live with the guilt, but once again that would be about the same thing as I had done in the past about my kind's history anyway. So I was prepared for that too. Four, even though I likely had no right to happiness anymore, I still had a job to do. I had issues to address, now that I had decided how, and when those were done I needed to keep going. I need to keep putting one step in front of the other, then just repeat and keep repeating. For now I still had breath in my body. Whether that changed the next day, or several decades into the future, my job wasn't going to be finished until that happened. * * * And then the final night of Princess Luna's visits came. I needed to put the first part of my plan into motion: Facing my own inner demons. Instead of laying them to rest, however, I planned on fully accepting them emotionally as I had logically, instead of hiding from them as I had been doing. By previously refusing to stay asleep long enough for my nightmares to play out without Princess Luna's presence, I kept the more counterproductive thoughts at bay. But, finally having decided on my path, I let it come at me full force. I didn't fight it, and did my best to let my emotions flow, knowing she was nearby and listening in. At one point, my focus wavered, as would happen in dreams, and I found myself falling into the emotional traps. Not as poorly as I might have when I first ran, but falling none the less. And then, when I thought I was finished, Princess Luna came and her presence gave me that last boost of lucid dreaming I needed to see it through to the end. Having finally accepted it emotionally too, I sat there in the dream realm and cried in her embrace until the morning. Just before I woke, I asked her to meet me as soon as she could. After I returned, I worked on recovering emotionally for about two days in a cell in Canterlot castle, though in a cell at my own request. I found it oddly comforting. I found out that Dalock had bypassed the need for somatic or verbal components. This enabled him to shock himself to death, and reform outside of Canterlot. It turned out that while the Plague Artifact had acted as the catalyst for his lichdom, it was his staff, sitting unrecovered in the thick rocks, that was his actual phylactery. Had... Had "Fluttershy" not reported this shortly after I had ran away, Dalock would still be on the loose. While Scraps had seen her, he did so at a distance and had no clue what Fluttershy was seeing in the rocks. It was believed by the princesses that Dalock used the power word kill spell on her specifically to keep this a secret in desperation. Scraps surely would have been killed too, had Discord not stepped in. As such, capturing him when he reformed was not only possible, but quite easy. Without his armor or large stockpile of spell slots, he was not nearly as menacing. With Starlight finishing her fine tuning of the up casting technique, her and the two princesses on duty at the time were able to easily counter everything he tried to throw at them. When he attempted another wish spell to get him out of there, Discord quickly countered it himself, being the strongest arcane caster among them all, and they quickly subdued him. They also managed to keep him from casting any more magic. With the shards of an old changeling artifact that they said would absorb his magic as he casts it, even with his ability to do so while restrained, they ensured that he was unable to finish casting another spell, making sure he couldn't get out of his new prison. Due to legalities, they couldn't just execute him. He had to stand trial, but translating proved problematic. I looked at Dalock's lawyer, whom I pitied, and asked, "What do you mean, you need me to translate for him in court?" "Nopony else is sufficiently fluent in his language except you, and while the translation amulets will allow us to hear him, it will not work the other way around for him hearing us. No translation amulet will work for him while he is in his restraints. I had applied for having them removed for the hearing, but due to his violent history, the court refused. I'll be able to hear you speaking to him just fine with my amulet though, as will most officials and guards in the court room, so formalities on risking a biased translation will not be an issue." This was not developing as I had hoped. Regardless, I had planned for a similar scenario, and did have a solution for it. I pursed my lips, and gave a quiet groan to myself. Furling my eyebrows, I looked at the lawyer. "I can do it, but first I need something in exchange. I need a favor from Princess Luna." He looked at me odd. "The courts can certainly try to ask her to accommodate, I suppose, depending on what you need. What was this favor?" I steeled myself for a moment then said, "I need her to perform an Astral Judgement." "Out of the question! We are not at war anymore! To even imply doing this before he is convicted, if he even does get convicted, is utter-" I quickly got in the lawyers face and screamed to get his attention, "It's not for Dalock, alright!? It's for me!" Blinking in shock, the lawyer looked at me like I was crazy for a solid five seconds after I backed out of his face. Without losing even a shred of confusion, he asked, "It's for you? But I read your file. You've already been through an Astral Judgement and were fully acquitted. Why in the blazes of Celestia's sun would you want to go through that, again?" I folded up my arms in stubbornness and gave a firm, calm reply. "That will be between me and Princess Luna after she's already started it. It's not negotiable. Either she does it, or I am willing to sit and rot in a cell for the rest of my life in contempt of court." I had to be one hundred and ten percent convicted to the move, or he'd see right through me. This is why I had to be absolutely certain before I left the cave. I had no room for doubt as I was no good at bluffing, especially when I wasn't certain about something. Like a person in love, I had to be fully committed, ready to risk it all like a mad man and potentially condemn myself, or I had a zero percent chance of success anyway. I stared into his eyes as I saw him stare back into mine. In the span of a few more seconds, he stared into my abyss and made up his mind. He then straightened himself up to show that while he understood me, he wouldn't stand for the intimidation. With a nod, he calmly replied, "I'll see what I can do." A few days later, I was taken to a medical area and restrained for my own safety. Quickly nodding off with a mild application of sleeping gas just to help me go under, I found myself on that familiar dream island yet again. "Now that we are here, what do you actually need from me, Moss?" I turned around and saw Princess Luna looking at me, worryingly. I put my head down and called to her mournfully, "I actually do need an Astral Judgement. More specifically, I need to use it to remember something from my past. If I think of it, can you follow that thought to the memory and help me view it again? There's a specific detail I need to retrieve. I've tried to do it on my own, but the memory is too faint." She gave me an uneasy frown. "Moss, I will support you whether you back down or go through with this, but you know what an Astral Judgement will do to your mind. You've lived through it once already. On top of this you are still healing from an emotional wound as it is. You are not just doing this to punish yourself, are you? What could be so important to merit doing this?" I shook my head. "No. I'm not just doing this to punish myself. I'm doing it because the fate of Equestria might depend on if we can extract this exact information from my memories or not. And maybe, since I've done this before and I'm cooperating this time, then if we are fast, we might get lucky and I won't have a lot of trauma from this." Another question started to form on her lips, but she soon enough found the answer to whatever question it was in my eyes. She raised herself on her back hooves and made her entire body radiate energy as if a star was being born within her. "Reveal thine secrets!" I could practically remember the magic reaching out to my mind, only this time I reached back to it with open arms instead of resisting. With the plan in motion on her simply following my thoughts, I stitched a path for her to the memory, and she drove the magic to it. Almost immediately, I felt the strain start to come back. We needed to hurry. "And the next guest we have here with us tonight on Dice Tumble almost needs no introduction. Lets give it up for the mind behind the Ork that flipped the wilderness on its head! Leeroy Peterson! So tell us, Lee, what kind of cha-" The online video of the nerd channel I watched played in the background as I went about cleaning my room back when I still lived with my parents. I was a typical twenty year old guy who the school system hadn't actually prepared for the world, and who also happened to still slack off on cleaning if not told to. Despite the strain of the judgement slowly growing like a migraine in the presence of a high pitched noise, I felt a slight wave of nostalgia kick in, seeing the old dwelling. The scene moved forward a bit with the unimportant parts being skimmed over, until a stomping up the stairs could be heard. "I hear that computer your uncle got you playing. When I get up there, I had better see a clean room, mr Da-" Immediately, the room faded away and both Luna and I took a step back from the shock. She had forced the Astral Judgement closed. "I'm..." She looked at me with a sorely apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I'll try not to tell anypony else." I could see it in her eyes. Even though she tried to cut it short, she had heard the whole thing. She heard the words that would cripple me, or indeed potentially any outsider. She heard my true name. I brought myself across the island in the dream realm, and opened my arms in a wide hugging motion. Slowly, with her feeling rather confused but not fighting, I brought her into a hug and said, "It's alright. You know what it's like to be a monster too, so I trust you. That's why I needed it to be you and not some other dream walker. Tell whomever you feel needs to know, and don't tell me who you tell." With this, my fear of princess Luna was finally over. I had taken a very delicate treasure of mine, and placed it in the care of the one I had reflexively feared for so long. The instinctive desire to panic simply vanished as I came out of the hug. "Now I don't have to worry about if I ever turn crooked like the rest of my kind. Somepony I trust has what they need to stop me." I had completed the final part of my second step in the plan: Get over my knee-jerk fear of Princess Luna by facing that fear and overcoming it with a more powerful token of trust. Now I was equipped and readied for the third step: Ending the threat Dalock posed before he hurt anybody else.
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	Duet of the Damned. (Pennance, Part 2)	Days after the brief Astral Judgement, I was declared stable again and Princess Celestia summoned me to her personal study. I sat there as my arm moved on its own, as if possessed by another. Dreading the action it was about to take, I found myself gulping down the vile poison the princesses called unsweetened jasmine tea. Princess Celestia looked at me as I reveled in disgust. "And that is why you do not make jasmine tea with hot water when you do not know the first thing about tea, Moss." Finally released from the compulsion I wasn't even able to resist, I looked at the alternate beverage presented to me, and happily found myself swishing it around my mouth to rinse the flavor. "That was horrifying. No wonder Discord doesn't want anypony knowing his prior true name. That kind of control is potent." Princess Celestia promptly took the kettle she had ordered me to brew tea with and asked for some proper tea to be made, notably something as unlike the prior tea as possible. "And addicting for the user, especially when used on a powerful entity such as Discord. Thus why a native true name was appealing enough to him to permanently harm himself for it. As you are aware, there are magics that can compel one to say their true name, but now he can simply answer with his native true name instead. No creature can force his original true name from him now and he is far to cautious about it to ever let it slip by accident." I nodded. "And, don't correct me if I'm wrong, but I can presume just about every alicorn princess in the royal family and General Prince Shining Armor have been told mine to keep me in line if they have to, among a hand... frog full of other ponies." Celestia gave me that same masked smile I had come to recognize, neither nodded nor shook her head, and responded, "Due to her age, Flurry Heart would not remember it even if we did tell her, and I don't think it would be wise to allow a child such capacity. Nor is it wise to call it aloud, even if one believes themselves alone with the subject. Thus why I only whispered it into your ear a moment ago. If we ever did have to call it aloud, we pretty much would be forced to tell you to kill yourself to keep any that heard from using it after, given the power of your magics they would then have at their beck and call. We could have broken your bewitchment with enough effort, but even Discord recognized the need for the secrecy." "And no level of magical resistance can help you fight off the effect of a true name being called?" Princess Celestia shook her head. "No, because it is not magic, at least not exactly. The forces that allow for this are far older than conventional magic. From what we have extracted on them, they are passive and everywhere, rarely coming into play even in the ancient times when the worlds were young." "So is this another reason why there isn't much traffic with other worlds?" She took my drink I used to wash out the bad taste when I finished and placed it on a tray. "If I were to travel to a nearby world on the scale of inter dimensional travel, I would have some disadvantage of others knowing my true name, but the effect would be minor enough to not be noticed by all but the sharpest minds. The danger arises when one is in worlds with great distances from their home world such as Discord's original home world or your own." She gave me a look akin to a teacher giving bad news to a student, needing to say it but not taking any pleasure in the act. "But whatever degree you are affected by it, it is impossible to nullify or weaken. At best one can resist, if only for a time, depending on how 'close' one still is to their home world. Beyond that, there is no suppressing the effect once one's true name has been spoken." A servant brought a tea pot with properly made tea from the kitchen and Celestia thanked them in her usual, regal, yet 'not higher than you' courtesy. I couldn't help but feel the look of happiness on the servant's faces in the castle weren't faked or forced in any way. There was the occasional scowl or other less than positive look, but they were allowed to carry it without question and they still weren't generally miserable. The large majority of the staff seemed to genuinely enjoy working there under her. Pouring tea that actually looked and smelled nice for the two of us, she continued. "Bypassing the bewitchment to tell my sister your true name was unbelievably reckless, and hopefully now you know why we never pressed you for it once we learned of the safety measure placed on you. Now that you have granted your true name to us of your own volition, we have indeed secured it as a safeguard as you wished us to. Even so, we have only made the absolute minimum sized web of ponies needed to ensure there is a safety net. Even a single leak of your true name to untrustworthy ears could prove disastrous." Tempest and I were sitting in the castle court yard, "Are you sure you don't want to see her? Once you start translating for his defense, you won't be allowed near any of us again." "No. I have to get a few more things done first. Let her know I do want to see her. I actually need to see her eventually. I just can't, not yet." Tempest looked down at the papers she had transcribed for me as a substitute to my formal testimony. This was the real sacrifice I'd be doing when I started translating for him. The moment I started hearing anything of his defense, I would not be able to assist the prosecution anymore. In fact, I'd just about be stuck with Dalock all day, practically joined at the hip. All day, every day with the one being that had taken two of my closest friends from me in front of my own eyes. Previously I'd have been shocked, appalled and furious, but now? Now I saw it as an opportunity. It was too perfect. "This is looking pretty solid now. I don't think we have much else we can add to it." I looked up at the tree in the court yard, recognizing the perfect spot Archimedes would be perching while we did our thing, but I hadn't seen him in months. Not since I ran away to the cave. "How is Archimedes? Is he still alive after..." Tempest looked at me as I paused in reflection. "After sicking him on Zecora? yes. He wasn't hurt, just netted by Plasma Wave and myself. He's been very inert, though. He'll eat and be responsive to sound, but not much else. He hasn't been active, nor have we gotten him to communicate with us when we ask what's wrong. We can tell he will still listen when we just talk, but short of threatening to move him by force, he doesn't leave his nest for anything but food." I closed my eyes and held back a tear. "It's because of what I did to him. I betrayed our bond as partners and ordered him as nothing more than my familiar, my servant. If you could, please let him know I am sorry for doing it, but I can't undo my order just yet." Tempest, being the pragmatic, multi tasking leader of the squad she was, put her notes away as I made my request. With a whistle she called Scraps, who had been playing fetch with one of the off duty guards of the castle. "Is this for the same reasons you can't see Fluttershy yet?" I had to resist the urge to use my portent to hide my reflex to her name and did my best to keep myself from stiffening up the normal way. Tempest had become familiar with my tell tale sign of using my portent. She'd expect a bit of stiffness from hearing her name, but she'd outright be suspicious of me using my portent to control my response. I couldn't let any of them know of my plan. As much as they might like the plan and agree with me, they would be morally obligated to try to stop it. They had helped me so much in the past, but this mission was one I had to do alone, no matter how scared I was to do so. Keeping them in the dark and being shunned or ostracized for my actions when it was over was a cross I would just have to bear. If I wanted to guarantee their safety, then there was no other way. "...Basically. About a ninety percent overlap?" Tempest checked Scraps' bauble bag as he dumped it out for her in habit. She rummaged for a few seconds through it to see if anything needed returned. With a smile, she gave him a nod and he put every last item back in happily. Turning back to me, she responded. "I'll relay the messages to them. I'll see you again when you're freed up from the defense. Hopefully it will only be a couple months." With this, the lawyer assigned to Dalock came off of the bench on the far side of the court yard and approached us. "Are we certain we are wrapped up then? I won't be accused of pulling you away before you're finished." Scraps waved goodbye to me as he and Tempest walked off, not fully understanding how long I'd be gone. I waved back and responded to him. "Yes. I've done every kind of preparation for this I could. I'm ready to go." When I finally saw Dalock, I was surprised at the ingenuity they took to capture him. Only the front part of his skull and jaw were exposed to the open air. On one side of his face, I could see a dark, almost organic piece of rock wedged between his skull and the stone. I had heard of the process they used to imprison him, but seeing it made it all come together better. Once the magic nullifying shards were stuck to him, Princess Cadence couldn't use her magic to encase him in crystal again. So instead the servants used the reverse side of the same spell I had used on Zecora to turn the basalt stone into mud. As soon as he was submerged into it, the magic in the mud was absorbed by the shards and they resumed their stone like form. It was like a giant, solidified bowl of pudding with how the stone was displaced around him. I could even see the remnants of the rod they used to force him down beveled down flush with the stone. There was no forcing his way out physically and with the shards his magic wasn't an option. The lawyer had mentioned he would have to be chiseled out if he won his court hearing. I payed his snark little mind as I had come to expect it from him. It was all business during the lawyer sessions we had to build his case, which was as much lies and bull shit as I had expected it to be, but I was a little irritated with the guards constantly hovering near while we were alone. "Its not like I'd do anything to you." I called to Dalock. "All it would do is free you from the one place within the world of the living I trust you to not hurt anypony." "They still aren't going to take any chances with Mr necessary evil." I had lost how many degrading nick names he had called me, sometimes even when the layer was present. But it wasn't long before he tried to play me in more twisted ways. It wasn't bad at first, but I knew he was warming up for the slam dunk. "So, do you know how many times that monster slaughtered me before they put me in here? I lost track. One thing I noted, though, was that they were waiting for me right off the bat, even though I killed the one that could have told them." I knew what he was going for, but I still knew it was going to sting. "You brought her back, didn't you? That's how they caught me. Tell me, my lesser half, what was it like? Having that kind of power if only for a moment?" I knew I was going to have to play his game. "..." "Was it exhilarating? Having the power of a god? Proving definitively you were better than they were?" "Shut up." His tone shifted manipulatively akin to a stick being shoved into a wound. "Or was it something else? Were you disgusted with yourself Mr hypocrite?" I fell over and fessed up. "I was no better than you when I did that, and it will haunt me to the end of my days." He laughed, thinking he broke me. He would have been right, had I not already broken myself first. But continue to play my part, I did. For months, I translated faithfully, and regularly suggested he just confess for a lesser sentence. They just dismissed me every time, of course, and let him chew me out and taunt me when the lawyer wasn't around, and waited for the day to come. Over time, I made a point to show my admiration for the show he played on, never mentioning anything about knowing his name. It was annoying, playing the part of a Stockholm syndrome victim. We went back and forth about how I was a man of faith and he would dog me on it, breaking me until I was submissive, speaking meekly in my responses. Months later, in the cool autumn, Dalock's entire stone block was painstakingly dragged to the court room. I watched carefully, waiting for my moment. Sunburst sat at the prosecution table as their legal assistant while another pony I didn't know approached Dalock's lawyer. It was then, while the lawyer was distracted in the hustle and bustle of the court room settling down I finally made my move. Moving up to his ear, I meekly whispered to Dalock in the same broken voice I had practiced for so long, "I say this for the sake of your immortal soul, Leeroy Peterson. During the trial, just confess to any crimes you've actually committed. Tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about your crimes and I will pray for you." He didn't move for a moment as he processed what I said. Finally, he quietly laughed and said, "Bitch, I don't even believe in that bible thumping bullshit of yours. I don't need your pity or your sissy boy catholic preacher cock sucking prayers! Just shut up and do your damn job so I can get out of this rock already!" Soon enough, the hearing started. The judge was called and all the formalities were performed properly. Finally, I was tasked to translate the words of the court to Dalock. "You stand accused of plotting to overthrow the crown, resisting arrest, terrorism, the murder of twenty two military officers as well as thirty five civilians and crimes against sentience in causing the pandemic of this spring. How do you plead?" The lawyer started to stand, all expecting him to say not guilty, or a mixture of pleas, but Dalock cut him off, yelling firmly and loudly. "Guilty on all accounts!" Sunburst spat out the water from the defense table he had been sipping as the court room went alight with gasps. Dalock's jaw bone was slack at what he just said. "You fucking punk ass bitch! What did you do!?" The lawyer turned to me and demanded the same. "All I did was translate. You all heard me. I mean, sure, I have been telling him he should just plea guilty for a reduced sentence. That wasn't a secret, but it doesn't invalidate it if he takes the advice just because I gave it! He's in an anti magic trap. By your own words I couldn't have done anything! If I could have, you wouldn't have needed me." Looking out in the audience, I saw Moon Beam hidden in the audience. It was definitely Princess Luna in her Moon Beam form and not Guiding Star because she look at me with shock at first, but then in realization and finally disgust. She finally put it together what I really needed the Astral Judgement for back then. "Order! Order in the court!" The judge looked around. "The theatrics do not invalidate the plea of guilt. The restraints would indeed make any form of magical manipulation impossible as Moss stated. But on the chance that foul play is the case, I will make an exception and allow the defendant to appeal this with Astral Judgement through the Dream Walkers Guild in spite of the odd circumstances if they so desire. One month will be granted to make this decision. Otherwise, the sentence is the destruction of Dalock's Phylactery, and subsequent execution." I looked over at Dalock with the same level of submissiveness as I had done so for so long. Pulling my eyes forward, I held my same posture and kept playing my part. I had managed to get them to not let him off. The Astral Judgement would make it clear, of course, and I was sure the lawyer would urge it, and I could live with it if they did. My only remorse was that I couldn't take Astral Judgement back to earth, though that might still have been for the best. If I were doing it for personal vendetta, I'd feel completely sick with myself. Instead, I just felt dirty. I was careful to word my command to where he would only plead guilty if he actually knew he was guilty, not force a false confession. Therefore an Astral Judgement won't reverse that unless he was actually innocent on some bizarre grounds he hadn't thought of and they saw the horrors that was a human being before releasing a silver tongued monster. I might have possibly damned myself to execution too, but that was a price I was willing to pay to make sure they were safe. It had a chance of mutually assured destruction for both me and him, but now he was going to be neutralized whether I was punished or not. Checkmate.
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Devil's Due. (Pennance, Part 3)	I sat there in the middle of the castle gardens, basking in the shadows of the night. "You deceived me." "I withheld information of my meditations, but what I did share with you wasn't a lie. I actually was in pain and I told a truthful tale." "You were planning this disgusting act all along." "It was about two weeks in before I decided I needed to act, but otherwise I had made a plan much like this, yes. I also had multiple other plans in reserve, depending on what happened." "And then you used me to get the key to it all, while lulling me into not realizing it by giving me such a powerful token of trust." "You would have stopped me and he would have walked." "You sat with him, day in and day out, just to wait for the perfect moment to strike." "All the while, I listened to his mind games and saw the proof he didn't have any intention of living in peace." "That wasn't justice you performed, Moss." I stood up and looked to my left, then to my right. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both were looking at me with their horns alight with magic, ready to blast me. I turned to Princess Celestia. "I never deluded myself into believing it was." Turning to the other princess, I inhaled firmly and met her with that same cold stare. "I commend your strength of heart in wanting to give him a fair trial. It truly is what I love about the ponies of Equestria so much. But until his execution, the war will only be over on paper. Had the war not been declared over, I would have gladly signed the papers for his Astral Judgement myself." I then folded my arms and gave the pony that had comforted me in my darkest hour her bitter glare right back. A tear beaded from my eyes as I held firm to my stare. "Now you realize I was not simply belittling myself when I said it. Now you finally believe me when I tell you that I am a monster. Even the best of my kind need only a nudge in just the wrong way to become a monster. Now you finally see what kind of threat my kind are to your world." Celestia came up and spoke a mournful, and yet soft and maternal voice. "It's only because of our own belief in our system's sacredness that Luna can not act against you. Even so, the pain is still there, Moss. We will never be able to fully trust you again." "Good. You finally get it. That was the whole point of what I've been saying for so long. That's another task I set out to do completed. Now either you need to use my true name against me, or I have an old owl to see." Princess Luna came up to me and looked me in the eyes with a slew of negative emotions. Confusion and anger were definitely among the most prominent. However, through the chaotic storm of emotions that played across her expressions there was an underlying pattern between them that came together to show the feeling that was at the root of them all. Betrayal. "The most I can do is make a note on your record that you abused my trust to gain an advantage and that you are a potential danger. Due to the high bias around his case and my regular involvement in your dreams, I can't even give testimony on it. But if you ever misuse such power again, I actually just might have to use your true name against you as you suggest. To draw from your world's dialect, I 'pray' to the greater forces that you come to regret these actions and find peace after." I nodded as I saw her give me a moment to say my final peace too. "I honestly don't know if I ever will, at least not in this life. But I do wish you well in my parting." She lifted a foreleg and pointed in the direction that led to the courtyard and castle gate. "Now be gone. I do not ever want to see your face again, Moss." It was a long, lonely train ride back to Ponyville. I didn't really have anywhere in particular to go after my tasks were done, so it wasn't exactly a train ride 'home.' I doubted I'd even be welcomed if knowledge of what I had done was shared beyond the two royal sisters. The cab was empty, save for myself and Archimedes, whom I had finally picked up. I could tell he was still sore, as I had lifted my commands and he was able to speak freely to me, and yet he simply stayed quiet and stared away from me, out the window and into the darkness. We were about half way through the ride when I had reached out for the ump-teenth time to him, only to withdraw my hand again. "She was beautiful." I finally heard him call to me. His tone wasn't one of anger, or even his usual disdain. Just a painful sadness. With a shock at both the emotion and the fact that he talked first, I could only say, "What?" "My beloved back from the first rift war. She was only an average looker, for a just fully grown mortal, but her heart was one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. She was strong, yet kind, and was never afraid to tell me when I was wrong on something despite the difference in our years and level of power. Nothing compared to the inner beauty I saw in her in the centuries before I met her or in the millenniums since." I paused with a slightly agape mouth and a look of confusion in my eyes. "My species--that is to say my species as a type of celestial, not owl--are very prone to feeling any emotion strongly and having even stronger ties, once we form them at least. Only a few in the old world or this one could even hold a candle to her inner beauty, your beloved Fluttershy being one of those few. So imagine the bond I've seen in you and Fluttershy, then add romance and times what you would get by a thousand. That is roughly how I could compare the amount of inner beauty I saw in my beloved in crude terms." He turned around and looked into my eyes. "Towards the end of the first rift war, she died trying to heal another. I felt a devastation much like your own that night. I wasn't at my full capacity in magic back then, but I was still much stronger than you are currently. She had told me that she would die some day and that I would have to learn to keep moving without her because she believed strongly in not only protecting life, but also protecting the sanctity of it, much like yourself. I thought that might be decades into the future, but that battle proved me wrong." He stopped, and shifted his posture as if nearly choking on something while swallowing, then steadied his breathing. "And then I did the same thing you did, Moss. I tried to bring her back. I tried multiple times and failed every time. At first I thought something had trapped her soul." He put his head against my shoulder from his spot on the cushion and continued in a tone of utter shame. "I tried to search for anything that might have kept her from coming back, as I had brought other fighters back on occasion when we had the resources for such a spell. This was one of the few tricks I could do that would aid the war that my rival, Discord as you call him, could not. Had we been in the old world, I could have sought her out in the plane her soul went to, but such a luxury does not exist in this world's planes. The veil does not allow the living to travel across it here in any manner, nor draw any information. It barely allows us to call out to it, allowing the dead to return." I finally was able to bring my hand up to comfort him. Against his usual nature, he leaned into the embrace of my hand as if he needed it like he needed air. "I wanted to deny it, but the evidence I gathered between missions was too overwhelming. There was nothing keeping her from coming back. Her devotion to the sanctity of life was simply so strong that she was refusing to answer my call and come back to me." Pressing in so hard I had to actually support his weight, he continued. "I was so devastated when I finally admitted it to myself that I almost planned on giving up in that last battle and letting myself be killed. But then something happened. Something amazing and terrifying at the same time. I had a dream." I pulled my hand away and let him suddenly tip over and fall into the seat. "You had a dream? What's so amazing about that?" After getting himself set straight again, he explained. "It's amazing because my kind do not dream like mortals. We rest, yes, at least when needed. We even become attuned to the astral realm and meditate to clear our minds in a similar manner to what your minds do while sleeping, albeit a good deal more organized. What we do not do, however, is simply visualize random things that buzz around our minds like mortals. We do not visualize anything. When we do have a dream it is of utmost importance. Great sages of celestials past can guide us in our lifelong training or other entities such as ghosts or trapped souls can call to us to avenge their deaths. Sometimes it is even a clairvoyant prophecy in the most devote of us to our masters, though that has long since stopped applying to me. Though they are a different kind of celestial that have a different purpose to their dreams, the couatl are able to be forewarned of their own deaths a full century in advance in their dreams and make preparations for their passing." He looked up to me to indicate he was getting back to his point. "When I slept on the eve of that battle, I dreamt of her. The words of the ancient tongue do not translate well to your tongue, but their equivalent meaning would have been, 'If you love me, then redeem your greed to keep me by extending that passion to the world I love. You're journey will be long and you will have to sacrifice being with me many times over to see it through to its end, but some day you will join me here. Until then, I will wait for you. Do not give up.'" After that, silence filled the cab for several minutes. I reflected on his words, how his sacrifices made a bit more sense and how long he had been holding on. Eventually, I had the courage to speak. "No wonder you always have disdain in your voice. Does the path to redemption ever get any easier? What kept you going after all this time?" He shook his head gently. "No, it doesn't. It's a long, lonely and unrewarding path of penance, poetically so I suppose. As for what keeps me going? Hope. Not the feel good kind that a child or a pair of lovebirds might have. That has failed me time and time again. No. Now all that drives me is a cold, bitter on the tongue like medicine, hope. It was that kind of faith fueled bitter hope that gave me the strength to jump through that portal and let the one bonded to Discord seal myself and the others away from her to protect the world she loved, as she asked of me." He then hopped onto my lap and cocked his head. His tone finally lost its melancholy and perked up a little. "So I do not blame you for acting rashly against me. If I had such a bond at your age, I would have just as easily done the same. As a thank you for listening to my tale, partner, I will reward you with a little information. I can tell you do not know the ramifications of the spell you cast. Few your age would. "I understand you believe in an entity beyond all things. I am not well versed in such theology or what ramifications that would bring to your moral code, and thus that might change the formula a little, but within the realms of the magics I am familiar with I can tell you this. All knowledge and research in regards to spells that properly bring back the dead to a living state, including the one you cast, does indeed bring back the soul, and the entire soul back. You are a heavy thinker, so you will have your doubts regardless, but I believe it is her. She's not a copy, nor some fragment. All of her is there, at least according to every last bit of evidence I have ever heard of." I had only gotten a moderate cat nap on the train, partially due to my nerves, and partially from the short remaining distance. I hurried off the platform as the rest of the train was promptly moved down the line to drop off and pick up cargo further down the line. The royal sisters had ordered my prompt expulsion from the city of Canterlot. Once I told them my desired destination, the train yard had simply put a single passenger cab onto an appropriate cargo train to accommodate me. By the time I had reached the cottage, the sun was just about finished rising and the morning light was a sight to behold on the old place. This was it. The moment I both strived for, yet feared. My next task. I finally took a breath and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Tempest answered, toothbrush still in her mouth. She and I simply stared into each others eyes. I oddly didn't sense any anger from her, but I also didn't see a welcoming smile, just surprise. "Who is at the door this early Tempest?" I heard an angelic voice call out, "Do we have a guest for breakfast... Moss!?"
Meta Gamer in Equestria: Champion's Folly	The Path Forward. (Pennance, Part 4)	I sat down and told them everything I could. How I meditated in that cave, how I couldn't be one hundred percent sure if Fluttershy was really Fluttershy--even though Archimedes told me that everything pointed to it being so--how I betrayed Luna and subverted the principals of the Equestrian legal system to ensure Dalock was neutralized for good. I told her I couldn't take the risk of him getting free again with how Bane would always have a claim to this world while Dalock was still in it. I also told her that while I explained my reasons, I made no claim that they granted justification for my actions. I told her how, in one final security measure against myself and what kind of monster I might become some day by crossing those lines, I bypassed my bewitchment and gave Princess Luna the opportunity to hear my true name at the same time that I retrieved Dalock's from my memory. When they asked what had driven me so far, I told them how I felt I had touched a power I felt I shouldn't have in bringing her back, and how not accepting the death and taking the rules of life and death into my own hands was among one of the most heinous forms of desecration I could have made to my beliefs. I finished with telling her that, in a way, even though the world of Equis was safe now, pending his execution, Dalock did achieve one last victory in that he got me to break my own code. Fluttershy listened intently, her expression no less dedicated with her new fanged face than her old one. Over time, I saw her become a little worried about something, but her eyes urged me to continue. "And that's about it. I'm sorry for barging in unannounced, but I felt you had the right to know," I finally finished. Fluttershy sat there and pondered for a bit longer before she spoke up. "So do you need to kill me? Undo the mistake?" I looked at her in horror. "Do you really feel that unsettled now!?" She shook her head. "No. I do feel different, but it isn't bad. I don't have the aches from the injury with my hoof like I used to, and ponies keep staring at my fangs and wings rather than making eye contact. It's just that I vaguely remember a sinking sensation and you calling out to me. I felt at peace and felt like there was nothing to worry about anymore. I barely came back because when I heard your voice, I remembered that I had a message to deliver and it was important." She lowered her head. "But I honestly do feel like I cheated every pony else that died in the war when I came back. I don't really want to die again, but if that will set things-" "It won't!" I called out in worry, "For the love of all things sacred, it won't! Maybe you really are her, willing to give up everything for what you feel is right, but please don't ever even suggest that again. If any sin was committed, it was on me. For better or worse, I'm a healer now and there's an old code of healers when healing from my world. It's one of the few bits of wisdom I feel were worth keeping. 'Above all else, do no harm.' Maybe I shouldn't have done it, but now that you are alive, you have every right to live as any other being. It's not on you and don't you ever let me catch you saying anything even remotely like that again!" With this Fluttershy smiled, unphased by my outburst. Tempest outright cackled, then responded, "There's the caring Moss we know and love. You made a few mistakes but you haven't lost yourself and owned up to them. With that safeguard in place, we can neutralize you if we have to." She shook her head and looked back at me. "Are you certain you worded it to where he'd only plea guilty on stuff he knew he did? Because you know the dream walker's guild will be judging him as soon as the hypnotist from Seaquestria arrives tomorrow to put his otherwise sleepless form under, and they will be looking at his memories of the court room, right?" With other formalities out of the way and an explanation that I had to leave and couldn't live at her cottage anymore, Fluttershy insisted that I come and visit when I travel through again. With my old supplies on my back, I made a week long trek back to the edges of Canterlot to finish my final task before heading out to... wherever. It was a little rough, sleeping in the talons of Archimedes while in my mouse form, then switching out and carrying him while he slept and eating only the magically conjured goodberries. It was especially frustrating since I had to wake up mid way through the night to just transform again for the second half. In doing so, though, we made decent time to the memorial. I could see it. It was in the early phases of construction, with only the foundation laid. From what I was told, a statue of the multiple races in the rift war would be built on the site of the battle with Dalock to honor those that fell. There was one in particular I had to make my peace with. The plant life was growing over the scorched earth, slowly healing from the wounds of the war. A mother and her colt were at the sign that was the border of where the construction began and where those not working on it weren't allowed to get any closer. It had become an impromptu substitute memorial for those that needed to make their peace with the departed before construction was complete. I quietly waited for the colt to finish crying and his mother to pull him away before I approached it myself. I placed a hand on the sign, "Hey there, Speaks with Talons. I doubt you can hear me, but I suppose I'm just doing this for my own grievance anyway. Still, if you are listening..." I paused for a moment, then pressed my amulet out of courtesy to my late battle brother. "If you are listening, Speaks with Talons, I hope you're at peace. I finished the mission. The family is safe from the last of my kind. If I see you again, I'll be sure to tell you of whatever adventures I have from here to then. I won't deny, though, I really, really hope they are the burning something in the kitchen and learning to hold down a job variety, not the grand adventure to end a threat to the world variety. I've had enough of that to last me a lifetime, and then some." I heard a young voice pop up beside me, "I haven't! That sounds exciting mister fish monkey!" Looking down, I saw what was the splitting image of my battle brother staring back at me, except as a child. I couldn't help but just stare and process what I was seeing. The griffin boy got bored, however, and quickly called out, "Hey, dad! Come look at this guy! He's funny looking and he said he knew Uncle Talons!" Looking at the griffin coming up to the child, I was stunned into a stupor of processing what I saw again. The well kept black feathers, the sheer height, the battle armor, the smoothness of both her stride and the features of the beak and face. It felt like I was staring at a cross of the graceful Chinese hero Mulaun from that movie and an amazonian warrior, but as a griffiness. She was huge, even a little larger than the eagle headed griffins I had seen. She stared right back at me without caring that I was staring at her. "I assume you know how to speak?" "Of course he can speak, dad! He was talking to Uncle Talons just now!" Without looking, she gently took her talon to his beak and closed it. Not in anger, but simply a parent controlling a rambunctious child. The child looked disappointed, but became quiet obediently. "Is my amulet translating right? Did I just hear him call you 'dad'?" The previously calm griffiness shot me a blood curdling glare. "Yes. You heard correctly. My brother may have sired him at my request, but I am his father in every other sense of the word! Do you have a problem with that!?" The hairs raised on the back of my neck, though out of fear and not my portent trick. "No, mam," I responded with the utmost respect. "Easy there. This is the Beast Kin, also known as Moss, our late brother's battle brother." Turning to look behind the giant griffiness, I saw the Toucan griffin, Sings to Canopy, followed by a smaller raven griffiness and two young looking griffinesses that looked like a parrot and vulture. The young griffinesses were not fully grown, but still clearly older than the boy. "I believe you have my name, Moss, but allow me to introduce the rest of our family. This is Cries when Slaying, Speaks with Talons's full sister." He gestured to the large raven griffiness, then to the smaller raven griffiness, "and her wife, Silent Mercy, whom is not fluent in Equestrian. Just the way they speak her name in Equestrian and maybe a few small phrases." I saw an advanced medical kit on her side and what looked like what might be a thin blade holding her feathers on her head together like a hairpin. Her eyes were looking me over akin to a medic assessing a wound, and a predator about to strike at the same time. "The rest have not quite earned their names, but these two are our half nieces from the parrot and vulture tribes and my current charges until I can get them up to speed for our father to take over." Cries when Slaying shook her head then pulled her son in close to her. "I knew when he was born a boy, that his grandfather would want to snatch him up to the shaman arts. With my brother's death, Claps to Thunder finally was forced to take on new apprentices, even among the girls of our family. They could have made such good braves too." Silent Mercy looked at the stallions patrolling near the site and the immediate area near the city. "Males are the prominent retainers here? No wonder my wife's brother was so fond of this place. Mammals are so backwards to birds." Sings to Canopy leaned over and said, "The Beast kin's amulet will still let him hear you, Silent Mercy." She looked at him blankly, "And your point is? Are we going to attend the execution of the one that set our family's disturbance into motion or are we going to continue site seeing?" Sings to Canopy looked up to me. "Will you be joining us in Canterlot for the execution, Beast Kin?" I thought for a moment, realizing they were talking about Dalock, then shook my head and turned to the memorial again. "Sadly, no. I've been banned from the city for reasons that were entirely my fault. I'm taking a risk just getting this close to say goodbye." Cries when Slaying looked back to me. "Then perhaps you will visit us back in the griffin lands some day. Blood may be a catalyst that starts a family, but it is the ties that we form that truly breathes life into one. You had those ties with my brother, and I hope to form similar ties with you someday, Beast Kin. Until then, we must hurry on." She promptly took command and gestured every griffin to the city. "Hey mom! Can I get-" The boy called to Silent Mercy as they moved on before being cut off. "Don't you come to me for something when your father says no! If I felt you needed something she denied, I would have objected then! Ask again and you'll get the back of my talon!" I sat at the edge of that site for a few hours as the workers arrived and got to building the memorial. Eventually, the morning went on, and I heard some ponies coming up from behind. I heard a sniffling pony call out in a voice that indicated she was under the weather. "I told you he would be here and that he could be trusted! I've never met him before but the other me said so and I trust me." Turning around, I saw a sick Pinkie Pie and a wobbly Lightning Dust along with a gray pegasus mare and a stallion with a tie. Following up behind them was Tempest. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Moss, but we really are in a bit of a pickle. I need to get these two back to when... where I got them from but I need to get them patched up first. I understand you have access to greater restoration now, yes?" I could get the sense that these weren't common bystanders but have had their share of adventures too. A headache started to grow in the back of my mind. "It costs a good deal of..." I was cut off when I saw a bottle with enough diamond dust plopped in front of me for five castings of greater restoration. "Keep the change. Something tells me you're going to need it." * * * With the odd group out of the way, Pinkie Pie restored with just the lesser restoration spell and the remaining diamond dust redistributed into portioned out vials in my own pouch, Tempest came up to me. "We need to talk. I've been told there's a disturbance in the tribal griffin lands, but I need some creature that will help me get them to let me in. Aside from the trade city on the border of the vulture and parrot tribes lands on the coast, they don't take kindly to foreigners that have no ties to any of the tribes. Servants of the Animus Mundi are also an exception, but Zecora refuses to help. While we fought together, I never earned the title of battle sister due to my ties to the Equestrian military making it simply a "part of my job" instead of from my own free will like you. Do you think you could use your influence as the Beast Kin and help me investigate?" I put my head in my hands as the headache came to full bear. I rubbed my eyes for a moment before looking up to the sky and shouting at it. "This is my real penance, isn't it!? I can't just settle down anymore. I'll have to just keep dealing with this crap!"
Fragmented Harmony	pre	Fluttershy quickly moved closer to her friend to inspect any damage, keeping the feline in her hold. Luckily, no damage was noticeable. Ignoring Fluttershy's attention, the hot-headed Magical Girl's eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the white feline-thing. "Alright, Cubes...What did you do with my wings?" Kyuubey blinked as his pink eyes met her angry ones with an empty expression. "I have done nothing to your wings. You did not have wings before your contract, so it would make sense that you only have wings when you wear your armor. If you ask me, wings may be a convenience, but Magical Girls only have them through preference of their style of armor." Looking over across the area, the creature stepped out of Fluttershy's hold. "Anyway, it would be best for you to pick up that item over there and to pick up the one on the floor beside you." The creature advised. Fluttershy blinked for a moment until she set her eyes on what looked like a red gem...with a golden frame. Leaning over on her fore-sticks, the curious mare (?) picked up the item with her...claws. "...What is this...? It's beautiful...!" She exclaimed. Rainbow Dash blinked as she scooted closer to her friend. "What did'ya find, Flutters?" Fluttershy held it out for the group to see. It was shaped like an egg, with a shape of a lightning bolt on the top of the frame, to resemble that one gem that looked like the element of loyalty. It wasn't completely shiny though; some black cloudy stuff swirled inside the red gem. Kyuubey hopped on the back of Rainbow Dash's neck to loom over her shoulder, causing the hot-headed Magical Girl to wince. "Ah. This was one of the items I instructed for you to pick up. This is called a Soul Gem. It is the source of your power Rainbow Dash, and you must take responsibility to care for it." Rainbow Dash stared at the gem. "Wait, so this thing is mine? Why's it called a 'Soul Gem'?" "It is the core of your very being. If it is shattered, then you will die." Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat in silence. Her life...depended on some...gem? Shaking her head out of dark places, Rainbow Dash gave a puzzled expression. "...So what's the black stuff in the gem? Is it normally like that?" Kyuubey shook his head. "The 'black stuff' so you call it, is corruption you receive from exploiting your magic around Witches. Since Witches are beings of despair, they expose this corruption to challenge your 'hope'. The other item I told you to pick up, the Witch's Grief Seed, can fix this problem." Fluttershy looked around until she spotted a ball with spikes on the top and bottom. The design on it was rather interesting, but simplistic. "...Is this it?" She asked the white creature, the item in her other claws. Kyuubey nodded. "Indeed. That is a Grief Seed. Place it against Rainbow Dash's Soul Gem." Rainbow Dash took both items from Fluttershy. "So...like this?" She held the Grief Seed against the Soul Gem. Blinking out of astonishment, she witnessed the 'corruption' inside the Soul Gem slowly leave and seep into the Grief Seed instead. On top of that looking awesome, she suddenly felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off her shoulders. Was it due to being exposed to that Witch that did it? "Always remember to cleanse your Soul Gem to keep your magic in good shape. If you do so, you do better fighting Witches and avoid the risk of wasting too much magic." Kyuubey noted, keeping his balance on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Fluttershy nodded. "So as long as you keep it clean...you should be fine, Rainbow." The timid mare (?) smiled at her friend. Rainbow Dash held the gem towards her face as she dropped her shoulders, briefly knocking Kyuubey off balance. "What? I gotta keep track of this thing like I'm foal-sitting some foal?" Fluttershy gave a small giggle. "...You heard me." Kyuubey blinked for a moment. "...Why did you use the term 'foal'? Is 'foal' not the word to describe a baby horse?" Rainbow Dash cringed. "Uhh..." Was it safe to let Cubes know they were actually ponies? "...Let me get back to you on that." Huddling towards Fluttershy as she knocked Kyuubey off her shoulders, she dropped her voice to a whisper. "...What are we supposed to say?" Fluttershy blinked as she moved closer to her friend. "...Maybe...we can tell him the truth?" Her friend dropped her mouth. "..Are you crazy?" "...It's better than leaving him out of it. Besides...QB might have an idea of what we are." Fluttershy suggested. Rainbow gave a deep sigh as she broke the tight huddle. Fluttershy seemed to know what she was doing, and they were kinda grasping at straws here, so... Kyuubey cocked his head to one side, maintaining his empty expression. "Is something the matter?" Rainbow Dash gave a head motion to her friend. Fluttershy gulped. It was her idea to tell the adorable creature...Turning her head towards Kyuubey, she sighed. "...Umm, the truth is...we...don't actually look like this...um...whatever we are." She mumbled. Kyuubey blinked for a long moment. "...Whatever do you mean?" He still kept the empty expression, but his voice held a curious tone. "...We're actually ponies. We don't know what the hay we are." Rainbow Dash finished, meeting the creature's pink eyes. The creature sat for a moment before it finally nodded. "...I see. You two are not normally from this world. In that case, you know not of the human culture, is that correct?" Both mares (?) held a puzzled expression. "Human..." Rainbow Dash breathed out. "...Culture?" Fluttershy finished as her head cocked to the side in confusion. Kyuubey nodded once more. "Indeed. Your form is that of a human, and their anatomy is different from a pony's anatomy. For starters, humans walk on two legs." Rainbow Dash blinked. 'So...kinda like Discord does...?' The mare...human...thought to herself. "So...what would you call a filly?" "A filly is a female young horse. In this case, 'filly' would be replaced with the word 'girl'. If you say 'mare', it would be 'woman'." The creature translated. Fluttershy looked at herself in her white sleeveless shirt with a green skirt that had her cutie mark on it. "...So...instead of a mare...we're woman?" Rainbow Dash grinned inwardly. Finally, some questions were being answered! "So what would you call a stallion, then?" "A 'stallion' is a male horse. For a human, he would be called a 'man'." The timid girl smiled. "What are these claws?" She held out the ten claws for the creature to see. "Those are called 'hands'. The five points on there are called 'fingers'. Humans use them to grab and lift items. It is certainly a convenient part of their anatomy. The section underneath the hand is called a 'wrist', so what Rainbow Dash is wearing is called a 'wristband'." Rainbow Dash held up the sticks. "So, these aren't fore-hooves. What the hay are these?" "...Those 'fore-hooves' are known as 'arms'. They hold the advantage of wrapping around objects, adding insurance when humans use their hands." Looking back at the arms, Rainbow Dash felt her mouth dropping open. Suddenly everything was starting to make sense again! Maybe letting Cubes know wasn't such a bad idea! Fluttershy clasped her fingers together in silent fascination. "So...what did you mean before about humans walking on two legs?" Kyuubey faced Rainbow Dash. "Do you remember how your posture was when you first landed after defeating the Witch? That is how a human is supposed to stand. To use a human's definition, your form of standing is known as 'on your knees'. The concept of 'knees' is allowing the human to bend their legs. This is convenient for wanting to get in a lower space, without actually sitting on the ground." The two girls looked at their knees for a moment. The idea of walking on two legs actually reminded Rainbow Dash of some of Pinkie's weird quirks sometimes when she would stand up on her hind legs for a few moments. In this case, humans always walked like that... Humans were tall. Fluttershy gave a small awkward smile. "...Could we see how a human walks?" She asked the creature. "...T-That is, if...you don't...mind." "...Certainly. There are plenty of humans in this world that would set a fine example." Kyuubey started down the paved sidewalk, looking back to see if they would follow. Rainbow Dash nodded towards Fluttershy until she frowned at her 'hands'. They were both pretty full... "Is there a way I can put this in a small space or something? It's gonna get annoying pretty quickly if I hafta carry it with me everywhere." Fluttershy blinked. "...Are there pockets?" Kyuubey gave an empty smile. "As transforming out of your armor was by will, it also takes will to change your Soul Gem into a more compacted form." Rainbow Dash grinned. "...Sweet! So there is a way!" Closing her eyes, the Soul Gem in her left hand glowed before the form swirled into a rainbow light before it gathered on the middle finger on her left hand, materializing into a form of metal, a red gem on the inside while symbols were on the outside. Looking at it with a puzzled expression, she held it out for Kyuubey to see. "So...what...the hay is this thing?" "That 'thing' is known as a 'ring'. It is an accessory that humans often wear as a sense of beauty. It is also used in weddings." Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding. She knew what it was now; they just didn't go on horns. Instead, they put rings on fingers. "'Kay, I got it. Let's get going and see some humans, then!" She grinned as she put the Grief Seed in a tiny pocket on the magenta skirt she wore. To be honest, she wasn't THAT excited about seeing others that looked like what she was...but they both had to learn about these things, especially if she was going to be fighting Witches in a human form. If only she still had her wings though. That'd make this trip all the more easier. ...Nope. Giving an inward sigh, she followed Fluttershy after Kyuubey as they made their way away from the white building they were behind. They'd eventually find a way back. And then this weird adventure would be all over. Fluttershy could tend to her animals, she'd be resting in the clouds, maybe see if the new Daring Do book was out yet...it'd be home sweet home. ...Or would it? Did her making a contract for Fluttershy cause a difference? ...Would she have to stay behind? Shaking her head, her rose eyes locked onto her filly-hood friend. Best not talk about this with Flutters... No matter what, she had to make sure Fluttershy was okay. If Flutters was safe...then it'd be fine, no matter what outcome. Even if she had to be left behind, she wouldn't mind. After all, she could take on those Witches any day! No problem! ...Right?
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 4 - Back In Ponyville	Books were scattered in frantic but neat piles, pages left open and put to the side for proper care in the future. Normally they would receive better care and placed neatly on the shelves, but Ponyville's librarian clearly wasn't in the mood to pay any absolute attention to them. A pink aura surrounded the neat piles, the magic of levitation cradling the books as they were lifted and placed in a safer spot, farther from the lavender pony's line of work. "No, no, no...this is all wrong!" The lavender pony frowned as she began to levitate another set of books, her concentration focused on the contents inside. "There should be something around here...ugh...!" A small purple dragon with light-green spikes entered the blue book-filled room. "...Twilight...? Did you find anything?" Twilight clenched her teeth in frustration until she raised her hooves into the air. "NO!" The sudden explosion of emotions caused the lavender mare to scatter all of the books she once held in a spell of levitation, leaving them all over the floor in a disorganized manner. The glowing aura from her horn sputtered out into nothing as the alicorn panted. The dragon blinked. "Oh, um...did...did you want anything to drink?" He walked towards the lavender mare, putting a claw against her in a comforting manner. "...'Cause no offense, Twilight...but you look pretty stressed." 'It's not the first time, either.' He rolled his eyes inwardly. Twilight shook her head and stopped short as she took a deep breath. She let it out slowly as she raised her right fore-hoof into the air, a relaxing and calming posture, just like Cadance does. "...You're right, Spike...I need to take a break, and...and relax..." Spike nodded in approval as he turned away to head out of the library room until the lavender mare once again started levitating the books she threw, causing him to turn back around. "H-Hey, Twilight..." He started. The lavender mare frowned as she allowed the books to surround her, the aura surrounding her horn rippling in a constant motion. "...How can I even think about relaxing when my friends could possibly be in jeopardy? I can't take a break, Spike, not when I haven't found a clue yet as to where they've gone!" The dragon sighed deeply as he face-clawed in frustration. Sometimes Twilight just keeps pushing herself to the limit, doesn't she? "Twilight...this is exactly why you should take a break! If you haven't found a clue yet, what are the chances of you finding one in the time you should be calming down? You can't think straight when you're like this." He challenged. Twilight groaned as she slowly released her magical hold on the books in front of her. "...Alright...but just a small one, Spike..." The light from her horn faded, and the mare felt a rush of fatigue rush through her body. Spike smiled as he turned back to head out. "Alright, then! I'll be in the kitchen making your drink." Stopping for a moment, his smile grew smaller as he kept his gaze from the mare. "...You can wait here, if you want." Twilight sighed softly. "...No, I-I'll be heading over there. Just...just give me a moment." She watched as her companion walked out of the room, claw-steps echoing outside through the blue hallways. Twilight frowned as her purple eyes rested on a picture of several ponies in a picture together; her body slumped in a tired posture. She was in the center with a grin, her dark purple and pink mane clashing with the orange earth pony behind her with a brown Stetson on her head, blonde bangs spilling out in front of the mare's astonished but amused face. Beside her next to Twilight was a white pristine unicorn pony, her lush purple mane restrained into tight fashionable curls while her mouth was opened wide with shock. Next to the white one was a pink earth pony with a crazy-curly mane, her muzzle wide in a huge grin as she hugged a yellow pegasus who looked completely surprised at the sudden contact, her pink mane covering one of her eyes from the audience's view. Purple eyes lifted up towards the top of the photo as she gained strength in her hooves to stand in front of the framed memory. In the air just above her friends in the back was a rainbow-maned pegasus, clutching her sides in a desperate attempt to stop laughing. Twilight smiled as she let out a small giggle. She remembered that day. She took a picture with her friends after the Tirek incident in front of her new castle, and Pinkie Pie just threw a random glomp at Fluttershy to 'liven up the picture a little with some fun'. It wasn't the first time they took a picture there, but it felt fun to do anyway. Rainbow Dash just couldn't stop laughing after the shoot while Rarity scolded Pinkie for the lack of personal space. Twilight wanted to keep it because it showed more than just ponies sitting together...it was a group of ponies having a good time. ...It did give life to the picture. The lavender mare frowned as she took her eyes away from it, letting herself slump back onto her hind legs. Thinking about her friends only reminded her of the ordeal she was trying to take a break from. The day had started out just fine, too. Everything was already organized from last night's checklist of things to do, and she and Spike had re-shelved the library to get it done and over with so that they could possibly sleep in today since it was the weekend, then she'd have plenty of time to hang out with her friends. ...A mistake she never expected at the time. Apparently during her sleep, an unnatural disaster occurred near Cloudsdale that morning, and both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy managed to stop it...but they never showed up afterwards. There were no traces of any bodies, or even any guarantee that they were dead. They were just...missing. When Twilight had gotten the news from a group of pegasi from Cloudsdale, she flew to the site where the hurricane occurred...but as far as she could tell, there were no traces of either of her friends. There was some kind of magical remnants...but she couldn't quite put her hoof on what it was. "...Spike, has Princess Celestia replied to my letter yet?" Twilight asked the small dragon as she walked into the kitchen. Ever since Tirek, her home had grown to be...an immensely larger space than she ever needed in a house. Despite her title and position, she was rather hesitant in accepting the perks and responsibility of being a Princess. She missed the days when she would live in her humble tree-house she used to call home, surrounded by her friends and her books. Now everything around her reminded her she was a princess... ...Including her friends. Spike shook his head as he pulled out a white mug and started putting dark-brown powder it. "Sorry, Twilight...The Princess hasn't replied, and I don't feel one coming yet." Twilight lowered her head with a sigh. She had sent a letter to the Princess regarding the strange remnants of energy she felt...but so far it didn't seem to make a difference. "...It's alright. Usually she gives immediate replies, so...I...I guess I'm just impatient." She gave a sheepish grin. "...Sorry you have to put up with me." Spike slowly poured hot water into the mug, stirring the contents for a moment until it was evenly mixed into a black hot liquid. "It's not a problem..." He kept a tired smile. Walking over to the lavender mare, the dragon gave a huge grin as he held up the hot mug, steam blocking him somewhat out of her view. "Here, it's piping hot and ready!" Levitating the mug into her own magic hold, it lifted from the dragon's claws to the mare's mouth, gently making sure to tip ever so slightly as Twilight took a sip from her mug. Taking the mug from her lips, the mare gave a soft smile to her companion, purple eyes slightly watery from the emotional stress. "...Thank you, Spike." Spike grinned. "Like I said, not a problem! Your number one assistant is always ready to help when you need it!" Twilight felt her mouth form into grin. "...Then I'm really lucky to have you."
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 5 - Awkward Interactions	Turning around the corner, magenta eyes scanned the area in front of the trio. She wasn't expecting what she saw. Legs...! ...So many legs....! Rainbow Dash felt her mouth drop as she pulled herself back from around the corner towards her companions. "...That's a LOT of humans!" She exclaimed with astonishment. Fluttershy blinked as she watched her friend's reaction. "A-Are there...really that many...?" She squeaked out. If Rainbow Dash was freaked out, who knew how many were out there! Were they even friendly? Gulping, the pink-haired girl slowly balanced more weight on her arms as she peeked where her friend had looked. She let out a gasp. Rainbow Dash was right. There were humans everywhere, all walking on two legs, dressed in several types of clothing, and they all walked past each other by the droves. There were legs covered in all kinds of colors, stitching, and even some that wore short skirts in uniformed designs. There were some who did their hair in all sorts of different directions, heights, and lengths. Overall they didn't look much different other than the fact that they all had peach or brownish skin, walked on two legs, and weren't ponies. For a different type of animal, they were truly fascinating! If only she could learn more about them! Her excited blue eyes caught sight of a small pink pigtailed girl, red ribbons in her hair, wearing a cream-colored blouse with a black skirt. This human looked like she was enjoying spending time with her blue-haired friend, but why were they wearing the same exact type of clothing? Was it a best friend thing? Rainbow Dash frowned as she watched her friend sitting in the same position. Was she just as freaked out as she was about the whole thing? 'Maybe...I should check on her...' The Magical Girl thought. Fluttershy let out a squeak as she felt something tap her shoulder. Turning back around, she was relived to discover that it was only her friend behind her and not some stranger. Rainbow Dash cringed. "Sheesh...! Flutters! Sorry..." Her tone became calmer. "...So, you seem to be staring out there a lot longer than I did...Anything interesting to note?" Fluttershy gave a rather excited smile. "Oh, all of it is very interesting! So many of them on the move, wearing different clothing and caring about appearances, just like we ponies do! This is even better than seeing new dragons!" The excitement filling her up was more than enough to wipe away her shyness for a few moments. These humans weren't exactly cute and cuddly like bunnies, but she could sense that they too had a sense of friendliness that she could scope out! If she could only befriend them, it'd be like the Breezies! ...Her companion gave a face-palm. Of course Fluttershy would get excited from seeing a new species. Normally she'd get a little excited too, but getting involved in the Witch's Barrier and Cubes was more than enough to make her uneasy around this place. It just felt...weird, somehow. Nothing was the same anymore. Kyuubey jumped onto Rainbow Dash's shoulder, its ears shifting slightly. "In order not to stand out in this world, it is essential that you learn how to walk like these humans do. Once you have practiced it enough, the rest should come by instinct." Fluttershy blinked as she gripped onto the corner, her eyes on the pink-eyed creature. "...Maybe we can...use this to prop ourselves up?" She suggested. Rainbow Dash frowned at it as she used a hand to push Kyuubey off her shoulders. It was worth a try...and they couldn't really blend in walking on all fours. "...Alright...but let me try it first, Flutters. I don't want you to get hurt." Fluttershy gave an inward sigh as she moved behind her friend. Rainbow Dash always tries to play the hero, leaving her in the back. Protection was nice, but sometimes it was a little frustrating when you couldn't play the hero yourself. Despite this mindset, she always was willing to let her friend play the loyal role...even if it causes inner conflict. "...Okay. Be careful, Rainbow." She mumbled softly as she sat up, picking up Kyuubey in her arms. Rainbow Dash nodded as she moved forward. The corner wasn't very huge, but it gave enough grip that she was able to pull herself up onto her legs, knees slightly shaking and feeling numb from constantly keeping them bent. 'This, this just FEELS weird...' She thought to herself as she focused on keeping her legs from bending on instinct, her hands gripping tightly to both sides of the corner. If standing on her hind-legs for a long time when she was a pony felt straining, this was a whole other matter. Humans walked like this?! Fluttershy blinked as she watched her friend stand on her two legs. "W-Wow..." Watching her friend stand only gave Fluttershy incentive to try and stand on her own as well. Gently putting Kyuubey down, she slowly moved towards the corner and gently pulled herself up onto her two legs, feeling balancing starting to leave her. Gripping the corner with her hands, she came face to face with Rainbow Dash, who's magenta eyes were wavering. Fluttershy wanted to beat herself in the head. 'Oh, Rainbow was struggling as well...I knew she often bit off more than she could chew...' Rainbow Dash gave a silent gulp as she looked towards her friend. "G-Great...we're standing..." Fluttershy gave a nod. "...And clinging to the wall..." Rainbow Dash continued. She gave another nod. "...Where do we go from here?" Her rainbow friend finished with a questioning tone, her magenta eyes peering from side to side to see if there was another corner somewhere she could cling on. Kyuubey walked in front of the two. "...Clearly the next step would be to walk." This was the first time it'd contracted ponies, of all fascinating things...but it did not expect to be teaching them as if they were babies. ...While they had magical potential, perhaps this was too much work to be worth the effort. Shaking its head, it faced the Magical Girl. "Simply place one foot in front of the other." Rainbow Dash nodded. 'One foot in front of the other...This should be easy...' She slowly released the wall, her arms flailing for any form of support before she shifted her legs to balance herself. 'Phew...one foot...in front of the other....' She thought as she shifted, her right foot in front of her; giving her body a slight tilt to the front. She moved the left foot next, meeting the right. However, this knocked her off balance, and she started flailing her arms again. "Y-Yeesh...!" She grunted as she tried to gain balance once more, but instead she felt gravity take her down. "Gah...! Oww..." The Magical Girl grunted; her back against concrete. It really sucked not having her wings. Fluttershy gasped. "R-Rainbow Dash...! A-are you...okay?" Somehow the wall seemed even more comfortable as she gripped onto it as tight as she could. Kyuubey simply shook its head at the spectacle before it. This was going to take a while... The world had taken an orange hue as the sun began to set. The crowd just around the corner had changed, somehow seeming even more crowded than before. It had taken a few more tries before Rainbow Dash figured out the whole 'walking on two legs' gig, but Fluttershy was a whole other matter. It took almost an hour just to get her off the wall! However, eventually they managed to convince her to try, and surprisingly enough it took less time to teach her than it took for Rainbow Dash to figure it out! It was probably because she kept assisting her in trying to keep balance, but Fluttershy was able to keep her own balance over time. Kyuubey blinked as it looked towards the sunset. "...Do you have accommodations for where you are going to rest?" Fluttershy blinked as she brushed dust off her green skirt. "...H-Huh? Um...um..." Looking towards the sunset, she gasped. When did it get so late? Were they really learning how to walk that long? Rainbow Dash held a puzzled expression. "Uhh...not...really...?" She gave a sheepish grin as she shrugged. Thinking about it, it really had only been a day...and now they needed to figure where to sleep! She couldn't trust any random stranger though...especially not when she was with Fluttershy! "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh..." She started muttering under her breath as she turned away from her companions. How could she find a safe place for them to sleep in this place? Kyuubey made a sound that resembled a sigh, but its mouth didn't move out of that empty smile. "...In any case, perhaps it is best that you search for a witch. You still have the Grief Seed from this morning, but it will only take another cleansing before you can no longer use it." Fluttershy faced the pink-eyed creature. "...What do you mean? You...you can't keep using the same one?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Aww, come on! Why not?!" The creature shook its head once more. "A Grief Seed can only absorb so much corruption before it is filled up. If it's filled up but then left alone, that same Witch will hatch from it, even stronger than before." It explained. Both blue and magenta eyes widened. If she didn't get another Witch, they'd be stuck facing that creepy clown-snake Witch again...! Fluttershy shrunk back as she pulled both her arms towards her chest, making a shield around herself. Rainbow Dash noticed. She couldn't put Fluttershy through that again. Not again. Rainbow Dash stepped closer, her face in a frown. "...Where do you usually find these things?" Kyuubey showed its empty smile as it looked up at the Magical Girl. "Witches are usually found in dark abandoned areas, places people tend to avoid. Being the main cause for mysterious disappearances and suicides, you tend to find them in the red light district." Fluttershy gave a small whimper. "S-Suicides...!?" Suicide wasn't a common thing to deal with back in Ponyville...to be used so lightly... Kyuubey nodded. "Indeed. This is due to the Witch casting a spell on a human in a weak-minded state. It is called a 'Witch's Kiss', and causes the human to fall into their Barrier, where they can't get out. If inside the Barrier, that human is most likely eaten and is declared missing outside of the Barrier." Rainbow Dash gave a quiet gulp. "...What do you mean 'outside the Barrier'? Is it like, another world? A...A pocket world or something?" Honestly, she didn't wanna find out...but as a Magical Girl now, she needed to know these things...even if it made her sick on the inside. Kyuubey closed its eyes. "If a human or Magical Girl dies inside a Witch's Barrier, and is not carried out by someone before the Witch is defeated...then that human or Magical Girl would disappear along with the Barrier, declaring them missing in this world as there wouldn't be a body to retrieve." Fluttershy gave a quiet sob. Thanks to her always being useless and acting shy...her friend was in danger of meeting that fate. If only she could have the strength to protect her... Rainbow Dash frowned. "...So if you find people with a Witch's Kiss, it means there'd be a witch nearby...Got it." Looking back towards her frightened friend, Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh and offered her hand towards her, refusing to make eye-contact. "...Here. Come on, Flutters. We can't keep hanging around here...and I'm not leaving you hanging, either." Fluttershy watched her fillyhood friend. It was a little hard to understand exactly how her friend was feeling. She couldn't see her expression...but surely she was just as scared as she was. Nodding slowly, Fluttershy took her companion's hand, allowing herself to be led along. The two started walking along down the sidewalk away from the strange tall white building, keeping a tight grip on the other's hand. 'No matter what, we'll stick together. We'll find a way back.' Fluttershy nodded to herself, her long pink hair bouncing slightly with each step they took. ...Behind them on top of the tall white building, they weren't aware of a pair of royal-blue eyes staring. A young girl dressed in a cream-colored uniform frowned, her dark-grey hair flowing in the wind. "A rainbow-haired...Magical Girl...?" Her voice gave a tone of astonishment as she locked her eyes towards the trio. "...They woke the Witch up early..." She kept the same frown as she started to pursue the direction they went. "...Could this... make a difference...?" Once they finally left that corner, the new world only got even larger to the rainbow-haired Magical Girl. Looking around, magenta eyes caught sight of several symbols she didn't understand. It...it looked like writing...but none...none of it was equestrian...Pointing towards a sign with something that looked like a maze, she faced the creature. "Hey, Cubes...What does this say?" Kyuubey jumped onto her shoulder. "Ah. This is a map showing where the various train stations are. You are aware of trains?" Fluttershy nodded. "...We used to use them to...get to Canterlot whenever we...needed to." Rainbow Dash blinked. "Wait, so this is a map? What are all these...weird symbols for, then?" Kyuubey looked closely at the 'symbols'. "These are various forms of 'kanji', which is part of the Japanese language. This one that you are pointing to says 'bathroom'." The rainbow Magical Girl held a puzzled expression. "...Japanese language...? Great, w-we're not only in a foreign body, the...the language around here is foreign?!" She sputtered. Wait, weren't they speaking equestrian? How could Cubes understand them? Rainbow Dash glanced back at the creature. "...Are you many languages or something?" Fluttershy blinked. "U-um...-" "The correct term is actually 'multilingual'. The language you are currently speaking is known in this world as English. There are plenty of English foreigners in Japan, so you should be able to find someone who can understand you." Kyuubey corrected her. Rainbow Dash dropped her mouth. "So...we're speaking 'English'...and we're in some place called...'Japan'?!" Fluttershy's eyes widened. "...H-How will we understand others...?" Kyuubey shifted slightly on Rainbow's shoulder. "For the actual public, that is your own problem to figure out. However, as I am multilingual, so are Magical Girls, and those who are involved with the link they share." The rainbow Magical Girl blinked. "Wait, link? What kind of link?" ...This kind of link. Both girls gasped. That voice...it was in both of their heads! Do not panic. I have simply opened a connection between myself and the both of you. If I was not around, Fluttershy would not be able to hear us, but a Magical Girl is capable of creating telepathy amongst each other. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. So...kinda like this? Fluttershy gave a small squeak. Rainbow Dash, you scared me! Oops...Sorry, Flutters... Indeed. This is precisely how you do it. Once you have met other Magical Girls, it is possible to use this as a form of contact. It does have a radius, but across from a large building is no trouble at all. Wait, so we're like, not talking at all right now?! That's...awesome!!!! I'm not so sure...I think I'll opt out of the conversation...I prefer my thoughts stay private... You know...me too, actually... ...If you both insist on doing so. Rainbow Dash faced her friend. Not that she'd hide things from Flutters...just...things can get kinda complicated... Fluttershy faced the map again. "So...um...where can we find the red light district from here...?" Kyuubey held a paw out. "There is a dark alleyway down that way. That will most likely take you there." Despite this whole Magical Girl thing, Rainbow Dash still didn't like the idea of taking her friend with her to the red light district...but what choice did she have? She couldn't leave her on her own...but she wasn't going to leave her with Cubes, either! Despite his knowledge and how helpful he's been...she still can't trust him. Something about this whole thing feels...strange, somehow. ...Like a whole other kind of chaos. Shaking it from her head, she kept a hold on Fluttershy's hand as they ran towards the dark alleyway. She couldn't hesitate. She couldn't show weakness. Not in front of Fluttershy. Fluttershy frowned as she allowed herself to be led through the dark alleyway. The area just spoke creepy and frightening to her...but she didn't want to be seen as weak. She didn't want to burden Rainbow any more than she already had. Closing her eyes, she looked away from the foreign graffiti all over the walls, keeping close to her fillyhood friend. No matter what, they had to escape. The question was, how? And...there...there are no Witches in Equestria...So...would... ...Would Rainbow Dash have to stay behind...?!
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 6 - Kindness	Darkness surrounded the world as the moon had risen. Fluttershy could feel the grip on her hand tighten. The streets around them were littered with garbage, and the quality of the buildings had begun to degrade a few moments ago. Before, they were surrounded with city lights from all the business buildings just like in Manehatten, but now their only source of light was from a tiny lamppost in the distance. It didn't really help much, but Fluttershy silently thanked it for the comfort it brought her. Facing in front of her, she kept an eye on her friend. She couldn't really see her expression, but she could tell that she was tense. Neither of them were really used to wandering the streets at night...or fighting strange monsters called 'Witches'... Rainbow Dash kept a frown on her face. She didn't like this place, or rather, any of these places...It just didn't feel safe at all for anypony and certainly not for Fluttershy. She almost watched her friend get killed...And now she was going to risk it again, taking her in another Barrier... ...Or at least, when she found one. Kyuubey scanned the area from Rainbow's shoulder until his pink eyes rested on an old factory building. Ah, it was a storage facility. "...Perhaps you should try that old building right there?" Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop, gradually slowing Fluttershy's pace as well. "...Hmm...I dunno...seems kinda abandoned, right?" Her eyes met her friend's blue ones. Fluttershy blinked. "Oh, um...I...suppose...? Is it...locked?" Kyuubey blinked. "There is an opened door in this facility." It pointed its paw over to the left. "See? Over there, on the left." Sure enough, while the large door was shut and locked tight, a side door was opened ajar. If it wasn't for the nearby street lamp, they probably wouldn't have seen it. Rainbow Dash grinned. "...Hey, not bad!" She held up her hand to Kyuubey and curled it into a...what? What would you call it? It kinda looked like a hoof, now... "...Mind telling me what my hand is doing...?" Her expression became a little bit more sheepish. Fluttershy gave a quiet gasp as she watched her friend's hand in fascination. Kyuubey gave a small sigh. "Your hand has curled into what is known as a 'fist'." Rainbow Dash nodded in acknowledgement. "Ohhh...! Okay, fist-bump!" Kyuubey blinked once more before curling his paw and tapping her fist. "...I hardly find why this is really necessary. Were we not going to check out that door?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "...Wow, you're worse than Twilight in egg-head land. It's like all you speak are facts." Fluttershy frowned. "Rainbow, that's rude." Her friend cringed. "Fine, fine...Sorry, Cubes." Kyuubey simply blinked again. "...Again, I hardly find why this is necessary." Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh. "...Whatever...I'll...just take that as 'apology accepted', then." She looked back over to her timid friend. "Happy now, Flutters?" Fluttershy grinned. "Much." Her grinned faltered into a small smile. "Let's...check out that door." "R-Right..." Rainbow Dash stepped towards the door, stepping further into the shadows, away from where they could be easily seen. Looking back to make sure Fluttershy was following right behind her, she slowly opened the door enough for them to slip in. The door made a slight creaking noise, but it was more like a whine than anything. 'I guess it's old metal.' Rainbow thought. Slipping in, the room inside was lit up by moonlight pouring in through the windows, giving the area a blue-ish hue. It looked clean in there, but it also looked extremely empty of any furniture or products. Whatever this place was...it looked like it got shut down. Judging by the lack of dust, it probably happened fairly recently, actually... A rainbow light pulsed from Rainbow Dash's left hand. Fluttershy gasped. "Rainbow, your Soul Gem!" Rainbow Dash held it up. "It's...glowing? It's a little faint...but it also isn't? How the hay does that make any sense?" Kyuubey jumped from her shoulder. "If the Witch's presence is uncertain, it could most likely be a Witch's Egg." Fluttershy blinked. "'Witch's...Egg'...? Is that the...um, Grief Seed about to hatch...like you said?" A rainbow light formed above Rainbow Dash's left hand as she willed her Soul Gem into the main form. It landed gently in the palm of her hand, the rainbow light still pulsating from it. "...So it's still hatching, huh? Let's nip it in the bud, then!" She grinned. Kyuubey nodded as he jumped back onto Rainbow's shoulder. "...Then you'd best hurry. Otherwise, another Magical Girl might come and take the Witch." Fluttershy cocked her head to the side as she pursued her eager friend. Kyuubey kept mentioning other Magical Girls...but how many are in this city? How many are friendly? Would Rainbow Dash have to fight them? ...Rainbow Dash just needs the Grief Seeds to keep her Soul Gem clean...but the other Magical Girls would need them, too... ...How many Witches are in this city? The rainbow aura pulsated strongly once they arrived in front of what looked like a...box room? It looked like a bunch of screens, like the ones on the arcade boxes that a lot of the colts played with back in Ponyville. Fluttershy ran a finger against the walls. "...For a shut down facility, even here is...surprisingly clean." She looked at the finger. As a pony, she wouldn't have been able to do that. Looking back at the screens, she blinked. "...Are these...TVs?" Rainbow Dash blinked. "...TVs? Flutters, how do you know more about them than I do?" Her timid friend felt heat warming up her cheeks. "U-um, w-well...they were...used occasionally...at Las Pegasus...sometimes. I...used to live there...before flight camp." "Pfft, holding out on me this whole time? I've never even been to Las Pegasus!" She grinned. "So...TVs, huh...? Pretty cool..." Kyuubey tapped her head. "It would certainly be fascinating to learn more of your culture, but the Grief Seed is here!" Rainbow Dash gulped as she approached the spiky object. It was glowing as it was slowly planting itself into one of the TVs, a dark aura pulsating from it. Holding out her Soul Gem, Rainbow Dash willed herself to be surrounded in a rainbow light; magic pulsating from her every being as the strange but cool attire was replaced with the magical armor she wore when she protected Fluttershy. Ready for battle, magenta eyes narrowed into a determined expression as she willed for the Barrier of the Witch's Egg to open for her. Fluttershy winced as she saw a space in front of them rip open and pulsate, waiting for them to enter in. Once they entered it...there was no going back. Rainbow Dash nodded. "Ready?" Fluttershy nodded as she took Kyuubey from Rainbow's shoulders. "...Ready..." The rainbow warrior took her friend's hand, and dashed into the barrier. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes as she felt the aura surrounding her. Last time they didn't actually step into the Barrier, so this was a new experience for her. She gulped as her vision was filled with little lights and symbols, and something that looked like ponies moving around in a circle. It twisted around in a sea of blue and bouncing ponies until finally they were inside the Barrier. For a moment, she thought she was just standing in mid-air. Letting out a whine as she held Kyuubey and Rainbow's hand tighter, she closed her eyes for a moment. Kyuubey nudged her head upwards. "It is alright. You are currently on a stable platform, Fluttershy. You don't have to curl up so much. It is not necessary." Rainbow Dash huffed as she pulled out her sword from...wherever instinct told her to pull it from, I guess. She just needed to get the job done, focus, and keep Fluttershy safe. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. All around them the world was going in its own circle, and it just kept repeating and repeating, and... She felt dizzy. Looking towards her friend, she felt herself calm down. Maybe that was there to hypnotize somepony... Rainbow Dash gave a deep breath and let it out before she let her instincts take over for her. In front of the trio, a duo of white dolls with angel wings and a halo appeared; huge smiles on their faces. If Fluttershy didn't know any better, she'd think they were adorable, but not this time. She knew these creatures could...kill her at any moment... The rainbow warrior sped towards them, sword at the ready. The angels swayed to the sides, causing her to spread her own wings and twist around them at top speeds. The angels flailed in the air as they were caught in a merciless hurricane, until Rainbow threw her sword at them, crushing them from the head up. The angels disappeared. Looking back at Fluttershy, she nodded. "Let's go find that witch!" Fluttershy nodded, quickly pursuing her friend. The two ran along the clear platform until another group of creatures, angels with TVs for heads, appeared. Rainbow Dash groaned. "Get out of my way!" She ran towards the group, hacking and slashing at the TVs on their heads as she twisted her body to avoid their sparkling beams of electricity. It sucks being zapped, she knew. She was on the weather team for years and had been in a few accidents since the present. But she had no time to think about that right now. She had to move! Taking a quick glance back at Fluttershy, the rainbow warrior allowed herself to move once more along the clear platform. More of the creatures came, three TV angels and two of the regular angels. Rainbow Dash crashed through them using momentum, sending the TV angels flying over into the wall of the Barrier, where they dissipated into nothing. Facing the other angels, she pulled off another twister which disoriented the angels, causing them to lose their speed and focus. Without a second thought, she drove her sword into the creatures, slashing them both in one blow. Wind and momentum: It didn't really waste magic, so she was willing to take that tactic any day! Besides, she was too awesome for these idiots to catch! Hearing a whimper, the rainbow warrior turned back around. "FLUTTERSHY!" She exclaimed, speeding over to her friend. While she was distracted with those idiots at their front, some other angels had snuck behind her and grabbed her friend in mid-air! Growling, Rainbow Dash threw her sword into the left angel that held her friend, causing the other to lose its grip from the momentum. Fluttershy felt her support being knocked away, and she was about to scream until she felt her friend wrap around her, a protective gesture. However, in doing this action, Rainbow Dash had dropped her shield in order to leave her left hand empty. It wasn't worth it compared to a life...A precious life. Fluttershy panted as she leaned against her friend's left shoulder. "R-Rainbow...T-Thank...thank you..." She breathed out. Rainbow Dash frowned. She couldn't just keep fighting all of the creatures like this. She needed to find the Witch. "...Cubes! I got wings, can't I just fly over these bozos?!" Kyuubey nodded. "It is most certainly possible, though you would need the experience. The Witch is strong, and I doubt your Rainbow Blast can be done every Witch battle. It would waste too much magic." Rainbow Dash frowned as she hovered lower to collect Kyuubey. Soaring back into the air, she gave a deep sigh. "...I gotta risk it. I can't let that happen to Fluttershy again." Fluttershy groaned softly. "...I...I'll be...f-fine...just...fight...the witch." Kyuubey gave a sigh. Since your wish involved saving, could you not form some sort of protective spell? Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. Yeah...oh, how could I have been so stupid?! I almost got Fluttershy killed! Then it is best you do not waste any more time. With a nod, Rainbow Dash flew past the creatures, holding her friend tightly beside her. There was a flight of stairs she remembered seeing when she was in the middle of fighting. ...If she went up those... Flying past, she turned upwards up the flight of stairs, finding that it led to another platform that greatly resembled the same one she was just on. Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. "R-Really?! How many floors has this Witch GOT?!" Kyuubey shook his head. "Since it was woken early, I doubt this is an extremely powerful Witch...but still a relatively average Barrier. Judging through past experience, you may have three more floors to clear before you can face the Witch." Fluttershy gave a deep sigh. "R-Rainbow, please...you don't have to...carry me the whole...way." She mumbled. Rainbow Dash frowned as she spotted another set of creatures and readied her sword. "Sorry, Flutters...but it doesn't look like I have a choice!" With that, Fluttershy felt herself be taken into the battle; involved with everything but protected from it all. ...It felt frustrating...If only Rainbow would understand...she could take care of herself...she could make a choice... ...What would the consequences be if she made such a choice, though? Rainbow Dash did it...and now she has the power to protect others. ...But...who would protect her? Rainbow Dash grunted as she forced her way past the creatures, making sure to avoid their electricity. She couldn't let Fluttershy get hit, no matter what. She had to make sure she was safe, no matter what! She'd use the protective spell when they get to the witch. The rest she can just...muddle through somehow...some way... ...She'd make sure Flutters stays okay. They went up another flight of clear stairs, the blue sea above and underneath them; the ponies in constant motion...Fluttershy averted her eyes. Just don't pay any attention to them...and you won't get hypnotized... Rainbow Dash huffed. "Alright, that's two more flights! Let's keep going!" Kyuubey gave a sigh. You do remember what we discussed, yes? I remember. I'll use it when we reach the Witch. I won't be able to protect her and fight at the same time in there! I see. It does please me though that you are fighting more Familiars. Oh, hay, they got a name. Rainbow Dash slashed past another set of TV angel familiars, causing the pieces to fly past them, every so often bumping a wing. It didn't hurt; it was just annoying. Just two more flights to go. She rushed through, her eyes darting from the familiars to Fluttershy to the attacks she had to avoid. ...Guess the whole complete concentration in the air thing works awesomely in battle as well as studying and weather. The fact that she was now engaged in battle...it felt frightening, and yet amazing. She lived for making sure others were alright, even if it meant great sacrifice. '...I suppose that's my loyalty speaking to me.' She thought. Fluttershy cringed as she felt herself get re-adjusted after almost slipping. Constant protection was certainly fine, yes...but she couldn't let Rainbow Dash take this entire burden...it must hurt... Kyuubey faced Fluttershy as she held it to her chest. "...This...isn't right..." She whispered softly. Kyuubey lifted his empty smile. ...You desire something. Something strong... Fluttershy quickly broke eye-contact with the creature she was holding. She wasn't ready. She...she couldn't... They flew up another flight of steps. Rainbow Dash grunted as she sped past the familiars on this platform. If she was going to be conserving enough energy to make that protection spell, she needed to get to the Witch soon...! ...The final flight of steps! She grinned as she sped upwards, clearing all of the dumb familiars out of the way, sending them into the deep sea abyss below and above them. They didn't even know what slammed into them! She was going to face the Witch. Fluttershy winced for a moment as she felt her friend stop short suddenly. Slowly, she opened her blue eyes to look at her friend. Rainbow Dash held a determined expression as she gently put her friend down. Fluttershy blinked as her feet landed on the clear platform, trying to read her friend's intentions. "R-Rainbow Dash...?!" A rainbow light surrounded Fluttershy suddenly, breaking her eye contact with her friend as she jumped into a panic, her eyes focused on the light that blinded her. The energy wrapped around her general area, creating a clear sphere with a rainbow aura emanating from it. The sphere formed into a solid shield, separating the timid girl from the rest of the Barrier. It also separated her from her friend. Fluttershy looked back at her friend with a look of betrayal. "R-Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!" She squeaked out, still in a panicked state. Rainbow Dash turned away from her friend, her eyes focusing on the Barrier in front of her. "...I'm sorry, Flutters. This is what I gotta do." Fluttershy looked past her friend. In the air, a large TV with blue wings appeared; a blue silhouette of a young girl with pigtails on the screen. It lowered down along with four of the angel familiars, electricity surging through it. Rainbow Dash readied her sword and prepared to meet it, her wings slowly taking her up into the air. Wind and momentum: That was her tactic. It should work here as well. The TV Witch flew to the side, rather moving further away from the threatening Magical Girl, leaving the four angels to defend the fort. Rainbow Dash grinned as she slammed her sword into a couple of the angels bunched together, her eyes scanning on the activity from the Witch. It looked like it was just running...what kind of lame joke was this? Fluttershy whimpered from inside her safe haven. She could only watch as Rainbow Dash risked her own life, making sure that she was safe...if she didn't even freeze in the first place, Rainbow might not have had to do what she did...! Closing her eyes, the timid girl held both of her arms up to her chest, clutching Kyuubey even tighter than she was before. It hurt...to watch your fillyhood friend fight for you like this...it hurt to know that you had the ability to help... ...She was just lacking the courage. Rainbow Dash flew after the other two angels, slipping past one of their electricity beams as she slammed the sword into the face of one of the angels. Figuring it wouldn't hurt; she grabbed the second one by the halo and used it to whack the first one upside the head, just in case the sword didn't do enough damage. It worked. The two familiars dissipated into nothing, leaving no defense to get to the Witch. The rainbow warrior dove after the Witch which had already made its way across the room, and probably would've been difficult to reach. However, this was the fastest flyer in Equestria here. In no time at all she arrived in front of the witch, causing it to sway once more as it found no escape. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she clenched her teeth, ready to strike. As she dove to strike the Witch and finish the battle, she didn't really think about the sparkling screen in front of her. She didn't see it coming. A large blast in the face came from the screen, causing her to be sent all the way back across the Barrier, creating an indent in the walls of the blue sea labyrinth. Rainbow Dash gasped in shock once she hit impact, a crushing sound could be heard behind her. It felt like she got slammed into the ground at the momentum of a Sonic Rainboom! She winced as she slowly opened her eyes, seeing the Witch in the distance. 'Dang it...I let my guard down...' She grimaced as she slipped out from the indent back into the air. It wasn't that bad...but it put a strain on her to fly. Diving back over, she kept a closer eye on the Witch. She wasn't going to get blasted again! Fluttershy screamed in terror when she saw her friend get slammed into the wall. It was too much...too much to see that happen...It was her fault she had to fight...! Kyuubey relaxed as it watched the events happen. Such things always happened to a Magical Girl, after all. Glancing up at Fluttershy, it shifted in her grip. "...Do you believe that she'll make it?" Fluttershy met his eyes. "...I...I have to...b-believe..." After all, what else could she do? "Fluttershy, you could make a difference, you know. You can make things easier for Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy broke eye contact once more, facing the battle. "N-No...I have to...believe. I know she can do it..." The TV Witch summoned six TV angels in front of it, creating new reinforcements. Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration as she dove to meet them. "Come on, I just got rid of those!" She grunted as she struck the sword into one of the familiars, the TV spewing electricity her direction. Rainbow quickly ducked. It wasn't dead, just hurt. This was a pain...A huge pain! Growling, she dove underneath the group and started to twist around the group of familiars, quickly making sure there were no sneak attacks. The TV Witch dove further down to the ground, struggling in making sure it didn't get caught in the growing hurricane that was affecting its familiars. From a distance, it started to charge up another blast, but it wasn't aiming for the threat in the rainbow armor... ...It was aiming for the prey in the protection spell. Rainbow Dash gasped as she took her attention away from the angels for a second to strike at the Witch. She slammed the Witch into the side, causing it to blast over to the side from where Fluttershy was. That was close. That was too close. Panting, Rainbow Dash focused on the Witch. She was going to take it down, no matter what. The Witch flew towards the disoriented familiars, taking refuge in its shield as the Magical Girl quickly pursued after it. She was gonna kill that Witch! No matter what! Slamming past the familiars, she threw her sword into the front of Witch's screen, stabbing through. The Witch let out an ear piercing scream as it flew away from her reach. Rainbow Dash glared at it. "Hey, get back here! I'm not finished with you!" She prepared to dive after the Witch, but felt her arms and wings being restrained as the TV angels held a tough grip on the rainbow warrior. Rainbow Dash grunted as she struggled. "H-Hey, let go!" She heard giggles by her ear as she felt the grip on her wings grow tighter, refusing to give any momentum. She tried forcing her body to sway, but more started to show up, grabbing onto her legs. She couldn't move. No. No...! The TV Witch flew in front of the captivated warrior, readying another blast that was charging from the screen on its front. Rainbow Dash continued to struggle, trying to get some form of momentum...! She had to get out of there, before...! She couldn't let...! Fluttershy...! The grip on her arms and legs loosened as she heard a crackling noise from behind that came with a motion that swayed her to the side, just out of reach of the blast that shot past her right afterwards, hitting the blue sea wall. Wait, what? ...Wasn't she...gonna die? Shaking herself back into her senses, she noticed a figure with long pink hair, yellow wings, a green short dress with a brown grassy belt, and green vines wrapping around her feet to resemble sandals. This figure also had her friend's face and something that looked like the Element of Kindness around her neck, where her own Soul Gem rested. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her eyes. "F-F-Flutters...!?" Fluttershy gave a determined look as she faced her fillyhood friend. "Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" "Wha...bah...y-you...!" The rainbow warrior found she couldn't really speak at the moment. Fluttershy nodded and then turned away from her friend. "...Let's take care of the Witch together. Then...then you can...well..." Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh. "...Alright, then...let's go get that Witch." Her friend nodded as she held out a hand where a bright glow appeared, forming into what looked like a golden staff, a pink butterfly at the top. Looking away from her friend, Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh. This time...they were going to do it together. This time...they were both fighting it. Turning back to her friend, Rainbow Dash frowned. "I can't get to the Witch with those stupid familiars flocking around it. Think you can get them out of my way, Flutters?" Fluttershy never felt so...excited...amazing... "...Of course. Don't worry about it. You just focus on the Witch." She gave a confident smile as she materialized what looked like a vine whip in her other hand. With a nod, Rainbow Dash turned away. She wasn't sure what to think about this...but there was no going back! Dashing forward, she slashed past the familiars with all the momentum she could muster, causing them to sway to the sides in a disoriented manner. Fluttershy nodded as she held up her staff, a set of vines stretching out from the butterfly in a yellow aura. The vines stretched across her path, wrapping the familiars up in a tight grip, causing them to struggle in the vines' grip in a violent manner. They weren't going to get to her friend again. The TV Witch flew as fast as it could until a sword stabbed into its back, Rainbow pushed the Witch right into the wall and deepened the strike; causing the sword to push until it stabbed right through the other side, shattering the remains of the front screen from her last blows. The ponies in the blue sea stopped and fell to the ground as the TV Witch started spewing what Rainbow assumed was blue blood. Hay, what do you know? 'Blue blood'! Followed them all the way here! She landed on the clear platform and took a deep sigh as she watched her friend hover down after her. As soon as Fluttershy landed, the area around them distorted as the Barrier started to collapse, slowly fading back into the room that they started in. Once more, the place looked empty and...surprisingly clean. The sound of something hitting the ground caused Fluttershy to walk over and pick up the Witch's Grief Seed. Rainbow Dash walked over to peek over her shoulder. "...So, I guess we...share it, huh?" "Rainbow..." Fluttershy whispered before she turned her face away, refusing to make eye contact with her friend. "...Are you angry with me?" Rainbow Dash held a puzzled expression for a moment until she gave a deep sigh. "...Look, um..." Thinking there was nothing else she could do, she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. Fluttershy winced at the touch. "...I'm not mad. Just...surprised..." Rainbow started as she turned away from her friend, keeping the hand on her shoulder. "...What I should be saying is...um..." Ugh, she was so bad at this! "...Thanks." Fluttershy turned to face her friend. "...You're...not mad?" Rainbow Dash turned to meet her blue eyes. "...Honestly, I'm a little freaked out. Just...let me make sure you stay safe. That's...all I want." Fluttershy felt her eyes water as she wrapped her friend into a loose embrace. "...Okay...but, you shouldn't...take the entire burden either. It...It's scary when you...take more than you can...handle." Rainbow Dash blinked at the sudden hug, but took it anyway. "...Okay, okay...I'll be careful." Fluttershy wanted her to stay safe, just like she wanted Fluttershy to stay safe... Fluttershy contracted for her sake... Rainbow gave a deep sigh. "You're actually more assertive than you think; Miss 'I'm all shy'!" Fluttershy gave a small blush as she slowly pulled out of the embrace. "...Um...I'm sorry?" Her friend face-palmed. "Pfft, same old Flutters..." She shook her head and chuckled, a sound that soon died in her throat. An awkward silence built up with the lack of conversation. Everything was just...overwhelming, really. It was Rainbow Dash that broke the silence. "...You know, Flutters...this whole Magical Girl thing..." Fluttershy gave a deep sigh. "...We won't be able to return, even if we find a way. I...already knew that, when I..." Rainbow's eyes widened. "B-But that means...!? You gave up the chance of...going home f-for...for me?" The timid Magical Girl narrowed her eyes and nodded, refusing to meet her friend's gaze. "...I wouldn't have gone without you, anyway...We're friends...and friends stick together." Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. Friends stick together, huh...? If that truly was the case...she wouldn't have contracted. But there was no other choice... "...Flutters?" Fluttershy looked over. "Y-Yes, Rainbow...?" "...Pinkie Promise not to die?" "...Only if you will." The two faced each other. "Cross our hearts, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes!" They said in unison, matching the choreography that came with that promise. They'd stick together to the end. ...No matter what.
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 7 - Friends or Enemies	The two Magical Girl girls held hands as they exited the TV room. The place outside looked just as empty as before they fought the Witch, and just as clean, too. Fluttershy blinked as she spotted a single source of light in another area. It was a small room with an empty desk and torn up paperwork scattered on the floor. Along with the papers, it seemed that there were several glass bottles littering the floor as Rainbow Dash walked further in to investigate. Before entering in, she turned back towards her timid friend. "...We should probably change back, Flutters. I don't know what's in here. It could be a human, or something else weird." The rainbow warrior placed her hand over her Soul Gem, her magenta eyes locked on her friend's blue ones. Fluttershy nodded slowly as she let go of her friend's hand and placed it against her own Soul Gem, a pink butterfly shaped gem. Not wasting any time, the room was filled with rainbow and pink lights, swirling around the two girls until they were out of sight, the aura dancing about the room, creating sparks in the air with its magical touch. This only lasted for a moment until the two girls were released from their magical barriers and their Soul Gems took on its natural form, landing safely in the palm of their hands. Kyuubey watched the two Magical Girls with its empty smile. "With you both as Magical Girls, battles against Witches will be much easier than if Rainbow Dash fought alone." It stated. Rainbow Dash frowned as she formed her Soul Gem into a ball of light, surrounding her hand until it wrapped around her middle left finger; the light forming into a ring. She'd counter that statement another time. They had something more important to focus on right now. With a soft smile, Fluttershy held her Soul Gem out to do the same, fascinated by the light from her own magic wrapping around her finger. Looking at her palm, she blinked as she noticed a light-pink jewel with a little bit of corruption embedded into the metal ring around her finger. Frowning slightly at the corruption, Fluttershy gave her fillyhood friend's back a light tap. "...We should probably use the Grief Seed from the...clown-snake Witch..." Rainbow Dash blinked before looking at her own Soul Gem. "Ugh..." It was a little over halfway corrupted. "Gotta watch how I fight next time...that was crazy!" She threw her hands to her sides for emphasis, and then held her Soul Gem up for Fluttershy to see. "We'll just...have to be more careful." Fluttershy nodded and supplied a grin as she held her Soul Gem in front of her friend's. Rainbow Dash reached into her magenta skirt pocket and pulled out the Grief Seed from that clown-snake. Holding it closer to the two Soul Gems, she saw the corruption from each of their Soul Gems get absorbed by the Grief Seed in her hand, filling it until it halted with an eerie hiss; black menacing aura radiating from it in great multitudes. Fluttershy gasped. "...Does this mean we can't...use it anymore?" Kyuubey hopped onto Rainbow Dash's shoulder, peering over. "Indeed. If you force any more corruption into it, the Witch would surely hatch anew. Let me have it." Rainbow Dash blinked before tossing it over her shoulder. "Here, knock yourself out. Don't know what you'd do with it, though..." She muttered as she felt Kyuubey's weight leave her shoulder. Kyuubey ran towards where the Grief Seed had landed, and with a small adorable-like raise of its head, flipped the Grief Seed over itself until a mark much like a teardrop opened up, allowing the Grief Seed to fall inside. As soon as it did, the mark shut one more, and a pink glow radiated from the creature's back. Fluttershy was stunned at the sight. "Um...did you just...eat it? Can you...do that?" Rainbow Dash blinked before she turned around. "Huh? What'd you mean by 'eat it', Flutters?" Looking over, she saw Kyuubey there sitting innocently, no Grief Seed around to be found. "...Cubes, where'd you put the thing? I thought I gave it to you!" She exclaimed. If it got misplaced...! Kyuubey gave a soft sigh as it closed its eyes. "I am merely performing one of my many duties. When a Grief Seed is filled, you must give it to me. Then it will no longer be a threat to you." The rainbow haired girl blinked. "...So...you...ate it?" Of all the things to do to the thing, he ATE it? Fluttershy gulped silently. 'I hope QB doesn't get a stomach ache...' The creature opened its pink eyes and stared at the two bewildered girls. Why did it matter if it ate it or not? It was simply performing its assigned duties as a contractor. "Indeed. If ever you fill up a Grief Seed, do not hesitate to give it to me. This will ensure that the Witch will not hatch again, and it would no longer be your problem." ...Less responsibility to deal with? Rainbow was cool with that! Grinning, she faced Fluttershy, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Well, if Cubes' got it covered, less for us to do, right?" Usually she'd be willing to pull extra weight, but this whole Witch thing was a different story completely. Fluttershy nodded with a smile. "...Thank you, QB. You...you've really helped us out." With this, she wouldn't ever have to face that horrible nightmare again...A sense of relief filled the timid girl, and her smile grew more confident. Taking her hand off of her friend's shoulder, Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh. "...So, were we gonna check out that room over there?" Fluttershy snapped back into her senses. "O-Oh, um...yes, of course." She held out a hand shyly for her friend to take, which her friend took with confidence. Rainbow led the two towards the entrance of the small room, slipping through the already opened door. While the room was scattered in paperwork, a human sat with his hands over his face; his office chair facing the wall over to the right of the room. Blinking for a moment, Rainbow Dash let go her friend's hand and slowly approached the human. The human muttered inaudibly as it sat. Scratch that, this human was a guy. The guy spoke in foreign tongues, his mouth moving in a constant and fluid manner as he clutched his head in what looked like extreme frustration. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth for a moment, but no words would escape her tongue. Honestly, she hadn't run into this situation before. Always there'd be some way she knew what was going on...but this was a challenging case for the young mare. "U-Um..." She squeaked out, the sound quickly dying in her throat. It made enough noise to catch the foreigner's attention, because he suddenly looked up, his despair-filled brown eyes meeting her uneasy magenta. The man shouted at the girl in foreign tongues, his voice sounding exasperated as he banged his fists against the paper-filled desk, standing up as a form of intimidation. Fluttershy squeaked and hid just outside the room, peeking back into it just enough to make sure her friend was alright. Clearly this guy didn't want to be disturbed... Rainbow Dash winced as she took the brunt of the foreign man's frustrations. W-What was he saying? Why was he yelling at her? What the hay was this guy's problem? Kyuubey blinked before hopping onto Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "...This man is showing signs of aggression. According to what he has been screaming, he used to own this facility. However, unwise decisions and betrayal of employees caused him to become bankrupt, without money." Rainbow Dash blinked as she watched the creature. ...Why isn't this guy freaking out about you? I cannot be seen by those without potential. As far as this man knows, there is nothing on your shoulder. So...this guy is screaming at me, because he lost his company thing? That does seem to be the case. He is venting his frustrations, and displaying an aggressive nature. Sheesh, if I could talk to the guy, I'd try to give him a pep talk or something... Giving a sigh, Rainbow Dash waited a moment until the man had slowed down in his venting. Since words wouldn't do any good, she moved closer to the guy and did the only thing she could think of at that moment... ...She pat the guy on the back softly. Of course, this action probably could probably get her in trouble...but that wasn't what was on her mind at the time. The man stopped in his tracks and slowly stared at the girl in complete silence, his despaired eyes wide in shock. Well, it shut the guy up, at least... Rainbow Dash squeaked as she felt strong arms wrap around her in a tight hug as her face was buried in the man's shirt. What, what...!? Her eyes darted as she tried to make sense of what was going on, until she heard quiet sobbing close by. Was the guy...crying? Well, this was an awkward situation if she'd ever been in one. Finding nothing else to do, she gave a deep sigh; slowly patting the guy's back as a form of comfort. It was strange, comforting something you couldn't understand...but she took it anyway. After the strange comfort she gave the man, he slowly let her go; the despair slowly dissipating from his eyes. The man said something along the line of...Arigatou? What the hay did that mean? The man seemed troubled by her confused expression. Then, for a moment, the man stood in silence. He faced Rainbow again, this time with a friendlier face. "...You speak English?" The man spoke this time with a strange accent, as if the words were foreign to him, but to Rainbow it sounded like the guy had just spoken Equestrian. Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped. "Y-You...you...can speak English?" The man laughed for a moment at her face as he nodded repeatedly. "Yes. I learned it when I was in school. It was a requirement." The man gave a deep sigh. "...I'm...sorry, for the way that I was acting." Rainbow shook her head as she motioned her friend to come closer. It seemed safe, after all. "Naw, it's cool. You were just having a hard time. No biggie, just...it's not the end of the world, right?" She supplied a grin. The man blinked for a moment before allowing his mouth to crease up into a small smile. "...No, no...I suppose it isn't. Thank you for...for being there." The man's face looked up towards the doorway, where Fluttershy slowly stepped in. "...Your friend is very lucky." Fluttershy gave a small smile as she faced her friend. "...Yes." Rainbow Dash blinked. "Y-Yeah, um...I guess..." She shrugged for a moment before taking her friend's hand. "Anyways, we gotta get going. Don't give up yet, alright?" Fluttershy nodded as she allowed herself to be led back towards the doorway with her friend. The man nodded, his eyes lit up anew with hope. "...I won't." The two walked out of the room holding hands, feeling a little better than when they first came to this world. It had its ups and downs...but at least there were nice people around who could help them in a bind. Like Cubes, for example...Rainbow may have not liked the dang creature...but at least it was really helpful in understanding things around here. And that guy was really helpful too; letting them know they could at least find someone they could speak to and understand. ...Things seemed to be finally looking up. Footsteps echoed through the empty room in the facility in the direction of the entrance they took to get inside. Hearing it, Rainbow quickly halted; Fluttershy in tow. She looked around until her eyes caught sight of a figure, masked by the shadows. The rainbow haired girl's eyes narrowed. "...Stay close, Flutters." She whispered as she faced the approaching figure. "...Who's there?! Show yourself!" The figure continued to walk towards the two until Rainbow could see it was a girl with long dark-grey hair, wearing a cream-colored...blouse with a red ribbon. Her legs were completely covered in black; wearing brown shoes. Her eyes were royal blue, set in an apathetic expression. Kyuubey dug its claws deeper into Rainbow's shoulder, giving a better grip. "...That's..." The creature started. Fluttershy blinked as she watched Kyuubey. "...Um...what's wrong, QB...?" She whispered softly. Somehow things seemed to grow more...tense. Rainbow Dash frowned as she stepped closer, making sure her friend was behind her. "...Who the hay are you and what do you want?" She clenched her teeth in an unwelcoming manner. The girl blinked for a small moment before she raised her right hand to flip her hair back, her royal blue eyes piercing into Rainbow's magenta's. Without another moment, the girl opened her mouth, her leveled monotone voice filled with foreign tongues. It sounded like she was asking questions...but... The rainbow Magical Girl winced. Great, another foreigner... "...Uhh...sorry...I don't speak Japanese." The girl blinked for what felt like an eternity. "...I...see." Her dialect changed completely, the monotone voice slightly wavering. Seemed this girl wasn't the best at speaking English. "...Who...are you?" Rainbow Dash gave a sigh of relief. "Phew, finally something I can understand. I'm Rainbow Dash. And this is my friend, Fluttershy." She gestured behind her, the timid girl slowly waving. The girl's eyes darted uncomfortably for a moment. "...I...see. I am...Homura Akemi." Her dialect switched back once she said her name. Rainbow Dash blinked for a moment. "...Ho...mu...ra...?" The way the girl said it sounded weird on her tongue... "...Got a nickname or...something?" The rainbow Magical Girl grinned sheepishly. The girl frowned. "...Homura means 'Flame'. You...you may call me that." Fluttershy slowly stepped forward. "Um...nice to...meet you, Miss...Flame." Rainbow Dash nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, then...Flame. So...why the hay did you approach us anyway, Flame?" Homura gave an inward sigh. "...I...want to recruit you. F-fight together..." Usually her approaches gave drastically different results...but this was just...embarrassing. The rainbow Magical Girl blinked. "...You wanna...recruit me and Flutters? Okay...?" Fluttershy gave a small smile. "...I don't mind if we work together. Are you...a Magical Girl, too?" Homura held up her left hand, revealing her Soul Gem in its ring form. "...Yes. I am a Mahou Shoujo." Rainbow Dash scratched her head as she tilted it to the side. "Ma...mah...um, what..?" What the hay did she just say? "...It is the Japanese term for 'Magical Girl'." The apathetic girl gave yet another inward sigh. "...I want you to fight with me. There is a...big Witch. ...Can't fight it...alone." Her royal blue eyes looked away to the sides, anywhere but in Rainbow's general direction. Perhaps she should've reminded herself to add 'practice English' on the list of things to do... Fluttershy gasped. "...A...big Witch?" The girl merely nodded. She didn't trust herself to sound professional anymore. Rainbow nodded. "Sure, we'll help you kick this Witch's flank." She put both arms up behind her head in a casual position. Homura frowned. "...'Flank'? I...do not...understand." Why did the rainbow Magical Girl have to be a foreigner...? She understood English by ear...but speaking it... Kyuubey blinked at the spectacle from Rainbow's shoulder. "...If there is an issue with language barriers, would it not be easier to speak through the mind? It is multilingual, and highly recommended for this situation." Homura felt like slapping herself. Of course the mind would be multilingual! Taking a deep breath inwardly, she linked her eyes onto Rainbow's; this time with far more confidence. ...Can you understand me now? Rainbow winced. She could. Somehow Flame seemed to have a whole different air about her this time...was she really okay? Her voice sounded...cold. Kinda...intimidating, actually... ...Yeah. I...I can understand you. ...You seem to lack confidence, it seems. ...So, 'big Witch'. You need our help, right? ...I can give further details later. Right now is not the best time. However, I would like to leave you with a warning. A...warning...? Excuse me? Huh? The girl's lips tightened into a frown as her eyes narrowed. ...Don't trust Kyuubey so much. It holds no real emotion. Rainbow's face turned into a scowl as she faced the now-weird Flame. Wait, what? You got a problem with Cubes? ...Cubes? Yeah, a...nickname I thought up. Nicknames lead to attachments. It doesn't deserve one. ...What the hay did Cubes do to get you angry? Homura turned away, no longer facing the two. ...That's none of your business. Rainbow's eyes narrowed into a glare. ...If you wanted me to trust you, you just pulled the wrong move. I don't like secrets. Homura bit her lip, still facing away from the group. ...You remind me too much of another stubborn fool. ...And insulting me isn't going to get me on your side, either. You're doing good here, Flame. ...I prefer to be known as 'Homura'. Fine, 'Home Run'! Do you want us to help you or not? 'Cause this is seriously coming off to a bad start. ...I see. What about your friend? Fluttershy, wasn't it? Fluttershy winced. She hoped to stay out of the conversation...but... Oh, um...if...if Rainbow's willing to...I don't mind... Oh, I'm willing. I'm just not sure if I can trust the team. You tell us about there being a big Witch, but you tell nothing about it. You tell us steer clear of Cubes, but you don't tell us why you don't trust it. If you want help, you gotta put your two bits in. ...I see. You won't fight, unless I explain things? ...If it's dangerous, I'll fight it. ...But I gotta know what it is. ...As I said before, I can explain things later. Tomorrow, if you insist. Well, then I insist. Where to? ...We can rendezvous here. I'll show you the way. 5 pm sharp. Fluttershy gulped as she watched the two other Magical Girls cautiously. Um...can we do that, Rainbow? ...How can we make it sharp? Homura's eyebrows rose. ...Eh? Me and Flutters judge the time by the skies...we don't exactly have a clock. ...Hmm. Interesting...hobby you have. Do you have anywhere you're staying? U-Um... The rainbow haired girl gave a sheepish grin as her eyes looked to the side, refusing to make contact. Uhh...not...really...? Heh...? Homura face-palmed. These two were homeless? ...You're coming with me. Rainbow Dash blinked as her mouth dropped. Wait, what? This girl was going to take them somewhere? That seems suspicious...but it'd at least give her friend a safe enough place to sleep...and it'd be better than nothing at this point... ...I still don't trust you...but at least Fluttershy would be able to get some shut-eye. Where to? ...Follow me. I will show you and your friend the way. Homura glared towards the creature on Rainbow's shoulder. ...That thing is not invited. Rainbow Dash glanced towards Kyuubey. Sheesh, if she only knew what was eating at the crazy girl to make her hate Cubes that much! Giving a deep sigh, her rose eyes met the creature's pink eyes. "...We're...gonna be going, Cubes. Sorry, but you can't tag along." She informed it. Kyuubey hopped off of the rainbow Magical Girl's shoulder. "...That is alright. I have business with my other Magical Girls to tend to, anyway. It has been a pleasure spending time with you two." Fluttershy simply nodded. "...I'm so sorry you can't come with, QB. I don't know why she has a problem with you..." Kyuubey nodded. "It is fine. Do take care, Fluttershy." Homura raised an eyebrow at the spectacle before her. ...We cannot keep communicating through the mind like this. Some things I prefer Kyuubey doesn't hear. You two will have to learn the Japanese language, or forever be mute...Your choice. Fluttershy's eyes widened while Rainbow Dash bared her teeth at the girl. U-Um...mute? Not cool. Doesn't it take a while to learn a whole language? What a pain! Homura watched as Kyuubey left into the shadows before facing the two foreign Magical Girls. ...We'll have to figure something out. This language barrier is frustratingly annoying to deal with. Anyway, shall we be going? Rainbow Dash looked over towards her fillyhood friend. "...Let's get going, Flutters." Fluttershy nodded as she started walking towards her. "...Okay." She mumbled softly. She wasn't sure what this new Magical Girl's true motives were...but they really had no other options in front of them, and they just couldn't stay on the streets without sleep. Come to think of it...she hadn't gotten any sleep since she had that nightmare that started it all...Was it a premonition? Is that why she had it? She never saw herself as psychic... That was Pinkie's job...wasn't it? ...In fact, was following this Magical Girl okay? Fluttershy gave an inward sigh as she slipped her hand into her friend's, putting them both at an even pace behind the stranger known as...Homura Akemi as she led them down another path. She wasn't so sure about her methods...and she showed hate and resentment for QB... ...Why? Did QB do something wrong? Rainbow Dash frowned as she spied on the stranger with a watchful eye. She wasn't sure what the hay this girl wanted...but she knew it'd be trouble. Was agreeing to fight a big Witch with her a good idea? Then again, she never knew when they could be easily backstabbed by this girl... ...For Fluttershy's sake, she might have to come up with a back up...just in case this 'Home Run' plans to screw them both over in the end. If that really is gonna be the case...then this Homura Akemi was going to pay for messing with the wrong pegasi...! ...All they had was each other now, after all.
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 8 - Alliance Part 1	Footsteps clattered through the shadows as the three Magical Girls walked throughout the night, a crescent moon in the sky. Rainbow Dash sighed inwardly as she looked at the old rundown buildings surrounding the trio. This area didn't look very promising to the rainbow Magical Girl, but she really didn't know what they were getting themselves into. ...Maybe she should've just ditched 'Home Run' and rushed outta there, fast. Things certainly didn't seem to be looking up. She glanced behind towards her timid friend, her grip tightening as she held her hand firmly. They couldn't risk losing each other, after all. Fluttershy glanced from building to building as they walked along the worn out sidewalk. The area didn't really look abandoned, but there wasn't that much light illuminating the street in front of them. The streets glowed with a copper-colored hue as it was lit up by the old street lamps on the sides. Noticing her friend's gaze on her, the timid Magical Girl gave a small approving grin, just enough to try and reassure her dear fillyhood friend. It didn't really help much; she knew better than to believe Rainbow could be fooled by that. Not feeling any better about the situation, Rainbow Dash slowly turned away from her friend, instead keeping an eye on their 'accomplice'. Akemi Homura kept a steady pace as she walked, her gray-black hair swishing slightly with each movement she made. She made no effort to turn around or make eye-contact with the two girls, but she just continued on with perfect faith that they'd be following her. Grudgingly, they really didn't have any other option. Homura stopped short in front of a large building; it was pretty dark to really look at some of the details in the place. It kinda looked like an apartment building, like one of those things you'd see in something like Manehatten, only make it super creepy and dark; dramatic effects in the works. A plate with strange Japanese symbols was embedded on the wall next to a door. Homura turned back towards the foreigners, her royal-blue eyes narrowed in a blank 'hard to tell' expression. ...We're here. Rainbow Dash winced for a moment while Fluttershy squeaked loudly behind her. She had GOT to get used to that! Randomly out of nowhere; no warning whatsoever! Y-Yeah, yeah, right... The rainbow Magical Girl felt her friend's grip on her hand tighten. Looking up at the place, she suppressed the urge to gulp at the sight. Was this place haunted by ghosts? Fluttershy whimpered softly as she leaned closer to her friend's back for any form of comfort. She missed QB's company...It was nice, being able to cuddle something cute and soft when she was scared... ...But being a Magical Girl now, she couldn't stay scared. She wasn't going to let Rainbow take the burden for her. Steeling herself, Fluttershy gulped as she let go of her friend's hand, walking up until she was right beside her. Homura blinked at the two until she turned back towards the door, opening it without another thought while she allowed foreign tongues to fill the air. Rainbow Dash blinked as she quirked an eye-brow. The apathetic Magical Girl frowned. ...That means 'follow me'. Nodding in unison, the two Magical Girls both stepped in through the door, stepping into what looked like a hallway lit up with a teal-ish hue. Footsteps echoing through the hallway, the three Magical Girls walked in silence until they came to yet another door out of many; another plate with strange Japanese symbols on it. Homura reached into a small pocket from her cream-colored blouse, pulling out a set of keys. Picking out one from several others, she promptly pushed the selected key into the keyhole on the doorknob; turning it to the left. The doorknob clicked as she twisted it with her other hand, causing the door to creak open as she slowly retracted the key from the keyhole. ...Come in. Rainbow Dash sighed before facing her timid friend. Fluttershy blinked for a moment before meeting her magenta eyes. "U-Umm...it should...be alright." She mumbled as she slipped past her friend and slowly crept through the doorway, the inside being completely wrapped in darkness. Rainbow frowned as she followed her suddenly brave friend; keeping an eye to make sure nothing bad happens. As she shut the door behind her, Rainbow frowned. She couldn't see a thing...How could anypony walk around in this place? She almost resisted the urge to feel around in front of her, just to make sure the other two were still there. ...It was so silent here... With a clicking sound, everything went blazing white as Rainbow Dash quickly covered her eyes. "Agh, that's BRIGHT!" Fluttershy squeaked as her blinking irritated eyes searched for any sign of Homura, who was next to a strange plastic patch on the wall. The apathetic Magical Girl stared at the two for a moment, her hand against a plastic tap that pointed up. ...It's a light switch, if you didn't know. Rainbow Dash blinked. She knew what a light-switch was, just...it looked really different from what she was used to. No bugs in it or anything...and who puts it on the wall?! What the hay happened to lamps? Still, no point in arguing... R-Right, okay... Fluttershy looked around the room. It was a large area with endless white; an anchor-like object swinging back and forth. As if they were floating in mid-air, several pictures with inequine figures and diagrams hovered above the trio, all in a language the young mare couldn't read. In fact, it looked like some of the symbols she didn't really pay much attention to back in the Clown-Snake's Barrier...or something similar, at least... Homura walked on until she stood in front of a circular-shaped seat that was curved around the table in the center, much like a crescent moon. "...Sit down." She spoke in English, her voice once more changing dialect. 'Okay, this just got from weird to creepy-town...' Rainbow Dash cringed as she complied, allowing herself to sit down on a similar cushioned seat from the opposite side of the table; made out of something she didn't really feel back in Equestria. Probably shouldn't question it... "...Do you drink tea?" The apathetic Magical Girl sat down, allowing her muscles to relax as her royal-blue eyes gazed towards her guests. Fluttershy gave an inward sigh before she too sat down beside Rainbow Dash; keeping an eye on both Magical Girls in front of her, hoping to avoid a fight. "...Nah...Tea's pretty bland for me. You got cocoa?" The rainbow Magical Girl scratched her head nervously. Sheesh, when did she start to lose her cool? Fluttershy smiled softly as she scooted closer to sit next to her friend. "U-Um...tea's fine for me...that is, if...if you don't mind..." Homura nodded before standing back up. "...Very well," she spoke in a clumsy attempt of English as her voice wavered slightly. "I will get your tea for you." She walked into a doorway which led into another room filled with green squares. Before she fully left the room, she didn't hesitate to glare at the rainbow-haired girl behind her. You WILL learn Japanese, if it's the last thing I do. Rainbow Dash cringed at the threat. "Sheesh...lay off a little, will ya? I get it, your English sucks!" Fluttershy gasped as she clicked her tongue in disapproval. "No, Dashie! That's NOT how we speak to our host, who was so gracious to give us some place to stay!" She spoke in a firm voice as she glared at her companion. Rainbow always did struggle when it came to good manners... Rainbow Dash blushed as she winced at her nick-name being used in such a tone. "R-right...uh..." The mare gulped as she contemplated her friend's words. Fluttershy was always suddenly very assertive when it came to lecturing her or her stupid animals... "...Sorry, uh..." The rainbow Magical Girl mumbled to the air as she refused to make eye-contact with anyone else in her line of vision. Fluttershy didn't ease her glare. "...Say it properly in front of Miss...um...Ho-mu-ra." Her voice faltered as she attempted to say the apathetic Magical Girl's name. Maybe they really DID need to learn how to speak Japanese...if they were going to be staying here. Her current attempt to pronounce names here were embarrassing, to say the least... Rainbow gave a sigh. "Fine, fine...just let me uh...go over there and say it." The rainbow Magical Girl gave a sheepish grin as she stood up off of her seat, her eyes locked on the doorway. "You wait here. 'Kay Flutters?" Fluttershy nodded with a smile. "...Alright." The rainbow Magical Girl crept away from the seat towards the doorway out of the spacious room, her rose eyes peering through. The place looked completely different from the weird white room she just left. Inside the room there were pots and pans hanging on hooks on the walls nearby a stove, along with a pale green counter beside it. No doubt about it. She was in a kitchen. Rainbow Dash was about to walk inside the kitchen until she saw a two-braided figure nearby one of the counters opposite from the stove, a lavender apron tied around her waist. ...In fact, this figure looked PRETTY similar to a certain annoying apathetic Magical Girl she since recently...has been having to deal with... "...Home Run?" She blurted out. The figure gasped loudly in a high pitch before she promptly turned around. Her royal blue eyes wavered as a blush formed on her normally empty apathetic face. The girl sputtered in high-pitched foreign tongues, clearly unable to recover from her embarrassment. Rainbow Dash blinked. "...Hey, not a bad look for you! It makes you look less intimidating, at least." She grinned as she relished in the other Magical Girl's suffering. Homura bit her lip as she quickly turned away from the rainbow Magical Girl. "...Don't...look at me. I...I did this t-to keep it out of the way." She slurred in clumsy English. "Hey, nothing wrong with a new look," She resisted from busting up into laughter. "Just...it looks cute." The apathetic Magical Girl closed her eyes and slowly breathed in and out for a few moments. It seemed to be working as her muscles grew less tense as the blush faded from her face. When Rainbow Dash saw her open her eyes once more, they were the same cold eyes she had before; making the 'cute' look she had look intimidating. Rainbow Dash winced. "Uh..." Why was she here again? She could easily just walk right out of this place, but she had something she needed to do. If only she could remember what that was... Homura frowned as her eyes narrowed into a glare, her hands quickly pulling out the lavender ribbons that held her hair, allowing it to flow freely behind her. ...We never speak of this. Understand? The rainbow Magical Girl rolled her eyes as she recovered from Homura's overwhelming effect. Sure, sure, whatever. I came over here to talk to you. Homura blinked as she worked to untie her apron and place it on a hook near the fridge. Whatever did she have to say to her? ...What is it? Rainbow Dash sighed deeply before meeting her accomplice's royal blue eyes. I guess...uh...What was I supposed to say again? Homura frowned. ...If you don't remember, quit wasting my time. Oh wait! Now I remember! Rainbow Dash glared back at the apathetic Magical Girl. ...But now I don't think you deserve it. ...Excuse me? With a sigh, Rainbow Dash relaxed her body against the kitchen counter. Well, I was going to say 'sorry' for dissing your bad English...but like I said, you don't deserve it. Anyways, what the hay is wrong with you? Forcing us to learn Japanese? If you do that, you might as well work on your crappy English! Homura frowned. She did have a point, and communication was essential. ...Fine then. We'll make a deal. If I practice my English, you must learn how to speak, read, and write in Japanese. Rainbow Dash blinked. Wait, write? How the hay could she learn how to WRITE in Japanese? Uhh...do you do that for English? Best keep it fair, after all. ...Of course I do. I am educated in my school to do all of that. It is a requirement, and one that I am quite skilled at...if I wasn't speaking. Rainbow held back a snicker. Right, right, your speaking is the only thing you suck at, right? The apathetic Magical Girl's lips curved upwards into a smirk. ...I already know that you'll struggle with Japanese. I can't wait to see you fail miserably. Rainbow Dash winced. Uhh...'kay...Anyways, I guess I indirectly apologized, so...that means I'm off the hook! Guess I'll be heading back over with Flutters, then. Homura gave an inward sigh as she lifted a serving plate with a mug of cocoa and four grey glass cups of green tea off the counter, walking over towards the other Magical Girl. ...That was hardly an apology. Anyway, since you're here you may as well make yourself useful. Carry this over to the table. Rainbow blinked as her hands took on the weight of the serving plate, balancing each cup carefully on top. "W-whoa...what's the green stuff in the glasses?" Homura rose up on her toes to reach up towards another serving plate. "...Green tea. Good drink we Japanese use. It is perfect for health." Fragmented sentences were always frustrating...if only this idiot wasn't foreign! "...'GREEN' tea...? That sounds kinda...gross." The rainbow Magical Girl made a face as her grip on the serving plate tightened. Gross or not, she couldn't drop the plate or anything. "So...what's the other serving plate for?" The apathetic Magical Girl gave a knowing look in her eye. I imagine we'll be having cake soon. Rainbow Dash blinked. ...Cake? ...You'll see. I actually invited another guest to be joining us tonight. The rainbow Magical Girl frowned. Uh, WHY is this the first I've heard about this? ...Must've slipped my mind. I invited this guest before approaching you two. We have much to discuss. Rainbow rolled her eyes. Of course Home Run invited a stranger beforehand. Now she was putting Fluttershy through stranger danger. What kind of loyal friend was she? "...What kind of...human is this guest?" Homura blinked. ...Human? That's an interesting use of the word. Would it be anything other? ...Whatever, just...just answer the question already. ...Very well. This guest is another Magical Girl in this city; the owner of this territory. She is usually quite hospitable...when she finds reason to trust you. I hope to gain that trust in tonight's meeting. The rainbow Magical Girl nodded in understanding. ...So it's another Magical Girl. Alright then...bring it on. Homura blinked. Your approach to everything is very American. ...Huh? Ameri...can? What's American? ...Are you not from America? Where people speak English? The rainbow-haired girl stepped back out of surprise. ...Uh...Yeah, see...I speak English, but I'm not a native there. I just have some uh...relations, yeah! Homura smirked. ...I have a feeling I won't be the only one talking. ...Y-Yeah? W-Why's that? Royal blue eyes burned into magenta orbs. ...Where exactly do you come from, foreigner? I'd suspect America, but your current reactions are telling me otherwise. Rainbow Dash gulped as she tore her eyes away from the other Magical Girl's. ...That...that's not your business. The apathetic Magical Girl's smirk grew wider. The tables have turned, it seems. You were the one wanting to know my business. Why is it such a problem to know yours? The rainbow Magical Girl cringed inwardly. She really dug herself into a deep hole this time...but she couldn't tell this crazy freak the truth...! If she knew she came from a land full of ponies and magic, she'd think she was crazy! ...The door bell ringing felt like a sound from Celestia herself as both Magical Girls' attentions were taken away from the subject. Homura gave a quick glance back at the rainbow Magical Girl, her eyes ever so harsh. ...We finish this in the strategy room. Rainbow Dash felt like she was losing strength in her legs, but she refused to let them collapse. She was still carrying a tray, anyway. She watched as the apathetic Magical Girl walked out of the kitchen back into the large white room, her gaze then moving from the doorway down towards the cups on top of the tray. Steam was still rising from all cups, but she couldn't leave them sitting for too long. The rainbow Magical Girl gave a deep sigh as she felt anxiety rise up within her. ...Guess she should...take them over, then. -- As Rainbow Dash entered the room with a tray filled with green tea and a mug of cocoa, she saw another human standing near the seats, talking to Home Run in what she believed to be more foreign stuff. A girl with blonde hair curled into tight ringlets slowly settled herself down at the request of Homura, wearing the same uniform as their host but with white shoes. Closing her eyes, the blonde allowed herself to take a deep breath before facing the trio. ...Fluttershy blinked as she observed the new stranger. W-Were they really expecting guests? If so, h-how many...? Oh, she didn't want to bear so many new strangers all at once! ...Then again, she'd...been through much worse with Photo Finish and...the Gala.... The blonde blinked before she flashed a friendly smile towards the shy pink-haired girl, a light silky foreign sound escaping her lips. "...Konnichiwa." Reading Fluttershy's complete and utter confusion, Homura promptly sat down next to her. "...Konnichiwa means 'Hello'." Her dialect twisting as she spoke. Fluttershy gasped. "Ohh...Um...Ko...konnichi...wa." She mumbled. Oh, she was so bad at this! The blonde girl blinked. "...E-Eh?" Her gold-yellow eyes darted back and forth from Homura's to the pink-haired girl. Homura gave a deep sigh. ...Do forgive her lack of Japanese. She and the other one I have here are foreigners who speak English. The stranger gasped as her mind was invaded with Akemi Homura's voice. She didn't notice the pink-haired girl wincing as well. ...Foreigners, Akemi-san? Why did you bring foreigners here? Homura's eyes narrowed. ...Surely you've sensed the recent contracts that have been made here in Mitakihara City. It is your territory, after all. Or have you been too involved with your potential students to pay attention to anything else? The blonde girl sighed as she clasped her hands together, Fluttershy staring in complete fascination before stopping short. ...Students? Yellow-gold eyes widened as she turned towards the pink-haired girl. ...Y-You are...! Fluttershy winced until she noticed the shock was short-lived. ...Of course. At first I decided to ignore the strange auras I've been sensing thinking it was another of your tricks, Akemi-san...but you've been recruiting Magical Girls behind my back? And from what I'm sensing, newly contracted ones as well... Homura frowned. ...They were willing to assist. I have something I wish to ask of you as well, Tomoe Mami, if you are willing to listen. The stranger known as Tomoe Mami glanced back to meet the other with cold eyes. ...What is it? Surely you don't plan to waste my time? I sacrificed my own leisure time to come here, you know. Fluttershy was about to open her mouth to say something until she heard footsteps approaching the trio. The three girls stared at Rainbow Dash as she placed the serving tray on the table, a frown on her face. Not to break the tension and all...but your tea's gonna get cold. And that'd be lamer than tea in general in my opinion. Fluttershy grinned for the mood-saver. "...Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Um...what kind of tea...is it?" Homura nodded as she took a cup and handed it to Fluttershy. ...Green tea. It's a Japanese traditional drink that's often drunk in the same amounts as water is in America. Mami blinked as she too was handed a cup, her lips curling up into a small smile. Oh...well, thank you...Akemi-san, for your hospitality. It's not what I expected, to say the least... Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she took her mug. Sniffing at it, it didn't really...smell like cocoa, now that she thought about it. It smelled kinda like... Hey, this isn't cocoa, this is coffee! Homura simply sipped at her own cup of tea. ...I was out. I figured you could drink coffee instead, or are you just a picky guest to please? The rainbow-haired girl grumbled. No, I'll drink the icky stuff. Just...really don't care for it. It's bitter as all hay! Mami blinked as she took a luxurious sip. ...'Hay'...? I don't remember hay being used in that context before...is it a new English slang? Homura nodded as her royal-blue eyes hooked onto shaky rose eyes. I don't recall it being used that way, either. And I've heard it being used several times, actually. Fluttershy faced her friend as she placed her cup of tea down on the table and stood up. "...Rainbow Dash, it's okay. I'm...I'm sure we can trust them." She gave Rainbow a small but confident smile. Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Mmm..." Was it really okay? She certainly didn't trust them, especially that Home Run! And the blonde one was pretty sneaky herself... ...But...Fluttershy was willing to trust them. They told Cubes when she didn't trust him, and the world didn't end then. Who's to say it'll end if they tell these humans? Mami narrowed her eyes as she listened intently. The two foreigners seemed to be hiding something from her. Akemi Homura wasn't the only one with secrets, it seems. Maybe she should just leave. She sacrificed precious homework time to come here, after all. Homura kept her gaze. Almost...she almost had it. Where exactly did these two irregulars come from? What was their purpose for being here with nowhere to go? Fluttershy walked over and took her friend's hand. "...It's okay. If you don't want to..." Rainbow Dash shook her head as she tightened her grip on Fluttershy's hand. "...Fine, we'll tell you, so shut up." Mami cleared her throat. This girl seemed to lack manners...Much like...she did. Refusing to think back, she focused her eyes on the two foreigners in the room. Fluttershy sighed. "...We're...not normally...humans." Everything seemed heavy around her, almost suffocating...just like when she has stage fright... Homura and Mami both blinked in unison. Rainbow Dash gave a heavier sigh and pulled both herself and her friend to sit on the opposite seat together. "...Like she said, we're not humans. We're...we're actually ponies." "...Eh?"
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 9 - Alliance Part 2	The apathetic Magical Girl couldn't believe her eyes. These foreigners before her, these...irregulars to everything she predicted, to what she knew...were actually...PONIES? Real live PONIES? ...You're lying. Fluttershy shook her head as she squirmed in her seat. N-No...it's true. We...actually didn't even...know how to...walk before, we...we learned from QB... Mami promptly put her teacup back on the table to prevent risk of dropping it. E-Ehhh....!? H-how are you...human, then?! You...you're really ponies? Rainbow Dash frowned. "Uh-huh." Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. After all...if they were reacting just about the pony part, imagine if they told them all about Equestria! Then they'd really have something to sleep on. Homura shook her head. No, you're lying. If you're truly ponies, then you wouldn't even know how to write properly, would you? How do you write? Rainbow Dash cringed. With our teeth....Can't really grip on a quill with our hooves, right Flutters? Fluttershy nodded. Oh, yes. It'd be extremely difficult for us. Mami slowly placed a hand on her head to nurse the upcoming headache she was starting to feel. Ponies, turning into Magical Girls? ...Of all the absurdity... ...You know nothing about writing with your hand? Perhaps these foreigners wouldn't be of much use to you after all, Akemi-san... The timid Magical Girl looked downcast in contrast to her friend, refusing to look Akemi Homura in the eyes. Homura bit her lip in a moment of silence. When she approached them, they seemed normal enough, didn't they? Did Kyuubey really make such a big impact for them? If so, then things could be troubling...but she needed as many Magical Girls as she could to achieve her goal. ...We'll have to teach them. Mami blinked. ...Eh? Akemi-san, what are you saying? Homura turned to face her, royal-blue eyes meeting yellow-gold. ...We'll have to teach them how our world works. They must learn to blend in, or they risk making a mistake that could potentially expose us all. After all, they are still Magical Girls, even if they may not be originally human. ...I suppose you have a point, but...'we'll teach them'...? ...As much as I despise to say this...I need your help, Tomoe Mami. This isn't something I can do alone, and we only have so much time. ...You mean till that 'Big Witch', right? Both Magical Girls turned to face the prismatic girl. Mami's eyes filled with confusion as her eyes darted from rose to royal-blue. ...'Big Witch', Akemi-san...? She gasped. Surely you can't possibly mean...! Homura promptly stood up from her seat and walked to the front of the room, her eyes focused on the rest of the Magical Girls in front of her. She hoped to pull out any more information from the foreigners before beginning the meeting...but that idiot already forced the transition. ...That is exactly what I mean, Tomoe Mami. At the end of this month, Walpurgisnacht will arrive here in Mitakihara City. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy blinked in confusion while the veteran Magical Girl's eyes widened in terror. ...This month...? Sure...surely it isn't so soon? ...It is. I have asked you to come here...because I would like your help in fighting it. Mami bit her lip in a nervous habit, keeping any outer emotions in control. ...To fight Walpurgisnacht...it's suicide, you know. No Magical Girl has survived and lived to tell the tale. Fluttershy gasped. "R-Rainbow..." she breathed out. This Big Witch known as Walpurgisnacht...could possibly kill them? She remembered the sensation of being held by those scary familiars in the TV Witch's Barrier...but never did she come close to death. Rainbow Dash frowned. So, it's a big Witch, big deal. What's so scary about it? Does it like, look like some fire-breathing dragon or something? Homura shook her head as she lifted a remote from a shelf underneath the top of the table and pressed a button with a diamond shape on it. All of a sudden, the empty screens hovering above them were filled with pictures of something that looked like it came out of a Nightmare Night story. A figure floated in the midst of a storm as it hung upside down from a piece of clockwork, its blue and white grand looking dress fluttering rapidly in the vicious winds. It held a smile as it laughed to no end, wearing a blue double-pointed hat. To Rainbow, it looked like a blue crazy Diamond Tiara in a pretty dress and a phony princess hat. And it TERRIFIED her, even though she couldn't take her eyes away. This figure danced in the air, causing buildings to rise up and fly in every direction, spitting out flames whenever she pleased at innocent victims in the distance. Fluttershy whimpered as she forced herself to look away from the screen, instead hiding in the comfort of her fillyhood friend's shoulder. That thing...its creepy smile reminded her too much of that Clown-Witch... Mami gulped as she took her eyes off the screen, instead noticing the look in Homura's eye. Was she...trying not to...cry? With nothing else to do, she took it upon herself to reach for the remote in the mysterious Magical Girl's hand, which wasn't that hard to do. Homura had practically given it to her before turning away from the screen herself. ...The screen faded back to nothingness as Mami proceeded to put the remote back where she remembered it being pulled from. Perhaps that was enough for now... Rainbow Dash sighed as she patted her friend's head. "Okay, Flutters...It's all over now." Fluttershy sniffed as she lifted her head from Rainbow's shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief from the sight of the empty screens. Normally that'd be weird...considering they were just floating around...but this was so much better than the other... "...I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash...I...I grew scared again." Rainbow shook her head. "Hey, don't sweat it. That was actually freaky for me, too." Homura took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, allowing herself to face her guests once more. ...Anyway...Walpurgisnacht. No Magical Girl can defeat it alone. That is why I ask for your help in fighting it...Tomoe Mami, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. The trio looked at the apathetic Magical Girl in the eyes. ...I need you all to be able to work together and fight Walpurgisnacht with me. Mami gave a small smile. ...I understand. There must be a reason for this, I suppose...but I will be willing to fight it with you. Before tonight I found no reason to trust you...but now you have given me enough proof to believe you. ...And besides, Mitakihara is our beloved city. I can't let everyone here get hurt. Homura gave a small smile in return. A small one, but a smile none the less. ...Thank you, Tomoe Mami. ...You're welcome. Although...I would like an explanation as to why you have footage of Walpurgisnacht later on. Homura nodded before she turned towards the other two. ...And what are your answers? Rainbow Dash bit her lip before looking into her friend's eyes. Normally they'd be happy to help someone in need...but this task endangered their lives, even more so than if they decided to jump ship and run. ...They never did run away from any problems.... Fluttershy gulped at her friend's gaze. Were they really going to do this? Was she prepared to possibly throw her life away to protect the people of this city? This city, which she couldn't even pronounce the name of? ...Then again, Homura did give them a warm place to stay. "...I think we should do it." The timid Magical Girl gave a small smile towards her friend. Maybe she was being crazy...but Homura needed help, and she couldn't just leave her like that... Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh as she gave in to her friend's sparkling hopeful eyes. "Okay, you win...What else could we be doing anyway? It's not like we can go back home...and so far this city seems to be where we're staying. Don't want it destroyed at the end of the month, right?" Homura blinked at the two in surprise. Does that mean...you're in? Rainbow Dash grinned at the apathetic Magical Girl. ...You better believe it. Be grateful. You haven't really been the best host, after all. ...Thank you. This makes our chances of defeating it greater. Fluttershy smiled. Thank goodness. It'd be horrible if none of us survives through this...We should gather as many Magical Girls as possible to fight with us! That is, if you all don't mind the...crowd. Mami giggled as her curly golden blonde hair bounced at the sides. The more the merrier, is what I'd like to say...But we'd all have to ration our Grief Seeds together so that we'll all be in tip-top shape! It'll be a pleasure working with you, Rainbow-san, and Fluttershy-san. Rainbow Dash blinked at the weird additions to their names. Uhh...just Rainbow or Dash is fine. Some even call me RD. Just...I don't do...whatever it is you just did. Homura sighed. They really did know nothing about their culture. ...We use 'san' at the end of a person's name as a formality. Tomoe-san is no exception. Mami sweat-dropped with nervous laughter at the comment. Please do forgive me...It's a...habit of mine I haven't put much effort into breaking. I'll try to resist if I can...but I do like how 'Rainbow-san' sounds as opposed to an informal way of addressing you. Fluttershy smiled. It's...It's alright with me if you include 'san'. Rainbow Dash just...avoids formality as much as possible usually, unless it involves royalty. Homura blinked. There is royalty where you...ponies come from? Where is this place? The rainbow Magical Girl sighed as she relaxed in her seat and crossed her legs. Well, there goes any secrets. "Yeah, we got royalty where we come from. We actually come from the land called Equestria, where the two sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule over and raise the sun and moon." Mami held a puzzled expression as she struggled to translate the rainbow-haired girl's words. ...Equestria...? It sounds very fantastical, almost. Are all the creatures there ponies? Fluttershy shook her head. "...Oh, no! We have griffons, dragons, and many other creatures as well." Homura's eyes filled with a childish wonder before she quickly dismissed it. The last thing they needed to hear about was a magical paradise that may or may not have existed. And why would it matter if it did? That meant nothing to her and her objective. "...Either way, you are Magical Girls now. You live here from now on." She spoke as she twisted her dialect, sitting back down in her seat as she picked up her cup. "Anyway, let us finish our tea and...coffee." Rainbow Dash frowned. "Yeah, icky SMELLY coffee...Thanks a lot, by the way." She grumbled as she lifted the mug of coffee towards her lips. Without another thought, she allowed some of the black bitter liquid to enter her mouth with a small tip of her head. The taste was just as disgusting as the smell was. She remembered Twilight liking coffee, but this just didn't do well for her taste-buds. She gagged as she forced herself to swallow the revolting stuff. How did Twilight even DRINK this stuff? Or anypony for that matter! Homura held a small smile as she took comfort in her drink, watching another's misery. Normally she'd probably be more courteous towards her guests, and she was, but this one reminded her too much of another Magical Girl she hated. Those eyes of justice... Rainbow shuddered as the liquid passed through. Even though she wasn't one for manners, she did know you finished a drink you were offered. Though really, that Home Run probably would've done better giving her poison than this! "...You got any sugar, or creamer for this thing? 'Cause Tartarus is it bitter!" The rainbow Magical Girl complained as she prepared herself for another gulp. Mami held back a giggle as Homura simply shook her head and took another sip of her tea. "...I prefer mine bitter. I don't care much for creamer." "Nooo...!" Rainbow groaned as she forced yet another gulp down her throat. Almost done...She was almost done, and then she'd be free from the nasty drink ever invented called 'coffee"! Fluttershy sweat dropped at her friend's suffering while she had a comfortable drink for herself to drink. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash..." Really, that's all she could say...unless... The timid girl reached over and took Rainbow's mug; leaving the girl surprised as she promptly chugged the contents. As Rainbow Dash sat there speechless, Fluttershy simply gave a small sigh before she put the mug down onto the table. "...That wasn't so bad..." She gave another sigh of satisfaction. Rainbow dropped her mouth. "...You liked coffee this entire time?" Well of all the things to discover in a foreign land! Fluttershy nodded as a small blush formed in her cheeks. "...Yes...a little...more than tea, actually. I just gladly accepted when Miss Homura offered." It was just too much. Mami let out a small giggle which then formed into full out laughter as she held her sides. Certainly she didn't want to be rude...but it was hard to resist just from Rainbow Dash's complaining. Homura held a small smirk. Perhaps I should just offer coffee, then? Rainbow Dash growled in frustration as her face grew bright red. No! No more coffee! I'm mad at you all! Even Homura couldn't resist from laughing after that. Mami eventually fell into a small giggle as she then pulled out a large white plastic bag. Well, then...shall we have some cake? Fluttershy stopped short in confusion. Umm...cake, Miss Mami? Rainbow Dash groaned as she felt the heat in her cheeks settle down to an easier temperature. 'Right...cake. Home Run warned me of that.' She thought to herself. Homura could only give a deep sigh. It was just as she predicted... --- A door creaked open slowly as Akemi Homura slowly stepped in, the two foreign Magical Girls following suit. Reaching for what she knew was the light switch; she flipped the plastic tap upwards as light illuminated the room. Inside this room was a single large bed covered with a brown blanket over white sheets, a couple large pillows completing the set. Over next to the wall on the left was a blue dresser, matching the colors of the walls in this room. The overall layout was rather simplistic, even though the room was actually...unnecessarily spacious. "...Guest room. Not used very often. You will sleep here tonight." Homura explained in what sounded like an improvement to her last attempts at speaking in English. Rainbow Dash put a hand to her chin. "...Why's there only one bed in here? Are me and Flutters gonna have to share?" Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, I'll be fine. I can just take the floor, if it's really a problem to you." "Nah, you don't need to do that. The bed's already big enough, and you don't really take up much space." Her friend replied, a sense of modesty kicking in. Why did these only happen when it involved her friends? Was it her loyalty doing that? The timid girl smiled. "...Okay. Let's...get some sleep, then." She was actually very tired from not having a moment to relax since she had that nightmare before everything even began...So much had happened since then... Rainbow Dash nodded as she watched Homura shut the light off and walk out of the room, the door being pushed shut behind her. Guess they wouldn't hear from her again until tomorrow, then... "...Yeah, let's get some shuteye." She threw herself onto the bed after her friend; the weight of the day's stress finally crushing down on her as she laid down looking up at the ceiling. They hadn't gotten any sleep since yesterday morning. The Clown-Witch, Cubes teaching them to walk and leading them to the TV Witch, Fluttershy's contract, meeting Home Run, the meeting where they met Mami...it all happened in just the space of TWO days... ...Two days away from their friends. Just how many days has it been back in Equestria? Was Twilight arranging a search party by now? And if so, was there any trace to lead them here? The rainbow glint from her red Soul Gem silenced any more upcoming questions. ...Right...Of course. Even if they did eventually find them, they wouldn't be able to return to their friends. They had another commitment now...and one that couldn't be put off for the rest of their lives. Like Home Run said...they were Magical Girls. They couldn't return to Equestria, so why look back to it? ...She wouldn't be a pegasus again, even if she was a pegasus by heart. With a deep sigh, the rainbow-haired girl slowly closed her eyes, allowing sleep to overtake her... ...overtake her... ...Sleep already... ...Why aren't you sleeping...? ...Hurry up and go to sleep... With a frown, she opened her eyes once more. Screw it, she'd just sit here and roll around a little. ...Why wasn't she sleepy? She was wide awake through the two days... ...Coffee. That's what did it. Looking over at Fluttershy's sleeping figure, she sighed when she saw that her friend actually wasn't sleeping at all. Like her, she was sitting there wide awake, anxiety building up inside her. "...Flutters...?" Rainbow whispered. The figure in front of her shifted until she saw the glint in her companion's eyes. "Yes, Dashie...?" Fluttershy held a small smile as she relaxed in her new position; the moonlight shining through the window making it easier for her to see in the darkness of their new room. "...Remind me never to drink coffee again. This has GOT to be unhealthy." The timid girl just giggled. "...It feels like a sleepover, doesn't it? Like...those ones we'd have in the past?" Rose eyes glazed over as memories of Equestria played through the rainbow Magical Girl's mind. "...Yeah." A creaking sound was heard as a white light poured into the room, a grey-black haired figure filling it as the two Magical Girls blinked and groaned at the sudden visit, sitting up on their bed. Rainbow Dash grumbled. "...What now, Home Run?" She REALLY didn't feel like dealing with her right now... Homura simply raised an eyebrow at the question. "...Be ready. You will be enrolled into school. Tomoe-san and I will take care of the formalities." Fluttershy blinked. "S-school...?" The rainbow-haired Magical Girl groaned in displeasure. "Great, a foreign school...?! I loooove what you're doing here, Home Run...We don't even know Japanese." The apathetic Magical Girl simply smirked. "...Tomorrow, we begin your lessons...Until then, good night." The door shut once more, leaving the two foreign Magical Girls in the darkness of their room; stunned expressions painted clearly on their faces. "...She isn't serious, is she?" Rainbow Dash slammed her body back against the bed as she squished her head deep into the pillows, her hands covering her face in complete frustration. "Do we really need to learn Japanese?" Fluttershy sighed as she slowly relaxed her own body back into the covers; a complete contrast to her hot-headed companion. "...I think we should, Dashie. After all, we would be able to communicate with the other humans here...I'd very much appreciate being able to talk to them." "But...But we'd have to wear that stupid frou-frou uniform! I mean, can you even imagine me in a CREAMY colored frilly annoying THING?" Rainbow rolled onto her side to face her friend in frustration, her legs getting twisted with the blanket under the covers. Fluttershy sighed again as she felt a sense of heaviness overtake her. "...I...thought they were...cute." Her lips curled up into a satisfied smile. "...Would...I look good in one...?" The rainbow Magical Girl groaned. Of course Fluttershy was getting sleepy first. "...Ugh...Just...We'll talk about this tomorrow or something, 'kay?" "Mmm hmm..." "...Don't forget, alright?! We're talking with Home Run about this! She can't just make us...GO to SCHOOL!" "Dashie...sleep." The timid Magical Girl mumbled as she allowed her tired body to rest. Rainbow Dash sighed deeply as she turned onto her back again, her rose eyes staring up at the ceiling...again. ... ... ...How long did coffee usually keep you up for?
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 10 - A Ray of Hope	...Without realizing it, a whole week had passed. Princess Twilight Sparkle breathed a deep sigh with her mane in a frazzled mess as she laid with her muzzle against the table next to her many bookshelves, stacks of books towering over her as her eye twitched with dark heavy bags underneath. ...She had yet to hear from Princess Celestia on her findings from the hurricane's site... ...And according to what resources she had available, there was nothing else that assisted in finding Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. How long was she just going to keep sitting there sulking like she was? She tried whatever methods she had, and research wasn't getting her anywhere. ...She was out of options. ...But how? How could she be out of options? She always had some sort of answer...! The lavender alicorn frowned, her purple eyes narrowed as she slowly lifted herself from the table, forcing herself to the direction of the library doors, a large distance to cover since the castle was so big. Why'd the elements give her such a large place to live in, anyway? It was actually pretty uncomfortable without her friends to help fill in the space... ...Ever since their disappearance though, nopony was the same. Pinkie Pie, being so close to Rainbow Dash, was absolutely devastated with the news of her disappearance, and was lacking in cheer despite always willing to make other ponies happy. It didn't interrupt with her work overall, she still made ponies happy...but she just wasn't fully herself when away from other ponies. Applejack also took the news pretty hard. At the beginning she was all focused on finding clues, but when she ran out of ideas that could help, she dedicated her time to working even harder with the farm-work in the meantime. She'd always be willing to lend an ear if any more information was found about the incident, though... ...but Twilight just had nothing to give for her. Rarity was impacted as well with Fluttershy's absence, seeing as the two always enjoyed going to the spa every Tuesday, but this week she had to go alone. It wasn't easy keeping her composure then, the lavender mare imagined. And Discord...Twilight couldn't imagine how hard Fluttershy's disappearance had taken a toll on the Lord of Chaos. For some strange reason, he was hardly around, spending most of his time in Princess Celestia's company. The lavender mare wondered if it was a sense of comfort or not... ...unless he was needed for something important regarding the search! Without a second thought, a rush of adrenaline filled the alicorn as she pressed into a gallop down the halls away from the library and down towards the throne room where the Cutie Map sat in the center, currently inactive since there was no mission to tend to lately. With a shove, Twilight bursted the doors wide open, a booming sound echoing through the large empty space the castle provided her. "Spike! Spike~!" Twilight called out, her voice bouncing through the halls. A figure ran towards her from the tiny throne he was relaxing on, a small comic book flying to the side as Spike swiftly came to the need of his mentor. "Yeah, Twiligh---Gah!" The young dragon yelled in surprise. Twilight blinked as she cocked her head to one side in a confused manner. "...What's the matter, Spike?" "...Well..." Spike started. To put it simply, Twilight looked absolutely terrible. The heavy bags under her eyes and her slumped posture showed that she had been relying a little too much on coffee to keep her awake. Her mane looked like a nightmare Rarity wouldn't dare dream of having, with all the split ends going everywhere like they always did when the lavender mare got especially stressed. Like for the entirety of the week, in this case. ...Best to try and sugarcoat it. "...Don't you think you should get some sleep?" The dragon finished with a sweatdrop as he scratched the back of his scales. Twilight frowned. "What, sleep?! No! I wanted to know if you heard anything from Princess Celestia yet!" She hissed. Spike cringed. "No, I haven't gotten anything since you asked almost two hours ag---Mmmm! MmmmFFF!!!" His throat began to bulge suddenly as the dragon felt a sensation he couldn't control without releasing, his back being forced back by the impact as he released a huge firey belch of green dancing flames, his mentor jumping back in surprise as a wrapped piece of parchment flew out, along with a large snake like figure that swam through the flames as if it was a dance partner. In fact, this snake like figure was a hybrid of many creatures. "D-Discord?!" Twilight sputtered as she stepped backwards onto her hind legs for a second, a sense of surprise overtaking her. "Well! Quite a trip, going by dragon fire! What fun!" The Lord of Chaos beamed as he flashed a wide grin at the dragon and alicorn present in the room. Spike groaned as he cradled his tummy. "Gross...don't...bleh...! Don't do that again!" The lavender alicorn shook herself out of her stupor. "Anyways, Discord, what are you doing here? Weren't you with Princess Celestia?" He shrugged. "Well, it took quite a while to put paw and claw together in order to find it, but those samples you sent the ol' Sun Butt were actually something pretty special!" He clasped the parchment in his claws and held it in front of Twilight. "You're all summoned to see Celestia in the Canterlot Castle immediately, because we've found where Rainbow Dash and dear Fluttershy have ended up!" Spike frowned. "And you came along just to deliver that message...? Yuck..." The Lord of Chaos frowned. "No, I'm here to personally pick you up. There's no time to dilly dally when Fluttershy's stranded in another dimension away from here!" Twilight's eyes widened. "...Stranded...in another dimension?! Where are they, Discord?!" Spike winced as he felt the chaotic presence wrapped around both him and his mentor, a snapping sound ringing through both of their ears as Twilight suddenly found herself in the middle of the Canterlot throne room, guards and alicorn Princesses all present and ready for something. In fact, looking closer, the lavender alicorn could see that all alicorn Princesses were there, even Cadence who was normally looking after the Crystal Empire. "C-Cadence...?!" Twilight blinked. "...What 'n tarnation is goin' on here?!" Turning around, Twilight could see that she and Spike weren't the only ones transported to the throne room through Discord's power. ...The rest of her friends were there as well. Rarity faced her lavender friend with a puzzled expression. "...Whatever is going on, Twilight? Did they find something regarding Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, darling?" "Dashie and Fluttershy?! Omigosh, where?!" Twilight smiled at the sight of her excited pink and poofy friend. Pinkie Pie could always find a way to be excited, and this was certainly something to be excited about! Twilight turned towards her own mentor and long companion, her multicolored mane flowing with elegance as she stood with a soft but bold expression back at her. "...Princess Celestia..." Her voice waved with uncertainty. "Discord said himself...that you found out where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are..." Applejack held the pink earth pony's muzzle shut. "...Is this true...?" Twilight finished, her eyes shaking as she faced what could be the truth. Did they really find out where they went? ...A different dimension? Celestia gave a frown. "...Yes, this is true...but this world they have ended up in is not a cheerful one, my little ponies, and it was not easy tracing back the remains of the portal coordinates you referred to me. I needed the help of Discord just to get started, and we had limited time before such remnants would eventually fade away." The others faced the Lord of Chaos as he sat with a firm expression beside the other alicorns, more behaved than they had ever seen him. Fluttershy's disappearance had certainly hit him hard. "...But we have tracked it down, finally, to a world that thrives on disharmony and anarchy." Twilight pursed her muzzle tightly together without a sound as the rest remained silent, hoping for a chance to see their dear friends again. The older alicorn closed her eyes. "...Even we do not know what one would find within." All eyes were on Luna as she stepped forward beside her sister. "With all our strengths, we hath managed to open such a portal to this dimension, but it requires much concentration and dedication. We cannot manage Equestria if we are to maintain this portal, and Twilight..." The lavender mare met her deep blue-green eyes. "...You must keep Equestria safe while we remain with the portal." Applejack frowned as she approached the array of princesses. "Wait, if Twilight's gonna take care of Equestria...then who's going through this portal ya'll maintainin'? Somepony's gotta go." Twilight nodded, once more facing Celestia. Princess Celestia opened her eyes, what was usually so wise were filled with complete uncertainty as she faced the rest of the group. "...Applejack, you will go on through this portal." The orange freckled earth pony blinked in surprise. "...You will take Pinkie Pie and Rarity with you on your quest. You three must go through this portal, and retrieve Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy from the depths of this dark dimension." Spike faced the three mares, all tense and unsure of the tasks before them as they faced each of the royal members of Equestria. Wow, what a way to pressure a pony. "...Before Twilight does anything involving work, we should make sure she gets some sleep." The dragon suggested as he approached the white alicorn. "She's kinda been beating herself up day and night since the beginning of the week." Twilight scowled at the thought. "Spike, I'm just fine! Don't you see I have plenty of work to do?" Celestia gave a small smile. "...Listen to him, Twilight. You have exhausted yourself. Rest up for now, and you can start your duties when you have rejuvenated yourself." "B-But, Princess...! What about my friends...? Are they starting after, too?" The lavender mare frowned, her eyes filled with a sense of desperation. Cadence shook her head, her mane swaying with her movement. "...No, Twilight. If they are to help Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy...they have to start now, and stop wasting any more time. Already a whole week has passed, after all..." ...There was nothing she could do. That sense of helplessness again... ...But she could do something. She needed to take care of Equestria. Twilight faced her mentor with a tired expression. "...I understand, Princess. I'll rest for tonight, but...can I say goodbye to my friends before they go?" Celestia smiled. "...Of course you can." Turning away from the other alicorns, purple eyes met blues and green, wavering and tearful. "...I know you girls will be alright. Be safe..." She breathed, her throat parched with exhaustion and worry. "...Bring the other two back." She smiled. Applejack nodded. "...Alright, Twilight. We won't be gone long, just...good luck to you as well, sugarcube. Ah know you'll be needin' it." Pinkie gave a soft smile. "Don't cry, Twilight. It'll be okay...We'll come back with Dashie and Fluttershy, and then we'll all have a party together, just like old times!" Rarity wrapped her hooves around the lavender alicorn. "...Do take care, darling, and don't ever let your mane get like this ever again, please!" Twilight chuckled lightly. "Alright, I won't, just...Pinkie Promise you'll come back to me safely?" The three mares smiled. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" They said in unison, each movement more ridiculous than the other in a way to try and outdo each other, Pinkie being the most of course. ...Nopony ever breaks a Pinkie Promise! Spike stood by Twilight as he looked up at his mentor. Her purple eyes grew misty as she watched a swirling light appear in front of the three from all alicorns' magic, their movements growing shaky as they each tried to make contact with the portal. Applejack was supposed to go first. With a gulp, the orange pony felt a bead of sweat as she lifted a hoof towards the swirling magic in front of her, its greens and blues and pinks and blacks mixing into one big...hogmush, and she was supposed to step in that mess...Closing her green eyes, the mare allowed her body to fall forward into the pool of light, the magic surrounding her from her hooves all the way up to her ears as she felt her form beginning to reshape anew... Rarity flinched as soon as the swanky farm-pony was out of sight. Next was...her turn, perhaps...unless... "...Pinkie Pie, darling, did you want to...go in before I do?" It was probably rather rude to ask such a thing, but she couldn't really help being nervous about going in something that would most likely swallow her whole. Pinkie Pie gave a wide grin as she felt excitement fill through her. Through there was Dashie and Fluttershy, she'd be able to see them again! "Don't mind if I do~!" The pink earth pony jumped in a perfect dive through the portal, her body surrounded by ripples until there was nothing left for the fashionista to see except the remaining ripples that shifted from the momentum of her body shooting through. Now it was her turn, whether she liked it or not. Taking a deep breath, Rarity took a moment to look back at her studious friend and lovely friend Spike as she felt her body move forward, the force of the portal enveloping her as the last thing she saw before she was surrounded in a white light was the tears slowly falling down her Spikey-Wikey's cheek. ...From now on, it was their responsibility to bring Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy back where they belonged. Should be easy, right?
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 11 - The First Day of School	Stacks of heavy foreign books littered the front of the bed by the hot-tempered Magical Girl's feet, a list filled with checkmarks held in her peach colored hands as her skin was lit by the light pouring through the window just at the right of the bed. ...They were given only a week to figure out the Japanese language before they were going to be thrown into that creamy-uniform trap of a school. Only a week since they started practicing their greetings and small phrases, hiragana and katakana characters... And Rainbow thought that Flight School was more than enough. This was egghead central. If it wasn't for her ability of flight and being able to take things in, she'd surely be doomed. And even then, she could only have her wings when she was transformed, which was a huge letdown. Why were they even being forced to go? They were done with school already! ...Or at least, that's how it'd be if they were still in Equestria. With a deep sigh, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl threw herself back into the squishy comforts of the mattress their host so graciously donated when she offered her and Fluttershy a place to stay. The sensation only caused the girl to frown. ...Certainly was no cloud, but it'd have to do. It was just as Home Run said. They lost any chance of returning as soon as they entered a contract with Cubes. Now two days ago was just going to be a memory of how things used to be. ...Things had started awesome that day, too. Before she was thinking of making that trip to Cloudsdale, she had arranged with Pinkie to work together on a prank against Applejack while she was busy, and the two buddies had a blast painting their cutie marks on each of the farm-pony's apples. Ponies usually knew it was them, anyway. Rainbow Dash chuckled at the distant memory. The door slowly swung open as the rainbow-haired girl saw another figure with a wave of pink hair and a white and green dress enter inside the room, her lips shaped into a soft smile. The other just smiled back. "...Hey, Flutters. Konnichiwa, or something like that." Fluttershy approached her as she walked in, a tray of what looked like a batch of cookies and a mug filled with a brown liquid. "Konnichiwa, Dashie. I actually went out today with Miss Homura to the supermarket today." She grinned as she lifted the tray towards her companion's direction. "I...actually convinced her to think of you a little since you've been so bummed with characters lately." Rainbow took a whiff as she quickly put the checklist down and took the tray with both hands. "Wow, thanks, Flutters! You actually managed to get cocoa for me, sweet!" She laughed, a wider grin forming on her face. The pink-haired Magical Girl giggled as she curled her fingers and put it to her lips. "Don't thank me; it was Miss Homura's yen that got it for you. I just gave a little push is all..." The rainbow Magical Girl put the tray onto the bed. "So..." She looked back towards her friend. "...How did that go again, the whole 'thank you for the food' thing...?" Fluttershy blinked. "O-Oh, um...I think it was...'Itadakimasu'...I think..." She nodded. "R-Right, right..." An intake of breath as she put her hands together in a straight form in front of her. "...Itadakimasu!" Fluttershy joined in as well. "Itadakimasu..." She whispered as she watched her friend reach over for a cookie. Well, actually it wasn't a cookie; it was a rice cracker...according to Miss Homura, anyway. A crunching sound was heard as the rainbow haired Magical Girl sunk her teeth into the treat, her expression unchanging upon contact with cracker. The taste wasn't overly sweet or spicy...In fact...it was a little bland for her taste buds. Why did Japanese stuff have no substance? Where was the surge of yummy juiciness? She rolled her eyes as she picked up the mug of cocoa and put the hot beverage to her eager lips. ...Yes, that was it! That surge of chocolaty goodness, just flowing all throughout her throat. Thanks to the rice cracker having no taste or whatever, the chocolate dominated her mouth, and conquered her for a few seconds before she always made a comeback by swallowing it and taking it where it couldn't fight back any longer. The Dash always managed to beat her chocolate. Fluttershy smiled as she swallowed the portion she took of her cracker. "...What do you think of the rice crackers, Dashie?" Rainbow shrugged. "Meh, it's almost like I'm eating nothing but crunchy. Practically tasteless, if you want my harsh opinion of it." ...The other Magical Girl sweatdropped. "...I suppose...I actually kind of like them. They don't really have a heavy taste, yes...but they're crunchy and satisfying enough that I could eat them all day...But I'm not going to force you to like them if you don't want to...That's just your opinion, same with the coffee." "You got that right. I'll eat 'em, sure, but they're kinda not my thing." She nodded as she took another bite of her cracker, her body slouching across the bed beside the many foreign language books she unfortunately had to become acquainted with, her prismatic hair spilling down the pillows. In fact, she had to get used to a lot of things lately. Home Run, for one, was an early bird, which meant that everypony had to be an early bird, whether they liked it or not. ...Rainbow Dash was no early bird. The rainbow-haired Magical Girl yawned as she brushed the crumbs that spilled onto her shirt from the cracker away, her magenta eyes sleepy and a little stressed. "...Did she really have to make us wake up this early, though...? I never even woke up this early unless I was taking care of a heavy weather load, snow or something..." She grumbled. Fluttershy gave a short sigh. "Yes, Dashie...this morning we have to get our uniforms in order to be ready for tomorrow, and we just went over to pick them up today. Yours is in the other room, and...Miss Homura said for us to try them on, make sure everything fits..." Rainbow made a face. "Guh, that creamy frou-frou thing's already here? And we gotta try them on today? Come on, Home Run!" She whined as she rolled onto her stomach and wrapped her arms around the nearest pillow. "I'm not putting on that thing!" The pink-haired Magical Girl frowned. "Dashie..." "No! You can't make me!" "Dashie..." She warned. ... ...The rainbow-haired Magical Girl gave a deep sigh into the soft pillows. "...I'll...deal with it." She grumbled into the fabric. "...Does that make you happy?" Fluttershy grinned. "Yes." --- Birds chirped in the distance as the four Magical Girls stood together, their bodies shaded by the many trees that decorated the streets of Mitakihara City heading towards the school. Around them, a sea of cream colored and white and black uniforms walked by, each minding their own business and wanting to get to where they needed to be. In the many different arrays of hair colors that ranged from black to pink, blue to green, browns to whites, Rainbow Dash could do anything but blending in and not attracting a crowd as she sat there, her hand clenching the hem of the black plaid-patterned short skirt she wore as the rest of her was shut up in a trap of cream colored blouse with frills along the bottom and puffy sleeves. The red ribbon tied across the white undershirt into a bow almost felt like a straightjacket to the pegasus while she stood there uncomfortably at the center of everyone's attention. It was kinda hard to show off when you could hardly understand what people were actually saying about you. ...She usually thrived in the spotlight. Fluttershy smiled as she placed a hand against her friend's shoulder, causing the rainbow-haired Magical Girl to wince. "...It's okay, Dashie. We'll be okay..." She whispered softly to her companion. Akemi Homura cleared her throat before she faced the other three. "Are you ready?" She spoke in a foreign sound, the voice monotone yet still holding a chime to the ears. She was speaking Japanese now, a test she conceived for the other Magical Girl ponies to step up their game a little. Fluttershy nodded. "...Hai..." Despite her previous moments, the timid pink-haired girl was actually getting better as she went along, though the apathetic Magical Girl wasn't making things any easier for the both of them. They had to stay up all night remembering the Japanese characters for three days, and during the morning they were put through the task of writing the correct stroke orders onto a parchment of paper. ...They really had no other option. "...And you? Are you ready for this?" Homura turned to face the prismatic girl, her eyes calm and collective, unlike the Magical Girl addressed. Avoiding eye contact, Rainbow could only grumble as she fidgeted in her uniform. "...Hai..." She mumbled, a small blush forming on her cheeks. This was straight out humiliation! Tomoe Mami beamed as she placed her hands together. "Alright then, Fluttershy-san and Rainbow-san! Let us be going then!" The four started towards the school without any further conversation, joining in the many hordes of uniforms as they grew closer to their destination... ...Mitakihara Middle School. Rainbow blinked. In front of her, a trio of girls giggled and laughed as they walked together, but what really caught her attention was the white fluffy creature wrapped around the shoulder of a pink pigtailed girl with red ribbons. She grinned. "Hey, Fluttershy, it's Cubes!" She faced her companion who also smiled brightly at the sight of the adorable creature. Fluttershy gave a small squeak of delight at the sight of her fluffy furry friend. "I'm so glad to see that QB is still around." The four stopped for a moment. "...I wonder who that girl he's accompanying is? Is she also a Magical Girl?" Mami shook her head. "Kaname-san certainly has the vast potential to become one, but she has yet to find a suitable enough wish for her contract." Rainbow blinked. "Huh? Why not?" The veteran gave a small smile. "It's actually fine that she hasn't done so yet. She should be able to take her sweet time in thinking about it. Our kind of life isn't one that should be rushed into without second thoughts." Fluttershy nodded. "I suppose...but wouldn't it be nice if we could all be companions? That way, we wouldn't have to risk our lives so much because somepo-" She stopped for a moment. "...Somebody...would be able to cover for you." Homura frowned at the thought. "...Someone with her personality shouldn't even contract in the first place." Rainbow could've sworn she saw her eyes were showing...pain? "Vast potential can be an advantage, but too much power would only make it harder to keep one's Soul Gem clean." Fluttershy frowned in confusion. Advanced Japanese was being used somewhere in this conversation. "...Hai." She agreed out of habit, hoping it was somehow the right answer to give. Mami pursed her lips. "Mmm...perhaps you may have a point, Akemi-san...With Walpurguisnacht approaching, we need to conserve the amount of Grief Seeds we use. In the meantime, we should be heading inside about now. The other students are most of the way inside, and we still need to drop by the office to give paperwork." Rainbow blinked. What the hay were these foreign Japanese eggheads even saying? Homura nodded. "Yes. I have everything ready. Do you remember what to explain to the teacher?" The veteran gave a smirk. "Fluttershy-san is my cousin who has lived in America her whole life, but she's a year younger than me, correct?" The other apathetic Magical Girl nodded. "And Rainbow Dash is my cousin who has never lived in Japan, but grew up in America. Her hair alone should give students the hint that she is, in fact, a foreigner who knows little Japanese." Mami frowned. "But still, where exactly did you learn how to forge legal papers, Akemi-san? Have you been involved in shady businesses without my knowledge?" The other only narrowed her eyes. "...That's my business. And it worked out in our favor, did it not, Tomoe-san?" Fluttershy held onto her companion's sleeve as the two were led through a building filled with glass windows as far as the eye could see. By looking left, she saw what looked like a full class, each either paying attention to the board in front of them as a teacher seemed to be shouting at the top of her lungs, or some were doing a couple sketches here and there, not paying attention at all. That pink pigtailed girl was one of the latter, QB relaxing rather contently on top of her dark blue uniformed school bag just beside her desk. Fluttershy gave a small smile. ...Hello, QB. It's very nice to see you again after that stressing first day. The creature opened its eyes, making contact with the figure just beyond the glass with her blue eyes. ...A pleasure to see you again as well, Fluttershy. Will you be enrolling, by any chance? She smiled. We are, as a matter of fact. Miss Homura has surprisingly been very gracious to us. Even now, though...I can't understand why she would hate you so. Kyuubey closed its eyes. Akemi Homura does not agree with me contracting Kaname Madoka. Just before I met you two in that Sweet Witch's barrier, she had acted violent towards me in the mall. Back then, Mami did not agree with her methods. It seems as if that has changed. ...Miss Homura showed her this big witch called Walpurgisnacht. She...she had footage of it. It blinked. Is that so? I do not know how she managed to retrieve such valuable information, but it is only natural that Mami would believe her if Akemi Homura presented such a piece of evidence. Fluttershy pursed her lips as they were led to the door that was just outside of the same room QB was in. ...QB, why must Walpurgisnacht occur? Must we really risk our lives and everything we've achieved so far? Kyuubey shook its head. There must be an outlet for all the despair that plagues this world, Fluttershy. Walpurgisnacht is a combination of many beings of despair put together into a physical being. If you do not wish to lose what you have achieved...then perhaps Kaname Madoka could aid you in your battle. She would surely be strong enough to defeat Walpurgisnacht. If she contracts with me, that is... Fluttershy shook the voice from her thoughts. Was contracting this Madoka really all that important to QB? She was a normal human who was trying to live her life...she most likely had a family...The timid Magical Girl couldn't help but look in the direction of the pink pigtailed girl, uncertainty in her eyes. ...There really was no reason for her to pursue this life at all. Then again...if Rainbow was never in danger...would she have contracted as she did? She still had the desire to protect her, but would she have had the courage to go through with it? The four girls remained in silence as a voice, muffled as it was, could be heard through the door rather clearly. "...Now," It was fluent Japanese. "With that settled, we have two new transfer students today, relatives of a couple students of our school. As such, the staff has requested that these two students help the poor dears learn more about our school, so be nice when they come in, alright?" ...A chorus of acknowledgements. "...Right, now then! Akemi-san, Tomoe-san, we're ready! Please come in!" The teacher's cheerful voice rang through the classroom, her short brown hair bouncing with her every movement. Homura nudged the two foreign ponies. "...It's time." The door slid open slowly as the group of students eagerly awaited the arrival of these new students. From the opened doorway, the class could see a girl with beautiful prismatic hair, unlike anything they'd ever seen before, walk into the classroom, her posture rather stiff before she quickly shifted into a more slouched position, a firm expression on her face as she faced the multitudes in front of her. It's okay, she'd practiced this almost a million times before. She had it down! "I'm Rainbow Dash! Pleased to meet you!" She grinned at her audience as the room was filled with fascinated eyes and whistles from a throng of guys as she did a quick bow before facing the crowd once more. Yup, totally had that down! She was speaking Japanese! And they loved her! But she wasn't the only one in the spotlight. With a smile, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl held out a hand towards the doorway, where another girl with dazzling pink wavy hair walked in, her posture being meek and rather uncomfortable. With an encouraging rub on the shoulder from her friend, the timid Magical Girl faced the crowd in front of her. All the stares, the whistles...the attention...! "I-I-I'm...F-F-Fluttershy, p-p-please take care of me!" She bowed low, glad to no longer be staring at the students in front of her as they clapped and cheered for their arrival. She spoke the language okay, she was happy about that...but the crowd was just too much. The teacher smiled at the two. "I am Kazuko-sensei. Your seats are over there." She pointed towards the direction each of them were supposed to go in strong English. Without another word, Rainbow Dash watched her life-long fillyhood friend go in a separate direction from her to a vacant seat just next to a blue-haired girl that sat diagonally from Kaname Madoka just up front in the middle of the classroom. Rainbow Dash was sent to sit a little further up, closer to where she noticed Home Run was actively taking her own seat in the class. Being ahead of her friend felt a little weird, but she could roll with it... ...She just wished they didn't have to wear such frou-frou uniforms. Fluttershy blinked as the blue-haired girl leaned towards her direction. "...So...how do you like Japan?" She asked in a clumsy attempt at English, her face ending in an awkward smile. The timid Magical Girl smiled. "...It's...different." She whispered. "...Nothing like America." She grinned. "Really? I'm Miki Sayaka. Nice to meet you!" She whispered back. ...Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all... The rest of the day turned out to be quite eventful. As soon as free period began, the two ponies were surrounded by multitudes of questions, each more difficult to answer than the first as boys and girls were eager to find out more about these foreign beauties that graced their school. As the crowd got louder and Fluttershy felt more pressured, all went silent as a pink pigtailed girl made her way to the center of the circle. Kaname Madoka. The girl sweatdropped as she faced the students. "Ano...don't you think you're scaring them? They don't look so relaxed with you pressuring them like this...Please, let's all give them some space?" She ended the sentence in what sounded like a question to the crowd. Rainbow didn't know what she said entirely, but eventually the crowd died down suddenly, and she found that she could breathe again without having to hear another Japanese question. Madoka giggled. "Gomen, they really like transfer students..." She said, her dialect twisting into a strange accent as she attempted her own effort in speaking English to the two. Rainbow nodded as she looked up at the girl. "Arigatou...they were actually starting to really bug me. Thanks for the breather." The pigtailed girl shook her head. "Iya, Iya, do not worry about it! You both just looked so troubled...I wanted to help." Fluttershy smiled. "Arigatou..." She said, her voice soft and a little meek. Why didn't Miss Homura want her contracting? She was such a sweet girl...but she had too much power to maintain a healthy Soul Gem? Why? The blue-haired girl known as Sayaka walked over. "Madoka, did you wanna go eat lunch?" Noticing the two foreigners, she looked over with a grin. "Hello!" She spoke in English. Rainbow blinked at the newcomer. "Uh, hey. How's it going?" Madoka nodded. "Mmm, let's go eat on the roof as usual, ne?" Looking back towards the two, she gave a bright smile. "Take care, ne?" Fluttershy nodded as she felt her face flush from embarrassment. "Oh, um...Arigatou!" Without another word, the pink and blue haired girls ran out of the room, eager to continue with their own lives. They most likely did have their agendas, after all. ...Fascinating that neither Miki Sayaka nor Kaname Madoka understood that you two are also Magical Girls. Rainbow jumped at the sudden intrusion into her head. H-Hey, Cubes?! Really?! Ask a mare before you invade her head! Fluttershy nodded as she also got over the initial shock. It's really...um, inconvenient, if you could ask...if you want to...Can that Sayaka girl also become a Magical Girl? Does she even know about it? Kyuubey nodded. I had the opportunity to contact both girls in the mall shortly before I met you two. They are acquainted with Tomoe Mami, and are both in the process of finding their wishes. Rainbow frowned. If things went Cubes' way, there'd be a lot of Magical Girls to fight the big bad Witch...but if they also had to conserve Grief Seeds, wouldn't too many be a bad thing for all of them? If it put Fluttershy's life on the line, then it definitely was. ...Those two girls shouldn't make a contract if their lives weren't in danger. Yup, that's what she was gonna roll with. And she'd try to keep it that way. '...For once, Home Run and I have a common goal.' She thought to herself. ...Scary.
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 12 - Honesty	Despite their connected beliefs to reach their dear friends, Applejack felt uneasy as her every being was being twisted and stretched out of order, her mind swimming with uncertainty as she spun in various directions. Where used to be stability now felt like a constant tunnel of distorted lights, gravity taking no part in supporting her on her trip. The farm pony narrowed her eyes as a wave of dizziness overtook her. ....Is this what Rainbow and Fluttershy felt? Ah don't like it, wha...what in tarnation is goin' on...? As she continued her journey, she felt a presence pass by her at a faster speed, a pink distorted blur being pulled into another direction different from the orange mare until it escaped her sights completely. "...Pinkie Pie----!!!" Her voice rung out in layers as it unraveled itself as soon as it left her mouth, instead sounding like an echo of garbles. Her party-pony friend wasn't able to receive her call before she flew out of view. Looking at the opposite direction beside her, she saw what looked like a distorted white and purple blur being pulled into yet another separate current, away from the sight of the confused earth pony. "Rarity---!!!" Applejack tried again, her voice again releasing through the currents as just a sea of garbles, making the trip through the portal that much more nauseating as well as frustrating. She didn't really understand what was going on, but she did know one thing for sure. Pinkie and Rarity were separated from her, most likely in another area in this new chaotic world. ...She was on her own for now. As her emerald green eyes slowly closed out of exhaustion, her body was engulfed in a pool of endless white as she felt the currents coming to a slower pace... ...Until she was suddenly assaulted by a large display of colors as her back slammed into the cold hard ground, letting out a huge yelp as she hit impact. "Gah!!!" Her blonde mane spilled out of her brown worn-out Stetson across the strangely green and hard floor as Applejack moaned out of discomfort as she slowly brought her right fore-hoof to her head... ...Wait. The mare's eyes opened wide as she brought her fore-hoof away from her head and into view. "W-wha...Land sakes, what the hay happened to mah---?!" Applejack stammered as she stared more closely at what was supposed to be her fore-hoof. Where an orange hoof used to be now appeared to be a peach colored thing with five claw-like stubs, nothing like a hoof should be. Feeling a heavy sense of doubt, the mare quickly checked her other hoof. ...It was also turned into the same claw-like thing. "Now if this was somethin' Discord did as a prank..." She warned as she looked down from the claws to a fabric of green and white, the rest almost out of view except for what looked like cowboy boots just at the edge of her vision. Maybe things would be clearer if she wasn't just laying on her back. Rolling over onto her stomach, the mare frowned at her predicament as the action only made looking at herself a little harder. She'd have to lift herself up with these claws. Slipping the peach claws underneath the stomach, Applejack took little effort in forcing herself up onto her rump, fore-claws in the air. She gulped. "...Whatever this is, it ain't no pony, that's for sure!" She declared as she began to take in her surroundings. The entirety of the place looked like some kind of children's book with the crayon-like scribbled walls, and well, multiple kinds of crayons just stuck into the ground itself. Not to mention, the place was raining crayons from the sky even! Despite that, the place was mainly green and all kinds of weird. Something wasn't right about it...and it sure was no Ponyville... Despite that, maybe there was something okay about the place. Like, what if there were locals she could try and reason with? Oh, her hat was just beside where her head was earlier. Figures... Shifting her body around to face the brown Stetson, the farm pony(?) bent over while reaching a claw out towards the hat, reaching as a dog would with its paws in order to grab onto the Stetson and placed it back on her head. Good thing she often watched Winona take care of stuff. Speaking of which, her ears weren't exactly tickling the hat as it usually did...Definitely no pony. The mare shuddered at the realization. But that wasn't the big issue at the moment. First things first, the locals! Was this place always full of crayons and obscurity like it looked? How could anypony survive in this place? And first of all, how could she even move in whatever she was? She figured out how to turn around and grab and all, but that wasn't gonna be enough if she was goin' to get by somehow in this crayon place. She needed to move out of the area as soon as possible if she was gonna get anywhere. "Umm...alright..." She muttered before taking a deep breath. "These claws can serve as mah fore-hooves...and uh...whatever Ah'm sitting on right now can be..." She lifted the back half of her body, sticking her rump up into the air as she lifted herself up from the ground. Looking behind her, she smiled with satisfaction at her work. "Right, like this ah can move like a regular pony!" She grinned as she slowly started to move forward as a pony should, albeit quite wobbly. Turns out her back hind-hooves were now extra longer than her fore-hooves, and that was knocking her off-balance. "...Ah think Ah need a reflection or somethin'..." Applejack muttered as she continued on her way, a large green path of crayons in her direction. "...Just what the hay am Ah...?" A sudden shift of movement in the distance caused the mare to stop short in her tracks. In front of her, the weirdest looking thing was just floating in the distance, sitting on some gray thing. It looked like the rest of the place, like some drawing made out of crayon, but this thing was moving around. Blinking, Applejack shrugged. ...Maybe it's friendly? After all, she didn't really know what the locals here looked like, and it seemed to be harmless... The scribbled crayon creature caught eyes with the mare, its tongue constantly out in a playful expression as it phased in and out of view as it sat there, keeping a close eye on the farm pony. In fact, it seemed to inch a little closer. The mare gave a small smile as she leaned forward to look closer at the creature. "Hey, there, sugarcube. Ya' got any buddies 'round here?" It seemed to be alright... The creature said nothing as it phased in and out, constantly swaying until it began to let out some kind of laughter, weird and sickly to the pony. "DA DA DA DA DA!" It happened. "WHOA, NELLY...!" Without a second thought, Applejack forced her body onto her side as she dodged what looked like several nuggets that shot out of the gray thing the creature sat on, causing her shoulder to sting as she once again hit impact with the cold hard green floor. "This thing's crazy!" She shouted to nopony in particular, a sense of panic starting to rush through her as she slowly lifted herself up just to catch eyes with another scribbled drawing and a crazy weapon, her emerald green eyes slowly widening. ...These locals weren't very friendly. And there were more of them. "GAH!!!" Applejack panicked as she turned towards the opposite direction of the creature, her claws and hind-whatevers taking her down another path full of green, scribbles pursuing right behind her all shouting "DA DA DA DA DA!" "Ah get it, ya'll are crazy!" The mare shouted as she rushed past an endless path of green, constantly having to take a turn at some point or another, each having yet another scribble crayon monster ready to ambush her. Maybe she could take 'em on, if she had her rope like she usually did! But how would she match up to their gray weapon thing?! It was like a creepy version of Pinkie's party cannon! Pinkie and Rarity...were they dealing with these things, too?! "DA DA DA DA DA!" Applejack swerved towards her left as she just barely dodged another string of nuggets, the sound of the evil cannon ringing in her ears, which she discovered were now at the side of her head instead of the top. What was she gonna do?! How many would she have to avoid if she can't take 'em on?! Where were Rarity and Pinkie?! Applejack shook her head frantically as she pressed on, the chase clearly taking a toll on her body. "Ah...Ah don't think the body's supposed to move like this...!" She wheezed as she dodged yet another string of nuggets. A flight of green stairs sat in the center of the hall just ahead, surrounded by another wave of ambushing scribble monsters, the light at the top of the stairs glowing and seeming welcoming to the exhausted earth pony. '...If Ah can just get up there...Ah may be able to get out of here!' Applejack bit her lip as she forced her body to wobbly move even faster as she made a mad dash in front of the incoming scribbles, causing each of them to follow her with their eyes as she sped past them, and towards the steps, leaving the flood of scribbles to wait down the stairs, not one of them making an effort to climb after the mare. She whooped as she threw her head in a triumphant moment. "YEEHAW!!!" ...That is, until she halted her gallop when she just saw another room full of green and crayons. This room like pretty much about the same as the one before; only the arrangement of the walls were different as she saw various scribbles just wandering around and minding their own business as they phased in and out of the farm pony's view. Applejack slumped. "Ah can't believe it...! Another...floor...?!" She wheezed as she dropped her head. "Consarn it! How long does this thing go?!" Normally Applejack liked a little challenge. Give her a rodeo and she'd bring the house down. She was no less competitive than Rainbow Dash was, even. But this...this wasn't competition... ...This was downright survival. "DA DA DA DA DA!" The farm pony threw herself into the wall in order to dodge the attack, a wave of adrenaline surging through her as she readied her body for another run for her life. ...It didn't feel right...not at all. Just what were these things? Why was the place full of crayons like it was? It just...it didn't feel...real. Not to her... Dash. Jump. Dodge. Push. Shove past 'em. The scribbles pursued after their prey, each shooting out a set of nuggets as the cannons blasted in complete disarray, each aiming to hit their target. She couldn't let that happen. She was sent here for a reason, after all. She made a tight turn around the corner, causing several scribbles to slam their cannons right into the wall as she passed. ...When she eventually found a way out of this...! She'd go look for Rarity and Pinkie. They were supposed to find 'em together. 'I hope y'know just how much we're all sacrificin' for ya', sugarcubes...' Applejack thought, her mind returning to the time they departed. ...The princesses gathered in the throne room. ...Twilight with her eyes full of tears as she each begged for them to promise to return. "I ain't gonna break that Pinkie Promise!" She shouted as she forced herself into the light as her body sped up another flight of stairs, leaving another set of scribbles behind her as she pressed forward through the green crayon like place. She'd return. And she'd bring the others, too. Nothing but white... When the farm pony could see again, there was a large void of nothingness just above, except for what looked like a purple and green eye in the sky. All around her, there was a ring of a foal's play blocks, just scattered around the area, crayons in the ground by a set, making it look like a house. There were more scribble monsters here, too... Applejack cringed. Seems like she just ran into even more trouble... "Just what in tarnation is this place...?" She whispered to herself. Maybe lack of movement would turn their eyes away from her... ...Until she saw it appear from the sky. A weird peach like figure appeared in the distance, its eyes black and hollow as night without a star in the sky as it was dressed in a blouse of red and a pair of purple overalls. It had a blonde mane pulled back into a pair of pigtails, poofy and with a lot of volume as it stood there with its orange and white boots. In fact, it kinda reminded the mare of how Pinkie's mane looked, only not quite so creepy and foreboding. A shiver ran down Applejack's spine as she looked deeply at the creature just only about maybe 30 feet from her, yet it felt like it was standing just in front of her, towering over her with those empty eyes it had... ...Those scribbles meant nothing to her now. This was something even worse...and yet the creature just sort of...sat there without a word, sometimes waving its rather rounded fore-hooves as it took in its surroundings. "DA DA DA DA DA!" Applejack winced as she dodged another scribble's attack, rolling away from the wall and closer to the opening, where the creature was. ...She didn't mean to catch its attention. ...And yet it continued to stand there, just observing as the mare pulled herself back onto all fours just over to the side of it. Breathing a sigh of relief, she began to inch a little bit, each movement trying to get away from the creature... It moved as the creature lifted its fore-hooves to its face, suddenly letting out an ear-splitting cry. "WHAAA!!! WHAAA!!! WHAAA!!!" A force stronger than anything the farm pony ever felt surged through the area, causing the mare to freeze up without a sound as her mind was overrun with each cry ringing in her ears. ...It wasn't that she hadn't dealt with a crying foal before...! But this cry wasn't normal, she couldn't think straight...! She couldn't move right...! She couldn't...! The scribbles slowly approached her, each eager to take a piece of the apple pie. ...She couldn't get away like this...!!! ...She couldn't even scream, let alone yell for help...!!! The scribbles surrounded her as their leader continued her long-winded cry, causing the mare to fall over onto the floor as she lost strength in her fore and hind hooves, her eyes blinded by confusion. ...This...no...this wasn't right...! The bigger creature began to approach her along with the others, each filled with a deadly nature as they closed in on the farm pony. ...Somepony...anypony... She glanced ahead of the mass around her... There among the crayons... ...A shadow...? Somepony...get me out of here...! ...The shadow shifted its tail. ...Is that what you want? Applejack felt numb as her eyes grew watery. She couldn't fight this herself...even if she wanted to... ...Get me outta here...! Please, Ah beg of ya'...! A sudden surge of pain filled her body as the farm pony shut her eyes in terror as she felt the world twisting around her, the ground feeling weird, like if it was changing or something, she didn't know... ...All she knew was that she had lost. That weird creature got to her, and now she was... ...Still... ...Still...breathing? Applejack slowly dared to open her eyes. Where there used to be a sea of terrible monsters and crayons, now was an alleyway, just barely lit by the streetlight that sat just up a set of stairs leading to this alleyway. Otherwise...there seemed to be nothin' 'round here...nothin' dangerous, anyway... She pulled herself back onto her flank. "Just...wha...what happened back there?" She breathed; her heartbeat still unsettled from her encounter with the crayon-like creatures. "Was...was Ah saved...?" "Your wish to 'get out of here' resulted in teleportation." Applejack yelped at the sudden intrusion as she pulled herself away from the white thing that appeared before her. "Geh..!!!" She shouted, moving closer until she sat against the wall. "What in tarnation are ya'?!" The creature flicked its tail. "My name is Kyuubey. Through me granting your wish, a contract was made. You must now perform your duties as a Magical Girl." Applejack was flabbergasted. "Buh...? A-a what now...? Wait, w-what contract!? Ah never heard about no contract--!" Kyuubey closed its eyes. "If I had to explain the full conditions, you may not have survived as you did. I gave you help through a wish, and in exchange, you must fight Witches as a Magical Girl." She paused for a moment. "...So it was you who helped me. Why?" "I have the ability to grant anything you desire, but the condition is to become a Magical Girl and spend a lifetime fighting Witches." It held an empty smile as it faced the farm pony. "As a Magical Girl, you now have the ability to go back into the barrier and take care of that Witch you faced." "...Wait, a lifetime...? I don't have a lifetime! Ah need to find mah friends!" Applejack's eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the creature. "Ah promised Ah'd be back!" Kyuubey shook its head. "As a Magical Girl, it is a requirement to remain in the vicinity of Witches, so that you may keep your Soul Gem clean." "Soul Gem?! What the hay are 'ya talkin' 'bout now?!" She barred her teeth at the creature in defense. The white creature lifted a paw towards an orange jewel with a golden base just in front of the pair. "That over there is your Soul Gem. You must take good care of it, as it is the source of your power." Applejack reached a claw over to pick up the jewel, its orange color seeming bright to the mare as she looked over the base. Above the jewel, a crown was attached to the top with the shape of an apple, much like her own Element of Honesty. "...You're sayin' this is the source of mah power?" She held up the jewel for the creature to see. "Indeed." She pursed her lips. "...And you said before that Ah could go and take care of that...that crayon monster was a Witch?" Kyuubey nodded. "It is one of the many Witches that plague this world with despair. If you take care of it, it will drop a Grief Seed, which will cleanse your Soul Gem if it is corrupted by the Witch's impurities. Using magic will also cause corruption, so you must fight Witches and care for your Soul Gem." She nodded. "Ah still don't like the idea...but it look like Ah don't have a choice." Facing Kyuubey, her green eyes burned with determination. "...How do 'ya get back in that crayon-like place?" "The barrier is still nearby. Simply seek for it using your Soul Gem." The creature explained. Applejack nodded. "Right, uh...Ah kinda need mah claws and all. Any way to make this jewel a little smaller for carryin'?" It blinked. "...Your claws? Do you not have hands?" ...Hands. So that's what they're called. "You should not require your hands in order to walk..." Kyuubey looked further at her posture. It looked strikingly similar to another group of girls it had to instruct... "...Are you perhaps truly a pony?" Applejack gasped. "H-How'd ya' know 'bout that?" It took everything in its power not to display emotions of frustration. Still, it shook its head.
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 13 - Every Pony Has Their Bad Days	A blue and green mechanical pencil rapped against the desk at a fast pace as its holder narrowed her tired magenta eyes at the electronic white board attached on the wall in the front of the room. ...So much kanji, and numbers, and... Sighing, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl rested her soft and squishy cheek into her right hand, propped up by the stack of books on top of the table as prismatic locks dropped over a sheet of paper with random scribbles of Equestrian language at the side about clouds and previously set formations. ...She hated math. The teacher continued to ramble on in incoherent Japanese. ...Scratch that, she hated math with a passion when it didn't involve flying or cool stuff. Otherwise it could get pretty boring real fast, like - get a life, people! Math was for finding out turbulence, and velocity, and all that other good stuff! Not crummy whatever Japanese stuff! That and she was pretty sure Home Run had neglected to teach them the kanji character for 'yen', when they were working with finding out currency in word problems. At least, that's what she thought they were doing. Ugh. Going back to school didn't sit well with the pegasus. Everything from the teacher in the front of the room to the uniformity shared among the students and the desk arrangements just served as even more reminders of Flight School, before she moved to Ponyville. The bullies who constantly mocked her by calling her a filly-fooler, the 'no flying/running in the halls' rule... There was a reason she dropped out in the first place. The short-haired teacher turned to the front of the classroom. "Now, can anyone come up and solve this problem?" A moment of silence filled the vicinity. "Dash-san, please try this problem out." His room carried through the room in fluent Japanese. Rainbow Dash blinked. Wait, Dash-san? Was he talking to her?! The rainbow-haired Magical Girl stood up from her seat abruptly, startling various students around her. "Eh...ah...eto...ah...Hai?" She stammered as her eyes darted back and forth in a state of confusion. Homura curled her lips into a small smile at the spectacle as cold royal blue eyes met wavering magenta orbs. He's asking you to go to the front of the class and try to solve that problem written on the board. Can you do it? Rainbow swallowed a huge lump in her throat as she was made the center of attention once more, her body starting to walk away from her assigned desk towards the front of the room, where the board and stupid math problem was waiting. ...I-I can solve a dumb math problem! No biggie! Her eyes scanned the screen for familiar sights. Before she could solve it, she had to understand what the problem was asking her to do, first...but...why did most of it have to be written in Japanese? Sweat dripping down her brow, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl continued to burn the problem into her mind, desperately searching for a solution... In the back of the room, Fluttershy gave an apologetic look towards her fillyhood-friend's predicament. It wasn't very nice for the teacher to put her on the spot like this...but a selfish part of her was simply glad that it wasn't herself in that situation...whether she wanted to admit it or not... A hand rose up in the back of the class. "Yes, Kaname-san? Do you need anything?" The teacher spoke towards the back. Madoka gave a nervous smile as she stood up from her desk. "Ano...sensei...I'm not sure if you were here to know this, but Dash-san has only recently come to Japan...if you were to translate the problem for her, maybe she'd be able to understand a little more, please?" The teacher paused for a moment before nodding. "Mmm, maybe not a complete translation since she still needs to learn, but I can help define things a little more if she needs it." Rainbow frowned, oblivious to the foreign conversation as the teacher took an electric marker to the board, scribbling characters that helped define select kanji characters as he recreated the problem in a simpler format. "Ah, arigatou..." She mumbled as she looked over the modifications to the problems. Now that she knew what it was asking for, she could at least start on the problem...but...her hand held another electric marker suspended in mid-air, a sense of uncertainty coursing through the pegasus. It had nothing to do with flying, just...equation junk...stuff they didn't cover back in flight school. At least, not while she was there...Curse herself for being a flight-school dropout... Rainbow sighed in defeat as she stared at the problem for a moment longer until she faced the teacher, her head lowered by the weight of her embarrassment. "...Gomenasai (I'm sorry)." The teacher gave a sigh as well. "...Daijoubu desu. (It's alright)." The rest of the class continued without interruptions after that, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl keeping her mouth shut as she attempted to bury her shameful face in the dumb school book they were currently working in. Fluttershy frowned in understanding at her poor friend's reaction. Nopony would want to become an embarrassment...the idea sent shudders down the timid Magical Girl's spine. As the bell rang to conclude the class, throngs of students began to rise from their seats as the gym teachers entered in the classroom, whistles around their necks. Fluttershy blinked as everyone started gathering with individual bags and starting to leave the classroom. Where was everyone going, if they usually sat around in the same homeroom? Homura faced the two of them as she reached for her own bag. Next is P.E. Make sure you bring your gym clothes from your school bags and follow me to the girl's locker room. Try to be quick about it. Rainbow blinked out of her embarrassment. "...P.E? Sweet, this'll be awesome!" A grin lifted her spirits as she began to quickly reach into the contents of her school bag just beside her feet. Fluttershy squeaked for a second before starting to do the same, pulling out the bag that held the uniformed P.E. clothes. "O-Oh, um...right...P.E. it is..." A deep sigh escaped the timid pegasus' lips as she hung her head. Just as Rainbow didn't appreciate math class, she was almost certain she would find difficulties with P.E. class, especially in a brand new body. ...Although, would the fact that they already know how to fight make any difference? The timid Magical Girl wasn't sure, but she hoped it would at least lift her fillyhood friend's spirit...Without another word exchanged between the two, the two pegasi followed Homura out of the classroom and into the hallway, towards the rest of the class. To the pegasi's confusion, the humans dressed in white and masculine separated from the cream-bloused feminine skirted humans as they broke into two different directions. Homura seemed to be focused on following the cream-bloused line, so maybe that's where they needed to go to get to the girl's locker room. ...So those in the skirts were absolutely female humans, they silently decided. A pair of metal doors opened as the crowd of female students slipped through with a fit of giggles about some Japanese topic or whatever, the sudden scent of sweat and whatever frou-frou stuff assaulting the hot-tempered Magical Girl's nose. She gagged. The sweat she could handle any day, but should she really smell strawberries and passionfruit in a metal box crowded with other students? The thought of it was frou-frou enough for any spa and Rarity combined; totally not her thing...The girl's locker room was a nightmare of giggles and shirts being lifted as each of them chatted on about whatever they jabbered on about. Fluttershy whimpered as she held herself in, trying not to be seen as well as not wanting to see the rest of the classmates in the process of getting changed. Wasn't there a code of privacy here? Even back at the spa or Rarity's Boutique, there were separate changing stalls...this was out in the open and she didn't really see anything except what looked like shower stalls on one side of the wall. Homura frowned at the two as she went through the process of getting changed. "You should get changed. You don't want to be late." Her cream-blouse was removed and underneath was a white-button-top, which she was in the process of fumbling with each individual button. The two Magical pegasi remained in their own space as they waited for the crowd to clear out a little more, Homura leaving the room immediately after she had her P.E uniform on. Once the annoying crowd had dispersed, Rainbow Dash released a huge sigh of relief. "Sheesh, and we gotta deal with that every day? Come on..." She groaned as she leaned against one of the lockers left unused. "This is insane! There's nowhere to get some privacy around here!" Fluttershy frowned with a small nod as she started to tug and undo the red bow on her own uniform. "Um, if we can't get away with separate stalls, then I'd be fine changing if it was just my fillyhood friend...unless you have a problem with it." The prismatic pegasus sighed. "Well, it's an improvement at least...why does every school gotta suck in some way or another? I mean, first the Math, now the locker rooms..." She quickly took off the ribbon and pulled off the straitjacket of a blouse, a sense of relief filling her as the stuffy feeling started to leave her. Fluttershy gulped as she slipped the white shirt off, her back being exposed to the hot and sweaty atmosphere of the locker room as she reached into the bag to pull out what looked like a white shirt and some other things inside. Glancing behind her to see how her fillyhood friend was doing, she couldn't keep in a gasp as her eyes met a pair of blue cyan wings marked on Rainbow's back. "R-Rainbow Dash, on...on your back!" "W-what? What is it?" Rainbow Dash blinked before turning her head to look behind her. "F-Fluttershy, you've got a pair marked on your back, too! Your wings! It's...they're yellow!" Fluttershy adjusted slightly and tried to twist as she struggled to see the marks for herself, mouth agape at the sight. A pair of buttermilk wings was marked across her upper back, merged with the light cream color of her skin. "Oh my...why didn't we notice these before? They look just like our pegasus wings...is our Magical Girl form the only magic we have, or can you control the weather here?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "The moisture in the air is pretty stuffy here...but the fact that I can tell that in a beat means I can feel it...Besides that, these marks don't let me fly, so what good are they? This is SO not awesome!" She pulled a white shirt out of her bag roughly. "...Why would our magic linger with us into here? The only magic I've seen so far in this place is from being Magical Girls." The timid pegasus sighed. "...How I wish I knew, Dashie...but were these always here and we just didn't notice, or...is...is Equestrian Magic reaching here somehow?" Something like this was a sign. Maybe there was a chance they could go home? But they wouldn't be able to thrive without Grief Seeds...and goodness knows she wasn't going to lure the Witches home just so she could return! ...She knew Dashie felt the same about the matter. "...I'd like to think so, Flutters...but what's the point if we do get a chance? We already anchored ourselves here, so whoop-dee-doo!" Fluttershy gave a deep sigh as she pulled the white shirt over her head, eyes growing downcast. Rainbow Dash was right. What good would it do for them? If anything, she silently wished that the others would never be able to find this place, and never have to deal with those horrible Witches...she certainly didn't want to, if she didn't have to... "...But if the same events happened to us, Flutters...I wouldn't choose any other way." Rainbow Dash was mostly dressed in the P.E. uniform and was just gathering everything back into the bag, getting ready to go. "Well, better hurry up and get dressed, Fluttershy! I'm not going ahead without you, after all!" Fluttershy gave a small grin. "...Um, okay, just...let me get changed..." She fretted as she turned away once more from her fillyhood friend, prompting the other to roll her eyes. Typical Flutters... --- POP! The timid Magical Girl squeaked as she threw her hands to cover her ears as the starting gun was fired, the students dashing down the finely paved white track line as she refrained from letting her body go completely stiff. Just...a little shaky, instead...she let out a small whimper. As she thought, while she was okay during stretches and small increments of exercises, that start gun was a little too much for her to handle. After that set of laps was done, Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly and winced as she prepared herself for the next one that was to come... POP! The sound made her jump as the yellow pegasus proceeded to press her hands harder against her head as a wave of dizziness started to emerge, letting out a small whimper as she slowly crouched down to her feet, hoping the class would be over soon...She didn't know how much more she could take... It seemed like Rainbow was having fun though; she lifted her head to look in the direction of the main source of noise. After she had topped Homura's records on the track, the two were now in a contest urged by the other students to see who was the best at all of the other P.E. routines, and things were a little heated up because of it. Naturally Fluttershy cheered for Rainbow Dash from behind the rest of the noisy crowd albeit being crouched down with her hands to her ears. And while she didn't cheer very loud, she knew that Rainbow would hear her, because she always was her personal cheerleader. Even in Mitakihara versus Ponyville or Cloudsdale, this part of their precious friendship never changed. The timid Magical Girl curled her mouth into a small grin. And as usual, Rainbow was winning. "...Aww yeah! Beat that, Home Run!" Rainbow Dash cheered as she stepped off of the padded platform that rested underneath a long metal bar that was held high in the air, a sense of victory flowing through her veins as she was surrounding by the adoring crowds of students. Now this was a better atmosphere for her! "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" A chorus of feminine and muscular voices rang through the air as the students twisted their tongues to sound foreign, the girl in the spotlight swimming in adoration as she grinned with glee. It didn't really matter the language; Rainbow knew when the crowd was cheering her name in praise. It all matched with the voice waves of awesome. And after that corkscrew flip she did in midair, who wouldn't? Homura held a small frown of nonchalance as she raised her right hand and whipped her hair. "...A constant competition is meaningless. You have already displayed your talent." To say she was superior would've been a stab to the apathetic Magical Girl's pride. Still, she had to commend her for her acrobatic skills. Flexibility such as that would only prove to be useful against Walpurgisnacht. ...Though speaking up didn't really mean anything if the crowd was too loud for the prismatic Magical Girl to hear her. Fluttershy tip-toed closer to the defeated Magical Girl, her pink silky hair tied back into a tame fluffy ponytail. "Um...if it makes you feel better, I actually liked your tricks as well. They were...um...smooth and pretty." Royal blue eyes blinked as Homura faced the timid pegasus. "...Arigatou. Still, I'm surprised you can wear our P.E. uniforms without blushing." The timid Magical Girl grew pink in the face to match her hair. As well as tying her hair back into a high-ponytail with a red bow, Fluttershy was wearing a white tee with red linings, and a pair of red bloomers that generously showed off her thighs, her smooth milky skin exposed and at the sun's mercy if it wasn't for the sneakers and socks she wore over her legs. "Oh, u-um...It's...I'm...learning to bear with it..." She gave an effort to grin, but it really looked like a grimace. Homura shrugged at the comment. "It allows for easy movement," She replied in English tongue. "And the material...isn't heavy enough to be a bother when we work up a sweat." Fluttershy gave a deep sigh. "...As ponies, we didn't even concern ourselves with clothes for exercising. Well, in some ways we did...a headband and maybe some hoofwarmers..." Her voiced trailed out until it merged with the obnoxious cheers of praise. She looked up towards the loud crowd to see the bright and excited grin on her fillyhood friend's face. "...At least this way Rainbow's day is better. I thought she had it a little rough during Math class..." She gave a soft smile as her fingers curled together, slightly fidgety. The apathetic Magical Girl narrowed her eyes into a soft expression as she let out a small sigh. "Your gullible kindness is befitting of Madoka...always thinking of another's happiness even if it means you end up suffering..." Her native tongue escaped her lips. Fluttershy blinked. "...Um, what...?" Something about that Madoka, she managed to catch that...but the rest was a blank to her... "...What did you say, Miss Homura?" Homura closed her eyes as she faced away from the timid Magical Girl. "...Nothing. Just...do not let that kindness cloud your judgement." The last thing she wanted was for Fluttershy to act like her...to make the same stupid mistakes... The pegasus cocked her head to the side. "Um...h-hai...?" She didn't understand. What was it about that gentle and helpful Miss Madoka that bothered Miss Homura and attracted QB? Something about her having a great...power? But she seemed happy the way she was, and if she had family who cared for her...why did she need to risk her life? A sudden sensation grabbing onto her shoulder caused the timid Magical Girl to squeak out of her thoughts. "...Hey, Fluttershy! Did you see how awesome that was?!" She turned around to meet the magenta eyes of her companion. "...O-Oh, Rainbow! I-it was...um..." She managed a grin. "It was awesome." Rainbow Dash pumped a fist. "Aww, yeah! I sure showed up Home Run, didn't I? This is totally WAY more awesome then some stupid Math class!" The crowd of students seemed to gather with the other teachers from their classes as pieces of workout equipment was being taken down for the day and put away in the storage room. "...Anyway, it looks like we'll be heading back in soon. Best we get going, huh?" The prismatic Magical Girl smiled to her fillyhood friend. Fluttershy didn't seem to be moving immediately. Rainbow Dash blinked. "...Hey, what's up, Flutters? You seem sidetracked." It wasn't out of Fluttershy's personality to be keeping something to herself...Something like that wasn't cool to bottle up. "Is it about the wings?" Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, um...it's nothing, Rainbow, just..." She fell silent once more as she felt a warm yet firm touch clasp its fingers into hers. It wasn't right of her to be keeping things from her friend, especially if they were going to trust each other with their lives in battle... "...It's about Miss Madoka." She breathed out. The hot-headed Magical Girl blinked. "Huh? Why the hay are you thinking about her? I mean, she was helpful and all, but...why dwell on it?" It didn't seem like such a big deal...but maybe it was to Fluttershy? The timid Magical Girl frowned as they started their walk back to join the group, albeit slowly to Rainbow's dismay. "...It has to do with something QB and Miss Homura said. Miss Homura seems to hate QB...but both of them seem to take a huge interest in Miss Madoka...above Miss Sayaka." Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Weird...any reason why that is? I mean, I get she's got the potential to become one of us, but maybe QB thinks that Madoka girl's important in some way?" Fluttershy's eyes narrowed into a thoughtful expression. "...Mmm...QB mentioned that she'd have enough power to defeat Walpurgisnacht...if she contracted with him...and Miss Homura mentioned something about her in Japanese...I couldn't really catch what she said." "W-Whoa, seriously...?!" Magenta eyes grew wide. "Being able to beat that Walpurgis thing is a pretty big deal, right?" Maybe it would be a good idea to have her on their side...but having more Magical Girls could threaten hers and Fluttershy's survival if they struggled in getting enough Grief Seeds. What was she supposed to do with this information? ...But then again, that morning...Home Run seemed to have an expression of pain when they first saw Madoka with Cubes... The timid Magical Girl nodded slowly. "...But even so, I don't want her to have to contract unless she needs to. Unlike you and me...she has a home to return to, most likely. She has friends who she grew up with, in a world she grew up in...I couldn't try to take that from her and risk her life...-" "...Both of you, we're getting dressed to leave. This was the last class for the day." Fluttershy looked up to meet the royal-blue eyes of Homura, who seemed to have lingered at the door. Not really wanting to meet her gaze for too long, she lowered her head as she approached the doorway with her fillyhood friend, who also decided to remain silent for the time being. Something like this needed to be discussed. Why was Miss Madoka so important to both Miss Homura and QB, if they were against each other? Why did Miss Homura hate QB so much to begin with? The pink-haired pegasus sighed softly, the grip wrapped around her fingers giving her comfort. Someday they'd find the answers...but at the moment she was happy enough that they both managed to survive their first day of school. Rainbow Dash would have to brush up on her Math, and she'd have to get better at P.E...Oh, how she hated that starting gun...but at this point she'd probably just have to make do. She wouldn't want to impose on the gym teacher to get rid of it for her sake alone. ...She wasn't really looking forward to stepping inside the girl's locker room again...last time it was so noisy, and she really didn't want to invade other people's privacy, not to mention having to undress in front of them...! What if Miss Homura managed to see their marks? What if the other girls in the locker room managed to see it? Oh...was it really a good idea to enroll her and Rainbow into school? The timid Magical Girl whimpered as they walked through the halls with Homura in tow, all of them heading for that place...with all the...noise...and the lack of privacy... ...The girl's locker room. "...Hey, you both didn't see Kyuubey at all during lunch, did you? ...Or after?" Rainbow Dash blinked at the apathetic Magical Girl's voice as she turned to face her in the hallway while the rest of the students continued on ahead. ...Come to think of it, where did Cubes go after lunchtime? The last time she saw the fluffball, he was hanging around that Madoka...but after lunch? He wasn't even there. "...Actually, come to think of it...I didn't see Cubes at all after lunch. Where the hay did he go?" Fluttershy lifted her head. "Oh, um...I'm sure he's alright...he just seems to follow his own agenda, that's all..." She frowned at the sight of their mentor clenching her fists. "Umm...is everything alright, Miss Homura?" Homura closed her eyes. "...To bring this to the surface, I sensed strange energies yesterday around sunset. It seems that Kyuubey is acting on his own, and most likely contracting other Magical Girls...but it isn't the ones Tomoe Mami is mentoring." Rainbow Dash gasped. "Y-You mean...there are other girls out there who have contracted? ...In THIS very city?" The timid Magical Girl put a hand to her mouth. "But...who?" --- Footsteps echoed through the alleyway as a figure with a loose ponytail ran up and down the stairs at a steady pace, the occasional passerby not giving the person a second glance before they went on their way towards a more populated area, leaving the strange girl to her funny exercise. Perhaps she went to school, but was one of those delinquents who skipped from time to time...but she wasn't even wearing a uniform... Once reaching the top of the stairs for the umpteenth time, the blonde-haired Magical Girl panted as she allowed herself to fall to her hands and knees in an effort to catch her breath, sweat pouring down her face and her well-toned arms. Beside her, a white-furred creature walked on before turning to face the tired earth-pony, her brown Stetson slipping from her hair and onto the concrete sidewalk. "Good work, Applejack. Your efforts to walk and even run have benefitted you greatly." Kyuubey held an empty smile as he continued to observe the exhausted mare. As soon as they had both reached an understanding of what was needed in order to proceed with fighting the Witch, she had been absolutely determined to succeed in meeting her goals even when not being monitored the whole time. It seemed that despite her power of teleportation spawned by fear, Applejack was a hard-working individual, and nowhere was she clumsy. "Hah...Hah...Eyup..." Applejack rose up onto her flank, lifting her torso up. "Thanks a ton, uh...Fluff-tail. Sorry, I don't know how to say yer name, sugarcube...but you helped me a bunch." She let out another panting breath. "...Where the hay did ya run off to this morning, anyway?" Kyuubey closed its eyes. "You may call me what you wish. As for your question, I was overseeing my other Magical Girls and others who have potential." Its tail swished from side to side as it opened its eyes once more. "Anyways, perhaps you have trained enough to locate the Witch? If you continue to remain stationary, many a victim will fall to it and the Witch will get stronger." The earth-pony frowned at the thought. "Ah suppose you're right 'bout that...Ah better get goin'." Lifting herself from her knees, the blonde-haired Magical Girl reached over and picked up her Stetson, placing it on top of her head once more. "But Ah never knew there were others 'round these parts...what kind of...uh...people are they anyways?" "Magical Girls can vary in personality. It would have to depend on the type of Magical Girl if you were to seek a comrade." The creature replied without a change in expression and a swish of the tail. Applejack sighed. "Well, Ah wasn't looking for pardners to be exact...A-anyways; I gotta use the Soul Gem thing in order to find the Witch, right? The creature nodded. "Indeed. Once you have found a signal, look for where the Gem pulsates at a quicker pace. The aura of the Witch should seem strong to you at that moment." Applejack nodded as she felt the creature land on top of her shoulder, small paws pressing into her green and white shirt. In a way, the creature reminded her of Opal, though she never really played with the feisty girl; she was more of a dog pony...and she had more heart to her, anyway. "Alright...let's go get us a Witch." Holding her orange egg-shaped Gem in front of her, the earth-pony took a large step by leaving the area where she had first appeared, her legs taking her into the greater masses of the city of Mitakihara, the soft breeze of the afternoon kissing the tips of her now weirdly round ears. "...What in tarnation...?" Applejack breathed out. Just as much as the creepy crayon Familiars confused her, the weird symbols that dominated the area only served to frustrate the farm pony. In fact, the layout of the area kinda reminded her of the city of Manehatten, but somehow...bigger and even more confusing since she couldn't understand a lick of what the signs around her were saying. It just wasn't right by her. Another aspect of the city that freaked her out was the large masses of people who didn't speak her language. On the farm and in Equestria, Applejack was all about crowds and family gatherings, and all that good stuff you can just share with those you love, as well as the wonderful time a family can have working hard together. In this place, through her own eyes, there was no family connection or even any friendly connection...and she couldn't understand what any of them were saying, so that also cut out finding things in common and making new friends...They all seemed reserved or kept in their own little groups saying something like 'guykokujean' while looking at her... (Gaikokujin: Foreigner). Was it weird to have a hat in this place or something? The only kind of connection she had managed to make without it exploding in her face was Fluff-tail because he spoke her language. And that was just fine, but there was that funny business with the whole lifetime servitude of fighting Witches...somehow she had to work around that in order to get back with the others...To get back to Twilight and fulfill her promise... ...But how? A small orange pulsating light from the Soul Gem stopped the mare in her tracks as she gasped, the light reflecting her emerald green eyes. "...Ah think Ah found something. It looks like it's coming somewhere down that darker area that seems kinda neglected...It almost feels like that doll Witch Ah faced before..." She pointed down towards the direction of an area of worn-down houses. Kyuubey nodded. "I sense it is the same energies that were pulsating from the Witch you escaped from. It seems like it traveled a fair distance from the alleyway. Shall we proceed?" Applejack felt a cold shudder down her spine before she nodded as her eyes narrowed. "You bet we will. Ah ain't letting it get away this time." Without another word, the two of them started their pursuit down the dimly-lit street, the orange light from her Soul Gem steadily growing brighter as they disappeared into the shadows of another alleyway, the farm pony's loose ponytail bouncing from side to side in the chilly winds as they traveled farther from the security of daylight. Even if she probably never found a way to come back herself, she'd at least be sure that all the rest came back to Equestria safely. After all, she made a Pinkie Promise...and even if she already broke it...she was determined to at least see what's left of it through. She owed that much to Twilight. And that alone was a promise. An Apple Family promise.
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 14 - Pride	Drips of water echoed softly through the darkness as a strong hum rang through the air, the orange light from the farm pony's Soul Gem pulsating strongly enough to cut through the shadows that hid from the day. It was nearby, she could feel it like an upcoming Cider Season line at the crack of dawn, just waiting for her to give it what for. She didn't really want to face that monster, Witch, whatever you call it...she didn't wanna risk her life trying to get rid of it...but getting roped up in this contract business gave her no choice but to go after the darn thing. And now here she was, not even looking for Pinkie or Rarity...let alone Fluttershy or RD...why did things have to end up like this? This was anything BUT her quest! She reached a dead end down another flight of stairs before stopping short, the light keeping steady instead of pulsating as a haunting howl of wind softly brushed her legs. "...Ah think this is it. You feel that?" The creature brushed by her leg before coming to a stop. "Indeed. It would be wise to transform now, before you enter inside the barrier. It is well established, after all, so at any second you could come across a Familiar." Applejack nodded. "...R-Right, uh...lemme figure that one out real quick..." A previous conversation they shared last night revealed that a lot of this Magical Girl doohickey thing had something to do with the mind, so...maybe she just needed to will herself to uh...transform? Letting out a small but silent gulp, the farm pony pulled the Soul Gem to her chest as she closed her eyes, a wave of energy coursing through her as she felt a strange power beyond what she knew of the earth consume her, bathing her in an orange light similar to the light from her Soul Gem. She felt a weird sensation as she was covered in magic, the Soul Gem in her hand reshaping as the clothes she used to wear were now covered in lights as they reformed into something else, her green and white shirt becoming a brown vest with a V-cut light tan colored top, while the belt that was around her waist turned gold with a shining orange oval jewel embedded into it and a pair of gloves dressed her hands. Her boots lost its apple pattern as they grew a bit short and angled in the back with a small zipper, becoming a more vibrant and deep milk chocolate brown. She felt a warm feeling as an orange light wrapped around her neck as a similar golden piece to the Element of Honesty donned her neck and connected to the edge of her top, the orange colored apple shimmering as the dirt and grime from her Stetson cleared away, the smooth leather hat crowning her head as she felt a ball of light covering her right hand. The ball of light cleared away into shimmering blades of grass as she slowly opened her emerald green eyes, the light being replaced by the steel shape of a pistol gun that rested in her hold, her blue jean skirt turning into a soft earthy brown and shifting with each movement as she felt the energies surrounding her until she suddenly felt a release, and she was exposed to the darkness of the alleyways once more, her head woozy from all the magic exposure. "...What the hay...Ah gotta deal with that each time?" She took a moment to look herself over, her eyes traveling from her boots up to her skirt, then to the gloves that clung to her. The leather texture felt smooth and foreign to the farm pony. They had nothing like this back at the farm, that's for sure. Finally her eyes set on the strange weapon that rested in her right hand hold. "...Wha...What in tarnation is this thing? Ah've never even touched this before!" Her eyes widened as a wave of anxiety coursed through her. "..What ever happened to a good 'ol fashioned buck to the face?" Kyuubey shook his head. "That alone would not be effective against a Witch. Besides, against this Witch, you will need the distance the pistol will give you. The Witch's cry should have a radius to it, so if you keep your distance, you will most likely be fine." Applejack frowned. "...Darn Fluff-tail. Why do ya gotta be right?" It didn't feel right, leaving her traditional techniques...for some...thing she didn't even know. It was called a 'pistol'? What kind of weapon was a pistol? Why did she need range for it? Still, she couldn't just be sitting here. "...If it manages to keep me safe enough...Ah guess Ah'd best give it a chance...but lemme try mah method first. Ah think Ah can take those dumb crayon familiars enough." The creature sighed. "That kind of reckless behavior would only take a toll on your Soul Gem. Are you willing to risk such a thing, no matter the consequences you would bring to yourself?" She wouldn't let the Apple Family way go so easily. "...Ah'm sure." Her emerald eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the wall. "...Ah ain't gonna forsake my family's methods for some pistol or whatever. And Ah ain't gonna run away this time. Ah know what to expect from it." She was determined to keep a part of herself, no matter what. That's not gonna change, and she WILL keep her promise to Twilight. Now dressed in her armor, the farm pony reached a hand to touch the wall, causing it to ripple from the exposure to magic. Warranting a gasp from the blonde-haired Magical Girl, the ripples began to pull the wall apart as she was greeted with a shining and distorted sight of the Barrier she had once nearly faced death in, the abundance of Familiars that chased her littering the pathways on top of their weirdly designed rides. Applejack gulped. "...Let's get 'em." She broke into a run through the portal as the same strange rippling sensations from the other portal clouded her vision and making her head feel dizzy. Or at least, it was supposed to, but she didn't feel any kind of impact from going through the crazy Barrier entrance. What the hay? Was there some kinda endurance thing that came with the lifetime servitude package? She'd have to ask that Flufftail later on, she supposed. Right now she had a Witch to fight. Her cowboy boots landed with a clack as she stood once more on that strange hard green surface, the crayons raining from the sky with small sparkles following its tail. Somehow the place seemed bigger the last time she was in here, but that probably had to do with trying to walk and run as a pony would, not as a human would, or whatever she was now. It certainly was no pony, and she felt taller than ever for some strange reason. Her emerald green eyes darted back towards the foreign object nestled in her grip for a moment, until she threw it to the side and it disappeared from her sight in a flash of orange light. She didn't need some dumb 'pistol' to show these Familiars some hurt. The strange shape swayed its tongue this way and that as it stayed still on the cannon, letting out some really annoying sounds as the farm pony clenched her teeth and tightened her fists. "Blehhhbloorrrbleehhh!" It cried out, alerting several other Familiars to rush to its side in a series of grunts as Applejack crouched into a position to dash. She did. Her legs took her to great speeds as she jumped into the air and twisted her body with a leg stretched out as she tackled the nearest Familiar with a roundhouse kick, before greeting it with another swift punch and sending it into the floor with a huge impact, causing the Familiar to squeal in pain before it dispersed into little black balls of light and fading away. "DADADADADADA!" Another Familiar launched several explosive nuggets her way as the farm pony was quick to dodge. It was strange; she didn't feel nearly as exhausted as she did before trying to escape from these demons from Tartarus. With a grunt, the blonde-haired Magical Girl ducked down underneath the Familiar's ride before punching underneath and sending it flying into the wall with a squeal while another Familiar rushed to intercept her with another round of nuggets. "DADADADADA!" "Ah heard ya the first time, you dumb varmint!" She quickly ducked in order to avoid the explosives before jumping up into the air and sending another roundhouse kick to the Familiar and shooting it into the wall with a loud crash. These dumb things took about two hits to finish, and there were several of them! If she was going to get anywhere, she had to go to the same place she first thought was an exit: The hard green stairs somewhere in the maze. If she could get up there, she only had one more set of stairs to find, and then she'd finally be able to show that Doll Witch what she was made of! If only she could take the dumb Familiars down sooner. But she wouldn't resort to using that strange object. She didn't even know how to use it, for starters. Jumping right into the unknown would just end up slowing her down. Besides, her methods were working just fine for these things! Maybe it'd also work on that Witch. Narrowing her eyes, Applejack threw a kick into a Familiar in front of her to help cut a pathway as she sent it slamming against the wall, more Familiars trying to block her way as she sent a punch their way, another kick there; she was determined to take this place down with her own power alone. She didn't need any 'pistol' to help with that! She didn't even think about the fact that Flufftail didn't follow her into the Barrier. --- "...Another Magical Girl contract? Yes, I thought I sensed one..." Tomoe Mami put a hand to her chin in a thought manner as she walked along the pathway of trees, the other three Magical Girl trailing behind her in silence. "It was sunset, right, Akemi-san?" Homura nodded. "You plan to patrol the territory around this time, Tomoe-san. Perhaps you may be able to discover something in your hunt. If you do manage to encounter this other Magical Girl...try to figure out their motives. If we're lucky we may gain another comrade for Walpurgisnacht." She spoke in native tongue to the pegasi's dismay. The gold-locked Magical Girl nodded. "Mmm...in the meantime, perhaps you should take Dash-san and Fluttershy-san hunting on the other side of the territory. I will be looking nearby the city suburbs, so perhaps you could look nearby the busy streets and major highways?" Her lips curled into a grim smile. "It's important we take care of them before anything major happens." The apathetic Magical Girl raised her right hand to flip her hair. "...I'll see what I can do. I would try to keep an eye on Kyuubey's activities. We shouldn't receive so many Magical Girls to one territory or otherwise things will get dangerous quickly. Already we have five in one territory. While Mitakihara is a big city, it can't be stretched too much more." Rainbow Dash frowned as she crossed her arms, the blouse feeling tight and constricting once more. "Hey, how are you gonna involve us if you use way too advanced Japanese on us? Like, hello! We gotta know stuff, too!" Fluttershy nodded slowly. "If, um...you don't mind, that is." Mami giggled at the two while Homura turned to face them with a tired sigh. "We are going hunting tonight nearby the busy streets and highways. Magical Girl numbers are increasing to dangerous levels. If it increases more, Mitakihara would not be able to handle all of us." She twisted her dialect. The prismatic Magical Girl winced while her fillyhood friend let out a whimper. "Sheesh, really...? How many do we have right now?" Mami sighed. "...Currently...including our mystery Magical Girl...we have five. A city like Mitakihara...can probably handle six at the very most. Any more would risk our survival." Fluttershy lowered her head in uncertainty. "...Oh dear...what should we do? If we get even one more..." A sudden wave of energy coursed through each of their minds as a foreign energy rang through, causing the four Magical Girls to wince in surprise. Homura held her head for a moment as her eyes slowly grew wide. It was sunset...and it was coming from the hospital...Her teeth clenched in frustration while the others girls shook out of their stupor. Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. "Ooookay, what the hay was THAT?" She took a quick glance at Fluttershy who was also rubbing her head. "Home Run, know what that was about?" Mami's eyes grew wide. "...You don't think...that energy...Miki-san?" Homura frowned as she closed her eyes in exhaustion. Too many things were going on at once; how could she control them all? "...Yes, Miki Sayaka has just contracted. I suppose she has finally found her wish." Now all she had to worry about was Madoka finding hers... The cyan pegasus gulped. "...Doesn't this take us to the utmost city limit?" Her magenta eyes met the golden eyes of the veteran who frowned with a grim expression. "...Yes. Yes it does." At this point, she could only hope that Kyuubey was willing to stop contracting enough for them to get things under control. With six Magical Girls in her territory, only strategy could help to preserve their survival if ever another Magical Girl appeared. "...I'll be starting my patrol, now. Perhaps it is best to hold off on the hunt for one more day, Akemi-san. At the very least, we should try to avoid hunting at the same time." The veteran started to walk down the path, widening the gap between her and her companions. Homura frowned. "...Indeed..." While it was bothersome to have to alternate between shifts, it was probably the best course of action for them at the moment. None of the three had used their magic excessively, so they could wait one more day, but no more. They needed to hunt; otherwise their Souls Gems would corrupt over time. "...Let us return. Our Grief Seed supply is just fine for the evening." Fluttershy nodded as she started to follow the apathetic Magical Girl home, but stopped when she noticed her friend not right behind her. "Rainbow...are you coming?" Was something wrong? Rainbow Dash held a small frown. "...Why don't you guys go on ahead; I'll catch up. I just wanna take a little breather for a bit." Her lips curled into a small grin. Homura looked back to meet her magenta eyes with her own royal-blue, the two having a silent conversation without word or gesture. Finally, after a time, she closed her eyes. "...If you insist. We'll leave the door unlocked, in case you get bored. Come, Fluttershy." Fluttershy glanced between her fillyhood friend and her mentor several times before turning to follow Homura without a word. What was Dashie up to that she would separate from the group? "Um...Itarashyai (Have a good trip)." She whispered as they continued down the path, creating a bigger gap between her and her fillyhood friend. The cyan pegasus watched them become specks in the shadows before taking a deep breath and turning to face the gradually approaching night sky. "...Princess Luna, what do I do? Fluttershy and I seem to be managing okay enough...but then all these crazy things keep happening!" ...The chilly breeze brushed through her prismatic hair as the skies brought nothing but light and silence. "...I'm trying to stay strong...and I'm still loyal...but all this is just...the Japanese, the stupid uniform, the transformations, Cubes and his stupid antics...I'm even enrolled into school again, believe it or not!" She groaned. The tree rustled with slight shifting movement in the silent night. She let out a bitter laugh. "...Yeah, I thought you couldn't hear me. This isn't even your night, anyway." She frowned before raising her arms into a stretch, the cream-colored blouse making it hard to fully free herself from all the stress. "...Can't even fly, because that'd waste magic..." She grumbled. "Well, guess I'd better catch up with the others. Not much else to do, right?" The night sky remained still as the prismatic Magical Girl walked slowly, for once, down the path away from the trees that led to the school. --- Tomoe Mami walked down through the dark and dank suburbs of Mitakihara City, her eyes focused on any sort of change in the pulsating of her glowing gold-yellow Soul Gem as she patrolled the area. So far she hadn't found anything...but it looked like she was reaching what looked like progress as the brightness of her Soul Gem increased as she slowly approached what looked like an alleyway, with a rippling wall. "...This is it." Without a second thought, the veteran Magical Girl threw her Soul Gem to the air as a bright golden light surrounded her with flexible ribbons, causing her to be surrounded in an aura of radiating golden lights and dancing flowers at her feet. Where her shoes used to be now was replaced by brown and gold boots, and her tights replaced by gray striped stockings that clung to her thighs as she twirled, her cream-colored blouse being replaced by a white buttoned shirt and a golden skirt with brown lining, her red ribbon reforming into a gold-yellow ribbon that fastened around her neck and holding the collar of her shirt in place. Her sleeves were shaped into puffy white separate sleeves as her hands were dressed in black half-gloves, her head being crowned with a hat that was decorated by a fluffy feather that also nestled her Soul Gem, now encased in a flower pattern hair pin. Finally, her waist was wrapped in red ribbons as a dark-colored corset clung with a white ribbon tied around and dangling from behind her dress. With a pose, Mami was released from the aura in a flash of yellow-gold light and was now re-exposed to the darkness emanating from the alleyway. As she was about to approach the Barrier, she suddenly stopped short as she noticed already visible ripples in the Barrier. "...Somone's...already in this Barrier?" With a frown, the veteran slipped through the Barrier with ease as she was now exposed to the world of raining crayons and panicking Familiars. Without another thought, the gold-locked Magical Girl held out a hand, where a pair of ribbons began to morph into a pastel grey musket with black designing and clenched it in her grip. Mami pulled the weapon towards her and swiftly shot the musket's single round towards an approaching Familiar, sending it off course and flying haphazardly. She summoned another musket and shot the target once more, destroying it with practiced ease. "Whoever managed to cause the Familiars to panic like this...they must be fighting recklessly if so many Familiars were left still alive. I need to hurry, before they're finished by the Witch!" She cried out as she began to summon several muskets at a time to destroy at a faster pace. --- "Gah!!!" Applejack cried out as she was hit by another round of nuggets before turning around and slamming her foot into the mischievous creature. "Stupid varmints!" While she may have felt just fine before, now fighting the Familiars were becoming a chore, and she still needed to find that stupid Witch! Actually she did find the Witch - she was inside the dome with the black sky, and she had managed to attack most of the Familiars...but before she could tackle the Witch itself, the stupid monster decided it wanted to play Hide and Seek with her! Then while she was trying to find the dumb thing, each and every Familiar just had to step in her way! The freckled Magical Girl panted out of exhaustion. "Ah...ain't gonna use no...dumb...pistol!" Why was she suddenly feeling so weak? It was like the time she decided to buck the entire Apple Orchard of its apples without help that one time...! Each time she took a tree down, it felt easy at first, but now even throwing a kick felt like a chore too much... At this rate...she'd end up running away again...but she couldn't do that! She needed to take down that stupid Witch, no matter what! She needed to show she wasn't a coward! If the stupid Familiars would stop getting in her way, she'd greatly appreciate it! She let out a grunt as she sent another Familiar into the wall with a strong kick, the Doll Witch continuing to hide itself behind a batch of blocks. It didn't do that last time...maybe it knew she was a threat this time? Applejack felt the exhaustion overtake her as she slumped to the ground, bruises and scrapes all over her body from her long and drawn out fight. "Ugh...maybe...maybe that Flufftail was right..." She couldn't let herself be defeated now...not when she was so close... The Familiars gave no mercy as another one appeared before her with its tongue sticking out. "Uuugggblehhbleehh!" It cried out in mockery as the farm pony struggled to pick herself up, a wave of frustration causing her to clench her teeth. "Ah'm...gettin' sick...and tired...of you..." She groaned as she forced herself back up to her feet, legs rather wobbly. Ignoring the pain, she threw another powerful kick to crush it into the wall, causing the Familiar to disperse into nothing. With that out of the way, now she needed to take down that Witch. Looking around the other blocks, her emerald eyes narrowed in hatred at the empty doll-like eyes that watched her from its sanctuary of a bunch of foal's building blocks. Without a second thought, Applejack threw a punch at the Witch through the gap in the stacked blocks causing it to jump back in surprise before disappearing from its hiding spot back into the open. Turning back around to the center of the room, the farm pony clenched her teeth as she took in every detail of the monster that almost took her life. She could barely stand...how was she going to take down the Witch for good? If she stood around, eventually it'd go back into hiding, and she'd be at square one again... As much as she hated to admit it, the Apple Family's ways weren't helping her to survive...but it was all she had left to herself...she wasn't an earth pony anymore...and she ended up getting wrapped up in a lifetime servitude thing and breaking her promise...how could she still call herself Applejack? The Doll Witch let out a heavy cry, causing the farm pony to wince as she took the blow, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before, because she wasn't in full range of the blast...but if she tried to kick or punch it, she'd be in range. That cry caused her to become extremely weak last time...she couldn't even move...what kind of damage would it do to her as a Magical Girl? In the state she was in...She gasped as the Doll Witch began to approach her without a sound, slowly closing the gap between them and causing her to back into the wall of blocks. No good...at this rate...she groaned as she felt a wave of exhaustion force her to bend down as the Witch kept its approach. If it cried now...she wouldn't be able to escape it...Consarn it, why the hay was she feeling so weak all of a sudden?! She grunted to try and shift her body away from the impending doom, but the lack of strength was taking a huge toll on her. Why? She was feeling pretty powerful before! She winced as she saw the Witch starting to put its hands to its eyes, a growing fear in her eyes. It was gonna---! "...TIRO FINALE!" A bell-like voice cried out as a massive blast of golden light shot right in front of the farm pony and rammed into the Doll Witch, canceling its offensive cry as it was sent into another wall of blocks just to the side of the blonde-haired Magical Girl, her emerald eyes wide in shock as she tried to back-track what exactly just happened. "...H-Huh...? W-Wha..." The bell-like voice cried out again in a strange sound rather similar to the city she was trapped in, sounding full of worry, and...was that concern? Applejack continued to sit there in a stupor as the Doll Witch shook itself and recovered from the blast as it sways forward back into a standing position. Several other golden lights started to attack the Witch as the same bell voice continued to cry at her to do something...something important...But no matter what, she couldn't understand it... Please, save yourself and come over this way! Applejack gasped as she forced herself to follow the source of the defending lights without being hit by them, panting as she met the gold-yellow eyes of another strange human with some sort of ringlets in her hair, slowly but surely widening the gap between her and the Doll Witch that was forced back against the wall of blocks. The gold-yellow human gave another cry of concern as she pulled Applejack closer to her, pulling out what looked like a spiky black ball...It wasn't anything she had ever seen before...but the human promptly put the spiky ball to her necklace, a mist of blackness traveling as she was pushed to the side and was now holding the spiky ball to herself while the same human pulled out several strange objects and faced the Doll Witch from a great distance. Applejack groaned as she slowly started to feel her strength come back to her, her emerald eyes taking in the strange gold-yellow warrior as she shot several golden blasts with a bell-like cry, and eventually her eyesight started to become distorted as her eyes grew heavy, or was that just the area around her...? The crayon and the blocks started to disappear and the alleyway where she had entered in the nightmare from appeared once more. Either way, she wasn't sure what to think...she was tired, and she guessed...that this strange human fought the Witch and saved her. "Ah...Ah was..." She breathed as she slumped against one of the walls, the gold-yellow warrior picking up what looked like another black spiky ball. "...Thanks a bunch...sugarcube." Mami gave a deep sigh as she stared at the Grief Seed. She had to use up one for this poor Magical Girl...and even now it looked like she needed medical attention. Against her original plan, she may have to use her healing spell to help her...since it seemed like she didn't regenerate very fast...Perhaps a result of her wish? She turned around to meet the Magical Girl. Most likely this was the one they sensed at sunset the day before. "...I am Tomoe Mami, and you are?" She gave a soft smile towards the girl; she had an interesting hat. Applejack frowned at the bell-like voice. "...Uh...say what now?" It looked like the human wanted to talk to her...but then why wasn't it speaking Equestrian? It did so before, didn't it? The gold-yellow Magical Girl blinked. "E-Eh? Eegou (English)?" She blurted out. Why was there a sudden increase in English-speaking Magical Girls? Unless... "...Let...me start over. I am Tomoe Mami. You may call me Mami." She twisted her tongue to the Magical Girl's surprise since she dropped her jaw. "...What is your name?" Applejack shook her head before grinning in relief. "So you DO speak Equestrian! Land sakes, I thought Ah'd never get through to anyone here!" The gold-yellow Magical Girl blinked for a moment before giving a soft sigh. "...I am Mami. What is your name?" The farm pony blinked. "...Mami? Like Mommy? Ah'm Applejack! Pleased to meet you!" She promptly took the other girl's hand and shook it firmly, several times. Mami gasped as she tried to shake some feeling into her hand. "...Applejack-san. I see." A thought came to her mind. Didn't she say something akin to 'Equestrian'? "...If by chance, do you know Dash-san and Fluttershy-san?" The blonde-haired Magical Girl couldn't believe her eyes. "...You know where RD and Fluttershy are?!" She cried out, causing the other to yelp in surprise before settling down. "...Uh...sorry 'bout that, sugarcube...Heh...um..." She looked to the side for a moment before regaining her composure. "...Can you take me to them?" The gold-yellow Magical Girl blinked for a moment before nodding. "Mnn, I can do that. They are currently staying with Akemi-san, so...please follow me!" She held out a hand for the farm pony to take before she managed to help Applejack back to her feet. "...Applejack-san...your hands...are really strong." Applejack blinked before looking at her free hand. Strange...did some of her earth-pony strength stay with her? How about nurturing the earth? Could she do that here, too? "...Thanks..." She breathed out as they stepped up the stairs and away from where the Barrier used to be. "...What kind of weapon were you using, anyway?" Mami blinked before smiling softly. "...I use ribbons, and form them into muskets. The muskets are good for stronger attacks." The pistol came to mind. "...See, Ah have a weapon...but Ah'm so used to just using mah legs to buck something...I don't know how to use it." In fact, if she tried using the pistol, she probably could've avoided half the injuries she suffered. "And Ah've never even touched a pistol before..." Mami paused for a moment to try and translate. "...Mmm...I use a musket...so maybe I could help you with your pistol?" She didn't mind taking on another Kouhai (Student or Underclassman)...if Applejack-san didn't mind the idea. Besides, meeting her meant that they could better control the Witch levels...even if she was an extremely reckless fighter, and stubborn to boot... And then there was Miki-san's contract to worry about...she'll need someone experienced to guide her, now that she found her wish... ...What did she get herself into? --- Rainbow Dash slowly opened the door to Homura's apartment as she dropped her school bag to the floor. The day turned out to be rather long, and now their survival was threatened by how many of them there were...just who was the Magical Girl who contracted at sunset the day before? And what kind of person were they? Why the hay was Equestrian magic leaking into the place to begin with? Or was it always leaking? Was that how she and Fluttershy managed to get wrapped up in this mess in the first place? It didn't make any sense... Her eyes looked up to meet the gaze of her fillyhood friend. "...Tadaima (I'm home), Flutters...Did Home Run get something to eat that wasn't bland or meat today?" Fluttershy gave a soft smile as she held up a bowl of steamed rice. "Actually, Miss Homura took her meal into her room; she said she had something to think over. Something about being a week late, I think..." Magenta eyes blinked. "Wait, what's late?"
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 15 - An Unexpected Encounter	The door softly knocked with a few thumps as the ex-weather pegasus groaned at the notion that somepony would be rude enough to disturb her precious sleep. She buried herself deep into the blankets as the door was knocked on again, this time a little louder. Just who had the gall to bother her at such an hour? ...Wait, what time was it anyway? Rainbow Dash glared at the door to their rented bedroom as she heard the soft and delicate breathing from her roommate and Magical Girl companion. It looked like Fluttershy wasn't budging from whatever was beating on the door, and she didn't hear any footsteps, so Home Run wasn't going to get it anytime soon...probably asleep, like she should be. Well, time to get some shuteye! The prismatic Magical Girl snuggled into the covers as she shifted into a more comfortable position, her eyes slowly closing as she let herself drift into a nice peaceful sleep... A loud booming sound came in from the door three times, causing the pegasus to growl as she peeled herself away from the pillows and sat up in the bed. Sheesh, whoever was out there was being persistent! Ugh! The growling sound caused her fillyhood friend to groan groggily. "...Dashie...stop..." She mumbled as she turned to her side away from the other and plopped her face into the welcoming pillows, her sleep not easily shaken. Rainbow Dash could only wish she had as much an endurance to sound...but being a light-sleeper...she was pretty much screwed out of sleep for the rest of the night. "Ugh, forget it! Fine, I just...I'm done!" The hot-tempered Magical Girl slipped out of the covers and exposed herself to the chilling feeling of Home Run's air conditioner, yet she wasn't really bothered by it. Her pegasus endurance to temperature must have lingered with her...she felt stupid for just now taking note of it. Anyways, she should probably see what annoying people are outside. Who would bother Home Run at this hour, anyway? It was a little past midnight, on a school night! She didn't even bother changing out of the spare lavender pajamas she was lent as she opened the door and slipped out without slamming it shut behind her. Best not to kill anypony else's sleep if she could help it. The prismatic Magical Girl held a groggy frown as she walked over and made her way to the door, muttering foul Equestrian language under her breath. It took a bit of time to reach over above and undo the latch before she could open the door. As she started to rattle the chain, she could swear that she heard voices from just outside... "...Oh, good! Akemi-san is awake!" She heard a smooth and silky voice in the Japanese language as she put her ear against the door. It actually sounded like something she heard before...Rainbow gave a deep sigh before thinking of what to say. "...Dare desuka?" She called out, twisting her dialect clumsily as she decided to practice her Japanese a little. "...What in...did she speak?" The sounds were a little more muffled, but...English? There was an English speaker? Not only that...but the voice sounded familiar...with a little twang to it... The silky voice spoke up again, this time sounding like she was trying to speak English to the English speaker. "Ah, that was Japanese. She was asking 'Who is it'. Since it didn't sound like Akemi-san or Fluttershy-san...Ah! Dash-san!" She called out through the door, causing the prismatic Magical Girl to pull her ear away. With a smile, she reached over and unlocked the door to turn it open. "There's only one Magical Girl with that voice who calls me 'Dash-san'!" Rainbow Dash stood in front of the door, taking note of the company in front of her. Just as she thought, Mami was right out the door, and she had a friend behind her...with a...Stetson? ...Freckles? ...A belt and some boots that had apples on it? The prismatic Magical Girl's mouth dropped. "No way...in Tartarus. A-Applejack?!" I-It looked like her, but how did she even get here? Was it even actually her? What if she just mixed her up with someone else?! "...You've been here this whole darn time, sugarcube?! Ya'll been gone for a week now!" Oh my gosh, it WAS Applejack. She wasn't wrong! Applejack...was here in Mitakihara...with Mami... Rainbow Dash quickly clenched the veteran's shoulder's, causing her to gasp. "Tell me she didn't contract! Applejack CAN'T be the mysterious Magical Girl!" Tomoe Mami winced as she pried the prismatic Magical Girl off of her, a feeling of knowing in her eyes. "...Mmm..." She slowly nodded, refusing to look into her magenta eyes. "I encountered her inside a Witch's Barrier in the suburbs." She spoke in clumsy English. Applejack nodded as her emerald eyes faced her very much changed pegasus friend. "...Eyup. Ah ended up getting involved in some lifetime servitude gig. Until Ah figure out a way around it, ya'll are gonna have to go on without me. We came here to get you guys." The prismatic Magical Girl shook her head in disbelief. "Wait, 'we'?! Who the hay did you bring with you?!" It wasn't just Applejack, but she brought somepony else here?! What if they ended up contracting!? The farm pony frowned as she lifted a hand in front of her to create a barrier of space to diffuse the situation. "If you calm down, sugarcube, Ah'll tell you everything! Just stop looking like you're gonna punch something!" Rainbow Dash stepped back in front of the doorway and took a deep breath before letting it out. "...Before you explain anything more, did you wanna come in? Home Run and Flutters are asleep, but the kitchen's still there and I can fix you up something." Mami shook her head. "As much as I love a gathering, I'm afraid I must refuse, given the current hour. If you can, would you be willing to heal Applejack-san while she's here? With your power, I'm certain that you have the ability, but Applejack-san's healing isn't very effective, and I need to head home." Applejack just stared blankly at the veteran as she slowly walked in through the doorway. The prismatic Magical Girl frowned as she translated Mami's words. She couldn't catch everything, but there were some key details she managed to catch. "Hai, odaijide kudasai. (Yes, take care of yourself.)" "...Huh?" The farm pony raised an eyebrow as she stared at Rainbow as if she was doing something weird. "Arigatou." The veteran smiled softly before turning to Applejack. "Applejack-san, please take care of yourself. I will see you tomorrow morning." She twisted her tongue as she briefly bowed before waving and making her away back on the road to her own apartment. The blonde-haired Magical Girl blinked for a moment before waving back, sort of understanding that Mami needed to go, and she was stuck with RD and Fluttershy for the time being. Good thing, too. She could fulfill what was left of the promise this way. Rainbow Dash yawned as she faced her farm pony friend. "Well, AJ, come on in. You feeling thirsty at all?" She offered as Applejack slowly made her way inside the building, her eyes focused on the rather strange paintings that were just...uh...floating in the air. No magic or nothing, just...they were floating in the air, and they had weird symbols on them. Her pegasus friend led her to what looked like a crescent red sofa, where she plopped her flank on the sofa just across the huge white table that sat in the middle of the room, littered in maps and grids and whatever was on there. It was downright messed up, but Rainbow seemed so accustomed to its weirdness, it was almost scary. "Go ahead, sit down. The sofa's not gonna bite." Figuring there was nothing else to do, Applejack sat down opposite to her friend. "...So, you wanted to know who else came here and all..." She started, but the atmosphere felt a little surreal as her friend sat there listening. "...After...a week of searching around, a sample of whatever Twilight sent revealed that ya'll were sent to a different dimension. Since all the Princesses and Discord were keeping a portal up and running...Twilight stayed behind to run Equestria. The rest of us were sent to look for you both." "So, Twilight's in Equestria...so that'd be you, Rarity, and Pinkie..." The prismatic Magical Girl frowned as she crossed her arms and leaned backwards a little. "And you're now contracted...so you can't go back. Fluttershy and I are both currently in the same situation. We're both Magical Girls, too." The farm pony's eyes widened to pinpricks as she clenched her fists. "But...but that means you can't go back to Equestria! All this effort has been for nothing!" She felt a flame of hope go out as Rainbow reformed her Soul Gem into the egg form, the red purified light from the gem emanating magical energies as she held it in her hand. "Land sakes....ya'll really ARE stuck in this mess like Ah am!" It was like a horror story come to life! The pegasus dropped her shoulders in resignation. "...More like you ended up stuck here because of the both of us. I'm...really sorry about all this, AJ...If it wasn't for us disappearing like we did...you guys wouldn't have ended up here in the first place." Her mind drifted back to the veteran Magical Girl's words. "...Anyways, since I've got my Soul Gem out...lie down on the sofa, will ya?" She held a small smile as she stood up from her seat. "...Uh...why do Ah wanna lie down all of a sudden, sugarcube?" She didn't know what was going on...but she was willing to trust RD, so...The blonde-haired Magical Girl shifted her position on the sofa horizontally, so that she could easily lean her back against the cushioned leather, but her eyes stayed locked to her friend's magenta as Rainbow Dash knelt down in front of the sofa, holding out her Soul Gem. "This might sting a little, so...try to bear with it." She grinned sheepishly before closing her eyes and concentrating on strengthening the light coming from her Soul Gem. A vibrant rainbow light traveled from the hot-tempered Magical Girl's hand and spilled down her fingers like a waterfall onto her farm friend's back, causing the other to wince in pain before feeling a sense of peace as she moaned in approval. "Mmph! ...Eyup, Ah needed this..." She breathed out with her emerald eyes half-closed in comfort, letting the powerful rainbow light heal her foolish attempts at fighting the way she did as a pony. Especially with her strength and build...even if she brought some with her from Equestria, she didn't have enough to beat up those Witches with. She realized that now, and if it wasn't for that Flufftail and Mami, she'd most certainly be a goner. Her friend's chuckle rang through her ears, and they probably would've twitched if they weren't so darn round. "...You like that, huh? It's pretty awesome." The farm pony kept her mouth shut at the remark. The pegasus gave a deep sigh before lifting the vibrant red Soul Gem away, commanding the rainbow light to follow. "...Alright, I think you can manage from here. How'd you get so beat up in the first place, AJ?" Her head cocked to the side. The farm pony sighed in satisfaction as she felt no more pain, but she still felt a stab to her already wounded pride. "...Heh...don't ask. Ah ain't proud of it, that's for sure." Her eyes followed the outfit her friend was wearing. "Anyways, Ah didn't think lavender was yer color." She grinned as a blush worked up on the hot-tempered Magical Girl's face. "Oh, come on! It was lent to me by Home Run! YOU question her fashion if you wanna." Rainbow crossed her arms and turned her head away. Applejack raised an eyebrow as she lifted herself off her back and sat up on the couch. "You keep talking 'bout some 'Home Run', but who in the hay and where is this 'Home Run'?" The pegasus gave a deep sigh before pointing a finger towards a door that was decorated only by the two sets of candle-sticks that sat on the ledge on either side of it. "She's in her room; probably sleeping like I should be right now." She yawned involuntarily as she faced her farm friend. The blonde-haired Magical Girl blinked. "...Y'know, Ah could always get a drink in the morning, if you really wanna sleep that much, sugarcube." She adjusted her Stetson a bit; it started sitting a little funny on her head after she got up. Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, whatever floats your boat...I'm not sure if Home Run has anymore spare rooms right now...and our room is already full enough as it is..." Her voice trailed into silence as she took on a thoughtful expression, a screeching sound filling the air at a constant pace, never changing. In confusion, the farm pony looked up. "...Whoa nelly, what in tarnation' IS that thing?!" The pegasus was forced out of her thoughts. "H-Huh? What?" Her eyes looked up for a bit before she looked back down, her expression rather calm despite all the strange decor. "Oh, that's just the pendulum. Home Run's always had it. It's not gonna fall on us or crush us. It just swings around; I think she mainly has it for effect or something." She shrugged. "Sometimes her antics are a little too weird to question, even though she's as funny as Pinkie Pie is uncaring." Applejack shook her head in awe. "...Ah can't believe this...a-anyways, why don't Ah just sleep here for the night? Ah ain't bugging nopony here, and Ah'm pretty sure Ah can sleep through this dumb pendulum." Her lips curled into a smile. The prismatic Magical Girl grinned. "Okay, I'll see if we've got some spare blankets lying around in our room real quick." She walked away from the table, making little sound with her feet as she went to another door that wasn't Home Run's room. Opening it slowly, she succeeded in letting light into the room without bothering her roommate, who wasn't even facing the doorway to begin with. Fluttershy continued to breathe in a naturally relaxed motion while her fingers slightly clenched the tips of the pillowcase. Tip-toeing around the room, the pegasus reached into a box on one side of the bed, and managed to pull out a rather huge and soft blanket that was identical to the one already on their bed. Something like this should be more than enough for AJ to wrap herself in. Without a second thought, she slowly crept back out of the room, and carefully shut the door behind her. It didn't take long for her to walk back into the center of the room where the table and Applejack was. "Hey, I got your blanket." Rainbow Dash smiled as she handed the blanket to her friend. The farm pony blinked but sighed in contentment as she grasped the soft fabric and felt the warmth hug her body. "...It's mighty fine, sugarcube." She smiled as she sank her chin into it. "...But won't yer Home Run be mad if Ah stay here? Ah don't want no trouble." The pegasus shook her head. "...Home Run will understand if I explain things in the morning. Seeing as I'm now WAY too active to get proper sleep, I'll certainly be awake before she is." She gave a light chuckle in reassurance. The farm pony held a frown for a little while more before giving a deep sigh, the exhaustion of her trip through the portal and everything with it weighing her down. "...Well...if you say so, sugarcube...Ah certainly hope Home Run does." Her emerald eyes slowly closed as she sunk her head even deeper against the blanket, a shaky sigh escaping her lips. She looked pretty much how she and Fluttershy were when Home Run offered them a place to stay. What kind of adventures did Applejack face in order to get here, and why did she contract in the first place? While she figured Home Run would understand her staying over for the night, they still had to figure something out that didn't require her sleeping on the sofa all the time. Maybe Mami had room at her place? It wasn't cool to be separated...but maybe Mami could help them figure things out. According to what she heard eavesdropping on that Sayaka and Madoka one time, she had a sweet pad and awesome cake. ...Speaking of that Madoka kid...what WAS up with Home Run talking about and looking at her with those sad eyes? Why does Cubes seem so eager to contract her? It wasn't because of great potential alone, was it? If he actually managed to...that'd bring the Magical Girl count up to seven, and they'd really be in trouble...some of them would have to move into other territories, and from what she heard from Home Run before...they weren't actually peaceful towards visiting Magical Girls. She shuddered at the thought of having to fight others to the death if necessary. Of all the Magical Girls she knew now...there was Home Run, her and Fluttershy, now Applejack...and Mami, and now that Sayaka that sat next to Fluttershy recently contracted. That brought them up to the limit. Rainbow Dash gave another deep sigh as she watched her friend's breathing growing more relaxed, yet it was still burdened. Something was weighing down on her mind, the pegasus was certain. At least for now, though...it was best to just let her rest. But if Applejack was now with her and Fluttershy...just where did Rarity and Pinkie Pie end up? --- Sunlight generously poured through the windows of the bedroom, silver light glistening from her ammunition that rested on top of the desk against the wall as Akemi Homura was wrapped deep in her dark lavender covers. It didn't take much effort for the apathetic Magical Girl to get up in the morning; she was naturally an early raiser and was usually the first one up. Once her alarm clock set off with a repetitious beeping sound, her royal blue eyes slowly opened as her mouth was shaped into a frown. ...Time to start another day. Her eyes immediately sought for the Soul Gem that hugged her left middle finger as she lifted her hand to her face. Letting out a small scowl, she sat up in the covers as she scorned the small amount of corruption that made its way into her source of power overnight. Once again, being plagued by nightmares managed to set off unwanted emotions; the apathetic Magical Girl bit her lip in frustration. Without another thought, Homura stood up from her bed and quickly made her way to a drawer inside of her desk, where she kept her stock of Grief Seeds hidden. At the moment she was secured by the sight of 3 Grief Seeds, but even that would eventually run out soon enough. She needed to hunt, and was certain that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also needed to. Above anything else...they needed to find a Witch today. "...Hey, Home Run! Wake up!" Homura jumped at the constant banging, a booming sound that caused discomfort to her ears. That voice...that sounded like Rainbow Dash of all people, but she wasn't an early bird...Why would she be up before she was? Such a thing was unpredictable, and only complicated things. The apathetic Magical Girl frowned. ...How are you awake before I am? She heard snickering just outside her door. Pfft, surprised you, huh? I couldn't get back to sleep after Mami dropped by last night. You and Flutters were asleep, so...I didn't wanna bug ya. Homura raised an eyebrow. ...Strange. What was Tomoe Mami's business for being here last night? Such a thing is unbecoming of her, considering her policy on respecting guests. She was certain she could sense a grin from the hot-headed Magical Girl. ...Come out of the room and you'll find out. Letting out an already tired sigh, Homura took the effort to get dressed out of her lavender pajamas and lifted her freshly cleaned uniform off of the hanger she had sitting by her bed. Honestly, how did that idiot have so much energy in the morning? Not to mention the fact that it was a school day...she should be getting ready for school in about an hour. But besides that...what did Tomoe Mami come over last night for? She didn't usually visit people at such a late hour...so why did she come over when she wasn't able to keep an eye on what occurred? What sort of conversation was exchanged? Would it affect their partnership against Walpurgisnacht? ...If only that pesky pegasus woke her up. She slowly opened the door as she kept a small frown, the light from her white walls and the shadows from her swinging pendulum leaving her unfazed. Such a thing was unimportant to what mattered. Rainbow Dash was hiding something from her, and she intended to find out just what happened the night before. Her royal blue eyes focused on the center of the room where she saw the hot-headed Magical Girl standing nearby the table with her shy companion, accompanying another...strange individual. ...A stranger was in her house without permission. Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "...Dare (Who)?" She spoke out in Japanese as Fluttershy let out a small yawn before quickly saying 'excuse me'. Rainbow let out a grin as her magenta eyes met the apathetic Magical Girl's eyes. "...Ah, Home Run! Kono hito wa Applejack (This person is Applejack)!" The blonde-haired Magical raised an eyebrow as she scratched her head. "Uh...what the hay did she say, Fluttershy?" The timid Magical Girl blinked before giving a small smile. "Oh, um, she just introduced you to Miss Homura. She and Miss Mami have been teaching us Japanese, so we've been trying to find opportunities to practice. Eventually...if you don't mind doing so...you'll have to learn the language, too." Homura blinked. "...Applejack? ...Wait, is she the mysterious Magical Girl we sensed? Did Tomoe Mami find her?" She twisted her tongue to the farm pony's relief. Rainbow Dash nodded as she crossed her arms behind her head. "...Yup. Applejack is also from Equestria, and a dear friend of mine and Fluttershy's." The apathetic Magical Girl sweat-dropped. "...Ah...so she must also be a pony." Really, the idea of ponies turning into humans was once one of the most ridiculous things she ever heard of, but after being in Rainbow and Fluttershy's company for some time, it was a little bit...easier to grasp the concept. Applejack blinked. "Y'know, that Flufftail also guessed Ah was a pony as soon as the critter had to teach me to walk like a human. He must have learned from you two." Fluttershy gave a small nod. "QB was very helpful to us starting out, but Miss Homura doesn't like him, so I'm afraid we had to separate." Rainbow shrugged. "Eh, we see him from time to time anyway. Cubes has been hanging around that Madoka girl lately at school." Applejack blinked as emerald eyes gazed into magenta. "...Since when did ya'll start going to school here?" The timid Magical Girl gave a sheepish grin. "Umm...we had our first day just recently...just right after Miss Homura sensed your contract." Her feet shifted slightly as she relaxed on the sofa. Rainbow woke her up today with a lovely surprise, and yet it was also greatly concerning to think that the rest of her friends could also get caught up in this life she and Rainbow had chosen. Applejack blinked. "Wait, you're sayin' 'Miss Homura'...but Dash is sayin' 'Home Run'. Which is it?" It seemed like they each had a separate name for that Flufftail, too... The apathetic Magical Girl gave a short cough. "...My name is Akemi Homura. Akemi is my family name, so you may just call me Homura." It was a pain having to constantly switch between languages...but it was risky to talk only through the mind where Kyuubey could detect them with ease. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Home Run's way easier to pronounce. That and it's funny." It was amusing how the Japanese native would glare at her each time she used that nick-name. "...Hey, didn't you say one time that your name meant 'flame'?" Her royal-blue eyes narrowed as her patience grew thin with the hot-headed pegasus idiot. "...I did. I'd rather just to be called Homura." The farm pony nodded. "...Alright. Homura. Ah'll try to remember that. Ah don't think Ah can stay here for life, so...know where Ah can find a permanent place to throw in the sack?" Homura closed her eyes with a light shrug. "...Tomoe Mami should have plenty of room. If she came by last night...chances are she'll be back not too long from now with cake." Fluttershy blinked. "I understand when she came for that meeting, but...she brings cake with her every time she visits?" It seemed akin to something Pinkie Pie would do...if she was around. According to Applejack, she WAS somewhere in this world, but nopony knew where. It was a scary yet almost refreshing thought to know that her friend was out there somewhere. After all...if they were in this world...and if each of them had potential...they could end up stuck to this world as well. If all of them ended up being trapped in this world of Witches and Familiars, how could they represent the Elements of Harmony with Twilight? It would hurt their friend badly if she ended up losing all of her friends at once... ...But what could she do? She already made her wish. She couldn't belong in Equestria ever again. "...Perhaps not everytime. Either way, we'll probably see her at school today. Applejack could do some Witch hunting in the morning, and we will all meet together in the afternoon." Homura explained in English, a mental schedule of the day running through her head. "After all, you are not a student - we can't take you to school with us." Applejack frowned as she nodded her head. "...Right." She glanced towards her two friends before once again facing the apathetic Magical Girl. "...You sure Mami will let me stay at her place?" The rainbow-haired Magical Girl brought her hands out in a shrug. "Well, what else is there? We still need to get in contact with that Sayaka now that she's contracted, and if she's got plenty of room and already knows you, Mami's the best option as of right now." Fluttershy nodded in agreement as she looked towards her farm pony friend. "...No matter what happens, we'll still be together. And Mami's actually really nice." The blonde-haired Magical Girl gave a deep sigh. "...Well, if ya'll say so. Ah think I'll try and look for Rarity and Pinkie Pie while you guys are at school. If Ah don't find 'em, Ah'll see about taking down a Witch." Homura narrowed her eyes into a stern expression. "...When it comes to hunting Witches...above all else, conserve your energy to save on how much Grief Seeds you use. There are too many Magical Girls in the area all at once, and the chance of more appearing is high." She faced the other two Magical Girls. "...We need to get prepared for school." Applejack blinked as she watched her two pegasus friends stand up from the sofa, their hands reaching for small navy blue bags. Come to think of it, all of them were wearing some creamy colored outfit with a red ribbon. "...Ah suppose that's a uniform you wear?" Rainbow groaned as she tugged at the white collar covering her neck. "Ugh, don't remind me of the stupid thing. It's frustrating enough that I have to wear it every day. Enjoy the freedom, AJ!" She gave a wave as she was quick to follow her filly-hood friend out of the room. "...Hope you find the other two!" The farm pony bit her lip as a wave of anxiety rushed over her. "...Ah sure hope ah do, sugarcube..." --- The traffic of students flowed at a consistent pace as the three Magical Girls made their way down the paved walkway, Mitakihara Middle School growing closer as they continued to walk. Blue eyes glanced up with a smile at the blooming cherry blossoms - it really was a pretty area to walk through. If she had more time, maybe she could see what kind of animals were living in the trees and the bushes? Still, she couldn't get distracted. Dashie would get annoyed. "...You seem awfully distracted with the trees there, Flutters..." The timid Magical Girl blinked as she turned to face her filly-hood friend. "Keeping an eye out for critters or something?" She blushed as the rainbow-haired girl gave a small smile. "Yeah, I thought so. Don't think I missed that!" She teased as Fluttershy gave a sheepish grin. Akemi Homura stayed silent as she walked; her eyes glancing every now and then back at the colorful pegasus duo behind her, giggling as they continued talking about trees. True, it was a pretty area, but things like that weren't important in comparison to what was bound to occur soon. With Miki Sayaka's contract, there was always something to throw a wrench in her plans. From here, she had to make careful decisions if she was going to get help with Walpurgisnacht. ...Especially if SHE was going to come to this city soon...although she was a week late to come. What factors changed things? With her personality, maybe it was best for Rainbow Dash to approach Miki Sayaka regarding her contract. With another Magical Girl to accompany her, Madoka wouldn't be as likely to follow her into her battles. Not to mention the fact that Tomoe Mami was around, so maybe Sayaka already had a companion to fight with. Nevertheless, they could discuss suitable partners over lunch. Applejack was a brand new variable to be accounted for, after all. The apathetic Magical Girl winced at the sudden jab in her shoulder. "...Hey, Earth to Home Run, you there?" Narrowing her eyes, royal blue orbs gazed into magenta. "...I'm here, yes. I was just thinking about what our next move should be. We should gather with Tomoe Mami and Miki Sayaka during lunch to discuss how to create fighting tactics." Fluttershy raised a pink brow in confusion. "...Fighting tactics? As in...how we fight, and who we fight with?" "Yes. As of right now, we have me, you two, Tomoe Mami, Miki Sayaka, and Applejack, bringing us up to a total of 6 girls exactly. We can even off into partners based on who goes best with whose power or weapon." The dark-haired Magical Girl explained, her hands counting the number of variables currently. Rainbow Dash wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder, her face full of confidence. "I'm sure it's pretty obvious Flutters and I will be partners. That's one pair figured out." Homura sighed - while they were certainly willing to support each other and all, it wasn't in her best interests that they stick to their own kind. They had to be mixed up if they had any chance of fitting in this world. "...We'll address this during lunch with Miki Sayaka and Tomoe Mami. Until then, nothing is set in stone. We're almost to the building." The two nodded silently as they followed their caretaker and host - what was she planning? Weren't they just going to school? Talking to the other Magical Girls? Why was she so focused on a plan? Rainbow leaned towards her friend's ear. "...Why do I get the feeling Home Run isn't telling us something again?" She whispered softly. Fluttershy gave a sigh in reply as she watched the apathetic Magical Girl. Even if she was, at this point it really wouldn't surprise her. It seemed like Miss Homura worked at her own pace, and for her own hidden motives. The only thing that even gave her a clue was Miss Homura's dislike of QB and Madoka's great potential to become a Magical Girl...but so far that didn't tell them anything. "...You know...I think you're right about that, Dashie."
Fragmented Harmony	Chapter 16 - There's No Way I'll Regret It	Students engaged themselves in various activities as the bell rang to signal that it was time for lunch. Getting out of her seat with a giggle towards her pink pigtailed best friend, Miki Sayaka relished in the break from long draining classes, her mind focused on her stomach and what she had packed for lunch just that morning. "Ahh, I'm so glad that it's lunch time!" She whined in a boisterous manner, her loud voice filling the classroom as she gave a laid-back stretch in her seat. Kaname Madoka closed her eyes with a grin. "Mmm, that last class felt longer than usual. Let's head towards the rooftop to eat, ne?" Her pigtails bounced with slight movement, her posture full of energy. She couldn't tell right off the bat, but something seemed a little different with Sayaka-chan...maybe they could talk about it? "Mmm! That sounds great! Let's get going then!" The blue-haired girl beamed as she picked up her bag, seeming quite eager to leave the classroom as she turned to head towards the glass filled hallway. It was strange how each and every classroom was separated by only a few sheets of glass. Students could see everything going on in other classrooms and in the hallways. Who came up with a building like that? Well, who cares? It was lunch time and she was feeling hungry. The pink-haired school girl nodded as she hurried after her friend. "M-Matte (Wait), Sayaka-chan...!" Fluttershy kept silent as she watched the exchange just beside her. If she understood her Japanese right...it sounded like they said roof, so...maybe they were going to the rooftop to eat their lunch? With a sigh, the pink-haired Magical Girl stood up from her chair and looked towards her prismatic filly-hood friend. ...Should we follow them? Rainbow Dash blinked with a start before quickly looking in her companion's direction, her body a little tense. D-Don't do that without warning, Flutters! You almost gave me a heart attack! O-oh, I'm sorry, Dashie! Letting out a sigh, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl closed her eyes for a bit to calm down, before meeting Fluttershy's gaze once more. ...But yeah. We should follow them. Home Run plans to talk to Sayaka and Mami during lunch, so we need to be there for that. With a nod, the timid pegasus proceeded to pick up her bag and started to follow her companion out of the classroom without another word, her blue eyes taking note of Homura's presence approaching them from behind as they started to climb the stairs. "...Does Miss Mami know about the meeting?" She asked softly, her voice barely carrying through the stairways. Homura gave a small nod, her hair swaying as she walked with the other two. "Eh. I made sure to send her a message. She should be on her way. Now all that's left to do is to intercept Miki Sayaka before we begin. The rooftop should be a suitable place...but we'd have to get Kaname Madoka out of the way." Her tone grew cold as her eyes narrowed. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she put her arms behind her head. "Oh, come on. Lighten up already, Home Run! You're acting like it's a game of chess or something!" The apathetic Magical Girl remained silent, giving no further comment on the matter. Their footsteps echoed as they went up the stairs, eventually reaching the spacious rooftop with its elaborate fencing that bordered the entire area. Fluttershy let out a soft breath as she caught sight of the two school girls, eating lunch together as Madoka had a shocked expression. Surprisingly, QB was nowhere to be found. "S-Sayaka-chan, you contracted?!" A feminine voice filled the air as the three walked closer, catching wind of their conversation. "...W-With your wish granted, you'll be risking your life. You finally found something worth all of that responsibility?" The blue-haired girl nodded, a distant smile on her face. "...When I think about it, the answer was clear from the start...but I went and dragged it on longer than it needed to be." Her eyes grew clouded as visions of a boy, his dreams crushed and his eyes no longer full of life, stood at the edge of the hospital building...her tears as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pleading him not to jump... "...But!" She gave a grin, her voice full of spirit as she stood up and pumped a fist in the air. "That's all in the past now! From here on out, Sayaka-chan, Savior of Justice, will do her best to protect the people of Mitakihara!" Madoka parted her lips, hesitation in her voice. "...A-are you sure you'll be okay? I mean, of course Mami-san will be there...but---" "...I actually would like to speak with you, Miki Sayaka." The two girls let out a gasp as Sayaka narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired Magical Girl, accompanied by the two colorful transfer students, which were relatives of her's and Mami-san's, according to the school at least. But they were directly associated with her? "...What do you want, Transfer Student?" Her blue eyes glared deeply into royal blue orbs as she put a hand out between Homura and Madoka. Homura kept silent, running a hand through her hair before directly meeting her gaze. "As you're now officially a Magical Girl, we need to make some adjustments about how things will operate in this city. In short, we need a city-wide strategy meeting." Her eyes glanced towards Madoka, causing the shorter girl to flinch from behind Sayaka's protection. "...Those who aren't contracted mustn't get involved so deeply." Madoka's eyes widened as she glanced towards the colorful duo, slowly standing up. "...W-Wait, then...that means that all of you are...You two are also Magical Girls...?" They seemed friendly yet distant in the classroom...but she never expected so many new Magical Girls to surface all at once! How many WERE there in the city? "Eh?!" Sayaka glanced between her best friend and the two newer transfer students. "W-Wait, I never heard about this! ...Why would I wanna associate with you anyway, Transfer Student!? You don't decide what I do!" The prismatic girl frowned as she twisted her tongue, all of her practice bearing fruit. "...Just listen to her. Mami's also okay with this." The blue haired Magical Girl gulped, her body still tense in the presence of the apathetic Magical Girl. "...Mami-san's okay with this....?" Her lips curled into a frown. "Where is she, then?" Fluttershy stepped forward slowly, hoping she could help calm her. "...Mami-san is on her way. Homura-san called her to meet us all." The pink-pigtailed girl glanced at the group, her posture uneasy as she reached to pick up her belongings. Clearly Homura-chan didn't want her there for whatever they needed to discuss...and she'd rather not be a burden with so many who could help Sayaka-chan with her fight. Maybe through this, she and Homura-chan could try to get along...it sounded like Mami-san was okay with her now. "...You should stay for the meeting, Sayaka-chan. If Mami-san's going to be here...it must be something important, so...I'll see you later, Sayaka-chan!" She didn't waste any time running from the area and down the stairs, passing the blonde pigtailed veteran. Sayaka reached out a hand. "O-Oi, Madoka...!" The blue-haired girl looked towards the doorway for a moment, noticing a glimpse of gold as Tomoe Mami was in fact making her way over to the group. "...Mami-san." Mami glanced back towards the stairs before facing the apathetic Magical Girl, but not before giving a nod towards Sayaka. "...I saw Kaname-san pass by me just now...is everything alright?" Homura closed her eyes for a moment. "...Everything's fine. I simply told her not to get involved. What we're going to discuss today isn't meant for her ears...we already have enough inexperienced Magical Girls to train in order to prepare for Walpurgisnacht." "...Walpurgisnacht?" The blue-haired Magical Girl blinked. What the heck was that? Some alien language? The golden-locked Magical Girl nodded. "...Yes. Walpurgisnacht, you see, is a super-colossal Witch known from Magical Girl rumors over the ages...but Akemi-san has predicted that it will appear in this city at the end of this month, providing me with concrete evidence. With how powerful it is, it has no barrier...so the city of Mitakihara will be threatened on a large scale. In order to prevent it from destroying everything, I have joined forces with Akemi-san, Fluttershy-san, and Dash-san, as well as another, in order to fight it together. Now that you have contracted, Miki-san...we need your strength." Sayaka gulped. The whole city could be destroyed...?! That also meant the hospital, and Madoka and Hitomi..! Blue eyes narrowed as she clenched her fists, a fire in her eyes. "...Count me in. If there's something coming...I wanna do what it takes to protect everyone!" Fluttershy gave a soft smile. "...Arigatou, Sayaka-san. Let's all work together...to protect the ones we love." As lovely as their passion for protecting the city was, it was about time they got down to business. Homura let out a sigh before addressing the group. "...With Miki Sayaka on board, we should now discuss the important matter at hand: how should we divide ourselves into groups? With six Magical Girls here, we need to rationalize when we hunt and how much energy we spend." The blue-haired girl raised an eyebrow as she made a mental count of the group. "Oi, I think you're confused or something, Transfer Student. There's only five of us here on the rooftop!" Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, but we have a friend outside of school who's also with us." Thinking about it, how was Applejack's search going anyway? Hopefully she managed to find some trace of them...they were certainly out there somewhere... "...So that makes six." Homura nodded. "...Right. Now, with no further interruptions...we should team up in groups of two each, a pair that would complement each other's abilities and weapons. I can be either a short or long-ranger, I have the ability to stop time for a short moment, but a shortcoming that I have is that I lack strong healing or defense abilities. Someone who could compliment me should have strong healing, but also have decent abilities regarding defense. I believe the person who is most suitable for these necessities is Fluttershy-san." The prismatic girl frowned, her mind trying to translate important pieces of the conversation. "...Wait, are you saying for Fluttershy to be your partner?! I thought we already decided Fluttershy was with me!" The apathetic Magical Girl shook her head. "...I said it before, didn't I? Until we started the meeting, that nothing was set in stone? It's actually better in the long run if you two weren't on the same team. If you always stayed with Fluttershy-san, how would you know how to work with anyone else, or trust anyone else? The biggest obstacle right now is your need to stick to your own kind." Rainbow lowered her head, her fists to her forehead. "Gah, I don't get it! What the heck are you saying!?" Something about being together wasn't okay...but they Pinkie Promised to protect each other, didn't they?! "...Why can't Fluttershy be my partner?!" Mami let out a deep sigh. ...Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to truly fit into this world if you stayed with your own kind. I understand you two are friends, Dash-san...but Akemi-san is right in this regard. You wouldn't be able to trust us if you always stayed with what you understand. B-But...we promised...! Please, this is for the sake of all of you...I can't understand how hard this world must be for you...but you HAVE to be willing to let us in. It's the only way you can start to accept our world. Fluttershy glanced towards her filly-hood friend, a soft sigh escaping her lips. Unfortunately, Miss Mami and Homura were right. They couldn't keep sticking to each other like this...no matter how much she felt reassured with Rainbow by her side. It hurt, but... ...Rainbow? It's...it's okay. We'll always be friends, and we're still living with Miss Homura...but we still don't understand much about this world. Maybe by making more friends here...we'll start feeling more at home here. After all, we...we can't go back to Equestria, so...this...this is our home now. Rainbow frowned, magenta eyes wavering as she looked up at her best friend. ...But, I...I... A deep sigh escaped the prismatic girl's lips. ...I get it, Flutters. Just...do your best, okay? I know things will be rough and all...so just stay awesome and kick some flank, huh? Sayaka blinked as she watched the exchange, taking in the mental link shared between them all. The transfer students sounded a lot less hesitant in the mind...it was actually kinda nice. Was there something between Dash-san and Fluttershy-san, though? What was 'flank' about? What was Equestria? Homura nodded. "...Now that the mess has been figured out, Fluttershy-san will be partnered with me. Tomoe-san, who do you think would better compliment your fighting style?" Mami put a hand to her chin in thought. "Mmm, sou ne (Let's see)...Applejack-san needs a mentor to teach her how to use her pistol...and with my knowledge of the musket, I may be able to help her out. My healing is decent enough, and my defense is strong. My ribbons give me an advantage of entrapping my opponents...for Applejack-san, I might be able to offer her the best support to compliment her teleportation magic, compared to Dash-san and Fluttershy-san." Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh, her magenta eyes falling onto the blue-haired Magical Girl, causing the other to flinch. ...I guess that means you're my partner. I'm super-fast with my wings, I provide a lot of power and reflex with the sword, and my defense is super great with my shield. In exchange...I can heal, but I don't regenerate from wounds fast. Sayaka slowly nodded. M-Mmm...My wish was based around healing, so my healing's good and I regenerate quickly and pretty easily, which...kind of makes up for the fact that... The blue-haired girl let out a sigh. It was actually embarrassing, saying your shortcomings...especially to someone she didn't know as more than a transfer student... ...Judging how my first Witch battle was, I guess I... rush into things without thinking, and I get hurt a lot? Her voice grew meek as she felt ashamed to admit to such a thing...but if it helped the people of Mitakihara...at this point she really had no choice. "...So, I guess...eeto (Um)...take care of me." She gave a brisk nod, her head lowered to the prismatic girl. She didn't seem untrustworthy, at least... "...Yeah." Rainbow nodded back, an uneasy feeling causing her to feel hesitant on the matter. For the first time since she came to this strange world...she was going to fight with someone that wasn't Fluttershy. In terms of teamwork, she had everything down pat - Rainbow Danger Dash wasn't afraid of anything! Just try and test her skills! Years on the Ponyville Weather Team taught her plenty! ...But this wasn't about the weather - this was a merciless battlefield, and everyday she'd be risking her life, while Fluttershy would be fighting her own battles where she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her to make sure she'd be safe. She'd have to focus on ensuring Miki Sayaka's safety instead, and expect she'd have her back in case things went south. To top it all off, she'd have to trust Home Run to keep Fluttershy alive and well! With how many secrets she was keeping from them while focusing on her own agenda, how could she possibly be okay with this arrangement?! Crossing her arms loosely, Mami glanced at the group before looking towards Homura. "With our groups decided, how should we divide when each of us will hunt for Witches?" Going all at once would be too risky for the city average of Witches available to hunt...so how were they going to balance six girls in one city? Homura raised an index finger in the air. "...We each do a one-day rotation. That means that Fluttershy-san and I would hunt one day, Tomoe-san and Applejack-san would get one day, and so on. There are of course exceptions in case one group is lacking in Grief Seed supply to properly maintain their Soul Gems, but that is what I propose we do in order to divide amongst six Magical Girls in one city. Each Magical Girl must try to conserve as much magic as necessary." Sayaka nodded slowly, keeping a wary eye on the dark-haired Magical Girl. As much as she was willing to trust Mami-san, it was still hard to believe that she was now working with that cold-eyed transfer student...but the circumstances were easy to believe with the whole city at risk. "...Jya (So), who's going to start first with this...rotation thingy?" She frowned. "Ara (Oh), I suppose your group is volunteering, Miki Sayaka?" The apathetic Magical Girl's lips curled into a small smile. At this point, she wasn't too sure of the risks of leaving the two to their own business without supervision, but she needed to start training with Fluttershy-san if they were going to work together. The blue-haired girl puffed her cheeks in frustration before letting out a sigh. "...Fine! I'll start off the rotation, and your group can go the next day! And I suppose Mami-san would go right after you, then. In that case..." She rose her arms up as she stretched, stepping a few feet away from the group before facing them. "...Dash-san, let's find a good place to meet up after school today!" Rainbow blinked. "Eh? Ah, hai (Yes)!" Something about meeting up after school? Probably in order to hunt, so they were going to start off the...rotation. At least she thought that's what was going on? It was a little hard to translate... "...Doko desuka? (Where?)" Sayaka put a hand to her chin. "Mmm...let's meet in front of my apartment. I'll write you an address real quick!" She reached into a school bag before pulling out a small notepad and tore a small piece of paper out, scratching a pen on the surface before holding it out to the prismatic girl. "Hai, kore! (This!) I'll be heading back down, now." The rainbow-haired Magical Girl raised a brow as she slowly took the piece of paper, glancing at the foreign characters scribbled in the blue-haired girl's handwriting. "...Hai..." She gave a small nod as she watched her make her way from the rest of group and down the stairs off of the school roof, already out of sight. ...What the hay did she just give me? --- The golden light of the sun poured down as it began to set, prismatic locks shifting with each movement as she took a glance at the piece of paper she was given, which now had additional notes added to it in order to translate, thanks to Home Run and Mami. Turns out it was an address to her apartment, if she understood them right. As she approached what looked like a tall multi-story building, she stopped short, her neck raised to take in the structure. "W-Whoa..." Rainbow breathed, noticing a large glass door that seemed to open as soon as someone approached it. This world was truly different from Equestria. Blue eyes blinked as Sayaka stepped through the automatic doors, noticing the rainbow-haired Magical Girl. "...Osoi~! (You're late!)" She started in a dash away from the entrance, stopping just in front of her new battle partner as she put her hands on her hips. "I thought we were meeting directly after school!" Rainbow Dash winced. The blue-haired girl seemed to be upset at her. Something about being late? "...Gomen, gomen (Sorry, sorry)!" She spoke in Japanese, before switching to her native language. "...Your note was hard to understand...Home Run and Mami helped me translate it..." Sayaka stopped short. She caught translate, note, hard, and something about Mami-san and the Transfer Student... "...Ahahaha, my bad!" She scratched the back of her head, giving a sheepish grin. "You couldn't read my note, huh? This language barrier thing is hard..." She let out a sigh before her lips curled into a small smile. "...Jya, Ikou (Shall we go)?" The blue pegasus nodded. "...Yeah, let's go get a Witch." She followed the energetic short-haired girl as they left the front of the apartment, her magenta eyes filled with more uncertainty as they continued on. How hard would it be to take down the Witch? There was no connection here. She didn't know if she could honestly entrust her life to this human...but maybe that was exactly what Home Run and Mami were talking about...'letting them in' or something like that. The blue-haired Magical Girl held her hand out as her blue Soul Gem glowed, magic dancing along her hand as it materialized into the egg form, a crescent on the top of its gold-framed crown. Watching it intently, she walked down the street away from the apartment, turning the corner as they entered a more crowded area filled with throngs of people speaking Japanese, all of them trying to get somewhere. Rainbow Dash took glances at her own Soul Gem, keeping it in its ring form. It was more convenient that way, to be honest. Less things to fill up your hooves...hands. Letting out a sigh, the rainbow-haired Magical Girl glanced towards the sky. It was nearly sunset, the evening lights of the city giving the area a faint glow as they crossed a bridge, heading down the stairs. "...Mmm, nothing showing on my Soul Gem...Getting anything, Sayaka?" It was a little weird to say on the tongue. Sa-ya-ka. Sayaka glanced behind her. "Hm? Ah, not yet. Mami-san told me it takes time, so...I guess we keep on walking, ne?" She gave a reassuring smile before facing her Soul Gem again, continuing on down the sidewalk away from the bridge. Eventually, it came. Magenta and blue eyes widened at the same time as they both suddenly looked at their Soul Gems, the lights pulsating as it picked up energies. With a nod, Sayaka grinned. "Kokoda! (It's here)!" Following the blue-haired Magical Girl down towards a less-populated area and stopping at what looked like a desolate alleyway, Rainbow could see her Soul Gem was pulsating faster. The source was in that alleyway...but it felt too weak to be a Witch. As the Soul Gem reached the source, the entire area of the alley grew distorted, taking them into a world covered in green solid walls, crayons raining down as they descended down the flight of stairs as the barrier's aura revealed its malicious nature to them. ...The source seems to be here...but it feels a little too weak to be a full-fledged Witch. Sayaka blinked, her eyes glancing towards her prismatic battle partner. You think so? In that case, it might just be a really strong familiar...but either way we've gotta take care of it! It'll kill people, after all! Rainbow frowned a bit, narrowing her eyes as she gave a sharp nod. ...You got it! I've got your back. "Okay!" The blue-haired Magical Girl grinned, magic surrounding her as she was surrounded by a watery aura, bubbles rising up as her body was bathed in a light-blue light, her Mitakihara school uniform being replaced by a strapless frilled blue and white bodice with gold lining, her legs being dressed in white stockings with blue belt buckles as her cream-colored sleeves were replaced with separate dark blue sleeves, her fingers covered by white gloves with blue bands. Her skirt was replaced with a blue angled skirt with a lighter blue layer draped over, a shimmering blue crescent forming on her belly. Reaching a hand to her hair, fortissimo-shaped hairpins decorated the side of her head, her neck covered by a white cape lined with gold as she pulled a blue and silver cutlass out of her chest, swinging it around as she completed her transformation, jumping out of the covers of her cape. Rainbow allowed her rainbow-hued magic to completely envelop her, her creamy uniform being replaced by her black with rainbow lining armored dress with the gold necklace resembling the Element of Loyalty appearing around her neck forming her Soul Gem, her arms and legs being decorated by red-guard armor over black boots and half-gloves as a pair of cyan-blue pegasus wings sprout from her back, a sense of peace before rainbow lightning crackles, forming her cutie-mark on her shield, a sword appearing in her other hand as she reappeared in the crayon-filled barrier. "...Alright, let's take it down!" Sayaka formed several cutlass swords in front of her as she took notice of a small scribbled creature with its tongue sticking out, sitting on a rocket as it hovered over them. "BEH~! UGHFFG UGGG!" The familiar cried out as she twitched. Okay, that thing was REALLY annoying. "Take this!" Blue eyes narrowed as she threw several cutlass swords towards the creature, the familiar gliding along as it attempted to avoid her attacks, until suddenly, a gold chain-whip with a silver and red blade struck at the swords, preventing them from hitting the familiar as it let out a screech, quickly moving away from the threat. "Hold on, just WHAT do you THINK you're doing?" A strange foreign voice filled the air in Japanese as Rainbow blinked in surprise, a red-ponytailed girl in a red and white-frilled coat landing on top of one of Sayaka's swords that was pushed away, before it dispersed in a blue light, the barrier around them folding into itself instead of collapsing, the alley reverting back to normal as the familiar flew away. "Ah, it's getting away!" Sayaka called out, starting into a pursuit after it before she suddenly tilted her head upwards, a long golden pole with a silver spear blade pressed right at her neck, causing her to flinch as she stayed in one spot a fair distance from the other strange girl, letting out a shaky breath. "Sayaka!" Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth at the sight of the red stranger. "HEY! What do you think YOU'RE doing, huh?!" She spat out in English, her anger rising as her wings flared. The red-haired girl narrowed her eyes at the prismatic Magical Girl. "Hnn...Eego (English), ka?" She mused, before her lips curled into a smirk, her tongue twisting with an accent. "...Are you a fool? That's a Familiar, not a Witch. You won't get a Grief Seed from it." The rainbow-haired girl frowned, glaring at the girl. Her English was surprisingly good...but that wasn't the point! "...Grief Seed or not, it's going to kill people if left alone! Now release my friend, or you'll have to deal with me!" She aimed her sword towards the redhead. It was strange she was calling Sayaka a friend so soon...but she was entrusted to protect her, and have her back. She wasn't going to leave her hanging! A black-cuffed hand reached into a side pocket, pulling out a taiyaki as the redhead took a bite, chewing a bit. "...So?" Red eyes shifted towards them like a predator eyeing her prey. "...Let it kill people. Eventually if you wait for it to eat...hmm...five to ten people, it'll become a Witch with its own Grief Seed. Then you can hunt for it without wasting magic." She took another bite. "If you nip it in the bud, you're hurting the economy, you know? ...The Food Chain? Didn't you learn it at school?" Sayaka gulped, catching bits and pieces of the conversation. "...Food chain...? ...What does THAT have to do with anything!?" Her lips pursed shut, still nervous about the sharp blade just an inch from her neck. The mysterious girl barked out a laugh. "...Wow, you two have got this ALL wrong." She pulled her spear back as the pole shrank to a smaller size, releasing the blue-haired Magical Girl. "...Allow me to educate you, then." Sayaka found no relief as the redhead licked her lips before walking closer, a hungry look in her eyes as she moved closer to the blue-haired girl, her red boots clacking against the hard alleyway surface. "...Weak humans get eaten by Familiars. Familiars become Witches, and then we, the superior Magical Girls, EAT the Witches." She took another hearty bite of her treat before she eyed the prismatic Magical Girl behind Sayaka. "...Circle of Life, you know?" Magenta eyes slowly widened, bile rising in her throat. "...You're...you're just...sick...!" How could anyone even LIVE with themselves if they had THAT mindset...?! She glared at her. "So what, you'll just leave people to suffer just so you can get another Grief Seed?!" "It's SURVIVAL, sister." Her ponytail shifted as she put a hand on her hip, a mocking tone in her voice. "...What, you didn't expect this gig to be all about saving people, DID you? ...Love and justice or some kind of CRAP like that?" Sayaka clenched her teeth. She understood enough. "...You...!" She swung her sword at the redhead, a clanging sound ringing through the air as her attack was blocked by the redhead's spear, her composure rather calm as she closed her eyes. "...Hey. Why don't you quit it?" She spoke in a softer tone, showing a fair amount of patience as the blue-haired girl strained against her weapon, grunting the entire time. The prismatic Magical Girl felt a chill run down her spine. This strange girl was barely even trying, and Sayaka couldn't make a dent on her, no matter how much force she was putting in. Just who WAS this girl...?! "...Well, why don't YOU cut it out?! You're the one who pounced on us, talking about the food chain!" Rainbow growled at her, gripping her sword tighter. The mysterious Magical Girl held out a hand into a shrug, keeping her spear in place with one hand. "I'm just stating the facts here, Colors. Hunting familiars wastes SO much energy that could be spent hunting for more Grief Seeds. Why waste a perfectly good Witch?" She took another bite of her taiyaki, stuffing the rest of it in her mouth. Rainbow's anger bubbled until it boiled. "Alright, you ASKED for it!" She rushed forward, getting ready to strike. Nobody treated her companions like that and got away with it! She swallowed. "...This is getting annoying." All of a sudden, red diamond barriers formed in multiple layers in front of the prismatic Magical Girl as the redhead pushed her spear forward, knocking Sayaka off balance as she twisted her body, the golden pole collapsing into a chain-whip spear as she swung it into the blue-haired girl, causing her to fly backwards, straight into the red diamond barriers and making Rainbow crash into her, red diamonds falling all around the two. "Agh!" Sayaka winced at the pain as she quickly glanced over at her battle partner. "G-guh...D-Daijoubu (Are you okay)...?" She asked the prismatic Magical Girl, struggling to slowly get up, her regenerative abilities starting to kick in. Rainbow Dash had been in crashes all her life, at all kinds of velocities...but Tartarus did her body HURT...! "Mmgh...I'll be okay, I've got good defense...!" She winced before her eyes narrowed into a glare towards the mysterious Magical Girl. Seriously, using her friend as a weapon against her? NOT. COOL. "Tch..." The redhead frowned as she watched the two slowly recover from the blow they dealt, a blue healing light with music notes surrounding Rainbow Dash as her pain slowly eased, glaring daggers at her. "An attack like THAT should've put you two out of commission for two or three weeks, at least." She shifted her posture to a firmer stance. Things were going to heat up from here. The rainbow-haired girl readied her sword, her eyes more focused as she took a glance towards her battle partner who gave a nod in return, her cutlass at the ready. "...Too bad..." Rainbow looked back at the ponytailed girl. "We're too awesome for that." They both charged at the redhead, fury in their eyes. The mysterious Magical Girl gave a sneer. "...Aww, two little kitties wanna play in the lion's den." A couple of fast reckless idiots...one had wings...but wings weren't exactly useful in an alleyway. Making a high jump into the air and over the two in mid-run, she threw her chain-whip towards the prismatic Magical Girl, causing her to yelp as she was suddenly wrapped up in chains, boots clacking against the ground as the redhead swung her prey into the blue-haired Magical Girl. Rainbow felt another blow of searing pain as she once again found herself on the alleyway floor. This girl was tough...but SHE could be tougher...! Striking with speed alone wasn't going to cut it, though...so what could she do...!? The alleyway limited her movements, so she couldn't get much momentum with her wings...unless she dived from above? Sayaka let out a growl as she started to regenerate again, jumping straight into the battle as sword and spear clashed, the ponytailed girl blocking each advance the blue-haired girl blindly made. Out of the corner of her eye, the redhead noticed the rainbow-haired girl struggling for a moment to get up before she flapped her cyan-blue wings, lifting into the air. 'Gaining momentum, I see...this rookie idiot isn't tough at all, but DANG is she persistent...! And I've also got Colors to worry about...best make quick work of the blueberry.' The mysterious Magical Girl threw a kick in between their blows, knocking Sayaka across the room as her cutlass flew out of her hand, crashing to the floor with a clanging sound. "Sayaka!" Rainbow clenched her sword tightly, rainbow lightning crackling through it as she dive-bombed towards the ponytailed girl with high momentum, slashing at her with electric energies. "Take THAT!" The redhead gasped as she quickly jumped back, wincing as while she just barely managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, the lightning cut deep into her arm, her white and black cuffed sleeve ripped in a few spots where there were now gashes. "Kch...! ...This is a game-changer..." She muttered, keeping an eye on the speedy Magical Girl. Sayaka let out a groan, slowly getting up as her regenerative abilities proceeded to help her once more...but her body was still hurting everywhere. "Kuu...!" She summoned another sword into her hand, getting ready to strike again. Rainbow flew back into the air, charging up more energy as she gave a smug smirk. "HA! Not so tough now, ARE you?!" This was good. If she kept on using momentum and lightning, they could get another dent in her! "...Oh, I'm just getting warmed UP!" The redhead used her good arm as she slammed her fist into the ground, several large spears shooting up high from the ground all in succession. The prismatic Magical Girl's eyes grew wide. "Whoa!" She quickly weaved her way through the spears, wincing as one cut deep into her left wing. "AGH...!" She cried out, flapping limply. "...Rainbow!" The blue-haired Magical Girl dashed, surrounded by blue energy as her speed increased, her eyes filled with rage as she struck at the redhead. "YOU...!" She cried out. Red eyes narrowed as the ponytailed girl quickly reformed her spear, inwardly biting her lip as cutlass clashed into the spear again with great force, a sharp pain running through her injured arm as she struggled but managed to maintain her stance. She'd been through way worse...but BOY were these idiots putting up a good fight. Glancing back at the rainbow-haired Magical Girl as she continued to deflect the blueberry's moves, she could see she was slowly lowering to the ground. Couldn't exactly fly with only one wing in great shape, after all... So that took care of her momentum...but she still had that rainbow lightning to worry about. Rainbow clenched her teeth as she landed, panting as the pain in her wing stung. It was fine though. She was used to pain. Plus, she could also be pretty fast on the ground. Blinking for a bit, magenta eyes widened as she noticed the redhead's stance as the two fought...wasn't as firm as it WAS. Giving a confident grin as a plan formed in her mind, she rushed with high speeds towards the two as she allowed herself to lean backwards, her hands reaching to touch the floor as she curved around Sayaka, black boots scrapping against the alleyway as she threw the strength of her entire legs towards the redhead's ankles. "...GAH!" The ponytailed girl felt the force of the prismatic girl's attack as she lost her balance, a sharp searing pain traveling up her legs as she crashed to the ground, the blue-haired girl's blind attack cutting deep into her shoulder as she fell, face first. The rainbow-haired Magical Girl got up from the attack, feeling a bit of pain from her drastic yet awesome move. "Ha! Got her!" She breathed out, glancing towards her battle companion. "...Daijoubu, Sayaka?" Sayaka nodded slowly as she panted, the blind fury slowly fading. "...Su...Sugoi...(Amazing)!" She grinned towards Rainbow, pumping a fist. "Sugoi, Rainbow! Kakoi~! (Cool!)" The redhead let out a groan, quickly alerting them as she attempted to get up, pushing herself up with her good arm...but her knees weren't responding... "...Kuu...not bad...rookies..." She panted, holding her torso up with her one arm. Oh, fantastic...she...she couldn't get up...! Rainbow gave a smirk as she walked closer to the downed predator. "...Sounds like it's YOU who's gonna be out of commission, Redhead." Her lips curled into a frown. "...Who ARE you, anyway?" "...Kyouko!" A velvety voice filled with concern caught their attention as another strange girl stood from the rooftop above the alley, long lusciously curled purple hair swaying in the wind as she jumped down, her maroon with white frill dress flowing with her every movement as she clenched her own spear, a silver pole with decorative engravings while the blade was a sharp light blue crystal. Narrowing her sapphire blue eyes dangerously, she glared at the two standing as she wore a necklace similar to the Element of Generosity, adorning her purple diamond Soul Gem. "...What did you DO to her, you RUFFIANS?!" She spat out in English. No. It was in Equestrian. Magenta eyes slowly widened to pinpricks as the world around her came to a halt. No. No, it couldn't be. Sayaka frowned, translating everything but ruffian. What was a ruffian? "What did WE do?! She was the one who attacked us FIRST! Who are you, anyway?!" The purple-haired girl ignored the two as she quickly bent down, reaching to help pick up her friend. "...Kyouko, are you alright!? We can get you healed as soon as we go back...!" It had to be a joke. The redhead, now known as Kyouko, let out a painful grunt as she was hoisted up. "...You idiot...I thought I told you to stay back in Kasamino, Rarity...!" She let out a cough. Rarity shook her head. "...I couldn't, darling! I had a bad feeling you were going to get hurt. Let's return to Kasamino for now. Those injuries are quite serious!" She lifted the red-haired Magical Girl, leaping up to the roof before jumping out of sight. The blue-haired Magical Girl reached out a hand. "H-Hey! Wait!" She clenched her teeth, putting her hand down as she couldn't see them anymore, clenching her fists. "...Who the heck WERE those two?! Acting like WE were in the wrong!" "...Rarity." Blue eyes blinked at the sound of her companion's voice, softer than she ever heard it before. "...Eh? Did you say something, Rainbow?" She turned around to face her. The prismatic Magical Girl looked up at where the purple-haired girl once stood, the events that just occurred replaying over and over in her head. The redhead named Kyouko. The necklace that looked like the Element of Generosity...and her voice. "...What...what should I do, Sayaka...?" Magenta eyes wavered. She felt small...and weak, her legs losing strength. "...That was...Rarity...!" Sayaka blinked again. "Eh? Y-yeah...didn't she say that...?" Her head tilted to the side. Rainbow Dash swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. "...M-my friend."
The Love of a Hybrid	pre	Pushing my body to its absolute limit, I surged ahead, leaving Willow behind as I climbed up and over the cut wood wall that blocked my way, stopping just inside the boundary of the fruit trees as I placed Evergreen gently on the ground. Placing her tree on the ground next to her body, I used my hooves and tail to dig a large hole before inserting her tree's roots into the soil. I slowed down just enough not to damage the dying plant as I packed in the dirt around the roots, praying to whatever deity I could think of for Evergreen's safety. I prayed to the forest goddess of my own people, I prayed to the god of the moon that the eastern clans believed in. I even prayed to the wrathful death goddess of the southern Bloodscale Clan, all as I watched the final flower hang onto its branch with the last of its strength. I heard hooves come up behind me as Willow fell in at my side, the fur on her shoulders raised in a threatening way as she bared her teeth at our pursuers. I turned around and spotted a collection of six pony mares, each a vibrant set of colors that flashed in my eyes for a moment as they stood in a line against us. I could tell by their body language that they were looking for a fight, but with Evergreen's life on the line I threw caution to the wind in the hopes they might help us. I gently placed a hoof on Willow's shoulder, the timberpony looking up at me with surprise as I shook my head. I turned my body to face the ponies as carefully as I could, hoping that they wouldn't attack if I didn't make myself seem like a threat. All six of them stood on four legs like Willow, although they lacked the plant parts her Timberwolf half granted her, leaving their bodies and manes as simple fur, although there were a number of other distinguishing features to capture my attention. The first one on the left was a soft yellow with a bright pink mane and tail, her face covered with most of her mane while a pair of feathered wings held tight to her flanks. Directly next to her was a regular pony with a bright gold mane and tail, her orange face spotted with small white spots around her eyes as she glared at me from under some kind of hat. The two mares in the middle of the formation had small horns sticking out of their heads, the white one's horn glowing with a soft blue light while the lavender one's lit up with a vibrant magenta. At the other end of the line was a normal pony that was pink from ears to tail, save for the bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle as she bounced in place with a large grin on her muzzle. The final member of the group was hovering above the purple one's head, her own rosy eyes narrowed at us as her multicolored mane flapped in the wind of her wings. Her bright blue body almost blended in with the sky around her, although she was still easy to spot given her rather striking coloration elsewhere. I bowed as low as I could while still keeping my upper body upright, speaking in a soft tone in the hopes that they wouldn't harm Evergreen. I was pretty sure Willow and I could fight them off, but I couldn't risk Evergreen's health with her in such a delicate state, "Please, my friend is dying. We need to get water for her tree or she won't make it another hour." Deciding to put my faith in these ponies, against my better judgement, I pressed my belly to the ground and lowered my face to my forehooves, submitting completely to their mercy as I finished, "Do what you will with me, but save Evergreen, I beg you." For a moment there was nothing but silence, and I felt my heart clench as Willow continued to growl behind me. My breath stuttered in my chest as I imagined all of the things they might do, but it seemed my gamble had paid off as I heard one of them speak in a commanding tone, "Applejack, go get some buckets of water. Rarity, help her carry them back here while the rest of us guard these creatures." I lifted my head as the orange and white ones ran off to our right, headed towards a collection of large red structures that I hadn't seen until just now. The purple one looked up at the blue flying mare and jerked her head towards the collection of structures we had just passed through, "Rainbow, get back to the library and tell Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia. I'm certain she will want to hear about this as soon as possible." The blue mare sent me a glare before turning around on the spot, "I'll be back in ten seconds flat." Her eyes locked onto me once again as they smoldered with her threat, "Don't try anything funny or I'll pound you into paste." Her threat might not have meant much to me, but the fire in the purple one's eyes made me pause as she stepped forward a few paces, her horn still lit up as she bore into my eyes with her own, "Don't move from this spot until we sort this out, or I will do everything in my power to make sure you get sent right back to the Everfree in the most painful way I can think of. Is that understood?" I placed a hoof in front of Willow as she snarled and took a step forward, her threat dying in her throat as I shook my head, "Evergreen needs our help right now, and like it or not we can't do any more other than to protect her. Stand next to her tree while I tend to her body. Let the ponies help when they return with the water, but make sure they don't cause any harm to Evergreen's tree." Willow nodded but remained silent as she walked back to sit down next to Evergreen's tree, her gaze locked on the ponies as they sat down to wait as well. I moved over and curled up my tail into a cushion so Evergreen could rest on something a bit softer than the ground, taking care to move her gently as the two ponies returned with what looked like containers made of some sort of thin grey stone. Water sloshed about inside them and I nodded to Willow as they stepped up to Evergreen's tree. The white one lowered the container that had been following her at head level, the blue glow around it fading as her horn did the same. The orange mare simply lifted the container off of her back with her mouth before stepping up to the base of the tree. Willow bared her teeth and folded her ears in a threat, although the blatant fear in her eyes must have been obvious to more then just me, given the orange mare paid it little mind other than a passing glance as she slowly poured the water around the base of Evergreen's tree. Immediately, the color began to return to the trunk of the sapling, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Evergreen's ragged breaths slowly smoothed out. The leaves on the branches fell off but were soon replaced by new buds as the last flower rapidly regained its color. The orange mare's eyes widened in what I could only call surprise as she slowly picked up the second container, adding the second round of water to the soil as the branches began to reach upwards once more while the leaves unfurled along their lengths. A few minutes passed as Evergreen's breathing grew stronger and smoother, her tree finally creating several more flowers as their soft blue petals opened into the brilliant diamond shape I had come to love. I glanced down at Evergreen and saw that her mane and tail had done the same as her tree's branches, her old leaves falling out as new buds sprouted from her head and hindquarters. While the new life was far shorter than the long flowing length we were familiar with, I had to admit she looked rather good with a short mane and tail, her eyes fluttering open as a quintet of flowers bloomed along the edge of her mane like a crown. She smiled up at me as she hugged my body with her hooves, her strength returning as she let a few tears run down her face to wet my chest fur, "Thank you, Sapphire." "Don't thank just me," I said softly as I turned us to face the ponies as the blue winged one returned with a small purple and green dragon on her back, "these two got the water your tree needed to survive. I just put it in the ground." "Well Ah recon ya'll have to have a pretty good reason ta come barging onto mah property and planting a tree without permission." The orange mare was looking at me and Evergreen with a guarded stance as her eyes flickered to Evergreen's tree once or twice, "What does this here tree even do anyway, and why is it so important to ya'll?" I glanced down at the nymph in my hooves, unsure if we should share that particular information with strangers. However, as she nodded her accent, I realized that we had already trusted her life to them. The least we could do was explain ourselves. "Evergreen and the tree are linked," I stated slowly as I lowered the nymph to her hooves, supporting her with my tail as she wobbled for a moment before turning my gaze back to the ponies, "I was told by one of the elders of her coven that if one of them dies, the other does as well." I indicated Evergreen with a hoof as the ponies' eyes widened in shock, "Evergreen's home was attacked by a dragon and we were the only ones to escape. The rest of her grove had trees that were too big to move, so Elder Lichen told me and Swift Willow to take Evergreen and her tree to safety. We hoped to find someplace safe to plant her tree before it died, but as you can see, we nearly didn't make it." I bowed to them once more, placing my muzzle against the dirt as I folded my hooves against my chest, "Thank you for saving her, even though we are strangers in your land and it seems we have caused some distress to the others of your kind. Please, don't blame Evergreen for our actions. It was only in our efforts to save her that we did what we had too." I had heard a popping sound behind me during my speech, but I had ignored it as my imagination, although when I heard a soft and motherly voice coming from behind me, I jerked in surprise before rising from my bow and spinning around. My jaw dropped in awe as I beheld the being behind me and Evergreen, and I noticed that every one of the ponies, save for the purple one, had dropped into a bow as the brilliantly white mare stepped towards me. "It would seem that Rainbow Dash's letter wasn't exaggerating when she said that a snake pony, plant pony and Timberwolf-like pony had come racing through the middle of Ponyville and planted a strange tree in Applejack's orchard." My jaw worked but I was unable to speak as the mare walked up to me, her huge wings spread wide and her long horn towering over me as her soft rose eyes locked with mine. She had to be almost twice as tall as the other mares, making her a good two hooves taller than me if I stood up straight, not counting her horn, although the most striking thing about her were the shifting colors of her mane and tail as they shifted in a nonexistent breeze. My eyes were drawn to their rippling colors almost like she was using her own form of hypnosis, and I had to jerk my gaze back to hers after a few moments of staring. Evergreen was cowering behind my back as Willow stood at my side, her hackles raised as she snarled at the huge mare, although I could tell she lacked conviction against someone that seemed to almost shine like the sun above us. The small frown that had curled the massive mare's lips slowly faded as she seemed to take in our shocked states, her wings folding against her flanks as she lowered her head to my level, "If I may be so bold, what are your names?" Closing my jaw with a click, I managed to stutter out, "M-My name is Sapphire Scales, of the Shimmerscale Clan. This here is Princess Evergreen," I indicated the quivering nymph with one hoof as she hid behind the midsection of my tail, "the last survivor of the Redwood Nymph Coven, and this is Swift Willow," I pointed to my growling companion, although she fell silent as the large mare turned her gaze upon the hybrid, "daughter of the union between a pony and a Timberwolf alpha." At the mention of Willow's lineage the other ponies gasped, their eyes widening in horror as they stared at Willow like she was diseased. The eyes of the larger mare narrowed for a moment, although they softened as I curled my tail around Willow and Evergreen in a protective manner, "You seem to be a long way from home, Sapphire Scales of the Shimmerscale Clan. If I may ask, what brings you to the land of ponies and outside of the Everfree Forest?" I tilted my head in slight confusion as I processed the name she had just used, "Everfree Forest? My kind have always called it the Great Forest, although I guess different species might call it different names." I shook my head to clear it before replying, "To answer your question, we're on a journey to find something, or rather, someone. We lamia have a magical sense that we call the Mating Bond that tells us where our destined mate is. We only get it once in our lives, and it comes about as soon as we come of age. I felt my Mating Bond roughly two and a half weeks ago, directing me outside of my clan's hunting grounds and into the unknown. I found Willow here not long after I left," I glanced down at my friend for a moment, sharing a smile before returning my attention to the white mare, "she had been instructed by her pack to bring back enough food to feed them, or else she would become their next kill." I winced as even the large mare gasped in horror, the looks of suspicion that had once been leveled at Willow now changing to that of sympathy. Willow seemed to wilt under their gaze, and I ran my tail over her back in a soothing manner for a few seconds before continuing, "We traveled together for a while after that, coming across Evergreen's coven a little under a week into our journey." My face fell as I pulled the shivering nymph out from behind me and hugged her against my chest, allowing her to hide her face in my fur as I spoke, "We were only there for a few hours before a dragon came looking for the magical fruit that the coven grew. At first it looked like he would simply get what he wanted and leave, but we soon found out we were wrong." Evergreen began sobbing again as the memories began to run through our minds, and I could see the stances of the ponies softening as their eyes widened, "Evergreen's tree was the only one that was small enough to move, and even then, we barely escaped with our lives. The rest of the grove stayed behind to cover our escape, succumbing to the dragon's breath as their trees burned to the ground around them." I held Evergreen tighter as she sobbed in my embrace, a single tear running down my face as I looked up at the white mare, "She is the only survivor, and if it weren't for your help today, she would have certainly died just like the rest of her coven." The white mare nodded slowly, her eyes traveling over our little trio before turning to the purple mare, "Twilight, I am placing these beings under your care. See to it they can rest and recover from their ordeal while I see to the townsfolk." Her wings spread wide as she turned once again to Evergreen, Willow and I, "I am placing a measure of faith in you three, but I warn you. If any harm comes to my little ponies because of you, there will be no place you can hide where I cannot find you." I swallowed thickly as her powerful gaze bore into me, nodding my head quickly as she stepped back and took to the air, flying over our heads before coming down in the middle of the structures behind us. I turned my attention to the purple mare, or Twilight, I guess she was called, as she walked up to us and sat down with a stern light in her eyes. "We can stay here for now while Princess Evergreen recovers," she stated bluntly, the other ponies taking up positions around us while the small purple dragon stood next to her, "we'll figure out what to do with you once Princess Celestia comes back. For now, get some rest and we'll make sure none of the townsfolk do anything to harm you or the tree you planted." Taking a moment to stare into her magenta eyes, I found nothing more than a rock-solid light of determination, although there was a slight flicker of fear that she tried to hide as she met my gaze. I nodded as I turned to Willow, curling my tail around the timberpony as I set her down next to Evergreen on my curled-up tail, "Go ahead and get some sleep, girls. We've been going for several days straight and Evergreen still needs to recover after what she went through. I'll keep watch so don't worry about anything happening." I leveled my gaze on the ponies around us in a blatant threat, "No one is going to hurt you while I'm around." The rainbow-maned mare scoffed, but I ignored her as Willow and Evergreen rested their heads on their forehooves, closing their eyes as they curled up together on my tail. I leaned my back against one of the nearby trees so I could keep my eyes on all of the ponies at once. Yet as I did my best to keep my eyes from drooping, the low amount of food in my stomach and the rush of our mad dash wearing off threatened to send me to sleep. Just as I was making progress with keeping my eyes open, I felt a hoof run through my mane in a very soothing manner, a soft voice speaking into my ear as a pair of bright teal eyes hovered in front of me. "It's okay now," her voice was tender and caring as my eyes drooped once more, my brain barely able to make out her long pink mane and her yellow fur as she hovered in front of my muzzle with her wings softly beating the air, "you're safe. We won't hurt you or your friends, I promise. Get some sleep and you'll feel a lot better once you wake up." It was a battle I was destined to lose. Between the lack of food in my system and the soft touch of the mare before me, my eyes were closing faster than I could open them, and I felt my mind slipping away as my body slumped against the bark of the tree behind me. The last thing I was aware of was the soft touch of what I thought was lips against my forehead, although it was so soft it could have easily been my imagination. The warmth of Evergreen and Willow's bodies against my tail soothed my aching muscles, and I passed out completely before I could do anything further to stop it.
The Love of a Hybrid	7 - Welcome to Ponyville	My mind was slow to process what was going on as my eyes struggled to open. My back was pressed against something hard and I could feel two warm bodies resting on top of my tail. Whispered voices met my twitching ears as I forced myself back to wakefulness, and as I pushed into an upright position I heard the conversation suddenly cut off. Feeling it was time to know what was happening around me, I rubbed a hoof over my eyes and down my muzzle before opening them. My gaze travelled over the fruit trees that surrounded us on almost every side, the white wooden barrier cutting us off from the wide trail that ran past the grove behind us as my eyes focused on the beings nearby. The seven ponies and the baby dragon from before were grouped together off to one side, their eyes locked on me as I stretched the kinks out of my back. I glanced down and saw that both Willow and Evergreen were still out cold, and I decided not to wake them as I turned my attention back to the ponies. "So, what's going on over there?" I whispered as I felt my spine pop a few times in my pony half, "Are you planning on what to do with us now that we're no longer causing a panic in your clan?" The purple mare, Twilight if I remembered correctly, was opening her mouth to speak when the larger white mare held a hoof to her mouth, "We have come to a decision as to what shall be done with you and your companions. Given you have nowhere to stay, I have taken the liberty of assigning you to one of the vacant houses on the edge of Ponyville." She must have seen the confusion in my gaze, because she indicated the collection of structures behind us with one wing, "Ponyville is the town that you passed through on your way here. This land belongs to Applejack and her family, so unless you were to live in her home, you cannot stay here." "But what about Evergreen's tree?" I asked, still keeping my voice low to avoid waking my friends, "It can't leave this place until it has had time to recover from being uprooted for so long. Who will guard it if none of us are allowed to enter this area?" The mare's lips curled slightly into a smile as she replied, "We have spoken about that, and Applejack has agreed to protect and care for the tree in your place until it can be safely moved to your new home." I glanced down at the slumbering nymph, not really sure if I should leave something so important in the care of strangers. After all, we just met these ponies, and I didn't know if we could trust them with something so dangerous. Yet, they could easily have harmed the tree while we were out, so I guess a measure of trust had already been established between our groups. I sighed as I turned my attention back to the giant mare, my voice hesitant as I spoke. "Let me speak to this, Applejack, so I can see for myself who is going to be looking after Evergreen's tree." There was no room for negotiation in my tone, and I could see that the ponies before me seemed to understand that. They stepped aside to reveal the orange mare, who walked forward while removing her hat from her head. "Ah didn't know how important yer tree was when ya'll first came charging onto mah property, but now that Ah know you have nothing to fear for your friend's health. Ya'll have mah word as an Apple that no harm will come to yer tree until it can be safely moved to wherever it is ya'll settle down and call home." She placed her hat back where it had been before walking up to me and offering me her hoof, "Ah'll care for Evergreen's tree like it was mah own flesh and blood until ya find a place safe enough to move her to. Ya'll can count on me and mah family, and that's the honest truth." I started into her emerald eyes for several moments, gauging her words against her resolve. Yet she never faltered in her conviction, her gaze remaining locked with mine and her hoof steady as she waited for my response. Remembering the trust we had already shown them by asking them to help save Evergreen, I held out my own hoof and bumped it against hers, shaking it up and down once before pulling back. "Thank you, Applejack. I am trusting something very important to your care." I leaned in and bared my fangs at the orange mare in warning, "Harm Evergreen or her tree in any way and I will personally make your last moments an exercise in agony. Am I clear?" She barely flinched at the sight of my fangs, although there was a slight tremor in her tone as she nodded, "Crystal." "Oh, how rude of us," the white mare with the purple mane spoke up as she placed a hoof against her cheek, "we forgot to introduce ourselves to all of you. Um," she indicated my sleeping companions with her gaze, "wouldn't it be prudent to wake then up for this? It is a rather rare event that anypony gets to meet the Princess of the land in person." I lifted my eyebrow as I started her into submission, "And who exactly is this princess that we get to meet? You?" The posh mare blushed bright red about the cheeks as her taller companion chuckled, "No, that would be me Lady Rarity is referring to." She stepped forward and inclined her head, her regalia shining in the sunlight as she spoke in a powerful yet calm voice, "I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of the land of Equestria, Diarch of the Day and Steward of the Sun." Her formal stance softened slightly as she winked at me, "Between us, I would rather if you simply called me Celestia. Titles can be rather bothersome things, wouldn't you agree?" My eyes widened in shock at the very idea that royalty was cracking a joke at my expense, although I suppose it was something I was partly familiar with, given that I never referred to Evergreen by her title when we were traveling together. I allowed my lips to crack into a smile as I bowed my head and upper body, "It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Celestia." I turned my head towards the others, "I already know Twilight, Applejack, and now Rarity, but what about the rest of you?" The bright blue mare flew up and performed a few flips though the air, a confident smirk on her lips as she replied, "Name's Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in Equestria and the only one to ever perform the legendary Sonic Rainboom." She crossed her forehooves over her chest as she cast a smug look my way from her lofty position over the others, "Pretty cool, right?" I rolled my eyes and chose to ignore her boasting, turning my attention to the timid yellow mare who was trying to hide behind the bouncing pink one. "And your name might be?" The pegasus squeaked in fright and hid behind her mane, although she was quickly pushed forward by the boisterous pink mare as the second pony's mouth ran like she didn't need to breathe. "Come on Fluttershy, go one and introduce yourself to the nice snake-pony. Oh wait, I just did that for you, shoot, now I'll need to let somepony else introduce me or else it won't be fair for everypony else for getting to introduce themselves to you." She sucked in another breath to continue but was cut off as Twilight's horn ignited in a bright pink glow, a similar glow forcing the mare's mouth shut as the others breathed a sigh of relief. "I think that's enough for now Pinkie," Twilight stated as she released her companion's mouth, Fluttershy taking that particular moment to move behind Rarity as the bouncing pink mare turned her attention towards Twilight. "Thanks Twilight, now I don't need to introduce myself to Sapphy." She draped a hoof over the other mare's shoulders as everyone else took on confused expressions, my own eyebrows rising at the adaptation of my name, "Now we can continue without it being unfair for anypony." For a moment Twilight simply gaped at Pinkie, her mind apparently having to reboot after the confusion caused by her companion's antics. Yet, she managed to get herself back under control as the group turned their attention to me, their expressions seeming to indicate an expectation of some sort. For a moment I wasn't sure what it was they wanted from me, but then Celestia nodded towards my sleeping friends, who were still oblivious to what was happening around them. I nodded my understanding and tapped Willow on the shoulder, the timberpony waking in a rush as she jumped to her hooves and looked around. "Who, what, where?" Her eyes locked on the others before turning back to me, her head tilting to one side as she spoke, "Did I miss something?" I nodded, shaking Evergreen gently as the nymph pulled herself into the waking world, "The ponies were just introducing themselves and explaining what was going to happen to us now that we've entered their land." Evergreen was far slower to rise than Willow, although she seemed to become much more alert as she saw the collection of ponies near to her tree. Her wings flared as the blades were directed at the ponies, but I was able to keep her still as I placed a hoof on her shoulder, shaking my head slowly as she glanced up at me in confusion. "They aren't going to harm your tree, Evergreen." I nodded to Applejack as Evergreen's gaze followed my motion, "Applejack has agreed to care for your other half while we get settled into a safer location." Evergreen looked over the orange mare for a moment before nodding, although she kept her wings flared as I turned my attention back to the ponies, "Evergreen, Willow, this is Princess Celestia." I pointed towards the towering mare as my companion's eyes widened, their bodies dropping into identical bows as Evergreen's wings finally folded back against her flanks. "Please forgive us Your Highness," Evergreen said from her bowed position as she glanced up at the monarch between her lashes, "we meant no disrespect by being cautious. It is only because of the dangers we have faced together that has made us wary of strangers." Willow murmured her agreement, her own body held low to the ground as she revealed her neck to the taller mare in submission. I was rather surprised to see that from the normally combative and confident hybrid, although if my senses were telling me anything, it was that the largest of the ponies was by far the most powerful, and not just in physical strength either. Celestia seemed to have an aura that demanded respect, and yet it also seemed to soothe rather than frighten those who were enveloped in its radiant glow. Celestia smiled and gestured towards my companions with a hoof, "Please rise. You are not my subjects, and therefore do not need to show such subservient behavior towards me. While the gesture is appreciated, it is not needed nor desired on my part. You are your own beings and should not be forced to bow to one who does not lead your people." Her smile took on a slightly more mirthful shape as she turned her attention to Evergreen, "Besides, one of you is a royal herself, or had you forgotten that young Evergreen?" Now it was Evergreen's turn to blush, her legs straightening as she averted her gaze and tried to hide behind her too-short mane, "Oh, I guess that's correct. I'm not used to being given respect from beings that aren't part of my coven." Willow was a bit more forward as she stood up and walked over to Celestia, tilting her head up to stare at the mare's eyes as the Princess looked down at the hybrid, "So we don't need to treat you like our alpha while we are in your lands? That's so weird, because back in my pack any wolf that wished to enter our territory had to submit to my alpha's demands or risk being attacked and driven off." The ponies gaped at Willow like she had just kicked their ruler in the face, although Celestia simply lowered her head to Willow's level as she replied, "While those may have been the laws of your past life, you need not fear harm from me or any of the beings around you. We ponies are a mostly peaceful race and would rather avoid conflict if at all possible." Celestia turned her attention back to me, "Now, I believe you were going to finish the introductions before we showed you to your temporary home?" I nodded, bringing Willow and Evergreen up to speed as I pointed out each of the ponies in turn. Twilight corrected me in saying that her full name was Twilight Sparkle, a strange name but then again who was I to judge, and that the baby dragon at her side was called Spike. Pinkie gave a long and complex string of words before stating that we could just call her Pinkie Pie instead of her full name. I could barely understand what I had just heard, let alone repeat it, so I wisely accepted the mare's offer of using a shorter version. With that out of the way, Celestia turned around and led us back over the wooden barrier that stood between the orchard and the wide trail, the other mares following at a close range as Willow and Evergreen fell in at my sides. We travelled back through the collection of structures, or town as Celestia had called it, seeing more of the ponies as they cautiously watched from openings in the sides of said structures. Many waved to the Princess with wide smiles, although as soon as they spotted us their expressions were quick to shift to ones of fear or suspicion. I chose to ignore them as we exited the town on the side near the Great Forest, our escort leading us along a slightly less wide trail that wound along the edge of the forest in a northern direction. For a moment I thought we were going to enter the woods, but I was proven wrong when we came up to yet another structure, slightly larger than the ones we had seen in town but still made of wood and covered in dead grass on top. The openings in the sides were unadorned by the wooden barriers that some of the structures in town had, and the south wall was mostly covered in trailing vines that wound up the wood in droves. All and all, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. I had never seen anything like it before, and judging from my friend's expressions, neither had they. Rarity stepped up to my left and glanced up at me with a confused look, "Well, aren't you going to go in?" I looked down at her with the same expression, "Go in? How? There is a wall of wood in our path and the openings on the sides are far too small for me to squeeze through." The alabaster mare's eyes narrowed as she walked up to the rectangular block of wood that sat in the middle of the wall before us, her horn glowing as it twisted a small golden bump I hadn't noticed before. The block swung inward, revealing a hole in the wall that all of us could enter or exit through, and I could feel the shock rolling off me and my friends in waves as our jaws hung low. Rarity tilted her head as she shifted her gaze from me to my companions and back again, "Why do you look like I've just done the impossible? It's just a simple door. Every house in Equestria has one, many in fact if you count the ones usually inside the house." "What's a house?" Willow asked, earning multiple stupefied expressions as Rarity held a hoof to her mouth. "Why, this is a house," she indicated the structure behind her with a hoof, "a place where ponies can live without having to resort to sleeping on the dirty ground or out in the nasty weather." Her gaze returned to us as she seemed to realize something, "What would you normally call home back in your lands?" "Sleep in a cave or in a thicket of bushes with my pack." Willow replied. "I just normally rest inside my tree." Evergreen muttered, jerking slightly as the ponies gaped at her, "What? The tree and I are one and the same. We nymphs usually stay hidden unless we have no other choice. It's not my fault my other half is all the way on the other side of town." "And you, Sapphire?" Rarity asked, sounding almost afraid of my answer. "My clan claimed a grove of trees far before I was born," I replied, "every family lives in the branches of a single tree as long as there is enough room. We sleep in the canopy and come down to the forest floor during the day to hunt and to interact with each other." The ponies all looked between one another with uncertain glances, although Celestia seemed to be taking it all in stride. "Perhaps it would be best is you showed our new friends how a house works. Given they have never encountered Equestrian ways of life, I am sure they could use a bit of help getting settled." Twilight beamed as she began pulling me forward by a hoof, Pinkie taking up my other as Willow and Evergreen were directed into the structure by the other mares. "Come on Sapphy," Pinkie said with an equally wide smile, "we got to get everypony comfortable before I can give you your big Welcome-to-Equestria-and-happy-house-warming Party!" Willow and Evergreen shared another confused look as we were directed into the house, our eyes taking in the large enclosed space as the duo turned back to Pinkie, "What's a party?" The pink mare gasped like we had attacked her, her body freezing in place as her jaw hung literally to the floor. The other mares backed up slightly as Pinkie seemed to go through a small mental episode, her body twitching in odd places before taking in a deep breath and calming her features. "So, you've never had a party thrown for you," her voice had become eerily calm, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as she lifted a completely blank expression to look at me, "is that correct?" Not really sure what to do, given the rather frightened looks the other mares were giving their companion, "Umm, no?" I flinched, expecting to somehow set off the apparently unhinged mare, but her reaction was not what I expected. Instead of going ballistic like I thought she was going to, she simply nodded, walked past Celestia without even bouncing once, and glanced over her shoulder at the rest of us with her still blank face, "Tomorrow night, you are going to get the party of your life to make up for all the ones you've missed." All at once, her sparky attitude came back as she beamed at us, "See you all later! I've got work to do!" With that she rushed off at blinding speeds, leaving the rest of us to stare after her in awe and a little fright. "I know that was just Pinkie being Pinkie," Rainbow said as she glanced at the others, "but should we be worried about what she's going to do? You all remember what happened when she and Cheese Sandwich got into a competition to create the biggest party ever for me." "While I think your friend's reaction might warrant some caution," Celestia said as she walked past us and into the center of the space, "she means the best and would never do anything to harm others. That much I know from Twilight's letters and from my own experiences with her. She'll be creating quite the party for Sapphire and her friends, but I don't think she will go too far with what she puts together." She glanced over her shoulder at our group with a serene smile, "Now, how about we get back to the tour? I'm certain Sapphire, Evergreen and Willow are looking forward to seeing what their new home will be like while they are staying in our lands." With that rather effective balm to our frazzled nerves, the mares all jumped at the chance to show me and my friends everything the house could offer, one room at a time. We all were amazed by what we were shown, from the idea of contained fire to keep the house warm in winter to the very concept of controlling the flow of water with the simple turning of a knob. Willow especially thought that the cleaning room was especially interesting, taking a drink from a provided bowl of water before being politely pulled back by Fluttershy. The normally timid mare whispered something into the timberpony's ear, causing Willow to jerk her head back at the bowl before sticking out her tongue and making a disgusted face. I was tempted to ask what she had been told but a pointed look sent my way told me that we would have that conversation later. All and all, the biggest thing to me was the fact that we wouldn't be sleeping on the wooden floor. After climbing up a flight of stairs (Twilight told us what they were called as she led us up them), we came to a set of rooms that all shared the same basic design. They all possessed openings in their outer walls, windows if I remembered correctly, and had several hunks of wood that served various purposes. The furniture, as Rarity was quick to point out, could be used to store things that we got for ourselves like clothing and other such items, although why we would ever need such things was apparently lost on the mare. It was in said rooms that I found my newest wonder of pony life, beds. Soft, comforting blocks that were stuffed with feathers and covered in thin pieces of fabric to ward off the cold at night, my mind was in bliss as my tail coiled up on the large surface and I couldn't help but sigh as I rested my head on the pillows I had piled around me. Willow and Evergreen were a bit skeptical at first, but after I pulled them up onto the squishy surface with my tail, they too quickly fell into contented bliss as the ponies slowly filed out of the room. "We'll be around tomorrow morning to check on you. We'll go over some of the other important things you'll need to know to live in pony society once you've gotten some rest." Twilight closed the door softly as she turned off the lights overhead, plunging us into near darkness as the sun began to set through the open window on our right. I let out a content sigh as I wrapped Willow up in my tail, coiling her from hooves to chin but not constricting as I rested her on my left side. I left a couple rings of coils open for Evergreen if she so wanted, having never done so before for the nymph. Normally she had slept inside her tree, but with that all the way across town I figured having us close by would help her relax. She hesitated for a moment before taking a slow step forward, lifting my coils up and over her body with her front hooves before lying down on her stomach. I pulled in the slack until my tail was wrapped around her in a snug but gentle embrace, and she sighed as her eyes fluttered for a moment, "Oh this is wonderful. Why haven't I ever had you do this before?" "Because you were always sleeping inside your tree while we were on the move," I countered with a slight grin, "You never gave me the chance to try before you would disappear each night." The mare nodded in thought as she rested her head on one of the pillows around us, her eyes closing as a smile formed on her lips, "Well I guess I've found a new place to sleep. This is far better than sleeping as part of my tree." "Oh?" I raised my eyebrow as one of her eyes cracked open to look at me, "And why is that?" Her lips pulled back further to reveal her teeth as her smile grew, "Because I trust you to take care of me as I sleep. My tree can't do anything to help me if I come into danger during the night. I trust you to protect me, Sapphire, just as you promised to do so to Elder Lichen." She reached out with her muzzle and rubbed it against my cheek softly, pulling back slightly as I held a hoof to my cheek, "Thank you for doing all of this to save me after my coven died. I don't think I've ever actually said that before now." I felt my cheeks heating up from both her words and her actions, "Well, I, umm. You really don't need to thank me, Evergreen. I was just doing what anyone would have done if given the chance." Evergreen giggled softly as she nuzzled against my cheek again, pressing a soft kiss there before pulling back once more, "Somehow I don't think that's true, but I'll let it go for now, so we can get some sleep." She rubbed her cheek against my tail as the coils warmed up around her body, murmuring in contentment as she whispered to me, "Goodnight, Sapphire. Goodnight, Willow. See you in the morning." "Night Evergreen." Willow echoed as she dragged a soft lick up the side of my face, purring slightly as I turned around and returned the gesture between her ears, "Night Sapphire." I felt my heart warming at the love and care these two were sharing with me, and I couldn't help the single tear that ran down my face as I watched them fall asleep in my coils, completely trusting of me and my ability to protect them, "Goodnight girls." I pressed a soft kiss to each of their foreheads before pulling them close and resting my own head on the pillows behind me, "I don't know what I would do without you now that we're together. I promise I will protect you and earn the trust you have in me. No one will ever bring you harm, not as long as I have anything to say about it." With that the sun finally set and the soft silver glow of the moon spread over the land, falling over our intertwined bodies as we fell into a peaceful slumber. I had no idea what was going to happen next, but with my Mating Bond pulling at my heart stronger than ever, I had a feeling things were finally going to start working in our favor.
The Love of a Hybrid	8 - The Rules of the Land	My mind was slow to return to the land of the waking, such was the level of comfort I felt with my closest friends wrapped in my coils as their body heat soaked into my scales. I rolled my pony half over to turn away from the glaring sunlight as I tried to go back to sleep, only to bump my muzzle against Willow's as the timberpony giggled softly. I opened my eyes to see that Willow was already awake, although the slight droop in her gaze showed she was more than comfortable where she was for the time being. I returned her smile as she shifted slightly in my coils, sending delightful shivers up my spine as her fur and bark gently rubbed against my belly scales. "Good morning Sapphire," Willow whispered as she bent forward and licked up my face between my eyes and over my left ear, "Sleep well?" I nodded as I leaned forward, returning her affections with a lick of my own as I dragged my tongue over the side of her neck and up her left cheek. Willow purred in contentment as she closed her eyes once more, snuggling against my tail as I pulled it just a bit tighter around her body and rippled my coils a few times to massage her from hooves to neck. She let out a giant yawn before wiggling a bit, "Stop that. I don't want to go back to sleep." I giggled as I kept up my massage, making her groan softly as her muscles turned to mush under my tender yet firm ministrations, "I didn't hear any complaints the last time I did this for you. Are you saying you really don't like my coils squeezing you over and over like this?" I knew what her answer would be, but I couldn't help teasing her as she struggled to fight against the soothing embrace of my tail and remain awake. "No, I love it when you do this," she replied as she shifted again, managing to free one of her front hooves as she pulled herself out of the cocoon I had encased her in. "I just really need to get up before I make a mess in our nice new bed." Realizing what she was talking about, my tail shifted off of her completely just as she got her upper half free of my coils, leaving me feeling slightly lacking as the timberpony jumped off the bed and made her way into the washroom. She closed the door behind her and a minute later I heard the sounds of rushing water, followed by Willow's return as she climbed back up onto the bed. She glanced at the still slumbering Evergreen as she picked up a few sections of my tail and draped them over her body, allowing me to pull her close again as my coils secured her legs to her sides. It wasn't a neat cocoon like before, but just as effective as her eyes began to flutter closed once again. She smiled as she leaned in and nuzzled against my cheek with her own, whispering into my ear before pulling back, "You should give Evergreen the same treatment when she wakes up. I'd bet she would love to feel your tail melting her body like that." I glanced over my shoulder at the sleeping nymph, a soft smile on her lips as she rested in complete peace, secured from neck to tail in a perfect cocoon with a thick section of my tail supporting her head like a living pillow. I got a devious idea in my head, and I allowed my grin to turn into a smirk as I flicked my eyes back towards Willow. The hybrid must have realized what I planned to do, and she returned my smirk as she turned her attention to Evergreen, "If you're going to do what I think you're doing. I can't wait to see how far it goes before she wakes up." I nodded, shifting until my upper body was in an upright position, leaning slightly over Evergreen as I began to move my tail around the sleeping nymph. At first, I kept my movements slow and gentle, barely squeezing or shifting the sections side to side to let her get used to the sensation. Her mouth parted in a sigh but made no other motions, spurring me on to greater action as I upped the strength of my squeezes slightly. Her mouth was still open, but her lips curled into a smile as she murmured in her slumber, shifting against my tail as her legs rubbed against my belly scales. I hummed in pleasure as her soft body sent a totally different sensation running up my spine compared to Willow's earlier movements, and I upped the strength of my massage once more as I began to actively squeeze and relax my coils around her body. My tail twisted and rotated around her frame as Evergreen let out a breathy moan, her breathing rushing in and out of her body in time with my squeezes as my coils pushed the air from her lungs and then allowed it to enter again. I kept this up for several minutes, Willow grinning all the while as she snuggled into her own sections of my tail, her eyes locked on the actively moaning and panting nymph as I turned her body into mush. My smirk became almost predatory as the scent of Willow's arousal became noticeable as the timberpony began rubbing herself against a section of my tail, and I glanced over at her as I continued my attentions to Evergreen. "You're a naughty mare," I admonished her, the hybrid making no effort to stop as she watched every move I made around Evergreen's body, "getting excited watching my coils squeeze and massage someone else as they moan and pant in my grip." Willow's eyes had begun to glaze over in lust, and I tightened my tail around her body to prevent her from touching herself, a more dominant side coming to the fore as I leaned over the now panting mare. "Do you want me to do the same to you? Would you like me to make you feel amazing pleasure like what I'm giving Evergreen?" She nodded her head sluggishly, her mind fogged over in lust as she weakly struggled against my coils. She wasn't really trying, I could tell, but it was all part of the act as she submitted to my will. "Please, Sapphire, make me feel good like you did in that cave." Her voice was soft and pleading as the scent of her arousal was joined by another, this one coming from the wrapped-up nymph behind me. I glanced towards the moaning puddle that had once been Evergreen, noticing that the nymph was actively trying to bring her forehooves towards the growing wet spot between her hind legs. I grinned deviously as I tightened my tail around her to halt her movements, causing Evergreen to whine in her sleep but not to awaken as I kept up my massage over the rest of her body. One section of the cocoon kept her from touching herself as I turned my attention back to Willow, who was no longer fighting my tail as she gazed up at me with a heated gaze. "Do you want me to please you like I did before," I whispered as I leaned to the side, revealing the moaning and panting form of Evergreen as my tail continued to tighten and release around her heating frame, "or would you rather see how long I can keep doing this before Evergreen wakes up?" Willow looked over at Evergreen before turning back to me, asking in a completely submissive tone, "Will I be allowed to please myself, Mistress?" I started in slight surprise, wondering why she had called me that when she wasn't under my hypnosis. I pondered her actions for a moment before coming to the conclusion that she remembered what had happened while she was under my spell, and my actions this morning were bringing out some of the same behaviors. I smiled to myself as I turned my attention back to Willow, the timberpony watching me expectantly as she awaited my answer. "How about we play a game?" I asked, her ears snapping to attention as her eyes widened slightly, "You can watch all you like, but you can't touch yourself or do anything other than listen to Evergreen as I attend to her. If you can last until she either climaxes or wakes up without giving in, then the next time we do something like this, I'll make every second a moment in paradise. Do we have a deal?" Willow eagerly nodded, climbing out from under my tail as she walked over to Evergreen's coil prison, laying down on her belly to hide her obvious arousal as she watched my actions with rapt attention. I turned my full attention to the moaning and panting nymph in my grip, feeling her crotch absolutely soaking the lower half of her cocoon as my tail squeezed her body into paste. Somehow, she hadn't woken up, but I had a feeling it was a rapidly losing battle. So, I sped up my tail's movements again, squeezing until her face began to turn pale from lack of air before releasing again, her lungs surging full of air as her moans where interrupted by a loud gasp. I felt the moisture on my tail rapidly increase after that squeeze, and I realized that some part of Evergreen must be liking the fact that she could barely breathe. Glancing at Willow to make sure she was paying attention, and wasn't doing anything to herself, I squeezed Evergreen even tighter before holding her in that position, the tint of her face changing towards a paler green as her mouth gaped in a breathless gasp. I felt a shudder run over her entire body as I finally released her, the gasp of air returning to her lungs followed by a loud scream as her body shook in climax. Her body slumped in my coils as she came down from her high, my tail falling still as I glanced over at Willow. The poor mare hadn't been able to stop herself and had been actively rubbing against her own body with a hoof that she had tired to sneak under her belly without my notice. Her eyes were rolled back as she came down from her own high, her gaze returning to me only to widen as I smirked at her. "Seems like you lost our little bet, Willow." I said in an admonishing tone as I unwrapped Evergreen and placed the wet sections of my tail in front of the timberpony, "As punishment for losing, you have to clean up the mess that your desires created." I softened the playful glare with a smile as she shifted forward to sniff the sweet-scented liquid. "If it makes you feel any better, I think Evergreen might like to join you the next time we do something like this, if you can convince her to do so." Willow's sheepish expression shifted to one of excitement as she began to slowly lick up Evergreen's arousal, her touch sending ripples up my spine as she playfully rubbed her tongue into the ridges between my belly scales. I hummed as I rubbed her between the ears and leaned down to sample the fluid she hadn't gotten to yet, the sweet flavor of nectar running over my taste buds as the scent of honeysuckle reached my muzzle. I decided I wasn't going to let Willow have all the spoils and ran my tongue over the rest of my tail, running my tongue over Willow's cheeks as we came close to one another in a teasing motion before pulling back to avoid her playful nip in my direction. Once my tail was clean again, we turned our attention to Evergreen as the nymph began to shift and rub at her eyes with a hoof, her wings stretching slightly as she opened her eyes and let out a wide yawn, "Oh, Sapphire, I had the most amazing dream last night. I might never sleep in my tree again if your tail proves to be that comfortable each night." She glanced at Willow and I, only to pause as she sniffed the air once or twice. She glanced down her own body and then blushed a vibrant emerald as her tail curled up in a pathetic attempt to hide the results of my earlier actions. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to, that is, I just -," she trailed off into nothing as she tried to hide her embarrassment by pulling down what little of her mane there was to try and cover her face, although it wasn't nearly as effective as she might have wanted. Willow and I shared a look, one that said under no circumstances would we ever tell Evergreen what it was we had done. With that settled, I turned towards the distraught nymph and pulled her chest against mine, resting my chin on top of her head between her ears as I rubbed her back with my hooves and gently shushed her. "It's alright, Evergreen." I murmured in a comforting tone, "I don't mind. If anything, I'm flattered that you found my coils to be so," I cleared my throat to clear the lump that formed as I held back my chuckles, "comfortable." Evergreen's blush grew even worse at my words, and she hid her face in my chest fur as she muttered obscenities that I could barely hear. Willow walked up and wrapped her hooves around Evergreen's other side as we huddled together on the bed, just being with one another as Evergreen got herself under control. Our moment only lasted for a few minutes before a trio of loud knocks sounded from below, dragging us back to reality as Willow and I released the now calm nymph. "What was that?" Willow asked, her hackles rising as she glanced around for threats, "Is something attacking our new home?" "I don't think so," I replied, slithering off the bed and moving over to the door that led to the hallway, "it sounded more like someone was knocking on the front door." I looked back as Willow shifted to follow me, although I noticed that Evergreen seemed to be a bit shaken by the sudden turn of events, "Why don't you stay here and protect Evergreen if it turns out to be a threat? I can handle whatever it is until you can get her out of the back door and into the forest if we need to run." The timberpony nodded as she climbed back up onto the bed, sitting tall and alert as she guarded the shaking nymph. Evergreen flashed me a grateful glance before ducking under one of the sheets to hide herself as I moved through the door and into the hall, a second round of knocks echoing from down the stairs as I moved carefully through the house. Tasting the air to try and tell who it might be at the door, I picked up several scents, although given the large number and close proximity I couldn't identify any of them. So, as carefully as I could, I move up to the door and pressed my ear against the wood, listening for anything outside for a few moments. "Do you think they left without saying goodbye?" I heard a familiar soft voice ask as I listened through the wood. It was followed by a much louder and clearer drawl as Applejack replied to who I assumed to be Fluttershy. "They wouldn't leave without Evergreen's tree, and it's still back at mah farm where we planted it yesterday." I jerked back as another trio of knocks made my ears ring and my head ache slightly as I pulled back from the door to rub my head with a hoof, "Hey Sapphire, Evergreen, Willow, any of ya'll awake in there?!" I used my tail to turn the knob and open the door, giving the orange mare in front of me a soul look as I rubbed my ear, "Yes, we're awake, and thanks for ringing my ears for me after I just woke up. It really helps to get my mind going when my head feels like it's been pounded against a tree." Applejack had the decency to look chastised, although I was pulled away from the farm mare as I noticed that all of the other mares from before were present as well, minus Princess Celestia. Spike was also missing, although I figured that since he worked with Twilight, he might have other things to do. Rarity walked up and asked in a politer tone, "If it wouldn't be too forward of us to ask, might we come inside? There are some important things we must discuss before we let you girls wander around the town and interact with other ponies. It's nothing bad, but things we feel you need to know in order to get along with others." I turned my gaze to Twilight, who nodded, "It's what Princess Celestia asked us to do after we left you three last night. She wanted us to tell you the general laws for being a citizen of Equestria, along with some of the more common social customs that we ponies are used to using." She pulled a rolled-up piece of paper from her bags, using her horn to lift it in front of me and unrolling it so I could look it over. "I took the liberty of writing down some of the larger points that we would go over as a group and then we could spend some time asking questions back and forth for a bit to cover anything else that comes to mind. Is that okay?" I looked over the lines and dots that covered the surface hovering in front of me for a moment before turning back to the mare, "What exactly am I looking at?" Her face fell as she pulled the item back and rolled it up, her voice tinged with regret as she put it back into her bags, "Oh, that's right. You and your friends lived in the Everfree before coming here. I forgot that you might not be able to read our language, even though you somehow speak plain Equish with perfect fluency." She shook her head before lifting it with a smile once again, "Never mind the list, if we could come inside, we can go over the items in conversation instead." I nodded, pulled away from the opening as the mares filed into the main room, pulling my tail into a neat pile under my pony half as the girls sat down on the couches and chairs around the room. I lifted my head and called out in a loud voice, "It's alright girls, it's just Twilight and her friends! Would you mind coming down here so we can talk? The girls have some things they need to discuss with us before we can go wandering around outside!" A moment later, Willow and Evergreen walked down the steps side by side, their eyes taking in the gathered mares before walking around and climbing onto the pile of coils that I rested on. I smiled as they settled in against my sides and rested their weight on my tail, their body heat doing wonders to wake me up the rest of the way as the ponies stared at us in confusion. "Why would you choose to climb all over Sapphire if there are perfectly usable couches right here?" Rarity asked as she indicated the unused furniture, "Isn't it a bit rude to use her as a pillow like that?" "I don't mind it." I replied for them as I put my hooves over their shoulders and pulled them closer, "Their body heat feels great on my tail and I've been told my coils can be quite comfortable if I use them right. We trust each other and we feel most secure when we are together." Fluttershy smiled as she held a hoof against her cheek, "Oh that's so sweet. I do the same thing with some of my animal friends when I feel scared or alone. It always makes me feel better after I get a nice warm hug from Harry or have a few birds sing to me." The others relaxed after that, leaving us with the primary reason as to why the mares were here in the first place. Twilight cleared her throat, pulling out the list again as she spoke, "Well, we might as well get down to business. We have a lot of topics to cover just in case you three don't know how some things work, so we're going to go over everything on this list before we let you go about the town by yourselves. If that takes a few days, then we will escort you where you need to be until we have covered everything here. These are orders straight from Princess Celestia, so are we all in agreement?" The ponies nodded, followed by Willow, Evergreen and me after a moment's contemplation. If the Princess wanted us to do this, then who were we to argue with her? This was her land after all, so we needed to follow her rules. Twilight unrolled the list and I stared in awe as it rolled down onto the floor and halfway across the room, leaving most of the other mares to groan as they realized what they had gotten themselves into. "Oh, come on Twilight," Rainbow whined from her perch on top of the fireplace mantle, "do we really have to go through all of that before we can leave them alone?" Twilight nodded firmly, "Princess Celestia wrote this list herself and sent it to me. We can go over some things in lighter detail, but the majority of this stuff is critical for being able to function in everyday Equestria. Remember, these three didn't even have houses or running water that wasn't part of a river or lake where they came from. Things that might be completely normal to us would not make any sense to them unless we explain it first." "Such as?" Applejack interjected. Twilight tuned to the farm mare and pointed to the first item on the list, "Such as what bits are and how they work." "Bits?" Willow and Evergreen chorused, mirroring my mental question as Twilight turned a triumphant glance towards the orange earth pony. "See what I mean?" She cleared her throat before speaking to us directly, "Bits are a form of currency that we use here in Equestria. While other kingdoms use other forms of money, the bit is what you will need to know and understand in order to get things you need here in Ponyville." "What's money?" I asked, Willow and Evergreen nodding their agreement as the other ponies gaped at us like we had a second head. "Money is something that ponies can earn by performing services for others," Twilight explained as the other mares got over their shock, "this money can then be traded to other ponies in return for getting items that they have that you need or want." She pulled out a small, golden thing that was circular and flat, the shiny surface having been formed into a duo of images on either side. The first was a picture of the sun, while the other was a crescent moon. Twilight floated it across the room so I could hold it in my hoof, Evergreen and Willow leaning in to look it over as they both touched it for themselves. "Bits are made out of gold, which is a valuable metal in Equestria, given its rarity." Twilight continued, "So, if one were to have a lot of bits in their possession, then they could use them to get very rare or difficult to create items in exchange. The more difficult to create or rare the item, the more bits a pony would need to have in order to trade for that item. Am I making any sort of sense to you three?" Willow just looked bewildered, while Evergreen had a look of deep contemplation on her face. Meanwhile, I was starting to piece together what was being said, but I figured it was better to ask and be wrong then to not know at all. "So, if I'm understanding you correctly," I replied slowly, pulling Willow and Evergreen from their thoughts as they looked up at me, "These bits, as you call them, are a rare metal made into small pieces that can be given out in exchange for doing work?" Twilight and the others nodded, so at least I got that part down. "And you can give these bits to ponies in order to get things from them, like food or water?" "While water is something everypony has access to," Twilight corrected, "food is one thing that can be bought using bits, although given everypony needs food, it's usually quite easy to get unless you go and get something specially prepared at a restaurant." "What's a restaurant?" Evergreen spoke up for the first time since the conversation began. Rarity fielded this question as she flipped her mane with one hoof, "A restaurant is where one can go to get food that would otherwise be difficult to prepare or make. Some ponies can't cook anything other than the most simple of dishes, so if they want to eat something other than basic flower sandwiches then they would go to a restaurant and pay another pony to cook for them. Remember, it's all about services being given in exchange for bits." "So, if we hunted for other ponies," Willow said with a grin, "we could earn bits in exchange for giving them some of the animals we kill?" Willow's face fell as the ponies looked at her in horror, her ears folding back as she shifted to hide under one of my coils, "Did I say something wrong?" Pinkie closed her mouth first and asked in a completely flat tone, "Do you three hunt and kill little animals and eat their meat as food?" We shared a look before I turned my attention back to the pink mare, "Um, yes, Willow and I eat meat. I normally eat my prey whole, like a snake would, but Willow hunts and eats smaller creatures just like her pack did. Is that a problem?" Most of the ponies had turned a slight shade of green, except for Fluttershy, who was simply frowning as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh, "Well, I guess we can't really fault you for being who you are." Her voice was soft but cut through the room like a whipping branch as the others turned to gape at the shy pegasus. "Fluttershy?" Rarity gasped, "You can't really be accepting of these creatures eating living animals, your own little woodland creatures?" "I can," was the firm reply, "and so should you." The hard look the normally timid mare sent around the room sent a chill up my spine, and I wasn't even the one she was using it on, "I have plenty of woodland friends who eat meat. Harry the bear is one example, although there are others like my eagle and hawk friends. I don't think they're monsters for eating what nature tells them too, and you shouldn't hate Willow or Sapphire for needing to do the same thing." "But what if they get hungry and hurt a pony?" Applejack retorted, ignoring the furious expressions that crossed my face and Willow's, "What if mah little sister is out playing with her friends and they attack her because they didn't get something to eat for a few days?" "We would never do something like that!" I roared, causing the mares to pull back in fear as my tail impacted the floor with a resounding crash, "Sure we need to eat but we would never hurt another being when we know that they aren't just a simple animal. Right, Willow?" I glanced down at the hybrid, who nodded immediately before adding in her own thoughts, "I may have once been a part of a Timberwolf pack, but we never killed anything that wasn't just an animal. I had heard about some of the other members hunting down ponies, but I never thought about doing it, because it would be like hunting my own mother and eating her because the rest of my kind thought of her as prey." She shivered in revulsion as the ponies gaped at her, "I would never dream of hurting a pony like that. I would rather starve then have to eat a pony." "And I can tell you this right now," I added, "we will hunt for the meat we need whether you like it or not, but I can promise that we will only do so within the Great Forest, where the prey is nothing more than dumb animals that wouldn't know a pony from a tree. We will never hunt a pony for food. We might give these bits you spoke about to a pony in exchange for food, if we find something new we like. But other than that, we will do our hunting away from town and away from ponies. Is that clear?" The other mares nodded hastily, and I let out a sigh as I relaxed back onto my tail, Willow lying down after a few more moments as Twilight scanned over the list. "Well I think we have food and money covered," she muttered to herself as she checked off two of the items, "but that still leaves several more things we need to go over, not the least of which being how we deal with threats and what to do if ponies start acting afraid or threatening towards you three." "You mean we can't simply claw them into submission if they attack us?" Willow replied, "That's how it worked in my pack. If someone tried to attack another pack member, they would fight and the loser would have to submit to the will of the winner. It was simple and brutal, but effective." "While that would be cool if ponies could kick the snot out of each other if they disagreed on something," Rainbow said from atop the mantle, "the Guard would have some choice words for you if you made it a problem in public or if anypony got seriously hurt because of it." "The Guard?" I echoed. "The Equestrian Guard is a group of ponies that work to keep the peace and to punish ponies that break the laws of the land." Twilight explained, "They are tasked with keeping order in towns and cities and are trained to handle most situations if the need arises. If ponies get into trouble with the law, then the Guard takes them in and either gives them a fine, which must be paid in bits, or they are sent to a jail for a period of time to make up for their actions." "A jail is a place where ponies are locked in cells and kept in there until they have served their time." Applejack added, "It could be as little as a few days to many years, depending on what the pony did." "So, they'd be trapped in there?" Evergreen's tone had taken on a fearful one as she huddled against my side, "Unable to leave or to do anything until their time has been completed?" The ponies nodded, "That's awful! Why would you do that to someone?" "Because those that go to jail are the ones that deserve it." Pinkie of all ponies was speaking in a dark tone and her mane had fallen fairly flat, "I knew a pony before I came to Ponyville that had lost the one they loved because of another mare. She was jealous of them and decided that if she couldn't have the stallion of her dreams, then nopony could." She lifted her eyes and all of us pulled back slightly at the fury in her gaze, "My best friend back home had to watch as her fiance was killed right in front of her, and I will never forgive that mare for what she did. She's not going to get out of that prison until the day she dies, and I'm glad for it." Like a switch being flipped, her bubbly personality came back and her mane returned to its normal poofy nature, "So, anypony else think we could use some drinks? I'll grab some from the kitchen while you guys continue talking." She bounced out of the room, leaving the rest of us in shock as we stared after the pink mare. "Everypony else agree that we never bring this up again?" Rainbow asked. "Agreed." The rest of us nodded as Twilight shakily lifted the list and moved onto the next item. "A-Anyway," she cleared her throat to get rid of the nervous tremor, "the Guard is easily spotted by the metal armor they wear while on duty. If you have an issue with a pony or group of ponies, don't try and fight it out or get into an argument. Talk to a Guard and they will do the best they can to sort out the situation before it can get out of hoof." Evergreen, Willow and I nodded as Twilight checked that off and moved on to the next topic. Pinkie returned a bit later while we were talking about public versus private property, and everyone in the room chose to collectively ignore her previous behavior as we sipped at the drinks. My friends and I were pleasantly surprised by how great the sweet-tasting fluid felt as we greedily drank it down, Pinkie smiling as she filled up our glasses with the mixture she called 'punch' before returning to her seat. We spent the rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon going through the rest of the items, and by the end I felt like my head was going to burst from all the new information it had been hit with. Evergreen and Willow didn't look much better, but at least we were finally done with all that as Twilight rolled up the list and stood up. She stretched herback like a cat as the other girls did similar motions, turning to face me and my friends as they walked up to the door. "I would suggest you girls look for a job before too terribly long." Twilight advised, "You won't be able to get much for free around here without doing some work to earn it. So, think about what you are good at and we can talk tomorrow if you don't have any luck thinking of something today." She smiled as she waved goodbye, the other mares mirroring her action as we did the same. "We'll work out teaching you how to read some other time. Right now, I think your minds could use a break to work through all the things we talked about." "Later girls." Rainbow called as she rocketed into the sky, a rainbow contrail in her wake as she zipped off to who knew where. "I do hope to see you around town at some point," Rarity said as she and Pinkie walked out next, "don't be strangers now, you hear me?" "Yeah, and I still need to plan your big Welcome-to-Equestria-and-Thanks-For-Being-Our-Friends Party." Pinkie added as she bounced out behind the white unicorn, "Stop by Sugarcube Corner if you feel like something sweet. The first cupcake is always free!" Applejack tipped her hat to us as Evergreen and Willow climbed off of my tail, stepping up to the ponies as I followed behind them, "Ah just want to say Ah'm sorry for the comment I made earlier about ya'll eating meat. It's just Ah lost mah parents to a manticore and Ah didn't want something like that to happen to another pony Ah loved." She lowered her head and covered her face with the brim of her hat as she tucked her tail between her hind legs, "Can ya'll ever forgive me?" Fluttershy glanced up at us with a pleading look, and I could feel our resolve crack under her soft eyes as we turned back to Applejack, "Yeah, we can forgive you." I moved up and raised her chin with one hoof, smiling down at her as our eyes met, "You ever need help on the farm, just let us know. We'll be around to check in on Evergreen's tree from time to time, so we might as well help out if you need us. Right girls?" I glanced over my shoulder at my companions, who nodded their agreement. "Thanks a lot, sugarcube." Applejack smiled in reply, lifting her head as she turned and walked out the door, "Well, time waits for nopony, and Ah'll bet Big Mac and Applebloom haven't gotten any of the chores done while Ah've been over here talking to ya'll." She waved goodbye as she exited, "Ya'll come over sometime soon, Ah want to show you how well Evergreen's tree is doing!" Fluttershy mouthed a silent thank you to us as she walked out, leaving us alone in the living room as the door closed behind the ponies. Willow and Evergreen turned around and walked back into the living room, stepping over my tail as I turned to follow them until we were all sat around the dining room table. My tail took up so much room that I had to be seated at one of the long sides of the oak creation, leaving Willow and Evergreen to take up the others side as we exchanged looks. "So," Evergreen said in an uncertain tone, "what do you all think of the rather, um, long list of things the Princess wanted us to know?" "I think it was a lot simpler when we live in the Great Forest." Willow replied without hesitation, "Things were so much easier when we could just hunt for our own food and fight out our differences without having to worry about so many rules to get in the way." "And yet would you go back to your old life," I countered, "knowing that there is a land such as this where you could have so much more than a cave floor to sleep on and shelter that doesn't have to be protected from other predators who want your claim?" Willow's bluster deflated much like Pinkie's mane had earlier, "I guess you have a point. No one would have stood up for me in the pack if one of the older members decided to fight me. It was the will of the strongest, and if you couldn't hold your own you were no use to the pack." "And I never would have imagined that the world outside our grove could be filled with so many amazing things." Evergreen added, "To think that we have access to water that flows at our command and a way to keep warm during the winter that uses controlled fire of all things. I would be hard pressed to find a reason to go back to my grove even if it still existed, because I like so much about what we have found here in Equestria." I nodded, "Well then, I guess we've decided to stay here, although that still leaves the issue of a job. What kinds of skills do we have that could be useful to the ponies?" "I can track almost anything," Willow spoke up immediately, "even in bad weather and over long distances. I might be able to help find lost ponies if they go missing or something." "And I can work with plants to make them grow bigger and stronger without causing harm to the soil or the surrounding environment." Evergreen added, "I could look into helping Applejack with her orchard while I start working on growing more of the Fruits of Plenty. I bet I could even sell them once we have enough, given no one has ever been able to grow them except for my coven." I nodded, "Alright, that sounds like a good idea." I turned back to Willow, "You might want to look into becoming a Guard or something like that, perhaps as part of a search and rescue team if such a thing exists. Besides, with your combat skills, you would be perfect to protect the rest of the team if they came across anything nasty while looking for the missing ponies." Willow puffed out her chest with pride at my words, "Thank you, Sapphire. I'll look into it as soon as possible." "Which leaves me." I stated simply, glancing down at my tail as my thoughts wandered, "I guess I could work with heavy lifting or something like that, given the strength in my tail. Perhaps I could ask around for some kind of delivery job, so I could help ponies to move large objects or something like that." Evergreen and Willow blushed as they shared a look, and I narrowed my eyes at them as they began giggling, "What? Did I say something funny?" "Oh no," Evergreen said as she got herself under control, "It's just that you completely overlooked something that's been right under your nose this whole time." "You could use your tail for work," Willow said with a grin, "but not in the way you were thinking. What have you done for both me and Evergreen that we both really enjoyed?" My eyes lit up as I realized what they were getting at, "You mean I could offer my tail to ponies who want a massage? But where would I even go to do something like that? I'm pretty sure none of the ponies want to have me do something like that out in the middle of the street." "Then you could go and offer your skills to the local spa." Evergreen countered, much to the surprise of Willow and I, "What? I was listening to the girls as they talked and I noticed that one thing they all seemed to enjoy was visiting a place called the spa every once and a while to relax and unwind from a hard day of work. I don't know if they'd pay you to give massages, but I think it might be your best bet." "Besides," Willow added, "even if they say no, you could always use that fancy hypnosis of yours to make them agree to your idea." "Hypnosis?" Evergreen asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion as she glanced between Willow and me, "What hypnosis?" Willow and I shared a knowing look, the timberpony shifting over to hold Evergreen by the shoulders as she fake whispered into her ear, "Trust me, it's one of the most amazing things to experience in the world, and I'm not saying that because Sapphire 'convinced' me to say it. I truly loved the whole thing and I think you might like it too if you give it a chance." The duo turned to face me, and I pulled back a bit as Willow flicked her eyes at the nervous nymph, "Come on, Sapphire. You know you want to try it on her." I sighed as I shifted my tail around the table, my upper half following my coils as I moved to sit next to my friends, looking down at them from above as I smirked to myself. I would never admit it out loud, but I actually liked the idea of seeing both of my friends under my spell, and I lifted both of them into the air with my tail as I carried them back up the stairs and into the bedroom. If we were going to do this, then I was going to make sure they both loved every second of it. I dropped both of them on the bed side by side and coiled up my tail under my pony half as I loomed over the both of them with a smile on my face. "Are you ready?" Willow nodded eagerly, while Evergreen shifted slightly with nervous energy, "It won't hurt, will it?" I lit up my eyes, catching both of their attentions as my spell began to draw them into my gaze, "Not at all, Evergreen. In fact, you'll probably be asking for more once I'm through with the both of you." > 9 - Friends With Benefits Evergreen and Willow were enraptured by my eyes, their gazes locked with mine as the red, pink and purple rings bore into their minds. Willow's eyes quickly erupted with a mirror of my own gaze, her back straightening and her tail flagging against her back as her cheeks flushed a bright red. Her tongue hung out of her mouth as she panted with need, her mind already gone as her arousal permeated the room. Evergreen's muzzle twitched once as she inhaled Willow's scent, but otherwise didn't react as her own gaze followed mine. Her pupils were only just beginning to shrink as she followed my eyes, her mouth hanging open in wonder as I slowly swayed back and forth before them. Willow was already too far gone to do anything more with, much to my frustration. But, then again, she had already sampled my hypnosis before, so maybe that made her more vulnerable to my magic when I used it again. She also might have given over to the spell instead of fighting it, meaning the little timberpony was more than happy to submit to my control if it meant she could feel the pleasure and bliss that came with it. Evergreen was a different story. She managed to fight off my spell as her pupils shrank and grew, trying to maintain her control over her mind as my spell worked to take it from her. Thinking she could use the full experience of my hypnosis to help her relax, I slowly moved my tail up and onto the bed, wrapping her up with my coils as her eyes finally started to show rings of color. At the moment it was only one ring per eye, and her pupils were still present as she managed to speak, although by the shake in her tone I could tell my coils and hypnosis were working against her ability to fight off my spell. "S-Sapphire...wha...what...are you....d-doing?" Her lips were turned down slightly as her pupils finally gave way to the rings, a quintet of the spiraling magic colors sprouting from her eyes as my tail rounded the middle of her barrel, pinning her wings and forelegs to her sides as her body was pulled into a fully upright position. My own lips were in a wide smile as my spell began to overpower her resistance, my heart beating faster with excitement at the challenge before me. "Just making sure you're comfortable, Evergreen. Wouldn't want you to fall over when my spell takes hold, now would we?" I chuckled as the nymph tried and failed to close her eyes, her mouth hanging open as her lips began to curl upwards. The rings in her eyes were nearing the same speed as Willow's, but as my tail rounded her shoulders, she managed to pull one last bit of resistance out of her dimming mind. "P-Please...S-Sapphire...l-let...m-m-me...g - ULP!" My tail rounded her neck and tightened over her throat, making her eyes widen and her pupils temporarily return as the rings in her eyes were reduced to solid walls of red and purple. "Ah, ah, ah." I admonished her in a teasing tone as her cheeks started to turn pale. "Good little nymphs listen to their Mistress when they are told to do something." I leaned in close to her face so that the only thing she could see were the rings in my eyes. "Now, look into my eyes and listen to my voice. There are no other thoughts in your mind, no other actions your body takes except what I tell you to do. You love the feeling of my coils around your body, and you want to feel your mind slipping away with all of your worries." My smile grew as Evergreen's pupils vanished and waves of rings sprouted from her eyes, my tail loosening around her neck as the tip rounded her forehead to keep her head secure. Her lips curled up into a smile as her body fell limp in her cocoon, and I felt the distinct moisture between her hind legs as a moan of mindless bliss escaped from her mouth. I glanced over at Willow and noted that she was still under my spell, the rings in her eyes having remained at full speed throughout the whole process of Evergreen's entrancement. I turned my attention back to the nymph that was hanging limp in my coils, her head lolling to one side as my tail tip rubbed her short mane in a loving manner. She really was a beautiful creature, especially with that blissful smile on her lips and her eyes spiraling with my hypnotic magic. I lifted her body up so that her hind legs dangled beneath her cocoon, allowing me to see what had previously been hidden from my view as the sweet perfume of her arousal joined Willow's in my muzzle. I was legitimately surprised by what I saw between Evergreen's thighs, and I had to take a second look to make sure I wasn't mistaken as I leaned forward to get a better look. Sure enough, Evergreen was missing a particular feature that Willow and every other creature I knew had. The flesh just under her tail was smooth and featureless where there should have been a tight pucker, although as I thought about it I realized that Evergreen might not even need something like a tailhole. All I had ever seen her consume on our journey had been water, and even then she had never needed to relieve herself. Perhaps she really was more like a plant than Willow or I realized, given she seemed to need little more than sunlight and water to stay alive, so long as her tree remained unharmed. I shrugged as I investigated the hole that was present, although even that one was still far different from what I was used too. Instead of folds of flesh that held the general shape of curtains, Evergreen's love tunnel was guarded by literal flower petals, their bright pink coloration a sharp contrast to the deep green of the surrounding flesh. Right at the moment they were only slightly folded outward, the rich scent of her arousal coming from within the tightly packed petals. I glanced over at Willow and smiled to myself at my own genius. If Evergreen wanted to experience my hypnosis, then she was going to get the same treatment Willow had gotten her first time, although it wouldn't be my tongue doing the honors. "Willow," I said in a soft but commanding voice, "come here please." The mesmerized hybrid followed my directions as she quickly stood up and walked over to my side, her spiraling eyes locked on me as her tongue continued to hang from her panting mouth. I pointed to the folds of Evergreen's flower, my smile turning devious as I gave Willow her instructions, "See that little flower between Evergreen's legs? I want you to lick it until Evergreen gives you a nice nectar bath. Be gentle, but make sure to pay extra close attention to the tunnel behind it once those petals open up for you." Willow nodded, her mouth closing with a smile as she turned to face Evergreen's snatch, "Yes, Mistress." Without any extra movement or comment, Willow moved her head forward until her nose was practically pressed against Evergreen's flower, the nymph's mouth parting in a gasp as the hybrid's tongue flicked out and ran over the folded petals from bottom to top. I used a pair of my coils to keep Evergreen's hind legs pulled apart to allow Willow unrestricted access, Evergreen's mouth parting as a line of drool ran down one cheek. As Willow continued to work over the nymph's snatch, Evergreen's mouth wasn't the only thing drooling. A veritable river of liquid arousal was dripping from her flower as Willow dutifully licked it up, her lips and muzzle becoming drenched as she gleefully swallowed the sweet nectar. The folded petals that protected Evergreen's most private of places quickly moved out of the way, blooming in a fantastic display as her love tunnel was revealed. Willow's tongue rushed into the new avenue of attack as soon as it was available, making Evergreen's moans and gasps quickly shift into squeals and cries of bliss. Then, to my utter surprise, she began to talk in complete sentences, ordering Willow as if she was the one who had placed the hybrid under her spell. "Please," she panted out between gasps of pleasure, "lick me harder. Don't stop until I cum all over your face." Her legs tried to pull inwards to hold Willow's head in place, but my coils stopped her from doing so, although she didn't seem to care as she kept on talking. "Fuck that feels amazing. Lick me deeper, please, love me like the Princess that I - GLMPH!" My tail tip had pulled away from her forehead and positioned itself directly in front of her mouth, using her rambling as an opportunity to press in between her lips and shutting her off mid-sentence. I loved the little nymph like a sister I never had, and I really wanted to make her feel good, but gods above she wouldn't stop talking when she wasn't filtered by her shy personality. Yet, as I glanced up at her face, I realized that I had done something slightly different than I had intended. Instead of making her simply be quiet, I had done something similar to when I had choked her during the coiling process. Her cheeks were puffed out and her lips were curled around my invading tail tip in a smile, her face turning a slight shade lighter as her airway was partly cut off. She moaned around my tail as Willow kept licking at her lower folds, and to my shock I felt her tongue begin to lick and suck on my tail tip as she mewed in pleasure. Feeling like taking a risk, I shifted my coils around Evergreen's body just a bit to free more of my tail around her head, allowing me to shove more of it into her mouth as a sizable section worked its way into her throat. Evergreen gagged as my tail forced her jaws wide open, although her smile only seemed to grow as her breathing was reduced to gulps and gasps, her tongue slathering my tail with her saliva as she sucked on it with all her worth. I would have been lying if I said that her tongue and throat didn't feel absolutely amazing on my tail, her rippling throat pulling at my scales as her tongue ran over all of the most sensitive spots. I stifled a moan of my own as I turned my attention back to Willow, noting that the hybrid was now muzzle-deep in Evergreen's flower, her nose pressed against the petals as her tongue plundered the nymph's most sacred of hollows. Her entire face and most of her mane were drenched with Evergreen's fluids, and I couldn't help myself as I bent down and pushed Willow slightly to one side. My own tongue slipped out and ran over the petals surrounding Evergreen's opening, the nymph in my grip letting out a gurgling moan as her legs once again tried to tighten around our heads. When that proved useless she turned her attention to my tail gagging her, her tongue and throat working it over like she was sucking a stallion's cock in a wonderful attempt to repay the pleasure I was giving her. I had to bite on my lip to hold in my moans as spikes of pleasure shot up my spine, and I rippled my coils around Evergreen's body in a rapid and powerful massage in thanks as Willow and I took turns licking up Evergreen's flowing nectar. We continued like this for what felt like hours, Evergreen's gagging moans working in counterpoint to the sloppy slurps and swallows Willow and I were making below as we literally deflowered the nymph with our tongues. By this point we were all soaked in sweat and other fluids as Evergreen stiffened in my grip, her voice forcing its way past her gag as she screamed out in climax. Willow and I were drenched as a flood of mare cum washed over our heads, and we were forced to pull back after swallowing several cups in order to breathe as the rest fell to the sheets below. Evergreen fell limp in her cocoon as I finally pulled my tail from her mouth, her lips parted in a gaping smile as she panted in rapid and shallow breaths. Feeling like both of my friends could use a bit of a reward for letting me do this to them, I shifted my coils around Evergreen once again until a long section of my tail was free to move about. The coils around her body were now the thick portions of my midsection, meaning that the one around her neck was nearly as big around as the one holding her flanks and was just shy of choking her again. Yet I made sure she wasn't restricted, at least not right at the moment, as I lowered her cocoon and rested her hips just above my own. I laid back on the bed and pulled Willow over so that her own dripping cunny was hovering over my face, the hybrid's body facing Evergreen's as their muzzles hovered mere inches from each other. I moved my now soaked tail tip down and behind Evergreen until it pressed up against her gaping entrance, her smile growing even wider as her spiraling eyes stared into Willow's. I glanced up at the duo for a second to make sure everything was in place, before I plunged my tail into Evergreen's core and moved my own muzzle up to suck at Willow's dripping folds. Both mares gasped and then let out cries of bliss as they were each penetrated in their own way, my tail spreading Evergreen wide as my tongue flicked and plunged within Willow, sampling her familiar juices as the two of them panted in need. I was focused on my task to the point that I wasn't aware of the smacking and muffled moans that were coming from above me, but as I took a moment to breathe I glanced out from under Willow's flank and saw something I never expected. Willow had pulled Evergreen's face to her own with her front hooves, the wooden claws pressing into the nymph's cheeks but not drawing blood as the two furiously made out with one another. Their eyes were spiraling at a blinding pace and their tongues were dancing in each other's mouths as each mare moaned into the kiss. My own motions grew stronger at the sight, the pleasure of making both of my friends feel so good brining my own heart to new heights as I plunged my tongue back into Willow, the timberpony nearly screaming into Evergreen's mouth as they continued to sloppily kiss above me. At long last, after another stretch of time that seemed to go on forever, I felt Evergreen's tunnel clenching around my tail as Willow began to ripple around my invading tongue. I smiled as I realized what was happening, and I moved both muscles even faster as the wet slaps and sucking noises echoed around the room. Both mares let go of the kiss they had been sharing for the entire time, their heads tilting backwards as their spiraling eyes rolled up in the back of their heads. Both screamed at the tops of their lungs as they climaxed, their bodies shaking in bliss as their cum drenched my scales. Willow clenched down on my tongue to the point I couldn't pull it out, leaving me no choice but to swallow her delicious cum as I drank it down with abandon. Evergreen wasn't far behind as her own love tunnel gripped my tail like a vice, milking it for non-existent sperm as she jerked about in her coil cocoon. Finally, both of them came down from their high, their spent bodies falling limp on top of me as I uncoiled Evergreen and set her down on top of my body. Willow was flipped around so that her head was resting on my chest while I shifted Evergreen forward until she was in line with the timberpony beside her. Both had their eyes locked on me, their lips pulled into wide smiles as their gazes spun with hypnotic color. I moved my tail tip up and around so that it was sitting between the three of us, my scales glistening with Evergreen's spit and cum as her scent washed over us in waves. "Now be good girls and clean up your mess." I commanded softly, taking a moment to lick Willow's cum off of my face as they did the same with my tail. Before long, my tail was relatively clean, leaving just Willow covered in love juice as they turned their attention back to me. I moved my tail so that it wrapped around them like a blanket, feeling their body heat soaking into my scales as I turned Evergreen's head towards Willow with my hoof. I pressed her muzzle against the soaked mare's cheek, leaning in on the other side as I licked up some of the cum clinging to her fur and mane, "Help me clean Willow, she did get dirty giving you such amazing pleasure after all." "Yes, Mistress." Evergreen droned, her tongue slipping out to run up Willow's other cheek as my own tongue flicked through some of the hairs of her mane. We spent some time grooming the timberpony as she licked us back in her own loving way, our tongues slipping over one another in passing kisses as we cleaned her fur and mane of Evergreen's love juice. When that was finally done, I turned their gazes back to me before I lightly tapped them on the forehead with a hoof. "Wake up, my friends," I commanded, "it's time to come back from my spell so we can talk like normal beings." The rings in their eyes slowly faded and their pupils returned a moment after as both of them held a hoof to the sides of their heads. Willow was the first to recover, shifting forward to lick up between my eyes and then over my right ear as she purred in contentment, "That was amazing, Sapphire. I want you to know I loved every second of that. Can we do it again sometime when we can take a break from the world outside?" I smiled and turned my attention to Evergreen, who's eyes had widened as she lifted her gaze to openly stare at me. "That would depend on if Evergreen wants to do this again as well. I wouldn't want to leave her out after what we did for her." "Y-You," she stuttered for a moment as her gaze traveled from my smiling face to Willow's and back again, "you did that to me? You had sex with me after taking over my mind with your hypnosis?" I nodded, my smile still holding strong as I placed a hoof against her cheek, "I did, and I knew it would be something that would surprise you but would also help to strengthen our bond as friends." I glanced at Willow before turning back to the gaping nymph, "Willow and I shared a moment just like this before we found your grove, and we became closer than ever afterwards because of the trust and pleasure we shared with each other while doing it. Willow trusted me not to abuse my power over her mind, and I trusted Willow with a piece of my heart, knowing that she could have rejected me if I had done something wrong. Lamia mate for life, and even though Willow and I are not mates, we still shared that bond of lovers because I wanted to show her how much I care for her. I may be saving myself for my true mate, but I will never hold back my feelings for her, or for you, as long as we are together on this journey." I paused for a moment to let my words sink in, "Do you understand what I am trying to tell you, Evergreen?" She closed her mouth and looked down at my chest fur, her eyes flickering back and forth as she thought about what I had said. Willow and I shared a quick glance as Evergreen got her head on straight, although I pulled back to the nymph as her gaze leveled with mine. "I want you to know I am not entirely happy with you for doing that to me without permission," she held up a hoof to stop us from speaking as she continued, "but I can understand why you wanted to share that bond of trust that you already had between yourselves. I just wish that from now on, if we are to do things like this in the future, that you ask beforehoof and not force me into it if I ask you not to. Am I clear?" Willow and I shared a glance before we both nodded, "We're clear." We chorused. Evergreen's lips lifted into a smile as she shifted forward, her mouth pressing against mine in a soft kiss before she did the same to Willow. She pulled back with a deep green blush on her cheeks as she nuzzled against my chest fur, "Thank you for making me feel so good. It was a truly magical experience feeling that much pleasure." "It was my gift to you and Willow for coming along on this adventure with me." I stated as I pulled them both against me with my hooves and tail, "I care for you both like family, and I would be lost without your support in this new and confusing world we've found ourselves in." Both mares hummed in contentment as I wrapped our bodies up with my tail, our shared body heat turning my tail into a comfortable blanket of warmth as my scales absorbed it into my cold-blooded half. Evergreen passed out almost immediately as her eyes fluttered closed, her breathing smoothing out as Willow chuckled softly against my chest. She let out a wide yawn and then slipped into slumber herself, leaving me the last one awake as I looked down at the two beings I had come to care for so much. I leaned down and kissed them both on the forehead, their lips curling into smiles in their sleep as I spoke in a whisper, "I love you, girls. More than you could ever know. I don't care what comes our way in this new land. We will be a family for as long as I draw breath, and nothing will break us apart. That I swear to you." With those final words, I closed my eyes and let my head fall onto the pillows, my own lips pulled upwards as I drifted off into sleep. The last thing I remembered was Willow and Evergreen nuzzling against my chest fur as they wrapped their forehooves around my barrel, their hind legs falling limp over my upper tail as my coils held them close in a tender embrace.
The Love of a Hybrid	10 - Love at First...Rejection?	The following morning was a rather busy one, given that Twilight and her friends came over at the crack of dawn to check up on us and to see if we had any ideas about what we could do for work. Willow and Rainbow Dash were chatting about what it might be like to work with the Guard, while Evergreen was sitting on the couch with Applejack and Fluttershy in order to work out the details concerning where and how she could help ponies with their crops, given that most farmers were very particular about how their plants were taken care of. That left me with Rarity and Pinkie Pie while Twilight sat on the chair across the room, taking notes on our ideas and adding in her own thoughts every once and a while. "Well I for one think it's a wonderful idea." Rarity stated with a smile as she felt along one of my coils with a hoof, "I'm sure Lotus and Aloe would be delighted to have you aboard if you can really give massages with this beautiful tail of yours." "Yepperooni!" Pinkie added as she bounced on another section of my tail, her weight barely registering against my scales as she climbed all over my lower half as her hooves prodded and poked in various places, "I'm sure ponies will be lining up around the block to get a massage once they hear about how great they are." Her face scrunched up in thought as she paused midair, making me and my friends stare openly at her in shock as she seemingly defied the laws of nature, "But how good do they actually feel? Ponies might be scared of you at first if you just grab them and wrap them up in your tail without any idea what to expect." Rarity hummed as she placed a hoof against her muzzle, Pinkie thankfully falling back to the ground as the unicorn mused aloud, "True enough, although finding a pony that would be willing to experience it as well as having a good standing with the town might be tricky. Naturally I would love to try it myself, but I'm afraid my habit of gossiping might have come back to bite me in this situation." Apparently our conversation had attracted the attention of the others, and I was slightly surprised when Applejack stood up and walked over to me, Evergreen and Fluttershy following suit as the earth pony came to a stop before us, "If ya'll need an honest opinion, then Ah can be your trial run." She cast a slightly nervous glance at my coils before letting out a long sigh, her gaze hardening as she stepped up and onto my tail before turning to face me, "Don't make me regret this, mah family needs me to work the farm so don't squeeze too hard." I swallowed thickly, feeling a rush of nervousness as I nodded, "Sure thing. I'll be gentle." Taking it slowly at first, having noted Applejack's slight flinch of fear as my tail began to move, I shifted my tail up and over the mare's body, coiling up and around her hind legs as she stood rock still. Everyone's eyes were locked on my movements as my tail tip rounded the curves of Applejack's flanks, and a vibrant blush overcame her cheeks as my coils began sliding over the toned muscle of her rump. "Whoa, Nelly," she gasped as her tail was pressed between her cheeks and my belly scales began rubbing over her powerful and toned plot, "that certainly feels different." "What exactly does it feel like, dear?" Rarity inquired; her eyes locked on my tail as it began wrapping around Applejack's barrel. "Like Ah'm being wrapped in a warm blanket, yet not quite the same. It shifts and Ah can feel the muscle under her scales, but right now it's almost like warm water flowing over my body." The earth pony jerked slightly as I lifted her up off of my tail, her eyes widening as my tail secured her front legs to her sides, "Um, what exactly are ya doing there Sapphire?" "Just getting you into the most comfortable position." I replied, too focused on my task to say much else. Now wrapped up from the shoulders down, I debated about securing her body all the way like I had done for Evergreen and Willow but decided against it as my tail tip came to rest on the side of Applejack's neck. She had more than enough of her body in my grasp for the time being. I wouldn't want to push my luck, seeing as well as feeling Applejack's slight sigh of relief as my tail stopped moving. I set her coil cocoon down with her face pointing toward the ceiling, using my other sections of tail to create a pillow of sorts for her so she wouldn't strain her neck. The others quickly closed in around the wrapped mare, their eyes wide with curiosity as well as slight trepidation, knowing that their friend was completely trapped in my grip. "So how does it feel, Applejack?" Twilight asked as she sat down beside the other mare's head, "Are you uncomfortable or in any pain?" I bristled slightly at the very idea, but calmed down as Applejack shook her head, her main tickling my belly scales slightly as she replied, "Nah, just a little nervous. Ah've never been completely locked in like this, not even when Big Mac used to hogtie me to keep me out of trouble when we were younger." She glanced down at the coils securing her body in place, her eyes taking on a thoughtful light as she inspected her predicament in greater detail, "Other than that, it's not bad. Ah just don't really see how this would work for a massage." All eyes shifted to me, waiting for my response, and I felt a slight grin coming to my lips as I answered the unspoken question, "Watch and you'll get the idea pretty quick." Without a second of delay, I began undulating my coils in a rhythmic wave, running from Applejack's neck all the way down to her hind hooves as her eyes shot open in surprise. Her mouth gaped open as she turned to her friends, only to stop mid-word as her body finally registered the sensations being enacted upon it. Her eyes fluttered closed as she let out a hum of pleasure, her hat falling off as her tight muscles began to slowly relax under my care. The other ponies watched in awe as the farmer went completely limp in my grasp, her flanks and hind legs shifting every so often as my gentle grip began working out the dozens of kinks and knots in her lower body. "Oh, Celestia that feels amazing." Her eyes managed to open just enough that she could look back at me, "Ya'll can put some more force into it, sugarcube, Ah ain't made of glass." I nodded, having been reluctant to use too much force in case I scared her. With her permission, I began constricting my tail in more random rhythms, adding force to some while letting others go slack for a split second, only for the reverse to happen in the next moment. Applejack's mouth hung open as a long moan escaped her lips, making most of the others blush bright red as Willow and Evergreen exchanged knowing looks. I could feel the tightness in Applejack's body slowly leaving her as my powerful muscles worked out the kinks and knots in her body, even helping to shift and straighten some of her joints as several loud pops emanated from within the cocoon. Her friends jumped in shock and worry at the noise, but slowly calmed down again as Applejack groaned and moaned even louder. Finally, after several minutes, I couldn't feel any more tight spots in her body, and I slowly lifted her off of the ground before loosening my tail over the couch. She slid down between my coils and flopped onto the fabric, the other mares rushing to her side as Pinkie secured the apple mare's hat back onto her head. Applejack for her part barely seemed to notice the return of her headwear, her eyes closed and her body completely limp as her mane lay spread around the couch in a haphazard manner. At some point my ministrations seemed to have pulled her mane tie off, leading to her rather frazzled appearance as she lay there with a big smile on her lips. "So, I take it you enjoyed Sapphire's, ahem, ministrations." Rarity asked as she hid her own smile behind a hoof. "Ah haven't felt this relaxed in years." Applejack replied, managing to open her eyes but staying still as she turned her head to face the unicorn, "She can do that to me anytime she pleases. Ah didn't even know about half of the knots and kinks she worked out of mah system." "So, I take it you'll be willing to spread the word about Sapphire's abilities if she can get the job at the spa?" Twilight asked. "Sugarcube, Ah would darn near marry that mare if she would let me." Applejack declared, although her sarcastic smirk made the others roll their eyes as the earth pony finally managed to sit up, although it took a visible effort to stay upright as she turned to face me, "You do that for one of the twins and Ah guarantee that you'll get the job. Ah'm sure Rarity or Fluttershy can show you the way, just make sure you don't use too much force on other ponies. Ah'm tougher than most so you could get away with being a bit more forceful than normal without hurting me." I nodded, "I cold feel the muscles under your coat, especially in your flanks and hind legs. You must work them very hard to have such a powerful body." Applejack nodded, stretching her legs one at a time before hopping to the floor, "Been bucking apples with mah family since Ah was little. Comes with the lifestyle." "Well," Twilight said as she turned to face me and my friends, "I can safely say that you all have solid ideas for getting jobs, although given how long it might take you to get settled in, I made a request for Princess Celestia to send a stipend for the next couple months to help you get off the ground. It won't be much, but it should let you go about daily life unhindered until you can earn enough bits to live off of comfortably." "I'll put in a word for you with the local Guard station," Rainbow added as she bumped Willow in the shoulder with a hoof, "They might be big sticks in the mud, but they know a good recruit when they see one. I'm sure they'll be jumping all over you once I tell them you'd make a great Guard." "And Ah'll see what Ah can do about talking to the other famers about having you help with the crops," Applejack said as she glanced at Evergreen, "Ah'm sure they could use the help if you can make our plants healthier and help them produce a bigger harvest." She glanced at me before adding, "And Ah'll spread the word about your skills with that there tail of yours, as long as you make sure that Ah get first dibs when ya'll get the job." "Dibs?" My friends and I chorused. "It means she gets to go first because she is claiming that right." Rarity clarified, although she sent a rather annoyed glare the other pony's way as she pouted, "Although given she has already gotten to experience your abilities once I am uncertain she needs to do so again before the rest of us get a chance." The smirk that crossed Applejack's face was there for only a moment before her calm and collected expression wiped it away, "Snooze ya lose, Rarity." Fluttershy turned to face me as Rarity and Applejack devolved into a friendly argument, "I, um, wouldn't mind feeling your tail as well, once you get settled in of course." I smiled, leaning down and licking along the side of the pegasus' cheek, making her squeak as her eyes widened in surprise and her wings shot straight up from her back. "I'll be sure to make it worth it once you have the time." I whispered, smiling as Fluttershy's face lit up with a bright blush, her mane doing little to hide her embarrassment as her wings slowly folded against her sides again. "So now that you all have your plans for what you're going to be doing for jobs in Ponyville," Twilight grabbed our attention as she indicated sun as it neared its zenith in the sky, "Would you like for us to escort you to where you need to go? You're still new in town so it might help to have a pony showing you around until you get used to it." "That sounds like a great idea, Twilight." Evergreen said as she stepped up on Applejack's left, "I wouldn't mind it if Applejack introduced me to the other farmers in town," she glanced at the slightly taller mare, "if you don't mind helping me get around, that it." "Sure thing, Evergreen." The nymph sighed in relief as Applejack placed a hoof around her shoulders, "Ah don't see any reason why Ah can't give you a tour of the town while we get ya'll settled in." "Then I shall escort dear Sapphire to the spa." Rarity spoke up as she lifted her gaze to meet mine, "After all, I have a bit of a repour with the owners, given I use their services so often. I'm certain they'd be delighted to meet you." "Which means I can take Willow over to the Guard station to see if she can apply for a job with them." Rainbow added as she took to the air, hovering over the timberpony as they shared a smile, "We'll knock those stallions so far out of the park they'll hire you on the spot!" "And then we can all go to my Congratulations-On-Getting-A-Job-Welcome-To-Ponyville-We're-So-Happy-To-Be-Friends Party!" Pinkie leaned over to loudly whisper to Fluttershy as my friends and I stared at her in confusion, "I don't think they get the idea yet. Maybe I should just make it a party for all of use until they get used to ponies." The others rolled their eyes as Pinkie bounced out the door, leaving the rest of us to simply shake our heads and try to forget the confusion that mare left in her wake. "I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia with your ideas," Twilight said as we filed out of the house, my friends splitting off with their escorts as they prepared to leave, "I'm sure she'll be happy to hear about how well you're settling in with the rest of the townsfolk." There was a chorus of agreement, and with that we split up, Rarity leading me into the town as she went on about how my scales had inspired her to create some new designs. I wasn't really listening though, because as soon as we made the turn towards the northern part of town, I realized that my Mating Bond was pulling at me even stronger than before, creating a nearly impossible urge in my core that overwrote everything else in my mind. I didn't even realize I had left Rarity behind until I came to a stop in front of a sloped building, the sign out front depicting a mare's head with a long, flowing mane. The panting unicorn managed to catch up with me as I sat there, suddenly uncertain of what to do next. Beyond that door, was my mate. I could feel it in my very bones, the one I was destined to be with was inside this building. Yet I was almost certain now that it had to be a pony that I was searching for, and that left me uncertain of how to go about introducing myself. "Are you alright, dear?" Rarity pulled me from my thoughts as I shifted my gaze to hers, "You just suddenly took off out of the blue. I understand if you're eager to get to work, but how did you even know where the spa was? I never told you where we were going." "This is the spa?" I had completely forgoten about that in my rush to find my mate, "I had no idea." Rarity's head tilted to one side, her eyes narrowing as she inspected me closer, "Darling, you look conflicted, are you nervous about getting a job? If so then I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about. The twins are some of the nicest ponies I've ever met. I'm certain they will love your idea." I shook my head, "That isn't it. I can feel my Mating Bond pulling me inside, and that means that my destined lover is inside this building somewhere. I just don't know what to do if they turn out to be a pony." "Mating Bond?" Rarity's eyes widened as her brain processed what I had just said, "Destined lover? Darling, are you saying that your kind have the ability to sense where your fated one is?" I nodded, although I was caught by surprise as Rarity swooned, before pushing me towards the door with her magic with a surprising amount of force, "Then we mustn't wait a moment longer! You're one true love is on the other side of that door, and I will not allow you to let this moment go to waste! Now get in there and take your destiny into your hooves." I felt rather bemused by the now slightly frantic unicorn as I was bodily shoved through the opening, my mind barely able to process the reverse-color mares at the counter before my eyes locked onto the doorway on the other side of the room. Standing in the opening, her long pink curls falling to one side of her face, was another mare. My jaw dropped as my eyes took in her light lavender coat and her bright rose eyes, although my body wasn't as inert as my coils quickly straightened themselves out. I could vaguely hear Rarity in the background, although it was like she was speaking from the other side of a deep cave, my entire focus on the earth pony in front of me as her eyes stayed locked with mine. I was only partly aware of my own movements as my coils shifted me forward, my Mating Bond screaming in the back of my mind that I had to claim what was mine. The mare stayed perfectly still as I moved closer, my forehooves coming to rest on the floor as my head came level with hers. I stopped just a few hooves from the other mare, her eyes now roaming down my body and over my long tail as it curled up under and behind me. She didn't seem afraid of me, of which I was thankful for, but as she shifted her gaze back to mine, I saw something else that made me suddenly uncertain. There was no recognition, no light of love in her rose orbs, just confusion and a healthy dose of uncertainty as her tail curled between her hind legs slightly. "Um, can I help you?" Her voice was soft and sweet like the smooth honey I had once been able to get from a beehive back home, although the uncertainty in her voice made me suddenly unable to speak as she took a single step back. Seeing that slight shift away from me, that single hint of rejection, made my Mating Bond flare to life and I acted before I could even think. My eyes narrowed into slits as my body lunged at the other mare, her scream falling on deaf ears as my coils wrapped around both of us in a tight embrace, her breathing coming in short gasps as I held her to my chest and stared into her wide and terrified gaze. "Mine." I hissed out, my lips pressing against hers as my tongue invaded her mouth, her gasp of shock barely registering in my hormone-addled mind as I closed my eyes and deepened the kiss, although I jerked back in pain as she bit down on my tongue and bottom lip. My eyes shot open as I stared in shock at my mate, my mind having regained enough sense to recognize the fury and fear that warred inside her gaze. "Whoever you are," she growled out, "whatever you are, I don't belong to anypony. Now get your creepy tail and hooves off of me before I call the Guard on you and have you charged with sexual assault." My mind ground to a halt at her words. I couldn't understand it. My Mating Bond told me this was the one, that we were destined to be together. And now my mate was rejecting me, not even taking a moment to think about it before pushing me away. "But, you're my mate." I managed to say, "We're destined to be together. Why would I ever let you go?" Her eyes narrowed as she stopped trying to wiggle free, the raw fury in her gaze making me flinch as she locked her rosy orbs with my emerald ones, "Let. Me. Go. I am nopony's mate, and I most certainly won't be going out with a freak like you. Now get off of me, before I do something I'm going to regret." Her words cut into my heart like a claw, my coils shifting off of her body as my hooves released her from my grip. My head was hung low as I tried to make myself seem as small as possible, my muzzle nearly touching the floor as I looked up at her. "But my Mating Bond says that you are the one." I tried to explain myself, but the incensed mare before me wasn't having any of it. Her hoof pointed towards the door that lead outside, her gaze firmly boring into mine as my heart clenched in agony, "Get out, before I lose what little patience I have left. I am not yours. I don't belong to anypony and I won't ever belong to anypony. That bridge burned long ago, and I won't make the same mistakes again." With that, she turned around with a huff as marched through the doorway, the solid hunk of wood slamming shut with finality as I sat there in a shocked stupor. I barely felt Rarity as she gently directed me out of the building and back to the house, my mind repeating my mate's words over and over again in my head as I was directed into the bed. I didn't even remember Rarity leaving as my tail curled up around me, my hooves holding a section against my chest as my heart clenched in agony. I didn't know when the first tear began to fall, but I didn't care as I closed my eyes, wailing out my heartbreak as I soaked my scales with tears. My mate didn't want anything to do with me. My entire journey had been for nothing. The one being in this world that I was destined to be with, and she had pushed me away like I was nothing. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I was aware of was two sets of hooves wrapping around my body in a tight embrace. I knew by their scents that Willow and Evergreen had come back, and that the other ponies were downstairs as my friends tried to comfort me. Yet it only made the pain worse, and my sobbing began anew as the two of them whispered comforting words to me, holding me tightly as I wrapped my own hooves and tail around their bodies. I didn't know what I was going to do now, but I knew one thing for sure. I couldn't go back to my clan after everything that had happened. I would never be able to live with the shame of being rejected by my mate, so I resolved to stay with Willow and Evergreen. They were the only things left in the world that I cared about, and they were the only things that made my life worth living. They were here, helping me in the only ways they could, even though they knew I could never love them the same way I could for my mate. And yet, they loved me back just as much, and I fell back asleep with both of them clinging to me, shielding me from the pain of the world so I could deal with the pain in my heart. The sun began to set as I cried myself back to sleep, Willow's tongue gently licking away my tears as Evergreen closed the blinds with one of her wing blades. Needless to say, we never did get to go to Pinkie's party, although I was pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself anyway, not with the hole in my chest where my heart had once been.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	pre	Twilight put a hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "We should always endeavor to be understanding of foreign cultures, which includes not attempting to make them fit our preconceptions." Starlight shrank a little at the chastising, as mild as it was. "Cherry, I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean to. In fact, you're quite a spectacular po--Are you a pony?" Cherry blinked at Starlight rapidly. "Of course I'm a pony." She took a little breath, trying to calm herself. "We're getting off on the wrong side of the tail. Hi, I'm Cherry." She offered a hoof as if meeting Starlight for the first time. Starlight advanced and accepted the gestured with a soft clop. "A pleasure to meet you, Cherry. I'm Starlight, and you have a lovely mane." She reached and gave a single brush through those locks. Twilight smiled and nodded as she moved past the both of them. "I have to get Cherry's room set up for her. Can I trust the two of you to get along?" Cherry blinked and looked around. Spike was nowhere in sight. "Where'd Spike go? Wasn't he just here?" Starlight waved dismissively. "He has a habit of rushing off to his room when he gets home, especially after a long day's work. I wouldn't take it personally. Don't worry Twilight, we'll be fine." Her horn shone softly as a chair moved beside her and she hopped up onto its cushioned top and settled facing Cherry. With Twilight and Spike gone, Cherry was left with the one pony she knew the least. "So... Do you like mechanical things?" She smiled hopefully even if she doubted she would be so lucky as to be left with such a pony. "Mechanical things?" Starlight tilted her head. "Like watches?" "What's a watch?" Starlight held up a hoof before she hopped down and trotted away. She wasn't long before she came back with a shiny metal thing dangling in her magic. "This is a watch. It tells us what time it is, even when we can't see the sun or the moon." She brought it close to Cherry. "It's not waterproof though, so try not to get it wet." Cherry was barely listening by the time the warning came. She could hear the soft tick tick tick and see some tiny gears moving. The hands smoothly rotating captivating her, thinking of how many other gears inside there must be, so small, so precise... "Can I open it?" Starlight suddenly yanked the watch away. "Oh no! It's not even my watch. Twilight would be very cross at the both of us if I let you do that. Looking's alright through, but no opening." As she finished she lowered the watch back down into easy viewing distance. Cherry pouted a little. Besides the belt she currently wore, all the mechanics she found were forbidden from being explored. How was she ever going to get better?! "Don't look like that." Starlight sat beside the pool. "Tell you what... Since Twilight's going to be busy for a little while, how about you and me go get something from the market, just for you. If you're going to be visiting for a while, you deserve something to make you feel at home." Cherry's funk shattered at the offer. With an eager smile she thrust against the side of the pool, nose-to-nose with Starlight. "Do you mean it?! Yes! Please, yes! I want to pry apart something complicated so badly!" Starlight blinked softly. "Why are you so eager to destroy mechanical things?" "Destroy? Oh no!" Cherry shook her head rapidly. "I want to learn how they work. Their outsides are made to be pretty, and they are, but they cover up all the little gears and things. I want to see them working, and how they all fit together." She brought her hooves together. "I want to get better at it all, but that means I have to see it working." Starlight gestured into the castle as she rose to her hooves. "I'm sure Twilight has a few books on the topic, if you'd like to read about it." That offer had some temptation, but... "Can we still get something from the market?" Her pool lifted suddenly and powerfully as Starlight turned and trotted out of the door with Cherry floating behind. Cherry gaped with astonishment. Twilight needed help to get her up, and here was this other unicorn doing it without a word. "Wow! You're strong! Wait, is strong even the right word for the things you do with your horn?" "It's a perfectly fine adjective." Starlight looked over her shoulder. "Are you comfortable up there?" When Cherry nodded, she continued ahead, trotting at a brisk pace away from the castle and down towards the town of Ponyville. "Fortunately, it's not too late in the day, so we should be able to find something for you. I'm going to guess you don't have any bits?" "Bits? Are those like husks?" She produced a several small but perfect examples of little shells that glittered softly. "I guess dry ponies don't use the same thing to trade with?" Starlight tilted her head back at the shells. "Well, tell you what, you give me some of those pretty little shells of yours, and I'll trade you some bits so you can buy something. That's fair, right?" That sounded fair to Cherry and she extended her hoof down from the pool. Two of her collection were gathered with magic to be replaced with flat golden discs of gold with ornate pictures on them. She studied these new artifacts curiously, turning them this way and that. "So dry ponies trade with these?" She tapped at one then tapped at her belt. "Is this metal? By the sea! You dry ponies do everything with metal!" Starlight smiled a little. "We do use a lot of metal, and crystal, wood, rubber, glass..." She trailed off as she ran out of building materials in immediate recalling. "Oh, and stone and bricks! Welcome to Ponyville market." She waved a hoof grandly. Cherry looked up from her bit to take in the vista of the market. There were smiling ponies in booths and each booth seemed to have a particular theme. She didn't recognize a lot of what they seemed to be selling at all, but she was a little hungry all of a sudden. Something smelled good enough to eat. "Do they sell food here? I don't see any." Starlight frowned a little. "Well, yes, a lot of things actually." She thrust a hoof at each stand as she counted them off. "Apples, carrots, cherries, cabbages, milk--" "I don't know what any of those are." Cherry tilted her head a little. "Can I try some?" Dry pony food! It was exciting and a little scary to consider. Would it be as dry as they were? Starlight trotted with Cherry floating behind her and approached one stand. "Good afternoon, Applejack." "Howdy." The earth pony smiled at Starlight from beneath her stetson. "What kin ah do fer ya?" Her eyes raised to the floating pool and the blue pony held in it. "Not t' pry or nuthin', but what's up wit' her?" "Hello!" called down Cherry, waving a hoof eagerly. "Pleased to meetcha." Applejack nodded to the new pony, then raised a brow at Starlight in silent invitation to explain. Starlight turned halfway between the two. "Cherry, this is Applejack, one of Twilight's closest friends. Applejack, this is Cherry, a hippocampu from the sea." "Hippocampus," quickly corrected Cherry as she pushed up against the edge to see Applejack better. "I'm staying with Twilight for a little while." She thrust a hoof at Applejack's basket of apples. "May I try one?" Applejack quirked a smile. "'Fraid it don't quite work like that. Once ya try an apple, it's kinda yers ta keep." Despite that, she grabbed an apple without breaking the skin and with a flick of her neck, sent it sailing up to Cherry. "So yer just gonna have to enjoy the whole thing." Cherry caught the incoming apple in her mouth and bit down easily with her sharp teeth. It was sweet, and tangy. It wasn't nearly as dry as she feared. As wet as fruit from the ocean? Of course not, but it did have some delightful juice. "I like it." Oh! She produced one of her new bits and held it down towards Applejack. "Here." Applejack blinked at the offer. "Huh, ah'm surprised a sea pony would even know what a bit is, let alone have any." As she reached for the offered bit, Starlight offered an explanation, "I traded her for some of her money. Sea ponies apparently trade little shells." Starlight produced one of the shells she'd gotten. "Isn't it lovely?" Applejack smiled gently. "They are. They ain't no bits, but they're nice. Ah hope ya enjoy your stay, and the apple. One bit gets ya three, by the way." Two more applies were sent sailing up to the delighted mer-pony. "Thanks!" Cherry didn't bite into the new ones, letting them bob in the water. "Do you know if anypony around here sells watches or anything like that?" The offer of mechanical toys had been tempting before, but that watch dwarfed them all. Whereas the train was a grand display of huge parts, the watch was a symphony of tiny precision. She couldn't even decide which awed her more. Applejack tapped at her chin a moment before pointing. "Quills and Sofas were sellin' some wall clocks. Closest ah can figure." Starlight seemed pleased with the suggestion. "To Quills and Sofas! Thanks, Applejack. See you later."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	9 - Neither Quill nor Sofa	With a soft chime, Starlight entered the store, already looking around. The proprietor appeared ready to greet her when his expression faltered at the large tub following her. "Ma'am? Water doesn't exactly agree with my quills or the sofas. Can that wait outside?" Cherry popped up from where she had been submerged a moment. "I can handle it!" Feeling energized being so close to getting a watch all of her own, she launched herself free of the pool and flopped wetly to the ground. The energetic motion sent water splashing dangerously. Fortunately, it only created puddles and spills on the floors. The quills and sofas were safe for the moment. Starlight tucked the tub of water outside for the moment. "Sorry for the trouble, we're just looking for some clocks." "You mean watch, right?" Cherry tilted her head a little as she righted herself. "We heard you had wall watches." The new pony smiled at the exotic sea pony. "Hello there, are you new in town? I'm Davenport and it's nice to meet you." He offered a hoof. "Oops, one moment!" She whipped out her wrench and got to tweaking just enough to get her hind legs to deploy against the ground before she could offer a hoof without wobbling dangerously. "Nice to meet you too! I'm Cherry, and I'm hunting for watches." Starlight shook her head. "A watch and a clock are about the same thing, but clocks are meant to remain still, while watches are often worn on a pony for timekeeping on the go." Cherry frowned with thought. "That means clocks are probably bigger, right?" Starlight nodded. "Then a clock is good. I'll be able to figure out the parts easier if they aren't teeny tiny." The idea of disassembling a clock made Davenport raise a brow, but it wasn't his bits on the line. "We have a small selection of clocks, meant to add some dignity to the room, this way." He turned away from Cherry, seemingly ignoring her oddness in favor of remaining professional. "Would you like... this? A grandfather clock is both stately, and as you can see, large!" He gestured over the tall instrument with a bright smile. Starlight followed after Cherry. "Wherever did you get those mechanical legs? They're working really well." Cherry's cheeks warmed. Being complimented like that by a powerful friend of Twilight's seemed extra special. "Toying with mechanics is my specialty. You can't see it with the belt on, but it's my cutie mark." Starlight tilted her head slightly. "You're more than your cutie mark. I'm surprised you even have one, but you wouldn't be less of who you are with or without that mark." Reformed or not, Starlight still held to some of her beliefs. "You should be proud of your accomplishments, cleverness, and ingenuity, not writing it up to 'destiny'." The idea of not accepting a cutie mark as it was? It clearly confused Cherry and she made a little frown, though it faded almost instantly as she looked over that grandfather clock Davenport was indicating. It was large! She carefully directed her legs up to the clock so she could reach out and brush her hooves up and down its wooden sides. It was pretty and she nodded at it. "I like it. How do you open it?" Davenport winced before he turned it slowly and pointed to the access port in the back, then turned it back around and flipped open the glass front, allowing access. "You can reach inside from either direction, as you can see." Cherry clopped her forehooves and crashed to the ground in a failure to balance on her mechanical legs. "Oof! I'll take it!" Starlight shook her head as she approached. "I can't imagine such a large piece is cheap. How many bits are we talking?" Davenport reached up with his mouth and pulled down a dangling price tag that was attached near the top of the ticking clock, revealing a large number that sent Starlight recoiling several steps. Cherry frowned at the reaction as she got herself upright. "It can't be that much." Davenport gave it a light tug, freeing the tag from its string and showing it to Cherry. Even she wilted at how many zeroes were in the number. Starlight frowned a moment before a thought came to her with a slowly spreading smirk. "Did we mention we live with Princess Twilight Sparkle? She sees all kinds of important foreign dignitaries. I'm sure they'd be so impressed with some Quills and Sofas furniture." Davenport perked an ear. "Good ole Twilight? She's been a loyal customer for what feels like forever. She keeps the quill part of things thoroughly in business." He glanced between the two a moment. "If it's for her..." Cherry brightened with hope. "Oh, it is! She said I was a guest." Starlight leaned forward with a little smile. "I'm sure she'll take care of any reasonable expenses incurred by this important diplomatic guest. Can you have this delivered up to the castle?" Davenport looked a little spaced out for a moment. "Oh, yes, important guest, of course." He bobbed his head. "I'll have it brought up before the end of the day. Will there be anything else?" Cherry leaned forward dangerously. "Have anything else mechanical by any chance?" Her eyes darted around the room. Besides a few other clock/watches, she saw nothing obvious. "Afraid not. That's not really our specialty." Davenport shrugged softly. "I do hope you enjoy it!" He dipped his front in a bow. Starlight nodded at him. "You're too kind. Thank you." She grabbed Cherry up in a secure field of magic and moved to depart. Cherry blinked softly from her suddenly higher vantage point. "Are we going?" "Sure are." Starlight gently set Cherry back in her pool. "We should get ourselves back up to the castle before Twilight notices you're not there and starts to worry where you might be." She leaned towards Cherry a little. "She's especially good at worrying. Let's avoid that." Cherry did a quick lap around the tiny pool, her tail slapping at the water. "We don't want her to be upset. Let's get back. Besides, the big clock is going to be brought up there anyway! We should be there to greet it." She flashed a smile, likely already thinking of tearing into the machinery and divining the purpose of its countless parts. By the time she came out of her daydreaming, they were already at the castle. Twilight came rushing out of the castle with a relieved expression and a loud gust of breath. "Oh thank goodness. Starlight, I hope everything went well? Did you enjoy yourself, Cherry?" She looked between the two with bright smiles. "You haven't seen anything yet until you see your new room!" Starlight perked her ears. "What have you arranged? Oh, there's going to be a grandfather clock brought up from Quills and Sofas." Twilight blinked. "I didn't order one of those..." Cherry raised a hoof. "I might have." Twilight tilted her head at Cherry, then glanced at the nervously grinning Starlight. "You know better than that, Starlight. I'll let it slide this one time, for our guest, but no ordering things 'for' the castle without my express permission." The magic holding up the pool changed in color as Twilight took control of it and started bouncing away with an energetic canter. "Now come on! I'm sure you're going to love it." Cherry blinked as she was carried. "You must be really excited." Twilight wasn't having any trouble holding her up, or was there less water? Cherry splashed a little at the water, quickly determining that there was indeed less water, lost to splashing and evaporation over time. She hoped whatever room Twilight prepared wouldn't have that... problem? "Wow." They were at the edge of a submerged room. It was still tiny compared to, say, the ocean itself, but compared to the pool she had spent the day in, it seemed like a small piece of home. Twilight was smiling brilliantly. "This is actually the second story door to this room. I flooded the entire first floor, and it's yours while you stay with us. I even PH balanced the water to the average sea level." She clopped her hooves excitedly. "I plan to get some plants and small fish for you and I even have an aerator to keep the water fresh." Twilight thrust a hoof to where bubbles rose from the depths constantly. Starlight whistled softly. "You've gone all out." Her expression turned understanding even as her brows waggled. "You always do. You have a book on it?" Twilight glanced away. "What? I mean... of course..." She lowered the tub until it floated on the surface of the water, from which Cherry launched easily into the water and began exploring her new home. Starlight shook her head a little. "How do you have a book on what sea ponies need?" Twilight's smile turned a little nervous as a book appeared beside her. The book was not about sea ponies, but how to create large fish tanks for ocean-dwelling fish. "I figured it was close enough to keep her happy." Cherry suddenly broke the surface, soaring through the air with her momentum before she came down and surfaced smoothly, her head above the surface and the rest concealed. "I love it! It's not the ocean, but it's as close as any place in The Dry is ever going to be. You're the best, Twilight! Thank you for taking me around, Starlight." Her hooves came up, clopping excitedly. "Dry ponies can be so thoughtful! I'm glad I ran into you two." Starlight dipped her head towards their guest. "We're both happy to have you. I'm a guest here too, so I know what you're going through, in part. If you have questions getting around, let me know and we'll get it straightened out." Twilight nodded. "That goes for me or Spike as well. Even if you feel overwhelmed, you won't bother us with your questions, promise." Once his name was uttered, Spike came running. "Twilight! Letter!" He was waving a scroll excitedly in a clutched claw. "It came from Celestia!"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	10 - Something Interesting	Twilight took the scroll in her magic and unfurled it quickly, her eyes scanned quickly left and right as she muttered under her breath. Her eyes widened with every word she absorbed. Cherry drifted closer from slightly below. "Is something wrong? Who's Celestia?" The scroll vanished in a puff as Twilight turned to her guest. "She's the ruler of this entire nation, and she has some bad news for us." She glanced off a moment, her hooves fidgeting with obvious worry. Spike put a claw against her side supportively. "Whatever it is, we'll handle it. Should I get the girls?" "No, Spike." She shook her head. "Not this time." Starlight pointed at herself. "What about me? I'm already here." Twilight looked indecisive a moment before Cherry hopped up out of the water, making the hallway just outside her new room a bit wet. "Twilight, everypony on the land has baked in the sun to make me feel welcome. Whatever the problem is, I'll help! Stop looking so worried." Twilight smiled at that. "You're right, all of you. We'll face this together." She put a hoof to her chest and took a slow breath as she extended that hoof. "Alright, so here's the deal. Celestia sent me an old mare's tale, and she wouldn't do that if it wasn't relevant. It says that a foal of the sea will emerge to be greeted by royalty, but in with her comes a tsunami." Spike tilted his head a little. "Su-what?" Twilight waved a hoof. "Big wave. I doubt that part's literal. That's the problem with prophecies, they're never literal." Cherry tilted her head. "I just made a wave when I jumped out of my room. Does that count?" Twilight quirked a little smile. "I doubt it. There is a hint here. Whatever is coming has to be following you." Cherry put up her hooves, flopping over in the process. "I didn't do anything!" Starlight reached a hoof over, placing it on Cherry's back. "Nopony's blaming you. She just means your direction. Twilight, do you think it means something's coming from the sea?" Twilight bobbed her head then sighed. "Pinkie's going to be upset." Starlight frowned a little. "I think we're taking what is an admitted old mare's tale a touch too literally." Twilight perked an ear. "Alright, so what do you think it is?" Starlight pointed at Cherry. "You are, for better or worse, a huge new thing. Somepony may react to that badly. We should be careful of that, not monsters rising from the depths." Spike waved it off. "What? Nah. Did you see how the ponies reacted? They were happy to see Cherry, and why shouldn't they be?" Cherry glanced from pony to pony to dragon and back. "So what are we doing?" Twilight sank to her haunches. "Nothing. Starlight has a point and we should keep our eyes open, but assuming there's a huge monster or a wave of creatures is silly, I have a hard time be--" The castle shook suddenly, making all of them wobble before it stilled. Spike looked in the direction of the noise downstairs. "What the hay was that?" Twilight frowned. "Maybe our tsunami came to us instead of waiting." She set off at a gallop, vanishing around a corner. Cherry twisted upright and got her wrench into position to get her mechanical legs working, walking in tandem with them to get herself moving, but she wasn't going nearly as fast as Twilight. Starlight stayed with Cherry, her magic plucking up Spike and dropping him on her back. "Come on, we'll find out what's going on." They came downstairs to find Twilight facing a literal angry mob, torches and pitchforks at the ready and unhappy frowns across every face. Before them was a battered-but-intact Pinkie Pie. Twilight was already addressing the crowd. "What in Equestria are you all thinking?" One advanced, with a grey mane and spectacles. The mare nodded at Twilight. "We hear you have a siren in your castle, is this true?" Twilight thrust a hoof at Pinkie. "I think we have far more pressing questions! What'd you--" The grey-haired mane pointed past Twilight. "There she is! She's controlling the princess!" The crowd roared into action, pressing around their wizened leader and starting to cram through the door towards Cherry. She squealed in surprise and dismay and started to turn in place, only to flop over as she lost her balance in the heat of the moment. Starlight clopped her forehooves as her horn began to glow brightly. Several of the ponies slowed to a stop with glazed looks in their eyes as others rushed past them, the angry shouts only getting louder. Twilight shot Starlight a sour look at the mental magic, but it was short-lived with the crowd shoving its way to her and right past her. "Stop this!" she cried, but the ponies weren't listening to her at all. "We'll save you, Princess!" "You just wait right here." A pegasus dropped down on Twilight from above and tried to force her to the ground. "We'll take care of that monster and free you in no time at all!" Spike cringed with worry. "I think it's time to get out of here." "You got that right." Starlight plucked up the panicked Cherry from the floor. "Ponyville's not safe right now." With a bright surge of magic, all three of them vanished, leaving behind a crowd that cheered and whooped at their victory. Their princess was safe.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	11 - We're on Our Own	With a loud crackle and a wave of energy, three figures appeared at once and collapsed almost in unison. Bits of smoke rose from the edges of their bodies and they looked just a little crispy for their journey. Spike was the first to stagger to his feet. "Everypony alright? That was a rough trip, sheesh I haven't had a teleport that rough since Twilight got used to casting it." Starlight looked up from where she landed and started to sit up. "Everything was happening so fast, so I wasn't thinking clearly." "Nnnn," was Cherry's addition to the conversation. She rolled over, heaving for breath as her tail gave a weak slap. "What was that?" They all rose upright, Cherry getting her mechanical legs working after a few twists of her wrench. "Where are we? What are these?" She walked over towards one of the many towering trees and ran a hoof along it before a splinter carried the tree's objection directly into the frog of her hoof and she keenly cried, wrenching the hoof away. "It bit me!" Spike hurried to Cherry's side and took a look at her hoof, held in one claw as he leaned in. He could see the pesky splinter. "Hold still..." "It has barbs?!" Cherry recoiled a little at the idea. "I didn't see any at allLLll, thank you." She pulled back her hoof, sore but no longer intruded upon. Starlight gave a slow look around. "I wasn't really planning where we were going besides 'away'. Spike, do you recognize where we are? I can't see Ponyville from here." Spike flicked the splinter away before shrugging. "Looks like the Everfree to me, but since we teleported in, I couldn't say which way is out. Starlight, you can fly, right? Go up and you should be able to see where we are." Cherry frowned a little. "She doesn't have sky flippers, Spike. Why should she be able to fly?" Starlight began to glow, her magic wrapping around the entirety of her form. "I'm a unicorn. We're notorious cheaters." She lifted off the ground several inches despite her lack of wings. "Spike, stay close to Cherry, I'll be right back, alright?" Spike gave an emphatic salute before she darted up through the foliage to survey their situation. Twilight scowled from the chair she was tied to securely. "For the last time, I'm not being mind controlled. I'm not brain washed. Let me go this very instant!" Mayor Mare shook her head. "I'm afraid that's precisely what a mind-controlled pony would say. This is for your own good, your highness." Twilight's horn glowed angrily, but the haze of energy cut off about three quarters of the way up her horn where a heavy ring had been placed on it. Her magic would not come. Emerging from the crowd, shoving ponies aside, came Applejack. "Now what in tarnation are y'all thinkin'? Trussing Twilight up like that, it ain't right." She clopped the ground with an angry hoof before advancing forward. "Ah'll have ya outta there in--" Bulk Biceps grabbed her suddenly, hefting her off the ground so her hooves dangled and her powerful buckers couldn't get the leverage they needed. The Mayor nodded at Bulk. "Thank you. Miss Applejack, your friend is under the control of a malevolent siren. Until we can be sure it's gone, we must remain on high alert and Princess Twilight Sparkle remains here, in our care." With a streak of rainbows, a new pony arrived. "Alright, who's joke is this?" Rainbow frowned, surveying the scene. "They've gone crazy!" blurted Twilight before a pony beside her stuffed a sock in her mouth. "Nuh-uh, not on my watch." Rainbow darted forward, only to come to a screeching halt as a filly moved to be in the way. A filly she knew too well. "Scootaloo?! Get out of the way, squirt. I have business to tend to." Scootaloo shook her head. "Can you prove she isn't being controlled by the siren? If we let her go, she might do something awful." Mayor Mare nodded in agreement. "We'll gladly release her as soon as the siren is dealt with. We have nothing against Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why, I'd say we love her a great deal, and that's exactly why we'll keep her here, safe, until this emergency is over." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine! I'll bring you the stupid siren you're all so scared of, then you let Twilight go." Without listening for responses, she was gone in the same streak of colors that had marked her arrival. Applejack looked over her shoulder at Bulk Biceps. "Don't suppose ya could let me go to go looking fer the siren?" He snorted, but kept a secure hold of her. She sighed and sagged. It promised to be a long day. Starlight poked her head out of the canopy of the forest, only to duck it immediately back down, narrowly avoiding the slavering teeth of some unidentified flying beast. She hesitated before timidly peeking out without revealing her unfortunately delicious presence. Her view was limited, but it looked like the forest extended a long distance in every direction. Was this the fabled Everfree? "Do you see anything?" came from below, where Cherry and Spike waited. She licked her lips softly. "Not so much..." Taking a slow calming breath, she conjured a protective sphere around herself and dared it one more time, only to shriek and flee. The creature was far from alone. It looked like a migration of the many-toothed horrors, and some had seen her. Starlight burst into the clearing from above with wide and terrified eyes. Behind her came the strange beasts. They had dull-purple scales, narrow bodies and huge leathery wings that propelled them forward. There were three of them and they gave a communal keening shriek as they spread out and moved for the fleeing unicorn. Cherry gave a cry of her own, but it more of terror than hunting. Spike was far more determined. "Hey, let her go!" He took a sudden deep breath and gave a gust of green flame that tickled at the belly of one of the creatures flying overhead. It bellowed in pain, causing the other two to wheel around in the air. All three fixed their tiny eyes on Spike as they hissed, showing off their many teeth. "Oh, um... good... whatever you ares?" Spike gave a nervous little laugh as they suddenly dove at him and sent him fleeing towards the edge of the clearing. Cherry got moving for the tree line as well, following the unspoken cue of the others. Fortunately, the beasts' huge wingspan did not serve them well in dense foliage, and they did not try to pursue any of the three once they were out of the clearing. They roared and snapped at the trees, leaving rough and terrible marks on them, but eventually turned as one and moved back up to join their peers above the canopy. It was very dark there, in the embrace of the forest, at least until Starlight's horn began to glow as she made her way towards Cherry. "I'm glad you're alright. Did you see which way Spike went?" Cherry walked her way over to Starlight just to throw her forehooves around Starlight in a fierce hug. "What were those things? That was like a whole frenzy of sharks, with air flippers!" Starlight softly patted her on the back. "It's alright. They're gone now, but where's Spike?" "Right here." Spike fell in from above but bounced to his feet. "Are you sure they're gone?" Starlight raised a hoof to an ear, listening quietly a moment. "Sounds safe. So, let's try to take this logically. Going up? Not so good an idea. You think those three were bad? There were a lot more of them up there, I promise you." Spike felt behind his head. "I don't suppose you got a peek of Ponyville while you were up there?" Cherry softly bonked him on the head. "I'm just happy she didn't get gobbled up." She took a careful step back and looked around in the dark and gloomy forest. "So which way do we go?" Starlight frowned a little. "I guess, at this point, any direction's good if we follow it long enough. Let's stick together, stay calm, and we'll be fine." Spike wriggled his fingers. "Why not just teleport back out the way we came?" Starlight frowned. "Teleporting blindly is how we got here." She rolled a hoof impatiently. "You really want to try that again? I don't, and it's my horn, so let's get walking." With that matter settled, they began their way, hopefully towards safety. Of course, they had no way to know if they were heading in or out of the gloomy forest and its dangerous inhabitants. "Rainbow, darling, over here!" Rainbow looked down to see Rarity in a trenchcoat and glasses, waving her closer urgently. She flew down to her friend. "Hey Rarity. I'm looking for that siren that's got everyone all worked up." Rarity lowered her glasses a little. "What do you plan to do if you find it? It could mind control you, just like that." She clopped her forehooves. "Then it'd have the fastest pony in Ponyville on its side." Rainbow blinked. "What? No way! Have you even seen this siren thing?" "I've heard stories." Rarity frowned a little. "You shouldn't be flying around right now, dear. Come along, let's go inside and wait for this to blow over." Rainbow put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "Hold up there. Twilight's relying on us! I'm not going to hide while an angry mob has her tied up in her own home, no way!" Rarity glanced up at the purple castle before shaking her head. "I'm certain they're just trying to fix things. Mayor Mare would never harm Twilight. Why, the scandal of the very idea." She left, and Rainbow was left alone. RD snorted with increasing agitation before her hooves crashed together with a loud clop. "Of course!" She knew one pony that may know of scary creatures! She darted off with a new plan.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	12 - Trees Are Friends, Trees Are Enemies	Soaring on determined wings, Rainbow consumed the distance between herself and Fluttershy's cottage in a rush of wind and fury that would be dizzying for other ponies. Stopping was harder than the quick flight there and she skidded to a stop, nose tapping the door as she came to a halt. She looked left and right without spying her friend so she raised a hoof to knock firmly on the door. "Yo, Flutters! There's something serious going on and I need your help!" The corner of her friend's head, pink mane visible, peeked up around the corner of her window a moment before ducking away. "How do I know you're safe?" "Safe? Rainbow Dash is never safe." She spread her wings. "But really, what's that question for? Come on!" "Why are you here?" came the timid question, trembling with fear. "To... learn about sirens? Look, the entire town's gone a bit nutso and we ha--" The door suddenly swung inwards. "Oh thank goodness!" Fluttershy hugged Rainbow tightly. "I was afraid you were like the others." "What? Me? Pfft, as if." She patted Fluttershy gently on the back. "Now come on and pull yourself together. We have a siren to bust." "You know about it?" Fluttershy released her friend and sat on her haunches, tilting her head at Rainbow. "How could I not know about it? They wouldn't shut up about it. Oh no, the siren's controlling Twilight! We'd better catch it!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Whatever. If the siren was so powerful, why wouldn't it just control the whole mob of them?" "That's exactly what happened." Fluttershy tapped her hooves softly together, looking nervous. "What siren are they looking for?" "Come again?" Rainbow squinted a little. "They said Twilight had a siren with her that got away." "The seapony?" Fluttershy let out a sudden breath. "I'm glad she's okay. I always wanted to meet one of those. They're very rare, and not sirens!" Rainbow rolled a hoof at her friend. "So if she's not the siren, why does everypony think she is?" Fluttershy pointed past her friend towards the town. "Because they are being controlled, by a real siren! I heard her singing before, but she was too far away to put me under her spell. Rainbow, where were you earlier today?" Rainbow considered that a moment, tapping her chin. "I was visiting Cloudsdale. I came back and went to say hi to Twi when everything was totally crazy." "See? You didn't fall under its magic either." Rainbow clopped her hooves together. "We have to break our friends free! I thought they were all crazy, but they're just being messed with, and nopony gets away with that with Rainbow Danger Dash on the case!" Cherry carefully stepped up onto a log. Though this had been far from the way she would have chosen to do it, she was getting used to navigating on hooves and making quicker adjustments, she even had an idea... "Starlight?" "Hmm?" Starlight turned back to Cherry, Spike on her back and light from her horn shining over Cherry. "What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong, but I have an idea." Cherry thrust a hoof back to point at her belt. "This thing keeps my fins pinned all day, what if the fins did the turning instead of my wrench?" Spike raised a brow. "Can they do that?" "Not right now." Cherry rolled suddenly onto her side. "But I think I could make it work..." Starlight glanced around nervously. "Are you sure this is the best time to do that? Who-knows-what could jump out and try to eat us at any moment." Cherry frowned a little. "No, no it isn't, but we need every advantage we can get." She pulled free her screwdriver even as she wriggled free of her belt. "Cover me and I'll try to get this done quickly." Spike saluted, but Starlight seemed less certain. She began to slowly circle, casting her light out into the gloomy forest, scanning for threats to their well-being. Cherry pried off a panel in the side of the belt she had only realized was there after seeing the grandfather clock's hatch popped open. It wasn't a part of the structure, but made to come loose. She could see where it attached internally to the pieces she tweaked with the wrench and her mouth moved silently as she traced each with her eyes, trying to figure out the best place to put where she wanted. Spike suddenly pointed. "Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" Starlight frowned apprehensively, turning to face where Spike had indicated. The forest as a whole was oppressive and dark enough, but she didn't see anything rushing, slithering, charging, or otherwise moving towards them. Spike's yelp echoed as he was lifted right off of Starlight's back. "Let go of me!" Starlight looked up with a gasp, seeing that a tree was moving and grabbing Spike quite well with a thick branch. After a moment of surprise, she directed her horn at the branch after where it had Spike. With a bright blast of magic, Spike fell to the ground with a thump. He scrambled to his feet just in time to dive out of the way of another oncoming branch. The first one regrew the missing part Starlight had blasted off and reached for the unicorn. It was thwarted for a moment by a suddenly summoned shield. "Spike, cook it!" Spike ducked under another grasping branch and exhaled a rush of green flames. The branch curled and withered on contact and didn't immediately heal. "Ha ha! I have this ha--" The other branch suddenly swung in and caught him in the chest, knocking him down and the breath right out of him. Starlight blasted the branch as it reached to grab Spike. "Don't worry, I have you covered. I'll take care of... this?" She felt something slithering along a leg and tensed. Slowly turning, she could see a wild mass of roots were growing up along her leg and flank, literally rooting her in place as she trembled with fear. "This forest is crazy!" While all this happened, Cherry was focused on her job, carefully wedging in little bits and bending others with care. "Almost have it..." So focused was she on her task that she didn't even register the battle raging close by. Spike fought his way upright, panting and wheezing with lost breath. As a branch swung for him, he tried to scorch it, only for a tiny little speck of green to emerge. He dove to the side, rolling out of the way of the angry wood just in time to avoid another painful blow. The roots continued their ceaseless spread over Starlight, but she frowned, almost a sneer. "Stupid plant! You think you can win that easily?" She flashed brightly, energy pouring from her in all directions in a sudden explosion that sent the roots scattering and freeing her. She staggered away, heaving for breath after the dramatic display. "Take... that..." Cherry slipped back into her belt and worked her fins into the new openings she had fashioned for them. She wriggled her left fin just for the internal gears to turn right over it. She squealed with pain but managed to get the gear reversed swiftly. There was more work to be done. Spike made a sudden charge and hopped up onto Starlight. "We can handle this." Starlight gave a determined nod. "Your flames recharged? It's time to cut down this rebellious ivy." She gave a scowl at the tree as her chest rose and fell. "Let's do this." Together they charged, with Starlight providing the speed as she dodged and wove around a worryingly increasing number of branches on her way to the trunk of the tree. Spike drew in a deep breath as they got closer. Just as the branches converged on them, he let loose, scorching the branches between them and the trunk before the whole thing seemed to catch ablaze for a brilliant moment. It burned all too quickly, reduced to ash and leaving a shaft of light pouring in from above where the canopy had been compromised with the missing tree. Spike let out a triumphant whoop. "We did it!" Starlight offered a hoof that Spike met with a balled fist, both relieved that their foe had been defeated. Cherry gave her own satisfied cheer as she rolled upright and began moving forward and backwards without holding a wrench. "See?" She looked up at her winded friends and tilted her head. "What have you two been up to?" She approached them with a satisfied smile on her face. "I got it working right, so we can keep going now." Starlight nodded at Cherry. "Very nice job, but I think Spike and I need... just a moment." She sank to the ground, panting softly. "We'll get moving after that. That reminds me, how are you doing? I mean, this is pretty dry for you, isn't it?" Cherry winced faintly at being reminded how long it'd been since she felt the cool embrace of water. "I'm alright, I think. I'd rather be swimming, but I don't think I'm dying or anything." She waved it off. "I'll be alright." Spike gave a thumbs up as he caught up from all the excitement. "Good to hear. I think we have a lot more walking ahead of us. This is bothering me though." Starlight perked an ear at him. "What is? This forest? I'm with you there." "Not that, I mean, not just that. Twilight should have calmed the crowd and come to get us by now, but she hasn't. Do you think something went wrong?" Cherry reached for his shoulder. "I wouldn't worry, Spike. Twilight's a very clever pony and the ponies obviously respect her. They wouldn't hurt her." Starlight nodded in quick agreement. "She's safer than we are right now, the way I see it." Spike looked around the forest slowly. "I wish we knew which way was Zecora's..." Cherry blinked. "What's a Z-core?" Spike snorted softly with a smile. "Zecora, a zebra that lives in these woods. She's nice, and she knows lots of stuff. I bet she could help us get this straightened out." Starlight hiked a brow. "She lives in this forest? Why would anypony do that willingly?" Cherry shrugged a little. "As scary as it is, everywhere has scary things. The ocean's full of things that'll make a snack out of you. You get used to it. I'm just not used to, uh, forest sharks just yet. Rested and ready, they drew themselves upright and resumed their hike, hoping that grabby trees would be the worst thing they'd find. But what were the odds of that?
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	13 - Sisters in the Forest	Cherry was moving along with increasing confidence. "I don't even know why I didn't realize this before!" She performed a smooth hairpin turn on her cooperative metal legs working in tandem with her natural pair before turning back forward. With her flippers able to control her mobility, it felt much more like the swimming she was accustomed to, rather than a device to lend barely any mobility to a crippled pony. Spike looked across at her from where he rode his stalwart mount known as Starlight. "Is it that much better? I admit, I never really got much of a look at your, um, fins? You had them covered up most of the time and all." Cherry bobbed her head quickly. "Oh yes, completely! They don't make me go forward in the water, they help me steer, and that's important. Guess what they're doing now? Ta da, steering!" She made a sudden jump onto a log with a loud giggle that was met with a low predatory growl from deep in the forest. Starlight held up a hoof for quiet and sank a little as she peered out into the trees. The entire group fell silent for several tense moments before she rose back up. "I don't think it's close by, but we should avoid making noise unless we're that eager to test out how good those hooves of yours are at running." Spike swallowed loudly from above Starlight. "Eh, maybe we can skip that part." He made a zipping motion over his mouth and went quiet. Back in Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbow snorted loudly. "So, how are we doing this? You distract them and I'll rush in and bam!" She swung a hoof. "I'll knock them out cold and we have Ponyville back to normal." Fluttershy shook her head a little. "I... guess we could do that, but what if she sings and then you're under her control too?" "What do you suggest?" Rainbow raised a brow. "We have to do something! Twilight's counting on us! Everypony is, even if most of them don't realize it yet." The shy pegasus tapped her hooves together. "We could try talking to her?" Rainbow's brows knitted together. "So she can put the whammy on you easier? How is this a good idea?" "W-well, maybe... she isn't all that bad. I'm sure if we just sit down and--" Rainbow hiked a brow as she leaned in towards her timid friend. "Fluttershy, really? This siren or whatever has the entire town under her control. I think that calls for something a bit stronger than a little chit-chat." She turned away and moved for the window, peeking outside as if expecting an attack to come. "Somepony in there may remember you live out here and come looking. I think we should am-scray." "Oh no!" Fluttershy hopped from the ground, hovering about six inches up. "We can't do that, we musn't! Who'll feed the animals?" Rainbow tilted her head. "This isn't the first time you took off for a few days. Leave them some bowls or whatever and let's get moving." She gestured outside. "The sooner we get moving, the better. We have a town to save!" Fluttershy frowned softly. "I suppose so, but I don't like it." She landed lightly and moved towards her pantry. "Bad enough with the map potentially calling us at any time to just... leave. They so much prefer to have warning before I go anywhere, and who can blame them?" "I can?" Rainbow snorted with annoyance. "What did these animals do before you were around? You know what, nevermind that. Just get ready and let's blow this popsicle sta--Hey!" She looked down with a scowl to where Angel, Fluttershy's rabbit, had just given her a swift kick. "I wasn't talking to you, long-ears." Fluttershy filled different bowls, ranging from tiny to worryingly large with different feeds to please her animal wards then set out a variety of water dishes. "There." She smiled a little, then trotted for the door, only for her mane to be caught from below and tugged on. She turned to see that Angel was trying to get her attention. "What's wrong?" Angel hopped up onto her back without any words, not that he was known for sharing any. "Oh, you want come with us? Um, I guess that's alright..." Rainbow threw up her hooves. "Whatever, so long as we can get going, and that little terror remembers who's in charge here." She pointed to herself as if it wasn't clear who she was referring to. She pushed open the upper half of Fluttershy's door before darting out through it, hovering easily as she spun around to face Fluttershy. "Coming?" Fluttershy rose at a gentle rate, only to be grabbed by Rainbow and the two shot up into the clouds with Angel attached. They would save Ponyville, somehow. Starlight let out a squeak as her next step proved far less certain than she thought. The forest quite abruptly ended, leaving them facing the side of a huge castle, which had a more worrying chasm around it that she had almost stepped into. Spike brightened at the sight. "Hey! I think that's the Castle of the Two Sisters!" Cherry stepped up carefully beside Starlight. "Looks big. Do you know it, Spike? You sound happy to see it." Spike bobbed his head. "We cleared it out a while ago. It should be safe and secure, but even better yet! The trail should still be there, so we can just walk home." Starlight's expression was a curious mix of relief and concern. "Not so fast, Spike. The town could still be crazy about Cherry. I like the idea of a place we can relax though." She turned and began following the chasm towards the front of the castle. "What were you cleaning it out for?" "Funny thing about that." Spike put a hand behind his head. "I don't exactly recall. I mean, we put a lot of work into it, then we just kinda... stopped. Lots of other things came up, and Twilight has a new castle now, so I guess we didn't really need it." Cherry shook her head a little. "That's a big place to clean just to forget about it, but I guess we shouldn't complain if it means we'll be safe and can relax for a change." She smiled broadly, only for the smile to wear away. "Uh, one thing... Is the castle sealed?" "Huh?" Spike looked over his shoulder. "What do you mean?" "It's just... if a home is left abandoned long enough..." Starlight huffed out a sigh. "She's right, something may have come in and decided to take up residence. We should make our first priority sweeping through and making sure we're the only guests of the castle before we relax." Spike pointed beneath the castle. "Oh hey, you can see the Tree of Harmony from here." Cherry blinked down into the chasm and the tree within it. "It's got shiny things in its, uh, the coral up top." "Branches," offered Starlight. "Spike, what are those things?" "Jewels, the Elements of Harmony, to be specific. We had to give them up to save the tree a while ago." Starlight tilted her head. "Twilight really has been through a lot, hasn't she?" She swallowed softly. "No wonder it made such a huge difference..." Cherry blinked as she pulled up alongside Starlight. "What difference?" "Nothing, nothing..." Spike gave Starlight a single pat through her mane. "It's alright, Starlight." "No, no it is not." Starlight frowned over her shoulder. "Cherry doesn't need to be bothered with things like that." The conversation quieted down to an uneasy silence as they came around to the front of the castle, as imposing as ever, but possibly the safest place for quite some distance. Applejack was tied up beside Twilight with three times the rope to keep the strong mare from busting loose. She scowled at their guard, the wall-eyed Muffins watching them like a hawk. "To think, ah thought we were friends." Muffins shook her head. "Sorry. Mayor Mare was very clear." Twilight smiled at Muffins. "Um, can I use the little filly's room?" "Oh, okay." Muffins rose to her hooves and trotted towards Twilight. "You promise to be good, right?" She smiled jovially at Twilight. "Otherwise I haveta go with you and neither of us wants that." Twilight sighed softly. "I promise." "Good!" Muffins pulled the ropes loose of Twilight easily and pointed to the restroom. "There you go. Come right back after you're done." Twilight walked away with uncertainty, stretching her legs as she went. She could try to run away, and she certainly considered it, but tricking Muffins like that hardly felt good, not to mention how many other guards may be just out of sight. No, with her magic non-functioning, it would be better to be allowed restroom privileges, for the moment... She emerged from the restroom and returned to her jailer. "So, Muffins?" "Yes'm?" Muffins was looking directly at her, or so she figured. It was occasionally difficult to be entirely sure. "Everything alright?" "Oh, I was just curious about a few things." Twilight settled where she had been, but didn't rush to put the ropes back on herself. "Did Mayor Mare come up with this idea all on her own?" "Nuh uh." Muffins shook her head back and forth quickly. Applejack raised a brow. "Really now? Well then, who done it?" Muffins tapped her cheek softly a moment before shaking her head. "Can't say." Twilight tilted her head a little. "Can't, or won't?" Muffins frowned a little. "I was never that good at grammar, uh... can't. Uh huh." "Why not? You're a very talented speaker so far." A white lie perhaps. Twilight smiled hopefully. Muffins shook her head again. "Can't. I was told not to, so I can't." Applejack blinked owlishly. "If'n ya were told not to, wouldn't that be a 'won't' kinda thing?" Muffins advanced on Twilight. "Nope, definitely a can't thing. Sorry. I hope you're not mad at me." She leaned in. "You're my favoritest princess!" She got to tying Twilight back up. Applejack sighed softly. "You have the darndest way of showin' yer respect. Look, Muffins, this is all one big misunderstandin'. Ain't neither of us controlled by no sirens." Muffins pouted a little, looking increasingly sad. "I havta, sorry. Please don't be mad at me..." Twilight folded her wings back up, the ropes sinking against her, not very tight at all thanks to her subtle ploy. "We're not angry at you, Muffins. You're a good pony, and a good friend. We'll work this out, don't worry." Muffins brightened at Twilight's words. "Maybe when this is all done and we've taken care of that mean siren, we can go have fun somewhere, alright?" She clopped her forehooves together, then looked to Applejack. "That goes for you too, AJ." She leaned closer. "You're my favorite apple farmer." Applejack rolled her eyes at the dubious praise.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	14 - A Multi-legged Approach	Cherry advanced bravely across the stone bridge that went over the jutting chasm below. "For being abandoned, this thing looks like somepony put a lot of time into." She tapped down at the bridge before continuing on. She was fairly sure it was artificial, as it didn't even remotely fit the look of the rock around it and none of the 'trees' looked like it either. Spike nodded from atop Starlight. "Getting this bridge set up was quite a chore, but I'm glad we did. It's way better than the old swaying rickety thing that used to be here." Starlight frowned a little. "It had a rope bridge? Color me glad we're not dealing with that, and I bet it was over a thousand years old too." She rolled her eyes as she trotted towards the massive doors of the refurbished castle. "Huh, maybe there isn't anything to worry about. The door's still closed and looks solid. How were the windows?" Spike cast his gaze upwards. "All the broken ones were replaced, I think." Cherry reached out a hoof and pushed on the door, but it wouldn't give. "How do you open it?" Spike hopped to his feet atop Starlight, bounced across to Cherry's back and up onto the handle on the door. With a great pull, one foot on the opposing door, they began to open with a slow creaking, revealing the dim interior to the two sets of curious pony eyes that peeked within. Starlight raised a hoof. "Wait here a moment." She proceeded past Spike and Cherry and advanced into the old castle. The air was still and musty from being sealed. She felt increasingly safe from random beasts and monsters wandering past. "Spike?" She turned, horn glowing, to face the front door. "Was everyone safe, inside? I mean, there weren't any monsters inside the castle last you checked, right?" Spike and Cherry entered quickly with the clip, pitter-patter, and mechanical taps of their varied feet. Spike shook his head quickly. "The worst thing I remember are some creepy spiders, and they looked a lot scarier than they were in the end." Starlight smiled. "Great, then we should be fine for now." She grabbed the door with her magic and pulled it shut firmly. "We'll stay here until things blow over. I don't suppose you stocked the place with any food by chance?" Rainbow peered stealthily from a cloud, just her bright eyes visible from her fortress of fluff. Fluttershy was beside her, also peeking at the activity below, with Angel on top of her. The pegasi of the town all seemed to stay close to the ground, which let them sneak around undetected in their fortress of the sky. "Why aren't they doing their weather duties?" Rainbow scowled disapprovingly. "It's gonna be a real mess to fix it up after this." "Don't be mad at them," Fluttershy insisted in her timid voice. "I'm certain they would if they weren't being mind-controlled." Angel suddenly thumped Fluttershy's back and pointed down below. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both looked to see a growing collection of ponies just outside of town hall, but that wasn't the mayor standing at the podium. They weren't even standing... The creature that had everypony's attention looked like a pony, mostly, from the snout to their chest, where it transitioned to what looked like a great big fish tail that hovered over the ground. Embedded in the center of that chest was a lustrous brown gem that matched the rest of her. She spoke with a loud and clear voice. "Good day, loyal citizens. I'd love to tell you that all is well, but the interloper, the dangerous siren known as Cherry, is still at-large. We must find her to secure the safety of the town." Bon Bon raised a hoof in the middle of the crowd. "How can we find her? We've looked everywhere." The strange pony nodded her head. "It seems unlikely she's still within the town proper. She must be lurking nearby. Your safety is my number one priority, so--" Her statement seemed to make the ponies down on the ground smile, but made Rainbow's snout wrinkle with distaste. "--we'll send out groups in rotating waves to begin exploring the area around until we catch our siren. Does anypony have suggestions as to good hiding places?" Rainbow clopped her forehooves together. "I can't take it! Wait, I have an idea. You stay here." Before Fluttershy could voice her objection, Rainbow was gone, streaking down to the ground away from the crowd and coming up trotting on the group, "I haven't found the siren yet." she announced to the group as she approached. Several eyes turned towards her, including that of their new 'leader'. She nodded softly. "You're late for the meeting. As I was saying, we'll go in groups, for safety." Rainbow thrust a hoof upwards. "Ma'am? I think I know where she is." That caught everypony's attention in short order. The leader rolled a hoof. "And where would that be?" Her teeth became exposed, sharp and deadly as she smiled. "We can finally catch her and return to our peaceful way of life." "Yeah, we should totally do that." Rainbow gave her own insincere grin in return. "But she has friends. Can you help me capture her?" The leader brought her hooves down on her podium. "She's being protected?! She must have brainwashed some innocent ponies, the poor things..." She drifted out over the crowd towards Rainbow Dash. "You'll bring me there, won't you?" "Of course, let's go, uh, ma'am." Rainbow turned and began leading the way. Of course, she had no idea where Cherry was, or if she even was a siren or something else, but that was far from her goal. A glance upwards showed Fluttershy was still in the cloud, drifting after them sedately. Nothing could go wrong with this plan! "How long do ya figure they'll be gone fer?" Applejack leaned off to the right, trying to peek through the thick doors of Twilight's castle. "This may be the best time to get while the gettin's good." Twilight folded her wings tight against herself and squirmed, causing the ropes to fall to her hooves with a little wriggling. She quickly trotted over to Applejack and started pulling her ropes free one by one. "Whatcha doing?" Muffins came soaring in from outside. Twilight tensed. "Applejack needed to go to the little filly's room and I was giving her a hoof." She gave her best, exceedingly false, smile at Muffins. "Oh, okay." Muffins bobbed her head, seeing nothing wrong with that. Tensely, but without opposition, Twilight freed Applejack before glancing at Muffins. "Oh, hey, Muffins." "Yeah?" She tilted her head, eyes rotating in that curious way of hers. Applejack approached with a smile. "You've done such a good job watchin' us. I'm plum impressed." "Aw." She waved off the compliment, blushing. "I'm just doing my job!" She frowned a little suddenly. "I thought it used to be delivering letters, but hanging out with you two is fun too." Twilight bobbed her head. "But are you ready for the next step in your duty?" Muffins brightened, a radiant smile on her face. "Oh! There's a part two?! Tell me, tell me!" Twilight pointed to Applejack and herself. "Now it's time to find that siren, and you're going to do it, with us. Imagine how proud everypony will be when they hear you managed it." Muffins clopped her forehooves with escalating joy at the idea. "Yay! That sounds way more fun, uh, no offense. Let's find a siren!" She hopped up into the air, then suddenly flopped back down. "But I don't know where the siren is..." Applejack thrust a hoof at Twilight. "Ah reckon she does. That's why you were watchin' her, right? Now she'll lead us right to the critter." Muffins frowned with sudden apprehension. "Wait... you were being controlled by the siren." "Was." Twilight bobbed her head. "But you did it. You watched me for so long, I'm not controlled anymore. Let's go find a siren." "Okay!" She hopped back to her hooves. "Let's go!" She began trotting along, singing about how she'd become a hero as she went and practically radiating joy with her every motion. Applejack and Twilight followed along. AJ leaned in towards Twilight. "You sure she's workin' with a full basket?" Twilight nudged Applejack. "Don't be mean. She's our ticket out of here, and we do need to find Spike, Starlight, and Cherry." "Cherry?" "The hippocampus." "Hippowhat now?" "Seapony." "Oh." Applejack raised a brow. "Shoulda just said so." Outside, Twilight directed Muffins away from the town and any other ponies that would stop them. "But she'll get mad." Muffins pouted a little. Applejack glanced at the town. "Who?" "The one I can't say." Muffins shrugged softly. "She said not to leave town without permission." Twilight rolled a hoof. "How are we going to find that nasty siren?" Muffins frowned with obvious thought. "I... guess that's true... Alright, but if she asks, I'm saying you told me to." Applejack smiled at that. "We accept that responsibility. Let's go, partner. We got a siren to lasso." Though she hoped to wrangle the one putting the whammy over the town, not the other thing Muffins seemed to be hunting.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	15 - Meeting in Isolation	Rainbow strode further and further out of town. She needed to take the siren somewhere where she could Rainbow Dash all over that monster, free Ponyville, and save the day for everypony. She could already hear the wild cheering and the mad stomping of an ecstatic crowd. Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! "Why do you have that expression?" The siren was hovering beside her with a raised brow. "Are you well?" "Huh? Oh! Sorry, let's get to that siren." The siren suddenly swam through the air in front of Rainbow, cutting off her progress. "My control must be coming loose. That's alright, just listen." Rainbow thrust a hoof up. "Oh that won't be necessary." She gave a broad fake grin as she began to sweat. "I'm ready to go find that siren!" The siren's voice became more melodic with each word before she began to sing a soft song and things began to fade for Rainbow despite her best effort to hold herself together. "There, now go on, and no delays. We'll stop that nasty siren." Fluttershy, hovering above behind her cloud, gave a quiet gasp of surprise as Angel drove a hind leg into the back of her head, waking her from her stupor. She looked around dizzily a moment before she looked down at Rainbow placidly leading the siren away. "Oh no..." She peeked over her shoulder. "Wait, it didn't bother you, Angel?" The rabbit shook his head quickly back and forth. Fluttershy frowned with new thought. "It must not work on animals, or only on ponies. Let's get some help." She fluttered away, propelling her cloud away from the siren for the moment. "I hope I catch them before they do something awful." They were headed towards the Everfree. Even if the place had been a step less dangerous since the Tree of Harmony had been restored, it was still a scary place. Applejack leaned towards Twilight. "So, how are we gonna find that watery friend ah yers?" "Hmm? Oh, that's simple." Twilight's horn began to glow, magic coming easily with that pesky blocker removed, as she turned until she thrust a hoof out. "She's with Spike. Spike I can find." She shook her head a little. "I hope they're all alright." Muffins tilted her head a little. "Spike's a nice dragon, but why is he with the siren?" She looked in the direction Twilight had pointed. "Of course! Duh! They're hiding in the Everfree..." She rolled her eyes, a dizzying act for the others as it seemed for just a moment that the two eyes moved independently. "We shoulda started there. Hold on, we're gonna need a--" Applejack pounced Muffins to the ground. "Woah woah woah, calm yer horses." Muffins blinked at Applejack. "Um?" Twilight nodded at the two of them. "Applejack is right. If we get more help, that's more ponies in danger. I thought you wanted to do this the heroic way, Muffins? We can handle this, the three of us." She gestured between Applejack, Muffins, and herself. Muffins squirmed her way to her hooves and bobbed her head at Twilight. "You're the princess, Princess." She brought her wing up in a sharp salute, even if her tongue was poking free a little. Applejack noticed a curiosity. "Muffins, is Twilight in charge?" "Huh? Of course she is. She's a princess." She shrugged softly. "Who else would we listen to? Mayor Mare isn't here." Twilight blinked at that. "What about that other pony that was giving commands?" "Who? Oh! The flying fish lady? She's not a mayor or a princess, so nope." Twilight let out a soft breath of relief. Muffins was free of control, and they had a vital clue as to what they were dealing with. "After all that, it's a siren making ponies hunt for a so called 'siren' that isn't a siren at all!" Applejack frowned. "Care to spin that again?" Twilight pointed back towards the town. "A siren's why everyone was acting so oddly. I've seen them work before, in the human world, but Cherry's no siren. She's a hippoca--" She aborted the word halfway in and cleared her throat. "Sea horse." Both of the others nodded with understanding. "As far as I'm aware, Cherry's completely harmless. Let's get to Spike and the others and we can work out a plan of action." Together, they advanced towards the Everfree to find Spike, who was hopefully with Cherry and Starlight. All three well and intact, preferably. "I thought you said the castle was safe!" Cherry ducked to the side just as great slavering pincers came down where she had been a moment before. A spider the size of an actual horse chittered at her angrily as he approached on spindly legs. Starlight scowled at the beast. "I thought it was. I was clearly mistaken. No problem..." She lowered her horn at the hungry arachnid and let loose a bolt of magic. The star on the beast's back glowed gently and seemed to just slurp up the magic with no harm to the spider. "Or maybe a little problem... Spike?" Spike glanced at her. "What do you want me to do about it?" "You're a dragon, Spike, breathe some fire at it? Fwoosh fwoosh?" Cherry shrieked as she darted and danced out of the way of each frightening lunge the spider made for her. With her legs wired properly into her fins, she had become quite a deal better at dodging. With a sudden lash, she brought her tail around and slapped the creature across the face. "Stop trying to eat me!" This only served to further infuriate the spider. It raised several legs into the air and propelled itself on the others for Cherry just as Spike lit up its rump with a sudden burst of hot flames. It screeched in surprise and spun around to face the brave and young dragon. "Uh, okay, now it's looking at me." Spike took a slow step away. "Do we have another plan?" As Spike fled wildly, arms extended in front of himself, Starlight tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked around. Spying a hanging chandelier, she pointed. "Get it to stand there, Spike, and I think I can handle it." "You'd better!" He pivoted mid-dash and headed for the spot Starlight had indicated, just to hear a sudden zap of unicorn magic. "Again? That didn--" He suddenly felt the presence of an oncoming chandelier and threw himself out of the way with wide eyes just as the spider dove for him. With a loud crunch, the Spider was pinned to the ground and Spike was safe, if scared. "Next time tell me when you're about to do that..." Cherry clopped her forehooves softly. "Good job, Starlight. You'd be a great hunter." She approached the spider slowly. "Do you think we can eat it?" Starlight stuck out her tongue with distaste. "Who would want to?" "Anything that wants to eat me can also be eaten, code of the sea." Cherry nodded to herself. "We fought it fair and square, right as the waves." Spike raised a brow. "Is that really a rule?" Cherry flashed her sharp teeth. "At least in the water it is. Sharks can take a nasty bite out of us, and we can take a nasty bite out of them. Fair is fair. We don't normally hunt sharks or anything. Squids taste better." Starlight gestured at the unconscious and pinned spider. "Well let's not find out what it tastes like the hard way. It could be poisonous and then wouldn't you feel silly? You survived all that just to get sick now? I prefer some nice greens anyway." "Gems please." Spike rubbed his claws together, tummy rumbling with memories of exquisite gem dishes provided by his friend and mother-figure, Twilight. "Actually..." He started sliding towards the fallen chandelier, or more pointedly it's fallen and scattered bits of jewelry. Just as he had popped one into his maw, all three turned towards the sound of the front door opening. They were getting guests.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	16 - Fateful Encounters	The door creaked open, pushed by two ponies, not one. One of them wasn't even a pony, gauging from the fishtail they had for a bottom. Cherry squinted a little bit. "A pisces pony? What's she doing here?" Starlight raised a brow at this. "Pisces?" The siren laid eyes on Cherry, a grin spreading across her face as Rainbow stood there passively a moment before speaking, "I did it." She turned a little towards her mind-controlled minion. "Yes, yes you did. Now, hmm, go back to to--" With a sudden combined roar of different animals, Fluttershy's reinforcements came barreling in from behind. The largest of them, a bear, grabbed her from the side in a terrific tackle to the ground. Angel bounced up with the others and hopped up, landing foot-first on the side of Rainbow's face in a brutal kick that shook her out of her funk. "Wha?" Spike scratched behind his head a little. "Did we just get... saved?" "Get off me, stupid animal!" The siren thrashed in the bear's grip. "Let go!" Cherry advanced towards the sudden crowd at the door. "Excuse me, who are you?" With a sudden pull, the siren popped out of the bear's grip, grunting with frustration. "I'm the pony that's bringing you home." Cherry blinked owlishly. "What?" "Did I stutter?" The siren raised a brow. "Your mother paid a hefty sum of husks to have you dragged home the moment you vanished during the night. I had to follow you, which wasn't hard." She gestured a hoof down at Cherry's metallic hooves. "You made a pretty nice trail the entire way, to say nothing of all the noise and fuss when you hit land. No, tracking you was the easy part." Cherry suddenly broke into a warm smile. "Aw, that was really nice of mom, but I'm not in danger." Starlight nodded as she moved up beside Cherry. "Besides the danger you created, she's been an honored guest." The siren shrugged a little. "Look, if she just came along with the ponies I sent, instead of running away, we could have all avoided a whole lot of hassle. Ah, the name's Sand Surprise, and you are Cerulean, I assume? I don't think many other sea ponies are out of the water." Fluttershy came trotting up from the direction of the bridge. "Is everything alright?" The bear shrugged. Rainbow shook her head, casting out the webs before she realized who she was standing next to. "Alright, big and fishy! I'm gonna take you down!" Spike waved a claw quickly. "Easy there, Dash. I think we're cool." Cherry grinned at Sand. "Are we cool?" Sand put her hooves on her hips. "I was paid to bring you back to your mother, so that's where you're going." Fluttershy thanked her animal friends for their timely intervention before joining the conversation. "Um, hello, Miss..." "Surprise, Sand Surprise." "Ah, yes, Miss Surprise. Cherry doesn't want to go with you. Can we do..." She rolled a hoof a little. "Something else?" Starlight pulled out the few shells she had gotten from Cherry. "How about we trade these for you to bring a message back to her mother?" Sand blinked with surprise and leaned in. "Huh, first time I saw a land pony with some of these, let alone knowing what they're for." She snatched them from Starlight's extended hoof. "Not much, but it's on my way home anyway. What do you want me to tell her?" "Stop right there!" Twilight was charging at the castle, Applejack beside her and Muffins flying overhead, all three looking ready to come to the rescue that was no longer required. Rainbow held up a hoof towards them. "Hey, it's alright. Rainbow Dash is on the case." Twilight stalled, blinking in confusion with the others. Cherry gestured at Sand. "This is Sand Surprise. She was sent by my mother to bring me home." Applejack mosied up towards the group. "Ah, alright? So why all the mind control alon' the way there? T'aint neighborly any t' have us trussed up like that fer so long." Twilight raised a brow. "Is there a time limit?" Sand shook her head. "Relax. I'm a siren, this is how we solve problems. This was a problem, and I solved it. She wasn't going to be hurt." Fluttershy frowned at Sand. "That's not a good answer, and not very nice at all. You scared poor Cherry half to death. I thought you were here to protect and guide her?" She didn't mention that she was also terrified of the events of the last day or so. "That is not how we deal with problems." She was glaring at Sand, staring her down like any other ornery beast, whether she could speak or not changed nothing. "Now you apologize to her and no more controlling ponies. If you want something, you ask for it." Sand blinked slowly at the yellow pegasus before glancing around at the others. "Ah..." She stopped at Cherry. "Look, sorry, alright? I don't normally do land missions, but that's where you went, so that's where I went, and I kinda improvised. I owed it to your mom." Cherry tilted her head. "Did she pay that much?" Sand blushed a little. "Y... no. She's saved my fins a few times way back in the day. I wanted to do her a solid in return. Look, you sure you don't want to come home?" Twilight gave a little smile. "Okay, Sand is it? It's very nice that you wanted to do a favor for Cherry's mom, but she's alright. Would you like to see the room we've arranged for her? She's an honored guest, a diplomat from the sea people." Sand waved off the statement. "You said something like that before, but she's a filly for the waves' sake. She doesn't have any say, so how is she going to be diplomat of anything but herself?" Cherry took a little step forward. "I can share stories of home, and they can show me more wondrous things of The Dry. They've been really nice to me, even when things got scary, they were there." Starlight nodded. "We wouldn't let Cherry be hurt." Spike gestured broadly to everyone. "Friends protect friends, and we're all friends." Sand blinked at that. "Even me?" Applejack hiked a brow. "If ya promise to never mind-control the town again, we can talk." Twilight was a bit more forgiving from the outset, placing a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "Easy. Sand was concerned about her friend's daughter. That's very noble, even if she went about it... interestingly..." Starlight flashed a nervous smile. "It's alright... I've been there." "There?" Sand met her gaze. "The whole, you know, brainwashing ponies thing to get what you want?" Sand leaned in towards the nervous Starlight. "You're a siren? You hide it well, land pony." Applejack snorted softly. "She did it, without even a fish tail. A whole town of ponies." Sand whistled softly. "For how long?" Starlight shrunk a little bit. "Years?" Sand barked out with a sudden fit of laughter. "Oh wow! You're good! I couldn't even keep them in line for much longer than a day. Years?" She spread her hooves. "I can't even imagine that." Starlight put a hoof behind her head. "Well, I'm not doing it again. I'm... better now." Twilight moved up beside Starlight and threw a leg over her, squeezing. "And now she has real friends, which is a lot better than brainwashed minions any day." Sand nodded a little. "I'll bear that in mind, but... forgive me, being a siren is kind of what I was born to be. Influencing others is what I do when I'm around ponies." Fluttershy pointed at Cherry. "You decided on your own to put your talents to work helping a friend. You can decide to do other things, to help ponies." Applejack nodded in agreement with that. "Th' way ah see it, ya may have caused a lot of mischief, but ya did it fer the right reasons at least. Ah kin respect that, goin' the distance fer a friend." Sand smiled at the compliments. "Alright, enough squishy stuff, let's see this 'room' you've made up for Cerulean, and it better be good." The entire party set out from the castle then, hiking along the trail from the castle to the town proper. Spirits were high, and fear was low. The trail between the castle and the town was fairly safe and cleared. While an attack was possible, it was far less likely, and they had numbers on their side. Starlight put a hoof to her rumbling belly. "I am so looking forward to getting a nibble to eat once we get back to town." Cherry glanced back at the castle, already lost to the forest. "Shoulda ate that big thing. I bet it woulda been tasty." While Sand had been gone, the ponies of Ponyville had regained their senses, but that didn't stop the returning party from running into an angry mob of torch and pitchfork wielders. It was just that they were directed at Sand instead of at her behest. "There she is!" called out Mayor Mare. "Capture her!" Muffins suddenly landed between the two. "Wait! I'm still a little confused, but I heard what they said and I think she's safe." She held out a hoof at either side, as if holding the two groups from getting to one another instead of just being a wall-eyed roadblock. "Her name is Sand Surprise." Bon Bon raised a brow. "She lives up to the 'surprise' part." Mayor Mare locked eyes with Twilight. "Princess..." She paled suddenly. "Princess! Please forgive me!" She threw herself at Twilight's hooves. "I was being controlled. Please don't have me thrown into a dungeon forever!" Twilight shook her head slowly. "If everypony would kindly put away their torches and sharp things, we can move on. Nopony's in trouble. It was all a big misunderstanding." Mayor Mare sat up. "Controlling the entire town, a misunderstanding?" She looked towards Starlight, then onwards, but the unspoken accusation had been stated. Starlight colored darkly and squirmed in place while Applejack advanced. "Look, everypony. She was just trying to guard a little'un." She gestured at Cherry. "Cherry here is a filly of her friend. Now, she is sorry for what she did, right?" Sand internally sighed before forcing a big smile. "I won't mind-control the ponies of this town ever again, promise." With the matter largely resolved, ponies began scattering around, getting back to what they had to do. Twilight led the way for her friends, new and old, back towards her castle. "This is hardly how I expected to spend the day, but we did learn something for it. So, sea ponies and sirens are aware of one another? Even friends? That's wonderful!"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	17 - The Second Episode, or, Clothes Make the Mare	It was a fine day in Ponyville. How couldn't it be? With little excited giggles, Cherry slowly pulled a lever out of place with a little shred of metal in her mouth she was using as a tiny pry bar. Pinkie leaned over her shoulder as she worked. "I don't think it'll work like that..." "Of course not." Cherry set her tool aside. "Breaking it is part of understanding it." She ran a hoof gently along the massive clock. "Look at how it tries to work now." Pinkie tilted her head slowly. "It doesn't look like it's working at all now." "That's where you're wrong!" Cherry pointed into the exposed guts of the grandfather clock. "See, right here. It's trying to turn. If you listen, you can even hear it going tick tick tick." Pinkie frowned a moment before the expression faded into a smile. "Oh I can hear it! Shouldn't it go tick-tock, not tick-tick?" Cherry pushed the piece back into place, and the great weight began to swing properly again, the device restored. "I'm still learning how it all works, but I love it. I love every little piece!" She swatted the clock and something fell. Cherry's eyes went wide with horror. "Oh no!" She dove for the ground, flopping as she began searching for the missing piece. "Please tell me you can see it!" Pinkie picked up a small gear from the ground. "Is it this?" Cherry sprang up to her hooves, living and metal. She leaned towards the little gear and bobbed her head. "Perfect! You're the best assistant ever." She accepted the gear from the giggling Pinkie and carefully put it where it belonged, her tongue stuck out just a little with concentration until it slipped back into place. "Phew. That's enough clockwork for one day." "Good! Wanna get a snack?" Pinkie smiled brightly. "I still owe you a cake, and today's the day we fix that, riiiight?" Cherry carefully shut the front and back panels of her clock. "Let me get wet and I'll meet you in front of the castle, alright?" They parted ways, only for Cherry to emerge from Twilight's castle, glistening with water, but much more pleased about it than most ponies would be. "Have you seen my room, Pinkie?" Pinkie tilted her head. "I saw the top of it, but I haven't been in your room." "You should! You can swim, right?" "Course I can! I can skate too, but I bet you don't want your room frozen." Pinkie stuck out her tongue a moment. Cherry was baffled. "Skate?" Pinkie led the way towards the town of Ponyville. "When water gets really cold, it turns into ice, like magic. Then you can skate on it, because ice is all hard, and slick." As they wandered through the town and the generally cheerful inhabitants, Cherry veered off towards a familiar face. "Good morning, Applejack!" "Well howdy there, Cherry, Pinkie. What're you two upta?" She was manning the apple stand that day, with many fresh apples waiting for a good home. "Come t' get some apples?" Cherry licked her lips. "Maybe one..." She offered a bit and received an apple, even if she could have claimed more than one at the price. She seemed happy to crunch into it as Pinkie approached. "Hey Applejack. I was about to show Cherry the magic that is cake!" Pinkie clopped her forehooves together excitedly. "I can't wait to see her joyful expression on the first bite." Applejack laughed at that. "Ah reckon ya would be pleased as punch fer the opportunity. Ah confess Ah felt much the same when she had her first apple. You go on and have a good time, y'hear? Tell me how it goes later." "Will do!" Pinkie saluted before they departed, heading for the sweet emporium that was Sugarcube Corner. There were some ponies lingering nearby, nibbling on tasty treats. They looked at Cherry curiously and some offered friendly waves. She was a novel sight, but not an unwelcome one. Pinkie returned the wave, but was focused on getting Cherry inside, and soon they had entered the secret lair of sweets, which wasn't so terribly secret. One of the ponies behind the bar gave a smile. He was a stallion, dry sort, of course. He seemed a touch skinnier than most of the others. "Well hello there, Pinkie, who've you got with you there?" "Hello hello, Mr. Cake. Meet Cherry." She gestured between the two. "Cherry, this is Mr. Cake. This whole bakery belongs to him and Mrs. Cake. I just work here." Mr. Cake offered a hoof. "She says that, but she's an invaluable part of the team, practically part of the family. Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, Cherry. That pronunciation, it reminds me a bit of Prench." Cherry tilted her head at that even as she offered a hoof, meeting his with a soft clop before she guided her fins to make her metal legs begin walking to take in the sights of the place. Everything was bright and colorful, to say nothing of smelling so sweet. "This is a very nice... um..." Pinkie quickly supplied, "Bakery." "Ah, yes, Bakery." Cherry frowned a little. "What's that?" Mr. Cake's curiosity would go unfulfilled, but Cherry's naked ignorance and curiosity distracted him nicely. "A bakery is where ponies bake. It's how we make all these treats." He waved a hoof over their counter where cookies, muffins, and cupcakes were on proud display. Cherry approached the glass case and leaned forward, bumping her nose as she misjudged the gait of her metal backlegs just one precious inch. Rubbing her nose with a hoof, she eyed the bonanza of delicacies. "You eat a lot of different things. Whatever they are, they smell good!" Mr. Cake smiled gently at the new guest. "Funny thing about that, most of what you see is made with the same basic ingredients, prepared in different ways and with different additives mixed or sprinkled in." Pinkie bobbed her head in swift agreement. "Like those are vanilla dough, but the rainbow sprinkles make all the difference in the world, believe me! But we're not here for cupcakes today, nuh uh. Mr. Cake, permission to make some of your namesake?" Mr. Cake blinked, at first not getting it before it clicked. "Oh! Of course. Clean up after you're done." "Roger wilco!" Pinkie trotted past Mr. Cake into the kitchen, looking quite eager to get to work. Cherry followed along and settled to the ground to watch Pinkie hurriedly get to baking. The entire process was fascinating, but baffling. The idea of cooking that way was foreign to her. How could one cook that way in the water? It was a uniquely dry way to make food. Even the heat it made seemed drier around the ovens than elsewhere. It was the pure power of dry itself that made things happen. "We'll have a drink with this, I hope?" asked Cherry a little worriedly. "Milk goes great with baked stuff." Pinkie bobbed her head as she pulled open a closed place and retrieved a bottle of white fluid. Was that really milk? Cherry squinted at the bottle. "That isn't how you use milk normally, and I'm not a foal. Why do you even have that?" Pinkie blinked with confusion. "It's tasty? You don't have to be a foal to enjoy milk, silly." Cherry shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you do. Nopony I know drinks milk after they're weaned." A new mare entered, round and matronly in appearance. Like the stallion up front, she was an earth pony with no wings or horn. "Pinkie, dear, she may be lactose intolerant." "Lact-what in-what?" Pinkie looked increasingly baffled. "Does that mean she can't have a nice glass of milk?" "That is exactly what that means." The larger and older mare took the bottle from Pinkie's sad hooves and placed it back in the cold place. "What would you like, sweetie?" Cherry smiled. The older mare seemed kind and she decided she liked her. "Water's good. Do dry ponies have lots of different things to drink like that?" "Oh my, yes." She nodded. "An almost countless variety of drinks to wet the whistle, as they say. I don't think we've met." She offered a hoof. "I'm Mrs. Cake. Have you met my husband already?" Cherry met the hoof of Mrs. Cake. "Nice to meet you. I'm Cherry and yep! He's in front." She pointed the way. "That's pretty amazing. It's so dry that you separate out the kinds of water you like." Mrs. Cake fetched a glass of water and gave it to Cherry. "Here you are, dear. Let me go check in with Mr. Cake. Pinkie, be mindful of our guest. She's not a normal pony and may react differently to the things we like." While they had been talking, Pinkie had returned to the process of creating three small discs that smelled great, and only got better when she added some kind of smooth topping to each that hid the original discs beneath. "It's time! I hope your tastebuds are ready, because I'm about to blow your socks off." "Socks?" Cherry shook her head. The dry ponies had so many new words for so many new things. "Will it work if I don't have whatever those are?" "Don't be silly! Besides, nopony around here wears socks hardly at all anyway." Pinkie waved it off. "Go on, try some!" She picked up a sharp bit of metal in her mouth and cut out a piece of the first disc. "This one's vanilla with strawberry frosting and topped with kiwi." Cherry blinked softly at the assault of new nouns, but decided to simply trust Pinkie and reached for the slice provided. Her hoof got dirty instantly with the sticky stuff covering it, but that didn't stop her from taking a big bite of it, her snout also becoming messy with the stuff. Mmm... Cherry chewed softly, trying to digest the flavor itself a moment before she took a second bite, licking her lips clean as she went. "Do ya like it?" Pinkie was practically vibrating with excitement. "Best thing or best thing?" "It tastes weird," confessed Cherry as Pinkie deflated in place. "But I think I like it." Pinkie perked right back up and began to giggle happily. "What's the next one?" asked Cherry as she put down the slice she started with, mostly devoured. The taste testing proved to be a success. The sea pony palette was unaccustomed to such things, but Cherry liked each flavor enough to eventually finish her share. "Thank you, Pinkie." "Best part," Pinkie exclaimed as she pointed to the three partially-devoured cakes. "The insides were mostly made of the same thing." Cherry couldn't believe it. Each had tasted completely different. "You're fibbing. That's not nice." "I'm telling the truth. Look, I'll show you what I baked with." Pinkie showed off her ingredients, and they ended up making a fourth cake with things Cherry wanted to try. It was... new, Pinkie gave it that, but likely not being added to Sugarcube Corner's regular menu.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	18 - Darling, You're an Absolute Mess!	Cherry emerged from the kitchen. She was dry, yet sticky. She was tired, yet excited. She was filthy... She had no counterpoint to that. She was caked with the various parts of baked goods and walked along in concert of flesh legs and mechanical ones as her thick dolphin tail swayed behind her. She looked forward to returning to her room, but not before she took a bath and got clean. She wasn't going to get the water of her room all gunked up! "Darling!" Cherry looked up at the voice to see a white unicorn, that's the horny kind of pony, gaping at her. "You're just as enchanting as they say, but it's all hidden under grime and filth. That Pinkie... Come with me!" She reached for Cherry and grabbed her. "This is nothing a quick trip to the spa won't fix!" "Um, spa?" The strange pony raised a brow. "Twilight said you were from a different place than us, and I imagine that's quite true, but you've never heard of a spa?" Cherry shook her head a little. "Are you a friend of Twilight's?" "I most certainly am." She nodded. "Oh look at me, being so rude. I'm Rarity." She placed a hoof at her chest. "And if I'm not mistaken, you are Cerulean, otherwise known as Cheri. An absolute pleasure to meet you dear. Now, come along. We have a date with some very nice ponies that'll get you nice and clean and more relaxed than you've ever felt before." Cherry tilted her head at the slightly off pronouncing of her name, but the mare seemed nice, and a friend of Twilight's could likely be trusted. "Alright, but I can dry swim just fine, look." She walked along after Rarity with a smile. Rarity raised an ear. "Have you learned how to trot yet? That must be awfully slow." Cherry blinked at that. "Trot? Is that another swimming form?" Rarity flashed a bright smile. "That's one way to look at it. Watch my legs." She began to trot in place, moving her legs in pairs of front left and back right and front right and back left. "This way is much faster than walking. Can your legs do that? I understand not all of them are, ahem, au naturel." Cherry beamed at being shown another swimming form. "That looks graceful. Can I see you doing it in practice?" Her eyes were glued to Rarity as she did slow circles around Cherry that slowly picked up in speed. Trotting seemed flexible, capable of moving slowly or quickly easily. However... "My metal legs don't exactly match that form. I'm going to have to play with them until I get them working right." She resumed her walking gait after Rarity. "I'll do that after you show me this 'spa' place." Rarity gladly led the curious new pony to her favorite place to be, beside her own boutique. "This reminds me, darling. We simply must get you sized. Making an outfit for such a unique shape would be a fitting challenge." Cherry raised a brow as she stepped up to the building. "Most of the ponies in this town don't wear extra things." She reached up and tapped her hat. "I wear this to keep the sun from being too bright in my eyes, and that's about all I wear usually." Rarity tapped at Cherry's belt. "Well there are these legs, you're wearing those, to say nothing of those lovely jewels you have in your mane." She raised a hoof to brush the bright red baubles. "Those truly are delightful. Where did you get them from?" "My mother got them for me..." Cherry glanced around. "I hope she's alright." Rarity's expression softened. "You poor thing! Is this the first time you've been away from home? I'd give you a hug, but you're still a mess, dear. Let's get that taken care of." Her horn glowed softly as the door swung open with the same colored light. "Aloe, Lotus? I have a new client for you two and you'll simply die when you see her!" A bright blue dry pony emerged with a little smile that turned into obvious amazement. "Oh! Is that the sea pony that lives with Princess Twilight? We're ever so sorry for all that fuss when you first arrived." She dipped low. "Your first time is on us, as an apology. Come, you look like you've had quite the day. We'll ease that tension out of you and make you sparkle like the sea you come from." A soft pink pony emerged. They were both earth ponies with no horns or wings. "Lotus, who ar--" She trailed off on seeing Cherry. "Oh my!" Rarity advanced, gesturing for Cherry to follow her. "We're here to be pampered. Let's get her cleaned up and de-stressed the way I know only you two can manage. Do you have a space available?" Lotus, the blue one, gestured at the pink one. "I'll handle Rarity, you can treat the sea pony." The pink one looked Cherry over curiously. "I'll do my best, but I confess, I don't know the muscle groups of sea ponies, so I'll take this nice and slow, and I'll want you to tell me if anything feels uncomfortable. I imagine most of your tension is in that gorgeous tail of yours." She guided Cherry into the back towards a pool of water that seemed oddly warm even from a small distance. The air was slightly less dry. Cherry took a soft breath of the refreshingly damp air before stepping closer to the tub. "Get in, right? Why's it so warm?" The pink one shook her head. "Go ahead and take off those legs of yours. You won't need to move while you're in my care, promise." She gave a gentle smile. "Aloe will take care of everything." Aloe supported Cherry as she slipped free of her belt and nudged it out of the way before easily helping Cherry into the tub. She was surprisingly strong, but Twilight mentioned earth ponies were usually strong for their size. When Cherry touched the water, she jumped with surprise. The water was even warmer once she touched it! It was like swimming close to an underwater volcano. With Aloe's gentle whispers and calm grip, she slowly allowed herself to be submerged in the hot water. Despite her reservations, it began loosening her grime quickly, and her muscles did relax. She sank a little deeper, but Aloe never let her escape her gentle and caring touch. Aloe started rubbing Cherry's furry body, cleaning her and working the flesh and muscle beneath with exploring hooves. "I meant it. I've never had the pleasure of working on a sea pony before, but I'm very excited to have this opportunity. You just relax, but if you feel any discomfort or pain, you tell me. You won't hurt my feelings." Cherry suddenly dipped into the water, letting her head submerge completely. The act was so fast, her hat floated on the surface as she looked around beneath the surface. She tried gulping some of the water and came back up, coughing and sticking out her tongue. "This water tastes funny!" Aloe blinked softly. "The water is made for safe and relaxing soaking and relaxing, not drinking. Cherry was your name, correct?" Cherry nodded. "Good. Cherry, just relax for me. Do you need a drink of water?" "Please?" Cherry gave a timid smile, still trying to get used to the idea that there would be water she shouldn't drink, as if water served many other purposes other than living in, drinking... all that stuff. Aloe didn't keep Cherry long and soon had a tall and cool glass of something mildly sweet with a little hollow stick in it that let her sip from it while she laid back and enjoyed the attention. Besides her mother, she had never had another pony clean her like that. There was something inherently personal about it and she found herself blushing faintly, but Aloe kept it professional. She obviously cared, but never made it felt like she was trying to be more personal. "Alright, you're clean, but that lovely mane of yours deserves a proper shampooing, and there are so many other ways to relax you, inside and out. Are you ready?" Cherry gave a gentle smile. This was fun, if new and mildly disconcerting. "Yes, please. Are you sure this is alright? I have some dry shells." She dug out some bits and showed them to Aloe, but the spa pony gently nudged them away. "If you really like how it goes, at the end, you can give me some of those to say you really thought it was great, but we already promised today is free, so you owe nothing up front." Aloe nuzzled under one of Cherry's legs and hefted her up carefully, using her own hooves to support Aloe's body. "Besides, I get to pamper a real mer-pony. I never thought this would happen..." She sounded almost giggly at the idea. She carried Cherry to a table with strange bumps and even a hole. "Now I'm going to place you down here. You'll look through the hole, and it'll let me access most of your lovely body. Simply relax and enjoy." Cherry tried her best to help as she was set down, but dry swimming was tough work, especially without her extra hooves. There had to be some way to dry swim on two hooves, but she didn't know that trick. After a little wrestling, she was laying flat on the table, belly down. She couldn't see anything but the floor, but she could hear and feel Aloe above her, gently exploring her body. "Alright, I'm going to assume you work the same, especially in your upper body, then we'll both discover how this tail of yours works." Aloe pressed her hooves to tense muscles and began kneading and working. Cherry melted, not literally, but she became a quivering pile of sea pony under Aloe's careful ministrations. She was moved several times, but she could hardly care and barely noticed the time going by at all. By the time grasp of time returned to her, she was propped up in a chair. Her face and eyes were covered, so she couldn't see. But she could hear another pony. "Ah, isn't the spa wonderful, darling?" Ah ha, it was Rarity. "You certainly seemed to enjoy yourself. You were practically asleep when Aloe brought you in." "By the seas, yes!" Cherry sat up a little, consciousness returning to her all the faster. "She made me relaxed in places I didn't even know I had muscles in." "You're welcome," came Aloe's gentle voice. "I'm going to do your hooves now, if that's alright?" "My hooves?" Cherry tilted her head, unseeing. "What's wrong with my hooves?" "Nothing at all my dear, but I can make them even lovelier while working the tension free of them." Her hooves were tense? The very idea felt foreign to Cherry until Aloe's hooves trapped one of her own and began gently massaging. Oh yes, there was some tension there. Cherry sank into the chair with a little sigh. Cherry and Rarity emerged from the spa some time later, both shining and new, internally and externally. Cherry looked down at her hooves and their bright red tips that matched her mane jewelry. "Is this really normal?" Rarity waved at Cherry. "Oh don't be silly. I mean, not all ponies put on some hoof-polish, but it is perfectly normal, and perfectly delightful, darling. You look great! Now come along." She gently pointed Cherry towards her own boutique. "We're not done." Cherry blinked with wide eyes. "There's more? I don't think I could relax any harder without falling apart." Her fins undulated carefully, directing her hind legs and getting herself into motion. "What else is left?"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	19 - Measuring Up	Rarity gestured to her odd-looking house. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique! I'd normally take this moment to emphasize the uniqueness of what I create, but the greatest challenge for that is right in front of me." Rarity looked Cherry up and down. "Tell me darling, do sea ponies wear things, for special occasions and the like?" Cherry thought back quickly. "I saw mom wearing some very pretty clothes once, for a festival she didn't let me go to. She said it was for adults only." Cherry waved it off with a snort. "I'd go now. I'm an adult now." She hiked a hoof towards her concealed flank. "I have my cutie mark and I'm living on my own." "Hmm, yes..." Rarity tapped at her chin. "Come inside dear, and I have no doubt to your maturity. To come all this way is quite the challenge. Twilight tells me you basically made those fascinating metal hooves on your own?" The door opened with her magic and she stepped inside. "Why don't you come inside and tell me all about it while I get your basic measurements?" Despite her invitation, Rarity was barely paying attention to the story of those metal hooves. Taking measurements of her guest was far more important, as well as taking in just how a sea pony was made and moved, in a walking metal contraption or not. "Could you be a dear and show me how you swim?" Cherry blinked at that question in the middle of her story. "Um, sure... I'd love to, but there's no water around here to swim in." She heard hoof-steps descending from above and another white unicorn with different colored mane came bouncing down. She was also a horny pony, a unicorn. "Oh! Hello!" She dipped her front while keeping her eyes locked on Cherry. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique... What are you?" "Sweetie!" Rarity gave her a harsh glare. "Don't mind her, she's my sister. Sweetie Belle, meet Cheri, a sea pony. Cheri, this is Sweetie Belle, my sister." Cherry tilted her head faintly. "Nice to meet you, Sweetie. You can call me Cherry." "Sherry, or Cheri?" Sweetie grinned a little. "That's a nice name either way. Did you jus--Oh! You're that sea pony that that whole fuss wa--" Rarity popped a hoof into Sweetie's flapping snout. "Ah ha, that's quite enough of that, dear. Cheri doesn't need to relive that particular little accident." Sweetie ducked away from the hoof, dancing back out of range of an easy second strike. "You really do look similar to a siren. The resemblance is striking." Cherry decided to challenge the filly. "Name two things that are different. I bet you can do it if you try." Sweetie suddenly frowned, focused on Cherry intently. "You don't have a funny jewel right here." She put a hoof to her own chest. "That's one," announced Cherry with a wide smile. "One to go." Sweetie stuck out her tongue a little with obviously intense concentration. "You look... like a porpoise, instead of a fish." Cherry swayed her powerful tail as she squirmed free of her belt. "That's because I'm a sea pony, not a siren, but that's two, so you win!" Magic wrapped around her and lifted her into the air, Rarity's horn glowing the same color. "I don't mean to presume, but if I hold you up like this, perhaps you could show me how you swim?" Sweetie blew a raspberry at Rarity. "Show off." She scampered off towards the door. "I'll be back for dinner! Have fun!" And she was gone with a parting wave from Rarity. Held in the air, Cherry tried to swim through it, but there was no water to push against, just Rarity's magic, which hardly behaved like an ocean or even a pool might to her motions. "It's not the same." Despite that, she gave it a real effort, undulating her streamlined form and holding her hooves close as if cutting an agile path through the water that wasn't there. Rarity clopped her hooves with joy. "You must be quite the sight to see, darling. I simply must see you in your natural environment one day." She carefully set Cherry back on the ground. "I think I've seen enough to get started. That tail of yours is far too active to have anything at the end of it, but something nice and clingy to go along the trunk from the front..." She tapped at her chin, gears spinning behind her eyes with thought. "Yes, I think I could work with this. You'll take the breath away from anypony that sees you." Cherry gasped at the idea. "Don't dry ponies need to breathe? I don't want to take their breath away!" Rarity tittered softly as she waved a hoof at Cherry. "Perish the thought, darling. It's just a turn of phrase. You aren't going to harm a single pony, this I promise. They'll just be so amazed at you that they might forget to breathe a moment. Don't worry, they'll remember long before anything bad happens." She turned towards her ponyquins. "Now I'll have to get to work. Thank you for lending your measurements for me. I'll let you know when I'm done." Cherry blinked. She'd never had clothes made for her before, so that was a new experience. "Really? That's it?" "That's it." Rarity smiled at her. "The next part is some good old-fashioned work on my part. That's no fun to watch, I promise. I'll come by Twilight's and find you when it's ready, promise." Cherry slipped back into her belt and carefully inserted her fins into the internal controls, regaining mobility as she turned to the door heading out. "Alright. Thanks, by the way. It was really fun visiting the spa." Rarity moved over and patted Cherry on the back. "We simply must do that again, but for now, I should return to work. These dresses won't make themselves. I'd be out of a job if they did so it's just as well, dear. Now go on, I'm sure Twilight is wondering where you've gone about now. It's time for supper if I know her schedule well enough, or a late lunch depending on the day... Either way, off with you, my lovely sea model." Cherry stepped out and looked up to see the sun was a good way past its halfway point through the ocean of the sky. She could also see some pegasi using their sky flippers to dart around. She noticed some were moving the, uh, sky ocean glaciers around and were slowly blocking away the sun. Why were they doing that? One of them noticed her watching them and waved enthusiastically. It was Muffins and she came soaring in. "Hi there!" She glanced side at the Boutique they were beside. "Did you just come from Rarity's? Oh wow! Is she going to make a dress for you? I bet it'll be super pretty. Besides that one time, she always makes the prettiest dresses." "One time?" Cherry tilted her head a little. "Hello there... Muffins was it? Nice to meet you again." Muffins bobbed her head. "Hiya! That's me, and you're Cherry the sea pony." She pointed up. "I volunteered to help with weather patrol today and we have to make it rain." Rain wasn't a foreign concept to Cherry. She'd seen it rain over the waters before, but it was still odd. "You make it rain?" Muffins looked confused. "How else would we get rain when we need it?" Cherry tilted her head. "It just rains sometimes over the ocean without us asking for it to or not to." Muffins waved it off. "That's silly. You're..." She trailed off as the thought hit her. "Oh... Um..." "What?" "Well, you live in the water. I guess you ponies don't care when it rains, so you don't need to worry about it." The logic couldn't be argued with by Cherry, who nodded. "So you ponies with the sky flippers decide when it should rain? That sounds like an important job to me. The Dry needs all the water it can get." "Exactly!" Muffins beamed widely. "You should go home before it starts raining on you though." Cherry glanced up towards the sky glaciers that promised to pour on her. "What if I want to be rained on?" She smiled. "That sounds like the wettest time The Dry will ever know." Muffins tilted her head left and right. "Huh, guess you're right! You have fun then, okay? If you need help, you just call for me and I'll come flying." She made a loud whooshing sound. "We're friends, right?" Cherry smiled at Muffins' enthusiasm. "We are, and if anything happens, I'll be sure to call you. Hey, what do you do when you're not brainwashed or pushing the sky glaciers around?" Muffins smiled brightly. "I usually deliver things and help at the post office, but if you mean in my time off, I usually prefer t--" "Hey, Derpy!" Far above, Rainbow Dash waved at the two of them. "Quit clowning around! We don't have forever, ya know." Muffins gave a sharp and wall-eyed glare upwards before she heaved a sigh. "She's right, I'm on duty. So, if you need me, shout. Take care, alright?" She lifted into the air easily with her sky flippers. "We'll talk later!" And off she went, scooting back up towards the sky glaciers and the work therein. Cherry bid farewell with a wave of a hoof and frowned for just a moment. Responsibilities sucked sometimes, but if The Dry needed water, that sounded very important. Even dry ponies needed some water, she'd seen them drinking, and they didn't get too confused when she asked for water. She began walking towards the large purple tower in the sky when the first drop struck her on the nose and she squeaked. It was like she had just been splashed by somepony playing around, but who? She glanced around before another got her right in the eye, but her eyes were used to water and protected. She shook out, and that's when the wetness came. All the sky glaciers began pouring out the rain and Cherry couldn't help herself. She laughed. She laughed and waddled around and even rolled on the ground, despite it growing muddier by the moment. The Dry was wet. It wasn't as wet as the ocean, of course, but it was wet! She laughed and caught some of the rain in her mouth as it came down. Everything about the rain was perfectly delightful and refreshing. She may have gotten some of her perfectly primped fur dirty, but most of it came clean in the torrential downpouring as she made her way back to Twilight's castle. She would have quite the story to share with her host that evening. End Story 2
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	20 - The Third Episode, Taking a Dive	Cherry emerged from the water of her room, bobbing to the surface with a soft breath of the humid air that filled her room. Her room was the most comfortable part of Ponyville, or at least Twilight's Castle. If she could get Aloe or Lotus to move in, well... She shook her head quickly, banishing the thought of daily spa treatments in favor of lowering her gaze to her modified belt. It looked much the same but for two things. It had her cutie mark painted on the side crudely with her own mouth for one. For another, the metal hooves were covered in big flippers. Moving her own flippers and undulating her tail at the same time let her swim even faster than normal as the mechanical legs and her thick tail worked in harmony to propel her around the flooded room. She went down about halfway before circling sharply and coming for the surface, bursting free of the surface of the water and flopping out into the hallway just outside of her room. Twilight would probably be a little annoyed at the splashing that came from whenever she jumped from the water instead of climbing out, but that was so much more fun, and Twilight could clean it with a spell. She didn't even understand why Twilight was bothered by it. To be polite, she pushed some of the water back into her room to minimize the mess and nodded. She began flop-clopping down the stairs, her hooves striking the firm surface with a clop, but the fins over then slapping with a loud flop with every step. "Hello there, Cherry." It was Starlight, smiling at her. "You look like you're having fun." "Oh, I am! Look look." Cherry quickly worked off her new flippers. "Look!" She was eager to show off, and had to be sure she was being looked at. She began at a normal walk. "See, normal, but now..." She began moving her flippers just so and changed the gait of her living fore-hooves, getting herself into a lively trot around the room, her tail bobbing in counterpoint. "See? I can dry-swim better than ever before." Starlight clopped her hooves with congratulations. "You've really taken to your legs like you were born with them. That's called a trot, by the way." "Trot," murmured Cherry softly to herself. "And this dry-swimming gait is a 'walk' right?" She slowed to a normal walk and Starlight nodded her head. "See, I am learning. What are you up to?" Starlight glanced outside. "I was actually going to go say hi to a friend of mine." Cherry perked her ears. "Ooo? Can I meet them? Are they nice like you?" Starlight colored just faintly. Having a pony nakedly praise her social skills was flattering. "She's a very nice pony, but she takes some getting used to. Her name is Trixie." She glanced left and right. "She's a lot like me. We're not... used to having real friends." Cherry blinked owlishly. "What? No way. You've been a great friend to me." "She has a teacher." Twilight approached from the direction of the kitchen. "Going off to say hello to Trixie? Good, keeping in contact with your friends is a vital part of keeping friendships." "She learned that the hard way." Spike followed after Twilight, rolling his eyes. "Spike!" Cherry leaned closer to Starlight. "May I meet your friend?" She flashed her best smile, wanting to meet the new pony. Unfortunately, Starlight shook her head. "Today's a private day, but soon, promise. I'll let her know you want to stop by. Like I said, she's still new to the ins and outs of friendship, and so am I." She looked to Twilight. "I'll probably be out most of the night. See you later." She waved as she headed for the door on her other three hoves. Twilight returned the wave. "Go enjoy yourself, and do tell Trixie about Cherry. I think the two of them would be good for each other." Starlight was gone, and Spike was looking at the flippers on the floor. "What are these? They don't look like the right size for you, Twilight. Were you gonna go swimming with Cherry?" Cherry raised a hoof quickly. "Oh no! Those are mine." She moved to claim them, but they were wrapped in magic and hovered over to float in front of Twilight. "Fascinating... They go on your mechanical apparatus, I presume? Are they effective?" Twilight raised a brow curiously as she spun the flippers in the air. "They work great." Cherry reached upwards for them and Twilight let her have them back. "I couldn't say exactly how much faster I am, but I can tell there's a difference. You should wear flippers when you go swimming so you aren't so slow." Twilight frowned faintly. "I'm not that slow, am I?" Spike shrugged softly. "You're a little slow, but hey, you're a wizard and can fly. You can't have everything." Twilight suddenly perked. "Ah yes! This came for you, Cherry." A letter appeared beside her and floated towards Cherry. "Here you are." Cherry accepted the letter with some surprise. The paper's texture told her it was from the sea. It wouldn't dissolve in water, and should have kept whatever letter was inside safe... But who? "Oh!" She began smiling brightly. "Maybe mom sent it." Twilight made a whirling motion with a hoof and Cherry blinked before turning the letter over to find a name written on it besides her own. It read 'Indigo' and she gasped on seeing it. "Indie!" She tore the envelope open and wrenched free the letter within, her eyes dancing across the paper. Heya Cherry-Belly, I've missed you, but your mom says you're alright and even showed me how to write you a letter, so here it is! If you're reading this, it worked! Unless you're not Cherry, in which case you should stop and put this letter back in the envelope, you big creep! Okay, now I know we're safe. How've you been?! Are you really in The Dry? That has to be so amazing! I want to see The Dry too, but my mom says that's not 'for' me. Whatever... She can't stop me. You'd show me around, right? I bet you're having loads of fun! See you soon, Indigo Cherry blinked softly. "He's going to get hurt..." Spike approached curiously. "Who? I guess you know them?" "He's only like my best friend in the waves!" She threw the letter to the ground. "And he's stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! He doesn't know how to survive in The Dry! He'll get lost, and hurt, and hurt and lost at the same time!" Twilight tilted her head a little. "You didn't know how to navigate on land either, Cherry." Cherry went as red as her namesake. "That's different!" Spike snorted softly. "Yeah, now somepony else's doing it." "Exactly!" Cherry beamed, seeming to believe Spike was in agreement with her. "We have to save him before he does something stupid." Twilight shook her head. "Let's not get over dramatic. First, how likely is your friend to actually come ashore." "Only like a millionty percent." Cherry sank a little. "He knows I did it, and he knows I'm here, so now he's going to follow right after me." "Then there's only one solution." Twilight pointed towards the train. "We should meet your friend at the beach and welcome them." Spike raised a brow. "Is that just before we tell them to go home?" "Spike." Twilight frowned at him. "We will do no such thing." "Twi, we're talking about a colt. We'll have another panicked mother, and who knows what she'll do? Maybe something a lot worse than that siren." Spike rolled a claw. "The responsible thing to do would be to send him home." Cherry glanced between her friends, head full of thoughts. "If we shoo him off back into the water, he'll come back, just without our permission, then he'll really get hurt... He doesn't have dry-swimmers! Er, four of them anyway, he only has two." Twilight's horn glowed as she picked up the discarded envelope. "There's something I need to know, that may make this a lot easier. How did your friend get a letter sent from the ocean to Ponyville?" She flipped the envelope about, before she tapped it with a hoof. "Here we are, a postmark. It looks like the post office in the same town we found you in accepted it, so they would know how it arrived. If we go to them, we should be able to send a letter back and make sure his family knows what he's up to and how to contact him." Spike nodded in satisfaction. "That sounds like a plan. We should meet him one way or the other while we're there so he doesn't hurt himself." "Yes please!" Cherry began walking for the door. "He's a nice pony, promise. He's really good at herding fish." She winced suddenly. "He's not going to have a lot of fish to herd here... Stupid Indie.." Twilight and Spike followed as Twilight tucked the envelope away. "I can't go flooding another room. Is it alright if he stays with you while we figure out what's the best thing to do?" Cherry blinked with obvious confusion. "Of course it's alright. It's not the first sleepover we've ever had." She stuck out her tongue a little as she pushed the door open. "I told you, he's a nice pony. Besides, I'll have to show him around, and I understand where he's coming from better than any dry pony, so it makes sense I'd do it." Spike suddenly stopped and pulled out another piece of paper, scrawling on it busily a moment before puffing on it, turning it into smoke that drifted away quickly. Before it was even out of sight, he got to work on a second paper. Twilight watched the furious writing curiously. "What did you just send to Celestia, and what's on the second one?" "Letting her know where you'll be." Spike put a few final dots on the page and slapped it down on a table near the door. "And letting Starlight know so she and the girls won't worry." Twilight threw a leg over Spike, hugging him. "That's my number one assistant! Good thinking. Let's get moving. Who knows how long it took for that letter to get here, or how long her friend will wait if he gets there before we do." Together, the group walked briskly to the train and secured passage. Growing more used to The Dry, Cherry didn't require a tub, but carried an empty one with her, the original. "We should return this while we're in town. That was really nice of that little pony to let us borrow it."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	21 - Return to the Start	Cherry leaned, the side of her face pressed against the glass of the window as the town came closer. She could see the glittering hints of the sea that they were drawing closer to and she felt a tension in her chest. She'd forgotten how much she missed home, and being so close to all that water, even just the hint of its shine, was a painful reminder. "It's alright if I get a little swim in while we're here?" Twilight perked, looking up from her book. "Hmm? Of course that's alright. Our first priority is finding your friend, though that assumes he came here." She tapped at her chin. "That's not a guarantee." Spike hiked a thumb at the beach. "Taking a swim might be a really good idea. If he got nervous about coming ashore, seeing his friend will bring him right out of hiding." "Excellent thought, Spike." Twilight smiled with an almost maternal pride. "This is our stop. Let's get that pool returned, then it's off to the beach!" She hopped down from her chair as the train came to a smooth halt. They had arrived. Together, they all piled off the train, drawing curious looks as they went. A little colt dashed up to them with a big smile. "You're back!" he squeaked with great energy. "And you brought it back! I knew you were a nice pony." Cherry surrendered the pool to the colt. "Your pool really saved my hide. Thanks for letting me borrow it." Twilight gave a soft cluck of her tongue. "We really should get one of those for ourselves. Your friend won't be as acclimated to these conditions as you are." "What?" Spike hiked a thumb at Twilight. "She means he won't be used to being as dry." "Oh!" That made perfect sense to her. "Good idea. I didn't like being dry at all. It's still kind of icky, but you get used to it, right?" She glance towards the sparkling ocean. "Maybe we can talk him into going home instead? Then we won't need a pool at all." Twilight thrust a hoof at the beach. "I'll see about getting one, just in case. In the worst case, you'll have one for yourself. Spike, go ahead with Cherry. You're good at swimming and the sea ponies are familiar with dragons, right?" Cherry threw one of her forelegs around Spike and hugged him. "He's not like other dragons, he's way better." Spike was caught in an uncertain place. "What's wrong with other dragons?" "They're not you." Cherry released him, smiling. "Let's go swimming." Spike nodded and they faced towards the waterline together. With her new trotting gait, Cherry made a respectable showing. She was still not the fastest creature on land, and the sand beneath her was more difficult to navigate than cobblestone or dirt. It all changed as they splashed into the water and it rose rapidly to the point that she gave a powerful full-body twitch and propelled herself into the water in a dart of speed. Trailing behind her and staying at the surface, Spike paddled out away from the shore until Cherry popped up beside him, glistening with water and smiling brilliantly. "I forgot how this feels!" Spike gave an emphatic thumbs up. "You look like you're having fun. Did you want these?" He offered the flippers Cherry had made and she squealed with joy, grabbing them. Soon she had them on her metal hooves and did a quick spin in place. "Wanna race?" Spike gave a skeptical look. "I'm pretty sure I'd lose that one." "Awww, but trying's the fun part, isn't it?" Cherry splashed water at him, giggling. "Come on!" Spike returned splash for splash, and the race was forgotten for a short time as they splashed and splished at one another in a fruitless battle to make the other more wet in the middle of the bay. Cherry barely got a squeak out before she vanished under the surface of the water and Spike blinked in surprise. He dunked under it and caught a glint of light off of her metal hooves far deeper in the water. He came up for air, took a deep breath then dove after his aquatic friend as best he could. He stroked through the water as it grew darker around himself. Just how deep had she gone? He didn't have Twilight's bubble spell for second breaths and began to lose hope he'd find her when he saw her facing another sea pony, a boy. "What were you thinking, just grabbing me like that?" Cherry crossed her forehooves and looked quite annoyed with the other sea pony. "I thought I was being eaten by a squid." The other rubbed behind his head with a hoof. "Sorry about that. He's always a bit, uh, eager. So... you alright?" Spike had a feeling the two were fine, and he needed to breathe, so he kicked back up towards the surface, leaving Cherry to catch up with her friend. Indigo glanced towards where Spike swam away. "It worked! We're too deep for dragons to bother us here." Cherry huffed softly. "Indie... He's a friend." Indie raised a brow. "I didn't know dragons had friends." "That one does! I'm one of them. Look, you should go home before your parents lose their fur with worry." Indie stuck out his tongue. "Don't try to sound like my mom, you're way too young for that. Besides, they know." Cherry blinked softly. "They know? And they allowed it?" "Well, I told them I was coming to help you, and you you're my friend. It's my duty, as a friend, to help you. They let me go." Cherry put a hoof to her face. "I'm not in danger. See, look, I'm fine." She did a twirl in place. "All safe and sound." Indie smiled brightly in the gloom of the water. "Good, then I can come with you. I want to see it too." Cherry stiffened. She had made it seem too harmless. "You can't!" "Why not? You're alright, right?" Indie tilted his head a little. "Oh! Did you figure out what those are for?" He pointed to her metal hooves. "You're still wearing it, so I guess you did?" A new idea came to Cherry and she smiled. "A race." "Hmm?" "A race. If you can beat me in a race, you can come with me, otherwise you go back home." Indigo hiked a brow up. "Why are you so eager to send me home? Are we not... friends anymore?" His face fell with sadness. "Was it something I did? I didn't mean to tease you before." Cherry's eagerness shattered under the hurt feelings of her friends. It wasn't working, not at all. "It's not that... Look, let's go up and talk to Spike, the dragon. He's a friend, so you should meet him, alright? If you can't manage that, then you really should go home, 'cause he's hardly the strangest thing you'll find in The Dry." "I can handle one little dragon!" Indie saluted sharply before darting up towards the surface, Cherry just a moment behind. Spike gasped in surprise as two sea ponies broke the surface fast enough that they arced through the air and landed on either side of him. He looked between Cherry and Indie. "Is everything alright?" Indie reached out and poked Spike in the chest. When he wasn't roasted for his impertinence, he smiled. "You really are a friendly dragon." Spike smiled a little. "Indigo, was it? Hi, my name is Spike." Indigo looked at the offered claw a moment before offering a hoof out for spike to grip and shake a little. "Um, hi Spike. I hope Cherry hasn't been annoying for you." Cherry went a dark red swiftly. "Indie!" Spike waved it off. "Her? No way. She's a great guest. You're a friend of hers, right?" Cherry elbowed Indie. "We've known each other since we were little guppies. He shares my stubborn streak and he won't go home." "Not until I see what she's been doing all this time." Indie smiled hopefully. "That's alright, right?" Spike glanced towards the beach, but couldn't pick out where Twilight was. "So long as you follow our instructions, it should be... alright. We want you both to be safe." Cherry pointed to the beach. "Have you been to The Dry yet?" Indie paled faintly. "N-no..." Cherry put her hooves at her hips. "Why not? I thought you were going to follow me." Indigo swallowed softly. "I was kind of hoping you'd be there, with me..." Cherry shook her head. "And if I didn't come back here to find you?" Indie broke into a bright smile. "I was sure you'd come if I wrote about it... Guess it worked, here you are!" Cherry sagged a little. If she had just not come back, her friend would have been entirely safe. "You're not going to be convinced, are you?" "Please?" Indie swam a little closer. "I'll do what you say, promise. The Dry isn't that bad, is it? I mean, if it was, you'd come home yourself, right? I want to see what it's like." Cherry felt defeated utterly. "Alright... Twilight, she's a dry pony, is getting a thing to hold water for you to stay in while we go back to Ponyville." "This isn't Ponyville?" Indie peered at the coastal city. "That? Nah. Ponyville isn't near the beach." Spike shook his head in the negative. Indie paled a little. "It's far away from the water?" "It's not too late to change your mind." Cherry smiled hopefully. "No way! If you managed it, I will too." He began slowly approaching the coast. "The dry ponies are alright with you, right?" Spike shrugged as he swam after them. "Twilight explained the whole thing last time. I think more ponies are curious about you than anything else. Just don't start nibbling on them and they'll be alright." Cherry swam up beside her friend. "The dry ponies eat mostly vegetables and strange stuff, not fish. I mean, they eat some fish, but not a lot. They have flat teeth too." "Weird!" Indie exposed his sharp incisors. "Though I guess we're just as strange to them, so I'll try not to stare too hard." Spike nodded at that. "Good idea. Most ponies are pretty nice, if you're polite to them." The party approached the beach, the water beneath them becoming shallow as they began to leave the home of the water and began to infringe on The Dry.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	22 - Welcome to the Dry	As they approached The Dry and the ground pulled up closer and closer to the surface, Indigo's motions slowed with hesitation. Cherry moved closer to him with a little smile. "It's alright if you don't want to finish this. I know it--: "No!" He popped his head out of the water and began slowly advancing into the sand. "I'm going to do this and you can't tell me not to." The water drew away from him with the lapping of the waves and he was suddenly drier than ever he was before, paling with worry. Despite the fearful trembling, he pulled himself forward several inches. Cherry popped out, rising on her mechanical hooves and ambling along with her natural and artificial legs working in unison. "You don't have legs. You need at least four legs to dry swim." He pointed to Spike, who had reached land and was walking along calmly. "Look at him! He's doing it with two." Trying to imitate the bipedal dragon, he threw himself up onto the only two hooves he had and flipped over backwards, landing heavily on his back in the sand with a soft thump of displaced sand. Spike came jogging over to the fallen sea pony. "Hey, you alright?" Cherry stopped on his other side. "You can't walk like a dragon unless you're a dragon. We're sea ponies." He rolled over, bumping Spike as he pushed upright, his front elevated and his tail twitching impotently. "So make me hooves like the ones you have if you have to." Cherry glanced away a moment. "I... don't know how." Her veneer of confidence became a more genuine fear. "I found these, remember? I didn't make them... I'm afraid I'd mess up if I tried to make another set." Spike rubbed at his chin. "Well, either way, we have to get you to safety. So, you sent us a letter. Does that mean we can send your parents a letter, so they know you're alright?" A stallion approached with curious eyes. "Is that another sea pony?" Indigo shrank from the new face, but Cherry moved quickly to put herself between them. "This is my friend, Indigo." "Nice to meet you, Indigo," greeted the stallion as if nothing was wrong. "How can we help today?" Indigo tilted his head a little. "You want to help?" "Of course." The stallion smiled. "Isn't that what neighbors do? You're a sea pony, right, like miss Cherry here?" Spike hiked a thumb at Indigo. "Can you help get him up onto a chair where he'll be more comfortable until Twilight gets back?" "Sure thing." The stallion moved to pluck Indigo by the scruff of the neck and casually tossed the confused colt onto his back before he trotted up onto the warmer, drier, part of the beach and set the visitor from the sea on a public beach chair. "Here you go. Enjoy your stay." He nodded at Indie before trotting off into the sand without a worry. As the others caught up to Indigo, the younger sea pony shook his head. "The dry ponies are very nice. I feel bad for being scared of him. Were you scared too, Cherry?" She felt an urge to fib about her first time, but honesty won the day. "I thought they were coming to eat me up, but they helped me get out of the net I was caught in, and they've been helping me ever since. Spike here, and his friend, Twilight." She looked to Spike. "Any idea where Twilight is?" Spike did a quick scan of the horizon before pointing. "There she is, and she has a pool." Twilight did have a pool full of seawater and was coming up from the ocean where she had filled up. She spotted them as Spike waved energetically for her and became trotting towards the group. "Hello! Are you Indigo? I'm Twilight Sparkle." "Hello Miss Sparkle." Indigo peered at the tub she was floating along. "How are you doing that?" Twilight set her burden down beside Indigo. "I'm a unicorn, and we can do magic, like making things float." Indie shook his head with wide eyes. "Can all dry ponies do that?" "Nah." Cherry smiled. "Only the horny ones. The ones with sky flippers can swim through the air, and the ones without either don't do anything special at all." She pointed up to where a few pegasi flew overhead. Spike peeked at the pool full of seawater. "Skipping the fresh water this time? I guess that makes sense. Did you already send a letter?" Twilight shook her head quickly. "Not yet." She looked at Indie. "I actually figured if you two found him, he'd probably tell us what we needed to know about sending a message to his home." Indigo gave a sheepish look as he flopped out of the chair and began dragging himself towards that pool. "It's really hot... Cherry,aren't you hot?" She was, but she wasn't going to admit as much. "The Dry lives up to its name. I had to get used to being, um, dry a lot of the time. It's not too--" "Stop that!" Indie frowned at her. "Are you that upset I'm here? I thought we were friends." Cherry started in surprise at the outburst, then raised a hoof to rub behind her head. "I didn't mean it like that... Look, I'm super glad to see a friendly face." She stepped up beside Indigo and threw a leg around him, hugging him. "Why do you want to come to this dangerous place so badly?" Indigo went quiet for a moment before he took a slow breath. "Because I like you? I always liked you, then you just vanished one day like a wave, poof, gone. I was so worried at first, but your mom's friend came and said you were alright, more than alright... She said you were a guest of a dry princess and were being treated like a princess yourself." Cherry blinked at that. "Were you... jealous?" "Maybe a little..." Indie flopped into the pool, relishing in the cool relief of it and swallowing a mouthful of briny water to wet his whistle before he popped his head out again with a more comfortable expression. "But I didn't follow you for dry princesses, I followed you for you. Where is this dry princess anyway?" Twilight gave a soft cough before nodding. "We've already met. My proper name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, but just Twilight is fine, really. I trust the pool is to your satisfaction?" When he nodded, she lifted the whole thing up carefully. "Now, I respect the reason you came, but I must repeat that it is likely to be uncomfortable and troublesome for you to get used to land, but Spike and I will do our best to help you along." Spike gave a sharp salute before moving to help hold up the pool without being asked. "We already helped Cherry, what's one more sea pony? You're safe with us! So, hey, you herd fish I remember, right?" Indigo peeked over the side of the pool so he could see Spike. "I like fish of most kinds. They understand me, and I understand them. So, um, thanks, both of you, you're really making me feel welcome." He stuck out his tongue at Cherry. "Unlike some ponies." "Hey!" Cherry easily kept up with the others as they began to move. "I'm not trying to be mean, Indie. I'm just worried, about you, and, uh, myself. Look, I'll try to make another one of these, really. You have to promise to do what we tell you to do though. We're The Dry experts." Indie sank a little into the water with a devious expression. "I'm not sure you're a master compared to Twilight and Spike here." Twilight tilted her head faintly. "By merit of hours spent in our respective environments, Spike and I can't help but have more experience navigating on land, but I confess, Cherry has shown considerable talent with mechanical devices, their operation and alteration." Spike gave a little blink. "Twi, you want to try that again in a way anypony can understand?" "Huh? Oh! I mean we've lived here all our lives, so we know a lot about the land." Twilight smiled sheepishly, her cheeks a little red. "And that Cherry is good at machines." Indie nodded quickly. "That's what I meant, um, what's a machine?" Cherry curled on herself and knocked on one of her metal hooves. "These, but also clocks and trains and oh! You're going to see a train right now! You've never seen one of those, but they're amazing big huge machines that carry dozens and dozens of ponies all at once across The Dry super fast to wherever they wanna go!" Indigo smiled as a new sort of relief flowed through him. Hearing Cherry excited for something instead of being a downer was a joy and he splashed over to her side of the pool, watching her perform her dry swimming. "Will you show me the 'train'?" "Show you?" Cherry grinned. "I'll do one better, since I'm pretty sure we'll get to ride it again." She reared back and clopped her forehooves together before resuming her walk. "I'd love to get myself a train... But they're kind of huge." The sudden cry of an alarmed pony rang out from the beach as others scattered from a single point in the water, retreating onto dry land with worried faces. Their words were lost in a sea of exclamations as all four of them looked towards it. What was going on in the water that was causing such an uproar?
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	23 - Angered Sea	Amid a froth of agitated water, a huge beast rose, looming over terrified ponies that scrambled away towards hopeful safety. It gave a terrible screech as it reached with grasping tentacles far too long for normal ponies to comprehend and snatched a mare just before she reached a door and pulled her into the air with a fresh roar of defiance. Indigo's ears fell. "Oh no..." Cherry gaped at the huge monster. "Please tell me it's one of your friends." "Friends?!" Twilight looked between the two seaponies. "How?! Nevermind, just tell it to let that pony go if it is." Indigo waved his hooves in the air. "Bring me closer to him. He's probably scared for me and looking for me, so if you show him I'm safe, he'll calm down. He gets like this when he's nervous." As the great creature snatched up another pony from the emptying beach, Spike shook his head. "I hate to see it when it's really angry..." He began sprinting in the direction of the beast, but Twilight wasn't moving and he slipped and fell with the tub held in her magic. She shook her head. "We have to be careful. That huge thing's easily capable of hurting all of us if it wanted to. Cherry, can you talk with it at all?" Cherry shook her head quickly. "All I can 'say' to fishes is 'I'm going to eat you' and 'don't eat me.' She frowned faintly a moment then pointed a hoof up at Indigo. "I think he's right. We have to get him over to talk to his friend." "That's what I said." He crossed his forelegs, looking agitated enough to consider flopping over to his friend. "Get this thing over to him right now before anyone gets hurt, including him." She suddenly jumped up and bumped into the pool in her moment of freedom from the still-largely-alien force known as gravity. Colliding with the pool, it tipped off to the side just a little, but it was enough to send Indie sliding, which made it tilt all the more. Cherry came to the ground with a flop, missing her landing as her friend flopped down beside her with an annoyed and mildly pained squawk. Twilight blinked at the both of them. "Have you gone mad?" Cherry wasn't listening. She got back upright with the whirr of her mechanical legs getting themselves in order and ran for Indigo. Her head lowered, she slipped underneath him and got him onto her back. Fortunately, he grabbed at her with his hooves and clung as she took off running towards the angered sea beast with him. The roaring and thrashing monster had managed to get four ponies before the rest fled out of its range and was shaking them around like musical instruments. Instead of the sound of beads rattled, they wailed and shouted with terror as the music of the day. When Cherry charged into range, the beast turned one of its large eyes towards her and her passenger. It quieted a moment, then burst with anger in a blubbering wail of fury. Indigo waved a single hoof wildly. "I'm alright! I'm alright! This is Cherry, she's a friend." The monster slowed a moment, its mighty tentacles pausing mid-air with the ponies held within looking hopeful but terrified. "I promise, I'm alright, look." Indigo let go of Cherry and flopped to the hot sand. "See? Look. I came here to explore, not because I'm hurt, I swear, now you're a good boy, and thank you for coming for me. Please put those nice dry ponies down." A querying toot like a horn came from the beast. "No, don't eat them, even the fatter one. Rule of the waves, they aren't a part of the sea, and they aren't part of your sea especially. Besides, you're a good hunter, I know you'll find better, less screamy, lunch." The beast made a sad toot and began setting the ponies down one by one, patting each on the head just after releasing them. It made a querying whistle and clacked its great beak, eyes settled fully on Indigo. "I'm not coming back, not right now. Go on, go back home. I'll see you when I come back. I want to explore this place." Indigo balanced perilously on one hoof while waving wildly with the other around the city of The Dry. "I want to--" The beast gave a final piercing toot and retreated into the water, sinking swiftly beneath the waves and out of sight as if it had never been there. Spike arrived at a light jog. "What did it say?" Cherry nodded at that. "That's what I want to know. You have such a powerful talent, Indie." Twilight arrived shortly after Spike. "You'd probably love a friend of mine. She has a talent very similar to yours, but she usually deals with animals that live on the land." Indigo frowned at Cherry. "As if you don't? You're a master of those, um, meckianiacal things." He flopped down onto his aquatic body, poorly suited to navigate on the sands. "I'd love to meet her, but first I hope you brought the water with you." Twilight glanced aside to her thoroughly emptied pool. "One moment and I'll have this addressed." She trotted down towards where the waves lapped at the shore. Spike stayed with the seaponies. "Were you sure that thing was going to calm down when you came over here?" "Mostly." Indie smiled. "I can't promise anything one-hundred percent with him, but he likes me, and I like him. I never saw him that angry before. He really thought I was hurt or foalnapped or something." Spike shook his head. "Remind me not to upset random sea monsters." "Oh, he's no sea monster." Indie shook his head as he rolled over, trying to find a more comfortable position. "He usually stays out of seas and in oceans. He needs deep deep waters to be happy." Twilight returned with the pool refilled and set it just beside Indigo. "Sorry, Indigo, Cherry. I should have listened to you both instead of trying to figure out your own life better than you, especially in such an emergency situation. I'll try to listen better to you both." Indigo slipped gratefully into the cool water and shook himself thoroughly in its embrace, working free the gritty sand that had collected on him during his stay. "It's like The Dry is trying to cook me!" Cherry suddenly smiled. "I've cooked with The Dry before, it's amazing! I'll show you after we get back to Ponyville. Pinkie and her friends, the Cakes, are masters of dry cooking, using the power of The Dry to make super tasty things." Twilight carefully hefted the pool up and began moving towards the train with Spike taking up his position of helping the pool without prompting. "It is a particularly warm day, but you should be safe in there. Cherry, how are you doing? I know you say you're 'used' to it, but it's much warmer here than Ponyville typically becomes and you've been very active." Cherry began to follow after them even as she considered herself and that. She was well and whole in large part, but her fins did ache a little and felt chapped inside their sleeves. Chapped was actually a great description of a lot of patches of her body and she hurried to catch up with them. "I think I'm looking forward to getting back to my room too," she said, demuring her desire to claim everything was perfectly alright. Twilight gestured with her horn up at the pool. "Do you want to ride with Indigo and get out of the sun a little while?" Cherry licked her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe after we get on the train. I know how heavy it is with all the water and one of us. You don't need to carry both of us." Decided, they made their way through the town towards the train station. Indigo peered curiously at everything around himself. "A lot more dry ponies wear clothing, and they all have four hooves." He looked down from his perch at Cherry and her extra hooves. "I hope you can get me some extra hooves so I can try dry swimming like all of these ponies." She smiled nervously. "I'll try my best, promise, but really... I never did this before." Her head lowered a little. "Please don't be angry if I can't do it." "But you can do it." Indie leaned a little closer to the edge, the pool wobbling. "I saw you working on those, and I bet you didn't stop just 'cause you reached The Dry. You have to trust yourself and I bet you'll make it happen." Twilight gave a gentle smile. "I'll make sure you have metal to work with." She might have been thinking of witnessing how far Cherry's understanding of mechanics had come. "There's a smith in town and she can make sure your pieces are shaped right if you tell her what you need." "This town?" Cherry glanced left and right. "No no, Ponyville." Twilight blushed a little at her imprecision. "Spike, hold this a moment while I get us tickets." She trotted off. Spike wobbled dangerously and quickly let the pool come down as gracefully as he could manage, only spilling some of the water to his credit as he got it to the ground in a sort of controlled fall under his insufficient muscle mass. "You alright?" Indie nodded at him quickly. "I feel much better now that this... what is this?" Cherry tapped the side of the pool. "This is a pool. The dry ponies use it to hold a lot of water at once. They also have glasses for little bits of water and buckets for a medium-sized bits of water." Indigo blinked with wonder. "Why do dry ponies care about water at all to have so many things to hold it?" Spike shrugged softly. "We don't live in it, but we do need some water to live, and we like it on hot days." Indigo let out a low, impressed, whistle. "Even dry ponies... We are all truly connected by the water, no matter how far away we are." Cherry tilted her head. "That was the most religious thing I think I ever heard you say." "What? It's true! We're all part of the same sea, even these dry ponies. It's kind of humbling to think about..." Twilight returned with the tickets held in her magic. "Alright, we can get going to Ponyville. I'm certain they'll be happy to meet you, but before we do that, is everypony related to you aware of this trip? We don't want... complications." Indigo bobbed his head. "Promise! Unlike some ponies, I didn't go running off in the middle of the night." "Hey!"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	24 - End Story	Safely aboard the train, Cherry parked herself beside the pool. "This is the train I was talking about. Isn't it amazing? This whole thing moves, using the very power of The Dry, making dry things so hot they release some of their magic which makes its mechanical parts work." Indigo sat up in the water. "It is a little scary to think of, but I trust you and our new friends that it's perfectly safe. I'm sure you were scared of my friend and had plenty of reason to think he could harm you, but you trusted me. Have you learned how this, um, train works already?" "Are you kidding?" Cherry leaned towards her friend. "These things are as valuable as they are large to the dry ponies. Even Twilight, a princess, can't just give me one." Twilight tilted her head slowly. "Actually..." Cherry's ears perked bolt upright. "You can get one?!" She scrambled to her hooves and rushed for Twilight. "Please please please get one! I'll be careful with it and put it all back together when I'm done." Twilight decided to take a risk with a slow nod. "Alright, how about this... You create something to get Indigo around and I'll see what I can do about--" She paused as the ground lurched and the train began to move. "About your train." Spike hiked a brow curiously and leaned in closer to whisper, "Can you really get one?" Twilight replied in a harsh whisper, "I should be able to get an old and retired train. I'll look into it while she's working." While they were talking about that, Cherry had rushed back to her friend. "Indie, did you hear that?! I'm going to get a train all to myself to work with! Ooo, which part would I look at first? I think I'll save the Dry magic core for last, and I'll see how everything leads back to it. Oh, waves above, the pieces must be so huge and powerful to make something this big move so smoothly. I can't wait!" While she rambled excitedly, Indigo nodded patiently with every few words. When she finished, he rolled a hoof. "I know you'll have fun with that, but aren't you dry? We're safe now." He moved to the side, making as much room as there would be in the small pool. "You'll have those hooves made in no time." Cherry cringed with renewed worry, but a sudden thought tickled at her and she looked at Twilight. "Twilight? What do dry ponies do if their back hooves aren't working? I mean, you know, if they get hurt." Twilight blinked owlishly before she brought a hoof up to her face with a groan. "Of course! We usually give them supporting wheels so their front legs can pull them while their back legs are healing. I'll see about that when we're back in Ponyville." Satisfied, Cherry took a slow step over the lip of the pool and joined her friend in the comforting embrace of the water there. She sank down into it with a happy sigh, nose twitching faintly as she detected the soft tang of sea water. However hard Twilight tried to make her room a new home, that smell could not be perfectly replicated. Indigo watched her with a mild blush. A voice whispered quietly to him, "You should tell her." He looked towards the source quickly and saw Spike grinning at him toothily. "Tell her what?" Spike shrugged. "That you like her. It's kind of obvious. You don't want to follow her around like a love-sick puppy. Go on, tell her." He entirely missed any connection to his own enduring and one-sided love life. "Maybe she likes you too, or would, if you do." Indigo settled into the water, gazing at his friend fondly a moment before he cleared his throat. "So, you like it?" "Like what?" Cherry looked over towards him. "This, The Dry?" Indigo waved a hoof out of the water. "I imagine you're having fun or you would have already come home. You don't do things you don't like for long." Cherry colored a little. "There's so much to see and do... And all the dry ponies are nice to me, after the first little problem but we got that sorted out. Oh! Did you see Sandy?" "Your mom's friend?" Indigo tilted his head. "I don't talk with a lot of sirens, but I did see her when she came back to tell us all where you swam off to. I didn't believe her at first, but your mom did, so I kinda did too after a while." Cherry bobbed her head. "I'm glad she's alright." She pointed to a window. "Take a look. See all the places we're going past? I want to explore all of it some day." Indigo glanced about with building nervousness. "I could... go with you?" Cherry tilted her head at her friend. "I thought you didn't like doing scary things, besides talking to things like that friend of yours." "I-it'd be... you know... worth it." Indigo forced a sheepish smile as he sank up to his snout in the water. "Show me what makes The Dry special." She giggled with undisguised joy and threw a leg around him in a hug. "I will! Once we get back, I'll show you my new room, and introduce you to some of my new friends. You'll like them, promise. Starlight's nice and lives with Twilight. She's a little less super cheerful, but really, she is nice, just a different kind of nice." The train began to slow and Twilight rose to her hooves. "I doubt Pinkie will tolerate missing throwing a party for both our visiting seaponies, so expect her to show up. Are you alright with energetic celebrations?" Indigo opened his mouth to reply when his vision was obscured by pink and he squeaked, recoiling as a new dry pony fell into the water with him and Cherry. "Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie and you're a new pony." She leaned in. "Let me guess, you never had cake either?" When he shook his head, she began to giggle. "Alright! We're gonna have a cake-tasting and welcome to Ponyville party and you're gonna have so much fun you won't even know what to do with yourself!" She hopped free of the pool, hooves slapping the ground with the large flippers she was wearing. "I'll meet you up at Twilight's castle and bring some guests, be ready!" She was gone without waiting for a single word in edgewise from any of the ponies present. Twilight cleared her throat as she slowly hefted up the heavy pool. "That was Pinkie, one of my friends and soon, one of yours. Let's get moving."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	25 - Episode 4, A Very Important Date	Cherry had reduced the poor clock to a veritable explosion of parts. It did not tick, sway, or show any signs of life. How could it, with all its vital pieces laid out carefully side-by-side for Cherry to take in with wide, curious eyes? Indigo leaned in over them, his curiosity more tempered than his friend's, but quite present. "Why did you break it?" Cherry waved him off. "It's not broken. I know where every last piece goes, mostly." She stuck out her tongue a little and grabbed the first part to be returned in her mouth, carefully stepping between parts back to the main body of the grandfather clock and slipping it into place. "I see how it works now. It really is very amazing, considering how many parts it has, and they all work together!" Indigo crept a bit closer, his forelegs pulling him along as well-oiled wheels held up his back section, powerful tail swaying a little as he looked over Cherry's work. "It's amazing that you understand any of this. It feels like countless little parts." "I guess it is a lot." Cherry tilted her head before grabbing the next piece and slotting it in. "That's what makes mechanical things so amazing in the first place. I want to make something so complex, but smooth. To have a thousand million parts, but feel like it's all one part, dancing in harmony." Spike suddenly came running in, holding a scroll. In his hurry, he tripped right over Cherry's pile of parts and went sprawling. Cherry squawked in dismay at the mess and threw up a hoof. "My baby! If you bent anything..." Indigo moved to help Spike up to his feet. "Did something happen? Why are you in such a hurry?" Spike nodded at Indigo. "Hey, sorry about that. I have to get this to Spike." Indigo tilted his head. "You are Spike." Spike shook his head quickly. "I mean Twilight. It's a letter from Princess Celestia, top priority!" Perhaps attracted by the noise, Twilight appeared suddenly. She laid eyes on the scroll and her horn lit up as she grabbed it with her magic and unfurled it quickly. As Twilight read it, Indigo smiled at Spike. "You did it, good job." She let out a gasp, the scroll vanishing with a pop. "She's coming tomorrow!" Cherry took another piece and carefully examined it for damage before carefully putting it in its place. "Who is? The other princess? Are you friends?" "Friends?" Twilight rolled her eyes. "She was my mentor for years! She's more then a 'friend'. Besides, she's Celestia! Of all the princesses, she's the biggest and most respected." Indigo tilted his head. "Oh, it goes by size? I suppose that's as reasonable as anything else." "No!" Twilight began to frazzle around her mane with worry. "It's not that. Look, you know the sun, right?" Cherry waved a hoof even as she worked to get her clock re-assembled. "Of course we do. It's hard to miss it." Twilight nodded quickly. "Great, well there's one pony in charge of waking it up and putting it to rest. Celestia controls the sun! That's kind of a big deal, even to aquatic races I imagine." Indigo nodded at that. "Without the sun, a lot of things in the ocean would die. First small things, then bigger things that ate the smaller things, then things that ate those things..." To say nothing of freezing over eventually, but he knew nothing of that. "She really moves that thing? It looks so far away..." "It is!" Twilight clopped the floor with a snort. "She's also the ruler of Equestria, alongside her sister." She suddenly swallowed and re-summoned the letter, her eyes scanning furiously. "Who... is also coming." Twilight sank to her belly. Spike gave her shoulder a soft patting. "It's alright. It's not like she has a quiz for you. You really are friends, Twilight. Why are you so upset?" Twilight leveled a hoof at each of her guests. "They don't know how to address a princess, let alone have a discussion with one! What if Princess Celestia thinks I've been shirking my duties? What if she takes my crown and makes me go to royal kindergarten?" Spike hiked a brow. "There is no such thing, and she wouldn't do that anyway. You're making a big deal about nothing." Cherry carefully got the main arm of the grandfather clock into place and screwed it in before nodding at Twilight and Spike. "We'll be polite. They're nice ponies, right?" "Being 'nice' is not enough." Twilight rose to her hooves. "That's it! I'll show you both how to act around them before they get here." She turned towards the dining room. "Let's go!" Indigo and Spike began to follow, but Cherry was focused on her clock, at least until Twilight's magic wrapped around her and began hauling her along. "Wait! I'm almost done!" She was dragged away by an uncaring Twilight and soon all four of them were in the dining room. Twilight set Cherry beside the table and Indigo wheeled himself to sit beside her obediently. "Good." Twilight nodded. "Let's begin with how to set a table." Spike hiked a brow. "I doubt the princesses are going to ask them to do that." Twilight put a hoof to her chest and let out a slow breath as she extended it. "Right, but proper etiquette starts here." She trotted over to the table, her magic hovering over a set of plates and various forks, knives, and spoons and setting it in a pile. "Let's begin." Indigo reached for some of the implements, poking them curiously. "What are these for?" He grasped the knife in his mouth and set it closer to himself. "I recognize this one, useful for getting into hard shells and things." Twilight gave a nervous laugh, her mane frizzing all the more. "Yes, that's a knife. You use it for cutting harder parts of food into bite-sized portions. And this..." Cherry raised a hoof. "Are we eating with your friends? Will there be cake? I bet she'll like that." Indigo rubbed at his belly. "I'd like that... How does The Dry make such delicious things?" Twang, another of Twilight's hair began sticking out at an odd angle. That wasn't working. "Alright, let's try something else. I'll pretend to be one of the princesses." She sat across from them at the table and cleared her throat. "So--" Indigo smiled at Twilight. "Which of them are you? Are you the sun pony? How do you do that?" Twang. "Her name is Celestia. Her sister is Luna. Please address them by their name, with 'Princess' in front." Cherry nodded slowly. "Yes, um, Princess Twilight. May I finish putting my clock back together?" Twilight let her head hit the table with a dull thunk as she heavied an exasperated sigh. "Go ahead..." Cherry and Indigo went off together back to her work. Spike patted Twilight's defeated shoulder. "I'm sure they'll both like Cherry and Indigo. They're nice ponies. Besides, it can't be worse than when you left Celestia with Cranky of all ponies." Twilight let out a choked sob and Spike gently comforted her as she wept. Back in the other room, Cherry eagerly resumed putting the pieces into her slowly-mending machine. "Hey, Indie, how're the wheels working out?" Indigo looked back at them and pulled himself forward and back as if testing them. "They seem to work pretty well. I think I'm faster with these than your fancy mechanical legs." Cherry blinked at that. "What? But mine are much more advanced." She closed the hatch on the clock and wound it up. The clock began to tick softly, making Cherry beam with pride. "There's no way." Indigo pointed to one of the mechanical hooves. "You can only move as fast as they move, and they don't move that fast. The wheels will move as fast as I pull them, and I can go pretty fast. We could have a race to prove it?" Cherry frowned. "Fine, but whoever loses buys the other a cookie." Indigo licked his lips with fond memories of Pinkie's baking prowess. "You're on. In fact, why don't we race to Sugarcube Corner? That way we can get the cookie right away." They lined up besides one another and Cherry pointed at the clock. "When it rings, we go!" Together, they waited, with only the ticking of the clock to interrupt the silence. Tick tick tick... Dong! They took off as quickly as they could. Cherry engaged her mechanical legs into trotting mode and made good time, but Indigo wasn't entirely wrong. She could only go exactly as fast as they went. Her face fell as her friend made early swift progress along the smooth floor of the castle and wheeled himself out with an excited cry. She had a reprieve when they hit a rough patch of ground between the castle and the bakery. While she could easily step over bumps, his wheels loved getting stuck in furrows and ditches whenever they could, slowing him down severely as she made up for lost time. Unfortunately for her, the roads of Ponyville were flat, and he began to speed up the moment he made it past the rough ground and caught up with her all-too-quickly before bursting ahead of her with a whoop of victory. The last she saw of him was his eagerly swaying tail until she came trotting up to the bakery to find him smugly grinning with victory. "See? Fancy doesn't always mean better." Cherry stuck out her tongue. "Yeah yeah, you won this one, but you would have been so helpless in the forest." "What's that?" Cherry walked past him into the bakery. "I'll tell you all about it over that cookie I owe you."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	26 - They Arrive	The next morning found Cherry and Indigo both uncomfortable and frowning. They had good reason, as Twilight had dressed the both up in formal attire, with a tuxedo draped over the both of them, neither made specifically for them. Indigo plucked at the alien clothing. "You're not wearing anything." Twilight gave a wide smile. "I just want the two of you to give a good impression on Celestia and Luna. I'm sure they'll love you both, but getting off on the right hoof would be ideal." Cherry looked to Spike, who seemed far more calm than Twilight was working herself up to being. "Hey, Spike. Are they really hard to get along with?" "Nah." Spike waved a claw dismissively. "Celestia likes basically everypony, and Luna's a little shy, but she's nice too. You'll like 'em both!" "Good, than I'll take this--" Cherry was interrupted by a manic Twilight appeared before her in a flash of magic. "No! Keep them on until you've at least said hello and made formal introductions." Starlight raised a brow at the antics. "I think you may be blowing this just a little out of proportion." Spike smirked a little. "That's our Twilight." Twilight didn't walk, it seemed her tense nature made her more prone to flashing around. Appearing before Starlight, she leaned in at her. "I'm not blowing anything up! If they don't approve of our guests, it could mean any number of things. We could go to war with the sea ponies, or she might take away my crown, or take away my castle, or--" Starlight put a hoof on either of Twilight's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Do any of those things sound like something Princess Celestia or Luna would actually do?" "... Maybe?" Twilight sank to her haunches with a dazed look. "I just want this to go well." Spike gave an emphatic thumbs up. "Well I'm sure Cherry and Indie want to give a good impression, right guys?" They both nodded vigorously, even if Indigo was busy wriggling free of his uncomfortable clothing. Twilight sank a bit more, the mania slipping from her. "Alright... We'll do it your way." She took a slow breath, drawing in until her chest was full before slowly letting the air free. "I'm ready." "That's good." Celestia strode in from outside with Luna beside her. "I trust everything is alright?" Luna cast her gaze down at Cherry and indigo with a curious expression. "Are these the ponies from the sea? A pleasure to meet you." She offered a hoof, which confused Indigo, but Cherry raised a tuxedo'd leg to clop a hoof against the offered one. "Hello. I'm Cerulean, but you can call me Cherry, and this is Indigo, but Indie's fine." Cherry smiled and Indigo waved a hoof in greeting. Luna seemed amused. "We are not certain why we thought you would react differently. I am Princess Luna, and this is my sister, Princess Celestia. Are you two related?" Indie shook his head quickly. "We've been friends for a long time, but we're not siblings. Nice to meet you, um, Miss Luna." Celestia raised a hoof. "We will all be friends today. Our given names are enough. You're not even one of our subjects, which reminds..." She tapped at her chin softly. "Do you have a leader? Somepony who makes the larger decisions of your underwater home?" Twilight was smiling, a little forced as she floundered internally at the sudden appearance of the Royal Sisters. She spotted the dropped tuxedo and her horn flashed, banishing the suit of clothes from the floor to somewhere out of sight. Cherry shook her head a little. "I don't think so? At least, mom never told me about it." She frowned a little. "Mom did like only telling me things she thought I really needed to know. Imagine her surprise when I went running off to explore The Dry." Indie snorted at that. "You made your mother cry. I wouldn't be too excited about that part, but you're alright and she knows, so it's alright now." He poked Cherry in her clothed chest. "I think it's more a case of you not paying attention." "Oh? Fine, then tell Celestia who's in charge." Cherry crossed her hooves, rearing up to let her mechanical hooves support her weight for a moment. Indigo nodded quickly. "I will." He looked up at the massive form of Celestia and her eternally waving mane. He felt no wind and blinked softly. "Are you alright?" He looked over at Luna and saw her mane was much the same, constantly undulating under the effects of a wind that wasn't there. It was sort of like they were underwater, their hair being tugged gently by invisible currents. "Is that supposed to happen?" Spike shrugged softly. "That's normal, for them." Celestia smiled gently. "We're perfectly fine. Think of this as a physical sign of our connection to the celestial bodies we watch over. Now, you were about to say?" "Oh, right!" Indigo blushed faintly. "All sea ponies must obey the Master of the Waves. He, or she, is the one that's proven themselves wise and powerful enough to rule us. Gaining the title is a life-long thing until they retire and a new Master is found." "Is that why we say that?" "Say what?" "By the waves." "You really didn't know that?" Indigo squinted a little at his friend before giggling. "You should pay more attention." "I pay plenty of attention! Just to things I care about." Cherry looked up towards the princesses. "Oh! I made a cake for you! Pinkie helped." She turned and began leading the way towards the dining hall. "You'll like it, promise." "I helped too," proclaimed Indie proudly as he followed along. "Putting on sprinkles is hardly helping." Cherry stuck out her tongue. "But you did help, yes. I'm sure they'll appreciate it." Starlight swatted Twilight out of her daze and pointed to the dining room, getting her moving before Starlight gave a little smile and wandered off, trusting in Twilight to take it from there. Spike was first to the table and hopped up into a chair. "Would you believe neither of them had a cake before Pinkie introduced them?" Luna frowned with thought. "We would imagine it difficult to bake underwater." Her eyes moved to the offered cake. It had three layers with chocolate frosting and bright rainbow sprinkles applied liberally. "It looks delightful. Twilight, could you get some tea to accompany?" "Oh, of course!" Twilight took off running and came scampering back with a tea set hovering. She didn't make it to the table as Celestia put a hoof in the way. "Twilight, my cherished friend, relax. Nopony is here to judge you today. You've done well to be a caretaker to two exotic ponies." Celestia looked to the two sea ponies. "Has Twilight been a good host?" Cherry pulled at her tuxedo gently. "Besides making me wear this, yes. She's been great." She settled on a chair and sank onto the soft cushion. "Everypony in town's been nice and I've got to see and do so much. There's still plenty I want to do." Celestia nodded a little. "Then I see nothing wrong." Her magic gently took the set from Twilight's grip. "Now come and sit with us." Defeated, but far less tense, Twilight hopped up and joined the others around the table. "So, how was the trip?" Luna nodded at Twilight. "Uneventful, which is just as well." She accepted a cup when Celestia set it before her and took a little sip. "I think our guest should be permitted the first cut." Cherry perked her ears up, then looked to Indie. "Go ahead." "Me?" He looked around before grasping the cake knife in his mouth and making a quick slice into the soft and increasingly tasty-smelling cake before a second formed an actual slice to be taken. Magic wrapped around the cut and set it on a plate before it landed before Celestia, who's horn was glowing gently. "I hope nopony minds if I take the first nibble. I wish to tell our guests how they did." Or maybe she just wanted some cake. Either way, she picked up a fork in her magic and carved off a piece before it was gone down her large snout. "Mmm..." Soon the others had their own slices and were enjoying the baked confection between sips of tea. The energy of the room became far more relaxed than it had started. Indigo looked up at the larger of the two. "Celestia, right?" She nodded. "Nice to meet you. Do you like the cake?" "It's perfect." She set down her fork on the empty plate. "Pinkie's very good, and I can taste her attention in it, but your own personalities show through." Luna hiked a brow. "Are you implying, sister of mine, that you can taste effort in cake creation?" "Perhaps." Celestia looked to Indigo. "Would your Master of the Waves be troubled if we wished to meet them?" Indie frowned a little. "Oh gosh. I never met her personally. She's so busy taking care of the whole sea, it's not surprising she wouldn't rush to meet a random sea pony like me." Celestia could sympathize with that and gave a light nod. "Is there a formal way of sending a message to her?" Luna nudged her sister gently. "You would scold me for this. Let us pay attention to the guests before us instead of focusing on others we may want to meet." Celestia colored faintly at being called out. "You are correct. I'm sorry for being rude. Cherry, what was it you wanted to see next?" Cherry saw an opportunity and clopped her hooves together. "My special talent is working with mechanical things, and I really want the chance to take apart a train." Celestia raised a brow. "That's a significant request." Cherry sank a little. "If you can't, I understand, but I'd really like it..." Celestia considered a moment. "Would the train have to be functional?" Cherry perked right up. "You have broken ones? I'd love to even have one of those! Maybe I could fix it..." Luna nodded, seeing where her sister was going. "When trains become too old and unreliable, they are retired. Some get used for scrap metal, but we should imagine there are other trains that have not met that fate. Perhaps you--" She was cut off as she had a seapony hugging her tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Indie smiled a little at the happiness his friend was showing. "I think she likes the idea." Twilight coughed softly. "We don't have room for that here, in the castle." Celestia nodded. "Which is precisely why we won't bring it inside, but it should be fine nearby, in easy reach." "Oh please, yes!" Cherry hopped up and down, her mechanical hooves working with her forelegs to propel her into the air several inches. Luna reached out and poked one of those shiny hooves. "Did you construct these?"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	27 - I Like Trains	Cherry tapped at the ground with a metal hoof, raising and lowering it as she looked back at it. "It was part of a metal pony a unicorn made to explore the water. It broke, and I found it and made it into a dry swimmer. It helps me explore The Dry instead of helping dry ponies explore my home. That's fair, right?" Celestia offered a little smile. "Very fitting." Her eyes darted to Twilight. "I trust you were involved with this?" Twilight tensed a moment. "I smoothed things out with the pony in question, but it was entirely Cherry's efforts to enact the actual modifications. She really is a natural at mechanics." She walked around Cherry and pointed at her brightly-painted cutie mark. "It's her calling." Luna gave a soft mmm as she rose to her hooves. "Living on land or in the sea, all ponies are bound by purpose. It is comforting in a way to see that even such distant relations are so similar in important ways." "Excellently said." Celestia rose up to her own hooves. "Now let's see what kind of train we can get our hooves on." Cherry's face split in a newly energized grin. "We can do it now?!" Luna nodded towards Celestia. "As Sister implies, there is no better time than the present. This is something you clearly desire very strongly." Celestia raised a hoof, showing off the metal-clad end of her limb. "There is one condition." Cherry's ears spun backwards. Indigo stepped forward. "Don't be discouraged, Cherry. They seem super nice. I'm sure it's nothing." Celestia nodded. "I hope it's nothing at all. We understand you two are just foals, exploring the world with wide eyes. We wish you both the best in your adventure, but I would like to speak to your leader. There are important matters to be discussed that would affect the future of both of our tribes." Indie glanced between Cherry and Celestia. "Well, Cherry didn't even know we had one, so I guess it's up to me." He took a little breath before smiling. "I'll find them. Give me a letter and I'll get it to them." He looked back to Cherry. "I'll come back as soon as I'm done." With a magical pop, Twilight appeared between Celestia and Indigo. With a nervous swallow, she rose to her full height. "I won't allow this." Celestia raised a brow in silent question. "They're friends, best friends. I won't let them be broken apart like this." She licked over her lips. "I... I'll find this Master of the Waves. You two, stay here. This is a royal affair and I'll take care of it." Luna set a hoof on one of Twilight's shoulders. "That is very brave of you, but how do you propose to explore the ocean? You are very talented, but you are an alicorn, not a hippocampus, as our guests are." Twilight gave a smile. "I planned to show this off later, but since we have one right here, I can use them as a template." She turned towards Cherry and Indigo, light sweeping from her horn over the both of them. "And..." With a bright sparkle of magic, she flopped to the floor, hindlegs gone, replaced with a new and powerful tail. She was sleek and ready for water. Twilight was a sea pony. "Spike, I expect you to keep the castle in order and keep an eye on our guests. You're the caretaker of the castle while I'm away." Spike gave a salute. "I'll make sure nothing goes wrong. Good luck, Twilight." Celestia bowed her head to Twilight. "This is no small task. Thank you, Twilight." Her horn began to glow as she hefted the aquatic Twilight into the air. "Please be careful. The ocean is full of peril and wonders you've never seen before. Err on the side of caution in your journey and return to us with good news." A smile spread. "Not that you've failed us in this regard before. I'm sure you'll be fine." Spike hiked a thumb towards town. "You may want to bring some of the girls with you. Two heads are better than one." He snapped two fingers suddenly. "I bet Fluttershy would be perfect for this." Twilight perked up. "Fantastic idea! Fluttershy would not only be a huge help, but she'd probably enjoy getting to meet so many new animals." She pointed towards Fluttershy's hut. "Onwards!" Celestia began to trot off with Twilight held in her magic, bound for Fluttershy's cottage. Luna nodded lightly. "While my sister is occupied, why don't we get to work? We promised to look into one train, did we not? Spike, will you be coming?" Spike shook his head. "Twilight trusted me to watch the castle. I'll keep this place ship-shape for her. Go ahead and find that train." Luna nodded towards him before turning to face the two sea ponies. "Very well. Shall we be off?" She led the way with certain steps towards the train station. Cherry and Indie hurried to catch up with her, flanking her on the left and right. Cherry glanced in the direction Twilight had gone. "Is this really alright, for her to go and do this, for us?" Luna raised an ear at Cherry. "This is hardly the first danger she has faced. We trust she will be safe in the end, with perhaps an important lesson on friendship in her hooves at the end of it." Indie blinked softly. "I thought she's going to talk to the Master of Waves, not learn about friendship." Luna snorted at that. "Everything is an excuse to learn about friendship around that pony. She is not the Princess of Friendship out of vanity. Her friend, Fluttershy, is truly a natural with wild beasts. She will keep Twilight safe from predators." "I never got to meet her." Indie pouted a little. "When they come back, I would really like to meet this dry version of myself. I wonder which of my friends she'll run into..." Cherry rolled her eyes. "Hopefully none of the hungry ones. It still amazes me how you can hang around such dangerous animals all the time without being the little bit scared by them." "For a select few, it comes naturally to expose oneself to such hungry beasts of the land, and to not feel fear. For such ponies, there is no harm to be found among many dangerous animals." Luna tilted her head a little. "For most, however, it is specialized. I recall Fluttershy did make no attempt to befriend the hydra of the local swamp. Your own talents may not work so well on animals not born of the sea. An angry bear may be just as dangerous to you as any other pony." "What's a bear?" Indigo frowned a little. "And a hydra? May I meet them?" Luna gave a little smile. "You are brave. We can appreciate that quality. Fluttershy has a friend of a bear. Harry if we recall correctly. When she returns, surely she will gladly introduce you to him. That will be a safe way to test your empathy with the beasts of the land rather than to begin with something enraged or famished." Cherry clopped alongside the new princess. "You're larger than Twilight, so you're more important, right?" Luna paused a moment, blinking at that. She thought about the size of the princesses. Celestia was the largest. She and Cadance tied for second place, and Twilight was the smallest, though larger than many other mares. Size did seem to correlate somewhat to importance, even if they had never intended on it. "That is not how we determine significance. There are larger ponies in existence, with no title to speak of. Were I to gain or lose stature, my own title would remain the same." "So are you less or more important?" Cherry tilted her head a little. Luna gave a bemused smile. "My sister and I rule over Equestria together, so I suppose we could have a higher station than Princess Twilight, but we are peers. Here we are." She gestured at the train station, glad for the distraction. "We will ride to the central station and browse the locomotives they have retired. With luck, we'll find one that is not in too degraded a condition to be of use for your research and bring it back to Ponyville." Cherry's expression brightened significantly as she stepped up onto the platform. "Do you think it'll run? We could ride it back here." Indie answered quickly before Luna could, "That seems like a bad idea. What if we hit a train going the other way? Besides, they're not our tracks." Cherry pouted a little at that. "I guess you're right... How will we get it back to Ponyville? Do trains work on the ground?" Luna cocked a brow. "They do, but very very poorly. We do not recommend that. Neigh, we will hopefully find a small engine to claim and commission a team of ponies to transport it safely to Princess Twilight's castle." She didn't buy a ticket, and simply walked onto the train headed in the right direction. When Cherry and Indigo moved to follow her, the conductor was less allowing. "Woah, hold your horses. Where's your ticket?" "They are with me," spoke Luna with stern officiality. "Come, this way." The conductor moved aside as the two stepped up onto the train. Cherry helped Indigo navigate the steps, hefting him up with a grunt to reach the smooth walkway inside. With a soft lurch, the train began its rolling motion and they were on their way. Cherry and Indigo parked themselves by a window to watch The Dry rush past. They'd never been that particular way, and watching the exotic landscape scroll past was exciting enough to keep them entertained. To say nothing of Cherry's musing of what sort of train she might secure. "Imagine if we find one that was just too old, but ran fine? That would be perfect! I could fix it up nice and good, take out one part at a time and replace it with a new one until I eventually had a brand new train!" She clopped her forehooves together from where she lay on her cushion. "I can't wait to see how all the parts inside work!" "Such an effort would be more costly than effective for most," said Luna with a serious tone. "But you have the advantage of doing this for reasons of passions, rather than commercial. There are many places where one might miss one old part and risk a breakdown between stations if it fails. If I am told correctly, this is why trains are retired instead of rebuilt so often. We look forward to seeing the fruit of your labor." Indie tilted his head. "One thing... How are you going to use it? You don't have tracks, and Luna said it won't work so good just on the ground." Cherry opened a mouth to explain her great idea, only to realize she didn't have a great idea for this. How was she going to use the train?
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	28 - Graveyard of Machines	The train came to a smooth halt. Indigo peered outside at the town they had arrived in. It was small. It made Ponyville look like a bustling metropolis. "Is this the right place?" Luna rose to her hooves. "The movement of trains is loud, to say nothing of the work they perform tearing one apart, so they selected a small community. It was once even smaller, but the workers needed basic things and they formed in response to the demand." She began to lead the way off the car. Cherry jumped off the car and looked around. Her face brightened as the train drew away, because right behind it was a vast sea of broken and abandoned trains. "Look!" She thrust a hoof at the glorious display of dry machinery. "Can we just take any we want?" Indigo wheeled up beside her, facing the collection. "I doubt it. Some of them already look like they're being taken part." "He is correct." Luna gestured for the stairs down and resumed leading the way. "We may have royal authority, but this is hardly a matter of emergency. We will consult with the workers and determine which engines they can reasonably part with." Before they knew it, they were standing before three half-formed engines, each missing huge chunks of what made them work and clearly in the process of dismantling. Cherry raised a brow as she looked between them and the lanky pony that had led them out to it. "Are these the only three you can offer? What about... that one?" She pointed at a nice and almost-new looking train with a hopeful smile. He rubbed at his cheek a moment. "Can't do that one. It's scheduled for tear down tomorrow. Engineers say it can be salvaged." Luna glanced between the disappointed look of her guest and across the junkyard of trains. "Surely there is one train you could part with that hasn't already been dismantled." She waved over the sea of metal. "Something too old and unreliable to be reasonably repaired." He frowned with obvious thought. "Well, there's one..." Indigo wheeled forward instantly. "Show us!" "Alright, alright, this way." He waved as he turned and began leading the way. "Watch yer step, metal's sharper than it looks." The sharpness of the metal was less of a concern for the two-legged sea pony and more of an obstacle. Cherry gave her friend some assistance over the first big bump, until Luna's magic glowed around him and lifted him several inches into the air, right over the majority of the debris. Cherry stuck out her tongue a little. "Not so fast now, are we?" She could step over the obstacles. It slowed her, but never stopped her. "Dry swimming done right." Indigo rolled his eyes at her. "No fish is perfect at everything." He was set down as they reached a relatively clear patch and he resumed pulling himself forward. "Let's find that train." The train-tender showed them to a rusty hulk of a machine. It was old, beat up, and old. Did we mention old yet? But, it was intact. "We were considering donating it to a museum. About as useful as it'll ever be, outside of melting it down for scrap." Cherry reared up and clopped her hooves excitedly, blind to its weathering and age. "It's magnificent!" Luna cast a critical eye over the machine. "It's a bit... worn." The engineer shrugged softly. "You asked for something too old to be repaired reasonably, here it is." Cherry waved dismissively at Luna. "Don't mind her, it's lovely!" She stepped up towards it reverently, eyes tracing the lines of the mechanics she could see easily, which wasn't much. "I can't wait..." Luna gestured the engineer to the side. "We will need this transported to the town of Ponyville, can you arrange this?" The engineer whistled softly. "It won't roll itself, and that'd require re-scheduling of the tracks..." "Can it be moved without the tracks?" Luna tilted her head faintly. "It could... But it'd actually be easier to do the reschedule and tug it with a working engine down to Ponyville. It'll be up to you to get it from there to where you want it. We'd just drag it over there and get it off the tracks." Luna gave a grave nod. "Very well, begin planning that, and arrange for a small team to move it once it's there. Charge it to the royal account." "Yes, ma'am." He saluted, perhaps a bit happy at the idea of having access to the royal account. "We'll need at least two days to clear the schedule and get your train on the books, then we'll get her on the tracks and get her moving." Cherry tilted her head. "It's a girl train?" She looked up at the old train and reached a hoof, brushing gently along the rusted metal. "Hello... grandmother train. I'll have you sparkling just like the young ladies, don't you worry. Does she have a name?" The engineer smiled. "You really have a thing for trains, don't you? I feel better knowing she'll be in good hooves. She's the last of her line. Only reason she hasn't already been scrapped. I couldn't bear to see history erased like that." He gestured over the train. "Say hello to Red Rocket. In her prime, she was the fastest thing on the tracks, at least with a full payload." He tapped at his chin. "You see, other trains could go faster, empty, but what use is an empty train? It took real engineering to get an engine working that hard when it was weighed down with tons on tons of cargo." Cherry nodded with almost every word. Her train had such a glorious history, and she ate it all up with a growing smile. "I'll make her relive her prime days." She patted the solid-iron cow catcher on the front of the train. "She must be so sad, just laying around here for so long. We'll fix that." Indigo wheeled up beside her. "It looks amazing... are you sure you can fix it?" He was clearly awestruck by the great machine, but intimidated wouldn't have been a bad word to use. "It's a lot larger than your clock." "It is, but it's still the same thing." Cherry shook her head. "Take it apart, one piece at a time, learn how it fits, and put it back, repeat until I have the whole thing. But then..." She clopped a hoof on the ground. "We get to the fun part. I have to replace the parts." "Just about every part," agreed the engineer as he walked away to arrange things. Luna nodded at her guests. "It appears we are successful in our endeavor." Her eyes scanned up over the old train. "We confess, we do not see this with your eagerness, but we came for your satisfaction, not ours. We trust you will be responsible with this?" "Yes!" Cherry started circling the machine. "I will take such good care of it. Twilight said she knows a pony that uses the power of dry to bake metal, just like a cake, but less tasty." She turned towards Luna. "You dry ponies use dry's power for so much! It's amazing." Luna hiked a brow. "What, precisely, is the power of the dry?" Cherry tilted her head. "The power of The Dry is hot and, well, dry. We have wet heat at best in the ocean, and only if you go to special places. In The Dry, you can summon its power wherever you want, but it works best in ovens and things." Indie shook his head. "She's the expert on this. I'm still learning how The Dry works." "You realize, this is land, not 'The Dry'. We have plenty of water, or we would not survive well." Luna shook her head a little. "Your perspective on land living is charming, but somewhat inaccurate." Cherry wasn't listening. Examining her new train took precedence by far. Fortunately, Indie was still looking at Luna. "From our point of view, it makes perfect sense. You probably think of some silly things with the water. We promise to not be angry at you if you won't be with us." Luna offered a hoof. "A sound proposal." They met with a soft clop. "We should be going. We will inform them that you need to be put up for the night and ride with the train back to Ponyville." That caught Cherry's attention. She rushed back, her back legs almost falling out of sync with her excitement. "We'll get to ride it!?" "It shall not function, not until you repair it," explained Luna. "They'll attach it to a functioning train in a couple of days--" Cherry saw Indigo looking confused and leaned in. "A day is while the sun is high and a night is when it is sleeping." "Ohhh." Indigo smiled thankfully at Cherry. "Yes, precisely so. You will wait in this small town until then and ride your train back to Ponyville. You will also oversee its movement to near Twilight's castle, close enough that you can work on it easily, but not so close as to displease Twilight. Use your discretion." "Discretion is my middle name," claimed Cherry, already ogling her train again with little giggles of excitement. Luna sighed softly and looked to Indigo. "Of the two, you are less emotionally invested in this project. May we charge you with overseeing its satisfactory conclusion?" Indigo almost jumped at suddenly being given a task of what seemed great gravity. "Oh, um, of course! I'll make sure they put it kinda close but not too close." He paused a moment. "How close is that?" Luna gave a little smile. "We should think a five minute walk away from the town from the castle would be a fine placement. Thank you, young seapony. We must attend to other duties. Please watch over your friend and see to this."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	29 - On Our Own	Cherry and Indie wandered down the street towards the place they were told they could rest in while waiting for their train ride. Indie glanced over at his friend. "Did you notice?" "Huh, notice what?" Cherry directed an ear but kept her eyes forward. "That princess we just met. She kept talking funny." Indie rolled a hoof before pulling himself back into line. "Oh, I wasn't sure." Cherry tilted her head a little. "Maybe that's just how they talk where she's from, like an accent?" "She was nice though." Indie smiled. "Funny talking or not, she got you your train." Cherry's confusion faded instantly into that face-splitting grin. "Just a few days and we get to bring it home. Until then, we... stay here?" She tilted her head up at the building they arrived at. A sign declared it as 'Iron House Bed and Breakfast'. "Huh, at least it comes with breakfast." Indie produced a few shells. "Do they take these? I don't have much..." Cherry waved a hoof. "Weren't you listening? Watch me." She trotted inside confidently. It was cooler and quieter, blocking out the sounds of work in the trainyard. She spied a counter and made her way for it quickly. "Excuse me?" The stallion there looked down at Cherry from beneath especially bushy eyebrows. "Huh, you're an interesting slice of pony, ain'cha?" Cherry dipped her front. "Nice to meet you. One room with an extra large tub of water, largest you have, for two, meals included." She raised a hoof to tap at her chin. "Fish preferred if you have any." He blinked at her rather pointed list of demands. "Huh, alright. You got the bits?" Cherry raised a hoof. "Deduct it from the royal account. We're here under protection of Princess Luna." He crossed his forehooves, rising up on his hind legs with a scowl. "Now, you wouldn't be trying to play a trick on me, wouldja?" Indie shook his head as he joined Cherry at her side. "She brought us here, and had to go do important things while we wait for our ride back to Ponyville." "We're getting a train." Cherry beamed with joy. "They're getting the schedule ready and then they'll take it and us to Ponyville." He nodded lightly as he fell back to all fours. "If'n you say so, but if you're lying, they'll find you. The Princesses don't like people pretending like that." He fetched a key off the wall and slapped it on the counter with a flick of his neck. "Room 205, upstairs." Indie paled a little. "Don't suppose you have one on the ground floor?" The shopkeep snorted softly, looking back at Indie's wheels that supported most of his body. "Huh. What even are you two?" As if he hadn't noticed just how exotic his guests were until that point. "Look, I'll see if one of the guests want to exchange, but no promises. Go hang out in the common room." He pointed a hoof inside, to a room where a dry geyser, otherwise known as a fire, crackled large and intimidating. "I'll find you with an answer." Cherry got to moving towards that curious source of dry. "Why would they have this just... like that?" Indie wheeled beside her, also examining the crackling and snapping source of warmth and anti-wet. "They must feel safe from it to have it so close." "What're you two talkin' about?" asked one grizzled unicorn. "The fire? Ain't nothing unusual about a fire." Cherry pointed at the fireplace. "I thought the power of The Dry was used to do things, like cook food, or make trains work. What's this one doing?" The unicorn shrugged a little. "Keeping the room warm, and looking nice enough. They cook in the kitchen. This one's here for us." Indie leaned his platform back to clop his hooves together quickly. "We get dry power too? This is a remarkable place." He glanced aside at his companion. "You could start working on the metal you need, right?" Cherry frowned a little. "I never learned how to do it right... Twilight said she knows a pony who's really good at metal shaping." The engine-working unicorn laughed at the suggestion. "That fire ain't anywhere near hot enough for metal work. You need a smith for that." Indie pivoted in place to face the pony. "The, uh, fire? It comes in different sizes?" It felt plenty warm and drying to him. The idea of a more intense variety was a little scary. "You betcha." He nodded firmly. "Hell, you're getting a train? You'll have a fire in there if you're actually operating it, and it'll put this little fire to shame." Cherry wobbled a little at the realization. She would be a wielder of the power of The Dry, and no small one at that. From the size of the train she selected, she would get a big, um... fire? Dry power sounded better in her head. She would wield it! She giggled a little manically at the thought before clearing her throat. "This one's big enough to cook, if we wanted to?" "Oh sure." He shrugged. "Why, you plan to cook meat? You two look kind of like fish." Indie stuck out his tongue. "I met plenty of fish and they're not like us. They're not ponies." "Huh, guess they wouldn't be." The innkeep came walking in beside a well-dressed pegasus mare. The mare locked eyes on Cherry and Indie and came for them. "You weren't pulling a leg... What marvelous creatures!" Cherry tilted her head up at the pegasus, taller than her and, by nature, more comfortable on The Dry than ever Cherry was to be. "Hello?" "Hello to you." The mare offered a hoof as her wings extended slightly. "A pleasure to meet you both. I'm told you need a room on the first floor." Indie bobbed his head, rushing towards the mare a few steps. "Oh yes, please. Stairs are very difficult to deal with." He tried to meet that hoof, but his platform tipped forward mid-hoof-bump and he ended up falling face-first into the ground with an oof. The innkeep gave a new key to the mare. "Here you are, that's what I was about to give 'em." She passed a key to Cherry, but her attention was focused on Indie. With a strong wing, she helped him get upright. "You poor things. Are you here alone?" Indie righted himself, balancing on his wheeled platform. "We're not alone, we have each other." Cherry giggled softly. "Besides that, yes, we're alone until we go home." She raised a brow slightly. "Where is 'home'?" With an internal click, Cherry realized the mare wasn't dressed like the others, or talking much like the others either. "We're staying with Princess Twilight, of Ponyville. Are you traveling too?" The mare leaned in a little. "I heard you were with Princess Luna?" Cherry shook her head. "Luna brought us here, to get a train, and went back to where she's from. Twilight we're staying with." She looked over the pegasus' air flippers, realizing she never had a lot of chance to see one of those. It wasn't as if Twilight didn't have a pair, but she was usually busy. "Excuse me, miss, may I see your air flippers?" The pegasus blinked owlishly. "Air flippers?" She looked back over herself as if to find the named part. "Whatever do you mean, dear? Oh! You wish to see me perform? I'm no Wonderbolt, but I could show you a few things if you'd like." She began striding for the outside. "Come along, there's hardly any room in here." Indie wheeled after the pegasus. "What's a Wonderbolt?" The pegasus paused, looking over her shoulder. "I guess they wouldn't have any Wonderbolts where you're really from." She gave a little smile. "Where are you really from, before Ponyville?" Cherry stepped back outside, into the noise of trains being worked on, assembled, and torn apart. It was, in some ways, a haunting sound. At least her train was safe from being carved apart. Only she would do it, and she would be gentle. While Cherry was lost in thought, Indie provided an answer. "We're from the sea." He pointed where he thought the ocean was from there, though he wasn't entirely sure what direction that was. "Cherry came out onto The Dry first, and I kind of followed her." "Aw, that's so sweet." She smiled down at Indie. "Love drives us into things, even dangerous places. She must be so proud to have you." Cherry snapped out of her thoughts and began to blush quite brightly, realizing what had been just said. Indie didn't argue, at least, not coherently. He mumbled and squirmed and looked quite helpless. She moved between the pegasus and her friend. "You were going to show us some tricks?" "Oh! Yes, watch this." She gave her air flippers a powerful flap and she lifted from the ground easily. "Like I said, I'm not a Wonderbolt, but I know a few." She started with a somersault in the air, then spun the other way, keeping her head straight forward while her body rotated the long way. Cherry and Indigo both clopped with applause. The act of aerial swimming was quite impressive enough for both of them. The mare seemed pleased at their attention and launched higher just to come crashing down in a blur and pull out dangerously close to the ground, her hooves brushing against the dirty road before she evened out and landed, wings fully flared. "Ta da!" Indigo wheeled up to her with a smile. "You're really good with your air flippers." "I like flipping in the air," agreed the pegasus. Cherry shook her head and pointed at the pegasus' sides. "Air flippers." "My wings?!" She looked back at them, spreading one out into view. "I never heard them called air flippers before. You two are too adorable. If you weren't already snatched up by a princess, I'd keep you for myself." She reached with one of those wings and patted both of them on the head. "Now you go and relax, you both look tired. How long will you be in town?" Indie pointed off towards where Cherry's train was. "They said they can get Cherry's train back in two days, which is when we'll go back with it to Ponyville. Are you here for long, ma'am?" She folded her wings against her back as she nodded. "They del... Oh!" She burst into a laughter. "It's your fault. The train I would have caught in a few days was postponed for something and they wouldn't tell me what it was." She sat before the two. "I was so angry." Cherry blinked with growing worry. "We didn't mean to mess things up for you." She waved it away. "It means we get to hang out that much longer. This seems as fine a way to spend a day as any other. Now go, rest." She started with realization. "Oh, I'm Cloud Skipper! Nice to meet you both." "Indie." "Cherry." They exchanged hoof bumps in parting and the two tired sea horses retired to soft beds and big tubs of water to recharge for the next day.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	30 - New Friend	When Cherry and Indie emerged from their room the next morning, they found Cloud waiting for them. "Hello! Now what did you two have in mind for today, hmm?" Cherry considered that with a little frown. "I was mostly going to wait." "Tell me, why did you come to get a train?" Cloud leaned forward. "You didn't come just because you like the way trains look, did you?" "A little." Cherry smiled. "Mostly what's inside of them. I like mechanical things." She sat on her haunches and tapped one of her mechanical legs gently. Indie pointed at Cherry. "I'm here to help her out." "Of course you are dear." Cloud flashed a smile at Indie before looking to Cherry. "Well, if you came to look at complicated gears and things, why don't you come with me? I know where they throw things waiting to be melted to bits. I bet we might find something worth looking at." The very idea had Cherry's ears perking, but she heard a soft rumble come from Indie, only to be echoed by her own body. "How about we get some of that breakfast first, then we can check out that place." She led the way into the main room, following the curious but pleasant smells. The table had a small assortment of food on large platters. It was clear others had come and taken some before. Indie sniffed softly before wheeling up beside the table and licking his lips. "Some of this smells like what Spike would make, but a lot of it smells new." Cloud tilted her head a little. "You've never had this?" She gestured with a hoof. "Potatoes, grilled with black and bellpepper and charred to a nice and crispy layer." Her hoof moved. "Thinly sliced tomato, cheese and toast with a light sauce. It's quite lovely." Her hoof continued. "You really should try some of this. Crushed and pulped apricot, delicious." The idea of a new drink brought Indie over and he nodded to Cloud. "Could you pour me some please?" "Of course." She carefully tipped the jar over into a mug and slid it over to Indie. "Here you are. Have you had fruit before?" Indie dipped his snout right into it, lapping up the sweet and sticky juice with a happy noise. Cherry offered a more coherent answer, "I've had oranges and apples before. Are apricots more like oranges, or apples?" Indie came up with a soft sigh. "It's not like either. Try some!" Cherry eyed the apricot with obvious temptation, but pointed instead to the potato dish. "I'll try that first." They were the one clearly most shaped by the power of The Dry, burned and caressed by that heat to create the food before her. What was the limit of that power the dry ponies seem to take for granted? It also tasted great. Filled and energized, they set out with their new friend into the noise of the train yard. They crossed the tracks, Cherry and Cloud helping Indie get across and then they were surrounded by scrap and metal of all varieties. Cherry's eyes wandered eagerly. "I could use some of this..." Cloud shook her head. "None of that. Stealing from the yard is a serious crime. Look, touch, but take nothing with you." She gave a powerful flap of her air flippers and did a circle in place before coming back down and pointing. "That way." Indie pulled himself along Cloud, looking to her. "What if we pay for it?" "You have bits?" She raised a brow. "I suppose if you're ready to pay for it, then they wouldn't be so angry." Cherry flashed a bright and sharp smile. "We could do the same thing." "Same thing?" Indie got it and grinned. "Charge it to the royal account." Cloud glanced between the two giggling sea ponies and raised a brow at them. "You do realize that means your host will have to pay for everything you take. I doubt they'd be too happy about that..." Cherry opened her mouth to oppose that, but the thought of it settled on her. "I don't want to make Twilight sad, or angry." She settled to her haunches, then produced her pittance of bits. "Is this enough for anything?" Indigo dropped his small collection of shells to join the tiny pile of bits. "Here. Is that enough?" Cloud leaned forward over the offering and quickly counted with her eyes darting over them. "That's not really enough to take anything. Look, today we'll just look. Looking's fun, isn't it?" Cherry passed back Indigo's shells before tucking away her own money. "We're with you, sky swimmer." Cloud raised a brow at that. "Cloud Skipper." Indie pulled himself in the direction Cloud had pointed in. "What's a cloud?" Cloud burst into a fit of titters before pointing up at one of the air glaciers. "That is a cloud. Surely there are clouds out at sea, aren't there?" Cherry craned her neck back to look up at the air glaciers, er, clouds. Cloud was an admittedly easier word to say. "There are, yes, but we don't really... interact with them. They're just kind of... there? They rain sometimes, but that doesn't mean anything. When everything is wet--" "--nothing is," completed Indie in agreement. "I didn't even know what they were for, but I do now." Cloud smiled at her guests. "And what are they for?" There seemed a good chance the answer might be hilarious. Cherry quickly thrust a hoof out and waved it wildly. "They water The Dry so there's enough water so you dry ponies don't go all the way dry and blow away like dust." Cloud blinked. "That's about right. You two, how long are you planning to stay in 'The Dry'?" She snorted softly. "That's a silly name for land. We're not that dry." A little squeak drew their attention to a family of squirrels making a home in all the discarded metal. One was proudly waving a nut he managed to find and the rest seemed happy enough about it. Indie smiled brightly and wheeled closer. "Hello, fish of The Dry. What sort of fish are you?" The lead squirrel turned to face Indie while tucking the nut behind its back and squeaked at Indie as if in reply. "Oh. You're cute and fuzzy." Indie smiled at the family. "Are you doing alright? This hardly seems like a good place for a family." The squirrel squeaked and shook a tiny fist at Indie before pointing away. "What, really? Is it that bad?" The squirrel nodded firmly. Cherry stepped up beside Indie with a raised brow. "What's it saying?" "He," corrected Indie. "He said their old home got knocked over when they were moving one of the trains." He pouted a little. "I wish we could help..." Cloud considered a moment before perking her ears. "What if we just got them a new tree?" Indie glanced at Cloud and nodded before looking back to his new squirrel friends. "How about that? Would you like a new tree?" The squirrel took a hesitant step towards Indie, chittering and flicking his tail before darting back to his family. Cherry nudged Indie. "Well?" "He said they'd love a tree, but it has to not be taken by any other squirrels." He pointed a hoof at their makeshift metal den. "Until then, they're going to make do here." Cloud raised a brow at it. "This is no place for squirrels, or any other critter, really. I'm surprised he even found that one little nut." She flashed a bright grin. "Alright, let's be heroes and find a tree!" She looked positively delighted to be drafted for the little adventure. Indie easily nodded, ready to help his new friend. Only Cherry showed some hesitation. "I thought we were going to look at the parts..." Indie nudged Cherry gently in the side. "I do what you want every day. Just this once, we do my thing. Alright?" Cherry waffled a moment before she let out a sigh. "For you." She smiled. "What are friends for? Let's find a... tree, just be careful, they can bite." She frowned at the memory. Cloud blinked at that. "Trees don't have teeth, dear. How did you get bitten?" Despite her question, she lifted into the air and circled in place, scouting quickly. "There are trees that way!" She pointed before landing. "We'll want to skip the first few. It would be a shame if they had to move too quickly." Indie turned towards the potential trees. "We should get far away from all of this. I don't think they belong here. This is not their sea." Cloud tilted her head slightly as she got walking. "I should think it wasn't their sea. They don't live in one of those." "Not like that." Indie waved it off. "We all have a sea, a home, that calls to us and keeps us relatively safe. This is not theirs." Cherry snorted loudly as she ambled along. "We're a far ways away from our sea." Indie nodded. "And we would be in a lot of trouble if we didn't run into such nice ponies ready to give us a hoof. Fishes out of water in the most literal way possible." He sucked in a slow breath before sighing and working himself over a clump of metal. "Let's find a tree." Cloud threw a leg over Indie, holding his front-body up while giving him a quick hug. "And who could resist such an adorable pair caught wandering the world? Are you two as young as you look?" Indie, colored from the sudden contact, glanced around nervously. "I'm almost a stallion..." Cherry snorted softly. "In a little while. Let's find those trees so I can get back to looking at parts." Her powerful tail was swaying with anticipation, clearly ready to finish the tree hunting task they had just begun. They emerged from the field of broken trains and abandoned parts to find themselves already half in the wilderness. There were many trees to choose from. The harder part appeared to be selecting just the right one. Indie rolled up to one and reached out cautiously. "It bites!" warned Cherry with a frown. Indie's hoof drew back nervously. "They can't bite too hard or often, or the land fish we're here for wouldn't stay here." "Squirrels," offered Cloud with a gentle smile. To settle the argument, she reached for the tree and gave it a patting. "See, no biting. Trees are lovely things that shelter many critters, including those squirrels relying on you." Indie moved in closer and rested both of his hooves on the mysterious and silent creature known as a tree. Looking up into the bough of its branches, a slow smile spread over his face. "The coral of The Dry, sheltering fish and creating a place of life and splendor..."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	31 - The Perfect Tree	Cloud spread her wings slowly before she lifted several inches into the air and hovered easily. "So we have to find a tree that doesn't already have squirrels, right? How hard could that be? We'll have this done in time for lunch." Indigo glanced back into the field of metal and noise. "They must have been living in the one tree in the middle of all that..." Cherry shrugged a little as she proceeded. "That's a bad place to make a den." "It was working for them until now." "Because they were lucky, until they weren't." Indigo frowned a little, then thrust a hoof back at where Cherry's train was being prepared for transport. "I suppose they should have planned for a seapony to come asking for their huge... things... to be dragged across their field." Cherry blinked at that and looked to her train, small as it was in the distance and at her friend, back and forth. "Wait, are you saying they knocked over the tree because of me?!" Indigo nodded once firmly. "You owe them an apology, but first we should find them a nice new tree." Cloud came back from where she had scouted. "I found a nice and big one, and I don't see any squirrels climbing it. It should be perfect for your little friends." Indigo brightened at the news and soon all three were headed towards this potential new home. It was a bit taller than some of the trees around it, reaching tall into the sky. Its scales were also a little different than the trees around it. He approached some squirrels in a tree close by. "Excuse me, do you have a moment?" Many of the squirrels fled, but one turned to address Indigo and chittered at him softly. "Thank you. Does any family live there?" He pointed at the large tree. "We have a family that needs a home." The squirrel gestured up at the other trees as it 'spoke' in words that only Indigo seemed to understand. Indigo blinked and looked dismayed. "Why is that tree special? Can you point us to a better one?" The squirrel shook its head with a final squeak, then dashed off. Cloud tilted her head at the exchange. "That didn't sound good at all, darling. What did the little creature say?" Indigo heaved a sigh. "The squirrels think that tree is very special and is not to be touched. Bringing the family here would just make all the other squirrels angry at them." He turned in place slowly. "He said there are a lot of squirrels around, and competition is fierce. He... doesn't want a new neighbor." Cherry frowned at the news. "That's not very nice of them. Fine! We don't need them anyway. We'll just go farther, past these rude, um, whatever they ares." "Squirrels," provided Cloud. "My, I never figured they had such a detailed little hierarchy. They always seemed like simple little tree rats." Indigo blinked. "Rats?" Cloud waved. "Just another, how do you say, 'Fish of 'The Dry'?'" She landed lightly on the ground beside them and they got to walking away from the concentration of squirrels. "Don't be discouraged dears. I'm certain we'll find something just right for them soon." The sun drifted across the sky as they pushed further away from town. Cloud produced a sandwich with a little smile. "It's not much, but it's all I have." She split it in three and offered to the others. It was peanut butter and jelly, and both seaponies strongly approved of its mix of flavors, even if it left them licking at the inside of their mouths with its stickiness. She smiled at their antics over even eating such a basic staple. "What do seaponies have for a snack?" Cherry tilted her head. "Whatever mom packed for me, usually fish, but she likes to put in some seaweed in there when she thinks I'm not looking." She stuck out her tongue. "As if I don't notice." Indigo nudged Cherry gently. "That's because she loves you, li--" He suddenly cut off, turning red. "My mother makes me these little things, like these sandwiches, but with vegetables instead of the bread and all kinds of things inside." He let out a soft mmm in memory of the delicious meals. "Are there other kinds of 'sandwich'? Why do you call it that anyway? I don't see any sand at all in it or tasted any." Cloud waved it off. "There are more kinds of sandwiches than I could ever hope to name. Just put something scrumptious between two slices of bread and you're done." She stood up and did a slow turn in place. "Let's get a move on. We simply shouldn't spend the entire day on this task when we ha--" "An entire yard of cool parts." Cherry grinned, energized by the memory of it. "Come on, Indie. Do you see any trees they might like around here?" She gestured about. "I don't see as many squirrels." Indie began inspecting the trees with a grave energy. He picked up a nut from the ground and turned it around slowly before putting it back. "I think this is a good place. The fruits the squirrels eat are here, and not too many squirrels." He smiled with relief. "They'll be so happy here." Cherry stuck out her tongue. "Those aren't fruits; they're drift seeds." Cloud nodded at that. "They are seeds, dear, but I doubt they'll be drifting anywhere anytime soon. Do you think they'll come with me if I go pick them up?" Indie nodded quickly. "They aren't stupid. They saw you with me, so they should come along if you don't scare them." "Good." Cloud nodded. "I'll pick them up and carry them here quickly." She clopped her forehooves. "Just like that. Then we can head back to the yard. I want to see what Miss Cherry can do with those parts." She lifted up with sudden speed, then darted back in the direction they had come, leaving the two seaponies to themselves. Cherry glanced across at Indie, who was looking back at her. "Why've you been staring at me so much lately?" Indie went red and looked away. "S-sorry, didn't mean to bother." Cherry blinked at that and shook her head. "You're a silly colt, Indie." She sat down and pulled out her wrench, taking the time to tinker with her legs while they waited. Cloud came rushing back with the family of squirrels clinging to her tenaciously for their little furry lives. She came in for a smooth landing and they hopped free instantly. "Here you are dears." Indie wheeled up to the family with a big grin. "There's food and you can pick almost any tree here." The entire family seemed dumbfounded, circling and staring at their surroundings. The father of the family squeaked at Indie before giving off a chitter. "I know it's a lot of trees, and seeds. Isn't it great?" The squirrel picked up a nut from the ground and gnawed at it suddenly, getting to its meat and tasting its inside. He made a little noise of approval and his family rushed to claim their own nuts, acorns and anything else they could get their little paws on. They warmed to their new environment quickly, and soon vanished up a tree. Momma squirrel chittered at Indigo before she went, joining the others. Cherry glanced between the parting squirrels and Indigo. "What'd it say? Don't leave us drifting." Indigo, bearing a big happy smile, turned to Cherry. "She said 'Thank you'. I think they'll be fine here." "Marvelous." Cloud pointed back towards the yard, hidden as it was behind the portion of the forest they had passed. "Shall we?" Together they strode through the forest, a little lighter on their hooves for getting their task completed. Cherry looked up, seeing the sun still moving. "How much time did we spend on that?" Cloud shrugged. "There's still time left to get some work done. I simply must see how you work with metal, dear. Do you have any talent with smithing?" Cherry quickly shook her head. "I like putting metal together, but I don't know how to make metal. Besides, you need a dry power source for that, and a big one." Cloud blinked at the curious phrase. "Dry power source? Come again?" Indie spread his hooves quickly before he could tip. "A fire!" "Yeah, that." Cherry bobbed her head. "You need a big, um, fire to make metal. I don't really know how to work with fire... I mean, all that dry power, it, um, dries me, and then I get uncomfortable and chapped." She frowned at the very idea. "I'll let dry ponies master The Dry." Indie tilted his head. "You're getting a huge thing powered by The Dry. You're going to have to learn to use it, or what are you going to do with it?" Cherry paled a bit at the idea. Her beloved train would become a source of heat and, well, dryness. What would she do indeed? "I'll... figure it out. If we can get all that dry power to stay inside the dry engine and not come out, then it won't be a problem." She smiled as they re-entered the yard proper and her eyes swept over the field of metal, looking for interesting parts. It didn't take long for her to find one. What did it do? She had no idea, no wait. She perked right up as it came to her. It was a part that attached to the great wheels of a train. If one followed that part there... Cloud sat down close by. "What are you doing, dear?" "I'm trying to figure out how this would have worked, when it worked." She trailed a hoof along the rusted metal. "I think this was attached to the dry power. Not directly, I don't think? It made the wheels move. Without this, the train wouldn't have gone anywhere." She tipped the part over so it fell with a loud clang and she began pulling and pushing at it, making it flex at her will and show her just how far it could bend. "I wonder if it fell off the train?" Cloud nodded. "That happens more often than they like to admit. They aren't too gentle on trains they're ripping apart like uncultured brutes to melt down back into metal. What would you do with that part, if it was yours to keep?" Cherry gave a little smile. "I'd compare it to the one my train should have. I can't say for sure if mine uses the same one or not. If it does, having a backup isn't bad. Maybe it still works..." Indigo wrinkled his nose. "Did you forget? You have to make all the parts from nothing at all." "Not nothing!" Cherry stomped a hoof. "I get to copy all the parts that are already there." A grin spread over her face. "That'll be fun."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	32 - Ride Home, End Episode	The time had arrived. Cherry bounced on her way to the train station behind a train worker and beside Indie and Cloud. Cloud wasn't quite as cheerful. "I had a lot of fun, getting to know you two. I hope you have a safe trip back, and if I find myself in Ponyville, I'll be sure to stop in." Indie gestured in the general direction of the lay of the tracks. "We're not hard to find. The big purple tall building made of stone, that's the one we're staying in." Cloud quirked a smile at that. "Is it just as imposing as the rumors? Never mind that, Princess Twilight has clearly been looking after you two, so get on back to her." She waved them off gently. "I'll catch the next train on to Canterlot, dears. If you end up in that grand city, do look me up. I'd love to share a proper cup of tea, and I'll have some new tricks worked out for you." Not that she had ever been much of a stunt flyer, but for those aquatic friends, she would manage it. Separating from Cloud, Cherry had her eyes on her foal. It was huge and metal and a bit rusty, but it wouldn't be after she lovingly nursed it back to health. A grin was spread across her face and she couldn't make it go away, not that she particularly wanted to. "I don't even know where to begin..." Indie's eyes moved to the smaller, but much newer, train before it. "That's going to pull this big thing?" The engineer peeked back. "That's what she's best at doing. She's far from the fastest, but she can haul just about anything, including the Red Rocket here." He moved past the red train, though its red was hard to see with its decomposition. "You'll be riding up front." Cherry pouted at that. "Why can't I ride my train?" "Mess of reasons, starting with the fact that it's falling apart. If something snaps or busts, we don't want a pony inside while it's happening." Cherry continued pouting, but followed along. A steep set of stairs took them inside, which required her giving Indie a hoof up. The inside was spartan in design. The smaller train was built to drag heavy things, and that was all it'd do. Indigo settled himself against a wall as Cherry sank to her haunches. "Alright, we're on and ready. When do we go?" The engineer began pulling levers and the train lurched beneath them, struggling a moment to get going before it started to gain speed, older train hauled along behind it. "Then we're off! Next stop, Ponyville." Indigo clopped once in joy. "How long should it take us?" He had to shout over the noise of the engine. It wasn't nearly as calm and relaxing as being on a passenger car. The engine was also spewing floating ink into the air in little puffs from its blowhole. "And what's that?" Indie pointed up at the floating ink, befuddled by its presence. The engineer's eyes rose to the black stuff being pointed at. "What? That?" He pointed as well and Indie nodded. "Well, y'see, depending on how the engine's doing, you get a nice mix of steam and smoke billowing out of there." Cherry frowned a little. "And those are?" Why did dry ponies have so many confusing words? "Well, steam's what happens when you heat up water too much. It's a big part of what gets this thing mo--" "What?!" echoed Cherry and Indigo together. Cherry leaned forward. "I thought this was powered by The Dry, you know, fire?" He gestured ahead at the engine. "Well, it is. The fire heats up the water nice and good until it turns into steam, then the steam does the actual pushin'. Get it?" Cherry wobbled in place. "T-the dry uses... water? But..." She sank to her belly, her mind aching with the sudden contradiction of it all. "How?" The engineer held his hooves close together. "Water starts off like this, see? Then you heat it up and it turns to steam." He spread his hooves apart. "Steam is bigger than water, so that makes a lot of pushin' power, so it pushes, bam, train's moving! Just like that, see?" "But if The Dry touches the water, doesn't that dry the water?" He shrugged softly. "Sorta does, that's steam. I ain't no teacher, but do ya get it?" Cherry rubbed her cheek with thought. Indie moved forward with clear ideas behind his sharp eyes. "You can't destroy it." "Hmm?" "Water, or anything." Indigo spread his hooves a moment. "You can eat something, but then it's part of you, not really destroyed. The Dry can 'eat' water, but that makes steam, it doesn't destroy it. We are all from the same sea." He raised a shaggy brow. "Curious way of sayin' it, but that about explains it, yep. You got a good head on those shoulders, uh, what was your name again?" "Indigo." Cherry gestured at him. "You can call him Indie." She sat up in place, peering at the engine with newfound wounder. "So it eats water, makes steam, and that pushes the engine, so it eats more water?" "Well, we'd like to keep what we got, but that gets complicated..." He tapped his chin softly. "See, to make steam back into water would take a lot of effort, so we just let it go. So you can think of water just like another type of fuel we have to make sure we have lots of." Indie tilted his head, looking up at the puffy clouds of stuff. "So what happens to the steam?" "Most simply, it turns into clouds." "Oh." That made sense enough to Indigo. Cherry stepped forward, eyeing the levers and dials that dotted the inside of the train. "Can you show me how to work it? Everything you can show me would be a huge help with my own train." The engineer raised a brow. "You're a brave and foolish sea lass to think you can monkey with a locomotive like this." A smile spread on his face. "I like that. So sit down and pay attention." He started pointing to levers and explaining what they did, while warning to not actually pull or push anything. He showed the meters and dials and how they helped keep an eye on what was going on in the engine, even if looking made him pull a lever one notch while he was talking. It was a long trip back to Ponyville, but it was an educational one. Cherry's day was made ten times better when she was given permission to pull on the part that made the whistle on the train shrilly cry out. Indigo wheeled up opposite the engineer. "Excuse me. You said it eats water, and that was one of the things it ate. What else does it eat?" The engineer nodded. "Smart question. It mostly runs on coal." "Coal?" He popped open a bin and reached inside, coming out with a black and sooty rock that he set on the ground. "There you go, coal. It burns really nice, uh, you could say its full of 'The Power of The Dry', as you like to phrase it." Cherry frowned a little. "I'm going to have to get some of that to feed my train." "That's hardly the first thing you need, but yes." Eventually, they arrived at Ponyville station, slowing to a gentle stop with the squeal of brakes being put to the test. "Last stop!" He smiled at them both. "Ya made it, in one piece too. I'll see ya 'round on the tracks, alright?" They both waved as they got off the train, Cherry assisting Indie to the platform. There were a lot of familiar faces gawking. The green horny pony approached, Lyra? "Wow, that's a big train!" Cherry beamed with pride and turned to it. "It's mine now." A mare beside Lyra with a beige coat and colorful mane tilted her head a little. "What are you going to do with it? You can't keep it here." As if in answer for that, a team of burly earth ponies pushed through the crowd. "Where's it going?" asked one as they swarmed over the train, detaching it from the smaller tugger. Indigo pointed up at Twilight's castle. "Five minutes past that." Off they went, lifting it with a communal grunt and slowly making their way right down the main road with their oversized load. Cherry took off after them, keeping an eye on her newest possession and soon-to-be project. "Be careful!" The crowd began to disperse as the train was removed, but Lyra and her friend remained. Lyra nodded at Indigo. "What's your friend going to do with something like that? I mean it's huge! They must not use that for passengers, 'cause I never saw a train quite like that before." "Lyra." The other pony nudged her. "That's clearly a cargo train." "If you're so smart, Bon Bon, what's it called?" "A Red Rocket." Bon Bon rolled her eyes. Lyra's jaw dropped. "How do you know that? You make candy, not play with trains." Bon Bon snorted at the idea. "As if a mare can't have hobbies." She focused on Indigo. "Your friend has a real piece of history there. I thought they already retired all the Red Rockets. Nasty problem with the steam regulation." Indigo blinked at that. "Steam what?" He wheeled himself closer to Bon Bon. "Can you tell me about it?" Bon Bon shrugged softly. "Well, I did say it was a hobby. I don't know too much about it, but if you ran the engine too hot, it had a nasty habit of exploding. Be sure to tell your friend to be careful." Indigo shivered at the idea of Cherry being caught in an explosion of dry. "I-I'll tell her, promise." Lyra reached out and patted Indigo right on the head. "You're a good friend, following your marefriend around like that." Indigo darkened swiftly. "I-it's not like that!" Bon Bon gave a gentle smile. "Even if you're not ready to tell her, we have your back. Now you'd better catch up before they get out of sight." She turned to the procession with the huge train. "Though that may take a while at the rate they're going..." Indigo nodded at both of the mares before taking off, wheeling himself swiftly down the smooth road to move alongside Cherry, who was focused steadfastly on the careful moving of her train. "Everything alright?" Cherry smiled. "They're so strong! I didn't know dry ponies could be this strong. Look, just the five of them, moving that huge thing..." Indigo nodded. "Yeah... that is impressive, oh! Lyra's friend said to be careful." "Of?" "Don't let the engine get too full of dry power or it'll explode." Cherry blinked softly. "I'll be careful..."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	33 - Episode 5, The Wave Begins	Cherry beamed at her massive train, broken and rusted as it may be. "Today's a fine day to work!" She pulled out a wrench with a manic grin and practically dove into the poor engine of the ailing locomotive. "Wow, you must be the best at mechanical things," praised Indie, watching her work furiously. "I can't imagine another sea pony being half as good." "It's what I was born to do~" sang Cherry as she pulled out a part and studied it carefully as it balanced on her hoof before she set it aside. "You just watch and see. I'll have this thing fixed by dinner time!" "I doubt you'll be quite that fast..." Indie wriggled free of his wheeled chair and flopped to the ground, only to rear up. "But I bet you'll have fun doing it." "With a friend at my side, and a train all of my own, what more could I ask for?" Cherry clopped her hooves. "Life is good!" An angry banging on the door of the castle summoned Spike to open it. "Yeah?" It was a familiar pony. The stallion they had rented the sea-exploring device that Cherry eventually re-purposed. "Oh, hey, what's up?" "Another!" The stallion stepped in, fuming. "Another of my precious machines has been stolen by sea ponies!" Spike raised a brow. "She didn't steal it. She salvaged it, and you didn't want to buy it off of her, remember?" "The camera didn't fail this time." The unicorn's horn shone, projecting a picture on the wall of a dark sea bottom before a sea pony of bright purple rushed the camera and it went to static. "See? It attacked my device! It didn't break down. What is Princess Twilight going to do about this?!" It wasn't quite the right purple for Twilight, so Spike dismissed the idea that it was her. Another sea pony? "Huh, well, it wasn't Cherry. She's been here the whole time." "Good for her. Where's the princess?" He scowled at Spike. Spike held up his claws. "Hey, she's out at the moment and she left me in charge." "So what are you going to do about it?" He raised a brow at the baby dragon. Spike raised a finger before letting it fall. What was he going to do about it? "Uh... hold that thought." He flashed a nervous smile. A metal hoof propelled its rider forward as a shrewd smile spread across its owner's face. "You think you're the only one that can play this game? I think not." She let out a peal of laughter as she emerged onto the sand and amidst the confused land ponies that gawked at the purple sea pony. "I'll have my little Indie back in my hooves by the end of the day." She looked to one of the surprised land ponies. "Hey, you! Where's Indie?" "Indie?" "Sea pony, just like me?" She pointed at herself. "Oh!" Everyone in that town knew about the other sea ponies. It was hard to forget. "They went to Princess Twilight's castle." "A castle?!" She snorted loudly. "Tell me how to get there!" Another pony shook her head at the sea pony. "Is this about the sea ponies?" "Of course it is." She rose to her full height. "It's of utmost importance." Certain that this was a diplomatic affair, the people of the town showed the sea pony to the train and got her on her way to Ponyville. They had done their civic duty for the day and they returned to their peaceful lives, unaware of what exactly they had set in motion. Riding on the train, the new sea pony gazed out the window at the dry land moving past. "Cherry, you went far to take my stallion away from me, but even The Dry won't keep me away." She raised a hoof, waving it at the window. "Sea Berry's coming, so you'd better be ready!" Cherry trotted along with Indie into town. They both bore a basket full of rusted parts in their mouths but looked quite cheerful despite it. They approached the driest building in town, the forge. The pony inside basked in heat all day and seemed toasted for the effort. How could one weather such long exposure to dry's power without becoming dry? Despite that, the mare smiled at them. "Twilight mentioned you might be stopping by. What have you got for me, sea ponies?" Cherry set down her basket. "We need these, but new." Indie set down his own basket. "Mine too. We have more parts, but we'll start with these." The dry pony approached the basket. She was neither horny nor had air flippers, but she looked strong. She grabbed one of the metal pieces, turning it one way and the other. "Delicate little bits here. What is this for, an engine?" Cherry lit up. "Yes, that's exactly what it is. A train engine." "Steam?" Cherry and Indie both nodded emphatically. "I'd better be extra careful with them then." She set the piece down. "I'll have the batch ready by the end of the week." That was the second time caution had been specifically expressed and Cherry frowned a little. "Is steam that dangerous?" The mare pointed to her forge and its blazing dry power. "See that? You get a bust in a steam engine and that'll seem cold in comparison. It'll burn you clean in half before you know what happened." She looked over the sea ponies. "I'm new to sea ponies. You two look like you're barely adults, if that. Are you sure it's safe to be messing around with this kind of thing?" Indie wheeled forward. "She's been warned and she'll be extra careful, promise." Cherry smiled at Indie's defense of her, but gently waved him side. "He's right. I'll take every precaution. We're a long way before we get to the part when it starts moving, promise." She blinked with a sudden idea. "You can come and see it if you want." The smithing mare leaned forward, suddenly interested. "Don't suppose it's that Red Rocket that was marched through town?" Cherry nodded with a grin. "I'd love to have a peek at that..." She tapped her chin. "Restoring that would be quite a feather in my hat. Fine, I'll help, but I get to inspect it before you go lighting any fires in it. I will not be responsible for cooked ponies!"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	34 - Familiar Faces	Berry stepped off the train and took a moment to stretch before she swept her eyes over the horizon. "The journey here was long and tough, but I made it, and it's time to find a castle..." Her eyes fell on the huge purple structure outside of town. "Figures..." She began walking towards it. "I'll conquer any distance to reach you, my dearest Indie. Don't worry, I'm coming!" Indie shivered for no particular reason. "Cold?" asked Cherry as she sorted through the replacement parts and got to slowly inserting each piece in the gradual process of replacing the engine. One piece at a time and turning it from a mass of rust to a gleaming network of new metal. "You should ask Spike for a blanket." Inidie blinked at that. "The dry hardly gets half as cold as the ocean gets. I'm fine, just... felt funny for a second there. Need any help?" With Cherry's guidance, he was soon holding up a part as she detached it and slowly worked in its replacement tightly, connecting the two tubes together with turns of her wrench. "This is looking great! I can't wait to see it working." Indie backed away a step. "You never did explain how you're going to use this without tracks." Cherry tapped her hooves together too quietly to make much of a sound. "Well, I was saving that for last. No point in worrying about it rolling until the engine's working right." "And the brakes." Indie nodded severely. "Brakes, right, of course we'll look at those." Her eyes darted around as she mentally added brakes to the list of things needing a look at. "Anyway, the real problem are the wheels. They're made to roll on tracks. There's no reason we can't put on different wheels with the same attachment so it can roll on other stuff." Indie sat up at the news. "That would be pretty amazing, Cherry. What if it could swim? Just give it some flippers!" Cherry pointed at the engine. "It's not so simple as that. Even if the wheels were turned into flippers, the engine's made to run on dry, which means it needs to be dry. If you take it underwater, poof, no more dry!" Indie frowned at the arcane machine. Most of its functions were alien to him, but... "What if you made it closed, so the water couldn't get to it? You'd have all the water you need, you know, being in the water..." "Yeah..." Cherry perked her ears and frowned a little with thought before she grabbed the next part in her mouth and got to replacing the old version of it with it. "I'll think about it, but it won't be easy. Let's get it working at all first." Spike opened the door hesitantly and looked up at... Cherry? No, it was the wrong colors for Cherry. "Uh?" Berry kicked open the door. "Hello, dragon. Are you here to prevent me from reaching my love?" "No?" "Oh." Berry frowned a little. "That would have been romantic." "We could pretend if you like?" Berry perked up. "Could we? You're a nice dragon. Oh, wait, I shouldn't get distracted. Do you know where my precious Indigo is and that traitorous Cherry lurks?" Spike hiked a thumb. "They're out back, working on Cherry's train." "She has a train?" She'd only just learned what a train was. "You win this round, but this fight's far from over..." "Uh, hey, so you are...?" "Berry, Sea Berry." Berry stood proudly, turning to the side to show off her full profile, metal legs included. Unlike Cherry's screwdriver and wrench mark, hers was three interlocked cogs. "And I'm here to get my Indigo back." Spike looked her over. She looked about the same age as the others, so parent was right out. "How is he... yours?" "He's my coltfriend, of course." She frowned at Spike. "It wasn't obvious?" Spike blinked slowly. "Not really..." "Why not?!" Berry stepped forward towards Spike. "Well, he's kind of trying to get the attention of Cherr--" "What?!" Berry stomped a forehoof on the ground and turned, storming off. Cherry wiped her brow as she sat back. "Plenty more to go, but let's take a break. What'd you bring for lunch?" Indie pulled out a bag and set it down before nuzzling into it and pulling out two wrapped sandwiches. "They call it a 'tunafish melt'. I tried one, it's delicious!" He set one before Cherry. "Try it." She didn't need to be sweet-talked into trying whatever was producing that lovely scent. She reached to pull it closer with a hoof when the door to the engine suddenly burst open. "I have arrived!" Berry came in with purposeful steps. "Now come on, Indie. It's time to get you home." "What? Berry?" He blinked at her as his sandwich fell from his mouth to flop to the ground. "Yes, 'tis I! I've come to rescue you from the foul siren, Cherry, AKA, Miss Cerulean." Poking in her head over Berry, another familiar face appeared. "I take offense to that." Sand smirked a little. "What's with extra legs and running away from home? I'm getting a reputation for foal retrieval." Berry spun around to face the actual siren. "Another obstacle! You won--" "Enough." Sand held up a hoof. "You didn't even have the manners to get caught in the net like Cherry." Cherry went red at the memory. "Now what are you doing up on dry land? This is the home of the other ponies, and sirens sometimes, not you hippocampi. Your parents went running to the Master of the Waves and off I went to follow you, and here we are." Indie tilted his head a little. "Was I the only one who told their parents where they were going?" "Yes," replied Sand in a matter of fact tone. "So why are you here? You weren't dragged here by your extra legs, the way I saw it." Berry cleared her throat. "Ah, yes." She turned to Indigo and thrust a hoof. "I've come to free you from her--" "She's not forcing me to be here." Berry frowned. "Stop interrupting!" She stomped a hoof before snorting. "Indigo, I, Sea Berry, do declare my undying love for you." Indigo blinked emptily a moment before he began to pale, the importance of this statement settling on him. "B-berry, really?" Cherry clopped her forehooves together. "Aww! You have an admirer!" Sand glanced between the three of them. "I think everypony here but me has an admirer. I presume you'll be staying then?" Berry waved her hoof at Indigo. "I either go with him, or I stay, also with him." Sand let out a little sigh. "That's what I figured." Cherry approached her 'rival' with a smile. "Where'd you get those legs?" Berry glanced back at her mechanical hindlegs. "You think you're the only seapony with mechanical talents? Ha! I made them in half the time and I got here without the help of some fancy princess along the way." Cherry blinked softly before she leaned in to study the legs. "Did you already get the different dry swimming modes down?" "Huh?" "Watch." Cherry began to walk, then trot and even a bit of cantering and galloping to show off all the different ways her four legs could work together. "I used my fins as--" "I use my fins too." Berry waved it off, even if she did look a little intrigued at the idea of all those different gaits. "I didn't know dry swimming had so many different ways to paddle." Sand shrugged softly. "Don't look at me, I float. Slow float, fast float, it's all the same float in the end. Anyway, you kids are having your fun, so keep at it, just be sure to send a letter home to your folks, alright?" Indigo looked between the two mares, the one he wanted, and the one that wanted him. Why did life have to be so complicated? He settled on Berry's cutie mark, or at least, what she had drawn as one. "Is that your mark?" Berry gestured to it. "Isn't it great?" Cherry tilted her head at it, paying proper attention now that focus had been placed on it. "It's actually pretty cool." "Then you admit that I will win?" Cherry reared back at that. "What?" "You'll let me take Indie." Berry waved a hoof. "He's mine." "He's his own pony." Cherry frowned a little. "He can make his own decisions." Berry glanced over at the lost looking stallion and back to Cherry. "And he hasn't. He's still confused, so I'll just have to show him which path is obviously better and which mare he has to choose." Sand shook her head. "Right, well, enjoy yourselves." Without waiting for the drama to deepen, she tipped a hat she didn't wear and scooted off to report the whereabouts of the missing foal she'd been sent to find. Indigo took a slow breath. "Berry, why don't you join us?" Berry began to burn brightly. "Is that how they do it in The Dry?" Indigo blinked in confusion before the blush spread to him and burned hotly. "No! Not like that! We're doing a big project. You're good at mechanics too. Why don't you join us, as a friend?" That caught her attention, and in a way that had little to do with romance. She approached the steam engine and let her eyes wander about to take in all the complex mechanisms that made the train work. "Why does some of it look so much newer than other parts?" Cherry smiled brightly. "We've been restoring it. It's a great train, but it's old. We're going to make it run like new again! If you want to help, that'd be great. Every hoof would be good to have." She offered a hoof out in potential friendship. Berry considered that hoof a moment before she reached one of her own to clop against Cherry with a loud sound. "Very well. Let this be the real competition. We'll restore this machine, and by the time it rolls, I'm sure Indigo will realize his mistake and we'll go home, together." Indigo jerked with a sudden thought. "Where are you going to stay while you're with us?" Berry tilted her head. "Where do you stay?" Cherry pointed out to the castle closeby. "Twilight made us a nice room to sleep in, all full of sea water and everything." "Great!" Berry smiled. "I'll stay there too."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	35 - Repairs	Sleeping arrangements became slightly awkward. Cherry and Indie had slept comfortably apart within the room, with Cherry unaware of any attention she may have received from the lovestruck, but polite, Indigo. Berry wasn't so reserved. When she saw their usual slumbering spots, she picked one right beside Indigo. She didn't attempt to force herself on him, but made no subtlety on being near him. She was more casual about keeping his eyes in the right direction, at least until he went to sleep, which was the only time she would slip off. In the morning, they would rise from the pool/bedroom, have breakfast, and prepare for a new day's work. "I'll cook tomorrow," promised Berry. Cherry tilted her head. "You know how?" Spike raised a brow. "Uh, thanks, but I can handle it." Berry waved off Spike's decline. "Of course I know how to cook. You just sit back, relax, and watch as I prepare some real sea treats." Together, they strode out towards the train. Berry glanced over at the other two as they went. "Hey, this reminds me of school." Indie quirked a smile. "I suppose, yeah, swimming together in the early morning like this." Cherry bobbed her head. "Sorry I was so spaced out near the end there." Berry waved that off. "Forgiven. Besides, if you hadn't..." Cherry perked an ear. "If I hadn't?" Berry raised a hoof behind her head. "I wouldn't have been able to copy your design?" Cherry blinked softly before the magnitude dawned on her. "They look familiar because they are familiar!" Berry reared up and put out her forehooves a moment before she came down. "Hey, easy there. Besides, thanks to that, I have a gift." Indie perked up. "Gift?" Berry nodded. "I used a metal pony like you did for the parts." Cherry looked confused at the notion. "Another one? Where did you find it?" Berry waved off the idea. "It was being stupid in the water, so I took it. I may even know where there are two more legs. They have four you know." Indie looked excited a moment before the brightness dimmed. "Wait, but those would be forward legs, not the extra legs, right?" Berry thrust a hoof at Cherry. "Nothing a pair of talented mechanical ponies can't fix, right?" Cherry's jaw worked as she figured through the adjustments that would be required to make it work even as she nodded. "We could... work with that. It has most of the parts we need. Indie, do you want to dry swim like we do?" Indie brightened right back up, his thick tail swaying to and fro across the board he was wheeling. "Yes please! You'll show me how to, right?" He wiggled his fins. "I'll be using these, right?" They chatted animatedly. The competition between the mares was set aside in favor of the work ahead of them. When they reached the train, that consumed them. Hours went by as they replaced part by part, until all the new parts were exhausted. Cherry turned for the door. "Let's go back to the castle, get a snack, and then head down to the smithy to pick up whatever parts she's finished." There were no objections, and soon they were eagerly on the way. Spike had made them all a big bowl of what he called salad, but it lacked entirely in seaweed, to the seaponies' confusion. The dry seaweed wasn't bad though, and the vegetables and fruit mixed in with it were tasty, so they ate up quickly and continued their way down to Ponyville. Berry tapped her chin. "If this friend of yours is that good at bending metal, maybe we should ask for the parts we'll need for Indigo while we're there." Cherry nodded in easy agreement. "But she's already working on the train parts. Maybe after that?" "She can put that on hold for a moment to get our precious Indie properly mobile." Berry huffed softly. Indie found himself agreeing with Berry. The notion of dry swimming seemed more immediately compelling than finishing the train. "It's not like we'll stop working on your train, Cherry." Cherry pouted, but didn't argue it further. They arrived at the smithy, source of dry power. Berry gasped as she stepped into the heat of the place. "This is like The Dry given life..." The smithy-mare smiled as she set down her hammer from her mouth. "Well hello there! When did you get another water friend? Nice to meet you, I'm Even Stroke." Berry nodded at Even. "Sea Berry, but Berry's just fine. Do you really control all this Dry?" "Oh, not you too!" Even laughed merrily at the sea ponies' curious dialect. "But yes, all this fire is under my control, or I wouldn't have a smithy for long. Now, what brings you here? More parts?" She raised a hoof towards a basket. "That's what I have done right now." Cherry stepped forward eagerly and began to sift through the parts. While she did that, Indie smiled up at Even. "Excuse me, miss, could you stop that project for a moment to make a few other pieces?" "More?" She raised a brow. "You fish are becoming my best customers. What do you have in mind?" Berry described a few needed pieces, gesturing with her hooves to better describe them. Cherry joined in, adding a few pieces to the order and working together to better describe their needs. Even Stoke made a little scribble in her notepad. "Alright, nothing too complicated. I'll work on those first thing and you can stop by tomorrow for them." Indie picked up the basket in his teeth. "Thanks, Even. You're the best." Even waved it off. "I'm the only smith in town, so being the best isn't hard. Now go on, before the three of you turn to jerky." They fled the power of The Dry, intact and with their parts secured. Berry pointed towards the train. "We may want to go get the legs." The train project was postponed for the day, with some mild grumping from Cherry. They dropped off the basket back at the castle before heading to the station and going to fetch the legs. All three eagerly dove into the water once they reached the beach. Swimming was a joy, as fun as dry swimming could be at times. They circled and danced an aquatic melody before they were interrupted by a meek voice, "Excuse me?" They turned together to see another sea pony, a stallion, smiling at them nervously. "Excuse me, you came from The Dry, right?" Cherry nodded. "That's where we live." "So it's not... dangerous?" Indie did a spin in the water. "It can be, but it's full of wonderful things too, just like the sea." Where was anypony completely safe? "Why?" "Oh, I... I wanted to see it..." He rubbed behind his head, looking increasingly awkward. "I figure, if some foals can do--" "Berry is no foal." She crossed her legs and snorted out a few bubbles. "I meant no offense, promise." He smiled a little. "If you could tell me how, I'd appreciate it." Cherry brightened with an idea. "Well we're about to get a dry swimmer. Why don't you take Indie's old dry swimmer for now." He blinked. "You'd do that? You're the best!" He swam off to claim the wheeled device and begin his own adventure in The Dry. Indigo pouted a little. "How am I going to get back to Ponyville?" Berry swam around him quickly. "Have no fear, precious Indie. I'll carry you back and we'll get those legs working for you, promise." They heard a soft stomping approaching them and turned to face a new intruder. It was a metal pony! Berry clopped her hooves together as a devious smile spread over her face. "Stay away," warned the metal pony with the voice of the unicorn engineer that had started it all. "You two. I wanted to talk to you." Cherry tilted her head at the metal pony. How was it talking like that? She didn't even see its mouth move. "Alright? We're here." "You two love to tear apart my lovely machines for making walking aids for sea ponies, and I got to thinking..." Berry raised a brow but was otherwise silent. "Why don't I sell you the legs directly? You leave my machines alone, and you can get all the legs you want." Cherry clopped her hooves at the idea. "That'd be fantastic! There are other sea ponies that'd like to see The Dry. If we could get dry swimmers to them all, they could visit whenever they like." "And you can stop tearing apart my machines. Deal?" Berry thrust a hoof a the machine. "We need more than the legs. Look." She did a slow turn, gesturing back at the belt that held the legs in the proper place. "And there's a part inside where our fins go and help control it." Cherry swam up to the mechanical pony. "We could show you how it's made, then you could make them, right?" Indie glanced between them, confused, "Does this mean I can get my legs sooner?" Berry shook her head at Indie. "We'll still need to make yours. I doubt this mechanical pony will learn and have one made by the end of the day." "I am not a mechanical pony. This is my machine, and I'm talking through it." The pony looked at Cherry. "We've met before, with Princess Twilight Sparkle." Cherry bobbed her head. "You were really angry before." "Tell me truthfully, did you break my machine?" Cherry crossed her heart with a hoof. "By the waves, I promise I didn't. It was broken when I found it, with only three hooves." "I did," admitted Berry easily. "I know you did, little sea-based vandal." It was curious hearing angry words from the impassive face of the metal pony. "Let's put aside past differences, however. If you're both willing to work with me, we can all come out of it ahead. Show me how to make the modifications and we can share the profit from sales of the walking harnesses to other sea ponies." Cherry fished out a shell and held it out to the metal pony. "But land ponies use different money than sea ponies." "We can work out an exchange. You, vandal. You seem to know your way around. Do your people make useful things?" Berry perked her ears. "All sorts of things. It depends what you consider 'useful'. Also, my name is Berry, Sea Berry." "Great, and would your ponies mind carrying scientific equipment?" "What?" Berry tilted her head. "If they would be willing to carry pieces of my machine into the deeper parts of the ocean, I would gladly pay for that." A hopeful tinge came into the voice. "We can work it out, trading, um, goods and services. Just no more vandalism, right, Miss Sea?" "That's Berry." She nodded. "Fine, I won't hurt anymore metal ponies, promise." Indie circled on her. "Swear." Berry frowned at him before she let out a bubbly sigh. "Fine. By the waves, I swear I will not harm another of your metal ponies." "Or other equipment," added the metal pony. Berry rolled her eyes. "Or other equipment. There, happy?"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	36 - End Episode, The Tsunami of Prophecy	They found the engineer up on the docks, where he was apparently controlling his metal pony at a distance. He kept eyeing Berry suspiciously, but that faded as they began going over details. He was pleasantly surprised at the mechanical aptitude of both the sea mechanics. "The modifications you made are quite ingenious, even if they were made without my permission." Cherry had the dignity to blush at that, even as Berry rolled her eyes. Soon he knew how to make a proper seapony 'dry swimming' belt. "That's walking aid," corrected the technician, not that any of the three minded him much when it came to terminology. "Are you still staying with Princess Twilight?" Indie nodded firmly. "Oh, yes, though she's out there right now." He pointed out into the water. "I hope she's alright..." As if conjured from the depths, Twilight and Fluttershy appeared in the waters with a soft splash from below. They paddled for the dry beach, clearly returned to being quadrupedal and chatting with one another animatedly and with big smiles. Had it gone well? Berry leaned over the side of the dock a little. "Who's that?" Cherry giggled a little. "That's Princess Twilight, you know, the one who's house you're staying in." "Oh. I suppose we should go say hello." Berry began walking down along the dock to meet the two dry ponies coming ashore. All three met her as she came up on land. Both the dry ponies shook water from their fur. The yellow one, Fluttershy, let out a sigh of relief. "That was quite a journey..." Twilight nodded. "But we did it!" Her eyes scanned over the beach, easily spotting the new sea pony stallion, not to mention Berry. "You've been... busy as well?" Cherry waved to Berry. "Say hello to Sea Berry, but she goes by Berry." Twilight offered a hoof. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Twilight." Berry met the hoof with a clop. "Nice to meet you. You are?" She looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy suddenly froze until Twilight nudged her. "Oh, yes. I'm Fluttershy..." Indie suddenly flopped forward. "Fluttershy! I've been waiting to meet you!" Twilight blinked. "Why is that stallion over there using your wheels instead of you? Did he take them?" Indie shook his head. "We gave them. The girls are going to make me some real dry swimmers. Fluttershy, how did your trip go?" Fluttershy seemed surprised that somepony would focus on her so intently. "Um, it went... well? Nice to meet you, Indie." Indie propped himself up on his forelegs. "Did you talk with the fish?" "... Yes?" She tilted her head a little. Indie squeed with joy. "We can both speak with creatures from all oceans! I'm a fish speaker as well, but I've been talking to dry fish, um, what were they called?" "Squirrels," provided Cherry. "Those!" Fluttershy brightened a little. "Aw, squirrels are so cute!" "They are!" Indie tried to clop and ended up flopped in the sand. "We should talk." He pushed himself up again. "Later, when I have my dry swimmers." Cherry's attention was more on Twilight. "How did your trip go? Did you fi--" "We sure did!" Twilight smiled so wide it squeaked. "She agreed to come meet with Princess Celestia and was quite reasonable, once we found her." Cherry tilted her head. "Oh, they're a her?" Berry blinked at the two. "Really? You don't know?" Cherry looked over to Berry. "What?" Berry put a hoof to her face. "Your mom is the Master of the Waves, that's why I didn't want to say that stupid promise. Swearing on your rival's mom feels weird." Cherry and Indigo's jaw dropped together. Twilight joined in placing her hoof to her face. "That would have saved quite a bit of ordeal, and explains her oddly-specific request." She pointed at Cherry. "She said that you're to be kept safe and happy." She rolled her eyes at that. "Mom... How was she?!" Twilight gave a gentle smile. "She was alright. She loved hearing about some of the things you've been up to. Come on, let's get back to Ponyville." Berry pointed up to the dock with the dry and horny pony engineer. "When she comes, she should talk to him about getting a dry swimmer. He'll be making them for all the sea ponies that want to visit." Twilight blinked up at him before shaking her head. "You've all been busy. That's fantastic! This is exactly the sort of thing I think Celestia was hoping to see." She stepped away from the ocean. "But, if you don't mind, I'm exhausted." Her horn began to glow as she hefted Indigo into the air. "Is he making Indigo's new legs?" Cherry looked to Berry, then they both dashed out into the water a moment, returning with sand-encrusted metal forelegs. "Ta da!" Twilight shook her head. "Well..." She glanced between Cherry and Berry, taking in their mechanical marks. "Are you two friends?" "Rivals," corrected Berry. "But for sweet little Indie, we'll be working together." Cherry rolled her eyes. "She's also helping with my train." They began moving for the station as Twilight tilted her head faintly. "You got a toy train?" Cherry reared up and threw her forelegs wide. "Think bigger!" Twilight swallowed nervously. "I... I'm sure it's lovely..." Fluttershy walked along the floating Indigo. "So... you talked with squirrels?" "Oh yes! They're very excitable, but they had a lot to say. They lost their house." "Oh no!" Fluttershy brought up a hoof in dismay. "What'd they do?" "We found them a new tree." Indigo nodded. "Now they're all happy." Fluttershy smiled at that. "It wasn't too close to other squirrel families, I hope?" "Oh no no! They were very insistent about that." Indie made a few vague gestures. "We had to swim far and long, but we found a tree with plenty of food and not many squirrels around. They should be happy now." "What a relief." Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. "Have you met many other animals?" "I heard you have a dry fish called a 'bear' for a friend? May I meet them?" Indigo smiled brightly. Berry suddenly went red as she realized another mare was getting attention from Indigo. Her battle had just gotten more complicated...
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	37 - Episode 6 - In the Mirror	Twilight sagged with a little sigh, seated across from the rest of the Mane Five. "You let them put it there?" Applejack shrugged. "Ah was busy farmin' when it happened and ah figured it was yer idea." Spike shrugged softly. "I heard it coming and went out and saw a herd of stallions just carrying it along. I tried to tell them to stop, but they weren't listening to me..." Twilight put a hoof to her head. Elsewhere, Indigo enjoyed the mobility afforded by his customized dry swimmers. He explored Twilight's castle with a little smile and a curious look in his eyes. Twilight had so much to look at! He nudged open a door that led into darkness and he squinted at it. His eyes were more suited to the dark than a pony and he slowly advanced into the collection of boxes with only the clip-clop of his hooves, biological and mechanical. He saw a large pedestal and began to grow curious about it. It seemed attached to a lot of... were they mechanics? He wasn't really sure, but he knew exactly who to ask! He galloped out of the room in search for his friends that happened to be mares, not to be confused with marefriends. Cherry and Berry were brought in, both confused. Cherry looked around with growing curiosity. "This doesn't look like she uses it that often." "That's putting it mildly." Berry blew off some dust from the top of a box. "The dry is gathering. Did you know dry collects on things that don't move?" Cherry stepped up beside Berry. "I did not know that." She reached out and left a hoofprint in the dust. "Neat!" Indigo pointed at the strange pedestal. "Take a look at this. I think it's mechanical." He looked mildly miffed at his friends becoming easily distracted. "The dry will wait." Cherry stuck out her tongue a little. "Don't be so upset, now what do you have?" She wandered closer, eyes wandering over the platform and following the wired to the grand mecha... "I don't think this is mechanical, at least not entirely." Berry nodded quickly. "There are a lot of parts I don't get, and if we don't even understand the start of it, it's not mechanical." Both mares crossed their forelegs and nodded with finality. Indigo shook his head. "So what is it? Is it too complicated for either of you to figure out?" He looked towards Berry as a devious look overtook his face. "Bet Cherry'll figure it out before you." Berry gasped with offense. "What?! No! I can figure it out. Just you watch and see." She advanced on the machine, as odd as it was, and began to poke and prod at various pieces of it, trying to figure it out. Cherry looked over Berry's shoulder before leaning towards Indigo, "Sneaky boy." He blushed at her words but didn't argue it. "Berry, have--" "I almost have it!" She threw a lever and something crackled to life. "We're missing a part. I think I turned it on, but it needs... something." "It needs unicorn magic." Twilight entered on the surprised sea ponies. "What are you doing in here?" Indigo recovered first and pointed at the device. "What is it?" "That..." Twilight trailed off a moment. It'd been a while since she used the portal. "It's dangerous." Spike rolled his eyes as he followed Twilight. "It's not that dangerous." "Spike!" "What?" Berry looked to the dragon. "What does it do?" Spike looked between Berry and Twilight, one looking hopeful, and the other demanded silence with a glare. He squirmed in place. "I... shouldn't say." Cherry decided to take the fight to Twilight. "We'll just get more curious until we figure it out. At least tell us what it does before you tell us not to use it." Indigo nodded quickly. "We just want to know what it's for. It looks interesting." He turned back to the machine. "You're a unicorn, you can turn it on, right?" "I could..." Twilight let out a sigh. "But I shouldn't. Look, it's a portal to another world." Cherry raised a brow, but Berry let out a sudden laugh. "I knew it!" Indigo blinked at Berry. "You knew it?" Berry gestured at the arch the device formed. "It looked like some kind of door or something. I just couldn't figure out how to turn it on." Twilight's horn glowed, throwing the switch back to the off position. "Good, now that we--" The device flared to life, fed by her magic and crackling to life, but only for an instant with the switch being toggled to the off position. It was long enough. Indigo vanished from the platform. Twilight gaped at the spot Indigo had stood in. Cherry pointed at the spot. "Is he alright? Bring him back." "I-It's not that simple!" Twilight took a step back. Berry advanced on Twilight. "You sent my precious Indigo to Waves-knows-where, bring him back!" Twilight shook her head. "I can't just... summon him. He has to walk back." Cherry smiled. "Oh, that's simple. We'll just wait for him." Twilight imagined the aquatic Indigo landing in Canterlot high and swallowed heavily. "I... should fetch him..." Berry waved between Twilight and the device. "Go ahead." "It's not that simple!" Twilight cringed. "My copy is in there, and we shouldn't meet more than absolutely necessary." Cherry raised a brow. "You have a copy?" "All ponies have a copy there." Twilight let out a sigh. "All dry ponies, perhaps." Cherry got a grin. "Turn that back on and let us get him. We'll bring him back, promise." Twilight put a hoof to her head. Spike raised a claw. "I could go with them?" "No!" Twilight clopped the ground. "Your double is there too." "I have a double?" Twilight let out a sigh. "Yes, a dog of my copy. Look, let's just..." Cherry advanced alongside Berry. "We can't leave Indigo alone in a strange place. Let us rescue him!" Indigo fell through a space that wasn't space and landed with a dull thud, groaning in pain. He pushed to his... feet? His hooves were covered in a strange material. Some kind of fancy shoes? How did they stop being... Where was his tail? He spun around looking for it, but did little but make himself dizzy. His hooves, his front hooves, they'd changed wildly. They had almost no fur and terminated in wriggly things, like Spike's claws. "You alright?" He looked up at a... thing. It was a thing that looked like him, with two-colored mane. A her, he was certain. "Um, just a little... lost?" Indigo tried to keep himself calm. "Where am I?" She pointed one of her wriggly claws at the building behind her. "In front of Canterlot High. Are you a new student?" "Um..." "Wow, you are lost. Look, my name is Bon Bon." She gestured to the school. "Come on, Principal Celestia will know what to do." Celestia, there was a name he recognized. He nodded and she began to walk away. He tried to follow and staggered clumsily at first before he at least got the basics of bipedal motion down. What was he, and why did they dry swim in such a funny way? On the bright side, he was in The Dry and didn't actually feel dry at all. Whatever he was, it was a dry species. The stairs were a special challenge, but it had a piece of metal he could grab and hold onto as he navigated slowly. Bon Bon raised a brow at his curious and awkward ascent. "Maybe we should take you to the nurse first." "No, no! I'm fine, really." At least, physically. Mentally, he was freaking out. Where was he? What was he? Could he get back to his friends? "I want to see Celestia." Surely that powerful princess would have all the answers. Bon Bon took him down a hallway floored with some kind of smooth and shiny stone. The light came from magic panels in the ceiling. There were bits of writing all over the walls excitedly reminding any passerby of any number of events that he didn't understand. "What's a Spring Formal?" She seemed surprised at the question. "Do they not have dances where you're from?" "Oh! I love to swi--" She looked at him like he was insane. "I mean... Um, yes, we have those." He laughed nervously. "Well, here we are." She gestured to a door. "Just go on in and ask for Celestia. Good luck, uh, what was your name?" "Indigo." He blushed at realizing he was being rude. "Nice to meet you, Bon Bon. Thanks for the help." "Hope you get everything straightened out." She wriggled a few of those fleshy claws. "I have to get going. Good luck!" She returned the way she came, leaving Indigo facing that door. All he had to do was... He saw a pony do this... He bent over and went after the knob with his mouth, but discovered quickly his new mouth wasn't suited at all to getting around the device that opened the door. Suddenly, a loud clanging sound filled the hallway. He stood up ram stiff as lots of things emerged and began dry swimming right past him as if he wasn't there. There were so many of them! They came in all colors and sizes, male and female. Most of them were talking with one another animatedly as they swam to wherever they were walking to, and they were swimming to a lot of places! He saw a few dealing with the doors though. They used their fleshy claws to grab it and turn it. Is that what those were for? Oh! Indigo flushed. Of course it'd be like Spike. He should keep that in mind. What would Spike do? He reached forward and opened the door, slipping into the new room where it was quiet. There was one other... thing... She? was seated at a desk and looked up at him with a raised brow. "Um, hello. Can I talk to Princess Celestia?" She snorted softly. "I'm afraid we're all out of princesses, but we have a special on principals." She pressed a button. "Celestia, you have a visitor." "Send them in," came a familiar voice from the thing being spoken to. Was it like the metal robot? The female gestured at another door. "Go on in." Her eyes fell back to whatever she was working on. Indigo advanced past her to face that door, but he knew better! He seized it with his wriggly claw things and soon had it open with a little smile of triumph. That wasn't so hard. He could mana... That was not Princess Celestia.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	38 - To the Rescue	Twilight poked at the side of the mirror gently. "Alright, before I turn this on, are you absolutely certain?" Cherry raised a brow at Twilight. "He's our friend. Of course we're sure." Berry nodded in agreement. "Stop delaying. We'll rescue our precious little Indie before he gets hurt." Twilight let out a little sigh. "Alright, so, remember. The goal is to get Indigo and return to the portal. Don't let anything get in your way. You'll arrive as humans, so be r--" "Humans?" Cherry tilted her head. "Bipedal simians, mostly furless, clothed." Berry looked down at herself. "Do we need clothes?" Twilight gestured at the mirror. "The translation will provide those while it makes you human. It's just how these mirrors work?" "There are other mirrors?" Cherry perked with curiosity. "Nnng, yes, but please, focus..." Twilight took a slow breath, making the motion that Cadance had taught her to calm down. "Most of the ponies you meet will be students at Canterlot High, a school." "Of fish?" Berry tilted her head. "I thought they were 'humans'?" Twilight put a hoof over her face. "A place of education. If anypony asks, you're exchange students just visiting. If you really need help, look for my friends on the other side, which includes me. They know there are ponies that can come through the portal." Cherry and Berry both nodded. They weren't going to be any further educated and Twilight threw the switch. "Good luck in there." With a bright sparkle of magic, the portal opened, taking up all the space inside the mirror. Cherry shoved a hoof in and felt around. "Weird..." Berry nudged past her and dove in. Cherry blinked and jumped in after her. Twilight let out a little sigh. Had she just doomed them all? "Think positive," she murmured to herself as she settled down to watch the portal and await their return. Indigo's mouth opened and closed. "Yes?" The strange thing looked at him with piercing eyes. "Can I help you?" She sounded like Celestia, but that thing was certainly not Celestia. "Um, I was... trying to get home?" Indigo tried for a smile. Did smiles mean the same thing to these creatures? He was fairly certain. "And where is that?" 'Celestia' sat up straight. "I'm afraid we haven't met. I'm Principle Celestia. You are?" "I-indigo. It's..." Where was it from there? He had no idea. "It's in Twilight's." "Twilight's what?" "Her home." 'Celestia' raised a brow. A strange new student that came from Twilight's? Maybe it was a foreign exchange program. Actually, that made a lot of sense. She smiled gently. "Were you told what school you'll be attending while you're here?" "Oh, uh, no?" School? He was going to join some fish? Maybe they needed him to talk to them or take care of them? He smiled at the idea. Things were looking up. "I'd like that." "Of course you would. Why don't you enjoy the hospitality of Canterlot High, since you're here? Twilight goes here as well. I'll have a schedule drafted up for you. For now, you should meet up with Twilight." Meeting up with Twilight? That sounded fantastic! "Yes, please. Where is she?" Celestia pressed a button on her desk. "Have Twilight report to the principal's office." She looked up as she took her claw away from that button. "She'll meet you just outside. Go with her and accompany her to her classes for today, and I'll have a schedule for you tomorrow." Twilight was already there? How? "Oh, okay." What was he attending? Head buzzing with questions and confusion, he wandered outside to await Twilight's arrival. "Get off me," grumbled Berry. She was sprawled across the ground with Cherry flopped over her. They scrambled to their... hooves? Looking at one another, they had the advantage of being able to take in the alien features they had inherited more easily. Cherry reached out and took hold of Berry's left arm. "Why do you have two sets of legs?" Berry reached out and poked Cherry in the chest. "Why are you so lumpy?" Cherry reached up and found her hat was still present and smiled happily, at least something hadn't changed. "We're humans, huh?" "Guess so." Berry glanced back at where the portal hung invisibly in the side of some statue then back at Cherry. "We should find Indie." Cherry bobbed her head. "Of course! But don't you want to see this?" She waved a weirdly shaped leg around, its floppy claw-things wobbling. "I mean, look at it all! It's a whole dry world! Imagine what secrets it might be hiding." Berry waved her floppy claw things at the big building they were in front of. "Like where Indie is? Fine, you go explore. I'll take Indie and we'll get married and--" "Okay, okay." Cherry snorted softly, nostrils flaring. "Let's find Indie. Maybe we can have a look afterwards..." Refocused, the two headed toward the building, using one another for support. As they ascended the stairs to the doors, they swung open, admitting a... human? A human that looked like them, but had rainbow-colored hair and a cocky smile. She seemed surprised to see them. "Oh, hey? Who are you two?" Berry thrust a floppy-claw thing into the air. "I am Sea Berry! But you can call me Berry." The human quirked a smile. "I like the way you said that. You transferring into Canterlot High?" Cherry pointed beyond the human. "We're looking for a friend named Indigo, or Indie. Have you seen him?" "Nope." The human shook her head. "Look, I'm Rainbow Dash. Who are you?" She looked to Cherry specifically. "Nice to meet you, Rainbow." Wasn't that one of Twilight's friends? "I'm Cerulean, but you can call me Cherry. Oh! Ohhh! You're Twilight's friend, right?" Rainbow cocked a brow. "Yeah? So?" Berry caught on quickly. "We're also friends of hers, from the mirror." Rainbow's eyes went wide. "Shoot! You're kidd--You're not kidding. Come with me." She waved around the side of the building and led the way away from the doors. "I didn't think that egg-head would ever be brave enough to send other ponies through besides herself, and that only in an emergency. Does this mean something happened to Twilight?" Cherry shook her head a little. "How do you stand being... this... human thing?" "Huh? It's kind of what I was born with." Rainbow raised a brow. "I think my body's pretty cool, if you ask me, which you did. Why, something wrong with yours?" She looked Cherry up and down. "You look fine." Berry ran an elbow into Cherry's side. "She just wishes she had mine." Rainbow snorted at that. "Don't get too full of yourself." She gestured at the back of the school. "We can wait here for the others to show up. So, uh, you were ponies?" Cherry shook her head. "Not exactly." "Not exactly." Rainbow squinted a moment. "What were you if not ponies?" Cherry ran her tongue over her lips as she tried to conjure the word back up. "Hippo...." "Sea pony," offered Berry. "We're sea ponies." Rainbow gave a sudden laugh. "That's too cool! Like sea horses, but ponies?" Cherry made an odd expression. "Nothing like seahorses." Berry reached out her strange human forelegs. "Pony up top, with a powerful tail with two flippers at the end, and two flippers at the side. I heard some ponies call it more like a dolphin." "Mer-ponies." Rainbow grinned. "That is too cool!" She looked over her new friends again. "You didn't get to keep any of the cool bits, though. I wonder if you're still any good at swimming..." Cherry blinked at the idea. "How do humans swim? You don't have fins at all. Can you breathe water?" Rainbow waved off the ideas put forward. "None of that. We hold our breath, and we may not have fins, but our hands work well enough." "Hands?" both asked. Rainbow extended her floppy claws and flexed them slowly. "Hand. I've swum around plenty. I never really did it competitively, but I bet you two could do it if you still take to the water." Cherry and Berry both looked to their 'hands' with newfound appreciation. Cherry held up her hand high and spread it wide. "It's a little like a flexible flipper..." Berry nodded. "You'd have to hold it close, but..." Rainbow flashed a big smile. "I have to see you two swimming!" Cherry waved it off, but it was far from a certain gesture. "We shouldn't. I have to find my friend, Indie, remember?" Rainbow stuck out her tongue a little. "We'll find him, promise. I bet when the others get here, we'll find your friend in ten seconds flat. No reason you can't have a little fun while you're waiting. By the way, what's with the metal pants?" Cherry and Berry looked down at their pants. They did have a bit of a metallic glint. Berry reached down and tapped at her pants, getting a soft metallic rapping with every tap. Despite being made of metal, they moved well with her. Rainbow raised a brow. "You weren't, uh, mechanical to begin with, were you?" Cherry darkened a bit. "Well, a little." "A little?" "We don't have the back legs and extra hooves of a dry pony." Cherry waved at her legs. "So I built some." "I built my own, thank you." Berry stuck out her tongue a little. "Super cool." Rainbow smiled. "And now they're metal pants? You better hold onto those. You don't want to be missing your legs when you get back to Equestria." As she spoke, she led the girls on towards the school's generous swimming pool. "But for now, I want to see you two in that water. You'll either take to it like two fish, or flounder." Cherry scratched the side of her head in confusion. "A flounder is a fish..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Just a saying. Come on, why not? You like water, right? You're mer-ponies, of course you like water!" Berry tapped at her pants. "Are you sure we should do that while wearing metal?" It was Cherry's turn to taunt. "What? You're afraid of being slow?" She moved to the edge of the pool and sank down beside it. "This is a lot of water to have on The Dry. You have races in the water?" The idea of such an obviously dry species racing in the water amazed her. Rainbow hiked a thumb at the locker-room nearby. "You two want to get changed into swimsuits first?" They both looked blank. "Eh, or just jump in, that works too. Go on!" Sink or swim, she wanted to see them try.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	39 - Race Ya	Rainbow left the two visitors from Equestria, if only for a moment. She returned in a swimsuit to find Berry glaring at Cherry. "You can't claim to be the faster swimmer if you refuse to swim!" "I can and I just did." Cherry huffed softly. "Besides, we're here to rescue Indie, not race." Berry swayed a little. "We're going to meet all of Twilight's friends and they'll know what to do, in the meantime, are you afraid of being shown up in athletics as well as mechanics?" "Ooo, she's calling you out." Rainbow grinned as she incited the competition. "You gonna accept that?" "What in tarnation's goin' on here?" Another human had arrived, with a hat that reminded Cherry immediately of... "Applejack?" The human looked confused. "We met?" It was Applejack! "Rainbow, who are they and why are ya provokin' a fight?" Rainbow looked ashamed. "I just wanted to see them swim." Applejack approached the two with a raised brow. "With metal pants? You want them to swim in metal pants? Sugar, have you lost every bit of your sports-addled mind?" Berry glanced down at the metal garment. "I've swum with metal legs before. They make for some dr--" Applejack blinked at Berry. "Are ya defendin' her?! Come with me." She grabbed one arm each of the new students. "Ah ain't allowin' nobody in the pool like that." She dragged both of the new students into the poolside locker room. "Now ah don't know what Rainbow done told ya, but here." She fished out new clothes from a metal box on the wall. "Put this on, then ya can swim all ya want." Cherry accepted the article even as she looked Applejack over. Though not a pony, it was hard to miss how the two were related. "Applejack? We're friends of Twilight." "Huh? Really? Ya from that snooty school?" She pointed one of her fingers. "You don't seem the type ta be honest." Berry shed her clothes without a trace of shame and began getting into the swimsuit. "Princess Twilight Sparkle." "Oh!" Applejack perked right up. "Shoot, you two from Equestria?" Cherry nodded even as she changed with equal lack of shame. It's hard to understand nakedness at times when one usually was. "We're looking for a friend of ours, Indie. He's, uh..." What did he look like as a human? "He has to be around here..." Applejack nodded to the two before glaring across to Rainbow Dash standing there awkwardly. "Why were you settin' them up fer a race instead of looking fer their friend?" Rainbow gestured at the two of them. "They're not ponies like Twilight. They're, like, mer-ponies." Her eyes widened as she said the last word. "Come on! Don't you want to see them?" Applejack cocked a brow before looking between the two of them. "The way ah see it, we could do that, or we could find their friend." "Fine!" Rainbow sighed dramatically. "Let's find their friend, then maybe they can show us before they go back? I mean, I haven't seen any doubles of them around here, so they should be cool, right?" "Right." Applejack rolled her eyes as she turned to the main building of the school. "Ah heard Twilight being called to the principal's office. Ya think that has anythin' to do with it?" "She was?" Rainbow peered in the direction of the office. "That egghead? She probably got an award in something." "Maybe. Let's find out one way or the other." Cherry glanced between her friends, new and old. "Should we change back?" Applejack put a hand to her face. "Yes. Why are ya wearing metal pants anyway?" Rather than strip and get re-dressed, Berry slipped her original clothes on over her swimming outfit. "They were here when we came. We didn't even have back legs where we came from." Cherry bobbed her head as she followed suit, putting on her old clothes over her new. "We had a tail, and now we don't. Do none of you have tails? How do you avoid falling over?" Rainbow smirked at that. "We manage somehow. Alright, everyone dressed? Good, let's find an egghead and maybe your friend while we're at it." With a communal call to battle, they marched off in pursuit of Twilight. Applejack raised a brow at Twilight. "Ya sent them through there?" She inclined her head towards the glowing portal. "Why didn't you go?" Rarity snorted at the question. "For one, Applejack dear, she is a princess. She shouldn't be galavanting off to other worlds on a whim." Applejack rolled a hoof. "Correct me if ah'm wrong, but ain't Cherry technically a princess-like herself? Ah mean, she is the daughter of the 'Master of the Waves' an' whatnot. Don't that make her one?" Twilight gulped loudly as she glanced at the portal. "I shouldn't be in Canterlot High while my double's there. I didn't want any of them there, but there was just enough energy to turn it on long enough for Indigo to fall in." She sat down and clopped her forehooves together nervously. "I didn't mean to... Ohhh, this is bad..." Fluttershy smiled gently. "We should have faith in them." Twilight looked at her a little incredulously. "I mean... they're good friends, and they did alright here, which was just as strange for them, right?" Rainbow nodded. "I bet they're already finding something to put together or break apart and having a great time." Twilight gave a nervous laugh. "Well, I hope they aren't doing that... but maybe you're right... Let's--" Rarity was close to the portal, peering into its swirling depths. "Why don't we go through and lend a hoof?" Twilight's magic flared to life as she pulled Rarity away from the open aperture to the other world. "Not so fast! We all have doubles in there that we shouldn't be meeting." Rainbow snorted softly. "What's the worst that could happen?" Twilight's eyes half-lid as her voice went low and even. "Complete and total integration of realities ending in mutual annihilation." "Oh my..." Twilight nodded. "So let's not do that." The human Twilight looked at the strange person before her with metal pants. "So..." "I'm Indigo, but you can call me Indie." "Nice to meet you, Indigo..." She glanced away, then at the secretary. "So what am I supposed to do?" "You're to let him accompany you to class for the remainder of the day. He'll have a schedule tomorrow." She opened her mouth to object, but changed her mind on seeing how nervous he was. "Alright, come on, Indie. Let me show you around." She led him out into the hallway. "Where are you from again?" Did Twilight count as a friend of Twilight? "Um, do you... know the other Twilight?" The human Twilight's eyes widened. "You're from there?!" She spun on him suddenly and pushed him up against a locker. "I have a thousand questions and you hold at least half the answers." A strange giggle escaped from her. "Come with me." She pulled the scared boy away, making haste down the hallway. She took a left just before Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others came down the hallway. Berry looked around with obvious curiosity. "You built all of this?" Rainbow shrugged softly. "It was built before we got here." Cherry reached up towards the lights but couldn't quite reach. "Not you specifically, more like 'humans' you?" Applejack let out a nervous little laugh. "Let's keep chatter about 'humans' down low, alright?" She grabbed the knob and opened the door to the principal's office. "Excuse me..." The secretary looked up at Applejack. "Yes?" It was proving to be a 'busy' day, her least favorite kind. "How can I help you?" Applejack glanced around as the others filled in behind her. There was no Twilight in sight. "Did Twilight already leave?" She pointed back into the hallway. "Right, we'll be moseyin' on then." She tipped her hat and everyone began to shuffle out. In the returned quiet, the secretary let out a sigh of relief just before a voice issued from the intercom, "How long has it been since a magical meltdown of some kind?" She reached forward and pressed the reply, "At least three months, ma'am." "Very good." Twilight's giggles grew worse as she led her newest subject along. "You don't mind if I examine you, do you?" "Um..." "Good! What was your name again, Indiana?" "In--" "Nice to meet you! Now, what do you know about science?" The strange... female thing was really making him nervous. He decided it was time to stop letting her pull him along and planted his hind-legs into the ground. "Tell me where we're going." She blinked at him with obvious surprise before she smiled widely. "Oh, where are my manners? I just want to examine you. It will be completely harmless, I assure, and you'll be advancing the causes of science for just a little time." She held up two floppy claws close together. "You can afford that, right?" Indie had a hard time denying females, especially pushy ones. She seemed reasonable, as far as he could tell. "You just need to look?" "Exactly! Just looking. It shouldn't take very long at all." She looked him over from head to feet. "Could you describe your native configuration?" She saw him giving her a glazed look and sighed softly. "Tell me what you looked like, before you came here." "Oh! Well I had fur, for one, and a nice big tail." "So you were a pony, like Twilight?" She raised a brow and began pulling him along again, rushing to get him to wherever she wanted to get her testing done. "Were you large, small?" "I wasn't exactly a pony, not like Twilight." He hustled to keep up with her as she rushed. "I'm a seapony. I have, uh, had, two legs." He wriggled the odd floppy claw things. "Are these even legs?" He was starting to doubt they were legs at all. "We come from the sea." "Fascinating!" Twilight looked so excited. "You simply must tell me about your living conditions. I wonder what translated over or not..." Her eyes fell to his metallic pants. "Did you get those here?" He glanced down at where she was looking and saw nothing but his clothing. "Did I get what?" She reached out and pulled the belt-line of his pants. "These." "Oh, yes!" She made a soft noise of curiosity as she pushed open a door into darkness and flicked on the light. They had arrived in a science room, and Twilight was ready to apply science liberally to the situation.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	40 - End Episode - Science makes Right	Twilight reached back and casually flicked the lock on the door. Science did not like being interrupted, after all. "We'll start with a basic examination. If you would kindly disrobe and lay on one of the tables, we'll begin." She advanced towards Indie as he sat down nervously. "Don't worry. This will be completely non-invasive." A knocking on the door interrupted the flow of things and Twilight frowned at it. "What?" "Twilight?" It was Sunset. "Do you have the new kid?" Twilight blinked in surprise. How? So fast?! She moved for the door and unlocked it, allowing Sunset in. "Hey Tw-- Oh! Are you Indie?" Indie waved at Sunset energetically. "Hello there!" Sunset wriggled a few fingers and looked back to Twilight. "Why do you have him locked in here?" Twilight opened her mouth, a dense explanation ready. "Nevermind. You know the girls are looking for him, right?" Sunset cocked a brow then looked to Indie. "Your friends are wandering the school looking for you." Indie hurried to the door as if he could spot his friends. "Are they? They're here?!" A pause. "Do they look like us?" Sunset smiled as she followed after him. "They do, now let's get all three of you back together." Twilight gave a faint pout as the science was dashed. "Can't I at least perform a basic examination?" Sunset shook her head. "Why? He's a human, just like the sirens, and Twilight, er, the other Twilight." Twilight wriggled a few fingers at Indie. "There are countless ways it could vary. Without a thorough examination and a few other tests, we'll never know. Pony-Twilight will never consent to letting me give her the full battery." Sunset cocked a brow. "So you decided to take advantage of the boy here? Come on, he barely knows where he is." "Canterlot High?" ventured Indigo. "Can we go to my friends?" Twilight let a sigh loose. "Fine. Maybe after they're reunited, they'll be amenable to furthering science." She flashed a hopeful smile. "Do you know where they are now, Sunset?" Sunset pointed one of her wriggly things at the door she entered from. "I had them wait for us in the band room while I had a look around so we wouldn't lose each other. I had a good feeling I'd find you here." She leaned forward. "Science girl." Twilight flushed a little. "Aren't you curious?" "Of course I am." Sunset turned to Indigo. "But we have to be good to friends, new and old, before that. Indigo, Indie, right? Sunset. Nice to meet you." She offered her wriggly claws towards him and he raised his, bumping against her. She smirked at the exchange. "Not quite the handshake I was expecting." She took ahold of his and showed how to grip and shake properly. "Now let's get you back to your friends." Twilight moved to repeat the gesture. "And I'm Twilight, nice to meet you. Please don't be angry at me. I really just wanted to look..." Indigo didn't have it in him to be upset at the female, uh, whatever she was. "It's alright. Let's get to my friends and we can decide what to do after that." Smiles were exchanged. Forgiveness was given. Soon they were moving through the hallways and down stairs until they arrived at a room where four more... whatever they weres, were waiting for him. Two of them broke into smiles. One of them had a familiar hat and jewelry in her mane. "Indie!" "Cherry?" His eyes darted to the female beside her. "Berry?" "My Indigo!" Berry rushed up and embraced him tightly, forcing the breath from him. Applejack shook her head a little. "Good to see them back together. Where'd you find him, Sunset?" Sunset hiked a thumb at Twilight who was just behind her. "He was with Twilight, as you suspected. Miss Science here was ready to do a full exam." Twilight huffed softly. "I was just looking..." Suddenly Berry was invading her personal space. "You had better not have hurt my Indie!" Indie pulled her away. "I'm alright! Miss Twilight didn't do anything bad." Cherry smiled brightly. "Well we're all together, and nopony got hurt, that's good. I guess we should head back..." Rainbow rolled a hand. "Before or after you show me some awesome swimming moves?" Twilight grinned hopefully. "And I get to do a little examination?" With hesitant noises from Applejack and Sunset on their way, the group ended up visiting the pool-side. Cherry and Berry shed the clothes over their swimsuits and Rainbow clapped her hands in giddy expectation. "Alright! Let's see how you do!" Applejack rolled her eyes. "One lap, then they can get on back through the portal before something happens." Rainbow waved it off. "Yeah yeah yeah. There are no world-consuming monsters involved this time, so we can enjoy ourselves. Go on in, the water's fine." Cherry decided to be the first one in and dove in, slipping into the water like the dolphin-creature she was born as and barely making a splash. She emerged to see the line of them staring at her as if she had grown a second head. "What?" That's when she felt it. She didn't have legs. She had her wonderful, wonderful tail back. She looked down at the tail in the water and giggled with joy, sinking back into the water and darting off with amazing speed. Berry suddenly jumped in, soon re-tailed and zipping off after Cherry. Rainbow clapped her hands. "Look at 'em go!" Applejack shook her head. "Did you know that was going to happen?" "No, but it's awesome! Wait a second, let me get my suit on and I'll see how I do against them." She dashed off to the locker room. Twilight looked like she was about to hyperventilate from the possibilities. Sunset rest a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Take it easy girl." "Easy!?" She spun to face Sunset while gesturing at the mer-maids in the pool. "Look at them! The implications! Please tell me I can examine them now." Indie raised a hand cautiously. "You can look at me?" Rainbow came dashing back, almost slipping on the slick surface before she jumped in the pool to join the other two. "Just because you have flippers doesn't mean you're the fastest!" Cherry tilted her head at the human. "I think it does." Berry shrugged. "My rival isn't often right, but she is this time. You don't have a chance." Twilight pointed down into the waters. "Does it have the same effect on you? Please confirm." Indie sank beside the pool and reached out with a hand to swish through the water, nothing happened. "Maybe I have to be in the water..." Applejack shook her head. "We don't have a boys' swimming trunks." "Alright." Indie stepped into the pool without warning, sinking into the depths even as his legs became a powerful tail. The metal pants became goofy-looking metal legs that held themselves close to his body. He surfaced, tail thrashing gently and holding him in place despite the weight of the metal. "There." His shirt was entirely soaked, as was any other clothing that hadn't absorbed into his changed body. "Now what, Twilight?" While Twilight giddily began taking notes, Rainbow and the two sea mares lined up on one side of the pol. "One lap," declares Rainbow, pointing to the other side. "There and back. Ready?" Cherry and Berry nodded, then they all took off. Sunset let out a sigh and turned away, only to see a person she had been hoping not to see, Vice-Principal Luna. "Oh... hi?" Luna raised a brow. "Please tell me there are no magical... incidents we should be made aware of, and explain why none of you are in class." Applejack gestured at the others, making scientific notes and racing in the pool. "We done had some visitors, and, uh, they got a little carried away. If it helps, they're pretty friendly." Luna nodded at that. "I'm glad to hear that, but these are school hours. Say goodbye to your friends and get back to class." Any other student caught playing hookie might have gotten detention, but she couldn't be sure if their presence spared the school from calamity. "Thank you." Rainbow Dash lost the race, but not for lack of effort, and not without having a grand time in the attempt. She reached the end to be cheered on by the two who proved to be good sports about the whole thing. Twilight got some notes, even if she didn't get all the notes she wanted, as if there was such a thing as 'enough' notes. Ultimately, it was time for all the ponies to go home. Once out of the pool, they became 'normal' humans again and could walk back to where the portal waited for them in the statue. Applejack tipped her head. "You tell Twilight we send our regards, y'hear?" Cherry bobbed her head. "We will! It was nice meeting you all." Berry nodded in agreement. "Maybe next time we can visit without the drama in the way." She offered a hand towards Rainbow. "Keep practicing, maybe next time you'll win." Rainbow smirked, knowing when she was being patronized. She accepted the hand and gave it a firm shake. "Next time, we race on land. See how good you are there." Twilight bowed to them all. "Thank you for what examination I did manage. Have a safe trip home." Sunset gently shepherded the seaponies back towards Equestria. "Go on. This isn't your world. But if you do stop by, we'll be here for you, promise." With a chorus of goodbyes, the three vanished into the portal, sent hurtling back to Equestria. Cherry landed first, standing on all fours a moment before Berry crashed into her and sent them both sliding. Indie came through last and landed upright. "Twilight, there you are. You're much prettier as a pony." Twilight blinked softly. "I gather you met my double then?" She pulled the lever and turned off the portal. "Is everypony alright?" Rainbow flashed a wide grin. "Was she half as cool as I am?" Berry climbed off her rival and rose to her own hooves. "Hey, Rainbow?" "Yeah?" "Wanna race?" Berry and Rainbow took off, apparently meaning to make good on the challenge straight away. Applejack chuckled softly at the antics. "Well, ah guess nothing too bad happened?" Cherry nodded as she shook out. "Your friends were very nice to us. That other dry world is a fascinating place. Can we visit again in the future?" Twilight paled a little at the idea. "Oh, right. Your parts arrived." That was enough to make Cherry's mind move from the portal entirely as she wandered off to see her train parts. Indigo was the last seapony in the room. "The other you was very curious about how things work." Rarity glanced at Twilight. "I suppose some things are true no matter the world."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	41 - Episode 7, Harry Situations	Indigo trotted from the castle with a smile. His dry swimming legs were working quite well and he had grown used to how to move them. He swerved to the left then right, just to show that he could to no one in particular. That day was his, mostly. He was away from the girls. Not that he minded being with them, not at all. He... still kind of hoped Cherry would notice him. Berry's attention was... interesting... No matter! Today was a fine day to meet his dry half. He skirted around the town and headed for the small cabin that belonged to the yellow flippered pony known as Fluttershy. It seemed an odd name to him. She clearly wasn't shy, if she spoke to all creatures of all the oceans. That made her a super extrovert! Just like him. But just because you can, doesn't mean one wants to... Indigo slowed in his approach as he consider it. What if she could speak to anything, but she didn't enjoy it? He hoped he wasn't putting her in an awkward spot. The idea that one could have that gift and not like it was alien to him, but he worried he was being a pain. Fish he understood, ponies... not as easily. What if he came across as a total burr in her side? What if he pushed too hard? Maybe she didn't want to talk about herself at all! "Hello?" Indigo came out of his thoughts to find Fluttershy not far ahead of him, looking at him. "Oh, hello!" Too aggressive, calm down. "I mean, nice to see you." She gave a little smile. "I..." Her voice failed and she looked down. Oh no, he'd already failed! Was it what he said? Maybe he was dressed badly? He looked himself over, then her. He wasn't more or less dressed than she was, minus his dry swimming legs. Silence between them built dangerously as both feared what the other might be thinking. It was Fluttershy who broke that quiet. "Please, um, come closer." She turned towards the cottage and gestured at it. "This is my home." "It's a very nice one." Not as big as Twilight's huge thing, but it was... nice, comfortable. "Cozy." She smiled. "I wanted it... like that. You like it?" He bobbed his head as he dry swam up alongside her. "So, um... I'm sorry... I have..." "You don't need to apologize." She tilted her head. "You didn't do anything wrong." "But I did! I have a thousand questions and I'm afraid I'll be annoying." Fluttershy's hoof rested on his shoulder. "You can, um, ask, if you want?" She gave him a little smile. He relaxed under her gentle gaze. They were both scared, he realized. Scared of nothing. "You have a lot of fish friends?" She tilted her head at his question. What was the other word? "The kind that live in The Dry?" "Oh! Animals!" She bobbed her head. "I have a lot of animal friends. You helped some squirrels, so why don't we start with them?" She turned away from him and walked towards a tree. "Excuse me? Sorry to bother, but a friend of mine wants to meet you. I mean, I'm assuming we're friends. We just met and maybe I'm being too forward..." A fuzzy head poked out, followed by several others. A small gang of squirrels came down to look at Indigo with obvious curiosity. "Hello there." He waved at them gently. "It is a pleasure to swim in your corner of the sea." They said that was a funny way to say hello, but they understood him. They chittered and even offered a nut towards him. He wondered what the nut was like and reached out a hoof. They placed it in the upturned hoof and he bit down on the hard seed. Ooof! It was tougher than it looked. Fluttershy shook her head. "If you're hungry, I can make us a snack." "No No..." He couldn't be impolite to the squirrels by refusing them now. He'd already taken the big dry coral nut and he chewed on it diligently. It had a powerful taste, and he wasn't sure if he liked it, but he ate it. "Thank you for the gift." The squirrels insisted he was welcome to join them, then scampered by up into the coral they had come from. Fluttershy smiled at him. "I think they like you." He giggled a little. "Good. Wait, what are those?" He turned towards her strange white fish with white scales. They looked like they had flippers, but they seemed to not get more than an inch's height with them. Perhaps they were sea flippers? But why would they be on The Dry then? He approached them curiously. "Why are they in a cage?" Fluttershy kept up with him easily. "Those are chickens. I protect them. The, um, cage is to keep bad things out. Some other animals think that chickens are tasty." He didn't doubt that. There weren't many things that couldn't be devoured as far as the omnivorous Indigo was concerned. He wouldn't consider eating Fluttershy's friends though. "Chickens... They get eaten. Grey, white, golden colors? They're like the tuna of The Dry!" Fluttershy blinked softly. "I... never saw it from that angle before... May... I also ask some questions?" "Of course!" He smiled brightly. "Please." Answering questions felt easier than sounding like a newborn foal. "You're from the ocean, right? I went there recently... Oh, you know that, um, doesn't it... make you nervous to know you could be eaten by so many things all the time?" Indigo tilted his head at Fluttershy. "There are many things in The Dry that would snap up a pony. How do you deal with it?" Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin a moment. "I suppose it's... the same." She smiled at him. "Ocean or land, we're still ponies." "There's a saying where I come from." Indigo nodded as he spoke, "We are all from the same ocean. We may look different..." He gestured between Fluttershy and himself. "But we're still ponies." "W-what's the largest, um, fish you made friends with?" Indigo spread his hooves apart. "Twilight met him! He can hold seven ponies at once and not be slowed down." "Oh my..." Fluttershy blinked with a bit of fear in her eyes, imagining such a large beast. "How does he hold so many ponies at once? Oh wait, you're not being literal, sorry." "Actually, I was." Indigo rolled a hoof. "He has tentacles." "Oh!" "Yeah! He can grab a pony in each and pick them up." "He didn't, um, eat any did he?" "I told him not to and he let them go." Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Now I know what my friends mean." "What do you mean?" "Well.." Fluttershy ran a hoof through her mane. "They say they get scared when I talk to an animal they think is scary, but they aren't scary to me, not when I know what they want." Indigo felt warmth within him. "I feel the same way... I ran into him when he needed a little set of eyes and hooves to get a rock to roll off of one of his tentacles, and we've been friends ever since." Fluttershy nodded quickly. "My friends said I was, um, crazy for helping a manticore that had a big thorn stuck in its paw." "Thorn?" Fluttershy pointed to the Everfree, not far away. "Little parts of plants. They can be quite sharp." "Oh." The idea of sharp plants wasn't foreign to him. "What's a manticore?" It was Fluttershy's turn to spread her hooves wide. "A big animal. It can be a fierce predator, but this one was just hurt and needed help. I saw it was just, um, angry, so... I helped it." Indigo bobbed his head at the idea. "That was good of you. Even predators deserve some help. I'm glad you're alright though." He looked around curiously. "They said you had a friend who was a big dry fish with brown fur?" Fluttershy blinked softly before it came to her. "Oh! Harry! He's my largest friend I see frequently." She gestured to the forest. "He doesn't live that far away from here." "Oh, he visits?" "Mmhmm." Fluttershy nodded. "Except for his weekly massages, I can't be sure when he'll be over for certain. Did you want to meet him? I could introduce you... if you want?" "I would like that." Indigo bobbed his head. "But I came to see you." He hadn't meant it the way he said it, but both heard it and turned red. "I mean..." Fluttershy put a hoof on his mouth. "You're sweet, but you're a little young for me." Indigo blinked. He really hadn't meant for it to sound that way... wait, how old was Fluttershy? He was about to ask when she shook her head at him. "It's not polite to ask a mare. Old enough to know you're barely a stallion." Oh... "Um... sorry?" "No offense taken." She smiled gently. "Have you ever seen a mouse?" He hadn't. "What's a mouse?" She held her hooves close together. "They're small and furry and ever so adorable. Follow me." Indigo got a crash course in small dry animals. He met mice and ducks and chipmunks and even some snakes. "I've only met a few snakes near The Dry," he admitted. "Hello snake." The snake hissed a soft welcome. Fluttershy tilted her head. "You really can talk to animals." "Fish? Yes, but so can you." He smiled brightly. "Do you ever, um, feel you have to?" Indigo tilted his head. "I suppose, but I like talking to them, so I don't mind at all." Fluttershy nodded softly. "Does it... take away from what you would... normally do?" Indigo seemed baffled by that idea. "What would I normally do?" "Nevermind." He had missed something. He was sure of it, but prying after it would just scare his new friend away. "Your house, it's far away from the other ponies." Fluttershy colored. "Y-yes..." "Mine too..." He rubbed at his cheek a little. "Some of my friends scare the other ponies, and the ponies scare a lot of my friends, so..." Fluttershy looked relieved. "You understand." Indigo offered a hoof. "They don't scare me though. You said something about a snack?" "Oh! Yes, please follow me." She led the way to the interior of her cozy home. "Have a seat and I'll have that ready in two shakes of a tail. She trotted off and Indigo settled to await her return.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	42 - Breaking Bread	Indigo's eyes wandered around the cottage until they settled on a small creature. Rabbit. It was called that, he was certain, and it was a kind of small furry dry fish similar to a mouse, but bigger and with larger ears. "Hello rabbit." The rabbit approached him and looked up at him. It didn't seem happy to see him. Why? "Hello?" Indigo tilted his head faintly. "I'm not sitting on your spot, am I?" The rabbit pointed off to where Fluttershy had gone off to, then pointed at Indigo, and made a cutting motion across its small neck. "What?" He reared back. "I would never hurt Fluttershy." To injure such a nice pony? It was-- "Ow!" The rabbit had kicked him in one of his fleshy legs. Without the support, he fell right over, collapsing from the couch to the floor in a heap. "Angel Bunny!" Fluttershy emerged with something balanced on her hooves and set it on the table before approaching the rabbit with a deep scowl. "That is not how we treat our guests!" Chastised or not, the rabbit bounced up to where Indigo had been and settled in the place comfortably. Indigo sat up and blinked. He had just been defeated by the small fish. "I asked if it was your spot..." The smell of the food distracted him though and he looked over at the table. "What did you make? It smells lovely!" "Oh, um..." Fluttershy suddenly looked nervous. "I thought... since you're a seapony and all, I would, you know... make something you'd like?" Indigo made hasty steps over to rear up and peek into the ceramic bowl. The smell was delightful! "You have fish, I mean, sea fish?" He leaned closer. "And you made it so well... Have you made this before?" The idea of a herbivorous dry pony knowing how to prepare any kind of meat, dry or sea, confused him. "You aren't the only animal I've ever met that liked fish." Fluttershy sat down at the table. "Please, enjoy yourself." That he intended to do, but... "Where's your food? Are you going to have fish too?" He settled across from Fluttershy. The fish smelled like it had other things in it. A mix of dry and sea foods? He couldn't wait to try it! "N-no, but thank you." She smiled nervously. He tilted his head at her. "Well... you wait here!" He hopped to the ground and trotted right past her to her kitchen. If she was nice enough to make him food, he would make her something nice for dry pony appetites... He grabbed the fridge's handle in his mouth and opened it, slowly gathering ingredients. "Is everything alright in there?" She sounded just a little worried. "Don't worry!" He cracked a few eggs and put them in a bowl. "Pinkie Pie showed me how to use The Dry to make good dry pony food. Just you wait!" "You really don't have to..." "But I want to." He whisked thoroughly with the beater in his mouth and got to mixing in things and getting a good batter going. With a twist, he summoned the power of The Dry beneath a metal pan strong enough to withstand its power. "We can eat together." He poured the mixture into the pan and it started sizzling and popping, transforming with the power of The Dry into, well, a drier substance that he carefully managed and flipped over. "Almost done..." When it was complete, or at least as close as he could determine, he flipped it right out of the pan and onto a plate. "Ta da!" Fluttershy flew in suddenly and twisted the knob that banished the power of The Dry, "T-thank you." She reached for the plate uncertainly. "She taught you how to make an omelette?" Indigo bobbed his head. "I wanted to... What was that sound?" They both turned for the front where a muffled thump had been heard. Most of the house was filled with a large and brown shape. Harry had arrived, and found the fish. Before Fluttershy could move, half the prepared dish had been devoured. "Ooo! I'm so sorry, Indigo. Harry! You're not to eat things that aren't given to you!" She waved a hoof up at the large dry fish. Indigo emerged after Fluttershy, gawking at the massive shape. Sure, he'd seen larger fish, but that was about the largest living thing he'd seen on land. "You're big!" The bear growled a greeting at him and Indigo waved with far less irritation than Fluttershy had. "So you're Harry huh?" The big bear nodded. "Nice to meet you. We were just having lunch." Indigo settled on his chair and only then noticed half his food had vanished. He peeked over at the bear, then pulled the bowl closer to himself as if to guard it from further attacks that weren't his own. "He must eat a lot." The bear asked him if he meant he was fat. "Oh no! You look powerful, Mister Harry. Not f--" His words were cut off as he stuffed some of the fish into his mouth. Mmm! It tasted just as lovely as it smelled. "Not fat at all." Mmm... Talking and eating was hard, and he focused on stuffing his mouth with the delicious food Fluttershy had made him. Outside, Berry sank down beneath a bush. "Just meeting, you said. Look at them! They already exchanged food!" She pointed to the cottage. "She's eating Indie's food!" Cherry raised a brow. "Indigo would cook for anypony that he could. He likes cooking... Is that bad?" Berry leaned towards Cherry. "You want him stolen away by that air-flippered dry pony?!" "N-no, but I don't think--" "Let me do the thinking." Berry put a hoof to her chest. "For now, let's gather more intel." Cherry raised a brow. "Why did you drag me along anyway? Aren't you trying to win Indigo away from me?" Berry rolled a hoof. "It's different! We're rivals. When we fight, it's normal. She's the outsider." She peeked out from the bush at the cottage and the ponies inside. Inside, Fluttershy brandished a napkin. "Oh dear. I'm glad you liked it." She flew in closer, reaching out with the napkin to clean the mess Indigo had made of himself. Berry gasped dramatically. "Look!" "What?" Cherry finally peeked out just in time to see Fluttershy leaning close to Indigo. From the angle and distance, it looked like the two were kissing. "What?!" "See?!" Berry clopped a hoof on the grass behind the brush. "She's stealing our precious Indie!" Cherry went a nice red color as she backed away from the sight. "I-if this is what he wants..." "No!" Berry wheeled on Cherry. "We can't give up that easily. I'm going to march in there and demand that dry pony back away from Indie." She rose to her full height and started stomping towards the cottage, only for one of her fins to be caught in Cherry's mouth. She was hauled back out of sight in a flash. "Hold up! If this is... if he likes her, then we should let him." Berry thrust a hoof towards the cottage. "She's just taking advantage of him. She can speak to odd fish too, and she's using it to her advantage." "Oh no, a pony with similar interests is using the shared interest to get closer to a pony." Cherry rolled her eyes. "How devious..." "See!?" Berry was completely blind to the faults in her logic. "You go if you want to, but I will defend my Indie!" Cherry grumbled to herself as she trotted off back towards the train. At least trains made sense. She just had to finish fixing that one. It was a lot easier to figure out than colts, or the fillies that chased after them. Not like she even wanted... Berry scowled at the departure of her rival then cleared her throat before she rose up, ready to face the intruder on her lovelife. "Prepare to deal with Sea Berry!" She emerged from the bush to find a rabbit parked directly in front of it, staring at her. "Hello small dry fish." She moved to skirt around it, but it moved to be in her way no matter which way she turned. "Land fish... get out of my way." It shook its head. It understood her, but refused to obey. On one hoof, it understood her; that was good. On the other, it was being annoying on purpose. "Move aside!" She lashed out a hoof and knocked the small creature away as she stomped past, only to find the world spinning around her as she crashed to the ground. She looked back and saw the creature had, somehow, stolen her back legs. How had it even detached them?! "Give those back!" The rabbit saluted at her before bouncing away, her legs in its dirty little grasp. It jumped into another bush and was gone even as she sat up. She was stranded, in the middle of The Dry, with no way to get around but to drag herself around. This was far from ideal... Inside, food was complete, and Fluttershy worked to remove the plates from the table. "Thank you for the eggs, they were very well made." Indigo blushed a little. "S-she said it was one of your favorites." Fluttershy blinked and fled with the dishes, coloring as she went. Indigo looked up at Harry. "So, Fluttershy's friend?" He growled affirmatively. "She seems nice." He nodded at Indigo, then pointed at him. What sort of animal was he, wondered the bear. "Oh, I'm a sea pony. I came from the ocean." Indigo bobbed his head. "And you are... Harry, from the forest?" Harry nodded in agreement before reaching for Indigo. Indie didn't move, and he began stroking his long tail, apparently fascinated by it. Having a bear petting his tail proved to be ticklish and Indie began to giggle as Fluttershy returned. "Aw, you two are getting along." She approached at an easy rate. "Harry, why don't you take Indigo out for a walk?" Indie blinked. "Where would we be dr--walking?" Harry pointed at himself. "To his home, of course." Fluttershy nodded. "He's a very gracious host." To see the land fish's den sounded fun and Indigo bobbed his head. "Sure! Oh, Fluttershy? I still want to meet all your other friends, and, um, trade notes." Fluttershy tilted her head at him as if he'd just suggested an odd thing. "We'll, um, see. I hope you have fun!" Indigo moved for the door, only for the floor to retreat away beneath him. Harry had hefted him right up to the bear's shoulder and carried him out. It seemed dry swimming would not be req--- Indie blinked as he saw Berry on the ground, devoid of her dry-swimmers.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	43 - See?!	Berry let out a little nervous titter as the huge land fish and her precious Indie looked down at her. "Um, hi?" Harry put down Indie, who scampered over to Berry's side. "Are you alright?" He offered a hoof up and soon had her as upright as she could reasonably be without the supporting dry-swimmers. "Look at you, all dusty and, oh, did you fall?" Berry flushed at the attention. Indie was patting her down and looking for injuries rather closely. "I-I'm fine..." Not that she inherently minded his attention, but... "I'm here to rescue you?" Indie tilted his head. "From what?" Berry tried to point, and almost fell over for the effort. "The yellow one. She's stealing you!" "Stealing me?" Indie raised a brow. "We're going to visit Harry, oh, that's his name." He gestured back to his big and furry friend. "Say hi, Harry!" The bear gave a soft growl of greetings as he raised a paw at Berry. Berry blinked in building confusion. "You're leaving?" "Yup." Berry sank a little, then flopped on the ground. "Can I come with you?" Indie bobbed his head. "So long as Harry doesn't mind?" He turned back to the bear, who just shrugged softly. "Looks like it's alright by him. Where are your dry-swimmers? How'd you get all this way without them?!" He looked obviously impressed at the concept of Berry dragging herself from the castle in her current state. With a loudly blown raspberry, Angel made himself known. He was standing on the stolen metal legs and sticking out his tongue at the both of them. "It's the land fish that took my, oh, and it has them!" Berry started dragging herself towards Angel, but at the pace she was going, there was no way she would catch up. Angel hopped off his perch and hefted up the hooves. "Wait!" Indigo thrust a hoof at the small thief. "What do you want?" The rabbit perked an ear at Indigo curiously. "A trade." "Trade?! They're my dry-swimmers!" Berry was getting closer, but in no particular hurry in her dragging motion. Angel tapped a chin thoughtfully a moment before it ran a few claws through its headfur and looked at Indigo meaninfully. "You want me to groom you?" The rabbit nodded. "Oh... alright. I'll groom you." He held up three little fingers. "Three times?" He shook his head and held up the three again. "For three days?" He nodded. "Alright. Grooming for three days." "Don't listen to it! It's probably lying!" Despite Berry's reservations, Angel bounced right past her and handed him the legs. The deal had been made. Indigo nodded at Angel. "Please don't take these again. She needs them." He walked over to Berry and offered up the legs. "Now we can go to Harry's." The sound of thumping brought his eyes over to Angel who was glaring at him. "Or... I can start the first grooming and go to Harry afterwards?" The rabbit nodded. Berry rose up, once again endowed with four legs. She looked ready to tell the rabbit off, but swallowed her biting commentary. Instead she looked to the big, uh... "What are you?" "Oh!" Indigo pointed at Harry. "He's a type of land fish called a bear." Angel thumped Indigo's side and he blinked. "Oh, um, he wants his grooming now. Do you have a..." A book was shoved in his face. "I guess you do." Indie settled back and looked over the instructions for how to groom a rabbit. "Where do I..." Angel was already coming back from a quick sprint with a brush and other grooming supplies. "Oh..." Sure he owed the rabbit a favor, but at least it was efficient about it. Indie took the brush in his mouth and got to work on the little creature. Berry watched Indigo pampering the rabbit and rolled her eyes before looking to Harry. "So, Harry was it? Nice to meet you?" He grunted in what she hoped was a friendly way and offered a paw towards her. She returned the gesture with a hoof and they shook on it. "I guess I can talk to land fish too." Indie giggled a little. He wasn't watching, but he could hear well enough. "Harry's nice, and is good to ponies. He doesn't count." Berry stuck out her tongue. "Then which land fish do count?" She strolled up beside Indie. "Does the yellow one count?" Indigo primped and fussed over his client's fur quietly a moment. "Who? Fluttershy? She's a land pony, not a fish." Berry grumbled softly, "I bet she kisses like one..." "What?" "Indie, we saw you." "Saw me what?" Indigo tilted his head at Berry, only for a swift kick to return his attention to Angel's needs. Berry frowned down at the small land fish, but she had learned it was too tricky to underestimate. "We saw you with Fluttershy, K-kissing..." Indigo went a deep red as he worked. "What?! We did not! Why does everypony think I'm after Fluttershy?" He grumbled to himself as he worked, until a thought struck him. "We?" It was Berry's turn to darken as she realized she said more than she should. "Um..." "Who's with you?" Indigo looked around for a moment before a rabbit's foot reminded him he was in the middle of a job. "Nopony..." Berry glanced away. "I kinda took Cherry with me." Indigo paled, the brush falling from his jaws. "Did she think... that too?" Berry pointed a hoof at Indigo. "Think it? I know what I saw! She did too." "W-what... did she do?" Detecting he wasn't getting anywhere and looking good enough, Angel departed, likely to bother Indigo later. "She went back to her train." Berry rolled her eyes. "She may be willing to give up on-- Where are you going?" Indigo scrambled to his hooves and looked ready to flee. "I have to--" Berry moved in front of him. "We're talking. It's rude to run off." Indigo stammered a moment before he nodded. "You're... right... Fine, tell Cherry that nothing happened." Berry raised a brow high. "You expect me to just lie to my rival?" "It's the truth!" Indigo screamed it much louder than he intended. Harry grunted in annoyance. Berry blinked softly. "Do you mean it?" "Yes... By the waves, yes!" Indigo looked up at Berry with tears threatening to spill. "I'm sorry, but we didn't do anything! We made lunch for each other, that's it, now... I promised Harry we would visit his house, alright? Please tell Cherry." Berry muttered something that sounded like agreement, but Indigo was already leaving. Walking alongside Harry, he vanished into the forest. She crashed to the ground, stunned. The rabbit was there, looking at her like it was just so... "Laugh it up..." She'd really hurt him, and her, both of them... "I have to make this right." She rose to her hooves. "This isn't the kind of fight I was looking for." She approached Fluttershy's house and knocked loudly. A few moments later, the door opened as Fluttershy looked around nervously for the source of the noise. "Yes?" "Sorry I thought you were stealing my coltfriend." She blinked softly. "Oh, um, forgiven." Berry nodded at the shy mare and got to trotting towards the train. She had two more ponies to see! The train came into view, further along in its repairs every day. They'd recently replaced the smokestack and it was looking patchwork overall, but well-loved by their combined effort. Berry quirked a little smile as she heard Cherry working hard inside. "Cherry, come out." "What?" Cherry peeked out the window of her train. "Oh, Berry. Is... he having fun?" "He's visiting a large land fish." Berry hopped up onto the train, wobbling a moment before she found her balance. "He was never dating her." "He wasn't?" Cherry tilted her head. "Not that it was any of my business or anything." She gave a sudden laugh that sounded fake even to her own ears. Berry reached out and put a hoof on Cherry's shoulder. "He's safe." Cherry stopped still, staring at her friend a moment before she shook her head. "I..." "We're rivals now, right?" She quirked a smile and pulled Berry closer. "Bitter rivals." They gave one another friendly hugs of eternal enmity. Things had changed... Back in the forest, Indigo walked alongside his large companion. "Do you have any girl-bear friends?" Harry growled in the negative. "Just as well. Girls are so confusing..." Harry lowered a paw to pat Indigo on the head while quietly insisting he was young yet to be making decisions. Indigo flushed furiously. A land fish was advising him?! ... Maybe it was right... He let out a long sigh. "What should I do?" Harry answered with a wave at its home, which was a hole carved into one of the land coral's base. Indigo approached it curiously and peered into it just to be shoved from behind. He half-slid down into the spacious room before the bear climbed in after him. It was a big space. He saw a little container for dry power, and some stairs curling around the room upwards. For a fish's den, it was quite ornate! "This is a nice place." Harry grunted his thanks as he lumbered to the side and sat down, then he looked at Indigo, mentioning he looked like a fish. "I'm not a fish." Indigo looked back at his tail. "I'm to--" Harry noted he liked fish. "Oh that's nice." Especially for dinner. Indigo squeaked and backed away from Harry. "No eating friends!" Harry eyed Indigo quietly a moment before shrugging. It wasn't a sure message, but the bear didn't seem to be hunting him. Good enough? "You already ate half my lunch..." Indigo shook his head. "You really do eat a lot. What else do you eat, um, besides fish?" The bear seemed to consider a moment before it rose and walked past Indigo. He turned and followed the large creature outside, where it pointed to a dangling... thing, growling that it really liked the sweet stuff inside. "Why don't you take it?" The bear pointed up at it again. It was far too high for him to reach. Indigo considered the situation a moment, then noticed the dangling thing wasn't alone. It had little things buzzing around it. Curious! Indigo wandered over towards it and called up to the small insects, "Hello! May I talk with you?" One came down to his level and asked him what he wanted. "Could I have some of the sweet stuff up there?" Indigo pointed up at the curious object. The insect declined with an angry sound and a buzzing of its wings, with a threat to sting Indigo if he tried to get any. Harry shrugged as if he were not expecting anything other than that.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	44 - End Episode, Relations	Indigo considered the coral quietly a moment, along with the buzzing little insects that guarded over it. There had to be a solution... One that didn't end with a lot of angry insects. "What if we traded?" One of the insects buzzed before him, asking him what he'd give in return for it that'd possibly be an even exchange. A great question... Indigo scanned around slowly. "What do you need?" They needed flowers, to avoid another kind of insect that looked sort of like them but weren't, and they needed peace to do their job. Indigo was not helping with the last part. Indigo smiled brightly. "What if Harry, that's the bear there." He pointed. "What if he brought you new flowers and watered the ones that were here, so you ended up with a lot of new flowers. Go on, or so the insect invited. "Well then you'd have lots of flowers, and a guardian." Indigo sat up, nodding quickly. "You give him some sweet stuff in return, and that would be a fair trade, right?" They weren't so fast to believe. "I'll get him to bring some flowers first, just to show he can." Indigo hopped to his hooves and dry-swam over to Harry. "Hey! Good news. I think they'll trade the sweet stuff to you." That perked Harry's interest, but what would he trade? "Yourself, I mean, you just get flowers." Indigo moved his hooves to show the approximate size of a good flower. "Bring it and plant it here, where the insects can reach it easily. Water them and care for them, and they'll give you sweet stuff in return." Harry glanced up at the insects before looking back at Indigo with obvious uncertainty. Indigo shrugged softly. "Bring a nice batch of flowers and plant them and either they do their part, or at least your house has some more flowers around it. That's not so bad." It was a deal. Harry rose up and wandered off in pursuit of flowers. As it turned, that part of the forest didn't have as many flowers as other parts, and Harry had to go far to get a real armful. That made him all the more welcome when he began planting the flowers, and the rejoicing among the insects got louder when he watered them all. He had just made their lives a lot easier and safer. Coming down with a small bucket held up by a swam of the insects, they set the bucket down beside the bear and buzzed away without a word. Not that words were required. Harry accepted his gift with a happy grunt and moved to his home to enjoy it. Indigo had done well. Sure, Harry hadn't said thanks, but fish were funny that way. He turned back for the castle and got to dry-swimming home, whistling along the way with building self-satisfaction, at least until he remembered the mess with his friends. He swallowed heavily as he went, hoping that Cherry wouldn't be too sad about whatever they had seen that upset them so much. Maybe a gift would help? Yes! Indigo redirected himself and approached Ponyville proper at a good trot. "What would she like..." He trotted right into the marketplace and began to look around. "Hey." A unicorn, green in color, was looking at him. "You're one of the sea ponies that lives with Twilight, right?" Indigo leaned a little, seeing the unicorn had an odd thing on her flank. Something with... were those bones? He couldn't tell. "Yeah, say, I'm looking for a gift for a mare." She colored a bit and burst into giggles. "Oh my! Such a daring colt you are. What sort of gift?" He wasn't that young! Indigo colored a little at being called a colt. "A very special gift for a special friend of mine. She's... been a friend forever, and I kinda hope eventually more?" "One of the other sea ponies?" The pony tilted her head. "Don't tell her!" He raised a hoof to his mouth. "But yes. The blue one." "Brave." "Huh?" "Getting a gift for one without one for the other. She's going to be jealous." So what if she was?! For a moment Indigo just didn't care what Berry thought, but he reconsidered it. Berry hadn't done anything that wrong besides decide that she liked him, and... was that a bad thing? "O-okay, maybe one for both?" The unicorn nodded. "Let's pick something nice. Oh, my name's Lyra." She offered a hoof. "How about some jewelry? Haven't met a mare yet that doesn't like something shiny that goes with her fur or mane." Indigo clopped one hoof against hers. "That's a good idea. Where do I get those around here, and do I have enough, um, bits?" He dug out his collection of coins and showed them to Lyra. She examined his collection with a raised brow. "Maybe jewelry is a bit out of your reach..." He pouted and she hastily raised a hoof. "Easy there, scout. We'll get your lady-friends some candy instead." "Huh?" "Candy, nice and bright and still colored right." Lyra turned away. "Come with me. They'll forgive you if you give these to them with a big smile and a sincere apology." She looked over her shoulder. "You did make a mistake, right?" He did, but what it was... "I think so. I'll do that then, if it means they'll be happy." Indigo raced to be beside her and soon they were approaching a store he hadn't been in before. "What is this?" "This is my best friend's shop." Lyra gestured broadly. "Welcome to Bon Bon's Sweet Shop, where every bite is sweet, unless it's sour." She rolled her eyes. "Worst tagline, best candy. This way." She opened the door with her magic and trotted inside. "We'll brighten both of their days." Soon, Indigo was heading back to the castle with two bags strapped to his sides, brimming with the sweet and sour mix that he was assured would win him forgiveness. He was whistling again, confident and happy. He would give them the candy and apologize for... whatever he'd done to make them think he was doing something awful, and then they could be friends again! He found them both in the kitchen, preparing something. So they were hungry? Perfect! He approached them with a smile. "I got a gift for you." Berry glanced at Cherry then back at Indigo. "For who?" Her voice made it plain that the answer was very important to her. Getting one gift would have been a mistake, or so Indigo silently decided. He pulled off one bag. "Both of you for both of my special friends." He revealed the brightly-colored candy for them. "I'm sorry I made you so scared before." Even if he still had no idea how he had. "Please accept this as my token of apology." Cherry leaned in over the bag with her own colored candy and peered at it curiously a moment before she sniffed it. "What is it?" Indigo waved at it proudly. "They're candy. Some are sweet and some are sour, but they're all tasty, promise." Berry snatched one from Cherry's bag and chewed on it thoughtfully a moment before she nodded. "How is it?" asked Cherry curiously just before Berry stuffed a candy in her mouth. "Mmf!" She started chewing the candy a moment before she let out her own mmm and settled down. Soon both mares were exchanging candies back and forth with one another. He had succeeded! "All forgiven?" Cherry leaned across. "Berry told me it was... kind of a mistake." Indigo bobbed his head. "I swear, we did nothing wrong." Berry shook her head. "I wouldn't believe him if not for the way he said it..." She popped another candy into her mouth. "He's innocent, I'm sure of it." Indigo reached shyly for one of the candies, only to be warded away by Cherry's hoof. She snagged one and popped it right in his mouth. "Ours, you get some only by being a good boy." Cherry leaned in closer. "Speaking of which, we've been talking." Indigo tensed. Their conversation could mean a lot of trouble for him. Mmm, that candy really was good... Berry nodded. "We have decided to make our competition formal, and you are the judge. You will decide which mare wins." Indigo blinked softly. Wait, did that mean... "Cherry, you?" Cherry held up a hoof. "You have to make a choice." Indigo crashed to his hooves as the implication became clear. He had to pick a winner, and with it, a loser. He could just-- Berry shook her head. "And no picking for at least one full turning of the moon." Cherry nodded. "I have an advantage that's unfair. You have to decide as if you didn't already want to be my coltfriend." How could he pretend not to? He co-- Berry took his cheeks in her hooves. "Give me a chance at least. If you decide, fairly, you want Cherry, then I'll accept that." Cherry bobbed her head. "A fair chance." "B-but... you.. will you?" Cherry smiled. "I think I care about you, Indigo..." Indigo felt his heart racing as he looked back and forth between the two mares. He leaned back against the table for support as he tried to regain his breath. Things had taken a turn... Berry rose to her hooves. "You'll give me a fair chance, right? This isn't a fight if one of us already won." Cherry nodded firmly. "You have to promise to be fair. Berry deserves a chance." Indigo didn't understand it. If Cherry really wanted him, why would she even want Berry to have a chance? Everything felt dizzy and confusing. "I need a swim..." He staggered off towards their room, leaving the two of them together. Berry glanced aside at Cherry. "Do you think he'll do it?" Cherry wriggled her nose. "As your rival, I will give you a few pointers to get on the right side, then we can compete fairly." Cherry nodded firmly before taking a candy and chewing it. "These really are nice." Berry took one for herself. "He's a thoughtful stallion..." She reached and tapped Cherry's nose. "And you are a thoughtful rival." She flashed a bright smile. "Win or lose, it will be an honor to face you on the field of battle." Cherry burst into giggles at that. "I hope... win or lose, you keep being my rival." Berry blinked at that. "Can you be a rival forever?" "Why not?" "What would we be rivals for?" Cherry gestured in the direction of the train. "We could do mechanical things? We have that going, don't we?" "Oh yeah." Berry smiled. "I'll show you how good my mechanics are, starting with this engine of yours. How close are we to finishing it?" Cherry waved it off. "Close, but I need a few parts that broke clean off and I need a copy that isn't broken to copy from." Berry rose to her hooves. "Watch. I'll get those!"
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	45 - Episode 8, Drier Dry	The train rumbled softly beneath their hooves as they sat on the wide cushioned chair that they were offered. Applejack smiled at all three of them. "Ah'm glad ya came with me. Now, ah know there ain't a lot of water where we're headed, but there's plenty else to see." Indigo perked an ear as he glanced outside. The Dry was looking drier by the mile as they went. Coral gave up and there were only a few small bushes to punctuate things. It was truly... dry... "You say ponies live out here?" Berry shook her head. "I don't see how they can survive." Cherry looked the most optimistic of the three. "The land ponies are nothing if not clever. They probably bring water with them." Applejack directed a hoof at Cherry. "Got it in one. We also make sure to collect all the rain water when it comes down. Ah mean, it does rain, just not often." Berry let out a sigh of relief. "They won't mind if we drink then?" "Shoot 'course not." Applejack shook her head. "'Course, gettin' a pool together might be a little more tricky... Y'all will be fine without fer a few days, right?" Indigo put a hoof behind his head. "If we have to, sure. We won't, you know, dry up and blow away so long as we can drink." Cherry made a little face. "Parts of us dry up. We'll make it though." She tilted her head. "They take baths, right?" Applejack seemed confused at the question. "Reckon they do or they'd put out a powerful stink." Berry brightened. "Then we'll just take nice long baths." She nodded to the other two. "A little soak will keep us going just fine. So what made you bring us right now?" Applejack turned a hoof frog-side up. "Well, ya see, mah family wants my opinion on some of the new farmin' techniques they done figured out. They trust me to give an honest opinion, and ah know my apples plenty good." Indigo tilted his head. "They grow apples?" He pointed out the window. "Out here of all places?" He shook his head back and forth. "How?" Cherry shrugged a little. "They must use a lot of their water for it. That has to be a huge chore." Applejack nodded at Cherry. "It is, and ah reckon that has somethin' to do with what they're hankerin' ta show me, so ah'm looking forward t' seein' it." Berry raised a brow. "You didn't have to bring us to see this. Especially not so far away... what's your real reason?" Applejack suddenly looked nervous. "What?! No! Ah..." Cherry looked at Berry with a frown. "Be nice to Applejack! She's been a good fri--" "No..." Applejack heaved a sigh. "Ah shouldn't even try... Look, Twilight done figured a little trip wit' me would get you out of the way for just long enough." Indigo glanced from the mares at his side to looking at Applejack directly. "Why did she want us out of the way? Have we been bad guests?" "No no no!" Applejack waved her hooves frantically. "We're mighty pleased ta have ya'll as guests, ah promise. She just... wanted to move that big train ya got goin' on." Cherry and Berry both went slack jawed together. Cherry leaned forward and struck the cushion with a hoof with enough force and bad aim that she almost threw herself from the seat. "Where is she putting it?!" Applejack raised her hooves in a placating motion. "Easy there, easy. She didn't do a lick of harm to it, ah swear. She's just moving it a little. She didn't like it quite so close to her castle so she's having it moved away just a tiny bit." She put her hooves close together. "You'll hardly notice the difference." Indigo sided with Applejack on this one. "She wouldn't hurt your train. Let's have faith in Twilight." Berry let out a loud snort. "Right... faith... She's not a bad dry pony, after all. If she wants to move the train, I guess..." "It's alright," finished Cherry, nodding before she slipped down to her hooves. "We have a long time before we arrive?" Applejack let out a little breath as the tense moment passed. "We got plenty of time left. We'll have dinner in the dining car later, then catch some sleep. By the time we wake up, we should be there." Cherry nodded as she wandered away from the others. She went to see that 'dining car'. She wasn't sure what made it a 'car', but there were dry ponies drinking and eating things. They talked with one another in friendly tones and seemed to be having a good enough time. "Lost?" She turned to see a conductor smiling at her. "Sorry if I startled you, ma'am. You just looked lost, is all." Cherry bobbed her head. "Not really lost, per se, just looking around. This is the dining car, right?" "Sure is. If you don't mind the question, though I figure you get asked it a lot, but what sort of pony are you?" He gestured over her. "You look like a fish out of water, if you don't mind the pun." Cherry smiled a little. It was a bad joke, but puns tended to be. "I'm not a fish. You can see me breathing just fine." She took a deep breath of the air as if to demonstrate. "My name is Cherry. What's your name?" "Oh, uh. I... shouldn't be making friendly with the passengers... I'm on duty." Cherry tilted her head. "Are you a guard of the train?" He blinked at that. "That's not a completely wrong way of putting it. Nice to meet you, Cherry. If we ever meet off the train, I'll be glad for the chance. But since we're here, what can I help you with today?" She considered that a moment then pointed at the collection of bottles behind the bar. "Is that water? Why so many bottles?" If they were all the same bottle, one label would be more than enough, so... "Nope." He shook his head. "Ah mean, suppose you could call it a sort of water. Fire water." Cherry tilted her head. "Fire and water are... opposites. Wait!" She sat and clopped her forehooves. "This is a train. Do they have steam?" He laughed in a good natured way. "Oh no, not quite that hot. They're drinks, I assure you, just don't drink too much or you'll make a foal of yourself." "There you are." Indigo approached from behind Cherry, Berry just steps behind him, "We were looking for you." Berry nodded. "We just wanted to be sure you were alright." Applejack took up the rear. "Well, since we're all here, we might as well get ourselves a bit to eat." The conductor nodded at the group and moved on. "Have a nice day." Cherry watched him go before pointing at the bottles as she looked to Applejack. "He said those drinks will make you look foalish. Why?" Applejack blinked. "Ya don't know? Guess ya don't. Well..." Should she? A little couldn't hurt. "Have a seat all of ya, and we'll try some." She wandered up to the bar and clopped it softly. "Ah'll take some cider. Hard, but sweetest ya got." With the bottle secured, she approached the trio of sea ponies and set the bottle down on the table. "Now he wasn't lying. Ya go drinkin' this fast, it can really be packin' a punch. It makes ya drunk." Indigo tilted his head. "We'll drink it before it drinks us." Berry nodded. "I'm not afraid of some odd water." Applejack slapped her head with a clop of a hoof. "It ain't like that. The stuff in the uh, water, see, ya drink it and it makes ya a bit relaxed, and ya might do stupid things since ya don't think things so scary while yer slowed down. Get it?" They didn't. She could see that they didn't at all. She pulled the bottle closer. "Right. One little sip for ya three and we see how ya handle it before we continue." She carefully tipped the bottle over to form three shot glasses worth of cider. "Enjoy." All three sea ponies reached for the glass closest to them and pulled the mystery fluid closer. It smelled sweet. Of apples, really, with a little hint of something else. Berry fixed her gaze with Cherry. "I bet I can drink it before you." Cherry responded by suddenly lifting her glass and gulping the muzzle-full of liquid, defeating Berry. While Berry stammered, Indigo lifted his own glass carefully and nursed at the cider, tasting and trying to decipher its mysteries. "I think I like it." Now the last to try, Berry stuck out her tongue and downed her portion. "Mmm, it isn't bad at all. May I have some more?" She put her glass down and pushed it towards Applejack, guardian of the cider. "I'm still thirsty." Applejack set out a carafe of actual water. "Yer welcome ta drink some normal water while ya wait, but I won't be givin' anymore fer a little while. Let's see how ya handle what ya got. Glad y'all like it at least." All three eyed the water and licked their lips. They were thirsty, but they wanted the new stuff... Three pairs of eyes settled on the bar of tasty beverage. Applejack only held the bottle closer, as if to protect it. "How ya feelin'?" Cherry shrugged softly. "I feel thirsty, but fine. I'm not slow or anything like you said." Berry nodded in agreement. "I feel fine." "Nothing here," offered Indigo. "Are you sure we drank it right?" As if there were other ways to do so. Applejack let out a little sigh as she began pouring another small portion. "Ya barely got any in ya yet. Look, here. I jus' need y'all to believe me, alright? Ah ain't doin' this ta be mean or nothin'." Down their gullets it went. It still tasted of apples. Liquid apples, which was funny. Indigo pointed at the bottle in Applejack's protective hooves. "You should have some too." "What?" "It's not fair that we three get to have some and you don't get any." Indigo nodded, and soon the girls were supporting him and all three were looking at her instead of the bottle. "Uh..." It's not like she couldn't handle a little cider. Heck, she'd partaken plenty of times! Why not? She poured herself a big glass and swigged it right down in front of the wide eyes of her wards. All too quickly, the cider in the glass was reduced to just a glass and Applejack sat back with a loud and happy sigh. She felt the warmth spread through her of a good drink. Perhaps she'd drunk a scootch too fast... nah... she could handle it...
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	46 - Arriving Wet	Applejack staggered off the train, just to collapse at her cousin's hooves. Braeburn blinked in surprise, looking down at his downed kin. "Welcome to Appleloosa?" It lacked some bit of his usual exuberance. "Are y'all alright?" The three seaponies disembarked after her. Indigo waved at Braeburn enthusiastically. "Hello! Are you Applejack's friend?" "Her cousin, to be specific." His eyes moved over the three. "Are y'all the sea ponies she was all in a tizzy about?" Applejack suddenly made an attempt to find her hooves. "Ah'm fine!" Berry put a hoof on one of Applejack's shoulders. "She drank too much cider." Braeburn's eyes widened with understanding. "Shoot cous', if'n ya were going to throw that kinda party, shoulda warned me." He threw a leg over her midsection and helped support her. "This way." "Ah don't need... help." Applejack's weak complaints did little to dissuade Braeburn and she was led away from the train with the seaponies trailing behind them. Cherry glanced at the others. "Did you see her?" Berry nodded softly. "I think I will avoid the fire water if it makes you act quite that way." Indigo tilted his head a little. "What we had tasted alright." Cherry waved a hoof. "But we barely got to drink any at all! Applejack kept it!" Indigo's head sank. "I thought getting her to drink a little would make her relax and share." Berry patted Indigo on the pack supportively. "A clever idea, but predicting dry ponies is perilous work at the best of times." Braeburn looked back at his new, if temporary, wards. "Sorry fer welcomin' y'all this way. Appleloosa has a lot more to offer than just cider on the ride over." Cherry smiled brightly. "We look forward to seeing it all." Her eyes wandered across the... dry... Was there a word for more dry than dry? It was as if The Dry had focused its power there. It was warm and there wasn't even any humidity in the air. It was dry. "How do you survive in this?" "Ah shoot, it ain't too bad. Let's get Applejack to someplace safe and ah can show y'all around." Braeburn led Applejack and the others to his modest abode and soon had the cranky Applejack tucked into a bed with a bucket set beside her, just in case. "Now, you drink up plenty of this here water, or yer gonna regret it when you wake up." The seaponies were baffled even as Applejack accepted the drink. Berry rolled a hoof. "Why does she need more water?" Braeburn looked uncertain a moment. "Well, um, when a pony goes drinkin' down the sauce, they need water, or they'll get a mighty powerful headache for the trouble. The more water, the better." Indigo gasped loudly. "It really is fire water! It's drying her out from the inside!" The other two sea mares looking disturbed at the idea. Cherry shook her head. "Nope, joining Berry. No more fire water for me. I don't want to be dry, inside or out, but especially inside." Braeburn tilted his head a little. "Well, ah ain't gonna encourage it, but drinkin' in moderation ain't dangerous." He stuck his tongue out at the slumbering Applejack. "The key is moderation... Now, let's see the sights!" He trotted right past them, eager to lead the way. The seaponies fell in behind him. Cherry approached closest. "Why'd you make a town here, where it's so dry?" "Well, some come fer the challenge of it." He nodded as he spoke, "others just like gettin' far away from it all. An' others? Well, there just wasn't enough room, so they came out to the frontier, and here we are!" He pointed out across the town. "We got all the comforts right here. Sure it can get powerful hot and dry at times, but ya get used to it." Indigo raised a brow at the claim. "I doubt that..." Berry nodded. "Perhaps a dry pony... What did you want to show Applejack?" "Huh? Oh!" He turned towards the orchard and started trotting towards it. "Well she's in no shape t' see it, but ah suppose showing ya three won't hurt nothin'. Ya ready to be amazed?" He gestured with great dramatic flare at a lever. "Ta daaa!" Cherry tilted her head faintly. "It's a very nice... what does it do?" It looked like one of the many control levers for her train, but there it was, in the ground. Surely there were no trains nearby, unless... "Is there a machine underground?" Braeburn smiled brightly. "Guessed it in one. This'll let us water the trees even more effective than before. Watch!" He pulled the lever and metal snakes burst up through the dry coral reef before they began to wave back and forth, splashing water everywhere with their gyrations as if they were made of water. Indigo swept from left to right before he charged ahead, right into the path of the sprinkling water. He began to laugh and call out with joy as he played in the plentiful water. At least until Braeburn turned it off. "We can water the entire orchard at once, and keep the water from--" "Turn it back on!" Indigo bounced up and down. Braeburn shook his head. "No can do. We save water not having it come above ground until the watering happens, but that doesn't mean we can just go and waste it all." "It isn't wasting it..." murmured Indigo defeatedly. Braeburn reached out to pat the sea stallion on the head. "Don't you worry, when Applejack's woke up and it's waterin' time, we'll be sure yer there t' enjoy the whole thing." Berry cleared her throat softly. "I'm not going to be... as excited, but if you wouldn't mind?" "Ah'll be sure yer all there t' enjoy the water," he assured. "Now let's see the rest of the town. Ah imagine y'want to see more than a fancy sprinkler." Cherry stepped forward slowly. "Actually... I want to get a closer look at it. Is it alright if I take it apart?" Braeburn's eyes widen. "What? Why... No! We paid no few bits t' get this here equipment." Berry slid in against the stallion. "She may not look it, but my rival's a real pro when it comes to mechanical things." "Yeah?" Indigo nodded quickly. "If you let her look at it, she'll find anything wrong with it really fast." Cherry smiled brightly as she pointed to the spot under the lever. "I'll throw in a free oiling while I'm in there. Machines like to be freshly oiled and greased. Please... It'll work at least as good as when you got it, promise." Berry thumped her chest. "If she doesn't put it together right, I will. Together, there's no way we can fail." Brae looked ready to continue the arguing then Indigo slid up against his side. "Besides, we don't want to waste time arguing when you could be showing us your nice city." "C-city? It's not quite that big. Come this way." He was distracted, enough to not say no again, which sounded like a yes to their devious ears. All three followed him with happy smiles while the mares considered how exactly they would access the guts of the vast machine instead of listening much to what Braeburn was saying about their pony-drawn carriages or even their watering holes, especially since the latter seemed to serve fire water from the look of it. It all sounded interesting in a vague and detached way, but they had already set their hearts on another pursuit. It wasn't until the tour was over and they were released to Applejack's care, snoozing as she was, that he finally gave them a moment alone. Cherry looked over at the sleeping Applejack. "Think she'll be alright?" Berry pointed at Cherry. "After you make her water machine even better before she even sets eyes on it? She'll be happier than she even knows what to do with." Indigo approached the unconscious farmer and looked her over. "She's just sleeping." He spied the half-full pitcher of water and nodded. "She must have woke up. Dry ponies don't drink in their sleep, right?" Confident that their friend was well on the way to recovery, they spilled free of the house and made their way ever-so-stealthily towards the apple orchard. Dry ponies may have noticed them going, with their attempt to be stealthy just drawing more attention to their unusual appearances, but they didn't stop them from creeping from building to building or making mad dashes for cover. Maybe it was just a sea critter game of some sort? They approached the orchard, cresting the small hill that barred the way with three revealed smiles. That day they would do mechanics! With a giddy little giggle, Cherry was first there to arrive at the lever. "Let's see where this connects and that should lead to the main body of this machine." Berry nodded in agreement. "It has to, or it wouldn't control it." Lacking a shovel, all three got to pawing at the earth with their hooves and digging under the lever carefully. Slowly they unearthed along the pipe that ran downwards, seeking the rest of the strange machine and its water controlling parts. What could go wrong? "Found it!" proclaimed Berry proudly as she started digging to the side, slowly revealing a large tank, dozens on dozens of spreading tubes, and the main body of the mechanism that brought it all together. All three gave an appreciative and collective Ooo at the machinery at work. It was no train, but it was worthy of consideration. Cherry only looked more eager to begin. "I can work with this..." It wasn't a train. If she could figure out a train, the water machine would be easy by comparison.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	47 - Watcha Doin'?	In the hole of their digging, the three seaponies worked together to slowly disassemble the mighty water pump. After a near catastrophe before they managed to get the water tank detached without an explosion or burst, they were practically buried in a pile of pipes as Cherry and Berry went over what went to what. "Watcha doing?" a young, male inquisitive voice called down into the hole from the edge. A pair of coltish heads looked down at them curiously, eyes wide even by foal standards. Blue mane topped the brownish-orangish furred head of the young unicorn. Indigo looked up to meet the fellow st-- er, colt's eyes. "Oh, um, hi there." He stood up amidst the pipes, carefully avoiding stepping on any of them. "Nothing bad..." Maybe what they shouldn't be doing, but nothing bad! The second colt, a pudgy blue unicorn with brown mane nodded to Indigo. "Great! Snails an' I are always up for nothing bad. Can we join you?" Indigo tilted his head at the two. "Oh uh." He didn't know the infamous duo, least of all so far removed as Appleloosa. "S-sure, but be careful. We can't break anything." He actually made to climb out of the hole. Cherry gave a sudden cry of celebration. "Look, right here!" She pointed to some point of the massively complex machine. Berry nodded in grave agreement. "Very astute, just as I would expect from a rival of mine, now, I see how I would fix it. How would you go about it, hmm?" "A very good question, eh?" the taller unicorn said slowly as he slid his way down toward the bottom of the hole to join them, looking over the machinery thoughtfully. Bonk, Indigo collided with a hoof on the way up and was sent skidding down into the pile of pipes, his escape ruined. "Oh, uh..." That was a popular saying for him just then. "Well I guess that works. Do you know anything about machine?" "Machines? Do we ever!" the stouter unicorn asked. "But uh, what are you three up to with this one?" His cutie mark displayed a machine, a pair of handled blades attached together. His friend's image of a snail was less encouraging. Cherry pointed at the machine. "This is a water machine, for making water spray over the dry coral so apples can grow big and wet." She licked over her lips with obvious appreciation for the art of apples. "But I think the regulator is clogged, and the way it's made up, it'll clog itself not long after it's turned on each time... It'll never flow strong enough." Indigo noticed the machine mark and smiled brightly. "Oh, Cherry, Berry, look! He's a machine pony too!" "Yep, yep, I can see that," Snips confirmed. "So what we need is a bigger one so more water can go through, right?" Berry tilted her head. "I considered that very solution." She sounded impressed. Cherry thrust a hoof up. "But what if it's that big on purpose? We can't rule that out. The clog isn't right, for sure, but the size?" "I'm sure they just didn't have a bigger one handy at the time," Snails backed up his buddy with a small grin. "Can you make a new one?" Snips asked, looking at the seaponies curiously, particularly eyeing their shiny legs. Berry nodded at Snips. "He's full of good ideas. Hey, you two know if they have a, hm, what was it.. A smithy? We'll get a new one made." Cherry's snout wrinkled with worry. "That'll take too long." Not like they didn't ask permission to do what they were doing or anything... "Oh? Is this a rush job, wink wink?" Snips inquired, making the gesture as he spoke it aloud. "Why didn't you say so?" "We can work fast," Snails claimed slowly. Indigo glanced between the two new ponies. What luck that they happened by! "That's really nice of you." Cherry was more utilitarian, gently working off the trouble piece and hoofing it right over to Snips. "Here you are. If you can make one that doesn't clog up so easily, that'd be good." Berry held up her hooves together. "A liiiitle bigger won't hurt." A more savvy pony might find the two colts' giggling a bit ominous as they trotted away with the piece to work on it out of sight. Indigo watched them go, even helping them out of the hole before he slid down to rejoin his friends. "We are blessed by the waves today." Cherry nodded. "Now we just have to wait." She crossed her hooves and soon all three of them were waiting impatiently for the fixed or replacement piece. True to their word, the unicorns returned in under an hour, amazing by smithing standards. Their new and improved regulator seemed remarkably like the old one but a bit bigger and lacking anything non-metal. "Here you go, this should do the trick just fine," Snips assured as he floated it down to the sea ponies. Cherry spun it around on her hoof, it looked... alright. So in it went. She screwed it in tight and got right to placing the other parts where they belonged. "They'll be so happy when it works the way it should, all tuned up and ready to go!" Berry gave a hoof in the reassembly project, grabbing pipes and turning them against the others as she put them together. "And they never have to even know we were here." Oops! "Not that we're not, um, allowed... here..." "Oh, gotcha, none of us was ever here," Snips confirmed. "See you around!" With that he and his companion took their leave, enjoying the head start of being at the top of the hole. It took some time before the others emerged. With the tank re-attached and all the pipes in place, the machine was as ready as ever it would be for the moment. They didn't flee right away but got to burying the hole they had made in hurried shoves. When their work had been reduced to a mild pile of loose earth, they let out a communal sigh. They hadn't been caught. Surely nothing but good things had been accomplished that day. Applejack sat up in bed and pressed a hoof to her skull. Despite the quiet in the room, it felt like her brain wanted to escape her body. She took slow breaths, controlling her nausea and getting her hooves to the ground before she started looking around. The pitcher of room-temperature water was soon dealt with. "Thanks 'Cous.." Her voice was cracked and broken and she winced on hearing it. What was she thinking overdoing it on alcohol like that? On an empty stomach? On a warm day? It's like she was trying to get herself drunk. Well... drunk she managed. At least she remembered the events leading up to it. She had kept the bottle away from all of them. All... "Where are they?" She looked around and peeked under the bed as if they might be there. They were nowhere to be seen. "That can't be good..." She didn't see Braeburn either, so maybe they were with him? That wouldn't be so bad... Except... She grimaced a little bit, remembering the last time he was trusted to look after somepony. "Brae?" Calling for him did no favors for her headache. She gave up on it and approached the door. She counted to three before allowing the full bearing of the sun to gaze upon her. It was like Celestia herself disapproved of her shoddy behavior and was pounding it into her head. "Sorry..." Not that the sunbeams cared, but she felt a tiny bit better for saying it. She closed the door behind herself and squinted around the town. Where would Braeburn be... She had a good idea where to ask and she mosied towards the sheriff's office at a sedate pace. Applejack perked up as a voice called to her across the street. A female family member came trotting towards her. "Landsake girl, you look like you rode alon' the underside of the train to get here. You alright?" She smiled a little. "Been better, but ah'll be alright. Have ya seen Braeburn or a trio of sea ponies?" "You mean the critters with fishes for back ends?" "That's the one." Applejack was in no mood to argue specifics. "You seen 'em?" "They were playin' some kinda game earlier." She pointed across the street. "Half the town saw them skulkin' along, gigglin' and pretendin' to be all sneaky like." Applejack applied her hoof to her forehead before realizing that the motion was an orchestra of discomfort. "Ugh, which way'd they git to?" She pointed the way. "That way, towards the orchard. Why?" "Hopefully nuthin', but ah'm just playin' it safe. Ah'd best get moseying on. You take care, alright?" She tipped a hat she wasn't wearing. "Sure thing, cousin. You best take care of yourself better than you have been or Ah'll tell granny about it." That was no idle threat, and Applejack quirked a smile. "Ah promise it won't happen again." She trotted away from her kin, as much as to get some more quiet as she was eager to put her eyes on the missing sea ponies and be sure nothing bad had happened while she was passed out. As she staggered down the road, a face that brought hope to her came into view. There was Braeburn! She aimed for him with a tired smile. "Hey, cous'! Where are the sea ponies?" He perked an ear at her before turning a bit red. "Ah left them with you." Applejack blinked softly. "When? While ah was asleep?" "W-well, yeah kin--" "And you thought that was a good idea?" Applejack felt her headache growing more intense and held her skull as if to compress it against the bulging it felt like it was trying to do. "Look, fine, where are they now?" She silently made a note that Braeburn was about the worst foalsitter Equestria would know, only to realize it was her fault he had the choice at all. "And don't let me touch a drop of cider." Ugh, she was normally much better with alcohol. One time! Why'd it have to be while she was in charge of a bunch of young ponies? "W-well, Ah..." He saw two colts happening past and took a chance. "Say, have ya seen any of three sea ponies 'round here? Kinda hard ta miss." "Nope," both replied with eerie synchronicity. "We sure haven't seen them." "Uhh, nope. They didn't do a thing near that funny stick in the ground." Applejack raised a brow at the two, then looked at Braeburn. "Kindly tell me this 'stick in the ground' ain't nothing important ah should be worried fer?" Too late. Braeburn was galloping away towards the orchard to see what had been done to his precious new machine. That he saw nothing obvious as he got closer did nothing to ease his worries even a little. He wasn't blind, and could see someone had been... digging? "Shoot... Ah done told them t' leave it alone..."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	48 - Insecure Footing	Applejack caught up with Braeburn, the excitment erasing her headache, for just a moment. "What is it?" She saw nothing out of place really. Braeburn leveled a hoof at the lever. "They did... somethin'. Somethin' with the water system." Applejack looked between the lever and her cousin. "So, what'd they do?" Braeburn put a hoof behind his head. "Can't reckon... Suppose there's really only one way t' find out." He put a hoof on the lever. "Be ready for anything." He pulled it into position. Beneath them there was the soft rumble of the machine coming to life. The sprinklers popped up around the orchard and began spraying the trees, but Braeburn quickly turned it off, lest the water cause damage in the mid-day sun. "Ah don' get it..." Applejack tilted her head. "Well, they are pretty talented when it comes to mechanics... Maybe they did ya a solid?" "Maybe." Braeburn didn't sound entirely convinced. "Well, it works. Ah can't really complain." He shrugged softly. "Shoot, uh, here she is! This is what ah called ya out here to see, cous'!" He gestured dramatically to the lever that had already lost most of its magic. "Ta da?" "It's mighty fine." Applejack nodded agreeably. "But if ah don't lay down and wait out this headache, ah may do somethin' crazy." She turned back to Braeburn's place. "You see the sea ponies, make sure they don't get into no further trouble, ya hear?" He saluted sharply, which was good enough to send Applejack fleeing back towards bed. Braeburn let out a little sigh. "Somethin' just ain't right..." He nudged the lever, but it had no answers to give. "Ah ha! This evenin'. Ah'll giver 'er a real test drive when it's safe and we'll make sure everythin's working right." He nodded, seemingly satisfied, and went off in search of the missing sea ponies. "Now where'd they get off ta?" Despite their recently learned fear of fire water, the tavern seemed like one of the friendliest places to be. "Another water please!" Indigo waved at the water master eagerly. The water bearer approached them, placing a fresh glass before each of the ponies. "Ya know, jus' because we offer free water, we expect ponies ta buy somethin' else while they're here..." Cherry tilted her head. "Oh, sorry. Hmm, what do you have besides the fire water?" She produced a small menu and handed it to each. "Most don't come here for a proper meal, but if'n ya want my advice, try the taters n' cheese, and avoid the tomaters." It was a curious way of referring to both of them, but they didn't already know better. Berry nodded. "We'll try that, what you said. One plate we can share please." "Comin' right up." She left the menus there, in case they saw something else they wanted, and wandered back to the bar to deliver the order. Cherry clopped her forehooves together. "Together was a productive day! We fixed their engine and got to look around their town." Indigo nodded, but his eyes were drawn to a pony playing a piano. The big hooves playing across the little keys seemed like a sort of magic. "I wonder if I can try that..." He slid down to his hooves. "I'm going to ask." He approached the pony dressed in what looked like animal skin. Indigo nodded at the player, then the piano. "Can I try?" The player looked confused. "Ya ever tickle the ivories?" Indigo blinked with confusion. "No, I wanted to play that." He thrust a hoof at the piano. Percussion instruments didn't work so well in the water, or at least differently, so the sound of it sparked his curiosity fiercely. "May I?" "Well, if ya promise to be careful-like." He slid to the left a little on his bench. "Hop up, little pardner. Ah'll show you the basics." Indigo bounced right into the cleared position, smiling widely. "That's very nice of you!" He looked over the multitude of keys and at his two hooves and he wondered how to make the lovely sound the player had managed. "Don't look at it like that. Ah can see yer already gettin' lost." He put a leg around Indigo and directed one of the sea pony's legs into position. "Jus' focus on what needs to be hit, n' stop worryin' so hard. So here's the basic..." Together they played a slowly increasing notes as he led the smaller stallion along the chords of a piano. "Ya learn this, ya'see, and all the songs become easier. It's like the alphabet of th' piano." He led Indigo back down and up again. "Just takes practice to get it down, get it?" He released his grip on Indigo and let him free to try his hooves at it on his own. Indie clopped his hooves with giddy expectation before he brought down his hooves in a jangled mess of notes. He blushed and giggled nervously before he got the chords a bit better and began traveling up and down the piano. He wasn't playing a specific song, but he was making music! He was making sounds that didn't hurt to hear, and he felt his heart swell with pride. Berry clopped her hooves appreciatively. While Indigo had been busy practicing, she parked herself beside the two and was watching the entire lesson with rapt attention. "You're already good, Indie!" "Y'aint bad, but y'aint good, yet. It takes practice." The player gently nudged Indie's hooves aside and starting playing a little melody. "Ya also want to learn how ta read music eventual-like. 'fraid ah ain't offerin' full lessons." Indie's eyes widened. "You can write music?" Berry nudged him. "Silly. That's not a, er, not just a dry pony thing. You never played an instrument before?" "N-no?" Indie's ears went back against his head as he hopped down from the bench. "Have you?" "Well, no..." confessed Berry. "But I've seen music written down before, with notes and bars and..." She saw the pianist had some sheet music ahead of him, so she pointed at it. "Like that." Cherry called out to them, "Food's here!" Set in a large tray were enough fried potatoes generously drizzled with cheese for all three to enjoy. It was placed right in the middle of the table where reaching it would be easy, no matter where they sat. Indie and Berry returned quickly, hopping up and sniffing at the food. It didn't smell like meat, but it smelled good, whatever it was. Cherry already had a bit, trailing a long and gooey bit back towards the plate. "Here goes nothing..." She popped it into her mouth and chewed eagerly. It was seasoned with... something, and it was gooey and tasty, and mmm. "I like it!" Her endorsement quickly won over the other two. Braeburn opened the door, entering the building and looking around before he started. There they were, devouring the plate of food like a bunch of hungry sharks. They had their faces right in the plate and were tearing into the cheesy potatoes with zeal and gusto, making a bit of a mess as they tore into the food voraciously. As cute as they were, they were sea predators like any other, and the meal before them was their victim, its gooey orange guts sent flying as they tore into it and filled their bellies. He wandered closer slowly, shyly. Would they turn on him after they finished eviscerating the potatoes? "Uh. feelin' hungry?" Cherry looked up, face covered in gooey cheese. "Not anymore. Oh hello!" She recognized Brae and waved energetically at him. "You ever try this?" She picked up a lone shred of tater that had avoided the feeding frenzy and offered it to him. "Oh, uh, thanks, but ah'm on a diet." He gave a little nervous laugh before he nodded. "If y'all are full, we should be headin' back." Cherry put down a collection of bits on the table to cover their meal. Berry tilted her head at Brae as she wiped her snout clean of their food. "Where are we going back to?" "I can play!" Brae blinked at Indie's excited exclamation. "Oh, uh, good fer ya pardner. What can ya play?" Indie pointed with authority at the piano across the way. "Want to see?" Brae quirked a smile. Playing a piano seemed fairly safe as things went. "Sure thing. Show me what ya got." Hopping down from his bench, Indie approached the player there with a hopeful smile. Fortunately, the player was good-natured about it and allowed Indie back up before the piano. He cleared his throat softly as if he were going to sing, then brought down his hooves onto the keys in a slow and methodical playing of the chords. Cherry tilted her head. "Is that what you were doing? You're good at it." "Isn't he?" Berry let out a little sign of fancy. "I'd say it's his talent if we didn't already know what that was." Indie blushed dark and started to play freely. He didn't play a specific song. It wasn't as if he knew how to read or had any songs taught to him, but he let his hooves dance where they wanted, and a song emerged that was a light-hearted and jovial as he felt. He let his feelings be portrayed by the instrument and found joy in how it displayed from within the strange instrument. The player raised a brow. "Are ya just ticklin' yer fancy along with the ivories or is that a song from somewhere?" Indie slid to the ground and bowed to the player. "I was just playing. Thank you for letting me borrow your, uh... what's it called?" He blinked down at the sea pony. "Ya never heard a piano before? Huh..." "Piano..." He turned to the other sea ponies. "If you get a train, I can ask for a piano, right?" Cherry raised a brow down at Indie. "We can ask, but I wouldn't be sure of it." "But you got a whole train!" Braeburn looked between the seaponies with building confusion. "Ya have a whole... train? We talkin' a model train?" Berry shook her head. "Oh no. We have a train, a real train." She spread her hooves far apart. "We're still working to make it work again." A broken down train didn't challenge Braeburn's sense of scale quite as bad and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Well, that was some mighty fine playin'. If'n ya ask Princess Twilight, maybe she can arrange something. Ah can't speak fer her or nothin'." He led the trio out of the tavern. "Now let's get back t' Applejack. She's come around and--" Cherry leaned in closer. "Is she alright?" "She's fine, promise." Brae smiled. "She just needs to sleep off what she drank before."
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	49 - End Episode - Dry Power in the Air, Sea Beneath	Braeburn led the trio back to Applejack's side and let them in, but didn't follow. "Ah got something t' check on, but y'all gonna stay here, right? No leaving without Applejack this time. Promise." Cherry sighed softly but settled down. Though not nominated for the position, her concession seemed to echo in the others shortly. "We promise." He nodded. "Good. Ah'll see y'all later." He closed the door behind him and they could hear his hooves retreating away from the house. They didn't have to wait long at least. Just as the boredom became unbearable, Applejack stirred with a mumble. The headache of before had settled and she felt renewed, at least compared to before. She opened her eyes to see three other pairs gazing down at her. She blinked before memory caught up with her. "Ah, good. Yer all back." She sat up slowly as to not bonk heads on the way. "We done missed the whole first day." Indigo pointed back at the tavern they had been in. "I learned how to play an instrument." Applejack blinked at the news. "Shoot, it takes longer than one afternoon ta learn how ta play proper." He pouted a little but became all the more set. "I did! I didn't say I was super good at it, but I did..." "Easy there pardner. If ya say ya did, than ah believe ya. What instrument did ya get playin'?" Berry inclined her head towards Indigo. "He learned how to 'tickle ivories'." Applejack blinked with confusion before it hit her. "Oh! Shoot, ya learned how ya play a piana some?" She slid up to her hooves. "Ah wanna hear that, later. Maybe after we're back in Ponyville." Cherry smiled brightly as she waved a hoof towards him. "Will you help convince Twilight to get him one?" She didn't immediately shoot down her idea. "Actually... if'n ya suggested a, ya know, underwater piano. Ah bet she'd get real excited." Indigo clopped his hooves. "I'd love to try a wet piano, but I want to try dry one too. They would sound different, wouldn't they?" Applejack frowned a little. "Suppose that's true... Well, there's the one Pinkie used. Ah don't think anypony even touches that one no more. Bad luck they say, bunch a hooey if ya ask me. We can probably take that one." She moved for the door. "Ah hear some ruckus outside that sounds like a good time. Let's see if we can't squeeze in some good times today." They went outside to find the sky crackling and flaring. The power of the dry was so intense that even in the evening, it made the sky explode with its might. Bright colors and loud bangs shook The Dry beneath them with intense washes of its majesty. It was at once both amazing and terrifying and sent all three seaponies scurrying for cover. "W-wait! Don't go hidin' because of some fireworks." Cherry peeked out from behind the barrel she had selected to hide behind. "Fire in the sky? How would that be a good idea?!" "I don't want to be burned!" cried out Indigo as he quaked behind a post far too narrow to serve as cover. Berry had ducked back into the house. "Tell me when it's over!" "Shoot, it ain't nothin' to be scared of." Applejack thrust a hoof up at the multi-color display that flared brilliantly behind her. "Ponies done made it fer lookin' at and enjoyin', not hidin' from." Indie peeked around his post, then raised his eyes as a bright explosion of yellow and blue filled the sky. "P-ponies made that?" He slowly stepped out, approaching Applejack. "They can do that?" "Sure can." Applejack nodded confidently. "Now let's get a good spot an' enjoy it." She waved for the fillies to come along and got moving. Though they still seemed shocked, the sea ponies all followed along after her, learning of the glories of what she would call 'fire works', though they did no work besides exploding brightly and loudly? Was that work? Applejack insisted it was. Elsewhere, Braeburn pulled the lever to get the water flowing through the orchard in a dance of undulating sprinklers and pipes that sprayed water over leaves and across roots as was requested. Everything seemed to be fine, despite the interference. Whatever the sea ponies had done, the machine seemed to be... He turned in place and saw the area surrounding the lever had become a slurry of water and dirt. He was on an island surrounded by mud! "Consarnit!" While the machine was doing its job to pump water, it was leaking something awful. He pulled the lever back into the off position, but that didn't make the ocean he was stranded in go away, and the cool evening was doing nothing to make it go away... He was trapped. "Help!" he called out, but the fireworks blazed overhead, threatening to drown out his attempts to call for assistance. While most enjoyed the spectacle, Indigo raised an ear. Watching the dry power was a bit scary and so looking away from it, even if it had brilliant shades, was a nice thing. The noise he heard prompted him to do just that. Was someone calling? He started moving closer. "Someone's calling for help." He was sure of it. A pony, specifically, was shouting for help. He broke into a gallop with the others trailing behind, including Applejack. They arrived to find Braeburn stranded on his island, looking worried and annoyed in equal measure. "There you are! Look what you done did!" He pointed at the mess he was surrounded in. "Now ah can't move!" Cherry trotted up without fear and sank a hoof into the muddy soil, only to lose it for a moment. The dirt had become like silt at the bottom of the sea and she was pretty sure she could navigate that. "Hold on." She squirmed free of her dry-swimmers and into the mire, even if it made a mess of her fur, and swam with the natural grace of a sea creature despite it. It slowed her progress, being partially solid, but could not stop her from quickly reaching the stranded dry pony. "Come on! We'll get you to safety." Braeburn blushed faintly as the other seaponies quickly joined Cherry at his island, but he'd have to get muddy to get back. But what was the alternative? He let out a sigh and took off his hat, tossing it across to Applejack before he sank into the mess. The three caught him easily and carried him across before dumping him out onto The dry. Berry nodded. "Well, there's only one part we did anything to. If there's any place to look, it'll be there. One moment." Braeburn thrust out a hoof to stop them, but they all vanished under the mud before he could stop them. "Blast it..." Applejack shook her head. "Look, this one thing ah'll trust them with. Let's give them a moment to figure out what's gone wrong." "If ya say so..." Minutes later, a lone part was tossed at the hooves of the two. Cherry pointed at it. "We had the mechanical pony make it bigger." Applejack raised a brow. "Mechanical pony?" Berry nodded as she shook herself free of mud. "He had a friend with a snail mark." Applejack brought a hoof to her face. "Tell me, did the mechanical thing look like two things connected in the center like?" Indigo bobbed his head. "That's the one." Applejack threw her own hat down. "Consarnit! What are Snips and Snails even doin' here?" Braeburn looked confused. "Who?" "Nothin'... Nothin'... Just two more lost foals in need of rescuing. Look--" She pointed to the piece, covered in mud as it was. "--A'hm pretty certain yer gonna have ta replace that. There's no work those two would do to anything that ah'd trust fer a minute." Braeburn picked up the broken part and shook the mud free of it. "Ah'll do the best ah can. Shoot. We barely got ta use it..." Cherry sunk her head low, the others following suit. "We're really sorry we caused all this trouble. I thought we could fix it..." Part of Braeburn wanted to be furious at the young ponies, but their sincere apology made that hard. He instead grunted. "Ah guess it'll be alright... Look, next time somepony tells ya not to do somethin', ya don't do it, alright? Especially when they's somepony that knows better." "Yes, sir," all three echoed miserably. Above them, the fireworks covered the town in bright colors and explosions that Applejack continued to insist were entirely harmless to them all.
Gazing to the Ocean of the Sky	50 - Episode 9, Rolling Rolling Rolling	Cherry wrenched down a lever, conjuring a soft but deep thrumming through their beloved metal beast. "Ready!" she called out to the others. Indigo shoveled up some of the dried heat and sent it into the hungry belly of the beast. "Ready!" Berry raised a hoof over the final lever. "And now, I, master of machines, will press the last switch." Cherry rolled her eyes. "Go on!" Indigo bobbed his head. "I can't take the suspense." Berry didn't keep them waiting longer. She pressed down on the lever, forcing it down several loud ratchets before they were all roughly thrown from their hooves. Their train had moved! Quickly, they scrambled back to their hooves to see the ground around them was moving in response. The train was rolling without a rail. Sure, it wasn't nearly as fast as a train on a proper set of tracks would go, but they were going! Cherry leaned out the window that had no glass to give a spirited whoop of delight. "We did it!" Indigo leaned back and clopped his forehooves with building excitement. "Where are we gonna take it?" Berry tapped her chin. "I had some ideas for that, but, for now, how about we park next to Twilight's tower there?" She thrust a hoof out at Twilight's big purple monument. All three worked together to keep the metal beast under control and began piloting it towards the friendship castle. At that castle, Spike peeked out the front door. "What's all that noise?" He looked left and right before his eyes settled on the red train coming towards him at an uncomfortable rate. "What the?" What could he do? He thrust out a claw. "Stop right there! This is, um, royal property!" It was still coming. "I-I mean it. Stop right there! C'mon!" Loud grinding whistles came from it as Spike stood his ground, bravely trying to defend his home. He'd already lost one so violently. When it was too close, he squeezed shut his eyes, unable to watch it smash into him and the tower together. The sound stopped. Was he flattened? He dared to crack open an eye to see his claw was resting on the front bumper of the train. He had stopped it? He stopped it! He let out a nerve-wracked laugh as he pumped a fist. "Yeah!" Cherry hopped down from the train lightly. "Hey, Spike. Is Twilight home?" Spike pointed at the train. "Did you see that?! I stopped it!" Cherry didn't have the heart to correct Spike. He looked so happy about it. She raised a hoof and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job, but you shouldn't make a habit of that. I don't want my favorite dragon getting hurt." Indigo and Berry were next off. With a bright flash, Twilight popped into being, gaping at the huge train parked right in front of her house. "Why is this here?" she asked, hoof pointed at the bright red monstrosity that dominated the view. Indigo turned back towards it. "We got it working. It carried itself here, see?" Twilight gave a little nod as she approached with slow steps. "I... see. It can't stay here." Berry pointed at Twilight. "That's why we need your help. It's time the dry lands and the wet lands came closer together." She brought her forehooves together in a mighty clop. "Don't you think so?" Twilight imagined swamps and deserts somehow getting closer together. "I... don't think I'm imagining this correctly. What do you want to do exactly?" Cherry moved up beside her rival and threw a leg over her. "We want to ferry ponies into the ocean and out of the ocean." Twilight slowly sank to her haunches as Spike caught up with her. He scratched at one of his cheeks. "Can this thing work underwater?" Indigo bobbed his head. "That's why we need your help, to make it work under the water. Berry smiled from underneath Cherry's leg. "We have a design all worked out, but it's going to need some of that magic of yours to seal the deal, literally." "Literally?" Twilight trotted to the stairs leading up onto the engine. "You've done an amazing job. From the way they were describing it, I wasn't sure, to be honest, that you could get it moving again." Cherry blinked softly, following after Twilight. "If you didn't think we could do it, why'd you let us keep working on it?" Twilight gestured at it. "Because the important part can be the journey, not the destination. You learned a lot working on this, I imagine, right?" The three nodded at her. "And you had fun doing it, right?" They nodded again. "So, even if it never moved, you weren't wasting your time." Indigo suddenly burst into a smile. "I understand. Still, it's even better that we did get it to move." Twilight couldn't argue that. She looked over the maze of intricate pipes and multitude of switches and other controls. "I wouldn't even know where to start..." That wasn't entirely true. She'd start with a book. "So... Run that by me again? You want to run this into the ocean?" She raised a brow at the idea. "You do know these aren't made to do that." "Yet." Cherry stood tall and proud on her dry swimmers. "That's where you come in. The train needs to be kept dry, at least up here." She gestured around the engine car. "The dry power won't work wet. If you can keep it dry, then it shouldn't matter where it is." "Well, sure, I could do that easily." They smiled hopefully. "But only for a little while." Berry approached with a frown. "This is the part where you tell us how we do go about it, right?" Twilight tapped at her chin with a hoof. "A full scale enchantment is no simple feat. It takes time, preparation, and--" Indigo clopped down a hoof. "Tell us what we have to do, um, Princess." His bravery eroded towards the end, ears dipping, but he didn't back down. Spike raised a claw in the midst of a shrug. "Maybe we should send them to Canterlot." "That... actually isn't a bad idea." Twilight nodded. "In fact! I think it's time I showed some faith in your abilities." She sat down on the smooth metal. "Since you've proven yourself so far. If you feel up for it, you'll go by train, not this one of course, to Canterlot. And!" She raised a hoof for emphasis. "You'll be allowed to do it on your own." Berry beamed with pride, but Cherry wasn't as certain. "Thank you, Twilight, for your faith in us, but..." She pointed at Spike. "I nominate Spike to come with us." All three seaponies gazed at the startled Spike. "M-me?" He had a claw to his chest, surprised at first. but he began to warm quickly. "Well, I suppose you would pick the best. I'll get you there nice and safe, and I know my way around Canterlot. I was born there, you know." They didn't know that. Indigo bobbed his head. "Alright, so you know where to get somepony to do the work?" Spike raised a single finger, only to slowly lower it. He looked to Twilight with a sheepish grin. She gave a patient smile. "I'll write up a letter to bring with you. I know a few ponies talented enough for the task." The matter was settled. With a note quickly written and surrendered to Spike, all three were prepared for their journey to Canterlot. Except for Twilight's soft cough. "You will move this away from the castle, I trust? It's not staying here while you're gone." She hopped down from the engine and pointed back where it had been. "It was safe over there and it can wait--" "She," corrected Berry. "We'll move her for you, Miss Twilight." They moved the train back without anything breaking. Spike was duly impressed, riding the machine as it moved. "Wow! You really did fix it!" Cherry tilted her head. "You sound surprised." Spike went red in his cheeks. "I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that, you know, seeing is believing." Indigo tapped at the metal floor. "I think feeling is believing, in this case." With the train parked, they began their dry swim to the 'official' trains. Cherry snorted as she went. "They're only more official because they get to have tracks, and stations. We'll get those too! Eventually..." Spike perked a fin at Cherry. "Yeah?" Cherry bobbed her head quickly. "Uh huh! We'll have a station up on the dry and some stations down in our bigger cities and then we'll run the train back and forth between them, carrying ponies comfortably into and out of the dry lands." She clopped her hooves as eager visions of the future danced behind her eyes. "Some of the cars would be full of water, and some would be kept dry with the same magic that keeps the engine dry, eventually. At first, they'll all be wet cars, for ponies like us." She pointed at Indigo, Berry, and herself. "You don't dream small," said Spike in a complimenting tone as he purchased tickets for them all to Canterlot, using the funds Twilight had given him for the trip. "Hey, think I could visit one of your cities?" Indigo threw a leg over Spike and nodded. "That'd be great! Then we could be your tour guide instead of the other way around." Berry nodded. "It's only fair that we return the favor. Thanks for the help." Cherry blinked at Berry. "You're being very nice today." Berry darkened in her cheeks. "What? I can be appreciative! Besides, he isn't my rival, you are." She stuck out her tongue at Cherry. Cherry threw a leg over Berry and they hugged gently. They might have been rivals, but it was far from a bitter rivalry between them. As the train lurched into motion, all three sea ponies moved to the windows to watch the dry move past them. They were fairly sure they'd never get tired of seeing it, especially when going to exciting places. They were raising upwards towards the great city in the mountains known as Canterlot. It was sure to be quite... dry, but also to have horny ponies beyond comprehension. Cherry gave a nervous giggle. "I can't wait..." She didn't have much choice. Waiting was what they had to do, at least until the train arrived. Spike had his claws behind his back and was rocking on his dry swimmers. "Don't worry. I'll keep you on track and we'll find that enchanter in no time at all!" Indigo looked to Spike curiously. "Who is it?" "Oh, lemme see." He dug out the letter. "It looks like we have to find--"

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