Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

First published 31st of March, 2018

We crash landed on a goddess. Welcome to Airship Mauled, where everything could possibly be worse.

We crash landed on a goddess.

Welcome to Airship Mauled, where everything could possibly be worse.

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff you don't need to know.

It all started when… well… it started when I was born I guess.

I am a reincarnated being, meaning I have memories of a past life.

Other reincarnated beings might get some small samplings of their past lives, some might not at all and then there were the outliers.

I on the other hand… I remembered every single detail of my past life from birth to friendless, lonely and exceedingly painful death by starvation.

I cried a lot as a baby because of how all the information hurt being squeezed into my tiny little baby skull, said information never went away and it got easier to cope with given time. I managed to hide how intelligent I was well enough, up until my vocal chords developed anyway.

I was born into this world an outlier in every way imaginable, I wasn’t normal for my species and I knew exactly what world I had been born into. All things imagined for entertainment was just a gateway to another world, another time and place where the laws of reality as we know them don’t work the same way we imagine them to. Anything you have ever dreamed of has likely happened in another dimension, even a dimension where spelling errors are actually how you spell a word sometimes.

I was reborn into the world of My Little Pony, on the very planet of Equus the show was aired and the time I was born was approximately eighteen years before the show really got started with the Nightmare Moon event.

Many people would imagine being born as a Pony, usually a Unicorn, a Pegasus or the rare seldom used Earth Pony. If they were used, said Earth Ponies can control their hair, had resilience to sicknesses and were physically stronger than their bodies should allow for. The even rarer chance would be an Earth Pony might have a talent for psychic or reality bending abilities.

I was not any of these, nor was I a Dragon with its mighty halitosis and tough hide, a Yak with dwarf like tendencies which are just less magical versions of Earth Ponies or even a Griffon with their eagle eyes.

No, I wasn’t a Changeling either, though that might have been fun. I wasn’t a Nightmare, one of the storm kings army, a Minotaur, a Centaur, a Hippogriff, a Mer-pony or even a Zebra. Also just for the sake of clarification, I certainly wasn’t a Sea Pony even though I will jokingly say shoo-bee-doo shoo-shoo-bee-doo.

Breathing underwater did later become a permanent talent of mine thanks to the shenanigans of my very existence, you’ll learn about that soon enough.

I was an Abyssinian, a humanoid cat person and an exceptionally unusual one at that. The first twelve years of my new life were spent in a relatively quiet location known as the town of Palicoast, a coastal fishing town part of the trade nation of Abyssinia.

As any… would I really call myself a protagonist? I’m more of a do what feels right person. Where was I?

Anyway, I was born into the town of Palicoast as one of the most interesting sights the sleepy fishing town had seen in years. I was an Abyssinian that actually could grow long hair, I’d eventually have long bushy bright green hair down my back around the time I hit thirteen. Surprisingly I wasn’t called a freak for it, but there were implications that my mother had slept with a pony and aside from that most Abyssinians treated me like just another Abyssinian despite me being slightly unique in appearance.

Aside from the hair, my body was covered completely in beige colored fur, my eyes were green and there was a tail of moderate length popping out my feminine backside. I looked nothing like my strange mother.

I was the basic plot for any starting RPG hero. Except I don’t think running into people’s houses and stealing everything, including the stuff that is also nailed down, would be welcome and would generally aggravate a lot of people.

General RPG protagonists started out a plot as such, they grew up in a sleepy or peaceful place with one notable parent and no other family around in their existence with a simple life style with various minor oddities. Eventually said RPG character would set out on an adventure or stick around in one place long enough to watch their home town get burnt down to the ground by a bunch of assholes that they’ll swear revenge upon and then take years adventuring to culminate their revenge slash justice plot.

At least the town getting burned down never happened, though it might have burned down after me and my 'wonderful' mother left it when I was thirteen. Why am I comparing my life to a role playing game? Well apparently some things in RPGs work in this reality, such as Celestia or the sun being my patron goddess giving me a single really broken and rather ridiculous ability for starters. One of the other things that worked other than my unique goddess given ability was magical alchemy, something of which my mother is slowly becoming far more proficient in to a scary degree despite having no one to teach her how to do it.

The Abyssinian that gave birth to me in this world was Kurilian La Perm, or Kuril as she’s more commonly known. She had beautiful silver and white fur and truly cared for me, even if I was a reincarnated with perfect recall of a past life.

Ever since the age of six when I told her of my past life and my reincarnation, one would expect she was highly skeptical of me. She wasn’t skeptical at all given I was finally talking and with far more intelligence then a kitten my age should be, she actually thought it was interesting and told me to help do the dishes afterwards because I was more intelligent than a child my age should be. If I was going to have an adult mind, which as she pointed out I was still capable of being emotionally fragile despite my intelligence, then she would treat me like an adult with emotional problems.

Kuril, my mother, was the proprietor of Kuril’s Curing Canteen of Port Palicoast, again up until I turned thirteen. She never married though she did take some passing interest in some of our customers. We had a pleasant life even if I didn’t know who my father or possibly other mother was, I wouldn’t put it past the abilities of magic to do anything in this world. My mom was paid in both money and leftovers of whatever she cooked that was brought to her. People brought the food in and paid a small sum for cooking it expertly. They’d leave with happy bellies and we’d have more fish jerky than you can shake your claws at.

My mother was a talented lady, she knew how to make fish eye soup my second favorite meal behind potato stew. Mom made a heavenly tasting potato stew and darn it she only let me have it once a month because she actually cared about my health and the fact that I was continuing my trend of being completely friendless and a bum like I was in my last life.

From the age of seven I and mom started playing Ogres and Oubliettes while discussing the future of what happens in Abyssinia and the world at large, more importantly what would happen in Equestria and the ponies I wanted to meet before they became a tightly knitted group. Kuril wanted me to have friends and I could think of none better than those to attempt to be friends with.

Our various talks over the game of O and O led mom to confiding in me that she always wanted to be a witch. When I had asked why she couldn’t be one, she told me she didn’t have the first idea about how to do magic even if she did magic all the time with various foods. Mom didn’t think cooking magic was quite the same, only we later found out that cooking magic actually existed and was a thing. Kuril’s food was in fact magically enhanced to make eaters healthier than they would be otherwise. A bit of information that made my mother happy to hear, but we didn’t discover that until after we ended up in Equestria and what we discovered before we went there was more important.

It was mom’s wish to be a practicing heroic witch that led to me telling her about a video game based alchemy system of magic. I didn’t quite explain intrinsically that it was from a work of fiction in my previous life and just told her that it used ingredients to do various things. Even things that weren’t very magical at all, when given enough magic, would actually change to be a mystically active thing for use in magical alchemy.

The first bit of magical alchemy Kuril did was with fish bones, we had a ton of bones just sitting around doing nothing until that point. At first she just made them glow in various colors and used them to light up the room when I was eight, as far as decorative magically powered overhead lights went they were well received all Abyssinians and the aroma of fish attracted customers. My mother was on the way to becoming the good witch she’s always wanted to be and it was all thanks to me, what she discovered led to a discovery of my own.

I, jokingly enough, praised the goddess Celestia and the sun a lot, thanks to that I gained the intrinsic knowledge to use a very unique magical ability from my constant worship of either Celestia or the sun. I’m banking on it being the sun that gave me this ability, as it was a ridiculously broken ability and it seemed harmless from an outsider’s point of view. That is, if they didn’t know what the ability actually did like I do and just how much it broke so many laws of physics, especially that of thermodynamics. I could use the ability anywhere and almost at any time, there was some kind of cooldown factor of about two minutes before I could use it again, but I could only have all the permanent results of said ability in one spot at any given time.

It was from that point that I first used the ability for the first time that I knew I could break this world in silly ways that nobody would have ever accounted for, praise the sun for it will give you one uniquely broken magical ability. It made me wonder what would happen if I praised the moon after Luna returned when Nightmare was no longer an issue.

I was living in a fantasy world where the laws of logic from a previous existence ceased to exist and knowing that... I started working towards my chosen class as if I were a literal O and O character. My mother and I kept up to date character sheets of ourselves and our capabilities, my mother would not have her class be anything other than purely witch and I was dual classing as a priest and a rogue. I also did dabbled in some magical alchemy, but my mother was more fervent about using it than I was and was the leading world expert on it.

When I got to the age of thirteen Kuril shut down her canteen, much to the sadness of our many beloved patrons, we then set out for Equestria on an airship. Knowing what I did about this world, I told mom to be prepared for an imminent disaster as soon as we arrive in Equestria. The name of the airship was The Predestined Paradox after all and with a name like that... we were definitely screwed from the outset.

One rainbow colored sonic boom to our the uniquely named airship and all the passengers fell overboard into the sea near some incredibly jagged and rocky shoals in a matter of seconds, with the exception of me and my mother thanks to our claws.

This was where the legend started.

I smugly told my mother I called it while clinging to the completely vertical deck and the remaining working balloon that kept us barely in the air until we were over land. Not that being over land was exactly safer, we were quickly falling towards the ground at an increasingly worsening rate with only one working balloon to hold the whole ship aloft. I wonder if Rainbow Dash had ever realized or was told just how many people she might have just accidentally grievously injured performing that so called ‘cool’ stunt of hers.

Mom would certainly hate her guts and would be having some words with Windy Whistles about it later.

The legend beginning here was about a place called Airship Mauled.

Author's Notes:

The prologue will keep going up and until Airship Mauled is actually start which will take about ten chapters.

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff you didn't need to know.

“Mom, I’m slipping, could you maybe hurry it up with the saving my life here!” My claws were losing grip on the splintering wood of the deck, below me was nothing but solid ground and a fall from this height would either kill me or break my legs.

“Hold on, hold on, you know you can’t rush magical alchemy Jade.” Calmly stated my aggravating mother Kuril, the somewhat friendly white and grey cat lady that gave birth to me. She was being way too calm about how everyone, but the two of us at least, were grievously injured or worse. She was crouched up on the very back end of the ship searching through her large brown over the shoulder bag.

“Well do something, this cheap wood is coming apart under my claws and if I fall right now then I’m good as dead!” Sure I was panicking a little, I had all my claws, both feet and hands stuck into the deck and was slowly beginning to slide down towards the front end of the vessel pointing at the ground. “What kind of mother are you if I die!?”

“Grip tighter then, I thought you were classing as a rogue. Why don’t you ever LARP like it? I mean rogues are supposed to be agile and can do stuff like climb walls and other incredible feats of acrobatics.” My mother continued to search her bag while not looking at me. “You are a Abyssinian, so wouldn’t acrobatics be part of our racial talents?”

“I’m technically more of a priest of the sun at the moment than a true rogue and of course you know that. Also wouldn’t racial talents differ by varying species of Abyssinian? I’m technically a genetic half pony mutt if the neighbors were right about how you got pregnant with me.” Yeah my one unique ability would only make this situation worse unless I was able to aim it correctly at the only thing slowing our fall down and maybe give us more lift instead of getting us killed faster. “Look, why don’t you use an alchemy cast to trade places with me and see how well you take to holding on for your life!”

“I’ll do you one better… for here I have a raven’s feather!” My mother pulled out a black colored feather, I often wondered why she thought witches needed to rhyme. I knew she was going to do this cast with a rhyme, even when it wasn’t necessary and it would take up precious time in saving my life. “Portents of the darkening last breath, let this feather help me save my precious daughter from death!”

The flash signified the destruction of the feather and the magical spell created from that destruction immediately covered my form for a second before fading.

“That didn’t seem to…” It was at that point that the chunks of wood, of which I walked on days prior to the rainbow colored sonic boom that destroyed two of the three balloons to the airship we were on, broke. I was soon falling at terminal velocity. “Heeeeeeeelp~!”

“…” Kuril didn’t say much and just watched me with worry in her eyes, which is until as my fall suddenly slowed down and then I found myself miraculously falling sideways. There was a relieved look on her face and I glared at her hard as I quickly fell away from her in a different direction, I also flexed what would count as my two middle digits out at her.

If I was right I was quickly falling… to the north. What kind of alchemy effect did that Raven’s feather have on me? Was this another one of mom’s untested castings? Please don’t let me die before I get a chance to strangle my mother over this.

-

“Well… that was unexpected… and quite rude of my daughter no less.” Kuril said slowly as she had lazily watched her daughter’s momentum changed from down to abruptly sideways. She pulled out another raven’s feather and thought about whether or not she should use it on herself after what happened to Jade. “What would happen… if I used it on the ship?”

Well it wasn’t like Kuril cared if the ship survived. If it did land intact, then she could probably find her money more easily and get it back from paying for this suddenly ruined voyage. To think that exploding rainbow had been so pretty up until it upended almost everyone overboard.

-

I crossed my arms and sighed as I kept falling sideways and downwards, then I came to an abrupt stop and fell right on top of someone else. Someone I already knew very well that was just getting her cutie mark right around now.

“I, love, everythi…” Fluttershy was cut off by me bodily landing on top of her from twenty feet up, the animals all around her scattered in fright at the sudden interruption.

I quickly got off the poor filly and looked at her to see if she was okay, please tell me mom and I didn’t accidentally kill one of the heroes. I don’t think I’d be a very good replacement for her, please oh great sun that gave me the power of that one ridiculous ability. I needed a sign to know that I didn’t just kill one of the most innocent characters ever!

Her flank flashed and she received her cutie mark, three butterflies like it was supposed to be. At least there was an acknowledgment that she was still alive and my mother’s spell hadn’t traded my life for another. I looked around and smiled sheepishly at all the animals staring at me.

“Sorry about that, I’ll just be taking her. Don’t worry, I’ll get her healed up so she can come back to finish doing her singing princess routine.” The animals just watched as I scooped up the unconscious teenaged filly into a fireman’s carry and started to slowly walk away. “You’ll see her again, I promise! Just don’t let nature take its course until then. You guys wouldn’t want to make a liar out of me right?”

One of the rabbits nodded that he wouldn’t, that had to be Angel who was giving me the rabbit version of a thumbs up.

Now if only I knew which way I was… a loud crashing noise in the distance, followed with a horribly loud pained feminine screeching noise, scattering of birds in the distance and of course a large plume of smoke even when the airship hadn’t been on fire when it was crashing.

That way then, I just hope that scream wasn’t mom as that would be a horribly RPG thing to do to me in arriving in these land alone... and freshly orphaned. She’s catty at times, but she’s still my mother in this world.

The smoke was the least logical thing about this, but it helped choose a direction. I better paw it then before the animals get rowdy about me carrying off the rather adorable pony. I also wanted to get to the airship before night fell, because my mom would be in danger without me being there to use my specially ability if she was alright.

-

Okay, this was not the sight I expected to walk into. I mean I expected my mother to be hurt, instead I find the airship had miraculously landed right side up and ‘mostly’ intact no less and my mother in one piece and not groaning in agony.

“Well, you got here in a timely manner.” I watched as mom snuffed the smoke coming off of her hand with but a flick of her wrist. “Apparently the sustained effect of using sunlight as an alchemy ingredient is to cause smoke as if something was burning.”

“You used that cast on me untested didn’t you?” There was a bit of guilt on moms face as she looked away.

“Yes, but I did know some of what it would do. Flight from death was the most obvious outcome, instead it seems that using a raven’s feather in a cast form of usage is to make the target land on someone safely.” She pointed at the large near burgundy paw sticking out from under the boat. “Incidentally I might have broken her spine by accident.”

“I’m okay… and nothing is broken… I’m just in a lot of pain.” Muttered a voice from under the boat. It belonged to a particular Sphinx that tricked Somnambula into freeing her from having to be stuck guarding a temple or at least that's what I believed anyway.

“Well that’s a lot off my… where did you get that filly?” The only response that I could dignify my mother with was a glare at her. “Oh right… the cast usage of the raven feather. The effect must be landed on someone safely, right then. What shall we do now?”

“Should I do the thing?” I wondered if we even had enough fish for the poor Sphinx my mom made the airship crash land on top of, we really needed a peace offering for when she eventually got out from under there.

“Yes, you should probably do the thing.” My mother smiled at me quaintly as she got up, walked over to me and brought me into a tight hug. “I’m sorry I made you land on someone sweetie. I may not be a medic, but the filly looks perfectly fine at least.”

“I’m going to riddle you with riddles when I get out from under here…” The suddenly struggling and angry form beneath the crashed airship groused out.

“Should we be worried about that?” Mom asked me in while pointing her thumb over her shoulder at the squashed Sphinx.

“No, she’ll be fine, she’s not evil at all and I’m sure she’ll be willing to talk to us after you dropped an airship on her skull.” Sarcasm aside, I always thought that there was something about the Sphinx that Somnambula met and I was hopefully not wrong about my supposition. I was going to need to confirm it sometime after she finished getting out from under our damaged and pretty broken airship.

“Well now, I really guess I should apologize for that as it was my magic that made it happen. I’m also sorry for doing an untested cast on you my lovely, graciously forgiving and loving daughter.” Pausing mom pulled away from me and dusted off her whitish robes before sitting down to pull out yet another raven’s feather, an ink pot and a small journal. Having recently eaten proverbial crow, she had plenty of feathers to spare in her alchemy bag. Said bag needed sorting pouches for the ease of acquiring magical alchemy supplies quickly. She dipped the feather into the pot and I watched as she started writing down what she learned from using two feathers. She spoke out loud as she did with her tail flicking back and forth excitedly. “A raven’s feather when used in the cast form of magical alchemy has the unusual effects of causing one to safely land on a nearby living being without injury or damage to the target the cast is used upon. The living being, which the target of the cast landed on, might not be so forgiving. Will test if cast still works on object that is not already falling, if so, might be able to direct object magically in the form of an offensive alchemic spell to land on aggressive problems. Note: discover sustained magical alchemy effects of what raven feathers are.”

“Seriously mom…” I groaned out, did she need to talk out loud while writing? I sat down in the grass in the clearing looking over at the Sphinx slowly pulling herself free from the mass on her back.

“Yes, seriously Jade. You’re my daughter and you might inherit some of my legacy someday… that or my grandchildren will inherit the La Perm family tradition of the magical Abyssinian witches.” I gave her a look that said that that will never happen, especially not now that there aren’t any Abyssinians around to possibly date. Probably wouldn’t stop mom from pestering me about getting a boyfriend… or a girlfriend which is more likely at this rate concerning my past life having colored this one. “Now do your thing dear and I’ll just step away to about ten feet and test the sustained effect of this raven feather.”

“You mean the same raven feather that now has the additive of ink?” I just had to point that out in case Kuril forgot that magical alchemy does have additive effects depending on how many objects are used together in conjunction. The ink would certainly throw off her mission to accurately learn all she could about alchemy, it wouldn’t do for her to have a horrible misfire. “Mom, I’ve told you several times to be careful about magical alchemy and how it worked from my past life.”

“Yes, but what did you know about it working here exactly? It worked and now I’m the expert in the field of continuing to make it work.” She wasn’t wrong there, but mom’s experimenting was dangerous and I worried about the crazy cat lady when she was testing new objects with this form of magic. “Aside from cooking, you know I’ve always wanted to do magic and didn’t we decide to bring it up to Celestia when we got a chance to go to Canterlot?”

“You mean if we can get to Canterlot alive at this rate. Judging by the map I had on me before the ship sent everyone else falling, we were still flying north along the coast towards Manehatten before we were slammed with the sonic rainbow blast and turned more westward.” I pulled the map from my pocket, I was wearing yellow shorts, panties and a simple green shirt. I wasn’t one for extravagance or dresses, I will absolutely destroy any dress Rarity tries to put on me should we meet by using it in a magical alchemy cast. I won’t care what happens when I do.

“At this time Cloudsdale should be floating directly south of Ponyville and we crash landed… further south and more to the west of that." I wasn’t exactly good at judging where we were. "We'll need to go east to find the train tracks or shore so we can follow either of them to civilization.”

We had fallen pretty far inland, but I’d think we’re in a forest in the vast expanse somewhere between Appleoosa and Ponyville. Cloudsdale tended to revolve around Ponyville and depending on the time of year it was always in a different spot, it’s why it’s called the ‘drifty city’. I could see it from here and get my bearings.

“Sounds like a plan, but I think we have bigger problems to worry about.” It seems the Sphinx the airship crash landed on was now out and angry at us. I still hadn’t done my thing yet and I wasn’t worried about the upcoming fight.

We still had to get my stuff from the airship, but both I and mom could handle a mystically all powerful Sphinx of legend. Maybe…

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff you won't need to know.

Okay let’s see, angry Sphinx approaches. Unconscious party member Fluttershy I just left on the grass unable to act in her own defense, I was unfortunately closer to the Sphinx and I still hadn’t done my thing yet because I’ve been continually interrupted. Mom, was… what mom was doing with that inky feather and why was she posing like that.

“Look if you act like a foul creature, and by that I mean if you attack us, I shall bash you over the head with the power of this feather!” As far as threats go that sounded lame if you didn’t take into account that the feather was still partially covered in ink.

I didn’t have an inkling as to what a cast magical alchemy spell with that additive would do. To be fair it was quite threatening to me if the spell couldn’t be aimed properly and I was suddenly hit with whatever mom targeted.

-

Magical alchemy came in two different flavors, casting and sustained. Various body parts, objects and other things always had various differing effects depending on the shape, color or origin of said objects, parts or otherwise. There were of course rules to magical alchemy and we were blindly stumbling upon them all the time.

Casting magical alchemy tended to destroy the object used in the cast, usually for a powerful magical spell of various effects. You could not use something that was living or still attached to the living in a casting. In example, I couldn’t use unicorn hair to do whatever that hair would do if it was still attached to the unicorn in question.

One example of casting is that fish bones gave one the ability to breathe underwater, like a fish, with the bones being the essence of an aquatic creature that made complete sense. If you were to cast multiple times with the same kind of object in a very short period of time, like say fifty times within a few hours, the temporary effect could actually become permanent.

This is why I told my mom that if she ever used a cast with an axe as her object, she better not cast with another axe if it was a spell that caused one to become a violently powerful berserker.

Magical alchemy could be dangerous to the user, what wasn’t dangerous was the fact that we were two proud aquatic capable Abyssinians. Sure we didn’t ‘technically’ have more than permanent water breathing or protection from being crushed by deep depths, but we were completely safe from drowning at the very least.

I made it a rule that temporary beneficial effects that alter emotions or appearance should never be used in quick succession more than two times, then you should at least wait a day or two so the magical effects didn’t cause permanent issues and to be sure they dissipated correctly. For a temporary effect to become permanent, it requires a certain number of active uses in a row. The effect of one use, no matter how much was used in that one use, could never be, thankfully enough, permanent.

A hand full of fish scales for instance causes ones fur to become more scale like and armored, it wasn’t armored like a dragon and the scales were far more protective in water than out of it. I was not going to walk around for the rest of my life looking like a cat fish and my mother agreed with the rule to watch what we did with our alchemy ingredients when we discovered their effects.

Also I banned any testing of catnip as an alchemy ingredient, I certainly didn’t want to know what it did as a cast or sustained. My mom only acquiesced after I implied what catnip might do to the both of us, especially if euphoria became a permanent effect from multiple casts and we couldn't stop ourselves.

It was an important thing for us to remember that while most fish bones might give you the ability of water breathing, other different kinds of fish bones might yield you far more different unexpected effects.

Sustained magical alchemy was different from casting. Instead of destroying the object for a powerful spell, a different more passive effect occurred that mostly only worked on the user and sometimes the effect would sustain itself without needing to use concentration.

An example of this is aside from glowing brightly, the fish bones sustained main effect made you more agile in water and capable of handling deeper depths more easily. It wasn’t technically permanent, if you didn’t concentrate on keeping the effect going or the bone were removed from your possession you’ll lose the effect immediately. Lose the thing keeping that effect going two thousand feet below sea level and you’d be mulched, the glowing was a self sustaining effect that didn't require concentration.

I had a simple glow in the dark fish bone necklace I could use if I ever had to go deep sea diving. I knew how to use the sustained effect of the fish bones and it wasn’t hard to concentrate on them to keep using said effect.

Fish scales had an odd sustained effect that neither I nor my mother quite understood, why fish scales gave you the sustained effect of being able to spit blasts of water from your mouth was something we've never been able to figure out. Said blasts came from our bodily fluids and we’d need to rehydrate after ten shots out of water. It was interesting and might prove somewhat useful against dragons, so we always had some fish scale necklace on us for sustained usage only.

Only one sustained effect could be held at any given time unless the effect was self sustaining and they can't become permanent like a cast effect. I was currently wearing a pretty fish scale necklace at the time. You could cast as much as you have the ingredients to cast with. The matter is not destroyed, it is however repurposed and even repurposed the essence used in a cast eventually returns to the planet and the magical nature of this world.

Now you understand how magical alchemy works, for the most part anyway. It’s not an exact science… yet.

My sun given ability was not magical alchemy, but it almost looked like it if I decided to make a show of it and pretended it was magical alchemy.

-

“Well hello to you too.” The unnamed Sphinx said in a sickly sweet voice. I knew what was coming, but mom didn’t. “I seriously don’t think a feather is going to save you from being my next meal.”

“Wouldn’t it be cannibalism if you ate us? We’re cats like you. By the way, hi I’m Jade La Perm and this is my mother Kurilian La Perm or just Kuril to friends. We aren’t looking for a fight here, but we will defend ourselves if we have to.” I pointed out to the one seriously threatening her with a feather and it wasn’t an empty one by any stretch of the imagination, plus my dagger was still in the ship behind the intimidating Sphinx. Said dagger had a nice magical alchemy sustained effect to it too, unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to get to it before we were all violently ripped to shreds. That included Fluttershy who had nothing to do with this at all, which was a big 'oops' if I let that occur. “Said mother who owes you a bit of an apology for redirecting an airship into hitting your body at a pretty good velocity…”

I stalled my words as I waited for the aggressive giant magical cat with wings to give me her name, this was in the hopes of forging a peaceful outcome.

“I am Sekhet Sphinx lowly mortal, I have lived for quite a long time and I doubt you’re wise to pick a fight with the likes of me.” Her name was Sekhet, well crap, if I remember history that meant she was a warrior goddess with incredible healing abilities. It explains why her spine isn’t broken from the weight of a galleon sized airship smashing into her back. “However I must still follow the guidelines of all sphinxes and give you a riddle, if you get it correct then you can explain yourselves and apologize to me. If you get it wrong, then we will fight and should you win the battle I might actually owe you a boon. Most people don’t survive longer than three minutes, most of which is spent running from me.”

Okay what were the several titles of Sekhet again?

‘The one who is powerful’, being the meaning of her name and not a title. She’s a freaking Sphinx, so of course she is powerful.

‘One before whom evil trembles’. Not applicable here… or is it? We did kind of trespass an evil upon her by accident, dung beetles, this was quite bad. I’m going to blame Rainbow Dash for this and some of it on my mother.

‘Mistress of Dread’. I was certainly dreading what she’ll soon do to us.

‘She who mauls’. That was the very description of what a sphinx this size can do.

“Mom, don’t antagonize her, we will not win a fight with a physical goddess who has the title of She Who Mauls.” The Sphinx smiled and puffed up looking proud that I knew who she was just by name and title. “She can heal from all wounds with time, she is after all a warrior goddess in the same vein that Celestia is goddess of the sun.”

“Yeah, that… that’s pretty bad for us.” Kuril agreed immediately as we looked up at the grinning sharp toothed visage of the Egyptian goddess of ‘honorable’ slaughter. I’m getting the idea that she didn’t kill off all those ponies back in the past because they weren’t a threat to her at the very least and it wouldn’t have been very honorable to murder them. “So what is this riddle you want us to answer?”

“Also why couldn’t we have landed on Bastet, she’d have been a much friendlier Sphinx to meet.” Not that I hated Sekhet, but Bastet was a goddess of protection and cats, sometimes she was also the goddess of fertility. I got the feeling that Bastet was a large friendly Sphinx in this world and Sekhet confirmed my suspicions.

“You know of my loving sister? Bah, I haven’t seen her since she was tasked with guarding an ancient pyramid. Unlike her, the temple of the kingdom I was saddled with is still surprisingly above ground.” She sounded angry and her eyes narrowed upon me, Sekhet was also goddess of rage on top of the healing and being a warrior. “Still, it’s interesting that you know of her. As the legends of her existence has died off, she should still be guarding it to this day. It is a riddle I will pursue after you answer this one… no... make that two riddles. You inconvenienced my hunt for food by landing on me, as such I will require you to answer two.”

At her size and given how healthy she looks to be, I don’t think she’s lost her warriors edge at all and as such she was quite dangerous even if she didn’t use her magical prowess to render the three of us into puddles of flesh, blood and bone. I haven’t forgotten about Fluttershy, like mom hadn’t forgotten to keep her journal open until the ink dries.

“So be it, tell us the first riddle. We are waiting on you oh mighty Sekhet.” I bowed before Sehket Sphinx on my knees with my head to the ground and my palms touching the dirt. I slowly got back to my feet and looked at her surprised eyes. The surprise did not last long, but it had been there.

“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard and cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life and kills laughter.” Her voice was really quite nice to hear, if she wasn’t seriously threatening to end our lives over something we only vaguely had some control over. “What am I?”

“Wow, you were really going easy on Somnambula back then weren’t you?” There was that curious look again, but Sekhet didn’t say anything about my comment. I looked to mom to see if she any idea what the answer to the riddle was, she shook her head no. If it cannot be seen, like a… that’s it! “The answer is, you are the dark or darkness itself.”

“Correct.” It was all Sekhet said as she continued to give me several funny looks. There was a long pause as she considered her next riddle. “This is not my riddle, but what occupations do you have? I find myself intrigued as to why you two are here in this land, so far from home.”

“I am a burgeoning witch and I used to run a restaurant, should we survive you… I wouldn’t mind sharing a meal if you can find enough for me to cook.” Turning from my mom’s answer to look at me, I gave the Sphinx a dubious look and a smirk.

Mom had the right idea to bribe the goddess with something she doesn’t get very often, a home cooked delicious meal made by the amazing Kurilian La Perm. Maybe an offer of friendship wouldn’t be amiss either given this is Equestria. It has probably been a long time since the goddess has spoke to anyone really.

“I am a rogue sun priest, I think the sun gifted me with one unique ability because it likes me.” That had the mighty Sekhet even more flummoxed than before when I had bowed to her.

“Really now… I hope to see what you make and as for you… your… interesting.” I now had a goddess interested in me, I certainly would have felt special if she wasn’t threatening to kill us if we failed her riddle. “Here’s my second riddle. Say my name and I disappear, what am I?”

Okay, that… that was actually a tough one because of how short it was and didn’t give me much to work with. The order in which she told the riddles meant she was less upset to get bodied by an airship and was more upset about not being able to catch her prey. However my mom broke me out of my thought processes by yelling a single word.

“Silence!” My mother shouted with a firm smile on her face and I just stared at her, why did she… oh. That was the answer.

The Sphinx frowned and growled at us a bit, but she didn’t attack she instead sat down before us and her large tail curled around her left side.

“If I provide the food, will you cook a meal for all?” I noticed that Sekhet was looking at the unconscious filly on the ground with what I considered to be a friendly smile. “I will not ask you to eat anything that can talk back. For I will provide both plant and fish, if you can make me a tasty dish. Then we will talk about how you came to be, especially with the boat that landed upon me.”

Oh great, now I was dealing with two people that liked to rhyme.

Author's Notes:

Bastet and Sekhet, the goddess sphinxes of life and death.

In a similar vein to Celestia and Luna's sun and moon.

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff you can't need to know.

“Mmm… where… where am I?” You, Fluttershy were at a campsite using a pillow and a blanket scavenged from the wreckage of The Predestined Paradox, the blanket that was keeping you warm slipped off of you. I did my thing as soon as Sekhet left to go get the food, I didn’t want the sphinx to watch me do my thing after all. “What’s going on?”

“Hello there cutie, finally awake I see, sorry about ruining your moment with all those adorable animals.” My first action was to apologize to Fluttershy which made her blush and then I give her the whammy that her friend might have just endangered a lot of lives or ended them by mistake. It was like ripping off a bandage that got stuck in your fur, while painful, it had to be done. Our ship to Manehatten was never going to arrive and I don’t know what was happening with all of the passengers. All I knew was that we were completely safe right where we were. “I accidentally fell on top of you while you were singing after our airship started crashing thanks to an exploding rainbow.”

Fluttershy just silently looked at me and how odd I was, she then turned her head to see the ship I was staring at and whimpered.

“It's okay, I wasn't seriously hurt. I'm very sorry about what my friend did though, she didn’t mean for that... to happen… uh… what are you?” Gosh darn it Fluttershy was adorable as she took in my full stature. “Who are you?”

“Never seen an Abyssinian before huh? Well I’m not exactly the standard for what one looks like, but I’m close enough.” I gave her a friendly cat smile and started rubbing the poor shivering dear behind the ears while pulling the blanket up and around her. “I’m Jade La Perm and that over there is my mother scavenging the remnants of our crashed ship for a pot to boil water in and a goddess is off collecting some fresh food for us. The food on the ship is not very safe for consumption thanks to the crash.”

Kuril was coming back on deck with more stuff in her arms, she had a list of things she was going to scavenge and she started it by getting a blanket and a pillow for Fluttershy. Mom knew this was the pony of kindness I told her about.

“P-p-p-princess Celestia is here?!” The filly seemed worried about that. She should be, because Celestia probably would never be notified about the crashing of a foreign airship, mostly because there was nobody important on board. In fact the ponies in charge of international travel would probably just keep it hidden from her unless we made the journey to bring the crash to light.

“There are more goddesses, and gods, than Celestia or the mare in the moon… they are also not always alicorns my friend.” I said looking up at the visage of Nightmare Moon slowly rising as the evening set in, well she’d be dealt with in five years and it was no skin off my nose whether or not I was around to help with it. If I was going to be there, then I was going to be there. “By the way, be respectful of the goddess Sekhet when she comes back. She seems like a very lonely lady and I can tell we’re the first group she’s had a chance to interact with in a long time. Can you do that for me?”

“Uh… okay.” Said an unsure Fluttershy learning that her friend caused an airship to crash probably wasn’t much to smile about, but I had to get her feeling better as she looked so down about it. I had a soft spot for the filly even if this was going to be vastly different from the show, even if it wasn’t so vastly different too.

“I wouldn’t worry, most of the passenger fell off while we were still over the sea. It’s only me and my mom that ended up over land.” I was not mentioning the jagged rocky shoals or the likelihood of survivors surviving, not to this young filly who’s probably lived a happy life free of consequences up to this point. I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news after all, but my honest words weren’t really helping much here. I wasn’t about to lie to Fluttershy and say that they all had parachutes and will be living in a land of sunshine and rainbows. Technically this was that land, but it wasn’t all sunshine though Celestia could technically do that. “You broke my fall, so you did a good thing and I owe you for that. My mom kind of helped the airship drop on top of the goddess, so the goddess might be a bit cranky. Don’t worry the goddess is actually quite friendly and I’m sure she won’t do anything to you because you had nothing to do with the airship or its many passengers miss…”

I looked at her and waited as she pulled the blanket tight around herself hiding her face in it, she was starting to cry.

“What’s wrong cutie?” Of things I didn’t want to be responsible for, it’s making Fluttershy cry.

“I can’t get home… I’m not a very good flyer and my friend Rainbow Dash… she… she caused this crash.” Yes and I would be blaming Rainbow Dash for that more if it wasn’t for the ships name being The Predestined Paradox. I didn’t think the ships name to be coincidental in the slightest.

“It’s alright, I’m sure someone will come looking for you eventually. Until then you can stick with us, we did kind of have a trip planned for Canterlot to tell Celestia about this if she hasn’t already heard of what happened. While we do that, we can alert a Pegasus or two to your situation.” Giving it some thought I decided to be a bit more soothing. “I’m quite sure that your friend didn’t mean for the airship to crash on purpose and I know for a fact that she wasn’t the reason it landed on a goddess… that one was my mom’s fault. My mother's name is Kurilian La Perm, just call her Kuril. I was falling off the ship and she had to cast a spell on me before doing it to the ship. I’m quite sorry that her spell made me land on you, in fact that’s why the ship landed on the goddess in the first place. For you see the spell lets you land safely, but it also makes you land on someone in the course of landing safely.”

“Who would make a spell like that?” Fluttershy asked a bit more interested now as she sat up and looked down at the pillow leaning against the bench log of the campsite.

“Well the way I and my mother casts our spells is very unique compared to unicorns, so she didn't actually create it. We're still learning how to do magic and I would assume that the spell will always work in that way, if you’re falling that is. If you’re standing on the ground when that spell is cast, we’re assuming it’ll launch whatever we target into the air and it’ll make the target land on someone at random or by choice of the caster.” I had Fluttershy’s attention, I just needed her to tell me her name so I can start using it. “If you ever needed the ability to breathe underwater then just ask for Kuril, she can set you up with that ability innately. I’m completely incapable of drowning thanks to that.”

“That does actually sound useful.” Mumbled Fluttershy who still looked quite down.

“Why are you still so glum, you got your cutie mark today didn’t you?” Well that caused Fluttershy to freeze up and I could only hope that she cheered up a little. “Cheer up a little, today is still a good day for you cutie from what I’ve heard about the importance of those symbols. Even if today was a slightly lousy one for me and my mother.”

Fluttershy quickly threw off the blanket and looked at the three little sweet butterflies on her flank, for a moment she forgot that her friend unintentionally knocked her off a cloud, almost to her doom, and caused an airship to crash, almost to our doom. There was also all the other passengers, but I didn’t know them all well enough to care about what happened to them.

I heard a thundering steps as something heavy came towards us, it had to be Sekhet carrying the food back. Fluttershy cowered next to me bringing the thin blanket back over her head in a frightened manner, despite how safe we were with my ability active. The filly was looking up at the large imposing Sekhet Sphinx who stared at the campsite with a critical eye, but mostly she was looking at the roaring fire keeping us warm from the chilly evening air.

“It seems you are indeed a sun priest, an interesting one at that. Here are bags of fish, fruit and vegetables. I did harm to no one to claim them... if you were worried about that.” After she set the one wet and two dry bags down, she also put a barrel sloshing with fresh water down next to those. Celestia was just the closest representation of a sun controlling god that I knew existed, now it had me wondering who moved the sun on the other side of the planet after Celestia makes it set and if it was related to a being named Ra. “I also brought fresh water for drinking and soup, I hope your mother’s skills are as good as you say they are Priest Jade.”

A roar sounded off in the distance and one of Sekhet’s ears twitched, she turned and started running towards the noise without a word to us about staying here or keeping safe.

“W-w-w-what was that?” Poor Fluttershy, I had almost forgotten that you spent most of your life in the clouds and hardly any of it on the ground, sounded like a bear. A really huge bear… wait… weren’t Ursa Minors and Majors a thing here in Equestria?

“It was just a massive bear, don’t worry about it. The goddess, remember her name is pronounced Sekhet, probably went to see what was causing a disturbance and will make sure it doesn’t disturb us.” Not that anything could get into the campsite with my ability running, praise the sun for it gives protection to a true believer… well technically the protection came as a side effect of the ability I had.

Sekhet obviously wanted a good fight and it was likely to make her less cranky. We still needed to tell her of how we came to be here after all and she’ll be in a much better mood to hear it, though I did feel quite sorry for the Ursa that got her attention.

Mom eventually came to the campfire with the pot and I pointed out the barrel of water and the food so graciously gathered by Sekhet. Which is unusual considering Sekhet spent a lot of her time forcing ponies to give her food and now she was willingly helping us?

I was now almost quite certain that the whole Somnambula thing was a set up to free herself from the temple she was supposed to be guarding. She failed to guard it square and a little too fair in my opinion, plus Somnambula only told her to leave the kingdom and never return. In this day and age it was no longer a kingdom, even then the temple itself counted as a kingdom on it's own while Sekhet was trapped there.

Once Sekhet left the area it was no longer a kingdom as it no longer had any people left in it and she could have freely gone back to kill Somnambula, but why would she when Somnambula did her a big favor by literally ordering her to be free of her job.

It was well within Sekhet’s abilities to have destroyed the ponies settling near the temple as Somnambula never said anything to protect it or the kingdom she was a part of. Somnambula luckily didn't have to.

I was going to bring it up when Sekhet eventually came back to the campfire.

-

She never thought her life would end this way, apparently the thing that gave her this scar and took her horn from her came chasing after her. She thought she could make it on her own to find a way to restore her horn, she was now on her back with a gushing wound in her side. She could still run, but keeping ahead of that beast was going to be quite hard.

Just when the large creature from her nightmares was set to strike her again or continue giving chase, it met a rather unfortunate fate with an exceptionally large cat like creature she had never seen the likes of before. The bloody battle only lasted for about three minutes in total before the nightmare that haunted her died perilously at the jaws of the large cat digging into it’s now lifeless throat. It was then, seconds after her victory and a mild bit of preening, that the clearly intelligent creature turned their slit orange eyes upon her.

“Answer my riddle and I will help you survive the night and you get to eat a wondrous meal, get it wrong and I will leave you to your fate to go to said wondrous meal.” The creature told her, it had her wondering whether or not this being was benevolent. “Whatever that fate may be should you choose to go on your own as injured as you are.”

The cat creature gave her a toothy grin, it was then that she recognized it for what it was. It was a Sphinx, a legendary beast and it didn’t seem to want her dead. For once in her life, she was not going to rely on herself as she seriously needed the help. She could survive the night on her own, but she needed to eat something substantial as it’s been a while since her last meal.

Wait a minute… even if she failed to answer the riddle correctly, she could just follow the great beast that just saved her life to the food anyway. The riddle was just a formality because she was a Sphinx.

“Answering the riddle is pointless isn’t it?” She stated while staring at the beast.

“It’s the difference between you walking there and me carrying you, I would be faster and you’d get help much sooner and you wouldn’t lose nearly as much of your strength.” The Sphinx smiled a bit. “I know a fighter when I see one and you need not fight for your life alone, you earned my attention as much as you did the bears.”

“I’ll take your riddle.” She had little strength to spare following such an incredible being, but she didn’t want to lose that strength and then be eaten by her. She had all to gain and nothing to lose by trying to at least show this being some trust. After having long since lost her childhood innocence, she once again felt something akin to hope.

Author's Notes:

Magical Alchemy list.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used in a sustain effect bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body quickly with excessive use.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or 'possibly' target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random. (One-time air terrain survival buff, possible Offensive ability).

Sustain:???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff you shouldn't need to know.

“Jade, here’s your knife.” My mom had finally found my knife, but she was already in the midst of cooking the meal.

Mom was using the plates, bowls and other pots and pans that hadn’t been too badly damaged by the crash, the galley like everywhere below deck had been empty of people. She gave it to me and a tray covered in fish.

“Let me guess, I got fishing duty.” I said dryly, mom always made me work with the fish. “What do you want off to the side to play with this time?”

“I also want you to chop up the carrots and keep the tops. If the so far unnamed friend there wants to help, then she may. Oh and leave the guts off to the side dear, I’m using everything else.” After saying that my mother kneeled in front of a shy looking Fluttershy and squeezed on her cheeks making her squeak adorably. “Things will be alright sweetie, you’ll see. Do you want to help me cook?”

“Um… yes… I would like to help if you don’t mind.” Fluttershy soon found herself in a crushing hug and I found myself getting jealous that mom was snuggling her. After that mom started telling her what to do. “And… sorry for not telling you two, but… my name is Fluttershy.”

“I swear you’re treating her better than you ever did me.” A bushel of carrots was tossed on to my tray expertly by the deft hands of the witch I called mom, my knife was a simple short blade and the sheath was just as simple. I sat down on the log by the fire with the tray on my lap and pulled my knife from the sheath to begin working, but first I utilized the sustain ability my knife gave me. “At least I won’t complain about the portions I receive, your cooking is the best magic that the world has ever had.”

“I’m not treating her better, she’s just cuter.” My mother preened at the praise as she came over to me and gave me an affectionate pat on the head. “You never did have a cute phase my little tom cat, the only thing feminine about you is your long hair. I swear, when you find a lover, you better be the one to get your partner pregnant. Even if your partner turns out to be male, as a witch’s daughter they should be the one getting pregnant and carrying my grandchildren. Goodness knows no one would survive you if you were the one to be carrying.”

“I’ll just get to work mom.” I grunted sourly. The sustain ability of the knife was simple. I was a tom boy and a lay about, but the knife improved my dexterity and made me alert to my surroundings. Not to mention the longer I used it the more exercise I got, so it was good for getting me active. I unfortunately couldn’t sleep a wink while using it as my sustain effect and the self-sustaining effect of giving me plenty of exercise helped quite a bit, thank goodness it was a sustain effect instead of a cast. I can’t imagine being permanently unable to sleep without feeling aware of my surroundings constantly.

I wondered what a cast would do with a knife, never tested it before and I don’t want to if it was something that could hurt someone. As long as it was close to me I could do acrobatics with the best of them, had I brought my knife on deck I wouldn’t have fallen off the air ship. The sustain effect helped immensely with muscle memory so I knew how to wield the knife like a sailor, my home town of Palicoast had plenty of salty sea cats to learn from.

It made sense that the knife made me dexterous and alert, as the essence of a knife was the weapon of a thief, bandit or a lazy fish scaler like me. I wanted to class as a rogue and a knife was one of the things that helped train my muscles and skills, the more I used it the better I got without needing the sustain effect.

The knife sheath had a sustain effect that protected me from being cut by small weapons, the cast for the previous few sheaths I owned had the dubious effect of trapping one thing for a limited time. I’m quite sure a sheath of similar make will always do the same thing, bigger sheaths probably lasted longer. Said limited time doesn’t care how powerful you were, given I stopped a whale shark completely in its tracks for the same amount of time I stopped a little guppy. Long story.

I had sat the sheath off to the side of the log as I got to work with the stuff on my tray.

Three swipes of the knife and on fish completely missing its scales and the guts were spilling out. I dumped the scale on the ground and pushed the guts off to the side. I placed a carrot before me and carefully chopped it, saving the top of the carrot as asked. I couldn’t cook like mom could, but I could help prepare well enough.

After I finished chopping the carrots and fish filets, I shoved the carrots into the pot of slowly heating water and looked to mom as to what to do with the filets and guts.

“Throw four filets in for flavor, I’m grilling and spicing the rest. If everything in the galley wasn’t covered in wood we’d be having problems with food right about now.” Turning from me as I set about my duty mom addressed Fluttershy. “Are you alright with fish dear? I know that not all Pegasi eat fish and I wouldn’t want to upset you, Sekhet did say make a meal for everyone and pony fair will be on the menu. Speaking of, can you pass me those metal bars and some of those vegetables? I’m making vegetable skewers.”

“I’m okay with fish, though I don’t like the idea of eating something that was alive… then again plants are alive and I eat those…” Fluttershy started to cover her face with her mane and she gathered the various vegetables shyly. “I guess I’m not entirely upset about it, though please don’t ask me to eat anything more intelligent.”

“I would never, I’m asking so that I know how much to make and I’m going to be making a lot because of Sekhet. I need to know if you wanted any before we start serving her, it’s so I can save some off to the side for you.” I can see my mother shivering at the idea of Sekhet being displeased with us. “She’s going to get a large portion of what we’re making, she wasn’t exactly happy about me magically redirecting a crashing airship onto her skull. Can you tell me more about that daughter of mine? You seem to know quite a bit about her.”

“She’s Sekhet, a sphinx goddess of righteous rage, war and healing apparently. If she fights, which is invoked when you are considered evil, issuing a challenge or have crossed her enough to qualify for a battle where she issues you the challenge, then the chances of surviving her are very slim if she considers it a battle to the death. Unless you set the terms of victory to explicitly exclude her from killing you. If you didn’t issue the challenge, as a sphinx, she has to ask you a riddle if she wants to pursue a form of justice against you. She wouldn’t have left us alone if we didn’t answer her and we would have been seen as guilty if we tried to avoid her, even if said injury has already healed completely. The guiltier we become in her eyes, the more she can act against us.” I was quite calm while explaining this. I continued to slice and gut fish and chop carrots, I wasn’t sugar coating this for the whimpering Fluttershy and I knew the pony wouldn’t upset Sekhet. I think Sekhet would never ask someone innocent a riddle unless she wanted to help them. “If you are considered evil or happen to turn evil in her presence, then she will just attack you outright without setting the terms for victory. Depending on how she feels about the situation she will either try to return you to your senses or more than likely attempt to kill you outright, you’re actually lucky if you’re possessed by something because she’ll only actually attack the malignant spirit to save you. She must knowingly inform you of the consequences of getting a riddle wrong should you decide to take the riddle, we didn’t cross her well enough and she is curious as to why dropping a ship on her head didn’t let her immediately end us as per the rules she follows.”

It was our asses that were on the line and I was well aware Sekhet wasn’t just testing my mom’s cooking skills. It was Sekhet that had been out on a hunt and was just in generally enjoying a quiet life, mom was the one that actually perpetrated an evil upon her by accident and I was not as in danger as she was. Despite a thousand years passing Sekhet’s purple Nemes headdress, Usekh necklace and earrings looked perfectly fine so she was definitely a healthy and magically active goddess. I was mixing my knowledge of Sphinxes and Sekhet together for this, as such I believed this meal for everyone was a test of my mother’s character as much as mine.

“So yes, she’s quite dangerous if you upset her enough for her to want to mash you into the ground. Beating her would be a long shot even with our magical talents mom and provided that she didn’t use hers as a handicap. Her sister is apparently Bastet a goddess of life, protection and cats, sometimes fertility and she is also just as dangerous in her own ways if crossed or wronged.” I was going to continue my little campfire lore telling as I started up my fourth tray of fish and some other vegetables this time. “Upsetting Bastet would technically be worse as Sekhet will not hurt the weak or already infirmed and if you were either she would technically be honor bound to make you strong again so that you can be worthy of fighting for your life against her. We technically don’t count as weak or infirmed, mom proved her strength by redirecting the galleon and I proved it through my knowledge of the goddess herself. Neither of us is sick. I think the war goddess is misunderstood personally, she can actually be friendly and might even tell riddles if she wants to be helpful beyond a normal sense. She brought this food for us in trade for a meal after all and didn’t complain about it as she was getting a fair trade in return.”

“Why should I complain? The company here is quite well informed of who I am by now Priest Jade.” That was Sekhet stomping her way up to the campsite and through the protective effects as if they didn’t exist, if she wanted to kill me she might be able to do it despite the side effect of my sun priest ability protecting me and those I wish to be protected. “You’ve have my attention, you might just be very unlucky for that…”

After that was said, Sekhet held out her left wing and placed a slightly confused, if injured, pony upon the ground. Sekhet then moved to quietly sit by the campfire and stared at the burning flickering fire with something approaching intrigue and as for the food my mother was working on, she looked upon it with complete awe.

Okay things just got a little more complex for the future if that was really the teenaged Fizzle Pop Berry Twist that Sekhet had just dropped off or as she might be known as in the future, Tempest Shadow. I could avert her fate and maybe even restore her horn through magical alchemy… Celestia had a phoenix right? I had a magical alchemy idea to help her, but I would need to earn her trust.

“I hope you don’t mind if I help you, I’m Jade La Perm.” I passed the tray to Fluttershy and mom watched as I went to the blanket that we used to wrap up the unconscious Fluttershy and I dipped some of it into the fresh water and made my way over to Fizzle.

“I don’t really need your…” Fizzle started dryly and seemed upset at my approach, but I began to clean her wound with the wet portion of the blanket and she hissed before sending a glare my way. She started to light her broken horn… “Get away from…”

“Silence brave one… let her do her job...” The giant claw attached to the equally giant paw of Sekhet touched the glowing broken portion of Fizzle’s horn and it ceased working immediately. That scared Fizzle quite a lot and she didn’t say anything about it.

I ignored this interaction and pulled out my knife, which made Fizzle’s eyes widen in my direction as I slashed away the wet blood covered portion of blanket used to wipe her gash clean. I worked the remaining dry portions of the blanket around her barrel and tied it off tightly.

“We’re going to need to change this out tomorrow, but for right now a blanket tourniquet works just as well until we can find a medical kit in the wreckage to sew that wound up.” Despite the suspicious look I was getting, I gave her a kind smile and gently rubbed her behind one her ears. She continued to give me an aggravated stare after that. “Don’t worry, you’re in good paws… if you give us enough time we can do more than just heal that wound in your side. We might be able to fix that poor horn of yours as well.”

Fizzle gave me a disbelieving stare. Given how long she’s been without a fully working horn, it was to be expected. Fixing the broken horn would be easy or hard depending on what ingredients we needed to perform a magical alchemy to do so, thus the qualifier might. I was thinking phoenix feathers or phoenix tears, both if possible. There were other options like a small hydra’s head or hydra skin, at least something that could regenerate lost limbs would work just as well.

“That’ll be quite an interesting feat to see… I’ll be sticking around for that reason alone.” I did not appreciate Sekhet's words or her looking at me as if I were her personal toy to play with. The flicking tail and creepy smile didn’t help my mood much either, there was a certain beauty to her threatening appearance though.

“If you could, you’d be the first.” Fizzle muttered with resentment and looked away from me as I went back to helping mom finish preparing the meal as the night got darker.

In fact, Tempest didn’t say anything else as we started in on our meals. I and mom told the goddess of what happened to us. I afterwards decided to ask Sekhet about the true history of what happened between her and Somnambula, maybe what riddle she gave Tempest, if she did in fact give her one.

Author's Notes:

New Magical Alchemy Discovered.

Magical Alchemy List.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used without needing the sustain effect.

Prolonged Prologue: Stuff I wish I could forget.

The meal was quite delicious, mom could really cook even when she was using slap dash equipment. The two ponies were eating quietly and I noticed that Tempest was trying not to look at any of us, especially not Sekhet who brought her to us.

“So… since you obviously have nothing against us anymore, there’s something I wanted to know about.” Yep, ancient history was something of an interest to me given I didn’t know much of this world, excepting for the fact that myths and legends were more real here. Well, aside from specific already possibly ruined events because of my interference.

The large sphinx swallowed her mouthful and looked at me in a lazy manner.

“If you are looking for permission, then you have it.” Sekhet dove her face back into the food, she was a one hungry lady and she looked pleased with the food, and that mom thought ahead with her larger portions.

“I just want to confirm something really. A little more than a thousand years ago the temple you were guarding as the last remaining member of a fallen kingdom was attacked by ponies. Ponies of whom you were bullying into giving you food in the hopes of achieving a specific outcome.” I paused to make sure everyone knew how old the being eating with us was. “Following that attack and your defeat of a massive army, without any reported casualties mind you, you captured the prince and held him captive in the temple. I heard that you didn’t even harm him even after you roughed up his people. So getting to the point and what I want to know is, did you set all of that up to happen the way it did so someone would eventually come and free you from your job?”

“…. you are well informed. Yes, that did happen. I may be a warrior and I may have a ceaseless rage at times, but that doesn’t mean I lose my mind when I’m angry. An intelligent and thinking being can do so much worse than a mindless animal controlled by their anger.” Sekhet’s tail flicked back and forth as her claw stabbed into a grilled piece of fish which was soon flipped into her large maw. She closed her eyes and smiled brightly as the taste slapped against her tongue. “The army wasn’t worthy of death, in fact they were all quite pathetic really. As you say, I roughed them up without doing anything permanent. Their arrows and spears fell upon me and broke or slid from my body and my flesh healed anew, they were quite powerless against me. I could not issue any of them a challenge that would set me free of my duty, so I put a plan into motion by taking Prince Hisan. I hoped someone would brave my possible wrath and offer me a proper challenge that would allow them to make me vacate my duty. They were the ones that settled near the temple, so I am not to blame for all the ponies lacking foresight. I did nothing wrong in ordering tithes from them to prevent my wrath.”

“You still tried to starve them out though, you were performing your duty in protecting the surrounding lands by forcing the ponies to pay you to use them.” It was telling when I saw that she wasn’t about to defend herself or her actions. Sekhet had been bound to protect the lands around that temple and taxing the ponies was one of the methods to getting rid of them without a fight. “So after taking the prince, that’s when you met Somnambula I take it?”

“Yes… but there is one thing you are missing here, the reason why I was taking so much from the ponies was because I couldn’t go very far from the temple and I was thankful that they didn’t know that. The lack of food was really quite harsh on me and though I am immortal, not being able to eat would still weaken me even if it will not kill me.” I watched as she happily shoving some vegetable into her maw and she chewed quietly, she washed it down with some soup. After she was done swallowing and humming in appreciation at my mother’s cooking, Sekhet returned her focus on me. “I'd like to see you try going hundreds of years without a decent meal.”

“So what was Somnambula like Ms. Sphinx?” My mother was eating slowly and watching everyone else make appreciative noises.

“For not being a warrior, she was a very brave individual." Sekhet spoke of Somnambula as if she were a close friend and I could certainly understand why. "I do not know what became of her, but she was one of the few who actually faced me successfully.”

“She freed you from your duty of guarding the temple. You gave her an easy riddle and then you made her challenge you on purpose.” I looked to Tempest and then back to Sekhet. “You gave her the same riddle I take it?”

“Hope shines brightest in the darkness and I had hope that I would escape my situation. As you can see… I did.” I watched Sekhet motion to her chest with her left paw and then she gave me another toothy smile. “It was thanks to her that I could do whatever I will and as I have been for the last nine hundred plus years ever since her disappearance. I could have gone back at any time to decimate them, I’m actually quite merciful to those who deserve it. So I followed the spirit of Somnambula’s orders and stayed away, even though my kingdom ceased existing with me gone allowing me the freedom to go wherever I please. They may tell tales of me being evil, but what they don’t know won’t hurt their view of the world and its cruelties. This one here knows what I am talking about.”

Sekhet pointed a claw at Tempest who just stared at the goddess and didn’t say anything, she just continued eating quietly and she wasn’t very willing to open up to any of us. Even the ridiculously dangerous goddess that brought her here didn’t push her to talk or do anything. Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something kind to Tempest, but my mother kept her from doing so.

Eventually we finished our meal and I rewrapped Fizzle’s wounds, we all settled down near the camp fire with blankets and pillows. I looked up at Sekhet with wonder.

“As a goddess of healing… how long has it been since you’ve healed others instead of just yourself?” The goddess laying on her belly just gave me a softened look, but she didn’t say anything as she rested her head upon her paws and then closed her eyes.

I curled up in my blanket next to the fire, we would decide where we were all going form here in the morning. Fluttershy was tucked in by mom, Tempest took care of herself though mom still went over to her to make sure she was okay and my eyes started to slowly drift shut.

-

The sunlight slid through the trees and into our campsite, the fire was still going when I woke up. If you can’t guess by now, my ability involves the campfire and why it never needed any more wood once it was started. My ability was quite magical like that.

I sat up and stretched out my back popping a joint or two, the protections of my ability kept the bugs and other nasty monster out of the campsite. I grabbed my tail and unkinked it and flicked it about a bit to loosen it up, then I took in the campsite. At any time Fizzle or Sekhet could have left and yet they were still here, Fizzle was awake and sitting against a tree and… she was staring at me. There was Sekhet who was gazing upon the airship with curiosity. My mom was already cooking breakfast and Fluttershy was still sleeping.

It was time for me to do my one task as a priest, well a rogue priest anyway. I stood up and performed the act of a sun salutation, first part the mountain position with my hand clapped together in prayer.

It was some time during when I was praising the sun that Sekhet started looking my way. She was giving me an intrigued look and she wasn’t the only one, Fizzle the broken unicorn seemed thoughtful.

“Well that completes my morning ritual.” I said out loud as I moved over to sit near mom, I decided to address their stares. “What…? It’s basically the circle of life, a wheel of fortune if you will.”

“What kind of fortune and for who?” Asked Sekhet wryly and with a sudden movement we both watched as Fizzle got up from the tree and came over to me.

She closed her eyes inhaled through her nose and then opened to give me a steely gaze, then she finally said something to me.

“Thank you, both of you.” It was at that point that I noticed something quite off about her side as she was thanking me and my mother. Fizzle turned to Sekhet. “I… I guess I should be thanking you as well.”

Sekhet looked entirely aloof and just motioned with her paw that she didn’t particularly seem to care about being thanked.

Fizzle’s side was stitched up and I seriously don’t think mom did that concerning how nice the stitches looked. Fluttershy would be training to be a vet for the next five years, she didn’t exactly have the talent for medical stuff yet. That left… I leveled my gaze at Sekhet who looked right back at me without a hint of emotion on her face. Slowly that look turned into a faint smile… or was that a smirk? Hard to tell with the pony faced giant lioness with wings.

“You’re welcome.” All three of us said that at the same time and in unison, Sekhet being louder because she was the biggest of us.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think we introduced ourselves last night.” I realized that Fizzelpop Berrytwist didn’t know our names yet, she just ended up at a campsite randomly by way of goddess and then got a good meal in her. She even looked a bit healthier then she previously did.

“To be fair, I wasn’t about to ask for any or tell my own. You can call me… Tempest.” Oh don’t you dare do the dark and broody thing Tempest!

“I’m Jade La Perm… well technically my name is Jaded La Perm, I just prefer Jade.” My favorite color was green, my hair was naturally green and I was wearing a green shirt that I slept in. I couldn’t wait to get back to civilization and a warm bath, but my name was truly ‘Jaded’ and that’s how mom felt when whatever partner she had left her pregnant with someone like me.

“I’m Kurilian La Perm, Jade’s mother and she’s my little tom cat.” I don’t think my mother would ever stop calling me a tom cat, she wasn’t wrong about my tendencies to not care for being feminine. “As you can tell I’m quite the cook, wouldn’t you agree Ms. Sphinx?”

“Sekhet Sphinx, last night was a feast fit for any god.” That was all Sekhet had to say about it and she was right, mom’s cooking tended to get a bit divine when she was in a good mood.

“And… her?” Here Tempest pointed at the dozing yellow furred filly with the awkward long legs that the pink haired pony hadn’t grown into yet.

“Her name is Fluttershy, she's the filly I fell on from last night’s story.” It was only now that I was noticing the similarities in colors between Sekhet and Tempest, which made me stare at the Tempest’s beautiful blue-green eyes. I didn’t like Tempest’s mane style personally, but the color was quite fetching on her and I was perfectly okay with her tail. Oh great, puberty just hit me, I’m ogling the broken unicorn that I intend to befriend.

“So Tempest, I have to ask…” I was cut off when Tempest held up her hoof.

“If it’s about my horn...” She started before I moved closer to her and ran my fingers through her mane making her stop to glare at me, she didn't shove my hand away so that's progress.

“No, no, no, it isn’t that beautiful… I mean Tempest! I was wanting to ask, what you were doing out here before you ran into Sekhet?” I rubbed behind her ears trying to calm her down, I mentally added the thought that Sekhet can possibly change size and she sewed Tempest up without waking her. Darn it, Tempest was a beautiful mare and that scar really adds character. I’m just guessing that Sekhet took last night's comment about her healing others seriously and decided to help with healing Tempest’s physical wounds, maybe even her spiritual and mental ones as well.

“Oh…” Tempest sounded horribly surprised that I wasn’t asking her about her horn, many ponies must have asked her about it as a conversation starter and made her relive that moment time and again. I would think that to be quite an upsetting trend for the burgeoning mare. Her gaze turned towards the ground. “I was just looking for… something I guess.”

Reading between the lines, Tempest was just wandering around aimlessly. She got into trouble and then Sekhet came upon her to wreck an aggressive giant star bear. Thus the goddess saved her from having to run from it after acquiring a nasty injury to her barrel. Knowing what I do, she'd have lived through it.

There was an awkward silence and I decided to break it.

“Well you can stick with us for a while if you want. Mom and I are going to go report our airship crashing in Canterlot, we’ll stop at a town on the way to find a Pegasus that can help Fluttershy get home safely.” I stood up to go wake Fluttershy.

“The question that my daughter is avoiding is, what are you going to do now Ms. Sphinx?” Mom asked the goddess as I was busy rousing a comfortable looking Fluttershy.

“I could just go about my business…” Sekhet paused and I could almost feel her sending a leer my direction as Fluttershy started to rub at her eyes. “What I am going to do is suggest that you and… Tempest… should stay here, while Priest Jade goes to report the airship crash and get the filly back to her parents. I will provide for you and will make sure the airship doesn’t go anywhere. All that I ask in return is that Kuril cooks several more meals for me.”

The quickest way to please a goddess like Sekhet was through her stomach apparently. Unfortunately for us, she probably won't leave us alone because we fed her.

“That might save me a lot of walking, besides we don’t really have a place to stay aside from the airship. I really don’t want to pay for an inn in Canterlot, it would be too expensive for us for even one night.” Mom rubs her chin and gives Sekhet a thoughtful look before nodding to herself. “It looks like you’re going on an adventure Jade!"

Author's Notes:

End of the Prolonged Prologue.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily. Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons probably improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons. Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A line is never so straight.

It was after a solemn and ridiculously silent breakfast that mom started setting up for my trip to Canterlot, on the way I’d find someone to help Fluttershy out of her jam. I’d likely be making a stop in Ponyville, if I was quick enough I could get an early morning train to Canterlot.

“Are you sure you want to stay here with Sekhet, mom?” I ask because Sekhet was a scary sphinx shaped goddess that threatened to eat us not too long ago, in fact it was only yesterday.

“I’ll be fine… well at least I will be if you don’t use your ability and providing that Sekhet absolutely wants me to be alive to cook for her.” Mom ruffled my hair and smiled at her, she then shoved my pack into my chest and pointed over to Fluttershy. “You make sure she gets back home safely okay? I at least know you’ll be fine, the pack has been filled with dried fruits, left over vegetable mashed into a fine pasted and of course the classic Abyssinian favorite, fish jerky. I also took the liberty of boiling some water for your canteen.”

“Look, I like fish jerky as much as the next Abyssinian mom, but it’s really beginning to wear quite thin with me after years of eating it.” I dare you to find an Abyssinian that was completely tired of fish for every meal other than me, it was the least likely thing to happen. Still, I didn’t think I was complaining too much about it. “That’s even when I don’t want it to go to waste. Anyway, thanks for helping me pack up for the trip mom.”

“Well I can’t let my dear sweet daughter go off unprepared, do you have everything? Fish bone necklace, fish scale necklace, two spare raven feathers, your knife, the sheath for it and something to tie your hair back?” I rolled my eyes and sighed at my mother’s being slightly overbearing.

“Yes mom, I’m quite sure I have everything on me.” Speaking of, I took out my hair tie and put my hair up in a thick ponytail. I turned to Tempest with a pleading look on my face. “Please tell me you’ll stick around with my mother until I get back. You don’t have to do anything, even if Sphinx doesn’t want you going anywhere, you can do whatever you want. Just please don’t make me leave my mother alone with Sekhet.”

Tempest tilted her head and looked quite thoughtful for a moment, she was trying to decide whether or not to stay here for a while.

“Look, you’re going to need those stitches removed eventually. So you may as well stay here and let yourself heal until we can do that.” Sekhet butted in while poking Tempest’s broken horn, which definitely annoyed Tempest. You’d think with all the power that Sekhet has, she could just simply fix Tempest’s horn like magic. It made me wonder why she didn’t or couldn’t, there had to be some limits to how well she could heal others.

“… fine, I’ll stick around.” The next few seconds for Tempest must have been quite a surprise for her, because I had immediately jogged over to her and wrapped my paws around her neck to hug her tightly. I avoided my first instinct to grab her around the barrel where the wounds on her were. Tempest was so surprised that she didn’t try to push me away until after at least fifteen seconds had passed. “Will you stop touching me?”

“No, because I think you, my friend, need more hugs. You look like you’ve been horribly deprived of them for a long time.” That was an understatement, as I knew she hadn’t received any positive attention since her horn was broken. Hopefully Tempest never went to the dark side because I was willing to help her through her issues. Speaking of issues, I backed off from the slightly aggravated pony and turned to Fluttershy. “Are you ready to go Fluttershy, we’re wasting daylight here!”

Did Tempest even have parents? Was she a runaway? If anything, it’s almost like my supposition that Starlight Glimmer didn’t have parents to curb her darker thoughts or actions. If Tempest did have parents, then where were they when her horn broke and why didn’t they ever try to comfort her? Equestria must have had a glut of evil unicorns due to bad or barely messed up childhoods and Sunset Shimmer would be one of those examples that Celestia had caused personally. In fact, Unicorns were the most likely pony type to go evil in the first place.

“Oh, um… yes I am Jade.” The fresh barrel of water was running a bit low, Fluttershy had used a bit of it to scrub herself clean. The filly looked happy and had taken care of herself quite well, it was hard to stay jealous of Fluttershy stealing my mother’s attention when she was so sweet.

“Well come on then, let’s hit the road. We’ll be heading northeast.” What I wouldn’t do for a compass right now… wait a minute. “Mom, do you have a compass?”

“Hold on, I think I might have found one in the wreckage yesterday.” Digging through the pile of stuff she liberated from the airship she eventually found a small compass and put it my left hand.

“Well it’s working at least.” I commented dryly.

“Be careful and come back to me safely my little tom cat, or at least in one piece if you’re not sane.” I gave my mother a hug and started too walked towards the northeast only to be intercepted by Sekhet moving into my path. “I’ll know if you’re in trouble if anything happens to the protections your ability creates.”

“Priest Jade, do not tarry with coming back, also beware the princess of the sun and the way she may act.” With that said, Sekhet got out of my way and I stared after her. She went to sit next to the large airship and then made a shooing motion with one of her paws. “She will become quite… odd… around you. So I warn you, pay attention to what she does.”

“Right then, every journey starts with the first step.” I took my first step and then another while waving goodbye to my mom and Tempest with the filly Fluttershy in tow.

-

It didn’t take thirty minutes and crossing the shallower portion of a river to find the train tracks. Luck was on our side as we could just follow them to Ponyville, I marked the location thoroughly so I could remember how to get back to the crash site. Cloudsdale was quite visible at this distance, it was kind of hard to miss unless it was raining.

So there we were, the two of us walking along the tracks in silence. Me with a blue pack loaded with food on my back with a canteen hooked to it, a knife at my right hip and my fish scale necklace that would give me a defensive options should I need to fend off a predator. A tightly controlled jet of water can do some serious damage. I was doubtful of ever running across a predator or monster this close to the train tracks.

Somewhere along the way were passing by some bushes while still following the tracks to Ponyville and they started shaking, I immediately put myself in front of Fluttershy and narrowed my eyes at the bushes. I inhaled through my nose to prepare for exhaling at the target, I was using my necklace's sustain effect.

“Surpri..urghfflblblblbe.” My reaction time was pretty good, good enough to catch the young Pinkie Pie in the mouth with a ball of water that ejected from mine. It had knocked her flat on her back spluttering. I was afraid it might have been a pack of pukwudgies, a nest of aggressive flyders, maybe even a baby hydra or a manticore.

Instead I got the naturally occurring reality breaking pink Earth Pony, why was she here of all places?

Coughing and spitting up the water that ended up flying down her throat the wrong way, Pinkie eventually became all smiles when she was breathing normally again.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” Fluttershy had been worried for a moment, but then calmed down when she saw that it was just a pony. One that I knew came from a rock farm and was nowhere near it at the moment.

“I’m okay and that was really cool!” It seems that Pinkie didn’t care that I was not a pony, then again I don’t know where her mental state is after seeing the rainbow blasting across the sky the other day. “How did you do that?”

“Magic.” I then snorted twice in a cute manner. Yes I was a lazy butt in my previous life, but I will always remember the classics fondly. I could have also said, ‘that, is a secret’ or ‘that would be telling’.

“Oh of course, how silly of me! Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and you two are?” Well Pinkie introduced herself with a wagging tail, like a puppy really, so I may as well do the same.

“I'm Jade La Perm.” I looked to Fluttershy who was hiding behind my legs and I gave her a light tap to the head with my tail making her squeak.

“O-oh, I-I’m Fluttershy, nice to meet you Pinkie.” The poor girl was being a bit shy and I really couldn’t fault Fluttershy for it as that’s just who she was.

“Speaking of meeting you…” I was almost too afraid to ask this question knowing who I was talking to, unless she hasn’t hit her zany phase yet. “What in the world are you doing out here all alone?”

“Well I got my cutie mark yesterday after seeing the most amazing thing ever!” Pinkie said excitedly while I looked to Fluttershy for help, only to realize that Fluttershy wouldn't be able to help me calm down this pink ball of sheep fluff. I was technically the adult here and would just have to deal with it.

“Let me guess, a rainbow exploded across the sky that filled your boring life with color and then Equestria was made?” I already knew how Equestria was made thank you very much.

“A rainbow exploded across the… oh your really good at this!” Exclaimed Pinkie clapping her hooves, I just rolled my eyes at the excitable ball of energy. Said ball was a young filly who started bouncing around me in a circle. “Well I’m out here looking for my place in the world. It certainly isn’t the rock farm I came from, even if I really, really, REALLY love my family a whole big bunch!”

“You’re going to follow us aren't you?” I was already following the tracks towards Ponyville, Fluttershy fell into step with me and was looking back at Pinkie who bounced along behind us.

“I already am of course.” Pinkie threw a comically bad salute with her left hoof. “New party member Pinkie Pie reporting for duty, emphasis on the party part as that’s my special talent!”

I looked to Fluttershy who just shrugged at me while flaring her wings slightly and I sighed, I stroked my fingers through Fluttershy’s mane several times and she blushed while squeaking at the attention I was giving her.

“Keep up then, you don’t seem like the kind of pony that would take no for answer.” I wasn't about to let a young Pinkie out of my sight, so we were all moving alongside the tracks together.

“Woohoo, I made some new friends and one of them is a really tall friendly cat!” That’s when Pinkie Pie decided to start showboating and dancing on her hind legs “Go me, go Pinkie, it’s not my birthday, but it might soon be! I’m dropping them some big hints! Of who I want at my party!”

I slapped my forehead in aggravation and released a long drawn out hiss. Try to keep it together Jade, even if this trip was going to be a long one.

-

I was checking my map, who thought it was a good idea to make the tracks run near Flame Geyser Swamp? Still following the tracks was safe and I had to continue ignoring Pinkie’s nattering, I lifted an ear to listen in on what she was talking about now.

“So anyway… I was like Boulder, bad rock! He should have at least waited for Maud to let him outside.” Yeah, Pinkie was still going on about her inane rock farm stories. I really did not need to know her life story or how boring the early parts of it were, though Boulder apparently peeing on the carpet was a thing. “After that I was like… oh my tail is twitching! I wonder if a Pegasus will fall from the sky.”

One already has and she’s been a little angel this entire time, unlike… wait… the Pinkie Sense was never wrong and we were around a bunch of trees near the edges of Flame Geyser Swamp? On instinct I swiftly turned around and scooped up Fluttershy and grabbed Pinkie out of the air mid hop and lunged into a roll. I heard a thunderous crash behind me. A shower of dirt was launched into the air, some of which splattered the three of us.

This was the reward for my quick thinking, I’m so glad I didn’t look up first and thankfully none of us got hurt… yet.

I quickly dropped both Fluttershy and Pinkie on the ground and turned around to look at the creature that tried to pounce on us from the trees.

It wasn’t a manticore, something I would have preferred facing in this situation. It was something far worse, it was a chimera. It was currently dazed because it missed us and had slammed bodily into the ground.

“Girls… I want you two to start running, stick together and keep following the tracks.” I spoke softly and didn’t turn my eyes away from the chimera and I was already using my knife as my magical alchemy sustain. I’d have to switch in the middle of the fight if I wanted to blast them with water, I even popped the claws on my hands to prepare for what was coming. “Don’t come back for me. I’ll catch up with you, I promise.”

“Do you Pinkie promise?” Asked a rather frightened Pinkie as she and Fluttershy gathered their wits, I gave them a rather sharp look.

“Just go, don’t worry about me!” I might have been a little harsh that time, but I didn’t have the time to go through the whole Pinkie Promise thing. That sent the two fillies in my care running along the tracks, as the Chimera got up and lunged for them.

One of the dumbest things you can ever do is tackle a chimera. I checked their side with my increased agility and sent them sprawling and narrowly avoided the snapping teeth of the snake headed tail that came within an inch of my face.

The chimera stood up and three sets of eyes glared at me. I just pulled my knife out with my left hand and gestured to them with my right, I have more meat on me than the fillies do at least.

When you spoke of a chimera, you would have to use plural terms as a chimera had multiple intelligent heads.

Author's Notes:

The full magical alchemy list will be shown at the start of every chapter, all of which have multiple parts. The magical alchemy list can update during chapters if a new effect is discovered or used. Also (NEW INFORMATION!) may be acquired as the story continues.

Magical Alchemy list.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. (NEW INFORMATION!) You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random. (One time air terrain survival buff, possible Offensive ability).

Sustain:???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A triangle is never so pointy.

There were legends of chimera being fire breathers like dragons, but on a small scale. Concerning the fact that they live in a place called Flame Geyser Swamp, I wouldn’t put it past them to be the fire breathers. There were also legends of Manticores breathing fire, but I didn’t see it as being the truth and I was someone that liked mythology.

At a guess, I would think it to be the male chimera that breaths fire and the lion head could be confused for a manticore.

I would have preferred facing down a manticore. For one a manticore has only one head, two it was a beast that could be easily distracted and three, while it might have been powerful I would have been able to outmaneuver it.

This was a chimera though and female from the looks of it. It had a feminine saber toothed tiger head with rather beautiful green eyes, a goat head growing out its back that could either be on the right or left side of the Chimera. The goat head was on the left side that had… where those earrings? How does a being like this find a place to get its ears pierced? What kind of society did they lead where they were technologically capable of making earrings at all? Those yellow bar pupils of the goat head made me a bit uneasy.

The tail ended with a stretchy snake head with scary red sclera that had nearly bit me when I tackled it to get its attention off of the fillies, said snake could reach any part of its body for swift retaliation and possibly poisoning.

A chimera was intelligent, far more so than a manticore, which was my major problem here. The front two heads were dangerous for different reasons, but the snake head was especially problematic as it could keep track of its surroundings while the front two heads are busy attacking prey.

A chimera was dangerous, it’s front half consisting of a tiger body with big claws, big toothy tiger jaws and the goat’s serrated horns. This means that you certainly didn’t want to face a chimera head on and the tail is the only reason why you can’t get it from behind or the side without retaliation as that head had the fastest reaction time.

A chimera was fast, the powerful rear legs were that of a goats just adding onto its burst movement potential, with a few harmless reptilian spines thrown in on the butt leading into the snake headed tail. The legs gave them the power to do damaging lunge attacks with their goat horns or take a bite out of me with the saber toothed head. The legs were good for jumping or running, but they weren’t good at taking hits and thus the snake head was there to make up for that weakness.

Nature in this world was scary, I didn’t have any method of disabling the snake head effectively and the front two heads were definitely focusing my way.

-

“Is Jade really going to be okay Fluttershy?” Poor little Pinkie thought that traveling with the two would be all fun and games until that monster dropped in on them. She would certainly take her Pinkie Sense more seriously now.

“I don’t know Pinkie.” Fluttershy looked back and nibbled at her bottom lip, wondering with gnawing worry when Jade would catch up to them like she promised. Maybe Jade just promised to get them moving, she silently pleaded that it wasn’t the case.

-

“Look, before we do a thing, can we talk about this?” If I could avoid this confrontation, then all the better. I wasn’t exactly as strong as a chimera, even one that was possibly half starved. I held my knife at the ready and if I was separated from it, then I’d lose my heightened ability to dodge. The strength of the magical alchemy sustain probably had a maximum plateau for how much it could improve my natural abilities for when I wasn’t using it. I haven’t exactly hit that plateau yet, but given a few more years of using this knife and I’d be like a real rogue I wanted to class as. Right now I was a scrawny teenage humanoid cat. “If you want some food, I have plenty of fish jerky you can eat. Besides wouldn’t eating me be one third cannibalism? Can’t I just give you some food and then we can go our separate ways?”

I now knew for a fact that Sekhet was only joking about eating us. She would have certainly slaughtered us of course, but she at least wouldn’t have eaten us. If Sekhet were feeling nice, then she might have even given us a proper burial. This chimera was a bit lower on the scale of friendliness compared to the goddess, what is my life coming to?

“How about…” The tiger head started, nice voice.

“We kill you…” The goat head intoned, it had a standard warbling effect.

“Then eat you and your food!” I saw the attack coming as the silkily speaking snake head spoke and backpedaled sideways, backpedaling straight would have gotten me a claw to the chest and would have put me on my back.

“I would say so be it, but chatting while something is going for your throat is… ugh…” I did the most unexpected thing of me and lunged forward underneath them as they kicked off for me. They sailed over my prone form and I rolled to the side as soon as I was behind them to avoid the snake tail snapping at where I was. “Beyond the pale!”

I quickly stood up and slashed at the snake head with the knife to make it back off from committing to a second strike and backed away. You do not turn your back on something faster than you at a straight run. The chimera turned and started to circle me while growling, in stereo.

I stood at the ready with my knife and kept myself facing towards them, hopefully the fillies were far away from here. They may have been my age, but they certainly weren’t in my weight class when it came to defending themselves and they really shouldn’t witness the level of violence that the four of us were about to perpetrate against one another.

We were both just testing the waters for the moment, but sooner or later this was going to get messy and I needed to avoid permanent injury or mom would never let me out of her sight again if I survived this.

I just needed to remind myself that I wasn’t a warrior and should not get caught up in defeating or ending the chimera’s life, I was just an Abyssinian teenager in over her head and if I could disable them without doing further harm then that was good a good thing. I didn’t want to kill an intelligent being before I was an adult and I was going to actively avoid putting them down.

The chimera charged, raised its left paw and reared up on to its hind legs and swung. I stepped into the hit and took it sharply across the face, leaving three bleeding marks flowing from most of my right cheek and large portion of my head. I was agile enough to avoid losing an eye, I just clenched my teeth and reacted quickly to get the better end of the exchange. If I had stepped away I would have been far worse off.

I definitely had the last laugh, though the paw hit me and it was really quite painful, they had just impaled their front left leg on my tightly held knife. I had held my knife so that their own momentum would put it deeply in their wrist halting their movement to swing the other paw.

Three voices screamed in agonizing pain as having a knife digging deeply into their tendons would do that, I followed stabbing them through the wrist by gripping the leg tightly with my meager by comparison claws and then kicked them in the belly with my left leg as hard as I could.

They were unbalanced by standing on their goat hooves to claw at me, so I was easily capable of flipping them on to their back with my kick and my knife pulled free when they fell.

I followed this up by slapping the goat head across the face with my right hand set of claws making smaller but still defining claw marks across the left side of the goats face.

The tail came up between their hind legs, but I had already danced out of the snake heads range. It was only thanks to the leverage and the spasm from the hobbling blow to their paw that kept them from getting up as fast as they could.

“You’ll pay for hurting my sister!” Growled the tiger head and I probably would too, I wasn’t going to go down that easily though.

“Hey, excuse me, but you’re the ones who want to kill and eat me!” Don’t blame me for your aggressive tendencies. I did know where the leg would be after it hit me and acted accordingly to claw your abdomen with my toes and to get that revenge swipe in because I’m quite a petty kitty. She was one third cat, so what cat like being aside from me would have such a distaste for fish jerky? “After I so kindly offered you some filling food that you might have actually liked too!”

“We are strong, we don’t need your pittance!” All three voices said and they all grimaced as they put weight on the stabbed paw. They kicked off the ground with the goat head leading the charge in an attempt to gore me.

I tried to dodge the sudden burst of speed they put out with that jump, I didn’t make it. The left horn of the goat head dug deeply into my left shoulder and it caused me to reflexively send my knife flying from my claws as spun and fell onto my chest. I growled at the painful gash in my shoulder, I had lost my knife’s sustain and hurriedly switched to my fish scale necklace as my current sustain.

If it really came down to it I can still burn my sheath in a cast, but I was going to be stubborn to the last! Oh darn it, I hope I’m not being infected with the mom and Sphinx rhymes. Why that alone would just lead to me causing many crimes!

What’s worse than a bleeding wound? A bleeding wet wound getting caked in mud of course! I didn’t know if my fish scale water blasts were sanitary. Did their species even have medical practices? Yeah, this might incidentally kill them down the line indirectly, but they lived in a swamp on top of being a hardy and strong sapient being.

I fumbled my way onto my back as my agility was lost and I had to roll to the right to avoid getting several claws to the chest from another pounce. The Chimera seemed confused for a moment by my less than agile floundering, but I wasn't about to give them a chance to realize that something had drastically changed about me.

I had enough time to prop myself up into a crouch and inhale through my nose sharply and covered my mouth with my right palm, I also made sure to keep my nose tightly bound between my thumb and pointer finger as well. This always hurt whenever I did it, but it was for a good cause as the chimera lunged for me again.

I released two tight powerful jets of water… from my ears. Yes, you heard me right, I fired two powerful blasts of water from my ears and it really hurts a lot! My poor eardrums were going to need minutes to recover after this as it was quite disorienting, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what happened to my sinuses if I had used my nose for this.

I might have water breathing, but that doesn’t help my nose after using it for water projection. My mouth was definitely the safest orifice to project water from and the less said about using the other unmentioned orifices the better.

The look on the front two faces of the chimera had been quite comical from my perspective. The force of the blast not only sent the chimera sprawling onto their back bashing their front two heads against the ground after getting smashed by my spiraling water blasts, but it had also knocked me flat on mine.

My mouth was suddenly quite dry, I sat up and pulled out my canteen. I popped it open and took several quick drags of it to recover my lost bodily fluids. I stood up and started searching the grass for my knife while the chimera was still disoriented.

The snake head was glaring at me and trying to get the body standing, apparently the force of the blows to both the front heads had knocked them both out. Go me! I also learned that one head can operate the entire body on its own as it was standing shakily and starting to slowly approach me, apparently the snake head didn’t have practice with the main body and why would it when it was the literal rearguard?

I finally saw my knife sticking halfway out of a large tree, oh come on! Though that did tell me that my increased agility had an affect on things that I could throw, I’d definitely look into that later. I still had one third of a chimera still on my butt.

“Look, do we really have to keep going? You’re worse off than I and I’m magically gifted.” I put on some bravado as I started backing towards the tree with my knife in it, I grabbed it and tugged. Yeah, it was quite unfortunate for my knife to be stuck the way it was. I would need both my hands to pull it free, which would mean turning my back on the chimera. Something I wasn't going to do. “I still have some tricks up my sleeve and I’m wearing a shirt here.”

“Yes~ I do believe we have to.” The snake said while making the body with the unconscious heads slowly stalk towards me.

“Your sister’s funerals then.” I threatened while grabbing a raven feather from an easily accessed pouch on my pack and looked for a large enough object to use it on. The snake head noticed my gaze searching the surroundings, it made her pause and consider her sisters two heads.

The snake head could control the body, but she couldn’t control the front two heads or protect them very well if she assaulted me like this. She was quite awkward with the staggering walk she had going on and had been noticeably wincing with every limp.

“Maybe we can come to an agreement.” The snake head hissed after a moment of contemplation, in a less than threatening amiable tone too.

“I’m listening.” I wasn’t about to trust the snake head. If I could end this peaceably without crushing the chimera with a tree or boulder, then I would certainly take it.

I would regret this later, but not for the reasons you'd think.

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A square is never so sturdy.

“Oh she has to be alright, she just has to.” Fluttershy was fretting over the fact that it had been two hours and they hadn’t seen Jade. Someone that risked herself for them.

“Nope, she still isn’t coming.” Reported Pinkie looking left and right down the tracks they had walked from.

The two fillies had made it to Ponyville unscathed, they were waiting at the train station for their friend to show up and the mayor was with them. She had already alerted a Pegasus to go find Fluttershy’s parents and as for Pinkie she was being quite stubborn about wanting to stay in Ponyville.

“Maybe you just have to face facts girls, your friend doesn’t seem to be… coming.” The pony with them was only known as Mayor Mare, she had seen a lot of heartache in her life and these poor fillies didn’t need to hear that their friend wasn’t going to be around any longer. It was like what happened to Bright Mac and Pear Butter all over again, they were just gone one day.

“I know she’s still alive, my Pinkie sense says so.” It was getting close to noon and even Pinkie was a little worried that her sensing abilities were off.

It was another three minutes before they spotted the first signs of a horrible, but equally wonderful sight.

-

My legs weren’t injured at least, I was feeling pretty awful after that fight. At least the outcome wasn’t terrible on both sides, I had no permanent injuries and I successfully fended off a chimera. I wouldn’t have survived two and the one I fought wasn’t even fully grown one yet. A person who fights monsters I was not.

The right side of my face must look like a mess, my left shoulder was definitely a mess, my back hurt and my ears were still stinging from the high powered water jets I forced through them. That and my body was badly bruised from several tumbles. I’m surprised I wasn’t crying, I was just going to suck it up and keep going. My previous life taught me that life wasn’t fair sometimes, the teenage filly and pre-teen filly didn’t need to learn that lesson so soon and I couldn’t keep them waiting.

What was the bright side to all of this? I unloaded all my fish jerky on someone who would appreciate a good meal. Thinking of food, I pulled out a dried piece of apricot and chucked it in my mouth and started chewing. Oh look, the train station... I was miserable and I was going to make people miserable just by looking at me. I hiked up my pack and continued forward.

As soon as I approached the station I noticed that there were only four ponies here, the ticket selling stallion being one I didn’t recognize all too well. It was hard to recognize anything when your right eye was covered in drying blood. The other was Mayor Mare who was giving me a very disturbed look, I am after all the cat that just dragged itself in.

My appearance must have been frightening to Fluttershy and Pinkie, because they were both giving me sad looks. They tried to come toward me, but I held up my right hand to stall them.

“Hey girls, I’m okay, just a bit roughed up. Please don’t tackle me with a hug just yet, heh, at least wait until I’m feeling better.” I was mauled and the injuries I dealt to the chimera were negligible compared to mine, I would still like to think that I came out of that fight in the positive side of things. I still had the advantage at the end there, given I knocked out two of my three deadly opponents. I also damaged their front left paw badly enough that they’d be limping for weeks. “Oh and I managed to make friends with the chimera, odd thing that.”

I might have even been coloring my experiences to make myself look better in my own mind, I didn’t do much more than minimal damage in that short fight and the chimera could have killed me if the saber toothed head got it’s jaws around my neck at any point.

“Really?” Asked a happy Pinkie in a naïve manner, obviously she thought befriending a chimera was possible.

It admittedly was possible, I did it after all. It required that you prove yourself to be stronger than them if not in body or physical prowess, then at least stronger in spirit. My spirit was currently shot right now my pony friends, can you hear mine screaming? Come back later when I’ve cleaned up my poor injury riddled body. I just wanted to flop into a seat on a train and sleep on the way to Canterlot.

“Yes, but I can’t recommend my particular method of befriending one Pinkie.” I turned to Mayor Mare, she was older than the main six and at least old enough to be mayor of the town at this moment. “You wouldn’t happen to have a medical kit anywhere nearby would you?”

“You’re the friend they were talking about?” She seemed confused, as if she thought the friend they were talking about was another pony.

“Yes, I am… apparently. It’s not like ponies can have friends in different species, goodness knows where the three pony tribes would be if they couldn’t live with differing species. Yes, ponies certainly can’t get along with anyone else that isn’t a pony.” I was feeling like I needed to be snarky about this with the mayor and she looked rather sheepish. ”If you haven’t noticed I got injured fending off the chimera for these two, they did what I told them too and I did what I promised them I’d do. I hope you get back to Cloudsdale alright Fluttershy and I suggest you go to a place called Sugar Cube Corner Pinkie. You’ll be cheered right round up if you do. If all of you will excuse me… I have something I really need to do.”

I slowly made my way over to the stallion in the ticket station, I ignored the two worried fillies and the upset mare.

“One ticket for a train to Canterlot please.” The stallion blinked owlishly at me as if I were some kind of mauling victim asking for a train ticket in a normal tone despite my current state of appearance. All as if it were the most common thing in the world.

“That’ll be five bits, the ticket is good for any train you get on heading for Canterlot.” Oh good, it wasn’t too expensive. I reached into my backpack and got a pouch out, I had at least fifty on me. Mom had the rest with her. I needed to admit that I hadn’t entirely come out of that fight in anything resembling an okay condition as my current mental state would suggest. “Just thought you’d like to know if you missed the next train due to… certain conditions.”

That was his commentary of my current state, my poor shirt was caked with my own blood and I was feeling a bit lightheaded.

“Thank you good sir.” Being polite as I paid and took the ticket from him, I slowly turned away from the stallion. “I will now go lay down on a nearby bench and pass out. Have someone wake me gently when the train arrives, I’ll worry about how I look after facing a chimera later.”

I took off my pack and flopped onto the bench while using it as a pillow, both the fillies sent Mayor Mare a slightly worried look and I gave them a small smile as what remained of my vision faded to black.

-

I slowly came to as something rubbed against my face, I opened my eyes and my right eye was no longer bothered by drying blood clotting on it. The thing rubbing my face was a slightly damp purple sponge that smelled of chemicals.

“Oh you wake up easily. Sorry to disturb your rest miss, hold still while I fix you up. Your train isn’t here yet, but it will be soon and you can’t go to Canterlot in this state. The nobles would eat you alive, well not literally and I think you get the idea.” The unicorn stallion was wearing a lab coat and had a stethoscope, he had short dark brown hair, pink eyes and blue coat. His cutie mark was a bandage, scalpel and syringe crossing one another. “You were roughed up quite a fair bit. Bruising to the spine. I don’t know exactly what you did to your ears, but it obviously stung quite a bit. No ear wax or any lasting damage in there though, which is good for you. Your face won’t scar as soon as the healing magic is done. Your shoulder will need stitches, but it’ll feel a lot better afterwards and you’ll have to find the nearest doctor to remove them for you wherever you are in a few days.”

“So… I’m still at the train station?” It certainly looks like it, I didn’t move from my position and let the doctor do his work. “What’s this visit going to cost?”

“Nothing, never worked on an Abyssinian before. This is quite a unique experience for me and I’m doing this free of charge. Pro bono if you will.” He got a bit of numbing agent, a needle and a thread out of the bag. “Just don’t bite my head off when I start stitching you up. Anyone that can go a round with a chimera and walk away like you did has to be tough, I’m just not seeing it here as your body is kind of scrawny. Quick Patch at your service miss. I’m a trauma and quick medical assistance specialist, the mayor wanted me to mend a hero and I didn’t expect that hero to be an Abyssinian.”

“To be fair, it wasn’t a full grown chimera. Got a bit of wood or rubber I can bite into for the stitches?” He held out a rubber dog bone and I gave him an unamused look.

“It’s sanitized I assure you.” His friendly smile did not make me feel any better.

“A dog toy… do I look like a Diamond Dog to you?” Call me grumpy from the blood loss, but I really didn’t like this if it was a joke.

“It’s cheap and effective, plus I’ve had to a do a lot with less before.” He soon stopped smiling and gave me a stern look. “So be glad I even have this, as your shoulder needs to be stitched before I can use magic to help it heal. You’ll be glad to know your face won’t scar, but your fur might be a little off for a while.”

“I’m not really that worried about my appearance.” It was kind of sad that I wouldn’t be sporting some cool scars left by Mara, Maria and Marie. That’s at least what Marie the snake head told me to call them anyway.

“All the same, you shouldn’t be walking around with scars if you don’t have to miss.” Mr. Patch squeezed my left bicep and I bit down on the rubber bone, it didn't take him long to sew my shoulder shut. “You’re good for travel now, remember to eat healthy and don’t do anything too strenuous for a while. Also don’t upset those stitches, I can’t tell my patients that enough!”

“Jade La Perm, thanks for patching me up Mr. Patch.” He nodded and backed away with a quirky smile, what was he… I suddenly had Pinkie and Fluttershy on top of my chest and belly hugging me.

“You’re welcome.” The cheeky stallion said before leaving me with two fillies that were trying to get my attention, I chose to give more attention to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was almost like a pet, sweet, innocent and willing to cuddle for some friendly affection.

-

The train roared into the station and both Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at me sadly.

“Well, I got to go girls. Try to stay happy for me okay?” I felt something bump against me and then I saw Pinkie looking up at me with a cupcake sitting in front of her. “What’s this?”

“It’s a cupcake, I made it just for you!” I kind of figured referencing Pinkie to the Cakes would make her happy and I took a bite of it. it didn't taste very good, but I kept eating it. “Thanks for telling me about Sugar Cube Corner!”

“I know we haven’t known each other for long, but… will we see each other again Jade?” Her question had me smiling and I played with her mane a bit.

“Grow your mane out a bit and I’ll certainly recognize you cutie, you’ll likely be a beautiful butterfly the next time I see you.” I just made her blush again and made my way onto the train. “I’m sure we’ll still be friends in the future, but I have things to do and a goddess to get back to before she does something to mom.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, goodbye Jade.” Fluttershy was going to be fine and she had one last thing to say before the doors closed. “Oh and all the animals said thank you for making sure I was alright!”

It was going to be a bit of a trip, so I secluded myself in a train car and sat down to look out the window as the train started up. First two days in Equestria and things were already complicated, no more lazy days for me I guess.

I still can’t believe I managed to escape the chimera by bluffing it and now I was going to see Celestia, I wondered if Sekhet’s warning would actually amount to anything.

-

In Canterlot a purple unicorn filly and a great white alicorn with colorful hair were in the middle of a teaching session.

“Now Twilight…” Celestia paused and looked off into the distance, slowly her eyes dilated and an unbelievably happy smile appeared on her face. “Oh my goodness, I have to go prepare for them!”

“What’s going on princess, prepare for who?” As curious as Twilight was, she had been a little bit frightened by the sudden change in Celestia’s demeanor.

“Don’t worry about it Twilight, it’s just that something important came up. Give me a few seconds to tell the guards to be on the lookout for anything.... unusual.” Using her wings to scoop up the little filly into a gentle hug, Celestia nuzzled her newest protégé. Hopefully Twilight wouldn’t turn out like the others, Celestia was still crying herself to sleep at night over her many numerous mistakes. Ten seconds to tell the guards what she wanted and she was back with Twilight, she had to focus on teaching this filly correctly. “Okay, now where was I?”

“I believe we were talking about levitation and the many different magical applications of it.” Ever eager to please the princess, Twilight wouldn’t stop putting her full effort into every little thing Celestia wanted her to do. “Also the theories involving every unicorn’s aptitude for lifting things and the formula behind how much weight a unicorn can technically handle.”

“Right… and I was about to tell you that a unicorn can do more than they logically can if they only believed that they can.” It was fun for Celestia to see the look on Twilight’s face. “A little concentration can go a long way Twilight.”

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A circle is never so round.

-Kuril-

I sat in front of the campfire watching as the glutton continued eating a huge amount of food, I at least knew she wasn’t angry with me or my daughter anymore. It would take about two or so days for my daughter to get back, I was accounting for her being waylaid by circumstances beyond her control and being a tourist.

I looked over at Tempest sitting to my right and she seemed thoughtful. Sure she’s got a broken horn and is wandering around out in the middle of nowhere, but she seems like a big girl that left home too early. Injuries like that don’t make life pleasant and her mind must have been in a bad place since she lost a very important integral part of her identity.

“So… what were the two of you going to do once you had arrived at this Manehatten place?” Ms. Sphinx was mostly interested in food until now, I was caught a little off guard by the question and jolted a bit.

Of course the Sphinx had a rather smarmy evil looking smile, I wonder how powerful she is and how she can be so intimidating one minute and nonchalant the next. She was stated as partially being a god of healing by my daughter and so far the most impressive things she’s done is take down an Ursa Medium, somehow expertly stitched up Tempest despite her size, stopped Tempest from channeling through her broken horn and acquired enough food to feed several mouths including her own over the course of an hour or two.

“Well I and my daughter were going to start up a business around Manehatten’s harbor, Abyssinia is a trade nation and I figured we could help work up a stronger rapport with the pony kinds. I would have opened a restaurant, one with a mostly pony friendly menu and fish for the more carnivorous. I’d also continue working on being the leading expert in the La Perm family practice of magical alchemy, I will become the world’s best good witch.” Yes, that was our initial plan. It might even still be the plan. We could always just find a nearby river and build a small hotel for passing wanderers, the river would have to be fish rich though. “My daughter had some plans of her own, whatever they were. She’s quite knowledgeable about many things and I think she was planning on writing a bestiary of mythological monsters or something.”

“Lofty goals those.” After saying that Ms. Sphinx just licked her paw of some juices from the food she had been consuming. “I would visit your restaurant every day and eat well, the magic you put into your food is quite edible.”

“There’s magic in the food?” Tempest looked down at the smiling vegetable platter that she had been nibbling at, I was quite proud that the poor dear actually spoke up.

Tempest was so quiet and broody, nothing like my ragamuffin tom cat of a daughter. I was a little cross with my daughter using 'the eyes' to ask her to stay, I’m a little surprised that Ms. Sphinx even helped her talk Tempest into it.

“Oh yes, it’s been a long time since I found someone who could cook with magic. It’s quite a rare gift that you have there. Where ponies are concerned it’s quite common, but it usually has a singular focus. None of which involves fish, while you seem to be good with just about any dish.” Sekhet popped a piece of cooked fish in her mouth and immediately swallowing without chewing. “Usually people cook the magic out of the food without realizing it, but Lady Kuril here keeps the magic and it is why her food tastes so… decent. There is nothing negative to eating food made this way.”

I would have called her rude for not chewing and calling my cooking decent, but the fact that my food is actually filled with magic means I’m likely to be saddled with a title like ‘The Witch of Good Taste’. My daughter warned me that I could be saddled with a silly title depending on my actions, like how a character in O and O can be given a silly bard song. What would a little ditty about me be like?

I’d think it’d be something like, ‘here comes Kuril The Witch of Good Taste, any food she makes is eaten, devoured and consumed with great haste... and none of it has ever truly gone to waste’. I snickered in amusement at my own thoughts. I should remember to sing that to my daughter once, she’d find it just as silly. Wait a minute, I can make that my title and force everyone to call me that! I’d be known as both a famous witch and a cook!

“Thank you for informing me about this Ms. Sphinx.” First I had to thank her, then I had to tell her off. “Also… decent… who are you trying to kid? Show my cooking the respect it deserves, goodness knows my daughter does! Tempest, is my food decent?”

“I… well no…” I would have been angry with the broken unicorn, but I waited patiently. Jade might have flown off the handle, but I’m going to let her speak her mind. “It’s really quite delicious ma’am.”

I stood up and made my way over to her and hugged her, my daughter said ponies were cute. This one was adorable even with the scar and the missing magical focus... I'll look into making a wand for her.

“Why thank you.” I rubbed my face against her neck, this was how ponies showed affection right? Well I wasn’t a pony, but cats did stuff like this all the time and Abyssinians were really just bigger cats. Well, most of us were.

Tempest’s reaction to my affectionate gestures was to stiffen up a bit, she eventually relaxed and then I decided to let go. I swear Tempest needed help and not for her broken horn, but her broken spirit and I’m quite sure my daughter wanted to do the same thing.

-

When the royal guard went on alert, they themselves were alerted, apparently Celestia had a vision of something unusual coming to Canterlot and they had to watch out for whatever dangers that might pop up.

They had two on the gates already and the two of them personally were watching the train depot, looking at every pony on the off chance that one of them might have been acting oddly. This could be the sign of a changeling infiltration, changelings were a crafty bunch.

It was quite late in the evening when a train arrived with a most unusual thing, she stepped off the train looking around at the city of Canterlot in wonder. The two watching her knew what she was. Why was she here and what kind of doom did Celestia see her bringing to have the guards this active? She didn’t look to be very old, she was quite unusual given she had green hair which was unusual for an Abyssinian. If this was a changeling infiltration it was a pretty laughable attempt, everyone knew that Abyssinians could never grow hair like that.

This cat was going to be tagged for watching, time to send in Agent Sweetie Drops to see what she could find out about this individual and maybe discern whether it is an infiltrator or something else. It came from a south bound train and Abyssinians didn’t live that way, it might have even been a Sphinx in disguise. That spelled a lot of trouble if she was a creature that powerful.

-Jade-

Well so much for getting here in a timely manner, I at least made it before it was too dark and I could hopefully get an audience with Princess Celestia without any trouble.

Oh who was I kidding? Even if I didn’t want trouble, it was going to find me in some way. I stopped to get my bearings, Canterlot was an interesting city for something built into the side of a mountain.

“Excuse me, but you look a little lost there." I turned to see a pink and blue mane, beige coat and blue eyes. I looked at her three candies for a cutie mark and immediately knew who this was, might as well do something silly. "Do you need help?”

“Not really agent Sweetie Drops, I’m just getting my bearings before I head to Canterlot Castle.” The young Bon-Bon immediately froze and I walked off cackling to myself.

“Hey wait a minute, get back here!” I wasn’t about to slow down my walking speed for Bon-Bon and she got in front of me, I sauntered around her on my course for the castle and I wanted to get there before Celestia stopped taking visitors for the evening. “How do you know who I am, is our organization compromised, are you a changeling and if so why aren’t you afraid of being captured by me?”

“In order, what S.M.I.L.E exactly does is make ponies forget memories, not erase them. You can’t perfectly erase or remove a memory unless you have an artifact to store them in like the memory stone and I know where that is. It’s easy to jog your memories if you leave a note to yourself before forgetting and I’m immune to memory erasure. The only reason why it hasn’t gotten out is because no pony would believe those who do remember. I assume you’re a newbie agent and that they haven’t told you about the N.E.I.G.H organization yet.” It was time lie like crazy, that would hopefully prevent them from trying mess with me and hopefully they’ll be too busy with the chaos verifying it to bother me. I wasn’t ready for the cloak and dagger stuff yet, give me two more years at least. “Speaking of compromised, your organization is so terribly compromised to the point that there’s actually a changeling in the ranks and the changeling didn’t even kidnap a pony to get that position either. You might want to look into your director for that one, there are quite a few discrepancies about his past.”

“You still haven’t answer me about being changeling.” Her eyes were narrowed at me and she looked ready to buck me in the head.

“Nope, not a changeling personally. My appearance is completely natural and I’m here to talk to Celestia about something important.” The disbelieving looked made me stop and crouch down to look her in the eyes. “I am actually an Abyssinian even if my long hair is unusual, my mother was said to have been with a pony. I don’t think she’ll ever tell me who my father or mother was, not that I really care who that is at this point in my life.”

I stood up and continued onward towards the castle.

“Hold on a minute, I’m not done talking to you!” Bon-Bon continued to hound me. Even if I was attracting a lot of attention, I acted like nothing was off.

“Well I’m on a schedule and I definitely don’t want to pay for a hotel tonight. If you insist on following me, then keep up. Could I stand to sleep out of a cardboard box? Nah, the rents horrible on those things.” I would continue onwards despite Bon-Bon and I had to wonder where all the royal guards were, I hadn’t seen one since I got into the city proper. “So is there anything else you or your partner over there want to know.”

Bon-Bon looked at the pony I randomly pointed out and paled.

“How did you…” Bon-Bon started and I looked at the pony sitting at the café reading a newspaper to try and quickly find something off about him.

“The newspaper of course, it’s obviously an early morning newspaper.” I nodded to myself, which made complete sense and now the faulty logic to go with it. “Like Celestia is an early morning pony.”

“Lots of ponies read their early morning papers in the evening.” Bon-Bon glared at me as she followed along towards the castle.

“Even week old papers in the evening, with…” I sniffed the air. “A double espresso coffee from the smell of it?”

“Yes… but what does the coffee have to do with it?” The ever curious secret agent Bon-Bon.

“It’s about to become night time, aren't most ponies usually preparing for bed in an hour or so? His cutie mark doesn’t scream night-time job at all.” I had my little follower spluttering for something to say in her coworker's defense, she stopped glaring at me and glared at her handler. I was wondering if foreknowledge was a thing in this world, aside from Celestia’s future sight ability that is. “Your handler’s not exactly on his game today I take it?”

“No, no he is most certainly not and you’re right!” Bon-Bon’s ears wilted as she blushed and turned a sad look to me. “I can see how completely out of place he’s being when you pointed it all out, wearing sunglasses this late in the evening doesn’t help.”

“Yeah, hiding in plain sight that badly is for idiots... and ponies apparently. Your species generally doesn’t pay attention to the small things that seem out of place, but is likely seen on a regular basis like multiple ponies sitting around with sunglasses in the evening. I’d suggest a sunset viewers club as an excuse for them.” I was getting closer to the castle and Bon-Bon was still following me. “In any case, when you eventually get a mission with a bugbear, you’ll eventually be reassigned to Ponyville after that with the official statement that your organization is shutting down. In truth you’re going to be in Ponyville to watch some important ponies to make sure they don’t get seriously hurt, oh and you’ll be best friends with a mint flavored pony. Don’t forget to ask Pony Joe about his fudge donuts since you’re obviously going to tell your handler everything over them.”

She blinked at me and stopped, I confused her badly enough with bluffs that I walked up to the castle without her following me. Oddly there were no guards around. I swear, the royal guards were all seriously horrible at their jobs. I walked into the entrance and looked around at the splendor, I was quite the tourist as I approached what would be the throne room and I finally saw two guards who leveled their spears at me.

“Halt, what is your business here… uh… whatever you are?” Abyssinians really needed to become better known, we had lots of trade agreements with ponies for crying out loud! Do ponies never wonder where some of their more exotic makeup products come from?

“Abyssinian here to see Celestia about an incident, is evening court still going in the throne room?” The guards looked to one another and seemed to silently communicate with body language, they turned to me and nodded. I was led into the throne room by the two and saw Celestia with tiny reading glasses going over several papers.

I opened my mouth to speak and she suddenly looked up with me with an intense stare, before I knew it my world went black. The last thing I saw was golden pair of shoes on a beautiful white furred mare with hair like an aurora coming at me, also the glasses spinning in the air and a scattered pile of papers.

Author's Notes:

The knife's self-sustain is an effect of using it over a prolonged period, it is neither quick nor fast acting. Jade won't be a rogue in a year, it'll take a lot more than that to double class as a rogue/priest.

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A pentagon is never so protective.

I came to in a bed, it was comfortable at least and kind of warm. I was probably in a direct sunbeam judging by the light on my eyelids, cats tended to lay around in the sunlight and like a cat I just felt like staying right where I was.

I didn’t fall back asleep for a few reasons.

For one I can remember the last thing I was doing and that was me walking up to Celestia, then a flash of white and colors coming at me and then darkness to now.

Another is that I was currently naked in bed, I could tell with just a bit of shifting and my tail felt something silky when I shifted it about. Being naked wouldn’t be much of a problem even if I preferred sleeping in my clothing.

For the last thing, that was actually quite troubling to me, is that upon cracking my eyes open slightly I could see that I had white feathered wings wrapped around me. If what I was feeling was correct, then those large hooves wrapped around my belly probably belonged to a rather large horse size being.

Celestia was snuggled up against me wasn’t she? I felt very awkward about this, on the one hand a pretty pony princess snuggles felt nice and on the other… this felt like situation where I needed an adult that wasn’t over a thousand years old.

“There, now that the suns up… time to rise and shine!” Her horn dimmed and she nuzzled my neck and I tried not to react negatively.

“Quick question, where are my clothes? You know, the things like my shirt with the blood stain on the shoulder.” Yeah this was both awkward and surprisingly comfortable, was I using her mane as a pillow? It smelled nice at least. “Also shining a beam of sunlight on my face is more likely to make me sleep longer.”

“Oh right, you’re an Abyssinian, always lazing about in the sun like a normal cat.” Celestia leaned over to kiss my forehead, she pulled back and loosened her grip allowing me to sit up and look her in the eyes. “I’m quite sorry about my… er… enthusiastic greeting. It’s been little more than six hundred years since I last saw a sun priest.”

“You call knocking me out enthusiastic?” I wasn’t about to deny that she was actively snuggling me. As long as it was just cuddling I was okay with it. “I also noticed that you just dodged my question.”

“You’re quite intelligent.” Celestia got up out of bed and I watched as she approached the door, she talked to someone outside before she came back to me and I gave her a raised brow. “Your shirt is being mended and cleaned, as are your other clothes. I’ve taken the liberty of… well that is to say… I may have invaded your privacy a bit.”

“With the way I woke up next to you, I hope you can word that a bit better.” I stated flatly shooting the blushing a princess a glare. “Look I came to Canterlot for a reason.”

“You mean aside from messing up the S.M.I.L.E organization by outing a Changeling in their ranks, do tell.” She snickered a bit at me keeping myself covered with the blanket. Ponies, they have no modesty. “No, I mean I had you measured so we can make something for you. How do you feel about robes?”

“Not particularly fond of them, I prefer cloaks.” That got a strange reaction, given the odd stare in my direction.

“How do you feel about staffs?” Okay where was Celestia going with this and why did I get a sinking feeling that her thoughts were completely wrong on something.

“Not fond of staves either, I’m getting pretty good with knives though. Why do you ask?” Now her ears were wilting and my suspicions were just rising by the second. “Better question, why do you think I came to Canterlot in the first place?”

“Well now, this may sound silly, but…” Those weren’t the words Celestia would say if there wasn’t some kind of misunderstanding going on here, plus she was poking both her front hooves together in a nervous manner.

“Hold on, don’t tell me… you misunderstood my reason for needing an audience with you? Can I please get my stuff back sometime today, I have to get back to the location of the crash site to make sure my mom is alright.” Now those words got a reaction out of her and I was wondering what she’d say next.

“What crash site?” Now Celestia seemed to be quite intent on hearing what I had to say and less perky, she was more attentive as her ears went straight up and her flowing mane stilled. Her smile became less real by the second and I was surprised that I could actually perceive it becoming a false one.

“You know that exploding rainbow across the sky the other day? I know someone who knows who caused that, it knocked the airship I was on out of the sky.” There was a muted look of shock on the face of the princess, I just wrapped my arms around my knees underneath the sheets while giving her an unamused look. “That rainbow wave burst the front two balloons on the airship and sent everyone overboard close to some rather pointy shoals, we were flying up the coast on our way to Manehatten when it happened. You might want to check the east coast down south for survivors or get in contact with the sea ponies in that general area to see if they saw or saved anyone recently.”

“I… why do I not know about this?” Celestia had immediately started making her way out of the room, in a fit of anger judging by the way her mane started to flow as if it were about to catch fire. It looked like she had some fish to fry.

Speaking of fish to fry, I’m hungry, who did I have to beat over the head to get some food around here? The room service is here lousy and forget bed bugs, you got entire alicorns in your bed in Canterlot Castle. At least alicorns were less annoying, I’ll give the accommodations that much.

There were some questions that I wanted to ask that wasn’t related to me getting breakfast, what does being a full on sun priest exactly entail and what was it that Celestia had expected me to say when I answered her two questions?

“Did she just leave me here and forget about me?” Well I was up a creek, where's my paddle? I wasn’t about to go walking around naked as I had a past life stigma about it. At least I wasn’t prideful enough to ignore my first option, which is calling for help. “Hello, is there anyone around here!”

“Huh, are you the one I’m supposed to be in charge of caring for?” In came a maid who froze and saw me sitting there on the bed.

“Hello there, I’m Jade and you are?” The maid seemed a little unnerved by my appearance, I was just an Abyssinian for crying out loud. There are way worst things than a cat girl that you could meet that were like cats. After a moment she gasped and shook her head realizing that she was being rude.

“I’m Fresh Start, a pleasure to make you’re acquaintance milady.” She curtsied and smiled at me, she had a floor length mixed blonde and orange mane, a bright purple coat, ruby red eyes and a maid dress that hid her cutie mark. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Get me some clothes for one, also could you get some breakfast for me while you’re at it? I can get a bath in while you’re busy with that.” I got up with the blanket still wrapped around me toga style and made my way for the bathroom, I was quickly stopped by the maid.

“Wait a second, you need to be careful with that shoulder when you wash it!” Ah yes, Fresh just had to point out the stitched up and scabbing wound. How could I ever forget that? “Also what would you like to eat?”

“A fried egg, broken yoke mixed in with the white, salt and pepper, two fresh slices of bread, a small hash brown, the fruit of the day, a waffle with butter and strawberry or blueberry syrup if available and an apple tart to finish it off.” As I rattled that out, I noticed that the earth pony had already pulled out a notepad from her dress and was immediately jotting everything down. “Okay what’s what with the shampoo or soap and where can I get a towel after I’m done?”

“What shampoo scent do you want?” She asked blithely as she looked over everything she wrote. “Favorite color for the clothes while we’re at it.”

“Kiwi, waterfall mist or sea breeze, kiwi preferred.” The maid quickly set about and gathered a bottle, a bar of soap and put a towel off to the side for and me. “My favorite color is green, I’m also partial to blue as well.”

“Okay, just be careful with that shoulder of yours. I wouldn’t want to fail in my duty to take care of you my first day on the job.” She then started to bustle off only to stop, she turned back to me. “Oh and leave the blanket by the door, I’ll take care of it and the other sheets.”

I started to run a bath and thought back to the conversation I had with Celestia, one interesting thought crossed my mind. I was right about the SM.I.L.E. director being a Changeling, that was supposed to be a bluff. What are the chances of that happening? Well, what are the chances I could walk from the train station straight to the castle without ever seeing a royal guard until I got there? Quite astronomical I’d imagine, like the sun… oh right.

I entered the mountain prayer position and did my morning routine of a sun salutation, before I hopped into a nice hot tub of water.

-Celestia-

I was quite livid, I had thought the Sonic Rainboom was incredibly beautiful. Now I was learning that nobody had informed me of incidents occurring because of it! Well I’d see what my little ponies in charge of air traffic had to say for themselves.

“Please tell me gentle ponies, why was I never informed about one or more airships crashing within my borders as an end result of that exploding rainbow more than a day ago?” I believed the sun priest, in fact I hadn’t even gotten the cats name before she rushed off. Even then, I still believed her about the crash landing.

Even when I called these ponies into this meeting and they didn’t look too particularly worried… yet. I was pretty sure they were connected to stupid things the nobles were trying to do.

“What are you talking, what crashed airships?” One of the various unicorns before me asked, I noted the lack of a single pegasus pony from air traffic control being in the room with me. “The airspace was completely clear that day, except for any Pegasus flying near cloudsdale.”

“Are you seriously going to sit there and try to cover it up when I already have proof?” I was quite certain I was going to hear something that would be telling right about…

“Oh, really, where is this so called pegasus with their proof that an airship was violating their airspace?” The unicorn came off as haughty and he decided to dig himself deeper. “As you can see, I don’t see any pegasi here trying to show their vaunted proof. Whoever it is, they are obviously lying about whatever it is they’re telling you.”

“Who said that it was a pegasus that was my proof?” That caused all the ponies in the room to gulp loudly, I had stumbled onto something and I wasn’t letting a single unicorn leave this room until I squeezed the information out of them. “Also what’s this about violating Cloudsdale’s airspace? I would really like to know, as the proof I was talking about involved an Abyssinian coming to report a crashed airship and I only just heard about it this morning. An even more important question comes to mind, what did you do with the air traffic control pegasi?”

Now that had all the unicorn ponies paling, as they hadn’t informed her of any crashed airships at all or that airships were flying in illegal airspaces they shouldn’t be. She had them and she knew it, as such today would be a good day for fighting corruption when it just gave itself away so blatantly.

-Jade-

Sitting next to my towel wrapped form was a stack of empty plates and Fresh Start was just staring at me with awe.

“Where did you even put it all?” She asked as I had just finished swallowing the last bits of egg between two slices of bread.

Stating that I starved in a previous life probably wouldn’t have gone over very well as an excuse for my rather healthy appetite.

“What can I say, I was hungry.” All she did was numbly nod at my answer, I leaned back sighing contently and started picking at my teeth with a claw.

After a lot of silence and with me relaxing with a towel around my waste, Fresh spoke up.

“Does your shoulder hurt?” One would think she was trying to make a conversation magically appear out of a hat.

“It’s fine.” I told Celestia what I came to tell her, now I had to get my stuff and get back to mom. “So about those clothes I asked for, also where’s all my other stuff?”

“Oh right, the shirt with the blood stain and the other clothing, It should finished quite soon milady.” Having said that Fresh bowed to me. “All your stuff will be returned to you soon.”

“Everything including the two black feathers in my pack?” A simple nod and I just sat there for a moment before responding. “Well the sooner you do that, the sooner I can get out of here.”

“Wait… what? Aren’t you going to stay here and help Celestia as a sun priest?” There was something akin to panic in Fresh Start’s eyes.

“I never agreed to anything and Celestia hasn’t asked me to stay so…” I dragged it out for emphasis while twirling my left hand in her direction. “I’ll just be going as soon as you get my stuff and the fresh clothes you promised me.”

“Well I did agree to something, I promised to be your maid for Celestia.” I gave Fresh Start an unconcerned look, did she do that in writing? If so, it was a serious problem for her and it was none of my business. “She said this job was important, that means I have to follow you when you leave!”

“Then you better get packing, because I’m catching the next train out of Canterlot before Celestia tries to talk me into anything.” I guess I wasn’t leaving Canterlot without at least some trouble following me, I think Celestia might just want a little bit too much of my time and she had acted rather creepy towards me.

I hoped to get out Canterlot before the guards could stop me.

Chapter One, To Canterlot and Back: A jump is never so scary.

Thanks to Fresh Start, I could now ditch the towel for a yellow shirt, unmentionables, green shorts and a forest green cloak with my fish necklace underneath. I insisted on the cloak, I was going to be a heroic rogue and nobody could stop me! I’d look into the possibilities of what the cloak can do when used as my magical alchemy sustain.

Speaking of stopping me, I noticed that Fresh Start was looking at me expectantly with her own pack. My canteen was full of water and the dried food mom made was still good.

Whatever Celestia was busy with, I better bounce before she gets back to me. If I could ditch Fresh Start on the way, then she wouldn’t get in trouble. The perfect plan right? First I had to see a phoenix about her feathers, because the feathers she molts could be useful in restoring Tempest’s horn.

“Do you know where Celestia’s friend Philomena is? It’ll keep me in the castle longer and I’ll return to the room after I bargain with her and then I will try to make my escape, I hope you’re a fast runner.” It was thanks to my wording that Fresh Start led me to phoenix’s cage and she wasn’t currently in it. Instead she was at a nearby table playing cards with three pegasus guards and she had a large pile of bird seed next to her. “Seriously… gambling? I thought the royal guard were better than that! Your even implicating Philomena too, shame on all of you.”

The phoenix chirped something unintelligible yet intelligent sounding for about thirty second, the guards around the phoenix had frozen up at our approach. They stared at me in horror at being caught out gambling bird seed with Celestia’s favorite, supposedly pet, fire bird.

Of course it might have been Philomena who started these card games, but I was going to blame these guards anyway for letting Philomena run roughshod over them like this. At least they weren’t betting bits, so they’d probably only get a few slaps on the hooves if caught.

“Yeah, I didn’t understand a word of that.” I didn’t speak phoenix and wished Fluttershy were here with me. Her special talent reads as understanding animalistic languages, it would have been really useful. “I’m not going to narc on you guys for this if that’s what you’re worried about, as I have better things I could be doing. I wanted to trade something for some of Philomena’s less useful feathers or feathers she was going to molt off anyway.”

The phoenix tilted her head and gave me a curious warble before pointing out the pile of bird seed with a wing and then poking an empty spot on the table while giving me a look.

“What’s my offer?” I received a nod from the flaming avian, I pulled out two packs of unopened plastic bags loaded with dried apricots made lovingly by my mother. “Okay, how about several bags worth of dried fruit for say… four feathers? My mom’s really good at making food and promise you’ll enjoy this.”

Philomena gave it some thought and tapped the table twice, she wanted some more. I place a bag of dried pears down and she tapped the table once more. I placed a pack of dried banana chips on the table and she shook her head no, I took that back and sighed as it seemed Philomena didn’t like bananas for some reason. I was going to regret this as mom rarely ever made these for me, but it was going to a good cause.

“Okay, so you don’t like banana chips, how about half a bag of kiwi candies?” Half a plastic bag of kiwi chunks were set on the table, I opened it up and took one out for Philomena to get a taste of. “They are rarely ever made and I can assure you that you won’t have tasted anything like them. Try one and tell me if it’s worth the price.”

Philomena took the kiwi candy and threw it in her beak, after chewing the candy a bit she froze and seemed to shiver. Yep my mom’s really good with candied fruit whenever she can get the fruit to make it. Philomena started to rapidly nod at me and pointed to the bag, I sighed sadly and placed it on the table and Philomena started preening for loose feathers. I didn’t get the four feathers I originally wanted, I instead received ten loose feathers as Philomena was making this as fair a trade as possible.

“Pleasure doing business with you Philo!” Cheerily turning about face and ignoring the happy cooing noise at my back as I stowed away the bushel of feathers in my pack, I looked to Fresh Start who was staring at me with disbelief before she started leading me back to Celestia’s room.

“I think… I might have seen some things that I really didn’t need to know.” Apparently Fresh Start’s world view was shattered, poor her.

Now time for my amazing escape plan!

-

Okay back in Celestia’s room, I have two raven feathers to burn for a casting. I moved over to the balcony and looked over the city, the view was spectacular and quite fitting for a princess who raised the sun. More importantly, I was looking for a target nobody would mind me landing on.

“So, when are we leaving?” Fresh Start asked as I saw a blond fop of a white furred stallion approaching the castle and he started talking to guards which seemed to have annoyed them quite a bit.

“Oh I’m leaving right about…” I tapped my dagger to start using it as my magical sustain and then I pulled out a raven feather and it evaporated as I used the cast on myself. I focused on targeting the blond haired unicorn, took a few steps away from the balcony and then charged towards it. “Now!”

I pushed off from the edge of the balcony and soared, my fall stopped for a second twenty feet above my target.

I gave grin back to the horrified Fresh Start as I froze in the air, then I came down upon the pony known as Prince Blueblood feet first and stomped down on his head.

I bounced off, rolled and then I started using my heightened agility to start running for it full tilt down the street.

I saw a particular donut shop and skidded to a stop, I calmly entered the establishment. Seconds later the two guards that were giving chase to me for knocking out Blueblood ran by. They were either going to thank me or arrest me for my actions, I wasn’t ready to find out which it was.

I came up to the counter and leaned on it, my tail flicking back and forth at the sweet smells permeating the room.

“Hello there… well you’re an unusual sight.” The slightly portly brown haired and beige furred Donut Joe said upon seeing me leaning against the counter with a canary eating grin. “Anyway, I’m Donut Joe what do you want?”

“Hello Double O’ Joe, I’d like at triple braided tiger tail with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate twisted in if you can manage that. Oh and a raspberry and cream cheese filled donut to go.” He seemed to freeze up as I stated his supposed secret agent name, I guess he was one S.M.I.L.E. agent that actually smiled. “I have a long trip ahead of me and I’m getting that donut for my mom so package it up. Oh and did Agent Sweetie Drops come by for the fudge donuts?”

“Yes… she did… I’ll get right on your order and will you be eating that tiger tail or do you want me to package it up like the other one?” Well he didn’t seem very put off about me knowing about him or the organization he worked with.

“I guess I’ll take it packaged too, I might not have the time to stop and eat it as I’m going to be very busy today Mr. Joe.” My bright cheerful tone made him smile. If I don’t make it to the next train out of Canterlot, then I’d have to improvise and eat the tiger tail on the road later. “Oh and can you make sure that both snacks are protected against being smashed? I might accidentally end up on my back at some point and I wouldn’t want to ruin such delectable treats.”

“Why thank you for the compliment and yes, I can do that as I tend to get a clumsy customer every now and then. She’s quite the muffin fanatic.” I waited for ten minutes and he eventually sat the bag on the counter and then cast a spell over it. “That’ll be fifteen bits.”

“The economic costs of living here huh? Well they are really big donuts, so I’m getting my money’s worth at least.” I’d be left with thirty bits, but this was going to be worth it and I was bringing mom something nice from my short trip to Canterlot. I paid him and took the bag. “Thanks Mr. Joe and see you later when I need some really delicious snacks.”

“Okay, thanks for the business and have a good day miss.” Donut Joe waved me good bye and I took off my pack to stow the paper bag away. I was going to eventually want to meet that muffin fanatic and worship her a bit, but I’d better get moving. I’ve dallied long enough for Fresh Start to start asking around for me down the street. “Oh and thanks for outing that Changeling for us!”

I exited the shop and started running again, now where was the train station?

-

“There she is, get her!” I paused in the intersection and noticed that all the ponies were parting for several guards and I could hear music starting to play around me.

So, heart songs were actually a thing here, who was singing it? It was then that I realized that a strange feeling was coming over me. Oh for the love of, it’s me!

I even knew why this magical tune sounded familiar, I just hoped I could fudge the lyrics well enough as I was outrunning the guards. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of copyright infringement even if nobody here would charge me for it.

“Have to go, all that much faster~. One skip, ahead of a burgeoning disaster~.” I said as I leapt up and over the diving armored winged mare that just plowed into the street missing me by a few feet, digging a small trench in sold stone. “I don’t want to be stuck here working for Celestia, because I just might get spiritually bored~. Quite frankly.”

“One hop, ahead of the royal guards~. Seriously, you guys are a joke~.” I pulled my knife deflected the edge of an incoming hovering spear. I grabbed it near the head, spun around and swung the blunt end of the shaft into the head of the unicorn that had been wielding it. I easily knocked him flat, I let go of the spear and kept running. Through the square towards the train station or at least I hope I was. “These guys probably wouldn’t appreciate it if it’s something against Celestia that I spoke~!”

“What’s that~?” Yelled one guard chasing after me.

“Darn cat~!” Another guard shouted angrily following his buddy.

“Stun spells, take that~!” Several unicorn guards teleported in and fired at me. I performed a hand spring up onto a bunch of boxes and then bounced off the awning of a nearby restaurant and grabbed a window. I pulled myself in and looked back at the guards glaring at me.

“Come on, can’t we talk guys~?” Even though this musical number was making me insult you something fierce.

“Catch her and book her for possibly spreading the Celestia is fat lies~!” Oh come on! That was too ridiculous for them to have sung honestly and with straight faces. I ducked out of the way of several blasts of magic hitting the window sill.

“Okay, this song has a bent~. I need to face the facts, and get out of here real soon~!” I turned and went for the window on the opposite side of the room, but apparently the musical number wasn’t done with me yet.

“Who… oh my, it’s a sad cat with the royal guards on her bottom, is she here performing some kind of silly crime~?” A sexy white furred and pink haired mare came up to me and hugged me while rubbing up against me. Oh hey, it was Fleur De Lis. “I’d suggest you get out of here, but your so cute that I’d want to cuddle you and take up your time~.”

“Have to keep moving, got to get away, I would like a signed autograph later when it’s not my freedom on the line~!” I broke free of the mare and charged for the other window and leapt out of it without looking leaving smiling Fleur looking after me. “One hop ahead of the armored, one bounce as I croon… I know for a fact that I’m not coming back anytime soon~!”

I grabbed a clothesline as I fell and slid along it into some clothes and dropped into a heap onto the ground below, oh dang I was doing a perfect imitation parody of the original song wasn’t I?

“I’m still ahead the guards, slightly flush ahead of that herd~. I think I’ll just try to stop singing before I’m captured~.” I burst away from the pile of dirtied clothes and made my way down the street with the guards on my heels, I should probably look into shoes instead of being barefoot all the time.

“Freeze bandit~! Robber~!” I turned a corner and saw a pony stealing a purse, I clotheslined the pony and threw the purse back to the owner.

“Found her~!” Several guards surrounded me and backed me towards a door and I smiled weakly.

“Come on, let’s not get all huffy~!” Then I found myself being squeezed by a giant pony that burst from the door and had seen my act of heroism.

“Because she’s rather friendly and fluffy~!” The giant blue green coated pony with the green mane said.

“Do me a quick favor, and toss me onto the roof~. Otherwise I’m going to be quite screwed~!” I’m surprised I was allowed to sing that and even more surprised when she launched me upwards.

“Hey~!” The guards yelled angrily as I started clambering across the rooftops where I had to avoid several pegasus ponies trying to grab me.

“Quick feet, ahead of their hoof beats~. (Where’s that~).” I sang, I wished this song was over with as I jumped onto another roof top and saw Celestia standing near the edge of Canterlot. I eyed her pristine looking feathers. “One lunge ahead of these jocks~. (Darn cat~!).”

“I have one trick to save me from disaster~. (Founder Her~!).” I hope this worked, I dropped down to the street and charged my way towards Celestia who looked towards me in shock. I grabbed some loose feathers as I passed by her. “They might be fast, but I can be faster~. Hey there Celestia~! Hope you can find my stand in, as I hope this is a happy landing~. See you later because now that I’ve got to… leap~!”

I jumped off the side of Canterlot.

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: To begin anew.

-Kuril-

I sat down next to Tempest who was just watching the fire blankly, the fire that hadn’t had a single piece of wood added to it since my daughter started it. Her ability was really quite amazing, but it didn’t really seem to do all that much aside from some protection and constant warmth. Sekhet was off somewhere doing who knows what, the whimsy of the goddess was not for me to guess or judge.

“Tempest, I want to ask you something.” This was something I thought that Tempest might need, all she did was lift her left ear and she didn’t look at me. I asked my question anyway without her permission. “What did you want to eventually be when you grew up?”

“I… I don’t know… I don’t think I ever did.” Here Tempest looked away from me and she was brooding again. That wasn’t healthy for a girl her age, she was still growing and needed some motherly love.

“What did you dream of doing before you… ended up broken?” This would hurt and I knew it would, my question caused her to turn to me in anger and that anger quickly softened at the look on my face. “In more ways than one I mean.”

“I… I wanted to go to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns with my friends.” A sudden large amount of resentment showed up on her face. “Some friends they were after my horn was broken… I learned that day that I should just rely on myself. That the best way to survive is on my own.”

“Being self-sufficient is all well and good and it can certainly get you far, but no person or pony is an island. Nobody can start anywhere in this world without help Tempest. A baby, or a foal if you will, could not have survived childhood without at least some love and care.” I moved my right hand to caress her behind the ears. I was expecting her to swat my hand away, but she just slumped slightly. The poor dear must have been so lonely. “A foal can’t really rely on themselves, would you leave foal all alone in the world if it was your own? You must have had a mother that loved you or else you wouldn’t even be here. It’s a parents job to protect their foals and yours weren’t around to make sure you were okay, but they at least made sure that you lived to be where you are now right?”

“I remember some things… a parent… might have been looking out for me. I… was too young to remember them clearly. I know they at least left me in a safe place, well mostly safe anyway. Anyone can see the end results of that. I was okay with living in my village and for a time I was happy. If only the mares and stallions around the area had been watching us a little more closely or had appointed a more watchful guardian, then maybe I might not have lost my horn.” The way Tempest was staring at the fire sadly was breaking my heart, I think it would break my daughters too if she could see Tempest like this. I looked up from her at the fire and saw Sekhet sitting in the shadow of a tree across from us with a frown on her face and her orange eyes glowing in the shade. “We were being raised communally, I only had my friends and they… they just… abandoned me.”

Tears started to fill Tempest’s eyes and I brought her head into my lap to start stroking her head.

“It’s all because my broken horn scared them off, it’s like it pours liquid magic whenever I try to use it and I just can’t help but try to. I wanted to be able to do magic again and that’s why I’m wandering around trying to find a way to fix it, so maybe one day I can… I can feel normal again. Maybe… even rekindle what we had. Even though I know it’s long gone.” It was a surprise that Tempest was actually opening up to me, I thought it would be much harder to break her shell. “I… might have had one adult that cared about me back in my village, but I haven’t actually seen them in years. If they’re even still around.”

I continued to silently listen to her and stroked her mane softly, she needed to let it all out. This must have been bottled up for a long time.

“I don’t know what became of my parents, but I guess I was too young and innocent to understand that they were gone...” I could hear Tempest choking off a sob. “That I was missing something big in my life.”

“Do you want me to stop petting you?” It was a concern of mine that Tempest was hitting an emotional breaking point and I was the cause.

“No… please… don’t stop.” Tempest wrapped her hooves around my waist and held me tight. “I… I want to feel… like somebody cares. That maybe… maybe I won’t be treated like something that’s about to explode violently.”

“That’s funny, because I do care.” I leaned forward and kissed the mare on my lap on her left temple. “Opening yourself up to others can hurt, but it isn’t just you that can be hurt. You can hurt others as well and I don’t just mean physically. Since we’re talking about ourselves I might as well tell you something about myself and my daughter.”

Tempest grunted a bit, but she didn’t remove herself from my lap. I got her comfortable with me and I wasn’t about to push her away, she needed all the attention she could get.

“When I was a little kitten, I always wanted to do magic and to learn about the world around me. I wanted to travel, to see and do amazing things. Eventually… those dreams died when I couldn’t figure out how to do magic. In fact, I couldn’t get enchanting down at all and that was something Abyssinians could actually do in a limited fashion.” This was my trip down memory lane, as soon as I was done talking about it I would move on to my daughter. Bless her reincarnated soul, I hope she’s okay. No mother should outlive their child. “I put my dreams aside and settled for being a cook in a lazy little coastal town, one where fishing is a pastime that everyone knows. Also fish jerky is consumed daily and in metric tons.”

Tempest snorted and her tears slowed a bit, she looked up at me and while there was anger at the world, there was something akin to a small spark of innocence still left in her that hadn’t been stamped out by her bitter lot in life. No child should be like this, not even my daughter, who I was doing my best to raise even if she had a prior history. Why if I were to die right now… my daughter would die the same way she did last time. Alone and completely starved of love, I don’t want that to happen to her again.

I want Jade to live a fulfilling life… the life I never got until recently. I pretended to be strong for her, to be the O and O character I always dreamed I could be, but it’s so hard some days.

“It shattered me to know that I couldn’t be magical, to know that I couldn’t do amazing things. I didn’t feel special at all.” I suddenly had a captive audience in Tempest, she was staring at me… if not in understanding then at least she could feel as I do. “But you know what? I think I gave up way too soon… It wasn’t until Jade came along that I learned that every single person, pony or even every intelligent being in existence can’t be replaced so easily. You can’t be replaced either Tempest… and… I want you to stick around. If not for me, then for my daughter’s sake. If something were to happen to me… well I’m all that she has at the moment.”

Tempest just stared at me with wonder, as if she’s never been offered a place with a family before. She lifted her left hoof and slowly gripped my right hand with it. I gripped the hoof back and gave her determined look as I felt tears filling my eyes, but I continued the tale of my life.

“I grew into a bitter and rather jaded adult, it’s kind of why I named my daughter Jaded.” I couldn’t live my dreams and then I get pregnant, which was a miracle to me considering my partner. I didn’t think I could carry a child to term or even raise one, I didn’t believe in myself. If it hadn’t been for the people of Palicoast… all of them had banded together just for me. A little tight knit community filled to the brim with compassion. “It took me getting pregnant with Jade to know that I had some magic in me, that I could bring life into the world. The one bit of magic I could perform and it was a bittersweet event, Jade came into the world with only one parent.”

I noticed Sekhet just staring at us thoughtfully, she was still sitting in the shade and not joining us in our conversation. It made me consider how goddesses are born and the circumstances under which they are raised. They live for so long and must be so lonely, seeing us like this just might be rekindling something in her or its making her feel more and more like an outsider.

“I wouldn’t have been able to make it if the people of Palicoast hadn’t been there for me. I wouldn’t have made it and Jade wouldn’t have been given a chance to be brought into this world, to do the things I never could.” I pulled Tempest into a tight hug, she hugged me back. Shared pain is halved, when shared the same. “There are just some things you can’t do alone Tempest, it’s something I want you to learn from someone who knows what’s it like. I… I even know how you feel.”

We just sat in silence for a minute to let that sink in as we held one another, an Abyssinian that’s growing older and a growing young mare who still had her entire life ahead of her. One of which Tempest seemed determined to waste getting back what was lost, she direly needed a family.

“My daughter was… interesting… for the first few years of her life. I already knew she was magical with that green hair of hers, she only got more interesting when she started talking. She didn’t exactly have too many friends growing up as there weren’t many Abyssinians born around the time that she was.” Oh the memories, how they made me smile. My best friend is my daughter and I hers, which was sad as Jade had been born between generations and had no friends her age to relate to in her second life. A life I won’t let her squander. “She was what kept me going in a dreary world, then we both discovered that we could do our own form of magic and it reignited a dream in me I had thought long since dead. It’s why I want to call myself the ‘Witch of Good Taste’ now, I will keep doing magic to my dying days and I will not stop trying to live the dreams I once had. My daughter needs more people in her life to keep pushing her to follow a dream, I hope that you will be one of them.”

It’s why I shut down the canteen in Palicoast and decided to try my hand at living in the future Equestria that Jade had talked about fondly. A future world where many creatures can come together in friendship. I want my daughter to be happy and I’ll work towards such a future my own way. We might not have been part of the original plot, but darn it if we weren’t going to mess it up so badly that it still happened anyway in spite of the changes we’re making. I will make that bright future shine with everything I have!

I looked at Tempest curiously and she looked away, she seemed to be thinking about things. I now had something to tell her and she needed to hear this like yesterday. I noticed her probing her broken horn with her right hoof.

“If you can’t use your horn to do magic, then why don’t you try doing other forms of magic or try doing magic in a different way?” This would strike her like lighting, but it had to be said and I was going to be the one to say it. “I learned to do magic when I thought I couldn’t, then why can’t you do the same? Just because you have a broken horn doesn’t mean you should give up on your dreams or even try making new ones, it doesn’t mean you need to get it fixed to do magic. Fixing your horn shouldn’t define everything you are, but you shouldn’t give up on that either! If you can’t do something, then find a new way to do it. Break the mold! You’re a magical pony aren’t you? Show some creativity then. Also… don’t give up on having friends, my daughter is awkward enough as it is and she needs as many as she can get.”

Tempest looked at me with wide eyes, we stared at each other and I smiled at her. Slowly she leaned her head against my belly and curled up against me.

“Thank you…” A few minutes of holding me and sobbing, she slowly calmed down and she finally spoke to me while flicking an ear. “Could you…”

I started petting her again and she sighed happily, probably the first time she’s been happy in a long time.

“When it seems like the world isn’t fair, when your life’s a mess and no one seems to care.” It is said that when you do a great good deed, an angel gets their wings. Pegasi were like angels right? I wouldn’t know, I was just trying to cheer up Tempest. “Just tell someone and a real friend might appear there, to help you pick up the pieces and will help make things square.”

I looked up at Sekhet and she had her back to me, but I could see the upturned corner of her mouth. A goddess that enjoys watching others heal… interesting.

“My name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist.” My attention returned to Tempest and I was a little honored that she was willing to tell me who she really was. “Can we… can we be friends?”

“We already are Fizzle. You, me and my daughter.” I glanced in the direction of the retreating giant lion tailed goddess. “Even Sekhet, which is if she wants to be friends with us.”

-Jade-

I was falling, the air whipping by as my velocity started increasing to its maximum. I clutched desperately at the white feather in my left hand. I believed I would survive, I was afraid of being wrong.

I clenched my eyes shut and cast, a bright blinding light and tinkling noise followed.

I was... flying?

I had wings!

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMS4rMJpYo4

Let's not forget, casts are always powerful... if exceedingly temporary.

Magical Alchemy List.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather. (New Information!)

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random. (One time air terrain survival buff, possible Offensive ability). (New!) Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain:???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

(New Magical Alchemy)

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight! (Limited air terrain mobility buff.) Target is given wings of pure sunlight. (More information is needed.)

Sustain: ???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: To begin a flight.

-Spitfire-

I was a rising pegasus rookie in the Wonder Bolts and lately… things have been pretty weird in Canterlot since Celestia put the royal guard on high alert. The guard had been catching things left and right all day yesterday. They were putting out previously undiscovered figurative fires all over the city, who the buck would embezzle an orphanages funding? It’s stallions like that that make me despise nobles sometimes.

There were just some things that weren’t right here in Canterlot, then there was the odd stranger that the guards were supposed to be looking out for.

Where did they find this stranger? Escaping from Canterlot Castle under mysterious circumstances. Even I was curious as to what she had been doing there, apparently there were a lot of rumors about the cat and nothing criminally substantial other than badly mussing up Blueblood’s mane while knocking him out with a stomp to the head. A lot of the royal guards would have wanted to thank the being who was unafraid to do that.

As per usual nature of our lands, a spontaneous musical broke out in the streets. Only this one had an interesting beat to it and it was surrounding the singing cat in the cloak running from the guards, I was impressed that she could sing while running like that. The cat even gave Sturdy Spear a fierce knock to the head with his own weapon for trying to slow her down with violence, she even sung a scathing line about the royal guard and she wasn’t exactly wrong.

At least my squad could keep up with her, we even witnessed her stop another crime in progress while the royal guards were still trying to chase her down. I thought it odd that a supposed criminal would stop to put down another one, it got some guards off her butt at least. So I’ll give her a win on that one and some benefit of a doubt that she was a real criminal.

When she was launched onto the roof tops by the… let’s face it, she was a chubby large bulky pony of a mare with a cutie mark of her own face on it. Larger than life that one. We took our chances to try and grab the cat as she jumped across the rooftops. She was unusually agile for her scrawny appearance and the music even had me singing ‘darn cat’ after I slammed into the rooftop trying to grab her.

It was near the edge of Canterlot that the cat did something that got me and many of the other guards angry, the music was hitting a crescendo as she snatched some loose feathers from one of Celestia’s wings. I was now definitely taking that as a personal offense against Princess Celestia, who just looked after the cat in utter confusion. Wasn’t this the unusual visitor that she had warned the guard about?

The cat then had the gall, and even some very large stones, to just jump right off the side of Canterlot. Was she crazy, what was going on? Celestia moved towards the edge while looking worried and we flew up right next to her.

“Don’t worry Celestia, we’ll catch that feather stealing feline before she goes splat!” I turned to my friends and comrades. “Soarin, Fleetfoot, Surprise, Blaze, come on, let’s catch us a cat burglar!”

“No, why would she…!” Celestia’s frightened eyes weren’t on us or me, but on the form still falling through the air and then a bright blinding light shined from the cat and a loud tinkling noise rang throughout the area. It made us all pause and then, the cat was flying on wings made out of pure light as if it was from the sun itself. “W-What… she’s… that’s incredible… I’ve never seen any of them do something like that before!”

“Well of course she chooses now of all times to learn how to fly, let’s move!” I swooped down after the cat with my friends following my lead. Celestia started saying something and I yelled back. “Don’t worry about us princess, we won’t endanger ourselves unnecessarily!”

-Celestia-

I am the sun princess of pony kind, the crown is always so heavy upon my head and my false smile is a rictus that I wish wasn’t needed to appease my little ponies.

“Wait! I-I don’t want you to… hurt…. her…” It was too late, the youthful Wonder Bolts squad was already out of ear shot before I could finish telling them what I wanted and they were after the admittedly strange Abyssinian.

Where had this all gone so wrong? I… I just wanted to talk to the sun priest, not have her arrested! I mean, I might have been a bit too… hasty… in my assumptions that she was here to help me and join my court I admit. Seeing her jumping over the edge of Canterlot scared several years off of me, thanks to my longevity that wasn’t the issue. I didn’t even care that she had stolen some of my loose feathers.

I just… I wanted a friend who knew how the sun truly felt. I never even got the sun priestess’s name or even had a chance to explain myself.

Though I did kind of spook her when she woke up, curse my natural habit to doing naturally awkward things… and that was supposed to be a prank! I… I should have known better. I mean after Sunset… I tried not to remember that. I was blocking out the memories of those once innocent eyes slowly becoming filled with greed that I didn’t curb at all.

There were plenty of moon priests still around and they were waiting on Luna to be free of being Nightmare Moon, they were still telling the very real tale of Luna’s sealing. I even had a prophecy to that effect, one that I had hoped I would be able to handle with some ample help from the young Abyssinian that came to inform me of an airship crashing thanks to that Sonic Rain Boom.

Even if I had stamped out most of the truth of the matter in the public eye, it still bothered me that there was a holiday based around my sister’s fall to darkness. Nightmare Night was my most hated holiday, one that many ponies have come to enjoy.

The moon priests didn’t hate me, but they didn’t want much to do with me either. They were all thestrals, so I could understand why. They were nocturnal and they hadn’t helped Luna a thousand years ago and they regretted failing the princess of the moon every single day since through the various generations.

We shared our regrets. Even if we weren’t too great at working with one another, I still received thestrals for the night guard. They were always Luna’s knights, I shouldn’t even be in charge of them.

I had to find out why the Abyssinian was on the run like that and just what kind of mess my guards had started! I also needed to focus on other things… like Twilight, yes I needed to focus on her and the baby dragon that was born not too long ago. I couldn’t let myself get too caught up in this, even if it was my fault and I had to live with the consequences.

If the priest ever came back, I would approach her personally and apologize for all the trouble that I’ve caused her. I would absolve her of any crimes she may have committed today in her fleeing of Canterlot, it was all… just a big misunderstanding. A misunderstanding I should have paid more attention to, I thought I was better than this after what happened to Luna because of my ignorance.

-Jade-

Well I could say that partially fit into the role of a rogue now, a rogue priest that does what she will! What I’m going to do now is fly and I felt a brilliant song building in my heart with the music. I had expected a different effect, maybe feather falling or I become ‘light’ enough that my fall would have slowed to a safe speed.

I was not expecting wings or another song after the first one, but the magic filling me wanted me to sing again and I couldn’t help it or stop the words from exiting my mouth. I was getting really tired of musical numbers. If you ever come to Equestria, this is what will happen to you even if you aren’t a pony.

“What is this feeling, that I feel~? Am I flying, is this for real~? At least I’m not splattering across the ground and dying~!” I passed under the cloud and suddenly my wings dimmed and started fade until I got back into the sunlight, I had fallen quite a distance thanks to that. Passing under that cloud had weakened my magical wings tremendously. “It appears that my magical wings are really bright~! And they just happen to be made of pure sunlight~! This is certainly not a spell I’d want to use around the time of midnight~. I certainly enjoy this soaring feeling as I burst through the sky~! My heart swells and I feel as if the air itself can tell no lie~. As I feel free, like that all is quite well and that I am happy~.”

“Hey you get back here you stupid crazy cat~. Do you really think we’ll let you get away, especially with stealing the princesses feathers just like that~!” I turned and saw a young yellow furred Spitfire singing to the tune of the whimsical music that had me feeling great. “We’ll show you what us Wonder Bolts can do~. Because we’re a flying team unlike you~! Form up Soarin with Surprise and Fleetfoot with Blaze~. I am Spitfire and I can keep flying for days~! We’re coming for you and you’ll see, that you’re not getting away from them or me~!”

My good feelings were certainly gone now and at least the music wasn’t urging me to sing anymore. Apparently the magic won’t force you if you were upset enough about it, good to know as I turned and started fleeing towards the south with the five Wonder Bolts coming after me.

There was a certain irony of this situation, it was that I had to stay in sunlight or my wings would weaken and become faded making my flying become a crawl. Which was of course, bad. I couldn’t stay too high off the ground either, because when the cast ended… Yeah, I might want to fly as quickly as I can while avoiding the Wonder Bolts.

Spitfire swooped at me and I swerved out of her way. I started to fly lower and towards a lake with that flaming mane on my butt with her four friends flying higher and keeping up with us. Didn’t a goddess control a similar spell like this for her chosen hero?

Well I don’t think I had an auto-pilot like that, also I didn’t know how to fight in the air like this. This was the first time I’ve ever flown before.

I swerved and rolled between several trees and amazingly Spitfire was keeping up with me. I had been slowed down by nicking the shade and shadows too much. She was also using my wake to accelerate at me, her friends were just likely waiting for an opportunity to come at me themselves.

Idea! I swerved towards the lake and skimmed across the lake at high speeds and instinctively straightened out the energy wings on my back. Jets of water sprung up behind me and upon catching the tips of my wings they immediately turned into clouds from the heat the wings were giving off.

I lifted away to see that Spitfire was shaking her hoof at me, she had gotten stuck in the straight line of cloud that I left hovering over the lake.

Spitfire had thankfully lost all her momentum. I’m glad I remembered that clouds were, relatively, solid for winged ponies and I found out that I didn’t really need to flap my wings all too hard to get some height again. I was still moving at an incredible speed as I approached Ponyville, that’s when Soarin and Surprise swooped down and sped up towards me.

They chased me down the streets at high speeds above a bunch of surprised ponies, I tightly swerved and turned corners on a dime. Why did this feel so easy, when flying should have been far more difficult than this? Oh right, I was still using my knife as my magical sustain and it seems to be greatly improving the effects of my cast.

Blaze and Fleetfoot were still flying high, while Soarin and Surprise were literally almost on my tail. I swerved down a street and suddenly, I felt something get shoved into my hands. I looked down at the wrapped up cupcake with a note on it and I looked back to see a smiling Pinkie Pie. Soarin was on his back with his face was covered in the remains of a cupcake and Surprise had stopped to sit down and eat her sugary snack, much to my surprise that she wasn’t continuing pursuit.

I smiled stowing away the cupcake and gave a nod to Pinkie, she just winked at me and stuck out her tongue cheekily. Apparently I had flown by Sugar Cube Corner and she had to have used her Pinkie Sense to set that up. I should do her a big favor sometime later.

I quickly angled upwards sharply and shot towards Cloudsdale, I was veering around patches of shadow from the clouds above me and avoiding my wings being hit with any kind of darkness. I’d try losing the last two Wonder Bolts in the drifty city, I might even see Fluttershy on the way. I just couldn’t stick around, because who knew how long these wings would last me.

Blaze and Fleetfoot were catching up as I reached the edge of the cloud city and I started swooping around the many pillars and other Greek styled cloud architecture. I was trying not to be out the sunlight for too long. I flew over a home and saw Fluttershy talking to Rainbow shyly, I swooped for them.

“Hey Fluttershy, bye Fluttershy!” I had made the poor filly squeak and fall on her back before she got up and looked after me. At least her friend seemed excited about the two Wonder Bolts still trailing after me, I just couldn’t shake them.

Flying between clouds and the houses built out of them, I swerved through air traffic. I even performed a quick loop when they got too close. The two ponies on me just wouldn’t give up, then I had another idea.

I dove down sharply with my claws out and forward, air pressure building up and…

I would like to silently apologize for anyone inconvenienced by this like me and my mom were days prior.

I exploded downwards creating a small Sonic Light Boom that sent my dazed pursuers flying, then I went horizontal and kept going.

It was quite unfortunate for me that I wasn’t built to handle the stress of moving so fast and I was beginning to black out from the pressure of several G's being put on my body.

I was soon the center of a blazing corona of light heading south... and I wasn't exactly in control of it.

Author's Notes:

The chapter titles will never be normal, that said. Also Cat burglar is a horrible pun when in reference to an Abyssinian.

(New magical alchemy information!)

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. (New Information!) Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. (New Information!) Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining.

Sustain: ???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: To begin a game.

-Sekhet-

Why was I even still bothering with these mortals? I guess I just want the luxury of being able to talk to someone. I’ve lived quite fine in peace until Lady Kuril dropped an already crashing airship on my head. If I didn’t know I could heal from it, I would swear it’s the head injury keeping me here.

When the airship hit me, I had felt the revenge of the many workers who did all the, quite literally, back breaking work in turmoil so many years ago when it came to building in the desert. The structures they built have lasted a long time and were considered quite the mortal achievement in architecture. It made me wonder if my anti-flight zone curse is still on that temple, I can do things that last as long too you know.

Talking was a luxury I could afford, as was keeping up with the times and all the advancements going on in the world. I was at least up to date with the world, because every once in a while I go visit nearby civilizations in disguise and most won’t even recognize me when I do.

I guessed that I was sticking around here for the freshly cooked magical food, I no longer had any reason to hound the two Abyssinians and I was even beginning to respect them quite a bit. My interest right now was watching the young broken pony heal spiritually. As the priest… well, as the rogue priest Jade had alluded to me, I had not paid enough attention to the healing aspect of myself in a long time. The only exception was healing myself from injuries and not others which was actually a part of my healing prowess.

I’ve been a huntress for hundreds of years, one that many a creature has come to fear earning the ire of or even a smidgen of my grand attention. Not once had I stopped to save lives in equal numbers as those I took, I’ve been quite greedy and lazy. I’m not bothered about my decadent life style up until now as I’m quite sure that Anubis made use of those deaths, but I wished for something new to do after so long.

I was a goddess who was powerful, wise and magical… also a tad lonely as finding any ‘good’ immortal companionship is quite hard.

All mortal lives are really quite short, but they made for excellent companions like no other and most immortal beings tended to forget that. They also forget that without mortals, we wouldn’t have much reason to be around and I had definitely lost my reason to be around a long time ago. Free time was never going to be an issue for me.

I know Celestia hasn’t forgotten the importance of mortals, especially not an unusual one like Jade. Being a young goddess helped the sun princess, but she certainly has problems controlling all of her rambunctious mortals. At least she is doing a better job to keep them thriving than I or even Bastet could with our own.

This is why I want to help the broken unicorn, it was something different to do after all that hunting day in and out. It was a dream, a really long vacation if you will, that I finally woke up from and finally decided to do something else.

I can’t just give the mortal her horn back, but I can continue to aid in the recovery of her spirit with some careful guidance. Said spirit is no longer completely in a dark place thanks to the rogue sun priest’s mother, but it needed to be brought further into the light of day.

I might even help Fizzle become a warrior if she wishes to learn how to fend for herself better. She will never be able to cast magic in a controlled manner, but bigger more complicated wide ranging spells should still be possible for her if Priest Jade and Lady Kuril can’t help her.

That got me thinking about sun priests.

Ah yes, sun priests, always the guiding lights even when they don’t realize it. They don’t even need to know where they are going or even to act in any given specific way, they will always find a home somewhere and people will always come to them for guidance or help. It is inevitable, even if they aren’t acting like the traditional idea of what a priest is.

If I had to guess, Celestia would have expected robes, staves and a sense of tradition with Jade. She would be sorely disappointed as Jade wasn’t fit for such an arbitrary mold.

It was another reason for me to stick around, it’ll be amusing to see what kind of trouble Jade could get into. It has been a long time since a priestess like her has been around, Jade was quite a rarity to run into these days and many would want her help even if they don’t know what they are in for by asking for it.

I’m quite certain Jade doesn’t know either, no one has told her yet as far as I know and all she would have to do is to know to ask me. I wasn’t about to tell her if she didn’t want to know after all. Don’t mind the toothy smile on my face, it’s nothing of importance.

I can make sure that Jade isn’t taken advantage of by anyone… but what would be the fun in that? Who would even know how to take advantage anyway? Mortals learned more from their mistakes than they do from doing everything right the first time. It’s like how I can forgive many slights, but I’ll never forget them… ever.

Speaking of the solar priest… I feel her coming. She shines brightly to those who know what to look for and she’s coming this way quite fast, my curiosity is now piqued.

I think Jade might be in need of a little divine intervention, who am I as a goddess to not respond to such a need? This is the beginning of a new chapter in my long, long life. It might even be quite the read.

“Your daughter is coming back and she’ll be here in approximately a minute.” I think Kurilian misunderstood my meaning and got up to look in the directions Jade would have probably walked in from, that is if she had been walking.

“I don’t see my little tom cat.” Of course you wouldn’t Lady Kuril, I can sense that she’s actually coming at us a lot higher than an Abyssinian is supposed to be. Flying at such a speeds cannot be healthy for such a fragile mortal.

Even the recently named Fizzle was confused as she didn’t see Jade coming either, but I knew and didn’t need to see. I could feel her just fine.

“I did not say she would be walking here, watch the north… and you will soon see something of great interest.” I spread my wings while chuckling with mirth and lifted myself up into the air straight into Jade’s path. “In fact I’ll just show you when she comes in, it’ll be quite the sight I think.”

Getting high enough I closed my eyes, I spread out my front legs straight out from my sides and brought my rear ones together underneath me to start hovering in the air without the need to flap my mighty wings. I didn’t need to see the glow forming before me or what it was doing, it is my ancient power at work. It has been quite a while since I flexed my magical muscles.

If one were to look at me, then one would see a faint ankh shaped glow coming from my body. The soul, the life that drives the body, this is what an ankh represented and anyone who would defile a soul would earn my ultimate rage and I would not hold an ounce of my power at bay.

This was just me naturally using my magic, the center of my being, in a more visible and showy fashion. I was showing off even if I didn’t have to, I absolutely wanted to! Jade knows of me and my distant sister in legend, well it’s about time I returned from said ancient legends, for I am Sekhet!

A dot of light slowly created a circle in the air as I hummed softly and concentrated. I opened my eyes and there was a two dimensional circle of magic that filled in immediately before me in the air, I now waited for her to come.

A bright blazing light approached me and then hit the circle dead center, it appears that I have not lost my touch at all and have safely caught the poor feline. It might have been my sister’s job to protect the Abyssinians and others of cat kind, but she isn’t exactly here is she?

The middle of the circle stretched and then the circle collapsed around the bright light into a bubble, the end result left a figure floating in the middle of it. It was Jade and she had the most beauteous looking wings made of sunlight.

I was somewhat impressed that she still got back in one piece even when she wasn’t conscious and looking at her body, I could tell that she was going to be quite sore for a while. She needed to rest and I would not rouse her from her slumber.

I came down with the bubble between my paws, both Kuril and Fizzle looked at the sleeping form inside of it.

“She is fine, but she needs time to rest. She’s obviously had a busy morning and she might be up for dinner this evening or breakfast on the morrow.” I popped the bubble and gently sat Jade on the ground while removing her pack, her hair was like glopaz in the sun. It reminded me of Somnambula dealing with an exceedingly irritating snake, so many memories of watching mortals from a distance.

It was feeling quite nostalgic, I would like to help build something from all these feelings.

-Fizzlepop ‘Tempest’ Berrytwist-

I was too busy staring at the wings sprouting from Jade’s back to notice anything else, how did she get wings? Was this part of something about getting my horn back? I… after my talk with Ms. La Perm I just… it just didn’t feel as important to me anymore.

Jade looked to be in pretty bad condition and she had been that ball of light shooting across the sky. I was actually afraid for someone else… I mean I haven’t even told Jade that I want to be friends yet or my real name for that matter.

I know I hadn’t been very talkative and these last two days have been… strange. Strange like the warm campfire that never went out or was never unbearable to be near, in fact it was very comforting to know it was still there.

A loud cracking noise was heard and the wings dissipated into thin air, they had been going for the last few minutes I had been staring at them in awe. I, Kuril and Sekhet were all staring at Jade now.

“That was some powerful magic, especially if she flew here all the way from Canterlot on them.” If Sekhet said something was powerful and was a goddess as both Jade and Kuril believe she is, then I knew it was a fact.

Those wings weren’t permanent, I felt a little upset about that as I had wanted to touch them. I wasn’t about to disturb Jade’s rest to talk about it, she looked like she needed it.

I watched as Kuril tucked her daughter in with a blanket, and put a pillow beneath her head with a warm smile. I wished some days that someone could do that for… maybe she would if I bothered to ask.

“Well Jade’s fine, what do we do now? Oh wait… you don’t have a complete education do you Fizzle?” Kuril turned to me and I blinked owlishly at her. An education? I was plenty smart enough as is.

“I would think not, if she has been wandering for as long as I think she has.” What would Sekhet know about me? I’m plenty smart enough, all unicorns are great at retaining knowledge. “She is at least world smart, learning by the experience of her travels. What she would be missing is a more classical education now that you mention it. I can teach math quite well and I’ve personally lived through and watched history unfold, do you know how to read or write?”

“Of course I do!” I wasn’t an imbecile, give me some credit here. I just stopped going to school when I set out to find a way to fix my broken horn. I was quite educated, thank you! “If you’re so worried about how smart I am, then what of Jade?”

“Jade’s somewhat horrible at complicated math, but she’s knows a lot of mythology, monsters, history and quite a bit about magic as you all very well know. I should show you how she plays a game of Ogre’s and Oubliettes sometime, our gaming pack survived the crash and we can even play the game some until I have to cook dinner.” What Kuril said surprised me a little, Jade was bad at math? I would not have pegged her for it given that she can do powerful magic that gave her those strange looking wings temporarily. “I might have neglected her education a bit by coming here to Equestria, but she really doesn’t need that much of an education.”

I was quite good at math personally. Unicorns needed math to perform some of the most complex spells in existence, yet Jade was doing spells without needing to know said complex math. It actually had me hoping that I could learn to do magic in spite of my… disability. It’s just that no one had tried to do magic differently than what was taught in schools, it wasn’t necessary for them to do so. For me, it was a necessity.

“Jade’s education is fine, especially since she can identify who I am. That's all the education she needs.” The sphinx just puffed herself up with pride, Sekhet was kind of weird to me and a bit terrifying. She was clearly powerful and dangerous, an Ursa Medium wouldn’t go down so easily to someone who wasn’t. “What is this Ogre’s and Oubliettes game though? If it is entertainment, then I could give it a try.”

“It’s a fantasy roleplaying game, one that actually has some real life applications.” Started off Kuril. I hadn’t had fun in a long time and I was interested in where this was going. “It’s like designing a different you. A character you create that plays a role by going on imaginary adventures with a specific set of rules in place regarding what that character can and can’t do, said rules make luck and chance decide the outcome of what happens to the character you or others design within reason.”

“Describe your character to me so I can get a better grasp of the concept…” Said an equally interested Sekhet, I then turned to Kuril as I too was curious enough.

“I’ll do you one, better.” The way Kuril was rubbing her hands together had me worried. “I’ll help you and Fizzle create your own characters and we’ll party up!”

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: To begin a fresh start.

-Fresh Start-

Okay, I knew she flew to the south, I’ll just keep going that way until I find her. Celestia wasn’t upset with me, but she did tell me to go find Jade and to keep doing my job to make sure that she stayed healthy. She also gave me a note of apology, once and if I find her. She hadn’t even known Jade’s name before I told her.

I have to wonder what was so special about her that Celestia had me going to all this trouble. Well there is the fact that she jumped off a balcony and then froze in midair before dropping onto Blueblood’s skull. The staff at Canterlot Castle couldn’t stop talking about it, a few of them wanted to thank Jade for saving them from another Blueblood alert. There was also jumping off the edge of Canterlot and sprouting wings, the young Wonder Bolts squad had lost her when she exploded into a ball of light heading south.

She had passed through two places of importance, one was Ponyville and the other was Cloudsdale. I was going to stop by Ponyville and ask around if anyone knew where Jade could have went.

It still surprises me that Jade wasn’t guilty of any crime, aside from landing on Blueblood and no one could prove she did that on purpose. The guards were awfully tight lipped about whether or not it looked like a purposeful stomp to the head too. I knew the score, they were trying to cover for Jade. Unlike the many other guards that had been chasing Jade while harboring a huge misunderstanding of the situation.

Jade had even stopped a crime while being pursued by the royal guard, so Celestia said she was to be commended for her swift actions of civilian justice without permanently injuring the thief. Nobody was complaining to Celestia about that except maybe Sturdy Spear, his case wouldn’t hold up as he did kind of go at Jade with lethal intent so it was a case of self-defense. The case would have been thrown out immediately, because Sturdy Spear himself would have been put on trial soon after.

How did one Abyssinian cause so much chaos without any negative repercussions to herself? A Hoofdini in the making from what I know. Celestia seemed to be interested in Jade’s overall safety when it looked like Jade could take care of herself, especially when she could outrun the whole royal guard. It needed to be stated, if Shining Armor hadn’t been busy with Princess Cadence then maybe Jade might have actually been caught.

The only thing I can think to charge Jade with is causing a riot, a laugh riot. She had stopped to buy snacks in the middle of the chase and even waited for them to be finished, not one guard saw her entering or exiting Donut Joe’s establishment. Ponies said she wandered around aimlessly for a good ten minutes before the guards even spotted her again to begin the song and dance.

I’m catching a train to Ponyville and should be there in the evening. I kind of wondered though… did Jade get Fleur’s autograph when they met one another? It was mentioned that Jade trespassed in her home, but she wasn’t willing to press charges and just wanted to snuggle the Abyssinian more. Fleur De Lis really liked cats, who knew? A lot of ponies had Fleur pegged for being more of a dog pony.

I heard there’s a pony in Ponyville who’s friends with an Abyssinian, given there’s only been the one around here it wasn’t hard to guess who that Abyssinian was. I’d spend the night and then talk to the pink pony in the morning at the local bakery to see if she knows where I can find Jade.

-Jade-

I smelled something, a smelly smell, a smell I’m quite familiar with and it was heavenly. I immediately jumped up and then flopped onto my face on the blanket, every inch of my body felt sore. It was late in the evening and whatever that smell was it was entrancing.

“You’re dead Sphinx.” I heard my mother flatly intoned, it was the same tone she used to inform me that I was dead.

“I still have a use of resurrecting requiem left.” That was Sekhet. Were they? They were, mom was totally playing Ogre’s and Oubliettes without me! Also a cleric, really Sekhet? I guess it is the only class that has healing and the ability to dish out traumatizing divine damage against undead, evil beings, corrupted monsters and possessed party members. It was actually kind of fitting really, especially if Sekhet thought to give her cleric an enhanced physical and magical offensive ability while dumping charisma. “I resurrect myself.”

“You’re characters ability has resurrected them back to being close to death, you now have twenty health points. Your move Fizzle.” Wait, what did mom just call Tempest? Did Tempest and mom have a moment together? It figures, mom loves others more than me because I refused to be cute while growing up… or it’s just my imagination.

“I use Arcane Armor Assault.” From what Fizzle just said I can already tell that she was either a fighter, a paladin or a spellsword. I could already hear the multiple dice rolls happening for each piece of armor.

That was the one spell that made your armor fly off your body explosively. The armor seeks out and rams into the target or targets at insane speeds. Depending on how many pieces hit what, it can really rip apart boss monsters with heavy single targeting damage or do a good bit of damage to a crowd depending on the armor and how many pieces it came in.

Downside to the spell is that you’d lose the protectiveness of the armor and would have to wait until the fight is over to put it back on, upside is you’d gain a lot of initiative from losing all that weight. The spell dealt both magical and physical damage. If you were weak to either or both, then the target takes double damage from the attack type they were weak too.

Since they probably started today or yesterday and Fizzle already had that spell, I would think that it was a spellsword. A spellsword eventually got a particular spell called Rearm-Mor that created or recreated armor, the fighter and paladin had their own methods of getting their armor back.

“Wow, those were some pretty good rolls Fizzle. Let me calculate the damage now… huh you destroyed the whole room.” Sounds like mom was impressed that Fizzle was doing so well. “Kind of like what my daughter does when she stabs a room full of orcs in one move.”

“How did she do that as a rogue? Wouldn’t her stealth have dropped as soon as she stabbed the first orc?” Good question Fizzle, let’s see if mom remembers the exact bit of wittiness I pulled that day.

“She had enough intelligence to learn the Replicate Round spell.” Oh, so mom did remember.

“Isn’t that a useless moderately costly ability that repeats a physical attack action to do the same amount of damage again?” Be prepared to be amazed Sekhet, because my craftiness knows no bounds even if I didn’t like to do the math. “It’s useless because there are far more better abilities you could be using than being able to hit at the same strength time and again for the one room the effect lasts in, it’s practically useless with armored or shielded opponents.

“I thought that too, apparently my daughter had other ideas. Did you know that if you replicate a stealth strike, it’s still a ‘stealth’ strike? None of the orcs could detect her because she was replicating the stealth based backstab action on everything in the room.” My mother gave off an exasperated sigh and I smiled from my position on the ground. “It only worked because the orcs all had less health than the first orc she managed to get a backstab roll on and she had the energy to get away with doing that multiple times. She didn’t need dice rolls to succeed, just the energy to copy her successful backstab action. I never thought a high intelligence stat on a rogue could be so dangerous.”

“Seriously, that’s kind of broken… like my horn...” I was surprised to hear that Fizzle snorting loudly in amusement, what did mom do to her to make her be less broody?

“It was basically instant death to all those poor misbegotten monsters with one dice roll. Backstab a single soft target or give her a chance to flank something and… well you get Jade’s idea of how to deal with a room full problems that all the protection in the world won’t stop.” I could almost hear my mother smiling proudly. “There are huge downsides, the set up for it is so horrendous to your stats overall and it takes a while to get around to being able to do it. My daughter insisted on a high intelligence rogue and I had no idea why when she had a lot of problems keeping said rogue alive. Until her rogue learned Replicate Round and even a little after that I thought she was being masochistic.”

I could hear Sekhet laughing and Fizzle was actually giggling. Giggling, the future Tempest Shadow, mom you’re a miracle worker!

Okay it probably wasn’t my imagination then, they were all ignoring the fact that I woke up to continue the game and if my nose is correct... never mind, mom loves me dearly and I’m just mom’s silly lovable little kitten. It was the smell of her simmering Potato Stew that woke me up, my mouth was watering already and I couldn’t get up because I was so horribly sore.

Note to self, magical wings do not protect against gravitational forces exerted on body nor do they protect against a lack of oxygen at a high altitude. Said lack of oxygen may have messed up my thought processes and led to me thinking it was a good idea to put my body through Mach speeds without the same protection a pegasus naturally has. Ergo my current state of full bodied soreness was not very pleasant in the slightest.

I should really apologize to mom about getting onto her case about not taking greater precautions with magical alchemy. I should also remember to listen to my own advice on taking precaution when using this magic, because now I was quite hypocritical by making the same mistakes I had warned mother about.

“I think the potato stew is done mom!” At my words, like lightning my mother was up and going to the cauldron and she sent me a mirth filled smile while flicking her tail in my direction.

“I knew this would wake you up, nothing would stop you from eating this stew. You could be half dead to the world, but the second the scent hits your nose you’re up and… well mostly full of vigor.” My mother was already scooping me a bowl full of sweet delicious buttery potato and vegetable strewn heaven. “How are you feeling sweetie and what happened in Canterlot?”

“Oh this and that, by the way I picked up dessert for you and I don’t mind giving one of the snacks I picked up to Tempest.” It was then that I saw mom sending me a stern stare and I understood what she wanted from me. “I’m sorry for not heeding my own advice about using magic, how was I supposed to know those magical wings wouldn’t protect me as if I were pegasus?”

“That’s why we learn what our magic does in a safe environment Jaded. Now how many helpings of this are you going to eat this time? I made a double batch because I know you’ll fight Sekhet for the extra portions.” Mom, you are a really cruel and unusual being that knows how to punish me justly and without pause.

I looked Sekhet in the eyes and she looked into mine, we narrowed them at each other. Fizzle started to slowly back away from the two of us and started to move closer to my mother for safety, neither of us would raise a claw to her. Mom cooks the food after all.

I wasn’t backing down from you over this goddess. My mom, my food! Go get your own mom to… wait… you probably don’t have a mom at this time. Stop using my mother as a surrogate you crazy goddess!

-Sekhet-

I’m not backing down to you over this mortal. The food smells absolutely divine and she made it for everyone, first come first serve! I’ll use your mother as a surrogate as much as I… wait… where the 'Duat' are my thoughts going? I don’t truly see Lady Kuril in that familiar a manner at all!

-Jade & Sekhet-

This means war!

-Fresh Start-

It was a brand new day the sun was shining and I was on my way to get a pastry at the bakery where Jade’s pink pony friend was. I was hoping she’d give me directions to where Jade might have went.

“Excuse me, but do you know where Jade might be? I have to deliver a letter to her.” After I asked that of the bright eyed filly, I turned my head to the side to mutter. “I just hope nobody forgets my paychecks just because I’m not working in the castle.”

“Nope, but you can talk to my newest best friend forever Fluttershy over there about my distant best friend forever Jade!” The perky pink filly was pointing to the yellow one with the butterflies on her flank sitting with three other pegasus ponies. “I bet she knows where Jade lives, did you know that Jade could grow wings, because I sure didn’t and she flew straight through here yesterday looking all cool and stuff! She was a bit too busy to play though.”

“Thank you.” I turned from the filly who went bouncing around the place to approach the table with the four ponies that were pointed out to me. “Excuse me, but do you know where I can find Jade?”

The filly squeaked, hid her face behind her mane and then cowered under the table and… so did her parents. The only one that didn’t was the colt.

- Several Hours Later-

It should be around here somewhere according to Fluttershy, whoa…

What happened here? I walked into a scene of carnage unlike any other a small distance away from a nice looking campfire. At the campfire was a… was that a unicorn with a broken horn huddled up against an older looking Abyssinian, they seemed to be relaxing and chatting calmly with one another.

Wait, that wasn’t what was important. What was important was that Jade was covered in scratches, bruises and painful looking welts. She was lying next to an unconscious Celestia sized pony with similar injuries, was that a lion's tail?

“What happened to them?” I asked as I approached the two that were awake, they looked at me lazily.

“I happened to them.” The Abyssinian lady answered. “If my daughter thought that she was sore before she started fighting, then she’s definitely going to be in pain for a while after that.”

- Kuril -

I'm surprised, proud and completely embarrassed that my daughter managed a victory against Sekhet for the dumbest of reasons.

Author's Notes:

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight.

Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability.The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. (New!) Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: ???.

Self-sustaining: ???.

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: To begin a chance.

-Jade-

I came to and it was morning. Next to me was the, relatively, smaller alicorn sized form of the goddess Sekhet. I gave her quite the beating last night, nobody stops me from getting extra portions of potato stew, nobody! I know mom will wait another month before making it again and while I was aching, last night had been quite fun and I got my fill of food.

If your definition of fun involves claws out and stopping for food between rounds of beating each other senseless, then you were in luck if you were nearby last night.

Sekhet probably shouldn’t have turned off her ability to heal or shrunk down close to my level for the fight, but she was quite honorable in giving me a relatively fair fight. It was just unfair for her that I was quite determined to get more extra portions than she was.

I stood up and went through my sun salutation exercise and began working out the kinks in my body. The several hours of sleep took care of my soreness, but the light claw marks and bruises would remain for a while. They sure did sting quite a bit, Sekhet doesn’t go down without a good fight and I think she was just humoring me at the start.

At the campfire was my mother, Tempest and… oh look Fresh Start too. Well time to see what’s going to happen next. I made my way over to them, Sekhet would be fine right where she was because she can walk it off. That was unfair, mostly because I can’t walk off my own injuries like she could.

“Morning Tempest, morning mom.” They greeted me as I made my way over to them and sat down on my mom’s left, on her right was Tempest and across from us was Fresh Start. “Hey Fresh, what are you doing here?”

“Don’t you hey Fresh me! You jumped off a balcony and stomped on Prince Blueblood’s head… I have to thank you for that on the behalf of Canterlot Castle’s staff by the way. You also gave the royal guards the run around and then you jumped off the side of Canterlot and continued on to evade the Wonder Bolts! After all that and nobody is going to charge you with anything.” Well Fresh seemed to be a bit miffed, mom didn’t seem surprised at her words and Fizzle just shrugged. “I’m here to deliver a letter and offer an apology from Princess Celestia for all the trouble that she thinks she caused you. The only trouble you’ll have in Canterlot is the one irate unicorn guard. For whatever reason Celestia deems you so important, she’s paying me to lend my services to you. so here I am.”

“Sounds like you had fun in the city my little tom cat.” That was an understatement mom.

Celestia shouldn’t have made me feel caged, I was already feeling pretty antsy the other day after meeting Bon-Bon. Sekhet’s warning certainly came to mind after Celestia had slammed into me and knocked me out in her uncontrolled exuberance.

“Yep, but I really don’t know what we are going to do now mom, or where we’re going from here exactly. Celestia knows about the airship crash, so my job informing her is done.” I reclined against the log and warmed my toes by the fire that has been going for the past few days and was still strong without any extra wood. Magic was amazing like that. “Oh right, aside from those sweets I picked up at Donut Joe's place in Canterlot, a pony called Pinkie gave me a wrapped cupcake on the way back yesterday. I should probably eat the snack and read the note.”

“I’ve got no other place to be either, so I’m going to stay with you two… if you don’t mind.” Will wonders never cease? Tempest is actually being a bit shy and… I really wouldn’t mind her staying with us. “Oh and I’m Fizzlepop Berrytwist by the way, sorry I haven’t properly introduced myself until now. Even if you can’t get my horn back, then at least you can promise me that you’ll always try to help me.”

“We’d be happy to have you around Fizzle, I promise that I’ll find a way to help you in some way eventually or I’ll live trying.” I got up to hug Fizzle and she accepted it and nuzzled my neck while hugging me back, she was actually being affectionate. I could hardly believe it, I just ran my hand down her mane and she even happily leaned into it. “Thanks for not leaving my mom alone with Sekhet, who knows what that goddess would have done to my poor sweet mother if you hadn’t been around?”

I then turned to Fresh Start who moved up next to me and held out a letter to me, I took the letter from her hoof and she went to sit back down on the other side of the campfire while grumbling about life in general.

Sitting back down, I perused the letter and then looked to mom.

“Mom, give me something to write with please.” I received the two items, an ink well and the raven feather that had its tip stained with ink. I started to jot something down on the message Celestia sent with the maid I thought I had ditched back in Canterlot.

I was willing to accept Celestia’s apology, but I’m not going to work for her. I still had my misgivings about her. I wrote down that I had no idea where we were going, but I and mom weren’t going to live in Canterlot… or even in Ponyville for that matter. Far too close to the chaos and action that will occur around there a few years from now.

I’d rather we lived somewhere remote, or at least continue with our plans for Manehatten and somewhere where the fish were plentiful even if fish jerky is a bit of an anathema to me. After I signed my name Jaded La Perm and added a post script that she was basically breaking her own child labor laws by trying to hire me, I rolled up the paper and put it back in the envelope. I then tossed it into my fire and a magical smoke wafted up from it to zip northwards.

“Is that how you generally use messaging magic?” I nodded to Fizzle’s query and smiled, she even smiled back. Friendship, it was happening and I could feel it!

“So what services do you offer Fresh Start and what exactly did Jade do to have Celestia put you here with us?” Mom was quite intrigued about the new pony in our midst.

We now had our own personal paid servant and we certainly weren’t going to abuse her presence here out in the middle of nowhere, nope, no sir… okay so we were totally going to abuse the fact that we have a prepaid maid now. It was on the crowns dime no less, we just had to find jobs for her to do and let her at them.

“I have no earthly clue, but Celestia must have a reason as she seems intent on making sure Jade stays safe. To answer you’re other question, I cook, clean and mend, plus a few other general things that a maid would do. I’m really good at early morning chores, but I tend to get a bit lethargic in the afternoon. As such I usually go to bed early.” Fresh Start with her thick long hair bound up in a bun bowed to us. “I’m not a tailor though, so don’t expect much from me in making clothes from scratch.”

Fizzle looked like she was about to ask something when a ball of magic came back and coalesced into a scroll. I grabbed it out the air and read it. Apparently Celestia was going to drop by and see the wreckage herself and to talk with us personally. New information has also come up about the crew and the other passengers that had been with us. She was, thankfully, backing off from being persistent about offering me a job in her court.

The shoo-be-doo’s, sea ponies, that were nearby had saved them all from a watery grave and they are currently stuck on the south eastern shores of Equestria, stuck with various bad to critical injuries no less. They were all accounted for as far as Celestia knew, she was having several medical teams mobilized to help the less fortunate passengers and was also sending a relief effort to them so that the sea ponies can get back to their lives.

“Okay before anything else happens, I want to see if something works.” Come on let it work, I lost my kiwi candy for these feathers. I pulled out a single phoenix feather. Please don’t make everything explode into flames, I beg of you innocent looking feather of a fire bird. “This might be the thing to help you out Fizzle, but first I’m going to stand a distance away before I try anything with it.”

“What kind of feather is that?” My mother asked looking at the feather loosely held in my grip, she immediately had her journal open and ready to record some new information into it.

“I traded a Phoenix for some of its loose feathers, just some dried fruit… and what was left of my kiwi candy.” I moved away from the camp site and closer to Sekhet, I started the cast and the feather disintegrated. The magic didn’t feel like heat or burning death, so that’s good. What was the magic doing though? It was just kind of a ball of white fire that was pulsing with energy and hovering right next to me. “Uh, I don’t know if this is safe, but I think the magic might be waiting for me to choose a target.”

This was always the problem with casts, you never know what you’ll get or what it’ll do until you do it. We needed a better method for discovering what a cast will do, at least magical alchemy sustains are always safe to figure out because we could just simply stop it if something went wrong.

“What does it feel like Jade?” Well mom, I wasn’t quite able to put it into words yet. There wasn’t any loss of magic and it wasn’t leaking or anything, it just sat there as a magical mass radiating good vibes.

“I know what it feels like… something good as far as I can tell. I know this might be a little strange to ask, but would you mind if I targeted you with this spell Fizzle?” If I were Fizzle, and I’m not, I would probably decline the idea of having an unknown white orb of pure fire hitting me. “It might even do what I hope it will.”

“Uh… what do you hope it will do?” Hopefully something amazing for you Fizzle. Phoenixes are known for fire and holy elements. This cast just might be the power of rebirth for your destroyed horn.

“Possibly give you back your horn, but our magic is not an exact science yet.” I stressed this openly and clearly, it was Fizzle’s decision to test this unknown cast. It looked vaguely dangerous. “The wings the other day and flying was nice, but I was expecting something else to happen. You saw how sore I was, this is kind of a slapdash form of magic. At least once you’ve figured something out, then you’ve figured it out period.”

“…” She stared silently at the glowing orb of white fire, then looked to me warily. “Okay then, hit me with it.”

“Are you sure?” I really didn’t want to be responsible for hurting her worse than she already is, I didn't want to see pain in those beautiful eyes.

“I’m unsure, but I’m going through with it anyway. You want to help me, a trial by fire wouldn’t be too bad and it’s my choice.” I targeted Fizzle and let the orb fly. She closed her eyes as it shot straight into her, nothing happened. The orb exited her body, it came flying back to me and… it turned back into a feather? That's new.

“That didn’t seem to do much, it appears that the cast failed.” Or it worked perfectly mom, I think I know what the effect is and it would be a good idea to always have these feathers on hand.

“It didn’t fail, it’s just the criteria for the magic to take effect wasn’t there.” If for instance I were right about the effects of the feather, then it wasn’t reviving someone from death. The real effects of the cast are not what I wanted, but it was still pretty powerful. "I know what the phoenix feather cast is supposed to do mom."

“That felt weird and my horn isn’t fixed, what does the spell with that feather actually do?” Good question Fizzle, I had to tell this to mom anyway.

“Phoenix Feather, restoration from ailments, name for the cast is cleansing flames. Can cure sicknesses, diseases, poison and various magical effects such as magically induced confusion, mind control and being turned to stone.” Yep, I just got the world’s most powerful remedy for what ails anyone, it could possibly even cure the permanent water breathing that I and mom had. Powerful, but it wouldn’t heal the damage done to Fizzle's stump.

I decided to test the magical sustain too, mostly out of idle curiosity. My entire body felt warm, like I would never be cold again.

“Sustain is protection from all things cold, basically an anti-wendigo sustain.” It’d be the ultimate protection from wendigoes if that ever became a problem, I wouldn’t even need to dress warmly during the winter months.

“Despite it not being what you thought Jade, it still has some very useful applications. Right then, now that that’s settled.” My mother’s words were comforting as she set the alchemy journal off to the side to let the ink dry. She dragged Fizzle over to me and pulled us into a hug. “You're family Fizzle, we're here for you.”

“That’s what you needed Philomena’s feathers for?” It seemed Fresh Start was sympathetic to Fizzle’s plight and she watched as we huddled together against my mother’s body. “You thought it could fix your friend's horn?”

“It didn’t pan out, but I still have some ideas left.” Like various dangerous large magical lizards for one, maybe Sekhet might know where I can find Bennu. One of Bennu’s feathers might have a different and more powerful result.

A flash of sunlight and Celestia winked in nearby to start looking about. She spotted us cuddling with my mother and noticed Fizzle's broken horn, she then immediately showed concern for her.

“Who did this to you?” This was Celestia’s first meeting with Fizzle after all. At least Fresh hadn’t asked about the horn, which is something that I’m sure Fizzle appreciated.

“Ursa, happened a few years ago, don’t worry about it.” She acted aloof, but I knew it still bothered her.

“…. very well then… so this is the airship that crashed?” Celestia started trotting over to inspect the ship. “Since you do not seem keen on living near the capital of Equestria, and I can hardly blame you for that, then might I suggest building a town here? It seems to be a good place for one.”

Author's Notes:

An antidote stops the poison, but it does not fix the damage already done.

Magical alchemy knowledge.

Cast failure- Upon failure of a cast, item used in cast will return to it's previous form. Knowing this, it may be possible to cancel a cast to get the item back after the cast has already begun.

(New alchemy ingredient!)

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

Chapter Two, Airship Mauled: The start of our home. (We're doomed.)

-Celestia-

Don’t pressure her, don’t pressure her, don’t pressure her, I have to remember that she is still a young and growing incredible magic user… where is she getting her education from? Maybe she could come to my school and… darn it I feel like pressuring her about something!

-Jade-

There’s an uncomfortable look in Celestia’s eyes as she looked back at me from inspecting the damaged airship.

“A town, really, here of all places?” I had my suspicions that Celestia wanted me around, they weren’t exactly suspicions so much as the probability that she really won’t leave me alone until she knows she can come to me for problems that I’m not exactly fit to handle. Twilight and a full grown dragon comes to mind, what was Celestia thinking there? Twilight was not a diplomat and using her as one while not professionally trained was kind of dumb. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to keep me around for the… ‘the stars shall aid in her escape’… thing.”

“No of course not, I… wait… how do you know about… moon priest... of course you know, why wouldn’t you?” She gave me a depressed look, Luna was almost more important to her than her kingdom. “I guess you’re quite clever for your age. Still though, why did you come to Equestria originally?”

“Well I and mom wanted to set up in Manehatten, just start up a small restaurant on the coast and try to get Abyssinians into the mainstream consciousness of ponies and maybe take on a few griffon customers to work up to equality for various species. You know Abyssinia is a trade nation and we Abyssinians, for the most part, are not recognizable around here despite how much trade we have going between us.” I stopped and considered my words carefully. “Also I wanted some friends my age, if you must know my mother and I come from a sleepy little coastal town with not much going on. Around here there’s some excitement, like how I befriended a chimera the same day I ended up in Canterlot.”

“A chimera, well that certainly explains the injury to your shoulder at least. Wait, friends... maybe… that could work.” There was something thoughtful on Celestia’s face and she glanced at me and I gave her a raised brow while tapping a foot impatiently. “Oh sorry, that sounds like a noble goal, but what of your education?”

“I’m pretty well educated already, I can certainly identify most monsters on sight and how to deal with them safely. I’m a fish scaler, a rogue sun priest and a unique magic user. I also know quite some things about history, like Luna for one, so try me.” I made Celestia wince, I’m not apologizing for that. She did seal her sister in the moon and she’s still there to this day. “That and I can ensure the destruction of normally impervious magical artifacts and objects, though the energy released from such destruction has to go somewhere. So I can get rid of dangerous magical items as a side business for AK Yearling.”

“What would you call a two-headed snake with no tail?” Oh, it looks like Celestia went full on teacher mode for me. Also she seemed to flinch when I said AK Yearling, so Celestia did know about Daring Do at least.

“An amphisbaena. If you get swallowed alive by a large enough one, and provided you can survive its insides, then you can possibly come out the other end. Just avoid the fangs.” I shivered at the thought of being swallowed by a gigantic amphisbaena. “I heard it’s not recommended, but there are usually not amphisbaena’s big enough for that. They are quite venomous and a feminine name for said species would be anphivena. They primarily start life eating ants and are said to possibly be from the blood of gorgons.”

“No wonder an outbreak started after me and Luna accidentally… never mind that, old history." The questions would continue it seemed, Celestia wasn’t about to let me off the hook unless I could prove myself educated enough to not need school. "What would you call a lobster or crab made from lava?”

“A cherufe is my guess, you’re not very likely to meet one unless you live in volcanic regions like dragons do. They are quite dangerous to approach especially while they are covered in lava or magma depending on where you meet them.” I leveled a flat look at Celestia. “The kids are said to be a major cause of earthquakes and tectonic problems, the parents cause less volatile situations and are protective of their young. Any more questions?”

“No I think you’ve proved that you are quite educated about two creatures that live quite far off from one another.” She looked at my mother, oh here we go. “Still, hello I’m Princess Celestia. You must be Jade’s mother.”

“Ms. Kurilian La Perm, yes I’m her mother and I happen to be Fizzle’s guardian.” It seemed that mom introduced Fizzle because she was being rather quiet. Fizzle looked a little surprised that mom claimed to be her guardian and seemed happy to accept it. “Call me Kuril and this is the aforementioned Fizzle.”

“Hello, do you know of a way to fix my horn princess?” Of course Fizzle would ask Celestia that, she would likely take every opportunity to ask around to see if anyone can help her.

“No, but I would if I could, no unicorn should go through life like this.” The way Celestia said that made me gaze at her softly. She may be a bit manipulative, but she wasn’t evil and she was still quite sorrowful about her sister.

Still, Celestia was a bit focused on unicorns. I think it’s mostly because they had a penchant for going evil more often than the pegasi or earth ponies.

“Well thanks for not getting my hopes up at least.” Fizzle mumbled sarcastically and I wanted to hug her. Darn it Tempest Shadow, you’re ridiculously adorable when you aren’t evil for reasons of promised horn fixing.

“Still, I’ll try to look into it. Just know that nothing might come of it.” Thank you Celestia, it’s not like I and mom were already going to do that ourselves with magical alchemy. “You still need an education though and I suggest you continue the same with your daughter’s education Kuril.”

My first idea was a dud and I wasn’t sure that wrestling with monsters like a cragadile would do me any favors or help Fizzle. It was going to take some research to find something that could heal Fizzle, in fact me and mom haven’t exactly got into mixing magical alchemy ingredients for casts yet and a combination of ingredients would make for a very powerful cast. We were taking it slow and learning to do things one item at a time.

“I would like it if you were to live somewhere nearby, would you be opposed to living in a town if I got some ponies started on building it here?” Really Celestia, who were you fooling? Not my mother, or me for that matter. You were staring at my fire in the same way Sekhet did, you knew what it was and so did Sekhet. Also where is Sekhet? You’d think she’d be around to meet Celestia and get into an action packed battle that would inevitably destroy the entire area, which would be useful for land development now that I think of it. “There’s a nearby river that has plenty of fish and clean water in it, this would be a nice place to settle down right?”

“You just want us around because my daughter is a sun priest, a rogue one at that. She’s obviously quite different from what you would expect and don’t you dare try and force her to be something she’s not!” Sure I may joke about mom not caring about me, but you if tried to hurt me she will respond with a viciousness that most in Palicoast would say is a true mother’s love. The salty sea cats around there can tell you how fierce she can get when pushed. “Would you take a daughter away from her mother?”

“I, no… I wouldn’t do that.” Okay now Celestia was wilting and looking pathetic, was she a powerful and benevolent goddess level ruler or not?

“Then you may want to instill that family is important in whatever student you have at the moment.” The flowing hair stopped flowing and went straight as I got Celestia’s attention, I just stared at her coolly and she nibbled at her bottom lip a bit. I rolled my eyes. “If you can get a sturdy house with a theme restaurant constructed, alongside a school and a train station sometime today or tomorrow I may consider sticking around. Also you’d have to give us the land to live on if you want us to stay here. Of course foreigners having land in the middle of Equestrian soil will definitely upset all your nobles considering how close to home we’ll be.”

“Does your daughter usually do the negotiations for you?” The princess said turning to my mother, her mane started up again and she seemed somewhat happy. “She’s quite sharp.”

“Like her claws, she’s my bright little tom cat and she should definitely get some say in it. I would suggest using the remains of the crashed airship in the creation of our house. We used to have a good sturdy restaurant back in the port town of Palicoast with a similar ship based theme.” I flicked an ear at mom, she got the signal that I wouldn’t mind this option. It would be what we were going to do anyway, but Manhattan would have been more expensive than starting fresh out here on Celestia’s funding. “You’d need to clean up the wood, get the belongings of the other passengers back to them and then make it resistant to weather, but I think the crashed airship would make a good home. Provided that we can buy the remains from the captain. He’ll sell for cheap as some of the keel is a bit busted and it can no longer make emergency water landings, it’s definitely unsafe for use as an airship. We’ll also need something like a larder around here.”

I hadn’t even thought of that, my mom did run a restaurant and was business savvy. It sounded like a good deal if Celestia could set all of that up. Mom turned to Fizzle.

“What would you like to be a part of this imaginary town Celestia proposes that we live in Fizzle?” My mom was sweet to ask the suddenly flummoxed Fizzle who didn’t have an answer and looked thoughtful for a while.

“Well I wouldn’t mind a place that welcomed everyone, no matter the species or… disabilities.” I could see where Fizzle was going with it and I nodded to Celestia.

“We can’t very well have a place of our own, especially if ponies are just going to move in and kick us out for being different.” As soon as I said that Celestia got rather defensive.

“I wouldn’t let that happen!” If it were up to Celestia or if she were informed of it happening anyway.

“Uh, you kind of already have princess.” Now entering Fresh Start as part of the conversation, I wonder what she had to say about this proposal Celestia started. “Do you remember when Appleoosa was built? It’s in the middle of the Buffalo stampeding trails. So… you… technically already did let it happen princess. Just with someone else and the buffaloes have been causing problems ever since because of it. They were truly there first, before our settlers built a town down in the middle of their nomadic territories. Appleoosa is always in trouble when they stampede through the apple orchards and they also cause a lot of damage to the town in retaliation.”

“Do you mean that you wouldn’t let it happen now specifically or at a much later date?” There was a very strong and long silence after my snarky comeback, I looked to mom and Fizzle who looked back at me. Mom was okay with it and Fizzle snorted slightly in amusement.

We all turned to Celestia to see what she had to say about this, she looked to still be in shock from what our personal maid had told her. Said maid had yet to really do anything around here, but we’re giving her plenty of leeway on that.

“I… I need to consider some things, but I will agree to the fact that you can’t be removed from these lands by any pony.” I would say that’s nice, but could you actually actively enforce that Celestia? I don’t tend to trust the general pony population for their negative tendencies towards xenophobia and things that are too different from them. Like what happened to Fizzle in becoming a lost outcast. “Within reason at the very least.”

“Agreed, but there’s one last thing to be considered. I get to the name town if you’re going to help fund the start of one here.” A town with a name that nobody would want to visit because of how ridiculous it would be.

“Okay, tell me what you would like to name it then.” To think you seemed so sure of yourself upon arrival princess, but now you were flagging and you probably won’t like my name for the town. If you actually went along with this, then I’ll be thoroughly surprised. “I’m quite willing to do all that other stuff and will get to work on it immediately, plus I have a few other things I need to look into now.”

“I want to name the town Airship Mauled!” It would always remind me that the Predestined Paradox had landed on Sekhet, plus it was pure gold for a name as far as I was concerned. I bowed my head solemnly while clasping my hands in prayer. “It’s in memory of a fortress I know about that was named Ship Killed, one that was sadly crushed under a pack of rabid pachyderms, goblins, the rampant ensuing madness and a unfortunately placed lava based kill switch that would bring the whole fortress, built at the base of a volcano, down. Sitting on it was bound to happen eventually and it took hundreds of years, but someone eventually forgot what that switch did!”

“Your… joking… you have to be.” Started Celestia as she stared flatly at me, only for my mother to bow her head solemnly and put her hands up in prayer.

“The poor people of Ship Killed. We’ll always remember, the fifth of November, when that store of gunpowder blew the fortress in half as it was being buried under lava. Thankfully none of the goblins survived, but the killer elephants certainly did.” Thank you mom for joining me in this endeavor. Ship Killed was quite fun, especially when I based that O and O scenario on something else. We had to get our characters out of the fortress and away from the carnage before it blew up, fun times were had that day. “It was a sad day indeed and I think it would be perfectly nice if we named this place Airship Mauled in memory of the fallen fortress.”

Fizzle stared at Celestia wondering if she would really give in to these two jokers.

“Fine, the town will be Airship Mauled.” Muttered a tired Celestia.

Author's Notes:

The allusion here is something called 'Boat Murdered'.

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: The starting scenario.

-Fizzlepop-

As soon as Celestia left, with a tired look on her face, I turned to the two weirdoes that I was becoming quite attached to. One of them just claimed guardianship over me. I should feel upset that she didn’t ask me, but I can only feel happy about it and I actually wanted to be coddled more. I was just too afraid to ask for more than they’re already giving me, I didn’t want to wear out their hospitality.

“Do you seriously need to have the town be named that of all things?” I asked with some vehemence in my voice.

“Yes, of course we do!” They both said at the same time in unison. Why was I not so surprised about this? I should be more surprised. It actually made me see them as a daughter and mother despite their very visible differences.

“I don’t know why I like you two so much.” The both of them were weird, but they did know a fun game at least.

O and O was an intellectual pastime for them and now I had my own character to join them with. I felt included and welcomed, but most of all they made me feel like I had a home now. It’s something I didn’t know I needed so badly.

“Hey Fizzy, do you want to share a cupcake?” What did she just call me? It sounded much better than Fizzle to me at least or maybe it was the way she said it.

“I think I like being called Fizzy. Also sure, I wouldn’t mind a snack.” The campfire was as inviting as ever, I went to sit down next to Jade. “It’s Celestia’s loss that she wasn’t willing to stick around for lunch, but I guess she’s really busy running a country.”

Jade held her knife out over the fire letting the flames lick the blade. After a moment she pulled it back and waited for it to cool down before wiping it off with a bit of clean cloth, she then opened the wrapped cupcake with the message in it.

“Oh right, I should get started on that right away!” I think we all almost forgot she was here, what was her name again? I believe it was Fresh Start.

“Oh no you don’t, I’m the head chef around here my lovely yet lowly waiter!” I watched as Kuril got up and into Fresh’s face, I’d be upset too if the best cook around wasn’t allowed to make a meal when she wanted to. “You haven’t tasted my food yet and you’ll be our guest for lunch. We’re not letting you cook until you’re ready to live up to the lofty expectations I represent.”

“Waiter? I’m a maid!” You might not be a maid much longer Fresh, I silently thought, not with that attitude anyway. “I’m supposed to be doing the work for you guys!”

“Let, my mom, do the cooking.” That was possibly the flattest most threatening delivery of a sentence I’ve ever heard Jade say, Fresh should probably listen to her after what happened to Sekhet last night. Where was she anyway? Oh look, there she is and she’s back to being much larger than the rest of us. “You won’t be disappointed and I even bet you’ll want her to keep cooking at first bite.”

“Hello there… what’s black and white, while being read all over?” Did Sekhet just ask one of the simplest riddles ever? She must be only slightly annoyed with Fresh.

“A… big… big… C-c-c-…” Oh right, we haven’t exactly introduce Fresh Start to Sekhet have we? She was cowering in fright at the big toothy grin that Sekhet was sporting.

Even a goddess of healing couldn’t fix my horn, though I do guess she’s more about healing herself than others. Healing’s a good talent to have as a war goddess, she’s actually quite amiable to get along with and knows how to be a good cleric as an O and O character.

“Fresh Start, say hello to our resident goddess. The amazing stray cat, Sekhet!” There was mirth on Jade’s face as she smiled towards Fresh. “We fed her and now she won’t leave. Please tell me we can keep her Fresh?”

Sekhet helped me even when she didn’t have to and I was going to respect her for it, except for the fact that she lost to Jade the other night while fighting over food. I was not telling her any of my thoughts on that to her face though.

“I don’t know if we can keep a whole sphinx fresh Jade. It sounds really hard to do.” With Kuril’s words, I think I know where I went wrong in life. It was me meeting Kuril and her daughter Jade. I watched as Kuril poked at one of Sekhet’s legs. “Where would we even start cleaning her?”

“Okay, enough of that you two, I am not a stray animal!” Again I wouldn’t voice it to Sekhet, but she had certainly acted like one last night. Even I could tell she wouldn’t leave because Kuril fed her, to be fair I wouldn’t leave either if I could keep eating good meals like what she makes. Who would want to leave when they had nowhere else to be after getting a hearty meal from Kuril? “Now answer my riddle lowly mortal, you who would dare prevent ‘The Witch of Good Taste’ from plying her most important trade. That being keeping me happy and not violent, so I will tell you the riddle again if you have forgotten already from witnessing my rather majestic presence. What is black and white, while being read all over?”

“Black and white, while red… wait read as in reading… a newspaper?” Fresh watched as Sekhet sat down and smiled.

“Correct, you have avoided my wrath for now. I would have also accepted a skunk covered in red paint or recently eviscerated by a predator and a monochrome picture as seen through red lenses.” Is it me or was Sekhet and everyone else ganging up on the poor earth pony? I had to put a stop to this. “Don’t try to stop Lady Kuril again or else I will riddle harder, don’t think I won’t. This was just a warning riddle.”

“You need to create an O and O character if you’re going to be living with us.” Wait, what was that that just came out of my mouth. Well it’s not like we were actively going hurt Fresh Start and it was all in good… fun. I felt a warmth in my chest at the idea. "If Airship Mauled is going to be a town, then O and O will be it's favorite pastime. We're going to make a thing of it!"

I was receiving some surprised stares from my guardian, my friend and Sekhet.

“What are you… wait, Ogres and Oubliettes? I think Shining and Cadence are going to miss me at the next game, but I already have a character. I just need to get my character sheet out of my saddle bags.” She had come here with a loaded bags full of stuff, she eventually pulled out her character sheet.

Apparently Fresh Start’s character was a spoony bard, the class that sings positive and negative effects while fighting at the same time. Weak offensive attributes, but great defensive and support.

“Hey look, we’ve already corrupted our first pony mom! Fizzy is definitely one of us now. One of us, one of us, octopus, octopus, octo… wait, why am I saying octopus?” I gave Jade a light shove and we started laughing.

When she eventually managed to control her giggling Jade finally offered up the larger half of the cupcake she had sliced with her knife. I took it without question and bit into it, my world exploded as it was quite delicious. Somebody had a special talent for making cupcakes, also I’m quite glad I had the larger half now.

As I was eating that half of the cupcake, Jade was reading the note that came with it.

-Jade-

“Deer Jade, it’s me Pinkie Pie, you’re supposed to start a letter with deer right? You’re not a deer though, if you were a deer then you wouldn’t have claws and I know you’re still a magical cat. You are still a magical cat right? I should put Cat Jade down the next time I write a letter to make sure you’re not a deer when I see you next. I mean you magically grew wings so who’s to say you can’t change into a deer? I hope you liked the cupcake! Oh and you’re invited to a special event, Fluttershy is going to hold her cuteceanera here at Sugar Cube Corner and your invited to the party. My Pinkie Senses told me she was going to have the party here. I’m the planner for it and the Cakes, the nice baker ponies who are letting me live here as a part time baking assistant, are letting me invite all my friends. All two of them! Can you believe it? It’ll be so much fun! I’m going to make friends with the whole town eventually, but I’m still settling in and I have to go to school here for some reason even when I have a job I love. At least it’s not as boring as where I used to live, It’s kind of sad that my sisters won’t be able to come to the party. I’ll just have to party that much harder for all of us! Hope you can come Jade. It’s the beginning of this weekend after school lets out. Also, bring anyone you want with you too, the more the merrier!”

I read the note and rolled my eyes, so she actually does write like she talks. I stretched out and considered how I was going to spend the rest of my day, I looked to Fizzle enjoying the cupcake and figured I might want to get to know her better. I mean everything I know about her right now can’t be all there is to her right? I think I would be sorely disappointed, but I would still get her to try new things.

“Hey Fizzy, want to go to a party?” Something tells me I shouldn’t have asked that, she looked rather pensive about the idea of going near other ponies. She didn’t seem nearly as bad around us… then again most of those who were here weren’t ponies.

“A… party? I don’t think that’s a good idea Jade. I’ll probably cause a scene.” She was talking about her horn and I understood why it would cause a scene.

“You can wear my cloak and keep the hood up the whole time, though I’m sure Pinkie or Fluttershy wouldn’t care.” Carefully I positioned myself so I could run my hand right hand down her mane, she seems to like any kind of attention she can get. “Look if ponies cause a scene, then I’ll do something to draw attention away from you if you want me to.”

“I don’t know…” She didn’t seem to like the idea, but I wanted her to meet Pinkie and to see Fluttershy again in a more talkative capacity. I was going to friend her so hard, she’ll know that she’s loved and is special to us!

“Just think on it Fizzy, I want you to be at the party with me. I also want mom to come with us.” That brought my mother’s attention to us as she was already setting up for lunch, fried vegetables and several kinds of dipping sauce. I didn’t like the spicy sauce, I always went with the sweet sauce.

“Oh, are we going somewhere my little tom cat?” Look mom, you know darn well what we were talking about. “I thought we were staying here at Airship Mauled.”

“It seems Fluttershy is inviting us to her cutie mark party in the afternoon at the start of this weekend. I want you to come with us to it mom.” Yet I still repeated myself anyway. Only you could make me want to face palm mom, never change. “You can get a scope of Ponyville and we can advertise your new restaurant opening here soon in the town of Airship Mauled, provided that Celestia can actually set it up in the next twenty four hours. So what are we calling this one? We can’t exactly be Kuril’s Coastal Canteen if we’re not on a coast.”

“Sounds like a plan for us and I already have a name for the restaurant. What are you doing for the rest of this afternoon though?” Good question mother, I had nothing and I figured I could get away with being lazy for the rest of the day. My shoulder kind of smarts and my injuries still needed to be licked a bit.

“Maybe get a little exercise with my knife’s sustain, test out a few other items and record their sustain effects.” I pretended to have something to do and hope that mom doesn’t question it.

“Sounds fair, just no lazing about. I know you too well and I know that you’re going to try and do nothing for the rest of the day! Fresh Start you can help me prepare the food, but I’ll still do all the cooking.” She made a shooing motion to both of us and I noticed Sekhet approaching mom. “Go have some fun with Fizzle, I’ll call you two when lunch is ready.”

I went to grab some stuff and would be testing what the sustain on several items we’ve yet to test would do, mom called me out on trying to be lazy so I can’t get away with it today. She'd know if I did laze about.

-Sekhet-

“I would like to inform you that you didn’t give birth to a daughter, you gave birth to a demon that disguises itself as your daughter and your food is the only thing that appeases its anger.” Of course I was exaggerating, but Priest Jade was quite vicious last night.

“What can I say, she loves a good potato stew.” Lady Kuril shrugged and got started on the food with the assistance of the serf Fresh Start. “So where were you when Celestia was around?”

I had of course been watching Celestia from a 'safe' distance. We could both feel Jade when she was nearby, but each other? Not so much, it appears a new domain was starting here and I was willing to watch over it.

“I was walking off my injuries from the prior night. I’m fully healed, thanks for asking by the way.” Ah yes the popular past time of immortal beings, sarcasm.

“What’s your take on Celestia, can she actually create a town in less than twenty four hours?” So Lady Kuril knew, well I wouldn’t put it past Priest Jade to know too.

“She certainly has the resources to do it if she isn’t trying to build more than a few small buildings.” In comparison to my resources being a paw full of beings that I'll silently admit are my friends.

-Jade-

I spent the rest of the afternoon showing and explaining our magical alchemy to Fizzle, mostly by testing the magical alchemy sustain of a raven feather, one of the two remaining feathers from Celestia and the cloak I got from Fresh Start in Canterlot. Sustains were always easy to test, but figuring out the effect was another matter.

Author's Notes:

Time skip to the cuteceanera of Fluttershy

Magical Alchemy list.

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random. (One time air terrain survival buff, possible Offensive ability). Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain: (New!) Project thoughts. Not able to receive thoughts, but you can project them to others.

Self-sustaining: (New!) none.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: (New!) Redirect sunlight (Defensive support buff). Is only useful during the day and allows for blinding opponents or aggressors with light.

Self-sustaining: (New!) Minor protection from darkness (Automatic defensive buff while feather is on, worn or wielded by person). Needs to be charged with sunlight and to have been used as a magical alchemy sustain at least once to work.

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

(New Alchemy Ingredient!)

9. Jade’s Cloak.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: ???. (Effect seems to do nothing, need more information.)

Self-Sustain: Makes sneaking easier (Moderate stealth buff).

------------

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: The cutie scenario.

-Jade-

Okay, so I and Fizzle discovered what a Raven and Celestia’s Feathers would do when used in a magical sustain. We still had no idea what a cloak does when used as one.

Raven feathers allowed for projection of thoughts. Could be useful as a distraction or silent communication, but it couldn’t actually hurt anyone. Interesting given that Ravens in mythology are seen as messengers and bad luck. The cast must be the bad luck part and the magical sustain for it must be the messenger portion.

Fizzle was a little surprised and blushing afterwards, maybe because I had been thinking about how beautiful her eyes were when I sustained the feather.

Celestia’s feather did something rather expected of the princess of the sun, it redirected sunlight. I couldn’t get enough sunlight together to do more than be blinding. So no solar beams of doom for me. It didn’t take long afterwards for Fizzle to point out something I hadn’t noticed.

Sitting underneath a tree after playing with sunlight redirection, Fizzle was the first to notice that I had no shadow. It was shortly after that we discovered the effect required the feather to have been already used as a magical sustain and needs to have been in sunlight for some time. The other feather didn’t make me lack shadows, until I used it as a sustain as well. Protection from darkness as a self-sustain was rather unusual.

We still have no idea what the cloak did after trying quite a few things with it, it did have a useful self-sustain effect of making me stealthier. That would certainly be useful, I can think of many things to use that effect for later.

When lunch was called, Fresh Start found out what we were talking about when it came to mom’s cooking. The fried broccoli with a bit of the sweet glaze was delicious, about as delicious as the rest of the breaded and fried vegetables. The fried and chopped pickle bits were particularly popular.

It was a few hours after lunch that Celestia came back with three different construction crews, the princess said hello and thankfully didn’t forget to put up a bubble of silence around our campsite while the crews got to work. Sekhet didn’t make herself scarce this time, but she did transform into a more cat sized and cat like form. Was she actually avoiding Celestia because a fight might break out? I was a little concerned, wouldn’t a war goddess be more likely to actively seek out a battle?

Celestia didn’t stay for long and she soon left, she was too busy in Canterlot to really watch the construction efforts. When Celestia left, Sekhet returned to her Alicorn size and we started up a game of O and O for the evening with five party members. None of the ponies made mention of Sekhet changing appearances or even size, especially when she did it performing a showy backflip for that matter.

It would have been interesting to watch the multiple crews building the makings of a small town in less than twenty four hours, but I’d rather be having fun with my family and friends.

-Kuril-

Making food for the construction crews wasn’t hard and the compliments kept coming, they were thankful for the meal. If I were to blush for every compliment they gave my cooking, then I would have a beet red face for the rest of my life. My ears were burning at the very least about how well my vegetable jambalaya was coming along. I hadn’t been very good at it at first, I had some trouble with cooking rice correctly, but dinner tonight seems to have gone quite well all things considered.

I was going to earn my title, I would just need to make more recipes and learn to cook some new things. I can’t forget about my fish eating patrons either, including my daughter, Sekhet and even Fizzle. I had to inform Fizzle that she ate fish the night she came to our camp via the magical goddess express, the look on her face was priceless and she said it didn’t taste bad at all. Fizzle must have had some pegasus blood in her.

Fresh Start was rather helpful in spooning out portions to everyone and it was a good evening all around. She was quite fair about the portions she dished out to the hungry workers and there were plenty of seconds going around, it was nice to be appreciated like this by people who weren’t my daughter.

My cooking apparently had an effect on the three construction crews, they all organized to finish our restaurant and home first. It was getting late and Fresh Start was already flossing and turning in early like she said she did.

I wonder how this will turn out, Celestia was going to a lot of effort to keep my little tom cat around. I mean a train station, a school and a home. Not much of a town was it? I’m sure Airship Mauled will grow, but we’re going to need a lot more than what Celestia was willing to give us.

-Jade, one day later-

“I can’t believe it, she actually managed to get a larder installed… well most would call it a refrigerator.” I was a little surprised that Celestia had managed a school, but thankfully there were no teachers and I was walking out of our new restaurant based home. Our new home was ready for use, it was a restaurant alright and you could hardly tell it used to be a crashed airship. Plenty of room to make it run as an inn as well, we all had our rooms picked out already. “It looks like a home to me, but we need to get going to Ponyville if we’re going to make it to the cuteceanera in time. Are you sure you can watch things here Fresh?”

Abyssinia may be a tad lackluster in schooling, but at least we didn’t forget to staff a place we built for the express purpose of making sure that young minds were educated. Mine wasn’t exactly young, but Fizzle’s certainly was. Well we could have a teacher in the school, but I’m not sure how many people would accept being taught about myths, monsters and creatures by someone as young as me.

We certainly weren’t teaching magical alchemy to anyone yet, not until we’ve explored it more thoroughly. I may have shown and explained to Fizzlepop how magical alchemy works, but I didn’t tell her how to actually do it.

We haven’t even gotten around to mixing ingredients into our casts yet and when mom and I did… we probably wouldn’t be ready for the end results of what will happen.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, I need to make sure everything in the house works and that they didn’t half ass any of it.” Fresh then entered the restaurant that mom had named ‘The Witch’s Fare’. I thought it was a nice name for it, especially since my mother was going to continue wearing robes and would eventually find a pointy hat to use as a chef’s toque.

“I’ll be here to protect her from other predators or other people if there is a problem.” Sekhet said lazily lying next to the once upon a time crashed airship, I wondered if she was going to be around for the rest of my natural life. I better not bother her enough to ask me a truly dangerous enough riddle if she is.

It still bothered me that Sekhet can decimate entire armies and yet she can look and feel so lazy, I think she just didn’t want to bother with fighting Celestia’s soldiers as it wouldn’t be fair for them to have to fight her.

“I know, isn’t our new home just wonderful? I mean after it was so graciously donated to us by Celestia buying the crashed Predestined Paradox and refurbishing it… at no cost to us of course. When we can finally get some train tracks out here traveling to Ponyville won’t be such a problem.” You’re not being very classy by calling attention to it mom. The nearby empty train station was a bit useless at the moment, but it did make finding home easier. “Still, I hope Celestia doesn’t bother you too much Jade. I'm ready to go, how about you my adorable little Fizzle?”

We were getting ready to set out and Fizzle looked a bit nervous.

“About as ready as I’ll ever be.” Mom and I both knew that Fizzle was not feeling particularly fond about going into a town full of ponies.

She had even taken to wearing my cloak while the construction crews were around to hide her broken horn, she shouldn’t feel so ashamed about a horrible incident. Well, aside from the fact that she didn’t recognize the clear warning signs on the ursa’s cave for what they were, she was just a little filly that didn’t know any better. She should be as bitter or broody as she was when we met her, she has opened up to us quite a bit.

“Right, let’s go celebrate a cutie making her mark on this lovely world!” I thrust my right fist into the air, hefted my pack and started north.

We’d save time by cutting through the Ever Free Forest this time, it was surprisingly quiet during the day.

- Pinkie-

Hey everyone, it’s me Pinkie Pie the filly talking to you live from the computer screen! I’m going to have so much fun when school lets out and it’ll do that in three… two… one!

The ringing of the bell tower in the distance sounded off and I was a blur to start setting up the party. Why I was already in Sugar Cube Corner within five seconds of exiting the school, that’s mostly thanks to an unseen scene transition in the text. I’m sure people don’t mind if I do that right? I really want this party to work since all my friends are coming to it!

I wonder if Jade will be coming as a deer?

-Fluttershy-

School let out and I was so nervous about the party, I really didn’t like big surprises. I was kind of nervous, but Pinkie assured me Jade would be there and it wasn’t a surprise party. Also Rainbow and her parents would be coming with me and my own. I just hoped Ms. La Perm didn’t get too mad with Rainbow Dash when she showed up, I don’t want Mrs. Whistles and Mr. Hothoof to get into a fight with Jade’s mother.

My little brother was growing bigger every day, soon he’d be even bigger than I am. He’d still always be my lazy little brother Zephyr.

I sighed, it was time to get going. You only get one cutecenera and at least I’m spending it with friends, I’m so thankful my parents weren’t excitable like Rainbow’s parents.

-Jade-

We were getting plenty of stares, because two of us were certainly an abnormality to the daily lives of ponies. I didn’t entirely come into town when I was previously here and got fixed up by Quick Patch, so I really shouldn’t be this surprised that ponies were going to stare at the two cats walking into town with a cloaked pony.

Speaking of my shoulder, it needed a few more days before the stitches can be removed according to Sekhet. At least I hadn’t failed to keep my shoulder clean even if it was a bit itchy and I was kind of glad Sekhet hadn’t targeted my shoulder when we were clawing at each other over food.

“Here it is, Sugar Cube Corner.” I looked upon Pinkie’s new place in the world, a home with a gingerbread house theme.

“Looks like a place I wouldn’t mind living in, it looks sweet.” Only because it’s basically the style of house that a fairytale witch would normally live in mom.

“Are you okay Fizzy?” I looked back at Fizzle keeping her head down and being rather skittish.

“I’m… I’m okay.” She was trying to appear quite brave as she followed us into to the bakery.

“Hello there, I’m Carrot Cake and welcome to Sugar Cube Corner.” Green eyes, yellow fur and orange mane, he was quite a friendly fellow. “What can I do for you three?”

“We’re here for the cuteceanera of my friend, I believe Pinkie has already finished setting that up?” I pointed out the decorations for Fluttershy’s cutie mark related party in the corner of the Corner.

“Oh, you're friends with Pinkie? Well you’re not exactly what I expected when she said that all her friends were going to be here for the party.” He didn’t seemed put off by the fact that I and my mother were unusual friends or that Fizzle kept her head covered with a hood. “Well go on and sit down, Pinkie is in the middle of baking a cake for that shy filly with my wife Cup Cake. The party is already paid for and you have that area reserved for it, so enjoy. A pony can only ever get their cutie mark once, so make this party something your friend will remember forever.”

“Oh we will, don’t worry about that. I’ll chaperone things here until the others arrive.” Waving off the stallion, mom motioned for us to follow her over to the reserved area for the cuteceanera. We'd wait for the other guests.

We were only seated for about two minutes when Pinkie rushed out and placed a platter of cupcakes before us with a bright smile. She seemed to be quite happy to be here.

“Hey, Jade! Oh, so you’re not a deer today, well okay then. Is that your mother, who’s your friend in the cloak? Hello I’m Pinkie Pie, I want us to be best friends! Want some cupcakes?” The exuberant and cheerful Pinkie made Fizzle shy away slightly, even so Fizzle still picked up a cupcake and started to eat it. “We’re still waiting on the guest of honor, I’m sure she’ll be here real soon!”

“I’m… Fizzlepop Berrytwist, you can call me Fizzle.” Once bitten, less shy, the cupcake really had Fizzle perking up quite a bit as she recognized the taste from the one I previously shared with her. “You make really good cupcakes by the way.”

“Thank you!” Pinkie’s shout had Fizzle reeling back a bit and the hyper pony turned back to me. “We’re almost done with the cutie cake, I’ve got a piñata, we’re going to play pin the tail on the pony and I even know music we can dance to!”

“Okay then, get right to it Pinkie, Fluttershy shouldn’t have a party without a cake.” I watched as Pinkie gasped and zipped off to continue helping Mrs. Cake.

“Would you like some drinks?” Mr. Cake offered as he came over to us, it seemed that it was a slow day here in the bakery.

“Sure, if you have pomegranate juice or lemonade.” It wasn’t too long after we got our drinks that Fluttershy was seen coming in, she spotted me and mom easily enough and immediately fluttered over to us.

“Nice to see you again Jade, Kuril and Tempest.” Fluttershy's attention was quickly grabbed by Fizzle. Fluttershy turned a questioning gaze to her.

“I'm Fizzlepop Berrytwist, it's nice to greet you properly.” Thus was the start of the party that would soon be ruined by circumstances beyond our control.

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: The party scenario.

-Fizzle-

I think things were going okay, for the most part, after Fluttershy and the others arrived. Kuril had pulled the parents off to the side to have a conversation with them and left us to our own devices. We were left to party with Fluttershy, who introduced us to her little brother Zephyr and her best friend Rainbow Dash.

For some reason there was a slight bit of resentment in Jade’s eyes as she looked towards Rainbow Dash. It was soon after that I remember the story she and her mother told about the crashing airship after that rainbow exploding across the sky being caused by Fluttershy’s friend. So Rainbow Dash was the cause of that.

We all ate cupcakes as Jade introduced herself to Rainbow and Zephyr.

“I’m Jade La Perm and this is my best friend Fizzle. I would like to say it’s nice to meet them cutie, but I’m taking a raincheck on that after what Rainbow caused to happen.” I could kind of understand where Jade is coming from, but if that had never happened… then we would have never met. I felt a constriction in my chest at the thought at not having met Jade or her mother Kuril, also did she just call me her best friend? “Also I don’t know about much about your brother either.”

I blushed and my heart sped up a bit, it made me feel special. She liked me even though I didn’t have my horn and I know she definitely liked my eyes, her thoughts on how they sparkled had made me feel a bit unusual before. It was only now that I was beginning to understand this feeling, now that I was actually willing to acknowledge that I was something special to both Jade and Kuril.

“Huh, what did I do?” Were voices supposed to sound that scratchy? The pegasus likely needed something for her throat and I didn’t have anything on me that would do that. I didn’t have much more than the cloak and it smelled nice.

I was going to try and give this Rainbow Dash a chance, she obviously didn’t blow that airship out of the sky on purpose. If that hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t have met Sekhet, Kuril and Jade. I still didn’t know what to think of Fresh Start, but at least she didn’t stare at my forehead as if I were some kind of monster.

I remembered where I was the day that rainbow explosion happened. That rainbow explosion had me quite baffled and I couldn’t quite figure out what kind of magic would be able to cause something that powerful that had been so visible for miles on end. I had moved towards it looking for the powerful source of magic thinking it could help me and the disappointing cause of it was sitting near me right now.

Rainbow was the cause of that incident and I kind of wanted to thank her. Not for causing the airship to crash of course, that would be stupid of me to want to have happened, but for helping me to meet my… is that what I thought of them?

We hadn’t known each other for long, but I was willing to call them Jade and Kuril my family. A family that didn’t care that I couldn’t do magic with my horn, they accepted me anyway. They cared about me and the wonderful snuggles and hugs they gave certainly weren’t coloring my views on this at all. My face was definitely not scrunching up if someone were to look at me at this moment.

“I told you that you knocked one or more airships out of the sky with your Sonic Rain Boom Rainbow.” One or more? What did Fluttershy know that I didn’t? Though I do admit that the airship that Jade and Kuril were on couldn’t have been the only one in the sky that day, it was just the only one that I absolutely knew about personally.

“Really, that’s so…” Rainbow stopped in her building excitement by Jade’s flat angry stare. Rainbow’s nose immediately went to her chest and her wings wilted. I didn’t know Jade could glare that hard or get that angry, she seemed rather laid back most of the time.

“Think about all the lives you endangered before you continue that sentence, you almost killed me and my mom and I know for a fact that Celestia told us all the other passengers were badly injured.” There was nothing to say to that, Jade had a good point and I had to side with her on it. Rainbow was getting away with a lot here come to think of it, who knows how many she could have just accidentally injured and it would be without repercussions to herself. Since those who were injured wouldn’t know who to blame, we on the other hoof did know the cause and exactly who it was. “I and my mother are the only ones that were mostly unscathed. I had to fight a chimera to protect your friend not too long after that incident too.”

“You were also the one who knocked me off the clouds at the start of the race Rainbow.” The reminder from Fluttershy made Rainbow wince quite a bit and it had me wondering what race she was talking about. Rainbow did that explosion thing because of a race? “The Sonic Rain Boom was beautiful, but it’s a bit… dangerous. I at least found my cutie mark because of it and that’s what we’re currently celebrating right now. So can we please drop the subject?”

“Yeah, because I want to talk about this pretty kitty right here!” Zephyr the green furred and blonde haired pegasus brother to Fluttershy moved up next to Jade, leaned over and wrapped his right hoof around Jade’s left arm and tugged at it. I don’t think Jade appreciated that or his bravery in this matter considering her reaction.

-Jade-

“Remove the hoof or else you’ll quickly learn why you’re not a cat kind of pony.” I lifted my right hand. With a single flex my claws popped out and were soon under the colts chin. I was making him sweat quite a bit. “I can and will scar you for life.”

“Okay, okay, I understand. I guess I’m just too much for such a sophisticated kitten like yourself!” He shrunk back and whimpered as I swung my claws towards his face and paused long before I would even come close to impact, he popped his left eye open at my claws in his face and swiftly closed it again. He thankfully released me and turned his romantic attention away from me and onto a less dangerous or threatening target. I retracted my claws and nodded to his intelligence in the matter. “Hey, are you seeing anyone Rainbow? I hope you can see the rainbow connection between us, because we’re at both ends and we can definitely meet in the middle.”

Rainbow Dash gagged loudly, rolled her eyes and stuffed a cupcake into her mouth. The party might not have started all too well, but it eventually got better. At least I thought it did when Pinkie joined in and brought the fun, that wasn’t happening yet as Rainbow Dash had to ask me a question.

“Wait, couldn’t you have done that awesome wing thing you did the other day when we saw you fly by with the Wonder Bolts? That was so cool!” I would one day hope to expand Rainbow’s vocabulary because quite frankly she was going to end up saying ‘awesome’ and ‘cool’ for the rest of her life. Rainbow was certainly a ‘mondo’ example of her species when it came to brain power.

“I didn’t know I could do that until a day or two after the airship crashed, so we could have still been grievously injured. The wings are also quite a temporary and limited thing.” A temporary thing that lasted longer than the arbitrary expected time limit of five minutes admittedly, flying was fun but it puts a lot of stress on the body that wasn’t naturally or magically aerodynamic already. “Can we change the subject now Rainbow?”

“I… er… I’m sorry for everything that happened to you.” It must have been hard for Rainbow to apologize, she was giving me a pathetic look.

I decided to cheer Rainbow up in the general Sugar Cube Corner style, all it required was a bit of shouting to attract 'her' attention. I wonder if Pinkie would actually react to this at all, I mean she only started recently so she couldn’t possibly take parties that seriously yet… could she?

“Pinkie Pie, sad sack, frowny face, unhappy party guest alert!” If one of those didn’t, holy flipping Duat! How did she… oh right Pinkie can use out of sight teleportation and I just invoked her name with several words.

She immediately appeared as if she were Candle J… I better not invoke that name even though this isn’t the right dimension for him to show up in. Anything could happen with Pinkie Pie and I wasn’t willing to deal with Mr. Jack if he actually shows up, I wouldn’t know where to find a hot pie and a trap on such short notice. Maybe Sweet Apple Acres for the pie, but the trap would still take a while to set up.

Pinkie had appeared next to the table as if out of nowhere examining Rainbow’s face sternly and closely, her presence was making me think too many weird thoughts and I started to roughly shake my head to get it back in gear.

Even Rainbow was a little surprised and knocked out of her funk by the hyperactive filly’s sudden presence.

“She needs some CC’s stat, which means some cuddles and cake!” Maybe I really should have thought of invoking Pinkie’s name through a bit more, it was too late now and I wouldn’t be able to stop the party pony from partying us with every ounce of her being. “We can also get her into a party game, but she needs that look off her face like yesterday!”

Pinkie’s hooves were hugging Rainbow and she was frantic to get out of Pinkie’s grip. Sorry, not sorry Rainbow, but it’s already too late for you… and the rest of us of course. Well then party pony, bring… it… on!

-Fluttershy-

Things turned out so nicely when Pinkie joined the party, pin the tail on the pony was fun, the cake was delicious and Rainbow was smiling again. Jade really enjoyed hitting the piñata... a little too enthusiastically. Pinkie is a really good friend, though she’s a bit too exuberant sometimes. I wonder how Jade knew that Pinkie was under the table… or was Pinkie even under the table before she popped up. I’m kind of confused now… oh the pony pokey!

I know what it’s all about, but Jade would have some problems sticking her hooves in as she didn’t have hooves.

-Fizzle-

I have to admit that Pinkie was an interesting creature, I didn’t think she was a normal earth pony. No pony should be able to move that fast or be all over the place like the pink ball of energy. Pin the tail on the pony was quite interesting, though I think Jade was cheating using her knife to increase her dexterity after being spun around several times.

-Rainbow-

So I might have been in trouble with the strange talking cat, but I think we’re cool now… maybe. I wanted to do the Sonic Rain Boom again, but I was going to be careful about it the next time I did it. Well if I could figure out how I did it the first time anyway, I wanted that to be my signature trick for the Wonder Bolts!

Oh the cake is so awesome, now if only this crazy pink pony would let me enjoy it instead of bugging me every five seconds. Heh, she was doing so much to get me to smile and she was succeeding every step of the way, I’m really beginning to enjoy this party.

Wait… doesn’t this count as my cuteceanera too? I really need to ask my parents about this, I mean Fluttershy wasn’t the only one who got her cutie mark that day!

-Kuril-

“I knew my daughter wouldn’t hurt your son.” I was lying of course, I didn’t know for sure if Jade would have clawed him or not if he had been a little more insistent on hitting on her. It was still nice to see Jade smiling and happy as this Pinkie Pie started directing the party with what I assumed to be her special talent. “See, they are doing alright.”

“I don’t know Hothoof, maybe we’ve been encouraging Rainbow a little too much.” Ms. Whistles understood when I told her of all the damage Rainbow caused with her stunt after that race, at least we all knew what her special talent was.

“Or maybe we haven’t been encouraging her enough! She’s special in so many ways Windy.” The two nuzzled each other, I kind of felt sad that I didn’t have that kind of relationship or a significant other in my life.

Fluttershy’s parents were less enthusiastic about their daughter than both Hothoof and Whistles were, but they were loving parents all the same and I doubt anyone could be as enthusiastic about raising a daughter as Rainbow’s parents could be.

“Hey, why do I feel that you’re sad about something?” I looked down and noticed Pinkie staring up at me, oh goodness she could sense sadness… and possibly fear.

-Pinkie-

Party, party, party, I want to have a party~! Let’s get a party going~! When it’s time to party, we will party hardy~!

-Jade-

It was some time into the party that all good things had to come to an end and it wasn’t my or anyone else’s fault really. It was the sound of screaming and running ponies that did it for me.

I curiously walked out the door of Sugar Cube Corner and an arrow slammed into the ground in front of me.

“Mom… do you remember how I said that there were good reasons I didn’t want to live here in Ponyville?” I was staring at a large problem, one that I could currently hardly comprehend or handle. I didn't have enough water in my body for this.

“Yes, why, what is going… oh dear.” She came up next to me at the doorway and paused, some of the buildings in Ponyville were on fire and it was quite clear that the town was being raided. Next to the Ever Free Forest, of course it was.

One might expect large monstrous creatures invading the town, instead it was a pretty sizable army of smaller invaders. Smaller than ponies, but they definitely had enough numbers to be a threat. There were also several ponies on the ground not moving, but they didn't look like they had been hit by any of the poisonous arrows.

“This would be one of them, because where else in the world could you possibly get attacked by an army of highland pukwudgies out of nowhere!” I pointed at the numerous hedgehog like creatures with sharp teeth down the street with crossbows on wheels acting as tiny mobile ballistae for them.

They were all wearing kilts and half their faces were painted blue, the blue ones humorously had half their faces painted white.

Author's Notes:

Pukwudgies are known for several things: Fire, poisonous arrows and leading people to their deaths with magic in a Fae court kind of way. They are dangerous tricksters to not be taken lightly.

MLP turned them into hedgehog like creatures that can fire their spines and show some intelligent group tactics. I'm going to mix in some of their true lore into this with some more intelligent versions of an MLP pukwudgie, mostly just to exacerbate things.

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: The dangerous scenario.

-Jade-

I admit that threatening Zephyr might have been much, but it was one of the best ways to get him to leave me alone. Fluttershy had just sighed from off to the side at my actions towards her brother, as if I weren’t the first one to turn him down that harshly. We got along well enough after that, thankfully Rainbow couldn’t make the same threat. Speaking of threat, the town was being raided by pukwudgies with a highland motif this fine late evening.

The party had been enjoyable, I even really liked smacking the piñata around. It was like a bouncy yarn ball. Now wasn’t the time to party however.

The crossbows on wheels with the poison arrows needed to be dealt with. The fires they were starting needed to be put out. The pukwudgies with the face paint down the street needed to lose their spears and swords before they hurt someone important to me. The most important thing that needed to be done was to find the leader behind this whole assault and deal with them in a way that wouldn’t upset a single pony‘s delicate sensibilities. I’d prefer to not to have to deal with this, but if they came our way I would protect my friends.

Okay examining the ponies on the ground not moving, they were still breathing and they weren’t bleeding. The pukwudgies were even ignoring them, why weren’t they getting up and running away then? Did they get nicked by arrows and were paralyzed?

I backed away from the dangerous mutant and possibly magical hedgehogs towards the entrance and mom put a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her worriedly and she gave me a brave smile.

“What do you have on you at the moment?” Okay, working with mom I’d be able to protect Sugar Cube Corner at least.

“Knife, sheath for it, fish scale necklace, four phoenix feathers, my clothes, my pack and various bits of dried fruit I’ve been saving for emergencies if I ever got lost. I left anything else back in my room in The Witch’s Fare.” Now that I thought of it, I could have been more threatening to Zephyr if I pulled my knife. No… that would have been too much for the colt, my claws were the better…

Mom grabbed me and pulled me roughly out of the path of several arrows that hit the door behind me solidly.

“Jade, please stop zoning out and give me some info on our little rodent problem here.” Oh right, I had to tell my mother what we were dealing with instead of… mom just pulled me inside and several more arrows punctured the door. “I wouldn’t go out there! It seems the town is under attack and some houses are being set on fire.”

Fluttershy’s parents cowered, Zephyr seemed a little less lazy and was starting to resemble his quiet parents and Fluttershy wasn’t happy with the sudden change in mood. Rainbow looked like she wanted to get into a fight, Windy and Bow were surprisingly taking the prudent action of taking cover.

The door seemed to be holding up, so standing behind it was safe for the time being. Another thunderous crunch noise made me and mom put some distance from it and the new arrow head sticking through it a few good inches. At least they had a limited rate of fire. It took them a while to draw back the small crossbow ballistae and even load them, but they were well protected by their numbers.

“Okay, pukwudgies are aggressive and intelligent, they like setting things on fire and can fire the spines off of their backs. The arrows are probably loaded with a paralytics, though I haven’t seen someone get injured by them yet. So at this point it’s just a supposition and I wouldn’t put it past them to have their spines coated in something equally dangerous as well.” I looked to Rainbow Dash looking out the window before she was pulled down by her parents who held her tightly between themselves. “It wouldn’t be wise to chase them if you’ve got them on the run. They are really good at laying traps for the unwary that follow after them, which definitely means keeping Rainbow out of being involved in any of this. I’ve got no ideas of how we’re going to deal with an army of that size.”

“Well we got to do something, those party poopers are being big meanies for being so small!” I was right there with you preteen Pinkie, we had to do something before they thought setting Sugar Cube Corner or any other nearby buildings on fire was a good idea.

At least Ponyville’s current weather team were already in the process of getting rain clouds to put out the fires, the pukwudgies were probably setting the fires to stop them from interfering in the raid. They certainly seemed to have plenty of ammunition to deal with unicorns and earth ponies, but they had nothing to stop lightning attacks from a well-trained weather pegasus.

“No… get away!” I moved to the window that Rainbow’s parents were ducked under and looked outside, there was a unicorn stallion on his back scrabbling away from something around the street corner. After a moment the pony’s eyes widened and he froze up.

He was still breathing, but he ceased scrambling for safety and like the other ponies laying in the street and just flopped onto his back unmoving.

A deranged clucking noise was heard and from around the corner came a small nightmare that I was afraid to go near. Said problem had a rider that was a larger than normal grey pukwudgie with an ugly kilt and malevolent purple eyes. The problem the pukwudgie was riding was a one eyed cockatrice that was wearing an eyepatch over its left eye, it even had a really cool scar across its beak.

The leading pukwudgie swung its tiny sword forward in our general direction. It growled loudly while waving the sword at the various other pukwudgies.

“I think that’s the leader, we have to deal with him to stop this attack or at least get them to retreat from town.” When the pukwudgie grabbed and pulled at its comb, I watched the cockatrice spread its wings, let out a crow and started to scratch at the ground with its feet. It was pointed towards the building we were all sequestered in.

“That explains the paralyzed ponies at least, let’s just not get hit by the arrows if they are more dangerous than being paralyzed by a one eyed cockatrice.” I knew why the ponies weren’t getting up now. “With only one eye a cockatrice can only paralyze prey or predators, at least it can’t turn anyone to stone.”

“Why are they focusing on the bakery?” Good question Fluttershy, let me answer it while they were forming up to march on us. Spine shooters first, followed by weapon wielders and the crossbow ballistae in the back.

“They’re likely here to steal food and I think the leader of that war band has a sweet tooth.” I could be wrong, but that pukwudgie definitely seemed focused on the Cakes bakery. His tongue was even sliding around the edges of his mouth in the manner that meant he was hungry.

“Well we have to do something, we just can’t let them take our livelihood!” I looked to Mr. and Mrs. Cake and then the few ponies cowering around the room, the only exception seemed to be Fizzle who had a calculating look.

“So if we got rid of the leader they would run?” Please don’t tell me you have an idea Fizzle, ideas tend to get people hurt. I wasn’t a hero, neither were you for that matter.

My mother and I are not some super powered saviors or people who can run straight into a wall of arrows and miraculously survive it. I also didn’t want my mom to get injured in this fracas, because I knew good and well that she’d put up a fight. Magical alchemy could do a lot, but we didn’t have the right stuff for a long fight.

“Well yes, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to give chase to them when they do start running. Even without their leader commanding them, they’d still be dangerous to give chase to if we manage to push them back.” Several more arrows impacted the bakery and they shattered the window to my right. “We’d have to disable the cockatrice first if we want to even get at their leader.”

“Well do something soon, because they’re getting another round ready.” Windy Whistles the mare with the short red hair with the oranges streaks glared over her shoulder out the window at the pukwudgies as she held her husband Bow and daughter Rainbow close to her.

“Would something reflective work?” I’m surprised that it didn’t take more than a second for Fizzle to think up a simple means to stop the cockatrice.

“Provided you could even get close enough to reflect its gaze back onto itself, the wheeled crossbows are covering that and I don’t want to find out what those arrows are coated in.” The leader was pretty bright, anyone that could cause him trouble had to deal with his mount. Anyone that could deal with his mount would be attacked by the artillery. All bases covered pretty well with several other pukwudgies running around starting fires. “We need some pegasi in the air to use lightning bolts on their crossbows, then we’ll be open to dealing with their ground troops. Isn’t there a back door to this place?”

“I’m not abandoning our home!” Mr. Cake looked irate that I would even suggest that, which I wasn’t.

“Get a mirror!” Fizzle shouted to Mrs. Cake, the blue furred mare quickly started up the stairs to find something.

“That’s not what I want you to do Mr. Cake.” Did I seriously have to be the one to point this out? “We have pegasi here and they can go to get help, we need you guys to get airborne and to find someone that the weather team can spare to use some lightning bolts on those wheeled crossbows before we can really start fighting back. We’ll hold them off here, though I hope you don’t mind if we use your baked goods as ammunition.”

Rainbow’s family moved away from the window and towards the back after Fluttershy’s family. Several pukwudgies spines started pelting the floor at their heels as they made for the back door.

“Works for me, if they want something sweet then we’ll give them something sweet!” Pinkie moved up to the window with a large cupcake platter and started tossing cupcake at the pukwudgies. There was a grunt of aggravation as I heard the sounded of a cupcake splattering against one of the spiny nuisances. “Return fire, we’ll barrage them with cupcakes!”

The marching pukwudgies were getting closer as Mr. Cake was getting the two pegasi families out the back. We covered their escape with thrown cupcakes and hoped help would return in time.

I know I suggested it, but why do ponies almost always immediately agree to use thrown pastries as weapons when it’s brought up?

-Fluttershy-

We were able to safely get away, but looking back towards the ground almost made my wings lock up, there were an awful lot of pukwudgies attacking the bakery. I hope my friends would be safe.

-Fizzle-

I felt something brushing across my face and I reeled back from the window in shock still holding a cupcake.

Okay that arrow almost got the hood on the cloak… and my face. They were scarily accurate with those crossbows. I threw a cupcake out and splattered one of the pukwudgies that were backing towards the bakery and firing their spines in volleys, at least the pastry knocked a few of them down.

“Pinkie get us some water, we’re going to need it after this!” I watched as Jade and her mother crawl up to the window and then inhaled sharply while covering their faces, what were they about to do?

The two crouching Abyssinians angled their ears and then fired several powerful bursts of water from them, it was rather bizarre to watch in action.

I looked out the window as the water exploded in a series of concussive hits that struck the spine firing formation coming towards us and even hit the pukwudgies behind them. The weapon wielding formation was still mostly standing, but the spine shooters were mostly down.

The cockatrice riding pukwudgie was organizing the weapon wielders for a full on charge, all those tiny spears, swords and clubs wouldn’t be pleasant to face up close.

“I got the mirror!” Mrs. Cake, the swirly haired mare with the raspberry mane came down the stairs with a round compact, just what I needed to deal with the cockatrice. Now we just needed those crossbows out of the way.

“I really don’t like doing that, my poor ears.” While I listened to Jade’s whining and she was getting a glass from Pinkie, I watched the pukwudgies forming up for a charge and… was that a battering ram?

Where in the world did that come from? Did they just build it or did it just arrive? It certainly wasn’t there a second ago.

“I know how you feel right now my little tom cat.” Kuril was also complaining and was rubbing her ears vigorously before she received her own glass of water, I don’t think they could do that again so soon. It literally took a lot out of them. “That really stings, at least I know my ear wax is cleared up.”

An arrow went through the door and nearly hit Mrs. Cake and sunk into the counter, she fumbled with the mirror and caught it. I made my way over to her while avoiding several arrows flying through the broken window.

“Here you go, if you can’t get it back to me then that’ll be okay.” After giving me the mirror Mrs. Cake quickly proceeded behind the counter where her husband held her close. I just looked at how close the two were for a moment, before returning to the broken window.

“Okay there’s an armored battering ram now.” Flatly delivered Jade. “Where in the world did that even come from, this is completely ridiculous!”

What could we do aside from abandoning the bakery? I certainly wasn’t going to brave those wheeled crossbows. Wait… didn’t this cloak make you stealthier on its own after it was used as a magical alchemy sustain once? Even I could use the self-sustain effect since I didn’t have to do anything special to activate it, but I wasn’t going out there until those crossbows were gone.

“So, what can we do now?” I looked out the window and saw several cupcakes coming from above and they landed in front of the battering ram and on the wheels stopping them up. The crossbows were turned upwards and fired, a squeaking noise was heard and the two Cakes gasped.

“Pinkie Pie!” The two bakery owners made their way upstairs to make sure Pinkie was okay.

-Jade-

“Okay, time to do something drastic!” If they were willing to aim lethal implements at Pinkie, then I was going to do something dumb to stop them. “I know this might do something odd, but we were running out of cupcakes anyway.”

I cast with a cupcake.

Author's Notes:

(New Alchemy Ingredient!)

10. Cupcake (Yes, seriously).

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Likely none.

Self-Sustain: Delicious.

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: The off-screen scenario.

-Kuril-

My daughter must be somewhat clinically insane, even if she did have a point about the absurdities that went on here and the ponies that have to live with it. It doesn’t help that my daughter decided to fight the ridiculousness of this evening assault with her own fire. I should probably tell her that fighting fire with fire tends to cause more fire to spring up everywhere.

I mean using a cupcake as a cast. Inventive surely, but it’s weird considering we’ve been using items that didn’t have a limited lifespan or so many different elements to them. I’m pretty sure most perishable food items wouldn’t be very useful for sustains, but a cast? What would a cast with a cupcake even do?

Most of the casts we’ve been doing were with things we wouldn’t mind losing and were singular solid objects we could get away with casting.

What was the essence of a cupcake really? Our practice of magical alchemy so far seems to be following a trend of the effect being definitively connected to the object used in some intrinsic way as far as casts are concerned. So I was worried when Jade reacted badly to hearing Pinkie squeak loudly from upstairs after getting shot at by those little ballistae.

At least Pinkie delayed the encroaching battering ram pretty well with a few well thrown cupcakes.

The cast was a lot more powerful than I thought for something as temporary as a delicious baked snack, the effects were also impossibly bizarre. How does a cupcake cause all of what is happening now? How was I going to remember all of what’s happening here? Sure it’s memorable, but what were the exact effects the cupcake was having?

-Fizzle-

Okay, so, Jade did a cast with a cupcake, didn’t she say that doing a cast with multiple things at once would do weird things? I didn’t think she meant literally this weird... what were in the cupcakes again?

Let’s see icing, the cake itself, vanilla and some of them had fruit filling. Jade liked the strawberry ones, then again she had a notable thing for fruit.

“Jade… what the… I can’t even find the words for this.” I really couldn’t, there were no words for it. Just what was this cast doing and why was a cupcake making all of that happen?

-Jade-

The horror, what have I just unleashed? No seriously, what did I just do to those pukwudgies? Well I can certainly say that I’ve stalled them for the next few minutes or so. Hopefully we’ll get some air support before then and it’ll wipe out those crossbows.

The cupcake had disintegrated in my hand, I unleashed the magic created by said sugary treat out the window towards the pukwudgies threatening Sugar Cube Corner in the shape of a wide cone of glittering magical light. I probably shouldn’t have done that, the effects were instant and quite horrific.

This late evening assault couldn’t possibly get any weirder than this because now… now I wasn’t going to ever look at cupcakes the same way ever again. Oh, I’d still eat them, I would almost never do another cast with one though.

“I think I might have just broken the Ge-neigh-va convention.” There were horrified screams from the pukwudgies and what was happening to them after I had managed to hit them with the magical wave and those screams became quite warped seconds later as things got worse.

“In this case, I would try to disagree with you by pointing out that ponies probably don’t have these pukwudgies in a formal peace treaty.” My mom just watched the chaos going on outside as the pukewudgies were quite impossible for the leader to organize at the moment. “I would try, but I think I’d have to agree with you on this one. I’m adding cupcakes to the banned list of magical alchemy ingredients.”

The only pukwudgies still assaulting Sugar Cube Corner were the crossbow crews still firing arrows into the bakery, they had been far enough away from the magical wave I launched out the window. A cupcake was quite a short range magical alchemy cast, but the effects were obscenely horrific. The leader had also unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you feel, evaded the horrors that the cupcake had unleashed upon his people.

“Hey, the frog mucus is very useful I’ll have you know!” It was, it’s just that my mom didn’t see it that way.

“So remind me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the frog mucus cause a massive mess that plastered both of us to the nearest wall? It took hours before someone came and peeled us off them.” Look mom, it was a definitively useful effect. It’s just that we weren’t prepared for it is all! “It took me forever to do the laundry again.”

“Hey, it was a useful effect, we just need to be ready for…” Mom held up her hand stopping me and then she just pointed out the window in response. It made me look at the horrors I had inflicted on the puckwudgies. “Oh that? That’s temporary…. probably… and you know it! It has to wear off eventually and then they’ll be back to happily raiding Sugar Cube Corner.”

“Didn’t you tell me that your knife sheath protect you from small bladed weaponry?” Yes and I knew where you were going with this Fizzle, but I’ll just wait for you to ask as I’m not that rude. “Why can’t you use that to rush the leader right now?”

“Their wheeled crossbows are still up, the knife sheath only makes me resilient. It doesn’t stop the arrows from nicking me even if they won’t puncture straight through me.” I knew what I was doing Fizzle, I’m not a complete idiot. I’m only partially an idiot for casting with a cupcake, it was disturbing to watch the end results of that and would haunt my nightmares. “Trust me, I’m quite certain there is poison on those arrows. So even a little nick would be a bad thing for me, especially while doing things that would make my blood pump the poison through me faster.”

“Well that explains why Pinkie isn’t responsive, we need to get her some help!” Mr. Cake came down the stairs clutching at a pale looking Pinkie in one hoof, there was a shallow bleeding scratch at the base of her neck and she looked to be having problems breathing.

“Patch the scratch, I can take care of the poison.” I wasn’t going anywhere without a phoenix feather on me just for such an occasion as this. I brought four, one for me, Fizzle, mom and a spare. I’d have to return to Canterlot soon if I kept using up the feathers, unless I could find a better source of them instead of just interrupting Philomena’s little bird seed gambling ring. “You do have a medical kit right?”

“Right here, but how are you going to deal with the poison? It looks like pinkie is having a really bad reaction to it if it it’s just a paralytic.” Setting down a medical kit Mrs. Cake looked to me, I just simply pulled out the same phoenix feather I tried to use on Fizzle a day or so ago. Pinkie was a hyperactive pony, a paralytic would certainly cause havoc on her body and have a very negative reaction. Sitting still was not something Pinkie would ever do voluntarily, unless she was sleeping or relaxing. “A feather? What’s that going to do?”

“Exactly what I expect it to do. Now bandage her already, this feather will cure the poison. The pukwudgies are occupied at the moment.” An arrows zoomed by my head coming close enough to one of my ears that I could hear it making a whistling noise before it impacted the back wall, I slowly crouched down with a weak grin forming on my face as I corrected myself. “Mostly occupied.”

“We’ll all be happier and better off when those crossbows are taken down.” Muttered Fizzle angrily as she and mom came over to me. “I’m so thankful it didn’t hit you, but they are really accurate with those things. I don’t suggest standing still and being highly visible.”

Pinkie’s neck wound was quickly cleaned and bandaged, I held up the feather and used the resulting white flaming ball of fire from the cast on Pinkie. Her color returned immediately and she was soon breathing better as the white flames sunk into her body and burned out the poison.

“You okay Pinkie?” She smiled up at me and nuzzled her face against Mrs. Cake’s leg in response. “Yeah, she’ll be fine. I can only do that three more times though, older more adult ponies would probably be able to handle the poison better. You see, this is why I don’t want to be nicked by pukwudgie poison Fizzy.”

“Well we can’t just sit here waiting for the effects of the cupcake cast to wear off on the pukwudgies, they’re going to be very mad when and if they can recover from that.” What did you want from me Fizzle, those crossbows were still very dangerous to… approach?

Several cracks and flashes were heard outside, we looked out the broken window and watched as a pukwudgie abandoned one of the remaining crossbows and it exploded in a blast of lightning. It was about time we got some help.

“That’s our cue Fizzy!” The crossbows were destroyed and their ammunition supply was still laying around and I had an opportunity to pick up some of those arrows for later. The only pukwudgie not trying to recuperate from the sudden loss of momentum to their remaining offensive capability was the leader.

The pukwudgie commander turned his stead towards me as I exited Sugar Cube Corner and the cockatrice crowed loudly trying to look me in the eyes. I covered my eyes with my right arm as I grabbed for my knife with my left hand.

Fizzle was nowhere to be seen as I had a cockatrice with the world’s ugliest pukwudgie on it coming at me to stab me with his sword and I couldn’t look at him or else his mount would get me.

“Hey you, chicken lizard riding jerk!” Okay that cloak really was quite effective if it let Fizzle get behind the pukwudgie leader. I lowered my arm slightly and saw that the purple eyed pukwudige had turned the bird around, only for the cockatrice to stop as Fizzle held the open compact mirror up to the cockatrice.

The cockatrice clucked confusedly as its magical stare bounced back into its own face. It flopped onto the ground in a boneless heap dropping the pudgy pukwudgie. The pukwudgie got up and started stomping on the ground while angrily shouting what sounded like expletives.

“Excuse me, but can I get a little lightning bolt action down here on that guy?” I received an answer from above when a small bolt struck the lead pukwudgies backside causing him to yelp, he turned to his battered army and started calling for a retreat. By then the cast effects were wearing off and had taken their toll. There were barfing pukwudgies everywhere forming up for a quick retreat, while continuing to puke as they did. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” I heard back from the pegasus up in the clouds.

“This is so gross, all of this is going to take a lot of time to clean up.” I stepped around whatever the pukwudgie puke was made of, I was sickened to my stomach just looking at it all. I wasn’t going to use that cast again on anyone unless they were a mortal enemy of mine. Speaking of enemies, Fizzle started to follow after them. “Fizzy what are you doing, you don’t follow pukwudiges for any reason!”

“I’m just going to make sure they don’t stick around!” Fizzle was already sneaking out of my sight and off after them. I sighed, I need to follow her to make sure she didn’t get hurt.

There are many reasons as to why you don’t follow pukwudgies anywhere, even when they were retreating from you! Knowing mythology as well as I do, they already have multiple traps planned for their retreat long before they started attacking Ponyville. Even if she was still stealthy thanks to that cloak, stealth didn’t matter if you couldn’t spot a trap or avoid them.

-Kuril-

What a mess, the Cake’s home had been wrecked by arrows and there were hundreds of spines sticking to the wall outside. That poor delightfully cheerful little filly Pinkie got hurt, but my little tom cat and Mrs. Cake took care of that soundly. We’d need a fresh source of phoenix feathers if we were to keep dealing with poisonous or mystical problems like this.

I watched as Jade stopped to gather several of the arrows that were left behind, she then moved off to chase after Fizzle.

The strange rainbow colored vomit was both disgusting and kind of appropriate considering what casting a cupcake did to them. That horrific sight was going to be burned into my memory for quite a while and I was still quite unsure of the true effects, but at least it worked and it wasn’t like Jade had actually killed any of them. I’m quite sure that some of them will actually wish they were dead after that, but I wasn’t about to care for the psychological scarring that the pukwudgies may have received from this.

A bright and powerful explosion happened in the distance and I rushed to the location, to see what happened. I hoped my girls were okay.

-Fizzle-

It seemed that they were still leaving town entirely, but where were they? I had lost sight of them as I crept up the bridge at the edge of town and looked around. It seemed that the pukwudgies were no longer dangerous and I just wanted to be sure they wouldn’t bother Pinkie or anyone else any time soon. I turned around and started to head back into town.

“Darn it Fizzy, watch out!” I turned back to Jade charging up the bridge in a panic, she tapped her sheath and jumped to my left. What was she…? An arrow slammed into Jade’s chest with enough force to send her rolling over my back with a yowl and off the side of the bridge into the river below with a huge splash of water.

I stood there for a moment trying to comprehend the series of events that just happened, I turned around slowly and narrowed my eyes beneath the hood. I could feel my body shaking and my horn started sparking wildly with magic, some of the magical energy splashed against the ground as I felt the world turn bright red. I was angry… no this wasn’t any simply anger… it was something more powerful than that and my magic was responding how I felt right now.

This feeling was not directed just at the pukwudgie or the crossbow, it was also at myself for letting this happen.

It was pure rage!

-Jade-

Okay, my world was pain. My body was surrounded by water, there was blood in it. I tried to reach into my pack to get a feather, I was getting quite numb. It is Equestria, so fast acting poisons were likely a thing here and... my knife sheath saved me from the arrow’s blade, but I was going to black... out...

Author's Notes:

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

10. Cupcake (Banned by Kuril).

Cast: (New!) You don't want to know.

Sustain: Likely none.

Self-Sustain: Delicious.

(New, but banned, Magical Alchemy Ingredient!)

11. Frog Mucus (Banned by Kuril).

Cast: Magical wide area sticky substance bomb (Hard to get out of clothing).

Sustain: ???.

Self-sustain: ???.

Chapter Three, Parties, Pukwudgies and Pirates: Privateers need no privacy.

-Rainbow-

“I think I’m going to join Ponyville’s weather team before I become a Wonder Bolt.” The monsters were driven back to where they belong and I thought it was just plain awesome that no one got hurt too badly.

“Rainbow, you’d have to know what you’re doing to be on a weather team.” I turned to Flutteshy and gave her one of my patented smiles.

“You worry too much Fluttershy, I’ll be great at working on the weather around here!” I am going to be so awesome at making the weather around here worthwhile, but first I got to make enough money to buy up some airspace for a house fit for someone as cool as me. “It’s an easy job with a lot of free time to practice my moves and I can get in a lot of naps too!”

“I’m going to go check on Ms. La Perm, she’s carrying Fizzle back and I don’t see Jade with her.” I kind of felt bad for Fluttershy’s party getting ruined, it was kind of my party too. I looked to my parents and my mother just ruffled my mane.

“Go on Rainbow, don’t let Fluttershy go down there by herself.” My mother urged me on after Fluttershy prodding me with her wing. My parents could be so embarrassing sometimes, but I know they loved me. “Check on your friends and come right back, we’re headed for home and you need to get some sleep. So say goodbye to your friends, we’ll keep watch up here.”

“But mom…” I yawned loudly, okay I admit I was tired. The party was great until those little hedgehog things showed up and ruined our fun. I set out after Fluttershy, she was my best friend and I was supposed to look out for her. I failed to do that once, never again.

-Fluttershy-

I stopped in front of Kurilian outside of Sugar Cube Corner, I thought that was a strange name for a pretty and friendly cat lady. The ground looked really icky and it was quite smelly, whatever that stuff is I wasn’t going to touch it. Unlike Rainbow apparently who was looking quite tempted to poke at it, was she going to grab a stick? She was... she was absolutely going to poke at that stuff.

I sometimes fear that all the friends I have are weird, but at least Pinkie seems normal. I was always so shy around other ponies, but Pinkie wouldn’t let me stay out of the party and she was so friendly about it.

I think I’m not as shy with Kuril or Jade because they’re not ponies. Sure they’re not like normal cats, but they remind me of them and I like cats. Well I also liked dogs, squirrels, birds and a lot of other creatures scaled or furry, I knew what I wanted to do in life and that’s working with animals in some way. It was my special talent and I really liked that it was my special talent.

If Rainbow was going to live here in Ponyville, then maybe I can find a place here too. I’d prefer to live on the ground though. You know instead of the sky, something a bit closer to nature.

I really liked Kuril, Jade and even Fizzle as friends, only I didn’t see Jade anywhere and Fizzle looked to be sleeping peacefully in Kuril’s limbs. Having friends that weren’t ponies was interesting, well Fizzle was a pony but it was hard to be shy of her when she was already so distant. She was even wearing that cloak to hide her lost horn, it’s really sad to think about and she had been warming up to the party so well too.

“Kuril, is everything alright, where’s Jade?” I watched as she carefully put the sleeping Fizzle on the ground, I idly wondered where Fizzle got the cloak. It looks like something Jade would wear given how big it is, maybe Jade gave her the cloak?

I should take up sewing, it’s a nice safe activity and it can even be used as a medical skill! Taking care of animals… that’s my dream job now and I’m going to work for it.

“She’s fine, it’s a good thing that nobody was seriously hurt. Pinkie got nicked by one of the arrows, but she’ll be okay. The only thing left now is for the Cakes to clean up their damaged home.” Why did I think Kuril was trying to hide something, her words sounded a bit… off… to me at least. “Jade’s making sure the road home is safe, we have a place built and everything. Poor Fizzle here tuckered herself out from all the excitement and there are no longer pukwudgies causing problems here. We ran them out of town.”

“Hey Fluttershy, hurry it up! We need to get back home so we can sleep and get up to do some fun things tomorrow." That was Rainbow, she was always in such a hurry to go everywhere or go to sleep. I’m surprised she’s not as upset about all this as I am, she sometime doesn’t consider the feelings of others even if she defended me from those bullies. "I’m sure things will be okay here.”

“Wait, you have a home?” I asked as they had come to Equestria to make a home for themselves and now they had one. It made me happy that I could possibly visit them since they were going to be staying here in Equestria.

“Yes, Celestia herself came and turned the crashed airship into a home for us, she even wants us to help build a town there.” Really? That was quite nice of the princess to do for them, if I were a princess I’d want to help them out of the goodness of my heart too. “I’ve even got a restaurant up and running out of our home called The Witch’s Fare, you can come by whenever you want. Bring your family on by if you want some of my cooking! First meals free for you Fluttershy.”

“Okay, I will.” Though I’d wait a few weeks, it seems like Jade and Kuril attracted way too much excitement for me to handle, I needed time to get back on my hooves. I gave Kuril a smile despite feeling that there was something I was missing here, Kuril turned to talk to the Cakes and I saw a tired looking Pinkie with a bandage on her neck. “Pinkie Pie are you okay?”

“Oh come on Fluttershy, your friends are fine!” I think Rainbow could learn to have a little patience. “Let’s go already, my bed is calling me!”

“I’m okay Fluttershy, just a bit tired. Come on back when pukwudgies aren’t invading the town for another party okay?” Pinkie seemed to slow down and gave a long drawn out yawn, which got me yawning as well. It was getting really late. “I get to throw you your next birthday party Fluttershy! What day is it anyway? I Pinkie Promise I’ll never forget it, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Oh and today was a bit scary, but things are going to be okay… once we finish cleaning up this mess at least. I don’t think I like party crashers all too much.”

I smiled and told her when my birthday was and she told me hers, we hugged one another and said goodbye. I was saddened that I didn’t get to say goodbye to Jade, but I said goodbye to her mother and was on my way back to Cloudsdale.

I tried to ignore the feeling that I was missing something, things would be okay as nobody was seriously injured right?

-Kuril-

Okay a little white lie wouldn’t hurt the young mare. I didn’t know where Jade actually was, but the huge crater left behind by Fizzle was quite noticeable and an indicator that she might know where my daughter went. She look like she expended her magic all in one large burst and it knocked her cold.

I think the pukwudgies learned their lesson from all of this, never let my daughter use a cupcake for magical purposes. The only thing in the crater was a badly hurt pukwudgie with several bits of wood sticking into its body. I’m sure it’ll be fine, it didn’t look too bad and was still breathing.

Just like I’m sure my daughter was fine, she could take care of herself after all… but I still worried about her. It was my job to be her guide in this world and I wasn’t doing a very good job of guiding her at all. She really doesn’t ask me for guidance despite being her mother.

I felt kind of helpless sometimes because my daughter was smarter than the average kid. I felt like a bad mother at times even though I logically knew I wasn’t that bad… was I? I did lose the location of my daughter in the aftermath of the highland pukwudgie raid, she could be alone and hurting. In that situation would Jade really be so scared and calling for me?

Not likely, she’s a tough one and would be more worried about me and Fizzle.

Now I have to carry this pony back home by myself, I was not going to abandon Fizzle and I wasn’t about to let her abandon us either. I’m sure whatever happened, Jade will turn up eventually. I claimed responsibility for this pony and as such I needed to take care of Fizzlepop to the best of my abilities. She is definitely family, but in what capacity? An adoptive daughter? A potential daughter-in-law maybe?

Still, I trusted my little tom cat to come back to me in a relatively good condition, at least with her body intact and no missing limbs. I had to stop fretting and keep moving forward. I held Fizzle close to me and started heading my way home in the darkness looking for that ever burning light. If I see the campfire still going back at Airship Mauled, then I know Jade’s perfectly fine and can rest a little easier knowing she’ll eventually find her way home.

She just has to.

-Jade-

“What is this now eh? We didn’t see anything like this running about on the airship when we shot it down. A stowaway perhaps?” The throaty voice of a bird like being made me stir a bit, I opened my mouth and coughed up quite a bit of water and then I opened my eyes to the light of day. “What in the world… appears we dredged up a live one here boys! I don’t know how a half drowned kitten like you is still alive, but you must be of some importance. If not, then becoming a slave might work for a survivor like you, and we can earn some coin selling you to the highest bidder.”

I wish I hadn’t opened my eyes I was laying on my side on the deck of a water logged ship, assumedly an airship that was shot down and then was raised for looting opportunities by what I would assume to be sky pirates. In my view there was a griffon gazing down at me, I could see the sky and in it was an airship hovering above with a black flag on the ship and a rope ladder leading to the deck I was laying on.

My body was still trying to fight the effects of the poison, so I could be excused for not immediately leaping up and trying to jump into the river, sea or wherever I was to end up on top of the airship that they had recently shot down.

I was thankful for my water breathing ability, it was why I wasn’t what something else dragged in. Coughing up the water every time you left it got annoying, but my body did prefer fresh air. I was thinking too slowly, because I just realized that he implied he was going to try to find someone to ransom me to or the likely worse option, sell me into slavery.

Now that I thought of it, magical alchemy prevents me from being tied up or bound. Better yet, do a partial cast and then return the chains or rope back to their original state and leave no evidence of how I got out, it would certainly give me more materials to work with. Now that was rogue thinking and mentioning rogues, I was being lifted by one of the heftier looking griffons that came forward.

I’m pretty sure I’m getting shanghaied into what will be an amazing adventure for me in the world of being forced to do some jerks bidding… provided that I didn’t escape my situation and I had plenty of methods for doing that.

“Look at what we dragged in captain!” The burly griffon slapped me bodily against the deck, I think the poison was thankfully numbing the pain. “It’s a cat.”

When this poison fully wears off, I will kick all of your asses just for that joke at my expense alone. I’m quite a petty kitty and cats are the ones that are supposed to be dragging things in, not the other way around!

“So we dragged in a cat eh? Well see her to the brig, she doesn’t look like she can talk a wit and I’m perfectly fine if she never talks again.” I’m sure there’s a certain place in Tartarus reserved for a griffon like you with your black beak, solid scarlet colored feathers and that jaunty tricorne. “When she starts moving around a bit, we can keep her fed just well enough to be worth something to someone. If she dies, then we strip her bones for food and then throw the rest overboard. We won’t let the lass go to waste now will we? She should be proud to be of some use to us.”

Your scarred grizzled face doesn’t scare me in the slightest. Your amber eyes may be sharp and giving me a once over as if I were nothing special because I was a bit waterlogged. But know this you feather bearded jerk, I promise to be more trouble than I’m absolutely worth and you will eventually learn to fear the name of Jaded La Perm!

“Well lass, this just isn’t your day is it?” The thug started to carry me down into the ship towards the brig. “Whether You’ll be for food or pleasure, you’re going to be in for some unpleasant business soon enough. I don’t even know if you’re aware right now with that glassy look in your eyes, but you’re going to be a guest of Captain Gash until we figure out what to do with ye.”

I was carelessly thrown unceremoniously into a cell at the bottom of the airship and I just glared at him.

“Oh sure, now you’ve got spirit , but you’re not going to be able to do a thing to us in your current condition. You won’t be needing your effects either when we’re through with you.” The burly thug didn’t seem so tough, even if I couldn’t take him in a fair fight. He took away my pack and my knife, he thankfully left the clothes on my body. At least he was letting me have some dignity as he closed the door to start walking away. “So enjoy the ride cat, for however long that lasts.”

Chapter Four, DLC: Defining Loquacious Consciousness.

-Sekhet-

I find myself curious as to where the rogue sun priest jade was, Lady Kuril had come home without her. I was loathe to involve myself too deeply in the affairs of mortals, mostly since I didn’t want to deal with the emotional pain of them eventually dying.

I was actually thinking of seriously becoming a guardian of a place once more, I was a Sphinx after all and I was meant to protect things of precious value. The temple had nothing left of worth except maybe the sleeping mask in the sludge pit. I valued life far more than trinkets, though I wasn’t about to give up my nemes.

Celestia tied herself to mortals all the time, only to never marry or fall in love with them for good reason. She had probably lived long enough to know what kind of problems most young immortals face. Very little is permanent in this world aside from those of us with lifespans that can far outstrip that of a dragons.

I also didn’t have much reason to seek out war or take part in one for any side, challengers didn’t come to me for I was far too powerful and I couldn’t be challenged. At this point I’m a mostly neutral entity with some bias towards what I’ll loosely call my subjects, of which live in this general area. The serf really hadn’t done much more then clean and maintain the restaurant, the laughably small school building and the train station with no tracks leading anywhere.

They may not worship me, but I didn’t care much for praise that was unwarranted. Other gods preferred to live in decadence or extravagance, a trap which Celestia couldn’t escape from as she chose to be a ruler and thus built a gilded cage of her own making. Her people really needed guidance to learn how to fend for themselves instead of relying on fickle contrivances and the magic of harmony itself to protect them.

All it would take is Tirek getting free to topple Celestia’s kingdom and she doesn’t properly prepare for the other inevitabilities that will happen eventually, her sister being one of them. It would be hard for anyone as long lived as we were to miss the image on the moon, we remembered what the moon used to look like after all. Celestia likely seeks Jade’s aid in the latter, but doesn’t think of the former and ignores the other possibilities like Discord getting free again.

Discord is chaos, chaos can never be held back permanently as it was an intrinsic force that the world needed or else the entire world would stagnate. Try telling Celestia that and she’d likely get upset. I couldn’t and wouldn’t stop Discord if he was freed, but he couldn’t do anything to me or mine in turn unless they did something to him first. If he did something to mine first, he would earn my wrath.

Sealing things away does not prevent them from becoming a threat again, it just left them to be forgotten to become an even bigger threat that no one in the future knew how to deal with. Provided that what you sealed away has a long lifespan or eventually changes into a shade, wraith or revenant out of anger.

I preferred to be praised or worshipped for doing something of logical merit. If someone was weak, then I could trained them to be strong. If someone was dumb, then I should teach them to be clever. If they were both weak and dumb, then I’d be looking more closely for the true hidden potential.

Fools could do more things than even those of vaunted genius or impossible strength, mostly for the fact that fools will achieve things in ignorance that others would hastily claim impossible in cowardice. Never challenge a fool to prove you wrong, they will always try to at the very least. Impossible only exists if you stopped thinking outside the same shape that everyone else thinks within.

A fool’s strength is not just ignorance, but also determination to do something deemed impossible physically, mentally or magically with their very being put behind the effort.

Fizzle had used all her magic in one burst, but she had controlled it so finely that I could feel the effects from here. Fizzle had been angry. Her rage had felt unquenchable and then, much to my surprise, she unleashed it safely without repercussion to herself and the magic did what she willed it to. It definitely destroyed the object of her ire.

I am not stupid enough to think that I know everything or that there is none stronger than me, for one can always learn more and there are beings out there that can rival my raw power. I can be humbled and I shouldn’t get angry when I am, I should learn from the experience so as to avoid being humbled the same way twice.

That said, I envied some of what Celestia had. Only I think she would do better without the endless praise and false adulations that were continuously shoved down her throat, which is mostly done by those seeking more than what they already had to work with or even barely deserved at all.

“So Lady Kuril, what happened to your daughter?” As far as war goddesses went, I had no war needing my attention at the moment and I wanted to try my paw at leadership without being directly in control. Something more advisory like a vizier to a pharaoh.

It is no longer the time of pharaohs, rulers and kings, but I could make it work and would have to make sure that my efforts remained quite contained to one area.

“I haven’t a clue, but Fizzle does.” Well Lady Kuril, news like that would certainly make Celestia panic. “We’ll know when she wakes up some time today.”

I on the other paw wondered what Jade was getting into this time, fending off a chimera was an interesting feat as much as forging wings with sunlight from a single feather. I could even smell it on Jade that she had bloodied the chimera and then made it leave her be in a rather unusual manner.

I wonder if Jade even knows what she truly did to that chimera, if she didn’t then things were going to get interesting around here when the chimera came to terms with its selves.

A lost sun priest is like a fool, something to behold with awe…. at a fair distance. Something spectacular was bound to happen when a sun priest, known for being guiding lights, couldn’t find their own way. What did this exactly say about a sun priest who wanted to be a rogue on purpose? Yes, I could plainly see the tapestry of life going quite awry at this.

I continued my contemplations as I waited for breakfast, Kuril was making fried eggs in a most unusual manner. I flipped backwards and shrunk down to a more manageable size to feed.

Looking at the motherly matron and thinking of family like I was, I was wondering if I should try to help my sister. Nah, she can stew for a few hundred more years.

Bastet had led an interesting fight against King Anubis and I would continue to stay out of the age old conflict of cats and jackals. It still hasn’t gone anywhere after a millennia and a war that lasts that long is dumb in my purview. Wars always had purpose and an eventual end goal, whether that goal was uniting the world or conquering it.

What my sister started wasn’t a war, it was just the continuation of an endless petty squabble between two factions with no end in sight and I washed my paws of it. My sister sometimes flirted with chaos too much, which would explain why I heard hearsay of her licking Discord one thousand years ago and that he ran like a bat out of hell. I think Discord had the right idea in that situation, which is why I’m better off where I am today.

For today, I am contemplating becoming the guardian of Airship Mauled and maybe I’ll eventually tell Kuril that her cooking can do more than just taste like divinity.

-Jade-

Come on… come on… why won’t my big toe wiggle? They made it look so easy in the movie! Then again that was a movie and it was in a more comfortable position than I was currently in. Wait… I was uncomfortable? I could actually feel a part of myself, thank goodness for that! The poison must either be wearing off or I might be becoming more resilient to it.

I tried twitching every muscle in my body until I found a response, my eyes went to my right hand and a single claw popped out. Yay, I can still be the Abyssinian equivalent of rude! Now if only I can get my arms working.

“The cat in the brig is a quiet one, I don’t like it when they’re quiet.” My right ear twitched as I heard the tall tell sound of a thug talking near my cell, I’ll call him thug one.

“She’s been too roughed up, she’s no threat to us and can hardly move in the condition she’s in. It’s a miracle she’s even breathing with how long she had to have been in the water.” Not really a miracle, more of a useful ability me and my mom gave ourselves. Permanent water breathing, it’ll keep you from drowning thug two. “What can that lass even do with a bum shoulder and that wound to her chest? Maybe she can bleed on us perhaps?”

“I don’t like it, there was no sign of her being on the ship before we raided it and we just happen to find her on the deck coughing up water after we raised it from the depths?” Thug one grumbled something unintelligible. “There’s something fishy about that cat mark my words, she doesn’t look like a normal Abyssinian and she doesn’t have the markings of a noble birth.”

“You’re just being paranoid. It’s not like she’s a murderous kelpie and besides, Captain Gash has already decided her fate.” Thank you for underestimating me, I’ll make sure you get your comeuppance forthwith when I can finally move more than a single claw on my right arm. “See, the lass hasn’t moved from her… it seems there’s enough life in her to make unseemly gestures at least and not much else.”

Oh hey, I can flex my digits now! They were in front of the cell staring at me and they even noticed my rude gesture. Aw, thanks you guys, you’re the best captors I’ve ever had! You’re also the only ones I’ve ever had and I don’t count Canterlot as having held me captive.

“I still don’t like it, someone who can hold their breath underwater for more than ten minutes has to be a legendary pirate that no one has ever caught in the act. I will agree that she looks too pathetic to put up any fight... at the moment.” The two griffons turned away from me and walked away from my cell. It appears thug one was one of the more instinctive intelligent guards. Well this would be tricky then, I wonder how crazy I can drive everyone? “Don’t underestimate a prisoner just because she’s waterlogged, injured and possibly even poisoned. Cats be dangerous creatures when rubbed the wrong way. She certainly didn’t get this way through malnutrition and she had a knife on her, she’s someone who know how to fight and that’s dangerous.”

“She’s in the brig, just let it go already. She’s not going anywhere as she is.” As thug two said that, my eyes lowered to the big toe on my left foot. It didn’t wiggle, but all my claws popped out on my left foot and I retreated them just as quickly. “We’ll be in Turtle Toga soon enough and then she won’t be our problem anymore.”

Give me one good hour and I’ll at least get my dried fruit back from you. Also Turtle Toga? If that’s the kind of place I think it is, then I was going to be in a place filled with cantankerous pirates, brigands, thieves and rogues of the worst sort.

Sounds fun, but I probably wouldn’t want to live there. The property values must be a steal at least.

These guys weren’t exactly my kind of people. No honor among pirates unless you were part of a tightly knit crew, then popularity and notoriety also came into it. I had neither. Some pirates just wanted to prove themselves better than the rest by waving the bigger stick around and would go to great lengths to show that they could get away with more than any other.

I preferred noble rogue’s or pirates with at least some code of ethics, Captain Gash looked like a griffon that liked to get his claws dirty and I didn’t think we’d ever be friends. Oh hey, I can put weight on my leg now! Only a little more bodily control and then I can start planning to get some food for myself.

If I could spook the pirates enough and maybe grab a few griffon feathers before I jumped ship… then they’ll want to leave me alone. Silent antagonist mode engaged! I don’t say a word and I can infer that I’m not the one causing all the trouble on the ship. If I’m good enough at it, then maybe I can convince them that it’s a Changeling causing trouble.

If we’re over sea, I’ll just have to wait until we get to this Turtle Toga place to make my escape. I’m sure there’s a small airship I can ransack for my own purposes, in what I hope to be a mostly lawless place that won’t care if one goes missing.

-About thirty minutes later-

I prodded the bars that I was weakly standing next to, one of the rules of magical alchemy is that there is a limit to the size, weight and mass of an object that can be used in a cast. It was, kind of, proportional to the user’s size.

As such I couldn’t use the whole planet, all the air, the entire sea or anything as large as an entire airship in a cast. I couldn’t threaten to destroy the entire world using magical alchemy if I ever got the idea to go megalomaniacal, but I could use it for a bluff at least once.

The door on my cell? No problem, as it wasn’t entirely connected to the ship and was its own separate object.

-Minutes later-

“Oy, cat, if you can move then this will be your… where did you get that?” I just simply looked up at thug two and raised a silent brow at him and continued eating my dried fruit. He absentmindedly shoved the gruel he was holding through the slot.

On today’s menu was the sweet and sugary dried pear chunks with a side of banana chips, which will be washed down with the water from my canteen.

I just looked at him as if he were an idiot and shrugged, if a griffon ate my snacks in front of me then I was going to get testy about it.

I started putting my fruit in the gruel after I tasted it, it was so much better with the fruit.

Author's Notes:

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

Partial Casting- Thanks to watching a phoenix feather reconsitute itself, both Jade and Kuril have the knowledge that they can stop, hold and even reverse the process of a cast.

Said process can be quite useful for getting through doors or doing many other things. When a cast is reversed instead of used up, it'll revert to it's previous state as an object.

This could possibly be used in aid of enchanting objects with magical alchemy, but testing would still have to be done to see if it is possible.

Magical Alchemy list. (No banned items shown.)

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random. (One time air terrain survival buff, possible Offensive ability). Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain: Projecting thoughts. Not able to receive thoughts, but you can project them to others.

Self-sustaining: none.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: Redirect sunlight (Defensive support buff). Is only useful during the day and allows for blinding opponents or aggressors with light.

Self-sustaining: Minor protection from darkness (Automatic defensive buff while feather is on person). Needs to be charged with sunlight and to have been used as a magical alchemy sustain at least once to work.

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

9. Jade’s Cloak.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: ???. (Effect seems to do nothing, need more information.)

Self-Sustain: Makes sneaking easier (Moderate stealth buff).

Chapter Four, DLC: Dumb Lackluster Corsairs.

-Jade-

Okay, may have acquired some suspicion when I got out of my cell and got some my snacks from my beloved pack. I now had someone watching me to make sure I didn’t do anything funny, thankfully it was griffon thug number two and I was absolutely planning to do funny things. Funny for me at least.

In my state I wouldn’t have been able to fend off griffon thug one if he entered my cell to beat me black and blue out of suspicion after the stunt I pulled with managing to sneak to my pack to get my dried fruit. I would always invest in waterproof travel packs, especially if you lived next to the ocean for the earlier parts of your life like I have. Soggy food doesn’t taste too good unless it was fish.

The griffon before me had a sturdy amounts of muscles on him. He wasn’t bulky, but he was big enough to be somewhat intimidating and the silver tipped brown feathers were kind of neat. He looked bored and was nodding off every now and then, how would I get him to leave so that I can escape my cell to commit some shenanigans?

They obviously wanted me alive, since I’m worth more that way. If I’m not caught moving around down here, then I might be able to get into their galley. Again, how to do that though?

I looked to the wooden ceiling and a figurative lightbulb went off above my head, so long as the wood was in good condition I could pull this off. I looked back towards the griffon and he continued to give me a bored look and I smiled at him faintly.

“What are you smiling about?” He asked gruffly, I opened my mouth and he looked interested in what I had to say.

I queried him with a happy sounding meowing noise and gave him a innocent look, I would play dumb until he closed his eyes for too long.

“I know you’re intelligent and that you still have your tongue in your head!” I tilted my head at the griffon questioningly and gave him dumb look as if I didn’t know what he was saying. “Don’t play dumb with me, nobody can just walk into a store and buy something by pointing and nodding.”

Sitting up and acting excited, I nodded and pointed at him and made an exaggerated friendly growl.

“I’m not going to dignify you with any further responses, now sit down and stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Doing exactly what the guard told me to, I sat down with a serious look on my face as if I were constantly vigilant. “Cute, but cute is not going to save you.”

I kept my vigilant appearance as if I were waiting for a mouse to crawl out of a hole, Abyssinians never had rat problems for obvious reasons. After five minutes of nothing happening, the griffon closed his eyes for a bit too long.

“What the… where did she…” The griffon looked into the cell upon opening his orange eyes and looked both left and right for me. “Darn it, how did she get out? I’ve got to go tell someone about this!”

After listening for the griffon to be far enough away, I slowly lowered myself from clinging to the ceiling and grabbed the door, one partial cast later and I was on the other side of the door.

I released the cast putting the hinged cell door right back where it was, I proceeded to start sniffing the air as I left the brig. Griffons liked fish right? This was a pirate ship, now where is the fishy smell on this vessel? If it smells anything like fish oil, then I must be getting close.

I slinked down the corridor away from my cell, past my belonging that I wasn’t going to move until we reached Turtle Toga and went up the stairs. I ducked behind two barrels as several griffons went past and then I continued onwards sniffing the air. After passing by various doors I eventually found the empty galley, the only doors on this vessel with locks were apparently the cell doors and the captain’s cabin.

After closing the door to the galley, I rubbed my hands together. Now let’s see what I could get away with grabbing.

Checking the counter there were several candles here, many kinds of salts and some pepper. Did they use fish oil in their lanterns? Nice smell, maybe I should take some fish oil for some aroma therapy. These pirates at least had some taste. I look around as I stowed some candles in my pockets, both a salt and pepper shaker, along with a few stoppered vials of fish oil and continued on to find the larder.

Jackpot, there was fish here for the taking!

“She couldn’t have gone far, she might be trying to steal from the treasury!” Nope, why would I need pirate treasure thug one? Well it would be nice to be rich, but I was in a treasury of a different sort. Their food supply was my idea of a treasury, why would I steal money? It would just weigh me down and you would search me for it anyway when you find me, it wasn’t like I could escape right now when we’re still over the ocean.

I grabbed several large fish and stuffed them under my left arm while one went into my mouth. Eating fish a bit raw wouldn’t bother me, Abyssinians did it all the time when fishing. I enjoyed sushi and would have to get my mom onboard with the idea of making some when I got back to her.

I idly sucked on the mouthwatering fish juices as I started to make my way to the door. Mom must be quite worried about me. Well I’m equally worried about her and Fizzle! My ear twitched as something was opening the door, I opened a nearby cabinet and dove inside while carefully closing the door with a flick of my tail.

“She’s not in the galley!” Shows what you know exceedingly gruff thug voice number three, I waited and twitched my ears a few times before I snuck back to the two barrels. I then carefully made my way back down to the cells with my booty and entered the cell before the one I was originally thrown into and sat down to eat.

-

“I’m telling you Captain Gash she couldn’t have opened the door to get out.” Ah thug two was talking to the approaching red feathered bearded guy who thought he could hold me, well this will be the day you should take the hint that I’m more crafty than you’d think. “One second she was there and then she was gone!”

“Looks like she’s still in her cell to me, now who’s the yellow bellied scallywag that let her out and gave the lass fish!” I looked up at the captain’s angry countenance questioningly and smiled at thug two. All part of the plan, thankfully the captain hadn’t thought to ask what cell I had been in previously.

“Mew.” It was my only response and a happy sounding one at that as I looked towards thug two. I went back to ripping the scales off the fish I had with my teeth and consuming it happily.

Thug two gave me an angry stare and I started licking the fur on the back of my left hand in apparent ignorance before returning to my fish.

“She’s a smart one captain, I’m telling you right now that that smug cat is plotting our downfall!” Who me, thug two? Couldn’t be, I’m nice to you! Darn it, Sekhet and mom did infect me with the rhyming virus, it certainly felt like it would be a chronic thing.

“Mew?” I queried dumbly before continuing into my fish, thank you Abyssinian constitution! I even stopped to lick my right hand and rub it against my face cutely.

“She doesn’t even look like she has enough brains between her ears to be a threat to us!” You’ll regret saying that later Captain Bloody-looking-feathered-beard. “If she did, then she’d know to fear my wrath.”

He glared at me and I gave him an excited expression while rolling onto my back and pawing at the air, after that I took up a bit of fish in my mouth and made my way to him on all fours before dropping it on the floor and nudging it with my nose.

“I’m telling you right now captain, that cat is not normal!” He pointed at me with a talon, I moved forward. Since it was close enough, I licked the claw with my tongue through the bars and smiled. Somebody had been eating hippoglossus recently. “Gah, she’s pure evil I tell you!”

“Gilder… it’s an Abyssinian cat and a dumb one at that. It probably likes you and your habit of eating halibut.” Oh goody, I’m clearly as innocent as I acted for the captain. “Why she’s not even nearly close to being as evil as we are and… is that halibut she’s eating?”

Why yes, yes it was. Thank you for noticing Captain Gash! I’m your best friend forever and I would never try to betray you like the newly named Mr. Gilder here.

“Gilder, I appreciate you trying to dodge the blame for this, but passing the buck is a true pirates game lad.” Mr. Gash then proceed to glare harshly at Gilder who shied away from him, yeah this wasn’t going to end well for any of you by the time I’m through with you. “Do better next time if you’re going to try and frame someone else for any wrongdoing on my ship. Also stop sneaking fish you barnacle brained, starfish snorting, swordfish slider! I’m cutting the food you get for your next meal and you better not complain about it.”

Mr. Gash, the wonderful scarlet feathered griffon that he was, stalked off angrily and I just smiled at Gilder. He sent me a glare and I gave him a friendly noise for his troubles.

“Mew.” This time I gave him quite a mocking look.

“You’ll pay for that!” I rolled my eyes, I’d like to see him try and make me.

-

“Captain, we caught Gilder and Gaylord snuggled up to each other in the same cell that the cat was being held in and I think they rubbed fish oil all over each other. I suppose they moved the cat and locked the door to have some private time while letting the cat watch them.” What actually happened thug four, was that they both charged into my cell in an effort to beat the snot out of me.

I just set things up to make it look like the two manly griffons were getting it on, I mean that happens on pirate ships with so many men doesn’t it? Now if only the two guys had thought to swab up the slippery fish oil I poured on the floor before they charge in without their talons gripping the floor, then they wouldn’t have both slipped and slammed into the back wall knocking themselves unconscious. Aren’t I a precocious little kitten?

“Take the keys and leave them in the cell, what they do with each other is no business of ours as long as they can still fight!” Well that was rather progressive of you Captain Gash, maybe you do give some leeway to your crew and here I thought you were a complete and utter jerk to everyone. “Watch the cat Gibs.”

“Mew.” I happily intoned while wagging my tail at the poor innocent griffon named Gibs. They were going to need more men by the end of this.

In particular this Gibs looked and even smelled like a drunkard, which means that I could actually get away with doing things in front of him and nobody would believe him.

I had to remember to steal some feathers from these griffons, I knew I was having too much fun with this and should actually take my situation seriously.

-

“Mr. Gibs… can you please explain to me why you bothered to dye my hat the color PINK?!” I was quietly licking the pink raspberry juice off of my paws, I didn’t want to be caught pink handed by the lovable Captain Gash now. “You know I despise pink with every inch of my being!”

Gash was waving around his now happy looking jaunty pink hat, didn’t he know that real griffons wear pink? At least his bandanna was still black, it went quite well with the pink. Black goes with everything after all!

“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Sorry Gibs, but you didn’t take me seriously enough. Next victim if you will please Captain Gash!

“Who else has a taste for raspberry beer in this crew?” He glared at the griffon and shoved him in the cell next to mine. “Certainly not the cat!”

I didn’t like alcohol and would never imbibe it, it was probably why my previous life went so horribly. I really liked raspberries and most fruits though.

“It was her, it had to be her!” Okay, you’re a hysterical drunkard that drinks a really niche flavor of alcohol, who would actually believe you in this situation? Not me for one, especially if I were Captain Gash. “She was doing things like making the door disappear, she’s magic I tell you!”

Captain Gash grabbed the door to my current cell and shook it roughly, he tested all the bars and the lock a few times and I didn’t move from my spot when he opened the door and sent me a glare to stay put. I was the perfect model of innocence as I continued to lick my fur.

“Mew?” What magic, I certainly didn’t do anything unusual here like perform something magical in front of a drunk person and got away with it. He closed and locked the door, then he went back to Gibs.

“Why is it whenever we get a prisoner you jokers decide start screwing around behind my back in an attempt to make me kill them? We need the funds for food and drink in Turtle Toga. There’s food there that is a far sight better than eating that bilge swallowing cat!” My angry beloved captain at heart screeched loudly at the griffon making him whimper. “In some cases the screwing around is quite literal with Gilder and Gaylord. Also an Abyssinian that can do magic? What folk tale are you telling lad? She’s not old or smart enough to be an enchanter and I’ve had my time with a few enchanters before, those were some of the best nights of my life me hearty. She’s no plain-dealer in any sense of the word, now sit down and be quiet you lily livered buzzard!”

True, enchanters required a decent grasp of mathematics of which I was sorely poor at. So frankly I didn’t have to act like I was dumb this time. Magical alchemy wasn’t a mainstream thing or you’d be singing a different tune Captain Gash.

-

“Espy, descry, Turtle Toga!” My left ear twitched as I barely heard those words. I got up and did a sun salutation out of habit more than anything, time for the jailbreak. I hefted my pack and went to the cell door, my knife at my hip.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OPc7MRm4Y8

Chapter Four, DLC: Demons, Love and Customers.

-Fizzle-

“So Fizzle, want to go out and play?” I turned to Jade and smiled, it’s been so long since I’ve had a friend like her.

“Of course I want to play with you Jade!” We romped through the forest until we saw a strange sight, a glowing orb that flew a small circle trying to entice us. “What’s that?”

“It’s a wisp. They could be omens for good or bad, depends on how you feel. I don’t think we should follow it.” Despite her words I felt enticed to give chase to the sphere, which soon turned into a bouncing ball from my childhood and I continued to follow it.

When the ball stopped, I looked up and saw that it was now night when it was once day a second ago. A large ursine shaped shadow loomed over me in the light of the moon and it raised its right paw back to swing forward.

“Darn it Fizzy, look out!” I was shoved to the side and then splattered with a viscous red substance, as I got up the bear stalked off into the forest. Turning to look at my savior I froze, making my way over to her I pulled her into my hooves and stared at her.

I sat there watching as Jade bled in my hooves with the arrow sticking out of her chest, I just held her in her last moments and I was quite horrified by the sight. I was angry at the arrow and the bear for throwing it. Wait… the bear threw an arrow, wasn’t it trying to use its claws?

Looking down upon Jade’s form, I considered how she was the first friend that I have had in a long time. A friend that didn’t expect or even need me to be capable of magic. I looked up at her mother as she approached slowly. The white robes Kuril was wearing turned blood red, as did her eyes.

“I welcome you as one of my own and you get my daughter killed.” Why was she growing larger by the second? “I’ll show you why you don’t harm the daughter of a witch! What say you Sekhet?”

“I say she’s guilty of killing her best friend.” I looked to see the giant Sphinx who was wearing a blindfold and holding some scales aloft, they were tilted to one side.

“I… I didn’t, I couldn’t have…” I looked down at the body in my hooves and the arrow sticking out of her chest. She wasn’t moving, her eyes were closed and her beautiful green hair seemed to be turning gray.

“You’re sentence is…” Before the blindfolded Sekhet could finish, a light shined and a glowing ankh formed in the air. Out of the ankh stepped a second more upset looking Sekhet.

“Who dares intrude upon this soul?” This Sekhet was not blindfolded and I watched her look at the blindfolded Sekhet with contempt. “Ah, a nightmare, of course one would pay a visit to someone who is defenseless and still recovering. Leave, you will not possess her or lead her astray, for she is loved!”

“You have no power here goddess, we nightmares have had run of the realm of dreams for hundreds of years unchecked.” The blindfolded Sekhet and Kuril started to slowly fuse together and shrink down into the shape of a pony made out of shadows. “The limitations we are under are weakening swiftly, it is only a matter of time until the living nightmare returns. The stars will aid in her escape, she will escape her imprisonment and all will be darkness!”

“Yes, so it has been said multiple times by many seers, nightmares and creatures of darkness.” A glowing ankh appeared intersecting the nightmares body and it froze. “Unfortunately for you, I do have power here. You are touching this mare’s soul and are evil, both things of which I find highly detestable. Souls are sacred, darkness is allowed and choices bad or good can be made without judgment. When it comes to true evil like you, I will and can smite you… with some help. Otherwise I can hold you in check until then.”

“You can’t actually do that, this is her realm and I control it!” What did this… was it actually a physical embodiment of my nightmares? That’s a bit scary and what did it mean that it controlled me? I didn’t believe that for a second! I turned to Sekhet with hope that she could do something.

“You have my permission to do what you can to help me Sekhet.” Saying this felt like the right thing for me to do, I believed in and trusted the strange goddess to do right by me.

“Luceat lux in tenebris.” At Sekhet’s calm words, my world was filled with light as bright as the sun.

The imaginary grass of the night with the blood stains of my friend disappeared as did the forest, the nightmare started wailing as it began evaporating. The nightmare was trying to scrabble desperately for a shadow to hide in, but the light that filled the sudden void left nothing except blue skies. The nightmare, having absolutely no place to hide, eventually faded from existence.

Soon several figures appeared at a distance standing on nothing. The closest was Kuril, almost within distance of patting me on the head.

The next and only slightly more distant was Jade who took a few steps forward and stopped near Kuril.

Beyond Jade was a second friendlier looking Sekhet giving me a warm smile as she moved forward several steps, she was nearer to Jade and Kuril now.

A little further behind the goddess was Fluttershy.

Farther still were Pinkie and Rainbow sitting still next to each other.

The other figures that were standing quite far away was Fresh Start, Zephyr, Fluttershy’s parents, Rainbow’s parents and the Cakes.

“I am surprised that you see me moving that much closer, the distance at which they stand represent how closely you feel for them. I’m sorry I trespassed on this.” With that an ankh formed around the real Sekhet and she slowly disappeared. “They’ll get as close as you want them to be, pleasant dreams to you.”

I blinked and I was sitting at a party, with Fluttershy talking about animals and her cutie mark. Jade was batting at the piñata with her claws as if it were a giant yarn ball, she looked silly doing that. Rainbow was zipping around going on about the Wonder Bolts to anyone who would listen. Pinkie was making sure I was okay and involved, she got me to play pin the tail on the pony and didn’t make me remove my hood. I saw Kuril chatting with the other parents and she kept looking my way with a smile.

There was a fuzzy feeling in my chest about all of these things and I didn’t want to forget any of this.

-

With a gasp I woke up. Sitting up in bed, the blankets tumbled down around my barrel and I looked about the room I had chosen as my own. Had any of that really happened? A pure white glowing feather fell from my forehead onto my nose making me sneeze.

“Ah good, you’re awake for lunch. Try not to attract any more nightmares through powerful feats of anger and magic please.” The alicorn sized Sekhet smirked, she walked away and closed the door with her tail as she left me to my thoughts.

I slowly got out of bed wondering what my dreams were trying to tell me and what nightmares was Sekhet talking about? I don’t remember having nightmares. I vaguely remember screaming and thrashing shadows, but not anything that can be considered a nightmare.

I moved towards the stairs and made my way down into the restaurant area. I got onto a seat at the counter and might have even said hello to Fresh Start. It wasn’t long before Kuril came around and gave me a hug.

“Sekhet said you were having problems sleeping.” Kuril was ruffling my mane and I reveled in the feeling of affection quietly. “You look tired, do you need to go back to bed?”

“No, I’m… okay I’m not fine.” My words made Kuril quietly tighten her hug. “Sekhet said something about me having nightmares and I think she helped me with them.”

“Well don’t worry, you're safe here Fizzle.” She eventually let go of me and went back to working in the kitchen where the smell of food wafted up from it. “It’s my daughter I’m worried about.”

I remembered a scant echo of my nightmare involving Kuril, only it sounded more demented and nothing like her at all.

“Jade, is she alright?!” I remembered the last thing I did, magic surging from my horn and exploding violently. I should have jumped in the river and grabbed Jade, instead I let my anger get the best of me.

“Calm down little warrior. She will be fine, her fire still burns bright.” Sekhet came up next to me and sat down to my left. “I guess you’re still a mess after that nightmare tried to wiggle its way into the darkness in your heart, Celestia’s feather was quite helpful in that endeavor. Do you mind if I clean you up? I am only offering once.”

“Er… okay, sure.” Sekhet turn me to the right and then she started licking my ears. This felt weird and I tried to shift about to ask Sekhet what she was doing.

“Stop fidgeting so much, this is how all mothers naturally take care of their kittens.” Wait.. what? Sekhet was treating me like a kitten? Well I was still technically a young mare. “No one did this for me when I was coming into my existence, so you should feel pleased I’m willing to do it for you. Even if your mane will be a problem. Why don’t you distract yourself with telling me what happened to Jade?”

That was actually kind of sad to hear, did goddesses even have mothers? Well they must have had someone at the very least? She continued to lick my head. This felt strange and really awkward, but I think I was actually beginning to like it and found it oddly comforting.

“The last thing I remember is after following the pukwudgies to the edge of town, I turned back not seeing any pukwudgies.” My ears wilted and I felt Sekhet’s chest pressing against my back as she continued to lick my head. “Then Jade… she ran up and took an arrow for me and fell into the river. I… I think I actually used magic correctly for the first time since my horn was broken.”

Sekhet stopped and coughed up a ball of loose fur. That was a bit much to have licked off of me, was some if it her fur as well?

“You should have kept facing the direction they went and backed away while looking for danger. They ambush the unwary that follow them and the Priest Jade was quite well aware of that.” She licked me a few more times before saying. “You need to work on your instincts.”

"Wait, the is campfire still going?” I hadn't asked what the significance of the fire was, but there was definitely something magical about it.

“Yes, the fire outside still burns.” After that Sekhet continued to lick away at my head and now my mane too.

“What does that magical campfire exactly do?" Fresh stopped dusting a table and came over to us. "I don’t think any of you have ever really explained it.”

“Only Jade can explain it in full. As long as the campfire burns, just know that my daughter is still alive. She might have fallen into the river with a poison arrow in her chest, but she can’t drown unless she loses her water breathing ability.” The robe and apron wearing Kuril came out of the kitchen looking a bit worried to me, it was good news to me that Jade was alright. “It doesn’t tell us of her condition though, I hope this is not another whale shark thing. That almost scared the life out of me.”

“Children will always scare their parents in so many ways as they grow.” Sekhet muttered before continuing to bathe me with her tongue.

“Fresh get ready to take some orders, we have incoming customers!” With that a twitchy eared Kuril turned around and went back into the kitchen.

What customers? Aside from me, Fresh and Sekhet, no one else was here to order anything.

“Excuse me if I may sound rude, but is this a restaurant that serves great food?” I turned to see three zebras enter the establishment, the one who had spoken was the stallion of the group. “The smell is quite attractive to my nose, there are quite a few other questions I would like to pose.”

“Things like what is this place, and of whom do we come to face?” The mare with the mostly gray mane next to the stallion stated plainly.

“Why does the smell feel like a Shamans alchemic brew? Also that campfire outside is quite unusual too.” The colt with them spoke up in rhyme as well.

“All great questions my family as we meet those who are new, I have currency as my family would like some food and a clue.” It seemed that Fresh Start did have something to do as she approached the zebra stallion and bowed to him.

“Welcome to The Witch’s Fare where all our food are tasty dishes, for it is all made by the friendliest of witches.” Okay why was Fresh Start… I started giggling as Sekhet’s tongue hit a particularly ticklish spot on my neck. “I’ll get a table set right up for you three, after I give you your menus I will leave you be. Please peruse the menus at your leisure, to attract my attention close the menus and I’ll be there quick within a timely measure. Now what would you like to drink?”

“Something fruit flavored, sweet and not alcoholic I’d think.” Okay this was getting a bit annoying to me now.

I opened my mouth to complain only to get a sharp tug on my mane that felt good, why didn’t it feel painful? It was then that Sekhet started cleaning my face.

“Hello there and welcome to Airship Mauled, this town isn’t very well established yet and we’re just getting started. Outside is the campfire of a rogue sun priest which happens to belong to my wayward daughter who farted. I’m Kurilian La Perm or Kuril if you will, I’m ‘The Witch of Good Taste’ with hungry bellies to fill.” The zebras giggled at Kuril’s words and I found the laughter infectious, maybe it was just Sekhet’s tongue slapping my face periodically. “What you smell is me cooking lunch, but I can easily get started on something for you guys. Over there being cleaned by our local goddess Sekhet is Fizzle and the waiter is Fresh Start. My daughter is currently off gallivanting around somewhere in the world, you’ll know her when you see her as she’s an Abyssinian like no other.”

"Oh that poor dear what happened to her horn, to be without that with which she was born?" The zebra mare made my mood dive steeply.

"Fizzle doesn't like to talk about it." Kuril stated quickly with a strained smile. "So please don't ask, it's really quite a touchy subject."

Author's Notes:

Lore

The campfire is tied to Jaded La Perm's life.

Chapter Four, DLC: Diving, Legends and Casts.

-Sekhet-

“Kuril is our current mayor.” I knew she wasn’t or that nobody had claimed to be mayor of this dot in the world, so I decided to do it in Kuril’s stead. I’m sure she won’t mind, it’s not like the zebras were going to stick around forever, they looked like they were well traveled. ”I’m here as her advisor to make sure Airship Mauled stays running smoothly, before you ask no I don’t want any leadership roles beyond what I have already.”

“Seriously?” Fresh Start asked as she came back carrying a tray of refreshments and gave me a dubious look.

“Would you rather it be Priest Jade?” My flat delivery had Fresh giving me a thoughtful look. “She’s crazy and everyone knows it.”

“Good point, Kuril is definitely going to continue being our mayor for the foreseeable future.” Now that someone had agreed with me, even if it was the serf, I was quite sure things would proceed apace.

The zebras probably didn’t know me by name or title. They likely didn’t know exactly what I was about as a goddess. Even with my nemes being a big hint as to where I’m from, it was sometimes better to not be well known. It would be bad for Kuril’s business if everyone ran away because of me despite how good the food was.

-Jade-

I had so far managed to avoid alarming anyone, despite the fact that I had taken an hour to test some new casts and sustains. I was just lucky that I had everything I could possibly need. In a straight up fight with any of these griffons I’d be in serious trouble as they had numbers, muscle and… no I wouldn’t say that brains are a thing with them so scratch that last one.

I was moving slowly and looking through the eyeholes inside a barrel, I wanted to get the hat that I dyed pink and turn it a more fitting green color. This would require that I cause a distraction and get into the captains chamber if he didn’t just throw the hat overboard. Better yet, I’ll steal all the hats that aren’t pink and then Captain Gash will have to wear it!

I needed some fresh clothing after this, but I can get that on Turtle Toga. There has to be at least one tailor that catered to all kinds of weirdoes in the town. I can steal or gamble for the money necessary for clean clothes, I probably wouldn’t even be asked where I got my money from.

Something hit the barrel and I barely held it in place.

“Blasted… who put this barrel here?!” Growling a bit, the griffon seemed to be thinking about what to do. “Nothing for, I’ll take care of it later. I’ve got other things to do.”

That was a close one, I didn’t want to spend any of my casts yet until I was up on deck or at least up another flight of steps. Limited resources and all that.

I carefully walked my barrel up the steps. Stopping at the top, I slowly turned the barrel left and right, coast was clear and I couldn’t hear anyone nearby. I moved up the next flight of stairs carefully and stopped in a corner. Up the stairs from here is the deck and in the opposite direction was Captain Gash’s cabin.

I could have gone up to the deck, but I was going for the captain’s door. If he wasn’t up on deck, I could figure out a way to disable him before he causes any trouble. I moved away from my sneaking barrel and touched the door, I started a cast and the door disintegrated. I moved to the other side and reversed the cast.

It seems the captain was on deck, which was good for me as I now had free reign of his room. Where would I put my hats if I were a captain? I’ll just check the treasure chest, I needed a map of Turtle Toga’s position in comparison to the rest of the world and maybe some cash for the road. Who would arrest me for stealing from pirates or thieves?

I checked the captain’s personal chest and since it was locked, I used a cast to make it disappear and reversed the cast in a different spot. This spilled the chests contents all over the floor.

Unless it was protected from magic, locks couldn’t stop me now!

Not like they could have stopped me or mom before, even if I couldn’t have reversed a cast. I could still have made a door or locked chest disappear without cast reversal, but I’d have to use the resulting magical spell on something if I hadn’t learned to stop casts. This way was much stealthier, given that people won’t notice a lot of missing things and I had Philomena and Fizzle to thank for this.

Without Fizzle being healthy, relatively of course, then I would have never found out that casts could even be reversed. Said knowledge of reversal wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Philomena.

Looting done, now for my daring and epic explosive exit where I start falling with style!

-

I stomped out onto deck into the midday sun looking particularly proud of myself and with a swagger that none could match, I had found out what the hats still in Captain Gash’s room did when used as a cast. It was a time limited charisma buff, one that works with whatever you wanted to do too!

Why Captain Gash had three spare hats I’ll never know, his only spare remaining was the pink one. I was wearing one right now and the other one that hadn’t been pink had been used in a cast. I was going to destroy the hat Captain Gash was wearing as I made my escape.

I just tromped on by Captain Gash at the wheel and down the stairs with my tail flicking back and forth, I was smiling merrily as I made my way towards the gangplank with everyone staring at me.

Yes, I was enjoying all the attention! A likely side effect of the hat cast.

Be prepared pirates, because this was going to be one trick you didn’t want to miss from the Great and Powerful Jaded! Also its revenge time, someone here ate a portion of my dried apricots.

“Lass, I don’t know how you escaped my brig, but you better go back there if you don’t want be keelhauled.” Don’t worry Captain Gash, that won’t happen as I have something more fun planned.

“Mew.” I said smugly as I reached into my pack. I hid my griffon feather cast, I would probably be using two for this, and then I pulled out my first magical alchemy concoction.

I had figured out how to learn what the effects of a cast would be without actually doing it, I was going to show mom when I got back to her. She’ll be so proud that our art is that much safer now! Darn it, the charisma was getting to me, better do this now before they charge me with those swords.

“Mew-mew-mew mew mew~! Mew-mew-mew mew mew~! Mew-mew-mew-mew-MEW~!” I pulled my hand out of the pack and raised the cylindrical candle into the air while singing the jar of dirt ditty in cat and waved it around. Only the ditty would be more like ‘I’ve got a can-dle~, I’ve got a can-dle~, and guess what it’ll do’~! The griffons just gave me flat looks as I kicked and stepped onto the gangplank. My smug smile met their disbelieving faces. “Mew?”

“A candle lass? You must be dumber than I thought if you think that will be a threat to my crew!” I raised my brow delicately at Captain Gash. “Now come along quietly and I promise you that you will survive to be enslaved, despite my crew attempting to kill you.”

The candle exploded into what looked like a small constantly exploding firework in my left hand, it was my form of disagreement to the assumption that I was an idiot. I actually tested this before I planned my escape thank you very much.

The griffons who thought they were sneakily moving towards me suddenly stopped and backed well away from the shifting explosion in my hand with wide eyes. My right hand stealthily picked an arrow out of my pack, I also cast with it and held that behind my back.

I gave them all a bright, friendly… completely devious, misbegotten and quite an evil looking grin! It was the best look I could have ever had on my face while looking at the balloon holding this ship aloft.

All the griffons including Captain Gash started shaking their head no rapidly, I just nodded yes slowly with a broad happy looking cat smile on my face as I started bouncing on the gangplank. I’m pretty sure they were too distracted to notice I was falling slower and jumping much higher than I normally could with each bounce.

Once I got a high enough bounce I tossed the explosive cast straight at the balloon. While the griffons were distracted with that, a beam of energy exited my right hand and it ripped through Captain Gash’s hat. Petty kitty goal reached and achievement acquired!

I spun around in mid-air while closing my eyes and bounced off the gangplank as I high as I could go. I smiled as I felt the explosion push me forward and down at an angle.

After a second I spread my arms wide, opened my eyes and started to glide through the blue sky above the sea towards the only piece of land that I could see for miles of ocean.

I could vaguely see a busy looking town built on the landmass in the distance, which was my destination. I hoped I could reach it, as I had a natural inclination to fear sea monsters and a strong respect for the dangers that the ocean represented.

I left a falling pirate ship full of blinded and sneezing griffons in my wake, now heading towards the giant turtle shaped island.

My first magical alchemy combination was a success and technically the arrow was its own combination, so make that two magical alchemy combinations! I would need this knowledge to help Fizzle later. Combining a bunch of regeneration related ingredients together would seriously help her, a phoenix feather would even prevent any bad side effects from sticking.

All I had to do now, was coast through the air and maybe cast with another griffon feather. A griffon feathers cast was short lived.

“You’ll not be getting away that easily lass!” I looked over my shoulder at the swooping Captain Gash, he looked angry with me. I can’t understand why that would be, I did the most pirate thing imaginable and sacked some loot from his treasure chest and practically scuttled his ship.

Doesn’t he like pirates that do a good job? Some captain he is.

I reached into my pack and pulled out another beloved Chaos Candle. I didn’t want to use another so soon, but I had three flying griffons breathing down my tail and I’m not exactly maneuverable like this. This is why I had a backup plan in case there were some that had avoided the sneezing flash bomb.

Did you know I also found out that a cast can be sustained, but only if enough ingredients are used? This is why turned about in the air and held out another prepared candle and then did a cast sustain. As you can imagine I can’t use another sustain while doing this and given that I have to keep the cast going, I can hardly do any other casts while doing this too.

A jet of flame erupted from the end of the candle sending me rocketing out of the path of Good ol’ Captain Gash who went through the smoke trail left by the candle and started sneezing wildly. The other two griffons avoided the exhaust cloud I was leaving behind.

“Mew!” I called out mockingly as Gash had troubles flying and sneezing at the same time. I saw that one of the two remaining griffons rolled and swooped at my side.

I quickly angled the jet upwards and increased the rate at which the candle was burning away, he ended up with a face full of candle smoke and sneezing like his captain. I was getting much closer to the ocean, that only left me with about half a candle left that was getting harder to hold onto as I eased up on the burn rate.

The last griffon screeched angrily at me while shaking his fist, but he chose to go help his captain and friend. I smiled, as I was… falling much faster! I really needed a griffon feather before I hit the water!

I burned the rest of the candle immediately to slow my descent towards the ocean and quickly pulled out a griffon feather and started using it as my magical sustain. I didn’t want to waste more supplies than I needed to, the griffon pirates had obviously given up on me.

I didn’t know how many feet above the water I was, but I kicked off the air and my downward momentum stopped immediately and then I hit the water with a soft splash. I just did a classic long fall trick with the double jump that the griffon feather provided me.

The Isle of Turtle Toga was a few miles away in the distance. Time to use my knowledge of legends to see if they were true and if they were, I could get a ride.

“Shoo-be-doo shoo-shoo-be-doo~!” I called out loudly while treading water. And… nothing... seriously? After all that cool stuff I just did, this is where I get stuck? Maybe they hadn’t heard me. “Shoo-be-doo shoo-shoo-be-doo~!”

I waited a few minutes, still treading water and my limbs were getting a bit tired. Sure I wouldn’t drown, but I was afraid I’d be facing deep sea monsters if I didn’t get help soon.

A large shadow appeared beneath me and I hoped it wasn’t a predator, especially not a whale shark. I don’t like sharks in general at all, the shadow shot up underneath me and I closed my eyes.

My chest was slightly above the water now, I slowly opened one of my eyes and saw that I was being lifted up by a large sea turtle.

There was an equally big turtle right next to it too and with a small baby turtle on its back that had a piece of waterproof parchment in its mouth. The baby turtle held out the parchment to me, the turtle it was sitting on top of made a friendly noise.

I tentatively took the parchment and read what was on it… then my expression grew quite flat.

“Dear person who signaled SOS, we cannot come to save you from distress right now. Please accept these helpful sea turtles instead, we are sorry for the inconvenience. Sincerely Life Guardian, Seaquestria Turtle Toga Outpost.”

“Can you get me to over there please?” I stowed the message away and was looking to the sea turtle I was resting on.

It smiled and nodded and started to swim, I was upset that the sea ponies weren't giving me a song and dance number.

Oh, I just had an awful idea!

Sea turtles mate, sea turtles...

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3DjQID6g_s

(New Knowledge!)

Combinations- You've used magical alchemy before, but have you ever thought of what you'd get when you mixed things together?

Cast Sustain- Sustaining a cast stretches the burn of the items used for casting, requires a combination to be used.

(New Magical Alchemy Ingredients!)

12. Griffon Feather.

Cast: Feather Falling (Limited air terrain support buff). Lowers gravity’s effect on an individual for a minute.

Sustain: Double Jump (Continuous Mobility buff). Can jump off the air one time after leaving a solid surface.

Self-sustain: None.

13. Fish (or any) Oil.

Cast: Ignition (Multipurpose offensive and support spell). Ignites itself and anything around it except the user.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

14. Candle Wax.

Cast: Slow Down (Supportive debuff spell). Stiffens a target, can have a wide area of effect for reduced effectiveness.

Sustain: Heat resistance (Limited continuous defensive buff). Does not stop heat damage entirely and candle takes heat damage in place of the user.

Self-Sustain: None.

15. Pepper.

Cast: Sneezing cloud (Limited continuous Defensive spell). Wide range spell that doesn’t affect the user, causes continuous sneezing on contact and doesn’t necessarily need to be breathed to take effect.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

16. Tricorne.

Cast: Charisma boost (Limited status buff). Gives one the ability to walk around with confidence.

Side-effect: May instill need for showboating in user.

Sustain: ???.

Self-Sustain: ???.

(New Magical Alchemy Combinations!)

Combination 1: Candle Wax + Oil (any) + Pepper = Chaos Candle. Candle hollowed out and filled with the other two ingredients mixed together equals devastating results.

Cast: Sneezing flash bomb (Offensive one use spell). Blinding, sinus wrecking and volatile magical cast.

Sustain Cast: Weak jet propulsion device (Limited air terrain support buff), Flamethrower (Limited offensive spell). Doing this will slowly destroy the candle and chemicals used in it. Exhaust fumes has a lesser effect of casting with pepper.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Combination 2: Feather + stick + arrowhead (material any) = arrow. Arrow + poison = special status ailment added to casting effect based on poison used. Pukwudgie Poison (Paralysis for a few hours).

Cast: Arcing Arrow Beam (Offensive spell). Fires a beam that is effected by gravity as if it were an arrow, it can only damage one target and that’s the first thing it touches. If it grazes a wall and then hits you, it will do nothing to you.

Sustain Cast: Spray of multiple weaker beam shots.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

---

Okay, the Magical Alchemy List is going to be quite complicated with time. Would having it as seperate chapter be illegal if it's an intrinsic part of the story?

Also because you might have had expectations, the thing below is probably the one I should have used at the top of the authors note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27mB8verLK8

Chapter Four, DLC: Dangerous Living Conditions.

-Jade-

I hummed softly to myself, I was being watched by a few people on the busy pier full of pirates, brigands, thieves and rogues. There was a reason for this, I was riding into the harbor on the backs of two sea turtles with a baby seat turtle hugging my ankle.

In the distance I could hear the sounds of cannons firing, I could smell of gun powder in the air among the sea breeze as the gentle winds caressed this loud port town filled with all walks of life. Most of said life was violent, unruly and savage.

It left me wondering, what would my welcoming committee to Turtle Toga be?

The sea turtles were really friendly about allowing me to do this, they stopped at a ladder in the water and I got off of their backs. Turning to them as I clung to the ladder, I had a few words to say to my friends.

“Thanks for the lift, the cool entrance into port and for humoring my silly desires.” I reached up for the rung above the one I was holding onto and I heard a noise behind me. I turned to see one of the turtles holding the baby turtle in its flippers out to me. “Uh, what do you want from me?”

It held the baby up to me, in a ‘take it’ kind of gesture.

“You… want me to take the baby turtle with me.” The two large sea turtles nodded and I groaned. "Are you sure?"

I had heard stories about turtle parenting skills, but this took the cake. Again they were nodded that yes, they wanted me to have the little turtle.

I couldn’t tell you why they thought this was a good idea, even if Turtles were considered a wise creature this was a rather unwise decision on their part.

“Well okay then.” I grabbed the turtle and placed it on my right shoulder, it started to cling to me and nuzzled my neck fur. It even made a cutesy sounding hissing noises. It was probably a female then, female turtles tended to hiss where males tend to growl.

As far as companions went, turtles were generally quiet and friendly. This one wouldn’t be hard to feed as it was vegan species of turtle.

It was only once I was at the top of the ladder that I realized that the baby turtle was not the same species as the two turtles who gave her to me. The two turtles in question were leatherbacks, this turtle on my shoulder was a green sea turtle. I tabled my confusion for the moment.

“Is there any particular reason they wanted you with me?” Who would really expect a response from a young turtle like this one? I probably should have, as it shook its head no to the question. It pointed to itself with its right flipper and hissed a bit before pointing towards me. “You wanted to be with me?”

The tiny turtle nodded and I finished climbing the ladder onto the docks of Turtle Toga with a turtle on my right shoulder. I feel like I was being set up for some sort of cosmic level joke.

“Well I don’t know what to call you, so it’ll be a while before I give you a name.” I started along the pier towards town, at least it was a nice shade of green. “Also, I think you're making poor life choices.”

As I walked along the pier towards town, I spotted something yellow falling in front of me within my peripheral visual range and my foot happened to go down on it.

What followed was me slipping on what I can only assume is a banana peel and doing a complete backflip. I stuck the landing and caught the falling turtle on my right shoulder. I also grabbed my souvenir pirate hat out of the air with my left hand and placed it back on my head.

I blinked for a second and then slowly turned towards the one who threw the banana peel with an angry gaze.

“What exactly were you expecting to happen there?” I asked of the parrot girl just staring at me dumbfounded that I hadn’t fallen flat on my ass, she was laying on a bunch of boxes to my right. “I’m an Abyssinian, we can always land on our feet.”

“For you to take a bad tumble and me getting a good laugh for one. You seem like a smooth operator there captain.” She had black and white feathers, the long black feathers on her head looked almost like they were braided and framing her face. Her bright purple eyes surrounded by white feathers were filled with a sense of wonder as she looked upon me. Upon closer inspection of the lounging anthropomorphic parrot with a bunch of bananas next to her, her long feathers were actually braided together. It was a really neat look for the parrot, she was also wearing a white shirt and black vest and brown pants. “I’m…”

“No, wait, don’t tell me… Jaqueline Sparrow?” Because what else could she be named given her appearance.

“I wish... I’m Jacky Chickadee.” Wait, did Jacky here just confirm to me that there was someone actually called Sparrow in this world? How in the world does that work? Well this is a magical fantasy world with anthropomorphic bird people, so of course it works. “Now who are you captain?”

“Why am I your captain and what’s your angle here?” I wasn’t exactly known worldwide for my exploits yet, yet this Parrot already seemed invested in me. “I just got into town and I lack any form of notoriety whatsoever.”

“Then what better place to start than here, eh my wonderful captain? You need a guide and I need a friend!” Ms. Chick sat up while clasping her hands together and wheedled at me while I just stared at her blankly. She closed her eyes and continued speaking. “You see, it works out for the both of us and I don’t care where you’re going as long as I get to come…. along? Hey, where are you going?!”

I was walking away from this one at an even pace along the strip of buildings with various maritime flavors, I was washing my paws of that parrot immediately!

“To find a decent tailor, get some fresh clothes, receive the one rare as Tartarus soap bar in this dingy town, use it, do some extreme ship shopping and to get away from you!” I continued forward while shouting back over my shoulder. “I can get into all kinds of trouble by myself without your help! Also you didn’t answer my question and tried to dodge it, which would have been more effective if I were a complete idiot.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that Captain Kitty!” She started to follow me into the town and I ignored her presence.

I passed by several salty sea dogs that were drunk. They were quite literal sea dogs, given that they were Diamond Dogs that seemed to be sleeping off hangovers. Average pirate grunts from the look of it.

I was walking by a store that seemed to sell compasses when the window was smashed outward and I stepped around the unconscious dark blue earth pony stallion on the ground.

There was a pitched fight going on to my right, it was between two cutlass wielding Minotaurs who looked quite skilled at wielding such small and lightweight weapons.

Now if I were a…

A thunderous explosion and a wall of dirt kicked up in my face. I looked at the ground and saw a cannonball resting there, having dug its way into the street ahead of me. That could have killed me, even if I had seen it coming it would have killed me had I been a few seconds faster. I didn’t have a cast or sustain that could have stopped a cannonball cold, except maybe the knife sheath.

“Okay I’m sold on you being my captain! A lesser pirate would have absolutely been in position to lose a limb. All the best pirates are the ones that haven’t lost a limb yet or are quite skilled despite missing one.” I ignored the commentary of the following Jacky. “So where do you want to… hey are you still ignoring me? Come on now captain, I’m offering my services to you with no strings attached you know!”

“It’s the unattached strings or the unseen ones that I’m worried about.” If this were a pirate story, then it was dangerous for me to even acknowledge that Jacky even existed knowing this world.

“Uh hey, you’re not thinking of going in there right?” I looked to the building Jacky pointed out and she seemed a bit reluctant to go in there. It was tavern, just the place I needed to go.

This was a world where two parrots could wrestle over a fish sandwich apparently, I moved past the two pirates fighting for the right to eat said sandwich at the entrance and entered the bar. It was less than what I expected, but it still had the feel of a seedy pirate bar.

I entered a cavernous open room with less than half its furniture smashed, by pirate standards this was probably the ritziest place in all of Turtle Toga.

There was the running dice rolling game at a table with unicorns that all looked to be cheating, their cutie marks seemed to be directly tied to gambling enough for it. I wouldn’t challenge them to a game if I was smart, it seemed to be about who could cheat the best.

I stopped to watch a pegasus mare with a cutlass cutie mark for a few seconds. She was in the middle of beating a diamond dog black and blue with her bare hooves. I decided to steer clear of that altercation.

There was a yak playing a piano… poorly. I would have probably been better off without ears right now, it was the most horrible thing I’ve heard since I got here.

I was noticing a distinct lack of Abyssinians of any kind here, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an Abyssinian pirate before and I doubt I ever really would. When you were a mercantile nation, it was a bad idea to mess with your people’s ability to survive.

The odd thing out here is that the bartender was a yellow hippogriff with a blue bandana on his head, he looked up from the glass he was wiping. I sat down on the stool and gave the yak a glance.

“A yak on the piano… who did you lose a bet to for that to happen?” The hippogriff gave me a flat stare.

“That’s my wife.” That explained so much about the hippogriff, I looked at his wife and she wasn’t ugly by any means. She was probably a rarity around here and not too bad looking, but her piano playing was destroying my ears.

“That explains a lot about why you haven’t stopped her horrible playing yet, at least she looks nice.” He just nods at me without comment and continues to clean the glass. “Do you know anything about Jacky Chickadee, a place where I can get clean clothes and an airship that nobody would miss if stolen? Given the kind of customers you get around here, you can just point me at whoever you like the least.”

“Yes, on all counts. Jacky’s an odd bird, she believes one day she’ll find a lucky person to follow around by sticking around here. Not many people who are here are lucky in any respect or else they wouldn't call this place home, except for me that is.” He smiled towards the female yak fondly, despite cringing at her piano playing. He got a bowl out and started pouring some cream in it before shoving it to me. “On the house, don’t worry about paying. Anyway, I don’t know why Jacky’s really here, not exactly the safest town for a girl like her. She gets by well enough on her own though, she’s sometimes known as Black Jack.”

“Thanks for the cream.” Sniffing it to be sure it was safe, I picked up the bowl and started to partake in it. The cream was quite tasty and any Abyssinian was keen on eating dairy, except for the exceedingly rare and quite sad lactose intolerant Abyssinian.

“Don’t mention it, because I’m sure my wife will as she likes it when I do nice things for friendly folk.” Eventually the noise, that could barely be called music, stopped and I heard the sound of the yak thundering over to the counter. “If you need some clothes fresh, and not stolen off someone’s back, there’s a shop out the door to the left and down the next street. It’s the only thrift store in town. I'm sure you know why, pirate town and all.”

“Is Eir’s husband being nice and making friends again?” The yak heavy with thick brown fur walked around behind the counter and then pulled the poor hippogriff into a crushing hug that made the poor guys bones pop. The hippogriff really seemed to like it despite the slightly pained look on his face. “Eir is loving Gallant Bluster as life companion.”

“That sounds…” I started to mutter and stopped. If it was the Eir that was known for her medical talents… and her battle prowess as a Valkyrie. For the love of… I just ran into the Norse version of Sekhet. On an island of pirates of all things! “Excuse me, could you remove the stitches from my left shoulder? They’re chafing.”

“How did you know Eir is being good at medicine? Oh right, you are friend of husband, how silly of me to be forgetful! You are being in need of Eir’s care yes?” After finishing my cream, Eir led me to the back room to have my stitches removed. It also led to one very embarrassing medical checkup via Eir the out of place medical Valkyrie.

I came back to the tavern once I was finished getting cleaned up and healed. I was looking much better than when I had left and I was now a fan of the Valkyrie Eir. Gallant addressed me once more.

“As for your last question before my wife dragged you off to see to your health. Yes, I do know of a ship you can take, you’ll be doing me and a few others a big favor.” The hippogriff blushed as his large wife cuddled up to him. “There’s a small pirate airship in particular nearby, it’s the one that’s been firing cannonballs randomly into town and we’d like it to be taken from its three owners.”

Eir nodded in agreement, as did a few of the other patrons when I looked around the tavern.

“It’s been bad for business, the real pirates certainly don’t want to deal with the riffraff until necessary.” Gallant ran a claw through his feathers. “The ship you’re looking for is The Double Dare, it shouldn’t be hard for you to steal.”

“What am I expecting here?” This didn’t sound too problematic.

“Three diamond dogs.” He sighed as another cannon shot was heard. “Without the ship they really won’t be so much trouble.”

I nodded and turned to leave only for a familiar, if younger, green feathered parrot to walk in. The young Celaeno still had both her legs.

Author's Notes:

Even chickadees have a mythological background.

Chapter Four, DLC: Cannot look dumber.

-Celestia-

“What do you mean she isn’t here?!” This was bad, the sun priest is in danger and I couldn’t do anything to help them. Why were they so hard to keep track of? They were already hard enough to protect as is it when their existence is discovered by the wrong hooves.

Said wrong hooves had to of have at least figured it out by now.

Jade was probably the only sun priest in this generation, at least she was the only one that I knew of. I just wished she could live a fulfilling life even if she never did anything else as a sun priest. I was even actually going to make an effort to periodically check in on her to make sure she was doing okay and was well protected.

“She took an arrow to the chest from a pukwudgie for me and fell into the river in Ponyville during a recent raid. We don’t exactly know where she is.” There was no other option than to believe Fizzle as Pukwudgies had attacked Ponyville recently and she looked quite upset by the event.

I turned to the campfire. It was still going, so at least I know that Jade was still alive at least. I tried to use a locator spell, but the location she was at was completely unplottable. I felt a mild bit of panic at that.

There were a lot of places Jade could be, some of which were not very pleasant. I hoped she could take care of herself, she was so young and fragile.

Zebras? Oh, they had visitors! Seeing the zebra colt made me realize something… I forgot to post a teacher for the school that I had built here. I slowly pulled my right hoof from its shoe and slapped it to my face.

-Jade-

I had simply ignored the young parrot pirate Celaeno’s presence.

I said goodbye to Gallant and Eir, then left to seek out the clothing store I was told about. As long as I didn’t do anything to attract Celaeno’s attention, then nothing horrible would happen. It’s like tiptoeing around a vat of nitroglycerine, you don’t want to make any sudden movements or else everything explodes violently.

Jacky followed me to the clothing store and I ignored her insistence that she could help me or the fact that the turtle on my right shoulder was currently eating a lettuce leaf held between its two flippers calmly. I didn’t even care where it got the lettuce from, it could obviously take care of itself.

The unicorn at the clothing store was named Stitching Crossbones or Stitch as she preferred to be called. Stitch was an exclusively pirate themed pony clothier. She only made pirate styled clothes, at least she was amiable about my chosen purchases. Though I could hardly get her to make anything normal for me.

The clothing I was now wearing now was at least comfortable. I was wearing a green long coat, white shirt and brown pants. The only thing that doesn’t follow Stitch’s rule of only making pirate themed clothing was the underwear.

I was so thankful that she could do normal underwear that I bought two extra hats, they were souvenirs for mom and Fizzy. Apparently Stitch didn’t mind cross theming a pirate hat with a witch’s hat nor did she mind putting a firework design above a soda bottle on the hat I was getting for Fizzy. She also modified the pirate hat I had stolen from Gash to have a symbol of a cute smiling cat face on it in my fur color.

I will admit that Stitch did really good work and the smiling cat face on my hat was adorable, she was quite surprised when I paid her in full. It’s not like it was my money to begin with, I was paying for this stuff with the booty stolen from good old Captain Gash.

It was getting late in the evening as I left the store, I decided I needed a place to rest. I’d attack the three diamond dogs at dawn, I didn’t care to figure out why they were firing cannonballs into the town randomly.

“Okay Jacky, you’ve been following me for quite a while now.” Just for the sake of posterity I had to ask. “Will you eventually stop following me around?”

“No captain, I’m as loyal as they come!” Ms. Chickadee at least sounded sincere about that.

“Know a good place where I can sleep for the night at least?” Well if she was going to keep bothering me, then I may as well ask her for some help.

“Sure thing captain!” Before I knew it, Jacky was dragging me along to the nearest inn in town.

Was she doing all this just because I refused to do a comedic pratfall?

- The next day and a sun salutation later. –

I spy with my eyes, a ship with three diamond dogs in the early morning sun. I was sneaking up on the ship to stop them from hitting me with that cannon.

Unlike Sekhet, I was not immortal nor did I think myself invincible. You probably wouldn’t know it by the way I threw myself off of high places, Captain Gash’s ship and Canterlot being two notable occasions.

They were somewhat smart dogs, they had parked the airship on the nearby beach at the edge of the water.

There would have been nothing but open ground between me and the ship had I decided to walk along the beach. Instead I got some help from my little green sea turtle friend and approached the ship from the sea on the back of another large turtle.

I had made sure to check my stuff before I set out on this venture, surprisingly Jacky hadn’t tried to rob me blind or do anything untoward to me at all. In fact I didn’t know where she was or what she was doing when I left the inn this morning.

I had one chaos candle, seventeen griffon feathers, three phoenix feathers, two vials of fish oil, my fish scale necklace, a quarter of a pepper shaker, a full salt shaker, three bits of leftover wax from modifying the candles and eight pukwudgie arrows. I wanted to save the chaos candle to show to mom and it would have been a bit too destructive to use. I wasn’t about to use the fish oil either, I actually wanted to take the ship intact.

The arrows were the least useful thing I had on me at the moment. I could fire one big beam or an inaccurate spray of multiple smaller beams. The damage the big beams dealt would be negligible if it hit clothing, or anything else for that matter, before touching any part of the target itself. The little beams from the cast sustain would do more damage by comparison because each beam would hit something different, but I’d have to get close enough to hit anything with them given how bad the spread was and my ammo supply was quite limited.

The bits of wax was the most useful stuff, as I had enough for the diamond dogs. I didn’t know what to do with them once I knocked them out, did I just leave them on the beach? Well I wasn’t about to harm them too much and I was conscious of the current tide.

The turtle pulled up next to the ship, my claws came out and I started carefully scaling the side quietly. I didn’t want to be heard by the dogs before I could get a sneak attack off.

“Thanks for the lift buddy.” I whispered back to the turtle, it gave me a friendly nod before swimming off. I gripped the edge of the ship and looked around on deck, it appears nobody was up yet. Let sleeping sea dogs lie.

I reached up and grabbed the rail to pull myself onboard and looked to the turtle on my shoulder munching on a bit of carrot. Someone had apparently taken advantage of the free salad bar this morning. I swear that was the least pirate thing about the island, aside from the friendly people I’ve met.

Who has ever really heard of pirates that eat salads anyway? Well aside from pony pirates when it’s an absolutely necessary dietary need.

This island was just a big pirate themed theme park wasn’t it? The cannonball yesterday had certainly been real and dangerous, not to mention the several fights going on in town. I had expected less normalcy than this, but I guess even pirates needed their down time.

I was standing on deck and looking about, this ship was of a pretty decent size. Good enough for a small crew of at least fifteen people. Probably about two to four times the size of an average catboat.

Catboats are used a lot in Abyssinia for obvious reasons if the pun wasn’t bad enough. Even I knew how to pilot a catboat, but I didn’t know how to fully pilot an airship.

I’m sure I could figure it out, it couldn’t be that hard.

“What is mangy cat doing on deck?” In answer to your question random diamond dog standing behind me, I was scoping out the real estate with a small hold, likely four rooms, a captain’s cabin and the balloon that wasn’t present despite there being rigging for it.

“Looking for a place to ambush some really dumb flea bitten mutts and steal this ship.” Answering it in a conversational tone was probably the best way to go about things. “In the middle of a sentence if I have to.”

“Well mangy cat won’t be able to…” I swung around and launched a devastating right hook across his jaw, completed the spin and went back to scoping things out like that didn’t just happen.

“That’s what you get for calling me mangy two times. I washed myself quite thoroughly this morning you jerk!” I’m surprised he was actually standing close enough for me to do that. I saved one of my wax casts doing that, because all I heard from him now was his groaning form on the deck at the moment. “At least I take my hygiene seriously.”

Looking about after that outburst, I grabbed the diamond dog by his yellow vest and dragged him over to the beach side of the ship and heaved him overboard. I dusted my hands off turned around and jumped back from the clumsy, but quite fast, swing for my head by a smaller diamond dog.

I quickly reached into my pants pocket and immediately threw a wax cast directly into his… er… her? Well I cast in its face and then I kicked them hard knocking them on their back. If diamond dogs struggled to win a fight with civilian ponies despite having numbers on their side, then the three salty dogs shouldn’t be hard for me to take down.

I think I just wasted my cast on the… was it a female diamond dog? It was hard to tell, they looked so masculine despite the minor feminine features.

“Excuse me for asking this, but are you a female dog?” The brown furred diamond dog with floppy ears just gave me a highly confused look. I sighed, it was sad that this was a legitimate question that I had to ask. “Are you a bitch?”

“Yes, I am. Why is body hard to move?” Oh good, at least I had confirmation, because her voice was hard to read as well. “Like being in sand, but not!”

“That’ll wear off eventually… are you with child by any chance?” She shook her head no as she slowly moved towards me with all her muscles stiffened up.

“Oh good, then I can do this with a clear conscience!” I jumped to her right dodging the clumsy grab and tackled her face with my shoulder and knocked her off the side of the ship.

I looked over the side to make sure she was okay. It appears that she had landed on her head, so she was definitely fine.

I heard a growling noise coming at me from behind and I barely avoided the third diamond dog clawing my face off by rolling backwards, he was slightly bigger than the other two. His clubbed tail looked like a baseball bat just to name something of compensation going on here.

At least I know why the other two diamond dogs looked scrawny. This was their alpha and he had a bit more meat on him, he looked like a bulldog species.

Growling angrily at me, he charged and I could feel my ears wilting. My cat instincts were kicking in and telling me to run, so I did so on all fours with a barking diamond dog on my tail also running on his four limbs.

The next estimated five minutes were spent by me running in aimless circles on the deck with me ducking and jumping around him trying to get his teeth in me.

I eventually came to my senses and leapt up onto the beach side rail, tapped my knife for its magical sustain and did a well-timed backflip. I kicked off the back of the diamond dogs head doing another flip while sending him off the side of the ship.

“Now all I have to… do... if there were only three diamond dogs, then why is the balloon already inflating?” The balloon was starting to lift the ship from the beach.

“Don’t worry captain, I got the ship ready to go while you were dealing with them!” Please, for the love of all that was the holy sun, tell me that wasn't Jacky. I moved towards the center of the ship and saw her behind the wheel.

“Let me guess, you got here before me and were waiting on me?” The bird nodded at me cheerfully with a bright smile on her beak as she took the helm. “Okay, I’m beginning to think there’s something horribly wrong with you being around me.”

“What makes you say that captain?” I held my hands out to both my sides showing Jacky exhibit A and exhibit B.

On one side of me was Captain Gash with four pirate griffons and on the other was Celaeno with four pirate parrots. They were all pointing swords towards me. Why was I suddenly the center of two different pirate groups?

“Call it a hunch, but I think you might be a living jinx Black Jack.” My words made Jacky wince a bit and she looked away ruffling her braided feathers.

“Did you seriously think I’d let you get away with dropping my ship into the sea lass? We pulled into port last night and we’ve been looking for you!” Well that explains Captain Gash being here, I turned to Celaeno and raised my brow delicately.

“I’m here for the ship of course, you haven’t done wrong by me yet.” Celaeno of course chooses now of all times to become an active pirate. “What’s your name anyway?”

“I’m Jaded La Perm, rogue sun priest.” I quickly turned to point at Captain Gash. “Parley!”

“Damn it all!” Captain Gash screeched angrily, I knew that much of the pirate code jerk ass and your men can’t touch me until we’ve done business.

“Some priestess.” Muttered Celaeno sarcastically in my direction while crossing her arms loosely. "Are you sure you're not some talented pirate? You certainly have the look of one."

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Romance of the three rogues.

-Jacky B. Chickadee-

“Can you steer us closer to the port without us all dying?” Captain Jade might not have understood that this was my chance to start life for real and do something with myself, but I forgave her for that.

“Aye aye, Captain La Perm!” I started to steer the ship for the port. As long as I didn’t go too far out, then things wouldn’t hopefully get so bad.

“For the record, despite her calling me that, we only met yesterday and I think she’s unintentionally trying to kill me.” That hurt a bit, but she wasn’t wrong and her anger towards me was completely understandable. I wasn’t trying to kill her, I was hoping she’d actually survive me.

My captain had been lucky so far, the banana peel thing had made me sit up and take attention. Sure all the banana peel slips I’ve seen had been funny, but the laughter was bitter as I'm reminded of my… situation.

The thing she said about always landing on her feet had quite a bit of meaning. It mean that no matter how bad things got for her, she’d always try to come out standing. That really meant a lot to me.

That cannonball missing by several feet and only getting her covered slightly in dirt was what really opened my eyes to the possibility that I had finally found my captain.

It was bad enough that my presence probably somehow let the diamond dogs sneak up on Captain La Perm, but she dealt with them well enough. Now she had five pirates on both sides of her down on the deck and things didn’t look too good until she called for a parley. Captain La Perm would probably be better off if I didn’t try to help her right now.

-Jade-

Once we were parked over the open water above the port, I decided to get things moving along.

“Okay, to start things off I absolutely need this ship. The pirate parrots want this ship, but don’t necessarily need it.” I pointed to Celaeno and then turned to Captain Gash. “You Captain Gash want both this ship… and my head.”

“Aye, you’ve run my patience down and I’ve none left for you.” He waved his sword in my direction with a scowl. “Parley is just delaying the inevitable. We can all just finish you off quickly enough and then get to dealing with each other.”

“I don’t feel like killing someone today, also there’s the code to think of.” The young teenage Celaeno wasn’t on my side, but at least she wasn’t bloodthirsty like Captain Gash currently was. “She has made no aggressive moves against any of us yet since calling parley, she also has yet to barter with either of us. Just to be sure we’re all on the up and up, parley to the both of you.”

“Okay then.” While in parley I was safe for the moment, Captain Gash could not order his men to attack me and he couldn’t attack me himself until we absolutely talked about a possible deal. In turn I couldn’t do anything aggressive either and since Celaeno agreed to parley with us both, that means she’s also bound by the code. “Hey Jacky, can you find me a sword and toss it to me? I'll need it when we get to fighting.”

Chickadee looked a bit worried about the idea of even throwing a sheathed sword at me.

“Are you sure about that captain, couldn’t I just… give it to you?” Well you could do that Jacky, but I’d really like to see what will happen if you threw it at me. “Do I really have to throw it?”

“Yes.” I just really wanted to confirm something here. Jacky opened her mouth to say something and I made her stop with a glare. “I’m quite sure.”

“Fine, I’ll do it. Just know that I’m warning you now that something will go wrong.” With that Jacky set out to look for a sword in the ship and I sat down to wait. The parrot pirates and Gash’s griffons followed my lead in taking a seat.

“While she’s busy with that, I’m going to suggest a ‘mêlée a trois’ for ownership of The Double Dare.” I was getting a stink eye from Captain Gash at the suggestion, but Celaeno seemed interested in a fight. “It would be fitting.”

“Hmm… no magic is allowed in the fight in any form.” It was Captain Gash’s right to set a term if we’re going to fight. That’s a big if, depending on what Celaeno said.

“Agreed… what say you?” After I accepted Gash’s terms, we turned to Celaeno. His conditions had me a bit worried, at least he didn’t anything say anything too hard to follow. “I’m sorry, I don't know your name. This guy is Captain Gash and the pink hat is my fault, just to give you an idea of why he’s so keen on drawing and quartering me.”

“Call me Celaeno, I actually think that hat looks charming on the old codger. I agree to his terms.” She closed her eyes to think and her four friends looked in her direction. After a minute she opened her eyes, I had no idea what she was thinking when it came to Gash’s terms or my agreement with them. “No swapping in substitutes or getting outside help during the fight, we three fight until we can’t fight any more or give up.”

“Agreed.” I and Gash agreed to the terms at the same time.

They both looked to me, it was my turn to set the terms if I could actually think of anything. The one suggesting the mêlée was the last to set a term. If I couldn’t think of anything, then we’d go with what we had.

“We all fight on even footing. No backup weapons, just the swords and our bodies.” The two pirates looked thoughtful at my words.

Each one of our terms was to give ourselves an advantage.

Gash wanted the advantage over me and didn’t want me using magic. This fight was going hurt, a lot. I wasn’t exactly trained to fight with a sword.

Celaeno’s advantage was an escape clause and not having to deal with more than two opponents, young pirates would often use it if they didn’t think they had enough experience to survive the fight.

My advantage was worded carefully, even footing meant that captain Gash couldn’t fly and had to fight us on the ground with just a sword or whatever his body could do naturally.

“Agreed.” Celaeno didn’t see any problem with my terms and it was up to Captain Gash, we haven’t exactly said anything about not killing one another.

“Agreed.” It took Captain Gash long enough, he was definitely thinking hard about whether or not he could take either of us without flying. “It seems we are waiting on your sword you ugly guttersnipe.”

“Of course we are bleeding beard.” If he was going to start insulting, then I was going to do some myself. “Don’t open any more arteries in yourself, you might accidentally fill the world with your taint. Goodness knows, your blood is not fit for the sea or the sky.”

“You are absolutely the worst priestess I’ve ever heard.” Celaeno didn’t insult me all too hard, she then turned to Captain Gash. “You are a scum sucking pufferfish and the only thing that inflates for you anymore is your ego.”

“It’s not the size that matters, but what you do with it you wailing harpy of a fat manatee.” Last insult fired, we all waited for Jacky.

Jacky came back three minutes later with a sheathed sword and was about to walk down the steps.

“I told you to throw it to me.” She was quite uneasy and she looked at the steps between me and her, she tossed the sword.

I quickly got up to my feet and took a single step back. The sword somehow fell out of the sheath, spun end over end and slammed down between my legs blade side up almost touching my new pants. The sheath smacked me in the head making me rub the spot it hit, but nothing much worse happened.

“That could have killed you.” Celaeno said lazily as she eyed Jacky with some suspicion. “If you hadn’t moved… it could have pierced your head.”

“It thankfully didn’t though.” That was all I had to say on the subject as I put the cutlass in the sheath and held it upside down, it didn’t fall out. Ms. Chickadee was really unlucky. “I suggest she be the one to start us off on our mêlée a trois.”

“Now you just be tempting fate horribly, I accept.” Anything to get an advantage, eh Captain Gash?

-

We three stood at the ready in the middle of the deck, equidistant from one another. To my left was Captain Gash and on my right was Celaeno. I held my cutlass forward with my left hand, both Caelano and Gash were holding theirs in their right.

We had nothing on us except our clothes and our weapons.

Weapons pointed towards the center of the three person circle, we waited for the battle to start.

Green feathers, white plumage, the rose eyed Celaeno look ready with her sword. Pink hat of rage and a beard of red feathers, Captain Gash wanted to rip his opponent’s apart. I was the odd one out as I held my sword, of which I had no training or any skill with.

“Ready arms… begin!” Jacky quickly backed out of the way sending me a worried look and we immediately started.

Captain Gash went for me, but I in turn went for Celaeno surprising both of them. Celaeno blocked my clumsy leftwards slash and I danced out of the way of Gash’s stab taking a light graze to my left arm.

We all stopped and looked between one another, then we started tapping our feet to an unseen rhythm.

Celaeno struck out at me, I ducked under her swing and tried to swing for Gash who deflected my blow and riposted expertly and tried to get Celaeno in the shoulder. I had already backed out of range and Celaeno deflected Gash, now we were looking between each other more carefully.

I was the least skilled and experienced, but a wild card was always dangerous. Celaeno was young and strong, Gash was old and experienced. We were balanced, as neither of them wanted to lose sight of me or each other.

All three of use clashed our swords together at the same time, while they were locked I swung my right hand claws at Gash’s face catching him sharply above his left eye. Give that wound a minute to bleed over the left side of his face and he’d be blinded in one eye. Celaeno quickly sucker punched me turning my right eye black with a bruise and she took a shallow cut to the right leg from Gash.

We backed away and were now stomping to an intense rhythm and we started to slowly move in a clockwise circle with the parrots and griffons egging us on.

One of us had to go down if any of us were to gain an advantage, my best bet was to play Celaeno and Gash off one another.

We moved, I stabbed my sword downwards into the deck. Gash’s sword hit it stopping it from getting any closer to hitting me. I ducked under Celaeno’s blow coming in from my right and I kicked Gash in his belly winding him, I grabbed my sword and spun around with it to the left. It clipped Celaeno’s left shoulder and hitting Gash’s sword as it came up to deflect me. I stumbled back from the deflection.

“Are you sure you’re a priestess? You’ve got good instincts.” Celaeno said conversationally as she came at me with a flourish, I blocked her first swing and the second slid across the left side of my face drawing blood. I launched my fist at her and she stepped backwards with a smile. The smile was soon gone as she had almost gotten run through by Captain Gash.

I charged and managed to smack the attacking Gash’s wrist with the back of my sword with an upwards flick, it almost made him almost drop his sword.

He growled as he strengthened the grip on his sword and changed tactics to unleash a rapid flourish at me. I barely managed to deflect the worst of it as I took several painful wounds across my body. Celaeno thankfully distracted him.

Celaeno held her own against Captain Gash and they traded blows sending some sparks flying. I interrupted them by thrusting at Gash’s side and managed to get a good portion of his right wing making him grunt in pain and staggering him.

“She’s not traditionally trained, but her instincts for finding openings is admittedly quite good.” Gash actually complimented me, I’m touched. we started to slowly circle again watching one another’s movements closely. “Wish she’d just up and die though.”

Less touched.

We were practically dancing with how fast we were moving into and out of each other’s range trying to find a good opportunity to press the attack. We deflected blows, blocked them and attacked one another in a shifting rhythm.

With a twitch of my right ear I swung for Celaeno’s head as Gash came at me. Celaeno blocked and I held that block shifted it into the path of the blow meant for me from Gash and then slid my blade upwards catching Gash shallowly in the throat beneath his beard.

Gash started coughing as he backed away from me clutching his throat and I quickly dropped my sword. This was much to Celaeno’s surprise when her first attack wasn’t blocked and her following attack missed me because I was busy knocking her legs out from under her.

Once she fell, I got into a crouching position where I somersaulted forward and slammed my right heel into her chest winding her. Celaeno grabbed my leg and slammed me belly first to the deck, she took my sword and deflected Gash from stabbing me through the back while I was down.

I soon stood up shakily from that near death experience, I would have to thank Celaeno for that later. Both Celaeno and Gash were busy fencing with one another, Gash was looking quite unbalanced and Celaeno was getting roughed up by him.

I looked to Celaeno’s sword, I had an idea. I took aim and kicked the sword forward while charging Celaeno.

The sword I kicked ended up between Gash’s hind legs, his left foot shifted backwards and into the hilt, the next shift of his legs sent the blade digging into his right heel. Howling in pain, he toppled and smashed the back of his head against the deck. He was out of the fight.

Celaeno tried to react to the change in the battle, but I had already gripped her wrist with my right hand. I might not be good at sword fighting, but I definitely knew brawling.

I sent my left elbow into Celaeno's face dazing her, I brought my right knee straight up into her elbow while lowering her arm with my grip. This resulted in her to dropping her sword, and then I maneuvered myself to slam my head into hers.

I was hurting badly, but I was standing.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KGwWyZtKkE

Combinations are likely have no sustain or self sustain effects because of the mixture of things involved in them.

Magical Alchemy list.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Continuous offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random (One time air terrain survival buff, possible offensive spell). Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain: Projecting thoughts. Not able to receive thoughts, but you can project them to others.

Self-sustaining: none.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: Redirect sunlight (Defensive support buff). Is only useful during the day and allows for blinding opponents or aggressors with light.

Self-sustaining: Minor protection from darkness (Automatic defensive buff while feather is on person). Needs to be charged with sunlight and to have been used as a magical alchemy sustain at least once to work.

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

9. Jade’s Cloak.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: ???. (Effect seems to do nothing, need more information.)

Self-Sustain: Makes sneaking easier (Moderate stealth buff).

10. Cupcake (Banned).

11. Frog mucus (Banned).

12. Griffon Feather.

Cast: Feather Falling (Limited air terrain support buff). Lowers gravity’s effect on an individual for a minute.

Sustain: Double Jump (Continuous Mobility buff). Can jump off the air one extra time after leaving a solid surface and only one time.

Self-sustain: None.

13. Fish Oil.

Cast: Ignition (Multipurpose offensive and support spell). Ignites itself and anything around it except the user.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

14. Candle Wax.

Cast: Stiffness. Slow down a target, can have a wide area of effect for reduced effectiveness.

Sustain: Heat resistance (Limited continuous defensive buff). Does not stop heat damage entirely and candle takes heat damage in place of the user.

Self-Sustain: None.

15. Pepper.

Cast: Sneezing cloud (Limited continuous Defensive spell). Wide range spell that doesn’t affect the user, causes continuous sneezing on contact and doesn’t necessarily need to be breathed in to take effect.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

16. Tricorne.

Cast: Charisma boost (Limited status buff). Gives one the ability to walk around with confidence.

Side-effect: May instill need for showboating in user.

Sustain: ???.

Self-Sustain: ???.

Combinations.

Combination 1: Candle Wax + Oil (any) + Pepper = Chaos Candle. Candle hollowed out and filled with the other two ingredients mixed together equals devastating results.

Cast: Sneezing flash bomb (Offensive one use spell). Blinding, sinus wrecking and volatile magical cast.

Sustain Cast: Weak jet propulsion device (Limited air terrain support buff), Flamethrower (Limited offensive spell). Doing this will slowly destroy the candle and chemicals used in it. Exhaust fumes has a lesser effect of casting with pepper.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Combination 2: Feather + stick + arrowhead (material any) = Arrow. Arrow + poison = special status ailment added to casting effect based on poison used. Pukwudgie Poison (Paralysis for a few hours).

Cast: Arcing Arrow Beam (Offensive spell). Fires a beam that is effected by gravity as if it were an arrow, it can only damage one target and that’s the first thing it touches. If it grazes a wall and then hits you, it will do nothing to you.

Sustain Cast: Spray of multiple weaker beam shots.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Romance of the airship.

-Jade-

I should never challenge any pirate to a one on one duel, if a three way was that hard to survive. I had a stab wound in my right side, the left side of my bleeding face still hurts where Celaeno slapped me with her sword and there were nicks and cuts along my arms.

I couldn’t rest or relax yet. There was a big problem that I hadn’t considered when we were setting terms, I was now acting captain of The Double Dare.

Just because I had ownership of my own airship through being the last one standing, it didn’t actually mean I could hold onto it. Say if I were suddenly attacked by pirates and it was taken from me right now, then that would have been the shortest ownership period ever.

“Congratulations on your victory, now hand over the ship and yourself to some real pirates!” One of the four griffons from captain Gash’s ship said mockingly as he turned his sword on me. “You’ll not survive a tussle with us.”

I inhaled while tapping in my fish scale necklace. This was going to hurt a whole lot, but I was going to keep this ship after a fight like that. If it required putting my blood, sweat and tears into it... then I would do that literally. I scooped up my sword that I forced Celaeno to drop and held it unsteadily.

“Jacky I don’t care what problems you have with Gallant or Eir, just get me and Celaeno to the tavern for medical help after I’m done with these guys. That’s an order first mate!” I looked back at Celaeno’s friends, they get so messed up in the future. Yet they were still capable of smiling because they had Celaeno to follow. “I hope you parrots are honorable pirates, sky or sea! Celaeno did right by me and I owe her one, help throw Captain Gash overboard after I’m done with his penguins.”

“Penguins… well I guess we are being a bit cold!” I turned back and blocked the sword coming for me while my head was turned away, I struggled against the blade held by the griffon. I think it was Gaylord, I couldn’t tell as I was tired from the fight and my right eye was swollen shut.

“Do you know why your captain had no magic as his term? He feared what my magic could do and this… is why!” My open wounds exploded into four blasts of blood, I knocked the surprised griffons off the side of the ship and into the bay.

Blood was quite thick and hits harder than water when projected.

Okay, that… had seriously hurt a lot... bad idea. The pain was indescribable, I would never do that again unless it was to save someone’s life. It was worse than the… worse than the ears.... I was so dizzy, probably from the massive blood loss. I stumbled about and then I saw the deck coming up to meet me. Hello deck, meet darkness my old friend. Let’s have a tea party!

Jacky was shouting something, was it my name?

-Jacky B. Chickadee-

I… what in the locker… did my captain just. All that blood just came flying out of her body like it was typhoon season on Turtle Toga and then she just collapsed.

“Captain La Perm!” I didn’t care if the other pirates turned on me, I ran down to cradle her body. My captain was a tough one, she just had to live! My curse couldn’t take her from me like this… it just couldn’t. I didn’t want to be stuck here in Turtle Toga, I wanted to explore the world! Orders, she gave me orders… and she even called me her first mate. She probably wouldn’t have done that if she were in her right mind, but Gallant and Eir? I… it was captains orders, I’d just have to swallow my pride and turn to them. “Who knows how to land an airship?”

I know how to get an airship into the air, but I never learned how to land it. One of the parrots came forward raising a hand.

“Please land it and help me carry my captain to the tavern…” I didn’t care about the ship or getting off the island, my captain needed me!

-Eir-

My piano playing was not the best, but I am being happy here on dangerous island with husband! Pirates were like yak, strong and violent! They all be needing good healing and Eir is always happy to help friends of husband.

Wait… is that… it is! It’s the lonely cursed Chickadee and is that… what has happened to friend of husband?! She looks one step from Yakhalla, if she is dying she’ll need an escort. She has certainly earned her rest from a recent battle at least. No… she’ll live. She’s quite close though, she has suffered a major loss of internal vitality.

I am seeing Jade as being worthy enough for a wonderful afterlife of battle, food and drink. What more can she be needing if she doesn’t come back from the brink with my help? Death is not always a sad thing, it is a grand honor for the brave to die from the wounds of battle!

“Help her...” You didn't need to ask Black Jack. I am a yak, I would've helped without prompting.

“Of course I will help her, she is friend of husband and Eir!” I bustled over to Black Jack and took the wounded one from her. Jade would live, I’m a great healer! I saw another injured carried in by parrots. Celaeno is being friendly and strong too, I will gladly help her as well.

-Jade-

“Ugh… my body.” I blearily opened my left eye and looked about, my other was covered in bandages. “Am I dead Valkyrie?”

“No, you are not currently visiting Yakhalla. Not any time soon if you are taking medicine!” Okay Eir was taking care of me, that’s good. She may sound airheaded, but she was definitely a goddess of healing in her own particular weight class. “It will be helping inner vitality come back to you swiftly, I am happily choosing life for you! Friend Black Jack is being quite the worrier.”

I felt Eir force something down my throat and it tasted awful. Like a horrible cross between sweaty gym socks, a rotten egg, a half rotten fish barfed up by a regular bear and guano that’s been out in the sun for several days and was festering with maggots. Eir held my nose and mouth shut while rubbing my throat until I swallowed.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Eir, but I think I’d prefer the Elysium Fields.” She squeezed my cheek quite hard and cooed over me.

“I am not being upset. If it is where you wish to go in death, then you might end up there. Just know that you are always being welcome in Yakhalla, I have deemed you worthy of it personally!” I almost find the yak form of Valkyrie to be hard to take seriously, but knowing that she was ‘The Eir’ caused me shivers.

I haven’t seen her fight yet, but Eir’s medical talents were proving quite effective. I felt livelier in a few minutes after ingesting whatever it was she just forced down my throat, I didn’t even feel like asking what it was and I’m quite sure I didn’t want to know.

“So… I know I didn’t bring this up in front of Gallant previously, but does he know you’re a goddess?” I see Eir turn away from me to inspect an out cold Celaeno with an ice pack on her forehead.

“Husband is not needing to know. As long as I am being good wife to him, it is not mattering anyway.” The yak finished checking over Celaeno before coming back over to me with a smile.

“How long have I been out for?” If she wasn’t going to discuss it, then I wasn’t going to press the issue. She seemed quite cheerful despite me bringing it up. I stood up shakily, Eir quickly braced me and comfortingly rubbed my back.

“You are being down for three hours, that you are already up is saying something of my skills in tending to mortals." She held her head up proudly with a brighter smile. "Is also personal record!”

“Been in any good fights lately?” I asked conversationally as I started stumble and move forward, I needed to get out of Turtle Toga today. I didn’t want the rest of Gash’s crew to come at me too.

“I am enjoying many various tavern brawls, smashing chairs over the heads of idiots is quite fun.” Ah, she’s the fun type of Valkyrie who took violence in a less than serious manner. “Protecting cute husband is keeping Eir’s battle skills quite sharp!”

“Am I good to go?” I might be a bit wobbly, but I was standing on my own strength as Eir had stopped bracing me thirty seconds ago. She shoved my pack into my chest and grinned. “That answers that… do you know a goddess named Sekhet?”

“The sphinx? Eir is knowing of her, she is said to be fierce and strong! I am never meeting her though.” She pushed me through the door into the tavern and Jacky was instantly moving towards me for big hug. Jacky was grabbed out of the air by a standing Eir, the yak had caught Jacky by the scruff of her neck before she could tackle me. “She is still healing Black Jack, be more responsible of her health. Also Celaeno will be completely fine.”

“One last question Eir. If a unicorn has a broken a horn, could you possibly fix it?” There was an odd silence as Eir gave me a searching look. I gave her a clear serious expression.

“That is not a very easy thing to fix, is like growing a new limb… only much harder. I will try to find information and will give it to you if you ever come back to Turtle Toga.” After Eir’s words, the pirate parrots started talking to each other as I sat down and gave Gallant a friendly wave.

I paused and thought of something… I needed to write a note and leave it with Celaeno. I was going to warn her about the misfortune malachite, hopefully she takes my warning seriously. The misfortune malachite was an Abyssinian treasure that the storm king definitely deserved to have, mostly because it’ll end him trying to use it.

- Thirty minutes later on The Double Dare-

“It was nice meeting you guys, but I have to get home. Try a different ship, I’m sure you’ll find one eventually!” Celaeno’s pirate parrots were quite friendly, they even paid for a round of cream for me and they were waving us off as we lifted into the sky. I didn’t want to stick around with Gash still being in the area after he was tossed unceremoniously into the bay. It’ll be blamed on me so that he doesn’t bother Celaeno, because her crew were the ones that actually did that. “Come on Jacky, we’ve got to get this bucket moving today! I really want to get home by this evening to see my mom’s food waiting for me.”

“Aye, aye, Captain, but are you sure you’re lucky enough to get me away from Turtle Toga?” It's okay Jacky. We've a map, a compass and a general idea of where the moving island currently was in relation to Equestria. Plus I think I can understand your curse. “I’ve been stuck here my whole life because no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get off the island! I mean I tried everything, even being a slave and that ship sunk two miles away.”

“Don’t worry about a thing Jacky, I can navigate us to my home. Did we forget anything?” I felt something rub against my ankle. I turned and looked down at the small sea turtle cuddling up to me. “I guess not.”

“Er... Captain, there’s a storm brewing and I think it’s got my number on it.” The roiling dark clouds ahead and powerful winds threatened to push us back to Turtle Toga. “What do we do?”

“What none of the other guys did when you tried to escape the island previously Black Jack, I’m going to test our luck.” I struck a pose and pointed at the churning clouds of fate before me. I probably should remind myself that I was not a captain nor did I know how to captain an airship. Right now I was trying to be captain enough for Jacky. “Fly straight into it!”

“Uh… of course Captain!” We were swallowed by rains and winds aplenty in the next two minutes and Ms. Chickadee was willing to put her faith in my leadership.

I didn’t believe I had any leadership qualities whatsoever, but I could at least beat her curse for her.

- Sekhet-

I felt her presence, it was getting close to dinner time and she was approaching from the air and at a much slower speed this time. In the next few minutes I stood up looking around at the cloudy sky.

“What is it Sekhet?” Lady Kuril asked of me.

“Priest Jade, your daughter, is back now.” Though I couldn’t see where she was coming from, because the clouds were quite thick. I could just fly up there, but it didn’t seem like Priest Jade was in any trouble this time.

“Oh thank goodness... I better get started on dinner. Knowing my daughter, she’ll be complaining about not eating my food for the last day or so.” I could feel the happiness wafting off of Kuril in waves, the food tonight would be excellent.

“Why are you always sitting so far away from the campfire Sekhet?” I turned to tell Fizzle why I was not sitting closer when my left ear perked up and I heard a faint whistling sound. It almost sounded like…

- Fizzle-

The large falling object and resulting loud crashing sound had spooked me into running inside The Witch’s Fare. I turned around at the door and saw that Sekhet had been crushed... by an airship.

What I saw next made me happy, it was Jade. She was… a bit injured, but alright enough for me! What was she wearing and who was that falling alongside her?

-Jade–

“Whoops… that’s definitely going earn me a bad riddle.” Once again Sekhet ended up taking an airship to the head, Airship Mauled would be quite aptly named if that happened a third time. Feather falling down to the ground, I stumbled a bit and saw Fizzle. “Fizzy, you’re okay!”

“Idiot I should be saying that to you! You’ve been gone for almost two days and your mother’s been worried about you. I’ve… been worried about you…” She paused in front of me looking at the ground and pawed at it cutely with a hoof. She eventually looked at me. “What are you wearing and what happened to your eye?”

“Ran into some pirate’s, got some pirate clothing. My eye will be completely fine once the swelling goes down. I got you all souvenirs and I even got Sekhet a worshipper!” I pointed to Jacky who gave me a confused look.

“Is Sekhet even alive, she looks a bit…” Fizzle watched as the paw sticking out from underneath the airship started clawing the air. “I guess she's fine.”

Author's Notes:

Sekhet's mauled by an airship counter: *ding* 2.

Sorry about this chapter, some things were written in poor taste.

Valkyrie's can choose whether a warrior continues living or dies after battle.

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater.

Sustain: Water Projection (Continuous offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

(New!) Sustain 2: Blood Projection (Dangerous continuous offensive ability). Capable of performing a powerful projection, but only from open wounds. As one would imagine blood projection is exceedingly painful, taxing on the body and ultimately dangerous to the user. The intimidation factor might be worth the agony in the right situations, but it will always be a detriment to one's health.

Self-Sustaining: None.

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Romance of the slice.

-Kuril-

My daughter came back. Sure her eye was bandaged up and she looked like a pirate, but she was perfectly fine.

My daughter’s new stray was just looking at everything as if it were her first time seeing a forest and she seemed awed by the clearing we lived in. She was a cute parrot with a black bandanna skull cap on her head and the braided feathers were really adorable, I was always meeting those that were more adorable than my little tom cat.

The bird my daughter brought home was keeping mostly to herself and she looked to be sitting quietly in a corner with a sea turtle. Speaking of my daughter, where was she? Maybe I should ask Fizzle.

“Fizzle dear, where’s my daughter? Dinner will be in thirty minutes, then we can play some Ogres and Oubliettes before bed time.” The pony had been giving the parrot curious looks and she turned back to me with an upset look.

“She did kind of drop an airship on Sekhet by accident.” Well that would explain Fizzle suddenly running inside and the crashing noise I heard, maybe that’s how we’ll build the town. Give everything a crashed airship theme.

“It wasn’t the captain’s fault that the balloon exploded… mostly.” The teenage parrot spoke up defensively while hugging the turtle to her chest.

“My daughter is your captain… that’s so adorable!” After a moment I stopped clasping my hands together and coughed into my right fist. Fresh Start, Fizzle, the turtle and even the new stray were staring at me for the squeal I had unleashed. “Ahem, anyway, I take it Sekhet is going to give her a hard riddling away from all of us?”

“Yes, she dragged Jade off to riddle her.” With that Fizzle sighed while looking away from me. “It sounds like she’s going to ask a hard one this time and she doesn’t want anyone helping Jade.”

“Riddle, why would she just simply ask a riddle after taking an airship to her head?” Well stranger, even I and everyone here knew Sekhet was actually a friendly goddess. “If I were her, I’d have crushed us with my big meaty paws.”

Sekhet was relatively friendly anyway, she liked my cooking at least and I knew she would never threaten to kill Jade. There are worse things than death that could happen to my daughter. Though Sekhet did rip out an Ursa Medium’s throat in front of Fizzle, but we don’t talk about that.

“I’m Jade’s mother, who are you?” The food was simmering at the moment and didn’t need me to watch it, but I only had two minutes before I needed to get back to it. It’s vegetable chili night with crackers, corn chips and my daughter’s favorite partial obsession parmesan. My daughter always was more of a dairy loving Abyssinian than a fish loving one.

-Jade-

“Okay Sekhet, let’s get this over with. Give me what you think is a riddle worthy of this accident.” I resigned myself to this, I wondered just what kind of punishment she would give me if I failed to answer correctly.

“Gladly, but its two riddles like last time. Your failure will involve you giving me half your portion of whatever Lady Kuril is making for dessert.” Sekhet could see I was about to object, so she held up a giant paw and stopped me. “Though it may have been an accident, the airship was moving at terminal velocity this time.”

“I’ll give you that, because last time it was about twenty feet above your head before it dropped.” This time the boat had been dropped from much higher up and it wasn’t like I was aiming to land it on Sekhet on purpose. It just happened that way as I only had enough time to cast two griffon feathers at myself and Jacky.

“Here’s my first riddle. What usually loses its head in the morning, but gets it back at night?” Okay that was an interesting one, makes me wonder if Sekhet will write books on the subject. If I could sleep on this riddle then I might… sleep… that’s it!

“A pillow.” She nodded that I was right. A pillow loses the head that rests on it in the morning, but it gets it back in the evening when you go to bed. “Unless you’re nocturnal or an insomniac, then your pillow gets lonely and wants a friend to share in its misery of going headless.”

“Cute, but no less true of those who don’t sleep at night.” That actually had Sekhet snickering, she quickly stopped and stared at me with a look of contempt. “Moving on to my next riddle. Using only the numbers four and six, how can they be half of five without dividing?”

“A math riddle?” I now know for certain that Sekhet wasn’t playing around. “I didn’t even know a Sphinx could do those! You’re playing dirty you giant piece of…”

“Mud can be quite cleansing I hear, ever been to a spa that doesn’t ask questions? Las Pegasus is quite nice for things like that.” Sekhet's toothy smile would not intimidate me, I glared at her as hard as I could manage. “Now answer the riddle Priest Jade, or do you want to give up on your dessert this evening?”

Well a Sphinx couldn’t tell a riddle that was completely impossible to solve, that would be completely unfair and would break the spirit of the thing that they were known for. How could you use just four and six to equal half of five without division? This was horribly complicated. What kind of math problem could possibly… wait... putting two and two together... eureka!

Clever girl Sphinx, clever ancient girl. I almost didn’t get this one, but you’re not winning my so dearly cherished dessert on the night I just got back you blatantly evil food hoarding goddess!

“The answer are the letters ‘I’ and ‘V’.” There was a long moment that I was being stared at by a wide eyed Sekhet, she started smashing her paws against the ground angrily.

“Darn it and I thought that would get you too! Apparently you know your numerals.” We went back to the restaurant together and she shrunk down to her alicorn size. “Your dessert is safe from me… this time at least.”

Sekhet honestly wouldn’t sound too threatening to anyone who heard her whining about not winning half my dessert. She was still a goddess and should be treated with respect for the fact that she can defeat entire armies on her own, so don’t ever drop an airship on her head on purpose.

-

The chili was quite good. My mom knows I don’t like spicy foods, but she makes the chili so well that I can’t help but eat it. The fine taste of spices, beans, garlic, pepper and onions and my coveted parmesan. Sometimes mom thought I was more mouse than cat, but both species liked dairy products and everyone knows that.

As for the dessert that I had saved from Sekhet? It was a nice and tart raspberry sauce drizzled over a delicious slice of cheesecake!

Jacky joined the O and O club the town had going this evening. Well the town of only one big, slightly dysfunctional, family living in The Witch’s Fare. That would start changing soon, thanks to some zebra word of mouth and the inn we planned on building here.

First we had to help Chickadee make herself a character. We already had a witch, a rogue, a spell sword, a cleric and a spoony bard, so what would a parrot choose as her class? Jacky Blackcap Chickadee liked the archer class, because she wanted to stay at range and not let her bad luck effect our game.

I didn’t have the heart to tell Jacky that her curse wasn’t that big a deal anymore, despite all of us getting some really bad dice rolls. It made the game more interesting and hectic for all of us, so bad luck wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in this instance.

My pirate souvenirs were a hit with mom and Fizzle. Mom liked her hat because it was shaped like that of a witch’s given a jaunty pirate theme. Fizzle liked hers because it could cover her stump, she could go out in public without having to wear the cloak. A cloak, I noted, that she seemed quite unwilling to part with.

I don’t think Sekhet liked her worshipper though, mostly because Jacky worshipped me more as her captain and didn’t really know much about Sekhet at all.

-A week later-

It seems mom had quickly adopted Jacky as well, I sometimes wished my mom would give me more hugs like she does those two. I was a little jealous, but that jealousy was tempered by the fact that Fizzle and Jacky had had somewhat less than stellar childhoods. My childhood in Abyssinia was actually quite upbeat in comparison.

I truly had no problem with Blackcap, which was her nickname now. After her bad luck seemed to have significantly dropped to a less life threatening level, it was now relegated to causing minor misfortunes that weren’t a big issue for any of us to handle. Jacky wasn’t going to be called Black Jack around here, as it is a nickname that seems to upset her and she preferred us using her middle name of Blackcap more.

I only had one issue with Jacky, she wouldn’t call me anything other than ‘Captain’. This is even when I explained to her I wasn’t a pirate or a captain and that I was in fact a rogue sun priest. She didn’t care, I would always be her captain that sailed us through the hellish storm that was made of her horrible luck literally out to get her and me. Her luck’s apparent last revenge was to eventually end up with Sekhet getting crushed under The Double Dare.

The Double Dare was now useless for the same reason the Predestined Paradox was, its keel broke upon Sekhet’s unbreakable spine. At least the rainbow the next morning had been beautiful, we didn’t have weather mares and we didn’t need them.

We here at Airship Mauled would take what nature, life and anything else could throw at us. Having a goddess that was domesticated by my mother’s cooking helped immensely, Sekhet wasn’t hiding the fact that she wasn’t leaving after she declared herself my mother’s advisor. Apparently mom is also the mayor of our one home town.

I was walking along the tracks to Ponyville with my two friends, if we had train tracks to our home then this trip wouldn’t be as problematic. Things had been pretty quiet at Airship Mauled, which was nice as it allowed my eye to get better and I had a week of fun hanging out with both Fizzle and Jacky.

The three of us were heading to Ponyville on small adventure. We had to get one of the construction crews Celestia hired to modify the first crashed airship into our home, we were turning the second crashed airship into a small inn. The second thing we had to do was meet the teacher Celestia was hiring and would be teaching us for the next few years.

Our educations were wide and varied.

Fizzle’s education had stopped cold and she was at the right age where her education equaled up to what she had been training for at the age she had lost her horn. Getting into Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns didn’t require just learning and using incredible magic, it also required that you learn a lot of other subjects.

If Tempest was allowed to carry on for the next seven years without help, then she would be quite poor socially and lacking in a good education. For example, she would be gullible enough to believe that an evil villain would actually fix her horn and wouldn’t just keep stalling on doing just that to keep her as expendable pawn. Note to self, recruit Grubber.

I would also like to point out that Fizzle might never get a cutie mark thanks to her broken magic, but I wasn’t about to tell her my theory on that.

Jacky’s education was very pirate centered, she almost knew everything she needed to know about being a pirate. Surprisingly enough, she was well educated by the school in Turtle Toga which was taught by a rotation of pirates. Physical education apparently involved fighting with weighted wooden cutlasses, pirate accountants taught math and pirates taught pirate related history.

Writing, reading and cussing counted as their own language classes, pirates had to learn how to write their memoirs somehow and selling said books was a thing successful pirates did for their retirement.

I didn’t know where Jacky would have been in the next few years, but being stuck on Turtle Toga was my best guess after the storm we flew straight through. The ship ended up falling out from under us after that and everyone that lives in Airship Mauled knew what happened next.

I believe Jacky would have been lonely and still waiting for a captain to appear. Nobody liked being near someone who is cursed in some way, well she was cursed until I helped weaken it considerably with my actions. I might not have been what she wanted exactly, but I was what she needed in the end.

My own education was not up for discussion.

I can tell that we are almost at Ponyville’s train station since a train just rushed past us. It was still early morning when we arrived, we were making really good time here.

All we had to do was find our teacher here, she’d be holding a… no way… it couldn’t be! Why was it her of all the ponies that Celestia could have gotten for this?

Let’s see crimped pink shaded hair, cutie mark of three smiling flowers, coat color of… I want to say light purplish cerise. Yep it was a younger Cheerilee. It could be her sister Cherry Blossom, but I highly doubted it.

“Excuse me, but you wouldn’t happen to be a teacher looking for some students would you?” Even if she were, we still had business in Ponyville. She jumped a little in shock and looked towards us.

“Why yes, I am. I’m Cheerilee and I’m waiting for my students, I’m supposed to meet them here and get escorted to their school.” I hoped that Cheerilee was going to transfer to Ponyville after she was done with us.

She was pleasant enough, but she kind of just wrote us off as we weren’t ponies.

“Did you a get a description of said students that you’re supposed to be teaching?” I looked to both Jacky and Fizzle, both of them felt as awkward as I did about this.

“Not really, but Celestia herself told me they would be quite special and that they’d be a real challenge to teach.” Your expectations were for pony students then. Said special students and challenge are currently standing in front of you.

“Hello teach, we’ve still got some business in Ponyville. If you want to back out of teaching us now that you know that some of us aren't ponies, we’ll understand.” I had never seen a jaw drop, ears wilt and tail scrunch up between a pony's hind legs so fast in disbelief before now. “Well you’ve got to begin somewhere, teaching all of us will be fun!”

Author's Notes:

Another dry chapter, at least it has a Sekhet riddle section.

Next chapter, the chimera.

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Romance of the chimera.

-Cheerilee-

“Thanks for letting us know we’re needed again, we’ll gladly come by Airship Mauled later next week and we’ll get to work on it.” The stallion tipped his hard hat to our as of yet unnamed cat leader. “Let your mother know ahead of time to cook some extra for us, her food would absolutely be worth the trip almost on its own. We’ll at least give Celestia a large discount for the services rendered.”

“Thanks, oh and don’t forget to bring a unicorn that can cast a bubble of silence around our home.” After that the cat turned to leave and I was now curious as to why the town was called Airship Mauled.

I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that my students weren’t fillies and colts. The three I was following were friendly enough and Celestia had said the school needed someone to run it, but I didn’t know it was so out of the way.

“We’ll stop by Sugar Cube Corner for some snacks and drinks, then we’re heading straight back to Airship Mauled. Hey, are you still with us teach?” The Abyssinian addressed me affectionately, she was the one that informed me that I was the one to be teaching them.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that…” I had been following them silently for a while and I was being quite rude to them. The only one that seemed normal of the three was the pony and she didn’t seem very talkative. The scar she had and the pirate hat she was wearing around town seemed unusual to me.

I’m a little confused that all the ponies here in Ponyville acted like the pirate hat was a normal everyday occurrence, they were at least slightly skittish of the Abyssinian or even the parrot.

“Don’t worry, I understand. We’re not what you were exactly expecting, let me introduce myself properly Ms. Cheerilee. I’m Jaded La Perm, my friends call me Jade.” Jade turned from me and pointed out her friends, she introduce the pony first and then the parrot. “This here is Fizzlepop Berrytwist, she prefers to be called Fizzle and there’s something she’s going to have to show you later if you plan to stick around. That there is Jacky Blackcap Chickadee, she’s was stuck on an island until recently and it’s why she’s looking around everywhere in excitement.”

“Hello.” It was all the pony said to me as she gave me a pensive glance, but gave warmer look towards the Abyssinian. She didn’t think much of me and I wondered why.

“Hey Captain, how come ponies don’t use airships more often? I’m only seeing them around that Canterlot place in the distance.” It was a good question from Ms. Chickadee and I cleared my throat to answer it.

“Well airships are costly to build and maintain, the few who own the airships around Canterlot are the rich and noble.” I was quite willing to share my knowledge with a new student.

“In other words. The nobles of Canterlot have a monopoly on airship building, transport and trade in the given area and are actually holding the rest of the ponies back from growing the industry. They are making it too costly for normal ponies to afford easily and are doing it out of hedonism, a sense of power and to flaunt their egos with having something that others can’t possibly afford. ” Well Jade seemed to know quite a bit about things and that was quite an accurate summation of why we don’t have as many airships as other places. It was kind of sad, but it was the truth that the nobles were in the way of airships being commercially available to the rest of the public. “The nobles are just thankful there aren’t any pirates here who would want to tussle with the local Wonder Bolt squads, at least when said squads are on their game. Also, no we are not going to pillage and or loot them Jacky.”

Wait… what!?

“What do you…?” I started and was cut off.

“Aw, come on Captain. Why can’t we just do a little looting, pillaging and plundering?” Okay what kind of person was this Jacky that she would suggest robbing the nobles out loud like that, more importantly what kind of environment was she raised in? Jade did say she came from an island, so that’s a clue. “I mean it’s not like there are people that actually like those rich snobs right? We could make better use of those airships, if they weren’t being built so shoddily just to only look impressive. The construction on that one in particular looks like it’d perform poorly in a fight. It’s like a sad flying peacock, all visuals and very little in the way of actual function compared to form. A single cannonball to the tail of that thing would have it dropping to the ground in a minute.”

“I think that might be one of Prince Blueblood’s airships.” I muttered out loud, it looked like it was a decadent enough cruiser to be one of his.

“I’m sorry about Jacky, she was raised on an island that was made by, and is mostly for, pirates. I’m her captain for life after getting her off said island.” After a moment of silence to think it over as we entered Sugar Cube Corner, she then added. “Correction we can raid one of Blueblood’s ships later, but we’d have to ask Celestia for permission to do some limited and rather specific… privateering.”

“Fine by me Captain, I wouldn’t want you to get you in trouble with the sun princess!” I can’t believe those two were actually considering it, much less that they would even ask Celestia if they could. What kind of students was I being saddled with?

“You two are nuts.” Fizzle aptly described how I felt about them, but she was the one with the scar and pirate hat making it sound more ridiculous coming from her mouth. “If you actually end up doing that, then take me with you. I’m getting tired of just sitting around Airship Mauled and would welcome the adventure.”

There were no words for what I was dealing with right now.

-Jade-

It was always nice seeing Pinkie, but we couldn’t stay in Ponyville all day and play pirate with her. We had to get Cheerilee introduced to our hovel of a humble town after all. Though Pinkie pretending to be a sugar pirate would explain why most of the ponies around us were ignoring Fizzle’s pirate hat, admittedly the hat gave her facial scar quite a bit of flavor to her appearance.

“So your education wasn’t that bad?” Cheerilee was a bit shy about talking to us, but she eventually opened up enough to ask us about our schooling. “Just hearing about your physical education sounds like a nightmare!”

“Wooden cutlasses hurt a lot, sure, but I wouldn’t call my school bad. Though the worst ones were the ones that were splintering a lot from too much use.” I did not need to know about her pirating school any more, Jacky had decent marks in all her classes and if it weren’t for her bad luck she would have been off the island sooner. “We got extra credit for carving out new swords for ourselves and others. I’m no less educated than Captain La Perm or Quartermaster Fizzle.”

“I don’t like being called a quartermaster Blackcap.” Fizzle actually got along with Jacky most of the time, she just didn’t like being called a quartermaster. It probably sounded like an insult given that Fizzle only had about a quarter of her horn left.

Speaking of Fizzle’s horn.

“I think we’re far enough away from Ponyville Fizzle.” She looked at me while wincing, she really didn’t want to show Cheerilee her broken horn. “Better to show her now before she discovers later, do it while she still has the time to turn around and go back. Also Jacky is not using Quartermaster as a derogatory term, she’s actually trying to endear herself to you. Quartermaster is a very important position in a pirate crew for someone highly intelligent and she’s actually trying to compliment you… in her own way.”

“I know… it just sounds a bit derogatory to me considering…” At a point Fizzle just drifted off looking away. She didn’t sound angry, just upset that she had to show Cheerilee what’s under the hat.

Fizzle still didn’t really like talking about her horn, in fact I’d say she was mostly trying to forget she was a unicorn or had ever been one at all. It was a part of her history and it might be a part of it again eventually if I had any say about it.

“Show me what?” Well Cheerilee this might shock you, but Fizzle is more than meets the eye. She should stop the deception and or conning about being an earth pony.

I sent Fizzle a look as I put my left arm around her comfortingly, she didn’t shrug me off. We stopped walking and Fizzle gave me a look. Fizzy closed her eyes and removed her hat with her left hoof while sighing loudly.

Cheerilee gasped at the sight. It was old news to me and Jacky, though I wished Jacky had held back on suggesting installing a hook where Fizzle’s horn once was. The suggestion had been a bit insensitive to Fizzle and I had let Jacky know how I felt about her upsetting my friend.

“Oh… well then… if it bothers you, I won’t talk about it and we can just move on.” At least Cheerilee understood it was a touchy subject, she’d be a great teacher for her empathy.

“I was attacked by an Ursa… it’s where I got my scar from.” I hugged Fizzle tighter, she gave me a weak smile and hugged me around the waist with her right hoof.

“For what it’s worth, you seem to be coping better than most ponies would.” That was actually quite comforting for Cheerilee to state, as Fizzle seemed to lose tension in her body and she nuzzled up against me.

“It’s because I’ve got people that care about me.” I tussled Fizzle’s mane and she smiled a bit more, eventually we separated.

“The Captain is love, the Captain is life and a good one takes care of their crew in times of strife!” Only because you wouldn’t accept anything else Jacky.

Ms. Chickadee might still annoy me or Fizzle at times, she may be a bit unlucky, but she’s always going to be our friend come Tartarus or planetary flooding. If there was a current active element of loyalty, it was certainly Blackcap.

A loud shifting in the nearby trees caused us to pause, this area seemed rather… oh… right.

I was forced to the ground by a familiar chimera pouncing on me. We were currently walking right by flame geyser swamp, I had forgotten that an old friend practically patrolled the tracks for track kill when her hunting was going poorly.

Fizzle’s reaction was to get ready for a rough fight, she growled and her stump starting to spark up wildly. Jacky’s reaction was to pull the sword I used from the mêlée a trois, she was a much better sword fighter than I was. Cheerilee looked to have a panicked expression on her face and looked stuck between a fight or flight response.

As for me?

“Hey, Bloody Maries… how’s life treating you?” One would hope the others noticed that I was rather calm about having been shoved to the ground and had a chimera standing over me.

“Can’t complain, though our front left leg has been a bit of an issue since we faced you in battle.” All three heads said at once. Well I did address them as a whole being, so as such they’d speak as one. After a moment Mara the tiger head decided to nuzzle me affectionately. “Hello mate, you are looking quite well.”

“Er… what... I just thought I and Marie had a deal.” Now I lost composure, did the chimera just seriously call me her mate? I made an offer of nonaggression and friendship based on Bloody Maries not killing any intelligent thinking beings. It was something she had yet to actually do and not for the lack of trying mind you. “Didn’t she tell you?”

I did ask Marie to stick to wild animals or other carnivores, which shouldn’t have been too hard and the snake head had even agreed with me at the time. How had things changed so drastically from then to now?

Of course there were now horrific implications to my current positioning beneath them and I almost wished it meant she was going to consume me… eat me… rip me a new one? Nope, I couldn’t think of a way to make this sound any less perverted and that’s with an intelligent flesh eating monster standing over me. She did have sense of exotic beauty though… darn you hormones!

“Captain… you… know this strange land creature?” Jacky never had to deal with a number of creatures before, she was seriously thinking of getting a pet flying squirrel after seeing one for the first time. She put away the sword.

“Yes, she does. Now if you will excuse us, we will converse with our mate about things of importance that have happened to us since we last met.” What had happened to Bloody Maries? I was currently and completely lost, maybe even caught a bit flatfooted and might be even too flabbergasted to respond. “Yes Marie told us of your dealings with her, but I and Maria have decided to further the deal into something more.”

“Wouldn’t that require that I be there to discuss it?” I could sense trouble in my near future, given they all shook their heads no.

“Your presence wasn’t required, you who achieved victory over us.” Maria leaned down and slapped her tongue against my neck and dragged straight up the side of my face mussing up my fur. “We give you our affection.”

“You know what, save me from her… please!” My friends looked ready for a fight, but backed off when the Bloody Maries glared at them and started to cuddle me between her tiger paws.

“We will follow our mate wherever she goes!” All heads said at once in a possessive manner. “You can’t keep us away forever.”

“Only you can end up in a situation like this Jade.” My dear friend Fizzle muttered dryly, she shook her head and started walking in the direction we were originally going. “Well nothing for it, we’ll have to bring her home with us.”

“I will gladly accept living in your cave, I have no place anymore among my kind.” As she collectively said this, Bloody Maries quickly tossed me deftly onto her back. I looked down at her in surprise and a little bit of worry. “Do not feel sad for us mate, once we chose to pursue you our six parents saw us off properly as is traditional among chimera.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling right now… let’s go with that.” Instead what I was truly feeling, which was fear mixed with a sprinkling of horror at possibly having a chimera following me around for the rest of my life.

“Is this normal for you?” A curious Cheerilee asked of my two friends.

“For the Captain?" Soon followed Jacky’s swift and eloquent reply. "Yep, certainly!”

Author's Notes:

"SUPER SENTAI ROMANCE TAG ACTIVATE!"

"Form of, horror show!"

"Shape of, future ridiculousness!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktUx57i63e0

It's easy to guess what Sekhet's reaction to this will be.

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Romance of the mind.

-Fluttershy-

I’m kind of surprise my parents were letting me come here for lunch, I was invited for a good meal and I was going to take this opportunity to say hello to Jade and her mother today. I might even be able to talk to Sekhet a little bit more, coming with me were Rainbow and her mother Windy.

“Are we there yet?” Oh come on Rainbow, we haven’t even been flying for more than a minute. We should be there soon, it’s faster to get there by air than by land.

“No, but we’ll be there in few minutes.” I was glad we didn’t have to worry about getting attacked by monsters on the ground and the skies were clear today.

“Are you doing alright Fluttershy?” It was so nice of Windy to come along with us, I wonder what Mr. Hothoof and my parents are doing while she’s here with us. “I know my little champ is perfectly fine, but if you need to rest we can stop.”

“I’m doing okay Mrs. Whistles.” I wasn’t that weak. Sure I’m meek or didn’t fly very well, but I wasn’t made of paper. “We should be there soon, they are building a town out here.”

I might also be a fraidy… scaredy… okay, I couldn’t exactly use those bullying terms without thinking about how brave Jade and her mother are. A lot of things frightened me, but I really liked animals and there were a lot scary animals out there. Jade protected me and Pinkie from a chimera, then she and her mother faced down a pack of mean pukwudgies together.

I would think of myself as a chicken, but even chickens have claws and fight back. Even a cornered scared mouse can be stronger.

Speaking of pukwudgies. They looked adorable despite their violent tendencies, I spent a lot of time looking them up and learning about them. I wonder what Jade knew about them personally. Well I would find out soon, their home is located where the airship crashed right? So all I have to do is look for the campfire, if it was even still going that is.

-Jade-

I was walking alongside Fizzle and Jacky, trying not to pay attention to Bloody Maries. I didn’t know what to think of their affection towards me and she still hadn’t explained what happened to her between then and now. I was glad that she let me start walking on my own, because I really didn't want the chimera as a mount or for her to get any strange ideas about us.

Together and collectively the three of them were the Bloody Maries, separately as individual heads they were Mara the tiger, Maria the goat and Marie the snake. I just wanted to be friends and they chose to want something a little more.

Apparently I was the one they wanted as a mate, hopefully I could find someone more compatible for them and get them to stop calling me that as swiftly as possible.

My friends weren’t apparently going to be of any help, they didn’t want to hurt me or themselves trying to help me. I didn’t exactly want Bloody Maries to get hurt either. I just had to ask Bloody Maries a question or two as we were almost back to the campsite.

Cheerilee seemed to be staying well away from the chimera and kept giving it distrustful looks, what was truly scary about it was that it was actually serious about following me back to my ‘cave’.

“Quick question, do you expect me to mate with you against my will Maries?” That was the most important and straightforward question that I needed an answer to, everything else was secondary.

“No. Our species may be violent, but we aren’t completely barbaric.” I’m guessing Maries would be a barbarian class when we started our next town wide O and O game. Given her age, she would also be going to school with us… oh ‘joy’. Their ability to speak completely in unison is a bit creepy. “We will just keep being affectionate with you until you accept us, we will not push farther than you are comfortable with. Aside from that we are both still too young for such things. How do they say it in the civilization you people enjoy? I believe it is stated as get your head out of the drain pipe.”

“Well that’s a huge load off of my mind.” Taking this moment to see what the reactions were to my question, the results were quite varied.

Fizzle sighed with relief, good friend to be worried about such a thing.

Jacky shuddered at the implications I just brought up, she would probably appreciate it if I didn’t try to hook her up with Maries.

Cheerilee was the odd one as she had a disbelieving look.

Teach was probably disturbed that I already knew about how birds fly into bee hives and then the honey goes everywhere. That leads to the birds having to pay for the damages instilled and eventually the queen bee is running a quite lucrative bird seed racket. The birds are drugged on the queens beauty alone and she manipulates them like she does her other drug trafficking workers to go looking for pollen to pollinate things with. It would at least explain why the hummingbird mafia rubbed up against bees so often, probably passing the pollen on the sly.

Where was my mind going with that again? Did I just seriously go full on cloud cuckoo land resident? I think I dropped a euphemism somewhere in that train derailment. The cause of the derailment in my thought processes was certainly caused by me suddenly realizing the fact that it was the chimera telling me, of all the beings around here, to keep my mind out of the gutter.

We were soon upon the campsite and mom had broken out the cauldron again, it smelled like some kind of soup being cooked over my fire. Everyone likes soup and some bread to soak up the excess which I can already smell being baked, I was certainly not trying to distract myself from the chimera in the area as if she were an elephant with spatial issues.

“Quick Sekhet, you have to save Jade from the chimera!” Really Fizzle, that was the plan you had going on all along? Wait until we got back and then you try to get Sekhet to help save me from a vaguely dangerous relationship.

Sekhet just looked at the chimera who stared wide eyed at the large goddess, said goddess then turned a glance to me and snorted slightly.

“Save her from what? The chimera is clearly not aggressive at all and it doesn’t seem like it is stupid enough to assault me.” Oh here we go, once Sekhet hears about this she probably wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. “In fact they look to have quite a spark of intelligence for their species, they know when an apex predator around. Look, they're already trusting their instincts around me.”

Well Bloody Maries instincts told her to bow to Sekhet and to prostrate herself before the goddess. She left herself completely open and vulnerable to Sekhet’s whims, meaning that all her necks were showing to the greater predator here.

“I swear my little tom cat, can’t you go more than a week or two without something happening like bringing a chimera home?” She wasn’t going to be a pet mom, she was trying for something a little higher on the relationship chain. “They can stay if they want to. Though I must admit, you weren’t exaggerating about all kinds of weird things happening here in Equestria. Just please stop bringing strays home, it’s getting a bit hard to cook for all of them and a goddess with a bottomless stomach.”

“See… even Kuril knows they're not a threat." Resting her head on her crossed paws, Sekhet gave us a bored look and lazily flicked her tail from side to side. "So please, explain to me why I should bother myself with running them off.”

-Fluttershy-

“Are you sure it’s safe down there? There’s two monsters right there.” There was a bit of worry in Windy’s voice, even then she sniffed the air a bit and hummed at the wonderful smell coming from below.

Kuril’s cooking tasted wonderful the first time I tried it, I would like whatever it is that she’s making right now.

“It’s perfectly fine, also the bigger one is not a monster. It’s a goddess that Jade and her mother are friends with.” Though to ease our chaperones mind, I decided to suggest something. “We can land a little bit away and approach on hoof. I remember Jade saying she befriended the chimera and that looks like the same one that attacked me and Pinkie weeks ago.”

“Can I touch the snake tail mom?” Only Rainbow would seriously tempt that big cuddly creature to claw her face off.

“Ask the chimera for permission first Rainbow.” Well at least Windy was respectful of Ms. Chimera’s space.

-Bloody Maries-

That… is a big alpha.

Is it an Alpha though?

She’s humongous.

Our mate certainly doesn’t need our protection at all, she’s powerful and has powerful allies.

Sisters, what should we do it’s just staring at us?

It doesn’t see us as a threat, we should attack and make it know all our names!

I know for certain that fighting it will surely get us killed, let’s run!

Like we didn’t already know that fact Maria, I will sit and await judgement.

Come on Marie, help me out with Mara here. We need to start running and fast!

Nope, I’m not getting in on this, you two were the ones that wanted Jade as a mate. We can still fall back on just being friends.

Never!

Never!

Look is it really that hard to just work up a friendship first? We’re not even sure if we’re exactly compatible in any given way, shape or form. I will abstain from following your suggestions, we're sitting still and not moving.

Look Maria, father never ran from danger and is a powerful hunter. We are a mighty and proud chimera, we do not run away from danger no matter how grand! You are being cowardly.

Mara, father lost five teeth in that encounter with the Hydra and his ability to spit fire was weakened for several days afterwards. I’m not a coward, I just don’t want to be stupid and take on more than I can chew.

Mara, Maria, must I remind the both of you that I’m the smart one here? Let’s just try to greet everyone in a friendly and calm manner. If that alpha thing decides to be upset with us, she will win the confrontation. I really don’t think all the poison that I can inject her with will do anything to her at all.

Also could you not think the word 'chew' Maria? It reminds me of all those tin cans you keep eating and you know Mara and I don’t like it when you do that.

I agree with Marie, no more tin cans please Maria.

Tin cans fills our belly for a while though and they taste good.

Good to you maybe, I and Mara have to deal with the consequences of what you eat.

The consequences have never bothered me. I still want Jade to be our mate, but I do not want to fight that thing as it is both above us and beyond. You both know my instincts are right!

You’re the part of us that can consume anything, of course it doesn’t bother you Maria! Just know that I do not think we should pursue Jade too roughly, if you are actually set on her being our mate.

On that we agree.

-Jade-

“She wants Jade to be her mate and she would have hurt us if we tried to get Jade away from her. We brought her here so you could deal with her!” There was a long silence after Fizzle told Sekhet that.

I could see Sekhet’s mouth starting to crinkle up and her eyes welled with tears, she was going to be hysterical for the next few minutes.

“Pftt…hahaha~” As she started laughing she started beating her curled paws against the ground. She was crying tears of joy, she obviously found my current predicament hilarious.

“You know Sekhet, I swear the next airship that falls in this area will be intentionally dropped on your head and it will be heavier than the previous two put together.” That was not an idle threat, I will in fact do that.

“This thing between you and the chimera will end in hilarity since you’re you. It’s probably the most amusing thing to ever occur in the last nine hundred years for me!” Sekhet continued laughing at my situation and she spoke while continuing said laugh. “I will actually let the next intentional airship dropped on me go without a riddle or any aggression against you just for this bit of amusement alone.”

“Can you swear on that as a goddess for me please?” Oh yes, I was definitely taking advantage of that lovely offer. I moved over to Jacky and whispered to her. “Hey Jacky, how heavy would an airship made out of gold, jewels and other unnecessary materials be?”

“If you’re talking about the airship Cheerilee said belonged to that Blueblood guy, then many times heavier than the airship you converted into a restaurant here Captain. The average sized sailing galleon is over five hundred tons in wood alone.” Here Jacky paused and started doing the math in her head. “Assuming it’s an airship of a relatively similar size made with gold. I’d estimate that it would be somewhere in the range of ten thousand tons, give or take a thousand or so. Gold is about twenty times heavier than most woods in cubic feet. A heavy ship like that is likely illegally constructed.”

“Perfect, thanks for doing the math for me Jacky.” I rubbed my hands together grinning. I'm not evil, what goddess comeuppance plans? Blackcap was good at O and O because she could actually accurately calculate her character's aim with a bow to a good degree.

When Jacky said Blueblood’s airship was like a sad peacock with very little in the way of function, she wasn’t kidding, especially not about the single cannonball thing. Clearly pony taxpayers money doing important work.

“Sure, do your worst Priest Jade. I doubt it will have me in traction for long.” You’d eventually eat those words Sekhet. “Anyway, the chimera is not an issue. She can live here if she’s intending to stay.”

“Thank you gracious and mighty alpha above alphas!” The Bloody Maries spoke reverently in unison, she was terrified stiff of Sekhet. Like the completely paralyzed Cheerilee.

“Lunch is ready everyone, come and get it before I have Sekhet lick the cauldron clean!” Mom’s words were music to the ears. I would try to get my mind off the chimera seeking to earn my affection with delicious food.

“Yes, finally, give me some of that!” What was Rainbow Dash doing here? Following the blue blur was Fluttershy and Windy.

“Hey, did you hear everything?” Well I’m a bit embarrassed.

Fluttershy came over to me for a quick hug.

“I think she's moving your friendship along a little too fast for you.” I idly wondered if Fluttershy would like to date a chimera.

Chapter Five, Building Relationships: Actual Romance.

-Jade-

“Don’t worry about it cutie, she’s not really all that bad even if she is trying to push our relationship farther than I want it to be. Quite frankly, I haven’t known her for more than a few hours and we really don’t even know each other all too well.” I was sitting down at my never ending campfire to eat a hot bowl of soup and a large chunk of bread wrapped in a napkin. “In fact, why don’t you try to get to know her? She’s made of three animals, seems like something you’d be interested in.”

Hopefully I planted the idea in Fluttershy’s head to try and make friends with the Maries, she did seem curious.

Cheerilee was eating quietly and sitting across from Sekhet and Maries, even an alicorn sized Sekhet was intimidating to both her and Maries. It was understandable that they feared her, even I was somewhat afraid of a goddess with the power to squish me like a grape.

Rainbow wasn’t scared of Sekhet or Maries, Windy was at least respectful and keeping a close eye on Rainbow to make sure she didn’t do anything silly.

“So, what was your name again? Maries I believe my daughter has been calling you.” Looking over at mom, I wondered what she was going to ask the chimera. “Tell me about a bit about yourself or your life.”

“Collectively we are Bloody Maries, individually we are Mara, Maria and Marie. We are of the Bloody Tracks clan, our father Flames has two male heads and one female, our mother Traces has three female heads.” Going by what Maries just told us, it would be no surprise to me that all chimera are bisexual given they might be one or even two thirds female or male. While the two of her front heads ate, Marie was doing the talking. “Chimera are not always omnivorous, sometimes we are carnivorous and rarely ever herbivorous depending on the heads we are born with. Thankfully we have omnivorous capability. Food is always an issue for us in the swamps as our clan fights and trains to hunt for various things, it is necessary for our continued survival. We may have violent and or even brutal practices among our kin, but we do not hurt one another permanently unless such an injury is warranted. We are not evil… we are just following nature.”

“Um… since your friends with Jade, does that mean you don’t need to follow your nature as much?” Yes, keep doing things like being innocent and adorable Fluttershy!

“We are tying ourselves to a new clan, with new rules to follow.” Marie looked to Sekhet. “We believe the matriarch is the one who has the final say and we have not yet learned the rules of our prospective mate’s home.”

“I’m not the matriarch or leader, that’s technically her job.” Sekhet pointed to mom sitting next to me and Fizzle, mom just rolled her eyes and continued eating.

“The mother of our mate is truly the matriarch?” Marie sounded a bit surprised that my mom wore the robes around here. “What a strange hierarchy when an alpha among alphas lives here, but we will learn in time.”

After that we learned that chimera were based around being strong or getting good hunts, for the more herbivorous it was survival and supporting the other chimera. Chimera would never hunt and eat another chimera, outliers still existed though. They were savage to an extent and civilized in others, but they were below diamond dogs from a civilization standpoint.

Fluttershy had been curious to learn about things from the predatory Maries point of view, it seemed there were no hard feelings between them. She even got to meet the friendly sea turtle, she got so excited and started talking about how cute the shelled critter was.

Soon lunch was over and the visitors had to leave, they thanked mom for the food and promised to come back again some time. Throughout all this Fresh Start had been just giving the chimera odd looks, but just shrugged and went with things like she did after meeting Sekhet. Fresh was quite stoic.

After the three winged ponies were flying their way home, mom turned on the Maries and started to lay down some ground rules for how we did things around here.

Rule one, Maries must try and court me appropriately and not just say that we were mates right off the bat thanks to a trial by combat.

She must take my feelings into consideration and be friends with me first or else my mother would never make food for her again. That had Maries grumbling that I was already her mate by right, but she still accepted that rule. It was already too late for her… she had tasted my mother’s cooking.

I had to thank my mom for that, Maries kept looking at me a like a piece of meat.

Rule two, don’t eat, kill or take anything that was intelligent, a pet like our resident sea turtle or anything else that someone cared about. If she wanted to hunt something, then she would do so away from the town and had to make sure it was something we wouldn’t care about missing. Like dangerous predators that would hurt those who lived here that decide to encroach upon our territory.

No problems at all with that at all, in fact she agreed to the terms quite well.

Rule three, learn to use a toilet and or litterbox.

Maries easily agreed to learn that particular skill, especially washing her paws.

Rule four, she would be joining us for school to learn more about the various societies we all came from.

Mara didn’t take this so well. Maria was somewhat curious about it. Marie was all for it. So they eventually agreed to learn how to live with us.

- Two weeks later, Fizzle-

I nuzzled up against Jade’s side as we relaxed under the tree. I was relieved that Kuril was able to stop the chimera from forcing Jade into anything, it wouldn’t have worked anyway. Still Bloody Maries was quite persistent even when she wasn’t making too much progress in getting much more than sisterly affection out of Jade, any positive affection made the chimera happy.

Just like any affection I received made me happy. Things like fingers rubbing the back of my ears or just going through my mane. Currently her hand was rubbing my neck and my head was in her lap, I was quite happy right where I was.

I and Jacky were starting to come around to being friends with Bloody Maries, at least parts of her. I got along with Marie and Jacky got along with Maria.

Ms. Cheerilee’s classes were interesting, at least she wouldn’t have any trouble teaching a bunch of rabid fillies and colts. Not when she was doing so well with teaching a broken unicorn, a friendly chimera, an unlucky parrot and the insane cat that took an arrow for me and somehow ended up fighting pirates days later.

We were relaxing as it was the weekend, Jade said she was thinking of ways to help me use magic and that she might have an idea after we were tired of being lazy for the morning.

“So what does wood do when cast or sustained?” Magical alchemy was interesting to me, it was a completely untapped area of magic that both Kuril and Jade were pioneering.

“Wood when cast causes the target to become tougher with skin and fur becoming like the bark of a tree, not the kind of effect I’d want to have on me permanently as it kind of chafes badly. Though it is useful, unlike the fish scales it can be cast on objects to improve their durability.” Jade explained to me. Airship Mauled is a magical place to live, I didn’t want to leave. I had family, except I always felt strange around Jade as if there was something more to it. “As for the magical sustain well… it’s not really useful.”

“Oh this should be good, now I have to know what it does!” Sustains always had curious effects. Neither I nor Jade had figured out what using the sustain effect for a cloak does and it does actually take up the one sustain limit Jade says is a hard rule of their magic. “Also wouldn’t casting fish scales on an object make it water proof?”

“I… hadn’t actually considered the possibility of making an object water proof with the multiple cast permanence effect.” Only Jade could be half as smart as she is dumb at times, that’s why I’m here to point things out for her and then cuddle her because that always felt nice. “As for what the wood sustain does… it makes hair like a mane or tail grow slightly faster in sunlight. Thankfully it doesn’t cause rapid aging and I had Sekhet confirm the effects for me.”

“I don’t know, it might have its uses.” I hummed and looked at Jade’s shaggy green hair and noticed that it was halfway down her back instead of just below her shoulders. It’s probably the prettiest thing about the tom cat… what was this strange feeling in my cheeks? She could take care of her hair a bit better, maybe brush or comb it more often.

I sometimes felt like I wasn’t capable of much, but I was training my body up with the expert coaching of our resident physical education teacher Sekhet. Sekhet really knows how to put a body through the wringer and she certainly remembers how to train warriors, Maries was even becoming her star pupil.

Speaking of the goddess in helping catalogue the effects of wood used in magical alchemy, It’s about time Sekhet did something around here instead of being as lazy as Jade attempts to be. Surprisingly, Cheerilee found Sekhet’s exercise regiments to be within educational standards of Equestria or even better.

I, Jacky and Maries wouldn’t let Jade rest for too long or even get fat, though her slight pudge was cute and when she was drenched with sweat… did my heart just speed up there for a bit?

Huh, I don’t feel sick at all… anyway if Jade’s idea actually allows me to use magic, then I’m all for whatever the idea is.

“So what have you been working on, that’ll help me do magic?” I feel the fingers of her left paw caress the left side of my face softly, it was a very pleasant feeling. I’ve only been these people for a little more than a month, but I was right at home here with them.

I didn’t even know I needed what I currently have now until I decided to stay with Kuril at Jade’s request.

“Well it’s not anything really big, it’s just using what we already have in a unique manner.” That was modest sounding of her… and rather cryptic. So what was the catch here? I know that Jade doesn’t do normal when she’s motivated to do something. “I have to thank you Fizzy and the best way I know how is giving you some capability to do magic.”

“What would you have to thank me for?” Every time she called me Fizzy, something in my gut twisted in an unusually pleasant manner. I hardly do much of anything around here aside from washing dishes or a few minor chores. I idly thought about how the construction crew got that inn built after eating some of Kuril’s cooking.

“Several things really. Giving me a fresh perspective on things like magical alchemy for one, being my friend is another and I now even have an idea for a really good birthday present to get Jacky when it comes around thanks to you. Blackcap’s been pretty interested in archery from our games of O and O lately.” That much was true, but why couldn’t Jade just get to telling me how she’s going to get me doing magic already. “Also don’t think none of us haven’t noticed you attempting to use magic when you sneak off on some evenings, you tend to pass out trying and Sekhet has been making sure you safely come back. Your important to all of us Fizzy, so stop doing things that worry us so much. You can do that stuff around Airship Mauled you know.”

I… I felt bad for worrying them.

“I’m sorry... for worrying you.” She pulled my head close to her belly in a hug, I started to wrap my hooves around her and nuzzled up against her chest. This felt right. I was quite excited to hear her idea, I wanted some of my functionality back without passing out from draining my entire body of magic for one burst.

“It’s okay Fizzy, just don’t hurt yourself. Now get up, we’ve got something to try.” With that, I got off of Jade and she looked over to where Jacky was napping on a nearby tree’s branch. “Hey, Jacky!”

“Whuh… agh… oof… ach… ow… #@$^!” That poor parrot fell out of the tree hitting several branches on the way down. I don’t even know what that last grunt of pain was before she slammed bodily into the ground face first. She slowly picked herself up and came over to us and threw Jade a salute. “What do you need Captain?”

I was surprised that she wasn’t complaining about the several painful bruises likely forming on her body.

“Sword me, and I don’t mean accidentally stab me in the butt with it this time.” Yeah, that was an upsetting experience Jade or I would rather not relive. I watched as Jacky pulled the sword out without her belt coming off or her pants dropping, she carefully handed it to Jade as if it were a loaded crossbow. It probably would do something almost exactly like that in her hands. “Thanks Blackcap, go about your business.”

Jacky sat down to watch us as Jade turned to me.

“Okay, so you know how I and mom have Ogres and Oubliettes character sheets for ourselves? Well I’m going to need you to light your horn for a bit, but don’t discharge.” I Gave Jade a nod and closed my eyes to get ready. “I need you to focus on fire, ice, energy, water, wind or at least something elemental like you would expect from O and O while charging your horn. Do it when you’re ready.”

I reached deep down into myself. I had a large well of power, but little to use it on. What did I feel like using? Fire, like Jade’s… warm, comforting and close to my heart.

“Okay perfect, hold that thought whatever it is.” I could a feel a portion of my magic rushing out of my broken horn, usually it just explodes out of me all at once uncontrolled. “Done, open your eyes and stop the magic.”

I did so and was met with a sword covered in a thin layer of flames. Did I… did I do that?

“Guess what, you just might be a spell sword Fizzy!” Jade swung the sword upwards and a blast of fire shot out and exploded as a bright colorful firework above us.

I felt a powerful tingle travel up my flank. I decided to act on my first urge and quickly tackled Jade. I pushed my mouth over hers and then like the colorful explosion that went off in the sky… bliss.

Author's Notes:

Love, it hits you when you least expect it... also stand up for Fizzlepop Berrytwist's theme in this story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BtI43kqkOI

(New Magical Alchemy Information!)

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater. (New!) Can be used to water proof objects.

Sustain: Water Projection (Continuous offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Sustain 2: Blood Projection (Dangerous offensive ability). Capable of performing a powerful projection, but only from open wounds. As one would imagine blood projection is exceedingly painful, taxing on the body and ultimately dangerous to the user. The intimidation factor might be worth the agony in the right situations, but it will always be a detriment to one’s health.

Self-Sustaining: None.

(New Alchemy Ingredient!)

17. Wood.

Cast: Bark skin (Temporary defensive buff). Make skin and fur tough like tree bark, like most casts can become permanent with multiple consecutive uses. Increases durability of objects when targeted. Causes mildly uncomfortable chafing on a living target.

Sustain: Hair growth in sunlight (Limited utility effect). Only works in direct sunlight.

Self-sustain: Magically enhanced building material.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Clique bait.

-Jacky-

I wonder if Fizzle has forgotten that I was here in her excitement, she certainly seemed to be trying to eat the Captain’s face something fierce.

…

Wow, the pony was really going at Captain and was holding her tight.

Fizzle must really like the fact that she can do some magic again.

It’s either that or she’s in love with the Captain, it was kind of likely given how quickly she deepened the kiss.

…

I loved the Captain too, but not nearly that much.

…

Okay now you’re just getting a bit excessive with the Captain there Fizzle.

…

I preferred males personally, I just haven’t had any… heh. Yeah, falling out the tree is probably going to be the worst thing to happen to me today. Well, one could only hope that’s the worst of it anyway.

Oh look, Captain is finally reacting and she’s… oh she’s starting to returning favor by wrapping her arms around Fizzle! That’s really cute, until now it had all been all Fizzle’s enthusiasm.

…

No… wait… I think the Captain’s trying to get air and Fizzle is kissing the life out of her.

…

Why am I still sitting here watching what is happening, I should really do something.

…

I don’t know if I should stop this, Fizzlepop seems so happy. It is kind of killing the Captain though.

…

“Hey, stop that, she needs air Fizzle!” At the sound of my voice there was a sudden pause. Fizzle slowly pulled her head away from Captain’s face and gave me a wide eyed look.

Captain La Perm took in a gasp of air once her face was free.

It was then that Fizzle’s face turned as red as Kuril’s vegetable chili, she then looked down at Captain La Perm and began looking sheepish about her actions.

Captain was breathing quite deeply and was just staring straight into the sky for a minute. She eventually blinked and turned her eyes on me, I noted that she didn’t try to get Fizzle off of her.

“Thank you for noticing my lack of air Jacky!” Well you don’t have to sound so sarcastic Captain La Perm.

“You’re welcome Captain.” I’m more surprised that I returned the sarcastic sentiment sincerely.

“I would like to deliver a cheesy pickup line to you Fizzle, if you don’t mind.” At the Captain’s words Fizzle just gave her an odd look. Fizzle obviously wasn’t relinquishing her perch. “When I look at you, you take my breath away… quite literally in fact.”

“I… it… that was so corny Jade!” Fizzle was only slightly upset with the Captain, given she was still snuggled up against her. She started to cry, I can tell those were definitely tears of happiness as giggling followed. It took Fizzle a while to calm down and eventually plant a kiss on the Captain’s cheek. “Can you tell me how that worked exactly, you said it was simple right?”

“Well I do love corn chips… anyway it really is simple Fizzy. It requires effort on your part to focus on what you want to happen, it can’t be an effect that requires continuous magic though. So don’t expect to be capable of levitation.” The Captain was smart to have come up with this method of magic for Fizzle, so she likely knew what she was talking about. “It requires a sturdy object, you just touch said object to your horn and force magic into it while thinking of what you want to happen. I consider the elemental attacks from O and O to be the simplest form of magic, which is why I had you focus on that.”

“Aside from the fact that I can’t cast continuous magic, are there any other limitations to this…” Fizzle was getting rather affectionate with the Captain. I wasn’t going to complain unless she almost choked my Captain to death with her tongue again. “What is it exactly? I already know it’s based on the make believe spell sword class of magic, but what would you call it?”

“At best it would be called ‘Imbuing’. Know that it’s not the same as enchanting an object, I read my mother’s old notes on enchanting while coming up with this. Whatever object you imbue can only take so much magic from your horn. An object will either explode or something catastrophic will happen if you put too much magic into it.” Thank goodness the Captain was already warning her about the dangers of doing magic this way. “I figured it would work best with a pointy object to start with. A unicorn uses their horn to focus magic, the tip of which is the controlling factor whereas the base is the channeling factor. You still have the channeling, you’re missing the control.”

It certainly sounded quite dangerous already with having to put something sharp like the sword close to her head and around me of all people.

“So I can use objects like you do with magical alchemy to give me a limited form of control, but only quick spells and if the object can handle the stress of having my magic pushed into it.” After Fizzle said that she had a thoughtful look on her face, she still wasn’t getting off of Captain La Perm. “Will there be a lot of magic bleed off from my horn? Attempting to cast even one spell knocks me out.”

“Yes, the bleed off is inevitable, but you really don’t need to cast with your horn to do this. The quicker you imbue an object with your magic, the less energy you’ll lose.” Captain carefully pushed Fizzle away and went to pick up the sword she dropped when she was tackled. “I helped you the first time. Now we have to see if you can do it on your own, just know that I believe in you Fizzy. Just keep your eyes open and try not to hold it to your horn for too long.”

Fizzle looked at the sword handle being held out to her, she got a determined look on her face and took it in her right hoof. She looked the blade over and then glance up at the stump on her forehead. Some unicorns closed their eyes to concentrate on channeling magic, but Fizzle had to do this with her eyes completely on what she was using.

“Yeah, show us what you can do Fizzle!” Hey, I wanted to encourage her too Captain! She needs all the positive reinforcement she can get. “Just don’t hurt yourself doing it.”

-Fizzle-

Okay, I can do this. Jade helped me with imbuing it with fire the first time, but this time I had to do it on my own. Concentrate… warmth, the fire, Jade’s cuddly body… I can’t get distracted like that! I need to focus, I didn’t want to damage my horn any worse than it already is.

Fire, protective and warm against a cold night, comforting and close to my heart. These were the things I needed to concentrate on, like how nice the kiss with Jade felt. I wanted to protect what I held dear with the ability to do magic this way!

I held the sword against my horn and I felt the drain on my magic and watched the sword, it started getting brighter and brighter. I pulled it away and was now holding a sword glowing with fire.

Something felt off about it though.

I swung it upwards, the flames jumped from the sword and surrounded us with a hemisphere shaped wall of pink fire.

It was fire alright, but it wasn’t burning the grass and was making me feel oddly safe. I created a magical barrier of flames? How did that happen? I’m rather confused… no… I think I actually get it now that I think about it.

Flames of protection and love, made for my friends that I cared about and in turn I knew that they cared about me. Yep we were all certainly still just… who am I kidding? Not myself for one when it comes to Jade.

The barrier fell having only lasted about five seconds. It did so without anything happening to the area around us, it only looked really impressive. Jade was now giving me a curious look, my heart was beating a bit faster with the cute way her ears flopped.

I tapped the sword to my horn again while charging it, the first time I imbued the sword I was thinking of fire in a different way. I focused on how Jade’s fire crackled and popped, it was always combusting brightly and I had thought about how living around here had filled my life with color.

I wanted to spread the color I had found throughout my world of gray, I wanted to protect my friends and I wanted to be useful. I knew, absolutely, that this is what I wanted to do! I was going to try many things, I was going to do many things and I was going to be many things.

I’ll shine no matter what I’m doing here, the world will see that spark in me igniting the sky!

I pulled the sword away and now there was a thin film of flames on it.

I feel like kissing Jade again, because I can use magic in spite of my horn's condition!

Well in a very limited manner, but it was still something after the last few years I’ve been living like a pale shadow of the little filly I once was.

I swung the sword upwards. Fire erupted from the blade and exploded above our heads in a far more colorful and brilliant fashion.

I felt a surge of triumph throughout my body and once again I felt a familiar feeling in my flank, only it wasn’t a tingle this time. It felt like the entire world just became a little brighter for some reason and I could feel it pulsing.

“I hope you know that we’ll still work on fixing your horn Fizzy.” I already know that Jade, you already promised me that you would at least try. No one from the village I grew up in even tried for me.

“I know, but at least you gave me an outlet even if it turns out that my horn is truly impossible to fix.” I didn’t want to believe it was impossible, but it would be pretty hard to achieve. I wobbled a bit, using my magic like that took a bit out of me. “I need to rest a bit, let’s get back to your campfire.”

I stumbled a bit, yeah it was less tiring than trying to do a single spell with a broken horn. Imbuing… I can live for the rest of my life with at least this much.

“Take it easy Fi…” Why had Jade gone silent all of the sudden, I looked to her and Jacky.

Why were they both staring at my… oh… that would certainly be something to stare at.

Jade, I’m sorry, but you may die of asphyxiation. I’ll marry Maries in your stead as an apology... if she doesn’t kill me first that is.

-???-

“Hey, did you guys see that? Someone’s shooting off fireworks out here!” We had been wandering around for a while now, aimless and lost until we saw that pretty explosion. I was already sold on going that way. “There’s some kind of celebration going on there, maybe they’ll let us perform.”

“Yeah, seems like someone has something going on. Where there’s people and a party, there’s a place to play our music!” I had to agree with my buddy, maybe we can do a song or two before the pitchforks came out this time. We weren’t bad musicians, people just didn’t appreciate our species even if we were good folk. “Let’s go get our groove on then!”

-Jade-

Okay, Fizzle was being much gentler this time. The third time she's kissed me in the last few minutes really. After she finally released me, I was feeling quite shy... and lightheaded.

I seriously wondered where Fizzle learned to kiss like that.

There was a smile that only the sun could outshine on Fizzle’s face and it was really beautiful to see. We went back to the campfire to see what everyone else was getting up to.

Upon arriving back at the campsite mom was outside and I could tell she was about to ask what was going on. She took one look at Fizzle and smiled quite a bit, she could definitely guess what the fireworks were about.

Sekhet was looking upon Fizzle in interest and more than a mild sense of curiosity, next to her was Maries who looked to be recovering from an extensive exercise routine with Sekhet.

Even Maries sat up and noticed something different about Fizzle, because we had a party to plan.

-Approximately thirty minutes later-

I think Fizzle might have finally calmed down. Things would hopefully be quiet for lunch today, Fizzle was at least chatting with Marie in a less than hyper mood she had going for a while.

“So she has her cutie mark now, even with her magic broken like it is no less.” Sekhet nodded to me as she spoke. “I must admit that you are a miracle worker Priest Jade. It seems we are living in interesting times.”

Oh sun, I hoped Sekhet just didn’t say what I thought she just said. Those words always meant something unpredictable would happen!

“Sekhet, did you just seriously invoke the interesting times curse on me?” Cue evil grin and my lackluster response to it, she had said it on purpose.

It seems Jacky was about to comment on what I just said, but it was already too late. We heard music playing and coming up to the campfire was a carriage.

Pulling said carriage was a brightly colored changeling, how in the world did that exist before Thorax? He was a little more than twice the size of a normal changelings. On top of said carriage were four other colorful normal sized changelings idly strumming guitars and or playing trumpets. The only changeling that was out of place was the standard one that seemed to be sitting with them.

The colorful sombrero wearing changelings stopped playing and the leader of the group addressed us.

“Hello there, it seems you have attracted a group of amazing musicians with your colorful displays.” Oh for the love of, a band of colorful mariachi changelings. How the Tartarus did this happen? “I am Clypeus and we are The Shapeshifting Siesta! These here are my four amigos Labrum, Labium, Tarsus and...”

“Wait, why don’t you look like him?” I pointed to the less colorful changeling, what the bug ponies should naturally look like with tattered wings, bodies and jagged horns.

“We are changeling wanderers who instead of taking love, we share it… in the form of music!” He strummed his guitar once dramatically. “That changeling is our requisite groupie. The big guy there is our final member, Big McLarge Huge!”

We all burst out laughing at that, even the stoic Fresh Start couldn’t keep a straight face. The big changeling just smiled at us.

“Yeah, the best name in our group is always saved for last.” Clypeus certainly had a high charisma stat.

I looked at the not so colorful changeling.

“Hello, I’m Kevin. I’m just here for the food.” That... was incredible. There are absolutely no words for Kevin's completely straight delivery.

Author's Notes:

Kevin is what I'd liked to call an unusually uninteresting sight in the MLP world, he walks around without a disguise and nobody seems to care and was seen at Cranky's wedding.

Yet in the Crystal Empire, everyone overreacts to Thorax in the extreme.

Kevin must be a really cool dude to not have spears shoved in his face constantly.

Fizzle's cutie mark will be never be described, use your own imaginations.

Magical Alchemy list.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater. Can be used to water proof objects.

Sustain: Water Projection (Continuous offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Sustain 2: Blood Projection (Dangerous offensive ability). Capable of performing a powerful projection, but only from open wounds. As one would imagine blood projection is exceedingly painful, taxing on the body and ultimately dangerous to the user. The intimidation factor might be worth the agony in the right situations, but it will always be a detriment to one’s health.
Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random (One time air terrain survival buff, possible offensive spell). Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain: Projecting thoughts. Not able to receive thoughts, but you can project them to others.

Self-sustaining: none.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: Redirect sunlight (Defensive support buff). Is only useful during the day and allows for blinding opponents or aggressors with light.

Self-sustaining: Minor protection from darkness (Automatic defensive buff while feather is on person). Needs to be charged with sunlight and to have been used as a magical alchemy sustain at least once to work.

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

9. Jade’s Cloak.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: ???. (Effect seems to do nothing, need more information.)

Self-Sustain: Makes sneaking easier (Moderate stealth buff).

10. Cupcake (Banned by Kuril).

Cast: You don’t want to know.

Sustain: Likely none.

Self-Sustain: Delicious.

11. Frog Mucus (Banned by Kuril).
Cast: Magical wide area sticky substance bomb (Hard to get out of clothing).
Sustain: ???.
Self-sustain: ???.

12. Griffon Feather.

Cast: Feather Falling (Limited air terrain support buff). Lowers gravity’s effect on an individual for a minute.

Sustain: Double Jump (Continuous Mobility buff). Can jump off the air one extra time after leaving a solid surface and only one time.

Self-sustain: None.

13. Fish Oil.

Cast: Ignition (Multipurpose offensive and support spell). Ignites itself and anything around it except the user.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

14. Candle Wax.

Cast: Stiffness. Slow down a target, can have a wide area of effect for reduced effectiveness.

Sustain: Heat resistance (Limited continuous defensive buff). Does not stop heat damage entirely and candle takes heat damage in place of the user.

Self-Sustain: None.

15. Pepper.

Cast: Sneezing cloud (Limited continuous Defensive spell). Wide range spell that doesn’t affect the user, causes continuous sneezing on contact and doesn’t necessarily need to be breathed in to take effect.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

16. Tricorne.

Cast: Charisma boost (Limited status buff). Gives one the ability to walk around with confidence.

Side-effect: May instill need for showboating in user.

Sustain: ???.

Self-Sustain: ???.

17. Wood.

Cast: Bark skin (Temporary defensive buff). Make skin and fur tough like tree bark, like most casts can become permanent with multiple consecutive uses. Increases durability of objects when targeted. Causes mildly uncomfortable chafing on a living target.

Sustain: Hair growth in sunlight (Limited utility effect). Only works in direct sunlight.

Self-sustain: Magically enhanced building material.

Combination 1: Candle Wax + Oil (any) + Pepper = Chaos Candle. Candle hollowed out and filled with the other two ingredients mixed together equals devastating results.

Cast: Sneezing flash bomb (Offensive one use spell). Blinding, sinus wrecking and volatile magical cast.

Sustain Cast: Weak jet propulsion device (Limited air terrain support buff), Flamethrower (Limited offensive spell). Doing this will slowly destroy the candle and chemicals used in it. Exhaust fumes has a lesser effect of casting with pepper.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Combination 2: Feather + stick + arrowhead (material any) = Arrow. Arrow + poison = special status ailment added to casting effect based on poison used. Pukwudgie Poison (Paralysis for a few hours).

Cast: Arcing Arrow Beam (Offensive spell). Fires a beam that is effected by gravity as if it were an arrow, it can only damage one target and that’s the first thing it touches. If it grazes a wall and then hits you, it will do nothing to you.

Sustain Cast: Spray of multiple weaker beam shots.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Risk take.

-Kuril-

“It’s nice to meet everyone, I’m Kurilian La Perm or just Kuril. Due to the jerks that are also a part of this place known as Airship Mauled, I’m the current acting mayor.” Why was everyone giving me innocent smiles? Sekhet certainly couldn’t do innocent if she tried. She was a goddess of war that can do war in any form, which obviously includes mental and or prank wars. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could fight political wars either. Maries was the only one that wasn’t smiling at me and she was looking at the changelings hungrily, I should get started on lunch soon. “Welcome to our little town, where there is oddness to be found! We have an inn, a restaurant and an incomplete train station. Also no Maries, you can’t eat them… they haven’t done anything yet to warrant it. Speaking of doing something, there’s something very familiar about your group.”

I rubbed my chin in thought, where have I heard of The Shapeshifting Siesta before? Oh right, that thing that happened in Klugetown. That place isn’t exactly safe to raise a child, but my daughter would have probably fit in somewhat now. I’m just reaffirming the fact that Palicoast was definitely the right place to have my child.

“Familiar good or familiar bad?” Asked Clypeus in a slight worried tone, he and his band mates were putting away their instruments in the carriage. He was a purple colored changeling. His friends were blue, yellow, green and Mr. Huge was red.

“I’d say a middle ground, both good and bad. You have good music, but…” I made all the changelings wince except for Kevin, who just gave them a blank look. “You’re the reason changelings are banned from Klugetown, after one of you did something with a shrew if I recall?”

“Yeah, that fiasco was all Tarsus’s fault.” I gave him a stern look and he gulped while rubbing at his neck. “Won’t happen here I swear it, you have my word or else we’ll disband because of a certain idiot we can’t play without!”

“Hey! How was I supposed to know that her favorite food was pickles?” There was a story there about the blue male changeling Tarsus, but it didn’t sound like the one the papers talked about. “What went on after that could have happened to anyone and what we shared was special! I even wish I could go back and do right by her, but the mercenaries that were hired by that guy would be out for my blood if I went anywhere near my belle now. I’m a lover and not much of a fighter in the slightest, even if full to bursting with shared love.”

“It’s kind of like a love story…” Start Green female changeling called Labrum.

“One that ends in tragedy.” Finished the yellow female changeling Labium.

“With no one dead thankfully.” Both of Labium and Labrum intoned in unison like Maries tended to do at times. “It certainly helps him play sad songs at least!”

The two of them looked like twins given how similar their features are aside from their colors, Mr. Huge nodded with a frown on his face at their words. Seemed like they all knew the real story.

“Well we’re not going to judge you based on your past actions here. We’ll judge you on what you do in the here and now.” That was quite fair of me, I wondered why Jade wasn’t doing anything. She was usually more talkative, right now she was just sitting off to the side waiting for something. Oh dear, what happened? Jade wants to talk to me alone, given how she flicked her tail and ears at me while staring intently. “It is a bit fortuitous that you’re here, do you do cuteceaneras for ponies?”

“Depends. Will they scream while grabbing pitchforks and torches at the sight of us?” At Clypeus’s question, I simply pointed to Fizzle. She just looked at us and shrugged before going back to her discussion with Tail Marie. “Okay, we’re in! We don’t need much pay, as long as we get to play our music for you without horrible unexpected interruptions.”

“We’ll discuss business and what you’ll play at the party later Clypeus, why don’t you get yourselves settled in. Apparently I’ve got some business with my daughter. A daughter that none of you are to go near with any funny ideas, understand?” I flicked out the claws on my hands and Clypeus nodded vigorously. I quickly pulled my claws back in my fingers. “Good, glad we came to an understanding, I hope you’ll come to The Witch’s Fare for lunch. I promise the food is good, even if it does nothing for you.”

-Kevin-

The Shapeshifting Siesta guys were really interesting specimens of my kind, what was also interesting was how the younger cat seemed to take my words with some form of amazement. All I did was tell her exactly what I was doing here. It was quite logical, so why was she so surprised?

Anyway the band was setting up at the nondescript inn, the residents here were idling about and the mayor was taking her daughter into the restaurant. She was protective of her offspring, a logical sentiment for a mother to have.

I sometimes don’t get people or even other changelings. Why hide what we are? Someone will eventually figure out and it causes negative consequences for changeling kind as a whole. I just walked around as I am and speak plainly, so far I’m having more luck than my entire hive combined in receiving love without having to steal it. So really, the methods currently employed by the hive are quite inefficient.

Is it really so hard for other changelings to be like me? Or like these changelings who I’ve noticed don’t suffer from love sickness, which is an extreme lack of love in a changeling. Speaking of food, I could sense love in the air between five individuals.

The cat, the chimera and the pony… that’s quite an odd combination. One way love for the chimera the cat is friends with, two way for the pony and cat as of right now.

“You don’t seem so big to me Big McLarge Huge.” That was the one they were calling Sekhet, she was the size of an alicorn. Yet, there was no horn on her head and she had paws like a cat despite being pony like. “I can show you what big is really like.”

Mr. Huge gave her a questioning look and then she grew to enormous proportions beyond that of Mr. Huge’s stature. I mentally noted she was dangerous and powerful, that size alteration was quite real and without using the amount of magic a changeling would have used to do something similar.

I also took note of the other dangerous thing around here, the chimera. They seemed quite tame which is odd. Much of this place feels odd, yet there’s a certain kind of logic to how so many disparate parts worked together.

I would do well to not overstep my boundaries here, but I find this place fascinating since it is constructed with two crashed airships. It seems to still be in the process of being built and welcoming all kinds of beings, which seems like a prudent thing to do.

Many beings coming together to share a common goal with various skills, that goal being mutually assured survival. I approve, this place was certainly something I’d never tell Chrysalis about.

-Jade-

Mom had me scaling and fileting fish. She knew I wanted to talk with her and was making me do this as her way of giving me some time, just so that I could think about some of what I wanted to tell her and or discuss.

Mom hardly ever got the chance to do any parenting with me, she really cherished these moments quite a bit. On the rare times I turned to her for guidance, she was caught flatfooted when I asked for her help or advice.

“Okay, what is it my little tom cat, what can mommy do for you?” There were very few times that Kuril ever got to ask that of me and I wouldn’t begrudge her that. This was a time she actually had some serious mothering to do and she did it surprisingly well.

It always left me feeling a bit horrible about being completely capable of taking care of myself, at least in this life.

“To start off… how do you know if you’re in love with someone?” My words obviously shocked mom quite a bit, she wouldn’t tell me about my other parent and I wasn’t going to ask her about that. Though this question may as well have been asking about the other parent of Jaded La Perm. “I understand familial love thanks to you. I might even get friendship given how many I’ve dragged into living around here. This question is important to me and I wanted to discuss it… mommy.”

“Working on lunch can wait it seems, this is really quite important.” Mom wiped a tear from her eye and placed the fish fileting tray off to the side and wrapped her right arm around me. “What led up to you asking me this Jaded?”

“Well Fizzle kissed me on the cheek…” She gave me a warm smile and it got even bigger than that when I continued. “She also did it twice with tongue, I don’t know where she could have learned to kiss like that. She almost suffocated me the first time and the third time she was being quite gentle. She may have been a little afraid of hurting me in her enthusiasm at that point.”

“She was pretty excited about doing some form of magic again I take it?” I snorted at mom’s understatement. “Hey, if you were a unicorn that lost what made you what you were, you’d be pretty excited too! Her horn is what makes her what she is, to her. It may even be a unicorn’s whole world, but it doesn’t make her ‘who’ she is.”

“Who and what?” I asked.

“Exactly! I think she might slowly be realizing the difference and is coming to terms with that by finally turning away from what she was, to finding who she is as a person. She’s trying to accept things.” Mom looked me in the eyes while continuing to talk to me. “We’re helping her with that. Since you’re both so close to one another, she wanted to show you how she feels about all we’re doing for her. She feels like she’s useless without her horn and we’re proudly proving her wrong!”

“She was quite happy that I helped her earn her mark. In a more intimate way.” I really did like Fizzle, but I was concerned about several things. “I’m concerned about whether or not she wants us to be more. I mean a lot of good things are going her way today. She’s had one of the best mornings in her life, one she’ll never truly forget.”

“I don’t think that’s a really big concern. You’re old enough to date now and I, as a parent, sadly have to acknowledge that fact. Though I think she could have just hugged and kissed, licked and or nuzzled you on the cheek all three times. What she did was going a little bit too far for a month long relationship of being friends… I’ll just have to lay down the law with her like I did Maries.” Mom started to rub my back soothingly as I listened to her. If that’s what she felt was the right thing to do, no complaints. “Though this makes things a tad awkward because I kind of see Fizzle as another daughter, Jacky too for that matter. I’m a bit iffy on Maries and whether or not she’d accept me mothering her. She certainly accepts Sekhet as a superior.”

“Mom, can you get back to the subject I originally wanted to talk about please? I don’t even know how to date or have ever been on one really.” Why wasn’t she taking me a bit more seriously? And now she's laughing. “Why are you laughing?”

“I’m sorry for laughing, but it’s just… I seriously didn’t think you’d be coming to me about something like this Jaded.” Mom started rubbing me behind my right ear. “I can hardly imagine you dating by the book, much less wearing a dress.”

“You know I’ll never wear a dress mom.” Was she seriously trying to distract me from the topic of my original question about love?

“Never say never Jaded! Wouldn’t you want to pretty yourself up for a date? I think Fizzle would look really nice in a tuxedo, I don’t honestly know what Maries would wear if you dated her.” Mom certainly had a point, Fizzle would look good in a tuxedo as much as she would a dress. How would a dress even work with a chimera?

I however didn’t like dresses and would never wear one for any extended period of time! I’d rather go nude, which was thankfully a thing you could do here in Equestria. I had fur covering my whole body for a reason!

“Fizzle would look good in either a tuxedo or a dress. If we do end up on a date, then I’m never wearing a dress or prettying myself up for it.” Quite frankly the standards for the beauty of outer appearances were pointless in the end. When all is said and done the person will eventually know what you look like without makeup anyway, plus it was rather expensive habit to form. “If she can’t accept me as is, then why bother dating?”

“It’s about making an effort to strengthen a connection Jaded. If you truly love someone, then you’ll do some pretty bizarre, insane and or crazy things just to make them happy or keep them safe.” There was a sad, wistful look on mom’s face. “Even if said things are really stupid, it builds character and good memories.”

“I have enough character as it is mom.” She snickered at my words.

“True, I guess there’s nothing better than being yourself.” Mom seemed kind of sad that I wouldn’t do girly things, but then she grinned at me. “Why if you were to put on makeup and a dress, then you just wouldn’t be my daughter anymore. You might just give me a heart attack, would you really do that to your poor dear old mother?”

“You’re not that old mom.” I received a sharp stare from her and I didn’t flinch.

“You need to take risks when it comes to love Jaded, to open yourself up to someone else completely and utterly is a big one. To learn them inside and out as well as they do the same to you.” She inhaled, trying to calm herself. She pulled me close. “Romantic love requires that opening of yourself, which can lead to the possibility of forever losing someone that you can hardly live without. For when they do go away… they take large chunks of you with them. We took that risk, I and your other... parent. They were a stranger in a strange land that I had formed a strong bond with. I was hurt by it terribly when it ended… then you came along my kitten. You're really in love... when you never want to be separated by anything.”

Author's Notes:

Tail Marie is a pun.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Fresh’s state.

-Kuril-

“Thanks for talking with me about this mom.” Jaded wasn’t asking about her other parent? I just snuggled my kitten and held her, she’s growing so big.

I guess it really didn’t matter from her perspective, Jade didn’t need them. What she needed was me. Maybe I can try and look for love again, but the hurt would always be there though. The pain is faded and dull now, it used to be so sharp and cutting like a dagger applied to the heart.

At least she knows how I felt about them now, those memories were painful and yet I still held them close to my heart all the same. Hopefully, she’ll take my advice and eventually put on a dress just to tell whoever she ends up with that she’s actually making an effort for them… because that’ll the day I’ll have a camera ready.

“Jaded, your previous life was obviously horrible.” I stated flatly as I went to get started on cooking food, I had six extra mouths to feed here. “Now finish scaling and fileting the fish.”

“One serious talk and you’re already putting me back on fish duty.” Oh my sweet little tom cat. You may have had a previous life, but it certainly didn’t do you any favors to remember it in its entirety. “Of course you are.”

To love and be loved, is better than to have never known love at all.

-Fresh Start-

Okay, Cheerilee is the only other normal pony around and I was living a weird life. I’m living with the fact that I have to look after the strange kids, keep the litterbox clean, help serve the food and do basically everything a regular maid would be expected to do.

It’s just that I felt like an outsider sometimes.

“What are you doing?” I jumped at the voice and turned to see Mara and Maria, it seemed Marie was taking a nap and her sisters were keeping her head off the ground. Otherwise they’d be dragging Marie through the dirt everywhere.

Isn’t having one head asleep dangerous for a chimera? Well it is rather safe around here and I’m sure they’d wake her up if they had to fight off something. Did I just seriously worry about…? I’m actually taking the monsters feelings into consideration?

I must be losing my mind. Sure the monster was intelligent and going to school with the other girls to be taught by the only other sane pony around, but Maries is a carnivorous beast that has tried to eat ponies!

Tried being the key word, she never succeeded and probably would never do so now that she was friends with Ms. Berrytwist. How could that pony be so brave? Then again, if there was anyone who was feeling more like an outsider than I do, then it would be them.

What is my life and why did I take this assignment form Princess Celestia? This is not exactly what I was expecting when I was told I was getting an important duty.

I’ve been thinking too long, I better answer them.

“I’m setting up the tables for lunch.” I hoped that was all that the chimera bothered me with, any sane pony would be afraid of her.

“I… would like to… help you with that.” Wait… what?! I don’t even. Why did Mara say that? The way she struggled with saying that left me feeling sorry for her, I shouldn’t be feeling sorry for her like this! “You are the dens caretaker yes? I wish to assist you.”

“I… don’t know how to take that.” She got a bit angry with me and growled, I shied away and then… she just looked frustrated. Not with me, it was mostly directed at herself.

“I apologize for my sister, she is having a hard time with living here.” The bleating head of Maria spoke up from next to Mara, who was looking away with her head and ears wilting. “We all are… this kind of living is really unusual for us. It isn’t bad though, as long as we can keep meeting Sekhet in combat for exercise.”

“I…” Was I really considering this? Yes, yes I was. I think I might be coming down with something if I was considering allowing the beast to set up the tables. “You can help me. Set out the napkins and cups at each spot to sit at these two tables. I’ll get the silverware for those who use it.”

“Was that a crack at us being savages?” I looked Mara in the eyes after she asked that and had something to say.

“No, Sekhet doesn’t use silverware either and I don’t think she’s savage for our alpha of alphas as you call her.” I paused to consider what I was saying to Mara, I was actually thinking about this. “In fact, aside from spoons, I don’t see why unicorns even bother with silverware when they could just levitate food into their mouths with magic. I don’t honestly think any less of you for not using silverware Maries… you can also help set out the plates if you want.”

Mara gave me a surprised look and I gave her one back, I… I don’t think I was looking at her as a beast anymore.

I mean the few weeks they’ve been here, I’ve been scared of Maries for the longest time and now… something just clicked. My special talent involved more than just getting up early in the morning, it’s also about seeing others who are trying for new beginnings or getting a good jump on things by helping someone with whatever it is they were doing. An example would be helping Celestia or Cadence get a generally good morning going when I still worked in Canterlot.

“You surprise me den caretaker, we could smell your fear of us and yet… it’s now gone.” As Mara said that I was already setting out a number of plates, cups and napkins for her to start placing on the tables.

“I think I’m surprised about that myself.” I was actually considering being friends with a… no… she’s not a monster. She’s just a kid like Jade, Fizzle and Jacky. “So how has exercising with Sekhet been going?”

Exercising with the goddess was one of the things Mara enjoyed doing around here, aside from cuddling up to and nuzzling Jade affectionately. There was a sisterly bond, but I could tell Maries wanted more. Only she was kept at limb’s length, which could be quite frustrating for her. I was now thinking of how she came here to begin a new life.

“She is mighty, no matter her size.” Mara had a lot of respect for the goddess Sekhet and it showed. Following her words was Maria’s statement about how things went. “We have learned that size does not always matter. She tossed us all around the area this morning using only a small portion of her strength and we know she was holding back the entire time. Even if only slightly bigger than us, she is very formidable.”

Of course she was holding back, she’s a goddess of war! Though she was also said to be a goddess of healing and that doesn’t really come up much. Well at least I haven’t seen her healing anyone or doing anything too nice for anybody.

“She could kill us at the size of an average cat in under a minute.” That was my belief at least, provided we didn’t have an airship or something equally heavy to stall her long enough to get away. Not that I could run ten miles in the time it would take for her to get out from under the airship and track me down.

“Am I… scary… or is it intimidating?” What was Mara trying to ask me here, she was at least setting everything up correctly and I waited for her to get finished with the napkins before I started placing the silverware down.

“You are definitely both, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” I just said the word, how did I just say it so plainly?

“Would Cheerilee eventually be friends with me?” Was Mara seriously asking me that personally as a separate entity from her sisters? “She fears me more than my sisters.”

“I’m sure she will get over her fear eventually, just give her some more time.” Wait, I was actually giving Mara advice now? The aggressive head of the Maries? “Come on Maries, let’s go clean up a few rooms before lunch.”

-Cheerilee-

Out of all my students, Fizzle seems to be the brightest. Unicorns tended towards education and when they didn’t, they tended towards specialization in their cutie mark related talent.

As for the rest of my students, it was a bit of a mixed bag.

Jade was knowledgeable about many creatures and even pointed out many things she’s observed about Maries and how her body work. She was quite good at many subjects, there was a problem area though. She couldn’t do advanced math to save her life.

When I had brought it up with her, she made a joke about never telling her the odds. She then stated that she’d likely prove people wrong by overcoming them out of ignorance. I know for a fact that that is something that actually happens, given my sister is a professional wrestler who doesn’t know the meaning of quit.

Quit, to stop or discontinue an action or activity, to resign from a job or leave a place.

Jacky was bright, she knew everything about pirates and there was little she didn’t know about pirate history. I didn’t know pirates had such good schooling, because Jacky was good at math. She got really good when it came to the pirate version of math, where a pirate accountant was likely to pocket some extra booty for themselves on the sly.

I actually got a percentage rating for how noticeable a few extra gold coins off of each haul is depending on the size of the vessel plundered. She gave me a fully detailed graph as homework to show how much a pirate accountant could actually get away with before the captain became suspicious of duplicity. It was really quite fascinating, also a little bit disturbing.

She was like the opposite of Jade, she wasn’t very knowledgeable about the world as a whole and wasn’t interested in history that didn’t have action, cannons and swords. I’m kind of surprised the Equestrian Education Association hasn’t come by to check on my class yet, it wasn’t exactly a pony class so they probably wouldn’t ever show up here.

Maries… I was quite scared of them. I was also very scared of the resident goddess Sekhet, who was a living breathing historical figure from the tale of Somnabula. Still, I found Maries to be interesting students.

Mara was the hardest one to teach because she was the most aggressive of them. Maria at least seemed somewhat interested in learning. Marie was bright and studious. Collectively speaking, they were scary when they put their heads together.

These were the odd students that I had to work with.

“Excuse me ma’am, but I have to ask. What do you do here?” I turned to the brightly colored purple pony bug thing called a changeling.

Jade knew what they were and thought something was odd about the one called Kevin out of all of them. I admit I was curious about the visitors that came to this oddball place, I didn’t know anything about them or their culture.

“I’m the local school teacher for the next few years.” What was his name again? Come on, think Cheerilee. Oh that’s right, it was Clypeus! “Why do you ask Mr. Clypeus?”

“I was wondering who here runs the inn.” That was actually a very good question Clypeus.

“Uh… Fizzle! Who runs the inn?” Someone had to know, so I turned to Fizzle sitting at the campfire that never goes out. She was staring at it with a warm smile on her face, my words knocked her out of her comfortable dazed state.

“Huh… oh… no one does really, they can stay there for free.” Well there you have it from Fizzle’s mouth, I guess the band of changelings were staying here free of charge. “We still need to find someone to run it.”

“Well okay then, we’ll give you a discount on the cost of our performing here. We’re already not asking for much, but we still need at least some money to maintain our instruments and our mode of transportation.” With that Clypeus walked off while shouting out the names of his friends to tell them the news.

“Did you need anything else Ms. Cheerilee?” I trotted over to Ms. Berrytwist.

“Well I have been considering changing my mane style.” The crimped look sadly just wasn’t in anymore. It was fun while it lasted, but I was a teacher now. “I’m thinking of straightening my mane and tail, maybe even getting it trimmed a bit. I wouldn’t mind getting your opinion on that.”

“My opinion? Well it might make you look more professional as a teacher. When are you going to Ponyville for that?” Thanks for the reminder Fizzlepop, I had almost forgotten that this place didn’t have much. Airship mauled counted as a hamlet, but I really didn’t want to ruin everyone’s dream of calling it a town by correcting them. “You’ll need someone to escort you there teach.”

“I’ll ask around for whoever wants to go.” I hoped it would be a nice visit. When I was done teaching here at Airship Mauled, I’m going to take a teaching job in Ponyville. “Though Maries might cause a panic if she chooses to go. I won’t stop her if she wants to, but she should really be warned of trouble cropping up because of what they are.”

-Fresh Start, some time later-

“Thanks for helping me Maries.” They had helped me clean up and tidy a few rooms upstairs while another wonderful lunch was being cooked by Kuril, I sniffed the air and knew we’d be having something good. “Something smells really good.”

“You are welcome to our aid.” They said in unison, I thought that was kind of neat and not at all completely creepy.

Okay, it was totally creepy that they could do it so easily, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud to their faces.

We made our way down the stairs and Kuril popped out of the kitchen.

“Can you get everyone together Fresh? Lunch is about ready to be served. Jade is currently helping me with the finishing touches on the dessert.” Throwing Kuril a salute I made my way for the door outside with Maries following me. “Oh and when you’re done with that, come back here and help me bring out the food!”

“Hey Mara, would you do something for me?” I thought of something interesting, it seemed like a pretty good idea to get everyone’s attention. “I want you to roar loudly to get everyone’s attention. Can you tell everyone that lunch is ready? I’ll go help Kuril with bringing out the food.”

“It has been a while since I let one loose.” Mara muttered as their body made its way out the door.

Ah, life here. It almost seems normal. So when is Jade going to inevitably mess that up or do something weird?

-Mara-

Inhaling, I belted out a powerful, deafening roar from my throat!

Author's Notes:

Are you bored yet? Have I driven this story into the ground? I can't ever tell when I start doing so.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Playing date.

-Sekhet-

“What was that in effort of?” I looked over to the changelings at the doors to the inn, they looked about ready to bolt.

“It is lunch…” Maries started, only to blink as the breeze of my passing slammed into them bodily. “Time.”

-Jacky-

Sekhet just left behind a confused chimera and a cloud in the shape of herself, one that seemed to look left and right before running towards the door. The Sekhet shaped dust cloud started pawing at it and one could hear the wind as it tried to open the door with its useless paws made of dust.

That… I don’t know how Sekhet left behind a sentient dust cloud that wanted food as badly as she did.

To think Captain is one of the tamest strange things around here.

“Well you guys are in for a treat, Kuril the mayor always cooks good meals.” The Captain’s mother was always good at filling an empty stomach and I wondered what lunch was today. I took note of the cowering changelings sending Maries scared looks. “Don’t worry about them, they wouldn’t hurt you unless you hurt them first. Come on, follow me! It’s perfectly safe.”

“Well… if y-you’re sure.” A shivering Clypeus said while pressing himself up against Big McLarge Huge like all the other changelings, at least they had the right idea with using numbers. The execution could use a little work though.

A roaring chimera was definitely a unique way to get everyone’s attention and Quartermaster Fizzle was already making her way over to me. I just had to remind myself not to call her that out loud, I didn’t want to be insensitive.

“Like Blackcap said, don’t worry about Maries. It’s just an unusual way to call for lunch.” As Fizzle started to walk into the restaurant, Kuril quickly came out and pulled her off to the side.

“I need to have a talk with you about something important young mare, everyone else go in and enjoy the buffet before Sekhet devours everything.” It seemed Kuril had something important to say to Fizzle.

I walked up to the door and stopped to look at the sentient dust cloud that tilted its head at me, I decided to ignore it and continued on inside. The local goddess being weird was nothing to give a second glance.

-Fizzle-

The changelings were slowly, but surely, getting over their fright at Mara’s roar as they followed Jacky inside. It had been rather loud and frightening in a bone chilling way, so I could understand their apprehension. I was less apprehensive about it, only for Kuril to pull me off to the side.

“How have you been feeling around my daughter lately?” Well that was an odd question for Kuril to ask, but yes I have been feeling rather odd of late. I was certainly happy to have my cutie mark now though. “Has your body been doing anything strange around Jade?”

“Well my heart speeds up, I like her touching me, my stomach flutters and for some reason my cheeks clench a lot around her.” It’s almost like how I could understand what a pick up line was, but not the context behind why someone would say one. It’s supposed to be just a pun related joke right? “I don’t know why I’ve been feeling like this, I’m not sick am I?”

“Do you know what romantic love is my little Fizzle?” There was a certain tightness to Kuril’s words, I shook my head no.

“Not really, but I know how to kiss someone who makes you really exceedingly happy.” There was something going on here and I was missing something big, where was Kuril going with this? I really liked Jade and she really liked me, that’s all there is to it right?

“Just like Jade then… come sit down with me for a minute before we go in and eat. It appears I definitely need to lay down the law with you like I did Maries.” Kuril sat down and she patted her lap while looking to me expectantly, I laid down putting the front half of my body in her lap. She started to run her digits comfortingly through my mane. “Okay to start things off, have you ever heard about the birds and the bees?”

“I know of birds and bees.” Bees hurt and birds sometimes flew into things dumbly, what more did I really need to know?

“Now that you have a cutie mark I think you’re old enough to hear this.” Hear what exactly, what were you going to tell me Kuril? “So a bird flies straight into a bee hive and the honey gets spilled everywhere. The queen bee forces the bird to pay for the damages instilled and eventually gets them under control because she’s so beautiful. This is what eventually leads to the hummingbird mafia working for the bees…”

-Jade-

“Hey Jacky, where did mom go?” I had all the food set up at a table with Fresh’s help.

“I think she had to talk with Fizzle outside about something.” Nodding to Jacky, I moved to get everyone’s attention.

“Hello everyone, today we have special guests in the form of The Shapeshifting Siesta and Kevin the friendly changeling.” Looking at me, Kevin just gave me a lazy wave. The five more colorful changelings stood up to bow together before sitting back down. “For today’s lunch, mom went for simple. We have sushi rolls over there stacked three high and twelve by twelve to a tray, raw fish rolls are on the right and vegetable sushi rolls are on the left for those of whom meat doesn’t agree with. Note the sea turtle that randomly pops up in odd places around here, it is currently eating a vegetable sushi roll. You can try it with soy sauce and we have clearly provided the cups for holding said sauce.”

The sea turtle just looked up at me innocently with a small portion of its face covered in rice. It dunked the bit of its sushi roll into some soy sauce and just went back to nibbling at the sushi roll, we still needed a name for her.

“Next on the menu, we have a huge pot of gazpacho soup. I assure you that it’s supposed to be served cold and mom is apparently on a bit of a multicultural kick today. It goes really good with the grilled and sliced garlic bread or the crackers we’ve set out.” Lazily I moved on to the next item, one that I was going to partake quite a bit of. “For the final main meal item, we have a warm pile of linguini smothered in a delectable and decadent cheese sauce. We’ll bring out dessert after we’re done eating the main course, so save room for it. Now everyone dig in, except for you Sekhet. At the very least leave some for the rest of us you gluttonous goddess.”

“I’m not gluttonous, I’m just big!” Thus I and Sekhet entered a staring contest, it was getting much easier to stare down the alicorn sized form of the war goddess. “Fine, I’ll eat normal sized portions this time! It’s only because we have guests though.”

The changelings took up their plates and started grabbing food, I started to shovel fish sushi onto a plate, grabbed some gazpacho and a small mound of flat noodles. Alfredo was a creamy sauce I could get behind, the only thing here that filled my dairy loving passion. It was an odd mix of foods, but it wasn’t bad.

-Clypeus-

I was the lead singer and guitarist of our band, but those weren’t the only instruments I played.

I took my first bite of the gazpacho soup and froze, love… there was so much of it in that one spoonful alone. We who shared love didn’t require it nearly as much, but it still tasted good. Mayor Kuril could fill up an army of changelings full of love on one pot of this alone.

Looking over to Kevin, I watched as he slurped up a single cheese covered noodle. He didn’t get much to eat, but when he ate that one noodle his mood changed to shock and his stomach swelled slightly.

We seriously needed more changelings around that understood how to share the love, or at the very least are less cruel in their methods like Kevin who walks around and asks for love instead of pretending to be someone he’s not.

-Kevin-

Did I just find the holy grail of my race? I thought a grail would be less edible than this food. Now I know for certain that I should never inform Chrysalis of this. She’d absolutely find a way to ruin it.

So much love in a single swallow, is this food made purely out of love?

-Labium and Labrum-

“We are of a shared mind like you…” I started to say to the chimera, before my sister butted in. She even took a sushi roll from my plate and popped it into her mouth.

“We know what it’s like to share everything…” I didn’t want to be mean to my sister, but we’ve been doing this since forever. I let her take a sushi roll from my plate to make up for it.

“It can be a huge hassle.” We stated at the same time, our minds worked quite well together when it came to us the trumpet twins of The Shapeshifting Siesta.

“Yeah, it bothers us at times too.” As the goat head said this, we watched the one called Mara going to town face first in the gazpacho and after she swallowed the snake headed one let out a loud belch.

“Ugh, Mara don’t eat too fast, your making me snot!” The snake head looked like she needed some help and we decided to offer a napkin to rub her nose against. She did so and gave us a smile. “Thanks for that, when she eats too fast it causes me problems back here.”

“It’s so delicious with this fish sue-she stuff in it though.” We didn’t find a problem with the tiger head’s candor and we figured we could be friends through shared interest of being able to combine our minds.

-Big McLarge Huge-

The food is very good, wish I could tell them that.

“So… mute huh?” The suddenness of someone talking to me made me jump, it was the one known as Sekhet and she was consuming a lot of sushi rolls both fish and vegetable.

I simply nodded to her sadly.

“You’ve got some really good friends.” I smiled at her words of praise, her visage grew serious. “Take good care of them. Who knows when you’ll ever find something like what you have with them again if you lose them.”

I looked to Clypeus, he was my leader and something special to me. I would protect them as I was an unusually tough changeling who could play music just as well as the rest of the group. I showed the goddess my determination.

“Heh, that’s the spirit big guy.” She then continued eating without another word towards me.

-Tarsus-

“Do you guys have any alcohol around here?” I’m a blue changeling that look as I felt, a bit sad. At least I have my friends, even if I couldn’t be with my belle. Being a part of the band was all I had these days. I could still play good happy music, but I shined with more sorrowful sounding tones. “I want to drown my memories.”

“Not unless we have smugglers that I don’t know about, the town is clean of the stuff.” I believe she was the one called Jacky, why did I get pirate vibes from her. Maybe it’s the skull cap with the parrot skull and crossed bones on it.

“It figures.” I stated lethargically, it was just another day without her in my life. Even if the food is filled to the brim with love, all it is doing is reminding me of her. “What I wouldn’t do for some help, I can’t just sneak into Klugetown and try to ride off into the sunset with my belle.”

“Want to talk about it, I know a thing or two about bad luck.” How unlucky could this Jacky be compared to my hardships?

“Sure, why not… it all started with me buying a jar of pickles in that rat hole of a town. Though some rats are not nearly as ugly as some of the people who live there.” This is how I started weaving my sordid tale of how changelings got banned from Klugetown. “That’s an action that led me to meeting the belle of my life, the most beautiful shrew around...”

-Jade-

I had to stop eating to save room for dessert, I couldn’t miss that. It seemed like the changelings were actually enjoying the food, mom’s magical cooking did have unusual properties. Though simple stuff like this wasn’t exactly cooking, but it seemed to be having an effect all the same.

I had at least gotten mom to make sushi, so that was a win in my book even if I was the one that had to cut up the fish. Mom did chop up the vegetables for that, but the most cooking she did was for the linguini and the homemade soy sauce.

We were all enjoying the food together as friends, family and strangers, this is exactly the kind of thing I and mom wanted to build in Manehatten. A place for all walks of life, no matter how strange.

It wasn’t a minute later that a wide eyed Fizzle walked in and she took one look at me and turned straight red. This took up her entire face, neck and most of the front half of her body. She shyly looked away from me and went to get her fill of food before Sekhet would be allowed to unleash her full rampage.

We hardly ever had leftovers around here thanks to our garbage disposal unit named Sekhet.

I wondered what was up with Fizzle, she seemed very embarrassed about something. She eventually came over to me looking less red and nuzzled against me slightly.

“I'm sorry about almost suffocating you with our first kiss…” Fizzle's cheeks turned straight pink.

“It’s not a problem Fizzy.” I shrugged, I didn’t see it as a problem.

-Ten minutes later, Clypeus-

“Guys get your instruments, we're showing Mayor Kuril what we can do before they bring out dessert. Also we have a set date for our gig here!” My companions cheered gleefully, this actually might be a gig that didn’t go explosively wrong. We’re keeping it stupidly simple!

Once we got our stuff together, I pointed out to the twins to start playing and sent them a hoof signal for which music to start.

“Hello, we’re definitely glad to be here~. We’re certainly making a lot of new friends~!” I sang from my heart. “I’m glad that you invited us in without fear~. We’re The Shapeshifting Siesta of all lands~!”

“We’re certainly glad to meet you~. Even if some of you are really quite scary~!” The twins sang. “We’re quite sure this fact is true~. It’s that you’re all lovely and hairy~!”

“I don’t think I can sing~. About all that my friendships do bring~.” Sang Tarsus. “But if there’s one thing about that I’m quite sure~. It’s that we will never really get quite bored~!”

They played for a while.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3w9vyHjy_8

I seek to wield my form of rampant insanity for a good cause! I can't let my imaginative side peter out!

Also the green sea turtle isn't just a sea turtle... it's a very smart sea turtle!

Apparently Kuril preparing any kind of food has a magical effect that can feed changelings.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Snicker's great.

-One week later, Jade-

I hear a hissing noise and rolled over in bed without opening my eyes, the churros we had for dessert last week were just perfect. I spent the whole week happy.

“Marie, if that’s you, can’t whatever it is wait until morning?” After groaning that out, my response was to hear a hiss followed by a cooing noise.

My eyes opened, I almost flopped out of bed in shock at the green sea turtle being in my face.

I bit back the scream building in my throat, it was just a turtle. A turtle looking at me in an adorable and completely non-threatening manner.

“Oh, it’s you… how did you get on the bed?” The turtle just gave me a bright unassuming smile. “Look what do you want from me?”

The sea turtle hissed in a raspy manner, it seemed a bit parched.

“You’re thirsty and you want me to get you some water to swim in?” It pointed at me with a flipper and nodded, I sighed and threw the covers off of myself and opened the door. “How did you even get into my room?”

The sea turtle just smiled at me and held out its flippers to my rather tired and sleepy form. I wanted to continue sleeping, but the strange turtle needed me. I rolled my eyes and went back to pick her up, after placing her on my shoulder I started making my way down the corridor. I went right on by the rooms belonging to mom, Jacky and Fizzle.

I muttered grumpily as I went down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. The turtle on my shoulder chirruped happily that I was doing this at this time of… what time was it anyway? It was probably morning and Celestia had yet to move the sun.

I looked up at the waning moonlight shining through a window as I got a bowl out. It would be a while before the visage was off of the moon and when that happened, I would find out what Luna’s feathers do in comparison to her sisters. It was probably something to do with shadows, dreams or darkness knowing Luna.

I turned back to what I was doing, I wondered how the construction ponies installed plumbing out here so fast, probably used shortcuts with magic which explained the absolute need for unicorns.

“Would you mind if I got water from the sink?” Why was I asking this? I guess I was trying to be polite, but was it technically unnecessary in this situation.

The sea turtle shook that yes it minded, I sighed and searched around for a canteen of fresh water. I eventually poured some water into the bowl and looked at the happy turtle.

“Do you want salt with that water? I can get pretty salty since you disturbed my sleep for this.” The turtle shook its head no and pointed at the bowl. I rubbed my forehead and then slowly lowered the turtle into the water where it happily hissed as it swam small circles while taking large gulps of water.

I could honestly just go back to bed now and wake up later, but I was a little more than curious about the strange turtle. It was the weekend and I wanted to explore the surroundings around Airship Mauled with Jacky, Fizzle and maybe even Maries for added protection.

What I truly wanted was a little adventure, something more amazing and exciting. This was a world of magic and I was kind of stuck in the doldrums of having an average life. At least The Shapeshifting Siesta were amazing musicians and would be here all week even after taking care of Fizzle’s cuteceanera today.

Maybe they'd stick around. If they did then… we'd personally need an airship to get into Klugetown to help Tarsus find his beloved anthropomorphic shrew. I was tired of his whining and he had friends that could help him.

Or maybe… we could just steal an airship, but not the golden one the young Blueblood apparently owns. We needed something smaller and faster for the long journey.

A splash came from the bowl and I turned my head lazily to look at the turtle and I saw something unusual about it that I hadn’t seen before.

“What the…” The turtle swam to the edge of the bowl and smiled at me while cooing lightly. “Don’t you look at me innocently like that, just when exactly were you going to tell… er… show me those?”

The turtle waved a flipper at me in a friendly manner before waving to itself, as if this was showing me right here and now.

“Yes, yes, you’re showing them to me now. I get it, but it’s the principle of the thing!” I had assumed she was a normal sea turtle, I guess any assumptions in this world could be wildly off the mark. “What are you? If I didn’t know any better… I’d think you were a…”

-Cheerilee-

I could have lived in the inn, but I instead decided to have my sleeping quarters in The Witch’s Fare. I heard something strange going on and decided to investigate it, I groggily made my way downstairs where I saw the shadow of someone familiar in the dark.

It must be early morning, the glowing fish bones hanging from the ceiling were beginning to dim from the sunlight filtering into restaurant. Vaguely morbid décor aside, it was one of my students.

Jade was awake and she wasn’t wearing any clothing, not that it was important that she was as naked as I was.

I wondered what she was looking at. I moved forward slightly and saw it personally. Well… that certainly explains a lot about how the little sea turtle got around and popped up in strange places.

“What is going on here?” I jumped and turned to see Fresh Start the maid. I pointed over to what was going on in the dimly lit kitchen.

-Fresh Start-

It wasn’t just any sea turtle, it wasn’t even a normal one. I’ve only heard legend of a strange wondrously beautiful creature like it. I’m surprised that Cadence didn’t have one or even know what I was talking about when I asked her if she had one as a pet.

Apparently Jade had one as her pet and it was amazing that she even found it, they are very rare creatures.

I watched as Jade toy with the turtle for a bit and I smiled warmly. Where was a camera when you needed one? This was really cute to watch, to think Kuril complained that her daughter didn’t do adorable things.

Poor Mayor Kuril was missing her daughter playing with her odd pet that took residence with us.

Thinking about it... we had to do something! That turtle is probably a sacred creature and we needed to protect it from anyone who would want to harm it.

-Jade-

It was a sea turtle alright… just one that happened to come with wings. Yep, I couldn’t do normal for too long if I tried.

I got a little playful with it and the turtle kept bopping me on the nose in a cutesy manner. We did several playful things together between bouts of the turtle taking drinks of water. The green feathered wings were coming out of small flaps in the front part of the shell that raised up for them.

After it had tired of flying around the little sea turtle landed on my shoulder and it tucked its wings back into its shell. Rainbow Dash must never hear of this kind of animal before she gets a tortoise.

Now that I thought of it, I finally had a name for her and it’s based on something I liked.

“I’ve got a name for you, would you like to hear it?” I turned from the nodding turtle and was about to make for my room when I saw the two mares just staring at me. “Uh, you saw all that I take it?”

“Jade I don’t want to alarm you, but that thing is a rare creature called a…” I held up my left hand stalling Fresh before she could get started.

“I know what she is... were you about to say she’s a turtle dove?” It was quite literally a turtle with wings like that of a doves, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Fresh Start’s reaction told me I was right about what the green sea turtle dove was.

“What’s a turtle dove?” Cheerilee asked mystified by the turtle clinging lovingly to my shoulder.

“It’s something I thought that Princess Cadence would know about considering their status as creatures of love.” Yes, Fresh Start, that’s what they were certainly known for.

If I remembered right, there was some mythology behind having one around you. Given how often mythology was used around here, I knew this bit of knowledge.

They are considered sacred creatures by goddesses of love, fertility and harvest. This adds more oomph to me being a sun priest than I would have liked, if this turtle dove was in fact what I thought it was to me.

I just ended up with a literal symbol of peace, friendship and love, which was to be expected given I was in Equestria, as a familiar. There is no other reason why it was following me around and chose me out of all the beings in the world to be friends with.

I wondered what Sekhet’s sister Bastet would have to say about the turtle dove. She was a goddess of fertility, so she’d probably know a thing or two about it. Maybe Sekhet herself knew and probably didn’t tell anyone, because she likely didn’t care since it was outside her purview.

The turtle tickled the fur on my neck and I giggled a bit, before glaring at the smiling turtle.

“Okay, you are now henceforth known as Snickers the green sea turtle dove.” I wondered why Ms. Start’s right eye was twitching so horribly.

“Are you seriously going to name a rare and sacred creature like that, of all things, Snickers?” The turtle glared at her before turning to me and nodding happily while clapping her flippers lightly together.

“She seems to like it, right Snickers?” The turtle nodded while smiling at me, before she sent a deathly glare towards Fresh. Wow, the turtle didn’t like Fresh for some reason. “I don’t think Snickers likes you putting her on a pedestal like that.”

“But… she’s a turtle dove Jade, do you know how rare her species is or what they are even capable of?” There goes Fresh’s hooves clasping her head, she's panicking slightly. “She needs to be in an aquarium and protected from those who’d want to hurt her!”

“Vaguely, in a sense yes, I think I do know what she can do.” My little turtle with the hidden wings could simply just be a smart animal or she could be some kind of magical creature that does something amazing. I didn’t care which it was. Snickers was a cool turtle with wings, she didn’t seem to care about being seen as anything special and I could get behind that. If she wanted to be treated like I normally treated her, then I would. “Do you want me to treat you any differently from the way I already have as a sacred, noble creature Snickers?”

Snickers shook her head no, I shrugged at Fresh Start.

“There you have it, she gets no special treatment just because she's a strange and rare creature that can disguise herself as a normal sea turtle. I’ll just continue treating her like I always have, as background noise. Though I may ask her to do a few favors for me from time to time, you okay with that Snickers?” The turtle chirruped and hissed happily from my shoulder as she rubbed her head against my neck. “Well, since I’m up already and given going back to sleep is not an option at this point... I guess I better get started on breakfast!”

“Really, you’re going to cook? I haven’t seen you cook before and…. wait a minute, I’ve still got to tell you about turtle doves and why you should take great care with one!” Look Fresh, I'm already here and I know how to cook given my mother runs a restaurant. You would think that I might have learned a thing or two, after all these years of being raised by mom. Snickers launched from my shoulder and dropped onto Fresh’s nose glaring at her in an angry manner. “I could just pretend that you’re not a turtle dove and not bother Jade?”

Snickers nodded seriously and flew over to me, all while cooing at me affectionately.

“You want to help Snickers, sure thing! Hey Cheerilee, you want to join us?” The teacher just looked between me and Fresh, she just shrugged and came over to me. “Grab some eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and whatever fruit you can find. I’m making omelets and waffles for breakfast. It’s about time mom took a break from cooking every day for all of the hungry mouths around here! Want to help mix the batter Fresh?”

“No, you just go on.” Fresh Start seemed very upset that Snickers didn’t like her.

“Come on Snickers, show her a little love. She’s not about to take you away from me and put you in an aquarium. I won’t let that happen and even if it eventually does end up happening, then I’ll just pull a ridiculously explosive jailbreak for you regardless of what anyone else wants.” The turtle hovered in front of me and seemed to mull it over, she then flew over to Fresh and begrudgingly rubbed up against her in a friendly manner.

“Thank you Jade, but I really don’t think Snickers likes me very much.” Okay I could see Fresh was somewhat sorry, but not completely.

“Look, if Snickers wanted protection and a safe life, then she could have stayed in the sea and well away from me.” After I said that, Snickers thrusted her right flipper in the air and agreed with me by making her own adorable noises to that effect. “Also don’t be a grump, find the waffle mallet and a spatula would you?”

“Fine, but I will need to bring this to Celestia’s attention when she eventually comes around.” She started searching for the waffling mallet that I wanted. In the meantime Cheerilee brought the ingredients for the waffles and omelets over to me.

“You go ahead and do just that Fresh, we’ll see what happens then.” The turtle hissed in agreement with me before hugging my shoulder protectively. “I don’t think Celestia would ever take a pet from their owner.”

Waffle mallets, for the fun kind of percussive breakfast options.

-Fizzle-

Something smelled good and delicious. I numbly walked into the restaurant portion of The Witch’s Fare while looking around for that wonderful scent.

“Sit down Fizzle, I’m covering breakfast today." It sounded like Jade was busy in the kitchen. "I’ll be with you in a minute, what do you want on your omelet?”

“Salt, pepper, onions and a small amount of bell pepper.” I just heard a grunt of confirmation as a clanging noise sounded from the kitchen. My cuteceanera today was going to be good, I can just feel it.

Minutes later, Jade walks out of the kitchen without clothes and my mind goes completely blank.

Chapter Six, Mariachi Changelings: Serendipitous Ding!

-Jade-

“Hello… Fizzle? Are you there?” At my words the pony blinked and continued to stare at me. Is it because I wasn’t wearing any clothes? She certainly didn’t act like this around Cheerilee or even Sekhet who wore very little. Tartarus, even The Shapeshifting Siesta were all nude and not a single reaction like this one. “Well here’s breakfast, eat up before it gets cold and get ready for your celebration. Our friends should be coming soon to help set up the party.”

The turtle on my shoulder made an exceptionally happy sounding noise when looking between me and Fizzle. Snickers was pointing at Fizzle and me while smiling brightly, I ignored Snickers and walked away to go quickly put some clothes on.

If Fizzle was going to act like me being nude was weird by being weird herself about it when she was mostly nude all the time, then I was going to let her quietly reboot her brain on her own time. I will admit that her entire body turning red was cute.

Lots of people went nude around here in Equstria, ponies practically form the biggest nudist colony in the world next to the zebras, griffons, sea ponies and hippogriffs. Technically Abyssinian’s were a clothes wearing race, but we didn’t really have a taboo on nudity or a lack of pants like minotaurs did.

-Fizzle-

Where was I just now? Oh food!

Hmm… this wasn’t made by Kuril, was it cooked by Jade? The omelet tastes good and… are those waffles with various bits of fruit? Then there are the bottles that were dropped off with breakfast, maple syrup and…

I just stared at the bottle of honey blankly for the next ten seconds while my mind rewound to something Jade said less than a minute prior while I was… staring.

Now I’m completely embarrassed about it and I don’t know why, I always see Sekhet and Cheerilee naked every day. Fresh Start is naked sometimes, but only to wash her maid uniform.

-Jacky-

I actually woke up on the right side of the bed today, I didn’t see what the joke was in that.

I got up, while straightening out my long black head feathers with my talons. Eventually I cleaned my teeth, polished my beak, braided my head feathers, checked my black and white plumage, straightened out and brushed my tail feathers and stepped out the door to come face to face with Jade leaving her room.

“Can’t talk, still making breakfast.” She was already on her way down the stairs. “Wake mom would you?”

“Aye, aye, Captain La Perm!” I opened the door to Kuril’s room and saw her curled up on her bed like any real cat would be when it came to sleeping. My Captain and her mother were adorable, but they were no less fierce for their friendly appearances. “Oy, Chief Cook, Jade says to get up! She’s got breakfast handled today.”

Lazily Kuril’s ears flicked and she got up on all four limbs and arched her back. It made a pop or two before she got off the bed. She eventually opened her eyes while going to get her robe and hat.

“Jade’s good at breakfast, but she doesn’t have my magical cooking ability.” Kuril lazily threw on her robes and her pirate witch hat before exiting the room in a sleepy daze. I followed to make sure she didn’t get hurt going down the stairs in this state. “I better go make some sandwiches for the changelings then.”

Fortunately she didn’t fall down the stairs, unfortunately I did and I passed by her slightly amused expression as I did.

“You okay there Jacky?” She said while smiling at me as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

“A bit bruised, but I’m fine Chief Cook Kuril.” I sat up and she patted me on the head before continuing on into the restaurant area to sit down next to Fizzle. She was a nice lady and she’s my captain’s mother, the captain of my captain even.

-Kuril-

“Morning Fizzle… waffles and omelets this time?” I received a very shy nod from Fizzle as she tentatively poured some honey onto a bit of fruit filled waffled before eating a bit. “It’s a good thing Sekhet keeps us supplied or else we would be having more problems.”

Like the fact that we lack an income, of which I’m surprised Celestia hasn’t thought about. We weren’t self-sufficient without Sekhet yet and we currently needed the goddess around to survive.

I wondered what was up with Fizzle, she seemed distracted. I was about to ask if she was feeling okay as she ate, but I was soon distracted myself by the clanging noise of Jade using the waffle mallet in the kitchen.

My tom cat shouldn’t swing it so hard, she might damage the mallet. Note to self: Test waffle mallet for sustain effect.

-Several hours later, Clypeus-

It’s been three months and Tarsus is still crying himself to sleep at night, though we can’t blame him for liking pickles or buying that jar. Heck, we don’t even blame him for loving that girl, we even wanted to help him and we really couldn’t do much.

“Thank you all for coming to the Fizzle’s cuteceanera! We, The Shapeshifting Siesta, will be playing while you get to enjoy the party.” I informed everyone who came to this party for the poor unicorn pony with the broken horn, she was still able to smile at least. Unlike Tarsus who was completely down in the dumps, which surprisingly didn’t affect his playing one bit. “We’ll enjoy ourselves after we’re done, so leave some of whatever Kuril made for us to snack on.”

We started a few warm up songs before we decided to go with the interesting show stopper. The song started with two grunts and me strumming my guitar slightly, repeat and then the song starts for real. Tarsus helping me sing it, one upbeat sad sack song coming right up!

We’d switch out instruments as needed, but Mr. Huge would be on the drums. Not everything we did was mariachi based and ponies weren’t the only ones who can start heart songs. Plus playing instruments make a song from the heart that much stronger.

“We’re going to, we’re going to go, and we’ll do something imbecilic~.” I started with Tarsus singing backup with me. “We’re going to go~!”

“We’re going to, we’re going to go, as we can’t do things that are tame~!” Tarsus sang out with me backing him, before one of the twins went solo with a trombone. Much to the surprise of the audience.

“We know, it’s my fault, that I’m missing my belle friend~.” Tarsus intoned alone sadly. “And you think, I’m alright, but I’m not man~.”

“Maybe, it’s too soon~. Though we don’t think it’s too late… but how can, we reverse Tarsus’s fate~?” The twins alternated singing with me using Tarsus’s voice while blasting their trumpets.

“You know it’s just not right~?” I felt badly for Tarsus and I thought a slightly upbeat depressing song would make him feel better.

“You met your girl man~.” The green Labrum sang.

“I fell in love that night~!” He was singing from the heart, the poor guy.

“She was a shrew and…~” The yellow Labium followed up.

“I just wanted to be with her, but then those thugs started coming in~.” Despite him keeping the tone of the song he was tearing up. “She was the one~, you guys!”

“So we’re going to, we’re going to go, and we’ll do something imbecilic~.” I leaned up against Tarsus while singing this. “We’re going to go~!”

“We’re going to, we’re going to go, and we’ll do some very violent things~!” I wish we could, but singing about it seemed to be helping. We were really bad at combat and we weren’t warrior changelings, we became musicians because it was what we were good at collectively.

A bit of music playing to keep the tune with my guitar, while the trumpet twins did their magic.

“Maybe I’m losing sight~.” Tarsus muttered loudly.

“She is your girl man~!” Sang Labium.

“You know we cannot fight~.” Tarsus wasn’t wrong, we couldn’t bring the same muscle those pigs could.

“Show some backbone and…~” Now it was Labrum following up.

“You know we’ll get slaughtered, before could get too far~. But I’m starting to wonder if~…” Tarsus continued to sing a bit dully, before his mood swiftly turned around. “If we can really do it~, you guys?”

We started to play an encore of the beginning of this song, but Tarsus seemed a little bit cheerier. The audience was cheering us on and the rhythm was good. Tarsus wasn’t going to stop lamenting until he faced his problems.

“Well I certainly know, that going back will definitely be certain death and it’ll be where I’ll meet my end~!” Tarsus seemed a bit braver. Pony land heart songs, you just got to love them even if they allowed you to sing dourly. “But I know, that I know, I don’t care if I can see my belle again~!”

“See her again~.” The twins intoned.

The music continued for a bit.

“Knowing if I fight~.” Tarsus sang serenely.

“You can do it man~!” The twins sang together.

“Even with all my might~.” Tarsus was probably the scrawniest changeling I’ve ever seen.

“We’ll make a plan and~…” The twins continued.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt for my sake, because all of you are my friends~.” Tarsus rubbed his eyes. “You guys are all my best friends~… so we’ll make them see what we’ve got, haha~!”

The rest of us idiots were smiling in Tarsus’s direction, even Kevin looked to be smiling slightly and we played one last round of the song.

“We’re going to, we’re going to go, and we’ll do something absolutely stupid~!” The four of us sang while Mr. Huge smiled towards the back of Tarsus’s head. “We’re going to go~!”

“I got to, I got to go, and find my lovely cupid~!” Among the band hovering above Tarsus’s head and flying small circles was a happy looking Snickers.

“We’re going to, we’re going to go, and get into something stupid~!” The four of us sang together. “We have to go~!”

“For us, we all kno-o-o-w, that it’s our fate~!” The band ceased playing and bowed at the stomping hooves and clapping appendages.

-A minute later-

“Were we singing that ironically or…” Tarsus started before I shoved my hoof in his mouth.

“Even if we die, at least we know we did it helping you.” I stated calmly, before I started shouting. “Most changelings don’t do that often enough for one another!”

“We can help you survive it.” We all turned to the one called Jade with her arms crossed and her tail flicking back and forth agitatedly. “We’re going to need an airship though.”

“Where would we find one around here, It’s not like one will just fall out of the sky here!” That was a little dramatic Tarsus, but… why is everyone suddenly scrambling to get away from the local goddess?

“Oh lovely queens, every changeling scramble!” I quickly yelled, we grabbed all our instruments.

The goddess just looked over her shoulder at the incoming shadow.

-Sekhet-

“I’m not moving from this spot, I’m just going to take it like the goddess of war I am.” I stated loudly just before the airship crushed the back half of my body. I unleashed an agonized yowl from my throat.

-Jade-

I offered to help because I wanted to see Tarsus fight for his love, but I also wanted to see Klugetown and learn a bit about the culture.

Wondering why this airship was crashing, I watched as it dug a furrow in the ground using Sekhet’s body as a plow. It was going more horizontal than down and that looked exceedingly painful for Sekhet. From what I could see the balloon was losing lots of air.

Hey, we have farm lands now! Good thing we held our cuteceanera away from the other buildings.

I calmly followed the trail of destruction until I saw the front half of Sekhet sticking out from under the airship and she looked quite moody.

“So… riddling whoever did this?" I received a flat stare from Sekhet as she spat out a mound of dirt and nodded, she was quite angry. "Because I and mom had absolutely nothing to do with this one and you know it!”

“See I managed to land it safely and nobody around here got hurt!” That scratchy voice sounded similar to Rainbow Dash’s, only older. It couldn’t be anyone else other than…

A pith helmet wearing pony with rose colored eyes poked her head over the side of the ship to look down at Sekhet’s visage glaring back up at her. Her monochrome colored mane told me immediately who this was.

“Are you okay Ms. Sphinx?” Fluttershy came over with Pinkie hopping along behind her, Rainbow didn’t get an invite and was doing other things with a griffon anyway.

"Just PEACHY." Was Sekhet's succinct reply.

“Correction, I just landed on a Sphinx and made her absolutely angry with me.” Well don’t look so sheepish about it, you managed to land the airship intact without breaking the keel on Sekhet’s spine. That takes some real talent I’ll have you know.

“Eh, it’s a common occurrence around here in Airship Mauled.” It was becoming one anyway, only this time the airship looked like it could take off again. The balloon losing air needed to be patched up a lot though. “Our goddess is practically airship magnet at this point.”

“Yes, make fun of my current misfortune why don’t you?” Sekhet started to dig her paws into the dirt, she was getting really good at digging herself out from under airships.

“Excuse me, but you owe our favorite local goddess an apology and to be asked at least one scathingly hard riddle.” The pony dropped down to meet us all on the ground and walked up to me with a curious gaze.

“Yeah… there’s no escaping an angry Sphinx until you let them give you a riddle. I know, I’ve tried. Can I just start of by saying that I’m completely sorry and that it was an accident?” The mare that had yet to introduce herself asked of Sekhet who finished pulling her body out from under the ship.

“You can, but you’re going to get two riddles, tough ones. If you can’t answer either of them, then we’ll take the airship.” I give Sekhet a look and she smiled at me, she was making the most of this situation it seems.

“Ugh... the Equestrian Artifact Association and Celestia are going to kill me if I get either one wrong.” Did we really need to ask if she borrowed the airship without permission?

“They won’t, there are worse things than death A.K. Yearling.” I whispered to her, she goggled at me.

“You know who…” The mares started.

“Yes, you’re Daring Do. Your accident is actually kind of helpful for us, we kind of need an airship that can still fly right now.” Please pick up on our need for this airship Daring, I silently beg of you. “Celestia hasn’t mentioned me yet has she?”

“No and since I hate winging it, I’ll take those riddles." Daring seemed to be as boisterous and proud as I thought she’d be. "I'm on my merry way to Mare-Akech afterwards.”

Author's Notes:

Sekhet's Airship Mauled counter: *ding* 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_v5f7S5xuw

I'm not going to make musical chapters a thing too often, they take a while to make.

Chapter Seven, Shrew-d Operators: Vacation plans.

-Sekhet-

“Quick question, what if I get one right and one wrong?” This Daring asked looking at me with suspicion.

“Good question, you’ll have to at least get my friends a ride to where they need to be if you get only one right.” I received a surprised stare from Priest Jade, mostly because I admitted that we were friends. “Yes, we are friends. Don’t take advantage of it.”

“Fine throw your first one at me, I’m ready for it sphinx.” You are so certain of yourself, I might just prove you wrong.

“Hey, wait a minute, I’m the captain of this vessel.” The griffon that said this dropped down next to Daring. “I should answer one of the riddles!”

“Will you let him answer one?” I just might get one by them.

“If he gets it wrong, then that’s on him.” That means Daring accepted only having to be responsible for one question.

“Once one of you answers, only the other may answer the next. Now for my first riddle.” I was a creature of riddles and I had quite a good one. “I can bring tears to your eyes. I resurrect the dead, Make you smile and reverse time. I form in an instant, but I last a lifetime. What am I?”

“Do you want to answer it Captain Grit?” Daring asked of the griffon. “I got nothing.”

“I know the answer to this one… it’s a memory.” The griffon got it right, now I turned to the one called Daring.

“He’s right. Now for the riddle you and you alone have to answer.” I had a devious one for her and I wondered she would get this one. “What is at the beginning of the end, the start of eternity, at the end of time and space, was in the middle of yesterday, but is nowhere in tomorrow?”

“Wow, that’s… that is a rather tough one.” Daring sat down to think. “Is there even an answer for this one?”

“If you know anything, then you know that I can’t ask a riddle that is completely impossible to answer.” There were even some dangerous emergency riddles for some people who really deserved it, I’ve never had to speak one of those. The answers were open invitations for a sphinx to attack if the person got the riddle right.

The real answer to one of those riddles, was to know that they were trick questions and to call the Sphinx out on them.

“Fine, is the answer a moment?” I thank you Daring Do, there goes my losing streak.

“You… are wrong.” I turned to Jade and addressed her with a toothy smile. “Okay Priest Jade, plan for your trip to help the love hungry bug with the grating depression problem.”

“So do we just drop them off? We can do that easily enough.” Yes, the penalty would be significantly easier on you griffon. I should have asked for more.

I wondered how they were going to get back from their trip. They were quite resourceful and I’m sure they’ll figure it out. I really didn’t want to be without Kuril’s cooking for too long after all.

-Jade-

“First we’re going to need a lot of water, we’re heading for a rather arid place.” I turned away from Sekhet and headed towards The Witch’s Fare to begin preparing. “We need someone here to look after our home and Sekhet, we’re also going to need some cloaks and to gather the magical alchemy ingredients.”

“So who’s going with us?” Jacky looked quite determined to go with me.

“I am for one, you are not going to Klugetown without my supervision my little tom cat.” It appears mom will be joining the trip.

“Then that means Fresh Start has to stay, we need someone around here that can cook. Cheerilee doesn’t need to go and I assume you’re staying here Sekhet.” I looked back at the goddess who nodded, following along beside her were Fluttershy and Pinkie.

“What’s Klugetown like?” You’ll eventually end up there if history somehow repeats itself Pinkie.

“It's a pretty bad place where everything has a price, you don’t want to go there unless you have an absolutely good reason to.” My mom knew about the place given it was to the southwest of Abyssinia. While the people of Abyssinia did trade with the people that lived there, they weren’t exactly big fans of what went on in the town.

“Yeah, but it won’t be a problem for us to get in and out in less than a week.” I received a hoof to my chest.

“I’m going with you to make sure you don’t get hurt.” It seems Fizzle was definitely on board with us.

“You already know I’m coming Captain, you can’t go on an adventure without me!” Jacky threw me a smile and a chipper salute.

“Do you want to come Maries?” If all my friends were coming, then it would definitely become a thing.

“No, we will stay here with the alpha of alphas and train to get stronger, we will consider traveling with you next time… friend.” Maries was still trying to find her place in our humble spot in the world, she quickly came up to me and I was slapped in the face by two different tongues at the same time. At least Marie held back and just nuzzled me a bit. “We will also protect the den.”

“Okay, so that’s mom, Fizzle, Jacky and me that are going on a dangerous adventure. Well let’s go get prepare for it, come on!” I clapped my hands together and stopped to look at the remains of Fizzle’s cuteceanera. “After we’re done cleaning things up.”

“Hey, leave that to me and Fluttershy!” Pinkie wrapped a hoof around Fluttershy, the poor older filly tried to break free from her grasp. “We’ll clean things up here, you go get ready for your adventure and bring back a neat story like you did with Jacky and the pirates!”

“Fizzy, grab what we might need to take aside from water and cloaks, I’m talking things like alchemy ingredients or clothes. Jacky, help them fix the balloon.” Fizzle nodded and was immediately off, Jacky turned around and went for the airship. I finally turned to the six Changelings still with me. “Tarsus has to come, but will the rest of you be staying here?”

“We’re family, of course we’re going!” Despite Clypeus’s strong answer, Kevin took a step away from the group. “Tarsus is not facing this alone.”

“I choose to go my own way, I may visit again some time for more love filled food. I wish you luck.” With that Kevin, the friendliest love taking changeling next to a guy named Thorax, started to leave. It made the other changelings slightly upset. “It is logical that you will come back alive, please don’t prove me wrong. I would be… upset.”

I guess that was his way of saying that while he cared, he wasn’t willing to go that much farther with them. This would explain why he wasn’t already a colorful changeling yet like the other five. He wasn’t willing to be a true friend yet or even share his earned love.

-Fizzle-

Let’s see here, I have the cloak I got from Jade. We need to get three more, unless some of Kuril's robes come with hoods. Starting simple we’ll take the packs with some clothes, Jade will want to take her knife of course.

I was thinking we take ten griffon feathers, eight phoenix feathers and two raven feathers. We really didn’t have much here aside from food and each other. It was a nice and quaint way of living.

I’m sure Kuril and Jade can make up the lack of helpful ingredients by picking up stuff nobody else wants. Why do I suddenly feel like the two most important people in my life are kleptomaniacs?

The feathers will be split evenly between Jade and Kuril, I’ll take Jacky’s sword and practice my imbuing on the way to this Klugetown and Jacky will need something to protect herself with. Kuril and Jade both almost constantly wore their fish scale necklaces, except this morning when Jade was…

Right, where was I and were my cheeks clenching again? I can’t really look at honey, much less eat flowers, without thinking about it thanks to Kuril. Knowing Kuril and Jade could take care of themselves, I worried more about Jacky’s luck popping up and causing problems for her. So we'd be looking for something she can use on arrival.

I was going to actively take part in this adventure and I wasn’t going to let Jade get injured. This whole thing was all for a shaky cause, because who knows what Tarsus’s queen bee was getting up to at this point and if she even still cared for the changeling.

I'll pack a jar of pickles anyway.

-Jacky-

I was going to work on the ship, patching the balloon wouldn’t take too long and we could get going by this late evening.

“Thank you for saving my ship, I don’t expect you to pay extra and I will still get you into Mare-Akesh. That is, if you still want that. What you do from here is up to you.” Mr. Grit was talking to Daring Do and I listened in while carefully patching the balloon. “Like what they do when we drop them off will be entirely up to them. We only have to get them there, nobody said that we have to bring them back.”

“Still, can’t we stick around for a while to find out what they are getting into?” It sounded like Daring might actually want to help us in our endeavors, it was either that or she was curious as to why we were going there. “I’m sure I can find some artifacts in this Klugetown place.”

“That may be true, but there are criminals and scum all over that town. If you get caught, don’t expect me to come rescue you from being auctioned off to the highest bidder.” Grit didn’t seem like he wanted to stick around and wait for Daring if she decided to follow us into town. “You either get dropped off at Mare-Akesh or you stay in Klugetown, choose one as we’re not sticking around for you to go search the black market there for stuff. I’m not about to endanger my crew again so soon, even if I am part of the EAA.”

“I’ll… think on it.” Daring turned away spreading her wings and shot off towards The Witch’s Fare as Mr. Grit came over to me.

“You seem to know you’re way around patching a balloon.” Giving the adult griffon a smile, I answered him in a friendly manner.

“I was raised by pirates for most of my life, so I know a thing or two about sailing in the air or sea.” Adventure was in my blood and my Captain was going on one. I was quite excited to be going as well, since this would be really fun. “I just haven’t gone far from home, until I came to live here in Airship Mauled.”

“Why not?” Grit gave me a concerned look. “Also, I would have expected a grimmer looking parrot from someone who was raised by pirates.”

“The reason why I haven’t gone far is because I was trapped there for a while. I simply prefer to be a more romanticized version of pirate, that being those who are free to go where they will. I’m not a bad person at all despite the way I was raised on Turtle Toga.” Continuing to stitch up holes in the balloon, I chirped cheerily at finishing another patch. I knew there was one thing tying me down and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I might eventually wander to look for some handsome male companionship, but I’ll always come back to my Captain’s side. “I’m not entirely free though, I’m tied to my Captain who got me out into the world. So don’t go expecting me to call you anything other than Mr. Grit.”

“So you’re a loyalty almost beyond all reason kind of girl eh?” Mr. Grit chuckled at me. “You do realize that Turtle Toga is a myth and completely unplottable?”

“Yes and I don’t really need to go back to my place of birth for any reason, but anyone who’s been there at least once can eventually find it again.” I didn’t care if he knew this information, it wasn’t like he could use it. “It’s just quite difficult to do, even if you have been there.”

“Huh… I should probably tell EAA that.” You know, one would think Mr. Grit would have been a little less friendly for a griffon. He must be a more sociable from spending so much time in the presence of ponies. “They've been looking into it for a while now, are you certain it exists?”

“I’m breathing proof and my Captain will back me on that, because here she comes now.” I waved over the side at Jade and she looked up at me, she and Fizzle were carrying a large barrel of water for the trip. “Hey, Captain! Does Turtle Toga exist?”

“Of course it does, but we don’t have a reason to go back yet. Can somebody help us haul this heavy barrel of water up?” Since I was free for the moment, I went to grab some rope to help Captain La Perm out.

-Jade-

“You’re a captain?” The griffon asked looking a little confused.

“No, she just calls me that since I’m the one that got her off of Turtle Toga.” I and Fizzle waited for Jacky to do whatever it was she was going to. “I’m a rogue and sun priest, which together makes me a rogue sun priest.”

“A sun priest?! Does Celestia know you’re here?” Giving Grit a lazy stare, I just rolled my eyes.

“She knows I’m here, I’ve been here for quite a while at least.” For once, I decided to ask about the subject. “Is there anything important I should know about being a sun priest?”

“Only that you should have a moon priest for your protection.” What he said was news to me, I had no such protection detail. “I’m guessing there’s a thestral somewhere around here?”

“Nope.” Popping the P as I said that, I just gave him a lazy look as Jacky dropped some rope for us to tie around the barrel.

“What is Celestia thinking!? Do you know how many beings out there would want to get their hands, claws, hooves, talons or even tentacles on you?” The griffon was staring at me with worry, I just gave him a shrug. “Of course you don’t, there’s also those who would just outright kill you! How have you lived for this long?”

“I’m thinking it’s the obscurity of living here, that no one has said much about my status as a sun priest and I’m also friends with a war goddess. I’m clearly still being called a priest by said goddess, so it must mean something at least.” Though there wasn’t exactly much happening just because I’m a sun priest and it hasn’t been a real issue yet. “We’re not exactly on any maps and I don’t think Celestia has loose lips about when I visited her in Canterlot.”

“You went to Canterlot… and you're still alive…" Grit slapped his talons against his forehead. "Why am I not surprised?!”

Author's Notes:

Magical Alchemy list.

1. Fish Bones (simple).

Cast: Water breathing (Temporary passive water terrain survival buff). Breathing water as if you had gills, permanence can be achieved with repeated casts.

Sustain: Swimming efficiency and deep water survivability increases.

Self-Sustaining: Luminescence. Once used as a sustain effect, bones glow softly on their own.

2. Fish Scales (simple).

Cast: Fish Scale Skin (Temporary defense buff). Possible permanence with multiple casts, more effective underwater. Can be used to water proof objects.

Sustain: Water Projection (Continuous offensive ability). Able to spit or project volatile volumes of water, drains fluids from body with excessive use. You can actively control the volumes of water you project and how focused that projection is.

Sustain 2: Blood Projection (Dangerous offensive ability). Capable of performing a powerful projection, but only from open wounds. As one would imagine blood projection is exceedingly painful, taxing on the body and ultimately dangerous to the user. The intimidation factor might be worth the agony in the right situations, but it will always be a detriment to one’s health.
Self-Sustaining: None.

3. Raven Feather.

Cast: Survive a fall, fall on something safely or possibly target launches and falls on something by user’s choice or at random (One time air terrain survival buff, possible offensive spell). Target tends to end up freezing twenty feet above something living.

Sustain: Projecting thoughts. Not able to receive thoughts, but you can project them to others.

Self-sustaining: none.

4. Sunlight.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Smoke signaling. Causes smoke to appear as if something was burning.

Self-sustaining: Warms the planet.

5. Knife.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Rogue Enhancements (Continuous passive buff). Heightened dexterity, agility and environmental awareness. Strengthens all mobility based buffs.

Sustain side effect: Inability to sleep or relax.

Self-sustaining: Trains muscles and exercises body for similar maneuvers used while wielding the sustain effect.

6. Knife Sheath

Cast: Traps one target temporarily (One use support spell). Time limit for stopping a target is the same every time for sheaths of similar design. Sheaths for different or larger weapons ‘probably’ improves time limit.

Sustain: Increased protection against knives, arrows and other small bladed weapons (Continuous passive buff). Warning: Does not protect against anything larger, or anything else for that matter.

Self-sustaining: None.

7. Alicorn Feather (Celestia).

Cast: Wings of sunlight (Limited air terrain mobility buff). Target is given wings of pure sunlight. Darkness, shade or shadows can weaken the flying power the wings generate, at night they'd be far less effective. The power of the wings can be combined with a knife's or similar sustain effects for improved flying ability. The wings might be extinguished by water and could be useless while it’s raining. Does not protect the user from gravitational or high speed stress and lack of oxygen at high altitudes like a pegasus would be by their magic.

Sustain: Redirect sunlight (Defensive support buff). Is only useful during the day and allows for blinding opponents or aggressors with light.

Self-sustaining: Minor protection from darkness (Automatic defensive buff while feather is on person). Needs to be charged with sunlight and to have been used as a magical alchemy sustain at least once to work.

8. Phoenix Feather.

Cast: Cleansing Flames (Support healing spell). Finds and stops negative foreign bodily ailment or ailments that are magical or mundane, does not heal damage. Can possibly stop positive ailments.

Sustain: Protection from the cold (Continuous defensive buff). Immunity to cold, increased defensive ability against ice and relative elemental based magic.

Self-Sustaining: None.

9. Jade’s Cloak.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: ???. (Effect seems to do nothing, need more information.)

Self-Sustain: Makes sneaking easier (Moderate stealth buff).

10. Cupcake (Banned by Kuril).

Cast: You don’t want to know.

Sustain: Likely none.

Self-Sustain: Delicious.

11. Frog Mucus (Banned by Kuril).
Cast: Magical wide area sticky substance bomb (Hard to get out of clothing).
Sustain: ???.
Self-sustain: ???.

12. Griffon Feather.

Cast: Feather Falling (Limited air terrain support buff). Lowers gravity’s effect on an individual for a minute.

Sustain: Double Jump (Continuous Mobility buff). Can jump off the air one extra time after leaving a solid surface and only one time.

Self-sustain: None.

13. Fish Oil.

Cast: Ignition (Multipurpose offensive and support spell). Ignites itself and anything around it except the user.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

14. Candle Wax.

Cast: Stiffness. Slow down a target, can have a wide area of effect for reduced effectiveness.

Sustain: Heat resistance (Limited continuous defensive buff). Does not stop heat damage entirely and candle takes heat damage in place of the user.

Self-Sustain: None.

15. Pepper.

Cast: Sneezing cloud (Limited continuous Defensive spell). Wide range spell that doesn’t affect the user, causes continuous sneezing on contact and doesn’t necessarily need to be breathed in to take effect.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

16. Tricorne.

Cast: Charisma boost (Limited status buff). Gives one the ability to walk around with confidence.

Side-effect: May instill need for showboating in user.

Sustain: ???.

Self-Sustain: ???.

17. Wood.

Cast: Bark skin (Temporary defensive buff). Make skin and fur tough like tree bark, like most casts can become permanent with multiple consecutive uses. Increases durability of objects when targeted. Causes mildly uncomfortable chafing on a living target.

Sustain: Hair growth in sunlight (Limited utility effect). Only works in direct sunlight.

Self-sustain: Magically enhanced building material.

Combination 1: Candle Wax + Oil (any) + Pepper = Chaos Candle. Candle hollowed out and filled with the other two ingredients mixed together equals devastating results.

Cast: Sneezing flash bomb (Offensive one use spell). Blinding, sinus wrecking and volatile magical cast.

Sustain Cast: Weak jet propulsion device (Limited air terrain support buff), Flamethrower (Limited offensive spell). Doing this will slowly destroy the candle and chemicals used in it. Exhaust fumes has a lesser effect of casting with pepper.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Combination 2: Feather + stick + arrowhead (material any) = Arrow. Arrow + poison = special status ailment added to casting effect based on poison used. Pukwudgie Poison (Paralysis for a few hours).

Cast: Arcing Arrow Beam (Offensive spell). Fires a beam that is effected by gravity as if it were an arrow, it can only damage one target and that’s the first thing it touches. If it grazes a wall and then hits you, it will do nothing to you.

Sustain Cast: Spray of multiple weaker beam shots.

Sustain: None.

Self-Sustain: None.

Chapter Seven, Shrew-d Operators: Scouting plans.

-???-

A figure in a cloak was up on the shaft leading to some windmill blades and another cloaked figure looked up at them from below.

The second figure watched as the first figure was doing something to the shaft the windmill blades were attached to.

“What are you doing Jade?” The cloaked figure turned to the cloaked pony.

-Jade-

We had arrived in Klugetown safely enough. Mom and Jacky were out scouting a portion of the town and so were we. Fizzle didn’t like this place and I don’t blame her, I didn’t like it either.

“If I’m right, then it’ll be something you’ll look back on years from now and you’ll remember me doing this.” I snickered at Fizzle as I checked the base of the windmill blades themselves and smile. “You, are going to be so mad at me for this later.”

“Why would I ever be mad at you Jade?” She gave me a worried look.

“You’ll only be mad, if it actually happens.” I received a confused look, which I just returned with what I hoped was a heartwarming smile at her. “Just remember me if you do come back here and it does in fact happen.”

“What will happen?” Fizzle asked of me looking a little on edge.

“Eh, you’ll know it when you see it Fizzy. It’s not important, or even anything to worry about right now.” Yep, nothing important to worry about at all, just something that might be of interest in the far flung future.

-Tempest Shadow, approximately seven years from now. The future that refused to change.-

“Get her, now!” I felt my eyes light up and my horn sparked, there was something very familiar about this place.

“You going to be scared now ponies!” Grubber the little rotund sugar swallowing hedgehog said from beside me. He was annoying, but despite that I think we’d always be friends. He was quirky like that and he wasn’t even remotely evil in any given way. In fact, he was highly incompetent and I sorely needed that.

Wait, was one of my storm creatures grabbing… windmill blades?! I… I couldn’t say anything about it. I just… I had to keep going. I couldn’t lose composure here.

“Grubber watch the cat for a minute, don’t let him out of your sight.” I went outside and headed towards the nearby rock wall. “I have something important to do.”

I looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody was watching. They were all likely distracted by the windmill blades carrying the six ponies and little dragon away, entirely across town and completely out of our grasps to the docks.

We’d never catch up to them, to think that two of those ponies were my friends. I hoped they were okay.

I slammed my hoof into the rock wall, I even cracked it a bit. Closing my eyes, I clearly felt my tears spilling from them. I… I wasn’t angry… with you… never… actually, I was laughing. Why was I laughing this hard about the Princess of Friendship getting away? Why was this so funny to me? I had to calm down, I… I couldn’t be seen acting hysterical like this.

“It seems you were wrong about this… I didn’t get mad.” Having regained some composure, I had to deal with that blue haired Abyssinian. He wouldn’t tell me the truth about where they were going, I just know it. Still, I was going to ask him anyway and possibly be purposefully led astray.

Darn it Jade, you knew this would happen you… you lovable, beautiful, fluffy, math challenged idiot!

I missed you dearly, I know everyone else does too... so where are you?!

-Fluttershy-

I pulled Pinkie over to the corner of the storage space and looked to her worriedly.

“Pinkie, why do you think Fizzle is really doing all this?” I whispered trying not to be too loud.

“That’s not Fizzle, silly. That mean pony is Tempest Shadow.” She whispered back to me. “They are completely different ponies Fluttershy, shame on you for thinking otherwise.”

Either you were in complete denial Pinkie, or you knew something that I didn’t. Rainbow doesn’t recognize her either. Then again, I don’t think Rainbow has ever actually seen Fizzle’s broken horn before.

It has been a few years since I became the element of kindness, I haven’t exactly visited Airship Mauled in all this time or have really talked to all my other friends there.

Did I and Pinkie… did we forget them? Some friends we are.

-Approximately seven years prior in Klugetown, Fizzle-

Jade just dropped down in front of me and I gave her a sardonic look. I’m going to remember this location why? It’s not like I was ever going to have any reason to come back here to this place.

“Jade, aren’t we supposed to be asking around about Merriami Sorex?” It seemed to me like Jade was putting things off to play tourist. That was the name of the shrew we came here to find on Tarsus’s behalf after all and Jade was goofing off and doing strange things at this pointless windmill. “All we’re doing is goofing off. I don’t mind that we’re spending time together, but aren’t we supposed to be helping someone here?”

“No need to rush things, that’d just be drawing attention to ourselves my dear Fizzy. Besides, I’m smarter than that and we haven’t been goofing off.” She looked at me with a smirk on her face. “We ask questions about Ami directly and you can bet we’ll be in trouble before the day is out, especially with whoever has her. We don’t want people to start following us around or back to our camp to be ambushed. You’re the one that thought to grab a large tent from Ponyville before we left, that was a good call. Now use that wonderful brain of yours here Fizzy.”

“Then why have we been just walking all over the town aimlessly to look at things?” This place was in the middle of an inhospitable desert and was swarming with the most horrible people I think I’ve ever had the misfortune to see.

“It hasn’t been aimless. Unlike you, I’ve actually been listening to the conversations going on around here to get a scope of the land and the people in it.” Wait, was that why Jade stopped at that horn shop and stared at those horns for a while? I shivered in disgust. If it had been for a good reason, then I was willing to swallow my bile and hear Jade out. “Apparently the current local crime boss is apparently a big pig called Gonnan. This is someone I can’t deal with directly who’s got both size, muscle and numbers on us and I already know the name of his mob’s main enforcer Lin. They are not anyone we want to mess with.”

“What does that have to do with why we’re here?” That seemed like really inconsequential information to me.

“I’m getting to that. Have a little patience Fizzy, you’re going to need it eventually. I know the perfect place to get information on Ami. It just happens to be in the middle of the big pig’s territory.” Now Jade was making me a little worried, how would she know what’s the place to get the best information on our goal? “We’re just up here to see how the pigs around here are patrolling the streets, we’re going to need to know this later. Also what times they’ll be patrolling any particular street and how they move when alerted to trouble.”

Jade pointed off into the streets below and I saw two pigs wielding spears, they stopped to talk to one another.

“How do you think Jacky and your mother are doing?” I take it this would eventually lead us to Merriami.

“Pretty well, this isn’t an entirely despotic regime, but the pigs have definitely corner the market on real estate around here.” Jade crossed her arms and leaned against the wall behind her. “So they can talk freely about some things, but I warned them to never mention Merriami out loud anywhere. We’ll meet up with them outside of town at the campsite, after we scout the place I want to go to and we’ll ask the right questions there.”

“What place would that be?” Call me curious, but Jade was being rather cagey about things or what she was doing up on the windmills shaft.

“The only, beyond my very disbelief, truly clean bar in all of Klugetown!” She pointed out a section of the town that looked vaguely nicer than the rest of this dusty dump we found ourselves in. “The pigs apparently like their alcohol. Alcohol creates both problems and loose lips, I hate the stuff personally.”

The way Jade talked about alcohol, it sounded like she had a bad personal experience and Kuril didn’t seem to like the stuff either. So was Jade’s other parent abusive and that’s why they weren’t around? Kuril seemed rather tight lipped about things involving Jade’s father.

“Well come on Fizzy, it’s getting late and we have a bar to go to. I heard someone talking about the guards celebrating something.” Jade started for the stairs and I followed, why did I feel a sense of dread about going to the bar?

We quietly made our way away from the windmill she tampered with, I quickly forgot about it as it seemed unimportant.

-Jade-

It was getting late and we were approaching the outside of the bar, it was called The Whole Hog. Walking inside, I saw that we weren’t the only ones to come here. Sitting in the back corner were Jacky and Mom, they looked to be quietly discussing something.

“There’s mom and Blackcap, go over to them and tell them I’m about to start something that’ll give me a chance to talk to the bartender without any ears listening in on our conversation.” Fizzle looked at me and I made a gesture for her to go. “Don’t worry, I won’t be hurt. Just stay out of the fighting and everything will be okay. I’m not even going to be scratched by any of it.”

“If you’re sure…” Looking away from me, Fizzle made her way over to mom and Jacky in the corner.

I went up to the bar and sat down.

“Hello there, nice establishment you have here.” The lizard behind the bar gave me a flat look.

“What do you want cat?” The lizard looked to be of the frilled variety, said frill was orange, black and a little bit yellow. He looked to be quite clean compared to all the slightly grungy patrons he had in the bar.

“I’m Jade La Perm and I want to ask you about your bar here, it’s… a bit too nice for the area it’s in.” He winced at my words and I knew I was on the right track.

“You could definitely say that, Chlam King. I’m the owner of The Whole Hog.” He nodded to me with a suspicious glance. “Is there something you needed from me specifically Jade? You don’t look old enough to drink and I know Abyssinians.”

“I’m not good sir, thank you for noticing and not offering me a drink. I despise alcohol.” He gave me a curious glance for saying that. “I would like to ask if you would like to dirty up your establishment and are being prevented from doing so.”

“I’m not liable to discuss such a thing.” He said calmly while glancing around the bar at the clean alcohol swilling pigs. Pigs were actually very clean animals, they just needed mud and water to stay cool. The pigs here could actually sweat and were much cleaner.

“So you’ve never had a brawl in your bar before?” He froze up and gave me a sad look. “Not much of a real rough and tumble place Klugetown.”

“You’d be wrong about the rough and tumble part, but the pigs are too well organized even while drunk to start a fight in my establishment.” I could see a gleam in his eyes as he wiped a glass clean.

“Bartender, I need some honey mead over here!” The pig at the end of the bar slammed his empty mug down.

“I’ll be right with you sir!” Chlam turned to me and smiled slightly. “If you could get a bar brawl going in here, I would appreciate it. It’s really quite impossible though, their camaraderie is too strong for that.”

“We’ll see about that… hold his drink back, because challenge accepted! Just give me the information I need when I do get the fight going. I don’t want any ears here to hear what I want to know.” I poked the bartender in the chest while speaking softly as I got up off my stool, I picked up said seat and held it aloft. “Attention everyone! I would like to proclaim that if a chair is thrown in a bar, a fight will inevitably break out regardless if it hits anyone or not as long as it goes more than a foot away from the thrower.”

“Pahaha… you think throwing that stool will really make us all get into a fight, do you know who we are?” The pig at the end of the bar in the tough guy jacket squealed with delight at my proclamation. “This bar has never had any fights, ever! So go ahead and throw that stool and see what happens. If you hit one of us, we’ll all just gang up on you and afterwards we’ll just continue drinking our fill.”

I gently tossed the stool, it didn’t go very far. Now for my horrible math skills to be useful for a change.

“There you have it, I threw the stool exactly one foot away!” I sat on the neighboring stool, put my elbows on the bar and steeple my fingers while giving the bartender an amused look.

“What was that in aid of?” I held up a finger at Chlam in a waiting gesture and resumed the steeple finger position.

“Pahaha… that’s your ploy to get us to fight, the stool didn’t go more than half a foot!” The pig at the end of the bar stated.

“I saw it make three fourths of a foot!” Another pig shouted, and thus the setting up of the dominoes began.

“What are you blind, it only made it a quarter of a foot!” All the pigs were drunk so distance would be hard for any of them to judge as they were.

“If you’re blind, then I’m definitely seeing it as having gone more than a foot and a half!” Several pigs got up and started generally talking about how far I threw the stool, it then started getting heated.

The pig at the end of the bar even got into it and tried to break them up, then I threw the match on the powder keg I just started.

“Seriously guys, it’s exactly one foot three inches.” I said lazily, they glared at me and I leaned back with a warding gesture.

“It is not, it’s exactly one foot!” That’s when the first punch was thrown, then all the pigs in the bar started brawling.

I turned my seat back to the amazed bartender with a calm, canary eating smile. I basked in the chaos going on behind me.

“So, what do you need to know Ms. La Perm?” A happy Chlam King asked me.

Chapter Seven, Shrew-d Operators: Meeting plans.

-Kuril-

Fizzle came to sit with us and told us what Jade was up to, I sighed and shook my head. I and Jacky were talking about what we saw, what we heard and what we think is going on in this town.

“Why did the Captain do all of that and how did a fight come out of it?” Anyone could see that Jacky was a bit excited about the bar brawl going on and I had several hunches as to why my little tom cat did that.

“I know why she did it, it’s really quite easy to understand. I think she just helped one of the less visible factions of this city with her actions. The pigs are the largest faction and the bartender is obviously in someone else’s pocket. Jade just helped him out and now they’re trading information with one another.” I could see Jade talking fast and the bartender was talking equally fast while sending glances at the brawlers every now and then, he was looking out for when they eventually stopped. “She’s actually live action roleplaying right now, we’ve had quite a few Ogre’s and Oubliettes games based around a town of thieves’ scenario. How she caused the fight is simple, she got someone to agree with her original assessment. Somebody didn’t like that she changed her mind and someone didn’t like it at all when they agreed with her about it being exactly one foot.”

“What’s rather interesting is that she threw the stool away from herself so that its length is at least within a foot of all their answers.” Don’t look so confused Fizzle, that’s how you start a bar brawl the smart way without having to resort to violence personally. She could have still started a bar brawl by hitting someone with the stool, but my daughter would have been on the wrong end of a thrashing. Jade had backed out correctly.

“She let them all build up to it too, that’s my girl and I wouldn’t exchange her for a pretty princess version of her on any day.” I was quite proud of Jade, she managed to start a bar brawl without investing herself in it personally. She wasn’t being attack by all the pigs currently beating the literal snot out of each other. “She’s much more interesting as she is anyway.”

“I can’t imagine Captain being a pretty princess… eugh…” Jacky looked like she was about to throw up, even I was beginning to see the merits of having a complete tom cat for a daughter. “The thought gives me a shiver in my timbers and that’s not even an actual pirate saying. It could just be the piece of wood digging into my side.”

Jacky picked up a small plank of wood she had found lying around at the shipyard and docks, we needed an airship and there were a few around we might have been window shopping for. This was when Jade took Fizzle sightseeing around the city. I really wanted to see those two go on their first date together, that’ll be so adorable to watch.

It would do as a weapon in a pinch, but I wasn’t going to let Jacky rely on it. I wasn’t about to let any of my girls get hurt by anyone if I was around to do something about it. I had a waffle mallet and I knew what its sustain did. I wonder if my daughter would start using it or if it would be my main weapon, magic users did tend to use magical cudgels as weapons. A hammer was a cudgel right?

Jade suddenly got up and skirted around the fighting with a small smile and made her way over to us, she sat down quietly and rested her chin on the table and her whiskers twitched imperceptibly. She had certainly found out about something interesting.

“Did you find out where Merriami Sorex is Jade?” She lifted her head and nodded to me with a grin on her face.

“I did, apparently Mr. King really doesn’t like the pig crime faction being in his bar. We need to go back to the changelings and have them scout the city patrols from the air tonight. We’ll check and see if Ami is where she is said to be some time tomorrow. The bartender is going to tell his ‘friends’ that a fight took down a number of the pig enforcers. The number of guards will be a bit light tomorrow.” Jade moved closer to Fizzle and wrapped an arm around her. “In other news, thank to my actions, the rats, moles and several other factions are going to be on the move soon. The pigs here were celebrating their boss’s anniversary of taking over Klugetown. The big pig Gonnan has too much of a monopoly on things around here and the crime boss for the shrews wants his daughter free…”

“Now I know why you think it’s important to walk around and listen to the people.” Fizzle nuzzled up against Jade and they looked so cute together, I give it another second before Fizzle catches on to what Jade just said. “Wait… Merriami is part of a crime family here?!”

“Quiet down Fizzy. That’s just the kind of trouble that Tarsus has involved himself with, it’s on him whether he wants to continue pursuing this. Merriami is actually a good girl, in the same sense that our Jacky here is.” My daughter apparently got all that she needed from her quick discussion with the bartender. Jacky is a good girl, but she’s willing to lie, steal and cheat if it means helping us, and she’d do it without regrets. “She’s not exactly into the family business so to speak, but she certainly knows about it and we’ve got a meeting with the boss of the local shrews. Tarsus needs to join us for that tomorrow morning.”

“Well come on then, all we have to do now is exit the bar calmly without drawing attention to ourselves.” I stood up and waited for the others, they followed me past the pile of groaning, pummeled pigs and out of The Whole Hog bar.

We quietly made our way down the street and Jade stopped to look behind use and was acting a bit paranoid. Even I was feeling some paranoia myself, everything in Klugetown has a price and Jade might not have paid enough for the information she received.

“Did you two hear anything about the lizard faction?” Jade asked of us, she was unsure about the bartender then.

“A bit, I heard they were trying to stay neutral.” Well Jacky did leave my sight a few times while we were at the airship docks, so I wasn’t so surprised to hear that she heard something while I was looking into ships we could possibly steal.

My daughter sighed with relief as we exited the town watching our backs.

-Tarsus, campsite-

I was so worried about my belle, Merriami Sorex was a beautiful shrew and I was idly eating a pickle in memory of her. Sharing the love was all well and good, but I wanted to share mine with someone special to me. I was afraid of going into town, but I would still do it if they didn’t return soon.

We heard someone coming and four cloaked figures approached the campsite some way down below Klugetown and hidden among the rocks near the walkway leading into town.

“Did you find her, is she okay?” I was up and running over to them immediately.

“Calm down, we know where she might be.” At Jade’s words I sighed with relief, it seems she was as professional a mercenary as she tried to sell herself as. I don’t know what I can do to pay any of them back. “But there are a few… complications.”

Huh… there’s something wrong with my belle?

“W-what is it?” My friends came over to me when they heard a tremor in my voice, we had all been relaxing and waiting. We had even did an a-cappella or two while we waited.

“First of all, did you know that Merriami Sorex is the daughter to the head of a crime family?” Fizzle seemed more than a bit mad at me.

“No, but I don’t care. I want to help her if she’s in trouble!” Even if she was the daughter of a crime family boss, I couldn’t care less as long as I got to see her again and at least tell her how I felt.

“Which may involve shifting the entire nature of the city to do it. Are you willing to live with the consequences of that?” I didn’t immediately answer Jade, she seemed to be giving me a cool glance while I thought things over.

“Yes, I’m willing to do anything for her.” That was when I was approached by Jade, who kneeled down and patted me on the head.

“Good, because you’ll be meeting her father tomorrow morning and I don’t think he’ll be very happy with seeing you.” She just patted me on the head to be comforting before delivering that news. “We need your friends to do something only they can, we need them to watch and map out the porcine patrols in various parts of the city. You guys are at least good at stealth right?”

“We’re not good at direct confrontation, except maybe for Mr. Huge here, but we are changelings.” Clypeus moved forward putting a hoof to his chest, Mr. Huge and the trumpet twins nodded in agreement. “You won’t find another species more natural at stealth than we are! If it’ll help our buddy out, then we can do that much at least. We didn’t come all this way to sit around and do nothing, just give us some paper, ink and quills. I swear by tomorrow morning, we’ll give you a comprehensive list of their patrols without being caught.”

“We’re not asking you to replace or get anywhere close to them.” I had wondered if Kuril was going to say anything, she was the eldest here. “This is strictly a keep your distance and don’t do anything stupid kind of thing. We already have an idea of what airships we can procure for our escape, but we need to work with the locals if we’re to get anywhere.”

“We’re not that stupid, the town has many magical measures against changeling infiltration. It’s how we were discovered and ran out of town the last time we were here.” I stated sadly. There were some magical artifacts littering the town that could prevent us from shapeshifting entirely, some created a zones where a changeling let loose burst of magic randomly and some artifacts were even contact based. It was a dangerous no bug’s land for my kind. “They’ll keep their distance, trust me on that. They wouldn’t be able to get too close to Ms. Sorex if they tried to sneak in disguised as guards anyway.”

“Well mom, best get started on dinner.” At Jade’s words, Kuril nodded and started getting out our limited supplies. She turned to me. “You’re friends are in for a long night Tarsus and you absolutely need to get some sleep.”

-The next day, Jade-

I woke up, with Fizzle’s head pressed against my neck. She was nuzzling me in her sleep, I enjoyed the affection for a bit before shaking her awake. We had a meeting to get to this morning, once the other changelings got back from their scouting.

-Fizzle-

So it was just the two of us and a cloaked Tarsus who was trying to not to seem skittish about walking around Klugetown. We were almost at the meeting place according to Jade. I was just waiting for something to go horribly wrong and if it did, I had the sword to do magic with on me.

We stopped in an alleyway and looked about, this was the location of the meeting.

“Are you guys the ones that Chlam told us about?” We turned around and saw a tall shrew that had appeared behind us from out of nowhere, he looked rather wiry to me. His clothing looked Saddle Arabian.

“We are. Are you our contact?” Jade stated calmly while her eyes darted about, it seems she was just as tense I was about all this.

“Good, follow me and try to avoid getting spotted by the patrols.” He stated looking out from the alleyway, his dark brown fur made him blend in around here quite well.

We followed the male shrew across the town and avoided several patrols while doing so. We used a lot of back alleys, jumped between buildings and even used some bits of scaffolding while sneaking around. It was a bit rough for me and Tarsus as we had hooves instead of the dexterous fingers the shrew and Jade used to maneuver about.

“Inside, quickly.” The shrew eventually opened up the door to a building on the lower side of town while keeping look out. Once inside we were met with a large number of shrews geared for desert survival.

One of them had been in the middle of saying something. He stopped upon seeing us, stood up and came over to look us over.

“So you’re the ones that Chlam was talking about, you’re a bit young to be mercenaries.” He pulled a scimitar from his side and held his blade pointed towards us. None of the other shrews in the room look worried or even seemed to be anything more than relaxed, this guy was quite capable of taking care of us himself it seemed. “So who are you with and why are you asking questions about my daughter’s captivity? We ‘The Desert Shrews’ would certainly like know that, as I’m their leader Soricini Sorex. Answer quickly and I may have some time for you, the bar fight you started helped us quite a bit last night and you have garnered my attention.”

He didn’t look that old, even with a scar over one eye, underneath the other and two crossing across his snout. His tail was missing a bit at the tip; it whipped back and forth agitatedly as he stared us down. He had some muscle on him and he looked quite tough.

“We’re free agents helping someone that your daughter possibly fell in love with. He returned with us to see about meeting her again. He was run out of town by some thugs the last time he was here and I’m sure they’ve been quite a thorn in your side since then.” What are you doing Jade? Why are you telling him that to start things off with? He probably won’t like hearing his daughter was in any kind of relationship. Kuril taught me how protective parents could be about this sort of thing. “Mr. Tarsus here is absolutely smitten with your daughter’s beauty… and her apparent love of pickles. We wish to help see your daughter safely out of her predicament and very far away from town.”

“What kind of pickles does she like the most?” Soricini said, staring sternly at Tarsus who pulled his hood down and stared back. The muscular shrew didn’t seem too surprised that Tarsus was a colorful changeling.

“That’s a trick question, she likes all kinds of pickled things!” There was a fond smile on Tarsus’s face. "I met her over a jar of pickles with twelves spices and herbs, it's how I got to know her.”

Author's Notes:

(New alchemy Ingredient!)

18. Waffle Mallet.

Cast: ???.

Sustain: Random confusion effect chance (Weapon specific offensive buff). While sustained, the hammer has a low chance to cause confusion and or dizziness upon any impact. Said chance goes up significantly when hitting the head of a target.

Self-sustain: ???.

Chapter Seven, Shrew-d Operators: Rescue plans.

-Soricini Sorex-

This contemptable… well I can’t exactly call him a maggot, he practically is one. This bug thought he could be with my daughter? At least I knew he wasn’t in this for the power, if my daughter actually likes him then I’ll be fine with that much. This Tarsus is not a threat to me in any sense and is pretty much not very interesting, aside from being an oddly colorful changeling.

I looked at the free agents. They didn’t seem like much, but looks were deceiving. That cat was a clever one, she’s the one that gave me an opening and I used it for all it was worth. The pony… I didn’t know much about ponies, but she had come armed with a sword at least. So there’s that.

I’ve been a desert traveling nomad most of my life and being stuck here because of a big, wild and boorish monster call Gonnan had soured my mood quite a bit. I wanted to fill him full of gunpowder and shove a torch down his throat.

At least Verko is willing to make decent deals with me and not kidnap my daughter, he didn’t exactly have the manpower to keep her out of my grasp anyway and was setting himself up as the next crime boss. I cared little about that as Gonnan did kidnap my daughter and we’d make him pay, but we can’t take any direct actions against him yet.

“You’d be right, my daughter has a thing for all kinds of pickled foods.” The changeling just gave me a friendly smile. It was almost disturbing to see a changeling that wasn’t full of holes. I turned to the two free agents. “How much do you want for your services? Whatever the changeling is paying you, I can double it.”

I focused on the Abyssinian, she was the interesting one. To just walk into a bar and leave it with her companions without so much as a single scratch after instigating the fight that knocked out a number of Gonnan’s enforcers.

“How does one pay twice of nothing?” She queried innocently and I just stared at the cat completely flabbergasted.

“Maybe they’ve actually figured out how to divide by zero.” The pony commented dryly looking to her friend with something approaching passionate affection.

“Don’t be silly Fizzy, everyone knows the answer to that is always two zeroes.” What… even… is the cat actually serious about that?

“Jade, you’re an idiot sometimes.” The giggling pony received a cheeky smile from the cat.

“He’s… not paying you to be here then?” I slowly asked, just to make sure I heard them right.

“Not a single bit, doubloon or chunk of gold, did I stutter when I said we were ‘free’ agents? At least I’ve personally already gotten something out of coming to Klugetown.” There was an amused look on the cats face and I felt a cold sensation travel down my spine. How is she profiting from this? “We’ll also take whatever we can carry and will steal an airship on our way out, so there’s also that. Speaking of taking things, why haven’t you rescued your daughter yet if you already know where she is?”

“The problem is that Gonnan always has the keys on him to every room in the building she’s being held captive in.” I couldn’t rescue her without going straight through the swine, I haven’t come up with a solution to that yet. “We can’t steal just one key or all of them, because he’ll definitely know about it if we tried to steal them. He’s the only one allowed to touch them and he’s one of the toughest crime bosses around, his entourage isn’t any easier to deal with and they’re only about half his massive size.”

“I take it he’s a bore.” The cat stated out loud.

“The biggest one around, he’s holding everyone to a status quo.” I put away my sword and crossed my arms to stare down the lazy looking cat. “His version of it anyway. It is admittedly effective.”

“Definitely boring for a crime boss then.” I will admit her words made me snort a bit, as I realized what she actually meant. She wasn’t talking about Gonnan’s species. What she said next had my attention. “I’m a walking skeleton key, I can get through any door easily enough.”

“The locks are impossible to pick thanks to the magic specifically meant to prevent that from happening, the second you put a pick in that door it will shock you and or vaporize your tools.” I quickly cut the cat off from commenting. “Before you ask, the surrounding walls are made of a sturdy material also protected by magic.”

“Are the doors themselves magic or are protected by magic?” She must be asking this out of idle curiosity.

“Aside from the locks I don’t think so, but there’s no way anyone could cut through the metal without at least alerting someone.” Why was the cat suddenly smiling?

“We can possibly get her out sometime later this evening. Depends on the time it takes us to set up for the jailbreak and if you can run interference to keep everyone else away from where your daughter is being held. Well, that would certainly help things quite a bit.” You weren’t telling me how you’re going to do it, but you seemed too confident in your abilities. You weren’t lying then, or at the very least didn’t think you were. “If you already have an airship that you wouldn’t mind letting us have, then we wouldn’t have to worry about stealing one. Also, would you mind if your daughter Ami lived with a band of traveling mariachi changelings if she does in fact like this guy here?”

“I’m not giving you an airship, but I can run interference and yes I would mind if she suddenly up and left without talking to me first.” I wanted to see my daughter again and then have one long talk with her, especially about her choice for a boyfriend. If the blue bug is in fact her boyfriend. “So you’re bringing her back to me and then you’re stealing that airship. You will leave without her if I find her words lacking passion.”

“I can live with that, just as long as she’s safe.” It seems this Tarsus wasn’t a complete idiot and truly did care, so colorful changelings weren’t as deceitful as their darker brethren. “Just… protect her better this time will you?”

Oh I will, I’ll be going for Gonnan’s throat personally.

-Hours later, Jade-

The doors themselves were not protected by magic, as such I could get through them even if they were made of metal. The ones leading into the compound were a bit large. I hadn’t seen Gonnan personally, but those huge doors meant the guy was a giant.

The two guards outside the place were quite large and my dinky little knife wasn’t going to cut it or their folds of fat and muscle. The dexterity boost was a must, because I certainly didn’t want to get hit by the double bladed axes those two pigs were wielding even once. At least it would be a mostly painless death if the blow was fatal.

The Shapeshifting Siesta and my group hit our first obstacle, how to get by the two deadly guards that are said to be smaller than the big pig himself. Said pig I haven’t seen yet, but I was getting a feeling of dread of dealing with a large guy with tusks that could easily gore me.

Soricini likely had the right idea in avoiding confrontation with this guy if his daughter is this well guarded. The building looked like a fortress with no windows, it was only slightly out of place in appearance with the rest of Klugetown.

Oh look a hedgehog girl, which makes twelve differing anthropomorphic species I can identify in this town of scum and rot. The shark people weirded me out and scared me a bit, I had a healthy fear of ocean dwelling creatures.

“Fizzy, stick with mom and watch the entrance, you two will be our backup plan. Jacky your with me and Tarsus, be prepared to use that wood in any way necessary.” I received a salute from Jacky and Tarsus looked a bit nervous about what we were going to do. Mom and Fizzle were already in position on this rooftop. “Clypeus, your group is going to do some wild goose chasing with those two pigs at the front. I only need them to move away from the compound for thirty seconds and then we’re in. Circle back around and wait for us with our backup, if we’re not out in a few hours then mom will take over the rescue operation from there. We’ll be needing one ourselves at that point.”

“How will we know where to go once we’re inside?” That was a rather good point Jacky, how would we know where to go once we got inside? All we knew is that Merriami Sorex was here.

“I haven’t the foggiest Blackcap, none of The Desert Shrews have managed to get inside before and we’re likely going to be winging it.” I’m sure that tidbit didn’t make Tarsus any feel better. “Wait for us to get into position, we’ll signal you when we’re ready Clypeus.”

“Tarsus, stay safe dude.” Clypeus and the other changelings left and were preparing to cause a distraction.

“Same to you guys too.” Returned Tarsus, he didn’t care about how dangerous this was, we were about to break into a very large criminal’s fortress.

Jacky, Tarsus and I climbed down from the roof and we stood at the mouth of a nearby alleyway looking towards the guards. I could see Clypeus poking out of another with three other heads down the street, I looked to Jacky and Tarsus who nodded at me. I held out a thumb and popped a claw.

The four changelings waltzed out of the alley and the trumpet twins were carrying their instruments, I had thought they had all left those at their carriage back in Airship Mauled.

“The trumpet twins are never without an instrument.” Tarsus told me as the four changelings took to the air and got close to the two large pigs guarding the doors.

“A five, six…” Shouted Labium.

“Seven, eight… now!” Labrum followed and the twins both blew their trumpets loudly into the ears of the two five foot tall walls of bacon. Mmm… bacon.

Clypeus and Mr. Huge blasted the guards in their faces with magic, they were aiming for the eyes. As was expected of their girths, the pigs stayed standing and got quite mad. They started taking swings at the four changelings who quickly took evasive actions, but they didn’t go high enough to be out of range of the two guards.

Once the two pigs were successfully led away from the doors and far enough away, I darted out for them with Tarsus and Jacky on my heels. Jacky was already wielding her plank of wood and was watching the directions the guards went in.

I put my hand up to the door and started a cast, the door slowly dissolved much to Tarsus’s amazement. He hadn’t seen the true power of magical alchemy yet, I and mom were still only scratching that surface.

Once one of the doors fully disappeared, the magical lock on it fell to the ground. Jacky scooped it up and moved on into the building. Tarsus followed her and I moved to the other side of the door and reversed my cast, so that the door was now back in place.

We’re in…

-Jacky-

Trouble already! It didn’t take us seconds after getting through the door and already we met resistance. I moved forward blocked the spear the small pig was wielding, he had almost stabbed Tarsus.

As the tip jammed its way into my piece of wood, I remembered what Jade told me on the trip here.

-Days prior-

“Jacky I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. You may be unlucky, but have you ever thought of using that bad luck constructively or overcoming it?” Captain smiled at me and I had to wonder where she was going with this, I looked over the airships railing at the view.

“How would I even go about doing that?” While I haven’t been much use to the Captain, I hoped to be useful to her eventually.

“Jacky you’re smart, more so than me in specific ways.” My Captain gave me a compliment and I was appreciative of it, but where was she going with this. “If you have enough skill at something to the point that bad luck couldn’t do anything to stop you from achieving your goal with said skill, then it wouldn’t be as problematic would it?”

“What if my luck gets so horrible that skill couldn’t overcome it?” At the time, I really had thought that my luck could get so horrible that it would be impossible to beat.

“Then make your own luck Jacky, you can’t sit around forever waiting for life to throw you bones.” Which it obviously did once, because I met you Captain. “If life throws you a bone, you take it and beat up life with that bone and then take the rest of the skeleton to use. Were you raised by pirates or not?”

“Captain… thanks for the pep talk.” After I thanked her I decided to go think about how to turn things going wrong around to my favor. “I’ve got some thinking to do.”

-Days from then-

Okay a spear was stuck in my piece of wood which was bad because I couldn’t use it, or could I? His weapon was stuck as well. What to do… I could wait until Tarsus comes to his senses at the near miss and let him attack, or I could actually do something useful with this.

I twisted my piece of wood and the pig yelped as the shaft of the spear twisted in his grip hurting his hands. I jerked the plank, with spear still embedded, to the right and swung it to the left. The shaft of the spear struck the pig in the head dazing him and it knocked the spear loose onto the floor.

Taking up the wood in both hands, I swung it towards his skull and the wood broke roughly in half knocking him out. I just stared at the wood feeling a bit sad, it had been a good plank of solid wood… on the positive side I now have a spear!

-Jade-

Jacky didn’t need my assistance after all. She actually handled that small pork rind by herself and took up the spear in both hands. She nodded to me after testing its weight.

The building wasn’t exactly humongous, but it did have several archways to go through. Of the three directions, I choose left!

The left hallway had an upper walkway with armed pigs patrolling it, we snuck by them quietly on the ground floor down the hallway towards a door. Bypassing said door and heading through a corridor leading right, we found another door with a staircase leading downwards behind it.

Traveling down the stairs we came into a dungeon area, one with an armored pig watching a cell at the far end of the room. He hasn't noticed us yet.

After three protected doors, we had likely found Ami.