Chapter 13-1: Butterflies

[Uh… panic?]

“Come back!” I cried, hooves outstretched as the last of the fog carrying Undertow and Bosco disappeared into the distance. “Comebackcomebackcomeback!”

It was just a speck on the horizon now, and the murky night sky was stealing them from my sight.

“Bosco! Undertow! Give them back!” I ignored everything else; my beaten body, the cold night air, the creaking fire escape on which I stood, none of it mattered.

Pathetically, my horn flared, mindlessly trying to reach out to them, but the distance was too great, and I was pitifully unskilled.

“Snowflake, I need you!” I ignored Schwarzwald’s words from within the warehouse floor. They weren’t important.

In the forefront of my mind was a constant loop of Bosco and Undertow, hiding within a futile shield of water, soundlessly pleading for me to help them.

And my failure to do so.

“Snowflake?!” Schwarzwald called again, more insistently this time.

I barely heard her. She could take care of herself. She’d been doing so for decades. I’d promised to protect Undertow. I’d promised to help Bosco.

Why couldn’t I do anything?

“Help!” They’d said. They were children, snatched by a phantom out of nightmares. They should never have been in danger, and definitely shouldn’t have been taken.

What good was I, if I couldn’t keep two children safe from a nightmare?

What good were any of us? Schwarzwald was a grown mare, why didn’t she do something? Why didn’t Naiara?

“Naiara is hurt, Snowflake!”

My heart went cold. “What?” No, no! Not another one!

It shattered my heart to turn away from the empty sky, even more so now that I could no longer see them, but I had to do something. I couldn’t lose Naiara too.

On leaden hooves, I stumbled back inside, my eyes zeroing in on the fallen zebra, and the earth pony mare who crouched next to her. “What’s wrong with her, Schwarzwald?”

When she looked up, it uncovered enough of Naiara’s body that I could answer my own question. A deep gash had been torn through her side, leaking blood at an alarming rate. Schwarzwald was piling bandages on top of the wound, but they were staining red within seconds.

I clattered down the stairs to reach them, finding Schwarzwald trying to pour a healing potion past Naiara’s lips, though as much was staining the floor as was getting into her mouth, and half of what did came out again as she coughed up fluids.

For once lacking her carefree smile, Schwarzwald was working diligently, and stoically, to heal her. She didn’t look confident as I took up station beside her. “The bleeding is slowing, but she is vulnerable. Whatever that thing was, it landed a solid hit.”

My knees were already turning crimson as I knelt there. “Can you save her?”

Without looking, she held out a hoof. “Another potion, quickly!”

Obeying instantly, I dug into the nearest pack that I could find, rooting around until I mercifully found one of the vials. “Here! Take it.”

She directed me to massage Naiara’s throat as she poured the formula into her open mouth, much slower and more carefully this time. It took longer, and almost half came back to sticky our hooves, but finally the blood loss was diminished enough to satisfy Schwarzwald.

Tossing aside the empty bottle, she wasted no time in gathering up her supplies. “I think that will take her out of immediate danger, but we must take her from here, now, and find help. She may be damaged in ways that we cannot see.”

Trying to still the terrified beating of my heart, I couldn’t do much more than sit with the zebra. “What do you mean?”

Schwarzwald was twisting and grabbing at her battle saddle. With a clang, one of her automatic weapons dropped from its place on the harness. “We know nothing of this creature, this fog, that slashed her. It may have left something behind from the claw strike.”

I gulped. “Some kind of disease?” Half of my attention stayed on Naiara’s trouble, but I found renewed fear for the two who were taken, enveloped within the fog.

Undertow’s shield won’t last forever, even as strong as she is.

A grim nod was given. “Perhaps. Regardless, she requires healing, more than we can do here. We must take her to somepony with the skills to help her.”

“You can’t help her?” I asked, desperate.

“No, I am no doctor.”

Before I could lose it any further, a whirring hum filled the air.

Spitting out a curse, Schwarzwald wrenched the second weapon from her saddle and tossed both guns at my hooves. “It is the elevator! The sentries are coming, they know we are here!”

“No!” We couldn’t possibly survive another battle with the hardy robots with just the two of us.

Schwarzwald wasted no time. She scooped Naiara up, which elicited a pained gasp from the zebra, and gently laid her across the battle saddle, as a makeshift yoke to carry her. “Snowflake, take my guns, the bags, and whatever has been left on the catwalk, and then meet me at the fire escape. We have to go now!”

I complied mutely. The adrenaline still coursing through my system prevented me from feeling their weight. Bosco’s knife and pistol still lay on the catwalk, and were quickly scooped into my bags. Undertow had been taken with her possessions intact, which was a small miracle, as she held some of our medical supplies, giving the two of them a better chance to survive, wherever they might have been taken.

The elevator dinged, and my heart stopped.

Standing outside on the fire escape, Naiara still precariously laid across her back, Schwarzwald tossed me a grenade. “Snowflake, collapse the catwalk, and follow me! They must not follow!”

She disappeared out of sight as I juggle-caught the explosive. Robots began to pour into the room, bullets and beams flying, as I rolled the now-pinless grenade towards the section of walkway that the fog had tried to collapse to prevent OUR pursuit. With any luck, this would finish the job, and trap the sentry robots inside, while we made our way down the outside of the building.

I didn’t see the result, as I was already heading down the external stairs after my comrades, but a dull whump sounded a second later, followed by the crash of metal on metal.

There was nothing more I could do to keep us safe. Not Naiara, nor Bosco, nor Undertow, and not even Schwarzwald. I would have to pray that the older mare’s experience was sufficient to keep at least herself and Naiara alive.

~~~~~~

After an hour of maintaining a balance between trying not to jostle Naiara more than necessary, and moving with as much speed as we could muster, Schwarzwald called a halt. I’d spent the entire time sick with worry, scanning both the skies, and our trail for any signs of robots or fog.

Neither appeared, simultaneously bringing relief and heartache.

Standing completely still, Schwarzwald directed me to attend to our injured friend. Balancing on my hind hooves to reach the taller mare’s back, I did my best to make Naiara more comfortable. I wiped the sweat from her brow, and changed her bandages.

“Hold on Naiara. We’ll… we’ll take you back to Sprinkles Supplies! Lexi can fix you up! She promised!” My bedside manner was not composed, or confident, and I utterly failed to reassure anyone of the situation, least of all myself.

“I am afraid we cannot take her there, dahling.” Schwarzwald’s voice still hadn’t regained its usual playfulness. The disparity was glaringly obvious, and only served to deepen my fears about the situation.

I found myself hating her joking, more than I ever thought I would. “Why not? Lexi said she’d heal us up if we got hurt, I heard her!” Lexi had no reason to be angry at Naiara, no matter how she felt about me. I didn’t care if she never wanted me to come back, she would do this!

“We are not welcome until the Raider issue is settled, Red Ice.” The moniker cut right through me, bringing a fresh wave of self-loathing. “The guards would never allow us to get close, we would be cut down before we ever got inside.”

“So what do we do? Naiara’s dying!” I was wailing now.

“Calm yourself for a moment, and allow me time to think.”

As she lapsed into silence, I attempted to reduce my own noise by childishly slapping my hooves over my mouth, though they soon became hot and wet with my tears and hyperventilating. Still, I would keep them there until Schwarzwald came up with an idea. I didn’t dare risk breaking her concentration.

“… bra… near.” I instantly cursed my idiocy, as Naiara’s rasped words made me jump, and painfully shake her.

“What is she saying, dahling?” Schwarzwald was craning her neck around, as surprised as I was that the zebra was awake.

I crowded in close, a manic smile of relief on my face. “I’m here, svara, what is it?”

Still breathing sharply and shallow, Naiara managed to whisper through the pain. “…Zebra… always near… can help.”

“Clever Naiara!” Schwarzwald crowed, a small smile returning to her face, and her voice. “How can we signal them?”

“… Flare… gun.”

I needed nothing more. Naiara carried no pack, but her cloak was filled with pockets and pouches. I dug through them with gusto, my hooves feeling and passing over all manner of items before finding a small, snub-nosed pistol. Withdrawing it, I shakily loaded the canister into the oversized barrel.

“Cover your eyes!” Holding a hoof over Naiara’s face, and squeezing my eyes shut, I pointed the flare gun at the cloud barrier, and pulled the trigger. A plume of bright red smoke rocketed into the sky, burning brightly in a tall arc.

It was a long thirty minutes before the flare paid dividends. We spent the time in silence. I worried and fretted, while Schwarzwald remained rock still and steady. I couldn’t get any kind of reading on what she might have been thinking.

They were on us before I ever heard them. Two zebra stallions seemed to appear out of thin air, weapons ready. They each carried strange armaments in their hooves, very different from anything Equestrian.

Neither looked happy to see us, and even less so when they saw Naiara. Schwarzwald was basically immobile while supporting her, so it was up to me to calm the situation down.

“Wivti pec svarati!” I cried as I held up my empty hooves, hoping they wouldn’t just kill us both, dooming Naiara. “Wivti pec svarati!”

Surprised though they were that a pony could speak zebra, they still didn’t believe that Schwarzwald and I were friends, most likely due to the heavily injured zebra we were lugging around. One of the stallions pointed at Naiara, snarling out a question. “Sweq nimbala?”

“Sweq mua nimbala.” No, Naiara was not okay, but I had no idea how to explain what had happened in the fight. “Um… do you speak Equestrian? A… uh… gold fog attacked us, and it cut her. She needs to heal!”

Stern and angry, the two stallions devolved into a heated argument between themselves, too fast and too complicated for me to follow, with my limited understanding of the zebra tongue. Schwarzwald had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, and continued to do so, while at the same time scrutinising the zebra intensely.

Finally the two broke off their argument, and one again pointed at Naiara. “We take.” He said in broken Equestrian. “You follow.”

“Unten! Unten, svarati!” I gushed, overjoyed.

They weren’t. They moved towards Schwarzwald, who tensed up at first, but relented when I signalled that it was okay, letting the two take Naiara from her, but keeping the zebra’s cloak. A poultice was rubbed into the wound, before the bandages were reapplied, and then they set off, with us following behind.

Moving in close to me as we followed, Schwarzwald dropped her voice to a whisper. “When we reach our destination, return my weapons immediately. I do not trust this to be a smooth transition.”

I recognised that she was suspicious of the zebra, but didn’t care. Naiara’s gonna be alright! Whatever zebra concoctions they wanna use are fine with me, so long as it gets her better. “Whatever you say, Schwarz, but don’t start a fight until we know that Naiara is taken care of. Nor after, if you can help it.”

“Do not worry. I will be nice, I will merely take some precautions beforehoof.” She dug into Naiara’s cloak, withdrawing the communicator that Breeze had given her.

Still keeping an eye on the stallions ahead of us, as one was constantly looking back, she keyed the microphone. “Breeze-dahling, are you there?”

There was a momentary crackling before she received a confused response. “Schwarzwald? What are you doing with this communicator? Why aren’t you using…”

“Something has happened, Breeze.” Schwarzwald cut her off before the inventor Pegasus could reveal the other communicator’s existence. “We are on our way to meet with the zebra tribe. Naiara has been badly hurt.”

“What?!” Even across the airwaves, Breeze’s rage and shock were apparent. “What happened?”

“We were attacked by something, though I do not know what. It was a very strange creature, and it looked like a gold fog. She has been cut deeply, but is stable for now.”

“Where are you? We’ll come find you right now.”

“I hoped that you would. But I don’t want you to come all the way to us. I am not convinced that the zebra will be friendly, and wish to have you three in reserve, in case the situation turns troublesome. We are currently heading east from Whitepony, roughly an hour and a half out. If you three stay high, you should be able to find us without revealing yourselves. Keep pace when you do. If we need you, I shall signal for you.”

“I… got it. We’re on our way now. It might be a little while.”

“I understand, dahling, but hurry if you can.” Schwarzwald stopped paying much attention to the communicator, as the watching zebra had moved closer.

Still, Breeze’s voice came through clear before she signed off, pregnant with emotion. “Schwarzwald?”

“Yes, dear?” She was still watching the zebra stallion.

“…Please don’t let her die.” Then the line clicked dead.

Stashing the communicator, she couldn’t stop a hint of smugness leaking into her voice. “You see, mistress? Those three… they are not monsters.”

That remains to be seen. And that was all the thought I spared for anything that wasn’t Naiara’s safety.

~~~~~~

I sat on a rock, on the edge of the zebra encampment, facing away from them. The two stallions, upon reaching the main group, had whisked Naiara away, hopefully to treat her. I’d caught sight of Cept moving to intercept them, meaning that she was in good hooves for the time being.

I was still worried about her, but felt I could breathe a little easier. Unfortunately, this had the added effect of having my other worries break through again.

My voice was quiet, yet haunted, as Schwarzwald approached, having also been denied access within the boundaries of the camp.

“Did you… see the way… she looked at me?”

With her battle saddle reassembled, Schwarzwald’s mood had improved somewhat. She was expecting trouble, and was now ready for it. She hadn’t yet cracked a joke, not since calling me ‘mistress’ again, but I got the feeling that one wasn’t far off. “The way who looked at you, dahling?”

“…Undertow, when that thing took her and Bosco.”

“No, I was inside, tending to Naiara. How did she look at you?”

My vision blurred, and my hooves shook. “She… she expected me to protect her. During the fight, I could tell, she had no doubts that I would help her, if she reached the point where she couldn’t help herself. She was sure of it. But, when that time came, all I could do was watch.” I slowly buried my face in those shaking hooves, letting the tears spill out.

Schwarzwald said nothing in response, though whether she was waiting to say something later, or simply not listening or caring, was impossible to tell.

A new voice did join the conversation, though. A masculine voice, though I’d first heard it when it was distorted through a Steel Ranger helmet. “She is safe, for now. Be at ease.”

That’s one of three. “Ira leija, Cept. Unten.”

He didn’t return my pleasantries. When I looked over, there was anger in his dark gold eyes. “What caused this, Snowflake?”

“Naiara knocked me out of the way during a fight, but she took the hit instead.”

He opened his mouth to ask another question, but Schwarzwald broke her silence first. “You could have prevented that, Snowflake.”

Her words hit me so hard, I almost collapsed. “What?”

Cept said nothing, instead watched the earth mare as he waited for her to elaborate.

She did. “You rushed in without thinking, like I told you not to. We had no idea what the fog was capable of, and yet you attacked anyway.”

“What are you saying?” Cept demanded of her.

“I am saying, handsome Cept, that Naiara was hurt while saving Snowflake from her own stupidity. She is not the only casualty either. Two of our friends were taken, and even now we do not know what it was.”

“I…” I started, feeling helpless in the wake of this two-pronged attack.

Cept didn’t let me finish. “You put Naiara in danger?”

“Indeed, dahling. Naiara had to save Snowflake when she got in over her head, as usual.”

Cept loomed when angry. His already impressive physique seemed to be magnified. “What do you have to say for yourself, Snowflake?”

“She is no fighter, but merely blunders into frequent combat.”

He wheeled around, frowning at Schwarzwald. “And this excuses her? If that is the case, she should be working to improve!”

My knees were shaking. “I… I am! Undertow is teaching me magic! I don’t want to be weak, I want to protect them all!” What more do you want from me? I’m NOT a fighter, so I’m still learning this stuff. Do you think I wanted this to happen?! Just for an instance, my grief shifted to rage at the two of them, for condemning my actions so casually, even in these circumstances.

Cept didn’t let up though. “Naiara is not just YOUR friend, Snowflake! We need her here.”

Another arrow through my heart. “What do you mean?”

“I cannot tell you much, but we are not in Equestria without reason. Naiara has responsibilities. If you are deemed to be a hindrance to those goals, she will be taken from you.”

“No, you can’t!”

“I can’t, even though it might be for the best, but our leaders may see the situation differently.”

“But she’s my friend.” My response was weak, but all that I had. There wasn’t time to act, dammit! Undertow and Bosco would have been taken even earlier if I did nothing! I didn’t want Naiara to be hurt, but I had to do something!

“You hurt your ‘friend’ with your reckless attitude. What was it that you fought, exactly?” Cept would need something good, to be satisfied of the necessity of endangering Naiara.

Schwarzwald shrugged her shoulders. “We are not exactly sure, dahling. It attacked as a gold fog, though it formed a solid claw to injure Naiara, before abducting Undertow and Bosco.”

Surprisingly, this got a reaction from him. “A… a gold fog, you say? Excuse me.” Abruptly turning on his heel, he marched away towards the main camp.

After we silently watched him go, Schwarzwald whispered to me conspiratorially. “He knows something, dahling.”

“He does? How?” The fog monster had appeared out of nowhere. How would these zebras, miles away from Whitepony, have known about it?

“Does it matter? If they do know something, then we shall need their help. You wish to rescue the others, as do I. They are not just our friends, if you recall. Undertow is crucial to your Raider effort, and Bosco has my data. I shall assist you in bringing them back safely.”

I sniffed. “You will?”

Finally, the full smile that I’d been missing returned to her face. “Of course I shall, dahling. I cannot disappoint dear Amber, nor would I pass up this challenge. That fog monster is something formidable, and I wish to battle it again. Seeing you improve your combat would be entertaining too. Undertow is not the only teacher you should seek, should you truly wish to keep your sister safe.”

I wanted to show my gratitude, but held back as another thought appeared. “What about the others? The twins and Wings? Can they help?”

“Can you afford their help? Would they offer? Would you accept?” She blew a kiss skywards with her hoof. “These questions are your burden to answer, Snowflake. I will not interfere. It would be no fun. You will have to find a way to convince them without me.”

“Then why did you call them here?”

Her smile turned wicked. “In case these zebra are not as trustworthy as dear Naiara.”

I’d all but forgotten the insults she’d been slinging at me not minutes before. For all her edges, Schwarzwald was an excellent distraction from my troubles. “Who do you trust?”

Still smiling, she shook her head slowly. “I have told you this already, mistress, but you cannot skip to the end. To know my secrets, you must first play the game with me.”

“…What about Wings?”

“I am very fond of Wings. Does that answer your question?”

“Uh… does it?”

She said nothing, but instead turned to face the returning Cept, along with the other zebra with him, an ancient stallion, nowhere near the mass of the younger Cept, but carrying himself with an authority that instantly made me pay attention. A red and gold wrap lay about his shoulders, and around his torso. Sunken hazel eyes and a tuft of grey beard compounded his age.

Stopping a short distance from us, the old zebra regarded us both for a few seconds before speaking. His voice lacked the frailty I’d been expecting, but was not booming either. It was statesperson-like, not reliant on volume to draw listeners. “Cept has informed me of your strange encounter. Would you be kind enough to retell the tale?”

We looked at each other. What does he want with the information? Schwarzwald seemed to judge it safe, and launched into a far more neutral account of the battle than that which she had given Cept. She didn’t blame me this time either.

The elderly zebra listened in silence until she was done, then spoke in a peaceful tone. “And you say that your friends were taken by this… fog?”

I couldn’t nod fast enough. “Yeah, and we need to find them.”

“Of course you do. Svarati are very important, yes? You and Naiara share this bond, don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure I liked where this was going. “Uh… yes. I apologise again for what happened to Naiara.”

He waved this off. “Do not worry, child. Naiara will make her own decisions, as she always has done. More importantly, though, is that…”

“Who are you?” Schwarzwald interrupted flatly.

Blinking in surprise, the old zebra managed to get himself under control again. “Ah, now I must apologise. I am Atesh, leader of this tribe, and I wish to help you to reunite with your friends.”

“And why do you wish that, dear Atesh?”

If her use of “dear” affected him at all, he gave no sign. “I want to say that it would be thanks for being kind to Naiara, but really, we want to ask you to help us in return.”

All but saying “I knew it”, Schwarzwald’s smile turned sinister. “And what would you like our help with?”

“Not your help,” Cept piped up, even though this caused Atesh’s smile to disappear. The younger zebra cocked his head towards me. “…her.”

“Me?”

“Yes.” Atesh interjected, not looking so pleased anymore. “Thank you, Cept, that will be all. I wish to speak with our friends in private. Please go and see to Naiara.”

Consternation spread across Cept’s face as he uneasily walked away. Quickly, I called after him. “Cept?”

He stopped but didn’t turn. “Yes?”

“When Naiara’s better, can you tell her to meet us at Hoofshine? She knows the way.”

He wordlessly acknowledged my request, before moving off again. Atesh and I watched him go, but Schwarzwald had been watching the older stallion. “How very generous of you to offer the help of your followers, Atesh. Do you really believe that you know where to look?”

Stroking his beard thoughtfully, he mulled the question before answering. “Most likely. My followers and I are able to find much information, given enough time. Let me to talk with my advisors, and we will have the information you need in hours.”

“Hours?! We can’t wait that long! The others are in danger!” This old zebra expected me to wait here for hours while Undertow and Bosco were in trouble? There wasn’t time for that!

“Snowflake is right.” Schwarzwald was digging around in Naiara’s cloak. Finally, she withdrew Breeze’s communicator. “This will allow you to contact an ally of ours, who will then relay your information to me. I shall inform them about you. If you find anything, let us know, and we will investigate it.”

Though still polite, and gentle, Atesh’s demeanour subtly changed, becoming more focused. “So you agree to help us, Snowflake, if we help you?”

“YES!” I blurted out, cutting in on whatever Schwarzwald was going to say, drawing a sigh of vexation. I didn’t care. Cept would take care of Naiara, and when she was better, she and Cept, and maybe others, would help me find Undertow! This was perfect!

The mercenary mare idly tossed the communicator to Atesh, who smoothly fielded it, before it disappeared under his robes. “Take care of the device, Atesh-dahling, it belongs to Naiara, and she is quite friendly with the pony on the other end. One or the other may… be upset if anything happened to it.”

Her and Atesh wore matching smiles now. “I understand. Snowflake, we will talk at a later date about your help, but for now, if you must go, then we will contact you as soon as possible through this device.”

The zebra gave a small bow. “I wish you luck with your other friends.”

It was a polite goodbye, but a goodbye nonetheless. Schwarzwald turned away first, not looking back, and I turned to follow after one last look at the zebra camp. Stay safe, Naiara. We’ll be back soon.

I caught up with Schwarzwald within a few steps, but she said nothing until we were a fair distance from the camp. “You are a terrible haggler, Snowflake.”

“Huh?”

“You will see.”

~~~~~~