Shy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoHShy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Roost - Drake
I should take a new name. A completely new one. Not some version of my current name, but a full new one. It was dumb to think I could move to a parallel universe without doing that.
Too many people keep mistaking me for this world’s Fluttershy. The explanations are getting old. But even worse is the constant comparisons.
‘They sent the paranoid schizophrenic to Drake? What were they thinking!?’ ‘You must be terrified. Hmmm, can you be terrified? You seem to have emotions…’ ‘Do you need something to hide in? I have some boxes.’
I met their Fluttershy. She is NOT that bad. Yes she’s more timid then I am, but these people seemed to think she was completely incapable of functioning. Which meant they assumed I was a complete and total carbon copy of her, so I too had to be completely incapable of functioning.
That’s not true at all!
Yes I’m nervous, yes I have some anxiety problems, but I can also mare-up and get the job done! I had to come here alone. Twenty minutes to get gear had not been enough to retrieve Sev. I’d spent the whole zeppelin ride steeling myself for this. I was ready for serious danger!
I knew how dragons worked. If I wanted to get something from them, I would have to fight somedrake for it. They would be civil, give me the opportunity to reach my opponent, but a duel would be had. It is the draconic way of doing things. There is no trade between dragons, only domination and submission.
A hard thing for a pony to understand, especially since they happily trade with other species if you have something they want and you are not on their shit list. But that’s how they are.
I was ready to fight a creature whose magic gave them such command and control over their body, that unless I could break it’s willpower, it could ignore anything I could do to it without specialized weapons made to look extra intimidating. I was ready to fight one without those weapons.
I was also looking forward to it, just a little. Not the ‘being in danger’ part, the ‘victory’ part. The feeling of surviving and emerging victorious over a dangerous creature almost always makes up for the fear I feel before hoof.
Not that It’s strong enough to make me want to charge every monster I see… I’m not dumb. I know exactly what that scratching slurping sound in the darkness can do to me. That’s even worse, I think.
I was ready for this specific danger. Ready to tangle with a creature who could be as fast, strong, and tough as their willpower allowed their magic to enhance. With just my hooves.
Fully psyched! Rainbow levels of ready!
The light red dragon sitting on the other side the desk in front of me set down the papers he had been reading, and nodded in satisfaction.
“It seems everything is in order, Miss Shy,” Hrunting replied, his thick features showing little emotion. “I’m sorry for doubting your identity as an Equestrian agent, though I am certain you understand I have never met an equoid outside of a science fiction convention. Nor one which is real.”
I nodded and offered him a polite smile, trying to avoid looking at his uneven, curled horns of mismatched length and angle. He had a good three ponies on my height, and a lot of old scars. That would explain why he was the head of a mining operation and not something more prestigious. Scars ment his will had broken before.
“This happens more than you’d think… It’s alright,” I replied, looking up at him while the dragon sized office made me feel absolutely tiny.
You’d never think that such huge rooms could be carved out of mountains. I swore that every dragon city would collapse if not for enchantments.
“I’m certain it does,” Hrunting said with a nod, his silver eyes giving me a sympathetic look for a small moment. “Now that I know you are an Equestrian Agent, I’ll happily comply with Celestia’s request.”
I blinked in surprise. “C-comply?” I asked, tilting my head to one side. “As in, you’ll just give me a piece of Amber Glass?”
He nodded, snorting a little smoke in honest surprise. “Of course. Drake is a Protectorate of Equestria, Celestia has asked for assistance with a crisis through formal channels, and my superiors have ordered me to ensure the appropriate agent acquires a suitable stone.”
I felt my cooling system fail for a brief minute as my brain shifted gears without a clutch. “I thought I would need to fight somedrake for one, as tradition-”
Wait did he say protectorate?! It had been an independent kingdom back home!
Hrunting laughed. “You’re not a dragon, my mechanical friend,” he said with a fang baring smile. “Only one pony has ever beaten a dragon in hoof to claw combat. It would be unreasonable of us to demand you work under our ancient laws. No, we trade with other races. Your stone is being bought and paid for through tribute reductions. Shortly, you may enter my mine and retrieve one. There is but one thing you must do before I turn over what you have come for.”
All of that mental preparation… Thirty six hours of meditation, six hours of physical practice… All for nothing. Buck my life…
“What’s that?” I asked with a sigh.
“Are you disappointed?” Hrunting asked, his tail swishing slightly with amusement.
“I’d steeled myself for having to wrestle a dragon,” I admitted with a feeble grin.
“Is that a joke?” Hrunting asked curiously. “Because you are made of synthetic materials?”
I shook my head. “No. Um, the joke would be ‘I titaniumed myself’ I don’t use steel components. Too heavy and brittle,” I said by reflex. “What do I need to do now?”
Hrunting opened a desk drawer and rummaged through it with a few expert flips of his talons, retrieving three stacks of papers which had a combined height equal to the distance from the floor to the top of my barrel. Setting the massive stack of papers down in front of me, he flicked a pen a cross the desk and gave me a bureaucrat's smile.
“Read in full, and fill out the safety waiver, nondisclosure agreement, and export paperwork for the gem, of course,” he answered happily, leathery wings twitching lightly. “I believe you will find this to be a suitable challenge, for a pony.”
I picked up the top page. The tiny text was so finely printed that even my enhanced vision was having problems reading it… And there was a back side to the page. This was a stack of double sided paperwork. A nightmarish maelstrom of tedium!
Celestia’s bucking teats! This was going to take HOURS!
Fluttershy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Peak, Mt. Segata - Neighpone
“Your passport, miss?” The pale lime green pegasi asked me in heavily accented Equish.
Reaching into my pocket with a wingtip, I fished out my passport and handed it over to the border guard.
“Here you are,” I replied in Neighponese.
I loved Neighpone. Such a lovely country. Everypony here was so nice, and exceptionally polite. Nopony stared at you, everypony spoke quietly. I’d been seriously considering moving to Neighpone before meeting Twilight.
The border guard stamped my passport with a polite smile. “Welcome to Mount Segata, Miss Fluttershy. Enjoy your stay,” he said with a polite bow before handing em back my passport.
“Have a nice day,” I said to him with a smile of my own as I trotted up the path to the mountain top.
I was so lucky to get this mission. I’d been to Mount Segata before, when I came here on vacation as a filly. The huge permanently snow capped mountain is a Neighponese Icon, both in culture and iconography. You can see the graceful slope on their money and official seals. It’s a big deal.
According to legend, the first kaiju threatening the young nation was slain here by the first Emperor of Neighpone. I didn’t really believe that, the mountain was so far inland. Nothing I knew of came this far in land.
My friends had laughed so hard when I said I’d been thinking of moving here all those years ago. ‘YOU want to move to a nation with skyscraper sized monsters?’ Oh Applejack, you silly filly.
I live next to a forest full of house sized naturally occurring wooden golems. Moving here, to a place where no monsters live aside from the giant ones which only attack coastal cities would be such an upgrade.
I smiled and looked out over the many kilometers of land to see the faint shimmer of the ocean on the horizon. I was very high up the mountainside. The Mount Segata National Park had an airship dock almost at the peek. I’d been given permission in advance to pick up a bonsai tree, and I’d gotten to do a little personal shopping while waiting for the bureaucracy to clear up.
This was so easy… I’d been given a vacation. That felt horrible to me.
Pinkie had to go up so far north that it’s permanently winter. Rarity had to face a jungle I knew for a fact had seventeen dozen different parasites, a score of which infested ponies exclusively, two of which mindslaved you, another of which had to have been invented by a kinky wizard. Dash had to search a whole valley for an item Celestia described as ‘a specific gray kind of rock’. My mechanical counterpart was going to have to put up with the hellish Draconic Bureaucracy.
And I got to buy several kilograms of kaiju jerky, as well as some personal items, and pick up a few copies of a magna I couldn’t import.
It didn’t feel fair… If I had more time before I could leave I’d have to buy everypony something nice.
Looking up the mountainside I could see that I had maybe three hundred meters of trail to walk before reaching the bonzai grove. FIve minutes of simple lovingly maintained earthen path. At least I’d gotten to walk a lot in the city yesterday. Two days of flight in a small airship leaves a pony very cooped up.
I couldn’t help but hum an old song as I walked up the path. The mountain was so peaceful! The animals were everywhere and so happy, also so used to ponies. Birds were flying low over the path and hopping about on either side. I could see lots of rabbits dotting the mountainside above me, happily munching away on patches of clover.
The sun even shone down on me with that special warmth you get on the most clear of days. Today was the day to be outside!
I frowned slightly, stopping in my tracks, tail swishing nervously. I’d told the pilots this would not take long but it was so nice today! I just had to take a little time to enjoy the day, right? They wouldn’t mind too much if I had a little snack on the mountainside… Would they?
No. No they wouldn’t. It would only take me a few minutes to sit and enjoy a little snack while drinking in the lovely atmosphere.
I turned my head, quickly looking over the lush slope above me for a nice spot to sit. Spotting a fairly large white oak tree growing on it’s own I opened my wings and flew over to its base, flipped my sneaky suit’s hood down (being sure that the bunny ears didn’t get caught on a tree branch) then landed and sat down in one smooth motion before reaching into my saddlebags to take out a packet of Wasabi peas and opening it with my teeth.
Settling down with my back against the tree trunk I looked down the mountain at the city below. I loved the way Saitama blended into the natural landscape. You never saw that with Equestrian cities. Instead of clearing away a large patch of the forest, they just cleared enough space for each individual building, and left the forest to grow between each tower.
I munched on a hoofful of peas and gave the city a more detailed look, letting my eyes do their pegasi thing and focus on the distant objects clearly.
I wasn’t dumb. I knew that integrated nature into a city like that posed a ton of challenges and limited the city in many many ways. But it was still nice to see here. Especially since not every Neighponese city was like Saitama. It was special, this blend of nature and civilization, built in the foothills of Mount Segata.
The… Moving foothills? Huh?
I squinted at the large hill between the base of the mountain and the city. It looked odd, as if it were trembling, swelling like rising bread dough only to fall back down.
“Eeep!” I gasped in terror, heart skipping a beat.
Oh no! The mountain was a long dormant volcano. This could be an eruption after tens of thousands of years!
I had to get the tree now before the heat from the eruption killed-
The ground below ripped, the terrifying shriek of stone splitting reaching me even up here atop the mountain. The hill below me split apart like a sheet of paper somepony stabbed their hoof through as a truly monstrous creature clawed its way free of the earth.
It was massive. A true kaiju. No! No bigger than that. Daikaiju, for certain. A true king of the monsters. Because I could clearly see it from kilometers away.
The hideous beast stood on two legs, resembling a dragon made from dried blood and fresh meat. Its legs ended in disproportionately large claws on its feet, and two more sets of talons on its knees, and smaller three clawed stumpy arms. The horrific abomination’s head looked like a double bitted axe turned sideways, with a vaguely pony-like head in the center, featuring a set of hook-fanged mandibles and a single long spike-like horn which almost looked like a unicorn’s.
Looking up at the mountain, the daikaiju spread it’s fresh-meat-red wings and tipped its head back to the sky, revealing a throat formed entirely of scar tissue as it roared a challenge. The shrieking cry slammed into me, its electrical buzzing/tortured pig/jet turbine like scream filling every last millimeter of my body with blinding terror.
You didn’t need my animal empathy to understand that scream. Everything within earshot knew exactly what it cried to the heavens.
Round two! Fight!
Shy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Roost - Drake
Six and a half hours… Six and a half hours of paperwork. I felt dead inside. My left hoof hurt from writing. But I was done!
YAY!
I honestly would rather have fought off two dragons then go through that tedious madness. But what was done was done.
I picked up the stack of papers and set them on top of Hrunting’s desk. The massive stack made a very loud thump as I set it down.
“Finished?” The dragon asked in surprise, raising one spiny ‘eyebrow’.
I nodded. “Yes. Can we go now?” I asked hopefully.
“Of course we can, Miss Shy,” Hrunting said, standing up from his massive steel office chair, the poor piece of metal squeaking under the strain. “Follow me to the mine. It’s not a far walk.”
While the older red dragon walked around his desk, I couldn’t help but wonder how everypony else was doing. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to contemplate their own quests because Hrunting started to talk to me.
It was only small talk. Chit chat about Equestria, pony culture, the polite sorts of nothing that normal ponies like to destroy pleasant sciences with. I never understood that urge. I was much more interested in getting to see the inside of a Draconic city for the first time.
Fortunately, being a synthetic pony with a marefriend who was a programmer of sorts, I had a nice bit of code designed to take charge of smalltalk for me which let me look at the city instead.
As everypony expected, dragons made their cities inside of mountains. But not simply by digging complex cave tunnels like batponies. No, the Roost was a very typical draconic city. A large mountain completely hollowed out into a thin shell save for a large branching tree-like multidirectional nest of archways which supported the shell of the mountain, and then as the central hub and staircase around which every building was built from carefully carved stone brick.
Every space between any structures were massive. Because most dragons were massive. I don’t know what the Dwarf Dragons did for their homes. This place was not built for pony sized people. The homes which looked to house a single dragon could easily be made into four story hotels for ponies.
Just as I was starting to enjoy the simple geometric shape inspired patterns used in Draconic construction and they artful way they were fit into the natural shape of the mountain shell and the support structure, Hrunting said something which wasn’t smalltalk, snapping my attention to him immediately.
“Ah, here we are. The entrance to my mine,” he announced, pointing one talon at a small building next to a warehouse.
I could see a large flight of stairs leading down immediately from the entrance way, and a freight elevator set next to it which looked like it came up in the warehouse itself.
“I’m afraid that my superior’s were unclear. Do you need to harvest the stone yourself, or can you simply select one which has been mined already?” Hrunting asked with genuine concern as he frowned at me.
“It’s probably best if I mine a fresh one myself,” I decided after a second’s thought.
Hrunting nodded to himself. “That’s what I thought… Still it would have been nice to save you the trouble. Don’t worry, Amber Glass is a form of crystal, one which grows rapidly. The southern tunnel replenished last week and we began mining it three days ago. We don’t have far to go,” He said reassuringly. “Incase you were worried about a several mile walk through a small tunnel.”
I laughed for the first time since I had begun to steel myself for my arrival in Drake.
Hrunting blinked, frowned in concern, then chuckled as he understood why I was laughing. “Fair enough, little pony. Come, it’s not far. The mine is in operation at the moment, please do not disturb any of my workers,” he asked while he ducked into the entryway. he pulled his wings tightly to his back to avoid scraping them on the stones forming the archway as he began to descend into the land beneath the mountain.
I followed along behind him, descending down the massive gradually sloping and curving staircase until we arrived in a large domed chamber hollowed out beneath the city. The dragons seemed to do most of the work here by talon, as I couldn’t see any machinery other than a set of scales, minecarts, and the elevator in the entry chamber.
Instead, aside from narrow (for a dragon) walkways, and the four sets of tails which ran to tunnels dug in the cardinal directions, the entire chamber was filled with empty boxes. Big dark colored wooden crates designed to fit two at a time atop a minecart.
Minecarts which whizzed about on their tracks, pushed by small teams of dwarf dragons. I’d always felt sorry for the smaller breed of dragons. Most dragon kinds grow larger as they amass wealth, their magic subconsciously altering their forms so as to guard their treasure.
Not dwarf dragons. Their kind lacked that arcane biology. Instead, they might grow slightly larger than Celestia after a few millennia, which is still tiny for a dragon. The poor things almost never were able to keep any property of their own, due to the ‘might is authority’ way of draconic civilization.
Despite their small size, they certainly worked very hard! The carts the teams were pushing about were almost overflowing with raw cut chunks of deep amber colored, ten sided crystalline rods. They sparkled and shimmered in the light, making each crystal look much like a fire which had decided to just exist in that shape.
Yep. That was Amber Glass. I’d seen it before. When doing maintenance on my powersupply.
“You know, I use a tiny piece of Amber Glass to help regulate electron flow in my fusion core,” I said to my guide conversationally. “Do you use these for their electrical properties, or for art purposes? Because they look like very high quality crystals.”
“I mostly sell my crystals to foreign markets for use in enchanted items. I didn’t know they could be used to regulate electrical signals, but I do know that they can store an impressive amount of mana. One of my largest buyers is a manufacturer of power cells for Equestrian building’s quality of life spells. They’ve made me quite wealthy,” Hrunting boasted proudly while walking me the short distance to one of the four side tunnels.
Looking down the tunnel, I could see that about fifty meters had been mined out, leaving only a small bit of ‘seed crystal’ on the walls and ceiling to allow the Amber Glass to regrow. But the rest of the tunnel was still solidly full of the shimmering flickery crystals.
The light reflecting off of those gemstone-like crystals made the whole tunnel seem to glow orange. Sending a shiver down my spine as my subconscious screamed at me that I was walking into a fire.
I needed a distraction from the pseudo-fire. Despite knowing it was an illusion, it still felt quite dangerous.
“How much do your workers earn?” I asked as I noticed each miner was cutting sections of rod with handsaws. “They seem to work very hard.”
“They do work hard. I impose strict quotas,” Hrunting informed with a smug grin as we entered the tunnel. “Each miner here must deliver a certain weight of crystal each day they work or they will not receive their pay vouchers.”
“Vouchers?” I asked suspiciously. “Do you not want to handle coinage yourself?”
“No no,” Hrunting said in a clarifying yet condescending tone of voice. “Each miner receives a small salary each month in Talons. But the bulk of their income is in vouchers for my company store.”
Oh joy. A labor force exclusively made up of dragons Hrunting could easily dominate in combat… Paid with money only good at a place he owned. And I thought he was evil for liking paperwork…
Well, you’ll be out of this pseudo-slave miner’s sight soon enough.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Hrunting said with a casual chuckle. “Every Equestrian does. This is simply our way. If any of my workers desired better treatment, they would have to earn it from me by gaining respect. I’m certain you know how that custom works for us.”
Before I could say anything, the large red dragon pointed to a section of the crystal a small silver dwarf dragon was feverishly working on.
“That looks like a good spot… You there, Silver Scale,” Hrunting called in a commanding voice. “You are to show Miss Shy how to safely extract a section of Crystal, and then allow her to harvest one herself.”
The small, hornless, effeminate looking dragon turned his head around, a frown parting his lips. “Sir, I’m very far behind on quota today. Can somedrake else please instruct her? I won't make it if-”
“You have your orders,” Hrunting said adamantly. “Unless you-”
Silver’s eyes narrowed angrily as he suddenly whipped his head around to look at me with an odd sort of desperation.
“Um, if I’m not mistaken, anyone here could show me how to remove one. Even you. Could we not hurt someone financially over this?” I asked with a frown.
Hrunting shook his head twice. “No. If a more productive worker is disrupted for this, you would hurt me financially. Silver here is the optimal choice. All options result in less productivity, this one results in the least overall impact. As a machine, I am certain you understand.”
“I do,” I agreed with a nod.
I did understand efficiency. I also understood ‘being a dickhole’. I also understood that Hrunting was going to become an obstacle if I insisted on not dicking over this poor little dragon.
I trotted over to Silver and made sure to stand far enough back to allow him to work.
“I’m an equoid, you only need to show me how to do this once. You can go as quickly as you like,” I informed, knowing that the flickering light from the crystals would hide the seams in my synthskin.
Silver sighed and moved his hacksaw to a fresh piece of Crystal. “The angle is very important. Come closer so you can get it exact. If you cut it at anything other than against the cleavage plane it can crack and if it’s absorbed any mana at all, it will explode and take half your face off.”
I winced and moved in closer. The moment I did, the little dragon whispered to me in an urgent buzzing hiss. “Listen closely. Hrunting is a slave master. Legally. He found a legal loophole to own our labor. We’ve already tried taking this to the police, we’re rutted. The law recognises ‘your potential labor’ as a commodity, and he tricked us all into leasing it to him for a period of time with no option to withdraw. I’m going insane in here. I wanted to work my way through school and become a civil engineer. I have to work all day or I can’t afford basic food.
“You can’t stop his operation, because it’s legal, even though no drake I know is okay with this. But you can get me out of here. Please, if you think you can take Hrunting on in combat, challenge him for my employment. I’ll owe you one.”
I winced and bit my lip nervously. “Um, If I understand your law correctly, if I do that and loose, he’d own my labor. Correct?”
“Yes…” Silver sighed sadly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I recognised you from the news… Heard you beat a dragon once.”
I sighed again. I may not be this world’s Fluttershy, and I may have problems being compared to her. But Silver was right. We were both heros. I had to do the right thing here.
Unfortunately, as I only had one source of labor to offer, I couldn’t challenge Hrunting for everydrake’s contracts… But I could potentially free this one dragon who wanted to be an engineer.
I took a deep breath, pulled all the mental fortitude back into my consciousness as I could, turned around, looked Hrunting squarely in his eyes and said, “Hrunting, I challenge you for this dragon’s employment.”
Hrunting raised an eyebrow as a bemused grin parted his lips. “Are you serious?” He asked with a chuckle.
Time to protect the expensive part of my body.
I deployed my armor, synthskin retracting to allow the hyperdiamond plates to slam into place with a metallic ping. To beat a dragon, you had to make them believe you could beat a dragon.
“Deadly,” I answered as I reared up into a fighting stance.
Fluttershy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Peak, Mt. Segata - Neighpone
FLY! FLY FLY FLY! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD FLY!
I wasn’t sure if I screamed that aloud or merely thought it as the monstrous beast slid into the air like a drop of oil falling through water.
Death was down there, and it was coming up here! My heart hammered against my ribs painfully. Oh Goddesses what do I do!?
Bucking ponyfeather sandwiches! The tree! Big evil horrible monster coming up here. Tree in danger! NEED TREE!
I scrambled to my hooves, dropping the packet of peas and making a beeline for the rows and rows of tiny itty bitty little trees. So little time! So little time!
I reached the natural garden before I even realized I couldn’t remember what kind of tree I was looking for. The colossus winged its way up the mountain side, a leathery thunderclap accompanying each downstroke of it’s wings. Stupidly, I turned to look to my left, seeing the monstrosity rushing up at me.
My eyes shrunk to pinpoints. My wings spread and locked in panic. It took every ounce of willpower I had to look away from my impending horrible death and look back at the natural bonzai grove.
Need tree! Oh buck oh buck oh buck! Tree, which tree, can’t remember which tr- Cherry! Yes, Cherry tree. Chimmycherrychangatree!
What’s a cherry tree look like? No no no! Not the time to lock up Fluttershy, not the time to lock-
An alarm wailed in the city below, the faint cry of it’s warning followed immediately by words of warning I could barely make out. “WARNING! Class five Kaiju within disaster range. All A.L.I.C.O.R.N. pilots, scramble your mechs. This is not a drill. All civilians seek shelter. All aircraft are to remain grounded. The kaiju can fly. Kaiju is heading for the top of Mount Segata.”
I’d watched recordings of the Neighponese Mechforce fighting Kaiju. It had looked incredibly awesome. Turns out it was not incredibly awesome. Need to get out of here now!
What the buck does a cherry tree look- Pink flowers! Duh! So stupid! Where-
There! A tiny absolutely delicate pink flowers covered mini tree the size of my head.
I raced over to the tree, immediately reaching into my pack for the plastic flower pot and spade I’d brought. Celestia had said it was absolutely essential for the tree to make it back alive. I needed to get it all in one piece.
How much time did I have!?
I could hear the deep base wing beats grow ever louder. I didn’t have much time…
Gripping the spade with a shaking hoof I quickly dug around the roots of the little tree. The tools scrapes against the earth couldn’t be heard over another mind breaking scream from the approaching beast. I screamed myself, closing my eyes in terror.
NO! You have a job to do Fluttershy! Do it! Do it or everypony could die from this thing!
I could feel myself hyperventilating as I dug a circle around the little tree, prying the root ball up from the ground. The little tree came out easily. It weighed barely nothing. But it was so delicate! I could have easily hurt it accidentally digging it up up like this.
I set the tree into the pot, and lifted the blue plastic pot up with my forehooves. I had to fly! There was no other way to get back to the airship fast enough.
I spread my wings, twisting my hips to turn and jump to get into the air more quickly and-
And the sky darkened as the monstrous abominations shadow fell over me. I turned, fear demanding I look and see the end coming despite every other part of me wanting to run. It’s axe-like head loomed over me, filling the entire view. I could feel its hot breath. I could smell the metallic sulphur of its breath. I could see its livid burning eyes.
The monster opened its mouth, screeching with rage while it’s eyes locked directly onto me.
Found you!
My ears fell like they were made of lead. My body went numb.
IT WAS AFTER ME! AND WAY TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE! STRANGER DANGER! GO AWAY! GOAWAYGOAWAYGOAWAYGOAW-
Two balls of fire blossomed behind the monster’s head, the explosions deafening me with a loud ringing. The monster wheeled around angrily, giving me a split second glance of a black and green boxy aircraft hovering a good distance behind the kaiju.
Sky’s jet thingie!
“HELP!” I screamed at the odd aircraft, praying that he or pinkie or anypony inside had noticed me and wasn’t just helping the locals fight the thing off.
I needed to get away now! All the speed! Go! Let's move please! MOVE PLEASE! WHY NO MOVE!?
“Hold on to that pot!” Someone shouted, their voice thunderously loud.
A pair of hooves grabbed me from behind, pulling me up into the air with a sharp jolt. I nearly dropped the tree as I twisted, eyes wide with fright, only to find Sky pulling me up and into the air like motherbucking Supermane.
“T-t-t-thank,” I managed to stammer, just realising my body was shaking.
“You’re so lucky Pinkie insisted we pick you up and skip getting lunch,” Sky hissed urgently. “Can you fly? We need you to get to the Skyranger. The cargo ramp is open. Pinkie is going to fly you to the Imperial Palace. I’m going to distract this thing. Do you understand the plan?”
I shook my head no. “No! No I don’t! It’s after me right now! And-”
The air turned black for a moment, genuinely black, the only visible thing being a thick red line of energy blasting through the sky. Color faded back in just in time for me to see the monster had fired that energy blast from its horn.
Eep!
“Um, Triggie, I’m not good at flying this!” Pinkie’s voice crackled over sky’s headset. “That almost hit me!”
“Fluttershy, fly, now!” Sky snapped urgently.
I flapped my wings as fast as I could. The moment I started to support myself Sky let go of me and flew upwards past me.
“Saitama Defence Force, are you on this channel?” Sky asked as he flew upwards.
Not wanting to go too far from him, I flew up after him. Trying not to look at the wall of hardened flesh to my right.
“This is Tech Sergeant Ikki, clear this channel, civilian,” a stallions accented voice.
“Civilian? Ha! I’m your tech guy. This is Sky Trigger. I’ve got a load of prototype weapons that need testing, and you have a rather big problem. Distract this thing for three minutes while I deploy and make sure my wife can get away safely and I’ll make sure your city gets first dibs on next gen mech weapons,” Sky promised.
“Sarge,” a mare’s voice crackled over the radio. “I have positive ID on the aircraft. That is Sky Trigger, sir.”
“Understood, Airmare. Tigger, you have two minutes. We don’t have the firepower to do more than annoy this thing. We’re an inland force. This never happens,” the sargent lamented.
“Don’t worry, my AI shouldn’t be an asshole this time,” Sky said gruffly. “Sai, you gonna be an asshole this time?!”
“Seeing as how you’re not asking me to teleport an eighty meter tall mech into a four meter tall ice tunnel, triggering a cave in and killing you, no,” Sky’s assistant remarked.
“I also asked for a crate of weapons,” Sky grunted. “And yes the concussion from any of my toys would have also collapsed the tunnel. Fear, the most logical motivator to get me to run faster, we had this argument. You were still a dick about the damn thing.”
“I act as you programmed me to, boss,” Sai chuckled.
“Triggie! It’s really fast! I can’t keep dodging it like this!” Pinkie yelped fearfully over the radio.
Sky looked over towards the battle, nodding grimly. A moment later I could hear the sound of spellbolts crackling and bursting. The monster screamed in rage, the ground crunching as it turned to face a new threat.
“Shy! GO! NOW!” Sky ordered, pointing off towards the chaos. “Sai, the second she’s ready, send her over, materialize the cockpit around my location.”
I gulped nervously and flew as fast as I could towards the insanity.
I could only remember flashes of the battle. A half dozen thirty meter tall, half tech, half arcane mechs, built to resemble an alicorn, flying around the enraged creature, doing little more than stinging like bees. Sky’s jet jerking erratically from side to side, its engines screaming in protest as it ducked and dodged the monster’s furious swipes. The dull crunch sound Sky’s own blue colored bipedal mech made as it punched the monster in the spine, the massive machine he drove only coming up to the small of the daikaiju’s back.
The sight of the kaiju’s building-sized tail rushing towards me like a colossal whip.
Shy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Roost - Drake
What a horrible adventure with that slaver dragon. Whew! It was nice to be in the airship again. I greatly prefered pony sized architecture. On the other hoof…
I sighed and turned my severed left foreleg over with a wingtip. That sucked a little.
I hoped this universe's Sky could fix my shoulder joint properly. I didn’t have a way home for another three weeks, and the punctures along the limb ment the whole leg was probably shot. I doubted it could be reattached.
Hrunting had far more bite strength than I’d imagined. Fortunately for me, I’d had far more crushing strength with my rear legs then he’d imagined. I had a special hatred for slavery, especially when they found a way to work within the law. Hopefully my choking him into unconsciousness while he chewed on my leg would lead to some chronic pain.
“I- um, maybe I can help you with that?” Silver asked sympathetically.
I looked up at the little dragon, giving him a confused frown. His general body plan reminded me of Spike, but silver instead of purple, and of course his wings, and being quadrupedal instead of bipedal (Then again, Dragons can walk ether or. Silver probably just prefered to be on all fours. It’s a personal choice for them). Also being a young adult rather than a toddler.
I wonder how upset this universe's Spike was when he learned dragon aging is controlled by their magic? Ours didn’t know he had to want to be older and make a conscious effort to age in order to grow up until he was sixty. Hehe!
Due to having grown up into a young adult. “It’s alright. I have a mechanic. Why are you still following me? I know you wanted to say goodbye, but you’re free now,” I reminded him with a smile.
Silver returned my smile and shook his head. “I’m not quite free, Miss. You won my employment rights You’re my boss now. Until the contract expires in sixty years,” he explained again.
I rolled my eyes hard enough to make my damaged shoulder hurt. “I fired you,” I reminded.
“And as I reminded you, Miss, my contract states I cannot be dismissed. You own me,” he reminded oddly happily.
“But I don’t want to own you,” I objected, crossing my wings over my barrel since I couldn’t cross my arms.
“Even so, you did me a great service,” Silver said as he sat down across the room from me. “Legally, you own all of the labor which I can provide for the next six decades. As far as the law states, that means I must serve you. But even if you could find a way to break the contract, I still would not leave. Ever hear of the Dragon Code? You did me a real, actual favor, that changed my life. I owe you my services anyways, until I can do the same for you.”
Buck! That's right. Dragons did life debts. Now not only was he legally obligated to serve me, but also culturally.
I sighed and uncrossed my wings. “Alright. But I’m not single. I have a girlfriend. Whatever we wind up deciding you will do to fulfill your life debt will have to involve her too. Because I am not comfortable with-”
“Having a loyal servant?” Silver asked, cocking his head to one side. “Why not?”
“Um, I was going to say making an addition to the family without consulting her. Would you be okay with working an engineering job while living on your own and providing us with some of your income? A fair percentage. That I can justify without bringing her in,” I said thoughtfully.
“I’d rather work for you directly… But if that’s all I can do after you and your mate have discussed it, so be it,” Silver said with a satisfied nod before stroking his chin with a talon. “Um, is there anything I can do for you before we leave the Roost, Miss?”
I shook my head and pulled the Amber Glass gem from my saddlebags with my remaining hoof, turning the stone over to inspect the hoof sized chunk of crystal in the light.
“No. I’ve already gotten more than I bargained for,” I answered, shaking my head slowly.
The crystal reflected my face for a moment as I turned it. Humm… Amber Glass was a good name.
Fluttershy - 21st of Megan, 17 EoH
The Peak, Mt. Segata - Neighpone
I’d never been so afraid of anything in my life. I knew I had flown through that insanity, and I had gotten to the Skyranger, but I couldn’t recall how.
AlI knew was Pinkie had me in a hug from behind so she wouldn’t hurt the tree I was NOT about to drop.
“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Pinkie cooed gently. “We’re far far away from it and Sky just said it’s finally looking like they hurt it. You’re safe.”
“I know,” I said quietly, staring at the floor beneath me.
“Yay! There you are,” PInkie giggled happily giving me a little squeeze.
“It wanted to hurt me. Me specifically,” I whimpered.
That’s what made it so bad. All of that hate. All of it, focused solely on me.
“Are you sure?” Pinkie asked worriedly. “Because Sky and I were attacked by a big ice monster and it was really really angry too.”
I nodded twice.
Then my eyes widened in fright. “Rarity! If you were attacked by a monster getting your thing, and I was attacked by a monster getting my thing then- WE NEED TO GO GET RARITY! RIGHT NOW!” I shrieked, jumping up to my hooves, still holding the little pink tree.
Meaning I immediately fell over and landed on my side as I twisted to avoid smooshing the tiny thing.
Pinkie nodded in agreement and helped me stand up. “We’re already doing that. As soon as Sky’s done helping everypony stop that monster we’re going to get Rarity. We checked the lake on the way here and there was no sign of her. So she’s not there yet. We can wait on the lakeshore and the moment she arrives, we can all help her get her thing. It will be okay.”
“Promise?” I asked, looking into my old friend’s eyes, needing the comfort of something kind and familiar after that… That living nightmare.
Pinkie nodded firmly. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
I sighed in relief. That was exactly what I needed. “Thanks Pinkie,” I said with a small smile. “Um… W-we should make sure the tree is okay.”
Pinkie nodded and looked down at the tiny cherry tree then stroked her chin with one hoof. “I wonder what would happen if we watered the tree with the water I got?”
“Um, let’s NOT do that,” I said quickly. “That seems like a waste of the water.”
“I know, I’m just curious. Magic water plus magic tree. Something fun should happen, right?” PInkie asked beaming me a huge grin. “Hey! Remember that time Dash and I got into an argument about whether you were a tree or not? Hehehehe!”
Why the buck didn’t Celestia let us all go together? Ugh… I needed my friends for these things.
“I remember, why?” I asked curiously.
“Well now you get to be all momishly protective of a little baby tree!” Pinkie said before collapsing into a snicker fit.
Oh my goodness. That was true! I felt my lips part in an honest smile. “Thanks, Pinkie. You’re the best.”