Exodus had been walking for some time now. He woke up a few hours ago to the sound of birds and found himself on the outskirts of a dense forest, the likes of which he had never seen. During the time that he had been awake, he had been trying to determine the size of the forest that he was beside, but even after all of this walking, he didn't think he had even gotten halfway.
“Ghost, any readings of the team?” He asked.
“I have detected faint Light signatures in two other locations, though I do not have enough data on the this planet to determine where they are.” His Ghost responded, he was floating alongside Exodus as they explored, constantly prepared to resurrect.
“So you really think we are on an entirely different world?”
“Honestly, I think we are in a different universe entirely. The ships have attempted to scan the nearby planets and there is a mass of things wrong with where we are.” The ghost replied, looking around himself.
“Like what?” Exodus asked, following the Ghost's gaze.
“Well, for a start, the Moon and Sun appear to be orbiting the planet itself. The orbit is... sporadic aswell. It's as if they are communicating, as if they know when they should move to let the other take its place.”
The Exo thought upon that. The thought that they were in a different universe wasn't anything crazy in his mind. He had seen many occasions of dimension travel in his year of being reborn, he had even travelled through dimensions himself, though he was with Kervis when he did.
Sighing, he turned his head to his Ghost, “Well, let's figure that out later. Anything on the scans of this forest?”
The Ghost turned to look at the forest for a moment before responding, “Nothing spectacular. I have detected a large amount of what appear to be animals trailing us but they haven't made an attempt to attack yet.”
“Hm, as long as they don't bother me, I won't bother them,” Exodus said, not even looking behind him.
“Wouldn't it be better to prepare, just in case?” His companion asked.
“Maybe... give me the Tlaloc and let's keep going, we can't afford to keep stopping like this.”
The machine gave a nod and a white Scout Rifle appeared in the guardian's hands. They pushed forward as soon as the weapon appeared, ignoring the eyes in the forest that trailed their every movement.
- - -
Rushing Breeze skipped happily along the path to his house. He had always been told by his mother to never go too far away from the house, but he rarely listened. Nothing ever happened when he went out and the further he went, the more animals he met.
He had went out to help a small family of rabbits, they had lost one of their children when they were running from a fox and they had been worried for its safety. Thankfully, he had found the poor things huddled in a small hole under the roots of a large tree. He returned the little rabbit as soon as he could, giving them a wave and beginning his walk back home.
As he travelled the path, he listened for the sounds of the different birds that lived in the forest. He had gotten so used to them that he could name each bird by their song alone. But there was one song that he didn't recognise. It sounded much different to the normal songs he heard, and from the sounds of things, it was following him.
Looking around him, he tried to pinpoint the location of the bird that was making the song. He trotted to the side of the path, trying to see through the darkness. As soon as his eyes began to track the many animals out there, however, the song stopped abruptly. He didn't hear it again until he started walking along the path again.
'Maybe they are shy' He thought to himself, smiling slightly at the thought of meeting a new bird. With that thought, he hopped off of the path again and began walking into the dense forest, making sure he could still see the path so he didn't become lost.
He kept his eyes focused on the branches, hoping to find the bird that had been making that odd song. But he couldn't see anything through the darkness. Still, he persisted. He didn't like having an animal that thought he was a threat, he preferred to be friends with them all.
“What a-... -do”
He froze. He swore he just heard a whisper. He couldn't figure out everything that it had said, but there was no other sounds. No birdsong, no scurrying of smaller animals, nothing. He cowered back a bit, afraid of what could be up in the trees that was able to talk.
As he backed away, he heard a thump to his left. His head shot around to see what had hit the ground and what he found scared him more than any other thing could.
A Griffon, and it looked mad.
“What the hell are you doing in our land, child?” He asked in a gravely voice. It was well known that the Griffons patrolled these areas, but they didn't normally bother anything unless they looked like they were up to no good.
“I was just looking for the bird that was making that song,” Breeze whimpered, he had never liked the Griffons, they seemed too scary for him.
“Well, you found it. Now scram.” The Griffon commanded, a glare focused entirely upon him.
The colt nodded quickly, running in the direction that he remembered the path lying. As he ran, he could hear the sounds of Griffons laughing heartily, the sound slowly fading as he got further from them.
After a minute or two of running, he stopped to rest, panting heavily against a tree. He had been so focused on running that he hadn't realised that he passed over the path and ran in the opposite direction of it. With him resting, he had lost his bearings. There were no landmarks around him, just trees.
He started to panic a little. Nopony could help him when he was this far from home, and the Griffons would sooner chase him for fun than help him. Regardless, he came to the conclusion that he still needed help in the end, and so he began calling for aid.
“Help! Please! I don't know how to get back to the path!” He called out, waiting in silence for any response to his call.
No response came, just the faint sounds of animals. He slumped over in sadness. He wasn't sure on what to do now, the forest went on for miles and he had no way of telling where he was in relation to his home.
Suddenly, a loud growl sounded in the distance. Breeze quickly stood up and looked in the direction of the sound. He was absolutely terrified, there wasn't any monsters in these forests, or at least, there shouldn't have been. They had all been cleared out by the Griffons to let others make homes within the forests.
The growl came once more, closer this time. The sounded of wood knocking together grew louder alongside it. He froze, growling and wood knocking together? That could only mean...
With one final growl, a massive beast jumped from the nearby bushes. It was made entirely of wood, and had glowing green eyes that stared straight at him.
A Timberwolf.
Confusion and fear reigned in the colt's mind. Timberwolves were supposed to be Equestrian, how could one have travelled that far?
But he didn't have time to think on it, the wolf was moving forward, closing the gap between them. With no other ideas, the pegasus screamed and started running from the creature, his only hope being to escape the beast.
- - -
“A scream?” Exodus asked, looking towards the wall of trees.
“It sounded young, do you think we should check it out?” His Ghost asked.
The Warlock thought upon it. He really needed to find his team, but he couldn't just leave a child in distress.
He gave a sigh before giving his reply, “Yeah, we probably should. Cloak yourself, I get the feeling that we are going into a fight.”
He started running forward into the forest, listening for any sounds that he could use to find the child. Pretty soon, he heard more screaming, and a roar far louder than anything he had heard since he fought Oryx. Tightening his grip on his weapon, he ran faster, dodging around branches and roots that had laid themselves out before him.
It didn't take long before he reached a small clearing. The screaming was still going on, being emitted from something to the left of him. He whirled around to find one of the oddest scenes he had ever seen. There was a small blue pony, one that had wings upon closer inspection, being hunted by a massive wooden creature. It appeared to be shaped after a wolf, though with how the twigs and branches split off of it, it could have been anything.
Noticing the glow from his robes, the pony turned its head to look at him, its eyes going wide at the sight.
“Please! Help me!” It said in perfect English.
“There better be a good fucking answer for this,” Exodus muttered to himself, bringing his weapon forward and firing a round into the side of the beast.
It roared in pain, spinning around to face its attacker. He could already tell that this fight was going to be tougher than normal, he couldn't use any of his abilities for fear of setting off a fire or hurting the pony, so he was stuck with his Tlaloc.
The wooden monster leaped forward at him, attempting to close its jaws around his head. He brought his gun's back forward just before it hit him, however, leaving the creature stunned but still standing.
Taking the opportunity, he brought his gun up yet again, letting off round after round into the beast. When his magazine was empty the wood around the creature had been filled with holes, green sap bleeding out of them. He quickly reloaded and aimed at it once again, making sure it wasn't moving. When no movement could be seen, he turned to the blue pony he had seen earlier.
The poor little thing seemed absolutely terrified but other than that, it didn't seem to be hurt too badly. He stepped forward slowly, lowering his rifle and pointing at the ground.
“Hey, are you the one that was screaming?” he asked, one hand spread out before him and the other still pointing his gun away.
The pony gave a slight nod, apparently calming slightly. It opened its mouth, but before it could do anything, the sound of creaking wood emanated from behind the guardian.
Exodus only had time to look behind him before he was set upon by three more of the wooden wolves, they had been watching the fight and when their companion had fallen, they had began their ambush.
While he was made of metal, his armour and skin were not designed to stop three heavy creatures with razor sharp teeth and claws. They ripped into him, shredding his outer shell and armour with ease. Within moments, all that was left was tattered robes and sparking metal.
As soon as life left the Exo, his ghost became visible a few feet away, but it didn't fall. Instead, it spread itself out, a blue glow surrounding the inner core of the machine.
Looking over the approaching wolves, the Ghost gave a small laugh, “Oh, you just made a real mistake,”
The animals still grew closer, not understanding what the Ghost had said, but the pony had. With wide eyes, it watched as the ghosts slammed its segments against its core, and disappeared. In its place, the guardian dropped down, shrouded in fire. Two burning wings made entirely of fire sprouted from his back as he rose up.
Throwing caution to the wind, he charged his fusion grenades, tossing them at the animals and allowing his Radiance to recharge them in seconds. As he threw the orbs of solar light, he glanced over at the small pony that had remained huddled beside a tree the entire fight, and came to the realisation that the fusion grenades would very likely have the blast radius to cause harm to it.
He quickly circled around the mess of wood and fire, still throwing the grenades at the wolves. The grenades that came close to the animals stuck to their wood, causing small burns that distracted them long enough for the Exo to reach the pony. Ending his Radiance, he scooped it up and got behind a nearby tree, finally releasing his hold upon the grenades. With nothing holding them back, the orbs began detonating, leaving a massive pile of charcoal in their wake.
- - -
Breeze was almost paralysed in fear. He had never seen such violence given in such a short amount of time. Slowly looking up, his eyes reached the face of his saviour. Now that he wasn't in immediate danger, he could pay more attention to how the being looked.
Its helmet was black, with intricate blue lights all across its surface. It wore a long black robe that had a stunningly blue collar. It almost seemed to glow in the darkness of the forest. On its left shoulder, it had a plate of metal that had another pattern on it. Looking down, his eyes passed over its blue chestpiece that had been shaped like feathers and rested on the only other part of its body that was showing. Its boots had another pattern of bright blue squares, all of them glowing like its helmet and boots.
“Well,” It said, placing him on the ground and standing on its two legs, “That was... interesting,”
Breeze gave no response, choosing instead to cower back and just stare at the being.
“Not a talkative one huh?” It asked, looking over him, “can you at least tell me if you are okay? You aren't hurt are you?”
Breeze shook his head ever so slightly, not even sure if the creature saw it. They remained quiet for a moment before it a gave a sigh.
“I'm going to have a look at these remains. You should probably head home, from the looks of things, this place isn't safe,”
With that, it walked around the tree and knelt down beside one of the piles, the small white object appearing beside him.
He wasn't sure on where to go now. He was most certainly lost, in his running he had completely forgotten about the fact that he needed to find the path and so he had no way of telling where the way home lay.
Looking back to the... thing, he tried to figure out what to do. His mind had already come up with a solution but he really didn't want to follow through with it. He wasn't even sure if the creature was going to hurt him or not.
However, as he thought he came to terms with the fact that he had no place to turn to. He was lost in a forest with no way to get home, and there was a being here capable of helping him.
And so, knowing what he had to do, he stepped out slowly, coming closer to the thing that had saved him.
- - -
“Any idea what these thing were, Ghost?” Exodus asked, examining a piece of charred wood carefully.
“I haven't clue, from the short amount of time I had to study them, they appeared to equate to Golems, but they ran off of an energy that I have never seen before.”
“They had no problems bringing me down, so whatever energy they use, it's dangerous.” He said, dropping the piece of wood and standing up.
As he stood, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find the small pony coming towards him slowly, apparently still afraid of him.
“What are you still doing here?” He asked, kneeling down again, “You really need to get out of here, who knows what could be out here,”
The pony looked around itself before coming slightly closer and looking up, “I-I don't know how to get home...” It said.
Exodus to a moment to process that. He had started to think he was mad for thinking that it had spoken during the fight, but for his thoughts to be confirmed so simply, he had troubles coming to terms with it.
Bringing his mind back to the present, he thought upon what to do. This pony was quite clearly a child, and if it was lost then it wouldn't have a chance in hell of surviving alone against another pack of those wolves.
“If I helped you find a path, would you be able to get home then?” He asked, turning his attention to the pony before him.
It gave a slight nod, all the confirmation that it needed to give. Grunting, the Warlock rose back up and turned to his Ghost.
“Could you set a waypoint out of the forest? And while we are walking, could you find the location of that path we came across a couple of hours ago?”
The little machine nodded at that, a white arrow appearing on Exodus' motion tracker.
“Thanks, come on then, little one. Let's get you home.”
- - -
Breeze stared in wonder at the little white object that had been floating alongside the bigger being during their walk. He couldn't understand how it was able to levitate without the use of a magical aura. If the bigger one was lifting it, then surely he would have seen its magic affecting it.
His focus had been so intense, that he hadn't noticed the object staring right back at him.
“You seeing something you like?” It asked, startling him out of his daze. He tumbled forward, nearly hitting the ground before the taller being grabbed him and stood him back up.
“Jesus, Ghost, you shouldn't do that to the poor thing,” It said, waving its paw near the small being.
“It was just a question...” The small one responded.
The tall one just shook its head and continued walking, its two companions following along behind it. While they walked, Breeze looked back up at the object, its eye was focused on him, leaving them both having a sort of staring contest with eachother.
“Ahem,” The object started, breaking off from the staring, “I don't believe we are introduced,”
Breeze gave no response, still staring at the white being.
“I am a Ghost, a machine made by the Traveller to help my guardian protect humanity from the Darkness.” It explained, turning towards the tall one, “This one over here is Exodus, my guardian.”
The taller one apparently called Exodus gave a chuckle, “Ghost, you realise that it is just a child, right?”
“It's just polite, Exodus, did you never learn that?” The Ghost replied.
“No time for being polite in this line of work, you should know that by now.”
The Ghost went quiet at that, floating closer to Breeze. He shied away a little as it came closer, but it stopped at a respectable distance, “And who are you?” It asked.
Realising that it had directed a question towards him, he gulped, giving a glance towards Exodus who had turned his head slightly towards him.
“U-uh, I'm Rushing Breeze...” He said quietly, hoping that would be enough for them.
“Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rushing Breeze, I hope the big guy didn't scare you too bad.” The ghost said, its segments turning slightly. Breeze actually kind of liked the little white machine. It seemed nice, much nicer than Exodus seemed.
“N-no, the wolves were more scary,” He said, smiling slightly.
That got a laugh out of Exodus, bringing Breeze's attention around to him. He was about to ask what was funny when the Ghost answered for him, “You're losing your edge, Exodus,”
Exodus laughed once more before replying, “Never thought after all this time than a animal made of wood would be more scary than me,”
Thinking he had somehow offended him, Breeze immediately piped up, hoping to fix the problem that he thought he had created, “Oh no, Mr Exodus, you were scary too, I have just always thought that Timber wolves were-”
“Don't worry, kid. I was just messing with you,” Exodus said, interrupting him.
As they continued to walk, the Ghost got a bit closer, “How are you holding up?” He asked.
“I think I will be okay, thanks,” He replied, his smile slightly wider than before. While he was still uncertain about the two being he had met, they seemed pretty nice, and if they really wanted to hurt him then they surely would have done so by now.
They walked in silence for a while, the only sounds being those of the animals and the crunching of sticks that they passed over. The silence began to bring back memories of the fight, and everything Exodus had done during it.
“Uhm, Mr Exodus?” He asked, walking a little faster to be beside him as they spoke.
“Just Exodus will be fine, Breeze,” He said, looking down towards him.
“Oh, okay well, Exodus, could we talk about the stuff you did when you were fighting?” Breeze asked, looking at the guardian.
“What stuff did you want to know about?” Exodus replied.
“Mainly about how you came back to life, I watched those wolves really mess you up but you just got back up like it was nothing.”
“Ah,” he said, stopping and sitting on a nearby trunk. Breeze also sat down, appreciating the rest he was allowing them, “Well, to explain how it works, I would also have to explain how Light works and that is a whole conversation that I really don't have time to give,”
Breeze looked a little downcast at that, but looked up when the guardian continued, “But I will happily explain the basics,”
The little colt smiled at that and sat up, his ears pointed towards him.
“Basically, I can use Light as a weapon. Me and every other guardian have the ability to make Light a physical thing, meaning that we can use it when we fight. What you saw there was an ability that Sunsinger guardians are capable of. If I have enough Light stored, I can use some of it to summon myself back to the battlefield. Any leftover Light is used to power my Radiance which shields me and makes my abilities more powerful.”
The explanation had left the pegasus fascinated. He had assumed that it had all been magic, but instead it was... light? As he tried to get his head around the thought of using light as a tool, he heard Exodus start talking again.
“Don't think on it too hard, I doubt you will understand it fully without a full explanation and even then it will probably be difficult for you.”
Breeze nodded, laying back down again on the dry ground. He had stopped paying attention to what was going on in the depths of the forest, placing his trust in the guardian to keep him safe. After what felt like far too little time, Exodus spoke up again.
“Alright, I think that should be enough. Come on,”
He got up off the trunk, Breeze getting up with him with wobbling legs.
“Exodus, I don't think he can keep up for much longer...” The Ghost pointed out, floating closer to the struggling colt.
The guardian turned and look over at him. When he saw him wobbling on his hooves he gave a sigh a walked over.
“Need some help there?” He asked, kneeling to be at the same level as him.
“N-no, I'm okay, let's go,” Breeze said, trying to mask a look of confidence as best as he could.
“You sure? You look like you're gonna fall over at any moment,”
“Nah, I'm... I'm good,” He assured, trying to take a step forward. As his hoof moved forward, he misplaced it, falling forwards. But before he could hit the ground, he was caught by two paws once again.
He gave a little “eep” as he was hoisted into the air, lying in the arms of Exodus. He looked up at the helmet that covered the guardians face, “I'm okay, really, you don't have to carry me...” he said, hoping to get out of being carried like a baby.
“Listen, I'm not too comfortable with this either, but we need to keep moving. I can walk for much longer than you can, you just rest up.”
The pegasus simply nodded in response. Wiggling a little to get comfortable and closing his eyes, dropping off into sleep shortly after.
- - -
'Oh my God that's adorable'
Exodus had been trying to ignore the fact that he was holding a pony for a long while now, but every time he looked even slightly down, his non-existent heart practically melted. He wasn't one for cute stuff normally, but he couldn't deny that the little colt was cute cuddled up like that.
As he walked, he tried to figure out what he could do to get into contact with his team. He was aware that his ship was in orbit, waiting for him, but he couldn't be sure that the others were able to get to their ships. With that out of the equation, he really didn't have any other options. His Ghost could build a communications tower but only if the available mass in the area could support something like that, and from the looks of what he had seen, metal wasn't exactly accessible.
A change to his motion tracker brought his eyes up to the left of his helmet. The waypoint had started tracking across the circle, meaning that he was coming close to the edge of the forest, and sure enough, he began to see light trickling in from the edge of the treeline.
When he passed the last of the trees, the sunlight covered his body, forcing him to lift his hand to his helmet to shield his eyes as it adapted to the sudden change of light. When it had shifted to its bright light mode, he dropped his hand and looked down at the pony in his arm. The sudden change had roused him from his sleep and he was looking around himself sleepily, his eyes half closed.
“Where... am I?” He asked, he still hadn't looked towards the person carrying him
“We just left the forest,” Exodus explained, getting a startled squeal from the pegasus.
“W- that wasn't a dream?” He asked, he had almost fallen from the guardians hands but Exodus had managed to prevent him falling just in time.
“I'm afraid not, Breeze. Ghost, could you waypoint the path?”
“Of course,” The Ghost said, pushing a new small triangle to Exodus' motion tracker.
The Exo didn't hesitate to start moving in the direction that had been given to him, he moved at a relatively fast pace, making sure that Breeze wasn't jostled around too much.
“Um... Exodus, I'm not as tired anymore, I can walk on my own,” Breeze said as he was carried, looking up at the Warlock.
“That may be true, but I can't slow down right now. I'm sorry, but I have two friends that could be in trouble.”
“Oh... Oh! Maybe my parents could help!” Breeze exclaimed, smiling.
“I'm not sure that they would be able to help with something like this, little one,” he replied, shaking his head slightly.
“But surely it's worth a shot, Exodus. After all, even you don't know where to begin. If we can get a layout of the land, maybe access to some local talk, we might be able to find them faster,” his Ghost said, flying alongside them at the same pace.
Exodus stayed quiet for a moment, thinking.
“Hmph, regardless, I would much rather we go faster than this. Ghost, can I get a Sparrow link here by any chance?”
“We could, technically. If we had the ship fly above you then I could link you directly to it. It doesn't even need to be on the ground,” The Ghost explained, its back segments switching around a couple of times.
“Fine by me. Let me know when a link is available,”
- - -
Everything that had just been said had flew right over Breeze's head. The only thing he understood was 'Sparrow' and that was only because of his love for animals.
As he tried to get his head around it, Exodus stopped moving. He looked up to see the guardian looking up in the air. He tried to follow his gaze but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
“What are you looking at, Exodus?” Breeze asked, squinting his eyes in an attempt to find something up there.
“Nothing you will be able to see, little one. Don't worry, you'll see something in a minute.” Exodus said, still staring at the sky.
It didn't take long for him to feel Exodus moving again. This time, he had turned and looked down away from the sky.
“Alright, Ghost. Get the Sparrow down here,” He said to the little white machine beside him.
As soon as he had finished the request, he lifted his leg and a larger machine suddenly materialised below him. It had a sleek front that was split in the middle. The very front of it had sparks of electricity shooting up the front every now and then. The entire thing appeared to be capable of hovering, though yet again, no magic seemed to be used to keep it up.
In front of him, two handles were built into the hull of the machine, and a small monitor was propped up just before him, with a slew of information and graphs that he didn't understand. As he looked around him, Exodus started moving a little.
“Alright, Breeze. This is going to be rough, but it will get us there much faster than walking. When we are moving, make sure you hold onto the console in front of you, okay? I'm not going to be able to keep you steady but I will do my best to keep the Sparrow straight.”
Breeze nodded, and took hold of the metal in front of him. When he got a good grip, he gave Exodus an “Okay”.
When everything was ready, he felt the machine lurch forward, already moving faster than he had ever moved in his entire life. A look of joy made its way to his face as the wind rushed through his mane. He gave a little laugh as he closed his eyes.
He could just hear Exodus call out for his to hold down as he bent forward, hunching over the console. Breeze was confused for a second, but held on tighter either way. As soon as he took a better hold on the metal, he felt the machine speed up.
Instantly, the wind became stronger as they moved at incredible speeds. Through blurred eyes, he managed to make out the front of the machine. It had been covered in electricity and glowed a bright blue, almost the same shade of Exodus' blue on the armour he wore.
They remained at that speed for many minutes, the world flying by them at breakneck speeds. Eventually, a large dirt path came into view. Exodus slowed the machine down to a halt as they reached it, letting Breeze jump down from the hovering craft.
“That was awesome!” Breeze cried, hopping around a bit.
Exodus gave a laugh, sitting up from his hunched over position, “I'm glad you enjoyed it, but we still have a ways to go. You sure your parents can help me?”
Breeze turned to look at him, “Of course, I'm sure of it!”
He watched as Exodus brought the machine around to face away from the forest, “So how far is your home from here?”
“It's not far, we just have to follow the path and it will lead us to the other path we need,” Breeze explained, trotting back towards the forest.
“Where are you- don't tell me you live in that place...” Exodus groaned, turning his machine around again.
“Yeah, it's actually pretty nice!”
“So I'm assuming that those wolf things are not a common occurrence?” Exodus asked.
“No, I have never seen one in the forest before, normally the Griffons get them before they go too far in, and even when that happens it is super rare. They don't usually like to come this far from their home.”
“Hm. How straight is this path?”
“Pretty straight, a couple of turns here and there, why?” Breeze asked, tilting his head.
“The path is wide enough to take the Sparrow in. Want to go for another ride?”
Breeze jumped for joy at that, running forward towards the Sparrow, “Heck yeah! Will we be going as fast as before?”
“Unfortunately, I can't risk that. The Sparrow should be able to take this path with relative ease at full speed, but I don't want you falling out at a hundred miles an hour.”
“Oh... but will we still be going fast?” The little colt asked, excitement still showing in his voice.
“We should be, after all, that's what this thing was built for.”
The pegasus gave a little jump and ran up to the Sparrow's side, letting Exodus pick him up and place him just in front of the pilot seat.
- - -
In a small house, far within the woods, a mother and father were talking to eachother as they relaxed in the living room. They had been talking for a few hours, mostly about the things that Melody had seen while in town.
As they spoke, Melody began to hear an odd noise coming from the forest.
“Honey, do you hear that?” She asked, standing up and walking to the window.
Seeker stood and joined her at the window, while his ears weren't as good as hers, he could make out and odd whining noise. It didn't sound like anything he had heard before.
“What do you think it could be?” Melody asked, worry etched on her face.
“I'm not sure... I'll go and see if I can see anything,” her husband said, walking briskly out of the door and closing it quickly behind him.
Outside, Seeker could hear the noise much more easily now. It sounded like it was coming from the path that lead to his home, which worried him as the sound didn't sound like anything good.
As he peered into the darkness, he noticed some odd lights quickly closing in upon his home. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the sound was coming from whatever was coming over there.
He took a defensive stance as the object came into view, ready for whatever it was. But he wasn't ready for what he saw...
- - -
The trip hadn't taken all that long. While Breeze had been correct in that there was some turns here and there, the path was pretty easy to travel, meaning he could sometimes fire the boost, much to the colt's delight.
As Exodus approached the small wooden house that Breeze had insisted was his home, he noticed a dark blue stallion waiting outside of it. He was in a stance that he didn't really understand, he assumed that it was supposed to look threatening.
When he reached the clearing, he slowed to a stop and let the small pegasus jump down.
“B-Breeze!? What are you doing? What is that thing?” The stallion exclaimed, a look of disbelief across his face.
“Hey dad! This is Exodus, he saved my life!” Breeze said, running up and giving his father a hug.
“Saved your life? In what way?” he asked, before turning to Exodus, “What did you do with my son?”
Getting off his Sparrow, the guardian stood tall as he gave his response, “I did nothing with your child, sir. I found him being attacked, and got rid of the attackers.”
The stallion gave him a glare, apparently not buying the story he gave. But before he could say more, his son spoke up, “Please, dad, he's telling the truth, he needs help,”
The father looked up once more, “...With what?”
“I need assistance in getting a lay of the land. I am unfamiliar with these lands and need to find my friends before they get hurt.” Exodus explained, his stance unmoving.
The stallion looked him over for a moment, “And why should we help you?”
“Because I saved your son. If I had ill intentions then surely he would be hurt, yes?”
The pony looked down at his son, thinking over what had been said. After a few moments, he looked up once more, “Fine. We'll help you, but you try anything, and I'll kick your flank from here to Canterlot.”
“Understood,”
Slowly, the stallion turned and opened the door, signalling for Breeze to go in. When his son was inside, he gave Exodus a look and walked inside, leaving the door open. Taking this as an invitation, Exodus walked forward, locking down his Sparrow. As he passed the door, he closed it behind him. He had to bend slightly in order to stand within the home, but that didn't bother him too much.
He walked forwards and looked around him. It was a quaint little house. It had wooden walls and flooring and an upper floor that he assumed had the bedrooms in. The hallway lead from the entrance to the kitchen, but he didn't pry into those areas. Instead, he turned to find a living room with a couple of couches and a fireplace. He walked inside it to find Breeze talking with a taller mare that he assumed was his mother. She was a grey pegasus with a three toned blue mane. Her wings appeared to be more... bat like than her son's wings and he could swear he saw fangs every now and then when she talked.
As he entered the room properly, she took notice of his presence. She looked afraid of him, but wasn't openly hostile like the stallion was.
“So you are the... guardian? That saved my son?” She asked, moving slightly in front of Breeze.
“I am, my name is Exodus. I am simply looking for some help and I will be gone.”
“I see. And from what I have heard, you just want to know the local area, yes?”
“That is correct. I need to locate the nearest capital to the three of us, if that is okay.” Exodus said, still standing there.
“That should be fine, Breeze, could you go to the world map from the bookshelf please.”
The small pegasus smiled at that and ran past Exodus out into the hallway. The time he was gone was spent in awkward silence. The mare giving him passing glances and Exodus looking at everything in the room in detail, marvelling at the quality that the furniture had been kept in.
The silence was ceased by small hoofsteps pattering back into the room.
“Here you go, mum!” He said, dropping a large book with the word 'Atlas' on the cover.
“Thanks, honey. Why don't you go see what your father is up to?”
“But mooom, I wanna stay here and talk with Exodus some more...”
The mare gave her son a look, but he didn't budge, instead, he sat down on the floor and gave the best set of puppy eyes could.
“Oh for Celestia's sake, fine.” She said, giving in.
“Yay! Thanks mom!” He cried, giving his mother a hug that she happily returned.
“Just... be careful, okay?” She whispered, apparently thinking that Exodus couldn't hear her. Exodus kept quiet, however. He didn't want to cause any problems when he was here to ask for aid from them.
The colt gave a quick nod and turned back to Exodus, “So, I guess we have to read now...”
The Exo gave a chuckle at that, “Not really, no. Ghost, could you lend a hand?”
In response, his ghost appeared beside his shoulder, much to the bewilderment of the poor mare on the other side of the room.
“Sure, just give me a minute,” he said, floating over to the book and shining a blue ray of light from his eye. A few seconds later, the ray of light stopped and the Ghost looked away from the book.
“I know reading is boring, but you didn't even read the first page...” Breeze said, putting a hoof on the cover of the book and flipping it open.
“Actually, I just read the entire thing. Exodus, I have rough coordinates for where Kalis and Kervis are.”
“W-what!? But that book is over one thousand words! There isn't any way you just read through the entire thing!” Breeze exclaimed jumping up with wide eyes.
“On the contrary, little one. If Ghost says he has read the entire thing then I am going to believe him. After all, reading a book isn't exactly the most impressive thing he can do,” Exodus asked.
Breeze's mouth just gaped open, he tried to think of an answer but came up short. He settled for a simple grunt.
“Well, I must thank you for your assistance, ma'am. I will take my leave now, as I had promised earlier.”
“Aw, come on, Exodus, why do you have to leave so soon?” Breeze said, a frown dominant on his face.
“Because I would be overstaying my welcome, little Breeze. It has been fun, but I think it's time for us to say goodbye.”
Breeze just looked down at the ground in silence, his frown growing, “Will you come back sometime?” He asked.
“Maybe, it depends on how quickly I can get to my friends. But I will try to come and say a proper goodbye when I do find them.”
Breeze just looked back down at the ground and nodded. Allowing Exodus to leave the room. When he left, Exodus turned to his Ghost.
“Alright, bring the Galliot down.”
The Ghost nodded and soon enough, the sound of roaring engines sounded across the forest.
- - -
Breeze watched as his new friend stood outside, watching the sky as a loud roar came closer and closer. Many thoughts had been going through his head as he watched, but the one that came through the clearest was the one causing him the most problems.
'Go with him'
His life at the house wasn't bad, but it was boring, intensely so. The animals would keep him busy, but they were capable of looking after themselves. Exodus was clearly good at what he did and would be able to look out for him when they went on adventures. The mare and stallion here were not even his real parents, they were just foster parents, they probably wouldn't even care if he left...
But what if they did? They obviously loved him, even if they were not going to be his permanent parents. If he stayed, he might even be able to see Exodus again... But what if he didn't? He said he would try to come back, meaning that he may never see the guardian again. He didn't want to lose his friend so quickly, especially since friends were extremely uncommon in the forest.
And so, with his mind set, he snuck outside to see a huge three winged machine hovering there. As he left, Exodus had just turned to his Ghost and had teleported up into the ship. All that was left was a cloud of Light and his Ghost.
“Ghost, wait!” Breeze called out, running up the little machine.
The Ghost turned at the voice, floating a little closer when he saw who it was.
“Yes, Breeze?” He asked when the colt reached where the Ghost was hovering.
“Please, take me with you guys, I won't be a bother or anything, just please let me come,” the pegasus said, raising his voice over the sound of the engines.
“What? Why? You seemed happy here,” the machine asked, perplexed at the actions on the pony.
“I am, it's just... I don't have many friends, and I really don't want to lose you guys so soon.” Breeze answered, pawing at the ground.
“You consider us your friends, after such a short amount of time?” The Ghost asked, still confused.
“Mhm! You guys are great! You have awesome stuff, Exodus is really nice and probably has loads of stories, and you are really nice to talk to aswell!”
The Ghost gave him a long look over before a voice could be heard coming from the ship, “Hey Ghost, you coming?” It said.
The small machine gave Breeze another look over before coming to a conclusion. Spinning his segments a little, he teleported Breeze into the rear of the pilot cabin before sending himself there.
He was going to have to have a long talk with Exodus about this.