//------------------------------// // The Gift Cat Bird // Story: Ofolrodi // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Somewhere... On a curved plane floating in expansive darkness... ...a ghostly little pegasus hovered in a yellow ball, clenching her eyes shut and trembling wildly. At some point, a lavender hoof reached over and shook her shoulder. "You can open your eyes now, Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle said. "The moment has passed." With a tiny ghost squeak, Fluttershy opened one eye... and then the other. She saw a descending wall of ashen dust and debris blotting out the horizon. Chunks of rock and loose pebbles rained down at random. Somewhere beyond the obscured atmosphere, a mammoth mass of muscle and chitin rolled through the sundered earth. In the immediate vicinity, however... Kepler and Rainbow Dash slumped against the edge of a hovering wagon. The two were panting, sweating, and wheezing for breath. Fluttershy blinked. She sensed something and immediately threw her gaze towards the left. Seraphimus hovered above the surviving plateau of rock. Her rear legs and claws were still bound in manacles, and the chains rattled with each wingflap. Charcoal brown eyes narrowed on the shifting flesh beyond the debris wall, and as more and more of the dust settled, she turned around and looked Curveside. "We may still have time," the former Talon Commander finally broke the tense silence. "I see a gradually descending grade. Gravity will be on our side if we push the wagon further." "I... could swearr..." Kepler coughed and stammered. "...that... she was... rrelating something... to us, frriend." Rainbow Dash gulped and squinted past a wall of sweat. "What are you on about, Seraphimus?" "I am simply saying that if we wish to escape the mandibles of this wretched creature, then we must make haste for the horizon immediately." Seraphimus pointed towards the starlit distance. "If we combine our wing power, we may even be able to mask our own steps and leave soundlessly." Rainbow took a deep breath. She pointed with a hoof. "Now you hold on just a second—" "There is no time to savor the victory. If we must move, we must move now." "Not without my friends," Rainbow Dash snarled. Seraphimus retorted: "It is best to assume that the rest have perished under—" "Not without my friends!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The blue hairs on her back bristled. A massive groan rumbled across the broken stonescape. The creature beyond the settling clouds shifted and shook. Kepler trembled at each bass salvo. As the noise settled, Fluttershy and the others could see Seraphimus and Rainbow exchanging death-stares. "I will admit..." Seraphimus fumed, attempting to keep calm. "...your loyalty—albeit misguided—can objectively be seen as 'admirable.' But it is poorly missplaced, and it will be the death of you—" "And saying one more dang word will be the death of you!" Rainbow Dash flew into her face, hissing. "So help me, Luna!" Seraphimus merely stared. "Yeah. Uh huh. Sure." Rainbow drifted backwards, her eyes rolling. "Ohhhhh... jeeee... wowwwwwww... We 'sure had a moment there,' didn't we, Sera?" "Do not call me—" "And while I'm glad you helped us, I don't owe you a frickin' thing!" Rainbow spat. "Something you've forgotten long ago—pal—is that real courage isn't about surviving by the skin of your teeth! You, Keps and I are alive and breathing, and so we owe it to ourselves to do something heroic in the face of super deadly crap! And that means helping our friends who are out there and need us! Yes, you might think of it as stupid and 'blighted' and suicidal, but that is what true courage is about!" "I only meant—" "And you're going to help me find the rest of them and carry them to safety or I swear to Celestia I will toss you into the dang beast's jaws—manacles and all!" Rainbow shook in place, frowning. "Now, do we have a problem?!?" Seraphimus stared at her. Kepler glanced back and forth, nervously. Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Well?!?!" A deep breath. The griffin's handcuffs rattled as she drifted past the wagon and towards the debris cloud. "I suggest that one of us fly high to get a survey of the creature's movements." Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie did double-takes. Rainbow blinked as she followed the griffin's movements. "Uhhhhhh..." "There..." Seraphimus hovered above a freshly-shattered cliffside and pointed into the demolished valley. "...I do believe it is turning about and slithering back towards Omega." She turned to look back at the pegasus. "That is the term you and your so-called friends are labeling it, yes?" "You... uh..." Rainbow cleared her throat. "You're back on board? Just like that?" Seraphimus huffed. "Is it even as though I have a choice?" She waved her bound limbs. "There are a dozen ways I could ultimately die right now. Might as well go into that dark night with some dignity... even if I'm perishing for a fool's errand." Kepler scratched his head. "Wowie..." Pinkie blinked. "...is it just me, or is that the cheeriest thing Sera's ever said?" "Rainbow..." Applejack leaned in. "...best not to look a gift bird in the mouth here, if you catch my drift." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Alright..." She flapped her wings. "I'll survey the situation. Keps?" She glanced down. "You think you can keep an eye on her? Make sure she doesn't fly away like a true blue turd?" "Erhm..." Kepler smiled awkwardly through his tusks. "I shall endeavorr not to brruise herr too badly with my fists!" "Right. Cool. I guess." Swoooosh! With a worried gaze lingering on Seraphimus, Rainbow nevertheless glided upwards. "Girls? Let's combine our wits here. Fluttershy? I'm going to need you to—" "I-I already found them, Rainbow," Fluttershy said. Rainbow threw her a double-take. "Well... two of them." She pointed down into the depths of the shifting debris. "Down there. Along the newborn canyon's edge. I suggest you be quick." "I suggest you continue to be beautiful." And Rainbow descended upon the destination like a comet.