-Rainbow-
“I think I’m going to join Ponyville’s weather team before I become a Wonder Bolt.” The monsters were driven back to where they belong and I thought it was just plain awesome that no one got hurt too badly.
“Rainbow, you’d have to know what you’re doing to be on a weather team.” I turned to Flutteshy and gave her one of my patented smiles.
“You worry too much Fluttershy, I’ll be great at working on the weather around here!” I am going to be so awesome at making the weather around here worthwhile, but first I got to make enough money to buy up some airspace for a house fit for someone as cool as me. “It’s an easy job with a lot of free time to practice my moves and I can get in a lot of naps too!”
“I’m going to go check on Ms. La Perm, she’s carrying Fizzle back and I don’t see Jade with her.” I kind of felt bad for Fluttershy’s party getting ruined, it was kind of my party too. I looked to my parents and my mother just ruffled my mane.
“Go on Rainbow, don’t let Fluttershy go down there by herself.” My mother urged me on after Fluttershy prodding me with her wing. My parents could be so embarrassing sometimes, but I know they loved me. “Check on your friends and come right back, we’re headed for home and you need to get some sleep. So say goodbye to your friends, we’ll keep watch up here.”
“But mom…” I yawned loudly, okay I admit I was tired. The party was great until those little hedgehog things showed up and ruined our fun. I set out after Fluttershy, she was my best friend and I was supposed to look out for her. I failed to do that once, never again.
-Fluttershy-
I stopped in front of Kurilian outside of Sugar Cube Corner, I thought that was a strange name for a pretty and friendly cat lady. The ground looked really icky and it was quite smelly, whatever that stuff is I wasn’t going to touch it. Unlike Rainbow apparently who was looking quite tempted to poke at it, was she going to grab a stick? She was... she was absolutely going to poke at that stuff.
I sometimes fear that all the friends I have are weird, but at least Pinkie seems normal. I was always so shy around other ponies, but Pinkie wouldn’t let me stay out of the party and she was so friendly about it.
I think I’m not as shy with Kuril or Jade because they’re not ponies. Sure they’re not like normal cats, but they remind me of them and I like cats. Well I also liked dogs, squirrels, birds and a lot of other creatures scaled or furry, I knew what I wanted to do in life and that’s working with animals in some way. It was my special talent and I really liked that it was my special talent.
If Rainbow was going to live here in Ponyville, then maybe I can find a place here too. I’d prefer to live on the ground though. You know instead of the sky, something a bit closer to nature.
I really liked Kuril, Jade and even Fizzle as friends, only I didn’t see Jade anywhere and Fizzle looked to be sleeping peacefully in Kuril’s limbs. Having friends that weren’t ponies was interesting, well Fizzle was a pony but it was hard to be shy of her when she was already so distant. She was even wearing that cloak to hide her lost horn, it’s really sad to think about and she had been warming up to the party so well too.
“Kuril, is everything alright, where’s Jade?” I watched as she carefully put the sleeping Fizzle on the ground, I idly wondered where Fizzle got the cloak. It looks like something Jade would wear given how big it is, maybe Jade gave her the cloak?
I should take up sewing, it’s a nice safe activity and it can even be used as a medical skill! Taking care of animals… that’s my dream job now and I’m going to work for it.
“She’s fine, it’s a good thing that nobody was seriously hurt. Pinkie got nicked by one of the arrows, but she’ll be okay. The only thing left now is for the Cakes to clean up their damaged home.” Why did I think Kuril was trying to hide something, her words sounded a bit… off… to me at least. “Jade’s making sure the road home is safe, we have a place built and everything. Poor Fizzle here tuckered herself out from all the excitement and there are no longer pukwudgies causing problems here. We ran them out of town.”
“Hey Fluttershy, hurry it up! We need to get back home so we can sleep and get up to do some fun things tomorrow." That was Rainbow, she was always in such a hurry to go everywhere or go to sleep. I’m surprised she’s not as upset about all this as I am, she sometime doesn’t consider the feelings of others even if she defended me from those bullies. "I’m sure things will be okay here.”
“Wait, you have a home?” I asked as they had come to Equestria to make a home for themselves and now they had one. It made me happy that I could possibly visit them since they were going to be staying here in Equestria.
“Yes, Celestia herself came and turned the crashed airship into a home for us, she even wants us to help build a town there.” Really? That was quite nice of the princess to do for them, if I were a princess I’d want to help them out of the goodness of my heart too. “I’ve even got a restaurant up and running out of our home called The Witch’s Fare, you can come by whenever you want. Bring your family on by if you want some of my cooking! First meals free for you Fluttershy.”
“Okay, I will.” Though I’d wait a few weeks, it seems like Jade and Kuril attracted way too much excitement for me to handle, I needed time to get back on my hooves. I gave Kuril a smile despite feeling that there was something I was missing here, Kuril turned to talk to the Cakes and I saw a tired looking Pinkie with a bandage on her neck. “Pinkie Pie are you okay?”
“Oh come on Fluttershy, your friends are fine!” I think Rainbow could learn to have a little patience. “Let’s go already, my bed is calling me!”
“I’m okay Fluttershy, just a bit tired. Come on back when pukwudgies aren’t invading the town for another party okay?” Pinkie seemed to slow down and gave a long drawn out yawn, which got me yawning as well. It was getting really late. “I get to throw you your next birthday party Fluttershy! What day is it anyway? I Pinkie Promise I’ll never forget it, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Oh and today was a bit scary, but things are going to be okay… once we finish cleaning up this mess at least. I don’t think I like party crashers all too much.”
I smiled and told her when my birthday was and she told me hers, we hugged one another and said goodbye. I was saddened that I didn’t get to say goodbye to Jade, but I said goodbye to her mother and was on my way back to Cloudsdale.
I tried to ignore the feeling that I was missing something, things would be okay as nobody was seriously injured right?
-Kuril-
Okay a little white lie wouldn’t hurt the young mare. I didn’t know where Jade actually was, but the huge crater left behind by Fizzle was quite noticeable and an indicator that she might know where my daughter went. She look like she expended her magic all in one large burst and it knocked her cold.
I think the pukwudgies learned their lesson from all of this, never let my daughter use a cupcake for magical purposes. The only thing in the crater was a badly hurt pukwudgie with several bits of wood sticking into its body. I’m sure it’ll be fine, it didn’t look too bad and was still breathing.
Just like I’m sure my daughter was fine, she could take care of herself after all… but I still worried about her. It was my job to be her guide in this world and I wasn’t doing a very good job of guiding her at all. She really doesn’t ask me for guidance despite being her mother.
I felt kind of helpless sometimes because my daughter was smarter than the average kid. I felt like a bad mother at times even though I logically knew I wasn’t that bad… was I? I did lose the location of my daughter in the aftermath of the highland pukwudgie raid, she could be alone and hurting. In that situation would Jade really be so scared and calling for me?
Not likely, she’s a tough one and would be more worried about me and Fizzle.
Now I have to carry this pony back home by myself, I was not going to abandon Fizzle and I wasn’t about to let her abandon us either. I’m sure whatever happened, Jade will turn up eventually. I claimed responsibility for this pony and as such I needed to take care of Fizzlepop to the best of my abilities. She is definitely family, but in what capacity? An adoptive daughter? A potential daughter-in-law maybe?
Still, I trusted my little tom cat to come back to me in a relatively good condition, at least with her body intact and no missing limbs. I had to stop fretting and keep moving forward. I held Fizzle close to me and started heading my way home in the darkness looking for that ever burning light. If I see the campfire still going back at Airship Mauled, then I know Jade’s perfectly fine and can rest a little easier knowing she’ll eventually find her way home.
She just has to.
-Jade-
“What is this now eh? We didn’t see anything like this running about on the airship when we shot it down. A stowaway perhaps?” The throaty voice of a bird like being made me stir a bit, I opened my mouth and coughed up quite a bit of water and then I opened my eyes to the light of day. “What in the world… appears we dredged up a live one here boys! I don’t know how a half drowned kitten like you is still alive, but you must be of some importance. If not, then becoming a slave might work for a survivor like you, and we can earn some coin selling you to the highest bidder.”
I wish I hadn’t opened my eyes I was laying on my side on the deck of a water logged ship, assumedly an airship that was shot down and then was raised for looting opportunities by what I would assume to be sky pirates. In my view there was a griffon gazing down at me, I could see the sky and in it was an airship hovering above with a black flag on the ship and a rope ladder leading to the deck I was laying on.
My body was still trying to fight the effects of the poison, so I could be excused for not immediately leaping up and trying to jump into the river, sea or wherever I was to end up on top of the airship that they had recently shot down.
I was thankful for my water breathing ability, it was why I wasn’t what something else dragged in. Coughing up the water every time you left it got annoying, but my body did prefer fresh air. I was thinking too slowly, because I just realized that he implied he was going to try to find someone to ransom me to or the likely worse option, sell me into slavery.
Now that I thought of it, magical alchemy prevents me from being tied up or bound. Better yet, do a partial cast and then return the chains or rope back to their original state and leave no evidence of how I got out, it would certainly give me more materials to work with. Now that was rogue thinking and mentioning rogues, I was being lifted by one of the heftier looking griffons that came forward.
I’m pretty sure I’m getting shanghaied into what will be an amazing adventure for me in the world of being forced to do some jerks bidding… provided that I didn’t escape my situation and I had plenty of methods for doing that.
“Look at what we dragged in captain!” The burly griffon slapped me bodily against the deck, I think the poison was thankfully numbing the pain. “It’s a cat.”
When this poison fully wears off, I will kick all of your asses just for that joke at my expense alone. I’m quite a petty kitty and cats are the ones that are supposed to be dragging things in, not the other way around!
“So we dragged in a cat eh? Well see her to the brig, she doesn’t look like she can talk a wit and I’m perfectly fine if she never talks again.” I’m sure there’s a certain place in Tartarus reserved for a griffon like you with your black beak, solid scarlet colored feathers and that jaunty tricorne. “When she starts moving around a bit, we can keep her fed just well enough to be worth something to someone. If she dies, then we strip her bones for food and then throw the rest overboard. We won’t let the lass go to waste now will we? She should be proud to be of some use to us.”
Your scarred grizzled face doesn’t scare me in the slightest. Your amber eyes may be sharp and giving me a once over as if I were nothing special because I was a bit waterlogged. But know this you feather bearded jerk, I promise to be more trouble than I’m absolutely worth and you will eventually learn to fear the name of Jaded La Perm!
“Well lass, this just isn’t your day is it?” The thug started to carry me down into the ship towards the brig. “Whether You’ll be for food or pleasure, you’re going to be in for some unpleasant business soon enough. I don’t even know if you’re aware right now with that glassy look in your eyes, but you’re going to be a guest of Captain Gash until we figure out what to do with ye.”
I was carelessly thrown unceremoniously into a cell at the bottom of the airship and I just glared at him.
“Oh sure, now you’ve got spirit , but you’re not going to be able to do a thing to us in your current condition. You won’t be needing your effects either when we’re through with you.” The burly thug didn’t seem so tough, even if I couldn’t take him in a fair fight. He took away my pack and my knife, he thankfully left the clothes on my body. At least he was letting me have some dignity as he closed the door to start walking away. “So enjoy the ride cat, for however long that lasts.”