//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight, Caring Cozy Coast: Future Diagnosis. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Fizzle- The bruises actually felt pretty good and I got a lot of the stress out of the way, I felt much better. It left me wondering why Jade or Kuril would ever want to leave. This place was quiet and… a little too nice. There was something wrong with this place, but I just couldn’t quite put my hoof on why. “Oh and I also picked something up for you Jade, I guess it reminds me of you.” Someone reminded me to pick up the bag with the scratching post in it and I guess that was nice of them. I took the scratching post out of the bag and placed it at her bedside. “Awe, you got her a get well gift Fizzle!” I found myself being hugged by a happy Kuril, I admit that I enjoyed being hugged far too much. “That’s so sweet of you! Jades been needing a new scratching post for a while. When she can move again she’ll be able to take care of her claws… wait, how did you get it? You don’t exactly have an allowance yet until we can get Airship Mauled built up.” Was she really going to give me an allowance? I… didn’t know how feel about that. Completely appreciative that I had a mother figure in my life, even if it isn't necessarily my birth mother. “I got it from a kiosk owner, it has a receipt and everything.” I showed the receipt to Kuril and she looked it over. “It seems you’ve met Devon Rex, he’s a nice fellow.” That’s something I’ve notice around here Kuril, everyone’s nice… way too nice to everyone else to. I was treated as something normal, no pity and only a little curiosity. They talked to me as if I were just another part of life here, there was something vaguely fishy about all this. “He’s always so worried about claw care. Nice to see has a business going” “Excuse me, but something seems a little off about this town. Why is everyone here so friendly?” I just had to voice it, this has been niggling at me all day. “It just seems way too nice, why would you ever want to leave here?” “It’s just how Palicoast is, everyone’s got a pal here. If you don’t have a pal and are lonely, you’ll soon find yourself meeting someone who can help alleviate your boredom. That is, if they’re not too busy.” Sighing Kuril turned to the quiet looking Jade just laying there in bed. “Around here everyone tries to stay only acquaintances. They are usually too busy with their daily lives to really form strong bonds with anyone unless they’re searching for love. They’re not bad people though, I already told you how they try to make time for anyone who needs help.” “Again, why would you ever leave a place like this? It seems so… perfect.” It was beautiful town, even the view out the door was breathtaking. What was I missing here? The people here were friendly and unassuming. The town was built to last and was quite sturdy. The food was… well I was still eating what Kuril made and I had heard them talking about asking Kuril to cook for them. They had plenty of fish here, judging from the amount Jacky caught. They also had the fruits from nearby trees, but I think the vegetables must have been imported. What was the local export then? More fish? I'd ask them later. “It’s not perfect though, it’s just... idyllic.” Idyllic, yeah that would be the word for this place Kuril. It just seems too much to be real. Jade, with her head propped up on a pillow, was being rather silent or was she thinking about something? I couldn’t tell at the moment. “I’m a little surprised I can still recognize the difference even now after Jade had pointed it out for me months ago. Trust me, despite how everything looks, it isn’t as perfect as it seems.” “Can you be a little more specific, what kind of problems does this town exactly have?” I wasn’t seeing it. “Well for one, unless you’re a merchant, you won’t really get very far from town. It’s quite reliant on Abyssinia and other places being around to trade with. If anything happens to Abyssinia’s capital or the surrounding places of trade, then this town will get hit hard with really bad times. This town has no plans for such a massive disruption! The prosperity here isn’t exactly built to last on its own without outside help, it’ll collapse in on itself economically due to said disruption.” As soon as Jade said that, I had my attention completely on her. “Kraken season isn’t so nice around here either, let me tell you. It’s tentacles for weeks and the noise is really horrific the closer you are to the coast. It certainly makes sleeping almost impossible. Unless you have food squared away for that, then you might go a bit hungry. While friendly, the people around here have a capacity to be overly aloof, especially with how busy things can get.” “She’s not wrong about any of that. It's really a nice place to live, but staying here for the rest of your life is a bad idea if you have any hopes or dreams like my little tom cat does. You'd be sitting on a daily grind and going nowhere otherwise.” There was a strange look on Kuril’s face. “The peace is nice, but the only people here who can fight are the sailing cats and they won’t stand for very long against a large assault of any kind. I’m quite surprised that pirates haven’t taken advantage of this port already. The people here should really be prepared for the many possibilities of things going wrong in the future… they definitely aren’t.” I could tell that both Jade and Kuril were being a bit weird about something. I wondered what Kuril was thinking, much less Jade. They both seemed distracted. “I think it hasn’t been hit by pirates because they’ve been lucky enough to avoid being rich enough in resources to attract attention.” That makes about as much sense as anything else Jacky, but there was something strange about that. “That luck won’t last forever, this place might even become another Klugetown...” Okay Jade, I think we get the idea. That comment caused me to feel shivers down my spine. “Peace can only last as long as there are those who are willing to protect it with their very lives. At best I can only protect those close to me with my very being. Well not at the moment, I can’t exactly stand as I am now.” That caused my spine to freeze up far more and I gave Jade a worried look. Would she really be willing to die for me? I didn’t like that thought, her not being around anymore would probably be one of my worst fears come true. This place didn’t really have anyone to protect it. That’s what was wrong! There were no guards here, then again there really wasn’t much crime here either. I guess it’s not rich enough for pirate attacks, but it’s not poor enough to be squalid. It was a delicate balance and they weren’t prepared for the worst to happen, I can see now what Jade and Kuril were talking about. Too much of a big change and... They were living day to day, but never were they prepared or even ready for the distant future. -Approximately seven years into the future, Tempest. The future that refused to change.- “Look at that rainbow. Look at that rainbow!” Yes Grubber, I can see it. Rainbow was just a mare that certainly couldn’t do subtle if she tried, never take her on any stealth mission. “Whoa, that’s so cool.” “Yeah, of them to alert us.” I smiled a bit, at least those two were okay. Rainbow wouldn’t have been happy enough to give away their position like this and attract my attention if any of them had been badly hurt. “Funny though, they don’t seem to be heading to black skull island.” I turned to the Abyssinian. I knew he was going to lead us astray, but I didn’t care to really rush towards black skull island and was promptly rewarded. I wasn’t going to hurt him much, I found it hard to raise a hoof against any Abyssinian. Even one as scumbag as this one was. After all, many Abyssinian’s lost their homes in the assault that ripped apart their capital. I ignored what the cat was saying, he was just trying to make excuses at this point. I pushed Grubber out the way. No need to apologize, I’m being evil right now or at least I’m just playing my role in all this. I pushed the throttle forward and steered the airship towards theirs, to think it was Jacky that taught me how to fly an airship in the first place. I think she was currently stuck in Turtle Toga, I’ve never been there. The Storm King and none of his storm creatures, thankfully enough, haven't been there either. At least Blackcap was safe where she was, unlike the rest of the world if the Storm King gets his way. She would only be safe until someone forces a captured pirate to lead them straight to that magical island, someone like Celaeno for instance. I knew that those ponies would likely be down in the hold of the ship, but I was going to waste time and let them escape again. I already had an idea of where they were going anyway, it wouldn’t be too hard to catch Princess Twilight at Mount Aris after all. She wouldn’t be able to get too far without transportation. It wouldn’t be long before Grubber eventually did something seemingly competent, if I didn’t already know where those six were going to begin with. “Fire the harpoon!” This moment was reminding me of Palicoast as I watched our harpoon strike the other airship. How were those people doing now? Not all too well after the Storm King took everything from them I’d think. Not many people could stand up to his army of storm creatures or fight off an airship bombardment. They were likely to be in dire straits. Both Kuril and... they at least saw the writing on the wall about that. I hoped Kuril would stay put during all this, I wouldn’t be able to stand her looking at me in disappointment. It still hurts even now, I can hardly think of what I had, it’s knowing they’d all be quite unhappy that I’m doing all this. I wasn’t part of the invasion of Abyssinia, but I had heard of it happening and didn’t lift a single hoof to help. I would have likely just been caught up in the devastation for trying to help. Instead, I was later caught with that stupid magical green glowing rock and offered a position in the Storm King’s army. One of those voices that told me to get rid of the rock sounded like… hers. I should have dropped it like hot garbage instead of running from the storm creatures and Grubber. I wondered what happened when the storm king destroyed it… the magic in cursed things like that just doesn’t simply go away because you destroy the container. Did he… did he accidentally absorb all of it? I shook his hand with my hoof not to long after that… I think that was indicative of something about me being bad luck for him. I've heard that some things involving magic were hardly ever coincidental, I just hoped that whatever cursed magic that was in that stone was effecting only the Storm King and not me by proximity to its destruction. I did not want to be like Jacky! The invasion of Canterlot that I did take part in was at least less violent and horrific thanks to me. The destruction and injuries were kept to a minimum, no pony died. The royal guards really didn't do much and there wasn’t much of a fight to be had, I had even taken down the princesses important to the worlds continued existence. At least turned to stone they could still do their jobs of raising the sun and moon. The only pony that I could truly rely on at this moment is myself, I had a plan and I’m sticking to it. Though I logically knew the storm king was going to destroy the world, after he’s already destroyed so much. In the end, I hoped to be rewarded with what I’m after. ... I’m going to have a lot to answer for once this is all over with. -Fluttershy, Mt. Aris- Fizzle was scaring me quite a bit, maybe she wouldn’t be like this if I knew what was going on with her. What was also scary was that everything here was so… quiet. This place was unnerving, cold, no cuddly animals around… very little noise. Rarity’s complaining being louder than the wind. She’d say she wasn’t whining in the slightest, but she did kind of have a point that the bad guys were winning. We’ve been on the run for a while now with very little rest. What was wrong with you Fizzle? Where was… Jade… Fizzle would hardly ever let Jade out of her sight. That was after Jade got injured pretty badly during a trip they took, after that she was really quite protective of her. Something really bad must have happened. I felt really bad for not being there, but my new friendship with Twilight was so… magical. It also took up a lot of my time when I wasn’t caring for all of my animals. If it wasn’t Twilight getting into some kind of situation, me being too busy to visit Airship Mauled or the many other things that took up my time, then maybe I might know what’s going on. I felt just awful about whatever Fizzlepop was going through. Pinkie keeps insisting that she’s just Tempest Shadow, but I knew our old friend when I saw her. I would like to say that I’m still her friend, but at the moment she doesn’t seem to be mine. Fizzle’s still in there somewhere underneath her scary appearance and angry visage, she just had to be. Jade wouldn’t have ever let something like this happen unless she were… no, Fizzle would have never let something like that happen… then what did happen? This place was quickly becoming depressing. -Approximately seven years prior. Palicoast, Jacky.- “What are the chances of something really bad happening to Abyssinia?” I tried to brighten the mood in the room, both Kuril and Captain were getting all moody for no reason. They were even bringing down Fizzle with them. “It’s a beloved peaceful trading nation, who would ever attack it so viciously?” “You’d be utterly surprised at what some people would do for power.” Jade glanced at Fizzle for some reason. “You’d be surprised Blackcap.” Was there something the Captain or Kuril weren’t telling me here? I know being bedridden wasn’t a pleasant thing, but at least Jade had us right? We’d always have her back and it was only a matter of time before she gets better. I wasn’t going to get my tail feathers in a twist, maybe a trip to the beach is called for. We could build some sand castles.