//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen, Questionable: Informative information. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Sekhet- I landed upon the ground, it was still hard and rocky. I admit the battle would have gone on longer had Jade not made a sacrifice to aid me, she had lost yet another knife sheath. We have plenty of gold in the treasury to start buying a stockpile, freezing any one thing for a temporary amount of time has proved to be quite useful. That Jade froze a god was concerning, even if the god was corrupted by the strange cloud demon. Said god no longer looked corrupted or like the serpent god of darkness Apophis. No, the god looked far different that he had a few minutes ago. Instead of dark purple and filled with a profound darkness not his own, the god was now bright blue and was almost turning white. He also had two extra wings where there were none before, probably the part of his divinity returning him to what he was. Quetzalcoatl was currently out cold and nothing to worry about as I approached. Although, now that I looked at him, he kind of reminded me of the goddess Wadjet now that his majesty was restored. He wasn’t nearly as interesting as she was, Wadjet was far more colorful and beautiful by my personal opinion. “Are you okay friends?” I ask with a small frown on my face, something was off about both Priest Jade and her beloved friend. “You are both looking pale and on the doorstep of Anubis or your personal choice of afterlife.” “I think we might have gotten a bit…” Here, Jade was stopped by a powerful sneeze. She started to wipe at her nose with her forearm. Ah yes, I had forgotten that mortals didn’t not handle rapid environmental changes so well. Fizzle sneezed as well and huddled up against Jade. Their bodies needed lots of rest now after the past day or so. “We became sick from all that freezing rain. Almost being bodied by a tornado or getting struck by lightning didn’t help that much in our current conditions either.” “Do you know more about him as a god?” I asked as he seemed quite different now, his appearance was a bit friendlier to gaze upon at least. “You knew his name so tell me, who is this we have here now?” “Still Quetzalcoatl. While he’s technically not a god of weather. He’s technically a god air or wind, which lets him control the weather flat out. So he might as well be a god of the weather with the impressive show he just did.” Jade looks towards me sniffling a bit. Her nose was getting runny and it was not befitting a being of her stature; that being my friend and a rogue priest of some notoriety. “He’s also a god of intelligence and in a way, a fan of the sun. If he’s here… then that makes me wonder if his brother Xolotl is somewhere around here.” “He has a brother? Should he be possessed as well, I will see to it he too is restored.” Putting a paw to my chin, I thought about what she said about the god. “Also how is this god a fan of the sun?” “Yeah there might be a bit of…” Jade started coughing loudly, her nose wiggled and she was about to sneeze. That was when Cheerilee hoofed her a tissue box, it seems the teacher had been a bit wary of the god’s unconscious form and only now does she come over Jade blew her nose loudly, then looked up at the receptacle that Cheerilee thoughtfully produced for the used tissue. “Thank you Ms. Cheerilee. Anyway, there might be a bit of a rub with Quetzalcoatl and his brother being a bit… conceited. They may believe they are the sun, it’s a given since one of Quetzalcoatl’s is known as a giver of life. The sun brings life and so does rain and water, water is where most if not all of life comes from, but neither are exactly his real domain.” Cheerilee being cautious was somewhat warranted, but I was here so she should not know fear. She would not come to harm while I breathe. While I can be killed, I will just get up eventually and until that moment happens I don’t necessarily breathe like a mortal. So she’d be out of luck if something actually managed to incapacitate me. “It is a common trait among gods to be full of ourselves, so tell me something I don’t know.” Did Jade not know that I thought myself a god that protects the sun? Her being a sun priest is why I’ve stuck around as long as I have, otherwise I’d have lost interest eventually. Most of my powers were based in light, the soul and somewhat in healing. There were other powers that I could have used, but I didn’t want to turn the valley into a desert. It had already been devastated by Quetzalcoatl’s rampage enough. Even when he was possessed, it seems Quetzalcoatl had been intelligent enough to force himself to stay in one place and I can say that he warrant his intellect as an aspect of his. Even controlled, he was quite a match with his intellect even as corrupted as he was. Quetzalcoatl had to have stuck himself here in Serpent Strath Path and forced himself to be territorial to keep his captor from abusing his powers outside a certain area of influence. It’s kind of like how I was trapped at the temple for so many years until Somnambula freed me, he was waiting to be rescued or defeated. I had rescued him, but the thing that had been controlling him had unfortunately escaped. It was taking Jade a long time to think of something, both she and Fizzle were blowing their noses so I would give them time they needed. I was a very patient deity after all. Disgusting their sickness may be, but it was a natural part of mortal life. “Well aside from being a god of the air, intelligence and was powerful enough to challenge even you in a fight. I think you’d be interested to know that he has a brother that looks nothing like him.” Priest Jade, I do believe I had that fight won even without your help, but please, do go on. “His brother Xolotl is a strange one, I’m quite sure he’s been compared to Anubis multiple times given his ties to the underworld, Tartarus or death in general. He’s a god of fire and lightning, actually mostly raw energy in general. That’s his elemental aspect, as for his other aspects he is known as a god of misfortune, monsters and sickness. The truth is probably weirder than that as I’m not exactly as well versed on him as I am Quetzalcoatl.” “I’d like to know more about this Xolotl, it sounds like an interesting topic.” One cannot blame Fizzle for taking interest, as I too held some interest in the subject. To my immediate surprise, it wasn’t Jade who answered her hungry mind. “Well it is said that he might have given birth to the legend of the were-ponies and many other strange or odd monstrosities. It took me a moment to realize why the name sounded so familiar, it is said that Xolotl was a dog like creature with sunken eyes and the one who created the mysterious lizard species known as axolotls with great self-healing properties.” As soon as Cheerilee spoke of the lizards having healing properties, Jade’s ears shot straight up and her eyes started to show a greater interest. “I don’t know a thing about Quetzalcoatl, but Xolotl is said to be quite an unusual being in many respects. It is said that the god eventually changed from being like a dog that ferried the dead into a more of deformed serpent cursed or possibly blessed with an amphibious appearance and became an eyeless voyeur, no pony really knows. One thing is for sure, his current appearance resembles that of his creations the axolotls as they are seen today. I believe that’s when legend of his power over energy or magic started becoming more pronounced. Some historians say that Xolotl might have had problems with a being known as Ahuizotl.” Jade was still working on a method to restore Fizzle’s horn. Not to the intensity that Priest Jade was missing her own life, but it was a powerful enough urge that she’d go looking if she knew where to do so. I may just join her in looking for one of these axolotls, mostly since my curiosity has been piqued. What piqued it even further was how Jade flinched when Cheerilee said ‘Ahuizotl’, that was a curious response. “Well that is all really quite interesting teach, but don’t we have a pony we should be catching up with?” Stop drawing our attention to the fact that we were trying to stall Fizzle, we did not want to deal with any more lemmings and being free of them for the time being is a much needed break for all of us. At Fluttershy’s expense of course, if she is even okay at all, but nobody has ever said that I was a perfect or friendly goddess. Though they would have to eventually admit that I certainly pick and choose my battles quite well. “Also what do we do with Quetzalcoatl? Do we just leave him here alone like this? I seriously don’t want this guy to end up getting possessed again, his power over storms kind of scares me.” “No we will not leave him here, but you cannot move him. I could move him, but it is better for us to sit here. We have plenty of supplies in surplus that will stay fresh indefinitely. Also you and Jade have fallen ill, the both of you need plenty of rest.” I would not risk their health worsening, but my main goal was to not be near those lemmings a second longer. I was a bit selfish like that, but weren’t we all a little selfish here? “I suggest we set up camp here and wait for the god to wake from his slumber, should he prove violent I shall protect you once more.” “We still need to see if Fluttershy is okay dealing with those lemmings by herself.” The point you have made certainly cannot go on ignored Fizzle. I could clearly see that she was not going to drop this until someone goes and checks on the meek one and her herd of mindless critters. Cheerilee could not leave as she had to take care of these two. Those two could not leave as they have both become ill, so that meant... I sighed audibly. “Fine, I will go make sure your friend is safeguarded from harm.” Lifting up into the air with a flap of my wings, I looked to the southeast and was about to begin my search of the kind one. Said kind one was far too kind for her own good and she needed to learn how to have a backbone. “Do not go too far from here, you are at least well enough to help set up camp and start a fire. Do not let these two out of your sight Cheerilee.” Setting off, I hoped to find the meek one in some state of health and not in mortal peril. I did not like damsels in distress, they are always so annoying and could at least be a little more active in helping their rescuers. -Jade- The blanket and sleeping bag currently wrapped tightly around me kept me warm, even then I was still shivering a lot. The receptacle Cheerilee set out for me and Fizzle was halfway filled with used tissues full of snot. Next time we’ll bring our cloaks regardless of whether or not it looks like it won’t rain at all. Speaking of, I should really find out what an umbrella does when used in magical alchemy. I and Fizzled had dried off and Cheerilee saw to changing my chest bandages and reapplying medical gel to Fizzle’s healing cuts. In general we were okay after all we went through in the previous day and the last few hours. It only sunk in now how exhausted we both were with trying to keep a bunch of lemmings in line and facing down multiple dangers, though I would say this wasn’t exactly the worst that could have happened to us. That would be trying to get past the basilisk again, we’re definitely going home on a different route. Looking over to Fizzle, I watched as she finally got the fire started and had a small smile on her sickly looking face. Good job Fizzle, now come over here and rest next to me. I was already sick and there wasn’t any way you could possibly make me feel worse than I already do with my poor sinuses being clogged up. “Gross fact, most beings swallowed about a half a gallon of mucus a day. That’s based on the proportional size of an everyday average pony.” Why would I receive such a disbelieving stare from Fizzle, it wasn’t like I said something that wasn’t true. Plus I had to blow my nose again, my head was really stuffed up. “If you know that, then why can’t you ever solve for P on a simple math formula?” Now the incredulous look was sent Cheerliee’s way. “Swallowing is something you naturally do without thought, even in your sleep. So really it’s not that big a deal Ms. Berrytwist.” “Yep and most beings swallow approximately six hundred times a day. Of course drawing attention to breathing, swallowing and or blinking like Cheerilee just did tends to make one more self-aware of the fact that those responses are generally automated and not consciously controlled.” Now for the kicker comment on what I know would cause the two ponies problems. “Now don’t think about that all too hard.” I watched as both Cheerilee and Fizzle actively consciously blinked, took in a bit of air and swallowed at the same time in stereo. “Jade… you’re a jerk, but you’re my jerk.” A rather acceptable response to making them both consciously breathe and blink reflexively. Fizzle blew her nose. “I am now far too aware of how often I blink.” “Again, why are you so horrible at math when you’re this good at something that sounds suspiciously like psychology?” Don’t honestly know Cheerilee and you were breathing a bit much there, but that’s probably not my fault. “Numbers have never been my thing Cheer…” I had to sneeze and I let it loose, it sounded almost like a mouse sneezing. “They’ve never been my thing Ms. Cheerilee.” -Jacky- “Okay Jacky, how did you do that?” Look mom, Kuril, I don’t know how I did it. Just that I did. “I have no idea how I shot that chicken into the target.” We were both staring at the panicking chicken I had accidentally fired from my bow. I was practicing speed firing and it must have wandered too close to me, now its beak was embedded in the middle of the target I had been aiming at. “That's not exactly what I was talking about. It's the tomahawk you hit the left target with.” What tomahawk mom? There wasn't a... actually... there was tomahawk in the target on the left... huh... “Though, admittedly, the chicken shot was a pretty unusual too!”