//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen, Questionable: Teaching information. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Cheerilee- “No, the guy that possessed you sadly got away.” You’re not getting off that easily Jade, not when I think you need help. “In any case nice to meet you Quetzalcoatl, we hope you can stick around. The goddess we’re friends need to discuss the boon you owe her for saving you, so stick around.” “Well I…” Started off the flying serpent only I interrupted him with my own worries about Jade. “Are you sure you were okay after dealing with those giant squids in the past like you said you did?” The situation I heard that Jade has been in sounded rather abusive, I mean there had to be an easier way of getting giant squid ink. “It sounds like you’re mother put you in a pretty bad situation.” “I’m perfectly fine with it Cheerilee, I grew up in coastal fishing town.” Jade sniffled a bit and huddled under the blanket with Fizzle. The both of them were pretty sick and they couldn’t get worse snuggled up like that, so I didn’t say anything about it. “I’m not psychologically scarred by it and the payoff was definitely worth the effort. Also I love my mom and there’s been no real problem. Please do not do anything involving child services and my mother or you will see my true wrath.” “It just sounds so horrible though.” That threat was quite a serious one that I’m going to heed, I still couldn’t imagine the poor dear having to deal with giant squids multiple times. Kuril, for her minor faults, did not seem like a bad mother, especially since she has gotten two other adoptive children calling her mom as well. “Eh, doesn’t sound that bad to me personally, I mean Jade is someone who talked a kraken into giving her a massage. So she obviously isn’t haunted by the idea of being near large creatures with tentacles.” Wait, she did what Fizzle!? Fizzle had stopped to blow her nose and then she finished. “I got one myself, wasn't bad.” “Yeah, those suction cups really help loosen you up and he was a nice guy about the whole thing.” At Jade’s words I couldn’t help but imagine something horrific. So why was I blushing so hard about it? “That really helped me get back into the swing of things by speeding up my recovery by a good bit.” “You... let a kraken massage you…” There was no way for me to keep the incredulity out of my voice, I wouldn’t let a kraken touch a foal like that. “To be fair I was in a lot of pain at the time and I asked Mr. Escargot to politely help me with it. He kept his tentacles to himself and he was a perfectly gentle cephalopod about it.” That doesn’t make someone feel relief Jade, it makes me worried about your psychological state. Also, don’t think I missed you dodging the issue of your dyscalculia every time I try to bring it up! “It helps that he’s friends with sea ponies and was a card carrying member of the S.O.S Brigade. Lighten up Cheerilee, you have to realize that I’m from a different culture. So what might be mentally scarring for a pony isn’t as scarring for me.” “S.O.S Brigade?” I will have to admit that she did have a point. Jade was in fact from a different culture and I guess there are some psychological differences between our species. It’s either that or Jade is an insane outlier even within her cultural background. “I guess I’ve never thought of it before, but I guess I am running a multicultural class of teenagers. Makes me wonder what it’ll be like when I have to actually deal with fillies and colts in a year or so.” I remembered that Daisy, Rose and Lilly freaked out about even the simplest of things, so I would have to admit that ponies by nature are very skittish beings when it came to the unknown or the unusual. I should hold a cultural exchange day at Airship Mauled, I wanted to know more about Abyssinian, Chimera and Parrot cultures. If they didn’t know about their own culture that well like Ms. Chickadee, then they can learn a few new things that they didn’t know before. Holding a parent day would be kind of awkward, given Jacky, Jade and Fizzle all kind of shared a mother. Maybe a family day would be much better, there would be no exclusion as any family member would be welcome to come in. “I’m sure you’ll do a great job when you get to working with fillies and colts Ms. Cheerilee.” This was followed by Fizzled snorting some snot back up into her nose and then blowing it out into a tissue. I liked the vote of confidence from a student, but my inability to teach Jade advanced math has been riling me up quite a bit. “Jade’s explained this to me before. The S.O.S Brigade is a brigade of sea pony friendly animals that can come when an S.O.S is signaled in a very specific way anywhere there is water, mostly the response is easier to achieve out in the open sea as that’s where the sea ponies usually operate to help save people from drowning. The S.O.S Brigade usually do so when sea ponies are far too busy to assist a victim that might soon drown and knows the call to make when help is sorely needed.” “Ah, yes, my brother is somewhat part of that brigade in a manner of speaking. His creatures, the axolotl’s, are mostly aquatic beings after all.” We turned to Quetzalcoatl who had shrunk down to a friendlier size, but still larger than me or the others. “Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt, but you don’t seem impressed by my majestic appearance and I am not used to being ignored.” “We saw what you were like while possessed. We got sick because of that frigid rain you dropped on us, we were also nearly hit by a tornado and struck by lightning multiple times. So really, we wouldn’t have reason to be friendly to you after what you put us through.” Clearing her throat, Jade spat out a sickly looking wad of gunk. “The previous day we ran into problems with poisonous hoop snakes and a deadly basilisk, then we meet you. So should we feel happy to see you when your powers almost killed us? That’s not a very good first impression.” “You are right, I apologize.” The winged serpent stated while lowering his head sadly. “I will endeavor to make it up to you.” “You can figure out how to do that on your own time.” Well wasn’t that a bit less than friendly of you Jade. “Meanwhile I believe we have other things to discuss?” “So how does one signal the S.O.S Brigade?” I decided to bring the topic back to the S.O.S Brigade. “You know, in case I ever get lost or stuck out at sea?” “Technically you’d be signaling for the sea ponies, but the S.O.S brigade might show up in their place. The way you signal the sea ponies or S.O.S brigade is by shouting this, Shoo-be-do~ shoo-shoo-be-do~!” That seemed rather arbitrary thing to shout Jade, but it’s not like anyone would ever say that by accident. “It might take a few tries to get some help.” We all heard a splash coming from the river that was two feet deeper than normal, thought it looked like the excess water was slowly draining out. Crawling up the bedrock hill was a strange red and green lizard creature with fins sticking out of its four legs, back, head and tail. I shifted away from it and closer to Quetzalcoatl, it was looking at us in a very unusual manner with its frightening eyes. “Oh look, I think it’s a water dragon.” It turned to Jade and approached her, it sniffed her a bit and then let out a sound that was like a loud bark. It nudged her and proceeded to stare at her expectantly, she scrutinized it for a second before nodding. “Huh… oh, sorry! False alarm, I didn’t necessarily mean to call you and was telling my friends how to call for help. Thanks for coming over though, hold on a second. Here take this for your troubles miss water dragon.” Jade got a fish out and tossed it to the water dragon. It leapt up and snapped the fish out of the air and started crunching the tiny bones in its powerful jaws. All it did while it chewed was crawl back for the stream. “One of the S.O.S Brigade?” Asked Fizzle idly as she leaned against Jade. “Yep, didn’t know there were any water dragons in the S.O.S Brigade. I guess I learned something new today.” Jade turned a bland look to me. “She probably causes an S.O.S whenever she appears, as she likely scares ponies too easily. If you summon an S.O.S Brigade member or a sea pony, then you should always remember to be respectful as they will and can help save your life.” So I was a little frightened, can you honestly tell me it’s not warranted? “Can you blame me for being a little scared?” Stating this defensively, I moved away from Quetzalcoatl and sat down next to the camp fire with a small sigh of relief. “She does have quite a few teeth on her.” “Yeah, she does at that Cheerilee.” After letting loose a few chuckles Jade added. “She seems like a very nice lady.” “Anyway, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” We turned to Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent had been rather unobtrusive so far. “Who are all of you? You know of me, so I find myself at a loss here.” “Well it would be proper for us to introduce ourselves.” Turning my gaze to Jade to let her know how rude we were being. “I’m Cheerilee, I’m a teacher to these two poor girls.” “We’re sick, but not completely invalid Cheery. Call me poor again and I’ll show you how tough I am even if I’m going to be sneezing and coughing for quite a while.” It seems Jade was getting a bit grouchy, I would be too if I was feeling like she and Fizzle currently were. Thank you hardy Earth Pony nature for resilience to most forms of sicknesses! “I’m Jaded La Perm and this is Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Also yes, she is our teacher as much as we’re hers.” “Ah teaching, even a teacher can learn something from the students as you just pointed out mortal, each student is different and can teach an immeasurable number of things without knowing that they do.” Ah yes, the god of intelligence aspect certainly shines true there. I think I might actually like him for that. “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instill interest in learning. For a teacher to teach a student, they must learn about the student in question to know how to teach them.” “Oh great, a god with an understanding of philosophy. Well I guess I better drop it out there to see what happens.” Drop what exactly Jade, what were you going to say? “Wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.” “Ah, you are well learned beyond your years. Even I can accept that I know nothing and that there is always more to learn.” There was a pause where Quetzalcoatl seemed to look at Jade more closely. “Interesting, there is an odd aura about you.” “When was the last time you saw a sun priest?” The reaction to Jade’s words was sudden and very visible, the feathered serpent had reared back in shock. “I am sorry I didn’t recognize it sooner, so you are a priestess of the sun Jade?” Quetzalcoatl tilted his head and studied Jade further. “There is something of an oddity about your being Priest Jade.” “Please, just call me Jade. I don’t advertise myself as being a priest, another thing is that I’m technically a rogue sun priest.” Yawning Jade pushed her face against Fizzle’s neck. “Got a problem with that?” “No there is no problem, you must have your reasons.” He bowed to Jade, which left me curious as to why a god would bow to a mortal. “You are a rarity of the world these days. To have fallen so far as to almost kill you, I am ashamed that I was not able to fight off the influence of the one who possessed me without outside help.” “I’m not really that important.” Having said that, Jade received a light smack to her cheek by Fizzle. Thankfully Fizzle wasn’t looking to hurt her and she as weak as Jade currently was. “You’re tired and are being an idiot, because you should know you are important to me Jade.” Getting a strong grip on her friend with her hooves, Fizzle pulled Jade towards and into the wagon. She forced Jade to lay down with her while keeping the blankets wrapped around them. “Now let’s get some rest Jade, we need it.” Jade protested Fizzle’s actions slightly and then started to snuggle against Fizzle. She had fallen asleep within the next thirty seconds. The problem was, this left me alone with the feathered serpent I was still a bit nervous about as Fizzle herself fell asleep too. “Er… my special talent is wanting to help others be happy, learn and grow.” This is what I consider the standard pony opener, talk about your special talent and see if you can get a conversation started. “I’m having a problem with learning where Jade is concerned.” “If I have a good read of her, she leads an interesting life and is never bored of seeing strange or new sights.” Quetzalcoatl’s voice. “So what exactly is the problem that the priest has with learning?” I decided to explain to him what Jade was having trouble learning. -Fluttershy- “Thank you for helping me get them the rest of the way Ms. Sekhet.” I got the lemmings to their new home safely, only I’m upset that both Fizzle and Jade got so hurt and are now sick from what Sekhet tells me. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I’m never going through all of this again. “Don’t worry about it Fluttershy, worry about our friends who are ailing.” She seemed pretty worried about Jade and Fizzle. “We should get back to them soon, we need to get them home where they can be taken care of.” -???- The sun priest still wasn’t dead, how hard can it be to kill one teenage cat? It didn’t help that all the assassins were missing in action, the only one that they had any clue about was Matilda. Said jenny has likely gone to ground because of an incident involving the sun priest, the other two assassins were just plain missing. Blade was last seen in Canterlot before the target started a parade out of nowhere, Obelus had disappeared from Ponyville without a single word. That wasn’t the worst of it, the sun priest had targeted Billion N. Karats. She was already beginning to move against them, she had to be put down before she could ruin everything! To add insult to injury, she legally got away with everything thing she did. Celestia likely knows about us already and assisted her in trying to ferret us out, we will have to move more carefully in the future.