//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighteen, Cult-tural: Half Glass. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Jade- The reaction was pretty much unanimous among the thestrals, they had completely flipped out upon seeing Sugar in my arms. I told mom that Sugar was a horrific creature, cute as she may look, that was really quite dangerous. I sat down on the cold stone in courtyard and wrapped my cloak tightly around myself as I settled in to watch everything as it happened. Placing Sugar in my lap, I exhaled and looked on as the cold air met my hot breath. “So… did mom tell you not to eat me?” Asking this caused the chittering horned rabbit to turn her attention on me she rubbed her front paws against the fur on her forehead, but didn’t answer me in any noticeable manner. She just turned her head to continue watching all the crazy ponies flying around while randomly slamming into walls here or there, not one of them was bothering to sound some kind of alarm. The thestrals were still flying every which way and things were beginning to devolve in the saddest manner I’ve ever seen. You’d think a bunch of nightmare worshipping cultist would either be fearless or would know better than to show fear to something as dangerous as Sugar is. Apparently I just walked up to the new guys with a threat beyond their abilities to imagine, a threat I was now idly petting. Some of the thestrals actually immediately went for some nearby unmanned dark magic cannons. Surprisingly, I wasn’t afraid of the cannons firing, I was surprised however at their continued inability to form some kind of coherent thought process. This is where my plan had a slight hitch in it and that was already coming into play, chances were they wouldn’t shoot at me with the cannons if it would annoy exhibit A of untold death and destruction currently sitting in my lap. Several cannons started firing in the direction of the monastery, possibly in an attempt to hit us. I looked over my shoulder and Sugar, who became interested in what I was looking at, climbed up onto my shoulder to get a view of the first few shots aimed vaguely in our direction. One would think I’d run in this situation… you’d be wrong. Instead my head followed the arc of the first shot as it went high in the air, far overhead and into one of the towers. I noted Sugar was also staring at the huge hole in the tower that started collapsing, I certainly hoped Daring Do wasn’t in there. She’s escaped worse situation right? Another shot hit the wall of the palace like main building and instead of putting a hole in the wall made entirely out of stone, it just quickly caught fire. Much to my disbelief the fire started to spread rapidly, then again it was dark magic empowered fire and setting stone on fire as if it were wood wasn’t the worst it could be doing. A third shot caused a portion of wall surrounding the courtyard to crumble and fall inwards into the multiple still panicking and screeching thestrals. Some of the rubble fell on top of a thestral knocking them to the ground and then trapping their wing. Were they actually blind firing those cannons and not aiming them? I swear this was the worst cultist monastery I’ve ever been too… it’s also the only one I’ve ever been to. I knew it was dedicated to Nightmare, but was this really the best nightmare could cobble together for a cult following? “Excuse me for one moment, Sugar. Don’t go anywhere and don’t eat anyone.” I just received a curious look from Sugar who I placed upon the ground, but she stayed where she was and watched the chaos going on around her in something approaching fascination. I walked towards the trapped thestral and picked up a piece of wood on my way, the thestral looked up at me and then cowered with fear. It almost appeared as if they were afraid I was going to attack them, upon closer inspection it was a colt that was almost a stallion. “Excuse me, but could you move a little bit to the right?” The thestral blinked and did as I asked. I jammed the wood under the large bit of rubble at an angle so I could get some leverage on it. I pushed the cold and frozen bit of wood upward and the bit of rubble shifted off of the thestrals wing. “There you go, get that winged looked at will you?” I turned around and calmly walked back to Sugar, picked her up and sat back down cross legged while once again tightening my warm cloak around me. “Why?” Blinking, I turned to the almost stallion who came up to me. “You needed help. I’m not actually here to kill or hurt anyone.” Though having Sugar here with me could not be ignored. “Could have fooled me bringing that thing here.” He pointed at the horned rabbit that had rolled onto her back in my lap. “How did even you tame one of those?” “I didn’t.” After I said that, the look on his face was priceless and I wish I had a camera. “You have one of the most dangerous lagomorphs in existence on your lap…” He started slowly, before shouting. “And it’s not tame!” “Sugar here is pretty tame to me.” Though I had seen Sugar coming back from Barely Bearable Woods several times, there were probably less drop bears there now. Unless they’ve wised up to what Sugar happens to be. That’s probably what the world doesn’t need, somewhat smart drop bears. I really missed Snickers, but petting a dangerous almost demonic monstrosity on the belly was actually kind of nice. She was fluffy like me at the very least. Sugar just chittered audibly and looked to be in a good mood with me rubbing her belly. “Why did you come here anyway?” Well the easiest way to answer that unnamed thestral, was to tell the whole truth and nothing but that in as audacious a manner as I can manage. “Well… actually let me ask you something first. Have you ever heard of sun priests?” My question was met with a curious gaze and a few drifting glances at Sugar. “Yes, supposedly they were mostly wiped out.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “If any existed, then they would be enemies of our order.” “Yes, I suppose I would be and that’s perfect. Thanks for the information.” Ignoring the now incredulous look being sent my way, I decided to explain what exactly I was doing here. “I’m a rogue sun priest, a literal free agent and traveling one at that. One who is here to make sure someone here captures me. Once that occurs and I am locked up, I will then proceed to sow chaos, cause hysterical situations… kind of like this one… and many other things to happen. Also I will destroy any secret monster you’re bound to release upon me as I make my escape from this place with whatever I can grab that isn’t nailed down and is easy enough for me to carry.” “You actually want to be captured by the Order of Dark Dreams?” Yay, new information! I now had a name for the cult. Also he didn’t seem to believe some of the things I said. “Also, telling me you’re a sun priest doesn’t make it real. Can you do anything a sun priest is known for?” “Given that I don’t know what sun priests are known for, I can’t really prove I am one unless you know someone around here who can actually detect that sort of stuff. All I know is that I performed the sun salutation in the morning enough to count and multiple gods have confirmed that I am one.” A crater was blown into the ground a small distance away, I turned back to the thestral. “So… is everyone going to continue running around like chickens being chased by a fox? I’m a cat I’ll have you know. Though I do find the idea that I could be seen as beautiful a creature as a fox is as quite the compliment. Don’t get any ideas though, I’m strictly attracted to mares or those of feminine persuasion. Kind of wish I were born with a fox tail… it would be so fluffy and alluring to a certain mare that loves cuddles.” “Say I believe you about that, why the horned rabbit of doom?” He pointed his hoof to the relaxing Sugar. “Try to physically harm me in any given way and she lets loose several cans of butt kick in response. As a small reminder, I’m not entirely in control of her actions.” I saw a thestral on fire fly close by, inhaling I spat a spray of water that put the thestral out. Said female thestral looked a bit burnt as she came down to the ground to rest and look in my direction with something approaching guarded thankfulness. “She’s only so calm because she really doesn’t see any of you as a threat to her, even with the cannons firing at us and doing more damage to the surroundings than anything else really. Also I thought a bunch of cultist that follow Nightmare would be braver than this, or at the very least a little scary. This is quite a comical sight I’ll never forget.” “To be fair you brought an al-mi’raj here.” The thestral had a good point, at least said horned rabbit wasn’t pointed at me. “Why is it pink though? Aren’t Al-mi’raj usually yellow furred?” “Only the males and they are the ones you are most likely to see when defending their territory. Hardly do you ever see a pink one wandering around alone.” Which made me wonder what kind of circumstances led to Sugar finding a home with us. “About as much explanation as any.” He finally sat down next to me. “What’s to stop all of us from just killing her?” “Unlike other al-mi’raj, this one is actually intelligent and not just a pure beast of death and mayhem.” At my words, he shivered violently. Yeah, there’s a scary thought. All the legends of killer horned rabbits and you come across the one that can think before acting, in this case that meant Sugar could be more predisposed towards cruelty if driven in that direction. “You wouldn’t be dealing with an aimless and angry beast. If that wasn’t obvious by this point.” “Right, then we all don’t upset the horned rabbit and we don’t get violently eviscerated.” The thestral had earned the attention of Sugar in my lap, she sat up and smiled at him broadly showing her sharp fangs. Aw, she’s intimidating him with a sweet, if highly creepy, smile. The thestral finally decided to slowly stand up and back away while staring at the horned rabbit, he was completely spooked now. Sugar got bored with menacing him with a cheerful look and went back to relaxing. “What in the world is going on out here?!” The old guy, a gruff old looking thestral, yelled. He looked around at all the still panicking thestrals, to me and the destroyed tower. He came back to me and approached towards me looking like he was ready about to go into a rant about something when he noticed what was laying idle in my lap. Despite the distance between us, he still took a few steps back in fear. “Who in Tartarus are you supposed to be?!” Looks like one of the senior members to the Order of Dark Dreams… wait a second… doesn’t Order of Dark Dreams come out to spell ODD? Well they certainly were, they’ve been panicking for ten minutes straight now. Thankfully nobody has died in all the chaos so far, but there’s a lot of destruction still going on and I think the guys firing the cannons finally stopped. I felt kind of bad about all of the self-inflicted that had occurred here. “Hi my name is Jaded La Perm, may I inquire as to what your name is as well mister sir old guy?” I grinned cheerfully at him as I asked this politely and respectfully. I could feel my tail wagging back and forth in my excitement to meet this old codger, we were going to have so much fun together! I would be busy trying to destroy this place and he would be so busy trying to stop me and everything. We’ll be the best of buddies by the end of the week for sure! -Fizzle- Infiltration was a success, mostly because nobody cared that we just walked in. Everyone was still panicking about Sugar, either that or they were terrified of Jade for some earthly reason. I’d be scared too, especially if you knew exactly all of what Jade and our mom can do. I did know, but the thestrals certainly didn’t. After ten minutes of watching and waiting while mom and Jacky safely infiltrated the place to look around. They were searching for things to loot or might even possibly find the fabled ninja stuff Jade wanted as a souvenir for visiting this dangerous place. I was watching Jade to make sure she didn’t get in over her head, I shouldn’t have been worried so about her. I was more worried about the old guy that just walked up to her, the only reason why Jade would be that excited is because she had a legal target that would probably soon warrant whatever she does to him. I pulled the griffon mask from my face and made my way closer, I didn’t need the adjustable binocular vision at the moment. I wasn’t noticed, since most of the thestrals were all tied up in trying to put out a magical fire or were still panicking. This plan isn’t nearly as dangerous as it sounded when Jade came up with it. We didn’t know where Blade was, but she must have been rolling her eyes in derision at all this. -Blade- Standing by the doorway to the armory, I just rolled my eyes. These were supposed to be brave thestrals to a cult of darkness, shadows and nightmares? I just walked in and robed up, hid multiple bladed weapons in said robe and I had a good disguise that would let me get around freely. Unless the thestrals around here had some method of identifying someone not of their ranks like a password or something. I highly doubt that they did, given how disorganized they all currently were. Sugar was definitely terrifying, but she hadn’t exactly done anything to cause this kind of response. They were all a bunch of wimps, I personally chopped up a carrot and fed Sugar by hoof personally. I avoided getting bit by her several times, she was a bit playful about trying to disable me further by trying to rip my hoof off. I’m already mute, I didn’t want to be down a leg too. I still did it without her getting aggressive and trying to outright kill me though. This place had a nice gothic feel to it, then again thestrals did build this place to take advantage of making things feel gloomy in a delightful manner. The décor was just that great. -Jade- “I am Screaming Star!” The old guy intone loudly in a drill instructor tone. “Wow, your parents didn't like you.” Sounds like something you’d name a giant robot.