//------------------------------// // Chapter twenty one, Cult Evasion: The Reindeer. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Jade- Fizzle sent a curious and slightly jealous gaze to the brown furred deer with a thick amount of thick cream colored fluff covering her neck, chest and short tail. Said fluff was referred to as floof by her. She had icy blue eyes and the defining feature was the six prongs poking up from her two short horns, three on each one. Her long thin legs seemed fragile, until you realized that she climbed a mountain to get here. I wonder how such a thin girl like her could have made it up here through all the dangerous monsters this mountain is reported to have, alongside the freezing temperature outside with minimal protection and the thestral cultists at the monastery. The monastery was easily explained enough, they were still cleaning up the mess they made and Snickers was following our familiar bond right back to me. Velvet could have flown up here, but apparently Velvet was a type of reindeer that doesn’t fly, I didn’t believe she couldn’t fly for a second. Her ice magic was the most logical conclusion as to why she made it this far, this mountain was covered in snow and that’s plenty of ammo for her to use and as such she was definitely in her element here. The reindeer, known as Velvet Iceberg Deer, didn’t freeze to death because it was likely she has quite an understanding of ice magic to the point she could stop her body temperature from dropping to unsafe levels using it. Her fur and the stylish cloak she brought with her wouldn’t have handled the low temperatures without her shivering at least a little bit given her thin frame. I ran into her soon after she got inside the mountain and despite her exhaustion, she hadn’t looked all that cold. I definitely owed her that taco I bought for her from Bahamut, given she kept my buddy Snickers warm and was even helping her with something. Whatever Snickers had going on was her business, if my buddy wanted to involve me then she would just ask for help. All I knew was that Snickers was trying to bring her to Arizona and that it was none of my business. I had to give Velvet credit for plenty of things, such as climbing the mountain without knowing how dangerous it was. Velvet was as tough as she was, in Snickers rather simple words, pretty. Well pretty for a deer anyway, but she wasn’t my type as I preferred broody unicorns and crazy brainy chimeras. Yep, my type was definitely odd and weird. Currently I was explaining what happened to me after we separated outside the barracks. The guards here were not a joke, by no stretch of the imagination were they anywhere near as bad as the Canterlot Guards were at their jobs. “So that’s how I ended up with a crossbow bolt in my butt and the rest is pretty easy to figure out, sounds like you had a worst time then I did. Sitting down hurts a lot, but I’ll get over it eventually and my shoulder isn’t hurting that badly by comparison. Though I still think it was a lucky shot that that thestral bounced a crossbow bolt off the ground and into me.” I pointed out the gunbai sticking out of the top of my pack to prove that I had been where I said I went, I also had a witness to my shenanigans in Velvet. I couldn’t sustain the gunbai for some reason, but the blasts of wind magic was a helpful defensive tool. It was definitely some kind of mystical artifact or something, maybe Daring would be interested in it and could tell me what it was. “So anyway back to Velvet, she’s obviously a reindeer. Reindeers are capable of flight, alongside having ice, wind and water based magical abilities that are elemental in nature.” “I’ve told you once and I’ve told you several times, I can’t fly, reindeer aren’t capable of flying!” Giving Velvet a flat look, I had a simple comeback for her. “Well maybe not the reindeer from where you come from, but I know for a fact that there are reindeer that can fly and that they are really good at picking out presents for hearths warming. There’s even this song I know about a red nosed reindeer…” I wonder if it would be a bad idea to sing that particular song though. “Probably would be in bad taste if I sung that outside of hearts warming. Never mind that, I’m pretty sure there are reindeer that can fly and that ponies have seen it before. In any case maybe the reindeer in your village… what was it called again? I think it was Rein. What if you and they don’t know that you can all fly? I mean have you ever tried to figure out flying?” “Would you please give that up? Read my muzzle and the lips on them when I say this, I, cannot, fly.” Despite Velvet saying it quite clearly, I still think it was incredulous that there are magical reindeer that couldn’t fly in a magical world. “Not with that kind of attitude you can’t.” I wondered why Snickers wanted Arizona to meet this doe so badly, if Arizona and Velvet met they would assuredly beat the living snot out of… oh… oh! I wonder if Snickers understands the implications of the two meeting and fighting constantly. It might work out eventually if Snickers instincts are to be believed, but they would certainly fight it every step of the way. It might be even be an inevitable conclusion if Snickers does what I think she can do. I could warn Velvet about the machinations of a ridiculous snuggle turtle right this instant… but I’d rather grab a bucket of popcorn and watch the fireworks from a safe distance. “If she says she can’t fly, then she can’t fly Jade. Why does this sound like it bothers you so much?” Maybe, Fizzle, it bothers me for a reason that I can’t explain easily. Like I happen to have a soft spot for flying reindeer and wanted to meet a particularly famous one I have in mind. If said reindeer existed in this dimension, that reindeer might even be a king or a leader of some sorts given how things work in this world with the confirmed existence of various pantheons. “Fine, let’s talk about how your head is feeling. Are you feeling okay Fizzy?” I moved closer to Fizzle and started to rub her behind her right ear and she blushed brightly. Never fails to make her blush, I started to coddle her and pull her into a loose friendly hug. One of which she didn’t try to fight her way out of, I would even like to think that I was being a good affectionate girlfriend. “Coo!” Snickers flew up to Fizzle looking worried and gave her the patented snuggle turtle cuddle, joining me in our hug. “I’m fine Jade… and Snickers. Really, I’ll be okay as long as I don’t take anymore sharp blows to the skull or use magic again anytime soon.” You are looking more than a little pale there my lovely Fizzle, I stared into your eyes and they looked away with a mild amount of distress. “Okay, so maybe I really shouldn’t have used magic with a head injury in the first place. I’d still do it again even if it meant more pain for me if it meant I could protect you, mom, Jacky and maybe even Blade.” “Yes, I’ve heard horrible stories of what could happen if you use magic while having a head injury. Doing so while having a…” Velvet froze slightly because she was currently receiving a glare from me, I hugged Fizzle a little bit tighter. My eyes were telling her, ‘do not bring up Fizzle’s horn’ under pain of possible petty kitty retaliation. “Look I’m sorry, but it’s really hard for me to not notice the broken horn. With our current topic of discussion, it’s kind of impossible to not mention that it could be twice as dangerous for her and you can’t just ignore the possible danger it might represent to her like that.” “My girlfriend can handle herself very well thank you very much.” Before we could continue talking about how we all got here, mom tiredly came up to the table and dropped of some food for us. The smell was really quite enticing, I gave Fizzle a kiss to the cheek leaving her stunned as I broke away from her for my meal. “Though you are correct, we can’t ignore it. Also I don’t appreciate hearing a grue tried to grab the light from your horn.” “Well let’s see that’s feeding my hungry kitten, my little filly and their new friend. Here’s something for you Snickers, nice to see you again in our lives. This is for you Sugar. This last bit of food is for Jacky when she’s done talking to the engineers.” It was at this time that my mother had brought something to Snickers now currently undivided attention as we started eating. Snickers finally noticed the killer rabbit in our group and stared at her curiously, she really hadn’t given Sugar much notice up to this point. “Snickers, I’m sorry I forgot to tell you something important, what with all the running around I was doing with you and Velvet. I never formally introduced you to Sugar!” I pointed to the horned hell hare that was busy eating, Snickers looked at me curiously and pointed at her with a flipper. “She showed up not so long after you left.” Sugar lifted her head from the food and looked to all of us lazily, before she went back to it like the ravenous monster she was. “Coo hiss?” Snickers reverberated while looking to me with a decidedly sad frown. “No, we didn’t replace you with her buddy. She’s mom’s familiar and bonded to her like I’m bonded to you.” After a moment of quiet contemplation at my words, Snickers titled her head back and forth in thought. “We missed you, you know how much by my reaction to seeing you. You really pop up in the oddest of places and I think you like surprising others too much in that manner. Well now we’re surprising you with a new and quite deadly family member.” After a moment Snickers smiled and flew over to hug Sugar who seemed a little annoyed that the impossibly friendly snuggle turtle was interrupting her meal to give her a friendly greeting. Snickers first instinct was to hug the deadly creature, because of course it was. Sugar grunted in a grumpy manner and accepted the snuggling with mild angered chittering, Snickers eventually released her and started in on her own meal. I idly noted Sugar’s food was portioned like my meals were… what did that say about me really? Did I and mom need to have a discussion about this? “So what’s your home town like? Mine was a relatively peaceful community, then after wandering around for a few years I moved into my new home with Jade and I’ve only halfway regretted it since then.” The hurt look Fizzle received from me was instantly noticed. “For all the crazy incidents we get into Jade, it’s not anything you did or do.” “That’s not why I’m hurt by your comment Fizzy, I’m hurt that you don’t think we can make you fully regret it.” My bright teasing smile had Fizzle chuckling up a storm. “You do know what our family is like by now right?” Fizzle leaned over and nuzzled my neck gently and I leaned into it. “You two really do love each other.” It seemed like Velvet was mystified by our relationship. Sometimes it surprised even me that I was Fizzle’s favorite bedtime cuddle toy and we’re both Maries favorite thing to hug. “Is it true that a chimera is part of your herd from what Jade tells me?” “We’re not exactly a herd yet… but yes, a chimera is a factor and she’s a really good friend.” A wistful look entered Fizzle’s eyes, it’s probably the same look that entered mine as I thought about our three headed paramour. “She’s quite beautiful in her own unique exotic way. Along with being very intelligent, she can physically rip the throats out of just about anything that threatens us in several different ways. Kind of feels nice to be wanted like that.” “Well I want you like that too you know.” I hope that didn’t sound as corny to my ears as it did to hers. “I know that you’d do practically anything to make me smile Jade… even at your own detriment.” Every smile from Fizzlepop was a treasure worth saving to memory. Is my heart thudding in my chest? It is, I really liked Fizzle when she was happy and making her happy was something I aimed to do as often as possible. “It might be the head injury talking, but I find myself happier whenever I spend time with either of you two. So Velvet, what’s your home like? Do you have anyone special like Jade? Jade has an absurdly high pain tolerance, she does a lot of annoying things to people she doesn’t like which may come back to bite her, she runs into or magnetizes danger to her at least once a week and her math skills are so horrid they can destroy the entire world. In all that, she’s still definitely special… mentally.” “So mean…” I muttered through a mouthful of food, yet I smiled all the same. “Chew and swallow before you talk Jaded!” How does mom always know when I talk with my mouth full? She isn’t even in the same room right now, said room was what passed for a cafeteria here at EVEN headquarters. She doesn't even have a current line of sight to me! “Well there’s this really annoyingly affectionate alpaca that I know of, but otherwise no. I’m an elegant being from a beauteous forest town. Among my people I'm considered an excellent noble. I’m trained in how to negotiate, dance and fight, most notably my well honed skills with ice magic is perfection itself!” Velvet was a little full of herself, but she wasn’t too bad about bragging herself up. After taking a dainty sip of a drink, she smirked. “Why I’m the strongest reindeer in my home town, which I have confirmed quite vigorously in combat. I’m so good that my lovely floof goes mostly untouched in battle.” “Sure, but there’s always someone better out there. You’ve been around your home town long enough to know how others fight or will react to you, maybe they might have been throwing whatever fights you might have gotten into. I wouldn’t know.” I didn’t, I couldn’t know what kind of life she has led, because I’ve spent time talking to her all about my own. “You're certainly not perfection itself, you need to meet new people out in the world who can show you that you could be a little more humble.” “I never said I was perfection, but I can certainly aspire to be. I am already perfection in who I am.” She finally tasted mom’s cooking and her eyes shrunk to dots. “Though I suppose there’s a lot more I can still learn.” “My mom's cooking has that effect on almost everyone.” I snickered wryly.