//------------------------------// // Pressing Further In // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// The moment the frosty hallway was clear, Puddles dropped, sagging against a wall and pushing a hoof tightly into her stomach. "Ooooogh... Poor Puddles..." "Hey, uhhh..." Howe galloped up to her and gave her a brow-furrowed glance. "Has a fell curse befallen you? One feller than you are? Because we are in the middle of a ship of dread pirates, and kind of followed you because it looked like the safest place around..." Shinespark frowned, standing with her sword drawn and Grenada at her side. Puddles glared back up at them, still holding herself and shivering. "Do you know what Puddles just ate? You'd have a bellyache if you were trying to metabolize one of these, too. Leave Puddles alone!" "Then maybe you shouldn't have eaten it!" Belinda growled, standing on three legs, her shoulder heavily bandaged with a strip torn from Neon Nova's coat. "You think?" "No." Puddles stuck her tongue out, rocking woozily. "It was important for Puddles' plan. I would have stolen the one in your other ship if I hadn't found this one." "How did you know about that?" Shinespark narrowed her eyes. "Because Puddles is smart." Puddles ignored her, getting back to her hooves, raising her nose and sniffing. "We go... this way! Cute armored unicorn takes point and cute unarmored unicorn carries Puddles on her back." Shinespark and Grenada both blanched. "What?" Puddles curled her lip. "Fine. Cute armored unicorn carries Puddles and ugly stallions take point." "Sorry, lass," Golbez sighed, glancing at the cleared room they had just come through. "But this be yer' crusade, not ours. When there be forces in this world what could wipe me entire crew with a single blade, I have no intention of fightin' sarosians by meself for the sole purpose of fightin' sarosians. We be stickin' with ye because ye be keepin' us safe, and that be all there is to it. Press on when ye want to press on. We leave no sooner." Puddles sniffed, looking like she wanted to cry, and then rolled to her hooves anyway, pressing on down the frosty hallway. "Puddles' belly hurts and it's all your fault!" she tearfully declared, nevertheless striking up a limp pace further into the bowels of the ship. "...Arr." Golbez gave her a look, then got up himself and moved to follow. "That thing she ate really was as big of a deal as ye made it out to be, wasn't it? More than some petty crystal trinket." "A windigo heart!" Howe snapped to attention, eager to ramble as the procession continued. "Dead, crystallized power from the ancient beasts of yore, fought for and retrieved by my very own ancestor! Demon-slaying blood flows through my veins! Uuugh! So much power!" Belinda hissed in pain, trying to keep pace. "A lot of good that's doing you against a real, live one!" Neon Nova winced apologetically. "Yeah, we might have a little coming into our own still to do to fill the horseshoes our ancestors left us. But don't you fear, now! It'll happen sooner than you'll believe!" "Given what I believe is never..." Belinda rolled her eyes. "Maybe instead of worrying about attacking those who might be on our side, we should worry about surviving those who definitely aren't?" Grenada looked jumpy, sticking near Shinespark's side. "We are on a ship full of hostile pirates! I-I have a very good reason to get out of here with my life intact." Golbez bowed his head. "Don't we all, lass. But remember, ye don't exactly be havin' a normal life to return to, now that ye be an outcast of Garsheeva. Once having turned yer' back on her ways, there be no-" "Uh-oh!" Puddles yelped, rounding a corner. "Piratey ponpons!" She clapped her forehooves together, then slammed a burst of icy energy into the ground, Shinespark dashing up to her side with her sword at the ready. A patrol of eight batponies stared wide-eyed at the approaching wave, but it washed over them, causing uncontrollable shivering and nothing else. "Uhhh..." Puddles shoved Shinespark's side. "Stabby them, cute unicorn! Puddles did her best!" Shinespark blinked, then her horn flashed, throwing the sword like a boomerang. She had almost no control over its path, but it still passed through most of the batponies, and with a jet of light she soared over their heads to grab it where it fell. Two unscathed sarosians broke away and lunged, and she quickly clipped them, too. "Thank youuuurrgh." Puddles staggered forward, leaning against another wall right in front of a mare that was now staring dejectedly at the ground. She sniffed their face. "Bleh. Sad ponies are cute but your breath stinks! No nuzzles from Puddles." "You all realize what situation we're in, right?" Shinespark asked, pushing back through the crowd and ignoring Puddles. "She can't fight. Whatever eating that did to her, it's clearly not helping. And fortunately, I have this sword, but... it's us alone against this entire ship, and in normal circumstances we wouldn't even be allies. They have too much air support for us to ever get out of here the normal way. I think what we're going to have to do is find somewhere to hide where there's food and we can wait out a siege, take some of these sad batponies, and blackmail them into helping us sneak away." She glanced at the sarosians, raising an eyebrow and watching for a reaction. They were all varying degrees of mopey, and one of the worst-off ones coughed, a few gray flakes drifting from his muzzle and evaporating the moment they hit the floor. "Go that way," Puddles moaned, pointing a hoof. "And cute unicorn carry Puddles..." All the pirates looked at her, Golbez apparently willing to let Shinespark take the lead. She raised an eyebrow back at him, and he shrugged. "Yer' the one with the best chance fightin' these things, lass. I be all for livin' if there be a possibility of it." Sighing, Shinespark picked up Puddles and levitated her onto her back. Even through her insulated armor, the mare was cold, and she was glad she had her mane to separate her from the back of her head. "There you go..." she consoled, making sure Puddles was balanced. "You're not in charge any more. I am. Deal?" Puddles shivered and burrowed into her armor. "This makes you not fuzzy..." "No, it doesn't," Shinespark said, suddenly coming to a realization: if Puddles was this weakened, she could catch her. All she needed was to take the sword and run her through... and her horn tingled for a full second before common sense put it down. They needed Puddles to help get them out, if she could help at all, and more importantly with the sword seemingly working different against batponies, she wasn't eager to see what it would do to a windigo. "Puddles?" Shinespark flicked her ears back. "I'll ask one more time: where's Valey?" "H-Huh? Cute Valey?" Puddles moaned. "She ran away. Flew back to your ship... You just missed her. Heehee..." Shinespark groaned, then glared back at the pirates. "We have to get out of here." "Ye don't say, lass." Golbez gave her a deadpan stare. "Puddles knows a good way to go! It's up that way..." Grenada gave Puddles a fearful glance. "I have no better ideas..." "Puddles..." Shinespark sighed. "Fine. We're going. And if you're still chasing your own agenda when you need to be carried, I have no idea what you're even after." "Heee..." Puddles giggled limply as Shinespark set off, taking point with her sword drawn. She nuzzled weakly into Shinespark's mane. "Hey cute unicorn... Can Puddles tell you a secret?" Shinespark felt her back fur raising beneath her armor. Those were not words she wanted to hear from a magical enemy mare who was riding on her back, and she desperately wished she had Valey's cutie mark. "What?" she hissed, ears going stiffly backwards. Puddles inched forward so that her frosty breath was blowing in Shinespark's ears, her voice the barest of whispers. "There are security cameras everywhere," she breathed. "But no alarms going off and only a few tiny patrols! That means the strongest thing in here is watching us and thinks it's playing with us instead of trying to get rid of poor Puddles. That's why Puddles is pretending to be in trouble. My tummy hurts really bad, but my magic is actually super strong right now. Heehee! Keep it a secret!" Shinespark stiffened, but kept up her pace. Of course a windigo would be crafty and do a thing like that. The question was, was Puddles being honest about her dishonesty, or trying to manipulate her as well? "What are you looking for?" she whispered back. "Where are we going?" "Oh, you'll find out." Puddles nuzzled one of her ears. "Right now! This door. Open it for Puddles!" "This place?" Howe stopped and raised an eyebrow at a slightly-larger door, their corridor breaking out into a wider one. "This is marked as the brig! Where prisoners are kept! Oh-ho!" "Wait..." Shinespark furrowed her brow at what she realized was a door sign, written in runes that must have been sarosian. "You can read that?" Howe curtsied. "All part of my occupation." "Prisoners?" Belinda looked suspicious. "What, are you hoping to release everyone and start a war in the middle of their ship?" Puddles giggled. "Oooh, we should do that too. Good idea! Heehee. But go inside! You'll find out." The door's lock was no match for the lockpick the side of Neon Nova's shades doubled as, and he had it open before anyone could even try to smash it. With a creak, the door swung open...