Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows


Chapter twenty eight, Manehattan Menageries Part Deux: Cheerful reindeer.

-???-

“The end of immortality exists, but finding it is becoming quite bothersome concerning the mentions of it all over the world.” The shadowy figure had finally found out what became of Obelus, they were currently taking methods to free the assassin from S.M.I.L.E. incarceration. That was a bit of a slog, but Obelus would soon be free and ready to take out the target. “Locating it could take years, but I will see my goals come to pass and the sun priest will not interfere!”

Obelus was the only assassin left that would keep trying, mostly out of spite, as every other assassin said the target was too hot or dangerous to make an attempt on. From recent sightings, the target was in Manehattan and had successfully taken on a pack of wyverns and ruined an egg smuggling operation.

She was getting too strong, the sun priest needs to die before their plans for the world could come to fruition!

-Cheerilee-

The mystery dumpling booth was quite an interesting hit with the locals as much as it was with the visitors who were here for the festival, Jade would be busy helping her mom sell dumplings all day. Though after an hour of trying dumplings not a single pony has turned into a frog yet.

I’m quite sure that as a witch, Kuril will keep trying to get a frog transformation no matter how long it took to even just get the one.

It was time to go see Velvet’s project, I’m pretty sure that Arizona managed to get Velvet out of her hotel room. I just let the reindeer into my class as soon as she arrived and I haven’t regretted it, she’s an intelligent and wonderful young lady.

I kind of shared a kindred spirit with Velvet, mostly since she is as reticent about her family as I was about my sister. It was clear she had some trouble at home and the fact that she’d rather live in Airship Mauled shows how much she doesn’t want to go back, despite the insanity of a place where airships crash fairly often without anyone getting seriously injured.

I did the math, someone should have suffered some sort of serious permanent injury by now and it has yet to happen in all the airship crashes I’ve witnessed. Whether it be a person on the airship or otherwise, nobody ever gets seriously injured when a crash happens at Airship Mauled.

Jacky in particular seems to be quite skilled at getting the airships that aren’t turned into housing back into the air. She at least had job security if she stuck to being a repair parrot.

I continued walking along the streets packed with Ponies, Griffons, Hippogriffs, Minotaur, Abyssinians, Zebra and many other species all here to enjoy the cultural festival.

It was a little unnerving how packed this city could get. It was also kind of cozy because I was less likely to see my sister with how packed things are around here, I could kind of see why she lives here.

I eventually came upon the place where Velvet would work her ice shaper magic, the ice skating rink in front at the Rock-a-filly Center.

Upon arrival I could already see Arizona looking at Velvet flatly, the reindeer looked to be a shivering mess of nerves and it most certainly wasn’t the cold rink that was making her shiver.

According to Dr. Bones her natural body temperature was quite low, but then again her type of magic made her fairly immune to the problems of lacking a higher body temperature. For one, Velvet was supposedly immune to hypothermia.

I had to find out what was wrong with my student. If it was performance anxiety I would understand, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I knew Velvet, she liked to dance and she was quite proud of her appearance and culture. So it definitely wasn’t performance anxiety causing her issues.

“Hello you two.” I addressed them, Arizona just looked to me flatly and Velvet just squealed and curled up into a tight ball. “What’s wrong with Velvet?”

“She’s just freaking out about an alpaca being in the city that’s possibly out to get her. Apparently the alpaca assaulted Fizzle and Maries with affection the other day and doesn’t know the meaning of personal space… kind of like Pinkie Pie really.” Why did Arizona have to mention Ms. Pie? I shivered at having to deal with that crazy pony when I started living in Ponyville, I already had my home picked out and everything. “Except Pinkie will back off when asked to and apparently that alpaca see’s any sign of movement as a reason to hug and or kiss something with as much enthusiasm as possible.”

Okay, I could hardly actually imagine something worse than Pinkie Pie. This was apparently traumatizing to Velvet, given the way she’s rocking back and forth with her eyes darting everywhere in fear.

Moving over to Velvet I kneeled down and started to gently rub her head, this didn’t seem to sooth her one bit as she continued to act like a frightened foal.

“I don’t see any alpaca’s around here, I haven’t heard of an alpaca being nearby either.” Why did I just make Arizona groan? She reached into her worn saddle bags and then held something out to me. It was a newspaper with a brightly grinning purple eyed alpaca on it. “Serial kisser on the loose, will also snuggle, cuddle and or give painful hugs. Be wary of this fugitive for she is highly elusive and capable of defending herself in a pacifistic manner, she is not overly dangerous. Wanted for messing up multiple personal relationships with random affectionate gestures.”

“Yeah, that’s why Velvet is so spooked, she knows this alpaca personally and apparently the alpaca came all the way to this city possibly following after Velvet. We learned this from what Fizzle told us about her being excited at hearing that Velvet was around.” Here Arizona started to poke Velvet roughly, yet the deer continued to stay curled up and only whined a bit at the prodding. “I’m having trouble snapping her out of it.”

“So have you come up with a cultural project Arizona?” Changing targets to ask about cultural projects, I decided to see if Arizona has come up with anything.

“Well… not exactly. I did find out a lot of interesting thing about cows and networking is something cows do. So socializing would be a considered a cultural standpoint for me right?” While that did seem correct Arizona, I was looking for something more substantial. “I’ve also learned that I can produce one hundred and twenty five pounds of saliva a day, spit like a camel, smell things up to six miles away and that cows can’t vomit too well. Something is seriously wrong when a cow does vomit and need immediate medical attention.”

“Sounds like you’ve met a few cows.” I stated curiously. Arizona was always one of my more violent students, well she only mostly got violent with Velvet. It was strange that they were such good friends and their relationship is built upon a rivalry and beating each other up, yet they really liked one another. “And learned quite a few things about yourself in the process. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah, Daisy Jo is this cow I met from Ponyville and the other girls she’s friends with are all pretty great.” It seemed like Arizona was doing well, as for Velvet… not so much. “So… have any ideas on how to get Velvet out of her funk long enough to perform her cultural project?”

“I suppose someone would have to do something so shocking it would snap her completely out of it.” There was a very odd look on Arizona’s face as she looked down at Velvet’s curled up form.

“I think I have an idea of what to do, she might be upset with me afterwards though.” Arizona pulled Velvet’s head up and out of her curled up form and then kissed her.

It seems to me that there was more to their adversarial relationship and violent actions towards one another than I previously thought. That deep kiss kind of put things in a new light for me.

Velvet looked rather shocked for a moment and then she slapped Arizona’s face away from hers. After a second or so of silently staring at one another, Velvet was the one that started kissing Arizona. It wasn’t long before Velvet slapped Arizona again. Okay, that looked like it was kind of sending mixed messages to me.

I opened my mouth to say something only for Arizona to beat me to it.

“Are you with us in the here and now fluff butt?” There was another long pause between the two staring at one another, Velvet’s face turned a bit red.

“I uh… er… ugh, you are just so… and then you just… argh!” After her grunt of frustration and face turning straight red, Velvet sighed and put her hooves to her face to slowly rub out the stress. She looked up at Arizona. “I think it’s about time I came clean. I’m gay, my parents definitely don’t approve and I don’t want to go back home…. like ever.”

“So what, I’m bisexual, what’s the big deal?” We both stared at Arizona, did she not get the idea that Velvets parents might have done something untoward to her in their distaste? “What? I still find bulls, stallions and the like attractive.”

“That’s not the issue Arizona. The issue is that Velvet still loves her parents despite the fact that they don’t like that part of her. As any earth pony would put it, ‘the way her barn door swings’, is something they don’t approve of and actively make that fact known.” I moved over to Velvet and hooked a hoof around the poor deer and brought her into a hug. “Did they abuse you?”

“No… but I kind of wish they did, it would be better than being ignored. Nothing I ever did was good enough for my so called noble parents and I’m quite sure they know despite my never telling them. I’m the top fighter in my village, an incredibly sophisticated dancer, I’m the best with my ice magic and I’m second to no other ice shaper reindeer where I come from. Only… none of that really changed their outlook about me very much. I did so much to be proud of…” The way Velvet wilted and leaned against me, this meant she needed support. I cared about my student’s mental and physical health, thus I would support her as a friend. She was even crying a bit as she leaned against me. “Paprika Paca was how I discovered why I wasn’t interest in bucks... at first I didn’t think much of why the alpaca kept bothering me and then she became something of a nightmare for me. It’s why I’m so scared of her, she’s just so free with her affection it’s ridiculous! I also feel like she made my parents stop loving me.”

I patted Velvet on the back as she sobbed against me. Instead of tears, little crystals of ice fell from her eyes. Ice shaping reindeer were really odd, especially the thing about their inability to fly.

“I couldn’t return any of the attention Paprika keeps giving me whenever she finds me, I never actually deserve whatever she gives me in the first place…” Holding Velvet and letting her get it all out was the right thing to do. I really didn’t know how to handle this any other way. “All I had was my reputation and my parents were never happy with anything, it’s kind of why I want you to meet them just to see what you’d do Arizona!”

“Yikes… well you’re certainly disturbed on a number of levels fluff butt and it’s about time your heart finally thawed out a bit. To think I thought my mother being missing in action was bad, you know where both your parents are and it sounds like they don’t think highly of what you’re capable of. Which is a lot!” Snorting angrily Arizona pulled the upset Velvet away from me and looked her in the eyes. “Well you know what? If they can’t see how strong you are or appreciate you, then screw them! I personally think you’re incredible in how you can fight with me and keep coming back for more pummeling. You’re the toughest, prettiest, strongest and most stubborn reindeer I’ve ever met! Also the only one I’ve met, but I bet you’re probably more impressive than any other reindeer by far. If you ever need something to hit… then come at me and we’ll sort our emotions out after we’re done beating each other down.”

“I think you just may regret making that offer you boorish bovine.” A chuckle came out of Velvet’s lips as she nuzzled against Arizona and hugged her. The cow looked a little out of place until she wrapped her hooves around Velvet and started to hug her back with a smile and while closing her eyes.

“Regret some of the greatest fights I’ll ever have? Not on your life, I’ll throw down with you anytime and anywhere Velvet!” They were quite affectionate with one another, I even think things were calming down a bit. “I don’t think you should worry about what others think of you and should just do your best whatever you do. Speaking of, don’t you have a cultural project to perform here? I know you want to show me up, because my cultural project isn’t going to be some great big thing yours is.”

“Yeah… I kind of do want to show you up.” Velvet said weakly as she pulled away and stood up, she looked to the ice skating rink and the lack of ponies skating in it.

They were all waiting on her performance.

“If you do, then why aren’t you getting out there and showing me up right now, do you have cold hooves? You of all people?” The way Arizona egged on Velvet made the reindeers eyes sharpen and she smirked slightly. “Some reindeer you are, crying and whining when you can be out there and showing everyone exactly who you are.”

“You bullheaded buffoon… you're right.” Velvet immediately cantered out on to the ice and then struck a pose, she then started to skate in a slow circle while we watched.

She leapt and with a twirl, a cold wind started up filling up the center of the ice skating rink. Velvet soon lost herself in her cultural act and many a being was watching her as she twirled and danced on the ice.

As she elegantly danced, something strange started slowly forming in the center of the rink. Each gentle gesture building a statue, a little ice appeared here or there as if she were painting it into existence with an invisible brush.

Every swing of her hooves articulate and precise, eventually she performed a very fast twirl on her hind legs and eventually stopped. She sent a smile towards Arizona and thrust her front hooves skyward.

An explosion of ice erupted behind her and a fog started to form throughout the rink, when it cleared up there was a statue that matched the earth pony mare statue that stood as a symbol to all who saw it coming into Manehattan.

Velvet serenely bowed to the loudly applauding audience.