//------------------------------// // Wisp // Story: Antecedent // by Anonymous Pegasus //------------------------------// The ocean far below was deceptively calm. A blue sheet stretched out in front of them, from horizon to horizon. The two pegasi were riding thermals, conserving their energy as they crossed the eastern ocean and headed for Transavian. It was a journey that took upwards of a week in a large ship, but could be accomplished in a single day by a pegasus. Raindrop and Sentinel both wore saddlebags and had a pair of goggles over their eyes. Usually, goggles were only needed by pegasi who were doing very fast manoeuvres, such as the Wonderbolts. But the goggles would be needed once they got to Transavian. The avian’s desert homeland was well-known for its proclivities towards sandstorms. Raindrop looked to her left, where Sentinel coasted along the thermals, barely even having to flap his wings to stay aloft. He looked different without his armour, somehow smaller. It was odd to see him outfitted like herself, like a normal pegasus. It was almost like his armour was part of his natural form. Sentinel sensed her watching him, and turned to smile at her, raising a brow. Raindrop rolled her eyes and turned to face the front again. She had the seeker stone in her saddlebag, and occasionally had to twist and pull it out to make sure they were on track. It was going to be a long flight. The first sighting of landfall came as the sun was beginning to sink out of view behind them. A wide brown line of desert beach began to grow in front of the two pegasi, spreading from horizon to horizon. Like all deserts, it was very sparsely populated with the odd cactus or hardy bush that was too stubborn to grow anywhere else. As they got closer and closer to the shoreline, Raindrop slipped to the side to fly closer to Sentinel. She had to shout to be heard over the roaring wind. “Which way is the town?” Sentinel reached back into his saddlebag, and tugged out a small compass. A picture of a coastal town was engraved on its surface. “To our North!” Raindrop nodded, and the two pegasi peeled off to the north, following the line of the shore towards the port town of Sandy Shores. Night had fallen by the time the town came into view. The darkness of the ocean was superimposed on the brighter colours of the desert sand, with a line of white dividing them where the waves crashed on the shore, leaving whitewash. Sandy Shore’s lights shone bright in the darkness, a beacon in the darkness that the two pegasi glided towards. The streets were largely deserted. Unlike Ponyville, or even Canterlot, the nightlife in Sandy Shores was very subdued. The sound of movement and muted voices echoed from the port itself, where griffin workers toiled the night to salt and prepare fish for transport to inland towns the next morning. Fish was one of Transavian’s most valued commodities, as the entirety of the continent was surrounded by ocean, and the griffins themselves were quite fond of fish. Raindrop and Sentinel headed for the local Inn, a large two-story building on the outskirts of town, built like most buildings in the desert, of weathered sandstone deliberately painted white to retard as much of the midday heat as possible. The windows all consisted of rough holes hewn through the sandstone, with wooden shutters over them. The shutters were all open at the moment, allowing a cooling breeze to drift in through the openings. The two pegasi stepped through the front doors of the inn, and pushed their goggles up. It was deserted. Unlike the inns back in Ponyville or other more travelled areas, there just weren’t many travellers here. Sentinel knew what to do though, and stepped up to the bar, rapping his hoof on it for attention. A few moments later, a griffin appeared from a back room. He was big and burly, and much larger than either of the pegasi. Sentinel turned to look over his shoulder at Raindrop for a moment, and then back at the innkeeper. “A single room, please.” The innkeeper looked between them, sizing them up, before nodding accepting a small bag of coins Sentinel passed to him. “Room 3.” Sentinel nodded and then turned, ushering Raindrop up the stairs and to the room with the large ‘3’ engraved on the front. There was no key required for the door, and Sentinel just pushed it open. Inside was a modestly sized bed, with a small dresser to one side, a table with a candle on it and a box of matches, and a window with a white curtain over it. Closing the door behind them, Sentinel swung the large wooden beam down until it slid into the latch on the other side. It was a very old style of door latch, but effective. Raindrop stepped over the bed, sliding her saddlebags off and placing them carefully on the table, giving a groan and sprawling herself across the bed. “My wings hurt,” Raindrop complained, the tips of her wings giving a little bit of a twitch. “Your chest feels fine?” Sentinel asked, as he slid his own saddlebags off, and then curled up on the floor beside the bed. “Surprisingly, yes,” Raindrop said, brow furrowing as she lifted a hoof to rub at her chest where she had been stabbed. There was nothing to even indicate that she had been injured now, except for a small line under her fur that was invisible unless you looked for it. “What are you doing on the floor?” Sentinel raised a brow up at her, and said matter-of-factly, “It’s customary to give the female the bed and take the floor yourself.” Raindrop rolled her eyes at that, and then shook her head, before patting the bed with a hoof, “Stupid colt. Get up here.” “I am a stallion,” Sentinel snorted, growling at her a moment, before harrumphing and pushing himself to his hooves. “You won’t rest until I give in anyway, huh?” “You know me so well,” Raindrop said with a sarcastic smile, grabbing his mane and tugging at it. “Plus, you’re kinda warm and all soft. You know, like a big, flabby pillow.” “And now insulting my physical abilities, jeeze, lady,” Sentinel said with a shake of his head, pulling himself onto the bed and laying himself out besides the mare. “I was considering caving in to your constant sexual advances, but after that, nope. No sex for you.” “Not even if I ask nicely?” Raindrop simpered, wiggling in closer to him and wrapped her hooves around his middle. “I am a rock. Can’t even change my mind,” Sentinel said with a single nod, nudging her with his nose. Raindrop snorted with amusement. “I’ll just have to settle for using you as a pillow then.” The next day saw the two pegasi crossing over the desert, following the direction of the augmented Seeker Stone. It was leading them towards the depths of the desert, where very few creatures ever strode. Endless shifting seas of sand dunes stretched out in front of them. An entire day of riding thermals later, and they were close to where the Seeker Stone wanted them to be. Harsh desert dunes had given way to rocky, jagged peaks. As the two pegasis coasted up the side of a rocky outcropping, and then dove down the other side, they came across what could only be described as a junkyard. Endless piles of debris stretched from one end of a long canyon, to the other, heaped high with jagged remnants of war machines from Transavian’s turbulent past. Raindrop checked the Seeker Stone, but it no longer pointed in any specific direction. It pointed everywhere at once, like a kind of demented fractal. They were close. Motioning towards Sentinel, Raindrop dropped down to a path that had been made between the piles of rusted metal. Sentinel dropped down beside her and then stretched his wings out a little bit, fluttering them and twisting them before folding them neatly to his back. “Sore?” Raindrop asked. “A little stiff,” Sentinel admitted, shaking his head and then motioning for her to lead the way. The two pegasi headed for the centre of the junkyard, passing failed inventions of the griffin military. There were giant gliders, intricate walking devices consisting of what seemed to be hundreds of cogs connected to long pipes with small gauges on their sides. They rounded a large pile of debris, and a clearing in the junk opened in front of them. There, in all its glory, was an airship. A bright bronze hull was visible. It consisted of what seemed to be three giant bubbles made of metal, with long black cables tethering a giant basket-like cabin underneath it. A small figure was darting here and there, humming to itself, no more than a brown-and-white shape against the backdrop of the airship that dwarfed it. Raindrop and Sentinel both approached the seemingly non-functioning airship, until the figure saw them, and stopped. Now that they were closer, Raindrop could make out features. It was a female griffin, but a much smaller one than any griffin Raindrop had ever seen. She was the same size as Raindrop, if not then a little bit smaller than herself. She wore a long red-and-yellow banded scarf around her neck, and a brown coat of some kind that covered her wings. A black eyepatch completed her ensemble, covering her right eye. A ‘mane’ of longer feathers created a line down her head and the back of her neck, almost looking like a mane with how the feathers were all pointed backwards. The tips of the feathers themselves were ‘dipped’ in brown, but were solid white otherwise. Her chest and part of her back were covered in the white feathers, while her hindquarters were all a solid brown. Her long tail was surmounted by a fluffy tuft of fur, while a red bow, tattered and dirty, had been tied around her tail just below the tuft. Strangely, the griffin was very small, and not just in stature. Most of the griffins were large-chested and powerful. But this griffin was small, and lithe. She didn’t give off an air of power at all. “Hi!” called a high pitched voice, “Don’t get many ponies out here!” Raindrop took a step forwards. “Uhh... Hi! There aren’t any ponies around here, are there?” The griffin pondered on that for a moment, and then shook her head. “Plenty of rats, but no ponies!” Raindrop strode over towards the diminutive griffin, looking her up and down for a moment, and then pausing, tilting her head. “Are you sure there’s no ponies here?” “Quite sure,” the griffin replied with a nod. Raindrop gave a faint sigh, shaking her head. “Well that’s... That’s not good.” “Whatcha need a pony for?” the griffin asked, tilting her head to the side in a very raptorial way. Raindrop chewed her lower lip for a moment, pondering on how much to reveal of their mission. “Well... I’m searching for the bearer of the Element of Laughter.” “That’s a pretty big thing, huh?” the griffin asked with a giggle. “I haven’t seen any happy ponies around here, sorry.” “So... What is this place?” Raindrop queried, watching the griffin. “It’s an old military base!” the griffin squeaked happily, bouncing excitedly in place. “There’s so many cool things here that they just threw away. Can you believe they’d just throw all this stuff away?!” “It is kinda wasteful,” Raindrop appeased, nodding in understanding. “I’m Wisp!” the griffin said with a happy smile, offering a clawed paw for Raindrop to shake. “Raindrop,” Raindrop replied with an incline of her head, “And that one back there is Sentinel.” Wisp looked past her to Sentinel standing in the background, and waved a paw happily. “Hi Sentinel!” Sentinel waved back uncertainly, “Uhh, hi.” “Do you two like airships?!” Wisp enthused, bouncing in place happily. “I’ve never seen one, honestly,” Raindrop admitted, casting her gaze to the bronze monolith of an airship. “I’ve almost got it working!” Wisp squeaked, bouncing happily from paw to paw. “Just need the power source... The military took them all with them.” Raindrop gave a sad nod. “That is a shame.” Sentinel took a step forward then. “Where can you find one of these power sources?” “Oh? They can be found everywhere!” the griffin affirmed, nodding eagerly. “But they’re pretty coveted. I know of a wreck that most likely has one. But no one goes near it because of the darkclaws.” “Darkclaws? That sounds fun,” Raindrop said with a shake of her head. “We’ll help,” Sentinel offered instantly. “Oh you will, you will?!” Wisp enthused, bouncing in place excitedly. “I know where there’s definitely a power source! I can see the lights from on top of the canyon! ...But it is kind of dangerous...” “We’re getting used to it,” Sentinel stated with a slow shake of his head and a rueful smile. “Well... If you really are going to help!” Wisp said with a happy grin. “Just head over that peak!” The griffin pointed with an outstretched talon towards a peak to the east, silhouetted against the darkening sky. “And then follow the light!” “And these darkclaws?” Raindrop asked uncertainly. “They’re giant creatures that live in the desert and they suck down anything that stands on top of them. They only need to eat once a month or so, and they hide around any part of the desert that has debris. They kinda learned that ponies and griffins go towards them, and other animals go there for shade. And then,” Wisp made a horrible slurping and crunching sound, “No more ponies and griffins.” “But we’ll be fine, since we can fly?” Raindrop asked hopefully. “Should be!” Wisp assured with a happy nod. “I can’t really do it myself... My wing is kinda... Broken.” Raindrop gave a cringe of sympathy. “We’ll get you your power source,” Sentinel said with a firm nod. “You have my word.” “Oh thank you thank you thank you!” Wisp said gleefully, bouncing around the two of them in a circle. The two pegasi alighted on the peak of the rocky mountain, looking down into the dark desert, where the muted lights of a strange contraption shone bright in the gathering darkness. “So... Why are we doing this?” Raindrop asked, looking down at the stricken wreck. Sentinel perked an ear at her, and then looked back down toward the junkyard, and then back at Raindrop. “I think she’s the bearer of the Element of Laughter.” Raindrop blinked at that, her head tilting to the side in a quizzical way. “Really? But she’s a griffin!” Sentinel grinned at that, and the shrugged. “Who said that the bearers had to be ponies?” “I... Celestia?” Raindrop offered weakly. “Well the Seeker Stone is pointing towards the junkyard...” Sentinel trailed off, letting Raindrop make her own decision. “I guess you’re right. But why do I feel like we’re going to have to fight a thousand and one darkclaws to get to the power source, end up horribly injured, and spend several days recovering from our horrific wounds?” Sentinel grinned sideways at Raindrop. “Experience?”