-Destroyed Base, Fizzle-
The Ardent Survivor looked almost the same as it previously did… but now it had treads, tailpipes and a large, exceedingly hard to miss, drill on the front. Those were the major changes, the minor ones didn’t seem worth mentioning like the lights.
“All limbs on deck!” All limbs? Well I guess it made sense, Jacky probably had a unique crew. Everyone else was busy picking themselves, Teatime just seemed to be sitting there with a blank look on his face. “We need to find out if we’re somewhere in Zebrica, let’s hope we didn’t take a wrong turn at Albeit-Quirky and that we’re not attacked by a rogue tree as soon as we go up!”
I was proven right a few seconds later, I could see that Gene was healthy. I also saw a slithering sea pony, an anugyptian feline, a giant butterfly and… what in the world?
“We went through an airship… judging by all the golem parts, a lot of old friends and the destruction in the general area… Hey Gene, we made it to the fight!” What was Jacky talking about and how was she even talking in the first place when she… “It’s so good to be back on the surface again and I can’t wait to see our little Gavin again! Is that? It is! Hey mom, I hope Gavin reached you okay!”
“He did! He’s such a sweet and cuddly little griffon that loves his grandma, Savannah is currently watching him!” Then mom’s happy tone changed to something more irate. “You couldn’t have told your poor old mother that you had a child or at least visit?!”
“To be fair, I haven’t exactly told anyone that Jade is alive and that she’s likely to be around here somewhere.” Wait… what? Did Jacky just seriously... “She could probably summon her fire and give us a sign she’s present. She did it in Saddle Arabia, she could probably do it again.”
“What…” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, my horn lit up. There were tears in my eyes.
“Did…” Mara growled and pawed the ground with her claws. She was also crying.
“You…” Maria was now trying to glare holes into the obsidian glass form of Jacky Blackcap Chickadee La Perm. Flames were pouring out of her mouth and they were started to melt the ground and melting dirt was no easy feat.
“Say, does this mean you knew about this when we were summoned to southern Zebrica to make that family contract for Flotsam and Nefer?” Marie should be getting as angry as we were currently getting, she just seemed more curious than anything. “Does that mean she could have been following us around this entire time and we didn’t know about it?”
“Just for the sake of clarity, how long have you been sitting on this information and how screwed do you think you’re going to be in the next few minutes?” Arizona asked with a slight gleam in her eyes.
“I too would like to know this!” Flamberge’s flaming sword was ejecting flames at twice the length of the sword.
-Still off kilter from reality, Jaded ‘Freaking’ La Perm-
Face, I would like you to meet mister palm, he is ever so eager to become your acquaintance.
I wonder how long it will take for Mrs. Foot to go for Jacky’s beak. I give it five seconds.
-Destroyed Base, five seconds later, Fizzle-
“Uh… some time before we all last gathered together in Huoshan, I guess we forgot to tell anyone that Jade summoned her campfire in Saddle Arabia as a sign that she was still around. We’ve all been kind of busy if you hadn’t notice!” Jacky gestures to the drill. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get pure adamantite into the shape of a drill? Also everything has been quite stressful for me, especially with my husband constantly treating me like I’m made of glass!”
So Jacky was a statue, a living statue, how did that happen? Everyone else that was glassed became immobile. AI was quite seething mad, but I was keeping it contained as I didn’t want Jacky to shatter like the Storm King did. This was someone I liked, even if I'm angry at her. It would take a while for her to make up for forgetting to mention that important detail to anyone, who could have in turn come and told me about it!
“Jacky, you currently are and still happen to be made of Obsidian Glass.” Hearing Gene Eric speak in a dead emotionless tone, I never knew how much I missed him as a friend until this moment. He would have been nice to have around while I was slumming it with the Storm Army. “I’m obligated to treat you as such and covet you to the point that you don’t incidentally shatter on anything, also I had a heck of a time getting the Dragon Burst Gem out of the jetpack currently fused to your body without damaging any part of you. I would like to add that none of us are blameless, except for Belfry.”
He pointed out the giant butterfly now being happily cuddled and babied by Fluttershy, when had she moved over there? It was like she teleported.
“Jade, if you can hear me, I’m not going to kill her. Also we’re going to need to have a long talk about those nights I uh… we’ll talk and get everything sorted out once we figure out how to help you!” I wiped the tears from my eyes with a hoof and I can tell that my face was turning a bright cherry red. “Also there are plenty of survivable things that I can possibly do to our sister!”
“Agreed.” Maries answered as one, Marie taking on a more humor filled in this compared to Mara and Maria’s serious fury.
“You can’t do anything to me while I’m a statue, one that is mostly being held together by magic mind you.” Jacky smirked at us, she had the gall to smirk!
When she was cured of being a living obsidian statue, I’d show her how bad her luck could really get! Cold, raw, petty pony time! I’d give her to Maries first and ask that she leave Jacky in at least one vaguely recognizable piece.
Maries are lawyers, everyone here could claim they attacked Jacky in self-defense. With so many witnesses attesting, nobody would be able to say otherwise… we might need to ensure the silence of the lambs in our group first. Anyone with a strong sense of righteousness would be forced to look the other way for a little while.
“While this has been fairly entertaining, I’ll be taking my leave now!” We all turned to where Teatime had been and looked to where his pilotable pony shaped machine was now. It was currently floating away in the moonlight. “So long and may we meet again under better circumstances… for me that is!”
The machine was high in the air with a balloon sprouting out of its back, there were ten golem pony’s clutching to its neck and legs. Each one of said golems had large box like attachments on their backs that were possibly loaded with supplies. The tail of the machine lifted up and then, in a burst of flames coming from its backside, it started to quickly flee for the horizon.
“Prrrrrtttt.” The noise it made sounded like a fart as it flew away.
Everyone was busy questioning why Teatime added the farting sound as an aesthetic choice, didn’t really seem to add to the speed of his escape. We turned back to Jacky trying to sneak back onto the ship.
She was soon hit by a glowing mass of white burning energy that came from Kuril’s paw, mom looked angry and was palming a potion with a viscous substance in it.
Something book shaped popped out of Jacky’s chest, said thing dropped into the flowery looking anugyptian’s paws.
Jacky stumbled and caught herself as she fell forward, now flesh and blood once more.
“I’m cured? Oh yeah, phoenix feather magical alchemy, like duh! At the least fresh air tastes great now that I’m biological again… my body is horribly stiff though. To be expected when you spent quite a few months underground as a living statue.” Jacky gulped and turned to us with her talons behind her back. “Off I go after the fleeing Teatime… Gene… why isn’t the jetpack working?”
“Do you remember what we were using to power the drill Captain?” The blue sea pony chuckled while covering her face with her flipper hooves. “It’s still there.”
Jacky never looked more like Velvet, when bright lights are shined in her eyes, than in this moment.
“Oh… right… forgot to put that back in after we reached the surface… heh. Silly me, it looks like Teatime is going to get away again. Bastard always has an escape plan, and I could use one of those right about now…” Jacky turned back to us with a stressed smile on her beak. “Well then… it’s been a long time since I’ve been flesh and blood. I would like to get in a meal and a drink. You know, before you all keelhaul me.”
“Say mom, do you know anything about physical therapy?” Arizona asked in a blatantly threatening tone. “I mean it has been a long time since she has exercised her muscles and she did say she was stiff.”
“Sounds fun Zone, sign me up!” Maggie said cheerfully and she tussled her smiling daughter’s hair.
-Pyramid entrance, Sekhet-
“Eh, they’ll get to us tomorrow… also isn’t that…” I squinted at the anugyptian feline with petals wreathed around his neck in the shape of a mane.
“Why I do believe it is Sekhet, it’s been a while… he looks cute as a pirate. Last time he visited, he was a sales clerk.” Baast put her paws on her cheeks and squealed in an annoying manner. “So roguish and handsome, it’s seems my constantly reincarnating little demi-god is at it again! Once I’m free of my obligations I’ll be able to spend quality time with him and his… sister I believe? Also we’ll figure out how to get that Celestia to date you without all the vitriol getting in the way!”
“That’s apparently what the sea pony is reading as to me, the family dynamic just keeps getting worse doesn’t it?” Still it was nice to know we had a mortal in the family, because it opened up a lot of interesting opportunities. Family first of course, any plotting is secondary to that and we were not going to Zeus things up. That way lies madness. “Again, leave my personal life alone sister!”
I slashed my claws across my sister’s face and she went flying back through the entrance of the pyramid.
“The nerve of that nosy nagger.” I laid my chin on my paws and started to fall asleep until morning came.
-The next day, Morning Came, Daring-
“Look I know you guys have a lot to catch up on, but I want to get into the pyramid early today!” I was walking up the steps towards the entrance, with Kuril, Blade, Fluttershy, Maries, and Fizzle. We also had with us a badly battered and bruised Jacky, along with what I will assume to be her anugyptian interpreter Nefer. All the others were a bit busy making sure our loose ends stayed tied up.
Arizona gave out plenty of rope to tie up a lot of armored ponies, we had only managed to capture half of the Perun Paladins. The other half quickly scattered away from us into the surrounding jungle and would probably form up somewhere else. Dispel, Shock and Jock were also missing. Someone really needed to capture those guys and put a serious bind on them.
When we reached the top of the pyramid, we saw an interesting sight.
“Oh, that’s adorable!” Intoned Fluttershy, probably being more adorable than the two goddesses snuggled together and innocently sleeping there.
“Hey, wake up!” Both the goddesses stirred, the pink one was apparently the one we needed to talk to in order to get in. Teatime obviously tried to bypassing her completely and failed spectacularly before we arrived. “Give me the first task or whatever.”
“Okay, let’s start things off easy with a riddle.” Clearing her throat the pink sphinx that wasn’t out goddess. “First, introductions, I am Bastet. That’s all you need to know and yes I am a goddess, and since you know my sister you should know the rules. Now for my riddles, you need to answer two of three to pass. What is it that given one, you’ll have either two or none?”
“Jade would probably hate that one.” Fizzle smiled whimsically, looked around and then frowned.
“That is a pretty devious opener sister.” Sekhet commented idly as she shrunk down and joined us. “You’re just going to come out swinging aren’t you?”
“Nefer what’s wrong?” I turned to the sound of Jacky nudging the anugyptian and he was staring at the pink sphinx.
“You’re a pretty lady.” Nefer continued to stare that goddess. “You seem familiar to me too.”
“That’s because I’m your mother.” Okay, that was news to me and it explains the oddities of the anugyptian. The goddess shrunk down and transformed into an anugyptian herself and started to nuzzle the tom affectionately. “Even when you forget me, you always show up somehow.”
“The answer is… ‘choice’. There’s always a third option. If the two given don’t suit your needs.” Maries answered in order with three smiles.
“Correct. Call me Baast while I’m like this.” Baast then sauntered back to being in front of us. “I am something people love or hate. I change people’s appearances and thoughts. If you take care of yourself I will go up even higher. To some people I will fool them. To others I am a mystery. Some people might want to try and hide me, but I will still show eventually. No matter how hard people try, I will never go down. Now answer me this, what am I?”
“Yep, definitely swinging.” Sekhet muttered.
We sat there for an hour pondering her words and the day was still young.
“Wow, it’s been an age since I’ve had to answer one of… the answer is ‘age’!” Jacky suddenly piped up.
“Correct, you may enter, but stay together in a group and follow me.” Stretching out and stepping away from cuddling Nefer as she addressed us, she then tilted her head. “Want to hear my last riddle anyway?”
“Sure.” The pleasant mood had us all smiling.
“You can see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I?” She smiled at us.
“The answer is, a reflection.” Said Fluttershy cheerfully, Baast only gave her an odd glare.
“Correct, so how’s Discord been doing since you went back to the future?” Baast did not seem to like Fluttershy very much.
“Oh he’s been doing perfectly fine Baast, he’s actually making friends now… though he’s still a little bit… wild.” When Fluttershy said that Baast brightened up.
“Yes, Discord never could stay committed to a relationship, because chaos.” Baast stated flatly. She swirled her right paw as we walked through the entrance and various torches lit up leading the way. “I still do love him so… I can accept friendship is chaotic enough for him and hopefully we will have benefits in the future.”