Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows


Chapter Sixty Nine, Wounds and Time: Cut.

-Canterlot, morning, Luna-

“Sister I’m still having those horrible nightmares about rainbows…” My sister quirked an eye at me in worry. “No, it’s not the elements of harmony. It’s someone else I’m trying to help. However the nightmare is quite overpowering and the only thing that seems to dealing with it is a tree. An extraordinary looking one. It is something like the tree of harmony, only much bigger! I don’t even know its true size.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something Luna.” She told me with a hug, one that included her wings. My sister was always there for me, but I haven’t always been there for her.

Nightmare Moon doesn’t bother me anymore, but this… this new nightmare. The flood of rainbows spewing from a body wracked with pain, they almost seemed impervious to my attempts except when a tree appears and soaks up that which spills from the dreamer’s body.

-Airship Mauled, days before Twilight takes over Equestria, Fizzle-

So… Jade killed Bennu…

The eventual flashing marks on everyone’s butts said the friendship mission was done. How Fluttershy managed it, I don’t know, I don’t care, but at least Jade was still here… and moping.

Daring had left to go find another adventure, she didn’t need to see The End of Immortality, not anymore. She left the guardian of it alone and told her to get better soon.

Jade hasn’t said much in the last few weeks, she’s been lazily going through the motions.

Baast has decided to ultimately live here and maybe run a serpopard farm eventually. She must seriously love serpent cats, her sister Sekhet loved them too.

In fact, Sekhet seems to be ignoring the fact that Jade killed Bennu entirely. She still treated Jade as an honored friend. It was honestly fairly odd, concerning Jade didn’t seem to want to do much and yet Sekhet kept trying to get through to her.

We were giving Jade space, but I think we’ve given her enough. So I was going to force myself into her bubble whether she liked it or not.

“Jade… do you still have the ring?” I asked as I poked my head into her room and went in to see her curled up in her cardboard box fort.

“Do you want it back?” Jade wasn’t being herself.

“No, it’s yours and you’re a part of our herd Jade.” This like the eighth time I’ve had to reassure her. Now I know how it felt when we were younger and she constantly reassured me that I was beautiful. “Maries and I will drag you into being snuggled, even kicking and screaming if we have to.”

“I sometimes wonder where her soul got off to, Bennu’s I mean, as I spent the last few thousand years watching the world as an astral projection barely able to interact with it.” At least Jade was talking to me, she seriously needed to get the lead out of her flanks and get back into the swing of things. Where was that lovely madness? “Your parents were nice Fizzy, if only they could have taken care of you. You would have loved them. My father was a nice stallion beyond all measure too.”

I trotted over to Jade, she was naked, lazy and currently alone. I laid down at her back and pulled her into my hooves, I looked at her thighs and bit my tongue. Did I really want to ask about it now? No, Jade didn’t need an inquisition.

“I’m sure I would have, but they are not here now are they? You are. I’m currently with my family, the one that loves and cherishes who I am.” I whispered into her ear. It flicked, but Jade didn’t react much more than that. “You’re not exactly here at the moment, but you’ll get here soon enough Jade… you’ve seen and done a lot of traumatic things, mostly to yourself. Say, how about we come up with a way for you to tease the royal guards in Canterlot?”

“Don’t feel like it…” We all needed some time to get our heads together, none of our friends hated Jade. They were worried about her more than anything. I mean, it’s not every day that you hear a story like the one Jade told us. We think that it’s amazing that she’s still sane, but after finishing the story all we knew was that she was still hurting even if she wanted to be here with us. “Would Icky Dress even want to see me?”

“Knowing the both of you, you want to see each other more than anything. You know where she is and how to reach her given you got that letter and you burned it before anyone else could read it.” Her fur was matted and she wasn’t being healthy. Slowly getting up on my hind legs, I have had about enough of this. “Come on, I’m bathing you!”

I dragged her to the bathroom, she wouldn’t look me in the eyes the entire time. She realizes that no one hates her right?

“Jade, you literally waited an eternity for us. For us it has been a little more than six years. We still want you in our lives and…” I came up with the most ridiculous thing I could think to say in this situation. “Fight me…”

“Wha…” Before Jade could get her question out, I slapped her across the face.

“Fight me Jade, show me there’s still at least some of that beloved spirit in you yet!” We would spend the next thirty minutes roughing each other up.

Eventually I’d bathe my kitty without remorse.

-One hour later-

“You became more distant the more you told your story, now let me tell you mine… I walked away from Airship Mauled directionless, slept under a tree in the middle of a storm of emotional trauma, joined up with the Storm King and then eventually killed him.” I told her this calmly and methodically. “I’m still considered the Storm Queen even if I’m not officially part of them anymore, but Grubber is at least making something of it. I’m glad he was a lazy, face stuffing, sugar hog… and a great friend.”

“The Storm King wasn’t your friend Fizzy…” Jade had been mostly watching over me the entire time since I was born. It’s a bit creepy to know I had someone with me the entire time, but given that it’s Jade, I’d rather take is as her being sweet.

“I know that, everyone who knows me knows that, but it only happened because I had suddenly started losing all the pieces of my world. I even decided to walk away from what was left.” I pressed my face into her fur and took a big whiff of it. It smelled like Jade, even felt like her. The spark between us and her wasn’t gone, it’s just that Jade’s personal spark is dim. I wanted to reignite that light that made life fun. “You were a part of that and that’s the remaining piece that needs to be inserted back where it belongs Jade. Do you know I’m still terrified of large bears? I practically scream arkoudaphobia at the smallest sign of one being nearby, yet I live here near Barely Bearable Woods full of giant monsters. I should be having horrifying drop bear nightmares, but I would fight an Ursa Major for threatening you!”

“Did you know that I didn’t patch you up the night that we met?” She sent a look towards me out of the corner of her left eye as I started to drag her away from the bathroom.

Jacky ran into the bathroom a second later looking like she had been doused with acid judging by the way her clothes were smoking.

“Yeah, and I don’t care that you have a past life either, screw caring about who you were before or what you could have done. I’m worried about who you are now!” I received a rather shocked look from Jade. “Yes, mom told us, we just don’t care. Even if you could have somehow prevented my horn from being broken, I prefer my horn this way if it means that I met you! Even Snickers is upset that you’re not playing with her, but she’s been far happier that your figuratively back. She’s learning to juggle to try and cheer you up. A little happy flying turtle is teaching herself how to juggle, for you. It’s a complete disaster to watch, but your little buddy is trying for you!”

“…” Jade laid back down, but I heard a faint chuckle escape her lips. I had dragged her back to her room, but I wouldn’t let her hide in her cardboard boxes anymore.

“What happened to that energetic, crazy cat, who would always take the opportunity to toy with the royal guards? Where’s my friend and lover who couldn't care less about my slight horn disability? Well it’s not so much of a disability anymore. I’ve surpassed my limits and I can pick up individual grapes without them exploding in my magic… Anyway, aren’t you the cat who humorously started coming onto a chimera and then it became a thing?” She didn’t react to any of that, but I knew the one thing that would get her back into a cheerful mood. “Didn’t you jump off the side of Canterlot without an idea of how you’d land? I’m pretty sure the royal guards were astonished at your audacity Jade, because I certainly am. Celestia would probably want to apologize to you too for failing to get a bodyguard who couldn’t keep up with the likes of Jaded ‘Freaking’ La Perm. ”

“Celestia… that… huh…” Jade sat up and looked me in the eyes, the missing madness was no longer missing. I could see it back and she brought me into a deep kiss, my muzzle going over her slightly smaller and narrower face. She eventually pulled back. “I want to go see Icky Dress, it’s been a long time since her mother has done something completely off the wall odd! We’re not normal, we do not mope, we aid each other emotionally, but most of all as a family… we can’t go more than a few weeks without the La Perm family doing or seeing something abnormal!”

“Well Velvet made a living snow deer the other day named Olaf, she sent him towards the reindeer town of Rein to do some pranks…” Slowly wondering how I had gotten through to Jade, I continued. “You also missed Maries learning to sing opera. They wanted to wear phantom masks and steal you from the restaurant to get you outside, but I talked them down.”

“And I missed those events? Darn it, I would have loved to talk to a magical creature made entirely of snow, or watch Maries learning to sing in operatic. Do they all sing or just one of them?” Jade was coming back to herself rather quickly. “Also, when is my first therapy appointment?”

“Yeah, about that… we also got some new members in Airship Mauled that haven’t been introduced to you or your general brand of insanity. I mean Anubis dropped by and said he’ll gladly continue therapy sessions with you… what you did to him and yourself is still having some long term effect apparently.” I had plenty of gossip, because she was missing so much. Jade shivered and hugged herself, looked thoughtful for a moment, she then hugged me with a smile. “You even missed Savannah ‘The Wild’, your old foal sitter, meeting her match in the diamond dog Brenda Springer in a teasing contest! Tartarus, I don’t even know what everyone is doing right now, but I’m sure they are all waiting on you and whatever your strange plan to take out the leader of GODLESS is.”

“I won’t tell you who the leader is, but I did come up with a plan before you let me out of the statue and it is one of my best ones yet.” Jade suddenly slapped her right temple. “Oh my goddesses, did you tell mom about my…”

“The cutie marks on your hips, nope. Though if you want a cuteceanera, then we do know of a colorful band of traveling mariachi changelings that are currently around.” I smiled, my eyes were lighting up as fast as Jade’s. “So half pony huh? It doesn’t show much aside from the green hair. You are a weird Abyssinian, did you know that? You actually make me want to somehow get Maries to go through parthenogenesis, but that would be out of wedlock so… what’s your special talent?”

“You know how I go petty kitty on things Fizzy? The plans that I make? Yeah… apparently I make plans to burn people metaphorically and figuratively.” Okay I can see what Jade’s special talent is and she knew how to abuse it, long before those marks actually appeared on her hips. A sun in a strange upside-down jar with a squiggly metal bit at the bottom. “A talent for planning things shouldn’t be as bright as the sun. As a rogue sun priestess, what am I to do about it at this rate?”

“Okay, what did I say to bring you back like this exactly?” I just had to know. “Even Wary Berry said she’d say one nice thing about fruit if it would cheer you up. You look so sad that she isn’t going to do it now, you’re definitely back.”

“I’ll tell you later Fizzy.” There was that conniving gleam in Jade’s eyes as she rubbed her paws together. Whatever she wants, I’d follow it without question.

“Help… help… we need all the help we can get!” That sounded like… we both made our way down the stairs and we saw Gallus. Before he could say anything mom held out a potion to him and he drank it without question. “What is this… and why did I just drink it like that?”

“Calming potion, I was trying to make an excitement potion for Jade, but in the mood I’m in… it came out wrong. Personal emotions have an effect on potion making apparently.” Mom, Kurilian, was happy to see Jade up and moving. We were just waiting for the day she’d come back fully, and that day was today. “Still fairly useful to have though, as a witch I’ve outdone myself in making it fairly instantaneous.”

“Here, Gavin, say hello to your crazy aunt Jade! She’s looking much better now and she’s my other sister.” Jacky seeing, Jade in a better mood, immediately thrust the bundle of cuddles into Jade’s arms and she smiled.

“Okay, what’s the problem Gallus?” Mom asked of Gallus as his breath caught up with him.

“Grogar’s Bell, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, Twilight and her friends in great danger.” He was slightly incoherent, despite the calmness. “When does this wear off? I need to get more creatures involved.”

“Five minutes.” Mom crossed her arms while stating this proudly.

“Looks like we’re needed, come on Jade, let’s…” Putting her left hand on my withers, Jade shook her head no.

“Can’t be seen in public yet, all part of the plan. I need to remain gone to… certain eyes… you go help Twilight and her… our friends out.” Jade grinned and started petting Gavin. “I’ve just been given nephew sitting duty by Captain Blackcap.”

I soon took part in forming a barrier in time to save my friends with various other unicorns working in unison.