//------------------------------// // Chapter Seventy Two, Swing and a Misses: Certified. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Manehatten outskirts, Celestia- “Well at least the storm will give us ample excuses for all the damage that is caused by the fighting.” I muttered to my sister, she only snorted loudly in response. “Yes, an alicorn made from Discord’s Poison Joke most certainly did not just run amok in this lovely fine city full of our… well I guess they aren’t exactly our subjects anymore are they sister?” Luna was looking particularly thoughtful right now, I guess the weight of Nightmare was still haunting her slightly. I thought after Starlight swapped our talents around that it would cease to bother her, I’ve been known to be wrong. “I am glad that we were able to at least keep anyone from getting in the way or getting hurt.” “Jade did plan to keep civilians from getting hurt, even if the collateral damage to the surrounding infrastructure wasn’t something she was going to be able to avoid.” Is it so wrong that I still wanted to snuggle Jade for being cute even when she wasn’t trying? After all the trauma she’s been through Jaded hasn’t changed all that much despite how long it took for her to come back. Jaded was quite an amazing individual. It made me feel somewhat better about being immortal, especially given that one of my worst fears is losing who I am at times. Jade showed me that time can’t beat determination, willpower, love and friendship, even the death of my past life couldn’t break the bonds of our friendship. I don’t think I will ever have to worry about becoming Day Breaker, especially not with my sister at my side and my friendships with Twilight and Cadence. Despite stepping down from ruling Equestria, my cutie mark still ties into my godhood fairly well and my special talent will never really be able to disappear. Even if we can give Twilight the ability to raise and lower the sun and moon, Luna and I will always be better at it. I remember telling Twilight we’d be around whenever she needs us, because it’s not like we’ll ever really die of old age. “Do you think everyone from Airship Mauled will be okay?” After this I know Silver Shoals will be waiting for Luna and I to take a much needed vacation from all pomp and circumstance. We will be free to pursue whatever it is we want to do, since we will literally have all the time in the world. “Eh, my people will live, and they’ll even heal too. I’ve taught them much, so they better be okay.” Sekhet grinned a little as she looked from the starry sky to the place where Liberty used to be, this was technically the fourth time that statue has been animated. It’s the first time Liberty has actually left her pedestal though. “I wonder how Jade finished her off. This is really quite a nice night Luna, too bad that nasty storm took up a portion of it.” “Thank you for the compliment Lady Sekhet.” Luna bowed lightly to her. “Jade had the whole day planned out.” Her sister Baast was shooting me looks and tilting her head towards Sekhet in a provocative manner, I just rolled my eyes. Goodness knows how many euphemisms she’ll go through for her sister, all just because she understandably wants her to be happy. I might actually partake in the annoyingly stupid sexy sphinx just to shut Baast up. “Knowing her as well as I do, she likely took her out in a ridiculous manner. It’ll be like how Mirage took Mosey Wrath down with an oven mitt.” “I would like to hear this story about the supposed scourge of Saddle Arabia, but only when there are less pressing issues at hoof.” Luna was correct, we needed to start cleaning things up. I just hoped Liberty returned to her spot soon. -Somewhat prior to Nightmare Rage’s defeat, Ardent Survivor, Flotsam- “Where do you think Jacky got off to?” Having been given command of the ship, I had spent the better part of the fight keep an eye on things as well as I could with the storm going on. We were also staying well out of the way of the fighting, except for the moment I threw that anvil to help out our illustrious luck challenged leader. We were supposed to be following either Jade or the pony that was after her, both of them were actually quite difficult to keep track of. “She’s probably in the building that’s burning down over there.” Stated Nefer as he pointed out a building that was on fire. The rain, for whatever reason, hadn’t put said fire out. “Why would she be in a… oh right, this is our captain we’re talking about here.” Felt kind of stupid about what I was about to ask knowing our captain’s luck. “Of course she’s in the building that’s in the middle of burning down while it’s raining. Yes, we’ll stop to pick the captain up Nefer, stop sending me those pouty looks little brother.” “Please hurry, I’m keeping tabs on Jade and she isn’t looking too good. That Stochastic Labor is really something else even with all the stuff she’s been put through.” Our guest, Oleander, was using her magic to keep track of the fight in progress. I was personally grateful that I wasn’t currently a casualty of it. “She’s doing pretty well for a mortal, BUT THAT HAS SERIOUSLY GOT TO HURT!” It seemed Fred was better tuned in to what was going on than Oleander was. Was it weird that I actually considered Fred as one of the more normal things about my life? I steered us to the building that was brightly lit against the dark and the rain. I lowered the ship near the building and a flaming figure leapt out through a window onto the deck where she started rolling around violently until all the fire was put out… or the shark on Gene’s spear finally stopped trying to bite her. “I’m not even going to ask about the shark or why you are mostly wet despite being on fire when you just came out of a burning building.” I’ve learned long since joining Jacky that you don’t question physics or even reality around her. “You okay there captain, are we having another Sharknado incident?” “I’m fine and no it’s not another ‘Sharknado’ thing, though some shark fin soup made by my mother would be nice…” She grumbled as she ripped the spear out of the shark’s neck, then reached around to her backside to start plucking teeth out of her butt. “Where’s Jade?” “Where do you think your nutcase of a sister is?” Pointing to through the wind, the chill and the rain, through the storm and the flood, we could see Liberty moving to stop a tsunami. “Huh, so that’s where the Animating Album went… we’re heading for Liberty’s Island!” Well duh we were going there captain, like you ever really take us anywhere safe or sane to begin with. Not that I’m complaining, I loved traveling and adventure now. “We were already on course for it anyway captain!” I said as I watched the large shadow shoot out to sea. “I think that might have been Liberty…” “Wow, give the mare some credit… SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD DESTROY A NORMAL UNICORN!” Fred then promptly turned to Oleander. “I definitely don’t consider you normal, BECAUSE I KNOW YOU COULD EASILY DO THAT AS AN EXCEPTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL MEMBER OF YOUR SPECIES OLLIE!” “While I love your confidence in me Fred, and you are such a charmer, please keep your focus on the fight at hoof.” Oleander couldn’t accurately hit anything at this distance in the storm anyway. “Oh dear… Jade’s down and that alicorn is about to… wait, what in the world?!” We all saw it, shining like a falling star, it was a streak of raw fury and burning green coming from the sky at an insane speed. It was fairly visible in the dark and it struck the top of the pedestal where Liberty used to be with a thunderous crash that could be mistaken for lightning by anyone not in our given positions. “Never mind, we don’t exactly have anything to worry about anymore.” Oleander said with a slightly mystified look on her face. “To be sure, Fred and I are going down there to scout things out first. Bamf!” With that the dark magic unicorn disappearing in a puff of smoke from the ship, we looked at each other and then at the clear skies up above as the storm completely faded away. “Sure is a beautiful night tonight.” I admired the stars for a moment, before Jacky turned to me. “Bring us in closer Sammy!” As my beloved captain ordered, I turned the ship and brought us lower. I was hoping that we weren’t attacked as we got closer, but it seems my worries were unfounded as Nefer put a spotlight on the sight below us. Said light was donated to us by the Storm Queen's Storm Army of Baked Goods, also known as Jacky’s sister Fizzle. What a odd world we live in where evil armies start peddling baked goods worldwide to build up funds for rebuilding the things that they had previously destroyed. Oleander looked up to us and waved as she pointed in a direction and Nefer moved the spotlight over the grisly scene below as we came to a hover nearby. The crater had an earth pony in it, bit of bloodstained water and it was easy to recognize that she wasn’t capable of getting up any time soon and was in dire need of medical help. The Abyssinian thief, Jacky’s other sister with the horrible dyscalculia, was just as bad as her blood was starting to pool on the pavement of Liberty’s pedestal. “Get them both up here!” Jacky shouted to Oleander who nodded to us. “Bamf! Is anyone here a doctor?” Asked Oleander as Jade and the mysterious Stochastic started to bleed out on the deck, I was going to have to clean that up later. It wasn’t long before both combatants were on the deck with a scorched green rubber ball that seemed extremely familiar to me. It had the words ‘For my lovers while I sleep this off’ written on it. I’d swear that was the same ball Jade told Snickers to set into motion twenty four hours ago… how did it end up coming from the sky like that? Not to mention the logistics of it directly hitting an alicorn from being that high up. There is no way that math was involved, since it was Jade’s plan. “I’m a medically trained professional, for emergencies only!” Nefer announced cheerfully. “I’m also a medically trained professional for emergencies.” I muttered loudly in a sardonic tone. “Is there anyone here who is a fully trained medical professional that is not for emergencies?” Oleander asked wryly in a silly tone, she was clearly not expecting an answer. She really didn’t know our crew very well. Belfry raised a leg and waved it wildly to earn Oleander’s attention, once it was clear that he had it, he proceeded to pull out his laminated MD license. The ship’s pet was still rather smug about it and he looked to Jacky expectantly wanting to treat the captain’s shark related injuries. “Seriously… the giant butterfly is a fully licensed doctor?!” We were right there with you Oleander, Belfry was a constant smug pain in our backsides about being the first in the crew to earn an actual medical license. Only in Equestria can a giant butterfly be considered a full on medical professional, despite having the general intelligence of a dog. It really says a lot about Equestria’s laws that Belfry even got a license in the first place, hopefully their medical system wasn’t as equally absurd as our lives were. This would at least explain Mr. Escargot being Dr. Bones’ favorite nurse, physical therapist and familiar. “To be fair, everyone on my crew is an international emergency medical practitioner at the very least.” Jacky mumbled with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. “Except for me that is… but I’m the one they keep their skills up on. I love my crew and my crew loves me enough to be trained to save my life multiple times over. Also, no Belfry you won’t be tending to my shark bites. Bring out several medical kits Nefer. Belfry, I seriously can’t believe I’m actually trusting you with this, you will see to Jade and patch her up until we can get her to Dr. Bones. Sammy I’ll see to steering the ship while you check out Ms. Jerkass bleeding out on my deck over there. Oleander, just sit back and relax.” “Can do, I’m fairly tired after all the teleporting I’ve done tonight.” With a flick of her dark mane, Oleander grabbed Fred and cuddled him against her chest as she started to lounge on the deck. I relinquished my position to Jacky and went to check the mare’s injuries. This Stochastic Labor was a yikes and a half, she had burns, cuts, contusions, broken bones, tons of missing fur and hair, what looked like a shrunken sabre tiger's bite mark in the middle of her back and finding what wasn’t injured was far quicker than what was. Frankly the fact that this mare was even still breathing was a miracle in and of itself. I looked over to Belfry and saw that he had splinted Jade’s right arm, left leg and was wrapping some bandages around her neck like a cute scarf. He was acting quite adept at what he was doing, he was also being surprisingly gentle. -A half hour later, Rally Point, Medical Tent, Dr. Bones- “I really hate the lot of you…” For getting injured so often, but I wasn’t about to tell them I cared… about them being a bunch of idiots. At least I had tenure as the La Perm’s favorite doctor, which wasn’t so bad all things considered. “I’ll admit I’m fairly surprised about the butterfly being intelligent enough to actually do a halfway decent job, but that’s all he did! Jade’s an utter mess, had to pull quite a few bits of scrap out of her and her right arm is mangled to Tartarus and back, but She’ll still be capable of making a full recovery or I’m not worth my license. We probably won’t be seeing her outside of a bed for months though.” “That’s good.” Fizzle muttered, as she rubbed at the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest. “I should thank mom for all those stamina potions.” “Don’t take any more of those for at least two weeks, they can only give you back so much strength!” I told the poor wee nag, she was barely awake. “The side effects are what you’re feeling now, get some rest and I promise you she’ll still be alive when you wake up. Don’t endanger your health any further or so help me… I ‘might’ consider putting in a two weeks’ notice.” “I still can’t believe I destroyed that horn…” Fizzle laid back and closed her eyes, she been through quite a bit tonight. I’m a physical doctor not a mental one, though I'll give it a fair shake. I moved over to Stochastic Labor, she was being prepped for a full body cast by Escargot. She's lucky that I can get her walking again.