-Equus, Ponyville, Sugar Cube Corner, Silver Stream-
“Thanks for the shake Pinkie.” I smiled slightly and watched as Pinkie stopped vibrating excitedly and then smiled at me.
“No problem Silver-stream or is it Silver Stream, does your name need a hyphen? Has anyone ever asked you about it?” Pinkie was as confusing as she ever was. “So want a milkshake?”
“Sure I want a milkshake, if you’re offering. Also I don’t really care if it’s hyphen, altogether or separated.” A second later I took the offered strawberry milkshake in my claws, I slowly sipped away at it with a hurt in my chest. I sighed. “My name is still Silver Stream in the end.”
“What’s wrong Streamy?” Pinkie said taking a seat next to me.
“I miss Smolder and Ocellus.” I continued sipping as I put my thoughts in order. “Yona is fun, but she’s a bit too extreme sometimes. Gallus and I are doing the awkward dancing around one another’s feelings thing that eventually leads to true love. While Gallus is very adorable, it’s quite frustrating right now. Sandbar is a good friend, but he’s been busy lately learning to speak turtle.”
“Wait, someone’s teaching Sandbar to speak turtle?” Pinkie asked looking perplexed for once in her life.
“Yeah, apparently it’s this small turtle dove named Snickers teaching him, though I’m confused as to why the turtle dove would need money.” That was a mystery that had me curious.
“I think Snickers has an addiction to fast food. Also, I know it’s been a while, but I’m quite sure Smolder and Ocellus are alright. They do have one of the shadow fighters with them after all!” Giving Pinkie a confused look, I held out a claw and motioned for her to go on. “Right, guess you haven’t heard that story… well six beings other than me and my friends went to save the world from shadow monsters! Pom the lambkin is one and she’s currently with Smolder and Ocellus, she’ll keep them safe… she’s known as one of Huoshan’s friendliest guards for a reason!”
“Lambkin? Isn’t Twilight having a lot of trouble with them?” I saw the grimace on Pinkie’s face as soon as I asked that.
“Yeah- don’t worry about that. So how are things going between Yona and Sandbar?” Pinkie, I may be a bit of a ditz, but even I can see that was a dodge from a mile away with a mountain physically between us and I don’t have X-ray vision.
Or do I? My familiar is Edith…
-Elhorn, north of Cladinhold, Ocellus-
Thank goodness for on hoof medical supplies and Nicole having decent medical knowledge!
Dodo was quickly pulling the wagon to the south after our plan to kick that terrifying opossum away. Poor Dodo had a limp afterwards and Nicole said something about his leg being in the red after impact with Axel Gear.
“Do you--… do you think we killed him with what we did?” I didn’t want to be responsible for someone’s death.
“At best I think you just knocked him out for a minute.” Ligstrun was still panicking and looking everywhere in a paranoid fashion.
Out of all of the injured, Pom was currently the healthiest.
-A little more than a mile away in a trench-
A purpled gauntlet clenched and slammed down outside of the small trench, a sword lifted itself up and stabbed into the ground on the opposite side of the trench.
Axel pulled himself up and took one step out of the trench. He glanced around, leaned back his head and let loose a roar of frustration that could be heard for miles on end as he raised his sword to the sky.
He was quite furious, any Zebulos or Zephyrus unit that heard his rage had decided to give the area distance for several miles around and they stuck to the shadows.
A few seconds after finishing his emotional release, Axel stomped his way away from the trench and his rocket pack started charging up. He considered his injuries in the recent fight to be mild annoyances at best, he also needed to fix the giant dent in his armor.
He shot off back towards the east and eventually took out his rage on an entire Zephyrus regiment.
-Ocellus-
“Dodo, could you go a little faster?” I said with my eyes as wide open as possible. Both Ligstrun and Nicole looked about as spooked as I felt. I was feeling a bit lightheaded after the heavy magical expenditure used to just stun Axel Gear for the follow up attack by Dodo. “If it won’t hurt you too much.”
That we could hear and feel Axel Gear’s raw fury, even at this distance, was a horrifying experience.
Dodo started to limp at a quicker pace with a look of abject fear on his mechanical face as he warbled out a mechanical tone to match everyone’s feelings. He had run around in circles building up speed and then kicked Axel Gear after breaking the sound barrier like Rainbow Dash does.
That Axel Gear was already up in under two minutes and ready to continue fighting was beyond terrifying after Dodo almost broke his leg off kicking him.
I can see why Pom wasn’t impressed with Mr. Beezy now. Axel Gear wasn’t a demon, but he certainly fought and acted like one. He got up from a blow that would have at least incapacitated or crippled anyone else for weeks if it didn’t just kill them outright.
“He survived that?!” Pom asked in a shrill tone as Nicole helped her finish tying off the bandage around Shanty’s shoulder.
Pom hugged a sleeping Shanty to herself affectionately, she would definitely go to bat for the little goat and would certainly open her home to her. We would all be able to go home back on Equus, we just needed to keep going.
“I take it that Pom said something about Axel Gear surviving that, she obviously doesn’t know him as well as everyone on this planet does. He’s survived planet fall twice, several mechs exploding out from under him, being spaced without protective gear and was said to have been likely caught in the destruction of the Pig Star. If none of that could kill him, then what we just did only made him angry. He’s the main reasons dissenters are absolutely afraid to turn against Emperor Gedol, aside from all the lethal experiments.”
“Is this Emporer Gedol keen on turning himself into a machine?” Nicole asked.
“Oh no, he’s far too smart to fall for that after hearing what happened with Yellow Dog.” Ligstrun shivered and huddled his knees up against his chest and wrapped his tail around his legs, his back was still causing him pain. “He’s a dark sorcerer that just wants to rule all of Elhorn, he doesn’t want it destroyed or turned into machinery. He was definitely looking into the possibilities of somehow performing planet wide mind control magic too from what I’ve heard.”
That didn’t seem to appease Nicole’s suddenly sad mood somewhat.
“Well most malicious machinery is thankfully contained to coming from Devotindos City then.” Nicole sighed with a slight bit of relief. “If we can deal with the factories that build them, then we can hopefully end the threat of evil cores… on this world at least. You know, before someone comes along and decides to make things exponentially worse. Which has already happened when I was asleep!”
Her mechanical lynx form apparently used various parts from Swat-bots, the mechanical panther and a few of the cleaner robots. Even if her looks were uncanny and slightly unusual, she still felt very friendly to me emotionally.
After a long silence, Nicole broke it.
“It’s concerning that Axel did more damage to Dodo than Dodo did to him with that kick.” Nicole stated as Dodo stumbled slightly. A determined look cross his eyes and he warbled slightly, he then started to pull us at the same pace previously as we were in sight of Cladinhold. “Was Axel Gear truly entirely biological?”
“Yes, and that’s what makes him scary!” Whimpered out Ligstrun, as we continued onwards until we came close to Cladinhold.
We were met with a checkpoint loaded with various armed beings and someone quite familiar to us.
“Hold, identify yourselves!” It was Biggs greeting us, it was quite nice to see a friendly face after meeting Axel Gear.
“White Knight Couriers successfully returning from Hydrigal… for the most part.” I answered as I hopped out of the wagon and watched Dodo flop onto his butt with a pained whine that tugged at my heart. I didn’t know how to fix machines, maybe Ligstrun could take a look at him? “We just recently ran into Axel Gear up north, we’ve heard a lot about him… but the rumors just didn’t do him any form of justice on just how horrifying he is in a fight.”
“You survived Axel Gear? That’s a huge feat in and of itself… did you get a response from Hydrigal?” I quickly levitated out the messages for Biggs, he took them and looked into the wagon at the poor conditions of everyone. He hissed as he saw their wounds. “Yeah, you definitely ran into him, his work is just that recognizable. The guy’s a nightmare to fight unless your name is Sparkster, then it’s more of an even playing field. Okay what’s with those two?”
He pointed at Nicole who was trying to make herself look small with her mechanical triangular ears folding backwards, the many white rubber tubes simulating a mane hid her face. Ligstrun just held up his claws in a peaceful gesture and showed that he absolutely wasn’t armed for a fight of any kind.
“A defector from Gedol and a friendly machine we found in Hydrigal, we trust them.” I said without a single quaver in my voice. “Hydrigal was really nice by the way, too bad it’s in the middle of Gedol’s territory. We helped with a small problem that made the people there more amiable towards the cause of stopping Gedol.”
“Good enough for me, it takes guts to defect with Axel Gear around… I take it that’s why he attacked you?” Biggs clutched the messages in his hand tightly.
“No he was specifically looking for our courier group, I think he was sent out to hunt us down since we attacked some supply depots on the way.” I felt the sympathy as Biggs hissed loudly. “He was targeting us specifically before he knew we even had Ligstrun with us.”
“Well you’re safe here… mostly… don’t know if we actually have enough men here if Axel Gear attacks Cladinhold.” Biggs cleared his throat as he passed the message to an arriving Wedge. “I definitely mean by himself of course, far worse if he actually has a task force under his command with him. A task force like that would fight like their lives depended on it if Axel was standing at their backs, it would also be quite accurate to say that the task forces lives would definitely depend on it. That said, welcome back… to relative safety. Kick up your feet and get some rest, looks like you’ve earned it.”
As he was talking to us, a manually controlled land strider strode up to the northern Cladinhold checkpoint and the shrew on it was shaking like a leaf.
“Good news and bad news Sir Biggs. The bad news is that…” The scout was cut off.
“Axel Gear?” Biggs queried, the scout nodded while his eyes darted about. “Well that certainly confirms that he attacked our White Knight Couriers unit here and is in the area, as terrifying as that thought is. You don’t need to explain a thing… I think I have a decent idea as to what Axel Gear is currently doing. I’ll… get some people working on preparing a few graves for the fallen. What’s the good news?”
“Rocket Knight Sparkster has boarded and taken down Paeli’s personal airship in Eginasem and has even personally captured the ninja general Paeli! All forces in the Eginasem region have been routed.” The scout made everyone cheer, apparently that was the best news they’ve had all day. “Not only that, he even found one of the magical swords that was impaled into the Paeli’s Flagship by a Zephyrus soldier. Gedol forces didn’t even know it was there! Now Sparkster is looking for rumors of the remaining magic swords.”
“Wait… we’ve seen one of them!” Ligstrun suddenly stated with excitement a need to help by the way his emotions were flaring, the opossum scout and Biggs eyed him warily. “Axel Gear has one!”
“There’s also rumor of a sword possibly being somewhere within the factories under the central palace of Devotindos coming from the pigs down south… we might have to think of breaching the walls of the city soon. Oh squeaks, that’s going to be one heck of a battle!” The scout nodded seeming to look a bit grim. “Those might even be the only remaining magical swords Sparkster needs.”
“Right in the heart of the enemy and in the hands of one of the most dangerous beings to ever walk Elhorn, because of course they are! At least Sparkster already has all of the other swords.” Biggs sighed loudly while running a paw over his face. “Right, spread the word in town and make sure to find some way for this news to reach Sparkster quickly once he’s done supporting Eginasem’d cleanup and possibly visiting Noisy Toys for a break from all the fighting. We need him to come back here so we can start planning our assault on Devotindos.”
“Noisy Toys?” I queried idly as the scout moved onwards into Cladinhold after giving Biggs a salute.
“The city of music, Noisy Toys, probably the friendliest technology based form of civilization you’ll find on this entire world. Most likely the only one too, what with Devotindos being the obvious worst... said technology includes teleporters and vacuum transport tubes, plus lots of giant musical instruments that make orchestra night a thing for the locals as much as the tourists. Those symphonies are literally music to these big ears.” Biggs flicked his right ear with an appreciative smile. Naming a city Noisy Toys just sounded weird to me. “The city is named for all the amazing stuff they have going on there thanks to Princess Flora, you should probably visit there just to see it once when this war is over with… provided you survive long enough with Axel Gear actively on the prowl. Oh sorry… I’ve kept you for long enough, move on through and see your friends to the local wards for any medical help on us!”
Dodo, still resting, lifted his head and slowly stood up. He gave off a friendly warble to Biggs before making his way forward into Cladinhold with a slow limp.
-Pom-
I didn’t say anything, I just leaned back looking at the sky with a sigh. Being consistently sore, battered and bruised was not the way I wanted to live my life.
I needed a hug, but I wasn’t going to ask for one.
Why I’d even take a big hug from Paprika right this instant.
When will our torment stop?
-Equus, Ponyville, Café, Paprika-
“What’s wrong dear?” Turning to Velvet the fluffy reindeer that was having a tea party with a nice unicorn named Rarity, I whined pitiably.
“Meep.” I could feel someone needed a big hug, but I couldn’t get to them to give them one.
“Why don’t I give you a hug instead, will that make you feel better?” Yes, but only for a short while Velvet, my hug senses are tingling fiercely for something I just couldn’t cuddle.
“Meep!” I still wanted to hug the one that needed it and couldn’t get to.
“It’s okay Paprika, come here, it’s alright… a quick snuggle against my glorious floof will make you feel better!” Velvet wrapped her hooves around me and I felt a warmth happily bursting in my chest at her touch.
“Meep.” I missed hugging Pom, but Velvet’s floof was always enticing and comforting.
“You two are so adorable together!” Rarity stated quite loudly while clapping her hooves together lightly. “How ever did you two end up with that brute of a cow that’s become recent good friends with my dear friend Applejack?”
“Long story.” Velvet muttered as she took a sip of tea while holding me close with one hoof. “We have the time, especially if Arizona has to suddenly help the local construction company rebuild half of Ponyville… again.”
“Hey, we aren’t that bad Velvet!” Pinkie shouted as she walked along the street with Silver Stream. “Sure Ponyville has been destroyed like… count that one, carry the two… twenty three times in the last few weeks, but it’s not really that big a deal!"
“Funny, I only know of seventeen of those incidents, what were the other six?” Velvet asked flatly.
“Meep.” Added Paprika smartly as she snuggled against her reindeer.
Pinkie glared at Paprika, but couldn’t deny the truth she had spoken.
-Elhorn, three hours later, Cladinhold, Tavern, Pom-
We were going to be here a few days while our friends injuries heal, but apparently Nicole and Ligstrun had earned some jobs and didn’t have to travel with us anymore. They still wanted to though.
Apparently Sparkster’s mech, known as Sparkrobo, had been heavily damaged in a battle with Axel Gear over the first magical sword and was currently being interred here in Cladinhold for major repairs. It was probably why Cladinhold previously came under assault in the first place.
So now Ligstrun and Nicole had jobs getting it operational and ready to charge straight into Devotindos City. Unfortunately some of the more unique resources needed were up in Yellow Dog territory.
Having seen the big blue machine myself still in the process of being fixed, it was certainly more impressive looking than the blander looking Zebulos Guardian Mech that Colleen had used in the defense of Cladinhold.
It made me wonder what Sparkster went through before he saved us from the world’s deadliest train engine, I’ve only ever seen the guy once. He’s apparently dealt with Axel before, single hoofed with no help from anyone, multiple times.
We only faced Axel Gear once and I never wanted to meet him again, even on a bright day surrounded by all my strongest friends!
My goodness do a need a good frolic, the stress is getting to me and I can’t even do that for the fear of Axel Gear finding me alone and slaughtering me. I saw him turn off the magic in the sword as he was about to drive it into my spine, he might have been able to pierce my wool with that.
Mr. Beezy was simple, a slight breath of fresh air. Axel Gear on the other hoof… nightmare incarnate, my dreams wouldn’t be filled with killer machines anymore… no, they would just be filled with ‘the killing machine’ now.
“Pom? Are you okay?” Ocellus asked as she walked up to the table.
“Ocellus, how’s Smolder looking?” Having witnessed it personally, I don’t want to know how strong Axel Gear actually was if he could knock someone like Smolder unconscious with a single hit.
“She’ll be fine… hopefully... it terrifies me that Axel damaged her scales with a projectile attack. A dragon’s scales are usually too tough to damage for anyone.” Yeah, that also goes to show that those swirling blade beams were a good thing to be hit by. “It doesn’t help that Smolder has a nasty concussion from where he punched her. Now back to you.”
“I need a hug Ocellus.” I stated honestly without any other thought in mind.
Within seconds I felt her hugging me and I felt an unnatural warmth flooding me.
“What are you...?” I was swiftly cut off.
“Just giving some love back to you.” Ocellus answered. “Also… I need a hug too.”
“We need a break from all of this insanity don’t we?” I started hugging her back.
“You think?! This world is absolutely one hundred percent certified nuts Pom!” Ocellus was distressed. I eventually let her go and she did the same with me after nuzzling my fluff a bit. “We’ve come to a world where machines try to destroy everything and can consume people alive. The technological levels around here are schizophrenic between medieval and beyond what anything on Equus is feasibly capable of. Everyone on this planet is descended from people that came from a completely different world under even worse conditions. The most normal thing on this planet seems to be magic, when magic is supposed to be something wondrous and hard to understand! Here magic is basically all focus oriented and it just works based on that.”
“Yeah, this world hasn’t been fun has it?” My words were met with a flat stare. The red squirrel came by our table and dropped off some fruit juice for us. I smiled and sipped at my drink, Ocellus did the same with hers. “Well look at it this way, any world we could possibly go to next might be far better than this… except for Mobius. Mobius sounds like a death trap compared to living here. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t Equus, at this point I just want to go to another world just as long as we don’t end up on Mobius which is1 bound to be far worse that this has been.”
“I be happily going along with the sentiment of wanting to get off of this world, but it being cool and we be having friends here.” In a three legged walk, because her shoulder was messed up, Shanty carefully pulled up a seat. “Is it bad that I be wanting a hug too?”
I got up, walked around the table and pulled Shanty into a tender soft embrace, making sure not to put any pressure on her injured body.
“Look at me… I’m every dogs favorite cuddle toy and we’re going to end up in Yellow Dog or my name is Mud.” I muttered self-deprecatingly. “You better get as much rest as you can tonight Shanty, we’ll likely be needed back on the road soon enough to do more courier work. As survivable as it’ll ever get at this rate… they’re going to want us to help improve moral by traveling around in spite of Axel Gear.”
“I will be a salty sea dog and you are being very fluffy, so it must be true that you’re a cuddle toy.” Shanty intoned as she got her good leg around me and hugged me tightly. “Can you be ordering me some rum?”
“You shouldn’t be drinking rum Shanty.” I wondered why saying that to Shanty was such an insult to her?
“Why? I’ve drunk an entire barrel before, never got why people be getting those hangover things from drinking it.” Oh right... it was a little odd to think about it, but I just realized that Shanty probably couldn’t possibly get drunk. “It be tasting alright to me, good for pain as far as I’m concerned.”
“That’s probably because of your ridiculously weird metabolism that makes it impossible for you to get a hangover, much less mentally impaired by drinking alcohol.” I still didn’t like the idea of letting Shanty drink though. “Even if you can metabolize it like lightning and get no negative effects from it, you’re sticking to fruit juice Shanty. Mostly for the sake of my conscience.”
“Well okay then, but I still be wanting something for all this pain at least.” I patted Shanty on the head affectionately and went back to my seat.
“We’ll work on that after we’re done here.” The atmosphere in here was pretty calming. “So… food?”
“You be knowing the answer Pom…" Shanty shouted with a cute giggle. "Always!”