Slipstream stretched his wings and yawned, still feeling groggy, but vastly better now that his wounds were healed. He had yet to put back on his armor and gear, but still made himself useful by keeping an eye on the ongoing activity around the village while making it a point to still appear both intoxicated and disinterested. The villagers were in a flurry of activity as they bustled about with eager energy, gleefully anticipating the coming feast of rich foods and joyful celebration that would end with full bellies and a great night's sleep under Luna's moon.
He felt happy for them, but more than that, he felt a deep feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for being alive, and towards his alien friend who had once more stuck his neck out for him.
He glanced over at Rose Dust who continued to nervously pace back and forth, her pink eyes never once leaving the wooden long house that their captain had entered.
"Hey Rose, if you keep that up, you're going to wear a hole straight to Ponyang," Slipstream said with a smirk.
"He's been in there too long," the anxious thestral murmured to herself.
"Oh come on, if Queenie was really planning on eating him, we should have at least heard some screaming by now," he joked, drawing a nasty glare from his normally cheerful companion. Slipstream raised his hooves,
"Kidding, kidding, but seriously Rosy, you need to chill. Everything's going to be fine now. I mean, Sharps is standing guard, do you really think our little anomaly would really let anything happen to Flash? He'd be stacking bodies at this point if something like that happened."
This seemed to finally have an effect as Rose let out a sigh, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But seriously, how can he be so reckless with himself?! I mean, did you see his body? He's a year younger than I am and he already has more scars than a one-eyed minotaur juggling axes at a fight club!"
Slipstream smiled, "I've known Flash since we were both foals, that's just who he is. He never hesitates to throw himself into danger for us ponies. He's not reckless, it's just his devotion to Equestria often outweighs his sense of self-preservation, that's all."
"He won't live to see the birth of his own foals at this rate," Rose grumbled, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle.
"Nah, you don't know the human like I do. He's more crafty than he lets on."
"Da!" Echoed Sugar Rush, walking up towards his two companions, "No worries Rybka, you see. Captain has more lives than sack of cats!" The deep blue earth pony clanked to a halt in his armor next to the much smaller bat pony, heartily clapping her on the withers with what was meant to be a friendly gesture, not noticing that he almost knocked her off of her hooves.
Rose Dust chuckled a little as she wriggled out from under Sugar's massive hoof, ruffling her leathery wings. "Yeah, maybe you're right," she said before her tufted ears swiveled around towards a sound that caught her attention, her head following suit.
At least five pairs of enormous eyes belonging to a clutch of small fluffy foals were curiously peering from around the thick wooden legs of one of the tables that had been set up for the coming celebration. Rose Dust giggled to herself, forgetting her worry,
"It seems we have some company, boys." Slipstream turned to see the group of foals hiding shyly a few feet behind him under the table.
Rose Dust slowly moved towards the small ponies, a series of small clicks and squeaks emanating from her throat which caused the ears of the foals to twitch as they hesitantly began to approach the larger ponies. She smiled, leaning down to bump muzzles with a small, yellow filly who was the first to draw near. The other ones soon got over their fear, blinking up at the adult ponies with their large adorable eyes.
Slipstream felt his heart melt a little as a few of them came up to him, "Aww, well aren't they just the cutest little-" Slipstream blinked as the foals collectively smiled at him, revealing five shark's worth of small, sharp teeth, "...Bundles of nightmare fuel that I've ever seen..." he mumbled while scooting back a few feet; even Sugar raised an eyebrow in alarm.
Rose Dust meanwhile, had removed her helmet and pressed the quick-release tab under her cuirass so that she could slip out of her armor, setting it off to one side. She flicked her indigo mane out of her pink eyes,
"Hmph, clearly you boys have never been to a thestral rookery," She said before emitting a soft squeak that drew the foals' attention, "C'mere ya little cuties," she said with a grin, stretching out on the ground like a cat. The foals immediately responded by running over and smothering her with their furry little bodies in a tender display of snuggles, nuzzles, nips and squeaks.
Slipstream felt his jaw drop slightly in shock as he watched his teammate reveal a side of herself that he never knew existed, as she allowed the fuzzy little land piranhas to energetically roughhouse with her in a combination of playful headbutts, gentle bites, and all manner of play-fighting; she didn't even seem to mind the one presently tugging on one of her ears with his little sharp teeth, though a gentle warning growl occasionally emitted from her throat if one of the foals got too rough with her or one of the other foals.
"Yeaaah...Did you know that Rose was a secret den momma?" Slipstream remarked to Sugar, the massive earth pony cleared his throat,
"Ah, best not ask questions you do not want answers to, comrade." Slipstream opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the bursting sound of a messy teleportation spell. Lumen Dawn was suddenly next to them, the white unicorn panting from exertion while smoke from his hastily cast spell curled off of his ears and tail."
"That *gasp* mare...is...CRAZY!" He exclaimed between gasps for air.
"Hey, you were the one who volunteered to distract her, sir," Slipstream smirked in amusement.
Lumen Dawn grumbled under his breath, but it was true. He had volunteered to distract Ferra so as to give them all a moment of relief from her endless, homicidal-laced enthusiasm about life on Diomedia, but more importantly, to take the opportunity to plant the idea in her wacky head that as the human's protector, she had the duty to eat Flash if the two of them were ever in danger of being captured by an enemy so as to guard against the loss of sensitive intelligence about Equestria. He nearly had her convinced that it was what the human really wanted as it was his job to protect Equestria at any cost.
Tartarus, maybe she'll just eat him anyway, I doubt she'd need much of an excuse given that she starts drooling at the mere mention of him, Lumen pondered to himself. He was interrupted from his happy fantasies of the human being mauled to death when he caught sight of the pleasantly purring pony presently buried under a small mound of furry little heads and twitching ears. He uttered a disgusted noise,
"Ugh, Corporal, what do you think you are doing debasing yourself like that?" Rose lazily opened one contented eye, twisting her head to smile up at him,
"Why, winning the hearts and minds of the locals, sir," she smugly responded. Lumen snorted,
"Hmph, if that's what you want to call it," he said with a dismissive flick of his head while turning to walk away.
"What's the matter Lumen, afraid of having foals someday?" She playfully taunted after him. Lumen turned his head and glared his indignation at her as his ears shot up, a touch of red coming to his cheeks; he coughed to clear his throat before turning away, grumbling angrily to himself about 'lowborn trash' while Sugar Rush and Slipstream snickered to themselves at his expense.
As the sun dropped lower, they saw Flash finally step outside with Sanguina, the two of them appearing relaxed in the other's presence. Slipstream smiled before snatching up his gear, hurrying off to find a way he could be helpful to his friend.
Bloodsport downed another draught of mango wine, slamming his wooden tumbler down on the table, lazily eyeing the pitcher in front of him which tempted him for another drink. Though it was not nearly as tempting as a certain other object in the village that he couldn't take his mind off of, no matter how much he drank.
The human...He grumbled inwardly. It had angered him that the Queen had not just simply killed him in retribution for the crimes committed against them, but not as much as he was now upset by the fact that she had placed the ridiculously tantalizing creature under her protection, making him off-limits as a prey item.
He tried to put his mind off of it, the thought of indulging his blood lust, but the second he had considered the possibilities of how good it would feel had set his hooves to itching with desire, it was maddening to resist.
"Aww, what's the matter Bloodsport, trying to drown your disappointments in drink?"
Blood Sport cast a glance at the grinning black stallion with orange eyes and a dark blue mane before turning his attention back to his tumbler with a grunt.
"What do you want, Obsidian?" He mumbled as his companion pulled up a stool next to him,
"Want? Well, what if we both want the same thing?" Bloodsport's brown ears perked up, turning to stare at his friend who smiled slyly at him, "A pebble for your thoughts?" Bloodsport snarled, turning back to his tumbler,
"It's not right," he hissed, "For the Queen to just let them go like that, after what those Equestrians did to us! Somepony needs to do something about this!"
Obsidian chuckled, "You can drop the righteous outrage Bloodsport, I know you're just using that as an excuse, a reason to justify, maybe, having just a little taste."
Bloodsport swallowed nervously, "Well, can you blame me? You smelled that thing's blood, we've never experienced anything like that...How can we just let something as good as that slip by?!"
Obsidian remained quite for a long moment, looking up in thought, "I suppose he could have an accident during the night? After all, the island is a very dangerous place for foreigners, especially at night. You never know what might happen."
Bloodsport felt his heart grow still, Is he actually suggesting... He looked over and saw that the sly grin had never left Obsidian's face, a spark of mischievousness glinting in his friend's narrowing eyes.
"Ahem, well," he sputtered, glancing back and forth. "What, uh, did you have in mind?" Obsidian grinned,
"I thought you'd never ask."
The two ponies continued whispering in hushed undertones, a plan steadily forming between them as their fellow tribesponies hurried about around them in preparations, aloof to the conspiracy forming in their very midst.
At the same time, across the village square, a certain, scrawny young unicorn sat very still at another table, his face a hard mask of neutrality, as it almost always was; his ear occasionally flicking, while his horn emitted a barely perceptible, soft blue glow; the only visible evidence of the subtle hearing enhancement spell that he had been casting for the last twenty minutes.
After a few more well-timed minutes, Sharp Shot ceased his spell, casually downing his drink before affixing his black helmet back onto his head. He discretely trotted off towards the jungle, a gleam of cold focus fixed within his icy blue gaze.
The coming night would conceal much, but not nearly well enough, not from him.