Innavedr

by Imploding Colon


A Good Stallion

Eagle Eye was really neither asleep nor awake. He stared perpetually into a dank corner of his cell as the body of the Steel Wing tilted and swayed around him. He flared his nostrils against the dark recesses, fighting back another hour of relentless tears.

At last, a thumping sound echoed from across the brig. He gave a lethargic glance, his dull face framed by a frazzled mane. He squinted as a flicker of light spread across his cell and then spread even wider as it was accompanied by the rattling sound of the brig's gate opening.

As Eagle's vision came into focus, he saw two crew members standing, their horned heads silhouetted against the light of the day wafting in from the deck above.

"On your hooves, mercenary," one stallion grunted. "You're needed for official business."

"Nnngh..." Eagle Eye stirred, his limbs weak and raw from lying against the hardwood floor. "Official... b-business...?" he nervously stammered.

"We said get up!" One stallion yanked him out of the cell with a burst of telekinesis. Eagle Eye stifled a whimper, almost tripping on the chains around his limbs. He tried walking, only to stumble in a third stallion's thick chest. The pony steadied him with strong arms. Eagle Eye looked up, blinked, then blinked once more... this time with a gasp. "J-Josho...?"

"Hmmph..." Josho grunted, his brow furrowed. "That's Prime Enforcer Josho to you, traitor." Fiercely, the obese stallion spun Eagle Around and shoved him towards the stairs leading onto the main deck. "Trot evenly, and do not talk. Rights are not granted to deserters."

Eagle Eye winced, his face stretching with pain and confusion. Limply, he trotted up the stairs, being urged on every few seconds by Josho's brutish shoves. Two other stallions accompanied the procession as they emerged upon the top deck, beset with wind and the chill of high altitude.

Among the many crew ponies milling about, one officer stood at the edge of the deck, near a loading platform where a large managlider rested, equipped with a mounted turret. He scribbled a few things onto a clipboard and swiveled about to face the group approaching him across the Steel Wing.

"Can I help you, Enforcer?"

"Yes," Josho said with a nod, firmly holding Eagle in place. "I've been ordered by Prime Enforcer Shell to take this prisoner west to the military base located at the north of Green Slope."

"Hmmm... is that so...?" The crew pony glanced over his files. "I didn't receive a vehicle requisition form."

Josho sighed. "Look, it's not my fault if Captain Filta is behind on his duties. He's your superior, soldier. If you like, go and run the requisition by him personally."

"I am not to leave my post, sir."

"And I am not supposed to cave your friggin' head in with a cannonball!" Josho snarled. "This ship's been blown to crap and pieced back together by the corn kernels! We're flying by the varnish of our saddles, trying to track down a menace to the Confederacy, and you've got the gall to preach to me about protocol?!"

"Uh... I-I'm sorry, sir. I'm only doing my duty—"

"And I'm not?!" Josho pointed at the far end of the Steel Wing where Captain Filta stood, talking to a pair of subordinates. "Go and talk to the Captain and get the friggin' form so I can take this fruity yahoo where Prime Enforcer Scarface wants me to! Or would you like to be the one to explain to Shell personally why you had to piss him off?!"

"Right. No. I mean yes. I mean..." The officer fumbled, dropped his clipboat, picked it up again, and shuffled off swiftly. "Sir, yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

Eagle Eye gawked at the sight of the stallion as he floundered away. He yelped as he felt a heavy shove from behind.

"We ain't got time to waste," Josho grumbled, all but tossing Eagle Eye's frail body into the rear seat of the manacraft, within the gun turret. "Might as well get situated so we can get our job done faster for Shell once that penpusher comes back."

"Uhm... sir?" One of the two guards besides Josho reached forward. "What are you doing?"

"At ease, gentlecolts," Josho grumbled, stumbling onto the piloting seat of the vehicle and straddling it. "And I do emphasize the 'gentle' part."

"Enforcer Josho?" The other reached telekinetically for his manarifle. "We can't let you do that."

"Do what?"

"Whatever... it is that you're doing."

"What are you doing?"

"Uhm... J-Josho?" Eagle Eye meekly stammered. He winced as he saw Filta angrily marching across the deck alongside the frazzled clerk.

"Enforcer Josho!" Filta's frown could cut diamonds. A veritable legion of crew ponies clustered around him, forming a phalanx that faced the obese stallion in question. "What in the Queen's name do you think you're doing?!"

"Yeah, uhm, sit on it." Josho slapped the controls forward.

"Aaack!" Eagle shrieked as the mana vehicle suddenly plunged off the edge of the Steel Wing. He clung to the frame of his seat for dear life. "Sp-Spark alive...!"

"Whoops!" Josho wheezed, struggling with the controls. "Damn thing doesn't accelerate as much as I thought it would!" At last, he gained momentum, and the craft veered itself upright. "Ah, there we go. Easy as bean pie—Whoa damn!" He gasped as manashots from rifles streamed past them.

Up above, along the edge of the Steel Wing's deck, a line of ponies with rifles were taking aim, firing at the command of Filta's bombastic shouts.

Eagle Eye panted, ducking as blue streams surged past them. Eventually, Josho sped the managlider west, and the two-seated aircraft easily outflew the range of the rifle blasts. Sitting up straight, Eagle Eye ran a pair of cuffed hooves through his wind-swept mane, trying to calm himself.

"Heh..." Josho smirked as he gripped tight to the controls. "That was a bit easier than expected. Now just to deal with the whole fugitive-from-Queen-and-country-for-the-rest-of-my-life part."

"Are you crazy?!" Eagle Eye sputtered. He flung a glance behind as the Steel Wing swiveled broadly about until its port side faced the fleeing pair. "They'll still blow us out of the sky! They've got cannons!"

"You think I don't know that?" Josho grumbled.

Eagle Eye blinked. With a gaping expression, he squinted back at the Steel Wing.

There was synchronized flash from all of the massive zeppelin's cannons. Eagle Eye's heart skipped a beat. However, before the thunderous salvo could even reach them, a series of explosions rocked across the battleship's hull as each and every one of the cannons backfired. The large craft decelerated and hovered in place to assess the damage.

Josho grinned. "You think Captain Filta knows that?"

Eagle Eye started breathing easier. He gestured once more to smooth his windswept bangs, but all he could do was fumble with his bindings.

"Here..." The glider slowed as Josho put the thing on autopilot, then twisted about to bring a pair of keys to the hoofcuffs. "Lemme take care of that, kiddo."

The lavender unicorn relaxed as his hooves stretched free. Nevertheless, a slight shiver persisted as he leaned forward and spoke above the whipping winds. "Why... j-just why are you doing this?! Don't you know what this means to your career? To your well-being?"

"Hmmph... Like you're one to talk, ya friggin' model," Josho belched. "Face it." He gripped the controls and angled them sharper west, cutting through clouds and pockets of wind. "I'm too old to get any higher in rank and way too fat to woo the ladies over trivial bullcrap. If I'm gonna live out a miserable life, I might as well do it someplace where the ponies I'm working for aren't threatening to heave me off cliffsides. There's an awful lot of that going around these days. It doesn't make for a good retirement plan."

"Then that's what this is all about?" Eagle Eye exclaimed. "Giving up?"

"Look, they sure as Hell ain't giving me no second chance," Josho said in a deep tone. "I'm getting off this parade while I still can afford to. Might as well bring you along. After all..." Josho's nostrils flared as he stared straight ahead. "You're the only pony in history who's ever given me a second chance."

Eagle Eye stared at him. He took a deep breath. "Josho, I... I-I don't know what to say..."

"If you're gonna gush, save it for when I drop you off."

"Dr-drop me off?"

"First stop, Franzington. Second stop?" The stallion shrugged. "I dunno. Whiskeyton. It's a large world; there's gotta be a province named that somewhere."

"You're... you're going to take me back to my home country?" Eagle Eye's expression froze in a grimace. At last, after a few quivering shakes, he barked, "No! North! Take us north!"

"Buh?" Josho nearly slipped his grip of the controls.

"You heard what Filta said earlier!" Eagle Eye practically leaned out of his gunner's seat entirely. "Pilate's somewhere in Blue Nova and Shell's just inches away from nabbing him! What's more, Belle's somewhere up north, needing to be rescued! We can't just leave Rainbow Dash's friends in peril like that!"

"Kid, I could leave you like a urine stain against the clouds if I wanted."

"You said I gave you a second chance?! What about their chance, huh?! They're good ponies stuck in the middle of a country that wants to see them dead and for all we know we're the only ones with the actual power to save them!" At the end of his outburst, Eagle Eye hissed and shoved on Josho's flank. "Now bring us north!" his voice cracked with urgency.

"Whoah—Jeez!" Josho struggled to keep the veering aircraft upright. He turned and glared back at Eagle Eye. "Don't you know better than to look a gift drunkard in the mouth?!"

"Ponies need us, Josho." Eagle frowned. "There's no going home for me. Not anymore. Not until I make one for myself and for these ponies too."

Josho's frown slowly melted with a lethargic sigh. "You ain't gonna clam up about this, are ya, ya fruit basket?"

Eagle Eye slowly shook his head. "Either take us north to Blue Nova or drop me off down below so I'll make the journey myself on hoof."

Josho clenched his jaw. Rolling his bleary eyes, he sighed and gently angled the craft to the right, heading towards misty mountains rolling in the distance. "Somehow, I'm gonna regret this..."

"Are you, Josho?" Eagle Eye relaxed in the backseat. "Are you really?"

"Hmmph... I suppose you are the expert on desertion. Maybe you can teach me a trick or two along the way to our inevitable deaths."

"No..." Eagle Eye smiled. "But I bet I've taught you something about friendship."

"Yeah, no more of that," Josho grumbled. "I'm pretty sure I smuggled out a stallion, not a turd of pretentious morality."

"Hmmmmm..." Eagle Eye leaned against the gunner's dashboard, smiling rosily. "You're a good stallion, Josho, even if it is hidden beneath all that fat and fuzz."

"I think it was a bad friggin' idea putting you in the seat directly behind me."

And Eagle Eye giggled into the winds.