//------------------------------// // One Filly Sneaking Mission // Story: Odrsjot // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// A pair of green eyes flickered open. The little foal sat up in a gasp, her bushy mane flouncing. She looked all around. She was seated inside a cramped metal compartment. The room swayed with slow drifting and bobbing motions. The walls were thin, and she could hear the creaking sounds of shifting cargo, as well as the muffled voices of multiple equines in tense conversation outside. Chewing on her bottom lip, Kera crawled forward. She felt forward through the dim space, her hoof ultimately brushing up against a bent metal door. Holding her breath, she tried pushing on it. A crack of light formed along the door’s edge, but the thing refused to budge all the way. She hissed through clenched teeth and gave the panel several more shoves, trying not to make a rattling noise or else she might alert the bodies from beyond the walls. At last, she leaned forward, wincing slightly from a dull pain deep inside her horn. With careful concentration, the magical prodigy felt the other side of the door. Her telekinesis revealed a simple pair of latches to her wandering mind. One at a time, she unlocked them, and the door gave way with a light creaking sound. Kera held her breath again, and as soon as she slipped out of the metallic crawlspace, the voices became much clearer. “...wouldn’t have had to take the child if things had gone according to plan!” “Well, they didn’t, and now we have to explain things to Khao.” “Khao has enough to explain for herself! None of her calculations accounted for the sheer amount of resistance we ultimately received at the hooves of the Harbinger’s false companions!” “The prophecies tell us all that we need to know about Austraeoh. They provide no guidance for those whom the Harbinger wrongfully associated with. As emissary of the prophetic word, it was Khao’s task to inform us about the nature of Austraeoh. She did not fail in this department, and I do not see why you are blaming her.” “I’m not blaming her! I’m just saying that the prophecies also maintain that we must look after our fellow ponies! And… and we l-lost so many brothers and sisters in acquiring the relic! Many of them died under Khao’s very own watch! How… h-how could she let that happen to them?!” As Kera’s vision came into focus, she saw a large cargo room full of various steam packs, hanging bags of produce, and various metal tools in dangling nets. Amber lanternlight cast nearly a dozen shadows against the brown metal bulkheads. Several equines were just a trot or two away, seated beyond a line of packing crates. Kera could even feel the heat from their breaths as she nervously sneaked towards a door on the far side. “In our quest to reunite the broken pieces of the grand encompassing world, there are sacrifices to be made. Austraeoh must have her endurance reborn, or else she will not possess the spark she needs to bring harmony to the waystations. These… companions of her are a false Eljunbyro, and she must be forced to break from them at all costs.” “But they’re just innocent, normal ponies!” “They’re a deterrent to the path of the Harbinger! All they’ve done is slow Austraeoh down! She’ll never make it to the dark side of the plane at this rate!” “I just think that if Austraeoh’s purpose is to restore Harmony and balance, then shouldn’t every action that Khao directs us to do be indicative of the prophet motive?” “The prophets were the holy ones. They communed with the Angels. We are the Herald, and we sing their song with the throats of mortals. We are not worthy of the glory that Austraeoh will bring back. That is a luxury that the Penultimate Ones will relish when the ring becomes whole once more…” “And it will lead to the rebirth of angels. Yes, I know, but I feel like it is our task to leave a proper legacy as well as bring Austraeoh towards the one true path.” “It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. We have the Relic, and once we reunite with Khao’s party, then we’ll have the means of drawing Austraeoh to us.” “Blessed Angels, what if she dies trying to get here?” “Impossible. The Harbinger’s pain is also her healing. It says so in the prophetic words.” “True. True. I just hope that, in the end, we receive the Austraeoh’s blessing for our sacrifices.” “We may, or we may not. That is up to the Harbinger when the moment of truth comes.” At last, Kera had made it to the door. She chose to use her telekinesis instead of bare hooves to open it. As soon as she did so, she wished that she didn’t, for a huge gust of air blew immediately out of the room, knocking over several crates and causing numerous tools to fly off their hangers. The zealots stood up, their hooves scuffling loudly across the metal floor. “What was that?!” “Is it Ledomare?! Are we under attack?” “No, there was no shelling. Stay here, I’ll go investigate.” Kera panicked. She darted through the door--paused--then darted back. Flinging her horn from afar, she forced the tiny compartment’s door shut and locked the latches in place. Quickly, before the stallion’s heavy hooves stomped around the corner, she threw herself into the cold, cold air. Kera almost immediately ran into a metal railing. She stared out into a thick sea of mist, mist, and more mist. Her eyes twitched as a deep chill ran through her body. The air was freezing, and her tiny breaths weren’t getting her enough oxygen. Wheezing, she nevertheless stumbled her way down a wobbling deck. She caught the sight of a bright red pylon of sky marble looming beneath her, having retracted tightly into the dark hull of the stationary manaship. As she heard vibrations of the stallion’s hooves behind her, she scurried towards one pointed end of the ship, looking for a structure--any structure--to hide behind. At last, she chose a vertical stem of metal steam vents. She crouched low and flattened herself against it, taking the biggest, longest, and deepest breath of her life. She got a modicum of oxygen, but decided it was enough to survive on. Clamping her mouth shut, she curled into a little peach ball and hid there, shivering. The door could be heard creaking open, creaking shut, and creaking open again. The stallion grumbled aloud, his body still. Half a minute passed. The door slammed shut, and a series of heavy footsteps trotted down along the deck, following the path Kera had taken. The foal’s face tattoos were blue at this point. She clenched her mouth tighter, her lungs feeling like they might burst at anytime. At last, the stallion’s hooves came into view, the color bands of the fetlocks brimming in the misty morning air. The pony stopped, looming just besides Kera. Kera couldn’t help it. Her body burst, and her mouth flew open for a deep, desperate inhale. Almost immediately, she heard the stallion shout. “Hey! Heyyyy!” She felt like sobbing. “Brother! Brother Zaid! Over here!” The stallion raised a hoof to raise it. There was another series of steps. A second zealot trotted over, his hooves stopping just a few feet before the first’s. “What is it, brother?” “Have we changed course?” “No.” The voice belonging to Zaid said. “We’re waiting here for Khao’s party, just like she instructed us to.” “Then we didn’t just pivot the ship about?” “Not that I know of. I’ve been guarding the deck since we took cover in the clouds. Why do you ask?” “The door to storage flung open. You know how loose it is. I figured we may have adjusted course and just wanted to be kept up to speed.” “Heh… I wouldn’t move this ship even if the Harbinger told me to face to face. We barely skirted past a dreadnaught on the way here. Ledo’s got claim to these skies. We’d be dead the first moment we showed ourselves in the daylight.” “And with the Relic aboard, we couldn’t afford that.” “I was thinking of my skin, but sure.” “Unnngh, Brotherrrrr. Keep talking like that and you’ll never earn your feathers.” “What, and get to be Khao’s suicidal wingponies?” The second pony chuckled. “Hey, I believe in the prophetic word and all, but I’m staying alive long enough to read them all! If you catch my drift…” “Fine. Keep up with your humble post, Zaid. I’m returning to the others.” The first stallion’s hooves shuffled away. The other marched off in the opposite direction. “Don’t pretend you’re no less a coward!” “Good bye, Zaid…” Kera waited for a minute… two minutes… She fell back and plopped across the deck, wheezing for even breaths. Her eyes teared as she fought for enough oxygen to stay conscious. At last, her breaths evened out, and her adrenaline coasted towards a normal level. “I wonder…” She gulped and panted. “If one of them was called ‘Zaid...’” Another few minutes passed. At last, she stirred, getting up and staring at her surroundings. The mists were wafting about in undulating motions, and it was impossible for her to figure out which direction of the railing led to the bow of the ship or the stern. She daringly peered straight down over the edge of the ship, seeing nothing but cloudy soup. “Okay…” Kera murmured aloud, trying to settle her nerves. “If I jump over the edge here… and it’s land beneath me… then I’ll die pretty quickly. If it’s… erm… water.” She gulped. “Then I’ll die almost as quickly, but I might get to hug a fish or two before my organs squirt out of my body.” With a fidgeting expression, she turned about and ultimately decided to skirt along the edge of the hull. She crawled along, ready to dash back to the obscure cluster of steam pipes at a moment’s notice. She was just rounding a bend when she heard a series of hoofsteps and gasped sharply. “Oh crud! Zaid alert! Zaid alert!” She spun around in a blurry, tattooed circle. She caught sight of a door to her immediate left. With a tug of telekinesis, she fought the rusted thing open. “Nnnnnngh!” At last, the panel budged, and she threw herself in like a living missile. Slamming the thing shut behind her, she locked it from the inside and planted herself against the frame, panting. The filly felt a trickle of sweat running down her brow. At first, she thought it was from pure fear, but as she ran a hoof to her head, she realized that it was stiflingly hot inside that room. “Whoah…” She gulped. “What gives? Is something b-burning?” She turned around, squinting, then realized she was staring straight into the source of the flickering, ruby light. “No waaaaaaay…” Before her, in a dark cage, an infamous book hovered, powered by blistering runes.