//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 - Of Gods, Men and Mares 
// Story: Master 
// by NejinOniwa 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 12 – Of Gods, Men and Mares

“Um. Ethan? Are you sure you're fine without those glasses on? You look a bit pale.”

Ethan was well aware of what his travel companion was talking about. He'd put up a good front at first, but it was steadily becoming harder and harder for him to focus or sit straight. His Lapras was thankfully unaffected, but he still had to keep an eye on the sea around him – he couldn't just fall asleep out here, even with another person aboard. And with that “person” being the creature responsible for his current predicament – benevolent intentions aside – he wasn't entirely sure if he'd survive the experience.

None of this would've happened in the first place, of course, if he'd just been smart enough not to drop the only thing protecting him from his passenger's petrifying gaze in the bloody water. Or thought to relieve Jasmine of the ones he'd lent her before leaving, since she wouldn't be needing them until they got back.

I'm such a fucking idiot, Ethan cursed to himself, gritting his teeth. Even after the incident at the lighthouse, he had severely underestimated Fluttershy's power. Or just overestimated his own – it didn't make much of a difference. As it was, he'd managed to lose his glasses in the ocean and leave his spares in Olivine, half a day's worth of travel away. Even though it'd only been a few seconds of eye contact between them, he was still feeling it. The fact that the dragon was squeezed up against his back (because for some reason she was apparently scared of flying over water) probably didn't help, either. It was like a poison, spreading through his veins.

But if he let her know that, she'd just make things worse. He was pretty sure about that fact. So he sputtered the best laugh he could manage, and smiled toward the vast ocean ahead of them, searching desperately for land. “I'm just fine, Fluttershy. A bit seasick is all. We should probably try to find somewhere to make land and camp for the night, though. You think you could do some recon and see if there's any islands nearby?”

That finally did the trick. She really is the type to worry about others too much, he thought as the pegasus dragon voiced her agreement and took off, flying on ahead at a not all too hasty pace.

With a sigh of relief, he patted his Lapras on its neck, signaling it to slow down a bit. It was a bit of an oddball as far as its species went; aside from its unusual coloring, it was a lot more hot-tempered than the normally sedate water pokémon usually were. Which in a way made him even more thankful for Fluttershy's absence; having her around was like having a permanently applied Repel sprayed all over you. He hadn't encountered a single wild pokémon during the entire journey.

Which, in a way, was probably a good thing. He wasn't sure how much the dragon would've appreciated watching other pokémon get beat up, but his gut instinct told him that amount was somewhere between about as much as a guy appreciates a kick in the nuts and not at all.

He drew a heavy breath, and coughed slightly. “Here's hoping I don't run into anything too strong,” he mumbled to himself as he gazed after the yellow fading form of Fluttershy. “Running away at sea is never a pretty business.”

Or at least, for humans, it wasn't.

He kept his eyes trained on the disappearing pegasus dragon for a while, trying to get a feel for if his body was getting any better from it. After a few seconds however he lost track of her, as he burst into a fit of coughing when a wave splashed cold saltwater into his face. Coughs were followed by heavy sneezes, and to his shame he managed to make a snotty mess on his Lapras' back shield.

He sat there dazed for a few seconds, processing the information with his sluggish brain. Then he fumbled with his shirtsleeves to wipe things clean, mentally slapping himself for being such an idiot. Again. “Seasick. Pah. Dragon's eye. Pah! No, it's just a fucking cold. Drama king Ethan, earning his crown. Good thing I actually kept it to myself, or Fluttershy would be feeling terrible about herself about now.”

His Lapras turned its head around to stare at him for a while, letting out one of those oddly musical yawns it communicated with. This time, though, he suspected it actually was a yawn and not just something that sounded like one. Lapras was as much trained and hardened by battle as the rest of his team, and she'd done nothing but swim languidly and listen to stale, idle banter between him and Fluttershy for hours on end now. He suspected it could feel whatever presence the pegasus dragon had as well as other pokémon could, and now that it was gone she wanted to fight. Something he'd have been inclined to agree on, had he been on his best game himself.

But the sea was silent, Fluttershy or no Fluttershy. Only small puffs of white cloud laced the sky, the waves were mostly languid and soft, and there hadn't been much of a wind to speak of since they'd left port.

“This is a bit too suspicious, even for me,” he muttered; and the next second his mind caught up with him and gave its opinion on the matter. I shouldn't have said that. I really, really shouldn't have said that. He'd always liked to think of himself as savvy enough to avoid the mistakes that most other people made, and sufficiently well-informed to avoid being caught off guard by the more uncommon ones. But there was one golden rule that everyone always kept in mind, that only the truly foolish or lost forgot about; and he had just managed to break it.

Never bloody tempt fate, you idiot son of a–

He never managed to finish that thought. A violent gust of wind blew, taking hold of his small frame and forcing him to hold on to Lapras' neck to avoid falling into the water. His mount struggled as well, fighting against the rolling waves that spawned out of nowhere. For a second he racked his brain for ideas of what water pokémon could be responsible; then a shrill, screaming howl tore through the air like a chainsaw through thin sheets of metal, and every thought fled his mind. All but one, that was; one memory from a mere week ago, when he had searched the basement of Ecruteak's famous burned tower and found things almost nobody had expected to find.

A shadow passed above him, and he managed to spot the tail end of the tiger-striped creature that raced across the sky, using a narrow string of tiny low-hanging clouds as platforms to jump between. Its jagged tail drew a trail of sparks behind it, and had it been anything but bright summer midday it would've made for a fantastic show of lights. In the stark light of the sun, however, it was only frightening – for despite its brightness, Raikou outshone it by leaps and bounds.

It took him several seconds before he could let his breath out and start moving again. He ran his hand over Lapras' head, trying to calm the spooked pokémon best he could. He thought it was spooked, at least; though perhaps he was calming himself more than his mount. Not that it really mattered very much, of course.

“Blood and death,” he mumbled half a minute after Raikou had left his vision, trying not to be too obvious in his clinging to Lapras' long, thick neck.

-/-/-/

Fluttershy was getting quite worried. More than usual, that was; the meek yellow pegasus was almost always worried about something, and this morning's events had given her more than enough of that to choose between. There was the whole dragon business; there was the fact that she was still all alone and didn't know anything of where the other girls were. There were all of her everyday worries, and more. Who would tend to the animals at her house when she was gone like this? How would they survive? What about Angel? And so on.

More importantly, however, right now she was worried about one particular thing; namely, the absence of any kind of landmass in her vicinity.

Fluttershy wasn't exactly afraid of water, but since she moved out from her mother's place in Cloudsdale she'd been living on dry land all the time. She'd never actually even seen the sea before, and now there was no land anywhere in sight. It was very, very worrisome. So when Ethan had suggested she look for someplace for them to land and stay the night, she'd been more than happy to – despite her usual dislike of staying in the air for too long – and covered a good distance ahead with hopes held high.

Now, she was starting to get a bit panicked. She had read about the sea, after all – she was not uneducated – and by all accounts it was supposed to be rather vast, but vast and endless were not the same thing. And as friendly as the creature Ethan called a “Lapras” was, she was not going to sleep in its saddle if she could help it. She really needed her nightly eight hours, or she got the most terrible morning moods.

So she redoubled her efforts, gaining a good amount of altitude to get a better view of things. She pumped her wings and soared skyward; when suddenly a mad, ragged scream tore through the air.

“BROTHEEEEEEER!”

She covered her ears with her hooves, just about managing not to freeze her wings up and plummet several hundred meters down into the sea. Well, until the answer came, that was.

“Landsakes ya varmint, quit yellin'! Ah can hear y'all just fine!”

That voice was not one she would mistake, and not one she was expecting; least of all thundering like the Royal Canterlot Voice she still had nightmares about. “A-Applejack!?” she sputtered, and promptly forgot to flap her wings for a few seconds. The results were just as one could imagine them; immediate.

Thankfully the sky had seen fit to place a small piece of cloud in her path, and she was so surprised at – well, everything – that she hadn't even managed to begin screaming when its fluffy embrace hit her in the face like a moist pillow. She managed to keep herself from falling through the thin bank, but she was still stuck with her head right in the middle. For a moment she struggled to get herself loose, but then she spotted the source of her alarm; two mostly yellow creatures far below her, approaching each other near the surface of the water.

One was decidedly unfamiliar to her. It looked a bit like the tigers that Zecora had told her lived in the southern jungles, but it looked to be standing on a cloud; furthermore, a small piece of it seemed to be attached to its mane somehow.

The other form was most definitely Applejack, but there were a few considerable differences from the farmer she was used to. First of all, she was standing on the surface of the water, as sure-footed as she had ever been on land. That made Fluttershy gasp a little, but she gave a wide-eyed stare and a second gasp at what she saw next.

Applejack's signature stetson hat was gone. In its place was a decidedly strange horn; blue and shining in the sunlight, shaped like...Twilight's Element diadem was the first thing she could think of. She didn't know what to make of either one of them, though she guessed that they probably had something to do with each other. And lastly, she had managed to be very, very loud. Memories of that one incident with Princess Luna surfaced again, and Fluttershy shook her head to try and clear her thoughts of them. Needless to say it didn't work, since her head was currently stuck fast inside a cloud.

A deep blush worked its way across her face, but she managed to chase away the terrible memories when she realized she couldn't hear the conversation below anymore. The cloud-tiger had gone a few meters down, and was getting awfully close to Applejack. And as much as she disliked admitting anything of the sort, tigers were well known to be...not the nicest kind of animal.

Oh, but this one could talk, so maybe it's more friendly than others? She frowned, and resolved after a few seconds to simply propel her little camouflage platform down to a viable eavesdropping altitude. Oh, it was rude, and she'd have to apologize later, but if things went bad with the tiger, she really didn't want to risk Applejack getting hurt. She had to make sure she was safe, that was all.

Safety and nothing else. Nothing else at all. She wasn't even tempted. This was purely for the sake of making sure everything went just fine with Applejack and the tiger. The eavesdropping was just a necessary evil to facilitate it.

It took her almost half a minute, eagerly pumping her wings to push the cloud down; and all that time she was wearing the widest cheshire grin on she could muster, which she didn't even realize until the voices below started wandering up to her. Oh, I'm doing it again, aren't I. Even so, it was with plenty of glee she noted the first audible words as she got close enough to hear what was being said; and a quite lacking amount of guilt, compared to what she'd usually feel. After all, she was doing it for a good reason this time, and that was paramount to everything else – intrusion on other ponies' private space included.

“Now listen up here, feller...”

-/-/-/

“BROTHEEEEEEER!”

Applejack winced at the sudden vocal assault. Goshdarnit, Northern Winds had a pretty big voice, but this here feller is poundin' mah ears in! She raised her head, anger coursing through her as she scanned the sky for the speaker. She drew a deep breath, and – somehow – stomped the surface of the water with her hoof. “Landsakes ya varmint, quit yellin'! Ah can hear y'all just fine!”

She was not quite as astonished by her own loud voice as she'd been the first time she'd used it that day, but it was still hard for her to believe; much like the rest of the strange powers given to her by Northern Winds, it was magic on a totally different degree than she was used to from anypony other than perhaps Twilight. She'd run into a pack of huge, glowing jellyfish while she'd been taking a break and cooling herself off on a small shoal; one had given her a quite painful sting, and she'd roared loud enough to blast the darn thing out of the water. Her ears had been ringing a bit for some time after that, but the experience had been quite useful in reminding her to learn more about her powers. There was, quite apparently, a big deal of it that her azure benefactor hadn't had time to tell her about; which ultimately was her own fault, since she'd been so adamant on getting going. Patience was not something she had the virtue of possessing at all times.

Her shout seemed to have done the trick, however. One of the few clouds hanging in the sky drifted downward, and eventually she caught sight of a huge yellow creature atop it. It was similar, yet quite different, to Northern Winds; she could suddenly understand why he'd taken to announcing her as his “brother” so easily. Ah wonder what sorta criteria he bases that on, though. Dunno what goes on inside that feller's head.

The creature – Storm Cloud, his brother had called him, and it seemed a quite fitting name from what she could tell – was scowling fiercely at her as the cloud carrying him approached. For a moment she wondered how he was moving it, since he didn't seem to be doing anything; when he came further down, though, she spotted the way the entire cloud seemed to be part of his mane, billowing out like a puffy cloak. “Phooey,” she murmured, giving an impressed whistle. “Now that's something ah reckon Rainbow wouldn't refuse to bring on the job.”

Storm Cloud finally came more or less eye to eye with her. Almost, but not quite – he was keeping himself two meters above the water's surface, and she had to crane her neck a bit to meet his eyes. Angry, disdainful, suspicious eyes. “Where is my Brother? What have you done to him? Why do you assume his appearance? Unworthy prey like you have no right to our powers.”

Applejack's eye twitched. Now this is just being plain darn rude. Focusing on her crown – it just wasn't right to call it a horn – she gathered her powers, and set the water below her surging toward the sky. Slowly she began to ascend, until her own platform of standing, churning waves was high enough to let her meet Storm Cloud's gaze eye to eye, with a fierce lightning stare of her own. “I'll have y'all know that's not too proper a way to greet someone you've never met before. Northern Winds sends his regards to y'all, Storm Cloud. An' what ah did to him? Ah talked to him, 's what ah did. Nicely. And he was right gentlecoltly with me an' generously gave me some of his power, to help me in mah quest. Ah needed to get back on dry land – which ah might add was where ah was expectin' to meet y'all, not out here in the middle of the darn ocean – an' he was kindly enough to give me a way to get there without spending a few days swimming. Y'all could learn more 'n a few things from his example, ah reckon. Brother.”

She held her stare for a few more seconds, until Storm Cloud averted his eyes, snorting. “Hmph. He always was too weak-hearted to stand for us. I do not know what Roaring Flame sees in him.” His gaze returned to her, surveying her with that same look she'd seen gryphons give ponies the first time they'd meet – the look of a predator, scouting his prey. Then, to her surprise, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, sending the cloud beneath him roiling in turmoil. “But, if our leader thinks you worthy, then I suppose I shall have to follow his wishes. I follow Emperor's will, let nothing else be said of me. You seem able enough, so I shall let you live.”

Boy, he doesn't give up that attitude, does he. Applejack snarled a bit – this fellow was starting to tick her off in more ways than one. “Now listen up here, feller, ah reckon you didn't quite catch what ah said 'bout-”

Storm Cloud interrupted her with a loud roar, baring his huge, massive fangs at her all the while; before meeting her eyes in a fierce stare. “Watch your words, prey. You may have my brother's mercy, but you do not have mine. If you prove yourself undeserving of his gifts, I shall feast on your flesh.” He held that stare for a moment, but he probably remembered the previous outcome of that battle, as he soon dropped it again, cocking his head. “Now. What is the quest that my brother saw fit to promote?”

Applejack was getting royally tired of his attitude. She didn't drop the deadpan stare she'd been wearing since she got so rudely interrupted, and kept it up even as she resumed speaking. “Y'all quite finished yet? Well? Good. Ah'm looking for two things. My frien- my brothers, for one thing. And the Progenitor. Northern Winds said you'd know 'bout some way to track 'em down.”

As soon as she mentioned the Progenitor, Storm Cloud's high-and-mighty attitude was gone with the wind. Disbelief and shock ruled his face, strange-looking as it was, and he shook his head. “Impossible. Unworthy prey cannot see the Progenitor. Not even Emperor herself is allowed that honor as she wishes.”

Applejack allowed herself a smile. “There's the cincher, though. Ah have already met the Progenitor – 's what got me into this mess in the first place. Now ah need to find 'em again, so me an' the girls can get back to our home. I'll have none of this unworthy business from y'all no more, hear? Plain enough, the feller 'emself have decided ah am worthy or whatnot.”

Storm Cloud's wide-eyed look of disbelieving surprise was quite satisfying to look at, Applejack had to admit. She cleared her throat, and took a deep breath trying to let go of her anger. “So let's try this again. Name's Applejack. Northern Winds told me y'all know somepony who can help me track down the Progenitor, and the rest of my friends. Can y'all do as yer brother asked, and help me find 'em? Mighty grateful if y'all would.”

Storm Cloud stared at her, dumbfounded. Then he roared, his face contorting in anger. “Impossible! You claim to have seen the Progenitor? The very spark of life itself? Someone like you cannot possibly be telling the truth-” And when that word exited his mouth, he instantly went silent – and frozen still, to boot. Applejack raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on for a moment – before a strangely familiar voice sounded out of the gathering clouds above.

“The Element of Honesty does not lie.”

Storm Cloud hissed, his eyes darting this way and that as he struggled against his invisible bonds, probably searching for his captor. “Dragon. Why are you here? Why do you meddle in my dealings with my brethren? LEAVE!” The last word was half roar, half groan – it was obvious enough that even speaking was painful for him – yet he went on. “THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOUR KIND!”

Applejack wondered for a moment how in Celestia's name he could've discerned that he was being attacked by a dragon, but what came next was most certainly enough to shake her off that train of thought entirely.

“Oh. Really? Um, but you were being pretty mean to Applejack, so I got mad at you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I should've just kept listening and let you two solve your problems on your own. Are you okay? Do you want me to- ng- hmmpfff-” And without any further warning, a certain pink-maned yellow pegasus dropped out of the sky from a cloud, and promptly landed on top of Storm Cloud's cloud – which, of course, was his mane – letting out a startled cry. “Oof!”

Applejack couldn't rightly do much other than gawk at the scene. “What in- Fluttershy?”

“Oh, hello Applejack,” her friend said, smiling at her apologetically. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eavesdropped on you. I was just so worried something might happen to you. Tigers are, um, dangerous animals. Um, no offense, mister Cloud. I just stumbled upon – literally stumbled upon – you two and-”

With a wide-eyed stare, Applejack stomped her hoof into the water once more. “Fluttershy!” The normally quiet pegasus finally stopped rambling, and Applejack shook her head. She'd never expected the day to come when she actually had to interrupt Fluttershy. “Landsakes, girl! Didja get possessed by the ghost of Pinkie Pie's crazy uncle or something? Calm down a few degrees! And you might want to get off that tiger of yours, too,” she added with a look toward the glum-looking Storm Cloud, who was still pinned down on his own cloud.

Fluttershy blinked a few times, apparently not having realized everything that'd happened yet. Then, as if half-asleep, she slowly untangled herself from Storm's cloud mane, halfheartedly flapping her wings to move away from him. Away from him, and straight toward Applejack in a slow-moving tackle hug. “Applejack! I thought I was never going to see another pony ever again!”

Surprisingly, Applejack found herself struggling to breathe in the pegasus' desperate bear hug. Not that she couldn't understand that part – Fluttershy was a gentler soul than the rest of the girls, plain and simple. The slight wetness sinking into Applejack's coat where the pegasus was burying her head, the way her ears were pushed flat against her head in fear; the small signs said it all.

Still, she'd have appreciated not getting choked for it. “Attagirl,” she managed without cracking her ribs too much, “but ya think y'all can ease up a bit on the squeezing? Getting a bit spotty in here.”

The buttery pegasus blinked a few times, her ears still plastered backwards; then hurriedly released Applejack from her constricting embrace, allowing the farmer to breathe once more. “Oh. Um. Sorry about that.”

A few moments went by filled with awkward silence, and at the rate things were going it they both seemed hard pressed to do anything about it by themselves; thankfully, the third creature present was not so patient. Letting out a rumbling growl, Storm Cloud brought himself closer to them both. Not too close however, Applejack noted; it was hard to see, but she was fairly sure she sensed fear in his eyes. Just a little, true – but just a little was just enough for Honesty. An' he sure as sugar didn't get scared of little old me before, which means...

She was hard pressed not to chuckle. After all, who in their right mind could actually be afraid of Fluttershy? Well, except dragons, of course.

Dragons. That thought gave her a pause, but as she mulled over it she heard it echoed in Storm Cloud's thorny, booming voice. “Dragon. I ask again, that you may answer. Why are you here? If you stumbled upon our encounter by chance, you must have had a purpose before it. I ask again, that you may be left to it, and leave us to ours.”

Well ain't he being polite fer once, she grumbled inwards. But minor annoyances aside, there was also that other thing; that huge, obnoxious elephant in the barn – whatever an elephant was – that had been nagging for her attention for a few minutes now. And so: “Storm, can ah ask why y'all keep callin' Fluttershy a dr-” But alas, she did not get to finish her question, as the normally timid pegasus interrupted her with a loud outburst.

“Oh! Right! I'm sorry. I was supposed to be looking for someplace for me and my friend to sleep, um, since it's getting a bit late, and he's feeling a teensy bit under the weather. Would any of you happen to know if there's any islands or so around here? I, um, found you two instead, and it was hard to keep looking...”

Applejack gave her a deadpan stare – why did she pick today of all times to stop being a pushover? – and was about to give her a snarky, cynical line about how she impossibly could know something like that...

Until she realized, of course, that she actually did know just what she was asking for. As soon as she thought about it, she could almost feel it in the water below her; as if it was responding to her commands without her even issuing them. She shivered a bit – Northern Winds' powers were handy as they come, but they still were an uncanny lot. She shook her head a bit, and spoke up. “Ah think ah know just the place, Fluttershy. Let's go get this friend o' yours, and I'll show y'all the way.”

Besides, she was a bit curious about that part. She had run into Northern Winds, with all what that brought; what manner of creature could Fluttershy have managed to befriend? Was it just some random critter – a Beast, as the wolf had called them – or something entirely different?

And why does Storm keep callin' her a goshdarn dragon?

All those questions ran through her head as the trio – Storm Cloud somewhat reluctantly, but she could imagine he was getting just as curious as she was – took off at a slow pace in what her crown told her was a straight southerly direction; but she kept her tongue. They'd have more than enough time and opportunity to find those things out once they'd made camp at King's Rock.