SSAdventures: Spirit Awakening

by Spirit Shift

"All according to plan..."

“Spirit, get down here!” Blazing Notes screamed, glancing up to the low-hanging cloud that followed some distance behind them. Despite his commanding tone, Blaze couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

“Hmph,” Spirit huffed in retaliation. He turned his head away and frowned, obviously still angry with the groups earlier teasing. Ever so slightly, he flapped his wings so that the cloud he sat on would float along after the group.

Blaze chuckled quietly before trying to regain some composure, “Come on! It was just a bit of a joke. Come on down before you crash into a tree or something.”

Spirit’s only response was to swerve around the tree that he was about to crash into with his eyes closed. Blaze merely rolled his eyes and muttered, “Showoff.”

Bionic Force, whom had been silent after the ordeal, rolled his own eyes, “He’ll come down soon. He’ll have to.”

Blaze gave Bionic a confused look. “An’ why’s that then?” he asked.

Bionic Force glanced back at his brother as he walked and studied his height. The cloud was about 15 or 20 feet into the air, hanging just under the tops of most of the trees in the forest. “He’s up too high,” was his cryptic response.

Used to these kinds of half-answered responses, Blaze simply hummed idly before looking back up at Spirit and shrugging. Eventually, he’d find out what his friend meant. Turning forward, he realized that said time would be coming soon. They were nearly to their destination as a large mountain appeared in front of them. Foal Mountains stood extraordinarily tall, with various clouds hanging low--very low. Just above the tree line, in fact.

As they continued to walk, Blaze began to get an increasingly bad feeling, “Bi--”

“Call me that again and I’ll chop your carrot off,” the colt replied automatically.

“--it may just be me,” Blaze continued, “but do you notice anything odd about those clouds there?” He gestured towards the low hanging clouds.

Bionic took a glance upwards to examine the clouds, “Besides the fact that they’re far too low to have been placed by pegasi, reek of various unnatural gasses, and are full of deadly pony-eating eagle rays?”

“Yes, I thought so. No self-respecting pega--Wait what!?” Blaze screamed, hopping back some distance. Once he noticed that Blaze had stopped walking, Bionic turned to look at him. “Pony-eating eagle rays?!” Blaze questioned, slightly panicked over the chance of being eaten.

Painfully unworried about the prospect of being eaten, Bionic recalled some information. “Yes, technically they’re a magical species of manta ray that can fly through the clouds,” he explained, “They’re also endangered I believe. In fact, you can see them from here.” He nonchalantly pointed upwards. “They won’t reach us down here, though.”

Blaze looked upwards and realized that they had already entered the low-hanging cloud coverage. After looking for a while, he noticed the silhouette of a large arrow shaped body that was longer than his own. It did indeed resemble the giant of the deep. “But aren't manta rays harmless?”

“Usually, but this particular genus actually deserves the term ‘eagle’. They are omnivorous creatures that feed on anything smaller than them. However, they are only able to hunt within the area of their clouds.” Bionic looked up at the clouds thoughtfully, “It seems that they’ve made their nests around this part of the mountain.”

“Oh, my Luna! What is that!” Spirit called out from a distance. While Blaze and Bionic had stopped trotting, Spirit had continued to make his way toward the mountain. Eventually, a large blue creature descended and attacked him, completely destroying his cloud. Making a stupid decision, Spirit retreated into the clouds themselves for safety.

“You knew about this!” Blaze accused, “How do we get around it?”

Bionic took it in stride and calmly looked at the display on his hoof computer, “We were going to fly over it. But that’s no longer an option. We also don’t know how far these clouds stretch, as they don’t appear on my map. That leaves only a few options. I suggest that we take the third one.”

Blaze reeled back in shock, “Th-Y-You didn’t even tell me about one and two!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Bionic nodded. Pushing a button on his wrist com, he made the screen holographic and faced it towards Blaze, “I’m going to need you and Spirit to head to this city.”

“Guys!” Spirit screamed as three large creatures chased after him, “I might need some help!”

Blaze glared at the colt before turning his attention to the screen. There was a green marker hovering over what looked to be a pegasus city. “Skia? I remember that. Still sounds sexy.”

Bionic rolled his eyes. “Yes, and you’re still an idiot. I need you two to go to this city and get a magical repellant. It’ll keep them away long enough for us to fly up the mountain.”

Blaze raised an eyebrow, “They… sell spells?”

“In a way,” he replied. “Unicorns enchant items so that when worn or activated, they bestow that spell on the user. I think the repellent is in a sort of spray. Though I can’t be sure.” He shrugged. “In the end, you just have to go find it.”

“Wait, aren’t you coming with us?” Blaze asked, glowering down at him, “I know you have some sort of artificial wing set in that bag of yours.”

“No,” he answered simply.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

There was a pang of silence between them. In the background, however, Spirit flew back and forth, screaming for help while three creatures snapped at his tail. Flipping backwards, Spirit landed on the back of one of them. Yanking on the ray’s antenna, Spirit forced the creature back into the clouds and out of view.

Blaze simply stared at the small colt with a blank look, “You aren't even going to say why?”

“I just did. I don’t want to. I could go with you. I just won’t. I’m making you two go instead. It’ll be nice and quiet for a while.”

Still deadpanning, Blaze sighed, “...You’re an arse, you know that?”

Bionic simply shrugged and pointed behind him, “I’m going to wait at the base of the mountain until you get back. Like I said, get the repellant. If you mess up, you’re going back again.” Bionic turned and began ruffling through his bag. The more he searched, the more frequently his eye changed colors; by the time he turned back to Blaze, his eye had turned from grassy green to light magenta. “Spirit has the money again…”

“Oh, for the love of--” Blaze stood up tall and looked around, “Where is that nob, anyway?”

Bionic also took the time to look around, “I don’t know. I heard him saying something behind me.”

Blaze turned in a circle and scanned his surroundings, “I figured that he was still angry. You see his cloud anywhere?”

Bionic shrugged as he continued to look, “If he was still on that cloud he would be dead. I thought he got off when we stopped walking.”

Blaze opened his mouth to respond when they heard an increasingly loud scream echo from above them. “LoooooOOOK OOUUUT!” Blaze and Bionic glanced up just in time to see a large silhouette form in the clouds.

Scrambling, both ponies moved out of the way as Spirit crashed one of the rays out of the clouds, smashing it onto the ground. The rash sent Spirit tumbling off of the creature's back. He rolled until he landed at Bionic’s hooves. Dizzy, he looked up at his brother, “Oh… hey, Bi. Wassup?”

Bionic put a hoof to his brother’s head to keep it from moving. “Hand me the money,” he ordered.

Shaking his head out of its dizziness, Spirit grinned sheepishly before pulling out a bag of bits from under his goggles. Immediately, it was snatched from his hold by his brother. Trotting over to Blaze, Bionic handed the bits over to him.

“Aww, what?” Spirit cried, “Why does he get to hold the money?”

Bionic turned back to him with a blank look, “He’s marginally more responsible with it than you are.”

Blaze raised his eyebrow as he took the bag, unsure of whether or not he’d been insulted. Though with Bionic Force, the answer should’ve been clear. “Umm, thanks?”

“But that’s not fair!” Spirit argued.

Bionic raised an eyebrow, “Oh, really. Let’s test that then. Blazing, what was the last thing you bought with our money in Manehatten?”

“Playcolt: Beach Edition,” he answered, not a drop of shame in his tone. “A quaint selection of tasteful photos.”

Bionic gave him a look before turning around, “Gross. Spirit, you?”

Spirit rubbed his hooves together nervously, “Lifesize… replica of Ponyville…” he muttered.

Bionic nodded, “Exactly. Equally stupid. Blazing’s stuff costed us less money though. Which is why, if he screws up, he won’t do it in a way that leaves us stranded

“I-I think. We just head left, then?” Blaze asked.

Bionic shook his head, “No, you need to fly slightly left while staying parallel to the mountain. Skew away from the clouds, though.”

“Got it!” Blaze announced.

“Do you?” Bionic asked skeptically, “Or are you just saying that?”

Blaze ignored him and trotted over to Spirit, whom by that point had gotten bored and started poking the unconscious magical manta ray. “Come along now, Spirit,” he droned exasperatedly. It was almost as if he didn't want to do it. “Let’s go retrieve this repellant. It’s a spray, right?” he asked as he began to lead Spirit away from the ray.

Bionic nodded and watched Spirit and Blaze take off. Once they were a fairly good distance away, Bionic craned his head down towards the knocked-out creature. Staring at it for a second, he let out a malicious smirk before he began dragging it towards the base of the mountains.

Author's Note:

How often do you get the chance to examine err, study, an endangered species at length with no interruptions or witnesses?

Comments

[catfire13]

by killing them?

[randomsurprise]

ok, yah idk what to feel bout what Bi's goin to do with that ray thingy but, it most likely will be painful. Extremely painful