Chapter 27: Fool's March
Of course Zecora would be busy. I grunted as I pushed a branch aside for those behind me. Here’s hoping I’ve got the basics of sleight of hand down. I looked down to my teal nubs. Sleight of hoof, I guess. As they passed me, quite a few of them gagged at the smell. Quite natural, considering that upwind from the game trail was a massive pile of fecal matter, enriching the already putrid stench of the swamp. I swear I heard some sort of donkey bray once their eyes laid upon the mass.
“Welcome to the bog folks.” I waved a hoof out into Froggy Bottom Bog’s vast expanse of mangroves and brown water. “It’s one of the most diverse ecosystems around. And for some reason, where you guys want to start investigating.”
“Is that…hydra dung?” The gryphon, Hawk Eye asked.
“We should finish what we came for quickly.” Strong Recovery said, his hooves dancing about in a nervous shuffle. “This probably means that we are within the hydra’s territory.”
“It’s probably best for us to move on then.” I motioned them to follow me away from the dung heap.
“Hold up.” A brown pegasus said before flying closer to the pile. “There’s something in here.”
Of course there is.
“Stuff gets eaten by hydras all the time.” The small blue one snorted, rolling her eyes. “They swallow their prey whole, that’s no reason for you to go digging into…that.”
“Yeah, but hydras have one of the best digestive systems of all creatures, second only to dragons. They chow down on cragodiles like Titanium there eats oatmeal.” The pegasus, Thunder Strike rebutted. “There shouldn’t be any whole thing by the time it gets in this condition.”
His squad mates stared at him.
“What?” Thunder crossed his forelegs. “I know things sometimes! My brother’s a monster hunter who loves to talk about it at family gatherings. I picked up on some bits. Anyways—”
He pointed a hoof at the red-maned unicorn, then at a sizeable lump within the dung.
“Red! Help me out here!”
“So be it.” Red sighed and levitated out the lump before levitating it towards the water. Uh-oh. I jumped over and slapped the shit out of the air.
“Are you insane!” I hissed. “Do you want to alert every aquatic creature of our location?”
Red had the decency to look ashamed while Thunder seemed like he was about to chew me out. The others looked more disgusted than angry. I groaned and rubbed my face—with my cleaner hoof, mind you—and prepared to explain something I had tested out in the trips I made to Froggy Bottom Bog for Zecora’s herbs.
“The creatures around here depend less on sight than we do. It makes sense, heavy rainfall and fog make eyesight unreliable in these parts, not to mention the muddy water. So the predators compensate. Sensitive touch to follow vibrations in the water, chemosensory pits to follow blood urine, and detritus to prey. It’s best not to touch the water at all, least of all covered in this particular fecal matter.” I started rubbing off the crap on my hoof vigorously on some leaves. “Because it turns out, this predator follows creatures covered in its detritus. A bit like a Komodo dragon, except instead of one end, it used the other. Trust me, I’ve tested it.”
I finished wiping my hoof clean to see them all staring at me.
Midnight cleared her throat. “Did you seriously…?”
“No. I did the smart thing and tossed some lizard I found into a pile and followed it around. Hypothesis was confirmed not ten minutes later when it tried to swim across a deeper path of water. So the best way to travel around here is by air or by solid land.”
As I was talking, Strong Recovery walked over to the dirtied object and cast some sort of spell on it. An all too familiar blue sheen was revealed, corroded yet still whole. I struggled to not click my tongue in irritation.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Strong murmured. “Looks like armor of sorts, but no armor should be able to survive this much corrosion. Titanium, can you carry this so we can bring it back for study?”
The big pony nodded and picked up the piece in one hoof before shoving it into a much smaller saddlebag. The bag bloated to accommodate its size but shrunk down in an instant. A bag of holding. I might want to find a similar one. Then he turned to look at Crystal. Odd. From how they’ve acted so far, Hawk is supposed to be the leader. Is Crystal some sort of navigator? Crystal’s horn glowed for a second before she pointed her head east, directly towards the water.
“That way. For about a kilometer.”
I fought the urge to grimace. That was around where the spaceship landed, bow first. And to make matters worse, we’d have to detour north to avoid the more dangerous parts of the bog. North, towards Canterlot. Where a few of the aliens were disposed of. Every time I came into the bog, I deliberated on whether or not I should properly destroy the remains, but each time, I decided that any action to interfere with the decomposition process would further point to me. I’d have to either lead them in such a way that any clues were too far away from their perceptive eyes, or bumble about and ruin the evidence ‘by accident’. Doing so too much would be suspicious, so I would have to save a few accidents for the most damning of evidence.
While I nodded and began to lead them through the swamp, I thought over what they could find out from what they already had. There’s no way to hide the whole alien thing. If they were persistent enough, with their weird magic, they would be able to find the ship in no time. If it is magic. With the amount of time that’s passed and the conditions, there should be nothing left save the bones and their armor. Since they already discovered some of the armor, I could avoid hiding those. Any evidence that I attacked them should be destroyed then. And the weapons they find should be destroyed in such away they can’t compare their effects with the injury that I sustained; Zecora would be able to connect the dots if they told her. The only thing worse than them finding out about my actions without reporting to the authorities would be them finding a full human skeleton. By reporting it, Luna would eventually get more information on me. I have one choice that reduces risk of exposure.
“We should get a move on. The longer we stay on the move, the bigger chance a predator has of catching us off-guard.”
It was ridiculous how much noise we made. Every broken branch, every splash of a puddle, they grated on my ears and shook my heart. Maybe it was because I was so used to working with just Steel Fang, and not a bunch of people carrying equipment. Maybe it was the nerves, knowing that these people may be looking for me. Or maybe it was the thought that my brain had interpreted these people as ‘authorities’ and I was so very close to going back into a straightjacket hellhole. Normal anxieties.
Their commander, Hawk Eye, was actually good at stealthing about. Not nearly as good as Midnight Azalea, who preferred to leap from tree branch to tree branch in hushed glides. And Crystal Nights…she was scary. She trotted with casual ease, but left no hoofprints, sounds, nor even a gust of wind as she moved. At least, that’s what my wings told me. She may have been the ‘VIP’ of the group for some reason, but it was clear she didn’t need protection. The others though, left much to be desired.
Thunderstrike could not stop talking. Red couldn’t stand touching mud, which was bad because as a unicorn, he was forced to walk with the rest of us. Lake Lily and Titanium each ended up stuck in quicksand that I very clearly told them to watch out for, and Titanium ended up touching some plants he really should not have. Strong Recovery was weirdly interested in examining me, and I couldn’t tell him to stop because he seemed genuinely curious about me. I didn’t want to let slip that I didn’t trust doctors, so I let him do his thing. I had to tell him to stop after he asked to take my temperature, when I told him that we needed to be careful now. Tron was just…a mess. He seemed to run into every spiderweb, every hole, every low-lying branch. A brick fell on his head. A brick! Where do you find a brick in the middle of the swamp? Thankfully, his butt-monkey escapades never got us into any real danger, but it did delay us.
When we finally got to the clearing where the ship used to be, Crystal’s horn pointed down. If they paid attention, they’d notice the clearing was nearly a perfect circle, the mangrove trees having been flattened and sunken by the ship’s impact. Now it was just a generous clearing of bog mud.
“There’s nothing here!” Thunderstrike practically whined.
“Jabbermouth is right. Anything that was here is liable to no longer be. Swamps are teeming with life and are prone to quick changes in topography.” I noted, ignoring Thunderstrike’s grimace at his nickname. “You said you were looking for an anomaly. Do you have any idea on what to look for?”
“That’s classified.” Lake Lily said as she looked to Hawk Eye and Crystal Night (?) for approval.
“Commander,” Crystal Night got the gryphon’s attention. “I believe we can divulge some information. Namely about properties and what to expect.” She hoofed at the mud for a bit. “And I may need Red, Tron, and Strong Recovery to help me track signatures. There is only so much a unicorn of my caliber can do.”
As the unicorns gathered around the mare, their horns glowing, I sat down and watched them as the others stood guard. Hawk Eye stood next to me eyes scanning the underbrush.
“The anomaly we’re looking for is hard to find. It’d be something weird, almost out of this world. Something that doesn’t fit in.”
Like me?
“Weird like a dog that quacks, or weird like some sort of color that should not exist?” I rose an eyebrow. Hawk Eye shrugged, but his eyes focused on my own.
“Magical accidents can explain the former, though the latter does sound like something. Have you come across a ‘color that should not exist’?”
“Only in a book.” The commander sighed. We sat in silence, watching the unicorns walk in circles. The gryphon’s gaze trailed across his team, staying a bit long on Midnight and Crystal. He furrowed his brow as he looked at the edge of the clearing, seemingly puzzling something together. Time to distract him before he comes to any accurate conclusions. What would be something ridiculous enough to ignore? Well, aliens. But that’s the truth. But if I make light of the truth it may be eliminated as an option. “To be honest Boss, it sounds like you’re looking for…you know.” I pointed upwards.
“What do you mean?”
“Like…aliens?”
“We prefer the term ‘immigrants’.” Hawk Eye said curtly, almost glaring.
“No, no, no…” Did I accidentally a racism? “I’m sorry, I mean like aliens from out of this world.” Hawk Eye’s expression softened, but he stopped tapping his claws.
“That would be ridiculous. You’ve been reading too many strange books.” The gryphon scoffed, but spoke in the same tone Lake Lily did when she said, ‘It’s classified.’ So they’ve already considered it. Bummer.
“Maybe I have.” I chuckled. In a moment of either weakness or morbid curiosity, I continued. “But the governments in those books always do keep witnesses silent.” Hawk Eye turned to stare at me, unblinking.
“Yes. They do.” Oh no. “Which is why we’ll pay quite a lot for this routine excursion, where our normal guide within the guard is on leave.” They’re paying me more to keep quiet about it? Am I actually in a different universe? All right! I may actually be able to get more books! Contrary to my thoughts, I gave a small grin and nodded.
Both of us sat there for a while longer until the silence grew awkward. I quite liked the silence, but I understand some people struggle to fill the blank canvas with thoughts, instead relying on conversation. I suppose even military men feel that way sometimes.
“I’ve been wondering, why are you living alone in the forest? Wouldn’t you enjoy being near other ponies?”
“No family back home, so I left. I don’t mind other people.” I responded, noting the slim smile on Hawk Eye’s beak. “But being around others…exhausts me. I can talk, and smile, and be polite, but when I do it for too long, it just drains me. Because even if they don’t say so, people want things from you. Money, work, power, your opinions, your truths. And you have to navigate through all that. I’m not good at that. I want simplicity, but I also want others to be happy. By being by myself, I can be as blunt as I want to be without bothering others. A perfect solution.”
“For everyone but you.” Hawk Eye hummed.
“I can live with that.”
“You remind me of someone—” He started before I interrupted.
“Let me guess, another social recluse. Antisocial, burdened with the feelings of others, secluding themselves to their own detriment? It’s not an uncommon thing nowadays Boss. As the world gets more complicated, some of us prefer to live without it.”
“You can’t just isolate yourself. There’s no plague going on!” Hawk Eye punctuated his statement with a flap of his wings. “People can be here to help you with the more complicated things. You just need to ask for a helping hoof, or claw, or hand. It is together we go through the rigors of life, together we work through our issues, together we go through the complicated horseapples. Things get more complicated as we grow. That’s part of learning and improving not just yourself, but your community.”
“Maybe.” If I wasn’t a parasite.
Before we could continue, Crystal Night approached us.
“There is a massive structure underneath all the mud. It would take years and hundreds of ponies to excavate it.” Yes! “Fortunately, Red knew of a spell that allowed him to examine crystal lattices, and with our combined efforts, we were able to use the ‘spectrometer’ spell to analyze the composition.” No! “It is no mere building, and the data matches that of the piece of the alloy we found earlier. Excavating it could yield interesting results, but it will not sink any lower. We can return with a full expedition later to glean benefits from it. For our immediate concerns however…it is useless.” Yes! “But,” Oh, come on! “we were able to ‘cross reference data’ to track where some other pieces of the alloy are.”
Hawk Eye nodded and motioned her to lead the way. And they started heading straight towards the cliff where I had my altercation with the aliens. My mind was abuzz with fear and paranoia, even entertaining thoughts of sabotaging them, until I calmed the panicked voices that whispered in my brain. Aliens are already on the table. So long as they find nothing connecting me to them, I’m safe. Sabotage would only increase my danger.
It was honestly, terrifying how easily they found the bodies. Sure, they were incredibly decomposed, and partially buried or overgrown. But the range on Crystal’s magic was incredible. She honed in on the bodies fast, pointed to where the armor was, and moved on. Red and Tron would follow her, pick up the bones, and pass them to Strong Recovery. The medic would get Midnight and Lake to help him log the bones, do some sketches on parchment, and then they’d pass them to Titanium to carry. Thunder, Hawk, and I did the basic scouting, looking over the landscape. I warned them about the explosive briar bush (where they found yet another body) and tried to look very surprised with every new thing they brought up. All in all, it was interesting to see how they deduced things. They didn’t know what the weapons were, but they figured out quickly that they were making a beeline towards Canterlot before being picked off. Thunder whispered something about a ‘traveler’ before Lake slapped him in the back of the head. I was busy trying not to pat myself on the back.
I was a bit upset that they weren’t able to tell whether or not the aliens were hostile, stating the possibility that they may haver just been going for help. It grated me because while it was unlikely, it was possible. My own human biases saw them killing humans, rather than acknowledging it as a war between two sides.
I didn’t like thinking of that. I had enough of a guilty conscience as it was.
<><><>
The Traveler doesn’t like thinking of ‘what if’s’. Especially not while working. It was distracting, and almost defeatist. What if it stopped doing what it was doing, and simply let the energy that constitutes its body expand in a natural manner. Its consciousness would fade, but an interesting universe would no doubt be born. What if every universe was once conscious, like it, and each took turns tending the gardens of its forbears? What if it met another like it? Would it decide to fade away and trust the next one? What if…what if…what if what the Traveler was doing was wrong? Hurting, manipulating, killing other beings, each with their own individual sparks and perceptions of the worlds they lived in, bringing their own joys and sorrows, their own uniqueness to a mostly empty multiverse…and for what? To prevent a natural disaster. What if this was normal, or planned by a being so powerful not even the Traveler could comprehend it, for an even greater purpose?
Not likely. Traveler has met other beings dwelling within the Void and in Betweens. They did not care about ‘mortals’, ‘lesser beings’, or ‘screaming food’. They tended to die a lot to those mortals, lesser beings, and screaming food.
But the Traveler allows itself to meditate on these questions when it thinks to itself: “What if this being wasn’t so busy?”
Already, four notable incursions into Equus occurred within the past week. Sure, there was the normal ‘dark energy burps’ where a little bit of extra space or time was added somewhere on Equus. Normal during a nearing convergence. So was the occasional rock or gas appearing from nowhere. Most of the multiverse was full of nothing but nothing, gas, and rocks. But with so many universes threading so close together, any divergence could be catastrophic, as it would cause a cascade of branching threads, which would accelerate divergence by introducing more factors to other universes. A bit like a fission reaction, except every particle contains uncounted lives.
So when an incursion has some sort of ‘influential’ entity that can cause mass damage or change, with an intelligence to boot, it becomes a lot harder to control. Especially when the entity in question chooses to forego subtlety. Especially when there are three such incursions in a week.
The first incursion was a strange one. Teenage human male, very intrusive cybernetics, golden rocketship, and seemingly just tired of everything. Very obviously flung off course. Traveler chose to represent itself as a human with a safety hat and vest on, warning him that the universe he was attempting to enter was unstable and recommended that he go elsewhere. Very polite kid; he understood and went on his way. Traveler makes a note to investigate his universe of origin later; it was quite rare to see stable inter-versal travel.
The second incursion was not polite. It was yet another clone or offshoot of Cthulhu. There were so many unstable renditions of this Void being that Traveler practically had a guidebook memorized on dealing with them. The insanity inducing waves emitting from the tentacled monster slipped off of Traveler’s psyche, but it did reduce an island of very confused centaurs into blubbering children. It was a good thing Traveler was good at overloading organic beings’ short term memories.
The third incursion was just plain rude. Whereas Cthulhus can’t control their madness inducement abilities, fire giants can control their tempers. And their temperatures. Very awkward when one appeared in the middle of a volcano occupied by dragons. While the dragons tried to burn it, the giant just laughed and based in the flames, opting instead to slap the dragons like one would an annoying mosquito. Or maybe a hummingbird, considering the bigger dragons. Traveler couldn’t exactly do anything in full view of the dragons, so it opted to get creative. Mimicking the form of a white spear, it erupted from the crust to catch the fire giant in the chest. The spear was a simple one, seemingly made of a white crystal, perhaps quartz. It was tiny, less than a thorn of the chest of the giant. But it impacted the giant with enough force to cause it to stumble back. It didn’t hurt it. The giant was a bit stunned, then laughed harder when it reached to grab the spear. It was when two massive claws touched it, like a pair of pliers removing a splinter, that the Traveler began to absorb.
For a fire giant, one of the most effective methods is cold. Intense, chilling winds rose as Traveler began to absorb the heat around it. It made sure to reduce the giant’s body to absolute zero in seconds, freezing even the volcano solid. The dragons steered away, watching as the sculpture of frozen obsidian crack and crumble to pieces, burying the ‘quartz spear’ with it. Traveler made sure to leave a mundane replica of the quartz spear underneath the rubble, to make it seem it had lost its power. The style of spear would be helpful for later.
The last one stood before the Traveler now, grounded by the intense gravitational forces. It was some sort of bipedal dragon-deer wearing long robes. Considering it was flying on a sword, Traveler is expecting the worst. It dislikes cultivators because there are so many ways they can do wrong. They could be nice and set up a sect to teach the locals new techniques…which involves them politically. They can be greedy and sell their unique artifacts—because they always carry artifacts they seem to outgrow—which involves them economically. They could swear vengeance against the smallest, stupidest slight, and just outright commit genocide. They have an annoying tendency to tie themselves to fundamental principles of the universe, which makes them anything between tricky to deal with and enraging to pull apart their existential threads. The Traveler can work with plot armor so long as it stays in its respective universe. Whatever they do, cultivators seem to inspire divergence.
They were also just very boring to watch. They meditate for years, come up with some absurd concept and rationalization to make themselves stronger, often reusing old concepts in a ‘new’ way. Then, they fight each other for money, lovers, and territory, completely ignoring whatever deep revelations they’d gleaned from their years of meditation. Interesting fights, but very repetitive, little development.
The dragon-deer bows his head to Traveler, who bows in turn. It does not bother hiding; somehow the cultivator had detected it the moment Traveler had increased the gravity to run him aground.
“Greeting, revered one.” Traveler could taste the disrespect in his voice, but it does not care. It is likely intentional to start a fight or to ‘acquire resources’. “This one is Xin, a quilin of the Soaring Heavens Sect, and I come seeking challenges to hone myself.”
Translation: This one is a battle-maniac. The worst kind.
“The only challenge I can see for you is to return from whence you came. Nobody here can compare to your might.”
Translation: There’s nothing here. Please leave.
“Ah…” Xin rubs his scaled snout. “But I was told there would be a mighty one. One clad in the black darker than night. You wouldn’t know someone like that would you?” He gives a wide, sharp-toothed grin.
It is true that Traveler would describe its visible self as ‘darker than Vantablack’, although it is not sure if it would use that term for both legal reasons and precision’s sake. Technically, to absorb as much energy as possible while maintaining an air of mystery, Traveler absorbs all light along its form, making it seem like a sort of ink blot on reality. There is an odd comfort in lacking features.
“You are misinformed. I don’t fight.”
“But you do kill.” The quilin unsheathes a single-edged blade. “I’ve heard you’re very good at it.”
“Don’t do something we’ll both regret.”
“Regret…is for the weak!” Xin slashes his sword, igniting the air around in a blue haze.
Traveler uses a tendril to catch the blade, negating the kinetic energy. The sword starts slicing into the tendril, ignoring physics and conventional laws. Quickly, Traveler retreats, watching Xin marvel at his blade. The maniac had cut through not just air molecules and Traveler’s energy, but through everything.
“Fascinating!” Xin exclaims. “You dodged it! And my sword seems quite a bit sharper in this world!”
“You wouldn’t happen to have a Dao, right? Maybe a Dao of Cutting rather than the Blade?”
Xin is stunned into silence before laughing uproariously. He holds his blade up, pointing at Traveler.
“You are a martial artist! To uncover my secret within a single strike!” His eyes narrow. “The Snake was right about you.”
Traveler wants to sigh. It forms the general shape of a man, two legs on the ground. The quilin is already dead, anyways.
“Perhaps we can talk about the Snake over tea? This world has great tea, though I cannot taste it.”
“I’ve had enough about tea!” He slashes his blade in irritation. “I want a fight!”
He ran towards Traveler to slice at his ‘head’, but the entity ducks low and delivers a punch into the gut of the warrior. Not enough to kill him; Traveler needs information. It sends him flying back, jumping on a tree to lunge at Traveler’s side. The entity jumps over the blade but catches a knife in the shoulder for its trouble. It dodges backwards and mimes an injury.
“Could you at least tell me who the Snake is before you kill me?”
“Not much I can tell you.” The cultivator smirks. “Now stop pretending. I’ve got a feeling that only my Dao can affect you.”
Traveler stops mimicking an injury, breaking apart the dagger within, leaving the hilt to fall of its body in half-melted slag.
“Not much. There is something, then?”
Xin rushes in again, feinting a slice for Traveler’s shoulder, then going for its leg. Traveler side-steps and opts for a punch to the side of Xin’s head. He leaps back, throwing seven kunai at the entity, who catches them all, superheating six until they glowed bright, and coating the last in a light-bending tendril. Traveler throws them back. Xin dodges the six obvious weapons. Just as the invisible one is about to reach him, his eyes widen and he cleaves the last one in half with a slice of blue haze.
“Clever! And yes, I do have one observation. I’ll tell you if you win.”
Another annoying thing about cultivators. They fought to the death and promised information after their loss. Perhaps Traveler should accelerate the fight. The quilin does not have much time…
This time, Traveler rushed the eager cultivator head-on to throw a punch, but shifting at the last moment into a thread that reconfigured into a man dropkicking Xin in the side, sending him into a long trench in the earth. Xin leaped out and laughed even harder.
“That’s more like it! Come!”
Traveler charged again, miming another feint when Xin smirked. His blade swirled around him, everywhere at once, settling everything into a blue haze. But Traveler was not in front, at his side, nor behind him. Rather, it was above him, spitting out the molten metal it a furious red spray below. Xin’s eyes and mouth were agape for but a moment before his expression set.
“DRAGON’S HERITAGE!”
Another annoying thing about cultivators; they tend to have power-ups. Which made all the energy Traveler just used to maim the cultivator a wasted investment. Xin stands taller now, his antlers curved back and thicker. His muscles are more pronounced, as are his teeth and scales. The molten metal slips off him like water from a duck’s back. His snout is longer now, eyes brighter and slitted. No doubt he has a different coloration; Traveler doesn’t bother trying to distinguish the distinct visible light spectrum differences.
“You almost got me! I might have been seriously injured! But now…” Flames lick the sides of his mouth as he guffaws, swinging his sword to his side. The sword’s energy springs into the forest, cutting down trees for miles. Traveler notes this and curses the negligence of cultivators. That forest took centuries to grow. June Night and her descendants had worked tirelessly to fund the renewal of resources near Manehatten, and the forest was one of the bigger successes. “This fight is nearing its conclusion.”
“More than you know.”
The quilin’s metabolic rate had increased. He likely has some sort of regenerative abilities, as the bruises and cracked limbs he’d had are starting to fade. He takes a deep breath, and Traveler readies to absorb the flame to demoralize him. Instead, he unleashes a roar so mighty, the grass is flattened beneath him, and the few remaining animals flee for miles around. It is likely those in Manehatten heard him. A bit annoyed, the Traveler responds in kind. With a focused sonic blast of its own, blowing the cultivator back and disintegrating the trees behind him into splinters and matchsticks. The cultivator smiles as his ruptured ears heal, only growing more excited.
“That is the most impressive battle cry I’ve heard yet! And you say you’re no fighter.”
“If anything, I am a healer. A doctor. One who maintains the health of a system and environment.”
“So you admit it!” Xin chortles. “You fight against forces greater than you: decay, death, disaster…is that not what a healer is?”
“You cultivators…when all you have are hammers, everything you see is a nail.”
“You even speak like wise masters!”
“It’s a very common expression.”
“Not where I’m from.”
“I wonder why.”
The two charge at each other. Xin attempts an underhanded strike, but his hand is caught by Traveler, who slams him into the ground several times. Xin dislodges himself by pulling another sword from somewhere and slicing at Traveler’s arm. Traveler dodges the cut, but the energy sends a cloud of dust everywhere. Xin, hidden by dust, cuts Traveler’s other arm. The blow glances off as Traveler sidesteps and pushes energy to redirect the blade. It takes a lot of energy. Unwilling to waste as much, Traveler stretches a palm chop to Xin’s off-hand, cleaving off the quilin’s next blow. The two separate once more.
Xin is out of breath, but swiftly regains his composure as his hand starts to regrow from the wrist.
“It’s harder than usual, isn’t it? The regeneration.”
“Did you poison me?” Xin grimaced, his hand spasming.
“No. You did. You’re cutting through too much. That blue haze of cut atoms, releases alpha particles, beta particles, gamma particles… it’s a mess of radioactivity—that is, incredibly toxic energy. Moreso for those with biological regenerative abilities.”
“Countered by my own power. How quaint.” He let out a shuddering breath and stood up straighter. “The Snake, despite his self-proclaimed moniker, lacks scales. He’s actually quite moist. Reminds me of home for some weird reason. He talked to me about you, said you were a deluded killer of massive proportions. Maybe he believed it. Maybe he said what I wanted to hear. Doesn’t matter. I came to find a worthy opponent. I found one.” He raised his sword one final time. “Let’s end this then. One more strike. Everything we have.”
The Traveler didn’t want him to die. But the radiation had already infested every cell of his body. To cure him would be invasive, inefficient, and time-consuming. It would likely cripple the quilin.
Traveler approached him as he prepared an overhead strike. In one leap, he closes the distance. The blade falls. Traveler let the blade pass through, moving around the blade and connecting back on the other side. It was still going, abandoning the humanoid form to shift into a thread then shrink into a needle within picoseconds. It tears through the cultivator’s brain as a beam of pure energy, and coming out the other side. Clean and merciful.
Xin’s body is still standing, smile on his face as the sword drops from his hands. Cultivator’s bodies are so well maintained, even brain death takes some time to register. Case in point.
“Good fight.”
“I destroyed your brain. Please rest now. Let the echoes fade.”
“I can…see my home. By the quay.” The body turns its head to look at the Traveler. “He’s wrong about you. You…sent me off the way I…wanted.”
The traveler recomposes itself. Those words were echoes of a soul, dying vestiges of vital energy replicating the last neurons firing in a brain as it too, fades away. There is no meaning in thses words.
The body collapses. The Traveler burns the body to dust, sending it and the cultivator’s sword through the hole in space he’d cleaved open in his final moments, then closes it shut. It’s easy to close; the cut had been perfect.
<><><>
It was easy enough. With no evidence linking Windell to the aliens, the troupe of soldiers had no reason to suspect me. Which was fantastic, because I actually did end up needing to dispose of some evidence.
It was on our way back to Ponyville. We were walking through a familiar glade when Midnight stuck her snout in the air and sniffed. I didn’t even have a chance to panic before she said the dreaded words.
“Why do I smell bones?” She pointed a clawed wing to the foliage above. “Up there.”
I made the connection. That’s where I threw that damn human skeleton! The one Lyra almost found! Quick, finagle a reason.
“There’s probably an Adder Hornets nest. They like to collect bones, but they’re very aggressive.” And because I’d been pointing out local flora and fauna all day, they believed my little lie.
“Be that as it may, it bears investigating.” Crystal Night proclaimed.
She nodded and pointed to Red, whose horn started to glow.
“Woah, woah!” I wave my hooves in front of him. “That’ll get them excited.” They’re driven enough to trek through miles of swamp and hydra dung, they’ll find the bones no matter what. What’s important is that they get the least important parts. Bones I could lose, but they’ll be able to tell more from clothes, and whatever was in the guy’s pockets. “Thankfully, you’ve got me. They rely on scent, and I smell completely like the forest. I can nick it, easy.”
Before they could say anything else, I flapped my wings in a burst of movement. I didn’t need to search for long. Wrapped in clothes were the bones, lodged in the crook of a taller tree. Acting quickly, I dislodged the bundle and let the bone shards fall all the way down. I made sure there were no pieces left and carefully searched the clothes for any evidence. Indeed, there was a ring of keys and a leather wallet. Hiding the suspicious items in my wings, I hopped down from branch to branch and landed on all fours in front of the waiting group. Strong Recovery was analyzing the bones, but they were so destroyed I doubted he could glean much from it.
“It’s a good job I learned a puzzle solving spell!” He beamed as I struggled to keep a scowl from forming.
Crystal Night nodded and turned to me.
“You have my appreciation for your help, my little pony.”
I froze. Isn’t that a princess dog whistle?
Hawk Eye coughed into his talons, directing her attention away from me. “Windell, you’ve been a great help. Here are your wages, and a bonus for your continued assistance.” He passes me two heavy pouches, which I take to balance on my back.
“Well, shucks.” I faked a sheepish smile. “Anything to help.”
As I walked away and towards the now visible road, I could hear them talking behind me as I concentrated magic into my ears.
“I’m sorry, but it sounds weird when you say it.” Hawk Eye whispered.
“Am I not regal enough? Or is it my sister’s ‘thing’?” Crystal huffed.
“No, no, no…it’s just, you’re not supposed to say such princess-y stuff undercover.” I could feel my heart seize and my blood run cold. Yup. Definitely Luna. Oh jeez. Trying to distract myself, I opened the wallet and looked at the ID. Hey, I know this guy! We went to high school together…
…
Why is the issue date two decades before I was born?
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Thx for updating this story
Is this by chance a reference to the brick joke with the airplane? Either way this was hilarious
Ah, so "aliens" is also a racial term for planetary inter-country immigrants here. I guess it can't all be magic sunshine and rainbows in horsey world
I didn't really like Traveller and still don't, but in realitty, It's just an exhausted, overworked thing that's trying to make the best decisions it can at the time. The lack of true omnipotence is really a bummer.
Ha! Extra cash bags at the expense of Luna's mistake, gotta love that free dosh. Also the characterization of "Crystal Nights" not leaving any evidence of her being there is quite spooky, a nice preview of her capabilities.
As a side note, I like the exploration of the mini ecosystems inside Froggy Bottom Swamp. It was quite humorous, interesting, and nice to read about a living world.
Congratulations on the life stuffs, hope you continue to do well. April fools is a time for a partying -- historically I think that one of the origins relating to a new year is apt in this instance; a new year, and time for new things. Thanks for chapter I sure enjoyed it.
I believe that should be "they may have been just going to get help"
Should be "these"
There's a couple other word hyphenation/space misses, and a couple sentence fragments, but I consider them writing flavours
I appreciate the update. Means that I probably have to reread the story though to understand what exactly is going on. Also, glad you're not dead. Was worried this story would forever be in psuedo hiatus, considering covid and quarantines. Hope that you're doing well my guy.
You pulled a Homestar Runner here, returning from a years long hiatus on April Fool's day. I think about this story a lot, glad to see it return.
Evil Morty?
Nice, it's always a good day when an author comes back years later.
Holy shnikes, a NEW CHAPTER after nearly 6 years?! I'm impressed! Also glad to see you're back too.
Holy crap!!! A new chapter, I thought this was dead!!!
Well this just went on tracked because it isn't dead.
congrats on the improvements in your life, and thanks for the update!
Um, to be honest, I don't remember what this story is about. It has been a long time. I will need to reread it, I guess.
I'm glad this updated.
I have reread it. Totally worth it, I only vaguely remembered most of it, and it's pretty good.
10161005
I had faith!
excited to read the next chapter, going to reread this soon.