Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter Seventeen, Ending Year Two: Snake more.

-Many weeks later, Fizzle-

Things became a bit calm around Airship Mauled for the autumn, mostly because a third Viking airship crushed Rata and Sekhet. The third ship was looking for the other two lost ships, by then Quetzalcoatl had already left to go back to his duties. Rata was staying in town to run the town’s postal service, I think he might have a think for Jacky which would be awkward considering his status as a god.

I repeat, a red flying squirrel god was now in charge of our mail and we were all nuts to think that was anything close to normal. Yes, we converted an airship into a post office and he was the de facto head of delivering mail around here. He was a messenger god, so it made sense in some respect and he was quite adept at it and seemed to have be enamored with one of my best friends. It wasn’t a familiar bond like what Jade and Kuril had with Snickers and Sugar, but it almost seemed like Rata wanted one with Jacky.

Gene, Flamberge and Fortitude were still around, given we had some readily available airship housing for them. We had expert adventurers that wanted to call this place, which was oddly magnetic to weirdoes like them, home.

Currently I wasn’t at Airship Mauled, I was on a nature walk with Maries. Alone in the forest, with a creature that has threatened to eat ponies before and has the strength and muscle to carry out said threat.

She wouldn’t do that because we were friends. I logically knew that Maries wasn’t like that, aside from occasionally bringing a dead bird to Kuril. For some reason getting dead birds made Kuril happy, it was likely either a cat thing or an Abyssinian thing.

Between us there was an awkward silence, this was supposed to be a form of date Maries could go on where they… wouldn’t cause a panic. Was this a date? It felt more like an outing with a good friend, only a little more intimate.

“So… Maries, do you think Jade is doing something weird?” I was bound to get three separate opinions on the matter unless they were of one mind.

“Knowing Jade she’s probably doing something exciting and action packed.” That’s what Mara placed her bet on.

“I’d think Jade was taking it easy today, she seems to want a lazy day lately.” You could be correct Maria, Jade could get lazy when she wasn’t exercising for school or with training with her knife.

I still thought Jade could use a better weapon, one with more of a monster averting nature.

“If we’re guessing about what Jade is doing, then at best I’d go with Fizzle’s suggestion and say it’s something weird.” Thanks Marie, at least I got a vote of confidence from one part of you. “So Fizzle, has Jade initiated a kiss with you yet?”

“No, I want her to be the one to kiss me.” Right now, I believed that Jade loved all the cardboard boxes she got for her birthday more than she did me. I should not feel jealous of inanimate objects winning Jade’s heart!

“You’re lucky you’ve managed to work up the courage kiss her.” Intoned Mara with a hint of sadness.

“Yeah, we can give her affectionate licks to the cheek, but I don’t think she’s going to be an initiator.” Well Maria, I don’t think it was because she was shy.

“I think Jade rather receive, than give. She’s a tad greedy like that.” With a thoughtful look on her face Marie continued. “She definitely willing to do just about anything to make you happy though Fizzle, wished she could do the same for my sisters. They like her a lot, I’m more or less throwing in with them because I’m outvoted in the department of pursuing Jade actively. I’d think our fishing date went pretty well if not for the interruption, but really we’re almost being stuck in the friend zone by her.”

“You’re not the only one feeling like you’re being friend zoned.” Logically I knew Jade loved me and was willing to prove it, I just wasn’t asking her to. As much as I craved affection, I wasn’t actively seeking it out for the very reason that I was obsessed with it. It was nerve wracking to want something so badly, but to try and force it to come about would be the worst possible course of action.

Why did I and Jade like each other again? It was because Jade and her mother invited me into their family without a second though.

“The leaves are pretty today.” Idly commented Mara looking at all the orange, red and yellow leaves falling from the trees around us as we walked.

“We think you’re quite pretty too.” Did Maria really just claim I was pretty?

I didn’t feel pretty or look beautiful, but the way Jade’s eyes light up when she looks at me said a lot. It’s the same way Maries sometimes looked at her too. Where was my life going that I was pondering a relationship with a chimera and a cat?

Well the cat in question wasn’t a normal one by any stretch of the imagination and the chimera was a lawyer, life was strange like that. Maries were, in their own way, quite beautiful in an exotic kind of way.

I’m seriously checking them out right now. Mara kept her fur soft, Maria was a fluffy goat head and Marie was quite the intellectual.

“Thank you…” Was I blushing? I still didn’t understand chimera body language, much less an Abyssinians. The Abyssinian body language makes them seem aloof, but I was comparing them to pony body language.

Maries’ body language was a mixed bag, but right now they seem scared of me and even a bit… shy? I moved closer to them and nuzzled Maria’s neck affectionately, I was the one that initiated things and I may as well continue being the brave one.

How does one go about loving a chimera? Its three different people in one body, where they have a collective mind when they work together in synchronous harmony with one another. Should I specialize my affectionate responses for each of them separately? Should I only be affectionate with one of them and expect them to share the feeling throughout?

I can kind of guess why Jade had so much trouble showing them more affection, she really didn’t know how to proceed and I didn’t either. I moved over and nuzzled Mara, only she nuzzled back. I received that well enough and moved on to hug Marie so she didn’t feel left out.

We just continued walking through the forest after that without a word, at least until I asked a question that had been on my mind since the first time I met them.

“So knowing about snakes like I do, can all of you smell the air with your tongues or is it just Marie?” Yes, this is seriously the thing I’ve been wondering about.

“Yes, we can all smell with our tongues.” Confirmed Maria who cringed at having to answer the question.

“My sister don’t like that ability, because no matter how they breathe they can smell everything.” Perking up after telling me that Marie continued. “At least our tracking abilities can’t be disabled, but I can understand why smelling with your tongue all the time is a bad thing.”

“At least your nostrils don’t have the ability to smell anything Marie.” Groused out Mara. She would be quite correct as snakes didn’t smell with their nostrils, they only breathed with them. This lead to my next question of getting to know Maries.

“So what do all of you like to eat?” I was expecting one answer.

“Fish, grilled, baked, served with a bit of lemon, salted and any other way Kuril can think to make it.” Well that was obvious given Mara loved her protein and being a chimera they needed to eat a lot of food in a day to stay healthy and strong.

“I prefer cottage cheese, everyone knows that.” Well that was wasn’t very interesting, because everyone knew Maria liked cottage cheese. “It’s full of proteins and other essential vitamins and minerals for a growing chimera like us.”

“Spaghetti, doesn’t matter what kind. I just really like noodles in general.” Staring at Marie, I was expecting something else like rats or birds. “What? I like carbohydrates, they are quite filling for us and matriarch Kuril can make a huge servings for us.”

I would spend the next few hours on our date getting to know Maries better as three individuals and as a collective whole, they’d even ask me a few questions about myself as well. Could we work together, could we stand to date Jade normally? Did we have to make Jade choose between us? It wasn’t an immediate concern at the moment.

-Jacky-

This was an immediate concern at the moment.

“Captain… Jade… are you feeling okay?” I was staring wide eyed at an unusual sight. Jade’s body was at the bottom of the stairs, but that’s not what I was staring at.

“Did you just actually use my name? I should be asking if you’re okay!” Staring at Jade in disbelief, I got a little indignant with her. “What’s wrong Jacky?”

“You are what is wrong captain!” I could hardly even tell what I’m looking at right now, it shouldn’t be physically possible. “Have you looked at yourself recently?”

“No, why?” Jade continued to read the Power Ponies comic book she had in front of her, only she was a ghostly white being sitting in a seat.

“Because you’re dead Captain, that’s what’s wrong with you!” I shouted at her while staring at her body at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m not dead, I’m just resting.” Much to my disbelief that Jade didn’t notice her change of state.

“Look, you look like a ghost, which looks exactly like your body over there, so you must be dead!” I pointed out to her.

“No, no, I’m just resting.” That wasn’t a very strong denial in your case you spectral white cat reading a comic book as if everything were normal. “It must be something with my hair that’s spooking you Jacky, Fizzle didn’t brush me this morning.”

“You’re hair doesn’t even enter into this Captain!” I pointed out and she continued to lazily read the comic book.

“Look, if I were dead, do you think I wouldn’t know about it?” She stated blithely, almost unaware of her body lying at the bottom of the stairs. “If I were dead, then how am I talking to you right now?”

“Okay, if you’re just resting, then I’ll just have to wake you up.” I walked over to her body on the floor there was some shattered glass nearby and some white fluids, but I ignored that and began talking to her body. “Hello Jade, I’ve got a nice juicy bit of fruit candy for you.”

Jade’s specter walked over and kicked her body making it move slightly.

“See I moved, I’m alive.” She then went back to sit down and missed the chair and then started floating there in the air reading the comic book. “Now let me read my comic book Jacky, I’m about to find out why Mane-iac’s hair is never cut when it would make the Power Ponies lives much easier.”

“That was you just kicking your body!” I was getting indignant with her now, because this was ridiculous.

“Well if I’m awake enough to kick myself, then I must be alive.” She said plainly while reading her comic book. “Darn it Radiance, that’s not how you use a lawnmower! Though that is an interesting idea...”

“You are definitely deceased Captain.” Thus I started a tirade about this. “You’ve passed on! You’re a cat no more! You have ceased to be! You’ve expired and might soon meet your maker! You are a late cat! You’re a stiff, bereft of life and almost resting in peace! You’re pushing up dandelions! YOU are an ex-cat!”

“What’s going on in here?” Kuril walked in and saw me standing over Jade’s body and looked at the ghost floating in the air and reading a comic book. “Wow, that’s kind of amazing.”

“Hey, you were at least right about one of those things… I’m meeting my maker right now. Hi mom! Also this situation seems familiar to me.” Jade looked away from her comic to wave at her mother. “Isn’t it supposed to be the parrot that’s in this situation though?”

I had no idea what Jade was muttering about, but I’m pretty sure she’d explain it to me later. In fact she even started giggling about something.

“Tomatoes that jump away from danger… always hilarious.” Muttered Jade, who just shook her head and went back to reading her comic book.

Kuril sent me a look.

“I didn’t kill her!” I threw up my talons in a defensive manner and hoped that she believed me.

Kuril raised her right brow ever so delicately and looked at me as if I were an idiot.

“She’s not dead though.” Stated mom after a moment.

“… what!?" I pointed at the specter who licked her fingers, deftly grabbed the corner page on her comic book and turned it. "Then what do you call that!”

“The very manifestation of my daughter’s willpower to continue reading her comic book in spite of her current out of body issue.” Kuril went over to Jade’s body and put an ear up against Jade’s mouth and after a moment she stood up. “She’s not dead in the slightest though. She fell down the stairs, but that didn’t kill her. She, like any Abyssinian worth their salt, landed on her feet. Unfortunately her impact with the floor caused one of my potions to fall off the nearby shelf and it splattered her. That explains the white liquid.”

“What exactly is the potion that caused that to happen?” I pointed a talon over my shoulder at Jade, who looked up from her comic book and shrugged at us.

“I don’t know, but if I’m stuck like this for a while, then I have the perfect costume for celebrating Nightmare Night at least.” Jade looked thoughtful as she put her nose back into her comic book. “Only I can’t turn invisible like this, I could just go with the whole bedsheet wearing ghost routine.”

“It’s a potion that, should an alicorn or a magically equivalent being like a god drinks it, allows one to view things in the distant past as if they were a ghost. It needs to sit in a room with a constant temperature for a while.” Kuril poked her kitten a few times. “Instead, it was used up too soon and worked on contact instead of by ingestion. When it’s still in the contact phase, all it does is basically separate your spirit from your body for a while. Jade will be stuck like this for a few hours and she’s perfectly fine. Her body is still breathing on its own and the effect will eventually wear off.”

“No skin off my current face.” One can only wonder how Jade was taking this so calmly. “It doesn’t even have skin.”

“Yes, anyway, never take the potion once it is fully completed unless you’re a god like entity.” Kuril warned us. “It does some relatively awful stuff to normal people.”

Author's Note:

Not posting daily anymore, maybe every other day or at random.

I do me.

You do you.

Comments

[theoldhunter]

So that's were zecora got that potion

[Draskos]

I KNOW that's a Mony Python reference, but I can't remember from what specific one.

[Pensive]

“No, no, I’m just resting.” That wasn’t a very strong denial in your case you spectral white cat reading a comic book as if everything were normal. “It must be something with my hair that’s spooking you Jacky, Fizzle didn’t brush me this morning.”

Resting in the after/ghostly life.