Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter thirty six, Let the good times Rein: Old acquaintance.

Author's Note:

-Rein, Arizona-

The first time I stepped into town I didn’t know what to expect.

There were candy canes decorating a lot of stuff, colorful baubles were hanging around everywhere and even some buildings were covered in Tinsel’s namesake. I could even see two ice sprites kissing under some mistletoe.

It felt like this place had a constant Hearths Warming theme to it and I could definitely get behind that, but I wouldn’t want to live here as they don’t celebrate Hearths Warming. I could kind of see why they’d get weird about Hearths Warming being mentioned around here, if this was how the place looked year round.

Hearths Warming may be a pony made holiday, but I loved it and thought it was a bright and joyous time to spend with the friends and family you loved.

It sure was chilly out today, somehow nobody noticed Velvet’s cabin having visitors.

No one came out to look.

So I was completely alone when I walked into town… well not entirely alone.

There was a large number of reindeer here. Some of them were kind of like the Canterlot unicorns, others were more down to earth and a few of those even greeted me as I passed by them on the street. There was an excessive number of something else and that’s why I wasn’t alone.

“Can’t you go do that somewhere else?” I asked of the band of ice sprites trailing me with tiny musical instruments, they all started giggling and continued to play their music as I walked down the street. “I guess not then.”

“Oh don’t mind them, they’re the Rein welcoming committee and they take their jobs seriously. Ice Sprites are always happy go lucky and jolly year round, they really like to spread their good cheer abound.” The reindeer that approached me was pretty good looking and I can kind of see why Velvet was so protective of her ‘floof’. The green eyed reindeer was a lot bigger than Velvet, she also looked older and even fluffier. “I’m Vixen, so what brings a lone cow all the way up north? Usually you guys group up together and gossip until you all go home for the day, though I have to admit that nobody can network quite as well as cows tend to do.”

“I’m Arizona. An outlier that likes to wander around on my own sometimes, but I do know a bunch of cows. Never been to the cow settlement south by south east though.” She looked a little surprised at that, I had a few things to ask of his local. “I’m not traveling alone though, I have a few friends that came with me to Rein. I was wondering if you’ve seen an abrasive or possibly aggressive cow named Maggie, she sometimes goes by Minnesota.”

“No, can’t say that I have. Someone like that would have been readily noticeable around here though, don’t take this the wrong way but you cattle tend to be somewhat docile. You personally seem to be more of an outgoing type, so I would suggest you don’t let some of the reindeer around here get to you with what they will say.” She tapped a hoof to her chin. “There have been a few odd ponies skulking about, but nothing has been too out of the ordinary around here. So aside from looking for some cow, are you here for the tournament?”

“What tournament?” That caught my interest, my opinion of this place shot up a couple of notches because of that.

“Well there’s the upcoming monthly Tundra Tourney, it’s a battle competition held between the six tribes. Reindeer usually enter to exercise their ice magic, sometimes an alpaca fluffmancer wants to test their fluff and Longma always like to pit themselves against reindeer. The longma even send different envoys this way once a month just to join in on our reindeer games and not just the tournaments, they also run similar tournaments down south.” Vixen seemed to be rather relaxed about it, but I thought it sounded awesome. “As for the lambkin… they rarely make a showing, but we often get surprised when a ram wants to get into a fight. Rarer still are the unicorns that want to show their magic off. It’s always a blast!”

“Sounds like something I’d want to take a part in, just so I can meet some tough customers. I just have a few more questions if you don’t mind me asking them.” Nodding to me to go on, my questions would be quick and hopefully her reaction wouldn’t be too great. I had heard how bad Paprika had been around here, now to find out if it was true. “Have you ever met an alpaca with blonde fur that hugs, kisses and or invades people personal space on a whim?”

I didn’t mind Paprika, but apparently Vixen did as she suddenly became very alert and was looking in every direction and looked a little spooked.

“You’ve seen her, is she here?!” She grabbed me looking rather horrified at the idea that Paprika might be around.

“Uh… yes?” I didn’t feel like lying about this, Paprika was technically in town.

“Why is she back, why?!” In her panic the reindeer started shaking me furiously and I just calmly slapped her across the face. She blinked and released me.

“Maybe she’s not as bad you think she is?” So she was a little overly affectionate, big whoop.

“Not as… do you not know of the calamities that the creature that looks like an alpaca can cause?!” She seemed rather hysterical, I was just given her a flat look.

“I still have a few more questions, besides I think that alpaca just likes to be friendly… a little too much admittedly.” I just received this odd stare and twitching eye. Seriously, Paprika wasn’t that bad.

“Sure go ahead, but if that menace shows up I’m going to be running in the opposite direction before she accidentally lights that one house on fire again and or chooses to target me for one of her hugs and snuggles… those horrid warm and comfortable snuggles…” Vixen tried to look calmer, only to end up looking haunted with tiny pupils staring off into the distance as she started shivering violently. I gave her a disturbed look. “She’s hugged at least every reindeer in our town at least one, she’s insatiable! At least she doesn’t hurt our fawns.”

She was wrong about the insatiable part, Paprika just wanted to be hugged and loved back. Give her some love back and she’ll get off of you quicker. I noted that children tended to like Paprika, while everyone else was either absolutely scared of her, thought she was a nuisance or were just extremely annoyed.

“Do you know of a reindeer named… Velvet Iceberg Deer?” I was a little cagey about asking after Velvet as if I didn’t know her, but I wanted to know what my girlfriend was like before I met her. Vixen’s reaction to hearing the name was cool, but not totally cold. “I heard she was a champion here in Rein.”

“Oh yes, I know of her, she is one of the many champions. To reach champion status you have to place high in a number of Tundra Tourneys and be at least of a mastery level in ice magic.” Okay that was interesting, but didn’t Velvet say she had some problems with the water portion of her ice magic? “Velvet is one of the few champion’s that doesn’t have a mastery, but has beaten at least three that do.”

“What do you think about her personally?” I was curious now, a little too much for my own good really.

“Well she was quite snooty and haughty, kind of like her parents, but unlike her parents I think she actually cared about those around her.” That certainly sounded like my Velvet alright. “Yeah, I can honestly say that she only acted the way she did because her parents expected a lot of her. Don’t think their attitudes rubbed off on her all too well. Velvet never got an ice sprite for herself personally, but I know for a fact that she treated them well whenever they were around her. I guess she wasn’t all that bad really.”

“You actually sound kind of upset about saying that.” Well I certainly heard that Vixen’s tone of voice go a little sour there, as if she was begrudgingly an acquaintance of Velvet’s that didn’t like the idea of saying nice things about her.

“I was one of the three mastery level ice magic users she took down.” Well Vixen, that certainly sounded like a good reason to be sour. I would ask for a rematch. “I even had my ice sprite supporting me at the time.”

“How did you lose the fight then?” Having lost a few scraps with Velvet personally, I had a vested interest to hear what Velvet did to win against someone that sounded like they had all the cards. “I’ve seen what those ice sprites can do.”

“She surprised me, she dodged one of my attacks and used the effect of my own ice sprites assistance against me. She timed it so well that she got the boost from my sprite as well and pretty much flash froze me with a point blank attack. I’m good at distance attacks, but up close and personal? She hit me good and hard after I toyed with her for a while by keeping her at a distance.” Vixen grumbled out. “It only happened because I got a little full of myself and started mocking her family wholesale. Didn’t seem to care much when I mocked her parents, but when I mocked her… yeah I probably deserved what happened to me for using my sprite to boost my attacks in that fight. So was that all you wanted to know, because I really feel like sealing myself in a very small space until I hear the all clear on what is believed to be the alpacas secret weapon of mass snuggles.”

“Actually I do, I heard a thing about a special key to the 'Seal of the Shadow Horde'.” She tilted her head at me curiously, though I could tell she knew what I was talking about. “My friends and I are looking around for those keys since we heard the seal was weakening. We’re also looking for that aggressive cow I mentioned and maybe a way to help a friend that was lost to us, but that’s unimportant as I doubt anyone around here has the power to open holes in time and space.”

“How quaint… yes, I do believe I know the ancient key you’re talking of. We still have it here in town and we haven’t lost it yet.” Yet you were waiting on me to ask about it weren’t you Vixen?

“If I were to ask how I would go about acquiring it, what would you say?” I was guessing or at least picking up on the fact that she wasn’t going to give me a straight answer about it.

“I’ll be seeing you in the next Tundra Tourney then.” That’s when Paprika decided to tackle me affectionately and that sent Vixen running and screaming as if she had seen the scariest thing in existence.

I absently noted that there were no reindeer in the area currently, wimps the lot of them. I even imagined Vixen nailing shut the insides of a closet to keep Paprika out and away from her with that kind of reaction.

“Hey Paprika, got all the stuff I wanted to know from an acquaintance of Velvet’s. So what are you up to?” I hugged her back just as strongly as she was doing to me, this made Paprika happy. She nuzzled me before releasing me and signed out several things she wanted to tell me, afterwards she bounced off to do who knows what. “Meet Fluff Butt at the frozen lake for some ice skating? Eh, why not.”

I adjusted my alpaca hat and scarf and continued on my way to talk with some more townsfolk, I wasn’t going to just take the words of a single reindeer at face value. Might have to rough up a few of them to make sure that information was good, because I was itching for a fight with one of the tougher reindeer so I could compare them to Velvet.

-Vixen-

I was frantically putting every object I owned in the way of the door so she couldn’t get in!

I used a dresser, my bed, five sand bags, an inflatable raft, a plastic tree and then I was hoofed a chair which I used to keep the growing pile of random junk balanced against the door.

“Thanks.” I said to the nightmarish hug monster before I continued to take several items from her and put them in the pile I was making to keep said nightmarish hug monster from getting through the door to get me.

I most certainly didn’t want to be snuggled by that thing!

Wait a minute… I slowly turned to the toothily grinning alpaca, her tail was waggling and she looked quite perky today.

Which means I was doomed unless I destroyed my prize possessions or I put a large hole in my house.

The hole would cost a lot to repair, but I was willing to do it given the desperate situation I now found myself. I grabbed for my magic, but didn’t get time to use it.

I’m sure my screams for help could be heard throughout Rein, given she didn’t let me finish thinking about how to escape.

-Velvet-

“Huh… sounds like Paprika went after Vixen again.” I turned to look at the mansion in the distance, wasn’t touching that place with a ten and a half foot pole. I flicked my ear in the direction of the screaming. “By the sound of it, she forgot that Paprika has a way of catching up to just about anyone and then victimizing them in the way she’s known to do. One does not lock themselves in a room in a panic without expecting Paprika to be in there with them when they do.”

I was seated on a bench next to the frozen lake, it was beautiful this time of year. Just like most of Rein was when it was constantly decorated to be bright and colorful by the ‘sprites for reindeer’ committee.

I heard a noise next to me and saw Tinsel playfully building a snow fort, I left him to it and just sighed to myself.

Why did fate conspire to bring me back here? At least I had a better understanding of Paprika now, well better than all the reindeer she was going to be terrorizing while I try to get in a date with Arizona.

Paprika would be busy for the foreseeable future and I had already described my parents to Tinsel so he could run interference for me if they tried to approach me. Not that an ice sprite would stall them for long, but it would be long enough to evade them completely.

I felt like hyperventilating about being this close to my first home, I was happy that I haven’t run into them yet.

There was no ice cream here to consume as comfort food, if something bad happened on our date then it would be running into them. I absolutely trusted Arizona to stick by my side.

Comments

[Fireeaters]

Nice lol

[Fireeaters]

I wonder if arizona'll pull out any more street fighter moves.

[Booster Spice]

No matter how small the space you try and hide in, The hug monster will already be waiting, behind you.

[Draskos]

Usually you guys group up together and gossip until you all go home for the day

I see what you did there...