Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter Fifteen, Questionable: Fireworks… the mauling kind.

-Quetzalcoatl-

“So all you want me to do is stay in this… Airship Mauled. At least for a few days so as to figure out if your hypothesis to a question is correct.” That was no boon, that was science and I was an interested party in seeing it happen. “That’s no boon, I personally have a vested interest in seeing what your questioning of the world will bring about.”

“Trust me, it will become a boon very quickly. I can’t tell you what I expect to happen without you becoming wary of my reasoning for wanting you around.” For a second it seemed like Sekhet wanted me around because I was one of the most beautiful gods she had ever seen, but it seems she has no interest in me personally.

Why is that gods can hardly ever find love without looking to mortals or outside their own pantheons? I would not keep my hopes up, though she was an exquisite looking goddess.

“Then we will see if it becomes a boon, otherwise I will still keep the boon for you open for now.” Do not think me as a cur with no honor, I always pay back what is owed. It was only right that I do so as is demanded of me.

“You also owe the Priest Jade a minor boon, she did assist me in stopping the constant rampage you had going on in Serpent Strath Path.” Thank you Sekhet, for reminding me that there was a frightening mortal that can freeze a god with her magic.

“Can she do that at all times?” I asked with a pensive feeling in my gut.

“No, she needs a specific object, one that is made well enough for her purposes. Said object is always destroyed and can only have an effect on a single thing.” At hearing Sekhet’s words I panicked, the priestess had used the power of sacrifice to stope me?! “Before you get too disturbed, Jade cannot do this to a living being and it only happens to objects she gets a hold of and uses in a specific manner.”

“Still, she’s sacrificing objects for power.” I continued to pull the wagon and all the mortals were resting as we approached this place known as Airship Mauled. I needed to confirm that the priestess wasn’t evil, then again she helped save me from evil so I had a few problems with not thinking only good of her.

“Only of a certain size and only if the object is not magically protected, the world does not see it as an aberration and it is powerful for being quite limited. The magic and energy summoned from the object returns to the world, the balance cannot be broken with this form of magic.” Those words did not ease things Sekhet, it was still quite a powerful ability. “Look at it this way, only Jade and her mother know how to do this and it’s unlikely that they will ever teach anyone how to do this stuff.”

“Are you actually telling me that anyone can do this?” That was almost scary, if mortals could fight us on even grounds then they could destroy the balance of the world.

It’s like the folly of mortals seeking immortality out of cowardice of death, they don’t know that they already have a form of immortality in being able to reincarnate anew. Seeking false immortality tended to ruin a souls reincarnation cycle, except in specific occasions when certain beings ascend into being gods of a certain concept. One just does not steal the powers of a god without consequences.

Thinking on the here and now, I first needed to fix the damage I have done to Serpent Strath Path. It should not have been several miles of harsh bedrock that the being controlling me turned it into. I will fix what I have damaged in containing my power to that area, but first I will see to what is needed of me here.

“Not just anyone and to hurt a god permanently would require very specific amount of circumstances as you may very well know. Such as another god making an object that a mortal can wield in an offensive manner and then having it used against you in such a manner. Jade and her mother don’t have to power to act directly against us, so stop worrying about that.” Sekhet was a goddess of war, I had almost forgotten that. She was quite correct in stating that mortals couldn’t really compare to us in power unless mitigating circumstances led to it. I was still quite paranoid after having my body and powers controlled by whatever that demon was. “They also have the logical weakness that they are limited by what they can carry, that and the objects are easily destructible. Your fears show your weakness, was it a mortal that took control of your body? No, but a unicorn or other magical creatures can possibly create a spell to that effect. Learn to protect yourself from being captured or having your powers stolen and abused, it would be wise of a god of intelligence to learn from the past.”

“I will see to protecting my mind war goddess and will find a way to prevent myself from being controlled again.” Taking a moment to think on I finally made a decision, other than to research protection against mortals attacking me. Have they have all forgotten my good deeds? “I will also give the young priestess a boon.”

“When you give her a minor boon, remember these words. Souls are sacred, they should not have any outside influence affecting them. It is the choice of the soul itself to make good or bad decisions.” She looked into my eyes with the fires of war and I could feel justice both harsh and merciful, she was powerful and had not gone all out against me. She had only used the right amount of power to free me, she was almost as cold and calculating as a god of intelligence. War and intelligence shared the ability to outsmart one another, but it always depended on the battlefield as a fight will always favor a war god in action. “After saving yours, you will not tarnish or even think of messing with hers. You may be of intellect and can possibly win a battle against me, but I will always win the war. So please, don’t do anything stupid Quetzalcoatl!”

“I hear and will acquiesce, I give my word that I will not touch her soul. My boon will be nowhere near as daunting as trying to make her my champion, not when she’s already considered gifted by the sun itself.” The stare continued for a few more seconds and then Sekhet dropped it before flaring out her right wing and paw.

“Then welcome to Airship Mauled, leave your sanity at the door!” With that Sekhet started towards the place called The Witch’s Fare, it looked like a restaurant built out of a crashed airship. Quite a novel and excellently named hamlet, which seems to have a unique theme here. Considering how many airships I have caused to crash by causing storms around Serpent Strath Path, I could aid in giving them a few more wreckages to use as a free gift with no strings attached. I’d clean up those derelict airships that nobody was using anymore and would give them to this place. “No seriously, don’t expect anything normal from anyone who lives here, I even know a magical chef and she can cook better than some gods I know. Goodness knows if Hapi and Taweret the hippos will send another invitation to a harvest feast... where are they… Taweret was said to have regenerative powers and Jade may know about that as well and might go looking. Yeah, might as well ask if she knows.”

I stopped listening to her idle muttering about the gods of her pantheon and winced at the thoughts of the gods in my own. My rival Tezcatlipoca comes to mind, as does Cipactli who wasn’t the friendliest god, his never ending hunger is quite frightening to behold.

My pantheon is quite messed up, but at least I wasn’t part of the Fae pantheon… that was several levels of screwed up that every other pantheon avoids to the best of their abilities. All the other pantheons avoided talking to any of them for many good reasons.

-Kuril-

The cacciatore was exclaimed to be completely delicious, the lovely couple were enjoying it quite a bit as much as they were enjoying one another. I should see about making a special hearts and hooves

I turned to the mysterious stranger who was a deft hoof at using knives, in fact her cutie mark seemed to be oriented around wielding bladed weaponry and she could definitely get into cooking. Now if only she had a teacher… hm… I wonder who that could be.

No, seriously, who could that be? Maybe Cheerilee… but she doesn’t know how to cook much. I could teach her how to cook and then she could teach this bat pony a thing or two.

“Say Fresh do you think I can teach Cheerilee to cook so she can teach no name here to cook?” Why was I getting such an incredulous stare from my waitress?

“Can’t you just teach her yourself?” Good question, let me give you a good rebuttal for that.

“I don’t have the license to teach cooking outside of getting an apprentice in Abyssinia laws, which are not applicable here.” There was that strange look again.

“You are currently living within Equestria’s borders Kuril.” No one could appreciate such a flat tone Fresh, put a little more pizzazz in your disdain!

“I hold a dual citizenship, since I don’t know the equestrian laws pertaining to hiring help I have to go with Abyssinia laws until told otherwise. You were hired by Celestia so I don’t have to worry about you being a legal quandary.” Now I was receiving a thoughtful look, she was about to say something when we both heard the bell on the front door going off. We had more customers! “Fresh Start, get out there and see who it is. We’ll discuss this later, for right now no name is volunteering of her own free will to help. Isn’t that right no name?”

The mare’s mane and tail have grown out minutely in captivity, she was no longer sporting a shaved look and would soon be cute enough to cuddle outright.

She just rolled her golden eyes at me and went back to chopping up some vegetables in preparation for more customers.

-Fresh-

“Hello and welcome to the… oh hello Sekhet, how did the thing with the lemming go?” I looked at the handsome feathered serpent snake thing next to her. “Also did you bring a date with you to our fine establishment?”

“Barking up the wrong tree mortal and the trip went particularly well. Tend to Quetzalcoatl’s needs, I will be busy waking up our friends.” So… does that mean the nice looking flying serpent was single? I might take him if Sekhet wasn’t interested.

“I heard there was great food here fit for a god, please tell me mortal… what would you suggest and may I get a table for one?” So he was a god, that makes sense given he’s a friend of Sekhet’s.

“Well today, our ‘Witch of Good Taste’ mayor Kurilian La Perm can make just about anything and is willing to please your sense of taste.” This is where I started the whole ritual of selling our cuisine. If you didn’t know what you want, then give us a good idea to work with. “If she can make it taste good, then she’s succeeding as a witch that makes quite a fine tasty dish. So what you should be telling me is this… what’s you’re flavor, what do you feel like having for a meal? We only use fish meat when specifically asking for meat, so if you want some of that then you just have to ask.”

“I am thinking something along the lines of say… something with corn, cabbage and fish meat.” Nodding to our customer as I seated him at a table, more like left him floating slightly above the chair, I went back to give Kuril an idea as to what his tastes currently are.

“Kuril, something with fish, cabbage and corn!” Those words I said caused a mad smile to appear on Kuril’s face, she always did like a challenge to her cooking.

“Corned fish chowder or corned fish stew?” She always gave me the option when she had too many ideas to work with here. “I’m making this salty either way.”

“He doesn’t seem like a cheese or cream kind of guy, go with the stew and make it a bit zesty.” Nodding she set about preparing the food and ordering us around, not where I thought I’d be in life after Celestia ordered me here. Still wouldn’t trade this place for the world though. “Oh and he’s a winged snake god or something, so probably nothing too outrageous. By the way your daughter is back, so keep a watchful eye on the assassin.”

I was making sure that Kuril was aware that she may try something now that Jade was back.

-Blade-

My ears twitched, my target was back. So what to do? I was still following Kuril’s orders and I couldn’t find the wherewithal to deny them.

Why would I deny them to attack the priestess that’s protected by two different gods that can rip me a new one? I’m not stupidly suicidal and I’m not being paid enough to kill the priest, there’s also the chimera that disappeared from the restaurant as soon as there was some business coming in. Who knows where they were and they obviously wouldn’t be happy about the priest disappearing or dying given how close they were to her.

Why was life so complicate now? I was done with cutting vegetables now, so maybe I should just sit down and relax for a bit and contemplate my future. I could already guess being an assassin wasn’t going to cut it for me, but what was I supposed to do now? Learn how to cook? I don’t think I’d be very good at it.

-Jade-

We were both woke up and informed that we were home by Sekhet. Despite being under the weather, we made it home alive.

Only something was happening with Fizzle, she sneezed and her horn fired a bolt three feet and it exploded in a shower of multiple colors.

“Look straight up Fizzy, aim those sneezes towards the sky!" I looked at her in alarm, she covered her mouth and tried to hold back another sneeze.

Looking up, she sneezed. Her head moved slightly forward while firing a burst of light into the sky that exploded colorfully.

Quetzalcoatl came outside towards the wagon to see what was going on, that’s when Fizzle really started sneezing like she had hay fever and she started looking tired as each sneeze launched a blast of colorful magic into the evening sky.

“Beautiful...” Quetzalcoatl commented loudly. “What is that noise... why are you wearing a blindfold Sekhet?”

I knew what the blindfold meant, I could already hear the sound of two whistling noises heading right for us.

I grabbed Fizzle and ran. Two flaming Viking styled airships were crashing here in Airship Mauled.

Author's Note:

Sekhet Airship Crushed Meter: *Ding!* 12.5871273287. (May be slightly broken, it should be 9.5 airships a week.)

Quetzalcoatl- Mauled by an airship guest counter: *Dong* 1.5. (Halfway crushed by the second airship, most of the way crushed by the first.)

Comments

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Welcome to airship mauled Quetzalcoatl!

[DJ Discharge]

Then welcome to Airship Mauled, leave your sanity at the door!

What is this sanity you speak of?

[jimerjam]

Then welcome to Airship Mauled, leave your sanity at the door!

perfect!!!