Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter Sixteen, Fishing with Vikings: Talking ensues.

-Fizzle-

Two empty bowls sat off to the side, my tongue was still burning and Jade had whined about having to eat spicy food.

“Okay, what’s wrong Jade?” I don’t want her to try playing innocent with me, not after eating mom’s sinus searing soup without warning me what I was getting into. At least it made breathing a little easier and I could smell the world again, I was currently wishing I couldn’t though given I could smell what I just ate. My nostrils were fried.

“Nothing…” Well that was an obvious lie if I ever heard one.

Currently there was no attempt to look innocent on Jade’s face. In fact she didn’t seem to be laughing, not even a giggle at my reaction to eating the soup. It wasn’t bad with crackers, but it was like drinking liquid rainbow and I could understand why Jade had a distaste for spicy things. Mom obviously likes to spice things up a little too hard.

Jade’s ears wilted, but she still leaned against me closing her eyes and sighing loudly. I felt her tail wrapped around my back and appreciated it, if there wasn’t some kind of niggling problem here with my friend. Abyssinian body language was very different from a ponies if similar, at least as far as I know that’s how it was.

“Let me guess, it’s something that you think will make me upset with you?” She nodded and rubbed her face up against my neck affectionately. She’s helped me a lot, but that wasn’t the only reason I liked her was it? Nope, she’s beautiful in her own unique way and she cares about me enough to do strange and bizarre things to make me happy.

I had to admit it was getting pretty easy for me to read Jade, I liked her a lot and we’ve only been on one date. Not necessarily enough to say it would be forever or a lasting commitment, but we had plenty of time to go on more to make sure and I was already calling her my special some cat. Oh, she was special alright for a certain definition of the word, but she was definitely my friend. I didn’t think many other unicorns or even other ponies would look twice at me like Jade does when she looks into my eyes. I didn’t even know if it was a standard date, but I knew I liked how much fun we had that day.

I rubbed at my horn, Sekhet could disable any kind of pony magic. She couldn’t disable Celestia though, likely because they are on the same level. Now my sneezes weren’t destructive and I honestly didn’t feel like I was missing much to have my horn disabled like this. I turned to Jade with a question on my lips.

“Is this about your birthday?” Maybe there was something I could figure out for her birthday, she’s made so many sweet gestures for me and I want to give her something special too. She shook her head no. “Then what is it? You’re not about to do something insane again are you?”

“Nothing dangerous Fizzy, though I did agree to go on a date with Maries to go fishing.” Was that all you were worried about Jade, for a second you had me believing something was off with you.

“Are you worried about that?” What could I say to make you feel better about that? “I don’t think that Maries will ever hurt you if you are stuck alone with them for a while. Also I don’t understand how you dating them could upset me.”

“Well it could or even possibly should upset you, you’re rather clingy and you have problems sleeping alone.” That doesn’t seem like a big issue Jade, not to me at least. “What I’m truly worried about is not you being jealous of Maries, though you are jealous of their physical prowess and might even feel threatened by their incredible intelligence. Okay so I am a bit worried about that as well, but how do you see relationships exactly? Ponies have herds, chimera have packs, but I’m sure mom has given you the talk and what Abyssinians are like.”

“Yes, there were a few things I really didn’t feel the need to know, but now I do.” Trying not to think about it too hard, I had an answer for her question. “I think having a relationship like my friendship with you, Jacky and Maries is wonderful. On a different point I’m kind of socially awkward, but then again so are you. That’s not an issue and I’m still trying to figure out romantic love. Are you asking if I’d be willing to share you with Maries? Is that what you thought I’d be upset about?”

“No, but sharing with Maries might actually become an issue. We’ll bring it up again much later, because I don’t feel like discussing that right now.” Okay Jade, then what was the real issue here, narrowing my eyes on her caused her to look away. “I’m worried about you Fizzy… that you’re kind of leaning on me too much.”

“I think you’re the one currently leaning on me here Jade.” Though I admit that I was afraid of where you were going with this.

“No, what I mean is that I think your using me and mom as a crutch and you can’t possibly do that forever.” Ah, you might have a point there Jade and I could kind of see where this was going. I could practice with my magic more, imbuing wood with various effects was increasing my control bit by bit. “You need to become a bit more independent of me. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that I and mom are currently not your whole world? You’re not exactly great at surviving on your own and may have an unhealthy obsession with me and I want to be sure that you don’t so that we can keep going on like we are.”

“Hey, I know how to make a fire, shelter and find clean drinking water!” I went through Sekhet’s physical education classes to have a healthy body and can defend myself.

I didn’t really push myself further outside of those classes though. I trained with my magic, but I tired so easily and didn’t want to strain myself. Did I really have any hobbies that were my own? What did I occupy my time with that wasn’t Jade related? Okay I needed to find a hobby, even Jacky had her archery to mess around with.

“You didn’t know how to make a fire without using your horn before I taught you. When you make a fire with your horn, how long did it tend to last compared to making a fire with your hooves?” Jade was actually making a good point. The fire I made by hoof lasted longer than the ones where I just simply used my magic to ignite the wood. “You handle yourself well in dangerous situations, which is better than most ponies in existence Fizzy. I don’t think a normal pony would have rammed their hooves into a basilisk’s nostrils to prevent themselves from being eaten or bitten. Do you know how poisonous a basilisk is?”

“I don’t really know, but you’re the monster or creature expert Jade.” There wasn’t a creature in this world that my friend couldn’t identify. “I hope you know Fluttershy looks up to you for that.”

“Yeah, she does and I feel kind of awkward about it.” Look Jade, don’t be so modest, you are amazing in so many ways. “Basilisk venom, what to say about it? In general the basilisk itself should instill fear in just about anyone who meets one, the venom of one is far scarier than facing down a grue, a catoblepas and a banshee at the same time.”

“I only know about banshees.” There was something I didn’t understand here. Banshees weren’t evil, but Jade implied that they were. “Don’t they just warn those who are unlikely to survive something?”

“Yes, that’s true enough, but that warning always comes in the form of a shriek so loud as to incidentally deafen the one they are trying to save.” Which of course would be bad from the way Jade stated that negatively. “Given that you immediately become disoriented and deaf when a banshee shrieks, you are even more likely to die than less because of the banshee attempting to save you. That’s why they get such a reputation for being evil spirits, it’s because they always make you vulnerable to the dangers that can be found around them.”

“So what’s a catoblepas and a grue?” I can imagine a cat like monster for the Catoblepas, but I had no idea what a grue was.

“A catoblepas is a plant eating monster that looks like a buffalo, only they can never look up and are always looking at the ground. They have scales under their fur that are tough as iron, but that’s not what makes them dangerous. It’s their breath, they release a toxic fog that affects any living being around them, for whatever part of you that the fog touches will quickly turn to stone. If you are turning to stone because of this fog, it is best to turn to stone by fully diving into the fog. At least you’ll have a chance to be revived in that case. Unlike a cockatrice, the stoning is not progressive process from the ground up.” You were giving me the description of a very dangerous sounding creature Jade, far more so than a cockatrice. You can easily avoid looking a cockatrice in the eyes, a catoblepas can kill you by proximity. “The grue is far worse, but easier to avoid, but for the sake of your sanity I won’t try to describe it.”

“Oh come on Jade, I’m not a little filly here! A catoblepas doesn’t sound that aggressive, just lonely.” It could never make a friend, because with every breath it turns any active life to stone.

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, hearing about grues tends to lead to paranoia that you’re going to be eaten by one.” Clearing her throat Jade took on an airy tone. “A grue is a creature of darkness and teeth with an endless hunger for flesh, it moves swiftly and is impossibly fast in the shadows or might be the shadows themselves. They are usually found in deep caves like those that Diamond Dogs are known to dig and a single one can strip you of your flesh in a minute. The only way to fend one off is with light, which will make it stay away because that’s what hurts and slows them down immensely. One thing to know is that grue are crafty and if they can stop or put out the light source, then they will do so as quickly as they can.”

“Now I’m officially afraid of the small caves that I spent some nights in previously where I thought I was safe the deeper in I was.” Could a grue have tried to eat me? I felt a chill running down my spine, that might be Jade's tail. “And the Basilisk venom?”

“You die in ten seconds within contact of a basilisk’s venom. Specifically contact, meaning it doesn’t necessarily even need to go inside you, they are called king of serpents or snakes for a reason. If that doesn’t happen, then you’re strong enough to learn that the venom is acid that propagates itself on any source of blood and will melt you from the inside out.” That couldn’t be real Jade. If it was then how close had I come to dying? How close had you?! She was looking into my eyes with no hint of humor, I should consider myself lucky to be alive. “If you for whatever reason prove immune to acid, then the venom starts attacking your pain receptors on and off constantly with increasing strength to the point that you will eventually die from shock. Survive the death by shock phase and then venom will just petrify you. Immune to turning to stone? Catch fire. Immune to fire? Venom draws in ambient magic and explodes violently. If none of that kills you, then congratulations, you just survived a basilisk biting you and you are possibly immortal at this point!”

“Yikes.” She waited specifically for me to let the first part of what she said sink in, then she said the second part to drive home the point.

“Yep, most poisonous snake alive. Doesn’t help that it can also turn the ground around it into a swamp to come at you from any angle and can flex its scales out to shred any problematic prey into bite sized chunks.” Jade, I get the idea, it was seriously deadly and cut us up pretty badly. “We almost lost you and that scared me, imagine if its tail or scales had been poisonous.”

I shivered violently, but Jade just wraps me in a nice warm hug.

-Jade-

“This world is full of dangerous creatures like that, but if it had bit either of us I’d have ten second to cast a phoenix feather.” Calming down at my words, she could at least see that we could have survived being bitten. I don’t think I will ever go anywhere without a phoenix feather on me. “So what do you plan to do for the future Fizzle? Jacky has airship repair, infamous archer, famous explorer and pirate going for her future. I don’t have much for myself personally, maybe get paid for being a sun priest as it seems like a pretty thankless thing to be otherwise. I could definitely publish a book about my knowledge of creatures, monsters and gods. Maries is already a lawyer, they could do many things like being actors for a one being stage play.”

Fizzle snickered at the idea of Maries being a one chimera show.

“I haven’t really thought to far ahead Jade. I could get into making fireworks, I could make drinks with Mr. Refreshment or even get control of my magic to a degree that I don’t need to get my horn back and prove that a broken horn is not the end of life as a unicorn.” As Fizzle spoke I rested my head against her. “I guess what I really want to be is… an inspiration of some kind. I’ll try to be a little more independent Jade, you don’t need to worry about me as much as I obviously do about you!”

“Trust me, you are an inspiration to me Fizzy.” Pecking her on the cheek, I smiled slightly and said something that made her blush. Adversity would never stop this pony from living her life. “Quite a beautiful one too.”

“Hey guys, I know you’re sick, but look at what I found beneath one of the airships!” Jacky bursts into the room holding a male red flying squirrel in her talons. It had impossibly long ears for a squirrel.

“You found that squirrel beneath one of the airships?” How did it survive the… oh my goodness. Really now! “Jacky, that’s not a normal flying squirrel.”

“It’s not?” The squirrel in Jacky’s talons gave me the stink eye.

“You’re holding a squirrel god called Ratatoskr the mischievous messenger.” I smirked. “He’s also known as Mr. Face Plow.”

The squirrel leapt for me in a blind frothing rage.

Author's Note:

Guest god's hit with airships: 2.5 (Apparently Ratatoskr fell off one of the airships he was riding on and was crushed by it. It is also coming to attention that these counters are inconsistently named.)

Comments

[theoldhunter]

I dont know if this was ether asked or awnsered but were the held to you get your monster lore my guess is DnD Becues fuck the guro sound horrorfing

[Booster Spice]

A Squirrel holding up an airship?

Its Simon.

[Thy Lord]

Speaking of D&D/O&O, I am a brand new DM for my group (3 total), any help/tips?