The Gems of Creation: Part 2

by BSting

2-10: Silver Night's Storm Heist

The sun’s rays pierced through the surface of the ocean, shining a natural spotlight over the hippogriff, Cobalt Coral, and the bizarre events around her. Just as she thought that they were doomed to fall under the authoritative paws of a tyrant, her friend, Cornfield, came through with a self-destructive miracle. Their jail cell had been attached to the mechanical shell of a machine she’d never seen before that travels under the ocean. Now, after the prison had torn itself violently from the vehicle, it broke in two with the bottom half sinking into the deep while Whirlwind’s half floated to safety. The cell drifted away where the storm creatures would emerge from the sea, guided by a bubble surrounding them and granting life-sustaining air.

With his fleet abandoning him to the prison cell, her brother, Calm Breeze, strongly gripped and struggled to open the cell door and join his sister, avoiding a drowning. Fumbling with keys jiggling on a key ring, he managed to jam the correct one and turn the lock. Bursting through, he demanded someone enlighten him on this sudden change of course. “Can someone explain what the hay happened?!” The light-blue hippogriff hollered in a rather confused and panicked state. “We got separated from Whirlwind’s submergence capsule!” He looked back at the open door, staring into the empty deep blue. “I certainly hope my lord is ok!”

Shouting back in hysterics, Coral held her precious and hapless victim close. “Forget that monkey! Cornfield’s the one in danger here!”

After detecting a faint pulse and listening carefully to his still beating heart, there was lingering hope that he would live. Shivering, questions spilled from Calm’s tongue, begging Coral for answers. “How did he even do that? Who IS he, anyway?”

Understanding the environment catered not to their dire situation, Coral told her brother, “Well I thought I picked up a lonely looking stallion from the edge of Ponyville! It’s not like I knew he had superpowers too!”

Flabbergasted at the near total annihilation of the propelled vehicle, Skystar and Silver observed the distressed wreck from afar. Yet still lagging a bit as the latter came to grips with the oceanic environment, she hoped Ms. Sea Royalty understood things better. “What is it?” The fish version of Silver enquired. “Are they under attack?”

“I don’t know,” the princess answered. “But I think we should help!”

Failing to discern which section held their captive friends, the black thief asked Skystar, “Which one? They look almost the same!”

Yet Novo’s only daughter was also clueless and went by the sheer mercy of going with her gut, pointing out one bubbly chunk rising to the surface. “There! Let’s see if they need us!”

Swimming with enough fierce velocity to seamlessly fly through the depths like a pegasus in the sky, the sea pony rescue team desperately concentrated on themselves to deliver the best help they could. Raring to seek out shelter after the traumatic event, Coral hoisted the poor colt on her back. Unfortunately, none of them can thrive in the deep water as sea ponies have, lacking the required pearl’s transformation ability. “Calm, we need to do something!” His sister pleaded. “If this bubble bursts, we’re gonna drown!”

“Wait... Look!” Calm addressed the steady speed their bubble had rapidly accumulated. Promptly, it breached the surface popping into a shower of water as the prison kept afloat. The three claimed safety for the time being, via unexplainable circumstances.

Despite the door leaving them exposed, the prison’s buoyancy shifted heavily in favor of the back wall, preserving the interior from water as they floated on the ocean’s surface. Realizing this, Calm flew up to the prison doorway, poking his head out for a better view like a gopher out of its hole. He spotted Mt. Aris on the horizon, opposed by Basalt Beach’s side, deducing they were in the part of the ocean that divided them.

Unexpectedly, Silver and Skystar popped out on the waters nearby, much to Calm’s shocked dissatisfaction. He climbed out in haste, eager to give the young rulebreaker a lecture. “P-Princess Skystar?! You aren’t supposed to be here!”

Not counting on his company, Skystar shrugged a bit awkwardly and played it off like it was nothing. “Oh. Haha... Busted, I guess.”

“Never mind! You two must help push this metal box to Mt. Aris’s shoreline. We got a pony in need of urgent care, even if he is a prisoner!”

Silver could have guessed who he was referring to. “Cornfield?!” However, she was just as quick to forget her current status, as she leapt inside and flopped about. “ACK!” It wasn’t fun when reality bitch slapped her in the face no less.

The caring princess, realizing that Silver was without a means of breathing as a fish, came to her aid as fast as possible. “Oops! Hold on!” Holding her breath and doing her impression of a fish out of water, she leaped into the cell, held Silver’s fin, and restored their previous quadrepedic forms.

Annoyed by the antics of the royal daughter and her poor taste in friends, Calm sighed and sputtered “I asked only one favor of you two.”

With her trusty extremities back under her, Silver checked out the unmoving Cornfield, completely mystified. “Coral! What happened to Cornfield!?” A loud reverberating clang surprised everyone, drawing their attention to the prison door above. Shutting it tight and locking them in, Calm had sealed away their escape. Alarmed, the black pony shouted a resounding “HEY”!

Appalled by her brother’s actions, Coral gently laid Cornfield on the floor by Skystar and leered upwards, scowling at his knowing smile. “Oh, you did NOT just do that, you son-of-a-bitch!” she screeched with her blood boiling.

“Don’t disgrace our fallen mother like that, Coral.” Calm patronised her with a smug satisfaction on display, eager to knock his violent sister down a peg.

Barred from strangling her brother, Coral punched the hard glass of the port windows and cried at him with rage welling in her heart. “I WILL RIP OFF YOUR DAMN HEAD!”

“You and that… freak are still a prisoner of the Storm Army.” Having enough of his sibling’s revolution, the only remaining obligations were to read them all their rights. “Now that I have evidence of your ill-intentions to heinously rob our royal family, Silver, you will be served justice when her majesty saves the princess with our armed guards.”

“What?!” Getting her authoritative mother involved made Skystar’s voice crack. “No! I don’t want to go back to her yet! And you can’t arrest Silver either! I gave her my family jewels willingly!”

“They are still a treasure that doesn’t belong to her,” the presumptuous light blue hippogriff refuted. “Besides, we saw her attempted theft before you were aware of her sorry existence.”

Silver had been part of too many illicit deeds to care for accusations by a brainwashed fool. Instead, she concentrated all her focus and power on Calm’s key ring, extracting the set cautiously while he was distracted in a needless bicker.

“Calm, if you are trying to play ‘cops and robbers’, then fine,” Coral resigned, but her face was still fuming inside. “You win. Just please, please, let me get Cornfield some medical attention. If you don’t, I’m not above strangling my own brother!”

“How dare you threaten me! Are you so far gone that family means nothing to you now?” Calm yelled back with disgust by the audacity of his sister desiring to murder him. Invested thoroughly in his politics, Silver had just managed to slowly unlock the door right under his nose. As the locks clicked away, it was past the point of no return and Calm would receive his comeuppance. “What?! What was-”

Before he knew what hit him, Coral barreled out the door her brother carelessly stood on, catapulting the traitor. As he crashed into water like an oversized harpoon, the still hippogriff flailed about, struggling just to swim. A downpour of vines rushed upon him and constricted him in a vice grip. Thorns protruded and scratched his flesh as the vines swung heavily into the cell he tried sealing them with. The plants then rapidly faded, letting him crumple onto the back wall substituting as the floor of the prison.

With the keys now on their side, Coral plummeted into her brother, pinning him to the cold steel wall. “Considering you’ve sold our entire species out to the blood-thirsty creatures who enslaved us, I won’t hesitate to stop you. Even if that means killing my only brother! Let us go save Cornfield, and I will spare you here and now.”

Regardless of how rapidly their options had descended into despair, Silver grooved to the accomplishments she had pulled off in a solo celebration. Meanwhile, Calm squealed “Ok! Ok! Geez! When did my sister, the girl who would pick on the boys and run to me for protection when they tease her back, become such a hardened criminal?!”

“She grew up, Calm.” Coral and Skystar hoisted the flightless ponies out of the cell. Before Calm could tail them, his sister slammed the cell door down and threw the keys inside with him as insurance. “Have fun telling Whirlwind that you failed.” She took pleasure watching her traitorous brother take a bite of his own medicine and followed Skystar with Cornfield in her claws.

“I hope there’s a hospital somewhere in Mount Aris,” Silver uttered in a passing mention, faintly expecting the reaffirmation of such.

“I know the next best thing,” the gem thieving hippogriff assured. “Follow me!”

For the two hippogriffs doing the heavy lifting, the jail cell was thankfully not far from Coral’s cove. Upon arrival, however, her emotions spiked, seeing the stone discus dipped in sand and fearing the worst when she found her wooden door obliterated. Then, she took a breath, stepping in with anxious anticipation of what was left. She shrieked after seeing the mess. “W-WHAT?! MY HOME! MY JEWELS!”

Silver winced while Skystar, on the other hoof, attempted to console her. “I’m sorry,” the princess sheepishly explained. “We meant to tell you sooner. The Storm Creatures must have raided the place.”

The feathered bandit was disheartened by this revelation. First and foremost, she made way for Cornfield to rest properly against a wall within a gap of peace. Then, she grasped a piece of her broken chair and, after staring deep into it, growled and threw the wooden shard across the cave with a splintering crash. “Those damn apes! They are taking what’s mine!” She huffed angrily while her world crumbled around her, irises like pinpricks, eventually catching Silver and Skystar silent and fearful during her fit. Becoming more aware that her antics summed up to that of a foalish tantrum, she tried applying the brakes to her fury. “Ok, ok! We can fix this...”

Glancing at the corner where Cornfield’s bag was, she realized hers was completely missing. Worried in a cold sweat where she misplaced it, a vague memory passed into her mind. Just before being tossed in the cell, there was a tug upon her side by one of the storm creatures. If her sickening hunch was correct, and her bag was indeed confiscated, then Whirlwind had possession of two important artifacts: Zecora’s notes about the gems including their powers, and the ancient map indicating every gems’ secret location. With all the information he needed to realize his twisted dream, Coral lost a heap of sand in her hourglass. To add insult to injury, all of the money and gems she stored away were gone, including the Puppy Peridot that she swore to return to its rightful owner.

Internally, her heart raced over this. Thankfully, the potions that Zecora gave them were spared, tucked away in Cornfield’s knapsack. She fished one out in a frenzy and popped the cork open, her friends tended to him as she arrived with the treatment.

“Hold him up, he needs to drink this.” Skystar obliged, placing her talons underneath to support his chin for the incoming dosage. Putting the bottle to his lips, said potion washed properly down his throat. “Hold on, you big colt. This is bottle number two for you. You gotta stop making this a habit.” Coral said, as she noted their dwindling resources.

Silver cocked her head with her hoof. “What is that potion?”

Coral elaborated while looking up, “It’s a healing potion. A kind zebra brewed this for us.”

“And earlier, what was the deal with that… thing you were in?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. We were inside the capsule, imprisoned and surrounded by monkeys and one very aggravating brother, when Cornfield complained that he felt sick then screamed bloody murder. Next thing I knew, the prison broke off and we floated in a bubble to the surface!”

Once the potion had been sufficiently ingested, Coral anticipated the steady recovery of her friend. Instead, his body rejected it through his mouth like a forward geyser. The liquid spilled out all over the floor and Cornfield still lumped over with no sign of life. Foolishly, she had forgotten all about the potion’s intended purpose in hopes it could miraculously cure any ailment, not just physical injuries. “ACK! That’s not working?” his purple companion squawked.

Silver put her hoof to her lips in concerned fashion, “I think he needs to see a doctor.”

Tears were slowly welling up in her eyes. Coral picked up a fallen tablecloth to start mopping up the mess on and around the poor colt. “...We can’t go to a hospital. The moment I step into Mt. Aris, I’m sure to be arrested…”

Then Skystar gave her two bits to the precedent treatment. “But he did nothing wrong! I can take him there myself if I have to! Besides, what if Whirlwind comes back for you again?”

After a moment of thought, the black unicorn raised her hoof with more enthusiasm than normal, “How about I stay here with Coral? In case, something happens.”

Accepting her voluntary action, Coral rested her talons on the shoulder of her future queen. “I’m trusting you, Skystar. It kills me that I can’t do anything to help him...” The younger hippogriff took the stallion on her back, then she handed the camera that hung around her neck over to her fellow hippogriff.

“Sorry if there is any water damage,” the princess apologized. “We tried to use this to prove any dirty deeds, but all we did was get it wet.” Coral nodded and smiled in understanding. As she dried it off and placed it where it belonged, Skystar headed for the beach to take off.

“I pray that she gets across all right...” Using the opportunity to inspect the destruction, she checked around for any underlying salvage. “They really took everything... Everything I worked for...”

Perhaps it was the gumption gained from their latest daring escape, but Silver wasn’t ready to sit and pout. Wiping her hoof off her chest, she replied “Well then, I guess our only choice is to steal it back! We are thieves after all! Remember?”

The suggestion sparked a glint of inspiration in the speckled heart upon Coral’s chest. “I mean, yeah, I certainly wouldn’t feel bad pilfering those dull, lumbering apes, but I have no idea where they might be stashing them. They could be back at their lands inside that capsule for all I know.”

“So we go for their capsule! Wasn’t he taking you to the Mind of Water or something?”

“He was, but it’d be fruitless without me and-” Then, a pang of realization hit like thunder. In the capsule earlier were only the elite guards, Whirlwind, and an admiral. Too few compared to the plentiful army which chased her down and chained her. If there was any place they would have emerged from, the blimp floating above Mt. Aris was their known entry. “No. It’s not in that capsule. That blimp. I didn’t see it take off anywhere. It must have landed nearby my home to transport all those troops. If Whirlwind had already escaped that death trap of a machine, then that’s got to be where they’ve taken my things.”

“Excellent…” said the darkened thief, putting her hooves together with devilish plotting.

“And if Whirlwind no doubt has another one of those capsules in reserve, he’ll probably make the trip back to his kingdom to retrieve another one, leaving his troops without a leader! This is perfect!” The fire in Coral’s eyes burned brightly.

“So, where is the blimp now?”

“I don’t know, but it has to be somewhere. Probably back at Pine Tree Barrens, hidden away. And I’m about to make you an offer.”

The unicorn slightly raised her head with stilted anticipation.

“I don’t care what it takes,” Coral rambled on. “All I know is that you are much more sleek than I am. Not to mention that I’m a highly wanted individual. My offer is simple: Get me the map, Zecora’s notes, and the Puppy Peridot back for me, and you can keep any other valuables you can carry in there.”

Silver sunk her head in contemplation. The offer sounded good, but something held her back. “There’s just one problem, Coral…”

“And what would that be?”

“I didn’t bring my bags…”

The lightness of her absent saddlebags was a subtle yet distracting sensation for Silver. However, it was an easy fix for a bandit who had to improvise on quite a few touch and go moments. Without hesitation, Coral snatched Cornfield’s bulky package and latched it on Silver’s back.

“Oof!” She faltered, as she wasn’t used to carrying equipment for a male equine, let alone not her own bags.

“Go empty those out on the boat. I’ll fly around and do some surveillance. I’m sure Cornfield won’t mind if you borrow that for a bit, seeing how he’s not using it.”

Tugging on the strap herself, it wasn’t all the more comfortable, but the pony would make do. “Well fine. So after I drop this stuff off at the boat, where do I head for the Barrens?”

Coral thought hard for procuring a suitable rendezvous point. Then she ultimately fed the unicorn directions to a grassy circle, requesting she wait at the sight of the first engagement with the storm creatures. Nodding, Silver made about beginning her trek but the hippogriff halted her momentarily. “Also, one more thing, you and I both know that Whirlwind is up to evil deeds. If you can somehow find proof of that for me to give Queen Novo, it would make our lives so much easier.”

“Ok, got it.” Silver acknowledged her task and the two triumphantly extracted from Coral’s hideout to take position among the ridge of the beach. As soon as Coral saw light perforating the clouds, she shouted “All right! See you there!”, then galloped past Silver, spread her wings and ascended into the sky.

[br]

Several minutes passed as Silver Night had made her arrival. With each hoof step upon the grassy clearing, she saw many weapons discarded around like trash, while many large dark red pools left a gruesome indicator how the battle turned out. The unicorn couldn’t help but admire the struggle exerted by the troops of Whirlwind against a tenacious foe. She was starting to think there was no blimp after all until she heard a familiar cawing from above. “I fooooound iiiiiiit!”

Carefully, Coral closed in on the Earth, letting the fans of feathers catch the air and create a clearing for her landing point. As she touched down, Silver curiously trotted up with anticipation. “Oh! Where is it?”

The hippogriff was smiling ear to ear. “East! East up to shoreline! They landed that far away, probably so that I wouldn’t hear them after my traitorous sibling told them where I lived. That ship is bustling like… Well, a barrel full of monkeys! So, I thought of a way to make your life easier.”

“Ooooh, I’m listening.”

“It’s gonna be a thrill for me, and I’m risking a lot by doing this. But, I’m going to be the distraction and send a majority of them on a wild goose chase.”

“Well, all right then!” Taking unwanted attention away from her was a welcome change, but if Coral were to get caught that might jeopardize the situation. “...But what if something goes wrong? Do we have a plan B?”

“Well, plan B isn’t as exciting...” Coral said hesitantly and shifted her sheepish gaze away.

“...Oooh...?” The sudden lack of confidence didn’t sit well with the black mare, and she’s had trouble after some mishaps in thievery before.

“Yeaaaaah, considering the fact that my... Well, let’s call it like it is, coltfriend is sick in the hospital, my own nation won’t bring me back, and Whirlwind has access to the rest of the Gem’s locations and what they do, I figured it’s do it or die trying.”

The pony stood in uninspiring silence, then took a deep breath. “...Ok... Got it”

“Excellent!” chirped Coral. “No pressure or anything.”

“You know, with my record, they won’t let me run free either.”

“Yeah, I know that it looks grim, but you still get to keep my gems and save the world from a maniacal simian.”
“I don’t plan on getting caught. It’s just that, I’m not like the greatest thief of all time, you know?” She gradually hung her head and humbled herself. “...Most of my livelihood has been off of hapless wanderers and tourists. I’ve pulled a few heists.... but most end in failure.”

Coral blinked, staring at her for a second before realising that the bandit was trying to weasel out from fear. “Well, when I was younger, that’s certainly how I got my start, you know. Then, the more I did it, the more I got better. Let me ask this, what’s your strongest and weakest suit?”

“My strongest suit?” After mulling the question in Silver’s head, she pluckily threw her hoof up and exclaimed “I’m a go-getter!”

Stunned in disbelief, the hippogriff massaged her forehead with her talons, furrowing her brows. “...Silver, this isn’t a job interview. I’m asking what makes the best you when it comes to thieving. What’s your best strategy?”

“Oh…” The mare’s eyes reverted back down on the grass, taking the time to consider what she said. “...Well, the way I go by it, I just try not to be spotted. Not even once.”

“Good, good,” Coral agreed with the simple, yet satisfactory answer. “That’s the way to work. Now, what’s your biggest weakness? I know you try not to get caught, but what makes it end poorly?”

“I just have bad luck. I think.”

An eyebrow raised sharply on the hippogriff’s face, then shook her head dismissively. “Unless you’ve been in my talons, you don’t know bad luck.” The veteran of all things thieving related pondered more about learning what true destiny the unicorn was meant to become. ”I think it may be nerves or not planning for what happens if someone sees you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just suspicious it’s not luck, but rather bad circumstances coming from poor planning or concentration. When Cornfield was a spotter for me to get that Harvest Festival trophy, we had schematics, whisperweed, time, attention, and detail. He did great for his first time around that made the heist so much simpler.” Like a master to a student, Coral warmly set herself down upon the ground and went eye-to-eye for passing down her wisdom. “In this world, you don’t get bad luck, you decide what the outcome of your fate will be by your hoof and not some invisible force.”

“But I plan out my heists thoroughly, I swear!” Silver felt her pride dip, like she was getting a reality check.

“The plan stays. I distract, you sneak. Don’t get greedy and leave your backside unaccounted for, I’ll fly you out when you are ready. We communicate, we plan, we do everything to make sure nothing happens to us. All it takes is a little ingenuity. You got this?”

Silver puffed her chest out. She was tired of being the butt of jokes and the receiving end of unfortunate events. This time, it wasn’t just about filling a coin purse, but finally proving herself as a true thief. “Of course I do!”

“Good, come with me. We’re going to pick up a few things.”

Tagging along with Coral, the little unicorn was determined to get away without making a scene. On their way, the hippogriff scanned the various pathways, even made a few trip traps, grew some shrubs, and took advantage of the local fauna to use for deterring chases later. Finally, in their scouring for anything she could use, they came upon a fortunate bloom of whisperweed. After explaining its commutative properties to Silver, they each planted their respective flowers in an ear of choice. Finally, the two-creature band of thieves slowly crawled on their bellies up a gentle incline to hide themselves in view of the blimp. At least ten soldiers were routinely patrolling the outside, but there was undoubtedly more in the massive ship.

“Ok”, whispered Silver’s temporary mentor. “Everything should be ready for the great chase. If you find anything you can improvise in a pinch, like smoke pellets or stun rods, use them wisely. Now then, are you ready?”

The unicorn pressed her chest against the ground, bracing her body for going as fast and quiet as possible. “...Ready!” she sounded off.

Coral ascended high as a kite, breaking away from Silver’s position. Hovering, she squawked loudly enough to ensure all the attention was on her.

“Guess your dumb monkey leader couldn’t contain me for long! You all want the honors?” Having no shame, she spun around and lifted her tail up, shaking her bare rump at the triggered creatures down below. “Come and get it!”

Silver smacked her face with her hoof, wondering what could possess her to act in such an undignified manner. At least if it went according to plan, she’d be in and out to laugh about it later.

Some guards aggressively chucked spears at her, while others went back inside the blimp to sound the alarm and rally the squadron. It’s blaring ring spawns many more guards from the airship to settle the score, especially the victims who necks she punctured. Taking that as a cue, she hit the ground running quite literally, and dashed away with the rumbling army pursuing their high priority target.

“Ha HA!” the whisperweed in Silver’s ear rang. “They’re going for it, hook, line, and stinker!”

“Alright,” the unseen shadow responded. “I’m going in!” Getting closer, the imposing vehicle’s dark and deep purple hull had a malicious design behind its architecture. It was meant to dissuade rather than attract attention, but that didn’t stop the thief from sneaking into the side door of the exterior. A ramp of stairs were left unfolded for entry, and she seized the opportunity to climb inside.

“Seems I REALLY stirred the hornet’s nest now.” Coral blabbered to the flower in her ear. “You need to work fast while I distract them.”

Silver speedily trotted while maintaining a low profile in the now abandoned halls of the main entrance. She scanned around to find a way in further whilst keeping herself wary for any security. Several various doors offered opportunities that would expand her infiltration. Each was labeled with the following options: kitchen, infirmary, barracks, weapons, and storage. Although the infirmary, storage, and weapons had been shut tight. There was access to the next floor east of her heading.

The heister snuck into the storage room, an obvious first choice, and tried the door with her magic since the intricate knob was crafted by and for primate paws. Unsurprisingly, however, the door was locked in place, and there’s a peculiar hexagonal slot on a panel fixated by the doorway. Same pattern applied to the other sealed doors in the hall.

Silver cursed her luck, yet there just had to be some kind of key around to undo the locks. With no clear solution, she took the next best idea in her head, and stalked near the barracks. She carefully peeked around the corner with her muzzle straight down and one eye looking in, inching ever so closely over the edge. Despite having a raging mob after her, Coral failed to attract every single one of them, as the reserve guard remained on standby. A minor number of these off-duty creatures were either asleep, lounging on their assigned beds reading, or gambling blood money over cotton-paper blend cards. Though they lacked their distinct armor, revealing the bestial faces normally obscured by an intimidating mask, they were not ill-equipped to deal with intruders.

“Better try sneaking over to the kitchen.” Silver pondered to herself. “Perhaps there could be a distraction?” Backing away, the thief decided to investigate the eerily silent kitchen. One would certainly hope that no monkey would still be assigned in there.

Thankfully, it appeared that any guards posted at the kitchen left in a hurry. Instead of old hags that served disgusting slop, there was some rationing system in place, which ensured the roster of soldiers would not be without their supplemental meals. Tables with stubby metal stools were installed in rows, spaced apart to prevent rubbing shoulders with other units. The fridge, cabinets, and sink stood in plain sight over a counter complete with a sneeze shield and remained visually functional. Hanging above were warnings about using the equipment per served unit or risk the loss of special food privileges. And when there was nothing to eat but MREs, you don’t want to lose such a sacred right.

“HA!” The hippogriff’s voice abruptly chimed in loud and startled Silver with a jump. “They’re having a fun time going through all those snapping turtles at the lake. How are you holding up?”

With a hoof upon her chest after the shock, the unicorn assured, “Oh... I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Coral.” Stretched thin of ideas, she tried asking her partner in crime. “Say... Know anything about these particular blimps? I think they would stick the stolen goods in storage or something. But it’s locked and a weird hole is on the wall next to it.”

“These creatures are simple, even if their leader is not. I imagine that the guards have a master key that accesses those facilities, so one key should be all you need. Also, while- Excuse me a second.” Even though the sounds were faint, Silver could make out some water splashing on the other end. “HEY! You dumb monkeys! Did that swim tire you out?! No wonder you couldn’t handle a couple of little ponies!” Yet she realized by the sound of the weed’s static shuffle, did Silver hear that last note. “Er, no offense to you, of course. I imagine the loot is stashed in storage, but the juicy stuff is in the captain’s quarters.”

“Captain’s quarters? I didn’t see that in the hallway.”

“That ship has more than one floor. I imagine it’s on the floor above you. Wish me luck, I’m going to lead these fools through lots of poison ivy.”

“Shit…” Silver cursed inside her mind. “Ok, looks like I gotta find a way to get my hooves on one of those keys... Hmmmmmm....“ With many ideas stuck in the planning stages, she wandered into the defined kitchen section. Taking in the surroundings, the presence of a conspicuous button became apparent. Situated under the counter lip, some imprinted instructions revealed it was to be solely used by their cooks for signaling the main dish. If she pressed it, surely those things would fall for it, but she had better secure a hiding place beforehoof. It wouldn’t help if those brooding hulks rush all the way to the kitchen with nothing to appease them. They would crush her throat just for that, much less being an agent of Coral.

In the height of the moment, she delibrerated her plan. “I could see if there’s any food in the fridge. My Celestia, I’d rather not stick around cooking something, though. Maybe I could take my chances and grab the keys from under them, literally!”

Nothing stuck out to her in the cupboards, just cups and packaged tin M.R.Es neatly stacked. There was however a bounty of ‘monkeyshine’ reserved for an afterparty, of which she had no clue about. As delightful as putting those apes in a drunken state would seem, there lacked a motivation to do so on their end. Effectively reducing its usefulness.

Putting her hoof around the handle of the fridge, she breached the fine seal of the door, spawning dense industrial frost which dissipated as it fell. A chilled glass bowl of banana creme pudding laid front and center among the more mundane foods, like some holy grail of desserts, with a note attached. “Those that touch this other than the lord will lose their heads” the bold words read. Surely, it wasn’t directed to ponies like her.

A wicked idea resulted from considering the possibilities she could get away with. Snatching the pudding bowl, she displayed it in plain sight on the table farthest from her. Then, she dashed under the counter and pressed the button. The bell rang as Silver awaited the opportunity to use her thieving skills for good this time.

The onrush of hungry monkeys raced in disorderly fashion to the kitchen, enthusiastic about their next meal and lacking any question why they’d be fed now. Even the one plainly asleep had wanted first come first serve. Upon arrival however, the five brutes stopped to find only a lone bowl of pudding for them. Fortunately for Silver, things like friendship, sharing, and courtesy were apparently foreign concepts with primates in general. They burst out into a greedy and violent brawl, for the last monkey standing would get his just desserts.

After pumping a foreleg in victory, the thief then stealthily exited the kitchen with her head down and entered the empty barracks. From there, she searched through their bedside chests one by one, hoping they would fight non-stop over a bowl of banana pudding until somepony would arrest their gluttonous hides. Then inside one of the boxes, she found a small crystal. Green, long, and thin in a hexagonal shape.

Upon closer inspection of the crystal, Silver felt lovestruck by the simple yet elegant design. Venturing out of the barracks, she observed it on all sides, but suddenly and witlessly tripped. The resulting fall disrupted her telekinetic hold over it as it flew over, spinning. In a display of dumb luck, the key surprisingly found its way into one of the equally-shaped depressions with a resounding click.

The pony uttered a pained grunt which Coral even heard through the Whisperweed. “That didn’t take as long as I thought…” The feathered rogue muttered to herself. “Are you ok?!”

“I think so…” The coal black bandit picked herself up to reclaim her prize, and saw it had firmly planted into a hole by the door. “Damn! That crystal fell into one of the holes in the wall!”

“Hold on, which hole? If it fits, then that’s a good thing. Now try opening the door.”

Following the bird’s advice, she twisted the knob, and the door moved effortlessly. Of course, as fate would have it, her crystal had also been irreversibly jammed from the sheer force of its velocity.

“Well, it unlocked the storage room, but now I’m one less crystal! Buck!”

“Well, that crystal could lead to many treasures, the risk should be worth the- Hold on.” Once again, Coral couldn’t help but belittle her pursuers further. “Awwww, feeling itchy? How about some honey to go along with it! Hyah! Yeeaaaah! Take that down your gullets and choke on it, you big- OW! Wha- Not me! Go after the- OUCH!”

Faint buzzing sounds could be heard around the flower’s field of sound, leaving Silver to be more than a little perplexed. “...Uh, Coral? Are you ok?”

“Yup! Just painfully learning that- OUCH! -bees don’t discriminate. I gotta run a little faster. Trust me, though, they got- OW! -it worse! Remember! Map, Puppy Peridot, Zecora’s notes. Anything you can carry is just- AUGH! - a-a bonus!”

The unicorn disregarded any further outcries from her associate and ran into the storage room. Inside were shelves of boxes on all sides. Only thing left and centered on the floor was a sleeping bag and a book. Silver wondered if maybe there was something among the piles of boxes in here that was not only valuable but could clear Coral’s name. She began sorting through them, talking as she went along. “Hey Coral, remember that thing you asked me to find? Didn’t you say it was like a photo or something?”

“No! There’s no photo I know of. Just the Puppy Peridot, the Map, and Zecora’s Notes, that’s all that- SQUAAAWK! That sting was a cheap shot! Look, I gotta go. This is getting chaotic!”

“Ok, got it!” Looking through more boxes, she searched for anything incriminating against Whirlwind. There’s miscellaneous supplies in some boxes. Junk and spare parts in others. However, one box was filled with an assortment of gold and gems, some which Silver never even saw before. A piece of the Peridot stuck out of the pile among the treasures that the stinger-peppered avian collected, but the map and notes were nowhere to be seen.

The importance of the Puppy Peridot was rather questionable to her, but she digressed and used her magic to stash it in her saddlebags. “I wonder how much I can carry? Perhaps that book could point me where to go next.” Silver retrieved it and expanded the flaps to digest its contents and hoped she would discover a new lead.

Upon opening it, the best she could tell was that it was a dairy by the scrawlings. The first entry read as follows: “As the migraines and blackouts continue, my memory has gotten worse and worse. Still, Lord Whirlwind assured me that I’ve received the best medical attention in Seaqueatria. The strides he’s made in medicine is nothing short of incredible! It could change the world! I started making a diary so I don’t forget the important parts of my life, should my memory fade forever.” Silver paused and thought to herself, “Well well well. I wonder if I should take this?”

“Sleeping bag...? But where is the rest of the stuff? Zecora’s writings... and something else... Are there any more boxes needing to be pilfered?”

Then Coral rang through the Whisperweed, “Whew... Finally got away....”

“Hey Coral, why do you need this peridot again?”

“Oh good, you found it! It’s for a promise I made, don’t worry your pretty little head over it. So, have you found the map and the notes yet?”

“Well… I found Calm’s diary.”

“You WHAT?! ... Wait a minute, that book might be useful, if you think about it. That monkey trusts Calm more than his troops, so maybe there’s an entry to get into the captain’s quarters… Anyway, now that I’m dotted with stings, it’s time to really torture these monkeys. I hope these traps I set up work!”

“Spare me the details, Coral.”

“I just hope this one’s more effective. One even stung me on the… Anyway, we’re running out of time and tricks. Move quicker!”

“Right!” Drawing her hoof skittishly on the pages, she eyed for relevant keywords to her investigation.

Suddenly, she detected “key” among the logs, and reread the paragraph “My Lord entrusted me with a spare key to his quarters. He instructed that if I retrieve anything regarding the Gems of Creation, bring it to his desk. I owe him my life, and I can’t allow something so precious to be misplaced. That’s why I stuck it in a discarded pill bottle inside the medicine cabinet. Coral. My sister... I wish I could turn back the clock and tell you how I felt about seeing you again. It pains me greatly to see you on the side of greed...”

The emboldened thief smirked at the naivety of the hippogriff to leave major clues in his personal journal.“This has to be a recent entry! So, the key is in the infirmary. Well, if anything happens, I’ll have access to first aid.” Silver stashed the book back in her sack and sauntered out of the storage; making sure the coast was clear of any nasty monkeys as she jumped rooms. Sounds of conflict were erupting in the kitchen. Those apes must especially be on a strict diet of prepackaged war meals to still keep going at it thus far.

Inside the infirmary was a sizable pool of blood on the dirty cracked ceramic floor. The bed in the middle had evidently not been sanitized, surgical equipment was laid out in the open exposed, and an acrid stench of death overflowed the air. One wondered if this room was for the soldiers or prisoners. The medicine cabinet hung on the wall across from Silver.

“I’m just gonna grab that key and go before I puke.” Feeling the need to update her status, the unicorn spoke louder for her companion beyond this side of the whisperweed. “At least you don’t have to deal with smelling the ass of a morgue right now.”

“The WHAT?!” Coral shouted in response.

“Nevermind. I’ll tell you later... Though I REALLY don’t want to.” She revealed the medicine cabinet and searched a bottle fitting of Calm’s description. Keenly, she spotted an orange bottle just big enough for a key, with the label ripped off, leaving a patch of fuzzy paper. Shaking it with her telepathy, something larger than a pill shifted and clacked about. Pushing the cap in, it opened and a golden octagonal key slipped out. “Shoot!” Silver took it the moment it hit the ground, now sustaining the trace of a hairline crack, yet she couldn’t see it. Tossing the bottle away, the pony examined it a bit closely. “Hmmmm… like the other one, but the shape and color is different… Whoever designed this vehicle has some weird hobbies.” She left and vowed never to set hoof in it again.

Upon leaving, it was apparent that the brawl in the cafeteria had finally reached a conclusion. Sounds of sore and highly disgruntled losers about to trudge out of the kitchen in defeat caught the ears of Silver. In eager evasion, she swiftly ran with her bounties as fast as she could upstairs, questioning if Coral was correct in the captain’s quarters being stationed above. At the top, she found it on her left. With tempered steel along the doorway, creating a motif befitting a master, and giving away its restrictive presence. Silver approached wary of its ominous fog and pushed her key in, warbling it around and hoping for a clicking noise, but it fell off and shattered into a million pieces. “Oh, what the buck?!” her words seethed through clenched teeth. “How much did they invest in this ship?! Two bits that they can barely rub together?!” She spun over and bucked the door in anger, as it fell off the hinges unceremoniously. “Oh…” she couldn’t help but stare at the deceptively shoddy handiwork. “That works.”

Shifting her hooves over the wreckage, she ventured inside. The room had a scientific setting befitting the current ruler on the storm creature throne. Spare trench coats, lab equipment, paper notes cluttered everywhere in organized chaos, bookshelves with difficult to read tomes. Sitting amidst the furnishings was an unmade bed that decorated the room, alongside the usual navigational equipment necessary for airborne travel. What caught her attention right away was a desk and office chair, sitting in the middle of the room, waiting for a larceny loving lady like her to rummage through it.

“Wow, this dork’s really into his research. Probably has had the same luck as Cornfield when it comes to girlfriends,” her snide opinions echoed in her subconscious. The map and notes of The Gems of Creation were left in disarray on the desktop, seemingly by a hasty perpetrator. Stars shined in her eyes now as the main end goal being within foreleg’s reach. She snatched them up and stuffed them in her saddlebag right away. Then she realized that she already deep in the belly of the beast, and wondered what horrible and explicit evidence still remained in this important sector.

Quickly losing all subtlety, she pulled out and overturned every drawer, spilling out their contents and tracking whatever stood out the most. One manilla envelope called out to her like a siren’s song, begging to be opened. The contents contained a map and a letter. The written parchment read:

Esteemed Lord, we have finished scattering the explosives around the parameter. They are placed in the spots you requested to do the most damage. Can’t wait to see the fireworks go off, regardless if we procure the Mind of Water.

Signed, Captain Static.

The map was the landscape of Mt. Aris, with circles drawn on it, likely the locations of set bombs. “OH MY CELESTIA!” The bandit’s hooves trembled as the map resting on them quaked, while Silver contained a lump in her throat.

“What?!” the hippogriff on the other side of the flower squawked in response. “What happened?!”

Knowing it became a race against time for her life and the lives of countless hippogriffs, she carried everything within the capacity of her bags and scrambled over the desk. After vaulting over it, she unexpectedly saw Calm Breeze standing defiantly in front of the doorway, effectively denying her liberating exit to a successful retreat. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” His voice rang out. “You have a lot of nerve waltzing in like you own the place!”

“What’s going on?! Coral chimed in while Silver cowered and shook with fear, heart still pounding from her latest discovery. “You should know that I’m getting close to the airship. I’m out of distractions!”

The black unicorn didn’t respond. All she could do was whisper dreadfully to the creature that caught her red-hooved. “It’s you…”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading!