OMAI: The Empire of Storms

by VeganSpyro97

Chapter 14: Genorosity

Capper’s little corner of Klugetown was as much of a dump as the rest of the ramshackle city, with tattered cloth drapes hanging from the ceiling like great swathes of moth eaten sails...though considering the material used to build the city it was entirely possible that the drapes actually were sails once. There were empty picture and mirror frames leaning against the far wall in a great stack, dirty pillows and once fine furniture all missing their enameling and jewel insets, having been removed some time ago, evidenced by the gouge marks made by a blade of some kind.

There was no actual door, just a ladder leading up to a floor hatch, which opened into the small room only after Capper hit it with his balled up fist in just the right part of the wooden boards, springing a latch on the other side free. “It doesn’t like to open up sometimes. Just needs the right touch to persuade it otherwise.” Was Capper’s explanation, which most of the ponies chose not to pay all that much attention to, especially after the hatch fell closed on Tempest by accident, and the hornless Unicorn opened it with barely any trouble, without blasting it open or using her incredibly limited telekinesis.

Rarity, in spite of her earlier praises, immediately harangued the poor cat for an hour about the improper storage and care of several rat infested bolts of faded and worn fabric that bore evidence of once having been very beautiful. Said bolts were chucked out the window by the hapless Capper only moments after Rarity had gotten done berating him. Her fanciful tastes were affronted by almost everything, save for a small space Capper had kept mostly clean, and sported the best and most cared for furniture in the whole place. There were a few soft chairs with relatively tastefully patched cloth coverings and cushions still firm enough to retain their shape without being too unyielding, a small table that was home to a tiny pile of gold coins and a few paper notes marked with the Storm King’s sigil and ugly face, and a lantern hanging over it all, suspended by a thick rope. Capper lit the candle inside the lantern using one of a dwindling supply of matches, before setting down in one particular chair that was clearly his favourite, as it was molded almost perfectly to his body. The other chairs were large enough to hold two ponies apiece, but that still left the Crusaders and Static to find other seating arrangements, which were made when Spike managed to find Capper’s supply of extra blankets, tucked in a cupboard.

“So...you’re looking for your friends.” Capper said plainly. He had pulled out a large map of the city, completely hand drawn but accurate from the ponies experience, and laid it on the table in front of them. “Where exactly did you last see them?”

“Well, we last saw them around….here.” Rarity supplied, using her eye for detail to pick out the street they had been using when the crowds had pulled the group apart. “We went all along here and didn’t see them at all, and spent several minutes at the market before we found you, and still hadn’t seen them. They were supposed to meet us there, but with the guards arriving, I doubt they would have gone that way.”

“If I know Twilight, she’ll have figured out a new plan, probably to search for us, or maybe find a way to contact us. It’s entirely possible that they have found a place to sleep and are waiting for me to try and reach them through the dream realm.” Static suggested. “It would be the quickest and easiest method.”

“Sorry, the what now? You’ve lost me.” Capper queried, waving his paws in confusion. “The dream what?”

“Well, that’s a long story, but basically, I can go into people’s dreams.”

“Oh, is that all?” Capper asked, but his feigned blase attitude cracked a second later. “Seriously? You ponies can just do something as crazy as that?”

“Remind me never to tell him about who moves the sun and moon.” Static said to Fluttershy, who giggled into her hooves.

“I’m just gonna ignore that obvious bait…” Capper winced at the implication and moved on. “So, they likely approached the market from the same direction as you, and given how you reacted to the guards, would want to avoid being found. So, the best way that an outsider would probably use to get out of there would have been...this way, or this way.” He indicated a pair of nearby alleyways, both of which lead close to the large shape of the City Hall. “If they’re smart, they’ll steer clear of City Hall, cause of all the guards and….uh, more guards there, and would skirt around it.” He traced the path around to the best guess, before pointing to a cluster of buildings. “I’d say they may have stopped here. It’s a rough part of town, but it’s pretty easy to find a place to sleep for cheap, and the guards don’t usually patrol there. Too many knives in easy reach, if you know what I mean.”

“Then won’t those knives also be used on our friends?” Fluttershy asked, worriedly.

“If they’re unlucky, they just might be.”

“Yeah. If the knife wielders are unlucky.” Static chuckled.

***********************************

Twilight slammed the wrist of the jerk who tried to stab her against a wooden beam, and felt a particularly nasty crack through her magic, followed by a pained cry from the particular moron she was holding. Her mane was very nearly on fire again, for the sixth time in the last few hours, and her eyes were constantly narrowed into deadly, extremely pissed off slits. “If I had a bit for every feather brained idiot who tried what you just did, I’d have seven from today alone.” She threw the now whimpering pirate aside roughly, before she looked back at the one behind the desk. “I’ll take two rooms please. With enough beds for five.”

*************************************

Night fell over the city, but the hustle and bustle did not stop, as the more rowdy taverns were playing loud music and erupting into bar fights late into the night and early in the morning, keeping the adults up at night, who aside from Capper, took time to stay on watch in shifts, with Rarity taking first watch so that Static could do her thing. She was huddled over Capper’s cloak as Static settled down to sleep, sewing something onto the lapels and sleeve cuffs, the Unicorn’s tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in concentration. Ignoring Rarity’s indulging in her profession, Static focused her magic inwards, feeling the familiar buildup and release of energy as she slipped away from the waking world.

The dim lights of Capper’s apartment fell away, along with the smell of dust and damp that came with it, all to be replaced by a field of stars that stretched as far as the eye could see. So many dreams in one ramshackle town. So many Nightmares here, flitting around the minds of many, feasting on their dreams by turning them dark and sickly, draining the happiness from them. The things were fat, and lazy with their easy meals, bloated and content.

They made Static wish her own Nightmare was still there.

Normally she could feel it, at all times, as a quiet, patient presence in the back of her mind, just waiting to be called upon, as they had agreed. It got to feast on her dream magic, and she got to use it’s power.

Not anymore though.

Now the space in the back of her head was simply empty, and quiet not by choice, but by absence. It was horrible.

But Static still had a mission to complete. These useless, dream-fattened slugs could be dealt with later. She had friends to find.

The Pegasus leapt up into the air, drifting weightlessly along as she searched for the familiar, glowing light that was her friends, hoping to catch one-anyone, sound asleep. She did not need wings to fly here, for here she was the one who decided what could fly, and what could not. She circled clusters of dreams, trying to find that tell-tale sensation, that nagging feeling that told her who the dream was for.

She found the Avian’s, Lix and Mullet and Squawk, all dreaming of the adventures they had once shared as they soared through the sky. She found the Mayor, happily using his dream time to have all the pleasurable company he could possibly have at once, and even a Reindeer, who seemed quite aware that Static was there, but never even looked at her. The Reindeer vanished almost instantaneously, leaving Static floundering in the dream realm before she sought out Twilight.

The Alicorn was where she felt safest, in her castle library, a book encased in her magic and her favourite coffee by her side- not that it would do much good in a dream. Static alighted on top of a bookshelf close to her friend and coughed politely, knocking a hoof against the crystal shelf and moving Twilight into a lucid state.

The book loving Princess blinked, then turned, looking around in confusion for a moment. Then she looked up to the source of the polite cough and spotted the Pegasus reclining on the shelf.

“Static!” The Alicorn dropped her book, carefully, onto the table, bookmarked and closed. “I am so glad to see you!” The young ruler jumped up to join Static on the shelf and gave her a quick hug, before drawing back with concern in her eyes. “ Where are you? Are you alright? Are you with Rarity and Shy? Are the Crusaders with you? We tried to go to the market to meet up with you, but we-”

“Twilight. Stop.” Static reached out with her hoof and layed it reassuringly on the mare’s withers. “We’re all alright. We managed to find someone at the market who was willing to help us for some money, and we’re holed up in the big windmill by the river. You know where that is?”

Twilight nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank harmony. Everyone else is with me, except for Tempest. We lost track of her in the crowds.”

“She’s with us. Managed to get her ropes undone and hurt herself doing it, but she’s been cooperating. Another point in her favour, I think. She’s definitely trying to help us.”

“I still don’t trust her.” Twilight sighed. “But even I’m starting to think she’s genuine. Keep an eye on her, for now, though.”

“Will do. Any ideas what we should do now? We’re gonna need to pay the guy we’re with, and he’ll be wanting two bags, like we promised.”

“Two bags?!” Twilight yelled, eyes wide. “You promised this guy two bags of gold?!”

“I wasn’t intending to pay up all of it, but he helped us get away from the guards and deal with some less than savoury characters before that. So, I say we do owe him.”

Twilight frowned, touching a hoof to her elbow while the other hoof went to her chin, as she thought. “Two bags is at least half of our money...but after what I’ve seen here, nearly pure gold is considered very valuable here, so we might be able to stretch the rest out much farther than I previously thought.” The Alicorn’s eyes flickered quickly back and forth as she tried to adjust her plans.

Static shook her head. “Twiggles, now’s not the time. We need to figure out what we do next, not how many apples we can buy.” The dreamwalker flapped her wings and concentrated, the library vanishing around them. The world swirled back into view a moment later, the desert surroundings of Klugetown coalescing beneath them as they stood atop the great stone cliff that the Skylark was moored next to. Beneath them lay the city, the windmill that Static was sleeping in gently spinning away in the breeze.

“So, where are you right now?” Static asked, looking at Twilight with an eyebrow raised.

“We’re holed up here. It’s a tavern in a pretty awful part of the city, over by the eastern city wall.” Twilight lit up her horn, a building pressed up against the wall lighting up in kind. “And if you’re in that big windmill there… then we’re half the city away from each other.”

“We need a place to meet up then. I’ll wake myself up and talk to Capper about possible places and get back to you. You want to stay lucid while I’m not here?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Just make me lucid again when you get back.”

****************************************

Static stepped outside of the windmill’s upper living space and onto a windswept balcony, tucked behind the spinning sails of the windmill and underneath the main body of Capper’s upper story apartment.

The cat himself was sat on the safety railing, looking out over the city, looking oddly glum and staring at something on his coat. That something was a shiny gold button, four of them, actually, sewn onto the coat in place of the old buttons that had once been there. The numerous small tears the coat had once had were gone too, careful stitching having repaired the damage and leaving nearly no indication at all that the coat had ever been in need of repair at all. Rarity had even managed to clean it somewhat, the faded red coat now a vibrant shade of crimson as it had once been. Capper was staring at the cloth in his paws like it was completely alien.

“Something on your mind?” Static asked. Capper flinched at the sound, but didn’t turn around.

“Never had anyone do something for me without expecting something in return.” The Abyssinnian let out an uneasy breath and turned his green eyes to meet Static’s blue ones. “She wouldn’t even let me try to pay for fixing it.”

“That’s Rarity.” The Pegasus chuckled. She took the opportunity to stretch her wings and leapt into the air, soaring in place by gliding into the wind. She weaved about lazily, while Capper watched her, in obvious awe. “Never one to let an opportunity to be generous slip her by.”

Capper stayed quiet for a moment, letting the sounds of the city wash over them from below. “Are all you ponies like that?”

“No. Just most.” Static let the wind blow her back a bit and landed on the balcony rail next to Capper. “Any suggestions one where to meet our friends? They’re renting a room in some crummy tavern down in the city, near the eastern wall.”

“How do you know that? I thought you got lost.”

“It’s magic, whiskers. I ain’t gotta explain nuthin’.” Static chuckled, balancing precariously on the rail as she poke, wings outstretched to add extra lift and keep herself from falling.

“There’s a kind of plaza near the eastern city. Lot of the wealthier Storm Empire Lords have homes there. Risky to go to, but easy to find and lots of ways to go if things go sideways. That’s probably your best bet. Only other place I can think of is the eastern docks- not the airship docks, the normal docks, for the river. Stinks of fish and offal, and offal and fish.”

“Bet you love it there, kitty cat.” Static intoned, rolling her eyes at her own assumptiveness.

“Nope. Hate the place. Stinks up my clothes for weeks when I go.”

Static shrugged, hopping off the railing, mane all messy and windblown, and opened the door inside.

“You said most.”

“Huh?” Static stopped, pausing to look back at Capper.

“You said most ponies were like your Unicorn friend in there.”

“Yeah.” Static cocked her head to the side.

“Can’t imagine someone that nice being able to stand up to the Storm King. That’s all.”

Static scoffed, waving a wing in dismissal. “You’d be surprised by just how hard these ‘nice guys’ fight against assholes like Gaul. Trust me. One day soon, Gaul is going to get his ass handed to him by a cute and fluffy little pony. And I’m gonna be there when he does, just to rub it in his smug face.”

“Yeah.” Capper turned back to the city, so his guilty frown was hidden from Static’s eyes. “I hope so.” He said forlornly.

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Comments

[Kevin Lee]

“Yeah.” Capper turned back to the city, so his guilty frown was hidden from Static’s eyes. “I hope so.” He said forlornly.

Sounds like Capper might get the opportunity to be there to see it happen, too--although a few delays might happen before reaching that day....