Chapter Two: A Means of Locomotion
“For the sixth time, we cannot control her, if she wants to do this, then we must let her go!”
“It’s not happening, we are a unit, we stick together!”
“She deserves to see her dad, Twilight!” Applejack shouted back.
For the past few minutes, the girls had been arguing over Rainbow Dash’s request, while I’d sat back and listened to their opinions in attempt to gauge which would be the best decision.
“You’ve been awfully quiet, Callum. What’s your take on this absurdity?”
Raising an eyebrow at Twilight, I finally gave my tuppence-worth to the debate.
“I’d hardly call this an absurdity, Twilight. Rainbow Dash has a very valid reason for leaving, there is no doubt about that. What matters overall is the entire group’s safety, along with the efficiency of gathering the orb shards. So long as both of those standards are being met, there’s no reason Rainbow Dash can’t leave.”
“But-” Twilight tried to speak, but I continued.
“However, there’s no possible way we can guarantee Rainbow Dash’s safety if she’s all alone, so I can’t in my good conscience allow her to head off without any way to contact us.”
“Congratulations, you’ve just talked yourself into a circle, without coming to a conclusion.”
“I’m just vocalising my thoughts on the matter, Twilight!”
“Will you all just shut the fuck up!?” Rainbow Dash screamed.
Everyone whipped around to find Dashie stood nearby, her teeth gritted and her wing feathers ruffled with frustration; she stomped forward and butted Applejack out of the way in order to stand in the middle of the group.
“This decision doesn’t belong to you, any of you!”
“Wrong! You belong to this company, Rainbow Dash, and are bound to it until you have upheld your duty, just like the rest of us!” Twilight barked in response.
“He’s my dad, and I’m going to see him, I have to, I have to!”
The arguing continued, and I could tell that is wasn’t going to come to any conclusion any time soon; as predicted, the decision came to me (despite Rainbow’s statement). Thankfully, an idea had come to me during the girls’ bickering.
Grabbing Vitra ‘Aku’s handle, I twisted the blade slightly while ripping it upwards, causing its ordinary crystalline song to be amplified tenfold, the high-pitched resonance clearly affected the ponies more than I, as their large equine ears flattened down and their bickering ceased. Not only did the noise silence them, but the mere act of drawing my sword and drenching them in its blue glow was enough to firmly grasp their attention.
“Thank you…” I sighed.
Throwing the blade into the ground, I was impressed how deep it lodged itself into the turf, its sharpness was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
“Now, I believe there might be a compromise here, but it comes down to where the next shard lies. Sadly, due to losing my phone back in Portugal, we can’t use a GPS to find it, but this sword is made from the same material as the orb, so I have reason to believe that I can use it to point us in the right direction at least. Once we know where we’re going next, we can see where Rainbow Dash would need to go in conjunction to that. Personally, I think she has every right to see her dad, and I am in support of that, but I want to be in a close enough proximity to aid her should any emergency come about.”
Exhaling, I looked around to find the girls in agreement, Dashie included.
“So, how do we pinpoint the next shard exactly?” Twilight asked.
I pointed to Rarity and tilted my head slightly.
“Remember how you enchanted my phone in Brazil?”
Responding with a concerned ‘mhmm’, Rarity let me continue.
“I’d like you to cast the same enchantment, on Vitra ‘Aku.”
“Hm, I can try darling, but I doubt my magic is strong enough to bind the enchantment to such a powerful item, there’s no way it would be permanent.”
“That’s just it, I don’t need it to be permanent. I’ll hold the sword in hand and attempt to harness your spell, you’re essentially casting the enchantment on me, via the sword.” I explained.
“There’s no way that would work, you’re human, you can’t harness magic.” Twilight chimed in.
“No, I can’t, not via flesh anyway. But when I fought Stardust within the memory of the Titans, I seemed to have a way to channel a spell’s energy somehow. The old bastard was fond of lightning attacks, and shocked me a few times, but with the sword in hand, I could somewhat absorb the spell and cast it back at him.”
“What!? That’s incredible! Why haven’t you mentioned that sooner?” The unicorn demanded.
Shrugging, I simply stated that it hadn’t come into conversation yet, until now of course.
With everyone now on the same page, we went ahead with the plan and Rarity prepared the enchantment, while I firmly grasped the blade’s handle and waited with anticipation.
“Are you sure about this, darling?”
“Go for it, love.”
Nodding, her horn lit up brightly, and the spell was cast onto the sword; the blue crystal began to glow brightly in response, and I soon felt a warmth around my fingertips, it was working.
“You alright, Cal?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I’m feeling something, nothing significant yet, just a warmth… No, wait!”
The girls gasped and leaned in closer with worry, while the warmth became a sharp tingling pain, akin to pins and needles; the sensation travelled up my arm and into my chest, and upwards towards my head.
“It’s working, I think… It feels weird though, it’s travelling from my hand up to my head…”
The sensation was getting stronger, it was pretty painful, the human body was definitely not compliant with magic, I’d need to train my body to handle it better.
“Put it down, you’re hurting yourself!” Fluttershy ordered, panicked.
“She’s right, let go of it!” Rarity agreed.
“It’s fine, I’ve got this… I just… AAH!” I yelped as my vision went white.
“Callum! Callum! What do you see?” Twilight called out.
Her voice seemed faded, as the spell seemed to numb my physical senses; well, aside from the pins and needles that now swathed every facet of my body.
“Nothing, it’s just white!” I called back.
Finally, my sight returned, but I wasn’t with the girls.
“I’m flying, really high up… Holy shit, I’m in space!” I breathed, astounded.
And what a view it was… I could see the whole globe, above me was the beautiful terror that was the endless void of space, and below me was the ball of dirt and water that I called my home. The view couldn’t be appreciated for long however, as I began to hurtle down towards the Earth at great speed.
{Where are we going?} I thought.
I seemed to be headed east, far east.
{Somewhere in Asia?}
Nope, I was flying south now. The wind in my ears was deafening, yet it didn’t take from the sheer brilliance of this experience, the spell had quite literally taken my soul away to see the world.
“What are you seeing now?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I’m gliding across the planet, I think we’re going southeast, Australia maybe?”
Wrong again, as I streaked across the sky like a missile, the notorious country of deadly animals faded into the distance, there was only one more option it seemed, New Zealand.
“No, it’s not Australia, so it’s got to be New Ze- wait… what!?”
Just like every country I’d passed, New Zealand soon went out of sight, I was simply gliding across the open sea, now lost and confused, although it seemed like I was heading slightly further north.
“Where in the blazes are we going?” I muttered.
Eventually, my flight slowed down, and an island appeared in the distance, this had to be it.
“I’m seeing an island, just approaching it now.” I informed the girls.
As I came up to the landmass, I found that it was pretty much barren, there was nothing but a few palm trees and a small mountain in the northern region; closing in on the mountain, I grew closer and closer to the ground, there was no doubt about it, the shard was on this island somewhere on the South Pacific Ocean, roughly between New Zealand and the Americas.
“What’s happening now?” asked Twilight.
“I’m heading towards a mountain, I think I can see a cave embedded in the side of it.”
As soon as I had mentioned the cave, I began soaring towards it. It didn’t take long to reach the opening. My flight became more of a slow float, and I drifted into the mouth, where everything grew dark. And then, from the shadows, a pair of bright yellow eyes blinked at me.
“Uh, what is that…?”
Without warning, it lunged at me, and I was greeted with rows of sharp teeth.
“Fuck!” I yelped, stumbling back.
Dropping the sword, the enchantment broke away and the vision faded from my mind. I fell back onto my arse and shook my head, feeling dizzy and shocked. The girls crowded around me, and Pinkie Pie took the liberty of jumping onto me.
“Big scary lizard!” she screamed.
Gently pushing her off and getting up, I shook my head and picked up the sword, sheathing it and dusting myself down; Twilight came forth and grabbed my arm, desperate for the knowledge of my vision.
“What happened? What did you see?”
“What she said.” I grumbled, gesturing to Pinkie with a thumb.
“A lizard?”
Nodding, my response was that of a distracted grumble, my attention more on the vision than on Twilight.
“I think so.” I muttered, “Some creature with yellow eyes and sharp teeth. The Orb shard’s definitely there though, but getting to it is going to be an absolute nightmare. I’m not sure how we’re going to get there without magic.”
“Why? Where is it?” asked Fluttershy.
“It’s on the other side of the planet.”
Everyone gave mutters of sheer disbelief, and Rainbow inquired as to how this played into seeing her dad. Breathing deeply in through my nose, and then out with my mouth, I assembled a plan within my mind for the road ahead, and soon settled on something I considered the best option.
“If we head west until we get to Morocco, we can travel to America by sea somehow, and when we get there, you can search for your father. After that, we’ll find a way southwest to Hawaii, where we’ll have to travel by sea again down south, until we find the island.”
“Sounds like a plan.” stated Applejack with confidence.
“Pony party world tour, yay!” Pinkie sang.
Twilight asked if this was truly the best route, and not just some massive detour to find Rainbow’s father. With what confidence I had, I gave her a nod. I then knelt down and sighed, anxiously pressing a palm into my forehead; they needed to hear the real gist of this plan.
“Guys, this is not going to be a fortnight gallivant, this is going to be a bloody long journey, it could take months just to get as far as Morocco, let alone the states. We don’t have long range teleportation on our side, so we absolutely need to find a vehicle, a decent one at that. Otherwise we’re not getting that shard for at least a year, and that’s being generous.”
“So, what’s the game plan?” Twilight asked without missing a beat.
“I think you lot should stay here.” I replied, “Continue resting up, while I search for the nearest settlement. Hopefully I can find a car or something. Then I’ll come and pick you up, and we can drive off with haste.”
“You’ll need a scout, someone to fly above and spot for you.” said Rainbow, stepping forward.
Shaking my head, I told her that the main threat in this part of the world was angry people, armed to the teeth with guns; a single bullet was all it would take to snip her out of the sky, and I wasn’t going to run that risk.
However, I had a better idea.
“Rarity, come here.”
Nervously stepping forward, the unicorn looked up and awaited my command.
“In Brazil, you saved my life once. You drove a knife into Vladimir’s neck with the intent to kill him, and it was thanks to that dedication that we got out of there alive.”
The reminder of the event seemed not to faze her, which is exactly what I had hoped for.
“Would you show that dedication again, at a moment’s notice?”
Gulping, she nodded.
“I’ve come a long way, darling. Whichever route we have to take, I intend to see this through.”
“Good, because you’re coming with me.”
“What!?” gasped Rainbow Dash, glaring at me intensely.
Before the pegasus could argue, I explained that Rarity’s magic on the ground was what I needed, and that if she wanted to get out of here and see her father, she would need to follow my lead. Aside from swearing under her breath, she accepted my decision.
“Rarity, while I’m a decent shot, I’m confident that you would be far more efficient with the rifle Hawnu Rey’eng gave me. Your lifetime in fashion has given you extreme visual accuracy and flawless coordination, you could thread a needle with your eyes closed. With that, I’d like to make you our marksman.”
“Um, d-darling, I’m not sure… I’ve never handled one of those things, I-I don’t even know how they work!”
“That’s why I’m going to teach you before we head out.” I assured her, smirking, “Look, I can’t do this on my own and I need someone who can cover my arse in a firefight. Can you do that for me, Rare?”
I placed a hand on her shoulder, and after a brief silence, she nodded, prepared for the challenge.
“Right then.” I said, dipping my head, “Follow me, we can practice for a bit, and then let’s get moving.”
The group dispersed to help gather our supplies, while I took Rarity to the more open part of the underground temple to practice wielding a gun.
“Now, you don’t want the scope too close to your eye. Even with this thing’s good recoil, it jumps back, so you need to hold it an inch or two forward, or it’ll take your eye out.”
We had gone over all the basics, the safety, the two fire modes, how guns actually work in general, all that sort of thing; all Rarity had to do now, was fire.
“Unless you’ve got a bloody good duplication spell, these are all the bullets we have. So to conserve ammo, I’m only giving you a couple shots, so let’s hope you’re a bloody natural.”
“No pressure then, dear?”
“None at all.”
Chuckling nervously, Rarity levitated the gun with her telekinesis and aimed for a coconut on one of the trees; breathing steadily and remembering all I’d taught her, she distributed some of her magic to slowly pull the trigger.
BANG!
The bullet struck true, obliterating the coconut and spraying its milk all over the ground. Catching the rifle from a startled Rarity, I cheered with pride.
“Bloody good shot, madam! Bloody good shot!”
“That was… incredible!” she exclaimed.
“I knew you’d be a natural, you stayed perfectly calm and kept your eye on the target.” I praised.
“I just kept thinking to myself, thread the needle, thread the needle…”
“Well you damn well threaded it alright.”
Tightening the shoulder strap to suit Rarity’s size, I returned the rifle to its new rightful owner.
“You can keep this, marksman.”
Happy with her new title, and confident in her natural talent, Rarity confirmed that she was prepared for the journey upward and out into the open desert; we joined the others to say our farewells and receive wishes of good luck, and also to receive some necessary supplies.
“Seeing as we’ve got an endless supply of water here, it only makes sense for you to carry all the water bottles, you’ll need it out there.” Said Applejack, passing my bag to me.
“Cheers.”
“And as you’re insufferable without it, here’s your umbrella.” Twilight teased, giving the brolly to Rarity.
Rolling her eyes with playful annoyance, Rarity put it into her bag, while also equipping the saddle mount so she was prepared to wear the umbrella when needed.
“How are you going to find us on your way back?” Rainbow mentioned.
“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that…” I muttered.
“Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!” Pinkie Pie emitted loudly.
Unnecessarily launching herself towards me, she jammed a hoof into her mane and rummaged around, before unveiling what appeared to be a rocket of some sort.
{Jeez, Pinkie! How long has that thing been stored in there? A better question being, how was that thing stored in there!?} I thought with surprise.
“Um… Pinks… What is that?” I asked.
“It’s a flarework!”
“A what?”
“It’s a mix of a flare and a firework, it shoots up super bright, and then explodes into a whole rainbow, you can see it from miles away!” She gleefully sang.
“I’m not even going to ask how you have this, but good job Pinkie.”
My praise caused her to curl into a ball and roll around like a marble, I looked to the others and raised an eyebrow, which caused some chuckles here and there.
“Be sure to drink before leaving, a head start will do you good.” Applejack encouraged.
“But not too much!” Twilight butted in, “Or you’ll need to pee and dehydrate yourself!”
Reminding the lavender unicorn that I wasn’t an infant, I took a drink alongside Rarity and then received our final send-off, being escorted to the surface to face the heat once again…
“Huh, it’s not as bad as I remember.” I murmured.
“That’s because you’re well hydrated and more prepared, trust me, it’ll get worse if we spend too long out here. Let’s try to get a move on.” Rarity replied, adjusting the rifle onto her back.
Nodding in agreement, I marched forward with her up the sand dune from whence we once came, hoping to find some sort of landmark to help distinguish where we were.
“Right, look over there, see that canyon?”
“What about it, darling?”
“That’s the only thing that stands out around here, I suggest we head through it and use it as a marker for when we come back this way. I’m not sure how effective Pinkie’s flarework is going to be and I don’t want to miss it.” I explained.
“Sounds like a plan!” She agreed.
As we made our way down the dune and towards the canyon, Twilight’s voice resonated within my mind.
{How’s it going up there?}
{Not burning to death so far, we’re just heading towards a particular landmark so we can retrace our steps at a later date. I’ll keep you up to speed.} I replied.
{Good to know, stay safe!}
Choosing to not reply, I focused on the trek ahead and quietly trudged along with Rarity.
“Finally, some shade! I very almost got out my umbrella!”
“Don’t get used to it, I highly doubt we’re going to magically find a fully functional car with a full tank around the corner, might be a day or so until we find something.”
Replying with an exasperated grumble, we trundled deeper into the sandy valley.
“Say Rare, do you have any sort of marking spells? Like some magic spray paint or something we could use just to ensure we know we’re in the right place upon our return?”
My inquiry only bore a single fruit, as Rarity explained that the best thing she could do was use her gem locating spell to trace some sort of ‘breadcrumb trail’. The only issue was that we had no gemstones, nor breadcrumbs to trace.
“Unless… We did…” I murmured.
“What ever do you mean?”
“The sword podium back at the temple. It shattered into a huge pile of dust, we could head back and collect it, and then sprinkle really small deposits as we go. The sand should conceal it too, so it’ll essentially become a trail that only we could follow.” I elaborated.
“Good plan, I like it.”
“As it’s only a couple miles away, do you think you could teleport back real quick and get it?”
“Ugh, fine, but I can’t teleport multiple times like Twilight could. I’ve only got enough mana for a single trip, even for short distances, then I have to wait a couple of hours to recharge.”
Confirming that was fine, I told her to find me further down the canyon, as I’d continue exploring it while waiting for her. Nodding, the unicorn lit up her horn and charged up the spell, before flashing brightly and disappearing.
“Well… That’s that I suppose.” I mumbled.
It was annoying that I hadn’t thought of the idea prior to leaving, but it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. Taking a sip of water, I marched on further down the canyon.
For about half an hour, my lonely wander had been utterly silent, with nothing but the wind whistling above to be heard; that was until a rather disgruntled Twilight telepathically made herself known.
{Gee, Callum, well thanks for running that plan by me, Rarity just teleported a few metres away and scared the crap out of us! Rainbow Dash nearly tackled her to the ground!}
{Oops.} I thought back sheepishly.
{Why didn’t you just take the dust before leaving?}
{Because I only just thought of it, you twat!}
{You do realise she can’t teleport back for another few hours now?}
{Yes, Twilight, we’ve gone over that. I’m just exploring this canyon and going no further, you know I’m not a complete imbecile, right?}
{That’s a matter of debate.}
{Be wary with thy tone, you insult thy Champion.}
There was a pause, and Twilight then promptly and sincerely apologised, to which I emitted a light chuckle; this whole ‘Titan’s Champion’ malarkey would very much play in my favour. With the subject now in mind, I thought I’d get more used to the sword and try some fight stances, while I’d proved a decent combatant over my time as the ponies’ guardian, there was no harm in some solo training.
“I’m never going to grow tired of that noise…” I murmured upon drawing the blade.
Playfully swaying Vitra ‘Aku around, I found that it continued to sing with faint ethereal whooshes when swinging with enough force, as the air rebounded off the asymmetrical body of the weapon. After spending a short while amusing myself with this aesthetic, I took to my old boxing stance and altered it for swordplay; from there, I did something I would do as a child, fight imaginary enemies.
Now, there was certainly a difference between wielding a large wooden stick and wielding an ancient sword of immense power, but there was no difference in the slightest when it came to leaping around slicing at thin air. Regardless, I tried to take myself seriously as I tried my best to envision various weapons coming towards me and react accordingly. My vivid imagination grew more and more precise as the empty canyon soon transformed into a treacherous valley of death, in which no mortal man has traversed; I was to be the first, and charged through enemy by enemy with relentless determination.
While having tremendous amounts of fun, my imaginary conquest came to a halt upon delivering a killing blow to an axe wielding orc; I’d become so engrossed with my training that I completely ignored the boulder, as my blade went straight into it, slicing completely though it and leaving an enormous gash.
“Whoa…”
{Yo, Twilight, you’ll never guess what.}
{What?}
{I’ve been training with Vitra ‘Aku for a while, and just sliced open a boulder, it went straight though like it was made of butter or something!} I exclaimed.
{Wow, that’s incredible! Goodness, I thought its sharpness was a mere legend.}
{What do the legends say?} I asked.
{Well, the books I’ve read all say the same sentence. Vitra ‘Aku was sharp enough to cleave through flesh and stone alike, a shield of metal is met like a disk of parchment, and a mountain is all but a carving block.}
{Huh, that’s pretty damn sharp then. Does it never dull?}
{Well, it has clearly maintained its sharpness after all these thousands of years, so don’t you think the answer to that is a little self-explanatory?}
{Hm, true that.}
{Well, have fun training, I’m currently working things over with Dash about her past, I’m trying to learn more about her life in America. It’s still a bit foggy, so I’m trying to find certain buzzwords that’ll trigger another memory.}
“Hm.” I hummed to myself.
It was ironic how I was more alone when speaking aloud than when thinking, come to think of it, I hadn’t had any actual privacy since Brazil, what with Stardust stuck in my head, and now Twilight via the collar. Over time I’d lost the appreciation for a moment of true isolation, and the realisation of that was quite a mood killer.
“C’mon, depression, not now…” I groaned as the dark mood came over me.
Trying my best to shrug off the sudden wave of lethargy and dullness, I quietly trudged further down the canyon, my pace much slower.
Quite some time had passed by, although I’d not kept track of how much exactly. The ground had very slowly begun to slope upward, it wouldn’t be long until I reached the exit and back into the desert. Pausing to rest my legs for a moment, I heard the clanking of metal up ahead.
“Finally, something interesting.”
Keeping my blade sheathed as not to draw attention to its bright azure glow, I crept along one side of the gorge until locating the source of the noise. Soon enough I encountered three men huddled around a few wooden crates, two of them were in possession of assault rifles and the third had a bill hook machete; what they were doing out here was unknown, but they were an obstacle regardless.
“I’ve played enough stealth games to handle this…”
My whispered statement, while satirical, would indeed be my strategy; picking up a rock, I through it to the opposing side of the canyon, drawing their attention to my direction.
“Madha kan hdha?” One of them spoke roughly.
“Sawf ‘ulqi nazra.” Another replied.
While I didn’t understand their language, as it was most likely Arabic, I could tell from their body language that they weren’t so much alarmed, but rather curious. One of them instigated a mild investigation, casually strolling over by himself to check out the noise; thankfully, I had a cluster of rocks to hide behind so I could bait him further away. Tossing another rock back to where I’d come from, he quickly picked up on the sound and wandered out of sight from his compatriots.
{Let’s take you out nice and quietly, so nobody gets alarmed.}
{What!?}
{Ugh, nothing Twilight, not right now, I’m busy.}
{Enemies?}
{Yeah, three of them, I’m just engaging the first, so let me focus, I’ll get back to you.}
{Right, okay, good luck, and please don’t die.}
{Duly noted.}
I knew I didn’t have time to wait about, as he could turn around at any moment, so I scuttled out of my hiding place and towards him with haste, slowly lifting Vitra ‘Aku out of its sheath while being sure to make as a little noise as possible; while it made a faint squeal, it wasn’t enough to catch his ear.
While edging towards him, I had the wonderfully unpleasant conundrum of deciding how to kill him without causing him to cry out and alert the others; going for the throat was the obvious option, but I had to strike from directly behind to prevent any chance of him spotting me.
{With a blade this sharp, I could just lop his head off…} I thought.
{Okay, that’s sickening.} Remarked a disgusted Twilight.
{Still sure I’m not a psychopath?}
{Yes I’m still sure, just get it over with.}
Rolling my eyes, I cast my thoughts aside and crept up behind the man, delivering a cunning stab deep into the back of his neck, driving it all the way through in order to sever his spinal cord, windpipe, and major arteries all in one fell swoop; needless to say, he instantly dropped to the ground without making a sound, besides some post-death gurgling.
What happened next was truly marvellous, akin to my killing of Stardust, wisps of blue energy seeped out of the man’s fatal wound and into the dark sphere within the sword’s hilt.
His soul had been absorbed.
“Damn…” I murmured.
The transpiration that followed caused me to yelp like a girl, as the other armed individual spotted me and then promptly opened fire, he must have grown curious at his associate’s absence and followed him. Dropping to the ground, I grabbed the dead man’s corpse to use as a meat shield, pulling him on top of me; his gun was only slightly out of reach, more bullets smacked into the rocks around me and into the body, making blood burst in all directions. The shooting stopped, presumably for the assailant to reload; taking the opportunity to grab the rifle, I cast the body aside and darted towards the gun, grabbing it and aiming towards my foe. That’s when I realised he wasn’t reloading, he had baited me; before I could pull the trigger, my body was met with the searing agony of three bullets as he sprayed the last of his magazine in my direction, two bullets had skimmed my thigh and waist, while the third struck true, making contact with my outer right collar bone and shattering it; the sheer force of the impact brought me to the ground.
“Fuuuck!” I spat, growling deeply in agony.
“Laqad darabtah!” The gunman shouted.
Picking up the rifle once more with my left hand, I swung the weapon to face his general direction and held down the trigger, emptying the cartridge at him; the recoil alone almost broke my wrist, certainly spraining it, but I was lucky enough to catch him with a single bullet, hitting his knee and bringing him down to a similar state I was in.
“Abn aleahira!” He screamed, evidentially having a much weaker pain tolerance than I.
Dropping the gun and weakly getting to my feet, I gawked at the golf-ball-sized hole in my upper torso and groaned as I saw fragments of shattered bone amongst the flesh and blood.
“I hate guns…”
Withdrawing Vitra ‘Aku with my left hand, I closed my eyes and squeezed the handle tightly, mentally commanding the blade to heal me. Amazingly, the sheer act of willing the relic to do my bidding was all it took, as the cooling sensation of pure mana seeped into my body, blurring and whitening my vision as the substance flooded throughout my entire being and overstimulated my senses; the coldness then spread to my most severe injury, almost instantly undoing the damage that had been done.
My vision returned to normal and the sensation faded, leaving my collar practically good as new, with only a minor rip in the skin from where the consumed soul wasn’t large enough to completely heal me.
“Huh…” I murmured.
Before I could properly take in the spectacle which had just occurred, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching me; whipping around, I found the last remaining enemy rapidly advancing towards me, his hooked blade held up above his head and ready to strike me down. Although I had raised my sword in preparation to engage him, no further combat took place as a bullet whizzed past my head and struck him in the left hand, completely obliterating it and causing his fingers to promptly depart in all directions. Screaming in agony, the man instantly dropped the blade and grasped his bloody and mangled stump of a wrist, completely forgetting my presence.
“Did I get him, darling?” Rarity called from afar.
Slicing upward into the man, I quickly ended him and took his soul in the process. I then turned back to whence I’d been and quickly spotted the pearly-white unicorn trotting towards me, the piercing shot rifle floating beside her.
“You nearly took my bloody head off!” I hollered playfully.
“I was aiming for his hand!” She responded sheepishly.
“That’s exactly what you hit, but you almost blew my head up!”
“Oh, so I did get him?”
“Ugh, yes! Now stop shouting and get over here!” I commanded.
Turning away from her, I used the newly absorbed soul to finish healing and then proceeded to hunt down the gunman, who had attempted to crawl away.
“You know it’s easier to escape when you’re not leaving a trail of blood, right?” I asked, reaching him.
“La taqtalni…” He whimpered.
“Sorry mate, I don’t speak your tongue, and even if I did, I most likely wouldn’t give a shit.” I spoke dryly.
Planting Vitra ‘Aku into his thorax and twisting the blade, his dying cry softened and then stopped altogether, and my third soul was claimed, which I chose to store within the sword for another time. Rarity finally emerged from around the corner and stopped beside me, momentarily glancing at the body and grimacing.
“Ghastly business.”
“Quite.” I replied, wiping the blood from my blade.
Sighing, Rarity released her telekinesis and the rifle happily dangled in its harness, which was now tightened to better fit her equine body.
“I think it’s safe to say I’m comfortable using this weapon, it’s amazing how simple it is.”
“Glad you like it, I however am definitely sticking to the sword, it just saved my life.” I hummed.
“What do you mean?”
“I got shot right before you turned up, took a bullet to the collar bone and was bleeding pretty badly, but I used the sword to absorb a soul from one of these blokes to heal it up!”
“Goodness, that’s insane!”
“Yeah, utterly mental.”
“So, what now?”
Humming in thought, I went to inspect the weapon crates and found them to be full of guns, ammunition and rocket propelled grenades, along with various wires and metal parts.
“An arms deal perhaps?” I murmured to myself.
“What was that, darling?”
“I’m thinking these three were about to initiate an arms deal or something, perhaps more people will show up soon to collect this stuff, and we can ambush them. Who knows, they might have a vehicle.”
“Well, if you think that’s for the best, I’m in no hurry to get back into that scorching desert, let’s stay put and hope you’re right.” She agreed.
Opening up the crates again, I took one of the rocket propelled grenades, along with a launcher, sometimes going loud was best. Rarity and I hid the bodies and relocated some rocks to make bunkers either side of the canyon to use as cover. From there, we simply had to play the waiting game…
Soon enough, after nearly two hours of waiting, our patience had paid off as we heard the rumble of an engine in the distance, possibly two engines by the sounds of it.
“Well, talk about perfect.” Rarity whispered over to me.
“Heh, too right.” I chuckled back, loading the grenade into my launcher.
The transport came into sight, not one, but two Land Rover Defenders, not too dissimilar from my brother’s one back in England, a true all-terrain jeep, capable of just about anything; it was the perfect vehicle for us.
The first jeep pulled up beside all the crates, presumably to be loaded up; this theory was confirmed by the rear jeep slowing down and coming to a halt much further back, with men clambering out of the back.
“Don’t damage the vehicles.” I ordered before they were in earshot.
“Well, duh!” Hissed Rarity in response, rolling her eyes.
Focusing on the group of men, I counted eight of them, all of them armed with smaller assault rifles than the first men I’d killed, (I presumed they were the AK-Seventy-Four-u variant). Rarity slowly raised her own rifle, I couldn’t help but smirk at the determination on her face, she showed no fear, only readiness and commitment to our cause.
It became quite clear that something was wrong, the men were on high alert and had their weapons drawn, most likely due to their dealers being missing, but there was no way I could have taken their place in disguise as I couldn’t speak a word of Arabic, opposed to the infamous ‘Allahu ackbar’ aphorism. Still, the men continued their operation and approached the boxes, opening them up and nodding to one another, a few of them chuckling menacingly in response to their new arsenal.
“Aintazar, ‘urid aikhtibarah awlaan.” One of them spoke, presumably the leader.
Picking up a rocket launcher and one of the grenades, I assumed he was testing out the merchandise, the only alarming thing was that he was now aiming the launcher in my direction; remaining calm, I awaited his next move and gave Rarity a signal to hold her fire.
That’s when the most unanticipated thing happened, the man simply detonated on the spot, sending sparks and scorching shrapnel in all directions, hitting the crates and setting off a chain reaction as the whole lot exploded. Three additional men were killed in the blast and the entire right front of the Land Rover was obliterated, both of the front tyres also being punctured from the shrapnel.
Needless to say, the remaining men instantly retreated in fear, sprinting to their other jeep in attempt to turn it around and drive away, I broke from my cover and tried to reach them.
“Shoot the driver! Don’t let them get away!”
Rarity did her best to keep up, but by the time she’d moved around the burning crates and lined up a shot, the men were already driving away at top speed and there was no hope in hitting the driver, let alone without possibly damaging the jeep.
“Drat.”
“Drat indeed.” I sighed.
“What in the name of Celestia just happened?”
There was only one thing that came to mind, the ammunition was spiced.
Spicing ammunition was an unorthodox tactic of warfare, in which certain batches of supplies were sabotaged by their own creators and intentionally left in compromising locations for enemies to steal; guns would almost always jam, explosives would go off early, and artillery would always fall short of its destination. While many people didn’t know this type of military tactic still existed in the modern world, my childhood fascination with the military had brought me to unearth many interesting facts.
“My best bet is that this batch of weaponry was spiced, this whole ordeal was a trap. Can you put out that fire? There’s still unburnt fuel in that Land Rover and I’d very much like to save it.”
Nodding, Rarity summoned some sort of thick mist around the flickering flames, dousing them into submission; the vehicle itself was in no hope of repair, but if we could track down the other Defender, we would have another load of fuel to get us further.
“I presume we’re going after the other one?”
“Read my mind, Rare.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I went back for the podium dust then.”
Responding with a light huff, I took one of the AK-Seventy-Fours and the magazines from the bodies.
“I thought you wanted to use the sword?” Rarity teased.
“Well yeah, but not for long range combat, you numpty!”
Laughing, the both of us left the canyon side by side, pursuing the tyre tracks across the sun scorched sands of the desolate Sahara…
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Huh, didn't know there was a thing as spiced weapons...
Guess even weapon dealers don't trust each other.
The fact Rarity is a sniper is terrifying and amazing! With all thats going on in the real world this is a welcome change, thanks duster.
If I ever came across the ponies and they're human I will legit stop everything and help them out no matter what happens after all the name of gold comes from the nickname someone give me when I was in high school Golden Heart since I had a heart of gold of course I have a lovely modified School Bus that I use for my job as a clean up crew for national disasters since it's actually registered as emergency vehicle of course the ponies trouble-free but the human will have to trade me a favor one day but actually I will accept one payment from the ponies just a simple brofist or brohoof from my best Pony Twilight Sparkle.
HO-LEE-SHIT! oh my gosh ive been hoping and waiting for the continuation! oh how ive missed this. haha
Any updates?
Any updates?
10308257
You're in luck actually.
So, since the Covid-19 outbreak I've been awfully depressed and have been suffering from writer's block very severely, I've been trying to write for you guys as much as possible but honestly I've been struggling to get out so much as a sentence every day.
But I've recently had a surge of motivation and have hopped back onto the keyboard, a new chapter should be with you soon'ish!
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Looking forward to it :D
Even with Arabic as my first language, it's still almost impossible to understand what the men said.
10646924
“Madha kan hdha?” = What was that?
“Sawf 'ulqi nazra.” = I'll take a look.
I often use Google Translate which is unreliable at best, but I've cross translated it a bunch of times for better accuracy.