Child of Silver

by WilliamShakeshoof

Chapter 8: Orbital Chariot

Orion was having the dream again. Once again he was on the barren grey landscape. He looked around, in the distance was an old lunar lander and an Equestrian flag depicting the two alicorn sisters of myth. Of course, he realized, he was on the moon. If he was on the moon then the mare calling to him probably was his mother, Luna.

It had been a few days after the prophecy had been given about him. Dinky had gone back to the Hunters, and Stable Eight felt strangely empty. Preparations were being made for the journey to Tallahorsee it the best way to get to the moon.
In the field the foals of Hayphestus

"So. What do you think?" Tess, a fifteen year old filly of Hayphestus asked. Her cutie mark was a hammer an anvil, the usual cutie mark for the Hayphestus stable. In front of her were the plans for a custom built space chariot. Orion looked at them carefully.

Tess went on to point out features in the design. "Its airtight. You'll need that for where you're going. There ain't no air there."

She pointed to the spot where the horses normally would be. "We weren't sure if you were going to use horses. Were ya?"

Orion shrugged.

"Well that's a relief. Ya' see" she pointed at the design again. A half dozen intricately designed rocket engines appeared were the horses normally would have been. "We designed a special Greek Fire Mechanical Rocket Mechanical Horse. It's Strong Stuff. Should get ya to the Moon in about a day."

"Plus it miniaturizes!" Tess said. She pressed a button and the chariot collapsed into a miniature version that fit in her hoof.

"Wow!" Orion said.

"What's really weird is that I'm been dreamin' about this thing months before you even arrived at camp."

That had to be important. Orion thought. "Tess, the prophecy did say that I would be aided by child of Hayphestus, and I was thinking; Maybe you should come too."

"I was actually hoping that you would ask that. The other night I dreamt of an enormous gray desert. There was this girl and she told me to help you."

"That settles it then. I've had almost the same dream. You're coming along."

"Yay!" Tess yelled. Wrenches and screwdrivers flew up into the air.

"Duck!"

"Watch Out!"

"What in Tartarus is wrong with you Tess!" screamed other various Hayphestus campers as they dived, dipped, and dodged the projectiles.

"Sorry!" Tess said loudly. "But Yay! I'm going on a quest!" she said, this time a bit more quietly. She moved to hug him.

"No." he said, looking at her hooves.

"Right, sorry." Her hooves were covered with grease. She wiped them on her leather work apron, but the oil stain still remained. "When do we leave?"

"If the chariot's done, we can leave in the morning."

---

The next morning Argus drove Orion and Tess into Manehattan where they were dropped off at the local bus-wagon depot.
The day was uneventful until they got closer to Baltimare and where the bus they were on stopped.

Orion's stomach growled. "Sorry, I haven't eaten much today."

"I know the feeling, I'm hungry too." Tess said, her stomach growling in affirmation.

Off in the distance a restaurant's billboard caught our eyes... it was a KFC. We galloped toward it.

Inside, hardly anypony was working, so it wasn't that long of a wait to get the two of them small plate for the buffet. They set aside the best piece of hay, flowers, and chicken and finished their meal, refreshed.

Luckily for all demigods on missions, every single restaurant had a sacrificial fire that was hidden by the mist. Normal ponies saw trash cans and places to return the trays. To the ponies whose vision was not obscured by the Mist, they were tiny fires to offer sacrifices to the gods.

"To Luna" He said, dumping the piece of chicken into the fire. "To Hayphestus" Tess followed with her leftovers.

While they were eating the two didn't notice a sixteen-wheeler pulling up to the back of the store. Now that they were outside and the demigod smell filled the air, it shook on it wheels from side to side, like something big was trying to find its way out.

The two of them jumped back and readied themselves for a fight

Steel peeled back from the side of the sixteen-wheeler. A harsh noise, like a hissing-crow issued forth from the darkness.

Two large scaly talons reached out to touch the ground. They were followed by a large, bulbous, scaly body partially covered with feathers.

For once, Orion knew his monsters. The creature that stood before him was a cockatrice, sometimes refered to as a basilisk, the unholy offspring of a chicken's egg hatched by a toad.

The two of them quickly shut their eyes. He racked his brain trying to dig up any information that he could remember about basilisks from the lessons at camp. Basilisks did something. They could kill or turn you into stone with a single glance, or a single breath, but couldn't remember which. "Don't look," he warned Tess. Although it didn't sound like it was getting any closer. Daring a peek, he saw that the animal was more interested in the garbage, and not them. It was greedily picking at any bit of food that it could find.

The basilisk was greedily going after every bit of trash food in the dumpster.

"So, I wonder if this is part of the 11 herbs and spices." Tess said, causing Orion to chuckle. His mind raced with strategy. If he couldn't look at the thing, then he would use a different strategy than if he simply couldn't get in front it, and vice versa.

He decided to go with the not seeing part and try an attack from behind. Hopefully that would cover all the bases, he thought.

Slowly, he snuck up behind the overgrown chicken. He let out a blood-curdling battle cry as he leapt onto the back of the basilisk, landing on its neck and not daring to look into its eyes. Orion thrust his sword into the beast's neck.

It glanced off the side, as if the monster was made out of metal.

He tried again, and again the killing blow simply glanced off to the side. There was no way of simply killing this beast.

Sensing the attack, it began to buck and kick, trying to get the nuisance off of its back.

"Orion! Only three things can kill a basilisk, the crow of a rooster, looking at itself in a mirror, or a weasel." as he rushed back inside.

"Aha," he said. There are very few things that could kill a basilisk, and all he had to do was hang on.

Orion did not a mirror, or a weasel, so he needed to find a rooster.

He dug into the basilisk's feathers, and held on for dear life. It was out of his hooves. He silently prayed to the gods that there was a farm nearby.

Underneath of him, he could feel the basilisk running. In all likelihood, it was no longer in the parking lot of the KFC. Shadows danced behind his eyelids. He hoped Tess was keeping a safe distance. The basilisk continued to run, doing everything to get the creature off of its back.

Then it rolled. His eyes shut, Orion felt the cool, damp grass as the basilisk tumbled. He had let go. Any minute the basilisk would peck at him into a million pieces. Its shadow fell upon him.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO" a sound echoed from the distance.

The shadow departed.

After a few minutes Orion was brave enough to open his eyes.

A dozen feet away, at the base of a large tree, the basilisk lay dead. It body, slowly dissolving into golden dust, leaving only the head. Orion was disappointed, almost. He had hoped that he might be able to test whether it tasted like chicken. He had never had basilisk before.

The two of them got a room in a hotel, and the next day got a ride on a bus headed to Tallahorsee.

Comments

[Draco Dei]

I don't think that Deus Ex Machina are appropriate, even for this sort of a story. Also, you should mention in the description that it is a Mash-Up (not a crossover, but a Mash-Up) with... whatever the name of the series with Camp Half-blood and/or its sequel series was called.

[Chaos da FaceWhacker]

Tallahorsee........hmmmm.........Tallahassee?

[Dracosaurian]

IT TASTES LIKES CHICKEN YA DINGBAT