Semper Pie

by deathtap

Mission 7, Part 2: Mission Is Go

“I don’t like it,” Sonic said pacing around their assigned room. They were offered two separate ones but, considering their company, the Guards decided it would be wiser and safer to room together. “I don’t like it at all. I didn’t come all this way to trek across the desert. It was bad enough coming this far, now they want us to go out there?”

“We don’t have a choice. We have our orders, and they are to stay until Semper says otherwise.” Static flipped a card over and cursed silently. It wasn’t the one he was looking for. He placed it into the graveyard pile and drew another, this one a bit better than the last. He placed it under the four of diamonds. “Besides, we’re not trekking anywhere. At least, that’s what my impressed was.”

“But those are Elites, Static. I know you’ve read the reports about them.”

“And you actually read a report?” Static countered without looking up.

“Well, a little. Maybe. Okay, fine, I didn’t, but I heard things, okay? Besides, I thought they had all died out. It’s been months since the Canterlot incident. Weren’t they on a time limit or something?”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear or read. A lot of information and dates are changed. Besides, all that is irrelevant. We’re here because we have to be,” Static said as he placed a card on a pile, then, using his magic, shifted the pile to another and he nodded in appreciation and flipped over the uncovered card. Again, he cursed under his breath. It wasn’t the one he needed. He picked up the graveyard pile and flipped it over. “Did you know that Tourmaline was involved in that Canterlot mission?”

“Really?” Sonic sat down on a sofa heavily, the old wooden legs groaned under his weight. “Doesn’t surprise me. He’s always been the brains in our outfit. Last I heard he was asking for a transfer out of the BG. Rumor has it that the Inquisition wants him.”

“Investigators, Sonic. No need to compound that particular memory,” Static replied.

“Well, whatever. Brains stick with brains, and the brainiest bunch of brains is them.”

Static couldn’t deny that.

A knock on the door made them both shift their gaze. Static reached for his dagger and casually slipped it under his playing cards, which he pushed over to hide it. Then he placed his mini-crossbow between his legs where he sat and held it loosely in his left hoof, turning so that he would get a clear shot at the door. As a precaution.

Sonic flew towards the door, but as he reached the corridor that led past the bathroom, he walked, placing him carefully along the wall far wall as low as comfortably possible. He looked at Static who gave him a nod.

“Who is it?” Sonic asked keeping his voice friendly.

“It’s Providence. I want to talk to you two.”

“Just a second,” Sonic opened the closet door, where their larger weapons were kept, and placed his sword behind where the door would swing, pulling it out a couple inches from the sheath so that it wasn’t locked into the scabbard. He then pulled the door open slightly and peered through the crack.

The pegasus looked at him and smiled weakly. “Hi.”

Sonic pulled the door open the entire way and gestured for her to come in. He closed the door behind her and deftly replaced his weapon back into the sheath and then back into the closet, closing the sliding door gently. He did it so smoothly that Providence never once turned around.

Static looked at the mare and picked up his crossbow and removed the loaded bolt and placed the weapon on the table in front of him. This wasn’t lost on Providence.

“Have I come at a bad time?”

“No, just being careful. I’m familiar with the Elites and their abilities, so just being careful. What can we do for you, miss?”

“It’s about this mission,” Providence began, but it was clear she didn’t know where to start. She started looking around the room nervously.

“Please, seat yourself down,” Static replied and pointed to the seat next to him. “You have some concerns?”

“Yes. It’s about where we’re going. I’ve asked Semper if I could come and tell you myself what’s at stake here. I don’t want you going on a mission that you don’t know anything about or the purpose. He’s agreed that it might be better for you to hear it from me instead of him. You see, I’m a writer, but I like to write about myself and what I’ve done using my experience as a form of biography. I felt that it would draw in my readers better. Then, one day, I was injected with that poison the Elites have.”

“Yes, I remember reading about that,” Static said leaning back. “The narcotic.”

“After what has happened, I’ve been researching ways of curing this… problem. First we tried curing it using medicines, then the Zebricans used their potions, which helped to slow down the inevitable. We were finally able to get an ample supply of a close replica, which is what the report was about.”

“That’s the filly in question.”

“Her name is Rose,” Providence said coldly. “Don’t ever forget it.”

“Of course. Rose. I apologize.”

“It helped. We searched for clues as to how to cure our ailment, all the while remaining hidden from Equestrian notice. In the end the only clue we found was from the Canterlot library describing a condition where the Cutie Marks could change,” Providence placed a beat-up book on the table. From the cover it was clear that it was a book on botany, and very dated. Not an old artifact book, but nothing new either. She flipped the pages open until she got the page she wanted and turned it around for Static to read.

“Heart’s Desire?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Static read on. “Interesting. It has a relatively high chance of causing Cutie Pox.”

“What’s Cutie Pox?” Sonic asked look over Static’s shoulder at the book.

“It’s this condition where you get Cutie Marks appearing that sort of mimics your true talent,” Static replied. “Like Chicken Pox, you can only get it once and when you get your actual Cutie Mark you are automatically immune to it.”

“Wow, you certainly know your flower.”

A dry look passed over Static’s face. “It’s written right here, you nincompoop. I was abbreviating it for you.”

“Oh. You do know that I can read.”

“We don’t have time for you to learn the words, Sonic.”

The pagasus made a face. “Fine, I’ll just sit over there then.”

“So,” Static said looking at Providence, “you looked for something that would change your Cutie Mark. Why?”

“Look at mine,” Providence said turning so they could take a good look at it. “It’s almost gone. It won’t be long till it completely disappears. As it goes, my memories and everything I’ve ever known is slipping away. Maybe, just maybe, if we find a magic that can change our marks we can change it back too!”

“And that was what made you come across the Stone of the Fates. But it sounds like a very, very, very long shot. How do you know if this legend even is true?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Semper has no choice, he’s been assigned this mission by the Council.”

“Wait. A direct mission by the Council? For this? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious. To get him out of their mane.”

Static raised a single eyebrow. “Really? The last time they let him do his own thing, didn’t he bring you lot back?”

“We had… help. A few of the Council members have histories with certain groups in Freeport. I think somepony must have leveraged that knowledge to get Semper to become part of this mission. But the two of you… you’re only here based on a mission card. I asked him and he’s agreed. If you don’t want to come with us, then you can head back to Equestria. I am not going to be responsible for any more ponies dying to try and save me.”

“Save you?” Sonic furrowed his brow. “I thought that the Elites are in it for themselves.”

“Somewhat. Most of them are coming with me because they want to help. Most of them have completely lost memories of their past selves. A lot of them are actually Blank Flanks.”

“I see. That makes finding a Cutie Mark altering substances a prominent aspect of this mission.”

“No. That was what we tried to do. That was what led to the narcotic in the first place. Without knowing the primary ingredient, there’s no reason to try. I don’t think we’ll ever find it. We have to resort to other means.”

“Magic,” Static said looking at the mare’s face.

“Magic,” she replied, nodding once to affirm his deduction. “That’s why I wanted to ask you if you really do want to come with us. Or head home. I can do this with the Elites.”

“And Semper?”

“He refuses to leave.”

“Well, all you’ve done is cement our resolve to stay too,” Sonic said with a wide grin.

“The idiot has a point,” Static concurred.

“Hey!” Sonic replied with a frown on his face.

“First off, we’re Guards, and whether we like it or not, we have a mission to do. It’s our job to protect Her Highness’ subjects, even the Elites deserve our protection since they are now technically subjects too. We’re not going to abandon you or the Elites. That would be an insult to the Guard as a whole.”

“Not to mention giving the Royal Guards something to harp on about,” Sonic stated bluntly.

“But it’s going to be very dangerous.”

“So?” both Border Guards replied.

“You know, Semper said the same thing.”

“In not so many words, I think,” Static said with a good humored wink.

Providence couldn’t help but smile at that. “Thank you. Um… in that case we should probably get to work. Could you help Pani and me solve the riddle of the Stone of Fates?”

“With pleasure.”

“What about me? Can’t I help?” Sonic asked.

“Actually, Semper wanted to see you. He’s outside with Raze.”

Sonic made a face. “Aw, come on! I just got in from that furnace!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll survive,” Static said as he led Providence towards the door. “I’ll see you later.”

“Whatever.”

Static shook his head and closed the door behind him.

---

Sonic stood just inside the door and looked outside into the desert. He could feel the air bleeding in from the outside. If it weren’t for the slow moving fans high above, he doubted he’d be able to tell the difference from where he stood and the heat from the outside. Sighing, he stepped through the swinging doors and outside.

The first thing he did was turn his head to the side at the thing in front of him. It looked like a ship. No, a boat. A small boat. He noticed two ponies talking to a camel and floated on over.

“Semper, sir,” Sonic muttered lazily. “Reporting for duty.”

“About time,” Raze said and looked at the stallion, her deep green eyes seemed to peer into his very soul. “We started without you.”

“As I was saying,” the camel said in heavily accented Equestrian, “this is a sand skimmer. Travelling in the deep desert is too dangerous by any other means, so you’ll be sailing these from here on out. Plus it will be easier to carry your supplies.”

“Sand skimmer?” Sonic asked and landed next to the boat. He looked at the device with renewed interest. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s it do?”

“Well, it lets you skim over the sand at fast speeds for extended periods of time. The deep interior of the desert is like an ocean, and what better way to cross an ocean than on a boat! So, that’s what I’m here to do. Teach you how to sail a skimmer.”

The skimmer was not too dissimilar to a tri-hull boat that Sonic had seen for recreational use back home on lakes and even along the coast. The main hull was where you’d sit, and it was long, with a lot of emphasis placed on the middle where the mast rose up quite considerably. Two sails, both of which were now folded, went from the top of the mast to the rear and bow of the boat.

“Two sails?” Sonic asked.

“Mainsail,” Semper said pointing to the one that lay across the front towards the back. He then pointed to the front sail, “jib.”

“Yeah, okay. How do you steer?”

“Here,” Raze said pointing to a lever raising out of the main middle hull about a quarter of the way from the rear. “This steers it. Unlike on a sailing ship, you don’t have a rudder to create friction. These control those skis, which angle themselves and pulls the skimmer in that direction.”

To illustrate that point, Raze pulled the lever to the left. Sonic noticed a rope that ran along the edge of the inside of the boat near the center of the hull towards the front then it went underneath a strategic cross beam that looked like it acted as a support. From there it reached the two long arms that connected the other two hulls to the middle one. When she pulled it, the ski tilted slightly inwards and turned. The more she pulled, the steeper the angle. As she let go, the ski withdrew a little becoming flatter as it did so.

“Looks tough,” Sonic said.

“Only because it’s not moving. It will be easy when we actually move,” Raze said.

“I see. How come we don’t take an airship instead?” Sonic asked.

“I’ve asked that very same question, actually,” Raze replied. “According to the camels, pointless. They’d be targets for the wyrms.”

“Worms? What?”

At that, Raze giggled. “Now I see why Static keeps hitting you. It is rather tempting.”

“Hey! I don’t see why worms would be a concern? How do those slimy, slithering things be of any danger to an airship.”

“Not those kind of worms, silly.” Raze tiled her head. “You don’t know much of what goes on outside of the Known Lands do you?”

“Should I?”

“As a Border Guard? Yes. I think you should,” the mare replied.

“But worms?”

“Think of a snake and a dumb dragon had a baby together. That’s a wyrm. They are huge slithering creatures that lives deep under the sands of the central desert areas,” Raze tilted her head to the side. “They even eat dragons that fly over the desert. Sometimes big ones too. They only attack things in the air, so if you get any bright ideas, fly boy, about gliding along in the sky… well, let’s just say that you won’t be going home in one piece.”

“What? How’s that even possible?”

“Wyrms lie with one eye looking up, so when we traverse the surface of the sand it will look like stones we would avoid. They won’t notice us unless we sail over one of them, and even then they might not notice us.” The camel patted the bow of the skimmer. “Stay low and move fast.”

“He’s right. We might have problems with smaller wyrms, but the skimmers are much faster then them. If you happen to accidentally go over the eyes of a smaller wyrm then just keep sailing. They don’t chase for very long. The camels use this mode of transport all the time. Although, there are other dangers out there in the deep desert hidden behind those dunes.”

“Oh? Like?”

“You name it,” Raze said. “Scorpions, snakes. Even out here you’ll find a few nomadic camel tribes that attack towns and villages along the desert’s edges.”

“Bandits? Really?” Sonic sighed. “And just who is nuts enough to live this far away from anything?”

“Didn’t I just tell you that?” Raze walked over and poked Sonic on his chest. “Nomadic. Camel. Tribes.”

“Okay, okay. So, I gotta learn how to sail one of these doohickeys, eh? Okay. It doesn’t look too hard. What do I do?”

“First, we learn one another’s names. You are Sonic. Hello Sonic. I am Samidra.” The camel walked to the rear of the skimmer. “Sit. We will start now.”

---

“These maps aren’t very accurate. It’ll be very difficult for us to pinpoint any place,” Static said as he looked up at Pani. “Don’t we have any other maps?”

“No.”

Static walked over to the window and stared outside it. He could see Sonic and the Elite known as Raze sitting in one of those strange sand boats they had planned to use to travel with. It looked easy enough, but they were not going anywhere until they found out where they had to go, and judging from his resources that was going to be a long time.

Static sighed and turned back to the table and sat down. It had been four days since their arrival, and all they’ve managed to do was isolate the area into a ten-mile square plot of land. They might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack. It was too far for Sonic to fly and scout, and even if he had suggested it, the others would have forbidden it. Apparently these wyrms were that dangerous. Static doubted that at his highest altitudes Sonic would be in any danger, but the camels were very insistent. Even at night they were quite sure it would be equivalent to suicide.

There was a commotion outside.

“What’s going on?” Pani asked as a Silver was running out the door.

“Airship.”

“What? Why of all foolish things!” Pani got up and he too made for the outside.

Static galloped afterwards followed by Providence who was hovering just off the ground. Once they were outside they all looked up and there was no mistaking it. It was an airship. It was very high up in the sky, far higher than a pegasus could fly. Only a balloon airship was capable of achieving those altitudes. What was it doing all the way up there? And why was it heading south? There was nothing out there except sand for thousands of miles.

“You’re going to see something amazing!” Samidra shouted. “Watch!”

They all did. All of them.

It was the wolves that reacted first. Their heightened hunting senses must have picked up something because they started whimpering and slowly skulking towards the entrance of the inn, but refusing to go in. Curiosity killed the wolf? Then Static felt it. It was subtle at first, but there was some sort of electrical energy in the air that progressively grew stronger and stronger. And it felt like it had absolutely no limit.

“Why is she doing?” Pani asked again to no one in particular. “That is suicide.”

Static shook his head. “She’s way too far for anything to happen to–”

Suddenly there was a tremendous roar as something exploded sending a pillar of sand straight into the air, like some sort of volcano. The ground over a mile away from where they all stood, or perhaps further rose out of the ground. It was hard to tell because of its sheer size. It shot straight up right towards the airship, and it didn’t stop. As it rose, the sand peeled off causing the sky to become blanketed with sand.

Then its upward moment ceased just as suddenly as it began. The creature, now visible, wavered in the air for a moment and looked like it was going to crash down. A creature that size smashing into the ground would have caused some substantial impact, but before it tipped too far it shot a long red object exploded its head that hit the airship. Like a chameleon catching its prey, the tongue hit the airship.

“They are firing,” Sonic said.

Sure enough, from where they stood they saw balls of fire and spoke explode in a furious cannonade as flashes could be seen pelting the creature. If any damage was had, it was impossible to see from where they were. Suddenly the wyrm let out a bellowing groan that sounded like a large steel door being shut slowly. It slumped over a little and collapsed down on itself, like a strange accordion. It got to a point where it could go no further down and swayed sideways before slamming into desert with a resounding crash kicking up another gigantic wall of dust seemed to create a tsunami.

Then two more pillars of sand exploded from the ground and reached towards the airship in unison. There was a futile attempt from the ship to fight them off, but in the end it was inevitable. There was nothing anyone could do but watch as the airship was dragged down towards the desert floor. As they brought it lower, smaller wyrms reached for it in an attempt to steal the prey.

Eventually the balloon itself must have exploded as it touched the ground, the area enveloping in blue smog as the magical gasses burned away from what must have been fire somewhere on the ship.

“What were those idiots thinking?” Samidra stated when the airship disappeared over the horizon, the blue smoke still billowing.

“That’s a good question. Why come all the way out here. I mean, they had to have known about the dangers. They were armed well enough for an attack of that caliber.” Static shrugged. He was about to return to the study when he stopped and spun around. “Wait a minute!”

“What?” Providence asked.

“Did you or anypony here talk about this mission?” Static asked.

Not a single one step forward.

“Come on, don’t be scared. I really need to know. It’s important!”

Still, nobody stepped forward.

But there was nopony there that would. In fact, as far as Static knew, most of these ponies had been here for the past month. At least, that was the impression he got from the way things panned out. So, by powers of deduction, that meant only one thing.

“Sonic!”

“What?”

“Who in Celestia’s mane did you talk to about this?”

“Nopony! I swear. Except me mother, but she wouldn’t… oh no.”

“’Oh no’ is right, but I think you just saved us,” Static muttered the last part to himself still glaring at the pegasus, who shrugged in return. “Don’t talk about our missions! You know this!”

“Yeah, but she was pestering me and I was angry. I forgot, okay? I just wanted her to stop nagging me!”

Raze giggled at that. “I always admire a stallion who isn’t afraid of speaking their mind, despite the fact that most of the times this would make things worse.”

At those words, Sonic could only growl.

“As punishment, you’re going to take a skimmer and find the wreckage. If there’s anything left, we might be able to find some clue as to why they were out here.” He turned to Pani. “Is there anything out there that we can use as a landmark to meet up?”

“Yes. There’s the Caldera. It’s not far, about a three day’s trip on the skimmers from here,” Pani said pointing across the dunes. “Four if you’re going to the wreckage. But it’s not safe to move for now. The dead wyrm will attract many undesirables from miles and miles around. Wyrms aren’t the only abominations living on the sands, or under it. They are just the most common.”

“Oh great!” Sonic muttered.

“That’s fine. I’ll need two teams to head towards the airship. The rest of you head to this Caldera. I’ll also need two ponies or camels who know what or where this caldera is to come with the airship team, in case something should happen to one of them.”

Raze stepped forward. “I’ll go. I know where this Caldera is, and it will be nice to see what you Guards can do.”

“Haven’t you already seen Semper?”

“He doesn’t count. He’s… different from us,” Raze said looking at Semper still staring at the wyrms in the distance with an unreadable expression. “He looks like us, talks like us, but I’m still not convinced he is one of us.”

Static smirked. “Oh? You mean like how you think he might’ve been carved out of stone by Her Highness herself?”

“I am more inclined to believe that then anything else, actually.”

“Save the idle chit-chat for later. We need to move. The longer we wait, the less likely that ship will still be in any use to us.”

“Why the hurry?” Pani asked. “Don’t worry about it, things will calm down and it will be safer for us to go after that.”

“You don’t understand,” the white unicorn answered. “Somepony knows what we’re here for. They knew about the wyrms, but probably not how many they were. They’ll learn and they’ll come back. Somepony wants to get to this… Rock of Destiny—”

“Stone of Fate,” Pani corrected.

“Whatever. Somepony knows and wants it for themselves. We have to go and we have to go now. We can puzzle things out on the way, but we need to start moving.”

“I’m sorry,” Sonic muttered.

“Don’t be. We weren’t getting anywhere with the information we had. Your mouth might have saved this mission, but nothing will happen if we don’t act.”

“What do you mean?” Providence asked.

“That airship was set on a course. They knew where to go, and were heading there. That was apparent. Therefore, they must have known something about the dangers since the ship was heavily armed enough to take out a wyrm. That means that something on that ship might help us along. They were heading south by southwest, that puts the Caldera in a relatively good position. What is it, by the way?”

“Well, it’s basically what we say it is. It’s an ancient volcano that has been extinct for a long, long time. It’s riddles with caves and is home to plenty of creatures, none of which are necessarily dangerous to us directly, but there are scorpions that live there that are as small as your hoof, but have enough venom to knock you flat on your flank.” Pani drew a circle around in the dirt. “Nocamel has ever been over the ridge because the cliffs are too steep to climb. An airship would be ideal to get over it, but you know how tricky that is.”

“So, nopony knows what’s on the other side?” Static asked.

“No.”

Sonic laughed and slapped his forehead. “Well, would you look at that, guess we don’t need to go to that airship after all. Isn’t it painfully obvious it’s inside whatever that Caldera is? We go there, use myself and the other pegasi Elites to fly up the sides, and boom! Mission done.”

The camel smirked. “Very good! Only, there’s just one more thing.”

“What?”

“Oh, just that it also happens to be a wyrm breeding ground. And the little ones litter the base of the Caldera. Since they’re not as big as their parents, they won’t jump as high, but they will jump high enough to get anything they see trying to scale the side of the cliffs.”

“Oh. So… no flying?”

“I’m not saying ‘no’, just letting you understand the danger.” Pani laughed lightly. “Well, worry not, I’m sure that whatever we’re looking for is outside said Caldera.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I somehow doubt anycamel would be able to put something inside there,” Pani said. “Although, if I were wanting to hide something, that’s the perfect place for it.”

Static nodded. “Sonic might be onto something. Just in case, we’ll proceed with the current plan. Two teams are to come with me. That’s six ponies. The rest will head directly to the Caldera. My team will leave now; the others will leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I’d rather risk being sure than sending everypony to this Caldera for no reason.”

“… and who died and made you in charge?” Asked another Elite. His dark eyes focusing on the unicorn with pure malice, or it seemed like he was. It was hard to tell. “Last I checked we were following The Guard’s orders.”

At that, Static’s eyes floated over to the pony in question. ‘The Guard’. Indeed. As if he were the only one there. And yet, Static could not imagine a more descriptive moniker for him. Semper stood where he had remained still looking at the wyrms dancing in the distance. They swayed angrily, a few plunging downwards and raising themselves up again with their mouths clamped tightly around something. They were feasting on the freshly dead one.

“The plan is sound. Do it.”

At once every Elite saluted in a poor imitation of the Guard salute, and immediately set about different tasks. As they went about their work, Static wondered what Semper had done to achieve such blind loyalty from these killers. What had they gone through together? Some part of him strangely felt jealous, that these barbaric warriors had the pleasure of serving for so long under this stallion. There was something about him that drew Static.

Comments

[lunarstallion]

Damn, sand wyrms are a bitch to deal with, apparently.

[caloricmango]

7354882 I forgot the comment I posted even existed it's been that long also I forgot all the context here so I'm going to nod and say yes....yes

[deathtap]

7355157 Technically, she wasn't sold. She was coerced into it due to happenstance. But yeah, I was trying to imply that Griffin pride is a fickle and silly thing.

[tobbydark]

Um... not sure if I'm missing the point of the chapter title in relation to the previous chapter titles. I assume the is a reason for the mission and part being so vastly different from the previous? If so, sorry for the waste of time

[PaxMano33]

7358607 then why wasnt it indicated? its chunky character development at the wrong time if you ask me. we should see his character. not read about it.

[TheDerpySoupCan]

I. NEED. MORE!!!!!!! UPDATE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! Plz?

[CommanderBigMac]

Damnit. Im up to date on this wonderful text. Moar please

[deathtap]

7365346 Yes, there are a few Dune references.

[EvilEnchantress]

Now to impatiently wait for more updates.

[Emperor]

Damn, those sand wyrms are impressive, though the airship managed to take out one. I bet Semper will take out an even dozen before the mission is over

Of course Sonic Boom would continue to be an idiot and inadvertently leak out details. Hopefully he sharpens up within the next story arc. I assume that it'll have been the bad-guy Elites who sent the airship. On the other hand hoof, I suppose there could be some other force at play. Given what Star Swirl's spell did, there's probably a pony of ill-repute or two who would manipulate his or her own Cutie Mark for a 'better' special talent.