A blind man, A pirate, A psychopath, An Alicorn, A kaiju and The possible daughter of Luke Skywalker wash up on an island. An adventure ensues.
After an odd phenomenon, six completely different beings haul themselves onto a small island nearby. They've barely begun to get to know each other before they discover that they've been chosen to "clean up" a tangled multiverse that jeopardizes each of their worlds...that is to say, guide certain inhabitants back to their respective universes and stop the bad guys. But can this random team, under the guidance of an Twilight Sparkle, stay together long enough to do this?
It stung her eyes when she opened them, but the shock of everything didn't help her close them whatsoever. Twilight spastically shoved her legs downwards and up in a paddling circle, but the random current quickly propelled her face first into the seafloor. Now she was inhaling both water and dirt; a bad mix that didn't suit somepony like her. Her purple wings surged through the water with enough strength to pull her muscle fibers too much, yet it helped to get her upright in the water again. One more giant kick of her hind legs and she found her head bursting through the surface of the ocean, already inhaling a raspy breath of oxygen. A magic aura swiftly wiped the hair strands from her eyes as she sputtered, allowing her to prepare herself for another wave crashing down on her head. She looked around frantically after that, for something she could haul herself onto to get her wings out of the water. Twilight searched all around her and immediately saw the familiar outline of a beach in the distance, crowned with a green point and otherwise colored a dull yellow. Before she could even begin to think of moving in that direction, flailing legs caught her attention from the corner of her left eye before disappearing under the surface.
Stifling a groan at her one-sided choice, The alicorn princess sucked in a mouthful of air and shot under towards the sinking body. Under normal circumstances, she might've gasped at seeing that she was untangling rope from a human's neck or the fact that this human was...dressed weirdly. Her teeth unraveled the rope in seconds and the humans costumed arms began to mimic her own in a struggle to get back to the surface. They both created a duet of deep inhaling when the emerged, but the pony was the first to break rhythm. "Over there! There's land over there!"
"I--What?! I can't s--" He trailed off when a wave slammed into the back of his head, but continued right after. She was almost distracted by the weird helmet/mask he had on,; with it's dark red color scheme and glinting eyes. "Just...Just swim toward it and splash a lot! I'll follow the sounds!"
Twilight made a sound of frustrated confusion at his odd request, but didn't need to be told twice concerning swimming toward land. The task took all of twenty minutes to complete and pretty much tired her out by the time she reached shore. The sounds of gasping, water surging and occasional grunts all mixed in as one loud noise that didn't allow any thought other than surviving to arise. A pang of relief hit her heart when her hooves finally scraped to a halt on a sandy floor, and soon she was able to get herself completely out of the water. Even when coughing on inhaled seawater, she could still hear the human crawling onto the beach to retch H20 himself. The two of them didn't want to say anything at first, since they were simply too busy trying to get their breathing back to normal, but eventually her thoughts did return to her swimming partner. How did they end up in an ocean? Why was he wearing that weird suit?
She couldn't begin to try forming a sentence, so he beat her to it. "Are...Are you actually...?"
"Yes, I'm actually a pony..." Twilight would've added that she was an Alicorn to be specific, but she doubted that he would know a thing about Alicorns. "I swear I am."
He got to his boot-covered feet, but his movements were so uncertain that she almost felt insulted. She was harmless, so long as you didn't prank her with a quesadilla. "...I was actually going to ask if you were actually talking. I can believe a horse saving me from drowning." He paused, his head shifting in a way that didn't actually face her. "Wait...no, I don't."
"Well, I don't believe saving a human in a...hairless red monkey suit...?" The mare offered in confusion once she'd fully gotten to her own hooves. "I'm sorry, I just...What is that?"
He made a sound between a sigh and an irritated laugh. "My work clothes."
Twilight grimaced with the amount of confusion that was flowing through her; looking around their surroundings didn't help much either. Nothing but acres of water in one direction, upward curving green in another and half of each in yet another. This was a pretty big place to be randomly thrown into, not to mention a basic place. "Um...I'm Twilight Sparkle, by the way. What's your name?"
The man hesitated to answer that question. "...Daredevil."
"What?"
"Daredevil."
"That's not a real name!"
"Neither is Twilight Sparkle."
"Yes it is! Daredevil is a term that describes someone! Twilight Sparkle is a name."
"Like Ajax is a name?"
"Whatever. So you're Daredevil. And you look like a pepper with horns. Anything else weird about you that I should know?"
"Nothing that concerns--..."
"...Uh, you didn't finish your--"
"Shh."
The hiss went sharply between his teeth, and forced her into the most reluctant silence ever for all of seven seconds. Daredevil's head snapped in a certain direction for only a few centimeters before jerking into a different position, as if listening in on something. Before she could even inhale to speak, the heavily suited human began to briskly walk down the beach. After contemplating if she had a choice in staying there or following him, Twilight trotted up to his side in frustration. "Okay, maybe you don't know how to show ponies or people respect, but interrupting somepony and just walking off isn't ni--"
"Someone just washed up on the beach." He declared lowly, so low that she almost missed it thanks to the sloshing waves. "Female. Young--early twenties. Still breathing...Unconscious."
Twilight found herself torn between looking as far down the beach as possible, and just staring at the half covered face of her acquaintence. "How...How do you know that?" She asked, half skeptical and half amazed.
"I can hear her heartbeat behind those bolders. It's faint, but it's there." He gestured to a set of large rocks set on the corner of the beach, somehow conveniently there before he described their position. His answer only sparked a more urgent questions but he seemed to know this ahead of time as well. "Don't ask how. C'mon."
Once they rounded the circular edge of the boulder, they discovered her lying face up in a shallow pool of water and definitely unconscious as the vigilante predicted. She was definitely young enough to be called 20; as well as a brunette with her dark brown hair in three small buns. Her lanky body was tightly hugged by some kind of makeshift, sleeveless vest and complimented with a makeshift utility belt of some kind. For some reason these, along with the pants and boots, all seemed to be a sandy tan color with bits of actual sand dusting it.
Daredevil cocked his head to face the area of her leg below the knee."Her shin bone is broken. She'll be feeling it when she wakes up."
With a frown at his words, Twilight tentatively reached towards the woman's bare shoulder with a hoof, intending to prod her skin for a reaction. The Alicorn thought she saw the slightest flicker of movement from her closed eyelids, but she was already poking by that point. "Er, miss? Can you hear me? M--"
Waves of invisible energy blasted Daredevil backwards through the air when the woman's hand shot up towards his chest, her eyes wide and full of defensive fear. Her other hand retrieved a cylindrical device from her hips, one that sparkled and produced a great beam of sizzling blue. The intense heat and energy of the beam crackled like fire and electricity combined before Twilight's snout, causing the mare to form a comical bug-eyed stare just to see the weapon she was threatened with. "Iiiiiiss...?"
The woman got into a defensive kneeling position almost immediately, still holding the weapon at a dangerous angle near Twilight's head. She definitely felt the shin bone fracture, as evidenced by her features being twisted by pain. "...W-Whats going on here?! Who are you?! What have you--"
"Is this solar energy?" Twilight all but breathed in a whisper, her eyes going as wide as the sun itself.
"What?" The woman's intimidating scowl fell into a befuddled frown; then it rose into a scowl again. "Yes it is! And it'll be cutting right through you if--"
"That's unbelievable! How does it stay in one general position like that?!" The Alicorn giggled childishly and held up a hoof dangerously close to the solar beam. "Shouldn't it be endlessly shooting out like a ray gun?! Does it put off cancerous ultraviolet or gamma radiation? Shouldn't we all be blind right now?! That metal handle should be completely melted!"
"Silence!" Was the frusturated response. "I'm trying to threaten you! Now tell me where I am!"
A blur of a stick whizzed by Twilight's head and smashed into the handle of the impossible weapon, causing it to fly from the woman's hand and into the sand a distance away. The woman attempted to turn towards the weapon but her injured leg caused her to crumple in the process of reaching for, and a soaking wet Daredevil swept in to pin her to the ground via a knee to her back. She seemed to instinctively struggle against him, but he'd already leaned most of his weight onto her to make sure she stayed there. "Stay down, Kid!" He barked firmly, yet not angrily despite his wet appearance.
"She doesn't seem that far off from your age." Twilight pointed out, although she knew it was hard to tell with his mask on. "And I'm pretty sure if we just talked--"
"HALP! "
All three flinched when a burst of running legs and a high pitched voice appeared from the edge of the boulder opposite to them. A man in clothing that seemed to be ripped right out of 1730 galloped towards the trio with flailing arms and a nasty looking hyena snapping at his heels. The sudden volume of his screams at close range startled everyone, but Daredevil was startled enough to reel back and give the woman the room needed to buck him off. By the time the horned man got to his feet, the mysterious woman threw a coordinated punch at him; one that was just barely blocked. He returned with a few strikes of his own, each one blocked or redirected by her sleeved arms. Twilight made a sound of confusion and shock as the hand-to-hand fight, the hyena chase and the overall noise of the beach grew to defeaning levels.
As frustration with the clamor grew, a mildly annoyed frown settled on the mare's face as her horn sparkled with purple energy. In seconds a holographic explosion burst from the tip of her horn and blasted out in the direction of all of the chaos, freezing everyone in place and surrounding their bodies in a film of purple light. Daredevil was in mid punch with The woman, while she was stuck in the process of kicking him in the ribs and the oddly dressed fellow was about four inches away from getting a brand new bite mark. To Twilight, she'd stopped everyone just in time.
"Okay. Good....That should give everypo...everyone time to calm down a bit."
"Calm down?! Do you know who I am?!" The woman was obviously struggling to move, let alone comprehend that she couldn't move. "I am the possible daughter of Luke Skywalker, creature! I've trained with him for months now! You won't capture me so easily!"
"We weren't trying to capture you." Daredevil deadpanned, and rolled his eyes...not that anyone could tell past those red lenses. "We were just trying to see if you were still alive...why am I frozen, again?"
"You did try to punch her. And punching girls is wrong, you know."
"What? She was this close to chopping your head and mine off with whatever that thing was! I was only going to knock her out as painlessly as possible."
"Ahem." They all shifted their gaze to the man in the more historic garb, who gave them a sarcastic grin full of barely brushed teeth. Thanks to him being completely still now, they could see a light beard and equally light dreads placed on his head. "Yes, hello! Excuse me for interrupting, but I can't help but point out that horses aren't supposed to talk or...do this strange magic business you're doing right now."
The woman raised an eyebrow despite still looking angry. "Horse?"
Twilight fought the urge to rub the bridge of her snout, and instead addressed them all with a clearer voice. "Look, I'm going to let down this freezing spell in five seconds. After that, we'll introduce each other and decide whether or not we want to continue fighting after that...or I could just keep you all in those uncomfortable positions for the rest of the day. Choose wisely."
The Alicorn ceased her hold of the freezing spell, and everyone stumbled into balance again(after Twilight teleported the hyena away). Daredevil exchanged wary stances with the odd woman, but to Twilight's relief, they didn't go back to their fist fight again. With a pleased grin, the mare cleared her throat to begin speaking to the two new acquaintances. "Okay! Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle: The Princess of Friendship! What's your--"
"Snrkt."
Twilight turned to the man with thin dreads."...Is something funny, Mr...?"
"Ah! Sparrow! Captain Jack Sparrow to be precise!" He practically skipped over to the pony, his arms held at odd angles as he did so. "Forgive my ...*ahem*--sneeze, but did you really say that you're a Princess of Friendship?" He snickered again, glancing over at the other two humans to see if they were laughing too. "That's a strange type of...imaginative monarchy you have there. "
"Imaginative mon--...! Whatever." Twilight ignored him in favor of the woman. "And you are?"
"...I am Rey. Member of the Resistance against the First Order and currently a Jedi in training." She reluctantly revealed, crossing her arms and skeptically staring at each of their faces. "Also, as I mentioned earlier, the possible daughter of Luke Skywalker."
"Possible?"
"Its...I-Its complicated. The point is that it's possible." Rey responded curtly. "And who are you? Why are you wearing that outdated stormtrooper outfit?"
"Its not....whatever you just said. I'm Daredevil. " The masked man pocketed his weapons and crossed his arms. "That's all you need to know."
"Daredevil? That's not even--ah!"
Rey began to walk over to her own fallen weapon, but the pain in her leg came back the moment she put the slightest bit of weight to it and caused her to limp. Twilight sighed at her persistance in getting the weapon and used her levitation magic to carry it into the human's hands. "You know, you really shouldn't be standing right now. Daredevil, could you please help her sit down? I can make a split for her leg until the bone heals."
"Uh--no." She hopped backwards when Daredevil turned in her direction, hands raised halfway. "I don't need your help."
Sparrow sighed, though mostly to himself. "Oh great. She's one of those types."
"You kinda do. It's only gonna take a few seconds to make it." Twilight pointed out, interrupting the start for a potential fight. She managed to lift up two fairly large pieces of wood from a dead tree and bring it over to Rey. "Um...Okay....Does anyone have a long piece of cloth or something I can tie this up with?"
Daredevil snatched another of his holstered weapons, revealing that it was connected by a wire that could extend. When he held it out to Twilight, she shook her head. "No. We need something that we can control the length of so that we don't have an slack that would make the wood loose."
Rey perked up at this. "Well, if no one has any rope then I guess we'll just have to forget about--"
"There's vines hanging from the trees inward towards the island. Not too far of a walk...wait." The masked man angled his head again, while Twilight eagerly and quietly studied him as if expecting to learn how he could sense such things from afar. "There's another woman. She's trapped in the vines. Blonde. Late twenties...also unconscious."
"Mate...you have serious issues." Sparrow made a face at him and gestured with his fingers.
Daredevil shrugged. "You have no idea." He faced Twilight. "You coming with?"
"...er, who? Me? Sure, I guess." Twilight responded, a bit surprised that he asked her to come along with him. Perhaps he trusted her more than the others by a tiny percent? "Uh...Jack Sparrow--"
"Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Whatever. Keep an eye on Rey, and tend to her needs." Twilight turned to the woman, who wore a look of distrust and tenseness. "I know we just met and all...but please try not to move so much. Trust me, it'll slow you down a lot more in the future than now. I'll... I'll bring you back something. Some food, maybe?"
Rey rolled her eyes at Twilight's attempt at starting a friendship; it really wasn't her fault for trying. The woman eventually gave way under the Alicorn's stubborn stare and shrugged. "...I don't know... Sure."
"Great! We'll be right back then!"
"Uh...I see you picked me to go with you over everypony else super fast."
"I've known you longer than the rest of them, as you can clearly see." Daredevil hopped over a log with relative ease despite it's height. "And you're the least dangerous. The others both had weapons on them."
Twilight wanted to tell him that she was actually pretty dangerous, but she reminded herself that she was also harmless. The Alicorn nodded. "Well, okay. But you aren't exactly safe yourself. You're skilled in some kind of martial art."
"Multiple. Turn left." The man made sharp turn and his legs nearly collided with her face due to the randomness of the turn. "They have martial arts where you come from?"
"Not exactly. I just traveled to the human world once and learned a few things. Never heard of you, though."
"Eh. I'm not that well known anyways. More of an urban legend."
Twilight mulled over his words, and then recalled the two others she'd met on this island. One had a pirate look to him and the other...was odd. "...so what do you think an urban legend is doing on an island ? Aside from everyone else?"
"...I know one thing."
"What's that?"
"I'm gonna find out. Behind these ferns." Daredevil swatted large leaves out of the way, parting them for himself to step through before the mare followed curiously.
It was a small clearing with one large tree occupying the majority of it, several vines hanging from the shrouded branches like huge noodles. Tangled by the leg and grunting furiously, a woman hung upside down while trying to free herself with no rewards. Her clothing color scheme consisted of two colors; her tight shorts were half red/blue, her long sleeved shirt had a red/blue stripe pattern on the biceps and her stylish boots had the same color. Her own platinum blonde pigtails seemed to be dipped in red and blue dye, and the corners of her eyes seemed smeared with the same colors. Aside from that, the only distinguishing features about her were her abnormally pasty skin and a black heart tattoo on her cheek.
All three noticed each other immediately, and the woman seemed the most confused. Her upside down head tilted to the side like a puppy and her crystal blue eyes bored into them oddly. After a long time of staring at the man and the pony, she sighed in relief and a huge grin molded her red lips. "Phew! So I really was dreamin'! What a relief!"
Twilight glanced at Daredevil and, after remembering that he couldn't glance back at her, she looked back to the odd woman. "Um, I'm afraid this isn't a dream. Though I do wish it was....Do you need any help getting down from there?"
"Who, me? Puh-leeze, figment of my imagination! I got this! It only...needs...a little more..." The woman raised her arms up to her ankles to retry the untangling process, only to give up within 30 seconds. "Okay. You can help."
Twilight effortlessly used an untying spell to free her ankle, and also used her magic to ensure that the woman didn't fall uncomfortably to the ground. From the corner of her vision, she could see Daredevil tensing up slightly. He seriously needed to act better around people. "...Are you okay? Do you remember how you got here?"
The woman leaped to her feet abruptly, dusting herself free of leaves and the like. "Sure, I do, darlin'! My motha conceived me and here I am!" The bright grin dissipated slowly. "Oh, you mean how I got to this jungle area! Not a clue. Maybe that's just my Hangover or somethin'...hmm..." She suddenly thrusted a hand out towards Twilight, who flinched back from the movement. "Hahlee Quinn, pleased ta meecha!
The Alicorn gladly shook her hand as best as she could, but still grimaced. "I'm sorry...Holly Quinn?"
"No, Hahlee Quinn. It's the accent, I know."
"Well...Harley? I'm Twilight Sparkle! The Princess of Friendship back where I'm from." Her horn gestured to the urban legend beside her. "This is Daredevil...I know, he won't reveal his real name."
Harley smirked softly as she looked him over...possibly a little too much. "Tall, dark and Handsome chin? Must be a discount Batman."
Daredevil just glowered for several long seconds, the exact opposite of Harley's wide grin. Twilight stared between them nervously for some time, until her glaring acquaintence spoke. "Let's get back to the beach."
"Oooh! What's on the beach? Coconut drinks? Blackened Tilapia? Man-eating sharks?"
Blinking at the list, Twilight slowly shook her head. "Er, no. There's just...two other people that we happened to find out here too. They're in the same problem as we are."
"You dropped something."
Harley's pigtails swayed randomnly as she heard Daredevil sharply speak to her, and then look down to where he gestured. "...that's not mine."
Twilight looked down out of curiosity and beheld what looked like a medallion of some kind, with an entirely grey color scheme to it's marble surface. It was engraved with a symbol from some unrecognizable language, emboldened by a square and sitting promptly on the front. With her magic, the Alicorn levitated the medallion closer to her face for her to inspect. "It's certainly odd for something like this to show up out of nowhere. I'll keep it for observation back at...camp, I guess. I know a translation spell that should have this weird symbol decoded soon."
"Translation spell?" Harley repeated quizzically.
"You're better off not asking." Daredevil advised briskly and began in the direction he came from just minutes ago. "Let's get back to the beach. It's time we get some answers."
"So there I was, mate : just me, my rum, that accursed gun, the clothes on my back and an island devoid of any animals!" Jack continued, his hands and arms moving way too enthusiastically as he told the story. Though, for someone as childlike as Harley, it wasn't really a far stretch. "At first, I'll admit I thought was doomed! Doomed to restlessly wander alone on the island, with no one to fancy for miles and miles around! The gun was my only companion for weeks...er, months!"
"Ooh!" The relatively strange woman gushed and leaned forward from her crossed legged position with an eager grin, her chin in her palm. "So how'd you get off?"
"What?"
"The island. How'd you get off?"
"Oh, right..." He coughed just slight, arms still held out in awkward positions as he revealed the answer. "Well, it wasn't that difficult, mate. I rode a pair of sea turtles and escaped to a nearby ship dock."
Before Harley could even think about clapping to such a truly thrilling and amazing true story, Twilight looked up from her medallion studying to grimace at the Pirate. "Um, that's impossible."
Jack nodded in response, crossing his arms proudly. "Yes, that's true. I did the impossible."
"Ugh, no. I mean, that's impossible for you to do. No one can just ride two sea turtles for that many miles. Let alone find two sea turtles in the same place. Let alone find sea turtles of a proper size for you."
"I was lucky that day."
"...Alright then, lucky guy, you couldn't have held onto their shells very easily. And there's no way you sat on them." The Alicorn's eyes narrowed skeptically. "So how'd you ride them?
Sparrow scoffed and jabbed a thumb behind himself. "Pfft. I used all the hair on my back as a rope to let them pull me."
"Ugh, you're disgusting!" Harley made a gagging face at first, but a crazed grin followed soon after. "Tell me more!"
Footsteps on sand intruded on the conversation, and the three turned to see Daredevil and Rey returning with large armloads of wood and dry grass. They didn't look like the best of friends doing it, but at least they weren't at each other's throats again. Rey let the wood drop from her arms limply into the huge space between Twilight and the humans. "There. We have our firewood. And the sun's getting real low. Since we did all the work in gathering this, one of you can get to work on starting the fire."
"Mmm, not too good at starting a fire, mate. I can, however, arrange your most gracious work in a proper way." Jack gave an insulting curtsy to Rey and daintily picked at the sticks to arrange them in sort of a pyramid. "This one there, that one there..."
"Eh, I've been away from Junior Girl Scouts too long to remember proper fire techniques, Dahlin!" Harley shrugged and flopped backwards into the sand to make a...Sandangel. " But I can make a mean Wilhelm Knot if you gimme some rope. "
Rey rolled her eyes and sat down in a cross-legged fashion, although she winced from the pain in her shin. After grasping two sticks in each hand, the young woman began feverishly rubbing them together. "You're both useless. Entirely useless."
"Easy." Daredevil said softly, walking around to the opposite side of the wood pile to sit as well. "Those sticks are gonna break if you keep rubbing them together like that. Just...use your lightsaber."
"That is not how a lightsaber is used. A lightsaber is a weapon, used to defend yourself and others against dark forces with dark intent." Rey said without hesitation. "It is not to be used like a lighter."
"Well, either way, it won't be necessary. Allow me to start the fire." Twilight gestured to herself with a hoof, her horn's tip turned a bright red. After a few seconds of concentration, the base of the wood pyramid burst into flames and soon consumed the rest of the pyramid. Jack visibly jolted backwards as his fingers nearly caught fire; Twilight smiled sheepishly under his glare. "Oh! Um, sorry!"
Daredevil, seeming to sense her embarrassment, turned his head in her direction. "Did you crack the code on that Medallion?"
The Alicorn shook her head and levitated the object in question. "No...I've been trying the decoding spell for the last hour, but it's only been half translated so far. I guess I'll have to keep working on it for another hour...At least we have a fire."
"The fire is the only thing pleasant that's happened to us." Rey sighed, gazing deep into the rising flames as the others silently agreed. "We have no way off this island other than swimming, we don't know where we are and we don't know how we got here. "
"Aye." Jack offered.
"And I'm hungry." Harley whimpered aloud with pouting lips.
"Well...I'm not so good at detecting things in large bodies of water..." Daredevil angled his head as if he was seeing something no one else could. In a strange way, he was doing just that. "But it looks like there's fish in the ocean. Maybe if we can build some kind of lure and use a fraction of the vine as our fishing line, we could have something to live off of until we know what to do next."
Harley grimaced at his suggestion. "I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat stinky, disgusting fish, thank you."
The man scoffed slightly. "If you wanna starve or go back into the jungle to get fruit, be my guest."
"What's fishing?" Rey asked after a moment of silence. "And for that matter, what are fish?"
"You don't know what fish are?"
"I grew up on a desert. I basically just learned what an ocean is today."
"Well, its food for you four, but not food for me." Twilight explained and stood to her hooves. "Come on. While this thing finishes deciphering, I'll teach you how to make a fishing pole from what I've read in the past. Then I'll find a lure. There has to be some bugs in this jungle, if there's a hyena."
"Wait, if you guys don't eat fish..." Harley asked. "Why do you even have books on fishing?"
Twilight thought over the question and finally came up with an answer in the form of a shrug. "I dunno. For sport, I guess."
The aura of purple magic eagerly tied a good knot around the end of the strong stick, leaving the thin length of the vine to trail along the sand. Rey held the stick carefully with her hands as Twilight worked to apply the crude form of a hook,a piece of rock that had been weathered in a curve and the worm they had discovered in the dirt. "But they don't call themselves...Queens or anything?"
"Nope. " Twilight responded briefly.
"Well, that's a bit odd. There used to be royalty back in the galaxy I came from...not entirely sure what happened to them. I have a few good ideas..." The woman noticed that the hook and lure had been finished, but now a flat piece of bark was tied to the middle. "What's that for?"
"That's the sinker. It'll tell us when the fish are biting by disappearing underwater. Come on, we're ready now."
Uncertain of this, she followed the pony down one small length of the beach from camp and came to a part of the beach that was covered by a shallow part of the sea. The Alicorn waded in enough for the surprisingly warm water to be a few inches below her belly, and looked back at her acquaintance. "Well? The water's not gonna bite."
"Ah, but the sharks will!" Harley called suddenly from the fire, her grin reeking of mischief "If the water doesn't sweep you up first!"
"Shut up." Daredevil deadpanned to the jester, and said jester muttered something rude under her breath.
Twilight stopped glaring daggers at Harley to conjure up a comforting smile for the human standing closer to her. "Don't listen to her. Theres no sharks in here...you don't want to know what that is...and the water won't do a thing to you."
Rey stared at the water as if she thought the opposite, holding the fishing rod in her hands. After a while she set the fishing rod down, removed her odd shoes and waded in with the rod after rolling up her pant legs a bit. Her splint seemed to remain where it was despite the water sloshing at it repeatedly. "I'm not gonna drown going this deep, right?"
"No, of course not...Now, first you need to cast your line' " Twilight pointed her horn out across the open water. "Just use the stick like a whip to toss the end waaay out there."
The human's arm reared back behind her and literarily whipped forward at the horizon; the hook at the end zipped through the air like a flying bird and traveled the twenty five feet of the vine perfectly. Once the limit was reached, the line abruptly jolted and the hook fell into the water, while the bark tied to the vine kept it from sinking too far down. It bobbed on the surface of the water, for the moment undisturbed.
"Huh. Nice arm."
"Jedi training. " Rey stated with a bragging smirk.
"Now comes the most difficult part of fishing," Twilight settled down on her haunches and absentmindedly churned some of the water. "Waiting for the fish to actually--"
"The sinker went underwater!"
"What?!" Twilight's eyes bulged comically when she saw no sign of the bark floating above the surface, but instead a constant ripple that meant something was tugging underneath. Given how much strength Rey had to use to keep the rod from moving out of her hands, it was a big fish. "Geez, that was fast!"
"What do I do now?" Rey asked frantically and worriedly.
Jack gave an exasperated growl and pointed a hand at her fishing rod. "What do you think?! Start reeling it in! Pull! Pull!"
Rey did just that, or she did as best as she could by tugging on the vine itself, while trying not to snap it from her end by accident. She grimaced at the strength of the fish pulling on the other end, and in turn tried pulling back with a greater strength. Even Twilight pitched in with her magical aura , pulling back as hard as they dared for the sake of the vine. The Jedi in training grit her teeth slightly. "Do you think we're actually pulling it in?"
"I'm not sure! " Twilight responded, up to her ribs in water thanks to her wading in to get a proper look at this strong fish. "I don't even see it, its so far d--woah!"
The line suddenly snapped a few inches above Rey's hands and she fell back on her rump into the water with a gasp of shock. The one chance of food for the humans disappeared underneath the surface, leaving only a sparse group of bubbles in the wake of the unseen fish. From the beach, a certain captain nonchalantly clapped for their efforts while his face showed anything but pleasure about it. "Ah, magnificent! Bravo, you two! Costing us our food in style! Very effective! Let's hope you don't touch our water supply."
"Oh, shut up!" Twilight snapped at him, somewhat surprising herself given that she didn't usually shush anyone in that manner.
"You haven't done anything to help, so don't blame everything on them." Daredevil snorted at Jack, who seemed to narrow his eyes right back at him. "What? You want to say something?"
Sparrow glanced down at the sword at his hip and then up at Daredevil again. "Just that, while I may be a tad lazy, I'm not.--per se-- a hypocrite, mate! You act like you've done some work around here too--like you're so high above me! You're sitting here just like me! You haven't done a single thing! So you collected a few twigs! So what? Any fool can carry a few sticks and what not! You're living proof of that!"
"So I guess that does make you lower than me." Daredevil retorted with a wry grin wiping Jack's expression clean off his face and placing it on Harley's face.
"Wow. Devil's got you there, hon!" She giggled into her palm somewhat cruelly, her other hand pointing a finger at the blind man. "Too bad you can't ya can't see the look on his face, Batsy 2.0!"
The man in red didn't seem very phased by her second statement, and scoffed as if it were a minor annoyance to him. "You know, for a clown...you should work more on being funny."
Her smile dropped almost instantly, as if what he said triggered a distant memory deep within her mind. Her eyes narrowed viciously at the vigilante, dropping with malice despite how mirthful they seemed just a few seconds prior to now. "I'm funnier when I'm bashin' skulls, hon. Wanna see that up close?"
Daredevil grinned again. "Try me."
Twilight growled aloud and her horn glowed at the same intensity as the campfire did, causing the humans around said campfire to flinch from the sudden show of power. "I will freeze you all if you don't CALM DOWN. Geez! We'll find another way to get some food, but for now, no one is attacking anyone else! Got it?!"
"Uh, Twilight?"Before anyone could even say anything to that, Rey spoke up from behind her." What's that?" The Alicorn looked out across the surface of the water and spotted a sharp jagged dorsal fin slicing through the water as it neared them. Despite the rocky texture to the fin, her eyes immediately perceived the object as one thing only. "Uh, you can tell me anytime now?"
"S-Shark! Get back to the beach!" Twilight urgently shouted, backpedaling as fast as she could through the deep water. Rey seemed to be having trouble moving fast due to her shin, but Daredevil had somehow zipped over to them fast enough to help her out and Harley was soon yanking Twilight out by her wings. Needless to says she protested against it." HEY! My wings are super sensitive! Don't pull on them like that!"
"Well, we don't want that shark pulling on 'em, do we?" Harley let her go when she felt the horse could move well enough, directing her attention to her wet shorts. "Well shoot! Now they're gonna ride up my backside even more now!"
Jack Sparrow placed his hand above his eyebrows while squinting, even though the sun wasn't out. "I don't mean to alarm any of you, but I don't think sharks have multiple fins on their back. Not unless that shark had a bad bath experience."
Whatever animal it was, showed no signs of stopping or any fear of the bodies standing in a group on the beach. The five beings defensively prepared themselves for a possibility of attack from this creature; Twilight's horn nervously flared, Rey activated her lightsaber, Daredevil flicked his billy clubs into place in his hands, Harley held her bat into a perfect swinging position and Jack hid himself behind everyone. Most of them watched as the animal swam into the shallowest areas of the shore, before it reared up to a height of 3 feet tall.
"What...is that?" Rey scrunched her nose softly.
The beast could be described as a sort of a cross between a grizzly bear and an alligator. Its build seemed to lean towards the stomach and legs being overly muscular while its arms were slightly shorter than a bear's would be. Its powerful, gilled neck held up an elegant head with small but powerful looking jaws. With it's excessively long tail disappearing into the water, the view of all those triangular spikes was somewhat obscured from view, but that was made up for in armoured scales padding the majority of its body. Overall, this dinosaurian bear thing was intimidating to look at even with its size being a foot smaller than Twilight.
The thing flared its nostrils in a huff of breath, which was abnormally loud for something of its size. Its jaws held a single fish that was struggling, gasping for water weakly. Harley blinked rapidly after some time and let her bat drop after some time.
It was unbelievable that Harley recognized a creature that didn't really exist in her world.
She called it Godzilla, a fictional character from movies in her world, but the real thing was in their midst--very shrunken from her description. Despite the aggressive standoff that occurred on the beach, things had thankfully deescalated into confused stares between all. Godzilla snorted out through is nostrils in wary interest of the things towering over him, beady eyes shining orange in the darkening light. It never moved from its spot in the water excluding the occasional swish of its tail and the flex of its fingers, as if daring one of them to attack. Jack sneered at the creature from over Daredevil's shoulder. "That is definitely the oddest sea serpent I've ever seen."
"A serpent would have no arms. Although, they might have distant relations or...never mind." Twilight didn't take her eyes off of Godzilla, but she directed her attention to Harley. "So...this Godzilla creature...Could he understand us? Speak?"
Godzilla's head flinched upward to give the fish a bite, similar to the jaw movements of an alligator. Everyone inched at the audible noise of a spine cracking beyond repair. The fish went limp in its jaws.
"I don't think so. " Harley whispered back. "All I know is that he's usually biggah and he fights the bad monstahs. I nevah really paid attention to the movies when I watched them. Mistah J, now he would know somethin'. He likes seein' all the cities destroyed an' whatnot."
Twilight took a tentative step forward and the scaly animal gave a sharp barking sound, the fish falling to the sand. It was an unbelievably loud crackle from its throat; the level of sound even hurt their ears. "Um...I'm gonna try to communicate with it. A mental link should automatically give me insight to whatever language its species is based on. I'll communicate through that language."
"Sure. Why not?" Jack pitched in his opinion.
Her horn caused a light sparkle to go across her eyes and it noticeably danced across the creature's as well. Before it could snarl in confusion, she was already configuring the language it spoke. A pulse of pain shot through her brain when she finally got ahold of something, a small prick that she would have to get used to. The Alicorn was amazed to discover that she could not translate her thoughts through any kind of normal language, but through cackles and huffs and very basic dialect. Finding the right sentence to begin with, she spoke to the animal silently. H-Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle.
Another bark, it's head rearing back suddenly. She winced; there was no easy way to have eased the animal into this. Hopefully it would react with violence or severe agi--
You speak in my head. How?
"Hmm."
"What?" Daredevil inquired.
"His voice is...loud. Hurting my head a little." Twilight explained and decided that it would be best to answer Godzilla as quickly as possible. Its difficult to explain. I just wanted to communicate with you, let you know that we mean no harm to you and on wish to be peaceful with each other.
Harm me? Unlikely. Purple thing and others do not look dangerous. The beastly voice had a limited sense of grammar, ranging somewhere between neanderthal and arrogance. Godzilla's tail flicked through the shallow water with ease, restlessly moving as he regarded them all again. How do you speak my language, if you are not me?
Twilight's shoulders relaxed, no longer needing to tense up. It's complicated. I just a have a knack for learning language. The ones behind me are...friends of mine. We were trying to catch from the water you were just in. You know...the small swimming things?
I see...and I have destroyed your strange tool. Godzilla sniffed at the broken fishing rod beside him briefly, before he turned fully on the beach and began to Wade back into the water. Since I was hunting them as well, I will bring a sizeable amount back to the surface.
Thank you.
The beast regarded her with a look of confusion, but it wasn't entirely that. Perhaps he just didn't recognize the words Thank you at first, but the emotion associated with her words made it obvious as gratitude. Godzilla disappeared without a word in response, his dorsal spikes the last thing they saw before it disappeared beneath the waves.
"What did he say?" Rey broke the silence, looking between the water and the pony. "And how are we going to fish now?"
Twilight shook her head, smiling softly at the prospect of explaining her conversation with a creature like that. "Oh, we won't need to worry about fishing for now. The creature noticed that he broke fishing rod and told me that he would retrieve a supply of fish for us...as an apology, I guess. I assume he's hunting right now."
Daredevil sheathed his Billy clubs cautiously. "Does it know how it got here? Has it been living here longer than us?"
The Alicorn shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to find out." She looked at Rey encouragingly. "And while you may not have had much time to catch everypon...everyone something, you can at least help me with something equally important."
The woman blinked. "Um, that is?"
"Cooking, of course."
"I must say...that I have no idea how you were able to create all the ingredients from the jungle...but this..." Jack paused to take another bite of the meat, choosing not to talk but to instead savor the flavor. "...this is extremely rare. So amazing, in fact, that I wouldn't recommend it to even the greatest restaurant in the carribeans."
Twilight rolled his eyes at his exaggeration, but wondered if the man was actually being truthful. She didn't eat meat whatsoever and didn't plan to anytime soon; she would just have to take his word for it. "Well, don't thank me entirely. It took a pair of hands to help me filter salt and crush the right spices. "
"It was interesting to learn how to cook something new for once." Rey passed Daredevil a small fish piece and briefly watched as he extracted the bones quickly as well as easily. "Back on...erm, the planet that I grew up on, I made the most flavorless food items you could imagine. Only because I couldn't afford a lot of ingredients, mind you all." Harley interrupted with a giggle after she tossed Godzilla a cooked piece and the dinosaurian creature caught it perfectly. "I had to eat plain biscuits and meat squares and gather my own water supply for more than twenty years. It's definitely nice to change things up with something so...tasty."
Daredevil was about to take another bite of his food, but paused to tilt his head at Rey. "Have you...encountered any aliens? Muscular ones with weapons that shoot purple beams? Travel with large...leviathan creatures?"
"Erm...Aliens? You mean different species of sentient beings,right Oh. Well, I'm afraid I haven't seen those. Have you?"
"Not exactly. " He said. "They attacked my city many years ago, but were defeated by...people like me, you might say. But the attack happened on the other side of the city, away from where I was. Just wondering if you knew them."
"People like you saved your city...?" Twilight mused as she finished wrapping the seaweed around her stick and held it over the fire. She more used to cooked plant life, and if she replicated the grilled seaweed recipe from the expensive Canterlot restaurants..." Hmm. Where I come from, there's a lot of peace that's occasionally broken by those that wish to enslave or destroy my world and it's inhabitants. I, as well as five friends of mine, save our world a lot. It's kind've a normal thing for us."
"Must be easy ta save everybody when everybody's got wings and horns and magic." Harley pointed out. "Not to mention, if your entire world is full of cute ponies like you, then the ponies like me can't be that bad. "
Twilight smiled at the roasted seaweed, her stomach growling anxiously. "Well, not everypony is like me. In fact, I was a regular unicorn before I became an Alicorn. The magic of friendship helped me become this. As for the not-so-good ponies of my world, well...they're pretty powerful and dangerous at times. One of them can...wait. What do you mean, ponies like you?"
"You know, bad guys? Stoogies. Crooks. Criminals. That sort of shtick."
Twilight grimaced slightly; she figured Harley wasn't an entirely nice person, but she didn't know that she was a criminal. And she seemed...proud of it. "You're a criminal?" The Alicorn's grimace faded away slowly. Harley hadn't shown any reason to be cautious of her so far, so Twilight wasn't going to start being nervous now.
"I figured you were just a mental patient or a circus reject." Daredevil quipped, though it wasn't easy to miss the slight tenseness in his body when she openly stated herself a criminal.
"I'm technically all of those things, so you figgered right, D-man." The jester tentatively chewed a piece of fish and swallowed it with a gag.
"Well, I have wanted posters all across the ocean where I'm from. Though, they can't remember to put the name captain in there somewhere." Sparrow remarked just as proudly as Harley and Daredevil tensed up again ever so slightly. "Captain Jack Sparrow: King of Pirates, they called me. "
Rey perked up slightly. "King of Pirates? I lived beside pirates for all my life, and I've never seen one that looked like you at all."
"Well then, you've never seen a real pirate, love. Keep living, and you just might!"
"Not if we're stuck here forever." Harley sighed over dramatically. "Hey, D-man. Can you sense any other islands out there?"
He shook his head. "I can't sense anything that far, especially not through all that water. "
Everyone went silent for a while, probably curious about how long they'd be able to take living on the solitary island. Twilight didn't know what to do about any of this either; for once she was stumped. "Maybe we can build a raft tommorow? I have a faint memory of how to put one together."
"We haven't really explored the island, either. We should try that before we just leave." Rey pointed out. "Perhaps someone lives here and just doesn't know we're here yet.
" They'd have seen the smoke by now. "Jack looked at the dark silhouette of the jungle and scoffed. "I think the only thing that lives in that jungle are Hyenas and maybe many other dangerous animals."
A noise similar to that of a sparkling from the Alicorn's horn suddenly blared above their conversation and Twilight looked with a start to the medallion not far from her. Her purple aura had enveloped it noisily, the result of the decoding spell finally being finished. Twilight gave everyone around her a cheeky grin and clumsily levitated the medallion over to the light or the fire. "It's done! It's done! The decryption is finished!"
She scrutinized it carefully, while the others looked on and anxiously waited for her to speak. When the princess' expression fell, Daredevil frowned. "What's it say?"
"Its just one word." Disappointment dripped from her voice. "All that writing for just one word: Motley."
FNNNNNNNZZZZZZ!
Light exploded from the center of the medallion faster than any of them could comprehend, blinding everyone excluding Daredevil due to the intensity and causing Twilight to drop it with a yelp of pain. Daredevil rushed forward to pull the Alicorn back when the light crackled like fire, then shorted out altogether. Everyone else began to blink their vision back into existence, missing the sight of the bright light appearing in another flash, this time more controlled and slowly forming a holographic image.
"Its a hologram device..." Rey said breathlessly.
Jack looked at her incredulously, but decided that he was better off not knowing.
The image finally complete; the six beings regarded the final product with a mutual sense of awe and confusion.It was difficult to describe, like a being made of mist or water or something. "That's right, Rey! It is a Hologram device! "It spoke with a voice that seemed...ethereal, yet young and feminine. "And this is also a pre-recorded message!"
Twilight shut her once limp jaw. "Pre-recorded? How? You can't be talking like you know--"
"What you're going to say? I do. Its really not that hard to look into the future. At the moment I'm...very busy and...Oh! I just realized that I should probably start with: Hi! My name is Motley! You know, like the name on this device." The being explained with a wave to all of them. "I'm certain you all have a few questions."
"gNRAAAAAun..." Godzilla barked softly, and Twilight suddenly realized that he could understand the being and vice versa.
"I am something that has been around since...a few years after the beginning of time, if my memory is still working the right way. I guess you would call me a celestial, given the things I can do with time and space and a lot of other things. Someone older than me created a lot of diversity in life and color, leaving it to me to handle and care for. An inheritance, if you think about it." The being continued, choosing the best words to explain things. "There was another being rivaling my power that...didn't see things my way, but he is gone for all time. His effects have left a problem in his wake, one that has brought you all together."
The being sighed audibly, yet faint enough to be mistaken as static. "He has followers, you see. Those that think his way is better than mine, and it's partly my fault for not having stopped them in their early stages. They were just annoying and harmless at the time, talking about undoing all of life and all that. If I'd been paying attention, I would have seen them discover the fragment."
"Fragment? Of what?"
"The other being I fought. There was enough power within that Fragment to completely destroy the equilibrium between all worlds within the multiverse. Now there's a piece of each world stuck in another. In some cases it's a small piece, but in others...almost entirely universes have been swapped." Motley groaned in exasperation, body fizzing in frustration. "And now, I have to fix every last bit of it before everything explodes on itself. This could take years to accomplish, even for someone like me. That's where you come in, my little team!"
The small group looked at each other, each of their faces stating how they didn't like the sound of that."Hey! Don't look like that! I'm doing the majority of the work! See, I'm going to be shifting landmasses back into place or making sure stars don't crash into each other by accident. You'll be doing the minor things! Getting individual people back to their home world, helping in the process of cleaning physical damages, and driving back any members of the organization that try to put innocents under their thumb. Easy, right?"
Unending silence, and then the being's smile fell.
"That's...That's the exact opposite of what I do, mate!" Sparrow exclaimed loudly and unhappily about this. "I'm a PIRATE! Pirates don't sign up for things like this!"
"Uh, same here, lady!" Was Harley's shout, standing to her feet like a pouty child. "I hate savin' the world! First that mean lady puttin' bombs in my head, and now you puttin' me here with a bunch of weirdos." The blonde quieted a little. "Oh my gawd, I can't believe I called someone ELSE a weirdo."
"I can't help but agree with them. If you're as powerful as you say, then you should know about countless other people out there more qualified than us! " Daredevil tried reasoning. "Why didn't you bring in the Avengers? This is right up their--"
"I didn't bring in the Avengers because they have more than one problem: One is that the arrival of hostile people from another universe has them booked and the second is that they are currently broken, or have you forgotten the Sokovia Accords?" Motley interrupted, before looking towards the pirate and the jester. "As for you, at least one of the reasons I stated goes for you. Everyone excluding you six were busy at the time of the mix-up. That is why I pulled you out."
Twilight suddenly got a thought that churned her stomach sickenly, and made her wince. "Does...that mean that my world...or my friends are in trouble?" She asked worriedly.
Motley shook her head. "Your home world was lucky to experience only a mild merging with another world, and the lesser ethreal being Discord offered to fix the problem for me. He's quite annoying, but a loyal friend. He explained your absence to your friends," She looked at the majority of the group. "As I have explained all your absences to all your friends."
"That...That doesn't make things better." Rey's voice didn't sound certain of what she was saying, and she didn't meet the eyes of the being. "I had a great responsibility on my shoulders where I came from. The fate of many innocent lives still ends in my hands."
"You're right. It does." Motley said. "This is that same responsibility as a Jedi. A force similar to the First Order is rising in number and strength. This threatens billions upon billions of lives that include your own. Something must be done...I know I've made this sudden, but the problem itself is very sudden as well. I had to search for a solution as quickly as possible...and that solution has arrived in the form of all of you."
Twilight sighed hearing these words, and could sidereal her choices as she always did. It would be pretty easy to go home from here and just protect herself and her family. She could forget about the island and this strange celestial and resume her life more or less, with the aid of her friends...but what would she say when they asked why she was back so soon? Could she face the disappointment in their eyes when they learned the truth? Could she face the prospect of costing billions their lives?
She narrowed her eyes. No. I can't. The princess stepped before the hologram with determination in her step. "I...I'd like to help in any way I can. If that means doing 'Janitor' work...so be it."
Motley gave her an appreciative smile and then turned her gaze to the remaining five. Rey probably wouldn't have moved forward if Twilight hadn't taken the task upon herself, but the action visibly surprised and inspired her. The woman limped forward reluctantly and silently stood next to the pony, who shot a friendly smirk up at her and nudged her leg in an almost catlike manner. Rey blushed and nudged her back. Twilight had a feeling they were going to be good friends with time.
Long after Godzilla ambled over to the duo, Daredevil followed with a grumble and a careful place to stand next to Twilight. When she nudged his leg, however, he didn't smile back. The Alicorn awkwardly looked to the remainder of the team. "Well?"
"I'm considering, mate." Jack sneered his answer, walking over to them more reluctantly than Daredevil.
Harley rolled her eyes." Well, I'm not stuck between answers. I want to go home!"
"Ooooh." Motley cringed apologetically. "See, I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Your world in particular is lost among the others and it would take me a month to find it and then a month to come back and send you there. "
"AW, SQUIRREL-NUTS!"
"I know. It's frustrating." Motley gestured to the jungle after a laugh, her hologram form beginning to fade away. "I'm afraid I've got to go for now, but there will be more information on your first clean-up in the ship. It will be your base of operations."
"A ship in the jungle, mate?! That's looney!"
"Oh, it's not any ship you've ever seen, Captain." Motley said, just bare remaining by now. "Now, I suggest you all get some rest tonight. Wherever you plan to go tommorow will lead to you down an unforgettable path! Your very lives are going to change forever! Goodnight!"
The hologram disappeared and left them all alone in the light of the fire.
Twilight wasn't surprised to be the first one awake, but she was a little perturbed that Harley had somehow snuck over and used her body as a pillow.
The Alicorn's eyes narrowed, completely clear of sleepinessential by now and instead filled with annoyance. She wouldn't have felt so annoyed if Harley wasn't snoring so unbelievably loud--her face was actually pretty peaceful and calm, reminding her of the times she checked on Spike. Twilight frowned at the memories and tried nudging the human's head with the wing she was sleeping on. "Um, Harley? C'mon. Wakey, wakey."
"....mmmmmmrmmmmm...Mmmmmmmistah jaaaay~?" Harley's sleepy tone was laced with a seductive air, and a smirk molded her lips. "My,my,my...sssomeone's up nice and...early todaaaaay..."
Twilight cringed when the woman dragged a finger from her lip down her neck and to her chest. She didn't like where this was going. "Harley! It's me, Twilight!"
"Aw, don't be like that...puddin...All youuuu needs is..." She began to sleepily lean in towards Twilight with her lips puckered dramatically. "A niiiiiii~iiiiiice smoochie...Now gimme some sugah, sugah!"
"HARLEY!" Twilight shrieked frantically, hardly able to pull herself out of the arms of Harley. How did she get this strong?! "HARLEY, WAKE UP!"
The jester-girl snorted herself awake and stared at Twilight with wide eyes. She looked at her puckered lips, and then at the pony, before finally looking at the others who had been abruptly awakened. Once she had enough of the awkward vibes from everyone, the woman closed the gap and pecked Twilight's cheek. "Aaaaaand, good morning to you too! That's a...a good morning kiss for ya, Sparkle!"
Twilight just fixed with a strange, unblinking stare and Daredevil suddenly tilted his head up towards the sky. "The sun's barely out yet." He observed after a few moments of scrutiny and a nod.
"Good a time as any to be awake on this forsaken piece of sand and grass." Jack offered sarcastically and stood to his feet, only for Godzilla to shake like a dog and spray over him. "...Ms.Sparkle, your majesty: could you get your pet to not do that?"
"He's not my pet." Twilight deadpanned and gently shoved off Harley. She looked to the jungle and wondered just what waited for them within its green borders. Something to get them off this blasted island, or so she hoped. They could do no world saving from the prison of this island. "...Well, I guess a quick breakfast is in order, and then we should move along."
Rey nodded slowly, methodically. "Yes, I suppose we should."
"You both were pretty quick to agree to all this without asking any questions." Daredevil quipped with a sigh. "Aren't you at all mad about being taken away from your homes?"
Twilight nodded, but knew better than to just leave the answer at that. "Anger won't save any of those people out there, but I can if I try. I'd rather stop whoever they are out there than deal with them on my doorstep." She looked towards the young Jedi. "That's why you agreed, right?"
The woman shrugged halfheartedly and said: "Well, yes, but partly. You looked like you were going to do this alone and...well, it didn't seem right to let a kind heart like yours do this alone."
Daredevil fixed her with a respecting look despite his reluctantance. "That's...honorable."
Rey smiled softly, her eyes gazing down at the lightsaber on her hip. "Jedi are always honorable. It won't be an easy task, but at least with the help of you three, we have a good chance of victory. "
The man breathed in and exhaled with a sigh of agreement. "Maybe. But I still would've appreciated a little warning."
"Heh." Jack nodded. "I don't think anyone would argue with that mate."
Godzilla chirped.
It had been nearly an hour since they'd set foot in the jungle, and the search wasn't turning up anything useful. Daredevil was leading the trek around the jungle and its dense foliage, while everyone followed in relative quiet. But as the minutes passed, glances were exchanged between most of the group and the back of the man's helmet. Twilight didn't doubt that he would find something, since his senses hadn't failed them in the past...she just wasn't expecting this to take so long, or for their travels to take them in all kinds of strange shapes. "...maybe we should've asked Motley where to look before we entered."
"Maybe Motley should've put whatever it is on the beach instead." Harley piped up behind Rey tiredly.
Daredevil tilted his head westward, red lenses narrowed. "I've got this. It shouldn't be too much longer--I can hear a breeze wafting over metal. It's just taking me a second to figure out where."
Rey sighed and swatted away another persistent mosquito. Given how many had been buzzing around her the past few minutes, the woman was feeling homesick about the desert she grew up on. No annoying, buzzy things survived the heat there. "Well, is there anything we can do to help?"
"Yes."
"And that is?"
"Keep quiet."
And so it was quiet. Quiet as a group of odd hikers could be, at least. Harley busied herself with occasionally petting Godzilla when he passed her legs, Godzilla licked the remnants of fish oils from her fingers, Jack just...watched boredly, Rey blew bits of sand out of her lightsaber and Twilight's stomach growled. Daredevil must've been listening very closely, because the sound nearly forced him into a defensive position. He shortly went back to work on listening for the metal again.
"I thought you ate earlier. " Jack scrutinized the suddenly sheepish pony, hands on his hips. "What's with the growling?"
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, there wasn't any seaweed left that I could find and I was thinking I'd eat once we found...whatever is in this jungle."
"Well, since our chili-pepper tour guide is still searching, you'd better eat up soon." It was possibly because he was bored or too tired to be entirely snarky today, but the man suddenly revealed a dark green vine and placed it on the ground for her. "So, here. Something I found earlier. A nice looking vine and all."
Twilight blinked owlishly at him, but shrugged off her surprise to lean down. Once she picked up the vine in her teeth, she decided that it would be best to slurp it like Spaghetti rather than chew it into an odd pulp in her jaws. Before she could determine the end she'd slurp from, a hissing noise broke all concept traction she had. She blinked again and glanced up at the others; their mouths seemed closed and unable to make that kind or noise if they tried. Twilight raised an eyebrow at Godzilla when he took a step towards her and snarled lowly. It was then that she suddenly realized what made the hissing noise, and its head suddenly rose to stare her down calmly.
"yAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Twilight reeled backwards as if she'd been shot, the snake flung instinctively from her jaws and hurled the dinosaurian's head. The humans watched Godzilla chase after the snake like a dog fetching a stick, then observed the Alicorn frantically rubbing her tongue and shuddering uncontrollably. "EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWWWWWWWWW!"
"OOOOOOh...That was a snake?" Jack tried to look as surprised as the pony looked, and avoided eye contact with a nervous cough. "Huh. Who put that there? I tell ya, you can't trust people. They'll put snakes in places just like that and you'll think they were some kind of plant. Dastardly people, yes. Very dastardly."
"SNRKT." Harley hastily agreed.
Daredevil interrupted the glaring process of Twilight Sparkle by marching off to the west. Everyone reluctantly followed him across the jungle floor, worrying that this was just going to be another fruitless venture. After a long couple of seconds and a long couple of yards passed them all by, Daredevil finally paused before a clearing. Sitting in the clearing was a large vessel of some kind, simple and yet so complex in its design. Its basic shape was made up of countless metal pieces welded together, a pair of front-facing shapes similar to mandibles and an outrigger-style, side-mounted cockpit. The sunlight glinted off of it's smooth hide as if it were brand new, and the lack of dirt or visible wear seemed to hint at that. The vessel appeared to be armed in the front and back with weapon nozzles stationed appropriately beneath the window panes. The windows themselves offered a small glimpse at leather seating stationed not far from the glass view, along with a set of intricate controls.
"The Millennium Falcon!" Rey exclaimed eagerly, rushing up to place her hands on the smooth surface of the metal. She smiled at the new feeling of the hull, and her fingers eagerly felt more of the reinforced areas. Tough and Shiny, just like she was told it was in its glory days. "Motley must know us better than I imagined."
Jack poked it with his sword, ready to leap back if the thing suddenly sprang to life. His eyes squinted as he tapped the hard surface with the edge of the blade and didn't even scratch the paint somehow. Odd. " Millennium Falcon? This doesn't look like a bird at all. Is it some kind of...house?" He tapped the glass of the cockpit curiously. "That's the stupidest place for a window, if that's what it is. And the chimney is missing too. Oh well; as long as you have a place to store the rum."
Rey forced herself out of her memory recollection when he said that."...Wait. Store the ru...She's not a house! " She pursed her lips in brief thought. "Sure, you can live in her, but she's not a house. She's a ship-- the finest in the galaxy, I can say for certain."
"That's not a ship!" Jack argued incredulously, almost offended at her explanation. "This would sooner sing than be seaworthy."
"Not that kinda ship, Jackie." Harley said halfheartedly, her attention clearly more focused on the weapon nozzles underneath the cockpit. "Wooooooow! You could mow down a whole parking lot full'a people with this baby!" Daredevil tilted his head in direction as a silent warning. "I'm kidding! Geez. You suck the joy out of everything...Any who, how soon do I get to take this baby out for a test drive?"
Rey scoffed immediately. "This ship and I have been through a lot, and it belonged to...a very close friend. This was handed down to me, and so I will be the only one piloting it. And even if I weren't able to, Twilight would be my co-pilot and therefore the only other one to drive."
Twilight, who had been quiet due to the scientific portion of her brain (basically 80% of it) adoring the very existence of a fine piece of technology like this, suddenly exploded with gasp. Her liquid purple eyes glowed with a child-like excitement, and her smile did the same. "I'M GONNA CO-PILOT THIS AMAZING PIECE OF ART?!!" She coughed and assumed a neutral look. "I mean, I get to be co-pilot? Cool. "
"Cool is the right word." Rey made a beeline behind the cockpit, her hands still resting on the familiar vehicle. "C'mon! There's a manual way to open it from the outside...yes! Here it is!"
The woman twisted something between the plates of the large ship and a boarding ramp slowly lowered itself with an electronic hiss, the interior of the ship starting to power up its ceiling lights. Once everyone wandered on board, they were treated to the complex insides of the Falcon; the opening was on the side of the ship, but it still winded perfectly into other sectors that were built inside it. Following a trip through the circular corridor, Rey eagerly presented the freight loading room, the three individual holding rooms, the engine vaults, the kitchen/life support room, the oculary bay for manual weapon fire, the secret compartments beneath the corridor, the hyperdrive area and more recently: the escape pods. She flicked on the light to a spacious room that held four individual bunk beds, equaling room for eight to rest their heads. "And this is the crew's quarters, where you guys will sleep! As you can see, there's enough room for you all and then some."
"I ain't gonna be here that long, but I will appreciate the hospitality fa' now." Harley commented.
Daredevil removed one of his gloves as he entered, taking hold of the orange blankets first, and then the sheets underneath it. "No cotton."
"Yeah, but it is the next best--"
"No, no. This is fine. Cotton feels like sandpaper."
Rey looked as if she was going to say something about his weird comparison, but dropped the notion. "Anyways, let's head to the cockpit."
There was brief surprise in the cockpit when Twilight discovered another medallion sitting on the dashboard and Rey held it up for everyone to examine. Motley appeared again after being called, also a hologram but seeming to acknowledge them as if she were there. “Finally found the Falcon, huh Murdock? Didn't think you'd take so long.”
“...you sure know a lot for a prerecorded message.” The man addressed sighed in irritation. If anyone guessed, they'd say he’d never really been chastised about his senses.
“I told you: Celestial!” Motley bowed, a strange sight given her body shape. “Anyway, this message will be shorter and more to the point! Pilot Rey,” She smirked as Rey stood slightly straighter. “This ship has been upgraded with a few new dashboard components, weapons systems and an indestructible hull. What you'll definitely like is the Map. It can work like an autopilot and take you to prerecorded destinations all by its lonesome. The first destination for your little team is will be on Akli’thu, a small plethora planet that is undergoing dominance by the group I told you about.”
“Well, at least she sent us to a planet that's being subjugated and not already subjugated. “ Rey received a nod from Twilight.
Jack had been quietly scanning the metal parts of the ship, wondering if they be a pretty price elsewhere but caught the statement. “I still don't know how this rusty looking thing can sail us anywhere, let alone a planet...whatever that is.”
“You will see, Captain Sparrow.” The holographic body began to glow, before suddenly halting. “Oh. Right. Try not to draw too much attention to yourselves at once. They have great numbers and the weapons to go with them.” Only after those words did the hologram collapse in on itself, leaving the group alone again.
“Boy am I glad to be going home soon. “ Harley sat down roughly on a pipe extending from the wall. “ I Do not wanna fight any more armies bent on world domination.”
“Anymore?” Daredevil voiced everyone's thoughts.
“Yeah. I started telling you guys about that bomb in my neck, remember? It was a force thing, you know? Really tiring stuff.”
Rey blinked oddly at her as she reached for a handle, sliding it upwards and causing the ship to vibrate. “well, as much as we'd all like to hear that story, I think we should take flight now.” She toggled a few switches to the side of the handle, grinning as the beeping noises they made. “There we go, girl. Prepare to be amazed, Mr.Sparrow.”
“Captain! Is that too hard for anyone to say?” He would have said much more about the matter, but the ship's sudden lurch upwards erased the notion from his mind. "Bloody 'ell! What was that?!"
The silent captain grinned all the more, gazing expectantly out of the glass windows and viewing their rise towards the sky. The tops of smaller trees fell down below their vision, and the tops of the tallest trees followed behind promptly. In seconds, their surroundings shifted entirely, pushing the treeline down beneath them in a surprising burst of speed and lifting their gazes skyward as they rose. Jack tried a feeble attempt at not seeing too impressed. "Hmm. So we can fly now. That's lovely."
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!"
Smirking at the Pirates rather surprised and worried reaction, Rey shifted the handle once again and tested out the new navigation system’s autopilot. The thing made a few whirs and clicks, and soon the ship turned by itself--blasting off into a canvas of light blue and white that funneled and slithered around them in one giant tube of blinding speed. Then that blue became a pleasant purple that signified a decrease in velocity, and that purple became black as the space around them turned into a slow moving scene.
Twilight had dozens upon dozens of books about space, with detailed sketches from Authors who access to a telescope. But nothing in any of the books she had could compare to experiencing the vast empty voice brought to life with all that floated in it. She almost couldn't believe her eyes as they drank in the sight of the giant black canvas, the Frontier that knew no boundaries as far as she knew. Stars fluttered and twinkled near or far, like ten million fireflies in the night sky above sleeping ponies. Multicolored cosmic dust wafted overhead as they traveled underneath a large planet with rings around it in an ‘X’ fashion and then raced alongside a comet with an icy blue tail trailing behind it. Shapeless dust made beautiful shapes in the far distances; paintings that painted themselves only to mesmerize its viewers. The Alicorn princess felt a little sad that she didn't have her notebook to record any of this or perhaps even a camera, but it wasn't her fault and some things were best left seen and never written. Everyone else seemed to like the scenery without commentary after all; Jack eyed a series of golden moons around an approaching planet with an impressed glint in his eye. Perhaps the luster of the moons could be compared to gold he once carried and treasured, or perhaps it reminded the captain of something else.
Godzilla at his feet gazed upon the blue tail of the comet as if hypnotized by its show of strength, but there was a sense of recognition in the glimmering eyes of the small beast. Perhaps in its past, it once looked to the sky and saw magnificent streaking lights tearing across the night sky. Perhaps he did it regularly in those days, she mused, and now he is able to do it again.
“Geez, if I wasn't trying to get home in a hurry, I might actually enjoy ten times as much as now.” Harley commented more to herself than anybody else, her interest in the comet sapping away her volume. Twilight rolled her eyes at the persistent jester, and the movement had her take notice of Rey, positioned sideways in the captain's seat. A small smile was on the woman's face, but the longer her gaze stayed out in the bright realm of space, the more her smile fell apart little by little. Twilight felt a frown come along herself; what was there to frown about?
Twilight glanced up at Daredevil briefly, her mouth opening before closing sharply. Still, she could see him angle his head down from her peripheral vision and then tilt it back up. “No, I can't sense of any of that.”
Her ears flattened a little against her mane. “Sorry.”
“You didn't do anything wrong. You're just curious.” He said, while his mind tried to conjure up an image of space or anything to visualize where he was. Difficult as it was to imagine earth by itself, he would attempt to imagine another frontier. It wasn't easy at all to picture and he soon reluctantly looked down at Twilight again.
“...How does it look?” When she gave him a look, he continued. “Describe it to me.”
"Describe? Well...um...It's very dark." The Alicorn explained as she herself looked for words to describe space. "But there are tiny specks of light here and there. There's even a few suns up close, though not too close of course. " She paused to search the scenery more. "Its...kinda like somepony dashed multicolored glitter over big black paper. But so much bigger...and brighter."
"Very descriptive."
The ghost of a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, the action odd when combined with his mask. Twilight hummed in response and fell captive to the silence and scenery again. The constant hum of the ship's engines provided a good ambiance for the six passengers, and time passed quickly even if it only felt like a few short minutes. The mare was just admiring the new, fascinating sights of the solar system they entered when Rey suddenly gained everyone's attention.
"We're here." Their captain pointed out the atmosphere of the planet that they were entering, previously unnoticed by the captivated pony. Twilight stalked forward with wide eyes and watched the giant grey clouds rush past them in their descent, suddenly disappearing altogether to display a troublesome sight. If there was a largely populated area here before, all that remained now was charred debris and the miniscule remains of buildings. Giant blimp-like vehicles parade over the land in an endless patrol, not noticing the tiny speck descending from the clouds and surveying everything. Twilight blinked worriedly; the only time she'd seen anything near this level of destruction was her fight with Tirek.
Daredevil turned his head to any and everyone in the ship, but no one described anything to him. He didn't complain, yet. Twilight was more than willing to voice her opinions. "Um...if this is what we're supposed to save..."
"No, there's untouched land over to the left, see? Heavily guarded." Rey pointed west of the barren wasteland and revealed a more elevated terrain with bigger buildings and roadwork. Even from their height and distance, they could all make out the bustling crowds in between buildings and the blimps that circled like vultures. "I think the majority of the planet resides there for now."
Harley, feigning disinterest, crossed her arms. "Well, let's hope this ship is packin', cuz otherwise yer all screwed big time."
Twilight poked Rey's side gently. "We should land now, while we're still unnoticed. Maybe we can devise a plan to sneak in and see just what we're up against."
The woman was about to voice her agreement with that, but Daredevil raised a fist and hissed between his teeth in a quieting motion. Everyone stared intently as he appeared to focus on something beyond the noise of the ship's flight. After a long stretch of quiet, he gestured towards the back of the Falcon. "No, It's too late to maintain stealth. We've already been spotted." He smacked his lips slightly. "I can taste the rust of one of their ships behind us. Not that much bigger than our own, but I can smell their weapon. It's large. "
"Are you sure you're not really the devil himself, mate?" Sparrow squinted at him accusingly.
"Land now! You are unauthorized to fly in this sector! Land and prepare to be arrested for Trespassing, or you will be gunned down!"
Harley gripped her bat tighter, trying to find some window to look out of. Seeing none, she gave up with an irritated sigh. "They better not shoot us outta the sky."
Twilight looked to the captain of the Falcon. "So...now what?"
Rey sighed, shrugged and sat in thought. She pushed forward on the handles while pulling back on an unknown lever. The Falcon slowed down and lost it's noise level as a result. She pulled her lightsaber into closer range, before nodding at her back-up pilot. "Now...we do like you said. See what we're up against."
The landing was slow, and Twilight found herself nervously tapping a hoof as she waited. The descent itself ironically caused her stomach to drop in time with her worried thoughts, briefly shoving her through a moment of queasiness. Godzilla paced anxiously behind her, flexing his claws and sniffing at the possible threat through flaring nostrils. Rey was mostly focused on landing the Falcon on even terrain, but it was clear that she was anticipating a confrontation; Jack was anticipating a hiding spot.
"You should calm down. " Daredevil advised suddenly. "I can't really hear much over your breathing."
"Sorry. Twilight offered apologetically, but calmness still alluded her.
"When we land, I'm going to head out of the emergency hatch so they won't notice me. I work best under the element of surprise, and I need time to sense what we're up against."
"Good idea!" Jack started out of the room with a pep in his step. "I'll go out the back!"
"Get back here." Daredevil yanked him back by the collar of his clothing, and the ship landed in the same beat. The suited man started forward with a brisk, eerily silently movement that caused him to disappear around a corner. "Keep 'em focused on you."
The pirate rubbed his neck gingerly, eyes narrowing after the man. "Quite a grip he has, eh?"
"Now come out! We'll be waiting. No funny business."
Twilight turned to the four with an anxious but fairly steady nod. "I know a shield spell in case anything goes wrong." She paused, cautiously moving down the first hallway. "You think they're expecting us?"
"Why would they expect you guys?" Harley pointed out, reluctantly following behind Rey. "You only just now came together."
The Jedi agreed soundly. "She has a point. It was a celestial that pulled us all here. Maybe they really think we're just tresspassing."
"Then maybe we should leave now and promise not to come back. If our hull is indestructible--" The pirate offered, only to deflate as the entry doors opened up slowly and steadily. The more the outside world opened to them, the more cautiously the five stepped out into the open. Sunlight for this planet was not particularly bright, but it still made them blink in its rays.
A good twenty feet or so in front of them lay a ship slightly more massive than the Falcon itself, entirely drowned in black hues or shades that glinted in the light. Two figures stood in front of the ship as a third climbed out of it behind them. Clad in helmets and armored vests that all appeared to be black, pointed at certain parts of the face, the figures were clearly soldiers of some kind. Heavily armed ones too, if the giant things in their hands were anything to go by.
"State your business. " One of them said after scrutinizing them for a moment.
Twilight blinked at the command, and wondered how any of them would answer to that. They couldn't very well say that the were heroes meant to defeat them or whatever. "Uh...we're....citizens."
The soldiers exchanged, but their faces were too stony to tell what they thought of the lie. "Citizens? I've never seen your species here before."
"I'm an in law to someone else here! Yep. Their lineage automatically makes me a citizen here..." She nodded rapidly, and then pointed to the trio standing behind her, uncertain of whether they should speak or not. With how fast she was vomiting out replies, it appeared that they wouldn't need to do much. "So, yeah. Came back to my adoring Uncle in law!"
"And these three?"
Jack coughed into his fist and curtsied them for all of three seconds. " Slaves, of course! What else could we be? "
The taller one took a stomp towards, easily making the pirate flinch back with a squeal. "You dare to speak to us in such a tone, lowlife?" He snarled through the mask, his crossed arms looking more imposing than they did resting just a moment ago. " Your master should teach you to respect those on a higher level."
Nice going, Jack. Twilight swallowed nervously and attempted what she hoped was a very angry face, focusing it on the pirate as well. "Trust me, if...If my whip hadn't broken on the other three scumbags, I would gladly teach this one a thing or two!" For added effect, she kicked and landed a soft blow at the man's leg. Apparently the hit wasn't light enough, if his one legged dance and grumbled swears were any indication. "Er, show any more back talk like that, and it'll be worse for you, slave! Honestly, why my mother in law suggested I get one of his kind, I will never know. We should definitely get him back in--"
The larger soldier looked at her suddenly, eyes narrowed and readily staring into her soul. "I thought you said it was your uncle."
"...That's what I said, isn't it? Uncle?"
"Doesn't matter. This planet now belongs to us, and as a result, so do the five of you." He spoke with a straightened form, clearly disgusted with the lot of them. Twilight tensed up as the muzzle of his odd weapon was pressed against her forehead, just underneath her horn. "You'll be held with the others that live on this misshapen rock, until this planet is restor--!"
A tiny blur slammed directly into the soldier's head with a loud crack, slowing down enough afterwards to identify it as a familiar billy club. Knocked into unconsciousness, the second soldier scrambled to fire his ammunition, which seemed to consist of strange black zaps of energy. They watched, impressed as Daredevil soundly weaved under and over all of the bolts before crouching low and making a quick pounce at the soldier. With no time to react, he was tackled down and far too slow to protect his head from the sudden onslaught of punches. Twilight wasn't one for violence solving problems, but even she'd admit that the takedown was pretty cool.
"That was beautiful. Like some kind of male ninja ballerina." Harley gushed quietly, though greatly impressed by his fighting style. "Think you could teach me a few moves, DD?"
"Not on your life. And you," The man suddenly rounded on Twilight with an accusing finger and an exasperated voice. "Have you ever made a convincing lie in your life?"
"Well, I tried kicking Jack for effect!"
"Yes! About that, your highness!" The pirate captain limped in front of Twilight, and it was all the mare could do not to burst into laughter. " Maybe next time you could try not to take my leg clean off with a single kick, eh?"
She swallowed her giggles. "Uh, heh. Duly noted."
Rey circled the unconscious body with an air of suspicion, eyeing the masks and taking the visible weapons into account as well. "Back to the matter at hand," She said, tearing her eyes away from the bodies for now. "I guess we'll have to time them up to delay a warning to anymore of them down there. We could ask them questions when they wake up."
"No. They'll more than likely stall long enough for someone to come for them and us. " Daredevil proposed while pointing in the direction of the remains of the large city. "Not to mention a story from the eyes of the citizens would be more believable than whatever they cook up."
Godzilla huffed through his nostrils, glancing at Twilight after a long stare at the buildings below. The Alicorn nodded slowly and turned to translate his words to the team. " Godzilla says it might be a good idea split ourselves as we collect information. When we're done, we can meet up at the tallest building and relay what we learned. "
"Well, that sounds a good idea in my opinion!" Jack suddenly bellowed, making Twilight narrow her eyes at him. She couldn't shake the feeling that he had something planned. "Since we're all six in total, we can split up into groups of two! What say you, mates?"
Daredevil nodded at the idea, then turned his focus to the Jester next to him. "Harley and I will tie these two up, while Rey and...Godzilla can park the Falcon somewhere more hidden. That leaves you, Twilight, to go with Jack and start the search for answers."
"That sounds lovely! Let's get a move on, then horsie!" The pirate practically charged past her with an enthusiastic gait, motioning for the Princess to follow closely downhill. "Come on! Chop, Chop as they say!"
After attempting not to roll her eyes, Twilight gave a nod to the five that remained, though mostly Rey. "We'll meet you guys down there. Try not to draw attention yourselves."
Rey gave her a contagious, lopsided smirk. "Shouldn't you be telling Jack that?"
Twilight smiled back, but quickly galloped after Jack.
"They've definitely got numbers. No more than there are fish in the ocean, though. " Twilight's pirate compadre was thankfully keeping to the shadows of this city, in ways that she couldn't even believe. Past experience, perhaps, was the sole reason for him blending in so well. The pony felt as if she stuck out like a sore thumb. " or more than the population, for that matter. Fear's keepin 'em under their thumb. "
Twilight peered to the right; a few citizens moved hastily to the side as a small patrol of soldiers stomped past. They whispered something to each with similar looks of tiredness and worry before parting ways. "How can they not be? This city is crawling with them."
"Like an infestation." As Jack meandered past a cart full of alien food items, he plucked one that looked similar to an apple with an orange hue and whistled past the unsuspecting owner. His shorter partner, however, was not oblivious. "What? I haven't eaten since the other day."
"Just don't draw any attention to us. We don't need to be called thieves and thrown in jail...or worse." She slowed her trot when a trio of soldier suddenly marched out from a street corner, her head going lower. They didn't bat an eye at her or Jack, and thankfully continued on. "...It'd be nice if we knew what we were up against. Some information about what happened here--anything, really."
"Ha! Where do you think I've been leading us, mate?" Was the question that made Twilight suspicious and surprised. She hadn't realized it at first, but the pirate really had been leading her with his sneaky, small-talk ways. "We're going to the mother of all information, sure to give us what we need to know."
She perked up instant at that, holding a hoof to her excited grin. "The library?!"
He gave her a blank stare. "No the pub. That big building right in front of us. " He pointed at a mostly wooden structure, rectangular in shape and large enough house more than 200 ponies. Not that anypony would want to go inside a building that literally shook with yelling, laughter and crude music. "We go in that, and come out with more knowledge than kings!"
"What?! In some shady, crusty old bar where ponies...er, people waste their lives?" Something suddenly clicked in her head, and she took a repulsed step back. "Ugh! I see now. You just came here so you can get some kind of ale or...whatever it is you like to drink!"
"Rum, mate. And l'll have you know that rum calms my nerves. And so far, today has made me the most nervous I've ever been." Sparrow tilted his hat to her. "And don't tell me we won't learn even a little bit in that building, where no soldiers are around to twist facts. You know I'm right."
Her lips formed a deep frown. "I know that it's easy to get sidetracked or robbed or...worse in a place like that."
"Pfft! I know pubs like the back of my hand! That place," He was interrupted by a scream cut short inside the building. "...is completely harmless. And it's not like we can't defend ourselves against a few drunkards,eh?"
He was right, but only to some extent. They didn't know the rest, and it was a dangerous place to be. She'd heard of ponies being killed in bars, or growing some kind of drinking habit from being in a pub. And this wasn't even Equestria! The Alicorn rubbed her face, trying to look calm instead of worried. "...We go in. We get information. Then we leave. Immediately. No drinking."
"Who, me? You wound me, Princess." After patting the growling horse's head, he practically skipped his way to the front doors and whistled for her to do the same. "Come along then! We haven't got all day!"
When she'd reluctantly joined him on the front steps of the creepy Tavern, he pushed it open without any hint of worry or regret and sauntered in as if he was being welcomed into an old home. The inside of the bar was surprisingly similar to the medieval style of the bar back in Ponyville, if not bigger and dirtier. Things that looked like rats scurried away from the entrance into the dark shadows made by stools and benches.Tables were stationed perfectly across the creaking wooden floorboards, and filled seats blocked them almost entirely from view. When they'd only opened the doors, the occupants of the bar paid them no attention. But when they both waltzed in just a few steps more, all of the laughter and yelling and boisterous talking shrunk down to quiet noises.
"I don't know about this Jack. Maybe we should go somewhere else." Twilight didn't like the stares sent their way, or the cold feeling that made her fur feel clammy. " Like a library. Yeah, let's try a..."
Wait, where was Jack? Wasn't he standing right next to her a few seconds ago? "Jack? Jack! Jack, t-this isn't funny!" Twilight tried to call a little louder, but the constant gazing made her voice grow softer and softer. Blast that jerk of a pirate for leaving her alone, surrounded by people who looked like they'd escaped from prison a few minutes ago! And now she had to venture deeper to find said jerk and strangle him.
To her relief, the bar patrons farthest from her went back to their own business and the usual laughing and yelling continued. Those closest to her, made up of different types of alien species, stared a little too closely as she crept along the bare paths in the tavern. The worse part was when she walked past those that licked their teeth, or made kissing noises or were bold enough to make unmentionable comments on her flank. It completely baffled the mare how species entirely different from her could find her attractive enough to make catcalls, but for once in her life she didn't want to know how that worked. There had to be quicker way to solve this problem. Someone around here to be approachable.
Matt could sense just under a billion nestled in this giant city, moving and bustling between cities in frantic spurts. He'd never felt such worry and fear in such a high number before--not since the days before the arrest of Fisk. Given the damage that destroyed one half of the city, he could see why they seemed scared and afraid to be seen on the streets for even a second. Everyone looked scared, scattering ants.
The countless soldiers he sensed sounded like dangerous water trapping the ants, always rushing in between them and drowning them with intimidation. A league of bullies scaring defenseless men, women, and children--a league he had to drive out of the city. But how long would it take? It had taken weeks to get Fisk out of Hell's kitchen, and he still had an influence on his city. That scum left a mark, and if he wanted these people safe, he needed to extract them without even the slightest--
He snapped into a reflexive stance when something hard roughly nudged the side of his helmet, his hand grasping the end of a baseball bat.
"Don't do that again." He snarled, shoving the bat away easily. He was coming to regret having paired himself with Harley, needless to say.
"About time! Are you wearing earbuds under that chromedome or somethin'?" She pursed her impatiently, one hand settled on her hip while her bat settled on her shoulder. "I've been tryin' ta talk ta you for the past three minutes! " When he just scowled at her, she rolled her eyes. "Discount Batman, for sure...What.Is.Our.Move?! We're not just going to stand here and stare at stuff, are we?"
"No. I was just...looking around. Seeing which way is safe to go. "Daredevil took stock of the one day down, which consisted of-of a few tarps connected to poles and the low roofs of some short buildings. With the right skills, anyone could get down from where they were. "I don't suppose you know parkour?"
Harley blinked, completely surprised by the question. "Parker? Eh, I try not to remember my all my exes. There was this one guy back in college named--"
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Do you know how to get down from here fast? At running speed? That kind of parkour?"
"What? Oh, pfft! Of course, I can!"
"Ah, good. Then let's--"
"I'll probably break my legs and arms of course."
Daredevil narrowed his eyes with a groan and angled his head in her direction. "You just said you knew parkour."
"I do! I'm just not good at it. Like, at all." Her aloof shrug was infuriating beyond belief as if it weren't a big deal. Her facial features lit up with an apparent idea if the seductive smile and walk was anything for him to go by. "You could just give me a piggyback ride down there~. Trust me, I've only gained a few pounds from eating cake."
"Stop. I don't trust you behind me." He buffed through his nose and snapped off a half of his long staff. Connected by a strong cable and a button determining the slack, he figured that it would be helpful enough for someone of her flexibility. "Take this end and start down. I'll make sure you don't get enough slack to fall."
"Your idea's no fun," Harley grumbled loudly, but otherwise followed his instructions after snatching the weapon. She gingerly tiptoed on the edge of the roof, casting careful glances to him as he increased the slack little by little. Within a minute or two, his fairly lightweight partner had safely reached the ground. Daredevil followed her down by hopping from various points of elevation, carefully placing one foot down after the other or simply launching himself with a thrust of his legs. When he landed on the smooth, dusty earth beneath his boots, he immediately took a scan of his surroundings. It appeared that no one had really seen them come down, save for the closest citizens that just happened to be walking by. Wait...at the end of the street...
Sh¡t.
"Hey, look at that guy!" Harley's voice sounded in the background, and he faced her. "Oh! My B. You can't see,so--"
"Move. That way. It's one of them."
Daredevil shoved her roughly through the distance to the nearest street corner with a hand and kept a close ear on the soldier not far behind them. Even with all the bulky armor on he was pretty good at keeping a brisk pace with them, even as Daredevil swiftly guided Harley into their hiding spot behind the corner. He stopped her with his hand still tightly clutching her shoulder and patiently waited for time to pass. It was a good thing he was so quick to follow because the soldier practically walked right into his fisted hand.
The fiend was a bit bigger than anticipated, so he had to strike harder and faster at all the right spots to do any damage. He grunted as the soldier caught his right hook and then relayed him with a swift fist to his gut. Daredevil stumbled from the blow but he'd taken hits far worse to be stopped by it; he ducked underneath the swinging arm of the soldier and leaped to deliver a good kick to the back of the helmet. When he crumpled into an unmoving heap, Daredevil noticed that Harley had been leaning against the opposite wall the whole time with crossed arms and a coy expression. She seemed to like making that expression, especially when her eyes were clearly roaming over his form.
"Hope you liked the show." He hissed sarcastically, his lips in a frown that was the exact opposite of Harley's smirk. "Would have been nice if you actually tried helping."
To that, she held up a single finger and remained as still as possible for a couple seconds. He suddenly recognized the movement of a body running up behind the corner of the street she was leaning against, and he opened his mouth to warn her. The jester, her expression snapping from seductive calm to something more wild and dangerous, whirled around with her bat swung like a pro baseball player. Her giggles made him cringe as the bat connected with the jaw of the soldier and cracked it completely out of place. The body soundlessly stumbled backward, landing with a rough crunch on the ground. Daredevil's tongue became aware of the taste of blood and...metal. Metal wiring that meant to replace the brain in the soldier's skull, but was surrounded by blood--blood that was gushing out horribly onto the pavement alongside bolts and other robotic components.
Harley had once been quietly giggling, but soon she was wheezing with a shrill laughter as she brought the bat down on the destroyed head, over and over and over again. The laughter gained the attention of a few passing citizens, and Daredevil swallowed worriedly. He winced as the pattern of blows demolished the odd skull until it was a pancake of a metal, buzzing and popping with sparks. This couldn't keep up--whatever Harley had just snapped into, she'd snap out of.
"Harley. " He pushed lightly at her shoulder but got no reaction. He could hear heavy footsteps --a small group--in the distance. "Harley, let's go. Harley. " With an exasperated groan, he wrapped his arms around her middle and began hauling her off.
She flailed and kicked with howling laughter at first, swinging her limbs in insane spasms and coming close to hitting his head with her weapon. He dodged and jerked just long enough to keep himself unharmed, and for her to calm down. The woman settled into heavy breathing and weak wresting as he drove through the crowds down a busy street. "Suh...S-Sorry. Got a little...excited, you know....Okay, D-man. You can put me down now."
He didn't answer, instead closing the distance between him and the edge of an alley opening. He ran past it entirely and used his sense of smell to discover a sewer exit for them. "No. No more distractions."
"Put me down, ya big red clown!" Harley snarled low and interrupted by heavy breaths. He tensed as he eardrums her rear her back. "Or else I'll see if that helmet yours can cra..."
When he ran down the alley, he skidded to a halt. Somehow, he ended up missing the group of soldiers blocking their path in front of them, appearing out if thin air as if they were ghosts. Harley, cringing at the sight of their adversaries behind and in front of them, swallowed and patted his back.
"Nevamind. Don't put me down."
"Hey, come shake that tail over here!"
Well now this was just getting annoying. Not the constant cat calling, though that had problems in its own right. It had been at least eight minutes since she last saw Jack, and time could be running out on them for all they knew. She still wasn't sure how the pirate managed to evade her so easily and so quickly! She was really gonna give him a piece of her mind when she caught up to him, wherever he was.
Twilight stumbled when she happened to land a hoof on someone's boot and press her weight into it. She reeled the limb back too late, for the owner of the boot took notice almost instantly. "Oh, um, sorry. "
"No, but you will be."
The bar goer was certainly odd. His skin was entirely blue, in a rather dark shade of the color. Wrinkle highlighted his worn facial features and even adorned the brown leather clothes he wore. He wore a a rather big trenchcoat over a vest that seemed similar to what Daredevil wore, though with more metal components. Aside from a very nice hat on his head, there were two strange tubes connected to to the sides of his jaws. His eyes were without pupils and were entirely red, focused on the rude pony below.
"If y' don't start watchin' where yer going, yer gonna walk right into ma blaster." His hard voice was low and nasally, like he was speaking through a desk fan. "Ya read?"
Twilight stuttered at the odd question. "Uh, y-yes. I do read. Why do you ask?"
"Just get outta ma sight." The being snarled at her and went back to drinking whatever was in his mug.
"Um..." Twilight pondered whether she should walk away, to travel for who knows how many hours in this forsaken dump, or if she should try her hoof at speaking some more. This was the first sort of real chance at learning anything after all. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I need some information."
"I'm Cad Bane." He drummed his fingers on the table. "I don't care."
Why is this cranky old guy my only chance? She pursed her lips, glanced at the empty stool across from him and settled herself into it. "I can pay you for it."
"Right. Where ya hiding it in? Ya wings?" He scoffed, then took a swig of his mug.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm a princess. I'm certain I can work out a way of paying you in the future."
"I wouldn't be blabbing about bein' royalty out loud, little lady. Folks around here would love to have a princess for quick ransom money. Including me," He snorted when she stiffened at his remark. "Even if I wanted to snag ya, nobody gets off the planet."
"Nobody? Why?"
Cad scratched his chin, grimacing at something. "Those soldiers came in and wiped away half the city wit their monstahs. Then they corralled us over to this side. They decidin' what to do wit us."
That didn't sound good, and it didn't sound logical either. What the point of all this, to kill a few and then keep everyone else on the other side of the city? Where they searching for something or someone? It seemed the citizens needed the same answers that she did. "Whatever it is, it can't be good. This may be the safest place to stay until we...handle all of this." She looked up from her fiddling hooves. "Last question. Have you seen a pain in the neck around here? Calls himself Jack Sparrow?"
Cad pointed behind Twilight, who whirled around to look. She narrowed her eyes at seeing Jack at a giant table, surrounded by giant bar goers with grotesque looks. He shook a pair of red dice in his hands and tossed them onto the table. Given hoe pleased he looked with himself and how unhappy the others looked, he was winning at the unknown game. She trotted over without even looking back. "Thanks."
"I want mah money in credits, Twilight Sparkle!" She heard him say behind her.
Twilight finally trotted up to Jack as he was in the middle of that same story about riding sea turtles. She impatiently tapped her hooves on the wooden floor and snorted at him. The pirate whirled around with a look of surprise, but shrugged and started to drink some his newly acquired rum.
She glared more. "Hello, Captain. Fancy seeing you here."
"Burp! Ah, my good friend, Twilight! Never let it be said that you are not a loyal friend!" Jack took another long gulp of rum. "Sowhatcanidoforya?"
Her horn lit up instantly. "We're leaving. We have the information we need."
Jack waved his arms in surprise when his body was suddenly lifted a good five feet into the air. He snatched up a few bottles of rum with clumsy accuracy, flailing and twisting all the while. "Now! Now hold on--just one moment! We don't have the slightest..." He trailed as she started to walk towards the entrance, with Jim pulled in tow. "The slightest...um..Cut. Klutz. Kookabura."
"Clue." The Alicorn grumbled.
"Yes! We don't have the slightest clue of what's going on here! We need more reconnaissance! " He paused again and took the longest swig of rum that he could. "We need more ale! It'll mix nicely with this!"
Twilight glanced back at him incredulously, resting a hoof against the door. "I can't believe you left me just to get drunk! You've probably messed up everything for us!"
When she opened the door, she found that he did mess everything up.
A small cluster of soldiers were waiting there when she pushed the door open, with their heavy looking weapons trained on them. The nozzle of a gun pressed hard against her snout, and Twilight stared at it with bug eyes. The owner of the weapon gave them a nod. "You two are coming with us. Our general demands your arrest."
The alicorn princess would have opened her mouth to say something that would have probably helped to de-escalate the situation to something manageable. But she heard another lengthy chug of achoholic liquid and then a voice above her. "Now...If I dood it, I get a whippin'."
The soldier tilted his head. "What?"
"I DOOD IT!"
And then Jack threw the bottle of rum at the soldier, which instantly showered him in a rush of purple liquid. Nobody moved or spoke as the soldier stared at himself, his detainees quickly forgotten. "Agh. " He shook himself a little, perhaps to focus on who he should be arresting instead of worrying about what had been spilled on him. "You will pay for this slanderous act, you--! Where did they go?!"
Twilight and Jack reappeared a little ways behind them, due to one of the pony's teleportation spells. She instantly zipped away and took a left through a wide street, hoping that she had the slightest idea where she was going. Jack flailed about in mid-air, looking around as if he was just realizing where they were.
"I think you've...urp...outrun them!" Sparrow remarked in a slur. "You can stop...moving us so fast!"
Twilight galloped even faster than before. "No! We've got to find the others and see what we can do to stop this!"
