Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, a pair of gryphons flew toward Canterlot, landing just before they passed over the main gate. The younger of the two, a taller than average adolescent with blood red feathers and light brown coat of fur, looked on at the alabaster wall and gleaming city it surrounded with wonder. This was the first time he’d been out of his clan’s territory, let alone outside gryphon lands, and here he was already at the gates of Equestria’s capitol! As he was only used to the squat stone fortresses and simpler wooden structures of the gryphon territories, he was having trouble taking it all in. The second gryphon had ash coloured fur with black spots and dark grey feathers, with a wiry build and a large scar just below his right eye, landed only a moment later and walked up beside the first.
“Aerus, you should know that this is a terrible plan.” Enraptured as he was by the appearance of the city, Aerus jumped at the sound of the voice though he recovered quickly.
“Hey, what’s the problem with it? You look the part perfectly ‘Gyre’, if I didn’t know better even I’d be fooled.” Aerus shot him a critical look. “You’re not just gonna complain the whole time are you?”
“Hey, you were complaining about the distance practically the whole way here, I get at least one.” Gyre snapped back, before shaking his head. “And actually that’s just the problem. Sure I might LOOK the part, but just how long do you think I can pass as the most well known Steelclaw on the continent?”
“Oh, yeah, because a bunch of stuffy, unicorn bookworms are going tell you apart from the real thing right away.” Aerus poked Gyre’s chest for emphasis as he spoke. “Though maybe if you keep whining like this...”
Gyre growled something under his breath, and then said “Fine. Then let’s not keep the client waiting,” and began the walk toward Canterlot proper, with Aerus grinning and chuckling to himself as he followed only moments behind.
A few minutes later the pair was walking down Canterlot’s main street, with Gyre mostly just staring straight ahead with the occasional glance at the signs, while trailing behind him Aerus was still trying to look everywhere at once, marvelling at the architecture of the capitol as well as the style and colours of the various ponies going about their business. The pair received a few odd or curious looks in return, but were generally just ignored by the city’s populace. Most of the ponies walking about at this hour were on work related errands, and even of those who weren’t had all seen gryphons before. The species wasn’t exactly plentiful, but ambassadors from the clans present in Canterlot meant they were still a regular sight.
Aerus caught up to Gyre and started walking beside him. “So, where are we headed around here anyways?”
Gyre’s palm connected with his own forehead. “...So tell me: do you remember anything at all about what we’re doing here, or did you somehow manage to be absent from formulating YOUR OWN PLAN?!”
“Hey I remember the important stuff! We’re meeting a unicorn by the name of Luminous Spark who wants Gyre’s help seeking out some old ruin to the southeast. We do the job, that gets us into Equestrian Historical Society, which was the group my brother was working with and consequently where we start our search for him.”
“Uh huh. Now tell me: how are we expecting to search for the very gryphon whose name we’re using as a cover story?”
Aerus stopped in his tracks, causing him to fall behind Gyre again. “Umm...I...Uhh...”
“It’s like I said, it’s a terrible plan.”
Aerus pondered that for a moment, before running to catch up to Gyre again. “Hey wait a minute, if my plan’s so bad, why did you agree to it?”
Gyre sighed. “Because I’ve always found that failures teach better than successes do, and someone needs to keep an eye on you in case you get in over your head. Also, there’s something bothering me about the request letter...” Before Aerus could inquire further about that however, Gyre looked to the side stopped moving and said “Ahh, the Golden Sunrise Inn, here we are. This is where we’re supposed to meet our client.” He pushed his way through the door, with Aerus right behind him.
The inn was a cozy place, with the smell of delicious food wafting through the air, the room was lit by the soft glow of candles spaced evenly about the walls. The smattering of ponies that sat at oak tables and chairs were speaking in quiet voices, not so much out of a desire for secrecy as much as they didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere. There was even a musician in the corner, playing a soft melody on some kind of large stringed instrument the Aerus had never seen before. He couldn’t help a grin as he took in the sensations.
Gyre meanwhile surveyed the room quickly, soon spotting a young blue unicorn mare with a yellow mane, sporting a cutie mark of a wrench crossed over a yellow crystal, who was sitting to the left of the pair of gryphons and poring over a book. Noticing that she was the only pony in the room sitting at a table by herself, Gyre made an educated guess. He nudged Aerus lightly, motioning to follow as he made his way toward the mare.
Gyre announced his presence as he approached. “Luminous Spark, I presume?”
The mare replied absentmindedly as she continued reading. “Hmm? Yes, that’s me.”
“Greetings. I’m Gyre of the Steelclaw clan, and this is my younger brother Aerus, of the same. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Gyre extended a hand towards her.
At this she finally looked up. “Oh! You’re here, wonderful! It’s an honor to finally meet you face to face!” She took the outstretched talons in her hooves and shook vigorously. “And a pleasure to meet you too, Aerus.”
Aerus and Gyre shared a look, both thinking she never even met him before? Maybe this’ll be easier than we thought.
Luminous Spark didn’t seem to notice however, and asked “erm, I hope I’m not being too forward, but is there any particular reason your brother is here?”
Gyre replied without skipping a beat. “Training. Our clan practices a dangerous trade, and enthusiasm is no substitute for experience. The Steelclaw tradition is for juveniles to tag along with more experienced members for the first year or two. That way they can get a sense of adventuring in a situation in which they’re also a lot less likely to get themselves killed. I trust that won’t be a problem?”
“Er, no not at all! With someone who has your expertise around to keep an eye on things, I can’t imagine anything going wrong!”
Aerus shot his brother a nervous look, which went unnoticed in the dim lighting. Gyre’s eye twitched imperceptibly as he replied. “Yes, well let’s not count our eggs before they hatch. You mentioned in your letter that you be providing the supplies for the journey. I’ll need to inspect those to make sure we have everything we need.”
“Ahh of course. I took the liberty of loading them onto the airship before you arrived. I’ll lead you to it.” Luminous Spark hopped off the chair, and tossed the bartender a few bits as walked out the door.
The two gryphons sat there stunned for a moment, and when the finally turned to follow they looked at each other and spoke in unison. “Airship!?”
A few minutes later, after travelling down several streets and a side alley or two, the trio ended up in an open space attached to the Historical Society campus. Or at least it was once an open space, now it was occupied by something very large.
The majority of it was made up of a white canvas wrapped around a framework resembling an egg sitting on its side. A large wooden box, with downwardly angled sides and reinforced with metal beams, was essentially strapped to the bottom of it. The box itself had a door on one side, as well as a few strategically placed windows so that passengers could look out while the vehicle was in transit. Finally, there were a pair of smaller grey boxes connected to the sides of the ‘egg’, with a propeller sticking out the end of each one. If one looked closely, they could see wires connecting the smaller rectangles to the main cabin running along one of the seams of the canvas. Altogether the contraption was about the size of the average house.
“It’s amazing!” Aerus said at last. What geniuses these ponies were, to build devices that let even the wingless ones fly! He knew a number of crippled old gryphons at home who would love to see something like this.
Gyre was much less enthused. “It’s a deathtrap.” He said finally, after walking around it once. “If I understand correctly, that...balloon keeps you in the air: what will happen when that inevitably gets damaged?”
The unicorn responded with an enthusiasm that caught him by surprise. “Ahh, I’m glad you asked! See I thought about that myself, and here’s what I came up with,” she motioned with a hoof toward one of the engines, pointing at a number of small crystals embedded in the sides of it. “See those? I enchanted them. It’s not quite enough to keep it afloat, but if we lose the balloon those ensure that the worst that happens is we gently drift toward ground. I suppose we might lose the airship that way, but I can guarantee that nopony gets hurt from a rupture.” Gyre gave her a sceptical look at this, but let her continue. “Because we can get the whole party airborne, we can bypass most of the threats on the ground anyways. And we’ll make better time than ever because we won’t have to make camp!”
Aerus chimed in with a question. “So, did you build this airship all by yourself them?”
Luminous Spark blushed and absently rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Ah ha, well I mean, of course I had a lot of help from the historical society, especially with getting the materials...”
“...but you designed it yourself.” Gyre finished, sounding a little impressed despite himself. “Have you tested it?”
“Of course! Here, let me demonstrate.” The unicorn hopped inside the cabin. Moments later, there was a faint hum of magic. The aircraft gently lifted lifted off the ground and began straining against the tethers currently holding it in place. With the ship in a stable hover, Luminous Spark poked her head out the door. “So, what do you think?”
Gyre thought for a moment. “Well I can’t say I trust the thing, but I can see the appeal of keeping everypony in the air. Let me just look over the supplies quickly, and then we can get underway.”
Credit where credit was due, Luminous Spark had done her research. The cabin was stocked with loads of food that, while it wasn’t exactly the height of culinary excellence, it would keep for an extended journey. There was also a cupboard off to the side containing a number of bandages and common medicines, which looked like they would be enough in this case, though it was clear that Luminous Spark wasn’t expecting any serious injuries to occur.
As everything was in order, they were able to take off right away. It wasn’t even noon, and they’d already left Canterlot behind. Equestria’s capital city looked like little more than a shining blob to them now.
Aerus initially found flying in an airship exciting, but the novelty quickly wore off. Aside from periodically checking a couple gauges next to the controls, there wasn’t a whole lot that needed doing. For his part Gyre was camped out in the corner, looking over maps which covered their route as well as skimming through a couple of books borrowed from their client, who had brought a number of books related to their destination region. Ever the dutiful one, Aerus thought as he looked over, before turning to Luminous Spark.
To kill time he struck up a conversation with the unicorn. Aerus started by asking some basic questions about life in Canterlot but it quickly expanded to her construction of, and future plans for the airship. She’d only really considered the possibility of it as a research aide, giving the more bookish ponies a convenient means of getting into the field, while Aerus thought it could revolutionize transport and travel.
Doing nothing but talking wasn’t Aerus’ preferred way to spend a day, but before he knew it the sun was setting on the horizon, and it was time to assign watches for the night. The airship’s trajectory had to be monitored, and although being able to stay in the air through the night made them safer than otherwise, ‘safer’ and ‘safe’ were not the same thing.
Luminous Spark volunteered to take the last watch, as they were likely to reach their destination by then and she wanted to be awake in case course adjustments had to be made. Gyre claimed the second watch, it cut into sleep and was thus generally the most difficult. This left Aerus with first watch.
Luminous Spark and Gyre had to gone to sleep, in their beds of a sleeping bag with pillow and the bare wooden floor respectively. That left Aerus the only one still awake, with nothing but the hum of the propellers for company.
Looking out the window, Aerus was thankful for the nearly full moon. The light reflecting off it bathed the landscape in a gentle blue glow, which made his current role as lookout easier, as well as giving him something to look at during his watch.
For the first hour he tried his best to just sit and watch. Having never been in this area before he was able to keep himself amused for a time by observing the terrain features, but forests and mountains viewed from this far up could only keep his attention for so long, and soon he felt his eyelids begin to droop. To try and keep himself engaged, he borrowed a book from Luminous Spark’s little collection.
Aerus found a copy of a journal once belonging to an old pony adventurer who’d gone through this area, and took to reading it in between bouts of staring out the window. The writing style was a little dry, but apparently back then an old dragon had made its lair in the nearby mountain range, and Aerus found the tactics employed to distract or avoid the beast were really quite clever.
Midway through the third hour, Aerus’ ears twitched. He stopped reading mid-page, and walked to a starboard window. He moved past each of the cabin windows in turn, but he saw nothing but the valley they happened to be passing over. “Guess I’m just hearing things...” he muttered to himself, and went back to reading.
He’d only made it through two pages before his ears twitched again. This time he’d definitely heard something, that sounded almost like a distant roar...
Aerus went back to the windows, peering more intently this time. Despite a few minutes of careful searching he still didn’t see anything.
As he more cautiously moved back toward his book a sudden, short gust of wind rocked the airship, too weak to really jostle it but enough to be clearly felt.
Finally convinced something was amiss, Aerus poked the sleeping Gyre in the side.
The older gryphon mumbled something before sleepily opening his eyes. “Mmm...time for my watch...?”
“Not exactly. Hey, do you know how long dragons live?”
The question caught Gyre by surprise, which jarred him into wakefulness. “...aside from ‘a long time’ I don’t really know. Why are you ask-”
A sudden impact rocked the ship, rolling it to the right and sending food, books and a previously-sleeping unicorn into the side wall. The sound of tearing canvas and splintering wood could be heard above them.
“The airship is compromised! Aerus, grab Spark and get to ground!”
“What about you-”
“No time, just go!” Gyre was off before Aerus had a chance to ask anything else, jumping at the supplies that were now rattling about the cabin.
Aerus ran to the corner where Luminous Spark was lying in a confused heap.
“What’s going on?!” She asked as he pulled her up onto her hooves.
“The airship’s under attack. We have to go.” Aerus guided her over to the door and opened it, then positioned himself to get a solid grip on her shoulders.
“Wait, ‘go’? Go where? We’re hundreds of metres up! We can’t just-”
“I really wish we had time to argue.” Aerus spoke apologetically, before kicking his back legs and leaping out the airship’s door.
Luminous Spark started screaming as they plummeted, the wind suddenly buffeting them as they left the cover of the cabin.
Aerus let them both fall for a few seconds to build up speed, then angled himself toward a nearby hill and snapped his wings open, having to tighten his grip to keep hold of his charge.
They levelled out and their trajectory stabilized, which gave Luminous Spark a chance to recover. She stopped screaming, though she was still taking rapid, shallow breaths. “Getmedown!...P-Please, I need to be on the ground right now!” she managed between gasps.
“Yeah that’s the idea, and it’ll be a lot easier to do if you stop squirming!”
It took them only a couple minutes to glide to the ground. Aerus flapped his wings a couple times to slow his descent, before dropping Luminous Spark the last few hoof-lengths. She landed hard, but was thankful to be on the ground all the same.
Aerus landed on the ground a short distance away, carried forward by his momentum, as the pair of them turned to look back at the airship.
A large chunk of the balloon had been torn off, with bits of wood and metal raining down around the airship, and torn bits of canvas fluttered useless in the wind. A large figure could be seen clinging to the top of the airship, alternately tearing and biting at the crippled vehicle. Though the dim light didn’t allow them to see any details, the moonlight reflecting irregularly off of scales revealed the reptilian nature of their attacker.
The airship was lost, but the gryphon and unicorn had a more immediate concern at the moment, with the most experienced member of their party still on board. So it was with a palpable sense of relief that they saw a smaller figure that could only have been Gyre dart out the door amidst falling debris. Aerus even let out a sigh, knowing that whatever else happened at least the three of them were okay.
The feeling lasted until a few seconds later, when the dragon finally damaged one of the engines. There was a burst of blue light accompanied by a fiery explosion as the magic enhanced engine detonated, in what would have been a brilliant display under other circumstances.
The burst caught the dragon by surprise, causing it to roar in pain and retreat back into the night. Unfortunately it had a similar effect on Gyre who, though farther away from the source of the blast was also a much smaller and drastically less magic resistant. Aerus and Luminous Spark were too far away to do anything but watch as the distant gryphon was knocked about by the blast. Gyre tumbled through the air for a few panic inducing moments, before levelling out into an unsteady descent aimed at point a ways up the hill the pair were standing on.
And though Luminous Spark didn’t seem to have spotted it, Aerus’ heart skipped a beat as he thought he had seen a brief flash of green amongst the blue.
“He’s not gonna make it...” Aerus whispered to himself, frozen in place for the moment. Then the reality of what just happened sank in and he broke into a flat out run. He called out louder so Luminous Spark could hear this time. “He’s not gonna make it!”
Luminous Spark followed behind him as best she could, though she wasn’t quite as fast as the dashing gryphon. She kept taking glances at the Gyre, trying to track his landing location, and she noticed something odd. She kept seeing the light moonlight reflecting off of him in a way that just didn’t make sense for a creature with fur and feathers...
There was no time to say anything however, as by the time she was certain she saw something Gyre had almost reached the hillside.
Aerus, far ahead of the Luminous Spark, leapt at Gyre’s semi-limp form just as he would have hit the ground. Aerus caught the falling not-gryphon mid air, and the two collided with the ground in a heap. Neither were moving.
Luminous Spark finally caught up with the two to check if they were okay, which finally gave her a good look at what she saw moments before.
Where she would have expected a grey gryphon, there was now an equine covered in a black carapace lying limp in front of her. It sported a jagged horn and faint blue wings, had hooves like swiss cheese and there were a pair of sharp fangs sticking out of his mouth.
It was a changeling, all the way out here! Luminous Spark recoiled in a panic, remembering the events of the royal wedding. After taking a moment to recover she readied the only combat spell she knew, her horn glowing blue with the effort, and wondered if she could bring herself to use it against a living creature.
She was saved the trouble of deciding for the moment however, as Aerus saw her readying the spell and struggled to his feet. “Wait!”
Luminous struggled to hold the spell, the shout causing her to doubt but at the same time she wasn’t ready to let go of it either.
Aerus shouted again. “Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Luminous Spark responded this time. “Well we can’t just leave it, it could kill or capture us both! I’m not comfortable about this either, but I don’t see any other choice!” She steeled herself, and prepared to release the spell at the changeling.
Aerus leapt at her, causing Luminous Spark’s spell to misfire and shatter a nearby rock instead of hit its intended target. Pinning her to the ground, he growled at her, “I will NOT let you hurt him anymore!”
The fire in Aerus’ eyes died however on looking at the unicorn held under his talons, paralyzed in fear. To Luminous Spark his actions must have looked insane. He had only wanted her to stop...
Aerus gingerly stepped off the stunned but otherwise unharmed unicorn, and backed several paces away. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, burying his head in his talons, “this is all my fault...”
Luminous Spark got unsteadily to hooves. She was still shaken, but she’d be damned if she lost her only remaining team member. “H-hey, it’s not your fault, you couldn’t have known a changeling had taken the place of your brother.”
“I think I could...” came the sullen reply, “since I was the one who asked him to.”
Luminous Spark sat down on her haunches involuntarily. There was only one response she could give. “What.”
“The Steelclaw clan...may have adopted a changeling a few years ago,” Aerus began. “Gyre came home after one adventure with Taal- Taalix is his actual name- with Taal in tow. Said he found him abandoned by his hive and half dead, laying by a river. Even if he was a changeling, Gyre refused to just leave him there. Naturally, the clan was suspicious of him and wanted to refuse Taal, but Gyre can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Eventually it was decided that, since the changeling came openly as opposed to in disguise, he would be allowed probational entrance.
“Suspicion died down pretty quickly when he did nothing but stay in his room depressed for the whole first month, and no one but Gyre could even get a word out of him. Not exactly efficient spy behavior. After Gyre finally got him out of his shell-” Aerus chuckled weakly to himself at the unintended pun, “-he taught Taalix the Steelclaw customs. Taal then made a formal request to join the clan, and was accepted after going through a rite of passage.”
Luminous Spark held up her hooves, curious now. “Hold up, you said he was abandoned by his hive. Why was that?”
Aerus shrugged. “I dunno. That’s between him, Gyre, and whatever queen he used to serve, I guess. He refuses to talk about it with anyone else.”
The unicorn thought for a moment. “And, you trust him? I kinda hate to ask, but changelings are kinda known for deceiving ponies...”
“He’s a member of my clan: I trust him with my life.” Aerus then smiled. “And I have to say, Taalix is the most devoted gryphon to the Steelclaw code I’ve ever met.”
“I...don’t share you confidence.” Luminous Spark felt awkward saying it, but it needed to be said. Aerus nodded without responding.
“But,” she continued, “regardless of his allegiance he’s still the most experienced of us, and we’re kinda on our own out here so...I think I could trust him, at least for the time being.”
“That’s great but...I don’t think it does us a whole lot of good now...” came Aerus’ sullen reply.
“Don’t give up yet!” Luminous Spark trotted over to the downed changeling, and after moving aside the saddlebags she just noticed he was carrying, put her ear to his chest. “...breathing’s faint, but steady...” she muttered to herself, then turned back to the gryphon. “Look! We’re all still alive, even if one of us is out of commission for the time being. We can make it!”
Aerus looked at her, seeming to contemplate her words, but otherwise didn’t respond. Luminous Spark felt doubt begin to creep into her mind as well, but wasn’t finished yet, and switched up her tactics. “Fine. Be that way, if you like. But just tell me this: what would Taalix be telling us to do right now it he were awake?”
“What...would he tell...” Aerus suddenly leapt to his feet, and slapped himself in the face, causing Luminous Spark to jump. “He’d tell me to quit sulking and suck it up, then he’d say we needed to get out of the open so we could rest up and plan our next course of action. You grab the supplies, I’ll carry Taal.”
Having moved closer, Aerus gently lifted the wounded changeling a short distance off the ground, allowing Luminous Spark shift the saddlebags from Taalix’s back to hers. The pair then began the delicate process of moving the changeling safely onto Aerus’s back, which required her telekinesis, his wings and took about 5 minutes of constant effort. Luminous Spark was panting a little by the end, not used to holding such large objects airborne for so long.
“Alright...” Aerus said when they were finished, taking a breath as the changeling’s weight settled on his back, “I think our best bet would be to find some kind of cave. Deep enough to give us cover from the elements and roaming predators, shallow enough that something hasn’t nested in it already...” Aerus began looking around the area, though he didn’t notice anything right away.
Luminous Spark did however. She quickly pulled out a map from the saddlebags, lighting up her horn to read it. After a few seconds of looking to and from the map and various geological formations around them, she exclaimed “I know where we are!”
Aerus turned to look at her, intent and a little bewildered, as she spoke. “We’re actually pretty close to our original destination, in fact if we’d carried on we would have overshot it! Hah!” Luminous Spark pointed at a place she'd marked on the map prior to the trip as she explained. “Anyways. This ruin was recently uncovered by a landslide, so it should meet both our criteria of both depth and lack of habitation. And I know where it is! Follow me!”
As Luminous Spark took off at a swift trot, Aerus wanted to shout a word of caution, but instead found himself caught up in her sudden enthusiasm. He ran behind her as fast as he could safely manage.
Of course, airship-less and out in the wilderness, ‘close’ turned out to be a relative thing. It took them about an hour and a half just to reach the jagged, metal structure which marked the entrance to the ruins, by which time the excitement and adrenaline had long since worn off, leaving only tiredness and soreness behind. Addled as they were, it took them another fifteen minutes of thought and effort to get Taalix safely through the jagged hole which served as a makeshift entrance.
Luminous Spark collapsed to the ground almost immediately once all three were inside the structure, and after a moment a soft snoring could be heard from where she lay.
Aerus had just enough strength left to shove a fallen piece of metal in front of the hole, before he too lay down and fell into a welcome sleep.
Aerus woke to birds chirping, though the sound elicited little more than an ear twitch from him. Feeling stiff, he stretched out a little, then curled into a ball. “Jus' five more minutes...” he mumbled.
Then the events of the previous came back to him in a rush, and his eyes snapped open. Aerus took stock of his current surroundings for the first time, using the light filtering in through a number of small holes in the walls and ceiling. The trio had entered some kind of metal structure which was originally made out of sections of interlocking plates, though by now a large number of them were damaged. In some cases they were missing entirely, leaving nothing but a skeleton of metal bars to holding the structure together in those parts. Rock and dirt were visible through the holes, at some points even piercing through the walls. The chamber Aerus and Taalix were currently lying in seemed to be one end of some sort of tunnel leading further into the structure, though as that lead deeper into the mountain itself the natural light didn't reach most of it. Aerus could only see a short distance down the tunnel in front of him, which seemed to expand into a larger chamber before it faded into total darkness.
The gryphon also noticed that Luminous Spark was nowhere to be seen. Looking behind him he saw that their entryway was still blocked from the inside, which left only one option. Aerus called out to the blackness.
“Luminous Spark?”
No response. Aerus took a few cautious steps into the darkness.
“Miss Spark, are you out there?”
This time, the darkness called back with a distant, female voice “...just a sec!..”
There was a loud 'thunk', followed a minute later by much of the interior structure being filled by a dim green light, emitted by small apertures spaced regularly in the ceiling. The larger space was now illuminated, revealing that it was actually a junction, leading to what were once exits prior to the structure being buried as well as two other tunnels which lead deeper into the ruin. A dark blue unicorn came trotting out of one of the tunnels.
“Morning Aerus! You're finally awake! How did you sleep?”
Aerus sat for a moment, unsure how to respond, when the conversation was interrupted by a groan coming from Taalix, who was lying beside the pair. The changeling's voice had a thrumming quality to it which Luminous Spark heard for the first time, and otherwise she found it sounded only a little higher compared to when he was in disguise.
She spoke to him cheerfully. “Oh, morning Taalix!”
“...morning...nnng. Aerus why does she know my name?” Taalix's voice reflected equal parts confusion and concern.
Aerus looked away as he explained. “I uhh, might have explained some things after you were knocked unconscious.”
“...no big loss I guess-” the changeling coughed a couple times before he was able to continue, “it was a piss poor plan anyways. I'm just glad *cough* that I'm still alive to wake up this morning.”
Luminous Spark chimed in. “About that, how are your injuries? I noticed you didn't grab any medical supplies in your escape...”
Taalix shook his head. “No time *cough*...and since I heal pretty fast and...can only carry so much, other things took priority. As for me...nnng, I've been better...but I'll live.”
“Anything we can do to help?”
“I just *cough*...need some rest...” Taalix closed his eyes and curled up.
Aerus nudged Luminous Spark. “Hey, let's give him some peace and quiet.” She nodded, and then all but pranced back into the depths of the ruins with the gryphon trailing behind.
Aerus finally caught up to her as she stopped to look around a large chamber in the middle of the structure, this one containing a large green crystal that emitted a faint glow in the centre of it. A couple wires ran from the base of the crystal to other objects within the chamber, though many more lay idly around, either torn or otherwise disconnected from everything. Aerus asked her a question as she started to poke at the various pieces of debris.
“I've been wondering: given everything that happened last night, how are you this...cheerful? How long have you been up?”
Luminous Spark pulled apart a bundle of wires with her magic. “I was so excited I couldn't sleep for more than a few hours. I mean think about it!” Finding a wire she could use, the unicorn plugged it into an aperture in the base of the crystal. “This is my first time ever outside Canterlot, and not only am I exploring my first ancient ruin, but I also met a changeling who isn't actively trying to attack me or feast on my love! Ooh, once he's rested I'm going to have so many questions...” She plugged the other end of the wire she was holding into the base of a nearby...something that Aerus couldn’t identify, which caused parts of it to light up.
Aerus looked around the room, a little bewildered. “These are ancient? They seem so...modern.”
“Oh, yeah!” Luminous Spark pried open the device with a combination of telekinesis and a stray bit of metal. “All evidence points to sites like these being older than Celestian Equestria, with current best guesses putting the sites themselves at over two thousand years old!” With the panel off, she moved something around inside the device by feel. Aerus couldn't see what she was doing, but he could hear a series of clanging noises. “Supposedly there's a bunch of things found at such sites banned by name in equestrian laws. Laws which haven't been relevant to anything accept such artefacts for over a thousand years, which is when the records start to get a bit spotty anyways. Naturally they're always dismantled when found, for safety reasons. But they’re exciting finds nonetheless!”
“Er...so, you've been going at this for a while now...just what are you doing?”
The unicorn had moved on to another device in the room. “Oh, I'm fixing it! I needed something to do while you two were waking up, and I've always had a talent for working with magic-powered devices so...I busied myself.” Luminous Spark shrugged.
“And you're sure it's safe?”
Luminous Spark plugged in one last wire as she replied. “Of course it's safe! What's the worst thing that could happen?”
The moment she said that the entire structure began to shake, and the sound of cracking rocks and screeching metal could be heard all around them, echoing through the tunnels.
“First rule of adventuring: Never, ever ask that question!” Aerus had to shout to be heard. “I need to check on my brother!” The gryphon ran off before Luminous Spark had a chance to respond.
He found Taalix only moments later, the changeling having hobbled down the corridor towards them. “Aerus! *cough*, we're airborne!”
Aerus helped Taalix to the central chamber, getting all three were together to discuss the situation. A quick look out one of the many holes in the structure confirmed for all three that it was in fact currently flying through the air. However they quickly concluded that at least for the time being, this wasn't a problem. With their previous method of transport destroyed and the vehicle they were in headed in vaguely the direction they needed to go anyways, they thought it best to leave things be for now, even if none of them were entirely comfortable with that course of action.
The trio decided to have a quick snack of trail rations before having a rest, both of which would make their next move easier, though they weren’t quite sure what that would be.
A couple hours later, Taalix was the first one awake. Despite being the one with the greatest need of rest, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was still seriously wrong. Limping to a small, nearby hole, he eyed a nearby mountain range with suspicion as they passed by it. They were making great progress, and still in a beneficial direction to boot. Still unsure what was bothering him, Taalix pulled out a map.
First he looked at the place Luminous Spark had marked on the map herself, that was their starting point, and put a hoof under it. Then he looked to the mountain range they were near, noting to himself that the sun was just setting when they had passed near it going the other direction, and mentally made a line between the two points. Then he looked past it, noting that once he accounted for imprecision of his measurement it made a straight line to the town of Trottingham, which was coincidentally also the closest populated area to the previous site of the ruins.
Or maybe it wasn't coincidence. Taalix wasted no time waking Luminous Spark and Aerus. He explained.
“We have a problem. This airship is headed straight for Trottingham.”
Luminous Spark raised a hoof. “Isn't that a good thing? Civilization is where we wanted to get to, right?”
Taalix shook his head. “That would be true, if we were the ones steering. But think about it: ancient and dangerous technology automatically sets a course for the nearest Equestrian town? I can't imagine anything good would come from that.” He looked meaningfully at the unicorn. “What sort of capabilities is this thing thought to have?”
Luminous Spark didn't respond immediately, but the look of horrified realization on her face said everything. “...we have to shut it down...” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Taalix nodded. “Aerus! Get to a vantage point and let us know when the town comes into view. Luminous Spark and I need to figure out how to bring this thing out of the sky.”
Aerus nodded, then ran to a mid-sized hole in the wall and stuck his head out.
What he saw made his heart drop. There, right at the edge of his vision, sat the painted wooden buildings of a small, peaceful looking pony town.
He ducked back inside. “I see it already!”
Taalix turned to Luminous Spark immediately. “What's the most straightforward way to bring this down?” When she didn't respond he clapped his hooves in front of her. “Time limit!”
“Uhh, right...Crystal!” She pointed a hoof at the large, slightly glowing crystal in the middle of the room they were in. “This powers the whole thing, knock it out of place or break it, the ship comes crashing down!”
Taalix turned to his brother. “She doesn't have wings, and we can't break that and carry her at the same time, we have to split up the tasks.”
“You're already injured. You two get to safety, I'll handle the crystal.” When Taalix was about to argue back, Aerus cut him off. “No time, go!”
The changeling looked concerned but nodded anyways, then wrapped his limbs around Luminous Spark's torso, and nudged them both toward a broken part of the wall.
A split second later, Taalix jumped, and they were gone leaving only the sound of the wind behind.
Aerus turned toward the centre of the room, and leapt at it. The crystal itself held fast, but with a loud creak the base bent. Aerus recovered, wound up and leapt a second time. Colliding with the crystal with a loud 'crack', it broke free and started tumbling about the room.
From the outside, the ancient airship appeared to slow and gently drift downward, occasionally shedding the odd piece of jagged, metal debris.
From the inside, all hell was breaking loose. With the crystal disconnected, the magic that had kept the decayed ship together in the air had just been switched off, causing the broken ship to essentially tear itself apart from its momentum and air resistance alone.
The task done, Aerus scrabbled for an opening as rooms began to bend, making it out of the central chamber as it collapsed in on itself behind him.
He ran for a hole in the side corridor, diving through only a second before it tore free from the collapsing ship.
For a single, glorious moment Aerus was free of the ship, in which he spread his wings and prepared to fly to a safe distance.
His plans were halted by a piece of flying debris impacting with the back of his head. His last thought was that he was glad he’d had a chance to make up to Taalix for his mistakes. Then his vision faded to black.
Aerus came to in a hospital room, with Luminous Spark and Taalix, now in his typical disguise of a smaller than average gryphon with midnight blue feathers and black fur. He wasn't actually disguised as anybody, that was the appearance he chose for when he wasn't trying to hide, but those around him didn't know he was a 'safe' changeling. Both breathed a little sigh of relief as Aerus opened his eyes.
“...Oooh...how long was I out?” Aerus rubbed his forehead.
“About a day. That was quite a fall.” Came Taalix's reply. “If it wasn't for Miss Spark's quick thinking and some timely assistance from a pair of Trottingham weather ponies...well as you're safe now I'd rather not think about it too much.”
Aerus nodded slowly. Then, thinking about the events of the past few days, he turned to Luminous Spark. “I'm sorry about your first expedition. I can't imagine anything of that airship remained intact...either one, now that I think about it...”
“Nonsense! Well okay, I suppose I would have liked to bring home an artifact in one piece. But there was still plenty recovered from the crash site! Nopony at the society's had a ruin that flew off on them before, so I'm sure it will be exciting even studying the debris! I already started shipping off the best pieces this morning.” Luminous Spark paused for a moment. “But frankly I'm just glad to see both of you okay, after all the risks you took on my behalf...and your brother's.”
Aerus shot Taalix a questioning look, unable to remember ever telling that to her. The changeling explained. “I took the liberty of explaining our situation to her. I figured we owed her that much, and we were looking for legitimate way into the Historical Society anyhow.”
Luminous Spark took over the conversation. “With that in mind, I have a proposition for you two. Perhaps above all else, this was an illuminating first test for my airship design, and I found it wanting. I'm planning to rebuild it, and I'd like some input from a pair of seasoned adventurers and flyers such as yourselves in my new design. And while we're there, I might be able to find some information on Gyre's whereabouts, or at least put you two in a position to find it. So what do you say: after a bit of rest, would you two be willing to come back to Canterlot for a few months as consultants?”
Aerus and Taalix looked at each other and thought for only a moment before both nodding. They turned back toward Luminous Spark, and Aerus spoke. “Sounds perfect, we'll do it.”
Author's Note
I made this for Equestria Daily's 4th flash fiction event. As such, it's a bit more rushed than other things I've written, and a number of ideas made it into the final product which wouldn't have otherwise. Still, there's a fair amount that I like about the end product, so here it is.
