Project Vaporside; Prologue, Part I: The Beginning of the Beginning of My End [THIRD DRAFT]
Project Vaporside; Prologue, Part I: The Beginning of the Beginning of My End [THIRD DRAFT]
The Vaporside Incident, Part 1:
The Prelude to The Beginning of My
End
(Second Edit)
[Third Draft]
Years ago, I was the well-respected mage of Vaporia, in the city of Aurora. I was, and still am, one of the few alicorns in existence. Even though I am skilled in both magic and flight, I prefer to stay out of large events. Things like airshows, or magic competitions, and other mundane, childish spectacles like those. All I wanted was to remain silent, to remain one of the few. That changed for me. I’d only been living in Vaporia for a few years now, I moved from Equestria for peace and quiet, that’s not what I found though. My newly constructed tower, though not as large as the previous tower I had lived in with my parents before they died, would suffice, despite only having fifteen or so floors.
Within a few weeks I discovered that Aurora was on the brink of anarchy; there were riots, bandits, and the occasional raids from down below. Even though Vaporia had been in the clouds, land creatures, like ponies, canids, and other non-winged creatures could walk and live up there due to the clouds being enchanted. It was more of a detriment than a benefit. As these raids went on, Vaporia’s government went on the verge of collapse. A few small towns broke off and drifted southward. I don’t know how far south, but it’s safe to assume that they were destroyed when they reached the scorched lands. No one ever returns from there.
As I was leaving Vaporia to move back to Equestria, I felt something, a dark presence. It felt like something was watching me. Somepony was waiting for me to return. It gave me the urge to turn around, back into the city, but my will kept me from re-entering the city…
I shrugged off the feeling and boarded the airship, and said hello to Brisk, my trusty pilot. He responded by holding up a two litre bottle of imported vodka, and then proceeded to down half the bottle. The airship went on for weeks, in fact, five weeks had passed before we neared the border of Equestria. Time kept on lingering; it felt like an eternity had passed, I felt so, so very old, though Brisk did not feel a thing, possibly because he was not a magic user, or maybe because he was always drunk. The feeling was because we were passing by the Central Ley Line. Ley Lines are barriers of Ley energy that prevent hostile, supernatural beings from entering the known world.
I arrived in Equestria two to three days earlier than anticipated, though it seems as we had been late. It felt that way anyways, because we had passed by the Ley Line. When passing by the line time felt as if it went forever, as if one day lasted three weeks. I do not know much of the Ley Lines; all I know is that they are ancient energy prophesized to be laid in place by the first ruler of the Old World, a place where, currently, chaos and disharmony rein free due to the copious amounts of Ley energy in that part of the world. It is where entire continents float up out of the ground, where erratic winds turn to gentle summer breezes in the blink of an eye, and where mountains erupt from the ground as if it itself were a volcano.
It had been ten years since I’d first moved from Equestria to Vaporia, and the nine years I spent in Vaporia were horrible, though there was a year on and off in total where Brisk and I were out adventuring, that had a lot of entertainment value, along with danger. There were riots everywhere; many Equines were killed while the government tried to quell the riots. The law there is corrupt; corrupt, arrogant, and deadly. They didn’t even try to reason with the rioters, they just ended up using brute force, such as teleporting objects into their skulls, and just ripping them apart.
We were greeted by the Royal Guard when we first entered Equestria; they flew past the port and starboard sides, clad in gold and white armour. Brisk hid his flask of whiskey. They almost surrounded the vessel, leaving that the only airspace that the guards could freely fly. Though I guess it was considered dangerous to fly behind, due to the possibility of the ship slowing down, which could potentially end up with one of the royal guards crashing through into the cargo hold. Though that would be an amusing sight, but plenty of my belongings were in the hold, and I wouldn’t want anything valuable to be damaged or destroyed.
“Steer hard to port!” One of the guardsmen, who had been sporting more decorative and extravagant armour, shouted to our helmsmen. He appeared to be the captain, hence Brisk’s response.
“Yes, aye, captain.” Brisk replied.
Years ago, when I came to Vaporia, I met Brisk, and we almost instantaneously became friends. He was originally from Stalliongrad, hence his thick accent and drinking habits. We’ve been best friends ever since, though he treats me like more of an employer than a friend. Later in life, he became a heavy drinker after he lost a loved one. Brisk Windfeather is his name, and he is a hardy, courageous Earth Pony. He is coloured with a light, pale green coat that has even lighter blue stripes, some have mistaken him for a zebra because of that detail. His cutie mark is a ship’s wheel. He has yellow coloured eyes that are often shrouded by his aviator goggles, and sports a spiked forest-green and pale yellow-green mane. He is a little too courageous for my liking, though he has gotten me out of many tough situations during my adventures with him in ancient ruins over the years.
We were currently approaching Mareheim port to make a stop before we headed off to Canterlot; I just needed to pick up a few alchemical components for the rest of the ride so I could conjure us up for us a few substitutes for food, and brew some herbal beverages.
“Brisk?” I called,
“Yes, Frost, uh… I mean sir?” Brisk replied. He seemed afraid of saying my name. I’ve known him for more than half my life and I’ve told him before he could call me by name.
“You know you can call me Frost, right?” I replied.
“If you say so, uh… Frost…” He replied, somewhat awkwardly, which was off for his personality, he probably hadn’t drank as much as usual.
“As you know, we need to stop in Mareheim for some alchemical components, and well, food if you’d like.”
“So, we’re going to get real food?” Brisk asked excitedly, as if he had been dumbfounded by the offer. I was slightly offended, in response to the look on my face; he pulled out his flask and started drinking from it. Though I was displeased, I remembered he always had a sweet tooth, and my brews weren’t meant to be sweet, nor were they meant to be consumed by earth ponies. Though there were no adverse effects on Brisk, so I assume it would be safe for all earth ponies, or again, maybe just because of his body’s high tolerance to alcohol.
“Yes, Brisk, you can get a cake…” I replied, slightly annoyed, though I said it in a patronizing tone.
“Thank you, sir.” He said ever-so gratefully.
His gratitude pleased me; I gave him a smile, though he seemed not to notice, as he was busy with plotting a course to Mareheim.
“ETA: twenty minutes, sir!” Brisk shouted from the helm.
“Good on you!” I replied most gleefully, I was excited to visit Mareheim. I hadn’t been there in over fourteen years; there was probably a lot that had changed.
“I haven’t been to this town in fourteen years, I wonder what’s changed.” I said. Brisk took it as a question.
“Oh, not much, Mareheim tower is still standing; there are a couple of new districts, with one under construction. That’s all.” Brisk replied happily as he glanced over in the direction of a bar.
“Wonderful! I can’t wait to fly past Mareheim tower; I want to see how the city’s grown.”
As we broke through the thick cloud layer, I heard a shout for help. Worried, and wondering who, or what, it was, I flew up, under and around the airship.
“Slow down Brisk!” I shouted, while searching for whoever made that scream. As I dove down beneath the thick layer of clouds, I saw an orange and pink Pegasus falling.
“Why isn’t she flying?” I thought to myself, “Oh no, we probably hit her while she was sleeping in the clouds.”
I raced downwards, nearly breaking the sound barrier. As I caught up with her, I noticed something about her; her right wing was all bandaged up. But then wasn’t the time to analyze the situation. I had to act fast. I swooped under her and caught her; I almost lost my balance though, because she wasn’t as heavy as I thought. I struggled to carry the mare up to the airship, though I managed. When we got back up to the airship I flopped to the floor and passed out.
I don’t know how long it had been since I had passed out, but I did wake up. I was in my bed, the young mare sitting idly in front of me, watching. I was startled as to whom this young mare was, but my memories slowly settled, and I told myself everything was fine. She appeared to be as old as I was at the time. She had an orange coat, though it seemed a little ruffled, probably because of what happened earlier. Her pink mane was curved to the right of her head. I then noticed her eyes, those beautiful, purple eyes. Her cutie mark was circular and had multiple colours. I was still dazed, and I dozed off once more, only to wake to the young mare still sitting there, staring happily at me.
“Hiya there sleepyhead, you okay?” Her voice chimed; it was filled with excitement and concern.
I tried to respond, but what came out was a muffled groan of pain. It was almost unbearable, my wings seemed broken, and my head was bleeding, but the wounds were bandaged up.
“Wha-What happened?” I asked, groggily and stuttering.
“When you saved me, I tried to fly up, but I fell and landed on your wings and then you hit your head on a bolt in the floor.” She answered, with a saddened look on her face.
“But… W-who are you? And why are you here?” I asked, in a semi-comatose state, still stuttering.
“My name’s Coral Bine!” She said cheerily, “and you are?”
“I-I’m Frost, Frost Bloodwick…” The pain was almost unbearable this time, so I passed out once more.
This next time, I woke up in what seemed to be a hospital bed, but it felt too comfortable.
I sat up, looked around, and saw that it was a hospital. There was nopony in sight, and I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be x-rays on the wall, broken wings and a fractured skull. How wonderful. It seemed as though I’d be spending a few more weeks in Mareheim than previously anticipated.
Three weeks had passed by uneventfully, and my doctor, Farog, had said that it would only be two more weeks until I would be healed, but I wouldn’t stand for that. Who knows what spells I could have studied in those past three weeks, rather than have sat here in this hospital bed, like some sort of vegetable? None the less, I had to make haste in trying to escape. I got up, my wings feeling quite better, though my head was still healing up, and it was pounding. Okay, so maybe this isn’t the time to leave, I thought to myself, but I need to get to Canterlot, and I’m two weeks late. This was a wonderful situation.
When I woke up the next day, I was greeted by Coral, and her heart-warming smile.
“Where is Brisk?” I asked,
“That green guy? He’s at your shippy thing!”
“Shippy thing, did you seriously just say that?” I said in a very un-amused tone. Coral seemed very childish and playful for her age.
That day was the day I decided to leave the hospital, as I could treat my wounds with magic on the Vaporside. As we walked out of the hospital, I noticed a huge black cloud emanating from the Central Ley Line, but I thought nothing of it since Ley energy is often erratic and spontaneous. Coral and I boarded the ship, it took a while, but Brisk flew us over to Canterlot, which only took two and a half weeks because, to make up for lost time, we didn’t stop anywhere.
We arrived in Canterlot roughly unscathed. Some Griffin bandits attempted to attack us with firearms, though they seemed to not be able to fly properly due to the added weight and their forearms being occupied. I used ice magic to take care of them, freezing their wings, filling them full of icicles. As the ice passed through them blood spattered out in all directions as it severed several large arteries in each of the griffins, they plummeted to the ground far below, I could hear several small fleshy thuds as they independently hit the ground. Brisk manoeuvred the airship so that they wouldn’t be able to hit us passengers, and Coral used a makeshift ballista that we made with some medical tubing from the hospital, and a few wooden planks to launch broken bottles of Brisk’s whiskey. The Griffin bandits didn’t stand a chance, though they did put a few holes in the hull of the ship, which would have to be repaired upon our arrival in Canterlot.
So many years had passed since I had last visited Canterlot; I doubted Princess Celestia would remember me. As we docked in Canterlot’s airship port I made a note to Brisk, asking him to purchase some sort of defence mechanism for the airship, and to treat himself to some expensive alcohol. But it did say to leave three-thousand bits for the weaponry.
“Sure thing, I’ll find something like what Coral made!” Brisk said with a smile and a drunken slur.
“Alright, just make sure it’s not just some medical tubing and two by fours.” I said, jokingly.
“Oh sweet Celestia, I’ll get explosives!” Brisk suggested in a loud manner.
I ignored that last comment he made and kept on walking with Coral; she and I were going to the castle’s apothecary to pick up some more magical and alchemical components. She and I walked a long way with very little conversation, which didn’t seem like her normal, cheery, happy-go-lucky self. Something was wrong. I was worried, so I spoke up first,
“Hey Coral, are you entirely there?”
“Yes?” She replied quietly,
“What’s wrong?”
“Just some things that happened a few years ago…”
“What sort of things?” I asked, my concern growing with each word.
“M-My family…”
“Did something happen to them?”
“I… I don’t know…” She said, tears almost coming from her eyes. By then we were almost at the apothecary, though we stopped when we started to talk. I wanted to know more, but I didn’t think she knew. My face had an open, stupid look on it, as if I’d forgot what I was doing, but it was more than that, it was a lot more emotional than that.
“Coral, do you remember anything, anything about them at all?” I asked,
Almost in tears, she looked away, but towards the ground. I felt horrible for asking this, but it was the right thing to ask, or so I believed. I moved closer and gave her a reassuring nudge.
“I-I… M-My… I don’t know…” She was on the verge of crying.
I gestured to get inside the apothecary; hopefully we could talk more openly inside.
“Please Coral, I’m here to help you, do you trust me?” I asked.
“I don’t know who I can trust…” She replied, timidly.
We went around gathering the alchemical components, and from what I recall, there was not much more conversation that went on between the two of us until we got back to the airship.
About twenty minutes later we reached the Vaporside, Coral was still being quiet, and I didn’t like that one bit. She wasn’t like other mares, or anypony else I knew. I cared about her. Not like how I cared about Brisk, but like how one cares for their very special somepony.
“Coral, hear me out here, I may have only known you for five or so weeks, but I care about you, I’m here for you…” I told her, as we walked to her quarters in the Vaporside.
“I don’t have any family,” She cried, and as we entered her quarters, she burst into tears. I tried my best to help comfort her.
“You’ve been with Brisk and I for five weeks, we’ve gotten used to having your cheery self around here, and… Well, we consider you family. I lost my parents when I was a young foal. I was sent away to Vaporia during the plague, my parents died before I could say goodbye. The only family I have now is you and Brisk,” I explained,
“You really consider me part of the family?” Coral asked, sniffling. Her tears slowed their trickling when I neared the end of that sentence.
“Yes, Coral, we consider you family.” I said, with an awkward smile on my face. I had never had an emotional talk with a mare until that moment. I don’t think I could have been any clearer with how much we cared about her.
“Welcome to the family.” I said,
The light came back to Coral’s eyes, the very next moment she jumped up and hugged me so tightly I fell over. Just then Brisk burst into the room and said,
“Sorry if I’m interrupting anything! But I got us a big-ass ballista and a fe-”
Brisk had a shocked look on his face as he saw the scene: the young mare on top of me, embracing me in a hug. I’m pretty sure he thought something else.
“Uh… Hi, Brisk… I… uh, just welcomed Coral to the family, she was quite overjoyed, and hugged me…” I said, awkwardly
“Sure…” replied Brisk in a sarcastic tone, as he took a swig from his flask of whiskey.
“Seriously Brisk, why would I… do that? A. I’ve only known her for five weeks, and B. I consider her part of our family!” I exclaimed in disbelief. He smiled, though it was obviously a fake smile.
“Brisk needs to get himself a drink.” He said. I disregarded that incident.
I went up to take a look at the defences that Brisk had bought with the three thousand bits gave him to spend on them. The big ballista cost two thousand bits; the other thousand went towards the smaller two ballistas, which were more like crossbows.
“Wow, what an improvement!” I commented.
“I know! I feel like some sort of fighter pilot now!” Brisk replied, obviously drunk, because he would never say anything like that while sober.
“Fighter pilot, really?” I laughed, jokingly, the laughter died down, so I added “We should start to make our way towards Canterlot castle.
“Aye, aye, sir, off we go!”
The low hum of the Vaporside grew louder, though it was a strange, but pleasing noise. It was the sound of progress; progress towards our family’s future. It took about twenty minutes to reach the Royal Canterlot Castle. The dock had quite a lot of security, though it was as expected, considering it was the castle of the Princess Celestia. We got off the Vaporside, Brisk’s coat was searched, and his goggles were removed, along with his flask of whiskey; which angered him. I was searched, telling them I wouldn’t let them strip me of my cloak, which they accepted, though kept an eye, or more accurately, all eyes on me.
We were introduced into the Princess’ throne room as honoured guested; that was something I wouldn’t have seen coming in ten-thousand years.
“Welcome, my dearest guests.” A royal, quite formal voice addressed.
Brisk gave me a look, it was clear he had no clue what was transpiring. Coral didn’t seem to know either. We were pretty much the clueless trio.
“Um, greetings, your majesty…” I replied nervously while bowing down. Brisk and Coral bowed as well.
“Oh my, Frost! I had never expected to see you, ever since you moved to Vaporia.” She said, in a surprised, but royal sounding voice. I chuckled awkwardly, and proceeded to respond.
“I didn’t expect this as well; I thought I would have been killed by the riot control.”
“Oh my, is it that bad out there?” She replied, worriedly.
“I’m afraid so.” I glanced over to my left, Brisk was there, still bowing down, I nudged him and he got back up. I did the same with Coral; she got up just fine, unlike Brisk who was still stumbling about.
“I should send some royal guards to aid with the riot police.” She suggested
“Don’t, I was almost killed by the riot police. The government of Vaporia is corrupt. They killed innocent civilians for no other reason than amusement.” I said, solemnly.
“My, my… I am at a lack of words here. The experience must have been horrific, was it not?” She said, with concern spewing from her words.
“Oh, it was. I’m glad I moved back here; I’ve noticed that security has been a lot tighter since the last time I was here.” I replied.
“Oh yes, after the plague, and two attempted assassinations, I’ve had to triple the security around here.” She said, with heightened awareness. She immediately turned her head. “What was that!?”
I looked up in the rafters, in the shadows. A figure, seemingly one with the darkness, jumped from platform to platform, almost slithering along the ceiling, but before long, I lost sight of the figure.
“Let’s go!” I shouted.
Coral and I started flying, and I picked up Brisk. He was caught off guard, but he somehow managed to retrieve his goggles from a distracted guard. As we flew up into the rafters, I got a closer look at the figure, it was a griffin. What, a griffin spy? I thought, but there was a treaty…
I dropped Brisk onto the rafters; the young stallion was surprisingly agile for his size, and for the restrictions of his coat. We tried to keep up, but the figure was darting in and out of the shadows, making it hard to track. The cloaked being darted in between pillars and rafters, it seemed to be wearing a dark cloak with bright trims, but it was hard to see. Brisk was sprinting as fast as he could.
“Captain, I don’t think we’re going to catch it!” He yelled out to me.
Coral was right beside me, flying as hard as she could, but it wasn’t enough. She was exhausting herself and I could see it, she started to slow down. The voice in my head told me to slow down as well, but I was determined on getting this griffin captured.
“Frost…” I heard her say before hearing something hit the wooden panelling below. Wondering what had hit the ground, I looked back; it was Coral who hit the floor.
“No, Coral!” I yelled off into her direction, I thought of it again, but I was not going to stop, not after all the failures I’ve had.
I almost had the dark silhouette in range of my stun spell I had been preparing. Just then, the dark figure vanished, it didn’t break through the glass window, meters away, it just disappeared, and in its place was a small, golden medallion. I retrieved it, and returned to the princess.
“Princess,” I started, “The figure you saw was a griffin. More specifically, a griffin spy.”
“A spy, why would there be a spy, especially a griffin?” She replied majestically.
“He got away, through some sort of teleportation magic. He… Or she left this.”
I showed the princess the medallion, it was a golden griffin claw, and it had an hourglass filled with what seemed to be time ruby dust. It was encrusted with several other various gems, in chromatic progression. The gold itself had a red, iridescent sheen; it looked unnatural.
“Oh dear, I haven’t seen one of these in over a millennium... This is a time pendant. It takes you back to the date of its creation for a period of time. This was made just over one-thousand years ago; before Luna’s banishment.” She said as she analyzed the artifact.
“I’ve heard of these, they can take you back to their date of creation for up to eight months, from there, you can travel long distances in the past, and end up in the present at that location.” I replied, using my knowledge from all the books I’ve read over the past ten years.
“We should chase after that griffin.” I insisted. I was eager for an adventure, as was Brisk.
“Are you sure?” The princess asked, “Things could go horribly wrong.”
“I have Brisk as a pilot.” I replied, grabbing the pendant. Without saying another word, I turned tail and walked out.
Brisk and Coral followed, and as always, the drunken stallion was stumbling. The princess just stood there.
“Alright then, you three, be careful.” She sighed as if she were one of our parents, and sounded somewhat shocked as to what I just did.
“Okay!” Replied coral cheerfully, not realizing what she had gotten into.
To be continued in part II of III
