Into Darkness

“Bluestreak...”

The voice is faint, almost unhearable. Bluestreak opens his eyes, standing where he was knocked unconscious. Walking towards the controls, he expected Aveela to be there, only finding nothing, darkness, everything is still, no noise. He looked outside the cracked windows, darkness ever yet, not even the railing is present in the thick haze, not even the piece he brazenly smacked into. A sudden sobbing turns him around, almost stumbling backwards out of a nearby window as he looks in horror. Aveela is standing face to face with Bluestreak, her eyes are black, leaking out tears, she’s sobbing, something trickling down her chest catches Bluesstreak’s eye. Blood oozes from a hole, big enough to fit a hoof.

“Why?”

She whispered locking her eyeless sockets with his, her body fades away moments later, a dark figure looms from where she stood, staring at him like a stone statue, white fangs extend as it lifts its visible mouth, unleashing a frightening laughter. Bluestreak wakes up with a gasp, sweat running down his forehead as fear envelops him.

“Bluestreak, a-are you ok?”

It was Aveela’s voice, she stands nearby, who appears to have recently come back from picking berries. He gazed down, soft, moist soil wets his fur as he slowly stands up outside the airship.

“What, happened?”

“You were knocked unconscious bro”

Strikers voice emanates from a tree branch just above Aveela,

“And this lass was nice enough to not only save your ass, but save the ship, with my help of course“  Striker finishes with a proud look.

“Figures”

Bluestreak replies, something tingles strangely on his nose, pain shoots across his face as he attempts to wriggle his muscles wincing as he remembers, a small amount of cloth wrapped around his nose has blotted a small trickle of blood.

“Easy partner, you hit that railing pretty hard, you practically headbutted the railing enough to bend it three inches!”

Striker starts laughing uncontrollably.

“Get some rest please, your wounds will heal much fa-”

“Don't, don't talk like my mother”

Aveela's mouth stammers for words as she stands before her accomplice, before walking away with the basket of small berries, Bluestreak looks towards the intact airship, leaving Strike silent. The forest is much different, possibly took a long time to get the airship safely down. The sun's rays barely make it through the dense canopy as the wind bristles away at the leaves without a tempo from the birds.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Striker asked, the blue pegasus sighs, lowering his head back to the ground, the tingle in his nose remains.

"No, it's not"

Falling back into his disturbed slumber, Bluestreak is able to sleep without the dreams leaving him restless.

Another day passes before the pain was bearable to move his muzzle. The Airship's plating is more clearer, possibly from Aveela cleaning off the vines and roots. Upon lifting himself from the ground, Bluestreak's realization of his missing sword sends into a panic, only to find it beside him. With a slightly embarrassed look, he sheathes back into the crude holster for his sword.

Before he starts towards the entrance, he takes one  long glimpse at the airship. Although time has taken its tole on the ships well being, it still remains intact, albeit the massive holes all around the frame. The airship sports a split look, one section dominates above a long, slender piece of rusted white metal, which fattens towards the middle, and tapers sharply towards the front, with a dull taper towards the back. What appears to be an arched crescent lies behind the top of the upper section, possibly for stability during flight.

The lower section lags behind, a large blue stubbier piece, letting the upper portion jut out towards the front. The middle bears the cracked and broken windows of the middle deck features another deck outside the windows. What a poor sight Bluestreak thinks as he begins nearing towards the rusted hulk wondering what was in the other rooms before the accident happened. His wonder would become a quick reality a short time later, finding Aveela tearing away at a stubborn vine.

"Mernin', phoo" She said with a mouth full of vine.

"Uh, morning, you need any-" the vine gives way, snapping Aveela backwards, sending her crashing into a small blanket of leaves below.

"-help...?"

She recovers from the fall, shaking the leaves off her cyan body. "I got it!" she smiled, "Were you looking for your hawk?"

"No, I was wondering if you had any time to explore the airship?" She nods, "Sure! But, are you feeling- uh... I mean, If you're feeling good enough"

"A little slam to the face won't keep me down, let's get started"

Aveela nods once more leading him into the first location from yesterday, the large room.

"R-right now, we're in the middle section, where the loading areas are. To the front lies the cannons for the airship" Aveela explains.

"Cannons? This has cannons?"

"Well... they're broken, at least, that's what I think."

"Let's have another look then"

Taking a left from the portside, Aveela leads the way into a narrow corridor housing the gun mechanisms for four cannons total, two per side. One has already collapsed from its elevated porthole housing the other piece of the cannon.

"Huh, I forgot this ship is in bad shape..." Bluestreak comments,

Small extensions of blue rock juts outwards on each side of large rotary rings attached to the wall, various levers and instruments vein around the stones. A small ray of light pierces from the middle, a small scope, where the cannon operator could aim. Amongst the glauciuos steel walls are markings, one of them shows tally marks seven in total, whilst the rest meant for regality wander the walls in small patterns. Their hooves echo upon the twisted wooden splinters of wood as they exit towards the stern. Dominated by a large pillar of the same blue minerals, secured stones, what's left of the secured ones, dot around with only a margin still glowing, while others remain unsecured on the floor from weakening of the metal straps leaving them powerless.

With a telepathic nod, BlueStreak and Aveela strap the stones back into place, bending the metal struts to the best of their ability back into place, most return to the life, while the others are far too ruined to provide power.

"That should fix our power problem" Aveela says.

"For now" Bluestreak replies.

Once again Aveela leads the way up one of the offhand staircases between the loading hall and the Enerstone room. Getting a longer glimpse, Bluestreak can see how amazing it must have been to operate such an advanced airship. Today, shards of ancient glass, the same rusted glaucious metal, and an array of blue stone slabs and the controls at the front lay in a mess. Gusts of wind seethe through the windows, creating a multitude of whistling tunes of broken tempos. Striker flutters in through one, landing on the steering wheel of the airship.

"You managed to pilot this rusted can without crashing it?" BlueStreak questions, motioning towards the controls.

"B-beginner's luck?" Aveela replies with a confused tone.

Shaking his head with a smile he looks up, two staircases jut down, leading to the final section of the airship, Aveela follows him up the incline as Striker changes his perch to her. Into a dark, musty room full of torn sheets and beds, personal belongings and broken furniture scuttles itself across the room. Eight beds line the rusted brown walls, and something scrawled on the front wall brings attention of the group.

" Upon the corpse of our empire, the seed of knowledge shall be carried away from the Dark Prince, to which, it shall hide in the forest of the far north. "

"That's... a revelation. Did you know about this Aveela?" Bluestreak remarks.

"No, but there is no forest to the far north" Aveela questions,

"That's because nopony ever explored far enough into the frozen wastes" Replied Bluestreak, walking back down to the midsection. Aveela snaps from her deep thought, walking down to see BlueStreak at the front, next to the railing dent he made from yesterday. Aveela walks beside BlueStreak, looking out as the blue pegasus does.

"So, lovely day, trees, nature, a hunk of metal we're exploring where it shouldn't be that contains an ominous message" Striker begins,

"It brings the question, what now?"

"I... really don't know, nothing would work, not until you came here with your magical touch Bluestreak"

"I'm all for figuring out this mystery, but we can't begin unless this is fixed" he taps the dented bar, Bluestreak jumps away as the bar in question snaps off, thudding to the ground below.

"Wow, you know I did not see that coming!" Striker laughed, Aveela join in, before continuing,

"But how?"

Bluestreak turns to Striker, who answers with a shrug.

"We, uh.... know a friend"

"Can he actually fix it?"

"Things can happen when you don't see one another for three years, we'll have to see"

"Then, by all means you two ponies, let's get this show in the air!" Striker remarks as he flutters behind them.

The Enerstone hums to life, lifting the airship towards the clouds, the large nacelle engines flare with speed as they leave the vessel's grave behind, back in the sky, where it belongs.