RipEar had not reacted to the scream at all.

Blue hissed and shot to his side. Her eyes flitted about wildly as she pranced along and her body twitched with every other stride, spasming from terror. Her wings ruffled constantly; when the cry reverberated through the airship’s corridors again, the feathers snapped to action and she shot upwards. She crashed into the roof with a grunt. When she fell to the ground, heaving and winded, RipEar only sent cold glares in her direction.

“You’ve got to be fucking with me,” he barked with a heavy stomp of his hoof. His horn sparked once. “What is your problem now?”

It took a moment for her lungs to recover again. When they did, Blue took a massive, quavery breath. She shook where she lay, unable to look directly at RipEar with her attention focused everywhere else.

“Didn’t you hear that?” she hissed, gingerly stepping to her shaky hooves. Pain shot through her body, but adrenaline muffled it. The airship was silent now; everything was so perfectly still. The air fell heavily upon Blue’s back, crackling with tense energy. “There was a scream, Rip!” She shuddered on the spot, spinning uncontrollably—and then she froze. The filly wailed this time, but her cry was quieter. Weaker. And then there came a cacophony of chilling, fearless barks.

RipEar’s ears fell back and he ground his teeth quickly. His eyes darted about and he snagged the blade in his magic, beckoning Blue to his side. His nostrils flared rapidly and he stood taller. He thrust his chest forwards and splayed his legs, tail swishing in readiness to fight. His determined scowl quickly morphed into one of confusion, however; he took a small step back so that he was slightly pressed against the wall and murmured, “Can you smell burning?”.

And then there came a crack. The pair glanced upwards immediately, and both noticed the massive gash that had appeared in the roof; before they could move, the entire ceiling gave way. It collapsed around them with a massive round of crashes and booms. Blue screamed, flared out her wings and smashed head-first into RipEar’s rump. The two skidded out of the way, pelted with dagger-like shards as they smashed into the door of the airship’s janitor cupboard. The wood splintered against the force. The pair tumbled through painfully, landing entwined in a heap.

“Ugh,” Blue moaned. She shook her head groggily and began to fight to find her footing. Amazingly, RipEar was already back on his hooves and was—if a little shakily now—brandishing his dagger. With a hiss Blue followed suit, using a weak flap of her wings to help her stand steadily. The sight that met her eyes, however, made her whimper and reel backwards.

Before her, two massive wolves slunk forwards. They salivated madly as they stepped closer, and as they approached it became easier to see their features. Both were without most of their fur and the smaller sported an extra line of claws along its spine. They seemed to twitch, rising up threateningly each time Blue or RipEar moved. In the deadly red glint of the flames behind them, they seemed to glow.

The wolves snapped their massive jaws and jumped forwards jerkily; erratically. Their tails swished excitedly, without fail. The claws on their paws scratched along the dusty floor of the airship. The shriek it made sent shivers down Blue’s spine.

“Get back,” RipEar snapped. He didn’t let her react; almost instantly he rose his hoof and thrust her backwards so that she fell to her rump behind him, merely watching from the sidelines. That was fine by her.

The larger wolf pounced, jaws open wide in a deadly attack. RipEar reacted almost as if on instinct, leaping to the right just before it clamped its teeth down into his flesh. A small patch of blood beaded on the fur of his shoulder, but he was too exhilarated to notice. The dagger was thrust forwards with lethal speed and impaled the beast straight through its eye. It howled and scarpered backwards, pawing at the blade, just as its friend attacked. The smaller wolf was ready; it landed heavily atop RipEar and knocked him to the floor, snapping and barking wildly at his throat. His desperate bucks, pinned to the ground as he was, did nothing; he merely flailed in place, watching in horror as each heavy snap got closer to tearing out his throat.

“Run, Blue!” he cried. Frantically he tried to roll over; it was no use. The wolf now sat atop him—quite literally. It batted in amusement at his horn as it continued its snapping. Blue watched in horror as it tore a good sized piece of skin from the stallion’s cheek, making him scream.

RipEar never screamed.

Blue whimpered and flapped her wings. With her eyes closed tightly she used her hind legs against the wall as a sort of propulsion; her outstretched hooves smashed directly into the small wolf’s cheek and sent it stumbling. She landed shakily and then spun on the spot, throwing her rear into the air before giving the strongest buck she could. Her legs whined at the pain from the impact; the wolf hardly seemed to flinch.

And then it, too, gave a mournful howl. With a few furious barks it turned and fled, pelting through the corridors and outside. The larger one, too, ran, and it was easy to see why; behind them a small unicorn foal’s horn was alight with fire, and the beasts’ bodies simultaneously smoldered before bursting into flames. Their legs collapsed in mid stride and they lay, writhing, as the fire devoured their pelts and flesh. Acrid smoke flooded the corridors, despite the open entrance doors; it took a few heavily bucked windows to let it all out before it smothered them.

Blue spluttered as she bucked a final window open, her eyes squeezed shut. She stumbled back to the wall, falling to her rump and hacking violently. Her body shuddered each time. With a snarl she then shakily rose to her hooves, using rushes of air from her wings to try to clear the air in front of her. It only worked to a degree.

“Rip?” she uttered, slowly stepping forwards with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. The smoke from the still whining wolves’ roasted flesh stung at her skin and made her heave slightly. “R-RipEar? Are you there?”

No answer.

Blue hissed and stumbled forwards a little faster. Her hooves entwined as she moved, sending her falling every other second. The air felt colder and heavier now. “RipEar! RipEar, please, this isn’t funny!” She hissed and hunched her back. Her rear hoof bucked out quickly, slashing through the air. She painted heavily, but still kept her eyes shut. “RipEar!”

“Hey, hey!” A hoof that she knew well connected with Blue’s before wrapping around her shoulders. “I’m here, idiot. I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

Blue let out a sigh of relief and began to open her eyes. Indeed, in the dim light of the airship, RipEar stood shakily. His blue mane was singed and his tan fur was now patchy in places. One of his eyes was squinted shut, but the other grey one shone relatively brightly. After a momentary smile, however, his horn redirected his dagger and he turned on the spot, one fore hoof slightly favoured. He hid it well.

“But we aren’t alone,” he growled; his ears fell as he spoke. “The question is, what do you want from us, filly?”

His glare fell down the corridor, aimed at the still crackling flames. They fizzled out with a large puff of smoke. A small foal, with a coat as black as the soot now coating the walls and a mane of fiery hues, stood fearfully. Her eyes darted between the semi-disintegrated pile of wolf pieces and the stallion before her with the dagger.

With a visible gulp, the filly whimpered and shakily fell to her chest, her rump still elevated. She let her head lie flat against the now-warm metal floor and chewed slowly, cautiously, in a primitive display of submission. RipEar took a lame, but still threatening, step forwards and snorted at her. She flinched.

“I’m sane, honest!” she yipped, then throwing her hoof over her mouth as if realising speaking may not have been the best idea. Before RipEar could make a move, however, Blue whimpered and dragged her body forwards. She placed a hoof on RipEar’s grimy shoulder, still breathing heavily.

“Let the foal speak, Rip,” she said. Her voice was quiet and shook with each syllable, but there was no doubting that she was being serious. The stallion only let his mouth fall open and stared blankly at her; the filly did the same. With a sigh, he then hung his head and slouched, slowly sitting—but the dagger remained pointed directly at the foal’s forehead.

“Well, spit it out then,” he growled. Blue scowled slightly at him and batted at his shoulder. He only snapped his teeth weakly back at her neck, eyes suddenly cold. “And you, shut it. This isn’t your world. You don’t have a clue what it’s like out here. So don’t pretend to fucking well understand.”

Blue gulped and shrunk back from RipEar's side a little. He then nodded curtly and refocused his attention on the filly, dagger slipping closer to her.

“One minute, kid,” he hissed. His ears were now fully pinned to his neck. “Convince me. Or get out of the fucking way.”

Author's Note

This is short and way overdue, but it’s the start to the next chapter which is going to be a long, exploratory one.

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Aeluna