El Search Party

"Here comes the train, choo-choo," Amber said with a smile as she held the spoon between her hooves. The Earth pony was currently in charge of feeding the recovering Human.

"Please stop." Raven laid there with a frown and looked at the spoon's contents. It looked like a fish stew but looked less than appealing; it had daisy, carrots, and all types of fish. It smelled noxious, a mix between rotten vegetables and rotten ing fish.

The Human frowned at the sight and moved his head away. "Is this edible?"

The filly brought her head up and down in confirmation. "Yup! Me and the others got the biggest fish! Olly found one that looked like a rock, I found one that puffs up, and Fred found one that looks like a lion!" Essentially the Outcasts made a stew deadly enough to kill a fully-grown dragon. "Now eat up!" She brought the spoon closer.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Raven opened his mouth and ate the spoonful. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but it tasted bland. Then the human tasted something sweet and tangy; it was tasty. He swallowed the toxic brew and smiled. "Not bad. Did you put sugar in this?"

Amber shook her head. "Nope! Just the usual, carrots, daisies, and lots of fish. No one tasted it because fish is gross." The earth pony stuck her tongue out at the thought of trying fish of any kind. "Now open up; you won't recover if you don't eat!" The Human continued eating without a fuss, but his ego did take a bit of a hit.

This continued for a few minutes before Oleander stepped onto the deck and approached the two. She stopped a few feet away and looked down at the recovering Human with a smug grin. "My my, the mighty Human is being fed like a baby. Would you like your bib?"

Raven stopped mid-chew and looked up at the unicorn with an unreadable expression. "I'm only being fed like this because I fought and beat an Alicorn. How many Alicorns have you beaten?" The man asked with a raised eyebrow and continued chewing.

Oleander frowned at the Human and let out an unladylike snort. "You only won because I Helped you! Don't let that victory go to your head." She lightly poked Raven's exposed chest with a hoof, causing the Human to flinch in pain. "You did more damage to yourself than Luna did when you performed that reckless attack of yours. You're lucky that you limped away with fractures and internal bleeding."

The Cyborg couldn't deny what the troubled teenager was saying, but he wouldn't admit it. "If that blue bitch wa-" Oleander poked him the chest again, causing him to flinch from the pain.

"Language, you're in front of a foal." chided the unicorn. Amber didn't care if Raven cursed or not, but she'd be saving them for later.

"Two foals, actually," Raven thought angrily but continued. "If that royal filth weren't flying and fought on the ground, it would have ended in less than a minute." Luna's swordsmanship wasn't anything special, and her magic was strong but left much to be desired besides all the swords she created. "Besides, I've been asleep for over a thousand years; I wasn't exactly at peak performance." The Human was somewhat surprised that he retained so much muscle mass. Suspended animation or not, his body would have atrophied.

"It sounds like you're making excuses." Oleander raised an eyebrow at the Human.

"Doesn't matter, I beat an Alicorn you didn't," Oleander groaned in annoyance. Although, Raven was still worried if Luna was holding back or not, or maybe just out of shape. "I need to start training." He needed to perfect his skills and develop new ones, but first. "Any reason why you're here besides trying to inflate your ego or check if I'm still alive?"

Ignoring the jab, Oleander nodded. "Yes, I'm here to tell you that we'll be arriving in Trotsylvania in two days." Raven nodded at the good news; from what he understood, the place was inhabited by these creatures called bushwoolies, but no one had seen them in thousands of years; either they went into hiding or extinct. The Human didn't care, either way, the place is empty, and it's the perfect place to rest up before heading towards the archives. "Now, I have a couple of questions. You're not doing anything important, right?"

"I'm eating!" Raven swallowed another spoonful and let out a sigh of defeat. "If it's something personal, I'm not answering. "It may have been thousands of years since the events took place, but the memories were still fresh in his mind. The looks Raven received from the rest of el search party were soul-crushing, but he did the right thing... Right?

"It was a Velder noble! He and his wife had to die!"

"But their child, I-I"

Raven's thoughts were cut off when Oleander let out a happy squeal and clapped her hooves together. "Excellent!" The unicorn sat on her haunches and placed a hoof under her chin, wondering what she wanted to ask first, then remembered his lack of clothing. "What is your armor made of? When we took off of you, it was torn to shreds. But now it's in perfect condition; I've never heard or seen enhancements being able to do such a thing."

"At least it wasn't personal." He wasn't sure how it was made, but he was sure what was put into it and who made it. "I'm not sure, but the pongo people made it; they said it would slow down the spread of the venom." Raven closed his eyes and thought about it back then. "I never accepted it; I was rather self-destructive back then and thought punishing myself was the answer."

Oleander nodded understanding, but that brought up another question. "You still haven't answered the question. Also, if you never accepted it, how did it end up in the facility, in perfect condition?"

The Cyborg shrugged. "It was a gift from Henir, and how it ended up in that place, your guess is good as mine. As for how my armor repaired itself, it's simple; my armor has been infused with El shards."

Oleander deadpans at the Human with a 'are you serious look. "That answers nothing! Are you going to explain what this Henir is or an El is? You keep going on and on about this, El."

Raven shook his head, explaining what the El was and who Henir is; it would take up his resting time. He also had to talk about Ishmael, the El lady, and the origins of the Nasod. "Another time, I don't feel like explaining the long history of Elrios.

The unicorn groans out in disappointment. "Ugh! You're infuriating!" Raven just shrugged and took one final bite from his toxic lunch. Any other living creature would have been dead by now, but Raven wasn't an ordinary creature. If anything, Raven felt his strength returning.

"Alright, fine. Next question. What are other humans like?" The question was rather broad; Raven had plenty to say about other humans, and many of them weren't friendly. He gestured for her to elaborate more with his claw. Oleander understood the gesture and continued. "The one who freed your mind, and possibly any other humans that were with him."

Raven didn't find this question too intrusive, but he would leave certain parts of the story out. He opened his mouth to speak, but Amber interrupted him. "Is it storytime!? I'm going to get the others!" The filly ran off to gather the others, leaving the Human and unicorn by themselves.

Not wanting things to be awkward as they waited, Raven decided to ask a question. "I've been wondering, what the hell is a cutie mark? I know it's the mark on your flanks, but what exactly are they?"

Oleander lifted her cloak, which made Raven very uncomfortable, but he didn't show it. A violet spellbook with black flames spewing out of it was on the unicorn's flank. " It is a mark of destiny; once a pony finds their unique talent, they receive their cutie mark. It's rather obvious how I received mine."

"Being a bookworm?" The Human said with a smile.

The unicorn stuck her tongue and continued her explanation with an annoyed look. " Zebras can receive cutie marks as well, but they're more abstract. As for the reason why we get them. No pony knows." The adolescent shrugged.

Raven was somewhat disappointed at the vague explanation. Destiny itself has chosen these ponies and zebras: and no one knows the origins of these cutie marks. "Maybe Elria had something to do with this?" It was unlikely, but Henir was still around and causing trouble, so anything is possible.

"I'm back!" Amber called out to the two as the rest of the Outcasts followed her. Everypony was here, except Dew night; somepony had to keep the boat on course after all. "So tell us, what were all other humans like!?" She asked with excitement in her voice. The others weren't as enthusiastic as the filly, but they were interested in the man's tale.

"They weren't all Humans, but I'll do my best to describe each one." Raven gave the filly a small pat on the head.

"Elsword, the youngest of the group. A hothead thirteen-year-old, but despite his age, he was a skillful swordsman. He even put most adults to shame. And when we fought, I was overwhelmed. " Raven thought back to that day on the airship where he and Elsword fought; it brought a smile to his face. His smile disappeared when he heard snickering from one of his charges. He looked around and found that Cozy was trying to hold back her laughter. "Something the matter?" The Human asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Pffft, oh nothing, just the fact you lost to a thirteen-year-old. Hahahaha!" The filly burst out laughing while Raven narrowed his eyes at her.

"I didn't lose; he knocked some sense into me, don't forget the Nasods were controlling me." The unhappy Cyborg said through gritted teeth. Honestly, Elsword was a monster at such a young age. "The boy wasn't just skillful with a sword, but adapt at using magic as well. If that wasn't enough, he could resonate with El." Raven scratched at his bandages unconsciously, which earned him a hoof smack from Xuez. The Human stopped and continued.

"Aisha, the second youngest, is a very talented mage. She was intelligent but brash and had a massive crush on Elsword. The girl would never admit it, though." He hoped that the girl confessed to Elsword at some point after his departure. He didn't have much to say about her; the two had little in common and didn't talk very often. He was skipping over Rena for now; that wound was still too fresh.

"Then there was Ain, an El priest. Something was always strange about him; it's as if he just popped into existence, and we went along with it." He saw the confused looks on their faces and waved it off with a claw. "Never mind, He wasn't who he said he was."

"Add, he never officially joined our group, but he always stalked us. I was the only one who seemed to notice. I confronted him, and we fought. " Raven thought back to when both of them officially met; it wasn't pretty. "In the end, we came to an agreement, I would keep quiet about his existence, and he would find specific individuals." Some of the foals shivered at the way the man said it, and they felt the temperature drop for some reason.

Raven's face frowned at the thought of who he was about to talk about next. "Eve, a second-generation Nasod. After beating and killing the Nasod King, she came out of the dying bastard. I suggested destroying her, but we gave her a chance because of Elswordd being the kind-hearted boy he was." Raven looked down with a bitter look on his face. "I admit I had a strong bias against her, but I was thinking about the group." Oleander raised a hoof. "Yes?"

"What is a second-generation Nasod?" The unicorn asked with a tilt of her head.

"Remember the machines back in the facility?" He asked the group, and they all nodded. "Second-generation can think on their own and have emotions. In Eve's case, she had all that and looked like a Human." He watched as they gasped in amazement at the idea of a machine having feelings and looking like a living creature. Raven continued. "One day, we left Eve alone to her own devices, and when we came back, she was different. Her emotions were all over the place, and she couldn't fly anymore."

"I brought this up with the others, and Elsword brushed my concerns aside." Raven cared for the boy, but he was too hard headed for his own good. " So I had to investigate the problem myself. and all I found was 'Code: Unknown.', my efforts didn't turn up anything." Raven closed his eye and turned his body around, so his back faced the foals. "That's about it. Now let me rest."

Amber couldn't believe it; Raven didn't finish storytime. "Hey! You didn't finish the story; what happened next?!" She stomped her hooves in frustration.

Cozy joined in with a frown. "Yeah, you can't end the story right there! And tell us about this EL thing you keep bringing up."

Raven yawned and waved his claw. "Another time. I'm tired; I promise you'll have the full story next time." The group mumbled in either disappointment or anger, leaving the Human to his thoughts. "Code: Unknown." He whispered to himself. Something about it wasn't right.

Author's Note

Sorry about this chapter being filler, but I'm having trouble writing the next chapter, but it should be down by next week.

Enjoy!