White Shadows

The pain wasn’t terrible, but the fact that my left eye was now worthless was. Small, sharp pieces of metal and wood had torn my eye open, and blood was gushing out. I held my hoof over the wound, gritting my teeth in pain. There was fire all around us again, but the storm had picked up, and was now raging so hard that the flames were put out quickly.

“Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck fuck FUCK!” I screamed in agony, and I looked at the little filly.

She looked up at me quizzically, and I gave her the best smile I could muster. She looked too young to talk, but old enough to be around 3 to 4 years of age. How was I, a 20 year old explorer going to be able to raise a filly? I would have to tell Celestia when I got out of here. IF I get out of here. The explosion was massive, but I’m not sure if it would get noticed.
I slowly walked over to a piece of destroyed mirror, and wiped the ashes away from it. My eye was terrible damaged, completely torn apart and blood gushing from it. Sooner or later I would have to get it cut out, or else I would have an infection.

I turned back to the filly, and she backed away from me, her face filled with fear.

“Oh, no, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, tentatively walking towards her.

She squeaked fearfully, and retreated under a small piece of the blimp.

“Oh, hey now, come on out. I won’t hurt you,” I said, but the filly just squeaked.

I grimaced in pain as I blinked, looking around. I saw one of my useless possessions dangling from one of the wings of the blimp. A small pocket watch my friend gave me when we were younger. I remembered that Daring Do always had a pocket watch with her, so the filly would obviously be fixated with it as well.

I quickly walked over, and grabbed it. One of the perks to being a Pegasus or an Earthpony, you can actually grab things, unlike unicorns, who have to levitate it. They don’t have a magical force surrounding their hoof. I went over to where the filly was crouched, and I started to dangle the watch over the opening in which the filly was hiding in.

“C’mon now, you can play with my watch,” I said, and the filly popped her head out of the hiding spot.

She grabbed the pocket watch with her hooves, and started to play with it.

“Do you know what that is? It’s called a watch, it tells you what time of day it is,” I said, as the rain cleared up.

“Watch?” asked Daring Do, and I nodded, surprised how quickly she picked up Equish.

“Good! Now, can you say your name? Repeat after me… ‘Daring Do’,” I said, and the filly looked at me quizzically.

“Dawing Doo?” She asked, and I nodded, pain going through my body with each blink.

“Yeah, that’s your name,” I said, smiling.

“What your name?” she asked, and I smiled, surprised again.

“White Steam. That’s my name,” I said, sitting down next to her in the mud.

“You daddy?” she asked, smiling at me.

My heart skipped a beat at that word. Did she just ask if I was her daddy? Oh goodness, what was I going to say? Yes? No? Maybe so? You’re adopted? Hundreds of thoughts ran through my mind, and I decided to go with my gut.
“Yeah. I’m daddy,” I said, and the little Pegasus beamed.

“Yay!” she practically screamed, and she jumped on me, nuzzling her nose into my chest.

A weird, warm fuzzy feeling bloomed up inside my chest. Was I really feeling fatherly love? It sure felt a whole lot better than the pain I was feeling right now through my torn eye. I would have to get that out of the socket soon, or else I would have a whole new set of problems.

“Hey, hey… calm down now. Daddy’s gotta do something,” I said, and Daring Do got off me.

“What Daddy gonna do?” asked the filly, and my heart jumped.

How was I going to explain to her that I was about to gouge my eye out, so that it wouldn’t become infected? Time to go softy.

“Daddy has to take out his eyeball, so he doesn't get hurt more.” I said, and the filly stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“Blehh,” She muttered, turning back to the pocket watch
.
I sighed, and went to find one of my knives. It would hurt like hell without pain killers, but when you end up putting your life in danger daily, you tend to get hurt. My pain endurance had been hardened when I started working in steam factories. You get a whole lot of burns, especially when you are just starting up the steam tech. Skin grafts, broken bones; even death was common inside factories. I was lucky enough to be drafted into the explorers guild.

That’s it!

If my steam router still worked, I could get some blimps over here for evac in no time. I ran over to the chassis of the blimp, and rummaged through it, finding a small looking chest, with a water bulb on the side. I pulled out a magic enhanced match, and lit it, then shoving it into the side of the bulb. The chest billowed steam, and a face came up in the reflection.

“Explorers Guild, how may I help?” asked the operator.

“I need an immediate evac and medical assistance for two in south western Savannah!” I said, and I saw the operator click a few buttons on his steam writer.

“One in the area, ETA 5 minutes,” Said the operator, and he disconnected.

I ran over to Daring Do, and lifted her onto my back. Dante flew up, and perched on her back. I saw a massive transport blimp billowing steam in the distance, and it quickly made its way over to the Savannah.

“Hold on tight. This may get rough,” I said, and I felt the filly cling tight to my body.

A massive rope dropped from the side of the blimp, as it slowly came over head. I waited until it almost passed me, and I started to sprint after it. It was hard keep up, but I was barely able to grab the rope. I slowly climbed the rope, Daring hanging from my back. I made it up onto the deck, and one of the crew members helped me up. He looked me over, and signaled a medic over to me, who put me in a chair, and wheeled me off. Daring Do was ripped from my grasp, and she started to cry.

“Daddy!” she shouted after me, and I motioned for the doctor to stop.

“I’ll be right back, Little one!” I shouted, and she stopped crying.

I was wheeled into the medical deck, where a mask was attached to my face, and I passed out.

“Wake up, Steam,” Said a light voice, and my eyes opened slowly.

In front of me was Diamond, who was sitting with the little filly on her lap. Daring Do was sleeping soundly, and she Diamond was stroking her mane.

“Welcome back,” Said Diamond softly.

“Morning. How long was I out?” I asked, sitting up, dimly aware that I couldn't see through my left eye.

“Just a couple hours. The guild sent me a notification, and I came as soon as we docked. I’m telling you, these blimps move fast,” Said Diamond, still stroking the Daring’s mane.

I touched the area where my left eye was, and my suspicions were confirmed. My left eye had been cut out, and was replaced by a bandage around my head. I sighed, and my ears tilted downwards.

“Oh, don’t feel too bad about it. You look like a badass. Also, I didn't know you had a Daring Do lookalike daughter,” Said Diamond.

“Heh, me neither. I need to ask Celestia about it. Though I’m sure that some lowly stallion won’t be at the top of her priority list,” I said, and Diamond made an unsure face.

“Perhaps you could talk to Twilight? You know, the Princess’s student?” asked Diamond, and I scoffed.

“Again, why would she want to see a lowly stallion like me?” I asked, and Diamond shrugged.

“We are docked at PonyVille right now. You guys had to make an emergency stop, due to getting flak from when you passed over Equine,” Said Diamond, and I made a confused face.

“Why would they fire at us?” I asked, and Diamond sighed.

“While you were out, Princess Celestia ordered the invasion of Equine. They thought you were a military class vessel.” Said Diamond, and I sighed.

“Well, I guess this means that Princess Celestia will soon become “Queen” Celestia,” I said, standing up.

“Well, I guess. You should take the advantage while your ‘daughter’ is getting some sleep. The doctors won’t mind, since the only wounds you sustained were some burns and the eye thing. You’ll be fine,” Said Diamond, and I nodded.

I walked out of the hospital room, and went to the lobby. There was a large flight of stairs connecting to the blimp, and the ground below it. I was a little wobbly walking down, but hell, after you've suffered scarring burns on your hind and front legs, you would be wobbly too.

I could see that even though war was declared just a day ago, the war effort was in full gear. Many stallions were signing up at a post, where a soldier dressed in a black trench coat with an solar empire band around his arm, was pushing them hurriedly into a blimp. A large red earthpony stallion was selling apples with what looked like his family, when a recruiter went over to him. Probably being drafted.

I turned back to the market place, and saw a bright pink earthpony mare hopping around, handing out free cupcakes. She was making everypony smile, and I even caught myself with a slight grin. I walked further on through the bright and sunny rural town, looking for the purple mare. Since I had never been to this happy-happy joy-joy place, it was damn hard to find a single mare. While I was fairly easy to pick out in a crowd, more so now with my missing eye, multicolored mares are nothing but common.

I looked around, and noticed a large tree in the middle of town. Probably used magic to hollow it out. They used the same method for libraries back in Equine, since much of the magic practices here were carried over there. Knowing how much Twilight loved books (hell, everypony knew that.) she would probably be there.

I walked over, and knocked on the door.

“Coming!” shouted a feminine voice, and I sighed.

The door opened, and A purple unicorn mare stood there, smiling.

“Yes?” asked Twilight.

“Hi, I’m White Steam, an explorer for Celestia. Could we possibly talk?” I asked, and Twilight cocked her head.

“What for?” asked Twilight.

“I know you are extremely close to Princess Celestia. I’ve come upon a… rather astonishing anomaly. I was going to ask if you could get me an audience with her,” I said, and Twilight shook her head.

“I don’t even know you. Besides, couldn’t you get an audience with her anyway? I mean, you are one of her explorers,” Said Twilight, and it was my turn to shake my head.

“She wouldn’t entertain a request for an audience, especially in a time of kick starting a war. She would make time though, for her student,” I said, and Twilight tapped her chin.

“Your anomaly can’t be that important. Is it an artifact or something?” asked Twilight, and I gave her a sheepish grin.

“Of a sort…” I said, and her face went straight.

“I want you to show me,” Said Twilight definitively, and I sighed.

“I can’t bring her here, other ponies might notice,” I said, and Twilight’s ears perked up.

“Her? Did you kidnap somepony or something?!” asked Twilight frantically, and I waved my hoofs in front of me.

“No, No! Just… just follow me,” I said, and Twilight eyed me cautiously.

“This better not be anything funny,” She stated, before turning back to the inside of the library. “Spike! I’m heading out for a while!”

“Okay, whatever!” shouted a teen sounding voice, and Twilight sighed.

“Okay, where are we going?” asked Twilight, and I pointed to the massive blimp near the edge of town.

We walked briskly, not wanting to waste any time. There was much tension between Twilight and I, seeing as how we didn’t even make eye contact of talk during our trip. By the time we had reached, I heard the crying of Daring. Twilight shot a look at me, and I nodded. We increased our pace up the stairs, but I tripped due to my terrible eyesight and burns at the moment.

“Just go to the medical deck… I’ll be there in a moment,” I said, panting.

Twilight nodded, and I sat there for a moment. I saw a huge storm brewing in the distance, and the ember skies of Equine glowing through it. Soon, if Equine didn’t play their cards right, it would be leveled, and we wouldn’t have to deal with that eyesore.

I slowly got to my hoofs, and walked to the medical deck. My door was closed tightly, and I heard the sound of giggling inside. I slowly creaked the door open, gritting my teeth as I rubbed my burned flesh across the hard wooden door. Inside, Twilight, Diamond, and Daring were all giggling, playing with each other. Twilight looked at me, and saw the look on my face
.
“This is your anomaly? Seems just like a regular old foal to me!” laughed Twilight, and I scoffed.

“Wait ‘til you hear how I got her. Then you’ll be surprised,” I said, sitting down on the bed.

So I told them. I told them about the cave, the zebra, the curse, how I got Daring Do, how she is Daring Do, and how I lost my eye. They all took it a little better than expected, especially Twilight.

“So, you’re telling me this Zebra had glowing green eyes and a weird magic ability? Sounds like a changeling to me, but changelings can’t speak in Equish… maybe Chrysalis?” said Twilight to herself.

“Could we possibly ask Celestia about this?” I asked, and Twilight nodded.

“We should definitely tell her about this, though I’m not sure how she will react to it. Do you have a steam portal here?” asked Twilight, and I shook my head.

“Only the Captain of the blimp can use it. How could we possible contact her?” I asked, and Twilight sighed.

“We could use Spike, though we have to walk all the way back over there, and seeing how you fared on the way back to the blimp, I’m not sure if you should be walking. I’ll go and send a letter right away,” Said Twilight, running out the door.

I watched her run out, and the filly looked up at me.

“Is that mommy?” asked Daring Do.

“Heh heh, no, mommy isn’t here right now. She’ll be here soon,” I said, smiling.

The filly gave me a smile that could melt the coldest heart. I felt a pain well up inside of me, and I coughed violently. Blood spattered onto the ground, and I wheezed loudly.

“Is daddy okay?” asked my surrogate daughter.

“Yeah… Daddy’s just tired…” I said, and the doctor came in.

“Mr. Steam! Are you alright? What happened?” asked the doctor, and I got to my feet.

“I dunno… I’ll be fine. Probably just steam poisoning,” I said, standing up wobbly.

“Okay, well, let me take a blood sample. We’re also leaving in a little bit,” Said the doctor, pulling out a syringe.

“Needles… I hate needles,” I said, as the doctor walked towards me.

Daring Do watched as the doctor pierced my arm with the needle, and drew blood from my left foreleg. I grimaced in pain, as a dark red liquid filled the syringe.

“That’s odd… much darker than when you went under surgery. We’ll take it back to the lab to test it with magic.” Said the doctor, walking out of the room.

Diamond, Daring Do, and myself sat there in silence for ten minutes, when Twilight came busting in, panting. She had her saddle bags with her, and had a letter in her levitation grasp. She set it down on my lap, and set her saddle bags down.

“What is this?” I asked, and Twilight motioned for me to open it, too out of breathe to talk.

I opened the scroll, and read Celestia’s handwriting.

Dear Twilight,

I have read over your information, and I give you full observing responsibility to transport this filly and her surrogate father, along with his companion, to Canterlot as soon as possible. While I may not be able to give you an audience at once, due to the war, I have made preparations for you and the other ponies to stay at the castle until I can have full inspection. Leave with them on the Adventurer’s blimp, for it is bound to my castle as soon as it is repaired. After you have read this, please pass this on to your companion.
Deepest Regards, Celestia,

Suddenly, a green flame burned on the bottom of the page, and more words were revealed.

Dear White Steam,

I do not know of your curse, for it is both unheard of, and impossible to create a living being out of nothing. You probably know the basic elements of alchemy, do you not? This is a very grave curse, and it could be extremely dangerous for both you and the filly. I want you to stay away from her, avoid contact, until I can have a good look at her. There may be somepony, or something that is in play, that should not be.

With high hopes, Princess Celestia,

“Well, I guess it’s Bon Voyage to PonyVille. We’ll be taking the long route, I presume.”