The Exiled

Sil rubbed his eyes as the retreating light of the moon gave way to a warming sky, he sat up with a light sigh and took a breath of the salty air. One thing he had discovered, much to Moon's delight, is that the city they were in was bordered by an ocean. A map he found labeled it ‘the ocean of Equis’ due to strong ties with ancient equestrian expansion, a topic he hadn’t found the time to research yet.

He stood up with a stretch feeling his joints pop and crack, Moon's ear flicked as she shifted, mumbling something under her breath.

‘She’s been sleeping more during the day, probably something to do with being half bat’ he mused as he slipped through the small room they currently called home.

He threw his cloak over his shoulders with a small flourish, they had managed to steal clothing from market stalls that had left their goods out during the nights when Tay was less likely to catch wind of them.

Once he was dressed he spared one last glance at Moon who was still curled up under a few pieces of fabric as she slept, a small smile made its way onto his face as he slipped out the door into the warming desert air.

The area they had found themselves in was a poorer district of the large city, trash and tumbleweed scattered down the roads, and slim alleys cut through the crowded district casting shadows over the homeless and sick that called the slums home.

Sil sighed as he kicked a small piece of paper out of his way, it had been nearly two weeks since they had escaped Tay and he still hadn’t managed to find any secure way out of the city. Any ships asked for too much and the only thing outside the city was miles of desert they had no means of traversing.

Sil was lost in his thoughts as he climbed up a rusty ladder leading to the roof of their shack, he walked towards the edge of the roof and sat down watching as the sun rose over the horizon casting the city in a warm orange glow.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything”

Sil jumped from his spot and turned to face the voice. Behind him was a cat concealed under a mix of leather and dark cloth, a belt ran from its shoulder to its waist and a small satchel along with two knives sat on its hips.

It took a step back and watched him cautiously, “you certainly meet the description, still I expected more from the ‘monster’ that got away from the ripper” it’s voice was lighter and he assumed it was a she.

Sil glanced around while she spoke, his back was to the road, if he needed to he knew a jump wouldn’t hurt him. The roof behind her was empty and he couldn’t spot anyone else.

“… The ripper?” He asked cautiously, he heard the faintest creak of a door opening below them.

She blinked from behind her mask, “the ripper, Tay, the second princess, crazy scientist with a penchant for ripping cats apart and replacing them with steel?”

He paused, “princess?” He spotted Moon slipping onto the roof, a surprisingly violent look coming over the pony’s face as she spotted the cat.

Her head tilted, “you don’t know?” She went silent and her body tensed as Moon lowered herself to the ground and prepared to pounce. The moment Moon left the ground the cat was turned around, she reached up while stepping to the side and grabbed her by the barrel mid-flight before flinging Moon back towards Sil. He raised his arms to try and stop Moon from colliding with him, but her wings flared out before it happened and in another instant she was beside Sil watching the cat with a glare.

The cat straightened her posture and looked back at them, even without her face visible Sil could see a shine of amusement in her eyes.

“And there’s the red eyed thestral! you for one live up to the description” she chuckled to herself as they both watched her from their position.

“What, no questions? For all you know I could be one of the princesses goons” the tone in her voice was teasing as she spoke.

“Fine,” Sil started, “who are you?”

She clapped her hands together enthusiastically, “look at you! That was almost a complete sentence!” Sil frowned at her.

“To answer your question; you can call me Bliss, I enjoy watching the sunrise and long walks on the beach” she looked between Moon and Sil, “and I’m your recruiter so I’d advise against trying to kill me. I don’t think that’d look great on your report”

“What recruiter?!” Moon spoke up sharply and looked to Sil, “she’s probably just one of Tays drones, look at how she’s all covered up!”

For once the amusement left the cats eyes and she managed to look insulted, “I’ll have you know, little red eye, I am neither a drone nor am I with the ripper” Bliss pointed to her blue eyes, “do I look like some lifeless abomination to you?”

“-don’t, don’t answer that” the cat said sharply, cutting off Moon's response.

“You may not be one of her… things, but how can we know you aren’t with her? She had normal guards when we escaped” Sil spoke up, drawing the cat's glare.

“for the two monsters who escaped from the ripper you’re pretty slow”- she rubbed her head and sighed, “-if I was with the ripper, or Tay as you prefer to say, don’t you think she would be here by now? With an army of her groupies and drones behind her?”

“Then you could just be a distraction!”

She gave Moon a deadpan stare before shaking her head, “by the sun, you two are morons.” she fell silent for a moment before looking back at them, “listen, I understand I may have surprised you, and I may have been ever so slightly rude

“But, I am NOT one of those damned drones”- she shot Moon a look, “-and I am certainly not working with the ripper, or any of the royalty for that matter”

Sil shook his head, “regardless of what you are or who you’re with, you don’t come across as someone to trust”

Bliss chuckled at that, “never heard of a trustworthy thief, I’m certainly not one of them.”

Sil frowned, “so you’re a thief? There’s nothing to take from us, so what do you want?”

She sighed, “Remember when I said ‘re-cru-ter’?” she spelled out the word with her paws for emphasis, “do I really need to spell it out?”

“Didn't she just do that?” Moon whispered to Sil who decided to ignore her for the moment.

“Fine, so you're a thief who wants to recruit us into… what? A gang?”

“Guild” Bliss corrected. “we've been hired to get something from your buddy, Princess Tay. You two have escaped before so you are reasonable assets to have. Easy ”

“Y-you want us to go back there?!” Moon hissed, “why would we do that? What if she got us again!?” Her ears flattened against her head.

Bliss took a step back at Moons rising panic, Sil looked to her, “Moon, I need you to breathe”

Moon shook her head and stepped back towards him, “b-but she sai-“

“-If your issue is going inside that won’t be needed” Bliss interrupted regaining their attention, “we just need one of you to give directions and another to be there with us” Sil looked at Moon who was pressed against his leg, she was still nervous but at least appeared to be calming down.

“So then what’s in it for us? Why should we help you when it only puts us at risk” He asked as he stood back up.

A smile reappeared in her eyes, “as it is we assume you two have been looking for a way outside the city?”

Sil nodded hesitantly.

“Good, in that case we can arrange for transportation alongside a decent sum of money to keep you alive wherever you want to end up”

Sil frowned “And that’s it? We help you and then you just… let us go?”

“Mhm, after all sending you two off is also a good way of throwing Tay off our tails, she’s been pretty upset over the loss of you two” she gave him a playful wink, “makes a lady wonder what kind of ‘experiments’ she was so excited to run”

Sil ignored the comment and thought to himself for a moment, “Can we discuss this? Alone preferably”

Bliss nodded without hesitation, “I can give you today to make up your minds” she gave Sil and Moon one more look, “…I’ll leave you two to it then, expect me back by midnight” With that she turned around and walked to the edge of the roof opposite to Sil and Moon, she hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and stepping off the ledge.

They sat in silence for a moment before moving to the ledge and peering over, “she’s gone”

Moon sniffed and shook her head, “I can't even smell her anymore, how’d she do that?!” Moon exclaimed forgetting her previous anxiety.

Sil shrugged, “She’s a thief, guess they have their ways.” he paused, “So what do you think?”

She looked up at him, “You’re asking me?”

“Of course, I’m not going to decide for you”

She went silent for a moment, “I-I’m not sure…” she frowned at the rough floor before looking back up at him, “Is… Is there any other way?”

He turned and looked back to the Sun which had risen over the horizon, “I’m not sure, We can't risk wandering the desert and last I checked the few ships giving us a way out are to heavily guarded and asking for money we don't have”

“What if we look one more time?” Moon asked hesitantly, “Maybe we can find something today!”

Sil ran his fingers over his knuckles as he thought, after a moment he nodded, “We have until midnight to find something, if not…”

“If we can't find anything we have to, right?”

He nodded as Moon took up position beside him, she bumped his leg and he glanced down at her, “Don't worry, we’ve got this! We can't let any thieves get in our way!”

Sil smiled and nodded towards the sun, “then let's go, we can check the docks first”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moon peeked over Sil’s shoulder as he walked through the crowd that filled the docks, the smell of saltwater and sweat drifted through the air and the area was filled with shouting as the workers loaded and unloaded crated from various ships. His face covered by a mask and hood Sil was able to make his way through unnoticed as Moon sat on his back looking around with excited eyes from under her own hood.

“It’s so cool!” she exclaimed under her breath looking towards the ocean that stretched out over the horizon, “do you think it ever ends?” she asked Sil who was focused on making his way towards one of the buildings marked ‘Customs’

He paused at her question and looked over the Sea, he got several grumbles from cats trying to make their way around them as they stopped, “From what I know Equestria sits over the horizon” he pointed straight out over the Sea.

Moon gasped, “Equestria!? You mean the land of friendship and magic?!”

Sil chuckled, “Not sure if I’d describe it like that, but sure, it's also where the ponies and such live”- he gave her a pointed glance, “and they are ruled by-”

“Celestia and Luna! Twin sisters who move the sun and moon!” Moon exclaimed.

He hummed in affirmative, “I don't know much else though, they keep to themselves quite strictly, The Cats and Griffons are the only nations they maintain relations with which is surprising”

He felt Moon tilt her head as he resumed walking towards the customs office, “Why’s that?”

“From what little I’ve read ponies aren't fond of other creatures” he paused and glanced at Moon, “usually, that is”

“Huh” Was all Moon said in response, she kept silent as they arrived at the building. The door closed behind them muffling the noise from the docks, Moon hopped off his back and started to wander around the room which was empty except for a few cats checking in their ships and goods at the desk.

“So what's here?” Moon asked after looking around.

Sil pointed to a large board on one of the walls littered with papers, “That, it tracks ships coming in and out of the docks. We just have to look for any taking passengers”

They got a curious glance from one of the cats as it left the building.

“Is it that easy? I was expecting more… sneaking” Moon sounded slightly let down as she looked at the board.

“Their customs keep imports and exports public. Probably just makes it easier to navigate the docks that way” He glanced back at her with a small smile, “It may not be a thrilling adventure, but-”

With a crash the window farthest from them burst, a familiar figure flew through it with a shout and scrambled to her feet brushing glass off her leather shoulder pads. Her blue eyes met Sil’s gray eyes and she blinked

“What are y-”

The door getting kicked in cut her off and several cats poured in, they all wore what the typical civilian wore aside from a piece of red fabric hanging from the side of their trousers. Most of them held a normal appearance, but the thud of hooves cut that assumption aside as a Minotaur walked in with a feral glare letting out a huff of air as he spotted Bliss.

“Bliss, you know what you owe” He growled as the gang circled her, a golden ring pierced through his nostrils glinted in the light.

She coughed and averted her eyes from Sil back to the Minotaur, “George, was it?”

His eyes narrowed, “It is Gorn” he said with a huff, his body was covered by a roughly sewn tunic but it was easy to tell he had seen his share of fights.

Her hands fell to the knives at her hips and in a single movement they were unsheathed, “Yes well I’m afraid I don't have the time to be talking with you George. Maybe speak with Tabby?” her eyes twinkled and she grinned, “oh that's right she left you, what was it… ‘An inept fool who can't even get his dick up for his wife’?”

Gorn took a moment to process what she had said before his eyes widened and he let out an roar that made Sil and Moon take a step back, the giant Minotaur charged forward with thundering steps and sent a savage swipe towards Bliss but she was already gone.

Her eyes lit up with amusement, she ducked under the swipe and dashed to his side embedding a dagger into his leg, Gorn let out a shout and fell to a knee, her hand vanished into her pouch as she continued to move using his leg as a stepping stool to slam a ball into his face. A large cloud of gray dust exploded directly on his nose and he let out another shout and fell onto his back trying to cover his face.

Gorn’s group seemed to realize their leader was in danger and began to move in towards Bliss unsheathing their own weapons, an assortment of daggers, swords, and blunt weapons.

Bliss didn't stop moving as she ripped the dagger from Gorns leg causing him to scream out in pain, using him as a stepping stool again Bliss launched herself off Gorns body and vaulted in a clear arc over the head of one of the gang members as they took a swing towards her. She moved back towards Sil and Moon as Gorn slowly rose back onto his legs.

“Get that bitch!” He roared and tried to take a step forwards, instead he stumbled and nearly fell. He held a hand to his head and shook it causing Bliss to snicker.

“Don't worry George! You’ve got a few hours of high with that dose” She turned to Sil and Moon and tossed a dagger to Sil who caught it as he shook himself out of his shock.

“I-I don't know how to use this!” he hissed as Bliss backed up to them, the gang was advancing cautiously as they took note of her new friends.

“It’s enchanted, just cut them once and they’ll be out of the fight in a minute” she replied hastily and looked at Moon who was watching the gang members with a mix of fear and shock, “And red-eye, if you’re hungry now is the time to get some food! You have your own daggers for that”

Sil gave her a confused look and Moon stared at her with wide eyes shaking her head, “No- I don't- W…what are you talking about!?” She half shouted pressing her flank against the wall.

Bliss shook her head and turned back to the approaching group, “Then its just me and the idiot!” she flashed him a smile, “You take three I’ll get five?”

Sil didn't have time to respond as she darted forward in a blur and slugged one of the goons in the face earning a shout of pain, Not allowing himself to think about it Sil charged forward and tackled another one who was distracted by Bliss’ movements.

The cat let out a shout and tried to throw Sil off only to stop as the dagger was stabbed into his shoulder causing him to let out a cry of pain, Sil didn't have any time to think as a kick to his stomach caused him to grunt, he looked up as a blade swung towards his head only to be stopped as its owner got tackled by a mass of black and purple.

Sil watched as Moon grappled onto the cat and sunk her fangs into its throat with a growl, the cat fell to the ground with a shout and tried to pull her off only to fall limp a few moments later. Moon pulled back with a breath and a line of blood followed her splattering over the ground, the incapacitated cat didn't seem to be bleeding from its wound as Moon caught Sil’s eye.

“There you go red-eye!” came a shout from his left, Sil looked over to see Bliss slamming a cat into the ground, a dagger shoved into its throat down to the hilt with amusement written in her eyes.

He looked back at Moon as a chair slammed into her side and sent her flying into a far wall with a grunt, Gorn stumbled forwards with a growl his eyes locked onto Moon as she stumbled back to her hooves.

With the cat below him now staring blankly at the ceiling and mumbling incoherently Sil launched forwards in a blur and slammed the dagger into Gorns ribs, he felt something break as the blade pierced through his lungs and the Minotaur let out another scream of pain sending his hand across Sil’s body and sending him flying back along with the dagger. Gorn stumbled as his eyes fell on Sil he let out a low growl that turned into a bloody cough, “Fucking Cats and their poison” he grumbled as he fell to a knee and stared at the floor, his gaze was unfocused as he began to mumble to himself before finally falling to the ground.

Sil blinked away the stars and stood up with a grunt, he didn't feel injured just a pain from the impact of the strike. His eyes went to Moon who was still leaned up against the wall, one of her wings hung limp at her side and her eyes were staring at nothing with a silly grin on her face.

“Moon?!” He shouted as he walked over to her, the fight seemed to be over as the remaining cats fled the scene.

Moon looked over to him lazily, “Sil! Whysre you on the roofs?!” She giggled and stumbled forwards just to be caught by Sil who had knelt down to steady her.

“She’s fine, must’ve gotten a whiff of that silver dust from Gorn” Bliss spoke up behind him.

He looked at her with a glare and she stopped, “Silver dust?”

“Its harmless, not called Bliss for nothing” she chuckled as Moon muttered something about flying Minotaur. “Just give her an hour and she’ll be fine, aside from the headache”

Sil looked around at the ruined building, “do we have an hour? Your little scene wasn't exactly quiet” Moon giggled and leaned her head against him closing her eyes.

Bliss blinked and looked around as if she had forgotten the fight, “Suppose you have a point”- She looked at Moon who had all but fallen asleep against Sil, -“can you carry red-eye?”

“It’s Moon, and yes I can” He twisted from where he was kneeling and gently wrapped Moon in his arms before standing, she nestled closer to him with a hum lost in her high.

Bliss smiled, her face having been exposed sometime in the fight, “I’d almost call it cute, if I hadn't just seen her drinking from a cat” a small shudder crawled up her spine as she looked at Moon’s previous victim who was still unconscious.

“Was that something to do with her eyes?” Sil asked after a moment of hesitation.

She looked up at him, “something like that-” The distant sound of bells along with a clamoring of boots and shouting came closer, “-But she can explain later, follow me”

With that she ducked through the doorway and down the street with Sil in tow carrying Moon.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moon nestled her snout under Sils chin as they walked through the slums of the docks, The smell of smoke and chatter of distant voices echoed through the alleys as they moved.

“Ysh mell’ good” she hummed, Sil gently pushed her head away for the fourth time, she let out a disappointed whine but relented choosing to rest her head against his shoulder.

“This… drinking thing, what is it?” He asked Bliss as she led them past the various sketchy vendors who sat in the alcoves in the wall opposite to the sea.

Bliss spared him a glance over her shoulder, “I’m surprised you don’t know, you’ve been with her two weeks now yeah?”

He nodded, sparing a glance at the sleeping pony.

She opened her mouth to continue but stopped with a shake of her head, “in that case I’ll leave it to her to explain, not my secret to tell”

“I wouldn’t take you for the type to care”

Her ear flicked but she didn’t respond, once again falling into silence as they walked down slim roads.

Not much longer they came to a stop infront of a grate built into the ground.

“These are the slums”- Bliss turned to Sil, a serious look on her face, “-the real slums. Stay close to me and keep your head down, a dagger to the back isn’t something you can walk off”

Sil frowned but nodded nonetheless, Bliss turned back to the grate and grabbed the edges, with a grunt she pried it open and laid it beside the entrance of the hole giving them access to what smelled like the sewers.

They made their way down and onto the ground level, Sil doing his best to keep up with Bliss. After a while of walking down the empty tunnel it began to split off into branching paths, and occasionally he’d catch a glimpse of a cat or what looked to be bipedal dogs with large arms and gnarled faces.

Eventually they made it to the end of the tunnel, the area opened up into a surprisingly big cavern filled with creatures of all sorts, shabby building made out of wood and cloth were leaned against the stone walls and the stench of sweat and sewage made him cough.

Bliss gave him a smile, “get used to the smell, if you really want to avoid the ripper that is”

“She hasn’t found us yet” Sil responded as he looked over what he could see from their position, “and I thought our place was rundown”

Bliss chuckled, “I wouldn’t go around saying that, for most creatures this is the best they can do, even if it does smell like shit and piss”

Sil sighed which only caused the smell to get worse, “I don’t see any of you around here” he coughed and shook his head.

“Even in the underground thieves can’t be public, wouldn't do much good if anyone could just rat us out to the guards.”

Moon shifted in his arms her own nose scrunched up in response to the smell, Sil looked to Bliss, “then let’s get to wherever you are, I think Moon would be a bit to excited at the idea of an ‘underground’ and I don’t want to deal with that at the moment”

She shot him a bemused look before nodding leading them onwards into the slums.