The Exiled

“I said it yesterday but really, what are you?” Bliss asked as they walked through the winding alleys leading towards Tay’s lab. She was wearing her outfit from the day prior, wrapped in leather and fabric that hugged her form, giving her a suspicious look that Sil thought was contradictory to being inconspicuous.

Sil shrugged, “all I have is that I’m human, my name is Silas,”- his eyes wandered over the rooftops idly -“and I have weird nightmares”

Bliss hummed, “nightmares huh? I’ve heard one of the sisters in Equestria can mess with them, scary if you ask me”

“Scared of dreams?” Sil asked with a smile.

She shook her head, “dreams are a private thing, secrets, fears, fantasies-“ she glanced back at him, “you’d be smart to be cautious around something that can get inside your head”

“Suppose you have a point, though from what Moon says it’s a land of”- he cleared his throat -“friendship and magic!” They turned a corner and he started to recognize the area more.

“Friendship and magic, for ponies” she snorted, “I’m sure you’ve done some reading, ponies are isolationist, unless you look something like them they aren’t very… accepting”

Sil sighed, “yeah, that’s what I’m worried about-” he recognized the alley him and Moon had escaped into when they had escaped, “-we’re close”

They came to a stop at the corner leading to the road, Bliss glanced around and spotted the metal doors that stuck out against the brick wall,“since you two escaped Tay’s been hiring more”- she looked to Sil, -“that means they’re either busy searching the city or inside, so be ready”

He nodded and they slipped across the road, just as before it was completely empty leaving the two in the open as they walked over the sandy road up to the doors.

“There isn’t a handle?” Sil asked aloud, the doors were completely smoothed over, essentially just tall slabs of metal.

“Magically locked, they have enchanted items”- she reached into her satchel with an exaggerated movement and brought out a key that appeared to be made of bone, -“but luckily for us, we don’t have to worry about that” she pressed the key against the door and it passed through the metal effortlessly giving off a dim green glow as Bliss twisted it and the doors swung open.

She shot Sil a grin as she slipped the key back into the bag, “something I got a while back, neat isn’t it?”

Sil gave a smile, “kind of defeats the purpose of locks if you can just magic your way in”

“Oh so you're complaining about how easy it is to get inside a secret base owned by a crazy princess?” She gave an exaggerated sigh, “This guy just can’t be pleased”

Sil rolled his eyes and stepped through the doors behind her.

————————————————————————————————————————

Moon sighed, watching Ancy as she paced around the table, “Are they in yettt?” She groaned.

Ancy stopped and stared at her, “they should be arriving shortly, have you prepared yourself?” They were dressed in tight fitting black and white clothes this morning that hugged her form in a very… interesting way, and despite Moons questions neither of the cats had explained why.

“Mhm!” Moon hummed with a nod, looking to the table with a map laid across it, “do you think Tays going to be there?”

“Unlikely, the ripper has been called out for negotiations with the Minotaurs” despite their expressionless exterior Moon could hear the cats heart beating faster than usual.

Moon gave them a curious look, “the Minotaurs? That doesn’t make sense, they hate the cats”

Ancy looked back to her once again, “with the recent tensions caused by the rebellion the queen is wary of continuing the war”

“Rebellio-“ she stopped as her vision shifted, she was still seeing the room they were in but she was also… aware of another point of view.

“Moon, can you hear me?”

The voice that filtered through her mind was muffled and distant but she could still make it out if she concentrated.

“Good”- Moon's brow furrowed, she hadn’t said anything, -“mental potion, remember?” Sils' voice reminded.

“Oh” she spoke aloud, her own voice was also distant but much clearer than Sils.

Ancy at some point had made their way beside her, “has the potion activated?”

Moon nodded still fighting to keep focused in the confusing state her mind was in, “Focus on Sil, you do not need to remain aware of me” Ancy said, she felt a paw placed on her back reassuringly.

She nodded numbly and let her mind drift, her vision continued to shift until she was looking out of Sils eyes.
————————————————————————————————————————

Sil felt a presence linger behind his eyes, Bliss smiled and took a step back, “alright, she should be looking now. Can you see me?” Her blue eyes twinkled under the magical lights hanging from the ceiling

He nodded as a wispy voice spoke in his mind, ‘y-yes’

“She said yes” Sil repeated as he got used to the strange sensation.

‘Sil?’ Moons voice whispered.

‘you okay?’ He thought back, Bliss had stood up and was glancing down the hall.

“Alright let’s get moving, Red-eyes if you see anything off say something”

‘I’m… okay, your eyes are weird’

Sil nodded for Moon and followed behind Bliss as they began to make their way through the halls.

‘Ponies have wider eyes, and you’re closer to the ground, I’ll try not to move to fast’

‘Thanks’

He nodded and caught up to Bliss who was checking corners.

Now that he was inside Tay’s lab once again he was able to take note of the interior. The halls themselves were made out of a clean white material he couldn’t place, on the ceiling dim colorless lights sat inside of glass squares lighting the hall up nicely. Periodically as they walked they would pass a door sitting beside a thick window, most of the rooms seemed like labs of sorts but for what exactly he couldn’t tell.

Sil caught a look at himself as they passed one of the windows, ‘I’ve got your eyes’ he thought. Noting his eyes were mixed between his gray and Moon's red, Moon just offered a quiet hum in response and he kept moving.

“Shouldn’t there be guards?” Sil spoke up as they stopped at another corner.

Bliss stood up and gave him a look, “I was thinking the same, Is Red-eye saying anything?”

Sil paused, ‘Moon? Any idea where the guards are?’

There was a moment of silence, ‘I- I think there’s a room they stay in when they’re not… guarding’

‘Are we close to it?’

Another pause, ‘I don’t think so, Ancy said Tay was doing negotiations, maybe she brought them with’

Sil nodded and looked to Bliss, “she said Tay might have brought her guard with her for the negotiations?”

Bliss shook her head with a frown, “It’s still not like her to leave this place open…” She looked around the hall with obvious anxiety, “something isn’t right, let’s be quick”

Abandoning most of their stealth the two began to quickly navigate through the base, every now and then Moon would offer redirection and after what felt like an hour they came to a stop at another room.

“This should be it, we don’t need much just follow my lead” Bliss said before once again pulling out the skeleton key, a quick twist and the door clicked open.

————————————————————————————————————————

Moon jerked up as a cool liquid was poured into her mouth, she heard a shout coming from Sil as she was jerked back into her own mind.

“Moon, we have to leave” Ancy spoke in a hushed tone while gently shaking Moon.

“Wha-“ she blinked repeatedly and squinted at the cat, “what’s… happening?”

“Something, I am not sure what, the military has moved into the city”

“T-the military? W…w-why?”

Ancy shook their head, “I do not know, but Tay may have told them our faces. It is not safe here now”

Moon carefully stood up and hopped off the couch using her wings to steady herself, “what about Sil? And Bliss?”

“They will be fine, we’ve planned for this”

She gave Ancy a hesitant nod, “o-okay, what do we do?”

“We will move to the ship, Sil and Bliss should be heading in that direction now” they moved to the window and peeked out before looking back to Moon, “have you prepared?”

Moon started to nod but paused, “one second!” She bolted out of the room and down the hall making her way to the bedroom that her and Sil had been using.

She trotted over to Sils bed and flipped over his pillow revealing the large book he had been reading the day before “‘the mysteries of dimensional travel'’” she read the title aloud and her eyes widened, “is Sil an alie-'' she covered her muzzle with a hoof and looked around suspiciously. Once she was sure no one was listening in she returned to the hall and back to the living room where Ancy was waiting with a small pack draped over their shoulder.

“Is that all you need?” She asked simply looking at the book Moon was balancing on her back between her wings.

Moon nodded, “yep, All ready!”

“Then follow behind me, there is a tunnel connected to the house that leads to the surface”

“Really?! That’s cool!” Moon bounced on her hooves as she followed behind Ancy.

Her enthusiasm died down when the tunnel revealed itself to be made out of mud, dirt, and rickety support beams, “how’s this supposed to bring us up?” She whispered to Ancy who had taken the lead.

“The tunnel will bring us to one of the walls of the undercity, from there it angles up until we reach a ladder-“

“Okay, okay” Moon cut them off with a bored sigh, Ancy’s tail flicked and they walked in silence for a while before she spoke up again, “So, you and Bliss are thieves right?”

“Yes”

Moon smiled, “what kind of jobs do you do?”

She glanced at Moon over her shoulder before continuing forward, “Bliss and myself perform high profile operations”

“Soooo?”

“We take jobs involving Nobility, one’s that are in active war zones, and occasionally we perform recovery missions outside of the city”

“Ooh! Like treasure hunting?!” Moon's ear flicked as a distant rumble quaked through the ground.

Ancy paused once again but continued forwards, “Similar yes, though our last job involving… ‘treasure’ failed”- Moon opened her mouth to ask a question but Ancy was ahead, -“A pegasi named ‘daring do’ managed to steal the item from us, and the client has not contacted us since”

“A Pegasus? Was it in Equestria?” Moon asked with obvious excitement.

They shook their head, “no, it was in Zebrican lands, an old artifact that could supposedly create thriving rivers in the desert”

Moon hummed, “that sounds cool!”

Ancy only nodded in agreement and they fell into silence once more. It didn’t take them much longer to reach the end of the tunnel where a rusty ladder led up through the muddy soil to a distant beam of light that broke through whatever was covering the exit.

Moon looked up the ladder with obvious doubt, also catching a wide view of the cat's bottom, which she ignored with a slight blush, “do we really have to climb that?”

Ancy looked back down the best they could, “it is the only way up, do you need to be carried?” Their tone was expressionless as usual, but Moon felt their question was more of a threat.

“Nooo, I can do it” she groaned, maneuvering to hold onto the ladder the best she could with her equine body, the position was awkward to say the least but manageable. Moon did her best to avoid staring up as they climbed.

After about fifteen minutes the smell of sweat was distinctly coming from the two, Moons legs ached due to being stuck in the unnatural position and she groaned, “how much longer?”

“Just a bit more and we will be there, are you able to keep going?” Ancy questioned pausing with Moon and once again trying to look down.

Moon gulped and nodded “I- y-yeah just kinda tired” she swallowed and looked to the side hiding her blush that had grown considerably in the last few moments.

‘Why do I have to smell everything?!’ She shouted at herself internally as they continued to climb, from her position looking up she was still given a view of the cat's lower half. with the tight clothing Moon felt her eyes tracing the smooth curves of their body, the gentle sway of hips as they climbed with their tail swinging freely through the air, and the slightest scent of-

Moon shook her head and cursed herself internally as they continued to climb, her wings threatened to unfurl as she pushed the suggestive thoughts away and she forced her tail to stay tucked against her flank. Luckily for her the cramped tunnel helped to keep her embarrassment disguised.

“Just a bit further Moon” she murmured to herself, Ancy’s ear flicked but they didn’t respond to the Thestrals muttering.

A short while later they broke away to the surface, Moon stretched her wings and legs with a happy coo.

“Did you see enough?” Ancy’s voice cut through Moons relief and she met their green eyes with her own red eyes.

“W-what do y-you mean?” She stampered, her blush returned as fast as it had disappeared.

“You're looking at the sky, did you see enough?” Their voice remained uninterested and their tail swayed behind them.

Moon scanned their face for a moment and let out an awkward chuckle, “oh! Y-yeah I’m ready”- she cleared her throat and looked around the alley they had stepped into after leaving the hole behind, “do you know how to get to the boat from here?”

“Of course, We use this route often to get to the docks” Ancy turned and scanned the alley as well, “it won’t be far, do you need to be carried now?”

Moon pouted, “No! I can walk” she trotted up beside them as they began to walk, “Actually, I have a question”

Ancy glanced down at her as they walked, “yes?”

“Are you a boy or a girl?” Moon paused, “n-not to be rude, jus-“

“Is it important?” They asked, not sounding offended, though that was normal for them anyway.

Moon frowned and thought for a moment before shaking her head, “I guess not, just curious” she tilted her head, “so then, why does Bliss tell you to dress up?”

Ancy actually seemed to contemplate the answer for a moment before responding, “She finds it… cute”

Moon giggled, “well it is cute, but why do you wear them?”

Ancy’s tail flicked through the air idly, “because Bliss tells me to”

Moon rolled her eyes and bumped the cat's leg with her flank, “that can’t be the only reason”- her grin grew -“you think it’s cute to don't you?”

Their tail flicked again, “No, I simply do as instructed”

Moon raised a brow, “uh-huh, c’mon admit it! You think it’s cute too, that’s why you always listen!”

Ancy’s tail flicked a few more times before they shifted, “…perhaps I find it, slightly, endearing”

She giggled, “oooh I’m so telling Bliss”

“I don’t think Bliss would care” Ancy’s eyes were looking straight ahead and their face kept its emotionless mask, all while their tail flicked more erratically through the air, barely noticeable unless you had been staring at it for a worrying amount of time while climbing up a ladder in a dark tunnel.

Moon gave an amused hum, “if you say so~”

They just nodded and kept their pace. Eventually the smell of the sea neared and the familiar sight of the ocean beyond the wooden docks greeted their eyes.

Ancy peered through the street calmly, scanning over the entire crowd in a single pass, “they should be approachin-“

“BOOM!” A giant crack echoed over the loud street followed by a monstrous roar, the street immediately fell into chaos as Moon was suddenly grabbed and pulled up a set of stairs conveniently leading to the roof of a building.

Farther down the road another quake occured, Moon eyes tracked a body fly into the rapidly emptying roads and her eyes widened, “SIL!”

Even with the crowd below them they could hear the distant thud of footsteps as a colossal Minotaur limped forward. It’s movements were jerky and unnatural, as if it was still learning how to walk, Moon narrowed her eyes at the worrying sight, “I-Is that-“

“It’s a drone” Ancy whispered from beside her. The beast was ragged and torn, its flesh from afar simply looked scarred and rough but Moon knew from previous encounters that a gory mix of steel, skin, and muscle would be visible once within eyesight.

“we have to help!” On key a small object shot out from where the Minotaur had been previously, it collided with the monster's head and a plume of dark dust mushroomed out.

The Monster jerked around and let out a twisted screech, some horrible conflict between a roar and a scream of pain, Moon flinched despite herself and a hand being placed on her back caught her attention.

“You get its attention from above, use your wings but do not bite it. The blood may be polluted” their voice was steady but Moon was acutely aware of how fast their heart was beating.

“What about you?” Moons voice was more focused than she had expected, on the roar the beast had returned its attention to Bliss and they could see Sils form rising from where he had landed before.

“I will assist Bliss and Sil” her paw fell to the satchel at her side, “I have more tools for Bliss as well, she did not bring her full kit. Now go”
————————————————————————————————————————

Sil stared up at the blue sky, his vision swimming. A piercing pain numbed his leg as he slowly regained his bearings and sat up, only to fall back onto his arm with a gasp.

“Oh shit” he muttered as he caught sight of his leg. disfigured, twisted and bloody where the clear white of jagged bone could be seen tearing out from under his skin. “Fuck fuck fuck-“ he groaned, fighting back the urge to scream.

A piercing screech had him back on the ground, he curled up his body only causing more pain as his leg dragged across the cobbled ground.

“OVER HERE YOU GIANT COW!” Moon's voice stuck through his shock, he shifted enough to catch sight of her flying over the battlefield.

Another screech rang out causing Sil to cringe again at the grating sound, the giants tortured eyes tracked Moon through the air coming to a stop with her as she spotted Sil.

“Sil?! Your leg!” She shouted down to him, a look of worry and disgust at the sight of his injuries flashed in her eyes.

“J-just go!” He shouted between gasping breaths, even speaking alone caused new spikes of pain to ache throughout his body, making it harder and harder to fight off the tears forming in his eyes.

The Minotaur, seemingly realizing Moon was not going to come into reach, brought its attention back to the crippled form of Sil with a strained whine as it began to approach him once again.

“Shit, s-stop!” He shouted at the beast, attempting to drag himself back and away from it despite his pain.

Moon continued to fly above the beast, throwing objects she could reach safely and shouting various insults to no avail.

It only took a few long strides before it was on him, the smell of sweat at rot stung his nose as it stared down at him with its tortured eyes. Its fist raised into the air, Moon dove forward.

“Crack!”

Her head snapped around violently twisting far further than it should have, the Minotaur had faced her at the last moment connecting his fist to the much smaller ponies head with force it wasn’t made to handle.

Moon's body flew through the air landing limply on the road some feet away.

Sil stopped breathing, watching her still form. Just a moment, that’s all it had taken.

“Moon!” He choked out, he felt something straining in his mind, rising.

His eyes darted back to the Minotaur as it let out another scream ‘shut up, shut up, shut up-‘ his mind screamed out as he watched the beast with a broken hatred.

Its attention turned back to him and the sensation inside of him only rose, “die, die, die-“ he was whispering out loud now. The Minotaurs fist rose into the air. And everything turned black.

His arms were bound to his side and his vision covered, he tried to strain against the binds but he wasn’t allowed any movement in the suffocating wrap.

Something jostled his form and he could hear tearing, whatever was covering his head was gently peeled away revealing a dark sky glittering with an uncountable amount of stars, each one it’s own unique color.

“Calm” a voice whispered into his ear, he jerked his head trying to spot his captor. He only saw the void which surrounded him, blackness stretching out in all directions.

A scuttling noise came from his other side, he looked but could only catch a slight movement in the darkness.

“Who’s there?!” He shouted, his binding stayed tight against him and he could see it was almost weblike in its makeup.

“Calm” the voice repeated, this time it’s voice was less human, more of a chitter of noise roughly making out words.

He jerked again desperately trying to find whatever had him bound. He froze as a cold pair of hands grabbed the sides of his head.

It stared at him.

He stared back.

Vision flooded back to his eyes, he was standing, dirt under his ruined shoes. The sun warmed his back through his torn clothes, the smell of salt, sweat, blood, and rot stung his nose. His entire body was stained with sweat and gore, a tired weight throughout his body made it hard to stand.

The Minotaur was in front of him looking at him with dead eyes, it was limp on its knees, its arms hanging uselessly by its sides.

Sil tried to take a step back but his arm was stuck, he looked down and gagged. His arm was stuck inside of the Minotaurs chest, blood coating his entire arm up to his elbow.

He slowly managed to pull his arm back, fighting through the fatigue and sickening sound of flesh. Just as he pulled it free something slammed into the corpse of the Minotaur.

A dull black coat, dark purple wings, Moon slammed into the beast, ripping into its throat savagely. Sil stared in shock as she continued to bite and tear into its flesh, blood pooling around where it had fallen as she lapped up everything she could.

“M-moon?” He whispered hesitantly, her body froze up before she jerked her head towards him with a low growl, her eyes a darker blood red with two cat-like pupils.

She took a slow step towards him, any familiarity in her eyes long gone. Sil tensed getting ready to push himself to run before her head jerked to the side.

“You- don’t!” She shouted out in a warped voice.

Another step forward and another jerk to the side, he watched as her coat started to retake its normal color, her wings and eyes slowly following suit as she fell to the ground struggling against something he couldn’t see.

Before long she had returned to her normal form, her neck seemed to have been fixed as she lay still on the ground. Sil stumbled forward and knelt next to her holding his hand in front of her muzzle, when a soft breath tickled his skin he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

He let himself fall down next to Moon with a relieved smile not caring about his approaching sleep.

————————————————————————————————————————

Sil woke up with a shout, sputtering and trying to cover his head as icy water dumped over him.

“Ey! The thing’s awake!” A rough voice barked in front of him, his eyes cracked open, spotting the form of a stallion with a tan coat and dirty-blonde mane.

With his head turned away from Sil he moved to jerk towards the pony only to find himself frozen still, a white shimmer over his body.

“You can’t be looking away from him” a voice scolded from beside him.

The pony he had tried to get at turned and gave a sheepish smile before trotting off, the shimmer faded from around him and he looked over to the unicorn who had stopped him.

Without skipping a beat he spoke up, “Who are you?”

She gave him a crooked smile, “names’ Drift, I’m the minor captain here. Your thestral friend is sleeping below deck” her eyes shot over him, “Bliss said to wake you first, something about things getting ‘bloody’ if we didn’t”

She opened her mouth to continue but Sil raised a hand cutting her off, “you said Bliss?” He finally took a moment to realize where he was; sitting on the deck of a ship, “that means- is this?”

A hum from Drift, “there ya are, this here’s ‘the lady’”- she tapped a hoof against the wooden floor, -“and where you lot’ll be til’ we get to The princesses lands”

He took a moment before slowly nodding, “and Moon is downstairs?” He stood up looking over the white unicorn, she had an auburn-orange mane and tail with green eyes and stood just slightly taller than Moon, she wasn’t what he would think a sailor would look like by any means, but the way the other pony had reacted to her spoke measures.

“Aye, we’ve got her in the brig for safety, Bliss had us thinking she was the giant here” she chuckled, watching him with an amused smile, “just follow me, and I’ll bring you to her”

Sil nodded and followed her as she led him under the deck. As they walked the crew continued to work, occasionally shooting curious looks at Sil and Drift.

As they got to the ‘brig’ , a small cell built towards the back of the ship, Sil spotted Moon sleeping on a matted pile of hay. Drift levitated a small set of keys hanging from the wall and unlocked the gate letting it swing open.

He moved inside and knelt next to her, “hey, moon?” He whispered softly, shaking her body.

She snorted and batted away his hand weakly with a hoof, “five more minutes Sil”

“I’d love to but we need to catch up on what’s going on”

One red eye cracked open scanning the room lazily, when she noticed the inside of the ship her eyes opened fully and she sat up, “where…”

“We’re on a boat, I think Bliss and Ancy dumped us here after the fight” he looked to her neck, “how are you feeling?”

She glanced at Drift before giving him a soft smile, “Fine, just sleepy and a little hungry”

he nodded, “I’ll help you with that later, for now”- he looked at Drift -“mind telling us where we’ll be staying?”

“Aye” she jerked her head for them to follow, Moon hopped onto Sils back and they went behind Drift, “You two will have two places, one for the trip another for entry”

She stopped at a small room tucked away on the ship, two cots were suspended from the roof, “this’ll be your sleeping quarts, mine is straight above so don’t be making to much noise”

she shot Sil a coy look and he shook his head, “it’s not like that, just friends” Moon hummed an agreement, moving into the room and finding her own cot.

She laid down as Drift gave him a curious look, “so, that mean’s you’re open?”

Sil paused before shaking his head, “no offense, but I don’t think I’m really… attracted to other species, I’m still new to the concept”

She shrugged, a strange gesture for a pony,“ah, don’t worry ‘bout it, I get plenty of pickings to keep myself sane” she gave him a friendly smile, “but if you ever change that mind of yours, don’t be scared to ask”- she bumped him playfully with her flank before continuing to the doorway where she waited, ”now come on, let me show you where to go when we hit shore” .

Sil spared a glance to Moon who had promptly fallen asleep on her cot before following after Drift.