madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-my little [sonic] pony-

"Hard to port!" Nico yelled from the foremast of the flying ship, the wind whipping his dark hair around his face made him look almost pirate like, and the rocky mountains beneath them all was as grey and unforgiving as the ocean itself, attacking them with waves upon waves of monsters and enemies.

Leo yanked the wheel. The Argo II veered left, its aerial oars slashing through the clouds like rows of knives.

A boulder flew through the air with purpose, aimed straight for the ship. Hazel yelped and hit the deck, flattening herself to the wood just in time to avoid becoming a hazel flavoured pancake.

CRACK!

The foremast collapsed—sail, spars, and Nico all crashing to the deck. The boulder, roughly the size of a pickup truck, tumbled off into the fog like it had more important business elsewhere.

"Nico!" Hazel scrambled over to him as Leo brought the ship level, his arms burning as the wheel spun in the wrong direction, groaning when he caught it and directed them back.

"I'm fine," Nico muttered, kicking folds of canvas off his legs and glaring at it.

Hazel helped him up, and they stumbled forward to the bow. Leo squinted through the bad weather, the clouds parting just long enough to reveal the top of the mountain below them: a spearhead of black rock jutting from mossy green slopes. Standing at the summit was a mountain god—one of the numina montanum, Jason had called them with weary eyes. Or ourae, in Greek, he had corrected himself for the benefit of Piper and Leo.

Like the others they had faced, this one wore a simple white tunic over skin as rough and dark as basalt. He was about twenty feet tall and looked like he was made of the rocks himself, save the white beard and wild look in his eyes. He bellowed something in a language Leo hadn't taken a class in. With his bare hands, he pried another chunk of rock from his mountain and began shaping it into a ball. It could have been playdough with the ease the god handled solid rock in, but the damage to the Argo II said otherwise.

The scene disappeared in the fog, but when the mountain god bellowed again, other numina answered in the distance, their voices echoing through the valleys like dogs in the night.

"Stupid rock gods!" Leo yelled from the helm, the frown on his faced felt like it was etched permanently. "That's the third time I've had to replace that mast! You think they grow on trees?"

Nico frowned. "Masts are from trees."

"That's not the point!" Leo snatched up one of his controls, rigged from a Nintendo Wii stick, and spun it in a circle. A few feet away, a trapdoor opened in the deck. A Celestial bronze cannon rose and sprayed a dozen metal spheres that trailed green fire. The spheres grew spikes in mid-air, like helicopter blades, and hurtled away into the fog, hopefully landing on their intended targets.

A moment later, a series of explosions crackled across the mountains, followed by the outraged roars of mountain gods confirmed Leo's hopes.

"Ha!" He muttered, spinning the Nintendo Wii stick back around, and the cannon sunk back down to the rooms of weapons below deck. Another boulder whistled through the air off to their starboard side.

Nico yelled back to him and yelled, "Get us out of here!"

"Mother fuckin pebble people," Leo cursed, but he turned the wheel forcefully. The engines hummed. Magical rigging lashed itself tight, and the ship tacked to port. The Argo II picked up speed, retreating northwest, as they'd been doing for the past two days.