“…him.”
The word was said with the utmost horror and despair. None of the ponies had known Viator for long, but it didn’t take any of them, baring Dawn, a particularly long time to work out who it was the stallion was referring to. The telescope, which was hastily passed around for all to the see, proved their suspicions.
Galloping as hard as his hooves could carry him, all the while leaping left and right to avoid an upgrade from “prey” status to that of actual “food,” a promotion most would be keen to pass up. Contrary, however, to the fear one would expect the mountain ranger to have coursing through his every fibre, the look of excitement and inaudible “whoops” clearly being shouted by him suggested that the insufferable stallion was, in fact, enjoying himself immensely. The same could not be said for the pegasus which followed him; though her expression was suitably more difficult to read than most on account of the way her eyes refused to focus, it was nonetheless clear she was in a state of distress.
“We have to help them! There’s no way they’ll be able to avoid it forever!” Surprise’s sentiment was one most shared, but it was clear that it would be no easy task.
“I’m all for helping, but that thing’s a hydra! Have you seen how many heads it has!?” Firefly wailed, while flailing her hooves in the air for added emphasis. “How would we fight it!?”
Taking up the telescope once more, Discord quickly scanned the chase once more. “At my count, six heads. So, assuming our old friend has a good buck to him, then that means we can fight a head each!”
“It… does?”
Rather than the draconequus, it was Viator who stood forward and answered the question, the indecision once scrawled all over his muzzle having seemingly disappeared. “Discord is right, Firefly. Dawn and Surprise aren’t capable fighters, correct?”
“…Hehe, yeeaah, I’m not so good when it comes to that sort of thing. Sorry!”
“I would have to concur with Surprise… I’m more of a thinking pony.” Both ponies nodded their heads and smiled sheepishly in agreement. None of the ponies present were fighters by nature, but at least some experience in the field and talents that could be used within it.
“I thought as much. Now come, we shouldn’t delay,” the unicorn boldly stated.
“…Um, Viator?”
“What, Luna?”
“…You suddenly seem so confident, and before you were…”
A sigh escaped the show stallion’s lips. “I’ll tell you later. Now get closer, we’re going to do a group teleport. Surprise, Dawn, you’re happy to stay here and guard our things?” He received two nods of confirmation, prompting the soon-to-be combatants to quickly slide their bags from backs and place them in a pile on one of the few patches of earth not drowning in mud. “Ready?” he asked the ponies by his side. Another round of nods followed, then the magic users began to glow as they powered up the teleportation spell that would transport them all to the endangered ponies’ aid. “Three… two…”
______________________________________________________________________________
To most, ships were mere vessels, tools used to transport material goods or passengers from A to B where there was a large amount of water between those two points. To those individuals who work, play, eat, sleep and for the most part live on a ship, those wooden constructs become much, much more. This was no different with the crew of the Octave, a galleon often admired for its fine build and craftsmanship even by those not of a naval mind. And so what a treat it was to be able to ride such a vessel for one such as Kromi, who had never so much as seen such a large ship in detail before, let alone be its guest of honour.
The same however, could not be said for the Octave’s other guest, a pony who not only had ridden and admired many such works of carpentry before, but who was not in quite as much favour with its captain and who had the distinct fear that his own little yacht, that had been tied to the larger ship so it may be towed, could quite easily be crushed under the galleon’s sheer enormity.
“Are the stores stocked yet?”
“Yes ma’am!”
“Docking fees paid?”
“The Harbourmaster has given us his blessing, ma’am!”
“All crew present?”
“All hooves on deck, ma’am!”
“Good. Lower the sails, we depart for Equestria!”
“AYE!”
What may have looked like a bunch of ponies scrambling around a ship wildly, was in fact a practised, and highly efficient routine, which saw the Octave go from port to the open waves in near-record time. Of course, Sharpsail was not too concerned with breaking a record she and her crew had set themselves.
“…Sharpsail, dear, are you sure Fleur will be… well, ship-shape after this voyage?”
Coin Bag, Kromi and their host stood at the rear of the galleon, watching the bubbling foam created in its wake and the small yacht bobbing along behind, secured only by several thick ropes.
“What? Afraid your pond skimmer will fold under the weight of real waves?”
An annoyed glance was shot Sharpsail’s way, to little effect. The captain merely laughed and turned her attention to the other guest aboard her ship.
“Come, Kromi, let me show you around my home and introduce my brothers and sisters,” she ordered with a rare tone of affection.
“Can Coin Bag come too…?” Kromi nervously asked, shooting a concerned look to her friend who could not help but keep a worried eye on the boat trailing behind them.
“If he can muster the intelligence to realise that puny tub of his is in perfectly safe hooves, then yes,” Sharpsail answered dismissively, eager to show the young zebra her livelihood.
“Coin Bag…?” Kromi called, snapping him from his paranoia-induced stare.
He smiled back. “I’ll be just fine here, lass. Go on, you have yourself a little adventure.”
“Oh… okay then!” She returned the smile and bounded off, leaving the two older ponies.
Sharpsail seemed on the verge of smiling just as widely as she watched Kromi go, though her face returned to its usual serious demeanour and she returned her gaze to Coin Bag. “Coin Bag. A word, when I have shown her about.”
Without waiting for a reply, she left in pursuit of Kromi, leaving Coin Bag flummoxed. He did not know what she wanted, and was not sure he wanted to find out, but he did realise that far too many times had that mare left him with a frown.
Sharpsail’s shipmates came in every colour, shape and size imaginable. Even the crew’s accents were a diverse blend, with few voices sounding the same as the next. The next hour saw Kromi introduced to more ponies and zebras than she had ever known in the first place. To her, it was as incredible an experience as Cairib had been. Her mood quickly collapsed however, when a large, feathered figure emerged from the below deck, causing her eyes to widen to the size of saucers.
“…S-Sharprsail…” Kromi whimpered, trying to shrink behind the captain’s strong aura.
As soon as she felt the young zebra’s shaking and heard the fear in her voice, Sharpsail rounded and gave her full attention to the cowering equine. “What is it, Kromi?” A trembling hoof indicated the gryphon going about what was merely the same work as the other ponies and zebras around him. A warm, comforting smile formed on Sharpsail’s muzzle, and she shared it with Kromi. “Ah, do not wilt, desert flower. That is Gadeon, and he is just as worthy a friend and brother as any pony or zebra you see here.”
“…B-But…but… he is Taloned!” the terrified guest sputtered, looking back and forth between the oblivious gryphon and Sharpsail.
It was then that Sharpsail gave the gentlest gesture most of her crew ever saw, and would ever see. Captain Sharpsail, known throughout the sailing and trading world as one of the fiercest, most resolute ponies on the high seas, was, for a brief few moments, stroking the mane of a scared young filly.
“No, Kromi. He is Gadeon. A being with as noble and loyal a soul as any. I wondered what it was that left such an aching rend in your heart. And now I know. You’ve seen the despair the gryphons, the ‘Taloned,’ can wreak, haven’t you?”
Her reaction was not immediate, but she soon relented and nodded slowly and weakly, her eyes to the floor.
“I apologise. I shouldn’t have mentioned it, but… my ear will always be there, should you want to talk. For now though, I think you should come say hello.” Though her knees were still rattling, Kromi was slowly led by Sharpsail over to the gryphon, who was hard at work tying and sorting piles of spare rope.
When he saw his captain approach, Gadeon grinned and nodded politely. “Cap’n. Who’s the new blood?”
A hoof gently pushed Kromi forward, towards the gryphon. “…I-I… I’m…” she stuttered, unable to coordinate her mouth and tongue over the lingering feeling of dread in her stomach.
Whether it was simply due to natural intuition or some sort of silent message from Sharpsail, Kromi did not know, but Gadeon’s face suddenly exerted understanding after seeing her failed attempt at talking coherently. “Guess you’re a rural one, then? Well, lemme tell you, you ain’t got nothing to fear. I know us gryphons have one nasty reputation, but not all of us are dumb enough to keep fighting and not realise that’s what’s killing us.” He grinned again, a perfect example of a friendly expression if ever there were one and held out a talon for her to shake. “Name’s Gadeon. You wanna to try again with yours?”
It couldn’t win. The tiny inner voice that screamed at Kromi to run for her life was increasingly dimmed and muffled by the situation she had been presented with. Before her was a gryphon, yet his face was not contorted with rage or sadistic glee, instead his beak formed a simple smile. And he was not the only one; the surrounding crew had stopped whatever task they had been performing to listen and witness somepony overcome their misguided fear, a sight that never got old.
Kromi looked back to Sharpsail, who only nodded her encouragement. “I’m… My name is Kromi.” The zebra cautiously extended her hoof towards Gadeon’s talons, still extended, hesitated for another brief moment, and then shook it. A series of whoops and cheers boomed around the deck as everypony present commended the occasion.
“Kromi. That’s a pretty name. Well, nice to meet you, Kromi!” Gadeon said with a chuckle.
As if by instinct, the zebra turned to Sharpsail for guidance. She was met with a proud smile. “Thank you, Kromi. It means a lot to us all.” Little Kromi did not quite understand what Sharpsail meant with her gratitude, but she was happy to hear it nonetheless. “Now, the rest of you; get back to work!” the captin suddenly yelled, causing Kromi to wince, and the rest of her crew to snap back to their chores, though their muzzles were still plastered with grins. The order had been given loudly, but to any who knew Sharpsail, they could tell there had not been a hint of malice in it, and the captain’s face softened almost immediately. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me now, striped sweet. Please, stay and explore at your own pace, and don’t be afraid to talk to anyone; we’re making good speed, they can spare a few minutes of their time.” The young zebra nodded in confirmation and looked around for anyone she had not yet met, but was stopped once more by Sharpsail. “Kromi… truly, thank you.” Before she could ask, Sharpsail was gone, already halfway across the deck.
The first thing most noticed about the captain of the Octave, was how authority radiated from her every pore. Sharpsail was a pony you listened to, no questions asked. She was a natural-born leader, but what Sharpsail wasn’t, was a tyrant. She knew each of her crewmembers by name, and regarded them as family, a bond that was not one sided. And so, she responded to the countless knowing smirks she received from her subordinates with nought but her own smug expression. The Octave’s crew’s captain, a mare that commanded respect from even the worst of her enemies, had a crush on a little lost zebra. And her brother’s and sister’s at sea knew it.
There was one more individual who knew of the fierce captain’s affections however. A unicorn who found himself being almost dragged into Sharpsail’s private quarters by his horn, much to his chagrin.
“I say, Sharpsail… whatever is this all about? Colthandling a grown unicorn like that… How is the little one? Still to the brim with spunk, I hope?” Coin Bag asked after settling himself down in a chair. The question was semi-rhetorical, it was very unlikely Sharpsail, or any of her crew, had managed to upset Kromi, given the captain’s feelings toward her.
“Kromi. It was the gryphons she feared. Why? Where does she come from?” the captain sternly responded.
Coin Bag blinked, he hadn’t expected the questions, nor had he expected them to be asked in such a situation or manner. “Why, what ever do you need to know that for?”
Sharpsail sighed as if she were trying to deal with an immense fool. “Because I need to keep up to date, Coin Bag. Whatever happened to her happened recently and I need to know where, so I can keep myself and others informed on gryphon movements. Now show me,” she ordered, while spreading a large chart showing all of Equestria, the Great Sea and all the explored zebra lands to the south of it. “Show me,” she repeated with deteriorating patience.
The unicorn sighed as well and rubbed his small moustache in thought, trying to remember the rough location of Oromo Village. After studying the chart for a few silent moments, he pointed a hoof at a small cove, surrounding by forest with only occasional patches of dry land. “Here, I do believe. Her village was called Oromo, I think. Isolated crowd if ever there was one. Didn’t take too kindly too strangers, no siree. I must have gotten myself caught in a rogue wind, drifted into this cove here and met dear Kromi. I promised to come back for her, and what do I find? Whole village razed by gryphons. Poor lass must have the luck of the sun to get out without so much as a singed tail.”
Sharpsail was silent. Her eyes flicked back and forth rapidly between various points on the chart, cross-referencing the information before her with her own knowledge of events and gryphon movements and behaviours. This continued, until her eyes suddenly stopped, narrowed to slits which glared at Coin Bag, her muzzle contorting with rage. “Coin Bag you… you FOOL!” In an instant, the earth pony slammed her forehead into the unicorn’s so that he saw the extent of her anger up close. “You lead them straight to her! Do you have ANY idea what you’ve DONE!?”
For the first time in a great many months, Coin Bag was genuinely in a state of complete and utter fear. To see Sharpsail truly angry was a terrifying enough experience, but the fear he had managed to push to the very bottom of his mind resurfaced like an erupting volcano. The fear that he had lead the gryphons to the hidden village of Oromo, that he had prompted them to raid the village and take it for everything it had, and that he was the one who had caused a young mare like Kromi so much pain and suffering. And he was at a loss for words. His brain simply wouldn’t function. Horror, horror at himself was the only thing he could process. He had dreaded the moment, the moment when somepony might figure out that it was his fault. Ever since taking Kromi from the ruins of Oromo, he had known the blame was potentially on his shoulders, but seeing Kromi push on, overcome her pain had inspired him to do so as well. But now that it had been laid down in front of him, after a hoof had been pointed, all that horrid guilt came back many times worse than it ever had been.
Even if the merchant was physically, or mentally, able to reply, he would have been interrupted, as the cabin door took the moment to creak open. A striped figure stood in the frame.
“…Coin Bag?”
______________________________________________________________________________
Hydras were fearsome beasts. Few creatures could boast to be as dangerous. Not especially intelligent, but when you had four or more heads complete with boulder-crushing jaws and you possessed a size to rival some dragons, intelligence wasn’t usually a necessity in day-to-day living. When something unusual did happen however, stupidity had its downfalls. For one hydra in particular, who had been merrily chasing two little ponies, several more ponies, as well as some sort of chimera, suddenly appearing in a flash of light was unusual and as such, it was forced to halt all action so it could process this turn of events. In this hydra’s experiences, things did not just appear, and they especially did not just suddenly appear in such numbers. Food didn’t just magically sprout in front of you. So what was this? What should it do? Eventually of course, the hydra simply concluded that food was food and it should not ponder such complex thoughts when it could in fact by eating things. Alas, it took the hydra’s many brains precious seconds to reach this conclusion, and then actually agree on it. Seconds that allowed the food-to-be to spread out, and for some of them, to start making their horns twinkle.
“NOW!” the azure one shouted. The hydra may have been incapacitated by thought once more, since food did not regularly shout back with such a lack of fear, were it not for the blast of combined magic energy slamming into its body and thoroughly punching the wind from its massive lungs. Like nearly everything about that particular meal, being attacked with such force was not an expected occurrence, and it served to push the poor monstrosity over the edge. No more thought, or pondering, or unanticipated twists. The little ponies and chimera were to be eaten, immediately if not sooner.
The hydra roared with primordial fury and lashed out, its heads gnashing their teeth, hoping to devour as much of its prey as it could at once. Unfortunately for the hydra, the newly arrived ponies were just as agile as the two it had been chasing. If they did not zip out of the way of its mouths then they disappeared and reappeared in the same flashes of light that had originally brought them, letting it eat nothing but mud.
It also gave two ponies a moment to quickly reunite.
“Pardner’…! Ya came back for ol’ Craggy! Hehe, I jus’ knew ya would! Knew it!”
“Craggy, we can talk later. If you didn’t notice, there’s a multiple-headed beast trying to eat us, so we need to work together and fig-”
“So ‘eres my thinkin’, we gang up together, an’ figh’ this mean son-o’-a mule!”
The show stallion could not believe he had actually volunteered to save that pony’s life.
“Oh, an’ let me in-tro-duce ya to ma goo’ friend Bright Eyes! Bright Eyes, com’ say howdy!” Craggy cheerfully went on, nodding to the grey pegasus hovering warily above them all. Despite the concern on her face, her expression did a complete u-turn upon being called and she waved happily to the two, though the moment was interrupted by another head slamming down and nearly devouring them both.
“Craggy, while I’m sure that’s wonderful, we really ought to-”
“She don’ talk much, but I can tell that there’s a heart o’ gold in her chest!”
“FOR THE LOVE OF THE SUN WOULD YOU HURRY UP AND-”
“A’ight, now let’s show this ‘ere beasty whose boss! Yeehaaw!”
And show the hydra who was boss was exactly what they proceeded to do. With its heads divided evenly, the hydra found itself at a considerable disadvantage. Celestia, Luna, Discord and Viator teleported back and forth, sending bursts of magical energy into the hydra’s eyes and skulls while Firefly and Craggy proved equally as troublesome. They did not have wings or magic to support them, but even in all the sticky ooze they were too fast and agile for the hydra to catch them between its razor teeth, and every attempt it made merely resulted in two strong hooves making very forceful contact with whichever head happened to have taken a lunge at the earth ponies.
This continued for sometime, and eventually, through all its rage, bloodlust and headaches, a new instinct began to surface in the hydra’s brain: self-preservation. No matter how many times it snapped and assaulted the group of equines, it didn’t get any food; on the contrary, it only got hurt. Thus, for what may have been the first time in its life, the hydra took a step back. And then another, and another. With each step the beast’s attacks lessened in ferocity until they were little more than aggressive gestures as the repeated counter-attacks soon forced the hydra into a full-on retreat, with tears in its eyes and a sad rumbling in its stomach.
Only once the hydra’s form was fully out of view, having sunk away back into the depths of the bog, did the companions move from their fixed, panting stance. First there were smiles, then cheers and finally a quick round of hugs. They had defeated the hydra, though the experience had nonetheless been a tiring, and scary one.
“Well done, everypony! I think it’s quite safe to say that there isn’t much that can stop and bring our spirits do-” Discord began to say.
“WOOOO-WEEE! Tha’ sure was somethin’, aye pardner’s?” The group sighed, coming to the realisation that not every heroic deed is met with a desirable reward.
“…Craggy… How have you been…?” Celestia asked with no small sense of fatigue.
“Oh, I’va been ‘aving myself one heck o’ an adventure with none other than ma goo’ pal Bright Eyes ‘ere! We’ve been a lookin’ all over Equestria for you fillies!”
“…You… have?”
“Well, sure! After tha’ whole in-ci-dent a’ Neighly, I jus’ couldn’ go back an’ let ya carry on wit’out tryin’ returnin’ ya things! I jus’ know how much all them trinkets an’ shiny goods meant to ya’. ‘course, I know ya couldn’ stop, yer got sche-dules an’ time-tables ta keep!” The smile never left Craggy’s face.
Viator did not respond. His face seemed to undergo a strange twist of emotions, as if he had absolutely no idea what to feel, say or even what face to pull. Eventually, his body seemed to give up, and all he did was nod, before turning away and walking slowly back to Surprise and Dawn.
“Aww, he so happy ta see me he don’ know what ta say!”
“It would seem so…” Discord remarked somewhat absentmindedly. The draconequus stood, looking around as if expecting something.
“Wow! You guys were awesome! We saw it all from here!” Surprise yelled with unbound excitement.
“Agreed! You’re were all excellent! It’s so good to know I’m travelling with such dependable ponies!” Dawn added, a look of amazed awe on her muzzle.
Suffice to say, Viator did not share either ponie’s sentiment. “Wonderful. Pack up everypony, we should push on,” he ordered with what sounded like a slight hint of frustration, with who was not clear.
There were frowns and exchanged looks of surprise, but the stallion’s words were not challenged. Most attributed Viator’s shift in mood to Craggy; all but Dawn, who seemed the most confused of all, knew of the time Viator had spent with the mountain ranger before they had met, and they all had first hand experience of how annoying he could be. The prospect of having to travel with him again was surely the reason, and nopony felt like annoying the sorcerer further.
And so the seven travellers became nine. They continued on for a way, in silence. Craggy aside, the terrain was no less favourable, and it was only once they had pushed on through the slime for several hours that nature offered them some relief, as the earth became gradually firmer and the fetid pools of mud barred their path less and less frequently.
During all this time, Viator had led at the front, closely followed by Craggy and his pegasus companion, with the others following them in turn. Eventually, curiosity concerning a particular question overcame Celestia, and she slowly fell back to the rear of the group, where Discord plodded along, constantly rubbing his chin in thought.
“Discord!” the pastel maned alicorn hissed quietly.
The draconequus snapped out of his trance and looked to his elder sister beside him, and raised an eyebrow, subtly asking her what she wanted.
“Don’t you find it a little odd how we haven’t found one of them? The whole ordeal with the hydra, and then Craggy… it seemed perfect,” she whispered, determined not to let the others hear and learn what the two suspected about their quest.
“Agreed. But apparently it wasn’t. What more can we do?” he whispered back while shrugging nonchalantly.
Celestia could only agree glumly. There wasn’t much they could do, not when they had so little hard facts on how it was they actually found an Element. So she kept walking, as they all did. Time passed, and swamp returned to lush plains, then lush plains steadily hardened into rough hills and finally the rough hills grew into tall mountains. In a few hours time, the group had successfully traversed the soul-sucking bog and stood at the foot of the Western Range, the very same collection of mountains they had traversed before and where they had found their very first Element.
Upon planting his hoof on the path proper, Craggy took a massive breath of air, and exhaled it noisily with a relaxed sigh. “Home sweet home.”
______________________________________________________________________________
“BAH! Bah, I say! How could there be nothing!? How could nopony have even tried!?”
The two magic enthusiasts had been searching for hours. There was not a single inch of floor that was not covered with some form of bound paper. Books and scrolls alike lay everywhere apart from the shelves they normally rested on.
“Star Swirl… I already told you. Unicorns studies simply aren’t at that stage yet,” Aumean groaned while rubbing her forehead with a hoof. The alicorn was an avid reader, but at that point she felt like never picking up anything with print in it again.
“Of course, unicorn studies aren’t at that stage yet! But there isn’t as much as a snippet of speculation! And don’t even get me started on the ‘oh-so-mighty’ alicorns! How can even they not have anything!?” Star Swirl grumbled, flinging several more tomes to the floor, where they bounced harmlessly within the field of protective magic the two had set up.
The mare sighed. “Star Swirl… alicorns… alicorns never liked change. It’s why alicorn society never learned to truly get along with others. Why we regularly had windigo problems. Why so many were repulsed by what they saw as us ‘devolving,’ when we began giving birth to earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, instead of more alicorns… What helped with our downfall…” Aumean sighed once more, and shook her head. “The point being that magically manipulating time could potentially result in drastic changes. It just wasn’t something alicorn scholars would so much as consider.”
All the while, Star Swirl stroked his beard. “I see… afraid of their own power more like, but…” His eyes glistened with inspiration. Aumean knew the look well.
“…What have you come up with now, Star Swirl?”
The old unicorn was grinning as he always did when he was excited about an idea. “Alicorns might not have experimented with time spells, but what about draconequus?”
Aumean blinked. The question had caught her off guard and instantly brought the image of her adopted son to mind. “It’s… possible. Likely, even. But Star Swirl, you should already know that draconequus were never ones for forming an orderly society. Most were nomadic and solitary; rarely did they live in groups of any more than five. There really wasn’t much of a need or demand for them to write down any magic discoveries they made. The alicorns were certainly never interested; generally, alicorns looked down on the draconequus as a species of silly foals who happened to be blessed with just as much longevity and an affinity for magic as strong as their own. I’m sorry, old friend, but I severely doubt there are any draconequus works out there, and even if there were some, I have no idea where you might find them.”
“And that is coming from the pony who raised one… hmm…There is only one thing I can think of, and I somehow doubt you’re going to like it. But what about Discord’s mother? Biological mother, I mean,” the stallion asked cautiously.
Star Swirl’s words stung and a wave of sad memories washed over the alicorn, It had been many years since that fateful day, but the images were still clear. Aumean had watched one of the last of a species die, in front of her son no less. The alicorn understood the question however, Discord had left the vast majority of his mother’s possessions behind, and it was possible they still stood there. It was a slim chance, slimmer still that there would actually be anything relevant among the small pile of travelling packs. Probabilities weren’t what bothered Aumean though; it was what they would have to do in order to retrieve whatever items may be there. “…No. I’m sorry, Star Swirl. But I can’t do that.”
It was the stallion’s turn to sigh. “I thought as much. Well, no matter! All the more credit for me, eh? Come on, we’ve got work to do,” chuckled Star Swirl, his grin returning.
“Right now…?” the mare asked, still nursing her head.
“Of course! I have a few ideas in mind on how it should go, but I don’t work without an assistant, and you’d be perfect for the job!”
Aumean never specifically agreed to help Star Sirl with his experiments, but she nonetheless found herself in the clearing outside of her library watching the elderly wizard carve a complex array of circles, runes, glyphs and all manner of magical symbols into what was essentially her garden. What worried her the most however, was the way her friend would repeatedly look over his work, frown and then telekinetically alter what he had drawn, often the very same text was revised several times, and never did Star Swirl look particularly confident about any of the project.
“Are you certain this is safe, Star Swirl?”
“Yes and no, my dear. Safe for us, yes. Safe for anything several miles due west, no. You didn’t think I was going to fire off a completely untested time spell, with absolutely no references to back up my theories with, right in front of us?” he responded with a hearty laugh.
“Well, no, I didn’t think that. But how exactly are you going to know if it works if it is set to take effect miles away? And exactly what kind of spell are you testing?” Aumean asked, still confused, and a tad nervous, about the entire test.
“Work? I never said I was testing if it ‘works,’ I’m just testing to see whether or not I’m not so far off in my ideas that it blows something up. Oh, and it’s a merely a simple ‘time tunnel’ spell. Five minute ‘length,’ if you understand a thing I’m saying. Now, if you would kindly stay there while I go and get a drink, then we can have it up and running in no time…” Star Swirl practically rambled. Without another word, he slowly waked back to the library in order to get some sort of drink, apparently forgetting that Aumean was not only in better shape, but had also been labelled his ‘assistant’.
Had he known the thoughts going through Aumean’s mind at the time of his momentary departure, then Star Swirlmay well have reconsidered the entire experiment, or at the very least delayed it. As soon as the stallion had disappeared back into the library, Aumean gazed over the array, studying its every mark. Most of it was alien to her, Star Swirl’s personal interpretation of what time-controlling runes should probably look like, but there were some markings she recognised; one circle was dedicated to actually targeting the spell and, assuming they were correctly written, would dictate where it would take effect. And Aumean could tell exactly where that was going to be.
She knew she shouldn’t. After the whole desert calamity, she had given up control over how and when the Elements appeared. Now, it was for the artefacts themselves to decide. She wanted to keep it that way, not let her rash decisions or emotions get in the way of the little one’s quest. But seeing those runes made her doubt her spell’s ‘wisdom,’ if it could be called that. Both the alicorn and Star Swirl knew that this time-magic experiment could go horribly wrong, it was exactly why the wizard intended to cast it so far away from themselves, in what was normally a deserted series of rocky valleys and crags. But Aumean could see it, knew that it was all too much to be a coincidence. However the next Element chose to appear, it was likely going to be in a big, maybe even tragic, way. And all it would take to avoid it would be to quickly alter some of those markings. It would be so simple, yet indecision wracked Aumean’s mind; should she take all that responsibility again? Become puppet master once more? Direct the lives of others from the shadows?
“Alright, let’s get this over and done with! Did I mention I had perfected some spells to help rid myself of the ailments of age? Working wonders, I can tell you! Your kids helped actually… Anyway…” Too late. Star Swirl was back, and there was no way Aumean would be able to modify any of the circles without him noticing.
“Star Swirl… old friend… Why don’t we leave this until tomorrow? Surely you must be tired after our book trawl?” the mare asked hesitantly.
Star Swirl snorted, oblivious to the reluctance in Aumean’s voice. “Tired? Pah! Not at all. I can’t rest until I’ve gotten something other than theory. I couldn’t give a hoot how far off the results are, just so long as I do get results.” Without further argument, Star Swirl moved to the centre of the circle and his horn began to spark. “Aumean, dear, keep a close eye out for me, keep a note on how everything reacts, etc.”
“Star Swirl…” she whispered, casting a worried gaze to the towering mountains in the west.
Even if Aumean had been shouting, it is doubtful that the sorcerer would have heard her. His eyes were closed, and all his concentration had been shifted to casting the spell. The entire circle began to glow and spark, arcs of white magic danced and buzzed, lighting up the field in beautiful yet terrifying display of power. The grass the circles were carved into began rapidly grow and wilt, then suddenly return to their prime and shrink back into the grounds as seeds. Wispy, monochrome images of times gone by and possible futures flashed in and out of existence, forming a disturbing slideshow of everything that was, is, and could be. Powerful gusts of wind pulsed from the circle, and when it glowed so brightly it seemed fit to explode, everything was calm. The grass returned to normal, the magic and images no longer lit up the sky. Silence fell.
“Gah… I was a fool…” Star Swirl suddenly grumbled. His entire body was shuddering, and he decided to simply sit on the ground, rather than move.
Aumean blinked, and cautiously entered the circle towards her friend. She herself was shuddering, though it was not out of fatigue like it was with Star Swirl; Aumean was shaking with the aftermath of fear. “S-Star Swirl… are you alright? What happened?”
“Pah! I was stupid is what I was! Of course it should have been written like that, it should have been-“
“Star Swirl. What happened?”
The old wizard’s ramblings stopped immediately, and he looked up to the alicorn with a raised eyebrow. Concern was scrawled all over her face. “A power surge, Aumean. The runes were wrong. The time tunnel won’t send whoever enters it five minutes into the future, it will send them further,” he explained calmly.
“…How much further?” She was almost afraid to ask.
He shrugged. “I have no idea. Days? Weeks? Months? Possibly hundreds of years for all I know. Millennia even! Still, this is why we cast the spell away from civilisation, so stop worrying yourself. The chances of anypony being near enough to the tunnel for it to be a danger are astronomically slim, and the chances of it displacing them drastically is even slimmer. Unless there was some sort of outside force manipulating the spell, I severely doubt any damage has been done. Now, how about a cup of tea?” he asked casually while picking himself up and slowly walking back to the library.
Aumean looked to the west. A bright, white light could just be seen shining through a tiny crack of a valley in the massive montage that was the mountains. “I hope you’re right, old friend. I hope so much that you are right…”
______________________________________________________________________________
“…Coin Bag?”
Silence fell around the cabin. The merchant pony did not know what to say, and Sharpsail remained intentionally quiet, expecting an answer from the stallion just as much as Kromi was.
“…Y-Yes, Kromi?” he managed to stutter after several moments quiet. The young zebra had started to frown, confused by her friend’s lack of a voice, but quickly regained her cheerful composure.
“Come look! You can see, umm… hurricanes?” The young zebra looked to Sharpsail for confirmation, and smiled happily when the captain nodded. “You can see the hurricanes in the distance! Come see!” she ordered before skipping out of the cabin to once again marvel at the pegasi work.
“Go to her, get out of my quarters. We will talk more, later,” Sharpsail hissed. Coin Bag looked to her, fear still in his eyes. His hooves refused to move, until the sound of steel slowly sliding against a leather sheath caused his survival instincts to kick in. He trotted unsteadily out of the cabin, and leapt in fright as its door slammed shut behind him.
“Coin Bag! Over here!” Kromi called and waved. She was standing on a small box, her legs curled over the side of the ship.
Much to Coin Bag’s relief, nopony had noticed the loud bang of the door shutting, concentrating too much on their work, or the massive spirals of wind and water which could be seen far in the distance. The merchant pony felt reluctant to stand by the side of his striped friend, but forced himself to nonetheless. They both stood in silence, the salty wind blowing gently through their manes. The hurricanes were an odd spectacle; it was so calm where the Octave sailed, yet there they were, an intense collection of storms with the power to tear even the mightiest ship to splinters in seconds.
“Hey Coin Bag, how do they work? The hurricanes? And why are they even there?” Kromi eventually asked.
“Well…” Coin Bag began, still unable to look at his friend. “It’s a rather interesting thing. You see, lass, pegasi, that is, ponies with wings, are the ones responsible. When a big old crowd of pegasi get themselves flying in a circular motion, it creates quite the force!”
“It does!? But why do they do that?”
“Ah, now’s that’s a good question! Water, would be the answer. In order to form rain, our pegasi chums need to get water up into the cloud factories! You see, there’s one over there!” Coin Bag pointed to a large cloud high up in the sky, though to call it a cloud may be a tad inaccurate, as it was more of a floating, white, building than anything else. When she spotted it, Kromi drew out a long gasp of amazement. “So you see, the pegasi must be able to work together, to help each other, so they can master their storms, and bring up the water so that it can be made into life giving… rain…” the stallion trailed off, realisation hitting him slowly.
‘They have to work together… help each other… to master the storm… so you can give back something precious…’ he repeatedly thought, again and again.
“…Coin Bag…?”
Kromi’s voice went unheeded. Coin Bag had become stuck in his own thoughts and revelations. Should he hide the truth from her? Try and tackle the storm by himself? Or let her help him to bring that precious rain? They were all questions fate would decide for him.
“GRYPHONS!” somepony called from high up in the Octave’s rigging. Interest in the hurricanes or chores was lost immediately and within seconds the entire crew was professionally moving around the ship, preparing weapons and defences against the impeding assault. A bell began to ring loudly and the door to Sharpsail’s cabin burst open, revealing the captain herself standing on her rear hooves and with her sword at the ready.
“You all know the drill! Secure the holds, get anything not bolted down below deck and for the love of the sun somepony get me a report!” she loudly commanded.
As soon as the order had left her lips, a pegasus pony swooped down from the rigging, saluted and began to give his captain just that. “Flock of around thirty to forty, Cap’n. All look quite young, not employing any form of formation and don’t seem to have any particular strategy or tactics in mind, other than charge straight in. By my guess, they’re probably a new band and shouldn’t pose too much of a threat.”
Sharpsail listened intently and nodded. “Thank you, Scope Sight. Now go get yourself armed.”
“Yes Cap’n!”
Scope Sight flew off as quickly as he had appeared, and with his report in mind, Sharpsail was quick to approach the two, somewhat dumbfounded equines trying to stay out of every other ponie’s way. “Coin Bag, Kromi, there is a gryphon raiding party on its way. Get below deck, and hide if you can. I cannot promise we will be able to stop some from penetrating that far into the ship, but I can promise that we will repel them eventually. Go,” Sharpsail calmly ordered.
For a moment, neither of the three did anything. Fear and bravery fought over which would be shown on Kromi’s face until they reached a stalemate, leaving her with a neutral expression. She finally nodded, and scurried off towards the hatch that would lead her to the safety of the holds, cautious not to become an obstacle for any of the many hurriedly racing back and forth across the deck in anticipation of the gryphon assault. Coin Bag intended to be right behind the zebra, but a hoof stopped him.
“Coin Bag. You will protect her, understand? Forget the past, for now. Everypony… everypony makes mistakes. And everypony can redeem themselves of their mistakes,” Sharpsail spoke slowly, selecting her words carefully and with thought.
Once again was the stallion left frowning by Sharpsail’s actions. “By golly… I must be dreaming… why, I swear I just heard an apology…”
The scowl quickly returned and masked the softer expression she had worn. “Shut up Coin Bag and get out of the way!” she grumbled before bringing the flat side of her sword down on the merchant’s flank. His eyes promptly widened and a loud whinny escaped his throat. He wasted no more time in hurriedly moving below deck.
“Coin Bag! Over here!” Kromi hissed from behind a stack of crates. It was a good hiding place on account of a spare tarpaulin lying loosely behind the pile; even if somepony were to move the heavy containers out of the way, they could still be effectively hidden under the heavy material.
Without needing to be told twice, the two equines scrambled underneath the sheet and lay still, listening to the clattering of hooves above them. Eventually, the sound stopped and was followed by several muffled shouts, which was in turn followed by dead silence. Neither Kromi nor Coin Bag could so much as hear a shuffling hoof. The total lack of sound unnerved them, it made them realise just how loud their own breathing sounded.
What seemed like hours passed, and then all Tartarus broke loose. Silence turned into the roar of battle without so much as a build up. War cries and the clashing of steel rang heavily throughout the air. The splintering of wood and cries and grunts of pain seemed to sound from everywhere around them. However much she tried, Kromi could not help but shiver, and her eyes clamped shut. Seeing her fear, Coin Bag rested his head gently against hers, to comfort himself as much as her. The stallion had seen plenty bar brawls in his time, but nothing like the conflict raging above him. It wasn’t simple, alcohol fuelled fistihooves, it was a true, hatred-filled battle, a battle ponies could quite easily die in.
It was at that moment that a griffin burst, quite literally, through the hatch connecting the two levels of the ship. Whether intentional or not, the griffin reduced the hatch to splinters and was himself thrown into a stack of barrels which began to topple over and bury the invader unceremoniously. He did not attempt to get back up, likely because the impact had knocked him unconscious, or worse. Unfortunately, he was the not last griffin to reach so far into the ship, as a small group of five or six rapidly pushed through the open hatch and began frantically inspecting the various containers for any foodstuffs, or anything they could trade for them. Of course, neither Coin Bag nor Kromi could see exactly what was going on, only hear it, being hidden under the tarpaulin, but that perhaps only made it worse for the two.
For whatever reason, nopony from Sharpsail’s crew followed the interlopers down into the heart of the ship. Perhaps they did not notice the intrusion from all the fighting, or were too occupied with the other griffins, either way, it was Coin Bag and Kromi alone in a room with a pack of raiders driven wild from malnutrition and gradual starvation and who were desperate for food or someway of getting it. They ripped open crates and barrels indiscriminately in their search, and tossed any container aside if it did not hold what they searched so urgently for. One such container collided with the stack of crates two equines hid behind, causing it to loudly collapse to the floor.
“Eek!”
She hadn’t intended to make the sound, small as it was. But she couldn’t help it. And it was all it took. The griffon’s noisy search suddenly stopped, and Coin Bag could feel their gaze burning through the tarpaulin to stare directly at them. Tears started to form in Kromi’s eyes and she shivered with uncontrolled fear. She knew they had all encouraged her to be strong, but it was just too much.
The sharp clicking of talons on wood began to slowly get closer and closer to their hiding spot. It was predator-like, and Coin Bag was all too aware of who the prey was.
The clicking stopped, and Coin Bag could see a looming shadow pass over the sheet.
“Coin Bag. You will protect her, understand?”
‘Too right I will!’
The griffin who had the honour of tearing the tarpaulin away from the two equines was called Grizle. Grizle the Griffin was a nasty piece of work, even to other griffins. It didn’t matter what he had to do to get what he wanted, he would do it. Now, for Grizle, the day had taken a sour turn. To begin with, he had been in high spirits and hopes, they were going to raid an awfully nice ship and probably have a feast later with all the spoils. However, as soon as they had landed on the deck, things began going badly, as the crew turned out to be no ordinary crew; to Grizle, they were more akin to raging beats then they were sailors. Griffins are well known, feared, and respected for their combat prowess, but this didn’t seem to matter to that particular crew, who jumped straight into the fray and began giving the mighty raiding party a hard time. Then of course, they had managed to breach the holds, which as it turned out were carrying very little in the way of actually food. Naturally, they could still steal what the ship had and then trade it later, but it was always a bother finding somepony willing to trade with a band of griffins. And then, last but not least, Grizle had heard a pony hiding amongst the cargo in the hold. At first, he had thought this may provide him with a little fun, but sadly for Grizle the Griffin, the only thing he found after pulling up that quivering tarpaulin was an angry unicorn, who quickly proceeded to gift him with a powerful burst of magic to the face. Grizle was sent, at a rather impressive speed, to the other side of the hold with considerably less feathers around his head than he had several seconds previously, as well as with a noticeably blackened beak. He did not wake up until he was carried home.
“BACK I SAY! BACK YOU RUFFIANS!” The unicorn who had sent one of their fiercest flying then chose the moment to spring into action. He stood, a gawping teary-eyed zebra behind him, waving his horn threateningly.
Unfortunately for Coin Bag, his impressive triumph over Grizle did not deter the griffin’s companions as much as he would have hoped. Although they were indeed stunned momentarily by the surprise attack, and the brazen attitude with which the unicorn greeted them, it took them little more than a few seconds to recover and point their talons and equally wicked grins in Coin Bag’s direction.
For a pony who hated fighting, and who would avoid it as much as physically possible, Coin Bag did well against a gang of prime-aged griffins. He managed to weave his way out of the way of several blows, while delivering a few strong ones of his own. Alas, he knew from the start that there was little hope of him coming out from the fight victorious. One griffin managed to land a punch to the back of the unicorn’s head, causing him to stumble and give the gang a chance to grapple him into submission.
He bucked and struggled, but Coin Bag’s efforts were in vain, and the griffin’s grip on him didn’t loosen. With his fore hooves pulled back, and a set of talons holding, and threatening to break, his horn, the stallion’s stomach was left wide open to the one griffin who wasn’t holding him down. The griffin’s talons were raised, ready to cut deeply into the merchant’s flesh. The wound would no doubt be fateful, though the only concern voicing itself in Coin Bag’s dazed and exhausted mind was for Kromi’s sake, not his.
“Say goodnight, pony,” one of the griffins sneered, before bringing his razor sharp talons down, scything through the air.
A fortunate thing happened then. The griffins holding Coin Bag were startled by something, and flinched backwards. It was, however, not enough to save the unicorn from harm entirely, and the talons still cut across his skin like a hot knife through butter. The key difference though, was that the wound was not as deep as it could have been. Despite this, it was still painful, and Coin Bag’s chest continued to burn in agony long after the blow had been struck. In his last moments of conscious, he saw a figure, obscured by shadows, standing on its hind legs where the hatch to the deck once was. The only thing he could make out was a hat upon the figures head and eyes burning with rage. He blinked once, and just managed to make out the figure mid-flight, the flash of steel, and his would-be executioner taking the blunt side of a sword to the head and promptly being thrown across the room from the force. He had a good idea of who his would be saviour was, but he hadn’t the strength to thank her before darkness and pain overcame his senses and his mind shut down.
______________________________________________________________________________
A guide can be a very useful thing, even when exploring what is thought to be familiar terrain. A pony could walk through a forest on a regular basis, though this does not mean they could give a lecture on the local flora, fauna, dangers or even potential shortcuts. It takes a greater degree of observation and understanding to truly get to know a land. This was something Celestia and her band of travellers learned quite quickly upon setting hoof once more in the Western Range. For all his faults, Craggy was an excellent guide, and seemingly knew every path, valley and cave system by heart. Though at first Celestia, the regular group leader, often felt that she should have questioned the earth pony’s decisions due to the way they seemed to contradict everything her beloved map and compass told her, she soon learned not to doubt Craggy’s pathfinding skills at all. On the contrary, she came to the respect them immensely, when their progress became apparent and that the routes he proposed had cut their estimated time in the mountains by more than half.
“A’ight now Bright Eyes, now what did we call them mighty fine treats?”
“…M-Muffins!”
Craggy’s companion, Bright Eyes, was also a cause for curiosity. Her skewed eyes aside, the fact she was apparently unable to speak, despite being a young mare, earned more than a few inquisitive glances from the rest of those she travelled with. Craggy however, had seen fit to take it upon himself to change this, and had spent every minute he wasn’t directing his fellow adventurers patiently teaching, and perhaps more importantly, encouraging, Bright Eyes to become vocal. And he didn’t seem to care how long it would take.
“…He really likes her, huh?” Surprise quietly murmured to the rest of her friends. Although there was no real need, everypony bar Bright Eyes, had decided to hang back behind Craggy and to just follow him wherever he went.
“He’s an odd pony. I wouldn’t be that surprised by it,” the group’s show stallion replied while shrugging his shoulders.
It was then Firefly’s turn to scrunch her face up in confusion. “Why’d you think he’s even helping us at all? I thought he just wanted to return your stuff? We should just tell him that we’ve got enough space between us to carry it all, then try and make as much space between us and him,”
“Because… well… that’s just what he does! You shouldn’t be nasty to somepony for helping Fire! Right sis? And who knows… maybe he’s gotten better since last time!” Luna answered, louder than the others would have liked. Upon realising her words should have been audible to their current leader, the blue alicorn plugged her mouth with a hoof and blushed. Fortunately for her, Craggy was too engrossed with his language lessons to realise he was being spoken about.
They all breathed a sigh of relief before Celestia answered her younger sibling. “That’s right, Luna, but…” she trailed off, unsure how to explain her thoughts on the matter.
“But what, sis?”
Celestia cursed herself. She hated getting into situations like this with Luna. As much as she respected and loved her little sister, she was still just that; her little sister. Luna was still very young, and she probably wouldn’t understand the more complex side of social interaction and relationships. The white alicorn sighed and drew herself up close to Luna so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice any louder than she had to. “Luna, look,” she slowly and quietly began to explain. “…We… none of us here like Craggy. You know what he’s like yourself. Yes, he’s helped us a great deal, but we’ve already tried to ditch his company once. We can’t just say it to him though, and we don’t know how long he’s going to insist on travelling with us. Neither I do I think we’re going to get another opportunity like we did in Neighly, so we’re going to have to make it clear we don’t need his help.”
“But… maybe he got better…” the dark blue filly sadly responded, turning her head to the ground.
Celestia bit her lip, clearly her little sister was wanting to give him another chance and felt guilty about what they had done in Neighly. Perhaps she was still feeling the effects of everypony’s cruel outburst in the swamp, and just didn’t want to see anymore fractures in their group? Either way, she was unwilling to leave Craggy through deception again. “I know, sister, but I think it’s for the good of everypony here.”
Even Discord nodded in agreement. As kind-heartened and helpful as the earth pony was, he drove each of them to their wit’s end with his incredibly rude ways of conversation. The sad thing was that Celestia, or any other pony for that matter, didn’t think Craggy meant to be so offensive; he just spent so much time on his own in the mountains that he was probably just out of touch with how to be social properly.
“We should just tell him how we feel. Then maybe he would get better…?” she mumbled, mostly to herself, though Celestia heard her worries but could only offer a quick nuzzle.
It was then however, that Craggy abruptly stopped, and held up a hoof to signal his friends to do the same. They all blinked as the ranger began sniffing the air, and cautiously stepping forward.
“What is it, Craggy? Manticores? Cockatrice? Dragons?” Discord asked with a hint of sarcasm. He quickly regretted it however, as he received a painful kick from Firefly for the dragon comment. The draconequus rolled his eyes. “Something serious then.”
“…I don’ know. Somethin’ odd, that’s for darn sure. Ain’t felt anythin’ like it before… somethin’ magic-ky,” he concluded, voice filled with suspicion and caution.
Almost simultaneously, the magic-users of the party frowned and twitched.
“Do you feel that, sis…?”
“Yes, Luna. Discord, Viator, what do you think?” Celestia asked, taking charge once more.
“Something powerful. The sort of thing I would only expect from the likes of Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“Or mother dear.” Discord added.
Celestia nodded, and looked around the stony walls of the narrow pass they were walking through. There was definitely something. An electricity in the air that danced and tingled around her horn and made her coat want to stand on end. It was without doubt magic, but a kind she had never felt before.
A few moments passed as they all stood in silence, on total alert. Suddenly, Firefly, Dawn, Surprise and even Bright Eyes all shuddered in perfect synchronisation.
“You all feel it too?” Viator inquired. He received a round of nods. Whatever it was, it was getting stronger by the second. “We should probably move.” The unicorn’s voice began taking a far more authoritative tone. As fascinated as he was as to the strange magical feeling, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be anywhere near it when it arrived.
“But which way? We don’t know where it’s coming from!” cried Surprise in a growing sense of panic.
Without warning, a bright arc of white energy pulsed in front of them and then vanished. Followed by another, then another, then two at once.
“I think it’s time to run, little ponies!” Discord shouted, before spinning on the spot and launching into a brisk sprint. The rest took his advice, and didn’t take long at all to mimic his actions.
It was however, too late. The arcs of energy rapidly multiplied, until a huge swirling mass occupied the entire width of the canyon. An incredibly odd sensation came over each of the travellers, as space time itself was bent and manipulated by the terrifying maelstrom quickly growing behind them. And then another sensation overcame them, though a more familiar one, and one they could identify: suction.
It was slight at first, but much like the vortex had, it grew quickly. What started as a slight tug on their coats soon evolved into a vice-like grip that refused to let them leave the canyon without first consuming them. And it wasn’t just the travellers who were caught in the vortex’s irresistible hold. Small pebbles and insects, which had no hope of escaping the magical cyclone, flew past and often hit the ponies, who were trying desperately to reach cover behind various stoic boulders, which even in the face of the vortex refused to move.
Slowly, one by one, they each managed to drag themselves behind one of the boulders. That is, each of them but the pegasi. Both Surprise and Bright Eyes had been hovering when the vortex had appeared and, in a state of panic, had tried to escape its pull while remaining in the air. Now, even the weakest of pegasi are usually capable of achieving speeds exceeding that of their ground-dwelling cousins, and both ponies did manage to make some ground before the pull of the vortex grew too strong, but without the solid earth to help anchor them in place, the two pegasi were left, just short of the protective boulders, beating their wings furiously in a stalemate against the ever-growing whirlpool of magic. Celestia, Discord, and all the other travellers were quick to realise their friend’s plight; neither Surprise nor Bright Eyes had succumbed to the vortex’s pull, but neither were they getting any closer by themselves. Without hesitation, Celestia’s horn began to shine, intending to drag the two telekinetically. The white alicorn quickly regretted the move however, as a bolt of magical energy, one of many crackling around the vortex, blasted her horn like it were a lighting rod. Celestia was blown off her hooves, but she couldn’t hear her sister’s screams over the intense roar of the swirling magical storm. Though even if she was physically able to hear, it’s unlikely she would have been able to mentally; her brain could only focus on the gut-wrenching feeling she had for the two pegasi.
The vortex pulsed with energy once more, and it screamed and pulled at the pegasi yet again.
“H-HELP! PLEASE!” It was all she could do. Scream, cry, and beat her wings harder than she had ever beat them before. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t win. Safety was so close, yet no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get any closer, on the contrary, it began to slip slowly away as the force pulling at every part of her being grew stronger and stronger. Her wings started to tire, they couldn’t keep the intense effort up. Time seemed to slow down as the boulders and her friends head began to move further and further away.
“…I don’t think SO!”
Surprise blinked. The image of her friends being motionlessly taken away had been suddenly replaced by Firefly’s face. And the balance of forces pulling at her body shifted once more. She was moving forward again. Tilting her head, the pegasus saw a chain, flailing in the hurricane-like winds. At its start were Celestia, Luna and Discord, heaving and pulling on Dawn’s rear hooves. Dawn was then grasping for dear life onto Firefly’s rear hooves, who was in turn holding her tightly. Slowly but surely, Surprise found herself being pulled closer and closer to the boulder. Then she was there. Safe.
“I-I… T-THANK YOU!” she cried, tears of fear quickly replaced by tears of joy. She hugged Firefly, and she hugged Dawn and she hugged everypony she could reach without leaving the stone sentinel they hid behind. Her affection was not returned however, and she soon noticed that despair wracked everypony’s face. Even Firefly was sobbing freely and hitting the ground in frustration. “…Wha… What? What’s wrong!? I’m safe! You saved me Fire!”
All she received in response was a hoof pointing her to look across the narrow path. Hunched behind another boulder was Craggy and Viator. Whereas Viator shared the same, regretful, anguished expression as the ponies surrounding Surprise, Craggy was staring at something in horrified disbelief. The white pegasus followed his gaze, and poked her head over the lip of the boulder. There was Bright Eyes, staring back, an expression of panicked confusion frozen on her face as she was mercilessly pulled closer and closer to the glowing maelstrom of magic, and there was nothing any of them could do.
Bright Eyes disappeared into the vortex. It simply consumed her. One moment she was there, looking at them all with a pleading expression, and then she was gone.
Seemingly satisfied, the vortex began to collapse in on itself. It pulsed and flared erratically as it began to die, then with a single burst of intense light, it too, was gone.
Silence fell over the mountains once more.