//------------------------------// // Spiraling Emotions // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// “’Spiral Galaxy?’ And she’s supposed to be really dangerous?” Fire Fight asked. Shadow Shroud flipped back into her ninja cloak. “At least that’s what I gathered. Though, I’d say the dots connect quite nicely. We know she’s been missing for at least two days, meaning she did indeed run away of her accord. Whether or not she’s gotten far in that amount of time is unfortunately something we cannot discern, but if she’s so troubled that she’d abandon her home, then I believe it’s safe to assume we won’t find her near there.” Shadow Shroud hypothesized. “And what the f- uh…heck you mean she might make meteors fall? It soundin’ like d’ose bullies just makin’ stuff up just to be whack. I know my homie Fire Fight got mad skills wit his fire spells, but I be damned if he could make a volcano erupt o’ somethin’......No, fo' real. I would; it'd hot as hell out here, Ehehehehe!” Turf War commented. “I don’t know, Turf War. Even her parents made it clear that they were nervous being around their own daughter. That must mean that her magic is at least some kind of dangerous…..then again, how’s even a magic prodigy going to do something as extreme as localized cosmic anomalies? I doubt even the princesses could do something that crazy without at least a bunch of concentration; that’s gotta be some high-level magic.” Fire Fight said. “We won’t know until we see for ourselves.” Shadow Shroud stated. “All we have to do is look for her.” “And how we gonna do dat when we don’t got no idea where she went? For all we know, she coulda snuck into Detrot on dat carriage, and hitched a ride on the train to the Crystal Empire! Two days is enough time to do dat.” Turf War said. Shadow Shroud slowed down at his comment. “Yes…..I…suppose that will be an issue….It’s getting late anyway. We need to rest. We’ll discuss a plan over a late-night campfire before bed.” She said. Fire Fight nodded as they came up to the mouth of their cave. “Yeah. Although it’s looking like we might have to run into her by complete chan- huh?” he said. He looked into the cave. The fire wasn’t lit, but he could faintly make out the silhouette of somepony laying on one their bedrolls! The other two noticed and stopped with him. They couldn’t tell if the figure was awake or not, but it was about their size, so it was safe to assume it was a foal their age. Fire Fight had already set up the fire pit prior, so he used his magic to light it from afar to see if they could get a better view of their ‘guest’. The sudden blaze shocked the foal to their hooves. They could now see that it was a unicorn filly. Her coat was a shaded sky blue, her mane and tail were a monochromatic series of dark blue that was lighter at the base of her neck and flank where they started and gradually got darker as it went outward, and her Cutie Mark was a spinning galaxy. She then looked around frantically and eventually at the other foals. Her eyes were a brilliant turquoise; they widened at the sight of the current occupants of the cave. Fire Fight spoke up. “Hey! Who are y-” “GET AWAY FROM ME!!” the filly shouted. She sounded more afraid than angry. They backed up at her outburst. Fire Fight tried talking to her again. “Hey, we’re not going to hurt-” “I SAID GET AWAY!!!” she shouted as her horn seemed to alight on its own. Her expression turned to terrified as it did. “Oh no…No! Not again!!” she plead. The foals at the cave’s mouth could feel the ground and air beginning to rumble violently as the filly’s horn began to fiercely glow. Little twinkles of light began forming and orbiting around her horn as it produced its own bigger light. The twinkles orbited faster and faster as she panicked, and the rumbling got worse; pieces of the cave wall started breaking off and fell into the filly's magical field. A cave-in seemed imminent. Shadow Shroud tried to leap in to get her out, but the sheer force of the filly’s magic threw her away. Turf War’s Stop sign and shield flew out with her; Fire Fight caught them with his own magic and set them down. Turf War picked up his gear as Shadow Shroud thanked Fire Fight. The filly was becoming more and more panicked. “MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE IT STOOOOOOOP!!!!” her distress only served to add severity to the storm. Fire Fight called out to her. “You have to stop panicking! If your emotions are out of control, so will your magic be! Just calm down! We’re not here to hurt you! My name’s Fire Fight!” The filly’s pleading eyes stared him down in terror as she crouched to the ground, clearly fearing her own power. She could see Fire Fight’s outstretched hoof and calmness in the face of the mini calamity she was creating. It was then that a big rock found its orbital path going right for him. Turf War reacted immediately. “Yo, mah boy!!” he shouted as he knocked the boulder away with a shield charge. However, it caused him to fall into the apparent gravity field around the filly. He began flailing desperately for help. “Whoooa-ooooaa-oooooooaaaaaaaa!!!! Get…..me…..down…..from…..here!” he shouted as he flew by Fire Fight and Shadow Shroud with each orbit. The filly was only more panicked at this new situation. Fire Fight knew that he and Shadow Shroud had to do something quickly! With fierce determination, he wrapped his hoof tightly around Shadow Shroud. “Stay close to me! I think if I focus hard enough I can brave us through this mess!” he said. Shadow Shroud was caught off-guard by the sudden gesture, but ultimately decided to trust him. She nodded. “I’ll help too! I can use my trail-of-kunai trick like I did on the train! It should grant us some leverage!” she said. She quickly drew several kunai and threaded a thin, but tough string through the holes on their handles. She planted the first one firmly into the ground just before the gravity field’s edge. Fire Fight focused his magic and made a magic field around him and Shroud that would weigh them down. He didn’t have a considerable amount of experience with this kind of magic, so it wasn’t much. It was just though to allow him to guide Shadow Shroud through the malignant gravity as she continually planted more of her kunai. They kept their heads down to avoid any potential debris. They were only one kunai away from her. “Y’all……mind……hurryin’…….da……f***……..up!?..................Sorry!.....I…….cursed……again!” Finally they had reached her. The two looked right into the filly’s turquoise eyes; they were consumed with fear and hints of anguish. She was indeed out of control in more ways than one, and Fire Fight knew he and Shadow Shroud had to calm her. They raised their heads and put their hooves on her shoulders. “You have to calm down! It’ll only get worse if you don’t!” Fire Fight said. “Just close your eyes and let everything die down inside! Stop thinking altogether! You’re emotions are doing this, so regain control of them!” Shadow Shroud said. The filly slowly shook her head, still consumed with terror. “I……I can’t!” she squeaked. “I don’t want to hurt you!!” Fire Fight shook his head. “Don’t worry about us! Worry about yourself right now! The one who’s being hurt most right now is you!” “We’re here for you! We’ll take every ounce of pain necessary!” Shadow Shroud said. Fire Fight looked over at her. He was stunned at how open she suddenly was to a complete stranger without at least making a joke about killing her. Then again, she probably knew that such a thing was inappropriate given the circumstances. The filly saw into their eyes. She saw their strength…their resolve….she was almost brought to tears at their compassion. Doing as suggested, she closed her eyes, took deep continuous breathes and the storm subsided. Turf War hurled out of the weakened orbit into the river. It was better than being slammed into the stone walls, but his face that emerged from the water expressed blatant frustration. Nevertheless, he rushed over to the scene, having to climb over some boulders that had fallen in front of the entrance. The filly was still trembling as she opened her eyes and raised her head to look at her ‘rescuers’. She looked at the one who’d introduced him-Fire Fight. “You..*shiver*..Y-You said your name was ‘Fire Fight, right?” she asked. Fire Fight nodded his head. Based recent events, he was able to make an educated guess. “Yep. Are you Spiral Galaxy?” he asked. The filly gasped. Her eyes widened in horror. She tried to remain calm so as not to brew another storm. “I can’t go back to Hoofington! I won’t!! And you can’t make me!!!” she exclaimed slightly sobbing. Fire Fight softly shushed her. “We’re not here to do that. We did come to look for you, but Shadow Shroud, Turf War and I are runaways too. Probably for similar reasons that you did.” He explained. Spiral Galaxy seemed to calm down a bit. “H-H-Huh?” Fire Fight explained everything that he did to Turf War. His history, his mission, his alliance with Shadow Shroud, everything. Shadow Shroud simply explained that she stumbled upon Fire Fight, never mentioning her nature as a Shadewalker this time. Turf War explained how he ended up joining Fire Fight on his quest out of Detrot. “So you see? We came to find you and take you away somewhere safe where you wouldn’t be feared and shunned for your talent. I did the same thing for Turf War and Shadow Shroud, so why don’t you come too? I promise to make things right for all the lost foals like us out there!” Fire Fight said. Spiral Galaxy was shocked to hear that he’d gone on such an insane crusade and was actually succeeding! Of course he only had two rescues under her belt, but she was nonetheless impressed. But the prospect of being around others made her shake her head firmly. “No! I can’t! I’d……I’d only hurt you! You saw what I just did…I’m just some kind of monster…” she said as she lowered her head. Shadow Shroud lifted her head by the chin. “You just need to learn how to control your emotions and therefore, your magic. Living by yourself will only be more detrimental to your current state. It can only get worse from there, and if it does….Imagine what else you might be a threat to…and on a bigger scale no less.” She consoled. “Word up. Look, I’m a li’l butt hurt ‘bout gettin' wet like dat, but ya know what? I ain’t dead and dat’s wassup. So f*- uh…my bad. Screw all dat ‘I’m a monster’ stuff. I don’t see you ‘bout to eat us. We ain’t gonna eat you neither! We ain’t ‘bout to force ya now, but I suggest you hitch a ride wit us. I know; it sounded insane to me da first time I heard it, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure of somethin’ in my life and dat’s real!” Turf War added. Spiral Galaxy was still unsure, but she could see the genuine concern and determination in all of their eyes. Never once had anypony been so willing to approach her in a long time. Despite her own worries, she decided to seize the opportunity. “O…Ok! You’ve….You’ve convinced me! If you really think you can help me, then I’ll gladly run away with you. There’s no way I’m going back to Hoofington, so I guess you’re the only friends I’ll ever hope to have…” she said sorrowfully. Fire Fight put his hoof on her shoulder as Shadow Shroud released her chin. “Everything’s going to be ok, Spiral Galaxy. It might take a while, but I’ll bring you and foals like us to a place where we can live in peace if I draw my last breath in the process.” He reassured. Spiral Galaxy sighed heavily, but managed a little smile. “Thank you all…” She began crying tears of joy at the realization of her possible salvation. They comforted her as they looked around the cave. Their bedrolls had been scattered in the earlier chaos, but the first three managed to reset them. Turf War kindly lent his to Spiral Galaxy since they couldn’t really make her one and dug himself a dirt pit to sleep in. She thanked him. They decided not to bother with a fire; they were tired after tonight and just wanted to sleep, so they did. Shadow Shroud then explained her nature as a Shadewalker to Spiral Galaxy and how it tied into how she met Fire Fight; she was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Shadow Shroud must have earned her trust after seeing her genuine desire to help her. Nopony was complaining since there wouldn’t be another calamity to deal with! Spiral Galaxy silently cried herself to sleep beside her new friends. While she had her doubts, she decided to give this new opportunity a chance. It was better than returning to the endless social torment that awaited her back in Hoofington.