//------------------------------// // Ch. 13 Slow Burn ..."Yeah... This Is Gonna Be Messy" // Story: Cold Fire // by Arcanum -Phantasy //------------------------------// Soft squeaks and the faint creaking of wood were the only signs of life in the world as Treehugger walked, her wagon home strapped securely to her as she made her way across a wide open field. The thick overcast sky perfectly matched her mood as her worried thoughts wandered towards her two travel companions. It had been two days since they'd left Ore Town and the events there left the pair unsteady. They still laughed, smiled, and teased each other, but it wasn't as naturally as Treehugger remembered it. Their actions seemed stiff, almost scripted as they interacted. It was as if they were afraid to get too close to each other, like they were holding themselves back. She could see it every time they talked and all of the long awkward pauses that took up most of their conversations. Not helping was all of the times she caught Autumn coming back to the wagon smelling like smoke or the bits of wood or stone she would occasionally see in Alex's tails when he came back to camp with firewood. She sighed as she continued forward, a bit of dread settling into her gut at what was to come. After what Autumn told her while they were soaking in the inn's hot spring, she expected this kind of tension to develop between them. In some ways, it was a good thing for them. The fact that they were being so cautious around each other showed just how much they cared about each other. On the other hoof, it could put a huge strain on their relationship moving forward regardless of what nature that relationship takes. It made what the Earth Pony had planned a little more complicated than it was at the start. They won't like this, she thought with a frown. This will be difficult for them, but they need this to move forward. Especially Brother Alex. Purging his poison. Bonding with a warm spirit. Laughing in the presence of kind souls. Now, only one thing is left and it will hurt. Her hooves felt heavy as she walked, the pebble of dread in her gut growing to the size of an apple as a forest came into view in the distance. She slowed her trek as she reached into a pocket on her harness and pulled out a small root. With a sigh, she put the root into her mouth and doubled her pace. Good luck soul brother, soul sister, she thought as she chewed the bitter herb. This is a path you both must walk without my guidance. *** I laid on my side on the wagon's floor staring blankly at a wall. At the same time, my mind ran over what Autumn told me back at the in. It was all..... a lot to take in. I'm not stupid. Okay, I'm stupid, but I know what a confession looks like. It was so obvious that Autumn has the hots for me it hurt. What she liked so much about me was beyond me, but that wasn't really the main issue here. The issue is that..... I might like her too and that scares the hell out of me. Fucking chicken. Oh, hey brain! Nice to hear from you again! How you been? Sporting a bigger pair then you, numb nuts. Fuck you. A low grumbling filled my head before- Look pal, you need to get a goddamn grip! Our whole life had been nothing but one giant shaft up our asses after another! Aside from Dahlia and Sid, everyone's buried us under such a huge pile of shit we could regrow a forest! Now we finally find someone that makes us happy and you're not going to hop on it?! I'd ask just how stupid you are, but I already know the answer! Fuck off, I thought with a sigh. NO! I'm not letting this go! You need to be honest with yourself and tell her how you feel. She did it; now it's your turn! I snorted at that and forced myself to my haunches. Just shut up. I snuck a look at Autumn. She was sitting in a far off corner going through her papers. The blank look she gave the paper made me feel like a knife got rammed into my gut. I wanted to go to her, but every time I tried my body would just freeze up. I let out a sigh and stared out the window. The gray clouds smothering the sky matched the mood in the wagon as the dreary scenery slid past. Compared to what was going on in here, the outdoors were looking pretty good. After.... I don't even know how long, the scene started to get hazy. "The fuck?" I muttered as I leaned closer to the window. "What's wrong?" Autumn asked, the clopping of her hooves telling me that she stood up. I nodded towards the window as the haze thickened. I heard Autumn walk towards me as a thick fog covered the scene. Eventually, it got so bad that I could barely see anything past it. Every now and then, I'd see what looked like a tree or something in the fog. "Where are we?" Autumn asked. "Your guess is as good as mine," I shrugged. A few seconds later, the inside of the wagon started to become hazy and damp with the same fog from outside. A strange sense of vertigo started to wash over me as the fog got thicker and thicker. I let out a groan as I brought a paw to my forehead to rub the dizziness away. A loud thud at my side caught my attention as the dizziness continued to grow as the fog got thicker. Autumn was passed out on the ground breathing heavily, like she had a fever. I reached out for her with a paw to see if she was okay just before my vision blurred and turned dark. I felt myself start to fall over before everything turned black. *** I groaned as I staggered to my paws, soft grass crunching under me as I fought off my dizziness. My vision was blurry as I looked around at a ton of tall gray blobs. A few blinks later, the blobs turned into trees. Thick fog hid everything three trees away from me in every direction with a carpet of thick fresh grass covering the ground. I looked up and saw a light gray sky with a silver sun shinning down on me. The air smelled of pine, dampness, and dirt, but what had me on edge was the silence. Back at the sanctuary, I constantly heard some kind of activity at all times. Even at night, I'd hear an owl or some other small animal go about their business. I didn't even hear the leaves move. "Where the hell am I?" I muttered to myself as I looked around. "And where's Autumn and Treehugger?" I called out for them, seriously freaked out by how far my voice echoed in the eery silence. After waiting a few minutes for a response, I braced myself and started heading in a random direction. Okay Alex. Don't panic. First, find Autumn and Treehugger. After that, we can all freak out together for a while and then try to find a way out of here. "I hope they're okay," I muttered as I walked. *** Autumn groaned as she started to stir, a light dizziness making her awakening more a chore then it would be otherwise. The soft grass beneath her crunched as she forced herself to stand, the only other sounds she could detect being her own grumbles as she rubbed just below the base of her horn. "What the ash happened?" she grumbled as her dizziness passed. "Everycreature okay?" When no answer came she looked around. She was alone. A cold wave of dread washed over her as she let that fact set in. With an audible gulp, she slowly turned around in the vain hope that she was mistaken only to be greeted by tall pine trees reaching up towards a gray sky with a silver sun. The sight put a frozen chill down her spine as she forced herself to stare at the ground, her heart pounding in her chest like a jackhammer as the weight of her current situation took shape. "A-Alex?!" she called, a small nervous chuckle making her voice shake as she stared out into the fog-soaked distance. "Tr-Treehugger?! Are you out there?!" Absolute silence greeted her, even the echoes of her own voice seemingly swallowed by the void of fog. She gulped, then cracked a shaky smile as she said, "C-Come on guys! This isn't funny!" Still no answer. Autumn's ears flattened as a cold realization came over her; she was completely alone. She fought back her tears as memories of a darker time in her life came to her, the eery silence and cold solitude forcing those memories to the front of her mind like a nagging itch. A cold chill ran down her back as she tried to shake those thoughts away. "I-I need to find them," she stammered, looking around. After a few minutes of thought, she settled on a direction and started to walk. As she made her way further into the forest, hoof-shaped burns marked her previous steps in the grass. *** How long have I been walking? That was my only thought as I made my way through the forest. Was it a few hours? A few days? A week? I remembered seeing the sun set and rise a few times, but it was hard for me to keep track of anything. My head felt so... hazy. I didn't feel tired or hungry or thirsty or anything. I felt... empty. Why was I walking again? Was I looking for something? I... I can't remember. A hint of something came to mind. A voice. A smile. What was that? Was that a memory? Doesn't matter. I need to walk. I need find... someone. Who am I looking for? A faint trace of a name drifted to the front of my thoughts, but it vanished before I could process it properly. It's fine. I just need to keep walking. Nothing matters. The thoughts don't matter. I didn't matter. What is this place? It doesn't matter. The world slowly started to turn dark, but I still continued to walk. I didn't need anything. I never had anyone. No one would miss me if I disappeared. A loud scream in the distance cleared the cobwebs from my head. No, not just any scream. "Autumn?" I asked, my voice dry as I came back to reality. Another horrified scream tore through the creepily quiet forest. "Autumn!" I cried as I ran towards the scream. What the fuck is going on? What happened back there? Whatever, I'll worry about that later. I have to get to Autumn, now! "Hang on Autumn," I growled as I forced my legs to move faster. "I'm coming! Just hang on!" "Who says?" Out of nowhere, something big rammed into me from my right. I let out an agonized yell as I slammed back-first into a tree and fell to the ground. Groaning, I staggered to my feet and looked at what hit me. Standing a good fifteen feet away from me was a pitch-black Ninetales. Where I had orange tail-tips, his were a light gray and his eyes where a dark violet color. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice sounding like a distorted version of mine. I glared at him and snarled, "None of your fucking business, asshole." He gave me a shitty grin and said, "Do you think so?" Another scream filled the air, much closer then it was earlier. Autumn! I turned and got ready to run again, but my friend's grinning mug appeared in front of me before I could get moving. I had just enough time to blink before he blew me back a few feet with a Flamethrower. I let out a yelp as the flames washed over me, the force hurting me more then the sting of the flames as I slid back on my paws. "Sorry my friend," he chuckled, strutting towards me. "You're not getting any closer to Autumn." *** Flames. That was all Autumn could see as she sat on her haunches, horrified screams tearing out of her throat as she stared at her black and white hooves. It started out subtle at first. A few burned hoofprints, a small ember coming out of her mane and tail every now and then. That quickly changed as her scales turned black and her fur turned into flames. Panic quickly took over as the Kirin tried to reel in her flames, but all of her efforts only added to the inferno. Now she sat in the eye of a raging hurricane of fire, tears sliding down her cheeks and was powerless to stop it. Please stop! she thought frantically, begging her power to let her tame it. I-I can't stop it! Please! Please stop! PLEASE STOP!!! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!!! All she could do was scream as everything around her was destroyed, consumed by her untamed flames. Alex...please save me... *** "Get out of my way!" I snarled, battered and bruised as I tried to run past the other Ninetales. Just like the dozen or so times I tried, he appeared in front of me and sent me flying back with an Iron Tail. My whole body throbbed as I slid across the grass on my side. I let my anger keep me from passing out from the pain as I staggered to my feet. "Fucker," I gasped, spitting out a mouthful of blood as I glared at him. "Why are you trying so hard?" he asked. "Autumn doesn't need you. No one does. You're better off letting her be. Someone much better then you will save her eventually. Just let yourself fade away already. You'll make her so much happier if you did that." I hated to admit it, but he had a point. Autumn could do a hell of a lot better than me. Hell, I can't even get past this asshole to save her. What the hell was even the point of trying to save her if someone else could do a better job of it? My thoughts froze as Autumn's smiling face came to me, her laugh, her attitude, and finally, her confession. A new strength filled me as all the time we spent together ran through my head like a slideshow. That was why I was doing this. That was why I cared. So what if she could do better? She likes me, and you know what? I like her too, damn it! "Fuck you," I snarled. I charged again, but instead of trying to get past the Ninetales I ran right at him. I charged up the strongest Iron Tail I could manage and spun. He did the same thing and a loud metallic clang filled the air around us. I growled as I faced him fully and crouched as low as I could. Still charged with energy, I stabbed at him with my tail tips like a scorpion. He bobbed and weaved his head around so I couldn't land a direct hit, but a felt a few hits graze him. I let out a pained yelp as something invisible slammed into me and knocked me back a few feet. Extrasensory too? Are you fucking kidding me? I felt my paws dig deep grooves into the ground as I landed on them. The pain in my chest was intense, but I grit through it as I gathered my energy to my forehead. Fine! If that's how you want to do this, let's go Darth Fucker! I let loose a blast of Extrasensory at him, only for the same kind of colorless shimmer to appear three feet in front of me and shoot through mine into me. I tanked the hit, feeling something wet and sticky slide down my forehead to my cheek. The world started to blur, but I refused to go down. There was no way I was going to let this guy stop me from saving Autumn. I could sense another Extrasensory coming at me. As I gathered some energy to my forehead to try and counter, I knew that I wouldn't be able to fire it in time. I growled as I did something else with the power in my head. I gathered it around the base of my skull and rammed into the incoming attack. A bit of force made me cringe, but aside from that, the attack scattered around me as mine blew it apart. I could see the shock on the other Ninetale's face as his attack was countered, but I didn't give it too much thought. Running on pure instinct, adrenalin, and anger, I channeled what was left of my energy into my whole body. I needed to move faster. Fast enough to get past this asshole. Fast enough that he couldn't catch me. Fast enough to make up for the time I wasted fucking around with him to get to Autumn. Flames surged around my body, but instead of burning me it made my body feel lighter. All of the aches in my muscles faded to bearable levels and the energy that remained in my core flowed much faster. It was as if gravity gave me a discount as I charged towards the black Ninetales. At the last second, I shot past him into the tree line behind him. As I did, I swear I saw a proud smile spread across his muzzle. My ears twitched as I heard him say something as I passed him. "Go ahead numb nuts. Go and be happy for once." *** I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, Autumn's screams telling me where to go and adding to my determination to get there. The flames that surrounded me had dissipated a long time ago, but the lightness effect was still there as I forced myself forward. After a while, I started to see a light in the distance in the same direction Autumn's screaming was coming from. I doubled my efforts as I ran towards the light, bobbing and weaving around the trees as I closed in on my target. I froze when I finally made it to the light's source. A blue and pink tornado of fire stood in front of me, vaporizing everything that got too close to it as it reached into the sky. I was dumbstruck for a moment as I took in the sight, only for Autumn's scream to snap me out of it. A scream that was coming from the center of the tornado. With a determined frown, I ran towards the tornado. The heat was intense as I forced my way through, the flames seemingly trying to push me back as I moved forward. My legs ached, my battered body screamed at me to stop, and I felt like I was being crushed under a press, but I continued forward. Eventually, I made it to the eye of the firestorm and what I saw crushed me more then the pressure of the storm's fire. There, sitting on her haunches was a fully Nirik Autumn bawling her eyes out to the sky. I grit my teeth as I forced my sore body to move, my steps slow and unsteady as I tried to close the distance. For what felt like hours, I listened to Autumn scream as I practically dragged myself towards her. My body begged me to stop and rest, but I told it to go fuck itself. I can rest later. I had something much more important to take care of first. Panting, battered, and burned, I found myself sitting in front of Autumn. With a tired smile, I wrapped my forelegs around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Her screams turned into startled whimpers as she became aware of me. "A-Alex?" she stammered. "Yeah," I whispered, holding her tighter. "I'm right here. It's all going to be okay." There was a brief pause, then small whimpering as she wrapped her forelegs round me. Slowly, I saw the parts of her in my line of sight shift back to her normal form as the flames faded away. As I held her, the exhaustion I had been fighting against to get to her started to overpower me. I could tell that it was the same for Autumn as her grip started to loosen. I felt a smile make its way onto my muzzle as I let myself fall asleep in our mutual embrace. *** Everything hurt as my eyes cracked open, the dim light coming in from a nearby window almost blinding as I tried to figure out where the hell I was now. After a few seconds of swearing, my vision cleared up enough to show me that I was back inside of Treehugger's wagon. That didn't really matter all that much to me when my eyes fell on Autumn laying a couple feet away from where I was laying. I watched her eyes flutter as she came to, a dull groan making it out of her muzzle as she woke up. When her eyes fell on me, a soft smile graced her muzzle. I smiled back as I forced a paw out towards her. She did the same and we locked eyes as our appendages made contact. Her mane was a mess, she had tear stains running down her face, and she looked like she ran a mile through a hurricane. She was still the most beautiful creature in the world to me. *** A Hippogriff stood behind a bar cleaning a glass, his seaside bar empty aside from him as he went about his business. This was a fairly typical occurrence at this time of day, as very few creatures didn't work the early afternoon shift on a week day. A fact that gave the teal Hippogriff all the time he needed to ready himself for the rowdy sailors that came in from beyond his native soil. It was for this reason he was surprised when two creatures let themselves into his establishment. His shock turned into amusement when he saw just who had decided to visit him so early in the day. One was a large white fox vixen, just an inch taller at the shoulder than a typical mare, but a good two feet longer than one not counting her nine tails. Said tails trailed behind her in a thick mass of white like a cross between a fan and a cloud with light blue wisp-like tips. Her solid blue eyes shined with cunning and confidence that was reflected in her posture as she walked. The only mar to her beauty was a large scar from her left eye all the way down to her chest that she wore like a badge of honor. The creature next to her was an even rarer sight. It was quadrapedal and half a foot taller at the shoulder then its companion, but not quite as long. It had long and shaggy fur that covered its body and head. Its face and tail were bare and dark blue in color. Said tail was more of a long blade in design, much like the single curved scythe-like horn that stuck out of the left side of the creature's round head. Its red eyes scanned its surroundings with mild curiosity as its three-toed claws clacked across the bar's hardwood floor. The barkeep smiled as he grabbed a couple of bottles off of the wall behind him. "Haven't seen you two in a while," he chuckled as he poured them a couple shots. "Any luck?" The Ninetales grimaced at the table as she and her companion took their seats at the bar. The Absol next to her sighed as he shook his head. "She slipped away," he spat, reaching for the shot the bartender offered. "I was so close," the Ninetales growled. "If I had been just a little fucking faster..." She let out a frustrated growl as she levitated the shot towards her muzzle and downed it. The Absol put a paw on her back and gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry sis," he said with a determined nod. "We'll get her next time." The Ninetales let out a frustrated sigh before giving the Absol a small smile and a nod. "Yeah, thanks Sid." "Anytime Dal," he winked. Dahlia rested her head on a paw as she gave the barkeep a near board frown. "Speaking of, have you heard anything interesting Harpoon?" she asked, nursing her freshly filled shot. The Hippogriff shrugged and said, "Not much. Ever since the Battle of the Bell, things have been pretty peaceful." "Wonder how long that'll last," Sid said with a hint of snark. "You tell me," Harpoon chuckled. The Absol just rolled his eyes at that as he nursed his shot. As the Hippogriff was about to give his friend another quip about his abilities, a recent memory made him let out a happy squawk and hammer one of his talons into its open neighbor. "I just remembered! Some Diamond Dog merchants came by a few days ago talking about a Kitsune showing up in Ore Town." "Really?" Dahlia asked, her boredom replaced with intrigue. "That's weird. Those guys usually have their heads so far up their asses that it's a fashion statement. What's one doing in a Diamond Dog village?" "Beats me," he shrugged. "Anyway, thought you'd like to know in case it meant anything to ya." As Harpoon walked off to tend to something behind the bar, the two siblings traded knowing smiles. It looked like a trip to Equestria was in order.