//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Supersonic Impulsiveness and Serviced Infernos // Story: Them's Friendin' Herds // by NotSoDogNinja //------------------------------// This is boring. WAAAAAAYYY too long for me! Rainbow was making her way towards the village of the Kirins at a pace she was rather unhappy about. What was her mission there? Pretend to be a diplomat, and to escort the actual diplomat to the Kirin village. And to be honest, she didn't even care about the diplomat; after that School of Friendship fiasco, Chancellor Neighsay retired from his original position and became a new, and also rather highly ranked, student-rounder-upper, whatever the real term was, due to his experiences with other students. She still didn't really like him that much. If there was one thing, ANYTHING good about taking it slowly, she was able to reminisce some of her memories. The goods and the bads... Her friends... She thought about her first encounter with one of them. Fluttershy. When she met her, she was being harassed by bullies, what were their names? Hoops? and... Dumb-bell? Right. No joke, they were being REAL jerks, but when push came to shove, they were TOTAL pushovers. Hah! What were they even thinking, taking on her? That was the start of their almost-destroyed friendship. Quite nice- "Rainbow, you're flying ahead again. You can't expect me to keep up with you if you fly that fast." Right. Ugh. There was nothing, really, she could really do about it, and it was obvious he wasn't going to speed up any more. She actually recalled the last time she asked him to speed up. He created a magic ball and shot it at her, but it missed. Then it exploded, and knocked both of them out! He said that the explosion wasn't from him, but was she really going to believe that lie? No. Then again, they were on this walk for a while... Because the train broke down, they had to walk the rest of the way; she flew for at least two days to follow Twilight's orders. That begged the question of why didn't she send AJ or Fluttershy instead; they knew the place, but it seemed that the Princess of Friendship thought Rainbow as the right pony for the job. Doesn't matter anyways; AJ said the kirins were cool. They can ignite themselves in flame when they get angry, and they're part dragon? That's AWESOME! Nearly as cool as that dragon cave nine years ago; still gave her chills. "The village looks like it's getting close. Finally." It was, but something looked WAY off. Neighsay checked the map given to him, but no explanation was forthcoming. Rainbow voiced her concern. "Uh, Neighsay? Does that map say that giant volcanoes and random fires grow from the ground randomly in this location?" "Take a wild guess." "Nnnnnno." Fire ow ooh hot owie. The military officer was sitting on her roof, reminiscing about her past experiences and what led her to this position. She hadn’t gone out for two days, after that vacationing white-tailed had brought to her attention her state of being. She entrusted her lower officers to take care of the army while she took a break. That is, being not good, both physically and physically. Her emotions were completely intact. She was once the bully, the one who had destroyed many a longma's morale with her bullying entourage. But after an encounter with a dragon and a hero longma who had brought her back to reality... She knew the Great Father wanted her to please him. She upheld that twofold. It was a rough start; she first ruthlessly punished herself for her actions, before realizing that wasn’t the right way to atone for her action towards her kind. That was when she truly started to push herself to her limit. Shunning the way of sloth, joining the army, training. The best warrior, Commander under the Great Mother. She couldn’t shake the nagging thought that she could slip back into that phase of destruction... She wasn’t like that anymore. She scrunched up her face. She wasn’t like that anymore! Tianhuo got up and stretched her back, ridding it of a small cramp due to sitting too much. And the only way she knew how to combat that was some short exercises. In a matter of minutes, she was limbering up every part of her body, head to legs, until- “Commander Tianhuo!” A purple and yellow longma came in while Tianhuo was in a slightly... awkward yoga position. After a second or two of pure silence, Tianhuo righted herself in a plume of flame, facing the warrior. "Lieutenant Jiarebian. It is good to see you. Please state your weekly report." Jiarebian cautiously turned his gold-blazed head around past the doorway to the roof, then back to Tianhuo. "Er, there's a new species that quite suddenly appeared within the last couple of days, Commander Tianhuo. Their leader said they may be willing to help, after I gave them an assessment of the situation." "Fine." Tianhuo pulled three seats up to a table in the center of the room. "Bring them in." Who her officer brought in came as a complete surprise to the longma. It was a species that was said to have been removed from existence by a strange force, creatures that Tianhuo had done a smattering of research on in the past, but didn't expect to revived here. A large, tannish kirin regally walked into the room. "Hello, Tianhuo. I never thought I'd meet a longma before. Jiarebian said you were the one to talk about this 'threat' with." "Touchdown!!!" Neighsay shielded his eyes from the sun shining in the dappled area. "This is the right place, I'm sure of it. But this still doesn't seem right..." He pointed to a few out of place houses. “Those don’t match the description Fluttershy gave me... and then there’s still that volcano.” “They shouldn’t match up!” A chipper Kirin was suddenly standing muzzle to muzzle with the Chancellor, who simply backed off with an unfaltering gaze. “Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash!” The Kirin ran over to the Pegasus and shook her hoof. “Applejack told me about you a lot over snail mail!” She put a hoof on her chin. "Now, how snails pull mail? I'll never know." Rainbow picked up a wing and preened a couple of her feathers to buy herself a few seconds. “Rrrrrrright. You’re Autumn what’s-it’s, right?” “Yes, it is! Welcome to Autumn Blaze’s tour guide services! I’ll be your guide today, as I show you around the Kirin and the new place village!” “Are we stuck with you?” “Apparently!” Autumn picked up a small, folded-up map from her chest fluff. “ As you may have noticed, there’re these other creatures here too! Longmas or something?” “Longmas?!” Neighsay pricked his ears up. “You say there are longmas here?” The pegasus in the party seemed flabbergasted. “Y-you know what the hay a longma is?!” “Yes.” Neighsay accentuated his description with several points and hoof wags. “Longmas are a form of half-horse half-dragon hybrids, similar to these kirins. However, more emphasis is put on the ‘dragon’ side of the genealogy; they’re mostly scales, fire, and sharpish teeth.” He pointed at one doing what appeared to be military training. “Like that one over there.” It was a lizard like creature, about as big as a regular stallion. The main differences from a pony were that it had scales, a beak-like snout, cloven hooves, and flames coming out where the mane, tail, and back hoof hair would be. “Isn’t it so cool? It’s just like a nirik, just controlled! And not angry!” Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “B-b-but when did they get here?! They couldn’t have settled here in a matter of days!” “Well...” Autumn answered, pulling out a small portfolio of pictures, “I asked around, and it turns out these guys DID come in a matter of days.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Because of an orb of light.” Rainbow angrily flared at Neighsay as he rolled his eyes. She’d be keeping tabs on him... “So what are we waiting for?” Autumn leapt up and noogied Neighsay, much to his apparent discomfort. “Let’s go see the others!” Seated, and name introductions completed, Rain Shine started the conversation she said she wanted to hold. She tapped the table rhythmically with her cloven hoof. “So, are you the longma’s leader?” Tianhuo shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “I am... more of a military commander in the grand sense of things. Why did you want to see me in particular?” The Kirin leader made a strange, squinting face at Tianhuo before nodding. “I heard some rumors about your predators. Several longmas of yours seemed on edge because of them. I am here to-“ “Ask for more information on the predators? Of cou-” Rain Shine, surprisingly, shook her head. She said, “No, we want to help you." She paused for a second, then continued. "I’ve seen your warriors, consulted with the others, and-“ She took another quick interval to gather her thoughts “-we want to help in any way possible.” Jiarebian found a small cookie and popped it into his mouth. Swallowing it whole, he explained, "That's what she told me, Commander Tianhuo. She also told me that her warriors are more than capable of standing a fi-HRRRRK!" He retched, spitting the contents of the cookie out of his mouth, and onto the floor. Neither of the others paid any attention to him. Tianhuo stuck a fiery hand in alliance to Rain Shine. "We are united in our plights. Your warriors may very well be of use in our defense." Rain Shine took it and shook it, cementing their alliance. Tianhuo clopped a hoof on the table to get Jiarebian's attention. "Lieutenant Jiarebian? Could you bring some provisions for our guest?" Jiarebian nodded, heading into the kitchen and mopping up the mess he made. Tianhuo relaxed as he went out. “So...” Tianhuo asked rather casually, “Can you tell me more about your Kirins?” “Uh, is that guy’s house supposed to be on fire? Is HE supposed to be in fire?!" Rainbow accentuated her questions by flying higher. "Apparently so. I don't know exactly why they spit gasoline out of their necks, but doesn't it totally ROCK?!" Rainbow Dash snuck yet another glance at Neighsay again, JUST to make sure he wasn't doing anything fishy. He wasn't for the time being. On the new species, he commented, "The longmas seem on edge about something. Otherwise, why would they be training so hard?" Autumn Blaze scanned a few of the longma's long faces. "They probably saw a dragon or something." Rainbow raised an eyebrow, then asked, "Why is that a bad thing?" She looked at her escort. "Neighsay, spill. Aren't they related?" "Well...apparently, and I'm only repeating what I read, they're generally considered enemies to the longmas." "But aren't they half dragons?" Rainbow was clearly confused by it all, and Neighsay seemed to be at a loss, for once in his life. Autumn Blaze opened her mouth to speak, or maybe sing, considering what AJ told her, but she was abruptly silenced by the voice of a longma. "Yes, we are half-predator. But that doesn't mean we CONDONE their actions." He put an uncomfortable amount of emphasis on the word "condone." Neighsay scowled at the newcomer. "Who are you?" The longma bowed. "I am... none of your concern." It wasn't clear whether the bow was sarcastic or not, but hey, that wasn't Rainbow's problem. Before Neighsay could shoot off a retort, Rainbow put a hoof over his mouth and speedily asked him, "Fine, None of your concern! That's a great name! Where did you come from? Why are you so tense?" "Hmmm..." Mr. NOYC thought for a bit. "Our leaders aren't here now... Perhaps try our military commander? She should have been notified at this point of the kirins, although she hasn't asked for any visitors." "Ooh, you should also see Rain Shine about this! She sings the BEST harmonies, you know?" Autumn giggled again. "You know, I think she's pretty on edge too, so she told me that she'd speak with the longma's leaders." "Okay, then let's go! We can get two birds with one fly!" Conversation over, Rainbow dashed off into the distance. Then flew right back. "Uhhhhh... where are Rain Shine and your commander exactly?" NOYC pointed over towards a slightly larger than normal longma house. The trio gave their thanks, then started to walk, much to Rainbow's dismay, to the house the unnamed longma directed them towards. On their way, they crossed a bridge, over a stream with a no swimming sign, while Autumn blaze gave detailed analyses on the new sights on the way. Obviously the stream was the Stream of Silence, if what AJ told her was true. In the near distance, a longma was roughly drug off of the bank of the river, magically, by the kirins. He either didn't read the sign, or couldn't. "Man, he's dumb. Didn't he at least hear from the others not to go into the stream?" "Sightseeing is not the point of walking. We should speak with Rain Shine as soon as possible." Rainbow rolled her eyes at the killjoy in the party. At least she didn't have to hear his voice for much longer; the house was fast approaching. On a closer inspection, it was black like the others, but with extra flame decals flowing up and down the sides. Rockin'! From the upper balcony, sounds of two voices filled the air with a warm conversation of two creatures having a simple, friendly conversation. Neighsay turned to the only door on the house, and knocked on it, producing a few metallic clanks. A perple-and-silver longma popped his head out. Neighsay nodded. "Greetings. Are you-" The purple longma stood his ground in an angry attacking stance. "My name is Lieutenant Jiarebian. What do you want with Commander Tianhuo, intruders?" Rain Shine and Tianhuo were well into their conversation. Rain Shine was very amicable, and shared a suprising amount of Tianhuo's past. Unbridled emotions, followed by a reconing that may have gone a little too far, before becoming a leader of her own. Although, Rain knew some other ungulates who had stepped her in the right direction. They both laughed, and Rain Shine took another sip of her drink. "And, well, that's what we've been doing for the past two days. Your longmas are surprisingly well-tempered." She had a far-away look in her eyes. "I had always supposed that fiery creatures were always ill-tempered, but..." The longma in the room shook her head in mock disappointment. "Never assume the intentions of a soul from looks alone. Eyes can be deceived as easily as the mind." "Very true." Rain Shine took another sip of her tea. "You are quite easily the greatest military commander I have seen... And our kirins are not ones to be trifled with in that regard. You MUST be proud of yourself for being such an inspiration for the others." "Perhaps." While true, she was a commander who inspired many a longma to serve, this was the first time someone treated her with this amount of admiration. Tianhuo allowed herself to smile one of her rare smiles. It felt good to be understood. "As a matter of fact, it would be wise for me to place at least a few of my kirins under your command, if only for a little while. Given our situation, I'd find it best if-" A few yelps and a rainbow colored blur came flying out the door, crashing into the table, teapot, teacups, kirin, and longma. Everyone and thing were slammed into a wall opposite the door. The blur, as it turned out, was some sort of small pegasus, with blue fur and a rainbow mane. It didn't seem dyed or anything of the sort, but the color would be pleasing to look at, if they weren't currently splattered like light from a prism all over the room. "Ohmigosh, I'm SOOOO sorry!" She threw up her hooves apologetically. "I didn't mean to slam you guys into the wall or anything, I just wanted to..." The rainbow dash quickly, and haphazardly, reset everything back to the way it was before she crashed their conversation. "Talk with Rain Shine and the longma commander! Yeah!" A panting, bruised Jiarebian followed soon after. "I tried to say that you didn't want any visitors, Commander Tianhuo..." Jiarebian pulled out a canteen of water, tried to drink from it, failed, and collapsed onto the floor. "-But she was just too fast...And strong..." Tianhuo turned to look at Rainbow Dash again. "How-" The blue blur slowly backed off, towards the window. "Uh... Are you... I'll just... Bid myself goodbye! Yeah! Sorry for the trouble!" With that said, and with quite possibly the fastest retreat Tianhuo had ever seen, the blue pegasus flew off. Two more ungulates, a unicorn and a kirin, burst into the room next. The unicorn of the party bowed towards the longma, rolling his eyes at the window. "I am sorry for your troubles. Rainbow Dash can be quite reckless when it comes to... newcomers." Tianhuo looked slack-jawed at the window, then at Jiarebian, then at the unicorn. "Um, it is... fine. I don't... I..." Tianhuo trailed off, as the last of Rainbow's rainbows disappeared. That pegasus... there was something about her that made Tianhuo excited. Something that reminded her of something familiar, but she couldn't put her hoof on it- "Alright!" Tianhuo looked for the owner of the voice, and found a second kirin nursing Jiarebian on the couch. "Soooo... wanna talk? Oh!" The kirin pulled out a notepad. "I've come up with a detailed list of topics that we could speak about listed in order of importance including tangents, a song number, and at least twenty jokes." [beat] "Oops! Sorry." Tianhuo looked at the faces around her. Then she made up her mind. "No, I want to talk to this Rainbow Dash. She has bested one of my best warriors... I feel like I should know more." "You're going to waste words with Rainbow Dash? Good luck to you." Tianhuo scanned the room for whoever said that, but was unable to find the source. Strange... "Alright, if you want to leave, that's fine," the unicorn stated. "But we still want some information on the situation at hand." "I'll tell them." Jiarebian raised a scratched up hoof. "Oh, okay!" Autumn Blaze pulled out her notebook again as Rain Shine shook her head in laughter. "Feel free to add complicated descriptions and comedic tangents." Rain Shine stood respectfully at a distance, waving Tianhuo off as she sprouted fiery wings and flew in the direction she saw Rainbow Dash fly to. Rain Shine turned away from the window, where she saw Autumn Blaze interrogating Jiarebian thoroughly. The unicorn trotted over to address her, bowing respectfully. "Hello. My name is Chancellor Neighsay. I am here on behalf of Twilight Sparkle and her School of Friendship." Rainbow Dash lay down on a cloud in a huff. She didn't mean to do it... There would be no way that any commander could forgive her after beating up her lieutenant, considering the badge... Why'd she have to be so reckless? Especially next to HER? No point in brooding over it. Rainbow shifted so that she was laying on her side. About two hours after dawn, according to the sun... Nice time for a little nap- Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as she settled down for a little rest. "Resting? What are you resting from?" Rainbow Dash woke up with a scream, making Tianhuo back off. "H-How did you get here so fast?!" Rainbow pointed to the village, which was over in the distance. Tianhuo's expression gave nothing away. "Because I could. But, I find it unwise to be reckless in flight." Rainbow rolled her eyes at Tianhuo. "Seriously? Proverbs and stuff?! Now what do you want?" "I want to talk with you. I see great potential in you, despite your... recklessness." The pegasus was completely taken aback. "O-okay? Really?" Unexpected, she just- whatever! "Fine, sit down here." Tianhuo looked confusedly at the cloud, then said, "I...can't." Oh... Rainbow quickly took the cloud to the ground, Tianhuo resting beside her. "You have bested one of my lieutenants, one that I trained personally. How did you do it?" The pegasus snorted, then moved her hooves to the back of her head. "Just flew around him a lot. You can't hit what isn't there!" "Explain for me your training. How did you learn to fly that fast? Jiarebian has the fastest reflexes of any longma I know." "That's his name? Okay. Ya see-" Rainbow started to explain her speed, from birth, all the way to her position in the Wonderbolts™. Every detail, down to the practice session, was laid out for the smiling longma. Even the rainboom was talked about to great length. "I think I understand. As you build up speed, a burst of air is produced, that produces a shockwave?" "That's about it." Rainbow Dash laughed. "Though I'm the only one who can do it." "We'll see about that..." "Think you can handle it?" Rainbow chided. "Show me what you got!" Tianhuo flew high in the air, as Rainbow said. Then she flew down with incredible speed! Still not comparing with Rainbow's amazing Mach speeds, but fast nonetheless. However, instead of a boom on the outsides, Tianhuo turned into an inferno, jets of fire streaming parabolically from the sonic cone in front of her. If there were a camera, it would be zooming in on Rainbow Dash's face. "So... AWESOME!" Not to be outdone, Rainbow flew up faster than the eye could see, directly behind the flaming longma. There, she pushed Tianhuo ahead, and then- BOOOM! The familiar circular rainbow surrounded conically behind them; a rainbow rocket! Plummeting straight into the- Whump! In a decent sized crater, Rainbow and Tianhuo lay, where they dusted themselves off and enjoyed a laugh. Hah! Bet Tianhuo never experienced something THAT extreme before! Tianhuo stood up and bid her farewells. She started to fly back her own conjoined city from before, and Rainbow followed at a respectable pace. Something about Tianhuo... not like any of her friends, but REALLY cool, either way! She was TOTALLY sticking with this girl. They went, still chatting with each other as the sun indicated noontime. The others would be waiting for them... But in the meantime... Blocky: Hey, guys! Ooh, rainbow in the sky! Blocky here, at Sweet Apple Acres! I'm here because SOMEONE forgot to put brakes on the van!!!! Apple Bloom: Howdy! Blocky: Well, welcome to the Blocky Podcast! Or as I like to call it, the Blockcast! Apple Bloom: That name's purty terrible... Blocky: GET OUT. Next guest, come on in! Madison: Not sure what I'm doin' here, but sure! Jus' a quick question. Didn't you say you did pranks? Why are you doin' somethin' different now? Blocky: Apparently killing people here can get you in trouble, so I'm trying to get a new show off the road. Madison: You killed ungulates?! Blocky: No. Only people. Now YOU get out. Next. "Hello! Thank you for having me here today. I'm positively thrilled! How are you?" Blocky: That's what this show is for. I'm wondering how you're doing, Discord? "Well, to be brutally honest, I'm a bit nervous. Most of the Mane Six is separated, the only people I can reliably talk to are you guys through this video call, and of course, you don't know where they are for the most part. Therefore, there isn't any way to bring them together quickly... and also teleportation seems to be out of the question for now. Fluttershy is running away with this stupid sheep, Pinkie is doing who-knows-what, Rainbow Dash is just too lazy, there's no way they'll find each other! They also seem to be the only way to get out of here, so I'm kind of stressing out right now..." Pen: Well, according to Chapter 0 on FimFiction and 1 on AO3, YOU were the one who gave Twilight that book. "Well... Uh, you see, uh... HOW DOES THAT MATTER NOW?! What are you even doing here?!" Pen: Hey, I'm Blocky's friend. I think I at least should be seeing his new show. "Well, we'll see about that. Blocky?!" Blocky: ZZzzzzzzz "H-hello?! Blocky? Are you listening?" Blocky:... "*airhorn noises*" Blocky: Ha, ha! That was a funny prank! See how I didn't listen to you? "..." Blocky: It's a prank podcast. "... Get out." Blocky: But- this is my sho- "GET. OUT." Pen: Ooh, does this mean that I run the show now?! "I guess. I bet you'd make a much better host than he would..." Pen: Cool. Say, about that favor... "Yes?" Pen: So remember that "Discord and Ital reviews" thing from that really sad chapter?