The gangplank erupted into chaos. Near the rear of the panicking herd, Madrigal spun on her hooves, trying to locate her family. There was Harmony, with Featherfall beside her. Chip was white-eyed with panic. Lilac–
Lilac was screaming. Her tail was a blazing torch even as she ran with the others up onto the deck. More molotovs were thrown, hurled over the railings, igniting on the deck. Human voices whooped and catcalled after them.
"BURN IN HELL, YOU SATANIC FREAKS!" That was a woman. It sounded like Shirley, but Madrigal couldn't be sure. Not that she cared.
She tried to push through the milling crowd to help Lilac, but Chip dashed past her. A strong earth pony, he knocked others aside in his haste. Nopony seemed to even notice.
The ramp collapsed as the boat pulled away from the dock, but already the deck was a literal hell of fire and smoke and screams and the frantic drumming of hooves. The crew was scrambling to contain the blaze. Unmanned, the vessel stalled in the center of the bay, where it drifted, crackling and sizzling.
Half mad with pain, Lilac seemed to be trying to outrun the fire consuming her tail. Chip tackled her to the deck. Madrigal reached them and began frantically stamping on Lilac's tail. She knew she was hurting her friend even more, but she couldn't think of anything else to do. Since the ship's crew had snatched up cargo blankets to smother the flames, there was nothing available to throw over Lilac, and stop-drop-and-roll wouldn't do buck-all.
The flames wouldn't go out. Worse, Madrigal's hooves began to catch. Now she was stamping on the deck, trying to knock off whatever was burning her.
In desperation, Chip rolled over onto Lilac's hindquarters, smothering the fire with his own flank. "Bucking hay!" he yelled, but Lilac's tail was no longer burning. The lavender mare lay on the deck under the yellow stallion's bulk, whimpering softly. Ignoring his own pain, Chip stood and stretched his neck down to nuzzle her, comfort her.
Her tail blazed up and she shrieked with fear and fresh pain. Chip had to smother the flames again with his already seared flank and then he lay there, cursing an entire breakfast menu of pastry.
Madrigal spun around frantically, looking desperately for help. There was none. Crew members were using the cargo blankets to beat at the flaming patches all over the ship. She saw one of the crew brandishing a heavy fire extinguisher, spewing foam all over, Nothing seemed to be working. One woman cursed as her blanket caught fire, and she had to drop it. Through the thick foam from the extinguisher, tongues of flame began to poke through.
"Hell Jelly." Harmony was beside her now, soot-streaked and grim. "Those…those gaejasigdeul are using Hell Jelly!"
Madrigal stamped in frustrated rage. "Hell Jelly? What the buck is that?"
"Soak packing foam in synthohol. Add vinegar and limecrete dust, let sit overnight until it firms up. Smother so it can't get air, it die, but if get air again it burn back up. Got to scrape it all off and wash away with salt water."
Madrigal looked at the flames in horror. There wasn't much that was flammable on the ship…unless you counted people and ponies. "Maybe Feather and I can carry–"
"What? A dozen ponies? Couple dozen humans? You carry maybe one pony or two people every trip? You wear out before job half done."
"Those who can could swim–"
"Like your oma swim in river. Water poison death."
"We've got to do something!"
Harmony whistled so loud Magical winced. It cut through the pandemonium around them and made most look around. "Feather here to me!" she shouted. "Everypony else go down hold! Stop beating fire, no good. Go!"
The captain of the ship came up in Featherfall's wake. "Ma'am? Do you know what this shit is?"
"Yes I know and no time explain! Get all people, all ponies down in hold and shut hatch tight! Go quick or all burn up!"
"But the ship–"
"Babo wonsung-i!" Harmony bellowed in the Captain's face. "Jenjang boat! Save people! Go!"
The captain saw that his crew wasn't making any headway in their firefighting efforts. The smoke was thicker now, choking and half-blinding. "You're sure you can put the fire out?"
"My girls can but not if you up here!" Harmony was almost nose-to-muzzle with the man. "GET EVERYBODY IN HOLD! SHUT DOOR TIGHT!"
Left with no alternatives but to follow orders from a blue pony, the Captain raised his own voice. "All crew! Leave off fighting the fire. Get all passengers below. Hustle it! We've got someone who can handle things up here. Move!"
The captain hated the idea of trapping everyone below, but he didn't have any better ideas. Going into the water was certain death. Staying topside was certain death. This blue pony and her winged…sisters?... were their only hope now.
A crewman threw a blanket over Lilac's hindquarters as Chip rolled off with a groan. The crewman wrapped the blanket securely around the smoldering tail to muffle it, then helped Lilac stand and walk. Wth his help, she hobbled towards the door at the back of the retreating crowd. Chip limped beside them, favoring his scorched side.
Scanning the deck for any stragglers and finding none, the captain gave Harmony a last nod. He followed the crowd below decks and the door was sealed shut.
"I'm here, Harmony." Featherfall's eyes were wide, the pupils contracted to pinpoints of terror. She was shifting back and forth frantically. The metal deck was getting hot; even through hooves it was becoming painful to stand on."What can we do?"
"You help Maddie. This job for her."
"Me?!" Madrigal gasped–and coughed. The smoke smelled horrible and tasted worse.
Harmony's eyes blazed at her, hotter than the fire threatening to end them. "You make whirlwind. All around ship. Suck up air in middle, make fire go out. Then pull up water from bay and wash off Hell Jelly."
"If we can wash it off, there must be a hose around here–"
Harmony stamped her hoof. "Plain water no good! Salt water wash jelly off, make it no stick. We sitting in salt water. Now go! Do quick-quick!"
"But Halmeonee, you're still on deck! You need to–"
"You fix fire, I fix me!" Harmony shouted at her. "Now do what I say before everypony die!!"
Madrigal flung herself up into the air. Featherfall took off from the other side, keeping pace opposite Madrigal as they flew in circles around the flaming ship. Both skimmed their hooves over the surface of the foul seawater, kicking up useful droplets.
The salt water was soothing to Madrigal's singed hooves. She drew up the droplets even as she coaxed the air around her into a strong, steady, growing wind. Okay, kids. Let's do this. We gotta save us some folks.
Soon there was a wall of wind and mist encircling the ship. There was no need for words or discussion between the fliers; both knew what they had to do and, thanks to Stormwalker's training, they knew just how to work together to get the job done. Together they guided the misted winds and drew the spinning column tighter in until the inner walls of the vortex brushed against the ship itself.
In the center of the maelstrom, Harmony crouched on the burning deck, wrapped tight in her hornfield. The flames cut off her way to the hold now. Her magic held her fast to the deck, shielded her from the searing heat, and trapped air in with her so she could breathe…for a little while, anyway.
This wouldn't be one of Madrigal's normal funnels, narrow at the base and wide at the top. She wanted to get rid of the fire, not trash the whole bucking boat. She fought to keep the vortex uniform, the same width at top and bottom. With Feather's help, she managed.
Faster. Faster now. Lower the pressure in the whirlwind's heart. Draw the air away from the deck. Starve the hungry flames, deprive them of oxygen. Madrigal's wings beat as frantically as her heart as the vortex pulled air in from the center of its rotation.
Around Harmony the flames began to gutter out. Starved of oxygen, one by one they flickered and died. She held her hornfield close, teeth gritted with the effort of her will. The smoke was still thick, but without air it was settling now, coating everything in soot. The deck was gradually losing its heat.
And Harmony was gradually losing what little air she had left.
Hurry, Maddie. Be quick like the wind you sing up. Harmony was well aware of what had happened to make them rush her Conversion; Tib had been disconsolate when Eun-sook died. It would only be worse for Maddie to lose Harmony. There would be no coming back from death this time.
The whirlwind started pulling up proper water now. It became a wide squat waterspout, the weight slowing the windspeed. It would be mere seconds before the pressure inside the vortex normalized, allowing air to rush back in. The Hell Jelly would reignite itself, unless–
"FEATHER! DROP AIR!" Madrigal didn't just release her hold on the whirlwind, she stopped it dead. Featherfall did the same on her side. The suspended seawater was sucked inward by the low internal pressure and flooded the deck from bow to stern. The centrifugal force drove the surge into a massive spiral wave, stripped the gel from the surfaces where it clung and washed it off into the sea below.
Madrigal looked down–and immediately dove for the deck. She landed in a clattering heap beside the limp, soaking wet unicorn whose hornfield had given out just as the water hit, at the last crucial moment.
Featherfall landed lightly on Harmony's other side, effortlessly graceful even in her concern. "Is she all right?"
"I don't know." Her heart thudding against her ribs, Madrigal bent over her grandmother's motionless body, looking for any sign of life and finding none. "She never went below–she–" She leaned close to the motionless muzzle. "Oh, Sacre Luna, I don't think she's breathing–"
Harmony spewed a great jet of salt water into her granddaughter's face. "Took you long enough!" she rasped, spitting and coughing as she sat up. "What you do, go sightseeing? Visit Alcatraz?"
With a sob of relief Madrigal enfolded Harmony in her forelegs. Over her shoulder Harmony told Featherfall, "Go knock on the hold door and tell them they can come out." She cleared her clogged throat. "Then fetch me my saddlebags. I'm going to have a lot of work to do."
Here and there, in the bay, floating clumps of jelly smoldered and tried to flare up, but none of the patches drifted anywhere near the ship. The clumps started to dissolve, and one by one the sea claimed them.
***
Harmony was in her mettle. She used up most of her packed herbs easing pain and soothing burns, but with that and her magic and the aid of the other unicorns, the injured were soon set to rights. The ship's first aid kit came in handy as well, in the capable hands of Ryrus, the crewman who'd come to Lilac's aid. The group of caregivers couldn't heal every wound completely, but they didn't lose a single patient, pony or otherwise.
After a good dousing in a bucket of filtered and purified bay water and treatment for the burns, Lilac's tail was saved...part of it, anyway. The lower two thirds could not be salvaged. It had been burned down to the bone. Harmony managed to grow back the hair, and Ryrus trimmed it even, but the lavendwr filly's once flowing tail now barely reached the curve of her flanks.
"Once we get to Equestria my magic will be a lot stronger. Then I can grow it back completely," Harmony promised.
"I might keep it like this," Lilac said, whisking the cropped brush back and forth. "It reminds me of how hard you worked to save us."
"Maddie and Feather did all the work."
"You told us what to do, Harmony. Without you we would have all died." Featherfall glared eastward at the long-vanished coastline. "Those awful people tried to kill us! Who are they?"
"They're nobody, now." Captain Spaulding had just finished surveying the damage to his ship, which thankfully was mostly cosmetic. They'd make it to the Barrier and back with no trouble. "The Blackmesh sorted them out. They won't be bothering anyone again. Ever."
Lilac shuddered. "Those poor people."
Spaulding gaped at her. "They hurt you. They tried to burn us all alive!"
"They were scared," Harmony said. She had no love in her heart for the attackers, but neither did she hate them. She despised the wickedness of the attack, yes, but for the perpetrators she felt only a distant, stern pity. "Scared people sometimes do things they wouldn't have done otherwise. Anyway, we're almost there, aren't we?"
"We dock in less than ten minutes." Spaulding ran a hand over his bearded face. He regarded Harmony with deep gratitude. "You saved a lot of lives today, missy. Between organizing that whole waterspout deal and your patch up work, we didn't lose a soul, crew or carg–passengers." He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Talking horses is still kind of new to some of us."
"We're not horses," Chip objected. His half-roasted flank was poulticed and salved until Harmony was rested up enough to work on him properly. The pain wasn't as bad now, but that and his worry over Lilac made him cranky. "We're ponies."
Spaulding grinned through his singed beard and touched the brim of his cap. "My mistake, young sir."
Harmony cast about for her granddaughter. She wasn't hard to spot. Madrigal stood at the scorched railing astern, looking back the way they'd come with a wistful expression. Almost everypony else was up front, eagerly watching as they drew close to the Barrier.
Harmony joined Madrigal, looking back at the empty horizon. "Are you going to miss it? Earth?"
"After this?" Madrigal flashed a crooked smile. "You know, Halmeonee, I thought I heard Shirl screaming with that mob. What they did, I should hate them…but I just feel sorry for them."
"Not every human is like Shirl," Harmony reminded her. "Or the ones who tried to burn us up. Some people are good. Most people are, if given the chance. And most of them will probably choose to be ponies."
I hope so."
"We're leaving a bunch of things behind. But some of them we don't need."
"What I want to keep from Earth I'm taking with me. The music, the memories…the good and the bad."
"You need to remember where you've been," Harmony said, "to know where you're going."
"Confucius?"
Harmony snorted. "Confucius was a narrow-minded misogynist. He would have never gone pony. I got that out of a fortune cookie."
A cheer rose from the foredeck. "We've arrived," Harmony said. When she looked behind her, the Barrier stretched left and right as far as she could see. "Come along, granddaughter. Let's go meet our new world."
Madrigal nodded, but before leaving the stern railing she cast one more look towards the distant, unseen shore.
She whispered, "Goodbye, COREy," then followed Harmony forward.
***
"Looks like the Barrier's in one of its 'resting' periods," Spaulding explained to the waiting ponies milling about in excited anticipation. "While it's stable, we don't have to worry too much about you all getting separated when you cross–but it could start up again at any time and when it does we'll have to head back in a hurry. So get moving across the ramp, and happy landings to you all!"
By the time Madrigal leapt through the barrier to join the rest of her family, most of their fellow emigrants had wandered off towards a path laid out before them. It most likely led to a nearby village. Probably not Ponyville or Hoofington or any of the other places they'd heard about; as Equestria expanded over Earth, its territory expanded so rapidly that, had it been moving as they crossed over, they could have ended up miles apart even if they'd come through one after another. They could have spent hours or even days trying to regroup.
"We're here!" Lilac was leaping with joy, her stub tail frisking behind her. "Look at that sky! Look at that grass! The flowers! The trees! It's all so beautiful!"
Chocolate Chip Muffin, as always, had his priorities straight. He cropped a mouthful of grass and chewed with gusto. He swallowed with a gulp. "Muffins, that's good!" He studied the meadow around him. "I can't wait to taste all those flowers. And, hey, fillies! Did you notice? There's all different kinds of grass here! I'm gonna try them all!" He galloped off a few places and dove muzzle-first into a clump which was both longer and a deeper green than most of its fellows.
"That stallion," Featherfall remarked, "is a stomach on hooves." But she smiled affectionately at Chip as he took another mouthful.
Harmony lay stretched out on the grass. Her eyes slid shut as she savored the feeling of sun-warmed, living greenery under her belly.
Madrigal was gazing up at the sun. Just like in her half-remembered dream, it didn't hurt her eyes. She studied the high blue ceiling and noted soft white clouds drifting overhead. Her wings ached to lift her up to those clouds. Her hooves itched to walk on them.
She was just about to ask Featherfall if she felt like a quick aerial reconnaissance when she heard someone behind her say, "Well, it's about time you got here!"
She whipped her head around, her mouth hanging open. She saw a small creature hovering in the air at about her eye level. It looked to be part cat, part eagle, with a raptor's beak, crest, wings and foreclaws, but feline hindquarters, including a leonine tufted tail. Griffon, the memory of her classes supplied. A very young griffon, scarcely more than a fledgling.
But it wasn't the sudden appearance of a native Equestrian creature that left Madrigal stunned speechless. It wasn't even the familiarity with which the young griffon spoke.
It was the voice. It was a voice she knew as well as her own.
"Good morning!" Harmony called, standing. "Are you the welcoming committee?"
"Not really. I was waiting for you. For her, mostly." The fledgling beamed at the red pegasus. "You're Madrigal now, right? I'll kind of miss 'Tib', but your new name is pretty. Kind of long though. Is it okay if I call you Maddie?"
"That's what her friends call her," Lilac offered. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Maddie knows." How could a griffon grin? Somehow he managed, even with the beak. "Don'tcha, Maddie?"
"Sacre mere," Madrigal spoke in a fragile whisper. It couldn't be, it wasn't possible, and yet…"COREy…?" Somehow the envisioned capitalization no longer felt right. She said his name again. Just a name now, not an acronym. "Corey?"
The little griffon held out his forelegs like welcoming arms, his talons sheathed. "I promised I'd always be with you. And now I always will be. Welcome hom–awwk!"
Corey squawked as Madrigal tackled him to the grass. She held him down and nuzzled and licked him till he giggled helplessly. "You–little–Trojan!" she scolded between kisses.
"That tickles!" Corey giggled, squirming. "I've never been tickled before. It's fun!"
Chip left off sampling the landscape when he heard all the fuss. He came over to see what it was about. "Who's that?" He pointed a hoof at the newcomer.
"I'll explain later," Harmony murmured to him. "It's a little complicated."
Eventually Madrigal left off her tickle torture, lying in the grass with Corey encircled in her forelegs. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Me too. And I'm glad you're here, finally. I've been waiting for…let's see…five weeks, four days, ten hours, twenty-three minutes and seventeen seconds. Do you know how long that is in subjective interface time? A buttload."
Madrigal laughed and nibbled his crest. "Then we have a lot to catch up on."
"How about filling in the home audience?" There was an unaccustomed edge to Featherfall's voice. "Okay, so Maddie, you know this…griffon…and it knows you."
"He!" Three voices–Madrigal, Corey, and Harmony.
"Fine, he. Who is he, what is he, when did you know about him, where did he come from, why is he here, and how does he know who you are?"
Corey counted off on his talons. "Who what when where why how. Yup, she covered 'em all." He looked at Madrigal expectantly.
With a wry smile she stood, and Corey fluttered up to sit on her back. "Okay, I can tell you what little I know. It's guesswork, mostly, but I think Beak Boy here hitched a ride in my neural lace."
"Good guess," Corey said approvingly.
Chip was confused. "Your what now?"
"The nanotech web woven through my brain. It was implanted when I started working, and over time it grew through my cerebral tissues to enhance my neural reaction time, make me a more efficient codecleaner."
"It grew into your brain?" Chip made a face. "That sounds gross." Both his mares nodded.
"I don't like the sound of it much any more myself," Madrigal said. "But if Corey hadn't uploaded himself, he wouldn't be here now."
"Well…" The griffon shrugged. "I didn't really upload myself. There were a lot of my subroutines copied into the headweb, and the rest of me that's here now–" here he tapped his head with a talon–"was pulled from your memories."
"That still doesn't explain how you got here," Lilac said.
"It was Luna." Madrigal spoke softly, reverently, her heart full of love and gratitude."She whispered to me in my Dream, right before I woke up. She said…she said that I would see my friend again. That she'd see to it. I thought it was just my brain trying to ease my guilty conscience, but…"
Thou shalt see thy friend later, within the enfolding bounds of fair Equestria, good pony! We shall see it so!
"She built you a new body," Madrigal said. And she made you a griffon! How cool is that? I would've been happy with a bunny or a butterfly…but you look ..amazing."
"I know, right?" Corey struck a stylish pose, the effect of which was spoiled by an abrupt grumble from his midsection. "Can we talk about this more over dinner? 'Hungry' is a new feeling for me, and I'm not sure I like it. You guys might be able to eat grass, but I'm a griffon! I'm not an obligate carnivore, despite my physical composition, but I need stuff other than grass–eggs and cheese and grain and all kinds of other goodies."
Harmony cast about, her eyes gleaming. "Is there an egg tree around here?"
"Nope, but there's a village close by.'' Corey fluttered his wings and rose up into the air. "It's just over the hill. It's turning into a kind of waystation for newfoals. Wanna see?"
Madrigal looked back at the others. All seemed willing, though Chip and Featherfall kept giving the griffon curious glances. Lilac didn't seem too bothered, and Harmony…well, her smile seemed to indicate she understood.
Madrigal nodded to her grandmother, her green eyes shining. Thank you, Luna. I know you don't want worship…but you'll always have my gratitude…and my love.
"What are you waiting for?" Corey popped up right in front of her face. "I'm starving here. Let's get going!"
Madrigal kissed him right on his saucy little beak. "Lead the way…pardner."
The End