//------------------------------//
// Chapter 39 
// Story: Words of Power 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Lotus emerged from the steps leading a group of weary engineers. Many now had fresh burns, scorched coats, or other wounds. But all made it up the last few steps to where a nervous unicorn waited with a team of sturdy ponies.
These wore fabric coats and masks, though even these showed signs of damage, either fighting the fire or helping ponies to safety.
They carried her group up the steps to the top deck one by one, until only Lotus and the unicorn remained. "I think that's it," she said, still breathing heavily from the climb. "If there's... anyone else down there, they're already dead."
She'd seen more than just that one pegasus. Several ponies would never leave the Svalinn. But if she stopped to carry them, she never could've rescued the survivors.
She didn't even have to stop and check them, not with that subtle sense of magic boiling inside her. That awful voice might want her to burn the living, but she used it to find them instead.
"It's just us and the captain now! We have to get him out!" The stallion visibly sagged under the crystal he carried, barely dragging his hooves along the deck. Before the stallion's magic seemed just as strong—now Lotus could snatch the crystal from his grip with barely any effort.
The flames sustain us. Even their presence is nourishing. They would do far more if we descend into their midst and burn this vessel.
We. Either Lotus was having a psychotic break, or... She shook her head, banishing the voice as she'd done many times before.
"I got it. Just show me the way."
He nodded appreciatively. "I'm... Luthargent, by the way. Don't think we got introduced."
"Lotus Cinder," she said. "I think the bridge was..."
"This way."
No marines stood at their stations anymore. The door hung open, leading to a mostly-empty bridge.
The Svalinn continued to list forward, clogging the front section with debris. Maps, books, tea—all piled together with equal disregard.
Only a single pony stood inside, the older stallion with his fancy hat, holding another of the air spells in his horn and both hooves on the helm.
Out the front windows, Lotus saw no sign of the monster, or much of anything else. Just rolling fields, with small buildings faintly visible on the horizon.
We're moving too fast. Her tail curled around her legs. She took a few steps back from the helm—but there wasn't enough time. "I see you... still alive. How's the evacuation?"
"Nine unaccounted for," the stallion answered.
"And the VIP? How many fires did she start?"
Lotus's stomach twisted. Her tail smacked against the floor, fear overpowered by fury.
Look how they see us. Even when you save their lives, they will fear you. This is their nature—terror at the unknown. The herd bucks and flees the first sight of predators on the horizon.
"None, sir. She brought eight ponies out of engineering. Another two from higher decks. She stayed instead of evacuating with the other VIP."
"I see." The captain glanced back at them both. "Perhaps kirin and Nirik are different tribes after all. I'm afraid... you will have an intimate view of the crash from the bridge."
The crystal dropped from his magic. Lotus still held hers, but it would make little difference. They had only seconds. "I fear I will fail the task the princess gave me," he said, gripping the helm with grim determination. He settled his cap back into place, eyes locked forward. "To Elysium."
Or we could live. Lotus dropped her crystal too, yanking Luthargent's foreleg with her own. She smacked up next to the captain, until all three of them were touching.
Only under protest, came the voice. We live or die together. The voice didn't bring temptation this time, but vision. Runes imprinted in her mind as though she'd memorized them for weeks, just like the portal spell. Only this spell would take far less power—she didn't need to cross worlds. All she had to do was absorb a little momentum, and shift her position a few hundred feet forward.
"Move," she commanded, with confidence she did not feel. "Together!"



Air imploded around her, and metal groaned in protest. She fell—but only a few feet, landing roughly on the dirt.
She felt several others fall with her, along with a huge piece of wood and metal trailing orphan gears.
Captain Inclination and Luthargent, along with the Svalinn's helm, ripped right out of the deck.
Ice condensed along her horn, trailing up her body with numbing cold. Not as far as crossing worlds, but also with far less preparation, and after already-awful magical exertion.
She looked up just in time to see an explosion ripple across the horizon, whipping the trees with sudden force.
"Sweet Merciful Celestia," Inclination said. "Masterful teleport, kirin—Lotus."
"Th-thanks..." She wavered, then flopped onto her side. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
 
Lotus dreamed, as she had dreamed many times before. She dreamed of burning airships, of Nirik rampaging across small towns and villages like the one she'd seen from the sky. Ponies would burn without resistance.
She was there in the massacre, watching from eyes of flame. Another kept her company, a far larger, older creature. Yet it wasn't a giant anymore—she knew how big Searing Gale really was.
"It is what they deserve," she said. "They would do the same to us if they could. The strong survive, and the weak burn."
She had better memories now. Ponies could be saved from this flame. She rushed through the wall of fire, galloping forward. For a few steps her own hooves spread the heat to all they touched. But then they went out, and her sight faded back to the familiar colors.
Black smoke and flickering orange flame passed before her sight, parting to reveal crowds of frightened, terrified creatures. All would burn, unless...
She stopped in its path, defiant.
Another kirin watched her—her twin, but larger, more mature. "There's nothing you can do to make them love you, Lotus. It doesn't matter how many you save."
"I don't care!" she yelled back, defiant. "I'm not doing this for them!"



 
The fire swept over her, shaking her with the violence of an exploding airship. Except—it wasn't an explosion. Hooves held her, shaking her awake. "Lotus! Lotus, can you hear me?"
She opened one eye, however weakly. She was on her back on a stretcher, wrapped in a thick blanket. A canvas ceiling rose overhead, and several other cots stretched out to either side. Ponies in white medical gear moved up and down between them, administering care to all in need.
She recognized several of the other ponies inside—engineers she'd rescued, now wearing heavy bandages over their burns.
And standing over her was Iron Feather, looking as bedraggled as any stallion could. He smelled like smoke, and half his coat was smeared with oil and ash. None of that mattered—he was alive.
"Hey."
He leaned close to her to embrace her, wrapping both forelegs around her in a tight, familiar hug. "Nurses couldn't tell what was wrong with you! Didn't think you would..."
She grinned weakly back at him. "Just a little... drained." Unless the dream kept me unconscious? Just like before, it didn't fade with waking. She still saw the flames, still heard the screaming.
"Let her go, soldier. You're going to crush the mare!"
Someone pried him off—one of the nurses. The pony pressed something down to her chest, a flat piece of metal with a tube. After a few seconds of listening, she nodded. "Steady vitals. Strange... you were barely breathing."
She took a step back. "She stays off her hooves, and in bed. Soldier, don't let me catch you doing that again. Even if she's not burned, she needs to recover. You aren't helping."
He nodded, setting back to his haunches. "Yes ma'am."
She gave him one last sharp glance before shuffling off to her other patients.
"I heard you helped with the evacuation. Stayed so long you missed the last group. We couldn't keep flying back through the smoke."
She nodded once. "Y-yeah. Had to... make our own way out at the end. Cut it a little close."
He nodded, wiping at his face with one leg. His voice wavered, but he kept calm. "When the Svalinn exploded, I thought... you were..."
She reached for him with one hoof. "We've only known each other a few months, Iron. You don't have to..."
He touched her leg to his. "I was going to let them reassign me. I can't believe I almost..." He dropped to one knee beside her cot, so they were almost at eye-level. "I love you, Lotus Cinder. No matter what happens, I'm not leaving you again."
Liar. Impossible. He used you to get here, he'll use us now. Ponies are the best talkers—they're so good at making you believe what they say. But their lies aren't fireproof.
He kissed her forehead, near the base of her horn. The touch was light, not meant for any of the other things a horn could do. His message came through anyway. That voice could whisper and lie all she wanted.
"I love you too, Iron," she whispered back, no longer caring if the other patients and doctors saw. Let them see. They could tell all Equestria if they wanted.
 
The doctors wouldn't let him keep her company at the bedside—the field hospital just didn't have enough room for visitors, not with the constant flow of ponies in and out.
Gus checked in on her near the evening, bringing a tightly-wrapped bundle of dinner. "I knew they'd be serving grain in here," he said, setting it down on the tray beside her. "I saved some of mine for the hero."
She opened it eagerly, with her hooves instead of her magic. After so much strain, the hospital wrapped her horn with a metal ring to prevent any spellcasting while she healed.
It made her clumsy and awkward again, but the doctors probably knew what they were doing.
"I guess it did feel pretty good to save people from a fire I didn't start," she said. "You had fish in your camera bag?"
He laughed, patting her shoulder with a claw. "Nah. Got it in town. Seems like a pretty nice place. You'll see tomorrow—princess says we get a castle suite." He stepped back, giving her room to eat. The meal had gone a little cold on the trip over, but it was still better than eating hay. "It's made of crystal too. Like... the whole thing."
She lifted her head from the plate so she could meet his eyes. "No one told me what was going on. Even Iron didn't know. Just said Luna won."
"That part's obvious. There'd still be a monster burning everything otherwise. We went down pretty close to a town, and it happens to have the princess of magic living here. We'll be in her castle until..." He shrugged. "Not exactly sure. But it's gotta be safer than a flammable tube in the sky."
Of all the people she wanted to share her experience, Gus was probably the best. But there were too many other ponies here, ponies who might overhear.
For the first time, none of them were afraid. She wasn’t going to give that up now.
"Sorry I dragged you into all this." she said. "I don't know how many times I have to keep saying that."
"Never." He patted her shoulder again, grinning wide. "Just because I want to go home eventually doesn’t mean I don't want to be here, Lotus. I'd never even been to Canada before. I'm glad I came along. Honestly, these are growing on me." He opened both wings halfway—not wide enough to block the walkway. "Not needing a parachute was pretty awesome. And you were right—I can walk on clouds. Further experimentation to follow."
 
She spent one night in the field hospital. They didn't medicate her like the others, but she wasn't injured exactly. She just needed some rest. She didn't dream of flame, but vibrant green trees, with their narrow houses of traditional style.
The canopy wasn't scorched, the flowers weren't ashes, and the river still flowed. Distant music played, simple wooden chimes driven by the regular mountain breeze.
There was another with her, so close it might as well be her twin. Maybe a little older, a little more wrinkled. But that might just be her imagination.
This was less cogent a vision than the last one—she couldn't speak to the spirit and get a reply. She just walked, through little crowds of fellow kirin. It was a festival day, though she still didn't recognize the specifics.
The exact details of the holiday didn't matter much—what mattered was the festive spirit, the friendly voices and distant music. She was welcome here.
Iron Feather was already here. He hadn't seen her, and moved along a line of dancers, keeping time with the beat of a drum in the center. Occasionally they held out a fan, or one of those other little tools she hadn't learned the name of.
"This is how you see them," said another voice. Not the tempting monster, this was a stranger. She had only spoken to this creature once. Princess Luna. "They seem... friendly. I expected more hostility for a pony."
She turned, and found her companion was gone. She didn't have a twin—instead, the Moon Princess stood beside her. There was no telling how long she'd been walking there.
"Not at first." It might not help her position, but it was also the truth. "They worried he was going to run off and tell you where the village was hiding. Then Equestria would wipe them out. But after a while..."
She gestured out at the dance. This moment had never actually happened—they'd only been in Hono for one festival. But it would have, if they hadn't jumped at the chance to escape.
"They accepted him," the princess said. "As you have. Before you were mere acquaintances, united only by the debt you felt to him. You wished to undo the damage you inflicted."
I never told you that. She looked up at the princess—but she couldn't maintain eye contact for long. Those eyes pierced more than flesh, seeing into parts of herself she never wished to share. Which meant she also knew...
The dream shifted, showing somewhere else. A quiet garden, where Lotus herself stood beside Iron. He kissed her under the lanterns, where no other pony eyes could see.
So long as she could focus intently enough to keep the princess from seeing where their relationship went after.
"We got closer," she said. "I've never known anyone like him. So... devoted, passionate. He never forgot his mission, if that's what you're looking for. He didn't choose me over Equestria."
The princess touched her back with one hoof, gentle and soothing. "Breathe easy, Lotus Cinder. I never suspected it would be otherwise. I chose Iron from the ranks of many other stallions. I am... unsurprised... you found him so appealing. If you stayed, I suspect he would make a fine father."
Her vision shifted again, to another memory. A quarry, with police sirens blaring in the background and a stone monster broken at their hooves along with a priceless excavator.
Their little group huddled far below, with Lotus muttering frantically. Luna watched in silence until she finished her spell and the three vanished.
"We could have discussed all of this," Luna said. "But my sister is fonder of long talks. I prefer action."
More memories flashed before them—hiding in the asylum, fleeing her burning house, practicing spells, transforming Gus... all played before her, present only for seconds before they vanished again.
Soon they were back in the kirin village, with music and song and laughter. "I am pleased to find you were... truthful with me. It is good to know you can be trusted."
Lotus settled onto her haunches, tail wrapping around her legs. "Will Equestria blame Hono for what Searing Gale did? Will you attack it?"
"No. Not all Equestria would be so... understanding, perhaps. So we will not tell them. You were transformed by the sorceress. After a few years... perhaps then it would be safe. But not now."
Lotus felt a wave of sudden surprise, though she couldn't exactly explain why. She already knew Princess Luna was a good pony. Of course she wouldn't want a village of innocent kirin to be targeted for something they had nothing to do with!
"Do you have a plan to stop her? I didn't see much of the battle, but she took down the ship!"
The princess nodded once. "Not me, but Twilight Sparkle does. We weren't certain you would be able to reach Equestria. And given recent events, I believe you may be taking a... more direct role than I previously anticipated. We'll discuss in greater detail in a few days. With luck, Searing Gale's strength will be taxed from these two attacks so close together, and she will not be able to strike again too quickly."
"Probably. She gets her power from what she burns. Blowing up the ship is big, but most ponies lived. Then when she attacked the kirin village, she didn't kill anyone. I think she used a lot of power to pierce the shield, so... hopefully we have some time."
"See, that is insight." The princess nodded her approval. "We have never fought alongside kirin before. We may not have Searing's phylactery, but we do not need it to have a chance."