The Kirin are a fascinating species. They are perhaps the truest fulfillment of my theory on magic and its reactivity to intent and emotion. Each and every one of them was practically a walking forest fire and packed with enough anger-fueled fire magic to wreak untold havoc upon the natural world. As a result, once my small horde of frost weapon equipped golems and I arrived at their quaint little village, their magic auras collectively provided a sight block behind which Starlight could easily be hiding.
Switching my glasses back to normal sight, I scanned the village and the solemn faces of all the kirin staring back at me, including that of their leader who stood waiting in the center of their village. I approached her with a scowl and a set of six stomping golems.
She looked me in the eyes and tilted her head. With a sigh, I removed my glasses. "Alright, let's be straight with each other," I began and held my hand out to her. "Whether or not you've heard of me doesn't matter. Because I have very little interest in you or your home, beyond this."
I clicked a few gems on the palm of my glove and turned my hand over. A projection of Starlight Glimmer and the ruby scepter beamed forth between the Kirin and me. She considered the projection quietly.
"This mare stole that scepter from me, and you and I both know that the Kirin and Equestria are allies," I cut the projection, snapped my fingers, and jabbed a thumb at myself, drawing her attention back to me. "And I know that mare came sneaking into your grove a few hours ago."
I leaned close with a scowl. "Doesn't take a genius to guess why she'd do that." She remained silent and I cleared my throat before clapping and holding both hands out. "So, here's the deal. You turn her over to me. Hell, you can just turn the scepter she stole over to me and keep her, I don't really care."
I swept my arms out and looked over all the kirin around me, who regarded me with similar apathy. "You do that and I'll leave. 'Cause again, I really ain't too interested in this village," I scowled again and bared my teeth as I turned back to the head kirin. "But. If. You. Thwart. Me. That will rapidly change."
With a sharp inhale I leaned towards her at the hips. She still remained unperturbed. "And I will be forced to retort," I shot back up straight and folded my hands. "And sister? If I have to swing back? I'll make sure you don't get back up if you catch my drift."
I forced a smile. "So! What'll it be?" I held out one hand and leered at her expectantly. She blinked once and tilted her head. My smile melted into a fierce snarl and I raised a hand towards my golems, who clattered to attention and prepared to attack.
"Wait!" I paused as all the kirin, especially the big one flinched and turned to look at a long, ginger-maned specimen who came galloping up. "Please! Don't do anything rash!"
"Autumn!" The head kirin cried.
I snapped my fingers at her causing her to recoil. "Quiet you," I traced my pointing finger to 'Autumn.' "Talk."
She hesitated and looked shamefully at her leader before turning to me with teary eyes. "Please. She's not here! We don't want any trouble so we told her she couldn't stay."
I narrowed my eyes. "So where is she?"
Autumn hung her head with a quiet sob. "She-"
"Autumn, do not-" I turned and slipped a lightning talisman from my belt before cracking it across the leader's snout. A flash and boom followed as she was knocked from her hooves by a blast of lightning. The kirin gasped, and some moved to intervene before my golems came stomping forward, forming a line between Autumn, myself, and the villagers.
I jabbed my crackling talisman at Autumn. "Talk."
She looked at me with terrified eyes. "I- I can take you to her!"
I frowned and hummed. "Fine. But we're leaving half my unit here as insurance." She moved to reply but recoiled when I leaned in and held my talisman an inch from her snout. "And if this is a trick, I'll make sure to pay you back for it, above everyone else."
Another magic blast bounced off my shield with just enough force to knock me off course. I narrowly rolled around a tree and continued flying at full speed through the forest. At least until a weight fell atop my shield and I was driven into the ground.
"Got ya now, smooth skin." Unfortunately, after Autumn partially melted the third and fifth momentum gems providing flight to my boots, my top speed wasn't enough to escape the furious blue dragon who now mounted my shield and was sucking in air as an equally furious glow built up in her open maw. Quickly twisting my arm back, I held up my blasting talisman and shot Ember in the mouth. She quacked and tumbled away, spitting and coughing cinders, allowing me to click my heels and take off again.
"Stop him!" Starlight cried as she caught up and shot more magic my way. While it was now confirmed that Autumn had led me into a trap, the scale of said trap had left me too focused on survival to even consider what I was going to do to her in response.
Rather than Starlight, I was led to an empty clearing where the tiny kirin proved that their fire magic was stronger than the frost spells I'd prepared. At the same time, the kirin in the village engaged my animunculi and drove them back long enough for Starlight to pop out of wherever she was hiding and use the scepter to call Ember.
Who, based on how rapidly she and her kill squad of dragons arrived, must have been waiting nearby. If they were just waiting to collect the scepter or if this really was a planned ambush for me didn't matter. My entire troop was decimated, and I was now in flight for my life. Now more than ever, I found myself worked into a frenzy of anger with myself for not listening to Jury.
Turning back, I took a few potshots at my pursuers before angling upwards and breaking through the tree line. Once I was above the trees, I got a fuller picture of how bad I'd fucked up and my blood froze. While most of the dragons Ember had with her were young, and only a couple were larger than me, in the distance, there were two full-grown adults heaving gigantic gouts of flame down on the ship and raking their claws across it as they circled it in tandem.
The bridge was already smoldering.
As I gaped at the sight, an explosion flared up from lower on the ship and the entire thing began to rapidly descend. My blasting talisman slipped from my fingers, and I barely registered the sight of a log being swept into my peripheral vision. Once more, my shield absorbed the blow but I was sent tumbling by Ember's swing.
I crashed into a tree top and sat there limply. Once my head stopped spinning, my eyes locked on the falling ship in the distance and I watched it crash into the ground where the pair of dragons descended upon it and began clawing it to pieces.
"Checkmate, freak." With an effort I looked forward and saw Ember hovering over me, beating the log she'd smacked me with into her claw. "Unless you're stupid enough to try that other dumb magic thing on me again." I blinked and looked at my other hand which still held my lightning talisman. Its main gem had a nasty crack in it which Ember had created when she first struck.
"Do you got him?" I heard Starlight call from below.
Ember raised an eyebrow. "Good question. What do you think, Bedlam?" She leaned in with a scowl. "Do I got you? Or do I need to smack you around some more?"
A second explosion filled the air and I whipped my head around to see the ship now mostly in flames. A dry sob left my throat before a low rumble shook my shield as Ember tapped it with her log.
"Talking to you." I weakly rolled my head back to meet her eyes. Just as I was about to drop my other talisman, I blinked. Far away over her shoulder, racing towards the kirin village, I saw a small dot with a familiar shape. I tensed up and clenched my jaw before meeting Ember's eyes.
"I'm sorry, what was the question?"
She growled. "Alright, smart ass. How about I-" Before she could react, I hit the switch on my talisman, drawing a vicious crackle from it, and hurled it at her. The gem burst and the entire thing exploded in her face. As she recoiled in shock, I rolled forward, clicked my heels, and took off toward what I desperately prayed was Jury-rig piloting our hovercraft.
I kept my eyes trained on the horizon behind us as Jury focused on driving. Not only was I searching for any pursuers, but also in a desperate bid to avoid looking at Tempest who was still wrapped in bandages and was in a quivering curled-up ball in the seat next to me.
"But no! We couldn't just try to steal it later, nuh-uh! We had to get it now. When we were low on forces and it was in a territory already on guard for us," Jury screamed back at me. I clenched my teeth. "Nope! Don't listen to Jury-rig! Nuh-uh! Do things my way. That's right! And look where that gets us. We have to steal it back later anyway! AND I had to leave behind all the stuff we were healing Tempest with! Great job, Ed!"
I looked over my shoulder at her. "Jury.."
"Buck off! Ed, Eddy, Bedlam, whatever! It doesn't matter!" She whirled around to glare hellfire my way. "You-"
"I'm sorry," I croaked. She hesitated, but her eyes lost none of their fury. "I fucked up. I-" Tempest convulsed and let out a moan that rapidly swelled into a squeal of pain. We both froze and looked at her as she shivered and then went limp. My jaw dropped and Jury held her hoof to her mouth.
"No," I desperately groaned before flopping over and grabbing her. "Nononono, please no. Tempest, don't die. Please."
"Bedlam," Jury tried to interject. Tempest shook and weakly regarded me with her unbandaged eye. I grit my teeth and tears began to fall.
"Please. I'm sorry. Don't die. I need you both. You're all I have, I threw everything else away. Please, I'm begging you," I sobbed and huffed. "Please don't die."
She stared weakly at me for a moment before straining and nodding. I flinched and shuddered, and she slowly reached a hoof to her mouth and carefully tore one of the bandages. Before I could stop her, she gasped and then spoke.
"We'll.. Ah. We'll get 'em next time, Ed." I stared at her for what felt like minutes before looking up at Jury, who was weeping openly. Wiping my eyes with my thumb I nodded back.
"Next time."