Friendship Is Magic, Part 3

by Cii

Chapter One, Part I: A Societal Grieving Malfunction

        FWOOM! FWOOM! CRASH!! The trees in the Foreverfree Forest began to catch fire and fell in groups all around the forest animals as they all tried to flee the inferno. Packs of all types of animals that lived in the forest -- boars, snakes, birds and rabbits, among others -- all scattered while trying to dodge the trees that fell all around them.
        The trees still glowing red and orange after they had fallen in the devastation, still burning; casting long shadows on the forest ground and lighting up the night sky as if it were once again morning.
        A large group of squirrels and rabbits ran past a small section of trees toward the northern side of the forest that hadn’t been touched by the flames yet as two unicorns donning spiked metal helmets peered out from behind the trees once the area was clear of animals. Not that it mattered what animals had escaped or not; there were probably even birds still in the trees that had just fallen asleep for the night in a tree that was burning now. Or perhaps there weren’t. Still didn’t matter.
        The masked unicorns knew this, and both stepped completely out from behind the group of trees, revealing their large, mechanical wings. They promptly folded them back inward with a small puff of smoke exhaust coming from the base of the wings, which were attached on either side of their body. The helmets they were wearing had two menacing protrusions, one larger one in the center for show, large and drooping like a stalactite just behind their head and the smaller protrusion where their horn was fit in, free to use their magic.
        They walked a safe distance away from each other and the next group of the trees they had targeted. Without saying anything, they looked at each other simultaneously and nodded together, aiming at a group of different trees for each of them, their horns producing a pulsating red tinted aura.
        From their horns a giant blob of fire propelled toward the trees, hitting the trunks with a force strong enough to snap the tree right in half from the strongest point and still engulf the rest of it in flames. The pair flew away from the horribly beautiful sight, bathed in a red glow against the purple-black night, which disappeared slowly on their coats as they soared higher into the sky, ultimately passing through the cloud barrier where they were not able to be seen anymore.
        That was because their job was finished now. More groups of unicorns with mechanized wings flew in from the clouds and landed, reenacting the same destructive scene as the couple that went back up into the sky.
        After a few fleets of these mechanized unicorns had gone through every bit of the forest, there were no more trees for the animals to take shelter in or under. In fact, there were scarcely any animals left in the forest at all, though just minutes prior the forest was completely inhabited. During the last raid of the mechanized unicorns, one had spotted a fallen dragon, it seemed. There had been no extensive research on this specific animal, so just as they were about to leave, the unicorn decided to take it.
        It was heavier than the unicorn expected, all the dead weight strained the unicorn’s concentration on his levitation spell and it took a few seconds for his metal wings to help him get off the ground. This proved unsuccessful, as the masked unicorn immediately lost his concentration and dropped the dragon’s body.
        He contemplated to just wait for rigor mortis to set in, maybe make the trip a little easier, but there wasn’t any time to waste sitting around; it may have been in the dead of the night, but there was no doubt the citizens of Ponyville would wake up to all the noise and investigate. He had to leave now. Leaving the dragon’s lifeless body for now, the last of the mechanized unicorns flew up through the clouds, and the purple-orange glowing fluff of a cloud closed shut behind him. And once again nopony could see where the culprits had gone to.

        To the south, all of Ponyville had awoken to the truly awful sight and sound of what was now left of the Foreverfree Forest. They panicked when they had seen what had become of their peaceful forest. The town’s alarm bell to the north had officially been sounded from the earth pony that held this job.
        Another earth pony, Thomas, who sported a dark grey coat and red mane color with a red ambulance light for a cutie mark ran as fast as he could out of the southern end of Ponyville and toward Flint’s house. Just outside the front entrance to Flint’s house, Thomas began banging on the door.
        “Flint! Get out here! The forest is on fire!!” he yelled, and without even waiting for half of a second, tried to open the door but realized quick enough that Flint had locked it.
        “Flint!! Hurry, come out!! The forest is on fire!! A big ol’ flamey, firey fire!!!” After literally another second of no response, he placed his hooves on the doorknob tightly, twisted and leaned back, putting all his body weight on the doorknob in a desperate attempt to get the door open. He slipped and fell on his back and realized the doorknob had come undone and was still in his hooves.
        “GAH! Why’d ya hafta come off now of all times?!” he screamed at the doorknob and tossed it aside, and began pounding his hooves on the door screaming as loud as he could, “FLINT!!!!” Suddenly, the door opened and Thomas fell on his face. He got back up on his hooves and saw Flint standing in the doorway.
        “Oh, Fire! Er, Flint! Come quick, the Foreverfree Forest is engulfed in flames!” Thomas said, panicked, “You gotta help me help anypony that needs any help in the help -- er, fire -- I mean, forest!”
        “The whole forest?!” Flint asked, shocked, “What about Lighter and Fuel? Any idea how their cottage is doing out there?”
        “Yeah, they’re out there, but I have no idea what shape their house is in.” Thomas replied. “We just need to check to make sure they’re okay, along with any other ponies that may have been in there at the time that still need help.” The duo galloped as fast as they could through the southern entrance to Ponyville, and out the northern exit to investigate.
        
        Just outside of Ponyville, the ringing of the alarm bell became devastatingly loud, because of Dirpy-Doo, who held the job of being the town’s alarm bell-ringer.
        Dirpy-Doo was a mute earth mare with googly-eyes that could look in all sorts of directions, had a light-grey coat, blond mane and a cutie mark of a series of three bubbles in a straight line as if imitating an ellipsis.
        She sat on top of a tall wooden pillar along with a bell and hammer in order to see everything going on around her and the other ponies on the Equestria Islands, and to ring that bell in an emergency.
        “Hey! Dirpy-Doo!” Thomas called up to the mare, “Can you see what’s going on in the forest or find anypony in trouble?”
        The mare remained silent and just kept ringing the bell, looking around in multiple directions at the same time and began eating a muffin from a whole stash she kept with her on top of the wooden pillar.
        Thomas sighed and said, “Well, that’s Dirpy-Doo for you. Still as silent as she ever is.” Flint and Thomas let her be and galloped past the pillar, heading in the direction of the forest to the northwest.
        As the two stallions began nearing the entrance of the Foreverfree Forest, they had both noticed a large amount of smoke that began pouring out of the opening and through the top of the forest.
        Once they entered they realized though the smoke was a bit heavy, the southern end of the forest seemed rather untouched. Venturing further into the forest they found Bronson, a citizen of Ponyville collapsed on the forest floor. Flint and Thomas ran up to help him.
        “Bronson! Are you alright?” Flint asked.
        “I’ll be fine, I only breathed in a bit too much smoke looking for Fuel...Lighter’s little colt is still in the forest somewhere...you go and find him, I’ve gone as far as I could...” Bronson explained. “There’s no time to lose! I’ll go back to the entrance, you two just go find Fuel!”
        Without hesitation, Flint and Thomas dashed for the northern end of the woods. When they reached the middle of the forest, they couldn’t believe what lay in front of them. The once-green forest floor was now red with the glow of fire, littered with bits of trees devastated all over, black smoke filling the air just above their heads through the tree-less forest ceiling.
        “Geez...how could this happen..?” Thomas wondered aloud. They both made sure to walk north, while still scanning the forest all around them for a little colt with a spiked-up brown mane.
        Suddenly, both Flint and Thomas heard a faint coughing coming from somewhere around the clearing to Lighter and Fuel’s cabin. Flint was the first to reach the sound and saw the pony coughing was Lighter, who was pinned under a pile of freshly-burnt branches.
        “Thomas, it’s Lighter! I found Lighter!” Flint called out, and Thomas came trotting over and helped Flint take the branches off of Lighter. He was still laying on his back, exhausted from having the wind knocked out of him.
        “What were those things..? I only caught a glimpse of some shadows, but they looked like flying ponies...” Lighter managed to say. “I went outside to see what the noise was, the one that turned out to be the trees being burned down...
        “Fuel...Fuel’s still in the cabin...Just get him out of there, Flint. And if you could just help me get out of here, Thomas...I need to breathe clean air pronto...”
        Both ponies knew what was to be done, and went their respective ways.

        Flint continued north on his own until he reached Lighter and Fuel’s cabin. The whole cabin, inside and out was completely engulfed in flames.
        There is no way Fuel can be in there now, Flint thought, I could check around behind the place, hopefully that little colt managed to-- A small figure moving around in the attic window stopped Flint in his tracks.
        He took no time in readying himself for a plan, there was no time to lose, the place looked like it was ready to collapse at any second. The stallion galloped toward the front door and bashed it down.
        Upon entering the house, Flint noticed all the broken boards that had fallen from the walls and ceiling burning around him and quickly ran up the stairs to the attic, ramming aside anything in his path that stood in his way of reaching Fuel.
        Once up the stairs, Flint scanned quickly and saw a little colt with his spiked brown mane collapsed on the attic floor. Flint felt relieved, it was Fuel!
        “...Flint?” Fuel asked, surprised and confused, and probably couldn’t see very well with all the black smoke clouding his vision.
        “Hurry! Get on my back!” Flint ordered, and bent down on his front hooves. “The place is going to fall apart at any second!”
        The splintering red walls began to give as Fuel crawled onto Flint’s back. Once Flint felt the colt hanging two hooves off either side of him, he stood up and galloped downstairs with the colt in tow, but the exit was blocked by more large pieces of burning wood.
        Flint had to act fast, so he jumped through the nearest window, causing an entire side of the house to crumble as they landed outside in the forest.
        As the cabin fell apart one wall at a time, Flint looked at Fuel and sighed a breath of relief, and Fuel gave Flint a big, exhausted smile. They were both covered from head to hoof in black soot from being inside the burning house.
        Flint noticed a hot spring nearby, away from the worst of the smoke. He trotted over to it in order to rejuvenate them both, if only for a short moment.
        He didn’t regret it, since it washed off most of the soot that covered them, only leaving their faces a charcoal-dyed coat.
        “Thank you so much Mr. Flint!” Fuel said, feeling loads better. Then he added, “Mr. pitch-black-soot-faced Flint!” he began laughing, but Flint remained serious and silent. The two earth ponies began to trot out of the still-burning forest.
        “Hey, have you seen my dad? He wasn’t home when our house started burning.” Fuel asked, looking up at Flint.
        “Yeah,” Flint answered blandly, “He’s being taken care of by Thomas.”
        “Thomas? Oh, boy...” Fuel laughed, “Let’s just hope he’s still in one piece when we find him, right?”
        “How can you be cracking jokes at a time like this?” Flint stopped walking and snapped back, “You almost burned alive and your father’s in critical condition as far as I know!”
        Fuel was taken aback and after a stunned moment spoke back up.
        “I’m sorry, I heard that it’s natural to laugh after you’re gone through a life-threatening moment...” Fuel said glumly, “Something with your body chemicals and their defense mechanism...” Then he gave a small hiccup-like laugh and the two ponies continued walking.
        They were almost out of the forest when Thomas ran up to them and sighed a breath of relief.
        “Oh, Flint! You rescued Fuel!” He took a look at both of the ponies and remarked, “Your faces are both pitch-black and covered in soot! You should go wash up after you’ve seen Lighter. He’s right over here.” He guided the two ponies around the corner to a hurt Lighter on a board, being tended to by a few of the citizens of Ponyville.
        “Dad! You’re okay!” Fuel laughed and trotted up to Lighter’s side.
        “That voice...” Lighter said and managed to open an eye and roll over on his other side, “Fuel! You’re okay! But you’re pitch black and covered in soot!” He looked over at Flint.
        “Thomas told me you went to save my colt, and I see you did it...Thank you, Flint.”
        “Woah, I never heard Lighter thank somepony before...” Lou, another resident of Ponyville chimed in.
        “It was no problem,” Flint said, “But are you alright? You look like you messed your hoof up somethin’ nasty...”
        “This? This is nothing!” Lighter scoffed, “All I have to do is snap it this way and that...” He began to sit up and twist his hoof to prove his point, but was held back down by another pony from the village, Tessie.
        “No, Lighter! I’m going to ask you to not move much for a few more days.” She said, and Lighter grumbled.
        “This has become quite the strange day...” Bronson stated, “First the strange shadows in the sky Lighter mentioned, then the fires in the Foreverfree Forest...speaking of which...” he turned back at the forest, which was still on fire, “It would be nice if we had a nice rain soon to help put out the fire. But we haven’t had rain in such a long time, I even forgot what it felt like...”
        Strangely, as soon as Bronson finished saying this it began to sprinkle, washing off the soot from Flint and Fuel’s faces.
        “...And now it’s raining.” Thomas said, dumbfounded, “...Oh! I wish I had...” Thomas attempted to think of something he would have liked to have, in a humorous attempt to have his wish granted like Bronson, but came up with nothing. He sat in silence for a moment until everypony realized Dirpy-Doo had been ringing the Ponyville bell.
        “Oh, we should probably head back into town and let Dirpy-Doo know we’re okay, and let Lighter rest,” Bronson told the other villagers, “Great teamwork tonight everypony, I’ll see you all tomorrow!"
        Everypony cheered except for Flint, and began walking back into town to get some sleep, or in Lighter, Fuel and Flint’s case, get patched up.

        Now that the rain clouds were in place and the fire was being put out, the mechanized unicorns would just have to make sure nopony was still in the forest, especially this “Lighter” it seemed the pony’s name was, who had a cabin they needed to get rid of to conduct more research. When the scouting from the sky was complete, and all the remaining ponies had gone south into Ponyville, they could once again continue research on what was once a forest, now a flat clearing to scavenge for more subjects.
        As a small group landed, they almost immediately spotted the body of a dragon, just like the other mechanized unicorn had mentioned. Now that they brought along the correct kit, it was time for their first environmental experiment, among a few others to do on this night...

        Over at the Carousel Inn, Tessie finished putting the last few bandages on Flint.
        “...And be more careful next time, you can’t afford to rush into situations like that all thickheaded!” She scolded, “You have a family to take care of! What if something happened to you out there?” At the mention of his family, Flint realized he hadn’t seen or heard from Hinawa or his little foals all day, and they were supposed to come back tonight...
        Flint said goodbye to Lighter, who was staying at Tessie’s -- the closest pony to a nurse Ponyville had -- with Fuel for a while. That is, until he was feeling better and could have another cabin built for him.
        Flint trotted back outside and headed south back to his farm. Immediately he had an uneasy feeling.
        Hinawa’s carrier pigeon was at the doorstep, asleep, and nopony was inside the house. Nevertheless, Flint took the letter that was attached to the carrier pigeon’s foot, which still had Hinawa’s scent lingering in the small fibers of paper, and read to himself:

        “Dear Flint,

        Just as you thought, the foals were running all around the farm and mountains, helping dad with the farm ever since we got here a few days ago.

        Claus is still an adventurous colt and is always full of energy as he ever was (he must take after his father), and Luca is still reserved and quiet most of the time. But they both seem to love helping around the farm as well as playing, neither one of them seem to tire from it all.

        Dad seems sad to say goodbye to his grandfoals after being able to see them for the first time in quite a while, but he’s been worrying about us leaving since we got here. Either way, we should be back home by this evening.”

Flint’s heart dropped.

        “After being around the sheep back home for so long, I forgot how nice and refreshing the mountain air feels in comparison to back home, I wish you would have been able to come this time.

        How about next time we decide to come back up you can come along and I’ll just get somepony else to watch our sheep; we should really be up here all together as a family.

        We were all thinking about you the whole time we were up here; Claus, Luca and I (and even Alec asked how you were). When we get back hopefully around dinnertime, I’ll make something with your favorite ingredient: apples! How does that sound?

        Anyway, we’ll see you tonight!

        With love, your dearest Hinawa”

        Flint ran inside the house to be sure they didn’t just get home earlier and fell asleep somewhere while he was out. Nopony was in the house, and Flint was panicking now.
        He ran back to Ponyville and told his closest friends his situation. He asked for Issac, Thomas, Bronson, and any other stallions that could help him look around the path between Ponville and the Foreverfree Forest for his family.
        Luckily, everyone in the village loved Flint and Hinawa and their little twin foals, so the stallions asked more ponies, who asked even more ponies.
        Soon, most of the town formed a search party to be on the lookout for Hinawa, Claus and Luca. Even Boney, Flint’s trusty dog sensed Flint’s worry and caught up alongside him soon after everypony began the search.
        Although Flint could not understand what Boney meant with his barking and whimpers when he saw his canine friend running up to him in the middle of the town, he had a feeling Boney could tell that he was worried and slightly panicking.

        With a couple dozen ponies in different areas of the Foreverfree Forest, as well as Flint and Boney working together, Flint felt grateful that he had made such understanding and helpful friends in the town next to his farm.
        He felt a lot more hopeful that as long as everypony worked together, they would find his family and he could put his mind to rest knowing they would be safe in their house after what happened to the forest tonight.
        Flint and Boney eventually ended up around in the northeastern area of the forest and noticed Bronson and a few other ponies gathered around another fallen tree, although this one was jammed between two hills.
        When he trotted up next to it he noticed this tree was snapped in half as well, blocking any further access beyond the two hills, but it seemed that it had never caught fire unlike the rest of the trees. Bronson had a quizzical look on his face and was thinking of a way to get around the fallen tree.
        He trotted up to one side of the fallen tree, and stuck his head through the leaves to see the other side and gasped.
        “How can it be possible...?” Bronson questioned, jaw agape when his head came back from the other side of the tree, “There are more trees like this one on the other side, not burned, yet still snapped right in half!”
        A pony walked up and stopped in front of the tree and pointed her hoof at markings on the ground.
        “These look like claw gashes of some sort,” the pony explained, “Obviously whatever did this to the trees ahead wasn’t a pony...”
        “Maybe it was...ghosts?” another younger pony chimed in with a hint of fear in her voice.
        “Oh silly,” the first pony said reassuringly, “There is no such thing as ghosts.”
        “Let’s split up and find another way around,” Bronson suggested, “There’s got to be some other way around this tree so we can figure out what is going on, and hopefully find your wife and foals, Flint.”
        Everypony departed to search more of the areas around the northeastern end of the forest until a citizen called out for Flint with panic in his voice.
        Flint galloped along with Boney at his side toward the pony that cried out and found himself at the base of a cliff on the outer edge of the Gorgeous Gorge which towered over the ponies higher than two Ursa Majors stacked on one another.
        “What? Did you...find them?” Flint asked, trying to catch his breath as two other ponies nearby came over.
        “On top of the cliff there...See that dead tree? I think it’s...” The pony pointed his hoof to the top of the cliff, but couldn’t seem to finish his sentence.
        Flint squinted to see what was caught on the branch billowing in the wind. It was small, long and looked like...
        “Hey, Flint...isn’t that Hinawa’s ribbon?” Wess, an older earth stallion carrying a saddlebag asked.
        Wess had a grey coat and a disheveled white mane that matched his mustache. He wore a cutie mark of a robber’s mask wrapped around a blank-white artist’s canvas, as he was a master in his self-proclaimed “thief arts”.
        As Flint looked back at the tree on the cliff, he realized Wess had been right, it was Hinawa’s magenta ribbon stuck in the branch. He had to get up there somehow, Hinawa must be waiting for him up there when she got lost and couldn’t get down, Flint figured. She put her ribbon in the tree branch to signal where she had been, probably trying to get out of the way of  the fire in the Foreverfree Forest, or whatever had snapped the trees nearby.
        Yeah. that was all it was.
        “Wess, do you have something to climb to the top with?” Flint asked, knowing Wess was sure to have something in his thief-arsenal that let him sneak up to places only unicorns had a possibility of levitating up to.
        “I actually didn’t expect to be climbing up rock walls...but Duster’s home and he should be able to bring something back from our house.” Wess explained. “I believe I have something in this saddlebag that Boney can use to get his scent and find our house...Aha!” Wess exclaimed and pulled out a pile of used bandages from his saddlebag.
        “He just got these off not too long ago, the poor old moron tried some thief arts too difficult for him to pull off and ended up twisting one of his hooves.” He bent down holding the bandages in his mouth for Boney to sniff. At once, Boney whimpered in disgust.
        “Did you get his scent, boy? Make sure you remember it, now.” Wess leaned in closer to be sure. Boney pulled his head away from the smelly pile of dirty, old bandages and let out out a yelp, which translated to (“AAUGH...why would you still keep those with you?! And quit shoving them in my face!”) They were apparently too much for his nose to process.
        “Okay, then! Off you go!” Wess exclaimed and put the bandages back into the saddlebag and exchanged it for a small yellow cloak, to which he draped over Boney’s back. “Go find that moron! He should know what the yellow cloak code means.”
        Boney barked in understanding, which  translated to (“Aye-aye!”) and took off running to Wess’ house.
        After a trip back through the Foreverfree Forest, past Ponyville and eastward over a bridge Boney was in front of the two thieves’ house.
        He began barking at the window and scratching at the door, but still no answer. Boney ran a few circles around the house until he stumbled upon a broken board at the bottom of the back of the house. It seemed to lead directly to the basement, so Boney crawled in to start from there.
        Luckily, Duster was asleep on a bed in the basement, surrounded by numerous tools he must’ve been practicing with.
        Boney quietly whined, which translated to (“And...does Wess have him sleep down here in the dirtiest, dustiest part of the house? That’s kinda sad...”) Boney couldn’t help but feel pretty bad for him as he watched the earth pony sleep.
        Duster had a long, slender face and a darker-beige coat that hung a bit longer over his hooves which were just barely visible. He sported a red-tinted thin mustache and buzz-cut mane that wrapped around his head and between his ears. His cutie mark was that of some of his thief tools with a broken graduation cap sitting atop the pile.
        Boney walked over to the side of the bed and barked loudly to wake Duster up and lead him to the other ponies.

        Boney groaned softly, which translated to (“How ish thish guy shtill not awake?!”) since he was practically halfway through Ponyville and still dragging a sleeping Duster by the scruff of his neck and saddlebag straps that Boney had even packed for him.
        Suddenly, for almost no reason at all Duster decided to wake up...at the entrance to the Foreverfree Forest.
        Duster was understandably confused as to why Flint’s pet was dragging him into the forest at this time of night, and confused as to why he hadn’t woken up sooner.
        But wait, that yellow cloak...it was Wess’! Somepony was in need of rescuing at a high altitude! Boney barked at Duster, which translated to (“This way! Follow me!”) and took off running deep into the forest with a clumsily running Duster just behind him due to his bum hoof.
        Dear goodness, the forest...Duster realized. It’s completely leveled...He took in the sights of a barren forest, trees turned on their sides and a cloudy night sky, fully visible with no trees to hinder its view.
        Duster and Boney met up with the group of ponies on the opposite end of the forest, just on the border of the Gorgeous Gorge and Duster had to stop a moment and catch his breath. He stretched his hooves one at a time, and his back left hoof made a sound like bubble wrap popping which he didn’t know was either a good or bad sound, there was no more feeling in that hoof anymore. There hadn’t been any since that accident--
        Almost as soon as the thought entered Duster’s mind, he made himself repress it. There was a pony to save now!
        Wess walked up to Duster with grave seriousness and began, “Duster...this is your moment. All these years you have studied the thief arts. It is time to put them to the test now; a pony up there needs our help! Show these ponies the Wall Staple technique!”
        Wess backed off, letting Duster through to the cliff wall. Duster physically and mentally shook negative thoughts away, as this would be the first time using this technique for real. He didn’t want to mess this up.
        He slid his saddlebag off and took a bundle of giant ladder-like staples in his mouth, and one by one lined them up with the wall and mashed his hoof into the center, digging them into the cliff face.
        He continued this, climbing higher and higher using the Wall Staples as steps until he eventually reached the top of the cliff. He did it! He felt like he could do anything now! Nopony could stop him! He met Wess’ cold gaze from the forest floor...and saw him smile and nod in approval.
        He felt giddy now, calling up Flint as he scanned the top of the cliff. There were huge prints of some kind all around...a dragon’s, possibly? His gaze passed over something stuck in a dead tree nearby.
        It looked like a ribbon he saw somepony wear before...Tessie? No...L-- Hinawa’s.
        And it hit him. By the time he realized what Flint was up here for, Flint and Boney had climbed to the top thanks to his Wall Staples.
        The rain suddenly stopped. The two ponies and dog looked around the night sky, seeing nothing but clouds, now apparently drained of their rain.
        “Well, I have a minor handicap,” Duster said, wiggling his back left hoof, “But I should be able to keep up with you guys just fine.”
        Flint nodded and went directly to the ribbon stuck in the tree. He snatched it out of the cold, dead branches greedily with his mouth. It smelled like Hinawa...
        Flint looked around once more. She’s right here...Right. Here. But I still don’t see her...Flint began to grit his teeth in anger, loosening the strands of fabric he held in his mouth. He decided to put it in Duster’s saddlebag when he realized he would eventually rip it to shreds in anger if he didn’t find her soon.
        A high-pitched beeping coming from the other side of the cliff caught the group’s attention as they walked around boulders blocking the path. The three stopped short when they saw just around the bend the most confusing sight any of them had experienced.
        
        The beeping was coming from some alien machine, operated by two metal-masked unicorns with technological wings boring into their coats.
        The unicorns pressed many buttons on the machine with their hooves, which gave off a wave of white lightning that passed over the creature sitting on a circular platform, connected to the machine.
        What lay on the platform almost passed for an ordinary boar, if it wasn’t for the dead meat that took up about 60% of its body, leaving the other 40% nothing but metal plates, screws and additional protrusions that looked nothing less than horrifying.
        “Are those...ponies?” Duster asked, his mind still deciphering what it is looking at. “And what are they doing to that hedgehog?”
        “Wait, a hedgehog? I thought it was some kinda boar.” Flint pointed out, glancing at Duster and feeling even more unsure now than he was a moment ago.
        “Let’s go see what they’re doing.” Duster said, bravely walking up behind one of the mechanical unicorns and tapping it on the flank.
        The unicorn immediately jumped and dropped a booklet, but didn’t notice. When the two unicorns saw the two earth ponies and dog, they scrambled behind the creature on the platform and pressed more buttons on the machine.
        The platform whirred to life and lightning danced all around the boar-creature. Its eyes quickly shot open and Flint realized its eyes were angry, blank and dead.
        60% dead boar flesh and 40% heaps of metal acting as a solvent to keep the meat together, was the best way to describe it, Flint noted.
        Those cold, dead eyes were looking at Flint with malice as it began moving its feet slowly in place. It suddenly bent down, acting not unlike a lion about to pounce on its prey, and a burst of steam shot out of one of its many protrusions, and the hind legs sprang forward.
        The hog began squealing wildly in a rabid, choking, guttural sound as it tried biting and bucking the ponies and dog in a mess of--not even saliva exactly--fluid all around, a look of pure, wild animal kill-or-be-killed instinct in its eyes.
        Flint was kicked onto his back and Duster tried defending himself with an extra Wall Staple he took in his mouth as Boney leaped onto the back of the hedgehog, who just ended up getting his paw pierced by one of its metal quills. He shook his paw in pain and tried biting the back leg of the boar. That got its attention!
        The boar turned around to look at what bit its back leg just as Duster came down on it with three Wall Staples, pinning it down between the ground and themselves. Flint and Duster began furiously hammering at the Wall Staples with their hooves so that they pressed into the hog’s decaying meat slightly.
        The creature was now at their mercy, pinned to the ground and making a piercing sound like none they ever heard before. It was almost scary, the way the disturbing high-pitched sound of fear was dissonant with the look of anger and hatred in the creature’s eyes.
        The two ponies glanced up at the mechanized unicorns with freshly-disturbed eyes, who were watching them a safe distance away in awe.
        “Do we...put it out of its misery?” Duster suggested, an unsure tone in his voice.
        Flint looked back down at the creature, then back at the unicorns. They were still watching, both like a bloodthirsty audience at a Colosseum and like scared foals in the audience of a horror film that was too much for them to handle.
        Flint knew he would have to do it, he didn’t want Duster to have to go through with this. Flint gave one last look at the creature stuck against the ground, writhing and squealing from its boar parts, and popping and hissing from its metal parts.
        Flint brought both front hooves on top of the Wall Staple closest to the creature’s neck...and slammed down, digging the Wall Staple into the ground and through the creature’s flesh and metal; a mixture of miniature metallic explosions and tearing of muscle until the boar stopped squealing and the metal quit hissing.
        Neither pony could believe what they had just been victim to. Victims of a creature that just tried to kill them, and victims of what they partly became from the skirmish.
        This time when Flint looked up, it seemed the horror film these fillies were watching was much, much more than they could bear.
        The two mechanized unicorns took off running around the bend and Flint, Duster and Boney gave chase. They were cornered at the edge of a tall cliff with nowhere to go.
        Looking out over the edge of the cliff, the two unicorns jumped to escape their pursuers...and with a quick hiss and puff, the mechanical wings extended and allowed the two unicorns to escape, flying towards the horizon.
        Flint beat his hooves against the cliff floor, questioning their escapees about “WHAT ARE YOU WHAT WAS THAT THING WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT", and “I KNOW YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY WIFE AND FOALS, WHERE ARE THEY", cursing the unicorns for “WHAT YOU MADE ME DO JUST NOW”, and sarcastically congratulating them for, “CREATING MORE MONSTERS THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR TONIGHT”.
        Duster couldn’t help but feel disturbed at Flint’s primeval ranting. He walked over and picked up the booklet the one unicorn dropped when they first startled them. He gave it a quick read-through and didn’t know whether to show Flint or not, at least not in his state of mind right now.
        “WHAT DID THOSE BUCKING FOALS DROP???” Flint shouted, suddenly right next to Duster before he realized it and made him jump.
        Duster didn’t say anything, but handed it to Flint so he could read. It’s for the best if he knew this, at least. Duster thought.
        Flint opened the first page and an insignia of the drooping stalactite part of the mechanized unicorn’s helmet stared back at him. After that was some sort of motto, or mantra or something, written in bad mouthwriting:

        There were a few equations, notes and drawings scattered throughout the rest of the booklet that Flint couldn’t decipher, nor cared to.
        It took every ounce of Flint’s will to not rip the book to shreds right then and there, burn it, stomp on it, and feed it to the dragons on a silver platter. But instead he ignored that feeling for the time being and gave it to Duster to put in his saddlebag.
        “What is this, just some kind of sick...project to them?!” Flint managed to say with a little trouble. “They’re doing something with my family, those...” He couldn’t find the words he was looking for this time.
        A familiar voice shouted from down below, but aside from knowing it was Wess, Flint couldn’t make out what he said.
        After taking a long final look over Gorgeous Gorge that lay ahead of him, Flint turned around back toward the Foreverfree Forest and began climbing back down to the forest floor, followed by Duster and Boney.

        Once the three were safely back on the ground of the forest floor and saw no sign of Flint’s family aside from Hinawa’s bow, they began walking back into the heart of the forest, where it seemed everypony had gone off to.
        Wess caught up to them shortly after they headed into the forest, breathing hard.
        “Flint, I called up to you! We found them! They’re alright!” he said, smiling and jumping at each emphasis.
        Flint immediately felt all his negative feelings melt down his hooves and away from his body and he finally began to laugh.
        “Are you kidding? They’re okay?!” Flint still couldn’t believe it and started trotting in place, feeling impatient...he needed to see them all now! Haha!
        “Well, that’s the thing...” Wess started, “We have Luca and Claus...Tessie’s watching them now. As for Hinawa...” Wess trailed off and Flint began to feel apprehension rising out of the ground just as quick as it melted off his coat a moment ago.
        “What? Where is she?” Flint gasped, his breathing quickening.
        “...We still haven’t found Hinawa. But the kids were at the river, so they’re drying off now...go see them, maybe they can help you find Hinawa and figure out what’s going on.” Wess said, then added, “I can watch Boney for now, and Duster...you come with me for now too.”
        Duster and Boney wanted to go with Flint, but understood that he should be alone with his foals. They departed along with Wess to the exit of the forest.
        
        Flint walked up around the bend to find some of the ponies that were helping locate his family taking good care of Luca and Claus, Tessie even wrapped blankets around them and sat them in front of a campfire to dry their wet coats.
        Tessie saw Flint walking up to the small group and bowed away to let him talk with his children.
        “D-dad...” Claus said, shivering his words out, but coming up with nothing else.
        “Mom--mom’s...” Luca said, quaking in fear and from the cold, more pronounced on the timid filly’s face.
        Claus slammed a hoof into the ground a little too much like Flint had just done a short while earlier and said, “Darn it...darn it...I could’ve...” then closed his eyes and buried his head in the folds of the blanket.
        “What happened, Claus? Luca?” Flint cautiously asked, trying hard not to make them re-experience whatever just happened; he never saw his children this disturbed before, all the while hoping himself nothing bad happened.
        Neither foal could look Flint in the eye and both remained silent until Flint turned around and bowed his head, silently hoping everything was fine.
        “FLINT! FLINT!!” Bronson called out, but stopped on the other side of the campfire when he saw Flint was having a moment with his foals.
        But Flint couldn’t wait. There was only one pony left to find, and Bronson seems like he needs to tell him something important. Flint trotted over to the other side of the fire.
        “What’s the matter?” Flint asked, warily. He could see beads of sweat forming on Bronson’s neck as he managed to choke out a few words.
        “I...uh--I have some good news...and I have some um--bad news.”
        “Oh, no no no no...please, what is it?”
        “...The good news is...we finally found Hinawa, and she’s on her way over here right now.”
        “OH THANK GOODNESS, that mare had me so worried tonight, she doesn’t even--”
        “As for the bad news...well...we have a group of about five unicorns tending to her at the moment to get her over here.”
        “What are you talking about, Bronson? What’s going on, Bronson?” Flint’s voice began to rise in pure fear.
        “...Flint. Eh...” Bronson tried to get around saying it, hoping that somehow he could fix it by not outright telling Flint. But how could he not? He just had to say it. There was no fixing this.
        “...She’s not going to make it.”
        Something snapped in Flint. He stared blankly through everything in front of him, seeing past Bronson, the fallen trees, past the Gorgeous Gorge, Canterlot, through whatever mountains that lay beyond that he didn’t even know existed, his gaze piercing through icebergs, volcanoes, oceans, buildings, looping all the way completely around the world and ending up staring right at the back of his own head which made him come to, if only to try to speak.
        “Not...going to--to...” Flint stammered, keeping his blank expression.
        “I’m sorry I had to be the one to tell you...” Bronson said, feeling more shameful than he ever felt in his life. Is that right? Shameful? Bronson thought so, but couldn’t recall 100% if that was right.
        There was suddenly a lot of commotion coming from further north. It was the unicorns working their medicinal magic and carrying Hinawa toward the campfire. Flint almost had them stop so that Luca and Claus didn’t have to see, but he figured it would probably be for the best.
        Then Flint saw them. Bronson was right, a group of five unicorns from Ponyville, one levitating Hinawa’s barely-living body and four more concentrating spells as hard as they could to keep her conscious for the time being.
        They came to a rest on Flint and Bronson’s side of the campfire, the fifth unicorn levitating Hinawa down, then using healing spells as well.
        She had a gaping hole in her chest, as if something was pierced through her heart.
        “Dear goodness, what happened?” Flint asked, then immediately wondered if he should have asked such a question.
        “Flint..?” Hinawa opened her eyes and smiled. “I don’t have...any time at all, really. Heh. But...funniest thing...it was a dragon that did this. A harmless dragon...on our way back from dad’s...”
        “A dragon?” Flint asked in disbelief.
        “Mmhm. Except...one side of its entire body...it was made of metal, or something...”
        “Oh, no...no...” Flint’s worst nightmare had come true. He looked on as the five unicorns continued giving all the healing power they could give before Hinawa could speak again.
        “Do you know what was going on with that dragon?”
        “Yes...” Flint said, tilting his solemn gaze downward, “Yes I do, but don’t you worry...we’re  gonna figure out what in these vast Equestria Islands is goin’ on around here, and you’ll live on through us.”
        “Don’t you worry, I’ll get you through this...even if it has to be in another life, I will see this through to the end with you all.” Hinawa looked around at all the ponies that cared about her, surprised to see not one pony was crying except for her and Luca.
        “Move me over to my daughter, please...” She managed to speak again with some effort through tear-stained eyes, and the unicorns levitated her over to speak with Luca.
        Flint let her have a moment with Luca and saw as they both went from teary-eyed to full-blown bawling, saying things he never heard the conversation to, before she began talking to Claus who didn’t budge much at all.
        The unicorns moved Hinawa just next to the fire as they began to exhaust their magic...it was time.
        “Everypony, I thank you all for being here for me in these last moments...”
        Hinawa’s gaze turned so that her line of sight was looking at her family, that is Flint, Luca and Claus and said her final words, as the unicorns began collapsing from magic exhaustion. Flint didn’t know what she meant when she said them, but knew she knew more than they did already, and had plans worked out in her mind, the last time it will be used...

        And with that, the healing magic completely stopped flowing...and she was gone.
        So that was it. A pony’s life slipped away before his very eyes. His Love's life.
        Except...Flint didn’t know how to react at all now. He had already lost any sense of reality just from hearing she wouldn’t make it minutes earlier. He took two steps away from her body and dropped to his hind legs and began hitting the ground.
        Harder. Harder. HARDER. HARDER. HARDER.
        He stood up quickly on all fours in a fit of apathy, and slammed his face into the burning fire, not feeling the embers just as well as he had been for the past few minutes.
        His face emerged from the fire with a burning plank held between his teeth, wildly swinging around, carelessly whizzing by the residents of Ponyville, still not caring.
                DOESN’T MATTER, just missed Tessie; NOT REAL, narrowly missing Bronson; NEVERMORE REAL, the five unicorns jumped back even though they were too exhausted; EVERYTHING’S LOST NOW, this time striking a pony named Abbot.
        Bronson tried to grab the board in his mouth to no avail, then with his two front hooves, which he somehow managed. He was looking right into Flint’s eyes now, full of sadness, anger, and confusion most of all...and yet nothing at all.
        “Flint, stop! Your foals are watching! Don’t do this to them! They’ve been through enough already! And so have you! CALM DOWN!” He tried reasoning with him, but Flint kept trying to force the board out of Bronson’s hooves.
        Lighter came up behind Flint and gave him a swift clonk to the back of the noggin.
        As Flint fell, there was still no pain, no feeling, just numbness, and he just gave in and let unconsciousness do what it needed to.
        The second Flint hit the ground, everything went black immediately.
        Nothing is real any longer.