//------------------------------// // The Tempest Unleashed // Story: Macintosh of Arabia // by Crisis_Vyper //------------------------------// As they slowly ascend the path to their destination, Vinyl asked herself how on earth is the White Tree bigger on the inside than the outside. Of course, she realized that if she were to ask a certain ditzy mare, she would answer that it is like the phone booth of a certain pony she knows, but that mare was always a little off in her head. Since she was that bored,she decided to ask that question out aloud. "How on earth is this tree bigger on the inside than the outside?" Vinyl asked the other equines. Nurse Redheart and Big Macintosh are a little tired from the previous trial, and chose not to answer the mare. "Magic?" Fatimah said innocently, but causing the unicorn to blush in embarrassment, knowing that it is the most logical thing and not thinking about it like an idiot. The red pony's lips starts contort, and he could not himself in participating in this humiliation conga. "Eeyup. You unicorns should know." Big Macintosh snorts, before the filly started laughing out loud. Before Vinyl could even retort back, the nurse stops them. "Enough guys, we are now reaching our final stop." Redheart points towards the top. Indeed they are now able to see bright light at the end of the tunnel, and as each one of them passes through the light, they are met with a pristine white surrounding. Once their eyes adjusted themselves to the white, they are amazed beyond compare. They find themselves within a grand hollow space within the White Tree, and the steps before them are floating slabs of marble, leading to a massive floating palace upon a large platform of pure gold. Surrounding the palace are several smaller floating islands of pure gold, and waterfalls of mercury flow from each of the islands to the bottom of the White Tree. Seeing that they have no other means but to walk forward, the group slowly but surely take their steps upon the floating slabs. It was fortunate that all of them are not afraid of heights, for the chasm below appears to be bottomless. Big Macintosh could only hope for Applejack and Applebloom be here to see this with him. If dem Apples are able to see what Ah'm seeing, they would be awestruck. And then Applebloom will do something to see if it will earn her the cutie mark that she so desperately want, Big Macintosh smiled to himself as he imagines his smallest sister saying something about her cutie mark. Zephyr is able to see that the red one is smiling rather serenely to himself, and perhaps that is a good thing. The elemental is also happy as it has been a while since it was able to around freely. The confines of the pathways and the limits imposed by the wardings of the White Tree caused the elemental to spend the most time on the ground. However, it was the filly's smile that is the brightest. Zephyr understands from the conversations of the rest that she had gone through some hard times, and seeing her marveling at this place kindles a gentle warm breeze in its core. Several intricately crafted mechanical birds made out of gold flew past the elemental and through the elemental as they made their journey to the top, and for once the elemental thought that perhaps the main purpose of those made of flesh is to experience the sensations of life through their bodies. How it envies the living flesh...... Once they have finally reached the platform housing the palace, they could see the large, white marble structure stands on a square plinth and consists of a symmetrical building with an arch-shaped doorway topped by a large dome and finial. The dome is filled with intricate golden carvings of vines and upon the columned bases of the building, minute carvings of the swirly designs of Saddle Arabian writings, blooming flowers and carvings of many different kinds of exotic birds perching on the vines like the ones found in Aqqabasta is also present. However the structure pales in contrast to the surrounding courtyard, which is more like a forest than anything else. The lush gardens of silver trees with white gold flowers bloomed across rivers of mercury, and mechanical birds and animals of various kinds are seen walking around the silver grass courtyard. Fortunately for everyone, it appears that the animals that was chosen are little critters and deers. Within the mercury rivers, mechanical fishes are leaping out of the mercury. As they walk through the courtyard, the mechanical animals are now looking at the strangers upon their world with an almost child-like curiosity. "Y'all think that Fluttershy would love this place?" Big Macintosh asked, as he observed the artificial fauna. "She's a hippy." Vinyl's answer is rather blunt, but no one is going to argue with the point. "Where's Zephyr?" Redheart asks. "Maybe he is flying off somewhere for a while. Looks like it needs to move its 'legs' or something. It goes as it please I guess." Fatimah answers as she gently touches the silver grass. She is about a field's distance away from the rest. All of them are now spreading apart from each other, and just enjoying the space in between them. It felt like it has been a while since they could just take a break from everything, and as they all lied down upon the cool marble floor, their fatigue slowly catches on with them. Along with the fatigue comes the muscle burn and pain, and all the equines groan as one. It was then that they all started laughing heartily. "Guys.....I just noticed something." Vinyl said as she marveled at the beauty of the ceiling above them, which are littered with representation of the heavenly constellations on a dark blue backdrop. "Noticed what?" Fatimah said. "When was the last time we drank or eaten anything? Don't you find that weird?" Vinyl shifts her attention to her companions. None of them could answer her question either. "Eeyup." Big Macintosh said in agreement. "While were are at it, we have not taken a single nap, let alone sleep." Nurse Redheart looks at the rest of the equines and realized that for all the adrenaline they should be collapsing about now. But here they are, looking a little dirty but by all means in good condition. "Eeyup." Big Macintosh said once more in agreement. "Perhaps I can answer that for you." A deep tenor voice answered. The fifth voice came as a surprise for all the equines, and immediately they all got up turnedto see a figure in tattered robes behind them, with a very familiar camel slung across its shoulders. "AMANAR!!!!" The equines shouted, and the figure drops the camel on the marble floor. Vinyl did not even think twice as she fires her magic at the figure. The figure casually steps aside, and as the spell burns away some of the robe away Big Macintosh is already galloping to close the distance between them. The stallion attempts to buck the figure, but the stallion was soon enveloped by the robes of the figure. As the pony struggles to escape the robes, the figure gently pushes the pony away. Vinyl could see the figure is wrapped in bandages like some mummy, and notices that it is some sort of equine. Firing her spell once more, Vinyl knows that if they fail to stop the equine they will be in a whole lot of trouble. However the figure is casually avoiding all her shots and is closing in on her. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Didn't your mother taught you not to shoot at strangers for no reason at all?" The featureless face of the bandaged equine is now staring at Vinyl, and Vinyl was stunned for a moment before her instincts took over. She shrieked and fired at the figure point-blank, but the figure disappeared from her sight. She frantically looks around and spots the bandaged figure a good distance away from her. How did he get there?, Vinyl asked herself. It was then that she notices the bandage of the figure starts to unravel. As the red pony finally escapes the confines of the tattered robes, he immediately regrets getting out from the robes. "What the buck......." The red pony could not believe his eyes. The first thing that they all saw are the vast, black leathery bat wings emerging from the bandages. As the wings starts to flap, the rest of the bandages come undone and reveals a disturbingly sinister fleshless, lustrous body with a translucent and glossy black coat. The smooth coat is so thin that the bones are clearly defined through the entire extension of its sleek body. As the long black mane and tail flows with the winds from the flapping wings, the figure looks upon them with its feline, cyan-coloured eyes buried within its skull-like head. It was then that Redheart's memory recalled this eldritch being, for there is only one being that would fit the description of trying to obstruct them at this point of time. She could not help herself, and utters the name of the eldtrich being. "Anput." "Finally, someone who knows my name." The bat-winged equine shakes the last of the bandages off its leg. It was then that Vinyl realizes that the eldritch being have turn its attention towards the youngest member of their group; Fatimah. Immediately, the bat-winged equine walks slowly but surely towards the young mare. Realizing that the last Swords of Asar is coming after her, the filly attempts to run away. However, she suddenly felt an overwhelming depressive force up upon her small frame, and she could not move her limbs, nor even sense any sensation from her limbs. She tried as hard as she could, but her limbs will not budge. As she looked upon the winged figure, she could only be fearful of what it could do to her. To the filly, the cat-like pupils of Anput is as chilling as it is terrifying. "Excuse me, little one. I need to talk to you a little." The young filly's heart is now pounding exponentially with every step that Anput takes. Even though she wanted to scream but her throat is clamped up to the point that she is slowly suffocating from the fear within her. Well, I had my fun flying around... Zephyr floats down with a warm fuzzy feeling within it. However the feeling soo turned into a turbulent cloud as it saw a sinister 'thing' coming closer to the littlest one. The others are running towards them, and seeing living beings for a long time now, it realizes that they are scared. The filly's eyes reminded it of a living thing seeing the thing that will kill it and could not do anything to prevent it. As the turbulent cloud within starts to crackle with the sound of thunder, it knows that it will not stand by as it lets the first group of living things that embraced it into their group suffer any longer. It had decided that the sinister 'thing' will perish. Big Macintosh, Vinyl and Redheart gallops towards Anput, but even with their speed, they will not reach the guardian in time. Please, let me reach her....., Redheart cried, as her legs starts to buckle from the sudden exertion. Ah'm not gonna lose another one...., Big Macintosh says as he runs forward, his limbs moving more frantic with every step. Buck no, buck no, BUCK NO.... Vinyl cursed in her heart. Tears are soon running down from her eyes as she rushes towards the filly. Someone, please stop him!, All three of them cried in their heart. Suddenly a dark cloud forms above them and lightning bolts rain down upon them, striking the silver trees and the dome of the palace. Strong violent winds soon uproots the silver trees, causing the leaves of the trees to be torn apart. Immediately, the roaring howls of the winds and the thunderous drumming of thunder soon resonated within the bodies of all the equines present. As the leaves of the silver trees started to spin around them and the tranquil mercury rivers are now raging oceans,everyone is wondering what is going one. With a single blow of the wind, several razor sharp silver leaves rained upon the bat-winged equine, and the equine barely managed to dodge the attack. The marble cracked under the immense pressure of the bullets of silver, and before long the barks of the silver tree are now raining upon Anput. The mechanical animals of the silver forest are now fleeing from the scene of the battle, and some are unfortunately sucked into the tempest. The mechanical animals within the raging storm are launched from within the storm towards the eldritch being as projectiles. However , such was the intensity of the hailstorm that the projectiles are raining indiscriminately and forcing the Equestrians to dodge less they lose their lives. "WHAT THE BUCK?!?!?!?!" Vinyl screams, and she could only wonder what the others are shouting out. It was then that she realized that this storm is not a random event nor a trial, but this is the consequence of one thing happening; ; Zephyr had decided to enter the battlefield. It was then that the electric-maned pony said to herself that whatever she do, she will not make the elemental angry. Immediately Big Macintosh stops in his track and doubles back towards Amanar in order to get him out from ground zero. Meanwhile, as Anput marvels as the spectacle being displayed before him, Vinyl manages to reach the filly first and grabs her by the nape of her neck. With a mightly swing, she managed to pull the filly on her back, and started running towards the structure without pausing. Nurse Redheart stops in her tracks and turns around to see where Big Macintosh is. Her eyes zooms upon the pony slinging the camel across his back, and started to make a run for it. Truly, adrenaline is the best steroids for the red stallion is running at full speed with the camel upon his back, where previously he needed her help to carry him. "MAKE A RUN TOWARDS THE PALACE BIG MAC!!!!!!!!!" Redheart howled, hoping that the stallion could hear her despite the roaring tempest. "EEEEEEYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!" Big Macintosh replied, barely managing to catch the mare's voice. "I GOT THE FILLY! MOVE YOUR FLANK RED!!!!!!" Vinyl shouts back at them, not believing that the mare is still standing there as the hailstorm of metal rains upon them. The marble below them is cracking at a rather alarming rate and immediately one chunk of the marble was broken from the impact of the trees and was sucked by the win, only to be used as a projectile again. All of them soon make a run for it, and shortly after they managed to get inside the palace. As they struggled to close the door, they can see that things have truly turned for the worse. As the storm sucks up the river of mercury within its body, the surrounding temperature starts to drop. Big Macintosh, Vinyl, Redheart and Fatimah are soon breathing vapor out of their mouth and are truly feeling the biting, bone-chilling cold of winter. despite being inside the building. If it is this cold inside this building, then it will be a tundra outside.... Redheart said to herself. Even she dare not peek outside to see the wrath of nature. "Ah......a Majid. This is the first time I faced against such a powerful one. Making mercury into silver snow......I never knew that could happen." The bat-winged equine said, casually standing before the silver blizzard. The ground is now covered with a thick layer of silver snow, and the trees are now being splintered into sharp shards of silver. The howling winds of the storm only amplifies the primal force of the elemental. "However, this is what is needed to prevent those bastards from stopping your friends." Anput said under his breath. At the entrance of quay leading to the White Tree, a hooded figure looks at the barrier between itself and the path towards the White Tree. The figure proceed to take out three vials and opens them up, only to start to sprinkle it everywhere. As the drops touches the ground, hound-like beasts with red glowing eyes made from darkness with stiff forked tails spawns from the droplets. As the beasts growled, the hooded figure points towards the top and soon enough the horde of hellish hounds are running through the barrier towards the White Tree barking with bloodlust. While the hounds rushes forward, the figure continuously sprinkles the concoction to spawn even more of the hellish abominations.