Journey's Call
♠♣♥♦King of
Diamonds
The Ambassador's Son - Book 2
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Chapter 8
Journey's Call
An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Midnight Shadow
Chip opened one eye. Strange little whuffling noises were emanating from the head of the bed, mixed with peculiar little chirps. For a few seconds, he couldn't remember who he was, or where he was. Room, bed, comforter- these things were obvious and familiar but the rest...
It slowly dawned on him that he was in his own bed. Not the sofa he had occupied for the last couple of days, not the giant four-poster in the mansion long turned to ash, but his own bed. Worn from years of bouncing, with the two broken boards and the stuffing lumpen and uneven, and the springs that had seen better days, it was his own bed, in his own room, in his own house.
For a single, brief moment, he was at peace.
It didn't last.
Tears sprang to his eyes as painful memories resurfaced. He tried to rub a hoof against his cheeks without disturbing the snoring lump of feathers known as Carmine, but he wasn't entirely successful.
"Beth has nightmares, you know," whispered Carmine in the close half-light. The bed shifted with a soft creak as the lithe female griffon stirred. She had come awake silently, like the predator she was, and had lain quietly listening.
Chip paused, stricken, mid-wipe. "W-what?" he replied, in a similarly low tone of voice.
"A wild storm took her father, Ferrak. It dropped him into the middle of a hydra nest. He... he didn't make it out." Carmine looked away and her voice tailed off, before she took a deep breath and continued in a soft, sibilant whisper.. "She has nightmares about it, as the hydras tear him apart. Sometimes she dreams it's her. Don't tell her, she'd never forgive me... but I think you needed to hear it."
Chip buried his face into the blanket. "I see them too, you know." His voice was muffled and indistinct, but Carmine could hear him well enough. "I imagine they're trapped in the mine still, beneath the ground, and... I just can't get to them in time."
"I wish I could help, Chip," said Carmine. She placed a claw on his withers. "I wish I knew what to say to make it better."
"Don't say anything. You can't say anything." Chip brought his head up and looked away, out of the window at the full moon. It hung like a pristine jewel in the night sky. Choking tears back, he tried to hide them still. He rolled off the bed. "I used to look out this window," he said, his voice hoarse and strained. "I would spend all night here on Hearth's Warming. They had a big parade, and we would... we would..." He stopped, the tears blinding him. He screwed his eyes shut so Carmine wouldn't see. Warm, comforting feathers covered his back as the griffon leaned up against him.
"You should be without that armour of yours more often," said Carmine, weakly. Chip, for an answer, buried his head in her neck. The feathers fluffed up around his muzzle and tickled his nose, but he didn't care. "If..." Carmine began. She cleared her throat and tried again. "If you'd like, sometime, you know, you could... come stay with us. Once you get your wings fixed. For Hearth's Warming—"
"That's a time for family, Car," interjected Chip, his voice muffled now by several layers of feathers.
Carmine fought the urge to giggle, his hot breath tickled her neck. Reflexively she curled her head against his. "And friends. Bring Sharptooth."
"I'd like that. I think he'd like that. Dunno what you'd feed him though."
"Beryl's Rabbit Surprise." Carmine laughed out loud at Chip's bemused expression, which set the young colt laughing too.
Finally, the colt asked, "Who's Beryl again?" which set Carmine laughing once more, choking as she tried to explain about her favourite eatery back in Tacksworn, and the owner's peculiarities. They stopped laughing, the guffaws turning to nervous titters, when the door opened on noisy hinges.
The protesting squeak caused both Chip and Carmine to turn in surprise. There in the doorway stood a diminutive diamond dog, wearing a striped set of pyjamas complete with night-cap. He was clutching in his paws what appeared to be a beige, roughly pony-shaped stuffed toy, with matching pith helmet. He quickly hid it behind his back and asked in a loud voice, "What you two up to?"
"Sorry," Chip replied, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, "Car was just... funny joke. Hehehe."
"No, I mean—erk!" Ruff found it very hard to speak all of a sudden, as a winged pony-shaped form grabbed him by his collar and began hauling him out of the room.
"Sorry, Master, we'll leave you and Mistress Carmine alone," said Hairpin a few moments later, as she poked her head gingerly into the room. Her eyes twinkled as she shooed the little dog-troll away.
"What? Wait, that's not—" The door slammed in Chip's face as Hairpin retreated down the hallway. He head-butted it in resignation.
Carmine rolled her eyes, barging past him to open it again. "Come on, dufus. You've woken me up now. Time to go hunting."
"Hunting? I, er..."
"In the kitchen. You've got to have something there we can eat."
"Right," answered Chip as the bedroom door was opened again and he forced himself to hurry up after the striding griffon. "Kitchen, food, hunting, yes!"
"That is, unless you've got something better to do."
"Better?!" squeaked Chip. Carmine nodded, grinning.
On squeaky hinges, the door shut again.
♠♣♥♦
Chip yawned as he clip-clopped into the orderly kitchen. It was lit with fireflies that either Hairpin or Ruff had caught and placed in lanterns suspended from the ceiling. They produced a welcome, soft glow that illuminated the small room. Ruff was sat on a stool, swinging his hind legs. Hairpin stood at a worktop, carefully stirring a pan full of a sweet-smelling malted beverage over a small gas-burner. She was quick and efficient; it had only been a few minutes since she'd been upstairs and the mixture was already starting to bubble.
"It's made with water, Master, sorry. I found some powdered milk and sugar to add, but it's not the same."
Chip yawned again, eyes brightening as he smelled the familiar mixture cooking on his parents' camping stove. He sleepily pulled up a stool at the table, knocking his saddle-bags off it from where he'd hastily dumped them the previous night. Grumbling, he got back up to lift the supplies which had scattered across the floor. For the sake of interest, he unrolled the strange map he'd borrowed from his adopted father after he'd replaced the rest of his goods. Placing a couple of empty bowls upon the corners to keep it open, Chip peered down at it sleepily, still yawning.
"Can't sleep either?" asked Hairpin, gently.
"No, we slept, but–" Chip stopped, splaying his ears out and blushing. "I mean, uh, we... didn't... I mean we did..." He nickered loudly, skittering, as Carmine punched him in the haunches.
"Relax, Master. I could hear you two snoring," Hairpin laughed around the handle as she picked up the wooden spoon again in her muzzle. She gave the pan a few more stirs, before turning down the heat so it didn't overboil. A few minutes later as she measured out some of the drink to all four occupants of the kitchen, she couldn't help but stare at the map. Mugs full, she took the pan to the sink. After flicking closed the water spigot with a hoof and swirling some cold water around in the pan, she trotted back to the table. "Tell us, then. What's so special about this map? Where are we going?"
"I think this map knows where things are," Chip said. He splayed his ears out again and blushed when Carmine rolled her eyes.
"Isn't that what maps always do?" retorted the griffon.
"No, I mean," Chip hastened to explain, "normally first you know where things are, right? And then you draw them down on a map. This... is the other way around. I think."
Hairpin bent over the map, head tilted as she looked at it. "We're here," she said, as she motioned with a hoof. "Tacksworn is there, Neighvada a ways South... there's Rein. Where are we going, then?"
"North, a bit. Not as far as the Badlands, up towards the mountains a little, here!" Chip pointed with a hoof. "I can't see what it's called. There's something written there, I just can't work out what, it's not in Equestrian."
"I recognize those symbols," Hairpin said, as she followed his hoof to the point in question. "Every pegasus gets a little bit of weather training, you have to know how to read the wind even if you don't end up manipulating it, you know? I've seen them, but I've never seen them used quite like that before... it's a set of instructions. The symbols themselves point the way as well as how to get there." The pegasus looked closer still, turning her head this way and that to get a better look in the faint, flickering light.
"Instructions?" asked Carmine.
"Yes, it says – if I can freely translate, they're not supposed to be read aloud as such – ride the thermals around the mountain three times... well it says 'updraft-thermal-rise thundercloud-mountain-no-carry' and uses the sign for a cumulo-nimbus, and it indicates this mountain," Hairpin tapped the map gently, "as the symbols are repeated around it anti-clockwise three times... but you get what I mean. I hope."
"I guess so, kinda. Keep going." Chip took a sip of his drink. It was a little too hot, but as it warmed his insides, he began to feel more relaxed. He yawned, noting that Ruff and Carmine both yawned after. He chuckled softly to himself and continued listening to Hairpin.
"...Fly over the lake and up the river, through the valley with the dangerous crosswinds, I think it means we actually have to fly low or walk. If we go too high, it's somehow wrong. Then it says, and this is weird, fly under the storm to rise through the rain-eye and then back down to the..." Hairpin paused.
"What?" asked Chip and Hairpin both. Ruff studied her face and then the map.
"Well, it says cloud-home rock-wall mist-valley-water. I guess it means there's some sort of village hidden by mists in the hills, but... cloud-home is being prefixed with something that means invisible zephyr, and invisible isn't exactly right either, it's more like a warning. I think once we get close, we'd better land and walk. I don't know why it thinks there's a storm there anyway."
"Dad did say we had to follow the instructions closely. We're going to have to be careful, to stick close to each other, or we'll get lost. I wouldn't want to lose you guys."
"Aww, that's sweet, Master," said Hairpin, giving Chip a motherly kiss on the ears as he yawned again.
Chip nickered in agitation, flicking his ears about mid-yawn. "Stop that! And I told you to call me Chip!"
"Yes, Master," replied Hairpin, kissing him on the ears again.
Chip blushed and scowled, much to the amusement of the rest of the little group. Chip huffed and slurped his drink.
The door to the kitchen swung open as Beth and Bella stormed in. Bella's horn glowed softly as she lit the way. Beth, for her part, looked somewhat worse for wear. "Alright, what's the hubbub about? Sun's not even up."
"Need your beauty sleep?" squawked Carmine, ducking as Beth swiped at her with a claw.
"Calm down girls, just a little midnight snack. I'll make a fresh batch," interjected Hairpin, as she pointed to some more of the low stools. Beth and Bella both yawned in appreciation as they sank into them. Hairpin bustled around the kitchen, collecting more ingredients to make another pan of the warm, tasty beverage. She dug out some cookies from somewhere, which were quickly partaken of by Ruff.
Chip happily reached out for one as it came his turn. As his hoof touched the jar, though, he paused.
"What's up, Sugar?" asked Hairpin, as she noticed the faraway look in her master's eyes.
"My... parents bought those," replied Chip weakly, as he turned back to the jar. His hoof stroked the smooth, creamy glaze absent-mindedly.
Ruff choked, and tried to swallow the half-cookie he still had in his muzzle and hide the other three as quietly as possible. Chip looked over at him and shook his head.
"No, no, that's not... they're for eating, you know? That pan, the cups, th-the table..." Chip found his eyes wet with tears again, but he carried on. "My family sat here. The last time I sat here, I was with my family. And... now I'm with a new family. You guys are my family, right?"
Hairpin looked down at the colt perched awkwardly on the stool, and entwined her neck with his. "Of course we are. We all are. That's why we're all here, with you."
"I don't want..." Chip breathed in heavily, sucking air through his teeth as he fought to keep his eyes clear. "I don't want to lose you guys. That's why we've got to work together, okay? To end this. We're going to follow this map to where it leads, and... and end it. Somehow. Okay?"
The replies from his friends warmed his heart.
"You're one of our flock, Chip," Carmine said.
"One of the girls," sniggered Beth, though Chip laughed with her.
"Thanks, Car, B. That means a lot."
"Ruff likes having you in his pack," the troll said, wagging his tail. "Like Daring Do, always needs friends."
Chip sat back as they all took a long look at the map between them. Pulling the wide-based cookie-jar towards himself, he teased a cookie out with a hoof and watched it right itself with a wobble. Chip shook his head, tossing his mane about. He was home, not because he was in his parents' house but because he was with his family, and when he was with them, home could be anywhere.
♠♣♥♦
Bethany squawked faintly as she yawned, her unkempt feathers fluffing up around her neck as she tensed. She missed her nest; pony beds were too soft. She resigned herself to go hunting for things to make a nest out of for the next night, if possible. The sun was high, far higher than it would have gotten before she would have been roused at home. Morning brushing for ponies was quite an involved affair compared with diamond dogs, but morning preening for griffons was even more of a chore – probably as much as it was for pegasi, which was irritating, because Bright Pinion was somehow already up and about. Penny was as cheerful and chirpy as a newborn chick, the copper-coloured pegasus with the flame-red mane bouncing around the room in breathless abandon.
"Slow down, Pen," Beth griped, "you're making my head spin. Any faster'n my beak'll fall off. What's got you so excited?"
"Oh isn't it exciting, though! So much stuff to find! Chip said we're to look for anything important – papers, books, receipts, things like that. You know what that means!"
"Treasure hunting?" groaned Beth. "Haven't you grown out of that?"
"Oh come on, B! Just like we used to! It's how I got my cutie-mark, after all, don't you remember?"
"I remember a long day digging for grubs in the desert, and both of us getting grounded by our parents when we didn't come home in time."
"Yeah! Wasn't it great?"
Beth chirped out a giggle. "I suppose it was, hay-breath."
"Well come on then!"
"Breakfast first. Can't go treasure-hunting on an empty stomach, and that snack last night—"
"What snack?" asked Penny, rustling her wings as she eased out of a too-small cupboard. "You had snacks without me? Totally unfair!"
"You were asleep. Chip and Car woke me and Bell up." Beth raised her head-feathers and clicked her beak suggestively.
"Ooh! Dish! What were they doing?"
"Not sleeping, I'll say that."
Penny shrieked with delight and danced on all four hooves. "Oh I'm so glad! They're so cute together, just like you and Thorn!"
"Oh, get out!" Beth threw a pillow at the recalcitrant pegasus with a flick of her claws, and set to angrily preening as she heard the bubbly pegasus trot along the hallway and down the stairs.
An hour later, feeling almost presentable, with her pristine white head-feathers gleaming brightly and her golden-brown leonine pelt well-brushed and sparkling, Beth pulled open her bedroom door to find the house in uproar; Ruff was running up and down the halls with various toy chariots and action figures alternatively making them shout or explode, Bella dove past in the corridor, levitating bundles of papers around for Chip to decide on their relative importance, and the two pegasi were refiling the unimportant ones with Carmine making a small pile of those that Chip deemed noteworthy.
"Hey Beth!" chirped Chip. "Wanna help? You can just go find stuff and drag it in here if you want! Or I guess you could wash up..."
"Do the dishes? Me? I do not 'wash up'." Beth stalked off, head and crest-feathers held high. It was all far too much of a commotion, this early in the morning. And before breakfast at that. The nerve!
Nosing around the house, with the bedlam easing off behind her, Beth found herself staring at long, wooden steps that led up into the attic. She walked up the uncarpeted, well-scuffed, winding steps carefully and turned the handle. The door was unlocked, and swung open with a familiar creak. The room was low, and stuffed to the gills with all sorts of bric-a-brac.
The most interesting things Beth made out were the hats, peeking out of cardboard boxes half-closed and somewhat dusty. Collections of hats, from Canterlot, Los Pegasus and some place called 'Ponyville', to name a few. She'd never heard of half of them. Picking one out, she tried it on; it was pink, wide, flowery and chic. Wiping a claw on a full-width mirror, she admired her reflection for a moment. Hats... weren't really her thing. Still, she could try them on. She swapped the pink number for a yellow one, then a green one. One had a feather which looked surprisingly like a griffon's. She was startled as the door opened, and whirled to see who was entering. As she spun around, her tail knocked the box of hats on the floor.
"Hey, Beth," said Chip as he eased himself into the crowded attic. "Was wondering where you'd gone."
"Sorry, Chip, I... you just made me jump. I was..." Beth pointed in explanation.
"Umm, it's okay." The colt awkwardly twirled a hoof in the ragged carpet that lay under the boxes. "Would you... want one of those?"
Beth righted the box and dropped the hats she had collected back into it, stroking a claw on the top.
"Mom kinda had a lot of them. Dad would buy her a new one whenever he went someplace different, it was their thing." Chip took a hesitant step forward.
"Sure, I guess," answered Beth, shyly.
Chip strode closer, smiling nervously. "They look good on you. I mean, it's nice someone's using them, you know? Because... I miss my parents, and—" he blurted out, redenning as he realised how asinine it had to sound.
Beth stiffened, but took one of the hats. She strode to the hallway, pushing past Chip, with the colt protesting and apologizing as she went. She turned in the doorway, "Chip, I know you mean well but... we really don't know each other well enough to discuss this, yet. So just don't, okay?"
"But I just wanted to say I know how you feel," the pony protested.
"I know," sighed Beth. She retreated and shut the door, leaving a sad-faced Chip to sit on his haunches, alone.
As the footsteps disappeared into the distance, Chip sighed, and tried to pick up the cardboard box. Like so many other things in the pony world, it required two – or a unicorn – to manage. Eventually, he gave up and just browsed the room full of memories.
"Oh, hello," he said suddenly, getting to his hooves as he eyed what had been under the box. "What's this?"
♠♣♥♦
"It's a photo-album?" asked Hairpin, peering over Chip's shoulder as the colt opened it on the floor of the den, in front of him.
"Kinda," answered Chip. "It's got pictures of my folks in it, a lock of my mom's mane, the deeds to their first mine, all sorts." He turned the pages carefully, afraid he might fold or rip them, gazing fondly at the treasures within.
"It's also got baby pictures!" giggled Penny. "Isn't he adorable?" The younger pegasus pointed a hoof, causing Chip to flip it quickly closed.
"No staring at my baby pictures! Mom was always showing my baby pictures, all the time!" As Chip flipped it closed, an odd piece of paper fell out. The colt bent to pick it up, head tilting as he tried to make out what was written on it:
Ɛ> ɐ̤ıʞʞıɐʞ ɐ̤ɐ̤ʇıǝʇ uɐʇsɐʞɐᴚ
˙ɐ̤ɐ̤dɯǝuǝ uǝs ıǝ 'ɐɾnʇʇnɾ ɐɾnssɐɥ
ʇɐ̤ʌɐ̤ɐ̤ʞʞʎʇ ɐʞʇoɾ ıʞʞıɐʞ
ǝllıʇsǝıʌ uǝuıɐlɐs uo ɐ̤ɐ̤ʇ
˙ɐ̤ɯɐ̤ʇ ʇǝnl unʞ soʇııʞ ɐʇʇǝ
oouɐs uıɐʌ uısnlɐH ˙ıʞʞıɐʞ ıoW
"What in Equestria is that?" asked Beth, trit-trotting around the group to get a closer look.
"Ruff not know, but thinks it looks familiar," the diamond dog said, scratching his chin.
"Well, whatever it is, we can take a look at it later. Stand back everyone!" Chip took the piece of paper and placed it carefully back into the photo-album, before placing the album on top of the pile of other papers and important items.
"What're you gonna do, Chip?" asked Carmine, eyeing the colt suspiciously. She moved back from the orderly pile of stuff to sit on a sofa, watching with interest.
"Hairpin, did you bring the fire-ruby? I think I might need a bit of a boost." Chip paced around the pile, arranging things with a touch of his hoof here or there.
"Ooh! I'll get it, Master!" Hairpin replied. In a flash, she bounded out of the room. Carmine's head-feathers fluffed up as she listened to the pegasus hoofing it out the back door, presumably to where the chariot was stuffed in the barn.
"Chip," asked Carmine again, a little impatiently, glowering when Chip only grinned wider. "what're you doing?"
Chip smiled as Hairpin dashed back in with a rough red gem in her mouth. She placed it reverently in front of Chip and stood back, eyes down in supplication.
Chip crunched the fire-ruby loudly and noisily in his jaws, smoke rising from his nostrils from the very first bite, before swallowing.
"Chip! What in Equestria are you going to d—!"
Chip inhaled, seemingly inflating to several times his normal size, before he exhaled in a mighty breath and unleashed a huge gout of flame at the innocently-placed pile of papers. Unsurprisingly, they went up in smoke.
"CHIP! What in the first egg did you do!?" screamed Carmine, leaping to her paws..
"He posted the lot!" said Hairpin, bouncing up and down. "That's my master! I knew you could do it!"
"He what?!" asked Carmine. She looked from her friends, to the pegasus, who was watching her owner with naked pride on her face, to Chip. She shook her head, feathers fluffing and tail lashing as before her, the shadows played tricks with her eyes. Chip seemed larger, somehow, and the light streaming in through the windows momentarily darker. The shadows playing across his body, just for a moment, seemed to settle across his back like huge, bat-like folded wings.
"Let's see about our evening meal," Chip said, evenly. "We should get to sleep. We'll make an early start tomorrow; we've got a long way to go tomorrow, and it's not going to be simple.
♠♣♥♦
Early morning light filtered through the mists and fog, playing over the unkempt garden. Chip shivered slightly in the chill morning air, he was cold despite his armour. Autumn had arrived, with a vengeance.
The house stood silent once more, with the windows shuttered and the fireplaces emptied and the doors closed and locked. Beds had been made, pots and pans had been scrubbed and mugs were cleaned. The house no longer looked abandoned, to him. It looked more like it was somehow waiting. It had seen life return once, and would do so again. Chip looked at it a little forlornly, but still he smiled. He'd soon be off home, and wouldn't be returning for a while, but it was of no matter. This was just a house, when all was said and done. It held a few bundles of unimportant papers and a bunch of meaningless junk. What really mattered to him were memories, and those he had plenty of. He'd be picking them up from Ponyville as he swung by on the long trip home, to Tacksworn.
Sniffing, wiping at his eyes with an idle hoof, he flicked an ear in irritation as Hairpin groomed his mane. He whuffled in displeasure, but allowed her ministrations. For now. He hadn't quite got over the idea that she was gravid and didn't want to upset her, and besides... his mane was messy. Yeah, that was it. And it shouldn't be, not even if it was hidden by his horned helm.
♠♣♥♦
In short order, the chariot was re-packed and refitted for another flight. Everything was tied down and the non-flighted members of Team Tacksworn – a working title if ever there was one – hopped in.
"You sure we can make the fence?" Chip asked worriedly as he peered around Hairpin at the end of the garden. It seemed distressingly close, and whilst he'd faced down several thousand feet of sheer mountain drop in the claws of Sharptooth, his pet wasn't quite so substantial, and disaster loomed a whole sight closer.
"Yeah, no problems, Master." Hairpin shook her wings and her body out energetically.
"I mean, really, really sure?"
"Yeah." Hairpin flicked her wings out, angling them forwards so they wouldn't foul with Penny's. "Pretty sure."
"Wait, what? Wait, the last time you were pretty sure about the landing and we practically crashed!"
"That wasn't a crash," grinned Hairpin as she looked around at him, "that was an unconventional free-form cessation of flight."
Chip grabbed on to the closest thing he could, which happened to be Ruff. The little diamond dog let out a strangled yelp as Chip's hooves all but crushed the breath out of him.
Hairpin looked at him and snorted derisively. "Ready, Penny?"
"Think cloud, right?"
"They still teach you that? Naa, it's think bullet."
Chip screamed. Ruff tried to scream, but was mostly turning an interesting shade of blue. The chariot itself thundered forwards as Penny and Hairpin went from a standstill, directly to a gallop and only accelerated more from there.
Chip was still screaming as Hairpin turned and laughed out, "You can open your eyes now."
"You said he owns you?" sniggered Penny. "How's that working out?"
"He was considerably braver when leaping to his doom out of an exploding mail-train. I don't think he screamed like a filly that time."
"That was a battle-cry!" protested Chip. "I was psyching myself up for the trip! Besides, when I get my wings fixed I'll show you 'think bullet'."
Bright Pinion flapped on in silence for a few moments, then she turned and asked, "he really leaped out of an exploding train?"
"Yep," Hairpin replied. "Bravest, craziest thing I've ever seen. I'm proud to call him my master."
"He still screams like a filly," retorted Penny, flicking her tail in mirth.
"Oh come on!" whined Chip, as the others giggled.
♠♣♥♦
Bella screwed her muzzle up as she looked out of one side of the carriage, and Chip peered intently over the other. Beneath them, the terrain was getting progressively greener. They had been flying roughly North for several hours and were getting close to where the map suggested their first landmark was.
"I see it!" shouted Penny, "The forest, the river, the lake... and there's the mountain!"
Chip moved to the opposite side of the chariot as Hairpin and Penny circled. The little wagon dipped as the weight shifted, causing Penny to hiss in displeasure.
Bella pointed a hoof, spying what Penny had seen. The mountain was half-hidden by a heat-haze, it wavered and danced in the distance. Chip could just about make it out, as his gaze followed the course of an azure river which wound through a verdant forest.
"We go around it counter-clockwise three times?" Chip asked.
"Aye, that's what your map says," affirmed Beth as she swooped closer to the chariot, flicking her talons in anticipation. "Widdershins. Good call Pen."
"It's what I do," the younger pegasus laughed.
"What, you find stuff?" asked Chip, raising his ears in surprise.
"I sure do. Ponies, lost objects... Lucky Penny, that's me, knock wood." She hoofed the chariot glibly with a hind leg as they changed course. "How about you, Chip? What do you do?"
"I..." he looked at his bare haunches quizzically. "I don't know. My cousin Sunshine said 'rich' kids," Chip snorted at that as he said it, "often don't get their cutie-marks until late as they try to follow their parents instead of finding their own way. I can't rightly follow mine."
"Don't worry Chip, plenty of ponies don't get their cutie-marks until later in life." stated Bella.
"I'm not worried," Chip replied. Strangely enough, he wasn't. "How did you get yours?"
"I'm not very good at magic," Bella replied, looking out at the horizon. Chip looked down, he didn't want to press her, but she carried on. "I used to wander around the woods near the watering hole outside of town when it got me down. My grandparents lived there when I was a little filly, and they used to show me where the animals slept and what plants they ate when they were sick or just plain hungry. Tacksworn's never been a really green place. Deserts rarely are, we just don't have enough weather ponies for it to be. But every time I went there I'd find more interesting little plants and flowers to show off. One day I got bitten by a snake, and... I used what I knew, what my grandparents had taught me, to keep me alive until I got help. When I'd recovered from the fever, I found this mark on my flank."
"A plant?" asked Chip. Two flower-heads adorned the unicorn's flank, their delicate purple petals each bearing two white-rimmed green spots, with a striking yellow stamen.
"It's purple nightshade," said Bella, with a small, sad smile. "It's got a bad rep, but it's a pretty flower with quite a few uses."
"She also knows how to give someone she doesn't like the screaming blue squirts," chuckled Carmine. "Best. Math lesson. Ever."
♠♣♥♦
The mountain loomed closer and closer, until they found themselves circling it. Rising high above the ground, they broke through the cloud layer and emerged into a sky hued in the the richest lapis lazuli.
"Keep going! Three times!" shouted Chip above the rising winds.
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to flap your wings!" huffed Penny, but the thermals from the mountain caught in her primaries and the almost-weightless chariot soared into the blue.
The ride continued in dizzying fashion as the pegasi sought to use the winds to their advantage. They rose when they could, using the updrafts, and they dove when they couldn't, letting gravity do the work for them. Finally, their three circuits of the mountain were complete. Racing back down through the sea of clouds like an osprey on the hunt, they plunged into what looked like a dense swamp.
"This the Haysead?" asked Bella, peering down at the undergrowth, "I thought that was further North East?"
"I'm not sure," replied Hairpin as she peered about. "It does look like it, but it can't be. If it is, we're hundreds of miles off course. This makes no sense..."
"Well if that lake beneath us is the one that's here on this map," argued Chip, "then things are about to get—" He didn't finish, as the chariot was twisted vertically by a sudden gust of wind. Neighing loudly in shock, it took both pegasi a few moments and a lot of frantic wing-beats to return the chariot to horizontal.
"Hold onto your butts, we're going lower!" shouted Hairpin, as she fought to maintain control. Seemingly inches from the black waters, the crazy ride finally levelled out. Penny was sweating with fear and her eyes were white and wild.
Hairpin just grinned. "Fun, ain't it?"
"Celestia's shredded socks," swore Penny, "if we survive this, Chip, I'm going to kill you."
The dark waters of the lake gave way to a murky green forest, full of vines, creepers and sunken branches. The trees were stunted and twisted, like they'd been flattened by some giant. They looked for all the world like broken and bent blades of grass, the soggy moss upon them greener than their leaves, and their bark all but invisible beneath the pasty, clammy covering. Clipping the canopy, Hairpin and Penny brought the chariot in for a quick landing as a clearing opened up. This time things were smoother than at the house, though it did slide alarmingly in the thick, sucking mud. Carmine and Beth landed soon after, perching in the trees rather than wallowing in the muck.
"Return all your co-passengers to their upright positions and please exit the vehicle." said Hairpin, smoothly. She grinned, "that was a fun stint in Vormardra's airships. Friend of Pig Iron's. I cost him a pretty penny to hire, too. You're up next, Master."
"Wait, what?" asked Chip as he carefully placed Ruff down. The small diamond dog started breathing again once Chip's hooves released him.
"You're the ground crew, Chippy. We've been flying for hours, time to pull your own weight," nickered Penny.
Chip rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine." he sighed. "Come on then, Bella, time to get hitched up."
"No can do, Chip," refused Bella. She shook her head so her green mane fell over her eyes. She grinned wickedly as she blew it out of her eyes.
"Oh come on!" the colt protested. "You can't expect me to pull you all!"
"I'll cast a light-as-a-feather spell, it'll be a cinch!"
"So unfair!" Chip stomped a hoof. It squelched.
"Big strong dragon lord like you?" asked Hairpin innocently, fluttering her eyes and flicking her tail, "making a pregnant pegasus pull him?"
Chip sighed and eased into the harness. "So totally unfair."
♠♣♥♦
With the light-as-a-feather spell cast semi-regularly, Chip actually found it wasn't all that hard going, despite the lack of solid ground. The chariot would ride up over small obstacles, and if Chip jumped over a branch or puddle, it would follow him. In next to no time, they'd pulled their way out of the worst of the swampy forest and were heading along what seemed to be a river bank. The other side of the river grew quickly too far to jump to, the waters having eaten away at the ground until it had formed a ravine, with a path either side. The sides of the gorge sloped up on the left and right; it looked difficult to traverse should they need to ascend in that direction, and as Chip picked his way forwards he fervently hoped he wouldn't. Above them raged a permanent tempest, with thunder and lightning splitting the sky, a regular staccato mix of light and sound. Great grey and black clouds obscured the sun, plunging the group into permanent twilight. More thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, but it was overshadowed by a roaring that made itself known more as a physical presence than mere sound. The roaring grew as the valley suddenly started to narrow. The thin, treacherous paths wound steeply upwards, culminating in a huge waterfall.
Just as Chip was worrying about the path ending and possibly having to navigate a section of the valley by air, which would mean a fight with the maelstrom above, they crested a hill and left the valley behind. In but a few tentative steps, the colt and the chariot he pulled exited the relative calm of the gorge and found themselves forging ahead into bedlam. "Luna's unshorn fetlocks!" the colt bellowed, his words ripped from his muzzle and tossed to the four corners of Equestria by the raging gale-force winds. "So that's a 'rain-eye'!"
Before them was a broad lake, it was coloured the same murky green as the previous expanse of water further down in the lowlands, when it wasn't churned white and foamy by the waves. The harsh winds tugged and pummelled them as they left the shelter of the valley, and here the rain was a constant downpour. The reason for the rainfall was an enormous, improbable water-spout in the centre of the lake, leading impossibly up into the grey void above. It sucked and gurgled as it dragged tonnes of water high into the sky, where it was devoured by the hungry storm that spat lightning and threatened to drown the world.
"And we've got to fly into that?" swore Beth. "Are you sure?"
Hairpin looked at it stoically for a good few minutes, her nostrils flared as she stood deep in thought. Finally she jumped out of the little wagon and turned, nodding. "Guys, we can do this. Feel the wind, Penny!"
Penny shook herself as she too exited the vehicle, her red mane flaring in the neon lightning. "It goes up," she said simply.
"It goes up," agreed Hairpin. "Going up is easy, it's when it goes down we have a problem."
"We really gonna do this?" whined Ruff. "Ruff can't swim."
"Then don't fall out," Beth said, jabbing a claw at the pup.
♠♣♥♦
Everything was tied down and checked. Then it was checked again. Carmine and Beth flanked the carriage, with Bella, Ruff and Chip holding on to what they could and praying to Celestia and Luna both that the rickety-yet-faithful ride would survive the trip with nothing more worrying than some of its peeling paint being scrubbed off.
"Stay close now," Hairpin warned, "we'll go against the flow at first, it'll give us better lift. When we get out there though, I want you girls to stay behind the chariot." The pegasus pointed her hoof at both griffons, a serious expression on her muzzle. "Penny and I will shape the wind, you two don't have that, so leave the fighting with us. It'll be bumpy, real bumpy, but we'll make it. Remember, let it take you up as high as it wants. When you stop, I want it to be in sunlight, got me?"
"Yes ma'am!" replied Carmine and Beth together.
"Y-you sure about this?" squeaked Bright Pinion, shivering at the thought of throwing herself and her friends at the gargantuan column of spinning water.
"You're a pegasus, Penny," stated Hairpin. The older mare tapped her hoof on Penny's shoulder to emphasis every syllable. "You control the weather, not the other way around. Always remember that. Now hitch up!"
The chariot gathered speed along the broken shoreline as the two pegasi pulling the vehicle slowly and smoothly went through a walk to a trot, to a canter and then a gallop. They sprung into the air as one, and the rattling, jouncing trip suddenly smoothed out. Behind them came the two griffons, Carmine with her pinker-hued head feathers standing out brightly against the more traditionally gold, black, brown and white-hued Bethany.
"Be the wind," called Hairpin to Penny, "shape it. Call it to you and make it yours. They've taught you in school, right? Now own it."
Determined, Penny beat her wings with confidence and vivacity. Undaunted by the growing storm, she pulled the chariot onwards, higher and higher.
"That's it, Penny my love, that's it!" crowed Hairpin, as the ride grew progressively wilder and wilder. "Beth, Carmine, stay close! When I say, turn! One, two... now!"
As one, the small group banked sharply and headed out over the water. The rain, which had been a light drizzle until that time, returned in full force as Penny and Hairpin put their efforts not into controlling the wind, but in staying upright and maintaining their upwards motion. All at once, the tower of water which spun and danced upwards into the sky loomed close enough to touch, a colossal roaring monster which drowned out every physical sense. It shook their little craft ceaselessly; the spray filled their eyes, noses and ears and the sheer presence of a pillar of water, seemingly a mile high, filled their world. As the wind whipped endlessly around them, it pulled them in.
"I can't hold it!" shrieked Penny, as she tried to evade a watery grave.
"You have to!" roared Hairpin, straining against the straps that held her in, fighting to keep the chariot in the air and from seeing it plunge into the wild water.
"I can't! I can't! I ca—"
The world turned green and white for Chip as the puny wooden carriage, and the pegasi pulling it, was hurled end over end into the maelstrom. The last thing he saw before the world turned black were two feathered forms tumbling after him, and the last thing he felt was the sting of griffon claws grabbing hold of his tail.
♠♣♥♦
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Great chapter loved it.
It updated! Woo!!
That message "ıʞʞıɐʞ ıoW" thing, did you deliberately write it like that or did you use a translator?
Anyway, here's a translation for those that can't read Finnish.
Hello everyone, I just want to say thank you for reading this.
This is a secret message for everyone who enjoy silly things, no more than that.
I love you all <3
Oh this CAN'T be good.
it's finally here!!!
Also
Nice job with the parcel service action there Chip. I have to wonder if he will still be completely pony-shaped by the end of this, or if those dragon wings were just an illusionary result of the dragon magic he was using and won't eventually become something permanent.
The screaming blue squirts? I'm pretty sure that I want to know nothing more about this. Also, traveling with that many girls Chip? It's never going to be fair.
1158282
it's probably connected to the set of wings Sharptooth built at home.
Nice chapter, can't wait for more.
1157879 thank you for that.
Another solid chapter. Some nice humor again. Hopefully we will get past the point of Chip constantly crying. Granted, having to spend time back home does give him an excuse, but I it would be nice to see him pony up in good time (which does seem to be happening as his character grows. It was just this little trip back to his parents home probably hit him hard.). I liked getting to know some of the other characters a bit more considering I have just had trouble telling them apart at times. I swear I need to make a dramatis personas for myself to keep all of them strait.
I wonder how Chip and crew will manage to get out of this one? Barely getting their journey and they may already be in over their heads.
wow just wow... I am blown AWAY
and a few more swear phrases to add to my collection. Oh btw I know this is asking alot but would it be possible to write character profiles? I mean I get lost between all the characters you made
I love the banter between the group.
Wow what a cliff- erm, maelstrom-hanger!
Also, creepers?
a.deviantart.net/avatars/m/c/mccreeperplz.png
1157879 Hehe. I figured it out on my own
...ssssSSSUP DUDE?
*BOOM*
Some corrections:
> "What? Wait, that's not
Conversion error. The character behind that is supposed to be "...", right?
> he got back up to lift the supplies
Double space between "lift" and "the"
> pots and pans had been scrubbed ,
Space before the comma
> as the chariot was almost flipped a hundred and eighty degrees vertically.
Uh, that would flip them completely upside down... don't you mean ninety degrees? After that they'd kinda start falling out. Also, it's rather vague if you mean forwards or sidewards... the air kinda has a lot of vertical in it. I also think you might mean "was flipped almost (xxx) degrees". rather than "was almost flipped (xxx) degrees". When saying it "almost flipped", the amount of degrees seems a weird addendum.
1162646
1161397
oh you minecrafters...
Also, fixed everything Nyerguds found (thanks!) - except for the first "—" as that is indeed the correct symbol. I could have used an ellipsis, but I wanted to denote a sudden "end of conversation" (due to application of door to face) rather than a tapering off.
1169034 The "—" is there, but there's a weird ""character just before it, between the "not" and "—". I see it exactly the same, with the weird character, in the editing version.
1170911
Really?
How strange! I deleted the 'not—" ' and re-wrote it, and I do think there was some invisible character there! I must have typed something odd trying to get the em-dash.
Great chapter, but I'm not too fond of the cliffhanger. Oh well.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Luna_apple.png
1160951
You're collecting Equestrian Oaths too?! Do you want to compare notes with a PM?dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Bonbon_grin.png
1158710 I personally think that it's more his draconic aura or soul-form.
I eagerly await the next installment.
1160951
I would love to, but I lack the ability to draw, so do wonder how interesting a pure wall of text would be
Seriously i read your supposed wall of text And i am interested as hell
1172936
Well, wasn't invisible for Opera
It's gone now though
1173001
I've seen your art, Midsy... you CAN draw, and I dang well know it!
Excellent chapter, jolly well done and all that.
Just one question...
Why Finnish?
1196492
Heh, it's me being silly.
I think it's so obvious it'll be back in some form that it's no spoiler if I say... it'll be back in some form.
I used Finnish, however, because it's the only foreign language I can actually speak. It doesn't, of course, mean the Finnish language is one that is or has been spoken in Equestria (or any other realm). I could have used a boring old description of "funny symbols and sigils", but I thought it'd be fun to do that.
1196715
It was a pain in the ass to type it into a translator, that's for certain.
This was just wonderful. I know you like criticism, I know you like things pointed out, fine. I would like to point out that I loved this. Deal with it. This was a great 'effin chapter and no two ways about it. The map is so intriguing, the humor is natural and fun, the sentiment genuine, and every character is just so alive to me.
I literally said "Wait, what?"
2027761
Hairpin is a Pegasus, she's also pregnant. Flying, however is as natural to her as breathing is to us. She can pull them through the air but not along the ground.
A real big strong dragon lord makes whoever he wants pull him. You, Chip, are a pretty wimpy dragon lord sometimes.
I can't hep but wonder how much less Chip would let Pin get away with if he employed her instead of owning her. Chip's discomfort with the whole situation has got to be working to her advantage here.
By the way, surely there's a way to make the upside-down text vertically align the letters properly? And make the 'i's and 'l's actually upside down?
2028967
i got your message. upside down and in finnish?
"That is, unless you've got something better to do."
"Better?!" squeaked Chip. Carmine nodded, grinning.
On squeaky hinges, the door shut again.