The Stink Bug

by Some1Else

Chapter 7

A crowd had gathered near Aramak’s home. Shelly and the other members of Twilight’s current party were there. A few children were poking at Shelly’s shell while Fluttershy watched. One pegasus soldier was allowing several spectators a closer look at his wings. A Salamander that had seen Twilight’s scuffle was relaying it in a rather animated manner to those who hadn’t been there. A blurry X was on one of his hips. The general mood of the crowd had elevated significantly now that nobody was being chased by a hungry plant monster. It was the setting Celestia had no doubt dreamed of when she had tried to get through to them. Twilight found it somewhat discouraging. Their suffering would have been considerably alleviated if they had been less territorial. Desperation had caused them to change and while Twilight could feel Aramak warming up to her, she knew there were still some villagers who weren’t convinced they should be there.

It was the perfect time to feed them, which she would have done even if they weren’t hitting it off. Someone else had to have been thinking the same thing. Crates containing apples and vegetables had been brought down. Biggs and Wedge were helping pass out food while a unicorn mage was busy making duplicates of the available supplies. Cloning food came at the cost of a slight decrease in taste and nutrition, but they wouldn’t be able to feed everyone without it and it didn’t look like any of them cared. The base of Twilight’s horn throbbed at the thought of duplication. She couldn’t let it bother her. But it did anyway. It was more important to trick those watching her into believing it did not, which would pass the act on to them and keep the party marching forward.

Fluttershy joined them as they mounted the steps to the front deck of Aramak’s house. “Would you mind if I sat in on the meeting?”

“Sure,” Twilight said. “Aramak, this is Fluttershy and that’s Applejack. I’m sorry I haven’t introduced them until now. They have helped me save Equestria numerous times before in the past.”

“I figured they must have been important if they were with you,” Aramak said. “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, but what about the kiburigo? Is it safe to leave that demon by itself?”

Twilight noticed Shelly was wandering around. Without Fluttershy’s direct supervision, Shelly crawled up to a corner of Aramak’s home and stared at it. Gluttony became evident in her shiny eyes. Fluttershy whistled sharply. Shelly gurgled in disapproval and went to keep Biggs company.

“How did you do that?” Aramak asked.

“Shelly is actually very smart,” Fluttershy replied. “She was really easy to tame. You could do that, too. I’d be happy to show you how. You just need to learn how to love her.”

“What about the zasoi? Could you tame those?”

Fluttershy’s ears lowered. “Not when they’re hungry.”

“Then you cannot tame them because they are always hungry.”

Aramak went into his home ahead of them. Twilight stepped into an entryway that was recessed into the floor. A bucket full of fresh water was next to the door. Two baskets kept it company. One was full of fresh rags. Aramak sat down on the wood paneled hallway and began cleaning his feet. He tossed the dirty rag into the empty basket when he was finished.

Aramak gestured at the clean towels. “Please wash your hoofs. We do not track filth into our homes.”

They removed their boots and did as he instructed while he watched them from the hallway. Twilight could smell incense burning somewhere inside the house. Aramak led them into his living room. A variety of maces were mounted to the wall next to the entrance to the hallway. He preferred to smash whatever he didn’t like. Several bows accompanied the maces a few feet away. They did not look as if they had been touched in a long time.

The incense was stronger in the living room. Twilight spotted a fireplace. A pot was being boiled. It added heat to the room, but the pleasant aroma was coming from it. Vases filled with plants grabbed light from outside through the windows. Tapestries had been hung on the walls. Red was once again a favored color.

Aramak pulled a few blankets out of a closet. He laid a red one down near the fireplace and set three brown blankets down for his guests a few feet in front of where he intended to sit.

“Wait here,” Aramak said. “I will be back in a moment.”

A minute later he returned with a wooden bucket and a tray full of cups. Though Twilight had never witnessed the ceremony he was attempting to perform, she could tell he had not done it often. A glance at the bucket revealed that the tea had a light flavor to it judging by the clarity of the water. Twilight could taste several different flavors in the back of her mouth as she waited for a chance to try it. Aramak used a ladle to fill a clay cup with tea and Twilight took it with her hoof after it was offered to her.

“How are you holding that?” Aramak asked.

“Like this. See?” Twilight replied, showing him.

“That doesn’t look like it should be possible.”

“We spend a great deal of time ignoring things like that.”

Twilight took a sip while the others were served. As expected, the flavor was light. There was a tinge of natural sweetness to it.

“This is exquisite,” Twilight said. “It tastes a lot like jasmine blossom. I’d love to bring some seeds back with me.”

“I’d say that’s a fair trade for all the work you have done so far. Enough with pleasantries. You may ask me anything and I will reply truthfully.”

“I will grant you the same favor. To begin with, do you remember when I asked you if there were more of Shelly’s kind in the past? There were, weren’t there?”

“Yes. We never had any idea they were magical. If we had known they were, we would have taken steps to protect them.”

“I’m a bit surprised you accepted that explanation so quickly. I figured you would have been a bit tougher to convince.”

“I’m not an idiot, Twilight. Do you think I haven’t ever agonized over what caused that mess down there? Your answer made more sense than the land being cursed, which is what everyone else has always thought despite my insistence that it wasn’t. The beetles that once lived in that area looked a little different, but they must have been in the same family. After we stopped finding them, it took a year for the wetlands to deteriorate.”

“Do you have any idea what happened to them?”

Aramak paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer. “We eat the male and so do many of our neighbors. We have always been careful not to hunt them out of existence, but the monsters around here lack foresight. It also does not help that the eggs the female lays are also very delicious.”

Twilight shuddered. “I might regret asking this, but how do they taste?”

“They are sweet. I can’t compare them to anything else. If there were more of them, I’d recommend you try one. They may look revolting, but they certainly don’t taste bad.”

Twilight imagined the yellow guts of a beetle exploding into her mouth as she bit down on it like an éclair filled with raspberry jelly and almost gagged. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“What about the girls?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you eat them as well?”

“They are an acquired taste. I have never tried one. They are not as in demand as the male is.”

Applejack chimed in. “We’ve got a record of your village before you had to build that fence and the princess who last paid you a visit didn’t mention anything about it. When you stopped findin’ Shelly’s friends, you started gettin’ hit a lot more often, didn’t you?”

“Yes. At first, we thought it was a blessing that we didn’t have to wake up to our houses falling on top of us, but we soon had bigger problems to deal with.”

“The zay-soy?” Applejack asked.

“You catch on quick. They are part of the reason we abandoned the jungle that used to be our home to live in this swamp. I don’t know why they followed us here. By the way, why do you insist on calling the bug Shelly?” Aramak asked.

“She likes her name,” Fluttershy replied.

“Is that really the answer you’re going to give me?” Aramak asked.

“Well, you like your name, don’t you?”

“It is something that makes me who I am, isn’t it?”

“See? Mr. Aramak, sir, I’ve been thinking about all that’s happened and what we’ve talked about so far and I think you should breed Shelly’s kind and keep them as pets. They are quite intelligent for insects. I know they have an odor that can’t be accurately put into words, but they are trying to get by just like you are and both of you could really benefit from working together.”

Aramak glared at Fluttershy. “And how exactly are we supposed to ask them not to eat our homes? I’m pretty sure several of us screamed that at them while we were chasing them away. What did we do wrong?”

“Nothing,” Fluttershy said. “I will talk to Shelly. You won’t have to worry about it anymore after that.”

“If you could make it work, I’d be willing to give it a try. I’m not sure any of us would think of them as pets, but we will live with them if we must. There’s a problem with your plan, though. We’re not going to get far if we don’t have a male and I haven’t seen one in a few months.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard to find one,” Applejack said. “Have Twilight take her spell of Shelly and he’ll come runnin’.”

“You think that stuff oozing out of her shell is pheromones?” Twilight asked.

“If it isn’t, I couldn’t imagine how they would be able to stay together for longer than five seconds.”

Aramak nodded to himself. “She might have a point.”

“I think we should focus on finding Izu first,” Twilight said. “Once we have that taken care of, we’ll find Shelly a boyfriend.”

“That might be easier said than done,” Aramak said.

“You can say that about anything. I’m interested in how Izu developed his talent for magic. It must have come as quite a shock.”

“It did. As much as I hate to use the term miracle, nothing else could describe what happened to him. He doesn’t have a horn and there is nothing about him that’s radically different from anyone else.”

“Having a horn is not required for the use of magic and ponies are not the only beings who are able to use it. You might have had the ability to do so for years and you just have not realized it until now. It must take a far greater amount of effort for you to unlock it, unless your son woke up one day and started using magic haphazardly like a unicorn foal. Is that how it started?”

“No. He was inspired by your queen the last time she was here. During her brief visit, she used a little bit of her magic. Izu was fascinated by it. He was jealous that we could not use the same power and figured most of it had to deal with concentration, so he came up with a regiment of bizarre exercises that he felt boosted his ability to remain focused. It seemed like a bad habit that needed to be corrected, so I punished him for it. You might feel comfortable judging me from your lofty position, but I was afraid if he kept it up and enough of our people found out about it they would never take him seriously and my family would lose its position of power.”

“He kept at it, though,” Twilight said.

“Yes, and it paid off. His breakthrough came while he was sparring with one of my best warriors. It pains me to admit this, but he has always been a lousy fighter. He had taken quite a beating and was about to lose the match when he tossed his opponent aside as if he weighed nothing. This sent everyone into an uproar. Some were saying he was cursed and it would bring ruin to us if we did not cast him out.”

“Your people must be superstitious,” Twilight said.

“They are. It’s disgusting. My family has tried to get it out of everyone, but it is still there to this day. Allow me to explain. When we lived in the jungle, we answered to five elders who ruled over us with fears and lies. It was easy for them to blame our calamities on anything but their own stupidity. My great grandfather saw through their excuses and took a group with him to this swamp. He was considered a pariah due to the red on his back, but there were plenty of my kin who were willing to follow him if it meant not having to keep giving offerings to the zasoi’s.”

Fluttershy leaned in. “Are there more of your kind still living in the jungle?”

Aramak opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing. He looked away from his audience and closed his eyes. “Not anymore.”

It was a simple answer, but it carried a lot of weight.

Twilight figured it would be best to move on. “You mentioned earlier that Izu is out in the wild.”

“Yes. As he continued experimenting with magic, he discovered he could make certain things vanish. He got it in his head that he would go out there and make all our problems go away. I figured by letting him do this he would be able to show everyone he wasn’t cursed or a coward, so I ordered my best warriors to go out with him. It seemed better than shunning him.”

This wasn’t going anywhere good.

“How did he intend to make all of your problems go away?” Twilight asked.

“He just did.”

“Yes, but how?”

“He would find something he didn’t like and make it disappear. I’m sorry, but that’s the best way I can describe it. Pretend I could do what he does for a minute. When I first met you, I would have simply made you go away by snapping my fingers.” Aramak performed the gesture to emphasize his point. “That would have been the end of it.”

Twilight had to hold her tongue and remind herself that Izu didn’t know any better. She was certain she knew what Izu had done. He had made his decision out of ignorance. It was possible to trap a passenger in the middle of a teleportation spell forever in what was called the void. Casting something into the void was not considered ethical and was only allowed under extreme circumstances.

“How long has he been out there?” Applejack asked.

“Three days.”

An invisible force dumped a bucket of ice water all over Twilight’s back. “Wow. That’s impressive. Have you sent anybody out to make sure he’s okay?”

“When any of us go out into the swamp, we mark our path with colored rocks so we don’t get lost. The group I sent out yesterday followed the trail Izu left behind and found nothing. If something bad had happened, there would have been evidence of it, but like I said, they did not find anything. I was about to go out there myself and look because I figured maybe one of my scouts had missed a rock, but then you showed up.”

Familiar with how spells misfired, Twilight could almost be sure of what had happened based on what she had been told. It was always possible for a unicorn to get themselves stuck while teleporting. Distraught parents of magically inclined unicorn foals always had it in mind when their children went missing. Pulling something from the void was a well-documented procedure, but there was somewhat of a time issue involved. During teleportation, a target was reduced to its atoms. Early unicorns had found out the hard way that the atoms tended to wander the longer they were left in the middle of the spell. If they remained unassembled for too long, it was not considered possible to put them back together.

The good news was Izu and anyone who had gone in with him wouldn’t know it. In a manner of speaking, they were still alive and would remain frozen inside the fabric of their universe until it inevitably ended. The bad news was the rescue procedure drained energy from the user continuously. Fetching scattered atoms, forcing them to reassemble correctly, and finishing the teleportation spell was an active task.

Or she could be completely wrong. Izu could have turned himself and all his companions into birds for all she knew. However, if that had happened, they would have returned to the village. Unless he had failed to correctly transfer their individual spirits. Then they could be anywhere. If that had happened, their personal belongings would have been left behind. He could have also teleported himself halfway across the world like he had done with Shelly, but that didn’t seem as likely as her first guess.

“You look like you know something,” Aramak said.

Twilight jerked out of her trance. “I have an idea, but I can’t say for sure until I examine the area where Izu went missing.”

“I would be happy to take you there,” Aramak said.

“That would be fine, but I did not plan to go on hoof. Foot, I mean. We will be able to find where he last used magic from the airship and I have a feeling doing so will take us near where he dropped his last rock.”

Aramak stood up. “Then let’s go there right now.”

He wandered over to the rack he used to display his weapons. Aramak gripped the handle of a heavy mace, but did not take it off his rack. He instead picked a blunt quarterstaff covered in scratches that would incapacitate whatever was pestering him in a manner far less permanent than anything else he usually equipped himself with.

“Do you want me to put together a quick band of fighters or are you comfortable with the force you’ve got under your command?” Aramak asked.

“We’ll have this taken care of in under an hour if we’re lucky,” Twilight said. “It shouldn’t require brute force. If it does, we could always come back, but you’re welcome to bring some of your friends along now if you would like.”

Aramak tapped his left shoulder with the quarterstaff. “No. Forget it.”

Twilight saw through him. He was thinking ahead. Aramak wouldn’t want anyone to see him if they happened to be unable to rescue his son. It would be ugly. All the progress she had made would be retracted in an instant. The possibility would be there to demean her at every turn until the deed was done.

“Let’s get going, then,” Twilight said.

Twilight grabbed Applejack and Fluttershy with her aura and teleported all three of them outside the house with their boots back on. Her skull was beginning to feel like it might pop out through the blister around her horn. The need for haste clashed poorly with the relaxed atmosphere in front of them. More cheering and waving were to be had. Twilight forced a smile and remained dignified.

Aramak joined Twilight on the deck. “I thought you might have left without me.”

“Sorry. It was quicker than walking.”

“One is far better for your heart.”

Applejack snickered. “We’ve been tellin’ her that for years.”

X came bounding up the steps to the deck and stopped in front of Aramak with a fresh apple in his hand and one he was working on in the other.

His mouth was still half full of an apple when he chose to speak. “Chief, you have got to try one of these. They are amazing.”

Aramak shook his head. “Later. I’m going to be leaving for an hour. Do you think you can stop being an idiot for long enough to make sure the whole village isn’t in flames by the time I get back?”

“I mean, probably, yeah.”

Applejack took the fresh apple from X and held it up. “You shouldn’t go adventuring on an empty stomach, Aramak.”

With a click of his tongue, Aramak grabbed the apple from her and bit into it. The annoyed expression on his face gave way to surprise. “Hey, these are just about as sweet as the kibu --- ”

Twilight held up a hoof before Aramak ruined apples forever. “Don’t.”

Biggs and Wedge met Twilight as she stepped away from Aramak’s house. Two stallions had replaced them to continue distributing food. Shelly was absent. Fluttershy whistled and she appeared from out of nowhere and scuttled over to them. The area around her mouth wasn’t covered in splinters or sawdust. She hadn’t done anything she shouldn’t have. There would have been more screaming if she had.

Wedge gestured upward towards the airship with his head. “Time to leave?”

Twilight nodded.

Biggs looked back at the ration line. “General Adamite wants to leave some soldiers on the ground while we’re traveling to continue distributing food. Two of the fastest pegasus soldiers we have will also remain in the sky above the village. They will help monitor the perimeter for monsters.”

“Sounds good,” Twilight said. She looked at Aramak. “Will my soldiers be safe?”

Aramak gestured for X to come over to him. “Some of the ponies will be staying behind. Make sure they are treated well, alright?”

X nodded eagerly. Reassurance from someone who had been so quick to condemn them earlier was hardly enough for Twilight, but the vibe she was getting from the villagers was a lot different than the one she had felt when they had arrived. So long as they continued feeding them, there wouldn’t be a problem.

“Alright, we’re going to make the jump to the bridge,” Twilight said. “Aramak, since this is your first time being teleported, you might feel slightly disoriented after you get through to the other side.”

“Try me,” Aramak said.

In a matter of seconds, they were all on the bridge. Fresh pain was there to greet Twilight. It kept her from opening her eyes. She resisted the urge to put a hoof to her horn. So long as the strain didn’t start creeping back down to her chest, she would be fine. A sharp thud caught Twilight’s attention. She forced her eyelids open and was met with more light than she was prepared for. Aramak had driven his staff into the floor to help his balance. It didn’t keep him from shaking as the tingling sensation brought on during reassembly tickled him. Twilight silently cast a spell on him that settled his stomach so he didn’t spew the apple he had just eaten all over the polished floor, which made dancing sparks appear in her vision.

“I don’t suppose you have a ladder for when I need to go back down, do you?” Aramak replied.

“No,” Twilight replied. “You’ll have to endure it at least one more time.”

A snicker came from Red Iris, who was still standing by the crystal with Hocus. The same pony who had been at the wheel earlier had not gone anywhere. None of them could hide their interest in Aramak, who put a hand over his heart and gave them a nod.

Onyx left his post at the front of the ship to come join them. “Welcome back, Princess. I see you have brought a friend with you.”

“Yes, this is Aramak. He’s the mayor of the village. We’re going to be looking for his son, Izu.”

Onyx offered Aramak a hoof, which he shook.

“I’m sure we’ll find him,” Onyx said. “I take it his kid can use magic?”

“That’s right,” Twilight said.

“And he went and got himself into trouble?”

“Given everything I know so far, yes.”

“Figures. Don’t worry, Aramak. This sort of thing happens all the time. Kids and magic don’t mix. It’s almost always too much power to give to a child.”

Onyx had done a fine job of getting Aramak to relax. It was funny how fast his opinion of the Salamanders had changed. Twilight didn’t doubt he preferred words winning over force.

“Anyway, what’s our next move?” Onyx asked. “Are you going to scan the swamp for the last spot that magic was used?”

Twilight nodded.

“Before we do, I need to ask Aramak something important,” Onyx said.

Aramak puffed up, causing Twilight to roll her eyes.

“Certainly,” Aramak said. “What do you wish to know?”

“Did you see how large this airship is from the ground?”

“Yes, I did have a good look at it. Why?”

“Is there anything in this swamp that can fly that is at least half the size of this airship?”

“No. There are beasts with wings and some of them are big, but I couldn’t imagine they would be able to force this ship out of the sky. From out there, at least. Given what I have seen from your princess and her friends, your warriors would be capable of fighting them.”

“Good, that makes me feel a little better,” Onyx turned away from Aramak and headed back to the front of the room. “Hocus, Iris, check the swamp for the spot where magic was last used.”

The two unicorns worked together and drew power from the crystal to make the spell easier to manage. A tingling sensation rushed through Twilight’s body as her magic became visible to them. They would have to isolate Salamander magic from Shelly’s unique signature, which would not be too difficult. Twilight caught them flinching. The whole area had to be lit up like a pine tree on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Gazing into it would be like uncovering the tarp off a spotlight while standing right in front of it. It was nice to have Hocus advance the plot of their latest adventure, but Twilight still had the urge to jump in and help even though it would hurt.

Applejack wandered towards the front of the bridge while they were still having their intermission. “Hey, Aramak. Come over here for a minute.”

Aramak, who had been transfixed by the crystal, followed Applejack to the window. Twilight went along as well.

“Have a look at that,” Applejack said, gesturing to the view of the village with her hoof.

Seeing his village from above for the first time moved him enough to get him to cover his mouth for a moment to stifle a gasp.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Applejack asked.

He nodded in reply. A grim scowl appeared on his face.

“It will get better, Aramak. With time,” Twilight said.

“Your optimism is overwhelming.”

“Glad I could help.”

Aramak’s scoff was followed by a smirk.

“We’ve found what we’re looking for,” Hocus announced. “Here. Allow me to project a map.”

A floating screen that was a snapshot of Hocus’ imagination appeared at the front of the room. His aura served as the border and his control over the spell was good enough to provide everyone with a clear, colorful image that covered thirty miles in all directions. The airship was in the exact center of the map, hovering over the village. A red arrow was drawn on the map to indicate which direction was north and another red circle appeared over their next destination, which was thick with vegetation.

“The evidence of magic having been used was very faint,” Hocus said. “It will probably fade away completely in another day.”

“Does that look about right?” Twilight asked Aramak.

Aramak studied the map. “Yes, but what can you do that my warriors have not already done? There’s nothing there. They looked.”

“We will use recall magic,” Twilight said. “It will allow us to peer into the past and see exactly what happened.”

“It might be better if you had somebody else cast that spell for you, Twi,” Applejack said.

Twilight nodded. “Hocus, will you come along with me and help with that?”

“Why, yes,” Hocus replied. “In fact, I’ve had to do this sort of thing before to help apprehend a few thieves.”

“Shelly and Fluttershy should also come down with us since we’ll be in the wild,” Applejack said. “We don’t need to get snuck up on while we’re workin’.”

“I wouldn’t want that to happen,” Fluttershy said. “Shelly can be brave this time. She’s a fast learner.”

Shelly didn’t squeak, attempt to hide, or scurry away at the suggestion that she would be coming with them. Twilight took it as a good sign.

“We’ll begin moving after I have briefed the soldiers and a messenger has told those currently active where we’re going,” Onyx said.

Iris made his microphone appear and Onyx began repeating information they already knew to everyone who didn’t have a front row seat. Twilight wished she could allow herself the luxury of lying down in Celestia’s bed until they reached their destination, but she had to be better than that. Another elixir would have the same effect. Having more than one a day was not recommended as it increased the debt owed to the body. Her mind raced to justify having another one, brushing aside the addictive nature of the elixir. If she did drink a second elixir, she would crash sleep for at least a day.

She needed a distraction. Twilight returned to Biggs and Wedge, who were chatting with each other. She decided to interrupt them. “How are you two doing? Have you gotten what you signed up for?”

Wedge laughed a little. “It’s been pretty wild. It sure beats the post office.”

“The brochure didn’t lie, ma’am,” Biggs said. “Discover what you’re capable of. See the world. Protect the best interests of the princesses.”

“And then they got a little asterisk right at the end and you go down to the bottom of the page and it says all of this just might be a little dangerous, but it’s good for you because it builds character. Or so they say.”

“It does,” Biggs insisted. “If I wasn’t here I’d be trying to figure out how to explain algebra to ponies who have no grasp on the subject. All of this is far more interesting.”

“Good,” Twilight said. “Hang in there, guys.”

Wedge gave her a salute. “We’ll manage.”

Twilight caught a glimpse of the messenger that had been sent down to the ground flying in front of the ship on her way to the landing strip. Onyx gave the pony at the wheel a signal and they were off. It would be a matter of minutes before they reached their destination. Applejack and Aramak remained at the front of the room and watched the world go by beneath them.

There was nothing left for Twilight to do. The urge to drink another elixir teamed up with her fear of failing to save Izu and slammed up against the fort of confidence she had built around herself. Trying to count to a hundred didn’t work. The infernal screeching of her doubt kept her head running through multiple scenarios. She had to stop herself each time she dreamed of a new one. There wasn’t enough information to justify panicking.

How much money had been spent to finance their expedition? If she couldn’t figure out one problem, she would solve another that would put more pressure on her to solve the previous problem she had put aside. It didn’t matter how much Celestia had spent. Magic was involved. A force used from something so minor as putting on socks could also level mountains under the right circumstances.

“You look worried,” Fluttershy said.

Now that someone was talking to her, the pressure her anxiety had been putting on her was alleviated. It wouldn’t last.

Twilight had to enjoy the momentary relief. “Thanks. I am.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t think we have enough time to go over everything,” Twilight said.

“Oh. How long do you think it would take to tame this swamp?” Fluttershy asked.

“Less than five years. Then we would have to worry about whatever is lurking just beyond the border.”

“I bet they would want to go back to the jungle at some point since that’s where they came from.”

“We’re going to be here for a while, then.”

Biggs heard them speaking and offered his own input. “Celestia would want a base here.”

Wedge shushed him and pointed at Aramak. “Don’t say that so loud.”

Fluttershy lowered her voice and drew in a bit closer. “I think it would be safer to move them to a swamp in Equestria.”

Twilight wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, but it won’t be what they are used to. They could get sick,”

Fluttershy looked at her like she was an idiot. “That’s what Shelly is for.”

Shelly squeaked.

Twilight blushed and smiled. “Oh, right. Whew, boy. I need a nap. And a bath.”

“I second that,” Wedge said. “For all of us, I mean. Not just you, princess. But yeah, there’s plenty of swamp land to the south, isn’t there?”

“Yes, and most of it is considered tame,” Fluttershy replied. “They would only have to deal with the occasional hydra or group of wisps down there.”

“We would be overriding an environment that is already thriving if we did, though,” Twilight said. “I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.”

“Then they could pick a jungle. We’ve got plenty of those. Right?” Wedge asked.

“Not really,” Fluttershy replied. “The jungle Equestria does have is protected land since there are remains of an ancient civilization there. It might not be like their jungle. They might get sick, like Twilight said.”

They were talking like they had already won. As if everything would fall into place for them. Twilight couldn’t have misdirected optimism clouding their minds. “These are all good suggestions, but we might be getting ahead of ourselves.”

“Maybe, but it can be nice to have a good idea early,” Fluttershy said.

“We’re coming up on our destination,” Hocus announced.

Twilight hadn’t realized it, but Fluttershy had managed to take her mind off failing her mission. That had to have been her intent. She would remember that for later. Aramak and Applejack came back to join them.

“Sheesh, I don’t think our house ever got this stuffy durin’ any of the summers I have been on the farm,” Applejack said.

“This is fine,” Aramak said.

“Must be nice. Hocus, get on over here and beam us down.”

Hocus tried to conceal his excitement, but the eager grin on his face gave it away. “With pleasure.”

“Wait,” Twilight said. “Onyx, have all the mages on board gather on the bridge while we are gone. Even those who are on the night shift. I’ll have orders ready for them when I come back up.”

Onyx gave her a nod.

“Alright, Hocus,” Twilight said. “I’m ready.”