The Gems of Creation: Part 2

by BSting

2-6: Stormy Seas

The sounds of ambient waves flowed as the hull of a boat sliced through the sea. Hushed wind filled the sails, as if it was intentionally guiding the passengers drifting ashore from Horseshoe bay. Cobalt Coral and her trusty partner, Cornfield, had done what would seem impossible to most ponies. They escaped slavery, eliminated a mob boss, and fled the city of Baltimare; swarming with police on deadly authority. Having successfully dodged the trap behind them with their new plus one, the two fugitives were dead set on arriving at their destination, Mt. Aris.

There was a new air around Coral. Perhaps it was the thrill of the escape or the happiness of returning home. Either way, it gave her the courage to act like she never had before. “All right, me hearties! We’re off to me homeland!” she declared with the best graveled accent she could muster; a single claw outstretched towards the deep, blue yonder.

“When did you become a pirate?” asked Cornfield, wondering exactly how she changed her temper so waveringly.

“That’s a dumb question,” replied Silver Night, basking in the sun as it reflected off her shiny black fur. “We just forcefully commandeered a boat. I’m pretty sure that qualifies.”

“And you will refer to me as captain from now on,” the hippogriff added, adjusting the rudder with the steering wheel “Now, who’s my first mate?”

“Right here!” the chipper colt reacted as he practically jumped to her side. “Wha’cha need?”

She knew what value resided in him, his young naive attitude could lessen the hostile tension between him and their new team member. There’s only one way she could think of that would help them gain mutual trust. “Cornfield, if we are to let this second mate in on our group and not segregate ourselves from her at all times, she must take… the oath.”

“The oath?”

“You know. The one I made for you when I came back to your cottage?”

“Ah, yes! The oath!” he repeated flinging his hoof up in a salute.

“Second mate, Silver! If you are to learn of our secrets and our plans, you must swear to take the same oath that Cornfield and I made with each other. Condition 1: You don’t hide anything from us, we don’t hide anything from you. Condition 2: You don’t tell anypony else about our secrets.”

Emphasis on the latter caused the darkened unicorn to hesitate from the presumptuous attitude, lifting up a queried foreleg as she leaned back. “...Uhhhh... Is this really necessary?”.

The bird’s responded with a talon directed at Silver. “Very! I speak for both of us when I say that we are thankful for what you’ve done to help us. But, if you want to help us any further, you need to take an oath. Otherwise, by the time we dock, we go our separate ways.”

Doubt further shrouded the mare’s mind as she paused to think. With a half-hearted tone, she belted out a simple phrase in her little voice. “Ok, sure.” It wasn’t like she had a choice anyway.

A precarious answer such as that dissatisfied Coral as she shifted to peer at her, gripping to the wheel for a steady ride. “Are you sincere? Then tell us, why are you going through all of this trouble to help me and Cornfield? Be honest.”

“Yes.” That was all the will Silver had to swear by. She wanted nothing more than for the hippogriff’s beak to stop flapping about this shipmate initiation nonsense.

“She’s not serious, Coral. LET’S MAKE HER WALK THE PLANK!” loudly suggested Cornfield as he glared daggers into the non-compliant member.

“Stand down, Cornfield,” Coral ordered as she barred him from attempting to seize the unicorn. “That won’t be necessary. Besides, this boat is lacking a plank to walk out of. Give her time. Until she answers our question, we’ll simply ignore any questions about what our motives are.”

“...Damn,” He uttered under a hushed breath.

“Until then, both of you take turns reading that book Silver got us. I’m not going to be the one steering the boat for the entire trip.”

“Fine…” His thirst for indignation forcefully repressed, he sulked past Silver to snatch the book and explore its contents on deck. The black thief, eager to squeeze more info out of her captain, walked up to Coral manning the ship.

“So, you knew Electric?” she asked bluntly.

“More than I’d like to,” the hippogriff answered as she surveyed the softly rumbling waves, glancing at her map and compass, while steering down the empty ocean. “That stallion was insane. Killed innocent ponies and blamed me for it. Probably did a lot more evil in my absence. I hope the police find evidence of that when they search that hole in the ground he called a dance club.”

“But why kill innocent ponies?” The queer inquiry ruffled Coral’s brows as she stared back at the smaller burglar, asking such naive questions like an innocent filly. “What could drive a criminal who had everything to do so?” Behind the curious dark pony, along came Cornfield, arriving with the book in his mouth. He spat the book out on the deck to learn the basics of navigating on a boat.

“...Nice,” said Coral at the uncouth Earth Pony habits, then resuming with Silver. “Power goes to creatures’ heads if they aren’t prepared for it.” The bird tapped on her temple to drive home the point. “Sure, he had it all, but he wanted to make sure it stayed that way. That’s why he killed; to cover up loose ends.”

“How did you get involved?”

Before Coral could answer, a forceful wave crashed against the boat, almost breaking the balance of the passengers. “Whoa! Hold on!” Coral wrested the steering wheel back, preventing the vessel from going capside. The sudden tilt made Silver stumble, unable to steady her legs as they flung her into an unsuspecting Cornfield. Her body shoved him off as his sight became dark. Yet for some reason he wasn’t struggling under her, sitting on his face in an unusual turn of events.

“There we go,” the pinkish captain assured, as she readjusted the vessel’s roll and path. “That should be-” Her eyes widened and crests perked up from the jeopardizing position Silver had taken. “Getting comfortable on the first mate, are we?” Her face couldn’t help but express a wry smile and narrowed eyelids at the unassuming burglar.

Silver glanced down to find herself above a colt’s torso, then her cheeks turned a shade of
beet red when she realized where his head was. She launched herself off of him screaming. “You stupid creep!” shouted the flustered mare.

“Hey!” Cornfield shouted as he fumbled his way up off the wooden surface. “That’s not my fault!”
His eyes were guided by the mare’s braided tail covering what felt violated as a thought made him blush. “Ok, maybe she’s not so bad after all…”

“I thought I felt something!”

“Novo help you if it was his tongue,” snickered the hippogriff, trying to hold back her hysterics.

Silver’s expression conveyed absolute disgust, tongue out as she recoiled as far away from the perverted colt as possible. “Egh!” she gagged. “Gross!”

Her defenses on complete shutdown from the exaggerated theatrics, Coral busting out laughing, falling on the wheel and nearly sent the boat off course. “Ahah, so funny!” she exclaimed, wiping a tear from her eye and expelling the last of her chuckles out.

“I...I did no such thing!” the green stallion protested.

A distant boom of thunder summoned the attention of the voyagers at sea, as dark clouds formed in the distance and soon floated towards them, bringing bullets of rain upon them. The black unicorn pondered the next best move as she consulted their temporary captain. “Looks like a heavy one... Can we avoid it?”

Taking charge, Coral grabbed the binoculars out of her saddle bag and peered through the storm clouds. “We can avoid the worst of it if we make a sharp enough turn, but we’ll still be rained on.” Skillfully rotating the wheel to prevent another embarrassing spill, she navigated the boat to one edge of the looming threat hovering above. Prepared to take in the falling drizzle from where the clouds were less dense, she commented, “Storm clouds always give me the worst feeling deep in my gut. It’s probably my nerves...”

“As long as we don’t have to worry about fighting the weather, we should be fine,” added Cornfield as he collapsed the sailing manual in preventing the pages from getting wet.

“Speaking of fighting the elements, let’s get back on topic about you and Electric Boogaloo... How’d it happen?”

Thunder crackled in the distance, warning passersby of its dominance as a trickle of downpour sprinkled the finely painted deck. “Right,” the hippogriff responded, thinking back to where she left off. “Ok. So, after I escaped certain doom from Kludgetown, I made my way to Equestria to hone my craft in thievery. I found that cities often had looser pockets and careless tourists. So, I started going from city to city. Then, I heard a rumor. A rumor about a-” Her brain snapped her beak shut before it spilled confidential information. “Uh… Something that led me to another thing that would have me on this adventure that I’m on now. So, to get that info, I worked with Electric. Does that answer your question?” She worryingly paid special attention to the storm.

“Hmmmm... I see.”

Meanwhile, the colt continued monitoring the storm from afar. Flashes of lightning struck into the background, as he thought about the fate of where they’re headed. “So, how long is it to Mount Aris at this rate?” he queried.

“Possibly by the afternoon, since we started so early,” Coral informed. “Of course, that’s my best guess.” She noticed his mouth expanding quite widely to let a bellowing yawn out. Putting his youthful body into consideration, she knew that he needed to gather himself from the mess she put them through. “Cornfield, you can go take a nap if you want to. I know we got little sleep but I promise to navigate through this.”

“Yeah,” he lazily agreed and made his way below deck, hoping the rocking boat would simply lull him to sleep and not cause seasickness.

Taking advantage of their newfound privacy, Silver pried all the more about the colt. “So, that boy… Why did you let him come along?”

The hippogriff rolled her head to address the mare as she steadied their course. There was a brief pause until she began enlightening Silver. “In the beginning of my expedition, Cornfield and I met during my investigations of something extremely important. At first, I pegged him as a lonely loser desperate for the attention of the opposite sex.”

“Tee hee. Yeah?”

“Yeah, well, turns out he has more than a couple virtuous bones in his body to see me through all of this.” A slight remorse weighed her head down. “I tried desperately to get him to change his mind, but he’s just so damn tenacious. I just didn’t want him to get hurt. That night when Electric gravely wounded him, I felt like my stomach was going to implode.”

“He seems fine now though.”

“Indeed.” Her head rose with a slight smile while glancing at the companionway door. “He doesn’t seem fazed at all! That zebra was a miracle. A kooky rhyming miracle. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know if he’d be with us...”

“It was that bad? At least Electric is done for. We can all breathe a little easier…”

“Yeah... For Baltimare, anyways...” Coral’s thoughts turned to a home she left behind, fearing the time lost amounted to nothing but a tragedy greater than they could ever imagine.

---

Daylight shimmered and burned as the boat rocked back and forth endlessly. From the right of the boat, they recognized a beach with a vast, scorching desert far in the draw distance. The silhouette of dilapidated and hastily made towers dotted the horizon, marking the location of Kludgetown. As much as the sight disgusted the hippogriff, she could not deny the relieving satisfaction of reaching their destination soon.

“What are you gonna do once we reach our Mt. Aris?” Silver piped up, somewhat mesmerized by the distant shore.

“First, I’m going to pray that nothing happened to it,” she began to list. “Then, if we aren’t too late, I’m getting the next extremely important thing on my list.” Her Heart of Nature dimmed to the tune of worst case scenarios playing with her head.

“You got a back-up plan, right?”

She looked at the mare mindlessly gazing at the glittering, shell-littered sands, then back at the sea ahead. “Considering I’m playing it by ear as I go so far? No.”

That answer didn’t sit well with the unicorn. She lifted her body off the railing-lined edge and confronted the hasty creature. “Then tell me, why are you in such a hurry to get there? It’s not just because you’re homesick, yeah?”

“No. I-” Scenes of the Storm King and his battalions interrupted her, tickling the inner engraved resentment and blinding her with hatred. “Look, all I want to do is go for The Mind of Water before anything irreversibly devastating happens to it.”

“The Mind of Water?”

“Shit.” She cursed quietly, but loud enough to hear, scratching the fine wood of the steering wheel’s handle with clutched, angry claws. The motive, now blurted out in the open, she verified Silver was indeed a loose end. “That’s all you’re getting from me, Silver Night.” Her tone hardened considerably. “Now it’s your turn to tell me why you are so interested in coming with us!” Her brow furrowed, eager to engage with claws bared. “Is it to play hero? Is it to deceive us later? WHAT?!”

Taken by surprise from the sudden hostility, Silver reared and backed up, swiftly complying. “Hey, I haven’t seen my home in three weeks now!” With all four hooves grounded, she maintained her posture as passively as she could to avoid conflict. “After ending up in the city, that bastard Electric caught me in an act. He blackmailed me, threatening to turn me in if I didn’t ‘pay my debt to society’. So, I panicked! He even went as far as setting the most unrealistic demands! It was only then I realized he was using me for his bribes. By then, he had gained sovereignty over the chief of police!”

After hearing Silver’s pathetic confession, Coral relaxed her aggressive stance and allowed her to delve more into it. “Once I became aware of the circumstances,” the black thief explained calmly, “he told me the cost of freedom and a ride back to Ponyville was one last errand. Instead the ‘last errand’ became my imprisonment to the dirty deeds of his henchponies. Raising her chin slightly, she pointed to her neck. “When I resisted, he forced that collar on me and sent me on that final job, even telling me, the moment it was done, I’d be on a train back home. I couldn’t trust him but he said if I removed the collar, I would be hunted down and killed.”

Moments passed as the burglar wondered if her words got through to Coral, who contemplated her tale while the sun dried her rain-soaked feathers. “Where is your home, Silver?” she inquired, staring off toward the vessel’s direction.

“The Everfree Forest.”

“No kidding,” the hippogriff responded dryly. “That close to Cornfield’s dwelling?”

“That dork lives there as well?”

“Outside of it. Knows it like it’s his backyard.” The crashing waves slapped the hull of the boat, sustaining the silence between them before Coral asked about her situation in hindsight. “Am I correct in thinking that the trains would be impossible to get on without authorities staking it, questioning you when you arrive, only to have no other option but to escape by boat instead?”

“Hard for me to say,” Silver wondered aloud as she flicked her hair, revealing her second green iris for a brief moment. “Do the police know I’ve been a bad girl?”

“I know they do. Question is, are you a bad girl to me?”

“I understand you’re weary and all, but at least you can feel safe knowing I can’t drive this boat myself, nor can I do anything about where we’re going.”

“You swearing by the oath, then?” Coral’s attention piqued to the possibility of a new ally, increasing their numbers in a fight against the odds.

“...I don’t normally do such things,” Silver hung her head. “I like to be free to do whatever I want without consequences.”

“Fine. I recognize that. Perhaps I got too carried away in thinking that you would be so quick to agree.” With a set of claws, she stretched them in open invitation to the black mare once more. “Do I at least trust your word not to tell anypony of our quest?”

Silver gazed at her protruding talons with one piercing emerald look of her eye. She knew not what to say but compromised without a token response to quell the hippogriff’s nerves about her ulterior motives. “In due time, you will realize that I wasn’t a mistake to ask for help.” Finally planting her hoof in the hybrid’s grip, a firm shake followed. “I’ll take the secret to my grave.”

That phrase sufficed for Coral to release Silver’s appendage and the wheel. Making space, she reared up then started flapping her wings to maintain the higher posture and puffed her chest out, embellishing the Heart of Nature in the dull light of a cloud-covered sun. “This, Silver Night, is called ‘The Heart of Nature’. One of the four fabled Gems of Creation. It has merged into my body and allows me to command the flora with my claws and heart.”

The allure of rare treasure tempted the unicorn to curiously peer with awe into the crest and tap the gemstone with her hoof. Sure enough, it had no intention of separating from its newfound home. “Don’t suppose you’re thinking of having it removed once this is all over...?”

“According to my mentor, the gem will leave my body when I set it back in its resting place or I... die.” The somber thought prompted Coral to plant her claws back on the wooden deck again. “We are on our way to my homeland, because the Mind of Water, another gem, lays dormant deep underneath the sea near my home. Legend has it that any creature that collects all four will gain immeasurable power.” She waved one of her extremities across from one side, emphasizing the gems’ importance. “Power to fulfill your wildest dreams.”

“Your wildest dreams, eh?” The black mare chimed back, sounding rather skeptical. “But then, surely it must be an extremely dangerous job?”

“It was dangerous enough when we had to go temple raiding.” A serious tone filled the hippogriff with utter grief as she went on. “Now, it’s even more perilous ever since we found out that a new leader of those storm creatures threw his hat into the ring...”

“WHAT?!” Thoughts raced through the unicorn’s mind as she stepped back in shock. “Storm creatures?! Those things that invaded Equestria? Those things are still around?”

“Exactly...” Returning to her driving role, Coral grasped the wheel and gave it a spin, navigating down their intended path. “If Lord Whirlwind manages to get his monkey paws on the Mind of Water... He might use it to terrorize all of Equestria. Thankfully, he can’t find the Mind of Water without the Heart of Nature.”

“Lord Whirlwind…” whispered Silver, mulling over the trouble she might be asking for with this crazy cuckoo. She then raised her voice in protest. “Prey tell, what in Equestria makes this worth all the trouble?!”

Coral hung her head and looked away from the troubled mare. “Nopony... No creature... Needs to go through the same life I’ve gone through.” She quickly turned with fiery determination in her eyes and glared at the dark-coated thief with vigor. “That’s why I’m doing all of this. To prevent anymore slaughters.”

“Wait a minute... So this is some vigilante crusade?! I thought there was some REAL value after these treasures!”

“There IS value in changing the world for the better,” the hippogriff was quick to argue back. “That’s the true worth of these gems, more than every bit in Equestria...”

There was never such an equation in Silver’s math. She held up a hoof to make her personal stake in the matter clear as crystal. “I’m no hero. I’ll help you out, but I’m not about to sacrifice my own life only for ‘the greater good’.”

“Fine. I’m not asking you to do so. If there’s anything of value to you on our journey, you’re welcome to it. My prize is the Mind of Water.”

With the knowledge that her adventure would surely yield priceless treasures along the way, Silver could not refuse the rare opportunity and nodded delightfully at her proposal. “Well then! At least that we can agree on.”

---

A couple more hours pass on the southern oceans of Equestria. The turmoil of the storms had subsided, as they sailed unabated to Mt. Aris. Silver and the now refreshed Cornfield do what they can to pass time on the boat as Coral manned the wheel on an uneventful plane of water. At least, until hunger set in.

“Go fish!” Cornfield called with an annoying tone.

Silver glared down her cards before ultimately tossing almost the whole deck overboard in frustration. “HEY!” The colt angrily stood up, while the unicorn quickly complained aloud. “I’m sick of this kiddie game! I want to eat now!”

The captain, agreeing with her childish crew, set the rudder to sail itself as she hunkered down the companionway. A moment later, she reemerged with all the food and water wrapped around in many loops of her vines. Then, she piled it all upon the middle of the deck for all to eat heartily.

“You know, it’ll be good to get away from all this pre-packaged stuff.” Coral stated, sitting by the food dump across from her friend and popped open a bag of trail mix. “When we get to MY home, I’ll whip you up my mother’s recipe on kelp wraps.”

The young stallion dived right in for the chips and dip, favoring the junk food. “Hey, I think this stuff tastes good!” said Cornfield, just as he stuffed his mouth, cheekful with salty potato flavors. “I could eat chips forever!”

Meanwhile, Silver swiped away the honey oat cookies before anypony else could. “It suits you. I can’t imagine you having a palate beyond hayburgers.” She took a few bites as Cornfield heeded no mind.

“Well, I think a little home cooking is good for the soul,” the hippogriff backed her opinion. “It’s just baked rice wrapped in kelp and topped with a tropical coconut sauce.”

“Somepony isn’t shy about their cooking.”

“When it’s the ONLY thing I know how to cook, I take pride in knowing I can recreate my mom’s dish.” The memory of her parents made her crests perk up as something important arose in the hippogriff’s mind. “Oh, yes! If we are going to visit Mt. Aris, you need to learn a couple customs.”

“Better try teaching that boy first! He’s not exactly ‘courteous’.”

“Whatever!” Cornfield scoffed.

“I’m more worried about YOU, quite frankly,” the bird cawed at Silver accusingly before focusing on her lesson. “Anyway, rule number one, is never speak to a hippogriff of high status unless you bow your head first. When the hippogriff bows back, then you may speak.”

Silver stood there silently, almost as if she wasn’t listening or simply didn’t take it seriously. With greater contrast, Cornfield was more curious as to the reasoning and logic behind such a rule. “So, should I just bow to ANY hippogriff? Or are there only a few to worry about?”

“Oh, no.” Coral brushed off the notion with her talons. “Bowing is reserved only for showing deep respect. Don’t bow unless you want to show it. But high officials, like the queen, expect to be bowed to, as talking outright is seen as out of place and disrespectful.”

“Does this mean we’re gonna see the queen?”

Exasperated by the idea, the hippogriff hung her head. “Damn it, I hope not...”

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s just say my life of thievery didn’t start at Kludgetown.”

Cornfield couldn’t help but exert an annoyed growl. “Aw, Coral! Are we gonna find ourselves stuck with another tyrant who you owe favors to? How bad is it?”

“Nothing big. Just decided to steal Novo’s prized relic, the Pearl of Transformation.” There was a hint of regret in her voice as she took a bite of an apple from the pile of food on board.

“Well, on the bright side, at least it’s in the claws of a civilized leader, right?”

“Why is that good news again?” asked Silver, wondering what it means to be introduced to a pissed off queen.

“All I’m saying is I’d rather have to deal with her transgressions in a society and its leaders over criminals,” the young colt compared. “C’mon! What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Famous last words,” Coral refuted. “I’d rather provoke a hive of bugbears than the queen. Doing so once led to-” She cut herself off, catching a landmark off in the distance from the corner of her eye. Walking to her saddlebags, she pulled out her binoculars and peered over the boat railings. A wide grin stretched across her beak to see Mount Aris, standing and well. They had finally made it. “LAND HO!” she enthusiastically announced.

The two shipmates met with Coral on the port bow. “Alright! So that’s what your home looks like?” The thought of visiting somewhere new, far away from his little hovel and into a brave new world excited the adventurous colt. He couldn’t help but jump for joy. “I’ve never been to a place like this before! This is so cool!”

The black unicorn, already tired of Cornfield’s hyperactivity, plugged her hoof in his mouth, stopping him cold. “Just chill,” she commanded.

“It’s still in one piece!” Coral’s words alone eased her tensions as they began to melt away with a sigh of relaxation. “I never thought I’d be home again.” The hippogriff turned to witness Silver eagerly canceling the colt’s celebration. She pushed Silver’s hoof away, stating “At this rate, Silver, I’m going to be the one shouting!”

“Actually, I’ve never been here before, either.” The dark thief’s mind fell upon the thought of various loot that lied in wait for a pilferer, stored in the treasury hidden deep within the palace. After all, rarely ever do ponies tread this far out.

“Well, there’s a lot to do there. There’s the Harmonizing Heights, seafood, dancing, music, and-” Before Coral could finish her verbal tour of her homeland, she noticed that Cornfield was not beside them anymore. Instead the colt was sitting on the starboard of the boat, pondering alone. His feathery companion sat beside him to tickle his brain. “What’s wrong, Cornfield?”

“I was just thinking,” he answered, “About Baltimare…”

“What about it? It’s in the past, right?”

His thoughts start to wander as Coral pried in, sabotaging his tranquil meditation. “Yes... including Electric. He is dead. We took his life away.” Making a half hearted smirk alongside a chuckle, he flipped around and leaned his back against the stanchion. “I guess I got what I wanted in the end. Does that make me a murderer?”

Shocked to hear those words, the hippogriff was speechless, but put her talons gently on his shoulder. “You did no such thing to call yourself that. Electric did himself in to try and take you and put me in more misery.”

Taking into consideration the things she said, the naive stallion stumbled over his own words, trying to piece together his deepest conflictions. “...But... I felt the desire to do it. I wanted him to die. Is there really any difference after the fact?”

“We all have dark thoughts like that. You’re not the first pony to wish major harm on somepony and you won’t be the last. But, I didn’t see you killing him.” She used her other set of talons to lightly bop the colt on the nose. “I saw him killing himself on a last ditch effort to kill you. You didn’t commit the crime, therefore you aren’t a murderer. Simple, right?”

Cornfield froze for a bit. To which, he sharply exhaled from his nostrils and turned his head away, much to Coral’s dismay. Then, a voice called beyond the deck. “Hey guys!” Silver called out. “I don’t mean to be rude but somepony better steer the boat like... right now!”

Her claws meeting her face, the hippogriff pushed herself off the damp wooden surface. “Oops! Right, we need to make our course for-” A booming sound of thunder was heard east of Mt. Aris from where the boat rocked. “Ah? Oh, come on. Another storm? It’s nothing but sun out here!”

Suddenly, Cornfield lost all control of his body, with a slight whitish-blue aura engulfing him. Eyes were the brightest white, highlighting his face like mini-spotlights. “No,” Cornfield murmured with a static voice. “It’s not the storms. They will raze the earth for the endless source of the fountain. Their dreams are to make yours die, and bring nightmares
to life.” The cryptic message bamboozled the thieves, and the magic surrounding the colt speedily dissipated as he collapsed helplessly on the ground.

“CORNFIELD!!!” Coral panicked, rushing to the poor stallion’s side to keep his head from knocking into the cockpit floor.

“Ahh,” Cornfield rubbed his head, groggily waking up from his supernatural trance. “I... think I tripped or something. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” she repeated back to him, shaking him slightly in distress. “What’s going on?! You start speaking some gibberish about a fountain with your eyes lighting up, and you ask me what’s going on?!”

Slowly, as he was settled back on his own four hooves, he gazed at her like she lost her marbles. “What are you blabbering about?”

The unicorn by the sidelines couldn’t help but stand silently and blink during the whole ordeal, completely baffled on what madness she witnessed. “Whoa, ok,” she finally spoke up. “This is starting to get REALLY weird!

Glancing between the bird and the mare, the stallion felt unsure of himself with the stone-cold looks in their eyes targeting him. “A-Are you two serious?”

Another thunderous boom rocked the atmosphere. Its severe proximity to Mt. Aris demanded the immediate attention of the only native on the boat. She picked up her binoculars again, paying close attention to the sky. Some darkened cloud, pitch black, was getting closer and closer to the summit of Mount Aris. Then, emerging through its darkside, Coral beheld the telltale silhouette of an attack blimp, with the Storm symbol adorned on the sinister armor covering the balloon. Her talons trembled with the binoculars drifting slowly below her eyes. Pupils already shrunk as she witnessed the horror that plagued her whole life right in front of her.

Cornfield and Silver joined by her sides to identify what seemed like the second invasion looming. “Oh, please tell me we’re not walking into that?!” pleaded Cornfield.

“I actually have to side with him on this one,” Silver added.

Intense fear took over Coral’s body as she stumbled backwards and fell on hindlegs. The binoculars tumbled upon the deck, breaking one of its lenses. Her whole body quivered at the display while the lightning struck her last resolve, highlighting the blimp with its dark, foreboding colors. Memories recalling the first invasion flooded her mind, blood pouring on the beaches as screams of hapless victims being slaughtered mercilessly echoed with an unbearable despair. Trace flashbacks of the mutilated corpses belonging to her immediate family chipped away at her sanity. Her beak uncontrollably shivered, barely breathing out the word “no”.

Recognizing Coral’s self-destructive triggers, Cornfield blurted “Oh no, NOT AGAIN!” as now it was his turn to rush in her aid. “Coral?! Are you alright?!” Silver watched plainly. Befuddled how to handle the once bold daring leader of the three creature brigade break down like an old barnhouse at Silver’s hooves.

“N-n-n-noooo.... Nooooo....” Coral let out each word whimpering at the sight, flashes of her past overwhelming the senses. Finally, combined with the shriek of an eagle’s cry, she screamed at the sky. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Get a hold of yourself!”

Coral’s eyes watered, unable to stop the flowing tears, as she dug her claws into her own face. Unsure of what to do, she mumbled mere incoherent thoughts. She showed bravado racing to intervene and save her only home, but in the face of her worst fears, she just managed to curl up into a ball of agonizing misery.

Noticing the black unicorn standing about and being generally useless, Cornfield angrily called out her waste of assistance. “Dammit! Silver, help me out! Do something!” All Silver did was shuffle her hooves around, muttering to herself on what he took her for. “Just get over here!”

As the stallion did everything he could to prevent his friend from lashing her own face in a fit of feral confusion, Silver meekly approached. “Wh-what should I do?!” she asked.

“Hold back her claws with your magic. Keep them bound! I gotta calm her!” He maneuvered over Coral, trying to eclipse the terrifying sight of the blimp. “Look at me, Coral! Look at me!”

Silver does what she can with her minor magical abilities to pull the hippogriff’s claws together and away from her face, struggling against her stiff hydraulic-like muscles.

“L-Lor-Lord W-Whirlwind...” the terrified bird stammered. The sound of Cornfield’s voice etched a hole through her caged psyche. She stared at him with heavy breaths, intently listening to his input.

“We came too far to lose like this!” Cornfield implored her to hear his reasoning and come out of her total mental breakdown. “It won’t do anypony any good to sit here and panic! You need to get a hold of yourself!”

Even with his best intentions, what he didn’t understand was that, while helping to dispel any fear tucked inside, the sight of the ship above her precious homeland was also converting the fear into an emotion that Zecora had warned to watch out for: anger. “Cornfield...” Just when it seemed like he was successfully getting through to her as Silver eased her magical grip. Coral, coming free from her bonds, slowly rose to inch ever so closely with her trusted companion. “I’m going to... I’m going to...”

Cornfield patiently awaited the result of their efforts, praying that she had finally ascertained a level head. “You’re going to what?” he asked. Silver stood in awe and became a mere spectator to this moment. Cornfield felt an ominous force flowing inside his friend.

The gem on Coral’s chest burned brightly as her brow descended to the point of shooting a deathly gaze at the airship. “I’m going... to KILL... Lord Whirlwind.”

“W...WHAT!?”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading!