Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands

by Starglider

Aftermath

Reef Skimmer immediately dashed forward and dropped to the floor next to Azure, checking her airway and carefully opening an eyelid to assess pupil dilation. "Unresponsive, shallow breathing... pulse is irregular." The hippogriff glanced at Summer Scribe, concern evident in his eyes. "And... this isn't the first incident. I need to get her back to the ship. Right now."

Summer gave a curt nod of agreement. "Seems like some some kind of... obligate laseritis! I wonder what she's come down with?" She planted her hooves, ready to help move Azure with her telekinesis. "I better stay here and, uhh, keep our shellshocked friends company here..." she said, looking up at the giant hole where the roof had been, sweat forming on her brow. This was a hell of a first impression!

With Summer's help, Reef Skimmer soon had Azure's innate form draped over his back, and he carefully rose to his feet. "Out here on your own?" he asked Summer, concern in his voice, "Very noble of you but do you really want to risk it? One could probably manage all three of you you know, perhaps not at best speed, but..." hie trailed off. It would definitely take longer hauling a two-pony cart. He looked at Blue Type, then back at Summer. "...you're sure about this?"

Summer Scribe nodded, her tail swishing with renewed enthusiasm. "If I can't handle this then you ought to kick me off the islands entirely." A nervous laugh, then with more confidence "I'll figure something out."

Abernathy had been keeping his distance, watching the creatures rush to the winged unicorn's aid. "I hope this isn't normal for you," he said, trying to keep the shock and fear out of his voice, "That couldn't possibly have been magic. Do you have some kind of explosives in those horns of yours?"

Blue Type glared daggers at the troll. "It is not normal, and it’s not the time to talk about your silly notions of magic!" she replied furiously.

He dismissed her with a wave of his green, fingered forelegs, preferring to concentrate on Summer Scribe. "I want all you horny creatures out of my house, right now, before another one of you explodes. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to rebuild that roof?"

The little unicorn shook her head: "Look, this is as far from normal as it gets! She wouldn't do something like that, unless..." She hesitated, hanging her head down in thought: sometimes the most valuable skill one could apply was listening...

Summer closed her eyes for a moment, before her head came back up: "Alright, no problem." she told the troll cheerfully, "I bet we can have someone fix that for you. Let me just consult..." who? She was the leader of this expedition, and Set Sail was back on the ship, yet she felt the need for moral support. Her eyes settled on Doctor Skimmer, who was standing in the doorway with Azure sprawled on his back, listening to the argument. Trotting over to him, she asked "We can spare some manual labour, right? Rebuild the roof as a token of good will? I know, we have to discuss it with Set Sail and the crew... but we can make a statement of intent, right?"

Reef Skimmer hesitated; it seemed plausible, but he had a hard time thinking about such things with an unconscious friend on his back, in urgent need of treatment. That troll creature could still be a threat, now that it's angry... but he judged the unicorn likely could handle it, at least until reinforcements arrive. "Worth a shot, certainly. I'll inform everygriff, err, pony, on the ship: another party will be right over, I'm sure."

With one final glance at the fuming Blue Type, giving what he could only hope was a reassuring wink, the griff concluded with "Best of luck then, Summer Scribe!" before trotting out into the clearing. Was there a faint muttering of "...and how in bloody Tartarus am I supposed to explain this one to Set Bail" before the sound of forceful wingbeats signalled his departure? Maybe Summer just imagined it.

The unicorn in question just stood there for a moment, before it dawned on her that perhaps a written note to Set Sail was called for. Not that she didn't trust the doctor, it's just that he could be a little... absent minded and with his mind on Azure... "Reef! Wait!" she shouted, galloping out the cottage door just in time to see the now airborne hippogriff and passenger disappear above the trees. She skidded to a halt and groaned; she had to admit, having the big grey griff around was somewhat reassuring, and she hoped he'd be able to return with the reinforcements. Just have to figure out what to do until then!

About-facing to, uhh... vaguely face the cottage, she was greeted by the sight of Abernathy shooing Blue Type out of the dwelling. She took a few steps forward, eager to resume the conversation: "So, umm, yes, we're deeply sorry about the hole in your roof, we'll endeavour to fix it as soon as we can..."

Hearing Summer's words, the troll looked up from the earth pony he was herding and immediately fixated on the spiralled appendage protruding from her head. Abernathy flailed backwards, shouting, "Gah! Don't point that thing at me!" and grabbing clumsily for the doorknob.

'Whoops! Can't even do that...' Summer thought. Trying to minimise any perceived threat, the pale blue unicorn turned her body away from the cottage and talked over her shoulder, looking sideways at the troll and keeping her horn pointed at the trees. "Ok, is this acceptable?" Her expression was almost bashful now; she felt kind of silly, stuck here with an ungrateful troll and without any transportation back!

"...fine," Abernathy said reluctantly, peeking around the nearly closed door, "Bring your crew over and then maybe we can talk. But I don't want any more holes in my house."

By this point Blue Type had collected her wits and tried to reason with the troll, approaching him cautiously. “See?" she said, gesturing with a hoof, "No horn on my head. I assure you that could never possibly happen to me."

Abernathy stared at her, assessing the truth of her words. His gaze shifted rapidly between the earth pony and the unicorn, before he finally relented, opening the door but staying firmly within the cottage. “Okay, you want to talk to me, I get that. But you’re gonna have to answer a few questions. How did that purple... horn pony or whatever you are, blow a hole in my roof? You said all you had was magic.”

Summer Scribe nodded, resisting the urges to turn and face him, making her look unusually stiff. "Yeah: magic! That's what us unicorns do. Well, all ponies have a limited form of it in one way or another... But for unicorns like me and Azure, it manifests in the more stereotypical associations of the word: telekinesis and magical spells." With an enthusiastic grin and further nod, she continued, "And Azure's really good at it! Butterfly wings and magical blasts come easily to her. I know the theory, but I don't have nearly the experience and capacity she does! I bet she's practiced sooo much."

"Those butterfly wings, they weren't magic," came Abernathy's knowing reply, "Magic just isn't all that powerful, not more than any of the other elements. You could make an... illusory wing maybe, but it would take a lot of concentration." He looked thoughtful, trying to puzzle out what had happened to his house. "That... 'blast' must have been more wind than any one creature should be able to channel; a lot more. Just how powerful is your... telekinesis? More than picking fruits, I suppose?"

"Telekinesis is pretty much like flexing a magical muscle: you have to grip and tense and lift. Like this..." Summer clarified. She looked around, catching some rocks in her field and pulling them into a pile in front of her. Then one by one she lifted them up into the air, each surrounded by a glowing aura. The more she lifted, the more she strained, until with a 'whew' she sets them down.

Suddenly she thought of her earlier find: 'Aha! Should've known...' Still avoiding looking directly at the troll, she asked "You're talking about magic being one of the 'elements'? Run that by me again; what about that blast was more 'wind' to you than anything else?"

"It was... windy?" Abernathy said, as if it should be self-explanatory. He let the door swing open as his fingers went to scratch his bald head. "Don't tell me you creatures don't know what air is. It's the stuff that everything floats in. We're breathing it right now. It's just weather, but what she did was like weaponised weather."

"Well, yeah, we know what AIR is." Summer said, trying not to sound patronised and not entirely succeeding. "But that's something pegasi work with, not unicorns! Flying really well and walking on clouds and making them rain and stuff. A blast is just..." She made a vague gesture with her hoof, "Magic magic. Like, a direct release of unstructured energy. It's just pure magic!"

"It was certainly powerful," Blue Type observed, "And usually unicorns aren't at all good at weather magic. But this one seems... fond of the pegasi way. She clearly had a horn surge of some sort, but I wouldn't call it a weapon." She looked up at the hole in the canopy overhead and winced, "Just... destructive."

Summer pondered for a moment, before saying "That said, we don't have analogues for ALL of your elements. There's also fire, earth, water, and uhhh... skull, right?" She blinked, hoping her meaning came across.

"Oh, I suppose you saw the old village," Abernathy remarked, folding his arms, "Darn shame that. My great grandfather said it used to be a mabu village. Haven't seen a mabu in forever. But I've heard they practically worship some kind of balance of the elements. That's what that old shrine used to be about, or so he said. The skull one is for the 'Undead' element, which is like... you know, the stuff that stops things from dying? Or living?"

Drawing a blank, Summer shot a glance at her companion, but Blue Type's baffled expression made it clear she had no idea what the troll meant either. Instead, the earth pony continued her attempts to reason with the troll: "We promise not to indiscriminately use magic, or... wind as you put it." She looked meaningfully at Summer, before continuing: "We will probably bring along more unicorns in the repair of your roof, though, if you'd could trust us for a moment. I mean, one second you're not taking us seriously, and now you're acting like we're monsters. Isn't there some middle ground here?"

Summer nodded encouragingly to Blue, glad to have help in the negotiation. "I think we can work our way through this: surely we can solve this just by learning more about each other, as any good pony ... or troll, should!" She beamed at Abernathy and nodded again for emphasis. "So, back to the elements... We, uhh, had some pegasi turn purple and, uh, 'spooky' when we crash-landed here. Do you think they might be, uhh, infused by this 'Undead' element, then?" She'd never heard of anything like that back in Equestria; it seemed the magic here was weird, following different rules.

The troll winced - 'probably not a good sign', Summer thought - saying, "Only time I've ever seen Undead is when it got into one of my great grandmothers. It's sort of incompatible with Life, so... some creatures who are old or weakened get infected and, well they live longer, maybe, but they stop being able to do the things that make life worth living. There are legends of creatures actually becoming undead, but that was way before my time. These days, the most that element can do is... make old people a little more miserable before they die. Arthritis and cancer and the like."

Fresh sweat beaded on Summer Scribe's forehead as she considered the implications for their friends. "Okay, thank you for that..." This did sound like it a problem that needed fixing, even if the transformed pegasi seemed fine for the time being. "Do you know anything about what makes elements associate with pon- creatures? If what you're saying is true, and Azure is getting, uhh, 'Windy', and those other ponies 'Spooky'..."

"What makes elements associate with anyone?" the troll said, turning and just heading back into his roofless cottage. Glancing at each other uncertainly, the ponies cautiously approached the open door, only to see Abernathy pulling up a rickety chair and carefully sitting down.

Once they were inside, he continued: "Some people have a knack for an element. Nothing like your friend of course. But my seventh cousin Edgar is pretty good with the earth element. Breaking rocks, and... making rocks and stuff. As for why? I dunno. Because they like it? If you have a friendly relationship with air, then the air listens to you. And uh... you can propel a balloon around maybe, or get the rain started earlier. She must just really like air, so it likes her back. Never heard of anyone with a knack for Undead, but I don't expect they would last long. I don't have an elemental affinity though, so you probably should ask someone who does."

Summer Scribe hmmmed: that did check out. So did that mean anypony with enough passion of the right type is going to get magically infused with one of these ten elements? "Thank you, Abernathy!" she said cheerfully, "You've been a big help."

"If you really wanna thank me, you can help me get materials to repair my roof," Abernathy told Summer, standing up again. "I have to do it anyway, now. Is your fancy magic any good at digging up a bunch of clay?"

---

Reef Skimmer ascended rapidly, flying faster now with no cart to pull. His forelegs were bent back awkwardly, to allow his claws to keep a firm grip on Azure's forelegs, making sure she can't slide off his barrel. As soon as he cleared the canopy, he wheeled around and started flapping straight back across the island, heading for the docked EAS Harmony.

The whistling slipstream and regular thrum of hippogriff wings, not to mention bobbing and jostling of her flying mount, soon brought Azure Feather back to consciousness. Before her eyes even opened, a groan escaped her muzzle, then tension filled her body as she came to her senses. "Air... Doctor?!" she exclaimed... before the magical exhaustion hit her like a brick in the form of a nasty headache. Her right forehoof went straight to her forehead with another groan. "...the heck...?" is all she could manage before her eyes closed again.

Feeling a hoof pull away from his grip, Reef looked over his shoulder and watched his passenger regain consciousness. "Azure? Can you hear me?" he shouted over the wind, "Do you know what happened?" They were above the centre of the island now, passing over the village and only a few minutes flight from the ship.

With eyes still closed, Azure found it easier to respond. Shutting out the light made the headache a little more bearable, at least. "I can hear you, Doctor... I don't know exactly what happened... but judging by the fact that my head feels like I've drained three barrels of cider, and I'm riding on your back instead of flying myself..." She sighed deeply. "...it's not good, is it." Even the smallest movement was an effort; 'why does this feel like another trip to the injured list', she thought.

Some of his urgency draining away now that his patient was conscious and responsive, Reef stopped flapping and settled his wings into an easy glide. The whistling wind died back to a stiff breeze, and Azure was no longer jostled with each wingbeat. "Not ideal no." he said, in a quieter voice. "I have to say, not ideal having a hippogriff for a doctor either, what with one magical calamity after another. Oh I have a book or two on horns and unicorns but no experience treating any of this... maybe I shouldn't have come." A few moments of silence pass before he continued in a firmer tone "Sorry, don't know what came over me. I might not be a unicorn but one will do one's best of course! Now, err, have you ever had... symptoms like this before?"

Reef felt the unicorn tense up even further; silently he lamented the lapse in his beside (or was it wingside) manner. After a few moments of thought, she responded with "I've never had these symptoms, I'll take a mug of cider from time to time, but..." Azure gives another weary sigh before continuing in a tone of pointed concern: "Doctor, what happened? Exactly? Because if it's what I'm thinking... this could be stuff I've learned in Unicorn 101..." The unicorn had shrugged off the first incident, but now that a recurrence had proved it wasn't a random fluke, she seemed severely shaken.

Reef thought back to the event in question. "Well, erm, you apologised, then you looked at the ceiling... your horn began to glow, then there was a glowing magical discharge and... well pretty much the entire roof disintegrated into shrapnel and was propelled at least a hundred metres into the air, cutting a swathe through the branches overhead." He looked over his shoulder again and fixed his passenger with another of his avian stares. "Very much like that trick you pulled back at the village, blasting a flight path through the canopy? That was your general intent, was it not?"

Azure listened carefully to the doctor's explanation, lying immobile on his broad back as they glided through the air. She opened her mouth to respond when the hippogriff drew a parallel to the previous incident... before a slow-building chuckle soon became a laugh... and then a groan as the headache returned. It was several seconds before she could reply.

"Truth be told, Doctor, no. I intended to demonstrate by blasting a small hole, maybe a hoof in diameter, through the ceiling. Not completely destroying his roof. Likewise, the previous time I expected to release several, less powerful rays to clear the way through the brambles. Not... that ridiculous beam. No, Doctor, my intent in both cases... wasn't what happened. And if this is what I think it is... it's not good. Not good at all."

Reef considers that for a moment, racking his brain for details about unicorn magic and how it could go wrong. "I seem to recall there are... structural defects, in the horn core, that can cause 'surges' of excessive or uncontrolled magic? Although I'm sure there was a study that showed a good fraction of cases were psychosomatic... the exact percentage escapes me but..."

He paused for a moment, trying to brush aside the trivia and focus on something that could help his patient right now. "Well, it seems that this... problem only occurs when you're actively attempting to employ your abilities? So... no risk to ship and crew... as long as you don't use your magic?" Realising a little late this could be a major issue for a unicorn, he hastily added "Or at least, stick to minimal telekinesis... just until we figure this out."

Azure shook her head. Horn defect? That... that sounded borderline dangerous, and thinking back to both incidents... yup. Really dangerous. More so than the case of magical exhaustion she was thinking of. Meanwhile, with the increasing tension came a renewed pain from her forehead, as she groaned. "Right... I'll keep that in mind. Right..." Her voice carried even more worry than before. She slumped silently, from sheer exhaustion, but the underlying tension remained.

While his patient didn't seem to be in imminent danger, it was clear she needed rest, and perhaps an aspirin. Meanwhile, Summer Tribe and Blue Stripe were still out there, perhaps facing down a whole family of trolls by now. Reef began flapping again, quickly closing the remaining distance to the ship, flaring his wings to come in for a landing near the tip of the gangplank. Assorted crewponies were wandering around, both in the meadow and on the upper deck. Reef cast his gaze about, looking for the third mate (or should he say, acting captain), or failing that one of the griffons or even that surprisingly helpful purple pegasus.

Once the hippogriff was spotted, a small crowd of ponies and other creatures came running, crowding around as he landed and shouting out several questions at once. The din did very little good for Azure's headache. "Okay, okay, hold on!" called out a familiar voice, and progressively all the other creatures fell silent, turning to look at a pegasus wearing a green kerchief, flapping over to land next to Reef and Azure.

"Where are the others?" Set Sail asked the hippogriff, her tone full of alarm, before leaning in next to his shoulder and asking more quietly "Azure, are you okay? What happened out there?"

With a sigh, Azure slid off the doctor's back, followed by a groan as her hooves touched the deck. "Thank you for the ride, Doctor..." she said, looking groggy but more or less able to walk. Turning to Set Sail, she replied "Long story short? From what the doctor tells me, my 'quick magical laser' turned into a 'house-wrecking magical blast', despite my intentions being firmly the former. Migraines now, might be magical exhaustion, they might mean worse, I don't know, I'm worried and most importantly... I really have no idea what's going on. Not here, not with me, and..." She just trailed off after that, looking confused and frustrated.

Reef frowned: clearly it was down to him to explain things to the acting captain, but how to do it without upsetting her again? He still didn't understand why she got upset last time, but everyone was looking at him now and...

Attempting a cheerful smile, he adopted a jovial tone and launched into his report. "Wet Gale! Just the pony, glad to see you Captain. Err, acting captain. So... a bit of a medical emergency here, nothing too serious but had to get the patient back here on the double... Now, Summer Tribe and Blue Stripe, they were just having a little chat with a... erm, troll, that is to say, one of the natives! And I'm sure they're fine, but no doubt they'd be very appreciative if you could, perhaps consider, sending some help? They might need somegriff, somecreature... somepony! Somepony who could fix a roof, say, or maybe they're more in the need of someponies who could rescue them from a family of giant angry primates. Just as a hypothetical, better safe than sorry and all that! So, erm, I'm sure you have that... all under control?" As the crew falls silent one by one, realisation slowly dawns on the hippogriff that this isn't going well. "That's a lovely bandanna, by the way."

The pregnant silence lasted a good few seconds, before Set Sail said carefully "That's probably a good idea. We'll send some flyers to deal with... whatever is going on over there... And you..." The pegasus choked up for a second, her expression a mix of anger and disappointment. "You can go back to working in the infirmary, until further notice." Another long silence, before she added "Don't forget to take off your wing blades."

Reef treated the much smaller pegasus to perhaps his more intense avian stare yet, and for a moment the entire crew tensed as they wondered who would yield. Then the griff cocked his head, saying stiffly "Just as you say, Captain.", before turning away and escorting his exhausted unicorn patient below deck.

---

After a quick pep talk from Set Sail and a few hasty preparations, a motley crew of winged warriors were in flight and heading over to the far side of the island. They landed as silently as possible and proceeded to enter and search the cottage, taking note of the destroyed roof and not helping matters by knocking the surviving furniture over. They then inexpertly tracked the footprints and hoofprints leading away from the cottage, down a secret little side trail off into the jungle.

At the sound of sharp cries coming from ahead, they rushed forward, weapons (mostly improvised, or in Griselda's case, natural) bristling, racing into view of a shallow riverbank, full of rich, clay-like mud. There a unicorn was demonstrating her fearsome power to levitate globs of mud and throw them at a tall, green biped. The strange creature couldn't seem to stop laughing as he threw more mud back, splattering it all over Summer Scribe's beautiful pale blue fur. As the pair waded through the mud in search of more effective weaponry to defeat their laughing foe, a blue maned earth pony named Blue Type stood uneasily at the edge of the mud, hanging her head and shaking it slowly at her two companions.

The mare looked shocked to see her crewmates burst into the scene, full of adrenalin and ready to fight. "Oh, hello! Um..." she began. Behind her the sounds of shrieking and laughter alternated as Summer and Abernathy continued their impromptu mud fight. "Err, Summer! Company!" shouted Blue Type.

Summer Scribe perked up, instinctually leaning to the side to duck a splatter of mud as she looked over towards the commotion. "Oh! Cloud Cutter! Grenelda! There you are." she said cheerfully. The unicorn leaned forward and shake-shake shook the mud off like a dog, then playfully pranced over towards her crewmates. "You're here to..." she paused to take in the angry expressions and weapons on display. "...Oh! Go defeat the Chompies while we watch, right?" Summer finnished with a cheeky grin.

"Where's all the giant angry primates?" Grenelda replied, looking around in bewilderment.

Summer Scribe blink blinked, now somewhat confused herself. "Ah, there must be some miscommunication; Abernathy here's quite nice once you get to know 'im!" She leaned in close to the griffon's beak and whispered urgently... "And we'd better get their roof fixed before too long or there'll be trouble..." before then leaning back and smiling again! "Anyway! We're happy to do 'em a favour, aren't we?"

"If your friend is any indication, they should be more than enough to take on a chompy pit," Abernathy said, walking over to join Summer and the others. He was eyeing the new griffon which seemed rather diminutive compared to the big one he'd seen previously. "We got a little ah... distracted getting some clay for the roof though. Give us a sec to get cleaned up, I'll get my stuff, and then maybe we can go fight some chompies?"

Summer Scribe wriggled herself down, a few lingering globs of mud falling free. "Yeah, sounds good! And, uhh, just to set expectations, these aren't the 'beaming' kind of pony, but they'll kick all kinds of Chompy butt no problem!"

“What are you talking about?” Grenelda the griffon said, still giving Summer a bewildered look. “You want us to fight him?” She gestures to the rather muddy and unassuming troll, who wide-eyed, points to himself in confusion.

Blink blink. Were they not told? "Oh, no, uhh. You know the chompy pit, right? Our troll friend here wants it cleared out, as a favour..." her voice dropped to a lower tone "...and revenge is important, too!" Summer was getting the feeling this isn't what the crew were expecting, so she added an escape hatch: "...but we're not in THAT much of a hurry, so we can leave it for tomorrow if needed!"

A pause to process that, or to decide what to do with this pony, then Grenelda said evenly, “...we’re going back. Already bad enough that doctor was talkin’ up his ass again.”

“Wait a sec!” Abernathy protested, “Summer here is helping me repair my roof right now!”

Summer gave a sad headshake to Abernathy: "I gotta get back, I'm sorry. This is my ride home, and I need to check on Azure..." and maybe Reef, too... "Promise we'll all make it up to you tomorrow, OK?"

Sighing, Abernathy waved her off, saying, “Like I haven’t heard that one before. I’m not forcing you or anything. Your ‘ride’ would make a pincushion out of me if I did.”

“He’s not wrong,” the purple pegasus named Cloud Cutter admitted, idly twirling a knife in her pinions.

Summer Scribe squinted her eyes at the knife. Was that really appropriate? Well, whatever... "Ponies make good on their obligations to others: you have my word!" she said sincerely to Abernathy, before bowing, saluting with a hoof, and pads over to the pegasi.

If Cloud Cutter was even aware how menacing she was being, you certainly can’t see it in her blank, empty eyes. She turned to follow behind Grenelda and the others, as the group made their way back to the clearing in front of the cottage, and the cart Reef Skimmer had abandoned there. A flurry of wingbeats and the group are airborne, leaving Abernathy the troll to sit in his roof-less cottage.

Finally the rescue team returns to their ship, their last missing member found and accounted for. Set Sail is perhaps a little too relieved to see Summer return unharmed, so the others take her aside to tell her what’s going on. Summer would have a restless sleep that night, while Azure would sleep through the whole afternoon and night, recovering from her magic exhaustion.

---

“Hey, Chief Nutmeg. Do you...”

Nutmeg Inferno froze, her expression guilty, the only movement coming from the hovering supplies vaguely bobbing in the air around her. The red-ruffed, brown-furred kirin stood over a set of simple saddle bags, ensconced in the chief engineer’s office, only a thin metal wall away from the rest of the engine.

The grey earth pony had poked his head into the room, his expression turning to disapproval as soon as he saw the bags. “Oh no,” Gearshift said, “You’re packing, aren’t you?”

“I knew you were gonna say that,” Nutmeg replied irritably, turning stiffly to face him, “But I have to. I can’t just stay here anymore.”

“Why not?” he asked testily.

Nutmeg glanced nervously at the oversize radio occupying the corner of the room, still hissing away the eternal forlorn static of a world long gone, as it had since she'd gotten it working the previous night.

“Because what if there are other artifacts?” Nutmeg asked deliberately, drawing herself up to slightly shorter than the stallion’s height, “They need a mechanic to go with them, in case they find more machines like this one.”

“No they don’t,” he said, tone devoid of sympathy, “They’re going to bring any machines they find, back here to you. Because you’re going to stay here, like we all agreed...” at that point he lost his confidence a little, looking away and finishing in a low grumble, “...that it was for the best.”

The blanket and knife descended woefully to the floor as the glow departed from Nutmeg’s branched horn. She looked like she’s going to cry, but instead she shouted, “Dammit!” and kicked that metal wall with as much force as her cute little hind leg could manage. Gearshift backed out of the room as strange fire curls around the frustrated kirin, now dangerously close to flaring up. “There’s always a reason I have to stay here, isn’t there?” she accused him.

“I-i-it was part of the... the deal, you know?” Gearshift said weakly, staring at her in wide-eyed fear.

“Yes I know I’m flaring up,” Nutmeg growled, ignoring the dark flashes of flame along her fur, “I can do it much as I want in these stupid metal rooms, as long as I never leave, right?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, boss,” he said with a desperate grimace of a smile, “You can get out some. Just... d-d-do you need some time alone?”

The kirin looked at her own foreleg, shaking there as its brown fetlock rippled in and out of being just fire. “I-I’m losing it, Gearshift,” she said, “It’s... I swear it’s not that. I swear. I just can’t stop getting angry all the time now, because I just... wanted to...” the fire faded slowly as she concentrated on breathing, and returning to normal, “Because I’m just cooped up in here all the time, and I want...” She sank to her haunches, fully cool for now, “I just wanted to find a way to beat them.” She sighed, hanging her head, “To get out of the... the whole deal.”

“You and I and most of the crew know that you can’t just... get out of it,” the pony said solemnly, “It sucks, but... you know...”

“It’s just stupid, it’s just...” Nutmeg lay fully down on the floor, staring dully at the wall as her tail lashed behind her. “You’re right, I guess, Gearshift,” she said quietly, “I don’t want to hurt anyone. It’s just so hard to resist. I–I’m really curious what else is out there.”

“And the research ponies will bring it right back here, where it’s safe,” Gearshift said soothingly, approaching Nutmeg again, “They’ll find tons of stuff for us to work on, I bet.”

“Yeah, they’ll find it,” Nutmeg replied morosely into her forelegs, “Not me.”

“Sorry to say, but you can’t think of yourself anymore,” Gearshift chided, sitting beside her, “There are other... creatures counting on you. That’s what your role is now, and you have to come to terms with that. And you agreed to stay here, and not do anything risky, so...”

Nutmeg didn’t answer so much as to cry quietly into the soft grey fur of his shoulder. Hating herself for doing so, hating the other members of her crew watching in concerned silence from the door, hating what she is, and wishing that things didn’t have to be this way.

Author's Note:

This story is a collaboration between myself (playing Reef Skimmer), Ferret (playing Nutmeg Inferno), Patashu (playing Summer Scribe) and Spearmint (playing Azure Feather), based on an online RP.

This chapter is based on the eleventh session, narrated / GMed by Ferret, in which Summer Scribe demonstrates impressive pony diplomacy while Reef Skimmer demonstrates how to make a total hash of a simple situation report. The scene at the end is a little bit of solo Nutmeg characterisation from Ferret.