26. Stone-Hearted, Part Two
Previously on My Little Pony...
"We can try building new buildings on The Stone Mountain of Nothingness, which is right on the other side of the South Luna Ocean." Princess Twilight Sparkle announced.
"The Stone Mountain of Nothingness?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It got it's name because nothing is found living near it, nor in it." Princess Twilight Sparkle explained.
"The Council of Friendship are checking out the Stone Mountain of Nothingness, to se if they could build facilities and buildings there?!" Volcano said out loud after reading the newspaper.
"But...doesn't that make the mountain sound a little...dangerous?" Nature Bloom asked.
"Don't worry, every creature! Princess Twilight Sparkle already had her duties covered by telling creatures what should be done around the kingdom before her departure! Plus, the former Ruler of the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance, will be in charge until Princess Twilight returns." Volcano informed, after reading the news.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle said that even though she's away, she will still be raising and setting the sun and the moon at the right time. But look outside!" Gallus said, walking towards the nearest transparent glass window to see the sunset.
"That's odd, the sun should be lower and begin dusk by now." Princess Cadence commented, seeing that it was still half sunset. "Something must have happened. And it mostly isn't something good." the alicorn figured, sounding even more worried.
"I heard that you creatures are chosen to go an adventure mission to find the Council of Friendship at some Stone Mountain..." Trixie began.
"You're going with us?!" Falcon Dive asked in a shocked tone.
"If you all need reminding, you made a deal with me during Hearth's Warming Eve, telling me that you will bring me with you on your next mission or task or adventure!" Trixie explained.
"So, what brings you eleven creatures to my dear Fluttershy's sanctuary?" Discord asked.
"We think something bad might have happened to her, and even...the whole Council of Friendship!" Nature Bloom continued.
"Fluttershy could be in trouble?!" the draconneques asked.
"Volcano, why aren't you looking at what we're looking?" Yellow Bright asked, still frozen in shock and fear.
"Because I wasn't looking in the same direction as you all were when Discord teleported us down here." Volcano answered.
"Now would be a good, or not so good, time to look!" Alkali said in a scared tone, causing Volcano to turn his head to see what they were all looking at: Stone statues of the Council of Friendship!
"Fluttershy!" Discord cried, rushing over to his petrified wife, "What terrible creature could have done this to you?!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TERRIBLE CREATURE?!" a loud, angry-sounding voice roared, startling the twelve visitors.
"Every creature, I think we're not welcomed visitors here..." Luster whimpered.
After the series' theme song intro played, the creatures were still looking in the direction of the petrified members of the Council of Friendship, as it was the same direction as where the voice was coming from.
"Who dares come to my Stone Mountain and turn it into their land?!" the voice's owner growled, revealing her appearance to the unwanted visitors: She had the face of a human, but it was in the colour of grey stone, and she wore a tall, pointy hat that was black like obsidian, and an outfit brown like the soil.
"Sorry for coming here without permission..." Nature Bloom apologised.
"You better be sorry! And lucky that you're not trying to take away the land here on my mountain from me by building some brick thing like every creature I petrified here recently!" the owner of the Stone Mountain of Nothingness claimed.
Discord was shocked and furious to learn that the stranger who owned the mountain revealed herself as the culprit behind the petrification of his beloved, first friend and only wife, Fluttershy, gasping loudly for a second, before his anger activated itself through showing itself, as he roared with fire coming out from his entire body.
"YOU PETRIFIED FLUTTERSHY?! YOU STONE-HEARTED MONSTER! MISSY, I GOT ONE WORD FOR YOU: YOU'RE DOOMED!"
"That's actually two words..." Yellow Bright commented.
"And actually supposed to be three if said in a composition that is formal, or when you are talking to some creature that you must respect. Because you cannot use such phrases as can't, don't and obviously what was just said, you're. You have to write 'cannot', 'do not', and 'you are' instead. The same thing goes for when you talk." Volcano explained.
"But, I don't remember not saying those phrases in front of royalty! What if I said them a trillion times?! In front of some creatures I'm supposed to respect?!" Alkali asked.
The creatures' conversation was stopped when they heard a magic zap, and light flashing nearby. To their horror, the stranger who owned the mountain had turned Discord into a stone statue, as well! What was the most shocking was even the fire that his body was producing got turned into stone, so the stone statue was a stone statue of Discord on fire, with everything, both Discord and the fire, made of stone.
"She can petrify fire, too?!" Krona asked in total shock.
"But, fire isn't matter to begin with. It's not solid, liquid, nor gas." Volcano pointed out.
"Of course I can petrify fire." the stranger said, before beginning to threaten the not petrified creatures, "And I can obviously petrify you creatures, especially when I am conspicuously indignant!"
"What does that mean?" Buffer asked.
"Just get out of here, every creature!" Volcano instructed as loud as he could, since he knew what the stranger meant, being able to understand the rare words.
The stranger was about to attack the creatures, but was too slow as Luster reacted quickly, teleporting the eleven, including herself, away from the Stone Mountain of Nothingness.
"That's right. Never mess with me! Just get out of here!" the stranger snapped, after seeing the elven unwanted visitors vanish into thin air in front of her.
Meanwhile, the Heroic Ten and their ally accompanying them for the adventure, Trixie, winded up in the middle of air and water, as they did not make it all the way back to Equestria.
"Uh oh! I forgot that Equestria is too far from the Stone Mountain of Nothingness for one teleportation spell!" Luster cried, before falling down towards the ocean with the creatures incapable of flight.
"Come on, flyers! You know the drill!" Falcon Dive shouted, signalling the creatures capable of flight to dive to the rescue.
Falcon Dive caught Yellow Bright, Sunshine Rays saved Evergreen, Nature Bloom caught Luster, Volcano got Buffer, while Alkali saved Krona, and was struggling to keep the yak away from the water below.
"Krona...you're heavy...even for...me..." the hippogriff said, while having a hard time to carry and lift her yak Best Friend.
"What about me?!" Trixie asked, still falling towards the water.
Luster quickly used her magic to levitate Trixie up into the air, just in time before Trixie's front hooves could make contact with the water.
"Sorry..." Nature Bloom apologised.
"We are just too used to having jus the ten of us," Sunshine Rays went on.
"Five flyers, five non-flyers." Krona stated.
"And each flyer and non-flyer have each other," Buffer continued.
"Whenever something like this happens..." Evergreen ended.
"Looks like we never prepared for having an extra creature with us on such adventures..." Yellow Bright commented.
"And we obviously never prepared for a situation that has one of us struggling to keep a heavy yak from falling into an ocean below!" Alkali cried, as she was starting to lose her grip as her claws swollen, becoming worse and worse with each passing second.
"I have an idea!" Nature Bloom announced, before asking Luster, "Can you levitate yourself for a few seconds?"
"While resuming levitating me!" Trixie called.
"Is that even the right way to say it?" Falcon Dive asked Volcano.
"I believe the more correct way to say that is 'While still levitating me'." Volcano answered.
"Don't worry, Guidance Counsellor Trixie, telling me that is enough to make me remember your presence!" Luster called back, before levitating herself as Nature Bloom flew off.
"Where are you going?" Buffer asked.
"I'm going to need lots of space to do this!" Nature Bloom replied, before using her changeling powers to transform herself into the largest animal her best friends had ever seen, because it was the largest animal known to exist on Earth: A Blue Whale!
The other creatures watched with wide oval eyes as Nature Bloom in her blue whale form made a huge splash upon landing in the water, causing a massive wave like a tsunami that rose above them!
"Run!" Falcon Dive shouted.
"More like fly!" Yellow Bright commented.
But it was too late, the wave had already gone over them and came crashing down on them. Fortunately, Nature Bloom the blue whale was able to get the right position so all of her best friends, and her former school's Guidance Counsellor, would be safe on her back as she rose up to the surface like a whale would, making a slippery 'island' for the creatures.
"Sorry every creature, this is my very first time transforming into a blue whale, currently the biggest animal known to live on Earth!" Nature Bloom apologised.
"Well...at least I don't have to struggle from carrying a heavy yak anymore..." Alkali commented, before quickly turning to Krona, "No offence, really."
"None taken." Krona quickly replied.
"I can easily understand why you never transformed into a blue whale before..." Buffer began.
"Because they're so big, they probably won't even fit in the biggest swimming pool!" Yellow Bright finished.
"But they can most likely fit in Mount Aris' waters of Seaquestria." Nature Bloom figured.
"Doesn't matter, let's not forget why we ended up here, every creature." Trixie announced in an unhappy tone.
"Sorry, every creature. I actually wanted to teleport us all back to Ponyville, or somewhere in Equestria, but forgot that it is too far for one teleportation spell! That's why we all ended up soaking wet in the middle of the South Luna Ocean." Luster apologised.
"I'm not talking about you, Luster." Trixie clarified, "I'm talking about that stranger! Saying that she petrified the Council of Friendship, then petrified some creature as powerful as the Lord of Chaos right in front of our eyes! And threatened us like that!"
"Maybe Discord was just pretending to be taken out like he did when King Sombra took over Ponyville and Canterlot ages ago..." Falcon Dive figured.
"But even if he did, that creature with a face that's the same colour as stone is still...very mysterious if you ask me..." Luster commented.
"Mysterious?! More like dangerous!" Alkali exclaimed.
"If she could petrify an alicorn, what chances do we have against her?!" Evergreen asked.
"Not to forget how she petrified fire, too!" Krona reminded.
"And used some very rare words!" Yellow Bright added, "I've never heard of the words 'conspicuously indignant' before...what do they mean?"
"Actually those words don't have to always be together, first of all.Conspicuously means in a clearly visible way. Indignant means feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment." Volcano defined.
"We are so lucky to have you around." Alkali remarked.
"So no matter what some creature else says, we will always know what they mean!" Evergeen added.
"More like you all can always know what they mean because you all have me to define the rare words you've never seen nor heard before!" Volcano declared, sounding proud of himself.
"I can't believe whoever that was knows how to use such rare words, to begin with!" Sunshine Rays apprised.
"I don't think she has a dictionary for starters because she doesn't live with society..." Falcon Dive opined.
"And by the way she reacted to society..." Trixie contributed.
"And petrifies society..." Krona added.
"Especially when what she meant suggests that she feels that she isn't treated fairly..." Luster ended.
"Now what are we going to do?! We cannot go back there and face her!" Nature Bloom asked.
"Doing something like that will be very foolish indeed!" Sunshine Rays added, supporting Nature Bloom's laest sentence.
"Can we first try to find somewhere to rest? Nature Bloom can't be a whale on the surface with us on her back forever!" Falcon Dive stated.
"You're right," Luster responded, before instructing, "Creatures capable of flight, can you try to find us some land nearby, that's big enough to fit all of us?"
"Roger that!" Falcon Dive responded, stretching his wings and ready for flight, but unfortunately, his wet wings prevented him from taking off, as he just fell back down onto Nature Bloom the blue whale's slippery back, a second after he leapt off to lose contact with it.
"Your wings are too wet for flight, Falcon Dive." Sunshine Rays informed, walking towards him.
"Then instead of flight, I'm going to use swim to get things right!" Alkali rhymed, before she leapt into the South Luna Ocean and transformed into a sea pony, racing back up to the surface to show her friends.
"It's been a while since we last saw that," Buffer remarked.
"I'll get back as soon as I find land!" Alkali called.
"Just remember to make sure that that land you find for us to rest on is not land that belongs to a creature who's unwelcoming! Especially that stranger who petrified fire!" Trixie called.
"Wow, that's such an important detail after what happened back there." Yellow Bright commented.
"I don't think any of us would have said that after all the talking," Evergreen responded.
"Maybe that's why you're the Guidance Counsellor, you can remind students of some things." Luster figured.
"Maybe?" Trixie responded, glaring at Luster, who backed off for a while, before Trixie giggled, "Gotcha!"
"Sense of humour, that's something I never expected to see from our Guidance Counsellor!" Buffer commented.
The next second, the creatures began to hear loud growling.
"What was that?" Krona asked, a bit scared.
"It's us." Falcon Dive replied.
"No, Krona meant that growling." Krona clarified.
"What Falcon meant was, that growling is us, or to be more precise, our stomachs because we're hungry." Sunshine Rays explained.
"We haven't eaten since dinner!" Nature Bloom commented.
"And with the sun stuck at half sunset, we won't even know if this timing, right now, is the next day morning or not!" Volcano cried, "We got to think of a way to undo that petrification, or we'll never know which day it is, ever again."
"Can't we just use our calendars?" Falcon Dive asked.
"One day is actually how long it takes for a planet to completely rotate before repeating the process!" Volcano informed, "That's why the sun is at different positions at different times of a day. Wth the sun stuck at half sunset, it's like the Earth stopped rotating." Volcano explained.
"Look on the bright side, during this period, plants can photosynthesise and make food for themselves, and us, and give out the oxygen that we breathe and need, and get rid of all of our carbon dioxide and pollution stuff!" Yellow Bright figured.
"Not completely all the carbon dioxide, but the main point is, the sun needs to be where it needs to be and soon, because we can't have half sunset forever!" Volcano informed, just before his stomach growled.
"We can't stay hungry forever, neither!" Evergreen stated.
"Good thing we brought our backpacks of supplies," Luster said, levitating hr lunchbox filled with snacks out of her backpack.
"Looks like Alkali left hers here, while she swims out to find land!" Volcano spoke, noticing his hippogriff best friend's backpack left right next to his.
"She can be starving like the rest of us!" Buffer figured.
"We got to find her!" Luster declared.
"But how? She can be anywhere in this huge ocean!" Sunshien Rays reminded.
"And I can't fly up there!" Falcon Dive reminded.
"I believe that I can help with that!" Trixie declared, as her horn lit up. The next thing the creatures knew, Trixie was levitating Falcon Dive up into the sky, in a harmless, not harsh way.
"Wait, if you can levitate Falcon, why didn't you levitate yourself back there?" Sunshien Rays asked.
"I...kind of forgot..." Trixie nervously giggled.
"Doesn't matter, I'm getting a great view from up here!" Falcon Dive called.
"Do you see Alkali?!" Volcano asked.
"Nope, maybe if I went even higher, I can see more ground." Falcon Dive figured.
"Don't you mean, water?!" Yellow Bright called.
"Whatever, Alkali's most likely will be on the water surface since she is looking for land. So it's worth it to look from very high up!" Volcano declared.
"Got it, super high, Falcon Dive!" Trixie responded, levitating Falcon Dive even higher into the sky.
"That's as high as Cloudsdale is!" Sunshine Rays commented.
"And high enough! I see an indigo thing on the surface! It must be Alkali!" Falcon Dive announced.
"Where?!" Later asked, calling with her face facing up.
"North East! from where I'm facing!" Falcon Dive shouted.
"Did you hear that Nature Bloom?" Luster asked.
"Yes, but, I can't see where Falcon Dive is facing, unlike all of you. How do I know where his North East is?" Nature Bloom asked.
"Allow Trixie to help with this one." Trixie declared, "Nature Bloom, would you kindly rotate yourself in the opposite of clockwise direction?"
"You could have just said anti-clockwise!" Volcano remarked.
"But that's still simple enough to understand," Nature Bloom responded, doing as she was told, and swam towards Alkali, who was still searching for land.
"Got to find...land..." the sea pony said, swimming further just before she heard her best friends calling, "Alkali!"
The sea pony turned to see Nature Bloom the blue whale with the other Heroic Ten members riding on her back.
"What are ou doing following me? I told you I'm off searching for land." Alkali asked.
"We figured you might be hungry from everything we been through so far." Volcano answered.
"Come on up and have a snack." Sunshine Rays added.
"But what about Nature Bloom? What is she going to eat?" Alkali asked.
"Blue whales eat a lot every day! I don't think you'll ever have enough food to feed me in this form..." Nature Bloom stated.
"The we need to find land!" Trixie declared.
"Falcon, did you see any land when you were up there?" Luster turned to the griffon, whom Trixie had placed back down on Nature Bloom the blue whale's back.
"Nope, and I guess that's why no creature wants to come this far." Falcon Dive nodded.
"And I might take a day or more to swim every creature back!" Nature Bloom informed, before her stomach growled.
"Especially when you're starving." Evergreen stated.
"Perhaps another teleportation spell should do the trick?" Trixie asked.
"But, Nature Bloom's a blue whale now, we can't teleport her to land!" Luster stated.
"How about Mount Aris?" Alkali suggested, returning to her hippogriff form as she boarded the whale.
"You mean Seaquestria." Volcano corrected.
"Seaquestria, it is!" Trixie announced, before Luster teleported every creature there.
At the beach, crabs were walking sideways as usual, before they were startled by the sudden appearance of a blue whale in
the sea nearby, and the creatures riding on top of her.
Trixie then teleported every creature with the exception of Nature Bloom to shore, where they were glad to be.
"Home sweet, land. Krona missed you so much!" Krona happily cried, relaxing in the sand.
Nature Bloom transformed back into a changeling and flew towards her best friends, "I'm glad that I don't have to be a hungry blue whale any more."
"Have your snack, Nature. You really need it." Evergreen said, levitating Nature Bloom's backpack towards the changeling, thing out the latter's lunchbox.
Just then, Luster got a magic-sent letter from Princess Cadence.
"Oh no...I forgot to write letters to Princess Cadence to keep her updated about the situation!" Luster cried.
"Just tell her that we're alright?" Yellow Bright figured.
"But what if she asks about the Council of Friendship?" Luster questioned, causing every creature to look uncomfortable.
"Maybe we should no utter a word about them?" Falcon Dive asked.
"Or maybe, you can say the Council of Friendship have some problems currently, and we're working on how to help them!" Trixie suggested.
"Is Guidance Counsellor Trixie sure that what she said and just suggested isn't a lie?" Krona asked.
"Well, being petrified is a problem..." Trixie began, before she was interrupted by Falcon Dive.
"The worst problem ever if you ask me right now!"
"Being petrified is indeed one of the worst problems ever, and if that's a problem that they're facing and we're helping them to face, as we're facing the same problem, and working on how to help them!" Trixie explained.
"Kind of makes sense..." Volcano commented.
"Anything better than writing something that will most likely have high chances of making its readers panic!" Sunshine Rays went on.
"Alright," Luster began, getting ready to write, until she realised something unfortunate.
"Oh no...my scrolls and quit are soaked from the water!"
"I'm really sorry, Luster. I just thought of transforming into a blue whale to carry all of you! Never thought much about the part where I myself never transformed into the said animal before!" Nature Bloom apologised.
"That's alright Nature, at least you helped us all!" Trixie assured.
"And I think I know how to fix your scroll and paper." Evergreen said, walking towards Luster, levitating the scroll and quiz down onto the sand before she heated them up with her control of heat.
"Thanks, Evergreen!" Luster thanked, "Now, to write. Dear Princess Cadence, sorry about not responding to you for a while, as the Heroic Ten ran into lots of obstacles along the way, but found the Council of Friendship! And, we are currently trying to think of a way to help the council with a problem that they are facing..."
"Or maybe we should tell her the truth?" Sunshine Rays suddenly figured, "I mean, maybe Princess Cadence can help?"
"And since hiding the truth from Princess Twilight Sparkle made things worse at the last Summer Sun Celebration, maybe we really should tell the truth..." Volcano said after thinking twice.
"They're right, Luster. Sorry about that first idea not being the right one..." Trixie applied.
"That's alright, we all know that you're tying to help." Luster assured, before adding, "Plus, maybe Princess Cadence can handle it."
Luster's sentence was proven wrong when Princess Cadence was shocked to read the last-minute changed letter from the Heroic Ten.
"Turned to stone?!" the alicorn cried.
"Get it together, your majesty, they can be unpetrified, somehow..." Gallus tried to calm the temporary Ruler of Equestria down.
"We got to save my sister-in-law and her friends!" Princess Cadence continued, "But how if we don't know what this creature that petrified them is?!"
"Don't worry, even if the Heroic Ten doesn't find a way, some creature would." Gallus assured.
"Alright...so maybe telling her the truth isn't so good..." Luster announced after taking a look at a reply she got from Princess Cadence, causing every creature to know what it meant.
"Sorry every creature, I'm supposed to be a Guidance Counsellor, but I did not stop you from letting this happen." Trixie apologised.
"Calm down, mistakes are natural." Evergreen assured.
"But now we got to find out what can undo the petrification, in fast!" Luster declared.
"Saying is a lot easier than doing!" Alkali commented.
"Maybe we need some very powerful magic, like ancient magic..." Volcano said his thoughts out loud.
"Wait a second, ancient!" Luster cried, "That reminds me of some creature I think that can help..."
The next thing the Heroic Ten and Trixie knew, was they were hiking through the trees in the area Luster and Gloss Semblance went when the Cutie Map called them.
"Can't believe Xian Zhe lives here!" Falcon Dive commented.
"And I can't believe that he's an ancient serpent that I heard nothing about before you creatures told me and showed me on the day after Luster's birthday party recently...." Trixie added.
"I remember that the secret entrance to Xian Zhe's hideout is the top of a boulder." Luster recalled.
"Like that one?" Volcano asked, pointing at a boulder.
"Good eyes, Volcano!" Luster complimented.
Luster then teleported the eleven creatures onto the boulder's top, which was actually a portal to Xian Zhe's well-hidden home, to most of the visitors' surprise.
Once they reached their destination, Xian Zhe greeted them,"Welcome, Heroic Ten, and your former school's Guidance Counsellor Trixie. What a surprise to see you again."
"You're not upset that we never announced this visit before it happens?" Nature Bloom asked.
"No really, unless you're some creature up to no good." Xian Zhe answered.
"Speaking of no good, a powerful creature turned the Council of Friendship..." Luster began, before being interrupted by Falcon Dive who added, "And Discord the Lord of Chaos when he was in angry, raging with fire mode...."
"Into stone." Luster finished.
"A creature who is powerful enough to turn creatures into stone?" Xian Zhe asked.
"Powerful creatures, that is." Krona pointed out.
"And it's obviously not a cockatrice, because she turned a chariot into stone!" Buffer informed.
"Then that can mean only one thing out of all the creatures who can petrify others." Xian Zhe began, before announcing, "A Stone Witch."
"A Stone Witch?!" the eleven creatures repeated in shock.
Xian Zhe nodded, "Stone Witches are very rare, but can live for very long, as long as a century! A hundred years that consist the estimated number of days in a year, and estimated hours in a day that every creature uses instead of the extremely accurate."
"There are actually 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds in a day to be more accurate, while a year is 365.2422 days, to be more accurate." Luster told every creature else what the ancient serpent told her not so long ago.
"But why would a Stone Witch be so unwelcoming?" Nature Bloom asked.
"To the point that she petrifies some creatures just because they were building something on what she calls 'her mountain'?" Sunshine Rays added.
"Sorry every creature, but Stone Witches are so rare, that not even ancient serpents like me know everything about them, other than the fact that when something is petrified by a Stone Witch, only that Stone Witch can undo the process." Xian Zhe apologised.
The creatures gasped to hear and find out what the only way to undo the petrification was.
"We have to get that Stone Witch to turn the Council of Friendship back to themselves?!" Falcon Dive asked.
"But we all saw how dangerous she was back there!" Buffer responded.
"She can petrify fire!" Krona contributed.
"Which is not matter, unlike most things, because it doesn't have a solid, liquid, nor gaseous state!" Volcano
"And how she threatened us back there?!" Alkali reminded.
"There's no way we can get her to release the petrified!" Sunshine Rays ended.
"Maybe we shouldn't fight her at all?" Trixie asked.
"WHAT?!" The Heroic Ten asked in unison.
"But, how else can we get her to un-petrify the Council?" Luster questioned.
"And Discord?" Yellow Bright added.
"And the chariot and Royal Guards." Evergreen contributed.
"As Guidance Counsellor of the School of Friendship for the longest of time, I had to do a lot of talking compared to doing something other than talking." Trixie began.
"Of course, you're a Guidance Counsellor, you have to speak to others!" Falcon Dive pointed out.
"But even my advice and suggestions managed to get things done!" Trixie explained, "Even though they are not much of an action."
"I think what your Guidance Counsellor means is, maybe you shouldn't fight the Stone Witch, you should try to reason with her." Xian Zhe clarified.
"That does sound better than fighting." Nature Bloom commented.
"Indeed. The quill is mightier than the horn." Xian Zhe agreed.
Most of the visitors were confused, but Volcano was not, as he knew what the ancient serpent meant, "That's a proverb that means writing is more effective than military power or violence."
"Writing?" Alkali asked, looking at Volcano with a smile that resembled a smirk.
"Alright, not just writing, but saying and communicating are more effective than military power and violence." Volcano corrected.
"That's a great proverb, Volcano! I should get some lessons from you someday." Trixie commented.
"First of all, I didn't make that proverb. Second of all, what lessons do you want from me, anyway?" Volcano asked.
"Why, vocabulary and proverbs lessons, of course! You live in the Castle of Friendship near where I live, unless I move my wagon of course, but the point is, we live so close, it is so convenient to see each other! So I could just go over to ask you proverbs and vocabulary, anytime!" Trixie explained.
"I will like to teach you what I know about vocabulary and proverbs like I like teaching others, but I'm not so available, so it's not really 'anytime'." Volcano answered, before Alkali reminded him of the current situation.
"Doesn't matter that now! We got to think of how are we going to communicate with a Stone Witch!"
"And be very, very careful!" Krona added.
"Not to be negative, but if we got one part wrong, we might wind up like the Council of Friendship!" Buffer stated.
"Then we should start practising! Because practice makes perfect!" Trixie declared.
"Actually, no creature can be perfect, even if they practised a trillion times." Volcano pointed out, "Practice makes perfect is just another proverb, meaning that the only way to be good at something is to doing it again and again."
"Doesn't matter, we got to practice before the test!" Luster declared.
"The test?" Yellow Bright asked.
"Facing the Stone Witch for real?" Luster clarified.
"Oh...right." Yellow Bright responded.
"But, how are we going to practise facing a Stone Witch?" Nature Bloom asked.
"There's no way we can have a real Stone Witch to help us practise for communicating with the one that petrified the Council of Friendship." Sunshine Rays contributed.
"Maybe you should get some creature to pretend to be a Stone Witch for you to practise?" Trixie suggested.
"Don't look at me, changelings can't use their powers unless it's a job, play, or an emergency." Nature Bloom reminded, "King Thorax, Prince Pharynx, and all of Equestria and Beyond accept this rule."
"And breaking the rules is no way to be a hero." Sunshine Rays added, "Because heroes do what is right, not what is wrong!"
"And even if I could transform into a Stone Witch, I don't have the personality of one. So that won't be a good practice, would that?" Nature Bloom asked, receiving a nod from all the other creatures.
"Maybe we don't really need a Stone Witch for the practices!" Trixie said out loud after thinking for a while, "Maybe we need some creature who has a personality similar to the Stone Witch's personality!"
"Would that work?!" Falcon Dive asked.
"It most likely would!" Evergreen answered.
"Because the School of Friendship taught us that what we are don't make us us, it's our personality and character that does!" Buffer recalled.
"So, if we practised communicating with some creature with a personality similar to the Stone Witch's..." Yellow Bright began.
"By the time we face the real Stone Witch, we know how to handle her!" Falcon Dive figured.
"Yes indeed!" Alkali nodded.
"But, where are we going to find some creature who's personality is similar to that Stone Withc's?" Volcano questioned, before every creature turned to look at Sunshine Rays.
"Why is every creature looking at me?!" the white pegasus asked.
"Because you cannot stand immorality nor anything bad, going insane even when you think about them!" Luster explained.
"I may go insane, but I've started calming down recently. Most likely because I realised that going that insane isn't much help." Sunshine Rays informed.
"But, you are still very strict and check on us and our stuff to make sure we're doing nothing wrong!" Falcon Dive pointed out.
"I'd rather be strict than mad." Sunshine Rays responded.
"Even if she goes insane that badly, her personality is still not a very good match to that of the Stone Witch you talked about." Xian Zhe told the creatures, after taking a close look at the white pegasus.
"Then we're just going to have to practise with each other pretending to be the Stone Witch?" Yellow Bright suggested.
"Actually, a non-Stone Witch can have a similar personality to an actual Stone Witch, you just need to think carefully about what the Stone Witch's personality was like, then think of creatures you know, and keep on thinking until you find a match or something close." Xian Zhe advised.
"Well, from what we observed, the Stone Witch was very dangerous when angry." Yellow Bright stated.
"Actually, a lot of animals are like that, too. Even us creatures sometimes." Volcano pointed out.
"And she must be intelligent to know rare words!" Alkali added.
"And she sure wasn't happy when Discord snapped at her before she turned him to stone." Buffer contributed.
"Not to mention the fire he had as well." Krona reminded.
"Well one thing for sure of, she's not the only creature who can get upset with Discord." Trixie informed, "Even I can get upset with Discord, you all saw that. And if I were the Stone Witch, I might have done that to him out of anger."
"That?" Nature Bloom asked.
"You mean petrify Discord, don't you?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"Of course that's what I meant!" Trixie nodded.
"Wait a minute, get upset with Discord and would have petrified him if can?!" Luster said out loud after thinking for a while, "And...got upset with us when felt that we're distrusting you and accusing you of something you didn't do during Hearth's Warming Eve without proof, since it can feel like you're treated unfairly, which makes you mad! Guidance Counsellor Trixie, I think you're the best for the job!"
"Of course I, Trixie, is the best for the job!" Trixie announced like she would when she was performing.
"Best for what job?" Krona questioned.
"Not a regular job that creatures do to earn bits, but a task. And this task is to pretend to be the Stone Witch for our practice communication!" Luster clarified.
"That makes sense." Evergreen commented.
"If that's what you need, then that's what you shall get, Heroic Ten!" Trixie declared.
"We sure are lucky that we brought her along this adventure!" Buffer remarked.
"She has been very helpful after all..." Nature Bloom contributed.
"Even though we are not used to having more non-flyers than flyers to rescue, and the fact that she never succeeded in preventing us from sending a letter that could make the temporary Ruler of Equestria panic?" Falcon Dive asked, receiving a glare from every creature, before nervously chuckling "Whoops, just talking like a griffon..."
During a montage, the whole Heroic Ten team practised talking to Trixie, all facing her while being careful with their words as they spoke, while Xian Zhe kept watching how the practices went, and after each practice, he gave advice and suggestions on how to get better. Soon, the practices paid off with the Heroic Ten succeeding in achieving their practice goal of convincing the practice Stone Witch.
"Now will you please turn all the petrified creatures back to normal?" Luster asked.
"I'm convinced, by all of you...so...I guess I will." Trixie replied..
"Well done every creature, well-played." Xian Zhe congratulated.
"Thanks for helping us too, Xian Zhe." Nature Bloom thanked.
"Totally, because not all of us are experts with nice words!" Yellow Bright added.
"And not all of us are able to control ourselves so well." Falcon Dive contributed.
"I'm sure you creatures have the potential, making the Elements of Purity after all!" Xian Zhe pointed out.
"Those elements are just our virtues' group name." Evergreen stated.
"But it's still a good name, for a group of really good values!" Sunshine Rays remarked.
"Is there a virtue for the state of being not easy to distract, because we do seem to lack that!" Luster asked, reminding every creature of what they were supposed to do.
"Actually, there's the adjective attentive which means..." Volcano began, before being cut off by Falcon Dive.
"Define that and tell us unneeded info later, Volcano! We gt some petrified creatures on the Stone Mountain of Nothingness to save!"
At the Stone Mountain of Nothingness, the Stone Witch had moved all of the petrified creatures to a cliffside on the mountain, making the area look like a stone statue garden. "Finally a good spot for all these statues, making them good for something," the Stone Witch said to herself, before turning to the petrified bricks, "Now what should I do with their building materials?"
"Is any creature on this mountain?!" Luster's voice could be heard calling, catching the Stone Witch's attention towards Trixie and most of the Heroic Ten in their regular forms, since Nature Bloom was in her blue whale form to carry every creature.
"You creatures again?!" the Stone Witch asked the creatures that were in the waters surrounding the Stone Mountain of Nothingness.
"Yes, it's us." Falcon Dive responded.
"And we would like to communicate with you." Evergreen added.
"Communicate with me?!" the Stone Witch asked.
"Communicate means share or exchange information, news, or ideas." Volcano defined.
"Or just talking or reasoning..." Alkali contributed.
"I know what communicate means, I was just shocked because no creature ever said that word to me." the Stone Witch responded.
"Well, now there are some creatures who have." Krona stated.
"And we're here to ask you nicely," Buffer began, before asking, "Why did you petrify the creatures who came here before we did?"
"What did they do?" Sunshine Rays questioned.
"What did they do?!" the Stone Witch huffed, "They tried to invade my mountain, that's what they did!"
"Can you please explain what you mean?" Trixie asked.
"They were building something out of bricks on my mountain! So they obviously must be trying to build themselves a home on my mountain!" the Stone Witch snapped.
"First of all, did you even talk to them?" Trixie questioned.
"I did, I asked 'What are you doing on my mountain?' and then got a reply from the blue pony with wings and rainbow mane and tail that was 'Your mountain?' That response made me furious, as it makes me think that they're claiming my mountain as theirs!" the Stone Witch roared.
"Anything else after that?" Trixie asked.
"The tall purple pony with a flowing mane, long horn, and large wings told me 'We didn't mean to invade, we thought that no creature lives here.' She said 'invade', and that made me even more furious as it confirms my thoughts of them taking over my mountain!" the Stone Witch's voice grew louder and louder towards the end of her last sentence.
"Very keen listening," Buffer commented.
"But she did said that they did not know that some creature lives on your mountain!" Luster cried.
"That still doesn't give them the rights to invade it, does that?!" the Stone Witch huffed.
"How about this, we take all of the creatures you recently petrified back home and make sure no creature else bothers you again by telling them that you live on your mountain?" Trixie offered.
"Are you sure you're not trying to make me a target for a whole army of your kind?!" the Stone Witch asked.
"We aren't trying to start a fight!" Evergreen informed.
"Why else would we want to talk to you?" Yellow Bright asked.
"The quill is mightier than the horn!" Nature Bloom quoted.
"Which means that writing, or communicating is more effective than military power or violence!" Volcano defined.
The definition made the Stone Witch pause for a while, as she calmed down, "I never thought of it like that."
"You're not the only one," Falcon Dive commented.
"Now will you let us explain?" Sunshine Rays asked.
The Stone Witch nodded, "The whole thing."
"Alright, most of the creatures you recently petrified are the Council of Friendship, the tallest pony with the horn and wings that you referred to earlier is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Ruler of Equestria, and they were looking for more land to build things for the kingdom that they came from," Luster began.
"They figured that your mountain has no creatures living on it, nor around it, so they decided to check it out!" Krona contributed.
"They never knew that the mountain belonged to you, so they started building..." Buffer continued.
"Probably to test and see if your mountain was capable of withstanding the weight of buildings." Sunshine Rays added.
"We don't know much about them after that, other than their words enraged you and made you think that they're invading your mountain, so you petrified them." Volcano ended.
"So, does that mean that they never wanted to invade my mountain?" the Stone Witch asked.
"Well, if they knew that your mountain is yours, they most likely would leave it alone!" Nature Bloom answered.
"In other words, they never have intentions to invade some creature else's home or territory, or mountain!" Alkali clarified.
"I didn't know that..." the Stone Witch responded, "I've been alone for a long time, ever since I left my mother half century ago...never talked to any creature since then, just petrify things..."
"So is that why you petrified every creature you petrified recently?" Evergreen asked in a gentle tone.
"Probably yes...because that's what Stone Witches do: Less talking, more petrifying." the Stone Witch answered.
"We can help you learn to communicate with others, if you'd like." Yellow Bright offered.
"It's your decision whether you would like to learn that or not, we're willing to accept whatever you choose." Falcon Dive quickly added.
"I never thought of any of this before...and if it caused so much trouble for myself and you creatures to go with the motto 'less talking, more petrifying'...I don't think that's the motto I like anymore...so" the Stone Witch said her thoughts out loud before taking a deep breath, "I suppose I'd like to give it a try."
"That's great...we'd love to help any creature learn the magic of friendship!" Trixie declared.
"In case you're wondering, the magic of friendship has something to do with communication, too!" Luster informed, "By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Luster Dawn, but every creature is used to call me Luster instead ofmy full name. I am a unicorn born in Ponyville, but got sent to Sire's Hollow to be raised by my grandparents, then went to Canerlot to attend a special school, and lastly, returned to Ponyville where my parents live in order to attend the friendship school they ran, before graduating."
"I'm Falcon Dive, a griffon originally from Griffonstone." Falcon Dive introduced.
"I'm Yellow Bright, an Earth Pony originally from Manhattan." Yellow Bright stated.
"I'm Evergreen, a Kirin originally from the Kirin village in the Peaks of Peril." Evergreen continued.
"I'm Alkali, a hippogriff originally from Mount Aris, and like most hippogriffs, I wear a necklace that gives me the power to switch between being a hippogriff and a sea pony." Alkali explained.
"I'm Nature Bloom, and I currently am not in my normal form, as you can see that I currently am a blue whale carrying all my best friends. I am actually a changeling originally from the Changeling Kingdom." Nature Bloom elaborated.
"I'm Volcano, a dragon from the Dragon Lands who loved learning all sorts of skills since I was little." Volcano informed.
"I'm Sunshine Rays, a pegasus originally from Cloudsdale." Sunshine Rays added.
"I'm Buffer, a buffalo originally from Appleloosa." Buffer said.
"And I'm Krona, yak originally from Yakyakistan." Krona declared.
"Those ten creatures are called the Heroic Ten starting from their graduation day because they saved every creature." Trixie informed, "I am Trixie, the Guidance Counsellor of the School of Friendship, so I have a job of giving advice to creatures who need it."
"You creatures sure are lucky that you have a guidance counsellor on your side, because you really talked me through!" the Stone Witch commented, before revealing her name, "Now that you've all introduced yourselves, it's my turn to introduce myself. I'm Roka, as in, my name is Roca."
"It's nice to meet you Roca," Luster responded, "Especially when you're a lot calmer now."
"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble, it's just natural Stone Witch behaviour to not know much about communicating with others, preferring to be alone and make their own stone habitat to reside in. That's why I call this mountain my mountain, because I built it myself decades ago." the Stone Witch explained.
"Stone Witches build their won stone habitats?! That's something not even our friend knows." Volcano commented.
"Because not much is known about Stone Witches." Nature Bloom informed.
"Every reason for the Council of Friendship to not know what he right thing to do is when thy encounter one." Sunshine Rays added.
"Speaking of the Council of Friendship, do you think they're going to forget what I did to them once they're freed?" Roca asked.
"Even better than forget, they are totally going to forgive you!" Falcon Dive stated.
"Because they forgave a whole lot of creatures for years!" Krona declared.
"And will you please un-petrify the chariot, and all the other creatures you've petrified?" Evergreen asked.
"We'll reason with them, they know us, and we know them!" Alkali chimed in.
"And please don't forget the latest creature you petrified, I'm sure once you've un-petrified the Council of Friendship, he would not be so angry anymore." Sunshine Rays stated.
"Most likely." Buffer added.
"I usually un-petrify things that I've petrified by mistake...but if you insist...here I go...un-petrifying living creatures for the very first time..." Roca responded, walking towards the stone statues.
Luster teleported her best friends and Trixie onto the mountain, right next to their new Stone Witch friend, while Nature Bloom changed back into her normal form and approached them thought flight.
Roca made a gentle step before releasing magical beams from her hands, which shone on the stone statues, causing cracks to appear. Once the cracks broke, the petrified creatures ad chariot, were all back to normal. Discord, once freed, winded up yelling and jumping off the mountain and into the ocean,(because when he was still a statue, Roca had moved and turned him so he was facing the ocean) to the recently un-petrified creatures' confusion.
Discord quickly rose up to the ocean surface, sayang, "I didn't mean to do that."
"It's alright, Discord, every creature is un-petrified, and the creature whom you initially wanted to fight, is the one who un-petrified them, so there's no need to fight!" Falcon Dive called.
"Wait, what?!" Applejack asked.
"We managed to reason with the Stone Witch who petrified you all," Nature Boom began.
"Stone Witch?" Princess Twilight Sparkle asked.
"A rare creature with the power to turn anything, including non-matter such as fire, into stone." Volcano explained.
"And since they're very rare, not much is known about them!" Yellow Bright chimed in.
"But one thing...or should I say a few things we know about this Stone Witch here, is her name is Roca, and she agreed to give learning communication and perhaps friendship, a try." Luster informed, introducing Roca to Twilight.
"Roca is it?" the alicorn asked.
"Yes, that's me." Roca replied.
"I am pleased that you've decided to learn about what Equestria and Beyond value a lot: Communicating with others, and friendship. But if you don't want any buildings built here on your mountain, my best friends and I clearly understand and will not do what unpleased you." Princess Twilight Sparkle informed.
"Thank you for your acknowledgement, your Majesty," Roca bowed, "But, if I'm going to learn about communicating with others and friendship...maybe having a few creatures staying with me will be a good starter's lesson."
"But we can't stay any longer!" Rarity commented.
"Especially when the sun is left like this for a lot longer than it should have been!" Volcano notified, "The sun should have set...about 48 hours ago..."
"Wait, we've been petrified for 2 days?!" Rainbow Dash asked in shock.
"Our families must be worried!" Fluttershy whimpered.
"They actually were!" Discord supported, standing right next to his wife, before hugging her up close, "I was worried sick about you, Fluttershy! Sick I tell you!"
"It's about time I went home too." Trixie announced, catching every creature's attention.
"Trixie?!" the Council of Friendship asked in unison.
"We bought her along with us." Alkali explained.
"Because of a promise we made with her last Hearth's Warming..." Buffer added.
"A promise to make amends for accusing her of something she did not do!" Krona contributed.
"And the promise was to bring her along with us for our next task or adventure together." Sunshine Rays went on.
"Which is...this adventure." Falcon Dive ended.
"It was actually a good thing to have her with us!" Nature Bloom stated.
"Most probably because her personality is similar to Roca's before we reasoned with the Stone Witch!" Yellow Bright filled in.
"And thanks to her, we got to practise before the real task!" Evergreen declared.
"Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "That's a lot to talk about her!"
"Speaking of a lot, we actually got a lot of things to catch up on ever since we were gone?" Spike reminded.
"Oh, right!" Princess Twilight Sparkle responded, "I better get the sun out of this position, and assure my sister-in-law that everything's alright now."
"And we got to get back to Equestria!" Applejack declared.
"But who's going to stay with Roca to teach her what she needs to learn?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think we might be able to do that!" Luster announced.
"Especially when we hold onto our Elements of Purity!" Sunshine Rays chimed in.
"Well...perhaps Starlight and Sunburst will be fine without you ten for a little longer..." Trixie figured.
"Can you please tell them why we're not going to be home, for a while?" Nature Bloom asked politely.
"Trixie at your service!" Trixie saluted, "Just for a request like this."
"But how are you going to get home?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Home is too far from here for one teleportation spell!"
"You mean for one unicorn's teleportation spell." Discord corrected, appearing right between the Council of Friendship members, "but for a draconneques like me, it's no big deal! I'll come and check on you every sunrise and sunset until you're ready to go home!"
"Thanks for the offer Discor, but we can just send Princess Twilight Sparkle a letter to tell her when we're done here, and then she can get you to fetch us." Luster respectfully informed.
"I guess that can work, too." Discord responded.
"But did you pack enough snacks?" Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone.
"We probably did not..." Falcon Dive answered.
"Not a problem," Discord said, summoning a few apple trees with ripe apples.
"Hey! This is my mountain! Not an apple orchard!" Roca snapped, causing every creature to be shocked.
"Sorry...got too used to the Stone Witch's natural behaviour..." Roca apologised, clawing down.
"We can help you learn to get over that and become better." Evergreen assured.
"Speaking of learn," Luster turned to her mentor, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, my best friends and I just learnt, or revised...a proverb that has a meaning that you and your best friends will obviously like: The quill is mightier than the horn, meaning that writing or communicating is more effective than military power or violence. That's what we told Roca, which calmed her down when we reasoned with her."
"That's wonderful Luster Dawn, and your best friends. I'm sure to remind all or Equestria and Beyond about this proverb, and maybe your latest adventure when the time is right...if all were to be alright with it." Princess Twilight Sparkle responded.
"All?" Roca asked.
Princess Twilight Sparkle nodded, "Yes, that includes you, Roca."
"Thanks, your Majesty." Roca thanked.
"You're welcome." the Council of Friendship replied in unison, as Discord teleported them, the Ryl Guards, their chariot, an Trixie back home.
The sun then quickly set, making way for the night, to the Heroic Ten and Roca's delight as they saw the events unfold.
"That's a quick sunset and night start." Falcon Dive commented.
"Good thing Princess Twilight is getting things back to normal." Nature Bloom added.
"But not these bricks!" Volcano announced, catching every creature's attention as they all turned to look at him and the petrified bricks from earlier.
"What are we going to do with them?!" the dragon asked out loud, before the scene faded.
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I forgot to state in my Blog that in this chapter/episode, the proverb the pen is mightier than the sword, in MLP:HTMOFG universe is 'the quill is mightier than the horn;, since in MLP:FIM, we see them use quills and sometimes a pencil (in School Daze), but never a pen. And they do not use swords quite often, neither, making unicorn/alicorn magic the mightiest thing I can think of in their world, so I came up with 'the quill is mightier than the horn'.
Also, I forgot to state that I used Google Translate to translate English to Spanish because the only languages I understand are English and Chinese, although sometimes I still needed translation apps to translate one into the other. This time I named a character after a Spanish word because when I was little, I was once interested in learning Spanish, and self-taught myself a few Spanish words by watching videos on Youtube.
In case my blog was not seen, I am planning a second season that will hopefully be better as I learnt from mistakes, and be published sometime in April.
WOW! What a way to end the season. Can't wait to see how the second turns out.
Sorry to say this, but I have been a lot busier than I thought nowadays and found out that I most likely will not be able to publish Season 2 during April...so it most likely will be delayed to sometime in May this year. I will try my best to publish it as soon as possible, as things do not always go as planned...