Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

A Mammoth of a Problem XLIV

There was nothing else this could be but the Sacred Spring. Walls of rock went up around it on all sides to protect it and the mountains hovered over it to keep it almost entirely obscured from anyone or anything trying to find it. Rainbow Dash circled around its western side that had the only solid ground to land on a few times, inspecting what she could. There was only a single path that she saw coming in from a narrow canyon to the west that led out onto the shore of the Sacred Spring. That path must’ve been how mammoths were supposed to get to the Spring in the first place, and it’s likely what Larkon was going to tell Karkona about. It looked like the path and canyon winded quite a bit and had to go through a treacherous and uneven stretch of the mountains—good. That meant Karkona and his forces would take a while to actually get here, especially since they’d likely only be able to walk two-by-two at a time.

Dash scanned around the rest of the Spring to see if there was any other sort of entrance but it truly looked like that was it. So what else was at the Spring? It couldn’t just be this, the Sages had to be somewhere unless they lived up in the mountains and only actually came to the Spring occasionally. She went down a bit more till she was just above ground and could get a better look at both the Spring and the area around it.

The water really was glowing—or shimmering at least. It was way more reflective, almost like the sun was shining off it, than it should’ve been. And billowing steam came up from it to confirm that it was indeed a hot spring. Well that was another good thing she learned. Maybe one of these mountains up here was actually a dormant volcano? Or the heat had something else to do with the magical nature of the Spring. She wouldn’t put it past it. She had seen enough weird things in her life where something like that wouldn’t even rank in the top twenty of her list.

“Okay but now where are the Sages? Come on Larkon, don’t let me down here,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked across the Sacred Spring.

Her eyes narrowed as she caught something just at the very edge of the western shoreline, right at the top of the Spring where the crescent of land ended at the northern cliff. Something built into the rocks that was hard to notice at a glance thanks to the shimmering and steaming of the water and color of the building. But it looked like some kind of shrine that went deeper into the cliffside with half the building jutting out from it. The exterior was just a set of stone steps leading up to an open doorway that had its foundation held up by several stone pillars on the outside, and above that was a triangular roof that hung over it.

The Sages have to be in there! Rainbow Dash thought as she zoomed towards the shrine.

“Hey! Anybody home?!” She yelled as she flew right up to the entrance. The huge mammoth-sized doorway was masked in shadows and she couldn’t see any deeper inside the building. “It’s an emergency! If there are any Sages inside then hurry up and come out here, okay?!”

She heard the air passing through the tunnel and hung there, about to run out of patience and fly in herself to find these so called Sages.

But it didn’t come down to that.

“The fact that you are here in the first place is evidence enough of an emergency,” a masculine voice said from inside the building. The voice was old and gravelly but no less strong and soon after hearing it speak, Rainbow Dash heard multiple mammoths walking towards her from the darkness.

“But you don’t sound like a mammoth,” a different, female, voice said.

“What is happening out in the city?” Yet another male voice spoke.

“The Keeper of the Spring must’ve saw fit to break his vow and tell the location to whoever this is for a reason,” a last voice said, this one also a female.

Rainbow Dash hovered there as the steps grew closer and at last four mammoths emerged from the shadows into the light of day. The four Sages of the Sacred Spring. Even if Rainbow Dash hadn’t heard anything about them she would’ve known there was something special about them just from their appearance.

Not to be rude, but they were old.

Impossibly old and wizened looking, she never would’ve believed them to be able to walk under their own power were she not seeing it right this moment. Any fur that hadn’t fallen out to reveal leathery gray skin underneath was pure white, their eyes were sunken back into their sockets like little marbles, wrinkles upon wrinkles covered them like someone who had been in a sauna for too long and their tusks lacked the pearly ivory color of other mammoths she had seen, these ones looked gray and decrepit, more like a dead or petrified tree than anything. She couldn’t even estimate how old they must be, surely Princess Celestia and a few other ponies and creatures she knew were older but that was cause they were like, immortal. These mammoths had just been living a really long time off of the Spring’s water and it showed.

All of them were a bit surprised to see her likely due to the fact she wasn’t a mammoth.

“You’re a… pony, I think?” The first one asked.

“That’s right, I’m a pegasus, but there’s no time for that! We have to-” Rainbow Dash tried to say but was cut off.

“A pony? Why’s there a pony here?” The first female Sage said, absent-mindedly scratching her head with her trunk.

“I can explain later, look, we-”

“How’d you find out about the Sacred Spring? Did something change in the city?” The second male Sage asked her.

“Maybe ponies are living in the city nowadays, that’d be a big change,” the other female Sage said.

“Can the three of you be senile a little later?” The first Sage said, and then yawned. “Obviously something important has happened. Or have you all forgotten your duties after so many years?”

“I don’t even know how many years it’s been...” the other male Sage said.

“Me neither,” the first female sage said. “Oh! But you’re right, we should let the pony speak, shouldn’t we? She seems a little agitated.”

It was true. Rainbow Dash was on the verge of ripping out her mane. “Yes! Please! Something really bad has happened in the city and the current Keeper has sent me here to talk to you.”

“What’s happened?” The first Sage asked her.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and explained. “There’s an evil mammoth called Karkona who’s leading a whole army out here to the Sacred Spring. He’s planning to use its power and start conquering and going to war again like you mammoths did in the past. The current Keeper is a guy called Larkon, he told me about the Sacred Spring and how to find you guys cause he wants me to use its power to stop Karkona! Karkona is coming right now and I need you to help me!”

“Oh my...” the second and perhaps most absent-minded female Sage said.

The first Sage regarded her with a bit more… not quite wariness or apprehension but curiosity. “If this is true then why didn’t the Keeper come here himself? And how did this Karkona learn of the Sacred Spring’s location in the first place?”

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash rubbed her temples, she really didn’t want to waste time explaining. But then she paused—Larkon didn’t come here for a reason and she was going to tell them why and just how strong of a mammoth he is. “The reason for that is because Larkon truly believes in his vows and peace. He said to me that a mammoth should never again use this Spring, especially not for violence. And if he was the one who came here that’s exactly what would happen. Even if he was doing it for a good cause he wasn’t going to take that power because he knew what it meant and all the horrible things that had been done with it in the past. So that’s why I’m here. Because Larkon’s the best mammoth in the world, you have no idea what he’s putting on the line right now. He’s prepared to die to keep you mammoths from turning your backs on everything you’ve stood for since coming here.”

The four Sages looked between each other while Rainbow Dash drew in another few breaths. She realized she hadn’t told them how Karkona knew the location of this place but honestly that wasn’t important right now.

“Well… I believe a day we wished would never come is here,” the first Sage said.

“Indeed,” the second male Sage agreed.

The first of the female Sages tilted her wrinkly head at Rainbow Dash. “Please, what is your name, pony? I believe we should introduce ourselves, there is likely a great deal we will need to talk about.”

“There’s no time for talk!” Rainbow Dash pleaded. “I really have no idea how long it will be until Karkona gets here!”

“If you wish to use the Sacred Spring then talk is unavoidable I’m afraid,” the first Sage told her. “My name is Ollaron, and you are?”

Seeing that she wasn’t just going to be flying into the Spring’s water, Rainbow Dash relented. There was probably still hours to go before Karkona arrived anyways. “Rainbow Dash. My name is Rainbow Dash.”

Ollaron nodded. “Then, our most exalted Rainbow Dash, please come inside our monastery and we will tell you of the danger of your request.”

---

“Don’t move him yet, we don’t know how badly he’s hurt.”

“That fall though… his back legs aren’t even twitching right now.”

“When he hit his back I think he broke-”

“Don’t say it! Just, forget about that for now, we just need to get a doctor over here.”

“Dad… dad, I’m so sorry...”

Larkon could hear a slew of voices speaking over him. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened or where he was and in his boggled state he couldn’t even tell who was speaking. In his confusion he tried to stand up but pain lanced through his entire upper body and his lower body… he felt nothing.

“Larkon! You’re awake!” One of the voices cried out. “Please, don’t try and move, just stay there, we’re getting help.”

“Ooohhh...” Larkon groaned and managed to just barely open up his eyes. His vision was blurry and the pain in his head kept his eyes only narrowed to slits but slowly things came into focus. Several faces were looking down at him and as Larkon’s senses returned so did his memories and recognization. They were all looking at him with varying degrees of worry, fear, sorrow, and guilt.

Samarkon’s tear covered face was the worst of all, he sniveled and tried to wipe them away with his trunk but that didn’t help at all with how much he had been crying. “Dad...”

“My son,” Larkon tried to smile but couldn’t, his body didn’t have the energy even for such a menial task.

“Try not to speak either,” the same voice from before said.

Larkon’s eyes blearily looked over to see Norma and Mallom both watching over him, with a third face that Larkon recognized as one of the performing street musicians that normally frequented town’s square. Despite the ringing in Larkon’s ears he could still differentiate sounds enough to know it was Mallom who had spoken. They must’ve either been watching the confrontation unfold or heard the huge commotion and had already been coming over.

Mallom looked over the semi-conscious historian and grimaced. “Larkon… this next question is very important. Can you feel your back legs?”

Larkon focused on his lower half, there was a complete absence of any pain or feeling just like he first noticed when he woke up. Cold numbness and nothing else. He shut his eyes and weakly shook his head.

“Do you feel this, Larkon?” Mallom asked as he reached out with his trunk and poked around Larkon’s sloping back and right around his short tail and back legs.

Nothing.

Not even the odd dullness you feel when an area of your body is anesthetized. Larkon felt absolutely nothing at all.

Again he minutely shook his head and closed his eyes, having grown tired.

“Oh no...” Norma moaned, tears beginning to spill from her eyes. “This is terrible.”

“It’s all our faults’,” the street musician said and stomped on the ground in anger.

Samarkon let out a heave and started a fresh round of crying while Larkon lied there, doing his best to stay awake and not drift off back into darkness. It seemed he couldn’t move his back legs at all anymore. That crack he had felt when Karkona threw him up into the air must’ve been his spine breaking on impact with the ground. Even with this realization though, Larkon was feeling surprisingly peaceful. He had won against Karkona without sacrificing his ideals and here he was still alive and still capable of doing it all again if he had to. And most importantly; his son was with him.

“It’s alright,” Larkon was able to weakly say as he lifted up his trunk and patted Samarkon on the head. That one action took a monumental amount of effort and caused him a great deal of pain but he pushed through it.

“But Larkon you might be permanently paralyzed!” Mallom said, distraught at the state of affairs.

“I’m alive,” Larkon smiled.

“Father...” Samarkon cried, hugging Larkon’s trunk with his own.

“Larkon, please, you should be resting,” Norma said to him. “We have another getting a doctor, where’s the rest of your family?”

“He shouldn’t be speaking right now!” Mallom protested.

Larkon however answered anyways. “Harrak’s… Shibu and Alykon went to his house… my friend, Abalun, is there too.”

“I can go get them, Senator Harrak right?” The street musician said. “I’m not doing anything else around here at the moment anyways.”

“Thank you,” Norma said to the mammoth. He nodded back at her in acceptance and began to run up the road in the direction of Harrak’s manor. Norma then turned to Larkon, caressing his head with her trunk. “You try and rest now, alright? Your family and the doctor will be here soon.”

“I’m going to find some clean water,” Mallom said and jogged over to one of the nearby stores that rimmed the Square.

“D-Dad… I’m sorry for everything! I didn’t know this was… I didn’t know this is how-” Samarkon tried saying but choked up again midway through.

Considering all the times Larkon had gotten angry at his son over the years he felt a strange acceptance now, despite having far greater reason than ever before to get angry if he wanted to. Samarkon finally saw the truth of things. Larkon wasn’t angry. He didn’t want to be angry. After everything that had happened it was a time for love and forgiveness, Samarkon’s own guilt and sorrow was more than enough. It’s a shame it had to happen so painfully but father and son would finally be able to reconcile with time.

“It’s alright,” Larkon said and tried to smile some more but his muscles wouldn’t obey him. “I already told you, I love you.”

After another minute Mallom came back with a glass of water and a few mammoths from the stores who also started to crowd around Larkon.

“Please! Give him some space!” Mallom yelled in agitation and put the glass to Larkon’s lips. “Drink if you can.”

“Might want to try washing out the wounds on his chest too,” Norma said as she looked at the stab wounds from Karkona’s tusks.

“Yes, at least they’re only shallow wounds and he didn’t twist his tusks around or make them worse,” Mallom said.

Norma looked up and down Larkon’s body and gave him a pitying look. “I don’t know how much more we can do for you Larkon, but I think you’re going to be okay for now.”

Mallom grunted. “I’m more worried about what Karkona is going to do to the rest of us now.” He shot a grimace to Larkon as he met his eyes. “We, uh, know who you are now. And we know what you told Karkona. No one’s going to be angry at you though! I promise. And if they are then I’ll have something to personally say to them. None of this—none of it at all—is your fault, Larkon.”

As he lapped up the last of the water, Larkon coughed and heaved, something that was excruciating with his damaged body. Samarkon and Mallom tried to calm him down and get his convulsions to stop but Larkon brushed them away with his trunk. Shaking his head despite the pain he was in, Larkon looked up at his caretakers.

“It’s… fine… Rainbow Dash will stop Karkona… count on it,” he breathed heavily and rested his head on the ground after that.

“So she truly is already at the Sacred Spring?” Norma asked.

“Yes,” Larkon confirmed. “She will defeat him, and save everyone.”

“I sincerely hope so,” Mallom said as he looked over in the direction of the mountains that Karkona had gone in.

Samarkon looked as well and for the first time he found himself wishing the blue pegasus well. She really was the only thing that could help them at this point. They needed her, all of them. He was going to have to really apologize again if she came back here—when she came back here. His gaze was locked well past the buildings, past the wall, and stuck on the snowy mountains that encapsulated their little valley. He had to believe in Rainbow Dash just like his father did.

A few minutes later there were more arrivals at town’s square, one mammoth who had left earlier brought back a bag-carrying doctor while the street musician had returned with a number of others in tow.

“Larkon!” Shibu yelled for her husband as she ran over to him, she had to be restrained at the very end by Mallom so she didn’t tackle and make Larkon’s injuries worse.

“Dad!” Alykon cried too, also having to be held back by Norma.

“Mom… Alykon...” Samarkon could barely bring himself to look at them.

Shibu looked over at him and a mixture of emotions crossed her face. It seems Abalun had told her and Alykon what had happened. Samarkon looked at her with worry but his fears were baseless as she quickly pushed away from Mallom and swept her son up in a big hug.

“You foolish little child… just be quiet for now,” Shibu held him tightly and even Alykon came over to join the hug.

“Oh Larkon, what did Karkona do to you?” Abalun was practically green in the face as he looked over his broken friend.

“I’ve been better...” Larkon managed to joke.

“No more talking,” the doctor sharply interjected as he inspected Larkon. “I have to give you a thorough check-up, I think you already know this but you’re not in good condition. By the looks of it you have a number of internal injuries… including likely permanent spinal damage. It’s going to hurt but we’ll have to move you back to my office.”

“Wait-” Larkon held up his trunk.

“Shh, I’ve brought anesthetic, just close your eyes and start counting back from one hundred,” the doctor told him and began rummaging through his bag.

“No, hold on!” Larkon protested, staring up at the others. “The children… you can all go rescue the children Karkona kidnapped!”

A ripple of shock and realization registered throughout the gathered mammoths. Harrak in particular dropped to his knees and stared out in the direction of the slums that Dathon had been stolen away to. In the chaos and fright of what had been happening they had forgotten about the key that started this all in the first place and what it meant that Karkona and his followers had left the city.

“They… they probably don’t even know what’s happened themselves,” Larkon said. “But Karkona has no reason to keep them anymore, I doubt anyone was even left to guard them. All of his forces came out to go to the Sacred Spring. Go… go to the slums, get everyone you can and rescue the children.”

“Dathon,” Harrak muttered and stood up. “Dathon!” The old senator yelled and ran off in an instant past the large fountain in the Square and towards the old part of the city.

Larkon turned his head to look Abalun in the eyes. “Get more, go with him.”

And with that his strength left him again and Larkon returned to the realm of sleep even without the anesthetic from the doctor. Samarkon, Shibu, and Alykon stayed with him while Abalun, Norma, and a number of the other mammoths who had been around went running for Harrak and the promise of being able to rescue the kidnapped children. A day that started out foreboding was starting to become brighter.

Comments

[superfun]

Again, poor Larkon

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[redmar]

Larkon really has a serious injury that won't heal unless they have some healing magic. At least they can get the kidnapped children to safety.