Turmoil Rising

by JFT

Chapter 53: Three-Creature-Squad

He ascended back into the clouds, but did not hide in them; he made sure that he would have the entire town in sight to pick off any potential escapees, as well as making sure that his head was exposed for everybody to see. And inside his giant cloudy head, as it opened its mouth to improve vocalization, the Storm King summoned forth his new tool and plucked the strings, causing an electrifying sound to ring out.

“HELLO, GRIFFINSTONE!” he voiced his introduction. “THIS IS SL/SK COMING TO YOU LIVE ON-SITE! PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A SHOW THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU’VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE!”

And the aggressive music began to play, resonating across the whole of Griffinstone and a considerable distance beyond, all the while, the lightning’s light flickered. The residents found the music so loud and unbearable that they had to keep their ears shut, even as they took refuge from the storm inside their homes, wild flashes from the thunder making it difficult to even look outside.

“I don’t envy anycreature who’s on the other side right now,” Trixie commented. “Sweet Celestia, this sounds awful.”

At the baker’s house, the two unicorns went to work on countermeasures, erecting a magical barrier that would isolate the building from any form of noise outside of it, which they needed to assess the situation.

“You got that right, consular Trixie,” Sandbar said. “The only one I can think of actually liking that would be Gall-“

He halted himself, remembering at the last moment the emotions that were currently up in the atmosphere of the dining room. The hippogriff came back a few moments before the “concert” outside started to debrief them on what had happened. None of it was good: Lord Tirek, Grogar, as well as the Storm King, had invaded Griffinstone, and now the latter is tormenting them all with incessant ear-ripping music. And to make matters worse, one of Grogar’s minions that, according to Gallus, was resurrected, trapped both him and Grandpa Gruff in a small abandoned storage house and then tossed it over the edge of the giant tree and into the deep ravine beneath it. Neither the other two griffins, nor the students and members of the school faculty took the news well, but the one who was still most distraught was the messenger herself. She was right there, she could’ve helped them get away, but instead at the last moment, the arimaspi tossed the two victims to their doom.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, Silverstream!” the pony apologized to the hippogriff who was sitting down with her head buried in her claws, bending over, while the yak was embracing her to try and comfort her. “I know this may be a really bad time to say it. It was just a slip of the tongue, that’s all.”

Gilda looked out the window that was facing the street, barely able to see straight with the constant flashing. “I still can’t believe it. The remains of arimaspi that I saw… were brought back to life? And that Storm King thing out there is tormenting everybody with that unbearable music he’s playing. It’s a good thing this field’s up, otherwise, our eardrums would pop, right Gabby?”

But the grey griffin didn’t respond. She was looking out the window, one that was facing outside of the city, and she was just staring into the distance.

“Gabby, did you hear me?”

“Hold that thought,” she said, then ran upstairs.

“What’s gotten her suddenly?” Trixie asked.

“No idea. I sometimes think nobody can read her clearly.”

“Even if anyone could, I don’t think it would solve our predicament,” Sunburst said. “What are we supposed to do?”

“We have to alert Princess Twilight somehow,” Smolder suggested.

“That’s gonna be difficult since we can’t be sure where she is,” the orange stallion replied. “And even then, from what Starlight told us, she called Celestia back to help keep things together in Canterlot, and we’ve no way of contacting her.”

“Oh yes, we do!” Gabby came rushing down the stairs. “I went to check the top. Gilda, you never told me that your new place had an attic as well.”

“Never mind the attic. What are you talking about?”

“I saw the storm outside. I looked at the surroundings of Griffinstone, and at some point, it dissipates. It’s only localized around the mountain.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain how it helps our problem.”

“You’re looking at the best messenger in Griffinstone! I can get to Equestria and deliver a warning to Princess Celestia.”

“With the way things look outside?” Sunburst looked out the window, watching the thundering flashes. “I don’t think you’ll get far in this heavy rain.”

“Even if that ends up being the case, I can at the very least get to one of the Griffin Lords and he can raise an alarm throughout the realm.”

“Wait, Gabby, are you sure about this?” Ocellus questioned.

She simply smiled and nodded.

“Grey griffin brave,” Yona stated. “Grey griffin got courage of a yak!”

“Thanks. Now,” she said as she walked over to the door and grabbed the handle, preparing to open it, “wish me luck.”

They nodded and braced themselves, shutting their ears, and readying themselves for what was to follow. The messenger opened the door and quickly moved to spare the unpleasantries to those that were inside. Outside, the constant sound of booming thunder from above, the eye-soring flashes, and the downpour falling down below; it was unbearable on every level. Regardless, she had to try and get out of the town. She dashed down the street, lept, and quickly took flight. The heavy rain was making her job difficult, but she was the only hope they had. Before she could even reach the edge of the settlement though, something strange happened. She stopped. She thought for a moment that the thundering had finally made her go deaf, but then she noticed other oddities as well: the downpour, as well as the constant flashing, ceased. She wasn’t sure what that was about, but her spirit lifted; her task may not be as dangerous and life-threating as she thought a moment ago-

KRAKOOM!

With a sudden crack, a strong light flashed before her eyes. She was paralyzed from shock, she didn’t see what exactly that was, but then her gaze dropped downwards and she found a large scorched mark on the tree beneath her - some flames were even visible dancing on the wood’s surface.

“HEY, YOU!” the thundering voice echoed up above her.

She trembled. She didn’t want to believe even for a moment that was directed at her, but the dread at the back of her mind beckoned her to turn her head at the voice. She looked up and saw it – the giant head made of clouds, staring directly at her.

“WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO BAIL OUT OF MY CONCERT?” it resumed, then took a deep breath and spit a lightning bolt down in front of her, making her flinch. “GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT, BIRDIE!”

She dodged the bolt that came down soon after her. And another. And another one after that. Lightning was raining down on top of her, forcing her to flee back to the town, and all throughout, it was right on her tail. She managed to get back to the baker’s house, opening the door and shutting it closed, just before she was about to get hit. She was panting hard, leaning against the entryway, and all the current occupants were staring at her.

“Gaby? Why are you back already?” the owner inquired.

“Didn’t you guys hear that shouting?” she asked in a shaken tone, only to realize a moment later that due to the spell on the house, they couldn't. “I couldn’t do it, Gilda,” she answered after finally managing to catch her breath. “That… thing out there, it has its sight on the whole town. He specifically stopped everything just to let me know he could take me out without a problem. I had to come back.” Soon after that, the deafened rumble could be heard outside again, with the constant flashing being noticeable through the window. “And there it goes again…”

“Hold on, are you saying we’re literally cut off from the rest of the world?”

She nodded.

“Wha-what are we supposed to do now?” the changeling wondered.

Silence fell over the household, putting everybody in deep thought, but the vice-principal, after stroking his unkempt beard, seemed to have gotten something. “Trixie, can you go check your performance stash?”

The blue mare gave him a puzzled look. “What makes you think that I brought it with me?” She waited for a reply, but once the stallion gave her a frown she quickly relented. “Okay fine, you got me. Why do you ask?”

“Do you have the “invisible cloak” with you?”

She rushed to her room and moments later came back, carrying a large piece of purple cloth with starry patterns, dropping it on the ground.

“That’s the invisible cloak?” Gilda questioned. “I can clearly see it.”

“It’s not literally invisible,” Trixie explained, before levitating the clump of cloth in the air, fully unfurling it, then placing it on the ground, and moments later it melded with the floor, leaving only its edge to be visible. “I had Starlight cast a spell on it to help me with one of my stage tricks. It doesn’t turn one invisible, but the outer side takes on the texture and color of the background that the inner side is set against.”

“It’s not perfect, but from a distance, it should be able to fool somecreature to not notice one’s movement.” The orange unicorn picked it off the floor, restoring its purple color and handing it to the grey griffin. “You put this on, and you should be able to get past the Storm King’s vision undetected.”

Gabby unfolded it again, covered herself under the head, and pressed against the wall; soon enough the colors and textures of the wall turned up on the cover. “Wow, this would be really useful, Sunburst. But… that may be a problem.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gilda interfered. “Even without it, it would be hard to fly in the bad weather that’s out there now, and you’re suggesting she flies with a piece of fabric, that’s gonna get wet in the progress, making flying even more difficult.”

“What she said,” the other griffin resumed. “I mean, I could try to get out of town on foot, but flying to a destination would be way shorter than walking. Not to mention, trying to climb down the mountain in these conditions would be just as equally hazardous.”

“Oh… right…” the orange pony said in a dejected tone.

“Don’t get me wrong, Sunburst,” Gabby tried to cheer him up as she handed the cloth back, “the idea wasn’t bad, but we’ll have to find another way to get help.”

“Some other creature needs help more than us right now…”

They all took notice of the voice that was quiet this entire time. This whole time the hippogriff was quiet, stewing in her own misery, but now she finally spoke with a confusing statement.

“Silverstream, what are you talking about?” Sandbar asked.

She finally jumped out, the trail of tears still fresh on her face. “We have to save Gallus and Grandpa Gruff!”

For some time, the silence lingered. After she told everybody what their final fate was, they didn’t know how she was having any hope for those two.

“Ermm… Silverstream,” Ocellus spoke up, “I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you know they’re okay and not… well… you know…”

“Because I was there,” she explained. “The house they were in was full of old mattresses and pillows. I’m sure that might have softened their fall.”

“From this height? I doubt it,” Gilda said.

“And even so, considering that thing is watching everything that moves about, how do you even think we could get down there?” Smolder inquired.

“Easy. We got that.” The hippogriff pointed to the “invisibility cloak”. “I mean it may only be big enough for one, but even one is enough for a rescue mission. We just need to decide who-“

“But Silverstream hear what griffin said,” Yona pointed out. “In this weather getting down is hard.”

“Not necessarily. All we need is one who can work fine in “humid conditions”-“

“Out of the question, Silverstream!” Sunburst raised his voice. “You’re not going out there!”

“What?“

“While I agree that the situation is grim, you’re not going out there. None of you kids are. We’re responsible for all of you, and we’d be the ones being marked as irresponsible by your parents if something bad happened to any of you.”

“But something bad already happened to one of us!” she pointed out.

“That’s not the same. We’re on Gallus’ home turf and he was with his assigned guardian when… THAT happened. This isn’t our fault.”

“But-!”

“No buts! We’re not pulling any heroics with what awaits us out there!”

The halfling hung her head dejected.

“I’m sorry Silverstream,” Trixie tried to console her. “I get that you feel sort of responsible for what happened to Gallus and Grandpa Gruff, but Sunburst is right. We don’t have many options. Flight is obviously out of the question, so the only other alternative we have is to fight the Storm King directly, and we don’t have what it takes. We’d need somepony as powerful as Celestia, Twilight, Star Swirl, or-“ She suddenly stopped herself, lingering for a moment, and then smacking herself in the face with her hoof. “Why didn’t I think of that sooner…”

“You got an idea, Trixie?” the stallion asked.

“I just said it. We need to get somepony of great power,” she answered.

“Yes, but we don’t know how to reach any of them,” he pointed out the problems. “We’ve no idea where Twilight is, Celestia’s unreachable since Canterlot’s castle is isolated from magical entry, and we’ve no idea about Star Swirl.”

“But we do know somepony who’s just as powerful as any of them,” she grinned.

“Wait… you mean…“

“Yes! Starlight’s the one who can pack a punch and then some! Everycreature, make room!” She waved them all to stand back.

“Trixie, what are you planning?” Sunburst said in a worrying tone.

“Easy,” she elaborated, “we know Starlight like the back of our hooves. We know her usual routine and schedule. We know what she does and where she moves on a daily basis, off day, and work day. So…” Her horn lit up. “What I’m gonna do is simply teleport her currently known location directly into this house!”

“What?! No, wait, Trixie-!” the vice-principal protested, but it was too late.

FLASH!

A large desk teleported into the middle of the room and crashed on the floor. The piles of papers that were stacked on it flew all over the place, and a dark purple crystal that was laying on it rolled off the edge, the orange stallion made a last-second intervention, dropping the piece of cloth and catching the geological formation before it landed on the floor.

The blue mare was happy with herself, only for her to put up a frown when she realized that the other mare in question was not present. “Odd… I was sure she was at her usual table… Oh well, let’s try that again.”

“Trixie, no-!” Sunburst tried to stop her again.

FLASH!

This time, a table from the castle’s dining hall appeared and landed on top of him, banging him over the head. He reeled under it, rubbing his head in pain.

“Drat… Hold on, the third time’s the charm!”

“Trixie, wait! Let’s just-!”

FLASH!

The thundering show played above Griffinstone, completely incapacitating its residents’ hearing and sight with the unbearable sound and flashing lights, just as he was instructed by the old sorcerer. In the cower of the Storm King’s ruckus, he, his companion, as well as the chained centaur moved away from the site and away from the top of the giant tree, as the arimaspi held his maker in his claws as it climbed down. It left Tirek in an unfavorable position because during this whole time he was desperately clinging onto the monster’s giant arm that was holding the sheep so he wouldn’t end up choking himself since he was still holding his leash. In the end, when the arimaspi finally landed on solid ground again, the exiled prince finally let go in exhaustion, as the beast put his superior down again.

“You could’ve told him to at least hold me as well…” he complained.

“Paramis only has one set of arms and he needed one of them to climb,” Grogar coldly said. “Now come.”

They traipsed a short distance away from the colossal tree until they reached a gap – it spanned from one end of the mountain peak to another and a strong wind could be felt rushing through even outside of the ravine.

Tirek looked over the edge and all he saw was empty blackness. “Wait… are we actually going down there? Again?!”

Grogar simply nodded.

“Why?! For what reason do we have to go back into the abyss over which we were hanging for a whole day since yesterday?!”

The grizzled ram showed a sign of irritation, rolling his eyes. “That’s the little task we have to perform, boy. Paramis here had just informed me of an object of great power that he sensed a long time ago. Its powerful magic drew him from beyond the sea and all the way to the Griffin Kingdom, and he wanted to take it. But sadly, due to the fate inflicted upon him, it escaped his grasp. For that reason, we have to go and retrieve it.”

“At the bottom of this ravine?” the centaur questioned. “What are we even looking for?”

“All will be explained when we get there.”

“And how exactly do we get there without taking “the expressway”?”

The ancient sorcerer’s horns glowed and a large platform made of dark light materialized in front of them, big enough for the arimaspi to step on it and sit comfortably without the fear of falling off it. Due to prior experience, Tirek was hesitant to step on it, but with the collar holder moving forwards he had little choice but to obey. Once all three of them were on the platform, he waited anxiously for the thing to start moving.

KARK!

They heard a crashing sound. Looking in its direction, he saw a large rock banging against the wall of the ravine and disappearing into the depths. It must’ve been on the very edge and it seemed that the incessant noise from above the tree was making such strong vibrations that affected even things further away. He waited for them to start moving, but that didn’t happen, and it didn’t take him long to realize that the conjurer was absent-minded, staring with suspicion into the distance where a tree stood near the edge where the giant rock seemed to have fallen off.

“Well? We going or what?” the centaur questioned.

The grizzled ram looked at him before his horns glowed once again, and the platform began to move, slowly descending into the dark abyss below. Still, the elder was suspicious: He saw a piece of cloth flying in the wind. Why was it down here? The mess caused by the ally from up above? Perhaps. As they disappeared out of sight, a figure popped its head from the shadow of the tree, followed by the second, and lastly, the tree flashed in blue, transforming into a much smaller creature.

“Trixie!” Sunburst yelled as a pile of cushions landed on top of his face.

Throughout this entire time, the aforementioned mare has been teleporting objects from Twilight’s old castle where she, Starlight, and Sunburst were living now. She was zealous in her decision to get the headmare to help her, but unfortunately despite her ability to teleport things, she seemed to have been missing her mark. The entire living room of Gilda’s house was filled with furniture and other items, yet without the pony she was aiming for.

The blue unicorn finally climbed out from under a pile of wardrobes, perspiration clearly visible on her face from using all the magic. “Hold on, I think I’m getting there. We just got through the living room, the dining room, and the library. We only have the bathroom and the bedroom to go through and then-“

Just as her horn began to glow, from a nearby pile of sofas and chairs, an avian claw sprung up and grabbed the mare by it. Finally, the owner of the house emerged from it, with an angry look on her face.

“Now listen here!” she raged. “You just as much try and teleport another piece of furniture into my home, and I swear I will personally take you up to the cloud-face out there and use you as a weapon against it! Capisce?!”

She meekly nodded and the griffin exhaled, finally letting her go. Meanwhile, the pile of cushions moved, and the orange unicorn emerged from under them, still holding the dark purple crystal. And he would finally get his say.

“Trixie, stop already, that’s not gonna work!” the stallion complained. “You know full well what happens whenever you try to teleport objects from one place to another in terms of great distance.”

“Sunburst, I would hardly consider a couch a hostile environment,” she said.

“That’s not the point. Remember that we’re not “on-schedule”. Starlight’s helping Star Swirl unravel the mystery of whatever’s happening in the Everfree Forest, so it’s unlikely she’s at any of the places you were assuming she was right now.”

“Well how else am I supposed to get her here then?” the illusionist questions in frustration. “She can’t teleport here since she’s never been to Griffinstone herself.”

“Even if we don’t get her here we can at least send her a warning. That’s what I was trying to say. Just teleport the message to her.”

An awkward silence fell over the room in the realization of how simple the solution actually was. “Oh…” the blue unicorn said in a tone of embarrassment, “I guess we should’ve just done that from the start.” She suddenly gasped from realization. “Wait! I got it! Gilda, do you have a picture of Griffinstone, a postcard, or anything else?”

A muffled voice came from under a pile of furniture, and a single claw popped up, waving about. The brown griffin hopped over to it and started to rummage through the pile until she finally dragged the grey one out.

“You okay, Gabby?” the baker wondered.

“Yeah… Although next time a bit of a heads up would be useful.” She rubbed her head. “As for postcards…” She reached into her mailbag and pulled out a piece of paper. “Here you go.”

Trixie picked it up and bought it closer to have a better look at it. It showed the image of a partly renovated Griffinstone, with the words “Griffinstone – it’s getting better all the time”.

“It’s getting better all the time?” the blue mare tilted her head.

“Yeah… it’s still a work in progress…” Gabby rolled her eyes.

“Doesn’t matter, this will do.”

The postcard was pulled out of her grasp by the unkempt stallion who was already holding a quill, and began writing on the back of it. After some time passed, the inscription was done:

Dear Starlight,

The Storm King, Grogar, and Tirek have invaded Griffinstone. We’re trapped here with the students and we can’t leave.

Help!

Sunburst & Trixie

“All done,” he said, before handing the postcard back to the mare. “It’s all yours now, Trixie.”

A smug formed on her face, and with a flash of magic, the piece of paper disappeared.

“There we go. Now we just need to wait a few moments and…” she said in anticipation.

FLASH!

A piece of paper teleported in and smacked Trixie right in the face.

“Wow, talk about express delivery,” Gilda commented. “So, what’s the word?”

But she didn’t answer, she just sat there, with a dumbfounded look on her face, before the orange stallion finally got to her. “Trixie, is something wrong?”

“This is the same postcard that I just sent.”

He must’ve misheard it. He grabbed it and saw that the image of the postcard was the same, then he turned it around and saw the writing… it was also the same.

“How...?” he asked in a confused tone. “Do it again,” he ordered Trixie.

The mare used the teleportation spell on the piece of paper once more, and a moment later it appeared again, smacking the mare in the face. She repeated the process several times, but the result ended up being the same.

“What’s going on?!” Trixie finally erupted in frustration. “Why does it keep coming back even though I sent it directly to the castle?!”

“I… I don’t know…” Sunburst answered.

She quickly noticed the hesitation in his voice. “Sunburst, what’s wrong?”

“It may just be a thought… But what if something had happened back in Ponyville?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if the reason why we’re being rejected is that something is blocking it?”

“But I was able to teleport pieces of the castle’s interior just a moment ago,” the mare couldn’t put it together.

“I know. What if that triggered it?”

“By who?”

“I don’t know. Could be that the villains have left some sort of trap in Ponyville before they left, or somebody at home set it up in order to protect it.”

“I’d go with the latter,” Gilda said as she climbed over the pile. “I’d probably go nuts as well if the furniture in my house started to disappear out of nowhere.”

Trixie gave her a look of shock. “So wait, are you actually saying that Starlight herself MIGHT have erected some sort of protection spell to prevent me from delivering the message?”

“Well, yes,” she said.

“All of this is MY FAULT then?!”

“YES!” she, the other griffin, and the stallion said in unison.

“The Great and Powerful School Counselor Trixie resents that notion!” she proudly retorted. “No. It’s far more likely that something else is responsible for the sudden magical block. And since we’re trapped here and we’ve no way to contact the outside world in any way, the main question is what do we do now?”

“Well, the main priority is to keep the students safe.” Sunburst readjusted his glasses while levitating the dark purple crystal. “Speaking of, I think they’re still under.”

The whole room was stacked to the brim with objects that the illusionist had teleported from the castle. And besides the adults, the kids were nowhere in sight. One after another, they started to haul them out into the hallway. Considerable time passed before they finally came over a large green cover, even though the room was still at least half of its height covered up. The yak poked her head out of the pile and shook.

“Yona, are you okay?” Sunburst asked.

“Yona fine. Yona strong and durable,” she said before shoving her head back into the mess, rummaging for a bit, and then pulling out the lemon pony by the mane, moaning in pain in response. “Though Yona think Sandbar seen better days.”

“Nothing I can’t handle, Yona…” He winced. “But that hurts…”

“Okay, that’s two. Now just four-“ Trixie halted herself. “Three to go…”

It was unpleasant to think about it, but nobody wanted to admit the loss of one of the students. Based on what was told, even if the hippogriff was hopeful, they had a hard time believing it was true. They were so preoccupied with their thoughts when they were cleaning up, that they barely noticed they were already finished, leaving the entire living room empty again. But with that, the alert went up in their minds.

“Where are they?” Sandbar wondered. “Where are Silverstream, Smolder, and Ocellus?”

They weren’t present, even though the room was left spotless like before the illusionist began teleporting matter into it.

That prompted the owner. “You didn’t teleport them away, right?” she directed at the only capable wizard.

“Excuse me! But I can tell the difference between teleporting things away and to me!” Trixie snapped back. “The only thing that I teleported away was the postcard and you all saw it came right back. If that were the case they would’ve done the same.”

“Then where Yona’s friends?” the yak questioned.

But it was the vice principal's question that got to them. “Wait… Trixie, where’s your “invisibility cloak”? I remember dropping it on the ground and I’m sure I didn’t pick it up.”

“Well, I didn’t pick it up either,” the blue mare said.

The two griffins shrugged in response. And then the realization washed over them. Trixie quickly ran out of the living room and into the hallway, trying to squeeze past all the junk they hauled out just a moment ago and to the guest rooms. One of the doors was left wide open and with the pieces of paper all over the place, it was immediately evident to whom it belonged. She rushed into the hippogriff’s room, only to find it empty, and one of its windows wide open. The answer to what had happened was clear.

“SILVERSTREAM! SMOLDER! OCELLUS!” she yelled at top of her lungs out the window.

No response. Not that it would’ve mattered. Even if they were still close, with them being outside the isolation spell against noise, they couldn’t have heard them anyway.

The rest of the group finally managed to get to the site and it soon became apparent to them as well what had occurred.

“Gone?!” Sunburst asked loudly.

“GONE!” was his colleague’s response.

“Great,” Gilda groaned. “Now what do we do?”

Behind them, the yak and the earth pony peeked inside the room, their faces showing clear signs of worry.

“Trixie, no-!” Sunburst tried to stop her.

FLASH!

A table from the castle’s dining hall appeared and landed on top of him, banging him over the head. He reeled under it, rubbing his head in pain.

“Drat… Hold on, third time’s the charm!”

“Trixie, wait! Let’s just-!”

FLASH!

This time the sofa teleported in and others had to jump away not to get crushed by its weight. Despite the obvious failure the illusionist was determined not the be deterred and continued to summon objects one after another, sending the entire room in disarray. Silverstream managed to dodge a lounging chair that nearly landed on top of her, and that’s when she noticed her school consoler’s cloak laying on the floor. A thought came to her mind, a thought that would get her in a whole lot of trouble no matter what, but she was desperate. While the two ponies were busy she grabbed hold of the purple piece of cloth and in the increasing chaos, while everybody was distracted, bolted out the doorway and dashed for her room. She took a deep breath, quickly peeking outside to make sure nobody had followed her; it was clear. She unfolded the cloak, then faced the nearby mirror just to check that it worked. The background behind her became visible, and all the while she disappeared. All was set, she just needed to put it to use now. She walked over to the window and stopped, hesitating whether or not the loud deafening noise would invade the house the moment she opened it.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She froze. She just got caught! No amount of excuses would do to make things not look the way they did. She slowly turned her head, dreading to be bombarded with critiques, only to notice, not the two ponies in charge, but the orange dragon and the reformed changeling.

“Oh, it’s just you two,” the pink halfling exhaled in relief. “Listen, I need to ask you both to do me a favor: Cover for me so that they don’t notice I’m gone, okay?”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Silverstream,” Smolder said in a stern voice.

“What? What do you-“

“I’m surprised just as she is, Silverstream,” Ocellus jumped in. “How could you?”

They were attacking her? They were siding with the school’s staff? She couldn’t believe it.

“To think, here you are, actually thinking without a second thought of leaving the safety and throwing yourself in harm’s way?” the dragon pushed.

“Guys, please, I’m begging you,” the hippogriff pleaded, “I have to go save Gallus! I could’ve helped him and Grandpa Gruff and I didn’t act fast enough. He ended up in the predicament that he did because of me. I know what they said, but still, I have to save him!”

“Without us?” the usually meek bug equine asked.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changed, as the hippogriff realized what was really going on - they weren’t trying to prevent her to leave. “Are you asking to join me?”

The two looked at one another and then smiled in response. “Well, with what’s waiting out there you’re gonna need all the help you can get. And the three of us are the only ones who can fly,” Smolder answered.

“Oh, you guys…!” Without a moment to spare she pulled them both into an embrace. “Wait… The cloak's big enough for only one. How are three of us going to fit under?”

“You two can huddle together and try to make it work,” the changeling offered.

“What about you?” And almost instantly, in a flash of blue magic, Ocellus transformed into a large branch. “Oh, right. That makes things a bit easier. Now come on.”

They all approached the window and braced themselves for the unbearable sound outside to burst in. The knob turned and it opened. Nothing - there was still deafening silence as before. As it turned out the protection field wasn’t directly bound to the house, and it would buy them more time before others noticed they were gone. However, the moment they leaped out the window, it followed – the booming, the electrifying aggressive sound, accompanied by a downpour; it was so difficult to keep one’s head straight with it, but the trio had to focus now. They peeked out of the cover of the roof and saw it: The giant cloudy head in the flickering sky, its mouth open, and standing inside it was a black figure, flicking electric guitar strings. Silverstream shivered at the sight of it, pressing against the wall, knowing precisely what that thing was, only to feel the gentle tap on her shoulders, as her two friends were there to reassure her. She inhaled and spread open the “invisibility cloak”, Smolder quickly hid under it with her, and then she commanded to move. The three moved out of the cover of the house and into the open, slowly traversing the short distance between the houses and the edge of the town. It may have been a short distance, but at the slow pace they had to move, it felt like an eternity. Eventually, they finally reached the end, only to then notice that the surroundings went quiet and the downpour stopped. The hippogriff wondered why, so she peeked from under the cover to look at the sky. She grimaced. The giant face! Its mouth was closed and it was looking right in their direction, and it became apparent why, when she noticed the changeling in her normal form out in the open.

“Ocellus, quick!” she made a suppressed yell.

At the moment’s notice, she quickly turned into a stump. And then they waited for the inevitable… Nothing happened. After a moment’s pause, the noise once again started and the downpour resumed. It worked! The harbinger of fear had been fooled. With the immediate danger passed, the three began their descent down the giant tree. It wasn’t difficult despite the rain, but they did have to stop every now and then just to make sure that the watcher in the sky is left ignorant. After some time, they finally landed on solid ground and the cover of the tree allowed them to move undeterred now. They dashed off until they finally reached the end - the edge of the abyss that was splitting the mountain peak in half. Only darkness and a strong wind were present coming from the deep.

“We’re going down there?” Smolder wondered. “Silverstream, how do you know Gallus is still... you know, kicking, after a fall like this?”

“I'm sure of it! And if he still is, leaving him to his fate is even worse,” she answered.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhh! You two, quick behind the rock! Quick!” Ocellus quietly ordered.

The two were confused. At this point they were far away enough to be out of Storm King’s sight, so why was she so worried? The answer soon came, as a large figure came lumbering out of the small forest, towering as high as the trees themselves. Two more were accompanying it, but in the shadow of the great tree, they couldn’t be seen clearly, except for a string of light surrounding one of them. They approached the edge of the ravine, and then a large platform made of dark light appeared, illuminating the figures as they stepped on it. Silverstream tried to suppress the shriek after seeing Tirek, Grogar, and his monster that tossed their griffin friend below. She unknowingly pressed hard against the rock behind which they were hiding and it budged, until it slowly veered off over the edge. The strong wind pulled off the invisibility cloak that she was loosely holding at the moment and it was sent flying into the air. They were now completely exposed and at any moment the rock was going to cause a sound and alert them. The bug horse quickly jumped in front of them, and in a flash of blue magic, she transformed into a tree. The dragon and the hippogriff instinctively jumped behind it in the nick of time.

KARK!

There it was. She was hoping, begging that they weren’t spotted as they waited. After some time, she took a peek past the tree trunk and she saw the shapes just as they disappeared over the edge of the abyss, the illuminated platform following them. Silverstream came out of the cover, followed by the Smolder, and lastly, Ocellus returned to her normal form.

“Silverstream, were those…?” the dragon was about to ask.

“Yes, all of them,” she answered. “Why are they all going down there as well? If Gallus and Grandpa Gruff are still with us then their lives are now in even greater danger!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get to them,” the changeling spoke. “But at this point, we now have to be extra careful.”

They all looked over the edge of the ravine, into the bottomless dark, and saw the light that was slowly growing smaller. They spread open their wings and slowly glided down.

Comments

[Doctor_Den]

I thought that teleportation over gigantic distances would be difficult or mana-consuming even for experienced magicians, but it turns out that even Trixie can do this trick several times in a row without even straining. (Though I have to admit that this scene was really funny.)

[nightshroud96]

Whenever I imagine Ocellus shapshifting so she can easily tagalong, I keep seeing her turn into a smol plushie of herself

[JFT]

11403342
Well, she is THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE, so that's to be expected.
But on a serious note, yeah, my fault for not inserting the signs of struggle.

[Wild Stallion]

The ancient sorcerer’s horns glowed and a large platform made of dark light materialized in front of them, big enough for the arimaspi to step on it and sit comfortably without the fear of falling off it.

Isn't the real problem the crashing winds threatening to blow them off though?

They all looked over the edge of the ravine, into the bottomless dark, and saw the light that was slowly growing smaller. They spread open their wings and slowly glided down.

Gliding into a gulch filled with high pressure winds, a mad wizard, his bigger than five cottages body guard, and a magic stealing vampire?

The first of which overcame a mare capable of flying at super sonic speeds?

The second who is so infamous that rumors of his power and empire of hoof crafted monsters have survived over a thousand years?

The third who crushed down, and threw a house?

The last having the potential to steal the power of a reality warper and grow bigger than possibly the largest city on the planet?

What could possibly go wrong?

11403826
11403342
Yeah I never bought the whole "Trixie can teleport around items that are roughly the size of her carriage without any strain" bit.

It's cannon to latter seasons though, so whatever.

[JFT]

11404355
Yeah... the girls are about to get the wind knocked out of them before they even reach the trio.

[JFT]

11403373
Oh you mean...